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Scripture Reading: Luke 18:16-17; Acts 26:13-19; Num. 14:29-31
In whatever a person does, the most important thing is to have a heart. Without a heart, a person will not want to do anything, and even if he does something, he will not be enthusiastic in doing it. Of course, this is also true with the young people’s work. If you want to do this work, you must like the young people, care for them, and be concerned about their affairs. This may be considered the minimum “capital” required for the young people’s work. If you have no interest in the young people and have no heart for them, doing the young people’s work only out of reluctance, then it is useless.
Sometimes our heart may arise from our preference. When we like something, naturally we will have a heart to do it. Sometimes the heart we have may come from our knowledge. When we see the importance and value of a certain matter, we will spontaneously have a heart for it. According to my observation of the real situation among us concerning the young people’s work, I see that some brothers and sisters are doing it out of their preference. Because they are naturally inclined to the young people and they enjoy contacting the young people, they come to do the young people’s work. We cannot say that this is wrong. We have to admit that no matter how much grace we have received and how great the spirituality we possess, we are still human—we still have the part that is human. But here we have to say that it is not weighty enough to do the young people’s work with such a heart. If we truly want to do the young people’s work, and do it in a weighty manner, we must let God open our eyes to see the preciousness of the young people and their importance in God’s hands. If we see this, we will appreciate this work, and spontaneously we will have a heart within us for it. (How to Lead the Young People, pp. 1-3)
When God changes His attitude toward a certain matter, He makes a dispensational move. Every dispensational move brings in God’s new way. His most important dispensational move is in Revelation 12. He wants to end this age and bring in the age of the kingdom. His purpose is not general and ordinary. How can He bring this age to a close and bring in another? He must have His dispensational instrument. This is what God wants to do today.
The rapture of the man-child brings an end to the church age and introduces the kingdom age. The man-child enables God to move. If there is not a man-child and a rapture, God cannot make a dispensational move. We should never forget that God can be limited. He waits for man in all of His moves. God’s binding in heaven is based on our binding on earth; God’s loosing in heaven is based on our loosing on earth. Everything depends on the church.
It is God’s desire that created beings would deal with fallen created beings. According to His purpose, the whole church should deal with Satan; however, the church has failed. Therefore, there is the need for the overcomers to rise up. God’s purpose is fulfilled in the overcomers because they work with Him. We can see the principle of the overcomers throughout the Word of God. God always lays hold of a group of overcomers to make a dispensational move.
Are we at the end of the age? If we are, the kingdom will soon begin. If a dispensational move is near, then God needs an instrument. General work is no longer adequate. The children of God lack a vision; they do not see the seriousness and intensity of the situation. Now [in Revelation 12:10] is a matter of dispensation. Just being a good servant of the Lord is no longer good enough; this is not of great use to God. Please note that we are not saying that it is of no use. What are we doing to close this dispensation? What are we doing to bring in the next age? This is a special time, so there is the need of special Christians to do a special work.
Today God is waiting for the man-child. Only the rapture can precipitate the events in Revelation 12:10. God has an order, and He works according to that order. His eyes have left the church; they are now on the kingdom. An overcomer works according to the principle of the Body. The principle of the Body annuls sectarianism and individualism.
After the rapture the woman will be persecuted three and a half years. Many other of her children will go through the tribulation, but God will keep them. Being an overcomer is not primarily for escaping the tribulation. We need to see of what value the rapture is to the Lord, not to ourselves.
Of all the dispensational moves, the man-child is the greatest because it removes man’s power and the devil’s power, and it brings in the kingdom. We live in the most privileged time; we can do the most for God. Light will show us the way, but strength and power will enable us to walk the road. A great price must be paid in order to be used now. (The Glorious Church, pp. 153-154, 156-157)
We need to realize that many times God does things on earth to turn an age. When God works on earth, He does so age by age. The reason that God has many age-turning moves is that men used by Him in one age often become fallen and fail to reach His goal. This forces God to turn the age, that is, to have a new start so that He can do what He wants to do in a new age.
