This is a mystery that people in the world are unable to understand or comprehend. They marvel at Christians who attend meetings every day, spending three hours in a meeting even after working eight hours in the office. Christians attend meetings every day because they receive an inward supply and can touch life. Our inward needs are often met in the meetings. We may find ourselves in a situation that we are unable to handle, but once we present it to the brothers and sisters, for some unknown reason, a solution comes and the dilemma disappears. We can say that as long as the saints are willing to fellowship, no spiritual problem is unsolvable.
I am grateful to the two leading brothers here, and I always desire to see them before I give a message. When I see them, I am supplied. Although they say that they do not have an answer when I ask a question, the answer often comes to me even while they are saying this. This is truly wonderful. Therefore, I like to meet with them before the meeting and ask, “Brothers, how should I speak this message today?” The more they say that it is difficult for them to give me an answer, the clearer I become, and I know what to speak. This is the supply of fellowship.
Whenever I have a heavy burden that I am unable to bear through prayer and by waiting on the Lord, I look for these two brothers. Often, after speaking with them for just ten minutes, my burden is discharged, and I am clear that I have found the Lord’s way. When I am alone in my room, no matter how much I think, consider, pray, and seek, nothing seems to work, but as soon as I come to these two brothers, the problem is solved. We may talk for only ten minutes, and it seems that they cannot come up with any solution, yet a solution comes within me. The solution comes simply through this fellowship.
Afterward, the facts proved that the way was of the Lord, of the Spirit, of light, full of wisdom, and of benefit to the Body. There are numerous testimonies like this, and we can say that this is our testimony almost every day. Even today, I can say that not one point of service becomes clear to me through my personal prayer. I fellowship thoroughly with the brothers concerning every move in the service. We touch God’s feeling in our fellowship; we touch the feeling of the Head through the members in fellowship. This is wonderful, yet it is also practical. The more we advance in spiritual matters, the more we see the practicality and necessity of this matter.
The fellowship of the Body is not only needed by the brothers and sisters individually; it is also needed by a church or the work. There is something wrong with a local church that claims to live before the Lord and to receive grace directly from the Lord yet does not need to receive help from any other local church. Without help from the brothers and sisters, we will wither; without fellowship from other localities, a local church will be like a withered foot. If a church trusts only in direct fellowship with the Lord and despises the fellowship of the Body, that church will definitely wither.
Although we emphasize the giving of messages in every conference, we treasure much more the fellowship with all the saints. At least once or twice a year, all the brothers and sisters from each locality in Taiwan who are seeking the Lord, working for Him, and serving in the churches gather together. We are unable to count the blessings that we receive in these gatherings. Through the fellowship, problems vanish and much supply is received. Some saints can testify that during these conferences, the help they receive from fellowshipping with the brothers and sisters is greater than the help they receive from hearing the messages. The fellowship solves more problems than the messages. This is truly a fact.
Let us consider our situation. The raising up, building up, and growth of meetings in various localities, bringing them to their present condition of service, is the result of fellowship. There are now thirty-five localities on the island that have established bread-breaking meetings, which means that they are local churches. In addition, there are close to another twenty places that have prayer meetings. Thus, there are meetings in about fifty places. The meetings in these places were not established by the workers; they were raised up through the fellowship of the brothers and sisters. This shows the importance of fellowship. These places have been raised up one by one, and they are growing. Moreover, the saints in these places are serving the Lord and bringing other places into the service as well. This is the issue of grace in fellowship.
The grace we receive in fellowship is very practical. Some localities began with one saint who, after attending a conference, returned to his locality and raised up a meeting. In other places there were two or three brothers and sisters who received the fellowship and supply within from a conference and began meeting in their locality. After two to three months they began breaking bread, and there are presently twenty to thirty saints in their locality. This is marvelous; this is fellowship, and this is the result of fellowship.
In order for the Body to grow, we must have the fellowship of the Body; the more we fellowship, the better. The churches abroad and the churches in Southeast Asia can also testify to this. The reason they suffered loss in the past is that they lacked fellowship. This is the reason we are paying special attention to fellowship at this time. Many brothers and sisters from abroad admit that through this fellowship, they have received many things that they did not receive in the past, many unsolvable problems have been solved, and a way through many difficulties has been found.
We need to see that the growth of the saints, the growth of the churches, the propagation of the work, and even the nurturing of the workers depend upon the fellowship in the Body. For example, we feel satisfied when we eat enough food. During our exercise, however, when there is an increased circulation of the blood in our body, we may not have a full awareness of how much we are being supplied or how much is being discharged from us. However, the increased circulation through exercise is supplying us and discharging the negative things from our body. We may think that we receive much edification from hearing messages and obtain much help from reading the Bible, but we need to see that even more we are unconsciously supplied when we fellowship with others. The dissolving, the discharging, of our problems takes place unconsciously. The grace we receive is the grace of fellowship.
For example, if a person does not have light, he does not have the leading, and although he may seek light and the leading, he still cannot get them. However, he may attend a meeting, and marvelously, even before the meeting begins, light flashes within him. We often have this experience. When we come to a meeting, light comes. As we walk into the meeting, the light comes. Please remember that this light is in the Body; this light is in the sanctuary. When we remain in ourselves, we are in darkness; however, when we come into the fellowship of the Body, this fellowship brings in light, and this fellowship is the light. When we enter into this fellowship, we enter into light. We may be unsure of how to deal with an important matter, even though we may seek the Lord’s leading. However, as soon as we fellowship with some brothers and sisters, we become clear concerning the matter and have the leading. This is what fellowship brings to us. I hope that from these points we can all see the importance of fellowship.