It is a joy to be with you here this morning, and to have this opportunity to see your smiling faces in the Lord.
First, I want to thank God and the sisters in Richmond for praying for us. Myself, Brother Kong, Brother Marathon, and Dana were away for two months—April, May, and part of June. We do appreciate your prayers. We sensed the power and the presence of the Lord with us while we were away.
I am sure Brother Kong has reported to you some of the events that took place in Hong Kong, Sydney, Australia, and Singapore. As we were singing “Majesty,” followed by “A Little Bit of Glory,” I was back in Singapore again. We often sang those two choruses together there, and we were able to enter into the spirit of worship.
By way of sharing what is in my heart, recently we were in Toronto. I shared a little there, and when I heard that I would be asked to share with you this morning, I felt impressed to share the same burden.
When we were in Toronto, I was asked to attend a small gathering of college students and post-college graduates. They wanted to come together for fellowship, and they asked what I could contribute to their gathering.
All I mentioned to them was this: do not come merely expecting to receive. When we come to the Lord’s house and come together, we should come with an eagerness to share, not just to receive. In that way, we bring fullness into the house of the Lord.
One young brother from Minneapolis shared something that touched my heart, and I want to convey it to you. He said that the first reason we cannot share is that we really have nothing to share. We are all dried up. There is nothing we can say.
He said, “If we have nothing to say when we are with the Lord’s people, it shows that our life before the Lord is in question.” That is a searching statement, is it not? If there is nothing I can contribute to the Lord’s people in the gathering, then my life before the Lord is in question.
If that is the case, we have to examine ourselves concerning our walk with the Lord. Is it normal, or is something wrong?
The second reason is that we have something to share, but we are afraid to share. That is most often the case with us. We know there is something we have to share, something we must share, but we do not have the courage to get up and share what is in our hearts.
He said that if this is the case, it shows that our self-life is still intact. If there is something we can share, something we know we should share, but we cannot share, the only thing hindering us is the self-life. We are afraid someone will look at us and say, “Oh, he said something not quite correct.” We are concerned about what people will think of us and whether they will criticize us.
So he said, “Self-life intact.” That is the second reason.
The third reason is that we have something to share; we know we must share; and the self has been dealt with. Yet we still do not have the courage to share. Then we do not have confidence in the Lord. It is as though the Lord is not able to get through to us, as though we must do it for Him in our own natural strength. In that way, there is a lack of faith.
Those are the three reasons why most of the saints are afraid to share:
A lack of faith does not honor the Lord. So I share that with you, brothers and sisters. When I was asked to share, I thought about those three reasons. Is there any excuse for me not to share this morning? I have no choice, so I am here.
If I am a fool, I am a fool for the Lord. That should be our attitude.
There is another thing he said: in this matter of sharing, we need some brothers and sisters to push us once in a while. If you know Brother Stephen Kong, the way he deals with some of us is like that. I was pushed by him every time, but it is in love and for my good.
When he pushes me into some responsibility, what can I do? I just have to cast myself upon the Lord’s mercy. You know you cannot do it. You have no strength to do it, and you have no wisdom to do it. Where do you go? You go to the Lord.
Spiritual responsibility is good because it causes us to cast ourselves upon the Lord’s mercy, and then He comes through.
Now, I will simply share what is in my heart. In the Far East, when I share, we often have an interpreter. If I share for twenty minutes, the total time becomes forty minutes. But today we have no interpreter, so it is different.
For the past six months, I have been away from home for about four months. I visited quite a few countries and met with brothers and sisters in various places. One thing has been placed upon my heart: no matter where we meet the Lord’s people, there is the same sense of the urgency of the time. The Lord is coming soon.
What must we do as His people? How can we prepare ourselves for His return?
As I was meditating upon this matter, the thought came to me that when the Lord first came to this earth, there was no welcoming party to receive Him. The angels announced His coming, but on earth there was no welcoming party.
In fact, the Scripture says that He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. He knew that He would be rejected, but He came anyway. That is love. He came knowing that He would be rejected. He came because of His love for the Father and because of His love for you and me.