We can see many cases like this in the Old Testament. God would bring in a new age by doing something through some people during a particular time. However, due to man’s degradation, that age would soon become fallen and degraded. It would become so degraded that God could not have a way with men on earth and could not do anything anymore. As a result, God would have to bring in a new age. Only by bringing in a new age could God do any work again. Unfortunately, the next age did not continue for long before it fell again. God once more could not do any work. Consequently, He had to bring in another age. When one reads the Old Testament, he can see that one age came after another had degraded. One age rose only to see it wane again. Another age rose and then also failed again.
I would like you to realize that God’s work in turning the age is always done through men. Before a new age is ushered in, there are always men in the previous age who are used by God particularly to turn the age. And in every age-turning work, God purposely uses young people. The two most obvious examples are Samuel and Daniel. (Men Who Turn the Age, pp. 5-6)
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During these years, among a few churches, often I have emphatically charged the brothers and sisters that they must take care of the young people. Because I emphasize this point, it makes the older ones feel very uncomfortable. Sometimes some of them say, “Brother Lee is simply causing the young people to rebel!” Today I speak this before the Lord. The reason I purposely encourage young people is that I clearly realize one thing: if a church cannot raise up the young people, this church has no future. If a local church that has been meeting for many years is not able to raise up the new ones to serve the Lord, it will be like a couple who have been married for many years without children. When this couple have grown old, what would happen to the family? This is why I conclude that a church must have young people at all costs. The church needs the second generation. The future of the church hinges on the young people. (The Elders’ Management of the Church, pp. 108-109)
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For the future of the Lord’s work, I would ask the older ones to pray much for the young people. The future of the work and the usefulness in the future, no doubt, are with the young people. From the view of saving souls, we should treat older ones and younger ones equally. From the view of the future of the work, however, we should put our emphasis on the younger ones. If the church or the work fails to gain young people, it will be like a family that has only some childless old people: an old grandfather who is eighty-five years old, a father who is sixty years old, and a son who is nearly forty years old. There are no younger ones under them; there are no crying ones or shouting ones. Rather, everyone is well-behaved. This is abnormal.
If a family has only an eighty-five-year old grandfather, a sixty-year-old father, and a forty-year-old son, certainly no one will be rolling on the floor. Even if any of them desires to roll on the floor, he would not have the strength to do it. Therefore, all year round they live in quietness, orderliness, and loneliness. Brothers and sisters, we can be sure that such a family does not have to sell its house; the house will become someone else’s house before long. In the same manner, when you visit a church, if you see throngs of young people there, then you should praise the Lord that the church has a future. You do not need to ask whether those young people are good or bad. Just as in a family, it does not matter how naughty the children are; they are still better than none. If there are no children, the family is doomed to hopelessness. Some children who are undesirable today may become desirable tomorrow. There is always hope. (How to Lead the Young People, pp. 13, 14)
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The future of the Lord’s recovery is very promising. At present, in the United States there are at least seven thousand seeking saints in the Lord’s recovery. Over the next ten years, many of our children will become members of the church. When some of them are in their twenties, they will be quite useful to the Lord. Brother Nee, for example, was raised up by the Lord when he was only nineteen. (Life-study of 1 Peter, p. 285)
Now we come to the matter of gaining the young people. Every church must go to the young people. In any field the future is with the young people. If an industry or a school does not gain young people, that industry or school has no future. This generation is the generation of the young people. However, this does not mean that we do not appreciate the older ones. (The Spirit and the Body, p. 106)
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I realize that more and more the going on of the Lord in His recovery will be with the young people. No doubt the spread of the recovery in this country and elsewhere will be mainly with them. (Life-study of Ephesians, p. 586)
