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Prayer: Lord, from the depths of our being we shout for joy that You are the victorious Lord. You have gained the victory and will gain the victory again; eventually You will gain the full victory. Lord, we worship You that until today You are still among us and with us. Thank You that Your speaking has never departed from us and is not rare among us but increases more and more. Lord, we express our desire to You and know that our desire is just the expression of Your desire. We believe that this prayer will reach Your throne and that our desire will touch Your throne, the throne of Your authority. Lord, we look to You that You would pour down and pour out Your answer from heaven so that we might see that Your answer is swift, rich, victorious, and full of glory. Lord, we pray that You would be with Your church and remember that this is Your recovery; this is the way that You have led us to walk. Lord, strengthen us and cause us to go from strength to strength and from glory to glory so that You may receive sufficient praise and worship among us. Lord, although we work, we still have rest. Although we have heavy burdens, we still worship You from within. Lord, may You gain the glory and may all Your blessings be upon those who love You so that they may be like the sun when it rises in its might. Amen.
After listening to some fellowship that took place among the ninety-six districts of the twenty-three halls of the church in Taipei, I have much feeling and would like to share the feelings that I have written down. First, the fellowship confirms that when the training, the leading rendered by the ministry, and the practice in the churches are blended together, it is truly a glorious matter. We can see that all sides benefit. Second, I am truly comforted and encouraged because a large church such as the church in Taipei is willing to practice the new way according to the leading rendered by the ministry. Third, the new way has been proven to be a practicable and blessed way. Fourth, as long as we are willing to practice the new way according to the leading that we have received, blessing and success will come to us. Fifth, a characteristic of the new way is that it provides an opportunity for every saint to function. Formerly, the old way was closed and indirect; the new way is open and direct. The new way provides an equal opportunity to function to every newly saved one and all who love the Lord. Sixth, the new way enables many to learn and make progress in the matter of prophesying, and this progress is unlimited. Although we have seen only a beam of light, a small beginning, we deeply believe that it will reach high noon. Seventh, the new way requires us to labor more and be more diligent than before.
We have seen that this is the way we must take and that this way is full of blessing and rest. However, this blessing can be obtained only by our diligence, and this rest can be enjoyed only in our labor. Moreover, no matter how much help we have received in these messages, I hope that we not only remember it in our heart but also humbly receive from one another. For example, after hearing an excellent testimony from a certain church, we should study the testimony and humbly receive help from it. We should not respond to an excellent testimony by thinking that we need to find an even better way of doing the same thing. This kind of concept will not bring in blessing. Instead, those who are humble will be blessed.
Concerning dividing into districts, if the number in our big meetings reaches two hundred or even one hundred, we should divide into more districts. Dividing into districts enables us to take care of the saints. From the many testimonies we can see that our shortcoming in the past was that we were inadequate in taking care of the saints and even worse in regard to shepherding. For example, in October of 1984, before we brought up the matter of taking the new way, we estimated that the church in Taipei had at least ten thousand saints. However, in reality, at most only three thousand attended the Lord’s Day morning meeting and a little over two thousand attended the table meeting in the evening. Of course, these numbers did not represent all the brothers and sisters who regularly attended meetings. In all, around five thousand were present in the meetings at different times. Besides these five thousand, there were perhaps more than ten thousand who stayed home without anyone taking care of them. This proves that we were truly negligent in the matter of caring for the saints.
In view of this, all the saints in the churches, including the elders and co-workers, who participate in home meetings, group meetings, and district meetings need to make a concerted effort to properly care for and shepherd these ten thousand saints. We particularly look to the Lord that He may lead the elders and co-workers to find a way to carry out this matter. This is an important and precious matter.
A brother testified that he was saved and baptized in 1949 when the church in Taipei began having gospel marches. However, he did not continue to meet with the saints. For thirty-nine years he did not attend a meeting; nevertheless, he did not forget the church. Every time he walked past Ren Ai Road and saw hall one of the church in Taipei, he would linger outside too embarrassed to enter. Not too long ago, some brothers and sisters knocked on his door. Once they entered into his house, he felt that the church had come to him. A few days prior to that visit, he had a thought within him that he desired to come back to the church but did not know how to do so. It was exactly at that time that the saints came to knock on his door and reconnect him with the church. Now he meets in hall ten. This is an excellent example that should encourage us to pick up the burden to visit those brothers and sisters who have been lost.
Yet another part of our family also needs care, that is, the thirty-eight thousand who were baptized through our door-knocking during the training. Among these ones, only six thousand are receiving care. Hence, there are thirty thousand who desperately need care. We cannot be sure that all these thirty thousand are truly saved, but at least two-thirds of them are saved. According to this ratio, twenty thousand are brothers and sisters in the Lord. We need to pray for these ones and seek the Lord’s leading as to how to take care of these members of our family given by the Lord to the church in Taipei.
