Wednesday, April 22, 2009

One Man Speaking or All Prophesying?

Let's Pray:

Lord, open the secrets of Your Word so that we may learn how to prophesy that the churches may be built up. We desire to see the defeat of the enemy. even crush him under our feet.
 
Hymn: 864
 
Whene'er we meet with Christ endured,
The surplus of His plentitude
We offer unto God as food,
And thus exhibit Christ.

Let us exhibit Christ,
Let us exhibit Christ;
We'll bring His surplus to the church
And thus exhibit Christ.
 
Today's Verses and Footnotes: 1 Cor 16:1-24

Key Verses:

1 Cor 14:26 What then, brothers? Whenever you come together, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.

1 Cor 14:31 For you can all prophesy one by one that all may learn and all may be encouraged.
 
Life Supply:

In addition to calling on the name of the Lord, those in the early church did a great deal of speaking about the Lord Jesus. They spoke about Him to one another and to the unbelievers. Their speaking was a way of prophesying, the kind of prophesying emphasized in the New Testament. Unlike the prophets in the Old Testament, those who believe in Christ do not need to wait for the Spirit of the Lord to come upon them in order to prophesy. From the time we first called on the name of the Lord, Christ as the living Spirit has been in our spirit. For this reason, Paul could say, “He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit” (6:17). How marvelous that the Spirit is mingled with our spirit! Furthermore, this spirit is subject to us (14:32). Because our spirit is subject to us, there is no longer the need to wait for the Spirit to come upon us. Instead, we simply need to exercise our spirit. Surely the Christians in the beginning of the church life exercised their spirit to speak to one another and to unbelievers on behalf of the Lord.

Whenever we gather together in the meetings of the church, we should exhibit what we daily enjoy of the Lord. In an exhibition people manifest or display something they have or have produced. It is possible to exhibit only what we have, not what we do not have. The proper Christian meeting should be an exhibition of our Christian life. It should be a display of the riches of Christ we experience in our daily walk. If we exercise our spirit to contact the Lord daily, then in the church meetings we shall have something of Christ to share with the saints.

I have the full assurance that the Lord intends to recover our intimate daily contact with Himself and our living by Him. In particular, I expect the Lord to gain the young people in this regard because they are less under the influence of tradition. Let us all rise up to repudiate traditional Christianity. If we repudiate the religious traditions and care only for the living Christ, we shall have a proper spirit, a spirit of power, love, and a sober mind. Then in the meetings we shall bubble over with the Spirit. The more we speak of the Lord, the more we shall have to say. (Life-Study of 1 Corinthians, pp.576-577, 582)
 
Questions:

1. What is the most important matter in the church meeting? (See 1 Cor 14:1 note 3)
2. How should we prepare for the church meeting? (See 1 Cor 14:26 note 1)
3. Can we all prophesy? (See 1 Cor 14:31 note 1)

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