But His second coming, brothers and sisters, will be different. He will not come until there is a welcoming party ready to receive Him. We see that in the Scripture. Therefore, there has been a delay of over two thousand years, because that welcoming party has not yet been fully formed.
The first time He came as a Lamb to be slain for redemption. But the second time He comes, He will come as a King. The arrival of a king is something to behold.
We know this in this country. When we watch television coverage of a foreign dignitary’s arrival in Washington, D.C., it is quite an event. There are trumpeters, flags, and cannons announcing the arrival of the foreign dignitary.
Brothers and sisters, at the Lord’s second coming, He will not come until there is a welcoming party for Him. Then He will come. I believe the Lord is waiting everywhere on this earth for that welcoming party to be formed.
Let us turn to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 10. We will read from Mark 10:46 to the end, and then continue into Mark 11:1-11.
And they came to Jericho:
and as He was going out from Jericho, with His disciples and a great multitude,
the son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the road.And when he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene,
he began to cry out and say,
“Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me!”And many were sternly telling him to be quiet,
but he kept crying out all the more,
“Thou Son of David, have mercy on me!”And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him here.”
And they called the blind man, saying to him,
“Take courage, arise! He is calling for you.”And casting aside his cloak,
he jumped up and came to Jesus.And answering him, Jesus said,
“What do you want Me to do for you?”
And the blind man said to Him,
“Rabboni, I want to regain my sight!”And Jesus said to him,
“Go thy way; thy faith hath made thee whole.”
And immediately he regained his sight
and began following Him on the road.
And when they drew near unto Jerusalem, unto Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount of Olives,
He sendeth two of His disciples,
and saith unto them,
“Go into the village that is over against you:
and straightway as ye enter into it,
ye shall find a colt tied, whereon no man ever yet sat;
loose him, and bring him.And if any one say unto you, Why do ye this?
say ye, The Lord hath need of him;
and straightway he will send him back hither.”And they went away,
and found a colt tied at the door without in the open street;
and they loose him.And certain of them that stood there said unto them,
“What do ye, loosing the colt?”And they said unto them even as Jesus had said:
and they let them go.And they bring the colt unto Jesus,
and cast on him their garments;
and He sat upon him.And many spread their garments upon the way;
and others branches, which they had cut from the fields.And they that went before,
and they that followed, cried,
“Hosanna;
Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord:
Blessed is the kingdom that cometh,
the kingdom of our father David:
Hosanna in the highest.”And He entered into Jerusalem, into the temple;
and when He had looked round about upon all things,
it being now eventide,
He went out unto Bethany with the twelve.
This entrance into Jerusalem is recorded also in the Gospel of Luke and in the Gospel of Matthew, with slight variations. But the interesting thing about Mark is that chapter 10 ends with this blind man who regained his sight.
The Lord said, “Go thy way,” but Bartimaeus followed the Lord Jesus. The interesting thing is that when he came to the Lord Jesus, he cast aside his cloak, his garment. He jumped up and came to Jesus.
I was looking into some books about this donkey, this colt. A donkey is not a very common animal in this country, but in the eastern part of the world it is a very useful animal—like our tractors here. It does all kinds of work. It is a burden carrier. It helps people go from place to place and carries tremendous loads.
You recall in the Scripture that when Abraham was asked to offer Isaac upon the mountain, he arose early in the morning and saddled the donkey. The donkey was one of the instruments Abraham used in offering Isaac, because the wood and all the things necessary for the offering were carried by that animal up to the mountain.
There is another famous donkey in Scripture: Balaam’s donkey, which spoke. There are other donkeys in Scripture, but I cannot get into them now. The Lord Jesus riding into Jerusalem upon a colt is very significant. Perhaps we will see that later.
There is also this matter of the garment. In Mark 10, the moment the blind man came to Jesus, the first thing he did was throw away his garment.
Brothers and sisters, I want to share a few points this morning concerning how we may prepare ourselves as God’s people so that we may be incorporated into that welcoming party for His return.
