The Believers (1)
Message Nine
Pillars and Luminaries
THE EXTRACT OF THE OUTLINES
Scripture Reading:
Phil. 2:15-16 That you may be blameless and guileless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine as luminaries in the world, holding forth the word of life, so that I may have a boast in the day of Christ that I did not run in vain nor labor in vain.
I. For us to become pillars in The Triune God, we must take the God-ordained way for the church, which is the way of Philadelphia; only the recovered church can accomplish God’s eternal purpose and satisfy the desire of His heart—Rev. 3:7-13; cf. 21:22: (Monday)
A. The overcoming believers in Philadelphia are pillars who know the present truth, maintain the absoluteness of the truth, and are constituted with the truth for the church, the pillar and base of the truth—2 Pet. 1:12; 1 Tim. 3:15-16.
B. The overcoming believers in Philadelphia hold fast what they have, and what they have is the ministry, the unique ministry of the New Testament; the Lord’s recovery is to bring us back to this unique ministry of the New Testament—Rev. 3:11; 2 Cor. 4:1:
1. The ministry of The Spirit is the ministry of the New Testament; this ministry deifies us by writing on our hearts with the Spirit of the living God as the divine and mystical ink to make us living letters of Christ—3:3, 6, 8, 18; 4:1.
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2. The ministry of reconciliation is the ministry that reconciles the world to Christ, which gives them judicial redemption through the forgiveness of their sins, and which makes them persons living in the spirit, that is, living in the Holy of Holies, so that they may receive organic salvation—this is to shepherd people according to God—2 Cor. 5:18-21; 1 Pet. 5:1-4. (Tuesday)
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C. That the overcomers are pillars in the temple means that they are to be pillars in The Triune God, because the temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb; God is built into them, and they are built into God, to be incorporated with God as a mutual dwelling place of God and man—Rev. 3:12a; 21:22. (Wednesday)
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D. The overcomers in Philadelphia are characterized by their brotherly love; love prevails among them so that they shepherd people according to God, that is, according to the loving and forgiving heart of God their Father and the shepherding and seeking spirit of Christ their Savior—1 Cor. 12:31b; 13:4-8, 13; 1 John 3:14. (Thursday)
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II. In the midst of the dark and corrupt world, our function is to shine as luminaries, holding forth the word of life—Phil. 2:12-16: (Friday)
A. Christ is the sun, and the church and the believers reflect Him by holding forth the word of life; to hold forth the word of life is to apply, present, and offer the word of life to the world by living out Christ—Acts 5:20.
B. The God who operates in us is the supplying Spirit, the power of resurrection, and the empowering Christ; to shine as luminaries is to magnify Christ, and to hold forth the word of life is to live Christ—Phil. 2:13; 3:10; 4:13; 1:20-21.
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C. Both murmurings and reasonings frustrate us from experiencing and enjoying Christ so that He cannot shine in us and through us for His glory—Phil. 2:14. (Saturday)
