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In this chapter we will fellowship a few matters concerning preaching the gospel. The church has decided to hold a gospel campaign during the Chinese New Year. Gospel meetings will be held simultaneously in numerous meeting halls. Therefore, we will fellowship concerning the practice of the church preaching the gospel and the way that we have learned to preach the gospel.
Nearly twenty years ago, in 1940, we received a clear revelation from the Lord that if we want the gospel to have impact, the whole church must preach the gospel. The first time the whole church rose up to preach the gospel was during the Chinese New Year of 1940. God’s presence was with us, and the whole church preached the gospel.
Before we went out to preach the gospel, the church gathered together to fast and pray. In our prayer we touched heaven. I have attended numerous Christian prayer meetings over the past thirty years, but no meeting impressed me as much as that prayer meeting of the church. It shook the heavens and the earth. Perhaps some of the brothers and sisters here were present in that gathering. The saints fasted the whole day and came together in the evening to pray. Our prayer touched the throne of God and shook the power of Hades. We sensed this in our spirit. As a result of the prayer, everyone who participated on the first day felt the authority and power of God. We felt that God was manifested.
The saints later testified that everyone who attended the gospel meeting prostrated themselves before God. As soon as a person arrived at the meeting, he felt compelled to prostrate himself before God. This was not a physical falling down but the complete submission of a person’s will. They could not help but receive the living Savior. In the gospel meeting we showed people that Satan, the devil, is an evil power in the universe, who has usurped man and put man in bondage. Everyone is under his authority. However, there is One who can deliver man out of the devil’s hand. This One is Jesus Christ, the living Savior.
During the ten years prior to that gospel gathering, we never baptized more than fifty people in one month. But after that gathering we baptized at least one hundred twenty people every month for many months. In addition, everyone who was gained during that period experienced a dynamic salvation, and many are now serving full time in different places. This was the result of the church preaching the gospel.
Since that time we have emphasized the whole church preaching the gospel, particularly during the New Year celebration. The New Year is a time when people in the world, who are under the usurpation of Satan, indulge in all kinds of pleasures and lusts. This is the time when Satan deceives people the most. Hence, the church should rise up during this time and fight for men’s souls and for God’s name, His gospel, and His kingdom. For this reason it was almost a rule that the whole church would preach the gospel during the New Year. We did not celebrate the New Year according to the custom of the world, because we do not accept the custom of celebrating New Year.
We decided that at the end of this year, 1958, we will use the beginning of a new year to preach the gospel. Furthermore, we will not follow any of the customs of the world. The Lord has enlightened us to see that in order to fight against the authority of darkness we cannot follow the customs of the world. If we celebrate the New Year as the people in the world do, we will fall into the hand of Satan and will not be able to fight against him. Neither will we be able to capture the souls that are in his hand. Therefore, in order to fight against Satan’s authority of darkness, we must not be contaminated by worldly ways, such as the celebration of the New Year. We accept the years and months of God’s creation, but we will not be contaminated by the customs of the world. We are on God’s side to fight against Satan. While people in the world are eating, drinking, and making merry, we will pray and preach the gospel. Not only will we not eat, drink, or play as the world does, but even more, during that time we will fast. If we need to eat, our meals will be simple. We will devote all our time, energy, and strength to prayer and to invite people to gospel meetings, to lead them to salvation, to visit them, and to serve when the church preaches the gospel. All the saints will be mobilized in the gospel.
For the past ten years we have seen the special blessing by God and His presence whenever the church practiced this. This practice is not carried out by depending on a great evangelist; instead, the whole church has the priesthood. The church is a spiritual army in which everyone participates. This is the gospel preaching of the church. It does not depend solely on one person speaking from the podium. It is a matter of the church, not an individual matter. This is what Philippians 1 says. The believers in Philippi had “fellowship unto the furtherance of the gospel” (v. 5), and “in one spirit, with one soul” they were “striving together along with the faith of the gospel” (v. 27). As a result, the church in Philippi was prosperous and full of joy. The brothers and sisters who take part in the service need to receive a burden. They should not come merely to listen to the gospel but to preach the gospel. We do not go to a gospel meeting to see how others preach the gospel. We have a burden for the gospel, and we bear the “Ark” of the gospel together with the other saints. We bear the same burden together. This is a matter for the whole church.
