Search
Scripture Reading: Acts 1:14; 2:4; 3:1; 4:17-18, 31; 5:20, 25, 28, 32, 42; 6:4; 10:9; 11:5; 12:5, 12; 13:3; 16:25; 18:11, 26; 19:8, 20; 28:23, 30-31
In chapter 1 we saw that to preach the gospel on the campuses we need the revelation of the Spirit and the Body and the experience of the Spirit and the Body. In this chapter we want to go on to see the ways that the early apostles and disciples took for the preaching of the gospel.
The book of Acts unveils to us the full preaching of the gospel. We have spent a great deal of time to discover the ways that the early apostles and disciples took to preach the gospel. After much study we found two ways plus one. The first two ways are basic, while the other is an addition, a help, to match the basic ways. The two basic ways are prayer and the word. The additional way is the homes.
The book of Acts tells us that after the Lord’s resurrection, He remained with the disciples for forty days (1:3). Then the Lord ascended into heaven (1:9; Luke 24:51). Before the Lord departed, He instructed them to wait in Jerusalem until they received the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost (Acts 1:4; Luke 24:49). Following the Lord’s ascension to the heavens, the disciples were left to wait in Jerusalem for the Spirit’s outpouring without any apparent help under the constant threat of persecution. During this waiting period, all that the disciples could do was pray (Acts 1:14).
No doubt, they prayed for the baptism in the Holy Spirit, but I also believe that they offered much prayer for the preaching of the gospel. The Spirit was poured out upon them for the purpose of preaching the gospel in a prevailing way. Before they preached, they prayed. They were not involved in discussions and plans about how to preach the gospel; they just prayed for ten days. In the Bible the number ten represents fullness or completion, especially as it relates to man. The disciples fulfilled their responsibility by praying in a complete way. From the time of the Lord’s ascension to the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit was poured out, about a hundred twenty disciples prayed in one accord for ten full days (vv. 14-15). Then they preached the gospel on the day of Pentecost in a very prevailing way.
In the Scripture Reading verses at the beginning of this chapter, two things are mainly covered—praying and preaching the word. On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit came upon the disciples after much prayer, and they were filled with the Spirit to speak the word of God. They prayed and they spoke. Even after the day of Pentecost, the disciples continued to pray and preach the word.
Acts 3:1 says that Peter and John went to pray at the ninth-hour prayer. The ninth hour is equivalent to 3:00 P.M. In Acts 10 Peter went to pray at the sixth hour, which is equivalent to noontime, prior to his receiving of the vision to go to the house of Cornelius (v. 9). These verses show that Peter and John still kept the practice of praying during the Jewish hour of prayer. According to the New Testament, we should drop the Sabbath and other Jewish rituals (Col. 2:14-17), but we should not drop the prayer hour. The Lord honored the prayer of Peter and John. When Peter and John went to the temple at the hour of prayer, the Lord honored their going with a miracle (Acts 3:6-7). Later, when Peter went up to a housetop to keep his prayer time, he received a vision of whom he had to visit (10:19-20) and of what he had to speak to them (vv. 15, 28, 33-43). I can testify that when we pray, we receive a vision concerning those whom God has selected. If we pray, we will get a vision of whom we should visit and of what we should say to them.
Acts 4 shows that the subtle enemy of God hates our preaching and our speaking of Christ. While Peter was speaking to the people after the lame man was healed, the Sanhedrin arrested, threatened, and charged him and John not to speak anything in the name of Jesus (vv. 17-18). After Peter and John were released by the Sanhedrin, they reported to the saints what the chief priests and the elders had said to them (v. 23). Then the church prayed in one accord and “they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness” (vv. 24, 31).
