Search
Scripture Reading: John 15:4-5, 16; Mark 16:15-16; Matt. 28:18-20; Gen. 3:7-9; 1 Tim. 1:15; Luke 19:5-6, 9-10; John 4:3-7; Luke 9:1-4; 10:1-6; Acts 16:13-15; Rom. 12:1; 8:4; Acts 13:52; 4:8, 31; Phil. 1:27; 2 Tim. 1:8
The focus in our practice of the new way is to go door-to-door in order to visit people and lead them to the Lord. Going door-to-door is to visit people and lead them to salvation. The Lord Jesus lived on the earth for thirty-three and a half years, of which the last three and a half years were the period of His ministry. During this time He preached the word to many, and after He was resurrected from the dead, His parting word to His disciples was, “Go therefore and disciple all the nations” (Matt. 28:19). A common characteristic of Christians is that they love to see people receive salvation. You may be zealous, indifferent, uplifted, or depressed, but as long as you are a Christian, you are filled with joy when you see someone receive salvation.
I have preached the gospel in different situations: in large meetings and in small gatherings, in meetings that were filled with excitement and in meetings that were calm and quiet. The first time I preached the gospel in a large gathering was in a basketball stadium in Taipei in 1958 with over ten thousand in attendance. Last year in Taipei we preached the gospel specifically to high-school students, with approximately fifteen thousand in attendance. Probably two-thirds of the students stood up at the end as an expression of their desire to receive the Lord.
Regardless of the occasion, a person who is saved rejoices, and those who witness his salvation also rejoice. Every believer has the desire to preach the gospel. We know that preaching the gospel is good and right, but we often have many reasons that discourage us from preaching the gospel. In truth, however, there is only one reason—our spirit is low. When our spirit is uplifted, we do not have problems, but when our spirit is low, everything poses a problem. A common excuse for not preaching the gospel is, “I am not in the mood,” or “I do not have a heart to preach the gospel.” Preaching the gospel, however, is not a matter of being in the mood or of having a heart; it is a matter of whether or not we are burning in spirit.
I have over sixty years of experience in preaching the gospel. The first time that I preached the gospel, I went by myself to the villages. I had been saved for less than a year and was not quite twenty years old, but I began preaching the gospel. I wrote a gospel tract entitled The Wonderful Way for Souls to Be Saved and printed the title in big characters on pink paper. It was very attractive. I went by myself every Lord’s Day to the villages. Although I did not have any companions, my heart was burning within me. I would leave early in the morning and walk for several hours, speaking the gospel to whomever I met. The villagers thought that I was strange and wondered why I spoke to everyone. At first they could not understand what I was saying, but they listened attentively because they felt that what I spoke was reasonable and that I was educated.
I did not have enough experience at that time, nor was there anyone who could teach me. Today we are blessed because we are being taught how to prepare for the gospel. At that time I did not know how to prepare for the gospel. Furthermore, after leading people to salvation, I did not know how to baptize them or where to baptize them. I did not have anyone to assist me. Although I walked several hours to the nearby villages, preached the gospel for the whole day, and was exhausted by the time I walked back home, there was an unspeakable joy in me. Hence, if we desire to be rejoicing Christians, we need to lead people to salvation. Once we stop leading people to salvation, our joy disappears.
The Bible reveals that the Lord has appointed and commanded us to preach the gospel. The Lord appointed us to bear fruit (John 15:16), and He commanded us to proclaim the gospel and to disciple all the nations (Matt. 28:18-20). Therefore, preaching the gospel is not of our own initiation; it is the Lord’s commission to us.
The four Gospels, particularly the Gospel of John, contain a charge from the Lord concerning the gospel. We need to be impressed deeply with this matter. The Lord said that He is the vine and that we are His branches (15:5). The branches of the vine are special. When I was young, there was a vineyard in the courtyard of our house. Vines do not have pretty flowers; a person must look closely in order to notice the flowers. Hence, they are not like peach, apricot, or apple trees. Furthermore, unlike pine trees, cypresses, and firs, vines are not for producing wood. The branches of the vine have just one purpose—bearing fruit. When the Lord Jesus spoke concerning the vine in John 15, His emphasis was on fruit-bearing.
