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Scripture Reading: John 15:16; 1 Cor. 4:15
The main burden for this term of the training is to prepare for the spread of the gospel to the countryside that will start in January of next year. We hope that by January of next year, we will have one hundred brothers and sisters to be the pioneers. Thereafter, every two months we will have thirty more to follow them. In March, May, July, September, and November, we will add thirty more people each time. Then in the following year we will do the same thing by sending thirty brothers and sisters out every two months. In all there will be twelve waves with a total of three hundred sixty people. After the start of this move, the training center will produce fifteen people every month. If we cannot send out thirty people every two months, all of us will have to fast and pray because this is an important matter.
The work of the Lord on the earth was never a movement. The Gospels show us that when the Lord Jesus was working for God on the earth, He did not advertise or gather huge gatherings; He did not solicit any contacts for the sake of the work. All social activities in human society are basically movements. As such, they need advertisements and huge gatherings. There is also the need for soliciting contacts as a kind of work. But the Lord was not promoting a movement on the earth. Hence, the disciples whom the Lord called were mostly humble people of little education. The first pair of brothers whom the Lord called, Peter and Andrew, were both fishermen (Matt. 4:18). The second pair of brothers, James and John, were also fishermen (v. 21). A fisherman did not have a high education or refined culture; he would not have been that eloquent, much less would he have known how to advertise, how to organize huge congregations, or how to do other things of that nature. If the Lord Jesus were to gain the refined ones, He would have had to go to Judea to find them. All the talented ones were gathered in Jerusalem, close to the city of David. But the Lord began His work in Galilee, the fishing land. Of the twelve apostles whom Jesus called, eleven were Galileans. Only one was a Judean. It is so strange that in the end he was the very one who betrayed the Lord. This proves that the Lord was not spreading a movement on the earth.
This was true not only with the Lord Jesus; with the apostles it was the same. Acts 4 tells us that when the Jewish Sanhedrin interrogated Peter and John, they realized that these ones were uneducated and unlearned men. This proves that the apostles were not promoting a movement either.
Next we come to Paul. According to his background, Paul was much more refined than the Galilean fishermen. But neither was his labor for God a work. He was born in the then highly cultured city of Tarsus (22:3). Academically speaking, doubtless he was educated in the highest school of learning there. Religiously speaking, he was taught by Gamaliel, the most knowledgeable rabbi of Judaism at the time. But after Paul was saved, he did not promote a movement either. We only see him preaching Christ Jesus everywhere. The Jews were jealous of him; they tried their best to catch him. He was forced to go to Antioch, a place not much noticed by the Jews (13:1).
In Antioch Paul did not promote any movement. Acts 13 tells us that while a few prophets and teachers were there fasting and praying, the Holy Spirit separated Paul and Barnabas and sent them out (vv. 2-3). This sending was not a movement; there was no formality. Only a few laid their hands on them. When Paul and Barnabas went out to preach the gospel, there was no organization or arrangement. They preached this way until they reached the west and north coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. Everywhere they went, they set up churches. Hence, from the Gospels, the Acts, and the Epistles, we cannot detect any flavor of a movement in the works of the Lord Jesus or of the apostles. This is because what they did was not a movement but an activity in life. They were a group of people constituted by life. They knew nothing except to act according to life.
After Paul met the Lord on the way to Damascus, he was completely changed. The former Saul of Tarsus had been a persecutor of those who believed in the Lord. Now he became a saved Paul speaking to everyone about Jesus, even entering into the synagogues of the Jews to preach there. Everywhere he went, he lived this way. For Paul, preaching Jesus was not a work; rather, it was his living. You have to know that, outwardly speaking, going to the countryside for the spread of the gospel is a work. Actually, it has to be your living. Some have misunderstood; they thought, “Brother Lee has gone to Taiwan to promote a great movement.” But I must tell you soberly that we are not after a movement. To go to the countryside for the spread of the gospel is not a movement but a living. When you go to the countryside, you are bringing the Lord Jesus and His gospel to people and sharing with them the truth in the Bible. This move of dispensing is not a movement but a living.
