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Scripture Reading: Acts 1:8; Phil. 1:5, 27
Acts 1:8 says, “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.” I would like to stress the word witnesses. Here witnesses in Greek does not refer to testimonies but to persons. You shall be My witnesses means “you shall be My living, witnessing persons.” Philippians 1:5 says, “For your fellowship unto the furtherance of the gospel from the first day until now,” and verse 27 says, “Only, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, that whether coming and seeing you or being absent, I may hear of the things concerning you, that you stand firm in one spirit, with one soul striving together along with the faith of the gospel.”
The church of Christ is on the earth today to fight the battle for the kingdom of God, that is, to subdue the enemy and to plunder his goods. His goods are souls, the sinners and people of the world. Satan has usurped this earth, especially by keeping the worldly people in his hand. First John 5:19 tells us that the whole world lies in the hand of the evil one. World, as used by the Holy Spirit in the Gospel of John and the Epistle of John, refers to the worldly people. The worldly people today are under the hand of the evil one, the usurping hand of the devil. Therefore, on the earth during the New Testament dispensation there is a real battle between God and Satan, a battle over people’s souls. To fight the battle, subdue the enemy, and set free all the souls under his usurping hand is the main purpose for the church’s being on this earth. However, we must realize that this is different from the so-called evangelizing work of Christianity. To subdue the enemy Satan and to release people from his usurping hand is one thing; to evangelize people is another thing. The word evangelize is good, but its meaning is not completely right.
For the proper church life, there are always five things that we must have in a balanced way: life, light and truth, the church, service, and ultimately the preaching of the gospel. The first item is life. We must know Christ as our inner life, take Him as our life, and experience Him as our life. This is the basic matter, the foundation.
Second, we need the truth, the knowledge, of the Scriptures to balance the inner life. This is like a train, which runs on two tracks. It is dangerous for a train to run on only one track. Two tracks are necessary for a train to run in a proper way. Likewise, we need the track of life and the track of truth. This is why we spend much time to study the Word. The Word affords and supplies us not only with the life supply but also with light. Life is within, and light is without. We pay our attention not only to life but also to light. We may also compare this to our physical body, which needs energy within and the light without. If we are full of energy within but are in darkness, we will do many things wrongly; the more we do, the more we will be wrong. If we have both the energy within and the light without, then the more we do, the better. We need life, and we need light. The light is the truth in the Scriptures. Therefore, every balanced, normal Christian must have abundant life within and must have adequate knowledge, truth, and light from the Word. This is why every one of us must be trained in and with the Word.
Third, we need the church life. In these past years we have seen many people who pay their attention to the inner life and the light of truth, but they neglect the church life. There are not only the two aspects of life and light; we also need the other three aspects: the Body, the service, and the gospel. We are members of the Body, so we need the church life. We might have abundant life and adequate light, but if we are not living in the Body, in the church, we are isolated members. An isolated member is a dead member. We may be dead because of isolation from the Body.
Fourth, we need to function, to serve, in the Body. As members of the church, we must realize what our function is and what kind of members we are. Do you have any member in your physical body which does not function? If someone’s foot does not function, it becomes a burden to him. If we do not function, we become a burden to the Body of Christ. Others have to carry us. We may even be incurably sick to such an extent that we are cut off. The Lord mentioned this kind of cutting off in John 15:6, which says, “If one does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is dried up.” To be cast out as a branch is to be cut off from the Body. We need to function, to serve.
The main item of the service in the church is the work of preaching. As the Body, what are we living here for? We are here for the purpose of fighting the battle to subdue the enemy to bring people back to God. This is not a kind of evangelizing work in Christianity. It is the testimony of the church, and all the members are the living witnesses. With these members there is a testimony, and this testimony is in the genuine preaching. The real preaching of the church is the living of the members. All the members live for this purpose. Their living is their preaching.
We have to know the Lord as our life within, we need to have adequate light from the Word, we must be in the church, and we have to function as living members in the church. In this way we become a living Body always cooperating and coordinating together in order to subdue the enemy and release the souls. To release the souls is the ultimate goal of our service. This is not merely a preaching work; this is the vital and ultimate goal of our Christian living.
