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.
"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)."
Two things are the key to the real experience of [the divine] life: our flesh and our spirit. On the negative side, we have to know the flesh. On the positive side, we have to experience our human spirit, which has been mingled with the divine Spirit (Rom. 8:16; 1 Cor. 6:17).
The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1968, volume 1, contains messages given by Brother Witness Lee from January through early August 1968. Brother Lee remained in Los Angeles until the end of January, after which he visited Dallas, Texas; Birmingham, Alabama; and Orlando and Miami, Florida, on his way to Sao Paulo, Brazil. He returned to Los Angeles in late February. There is no record of his speaking in the cities outside Los Angeles. In the middle of March Brother Lee traveled to the eastern part of the United States, visiting Lubbock, Texas; Greensboro and High Point, North Carolina; Birmingham, Alabama; New York City and Buffalo, New York; Toronto, Canada; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Mansfield and Cleveland, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Indianapolis, Indiana, before returning to Los Angeles in the middle of May. During this same trip he might also have visited Boston, Massachusetts; Montreal and Ottawa, Canada; and Louisville, Kentucky. The only record of Brother Lee's speaking on this trip was in High Point and New York City. At the end of May Brother Lee visited Dinuba, California, for two days and returned to spend the next week in Los Angeles. In the middle of June he traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada; San Francisco, California; and Corvallis, Oregon, before returning to Los Angeles, where he remained until the end of July. There is no record of his speaking in Las Vegas or Corvallis. 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. During those days he ministered in Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung. The contents of this volume are divided into eight sections, as follows: 1. Twenty-three messages given in Los Angeles, California, from January 1 through July 7. These messages are included in this volume under the title Various Messages in Los Angeles. Two pairs of messages were combined. 2. One message given in High Point, North Carolina, on March 24. This message is included in this volume under the title Message Givenin High Point, North Carolina. 3. Four messages given in New York City on March 30 and 31. They are included in this volume under the title Various Meetings in New York. 4. Four messages given in Dinuba, California, on May 29 and 30. These messages are included in this volume under the title Knowing and Experiencing Christ as the Spirit by Exercising Our Spirit. 5. Four messages given in San Francisco, California, from June 14 through 16. They are included in this volume under the title Life Principles for the Proper Practice of the Church Life. 6. Ten messages given in Los Angeles, California, on July 4 through 7. They are published in this volume under the title Christ in the Stage of the Spirit in the New Testament. 7. Twenty-four messages given in Los Angeles, California, on July 9 through 19. These messages were previously published as a twenty-two-chapter book under the title The Practical Expression of the Church. 8. Thirteen messages given in Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung, Taiwan, from July 26 through August 3. The first ten messages, given in Taipei, were previously published as a standalone book in Chinese under the title Turning the Age and Living in the Spirit. These ten messages are included in this volume, together with the three messages given in Taichung and Kaohsiung, 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.
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.
