The Ministry Vol 10 No 04

This issue of The Ministry contains a complete record of the twelve messages given during the 2006 summer training on the Crystallization-study of the Body of Christ, held July 3 to 8 in Anaheim, California. The crucial truth and burden embodied in these twelve messages may be summarized in four statements: (1) The divine economy is God's plan to dispense Christ into His chosen people to produce, constitute, and build up the organic Body of Christ. (2) The unique oneness of the Body of Christ is the oneness of the Spirit--the mingling of the processed Triune God with all the believers in Christ. (3) The overcomers see the Body, know the Body, care for the Body, honor the Body, do the work of the Body, and keep every principle of the Body. (4) The overcomers live out and work out the New Jerusalem by the mingling of God with man for the oneness of the Body of Christ. These messages are being published immediately following the training in order that they may benefit the saints participating in many video trainings that are held throughout the earth. The Announcements section includes fellowship concerning the use of the Bower House property in London, UK.

This issue of The Ministry presents the first eight messages given during the 2005 fall term of the full-time training in Anaheim, California. The general subject of this series of messages is entitled "The Overcoming Life as Portrayed in Song of Songs." This general subject is based upon an intrinsic revelation in the Scriptures related to our overcoming and our love relationship with the Lord. This is demonstrated in Romans 8:37--the "theme verse" of this entire series of messages, which says, "In all these things we more than conquer through Him who loved us." The Greek word translated "more than conquer" is hypernikao, which literally means "super-overcome" or "more than overcome." Hence, we more than overcome through Him who loved us. According to this verse, the ones who are really loved by God become super-overcomers, more than conquerors. There is a deep, sweet, rich, essential, intrinsic, organic, and experiential connection between love and overcoming. In Song of Songs the lover of Christ overcomes in four stages: in the first stage (1:2--2:7) she overcomes the attraction of the world by being captivated by Christ; in the second stage (2:8--3:5) she overcomes the self, which secludes her from the presence of Christ, by becoming one with the cross of Christ; in the third stage (3:6--5:1) she overcomes the old creation (the physical things) by living in the ascension of Christ in resurrection after her self has been dealt with by the cross; and in the fourth stage (5:2--6:13) she overcomes the flesh, the natural man, the old man, by living within the veil, requiring a deeper experience of the cross. Last of all, we present a concluding set of testimonies from some who participated in the recent gospel move in the Russian-speaking world.

This issue of The Ministry contains a complete record of the nine messages given during the 2005 International Training for Elders and Responsible Ones in Moscow, Russia, in October 2005. The general subject of the training was the vision of the Lord's recovery and its application. The burden for these messages can be summarized in the following four statements: 1) the true vine--Christ the Son with the believers in the Son as the branches--is the organism of the Triune God in the Son for His multiplication, spreading, and glorification in the divine life; 2) we must stay on the way of life, the line of life, in the maintenance of life by enjoying Christ as the tree of life in the flow of life for God's building in life by our growth in life; 3) the kingdom of God is constituted with God's life as the realm of the divine life for His ruling, in which He reigns by His life and expresses Himself as the Divine Trinity in the divine life; and 4) the intrinsic significance of the golden lampstand is the highest peak of the divine revelation, the subjective experience of the golden lampstand is the God-man living, and the organic maintenance of the golden lampstand is Christ's shepherding in His heavenly ministry. We also include a report concerning the Lord's move in Ghana and Nigeria, West Africa.

This issue of The Ministry contains a complete record of the twelve messages given during the 2005 winter training on the Crystallization-study of the Building of God, held December 26-31 in Anaheim, California. The crucial truth and burden embodied in these twelve messages may be summarized in four statements: (1) The building of God is the processed Triune God wrought into us so that under His continual dispensing we become His enlargement, expansion, and corporate expression. (2) The three tabernacles--the type of the tabernacle, the reality of the tabernacle, and the consummation of the tabernacle--reveal the goal of God's economy to have a corporate people to be His dwelling place for His expression and representation in eternity. (3) The intrinsic element of the work of the divine building is to minister the building and builded God into others for the building up of the Body of Christ. (4) The desire of God's heart is the building of God into man and the building of man into God for the building of a great corporate God-man, the New Jerusalem. These messages are being published immediately following the training in order that they may benefit the saints participating in the many video trainings that are held throughout the earth. The Reports section includes an update on the purchase of the Bower House property in England and highlights on how the new facility is being used to carry out the burden of the work in Europe. In the Announcements section we include the 2006 schedule of European and Middle Eastern events as well as a calendar, giving the dates and locations of the seven Living Stream Ministry conferences and trainings--the seven annual feasts--for 2006. One cannot measure the benefits derived during these feasts from the Lord's rich speaking in His ministry and the mutual blending and building up of the saints and the churches in the Lord's recovery from every continent.