In verse 4 the Lord said, “Abide in Me and I in you.” In order for us to abide in the Lord, we should be like branches that remain in the vine. Such branches are supplied with sap, which includes the riches of the vine’s life and nature, in order to grow. The growth of the branches has an outflow, an expression, which is the bringing forth of clusters of grapes. Strictly speaking, the word cluster is used to describe how the grapes are borne by the branches of the vine. The branches of peach trees and apple trees do not bear clusters of fruit; only vines have branches that bear fruit in clusters. A vine tree would not look nice if each branch bore only one grape. Every branch of a vine has at least a few clusters of fruit, and every vine tree has many branches. Therefore, when we look at vine trees that are growing on trellises, we notice clusters of grapes. This shows that bearing fruit is the purpose of the branches of the vine.
Our relationship with the Lord is not like the relationship between two friends, nor is it like the relationship between students and their teacher. Our relationship with the Lord is like the relationship between the branches and the vine tree. He is the vine, and we are the branches. Since we are branches, what is our purpose? The branches of the vine are not suitable to be used as wood. They cannot be used even for fuel, because they are hard to burn. When the branches of the vine become useless, they are thrown away. Hence, it is not a wonder that every branch that does not bear fruit will be taken away (v. 2). We are branches, and our responsibility is to bear fruit.
Among Christians there are two main understandings of bearing fruit. One group of Christians says that fruit in John 15 denotes moral virtues, such as patience, humility, and honoring one’s parents. Thus, to bear fruit is to live out these virtues. I agreed with this understanding when I was a young believer. Another group says that believers are branches of the Lord, who is the vine. Therefore, to bear fruit is to lead people to salvation.
Most people lean toward the first understanding, because of the tendency to explain the Bible according to one’s situation. The kind of person that we are determines the way that we understand the Bible. Even if two people were to read the same version of the Bible, they would understand it in different ways. Sisters tend to have one explanation, and brothers tend to have a different explanation. Believers tend to say that fruit-bearing denotes the virtues of our character. Such an explanation is for our convenience. This understanding means that we do not need to struggle to go forth, nor do we need to labor; instead, we can stay at home and be lazy. Such a believer may claim that he is humble and full of endurance. He may not revile when he is reviled, and he may not get angry. Therefore, he has clusters of fruit all over him. It is easy and convenient to bear this kind of fruit. However, if fruit-bearing is to lead people to salvation, we are exposed.
We need to examine our conscience before the Lord. We need to ask ourselves, “How many people have I led to salvation?” Many people have been saved for more than ten years, but they have not yet led two people to salvation. Most of us would have to confess that we have not led even one person to salvation.
An elder recently testified that he has served as an elder in the Lord’s recovery for twenty years, but he has not led one person to salvation. It is hard to believe that an elder who is among us has not brought one person to the Lord in twenty years. Another brother has been saved for many years and preaches the gospel zealously, but he has not been able to lead others to be baptized. I believe that this has been our situation.
Such a situation indicates that although the Lord has planted a vineyard here with numerous branches, there are few grapes. Some branches have only one grape, and some branches are bare; they do not have even one grape. This is our condition. We moved to Anaheim in 1974. At that time about one thousand saints from different places formed seven local churches in this area. However, there were not many new believers among us. After ten years I began to notice our barrenness and felt that this situation could not be tolerated. The churches remained, but the number of saints decreased to under a thousand. This was also the situation in the Far East. Then I woke up and realized that something is wrong; instead of bearing fruit, we are caring only for the meetings. As a result, we have become experts and professionals concerning going to meetings. Every year we meet zealously at least four times per week, but we do not bear fruit. In October of 1984 I realized that we can no longer take this way. Hence, I went back to the Bible to find out what the Bible says about fruit-bearing and to understand why we were not bearing fruit.
