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In this chapter I would like to coach you in how to contact people and gain people for the Lord.
We are contacting people all the time. We are in contact with our relatives, our neighbors, our classmates, and our colleagues. The first thing we have to learn in our contact with people is how to discern them, to know them. We have to discern what kind of character and disposition they have. We also should know their mood and temperament at the time we are speaking to them. We need to discern whether they are happy or mad. Sometimes people will try to hide their temperament when they talk to you. If a person is too mad or too excited, it will be difficult to talk to him. This is why we need to discern a person’s situation when we talk with him.
We may realize that certain persons are too proud, too much in their mind, too philosophical, or too emotional. We may realize that others have a strong will and that whatever they think cannot be changed. Whatever they say must be followed. Our proper discernment of people will help us to reach them and have the proper contact with them. We should not let people know that we are discerning them, measuring them, and testing them. We should simply be with them in a normal way.
Although we may know someone’s character, disposition, and situation, we should never try to correct him. If you find out a certain person is emotional with a bad temper, you should be very careful not to touch his temper. If you touch his temper, you are wrong. Always say something, do something, and express something to others in a very natural way, without trying to correct them.
In addition to this, we have to learn how to trust the Lord at the very juncture we are speaking to people. We should pray inwardly, “Lord, here is this person. Lord, what should I do?” While we are praying inwardly, we should simply follow the Lord’s leading to speak something in a very natural way.
This kind of contact with people is altogether in the principle of incarnation. Incarnation is a matter of two natures — the divine nature and the human nature. Incarnation means that these two natures come together and are mingled together. When we contact people, we must practice the principle of incarnation.
The principle of the apostles’ writing of their Epistles was altogether in the principle of incarnation. Romans was written in this way. No doubt, that was a human writing. But this writing was not purely or merely of the man, Paul. Paul was writing with the Spirit. In his Epistles Paul tells us that he was the one writing to the saints. He does not say, “Thus saith the Lord...” This is the thinking of the Pentecostal movement according to the Old Testament way. This is not according to the New Testament principle of incarnation, which we all must practice.
This is why we need much preparation to make ourselves one with the indwelling Triune God. Wherever we are and wherever we go, we should be able to say that we are one with God. Whenever we speak, we should speak in the principle of incarnation. We should not speak to others by ourselves, but we should speak together with our indwelling Lord. It is our speaking, yet the Lord speaks. This is according to what the apostle Paul expresses in 1 Corinthians 7. He gives his opinion (vv. 10, 12, 40), even though he says he did not have the Lord’s commandment (v. 25). Then eventually he says, “I think that I also have the Spirit of God” (v. 40). This shows that he and God the Spirit spoke together. We should always practice this principle.
In the Old Testament the word of Jehovah came upon a prophet (Jer. 1:2; Ezek. 1:3), the prophet being simply the mouthpiece of God. But in the New Testament the Lord becomes one with His apostles, and they become one with Him; thus, the two speak together. His word becomes their word, and whatever they utter is His word. This is the principle of incarnation.
Now I would like to mention a few practical points. In contacting people, we should not start our conversation in a particular way. Rather, we should speak in a very common way. Out of our common talk we can speak something of the Lord to them.
One brother told us that he contacted a person on his job who was a young engineer. He read some footnotes to this young man out of the Recovery Version concerning the genealogy of Christ in Matthew 1. He was hoping that this young man would be attracted by the truth in Matthew 1. But when that young man realized that this brother was meeting in a local church in the Lord’s recovery, he became critical. In addition, this brother has a neighbor who is a pastor. This pastor also became critical when he found out where this brother was meeting. When you come across rejecting and criticizing cases like these, you should not be disappointed. There are many cases like these.
You have to exercise your patience. You should not argue with others. When someone says something in a negative and contending way, it is best to try to turn the subject to something else in order to calm him down and maintain your friendship with him. You need to look to the Lord for the appropriate time to speak to him about his concerns or misconceptions. The next time you spend with him may be the right time. Of course, before that time, you should pray much. You should pray for the right time to be able to speak to people. Then you can open the talk with them naturally.
