You can all prophesy one by one… —1 Cor. 12:31

2019 TGC Message One

Knowing And Experiencing the All-Inclusive, Extensive Christ

Opening Word of the Prophesying Meeting

Message One

The Will of God concerning the All-inclusive, Extensive Christ

Reading the verses in each day.

Reading the main points in the outlines.

Pray-reading the verses:

Col. 1:9b-10     …that you may be filled with the full knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, to walk worthily of the Lord to Please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and growing by the full knowledge of God,

Col. 1:17-18     And He is before all things, and all things cohere in Him; And He is the Head of the Body, the church; He is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that He Himself might have the first place in all things

Word of Appetizer

What is God’s will according to His desire and intention in the whole universe, in creation, in redemption, in the present age, in the coming age, and in eternity?

The entirety of Colossians is the answer to this question.  If we read this book, we would understand that the answer is Christ Himself.  The will of God is in Christ, concentrated in Christ, and, for Christ; Christ is everything in the will of God.  We must use spiritual wisdom, and our spiritual understanding that is renewed by the Spirit, to understand and interpret these things.

Spiritual Burden

Concerning the All-inclusive, extensive Christ, God’s will for us is that we would know Christ, experience Christ, enjoy Christ, be saturated with Christ, and have Christ become our life and person.

 Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting

 

The Revelation of the Truth

God is a God of purpose, having a will of His own pleasure, and He created all things for His will that He might accomplish and fulfill His purpose.

Colossians is a book concerning the great, eternal will of God.

The will of God for us is that we know the all-inclusive, extensive Christ, experience Him, and live Him as our life.

The Experience of Life

The all-inclusive, extensive Christ is in us, but we need to see Him, know Him, be filled with Him, be saturated with Him, and be absolutely one with Him.

We should allow the all-inclusive, extensive Christ to fill our whole being and to replace our culture with Himself.

Practice and Application

We need to be filled with the full knowledge of God’s will; the will of God for us is that we know the all-inclusive, extensive Christ, experience Him, and live Him as our life.

We should estimate and evaluate everything according to the all-inclusive, extensive Christ.

We should walk in Christ, that is to live, act, behave and have our being in Him; we need to be mature, able to stand, and have a clear vision of God’s will.

 

Using Key Verses to Have a Bird’s-Eye View over the Whole Outline

Key Verses (1)

Rev. 4:11b       You have created all things, and because of Your will they were, and were created.

Eph. 1:9          Making known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself

Eph. 1:11a      In whom also we…, having been predestinated according to the purpose of the One who works all things according to the counsel of His will.

I. God is a God of purpose, having a will of His own pleasure, and He created all things for His will that He might accomplish and fulfill His purpose

  • God’s will is God’s wish; God’s will is what He wants to do.
  • God’s good pleasure is of God’s will; His good pleasure is embodied in His will
  • God’s will is His determination for the carrying out of His purpose
  • God has made known to us the mystery of His will through His revelation in Christ, that is, through Christ’s incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension.
  • God works all things according to the counsel of His will; God’s will is His intention, and His counsel is His consideration of the way to accomplish His will.

Key Verses (2)

Col. 1:9-10       since the day we heard of it, do not cease praying and asking on your behalf that you may be filled with the full knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, To walk worthily of the Lord to please Him in all things, bearing fruit in every good work and growing by the full knowledge of God,

Col. 4:12b        …always struggling on your behalf in his prayers that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.

II. Colossians is a book concerning the great, eternal will of God

  • The will of God mentioned in this book is not His will in small matters—it is the eternal will of God, the great will of God.
  • Colossians reveals what God’s will is according to His desire and intention in the whole universe, in creation, in redemption, in the present age, in the coming age, and in eternity.
  • We need to be filled with the full knowledge of God’s will; to know and experience the all-inclusive, extensive Christ requires “all spiritual wisdom and understanding”.
  • Walking worthily of the Lord issues from having the full knowledge of God’s will; such a walk is one in which we live Christ
  • We need to stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.

Key Verses (3)

Col. 1:15          Who is the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of all creation.

Col. 1:17-18     And He is before all things, and all things cohere in Him; And He is the Head of the Body, the church; He is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that He Himself might have the first place in all things.

Col. 3:10-11     And have put on the new man, which is being renewed unto full knowledge according to the image of Him who created him…but Christ is all and in all.

III. The will of God for us is that we know the all-inclusive, extensive Christ, experience Him, and live Him as our life

  • The will of God is in Christ, concentrated in Christ, and for Christ; Christ is everything in the will of God.
  • For Christ to be the Firstborn of both the original creation and the new creation means that He is both all-inclusive and extensive.
  • The Christ unveiled in Colossians is the all-inclusive, extensive, preeminent One, the centrality and universality, the center and the circumference, of God’s economy.
  • The will of God is that the all-inclusive, extensive Christ be our portion, our life, our constituent, and our peace.
  • We should estimate and evaluate everything according to the all-inclusive, extensive Christ.
  • We need to be infused, saturated, and permeated with the all-inclusive, extensive Christ until in our experience, He is everything to us.

 

Prophesying Topics—Twelve Topics per Week

D1

T1  God is a God of purpose. (Col. 1:9; Rev. 4:11)

(Please illustrate how God has created all things, according to His intention, to accomplish His will.)

T2  In God’s plan, Christ is the head of all creation. (Eph. 1:10; Col. 1:15, 18)

(Please illustrate according to the Bible, how Christ is the firstborn of both the old creation and the new creation.)

D2

T1 Colossians is a book concerning the great, eternal will of God (Col. 1:9; 4:12)

(Please illustrate how Colossians spoke of God will, having nothing to do with our daily living.)

T2 The full knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. (Col. 1:9b)

(How do we come to the full knowledge of God’s will?)

D3

T1  Having the full knowledge of God’s will allow us to walk worthily of the Lord.  (Col. 1:9-10)

(Please illustrate that walking worthily of the Lord issues from having the full knowledge of God’s will.)

T2 Growing by the full knowledge of God.(Col. 1:10)

(Please illustrate the way Christ is magnified within us.)

D4

T1 Colossians reveal Christ is all (Col. 1:15, 18)

(Please illustrate what Colossians reveal of Christ is all-inclusive and extensive.)

T2 Christ is limitless, His revelation must also be limitless. (Col. 1:15-19)

(Please illustrate that that we should not be limited by other Christian’s narrow view of Christ.)

D5

T1 God’s economy is to work a wonderful person into our being. (Col. 1:15-18; 2:16-17; 3:10-11)

(Please illustrate that the all-inclusive and extensive Christ is the center and circumference of God’s economy.)

T2 Colossians reveal that God wants Christ; He only wants Christ (Coll. 3:10-11)

(Please illustrate why we will stop all of our works if we see this.)

D6

T1 Estimating and evaluating everything according to the all-inclusive, extensive Christ(Col. 2:8)

(Please illustrate that God’s intention is to have the all-inclusive and extensive Christ to be our life and person.)

T2 The Need to be infused, saturated with the all-inclusive, extensive Christ(Col. 1:27, 2:16-17)

(Please illustrate that Christ desires to replace every element of our natural life and culture with Himself.)