Christ Being Formed in the Saints
“For though you have ten thousand guides in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.” (1 Cor. 4:15)
“My children, with whom I travail again in birth until Christ is formed in you.” (Gal. 4:19)
When the Galatian believers were regenerated through Paul’s preaching of the gospel to them the first time, Christ was born into them but not formed in them. Here the apostle was travailing again that Christ might be formed in them. To have Christ formed in us is to have Christ fully grown in us. First, Christ was born into us at the time we repented and believed in Him, then He lives in us in our Christian life (2:20), and, finally, He will be formed in us at our maturity. Christ’s being formed in us is needed that we may be sons of full age and heirs to inherit God’s promised blessing, and that we may mature in the divine sonship.
The goal of our service in the church or in the ministry must be to minister Christ into others. It is not adequate simply to say that we preach the gospel, for it is possible to preach the gospel without ministering Christ to others. Our burden must be the ministering of Christ. Once again I say that this requires labor and suffering. It demands prayer, patience, and love. According to our experience, such a ministry is a battle, a wrestling. The subtle one, the enemy of God, is active to bring in frustration or distraction. We do not know from what direction he will attack next. Hence, we must learn from Paul to be burdened to minister Christ and also to appeal to the saints’ affection that their hearts may be touched. (Life-study of Galatians, 2nd ed., msg. 23, pp. 201-202)
Pray that the saints would labor to beget new believers and travail to minister Christ to them so that He would be fully formed in them.
A New Creation Is What Matters (Gal. 6:15)
“When you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be terrified, for these things must take place…And there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences; and there will be terrors.” (Luke 21:9, 11)
“We know that all things work together for good to those who love God.” (Rom. 8:28)
The good in v. 28 is not related to physical persons, matters, or things. It refers to our gaining more of Christ and having Him wrought into our being, that we may be transformed and conformed into the full sonship (cf. footnote 3 on this verse).
Let us pray:
- For God’s people to love God, be occupied with the new creation, and not be anxious due to natural disasters, human violence, or political situations.
- For God’s people to be transformed day by day and conformed to the image of God’s Son (v. 29).
- For the gospel to reach and be received by many people around us.
- For more shining lampstands to be raised up around the earth.
FTTA Middle Age
February 25 is the application deadline for the spring term of the middle-age training (FTTA-MA), which begins March 17. Attendance in recent terms has been half or less of the pre-pandemic peak number. Ask the Lord to release many, especially from all over North America, whether young or old, whether new or decades in the recovery, to realize their need of training and to match Isaiah’s willingness to declare, “Here am I; send me” (Isa. 6:8).
Oxnard
A group meeting in Oxnard, California began this month. Oxnard is about 20 miles from the church in Thousand Oaks. This group includes some with church life experience and some new people. Please pray for the continuation and development of this group in experiences of Christ and His Body.
FTTA Gospel Trips
Gospel trips involving 163 trainees from FTTA and other training centers visiting 18 countries in Europe began on January 23 and will finish on February 9. In addition, 97 FTTA trainees are visiting 27 cities in the United States. Please continue to pray:
- That the Lord will fully cover the travel, safety, security, and health of all participants.
- That the Lord will blend and build all the saints involved so that He can fully bless these trips.
- That the sanctifying Spirit will go before the saints to prepare the hearts of those the Lord has chosen.
- That the gospel of the kingdom will be prevailing and reach all those the Lord desires to save.
- That the Lord will add remaining fruit to the churches as His testimony in each of these nations.
For regular reports and updated prayer lists, go to ftta.org/gospeltrips.
Cairo International Book Fair
The 56th Cairo Book Fair is taking place from January 23 through February 5. One of the Arab world’s most prominent cultural events, this is the largest book fair for the Arabic-reading public as well as the largest in the world that is open directly to the public. The annual CIBF is an important opportunity for the Arabic literature work in Egypt to present ministry publications openly to the public. Pray for the last day of this book fair—for new contacts, friends, and beneficiaries of this ministry.
Announcements
1. Morning Revival: Week 4 of our guided reading through Galatians.
2. 2025 ICSC: The International Chinese-speaking Blending Conference will be hosted by Living Stream Ministry February 14 to 16 in Anaheim. All the saints are invited and encouraged to attend. Translation via ListenWIFI app (formerly called Listen Everywhere). Details at www.icsc2025.org
3. Bibles for America‘s new blogpost, “7 Tips to Build up a Habit of Reading the Bible Daily,” is available to read and share at blog.biblesforamerica.org.
4. SoCal Spanish-speaking Conference: Audio recordings and outlines from the recent conference on “Living the Kingdom Life by Living a Hidden Life” are now available at audio.socalspanish.org.
5. LSM Radio Programs: Life-study of the Bible with Witness Lee focuses on the enjoyment of the divine life as revealed in the Scriptures. Spoken ministry portions are followed by a lively discussion. For example, all 45 episodes on Galatians are available at www.lsmradio.com/programs/galatians.
6. Living to Him has a podcast series particularly helpful to working saints, including two recent episodes on being vitalized by “Setting Proper Goals,” at livingtohim.com/the-living-to-him-podcast.
7. Ways to Give: Information about the church’s online giving platform, Subsplash, and where to mail checks, are at www.churchinlosangeles.org/members/offerings.