It may not be too difficult to bring a person to open up to receive the Lord, especially if someone else has already sown a seed (John 4:36-38) in that person through their prayer and speaking. But raising up a new believer to grow in both life and truth is another matter. This is a test of every aspect of our spiritual life and exercise. We can pray without touching the Lord, we can read the Bible without receiving any light, etc. but imparting life to others cannot be imitated. How well those we are serving grow is a good measure (Luke 6:43-44; John 15:5) of our own condition before the Lord.

The good news is that no matter how fruitful or fruitless we are we still can grow. The divine life in every believer is resurrection life that can spring out of death. If we fulfill its spiritual conditions then it will bear fruit abundantly but it requires our cooperation. The points in this fellowship and the lessons that follow are meant to help us know how to cooperate with the divine life within and the Spirit's move without to nurture life in others. May we bring all these points to the Lord so that He can enlighten, enliven and strengthen us to be fruitful branches bearing remaining fruit (John 15:16).