Taking Christ as Our Husband and the Church as Our Home
“And Naomi, her mother-in-law, said to her, My daughter, I must seek some resting place for you, that it may go well with you.” (Ruth 3:1)
“For I am jealous over you with a jealousy of God; for I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.” (2 Cor. 11:2)
Ruth chapter 3 shows Ruth’s seeking for her rest. We need to enjoy Christ to such an extent that we have rest. In order to have rest, we surely need a home. No place can give us as much rest as our home. In chapter 3 Naomi proposed and even pushed to gain a home for Ruth.
The steps taken by Ruth correspond to our spiritual experience… By believing in the Lord Jesus, we were organically joined to Him. Now He is in us and we are in Him. With this intimate, organic union, we must begin to pursue Christ in order to gain, possess, experience, and enjoy Him. This is typified by Ruth’s exercising of her right to gain and possess the produce of the good land. Just as Ruth had the right to enjoy the produce of the good land after coming into the land, so we have the right to enjoy Christ as our good land after believing in Him.
However, after our gleaning we still need a home so that we can have a settled rest. This kind of rest can come only through marriage… Naomi wanted to find a way to establish a home for Ruth. If Ruth was to have a home for her rest, she needed a husband. Naomi realized that the proper person to be Ruth’s husband was Boaz, who typifies Christ. (Life-study of Ruth, pp. 17-18)
Thanksgiving Conference
Blending the churches is one of the functions of the New Testament ministry, and this service of the ministry still continues today. In the past we may have thought that it was our coming together physically that accomplished the blending among us in the local churches. But this pandemic has shown us that the blending is not at all in the physical and natural realm nor is it based on solely our activity. It is God who blends the churches in the Body together, and He does this in the divine and mystical realm through the saints’ participation and enjoyment of the ministry.
We should all be in the same things, with one accord, and even with one mouth (Rom. 15:6), and this is really happening among us more and more these days. As He did in the days of Paul, so He is doing in our days today. In the physical and natural realm of this world there is a global pandemic, but in the divine and mystical realm within the churches there is blending. And, to be sure, the Lord is using this pandemic to intensify His blending work among us through this ministry. (Issue No. 7, “Having This Ministry…”)
Living Stream Ministry will once again present the upcoming 2021 International Thanksgiving Conference as an online global conference. The general subject is “Living in and with the Divine Trinity.” For the church in Los Angeles, we will gather together by languages on Zoom from our homes and/or in meeting halls:
Meeting 1: Friday, Nov 26…………… 10:00 AM
Meeting 2: Friday, Nov 26…………….. 7:30 PM
Meeting 3: Saturday, Nov 27………. 10:00 AM
Meeting 4: Saturday, Nov 27………… 7:30 PM
Meeting 5: Lord’s Day, Nov 28……. 10:00 AM
Meeting 6: Lord’s Day, Nov 28……… 4:00 PM
Let us prepare ourselves for this upcoming time of ministry and sanctify these days for the hearing of faith among us. Pray that we would be open vessels to receive the Lord’s speaking and be brought into the vision and practical realization of living in and with the Divine Trinity for His purpose.
Semiannual Video Training Registration
The church in Los Angeles will participate in the 2021 December Semiannual Training by video training. This training will be a Crystallization-study of 1 & 2 Samuel. The schedule will be December 20 to 25 for English, Chinese, and Korean, and December 20 to 29 for Spanish. Registration deadline is next Tuesday, November 30; cost is $125; details are at http://tinyurl.com/wintertrainingla.
Ethiopia
Ethiopia is Africa’s second-most populous nation with over 118 million people, seventy percent of whom are young people. With 90 different ethnic groups and 80 languages, the country has been embroiled in a civil war that began a year ago in the Tigray Region. It risks descending into an all-out war as rebels advance on the capital, threatening the country’s future, as well as the stability of Eastern Africa.
Please continue to pray against all the evil forces to bind Satan and his strategies, along with the release of the Lord’s blessing on His move and the release of God’s truth in Ethiopia and Eastern Africa. May the Lord keep the country open for the Lord’s move and the situation may remain open for the propagation of the ministry and raising up of churches.
Ghana
There are currently around 1,500 saints meeting in 28 localities in Ghana. The Africa Ministry Depot and Ghana Gospel Bookroom have been channels in bringing the saints in Ghana and the West African sub-region into the up-to-date ministry through trainings and the sale and distribution of books. In early 2020 there was a free mass book distribution of over 130,000 ministry books to schools and the general public. Some of the contacts from this time are being shepherded into the church life.
Please pray for the seeking ones to enter into the ministry and see the Lord’s recovery. Pray that through trainings the saints will be perfected and God will gain the barley loaf rolling through the enemy’s camp that will bring glory to God and shame to the enemy!
To read more about some recent migrations and new localities in Ghana, download the November 2021 newsletter of the Lord’s Move to Africa in English or Chinese at http://www.lmafrica.org.
Announcements
- Morning Revival: Week 10 of Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth, vol. 2. Next week, after the Thanksgiving Conference, we will REPEAT Week 10.
-
Wednesday Night Ministry Meeting: Because of the Thanksgiving Conference, there will be NO MEETING this Wednesday, November 24. The next broadcast will be on December 1. Saints may be interested in watching a free video of Brother Lee speaking on “Moving with God and United with Christ” at http://www.lsm.org/timely-speaking.html.
-
December Semiannual Training Registration: LA’s video training begins December 20. More information at http://tinyurl.com/wintertrainingla. Registration is due by Tuesday, November 30.
-
Children’s Work Conference: Recordings of the November 13 sessions are available for all parents and serving ones at http://scyp.com/children. Translations into Chinese, Korean, and Spanish are available.
-
Living Stream Ministry: The November digital newsletter contains enlightening reports on the publication work in Africa, the impact of the pandemic on LSM feasts, and the purpose and usefulness of The Holy Word for Morning Revival series.
-
Bibles for America‘s latest blog post is entitled “A Simple Way to Pray.” Enjoy and share it at http://blog.biblesforamerica.org/how-to-pray-talking-to-god.
-
Ways to Give: Information about the church’s online giving platform, Subsplash, and where to mail checks, are at http://www.churchinlosangeles.org/members/offerings.