By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.
John 15:8
Fruit bearing is the overflow of the life of Christ dwelling in us. Fruit producing is attempting to live the Christian in our own power. Fruit bearing is the result of faith: fruit producing is striving and struggling. Fruit bearing abides in Christ bringing rest and peace. Fruit producing is rules and self-effort never knowing if one has done enough. Fruit bearing produces good works that last for eternity. Fruit producing is short-lived and only gives the appearance of true Christianity. We are called by Christ to be fruit-bearers not fruit-producers: fruit is borne when we allow enabling grace to work out the life of Christ in us (John 15:1-5; Gal. 5:16-24).
Fruit is not what we do, but who we are; not our activity, but our Christlikeness; not our relationship to people, but the condition of our character. Do you remember what James said in his epistle? “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” (James 2:26). The “spirit” there means breath, and a body without breath is dead. Stop breathing–and folk will bury you! In other words a living breathing body breathes, and a living faith breathes with divine action. A living faith breathes with the activity of Jesus Christ. That is why the Lord Jesus, in John 6:29, said. “This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.”
That is the work of God. It is your living faith in the adequacy of the One who is in you, which releases His divine action through you. It is the kind of activity that the Bible calls “good works,” as opposed to “dead works.”
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Major Ian Thomas (1914 - 2007)
Evangelical writer, theological teacher and founder of the Torchbearers bible schools. These schools are now world-wide in many countries and provide a teaching base on the person of Christ in the believer and basic Biblical exposition of Bible books.Among the many books that he wrote, the most influential have been: "The Saving Life Of Christ" , "The mystery of godliness" and "If I perish, I Perish." His burden in ministry was to express and show the indwelling life of Christ in believers and the rest and power that life will have in us as we trust and have faith.
Recommends these books by Major Ian Thomas:
The Indwelling Life of Christ: All of Him in All of Me by Major Ian Thomas
If I Perish, I Perish by Major Ian Thomas
The Mystery of Godliness: Experiencing Christ in Us by Major Ian Thomas
W Ian Thomas was a writer and theological teacher. Thomas is probably best known as an author and as the founder of both Torchbearers International and Capernwray Missionary Fellowship of Torchbearers.
His book, "The Saving Life of Christ", seems to have had a profound affect on Bert Harned, M.D., and the many individuals he has discipled in his lifetime.
Major W. Ian Thomas was born in London, England of middle class parents and was converted at the age of twelve in a Boy's Camp. With the intention of becoming a missionary in Africa, he studied medicine at London University for two years, where as a student of nineteen, in deep discouragement about his Christian life, he discovered the life-transforming secret of the indwelling life of the risen, living Lord Jesus Christ in the life of the believer. This discovery precipitated him almost immediately into an evangelistic and Bible teaching ministry which has spread around the world.
Arising from this world wide-ministry, there came into being a Young Peoples Christian Conference Center and Bible School at Capernwray Hall, Carnforth, in the North West of England and from this beginning there developed the Capernwray Missionary Fellowship of Torchbearers, of which Major Thomas is the Founder and General Director.
There are now Conference Centers and Bible Schools beyond the British Isles in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Sweden, Canada, the U.S.A., Australia, New Zealand, India, Indonesia, Japan, Costa Rica and additional Headquarters established in the Sudan, Micronesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
Major W. Ian Thomas was born in London, England of middle class parents and was converted at the age of twelve in a Boy's Camp. With the intention of becoming a missionary in Africa, he studied medicine at London University for two years, where as a student of nineteen, in deep discouragement about his Christian life, he discovered the life-transforming secret of the indwelling life of the risen, living Lord Jesus Christ in the life of the believer. This discovery precipitated him almost immediately into an evangelistic and Bible teaching ministry which has spread around the world.
Arising from this world wide-ministry, there came into being a Young Peoples Christian Conference Center and Bible School at Capernwray Hall, Carnforth, in the North West of England and from this beginning there developed the Capernwray Missionary Fellowship of Torchbearers, of which Major Thomas is the Founder and General Director.
There are now Conference Centers and Bible Schools beyond the British Isles in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Sweden, Canada, the U.S.A., Australia, New Zealand, India, Indonesia, Japan, Costa Rica and additional Headquarters established in the Sudan, Micronesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.