The Ministry Of The Word Vol 3 No 1

This issue of The Ministry of the Word contains a complete record of the twelve messages given during the semiannual training held December 23-28, 2019, in Anaheim, California, on the crystallization-study of Deuteronomy. The key statements in the following section embody and summarize the crucial truths and main burdens in these twelve messages. These training messages are being published immediately following the training in order that they might benefit the saints participating in the many video trainings that are held throughout the earth. The Reports and Announcements section contains “An Update concern­ing Europe,” and “Announcing a New Website—ShepherdingWords.com.” Also included is information concerning upcoming conferences and train­ings hosted by Living Stream Ministry and a website link for information related to similar events in Europe.

Volume 3 of The Annotated Luther series presents five key writings that focus on Martin Luther’s understanding of the gospel as it relates to church, sacraments, and worship. Included in the volume are: The Babylonian Captivity of the Church (1520); The German Mass and Order of the Liturgy (1526); That These Words of Christ, “This is my Body,” etc., Still Stand Firm Against the Fanatics (1527); Concerning Rebaptism (1528), and On the Councils and the Church (1539). Luther refused to tolerate a church built on human works, whether it was the pope’s authority or the faith or decision of individual believers. This is the thread that runs through all the texts in this volume: the church and sacraments belong to Christ, who founded and instituted them. Each volume in The Annotated Luther series contains new introductions, as well as annotations, illustrations, and notes to help shed light on Luther’s context and interpret his writings for today. The translations of Luther’s writings include updates of Luther’s Works American Edition, or entirely new translations of Luther’s German or Latin writings.

Convenient and user-friendly, this one-volume guide provides resources for the entire three-year lectionary cycle, including midweek festival days. Brief comments on each of the three daily biblical texts identify themes for the day, musical settings for the appointed psalm are offered, organ music appropriate for the day is suggested, anthems for the day are graded according to difficulty, and hymns of the day are keyed to several hymnals. Pastors, music leaders, and worship committees will find much practical assistance for worship planning in the Handbook for the Common Lectionary.

This issue of The Ministry of the Word contains the nine messages given during the international training for elders and responsible ones held in Bangalore, India, on October 3 through 5, 2019. The general subject of this series of messages is “The One New Man Fulfilling God’s Purpose in Creating Man.” The eternal purpose of God is to have a corporate man to express Him and represent Him. For this purpose God created man in His image and according to His likeness so that through His economy man may receive His life and nature and thereby become His expression. God’s intention in giving man dominion is for him to exercise God’s authority over the earth in order that the kingdom of God may come to the earth. However, the first man, Adam, became damaged and degraded; therefore, he failed to fulfill God’s purpose in creating man. Christ, as the second man and the last Adam, became a prototype and pattern of the expression, living, conduct, and work of the new man who fulfills God’s intention. In His human­ity Christ expressed the bountiful God in His rich attributes through His aromatic virtues. Christ’s God-man living constituted Him to be a prototype so that He may be reproduced in us and live again in us, the church as the Body of Christ and the new man. The church, the Body of Christ, is the one new man to accomplish God’s eternal purpose. On the cross Christ created the new man in Himself by abolishing in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances—forms or ways of living and worship, which create enmity and division. As the Body of Christ, the church needs Christ as its life; as the one new man, the church needs Christ as its person. The cross abolished the ordinances in order to give place to the Spirit. The more we are in the mingling of the divine Spirit with our human spirit, the more we will be set free from ordinances in order to bring forth the one new man. The goal of the Lord’s recovery is to bring forth the corporate one new man. The creation of the new man was completed on the cross, but the renewal of the new man is still going on today. For the practical exis­tence and reality of the one new man, we need to put off the old man and put on the new man by being renewed in the spirit of our mind and by taking Christ as our person. The renewing of our mind and of our entire being is carried out by the renewing Spirit being mingled with our regenerated spirit as one mingled spirit to spread into our mind. When we live our life by taking Christ as our person, especially in making decisions, our living will be the living of the new man. Moreover, for the bringing forth of the one new man, we must grow and mature in life by growing up into Christ in all things. The reality and practicality of the new man require our persevering in particular prayer, such as the prayers modeled by Paul in Ephesians 3:14-17 and the Lord Jesus in John 17, which is our response to Christ’s activities in His heavenly ministry. Furthermore, we must labor and struggle according to the operation of God to dispense Christ into others in order to present every man full-grown in Christ until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith, a full-grown man, and the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. The dispens­ing of Christ is a service carried out by all believers as faithful stewards of the mysteries of God, which is Christ and the church. A steward is a dispenser, one who dispenses the divine life supply to God’s children. The stewardship of grace is the dispensing of the riches of Christ into our being so that we may grow and become the church. All the local churches in the different countries are the one new man; thus, they need to practice the church life in the consciousness of the new man. If we take Christ as our life and as our person in the new man and with the new man, spontane­ously we all will speak the same thing and do the same one work for the unique Body, the universal one new man. In this way the new man will grow and mature, and we will arrive at a full-grown man. This will be the ultimate church life—a universal new man taking Christ as his person and living out Christ; this will conclude this age, usher in the kingdom, and bring the Lord back. The Announcements section at the end of this issue contains 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 six messages given during the 2001 Thanksgiving Weekend Conference in Jacksonville, Florida, November 22-25. The general subject of the conference was "The World Situation and the New Revival." The burden for this series of messages can be expressed in the following four statements: 1) in His economy, God desires to make Christ the centrality and universality of His move on earth, 2) God's ultimate move in His recovery is to work Himself into us that we may live Him out and express Him as the Body, 3) the Lord's recovery is for the preparation of the bride of Christ, who is composed of all His overcomers, and 4) the corporate Christ, Christ with His overcoming bride, will come as a stone to crush the aggregate of human government to bring in God's kingdom. Last of all, we include a report concerning a recent conference in Ghana, West Africa.

