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Knowing, Experiencing, and Enjoying Christ

“But moreover I also count all things to be loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord…that I may gain Christ.” (Phil. 3:8)

“Forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, I pursue toward the goal for the prize to which God in Christ Jesus has called me upward.” (Phil. 3:13b-14)

In order to take Christ as everything and gain Him in all things, we must learn to continually deny our self and turn to our spirit. Turning to the spirit is the secret of being a Christian. The way to follow the Lord, enjoy the Lord’s riches, live in the reality of the Body of Christ, and function in the New Testament ministry is to continually exercise to reject our self, lose our soul-life, and turn to our spirit.

To know Christ is not merely to have the knowledge concerning Him but to gain His very person. Like Paul, we should aspire to know and experience Christ, the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings and to be conformed to His death as the mold of the Christian life.

Prayer is the real denial of the self. Actually, we do not need to pray in a lengthy way. It is sufficient simply to call “O Lord Jesus”; even such a short prayer means “no longer I but Christ.” Our prayer testifies that we do not exercise our self-effort to deal with the situation (to “cast out demons”); instead, we apply Christ. To pray is to practice the vision concerning Christ with His death and resurrection being our replacement so that we may be fully “Christified” to satisfy the desire of God’s heart. (Memorial Day Conference, msg. 1, IV, C; msg. 4, I.F; key statement 2; msg. 1, I.1-3)

Christ Our Life and Christ Our Head

“When Christ our life is manifested, then you also will be manifested with Him in glory.” (Col. 3:4)

“And He is the Head of the Body, the church…” (Col 1:18)

The building of the house and the city is the center of God’s eternal purpose. This building is simply the mingling of God with man. When Christ comes into us, that is the mingling…Therefore, the church is a mingling of divinity with humanity…When this mingling is enlarged and consummated to the fullest extent, that is the city. So the city eventually becomes the mutual building, the mutual habitation, of God and man. God dwells in us, and we in God…This is the universal, eternal mingling of God with man. We are His dwelling place, and He is ours. On a small scale, this is the house, and on a large scale, this is the city.

The New Testament first tells us that Christ is our life, but eventually it says that Christ is our Head…If we only experience Christ as life, yet do not realize Him much as our Head, we only have the church as the house. There is not the city yet. When we realize that Christ is not only our life but also our Head, then Christ will have the second step of enlargement. Then the church will not only be the house, but also the city. The house is mainly with the life, and the city is mainly with the Head. (CWWL, 1969, vol. 2, “The Recovery of God’s House and God’s City,” pp. 380-381)

May we honor and realize the unique headship of Christ for the church to be enlarged from the house to the city for the King and His kingdom.

UCLA Celebration Meeting

College students with all the saints in Hall 5 will come together this Friday to celebrate all that the Lord has done in and through them this past academic year. Pray for a good, solid ending to the school year for all the college students through their sharing of their testimony of Christ. Also pray for all the saints to be encouraged and for the Lord to be glorified through all the speaking.

FTTA

The deadline for Fall Term applications is this Wednesday, May 31. We are continuing to pray and trust in the Lord for His blessing on many young saints through the Full-time Training in Anaheim. In light of this week’s deadline, please pray that the Lord would touch and lead many more college graduates and young working saints to consecrate themselves and apply to FTTA. We expect that the Lord will increase the number in the Training through such prayers.

Ukraine

Please continue to pray that:

  • The Lord will keep all the saints in the involved countries open to Him for His divine dispensing.
  • The Lord will meet all the practical needs of the saints.
  • The brothers who are fighting in the war will be preserved by the Lord in their tripartite being.
  • The local saints, serving ones, and trainees in Europe will be blended with the refugees.
  • The enemy will be bound in his attack on the Lord’s interests in Russia, Ukraine, and Europe

Nigeria and Ghana

The May 2023 newsletter of the Lord’s Move to Africa has updates from Nigeria and Ghana. Last December, the churches in these two West African countries resumed their respective national blending conferences in person along with young people’s conferences.

On the last day of the young people’s conference in Ghana, more than a third of the young people (56 out of 152) were baptized. Praise the Lord! Our prayer is that these young ones will not be left alone, but that the Lord Himself would raise up many nursing mothers and exhorting fathers in their localities to shepherd them according to God’s heart.

Announcements

  1. Morning Revival: Week 8 of Crystallization-study of 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther.

  2. Wednesday Night Ministry Meeting: The weekly ministry meeting on “The Crucial Points of the Truth in Paul’s Epistles” continues this Wednesday starting 7:25 pm.

  3. July Semiannual Training: July 3 to 8 in Anaheim and by video via Zoom. LA saints may still register for the video training ($130) until June 18 at tinyurl.com/summertrainingla.

  4. LSM Newsletter: The May issue of “Having This Ministry…” provides principles on using the hymns in the Lord’s table meeting, as well as a brief history of the Taiwan Gospel Book Room. Go to newsletters.lsm.org/having-this-ministry.

  5. Bibles for America‘s latest post, “Author Spotlight: Who Is Watchman Nee?” is available to read and share at blog.biblesforamerica.org.

  6. 500 Life-studies App: This app, on Apple and Google Play, is designed to help us get constituted with the truth by using the Life-study of the Bible for our spiritual nourishment and growth. Create custom schedules, read directly in the app or ministrybooks.org integration, and track your progress toward different milestones. For additional resources and information, please visit 500lifestudies.org.

  7. Living to Him has a podcast series particularly helpful to working saints, available on all major podcasting services at livingtohim.com/the-living-to-him-podcast.

  8. A Timely Speaking of Supply: Enjoy a free weekly video from messages given by Brother Lee at lsm.org/timely-speaking.html.

  9. Ways to Give: Information about the church’s online giving platform, Subsplash, and where to mail checks, are at www.churchinlosangeles.org/members/offerings.