NOTE:
This is a skeleton outline only. The full version will be uploaded at a future date. In the meantime, please spend some time with me contemplating what it means to suffer with Christ …
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Philippians 3:7-14 – "What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, 9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 10 That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; 11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. 12 Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."
The Fellowship of His Sufferings: Thirteen Ways Christ Suffered As He Lived In This Life
1. Homelessness – The Reward: An Extended, Caring Spiritual Family.
2. Being Misunderstood – The Reward: Sincere Followers.
3. Sleeplessness and Exhaustion – The Reward: Deep Fellowship with the Father.
4. Suffering Deceit – The Reward: Honest Followers.
5. Enduring Ignorance and Hypocrisy – The Reward: Genuinely Spiritual Followers.
6. Teaching Slow, and Often Faithless, Students and Disciples – The Reward: Progressive Understanding in the Hearts of His Most Faithful Followers.
7. General Persecution – The Reward: Loving Believers.
8. Conspirators Against His Divinely Appointed Agenda – The Reward: Sincere Supporters.
9. Vulnerability – The Reward: Truly Trustworthy Friends and Supporters.
10. Foreknowledge of His Impending Trial – The Reward: Strength to Move Ahead.
11. Betrayal, Unjust Trial, Suffering, Humiliation, Crucifixion, and Death on the Cross – The Reward: Grace for the Moment … and Eventual Resurrection.
12. Separation from the Presence of the Father – The Reward: Full Restoration, and the Full Approval of the Father.
13. Absence from His Faithful Disciples – The Reward: For His Disciples, The Help, Companionship, Power, and Eternal Presence, of the Holy Spirit.
