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The Divine Authority in the Church

“Immediately I was in spirit; and behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and upon the throne there was One sitting.” (Rev. 4:2)

“And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb in the middle of its street.” (Rev. 22:1)

There is a divine government in the church life today, and this government comes from the throne of God and of the Lamb. The divine authority in the church is for God to dispense Himself into us as life, as the life supply, and as the all-sufficient grace. Only by submitting to the throne can we share in His all-sufficient source of the flowing grace.

We should never separate authority from grace or grace from authority. Grace and authority are one. Today the Lord Jesus does not reign merely with authority. He is reigning in the church, among the churches, and over all the churches through the flowing of His life as grace. (Vital Factors for the Recovery of the Church Life, msg. 4, V, V.A, B.2.a, B.3)

Semiannual Training

The July Semiannual Training will be held online beginning next Monday, July 5. The books to be crystallized in this training are Joshua, Judges, and Ruth.

Ask the Lord to prepare all who have registered to be good listeners and absorbers of the word, and to participate as much as possible in study times. Pray that through this training the Lord will gain a people in His recovery who are one with Him to possess Him as their God-promised good land and who are the proper persons to bring Him forth to meet today’s need of both God and men.

SoCal Chinese-speaking Gospel Meeting

The Southern California Chinese-speaking Gospel Meeting was held online last Saturday evening. The fellowship was on “An Unknown God” from Acts 17:23. At least 850 people attended, and we got immediate feedback from 17 gospel friends, 3 of whom expressed the desire to be baptized. Praise the Lord! Please pray for all the follow-ups.

FTTA

“Because out from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen” (Rom. 11:36). The virtual graduation for the FTTA Spring Class of 2021 is this Saturday, July 3 at 10:00 am, followed by a recognition of the FTTA-XB (Boston Extension) at 12:00 pm. The video links will be at http://www.ftta.org. Please pray for:

  1. The Lord’s leading of all 90 FTTA trainees and 16 FTTA-XB trainees who are graduating to follow the Lamb wherever He may go.
  2. The Lord to increase our number by sending 120 first-term FTTA trainees to Anaheim and 20 FTTA-XB trainees to Boston for the Fall term.

FTTL

The graduation of the Full-time Training in London is also on Saturday, July 3. Praise the Lord that despite the pandemic, the training has been able to continue, and this term 22 trainees are graduating. Please pray for these ones to be useful, living functioning members of the body and at least 20 new first term trainees from the UK and Europe to begin next term.

Furthermore, Amana Trust is in the process of applying to become a sponsor for a new two-year, multi-trip visa which will be ideal for those from outside the UK and Ireland who would like to attend the FTTL. Please pray that Amana Trust would be granted this sponsorship status and that this could be processed in a timely way so the trainees can begin to use it for the coming term. Also pray that each individual trainee would be covered throughout their visa application process.

European YP Conference

This year’s European Young People’s Conference in late July and early August will cover “Patterns of Living an Overcoming Life.” It will be held regionally in person if the situation allows, or online where it is not possible to meet in person. Please pray for the Lord to release the registrations and bless all the fellowship and practical coordination related to this conference.

Bangladesh

Please pray for:

  1. The translation work and more translators to be raised up to cooperate with the Lord to release His riches; also pray for the saints to redeem the time to enter into His riches and experience Him.
  2. The saints to establish a life of morning revival, prayer, Bible-reading and gospel preaching and become vital members in the church life.
  3. The spiritual atmosphere of the online perfecting meetings to be strengthened and for more saints to join this meeting and be perfected in truth.
  4. The release of visas for the overseas saints.

Announcements

  1. Morning Revival: Week 4 of Vital Factors for the Recovery of the Church Life (ITERO).

  2. North America Chinese-speaking Perfecting Training is online from July 24 to 31. Any interested saints from Los Angeles may register until July 11 at http://tinyurl.com/bd3ny3fc.

  3. Summer School of Truth concluded last weekend. Videos are posted at http://scyp.com/ssot2021.

  4. Holy Bible Recovery Version App is the official app from Living Stream Ministry that contains the Recovery Version of the Holy Bible in English with its enlightening footnotes, valuable cross-references, and useful charts and maps. For more information, go to http://www.lsm.org/rvapp.html.

  5. Living Stream Ministry has launched a digital newsletter called “Having This Ministry…” To learn more and subscribe, go to http://newsletters.lsm.org/having-this-ministry/index.html.

  6. FTTA Middle-Age Training is pleased to announce that the 2021 Fall semester begins on August 30. For details, visit http://fttamidage.org.

  7. Ways to Give: Information on setting up online giving through Subsplash, as well as where to mail checks, are at http://www.churchinlosangeles.org/members/offerings.