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Furthermore, we must also do the children’s work in a serious way because the children are the future of the church. You may want to consider preaching the gospel to the children first. (Truth, Life, the Church, and the Gospel—The Four Great Pillars in the Lord’s Recovery, p. 97)
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If, starting from now, we use our effort to work on the gospel for children whose ages range from six to twelve, then after ten or twelve years, they will be those who will rise up to bear the responsibility of the church service. This way may seem slow, but it is actually very fast. This way is also profitable. (Truth, Life, the Church, and the Gospel—The Four Great Pillars in the Lord’s Recovery, p. 130)
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Today several young brothers are elders in various halls. In 1949 when we began the work in Taiwan, the parents of these brothers were not married. They were brought together by us. Thirty years later, their children have grown and are serving in the church, bearing important responsibilities. Similarly, last November I was in the Philippines and was greatly surprised, because a new generation of serving ones has replaced the older generation; a younger generation has been raised up. The co-workers, elders, and my translators were young brothers who were born after 1950. This situation shows that the children’s work is very important. (Crucial Words of Leading in theLord’s Recovery, Book 5: Concerning Various Aspects of Church Service, p. 83)
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For the future of the Lord’s recovery, our burden is still for the students. Since nearly all the full-timers will come from the college campuses, we should bring in the students. The more students we bring in, the better. (Vessels Useful to the Lord, p. 50)
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The urgent need in the Lord’s work today is that we would do the campus work to gain the young people for the Lord’s recovery so that we may have a promising future. (Vessels Useful to the Lord, p. 72)
If we read through the Bible carefully, we will discover a fact: It is not easy to find a case showing that God called an old person to do a new thing or a thing of great consequence. This may discourage the older brothers and sisters, but it is something undeniable. Indeed, we cannot see that God ever called an old person to do a new thing. Seemingly, Moses received God’s call when he was eighty years old, but if we carefully read the Bible, we will see that actually the first time he received God’s call was not when he was eighty years old. Rather, when he was still young, God’s calling had already begun in him. If you read on, whether it was Joshua, Caleb, Samuel, or David in the Old Testament, or whether it was the twelve disciples called by the Lord Jesus in the New Testament, when they were first gained by the Lord, none of them was an old man. Not only is this true in the Bible, but even in all of church history it is hard to find a strong illustration to show that God called an old man when He had a new and important thing to do. We can say that virtually everyone used by God to begin a new thing or chosen by God to turn the age was a young man.
Furthermore, nearly every work that the young people were called by God to do was a work that turned the age. God called Moses to turn one age, and He called Joshua to turn another age. Obviously, His calling of Samuel turned another age. The prophethood, priesthood, and kingship all hung on this young man Samuel. He was truly one who turned the age. David was also one who turned the age. Furthermore, we can see that Daniel and his three friends were young ones among the people in captivity. Through them God turned that age of captivity. Then in the New Testament, the first to emerge was John the Baptist. We know that he was a young man called by the Lord. God used him to turn the age at his time. We can go on to look at Paul, who was an apostle especially used by God. The Bible says that he was a young man when he was visited by the Lord (Acts 7:58). We all admit that Paul was a man who turned the age. (How to Lead the Young People, pp. 3-4, 5)
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All those who were in the initial stage of the Lord’s recovery of the proper church life over fifty years ago were young people in their twenties. Very few were over twenty-five. Most were either in high school or in college. (Fellowship with the Young People, p. 8)
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I dare not overstate the case, but my feeling is that the work that the Lord started among us in the East thirty years ago also considerably bore the nature and element of an age-turning work. For the carrying out of all these works of great consequences, God always called young men.
