Sorry for the inactiveness this past month or so. July and a sprinkle of August have been extremely packed for me as I was 4 or 5 different places during that period of time. Well, where should I start? The Experience of Abraham (My dad's testimonies) will soon be coming. But I want to spend the next few days recapping this past month of July/August.
Here's what had happened:
July 4-9 - Summer Training in Anaheim, CA
July 18-24 - Summer College Training in Fairborn, OH
July 24-28 - Summer School of Truth Part 1 in Streamwood, IL
July 31-Aug 6 - Summer School of Truth Part 2 in Camp Grow, WI
Now there are so many things that happened through all these events, and I am so sorry to say that I won't be able to cover them all in detail, but I'll try my best to pick out the best portions to tell.. So, let's get to it --
Summer Training 2011
For those of you who are not very familiar with the term "Semi-Annual Training", it is a week-long conference where Christians from all over the globe gather together to enjoy the Lord together and study the truth. The topic for this past training was the book of Psalms and I'm very excited to say that I did not know there were so many riches in the book of Psalms. There is a specific reason why it's called a "training." Like the name states, this isn't a mere gathering of Christians for 4 hours a day to listen to messages. Nope. This is a 24/7 training where we spend every moment studying the truths given to us. And the best part is that it is so enjoyable. In my opinion, there's nothing better than being in a group of believers who love the Lord and love the Word for a week to fully give ourselves to these things. The atmosphere there is so conducive to be saturated with the ministry.
For the past few trainings (there's one every winter and summer), I've been staying in a place called the Chan's for hospitality. Not every single trainee gets this opportunity of staying at a house with 35 other brothers, so I thank the Lord that I get such a chance. The time spent with each and every brother is precious. And I know I said training above, but that doesn't mean we don't have any fun. We have some rec time scheduled into our schedule to make sure we get some physical exercise, and fellowship over the dinner table is a nice time to get to the brothers in a personal way.
If I can summarize the Summer Training in four words, it would be Christ, house, city, and earth. This was a resounding theme through out the training. Of course, Christ is the center of the Bible, and it is not surprising that as one of the components in the Bible, Psalms is filled with Christ. In fact, I think it is the second most quoted OT book in the New Testament (Second to Isaiah). The house of God and the city of God are two aspects of the church, the Body of Christ. In the beginning of the Bible, in Genesis 1:26, God created man in His own image and gave man to have dominion over everything on the earth. These two matters in Genesis 1:26 are seen through the two aspects of the church as the house and the city.
As the house of God, we express God through the enjoyment of the riches. There are many practical examples of this matter: an American man is the expression of all the riches of America. Through the eating of the rich and healthy produce of America, the American man in turn expresses those riches. A man from a third-world country, on the other hand, growing up with the lack of riches of the third world country, expresses that in turn. Thus, the members of the house God, who were created in the image of God, express God by enjoying all the riches of the house.
Many Christians stop here. And to be honest, I have to confess that many times I have stopped here myself and have wanted to stop here. There is a second aspect of the church, and this matter is the matter of the city of God. The city of God is a place where God has the freedom to rule over everything. This is how the earth should be, but sadly to say, there is rebellion everywhere against God that was created by the first rebellion. Anyhow, this is something I myself need to experience more and study more. The Lord wants to come back and have His kingdom on the earth. But in order for this to happen, there must be a beachhead of Christians who allow the Lord to have His kingdom in their hearts. In World War II, it was through one beachhead that the Allied Forces were able to overthrow the Axis Forces. Likewise, all that the Lord needs is a group of believers who give Him the utmost permission to rule within their hearts first.
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