The first thing we notice is that He sent two disciples and asked them to do certain things. The Lord often asks us to do strange things, unreasonable things.
He asked them to go to a village and to a certain place where there would be a colt tied. He said, “Untie it and bring it to Me.” This colt belonged to someone, and it was tied to a post. The Lord simply instructed the two disciples, “You go there, untie this colt, and bring it to Me.”
If they had been thinking disciples, I am sure they would have had many questions to ask the Master. “How can we do it? How is it possible that we can go into this village and do just that without getting into trouble?”
But these two disciples never questioned the Lord. They obeyed.
I believe that toward the end of this age, if we are not careful, we will have many, many questions to ask the Lord. And I believe those questions will never be answered. Only through our obedience will we see the answers given.
We want the answers before we go and do the work. But often you go and do the work, and then you find the answer there. I believe this is one thing the Lord’s people must learn in these last days.
F. B. Meyer said that when the Lord gives a command, He never accompanies His commands with reasons, but He always accompanies His commands with promises.
Many of us always want to know why. “Why, Lord, do You ask me to do this?” Brothers and sisters, we often ask that. But the “why” and the “how” are questions arising from our soul-life, because the spirit is always willing to obey, while our natural heart is always questioning the activity of the Spirit.
We have to learn not to listen to the reasoning of our natural life, our soul-life, but simply to rely upon our spirit. When we know what the Lord wants, we simply go ahead, obey, and do it.
Obedience is not easy, because the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. The two are contrary to one another. But thank God, the Lord says, “If anyone asks you, say, ‘The Lord hath need of it.’” The spirit can always answer our soul-life: “The Lord wants me to do it.”
Then our natural life will be silent.
Someone has said that the conflict toward the end of this age will not be merely external. Of course, there will be external conflict, but there will also be something tremendous within. It will be a spiritual conflict, not only without but also within.
To be those who truly love and obey the Lord, we first have to honor the Lord’s word. Those two disciples heard the Lord speak, honored His word, and obeyed.
Brothers and sisters, in these last days we need to listen to the Lord’s word and honor His word through an obedient life.
Thank the Lord, in the places I recently visited with Brother Kong, He is raising up men and women everywhere who are willing to listen to the voice of the Spirit and to obey. Many assemblies have been raised up because a few were willing to take the step of obedience.
This matter of obeying and untying the colt is linked together. Let me give you a practical illustration.
Recently in our area, we have been trying to do some visitation. A brother and I make an effort every Wednesday evening to visit one family per week, if possible. The only time we can get to their homes is around eight o’clock, eight-thirty, or sometimes nine o’clock. We may stay until ten or eleven o’clock, and then we come home.
We find that an obedient life is the way, not only for individual release but also for the release of other brothers and sisters.
In Romans 5, Paul says that through one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, and through one Man’s obedience many were made righteous. I believe this principle applies not only to Christ Himself, but also to our family life and to our children.
There is one case in our fellowship. A sister, while giving birth, suffered serious complications in the hospital. She was infected with an unusual virus, and because of it she was paralyzed from the waist down. She became immobile. They were both young.
The wife knew the Lord, but the husband did not know the Lord. Yet through this tragic experience, the Lord restored her fully to Himself.
Because of her obedience to the Lord, seeking the Lord and coming into the fellowship, she has become such an encouragement to many saints. When she comes into the fellowship, her smile and her presence are an encouragement to all of us.
But because of her obedience, her husband came to know the Lord.
There are many situations in the home where, through the husband’s obedience, the wife comes to know the Lord. Or through the obedience of the wife, the husband is restored to the Lord. Through the obedience of parents, young people are restored to the Lord; and through the obedience of young people, parents are restored to the Lord.
Sometimes the way to restore brothers and sisters is not really by preaching to them. Rather, through your obedience to the Lord, somehow they are restored.
In this incident, through the obedience of the two disciples, the colt that had been tied for some time was released. Then the Lord could sit upon it and enter into Jerusalem. This incident is very interesting because it has to do with entering Jerusalem. I feel it may have something to do with the Lord’s second coming.
