At the time of regeneration, all believers receive the divine life and are begotten as children of God. Yet, this life most grow and it does so by regulation unto maturity and function. This regulation comes from revelation and issues in obedience. This word is crucial for our progress and training in the divine life for our maturity and function in our living and service to God.
This book presents a vision of Christ and the church. It then goes on the emphasize the need to experience this Christ as the Spirit in our spirit and to practice the church life on the ground of oneness.
"The entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, shows us that God is our enjoyment. God also has His fullness (Eph. 3:19b). He is full for us to enjoy. His fullness is the expression of the riches of Christ, and the reality of Christ is in the Spirit. We know this by the revelation of the Word. The riches of Christ are revealed in the Word. Furthermore, we can realize God as our enjoyment in our spirit (John 4:24)."
The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1968, volume 2, contains messages given by Brother Witness Lee from August 6 through December 29, 1968. As mentioned in the preface to volume 1, from late July through the middle of November, Brother Lee visited the Far East. From July 25 through August 22 he was in Taiwan, where he was joined by over one hundred forty brothers and sisters from the United States and Canada, along with some saints from Brazil, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Denmark, and West Germany. He then visited Manila, Philippines; Singapore; Jakarta, Indonesia; and Hong Kong. There is no record of his speaking in any of these places. He returned to Taipei in late September, where he remained until early November. Subsequently, he visited Toyama and Tokyo, Japan, before returning to Los Angeles in the middle of the month. There is no record of his speaking in Japan. He remained in Los Angeles for two weeks and then visited San Francisco, California; Vancouver, Canada; and Seattle, Washington, during the next two weeks. There is no record of his speaking in Vancouver or Seattle. Brother Lee remained in Los Angeles from mid-December until the end of the year. The contents of this volume are divided into eleven sections, as follows: 1. Twelve messages given during a training for young people in Taipei, Taiwan, on August 6 through 10. These messages were published previously in Chinese under the title The Lord's Recovery and the Fulfillment of God's Desire. The last two spoken messages were combined. 2. Nine messages given in co-workers' and elders' meetings in Taipei, Taiwan, on August 13 through 17, and in a farewell meeting on August 22. They are included in this volume under the title Turning to the Age of the Spirit. 3. Three messages given to the co-workers and elders in Taiwan in August and September. These messages are included in this volume under the title Fighting for the Truth. 4. Ten messages given in Taipei, Taiwan. The first seven messages were given in island-wide elders' meetings in late September, and the subsequent two messages were given in a church meeting on November 3 and a service meeting on November 4, respectively. Of the first seven messages, the second was previously published as chapter 6 of the book entitled Character. The final message, which appeared in Church News, number 15, November 1968, consists of a report concerning the background of the two messages given on November 3 and 4. The ten messages in this section were published previously in Chinese under the title The Motive, Coordination, and Function of the Lord's Serving Ones. 5. Several messages given in Taipei, Taiwan, in September and October. These messages were compiled and published as a single message in The Ministry of the Word, number 211, January 1969. This message is included in this volume under the title The Practice of the Pray-reading Meeting. 6. Four messages given in Taipei, Taiwan, from October 19 through 22. These messages are published in this volume under the title Gospel Messages. 7. Five messages given in Los Angeles, California, from November 22 through 24. These messages are included in this volume under the title Growing in Life and Serving the Lord for the Building Up of the Church as His Testimony. The final two messages were combined. 8. Fifteen messages given in San Francisco, California, from November 28 through December 1. These messages are included in this volume under the title Various Meetings in San Francisco. 9. Eight messages given in Los Angeles, California, on December 19 through 21. These messages are published in this volume under the title Speaking Christ to Build Up the Church for the Accomplishment of God's Eternal Purpose. 10. Thirteen messages given in Los Angeles, California, from November 17 through December 29. They are included in this volume under the title The Significance, Practice, and Present Situationof the Local Churches. Two of the messages were combined. 11. Two messages given in Los Angeles, California, on November 17 and December 17. They are included in this volume under the title Miscellaneous Meetings in Los Angeles.
In the Lord’s recovery during the past five hundred years the church’s knowledge of the Lord and His truth has been continually progressing. This monumental and classical work by Brother Witness Lee builds upon and is a further development of all that the Lord has revealed to His church in the past centuries. It is filled with the revelation concerning the processed Triune God, the living Christ, the life-giving Spirit, the experience of life, and the definition and practice of the church. In this set Brother Lee has kept three basic principles that should rule and govern every believer in their interpretation, development, and expounding of the truths contained in the Scriptures. The first principle is that of the Triune God dispensing Himself into His chosen and redeemed people; the second principle is that we should interpret, develop, and expound the truths contained in the Bible with Christ for the church; and the third governing principle is Christ, the Spirit, life, and the church. No other study or exposition of the New Testament conveys the life nourishment or ushers the reader into the divine revelation of God’s holy Word according to His New Testament economy as this one does.
