Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (1) - 4

Message Title: The Kingdom as the Subduing of Rebellion and as the Transfiguration of the Lord Jesus

two crucial words: subduing and transformation 

Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of heaven and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.

Genesis 1:26 is the first place in the Bible where mentions the word "subdue". as man, we are created to subdue all the negative things on the earth, that is to subdue Satan and his works on the earth. 

we need to see the difference between the work of mere saving souls and the work of God. God's need and work is to subdue the enemey, so that the way on the earth is open for His kingdom to be manifested. we are on this earty not merely for man's need, but even more for God's need. we are created to subdue the enemy, to subdue the earth. surely to preach the gospel is crucial, and should not be neglected. but if we are just doing the gospel preaching to save some sinners, this is not enough for Satan to suffer loss. to save souls satisfy man's need, but to deal with Satan satisfy God's need, and our life should be contributed to this. 

from God's view, a kingdom is a realm where He can govern for His will to be done and His purpose to be accomplished. if there is no such a realm, how can God carry out His work. therefore, there must be the kingdom where God can rule and reign. on the other aspect, the kingdom of God is actually q person, Christ Himself, as revealed in Luke chapter 17.  as shown in Ephesians 3:17, this Christ is making His home in our hearts, which means that the kingdom, which is Christ Himself, is in us. the outcome will be that, we will seek God's kingdom first. 

Matthew 6:33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

the key word here is "first". we are all seeking something, but we need to "first" seek His kingdom and His righteousness. 

I. The kingdom of God is the power to subdue rebellion

there are two great principles in the universe -  God's authority and Satan's rebellion. the unique controversy between God and Satan concerns authority and rebellion. Rebellion is the denial of God's authority and the rejection of God's rule. when man sinned, he rebelled against God, denied God's authority, and rejected God's rule. 

God will not let this rebellion continue. He will establish His kingdom on the earth. the kingdom of God is a divine realm where God can exercise His authority to work out His plan. 

Mark 3:27 But no one can enter into the house of the strong man and thoroughly plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man, and then he will thoroughly plunder his house.

God has His house, which is the church. but Satan also has a house where millions of millions are kept in his house. in the four Gospels, we can see that the Lord bound Satan, the strong man, and entered into His house to plunder his goods so that sinner might be brouhgt into the house of God through regeneration for the kingdom of God. we need to pray for those who are still in Satan's house. "Lord, destroy Satan's kingdom, and bring in the kingdom of God."

in Mark 4:35-41 thre is the picture of rebellion and of the kingdom of God as the power to subdue rebellion. the fallen angels in the air and the demons in the water collaborated to frustrate the Lord Jesus from going to the other side of the sea because they knew that He would cast out the demons there. the Lord rebuked the wind and commanded the sea to be silent because of the rebellious angels and demons who were behind the scene. after He rebuked the wind and spoke to the sea, the wind ceased, and there was a great calm, for the rebellion of the evil angels and the demons had been subdued by the power of the kingdom. this also gives us the indication how we can pray to cooperate the Lord for the subduing. we can participate, especially through our prayer by the power of the kingdom to subdue so many negative things. we need the Lord to train us to pray in this way. 

II. the kingdom of God is the transfiguration of the Lord Jesus

the kingdom of God is the transfiguration of the Lord Jesus, the shinging of the reality of the Lord Jesus. for the Lord Jesus to be transfigured means that His humanity was saturated and permeated with His divinity. this transfiguration, this glorification is equal to His coming in His kingdom. this transfiguration is also going on within each of us, His kingdom people, to bring us more and more into the reality of the kingdom. "Lord, shine in us. Your shining brings in the kingdom." 

Matthew 13:43 Then the righteous will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. 

Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (1) - 3

Message Title: Discipling All the Nations by Baptizin Them into the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit

Matthew 1:1 The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham:

the beginning of the gospel of Matthew mentions Jesus Christ, the Son of David, and then the Son of Abraham. this shows us that in order for us to receive the gospel of the kingdom, we need to first experience as the King, the ruling of King, before we can become sons of Abraham. then later on, both John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus proclaimed "repent, for the kingdom of the heavens is near." we need to repent for the kingsom's sake. the basic elements of the gospel is not love or grace, but righteousness, which is related to God's kingdom with God's authority. Man became fallen not because of sin, but because of rebellion. Man needs to be brought back to the right position with God, under His ruling and kingship. therefore, the salvation presented to us in the New Testament is first received by us by our coming to the King, by our meeting the King, by our being subdued by the King, so that we are under His ruling, under His reigning, then we can receive the life. 

Matthw 28:19 Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

God desires to have the kingdom. but in order to have the kingdom, He must have the disciples, who are the constituents of the kingdom. this is why the gospel of Matthew, the gospel of the kingdom, ended in such a way, with the charge of discipling the nations. Unless He has the kingdom, there is no realm, no sphere for the Lord to carry out His economy. 

I. "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth" - Matthew 28:18

God is the supreme authority, and He has all authority. we need to acknowledge and recognise that there is authority in this universe and God is the supreme authority. God is the One who has absolute authority. everything that happens in our life has been approved and allowed by God, so we have to submit ourselves to God's authority. if we want to go on with the Lord and grow in Him, this is the first matter we have to resolve in our Christian life. God is the absolute supreme authority. 

