Knowing the Truth, Being Absolute for the Truth, and Proclaiming the Truth in the Present Evil Age
Message Five
Upholding the Truth and Testifying to the Truth That the Church Is the Pillar and Base of the Truth
and the Corporate Manifestation of God in the Flesh
OPENING WORD OF THE PROPHESYING MEETING
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
1 Tim. 3:15-16 But if I delay, I write that you may know how one ought to conduct himself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth…Great is the mystery of godliness: He who was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.
Word of Appetizer
First Timothy 3:15 says that the church is the pillar and base of the truth. What is the meaning?
The Lord wants His church to know Him as the truth in order to testify concerning Him as the truth; the truth is the Triune God, having Christ as the embodiment, center, and expression to produce the church as the Body of Christ, the house of God, and the kingdom of God. The church is the supporting pillar and holding base of the truth; the church bears Christ as the reality; the church testifies to the whole universe that Christ, and Christ alone, is the reality; as the pillar that bears the truth and the base that upholds the pillar, the church testifies the reality, the truth, of Christ as the mystery of God and the church as the mystery of Christ.
Spiritual Burden
The kind of church that we build up depends on the kind of truth that we teach; thus, there is the desperate need of the living truth to produce the church, to help the church to exist, and to build up the church.
Every member of the church is part of the pillar and base that uphold the truth; in order for the church to be strong, every brother and sister must uphold the truth by learning the truth, experiencing the truth, and being able to speak the truth.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
The church is the supporting pillar and holding base of the truth.
All the saints need to uphold the truth; the church being the pillar and base of the truth implies that every member of the church should know the truth; thus, we should make a decision to learn the truth.
We need to uphold the truth and testify to the truth that the church is the corporate manifestation of God in the flesh.
The Experience of Life
Not only Christ Himself as the Head is the manifestation of God in the flesh, but also…the church as the Body of Christ and the house of God is the manifestation of God in the flesh—the mystery of godliness; Godliness is, God as life lived out in the church to be expressed.
God has imparted Himself into us, making us one with Him and also making Him one with us. First Corinthians 6:17 says, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” Today we are the flesh in which God can be manifested.
Practice and Application
All the saints need to uphold the truth; every member of the church is part of the pillar and base that uphold the truth; the church, including every believer, must uphold the truth; every brother and sister must bear the truth by learning the truth, experiencing the truth, and being able to speak the truth.
We need to uphold the truth and testify to the truth that the church is the corporate manifestation of God in the flesh; since today we are His reproduction, we should live the same kind of life. To follow Jesus is to live the life of a God-man, not by the human life but by the divine life, in order that God may be expressed, or manifested, in the flesh in all His divine attributes becoming the human virtues.
PROPHESYING TOPICS—TWELVE TOPICS PER WEEK
Day 1
T1: The church is the pillar and base of the truth (1 Tim. 3:15)
(Please illustrate that the church is the supporting pillar and holding base of the truth.)
T2: The solid truth can build up the church (1 Tim. 3:15)
(Please illustrate that the kind of church that we build up depends on the kind of truth that we teach.)
Day 2
T1: There is the desperate need of the living truth to produce the church, and to build up the church today (1 Tim. 3:15; 2 John 4)
(Please illustrate that the most profitable writings and publications are the Life-study messages with the footnotes of the Recovery Version.)
T2: To bring the saints to know the truth and learn the truth (1 Tim. 2:4)
(Please illustrate that the standard of the Lord’s recovery depends upon the standard of the truth that we put out.)
Day 3
T1: All the saints need to uphold the truth (3 John 3, 8)
(Please illustrate that if we practice the truth in the daily church life, we will be able to bear some responsibility in upholding the truth.)
T2: The truth is nowhere but in the Bible (Acts 8:30-31)
(Please illustrate with experiences that we need to have the proper realization of the need of the Bible and also of the help of the Life-study messages and the Recovery Version.)
Day 4
T1: Christ in His incarnation was the entire God manifested in the flesh. (1 Tim. 3:16; Col. 2:9)
(Please illustrate that God’s manifestation was first in Christ as an individual expression in the flesh.)
T2: All of His days on earth, [Christ] put Himself on the cross (John 5:19; 7:18; 14:10)
(Please illustrate that we are His reproduction, we should live the same kind of life.)
Day 5
T1: Even though we are in the flesh, we should not live by the flesh (Rom. 8:4; 1 Tim. 3:16)
(Please illustrate that these Christian virtues are expressions of the divine attributes and are the manifestation of God in the flesh.)
T2: The mystery of godliness is the living of a proper church (Eph. 2:19; 1:23)
(Please illustrate that God is manifested in the church—the house of God and the Body of Christ—as His enlarged corporate expression in the flesh.)
Day 6
T1: The intrinsic significance of exercising ourselves unto godliness (1 Tim. 4:7)
(Please illustrate that to exercise ourselves unto godliness is to exercise our spirit so that we may express the mystery of godliness—God manifested in the flesh.)
T2: The proper church life is the corporate manifestation of God in the flesh (1 Cor. 14:25)
(Please illustrate with experiences that God’s presence is known whenever the church meets together properly.)
