This issue of The Ministry contains a complete record of the twelve messages given during the 2006 summer training on the Crystallization-study of the Body of Christ, held July 3 to 8 in Anaheim, California. The crucial truth and burden embodied in these twelve messages may be summarized in four statements: (1) The divine economy is God's plan to dispense Christ into His chosen people to produce, constitute, and build up the organic Body of Christ. (2) The unique oneness of the Body of Christ is the oneness of the Spirit--the mingling of the processed Triune God with all the believers in Christ. (3) The overcomers see the Body, know the Body, care for the Body, honor the Body, do the work of the Body, and keep every principle of the Body. (4) The overcomers live out and work out the New Jerusalem by the mingling of God with man for the oneness of the Body of Christ. These messages are being published immediately following the training in order that they may benefit the saints participating in many video trainings that are held throughout the earth. The Announcements section includes fellowship concerning the use of the Bower House property in London, UK.

This issue of The Ministry of the Word contains the first nine messages given during the spring 2002 term of the full-time training in Anaheim, California. The general subject of this series of messages is “Christ and the Church in the Psalms.” Christ is revealed and typified in the Psalms, and the church also is typified in the Psalms—as the house of God for God’s dwelling and as the city of God for God’s kingdom. The main line in the Psalms concerns God’s economy as it relates to the all-inclusive Christ and the church as the expression of Christ, the counterpart of Christ, the complement of Christ, the bride of Christ, and the Body of Christ. These messages focus in sequence on the particular psalms that refer to the central line of God’s economy concerning Christ and the church. Christ is the center, circumference, hub, rim, substance, and content of the Bible as a whole and in the book of Psalms in particular. Christ is the centrality and universality of the Psalms. Those who study the Psalms should have a spirit of seeking the Lord, of wanting Him, thirsting for Him, pursuing Him, desiring Him, asking for Him, and inquiring regarding Him. Furthermore, this Christ is found in God’s dwelling place. To know Christ in a full way, we must know Him in the house of God, which is the church as God’s dwelling place, and in the city of God, which is the church as God’s kingdom. The church is the enlargement, expansion, reproduction, surplus, fullness, and expression of Christ for His glory. Eventually, the church consummates in the New Jerusalem, which also is Christ. The enlargement of His house to become the city, the kingdom in reality, provides the Lord the ground to return and reclaim the earth from the usurping hand of Satan. The progression of the revelation through the books of the Psalms is summed up in four words—Christ, house, city, and earth. Our goal in studying the Psalms should be to experience Christ for the building up of the church as the house and the city so that the Lord will have a beachhead in order to come back and reclaim the earth. According to God’s view, having a group of people who exalt Christ and become the church as the house and the city will provide Him a way to repossess the entire earth. Therefore, the deepest burden of this study of the Psalms is the fulfillment of the first and last verses of Psalm 8: “O Jehovah our Lord, / How excellent is Your name / In all the earth!” The Announcements section of this issue contains a list of upcoming conferences and trainings hosted by Living Stream Ministry and a website link for information related to similar events in Europe.

The greatest crisis is being separated from Christ. In the constant swirl of human suffering, the church has long wrestled with appropriate responses. As crises come and go, the need for the church’s theological, missiological, and practical readiness remains, so that people not only survive but thrive in the context of a crisis. Practicing Hope brings together global scholars and practitioners who share and think broadly about the church’s mission in a world rife with crises. Rather than harmonizing the voices of the contributors to provide general guidelines for generic crisis response, Practicing Hope allows the reader to hear multiple perspectives on complex issues such as sustainability, empowerment, human rights, biblical principles, and missio Dei (mission of God). These essays highlight that being separated from Christ is the focus that will keep the church from losing its raison d’être—its reason for being. This book provides a potent reminder that crises are not the end; sometimes they are the beginning of something better. In these chapters, you will fi nd stories of hope amid unimaginable darkness. Practicing Hope describes what it really means (not just in theory, but in practice) to be the salt of the earth and light of the world (Matt 5:14–15). We hope that you will be inspired, as Jesus said in the parable of the Good Samaritan, to “go and do likewise.”

