This issue of The Ministry contains the third and fourth messages given by Brother Lee to the co-workers in Southern California in September 1996. These messages comprise a timely, loving warning from our brother to beware of four destructive matters: ambition, pride, self-justification and exposing others’ failures and defects, and not conforming to the death of Christ. Trouble after trouble has come to the Lord’s recovery over the years simply because of these four matters. But if we will deal with these four matters, the Lord’s recovery will immediately have a revival. In addition to dealing with these four matters, we must also be right in following others. In actuality, our leading is not a person but the divine truth, the divine vision. Consequently, our following others must be according to the divine truth and the divine vision. The next three messages in this issue are the concluding messages of the Living Stream Ministry’s Summer Training of 1998 on the Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Hebrews. Message Ten emphasizes the crucial matter of the dividing of soul and spirit for the experience of the reality of the Sabbath rest. Message Eleven indicates strongly that in order for the believers to be brought on to maturity (Heb. 6:1), we must progress from the word of the beginning of Christ—the milk—to the word of righteousness—the solid food. Message Twelve, as a conclusion to the summer training, stresses the critical need of being transformed and of being matured. To be transformed is to be metabolically changed in our natural life, whereas to be matured is to be filled with the divine life that changes us. We need to go on, to be brought on, to maturity by forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, pursuing toward the fullest enjoyment and gaining of Christ for the uttermost enjoyment of Christ in the millennial kingdom. Ultimately, the Lord’s desire to bring us on to maturity must be matched by our willing cooperation with His gracious work. Lastly, we include a report concerning the International Elders’ Training in October 1998, held on the new campus for the ministry in Anaheim, California.

This issue of The Ministry contains the third and fourth messages given by Brother Lee to the co-workers in Southern California in September 1996. These messages comprise a timely, loving warning from our brother to beware of four destructive matters: ambition, pride, self-justification and exposing others’ failures and defects, and not conforming to the death of Christ. Trouble after trouble has come to the Lord’s recovery over the years simply because of these four matters. But if we will deal with these four matters, the Lord’s recovery will immediately have a revival. In addition to dealing with these four matters, we must also be right in following others. In actuality, our leading is not a person but the divine truth, the divine vision. Consequently, our following others must be according to the divine truth and the divine vision. The next three messages in this issue are the concluding messages of the Living Stream Ministry’s Summer Training of 1998 on the Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Hebrews. Message Ten emphasizes the crucial matter of the dividing of soul and spirit for the experience of the reality of the Sabbath rest. Message Eleven indicates strongly that in order for the believers to be brought on to maturity (Heb. 6:1), we must progress from the word of the beginning of Christ—the milk—to the word of righteousness—the solid food. Message Twelve, as a conclusion to the summer training, stresses the critical need of being transformed and of being matured. To be transformed is to be metabolically changed in our natural life, whereas to be matured is to be filled with the divine life that changes us. We need to go on, to be brought on, to maturity by forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, pursuing toward the fullest enjoyment and gaining of Christ for the uttermost enjoyment of Christ in the millennial kingdom. Ultimately, the Lord’s desire to bring us on to maturity must be matched by our willing cooperation with His gracious work. Lastly, we include a report concerning the International Elders’ Training in October 1998, held on the new campus for the ministry in Anaheim, California.

The three previous issues of The Ministry contained a series of messages entitled “Vision in God’s Economy,” comprising Brother Lee’s fellowship with the elders and co-workers in Taipei in March 1986. Following this enlightening and crucial word concerning the vision that matches the age, Brother Lee began to speak concerning the present practice in the Lord’s recovery. His speaking, which we include in this issue, was a continuation of his desperate fight, begun in October 1984, to overturn the old traditions among the churches and bring in a new way, the God-ordained way, to meet and to serve. In this message, our brother emphasizes the practice of the new way: to preach the gospel, build up the small groups, and teach the truth, while not forsaking the larger church meetings on the Lord’s Day morning. Six other messages in this issue are taken from the Thanksgiving Conference in November 1997. The general subject of this conference was “The Sevenfold Intensified Heavenly Ministry of Christ.” Christ’s work in the stage of His intensification is to intensify His organic salvation, to produce the overcomers to build up the Body of Christ, and to consummate the New Jerusalem. We must advance from a work in the stages of incarnation and inclusion to the work in the stage of intensification. The Lord’s speaking in this conference through His ministry was instant and intensified, showing us the way to become lovers of Christ, martyrs for Christ, and eaters of Christ for the ultimate consummation of God’s eternal economy, the New Jerusalem. The Lord is advancing in His move to propagate Himself in Eastern and Western Europe. In this issue we include a report on the Lord’s move there, providing some details of the work to distribute our publications, the Full-time Training in London, an international meeting of brothers, and upcoming international blending conferences in five European countries.