If the Lord would arrange for you to have another time with this young engineer, you could change the subject from the genealogy of Christ to the book of Philippians. This young man is a Christian, and he knows today’s situation among the Christians. He is surely seeking after the Lord. Otherwise, he would not be concerned about your situation in the Lord’s recovery. With such a person you can share Philippians 1:19. This verse is a very sweet word concerning the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. This is a pleasant subject and a sweet item. You should not talk with him about the genealogy of Christ. Instead, you should just speak to him about the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
After another period of time you can share Philippians 1:21a with him. Here Paul says, “To me, to live is Christ.” Paul lived Christ so that he could magnify Christ, whether through life or through death (v. 20). This is another sweet word. If you can speak to him every two or three days and show him many pleasant things from the Scriptures, that young man’s heart will be touched and moved.
Through your prayer and speaking, you will win his trust, and he might eventually express his concerns to you again about the false rumors he has heard about us. You must learn to be wise. You should not respond by merely saying that these things are false and nonsensical. You could say, “We all know the principle of cause and effect. If there is an effect, there must be some cause. I have been listening to the ministry in the local churches for a long time, and you know that I am not foolish. How could the Lord gain such a result among us with such a rich deposit of the truth? What is the cause?” You should not say anything else to him after this. He might want you to share more with him, but you should wait for another time to speak more. We should not be in a hurry. We should not think that we have to finish our talk to gain a person in one day. A good fisherman is always very steady. If a fisherman acts too quickly, he will drive the fish away from him. A good fisherman knows that the more the fish bites at the bait, the more it gets caught.
At another time you may be able to say more. You may say, “In the past month I shared with you concerning the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ and concerning our living Christ that we might magnify Christ through life or through death. I was a Christian for years, and I never heard these truths. I did not realize that these things were in the Bible. The more I listened to the ministry in the church, the more truths in the Bible I discovered. Hundreds of people have had the same experience as I have had.” This is the way to erase the doubts in his mind from the false rumors he has heard.
In principle you should deal in the same way with the pastor. He may ask you if you have a pastor. You may respond by saying that you have many pastors and that you also are a pastor. You may say, “I am working at a job, but I am also a pastor without receiving any pay for it.” Then you may proceed to tell him about the particular new ones or saints whom you have pastored. He may go on to ask how your church is organized and how you raise funds for your church and your work. You should always exercise to answer him in an interesting way. Do not be too quick to get people.
Eventually, he might ask you if he can come to a meeting, but you should not respond to this until you feel that the time is ripe for him to come. When you realize that the time is ripe, you may tell him, “Now I will bring you to my meeting, but you have to do me a favor first. Bring me to your church to see your meeting first.” It would be best if you could go to his meeting place two or three times before bringing him to our meeting. Then you can see their practices. This will prepare you to bring him to our meeting. Then you will know how to share with him and direct him to see some things, and he can have a comparison. Such a comparison will be helpful to him. These are illustrations of how we can care for people in ministering Christ to them. We need to apply the principle of incarnation with all the people we contact.
As the members of the vital groups, we need to pay off our debt of the gospel (Rom. 1:14-15) to our relatives, who are our first inner circle, our closest circle of contacts. Many of our relatives are still not saved. We have to pray for them. Starting from today, the Lord may lead you to pray for them for six months. You do not need to pray too long. Every day after rising up, you may say, “Lord, my mother is still not saved.” This is your prayer. After work in the afternoon, when you get in the car, you may say, “Lord, my mother is still not saved.” Cry to the Lord in this way for half a year, and see what will come out.
In his autobiography George Müller tells us that he prayed for hundreds of people. Sooner or later all of these people were saved. He prayed for one person on his list for a long time, and that man was eventually saved after George Müller died. We have to believe that our concern for sinners is of the Lord. He chose and predestinated people, and now our prayer is required for their salvation. Thousands of people in our localities were chosen and predestinated by our Father God, but without any prayer, without any concern by God’s children for His chosen ones, He will not save anyone. He cannot save anyone until we pray. In principle all of us have been saved through someone’s prayer. I was saved through my sister’s prayer. We all need to pray for our relatives continually until they all are saved.