In an effort to stop the bold preaching of the apostles, the Sanhedrin arrested them again and threw them into prison (5:17-18). But an angel of the Lord came to the imprisoned apostles and said, “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life” (v. 20). In this verse the words this life mean the life that can never be bound. The Jewish religionists bound the apostles and put them into prison to stop their speaking. Their efforts were useless, however, because the apostles had a life that could never be bound. We have to tell people about the life that can never be bound. The opposition means nothing. We must go and speak. Eventually, the Bible says that the disciples filled Jerusalem with the word of their teaching (v. 28). I hope that all the college campuses will soon be filled up with our teaching.
In 1948 and 1949, when we were forced to leave mainland China and go to the island of Taiwan, we were very disappointed. After much prayer, however, we picked up the burden to fill the city of Taipei with the preaching of the gospel. The first thing we did was to form gospel teams. A number of the saints formed teams to parade through the streets to preach the gospel. We marched not only on Sunday but even in the evenings during the week. We marched through the main streets and small alleys to preach the gospel to everyone. We did not march in a silent way. We shouted, declared, and even wore robes with gospel slogans. There were many slogans, such as, “Jesus is the Savior,” “Jesus loves you,” “Jesus saves,” and “God so loved the world.”
Second, we printed gospel tracts and divided the city into sections. The brothers endeavored to take care of every section by filling the mailboxes with tracts and by putting the tracts on every door. Our desire was for every house to receive a tract. Within a few days, most of the people in Taipei received the good news.
Finally, we printed long posters with gospel slogans in big letters. We placed these posters at street corners, bus stations, and main streets. Wherever anyone went, the posters were there speaking to them. Because of our prayer and preaching, we had a thirtyfold increase in 1949. From 1949 to 1955 we grew from less than five hundred saints to about twenty thousand.
We did not use any gimmicks, yet on the island of Taiwan, no other Christian work was as prevailing as ours. Our preaching created a gospel atmosphere in Taipei. Brothers who are now elders and co-workers among us were saved during that time. The people talked about us wherever we went. Every Sunday afternoon the central park of Taipei was filled with people attending a concert. The concert in the park could seat three thousand people, so we preached the gospel there every Sunday afternoon and usually contacted over four or five hundred people.
We need the preaching and the speaking of the word, but first we have to pray. As Christians, we are priests and kings (1 Pet. 2:9; Rev. 1:6). When we pray, we are functioning as priests. When we preach, we are functioning as kings. As priests, we should bring people to the Lord in our prayer. We have to bring all the people on the campuses to the Lord, and if possible, pray for them by name. While it may not be possible to name every name, we can still pray, “Lord, we do not know all the names of the people on campus, but You know them. We offer them all to You according to Your knowledge.”
Prayer is also necessary to deal with the principalities and powers in the heavenly places (Eph. 6:12). Our fighting is against the evil spiritual forces in the heavenlies. Men do not reject the gospel because of its content. There is nothing offensive about the content of the gospel. The content of the gospel is good, bright, glorious, sweet, and rich. People reject the gospel because they are in the captivity of the strong man, the devil (Matt. 12:29). Before the young people go to the campuses, they must pray and bind the strong man (v. 29); otherwise, the demons will control and even frustrate their efforts to preach the gospel. The prayers of the saints will cause all the demons to tremble. We have to be one with the Lord to fight the spiritual warfare against His enemy.
Our spiritual warfare against the principalities and powers is mainly conducted through our fighting prayer. We are not wrestling with flesh and blood. We are wrestling with the principalities and powers in the heavenlies. The fallen angels and demons are working constantly to frustrate the gospel, especially on the college campuses. We must beseech the Lord to bind the strong man, Satan. In Matthew 12:29 the Lord Jesus clearly said that if the strong man is not bound, no one can plunder his house. If the saints offer adequate prayers to the Lord to bind Satan, eventually every campus will be plundered. We must pray, “Lord, we bind the fallen angels and all the demons.”
We must learn to pray continually. George Müller is a good example of someone who prayed continually. According to his autobiography, everyone for whom he prayed eventually was saved. At the time of his death, only one or two were not saved. Later, however, even they were saved. There is the need for persistence in prayer. If we pray for a short time and do not see immediate results, we may be disappointed. Instead, we should pray continually and not give up. We do not know when the people in our prayers will be saved. George Müller even prayed for one person over a period of about forty years. We also should persistently pray for our contacts and even pray for them together with other saints. The ones that we mention before the throne of the Lord, asking in His name, will be saved (John 14:13-14).