We already saw this clearly more than twenty years ago. Therefore, from that time on we paid a great deal of attention to gaining the young intellectuals in the universities and hospitals. Thank the Lord, this work had good progress from 1936. The Lord gained a good number of young people from the Union Medical College in Peking, from a certain hospital in Tientsin, from the Ch’i Lu University in Tsinan, from the College of Nursing in Shanghai, and from some universities in Nanking. Many young medical students, resident physicians, nurses, and even professors became our brothers and sisters. About ten years later, among us nearly all the co-workers and responsible ones in the churches all over the country were the young people gained at that time. Therefore, after the War of Resistance against Japan [1937-1945] was won and the country was restored, the Lord brought us back to Shanghai where there was a small work of revival again in the regions of Nanking and Shanghai. At that time we concentrated nearly seventy to eighty percent of our efforts on the young people. Within those two to three years all the work among the college students received much blessing from the Lord. Many young ones were gained by Him. By saying this much, I hope that the brothers and sisters can see the importance of the young people’s work. This should create a heart in us to appreciate the young brothers and sisters. (How to Lead the Young People, pp. 5-6, 11-12)
We should pay particular attention to the young people in our work in each locality. Today Satan’s organizations and philosophies pay particular attention to young people. Can we not infer that God is paying attention to young people as well? This does not mean that the souls of older people are not precious in God’s eyes, but it does mean that for the sake of God’s work and for the future of the gospel, there is more hope with the young people. Our gospel work should place special emphasis on high school and college students. We should spend and pour out our all to save, cultivate, edify, and lead these young ones. (The Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 55, p. 49)
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With the exception of Joshua and Caleb, those who were qualified and ready to take possession of the land were younger ones. They were of the second generation. The older ones, those of the first generation, had passed through many things and had learned many lessons. However, they were not qualified to enter into the land. The lessons learned by the first generation surely became part of the heritage passed on to the second generation. Their children certainly inherited from their parents all the lessons they learned during the forty years in the wilderness. By their birth the younger ones were put into a position to inherit the tradition of their family and all that their parents had experienced.
I believe that the fathers spoke to their children about their experiences in Egypt, in the exodus from Egypt, and in the wilderness. No doubt, the fathers spoke about how they were cruelly treated as slaves in Egypt, about how God in His mercy sent Moses to deliver them from bondage, about how they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the second month, and about how they marched out of Egypt and crossed the Red Sea. The fathers must have also explained to their children that they entered into the wilderness without food but that God fed them with manna and supplied them with water from the smitten rock. They might have also explained that although they eventually felt that manna was loathsome, they nevertheless appreciated it. The people did not grow any crops, but for forty years they daily received the heavenly supply of manna. Furthermore, the younger ones learned about Moses and about the great help he rendered to the people of Israel. Moses himself was not allowed to enter into the good land, but he contributed many constructive factors to God’s people.
The second generation did not pass through as much as the first generation did, but they received the benefit of what the first generation experienced. I believe that the older generation told the younger generation about all they experienced, enjoyed, and suffered. This speaking was part of the raising up, or the building up, of the second generation. What the first generation experienced was not experienced in vain, for it was passed on to the second generation. What the older ones experienced actually was not effective for them, but it was very effective in building up the younger ones. Therefore, God was able to prepare from the second generation more than six hundred thousand men with a rich inheritance and strong background who were qualified to be formed into an army to fight with Him and for Him.
The principle is the same with us in the Lord’s recovery today. The recovery has been in the United States for twenty-seven years and has passed through many things. Do you think that all these things have been in vain? They certainly have not been in vain. These things are being passed on to the younger ones in the Lord’s recovery and will be very effective in building them up and preparing them to fight with God and for God. The younger ones in the Lord’s recovery have a rich inheritance. Because this inheritance is being passed on to the younger ones and even being constituted into them, I have the full assurance that when a further testing comes, there will be a very positive result. (Life-study of Numbers, pp. 368-369)
There is a strong relationship between a person’s spiritual journey and the leading of the Holy Spirit. Why is there the need of the leading of the Body? It is because with the leading of the Body one can somewhat cut short an individual’s spiritual journey. If a brother is left to himself, he may have to stumble for ten years before he can come up with something. But now through the Body he may acquire the same thing in one evening. If such a brother will take the judgment of the Body, he will save a lot of time. The use of authority in the church is for the purpose of cutting down mistakes and shortening the journeys. (Messages Given during the Resumption of Watchman Nee’s Ministry, vol. 2, p. 334)
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Unless there is a group of young people who are saved to receive proper spiritual help today, how can they gain the experience and be used by the Lord in the future? If there are no young people gained by the Lord today, after our departure there will be no one to succeed us. Then there will be a gap.
