What Is True Church Life? | The Church of Almighty God

                                                

                                               By Zhang Jin

    Li Guangming heard two sisters beside him talking in a low voice. Sister Lan said, “In every meeting, we often either read some chapters of scriptures or listen to a long Bible reading program. After that, the meeting finishes. What have we gained from such meetings? They are too boring. Well, I really don’t want to attend meetings.” Sister Tang said with a resigned look, “That’s right. Alas, however … if I don’t come, I’ll be afraid the Lord won’t approve of me. If I come, I’ll have no enjoyment.” Then, he looked up at Elder Su on the podium. Elder Su was wearing a reluctant smile and a frown. Seeing this, Li Guangming became thoughtful.

    At that point, Elder Su walked up to Li Guangming and said, “My old fellow, you don’t come often. Would you like to fellowship with brothers and sisters?” He agreed and was much burdened.

    Looking at brothers and sisters, he said, “Brothers and sisters, we have just listened on the broadcast to some verses in Acts. Let’s fellowship together. If you are enlightened and illuminated, please talk without restriction. Just fellowship what you know boldly. Brothers and sisters, I want to ask you a question first. What kind of person is the eunuch?”

    Hearing this, brothers and sisters hesitated for a moment and then looked at each other. After that, someone said, “A humble person.” Someone said, “An honest man.” And someone said, “An independent man.” The others said in unison, “Amen.”

    Li Guangming said, “Yes, you’re right. Then, tell me, from what aspects do you see the eunuch as humble, honest and independent?”

    The hands of the clock on the wall kept going around. As time went by, the atmosphere was far different than moments ago. Everyone was absorbed in listening and also actively answered questions or said “Amen.”

    Seeing that brothers and sisters hungered and thirsted for righteousness, Li Guangming said excitedly, “Thank the Lord! It is God’s enlightenment that makes me have some understanding of the verses. Glory be to God! Brothers and sisters, it’s very important for us believers in the Lord to gather together. It directly involves the great matters of whether our spiritual life can grow and whether we can be saved. So we shouldn’t be bored with having meetings, much less should we forsake them lightly. Then what does it mean to have a real meeting? It refers to a gathering of people who truly believe in the Lord and pursue the truth: They get together to read God’s words and fellowship about their experience, knowledge and pure understanding of God’s words. So that they can understand the truth in God’s words, use the truth to solve problems and difficulties, and practice the right way of truth, and so that they can attain obedience to God. Only such meetings can be called a real church life. Gathering together isn’t engaging in religious ceremony nor observing rules. Besides, it shouldn’t be that one person alone speaks all the time in a meeting. Instead, everyone should have a true burden and actively talk about our experience and knowledge of God’s words. If all of us offer a part of ourselves, then our meeting will be more and more enjoyable. As the saying goes, ‘Many hands make light work.’ Therefore, as long as we pray to God, seek the truth, and fellowship our experience, knowledge and pure understanding of God’s words together in meetings, we’ll receive edification and supply and have growth in our life. During the time that I lived the church life with brothers and sisters in my native town, they, after reading God’s words in the meetings, openly talked about their pure understanding of God’s words, and also related their own experiences while fellowshipping. The more we fellowshipped this way, the more the Holy Spirit worked, and the more enlightened we felt, thus the more understanding of God’s words we had. Furthermore, we had many problems and difficulties solved and found the way of practice. Under God’s guidance, our church life was full of vigor and freshness.”

    Elder Su slapped his thigh and said in excitement, “Wonderful! In such a meeting there’s working of the Holy Spirit and the Lord’s presence. If I can live that kind of church life, it’ll be great!”

    Brother Lin said quickly, “We also want to live that kind of church life. But how? Brother Li, please fellowship with us.”

    Brothers and sisters all said with one voice, “Yes. Brother Li, fellowship with us!”

    Li Guangming said, “Okay. Brothers and sisters, if we want to gain good results from gathering together, we should understand the goals and meaning of it first. In our meetings we read the Lord’s words, pray, sing hymns, praise the Lord, seek and fellowship, etc., in order to obtain more work of the Holy Spirit, to understand and enter into the Lord’s words, to act in accordance with His intention, and to have a way to pursue salvation. After knowing the purpose of living the church life, we should have a burden to cooperate in our life of the church. For example, in meetings when praying, we should consciously quiet our heart before God and pray to the Lord about the content of our meeting with our sincere heart, asking the Holy Spirit to guide us to understand the truth better; when singing hymns to praise God, we should use not only our mouth but also our heart to sing so that our heart can be moved by the Spirit of God; when fellowshipping about God’s words, no matter if our understanding is deep or shallow we should cooperate actively in talking about our understanding so as to get more opportunities for the work of the Holy Spirit; if we have some practical experiences of God’s words, we should communicate them in meetings in order to edify and benefit brothers and sisters and to help them find right ways of practice. So long as we always actually cooperate thus, then our gatherings will be increasingly effective.”

    The brothers and sisers were all listening with relish. The more they listened, the more their eyes shone. Some nodded their heads from time to time; some took notes; some said “Amen!”

What Is True Church Life? | The Church of Almighty God

    Li Guangming continued, “I read these words in a book, ‘Going forward, talking about the word of God is the principle by which you speak. When you come together, you should fellowship about the word of God and use that as your topic; talk about what you know of the word of God, how you put His word into practice, and how the Holy Spirit works. If you fellowship about the word of God, the Holy Spirit will illuminate you. Man too must cooperate if this is to become a world of the word of God. If you do not enter into this, God cannot do His work. If you do not talk about His word, He cannot illuminate you. Whenever you are free, talk about the word of God. Do not talk idly! Let your life be filled with the word of God; then you are a devout believer. Even if your fellowship is superficial, that is all right. Without the superficial, there would be no depth. There is a process that must be undergone. Through your exercise, you gain insight into the illumination of the Holy Spirit upon you, and how to effectively eat and drink of the word of God. After a period of such exploration, you will enter into the reality of the word of God. Only if you have the resolution to cooperate will you receive the work of the Holy Spirit.’ Only in this way will we understand more and more truths in meetings. Then if we put them into practice in our experiences, we’ll have more and more knowledge of God. Consequently, our spiritual life will keep growing. Only such meetings are meaningful and genuine and are after God’s will.”

    After that, brothers and sisters started to discuss. Some said, “Brother Li has fellowshipped about the meaning of gathering together and the way of practice so clearly! True enlightenment from the Holy Spirit!” Some said, “We must read the Lord’s words more, and have real burdens to cooperate actively. Only thus can we have the Holy Spirit’s working.” Some said, “That’s right!”

    Seeing this scene, Li Guangming said excitedly, “Brothers and sisters, if we want to live a good church life, we need to actively cooperate, and offer a part of ourselves in meetings. Then we’ll gain good results from our gatherings.”

    The others all nodded in agreement.

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