The Growing of the Word of God for the Building Up of the Church
Scripture Reading: Acts 6:7; 12:24; 19:20; 2 Tim. 2:15; 1 Cor. 14:23-24
I. The Acts never tells us that the Spirit grew and multiplied but that the Word grew and multiplied—Acts 6:7; 12:24; 19:20:
A. The Word is the real contents, the real constituents of the New Testament economy of God; God’s Word constitutes the New Testament Bible and also constitutes the very New Testament economy of God; we should pray that we may have the Spirit as power to spread the Word— John 1:1; 2 Tim. 3:16; Acts 6:7; 12:24; 19:20.
B. There are three sections in the book of Acts concerning the move of the Lord through His Word—Acts 6:7; 12:24; 19:20:
1. Chapter six is the end of the first section where it says the word of God grew —Acts 6:7.
2. Chapter twelve is the end of the second section and tells us that “the word of God grew and multiplied”—12:24.
3. Chapter nineteen is the end of another section, telling us that “The word of the Lord grew mightily and was strong”—19:20.
C. “But the word of God grew and multiplied”; this verse is a declaration of the Lord’s move on earth from Jerusalem, through Samaria, to the Gentile world; which was altogether victorious over the situation—1:8; 12:24:
1. The reason the church has had a great increase is that the leading brother studies the Word with the full-timers so that they are strengthened to speak the truth; this attracts people.
2. When the believers grow, the word within them grows; when the churches multiply, the word multiplies within the churches—Col. 3:16.
D. In order for the word of God to grow, multiply, and prevail, we need to enjoy the word of God’s grace; we should receive the word of grace in such a way that we become God’s word, that is, God’s speaking the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God—Acts 14 Acts 14 Acts 14Acts 14:3; 3; 3; 20 :32 .
II. “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, an unashamed workman, cutting straight the word of the truth”—2 Tim. 2:15; Psa. 119:130:
A. Our teaching and speaking depend on the Spirit, but when we teach and speak, our words must be logical and follow a line of thought — 2 Tim. 2:15:
1. We must preach these truths as the gospel to others; when we go to preach, whether others can understand or not depends on how we speak; if we speak clearly, plainly, and logically, then everyone will be able to understand; if we speak clumsily and ambiguously, then no one will be able to understand—1 Tim. 2:7; 2 Tim. 1:11; 2:15.
2. Just as a carpenter has the skill to cut wood in a straight way, so the Lord’s workman needs the skill to cut straight the word of truth— 2 Tim. 2:15.
B. We do not need to argue with anyone; just open up the holy Word to them; the most profitable way to convince people is to use the holy Word—Psa. 119:105, 130.
C. If we have the burden within that Lord’s recovery would spread to every place, it is not enough just to preach the superficial gospel of Christianity; we must announce to people the major truths in the Bible as the gospel; for this reason we must study them diligently—Eph. 3:8; 5:16; Col. 4:5; 1 Tim. 2:4.
III. In the churches today there should be prophets receiving the divine revelation and the light, prophets who know the truth, who have the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge, and who speak for God and speak God forth into others—Acts 1:8; 1 Cor. 14:4, 23-24:
A. We still need to know Christ with an opened Bible; so in our meetings we must look to the Lord that He would grant us this, that He would give us an opened Bible that we may see more things of Christ—Luke 24:27, 32:
1. We cannot take the old way of our meeting life to help them grow in life mainly by inspiration, but no solid truth has been constituted into their being that can remain in their memory.
2. We can say that he was speaking what the Lord was speaking; these words were not words of inspiration, but words that were the result of Paul’s constitution—1 Cor. 7:40.
B. We also need to learn to speak in the “official” way, in a weighty way that imparts some definite points of the truth to others—2 Cor. 2:15; Isa. 11:9.
C. To become rich, we need to pick up the interpretation of any word, any verse, any chapter, or any book of the Bible:
1. “And as I watched the living creatures, I saw a wheel upon the earth beside the living creatures, for each of their four faces”—Ezek. 1:15:
a. The words “wheel”, “faces”, “upon the earth” in Ezekiel 1:15.
b. The wheel signifies God’s economy and God’s move in His economy; the high and awesome wheels being upon the earth shows that God needs a move on the earth.
c. The wheels being for the four faces of the living creatures indicates that if we would have the Lord’s move, we must first live out the Lord, expressing Him—Ezek. 1:15.
2. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! / For your love is better than wine, brought me into his chambers—S. S. 1:2-4:
a. The words “me”, “kiss”, “chambers” in Song of Songs 1:2-4.
b. “me” implies personal; “kiss” implies affectionate; “chambers” implies private and spiritual—S. S. 1:2-4.
c. In order to participate in the Lord’s move, we must have a personal, affectionate, private, and spiritual relationship with Him—S. S. 1:2-4.
D. God’s way to carry out His economy is to use His holy Word; we fully realized that to produce the church, to have the church exist, and to build up the church we needed to put out the solid, living truths full of Christ, full of the Spirit, and full of life—Matt. 16:18; 1 Cor. 14:4.
