The Development of the Kingdom of God
in the Christian Life and the Church Life
Message Four
Living the Kingdom Life by Taking Care of Others according to the Spirit
and by Realizing God’s Forgiveness
Opening Word of the Prophesying Meeting
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Do not judge, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged; and with what measure you measure, it shall be measured to you—Matt. 7:1-2.
…Peter…said to Him, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times? Jesus said to him, I do not say to you, Up to seven times, but, Up to seventy times seven—18:21-22.
Word of Appetizer
How should we live the kingdom life in the kingdom of the heavens in Matthew 18?
Matthew 18 deals with the way we should live and act in the kingdom of the heavens: we should become like little children (vv. 2-4); we should not stumble others or set up any stumbling block (vv. 5-9); we should not despise even a little believer (vv. 10-14); we should hear the church and not be condemned by it (vv. 15-20); and we should forgive a brother without limit (vv. 21-35). All this indicates that to enter into the kingdom of the heavens we must be humble and not despise any believer, but love our brother and forgive our brother.
Spiritual Burden
We must learn to do everything through the cross and by the Spirit in order to minister Christ into others for His Body; the best way for the kingdom people to contact others is according to the kingdom and according to the Spirit.
To live the kingdom life, the God-man life, the church life, we must be humble and not despise any believer but love our brother and forgive our brother.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
Matthew 7:1-12 concerns the principles of the kingdom people in dealing with others and reveals that the heavenly ruling over the kingdom people requires that they take care of others according to the spirit.
To live the kingdom life, the God-man life, the church life, we must be humble and not despise any believer but love our brother and forgive our brother.
We must see and realize that in the kingdom of God there are five kinds of forgiveness: there is eternal forgiveness—this relates to life; there is instrumental forgiveness—this relates to the church; there is restorative forgiveness—this relates to fellowship; there is governmental forgiveness—this relates to discipline; there is kingdom forgiveness—this relates to administration.
The Experience of Life
The moment we believe into the Lord Jesus, we are forgiven of all our sins; the Lord removes all our sins, and we are left with no trace of sin before God.
When we sin in our daily life, our conscience condemns us, and our fellowship with God is interrupted; when we come to God, we have to acknowledge our sinful acts honestly and ask Him for forgiveness; if we do this, our fellowship with God will be restored, and our heart will be filled with the joy of salvation.
Practice and Application
We need to pray ourselves into God so that we may receive the riches embodied in His Spirit to feed ourselves and all those under our care; the best way for the kingdom people to contact others is according to the kingdom and according to the Spirit.
To live the kingdom life, the God-man life, the church life, we must be humble and not despise any believer but love our brother and forgive our brother.
Using Key Verses to Have a Bird’s-Eye View over the Whole Outline
Key Verses (1)
Do not judge, that you be not judged—Matt. 7:1.
Do not give that which is holy to the dogs, neither cast your pearls before the hogs, lest they trample them with their feet, and turn and tear you. Ask and it shall be given to you; seek and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it shall be opened—vv. 6-8.
Ⅰ Matthew 7:1-12 concerns the principles of the kingdom people in dealing with others and reveals that the heavenly ruling over the kingdom people requires that they take care of others according to the spirit
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- The kingdom people, living in a humble spirit under the heavenly ruling of the kingdom, always judge themselves, not others.
- We should not give that which is holy to the dogs or cast our pearls before the hogs, lest they trample them with their feet and turn and tear us; which is holy must refer to the objective truth, which belongs to God; your pearls must refer to the subjective experiences, which are ours; dogs and hogs in Matthew 7:6 refer to people who are religious but not clean.
- As we are contacting people and dealing with them, we must ask, seek, and knock for the proper way to contact them; We need to pray ourselves into God so that we may receive the riches embodied in His Spirit to feed ourselves and all those under our care.
Key Verses (2)
And said, Truly I say to you, Unless you turn and become like little children, you shall by no means enter into the kingdom of the heavens—Matt. 18:3.
Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks! For it is necessary for stumbling blocks to come, but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes—v. 7.
…Peter…said to Him, Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times? Jesus said to him, I do not say to you, Up to seven times, but, Up to seventy times seven—vv. 21-22.