I hope that the church in Taipei will bear the responsibility to take care of them and bring them into the church life. Although we may not be able to gain even half of them, at least we can gain one-third and bring them into the home meetings, group meetings, and district meetings. May the church in Taipei be blessed by God to receive the burden to visit these ones consistently, beginning from today. Currently there are approximately eleven thousand who take turns to come to the meetings. We hope that this number will increase to twenty-one thousand by the end of this year. We all need to endeavor to accomplish this; the elders, in particular, should bear this burden and consider this as their goal.
We need to continue to practice preaching the gospel by door-knocking and visitation. This atmosphere should not be interrupted, and this flow should not stop. This matter should be gradually established as a custom among us, that is, the custom of the church’s preaching of the gospel. At the same time, we should consider that door-knocking is one of many ways to preach the gospel and that it is the most effective way. This does not mean that we should not use other ways to preach the gospel. We should use any means that can bring people to salvation, but it seems that door-knocking is the most effective way. Hence, this practice should be established in the Lord’s recovery so that it becomes the habit and custom of all the saints.
If the saints have the habit and custom of door-knocking, we have the assurance that with this kind of gospel preaching plus the perfecting in the home meetings, group meetings, and district meetings, that is, through the support of the homes, groups, and districts, we will be able to maintain a twofold increase every year. If from now on we go from strength to strength and continue to increase, the rate of increase will be beyond estimation. It all depends on how we labor and how we practice this way. If we do it properly and if we are all diligent, the newly saved ones will be raised up within a year to function in the same way. This can be anticipated, and it is promising and hopeful. Everything depends upon how we lead. May the Lord have mercy upon us.
In Christianity there is a long-held concept of revival that exists not only within the Pentecostal movement but also among fundamentalists. In my youth when I joined Christianity, I saw that almost all the Christians in the world were praying for a revival. For a period of at least twelve years, from 1918 to 1930 after World War I, almost all the Christians in Europe and America were praying desperately for a revival, asking God to pour down a revival. However, that revival has still not come.
Later, the Pentecostal movement was raised up and presumed to be the arrival of a revival. In the 1950s in one of the northern islands in Indonesia, some people widely publicized that a great revival would come and that even the dead would be raised. At the time I heard this report, I was in the Philippines, which is not far from Indonesia. Inwardly I was doubtful. Later, when I went to the United States, I found out that the revival in Indonesia had been false and that all the miracles associated with it were fake. In one instance when an Indonesian pastor was performing the “miracle” of turning water into wine, an American missionary stood beside him and saw that it was simply a deceit. Actually, the wine was already there, and the pastor simply acted like he was turning the water into wine. This missionary witnessed the accomplishment of the “miracle” and was shocked inwardly; afterward, he began to stay away from the pastor who practiced deception, not desiring to witness such a situation. When he returned to the United States, he was greatly disappointed by the many things that he had observed. Eventually, he began a key making business. After a period of time, he heard about the Lord’s recovery and came into our midst.
In 1949 Billy Graham, a thirty-one-year-old evangelist, went to Los Angeles to lead an evangelistic campaign and suddenly became prominent nationally. Later, he went on to hold evangelistic campaigns all over the world. In the 1950s he was invited to London, England, to preach the gospel for several weeks. He preached every day, and he preached unceasingly. The British were tremendously attracted by him; even in the pouring rain he would preach to them while they would listen with umbrellas over their heads. When I went to visit Brother T. Austin-Sparks in 1958, I heard about this glorious situation from those who had attended Graham’s meetings. However, history tells us that even with this kind of situation, there was no revival in England. For the past twenty-five years the denominational churches in America have been on the decline; thus, throughout the whole world there is nearly no sign of revival.
In the past sixty years we did not see any revival take place in China; nevertheless, we did see the release of the truth that causes people to receive light, life, nourishment of life, and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. This kind of condition has spread to all the local churches on the earth; of course, in some places it is quite thriving, and in other places it is not as evident. I hope we can see that if all of us, especially the elders, co-workers, and full-timers, are faithful to the truth, learn the truth, enter into the truth, release the truth, teach the truth, and preach the truth, the result will be that truth will produce life and that life will bring forth beautiful fruit. When this happens, we can call it a revival, but it is absolutely different from the revival that Christianity speaks of according to its tradition.
