The Ministry Vol 11 No 02

This issue of The Ministry contains a complete record of the nine messages given during the International Training for Elders and Responsible Ones, held in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, October 5-7, 2006. The general subject of the training was "Shepherding the Flock of God." These messages are a continuation of the training given in the spring of 2006 (see The Ministry, Vol. 10, No. 5). The burden of these messages is not about the technique of shepherding but about what we are in our person and how we behave in the church. This is according to Paul's word to the elders in Ephesus in Acts 20. He said, "Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock" (v. 28). We first need to take care of ourselves, to be shepherded in our own person before we take care of all the flock. Messages 1 and 2 show us that our shepherding must be according to the plan of God and the word of God, according to the teaching of the apostles, and according to God. These form the basis of our shepherding. Messages 3, 5, and 7 show us that our shepherding is in our living by the grace of God, in an organic way according to His initiation and with our cooperation, and in dealing with peculiarity. These are the conditions of our shepherding. Messages 4, 6, and 8 show us that our goal must be to shepherd the saints into the faith of the truth, into a life of living through dying, and into a life of prayer for the organic practice of the God-ordained way in the vital groups. Finally, in Message 9, if the elders are constituted with the basis, the conditions, and the goal of shepherding, the flock of God will be shepherded to know the Body of Christ. May the Lord speak to us His light-shedding and life-imparting word. Last of all, we include letters and reports concerning the recent gospel move in the Russian-speaking world.

This issue of The Ministry contains the last nine messages given during the 2006 spring term of the full-time training in Anaheim, California. The general subject of this series of messages is "Knowing and Experiencing the Intrinsic Constitution of the Building of God." The processed and consummated Triune God Himself is the constituent of God's building. When this processed and consummated Triune God as the constituent is dispensed into us, wrought into us, and built into us by being mingled with us, the result is not simply the constituent but a constitution. This constitution issues in a unique kind of being--a redeemed, regenerated, transformed, tripartite human being mingled with and one with the processed and consummated Triune God to be a real God-man. The intrinsic significance of 2 Samuel 7:12-14a--a prophecy concerning the building of God--is that the Triune God is working Himself in His processed and consummated Trinity into our being to make us His abode and to make Himself our abode. This is the focus of the messages contained in this volume. The all-inclusive life-giving Spirit as the extract of the processed and consummated Triune God in His economy is the constituent. God's central work is to dispense this constituent into every fiber of our being, saturating us, permeating us, constituting us, sonizing us, Christifying us, divinizing us, and deifying us so that although we remain human and therefore creatures, we become Triune God-constituted men, whose being is a constitution of the processed and consummated Triune God as the constituent. Now we, in our being, become this constitution, and as such we are part of the building of God. Last of all, we include a report concerning the Lord's move in Ivory Coast, a French-speaking country of West Africa.

This issue of The Ministry contains a complete record of the six messages given during the Memorial Day weekend conference held in St. Paul, Minnesota, May 25-28, 2007. The general subject of the conference was "Caring for the Present Need in the Lord's Recovery," and the main burden of the conference can be summarized by the following four statements: (1) We must walk in the truth of the economy of God, realize the recovery of the Lord, and stay away from death and division. (2) We need to know the present truth, uphold the absoluteness of the truth, and be constituted with the truth for the church as the pillar and base of the truth. (3) The ground of oneness is the processed and consummated Triune God applied to our being, and the essence of the genuine oneness is life and light. (4) We must receive the Lord's mercy to be His overcomers who bring in a new revival to turn the age in the Lord's recovery by arriving at the highest peak of the divine revelation, by living the life of a God-man, and by shepherding people according to God in the vital groups for the building up of the Body of Christ. Last of all, we include a report concerning the International Blending Conference in Buzias, Romania.

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 presents the last 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." Four stages of the overcoming life are portrayed in the Song of Songs. In Messages 1 through 8 of this series, the first two stages of overcoming were presented: In the first stage the Lord draws us to pursue Him so that we can be fully satisfied and fully delivered from this world, and in the second stage the Lord calls us to be delivered from the self through our oneness with the cross by the power of His resurrection. In Messages 9 through 16, the last two stages are unfolded. In the third stage we are called to live in ascension as the new creation in resurrection and to overcome everything of the old creation. Finally, in the fourth stage we are called to live within the veil, entering into God as our sanctuary to become the same as God in life and nature and to become the sanctuary of God, the building of God, and the bride of Christ as the Shulammite, the duplication, enlargement, and full expression of Christ for Christ's satisfaction. In this stage we are qualified to work together with Christ, and we have a hope and a longing to be raptured. Last of all, we include both a report concerning the Lord's move in West Africa and an announcement concerning the upcoming international blending conference in July 2007 in Accra, Ghana, West Africa.

This issue of The Ministry contains a complete record of the nine messages given during the 2007 International Training for Elders and Responsible Ones in Mexico City, Mexico, October 4-6, 2007. The general subject of the training was "Knowing and Caring for the Church." This knowing is a knowing by revelation and by the experience of life. We need to know the Lord, to know God's economy, the divine dispensing, and to know the church. Our care for the church is limited by our knowing of the church, and our behavior and proper conduct in the church as the house of God is determined by our knowing of the church. This is a set principle. The burden in these messages is that we must first know the church in order to care for the church. If we do not know the church, we cannot care for the church in a proper way. Therefore, we need to be those who know the church in the way that God knows the church, and then we need to care for the church in the way that God cares for the church. Our knowing the church according to revelation and the experiences of life brings in the proper caring. We must care for the church according to the revelation, the vision, and the experiences of life that have constituted our inner knowing of the church. Therefore, our knowing of the church, which is progressive, must increase. We also include letters from Romania concerning the Lord's move there.

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 six messages given during the 2006 Thanksgiving Weekend Conference held in Washington, D.C. in November 23-26, 2006. The general subject of the conference was "Living in the Mingled Spirit for the Reality of the Body of Christ." The burden of these messages can be summarized in the following four statements: (1) God's unique purpose is to mingle Himself with us so that He becomes our life, nature, and content and so that we become His corporate expression. (2) The mingled spirit is the unique organ for us to live the life of a God-man and for God to bring forth and build up the Body of Christ. (3) We must be filled with the beautifying, bride-preparing Spirit mingled with our spirit so that we can be prepared to be Christ's glorious church, His beautiful bride, and the house of God's beauty for God's expression. (4) We must experience the slaying Spirit mingled with our spirit so that everything of God's adversary can be killed within us, enabling us to rule in the divine life of the Spirit over Satan, sin, and death for God's dominion. Following the conference messages there is an appendix containing some healthy fellowship regarding the present turmoil in the Lord's recovery. Last of all, we include additional reports concerning the gospel move in the Russian-speaking world.