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.

This issue of The Ministry contains a complete record of the eight messages given during the 2006 International Training for Elders and Responsible Ones, held March 31--April 2, 2006 in Anaheim, California. The general subject of the training was "Taking the Shepherding Way to Preach the Gospel and Revive the Church." Three important matters in the ministry will bring in a genuine revival: the high peak of the divine revelation, the God-man living, and shepherding according to God. This third matter--shepherding according to God--is the subject of this entire volume. Shepherding touches the heart, burden, and concern of the ministry. Shortly before he passed away, Brother Lee wrote down six points that were intended for the Elders' Training of April 1997. These points which all relate to shepherding include: 1) not lording it over God's allotment, 2) be willing to be a slave to the saints, 3) humble yourself under the saints, 4) elders should shepherd one another and love one another to be a model of the Body-life, 5) take care of the saints in everything and in every way for the dispensing of Christ into them, and 6) contact and visit the saints and invite them to your homes for meals. May the Lord grant us grace to take the shepherding way to preach the gospel and revive the church. We also include reports concerning the Lord's move in Poland and in the Czech Republic.

This issue of The Ministry contains the first group of eight messages given during the 2004 fall term of the Full-time Training in Anaheim, California. The general subject for this line of messages is the intrinsic significance of the Lord's recovery for the building of the church as the house of God and the city of God. The word recovery means a restoration or a return to a normal condition after damage or loss has been incurred. The principle of recovery is to bring us back to the beginning (Matt. 19:8), to God's beginning, back to what is normal in God's eyes. We do not want to be in an abnormal situation of division, confusion, or denominationalism or in a situation filled with idols and impurities. We want to be recovered back to the enjoyment of Christ as our all-inclusive good land so that we can be filled with Him in His unsearchable riches and be built up to be the living temple, the house of the living God (1 Tim. 3:15). This is the Body of Christ for His expression. We also want to be built up as the kingdom of God to represent God for His dominion on this earth, as pictured by the city of Jerusalem. God's recovery begins with our exercised spirit. God wants to recover the spirit of man for His economy. We can exercise our spirit to contact God, worshipping God in our spirit with Christ as our reality. Thus, we are here to build up the church as the house of God and the kingdom of God. Last of all, we include a report concerning the Lord's move in the French-speaking world and an update concerning the distribution of the ministry in Poland.

This issue of The Ministry presents the last nine messages given during the 2005 spring term of the full-time training in Anaheim, California. The general subject of this series of messages is entitled "Noah, Daniel, and Job--Patterns of Living an Overcoming Life on the Line of Life to Fulfill the Economy of God." Noah, Daniel, and Job were selected to be the subject of this series of messages based upon two verses from Ezekiel 14. Verse 14 says, "Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in the midst of it, they would deliver only their own souls by their righteousness, declares the Lord Jehovah." Verse 20 is similar: "Though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in the midst of it, as I live, declares the Lord Jehovah, they could not deliver even a son or daughter; they would deliver only their own souls by their righteousness." It is clear that these three men are singled out for their righteousness. There are four aspects of righteousness, all of which are deeply and intrinsically woven into what is signified by the lives of these three persons. First, righteousness is to be right with all things, matters, and persons according to God's righteous requirement. Second, righteousness is the expression in our living of the Christ who dwells in us as the life-giving Spirit. Third, righteousness is a matter of being altogether right with the throne of God's administration. God's throne is established upon righteousness (Psa. 89:14). Fourth, righteousness is a matter of our being constituted with the righteousness of God, of our becoming crystal clear and transparent. We are becoming the righteousness of God in Christ. This righteousness in its four aspects is directly related to the Triune God Himself and, in particular, to the Triune God in the carrying out of His divine economy. Last of all, we include a report concerning the Lord's move in Romania.