We need to gain the young people in the church and in the Lord’s work. Anyone who works for the Lord with insight needs to pay attention to this matter. If you see this, your heart will be burdened to love the young people regardless of whether they are good or bad. Having a young one who is not very desirable is better than having none at all. May the brothers and sisters as the Lord’s lovers all love the young people for the future of the church and for the Lord’s work. (How to Lead the Young People, pp. 10, 14-15)
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Young people, this is a word from my heart. The Lord’s recovery is spreading, and I have the assurance that it will spread at a good pace. But the rate of the expansion of the Lord’s recovery depends upon the pillars. I believe there will be churches in all the major cities of this country and in all the leading countries on earth. For this, there is the need of the pillars. I hope that you young people will see this. If you see it, you will say, ‘‘Lord, I cannot deny that You have appointed me to Your way and that I have heard Your up-to-date word. I realize that I must experience Christ in a subjective way and that I must be perfected in the church life in Bethel. Lord, have mercy on me and grant me the grace I need.’’
Young people, my burden is that you realize that your responsibility is tremendous. If during the coming years many of you will be perfected, the Lord’s recovery will spread at a rapid speed. How much the Lord has done through those who have been perfected to be pillars! What do you think the Lord could do if He had a hundred more?
My burden is not simply to release a message. It is to help you see that today we all have the golden opportunity to be perfected and to be made pillars...I believe that after a few years many of you will become pillars. (Life-study of Genesis, pp. 1060-1061)
Now we need to prepare ourselves in several matters. First, we must pursue and grow in the spiritual life, earnestly maintaining a living fellowship with the Lord, fully consecrating ourselves to Him and having proper dealings before Him. We are contacting not merely a religious object but a living person. He is the living Spirit who dwells in our spirit. Therefore, we can fellowship with Him and receive His shining, guidance, and supply, allowing Him to regulate us in great or small matters so that we may have genuine growth in life.
Second, we must be equipped in the truth. People read the Bible in black and white according to their own understanding, barely scratching the surface. In particular, the Chinese are filled in their mind with things such as filial piety, honor, humility, patience, and forgiveness. For this reason, when they read the passages in the Bible that talk about honoring the parents, loving the wives, and submitting to the husbands, they feel that these things are very good, because they are similar to the virtues taught by the ancient Chinese sages. Actually, the Bible is full of the light of truth and the revelation of Christ. We need to read, get the Lord’s word into us, and get ourselves into His word so that we may be mingled with the word.
The Recovery Version of the New Testament can be called the crystallization of the understanding of the divine revelation, which the saints everywhere have attained to in the past two thousand years. Therefore, now we can simply open the Recovery Version, and regardless of which book or chapter we read, there are some footnotes and explanations that enable us to fully understand it at a glance and immediately see clearly as the veils in heaven open before us. We need to labor on these revelations and this light by studying and pray-reading them again and again, thereby equipping ourselves with the truth.
Third, we need to build up a good character. We have to admit that although we have a God-created character in us, our fallen and corrupted character is loose, lazy, careless, and sloppy. In 1953 when I held a training in Taipei, I put together a small book on thirty character traits—being genuine, exact, strict, diligent, broad, fine, and others—hoping that we could exercise to cultivate them little by little. We should not merely read them and quickly forget about them, like many Chinese who read the books written by Confucius and Mencius. We need to exercise ourselves in these thirty items to build up a character that is useful to the Lord. We need to pray to the Lord, because although we do not have the strength to do this, the Lord is the bountiful supply within us. In Philippians 4 Paul says, “What things are true, what things are dignified, what things are righteous, what things are pure, what things are lovely, what things are well spoken of...take account of these things” (v. 8). These things are all related to character. Then Paul goes on to say, “I am able to do all things in Him who empowers me” (v. 13). Therefore, we can all build up a good character in Him who empowers us.
