The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1987, volume 3, contains messages given by Brother Witness Lee from August 12, 1987, through January 2, 1988. After the first week in July 1987, Brother Lee traveled to Taipei, Taiwan, from Anaheim, California. He remained in Taipei until the first week in December, after which he returned to Anaheim briefly before going on to Irving, Texas. He remained in Irving through the remainder of 1987 and the first few days of 1988. The contents of this volume are divided into seven sections, as follows: 1. Three messages given in Taipei, Taiwan, on August 12 through November 4, 1987. These messages are included in this volume under the title Being Delivered from Organization and Living in the Spirit to Have the Living of the New Way. 2. Fourteen messages given in Taipei, Taiwan, on August 20 through November 29, 1987. They were previously published in a book entitled Being Up to Date for the Rebuilding of the Temple and are included in this volume under the same title. 3. Two messages given in Taipei, Taiwan, on August 23 and 30, 1987. They are included in this volume under the title Fellowship concerning the Gospel in the Academic and Medical Fields. 4. Seven messages given in Taipei, Taiwan, on November 11 through December 3, 1987. They are included in this volume under the title An Evaluation of the Change of System in the Church Life. 5. A message given in Anaheim, California, on December 14, 1987. This message is included in this volume under the title Fellowship concerning the Practice of the New Way. 6. A message given in Chinese in Irving, Texas, on December 19, 1987. This message is included in this volume under the title The Secret to the Success of the New Way Being the Spirit. 7. Twenty-nine messages given in Irving, Texas, on December 23, 1987, through January 2, 1988. These messages were previously published in a book entitled The Scriptural Way to Meet and to Serve for the Building Up of the Body of Christ and are included in this volume under the same title.
When God created man, He placed him before two trees: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the tree of life. In warning man to avoid the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God indicated His desire for man to eat of the tree of life, signifying that man should receive God as his life supply. Witness Lee unveils in The Tree of Life that God is not looking for well-behaved Christians; He is looking for those who will experience and enjoy Christ as the reality of the tree of life.
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 Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1987, volume 1, contains messages given by Brother Witness Lee from January 3 through June 13, 1987. In 1987 Brother Lee spoke seven messages that were published in The Conclusion of the New Testament. These Life-study messages are not included in The Collected Works of Witness Lee. During the first few days in January Brother Lee was in Irving, Texas. He then traveled to Anaheim, California, and remained in Anaheim until the end of January. At that time he traveled to Taipei, Taiwan, where he remained until the middle of June. The contents of this volume are divided into nine sections, as follows: 1. A message given in Irving, Texas, on January 3, 1987. This message is included in this volume under the title Building Up Basic Factors That Qualify the Believers to Practice the New Way for the Lord's Present Move. 2. Two messages given in Anaheim, California, on January 11 and 16. These messages are included in this volume under the title The Lord's New Move in His Recovery according to the Holy Scriptures. 3. Three messages given in Anaheim, California, on January 15 through 17. These messages were previously published in a book entitled Being Desperate and Living Uniquely for the Gospel and are included in this volume under the same title. 4. Five messages given in Anaheim, California, on January 16 through 24. They are included in this volume under the title Taking the New Way in One Accord to Baptize People, Nourish Them, and Teach Them the Truth in Their Homes. The message in chapter 5 was spoken in Chinese. 5. A message given in Anaheim, California, on January 18. It is included in this volume under the title Going Forth and Bearing Remaining Fruit. 6. Two messages given in Chinese in Anaheim, California, on January 24 and 25. These messages are included in this volume under the title Bearing Fruit by Door-knocking and Meeting from House to House. The second message was previously published in Chinese as chapter 7 in a book entitled The Proper Way for Believers to Meet and to Serve, but it was not included in the previously published book by that title in English. Hence, it is included in this section. 7. Thirty-one messages given in Taipei, Taiwan, on January 28 through June 13. These messages were previously published in a twenty-nine-chapter, two-volume set entitled Bearing Remaining Fruit and are included in this volume under the same title. Chapters 1 through 18 were previously published as volume 1, and chapters 18 through 29 were previously published as volume 2. 8. Three messages given in Taipei, Taiwan, on January 29 through 31. They were translated from Chinese and are included in this volume under the title Dropping the Oldness to Practice the New Way. 9. Three messages given in Taipei, Taiwan, on February 7 and 14. These messages were translated from Chinese and are included in this volume under the title Practicing the New Way Universally to Arrive at the Whole Body Serving.
