The central point of God’s administration

Living Stream Ministry Podcast ::

Our God is administrating the entire universe. The central point of His administration is seen by the Old Testament picture of the incense alter in the tabernacle from the book of Exodus. Stay with us today as we look at the central point of God’s administration on this Life-Study of the Bible with Witness Lee…a program furnished by Living Stream Ministry and featuring the ministry of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee.

Our God certainly is not a passive God. But rather one that is full of purpose. It’s a common question among believers…and even many unsaved that are not sure about God…that is they want to know…”What is God doing?”…”What is it all about?” Well, I think in this Life-Study that we’ve been enjoying regarding the tabernacle, we really have a full picture of God’s purpose.

In this picture we see that God is not idle. But He is really a God of purpose. He is moving. He is administrating. He is dispensing. He does have an economy. He does have a practice. He does have a move. These are all synonymous words to indicate that God is not idle…He is very busy. And as we’ll see in this program, by the picture of the tabernacle leading us to the reality in Christ…that our God in Christ is very busy. That man would not only be reached by God but man could be brought all the way into God for the sake of God’s testimony.

We hope and pray that every one of you who are listening to this broadcast would all be drawn to this marvelous administrating center which is just the interceding Christ. And that by His intercession you would be motivated very highly to go more deeply into the one whom you love. Not just for your sake…but for His sake: He needs a testimony.

And you mentioned Chris…this is a picture of God’s purpose…this picture of the tabernacle. The tabernacle is not just a tabernacle, but it’s called the tabernacle of the testimony. This means that all that we see by all the furniture in the tabernacle and particularly by the incense alter we see something is happening. God is administrating so that man could experience Him…be brought into Him even to the extent that He and His people are the same in life and nature so that His people could actually be His testimony.

How could we be His testimony unless we get saturated with Him and brought all the way into Him. So this marvelous picture shows what God is busy doing moving into us and moving us into Him for His testimony.

Living Stream Ministry

what is faith

Living Stream Ministry Podcast ::

What is faith? Is it just to believe? Why do some have it and some do not? Does the Bible give us any direction on how to obtain more faith? Well, the questions concerning faith are virtually endless. Of course the Bible does have much to say about faith. Yet, in many ways it remains mysterious. One of the most mysterious references to faith is found in Philippians 2 where Paul talks about “the sacrifice and service of your faith.”

We want to get into this extraordinary expression today concerning the faith of the believers on this Life-Study from the book of Philippians. In the book of Philippians, the apostle Paul uses several remarkable or extraordinary expressions, and they’re not found any place else in the New Testament…not even in his other writings…in his epistles.

We spent quite a bit of time on at least two of them in previous programs…and those are “the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ” and the second one would be “holding forth the word of life.” This whole portion of the Bible…especially here in Philippians…really gives you more and more basic reasons for enjoying Christ in so many ways.

Philippians 2:17…”But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice, and I rejoice together with you all.” If you would pay some attention, you will see…in this one short book…three extraordinary expressions were used by Paul. In chapter 1, he used…”the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.” Then in chapter 2 he used, “holding forth of the word of life.” You could never find such expressions in the Bible…even in other books by the apostle.

“The sacrifice of your faith.” Hard for us to get into this expression. The secret to experience Christ in such a book is just relying on these 3 things. The bountiful supply of the Spirit, the word of life, and the sacrifice of your faith. Now…what is faith that can constitute a sacrifice to God. As long as you are a believer, you have faith. But the question is this: could you consider your faith a sacrifice good for some other one to offer to God?

Paul was a New Testament priest. In Romans 15:16, Paul says I offered you gentile believers as a priest…all of you I offered to God. Paul was a gospel priest. He offered his converts all to God as a kind of sacrifice. Not only the persons…Romans 15 refers to the persons as sacrifice, but Philippians 2:17 refers to the believers faith as sacrifice. This is much deeper.

Three extraordinary expressions used by the apostle in this book…(1) the bountiful supply, (2) holding forth the word of life, and now (3) the sacrifice of your faith. This is not an easy passage to understand, but surely it’s worth our while to get into it to try to see the kind of faith that Paul was considering to be an offering…a sacrifice.

