Experience the Christ
Opening Word of the Prophesying Meeting
Message Six
Being Found in Christ,Knowing Christ, and Pursuing Christ
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Phil. 3:9 And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is out of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is out of God and based on faith.
10-11 To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, If perhaps I may attain to the out-resurrection from the dead.
Word of Appetizer
What is the meaning of being found in Christ in Philippians 3:9 ?
Deep within Paul was the aspiration to have his whole being immersed in and saturated with Christ so that all who observed him might find him fully in Christ; we also should have the earnest desire to be found in Christ. Paul wanted to be found in Christ in the condition of not having his own righteousness but the righteousness of God, taking Christ as his subjective, lived-out righteousness.
Spiritual Burden
In the Lord’s recovery today, we should aspire to be found in Christ, not having our own righteousness but the righteousness which is out of God, and to know Christ by experiencing Him, enjoying Him, being one with Him, and having Him live within us.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
Paul’s desire was to be found in Christ, not having his own righteousness but “that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is out of God and based on faith”.
Paul lived in a condition of having not his own righteousness but the righteousness that is out of God in order to know (experience) Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, to be conformed to His death, and to attain to the out-resurrection.
Like Paul, we should pursue Christ Himself and “pursue toward the goal for the prize”.
The Experience of Life
The Spirit compounded with Christ’s resurrection and its power indwells our spirit to dispense Christ’s resurrection and its power into our entire being; If we put ourselves aside and remain under the death of the cross, we will experience the power of Christ’s resurrection, and spontaneously, the power of resurrection experienced by us will build up the Body.
By being conformed to Christ’s death, we experience Christ in His death for the release, impartation, and multiplication of life, and we also glorify the Father.
Practice and Application
To gain Christ is to experience, enjoy, and take possession of all His unsearchable riches by paying a price; We need to know Christ by experiencing Him, enjoying Him, being one with Him, and having Him live within us; in this way we know Him by both revelation and experience.
Like Paul, we should pursue Christ Himself and “pursue toward the goal for the prize”; In order to pursue Christ, we should not think that we have attained, and we should forget the things which are behind and stretch “forward to the things which are before”.
Using Key Verses to Have a Bird’s-Eye View over the Whole Outline
Key Verses (1)
Phil. 3:9 And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is out of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is out of God and based on faith.
Being Found in Christ
I Paul’s desire was to be found in Christ, not having his own righteousness but “that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is out of God and based on faith”.
- Deep within Paul was the aspiration to have his whole being immersed in and saturated with Christ so that all who observed him might find him fully in Christ; we also should have the earnest desire to be found in Christ.
- Paul wanted to be found in Christ in the condition of not having his own righteousness but the righteousness of God, taking Christ as his subjective, lived-out righteousness; The subjective righteousness of God in Philippians 3:9 is actually God Himself becoming our daily living, a living that is right with God and man.
- Faith is the basis, the condition, on which we receive and possess the righteousness that is out of God, which is Christ.
Key Verses (2)
Phil. 3:10-11 To know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, If perhaps I may attain to the out-resurrection from the dead.
To know (experience) Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, to be conformed to His death, and to attain to the out-resurrection
- To have the excellency of the knowledge of Christ (v. 8) is by revelation, but to know Christ is by experience—to have an experiential knowledge of Him.
- Paul aspired to know the power of Christ’s resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings; The expression the fellowship of His sufferings refers to the participation in Christ’s sufferings, a necessary condition for the experience of the power of His resurrection.
- Philippians 3:10 also speaks of “being conformed to His death”; this indicates that Paul desired to take Christ’s death as the mold of his life; Being conformed to Christ’s death is the base of the experience of Christ.
- The result of being conformed to Christ’s death is that we attain to the out-resurrection from the dead, which will be a prize to the overcomers; To attain to, to arrive at, the out-resurrection means that our entire being is gradually and continually resurrected.
Key Verses (3)
Phil. 3:12 Not that I have already obtained or am already perfected, but I pursue, if even I may lay hold of that for which I also have been laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
14 I pursue toward the goal for the prize to which God in Christ Jesus has called me upward.
Pursuing Christ
III Like Paul, we should pursue Christ Himself and “pursue toward the goal for the prize”:
- In order to pursue Christ, we should not think that we have attained, and we should forget the things which are behind and stretch “forward to the things which are before”.
- The goal toward which we are pursuing is the full enjoyment and gaining of Christ, and the prize is the uttermost enjoyment of Christ in the millennial kingdom as a reward to the victorious runners of the New Testament race.
Prophesying Topics—Twelve Topics per Week
D1
T1 “To be found in Him”. (Phil. 3:9)
(What does it actually mean of being found in Christ? )
T2 We should have the earnest desire to be found in Christ. (Phil. 3:9)
( How can we be found in Christ in our daily living rather in our good behavior? )
D2
T1 Not having his own righteousness but the righteousness of God. (Phil. 3:9)
(What kind of the condition is that we need to be found in Christ ?)
T2 The subjective righteousness of God is actually God Himself becoming our daily living, a living that is right with God and man. (Rom. 3:24-26; 4:25)
(Please illustrate that what are the two aspects of Christ being righteousness to the believers. )
D3
T1 To have the excellency of the knowledge of Christ is by revelation, but to know Christ is by experience—to have an experiential knowledge of Him. (Phil. 3:8, 10)
(Please illustrate that Paul first received the revelation of Christ and then sought for the experience of Christ.)
T2 We cannot be limited by our past knowledge of Christ. (Phil. 3:10)
(Please illustrate that our experience of Christ can never surpass the excellency of our knowledge of Christ. )
D4
T1 The power of Christ’s resurrection is His resurrection life, which raised Him from the dead. (Eph. 1:19-20)
(Please illustrate that Death is the base of resurrection.)
T2 The participation in Christ’s suffering-“the fellowship of His sufferings”. (Matt. 20:22-23; Col. 1:24)
(Please illustrate that such sufferings are mainly for producing and building up the Body of Christ. )
D5
T1 Christ’s death is a mold. (Phil. 3:10)
(Please illustrate that our life should be conformed to such a mold-dying to our human life in order to live the divine life.)
T2 Progressed in being conformed to the death of Christ. (Phil. 3:10; John 12:24)
(Please illustrate that the five points as we are conformed to Christ’s death, we experience His all-accomplishing death. . )
D6
T1 The out-resurrection from the dead will be a prize to the overcoming saints. (Phil. 3:10-11)
(Please illustrate that to arrive at the out-resurrection means that our entire being has been gradually and continually resurrected.)
T2 Pursuing toward the goal for the prize. (Phil. 3:14)
(Please illustrate that what is the way to pursue Christ. )
