Training and Perfecting

Four days of training for the full-timers in India was held in Gurgaon. These four days were a real perfecting training to all of us. The nature and content of the training were very subjective and practical. I can testify that the Lord has been perfecting, blending and building up the full-timers and co-workers in India. 

The most striking matter is the oneness among all of us, which is also the key for us to go on in His service. Besides, there were perfecting sessions on dealing with our persons to be proper God-men. It even touched our being on matters such as money, relationship, and ambition. These are the three gophers that eat away many servants of the Lord. These were negative warnings and very timely too.

There were practical sessions on morning revival, calling upon the Lord's name, pray-reading the word of God, using the morning revivals, prophesying, gospel preaching,  PSRP, shepherding in home meeting and group meeting. Though these items are common and basic, it is the basic that has to be set right for further progress. 

All these sessions were taught by an experienced brother from Taiwan who has a proven testimony and track record, both academically and in the Lord's service. I felt very blessed to be under the perfecting of such senior and matured brother. 

Above all, I could also testify of the oneness and one accord the Lord has been gaining among us in His recovery in India. Though we no longer have any "spiritual giants" with some senior coworkers taking the lead, the Lord gracefully blend some young brothers to serve in coordination. This is a wonderful testimony. In spirit and in reality, we all could feel and testify that we are truly one. 

The recent burden on purchasing a property in Chennai for blending center has practically touched our inward being and blend us all together; breaking us all away from the fallen concept of regions, races, cultures, and languages. Despite the land being in Chennai, all the saints in India offered as one man for the one Body of Christ! The same goes with the offering for the One Recovery Version Translation Project. The Lord also blends the publication and propagation work too, much sweeter and stronger than before. All these are the blessings we received through the Lord's training and perfecting.

May the Lord continue to bless His move in India.

New Ones: Gospel Preaching

As we have been praying for quite a while now for the practice of the God-ordained way of gospel preaching and shepherding, the Lord begins to answer our prayer one by one. First, He stirred up the spirit of the saints in our church life with the burden of prayer. Then He led us to His word concerning going out to preach the gospel or visit people. He led us specifically to a Bible verse with a footnote in Johnn 15:16. After one Lord's table meeting we all enjoyed pray-reading and fellowshipping on "go forth."

John 15:16
You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and I set you that you should go forth and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He may give you.

Note from the Recovery VersionThe Greek word for go forth means to depart, implying to leave for another place; hence, it is rendered go forth. It is the same Greek word as that for go in 14:4 and 16:5. The fruit borne by going forth in this way does not denote the virtues of the fruit-bearer's character, such as the fruit of the Holy Spirit in the believer's living, mentioned in Gal. 5:22-23, but it denotes the believers produced by the fruit-bearer. This corresponds with the subject of this section, 12:20--17:26, which is Christ's multiplication. The virtues we possess through our abiding in the Lord cannot be counted as Christ's multiplication. Only the believers that we produce in the Lord are the tangible multiplication of Christ. The Father's house in ch. 14, the true vine in this chapter, and the man-child in ch. 16 are all related to the multiplication of Christ.

As we enjoyed a time of fellowship as a church, we all are burdened to first pray for all our contacts and plan to meet the relatives of all the saints this coming month. The Lord led us in such a way that every Lord's day after the meeting, we would fellowship on how to practically carry out our burden. Last Lord's day, we practiced preaching the gospel in Hindi in order to reach out to the local Hindi speaking people. The Lord also blessed us with new ones.

The Mother of a Paralysed Boy

A sister who is a nurse by profession is working for a family whose child is paralyzed due to a brain hemorrhage. She requested a visit for prayer which led me and my wife with another sister to visit. When we saw the situation of the child lying on a bed, our burden was for the mother and her family's salvation. I wasted no time to preach the gospel and led her to the Lord Jesus Christ and also led her to pray to receive the Lord. Of course, we also prayed for the healing of the boy child. Then my wife established a contact with her over the phone. Our prayer is for the healing of the boy and also for the spiritual healing and salvation of the entire family. 

Life Insurance Agent

A week ago, a new one brought by one of our brothers attended the meeting. He works for a life insurance company. Though he indeed to sell life insurance to me, I took that opportunity of "life-insurance" into a gospel. I preached the gospel to him and expounded the truth concerning the receiving of eternal life which has been insured from eternity past to eternity future. To receive such an eternal life insurance, the only condition is the believing into the Lord Jesus Christ. After preaching the gospel to him, he received the gospel and prayed to receive the Lord.

