Walking with God
“And Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.” (Gen. 5:24)
“By faith Enoch was translated so that he should not see death; and he was not found, because God had translated him. For before his translation he obtained the testimony that he had been well pleasing to God.” (Heb. 11:5)
In order to walk with God we must be…one with Him in our thinking, loving, and choosing. As I have already pointed out, it is not easy for one person to walk with another. Suppose, while I am walking with you, I have a different concept from you and say, “Brother, I love you and I want to walk with you, but don’t go that way. Turn this way. I don’t want to go that way.” If I say this, I am not walking with you, I am arguing with you…For you to walk with the Lord implies a great deal: the denial of yourself, the denial of your thinking and your loving, the denial of everything that is of you. It implies that you have given yourself to Him, that you will give in to Him and let Him take the lead. To walk with the Lord is not a small thing. Walking with Him will kill you.
It is not simply a matter of calling on the name of the Lord. It is wonderful and enjoyable to call, “O Lord Jesus,” but what follows the calling? When the Lord says, “Follow Me,” will you follow Him? Will you walk with Him? Never forget that calling is found in Genesis 4 and that walking is revealed in Genesis 5…We must go on from Genesis 4, progressing from calling to walking. Calling may supply you, but it will not kill you. Calling makes you living. However, walking always kills you. But it will also resurrect you. Walking firstly kills you, then it resurrects you to make you so living in enjoying the presence of God. You will be living to the uttermost, not in a natural way, but in a resurrected way. Oh, how we all must walk with God! (Life-study of Genesis, msg. 26, pp. 354, 355)
A New Beginning Together in the Word
As we pursue Genesis together, please continue to pray for all the saints in the church in Los Angeles to be strengthened to read the word and the ministry in a regular way. Also pray for newer and younger ones among us, including those who may not regularly have morning revival yet, to be encouraged to participate more.
FTTA Gospel Trips
From January 22 to February 5, a total of 233 FTTA trainees and former trainees will go out in 36 gospel teams to 23 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, United States, and Canada to join with local saints for the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom. Please pray that:
- The Lord will blend and build the saints so that He will have the free way to fully bless these trips.
- The sanctifying Spirit will go before the saints to prepare the hearts of those the Lord has chosen.
- The preaching of the gospel of the kingdom will be prevailing and reach all those whom the Lord desires to save.
- Fruit, even remaining fruit, will be borne in each place visited, and the Lord will add to the churches as His testimony in each of these nations.
- The Lord will fully cover the travel, safety, security, and health of all those involved.
For regular updates from the FTTA once the trips have begun, see ftta.org/gospeltrips.
Hall 4 Retreat
This weekend, January 19 to 21, about 75 saints from Hall 4 will be at Oak Glen for our annual retreat. Our burden is that in 2024 we would build up a sweet and pleasant church life like that in the house of Bethany (John 12:1-11). Please pray:
- For the Lord to cover all the practical services, the saints’ health and safety, and everyone’s inward condition so the Lord can have His full way this weekend.
- For all the saints to sit at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word, filling the weekend with the fragrance of loving Him in all the meetings and activities.
- For the newer and younger ones to see and taste the church life and become part of testimony of resurrection life in LA!
Bibles for America
In 2023, BfA continued producing digital resources to help people know God and understand the Bible. We launched a new video, How Do Sins Affect My Relationship with God?, which explains God’s wonderful provision for dealing with the problem of our sins after we are saved.
The BfA Blog continues to be read by many seekers across the globe, with posts reaching over 1.3 million people in 2023alone. The single largest age group reading the blog comprises 18- to 24-year-olds, an encouraging indicator of a hunger for the truth in young people everywhere.
Last summer, we upgraded our Spanish blog to make the content more accessible, adding elements like categories and a search function. The Spanish blog alone reached over 615,000 people in 142 different countries, and we continue to work to reach even more with our Spanish language materials.
Praise the Lord for all He has done and will continue to do! May God’s Word run as never before throughout the US and over the whole earth. Please pray that BfA’s digital resources would continue to help people around the world know God and understand the Bible.
To read the full year-in-review report, go to bfa.org/2023.
UK Building Project
Permission has been fully gained to build a new Full-time Training facility on the grounds of Bower House. This new building will be capable of holding at least 400 full-time trainees. The main room will have capacity for almost 1,000 people, conference style, with wall partitions allowing for 3 subdivisions.
With a small team of planners and construction workers, we have currently begun this work on the new training center. Volunteers from among the churches are also invited to join in the labor. However, we can only go at the speed of the available funds. Our hope is to complete this training center in a little over two years in order to meet the need of the growing FTTL. Please pray that the Lord will provide the necessary funds through the giving of His Body and that any further construction permissions needed from the local government will be granted.
Updated video and written reports on the new training center can be found at amanatrust.org.uk/page/reports. Additional information can be found at amanatrust.org.uk/page/bower-house-bower-farm.
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.”
Announcements
- Morning Revival: Week 2 of our guided reading through Genesis.
- Bibles for America’s recent post, The True Nature of Our Relationship with the Lord Jesus, is available to read and share at blog.bfa.org.
- Paris Olympics: Information concerning gospel trips during the 2024 Paris Olympics is available at amanatrust.org.uk/page/2024paris. Applications are due February 28.
- Upcoming Feasts: The schedule of 2024 conferences and trainings hosted by Living Stream Ministry is available at www.lsm.org/announcements/events.html.
- LSM Radio Programs: Life-study of the Bible with Witness Lee is a 30-minute radio broadcast composed of excerpts from Brother Lee’s spoken ministry that focuses on the enjoyment of the divine life as revealed in the Scriptures. The ministry portions are followed by a discussion of the portion presented, including questions and answers. For example, all 134 episodes on Genesis are available for free at www.lsmradio.com/programs/genesis.
- 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.
- A Timely Speaking of Supply: Enjoy a free weekly video from messages given by Brother Lee at lsm.org/timely-speaking.html.
- Ways to Give: Information about the church’s online giving platform, Subsplash, and where to mail checks, are at www.churchinlosangeles.org/members/offerings.