Scripture Reading: Acts 1:8, 14; 4:24-31; 6:4, 7; 12:24; 19:20
Ⅰ
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:
A
Prayer, the Spirit, and the Word are the three substances of the power in the Lord’s recovery—Acts 1:8, 14; 4:31; 6:4, 7; 12:24; 19:20.
B
We must pray that we might have the Spirit as the power to spread the Word— 6:7; 12:24; 19:20; cf. 1 Tim. 5:17-18:
１
We must get ourselves saturated, constituted, and even soaked with the holy Word; if we are burdened to preach the gospel, we must get into the Word and be persons who know the Word—Col. 3:16.
２
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—Eph. 5:18; Acts 2:38; 5:32b; 4:8, 31; 13:9, 52.
C
The early disciples could not have maintained the one accord if they had had different ways, means, agents, or substances for them to carry out the Lord’s move on this earth; in order to maintain the unique one accord, we all must learn to do the same thing by the same way—1:14; 4:31.
D
We must not think of taking a way other than prayer, the Spirit, and the Word; any other way will cause dissension and division.
Ⅱ
Sanctification through the Word results in oneness by dealing with the factors of division; truth sanctifies, and sanctification issues in oneness—John 17:14-24:
A
The sanctifying word, the sanctifying Spirit, the sanctifying life, and the sanctifying God are all one; therefore, if we are being sanctified, we are one spontaneously because all the factors of division are taken away.
B
In John 17:17-23 we see that sanctification issues in the genuine oneness because this sanctification keeps us in the Triune God; verse 21 says, “That they all may be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us”:
１
In order to be one, we need to be in the “Us,” that is, in the Triune God.
２
The only way to be in the Triune God is by the sanctifying truth that deals with all the factors of division.
３
By being kept in the Triune God, we are one, but whenever we are out of the Triune God, we are divided immediately.
４
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.
５
When the factors of division in us are put to death by the sanctifying truth, we are brought into the genuine oneness, for sanctification keeps us in the Triune God.
６
Sanctification through the word of the truth results in the oneness of the Body of Christ, which is the enlarged oneness of the Triune God—v. 21.
C
There are four factors of division:
１
The first of these factors is worldliness; as long as we love the world in a certain aspect, that aspect of worldliness becomes a cause of division—vv. 14-16, 18; 1 John 2:15-17; 5:19.
２
Another cause of division is ambition; when we contact the Lord through the Word and allow Him to infuse Himself into us, the truth thus imparted into our being kills our ambition—cf. Isa. 14:13.
３
A third cause of division is self-exaltation; we should be willing to be nobody and to exalt Christ as the only Somebody, the One who has the universal preeminence—Col. 1:18; 2 Cor. 4:5; 3 John 9-11.
４
The fourth factor of division is opinions and concepts; we should not hold on to our opinion but simply pursue the Lord’s goal: the recovery of Christ as life and as everything for the building up of the church—Matt. 16:21-24; cf. Rev. 3:14.
Ⅲ
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—John 17:11, 17, 21-23; Eph. 4:1-6:
A
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—John 17:21-23.
B
This sanctification takes place by the Word, which is the truth, and by the Spirit, who is the Spirit of truth:
１
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.
２
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.
３
Every day we need to make this move, for in the self there are worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, and opinions and concepts.
４
If we continually touch the Word and allow the Spirit to touch us day by day, we will be sanctified; that is, we will move out of ourselves, our old lodging place, and into the Triune God, our new lodging place.
５
Once we are out of ourselves, we are sanctified, separated from the factors of division and separated not only unto God but also into God.
６
To have the genuine oneness and the one accord, we must first move out of ourselves and into the Triune God (vv. 17, 21); then we must allow Christ to live in us (v. 23a) so that we can be one with the saints in any locality.
C
“I in them, and You in Me, that they may be perfected into one”; this perfected oneness is the real building; it is the growth in life—v. 23; Eph. 4:16:
１
To be perfected into one means to be rescued from worldliness, ambition, self-exaltation, and opinions and concepts.
２
“I in them”—this means that the Son is living and moving in us.
３
“You in Me”—this means that the Father is living and moving in the Son.
４
In other words, while the Son lives and moves in us, the Father lives and moves in Him; by this twofold living and moving, we are perfected into one, and we express the Father in glory.
D
Ambition is implied in John 17:21; self-exaltation, in verse 22; and concepts and opinions, in verse 23:
１
In the Triune God there is no ambition, in the glory of the Father there is no self-exaltation, and in the place where Christ lives and reigns there are no opinions and concepts.
２
In the divine and mystical realm of the processed Triune God, ambition is swallowed up, self-exaltation disappears, and concepts and opinions are killed; here there is no evil of division in the Satan-systematized world (v. 15); instead, there is genuine oneness.
E
Genuine oneness is living in the Father, allowing Christ to live in us, and living in the Father’s glory, His expression—vv. 22, 24:
１
We need to move out of ourselves and into the Triune God and remain in Him for the Father’s expression, His glory.
２
The real building, the oneness, and the one accord as the practice of the oneness is possible only in the Triune God, and it is prevailing only when Christ lives in us; then we can express the Father in glory and experience the genuine oneness.
Ⅳ
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—1:14; 6:4; 13:1-4:
A
The prayer that we need is the prayer that brought in the outpouring of the Spirit—1:14; 2:1-4, 16-17a.
B
The prayer that we need is the prayer that shook the earth and empowered the disciples with the Holy Spirit to speak the word of God with all boldness—4:24-31.
C
The prayer that we need is the prayer of the apostles to match the ministry of the word—6:4.
D
The prayer that we need is the prayer that brought Peter into a trance and brought a heavenly vision to him—10:9-16.
E
The prayer that we need is the prayer that opened the prison gate for Peter— 12:4-14.
F
The prayer that we need is the prayer that brought the five prophets and teachers into the Lord’s commission—13:1-4.
G
The prayer that we need is the prayer that brought in a great earthquake and shook the foundations of the prison house—16:23-26.
H
The prayer that we need is the prayer that brought Paul into a trance and into the Lord’s speaking to him—22:17-21.
Ⅴ
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—4:24-31; Psa. 2:1-2; Eph. 6:10-20:
A
The prayers that we utter before the Lord must stand against and resist “counter-prayers” that are directed particularly against the church and the work we are carrying out to build up the church—John 17:15; Matt. 6:13; cf. Psa. 31:20.
B
In order to maintain the one accord, to practice the oneness, we need to “persevere in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving” (Col. 4:2); we need to pray without ceasing, keeping ourselves intimately connected to the Lord (1 Thes. 5:17; Matt. 26:41; Col. 2:19).
C
Prayerlessness is a sin; all in the Lord’s recovery must be prayerful and stand against the sin of prayerlessness—1 Sam. 12:23; Col. 4:2.