A Seeking Engineer

Last Saturday, during our gospel preaching, a seeking one was contacted, who also attended the Lord's table meeting. Though he did not partake of the bread and the wine, he enjoyed the meeting so much that he even stood and spoke his enjoyment in the meeting. After the meeting, he testified how much joy and happiness he felt by attending the meeting. We also preached the gospel to him in a fine and thorough way and led him to receive the Lord in prayer. Since he is such a seeker, we also gifted him the New Testament in Hindi for him and his wife. His promise was that if he continues to enjoy, he would take a step further for baptism and start a home meeting in his house. 

Besides, we also met another an engineer who received the Lord in the park during our gospel preaching. Then, we preached the gospel to two Muslim seekers; as they wanted to know who Jesus is. We spent over an hour to preach to these seekers. These are few notable accounts of how the Lord begins to answer our prayer and honor our burden. 

Shepherded into Baptism

It was about a week ago that two brothers decided to get baptized as the ones who have been shepherded by the saints in the church. The two brothers are comparatively new in time as they recently came into contact with us. Nevertheless, their reception of the word and participation in the church life is commendable. The two of them were supplied by the ministry of the word when they first came. The saints have faithfully ministered the word to them until they reach a point where the word enlightened them of their need for baptism. I personally was glad that we did not "push" them nor in any way "coerced" them for baptism. This was their own personal decision before the Lord and the Body.

One of the brothers particularly has been graced by the Lord to seek the purity of the word. He was introduced to the church through a sister who was also introduced by another sister. When I first contacted him, he came with much hunger and thirst for the word. My first meeting with him was accounted in the first part of this blog: http://palmeichung.blogspot.com/2018/05/shepherding-new-ones.html

From day one, I mentioned to him that as a genuine believer he also needed to be genuinely baptized, both in the Spirit and in water according to the Bible in John 3:5. But I asked him to take his own time and make his own decision. Since then, the Lord has been supplying him with the ministry of the word, until finally he actually took baptism out of his own decision.

Though there are different opinions on baptism depending upon whose opinion it is; the Bible has a firm word that answers all. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be condemned-(Mark 16:16). Blessed are they who simply believes into the Lord Jesus Christ and obey His word. The Bible did not mention any preconditions for baptism except believing into the Lord Jesus Christ. It is religious, superstituous, human concepts that insert conditions as though the written word of God is not sufficient. Blessed are those who obey the word as it is. And our two brothers finally obeyed. Praise the Lord!

Churching: UC Berkeley and Stanford

As a part of our churching to the bay area of California, the brother also took us to Standford University and the University of California, Berkeley. These two universities are within the top ten ranking of the best universities worldwide. Just to get the feel of the highly, scholarly, and academically charged ambiance of the campuses we visited both the campuses. Thank God, the churches nearby are burdened and are propagating in these campuses too. The church in Palo Alto is within the vicinity of Stanford University and the church in Berkeley, UC Berkeley. Visiting these campuses made me wish I could be younger again to study. I hope that many of our young saints be enrolled into these top universities for the Lord's testimony, besides the academic reason.

At the church in Berkeley, the leading brothers took us for a love-feast and campus tour. The fellowship with these brothers was very enlightening. In fact, the earlier opposition to the Lord's recovery stemmed from this university with a publishing house that published a negative book located just near the university campus. I was impressed by the wisdom the Lord gave to our brothers in handling such a fierce opposition diluted with false allegation. Believe it or not, I read a negative article against the Lord's recovery sixteen years ago when I was still a student and seeker who was not yet in the church life. That letter was straight from the heart of an opposer from this university in Berkeley. Though that letter was intended to spread "bad news" about the Lord's recovery, to me it was a "good news," as the content of the letter cited a testimony of a brother who left his girlfriend after he got saved through the saints and brought into the church life.

The church could never be defeated as it of Christ, so also His recovery. The church bought a very good building from the Baptist many years ago, renovated it, and now is being used for multiple purposes. Besides the church meeting hall, brothers and sisters' houses were also part of the building usage, and this is also the building from where defense and confirmation of the truth was started and carried out. The brothers labored in the truth writing theological articles to refute the false claims of the opposers. I deeply respect the brothers whom the Lord pleased to use in upholding the truths. And I felt honor and privileged to be able to visit the church and fellowship with the brothers.

