Living Christ by Loving Christ
“For to me, to live is Christ.” (Phil. 1:21a)
“And you shall love the Lord your God from your whole heart and from your whole soul and from your whole mind and from your whole strength.” (Mark 12:30)
“Jesus answered and said to him, If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him.” (John 14:23)
The Christian life is a life of living Christ. Our living should be Christ, and the way to live Christ is to love Christ. To love God means to set our entire being—spirit, soul, and body with the heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30)—absolutely on Him, that is, to let our entire being be occupied by Him and lost in Him, so that He becomes everything to us and we are one with Him practically in our daily life.
To live the Christian life is to love Jesus the Son of God so that we will be loved by the Father and the Son and enjoy the Son’s manifestation to us and Their visitation to us for Them to make a mutual abode with us. The Christian life is a life of loving God and loving one another with God Himself as our love. Christ lived in this world a life of God as love, and He is now our life that we may live the same life of love in this world and be the same as He is in His lost-one-seeking and sinner-saving ministry journey. (The Christian Life, msg. 1, I, B, D-E)
2024 SoCal Labor Day Blending Conference
“In the blending of the churches we receive nourishment, we receive revelation, and we receive a vision of God’s eternal purpose concerning Christ and the church. Such a blending is not only for our own mutual spiritual benefit but is also for the mutual building up of the Body of Christ” (1993 Blending Conference Messages concerning the Lord’s Recovery and Our Present Need, ch. 2).
The co-workers in Southern California are burdened to conduct a blending conference among the saints and the churches during the upcoming Labor Day weekend. The schedule will be as follows:
Saturday, August 31
Message 1……………… 4:00 to 5:45 pm
Dinner Break…………. 5:45 to 7:00 pm
Message 2…………….. 7:00 to 8:45 pm
Lord’s Day, September 1
Lord’s Table………. 10:00 to 10:30 am
Message 3…… 10:30 am to 12:30 pm
All conference meetings will be held in person at the Ministry Conference Center in Anaheim. A way to participate online will be provided for saints who live too far from the LSM campus or for other reasons cannot attend in person. Because a major purpose of this conference is to carry out the blending among the churches and the saints in Southern California for the reality of the Body of Christ, in-person attendance is encouraged as much as possible. Please note that childcare will not be provided at the MCC.
Ahead of this special conference, please pray:
- For the saints to set aside this Labor Day weekend to be gathered and blended together.
- For all the practical preparation and coordination involved in carrying out this conference.
- For the Lord to cover the brothers who will be ministering the word, as well as their families.
- That the Lord will use this conference, and all the services related to it, to blend the saints in Southern California for the reality of the Body of Christ.
Wednesday Night Ministry Meetings
A new term of mid-week ministry meetings begins this Wednesday, August 21 at 7:25 pm at the LSM Ministry Conference Center in Anaheim. All the saints (in good health) are invited to attend in person to support the release of the word. The meeting will also be live-streamed and archived at lsmwebcast.com (subscription or payment required).
Please pray for the ministry of the Lord’s word week by week to His recovery. Pray for the Lord’s continued blessing of the Full-time Training in Anaheim and covering of all trainees and serving ones.
2024 Paris Olympics Gospel Trips
The OL3 Olympic Games gospel cycle concluded on Monday, August 19. The OL4 cycle will run from August 20 to 29. These trips include five teams in and near Paris, plus teams in Lille and Rouen, as well as in Luxembourg. In all of the distribution and appointments, the goal is to strengthen the Lord’s testimony, gain people into the church life, and raise up new churches in French-speaking Europe.
Please continue to pray:
- For the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:19) to the full-timers currently serving in France, that the Lord strengthen them in spirit and soul and body, and be their wisdom in all the practical and spiritual matters they face week by week.
- For the continuing shepherding of people contacted in trips since early May, that they remain open to fellowship, and that the shepherding saints be diligent to continue nourishing them.
- For the migrating of many more to France to raise up a team of at least 20 full-timers and to open many homes for group gatherings. May the Lord thrust out workers into His harvest in France and open a way for these saints to obtain a long-term visa.
- That the Lord will raise up new lampstands in Rouen, Lille, Versailles, Mertzig (Luxembourg), Geneva (Switzerland), Marseilles, Toulouse, Caen, Nantes, and Montpellier.
Subscribe to receive trip reports and testimonies at courantdevie.myflodesk.com; archived reports are at tinyurl.com/2024gospeltrips. A special report on the Lord’s move in France and a presentation on migration to serve in France given at the recent July Semiannual Training are at lme.org/reports.html.
Saints in LA burdened to give for the distribution can do so through the Church in Los Angeles designated for “Paris Olympics.”
UK & Ireland Blending Conference
The 2024 UK & Ireland Blending Conference will take place August 24 to 25 in Leeds. Please pray for the Lord’s rich speaking to the saints and for the saints’ response in joining themselves to His speaking for the carrying out of His move in Europe. Pray that the saints and churches in the UK and Ireland would be blended together for the further building of the Body of Christ and the preparation of His Bride.
Bangladesh
Please continue to pray for the restoration of social stability as soon as possible and for people’s hearts to be open to the gospel through the turbulence of the external environment.
Announcements
- Morning Revival: Week 1 of The Christian Life (from the Memorial Day Conference).
- Wednesday Night Ministry Meeting: The ministry meeting resumes this week starting at 7:25 pm.
- 2024 SoCal Labor Day Blending Conference: Saturday, August 31 from 4:00 to 5:45 pm and 7:00 to 8:45 pm; Lord’s Day, September 1 with table meeting at 10:00 am, then message from 10:30 to 12:30 pm. In person at the Ministry Conference Center in Anaheim; no childcare will be provided.
- Thanksgiving Conference: This year’s conference will be held in Atlanta, GA from November 28 to December 1. Childcare for those in kindergarten through 6th grade will be provided during the meetings. Saints from LA who are interested in attending can get more information on hotel group rates and RSVP to receive any pertinent updates at tinyurl.com/thanksgivingconfla.
- Bibles for America‘s newest blog post “One Major Function of the Word of God: To Testify Concerning the Lord Jesus Christ” is available to read and share at blog.bfa.org.
- The LA Years: Chapter 6: Visiting Seekers Throughout America is published at www.layears.org, an oral history project documenting the early years of the church life in Los Angeles from 1958–1974.
- 500 Life-studies App: To learn more about the burden for the Life-studies, including the 500 Life-studies app, please visit 500lifestudies.org.
- Ways to Give: Information about the church’s online giving platform, Subsplash, and where to mail checks, are at www.churchinlosangeles.org/members/offerings.