Today I want to give you two verses. The first one is in John 15:16: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and I set you that you should go forth and bear fruit.” If you have an inexplicable sensation within that you have been touched by the Lord, it is a proof that the Lord has chosen you. I have the faith and confidence that from the time I first began to serve the Lord, He has been in me as my motivating power. This has been true even until today.
While I was walking on the road on the evening that I was saved, I was touched by the Lord within. At that time I did not know what it meant to be touched, nor did I know what it was to be chosen. But I lifted up my eyes to heaven and said to God, “O God, from this day on, even if the whole earth is offered to me, I will not take it. I will take the Bible and go to the villages house by house to tell people to believe in Jesus.” At the time I did not feel that that was a prayer. I only uttered those few words to God. I did not realize that by those few words I had sealed myself for God. Later, after I graduated from school, the Lord said to me, “Did you not say that you wanted to go to the villages with your Bible?” I tried to find reasons for retracting. But after some time the Lord reminded me again, “Did you not say that you wanted to go to the villages with your Bible?” For eight years, from 1925 until 1933, I was unhappy. There was something within that could not be shaken away. Later, I found out that it was the Lord’s choosing.
Do you have this something within the depth of your being today? If you do, it means that the Lord has found you. Although the universe is vast, the Lord did not go to other planets. Rather, He came to the earth, even to the shores of the Sea of Galilee. He did not go to other boats but went to the boat of Peter to seek him out. In the same way, though the world is so big, the Lord did not go elsewhere. He came rather to your boat to seek you out. Outwardly speaking, it was the church preaching the gospel and your classmates inviting you to attend that resulted in your receiving the Lord. Actually, there was another story within; you knew that the Lord Jesus had sought you out. Although you realized that you were over twenty years old and that you had to make plans for yourself, your parents, and your family, something within made you unconcerned about all the earthly things. Some drop everything readily to preach Jesus, but most are like myself, not being so quick and ready. However, the Lord Jesus continues to bother you day and night. You can no longer be as free as the others are. Others can easily look for jobs, go abroad, or get married. But for you, wherever you go, the Lord Jesus is there bothering and tormenting you. He does not let you go.
In John 15 when the Lord said that the disciples had not chosen the Lord but that the Lord had chosen them, Peter had already been following the Lord for three and a half years. The Lord reminded Peter that it was not he who had dropped the net and forsaken the boat to seek the Lord in Nazareth; rather, it was while Peter was busy casting the net and fishing in the sea that the Lord had sought him out. It was the Lord who had chosen Peter and had set him to go forth to bear fruit. When the Lord called Peter, He said, “I will make you fishers of men” (Matt. 4:19). After three and a half years, the Lord sent Peter forth to bear fruit (John 15:16). To be a fisher of men may still be an outward activity, but to bear fruit is an outflow of the inward life. It is a transmission, an expression, and a dispensing of life. For this the Lord charged Peter to abide in Him (v. 4). Peter was not the tree. The unique, true vine is the Lord. Peter was only a branch on the tree. If the branch does not abide in the tree, it cannot bear fruit of itself.
In God’s garden we see only one tree. In the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and the new earth, there is also only one tree, the tree of life (Rev. 22:2). This tree is Christ. Today God is cultivating only this tree, which is the Lord Jesus. We are all branches that are grafted into this tree. For this reason we cannot be separated from Him. We must live together with Him. He is our life within, and we are His expression without, living Him out in our life. It is in this condition that we bear fruit one by one. Hence fruit-bearing is not a movement in work but a result in life through man’s living before the Lord and being joined to Him.
Outwardly speaking, our spread to the countryside does have some organization and arrangement. But these are not what we are after. What we are after are the things of life behind all these arrangements, activities, and moves. For this reason you receive the full-time training as your preparation. After you are trained and have passed through much experience in life, you will be able to live Christ when you go out for the spread of the gospel. This is to bear fruit. It is to dispense the Christ who lives in you to others through door-knocking, visiting people, and contacting people.
