Literature

Now we have the church life. But what is the nature of this life? Where did it come from? How can we maintain it? The church life didn’t originate from us, so we have no way to maintain or upkeep this life.

For those who receive and carry this calling, there is a common condition whose thread can be traced to link the saints not just in the local churches, but also many other brothers and sisters throughout history. In the past 2000 years, many saints were hidden in monasteries, nunneries, or in certain denominations, yet they were not denominational; they were not divisive; they did not identify with those systems.

From where does the church receive power to shine in the dark age? We can say that the world today is suffering more lies, more subtleties, and more evil than in previous ages. What gives God’s people power to shine, what empowers them to rise above the worldly trend unto a minister’s calling?

1 Corinthians 15 shows us Paul’s understanding of the resurrection life: while he was facing those who denied the resurrection — a generation of religious people and worldly philosophers alike — Paul insisted that we be recovered back to the essential experience of the Bible, and that we enter into the reality of the resurrection, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep: Christ.

The Bible gives us a fundamental understanding to enter into the essential experience of our salvation — to come to the “norm” of a believer’s life and develop the full functionality and faculties of a spiritual living. As Christians, our “norm” should be a life in resurrection.

When man fell, the life relationship between God and man was damaged. Through Eve, who was ignorant, naive and independent, the serpent came in between, rooting the nature of sin into our beings. From generation to generation, this sin has been passed on as a curse. How can we escape?

And from there they journeyed to Beer; that is the well where Jehovah said to Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give them water. Then Israel sang this song: Spring up, O well! Sing to it! The well, which the leaders sank, Which the nobles of the people dug, / With the scepter, with their staffs…

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up. That every one who believes into Him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that every one who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life.

In these days of the pandemic, we may feel dry and lifeless. Alone, and without our face-to-face interactions and physical serving, can we still find the living water? Can we still produce the fruit...