The Church in Cleveland

Vision of the World - Psalms 120 gives us a vision of the true nature of the world. The world is first a world of lies, deceit, and vanity but eventually it wars against those who want what God wants.

Vision of the Lord - In Psalm 121 we come to the very God who is the Maker of heaven and earth. Leaving the world behind, we begin our spiritual ascent up Mount Zion.

Vision of the Church as God's Testimony - Psalm 122 shows us a vision of the church, the Body of Christ. We need to see this vision as we continue our ascent. We must realize that the vision of the church can only come after the vision of the world and the vision of the Lord.

The Stage of Consecration - Psalms 123-125: Our three-fold vision of the Lord, the world, and the church leads us to a three-fold consecration. Firstly, we consecrate ourselves to the Lord Himself, then secondly we consecrate ourselves to be separated and apart from the world. Then thirdly, we consecrate ourselves to the Lord's trustworthiness.

Consecration to the Lord Himself - Psalm 123 shows us the experience of the Lord's hand. The psalmist consecrates himself to the Lord by looking to the Lord's hand for His supply, support, leading, comfort, and discipline.

Consecration to be Separated from the World - The psalmist has an individual stand for the Lord, and this led to his experience of being despised in the world. Now the Lord is on his side for the sake of His testimony. Psalm 124 shows us how to stand against three categories of the world's opposition. The world attacks us as a beast to devour us, as a flood to overwhelm us, and as a snare to trap us.

Consecration to the Lord's Trustworthiness - After realizing how much the Lord cares for His testimony Psalm 125 shows us how to deal with our self-life by consecrating to the Lord's trustworthiness. The feeling of this psalm is so single and pure. We are not here for ourselves, but for His testimony. We deal with our self-life so that the church can be built up in peace.

The Stage of Enjoyment - Psalms 126-128: The Psalms of Ascent are a picture of the Christian life. As we follow the Lord we "ascend" in our experience. These psalms form a progression which can be divided into five stages of three psalms each. In previous messages we have seen the stage of vision and the stage of consecration. Now we can come to the next stage, the stage of enjoyment.

The Enjoyment of Being Freed from Our Self-life - Psalm 126 shows the psalmist has already come out of captivity positionally. He is no longer in Babylon but has come to the Lord's testimony. Positionally he is released, but experientially he has not been released in full. When he realizes this he then prays, "Lord, turn again my captivity."

The Enjoyment of Transformation - Psalm 127: All our labor is in vain until we surrender to the Lord and rest in Him. For us to go to sleep can mean one of two things. First, it can mean to stop our working. Second, it can mean to accept the Lord's environmental arrangement for us. When we stop our striving and rest in the Lord's arrangement we begin to be transformed and bear fruit.

The Enjoyment of a Mature and Life-giving Labor - Psalm 128: After experiencing transformation, we can enjoy the fruit of our labor. We don't just enjoy wine for ourselves, we produce it for others to enjoy. We don't just have oil for ourselves, we produce oil to anoint others' wounds. When there are brothers in the church life who are as a wine tree and an olive tree, then there is peace.

The Stage of Enlargement - Psalms 129-131: Now we need an even greater turn, which we call "the stage of enlargement." The Lord must work on us and enlarge us so that our desire is not for ourselves, but for the whole church life to be healthy.

Being Enlarged through the Lord's Environmental Dealings - Psalm 129: The psalmist has been dealt with his entire life since his youth, yet he realizes that the dealings and afflictions always came to him from the Lord with His testimony in view. He has the mark of the Lord's workmanship. It is the plowing and cutting of deep and long furrows that give us the healthy growth in life.

Being Enlarged through the Knowledge of Ourselves - Psalm 130: Whenever we experience the Lord's plowing work through our environment, we become a person of prayer. The knowledge of ourselves makes us the proper person for the building up of the church. By our knowledge of ourselves and our trust in the Lord's redemption we become enlarged for the sake of His testimony.

Being Enlarged through Lowliness and Submission - Psalm 131: By knowing ourselves, we are humbled and no longer desire to be exercised in great matters. We enjoy submitting to Him. Now we are able to properly care for the Lord's testimony.

The Stage of Maturity - Psalms 132-134: The maturity that is described in the last stage of the Psalms of Ascent is different from the maturity we have seen in the previous stages. We will see that eventually our maturity is no longer an individual experience, but a corporate one.