The next matter is the garment. This blind man in Mark 10:50 cast aside his cloak, jumped up, and came to Jesus.
We know that our garment represents us. What we wear identifies our profession. In this country, when you go to a hospital, doctors wear their uniforms, nurses have their uniforms, and those who work in the kitchen have uniforms.
Especially in earlier days, your rank in society was identified by what you wore. In the Old Testament, priests had priestly garments, kings had kingly garments, and soldiers had soldiers’ garments. What you wore identified you.
We can never become that welcoming party for the Lord as long as we retain our own individual identity. When He comes, He will come as the King.
Bartimaeus was blind, but he knew that if he wanted to come to the Lord, the first thing he had to do was throw away his cloak, his garment. In other words, he had to give up his own identity.
When I come to Christ, I must give up myself so that He can become my life. I am so happy to know that you will be baptizing three sisters. Three weeks ago, we baptized three in our area—two brothers and one sister.
A brother reminded us long ago, “When you take the step of baptism, do you know that it is the end of you?” One brother who was baptized two weeks ago told us that when he got up at six o’clock in the morning, he rejoiced and said, “Today I know I am going to die.”
He got up early in the morning rejoicing in the fact that he was going to die that day. Now, brothers and sisters, that is strange to the world. If you tell the people of the world, “I am prepared to die,” they think there is something wrong with you.
But for Christians, our dying to the world is a glorious thing. It is a glorious end, and it is also a glorious beginning.
This experience is not just a one-time matter; it is to be carried out through the rest of our lives. The Lord is waiting for His people to give themselves completely over to Him. In other words, we let go of our identity.
This is most important concerning the Lord’s coming, because when He comes, He will come as our Bridegroom. When a bride gets married, she loses her former identity. She becomes Mrs. So-and-so.
When a young man says, “I do,” he loses his identity. When she says, “I do,” she also loses her identity. They become one in Christ.
My daughter was going to get married in April, and there was a delay. The bridegroom was there, the bride was there, and the families were there, but the priest was not there.
Through that experience, I learned one thing: the Lord on the cross has said, “I do,” and He is waiting for the bride to say, “I do.” The reason we cannot say, “I do,” is that we still want to retain our identity. We are not willing to give ourselves up.
The most important thing is that we throw away this cloak and come to Him. They threw their garments on the ground and on the road for the Lord to enter Jerusalem. If the Lord is to come again, He must have a people willing to lay aside themselves and give up their identity altogether.
Now, this matter of branches: besides garments, they also spread branches.
Joseph was called the fruitful branch in Genesis 49. The Lord Jesus, in the prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah, is called the righteous Branch. This morning we read in Revelation that He is not only the Lion of the tribe of Judah; He is also the Root of David. He is the Root, and He is also the Branch.
In John 15, we are told that we are the branches and He is the vine. We are branches from that true olive tree. We have been grafted into the true vine.
They not only threw their garments, but they also cut branches from the fields and laid them on the ground. The field in Scripture speaks of the world.
In many fellowships that I have visited, brothers and sisters are still attached to something of the world. Those who serve the Lord may serve Him with eighty percent of their heart, while twenty percent is still very much for themselves.
Therefore, many gatherings cannot truly be revived and cannot serve the Lord with such life, strength, and power, because there is dividedness—a divided heart.
A divided heart is an unbroken heart. A broken heart is a whole heart. That may sound strange, but it is true in Scripture. When our heart is broken, our heart becomes whole—wholehearted toward the Lord. If our heart is not broken, we are not wholehearted toward the Lord.
When the Lord comes, He will find those who are willing to cut themselves off from every attachment to this world. They cut off the branches and lay them at the Lord’s feet.
We know that we have been grafted into the true vine, but in our experience many times we still feel the gravitational pull of the world. We have not been completely delivered from it.
Therefore, we have to keep reminding ourselves and reminding one another that we do not belong to this world. We have been cut off positionally; therefore, we must enter experimentally into this cutting off and lay our branches at the feet of Jesus.