We have to spend some time to get the right understanding of the matter of faith. The faith here is a little different at least from the faith even in the Bible in other places. What is faith? Ephesians 1:13 gives us a very clear definition. You have heard the word of truth. Then you believed in Christ. The result was that you were sealed with the Spirit. The Word came and the Spirit was there. When you heard the Word and believed, you got the Spirit. The Word, faith and the Spirit…these three are one. The first function of the Word is to infuse you.

The Word infuses you with faith. Faith is the issue of the word and the function of the Spirit. Why? Because when the Word comes to you…when you touch it…the Spirit is there. Rather, I would say…the Word comes and you touch it…this Word becomes the Spirit. I must tell you…from my youth, I loved to have faith. So I tried my best. By that time I loved two things…faith and regeneration. I spent dollars to buy books…I couldn’t get any book to tell me what is faith. As it should be. Some books tell you what is faith…but not actually as faith should be.

Until in the recent years…mostly by my experiences…I realized what is faith. Faith is just the Word infusing the very element of the Word into you. And this very element is just the function of the Spirit. So faith is the issue of the Word and the function of the Spirit. So when you have faith, spontaneously you have the Word and the Spirit. And actually…dear saints…eventually when you have faith you have the three things. When you have faith, you have the Word. When you have faith, you have the Spirit.

You can pick up any portion of the Word and dwell on it for a while. Then something burning…something boiling…something rising up with power. What is that? This is the mingling of the Word and the Spirit with your faith. And this always issues in the full enjoyment of Christ.

Living Stream Ministry

keeping Christ as the Word of God

Living Stream Ministry Podcast ::

The matter of God blessing His people is so often spoken of in christian circles these days. Popular books detail the right prayer to pray or the latest method of bring ourselves into to a place where God can bless us. Well, surely God does desire to bless His people. Perhaps you’ve prayed such a prayer of faith and God has answered by blessing you with some material possession. But if the Lord would mercifully open our eyes, we would see that even in an Old Testament book like Deuteronomy the highest blessing for God’s people is just Christ Himself…and that we would hold Him fast and live in the sweetness of His presence.

Today…as we look at chapter 11 in Deuteronomy…we see that there is the promise of a marvelous five fold blessing if we keep Christ as the Word of God in some very specific ways. Of course the blessings that are outlined in Deuteronomy were outward…even physical (some of them) or material. And they were conditioned upon keeping the commandment.

But today, the real blessings are spiritual (or we could use the word intrinsic) and we’re going to get into these, but let’s open up by discussing this matter…and that is in order to receive the real blessing God is not looking for us to keep an outward commandment of the law. But to keep Christ as the Word of God.

It’s possible just to have the outward letter of God’s word. For example, in the Old Testament you had all the laws, ordinances and commandments. But actually, they are a picture and a type pointing us to Christ Himself as the reality of the Word of God. In John 5, some of the religious leaders came to the Lord and they were trying to give Him a hard time, but you know what He said? “You search the scriptures because in them you think you have eternal life. But it is these scriptures that testify concerning Me, and you’re not willing to come to Me that you might have life.”

So the real Word of God is the living Word which is just Christ Himself embodied in the written word. So you may have black and white letters, but you may miss the Person. The real blessing in God’s economy is just Christ Himself. God wants to bless us with Himself in Christ. So many we never let anything replace Christ. He is God’s unique blessing.

Moses says “posses the land”, but Paul said “Let’s gain Christ.” So as we take heed to and care for and love Christ as the Word of God, we really enjoy God’s blessing. And this is a real precious blessing. Because we keep Christ then God blesses us and strengthens us to hold fast to Christ. Like Paul said, “…one thing I do…I pursue toward the goal for the prize to which God in Christ Jesus has called me upward.”

So, we’re blessed with the strength and encouragement to go on and possess Christ more. What touches the heart of God more than Christ Himself as the Word of God? The more we keep Christ as the Word of God, the more we have God’s affection…we have God’s dear presence…signified by His eyes.

Living Stream Ministry