This can be seen from the case of Paul. Others reviled him as being “a pest” (Acts 24:5). Paul was full of the “Christ-germ.” Whoever touched him or spoke with him received Christ. I hope that every one of you would be like Paul. When you go to the villages next year, you should all carry the “Christ-germ.” Regardless of which city, town, village, or hamlet you go to, as soon as you knock on people’s doors and enter into their homes, preaching to them for fifteen minutes and contacting them in this way, they will be infected. I have been infected with the “Christ-germ” for over sixty years. Sometimes this “sickness” gets a little less severe. At other times the “sickness” is so severe that others catch it also.
The “abiding” in John 15 is not an ordinary living. It carries the meaning of lodging and residing. In 14:2 the Lord said, “In My Father’s house are many abodes.” The noun abode has the same root as the verb abide in 15:4. What the Lord means here is that we should lodge and abide in Him. There should be nothing between Him and us. We should never be separated but should instead be one forever. At the same time, in order for a tree to bear fruit, there must be the growth and maturity. A young tree cannot bear fruit. But for a mature tree to bear fruit, there must be the new branches. Hence, maturity and freshness are the conditions for fruit-bearing. Those brothers and sisters who have been saved for a long time may be mature, but it is possible that they do not have fresh branches. If you are mature but old, you cannot bear fruit. In order for a tree to bear fruit, the farmer has to cut off the old branches and retain the original trunk so that the old trunk will bear new branches. The new branches will then bear fruit. I hope that those brothers and sisters who have passed through four terms of training would not become old. If you go to the villages in an old way, you will not have the flavor of the new life, and people will not be saved. A gospel preacher must be one who is full of the flavor of new life. When this life enters into man, it results in fruit-bearing. When you go down to the villages, you are not promoting a movement but are conducting a living that is full of the flavor of the new life and that bears new fruit through living Jesus.
The exercise that you are now having makes your life mature and fresh. The first thing one has to exercise himself in is a continuous consecration. This is not merely a daily consecration but one that is renewed hourly. Second, there is the need for continuous prayer. Third, there is the need to receive continuous dealing. The environment in the training center and every aspect of its living, including eating, sleeping, dressing, moving about, and whatever there is that is not suitable to you, is a kind of dealing. The dealing that you are receiving now is your preparation for the spread of the gospel in the future. If you refuse the dealing, your life will not grow. The Gospels show us that the Lord never sent people out to preach the gospel alone. The principle of sending out people for work in the Bible is in twos (Mark 6:7). Moreover, when the Lord sent out His disciples, He did not put Peter and Andrew, brothers in the flesh, together. Rather, He put Peter and John together. Neither does the Lord put two clever ones or two foolish ones together. Instead, He matches a slow one with a fast one, a gentle one with a rash one, and a foolish one with a clever one.
I have observed that this is the same in marriages. I have never seen a couple who are exactly alike. Mostly the quick ones are matched to the slow ones, the ones who like hot food are matched to the ones who like cold food, and the talkative ones are matched to the quiet ones. It is so wonderful that after all the time of choosing, one’s spouse ends up being a person of opposite personality. While living in the training center, surely you will encounter such things. Among your roommates and among the group with which you are coordinating, surely there are some who give others a hard and difficult time. Since the time I dropped my job to enter into the Lord’s work over sixty years ago, I have tasted thoroughly this kind of sourness, hotness, and bitterness. As soon as I dropped my job, I went to serve in Shanghai. For a northerner like me to eat the dark and sweet Shaoshin cuisine of the south was a really difficult thing to do. Our circumstances at that time were far inferior to what you have now. What you now have is too good.
Today these dealings in the environment are the best preparation. You will not be going to the villages alone. By next year when you leave, you will leave in teams of twenty each. After working in a place for fifteen days, eighteen will go on, leaving two behind in the locality. Whether or not these two can coordinate together depends on how much dealing they receive today. I am afraid that before you reach the villages, while you leave the gate of the training center to board the car, you will already be arguing about the seats. I hope that you start practicing now being insensitive to everything so that by that time when you are asked to sit in the front, you will be able to say Hallelujah. Or if you are asked to sit in the back, you will also be able to say Hallelujah. Even if you are asked to take the next car, you will still be able to say Hallelujah. Otherwise, if you are affected and feel depressed, you will not be able to preach the gospel anymore. Hence, you must learn to have genuine growth in life by continually consecrating, praying, and receiving the dealings.
