sharing from the winter school of truth – the Bible is God’s personal letter to us!

To be honest, the Winter School of Truth is a very crucial time in which we all can come back to the Lord in His Word and enjoy Him, be constituted with Him, and even renew our consecration to Him. Every year we can just stop from any of the outward doings, any activities, and any other things – and just enjoy the Lord! There are so many precious testimonies of the young ones after the winter school – below is brother Joseph’s testimony and then sister Ayo’s testimony – short sharings from their enjoyment of the past winter school of the truth.

~~~~~~~~~~~~ brother Joseph’s testimony ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Bible – A personal letter from God to his children. The Subject of the Winter school of Truth this year was the Bible, and what I enjoyed was that the Bible was a physical expression of God. God the Spirit is expressed through the Bible as His embodiment. God the Spirit resides in His Word and if we do not read it we cannot touch God, since the Bible is the dwelling place of God.

It is also very important to see that we need to have the Spirit within and the Bible without – if we only have the Spirit within we would easily commit errors, and if we have only the Bible without we would be lifeless. We can be likened to as a train – without the fuel the train cannot move, but without the tracks the train cannot run; therefore the train must have an inner aspect(the fuel) and an outer aspect(the tracks). In Conclusion we must have both the Spirit within as the fuel energising us and the Bible as a track keeping us moving in the right direction.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ sister Ayo’s testimony ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I really enjoyed 2 Timothy 3:15-17 … Before this past Winter School of Truth I didn’t take the Bible seriously and I hardly read it. But now I know that the Bible is GOD’S BREATH! It is His personal letter to us – so to know God you really need to know the Bible! Actually, knowing the Word of God will benefit us both spiritually and in our everyday life … Jesus knew the Word and He overcame Satan at the time of temptation… “A verse a day keeps the devil away“…. If we know the word of God we can defeat the enemy because he would never be able to make us doubt God…. Oh the Bible is sooo wonderful! That is why many people have sacrificed even their life for it… Oh and lastly – the Bible is the only book that can change you inwardly – try it and see!
Lord help us to know and enjoy your Word… keep us in You, Lord… And when we know this word help us to speak it out to our friends and family!!! Lord, we love You! 🙂

from the 2010 Winter School of Truth – our God is Triune to dispense Himself into us!

In the Winter School of Truth there are all kinds of ages and all kinds of people – all of whom are seekers of the Lord, lovers of His Word, and those who want to be constituted with His Speaking more and more. This past year we had the Winter School of Truth in Bower House and we enjoyed, with the younger group, the topic, The Triune God and the Person and the Work of Christ. We may think that this topic is “too hard for such young ones…” but their testimony proves otherwise – the Triune God is so “complicated” and “complicating” yet He is for dispensing all He is into us! Below is brother John’s “short” testimony from what he enjoyed in this past winter school [Read this portion also in Spanish / Puede leer esta porción también en español, De la Escuela de Invierno de la Verdad 2010 – ¡Nuestro Dios es triuno para impartirse en nosotros!].

This year was my third Winter School, and I really enjoyed blending with young people from all over Europe once again! In my locality, I am the only young person, so I really treasure time spent with other young people. I found that that I didn’t have to worry about being ‘cool’ and just focus on consecrating that week to God. By doing this, I gained a lot and I found that even though it was a serving brother giving the message, God spoke to me through the message and I gained a better understanding of The Triune God, who He was as a person and what He accomplished.

This year, the topic for the younger group was ‘The Triune God and the Person and Work of Christ’. I really enjoyed throughout the conference that:

1. There is only one God in the universe! We can see this in 1 Corinthians 8:4 which says ‘…there is no God but one’! Praise the Lord that there is no God but one!
2. God is the creator of the universe and the ruler of the universe!
3. Our God has an eternal purpose! He made us (man) in His image so that we can express Him. He gave us dominion that we may represent Him and exercise His authority – especially over His enemy. All this is so we may accomplish His eternal purpose. He wants to dispense Himself into us as life and everything! This is His eternal economy. Thank you Lord for Your eternal economy!
4. God is Love! The reason why God has this eternal purpose and economy is because He loves us! And because He loves us, He wants mingle Himself with us and be one with us. Every time we call ‘OH LORD JESUS!’ we gain more Christ, and He just keeps filling us with Himself!
5. Mingling is the way!
6. Every human being is made as a vessel to contain God. We are made to be filled with Him! We need to filled to overflowing with Christ!
7. Even though every human is made to contain God, many humans miss this opportunity. This is why we should speak to our friends! We need to realise that everything is done for the spreading of the gospel! I myself have changed schools three times in three years and sometimes I think it’s really unfair that I have to move with my parents, however – Praise the Lord! I was placed in my schools to shine forth Christ!
8. Even though we may want to speak to our friends, Satan is always there and wants us not to do this! Sometimes I may feel like I really don’t want to speak because it is ‘uncool’, but I know that there is a Wonderful Person who abides in me who I can turn to, and He can speak through me so I don’t have to worry about what others will think!
9. God is TRIUNE! This means that he is Three-One! God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit are ONE! We can see that he is Triune in the verse Matthew 28:19 which says ‘Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit’!
10. However, God is not only triune for the sake of it; in order for God to dispense Himself into us, He must be triune! When we call ‘OH LORD JESUS!’, we receive not only the Father, but also the Son and the Spirit! It is like Buy One get Two Free! He is essentially one, yet economically three that we may enjoy Him; God’s economy is to dispense His entire being into us.
11. The Father is the Planner. This means that He predestinated us and planned everything that would happen. The Son is the Accomplisher, and died an all-inclusive death (it contained everything), and the Spirit is the Applier! He applied the result of the Son’s death onto us.
