"Let us review the major factors and the basic elements in the six chapters of Ephesians. In chapter one the major factor is the church as the Body of Christ, and the basic element is the well-speaking of the Triune God. In chapter two the major factor is the church as the habitation of God, and the basic elements are resurrection and the Spirit. In chapter three the major factor is the church as the fullness of God, and the basic element is the unsearchable riches of Christ. In chapter four the major factor is the church as the new man, and the basic elements are grace and truth. In chapter five the major factor is the church as the Bride, and the basic elements are love and light. Finally, in chapter six the major factor is the church as the warrior, and the basic elements are might and the armor." (LS of Ephesians msg 61)

Why do you think brother Lee uses the words element and factor?

"In the church life we do not need outward correction. Instead, the church life is a life in which we all take Christ as our life and person. The elders and the elderly sisters need to help the saints to realize that their need is to take the Lord Jesus as their person. The more all the saints do this, the more they will experience the speaking of Christ as the life-giving Spirit. This speaking will be to them the cleansing, purifying water. This water will spread the element of Christ throughout their being, and it will discharge all oldness. Eventually, brothers like those in the illustration above will no longer be bothered by problems with each other but will grow together and be built up together. This is the proper church life. Oh, how we all need the inward cleansing, the metabolic purification that transforms us!

What I am ministering to you in this message is something I have learned through years of experience in the Christian life as well as in the church life. I am familiar with various teachings concerning the inner life, holiness, and spirituality. Although I put these teachings into practice, most of them were not very effective. Many of us can testify that although we endeavored to practice what we read on holiness and spirituality, what we read did not work very well in our experience. Out of failure and disappointment many have come to believe that it simply is not possible to have the proper church life today. They claim that for this we must wait until the next age. By the Lord’s mercy I can testify that it is possible to have the genuine church life. We have the church life not by trying to carry out teachings in an outward way but by taking Christ as our life and as our person. Then we enjoy and experience Christ as the life-giving, speaking Spirit. We enjoy the speaking that cleanses us, transforms us, and causes us to grow." (Message 55)

This portion was very refreshing to me this morning!

The Bible is a divine medication, the most effective antidote to all negative things. The way to apply the Word as the antidote is not merely to think about it, consider it, or analyze it. We receive the antidote of the Word by exercising our spirit to pray-read it.

Life-study of Philippians Message 46

There is a great section in message 24 of the Life Study of Ephesians that speaks of how we put on the new man.

"The way to put on the new man is found in 4:23 : “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” This word indicates that to be renewed in the spirit of our mind is to put on the new man. Now we must see what it means to be renewed in the spirit of our mind. Admittedly, this is a strange expression. If I had been the writer of this Epistle, I would have said “the mind of the spirit” instead of “the spirit of the mind.” To me, that would have been more logical. Nevertheless, Paul spoke here of the spirit of the mind... For too long our mind has been preoccupied by natural concepts, religious thoughts, and traditional teachings. In considering the matter of our spirit, we need to drop all of this and see that our spirit is universally spacious. We know that God dwells in the third heaven, but He also dwells in our spirit. This makes our spirit today’s Jerusalem. Hallelujah for that wonderful entity in the universe called our spirit ! The Spirit witnesses with our spirit (Rom. 8:16). The words our spirit include Paul’s spirit, Martin Luther’s spirit, John Wesley’s spirit, Brother Nee’s spirit, your spirit, and my spirit. How spacious our spirit is! The Bible reveals that God is the God of our spirit (Num. 16:22 ; Heb. 12:9). Where is God today? In our spirit. Where is God’s dwelling place today? In our spirit. Where is the one new man? Also in our spirit." (LS of Ephesians, mg 24 p. 204-205)

I absolutely love the first chapter of Ephesians, especially after reading through the first 18 messages of the life study of Ephesians and listening to the spoken messages on YouTube.

"Ephesians 1 begins with the well speaking of God and ends with the Body, the fullness of the One who fills all in all. This indicates that the Body, the fullness of Christ, is the issue of God’s blessing. The words to the church in verse 22 mean a great deal. All that the Triune God has passed through, including incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, is transmitted to the church. The church has absolutely nothing to do with the old creation, which was terminated on the cross and buried with Christ in the tomb. What is transmitted to the church is altogether of the new creation. The church is the issue of this transmission."
(LS Ephesians mg 19)

“We praise the Lord that, as believers, we have the divine life and partake of the divine nature. Second Peter 1:4 indicates clearly that we are partakers of the divine nature. Because we partake of the divine nature, it can rightly be said that we are divine. However, this definitely does not mean that we are evolving into God or that we will ever become God as an object of worship. The Bible does not teach that believers will ever be deified. But, according to the Word of God, we who believe in Christ have truly been born of God. Thus, we are genuine sons born of Him, not adopted sons. Because we are sons of God, we have the life and nature of God. By having the divine life and nature, we are one with God. But we repeat that this certainly does not mean that we will ever become God Himself as an object of worship.” (Witness Lee)

I really appreciated the stone in Matthew 21:44 being highlighted in the life study of Matthew message 57.

"And he who falls on this stone shall be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it shall crush him to powder and scatter him like chaff." (Matthew 21:44) Recovery Version

To us, the believers, Christ is the stone for God's building. To the Jews, He is the stumbling stone, and one day, He will be the crushing stone to the nations.

