Everything Depends on Our Seeing the Body

“For even as the body is one and has many members, yet all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ. For also in one Spirit we were all baptized into one Body….God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, even as He willed….God has blended the body together.” (1 Cor. 12:12-13, 18, 24)

The Body is in opposition to the individual. Just as the Father is versus the world, the Spirit is versus the flesh, and the Lord is versus the devil, so also is the Body versus the individual. Once a man sees the Body of Christ, he is free from individualism. He will no longer live for himself but for the Body. Once I am delivered from individualism, I am spontaneously in the Body.

If we realize that a Christian is nothing more than a member, we will no longer be proud. Everything depends on our seeing. Those who see that they are members will surely treasure the Body and honor the other members. (CWWN, vol. 44, chap. 14, sec. 2, The Mystery of Christ)

Lord, we open our whole being to You. Show us more of Your Body!

Increase in Los Angeles

Since last year, the church in Los Angeles has had a renewed burden for increase with a specific goal of 15% growth. In April 2016, when we began keeping regular attendance numbers, the average total Lord’s Day attendance in all the districts was 538. In 2017, the average attendance from January to May was 607. This represents a 12.8% increase, for which we thank the Lord. By May 2018, our goal is to see a 15% increase from this number to 700.

As we enjoy the church life, “continuing steadfastly with one accord” (Acts 2:46), let us inquire of the Lord to increase us “with men like a flock” (Ezek. 36:37).

College Campuses in Los Angeles

USC is already in the fourth week of classes; CSUN and multiple junior colleges are in the third week, and UCLA has not yet started. As the universities in Los Angeles begin the new academic year, many freshmen are open to something new and searching for a direction in life. God wants to gain these ones for His economy. With this goal in view, please pray:

  • That the saints would be supplied and strengthened to continue going out on the gospel while there is still an open door at the start of the new semester.

  • For our students to be built up together in the enjoyment of the Lord—especially in twos and threes—to be fruit-bearing branches and feeders of sheep.

  • That the Lord would lead us in our follow-up contact of the new ones, which includes knowing whom to focus our labor on, and that these ones would be open to our saints.

  • For the building up of the vital group living in the homes as a strong net to gain the new students.

  • For much mutual shepherding between the students and the community saints;

  • That all the saints would provide a warm and Christly welcome to our own UCLA students coming back next week to encourage, strengthen, and supply them.

College Campuses in Germany

  • Please pray for our preparations for an in-reaping of freshmen through the labor on the campuses, including the Bible distributions, at the start of the new academic year in October.

  • At Goethe University in Frankfurt, we will have seven sisters enrolled this fall. Please pray for their living situation and that there would be at least one sister’s house near the campus.

  • In October, over 4,000 first-year students come to the university in Tübingen, near Stuttgart. Please pray for the fellowship and coordination needed to contact them and for the release of an apartment near the campus that would serve as a nest to contain and shepherd them into the church life.

Germany

Please continue to pray:

  • That those who are emigrating now will find housing and jobs (for the job-keeping full-timers) and will obtain visas to live and serve long-term in Germany;

  • For the learning of the German language by the saints who have emigrated;

  • For the practical strengthening and building up of the local churches;

  • That the Lord will send an adequate number of experienced brothers who can provide leadership to the work in Germany;

  • That the Lord would guard the local saints and their families from attacks of the enemy;

  • For the saints laboring to prepare for the Bible distributions and the Stuttgart conference in October;

  • That the Farsi speaking new believers would continue to be perfected in the truth and established in the faith, to become faithful witnesses who could teach others.

Polish Recovery Version

The six-week proofreading labor began in mid August. Please pray for the Lord’s continued blessing on this project and for the timely completion of all the tasks for the best possible publication of the Polish New Testament Recovery Version.

Announcements

  1. Morning revival: Week 5 in Knowing Life and the Church (Memorial Day Conference). After week 6 we will begin Crystallization-Study of Ezekiel, vol. 3 (week 13)

  2. The Thanksgiving Conference will be in Phoenix Thursday night, November 23 to Lord’s Day noon, November 26. Information is at https://churchinlosangeles.org/prayer/ .

  3. Information about Germany and Europe: (this list is included once a month)