The secret of fruit-bearing lies in prayer, confessing of sins, and being filled with the Holy Spirit. John 15:16 says, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and I set you that you should go forth and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He may give you.” Many people do not understand why, after the Lord says that we should bear fruit and that our fruit should remain, He immediately says that whatever we ask the Father in His name, the Father may give us. Why does the Lord connect the answering of prayer to fruit-bearing and having remaining fruit?
Then verse 17 says, “These things I command you that you may love one another.” It is difficult to discover the relationship between these few things—bearing fruit and having remaining fruit, having our prayers answered, and loving one another—and it is not easy to apprehend according to our logic. The fact is that to love one another is to be in one accord. Both bearing fruit and having our prayer answered depend on our being in one accord. This is the secret that relates to fruit-bearing, answered prayer, and loving one another.
Throughout this year more than thirteen thousand people have been baptized in Taipei. If we do not conduct our home meetings well, and if there is not enough support, there will certainly be some new ones who will slip away. John 15:16 says, “That your fruit should remain.” The Lord does not want us only to bear fruit; He also desires that our fruit would remain. Knocking on doors and bringing people to salvation is to bear fruit; conducting home meetings is to have the fruit remain. When we visit people by knocking on their doors, bringing them to salvation and baptizing them, we are begetting them. Then home meetings are the nourishing after people have been begotten. All mothers know that a child must be nursed after he is born. If the child is not nursed after he is born, he will surely die.
If we gain thirteen thousand new ones, but eventually we lose twelve thousand, with very few who remain, the saints will be discouraged. Therefore, we have to endeavor to raise up these new believers one by one. This depends altogether on the home meetings. How the home meetings are conducted is one of the ultimate secrets to the success of the new way. We knock on doors, bring people to salvation, and baptize them, yet doing all this is not the conclusion. As we all know, even the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses rise up to knock on doors. However, these are two great heresies, which have differing and wrong opinions concerning the person of the Lord Jesus. They do not confess that the Lord Jesus is God, yet their door-knocking has been very effective. Therefore, knocking on doors to bring people to salvation is not the conclusion. We still need to ensure that the fruit we bear remains.
This is a test with two aspects. On one hand, we bring many people to salvation, but on the other hand, we must face the issue of whether or not these people will remain. We can say that we have won the battle of bringing people to salvation. However, this victory still needs a confirmation, a conclusion. This confirmation, conclusion, depends on the home meetings, on whether or not the fruit gained from door-knocking is living and remaining.
We previously did not have much light concerning the practice of the new way. In the past we emphasized the four lines of Christ, the Spirit, life, and the church. We have spoken of Christ being the Triune God, who became a man, passed through human living, went to the cross, entered into death, and resurrected from death to become the life-giving Spirit. As such a One He has entered into us and dwells in our spirit to be our life and element, not only to regenerate us but even the more to transform us. Thereafter, He constitutes us to be the church, which is His Body as His fullness. In addition, the churches which appear in every locality are His living testimony. This is the line we have paid attention to in the past.
This Christ is the Spirit. If He were God and Christ but not the Spirit, He could have nothing to do with us. On the one hand, He has a relationship with us because He is the Creator and we are the creation; He is God and we are men. On the other hand, He would not have an organic relationship, an organic union, with us. He could not enter into us, and neither could we enter into Him. He could contact us, but He could not join Himself to us. According to His heart’s desire, He wants not only to be joined to us but also to mingle with us. He wants to become us and that we would become Him. This would be impossible without the organic union. If Christ were not the Spirit, He would have no way to have an organic union with us, to be our life, and to abide in us. Therefore, Christ must be the Spirit. In John 15 the Lord says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him” (v. 5). This is the organic union. Such a union is not like the binding together of two pieces of dead wood or the welding of two pieces of iron or steel. Rather, it is a living tree having living branches in a union of life. This is altogether a matter of life. If God and Christ were not the Spirit, how could He have such a life union with us?
For sixty years the light that God has continually granted us has been first concerning Christ and second concerning the Spirit. When Brother Watchman Nee was with us, he fellowshipped very clearly concerning the first aspect. He also paid attention to the second aspect, but he did not have the time to fellowship clearly about it. In 1952 Brother Nee was put into jail. Since then I have had within me a heavy burden that I must speak clearly concerning Christ being the Spirit.
The first message that I spoke concerning Christ being the Spirit was released in Manila. Then when I was in Taiwan, I spoke further concerning this. By the time I came to the United States, the burden within me had become even heavier. At that time there was a dear co-worker who warned me, saying, “The Bible truly speaks about the Spirit of Christ, telling us that Christ is the Spirit. However, you cannot speak this in America because Christianity here will not receive it.” He had a good intention, but his good intention was with disagreement. We may have much doctrine and knowledge of the Bible, but if we do not know that Christ is the Spirit, those doctrines are not related to us in a real way, and we have no taste for them. It is only when Christ as the Spirit enters into us that all the spiritual realities are brought to us. The One who was crucified, passed through death, resurrected, and entered into us has become the Spirit, the reality. The One on the cross is Christ, but the One who enters into us is the Spirit. I told that co-worker that speaking on Christ being the Spirit was my burden; if I did not speak this, I would have nothing to say. Therefore, I have to speak this.
In 1962 at the beginning of our work in America, I first released The All-inclusive Christ, and after that I fellowshipped on Christ being the Spirit. There are two verses related to Christ being the Spirit. The first is 1 Corinthians 15:45b, which says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” However, many in Christianity do not understand this. They say, “This simply means that Christ has a Spirit, just as you and I have a spirit.” However, this portion of the Bible does not say that the last Adam, Christ in the flesh, has a Spirit. Rather, it says that the last Adam has become a life-giving Spirit. There is a distinct adjective here: Christ has become a life-giving Spirit. If this life-giving Spirit is not the Holy Spirit, how can He give life? If He is not the Holy Spirit, then are there two life-giving Spirits in this universe? The second verse which tells us that Christ is the Spirit is 2 Corinthians 3:17; it says, “The Lord is the Spirit.” Nothing can be clearer than this.
In the summer of 1969 in the conference in Erie, Pennsylvania, we released further messages on the seven Spirits. Many brothers in the United States can testify that the period of time after this may be considered the time when the churches in the United States were very living and high. Everyone enjoyed the burning of the seven Spirits.
Although for sixty years we have been holding to these four lines—Christ, the Spirit, life, and the church—we have to admit that on certain practical points we have had some problems, mainly concerning the preaching of the gospel. The majority of us have inherited the practice of Christianity, which is to give messages in a big congregation and invite people to come and listen. Throughout these decades, it is hard to say how many love feasts we have held and how many messages we have given. However, the result is that the number of people has not increased much. This is the situation in Taiwan and also in the United States.