Message Five

Our Spirit Born of God with the Seed of God
for Us to Grow with the Growth of God
for the Building of God

Scripture Reading: 1 John 3:9; 5:4a, 18;
Mark 4:26; 1 Pet. 1:23; Col. 2:19; 1 Cor. 3:9

1. The intrinsic element of the entire teaching of God’s eternal economy is that the Triune God in humanity, the wonderful Christ as the Spirit of the glorified Jesus, is sown into God’s chosen people as the seed of life, the seed of God, so that He might grow in them, live in them, develop in them, and be expressed from within them as the farm of God for the building up of the church as the house of God and the kingdom of God—Mark 4:11-20, 26-29; Matt. 16:18; 1 Cor. 3:9; 1 Pet. 1:23; cf. Deut. 22:9.
2. Regeneration means that the seed of the divine, uncreated, eternal, and unlimited life with the divine nature has been sown into our spirit; through regeneration our spirit has been born of God, and the seed of God abides in it—Mark 4:26; 1 Pet. 1:23; 1 John 3:9; 5:11-12; 2 Pet. 1:4:
   1. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit”—John 3:6:
      1. “Flesh” is our natural man, our old man, our outer man, born of our parents who are flesh; but “spirit,” our regenerated spirit, is our spiritual man, our new man, our inner man, born of God who is the Spirit—2 Cor. 4:16; Eph. 3:16.
      2. The divine Spirit regenerates our human spirit with God’s divine life, thus making our spirit life—Rom. 8:10.
      3. Regeneration brings forth in us a newborn spirit, a new spirit (Ezek. 36:26), indwelt by and mingled with God’s divine Spirit to be one spirit (Rom. 8:16; 1 Cor. 6:17).
   2. “Everything that has been begotten of God overcomes the world”—1 John 5:4a:
      1. The word everything refers especially to our regenerated spirit, our spirit of faith; our regenerated spirit overcomes the world, and our regenerated spirit with the seed of God in it does not practice sin—2 Cor. 4:13; 1 John 3:9.
      2. Our regenerated spirit keeps us from living in sin, and when we are in our regenerated spirit, the evil one does not touch us—5:18; cf. Psa. 91:1-2.
      3. When we are in our spirit where the pneumatic Christ dwells, we are in Christ, the One in whom Satan, the ruler of the world, has nothing (no ground, no chance, no hope, and no possibility in anything)—2 Tim. 4:22; John 14:30b; cf. Phil. 4:13.
      4. The whole world lies in the evil one; the only exception to this is our regenerated spirit—1 John 5:19.
      5. Only one thing in the whole universe does not have Satan’s footprints on it—our regenerated spirit; as long as we remain in our regenerated spirit, we will be kept absolutely in the dispensing Triune God, and Satan will have no way in us—cf. John 17:11, 15; Num. 6:24.
   3. There is only one true God, and this true God is in our spirit; whatever is not in the spirit or of the spirit is an idol, something that is against Christ or that replaces Christ—1 John 5:19-21:
      1. Anything we do that is not in the regenerated spirit and that does not live out the Lord Spirit is an idol; an idol is anything within us that we love more than the Lord and that replaces the Lord in our life—cf. Ezek. 14:3.
      2. We need to flee into the presence of God in our spirit in order to be kept from the evil one and to guard ourselves from idols; we must flee into our spirit to directly touch God and be face to face with God for the growth of His seed in us—Heb. 6:18-20; Exo. 33:11a, 14; 2 Cor. 2:10.
3. The seed of the divine life, the seed of God, that has been sown into us needs to grow in us so that we may grow with the growth of God, with the increase of God as life, and be transformed in life to become precious materials for God’s building in life—Col. 2:19; 1 Cor. 3:6, 9, 12a:
   1. According to the Bible, growth equals building; this takes place by the growth of Christ as the divine seed of life within us; the way to grow is composed of four main items—Eph. 4:15-16:
      1. We must love the Lord; in order to grow, we must go to the Lord to pray definitely and purposely that He will grant us a love for Him—1 John 4:19; 2 Cor. 5:14; Matt. 22:37; John 14:23; 1 Cor. 2:9.
      2. We must deal with the Lord thoroughly by confessing all our failures, shortcomings, weaknesses, filthiness, and trespasses in the light of His presence so that we may have a good and pure conscience—1 John 1:7, 9; 1 Tim. 1:5; 2 Tim. 1:3; Acts 24:16.
      3. We must learn how to discern our spirit and exercise our spirit—Heb. 4:12; Eph. 3:16; 2 Tim. 1:6-7; Rom. 8:6.
      4. We must always stay in contact with the Lord, remaining in touch with Him—1 John 1:3.
   2. After being sown into our spirit, the divine seed needs to grow in the soil of our heart, and this growth needs our cooperation—Matt. 13:3-9, 19-23:
      1. For the growth of Christ as the life seed in us, we must deal with the Lord daily to be poor in spirit, to be emptied in our spirit, acknowledging that we have nothing, know nothing, can do nothing, and are nothing apart from Christ as the Spirit, the new, present, and “now” Christ—5:3.
      2. For the growth of Christ as the life seed in us, we must deal with the Lord daily to be pure in heart, keeping our heart with all vigilance; God wants our heart to be soft, pure, loving, and at peace so that He can have a free way to grow in us—v. 8; Prov. 4:23; Matt. 13:19-23.
      3. For the growth of Christ as the life seed in us, we must drink the guileless milk and eat the solid food of the word of God—1 Pet. 2:2; Heb. 5:12-14.
      4. For the growth of Christ as the life seed in us, we must enjoy the watering of the Spirit by the gifted members of the Body—1 Cor. 3:6, 9.
      5. When Christ as the seed of life grows in us and fully makes His home in our hearts, we will be filled unto all the fullness of God—the Body of Christ as the corporate expression of the Triune God—Eph. 3:17, 19b.