Since World War I Christians from Europe and America have been praying for a revival. Sadly, we have not seen a revival within the last sixty to seventy years, but we absolutely believe that if the truth in the Lord’s recovery is given a way to thrive, it will bring in the richness of life, and the result will be clusters and clusters of fruit. Today the Lord has brought us back to the Bible and has shown us the new way clearly. All who are saved, who love the Lord, and who have truth and life within them should go forth to deliver the gospel to people; this is our obligation. However, we should not follow the old way; rather, we need to go into people’s homes with the gospel, the Lord, the Bible, truth, grace, love, and salvation. This is an unalterable principle in the Bible. It requires us to visit people, just as the Lord Jesus went to Jericho personally to say to Zaccheus, “Hurry and come down, for today I must stay in your house” (Luke 19:5). Later, the Lord said, “Today salvation has come to this house” (v. 9). We should all follow the footsteps of the Lord Jesus to visit people.
Although it is very effective to bring people to salvation by visiting them in their homes, it is not that easy to bring them into the church life. After we have set up a home meeting, we may find out that it is not easy. Actually, it is rather difficult to take the next step forward. The Bible shows that when the Lord Jesus was on the earth, He fed five thousand at one time and at another time four thousand (Matt. 14:21; 15:38). These two numbers come to a total of nine thousand, not including women and children. In addition, the Lord also contacted quite a number of other people. Within three and a half years the Lord Jesus must have contacted at least one hundred thousand people. We need to reread the four Gospels and study every gospel incident thoroughly; then we will be able to see how many people the Lord Jesus contacted while He was on the earth. We believe that He must have contacted a minimum of one hundred thousand people.
After His resurrection the Lord Jesus appeared to over five hundred brothers at one time (1 Cor. 15:6). However, it is not clear how many He fully gained. It is difficult to tell how many were gained through the miracles and wonders He performed during the three and a half years of His ministry on the earth; moreover, it is even more difficult to know how many were gained through His vivid appearance to the more than five hundred brothers after His resurrection.
Recently, I have been repeatedly considering our experience of going out to visit and baptize people. When we preach based on The Mystery of Human Life, what we speak is truthful, not false. Thus, we are able to quickly open people’s understanding and help them to be baptized into the Lord. In the past, many had the concept that preaching the gospel should be done slowly. According to their way, if we preach the gospel to a person, and he is not enlightened, we should simply wait and preach to him again the next week. If he still has not been enlightened, we should wait until the third week. Then we should go to him and lead him to pray. This is man’s way of salvation, not the biblical way. The record in the Bible shows that both through the Lord Jesus directly and in Acts people were saved in a quick way. In Acts 16:22-34 there was a jailer in Philippi who was guarding Paul and Silas. One night at about midnight, all the doors of the prison were opened. The jailer, supposing that the prisoners had escaped, was about to do away with himself. At that moment Paul called out with a loud voice and told the jailer not to harm himself because the prisoners had not escaped. The jailer then asked Paul and Silas what he must do to be saved, and they exhorted him to believe on the Lord Jesus so that he and his household would be saved. The jailer was baptized immediately that night, and not by himself but with his entire household. This shows that salvation and baptism as revealed in the Bible differ from our concept.
We do not have the assurance that every one of the thirty thousand newly baptized ones among us are truly saved, but we believe that at least two-thirds are saved. While studying how to bring them into the church life, we have received light from the Bible and have begun to consider how many people the Lord Jesus gained through His earthly ministry. We know that after His resurrection the Lord appeared to over five hundred brothers. I do not believe that the Lord Jesus appeared for only a brief moment and then quickly disappeared. He must have let them look at Him thoroughly and sufficiently. Nevertheless, it seems incredible that some may have seen the bodily-resurrected Lord Jesus, yet they were not completely gained by the Lord. In any case, I believe that of the five hundred brothers, at least one hundred must have been completely gained by the Lord.
The account at the beginning of Acts speaks of a gathering of one hundred twenty saints, including some women. All the one hundred twenty were Galileans. Perhaps some may ask whether the Lord Jesus gained other people in Jerusalem and the land of Judea. I believe that He must have gained some; however, the strange thing is that the one hundred twenty were all Galileans; no one was from another province. In the Gospels the Lord Jesus frequently traveled in Galilee, and He gained a group of people including Peter, James, and John. Out of the twelve disciples, only Judas was from the land of Judea, and he was false. The rest were genuine disciples and Galileans; they were the Lord Jesus’ true helpers. Because they were gained directly by the Lord Jesus, they were used by Him to bring the one hundred twenty saints together. This is the function of home meetings and group meetings.