If we take a deeper look at John 15, we will see that fruit-bearing does not denote the virtues in the believers’ living, because in verse 16 the Lord Jesus said, “I set you that you should go forth and bear fruit.” Some versions of the New Testament translate go forth as “go,” but according to the Greek text, the proper translation is “go forth.” Go forth implies a geographical distance. To bear the fruit of virtues in our living does not require us to go forth. We can stay at home and be meek. If everyone is trying to push forward, but I yield and withdraw, I am being humble and expressing more virtues. If it is merely a matter of bearing fruit, it can be explained as bearing the fruit of virtues in our living. However, the Lord Jesus said, “I set you that you should go forth and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain.” This refers to the need of the branches in the vine to bear grapes, that is, our need to lead people to be saved. Preaching the gospel is not merely to proclaim and explain the truth; rather, preaching the gospel is the issue of the outflow of life. Furthermore, we do not ask people to come to us; rather, we need to go forth, to approach them. Approaching people is for saving them; without our going forth to people, we cannot save them. This was why the Lord Jesus said that we need to go forth and bear fruit. Bearing fruit is a divine mandate, and it is our destiny because we are branches. Branches in the vine must bear fruit. In order to bear fruit, we must go forth.
In Mark 16:15 the Lord charged the disciples to “go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to all the creation.” This verse says to preach the gospel to all the creation, not only to all people. The Lord seemed to be saying, “The gospel should be proclaimed everywhere. Not only human beings need to hear the gospel; all creation needs to hear the gospel.” This is how we should preach the gospel. Many years ago I used to say that we should preach the gospel every day and that if we cannot find a human being, we should preach to the cats and dogs. I was not confident when I said this, because I did not yet understand the Lord’s word in Mark 16. However, I now have the confidence to say that if we can preach the gospel to cats and dogs, we can surely preach the gospel to human beings. If we cannot find any cats or dogs, we can preach the gospel to the furniture in our home. I have never preached the gospel to a pine tree, but I have often preached to the ocean. I learned to preach the gospel by speaking to the ocean, because in my early days of serving the Lord I had a hard time speaking in front of people. If we would preach the gospel to creation, we will surely have a desire to preach the gospel to people in order to lead them to be baptized so that they may be saved.
In Matthew 28:18-19 the Lord said to the disciples, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” The Lord has commissioned us to go forth; hence, we must obey. The Lord’s word here indicates that we should go and disciple the nations with His authority. In order to disciple the nations, we need authority so that they can be baptized into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, that is, into the Triune God. We must accept this clear and solemn charge.
As branches of the vine, our destiny is to go forth and bear fruit. As far as the Lord is concerned, He has commissioned us to proclaim the gospel to the nations, to disciple them, and to baptize them into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. If we cannot find any human beings, we should proclaim the gospel to creation. Of course, if we were not Christians, if we were not saved, we would not be held accountable to the Lord for not preaching the gospel. However, since we are saved, we cannot resign from preaching the gospel. One day we will meet the Lord and give Him an explanation. On the one hand, preaching the gospel is something that we must do in our Christian life; we do not have any excuses. On the other hand, we love to preach the gospel because it gives us joy. I hope that after this fellowship we will not neglect preaching the gospel.
The Bible reveals the Lord’s way to preach the gospel. Christianity has been on the earth for two thousand years and has been brought to every country in the world. There are now numerous Christian groups and many different ways to preach the gospel. I was brought into Christianity when I was a young boy, and I saw many ways of gospel preaching. After I left mainland China and moved overseas, I heard that a certain Christian group would preach the gospel to people by playing a game of basketball for them. I will not criticize this, because it is a method of gospel preaching. However, the Bible is not silent concerning how we should preach the gospel. The Bible reveals that there is a definite way to preach the gospel, which was the Lord’s practice. Since the Lord appointed and commanded us to preach the gospel, He must have a way. He does not require us to discover a way to preach the gospel. Regrettably, Christianity has changed numerous things in the Bible, including the way to preach the gospel.