We will now fellowship a few matters concerning preaching the gospel. When we preach the gospel, we first need to pray. Preaching the gospel is a matter of spiritual warfare. Merely preaching doctrine cannot turn a person. People do not believe in the Lord, because they are completely deceived by Satan. Even though unbelievers realize that there are benefits to believing in Jesus, they still oppose the gospel and reject the Lord. Their refusal to believe in Him is the result of Satan’s activity within them. Satan deceives, blinds, usurps, and controls men. For this reason we must pray. We must pray to touch the throne of God, rather than pray merely for a powerful message. We must pray to shake the gates of Hades, that is, to shake the authority of Satan.
We should bow our knees and pray that the Lord would shake Satan’s kingdom and men’s hearts. Instead of asking the Lord and pleading with Him, our prayer should release people’s souls. This is more than asking. We belong to Christ who is victorious; therefore, we are also victorious. The Lord Jesus said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and disciple all the nations” (Matt. 28:18-19). The Lord charged us to go and preach the gospel to all the people in the nations so that they may become the Lord’s disciples. Therefore, this is a time to exercise authority, not to cry and plead. We can exercise authority because all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to us. This authority was given to the Lord. Now the Lord has commissioned us to use this authority to deal with the authority of darkness. We should pray in this way. Every one of us should have such prayer.
When we preach the gospel, we also need to be cleansed. However, we cannot cleanse ourselves. Being cleansed means that we should go to the Lord and receive His shining, confess our sins, and ask for cleansing. If our conscience is not clean and our spirit is not fresh, we cannot preach the gospel. In order to preach the gospel, we must go to the Lord and consecrate ourselves to Him so that He can shine on us. Then we can deal with our sins and empty our entire being to clear out everything of the world inside and outside of us. Any connection with the world is a link to Satan, and if we are in communication and collaboration with the enemy, we cannot fight against him. We must cut our ties to the enemy by dealing with our sins and the world in us. Then Satan will be fearful when we pray.
Otherwise, Satan will accuse us before God when we pray. When Joshua the high priest stood before God in Zechariah 3:1-4, Satan was there also. Satan seemed to say to God, “Joshua is clothed with filthy garments.” On Joshua’s behalf, God said, “Jehovah rebuke you, Satan!...Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” God then asked the angels to remove Joshua’s filthy garments and clothe him with stately robes. Thus, Joshua could stand before God to deal with God’s enemy and lead the people to build God’s temple.
If we want to preach the gospel in a prevailing way, we should not remember other people’s souls but neglect our own soul. This is not merely to have good behavior before men. It is a matter of dealing with Satan’s usurpation within man. We preach the gospel to chase out Satan from within men. To preach the gospel is to cast out demons. In order to cast out demons, we cannot have any connection or be in collaboration with them. They must not have any ground within us. Therefore, when we pray, we must be cleansed by allowing the Lord to enlighten us, deal with us, and cleanse us from our sins.
On the night that the Lord Jesus was betrayed, Peter publicly denied the Lord with an oath and said, “I do not know the man!” (Matt. 26:71-72). Fifty days later Peter could stand in the same city of Jerusalem, preach to the Jews, and say to them that they had denied Jesus (Acts 3:13-14). The word denied in this passage is the same word used in relation to Peter when he denied the Lord. But after fifty days Peter was able to say to the Jews that they denied the Lord. If Peter did not receive the Lord’s forgiveness and have a clear conscience, he could not have spoken to the Jews in this way. Instead, he probably would have said, “I denied the Lord fifty days ago. I cannot hold you accountable for the same sin.” Peter did not say this, because he was cleansed.
Formerly, we were sinners, but if we still live in our sins and do not deal with them, we will not be able to speak. Moreover, when we speak with others concerning the gospel, our conscience will accuse us of not being qualified to preach the gospel if we are still connected to the world. Consequently, we will lack the boldness to speak strongly. In order to have a good conscience so that we can speak with boldness, we must be cleansed in the precious blood of the Lord. When our conscience is strengthened and our spirit is filled, we will be living, and our words will be fresh, even if we only say, “Jesus is our Savior,” and “Repent and believe in Jesus.” When people hear us, they will feel the power of the Holy Spirit. Hence, if we want to preach the gospel, we must deal with the Lord.
