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Scripture Reading: John 15:16; 1 Cor. 9:19-23; 1 Thes. 2:7; John 21:15; Eph. 4:11-12
Prayer: Lord, we worship You from the depths of our being. You have gathered us together here. May You bring every one of us and the whole meeting into Your Holy of Holies. We are looking to You here, touching Your throne of grace. May we open up ourselves to You that You may have a way within us. May You also open Yourself to us that we may have a way in You. Lord, defeat Your enemy, and gain all of us. Gain our inward being, and touch the innermost part of us. May every one of us be open before You and offer You a fresh consecration that we may have a renewed revival and a fresh beginning. Lord Jesus, may You speak to the depths of our being again and touch our feelings. Gain our spirits thoroughly to be Your eternal habitation, so that we can be one spirit with You and that You can have a way to move on the earth. Lord Jesus, we love You, and we want to follow You. We desire to live for You and to live You out on earth. Lord, while we are speaking here, be one spirit with us, and speak in our speaking. Grant us the fresh words, the words that touch Your heart’s desire. Reveal to us Your own word. Lord, the enemy has no ground here. All the power of darkness is removed. May You be everything here. May all the glory go to You. Amen.
This time we want to consider practically this new way that we have arrived at through four and a half years of studying and research. After all the study and investigation, we have to admit that the four major steps in this way are all revealed in the Bible and are ordained by God, that is, (1) the begetting of people through the preaching of the gospel, (2) the nourishing of people through the home meetings, (3) the perfecting of people through the small group meetings, and (4) the building up through the prophesying in the big meetings. Thank the Lord. After these four and a half years, the church in Taipei has finally been put on the right track and is on the right way. These four steps comprise the structure of our meetings, worship, service, and living for the Lord. To put the matter in a simple way, this structure is of one kind of gospel preaching and three kinds of meetings — the home meetings, the small group meetings, and the district meetings. However, although this structure is here today, there is the urgent need to have its content enriched.
The reason we were not satisfied with the past way is that it did not afford the saints the proper development in three things: the begetting, the nourishing, and the teaching. Our way in the past was too general and too vague. Now, as long as a brother or sister has a little desire for the Lord after he or she is saved, we can lead him or her on step by step, from begetting to nourishing, and from nourishing to teaching. The teaching here is the same as the perfecting in Ephesians 4. The gifted ones are not there to do the work directly. For example, the evangelists are not there to preach the gospel directly. Their main job is to perfect the saints to do that which they are capable of doing. This is like the college professors. They do not engage directly in the trade that they are teaching. Rather, they are there in the school to perfect the students. After a few years, when the students graduate, they can do the same thing that the professors do. This is what we hope to see. But the message meetings we had in the past made everyone a passive listener. No one was perfected. We have seen from the Bible during the past few decades that every saved person is a priest, and as a result of this, we have been strongly advocating the universal priesthood, yet we have never arrived at this point.
A priest is one who offers sacrifices to God. The sacrifices offered by the Old Testament priests were the bulls and goats. The sacrifices offered by the New Testament priests are the saved persons. The strongest proof of this point is in the case of John the Baptist. He was born into a priestly family and was therefore born a priest. Moreover, he was the firstborn and the only begotten, and he should therefore have inherited the priesthood from his father. However, John the Baptist did not behave in this way. He did not live in the temple. On the contrary, he lived in the wilderness (Luke 1:80). When he came out to work, he did not kill bulls and goats for sacrifices. Rather, he called for people to repent and offered the repentant ones to God one by one (Matt. 3:1, 5-6). Hence, what John the Baptist did was a sign, showing others that the age had changed. The Old Testament age was over. The Old Testament priests have now been turned to become the New Testament priests. This can be proved from Romans 15:16. There Paul says, “That I might be a minister...to the Gentiles, a laboring priest of the gospel of God, in order that the offering of the Gentiles might be acceptable, having been sanctified in the Holy Spirit.”
Today we are all priests of the gospel. If we do not bring sinners to salvation and offer them up to God, we have forfeited our priesthood. We have seen in the past that according to God’s desire, the priesthood is not composed of a minority of people. It is not composed of one tribe, or one clan. Rather, it should include all the saints. However, those who participate in the spiritual work of helping others in knowing the truth and experiencing life are still the minority. This is why, when I came back in 1984, I brought up the matter of a change in the system. The old system has created a distinction between the clergy and the laity. This is an Old Testament situation. In the Old Testament among the Israelites, only those of the house of Aaron in the tribe of Levi were allowed to be priests. All others were not allowed to be priests. Even the Levites were only there to help in the miscellaneous chores. They were like today’s housekeepers in the meeting halls.