Another interesting matter is, a brother who had done his Ph.D. and is now working in UC Berkely. Twelve years ago he visited the church in New Delhi as a student and working ones yet without informing his boss. It was then that his debit card was blocked out of suspicion. Then helpless with nothing at hand, he somehow was introduced to the brothers in the church at that time and was financially and spiritually restored back. This brother was so happy to meet us from India and reminded us of his visit to New Delhi and Gurgaon with throwback photos.

May the Lord gain many top students from these top universities for His testimony!

Churching: San Francisco

A brother and his daughter drove us all the way from Southern California to the city of San Francisco. As a part of their hospitality, they drove us past various scenic landscape to the Golden Gate Bridge. They took us around to view the wonder bridge from different angles with many photo shots as memoirs. Then we joined a group of saints from Taiwan for a lovefest fellowship at the meeting of the church in San Francisco.

While we dined together with the two leading elders of the church in San Francisco, the brother enquired about India. In fellowship, we presented a brief report about the Lord's move in India. They were so encouraged that they wanted to encourage the saints in their locality to aggressively propagate the gospel of the kingdom in California. 

One of the elders also mentioned about the opposition they faced from the opposers in the recent past. At that juncture, I was burdened to present how the sovereign Lord would even use the opposers' opposition to gain me. Their false accusations and misaiming online in a bid to curb the spread of the Lord's recovery worldwide only helped to ascertain the orthodoxy and authenticity of the truths and practices of the church life purely and strictly in line with the Bible. What was intended to harm actually became a trigger point for me to deeply research the truths and be recovered! I testified of how even negative propaganda worked out for good to gain me. 

When the brother heard my testimony of how I came in touch with the Lord's recovery, how I read all the negative comments online, yet how those negativities turned out to my deeper understanding of the truth and gained me into the church life by the very propaganda that was intended to keep seeker like me away. He was so excited to hear my testimony. The brothers even requested us to come again and stay longer to have a time of fellowship with the saints in the church in San Francisco. 

After such a fellowship over love-feast we left for our next destination, New York City. The Lord was sovereign in leading us to visit the church there and in His time we will visit the church again. May the Lord bless the church in San Francisco. 

Churching: Fremont

A brother who came to India twice on a business trip and who have visited me was the key person in our visit to the church in Fremont. Each time he visited, we had a sweet fellowship in the gospel preaching and also in a home meeting. The first time he came, I took him to a Saturday afternoon gospel preaching; he preached the gospel with all of his heart and brought three gospel friends to call upon the Lord. The next time he visited, we attended a Life-study of the Gospel of John meeting. His visit was very apt as the host's son was applying for a college in California and his visit was a relief to the family as they needed a contact in California. His visit was very helpful both in shepherding the new ones and also opening the door for us to visit his locality in Fremont.

When we arrived in the city, we attended the church's prayer meeting. Co-incidentally, that night the burden was on gaining the Indians working in the city. They have been praying for a proper represenation of the demographic of the city in the church life. The Indian living in the city amounts to about 21% of the entire population, next to the local Caucasians. Therefore, our visit was very timely, in line with the church's burden.

The next day we had lovefeast with the elders of the church and an afternoon walk at the Central Park (Elizabeth Park) and enjoyed fellowship as we walked round the park. Later in the evening, the church hosted us a lovefeast and a time of fellowship. We fellowshipped what the Lord has been doing in India with testimonies particulary of the church in Gurgaon, on gospel preching, shepherding and the practice of the God-ordained way. The saints were very encouraged and we all prayed together for India and the bay area of California, especially, Fremont.

While I was accommodated in a brother's home, I enjoyed a sweet time of fellowship with the family over breakfast. Since they enquired about my testimony, I shared with them how the Lord saved me, how He called me to serve, how I got married and how the Lord has been faithfully blessing our family. The fellowship was very sweet and an encouragement to them.

Our visit was apt and a blessing to the church as a whole. The elders even talked about a possible visit to India for blending in the near future. Overall, the churching was really wonderful and truly of the Lord.

May the Lord bless the church in Fremont, even with their burden of gaining many Indians into the church life.