After a person is saved, he should make a list of his friends, relatives, and acquaintances who are not saved and have not heard the gospel. He should then pray for them one by one. We should all do this. Without exception, we should preach the gospel to all our friends, relatives, and neighbors. When the church preaches the gospel, the saints have an excellent opportunity to lead their friends and relatives to salvation. This is the reason that we should make a list of our friends and relatives and pray for them.
At an appropriate time we should also invite our friends, relatives, and neighbors to a gospel meeting. We can use an invitation card printed by the church or a gospel tract. We should even invite our gospel friends for a meal before the gospel meeting. Otherwise, our friends might not attend the meeting. But if we invite them to our home for a meal, we can take them to the meeting. They will not be able to make any excuses.
It is worthwhile to spend time and money on our gospel friends. If we do this, the Holy Spirit will be with us. We need to exert some effort for the gospel.
In the gospel meeting some saints should serve as ushers. When people enter the meeting hall, the first ones whom they see are the ushers. A person needs the right demeanor in every situation. In a wedding we should be joyful. People who look miserable and sad in a wedding are an insult to those who are getting married. Sometimes the ushering brothers and sisters are expressionless. They lack “the face of the gospel.” This hinders people from seeing the gospel. When we spend enough time in prayer, we will have the face of the gospel.
Before we serve as an usher, we should pray and deal with the Lord so that we are filled with the spirit of the gospel. Then there will be no need for others to teach us how to usher. We will smile, greet people, and escort them to their seats in a proper way. In everything we do, people will sense the flavor of the gospel. This is not something that we can imitate or be taught. We can have the flavor of the gospel only by being filled with the spirit of the gospel. Once we are filled with the spirit of the gospel, our face will become the face of the gospel, our greeting will become the greeting of the gospel, and our ushering will be according to the gospel. This makes people feel pleasant. They will sense a special flavor.
This flavor cannot be found in a wedding or a party. This special flavor is the Holy Spirit and is also the gospel. Every saint who ushers should have this flavor. However, they often appear cold and stern, as if they are in a court of law. This is not appropriate. The ushers have to pray until their inward being is melted by the gospel. Then they will treasure every person who comes to the meeting hall.
All the salesclerks in the shops on Heng-Yang Street in Taipei warmly welcome the customers who enter their store. This encourages people to buy things from them. Some customers who only planned to buy one thing end up buying more because of the salespeople. The ushers should also be like this in a gospel meeting. The ushers should make people feel that they must believe in Jesus. The people who see an usher with a gospel face are touched and moved inwardly, before they even hear the gospel or sing a hymn. Their heart is softened. When people see a cold and stern face, however, they feel cold within and do not want to hear the gospel or sing. An usher can wound the heart of a new one and hinder him from receiving the gospel. This is not a joking matter. We have experienced this. Therefore, the ushers need to learn to have a spirit of the gospel through thorough prayer so that they can be proper ushers.
Another service in the gospel meeting is to sit with our gospel friends. We are believers and serving ones. When we come to a gospel meeting, we should sit with our gospel friends, not with the saints. It is best for every gospel friend to have a saint sitting beside them. The saints should always sit with the gospel friends. We should look for new faces in the meeting and converse with them. Perhaps the new ones have heard the gospel many times, or maybe this is their first time. Whatever their situation, we can always render some assistance. It is not appropriate for the saints to sit together in a gospel meeting, apart from the new ones. We have to care for the gospel friends. We need to learn and be flexible.
At the beginning of the gospel meeting, we always sing a few songs. We should help the gospel friends to sing. If we sing, the gospel friend will also sing. We should not be overzealous or hasty, nor should we be indifferent to the new ones when we sing. This will cause them not to sing. This will also force the brother leading the singing to ask everyone to sing loudly.
We have to learn to be flexible and exercise our spirit when we sit with a gospel friend. We should sing when it is time to sing and be attentive to their situation. If he sings softly, we should sing softly. If he sings too softly, we should encourage him to sing a little louder. If he does not sing clearly, we can help him by singing clearly. This requires much experience. We should not think that this is a light and trivial matter.
I heard of a story thirty years ago about the American evangelist D. L. Moody that has helped me preach the gospel. Once he was speaking with a woman concerning salvation. As he began to reach a crucial point in his preaching of the gospel, it began to rain. Shortly thereafter, a sister walked into the room where he was and loudly closed her umbrella. This noise distracted the woman, and she did not receive the gospel. Mr. Moody said, “From that time until now, I have not been able to lead her to salvation.”
