The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1975-1976, volume 3, contains messages given by Brother Witness Lee from January 8 through December 22, 1976. Brother Lee remained in Anaheim for the duration of 1976. The contents of this volume are divided into twelve sections, as follows: 1. Twenty-four messages given in Anaheim, California, on January 8 through December 13, 1976. The contents of these messages were derived from personal notes taken by one of the attendees. These notes were edited and are included in this volume under the title Standing for the Truth and Ministering Life for the Lord's Testimony. 2. Eleven messages given in Anaheim, California, on March 7 through June 13, 1976. These messages are included in this volume under the title Notes on Crucial Points in the Epistle to the Hebrews. 3. Six messages given in Anaheim, California, on March 7 through May 23, 1976. They are included in this volume under the title Fellowship with the Church in Anaheim concerning the Book of Hebrews. 4. One message given in Anaheim, California, on April 17, 1976. This message is included in this volume under the title Practical Points for the Sisters concerning the Building Up of the Church. 5. Five messages given in Anaheim, California, on June 21 through October 20, 1976. These messages are included in this volume under the title Living Christ and Contacting People for the Gospel. 6. Two messages given in Anaheim, California, on June 30 and July 1, 1976. These messages are included in this volume under the title The Functioning of the Believers to Bring In the Kingdom. 7. Four messages given in Anaheim, California, on July 11 through October 31, 1976. They are included in this volume under the title Miscellaneous Messages Given to the Church in Anaheim. 8. Six messages given in Anaheim, California, on July 11 through November 14, 1976. Two of the messages were combined. The resulting five chapters are included in this volume under the title Various Anaheim Lord's Day Evening Meetings. 9. Four messages given in Anaheim, California, on July 29 and 30, 1976. These messages are included in this volume under the title The Eldership and the Progress of the Church Life. 10. One message given in Anaheim, California, on October 24, 1976. This message was originally published in a separate booklet entitled What a Heresy--Two Divine Fathers, Two Life-giving Spirits, and Three Gods! and is included in this volume under the same title. It was later published together with The Revelation of the Triune God according to the Pure Word of the Bible (see The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1975-1976, vol. 2) in a two-chapter book entitled Contending for the Faith: the Truth concerning the Trinity. 11. Fourteen messages given in Anaheim, California, on November 1 through 28, 1976. These messages were previously published in fifteen chapters in a book entitled Young People's Training. 12. Five messages given in Anaheim, California, on December 21 and 22, 1976. They are included in this volume under the title The Lord's Present Move and Vision in His Recovery.

The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1975-1976, volume 2, contains messages given by Brother Witness Lee from August 26 through December 30, 1975. Brother Lee remained in Taipei, Taiwan, until September 11, 1975, after which he traveled to Seoul, Korea, and Tokyo, Japan. There is no record of his speaking in the latter two cities. In mid-September he returned to Anaheim, California, and at the end of September he ministered in Berkeley, California. He then returned to Anaheim and ministered there until mid-November, whereupon he visited San Diego, California, and returned to Anaheim until the end of the third week in November. At the end of the month he gave a weekend conference in Dallas, Texas, and he returned to Anaheim in early December and remained there until the end of 1976. The contents of this volume are divided into twelve sections, as follows: 1. Seven messages given in Chinese in Taipei, Taiwan, on August 19 through 26, 1975. They were previously published in Chinese and English in a book entitled The Central Vision for Serving the Church. 2. Two messages given in Chinese in Taipei, Taiwan, on August 26 through 31, 1975. They were previously published in Chinese in a book entitled The Testimony of Jesus Christ--the Church in Revelation. 3. Five messages given in Chinese in Taipei, Taiwan, on August 27 through 30, 1975. They were previously published in Chinese and English in a book entitled Serving in the Flow of the Age. 4. One message given in Chinese in Taipei, Taiwan, on September 1, 1975. It is included in this volume under the title The Proper Exercise of the Young People in the Church. 5. Ten messages given in Chinese in Taipei, Taiwan, on September 1 through 5, 1975. They were previously published in Chinese and English in a book entitled The Revelation of the Mystery. 6. Two messages given in Berkeley, California, on September 27 and 28, 1975. The contents of these messages were taken from personal notes taken by one of the attendees. These messages are included in this volume under the title Miscellaneous Messages in Berkeley. 7. One message given in Anaheim, California, on October 10, 1975. This message was originally published in a separate booklet entitled The Revelation of the Triune God according to the Pure Word of the Bible and is included in this volume under the same title. It was later published together with What a Heresy--Two Divine Fathers, Two Life-giving Spirits, and Three Gods! (see The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1975-1976, vol. 3) in a two-chapter book entitled Contending for the Faith: the Truth concerning the Trinity. 8. Four messages given in Anaheim, California, on October 12 through 28, 1975. These messages are included in this volume under the title The Mingling of God and Man and the Proper Way for the Church to Grow, Function, and Be Built Up. 9. One message given in San Diego, California, on November 15, 1975. It is published in this volume under the title Needing a Proper Heart and Spirit for the Church. 10. Eight messages given in Dallas, Texas, on November 27 through 30, 1975. They were previously published in six chapters in volume 15, numbers 1 and 2 of The Stream magazine in a series entitled "The Lord's Recovery." 11. Four messages given in Anaheim, California, on December 18 and 19, 1975. These messages are included in this volume under the title The Basic Item of the Lord's Recovery Being Life, and the Issue of the Lord's Recovery Being the Body. 12. Three messages given in Anaheim, California, on December 30, 1975. They were previously published in a book entitled The Church--the Reprint of the Spirit.

