[View as PDF]

Rebuilding the Altar of Burnt Offering

“They built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings upon it, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God.” (Ezra 3:2b)

“And He said to them all, If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” (Luke 9:23)

“And He died for all that those who live may no longer live to themselves but to Him who died for them and has been raised.” (2 Cor. 5:15)

The first thing to be recovered for the church life is the altar. We must put all that we have, all that we are, and all that we can do on the altar for God’s satisfaction. This is the start of the church life. The altar of burnt offering typifies the cross of Christ. The cross is the center of God’s operation in His economy. If we want to have a proper church life, we need to experience the cross. Through the cross we need to become nothing, to have nothing, and to be able to do nothing. Otherwise, what we are, what we have, and what we can do will become a substitute for Christ.

The burnt offering, which was wholly for God’s satisfaction, typifies Christ as God’s pleasure and satisfaction. The burnt offering typifies Christ not only in His living a life that is perfect and absolute for God but also in His being the life that enables God’s people to have such a living. By laying our hands on Christ as the burnt offering, we are joined to Him. As Christ lives in us, He repeats in us the life He lived on the earth, the life of the burnt offering. (Crystallization-Study of 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther, msg. 3, I.A.1, b, B, 1.a, 2.b-c, II.A.1-2, C.2-3)

College Conference Follow-up

Thank you, saints, for joining us in prayer for the recent SoCal Spring College Conference. From Los Angeles, 73 college students participated as well as a good number of serving ones, bringing our total to about 100 saints from LA. Praise the Lord! Each meeting had a high atmosphere during the singing that gave way for the Lord to speak strongly. After each message many students testified of what they saw concerning the greatest prophecy in the Bible, that Christ will build His church!

Please join us to pray for the follow-up:

  • May the Lord continue to reveal His desire for the church and put a restless caring in all the students to give all for the building.
  • Grant each one according to this vision to have daily growth and transformation in life as well as a willingness to be perfected in their function for the building’s sake.
  • Inspire the students to have a living for the building—that is, a living that preaches the gospel, shepherds others, and practices to prophesy for the building up of the Body of Christ in love.

Southern California Junior High Sisters Conferences

The Spring Junior High Sisters Conference will take place April 21 to 23 at Oak Glen. The topic is “The Spirit.” Please pray for our young sisters to be open vessels under the divine dispensing this weekend. Pray that they would be encouraged by and blended with others from Southern California.

Francophone Conference

A conference for French-speaking saints will be held this weekend, April 21 to 23, in Paris. The conference, consisting of five messages along with the Lord’s table, will take place in person with an online option. Please pray that all the French-speaking saints and churches would enter into the up-to-date ministry of the age and touch the up-to-date burden for the Lord’s advance. For more conference information, visit www.egliseaparis.fr/2023-conference-francophone.

UK Building Project

Construction is set to begin this December for a new training facility of the Full-time Training in London at Bower House with a capacity of holding at least 400 trainees as well as conferences for 1,000 saints. The total cost is estimated at approximately $6 million (dollars). To give through the Church in LA for the new training center, please follow instructions at www.churchinlosangeles.org/members/offerings. Designate offerings for “UK Building Project.”

Ukraine

Please continue to pray that:

  • The Lord will keep all the saints in the involved countries open to Him for their experience of the divine dispensing in all the situations of their daily living.
  • 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 Lord will shepherd the refugees and establish them in the church life.

Turkey

Please pray for Rhema readers who are in the earthquake area and were contacted and helped by the saints. May the saints’ time be separated for them to maintain their relationship with these readers, bringing them into the fellowship of the Body so that they can be saved and released from religion to pursue the One who is eternal life.

Tajikistan

Pray for the friends who heard the gospel. May the Lord work in them and make them wise unto salvation to become members of the Body of Christ.

Announcements

  1. Morning Revival: Week 3 of Crystallization-study of 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther.

  2. GTCA: There will be a series of online fellowships on the topic of migration. The first session will be this Lord’s Day, April 23, at 3:00 pm on Zoom.

  3. SAVE THE DATE: Lord’s Day morning, May 21, we will have a meeting of the whole church in Los Angeles at the LA Convention Center at 10:00 am.

  4. 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. Saints are invited to attend in-person at the Ministry Conference Center in Anaheim or online at www.lsmwebcast.com.

  5. Memorial Day Conference: Saints in LA who are considering attending in-person sessions May 26 to 29 in Chicago are asked to RSVP by April 30 at tinyurl.com/memdayla. Your response helps LSM in making preparations and you to receive any pertinent updates.

  6. July Semiannual Training: July 3 to 8 in Anaheim and by video via Zoom. Registration for LA saints is now open until April 30 (live) and June 18 (video) at tinyurl.com/summertrainingla.

  7. West Coast Korean-speaking Blending Conference: Saturday, April 29 from 6:00 to 9:00 pm and Lord’s Day, April 30 from 9:00 am to 12:15 pm on Zoom only.

  8. 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.

  9. Bibles for America‘s blogpost, “3 Wonderful Things That Happened in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ,” is available to read and share at blog.biblesforamerica.org.

  10. LSM Newsletter: The March issue of “Having This Ministry…” contains enlightening fellowship on “Our Need to Study the Hymnal” and “The Recovery Version—Why Another Translation of the Bible.” Go to newsletters.lsm.org/having-this-ministry.

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