At this point I would like to ask how many fruit you have borne this year. These fruit are the sacrifices you offer up to God. In the old creation fruit trees bear fruit once every year. But in the new creation there is fruit-bearing every month. Each month there is the yielding of fresh fruit (Rev. 22:2). Hence, if we do not bring one person to salvation a month and offer him to God, we are not fulfilling the duty of a priest. It is not a small thing for branches not to bear fruit and for priests not to offer up sacrifices.
The Lord spoke concerning the matter of fruit-bearing in John 15. There He said, “You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and I set you that you should go forth and bear fruit” (v. 16). The word set, or appointed, here has the sense of commissioning, just like an ambassador being commissioned by a government. The Lord has commissioned us to go forth to bear fruit. If we do not bear fruit, the Lord said again, “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes it away” (v. 2). This is a very dangerous situation. It does not say here that one will not be saved if he does not bear fruit. By no means does it say that. God’s salvation is eternal. However, if a branch is cut off from the tree, it cannot enjoy the sap of the tree any longer; the fellowship with the tree is cut off. No doubt you are saved. But if you are cut off, you will not be able to enjoy the riches of the life of Christ. I say this to stir you up. Today the Lord has not returned yet. We may think that we all can take it easy. But if the Lord returns today, what will you do at the judgment seat? In Matthew 25 the Lord told the slave who did not gain any profit that such an evil and slothful slave would be cast into outer darkness where there will be gnashing of teeth (vv. 26, 30). Today, no matter how much we suffer, our labor will be only for a few decades. It cannot be compared to the suffering we would receive from the Lord’s punishment in the future. Since the Lord has chosen us and has set us to go forth to bear fruit, we must go, labor, and strive to save the sinners. Only then will we have fruit to offer to God.
How do we bear fruit by bringing people to salvation? During the past four years or more, we have practiced the visiting of people by knocking on their doors to save men through the preaching of the gospel. Strictly speaking, it is not a matter of knocking on doors. Rather, it is a matter of contacting people. To save people, we have to contact them. For example, to catch the fish, whether with a rod or with a net, we have to go to the places where there are fish. How can we not contact people when we are living in human society? Our communal life is simply a people-contacting life. First, we all have our relatives and in-laws. How many of these relatives do we have? Are they all saved? I am afraid that three-quarters of them are not saved yet. All these are the targets of our door-knocking. The Lord said in Acts 1:8 that “you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” In preaching the gospel, we work from the center to the circumference, and then to the uttermost part of the earth. Hence, you must first preach the gospel to your close relatives. Next, you should go to your cousins and in-laws. In addition, your neighbors, classmates, and colleagues are all good potential targets. There are also lots of people in the public parks on the weekends. You can stop by one of the parks and preach the gospel to someone there. The opportunity abounds everywhere. The question is whether or not we are willing to do it.
If you are to preach the gospel to your classmates, first you have to build up a reputation. When they know that you are a “Jesus-fanatic,” and that the more you speak about Jesus, the more people change; they will begin to trust in you and will gradually believe in what you preach. There was a brother who used to work in the telegraph company. He preached to others all the time. His colleagues nicknamed him “Jesus.” When he came into the office, everyone made fun of him by saying, “Hi, Jesus!” One day the telegraph company encountered a problem. There was a sum of money that needed to be entrusted to someone. Everyone agreed that it should be entrusted to “Jesus.” After all, it was “Jesus” that they trusted in. When you preach the gospel and others mock you, there may be the feeling of being ill-treated. However, others know in their heart that you are actually the reliable one.
It is so strange that when men talk about politics, the economy, or Chinese Confucianism, they become proud and loud. But when they talk about Jesus, they feel shameful; nothing seems to be able to come out of their mouths. This sense of shame is from the devil. Actually, to talk about Jesus is the most glorious matter. Do not accept the feeling from the devil. Everyone has a conscience. Everyone knows that the most reliable people on earth are those who persistently preach the gospel to them. When others begin to realize this, you can go on one step further by telling your colleagues, “You know that I am zealous for preaching the gospel. Do you have any relatives? Please introduce them to me, and make an appointment for me, so that I can go to visit them.” In this way many more will be contacted. Hence, there is no need to knock on the strangers’ doors. There are enough people we know for us to knock on their doors.
As to the preaching of the gospel to the neighbors, there is the need first to have proper conduct and a testimony among them. If you would take care of the relationship with your neighbors in a proper way, they will honor you. After this you can pay a visit to their homes and begin to preach the gospel. In this way, not only will they be saved, but they will introduce their friends to you as well. This introduction and spreading will bring a few to salvation, and the few families will become a small group. This is all very possible. The question is whether or not we are willing.
The same is true for preaching the gospel in the schools. Whether in the high schools or the colleges, the ones the students listen to the most are their own fellow students. The second group that they listen to are the teachers. The third group, which they listen to only partly, are the parents. Hence, to preach to the classmates is the easiest thing to do. The eels in the sea latch on to each others’ tails. When you catch one, a whole train follows. This is the same with the students. As long as you catch one, many will follow one after another. You may even be able to start a small group meeting within a week. This is absolutely true. I have experienced this myself.
