Taking Christ as our person and living Him in and for the church life
Message One
Experiencing the central work of God and Taking Christ as our person in and for the church life
Opening Word of the Prophesying Meeting
Reading the verses in each day:
Reading the main points in the outlines:
Pray-reading the verses:
That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love—Eph.3:17
My children, with whom I travail again in birth until Christ is formed in you—Gal.4:19
Word of Appetizer
What is God’s central work, His unique work, in the universe and throughout all the ages and generations?
God’s central work, His unique work, in the universe and throughout all the ages and generations is to work Himself in Christ into His chosen people, making Himself one with them. God’s purpose is to work Himself into us, making Himself our inward elements. This purpose is the center of the universe, and apart from this purpose the Christian life is meaningless.
Spiritual Burden
In order to have the church life, we need to be strengthened into our spirit as the inner man so that Christ, a living person, may make His home in our heart.
We should take Christ as our person and allow Christ to live in us and make His home in our heart so that we may be filled unto all the fullness of God in order to be the practical manifestation of the church as the Body of Christ.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
In and for the church life, we need to experience the central work of God. God’s central work, His unique work, in the universe and throughout all the ages and generations is to work Himself in Christ into His chosen people, making Himself one with them.
In and for the church life, we need to take Christ as our person.
The Experience of Life
As regenerated believers, we have both the “I” (the self), our former person, and Christ, our new person. The “I,” the former person, has been crucified. When we take Christ as our person and live not by ourselves but by Christ as the person, we become one with Him and no longer do anything according to our preference and taste but do everything according to His preference and taste.
Practice and Application
We cooperate with God’s central work by being poor in spirit (Matt. 5:3) and pure in heart (v. 8), seeking the Lord with a single heart (Psa. 27:4), turning to the Lord (2 Cor. 3:16), caring for the sense of life (Rom. 8:6), being willing to be enlightened (Eph. 1:17-18), and opening our whole being to the Lord to be filled with God as our content (3:16-19).
In order to take Christ as our person, we need to deny our purpose, aim, and preference and take His purpose, aim, and preference.
Using Key Verses to Have a Bird’s-Eye View over the Whole Outline
Key Verses (1)
My children, with whom I travail again in birth until Christ is formed in you—Gal.4:19
If therefore anyone cleanses himself from these, he will be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, useful to the master, prepared unto every good work.—2 Tim.2:21
I In and for the church life, we need to experience the central work of God.
- God’s central work, His unique work, in the universe and throughout all the ages and generations is to work Himself in Christ into His chosen people, making Himself one with
- God desires not mainly to do things for us but to work Himself into our
- The principle in God’s work is to gain persons and by gaining them to have a way to go In the church life the importance of the person far exceeds that of the work.
- We cooperate with God’s central work by being poor in spirit (Matt. 5:3) and pure in heart (v. 8), seeking the Lord with a single heart (Psa. 27:4), turning to the Lord (2 3:16), caring for the sense of life (Rom. 8:6), being willing to be enlightened (Eph. 1:17-18), and opening our whole being to the Lord to be filled with God as our content (3:16-19).
Key Verses (2)
I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.—Gal.2:20
Therefore we do not lose heart; but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.—2 Cor.4:16
II In and for the church life, we need to take Christ as our person
A. God’s intention in His economy is to work Himself into us not only as our life, but also as our person
B. Our regenerated spirit is the inner man with the indwelling Christ as its person
C. As regenerated believers, we have both the “I” (the self), our former person, and Christ, our new person
D. To take Christ as our person requires that we deny the self, our fallen person; we need to deny our soul-life and live by our new person, the indwelling Christ—Matt. 16:24-25; Col. 1:27.
Key Verses (3)
And He died for all that those who live may no longer live to themselves but to Him who died for them and has been raised.—2Cor.5:15
That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love—Eph.3:17
II In and for the church life, we need to take Christ as our person.
E.In order to take Christ as our person, we need to deny our purpose, aim, and preference and take His purpose, aim, and preference.
F. When we take Christ as our person and live not by ourselves but by Christ as the person, we become one with Him and no longer do anything according to our preference and taste but do everything according to His preference and taste.
G. In order to have the church life, we need to be strengthened into our spirit as the inner man so that Christ, a living person, may make His home in our heart.
H. If we take Christ as our person, we will live Him out as the proper church life.
Prophesying Topics—Twelve Topics per Week
D1
T1 God’s central work, His unique work, in the universe and throughout all the ages and generations (Eph.3:17)
(Please explain that God desires not mainly to do things for us but to work Himself into our being.)
T2 God has one specific purpose in man.(Gal.4:19)
(Please explain that God’s purpose is to work Himself into us, making Himself our inward elements)
D2
T1 In the church life the importance of the person far exceeds that of the work(Eph.2:10)
(Please explain that the principle in God’s work is to gain persons.)
T2 To learn to be the proper person more than to learn to do the proper things(2Tim.2:21)
(Please explain that It is meaningless for things to be done properly without the person being a proper one.)
D3
T1 God’s intention to build Himself in Christ into us. (2Sam.7:12-14)
(Please explain that what Second Samuel 7 shows to us by the unveiling of a prophecy through typology.)
T2 We cooperate with God’s central work .(Matt.5:3;8)
(Please explain that how can we cooperate with God’s central work .)
D4
T1 the inner man and the outer man(2Cor.4:16)
(Please explain that what is the inner man and the outer man.)
T2 Our regenerated spirit is the inner man with the indwelling Christ as its person.(Eph. 3:17a)
(Please explain that to live by the inner man is to live by Christ as our person, because Christ is in the inner man as its life.)
D5
T1 Christ is not only our life but also our person.(Gal. 2:20)
(Please explain the difference between life and the person.)
T2 to deny our soul-life and live by our new person, the indwelling Christ(Matt. 16:24-25; Col. 1:27.)
(Please explain by example that in the daily life, how can we exercise to take Christ as our person.)
D6
T1 Christ, who is our person, is for the church life.(Gal.2:20)
(Please explain that If we take Christ as our person, we will live Him out as the proper church life.)
T2 Christ, a living person as our person, is the content of the church life.(Gal. 1:1-2, 15-16; 4:19.)
(Why if we want to live the church life we must take Christ as our person?)
