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Concentrating on Christ for the Maturity in Life

“Whom we announce, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man full-grown in Christ.” (Col. 1:28)

“Seeing that His divine power has granted to us all things which relate to life and godliness, through the full knowledge of Him who has called us by His own glory and virtue.” (2 Pet. 1:3)

If we see the vision of the all-inclusiveness and extensiveness of Christ, we will concentrate our whole being on this Christ, and He will fill and saturate us. To us to live will be the Christ who takes possession of us and fills and occupies us with Himself. To be full-grown in Christ is to be filled, saturated, and permeated with Christ. This is the growth in life and the maturity in life, the issue of experiencing the Christ revealed in Colossians.

Life is within, enabling us to live, and godliness is without as the outward expression of the inward life. Life is the inward energy, the inward strength, to bring forth the outward godliness, which leads to and results in glory. Eventually, we will have the full development and maturity in life from the seed of faith, through the roots of virtue and knowledge, the trunk of self-control, and the branches of endurance and godliness, to the blossom and the fruit of brotherly love and love. (Laboring on the All-inclusive Christ Typified By the Good Land…, msg. 9, I.C.2, b, 3, b; V.A.1-2, C)

May we all concentrate our whole being on the all-inclusive Christ that He might bring us to the maturity in life and express Him in godliness and love.

Bibles for America

So far this year, Bibles for America has sent out over 65,000 free copies of the NT Recovery Version to people throughout the United States. Please pray that everyone who receives a copy would be helped to understand and experience the riches in God’s Word. Pray that the recipients would grow in their faith and develop a taste for the ministry of life.

2024 Olympics Torch Relay Gospel Trips

Gospel trips to distribute the NT Recovery Version during the 2024 Paris Olympics began on May 6 and will continue until September 9. We praise and thank the Lord for an unprecedented openness and hunger among the French people. This openness is surely due—on heaven’s side—to God’s desire and—on earth’s side—to the prayers of the saints in churches around the globe. The goal of these trips is to raise up lampstands in more French-speaking cities, so following up with contacts will be critical.

The sixth gospel trip is currently underway from May 31 to June 8 in two cities in the northwest of France—Rennes and Nantes. After a two-week pause while the torch travels to overseas French territories, the seventh trip will start June 24 in Strasbourg.

Please continue to pray for:

  • The fresh and detailed consecrations of all the saints going out, as well as their health and safety.
  • Local French speakers and their families, as a result of meeting us and speaking with us, to have a powerful hunger and desire to seek after God in His Word and pursue Him with those who call on Him out of a pure heart.
  • The follow-up shepherding of contacts from TR1–5 (Marseille, Montpellier, Toulouse, Bordeaux, and Caen), including a weekly Zoom seminar, through the coordination of both local and overseas saints.
  • The Lord to continue casting “fire” on French-speaking Europe and have His way for His testimony.
  • The Lord to thrust out the workers to labor with Him in France, not only during these gospel trips, but also afterwards.

For the saints’ awareness and prayer, the following reports and testimonies are available:

More information is at www.amanatrust.org.uk/page/2024Paris. Saints in LA burdened to give for the distribution can do so through the Church in Los Angeles designated for “Paris Olympics.”

FTTL

The graduation of the Full-time Training in London’s spring semester will take place at Bower House this Saturday, June 8. Please pray for the graduating trainees—whether they serve, work, or study—to continue in the things that they have learned and been assured of during their two years in the training.

Ramenskoye Meeting Hall

When the Lord’s recovery came to the Russian-speaking world, the Lord raised up a group of Christians in Ramenskoye, about 20 miles from Moscow, to take the way of the recovery and become one of the first churches in Russia. Since the saints in Ramenskoye had been registered with the government since 1968, this registration allowed the churches in Russia to gain a solid legal standing. Later, the saints in Ramenskoye obtained a plot of land on which the work in Russia, through the giving of the saints mainly in the United States, built a blending facility to serve the needs of the churches in the Russian-speaking world. All the conferences, trainings, and blending meetings in Russia take place in that facility. The brothers and sisters in Ramenskoye also serve there in a practical way.

All these years the church in Ramenskoye has been meeting in the blending facility without a meeting hall of their own. The brothers in Russia all feel that it would be beneficial if the church in Ramenskoye could have its own meeting hall and the blending facility be used exclusively for the Lord’s work in Russia. A few years ago a plot of land next to the blending facility was purchased for the church in Ramenskoye. The co-workers feel that it is the right time to build a meeting hall there. The estimated construction cost is about $500,000.

Saints in LA burdened to offer toward this need may do so through the Church in Los Angeles designated for “Ramenskoye Meeting Hall.”

Announcements

  1. Morning Revival: Week 9 of Laboring on the All-inclusive Christ Typified by the Good Land…
  2. Wednesday Night Ministry Meeting: The ministry meeting continues this week starting at 7:25 pm.
  3. Memorial Day Conference: Saints are encouraged to watch or listen to the archived messages, available at no charge until June 26 at www.lsmwebcast.com.
  4. Living to Him: A recording of the working saints gathering at the recent Memorial Day Conference in Bellevue is available at youtu.be/u5fRTZ5LrrQ. The fellowship focused on the actual carrying out of the God-ordained way, especially in the practice of the vital groups and shepherding.
  5. Semiannual Training: July 1 to 6 in Anaheim. The general subject is “Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (1).” For LA saints, registration for participation by video is still open until June 16 ($130) at tinyurl.com/summertrainingla.
  6. Bibles for America‘s most recent blog post, “Jesus Sympathizes with Us in All Things,” is available to read and share at blog.bfa.org.
  7. The LA Years: Chapter 5: Publications to Reach the Seekers is now available at www.layears.org, an oral history project documenting the early years of the church life in LA from 1958–1974, including written history, photos, and first-hand accounts.
  8. Free e-Booklets: Living Stream Ministry offers free e-booklets to read and share. The latest release is “A Life That Lives Christ” at www.lsm.org/life-study-philippians.
  9. Ways to Give: Information about the church’s online giving platform, Subsplash, and where to mail checks, are at www.churchinlosangeles.org/members/offerings.