Ⅱ To live the kingdom life, the God-man life, the church life, we must be humble and not despise any believer but love our brother and forgive our brother
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- To live the kingdom life, we must humble ourselves and become like little children.
- To live the kingdom life, we should not stumble others or set up any stumbling block.
- To live the kingdom life, we should not despise even a little believer.
- To live the kingdom life, we should forgive our brother without limit; we must forgive the offending brother even seventy times seven times; if we do not forgive a brother from our heart today, we will not be allowed to enter into the kingdom in the coming age.
Key Verses (3)
Blessed are they whose lawlessnesses have been forgiven, and whose sins have been covered over—Rom. 4:7.
And when He had said this, He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit. Whosever sins you forgive, they are forgiven them; and whosever sins you retain, they are retained—John 20:22-23.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness—1 John. 1:9.
Ⅲ We must see and realize that in the kingdom of God there are five kinds of forgiveness
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- There is eternal forgiveness—this relates to life; the forgiveness that comes with our salvation is eternal forgiveness; we receive eternal life forever, and we are justified forever.
- There is instrumental forgiveness—this relates to the church; in sending the Holy Spirit to His church, the Lord charged the church to be His representative on the earth; forgiveness is now granted through the church.
- There is restorative forgiveness—this relates to fellowship; when we sin in our daily life, our conscience condemns us, and our fellowship with God is interrupted.
- There is governmental forgiveness—this relates to discipline; this kind of forgiveness involves God’s arrangement, sovereignty, discipline, and hand; God’s government is His way of doing things; it is His administration.
- There is kingdom forgiveness—this relates to administration; if we treat people too harshly or have an unforgiving spirit in this age, we will be disciplined in the kingdom age.
Prophesying Topics—Twelve Topics per Week
D1
T1 The kingdom people must take care of others in their dealings with them. (Matt.7:1~2）
（Please explain that For us to deal with others, we must reject ourselves and consider them, sympathize with them, and be merciful toward them）
T2 If you care for the brother, you will not care only for his fault. （Matt.7:3~5）
（Please explain that The Lord’s intention in Matthew 7:1-12…is to encourage us to forget ourselves and to take care of others.）
D2
T1 you must observe the basic principle of taking care of others. （Matt.7:6）
（Please explain that When you are about to give something holy to others, you must consider those you are speaking to.）
T2 at the very time we are contacting people and dealing with them, we must look to the Lord （Matt.7:7~8）
（Please explain that we must ask, seek, and knock for the proper way to contact them with experience.）
D3
T1 the controlling principle for our contact with others is the kingdom and the Spirit. (Matt.7:9~12）
（Please explain that The best way for the kingdom people to contact others is according to the kingdom and according to the Spirit）
T2 through the cross and by the Spirit to dispense Christ to others for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ. （Gal.2:20）
（Concerning the spiritual and divine things for the church, we must keep in mind four crucial points. ）
D4
T1 to forgive is to forget（Heb.10:17）
（According to Bible，Please explain that Genuine forgiveness means that we forget the offense.）
T2 We must forgive others as the Lord has forgiven us（Matt18:21~35）
(Please explain that to live the kingdom life, we should forgive our brother without limit.)
D5
T1 in the kingdom of God there are five kinds of forgiveness（Eph4:32，John20:23，Matt6:14~15，Jam.5:14~15）
（Please explain that We must see and realize that in the kingdom of God there are five kinds of forgiveness.）
T2 There is eternal forgiveness and There is restorative forgiveness(Luke24:47，1John1:7、9）
（Please explain that There is eternal forgiveness—this relates to life，There is restorative forgiveness—this relates to fellowship）
D6
T1 sins may be forgiven, but the discipline does not go away immediately（2 Sam. 12:7-15，Psa. 51，Num. 20:10-12、24，27:14）
(Please explain that the significance of governmental forgiveness,…consider the example of David and Moses.)
T2 Learn to be generous to others, and learn always to forgive. (Eph.4:32)
（Please explain that Many of our weaknesses today are the very weaknesses we criticized in the past with experience.）
