Young Adults' Group

Pursuing The Excellence Of The Knowledge Of Christ

by Pastor Mark
June 02, 2016

Thank God for a great India Youth Camp

This is our first Indian Youth Camp and we thank God for graciously blessing this camp. We had over 150 young people who attended the camp to learn about following the Lord Jesus. The reason we have decided to have this camp was because over the years, through our interaction with the young people, the pastors felt that many of them lacked knowledge and did not know the Lord Jesus personally.

This is why Pastor Charlie chose the theme “Follow Me”. Our hope and prayer was that they will seek to follow the Lord Jesus in a genuine and personal way and to become part of the kingdom of God. We thank God that through the camp lessons, the young people were challenged to follow the Lord Jesus.

Understanding the challenge of following Christ

At one of the night sessions, Pastor Charlie preached about the need to increase our knowledge in following the Lord. He looked to the Apostle Paul as an example of how he developed knowledge through 3 stages in his epistle to the Philippians.

Stage 1…the excellence of the knowledge of Christ

“Yet I indeed count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Phil 3:8)

Paul began his journey of faith pursuing the excellence of the knowledge of Christ. There was a greater and deeper knowledge to understand of the Lord Jesus. It is not something that is vague but that through his research and study, Paul was pursing the excellence of the knowledge of Christ. Along the way, Paul suffered the loss of all things. He suffered much as he began his journey. All his past successes and reputation as a Pharisee, he counted them as rubbish. He spent the next 3 years on his own to pursue the excellence of the knowledge of Christ. He did it all in order to gain Christ. Let us be willing to suffer much in order to pursue the excellence of the knowledge of Christ.

Stage 2…that I may know Him

“That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering, being conformed to His death.” (Phil 3:10)

The next stage is going beyond theoretical knowledge. It is the knowledge of Christ that would lead us to experience the power of His resurrection. There is the use of the Greek infinity of purpose in “To know”. We should seek the knowledge of Christ purposefully in order to gain spiritual power. That power is meant to help us enter into the fellowship of the suffering of Christ that we may conform to His death. This is not an easy stage to reach. Let us be challenged to know Christ and to experience great power for life and ministry.

Stage 3…the prize of the upward call of God

“I press toward the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 3:14)

This third stage involved the ever upward call of Christ. The goal is something that is always upward. There is always a greater level of understanding of the calling of the Lord in the ministry of the Lord. It is not something that is easily achieved. The crown of victory is something that we want to strive for as part of the upward goal. Let us ask ourselves, “At this point in time, which stage are we at?” Let’s us be challenged to always seek to pursue a greater level of the knowledge of Christ.

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