2017 MDC Message Three – Prophesying Reference

Knowing Life and the Church

Message Three

The Need for All Our Service to Be Initiated by God

Opening Word of the Prophesying Meeting

Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.

Pray-reading the verses:

Then Jehovah said to Aaron, You and your sons and your father’s household with you shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary; and you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood—Num. 18:1.

Because out from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen—Rom. 11:36.

Word of Appetizer

The basic principle in our service is that everything must be initiated by God. How can we know whether our service is service from man or service from God?

Service from man has man’s natural enjoyment, preference, and flavor; service from God enables man to worship the Lord and advance even when facing difficulties; service from God enables man to not be anxious or quarrelsome.

Spiritual Burden

We must learn deep within that God wants only our cooperation; He does not need us to do anything for Him; we must stop all our opinions, decisions, and ideas; we need to let Him speak, let Him come in, and let Him command.

Although all our service is initiated by God, we must learn to bear responsibility and be absolutely faithful before the Lord; we need to rely on the Lord, carrying out our service by being joined to the Lord and being in fellowship with Him.

Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting

The Revelation of the Truth

All our work and service in the church must be initiated by God and must be according to His desire; otherwise, we will commit the iniquity of the sanctuary in our service to God.

Abel offered sacrifices by faith according to God’s revelation; his offering of a sacrifice came in response to God’s word. Noah served God according to God’s command.

Abraham served God according to God’s appearing. David feared God, cooperated with God, and let God Work.

Paul served God according to the vision that he saw at his vanquishing conversion.

The basic principle in our service is that everything must be initiated by God.

The Experience of Life

Practice and Application

We should love God and wait for His command; we should seek His will and wait for His revelation; just as the slave in the Old Testament loved his master and allowed his ear to be bored through with an awl to hear the word of his master, we must focus on waiting for our Master’s command.

Using Key Verses to Have a Bird’s-Eye View over the Whole Outline

Key Verses (1)

Then Jehovah said to Aaron, You and your sons and your father’s household with you shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary; and you and your sons with you shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood—Num. 18:1.

Because out from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen—Rom. 11:36.

The basic principle in our service is that everything must be initiated by God

I. All our work and service in the church must be initiated by God and must be according to His desire; otherwise, we will commit the iniquity of the sanctuary in our service to God.

VIII. The basic principle in our service is that everything must be initiated by God:

• God’s work needs man’s cooperation, but it does not require man’s initiation; we should listen to Him unreservedly.

• Service from man has man’s natural enjoyment, preference, and flavor; service from God enables man to worship the Lord and advance even when facing difficulties; service from God enables man to not be anxious or quarrelsome.

• Although all our service is initiated by God, we must learn to bear responsibility and be absolutely faithful before the Lord.

Key Verses (2)

By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain…—Heb. 11:4.

By faith Noah, having been divinely instructed concerning things not yet seen and being moved by pious fear, prepared an ark for the salvation of his house…. By faith Abraham, being called, obeyed to go out unto a place which he was to receive as an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going—11:7-8.

Abel, Noah, Abraham, Moses

II. Abel offered sacrifices by faith according to God’s revelation; his offering of a sacrifice came in response to God’s word.

III. Noah served God according to God’s command; even the measurements and methods of building the ark were not according to Noah’s imagination but to God’s determination.

IV. Abraham served God according to God’s appearing.

V. Moses served God according to God’s instruction for the deliverance of the children of Israel and for the building of the tabernacle according to God’s pattern.

Key Verses (3)

Go and say to My servant David, Thus says Jehovah, Is it you who will build Me a house for Me to dwell in?—2 Sam. 7:5.

…Jehovah declares to you that Jehovah will make you a house….I will raise up your seed after you…. It is he who will build a house for My name…—vv. 11-13.

And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the Lord said to me, Rise up and go into Damascus, and there it will be told to you concerning all the things which have been appointed to you to do—Acts 22:10.

David, Paul

VI. David feared God, cooperated with God, and let God Work:

• David was zealous to build a temple for God, but God rejected David’s good intention.

• Because David feared God, he did not react to Nathan; rather, he stopped; the act of stopping the building of the temple is a great matter.

• David’s stopping established a twofold testimony in the universe: first, all the work in the universe should come from God, not from man; second, all that matters is what God does for man, not what man does for God.

• David wanted to build a temple for God, but God said that He would build David a house, from which a kingdom would come Forth.

VII. Paul served God according to the vision that he saw at his vanquishing conversion:

• “What shall I do, Lord?”—this is related to Paul’s service, which was purely initiated by God; blessed is he who asks this question!

Prophesying Topics—Twelve Topics per Week

T1 There are sins committed in our daily life and sins committed in the work (Num. 18:1)

(What the difference between sins committed in our daily life and sins committed in the work?)

T2 God wants man to cooperate with Him, but He does not want man to initiate anything (Rom. 11:36)

(There are three very important considerations in God’s work which we should never forget. What are these three?)

T1 Abel’s offering and Cain’s offering (Heb. 11:4)

(Why was Abel’s offering not a religious activity, but Cain’s offering was a religious activity?)

T2 Religious activity and God’s revelation (Gen. 4:4; Gal. 2:2)

(Please explain what religious activity is.)

T1 Noah served God according to God’s command (Gen. 6:14—7:5; Heb. 11:7)

(Please explain that Noah’s service was of God.)

T2 Moses served God according to God’s instruction (Exo. 3:10, 14-15; 25:9, 40)

(Please explain that Moses served God according to God’s instruction for the deliverance of the children of Israel and for the building of the tabernacle according to God’s pattern.)

T1 David was zealous to build a temple for God, but God rejected David’s good intention (2 Sam. 7:1-13)

(Please explain that David’s stopping established a twofold testimony in the universe.)

T2 God wants only our cooperation; He does not need us to do anything for Him (Matt. 17:5)

(David wanted to build a temple for God. Please use this example to explain that “whoever cannot stop working for the sake of God cannot work for the sake of God.”)

T1 Paul served God according to the vision (Acts 26:19; 22:8, 10)

(What are the two questions when the Lord met Paul on his way to Damascus?)

T2 The unique prerequisite to receiving God’s revelation is to stop our speaking, our opinion, our view, and our self (Job 38:2; Matt. 16:24)

(Please explain that the best way to stop is to die; once we die, we stop.)

T1 Service from man and service from God (1 Cor. 4:1-2)

(Please explain the difference between Service from man and service from God.)

T2 We need to rely on the Lord, carrying out our service by being joined to the Lord and being in fellowship with Him (1 Cor. 4:1-2; 7:25)

(Please explain that although all our service is initiated by God, we must learn to bear responsibility and be absolutely faithful before the Lord.)