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I. Christians being a speaking people
А. Witnesses of the living Christ
B. With the Spirit upon us and within us
II. Preaching the gospel
А. In power, in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance
B. Our power — the Triune God as the Spirit
C. With prayer, the Spirit, and boldness
D. With a deposit of the living and rich Word
E. The young saints preaching with power
III. Speaking Christ
А. To all our relatives
B. To everyone, everywhere
In the previous four lessons we have seen the essential work of the Spirit within the believers. But we know that there is the economical aspect of the Spirit as well. God's economical Spirit of power is mainly for speaking. He is the speaking Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 9:16 Paul said, "Necessity is laid upon me; for woe to me if I do not preach the gospel."
[We all have to realize that it is God's desire that we Christians should be a speaking people, and we have to try our best to fulfill His desire.]
[In Acts 1:8, the Lord Jesus told the disciples, "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the remotest part of the earth."] [Not just in our meetings, but even in our daily life, we must be people all the time speaking Christ, all the time speaking for Christ, and all the time speaking forth Christ. Whenever and wherever we open up our mouths, we speak Christ, we speak for Christ, and we speak forth Christ....A witness is a speaking one, one who only speaks things concerning the one he is testifying. We are His witnesses and we have to speak Him, speak for Him, and speak forth Him on every occasion. Even when young ones go to their grandparents, they should not speak that much concerning other things. They should speak Christ, speak for Christ, and speak forth Christ.]
[According to the principle revealed in the Scriptures, to speak God, to speak forth Christ, and to speak for Christ, surely we need the Spirit. Without the Spirit, we would not speak, and even if we would speak, we would feel shameful. When you talk about science, geography, history, or the political situation, the more you talk, the more you feel quite proud. There is no restriction or frustration in speaking about these things. But whenever you speak about Jesus, the feeling of shame follows right away. It seems hard to open up your mouth to speak about Jesus to people. Unless we have the Spirit, it is really hard for us to speak Christ. But when we are filled with the Spirit, we become crazy; we like to speak things concerning Christ to people.]
[To speak we need the Spirit. This Spirit is upon us and this Spirit is within us. Hallelujah! We were baptized in the Spirit; therefore, the Spirit is upon us. We are also drinking the Spirit; therefore, the Spirit is in us. We have the Spirit. Now we just need to exercise, to amen what the Bible says. The Bible says the Spirit is upon us. We say, "Amen." The Bible says the Spirit is within us. We say, "Amen." We do exercise such a spirit to realize that we are really in the spirit, and the Spirit is upon us and is also within us. When I speak, He is speaking in my speaking. We have to practice this all the day long. If there is no one to speak to, just speak to the angels in the air or the demons around you.]
In 1 Corinthians 2:4 Paul said, "My speech and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." In 1 Thessalonians 1:5 he said, "Our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance, even as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake."
[We all should learn that to preach the gospel we must preach in power, in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance. As we preach the gospel, we need to have the assurance that it is a saving gospel. The gospel we preach is able to save others. Before sinners can believe in the gospel, we ourselves must believe it. We must believe that the gospel is able to save sinners. The expression on the faces of the opposing ones is a lie. We must have the assurance that the gospel we are preaching can save even these opposers.]
[Actually, our power is the Triune God as the Spirit. Do you not believe that the Triune God is with us? I believe that He is with me in my speaking. When I am about to minister, I usually pray, "Lord, vindicate the fact that You are one spirit with me. Lord, I want to practice being one spirit with You. Lord, make it real that in my speaking You are one spirit with me. Lord, speak Your word in my speaking." This is the way I pray before giving a message. Therefore, I believe that while I am speaking, He is one spirit with me and that He is speaking in my speaking. This is the real power.]
[When we speak the word of God, we have to speak it with boldness. In Acts 4:31 boldness is used for the speaking of the word of God. This boldness is very much related to the Spirit, and the Spirit is related to prayer. This one verse is comprised of these three things. While they were beseeching, that is, while they were asking, petitioning, or praying to God, they were filled economically and outwardly with the Spirit of power. Through their prayer they experienced the Spirit. With the Spirit they spoke the word of God with boldness. You can see that the speaking of God's word here is involved in three things: prayer, the Spirit, and boldness. You could not have boldness without the Spirit, and you could not experience the Spirit without praying. Prayer brings us the Spirit, and the Spirit is the boldness. It is not only that the Spirit gives us boldness, but the Spirit Himself is the boldness. Sometimes we are timid because we are short of the Spirit. Because we are short of the Spirit, we do not have the boldness. Boldness always comes from the Spirit, and the Spirit comes from our prayer. These three things, prayer, the Spirit, and boldness, are all wrapped up with our speaking. We have to learn to pray that we may get the Spirit. Then we will have the boldness to speak the word of God.]
