Sweet Fragrance

II. As captives in Christ's trimphal procession, we manifest the savor of the knowledge of Him in every place-- 2 Cor. 2:14b "triumph in ³the Christ and manifests the ^4csavor of the ^dknowledge of Him through ⁵us in every place."

1. On the one hand, the apostles were captives; on the other hand, they were those bearing incense, the fragrance of Christ.
B. The transcendent power of Christ's resurrection in us enables us to endure the sufferings that others cannot bear and to live a life that others cannot live, thereby manifesting the fragrance of Christ-- 2 Cor. 1:9; 2:14-15; Phil. 3:10
"9 ¹Indeed we ourselves had the ²response of ^adeath in ourselves, that we should ^bnot base our ^cconfidence on ourselves but ^don ³God, who ^eraises the dead;

14 But ^athanks be to God, who always ¹leads ²us in ^btriumph in ³the Christ and manifests the ^4csavor of the ^dknowledge of Him through ⁵us in every place.

15 For we ¹are a ^afragrance of Christ to God in those who are being ^bsaved and in those who are ^cperishing:

Phil. 3:10 To ^1aknow Him and the ^2bpower of His resurrection and the ^3cfellowship of His sufferings, being ^4dconformed to His death,"

1. Through the power of His resurrection, Christ leads us in joyful triumph and manifests the savor of the knowledge of Him through us.

2. If in our daily living we are enjoying Christ, depend on Christ, fellowship with Christ, and are filled with Christ, others will sense the fragrance of Christ in us; this fragrance is Christ living Himself out from us--1:21a "21 For to me, to ^1alive is Christ and to die is ²gain."

C. The excellent knowledge of Christ is a fragrance, an aroma--3:8; 2 Cor. 2:14 "8 ¹But moreover I ²also count ^aall things to be loss on account of the ³excellency of the ^bknowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, ⁴on account of whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as ⁵refuse that I may ^6cgain Christ"

1. We who have been brought into Christ's triumphal procession speak to others the excellent knowledge of Christ--v 14

2. As the Lord leads us in triumph, we speak to others about Christ, and what we say concerning Him is a sweet-smelling savor -- 4:5 ; 2:14-15 "5 ¹For we do not ^apreach ourselves but Christ Jesus as ^2bLord, and ourselves as your ^3cslaves for Jesus' sake."

a. Whenever we speak Christ, this speaking is the spreading of the fragrance of Christ-- Acts 8:4-5; 17:18 "4 Those therefore who were scattered went throughout the land ^1aannouncing the word as the gospel.

5 And ¹Philip ²went down to the city of ^aSamaria and proclaimed the Christ to them. 17:18 And some of the ¹Epicurean and ²Stoic philosophers also confronted him. And some said, What would this ³babbler wish to say? And others, He seems to be an announcer of foreign ⁴deities -- because he was ^aannouncing Jesus and the ^bresurrection as the gospel."

b. As we speak Christ to others, in our speaking, the fragrance of Christ ascends to God for His enjoyment--2 Cor. 2:15

D.The apostles were a frangrace of Christ to God because they were saturated and permeated by Christ and with Christ -- Eph. 3:17a; S.S. 3:6

1. When they spoke of Christ to others, the Christ with whom they were constituted spread Himself out from their being and became a sweet fragrance to God for His enjoyment -- 2 Cor. 4:5; 2:15

2. Whenever they went, God could manifest through them the fragrance of Christ -- vv 14-15

3. This should be our experience today; while we are speaking of Christ, He should come forth as a sweet fragrance--4:5

4. Bearing incense involves the divine dispensing--2:14b-16; 13:14:

a. Through the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity, we can mature in life and triumph in our ministry--Eph. 4:13, 15-16; 2 Cor. 2:14

b. We should allow Christ to spread through us His sweet fragrance to God for His enjoyment--v.15

c. The spreading of incense takes place through the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity into our being--Eph. 3:16-19

Prayer: Lord, I just love You! Lord, I just want to be one smelling of your sweet fragrance. Lord, make me one who eats of You daily moment by moment, so that I have the essence of Your fragrance radiating out of me. Lord, I want to became a sweet fragrance for Your enjoyment! Lord, I love You! Make me one who has the sweet fragrance radiating out, for Your enjoyment and for others to enjoy! Oh Lord Jesus, I just love You!

Live Ministry meeting :D

I attended the Live ministry meeting. It was a unexpected trip, but totally worth the 5 torturous hours in the car.

The message was on "In John's Epistles" -the Flow of the Lord Jesus within Us-te Fellowship of the Eternal Life.

C. fellowship is the imparting of the Triune God-the Father, the Son, and the Spirit- into the believers as their unique portion and blessing for them to enjoy today and for eternity. -1 Cor. 1:9; 2 Cor. 13:14; Num. 6:22-27
F. First John reveals the principles of the divine fellowship, 2 John reveals that we must have no fellowship with those who deny Christ, and 3 John reveals that we should stay in the one fellowship of God's family by sending forward those who travel for the gospel and the ministry of the word in a manner worthy of God and by not loving to be first in the church.
II.A. We enter into the vertical aspect of the divine fellowship by the divine Spirit, the Holy Spirit; this aspect of fellowship refers to our fellowship with the Triune God in our loving Him-2 Cor. 13:14; 1 John 1:3,6; Mark 12:30
B. We enter into the horizontal aspect of the divine fellowship by the human spirit; this aspect of our fellowship refers to our fellowship with one another by the exercise of our spirit in our loving one another-Phil.2:1; Rev. 1:10; 1 John 1:2-3, 7; 1 Cor. 16:18; Mark 12:31; Rom. 13:8-10; Gal. 5:13-15
C. The one divine fellowship is an interwoven fellowship-the horizontal fellowship is interwoven with the vertical fellowship:
2. Our horizontal fellowship with the saints brings us into vertical fellowship with the Lord: then our vertical fellowship with the Lord brings us into horizontal fellowship with the saints.
3. We must maintain both the vertical and horizontal aspects of the divine fellowship in order to be healthy spiritually- cf. 1 John 1:7,9
D. The divine fellowship is everything in the Christian life!
III. 4. The Lord uses our failures to show us how horrible, ugly, and abominable we are, causing us to forsake all that is from the self and to COMPLETELY depend on God.

Read Psalms 103:1-4, 13-14; 32:1-2

5. Taking Christ as our trespass offerin to receive the forgiveness of sins issues in our fearig God and loving God-Psalms 130:4; Luke 7:47-50
IV. As we are enjoying Christ in the divine fellowship, we continually experience a cycle in our spiritual life of four crucial things- the eternal life, the fellowship of the eternal life, the divine light, and the blood of Jesus the Son of God; such a cycle briga us onward in the growth of the divine life until we reach the maturity of life to corporately arrive at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ-1 John 1:1-9; Heb. 6:1; Eph. 4:13

My Prayer "Lord, I love you! Lord, I need You! Lord, I want to COMPLETELY depend on You!"