For what purpose are we living here? It is to defeat the enemy and release the souls from his hand. In Matthew 12:29 the Lord said, “How can anyone enter into the house of the strong man and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will thoroughly plunder his house.” The strong man is Satan, and his goods are living persons. We have to plunder his house and release his goods; we must release the precious souls out of his hand. Again it seems that this is just the evangelizing work of Christianity. In actuality, though, it is very different. This is not merely a work; it is a living. We are living for gospel preaching.
All these words are right—evangelize, gospel, preaching—but they are inaccurately used by today’s Christianity. Christianity takes the evangelizing work simply as a work, an activity, a kind of program. The New Testament, however, shows us that gospel preaching must be a kind of living. This is our life. We are living here for this. Preaching is our life and living. Why are you living here? If you say you are living to study at college, you are wrong. As a Christian you are not living to study. Rather, you are studying for your living of preaching. Therefore, you have to preach in your school, not only by your word but also by your conduct, your living, and your work.
You have to speak. Some people say that we should not speak too much. However, you have to speak much. The more you speak the better. If you speak ten thousand words, and only one word is received by others, that is a profit. It is better than nothing. The Communists train their people to speak for their cause. However, if you study human history, you can see that preaching, or “propaganda,” was invented by the church. Do you know how the newspaper was invented? It was invented to a great extent by the Reformation. The reformers were the first to use newspapers for the purpose of preaching. Regrettably, today’s Christianity has lost this inheritance, and the enemy, the devil, and the worldly people have picked the newspaper up to utilize it. The church is far behind in this matter. We have to “propagandize”; we have to preach. Preaching is the invention of the church. We lost it, but now we have to recover it. Therefore, go out to preach.
To be a living person who preaches the gospel, you have to preach with your mouth, ears, eyes, nose, two hands, and two feet. With your two hands you have to write, and with your two feet you have to travel. We have to use our whole being for preaching. We are living preachers, not professional preachers. If you know God’s economy, then you realize that the purpose for the church’s being on this earth is preaching, and this preaching is not merely an evangelizing work. It is the living of all the living members of the Body. The whole Body, with all the living members, lives for the purpose of subduing the enemy, releasing the souls, bringing them to Christ, and building the Body with these persons as the materials.
History tells us the real situation. I have been on this earth for many years. I have been a genuine Christian for more than forty years, and I have been in this work for more than thirty-five years. Just within the past two decades I have seen many groups in the Far East, in Europe, and in this country. I speak the truth that you can never have a living group of Christians serving the Lord in an adequate way without these five aspects to balance them: life, light, the church, service, and ultimately preaching. I saw some groups that were rich in life but poor in knowledge. I also saw some groups, and I was with one of them, that were rich in knowledge. One person among them was known as a “living concordance.” They were rich in knowledge, but they were very poor in life. In the past I have known some groups that were rich both in life and in knowledge, but they were poor in the church life, so they did not last long. Some groups even proclaim that they are rich in life, rich in knowledge, and also have the church life, but they are short of gospel preaching. After five years passed, there were still the same number meeting with them, and after another five years there was no increase. They always said, “The Lord is with us. This is wonderful!” They were wonderful for ten years but still with the same people. Eventually, in their twelfth year they lost their interest and disbanded. I saw this in 1957 and again in 1963. In another example, I recently received a letter saying that a group that had been meeting for more than twenty years also lost their interest and disbanded. They said, “What are we doing here? Year after year we have the same people.”
In a family with only a wife and husband, the first five years are wonderful. Then the next five, even up to twenty years, are still wonderful. After twenty-five years, however, they will not feel very wonderful. They need some children, some “new ones.” In the same way, the church needs some new ones. In order for the church to be strong, you have to have normal deliveries, normal births. If next week fifty persons are baptized, the whole church will be on fire. On the one hand, I was happy to see several people receive the Lord in a recent gospel meeting. Some may wonder how so many people could confess the Lord Jesus in just one meeting. On the other hand, in the past I have seen one thousand people stand up to acknowledge the Lord’s name. It is good for a few people to receive the Lord, but according to my experience, this seems like two drops of water. Still, though, the brothers and sisters are excited. Some proclaim, “This is wonderful, wonderful!” However, if you would endeavor, pray, and work to bring more people in, next week you may baptize fifty, one hundred fifty, or two hundred people. Then you will be so excited that you will not care to eat. I saw this in the past. The church needs new births, new deliveries. The church needs new ones.
