Experience the Christ
Opening Word of the Prophesying Meeting
Message One
The Intrinsic Significance of the Experience of Christ
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Phil.1:3-6 I thank my God upon……, Always in my every petition on behalf of you all, making my petition with joy, For your fellowship unto the furtherance of the gospel from the first day until now, Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun in you a good work will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.
27 Only, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, that whether coming and seeing you or being absent, I may hear of the things concerning you, that you stand firm in one spirit, with one soul striving together along with the faith of the gospel.
Word of Appetizer
what’s the difference between experiencing the Christ and enjoying the Christ?
The experience of Christ is primarily in our spirit, but the enjoyment of Christ is in our soul; like children who are made to eat without enjoying their food, many times we experience Christ without enjoying Him. the reason that many lose the enjoyment of Christ is the problem they have in the soul; if you do not have much enjoyment of Christ, it indicates that you are not one in soul, joined in soul
Spiritual Burden
The most important thing for us to do is to experience Christ as our enjoyment today so that the church may be built up for His glory; this is the way for us to be preserved in the Lord’s recovery until He comes back.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
The experience of Christ is a mystery:To magnify Christ is to express Christ without limitation (Phil. 1:20); it is to show the whole universe that the very Christ by whom we live is unlimited.
Philippians unveils that the experience of Christ is our fellowship unto the furtherance of the gospel until the Lord Jesus comes back.
Strictly speaking, Philippians is a book not only on the experience of Christ but also on the enjoyment of Christ.
The Experience of Life
The Christ whom we experienceas endurance cannot be exhausted. If we live by Him, He will be magnified;that is, He will show forth His exhaustlessness. Christ is unlimited, but we are limited. If we love others with our own love, we will discoverthat eventually our love will be exhausted.
he more fellowship we have in the furtherance of the gospel, the more Christ we experience and enjoy; this kills our self, ambition, preference, and choice.
Practice and Application
From the time that we are saved until the time the Lord Jesus comes back, our Christian life should be a gospel-preaching life: Paul charges us to conduct ourselves “in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ,” which is to “stand firm in one spirit, with one soul striving together along with the faith of the gospel”.
To experience Christ with enjoyment, we need to be in one spirit with one soul; in order to enjoy Christ, we need to have a proper soul, a “co-soul” that is one with the souls of other saints.
Using Key Verses to Have a Bird’s-Eye View over the Whole Outline
Key Verses (1)
Phil.1:20-21 According to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I will be put to shame, but with all boldness, as always, even now Christ will be magnified in my body, whether through life or through death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
I.The experience of Christ is a mystery:
A.God is a mystery, Christ is the mystery of God, and the church is the mystery of Christ; hence, the church is actually a mystery within a mystery.
B.Our Christian living is a mystery; for example, although human love is limited, the proper love lived out by a Christian is unlimited.
C.To magnify Christ is to express Christ without limitation; it is to show the whole universe that the very Christ by whom we live is unlimited.
D.Paul’s experience of Christ as his unlimited endurance was the magnification of the unlimited Christ; Even our forgiveness of others needs to be a magnification of Christ; In the midst of suffering, we should simply love the Lord and experience Him; The experience of Christ is a mystery, and whatever we experience of Christ is unlimited.
E.we all live Christ, and our Christian living is added together to make the church life; when we come together as the church, we are a complete mystery. the Christ whom we experience and whom we live is a mystery.
Key Verses (2)
Phil.1:3-6 I thank my God upon……, Always in my every petition on behalf of you all, making my petition with joy, For your fellowship unto the furtherance of the gospel from the first day until now, Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun in you a good work will complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.
27 Only, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, that whether coming and seeing you or being absent, I may hear of the things concerning you, that you stand firm in one spirit, with one soul striving together along with the faith of the gospel.
II. Philippians unveils that the experience of Christ is our fellowship unto the furtherance of the gospel until the Lord Jesus comes back
A.From the time that we are saved until the time the Lord Jesus comes back, our Christian life should be a gospel-preaching life.