This can also be compared to preparing a Chinese breakfast pastry. The best pastry is crisp, puffy, full of air, and very thin. A person who is preparing these pastries must not be interrupted; otherwise, the pastry will be ruined. Preaching the gospel does not require that we shout. It is a matter of touching people’s spirit. The Spirit is gentle and cannot be rushed. When we invite a friend to hear the gospel, we should be gentle with him. Whether we usher or sit with the gospel friends, we have to be sensitive to their future.
Some saints are too zealous and anxious during the singing and prayer time. They ask the gospel friends to close their eyes or bow their head when it is time to pray. We should not force our gospel friends to do anything. If we want to bow our head and pray, it should not matter whether others bow their head or close their eyes. We should be general and not force our friends to do anything. They will be influenced by our behavior. We should give them the freedom to follow their own feeling. I once saw a brother repeatedly pat the shoulder of a gospel friend and say that he should bow his head, but it will not do any good for him to bow his head if his spirit is closed. Our behavior may even annoy him and cause him to not come to another meeting. We should be careful when we sit next to a gospel friend. We must learn to be sensitive.
We also need to consider how we listen to the message in a gospel meeting. Our behavior can distract and disturb the ones sitting next to us. Sometimes even a cough can distract them. It can cause people to lose their concentration, and they will be unable to follow the message at a crucial point. Some saints suddenly yawn or sneeze at a key moment in the message. When a gospel friend is listening attentively and the Holy Spirit is moving and operating within him, the person next to the gospel friend can suddenly stretch his legs or move his chair. This can frustrate the gospel friend from believing. Such seemingly small things can make a difference. Hence, we must be alert when we sit next to a gospel friend. While we listen to the message, we should be praying for our gospel friends.
Human beings have a social nature. If one person laughs, others are affected by the laughter, and if a person cries, others are affected. If we listen attentively in a gospel meeting, the one next to us will be affected, and if we are touched by the message, he will also be touched. This is a marvelous phenomenon.
One time in a meeting the brother sitting in front of me began to shake violently. Consequently, everyone sitting around him was affected and could not concentrate; I also could not concentrate or write down the words that were being spoken. Even if some in the meeting were touched by the message, the violent shaking caused them to lose their concentration. Hence, we should learn how to conduct ourselves in a meeting. The brothers who speak from the podium know that those who are listening can affect their speaking. A brother or sister who is consistently looking around can disrupt the speaker and cause him to lose his train of thought. This is inexplicable, but it happens. We need to learn from this.
When we listen to a gospel message, we need to be keen to sense the feeling of the gospel friends in order to see if they are touched by the message or if they may have a question that causes them to reject the message. We need to learn to observe. Our observation will help us to speak with them in order to know their situation. Suppose a gospel friend is subdued by God, and it is clear that he has no problem with the existence of God or the matter of sin. If this is his situation, we should not waste time on these matters; rather, we should lead him to the Lord. This is the reason that we need to accompany our gospel friends and sit next to them in the meeting. We need to learn this practical lesson.
At the end of a gospel meeting, sometimes the speaker asks the gospel friends to respond by standing up, raising their hand, or bowing their head to pray. Some saints think that it does not matter whether the gospel friends respond. They consider that this should depend on the Holy Spirit only. They assume that if the Holy Spirit operates, the gospel friends will respond, but if the Holy Spirit is not working, they will not respond. They think that they cannot influence their gospel friends’ response. This is not a proper attitude. However, there are also brothers and sisters who are too zealous. If a gospel friend is unwilling to stand, they push him to stand up. It may be that he was willing to stand up with a little encouragement. However, if he is pushed too much, he will become offended and not stand up. We need to be sensitive to the situation. The willingness of a gospel friend to stand up and respond has much to do with the saint sitting next to him. If we are proper, the gospel friend often will listen to us.
Toward the end of 1941 I preached the gospel in a meeting, and a middle-aged woman was in the audience. Her husband was saved and had even begun a meeting in that town. Many of his colleagues and their wives were also saved, but his wife loved the pleasures of the world and enjoyed going to movies, playing mah-jongg, and having parties. She was not happy that her husband was saved and no longer lived according to his old manner of life. Consequently, she was unwilling to believe in the Lord. When the brother invited some brothers to his home for a meal, she even served cold leftovers.