Whenever there is such a suggestion to preach the gospel, the spirit of all the saints responds. The Holy Spirit within the spirit of the saints honors this, because this is the purpose of God in this age on the earth. However, the church has lost sight of this matter, so now we have to recover this. We have to realize what we are doing here. Are we here only to meet together and to have a wonderful message meeting on the Lord’s Day morning and a wonderful Lord’s table meeting in the evening? Are we here to have a wonderful prayer meeting on Wednesday and a study meeting on Friday, and then do it again the next week, the next month, and the next year? There is no need for five years to pass; even within this year if you would not bring in more people, someone will eventually say that there is no need for us to come together. There will be disappointment among us.
We need the proper preaching as the very living of the church. This is not a work; it is a living. We are living here for this. We must do it not just once for our whole life; rather, it must be a regular matter. I do not like to speak much about the church in Taipei, but I can testify that after many years of building up, the church there has been brought to this normal condition. They are living there for this purpose. Day by day they are growing, day by day they are being built up, and month after month a good number of people are brought into the church.
From now on, we all have to learn that to preach the gospel is our living. It is for this very purpose that we are living here. We have to labor on people. As a student, you have to work on your classmate and your roommate. As a man working in a business, you have to work on your colleague. You have to work on your neighbors, your relatives, and the persons whom you know. This is our living. We must always live for this.
This prevailing preaching depends on life, truth, the church, and service. If you have these four items, then you will have a strong standing and a prevailing preaching. Do not think that our preaching was only in the past. Rather, that was only a start. From now on, we must take preaching as our living. Week after week, month after month, and year after year we are living here for this—to win the world for Christ and win souls for Christ. In order to do this, we have to be filled with Christ, we have to have light, we have to be in the church, and we have to be functioning members. Then we will be prevailing in our preaching.
This is the third time that I have been in this country, and I have been here for more than three years. Many Christian friends told me that I should not and cannot compare the situation here in the United States with that of Taiwan. In a sense I agree with this, but in another sense I do not agree. It depends on how much the church lives for preaching and labors for it. If we brothers and sisters all will work in this way, we will see the difference. We have seen some difference already, but I believe that this is just a small start. We have to fight the battle to create the atmosphere of gospel preaching in the church. We should let the community know that we are a group of people living here for people’s souls. I say again, this is our living. This is the basic understanding of preaching the gospel.
We should keep a record of the persons who are interested in receiving the Lord or already have made a decision for Christ. These are the materials we have to work on. This is the opportunity for us to be coordinated practically, like a team that plays ball. We have to work on these dear ones in a coordinated way. A young sister in school may have two or three classmates who have the desire to believe in Christ. For her to work with them by herself is not adequate; it will not be powerful and prevailing. She needs to coordinate with one or two other sisters. Then the three can work together on these classmates, and within two weeks they all will be saved. They will be saved thoroughly, not only to know Christ but also to know the church. In turn, these three sisters may have some relatives who also are close to believing. It may be hard for them to work with their relatives, so a brother may have to coordinate with them. When these four coordinate together, it will be easy to bring in all those relatives. To keep your relatives and friends in your own hands will be hard for you, and to keep my relatives and friends in my own hands will be hard for me. However, if we coordinate, it will be easy to fight the battle in the Body in a coordinated way.
Learn the lesson to coordinate. There is no need to be proud. To be proud is the most foolish way to do things. You may say, “I can do everything. I do not need these poor sisters to help me. I know everything from Genesis to Revelation, and I know how to save souls. I have been trained.” However, if you go to play ball by yourself without a team, how can you win the game? You need the coordination. Learn to be coordinated. Trust in the Lord, and trust in the Body. Whatever you cannot get through, bring this matter to the Body. When you cannot fight the battle, ask the brothers and sisters to come and help. Learn to ask people to come in to coordinate. Then you will see the effect. This is a spiritual law. When you throw something into the air, it falls again because of the law of gravity. You cannot get around a law. If you ask others to come in, you will be right. Try this. The devil and the evil spirits know the secret. They are not afraid of you as an individual, but if you call one or two brothers to come along with you, the evil spirits will be afraid. Always work two by two, not one by one. Learn to be coordinated together.
