Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (1)
Message Three
Discipling All the Nations by Baptizing Them into the Name of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
OPENING WORD OF THE PROPHESYING MEETING
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Matt. 28:18-20 Jesus …spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
Word of Appetizer
The Lord did not did not charge the disciples to preach the gospel but to disciple the nations. What is the significance of this?
Preaching the gospel is simply to bring sinners to salvation, but to disciple the nations is to cause the Gentiles to become the kingdom people. We have been sent by the Lord not only to bring people to salvation but also to disciple the nations. This is a matter of the kingdom. Because all authority had been given to Him, the heavenly King sent His disciples to disciple all the nations. They go with His authority. To disciple the nations is to cause the heathen to become the kingdom people for the establishing of His kingdom, which is the church, even today on this earth.
Spiritual Burden
God is the supreme authority, and He has all authority. Spiritual authority has two sides: the positive side is to serve the saints, shepherd them, supply them, and build them up; the negative side is to deal with the enemy and anything related to the enemy.
Unlike an earthly society, the heavenly kingdom cannot be formed with human beings of flesh and blood (cf. 1 Cor. 15:50); it can be constituted only with people who have been immersed into the union with the Triune God and who have been established and built up with the Triune God, who has been wrought into them.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth”.
“Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”.
“Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you all the days until the consummation of the age”.
The Experience of Life
The heavenly King is Immanuel, God with us; therefore, wherever we are gathered in His name, He is in our midst.
The Lord promises to be with us always, even to the end of the age, in His resurrection, with all authority.
Practice and Application
“Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”; baptism brings the repentant people out of their old state into a new one by terminating their old life and germinating them with the new life of Christ that they may become the kingdom people.
“Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you”; teaching the believers to obsever the Lord has commanded is for the discipling of all nations.
PROPHESYING TOPICS—TWELVE TOPICS PER WEEK
Day 1
T1 Spiritual authority does not mean anything official but something in life (2 Cor. 13:10, Heb. 13:17)
(Please illustrate that since the authority is not official, there is no rank or position.)
T2 When there are elements outside of Christ that are present in us, there is no authority (Matt. 28:18, Eph. 1:20)
(Please illustrate that the amount of the element of Christ in us determines the amount of authority we have.)
Day 2
T1 To disciple the nations is to cause the Gentiles to become the kingdom people (Matt. 28:19)
(Please illustrate that the Lord did not charge the disciples to preach the gospel, but to disciple the nations; what is the difference between the two?)
T2 We can participate in the divine authority (Matt. 28:19, 16:19)
(Use Bible verses to explain that the Lord has given us the authority to bind and loose.)
Day 3
T1 Baptism brings the repentant people out of their old state into a new one (Acts 2:38, 19:5)
(Please illustrate that the two aspects of baptism.)
T2 To baptize people into the name of the Triune God is to bring them into spiritual and mystical union with Him (Matt. 28:19, Acts 19:5)
(Please illustrate that to baptize someone into the name of the Triune God is to immerse him into all that the Triune God is. )
Day 4
T1 In the Gospels, we receive Jesus Christ, not as life first, but as the king (Matt. 4:17)
(Please illustrate that the gospel is first presented not in way of life, but in the way of the kingdom; what is the reason for this?)
T2 The kingdom is the realm and the sphere for God to exercise Himself to bless us (Matt. 1:1, 4:17)
(Why must we first receive Christ as the son of David and then as the son of Abraham?)
Day 5
T1 Being baptized people into the reality of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit is for the constitution of the kingdom of the heavens (Matt. 3:16-17)
(Please illustrate that For the constituting of the kingdom, Matthew discloses the reality of the Divine Trinity by giving one name for all three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. )
T2 The believer’s divine inheritance (Acts 26:18, Eph. 1:13-14)
(Please illustrate that since God is our inheritance, the Holy Spirit is the plege of this inheritance to us. )
Day 6
T1 In the four Gospels, only Mark and Luke record the Lord’s ascension (Mark 16:19, Luke 24:51)
(Why do John and Matthew not mention the Lord’s ascension?)
T2 The Lord is the King who is with His kingdom people in the kingdom, He is with us everyday (Matt. 28:20, 1:23)
(Please illustrate that the Lord will be with us until the consummation of the age.)
