According to 1 Corinthians 14 the meetings of the believers should be meetings for God's speaking. The meetings in Christianity are for one speaker to speak, but according to 1 Corinthians 14, all the saints should be speakers (v. 26, 31).
The first verse of 1 Corinthians 14 says that we should pursue love and desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that we may prophesy, speaking God, speaking for God, and speaking forth God.
First Corinthians 14:31 says that all the believers can prophesy, speaking God, speaking for God, and speaking forth God, one by one. I am concerned that many of us have never spoken in a church meeting. We may use only our eyes and ears in the meeting, and leave our mouth at home. We have to exercise our spirit and use our mouth in the meetings to speak for the Lord.
Verses 3 through 4 unveil to us that prophesying, speaking God, speaking for God, and speaking forth God, builds up, encourages, and consoles people.
Verse 5 says that the apostle Paul desired especially that we would prophesy, speaking God, speaking for God, and speaking forth God, and that greater is he who prophesies, speaking God, speaking for God, and speaking forth God.
For this reason God desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth, that they may prophesy, speaking God, speaking for God, and speaking forth God (1 Tim. 2:4). We cannot and do not speak because we do not have the knowledge of the truth. We need to come to the full knowledge of God's Word, His truth, that we may prophesy.
Hence, we, the believers as the sons of God to be the prophets of God, should speak God's word in season and out of season for the carrying out of God's eternal economy (2Tim. 4:2).
In this message and the previous message we have seen six aspects of the constituents of the vital groups. First, we are the believers in Christ, who are transferred out of Adam into Christ, regenerated to be the new creation, united with Christ in the divine life, and joined to Christ as one spirit. Also, we are the disciples of Christ. We all need to be discipled to be God-men.
Peter was a Jewish fisherman, not a God-man. But Christ called Peter with the intention of discipling him from being a Jew to being a God-man. The One who called Peter, Jesus Christ, was a God-man. He was a Jew, but He did not live a Jewish life. He lived the divine life by denying His Jewish life. Living the divine life made Him divine. Denying the Jewish life made Him mystical. Thus, He was a man in the divine, mystical realm. Peter was in the Jewish, natural realm, but Christ called him with the intention of discipling him for three and a half years to show him what kind of man he should be.
We should not be Jewish men, Chinese men, or American men, but God-men. To disciple a Jew into a God-man is a marvelous doing. The Lord Jesus knew that this would not be a fast work. He knew that it needed three and a half years. He charged Peter to follow Him so that Peter could observe what He did, how He lived, and how He spoke. Apparently Jesus was a Jew, but actually He lived the divine life by denying the Jewish life. This was the way He discipled His followers.
They also saw how He was crucified and resurrected. They saw a God-man living the divine life by denying the natural life through being crucified and resurrected. On the evening of the day of Christ's resurrection, the disciples were meeting in sorrow and fear. Suddenly, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be to you" (John 20:19). Then He breathed into them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit" (v.22). At that time He entered into the disciples. Before that time Peter frequently spoke in a foolish way. But after the Lord breathed Himself into Peter and poured out His Spirit upon him to empower him, Peter gave a marvelous message on the day of Pentecost.
In the four Gospels we see Jesus living the life of a God-man, and in Acts we see the disciples also living such a life. Because they had been discipled by the Lord, He told them that they would be His witnesses. They were also the members of Christ, the parts of Christ, to spread God, multiply Christ, and increase Christ. Three critical words in this message are spreading, multiplication, and increase. God's spreading, Christ's multiplication, and Christ's increase are by our speaking the word of God to dispense Christ as life for the producing and building up of the Body of Christ.
The disciples became the oracle of God, the speaking sons of God. The Lord Jesus spoke continually in His earthly ministry. Some of His marvelous speaking is recorded in Matthew 5 through 7, 13, and 24 through 25 and in John14 through 16 plus His prayer in chapter seventeen. He was the speaking Son of the speaking God. He was God's oracle, and all His brothers, the many saints, are the same. Thus, we are the speaking sons of the speaking God. Eventually, we all become God's prophets, who speak God, speak for God, and speak forth God for the edifying of the saints and the building up of the church, the Body of Christ, to consummate the New Jerusalem for the accomplishment of God's eternal economy. We need to be discipled by the Lord with all the points of these messages.