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 in the Father’s house are many abodes?
The Father’s house is a matter of the Triune God—through incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection—working Himself into the believers in order to be fully mingled with them so that He may build them up as an organism for His dwelling and expression.
The many abodes are the many members of the Body of Christ, which is God’s temple; all the believers in Christ are the abodes in God’s building, the Father’s house; this building is the Body of Christ.
Spiritual Burden
The Father’s house is a matter of the Triune God—through incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection—working Himself into the believers in order to be fully mingled with them so that He may build them up as an organism for His dwelling and expression. the Father’s house is built up by the constant visitation to the redeemed elect of the Father and the Son with the Spirit.
We need to see the intrinsic significance of living in the church as the Father’s house; to live in the church as the Father’s house is to live in the divine and mystical realm of the consummated Spirit for the keeping of oneness.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
The central thought of John 14 is that we must believe into God and thereby enter into God.
The Father’s house is a matter of the Triune God—through incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection—working Himself into the believers in order to be fully mingled with them so that He may build them up as an organism for His dwelling and expression.
The Father’s house, the church, is in God the Father.
We need to see the intrinsic significance of living in the church as the Father’s house.
The Experience of Life
Through believing into Christ, we have an organic union with Him and have our being merged into His so that we two may be one organically.
We can call God our Father because we have been born of Him, and now, as His children, we have a life relationship with Him; by His death and resurrection the Lord Jesus has brought us into Him; since He is in the Father, we are in the Father by being in Him, the Lord Jesus.
Practice and Application
As believers in Christ, we all have a place in God and a place in the Body, and now we should live in the place prepared for us through the death and resurrection of Christ.
To live in the church as the Father’s house is to live a life of shepherding; to live in the church as the Father’s house is to live in the divine and mystical realm of the consummated Spirit for the keeping of oneness; to live in the church as the Father’s house is to live in the divine and human incorporation of the processed and consummated Triune God with the redeemed and regenerated tripartite believers.
PROPHESYING TOPICS—TWELVE TOPICS PER WEEK
Day 1
T1 Believing God is different from believing into God (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 are many abodes (John 14:2, 1 Cor. 3:16)
(Please illustrate that what does “abode mean. )
T2 In all the universe God has only one building—the building of His living habitation 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 was 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 There is a difference between the two expressions abide with and make an abode with (John 14:23)
(Why is “The Father and I will come to him and make an abode with him” is more meaningful than “The Father and I will come to abide with him”?)
T2 The Triune God’s making His abode with the believers is for the building of His habitation (John 14:21, 23)
(Give a testimony of “desiring to be one with the believers for God’s building.”)
Day 5
T1 God is our Father (1 Thess. 1:1)
(Please illustrate that God is no longer merely our Creator; He is also our Father, our Begetter, for He has begotten us with His life.)
T2 We can do nothing and that everything depends on God. He is the Father, and He is the Initiator of everything (1 Thess. 1:1, Rom. 11:36)
(Please illustrate that if you know that God is the Father, you will not be so confident and will not say that you can do whatever you want.)
Day 6
T1 The believers’ oneness is the oneness of the Triune God (John 17:21, 23)
(Please illustrate that the real oneness is in the Triune God.)
T2 The Father’s house is a divine and human incorporation (John 17:21, 23)
(Please illustrate that what the purpose of the Father’s house is. )