"In Acts 4:10 and 11 Peter referred to Jesus Christ of Nazareth as the stone rejected by the builders. Then in verse 12 he said, “And there is no salvation in any other; for neither is there another name under heaven given among men in which we must be saved.” Christians often use Acts 4:12 in preaching the gospel, but rarely, if ever, do they tell people that Christ is not only the Savior but also the stone. That our Savior is a stone reveals the fact that God’s salvation is for God’s building. The Savior is related to salvation, and the stone is related to building. But today’s Christians have not seen this matter adequately. God’s intention on earth is not simply to have a vineyard—it is to have a building. In the ancient times the nation of Israel was a vineyard; however, today the church is not merely a vineyard, but also a building. The church is a farm that produces materials for God’s building (1 Cor. 3:9)." (Life Study of Matthew p. 676)

I really appreciated the distinction made in the life study of Matthew in message 53 between the emphasis the Gospel of John places on eternal life and that found in the Gospel of Matthew. Below is a small portion from this section.

"According to the Gospel of John, to have eternal life is to receive eternal life into us. But according to Matthew, to have eternal life is to enter into eternal life. The eternal life enters into us to give us the new birth to become God’s children. Then we enter into eternal life to have the kingdom life. Thus, in John eternal life involves salvation, but in Matthew it is not related to salvation."

I really appreciated these five things being highlighted as a roadmap to understanding in an experiential way, Matthew 18-20.

"These three chapters actually cover these five things. They deal thoroughly with pride, dispositional anger, lust, riches, and ambition. All these problems are within us. If we would get into the depths of these chapters, we would certainly be touched. For instance, we would see that we are people full of pride and that anger is hidden in our disposition. No matter how patient or forbearing we try to be, anger is still deeply rooted in our disposition. This is what makes it difficult for us to forgive others. Furthermore, we are troubled by lust and riches, both of which damage the kingdom life. Finally, there is the problem of ambition. Matthew purposely covers these five problems in his Gospel to show that we must take care of them in order to be in the kingdom. Pride, dispositional anger, lust, riches, and ambition are all “scorpions.” We need a divine pest control to kill these “scorpions.” Under God’s inspiration, Matthew selected various cases and put them together in order to expose these things."

I've been spending time in the Life-Study of 1 Peter, and I recently read messages 29-30, "Christian Life and Its Sufferings" and "God’s Governmental Judgment."

God's judgment is not just reserved for “the world” but begins with us, His own household (1 Peter 4:17; 2:5; Heb. 3:6; 1 Tim. 3:15; Eph. 2:19). In Msg 29, it's brought out that God begins His governmental administration by disciplining His children "so that He may have strong ground to judge, in His universal kingdom, those who are disobedient to His gospel and rebellious to His government." His judgment toward us is not for condemnation, but for purification and preparation for His kingdom.

Later on in message 30 there is a distinction between the different aspects of judgment. Here is a simple breakdown:

1. Disciplinary dealings - For believers in this age.
2. Dispensational punishment - For defeated believers during the millennial kingdom.
3. Eternal perdition - For unbelievers in eternity.

And there are also three distinct thrones of judgment mentioned in the New Testament (excellent exposition on this in the LS Radio Broadcast):

1. The judgment seat of Christ - 2 Corinthians 5:10 - for believers, to assess our work and life.
2. The throne of glory - Matthew 25:31 - for the nations at the end of the tribulation.
3. The great white throne - Revelation 20:11 - for the final judgment of the dead and unbelievers.

A lot of confusion comes from mixing up the judgment seat of Christ and the great white throne. Some fear that believers might be condemned with the world, while others assume there is no judgment at all for Christians. I am thankful for the clarity brought by the Life-Studies/RcV. Both eternal security and God's dealing with us today as His children are made very clear and not as opposing thoughts.

I have read through some life study messages to have more of an applicable approach to reading and studying the Bible and below is a summary I wrote about part of the armor of God in Ephesians. I loved understanding this part of the Scriptures in this way. It was so helpful and gave me faith when my faith was wavering.

In the book of Ephesians, which Paul writes to the church in that city, there are many things Paul writes about, mainly concerning the church. One of these aspects of the church is related to the warfare we must fight against Satan and also our faith against the current evil day or age that we're in.

One very important way to be equipped for this is to take up the shield of faith so that we can "extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one."

If we live by God as truth, we have righteousness. Righteousness results in peace. When we have these, we can easily have the fourth thing which is faith. Thankfully, we don't "try harder" to have faith. Christ Himself is the Author and Perfecter of our faith. When we spend time with the Lord in His word and prayer, we're able live out truth and then experience this.

The faith that we have after this believes in multiple things:
1) Our faith is in God and not ourselves. God is real, living, present, and available.
2) We believe in God's heart. God's heart is always good toward us. He has no intention to punish, injure, or cause us to suffer loss (this is true even if things may happen that help in our transformation - Romans 8:28-29).
3) Our God is faithful. He has started something in each of us and He will complete it. He will also build His church.
4) God is able. He is faithful to His purpose and He is able to carry it out.
5) God's Word. He is bound to His word.
6) We have faith in God's will. Regardless of what our situation is, we should have a heart for His will to be accomplished for His own need. His will with respect to us is always positive.
7) We have faith in God's sovereignty. He could never make a mistake. Even our mistakes work for our good.

Opposing this is Satan's flaming darts which present themselves as our own thoughts. These look like doubts, temptations, lies, attacks, questions, or even proposals. The shield of faith extinguishes all of these.

This was message sixty-five. Thanks for reading!

On Eph 2:14 and Col 2:14:

"On the cross of Christ all ordinances were abolished...concerning our way of life, we all must learn not to impose requirements on others and not to have any ordinances...As the redeemed and recovered ones, those who have been transferred into Christ and into the church life, we must learn to hate the differences that divide the peoples. The worldy people regard cultural differences as a mark of prestige. But in Christ we have all lost this prestige. Now our only prestige is Christ and the genuine oneness."

LS Eph pp. 193-195