Two brothers can keep the records on file for the men who are new ones, and two sisters can keep the records for the women. These two brothers must be diligent. They have to read and study the records with prayer to know their situation. They may consider that a certain brother should coordinate with the one who contacted a new one. This will be a great help. Then that brother can report on his contact with the new one, and if there is a certain difficult situation, a third brother can be brought in to reinforce the other two. Now instead of two, these three will go to work on this person. Those who coordinate in this way will study the situations of the new ones. Then they may call on other brothers and sisters to coordinate with them. Do not say that you do not know how to do this. I know that you do not know how to do it, but do it by learning. It is by doing it that you learn how. If you never do it, you will never know how to do it. Take the assignment and limitation given to you. Just like a member of a ball team, you cannot say, “Don’t give me the ball.” Whether or not you are ready, the ball will come to you. You have to play, because you all are in the game. Do not say you are too busy. Learn to accept the responsibility. Then I assure you that you will receive the blessing—not only the blessing in others’ salvation, but also in your own growth of life.
The new ones who come in will bring in more new ones. The situation with the old members is too settled. Consider the fruit trees. It is not the old branches that bear the fruit; it is the new branches. This is why growers cut off the old branches; it is to produce new branches. With the new branches there is more possibility of bearing fruit. If the new ones bring in more new ones, the work of preaching will always be spreading. Then we will have a farm and a garden, something we have grown, and it will constantly produce. It is in this way, the way of the church preaching the gospel, that people will be brought in. Then after they are brought in, they will do the same thing we do in the same way. I am happy for our small start. I cannot predict how far this will go, but a living grain of wheat that falls into the earth reproduces thirty, sixty, or a hundred grains. Then the second harvest will be bigger, and the third harvest will be even bigger.
On the one hand, the responsible brothers and sisters may ask you to coordinate with certain ones, but on the other hand, there is no need for you to wait. Do not say you have not been assigned yet. Forget about this. If you have some relatives, you may right away ask another brother to help you work on them. Do not make anything a legality. There is only one legality, that is, to save people. As long as we are living here for the Lord to subdue the enemy and plunder his goods for the Lord, we are right, and we will receive the blessing.
The primary matter is not preaching; it is the building up. The primary issue of preaching the gospel is the building up of the Body; the secondary issue is the preaching itself. It is in this way that we will be built up as a building and in the Spirit be formed as an army to fight the battle. The Lord has given us a small but living start. We will see harvest after harvest; we will see many times of producing. This is a matter of life. It is not merely an activity or a movement. Rather, it is something living.
In order to be prevailing, each one of us must deal with the Lord and be dealt with by Him. You must have a thorough dealing with the Lord to consecrate yourselves once again and to claim the Lord’s richness and fullness. Day by day, whenever you contact people, you have to say, “Lord, I am a member standing on the ground of the Body.” You must not only claim the power from on high but take it. There is no need merely to claim it. Take it! It is yours. Hold it, and share in it. Every day when you are going out to contact people, have this kind of prevailing prayer. There is no need to pray behind closed doors. While you are on your way driving, you can say, “Lord, I am going out as a member on the ground of the Body. I take the power from on high by faith.” The Lord always honors faith. The more you do not have any evidence, yet still believe, the more the Lord will honor you and honor your faith. You will see the blessing of power in the result, and even you yourselves will be surprised. You will hardly be able to believe what happens.
We all have to learn to live, work, and act in faith. Before you believe, however, you have to be dealt with. Your conscience has to be cleansed and purged. You have to deal with the Lord and be dealt with by Him. If there is something accusing your conscience, faith will not work. Learn this lesson. Put all these things into practice, and you will see the results. This will produce more and more fruit.