Fourth, we must receive a higher education. In the process of receiving our education we should learn some languages, especially English, the international language with which we must become proficient. In addition, we should learn at least one other foreign language, be it Spanish, German, French, Japanese, or Korean. These are all major languages that are commonly used in the world today. In brief, we need to be familiarized with two other languages besides Chinese. Not only so, we also need to study and get into the depths of the Bible. For this purpose, it is best that we learn some Greek. The more we learn of literature and languages, the better it is. We must attain to some depth in the study of languages.
Fifth, we need to know history, recognize the situation and the tide of the world, and be aware of the condition on the earth today. We need to pay attention to these five items: life, truth, character, language, and common knowledge. We need to endeavor to practice these things while paying attention to our living. The Lord is living; to be sure, He can bear all our responsibility. Moreover, today the Lord’s recovery on the earth is widespread. In this widespread recovery, we mutually care for and supply the needs of each other, which is a great help. Therefore, you should not be anxious; rather, you should diligently equip yourselves by laboring on these matters—life, truth, character, language, and a knowledge concerning world culture, history, current events, and present trends. In this way, we will be able to advance toward the goal to gospelize Taiwan, Japan, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. May the Lord bless us with His presence.
If Taiwan is to produce five hundred thousand brothers and sisters for the spread of the gospel overseas, then we need to have five million saints in Taiwan so that one out of every ten saints can go out. The people from Taiwan gospelizing the entire world, and the brothers and sisters from Taiwan trekking all over the earth—what a wonderful prospect that would be! Where will you go—to Africa, South America, Central America, North America, Eastern Europe, or Western Europe? We can pray to the Lord, “O Lord, where should I go? O Lord, where do You want me to go?” May we all answer the Lord, “O Lord, here am I; send me.” (A Blessed Human Life, pp. 55-57, 58)
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I encourage all the young people to get a college degree. Do not make spirituality an excuse for not studying. Rather, study more diligently than the secular students, get the highest grades, and go on for advanced degrees. Do not stop with one Ph.D., but get two or three Ph.D.’s. Also learn to speak a number of other languages. Gain the “Tyrian” skills and the “Egyptian” knowledge. Become a doctor in biology, medicine, or nuclear physics.
There is a need in the Lord’s recovery today for those with the highest education. Young people, you must endeavor to gain the best education. Arrange your daily schedule in this way: seven and a half hours for sleep, one and a half hours for eating, one hour for exercise, eight hours for study, and six hours for spiritual things. If you expend your energy in this way, by the time you are thirty you will be able to begin your ministry like the Lord Jesus did (Luke 3:23). Continue your studies until you are thirty. If many take this way, we shall have no shortage of pillar makers.
Do not get married too soon. I do not like to see the brothers getting married before the age of twenty-five. Do not be burdened down too soon with marriage and children. Rather, use your time and energy for studying. The age of twenty-six is soon enough for brothers to begin having children. Furthermore, I do not like to see the sisters getting married before the age of twenty-two. If the sisters marry too early and have children too soon, they may be overburdened and even spoiled. Follow the schedule I recommend until you are twenty-five years old and see what will be the issue. This surely is good for God’s recovery.
Do not stop your schooling too soon. You should get a master’s degree, or preferably a Ph.D. All the church people must be learned ones. We are neither ignorant nor undereducated. Rather, we would have the highest education. We would acquire all the wisdom of the “Egyptians,” but we would not work for the “Egyptians”—we would work for the holy tabernacle. We should be able to say, “I know medicine and nuclear science, but I am not working for that. I am working for the building up of the church. I have learned a trade, but I am not occupied with this. I am building the pillars for the temple of my God”...Be a person full of learning, but do not use your learning for secular business. Use it fully for the Lord’s building work. Your life and your being must not only be transformed but also transferred. (Life-study of Genesis, pp. 1100, 1101-1102)