Churching: New York

The Lord arranged a day for us in New York City to meet with the brothers in the church in New York. As we arrived at the airport in the morning, three brothers came to pick us up by a Cadillac, the same make and model of car the president of the United States is using. The brothers took us for a drive to downtown Manhattan and to Kingston to visit a campsite, Rosendale.

On our two hours long drive, the brothers wanted us to share our testimonies. One by one we shared, it was a joyful ride in fellowship. I also shared my testimony of salvation, how I came in touch with the Lord's recovery, and how the Lord shepherded me into the church life, and how the Lord called me to serve Him fulltime. As I shared what all the Lord did in my life, especially, the experience in which my parent strongly objected to my serving the Lord fulltime, and that how in May 2003, I told my parent in faith, "Thank you for supporting me till today for my education. Now, since the Lord has called me, I am going to serve Him. From now on, I will not receive anything from you. The God whom I serve will supply all my needs. If He blesses me I will share the blessings with you." I further testified that even in the following years till today, the Lord honored the words I spoke by faith.

At that juncture, the leading brothers among the three could not contain himself but broke out in tears and started praying and thanking the Lord for His faithfulness. Then we all prayed together in the car until we reach our destination, Rosendale, in Kingston, the rural part of New York. 

Rosendale, a campsite of 232 acres with 32 houses, lake, mountains enveloped with evergreen trees, a lake teeming with fish, the lush green surrounding, and the playground are amazing. The testimony of the brothers who was instrumental in purchasing this land was even more thrilling- a life of prayer and faith; how the Lord led him step by step to meet the need of the church in New York and New Jersey; how the money to purchase this land for about 3 million dollars was met through the offering of the saints; how useful this campsite has become; how many saints have been laboring on this land and have been perfected in service; and how they prayed a "sniper" prayer to pray specifically and strategically. 

My personal experience can simply be explained in one word, "wonderful!" Thank God that the Lord took us there on a flight transit from San Francisco back to India via New York, from morning to evening, one whole day. It was not merely a city tour, but a day of brotherly fellowship. I was very much encouraged by the testimonies of the brothers and also the church in New York.

Churching: Bay Area California

The Blending Together of the Members-1 Corinthians 12:23-27And those members of the body which we consider to be less honorable, these we clothe with more abundant honor; and our uncomely members come to have more abundant comeliness, but our comely members have no need. But God has blended the body together, giving more abundant honor to the member that lacked, that there would be no division in the body, but that the members would have the same care for one another. And whether one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or one member is glorified, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the Body of Christ, and members individually.

Churching and Blending

After attending the live summer training in Anaheim, California, a brother and I went for churching to the bay area of California. Though the initial plan was a visit to a brother's relative for introducing the ministry, in fellowship, it turned out to be an extensive churching to the main churches in the bay area.

A brother who used to visit India took the lead to drive us around to different churches. Therefore, we visit the following localities:

1. San Jose
2. Santa Clara
3. Palo Alto
4. Morgan Hills
5. Fremont
6. Hillsborough
7. Berkeley
8. San Francisco

Besides, we also visited the city of Los Angeles, Millbrae, Mountain View, Campbell, and Cupertino. There are local churches in all these cities too and many more in California and in all the states of USA, we did not have enough time to visit all of them. Even in our short visit to a few local churches, we learned a lot. 

One important lesson I learned practically which the ministry has been trumpeting is, "Blending is the reality of the Body of Christ." I even mentioned a couple of times in our fellowship with the brothers, the importance of blending. Indeed, there is a need to pay the price to go churching for blending; it's definitely worth it. Otherwise, I even warned, we might end up like any other Christian groups that have been established for centuries, but due to the lack of the vision of the Body of Christ, and the blending and building up, they all ended up to be dead organizations. And we, in the Lord’s recovery must not repeat the hose of Christianity. 

The blessings in this churching are manifold. Our hearts have been enlarged and our views broadened in relation to God's eternal purpose on the earth. To my knowledge, no other Christian group has such a view, vision, blending, fellowship, oneness and reality of the Body of Christ. The Lord has been merciful to us and we must consecrate ourselves to the Lord again and again for the fulfillment of His eternal purpose on the earth.

In all these localities we visited, the Lord had arranged for the brothers for fellowship over breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In every fellowship, we just felt that we were meeting our own brothers though we met for the first time. The life of God that we all received and the ministry of the word that supplies us, have all indeed kept us in the one Body and in one accord. We all spoke the same thing, had the same vision and goal. Our churching confirmed it all, that we are indeed in the ministry of the age. 

