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Man’s Needing Regeneration

“Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3)

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that every one who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life.” (John 3:16)

When Nicodemus came to the Lord Jesus, the Lord took the opportunity to reveal the true need of mankind. In His conversation with Nicodemus, the Lord revealed that regardless of how good we are, we still need regeneration… Moral people, as well as immoral people, need regeneration.

[Nicodemus] might have thought that he needed better teachings to im­prove himself. But the Lord’s answer in [John 3:3] unveiled to him that his need was to be born anew. To be born anew is to be regenerated with the divine life, a life other than the human life received by natural birth. Hence, his real need was not better teachings, but the divine life. Nicodemus was seeking for teachings which be­long to the tree of knowledge, but the Lord’s answer turned him to the need of life, which be­longs to the tree of life… All of us must realize that what we need is not religion or teaching to regulate and correct us, but an­other life, the life of God, to regenerate us. Man needs regeneration because he needs the divine life. Regardless of how good you are, you still do not have the life of God. You need another birth in order to receive the life of God with His divine nature. (Life’s Regenerating—The Need of the Moral, pp. 9, 11-12)

LA Truth School

“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” (John 1:4)

This weekend the church in LA will begin its 2022 Truth School for our junior high and high school young people (July 22 to 30). The topic is “Life in the Gospel of John.” Please pray for the Lord to prepare the hearts of the YP to be open to His word and appearing during this time. Also, pray for the Lord to bless the atmosphere and coordination among those serving.

College Trainings

Last week’s Southwest College Training at Oak Glen was blessed by the Lord in a special way through all of the prayers of the saints! 306 saints attended mainly from California, Nevada, Arizona, and Texas, including 220 college students. This includes 37 students and 12 serving ones from LA. The atmosphere in the training ascended day by day, reaching a peak with some sobering words concerning being saved from this crooked generation by positively giving ourselves to build the ark today by fully entering into the church life! Not only did the Lord gain ground in the hearts of the students, He also greatly encouraged many through this precious, in-person blending that they had not experienced for the last two years. We also thank the Lord for keeping everyone healthy to participate in the meetings—only one person in the entire training tested positive for Covid in the very last meeting.

Please pray that the students would immediately apply what they heard and take practical steps to enter into the corporate church life this week! Pray that they would continue to encourage one another to continue steadfastly in the word, prayer, meetings of the church, and day-by-day and house-to-house church life! May they be preserved from Satan’s hand to meet God’s need today!

Meanwhile, the remaining regional trainings will take place this week from July 20 to 24 in Athens, Georgia; Champaign, Illinois; and Seattle, Washington. Around 650 saints are expected. May the Lord flow out in a mighty way to all of the attendees and that they would be inspired to be today’s Noahs, building the ark to fulfill God’s purpose and turn this age. In particular, pray for the students and serving ones in the midwest as the Lord is multiplying in a particular way in this area and the training there has almost 100 more saints attending than they were originally expecting!

Being Brought on to Maturity

Continue to pray for the word released during the July Semiannual Training on 1 and 2 Kings to enlighten, nourish, and motivate the saints to go on from the tabernacle church life to the temple church life for the building up of Zion, the overcomers.

Nordic-Baltic Conference

This summer’s Nordic-Baltic Conference from July 22 to 25 will be held in a hybrid format and hosted by the churches in Stockholm and Uppsala, Sweden. Please pray for the Lord’s timely speaking and for the blending of the saints in the Nordic countries, the Baltic States, and other Russian and English-speaking churches for the building up of the Body of Christ.

Ukraine

Please continue to pray that the Lord will use the shepherding gospel trips in key cities in Europe to bring the chosen ones among the Ukrainian refugees to believe into Christ and enter into the church life. Also pray for the saints in Russia and Ukraine to be kept in the oneness of the Body and the reality of the new man, where Christ is all the members and in all the members, and for the shipment of Russian NT Recovery Versions held up in customs to be released and distributed among the refugees in Europe

A reminder from the footnote on 1 Kings 8:48: “No matter for whom we are praying, our prayers should be aimed at the interests of God, i.e., at Christ and the church as God’s interests on earth, for the fulfilling of God’s economy.”

Brazil – São Paolo Meeting Hall

Recently, there was fellowship concerning the acquisition of a suitable property that could serve the church in São Paolo as well as the work of the Lord in Brazil and even all of South America. The price including repairs is US$1,563,600; $800,000 is still needed. The full payment is due by mid-August.

Please pray for the financial need to be met and for all necessary repairs to be completed in a timely manner. As the Lord leads, saints may give through the church in LA designated for ‘Sao Paolo’.

India

Please pray for the new term of FTT New Delhi, which starts on July 18, that the Lord will release at least 20 new trainees this coming term.

Lord’s Move to Asia

The June 2022 newsletter of the Lord’s Move to Asia contains reports on Sri Lanka and Turkey:
http://lmasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/E-2022-06.pdf (English)
http://lmasia.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Asia-2022-06.pdf (Chinese)

Announcements

  1. Morning Revival: Week 1 of our special morning revival topic on “Life in the Gospel of John.”

  2. GTCA: The virtual tour of Columbus, OH has been rescheduled to July 30, 1:00 pm PST at http://gtca.us.

  3. Bibles for America‘s latest blogpost asks, “What Does It Mean to Be Spiritual?” To read the answer, visit http://blog.biblesforamerica.org.

  4. Ministry Books Website: Living Stream Ministry has recently updated http://ministrybooks.org with greater functionality. Some publications can be read for free, including all the Life-studies. Access to The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, The Collected Works of Witness Lee, and The Conclusion of the New Testament and more is available through a monthly or yearly subscription.

  5. A Timely Speaking of Supply: Each week LSM posts a free video from messages given by Brother Lee at http://lsm.org/timely-speaking.html. The current series is on The Divine and Mystical Realm.

  6. 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.