The work of preaching the gospel is not a quick, mushrooming work. It is based upon our prayer. Based upon our prayer we need to speak. Many of us in the Lord’s recovery need to learn to speak. In order to speak, however, you need the proper material. The Living Stream Ministry has published Gospel Outlines, containing two hundred sixty-six outlines for gospel messages. These outlines cover God, man, the fall, Satan, redemption, justification, and many other topics. The outlines are quite detailed. This book will provide you with something to say. You should fill yourself up with all the materials related to the truth of the gospel.
There are many gospel truths in the Bible. The apostle Paul had a great deal to speak because the Old Testament was a rich source of light and truth to him. You have to learn the truth as Paul did. When you are equipped with the truth, you will be like a doctor who has a dispensary full of medicine. When you contact a young person, you will know what medicine he needs. The medicine is the word of the truth. However, do not wait until you know everything. Start speaking right away. There is a principle in the Bible that the more you speak, the more light you will receive. I can testify that the more I speak, the more light and truth come to me.
This principle can be illustrated with a water hose. On the one hand, the hose takes in water from the faucet; on the other hand, it flows out water. When water is coming out of the hose, this means that a fresh supply of water is flowing into it. The more that we flow out the living water by speaking Christ, the more the living water flows into us. We should speak and speak. Many times I have spoken things that I only received after I started speaking. The more I spoke, the more I received. We should learn to speak based upon our prayer and to speak by faith in the Word. The Bible clearly says, “The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and are life” (John 6:63). We must believe that the words we speak are spirit and life. Everyone can speak. We should all be speakers in the church. Each one of us should say, “I am a speaker in the church.” Speaking is not the responsibility of just a few brothers. Everyone has to be a speaker.
Before we speak, however, we have to pray. We must fulfill our priestly service by praying to bring people to the Lord. We should put them on our breast and shoulders (Exo. 28:29-30), bearing them in love and in power into the presence of the Lord. After we pray in this manner, we will be authorized and filled with the word. The word is our authority to go to the people as kings. We are both priests and kings (1 Pet. 2:9; Rev. 1:6). We are priests, so we can pray for the sinners to bring them to God, and we are kings, so we can bring God to the sinners. First we bring sinners to the Lord, and then we bring the Lord to sinners. When we go to the Lord with sinners by praying, we are priests. When we come to sinners with the Lord by preaching, we are kings. As kings, our speaking has authority. People will realize that our speaking is not ordinary but weighty.
If you do not pray and speak the holy word from the Bible, your speaking will not have any weight. It will only be a light speaking. Weighty speaking comes only from prayer and the use of the holy Word. You must be filled with prayer and the word. Then you will be saturated with the word. Eventually, you will be the embodiment of the word. Our being needs to be constituted and composed with the word. The word should be in every fiber of our being. I hope the young people will be filled with the word. The word is the Spirit and the word is life (John 6:63). Only the Spirit and life are powerful. When we speak the words of spirit and life, our speaking will be like a royal edict. In this edict there will be weight, authority, and power. It would be good if each church could set aside at least one evening a week to come together to pray and learn the truth in the Word. Then everyone will be filled with the Spirit and the word.
When I was young, I read a book by Dr. R. A. Torrey entitled How to Bring Men to Christ. In the book Dr. Torrey gave verses to meet the needs of different types of people. Eventually, we found that this list of verses was inadequate to meet all the needs of the people we contacted in our gospel preaching. We needed more verses. Sometimes we needed an understanding of chapters and even of whole books of the Bible for our preaching to be effective. The preaching of many Christians may not be prevailing because they have a poor understanding of the Word. I hope that many of you will pray and gain the full knowledge of the truth to speak the word.