My conclusion to all these visit is: May the Lord bless us all for His Body to be His matured Bride to bring Him back, by our fellowship, blending and building up with one another in oneness and one accord.

A Memoir: Thank You, Brother

It was the last day of the semi-annual training in the last session of the last message, a brother who I owe much in the Lord and who has been perfecting me since my first meeting with him, gave a two minutes testimony of the deeper experience of Christ he had in his service in the past few years. I was so supplied by his real-life testimony. As I went back to rest for the night and was reading my daily Bible on my knees in a brother's home in Anaheim, the Lord clearly told me to write a pleasant memoir I had with that brother. Therefore, I wrote immediately and sent it to him (brother JS).

Praise the Lord brother!

I truly enjoyed your prophesying tonight at the training. What a blessing to be able to learn from you and enjoy the fruits of your labor in India!

In the principle of incarnation, declaring the fact as fact, I will always be thankful to the Lord for all your shepherding and perfecting work you consciously or unconsciously did to me, and still have been doing, though indirectly now.

The Lord knows, I worship Him for a brother like you and others whom I can take as my pattern and learn from. 

The first time I met you as a student, not yet in the church life in the Lord's recovery, you told me prophetically, "Come to the full time training!" I simply was shocked and surprised. I thought to myself, "How dare you? I don't even belong to your church." Two years later, I ended up in the Bible Truth Church Service Training in Chennai in 2003! 

The fellowship you had with me at a beach in Chennai when you clarified my last remaining doubts, before fully coming into His recovery, concerning "mingling" and "overcomers" will still and ever be my sweet memories, and the lovefeast that followed at your home, my first rich lovefeast ever in a home of a "foreigner."

The book you gifted me, Christ Versus Religion and The Ultimate Significance of the Golden Lampstand had completely renewed my understanding of a christian life and a church life. In fact, it changed my christian life from that point on, after studying them. Even my hairstyle was changed to what it looks today when you charged me to change it in an intensified training we had in my second year training in Chennai. I thank the Lord for this too. 

The testimony can go on and on. I just felt led by the Lord to write these few memorable testimonies to you. Therefore, in obedience, I wrote.

Thank you so much brother. 

Feel free to shepherd me even like those days when you were with us in India.

In Him, Palmei 

Later I received a reply by mail of a photo shot of a verse in Luke 17: 10So also you, when you do all the things which are ordered you, say, We are unprofitable slaves; we have done what we ought to have done.

My reply was, "We are indeed unprofitable slaves. Our prayer and pursuit will always be those in Mathew 24:45, 46  Who then is the faithful and prudent slave, whom the master has set over his household to give them food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing.

A Brother Full of Grace

A dear brother went to be with the Lord as I was on my way to USA to attend the semi-annual training. It caught me by surprise when I first received the message. Initially, I could not believe it and was waiting for an official confirmation. Later, the matter was confirmed. He, being one of my coordinating brothers in the literature service, brothers felt good to atleast attend his memorial day service, but I could not make it as the visa processing for Cananda from USA was about a month or so. Nevertheless, the brothers suggested that I write my testimony concerning him. I considered before the Lord and wrote:

"Grace" is the one unique word that I can use to describe my personal experience with brother Robin Fenwick.  

My first meeting with brother was in 2003 when I was a trainee. When he asked me what I learned most in the training, my reply was "coordination," besides the truths. The fellowship that followed was, words full of life and grace from his experience of Christ. From day one, my impression about him was, "a brother full of grace."

A Shepherd Full of Grace

Brother Robin and sister Diwani were like a "parent" to my family. In 2006, I just got married and began to serve in the literature service. It was brother who shepherded us practically by arranging a house for us to stay, part of which was also used for the literature service. Later, he and sister moved in to stay together with us, and he took care of most of the financial burden. It was such a cherishing to us. Even when we shifted to a new house, till he moved back to Canada, we always stayed together in the same house for years. He did this to take of our family when house rent was beyond our capacity to bear. He always shared the bigger portion of the rent saying that "those who have more pay more; all that we have are from the Lord and always share with the needy saints." Because of his shepherding, now my family is doing the same to the brothers who live with us, in the same principle. 

Besides, when my younger brother and cousin brothers needed a help, he had a view of shepherding them and received all of them into the same house, because of which, all my brothers were gained into the church life through such practical shepherding. And till today, they remember his shepherding love and care. 