Also, under God, the supreme authority, there are many deputy authorities. the world is full of rebellion and there is no concept of authority. but, here in the church, as His kingdom people, we must realise there is authority. God is the absoute authority, and God has also put many on this earth as His deputy authorities to whom we also need to submit. 

after the resurrection, the man Jesus, was given authority in heaven and on earth. as a man, the Lord submitted Himself to be under authority, learned obedience, submitted to Father's will. after His death and resurrection, He, as the God-man Jesus received all authority in heaven and on earth. 

as the Head of the Body, the church, as His enlargement, we, the church can share the authority with Him, our glorious Head. as His church, we are identified, one with this resurrected Christ. 

II. "Go therefore and disciole all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" - Matthew 28:19

in the other gospels, the Lord said to go to preach the gospel, or go to announce the glad tidings. but here the Lord used the word "go and disciple". because the heavenly King has received all the authority, He sends out His disciples to go and disciple all the nations. we need to be the going ones. but before we can go, we first need to be sent. the heavenly King wants to send us, so that we go with His authority. 

to disciple the nations is to make the heathen the kingdom people for the establishing of His kingdom, which is the church, on the earth. we are not just evangelizing and save some souls. furthermore, we are discipling the nations for the establishment of the kingdom. what does it mean to disciple? 

the disciples are the constituents of the kingdom. if we are merely sinners saved by grace, we are not qualified to be the constituents of the kingdom of the heavens. God not only wants sinners to be saved, but more, the disciples to be brought into the church life today, so that many churches will be raised up in many cities on earth. 

the first step of discipling the nations is to baptize people. Baptism brings the repentant people out of their old state into a new one by terminating their old life and germinating them with the new life of Christ that they may become the kingdom people. they are not baptised into any organization or membership, but into a person, the wonderful Triune God, into the union with Triune God. therefore, baptism is not a ritual or formality. Bapism is a very important step for a believer, after believing into the Lord, to declare and to testify, through baptism, for them to participate God's salvation in full. 

accoding to the gospel of Matthew, being baptized into the reality of the Father, the Son, and he Spirit is for the constituting of the kingdom of the heavens. the heavenly kingdom can be constituted only with people who have been immersed into the union with the Triune God and who have been estalished and built up with the Triune God, who has been wrought into them. 

III. "Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you all the days until the consummation of the age" - Matthew 28:20

this teaching is the healthy teaching, the apostles' teaching in the New Testament, the teaching of God's economy. this teaching preserves us in the central line of God's purpose. this teaching is also needed for the discipling of the nations. 

Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (1) - 2

Message Title: Christ as the One with the Heavenly-ruled Deeds, Our Shepherd, Our Rest, and the Sower

all these four points are all taken from the book of Matthew, which are wonderful and revealing. we can use four words to describe the sweetness of these four points:

1. healing: belive + touch

2. shepherding: experience + enjoy

3. resting: come + take

4. growing: condition + supply

I. Christ is revealed as the One with the heavenly-ruled deeds -  the fringe of His garment

Matthew 9:20 And behold, a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years approached from behind and touched the fringe of His garment,

Matthew 9:21 For she said within herself, If only I touch His garment, I will be healed.

Mathew 9:22 And Jesus, turning and seeing her, said, Take courage, daughter; your faith has healed you. And the woman was healed from that hour.

it is quite meaningful that during that time, a lot of people were surrounding the Lord, but the Lord only felt this one touch of this woman. from this story, we can see that in the Lord's human virtue, there was healing power. why in His human virtue? because the woman's problem was in the humanity, in the fallen humanity. because of the fall of Adam, all of us fell in our humanity. in our fallen humanity, there are full of problems and sicknesses. therefore, our huamanity needs to be restored and saved. we need the humanity of Jesus. as soon as the woman touched the fringe of the Lord's garment, the power of healing went out from the Lord to that woman. the Lord's healing power was already and always ready to be touched by us, the sinners, so that His healing power and be transfused into us, which becomes our healing. so we should be like the woman, we believe and we touch! we just need to exercise our little faith. like that woman, we can pray: " Lord, I believe. I believe i just need to touch the fringe of Your garment, and I will be healed. Lord I open to You and touch You."

Christ's garment signifies His righteous deeds, and the fringe signifies the heavenly ruling. as children of God, our conduct and behavior should be under the ruling, governing and binding of the heavenly government, limitation, and regulation. and this is the most beautiful and the best conduct, which is acknowledged and enjoyed by God.

II. the Lord Jesus is our Shepherd, and we are His sheep

in order to understand Psalm 23, we need to read the three psalms, 22, 23, and 24 as a group. Psalm 23 shows us the five stages of the shepherding of the resurrected Christ:

1. He shepherds us in the initial stage of the enjoyment of Christ as the green pastures and of the Spirit as the waters of rest

2. He shepherds us in the second stage of the revival and transformation on the paths of righteousness

3. He shepherds us in the third stage of the experience of the presence of the resurrected pneumatic Christ while walking through the valle of the shadow of death. such experiences are necessary for us to experience deeper, dearer, and sweeter presence of the Lord. through such experiences, we are pressed to only the Lord Himself, finding nowhere else we can go, but only go to the Lord to seek Him. 

