The Increase of Christ for the Building Up of the Church
Message Three
The Increase of Christ Being for the Increase of the Church by Ministering Life
to Others according to the Law of Increase
Opening Word of the Prophesying Meeting
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask and he will give life to him…—1 John 5:16.
I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing—John 15:5.
Word of Appetizer
The increase of Christ is for the increase of the church, what is our church service mainly for?
The church is an organism, and what an organism needs is life. Therefore, our church service is mainly for ministering life to others. Even the arranging of chairs and the cleaning of restrooms are not for themselves; they are for ministering life.
Spiritual Burden
Everything in the church must be in the nature of life, with the content of life, and in the imparting of life; when the branches of the vine receive a sufficient supply of the life-giving Spirit as the life-juice of Christ, they bear fruit as the overflow of the inner life supply
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
First John 5:16a says, “If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask and he will give life to him”.
Everything in the church must be in the nature of life, with the content of life, and in the imparting of life.
We need to follow the pattern of the Lord Jesus as the Son of Man cherishing us and as the Son of God nourishing us.
The increase of the church is according to the law of increase; the law of fruit-bearing involves abiding in the Lord and being in union with the Triune God; bearing fruit comes out of the law of life.
The Experience of Life
The Lord Jesus as the Son of Man cherishes us and as the Son of God nourishes us; Christ as the Son of Man became the Lamb of God to take away our sin—cherishing; Christ as the Son of God became the life-giving Spirit to give life to us and transform us—nourishing.
By abiding in the Son, we are able to receive the Father’s nurturing and to enjoy the riches of the Father’s divine nature, that is, to enjoy all the riches of God.
Practice and Application
In order for us to minister life to others, we must do at least four things:
• We need an adequate contact with the Lord simply to spend time with Him, listening to the Lord in His dealings with us.
•We must learn in the presence of the Lord to be dealt with by Him; in order to bear fruit, we must deal with the Lord to be new branches of the vine.
•We must pick up a burden to care for people—unbelievers, young believers, new believers, and weaker believers.
•We must learn to be interested in people; every day the Lord’s people must be our “food”.
Using Key Verses to Have a Bird’s-Eye View over the Whole Outline
Key Verses (1)
If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask and he will give life to him, … —1 John 5:16
But we were gentle in your midst, as a nursing mother would cherish her own children—2 Thes. 2:7.
Ministering Life to Others;
Everything in the Church Must Be in the Nature of Life
I. First John 5:16a says, “If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin not unto death, he shall ask and he will give life to him“
II. In order for us to minister life to others, we must do at least four things:
Having an adequate contact with the Lord, being in the presence of the Lord to be dealt with by Him, picking up a burden to care for people, and being interested in people.
III. Everything in the church must be in the nature of life, with the content of life, and in the imparting of life.
Key Verses (2)
The next day he saw Jesus… and said, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! —John 1:29
Which man of you, who has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he finds it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing—Luke 15: 4-5.
The Lord Jesus as the Son of Man Cherishing Us and as the Son of God Nourishing Us;
The Loving and Forgiving Heart of Our Father God and the Shepherding and Seeking Spirit of Our Savior Christ
IV. We need to follow the pattern of the Lord Jesus as the Son of Man cherishing us and as the Son of God nourishing us, experiencing and presenting Christ as the attracting factor to minister life to people and gain them in a normal way.
V. In order to minister life to others and recover the dormant saints among us, we must have the loving and forgiving heart of our Father God and the shepherding and seeking spirit of our Savior Christ.
Key Verses (3)
I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing—John 15:5.
VI The Increase of the Church Is according to the Law of Increase
• Christ and the church are the universal vine as the organism of the Triune God, and the believers as the branches in this vine are in an organic union with the Triune God.
• By abiding in the Son, we are able to receive the Father’s nurturing and to enjoy the riches of the Father’s divine nature.
• The law of fruit-bearing involves abiding in the Lord and being in union with the Triune God; bearing fruit comes out of the law of life, not out of miracles; the law of life, which is the law of fruit-bearing, the law of increase.
Prophesying Topics—Twelve Topics per Week
D1
T1 The eternal life (zoe), physical life (bios), and soulish life (psuche)
(Please explain the distinctions among these three different kinds of life.) (John 10:10; Luke 8:14; John 12:25)
T2 We can give life to others (1 John 5:16a) (Please refer to Outline II. B. 1-2)
(How can we exercise to give life to the weaker ones in order to swallow up their death?)
D2
T1 To be a good serving one depends upon our open ear to listen (Exo. 21:16, Isa. 50:4-5)
(In order for us to minister life to others, what is the first thing that we must do?)
T2 Being in the presence of the Lord to be dealt with by Him under His light (1 John 1:7, 9) (Please refer to Outline II. B)
(In order for us to minister life to others, what is the second thing that we must do?)
D3
T1 Picking up a burden to care for people (Prov. 11:25)
(Please explain that if we water others, we ourselves will be watered.)
T2 Being cared for by the Lord by caring for others in the Lord (Gen. 20:17; 21:1-2; Job 42:10) (Please refer to II. C)
(Please take the case of Abraham as an illustration to explain that if we turn our prayer from ourselves to others, we will receive what we desire.)
D4
T1 Learning to be interested in people (John 4: 31-34; Exo. 28:12, 29)
(Please explain that many in the church need our shoulders to bear them and our breast to embrace them in love.)
T2 The church is altogether a matter of life (John 10:10b; 14:6a) (Please refer to III. A-C)
(Please explain that everything in the church must be in the nature of life, with the content of life, and in the imparting of life.)
D5
T1 The two attracting factors of the Lord (John 1:29, 32) (Please refer to IV. A-H)
(Please take the illustrations to explain that the Lord Jesus as the Son of Man cherishing us and as the Son of God nourishing us.)
T2 Experiencing and presenting Christ as the attracting factor (John 1:35-37)
(How should we exercise so that we may have something in our daily living that attracts and convinces people?)
D6
T1 Treasuring the lost sheep (Luke 15:4-6) (Please refer to V. A-C)
(Please use your experience to explain how you recover a dormant saint.)
T2 Bearing fruit comes out of the law of life (John 15:5)
(Please explain the law of life involves four points.)