A Shepherd Who Taught in Grace

When I was brought into the literature service under his overseeing, he always encouraged me and trusted me. I had no experience then, but he showed me from his personal experience of how to take care of the official matter in the literature office. From dealing with the government on legal matters, accounting, banking, printing, marketing and distribution, to the day to day office file works, he trained me in almost every aspect of running a "business" for which the literature service was registered to the government of India. Till his very last breath, he had been serving with us. I have been graced to learn from him directly, especially in complicated accounting matter of the literature "company." 

As a novice, when I made mistakes I was expecting a rebuke from him, or at least a chastisement, but never once he did. Instead, he fellowshipped with me the proper way to do things. I learned from such a gracious shepherd. 

He is a brother in the Lord who is senior and mature, and my adviser in official matters; I will miss him. He is such a shepherd full of grace to me. 

A Word of Love to the Family

Except sister Diwani, I have never met any of brother Robin's family members and children. Their daddy was my "daddy" in India. I will miss him as much as they all would do. My words to all brother Robin's children: follow the footstep of your father; He is a lover of the Lord Jesus Christ and the church in the Lord's recovery, and a brother full of grace, shepherding the saints as much as he could. 

The Lord will definitely remember his labor of love and work of faith in India. 

Praise the Lord for such a wonderful shepherd and pattern the Lord has set before me!

A Bible Verse That Reminds Me of Brother Robin Fenwick

1 Corinthians 15:58Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Shepherding: Restitution

Three weeks ago, I sent the following message to a sister as I felt it was timely to fellowship with her on that line. The experience that she went through at that time was related to the sin in human nature. It was not a random nor coincidental matter, but timely and sovereignly of the Lord, that the ministry speaking in that week matched her situation. 

In Leviticus 5:11 fine flour, signifying the humanity of Jesus, is used for a sin offering, signifying that we commit sins because we are short of the humanity of Jesus. This indicates that we commit sins not only because we have sin in our nature and not only because we are not absolute for God but also because we do not have the humanity of Jesus; in His humanity Jesus has no sin in Him and is absolute for God. The tenth part of an ephah of fine flour offered for a sin offering signifies that only a small portion of the humanity of Jesus is needed to kill the negative things within us and to supply our need.

It was because of the sinful nature within us that we commit sin knowingly or unknowingly. Therefore, we need to make restitution with the concerned person if that sin committed involved another person. However, I mentioned that restitution should be done only if she enjoyed the Lord's supply of grace to do so. It must not be an imposed religious duty, but must be out of her own will and conviction in the light of the holy word. 

Making restitution and adding to it one-fifth more signifies that the one who offers the trespass offering should be righteous in material things according to the divine scale, standard, and measurement (vv. 15-16; cf. Luke 19:8).

“David begot Solomon of her who had been the wife of Uriah” (Matt. 1:6). Psalm 51 was composed after David’s great sin in murdering Uriah and robbing him of his wife and then being rebuked by Nathan:

“Against You and You alone have I sinned, And I have done what is evil in Your sight”(v. 4).“Hide Your face from my sins, / And blot out all my iniquities” (v. 9).“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise” (v. 17).“Do good in Your good pleasure unto Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem” (v. 18).

The issue of the “marriage” of David’s transgressing and repentance with God’s forgiveness was Solomon (“peaceful”), the one who built the temple of God (2 Sam. 7:12-14a; 2 Chron. 3:1). The church is always built up by this kind of person—a Solomon—one who is the issue of man’s transgression and repentance plus God’s forgiveness.

When we experience the marriage of our transgression and repentance with God’s forgiveness, we become very useful in the building up of the church.

A week later I fellowshipped with her that if she could go through such dealing from the Lord in a way of restitution, she would be very useful to the Lord and Satan’s subtle plan would be thwart. But she must pray and that I offered to help her, if need be. Her reply was that she would pray and would like to fellowship with me personally when I would be back to India as all these transpired while I was in a family visit to Taiwan. Besides, I also sent the following message. 

Praise the Lord sister!
Besides pray-reading the following Bible verses, please also study the book of Philemon with the footnotes from the Recovery Version. 