For decades I have been studying the Lord’s way to preach the gospel. While reconsidering this matter, I discovered new light that I had not seen previously. Immediately after man’s fall, God came to visit man. After Adam and Eve fell, they sewed fig leaves together to cover their shame, their sin (Gen. 3:7). Then God came to them and called Adam, saying, “Where are you?” (v. 9). The first time that the gospel was preached in the universe, God came to where the sinner was; the sinner did not go to where God was. Of course, God needs sinners to approach Him, but He first approaches a sinner so that the sinner can approach Him.
Four thousand years later, the God who personally visited fallen Adam not only visited mankind but even entered into humanity by putting on the flesh and becoming a man in order to dwell among men for thirty-three and a half years (John 1:1, 14). The Bible says, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Tim. 1:15), and “the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which is lost” (Luke 19:10). The first step in His coming is to seek those who are lost, and the second step is to save them. Every unbeliever is lost, and the Lord wants to come to where they are to seek and save them. This may be likened to a shepherd seeking the sheep that have strayed off and bringing them back to the flock.
The Lord Jesus was qualified to carry out His ministry when He was thirty years old; hence, He went forth to work. The main thing that He did was to proclaim the gospel by going to people instead of asking them to come to Him. He went time after time. Luke 19 and John 4 are two examples of the Lord going forth to preach the gospel. In Luke 19 the Lord Jesus was passing through Jericho, and Zaccheus wanted to see Him. Due to his small stature, Zaccheus climbed up in a sycamore tree, and when the Lord Jesus noticed Zaccheus, He said to him, “Today I must stay in your house” (v. 5). The Lord did not consider it enough to see Zaccheus; He wanted to visit Zaccheus in his house. In John 4 the Lord Jesus had to pass through Samaria and went to Sychar, where He waited by Jacob’s well for an immoral woman to come draw water from the well. The Lord Jesus used this opportunity to preach the gospel to her. This shows that the Lord’s way was not to invite people to come and listen to the gospel but to go to where people were and preach the gospel to them.
The Lord Jesus was not the only one with this practice; He also asked the disciples to do the same. He first sent out twelve disciples to go two by two (Matt. 10:1-4; Mark 6:7), and He also sent out seventy disciples two by two (Luke 10:1). When He sent them, He said, “Go; behold, I send you as lambs in the midst of wolves...Into whatever house you enter, first say, Peace to this house. And if a son of peace is there, your peace shall rest upon it; but if not, it shall return upon you” (vv. 3, 5-6). The Lord sent the disciples as lambs in the midst of wolves, and as they went from house to house, they would eventually find the sons of peace. The disciples were sheep in the midst of wolves, but there were sons of peace among the wolves. When we go to knock on doors, people may slam the door in rejection or speak evilly of us. But one of the houses we visit will be the home of sons of peace, and we may gain three persons there. This may seem unbelievable, but it is our experience.
In the four Gospels the Lord Jesus preached the gospel by going to visit people. In Acts the apostles had the same practice. Paul did not practice what most preachers do today. He did not go to a locality and build a place for holding church meetings and then invite people to come and listen to his sermons. In Philippi he went to a place of prayer outside the gate by the river in order to visit the seekers of God who had gathered to pray (16:13). Building a place for meetings and inviting people to hear the gospel is troublesome, requires a great deal of preparation, and involves a large number of people. In contrast, it was very convenient for Paul to find people by the river. This can be compared to our going out to knock on doors. If we move to a new place, we can go out the next day to knock on doors and baptize people. This is the example that Paul left for us.
An elder in a church went to the training in Taipei and learned how to go door-knocking, and he became “addicted.” Now he eagerly waits for the evening so that he can go out to knock on doors and baptize people. He has even considered moving to Taipei because it is easier to knock on doors there. Sometimes after knocking on one door, you can baptize two people, and after knocking on another door, you can baptize three more people. Some saints were able to baptize twenty people in one night. The saints have also encountered negative situations, such as being rejected, reviled, and spurned and having the door slammed in their face. However, the Lord did not say that He sent the disciples out in the midst of gentlemen; He sends us into the midst of wolves (Luke 10:3). Hence, we should not be bothered, because the Lord has warned us beforehand.