We do not need to pray long prayers. A number of us have a habit of praying long prayers with long sentences. Much of what we pray in this way is full of wasted words. The Lord desires to hear our genuine prayer, without our explanations and teachings. We should cry to the Lord in a simple and direct way for the salvation of all our relatives, one by one. This is the way to clear up our debt of the gospel with our relatives, our first circle of responsibility. Our neighbors should be considered as our second circle, and our classmates and colleagues as our third circle. The Lord told His disciples that they would be His witnesses in Jerusalem (the inner circle), in Judea (the second circle), in Samaria (the third circle), and to the uttermost parts of the earth (Acts 1:8).
This does not mean that while we are clearing up our debt of the gospel with our relatives, we do not need to contact anyone else. As we are laboring with the Lord in the gospel, He will sovereignly give us people. We should not forget the case in Acts 8 of Philip with the eunuch from Ethiopia. This eunuch was returning to his own country from his worship to God at Jerusalem, and he was reading the book of Isaiah. The Spirit led Philip to this eunuch for his salvation. That eunuch was not someone intimately related to Philip. If we are persons loving the Lord and willing to sacrifice everything for others’ salvation, the Lord will sovereignly bring us to those whom He has chosen and predestinated.
The Lord is hunting for those who will be His lovers. In order to be vital members of the vital groups, we must be lovers of the Lord. In our hearts the Lord should have the first place, the preeminence. We need to be those who live Him and who live to Him. If we are such persons, would not the Lord use us? Surely He would use us. Every day He would use us to contact people. As lovers of the Lord, we will spontaneously be concerned for others’ salvation.
We all need to be burdened to pay off our debt. Paul says in Romans 1 that he was a debtor to those who had not heard the gospel from him (vv. 14-15). Paul was endeavoring to pay his debt of the gospel. He said that he owed people the gospel. We all owe our parents, relatives, cousins, in-laws, neighbors, classmates, and colleagues. We owe the gospel to every man.
We could tell someone that we owe him something. When he asks us what we owe him, we can say, “I owe you Christ.” Then we can speak about Christ to him. If we are persons who love the Lord and who are endeavoring to pay off our debt of the gospel, the Lord will use us to bring people to Himself. We have not yet become “crazy” to such an extent. I was saved through someone who was “crazy” in this way, who loved the Lord to the uttermost. She was a young sister who was six years older than I. We must remember that the people whom we beget will be like us.
In the Lord’s recovery we are under His perfecting to make us useful members of His Body. Ephesians 4:11 and 12 tell us that He gave to His Body, the church, some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some shepherd-teachers to perfect the saints. Verse 12 says that we are being perfected unto the work of the ministry, unto the building up of the Body of Christ. Eventually, the perfected ones will do the work of the ministry just as the gifted ones do. The apostle Paul stayed in Ephesus for three years to do this perfecting work (Acts 20:31). He said that he taught publicly and from house to house (v. 20). He also said that he admonished each one with tears (v. 31). From house to house means that Paul taught in all the homes of the saints.
Because the saints in Ephesus had received Paul’s perfecting, he was able to write the marvelous Epistle of Ephesians to them. He was present with them for three years to get them prepared so that he could write that Epistle. Chapter 1 of Ephesians reveals the dispensing of the Divine Trinity and the transfusing of the ascended Christ. Chapter 2 reveals the masterpiece in God’s new creation and the creation of the new man. Chapter 3 shows us God’s eternal economy and Christ’s making His home in our hearts. Chapter 4 unveils the divine mingling and the growing in the Body of Christ. It also shows us the building up of the Body by itself and the renewing in the Spirit. Chapters 5 and 6 show us the matters of union and fighting. Our marriage union with Christ is in chapter 5, and our fighting the spiritual warfare for dealing with God’s enemy is in chapter 6. This corresponds with Revelation 19. In this chapter we see the marriage union of Christ and His bride (vv. 7-9). Right away the bride and Bridegroom become an army to fight against and defeat Antichrist and his followers (vv. 14-21). Paul could release the book of Ephesians to the saints in Ephesus because they had been prepared and perfected by spending three years in his presence.
We surely need to practice Ephesians 4:12. All our brothers and sisters in the Lord in the recovery should be perfected unto the work of the ministry, that is, unto the work of the building up of the Body of Christ. We are not merely winning souls in our preaching of the gospel. We are endeavoring to carry out Ephesians 4:12. Today God is seeking perfected ones. I hope that we would contact people and talk to people in a perfected way according to the principle of incarnation. We need to pay off our debt in the gospel in the way revealed in this chapter.