.The Christ-experiencing and -enjoying life is a life in the furtherance of the gospel, a gospel-preaching life, not individualistic but corporate; the more fellowship we have in the furtherance of the gospel, the more Christ we experience and enjoy; this kills our self, ambition, preference, and choice.
B.which is to “stand firm in one spirit, with one soul striving together along with the faith of the gospel”:
.To be with one soul and to be like-souled for the gospel work are more difficult than to be in one spirit for the experience of Christ; If we are not one in our affections, thoughts, and decisions, we are not with one soul; as long as we are not one in soul, we are not in the fellowship unto the furtherance of the gospel, and our conduct is not worthy of the gospel.
Key Verses (3)
Phil. 2:2 Make my joy full, that you think the same thing, having the same love, joined in soul, thinking the one thing.
4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.
III. Strictly speaking, Philippians is a book not only on the experience of Christ but also on the enjoyment of Christ:
A.Since Philippians is concerned with the experience and enjoyment of Christ, which issue in joy, it is a book filled with joy and rejoicing.
B.The experience of Christ is primarily in our spirit, but the enjoyment of Christ is in our soul; Thus, we can have the experience of Christ without the enjoyment of Christ; the problem here is with our soul—our mind, emotion, and will.
C.the reason that many lose the enjoyment of Christ is the problem they have in the soul; if you do not have much enjoyment of Christ, it indicates that you are not one in soul, joined in soul.
D.Among the Philippians there was dissension in their thinking (4:2), which troubled the apostle; hence, he asked them to think the same thing, even the same one thing, that they might make his joy full (2:2):
.the one thing must refer to the subjective knowledge and experience of Christ; The one thing is the subjective experience of Christ as our enjoyment for the church life, the Body life.
Prophesying Topics—Twelve Topics per Week
D1
T1 Christian living is a mystery（Eph.3:19a）
(Why is Christian love and patience a mystery?)
T2 To magnify Christ is to express Christ without limitation (Phil.1:20)
(Please explain that It was through Paul’s imprisonment that the Christ by whom Paul lived was expressed as the unlimited One.)
D2
T1 the difference between the human virtues and the virtues that are the magnification of Christ.（Matt.18:21~22，Phil.1:19~21）
( Why is any attribute we have through living by Christ will be unlimited?)
T2 In the midst of suffering, we should simply love the Lord and experience Him（Cor.12:9~10）
( Through the example of Paul, illustrate that it is a joy to magnify Christ through suffering.)
D3
T1 our life is primarily a gospel-preaching life.（Phil.1:5）
（Please explain that From the time that we are saved until the time the Lord Jesus comes back, our Christian life should be a gospel-preaching life.）
T2 In the preaching of the gospel we have fellowship(Phil.1:5)
( Why does the fellowship in the preaching of the gospel causes us to experience Christ.)
D4
T1 To be one soul mainly means to be one mind.（Phil.1:27）
（Please explain that To be one in spirit and in soul is possible only in the Spirit of Jesus.）
T2 To be one in soul means to be one in our affection, love, thought, and decisions. Such oneness is very practical.（Phil.2:2）
（Please explain that By preaching the gospel we express our oneness in spirit and in soul with experience.）
D5
T1We can make a distinction between the experience of Christ and then joyment of Christ.（Phil.1:4、18、25）
(Why is it possible that we may experience Christ without enjoying Christ?)
T2 Philippians is a book not only on the experience of Christ but also on the enjoyment of Christ（Phil.4:2）
（Please explain that the reason that many lose the enjoyment of Christ is the problem they have in the soul.）
D6
T1 Christ as our enjoyment for the church life.（Phil.1:27）
（Please explain that the subjective experience of Christ as our enjoyment ,This one thing should occupy our mind all the time.）
T2 having the same love（Phil.2:2）
（Please explain that If our love toward the saints has been regulated and dealt with, then we will enjoy Christ as we love the saints.）
