ONE-MONTH PERFECTING TRAINING
GENERAL SUBJECT
THE LORD NEEDING THE OVERCOMERS

FIFTH SERIES
SERVING THE LORD LIFETIME
TO FULFILL GOD’S ETERNAL ECONOMY

Message One
Knowing the Central Thought of God,
Cooperating with the Central Work of God,
and Living in the Divine Romance

Scripture Reading: Matt. 16:16, 18; Eph. 5:32; 3:16-17a; Gal. 4:19; S. S. 1:2-4

I. If we would live a life for the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose, we need to know the central thought of God-Gen. 2:9-12, 18, 21-23; Rev. 21:2:

A. The central thought of God is to have Christ as His expression through the church-Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3; Eph. 1:22-23; 3:21:

1. The central thought of God is that Christ must have the church as His Body, His bride, His increase, and His counterpart to express Christ in a corporate way; in all the Scriptures nothing is more central, vital, or important than this-Matt. 16:16, 18; Eph. 1:22-23; 5:32.

2. God’s central thought is to make Christ everything to us so that we, the Body of Christ, can be the corporate expression of God in Christ-Col. 3:11:

3. Christ as the expression of God and the church as the Body of Christ constitute the central thought of God; this is the greatest mystery in the universe, and if we do not understand this mystery, we do not know the meaning of the universe and of our human life-Eph. 5:32; Rev. 4:11.

B. The central thought of the divine mind is that we, as living vessels to contain God, should receive God in Christ as our life and life supply; that we need to be transformed into gold, pearl, and precious stones; and that we must be built up together as a living Body, a living counterpart to match Christ-Gen. 2:9-12, 18, 21-23; Rev. 21:2, 9-12, 18-21; 22:17.

II. If we would live a life for the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose, we need to cooperate with the central work of God-Rom. 12:1-2; Gal. 4:19:

A. God’s eternal purpose is to work Himself into us as our life and our everything so that we may take Him as our person, live Him, and express Him-v. 9; 3:11; Gal. 1:15-16; 2:20; 4:19; Phil. 1:20-21a.

B. God’s central work, His unique work in the universe, is to work Himself in Christ into His chosen and redeemed people, making Himself one with them- Gal. 4:19; Eph. 3:17a.

C. God’s purpose is to work Himself into us, making Himself in His Divine Trinity our inward elements; this purpose is the center of the universe, and apart from this purpose the Christian life is meaningless-Rev. 4:11.

D. We need to live a life of consecration for the central work of God and become a person who cooperates with God in His central work; such a person is poor in spirit, pure in heart, and willing to be filled with the Triune God as his content-Rom. 12:1-2; 2 Tim. 1:7; Matt. 5:3, 8; Eph. 3:16-19.

III. If we would live a life for the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose, we need to live in the divine romance-S. S. 1:2-4:

A. The Bible is a romance, in the most pure and the most holy sense, of a universal couple-God in Christ as the Bridegroom and God’s redeemed people as the bride-John 3:29; Matt. 25:6; Rev. 19:7; 21:2, 9-10; 22:17.

B. Song of Songs is a marvelous and vivid portrait, in poetic form, of the bridal love between Christ as the Bridegroom and His lovers as His bride; the subject of Song of Songs is the history of love in an excellent marriage, revealing the progressive experience of an individual believer’s loving fellowship with Christ: the attracting and pursuing stage (1:2-4), the stage of experiencing the cross (2:14), the stage of living in the heavenlies to become God’s new creation in resurrection (4:8), and the stage of becoming the sanctuary, the Holy of Holies (6:4).

C. Only love can keep us in a proper relationship with the Lord-Mark 12:30:

1. Whatever one loves, his whole heart, even his whole being, is set on and occupied and possessed by-1 Tim. 6:10; 2 Tim. 3:2-4; 4:8, 10a.

2. We should love the Lord for His interests and according to His way, taste, intention, and goal-Matt. 16:18; Eph. 4:16; Rev. 19:7-9; 21:2, 10-11; 22:17.

3. It is the love in God that gives Him the yearning to unite, mingle, and incorporate with us, and it is the same love in us that gives us the yearning to unite, mingle, and incorporate with Him-1 John 4:8, 16; John 14:20, 23.

4. We love the Lord because He first loved us, infusing and dispensing His loving essence into us and generating within us the love with which we love Him- 1 John 4:19; Rom. 5:5; 8:35, 39; 15:30.

5. In order to maintain and develop our first love toward the Lord, we need to live before Him as vessels open to Him, loving Him, receiving Him, enjoying Him, being filled with Him, and letting Him be everything to us and do everything in us, through us, and with us for the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose-Rev. 2:4; 2 Cor. 4:7; Rom. 9:21, 23; Eph. 1:9; 3:9-11.

IV. “To grant us that we, having been delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.” –Luke 1:74-75

A. The Lord’s recovery is in need of more full-time workers. The Lord knows who you are. Just be faithful to His speaking and His leading to go full-time. — Psa. 110:3.

B. Without time we can do nothing, and our body is fully in time. Romans 12:1 tells us to present our body. Actually, this means to present our time. Thus, there is the need of a good number of saints who are ready, according to God’s sight, to go full-time. —Rom. 12:1.