Church Life in the Homes: San Gabriel

 Acts 16:14 - And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple-dyed goods from the city of Thyatira who worshipped God, was listening, whose heart the Lord opened to give heed to the things being spoken by Paul. Dear, saints. For two weeks, a brother and I have been shepherding a new one, who is a client of his. Because of a work related injury, this new one has remained at home for the past 11-12 years. In those years, however, he really learned to love the Lord and enjoy His Word. In his pursuing of the Lord, he says he tried meeting with many different Christians, but everywhere he met, he says, he’s never really felt at home. We came together with this new one two weeks ago to get into the 12 lessons and strengthen his corporate pursuing of the Lord. As we entered into the first lesson, we sensed much resistance from this brother. Early this year, he and his wife, both very devout Christians, attended one of our gospel truth forums and heard a little bit on calling on the Lord. They both felt very uncomfortable with the corporate calling. Having a lot of concepts from his Christian background, he started giving his opinion when we read through the first half of the lesson. My vital companion and I did not argue or debate with him. We just shepherded him and used the rest of our time to open the Word to him, which he really enjoyed. In the end, he said he felt that his spirit was burning! He was also very determined to check out all ~169 verses where the word “calling” is mentioned in the Bible.The following week, my vital companion and I fellowshipped on how to best care for this new one. Because he was not yet convinced of the ministry that opens the Word, we decided to open to every verse as we go through the lesson. We also prayed desperately that the Lord would open his heart to the things spoken in the ministry. Praise the Lord! Our second gathering was so enjoyable! When we got together, our new one said he had read through all the verses in the New Testament concerning calling. Although he still felt reluctant to call, he seemed much more open to our fellowship. We spent most of the time just opening the Word to him, and when our time was finished, we had only read through one page of the first lesson. What a rich ministry full of God’s Word! Through this experience, we realized that to take care of the new ones, we really need to feed them with the guileless milk of the Word. May the Lord continue to open up our brother’s heart and cause him to enjoy calling on the name of the Lord! In another home, two brothers have been shepherding a new one for over a year now. This new one comes from a Catholic family but says he is dissatisfied with the dead meetings and empty rituals. Only reason he still meets in Catholicism, he says, is because of his family and his obligations to the congregation. But week by week, the brothers have been cherishing and nourishing this new one with the Word.Last week was their second week in the training. In their times together, this new one has had periods of feeling up or down. In this last gathering, he was feeling particularly down. This made it difficult for him to receive anything from the lesson, so instead they fellowshipped in the Word.As they were reading the Word, the waitress at the restaurant where they gathered together came up to them and asked what they were reading. The brother answered saying they were reading the recovery version New Testament. The meeting became an opportunity to shepherd this waitress. The brother, together with the new one, began to share the recovery version and the footnotes with her. She seemed very interested in receiving her own copy of the recovery version. She also said she had moved to this area a few months ago and was looking for a place to meet. Both the brother and the new one left that time revived and refreshed. The new one even exclaimed, “That was amazing!” Amen! The new man walks the new way. We must encourage the new ones to come into function that their joy may be made full.