I was born and raised in a Christian family. Yet, I never loved God during my teenage years until I turned to Him at nineteen years of age. As I was walking in a parking lot, I remembered a song that I sang when I was little in Sunday school. The song says, “Toot, toot, the train is passing. You at the station, jump in lest the train passes you.” This song seemed to grow louder and I knew it was the Lord encouraging me to turn to Him. I yielded right away, and I prayed “Oh, Lord Jesus. I am sorry. I have been very independent of You. I have lived my life away from You. But Lord, now I want to be with You on that train to wherever You’ll take me.” It was a simple prayer but there was much peace and light in my spirit and my soul.

After that day, I had an unquenchable thirst for loving God, reading the Bible, understanding the Word of God and receiving more of God’s life into me. I read through the Bible many times back and forth. There were passages that I enjoyed, others that I mourned over, passages that I understood and others that I had no clue what they were talking about. At that time, the Lord spoke within me through born-again Christians concerning the expression of the Body of Christ. I searched the book of Acts for a practical explanation of the Body of Christ which universally includes all the believers, who have been sanctified by the blood and the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, while expressing in oneness that same Body of Christ locally (Matthew 16:18; 18:17-18; Romans 5:10; Ephesians 1:22-23; Acts 20:28).

That is when I was introduced to the local churches. Here, I found that my experience was like Acts 2:42. “And they continued steadfastly… in the teaching of the apostles, in the breaking of bread and the prayers.” There are three major weekly meetings in the local church. On Sunday, the Lord’s Day, we gather to enjoy the Lord’s Table by breaking and eating the bread and drinking the wine. On Tuesday, we gather together to pray. On Wednesday, there is a ministry meeting in Anaheim where some brothers in Christ share portions that edify us spiritually and build the church. I experience “the fellowship of the apostles,” which is also the fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ (1 John 1:3).

Ragu Sedeek

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