Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (1)
Message Eleven
In the Father’s House—Living in the Place Prepared for Us
through the Death and Resurrection of Christ
OPENING WORD OF THE PROPHESYING MEETING
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
John 14:1-2 Do not let your heart be troubled; believe into God, believe also into Me. In My Father’s house are many abodes; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.
20 In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.
Word of Appetizer
What is the Father’s house? What is the significance of the many mansions in the Father’s house?
The Father’s house is the Triune God – through incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection – working Himself into the believers to completely harmonize with them, so that He can build them into an organism, as His dwelling place and manifestation.
The many mansions are the many members of the Body of Christ, which is the temple of God; all believers in Christ are the mansions of the building of God – the Father’s house; this building is the Body of Christ.
Spiritual Burden
The Father’s house is the Triune God – through incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection – working Himself into the believers to completely harmonize with them, so that He can build them into an organism, as His dwelling place and manifestation; the Father’s house is built by the Father and the Son, with the Spirit, continually indwelling the redeemed elect.
We need to see the inner meaning of living in the Father’s house, the church; living in the Father’s house, the church, is to live in the holy, mysterious sphere of the Spirit of ultimate completion, for the preservation of oneness.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
The central theme of John 14 is that we must believe in God and therefore enter into God.
The Father’s house is the Triune God – through incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection – working Himself into the believers to completely harmonize with them, so that He can build them into an organism, as His dwelling place and manifestation.
The Father’s house, the church, is in the Father God.
We need to see the inner meaning of living in the Father’s house, the church.
The Experience of Life
Through believing in Christ, we have an organic connection with Him, and we are immersed in Him, making the two of us one organically.
We can call God our Father because we have been born of God; now that we are His children, we have a life relationship with Him; through His death and resurrection, the Lord Jesus brought us into Himself; because He is in the Father, we are in the Father through being in Him (the Lord Jesus).
Practice and Application
We, these believers in Christ, all have a place in God and in the Body of Christ, and now we should all live in the place that was prepared for us through the death and resurrection of Christ.
Living in the Father’s house, the church, is to live a shepherding life; living in the Father’s house, the church, is to live in the holy, mysterious sphere of the Spirit of ultimate completion, for the preservation of oneness; living in the Father’s house, the church, is to live in the divine-human merging of the processed and ultimately completed Triune God with the three-part, redeemed, and regenerated believers.
PROPHESYING TOPICS—TWELVE TOPICS PER WEEK
Day 1
T1 To believe in God and to believe into God are different (John 14:1-2)
(Please illustrate that what two very important points are revealed in John 14:1.)
T2 “My Father’s house” refers to God’s dwelling place on earth (John 14:1-2, 1 Tim. 3:15)
(Please illustrate that the correct interpretation of “My Father’s house,” which is the body of Christ, that is, the church.)
Day 2
T1 In the Father’s house there are many dwelling places (John 14:2, 1 Cor. 3:16)
(Please illustrate that what these “dwelling places” mean. )
T2 Throughout the universe, God has only one building—building His living dwelling place with His redeemed people (John 14:2, 1 Cor. 3:16)
(Please illustrate that what “I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2) means.)
Day 3
T1 Through His death and resurrection, He has brought us into God (John 14:3, 20)
(Please illustrate that how the Lord’s redemption is not to prepare a place for us in heaven, but to prepare a place for us in God.)
T2 The Lord’s going is His coming (John 14:18, 28)
(Please illustrate that how the Lord’s going (through death and resurrection) is His coming (to the disciples).)
Day 4
T1 “To abide with Him” and “to prepare a place with Him” are different expressions (John 14:23)
(Why is “The Father and I will come to him and make our abode with him” more meaningful than “The Father and I will abide with him”? )
T2 The Trinity arranges dwelling places with believers for the building of His dwelling place (John 14:21, 23)
(Give a testimony of “longing for oneness with believers for the sake of God’s building.”)
Day 5
T1 God is our Father (1 Thess. 1:1)
(Please illustrate that God is no longer just our Creator, but He has become our Father because we have been born of God.)
T2 I can do nothing on my own, it is all in God, He is the Father, He is the origin of everything (1 Thess. 1:1, Rom. 11:36)
(Please illustrate that why we would not be so confident and not say, “I will do whatever I want” if we truly know that God is our Father.)
Day 6
T1 The one-ness of believers is the one-ness of the Trinity (John 17:21, 23)
(Please illustrate that the true one-ness is in the Trinity.)
T2 The Father’s house is a divine and human union (John 17:21, 23)
(Please illustrate that what the purpose of the Father’s house is. )
