The Divine History Within the Human History
“…Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be fashioned according to this age.” (Rom. 12:1-2a)
“That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man, that Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith.” (Eph. 3:16-17a)
We need to have a clear view of these two histories—the physical human history and the mysterious divine history… The history of man, the history of the world, is outward. The divine history, the history of God in and with humanity, is inward. This history is a matter of the divine mystery of the Triune God in humanity.
We all were born in the human history, but we have been reborn, regenerated, in the divine history. Now we need to ask ourselves this question: Are we living in the divine history, or are we living merely in the human history? If our living is in the world, we are living in the human history. But if we are living in the church, we are living in the divine history. In the church life God’s history is our history. Now two parties—God and we—have one history, the divine history. This is the church life.
With the divine history there is the new creation—the new man with a new heart, a new spirit, a new life, a new nature, a new history, and a new consummation. We praise the Lord that we are in the divine history, experiencing and enjoying the mysterious, divine things. (Life-study of Joel, p. 36)
LA Ministry & Gospel Meetings
The English-speaking Ministry & Gospel meetings will resume this Lord’s Day, August 16, from 11:00 to 11:45 am. The series topic is “Genesis: A Book of Seeds” with a particular burden to reach our friends and family as well as the younger ones in the church through an approachable ministering of the word. Furthermore, we will proceed with a particular sensitivity to new ones that we contact from the campus work at the beginning of the academic year.
Saints, let us all reconsider before the Lord whom we can shepherd to these outreach times. All saints are welcome to invite guests and accompany them to this time. The Zoom link is http://tinyurl.com/lachurchmeeting. Videos from previous meetings may also be viewed and shared at any time at http://youtube.com/churchinlosangeles.
May we help the white horse run through our prayers and invitations. Lord, expand Your burden for the gospel in our hearts to multiply Your testimony in Los Angeles!
LA Campuses
USC classes begin on August 17, CSUN on August 24, and UCLA has been having online orientations throughout the summer. Please pray for the students, serving ones, and those related to the campus in their outreach to new students, which is much different than in previous years.
FTTA
The Fall 2020 term of the FTTA will be conducted remotely and begins August 26. Please pray for the Lord to arrange all of the housing for the trainees, to be wisdom to those overseeing FTTA regarding the details of how it should be carried out, and to encourage and supply all of the incoming trainees as they prepare for this next term!
Oak Glen
Update: As of this past weekend, the forest fire has moved away from the conference center. On Friday, the evacuation orders for the property were lifted, though some fire crews remain in the area. We are thankful to the Lord for answering the prayers of the Body.
Lord’s Move to Africa
The August 2020 online newsletter introduces the Lord’s move in the southern part of the African continent. Lampstands have been established in five of the ten countries in this region with approximately 1,500 saints in the church life in 25 localities. While Lampstands have yet to be raised up in Botswana, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Malawi, Mozambique and Namibia. there are already some saints following the ministry in these places. Read more at http://www.lmafrica.org/newsletter.
Please pray for:
- The spread of the gospel of the kingdom to this region which has a predominantly Christian population.
- The strengthening of the existing testimonies through perfecting, blending and (post-pandemic) visitations.
- The Lord to gain the young people and equip them through training to become pillars in the churches.
Announcements
- Morning Revival: Week 3 of A Timely Word Concerning the World Situation and the Lord’s Recovery (from the Memorial Day Conference).
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Labor Day Weekend Blending Conference: The churches in the entire state of California will blend together in an online conference from September 4 to 6. There will be four meetings. Details regarding the schedule and the way to join will be announced in the coming weeks.
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Interim Instructions for Giving: Since our meeting halls are still closed, instructions for where to mail checks and options for online giving, which now includes Zelle, are at http://www.churchinlosangeles.org/members/offerings.
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Updated interim guidelines for in-person meetings are posted at http://www.churchinlosangeles.org/covid19. We will proceed slowly, cautiously, in loving care for one another.
