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I began to meet with the local church in Oklahoma City in 1981. I had been dynamically saved for one year, had been actively preaching the gospel, continually reading the Bible, and visiting many denominations. I only cared for the truth and for people who were living what they were preaching. In my first meeting of the local church the gospel was preached with conviction and power of the Spirit. A number of people were saved and received Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. In my second meeting the whole church shared living experiences, personal testimonies, and truth from the Word. It was a joyous, flavorful exhibition of Christ in the believers. My third meeting was lunch with a couple at their home. They not only spoke about Christ but lived it out in their family life. My fourth meeting was the Lord's table where the believers uplifted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. They were not waiting until He came back; He was being crowned King of their hearts and lives that night! Yes, I marveled, that these people were living in the New Testament age; they were testifying the book of Acts; they really meant what they said. They backed it up with an unconditional, absolute consecration of their lives. I rejoiced. I praised. My spirit gave testimony that the church is not theoretical or hypocritical. The church is the Body of Christ. Every member functions. Christ is the Head. The life of Christ flows in the fellowship of oneness.
If the meetings were full of the Bible, truth, reality, joy, living singing, clear teaching, freedom of the Spirit, lack of dead rituals; did these people's living also match such a meeting life? I soon found the answer to my question because I was invited to live in the home of one of these couples' and to work with a brother who was hanging wallpaper. Who would be so open to the Spirit to let an almost complete stranger live in their house and to give him work? Who would open their house to receive other believers no matter what their belief was? I found out those people really lived out what they preached. The family relationships were full of love, understanding, and peace among the members. The brother worked hard, bore an honest testimony to the construction community, and was living according to the spirit, being filled with the Spirit, preaching the gospel and speaking Christ unceasingly. My experience meeting with the local church in Oklahoma City from 1981-86; the local church in New York City from 1986-97; and the local church in Anaheim from 1997 to present points to Christ as the Head and the church as His Body, manifesting the unsearchable riches of Christ as the gospel, full of grace and truth.
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