4. He shepherds us in the fourth stage of the deeper and higher enjoyment of the resurrected Christ, in fighting against the adversary. the shepherding is to shepherd us in the warfare, in the battle, against the enemy

5. He shepherds us in the fifth stage of the lifelong enjoyment of the divine goodness and lovingkindness in the house of Jehovah. goodness refers to the grace of Christ, lovingkindness refers to the love of the Father, and follow implies the fellowship of the Spirit; thus, the grace of the Son, the love of the Father, and the fellowship of the Spirit are with us. 

Psalm 27:4 One thing I have asked from Jehovah; / That do I seek: / To dwell in the house of Jehovah / All the days of my life, / To behold the beauty of Jehovah, / And to inquire in His temple.

Psalm 27:5 For He will conceal me in His shelter / In the day of trouble; / He will hide me in the hiding place of His tent; / He will raise me up upon a rock.

Psalm 27:6 And now my head is lifted up / Above my enemies who surround me. / And I will offer in His tent / Sacrifices of shouts of joy: / I will sing and psalm to Jehovah.

we need to seek to dwell in the house of God all the days of our life to :

1. behold the beauty of God

2. inquire of God, checking with Him about everything in our daily life

3. be concealed in God's shelter and to hide ourselves in the hiding place of God

4. be raised up and have our head lifted up by God

5. offer sacrifices of shouts of joy

III. the Lord Jesus is our rest

Matthew 11:28 Come to Me all who toil and are burdened, and I will give you rest.

Matthew 11:29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Matthew 11:30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

all of the people on the earth are toiling and are burdeded, even are enslaved with no rest. the Lord Jesus is our rest, and He is calling us to find rest in Him. so our job is to come to the Lord and to take the Lord as our rest. 

to take the Lord's yoke is to take the will of the Father; it is not to be regulated or controlled by any work, but to be constrained by the will of the Father. to learn from Him is not to imitate Him outwardly but to copy the Lord in our spirit by taking His yoke - God's will; God's will has to yoke us, and we have to put our neck into this yoke to become His duplication. 

IV. the Sower is the wonderful person of the Lord Jesus, and the seed sown is also the Lord Himself as the embodiment of the Triune God

we need to see the vision of Christ, the Sower, sowing Himself as the seed of life into human beings; this is related to the desire of the Lord's heart. His desire is to come into us, His chosen people, to be our life in the way of mingling in order to make Himself our element and to make us His expression. we, the believers are the farm of God, where God is growing the seed of life sown into us to produce the precious materials for God's building. 

Ephesians 3:17 That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love,

the process for Christ to make His home in our hearts, is also the process for the seed of life which has been sown into us by Christ to grow within our heart, which is the building of God. the soil for the seed to grow is our heart, where we can afford opportunities for the seed to grow, by conditioning our heart to be good soil, the good place for the seed to grow. if we pay attention to our spirit and exercise our spirit, we will supply something to Christ for Him to make home in our hearts. if we are going to have the Lord as the seed of life grow within us to be our full enjoyment, we have to open to the Lord absolutely and cooperate with Him to deal thoroughly with our heart. 

Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (1) - 1

Message Title: Christ as the Great Light, the One who has Authority, the Physician, the Bridegroom, the Unfulled Cloth, and the New Wine

what is the intrinsic significance of this title, "Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ"? 

this is about the heart of the divine revelation, and the central thought of God's eternal economy. and our experience and enjoyment of Christ is for the corporate expresson of Christ as the organic Body of Christ, consummating in the New Jerusalem as the ultimate expression of Christ. 

Philippians 2:2 Make my joy full, that you think the same thing, having the same love, joined in soul, thinking the one thing,

what is the "one thing". the "one thing" is the subjective experience of Christ as our enjoyment. our mind should focus, concentrate on the subjective experience of Christ for our enjoyment. 

the experience of Christ is mainly in our spirit, and the enjoyment of Christ is mainly in our soul. so Paul says here in 2:2, we need to be one in soul, thinking the one thing. in order to be thinking the one thing, we need the mind of Christ to be in our mind, so that we can be one with another in mind. we can pray a short prayer: " Lord, let your inward parts to be duplicated in our inward parts." 

it is possible for us to have the experience without the enjoyment. this is like little children eating healthy food, such as vegetables but do not like eating them. 

our enjoyment of Christ need to be sufficient and adequate. we need to pray to the Lord, "Lord, grang me more enjoyment of Christ."  our goal should be the full enjoyment of Christ and the full gaining of Christ. 

I. Christ is the great light shining on those sitting in darkness and rising on those sitting in the region and shadow of death

John  12:36 While you have the light, believe into the light, so that you may become sons of light. Jesus said these things, and He went away and was hidden from them. 

God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all. therefore, as the children of God, we are sons of light. one of the way for us to enjoy God as our portion is that we need to walk in the light. in His presence we enjoy Christ as our allotted portion. 