Many people begin a new year with a commitment to read the Bible through in 365 days. These intentions are good, but the reading plan they choose may not be the most effective one for reaching the goal. Every Day with Jesus Daily Bible manages to overcome many difficulties of reading the Bible straight through in a year. From day one, the plan provides rich variety in the readings. Each day includes a selection from: • The Old Testament • The New Testament • Psalms • Proverbs There's also a devotion from beloved pastor Selwyn Hughes that is linked to one of the four readings for the day. Those who follow this plan will read the entire Bible in a year. Reading the four different Scripture portions each day has the benefit of introducing many readers to passages they have never explored. And this is done in a context where encountering the four different Scripture selections together at the same time will yield new insights into God’s Word.

Be Encouraged, Empowered and Elevated by my dailey HerGodHisHealing Life Journal experience's. "The 40 year wilderness journey and lessons."

This practical book by pastor and writer Henry G. Brinton studies the biblical basis for Christian hospitality and how it is practiced in congregations today.

Thomas Chalmers, in his classic sermon entited, “The Expulsive Power of a New Affection,” correctly ascribes subjective power to subjective affections, for love does have an expulsive power, whether one loves God to the despising of self, or loves self to the despising of God. But he incorrectly sides with objective justification, full pardon and gracious acceptance as the power that creates love and the engine that empowers sanctification. He is right to suggest that a new affection has expulsive power, but wrong to suggest that the source and power of a new affection is primarily in the indicative benefits. Jonathan Edwards, on the other hand, sided with regeneration for the obvious reason that without a new nature, the natural man can only be constrained by outside considerations (the indicatives) to superficially walk in newness of life (the imperatives). Such considerations mght produce change that rises as high as the outward performance of the Legalist, but it is still only the superficial height that self-love alone can achieve. The Spirit’s work of illuminating the higher glory and beauty of Christ to the soul is the only source of an affection that can be called new. If the expulsive power of a new affection does not dethrone self as one’s primary concern in life and theology, then what exactly is being expulsed by the power of the gospel? If one’s religion does not surpass one’s primary concern for what’s in it for oneself, then one’s self-love may have an expulsive power, but it will be the light of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus that is expulsed by the power of self-love. The irony of the cross was that Christ was crucified by those who already had a knowledge of God’s steadfast love and rejoiced in spiritual priviledges. The proper force and source behind the believer’s love for God is not found in the objective benefits as they reflect upon the believer’s high privileges, but God’s power alone as it is exerted in the soul by the Spirit imparting a new heart, new affections and a new principle of action that did not exist prior. Good fruit is produced only by a good tree, and however constrained by outside forces, a bad tree cannot be manipulated to produce fruit contrary to its nature.

In The View From Down in Poordom, Paul McKay challenges the notion that through hard work and effort, anyone can overcome the modern-day challenges of poverty, a view that leads to stereotyping and scapegoating the poor. In sharing poignant stories about poor people hes known in the U.S. and third-world Belize, and by sharing his passionate opinions in an even-handed, non-threatening way, he offers a scripture-based vision of how we can know God by knowing the poor. Susanne Johnson, Ph.D. Perkins School of Theology Paul McKay reminds us that, if we pay attention to life down in Poordom, we will discover responsibilities we too often evade and truths about the layered experience of poverty that we often studiously ignore. But we will also discover unexpected treasures: the gift of friendship, wisdom that cannot be purchased, and the face of God. Frederick W. Schmidt, Rueben P. Job Chair in Spiritual Formation, Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary and author of The Dave Test: A Raw Look at Real Faith in Hard Times

This book is about Jesus’s wonderful Everlasting Gospel (Revelation 14:6,7) Rescue mission to save mankind, not in their sins but “from their sins” (Mat. 1:21). Jesus will soon be returning to take his children home. There are preparations we can make. The book you are holding is a story about fighting the good fight of faith and conquering it with Jesus’s help. God’s Word says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). The Bible also says, “The truth shall make you free . . . ye shall be free indeed” (John 8:32,36). Author Rick Streight speaks heart-to-heart with the reader about the realities of the Christian journey and the reward that is waiting for us. He also speaks about the dangers that surround us, the temptations we often struggle with, and how to overcome sin through Christ. He asks a major question: “Why hasn’t Jesus come yet?” This book answers that important question. Are you spiritually homesick? God has made a plan that we may have “boldness in the day of judgment” (1 John 4:17). Jesus depended totally on his Father for wisdom and power. If we depend on Jesus, we can receive that same power to live the Christian life maturely with no shortcuts—that’s God’s way! This book also provides answers as to how we can hasten Jesus’s Second Coming. May we all: “prepare to meet thy God.” (Amos 4 vs. 12) through in-depth study of his Word with much prayer. Ask God, “How do I apply these things I am learning to my life?”