Vital Factors for the Recovery of the Church Life
Message Five
The Factor of the Genuine One Accord
OPENING WORD OF THE PROPHESYING MEETING
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Acts 1:14 These all continued steadfastly with one accord in prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.
2:42 And they continued steadfastly in the teaching and the fellowship of the apostles, in the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Now the God…of encouragement grant you to be of the same mind toward one another…, that with one accord you may with one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Word of Appetizer
What is the genuine one accord?
The genuine one accord in the church is the practice of the oneness of the Body, which is the oneness of the Spirit.
In the Body we need oneness; in the churches and among the churches, we need the one accord. The one accord is for our practice; the oneness is primarily for the actuality, for the fact. In John 17 the Lord Jesus prayed for such a fact, and on the day of Pentecost, by pouring out Himself as the consummated Spirit, He accomplished His prayer. That was the actuality of the oneness. After the accomplishment of the actuality of the oneness, there is the need for the practice of the oneness. When the oneness is practiced, it becomes the one accord.
Spiritual Burden
The genuine one accord in the church is the practice of the oneness of the Body, which is the oneness of the Spirit. Oneness is like the physical body, and one accord is like the heart within the body; the one accord is the heart, the kernel, the nucleus, of the oneness.
The one accord is the master key to every blessing in the New Testament; it is crucial for us to realize that God’s blessing can come only upon a situation of one accord, for God will bless only the one accord. In order to receive God’s blessing, we must practice the oneness, and the way to practice the oneness is by the one accord.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
The genuine one accord in the church is the practice of the oneness of the Body, which is the oneness of the Spirit.
The one accord refers to the harmony in our inner being, in our mind and will.
The holding factor of the one accord is the apostles’ teaching.
The one accord is the master key to every blessing in the New Testament.
The Experience of Life
Whenever we are in one accord, we speak the same thing; we speak with one mouth; When we have the one accord, we become a melody to God; we become a poem not merely in writing but in sound, in voice, in melody.
Practice and Application
We need to “be attuned in the same mind and in the same opinion”; when we practice the one accord, we must learn to be in one spirit with one soul. We need to turn to our spirit and then enter into our soul with one spirit that we may be in one accord; we should think with the mind of Christ and speak with the mouth of the Head.
We must also teach the same thing in all the churches in every country throughout the earth; and that all those who were in one accord continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching.
PROPHESYING TOPICS—TWELVE TOPICS PER WEEK
Day 1
T1: The one accord is for our practice; the oneness is primarily for the actuality, for the fact (Acts 15:25)
(Please illustrate that when the oneness is practiced, it becomes the one accord.)
T2: We practice one accord based on the fact that we all have a common life (Matt. 18:19)
(Please illustrate that the one accord is the practice, the application, of the oneness, and the oneness is the basis on which we practice the one accord.)
Day 2
T1: The one accord is the heart, the kernel, of the oneness (Eph. 4:3)
(Please illustrate that the proper one accord in the church is the practice of the genuine oneness of the Body.)
T2: Our inadequacy in the one accord is a sickness that is more than serious (Matt. 18:19)
(Please illustrate with experiences that if we are not in one accord, God has no way to answer our prayer.)
Day 3
T1: When we have the one accord, we become a melody to God (Matt. 18:19)
(Please illustrate that the one accord refers to the harmony in our inner being, in our mind and will.)
T2: In the book of Acts the key of the one hundred twenty prayed together is the one accord (Acts 1:14)
(Please illustrate that no other book of the Bible uses the word for one accord as much as Acts.)
Day 4
T1: The practice of this oneness is according to the apostles’ teaching (1 Cor. 4:17b; Col. 4:16)
(Please illustrate with examples that in Colossians 4:16 the apostle Paul taught the same thing in all the churches.)
T2: The practice of this oneness is also according to the same speaking of the Spirit to the churches (Rev. 1:20; 2:7a, 11a)
(Please illustrate the practice of oneness indicates that the seven churches as the seven lampstands are completely identical.)
Day 5
T1: Opinion was a sign that we were walking in darkness (Rom. 15:5-6)
(Please illustrate with experiences that we should say Amen to whatever the Lord says and not express any opinion.)
T2: The book of 1 Corinthians shows us that [the] same speaking and the same mind and same opinion are also Christ (1 Cor. 1:10)
(Please illustrate that the practice of our oneness depends on Him, when we speak Him, consider Him, enjoy Him, and express Him, we will be harmonious and one.)
Day 6
T1: The one accord is the master key to every blessing in the New Testament (Eph. 1:3; Psa. 133)
(Please illustrate that in the Old Testament, Psalm 133 says the blessing and grace of God can only come upon a situation of one accord.)
T2: The practice of oneness touches our mind, our love, and our speaking (Phil. 4:2)
(Please illustrate with experiences that unconsciously, we have all violated the practice of oneness.)
