Jesus is the first,
Jesus is the last,
Trust Him for thy future,
Leave with Him the past;
Jesus is the first,
Jesus is the last,
Christ the Rock of Ages,
The first and the last.
The meetings of a local church must be the expression of Christ. Christ is not only the victorious and prevailing life, but also a practical, present, living person. Whenever we share in the meetings, others will be able to tell whether or not we have been taking Christ as our person. If we are faithful to take Christ as our person, we shall enjoy the presence of the Lord Jesus in the meetings.
According to the book of Ephesians, the church is not only the Body, but also the new man. As the Body, the church needs Christ its life, but as the new man, the church needs Christ as the Person. For example, trees have life, but they do not have a person, and therefore have no personality. As human beings however, we have both life and personality. For this reason, Christ wants to become the person in our hearts.
Ephesians 3:16 speaks of Christ making His home in our hearts. Every regenerated person has Christ in his spirit, but not many have allowed Christ to spread into their hearts. This is why Paul prayed that we may be strengthened in our spirit by the Spirit so that Christ could make His home in our hearts. I often feel my spirit is the Lord’s sphere, but my heart is reserved for me. In so many things in my daily life I want to make the decision. I want to make the choice. But the Lord desires to be involved in all these things in our daily lives.
Recently a young person asked me how are elders appointed in the churches? At that moment I did not have a good answer. But while reading Ephesians
Message 79 I got a good answer. We often have the sense that we are weak and useless. How can we possibly take care of the church? It is by Christ’s descending and ascending that many have been constituted into useful gifts. As brothers experience this traveling Christ, they become proper leaders to take care of the churches that are raised up by the Lord. This leadership is not produced by man’s education or training; it is constituted by the descending and ascending Christ.
In coordinating with the younger full time serving ones in my locality, I learn the real situation among young people on college campuses. There is a lot of spiritual warfare going on. It is hard for us to gain new ones for the church life so I was feeling down. And so I turned to the Lord and said, “Oh Lord.” And He directed me to Isaiah 60:22, “The least one will become a thousand, and the smallest a strong nation. I, Jehovah, will hasten it in its time.” The Lord showed me that His mathematics are higher than mine. I may shepherd one person who becomes a thousand in value to Him. I was comforted.
Every time without exception that I read a life study message I am uplifted, even lifted out of my personal condition and situation and transported into the heart of God. Ephesians message 79 is on five aspects of Christ. I realized that the Christ who lives in me is
I am an older sister in the church life. Yesterday I got very discouraged so I opened to the Lord and told Him, “Lord I am down and out.” This discouragement was due to a low rate of increase in the church and praise the Lord He spoke to me from Habakkuk 3:2 “O Jehovah, I have heard the report concerning you and am afraid. O Jehovah revive Your work in the midst of the years..” I enjoyed that all the work is the Lord’s and all the reviving is the Lord’s and I was comforted.