I believe that people like Peter, James, and John must have had home meetings and group meetings together. Through this, the brothers and sisters in the land of Galilee were joined to one another. In the land of Judea, however, due to the lack of such a group of people who were joined and built together, not many were brought in. From this we should see that once we gain some new ones, it is not adequate to merely baptize them or even to show them the Lord Jesus’ resurrection. Rather, there must be some who join them together continually and unceasingly. Peter, James, and John were such ones. They were continually joining people, and thus the one hundred twenty were gathered together.
The light in the Bible is clear. After we have baptized some, we need to be joined to them. We should have home meetings with a believer during his first week of being saved. Then we should bring him to a group meeting. The home is a foundation to keep him; once this foundation is laid, it is difficult for him to leave. If there is a meeting in his home every week, he will spontaneously be stabilized. This is the light we have received from the Bible. Peter, James, and John were the most useful helpers of the Lord Jesus, but even they did not bring in someone from Judea or Jerusalem. All whom they gained were Galileans because they were close to the Galileans. The principle is that we bring in those whom we are close to and that we lose those whom we are not close to. While the home meetings keep people, the group meetings join people together. If we want to join people together, we need the group meetings.
After a person is saved, we not only need to have meetings with him in his home, but we should also bring him to a group meeting. Homes stabilize people, whereas group meetings join people. The Lord Jesus Himself carried out such a work. By His resurrection He strengthened those who were under His leading; however, only those who were joined together through homes and groups remained. Even though none were brought in from Judea and Jerusalem, one hundred twenty were brought in from Galilee.
Both Acts and the Epistles show the apostles’ work of building up the church. In the past we appraised their work too highly, thinking that their work was marvelous and that every church they built up seemed to be a New Jerusalem. However, while we were studying the new way and came back to the Bible to consider this matter, we discovered that the work which the apostles did was not extraordinary. According to the Epistles, the church in Philippi was an excellent church, yet Paul still spoke of two co-working sisters who were not in one accord (Phil. 4:2). Even among the co-workers today, we may not have such a condition. I believe that our co-working sisters are better than those two sisters. We do not need to write a letter to certain sisters, charging them to be in one accord and to think the same thing in the Lord, as Paul exhorted Euodias and Syntyche.
In one of his last Epistles Paul wrote that all in Asia turned away from him (2 Tim. 1:15). That turning away was not physical or geographical, because Paul was in a prison in Rome when he wrote 2 Timothy. Rome was a sea apart from Asia. Their turning away from him was in regard to the truth in the ministry; all who were in Asia rejected Paul’s ministry. This is difficult to believe.
The Lord Jesus gained five thousand and later four thousand; in Acts, on the day of Pentecost, Peter and the brothers quickly gained three thousand (2:41). However, we see from Acts that the church in Jerusalem was not that encouraging. When Paul entered Jerusalem for the last time, the leading brothers, including James, who was a pillar in the church and a leading one, said to Paul, “You observe, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews who have believed; and all are zealous for the law” (21:20). This means that thousands of believing Jews still kept the law. This statement indicates that the church in Jerusalem was nearly worthless. We know that the Jewish believers in Jerusalem, as believers in the New Testament, were in Christ, had received the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and were the church, yet they still kept the law. This word was not spoken by a little brother in the church but by the leading elder. The elders of the church in Jerusalem, according to that church’s custom of keeping of the law, persuaded Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, to also keep the law. In this matter Paul was weak.
In Romans and Galatians Paul says that the law has been abolished; in 1 Corinthians, he also says that knowledge will be rendered useless (13:8). His speaking is very clear in these three books. However, when he went to Jerusalem, due to the persuasion of James, he was softened in his heart and paid the expenses for four Nazarites to undergo the rite of purification. We know from the Old Testament that purification was a ritual that required many offerings to be presented for seven consecutive days, and the purification was not completed until the last day. Paul followed the rite accordingly, entering into the temple with the four Nazarites and giving notice of the completion of the days of the purification until the offering was offered for each one of them (Acts 21:24, 26). By the sixth of the seven days Paul must have felt inwardly pained and must have been praying for the Lord to rescue him from this temptation. He probably never imagined that he would be in such a predicament. The Lord heard his prayer, and on the seventh day, when the purification was about to be completed, the Lord did not allow the rite to continue further. A great uproar ensued, the rite of purification was interrupted, and Paul was arrested (vv. 27-33). This was a rescue to Paul. God used that arrest to deliver Paul from the great temptation of the Jewish religion.