Christianity does not seek out the sons of peace. Formerly, we made this same serious mistake: we asked people to come to us for the gospel; we did not go to them. We built large meeting halls, invited someone who was eloquent, burdened, and competent to speak the gospel, and invited people to come and listen. We exerted much effort to invite guests by putting advertisements in newspapers and distributing tracts and invitations everywhere. In the early days there were not many cars in Taiwan, so we would hire pedicabs to bring people to the gospel meeting. When cars became popular, we hired taxis to bring people to the meeting. Those who were willing to come seemed to be doing us a great honor. Sometimes we also prepared a love feast and invited over a hundred people, but only ten would show up, and perhaps one or two would be baptized.
When we began the work in Taiwan, we told the saints to bring people to the gospel meetings. Sometimes six or seven hundred people were brought to the meetings, and up to two hundred would be baptized. We were even able to baptize over seven hundred people in one meeting. We brought forth many children, but in the end they “died” prematurely. Our mistake was that we were asking people to come to us, but the Bible says that we must go. It is difficult to invite people to come, but it is very easy to go to people where they are. This is confirmed by our experience.
In America there are restaurants that take orders by phone and then deliver the food to the customers. I was once in a place that had few hospitals. People there did not need to find a nurse or a doctor if they needed an injection. There was a person who rode a bicycle with the sign Injections in Your Home; he was willing to go to a home to take care of people. Based on this example, I would ask, “Should we not be willing to go to people’s homes to preach the gospel?” I have discovered that the proper way to preach the gospel is to go to people’s homes. John 4:35 says that the fields “are already white for harvest,” and Matthew 9:37 says, “The harvest is great, but the workers few.” There is harvest everywhere that is ready to be reaped, but we are still distributing invitations that ask the harvest to come to us. Eventually, no one will come. We need to go and reap the harvest.
I have good news to announce to you. From the second half of 1986 to the end of 1987, we held three terms of full-time training in Taipei. The trainees were required to go out door-knocking and to visit people, and they went “from house to house” (Acts 5:42). They knocked on approximately seven hundred fifty thousand doors and baptized forty thousand people. Through this we gained experience and learned that door-knocking works and is very effective. We have also learned that we should not baptize too many people in one evening, because we cannot take care of them. This can be compared to giving birth to too many children and not being able to give them proper care. I believe that only a few of those whom we baptized are not clear about their salvation. Without proper care some might lose contact with us after a few years, and they will stop meeting. However, they will not forget that they called on the Lord’s name, were baptized, and are believers in the Lord. Once a person is saved, he is saved eternally.
The proper way to preach the gospel as revealed in the Bible is to go and visit people. The question is whether we are willing to go. We need to ask ourselves whether we are saved, whether we belong to the Lord, whether we love Him, and whether we want to meet Him at His return. Since the answers to all these questions are affirmative, what will we tell the Lord at His return concerning His commission to us to preach the gospel?
Hence, we must have a new beginning to live a normal life before the Lord. We must not continue to live the way that we did in the past. At that time we knew that we needed to preach the gospel, but because we lacked enthusiasm and our spirit was low, we needed the gifted ones to stir us up. We no longer need to be stirred up; we only need to breathe. It is easier for us to breathe on our own than it is for us to be stirred up. Do not expect me to lead a revival meeting; I do not have such a burden. We need to live a normal life. A person cannot become strong and healthy in one day. The way to be healthy is to live a normal, regular life. Preaching the gospel is a normal item in the spiritual life of a Christian. It is not a special act.
In order to have a normal spiritual life, we must first tell the Lord that we desire to live a life of preaching the gospel. People do not work seven days a week. In the United States people work only five days a week. If we are willing to preach the gospel, we have to consecrate ourselves to the Lord and set aside a little time to knock on doors every week. We simply need to be persistent. Furthermore, we must deal with the Lord before we go out. Strictly speaking, we should not wait until we are about to go out before we deal with the Lord. We should fellowship with the Lord and let Him deal with us daily. Before going out we should have further dealings with the Lord. Without sufficient prayer and dealings, we will not be filled with the Holy Spirit, and as a result, people will not open their hearts to us. When we have proper dealings with the Lord, people will open their doors and their hearts to us. Moreover, the Holy Spirit will be one with our speaking.
