Faith and Love
“Whom having not seen, you love; into whom though not seeing Him at present, yet believing, you exult with joy that is unspeakable and full of glory.” (1 Pet. 1:8)
“Looking away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith…” (Heb. 12:2)
“For in Christ Jesus… faith avails, operating through love.” (Gal. 5:6)
Faith and love are two inseparable, excellent virtues of the believers in Christ. Faith is for appreciating, substantiating, and receiving the unlimited riches of the Triune God. Faith is given to us by God so that by it we may receive Christ, the embodiment of the Triune God, and thereby enter into the Triune God and be joined to Him as one, having Him as our life, life supply, and everything.
Love is for experiencing, enjoying, and living out the immeasurably rich Triune God. Love issues out of faith and enables us to live out all the riches of the Triune God in Christ with those who have believed into Christ with us in order that the Triune God may have a glorious corporate expression.
We need to develop and perfect our faith in the Lord and our love for Him—the One whom we have not seen. We love Him whom we have not seen because of believing, that is, because of the faith that has been infused into us through our hearing of the living word. (Meeting God’s Need and Present Needs in the Lord’s Recovery, msg. 3, II.A, B-B.1, C-C.1, I, A.1.b)
Church in Los Angeles
As we continue our transition toward in-person gatherings in our respective meeting places, let us look to the Lord for doing so safely without fear or anxiety. Let us continue to pray for one another and for more saints to be shepherded back to the enjoyment of in-person meetings and “face-to-face” fellowship (2 John 12). May the Lord gain our true worship and receive all the glory!
Atlanta – Meeting Hall
In June 2020, during a period of social unrest, the meeting hall of the church in Atlanta, Georgia was set on fire by arson; 95% of the building interior was damaged.
The church in Atlanta plays a strategic role in southeast region as many regional and extra-regional conferences are held at its meeting hall. Rather than merely restoring the hall, through fellowship it seems prudent to enlarge the footprint and perform certain upgrades to meet the Lord’s present and future needs; such as expanding the conference capacity to 1,500 and adding a 10,000 sq. foot second floor for children’s meetings and classrooms. The total project cost is $9 million; $5.5 million are still needed.
Please pray for the timely progress of this building project and for the financial need to be met. As the Lord leads, saints may give through the church in LA with designation for ‘Atlanta Meeting Hall’ or directly at http://meetinghall.churchinatlanta.org.
Baltic-Nordic Conference
The upcoming Online Baltic-Nordic Conference from January 28 to 30 will be hosted by the churches in the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania). Five selected messages from the recent semiannual training on 1 and 2 Samuel will be ministered. It is a wonderful opportunity not only to be constituted with the truth, but also for the Russian- and English-speaking saints to be blended for the building up of the Body of Christ.
Please pray for the Lord’s rich blessing on this time of fellowship, and pray that many saints will be able to participate in this online conference.
Cairo, Egypt
Living Stream Ministry and the Arabic publication work in Cairo will be presenting all our Arabic ministry books and booklets (over 80 titles) at the upcoming 2022 Cairo International Book Fair, to be held January 27 through February 7. This year we have been given a corner booth, which means more foot traffic and more opportunity for contacting seekers. Thank the Lord for this provision.
Please pray for this book fair, asking the Lord to bring His chosen ones to the booth, to open their hearts to His Word in the ministry, and to give the serving ones a door of utterance to speak forth all the words of this life. A report from last year’s Cairo Book Fair is here.
Announcements
- Morning Revival: Week 3 of Meeting God’s Need and Present Needs in the Lord’s Recovery.
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All-LA Prayer Meeting: A recording of the fellowship on young people and college students from the all-LA prayer meeting on 1/11 may be viewed in English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean.
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Living Stream Ministry: The January digital newsletter includes a consideration of pray-reading the Word of God and an introduction to a new print series, Historical Evaluations of Christian Thought.
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Free e-Booklets: Living Stream Ministry has made a series of free e-booklets available to read and share with others at http://www.lsm.org/booklets.
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Ways to Give: Information about the church’s online giving platform, Subsplash, and where to mail checks, are at http://www.churchinlosangeles.org/members/offerings.