Malachi 4:2 But unto you who fear My name will the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings, and you will go forth and leap about like well-fed calves.

as the Sun of righteousness, He has healing in His wings, which is the rays of His shining. when He shines on us, He is the light of life, so His shining in us as the sun is for our growth in life, and for the dispersing of the darkness in our being. Also, the healing in His wings is the healing in life to annul any unrighteousness in our being. 

II. the centurion saw that the Lord was One who had authority because the Lord was a man under authority

the centurion was a man under authority so he could have authority to command those who were under his authority. and the centurion recognised that the Lord was also such a man under authority. as a man, the Lord rejected His natural humanity and lived a human life under the restriction of the divine life of the heavenly Father. 

III. In calling people to follow Him for the kingdom, the Lord Jesus as the King of the heavenly kingdom ministered as a Physician

Matthew 9:12 Now when He heard this, He said, Those who are strong have no need of a physician, but those who are ill.

Matthew 9:13 But go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice,” for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.

a judge's judgement is according to righteousness, whereas a physician's healing is according to mercy and grace. if the Lord had visited us pitiful people as a Judge, we all would have been condemned and rejected, and none of us would have been qualified, selected, and called to be the people of His heavenly kingdom. However, the Lord came to minister as a Physician, to heal, recover, enliven, and save us that we might be reconstituted to be His new and heavenly citizens, with whom He could establish His heavenly kingdom. 

therefore, in our preaching the gospel, we should not present the Lord as a Judge, but as a Physician coming to be a friend of sinners and tax collectors. 

IV. Christ is our Bridegroom

a bridegroom is the most pleasant person. the Lord came as a Physician to heal us, then He made us the sons of the bridechamber, eventually, He will make us His bride. 

V. Christ the unfulled cloth and our new garment

Matthew 9:16 No one puts a patch of unfulled cloth on an old garment, for that which fills it up pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear is made.

we always want to improve our natural life. we look at the living of Jesus, and then we start to imitate His living, and we even pray to the Lord to help us in our self-improvement. this will only make a "worse tear" in us. as the kingdom people, we should not do this. instead, we take the crucified and resurrected Christ as our new garment to cover us as our righteousness before God. 

VI. Christ is our new wine to be put into fresh wineskins

Christ is new in time, recent, and newly possessed. Christ as the new, cheering life with cheering strength that strengthens us, and makes us very happy. the fresh wineskins signify the church life in the local churches as the container of the new wine, which is Christ Himself as the exciting life. 

Fighting the Good Fight, Finishing the Course, Keeping the Faith, and Loving the Lord's Appearing -3

Message Title: Keeping the Faith

I. In the New Testament, faith is both objective and subjective

Ephesians 4:13 Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

the faith in Ephesians 4:13 is not faith as a believing action but the objective faith. the objective faith refers to the subject of our believing, that is, to the things in which we believe; this objective faith includes the contents of God's New Testament economy.

subjective faith has to do with our action of beliving. 

these two aspects of faith involve one another. Our beliving (subjective faith) is out of the things we believe and in the things we believe (objective faith).

1 Thessalonians 3:2 And we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and encourage you for the sake of your faith,

when we attend the church meetings, listen to the ministry, we can receive more the obejective faith, the contents of God's economy. therefore, regardless what we are going through in our situations, our faith will not be shaken. 

2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight; I have finished the course; I have kept the faith.

to keep the faith is to keep the entire New Testament economy of God - the faith concerning Christ as the embodiment of God and the mystery of God and the church as the Body of Christ and the mystery of Christ.  

Jude 20 But you, beloved, building up yourselves upon your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,

to keep the faith is not just passive to not lose the faith. but we need to actively use our faith as the building material. the healthy teaching is to infuse the truth as faith into us. when we listen to the truth, the Spirit will operate to coodinate with the word of truth, the result of which is that the subjective faith will be produced within us. 

when we receive the obejective faith through our hearing of the word of Christ, which produces within us the appreciation of Christ, this objective faith must also proceed to become subjective faith. at times we may feel that we have so little faith within us that we cannot believe anymore. this is the indication that we have not been receiving enough objective truth. this should cause us to hunger for the word of the truth, to come more to church meetings, for the hearing of faith. 

1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of the faith; lay hold on the eternal life, to which you were called and have confessed the good confession before many witnesses.

to fight for the faith means to fight for God's New Testamony economy. to fight the good fight of the faith is to fight for the contents of the complete gospel according to God's New Testament economy. today at this corrupted age, many heresies, or evil teachings have become very popular, while the word of truth has become super rare. therefore, we need to rise up to proclaim the word of the truth to fight the good fight of the faith. 

to fight the good fight of the faith in the Christian life, we need to lay hold on the eternal life, the divine life, not trusting in our human life. 

II. A proper Chrsitian life involves keeping te faith for participation in the divine riches in God's economy. 

God's economy, which is to dispense Himself into His chosen people, is not a matter in the natural realm nor in the work of the law but in the spiritual sphere of the new creation through regneration by faith in Christ. when faith comes, we have been delivered from the realm of law, but into this spiritual sphere to become the new creation. 

by faith, we are born of God to be His sons, partaking of His life and nature to express Him. by faith we are put into Christ to become members of the Body, sharing all that He is for His expression. to be regenerate is a once-for-all matter, but to partake of the divine life and nature is a day by day matter. 