I can say assuredly that if we would practice going out once a week to preach the gospel, we would gain four people a year; we would lead them to salvation and meet with them once a week. Whether we would lead four people to be baptized within one week or would need to spend two months in order to gain them, we should not become self-satisfied or conceited to think that we can lead several more people to be baptized. According to the parable of the sower, many people will hear the gospel, but it will not bear fruit in everyone. Hence, we may gain six or seven people, but two or three of them might not remain. Whatever the case may be, we will gain at least four people every year if we practice this fellowship.
Every successful person does things in a normal, regular manner. A student who studies only when he is happy will never be able to obtain a doctorate degree. In order to be a successful student, a person must have a plan and regularly spend a substantial amount of time to study. Instead of studying until he is exhausted, he should study a little and rest a little. I hope that we will learn to preach the gospel in this way.
We love the Lord, but we did not receive definite help concerning preaching the gospel. The first time I went to the Philippines, I helped the saints determine how many people they would bring to the Lord within a year. Most of the saints promised to bring one person. However, the situation in the Philippines, Taiwan, and the United States is the same: everyone makes a resolution to bring one person to the Lord every year, but in the end, not one church has had success in this matter. I later realized that although I led the saints to preach the gospel, I did not give them a definite way to practice.
It is not difficult to preach the gospel, because it depends on our living. In order to preach the gospel, we first need to be revived; otherwise, our spirit will not be strong.
After being revived, we need to live an overcoming life. Some people think that it is difficult to overcome. To live an overcoming life is to walk according to the spirit. When we get up every morning, we should first think of the Lord and call on His name and then spend ten minutes to read two verses and pray over them. By praying over the verses, we will be supplied with spiritual air, water, and bread. This is a good way to begin our morning. We also need to walk according to the spirit during the day. This is the way to have an overcoming living.
Without a good beginning we will not be able to overcome in our homes when dealing with our spouse or children, nor will we be able to overcome in our dealings with those outside our home. We might overcome gross sins, but we will fail in the trivial matters of our daily living. A brother might give his wife a rude stare when she says something inappropriate. This kind of response is of the devil. Some might even throw their chopsticks, shout abusively, or refuse to eat dinner. When we lack fellowship with the Lord and do not walk according to the spirit or live in the spirit, being rude or getting angry becomes our living. But if we have fellowship with the Lord and walk according to the spirit, we will not be able to stare rudely. When we live in the spirit, the Lord will not permit us to look at others’ shortcomings. He will cause us to look first at ourselves.
It is simple for Christians to live an overcoming life. I have been a Christian for more than sixty years. In my early years the books I read said that it is difficult to overcome and that we must endeavor, pray desperately, and fast repeatedly. But after I began pursuing and experiencing life, I realized that the authors of those books were blind guides leading people to walk blindly. Now I can say that overcoming is not difficult; it depends on whether or not we want to overcome. Suppose a person has been ill for many years, and there is now medicine that can heal his illness. If he wants the medicine and takes it, he will immediately be healed. The medicine will not heal him if he merely studies its content without taking it. As long as he will take the medicine, it will work even if he does not know what it is.
In an earlier chapter I pointed out that regeneration, the inward filling of the Holy Spirit, and the outward filling of the Holy Spirit are miraculously normal things. An overcoming life is also miraculously normal. The question is whether or not we want to live such a life. Perhaps some would say, “We want to, but we do not understand it. We will accept it after we understand.” There is no need to wait or to understand. On the day that Jesus went to Jericho, Zaccheus did not know who Jesus was. Zaccheus may have heard people saying that Jesus was good and therefore wanted to see Him. Thus, there is no need to understand; all that is required is that we receive.
