One Accord and Crucial Aspects of the Book of Acts
Message Three
Maintaining the One Accord
by the Three Substances of the Power
in the Lord’s Recovery—
Prayer, the Spirit, and the Word
THE EXTRACT OF THE OUTLINES
Week 3 Maintaining the Being of One Accord by Three Essentials of Power in the Lord’s Recovery—Prayer, The Spirit, and the Word
Scripture Reading:
Acts 4:31 And when they had prayed, the place where they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.
6:4 But we will steadfastly continue in prayer and in the ministry of the word.
Eph. 6:17 And receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of The Spirit, which Spirit is the word of God.
I. We can maintain the being of one accord for God’s move by prayer, The Spirit, and the word; we must labor on the word, labor on prayer, and be diligent with the Holy Spirit—Acts 1:8: (Monday)
A. Prayer, The Spirit, and the word are three essentials of power in the Lord’s recovery—Acts 1:8, 14, 4:31, 6:4, 7.
B. We must pray so that we may have The Spirit as power to propagate the word of the Lord—6:7, cf. 1 Tim. 5:17-18.
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II. The sanctification brought by the word deals with the factors of division, and the result is oneness; the truth sanctifies people, and sanctification produces oneness—John 17:14-24: (Tuesday/Wednesday)
A. The sanctifying word, the sanctifying Spirit, the sanctifying life, and the sanctifying God are all one; therefore, if we are sanctified, since all the factors of division have been removed, we are spontaneously one.
B. We see that sanctification produces genuine oneness, because this sanctification keeps us in The Triune God—John 17:17-23.
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III. When we are transferred out of ourselves into The Triune God, we are one, even being perfected into one, so as to be of one accord—John 17:11, 17, 21-23, Eph. 4:1-6: (Thursday)
A. To be sanctified is to be transferred out of ourselves into The Triune God and to let Christ live in us; in this way we are perfected into one—John 17:21-23.
B. This sanctification is through the word, that is, through the truth; it is also through the Spirit, that is, through the Spirit of reality.
C. “I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one”—v. 23, Eph. 4:16.
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IV. The book of Acts shows us that the prayer we need is for being filled and saturated with The Spirit constitutively and economically, so that all our activities are the activities of the moving God—1:14, 6:4: (Friday)
A. The prayer we need is the prayer that brings in the outpouring of The Spirit—1:14, 2:1-4, 16-17a.
B. The prayer that caused the earth to shake and caused the disciples to be empowered by the Holy Spirit and speak the word of God with boldness—4:24-31.
C. The prayer we need is the prayer that qualified the apostles for the ministry of the word—6:4.
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V. The book of Acts shows us that our working together with God to build up the church is spiritual warfare, and prayer is the secret to completing God’s work—4:24-31, Eph. 6:10-20: (Saturday)
A. The prayers we offer before the Lord must oppose and resist “contrary prayers”—John 17:15.
B. For the sake of maintaining the being of one accord and practicing oneness, we should “steadfastly continue in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving”—Col. 4:2.
C. All who are in the Lord’s recovery must pray much and resist the sin of not praying—1 Sam. 12:23, Col. 4:2.
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…
4:31 And when they had so besought,…they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.
John 17:21 That they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that You have sent Me.
Word of Appetizer
What are the three substances of the power in the Lord’s recovery? How can we maintain the one accord for God’s move?
Prayer, the Spirit, and the Word are the three substances of the power in the Lord’s recovery. We can maintain the one accord by prayer, the Spirit, and the Word for God’s move; we must be those who are toiling in the Word, laboring in prayer, and being diligent in dealing with the Holy Spirit. We should not use anything other than prayer, the Spirit, and the Word to carry on the gospel or the church life. Otherwise, we should be prepared for some side effects like dissension, which will damage the real one accord.
Spiritual Burden
We can maintain the one accord by prayer, the Spirit, and the Word for God’s move; we must be those who are toiling in the Word, laboring in prayer, and being diligent in dealing with the Holy Spirit.
Sanctification through the Word results in oneness by dealing with the factors of division; truth sanctifies, and sanctification issues in oneness. To be sanctified is to move out of ourselves and into the Triune God and to allow Christ to live in us. In this way we are perfected into one.
