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The Christian Life Being a Grafted Life

“…You, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among [the branches] and became a fellow partaker of the root of fatness of the olive tree.” (Rom. 11:17)

“Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.” (John 15:4)

The Bible reveals that the relationship God desires to have with man is that He and man become one. As believers in Christ, we should live a grafted life—a life in which we are one spirit with the Lord and live in an organic union with Him. (The Christian Life, msg. 2, II, I)

Such is the real nature of the Christian life. The Lord Jesus as the true vine is the superior tree…As you enjoy the root of the fatness of this cultivated olive tree, your poorer life is subdued, and you begin to flourish…

What are the results of the grafting? When the fatness of the better tree supplies the grafted branch, all the negative things are taken away. Then the original function of that branch is restored and strengthened. The fruit is still what it was before the grafting, but the problem factors have been overcome. We are the problem branches that God has grafted to Christ. The fatness of His life comes into us, carrying away all the poor elements in us. He uplifts the original function that God had for us, strengthening and enriching it. Then naturally and spontaneously, our whole being is saturated and transformed, and a marvelous fruit comes forth.

By the Lord’s grace we have repented, and through repentance and believing we have been grafted into the divine life. In this grafting we grow together with Him. Then in resurrection His life grows in us. The divine life is in us, supplying us. This is the Christian life. (CWWL, 1979, vol. 1, “Life Messages Volume 2,” pp. 284-289)

May we all see and apply this truth of the grafted life in our daily lives, continually partaking of the root of fatness to live a grafted life with Christ.

2024 SoCal Labor Day Blending Conference

This weekend’s Southern California Labor Day Blending Conference will be held in person at the Ministry Conference Center in Anaheim. The schedule is 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

A major purpose of this conference is to carry out the blending among the churches and the saints in the region for the reality of the Body of Christ; therefore, in-person attendance is encouraged as much as possible. Translation will be provided in the MCC by FM radio and the Listen Everywhere app. Please pray:

  • For this conference to be well-attended and for the saints in this region will pay the price to come, so that all may be blended under the Lord’s speaking.
  • For the Lord’s covering of the ministering brothers, as well as their families, and that He will use the brothers to speak His timely word to meet the need of the churches in Southern California.
  • For all the practical preparation and coordination involved in carrying out this conference.

USC

Classes begin this week for USC. Please pray:

  • For the Lord to empower our own students to spread the fragrance of Christ to their friends and classmates.
  • For the Lord to call new students, especially freshmen, to connect with us face-to-face this week at our welcome events, tabling, and small groups.
  • For the harmonious prayer and coordination among students, trainees, and serving ones so that each student can be shepherded and cared for.

Hall 2 College-age Saints

Classes also begin this week at CSUN and the LA Valley, Pierce, and Mission Colleges. Hall 2 has students at each of these colleges. Please pray that:

  • The college-age (students or working) would have a heart for the Lord and His move among their generation.
  • Saints will be raised up by the Lord to regularly shepherd the college-age.
  • All college-age saints will get firmly connected this year with other saints and find a home in the church life.

2024 Paris Olympics Gospel Trips

Three years ago, in France, a small group of saints began to come together to pray for the Lord to have a way to gain more people and for more lampstands in this country. These saints were not content to have the situation remain the same. They met to pray a number of times every week. Eventually, this group became the coordinating ones for the current distributions.

Last March the Lord began to move by bringing co-workers from France, UK, Germany, Spain and Poland together for days of prayer and fellowship. The Lord erased all the boundaries on the map. The fellowship and coordination became that of the reality of the Body of Christ! Through this the Lord led us to labor in a very specific way on places where churches could be raised up.

The view changed from only distributing Bibles for 50 days to also practicing Acts 2:46-47. The day-by-day and house-to-house church life is for the raising up of churches. This was the Lord’s answer to the three years of prayer. Together we are participating in the Lord’s present move.

Without migrations the Lord’s testimony in Russia, UK, and Germany would not have been established. We are now at the same point in the French-speaking European countries. If the Lord could gain France as He did in the UK and Germany, Europe would be entirely different.

Migration is the move of the Body on earth. Please pray:

  • That there would be open hearts to hear and respond to the Lord’s call to migrate.
  • That all those who have applied to serve full-time in France would get their visas approved in a timely manner. By mid-October these ones will join in His shepherding care for all the ones saved and baptized.

Subscribe to receive trip reports and testimonies at courantdevie.myflodesk.com; archived reports are at tinyurl.com/2024gospeltrips. Fellowship on migration to serve in France is at lme.org/reports.html.

Saints in LA burdened to give man do so through the Church in LA designated for “Paris Olympics.”

Ukraine and Russia

Please pray concerning the ongoing developments relating to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and that the Lord will protect the tripartite being of all the saints and will rule in the heavens over every aspect of this conflict so that His economy could advance on earth.

Announcements

  1. Morning Revival: Week 2 of The Christian Life (from the Memorial Day Conference).
  2. Wednesday Night Ministry Meeting: The ministry meeting on “The Crucial Points of the Truth in Paul’s Epistles—Galatians” continues this week starting at 7:25 pm.
  3. Thanksgiving Conference: Atlanta, GA from November 28 to December 1. Childcare for those in K to 6th grade will be provided. 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.
  4. LSM Newsletter: The August issue of “Having This Ministry…” includes an explanation on the deeper and intrinsic significance of the name Jehovah. Go to newsletters.lsm.org/having-this-ministry.
  5. Bibles for America‘s latest 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.
  6. Ways to Give: Information about the church’s online giving platform, Subsplash, and where to mail checks, are at www.churchinlosangeles.org/members/offerings.