When we receive the dealings, we are receiving the breaking by the cross. At the same time that the cross breaks us, it brings in the Spirit who is life (2 Cor. 4:11). Hence, the fruit-bearing in life comes from the breaking by the cross. Not only do you have to study the Bible, study the Life-study messages, and pursue life; you must also continually consecrate yourself, pray, and receive dealings so that you will receive the Spirit through the breaking of the cross. If you do not do this, your study of the Bible will not have much light. Only when you allow the Spirit to have the ground in you will your reading of the Lord’s Word, through the mingling together of your spirit with it, give true benefits to you. The reason for this is that the prerequisite for having the Lord’s word is to have the Lord’s Spirit. The way to have the Spirit is through the breaking of the cross. In smooth circumstances there is usually no breaking of the cross. But in trying circumstances, provided that you take these environmental dealings willingly, you are, in the Lord’s word, bearing the cross (Matt. 10:38). As such, you will receive the Spirit.
Actually, the dealing of the cross is not that man would suffer. Rather, it is to kill man. The dealing of the cross is to put man to death. This is absolutely different from the Chinese ethical teaching of patience and forbearance. The Lord wants us to accept death. In adverse circumstances we must learn to die. If we are willing to die, we will receive the rich Spirit (2 Cor. 4:10). The Spirit within us is a preparation for the reception of the word. The Spirit and word are actually one.
In this way all of you will have the experiences of life. You will have the Lord, and you will have the consecration, the prayers, and the environmental dealings. By then it will be no problem for you to spread the gospel in the villages. Paul exhorted the Philippians in chapter 2 of his Epistle, “Do all things without murmurings and reasonings” (v. 14). To be without murmurings and reasonings is something that cannot be acted out. If you have the experience of the cross, the Spirit, and the word, you will have the capital. These things will become your life, power, and authority. In this way you will be able to minister life and to dispense Christ into others as their life element. This is fruit-bearing. In the places where you will spread the work, as soon as you contact people and open your mouth, Christ will come out. The Spirit and the word will also come out, and your experience of the Lord will come out together with them.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 4:15, “Though you have ten thousand guides in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers.” A guide is one who gives teachings and instructions to the children under his care, but a father is one who dispenses his life to his children. Paul was a spiritual father. Through the gospel he begot the Corinthians in Christ, dispensing into them the life of God that they might become the children of God and the members of Christ. Physically speaking, an old man can no longer beget children, because his power of reproduction has ceased. I hope that you are not an old man spiritually. An old Christian can only give a few messages, exhort people to join Christianity, and be a religious man. I hope that in your contact with people, after one or two encounters, you will be able to dispense Christ into them and to produce in them the seed, which is Christ in man as life. This is to beget someone and to dispense life into the begotten children. This is not a movement in work but a result of activity in life. It is the injection of the “Christ-germ” into man.
Most people think that to prepare for the gospel outreach there is the need for more prayer, more reading of the Bible, and more willingness to suffer. But these kinds of teachings are too shallow. According to my experience and observation, the matter has to be presented in a more detailed way. You have to continually consecrate yourselves, continually pray, and continually receive the dealings in the environment. The dealing of the cross brings in the Spirit. When the Spirit touches the word, the two will be mingled as one. The word is like sugar, and the Spirit is like water. When the two meet, the sugar will be dissolved into a sugar solution. When we read the Bible or spiritual books, it should be like sugar touching water. If there is the lack of the Spirit, there will be the lack of the dissolving element for the Lord’s word. If you have the Spirit and can dissolve the Lord’s word, your going out to dispense life to others will result in fruit-bearing.
The second verse that I will give to you is Galatians 4:19: “My children, with whom I travail again in birth until Christ is formed in you.” Paul compared himself to a travailing mother. After he preached the gospel to the Galatians the first time, they deviated from Paul’s gospel. As a result, he had to travail again until Christ was formed in them. When you go out to bear fruit, you are producing spiritual descendants and raising up children in the gospel. The most important thing to remember is to have the Lord, the experience of the cross, the Spirit, and the word.