Obedience to God’s word takes three ways, and this is illustrated in the blind man. First, he took off his cloak. Then he jumped up.
Jumping up is a manifestation of strength and life. When a baby is jumping all over the place, we say, “What a lively person.” But one who is always sitting or lying down seems like a lifeless person.
The only way to be delivered from weakness in our love and service to the Lord is to throw away our garment. The moment this blind man threw aside his cloak, he was able to jump up. When he jumped up, he knew where to go: he came to the Lord Jesus.
The interesting thing is that after he regained his sight, the Lord said, “Go thy way.” The Lord never wants to coerce us to love Him. He is very generous. Love is voluntary. Love must come from the heart. You cannot force love; love has to come from within.
The Lord does not want us to follow Him merely out of obligation. He wants us to love Him, serve Him, and welcome Him back because we love Him intensely.
The Lord still says to us in these last days, “You may go your way.” He blesses us and shows His love upon us, but if someone wants to go his own way, he may do so.
In many places, brothers and sisters who have experienced the Lord’s love, His blessing, and the drawing of fellowship still go their own way. They come to the fellowship merely for self-experience. They still live their own lives and take advantage of what is available, but then they go their own way.
The Lord says, “I do not mind. I am full of grace and truth. You may come and enjoy Me.” But this man, once he had met the Lord Jesus, could never go back to Jericho again. The Scripture says that immediately after he regained his sight, he began to follow Him.
To follow the Lord, we have to hear His voice. When we hear the word, our next response must be that we are willing to throw away our garment. We must be willing to be cut down as branches and laid at His feet.
These are among the most difficult things for a Christian to do—not only in relation to the things of the world, but even in relation to Christian things.
There are temptations in the world, but there are also temptations in Christianity. There are places where those who serve God are serving a work rather than the Lord Himself.
For many of them, it is very difficult to give up what they have been doing. Because of that, the Lord’s work cannot go on and the testimony cannot be established, because the work has become more important than the Lord Himself.
I say that because I have witnessed it in some places. In other groups, the gifts have become more important than the Lord Himself. Honestly, the Lord must come first. We have to let go of all these other things.
The things of the world can be our garment. Even Christian things can become our garment.
We need to help one another through obedience to untie one another. We need to help one another remove our garments so that, through obedience, we may become like those cut-down branches laid at the feet of the Lord Jesus.
Then He can take them up and graft them into Himself, so that they become fruitful branches and give Him praise and glory.
I want to share for a few minutes some things that Brother Kong may not have shared with you about this trip, simply to share with you the goodness of the Lord and how the Lord came through in spite of our unbelief, our unwillingness to follow, and our physical weariness.
To be away for two months, living out of suitcases, staying in each place for two weeks, uprooting and going to another place for two weeks, and then another place for two weeks, is not easy.
To live with someone for a few days is pleasant, but to live with someone for two months is a different story. But I thank the Lord for their love and patience. They put up with me, and we prayed together every morning.
In Singapore, I was given the assignment to take care of the morning devotions for six days and also to do translation for Brother Kong. In Sydney, I also translated for him a few times.
The important thing is how the Lord came through.
When Brother Kong sent me his materials, he said, “I am going to speak on the mystery of Christ, and I want you to be alert to a few things.” He asked me to look over his notes.
I was privileged to look into some of Brother Kong’s notes. His handwriting is very fine, because he writes on his knees, and it is hard to decipher. Sometimes it took me a long time just to read one page and see what he had to say.
But when we arrived in Singapore, he changed his approach altogether. So all that preparation did not do very much good.
He said, “I think we have to be very real, very practical. We have to bring the Lord right here to the people.”
Those who heard him know that he was going to speak on the mystery of Christ: the mystery of Christ in eternity past, the mystery of Christ in His earthly life, the mystery of Christ in His public ministry, and the mystery of Christ in His second coming.
We had no idea that some young people in Singapore had been enticed into a different teaching altogether, a teaching that questioned the deity of Christ. We had no idea.
Somehow the Lord led Brother Kong to speak on the mystery of Christ from eternity to eternity—how He is God Himself, self-existent, the eternal One, and the expression of God.
