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Growing in the Divine Life for a Rich Entrance into the Eternal Kingdom 81
Recently, I heard a message of Brother Lee to the graduating class of
the FTTA in 1995. At that time, Brother Lee was sitting down and asked a
brother to read it. That message is entitled, “Never Forget”. He was telling the
graduating class that after going through the two years, after they leave the
training, they will not forget eight things. I was touched with the first point
which includes almost all eight points: we should never forget the economy of
God. If we are burdened to grow, we need to remember that this is the will of
God. What He wants to do is to work Himself into us. What He wants to do is
to become our constituent. So today, we should not forget. Maybe in the past
we were pursuing; in the past we were diligent. But how about today? Are we
gaining more of Him? Are we knowing Him more? When I went through the
messages in “The Experience of Christ”, it talks about Philippians 3, which
Paul wrote at the latter part of His life. He had already done a lot of work. But
in Philippians 3:10, he said, “to know Him.” After doing a lot of things, Paul
still wanted to know Him. Brothers, we need to have such an aspiration—
to know our Lord deeper. In the last Thanksgiving conference, we talked
about Christ being all-inclusive and all-extensive. He is inexhaustible. He is
limitless. His riches are simply unsearchable. Today, do we know Him? We
need to know Him. We need to have the bountiful supply of the knowledge of
God and of Jesus our Lord.
Self-control Being the Exercise of Control and Restraint over One’s Self
in Its Passions, Desires, and Habits; Such Self-control Needing to Be
Exercised in Knowledge for the Proper Growth in Life
Self-control is the exercise of control and restraint over one’s self in
its passions, desires, and habits; such self-control needs to be exercised in
knowledge for the proper growth in life. This knowledge should be under self-
control. Self-control is a very important thing. In Galatians 5, self-control is
part of the fruit of the Spirit. We, human beings, a lot of times have different
moods. If something changes, we like it or we do not like it. We are easily
controlled by our moods. If we want to grow in life, we need to have such a
self-control on our mood. You cannot say, “Today, I am not in the mood.” You
are supposed to go and preach the gospel, and you will say that you are not in
the mood. When will you be in the mood? This mood needs to be controlled.
[Before coming here,] I was just traveling in South America. I went back to
Anaheim for less than 24 hours. If I could admit to you, I was in no mood