1 Timothy 3:9 Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.

the mystery of faith is mainly Christ as the mystery of God and the church as the mystery of Christ. 

do we have a pure consience? are we holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience? 

Jude 3 Beloved, while using all diligence to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you and exhort you to earnestly contend for the faith once for all delivered to the saints.

the faith here in Jude 3 refers to the objective faith which has been delivered to us once for all, denoting the contents of the New Testament as our faith, in which we believe for our common salvation. today, many argue over certain doctrines. we are not fighint for mere doctrines, but we need to contend for the faith, which matters our common salvation. 

Ephesians 4:13 Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,

after we have received the objective faith, we still need to grow in life, until we arrive at the oneness of the faith. the oneness of the faith depends on our full knowledge of the Son of God. 

Fighting the Good Fight, Finishing the Course, Keeping the Faith, and Loving the Lord's Appearing -2

Message Title: Finishing the Course

the Lord's coming should not be a mere doctrine to us. Rather, the vision of the Lord's coming should affect our daily living. we should be governed by this vision, live in the light of the Lord's coming, so we can receive the reward when the Lord comes back. 

A proper Christian life involves running the course, running the race, for the carrying out of God's economy according to His eternal purpose. the qualification to run this course is the regeneration, being born of God. those who do not have the life of God cannot run this course. 

2 Timothyb ...I have finished the course; ...

we need to seek out the journey that the Lord has ordained for us and faithfully walk on it, paying any price to wholeheartedly continue on our journey until we reach the end. this journey that the Lord has ordained for us is the course we need to run and finish. it does not matter if we are the first to finish the course. what matters is that we run to the end to finish course. 

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore let us also, having so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, put away every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us and run with endurance the race which is set before us,

for us to run the course, we need to have a very clear goal and a set course. we need to put aside everything that may frustrate us from focusing on running the course. why do we need endurance to run?? first, this is not a short course. also, while we are funning the course, we will face opposition. therefore, we need to run with endurance. 

Hebrews 12:2 Looking away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down on the right hand of the throne of God.

Jesus is the Author of faith, the Originator, the Inaugurator, the source, and the cause of faith. we do not have faith in ourselves, but Christ entered into us to be our faith. how did we believe into the Lord? because the Lord came to attract, capture and captivate us. our beliving is our appreciation of Christ as a reaction to His attraction. faith is in our spiirit, so our spirit is the spirit of faith. 

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substantiation of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

we do not regard, look at, the things that are seen but the things that are not seen; for the things that are seen are temporary, but the things that are not seen are eternal. the Lord is recovering the church from the things seen to the things not seen. 

if we read in the Bible, the history of the Israel people, we will receive both encouragement and warining. the journey of Israel people recorded in the Old Testament typifies the Christian race toward our good land, the all-inclusive Christ. the encouragement is that we have been redeemed through Christ, delivered out of Satan's bondage, and brought into the revelation of God's economy. the warning is that, we may yet fail to reach the goal of God's calling, that is, to enter into the possession of our good land, Christ, and enjoy His riches for the kingdom of God that we may be His expression in the present age and participate in the fullest enjoyment of Christ in the kingdom age. if we are not living Christ, if we are not magnifying Christ in our bodies, then we are not running the course. after regeneration, we all entered into the course, but it does not necessarily mean that we know the course we should run. if we do not know the course, how are we going to run? if we do not run, how are we going to finish the course? when God brought His people Israel out of Egypt, God had a purpose, not to just lead them to wander in the wilderness, but to bring them into the good land, the land of Canaan. 

in Mark 6:45 to 6:51, the disciples of the Lord were rowing in a boat to cross the sea. but they were struggling a lot because the wind was contrary to them. if we are going to be faithful in the path the Lord set for us, it will cost us much effort and it will be a difficult path because all the wind will be contrary to us. if we stop rowing against the wind, without any effort, our boat will float along the tide. but this tide will only carry us away from the Lord. 

Hebrews 12:3 For compare Him who has endured such contradiction by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary, fainting in your souls.

Micah 7:8 Do not rejoice against me, O my enemy; / When I fall, I will rise up; / When I sit in the darkness, / Jehovah will be a light to me.

we should not give up, become weary; or faint in our soul but look away unto Jesus and run the race before us. 

the Christian Life -3

Message Title: The Intrinsic Significance and Revelation of the Compound Ointment as the Holy Anointing Oil - a Full Type of the Compound, All-inclusive Spirit of the Processed Triune God

5 major points missed by most Christian theologies: 

1. the Spirit that gives life was not yet before the glorification, the resurrection of Jesus

2. the last Adam became the life-giving Spirit. 