The Exercise of Maturity - Psalm 132 shows us a mature saint who knows how to rest, how to be in submission, and how to wait on the Lord. Yet in this situation of restfulness the writer still has a desperation. What is it that we are desperate for? We are desperate for the substance of the Lord's testimony to be produced. The psalmist describes a matured person's consecration, my house is God's house.

The Testimony of the Church Life in Maturity (1) - Psalm 133 is a display of the maturity that results from all the previous experiences in the Psalms of Ascent. We can only have the genuine oneness when we lose our individuality. Oneness comes from our maturity in life. For this we must have the headship, the person, the maturity, and the serving life of Christ.

The Testimony of the Church Life in Maturity (2) - Psalm 134 does not speak of the maturity of one individual but of the entire Body of Christ. When we enter into the experience of this psalm, it is not only we ourselves who are different, but all of the saints are different. Here at the end of the Psalms of Ascent, the church as the Bride has made herself ready and is awaiting the Lord's return.

The Body of Christ

Conference in Columbus Ohio - The Body of Christ is the most important matter in the universe, for it is the increase and enlargement of Christ, and the fullness of the One who fills all in all! Thus it is not something that is easy to fully grasp or apprehend. In these three meetings we will touch upon the reality of the Body of Christ, how it is expressed, and how it can be practically lived out among us. (Edited messages.)

Conference in Detroit Michigan

The Advancement of the Divine Revelations and Their Applications

The Completion of the Divine Revelations - From Christ to the Local Churches (1) - Peter saw Christ and the church in the stage of its initial declaration. What Peter saw in his revelation, however, became the controlling factor of his life. Paul saw something further. No longer was Christ merely the Son of God who would build His church: Paul saw Christ as the One in the heavens who possessed the church as His Body.

The Completion of the Divine Revelations - From Christ to the Local Churches (2) - In this message we will continue to realize that the initial revelation that Peter received was something very rich, the profoundness of Paul's vision, and the conclusiveness of John's. Because of their revelations today we have Christ, the church, the Body of Christ and the practical church life.

Peter's Application of the Vision He Received - What Peter saw of Christ was relatively simple and straightforward. After this initial revelation, Jesus joyfully responded to Peter's declaration by saying, "upon this rock I will build My church." Thus it can be seen that, from the beginning, this revelation of Christ and the church has God's economy in view.

Paul's Application of the Vision He Received - The operation of Paul's ministry as revealed in his Epistles focused on two things: First, his ministry focused on Christ as the reality of all spiritual things. Second, Paul's ministry focused on the church as the heavenly Body of the ascended Christ and as the fullness of Christ. A person like this realizes the price he will have to pay when he comes into contact with the saints, yet he willingly gives himself to them.

John's Application of the Vision He Received - In this message we will consider how John's revelation impacted his life and ministry. John brings us to focus upon four great matters: the living Christ producing overcomers in the churches; Christ being the reality of the Triune God; fellowship with the Triune God, the apostles, and the saints; and the "three-dimensional" church life.

David: A Person Who Served His Generation by Struggling After God's Heart

David: A Man Who Served His Generation As A Person After God's Heart - These are the two things that every person should care about above all else - his relationship with God and how he has lived and operated within his generation. David gave himself to live for what God Himself was really after, and trusted that God was able to take care of him.

God's Preparation: A Woman, Her Son, And A King - In order to provide for the emergence of such a person as David, God had to first arrange for a number of other things. He had to prepare a woman who would be pure and gracious enough to offer Him her own child. That child was Samuel. Then Saul, the people's choice for king, was the third person needed to usher in David.

Saul: The Insufficiency of Religion - Saul was very good in so many ways, yet he failed to satisfy God because he operated as one in religion. It was not that he was evil; it was his 'religiosity' that caused him to lose his value before the Lord.

David's Approvedness: Chosen, Anointed, Trained & Tested - Before God can gain a person, that person must experience a number of things. Being chosen is not enough in itself. A person must also be anointed, trained, tested, and approved before he can begin to really begin to serve God as someone after His own heart.

David's Approvedness (2) - David provides us one of the best examples in the Bible of what it means to be chosen, anointed, trained, tested, and eventually approved.

Manifested and Persecuted: To Know God and Train Others - Nearly every servant of the Lord will pass through the experiences David did before he finally discovers that only God can provide true rest.