Without the basics of prayer and the word, our gospel preaching will be ineffective. However, we still need another practical help to make our gospel-preaching work prevailing. If we only have prayer and the word without this little help, our work will not be as effective as possible. This little additional help is the homes. The book of Acts records that the apostles preached the gospel from house to house (5:42). At the end of Acts, Paul preached the gospel in a rented dwelling, a house, not a chapel or cathedral (28:30). Before he was put into prison, Paul rented a house for the purpose of preaching and speaking the word to people. If you preach a gospel message in a cathedral, it will not be as attractive as the same message preached in your home. People who are saved in homes often become very useful to the Lord. George Müller is a good example of a useful brother who was saved in a home.
Our homes have several advantages. In America many freshmen attend college away from home. Since they are considered full-grown, they may leave home once they have graduated from high school. Many of them are lonely and homesick. If we invite them into our living rooms for a little snack or perhaps a dinner, they will feel at home, and this will open them to the Lord and the truth. Furthermore, people do not have a goal, and they are tired of their old manner of life. This situation is sovereign of the Lord. Once a young person graduates from high school, he usually begins to think about the goal and meaning of his life. Many young people today do not have a goal. They are wondering what to do and where to go. They do not have a goal in their human life. The material riches of America cannot satisfy the hearts of the young people. Therefore, we must take this opportunity to fill up the gap in their hearts with Christ. The best way to do this is by opening up our homes.
The way to open up the homes is in the Body in a coordinated way. Do not try to do it by yourself. I hope that every local church will have a good coordination. Pray, fellowship, and see if there are any homes near the campus in your locality that are available. Try to get a home close to the campus. Even if you have to pay more rent for a house close to the campus, it is worthwhile. This matter requires much fellowship.
There is also a need to fellowship concerning who will go to the campus and who will stay home to take care of practical matters such as cooking and washing dishes. The financial matters also require a good coordination. A person may have the financial ability to rent or purchase a house but not have the ability to afford food and refreshments. One brother may have a house but not much money, whereas another brother may have some money but not a house. One brother may make an offering so that snacks can be served to the seeking young ones who come to another brother’s house. We need the coordination. All the saints in each locality have to coordinate together for the gospel work on the college campuses.
If in the Lord’s sovereignty, an elderly couple gets a house close to the campus, they might need help with all the practical work around the house. If they cannot sweep, vacuum, or cook, they can still pray and eat with the new ones. Then others can help with the shopping, cooking, and dishwashing. If the saints in every locality are well coordinated, the new ones will be inspired with what they see. They will see the real social life, communal life, and family life. Our service in coordination will touch, soften, and warm up their heart to receive the living, piercing word (Heb. 4:12). Once a freshman is brought into your living room, most of the work is already done.
Suppose a locality has fifteen homes. Every home could serve at least ten to fifteen students. With just fifteen homes about two hundred students could be served. The freshmen, who have left their homes, may feel especially lonely and homesick on the weekends. Before the weekend our young people should contact them and make appointments with them. In one week they could make twenty appointments. Once the appointments have been made, there is the need for further coordination. There is the need for singing, for someone to give a short message, and for many speakers. There is enough to keep everyone busy.
Some may say that this is too much and that it would cost too much money. But if we do not spend our money in this way, how are we going to spend it? If we spend our money to gain the young people, the more we spend, the more the Lord will give. All the money and time that we spend on the church life is put into a savings account. This savings account is not in a bank but in the heavens (Phil. 4:15-19). We deposit in this account by our giving to the Lord for His interests.
If we have a burden for preaching the gospel, we must take care of three things. First, we have to pray; second, we have to speak the word; and third, we have to use our homes. We should be aggressive and active in the Spirit for the spread of the gospel. We can fill each city with our gospel tracts and speaking. We can also fill our homes up with young people. We do not need any gimmicks, but we must have two basic things—prayer and the word—with the additional help of our homes. We must follow the early apostles and disciples by taking the way of prayer, the word, and the homes for the preaching of the gospel.