“We must realize that we Christians are a meeting people. A Christian is a meeting person. Without meeting, there is no Christian life and no church life. It is rather difficult for any Christian to grow without attending the meetings. There is no way for any Christian to serve God without meetings, and it is impossible for Christians to express Christ if there are no meetings. The church life is a meeting life.” In How to Meet Witness Lee offers much precious and practical guidance related to the biblical way to meet as Christians.
The Collected Works of Witness Lee,1969, volume 3, contains messages given by Brother Witness Lee from July 17 through December 28, 1969. Brother Lee remained in Los Angeles through the month of July until the end of August. He made a brief trip to San Francisco, California, and then rested nearly the entire month of September. At the beginning of October he visited San Francisco, California; and then traveled to Phoenix, Arizona; Mesa, Arizona; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Las Vegas, Nevada; and San Francisco, California; a second time. After returning to Los Angeles for one day in the middle of November, he visited Yorba Linda, California; Louisville, Kentucky; Toronto, Canada; East Hartland, Connecticut; Boston, Massachusetts; New York City; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Erie, Pennsylvania. He returned to Los Angeles at the end of December. Regrettably, there is no record of his speaking in Phoenix, Las Vegas, Louisville, Toronto, East Hartland, and Boston. The majority of his speaking in Pittsburgh and Erie was recorded in handwritten notes. The contents of this volume are divided into fourteen sections, as follows: 1. Twenty-six messages given in Los Angeles, California, from July 17 through August 21. These messages were previously published in a twenty-four-chapter book under the title Christ and the Church Revealed and Typified in the Psalms. 2. One message given in Los Angeles, California, on August 16. It is included in this volume under the title An Additional Word in Response to Testimonies concerning Five Secrets of Life Revealed in Second Peter 1. 3. Five messages given in Los Angeles, California, on August 22 through 24. The first four of these messages were previously published in The Ministry magazine, volume 2, numbers 4 through 7, April, May, June, and July 1998, and the fifth message was previously published in The Ministry magazine, volume 2, number 8, August/September 1998, as one section of a compilation of Brother Lee's speaking on migration during the years 1969, 1970, 1971, and 1972. The entire series of five messages previously published in The Ministry magazine appeared under the title Migration in God's Move. 4. One message given in Los Angeles, California, on November 16. This message is included in this section under the title Fellowship on Migration. 5. Seven messages given in San Francisco, California, from August 29 through September 1 and on October 3. They are included in this volume under the title Exercising the Spirit and Walking according to the Spirit to Build Up the Church. 6. Three messages given in Los Angeles, California, on August 21 and 22. They are included in this volume under the title Denying Our Soul-life and the Living, Walking, and Abiding in Our Spirit for the Building Up of the Church. 7. One message given in Los Angeles, California, on September 25. This message is included in this volume under the title Helping the New Believers to Be Properly Grounded in Their Salvation and to Grow in Life. 8. One message given in Mesa, Arizona, on October 15. It is included in this volume under the title Needing to Live in Our Spirit in Order to Meet in the Proper Way. 9. Six messages given in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on October 17 through 20. These messages are published in this volume under the title Enjoying the All-inclusive Spirit in Our Human Spiritfor the Building Up of the Church. There is no record of the first two messages. 10. Four messages given in San Francisco, California, on November 7 through 9. They are included in this volume under the title Fall Conference in San Francisco. 11. Eight messages given in Yorba Linda, California, on November 27 through 30. These messages are included in this volume under the title The Two Trees in the Christian Life. Two of the messages were combined. 12. Four messages given in New York City on December 18 through 21. They are included in this volume under the title Enjoying and Ministering Christ for the Fulfillment of God's Purpose. 13. One message given in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on December 22. This message is included in this volume under the title The Lord's Recovery of the Practice of the Church Life. Its contents were taken from the personal notes of an attendee. Brother Lee spoke two additional messages on December 23, but there is no substantial record of his speaking. 14. Thirteen messages given in Erie, Pennsylvania, on December 24 through 28. These messages are included in this volume under the title The Lord's Recovery of the Church Life. Of the thirteen messages spoken, only two were recorded. The content of the remaining chapters was taken from the personal notes of a conference attendee. Some messages were combined to form the nine chapters in this section. In addition to the above, Brother Lee gave six messages in Los Angeles, California, on August 16 through 21. These messages, together with messages given in 1963 and 1965, were previously published in a book under the title Our Human Spirit. This book in its entirety is included in The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1965, volume 3.