3. the compound Spirit typified by the anointing oil in Exodus 30

4. the Spirit of life, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Christ, Christ Himself, and the indwelling Spirit in Romans 8, all refer to the compound Spirit that gives life

5. the sevenfold intensified Spirit of God, the Seven Spirits

the Christian life is altogether a matter of the Spirit. No Spirit, no Christian life. we cannot live a Christian life without the Spirit. what is the Christian life? the Christian life is the acting and moving of the compound Spirit, the processed Triune God. Everything that God is, God has, and God wants to do within His people, is impossible and will not happen without this Spirit. 

our need today is to live the real Christian life. our living the Christian life has something to do with the Lord's coming. if the Lord cannot gain His bride, He cannot return. if the Body of Christ does not have a certain reality, expressed and manifested on this earth, the Lord cannot come back. what is the reality of that bride, that Body of Christ? it is the corporate Christian life lived out by all of us, His believers. 

I. The holy anointing oil, a compound ointment of olive oil and four spices, "compounded according to the work of a compounder," is a full type of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the compound, all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit of the processed Triune God, whom Christ became through His death and resurrection

the significances of the ingredients of this compound anointting oil are:

1. flowing myrrh: signifies the precious death of Christ. every other human being's death is ugly and terrible. but the death of Christ is sweet, precious, and flowing. 

2. fragrant cinnamon: siginifies the sweetness and effetiveness of Christ's death. cinammon was prescribed to stimulate a weak heart. when we apply the Lord's death in the Spirit to our inner being, our heart is stimulated to make us happy and joyful in the Lord. there are many situations in our human life, we are unhappy and full of complainings and murmurings. but these are also the opportunities for us to apply the Lord's death, to allow the Lord to be fragrant cinnamon to us to stimulate our heart. 

3. fragrant calamus: signifies the precious resurrection of Christ

4. cassia: signifies the repelling power of Christ's resurrection

5. olive oil: signifies the Spirit of God

this compound Spirit typified for the compound ointment in Exodus 30, is, of course, for our life and Christian life. but what is our Christian life for ? our Christian life is not just for our own spirituality, or spiritual accomplishment, but for God's building. 

II. the compound ointment, the holy anointing oil, was used to anoint the tabernacle with all its furniture, the altar with all its utensils, the laver and its base, and the priests, to make all these things holy, separated, sanctified, to God for His divine purpose

this ointment signifies the Triune God processed and consummated through Christ's incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection to become the all-inclusive compound Spirit to reach His chosen and redeemed people and to anoint them with Himself, making Himself one with them and making them one with Him. 

the ointment was used to anoint the tabernacle, the furniture, and the priests, which means that the Spirit was applied to the building, to the serving ones. all of these is to make the tabernacle with those who serve it holy like God, sanctified to be as God in His divine nature. all of these is for the fulfillment of the divine purpose. we must have this reality in the church life today. 

such an anointing, being the moving of the compound Spirit within us, applies t us and also adds all the elements of the processed and consummated Triune God into our inner being so that our inner man may grow in the divine life with the divine elements and we may be mingled with God as one. our real growth in life actually is the addition of God into our being. the more God is added into us, the more His divine elements is added into us, the more we grow in the divine life. 

III. the Spirit of God, signified by olive oil, is no longer merely oil, but now it is oil compounded with certain ingredients; regarding this, John 7:39 says, "But this He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed into Him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified."

John 7:39 But this He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed into Him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

this means that before the Lord's glorification, which was His resurrection, the compound Spirit was not yet;; it was after Christ's resurrection that the compounding, or the blending, of such a Spirit was completed. 

it is not a small thing to enjoy the anointing, the bountiful supply of the Lord. this anointing and supply is for His Body, for His building. so we must be in the Body and be for the buiding.

IV. As believers, we have been anointed with the compound ointment, with the all-inclusive Spirit; Psalm 133:2 describes how the anointing oil flowed down from Aaron's head to his beard and then to the hem of his garments; this signifies that the whole Body is anointed with the Spirit

Psalm 133:2 It is like the fine oil upon the head / That ran down upon the beard, / Upon Aaron’s beard, / That ran down upon the hem of his garments;

no matter how insignificant we are in the Body, even we are just the smallest member, as long as we are members of the Body, this rich compound ointment will flow and reach us. in order to be under the ointment, we must be one with the church; then we will spotaneously enjoy the application of the anointing oil with all its elements; how marvelous is the oneness produced by the application of this ointment. 

Fighting the Good Fight, Finishing the Course, Keeping the Faith, and Loving the Lord's Appearing -1

Message Title: Fighting the Good Fight

according to the background when the apostle Paul wrote the book of 2 Timothy, Paul wrote a word of both warning and encouragement, to show the believers how to live a proper Christian life, to follow the Lord, especially in a corrupted age. 

2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight; I have finished the course; I have kept the faith.

2 Timothy 4:8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, with which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will recompense me in that day, and not only me but also all those who have loved His appearing.

as revealed in 2 Timothy 4:7, a proper Christian life is threefold; it involves fighting the good fight, running and finishing the course, and keeping the faith. These three all are related to God's economy. here Paul first mentions "fighting the good fight" because throughout the whole period, the Christian life is a life of fighting this good fight. therefore, as a Christian, we need to have a spirit of fighting. as shown in the exodus of Israel people, Jehovah God refersed to them as the army of Jehovah. as Christinas, the purpose of our gaining Christ and experiencing Christ, is to prepare us to engage in this fight. 

