In the Bible there is a very simple and at the same time very powerful principle related to the church: one city, one church – within one city there is only one local church. In the early days, the believers practiced it all the time – the practice of the church life after the Pentecost […]
knowing the Body in practice: the universal church and the local churches
On the one hand, we need to know the Body of Christ in life – Christ is the life of the Body of Christ, and the Body is a mingling of divinity with humanity. When we see that the Christ we have received through regeneration is the life of the Body of Christ, we will […]
seeing what it means to be a genuine church in the focus of the Lord’s recovery
To be in the Lord’s recovery means that we are Christians NOT just for our own need and not just for ourselves (we don’t focus only on, What can God do for me?) – we are Christians for God’s need, God’s pleasure, God’s heart’s desire, and even God’s goal! Yes, we have our needs, we see what we are, but what about God’s need? What about God’s purpose, His goal, and His economy? We are here learning to lift our view from our petty needs and problems, and look to the Lord to be one with Him for His economy, His need. [read more online]
the local churches as the golden lampstands bear the testimony of Jesus on the earth
If we do not see what the Lord’s recovery is intrinsically, we may be in the Lord’s recovery outwardly and in the local church meetings weekly, but we may have an empty church life. Unless we see the intrinsic significance of the Lord’s recovery we have a vain life, at best a Brethren-type of meeting… The focus of the Lord’s Recovery is the corporate expression of the Triune God – in the church life, Christ is shining and God is fully expressed through all the saints! O, Lord, show us intrinsically what the focus of the Lord’s recovery is! [continue reading this portion inspired from the Morning Revival on the Focus of the Lord’s Recovery, week 1 day 4]
the church as the kingdom of God is the realm of the divine life
When the Lord Jesus came out to preach the gospel, He preached the gospel of the kingdom “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near” (Matt. 3:2). The intrinsic essence of the gospel is not for us to go to heaven but for God to have a kingdom of which we are part. The Lord Jesus told us to repent to be part of the kingdom of God. By repenting and believing into the Lord, we enter the kingdom of God as a realm of life [continue reading online]
in the local churches God is recovering the practical building up of the church for His return
God’s ultimate intention and His heart’s desire is to gain the earth – for this He must obtain a built-up church to be the house of God(where He could dwell and be expressed fully) and the city of God(where He could rule and reign). Everywhere in the Bible and especially in the Psalms we see […]
in the church life and as the local church we need to learn to blend and learn to fellowship!
We need to see that, according to the divine revelation in the Holy Word, God has a heart’s desire – He desires to have a corporate expression in humanity, a corporate people who collectively express Him in oneness. Before He could obtain such an expression, the enemy Satan came in and tricked man, ruining him […]