As long as we are willing to practice according to this fellowship, we will overcome. Every morning we need to call, “Lord Jesus.” It is not difficult to call on the name of the Lord. The Lord has done all the difficult work; He was crucified, bore our sins, and accomplished redemption for us. He was buried in the tomb, entered into Hades, and walked out of Hades for us. He also resurrected and ascended into heaven for us. He has accomplished this for us. He is the processed Triune God consummated as the life-giving Spirit. The God who created the heavens and the earth in Genesis 1:1 became breath in John 20. The Lord Jesus breathed into the disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit” (v. 22). This indicates that the Lord is the Spirit. Therefore, 1 Corinthians 15:45b says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” As the last Adam, the Lord became a life-giving Spirit through the processes of incarnation, death, and resurrection. This life-giving Spirit is just like air. Hence, we can call on Him and breathe Him in, that is, receive Him. Romans 10:13 says, “Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved,” and verse 12 says that the Lord is “rich to all who call upon Him.” When we call on Him, we are saved, and we enjoy Him.
If we would practice calling on the Lord in our daily living, we would live an overcoming life, and we would walk according to the spirit in all things, whether great or small. Our being happy because our spouse is rejoicing should be according to the spirit, and our being unhappy because our spouse is not rejoicing should also be according to the spirit. This is an overcoming life.
The Lord has appointed us to bear fruit, and our destiny is to bear fruit. Living an overcoming life is the means for us to bear fruit. Our living must be to go forth to bear fruit. If we do not visit our neighbors and preach the gospel to them, we are indebted to them (1 Cor. 9:16; Rom. 1:14). We do not have any excuse. We also need to spread the gospel gradually to surrounding areas. This is a long-term matter. We cannot depend on so-called Christian revivals.
None of the revivals in Christianity has lasted for a long period. The most famous revival was the great Welsh Revival, which began around 1905. This revival was so prevailing that there was hardly an unsaved person in Wales during this time. However, that revival did not last longer than fifteen years. Today Wales is like any other heathen country. So-called revivals do not last. The revival that I am referring to in this fellowship is the revival that comes from fellowship with the Lord daily by drawing near to Him, walking according to the spirit daily, and living an overcoming life daily. Such a revival will last.
We need to be specific and set apart two to three hours every week to go out door-to-door to visit people. If we are willing to practice this, I can guarantee that we will gain four people in one year, and they will be reliable. According to the principle in Matthew 13, even if only one out of four persons is reliable, the church will increase onefold yearly. Because some saints are elderly, some are sick, and some have other situations, only half the saints in a locality might be able to go out and knock on doors to visit people. Perhaps only one-fourth of the saints can go out. We cannot increase if no one is willing to go out. However, if we are willing to take this way, the church will have a fifty percent rate of increase. This means that if there are one hundred people meeting today, next year there will be one hundred fifty, and the third year there will be two hundred twenty-five. In this way the whole world can be saved in twenty-five to thirty years.
The problem is not on the Lord’s side but on our side. It depends on whether or not we are willing. The truth in the Lord’s recovery is very clear, and our way is also clear. The question is whether or not we would cooperate with the Lord. This is not a short-term revival or a gospel festival. The human life does not depend on festivals. Although festivals are good and are an encouragement, for the long run we need to live a normal life. Our practice must not depend on festivals, because when the feasts are over, everything ends. We must continue steadfastly, just as we live our daily life.
Recently during the gospel festival in the churches in the San Gabriel Valley, over one hundred thirty people came from the church in San Francisco and were revived. I hope that such a revival will continue. However, after we are revived, we should not try to go out to knock on doors and gain twenty people in one day. It is more than enough if we gain one person per week. There are fifty-two weeks in a year. If we go out weekly to knock on doors, we will gain people, and we should begin to take care of them every week. This is the way for the church to have at least a fifty percent rate of increase. Moreover, those who are added to the church will not be unreliable; rather, they will stand firm. After two years these new ones will also be able to go out and knock on doors to lead others to be saved. This is the definite way to practice preaching the gospel.