I. "I have fought the good fight"

1 Timothy 1:18 This charge I commit to you, my child Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you might war the good warfare,

the word "charge" comes with aughthory and command.  the apostle Paul here is charging Timothy with the authority of the Lord to war the good warfare. God's economy charges us to fight, because God has an enemy in this universe. in order to defeat the enemy, we all need to be equipped to fight the good warfare. 

to war the good warfare is to war against the different teachings of the dissenters and to carry out God's economy. the different teachings will distract people and cause people to deviate from God's economy. therefore, we need to war against these different teaching so that we can be kept in the central line of God's economy. 

1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of the faith; lay hold on the eternal life, to which you were called and have confessed the good confession before many witnesses.

the eternal life is actually the processed and consummated Triune God being life to us, the divine life, the uncreated life of God. to fight the good fight of the faith in the Christian life, we need to lay hold on this divine life and not trust in our human life. without the eternal life we are nothing. 

Matthew 12:28 But if I, by the Spirit of God, cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

we are fighting the good fight against Satan and the kingdom of darkness. we should not only be able to preserve ourselves whole but should also challenge the devil. today, at the end of the age, the evil powers are more intense than befofe, because Satan knows that his end is coming soon.the strategy of the enemy is to corrupt and ruin man's mind. we should be God's soldiers, fighting the good fight, overthowing the devil's strongholds, and taking captive man's thought unto the obedience of Christ. 

when Moses sent out 12 spies to spy the good land. 10 spies came back with the evil reports because they were scared of the giants in the good land. but there were Caleb and Joshua who were encouraging Israel people not to be discrouraged or dismayed, but God has promised to give this good land to His people. today we are in the same situation. we should not be discouraged by the outward world situation right now. Rather, we need to be stregthened to stand firm for the kingdom of God, for the glory of God. 

we are fighting the good fight for the truth. what is truth? truth is not doctrine or teaching. truth is the Triune God with His word. the divine truth is absolute, and we must be absolute for the truth and uphold the absoluteness of the truth. we need to have the truth wrought into us and constituted into our being. 

The Christian Life - 2

Message Title: A Grafte Life

we have been joined to the Lord, and this is our Christian life, not emphasizing on our behavior or conduct, but that we should live a grafted life. Christ has entered into us and now is living in us, who is the righteousness of God, who is becoming our righteousness also both objective and subjective. since we are now living a grafted life, we need to turn to the Lord and ask the Lord to show us the meaning of a grafte life. 

I. the Bible reveals that the relationship God desires to have with man is that He and man become one

1 Corinthians 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.

God desires that the divine life and the human life be joined together to become one life. the concept of the divine life and the human life being grafted into one is mysterious, beyond the natural concept, and foreign to human thought. since this is beyond our concept, we rather simply enjoy this fact, that we have been grafted into God to be one with God. 

II. in grafting, two similiar lives are joined and then grow together. 

Revelation 14:18 And another angel came out of the altar, he who has authority over fire, and he cried with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, Send forth your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripened.

John 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing. 

in Revelation, it shows the wine of the earth; while in John 15, the Lord says that He is the vine and we are the branches. so as human beings, we only have two options. but the Lord has rescued us from the vine of the earth and grafted into Himself as the true vine. in order to be able to graft us later, at creation, God created man with a human life which resembles the divine life; therefore the divine life and the human life can be grated together and then grow together organically. 

III. In order for us to be grafted into God, He had to pass through the processes of incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection

God is the One who dwells in the unapproachable light, so there is no way for us to be grafted into God if He remains as the God dwelling in unapproachable light. thus, Christ became flesh to be the seed of David, the branch of David, the Shoot, so that we might be grafted together with Him; He became the same as we are so that He and we could be gfrated together. Isaiah 53 tells us that He was a man with sorrow and acquanted with grief. Hebrews 4 tells us that He is the High Priest who can be touched with our weaknesses, because He has been tempted in all respects like us, which causes Him able to sympathize with us in all our situations. 

Grafting requires cutting; two branches cannot be grafted together unless both are cut. so Christ was cut when he died on the cross, and we were cut when we repented and received the Lord. After Christ was cut on the cross, He was resurrected to become the life-giving Spirit. by becoming such a Spirit, Christ was ready for grafting. once we repent and receive the Lord, He as the life-giving Spirit enters into our spirit, bringing the divine life into us, and we are grafted together with Christ. 

IV. As regenerated ones, we should live a grafted life - a life in which two parties are joined to grow organically 

Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

after we have been grafted into Christ, we should no longer live by ourselves; rather we should allow the pneumatic Christ to live in us. 

V. the grafted life is not an exchanged life but the mingling of the human life with the divine life

it is easy for us to have the concept that this is an exchanged life, that the divine life of Christ replaced our human life. but it is not the divine concept of God. the divine word shows us that we are living a grafted life, the mingling of the human life with the divine life. the human life is still here, but enjoying the benefit of the divine life. the focus here is the dispensing and infusing of the Lord with all His unsearchable riches. in our life, Christ must be all and in all, be everything to us. but we are so full of so many other things. the Lord has to strip off all these things, like what He did to Job in the Old Testament. we have to go through this stripping process, to cause us to lean on the Lord only, not anytying we have or obtained in our life, to cause us to only rely and depend on the Lord, and only to be filled with Christ, not anything else. 

