Living in the Reality of the Kingdom of God
Message Six
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. 25:1-4 At that time the kingdom of the heavens will be likened to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were foolish and five were prudent. For the foolish, when they took their lamps, did not take oil with them; but the prudent took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
14-15 For the kingdom of the heavens is just like a man about to go abroad, who called his own slaves and delivered to them
his possessions. To one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability. And he went abroad.
Word of Appetizer
What dual status do believers have?
The first aspect of this dual status is related to life, and the second aspect is related to service. No Christian should neglect these two aspects; rather, we must pay the proper attention to both, becoming proper in life and in service. Regarding life, we are virgins; regarding service, we are slaves. This means that in watchfulness we are virgins. This relates to what we are. But in faithfulness we are slaves. This relates to what we do.
Spiritual Burden
Every day we need to be watchful by paying the price to buy the Spirit as the golden oil so that we may supply the churches with the Spirit for the testimony of Jesus and be rewarded by the Lord to participate in the marriage dinner of the Lamb.
For service, for work, we need the talent, the spiritual gift, that we may be equipped as a good slave to accomplish what the Lord intends to accomplish. We should always abound in the work of the Lord, knowing that our labor for the Lord in His resurrection life with His resurrection power will never be in vain but will result in the fulfilling of God’s eternal purpose.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
For life, we need oil, the Spirit of God, even His filling, that we may be enabled to live the virgin life for the Lord’s testimony.
For service, for work, we need the talent, the spiritual gift, that we may be equipped as a good slave to accomplish what the Lord intends to accomplish.
The Experience of Life
Through regeneration we have the Holy Spirit in our spirit. This causes our lamp to burn. We need the extra portion of the oil in our soul. This signifies that the Spirit must spread from within our spirit to every part of our soul. Then in our soul we will have an extra amount of the Holy Spirit. If we have this extra portion, we are prudent.
The filling of the Spirit in life enables us to use the spiritual gift in service, and the spiritual gift in service matches the filling of the Spirit in life, that we may be a perfect member of Christ.
Practice and Application
Every day we need to be watchful by paying the price to buy the Spirit as the golden oil so that we may supply the churches with the Spirit for the testimony of Jesus and be rewarded by the Lord to participate in the marriage dinner of the Lamb.
We need to use the Lord’s gift to build up the church by serving others with Christ and ministering Christ as grace to them. We need to supply others with Christ as their spiritual food at the proper time. We should always abound in the work of the Lord, knowing that our labor for the Lord in His resurrection life with His resurrection power will never be in vain.
PROPHESYING TOPICS—TWELVE TOPICS PER WEEK
Day 1
T1 We are not only virgins but chaste, pure virgins (Matt. 25:1-4)
(Please illustrate that being a virgin is not a matter of what we do or are able to do; it is absolutely a matter of what we are.)
T2 Vessels signifies the souls of the believers (Matt. 25:1-4)
(Please illustrate that the difference between the foolish virgins who were foolish and the prudent virgins who were prudent.)
Day 2
T1 Those who do not pay the price do not have the extra portion of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 25:9)
(Please illustrate with examples that what the cost of having the filling of the Holy Spirit is.)
T2 To be watchful is to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Eph. 5:17-19)
(Please illustrate that if we are not being filled all day long, we are not being watchful.)
Day 3
T1 Not to grieve the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:30; 1 Thes. 5:16-19)
(Please illustrate with experiences that if you do not feel happy, this is an indication that you have grieved Him.)
T2 Rising up to live a life of always buying an extra portion of the oil by not wasting your time in doing anything (Eph. 4:30; Rom. 8:4)
(Please illustrate with examples that we have our being according to the spirit, this is to buy the Spirit, and it needs you to pay a great price.)
Day 4
T1 The believers’ status in their relationship toward Christ is of two aspects (Matt. 25:14-15)
(Please illustrate that in life we are the virgins living for Him; in service, we are His purchased slaves serving Him.)
T2 As vessels we need the oil inwardly, and as slaves we need the talents outwardly (Matt. 25:14-15)
(Please illustrate that not only we have a dual status, but the Lord also has a dual status.)
Day 5
T1 At the proper time we have to minister food, the life supply, to the Lord’s people (Matt. 24:45; 1 Cor. 14:31)
(Please illustrate that the Lord, before going to the heavens, delivered to us His church with all the believers.)
T2 To minister the life supply to the master’s folks at the proper time (Matt. 24:45; 1 Cor. 14:31)
(Please illustrate that whenever we meet together, this is one of the proper times, the appointed times, for you to minister the proper food to the Lord’s folks.)
Day 6
T1 The intrinsic significance of that evil slave(Matt. 24:48-49; 25:18-19)
(Please illustrate that what is the intrinsic significance of that evil slave.)
T2 The Lord has given talents to all His slaves …Everyone was required to trade, to do business (Matt. 25:20,22)
(Please illustrate that the way to be faithful servant is to do everything that we can to spread the Word of God.)