Colossians 3:12-15Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, inward parts of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, long-suffering; Bearing one another and forgiving one another, if anyone should have a complaint against anyone; even as the Lord forgave you, so also should you forgive. And over all these things put on love, which is the uniting bond of perfectness.  And let the peace of Christ arbitrate in your hearts, to which also you were called in one Body; and be thankful.

Subject of Philemon:An Illustration of the Believers' Equal Status in the New Man

Jesus is Lord! Christ is Victor!

After another week when I came back to India she came for a time of fellowship as a follow up on what I fellowshipped with her; to pray that she would experience the Lord’s grace to be able to forgive any offense she had against another sister. Since the matter involved another sister, it was proper to set things right in line with what the Lord has told us.

Matthew 5:23-24Therefore if you are offering your gift at the altar and there you remember that your brother has something against you, Leave your gift there before the altar, and first go and be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

After an hour long fellowship and prayer, we both went to meet the other sister who offended her and of whom she spoke her feeling against, to reconcile and apologise. The Lord led us all to read the same Bible verses and pray together. After that meeting the matter was settled. It was a good experience of shepherding the saints in the church life.

This experience proved that the Lord is working deeply in the lives of the saints in the church. He would not allow any hindrances in His move within the saint and through the saints. He did His spiritual diagnosis to solve any blockade within the being of the saints. That His life may flow richly through the saints for His testimony. I felt graced and blessed to be able to shepherd the saints in the way of restitution. It reminds me of the following verse:

1 Peter 5:2-3Shepherd the flock of God among you, overseeing not under compulsion but willingly, according to God;not by seeking gain through base means but eagerly; nor as lording it over your allotments but by becoming patterns of the flock. 

Lord, shepherd Your flock!

Faithfulness in the Lord’s Service

After a three weeks visit to our beloved family at Taipei, as we flew back home, as usual, I read my Bible on the flight. The scheduled reading was  on the book of Chronicles. It was very tempting to skip over the multitude of names that hardly made any sense unless delved into deeply. But one thing that caught my attention was this verse:

1 Chronicles 9:22 All these who were chosen to be gatekeepers in the thresholds were two hundred twelve. These were enrolled by genealogy in their villages; David and Samuel the seer appointed them because of their faithfulness.

I kept reading, and another verse confirmed the point further:

1 Chronicles 9:26 For the four chief gatekeepers, who were Levites, were faithful and were over the chambers and over the treasuries in the house of God.

This brought my attention back to the negative aspect of not being faithful.

1 Chronicles 9:1 So all Israel was enrolled by genealogy, and they are now written in the book of the kings of Israel; and Judah was carried away captive to Babylon for their unfaithfulness.

1 Chronicles 10:13-14 So Saul died on account of his unfaithfulness which he committed against Jehovah, because of the word of Jehovah which he did not keep, and also because he asked the counsel of a medium, inquiring of it. And he did not inquire of Jehovah; therefore He killed him and turned the kingdom to David the son of Jesse.  

I re-read the chapter and discovered to my amazement that to serve in the house of God, one key point is faithfulness. It did not talk about skill or any other virtues, but for service it simply mentioned about faithfulness. This was such an eye opening to me. 

As I considered this matter of faithfulness, the Lord enlightened me further with the following verses in the New Testament. 

Matthew 24:45-46 Who then is the faithful and prudent slave, whom the master has set over his household to give them food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing.

Matthew 25:21 His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful over a few things; I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your master.

Matthew 25:23 His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful over a few things; I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your master.

In serving the Lord, the main virtue required is faithfulness, in matters big or small. This is the same point I have been mentioning to the serving ones in the literature service. That they be faithful in their service. I would not want "to rule over them" like a secular company manager would do to their subordinates. But I would rather that every one serves faithfully. Fruitfulness is simply the result of serving faithfully. This is also the main characteristic I would look for in a person who would be enrolled into the literature service, apart from their skills. And this is the reason why I used to pray for all the serving ones to be faithful and fruitful; to take the Lord as their faithfulness and be blessed by the Lord to be fruitful.

As I reconsidered my life, by the Lord's mercy, the faithful God has gradually become my faithfulness. I am so glad, my wife gave me a name in Chinese which has the word faithfulness in it, or at least, it is implied. The same applies to all walks of life, in service life, in marriage life, in any matter, faithfulness is the key word that stands out. The Lord is faithful! And I must take His faithfulness to be my faithfulness.

Lord, be my faithfulness and make me fruitful, in my life and in my service.