THE THIRD PART: 24 CRUCIAL LINES IN THE BIBLE
The Divine Economy
Message Six
Being Overcomers to Carry Out God’s Eternal Economy
Scripture Reading: Matt. 6:6, 19-20; 13:43; 16:18; 14:22-23; 24:14; 26:7; Rev. 8:3-6; 19:7-9, 1 Cor. 16:1-2
I. The fulfillment of the Lord’s prophecy concerning the building up of His church, the preparation of His bride, will bring Him back; now is the time for the Lord to fulfill His prophecy through the overcomers, who cooperate and coordinate with Christ in His heavenly ministry for His up-to-date and ultimate move—Matt. 16:18; Rev. 19:7-9; Matt. 24:14. (2006 MDC, msg. 6)
A. God’s ultimate move is to carry out His economy concerning Christ as the mystery of God and the church as the mystery of Christ—Col. 2:2; Eph. 3:4-6: (2017 ICSC, msg. 3)
1. God’s ultimate move to fulfill His eternal intention is to have Christ as life in us, flowing in us, saturating and permeating us, and making us fit to be built up into His Body for His expression—Col. 3:4; Eph. 3:16; 4:16. (2017 ICSC, msg. 3)
2. Three items have been recovered—the preaching of the gospel, the teaching of the Bible truths, and the scriptural way of meeting; now this final matter of God’s ultimate move must be our concern, which is to gain a people who have Christ as their life and live Him so that Christ will have His Body; in our locality this Body will be expressed as a golden lampstand; this is the preparation of the bride—Rom. 12:4-5; Rev. 2:1; 19:7; Col. 3:4; Phil. 1:21a. (2017 ICSC, msg. 3)
B. The Lord’s recovery is for the preparation of the bride of Christ, who is composed of all His overcomers—19:7-9; cf. Gen. 2:22; Matt. 16:18: (2020 MDC, msg. 6)
1. All the overcomers will be the New Jerusalem as the bride of Christ for one thousand years in its initial and fresh stage—Rev. 19:7. (2020 MDC, msg. 6)
2. Eventually, all the believers will join the overcomers to consummate and complete the New Jerusalem in full as the wife of Christ in the new heaven and new earth for eternity—21:2, 9-11. (2020 MDC, msg. 6)
II. To be the Lord’s overcomers, we must love the Lord and grasp the opportunity to love Him—26:6-13: (2006 MDC, msg. 6)
A. To love the Lord with our best requires that we take time to behold Him, listen to His word, and receive a revelation concerning Him; the overcomers have the highest revelation of Christ and offer themselves willingly to the Lord in the splendor of their consecration—vv. 6-13; Psa. 110:3. (2006 MDC, msg. 6)
B. Mary sat at the Lord’s feet and was listening to His word; having heard and received the Lord’s word and revelation concerning His death, Mary looked for the opportunity to anoint Him before He died—Luke 10:38-42; Matt. 26:1-2, 12; cf. 16:21; 17:22-23; 20:18-19. (2006 MDC, msg. 6)
C. The Lord prefers His saved ones who love Him to listen to Him (Luke 10:39) that they may know His desire, rather than do things for Him without knowing His will—cf. 1 Sam. 15:22; Eccl. 5:1. (2006 MDC, msg. 6)
III. For God’s ultimate move, we must be one with the interceding Christ, the praying Christ, by cooperating with Him in the two aspects of prayer: the prayer of fellowship with Him to be infused with Him and the prayer of interceding with Him to carry out His divine administration—Rev. 8:3-6: (2006 MDC, msg. 6)
A. Our prayer of fellowship with God causes us to be infused with God so that we can glow with God, shine forth God, and flow out God; we must learn from the Lord’s pattern to be a man of prayer—Matt. 14:22-23: (2006 MDC, msg. 6)
1. The Lord Jesus told us that when we pray, we should shut our door privately and pray secretly to the Father who sees in secret; in this personal time we can come to Him to eat Him, drink Him, and enjoy Him—Matt. 6:6; John 6:57; Isa. 55:1-2; cf. 57:20 and footnote 1. (2006 MDC, msg. 6)
2. The highest profession on earth is to spend time being infused with God that we may shine forth God; the most prevailing need among Christians today is to spend a certain amount of time every day in the presence of the Lord to receive His word by means of all prayer—2 Cor. 3:16—4:1; Exo. 33:11a; Eph. 6:17-18. (2006 MDC, msg. 6)
B. Our prayer of intercession follows the foundation of our prayer of fellowship with God; we need to be one with the interceding Christ, typified by the incense altar in the tabernacle, as the center of the execution of God’s government on earth—Exo. 30:1-10; Heb. 7:25; Rev. 8:3-6: (2006 MDC, msg. 6)
1. The prayer offered at the incense altar, a prayer that is offered in Christ and with Christ as the incense, governs God’s dispensing of grace and motivates the execution of the divine administration; hence, this prayer governs the universe—Exo. 30:1-10. (2006 MDC, msg. 6)
2. Intercessory prayer is not prayer for ourselves but prayer for the carrying out of the divine administration, for the dispensing of God’s supplying grace, and for the churches and the saints; such a prayer is a fragrant incense to God—it fulfills His purpose, satisfies His desire, and delights His heart—v. 7; Rev. 8:3-4. (2006 MDC, msg. 6)
IV. For God’s ultimate move, we must give our material possessions in secret for the sowing and spreading of Christ as the seed of life, the reality of the gospel of the kingdom, giving our material supply to the church of God, to the needy saints of God, to the full-time servants of God, and to the poor people in the love of God and with the kindness of God for the gospel of God—Luke 6:37-38; 1 Cor. 16:1-2; Matt. 6:1-4, 19-20; 19:21; Acts 11:29; Rom. 15:26; Phil. 1:5; 4:16-17; 3 John 5-8: (2006 MDC, msg. 6)
A. Those who have been benefited in the Lord and have been saved by our proper use of money as prudent stewards in our giving to the Lord for the furtherance of His kingdom gospel will welcome us into the eternal tabernacles in the coming age of the kingdom—Luke 16:1-13. (2006 MDC, msg. 6)
B. “We believers at least should give one-tenth of our income to the Lord in the principle of the Old Testament. Five percent of our income should be given to support full-time workers” (The Way to Practice the Lord’s Present Move, p. 75)—cf. Neh. 13:10-14. (2006 MDC, msg. 6)
V. For God’s ultimate move, we must preach the gospel of the kingdom of God to the whole inhabited earth, both to the unbelievers for their conversion to Christ and to the believers for their growth in Christ, by announcing the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel and by prophesying for the building up of the church as the house of God and the kingdom of God—Matt. 24:14; Rom. 1:1; Eph. 3:8; 1 Cor. 3:6; 14:4b, 31. (2006 MDC, msg. 6)