After the conference was over, we discovered that there were those in the meetings who had been influenced by this teaching. Brother Kong had no idea what was happening in Singapore, yet the Lord led him to speak exactly what was needed. The message was so timely.
Thank God for the elders and for the workers there, because both had encountered people influenced by this teaching. We felt that the Lord was really in it.
Singapore was very hard—very, very hard. We stayed some distance away and rushed into the meeting place. We had morning watch around seven o’clock, ministry fellowship, lunch, an afternoon ministry session, and an evening ministry session. We usually did not get back to where we were staying until ten-thirty or eleven o’clock. It was hard to get up in the morning and be ready for morning watch.
But the important thing is how the Lord came through. At first I was able to be on time. The second day was fine, but as the week went by, we became physically weary. By the last day, we were especially tired.
The evening before the final day, we had fellowship with someone and stayed up very late. The next morning, the alarm did not go off. We had only about five or eight minutes to get ready and go to the morning watch.
On the way to the meeting place, I cried to the Lord, because it was the concluding day of the conference and I was to conclude the morning watch. Brothers and sisters, one thing I have experienced is that the Lord is very sympathetic to our physical limitations.
Somehow, He came through. That is the glory: to know that no matter what we are, as long as we give ourselves one hundred percent to the Lord, He takes full responsibility.
When I was in Hong Kong, I shared some experiences from those two months. A brother made this comment: “I think the two months you spent away from home were better than going to Bible school or seminary for twelve years.” I said, “I agree.”
We prayed together, and I learned to love our brothers more than ever and to experience the Lord’s faithfulness.
In the countries we visited, the Lord is doing a work. Those brothers and sisters need our prayers.
I know that here in Richmond you have corporate prayer. You pray not only for local matters, but also for God’s work everywhere. Especially in some of these countries, the Lord needs to gather His people together as a testimony.
God has people everywhere, but they are scattered. They are not together. In Pakistan, the need is for the Lord to bring all those hearts together and lead them into a testimony.
Individually, they all have a vision, but somehow it is very difficult for them to come together. Please pray that the Lord will bring all these people together.
The reason I share this is that many of them still retain their own garments. That is why they cannot come together. Many of them want to be responsible in the things of the Lord, but they are not willing to become branches truly cut down and laid at His feet.
Many have heard the word of the Lord, but they are not prepared to obey and follow Him utterly. That is the problem. Until the Lord can gain such a people, it will be very difficult for Him to return. It will be very difficult for that welcoming party to be fully formed.
The Lord Jesus on the cross has already said, “I do.” His longing is to be one with His bride. The problem is that we are still hesitant. We are still not ready to say, “I do,” to Him—to be one with Him in all that He wants.
Lastly, I want to share something that may interest you. I really appreciate the saints in Richmond for the responsibility you have been assuming year after year for the conference.
You may not know some of the impact this conference has had upon people. Because I have been in contact with some of them, I hear reports from time to time.
Last week I received a call from someone in Minnesota. Three families came to the Richmond Conference this past time, and the Lord really touched their hearts. After they got back to Minneapolis, those three families began to meet together for prayer and fellowship.
I said, “I will share this with the saints in Richmond, and you remember those three families in Minneapolis in prayer, that the Lord may begin a new work.”
They all attend a Chinese gathering, but whenever they came to Richmond, the pastor was not very pleased. When they returned, more pressure was put on them. The leaders were afraid to entrust them with spiritual responsibility, fearing that they might influence others to go their way.
This brother told me, “I think I am coming to the end of this relationship with this organized group. I believe the Lord is doing something new with all of us.” I said, “I will share this with the saints in Richmond, and they will continue to pray for people like that.”
They really want to stand for the Lord, but they need the prayers of the saints. They need to be encouraged so that they can stand together.
Regarding this past conference, I do not know how you felt, but I have been to many conferences through the years, and this year there was something different. We felt that it was not quite what it had been before.