This brother and his wife lived in a dormitory provided by the Chinese Customs Office. His colleagues, who also lived in the same dormitory, invited and urged the wife to attend a gospel meeting. In the meeting all the saints were praying for her and saw the working of the Holy Spirit. She listened to the message, and when it was time to respond, she could not sit still in her seat. Her youngest daughter, who accompanied her to the meeting, helped her respond. She said to her mother, “Mom, I will stand up for you.” Eventually, the mother stood up. This example demonstrates the usefulness of sitting with gospel friends.
Not long after the wife was saved, she invited some saints to her home for a hot meal. Their household received much grace. This shows that in a gospel meeting we must learn to observe the reactions of the people whom we sit next to and respond appropriately. Everything we do should be spontaneous. If, at the appropriate time, we need to nod our head and help someone to stand up, we need to do it with grace.
The most important part of the meeting is after the gospel friends respond and the singing is concluded. This part is related to our gospel conversation. There are a few points that require our attention. First, the topic of our conversation should be focused on the message of the gospel meeting. Second, we should be sensitive to the feeling of the gospel friend. For example, if the gospel friend wants to speak about God, we should not bring up the matter of sin. I once observed a gospel friend who wanted to know about God, but the saints kept speaking about Bethlehem. This was inappropriate to that person’s need. The topic of a gospel conversation should meet the need of the gospel friend, not our interest. If he says that there is no God, we should not argue with him but help him see the truth. Furthermore, we should not be silent if he blasphemes God.
For the most part, we should avoid arguing with the gospel friends. Arguments are useless and cannot solve any problem. We should not reply to issues that stir up debate. There is no solution to these issues. Instead, we should focus on positive things and engage our friends in positive issues. We should pay attention to this.
There are several steps in a gospel conversation. We should lead people to know God and acknowledge that God exists. We should lead people to confess that Jesus Christ is God. Some people do not believe that God exists, and others believe that God exists but do not believe that Jesus Christ is God. We should also lead people to confess that they are sinners in more than a general way. We should help them feel that they have sinned and admit that they are sinners. We should also lead people to acknowledge the redemption of the cross by showing them how the Lord died on the cross and shed His blood to wash them of their sins. Furthermore, we should lead people to believe into the Lord, confess their sins, and receive the Lord Jesus as their Savior. When we follow these five steps, the gospel friend is ready to believe, and we can lead him to have a short prayer. However, we should not force him to pray. The prayer is for the gospel friend to confess his sins and receive the Lord. If he does not know how to pray, we can lead him to repeat after us. However, we should not force him to pray. We should never insist that he kneel down to pray. If the gospel friend wants to kneel down, we can kneel down with him, but if he has no such sense, he can pray while sitting. Whatever we do depends on the gospel friend’s sense.
Finally, we should lead our gospel friend to know that he is saved. This assurance of salvation, or proof of salvation, is in the Word of God. We must help him with at least one verse in the Bible so that he knows that his sins are forgiven and that he has eternal life. Hence, in our gospel conversation we need to lead people to believe in the existence of God, to believe that Jesus Christ is God, to see that man has sins, to acknowledge the redemption of the cross, and to believe and receive the Lord, which includes repentance and the confession of sins through prayer, and to have the assurance of salvation. We do not need to be legal and include all six points in every conversation. We need to be living in the application of these points.
When we speak with someone, we must first sense his feeling. For example, a gospel friend may have no problem with the existence of God and even know that Jesus is the true God. But he may not have much feeling in regard to his sins. We should help him touch his feeling concerning sins. It requires much skill to help a person touch his feeling concerning sins. We should not interrogate him and ask whether he thinks that he has no sins. Even a person who has committed a gross sin will deny it. When a person is put in a position of denying his sin out of a guilty conscience, there is no way to continue the conversation. Consequently, we need to speak wisely with others concerning sin. We can use our own experience of our attitude toward our parents as an example when we speak of sins. This will help our gospel friends touch their conscience. No matter how perfect a person is, if he considers how he has treated his parents, he will realize that he is not without blame. Even the best child in the world is short with regard to his parents. We should not condemn our gospel friends, but we should touch their conscience and leave them with no excuse. We should touch their feeling and not offend them or provoke them to anger. We can also use our thoughts as another illustration. We may say that sometimes we are covetous, and our thoughts are unclean. No matter how decent and upright a person is, he cannot claim that his thoughts are always clean. We should not begin a debate in an argumentative tone, but we should touch his feeling. We should also give him an example in our practical daily life in order to touch his feeling. Sometimes the Holy Spirit will work in him to touch his feeling. As a result, he will not only feel that he has sins but also confess his sins.
