"the Life-Changing Power Of The Resurrection."

SCRIPTURAL REFERENCES

(Philippians 3:8-9) (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,”

(Philippians 3:10) “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.”

(Romans 8:18) “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

(James 1:2) (1) “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;” (3) “Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.”

PROLOGUE

While seeking the Lord for a compelling message to share, He brought to mind Paul's desire to know Christ in the power of His resurrection. This memory also took me back to my younger days, driving 18-wheelers as the trucker evangelist, “The Guardian Angel.”

I remember driving through Virginia and chatting with a lady trucker behind me via CB radio about God's goodness. She asked if I would stop at the next truck stop so she and her co-driver could pray for me, and I agreed.

I remember it starting to drizzle, and we were standing in front of our trucks. Her male friend kept glancing at me from the corner of his eye, as if warning me about something. It didn’t take long for me to realize that this woman was involved in what some call “the New Age Movement.”

She started by taking her hand and reaching toward my chest, then my head, while casting something into the sky. When I asked what she was doing, she replied, “I am taking your negative energy and casting it into the universe.”

I thought, “Oh no, this can’t be happening.” I quietly prayed for safety, placing my palm on her forehead and saying, “In the name of Jesus.” The woman was quite large, and when my hand made contact with her forehead, she suddenly collapsed onto the pavement as though she had been knocked out.

After a few minutes, her co-driver helped her stand, and, still dazed from the experience, she could only ask, “What kind of power is that?” I calmly replied, “That is resurrection power.”

Throughout the Holy Bible, few verses ring with the profound depth and transformative power as Philippians 3:10: 'That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.'

This single verse, penned by the Apostle Paul from a Roman prison, captures the deep longing of our Christian journey and inspires us to pursue an intimate relationship with Christ that transforms our lives.

His yearning is not just for salvation, but for a hands-on knowledge of Christ that plunges into the miraculous power of His resurrection. It also involves his desire to know Him in the fellowship of His sufferings.

This message examines the deeper aspects of Paul's intense longing, asking what it truly means to 'know Christ' in a way that transforms his identity and leads to spiritual maturity, as exemplified by Jesus' suffering and resurrection.

In summary, this should be the goal of every Christian, because reaching this spiritual level marks the start of a journey toward spiritual maturity that shapes the core of our earthly life.

"UNDERSTANDING PAUL’ S DESIRE."

Paul's statement in Philippians 3:10, "that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.

Paul’s desire should be our desire because it is vital to our Christian faith: it centers on a personal relationship with our loving Savior.

How can someone who experienced three shipwrecks, endured beatings that broke bones in his feet, was stoned and left for dead, and bitten by a poisonous serpent also suffer from what he called a 'thorn in the flesh'—yet express a desire to know Christ through His resurrection power, even wanting to share in His sufferings—and then declare in Romans 8:18 that 'the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us”? When will this glory be revealed?

Here, in Romans 8:18, the Apostle Paul looks toward a future event that he can only describe as “the day of glory, which will be unveiled at Jesus Christ's second coming and the beginning of His eternal kingdom.

Paul strongly yearned to be more like Christ, especially after his face-to-face encounter with Him on the road to Damascus. He expressed his desire for a closer relationship with his Lord and recognized that this intimacy may sometimes require suffering. He sees this suffering as a privilege and a way to deepen his connection with Christ, striving to develop a character like His through His death by focusing on self-denial, sacrifice, and dying to self and, yes, to sin.