When we returned home, we tried to rehearse what we had heard and received from the Lord. The first time we shared the things we learned from the conference, there was not enough time. More people still wanted to share. So the next Lord’s Day, and the Lord’s Day after that, we devoted at least three or four Lord’s Days simply to sharing with one another and reminding one another what we had heard at the conference.
In fact, they are going to do this again next week. This is the first time we felt that the Lord made such an impact.
In the past, I used to say that we had a nice meal, but we forgot what we had eaten. We knew we had a nice meal, but we forgot what was on the table. But this time, when we returned, we remembered what was on the table. We had to share what we ate.
I think the Lord has done something. Maybe we were not ready before, but we sense a new thing in many hearts.
One more thing: in our area, the Lord has begun to do a new work. We have had a group meeting in my home for about twelve or thirteen years, with some visitors coming and going. But in our vicinity there is a Chinese Bible study group. They love the Lord, and many of them have been saved through the years.
Now we are coming into a oneness of life and vision. There is a real commitment between our group and the other group. We feel that the Lord wants something, a testimony. We are in the midst of looking for a place to meet.
That is an example. To be one, we have to let go of our own identity. The Chinese group must let go of its Chinese identity. Our group must let go of its own identity. If we are to be one, we must eventually be cut down.
I believe the Lord is doing a new thing. He is bringing us together, not merely in vision and heart, but truly to become a body through which He can express Himself.
The Lord is doing a work there. It is hard and it is slow, but we thank the Lord for all the years that you brothers and sisters have stood with us and prayed with us.
Lastly, brothers and sisters, consider Mark 11:11.
You notice that Mark 11:9-10 contains that welcoming song:
Hosanna;
Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord:
Blessed is the kingdom that cometh,
the kingdom of our father David:
Hosanna in the highest.
Then Mark 11:11 says:
And He entered into Jerusalem, into the temple;
and when He had looked round about upon all things,
it being now eventide,
He went out unto Bethany with the twelve.
He went into the temple, looked around, and left.
The Lord’s intention was never merely to go into Jerusalem, enter the temple, look around, and leave. His intention was to enter His temple and remain there. But He left because the people were not ready for Him.
Later He entered the temple and cleansed it, because the temple is His house. He is the Son over the house.
The Lord comes many times to our gatherings, but He cannot stay; He leaves again. He comes again, and He goes again. He comes again, and He goes again.
But He is waiting to come and find a place where He is welcome, where He can remain with us. That is what He is looking for.
Why did He leave? Because the people were not ready for Him. May we be a people—not only here in Richmond but elsewhere—among whom, when the Lord comes, He can say, “Oh, it is so comfortable here. I will just stay here.”
That would be our joy. I pray and hope that wherever we find ourselves, it will be a place where His comfort comes first, not ours.
Oh, Father, we do thank You for this time in which we can encourage one another’s hearts. Again, we have to plead Your mercy.
Lord, we thank You for what You are doing, what You desire to do, and what You desire to accomplish. May we be the people through whom the work You are doing may be fully realized.
We thank You for the saints here in Richmond, for all the years they have stood for Your interests and for Your testimony. We pray that You will continue to bless.
Lord, we pray that this place may be Your place. We know that You can make Yourself at home here. Lord, may You be here from now until eternity.
We thank You that the temple is Yours. We are Yours. The house is Yours. We belong to You. Lord, we desire to give You Your place among Your people.
We pray that You will not allow us to forget the other saints throughout the world and their need to be a prepared people for You to come and take Your residence among them.
We commit one another into Your hands. We thank You for the testimony of the three sisters who desire to enter into this commitment in You and to take this step of baptism. We pray that You will bless that time.
Lord, not only for them, but also for us, remind us that we no longer belong to the world. We are those branches that have been cut down to be grafted into Christ. Our garments, Lord, must be removed. We must lay our garments at Your feet.
Lord, we thank You that through burial, through death with You, and through resurrection, we lose our identity. We belong to You, and You become all in all in us.
We give You praise. We give You thanks for this opportunity that we can be together and that we can praise and worship the Lord Jesus.
Amen.