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 Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1975-1976, volume 1, contains messages given by Brother Witness Lee from February 18 through August 31, 1975. During 1975 and 1976 Brother Lee spoke two hundred fifty seven messages that were published in Life-study of Genesis, Life-study of Matthew, Life-study of Mark, Life-study of John, Life-study of Romans, Life-study of Hebrews, and Life-study of Revelation. These Life-study messages are not included in The Collected Works of Witness Lee. From the beginning of the year until the end of March, Brother Lee ministered in Anaheim, California. Messages that he gave up to February 11 are published in The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1973-1974, volume 2. From the end of March through the first week in April, Brother Lee was in Washington, D.C., where he gave the life-study training on the Gospel of John. From there he went to New York City and remained there until the middle of April. He then returned to Anaheim and ministered there until the end of May. At the end of May and on the first day of June, he held a conference in Chicago, Illinois, after which he was in Anaheim until the end of the third week in June. He then traveled to Spokane and Seattle, Washington, and returned to Anaheim and ministered there until July 3. From July 4 through 6 he held a conference in Berkeley, California. He then ministered in Anaheim until August 4, after which he traveled to Taipei, Taiwan, and conducted conferences and trainings there until September 11. The contents of this volume are divided into fourteen sections, as follows: 1. Three messages given in Anaheim, California, on February 18 and 25 and March 4, 1975. These messages were previously published in a book entitled Fellowship with the Young People. 2. One message given in Anaheim, California, on March 2, 1975. It is included in this volume under the title Fellowship concerning Baptism. 3. Two messages given in Anaheim, California, on March 11 and 18, 1975. These messages were originally published together under the title A Word for the Sisters and later published as separate booklets entitled The Serving Sisters in the Church Life and The Loving Mothers in the Church Life. They are included in this volume under the title A Word for the Sisters. 4. Nine messages given in New York City on April 8 through 13, 1975. They were previously published in a book entitled The Seven Mysteries in the First Epistle of John. 5. One message given in New York City on April 11, 1975. It is included in this volume under the title The Crucial Function of the Sisters in the Church Life. 6. One message given in Anaheim, California, on May 11, 1975. It is included in this volume under the title Brother Lee's Personal Testimony concerning Calling on the Name of the Lord. 7. One message given in Anaheim, California, on May 18, 1975. It is included in this volume under the title Fellowship concerning the Preparation of Meeting Halls. 8. Five messages given in Chicago, Illinois, on May 30 through June 1, 1975. These messages were previously published in a book entitled The Flesh and the Spirit. 9. Four messages given in Spokane, Washington, on June 21 and 22, 1975. They were previously published in a book entitled The Building of the Church. 10. Eleven messages given in Seattle, Washington, and Berkeley and Anaheim, California, on June 23 through July 13, 1975. They were previously published in a book entitled The Testimony of Jesus. 11. One message given in Berkeley, California, on July 5, 1975. The edited message was divided into two chapters, which are published in this volume under the title The Truth concerning the Triune God and Crucial Points of Truth and Practice. 12. Six messages given in Anaheim, California, on July 23 and 24, 1975. One of the edited messages was divided into two chapters, and the seven resulting chapters are included in this volume under the title Fellowship with Elders. 13. Five messages given in Chinese in Taipei, Taiwan, on August 19 through 23, 1975. They were previously published in Chinese and English in a book entitled Living in the Spirit. 14. Four messages given in Chinese in Taipei, Taiwan, on August 26 through 31, 1975. They were previously published in Chinese and English in a book entitled Living with the Lord.

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).

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.

This book presents a vision of Christ and the church. It then goes on the emphasize the need to experience this Christ as the Spirit in our spirit and to practice the church life on the ground of oneness.

In the Lord’s recovery during the past five hundred years the church’s knowledge of the Lord and His truth has been continually progressing. This monumental and classical work by Brother Witness Lee builds upon and is a further development of all that the Lord has revealed to His church in the past centuries. It is filled with the revelation concerning the processed Triune God, the living Christ, the life-giving Spirit, the experience of life, and the definition and practice of the church. In this set Brother Lee has kept three basic principles that should rule and govern every believer in their interpretation, development, and expounding of the truths contained in the Scriptures. The first principle is that of the Triune God dispensing Himself into His chosen and redeemed people; the second principle is that we should interpret, develop, and expound the truths contained in the Bible with Christ for the church; and the third governing principle is Christ, the Spirit, life, and the church. No other study or exposition of the New Testament conveys the life nourishment or ushers the reader into the divine revelation of God’s holy Word according to His New Testament economy as this one does.

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.