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. 

The Lord's Shepherding

Psalms 23:1

Jehovah is my Shepherd; I will lack nothing. 

The Lord has been my good Shepherd indeed. He has been shepherding me since time immemorial. Be it when I was single, when I got married, when I became a father, and now even as a father of three children, wherever I was, wherever I am, the Lord is still my good Shepherd. Even the past few weeks as my family had gone to visit our family in Taiwan, the Lord's shepherding still followed us through.

This time especially, the Lord's Shepherding was very practical and real. It can be easily gauged and quantified. Before we took off from New Delhi, the flight delay gave us a pass to enjoy a family buffet meal at a restaurant in the airport. I hardly took my family for a treat and I just got one for free for all.

When we visited Hong Kong on our transit, the brothers shepherded us so well. They took us to places and supplied us richly, much to the satisfaction and enjoyment of my children especially. I personally would not be able to do such to my family, but the Lord knows how to shepherd all of us. 

In Taiwan, wherever we went, whomever we met, the Lord's Shepherding hand followed us all through. Besides the spiritual supply, the Lord supplied us richly through many saints in the form of gifts and offerings. Ranging from food items to clothing, from toys to books, the Lord's love and care was so sweet and cherishing.

The gifts and offerings were so abundant that my wife had to work on it quite a while, packing them to bring them back to India. To me, the physical things were immaterial. What matters to me most was the Lord's presence, His blessings and shepherding. All these gifts and offerings were all from the Lord, they were His blessing us and shepherding us in practical way.

Every time, when the supply came, I told my children to pray and thank the Lord for His shepherding. And I also joined with them in thanksgiving. Praise the Lord for He is the wonderful Shepherd!

Psalms 23:6Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of Jehovah for the length of my days.  

Besides all the gifts, the love of the saints in sweet fellowship over lovefeast was beyond mention. I could not keep count how many. The physical food too were so rich, I found it hard to resist the taste of Taiwanese palate; we simply enjoyed the saints' love to the brim.

Above all, I was glad that my children could learn to experience the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God who is real and living. On many occasions, my children would pray for "weather control" as we were scheduled for outings at various theme parks. The season being rainy, unstable, and unpredictable, weather control was definitely a must. Only God could do that, and we could only pray to Him. That's what we did. The outdoor parks need a fine weather without rain. In three occasions, the Lord controlled the rain as my children prayed, so that it did not hinder their enjoyment of the facilities, and rain came only when we were indoor for lunch, after which, it stoped for the enjoyment to continue. I took those experiences to let my children know that God does care and answers the simple and pure prayer as theirs. This, I did to inculcate and develop the faith in Christ in them. The Lord indeed shepherded us so well; inwardly and outwardly, spiritually and physically too. Praise the Lord, our good and wonderful Shepherd!

A Glorious Gospel Meeting

It was my last day in Taipei during our three weeks family visit. It came to my notice in one of the church meetings that there would be a big gospel meeting which used to be held twice a year and that testimonies would be shared by business men from China who loved the Lord dearly amidst their busy schedules. And it was for this gospel meeting that the saints had been preparing and praying for. I was graced to be able attend this meeting on my last day in Taipei. My mom, in-law but in the Lord, and I attended the meeting. In fact, we also enjoyed the lovefeast hosted by the church, Hall 6, prior to the meeting. 

Saints' Prayer and Coordination 

About one thousand people gathered at Xinyi building basement auditorium. Eighty percent of them were saints in the church life, and the other twenty percent were gospel friends. It was a good percentage. Thirty minutes before the scheduled time, saints started praying and singing gospel hymns. The ambience of the meeting was high in spirit and I could easily sense the move of the Spirit. Another very impressive point was the coordination among the saints. Each group of saints were taking care of their own new ones so effectively, I believe all the new ones were taken care.

Saints' Testimonies

In two groups of seven and five saints respectively, there were sharing of testimonies from mainland China. These ones were business men of various background; some from Buddhism, some from Christianity, and some were simply unbelievers. All of them had one thing in common; they were not satisfied in their lives despite earning enough worldly riches. Each one of them also testified that they were running after money, worldly success and entertainment, and ultimately ended up in emptiness. Some even went to the extend of extreme gambling, drinking, smuggling; two of them met with fatal car accident and miraculously survived to be saved by the Lord Jesus later; two of them were researching on Buddhism to find the meaning of life and sought for God, but to no avail; and all of them, after being saved, decided to join the middle age training in Taiwan. That's how they could testify during the gospel meeting. 

Short, Simple, and Strong Gospel Message

After the two groups gave testimonies, two brothers shared a heart touching gospel message based on their testimonies. The gospel message first was on "Anxiety" and then on "Consider Your Ways." A handout with two gospel hymns and two short messages with  outlines and Bible verses were handed to all attendees. Each gospel message ended with the call for coming to the Lord Jesus Christ to believe and receive Him as their Saviour, and an out-loud calling on the name of the Lord, "O Chu Yesu! O Chu Yesu!" 

Calling to Come to the Lord and Baptism

After the gospel messages, a brother ministered the truth concerning baptism, followed by another brother calling out for those who would be willing to receive the Lord and take baptism. A stage full of gospel friends whom the Lord touched came up with an astounding homecoming welcome from the saints. This finally was followed by baptisms of those who believed and decided to get baptised. The entire meeting lasted for barely an hour and a half. As I also witnessed the baptisms, I was very impressed by the well preparedness of the saints. There was a counter for a record of those who believed and got baptised; and there was also a baptism kit counter where full-sleeve shirts and long pants, head cover, sandal, towel, hairdryers and comb were placed neatly in order. No wonder, the Lord blessed the gospel meeting. In fact, God has to bless such prayer, preparedness, and coordination of the saints.

Later, I was informed that out of the many who accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour, seventeen of them also took baptism. I was so impressed by the entire arrangement of the gospel meeting. To me, it was indeed a glorious gospel meeting. What I have seen and learned, I must now carry it out wherever the Lord has placed me in His service. That my service to Him may also witness a glorious gospel meeting; not once, not twice, nor thrice only, but again and again, throughout my entire lifetime. For 1 Timothy 2:4 says, God desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth.