The Increase of Christ for the Building Up of the Church
Message Four
The Increase of Christ for the Increase and Spread of the Church through
the One Accord with Prayer, the Spirit, the Word, and the Homes
Opening Word of the Prophesying Meeting
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
These all continued steadfastly with one accord in prayer…—Acts 1:14.
…that you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be attuned in the same mind and in the same opinion—1 Cor. 1:10.
And day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they partook of their food with exultation and simplicity of heart—Acts 2:46.
Word of Appetizer
The book of Acts not only records the facts related to the church’s increase and spread; it also shows important means of the church’s increase and spread. What is the important means?
The means for God’s spread is through His Spirit, by the prayer of the believers, by the release of God’s word, and through the believers’ homes.
Spiritual Burden
In order to have the increase of Christ for the increase and spread of the church, we must have the one accord; in order to have the one accord, we need to care for one thing; the one thing, the unique thing, in the Lord’s recovery is God’s eternal economy with Christ as the centrality and universality
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
In order to have the increase of Christ for the increase and spread of the church, we must have the one accord; the one accord is the master key to every blessing in the New Testament.
The book of Acts shows that the God-ordained way to carry out God’s move to fulfill His New Testament economy is entirely by three main substances—prayer, the Spirit, and the Word.
Meeting together in homes as the Christian way of meeting together is fitting o God’s New Testament economy.
The Experience of Life
Although we are many and come from many places, we all have one mouth and we all speak the same thing; this is because we all are the one new man having only one person.
Practice and Application
We must pray that we might have the Spirit as the power to spread the Word; we should ask the Lord to bring our entire being into the light and be dealt with by Him to become persons of power, who are full of the Spirit within and without, essentially and economically.
The believers broke bread and prayed together from house to house; they also announced the gospel and taught Jesus as the Christ from house to house; the gospel can be and should be preached in every home.
Using Key Verses to Have a Bird’s-Eye View over the Whole Outline
Key Verses (1)
…that He might create the two in Himself into one new man, so making peace—Eph. 2:15.
That with one accord you may with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ—Rom. 15:6.
Now I beseech you, brothers, …, that you all speak the same thing…, but that you be attuned in the same mind and in the same opinion—1 Cor. 1:10.
I. In Order to Have the Increase of Christ for the Increase and Spread of the Church, We Must Have the One Accord
• The one accord is the master key to every blessing in the New Testament; to apply the oneness is to keep it, and to keep it is to practice the one accord.
• In order to have the one accord, we need to care for one thing; the one thing, in the Lord’s recovery is God’s eternal economy.
• The one thing in Philippians refers to the subjective knowledge and experience of Christ; the pursuing of Christ to gain Him and possess Him.
• We need to consider one new man in Ephesians 2:15 together with one mouth in Romans 15:6 and speak the same thing in 1 Corinthians 1:10.
Key Verses (2)
These all continued steadfastly with one accord in prayer,… —Acts 1:14
But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth—1:8.
…and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness—4:31.
II. The God-Ordained Way to Carry Out God’s Move to Fulfill His New Testament Economy—Prayer, the Spirit, and the Word
• Prayer, the Spirit, and the Word are the three substances of the power in the Lord’s recovery.
• We must pray that we might have the Spirit as the power to spread the Word.
• In order to maintain the unique one accord, we all have to learn to do the same thing by the same way; we must not think of taking a way other than prayer, the Spirit, and the Word.
Key Verses (3)
And day by day, continuing steadfastly with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, … —Acts 2:46
And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and announcing the gospel of Jesus as the Christ—5:42.
III. Meeting Together in Homes as the Christian Way of Meeting Together Is Fitting to God’s New Testament Economy
• This way differs from the Judaic way of meeting in the synagogues; the believers broke bread and prayed together from house to house; they also announced the gospel and taught Jesus as the Christ from house to house; the gospel can be and should be preached in every home.
• This became a continual and general practice in the churches.
• The base for the increase and spread of the church is the establishing of small, vital group meetings in the homes.
• Every believer should be a witness, a martyr, of the Lord, sharing with and testifying to others the Christ whom he has “seen and heard”.
Prophesying Topics—Twelve Topics per Week
D1
T1 Being in one spirit with one soul, one mind, and one will (Acts 1:14)
(Please explain the significance of the one accord.)
T2 In order to have the one accord, we need to care for one thing (Col. 3:11)
(Please explain that the one thing, in the Lord’s recovery is God’s eternal economy.)
D2
T1 The one accord is the practice of the oneness (Eph.4:3-4)
(Please explain that the one accord is for our practice, the oneness is primarily for the actuality.)
T2 The proper one accord is the application of the oneness (Phil. 4:2)
(Please explain that in the church life, we may love the Lord, yet without the one accord.)
D3
T1 One new man, one mouth, speak the same thing (Eph. 2:15; Rom. 15:6; 1 Cor. 1:10)
(How can we consider Romans 15:6 together with 1 Corinthians 1:10 and Ephesians 2:15?) (Please refer to Outline IV. D. 1-7)
T2 Is the Lord the person, or am I the person? (Eph. 2:15)
(In your daily living, how can you take Christ as your person in the matter of speaking?)
D4
T1 Whatever we teach should be related to God’s economy (1 Tim. 1:3-4)
(Please use examples to explain that to teach anything, even scriptural things and right things may still create division.)
T2 Teaching the same thing, the economy of God (Rom. 15:6)
(Please explain that the only way that we can be preserved in the eternal oneness is to teach the economy of God.)
D5
T1 Prayer, the Spirit, and the Word are the three substances of the power in the Lord’s recovery (Acts 1:8, 14; 4:31)
(Please share how you exercise to spend time entering into the Lord’s word to get yourself saturated, constituted, and even soaked with the holy Word.)
T2 The apostles never initiated any work without prayer. (Acts 1:14; 4:24-31; 10:9; 12:5)
(Please explain the spiritual significance of prayer.) (Please refer to Outline II. E. 1-4)
D6
T1 The economical Spirit, prayer, God’s word, and the believers’ homes (Acts 1:8; 6:4, 7; 5:42)
(Please explain that the book of Acts shows four important means of the church’s increase and spread.)
T2 In the book of Acts, there is a record of meeting “from house to house.” (Acts 2:46; 5:42; 20:20)
(According to the above-mentioned verses, how many different styles we can have in our meeting together in home?) (Please refer to Outline III. A. 1-3)
