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Taking Christ as our Person and Living Him

“My children, with whom I travail again in birth until Christ is formed in you.” (Gal. 4:19)

“That [the Father] would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit into the inner man, that Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith.” (Eph. 3:16-17a)

God’s central work is to work Himself in Christ into His chosen people, making Himself one with them. God’s intention in His economy is to work Himself into us not only as our life but also as our person. If we take Christ as our person, we will live Him out as the proper church life. Taking Christ as our person requires that we love Him to the uttermost.

The way for us to grow in life, which is the way for the Lord to grow within us, is to recover our first love toward the Lord. We grow and enjoy the Lord by loving Him. The Lord loves us all the time, and we need to love Him all the time so that we can spontaneously be one with Him. In this way He will have an opening in every part of our being and will have a way to grow in us. To love the Lord is to be stopped from our doing and is to let Him live in us and take full possession of our being.

Lord Jesus, I open to You. Take full possession of me. Lord, I love You. I present myself to You. Possess me more and more until You reach every part of my being and make Your home in me.
(excerpts from ITERO messages 1, 3, 5)

Joint LA Meeting

The whole church will meet together on May 6 from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm at LA Trade Tech College for the Lord’s table and a special fellowship with brother Minoru Chen. For the sake of the Lord’s testimony in this city, let us pray, remind, and encourage one another to attend this gathering and pray strongly for the Lord’s move through this time together!

West Coast University Faculty/Staff Blending Workshop

The churches in Southern California will have a workshop for blending and fellowship for those saints at the colleges or universities on the West Coast of the US and Canada who are or intend to be teachers, research staff, post-doctoral fellows, or Ph.D. candidates.

The workshop will be held at Oak Glen, and will begin at 7 pm on Friday, April 27, and continue until noon on the Lord’s Day, April 29. Registration and detailed information at http://tinyurl.com/2018faculty.

Junior High Brothers Conference

From April 20 to 22, brothers from across Southern California will gather at Oak Glen for the Spring Junior High Brothers Conference. For this conference we pray:

  • for the Lord to prepare the hearts of all of the brothers in Southern California;

  • that they would be helped to develop a relationship with the Lord through His Word; and

  • that the Word would grow in them richly so that they can speak to their friends.

The Church in Madrid and the Work in Iberia

The church in Madrid, Spain began in 2001 with 12 saints; today it has more than 100 with about 70 meeting regularly on Lord’s Days. The current rented hall is too small for the church, storage for Bibles for Europe and Rhema, and to be a base for 11 full timers who serve with the work in all of Iberia (Spain + Portugal).

After several years of prayer and searching, the church found a place suitable for all uses, in a safe neighborhood, with good transportation, and acceptable for use by a church. The church will make an initial payment of 30,000 euros ($37,000) this Wednesday. Another 70,000 euros ($86,000) is due at the end of April, and the final amount of 600,000 euros ($740,000) at the end of July.

Pray for this transaction to be completed and for the timely financial supply for this purchase. You may donate to the church (any amount, small or large, as the Lord leads), designated for Madrid.

European Brothers’ Training

This training will be April 20 to 22 in London. It will include videos of all the ITERO messages, group study times, and fellowship about the Lord’s move in Europe.

Announcements

  1. Morning revival: Week 3 of Crystallization-Study of Leviticus, Vol. 1.

  2. The Southern California Blending Conference will be from June 9 to 10 in Anaheim.

  3. The 6th Grade Conference will be May 11 to 13 at Oak Glen. Registration is due April 29.

  4. The Summer Training will be July 2 to 7 in Anaheim and by local webcasts in LA. Live training registration including payment ($205) is due April 27. Registration for the webcast ($105) is due June 12. Late fees will be incurred after these deadlines. Saints from LA should register at http://tinyurl.com/summertrainingla and give cash/check payment to their district’s registration coordinator.

  5. The International Memorial Day Conference will be May 25 to 28 in Kansas City. Information is at https://churchinlosangeles.org/prayer. Saints from LA attending are requested to RSVP no later than April 29 at http://tinyurl.com/memdayla (adults) or http://tinyurl.com/memchildrenla (children).