Suppose a person admits that there is God, that Jesus Christ is God, and that he has sins, but he does not sufficiently know the redemption of the Lord Jesus. We should begin to speak of the cross and lead him to know the cross. Perhaps he has no problems with the cross, and he also understands the gospel. He may agree with the gospel but not have believed in the Lord. He lacks the step of believing. He has not prostrated himself before God to confess his sins and receive God. At this time we may use an illustration and say that it is not enough to prepare a meal and admire it; we still need to eat it. In order to eat the Lord Jesus, we need to pray. We can then lead him in prayer and say to him that this is to believe in and receive the Lord Jesus.
This person now has received the Lord Jesus and also has faith. However, he does not have the assurance of his salvation. He does not know for sure that he is saved. He has confessed his sins and received the Lord Jesus as his Savior, but he does not have the assurance that his sins are forgiven or that he is saved. Hence, we should lead him to read a few verses in the Bible to show him that when a person believes in the Lord Jesus, his sins are forgiven. Once a person believes, he is saved and has eternal life. To have eternal life means that we will never perish. We can use John 10:28, which says, “I give to them eternal life, and they shall by no means perish forever.” We should be prepared with verses like this so that when the time is right, we can open the Bible and read the verses. Usually it is sufficient to use only a few verses.
Here is another example. Suppose a gospel friend feels that his sins are not forgiven. We can read 1 John 1:9, which says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Then we can ask him whether he confessed his sins. If he says that he did, we can ask him what God says about that and then have him read the verse. We can ask him again in order to help him receive the Word of God. We can also explain that since God is faithful and righteous, as soon as we confess our sins, God will forgive and cleanse us. This word in the Bible is very clear. We should believe the clear word in the Bible. This can be compared to receiving a check. An amount of money is clearly written on the check. We should believe what is written on the check. We should not hold the check in our hand and say that we do not have money. To do this means that we do not believe what is written on the check.
We should all believe the words of God in the Bible, and we must learn to lead people to receive the word in the Bible. If we exercise to do so, we will receive light and will also lead others in a positive way. We should practice conversing in this way and not wait until the end of a gospel meeting. When we visit others, we can also apply these points. We must learn not to debate with others. We should also avoid answering too many questions. We should also learn to sense where people are in the gospel. Then we can lead them step by step and level by level.
At the end of the gospel meeting we should take down the information of our gospel friends. The saints should visit the gospel friends in the following days. When we visit a gospel friend, it is best to ask another brother or sister to go with us. When we are with our gospel friend, we should let the brother or sister who accompanies us speak, and we can assist. We should also keep a record of our visitation. The record can include the response of the gospel friend and whether he is saved and baptized. If he is ready to be baptized, we can give his name to the deacons, and the church will prepare him for baptism. When he is ready to be baptized, we should speak to him the truth concerning baptism, lead him to have an interview for baptism, and help him to be baptized. He will then be a believer who is in the Triune God and in the church, and our gospel labor on him will be concluded. This person is now a brother or sister in the church and can be handed over to other saints for more edification and perfecting.
This is the general procedure of our preaching the gospel. Even though many saints have experience in this work, we can still have more study and practice. We should not depend on our zeal to invite people, to usher, to sit with others, to have a gospel conversation, or to visit the gospel friends. These matters involve much practice.
We should begin with prayer and deal with our sins. Then we need to learn every step. We need to learn to invite the gospel friends to a meal, to usher, to sit with the gospel friends in the meeting, to have a gospel conversation, to visit the gospel friends, and to lead them to baptism. For the sake of the gospel every brother and sister should learn these steps. We should devote our energy and money to this. The apostle Paul in the New Testament not only spent money and energy for the sake of others’ souls; he also spent himself (2 Cor. 12:15). This is part of the work of the building up of the church. This is also what the Old Testament says in Haggai 1:8, which says that when we go up to the mountain and bring wood and build God’s house, we please God and glorify God.
We preach the gospel so that we can gather more building material. The more we endeavor, the more material there will be. This pleases and glorifies God. May we begin with prayer and continue to learn, study, and practice.
