Formation d'été (Summer training)

We just finished an awesome week of the summer training on the Minor Prophets in the Old Testament.  When we study the bible, we must keep in mind that Christ is the central thought (Luke 24:27).  Instead of going through these books verse by verse, we focused on the crystals or key points, such as:

1) the divine romance (Hosea 1:2, 2:19-20, Jer. 2:2) - that God's intention in His economy is that He and His chosen people would be a universal couple.  For this, our relationship with the Lord should not be religious, but full of love, personal and affectionate.

2) the divine history within the human history (Joel 1:4, Dan. 2:31-45, Eph. 1:3-6) - that within the outward history in history, there is also a divine history where God has been working behind the scenes to bring forth the new creation, which is to work Christ as newness into man.  In our daily living, we can practically be in this divine history by living according to the spirit, being in the move of God, which is to deify man. 

3) Christ as the greater Jonah (Mat. 12:38-41) - this was the only sign the Lord gave to the generation that they would believe.  When we preach the gospel, we don't need gimmicks, but simply preach Christ's death, burial, and resurrection.

4) the building of the house of Jehovah (Hag. 1:2-5, 7-8) - in the Old Testament, the house of Jehovah, or the temple, was first a type of Christ as the house of God individually, and then a type of the church, the Body, the enlarged Christ as God's house corporately.  This is the central thought of the bible, and the Lord's coming back depends on the building of His dwelling place.  In all that we do, our education, occupation, family life, church life, we should live with the view of God's building, which is the working of Christ into our being (Eph. 2:22).  The brother shared that we will never be satisfied until the Lord within us is satisfied, and the Lord will be satisfied when He is gaining His building.

There were many other points I enjoyed but I don't want to overwhelm you all.

Here's some photos from the past week:

Andrew (left) from North Carolina, and Joe (right) from Irvine on a nice sunny day before the training started.  I got to know these brothers really well this week and we all shared our testimonies of how we came to know the Lord.

Volleyball court just literally a few houses from the brothers' house!

Action shot

Jesus on 3!  One, two, three... JESUS!!

Look who I found at the Summer Training :)

Olie, a brother from the UK at the summer training.  He's only 17 years old and a really good basketball player

Brother Tim (on the left) and his wife were nice enough to treat a bunch of brothers for all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ.

So I'm currently in Montreal until July 15, then we drive to Champaign, Illinois for the Mid-west college training.  I'm really thankful to the Lord for such a great summer filled with new experiences of Him.  Daily, the Lord has been my life supply both vertically and horizontally through the members of His Body.  

Looking forward to being back in Vancouver in August!  I miss you!!