In this book, Witness Lee considers the church in six main aspects: in eternity past in God's plan and purpose, in the Old Testament types, in its progress, in its recovery, in its present testimony, and in eternity future. He examines God's eternal purpose concerning the church and how this purpose is realized in practical the building up of the church today through the believers function and their experience of the indwelling Christ.
This book is intended as an aid to believers in developing a daily time of morning revival with the Lord in His word. At the same time, it provides a limited review of the International Training for Elders and Responsible Ones held in Toronto, Canada, on October 9-11, 2014. The general subject of the training was “The Vision, Practice, and Building Up of the Church as the Body of Christ” Through intimate contact with the Lord in His word, the believers can be constituted with life and truth and thereby equipped to prophesy in the meetings of the church unto the building up of the Body of Christ.
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 issue of The Ministry contains a complete record of the eight messages given during the 2008 International Training for Elders and Responsible Ones in Anaheim, California, April 2-4, 2008. The general subject of this series of messages is "The Vision, Experience, and Practice of the All-inclusive Oneness." These messages are a continuation of the messages given in the previous International Training for Elders and Responsible Ones in Mexico City, Mexico, October 4-6, 2007 (see The Ministry Magazine, vol. 12 no. 2). The final two messages of that training (Messages 8 and 9) are an introduction to this training. In this volume, we will see that the all-inclusive oneness is actually a person--the all-inclusive Christ. The all-inclusive Christ is the all-inclusive Spirit, who is the all-inclusive processed and consummated Triune God. Therefore, the all-inclusive oneness is actually the all-inclusive Spirit as the processed and consummated Triune God, united, mingled, and incorporated with all the genuine believers in Christ. Moreover, we will also see that this all-inclusive oneness is the expression of God. God is expressed as oneness because He is oneness itself. There is no oneness outside of the Triune God; hence, when He is expressed, He is expressed as a marvelous, mysterious, divine, and mystical oneness. We also include a report concerning the Lord's move in Ethiopia.
