the way to build up the church as the kingdom of God is death and resurrection

What is the way to build up the church? As revealed by the Lord in Matt. 16:16-18 and then in 21-26, the way the church is built up in a practical way is through death and resurrection. The Lord Jesus builds up the church through His death and resurrection – if He would have not died on the cross for us and if He would have not resurrected, there would be no church. It is the same with us today – if we do not die to ourselves and if we don’t live the resurrection life in the church life, we do not build up the church. [continue reading this article online]

a trainee’s testimony – learning to put myself aside and enjoy the Lord with the saints!

In my individual dealing with my ‘self’ I have been learning to put myself aside, especially when we go out on the campus to preach the gospel or to nourish our contacts. Many times I have been busy with my own things, I felt tired, and I didn’t even have any willingness to go out; however, the Lord has been reminding me to seek first His Kingdom (Matt. 6:33) and put Him first in any kinds of situation. I must exercise my will to choose what the Lord wants and rather forget about myself, my own feelings, and my own needs. It’s a privilege to be out on the campus and speak to people and take care of those that have already been captured by the Lord! It’s wonderful to be with the saints and the students. Plus I loved going to Uxbridge where sister Gloria bakes the most delicious cakes for every Friday night meeting! [continue reading this sweet testimony from a sister who just finished her first semester in the Full Time Training in London, UK]

The Flow of Life with the Ministry of Life out of and for the Magnificent House of God (2)

The ministry of life involves feeding, which is a supply for living. Paul told the Corinthians “I gave you milk to drink” (v. 3:2). Had they been mature enough to receive it, he would have given them solid food. This ministry is nourishment, not knowledge. We are ministers “not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Cor. 3:6). The Spirit nourishes. This nourishment comes from healthy words (1 Tim. 6:3) which are according to godliness, a life lived one with Christ to express God (1 Tim. 3:16). [continue reading online, a review of message 5 in the recent ITERO]

the reality of the church life today is the kingdom of God in this age

Praise the Lord, the church life today has as its reality the kingdom of God, but by simply “being in the genuine church life” we may not necessarily be in the kingdom of God. We are in the kingdom in reality only when we live and walk by the spirit (Gal. 5:25). If we live, walk, behave, and have our being in ourselves as the old creation, we are not in reality in the kingdom of God even though outwardly we may be in the church life. Only when we live, walk, behave, and have our entire being altogether in our spirit are we in the church as the kingdom of God! [continue reading online]

by repenting and believing we can enter the kingdom of God to be God-men, God’s species

God became flesh – God became man – to enter into our race, our species, and now man becomes God in His life and nature (but not in His divine Godhead) to enter into the divine species. Man was created in the image and likeness of God with a spirit to receive God, but unless man makes a conscious decision under the divine light to receive the life of God, man is still man, part of the human kingdom. We are not “born Christian” by human birth but by our opening to the Lord to receive Him in our heat as Lord and Savior, even as our life. [read more online]

the church life today is the kingdom of the Son of God’s love, a delightful place

The church life has a practical and tangible aspect to it like the meetings, the services, the arrangements, the blending, conferences, etc. But the church life also has an invisible aspect – the reality of the church life is the kingdom of God, a realm where we are ruled in love with life. Here we are under the heavenly ruling and restriction – and at the same time we have real freedom in love, with life, and under light. Praise the Lord, we can exercise our spirit and allow the divine life to rule in us in love under light – and we become part of the enlargement of the kingdom of God on earth, the church life! [read more online]

God desires that we would be recovered back to living under His direct rule in life

In us who are in the kingdom of God as a realm of life, the divine life should be able to move into our mind, our thinking, our imagination, our memory, our reasoning, our thoughts, our emotions (what is stored, buried, accumulated there? What anger, what feelings, what pains are suppressed there?). The river of water of life needs to go into every part so that it will bring life to our soul, until every part of our inner being would be alive with this river [continue reading online]