[As Christians, we are witnesses of Christ. We should speak Him, making a habit of this. When you go to visit your aunt, forget about current events in the news and speak Christ to her. Build up such a habit. You have to believe that when you speak, the Holy Spirit always follows your speaking and honors your speaking, and people will be saved. Learn to speak the living word and learn to speak the rich word. Do not say, "Auntie, you have to believe in the Lord Jesus, otherwise you will go to hell." This kind of speaking will offend people. You have to learn to speak the rich Christ. Tell your aunt that five years ago you never knew how much the Lord Jesus is to you. Tell her by listing all the rich items of Christ. You may tell her, "Now I know Christ is God's power and wisdom to me, and He is my righteousness, my sanctification, and my redemption."
If you are going to speak such a rich word you have to study 1 Corinthians 1. Learn to pick up the riches in the Word.] [You should not trust in some kind of inspiration. Suppose you have never learned English, yet you trust in spiritual inspiration to enable you to speak it. I assure you, you could be waiting until the Lord comes back, and you would still not be speaking English.]
If you cannot remember so much, you can simply read to her from the Recovery Version. Read some verses and read some of the rich footnotes that you have enjoyed. In fact, this is often better than your own speaking.
[Perhaps you would say, "Brother Lee, you have been in the Word for over fifty years. How can we be powerful in preaching the gospel if we are still young in the Lord?" Let me testify to you that even when I was young my speaking was powerful because of these three matters of prayer, the Word, and the Spirit, the anointing. This indicates that even the young saints can preach the gospel with power and impact if they trust in prayer, the Word, and the Spirit.
Young saints, you can take a portion of the Word and preach it to others. Only do not trust in any eloquence you might have. Those who are eloquent in speaking may not have any power or impact. But those who are not eloquent, and who may even mispronounce words, may have impact and power in their gospel preaching. If we trust in prayer, the Word, and the Spirit, the Lord may even use speaking with the wrong pronunciation of words to save others.]
[Dear saints, now we are in the Lord's recovery and I do believe that now is the time for the Lord to carry out His up-to-date move. All of us in the Lord's recovery have to speak Christ in our daily life to our parents, our children, our cousins, and our in-laws. We all owe so much to our relatives. Try to write a list of all the names of your relatives. Among these names maybe twenty percent are saved, and the rest are remaining in unbelief. They need your speaking. All of your relatives need the real help rendered by your speaking of Christ. Do not preach in a religious way, but speak Christ to your relatives in a living way. Speak to your father. Speak to your mother. Speak to your aunt. Speak to your uncle. Speak to your brother. Even if both you and your brother are Christians, you still need to speak one to another. Let your parents hear your speaking. Do not talk about computers, physics, or mathematics, but only Christ. He is the unique treasure! Speak about Jesus, Christ, the life-giving Spirit, the all-inclusive, processed Triune God. Your parents would marvel at such a speaking.]
[Continue to speak Christ every day. All human beings today need Christ, yet we need to speak to them. Speak in a living way, in a practical way, according to your experience of Him.] Speak at your school, [in your office, at the coffee break, at your lunch break, at least five minutes every day, five days a week, four weeks a month. At least twenty times monthly you could speak Christ to them.]
[We believe that today the Lord is the processed Spirit who dwells in us and also upon us. It does not matter whether this Spirit is sensed by us. We believe that while we are serving Him and speaking for Him, especially as we are speaking Him forth, He is with us. We have the Lord's presence within us as the anointing. Through prayer, the Word, and the Spirit, we can have true power and impact.] If we would be faithful to speak in this way, surely many of our dear friends and relatives would be brought to the Lord.
God desires that we Christians would be a speaking people. We must be a people all the time speaking Christ; we must be witnesses of the One in whom we have believed. To speak we need to have the Spirit. The Spirit is within us and upon us, and so we simply need to exercise our spirit. We get the Spirit through prayer. Then the Spirit is our power and boldness in preaching the gospel. The content of our speaking must be the living and rich Word. Even the young saints can preach with power and impact if they would trust in prayer, the Word, and the Spirit.
