Full-Time Training - Testimonies

Life, Truth, and Transformation, Taro Takahashi

God has a purpose from eternity past. Our God is not a purposeless God. God's purpose is to have a group of people who express Him in life and in nature. In this age, God surely desires all men to be saved and to grow in the divine life, in their daily life, by taking Christ as everything and enjoying Christ as their top enjoyment. Today, most Christians agree that young believers face difficulty in loving and pursuing the Lord Jesus in a society full of temptation and corruption. The Lord wants us to grow in life (1 Corinthians 3:6) and this life is just Himself (John 14:6). The Full-Time Training in Anaheim (FTTA) is designed for young college graduates longing to grow in the Lord, grow in the truth, and be transformed in their character. I came to the Training on February 9, 1998. It has already been one year and four months since I came here. 2 Timothy 2:22 says, “But flee youthful lusts, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” This is the best place for me to grow in life.

In the Training, believers in the Lord from many countries live together in a proper way in one accord. I have had numerous opportunities for precious fellowship and also have had mutual encouragement to go on in the Lord. This fellowship causes me to grow in life. The more fellowship I have, the more matured I am in life. One of the activities in the Training is preaching the gospel on campus, by which I experience how to present the Lord to students and how to care for them tenderly. This activity requires life--the divine life. My human life, in a sense, is limited in caring for people. The only way to love them and build them up in faith is for me to live by the divine life. Experiencing Christ requires me not only to grow in life but also to grow in knowing the truth in the Bible. Without the growth in truth, there is no way to minister Christ to others or to feed new believers with the Word of God. Traditional human teachings often deviate from the truth in the Bible. For this reason, I have the responsibility to be constituted with the words in the Bible. I should not present my own teaching or philosophy to others. Therefore, I am in several classes a week, focusing on the truth. In order to have a proper Christian life, I need to be saturated with His Word. John 17:17 says, “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” As a son of God, I want to be sanctified in the truth.

Finally, the Training provides the environment for transformation in my character. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.” Such an environment which includes preaching the gospel on college campuses, studying the truth, having fellowship with others, praying together for the Lord's purpose, and nourishing students with the words of life surely causes me to be transformed from one degree of glory to another degree day by day. In the Training, about two hundred college graduates are gathered together in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to pursue Him together with one accord. I believe that this is the best place for young people to come and enjoy Christ.

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