This series covers Brother Titus Chu’s recent speaking in various conferences and trainings. This set of excerpts is from a series of messages given during the 2019-2020 Winter Vision Week training. The content presented below is based on notes taken during the meetings.
The Lord appeared to Abram when he was around seventy-five, and he followed. Everyone who follows the Lord has three stages: Shechem, Bethel, and Hebron. These three major stations are for every Christian to experience.
First is Shechem, which means “thigh” or “strength.” We might think this strength means “I feel strengthened! I feel the Lord is with me! I can bear the testimony and be one with the Lord!” No; rather, the strength should be the strength of growth.
A healthy growth is interesting. When did you ever feel like you grew taller? Every day, I gain strength for God. I pray. I preach the gospel a little. I read the Word of God. I spend times with the brothers and sisters. Each day, you may feel weak, but eventually you look back and see that you grew! You are able to follow the Lord! There is a song that says, “Each day let Thy supporting might, my weakness still embrace.” When you enjoy the love of the Lord, when you are drawn by the love of the Lord, it’s not clear that that is equal to strength. You may never wake up and say “I have so much strength, I can follow the Lord!” But yet, day by day you find you do have the strength to just come to Christ.
Then you are between Bethel and Ai. Bethel is the “house of God”. Ai means “heap of ruins.” Cleveland is this heap of ruins. We have so much: three professional sport teams, a world class orchestra, a top hospital, but yet, it is all a heap of ruins. What institution in the world is not a heap of ruins? But this is you! You build an altar between Bethel and Ai. You say, “I love the Lord, I love the church” but yet, at the same time, you aim at Ai. You build an altar near Bethel, but your consecration is funny. Your life is for the Lord, for the church! But your life is also for your success. This is eventually what leads Abram to Egypt. The Lord says, “you want the world? I’ll bring you to the source of the world. But I will bring you out. And then you will come to Hebron (which means fellowship). You can have a life of fellowship with God.”
