Loving the Lord’s Appearing
“He who testifies these things says, Yes, I come quickly. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20)
The general subject of this past weekend’s ITERO was “The Christian Life, the Church Life, the Consummation of the Age, and the Coming of the Lord.” Through the eight messages and small group study sessions, we saw our need to be trained by the Lord to live a normal Christian life and church life with the consummation of the age and the coming of the Lord in view. May the Lord enlighten all of us to see the signs of the times and open to Him in a fresh way for Him to train us, minister to us, live in us, and operate in us. While we live in the physical human realm, may we also live in the divine and mystical realm with an inner corporate sensation that the Lord is coming.
“Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, with which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will recompense me in that day, and not only me but also all those who have loved His appearing.” (2 Tim. 4:8)
Loving the Lord’s appearing and loving the Lord Himself are inseparable. We should love the Lord’s appearing and look forward to it with earnest expectation and joy. We should have a living that loves the Lord’s appearing; this causes us not to be discouraged but to remain faithful to the end. As those who love the Lord Jesus, take Him as our life, live Him, and magnify Him, we should await His coming and love His appearing; this should be our heart’s desire and our living as those who hope to enter into His joy, be saved into the Lord’s heavenly kingdom, and receive the crown of righteousness. (Msg. 7, III.A, C.1-2, H)
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Col. 3:16)
“Your words were found and I ate them, and Your word became to me the gladness and joy of my heart…” (Jer. 15:16)
We need to let the word of Christ dwell in us so that we may experience the functions of the word of God operating within us, ministering the riches of Christ into our being. The word of God enlightens, nourishes, and waters us to quench our thirst. The word of God strengthens, washes, and builds us up. The word of God completes, perfects, and edifies us by sanctifying us. By allowing the word of Christ to inhabit us, we can become a God-man filled with Christ as the reality of the attributes of God. (Crystallization-study of Jeremiah and Lamentations, msg. 4, III.D.1-4)
Lord, cause us all to allow You to dwell in us richly and have the first place in our being!
United States
The elections for the U.S. president and congress, along with some senate seats and governorships, will take place Tuesday, November 3. We pray to release on earth the authority of the “Ruler of the kings of the earth” (Rev. 1:5) for His choice of elected officials.
Our prayers should be aimed at the Holy Land, the holy city, and the holy temple; this means that our prayers should be aimed at the interest of God, that is, at Christ and the church as God’s interest on earth. To pray properly, we must pray to God in the name of the Lord Jesus, aiming at God’s interest for His economy; to pray in the name of Jesus is to pray for the interest of God on earth, which is Christ as God’s portion to us, as God’s kingdom, and as God’s dwelling place. (ITERO, msg. 5, II.E.1.b, 2)
Bibles for America
During this time of restriction and upheaval, BfA is more burdened than ever to reach people with the gospel of Jesus Christ by producing more gospel materials, particularly videos. We are exploring different formats and content to appeal to all kinds of people, and endeavoring to decrease production time in order to create these videos more quickly.
Please pray for the Lord’s leading and the supply of the Spirit as we labor on these videos so that people from every walk of life would be touched to repent and be saved. Pray also for the Lord to provide persons with the specific skills needed to carry out this ongoing burden.
Myanmar
There are currently 79 churches in Myanmar (also known as Burma) with over 5,000 saints. On June 18, 103 trainees graduated from the Full-time Training in Yangon. A new term began on June 22 with 69 trainees. Four times a week, trainers from the FTT in Hamilton, New Zealand give online classes; local trainers take care of the rest. Please pray for all FTTY trainees to be gained by the Lord for His economy.
Since the beginning of this year, the electronic version of the Holy Bible Recovery Version in Burmese has been available from the Google Play Store for saints to enjoy the Lord’s word at every time and in every place. The translation work continues to progress with four ministry books scheduled to be completed by the end of 2020. Please pray for the timely supply of grace to the ones laboring on this project. Pray for these publications to feed the saints richly and to meet the various needs in the churches.
Announcements
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Morning Revival: Week 4 of Crystallization-study of Jeremiah and Lamentations.
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LA Joint Meeting: Lord’s Day, November 1, we will have a meeting of the whole church in LA.
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Ministry & Gospel: Our Ministry & Gospel Meetings for this month will be October 11, 18 and 25. The entire series may be viewed and shared at http://youtube.com/churchinlosangeles.
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Interim Instructions for Giving: Instructions for where to mail checks and options for online giving, which includes Zelle, are at http://www.churchinlosangeles.org/members/offerings.
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Interim guidelines for in-person meetings are posted at http://www.churchinlosangeles