12. There are theories that so called ‘Bible Scholars’ believe regarding the Triune God – which we know that are wrong! One theory is that the Father Existed and then died out, then the Son existed, and died out, and finally the Spirit exists. This theory is called Modalism – symbolizing God in different ‘modes’. However, Praise the Lord! We know this is not true, because our God is co-existing (The Father, Son and Spirit exist at the same time), and we can see this in Matthew 3:16-17 when Jesus is being baptized: “And having been baptized, Jesus went up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon Him. And behold, a voice out of the heavens, saying, This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have found my delight”.
13. Another theory is that the Father, the Son and the Spirit are all separate Gods. This theory is called Tritheism. However, we know this is not true, because our God is co-inhering (The Father, Son and Spirit existing within each other eternally)! We can see this in John 14:10-11 which says “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak from Myself, but the Father who abides in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; but if not, believe because of the works themselves.”
14. Praise the Lord that our God is Triune, and that He is co-existing and co-inhering!
15. Jesus was 100% God, yet 100% man, and 100% God-man! This may seem confusing at first – how can you be 100% God, 100% man and 100% God-man? It doesn’t add up. However, we can use the example of tea. You have 100% water, 100% tea leaves, yet you end up with 100% tea! This is through the Mingling of the water with tea. In the same principle, God mingled with man and the result is a God-man!
16. In His Divinity, Jesus is the Holy Spirit, the Complete God, and the Son of God. In his Humanity, He is born of a virgin, a perfect man, and son of man.
17. We should not try to be a Good man, but be a God-man! A good way of expressing this matter – which I picked up in the Winter School two years ago – is that we shouldn’t aim to be Good (G-uh-oh-d) men, but God (G-ohhhhhh-d) men. It’s much easier to demonstrate this in person than to type it!
18. In His Incarnation (the mingling of God with humanity) when Christ was born as a man, He was called the ‘Mighty God’. We can see this in Isaiah 9:6: “For a child is born to us, A son is given to us; And the government Is upon His shoulder; And His name will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”
19. In His crucifixion, on one hand it was the judgement of God. However, on the other hand, it was redemption. God took the work of Satan and turned it to His own account. Christ had to die to bring the old creation – including man – to and end. The third reason for His death is that He might impart Himself into us as our life supply. In order to be our life supply, Christ had to pass through death.
20. In His resurrection, Christ was born as the firstborn Son of God among many brothers. In this unique resurrection, we were also regenerated. So we are his ‘twins’ in the same delivery! Also in His resurrection, Christ became a life-giving Spirit! We can see this in 1 Corinthians 15:45b which says ‘The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit’.
21. In His ascension, all the members were formed into a living Body! After Christ ascended to heaven, He baptized His whole Body by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and it was by this baptism in the Holy Spirit that all the members were formed into one Body! After His ascension, He gave many gifts to perfect the saints unto the building up of the Body of Christ!

Wow, what a blessing that I was able to attend the Winter School of Truth 2010-2011. May the Lord bless the young people of Europe that we may be a vital instrument for His move here.

testimony from the Winter School of the Truth – God put eternity in man’s heart, only He satisfies!

What is the Winter School of the Truth? In the words of the ones who organize it, “The Winter School of Truth is a six day, full-time, residential conference for young people. This will be our eighth Winter School of Truth. Over the past years, hundreds of young people have come together to enjoy the truth.” This past year we had it again in the Bower House, London, UK, and below is a short sharing from sister Agnieszka – her top enjoyment in the WST.

This year was my third Winter School, and I really enjoyed blending with young people from all over Europe once again! I gained a lot and I would like to share with you what touched me the most. So first thing I enjoyed was that we have the two greatest gifts of God for our enjoyment and these are the Spirit inside of us and the Bible outside of us. The Spirit gives us life and the Bible gives us stability; we need both to be proper Christians and to grow in life. The Bible is composed of words, therefore we need our mind. The Bible embodies the Triune God, therefore we need to use our spirit to receive the Spirit and life. And i also enjoyed that the Christians can be likened to a train. There needs to be the fuel inside as its energizing power. But a train needs to have tracks outside as well. If there is fuel within but no tracks without, the train would not be able to run. Even if it runs, problems will arise. However, if there are only the tracks without, but not fuel within, the train may be on the right track, but it cannot move. Therefore, for a train to run, and to do so smoothly, there must be the coordination of two aspects: the inner aspect and the outer aspect. Outwardly, there must be the regulation of the tracks, inwardly, there must be the energizing of the fuel. Therefore we must put equal emphasis on the Spirit and the Bible, we must not neglect either matter. We must not overlook the Spirit within, neither can we despise the Bible without.

The second thing I enjoyed was that, as we all know, the scientific books are updated all the time. Yet the book of the Bible have remained the same since the time it was written! It’s because science is merely man’s study of what has been created by God. Man’s theories need to be updated, but God’s word is eternal! Matthew 24:35 says, “The heaven and the earth shall pass away, but My words shall by no means pass away.” Praise the Lord! We need to be filled up with His living and abiding word. (1 Pet. 1:23)

The third thing I enjoyed was that eternity is in our hearts. God not only created us with a spirit; He also put eternity in our hearts (Eccl. 3:11). This means that in our human heart there is an aspiration for something eternal. Regardless of how rich or successful we may be, deep within us there is a gnawing sense of vanity and a cry for reality. No temporary thing can fill this inner emptiness. This proves that within us there is an aspiration for eternal things. Only One in the universe is eternal- the eternal God. Only He can satisfy the aspiration for eternity in our hearts!