Experience the Christ
Opening Word of the Prophesying Meeting
Message Two
Knowing and Experiencing Christ as the Pattern
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Doing nothing by way of selfish ambition nor by way of vainglory, but in lowliness of mind considering one another more excellent than yourselves; Not regarding each his own virtues, but each the virtues of others also. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus,-Phil.2:3-5.
Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider being equal with God a treasure to be grasped, But emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, becoming in the likeness of men.-6-7.
Word of Appetizer
How do we experience Christ as our pattern?
Christ as our pattern is not only objective but also subjective and experiential; the One who set up the pattern and who Himself is the pattern is now operating within us as the indwelling God.
We have Christ crucified as our pattern, and this pattern is the crucified life within us; When we live Christ, we live the One who is the pattern of a crucified life, By living a crucified life, we can experience the power of resurrection.
Spiritual Burden
There is an urgent need among us in the Lord’s recovery today to experience Christ as our pattern—Christ as God-man Savior, who emptied Himself and humbled Himself and who has been exalted and glorified by God.We need to live Christ in His human living, especially in His emptying Himself and humbling Himself and in His not grasping equality with God as a treasure.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
If we would know Christ as the pattern, we should let the mind which was in Christ Jesus be in us.
In order to experience Christ, we need to know Him as the pattern；The pattern of the Christian life is the God-man Savior, who emptied Himself and humbled Himself and who has been exalted and glorified by God.
There is an urgent need among us in the Lord’s recovery today to experience Christ as our pattern；the One who set up the pattern and who Himself is the pattern is now operating within us as the indwelling God.
The Experience of Life
”In Philippians 2:5 “let the mind which was in Christ Jesus be in us”. Once we let the living mind of Christ be in us, this mind will transform us.
We have Christ crucified as our pattern, and this pattern is the crucified life within us；When we live Christ, we live the One who is the pattern of a crucified life, By living a crucified life, we can experience the power of resurrection.
Practice and Application
We need to take Christ’s mind as our mind, opening ourselves to “let this mind” be in us; To have “this mind” requires us to be one with Christ in His inward parts, in His tender, inward feeling and in His thinking.
We need to live Christ in His human living, especially in His emptying Himself and humbling Himself and in His not grasping equality with God as a treasure.
Using Key Verses to Have a Bird’s-Eye View over the Whole Outline
Key Verses (1)
Doing nothing by way of selfish ambition nor by way of vainglory, but in lowliness of mind considering one another more excellent than yourselves;Not regarding each his own virtues, but each the of others also.Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.-Phil.2:3-5.
I.If we would know Christ as the pattern, we should let the mind which was in Christ Jesus be in us
.We need to take Christ’s mind as our mind, opening ourselves to “let this mind” be in us; Lowliness of mind is in contrast to both selfish ambition and vainglory.
.To have “this mind” requires us to be one with Christ in His inward parts, in His tender, inward feeling and in His thinking.
.For the mind of Christ to be in us means that this mind is something living; actually, the mind of Christ is Christ Himself, for the person of Christ is manifested in His mind.
Key Verses (2)
Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider being equal with God a treasure to be grasped, But emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, becoming in the likeness of men; And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, and that the death of a cross. Therefore also God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name.-Phil.2:6-9.
I.In order to experience Christ, we need to know Him as the pattern
A.In Philippians 2:5-9 Paul presents Christ as the pattern; we need to have this pattern infused into us.
B.The pattern of the Christian life is the God-man Savior, who emptied Himself and humbled Himself and who has been exalted and glorified by God:
.Although the Lord was equal with God, He did not consider being equal with God a treasure to be grasped and retained; rather, He emptied Himself, laying aside what He possessed—the form of God.
. The Lord became “in the likeness of men”; the likeness of men denotes the outward appearance of His humanity.
. Christ humbled Himself by becoming obedient even unto death—the death of a cross.
. The Son willingly emptied Himself to become a created man as the representation of submission to authority.
. The Lord humbled Himself to the uttermost, but God exalted Him to the highest peak and bestowed on Him “the name which is above every name”.
Key Verses (3)
According to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I will be put to shame, but with all boldness, as always, even now Christ will be magnified in my body, whether through life or through death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.-Phil.1:20-21.
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.
III.There is an urgent need among us in the Lord’s recovery today to experience Christ as our pattern
. Christ as our pattern is not only objective but also subjective and experiential; the One who set up the pattern and who Himself is the pattern is now operating within us as the indwelling God.
. The principle of Christ as the inward pattern for our living is that even if we have the highest standard of the highest position, we should not grasp it.
. We need to live Christ in His human living, especially in His emptying Himself and humbling Himself and in His not grasping equality with God as a treasure.
. We have Christ crucified as our pattern, and this pattern is the crucified life within us.
Prophesying Topics—Twelve Topics per Week
D1
T1 The subject of the book of Philippians is the experience of Christ.（Phil.2:3~5）
(Illustrate what is the means of living Christ in the Book of Philippians Chapter 2 and Chapter3 ?)
T2 Christ is to let the living mind that was in Christ Jesus be in us.（Phil.2:5）
（Please explain that To have the mind of Christ in us is for our transformation with experience.）
D2
T1 Christ is our pattern（Phil.2:6~8）
(According to Philippians 2:6-8, please explain how does Christ empty Himself and humble Himself.)
T2 know Christ as our pattern（Phil.2:5~11）
( In Philippians 2:5-11, how does Paul explain that Christ is our pattern.)
D3
T1 The obedience in the Godhead is the most wonderful thing in the whole universe.（Phil.2:6~8）
（Please explain that The Son willingly emptied Himself to become a created man as the representation of submission to authority）
T2 learn to be obedient in sufferings.（Heb.5:8）
（Please explain that A man’s usefulness is not in whether he has suffered, but in whether he has learned obedience in suffering.）
D4
T1 Instead of grasping what we have（Phil.2:6~7）
(Suppose the wife of a certain brother gives him a difficult time. What is the way for him to be saved in this situation?)
T2 God operating within us.（Phil.2:13）
（Please explain that In ourselves we are not able to follow the divine pattern with experience.）
D5
T1 The Lord’s humiliation involved seven steps（Phil.2:6~8）
（Please explain that The seven steps of Christ’s humiliation are all aspects of the crucified life.）
T2 Christ is not only our pattern but also our life.（Gal.6:14）
（Please explain that We have a life within us that truly is a self-emptying and self-humbling life with experience.）
D6
T1 The gate through which we enter into the power of resurrection is the crucified life.（Phil.3:9）
（Please explain that whenever you did not take the crucified life as your pattern, you were living a life of rivalry for vainglory with experience.）
T2 resurrection power is Christ Himself.（Phil.3:10a，Eph.1:19~22）
（Please explain that By living a crucified life, we can experience the power of resurrection with experience.）
