Living in the Reality of the Kingdom of God
Message Four
The Kingdom of God—the Realm of the Divine Life and of the Divine Species
OPENING WORD OF THE PROPHESYING MEETING
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Matt. 16:18-19 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of the heavens…
24-25 Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his soul-life shall lose it; but whoever loses his soul-life for My sake shall find it.
Word of Appetizer
What is the way to build up the church and the enemy of the building that Matthew 16 reveals?
Christ, the Son of the living God, builds the church on Himself as the rock, with stones such as Peter, a transformed person. The way to build up the church is to be crucified and resurrected. The church exists and is built up only in the realm of resurrection through crucifixion.
The gates of Hades, Satan’s authority or power of darkness, attack the church to frustrate the Lord from building up the church.
Spiritual Burden
The building up of the church depends on the shutting up of the gates of Hades through the exercise of three keys.
We need to learn to exercise the key of denying the self to lock up the self in every situation.
We need not only to take up our cross but also to carry our cross, that is, to remain on the cross, keeping our old man under the termination of the cross day by day.
We need to learn to exercise the key of losing the soul-life. If we are willing to lose all our present soulish enjoyment for the Lord’s sake, for the sake of the church, and for the sake of all the saints, others will be nourished by us and will be built up through us; this is not a suffering but a joy.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
Matthew 16 reveals the way to build up the church and also reveals the enemy of the building.
The building up of the church depends on the shutting up of the gates of Hades through the exercise of three keys. We need to learn to exercise the key of denying the self; we need to learn to exercise the key of taking up the cross; we need to learn to exercise the key of losing the soul-life.
The Experience of Life
The self is the soul declaring independence from God; when we are dependent, the self is gone, and instead of the self, we have the Lord’s presence and are full of peace. If we exercise the key of denying the self to lock up the self, it is impossible for us to be offended; blessed are those who are not offended. If my self has been locked up, I will not be offended no matter what you do to me or how you treat me.
Receiving God into man’s spirit and expressing God through the soul should be man’s joy and amusement.
Practice and Application
We need to learn to exercise the key of denying the self to lock up the self in every situation; whether a situation is for us or against us, whether the brothers love us or hate us, we must lock up the self.
We need not only to take up our cross but also to carry our cross, that is, to remain on the cross, keeping our old man under the termination of the cross day by day.
We need to learn to exercise the key of losing the soul-life; we need to love the Lord Jesus and to hate and deny our soul-life, not loving our soul-life even unto death.
PROPHESYING TOPICS—TWELVE TOPICS PER WEEK
Day 1
T1 The way to build up the church is through death and resurrection (Matt. 16:18, 21)
(Please illustrate that how can the church be built up in a practical way?)
T2 If anyone desires to come after Him, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Him (Matt. 16:24)
(Please illustrate that the self, the soul, and the mind are the main gates through which Satan comes forth.)
Day 2
T1 The self is the embodiment of Satan (Matt. 16:23)
(Take Eve’s temptation as an example to illustrate that to take over a person’s mind is to take over the entire person.)
T2 God created man as a soul to be always dependent on Him (Gen. 2:7)
(Please illustrate that the soul has become the self; the self is simply the soul declaring independence from God.)
Day 3
T1 The self is the greatest problem to the building up of the Body (Luke 9:23; 1 Cor. 15:31)
(Please illustrate with experiences that we should be dependent not only on God but also on the Body, on the brothers and sisters.)
T2 We need to see the vision of the self (Luke 9:23; 1 Cor. 15:31)
(Please illustrate with experiences that how do we know that we are dependent on God? )
Day 4
T1 If we were not in ourselves, we could not be offended (Luke 23:34; 2 Cor. 12:15)
(Why is there no excuse for your being offended?)
T2 The way to keep from being offended by others is to lock up yourself by denying yourself (Luke 23:34; 2 Cor. 12:15)
(Please illustrate with experiences that if you can be offended, it is a proof that you are full of self.)
Day 5
T1 The significance of the first mention of the cross in the Bible (Matt. 26:39)
(Please illustrate that the Lord was willing to take up the cross, to remain on the cross until God’s will had been fulfilled.)
T2 We are not forced to bear the cross, but we willingly take it up (Matt. 26:39, 42)
(Please illustrate with experiences that how we can become a happy cross-bearer.)
Day 6
T1 To lose the soul (Matt. 26:25; Heb. 12:2)
(Please illustrate with experiences that apparently the losing of the soul is a suffering, but actually it is a real joy.)
T2 To save the soul is to preserve the soul in its enjoyment (Matt. 25:21-23)
(Please illustrate with experiences that how we can lose our soul in our daily lives.)