The book of Acts shows that our working together with God to build up the church is a spiritual warfare and that prayer is the secret to accomplish God’s work. In order to maintain the one accord, to practice the oneness, we need to “persevere in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving”; we need to pray without ceasing, keeping ourselves intimately connected to the Lord.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
Sanctification through the Word results in oneness by dealing with the factors of division; truth sanctifies, and sanctification issues in oneness.
The book of Acts shows the prayer that we need in order to be filled with the Spirit essentially and economically so that all our activities would be the activities of the acting God.
The book of Acts shows that our working together with God to build up the church is a spiritual warfare and that prayer is the secret to accomplish God’s work.
The Experience of Life
When we move out of ourselves and into the Triune God, we are one and are even perfected into one to be in the one accord. As we come to the Word every morning, outwardly we touch the Word, but inwardly the Spirit touches us; by the Word and by the Spirit, both of which are the reality, we are sanctified. The more we touch the Word and the more the Spirit touches us, the more we move out of ourselves; we move from one dwelling place, the self, to another dwelling place, the Triune God. Every day we need to make this move, for in the self there are worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, and opinions and concepts.
Practice and Application
We can maintain the one accord by prayer, the Spirit, and the Word for God’s move; we must be those who are toiling in the Word, laboring in prayer, and being diligent in dealing with the Holy Spirit.
We must pray that we might have the Spirit as the power to spread the Word. We must get ourselves saturated, constituted, and even soaked with the holy Word; we should ask the Lord to bring our entire being into the light and be dealt with by Him to become persons of power, who are full of the Spirit within and without, essentially and economically.
We need to contact the Lord every morning, touch the living Word, and have the divine reality infused into our being; as we contact the Lord in this way, the factors of division are overcome.
We need to pray without ceasing, keeping ourselves intimately connected to the Lord; all in the Lord’s recovery must be prayerful and stand against the sin of prayerlessness.
PROPHESYING TOPICS—TWELVE TOPICS PER WEEK
Day 1
T1 Prayer, the Spirit, and the Word were used for the carrying out of God’s economy (Acts 1:14, 8)
(Please illustrate that in order to maintain the unique one accord we all have to learn to do the same thing by the same way.)
T2 Toiling in the Word, laboring in prayer, and being diligent in dealing with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8, 4:31)
(Please illustrate that we have to spend much time to get into the Word; we have to contact Him day by day and hour after hour; then we will be the right person.)
Day 2
T1 Truth sanctifies, and sanctification issues in oneness (John 17:17, 21)
(Please illustrate that our need is to have the Triune God infused into us through the Word. This infusion works to sanctify us and transform us. )
T2 Sanctification issues in the genuine oneness because this sanctification keeps us in the Triune God (John 17:17, 21)
(Please illustrate that if we desire to have the genuine oneness in the church life, we need the sanctifying truth to deal with our ambition.)
Day 3
T1 A third cause of division is self-exaltation, which usually accompanies ambition (John 17:22-23)
(Please illustrate that in order to keep the genuine oneness, we must learn not to exalt ourselves.)
T2 The fourth factor of division is opinion and concept (John 17:22, Col. 1:18)
(Please illustrate that the four factors of division—worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, and opinion—can be dealt with only by the sanctifying truth.)
Day 4
T1 In order to be in the Triune God, we must move out of ourselves (Eph. 4:4-6)
(Please illustrate that when we are in ourselves, we cannot be one with others.)
T2 Real oneness is not merely relatedness, nor is it merely coordination. It is the growth in life (Eph. 4:4-6)
(Please illustrate that to grow in life means that we move out of ourselves and into the Triune God and allow Christ to live in us.)
Day 5
T1 Praying ourselves into God and of praying God into us (Acts 1:14, 22:17)
(Please illustrate that the prayer that we need is the prayer that brought in the outpouring of the Spirit.)
T2 All the kinds of prayers in the book of Acts (Acts 10:9, 22:17)
(Please illustrate that the book of Acts is a record of the activities of the apostles, and the apostles’ activities were always matched by their prayers.)
Day 6
T1 We need to persevere in prayer because prayer involves a battle, a fight (Eph. 6:18, Col. 4:2)
(Please illustrate that God’s chosen and redeemed people, the ones who will actually decide the outcome of the battle.)
T2 Every step of God’s recovery involves His enemy, and every step requires warfare (Eph. 6:18, Col. 4:2)
(Please illustrate that we must fight and be watchful in everything we do and in every step we take.)