Manifested and Persecuted (2) - David attained a high degree of manifestation. Because of this the Lord was able to bring him into deeper experiences The first thing the Lord dealt with in this deeper work was his dependence upon persons and things other than the Lord Himself.

Forging the Nucleus of His Kingdom - His Fighters - If you are young and love the Lord, you should aspire to become such a "mighty man" in God's spiritual army. We are all qualified. In order to become such a person, however, you must pay attention to four matters utilized by David to train those who came to him.

Overcoming To Bring in the Kingdom - After all of David's experiences of retreating and escaping, he eventually returned to Ziph where he had first sought refuge outside of Israel, but this time the outcome was very different. This time, he received a city which remained a part of Judah. We also should be so bold in our Christian life.

Establishing the Kingdom & Bringing God Its City - We should consider David's kingship not primarily as a time of having "arrived," but rather more as a period of time during which he continued to mature. It is the same for us. When we have attained to a certain measure where we seem to be mature, we still need to mature.

Providing God a Dwelling and Its Builder - David had now become king, and he had gained a city. His house had been built there out of the finest materials. Yet he felt it was not fitting that God would dwell in curtains while he dwelt in a house of cedar. He felt the Lord should have the best. We should take care of God first, and our own needs afterwards.

David's Wives and David's Warriors: Our Progress and Practice - In David's eight wives we should be able to see something about the progressive experience and process of enjoyment in the church life. Also the record of the various mighty men provide a very good picture of the various kinds of operations necessary for the kingdom life to be established in the church life today. Each of these mighty men accomplished something representing a "field" in which we may operate in the church life.

Ruth - Growth Unto Maturity

Freshness after Failure, Famine, and Death - The Lord uses all situations. He uses the messy situation under the judges and the famine. He also uses our weakness. Eventually these things die, and the Lord gets what He is after - another generation. Eventually, we find that we need a new beginning. This new beginning takes place after we have lost "God is my King," "mildness," and "pining and withering." Then we discover "freshness," and this freshness further brings in the companionship and ability to shepherd others.

The Path to a Real Christ - Elimelech's family eventually passed through three levels of experience in order to produce something for God. The first stage is "A Wonderful Church Life". The stage is "Famine" and the third stage is "Returning to Christ Alone". The real satisfaction is with Christ Himself. Only Christ is worthy of our pursuit.

Returning to the Riches in God's House - When we come to this stage, our heart returns to Bethlehem, no matter where we are, for that is where the Lord is. Our heart desires the Lord and stays focused upon Him, rather than on the blessings He might provide. Therefore, we rise up to go to the place where we hear that He is, and we re-consecrate ourselves to Him.

Finding Resurrection in the Lord's Field - This field, which represents the church life, is filled with resurrection. The church life is a life in resurrection. Resurrection is able to bring you through incident after incident, case after case, until you are in the heavenlies, above every storm. Resurrection is a power that is able to lift you up into the heavenly realm. And this realm is actually Christ Himself.

Christ's Care in the Church Life - The Lord's arrangement in your environment should bring you through many steps of life. When you believe in the Lord and come into the church life, many such things begin to happen to you due to the Lord's governmental activity in your environment. The Lord arranges everything for your profit.

Finding Christ under God's Arrangement - If you desire to become mature, you must not only have a Boaz as the source of the rich supply; you also need a Naomi who knows how to help you and guide you in matters relating to this person. After a certain amount of experience, we become a somewhat mature member in the church life. Even so, our maturity must be fully realized for God's economy.

Preparation in the Night - Naomi realized that the next stage of growth for Ruth was finding rest with Boaz. We should exercise in the same way for those who are with us. In our experience there is a long process of growth while we lie submissively at Christ's feet and enjoy His protection. Yet such a person still does not know the release He can render, or the full experience of oneness with Him.

Brought into Union with Christ - Chapter four begins with Boaz's dealings with Ruth's nearest kinsman, the man who had the first claim upon Ruth and her inheritance. The nearest kinsman was responsible for marrying the dead man's wife to raise up children in the name of the deceased. Otherwise his inheritance in the land of Israel might be lost from his tribe. This is the purpose of this transaction.

