Knowing, Experiencing, And Enjoying Christ
As Revealed In Philippians
Message One
In order to take Christ as everything and gain Him in all things, we
must learn to continually deny our self and turn to our spirit
OPENING WORD OF THE PROPHESYING MEETING
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Matt. 3:17 And behold, a voice out of the heavens, saying, This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have found My delight.
Phil. 3:13-14 Brothers, …but one thing I do: Forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, I pursue toward the goal for the prize to which God in Christ Jesus has called me upward.
Rom. 8:6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace.
Word of Appetizer
What is the desire of God’s heart? What is God’s goal in His recovery?
.God’s heart’s desire is that every person, every matter, and everything in the universe would express Christ; when everything is headed up in Christ, there will be absolute peace and harmony, and everything in the universe will express Christ. We exist for the expression of Christ, we preach the gospel for the expression of Christ, our work is for the expression of Christ, and the church is for the expression of Christ.
We must see and realize inwardly that God does not want anything other than Christ Himself; God’s goal in His recovery is to recover Christ as everything to us.
Spiritual Burden
In order to take Christ as everything and gain Him in all things, we must learn to continually deny our self and turn to our spirit.
We must learn how to set our mind on the spirit; turning to the spirit is the secret of being a Christian; the way to follow the Lord, enjoy the Lord’s riches, live in the reality of the Body of Christ, and function in the New Testament ministry is to continually exercise to reject our self, lose our soul-life, and turn to our spirit.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
Christ is the desire of God’s heart; God does not want anything other than Christ Himself; God’s goal in His recovery is to recover Christ as everything to us.
We must follow the pattern of Paul in Philippians to take Christ as everything.
We gain Christ that He might gain us.
In order to take Christ as everything and gain Him in all things, we must learn to continually deny our self and turn to our spirit.
The Experience of Life
Gaining Christ causes us to have a sense of God’s presence; we should be afraid of only one thing—that we would lose the presence of our Lord.
Gaining Christ causes us to feel bright and clear inwardly.
Gaining Christ causes us to feel inwardly supplied with Christ as our spiritual food and spiritual drink.
Gaining Christ causes us to grow in life and be transformed into His image.
Gaining Christ causes us to have vitality and to take action.
Practice and Application
In order to take Christ as everything and gain Him in all things, we must learn to continually deny our self and turn to our spirit. We must learn how to set our mind on the spirit; in other words, we must learn how to trust in God and depend on the Lord. Turning to the spirit is the secret of being a Christian; that is to continually exercise to reject our self, lose our soul-life, and turn to our spirit.
Prayer is the real denial of the self. We do not need to pray in a lengthy way; it is sufficient simply to call “O Lord Jesus”; even such a short prayer means “no longer I but Christ”.
PROPHESYING TOPICS—TWELVE TOPICS PER WEEK
Day 1
T1 The desire of God’s heart is entirely centered on Christ (Matt. 3:17; Col. 1:19)
(Please illustrate that God’s intention is to work to such an extent that Christ will fill all things, and even be all things.)
T2 Everything is for the expression of Christ (Col. 1:19, 18)
(Please illustrate that everything in the universe is an expression of Christ.)
Day 2
T1 When Christ enters into us, He not only wants to be our life but also our
everything (John 1:4; 6:35; 20:22)
(Please illustrate with verses that the Lord is coming to us not only to be our life, but to be our everything.)
T2 The Lord is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17; 1 Cor. 6:17)
(Why the greatest need for us today is to see that the Lord Jesus is the Spirit?)
Day 3
T1 Experiencing Christ as Everything (1) (Phil. 1:20-21; 2:5)
(Please illustrate with verses that Paul experienced that Christ as his living and expression, and he also took the mind of Christ as his mind inwardly.)
T2 Experiencing Christ as Everything (2) (Phil. 3:9; 13-14; 4:11-13)
(Please illustrate with verses that Paul’s experince of Christ showing that he is aspired to be found as a person in Christ, and took Christ as the goal, prize, the empowering One and the secret.)
Day 4
T1 Experiencing Christ as life (1) (Exo. 33:14; John 1:4)
(Please illustrate with experiences that the first aspect of Christ being life to us is that we sense the presence of God.)
T2 Experiencing Christ as life (2) (1 Cor. 1:3-4; Dan. 11:32b)
(Please illustrate that the experience of Christ as life is our being inwardly supplied, the life grows in us, and the life is active and takes action.)
Day 5
T1 Learning to set our mind on the spirit (2 Tim. 4:22; Rom. 8:6)
(Please illustrate that a saved person not merely has a created spirit, but also have a regenerated spirit and the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.)
T2 Turning to the spirit is the secret of being a Christian (2 Tim. 4:22; Rom. 8:6)
(Please illustrate that with experiences what is the secret of controlling our thoughts and our mouths.)
Day 6
T1 In matters both great and small, we must first turn to our spirit (Matt. 16:24; Rom. 8:6)
(Please illustrate that we must see clearly that the way to follow the Lord is to reject our soul and turn to our spirit. )
T2 Prayer is the real denial of the self (Matt. 16:24; Rom. 1:13)
(Please illustrate that to pray is actually to declare, “No longer I but Christ”.)
