The Gospel of John is a book on God's dispensing. It emphasizes eating, drinking, and breathing the Lord. Every time we eat, drink, and breathe the Lord, we absorb the Lord as food, drink, and air into us. Through this means He is dispensed into every part of our inward being to be the essence by which we grow. The result of this dispensing is that we have the rich supply from Him and grow with the increase of God (Col. 2:19b). As we are eating the Lord, drinking the Lord, and growing, we are abiding in Him and He in us. This is like branches abiding in a tree so that the rich essence of the tree may be transmitted into them. Eventually, the branches grow and in time there is a spontaneous overflow of the rich life of the tree. This overflow is fruit-bearing (John 15:16).

Today to practice the new way is to apply God's economy and dispensing in the church life in a practical way. Preaching the gospel by visiting and contacting people, baptizing people, nourishing the new ones in their homes, perfecting the saints in the group meetings, and prophesying to build up the church must be based on our enjoyment of Christ's dispensing. A fruit tree can blossom and bring forth fruit because it has received the supply of nutrients from the sun, air, water, and soil. If we do not eat, drink, or breathe the Lord, we will be like a tree without roots. In such a condition, we will soon wither and have no result.

When we preach the gospel, we not only get people saved but also dispense the Lord into them. The Lord has gone through the process of death and resurrection, and He has become the life-giving Spirit. He has received all authority in heaven and on earth and has commanded us to preach the gospel to all the nations. The preaching of the gospel is not a matter of how much doctrine we preach; it is a matter of spiritual reality and authority. When we baptize people into the name of the Father, Son, and Spirit, we baptize them into all that the Triune God is, so that they may share in the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity. This also is a matter of spiritual reality and authority.

When we bring people to believe in the Lord and continue to nourish and perfect them, we bring people to Christ that Christ may be enlarged. We do not bring people to ourselves, because we must decrease daily. We bring people to Christ and nourish them so that they will begin to eat the Lord, drink the Lord, and absorb the Lord. They will then grow with the increase of God. As we all grow in this way, we are constituted to be the enlargement of Christ. This enlargement is the corporate bride of Christ to match Him (John 3:29-30).

The enlarged Christ—Christ Himself and all those who believe in Him—is the vine tree in John 15, which is the organism of the Triune God in His divine economy to be God's corporate expression in the universe for eternity. This vine tree is the reality of the church life. The church life is altogether a matter of God's economy and dispensing. Today as we practice the new way, we must first be persons who enjoy Christ and receive His dispensing. Then through preaching the gospel, practicing the group meetings, and prophesying, we dispense the Christ we enjoy to others. The result will be that we have the divine dispensing within and the practical church life without. Then we will be organic both in our church life and in the practice of the new way, having Christ as the content and reality.