The Divine Mystical Realm in Colossians: Christ - The Person of the Divine Mystical Realm

The Kingdom of the Beloved Son - The Person, Content, and Circumference of the Divine Mystical Realm - This message focuses upon the kingdom of Christ as the Son of God's love. In the sphere of the kingdom, which equals the divine mystical realm, Christ is the person, the content, and the circumference.

The Mystery of God, the Mystery of Christ, and the Mystery of God's Economy (1) - These mysteries become real to us through the operation and struggle of those who serve the Lord as stewards of this mystery. Part of this outline was originally molded around Hymn 824.

The Mystery of God, the Mystery of Christ, and the Mystery of God's Economy (2) - Our life-long commitment is Christ as the mystery of God, the church as the mystery of Christ, and to be the New Testament ministers who carry out the mystery of God's economy. These are very crucial matters, yet they are not easy to lay hold of.

The New Man, the Circumference of the Divine Mystical Realm, Full of the Reality of Being Raised with Christ - The divine mystical realm is simply Christ as the mystery of God, and the church as the mystery of Christ. This Christ, who embodies God as the divine mystical realm, has been enlarged, and this enlargement is the church. The church is also referred to as "the new man" in Colossians and Ephesians.

The Lord's Servant Filling up the Lack of the Afflictions of Christ in His Own Flesh by Taking Christ as His Person - In this message we finally come to Paul, someone who fully experienced the reality of taking Christ as his person, and had the reality of walking, living, operating, struggling, working, and fighting in this divine mystical realm. Paul also had a number who worked together with him as his co-corkers.

The Experience of Christ in Philippians

The Joy of Following Christ in Purity (1) - The book of Philippians is pure, focused, and joyful. Joy is simply the normal result of a life that is pure and focused. When our joy becomes so rich and bountiful that it overflows, that is to rejoice. The Christian life according to Philippians should be so joyful.

The Joy of Following Christ in Purity (2) - Paul was a slave of the Lord. You are a saint in Christ Jesus. And the more you are in Christ Jesus, the more you will be of Christ Jesus, and for Christ Jesus. Eventually your experience will become like that of the apostle Paul. First you are a saint in Christ Jesus, but by enjoying His holiness you eventually become a slave of Christ Jesus.

Enjoying Grace and Peace in the Realm of the Gospel - Paul loved these two words, "grace" and "peace." Grace is a matter of enjoyment according to Christ, and peace is the issue of grace. These two elements must be applied to us on a daily basis. Grace means that there is a living person who appeals to you and brings you into a realm of satisfaction. That realm, that status, is grace.

The Realm of the Gospel - Paul was full of joy and thankfulness for one thing in particular: "For your fellowship unto the furtherance of the gospel from the first day until now" Why was Paul so joyful? Paul realized the full gospel of God is God's person, God's working, God's operation, God's purpose, God's intention, and the totality of God's economy. In the center of the gospel there is a king, the Lord Jesus Christ, and with the ruling of this king there is a new age, a new realm, a new sphere.

The Secret of Enjoying Grace in the Organic Body of Christ - Paul and the Philippians found the secret to enjoying grace in the organic Body of Christ. The saints in Philippi had the apostle Paul in their heart, which implies not only the existence of one accord among the saints in Philippi, but also that the apostle's person and operation possessed their heart.

Treasuring Our Spiritual Riches - What you have in your heart decides the healthiness of your Christian life. How do you know whether you are healthy? It is determined by only one thing: what is in your heart? Do we really have the Lord, the brothers, the church life in our locality, or do we just possess them? If we have them, if we echo them, that means we treasure them. That means we are excited by them and made alive by them. It means that there are all sorts of positive reactions within us.

Caring For People in the Inward Parts of Christ Jesus - The Lord longs for and cares for all the local churches. They are His testimony on the earth today. They are His expression and are therefore so precious to the Lord. When Paul would pray to the Lord and enter into His deepest, most intimate parts, He touched the Lord's longing.

Loving People in Full knowledge and All Discernment - Paul entered into the Lord's inward parts on behalf of the Philippians and something became his concern. He prayed that the Philippians' love would abound in full knowledge and all discernment for the sake of the Lord and of His interest. He knew that this would cause the Lord's interest to advance and to be protected.

Approving by Testing and Being Approved by God - Only by being tested can we be approved by the Lord. We should realize that the Lord is trying to bring us into something marvelous, just as He did with the apostle Paul. This is the process through which the Lord is bringing us so that we can bear His testimony.