VI. In the grafted life the human life is not eliminated but is strengthened, uplifted, and enriched by the divine life

by being grafted into a better life, our human life is uplifted and transformed. 

in the grafted life the divine life works within us to 

1. discharge the negative elements. the divine life works in a gradual way to eliminate whatever is natural. the negative elements in our disposition is killed, and then instead of casting away our disposition, the Lord uplifts it and uses it. 

2. resurrect God's orignal creation. we were created for God's purpose. but Satan got into us and runined us. however, instead of giving up His creation, God will reclaim it. God intends to bring all the aspects of our being into resurrection. 

3. supply the riches of Christ to our inward parts. through such a supply we are renewed in our mind, emotion, and will. 

4. saturate our whole being. we are being saturated, transformed, and conformed to the image of Christ. 

2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.

in living such a grafted life, it is not a matter of our effort or striving, or self improving, but a matter of beholding the Lord. in this beholding, we are  enjoying the benefits of the grafted life. through this grafte life, the Lord has the ground to transform us. the more we live this grafted life, the more the Lord will have ground in us, and the more we will be able to discern inward things. 

Laboring on the All-inclusive Christ Typified by the Good Land - 12

Message Title: Living a Life of Enjoying Christ as the Good Land with the Temple, the Dwelling Place of God, and the City, the Kingdom of God, as Its Issue

What God has wanted to gain when God created man in His own image and according to His likeness, and giving them the dominion over this earth; that purpose of God can only be fulfilled through our experiences of this all-inclusive Christ. 

our God dwells in the heavens, but really His desire is to dwell on this earth, which is the church, in our spirit, and also on the unique ground of oneness, not up to our choice or preference, but up to the choice of God. 

I. Fist Corinthians takes the history of the children of Israel in the Old Testament as a type of the New Testament believers, but there is no reference to the good land in 1 Corinthians, because, spiritually speaking, the reality of the good land is in 2 Corinthians.

if we look at the history of Israel people, after enjoying the passover and leaving Egypt, they entered into the wilderness, drinking of the spiritual rock following them, and eating of the spiritual food, getting baptised over the sea. in 1 Corinthians, we only see those two parts of the journey of Israel, which is the exodus out of Egpyt and their life in the wilderness, wandering for 40 years. but we cannot see the good land, which is found in 2 Corinthians, though there is no mentioning of "good land" in this book. However, the word "grace" is mentioned multiple times in the book, which grace is Christ as the good land to us today. the reality of the good land in 2 Corinthians is Christ Himself as the divine grace; the grace of the Lord Jesus is the central thought and the subject of 2 Corinthians. 

Grace is surely unmerited favor, which is corrent. Grace is also a free gift from God. but grace is more than that. we must see that grace is not just something God does for us, something that God gives to us, but grace is actually God Himself in the Son as the Spirit coming into us to be our enjoyment, even our full enjoyment, to be what we cannot be but should be, to do what we cannot do but should do, to live for us, to enable us, to stregthen us, to empower us, to do everything for us, to energize us to face all kinds of situations and to meet all kinds of situations. 

in the book of Ephesians, which is a book on the church, grace is closely related to the building of the church. it is grace that enables us to function and to build up the Body of Christ. it is grace that produce the church as the masterpiece of God. Grace is what we need, which is the all-inclusive Christ, who is with our spirit today. 

the way for us to enjoy the good land, to labor on the good land is by grace. 

II. We need to see how to live a life in the eyes of God that will enable us to enjoy the all-inclusive Christ typified by the good land

we need to live a life of laboring upon Christ, a life of enjoying Christ personally so that we may enjoy Him together collectively for the building up of the Body of Christ as the temple, the house, of the living God. there are two aspects in our life of enjoying Christ. first, there is the personal aspect concerning our individual enjoyment and labor. also there is the corporate aspect for us to enjoy Christ collectively, which requires us to come to the specific place ordained by God. God's will is for us to enjoy Christ. we need to seek to enjoy Christ and experience Him in every situation, which has been divinely arranged by God for us to enjoy and gain Christ. 

we must produce enough of Him so that there will be a surplus remaining for the poor and the needy, for the priests and the Levites, and with the best for the Lord Himself. this means we cannot produce just enough for ourselves. we need to produce the surplus, for others in the church life and for the Lord. there will always be some poor and needy ones in the church life, and also there will the ones who serve the Lord. 

III. We must meet with the Lord's children for corporate worship at the place that the Lord has chosen - in our spirit and on the unique ground of oneness

First, God's sanctuary, His habitation, is in our spirit, and second, it is the church. 

there are four characteristics of the place the Lord has chosen:

1. the place chosen by the Lord must not have any name other than the name of Christ.

2. the place chosen by the Lord is full of the exercise of the spirit

3. the place chosen by the Lord is a place of the enjoyment of the riches of Christ

4. the place chosen by the Lord is a place of rejoicing. 

if we have all of these above, we will have the proper meetings.