Ministry Digest, Vol. 02, No. 08

Book excerpt: In this issue we will continue the four lines of ministry that began in the first issue of Ministry Digest (vol. 1, no. 1). The first line--The History of the Lord's Recovery--continues with chapters 4 through 7 of The Vital Groups, which covers an important development in the history of the practices in the Lord's recovery--the practice of meeting according to vital groups. These chapters are in volume 5 of The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994–1997, and they speak of being the new creation to become God's oracle for His dispensing and spreading, the great commission of Christ in resurrection, and shepherding and teaching in the vital groups. The second line--Words for New Believers--continues with chapters 15 through 18 of Basic Lessons on Life, which are in volume 1 of The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1979. These chapters speak of the sense of the spirit and knowing the spirit, the human spirit, the exercise of the spirit generally, and the exercise of the spirit unto godliness specifically. The third line--Maturing in Life--continues with chapters 13 through 16 of Knowing Life and the Church, which are in volume 1 of The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1953. These chapters speak of the spiritual requirements of a Christian and the standard for testing these requirements, the reality of the church and the experience of the cross, God's work of redemption being the mingling of God and man, and the matter of all service being initiated by God. The fourth line--The High Peak of the Divine Revelation--continues with the final chapter of The God-man Living, which is in volume 3 of The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994–1997. This chapter speaks of the living of Christ, the first God-man, as a man of prayer. The line then continues with chapters 1 through 3 of a new book, The Application of the Interpretation of the New Jerusalem to the Seeking Believers, which are in volume 3 of The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994–1997. These chapters focus on the spiritual significance and base of the New Jerusalem and the spiritual application of its gates, wall, and foundations.