Today there are three million people in the city of Taipei. We have too many opportunities for preaching the gospel. Hence, it is not a question of whether the gospel preaching is workable. Rather, it is a question of whether we are willing. What is your actual relationship with the Lord? Is the Lord real? Or is He not real? The Lord will come, and we will have to reckon our accounts with Him. Is this word true or not? If we believe that every word of the Bible is true, then can we say that our life today is one that we are not ashamed to give an account for? This is why Paul says, “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:16). He also says, “I am debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to foolish” (Rom. 1:14). He was a debtor of the gospel. Again he says, “Though I am free from all, I have enslaved myself to all that I might gain the more...To all men I have become all things that I might by all means save some” (1 Cor. 9:19, 22). If this is the attitude we all have today, the number of saved ones will surely increase more and more. At the same time, if we love men’s souls this way, surely we will be men of prayer. Every day we should spend some time to pray for the sinners. We should say, “Lord, look at the multitude of sinners. Lord, save them! Lord, I love You, and I love them for Your sake. Grant me to meet more sons of peace.” The Lord will answer our prayers. This is the first step, the step of begetting. Paul says to the Corinthians, “In Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel” (4:15).
As soon as a person rises up from baptism, you need to have a long time of fellowship with him. This is his first home meeting. I suggest that you talk to him about the Lord being the life-giving Spirit and being one spirit with us. You should tell him, “The Jesus whom you have believed in has become the life-giving Spirit today. Originally, He was God becoming the flesh on earth. But for the bearing of our sins, He died on the cross for us and shed His precious blood. After He died and was buried, He resurrected again after three days to become the life-giving Spirit. This Spirit is just like the air; He is everywhere. Although He cannot be touched or seen, He is more real than everything else. Everyone needs Him. Moreover, this Spirit is personified; that is, He is a person, a divine person. That is why if you call on Him today, He will enter into you. In addition, when God created us, He created us with a spirit. Not only do we have an outward body; we have a soul within also. Inside the soul there is a spirit, which is our innermost person. Today this pneumatic Lord has entered into our spirit and has regenerated our spirit, so that the two spirits are now one spirit. Now your calling and praying must be from this spirit.” Following this, you can lead him to pray. By then he may feel ashamed of himself. You can then lead him to confess his sins to the Lord. As long as a person is willing to confess his sins, everything will work out. This is like a person who has taken the wrong kind of food into the stomach. When the wrong food is vomited out and the stomach is cleared, everything will be recovered. When a person has “vomited out” all his sins, the result is the filling up of the Holy Spirit. With all these words, you have enough to talk about for the first home meeting. After this you should set up an appointment for the next meeting. Preferably, it should be within the next one or two days. The reason for this is that newborn babies need special care.
Before you go to his home the second time, you should first pray at home, and you should confess your sins thoroughly and be filled with the Holy Spirit. While you are on your way, you should sing along the way. The best song to sing is the one you taught him the last time. When he hears your singing from within his house, he will join in as soon as he greets you, and the home meeting begins. This home meeting does not begin at his home. Rather, it begins from your home. This is what we mean by being organic. After you sing a few times, you can spontaneously utter a simple prayer: “Lord, how we praise You. We are all rejoicing. Our brother is happy, and we are happy. How wonderful this is! This is Your grace to us.” There is no need for religious prayers. We have to turn our prayers into a kind of ordinary speaking.
Following that, he may open his mouth to say, “Yesterday evening I was saved. This was really marvelous. But this morning while I was rejoicing, suddenly I began to feel sad. Why is this?” This is a question that has to do with the truth. It also has to do with life. If two have come to his house, you may not necessarily be the first to answer. The other one can first answer the question: “According to my experience, when I am happy and there suddenly comes a sad feeling, often it is the Lord speaking to me that I have a problem within. You can pray to the Lord and ask Him why you are not happy. Gradually, you will be clear.” After he says this, you can add some more to show him that this is the Lord trying to point out something within. For that reason he should pray more to the Lord, so that the Lord will reveal Himself clearly to him. For example, some have cheated their companies before they believed in the Lord. They have coveted some money. Later, the Lord was shining on them and gave them a feeling toward this matter. They would then pray and would ask the Lord for strength and courage to confess the transgression and to return the money. When he obeys this way, he will feel happy. Some may have hidden away items like an image of Buddha. The Lord causes him to remember these things, and when he moves them out of his house, he will be filled with joy. This kind of fellowship has, on the one hand, the teaching of the truth and, on the other hand, the leading in life. In this way he will be helped to grow in life.