In this issue we will continue four lines of ministry. The first line--The History of the Lord's Recovery--contains chapters 12 through 15 of The Vital Groups, which are in volume 5 of The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994–1997. The chapters in this section speak of nourishing people with the unsearchable riches of Christ in His full ministry in the three stages and of how to contact people. The second line--Words for New Believers--continues with chapters 3 through 6 of Basic Principles of the Experience of Life, which are in volume 3 of The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1963. The first two chapters in this section speak of the first experience of life and the way to experience life. The final two chapters then focus on the three lives and four laws within every Christian generally and on the law of life particularly. The third line--Maturing in Life--continues with chapters 21 through 23 of Knowing Life and the Church, which are in volume 1 of The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1953. This line then continues with chapter 1 of a new book, The Subjective Experience of the Indwelling Christ, which is in volume 1 of The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1983. The first three chapters in this section speak of the result of the work being based on the worker, of needing to be earnest and not loose in working for the Lord, and of the church and service. The last chapter in this section begins by speaking of the experience of Christ as life. The fourth line--The High Peak of the Divine Revelation--continues with chapters 3 through 6 of The Practical Way to Live a Life according to the High Peak of the Divine Revelation in the Holy Scriptures, which are in volume 2 of The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994–1997. The chapters in this section speak of seeing the unveiled truth of Christ's resurrection for the ultimate goal of God's economy, of living Christ for His magnification by the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, of being conformed to the image of God's Son so that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers, and of building up the Body of Christ by growing into Him, the Head, in all things.

This issue of The Ministry of the Word contains a complete record of the twelve messages given as the crystallization-study of 1 and 2 Samuel in the December 2021 semiannual training, which was streamed via webcast from Anaheim, California. The Key Statements on the following page embody and summarize the crucial truths and main burdens covered in these twelve messages.The Reports and Announcements section contains an announcement concerning Living Stream Ministry's digital newsletter, "Having This Ministry…," "An Update concerning Europe," and important information concerning upcoming conferences and trainings hosted by Living Stream Ministry with a website link to information on similar events in Europe.

This issue of The Ministry of the Word contains a complete record of the twelve messages given as the crystallization-study of the books of 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther in the December 2022 semiannual training, held in Anaheim, California. The Key Statements on the following page embody and summarize the crucial truths and main burdens covered in these twelve messages. The Announcements section contains important information concerning upcoming conferences and trainings hosted by Living Stream Ministry and a website link to information on similar events in Europe and Israel.