This issue of The Ministry of the Word contains the nine messages of the international training for elders and responsible ones hosted by Living Stream Ministry in Manila, Philippines, on October 5-7, 2023. The general subject of this series of messages is “Living and Serving according to God’s Economy concerning the Church”

The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1956, volume 3, contains messages given by Brother Witness Lee from May 2, 1956, through January 21, 1957. Historical information concerning Brother Lee's travels and the content of his ministry in 1956 can be found in the general preface that appears at the beginning of volume 1 in this set. The contents of this volume are divided into eleven sections, as follows: 1. Two messages given in Taipei, Taiwan, on May 2 and 3, 1956. These messages are included in this volume under the title Comments on the Testimonies of the Trainees. 2. Two messages published in The Ministry of the Word in 1956. These messages are included in this volume under the title A God Who Hides Himself. Chapter 1 of this section is an unabridged version of the message included in volume 2 as chapter 1 of the section entitled The Ministry of the Word, Miscellaneous Messages, 1956. 3. Two sets of personal notes written in July 1956 and in October through December 1956. These notes are included in this volume under the title Witness Lee's Personal Notes. 4. A talk given in Hong Kong on August 15, 1956. This talk is included in this volume under the title A Talk concerning Wedding Meetings. 5. Eight messages given in Hong Kong on August 21 through 30, 1956. These messages are included in this volume under the title The Inner Operation of God and the Salvation of Man's Tripartite Being. 6. Nine messages given in Hong Kong on August 22 through 30, 1956. These messages are included in this volume under the title Transformation and Conformation in God's Salvation. 7. Five messages given in Hong Kong beginning on September 2, 1956. These messages, which appear as four chapters and an appendix, were previously published in a book entitled The Meaning and Purpose of Prayer and are included in this volume under the same title. 8. Fourteen messages given in Hong Kong on September 5 through October 4, 1956. These messages are included in this volume under the title Guidelines for the Experience of Life. 9. Ten messages given in Hong Kong in September and October 1956. These messages are included in this volume under the title Guidelines for Service. 10. Ten messages given in Hong Kong in September and October 1956. These messages are included in this volume under the title Critiques Given during the Practice of Giving Messages. 11. Six messages given in Manila, Philippines, on December 31, 1956, through January 21, 1957. These messages are included in this volume under the title The Testimony of Jesus and Our Overcoming.