God is the sovereign One; He brought about an uproar to preserve His servant Paul, and in His preservation, He transferred Paul from the hands of the Jews to the hands of the Romans. The Jews conspired to take Paul’s life when he was on his way to the Sanhedrin and put themselves under a curse to neither eat nor drink until they had accomplished the matter. When the son of Paul’s sister heard this, he told Paul and the commander, and Paul was rescued from that tribulation (23:12-24). Paul knew that he was born a Roman citizen (22:28), and he was acquainted with Roman law. Therefore, he told Festus, “I am standing before Caesar’s judgment seat, where I ought to be judged. I have done nothing wrong to the Jews...I appeal to Caesar” (25:10-11). He declared that Caesar should judge him; this stopped Festus from doing anything. He replied, “To Caesar you have appealed; to Caesar you shall go” (v. 12). This means that Paul could not be sent to Jerusalem, which was Jewish territory; rather, he had to be sent to Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire. It was in prison in Rome that Paul wrote the Epistles of Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and 2 Timothy. These books in the New Testament are very precious.
In terms of Paul’s work, there is much to be praised; nevertheless, in reality the result of his work is nothing like what we would have expected. Even the result of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is not as we may have imagined. At the end of Acts, we see that the fruit of Pentecost entered into Judaism. In Acts 8, apart from the apostles, all the believers were persecuted and departed from Jerusalem. These ones were not the one hundred twenty but another group of people. After this group of people were scattered, Acts does not clearly indicate how strong and prevailing the testimony became. Therefore, we should be clear and comforted that the new way is a way of labor, step by step.
Even if all the churches in Taiwan take the new way and the Lord enables us to gain twenty thousand in the first year, sixty thousand in the second year, and one hundred eighty thousand in the third year, we need to be careful, because if we have this condition, it could be called a “mushroom work.” Someone who grows mushrooms can gain a large quantity of mushrooms overnight. However, this is not the pattern for the growth in life. There is a common Chinese saying: “He who advances with haste will retreat with haste.” This means that if a certain matter advances too rapidly, it will also decline quickly. Hence, the slower we proceed with the new way, the steadier we will be. In order to obtain a long-term, permanent result, we must exert effort and spend time to proceed step by step.
The Lord Jesus was God, yet He spent three and a half years carrying out His work on the earth step by step. There were no automobiles at that time. For sure there were donkeys, but we do not know whether there were any other types of vehicles. Hence, it is likely that the Lord walked from Galilee to Jerusalem on foot. Since He traveled mostly on foot, the Lord Jesus’ work must have been very slow. Although it is recorded in the Bible that He gained four thousand at one time and five thousand at another time, in the miniature of the church life in the house of Martha and Mary, there were only three or four people in this “home meeting,” and even these three or four were not in one accord. After Pentecost there were three thousand who were in one accord (2:41, 46), but that one accord did not last long. In Acts 5:1-11 Ananias and Sapphira, his wife, tried to deceive the Holy Spirit. Then in Acts 6:1 there was a dispute over the daily dispensing, causing a conflict between the Jews who spoke Greek and the Jews who spoke Hebrew. Therefore, in the early stage of the apostles’ ministry, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that the believers received did not guarantee a good church life.
We should be comforted and see that if our work is real, it will surely produce results. Although Paul was not satisfied with his work at the time he wrote 2 Timothy, he said clearly that he knew that he was already being poured out and that the time of his departure was at hand (4:6); nevertheless, he was joyful within because he knew what he had preached and the kind of work he had done. From his Epistles, we see that Paul preached the truth, dispensed and ministered Christ to people, and established churches. He knew that this was real, so no matter how much Satan tried to destroy his work, it would last forever. We have tasted the lasting value of his work. When we read Ephesians, it is as if Paul were right in front of us. We can say that in the New Testament, Paul is the one who renders us the most help. Therefore, we should be assured that if what we do is real, it will come under Satan’s devastation; nevertheless, the more he devastates, the more the reality will be manifested, and the more we will be able to see that our work is not a work of wood, grass, and stubble but of gold, silver, and precious stones (1 Cor. 3:12), which will last forever.
We should not be discouraged. The new way is truly the right way; we must go out to preach the gospel through door-knocking. After the preaching of the gospel, we need to maintain continual contact with people; the more contact there is, the better it will be. Whether we are an elder, co-worker, or a full-time serving one, we must take the way of going out to preach the gospel, establishing the home meetings and group meetings, and establishing churches. When the number of people in a church becomes too large, the church should be divided into districts. Even if there are only one hundred people in the church, it should be divided into districts. At most, there should be fifty or sixty people in a district because it is difficult to take care of anything above this number. After dividing into districts, taking care of the saints will become more widespread. Furthermore, the opportunity for service will increase, and the members of the Body will all be able to function. This will create opportunities for the saints to serve and fulfill their function in the church life.