This issue of The Ministry of the Word contains the nine messages given during the international training for elders and responsible ones held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on October 4 through 6, 2018. The subject of this series of messages is "Propagating the Resurrected, Ascended, and All-inclusive Christ as the Development of the Kingdom of God." We are propagating a person—the resurrected, ascended, and all-inclusive Christ, who is emphatically revealed in the book of Acts. To propagate Christ is not merely to spread the truth concerning Him; it is actually to reproduce Him, just as a husband and wife propagate by bringing forth children who are the same as they are in life and nature. Today we are the reproductions, the increase, of the resurrected Christ as the firstborn Son of God. The propagation of Christ can be carried out only by His witnesses, by those who have seen Him. In the book of Acts the Lord charged His disciples to be His witnesses. In the New Testament the meaning of witness is primarily to bear a living testimony of Jesus Christ in His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. We need to live by the divine life in our human life so that we would be witnesses, those who bear a living testimony of the resurrected and ascended Christ in our human life. Through death Christ entered into another realm, the realm of resurrection. The reality of resurrection is the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. Thus, the realm of resurrection is the realm of the Spirit, which is also the divine and mystical realm. We all have been begotten, regenerated, in Christ's resurrection, and we all have been ushered into the same realm. Moreover, the church is in this realm; the church exists in the realm of resurrection. Christ's resurrection was the focus of the apostles' testimony. The Lord's ascension was His initiation into His living and ministry in the heavens; this initiation brought Him into a new realm, that is, into the heavens where He now has His living and is ministering there. Whereas resurrection is a matter of life, Christ's ascension is a matter of position, and position is a matter of authority. The resurrected Christ is in the heavens executing God's administration. The resurrected Christ ascended to the heavens to be exalted by God and to be given the kingship, the lordship, and the headship over all things. The ascended Christ has also obtained the throne, the glory, and all the authority in the universe. The ascended Christ is God's Anointed to carry out God's commission to work out the spreading of the gospel and the building up of the church. The Christ revealed in Acts is the all-inclusive Christ. He is the Author of life, God's Servant, the Leader and Savior, the Son of Man, God, the Lord of all, the Judge, and the object of the believers' faith. The resurrected, ascended, and all-inclusive Christ whom we are propagating is the kingdom, and we are propagating Him as the development of the kingdom. The development of the kingdom of God, that is, the kingdom of the divine life, is the spreading of Christ as life into His believers to form a realm in which God rules in His life. The kingdom of God is the main subject of the apostles' preaching in Acts; this is indicated by the fact that the resurrected Christ, in His appearing to the apostles through a period of forty days, spoke to them concerning the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is the Savior as the seed of life sown into His believers, God's chosen people, and developing into a realm over which God can rule as His kingdom in His divine life. The entrance into the kingdom of God is regeneration, and the development of the kingdom is the believers' growth in the divine life. The kingdom of God is the church life today, in which the faithful believers live, and it will develop into the coming kingdom as a reward to be inherited by the overcoming saints in the millennium. Eventually, the kingdom of God will consummate in the New Jerusalem as the eternal kingdom of God, an eternal realm of the eternal blessing of God's eternal life, which all of God's redeemed will enjoy in the new heaven and new earth for eternity. What kind of Christ can be reproduced through us depends on what He is to us in reality. If we know Him as resurrection and the power of resurrection and if we know Him in His heavenly ministry with His supreme authority, realizing that He is the center of God's governmental administration in the universe, we will announce and propagate this kind of Christ. If we realize, know, experience, and enjoy the all-inclusive Christ, spontaneously this Christ will be reproduced through us. The Reports and Announcements section at the end of this issue contains a report entitled "The Ministry of the Word Literature Exhibition." Also included is a list of upcoming conferences and trainings hosted by Living Stream Ministry and a website link for information related to similar events in Europe.

This issue of The Ministry of the Word contains the nine messages given during the International Training for Elders and Responsible Ones in Gold Coast, Australia, on October 6 through 8, 2016. The general subject of this series of messages is "Returning to the Orthodoxy of the Church." We urgently need to come back to the orthodoxy of the apostolic church. The orthodoxy of the church is the church according to the teaching and practice of the apostles. What is orthodox is the New Testament apostles' vision, revelation, teaching, practice, direction, and ministry. In the mid 1940s Watchman Nee gave the messages published in The Orthodoxy of the Church. In the preface to the English edition, Witness Lee writes, "What we urgently need today is to come back to the orthodoxy of the beginning and stand firmly on the ground of locality" (The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 47, p. 6). In The Orthodoxy of the Church Watchman Nee is one with the Lord to identify what is not normal and what is degradation; he also identifies what is the orthodoxy of the church--the apostolic church as revealed in the New Testament. In this issue we will see from Revelation 2 and 3 that only the church in Philadelphia returned to the orthodoxy of the church. We may already have some knowledge about this subject. However, we need to be in fear and trembling lest we would have confidence in our knowledge and understanding and think that there is nothing new to see, gain, or experience. To have such an attitude is to have the spirit of the Laodiceans, who boasted and said, "I am wealthy and have become rich and have need of nothing" (Rev. 3:17). In principle, the elders and responsible brothers are the messengers representing the church, are responsible for the church, have a heart to care for the church, and recognize that they are under the Lord's direct authority concerning the church. The Spirit speaks to the churches; the Son of Man, however, speaks to the messengers. The entire book of Revelation is the revelation of the person of Jesus Christ and not the revelation of locusts, beasts, or so many other things. It is the revelation of Jesus Christ, through Jesus Christ, and concerning Jesus Christ. If we [4] are to return to the orthodoxy of the church, we cannot merely return to teachings and practices; we must return by way of the person, Jesus Christ, the One who knows the situation of every local church and of every messenger of every local church. If we have an increasing vision of what is most on God's heart for His eternal satisfaction--the bride, the wife, the New Jerusalem--we will be beside ourselves in the Spirit. In the first three chapters of Revelation we can see how the Lord cares for the churches. Even in His awesome majesty, He must judge them in order to gain them. In the final two chapters the Lord Jesus sent His angel for the particular purpose that all His dear churches would see the final vision (cf. 22:16). From the beginning to the end, the Lord cares for the churches. This word should at least give us a heart to see what John saw and to treasure and care for it. The Reports and Announcements section at the end of this issue contains the winter 2016 mass distribution update, a list of upcoming conferences and trainings hosted by Living Stream Ministry, and a website link for information related to similar events in Europe.