The home meeting does not need to have a set topic. A question that a new one raises can become a topic. If the new ones are not very aggressive in asking questions, you can ask them questions instead. For example, you can ask them if they have prayed in the morning. This question will bring out many more questions. As for ourselves, first, we need to have some foundation in the Bible, some edification in the truth, and we need to love the Lord and have the experience of life. Only then will we know the others’ condition, and only then will we be able to help them. We are all going on the same way. I have walked through it ahead of you. Now I am leading you on in the same way. When we go to the meeting, we are not going to a worship service. Everything has to be organic. This requires practice. What I have just spoken is not imaginary. I have experienced these things, and they have proved to be effective, powerful, and far-reaching.
After you leave the new ones, they will begin to experience something according to what you have instructed them to do. When you come back the next time, they will say, “Praise the Lord! What you told us the last time was really right. Now I feel very refreshed within.” Based on this you can go on to say something more: “This feeling of refreshment is there because the sins within you are removed. Now the Lord has the ground within you, and He can now move in you. From now on in your daily life, whatever you do, whether things great or small, you have to follow the sense of the Lord within you. This sense is the sense of the spirit and the sense of life.” In this way you have given him another lesson.
There is no need to be too legal or regimented. Everything depends on how the Holy Spirit leads. If you would visit this one in this way ten times a week, he will surely become stable. All the mothers know that the period after a child is first born is the most dangerous one. It is easy to catch diseases at that time. But after a month or two the condition will become more stable. When we help a newly baptized person to go on, the principle is the same. As soon as a person is baptized, immediately we have to feed him. This is why the Lord said to Peter, “Do you love Me?” If we do love Him, then we have to feed the lambs (John 21:15).
Not only do you have to feed a newly baptized one, but you must bring him to a nearby small group meeting as well. You need to tell him, “Christians are communal. They are not like the butterflies. Rather, they are like the bees and the sheep. Let me take you to see a group of Christians nearby.” However, by bringing him to the small group meeting, you should not let the others take over your job; you have to continue feeding and caring for him.
Concerning the small group meetings, I would first beg you to drop the all too legal practice that you have had before. The principle of attending the small group meeting is the same as that for the home meeting. You must be a person who is revived. Before you go to the meeting, you must first pray and have yourself enlivened. You must confess your sins thoroughly and be filled with the Holy Spirit completely. In this way you will be a praying, singing, and living person. The small group meeting should consist of the following five things: fellowship, prayer, mutual care, the teaching of the truth, and the guidance in life. The Chinese are traditionally taught to be quiet. But when we come to the small group meeting, the minute we see each other, we have to speak. One may say, “The Bible is wonderful. This morning I read Matthew 1. The name Jesus Christ is really sweet.” Another may say, “Yes, I also realize that Jesus Christ is wonderful. However, maybe I could share something with you. I don’t know why, but for the whole day today I have had a problem with coughing.” In this way the fellowship begins. Perhaps by that time not everyone has arrived yet. You do not have to wait for everyone to be there. Instead, you can start praying, “O Lord, remember our brother’s cough.” After the prayer perhaps one brother would say that he has a good remedy, that it is not expensive but is very effective, and that this brother can try it. This is what we mean by mutual care.
In this way, the brothers and sisters will get to know each other and will care for each other like members of the same family. This way will capture, support, and perfect people. The brother who you have invited may ask a question, “I have read the Bible, and I have listened to you speaking on justification and reconciliation. But what do all these terms mean?” Once this question is raised up, everyone will answer. After one finishes, another may add on, with more points. The older and more mature ones can speak something deeper at the end. We must build up an atmosphere where everyone answers. In this way everyone speaks and will not take up much time. Perhaps some may bring out a question, “What does the life of God mean?” Everyone begins to answer again. In the answer there is the teaching of the truth as well as the guidance in life. If throughout the fifty-two weeks of the year there is this kind of teaching week after week in the small group meetings, everyone will receive much edification in truth and life. Moreover, everyone will be able to tell others about these things. This is what we mean by an organic practice.
Those who we have begotten through the gospel are nourished in the home meetings. They are also taught in the small group meetings. This teaching is the perfecting. It is like the perfecting of a soldier in the army. First, he is taught the marches and the steps. Then, he is equipped from head to foot. Lastly, he is provided with guns and bullets. This is the perfecting described in Ephesians 4:12.
I hope that the brothers and sisters would not merely listen to these words but that you would set your mind before God to practice these points. First, we must go out to preach the gospel. Second, we must nourish the newly saved ones. Third, we must bring them to the small group meetings that they may receive the fellowship, the intercession, the care, the teaching, and the leading. To do this, we must first consecrate our time before the Lord. Every week we have to set aside two evenings. In principle, one evening is for saving people, and the other is for the small group meetings. The Lord will surely bless this kind of practice.
