Many Christians throughout the centuries have held to one of two extremes concerning our service to the Lord. Certain ?spiritual? persons insist that to serve the Lord is absolutely a matter of life. They say that since we have life, we will grow in our service, so there is no need of any training. Those at the other extreme insist that we must receive schooling in order to serve. We need the proper life plus the proper training. We should not insist on either extreme. Yes, we need life; without life we cannot carry out the spiritual things. However, this does not mean that as long as we have life we need nothing more. In addition to the proper life, we still need the proper training and practice.

Throughout the past centuries, many matters concerning the Christian life and church life were lost in the degradation of the church. Therefore, today the Lord desires to have a recovery. This recovery includes fruit-bearing. A proper Christian life is a fruit-bearing life, because we are the branches of the vine (John 15:5). God's operation in the universe is with His vine, and we are all the branches of this vine. The normal life of the branches is nothing other than to bear fruit. Whatever else a branch on a vine can do means nothing. In actuality, branches can do nothing but bear fruit. Therefore, to bear fruit is the normal living of the branches of the vine.

This book is intended as an aid to believers in developing a daily time of morning revival with the Lord in His word. At the same time, it provides a limited review of the Memorial Day weekend conference held in Washington, D.C., May 27-30, 2016. The general subject of the conference was “The Increase of Christ for the Building Up of the Church.” Through intimate contact with the Lord in His word, the believers can be constituted with life and truth and thereby equipped to prophesy in the meetings of the church unto the building up of the Body of Christ.

This book is intended as an aid to believers in developing a daily time of morning revival with the Lord in His word. At the same time, it provides a limited review of the semiannual training held July 3-8, 2023, in Anaheim, California, on “An Overview of the Central Burden and Present Truth of the Lord’s Recovery before His Appearing.” Through intimate contact with the Lord in His word, the believers can be constituted with life and truth and thereby equipped to prophesy in the meetings of the church unto the building up of the Body of Christ.

The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1973-1974, volume 2, contains messages given by Brother Witness Lee from October 4, 1973, through February 11, 1975. Brother Lee's travel in 1973 through the third week in March 1974 is described in the preface to The Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1973-1974, volume 1. In the last week of March 1974 Brother Lee ministered in Spokane, Washington. By the first of April 1974 Brother Lee had moved from Los Angeles to Anaheim, California, and he began his ministry in Anaheim at that time. Until the end of the period covered by the contents of this volume, Brother Lee ministered mainly in Anaheim. The contents of this volume are divided into twelve sections, as follows: 1. Twenty-four messages given in Houston, Texas; Atlanta, Georgia; and New York City from December 21, 1973, through January 6, 1974. These messages were originally published in volume 13, numbers 2, 3, and 4; and volume 14, numbers 1, 2, and 3 of The Stream magazine and were later published as a book entitled The Wonderful Christ in the Canon of the New Testament. They are included in this volume under the same title. 2. Two messages given in Los Angeles, California, on October 4 and December 16, 1973. The first message was previously published in a booklet entitled The Six Marys. The two messages are included in this volume under the title Various Meetings in Los Angeles. 3. Five messages given in Los Angeles, California, on January 19 through February 10, 1974. These messages are published in this volume under the title Miscellaneous Meetings in Los Angeles. 4. Three messages given in Spokane, Washington, on March 22 and 23, 1974. These messages are included in this volume under the title The Bible--a Book of Life and Building. 5. One message spoken in Anaheim, California, on March 31, 1974. The record of the message consists of personal notes taken by an attendee. This message is included in this volume under the title A Brief Outline of Romans 5. 6. Three messages given in a gospel conference at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, California, on April 12 through 14, 1974. They are published in this volume under the title Principles for the Preaching of the Gospel. 7. Four messages given in Anaheim, California, on April 23 through 26, 1974. These messages are included in this volume under the title Basic Factors of the Church Service. 8. Three messages given in Anaheim, California, on July 28 and 31, 1974. These messages are included in this volume under the title The Lord's Return. 9. One message given in Anaheim, California, on August 18, 1974, at the end of an intensified training on life. This brief word of fellowship was previously published in volume 20, number 1 of The Stream magazine and is included in this volume under the title Life. 10. Three messages given in Anaheim, California, from August 18 through an uncertain date in December 1974. They are published in this volume under the title Fellowship with Elders and Responsible Ones. 11. Twelve messages given in Anaheim and Huntington Beach, California, from November 11 through December 15, 1974. These messages were edited into thirteen chapters and are included in this volume under the title Various Meetings in Anaheim and Huntington Beach. 12. Nine messages given in weekly training meetings in Anaheim, California, from December 2, 1974, through February 11, 1975. They were previously published in a book entitled The Normal Way of Fruit-bearing and Shepherding for the Building Up of the Church.

This book is intended as an aid to believers in developing a daily time of morning revival with the Lord in His word. At the same time, it provides a limited review of the International Training for Elders and Responsible Ones held in Águas de Lindóia, Brazil on October 1-3, 2015. The general subject of the training was “The Crucial Points of the Major Items of the Lord’s Recovery Today.” Through intimate contact with the Lord in His word, the believers can be constituted with life and truth and thereby equipped to prophesy in the meetings of the church unto the building up of the Body of Christ.