In this issue of The Ministry, we include the third of a series of messages which Brother Lee spoke concerning migration in Los Angeles in 1969. The purpose, goal, and aim of our migrations is to spread the Lord’s recovery in a full way with all the items and all the aspects of what Christ is to His Body. The Lord’s recovery has advanced item by item since before the time of Martin Luther. Now today the last item of God’s recovery is the church life. The church life is the completion of His recovery. When we migrate out, we must take the proper ground, the proper standing, of the church to represent the church life in an all-inclusive way. If we are clear about this, when we go out, we will know how to go, where to stand, and what we must do. The next six messages in this issue are from the International Conference of Co-workers and Elders in Taipei, Taiwan in April and May of 1998. The subject of this conference was “Being Constituted with and Propagating the Divine Revelation in the Lord’s Recovery.” We must be constituted with the divine revelation in the Lord’s recovery concerning God’s New Testament economy, and we must live the God-man life and practice the vital groups. Then we will propagate and spread the divine riches to the uttermost parts of the earth for the increase and building up of the Body of Christ consummating in the New Jerusalem. We also include several reports on the current moves of the ministry. The first report recounts the history and nature of the blending fellowship of the co-workers as they became clear regarding how to carry out the current migrations in the Lord’s recovery according to His organic move. The second report is an account of the International Conference of Co-workers and Elders, the International Blending Conference, the gospel march, and the visitation for blending in Taipei, Taiwan in April and May of 1998. The third report testifies of the oneness of the churches in the Lord’s recovery in the successful purchase of a campus for the spread of the work of God’s New Testament ministry. A fourth report gives some important details concerning the preparation of the Russian Recovery Version as it enters its final stages before printing. Lastly, an encouraging letter from Timisoara, Romania details the progress of the spread of the literature of the ministry in that country.

In this issue of The Ministry, we begin a series of messages which Brother Lee spoke concerning migration in Los Angeles in 1969. The gospel of grace in the New Testament emphasizes our coming and our going. We come to the Lord for salvation, for grace, and to be filled with God. Then we go to bring salvation, spread grace, and dispense God to others. Our going, according to the Lord’s command, is in the way of migration. In the first message, Brother Lee particularly emphasizes our need to carry out the migrations as a move of the Body, preserving the oneness and proper fellowship between all the local churches. The next six messages in this issue, comprising the Crystallization-study of the Divinity of Christ, are from the first half of the Living Stream Ministry’s Winter Training of 1997. The subject of this training was originally chosen by Brother Lee, and the outlines were prepared by his co-workers in fellowship with him. They represent the utterances, the thoughts, and the crystals from various portions of Brother Lee’s ministry. Brother Lee began the semiannual trainings in 1974, and then book by book, training after training, he covered the entire Bible in the way of life-study and later returned to crucial matters in the way of crystallization-study. The open Bible has now become our inheritance in the Lord’s recovery and the foundation for our going on in the Lord’s way. Toward the end of his ministry, Brother Lee charged his co-workers that his will, his bequest, to the Lord’s recovery was that the semiannual trainings would continue after he went to be with the Lord. Even though our brother is not physically with us, we are still one to carry out his bequest. We conclude this issue with some encouraging letters concerning the Lord’s move in His ministry throughout the earth, especially in the publications of the ministry in this country and in Europe.