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Scripture Reading: 1 Pet. 4:10; 5:10; 2 Pet. 1:2; 3:18; Acts 6:7; 12:24; 19:20
We should all speak whenever we come together. We should not speak idle words, human words, or negative words. Instead, we should speak words of God, that is, words of Spirit, light, life, grace, blessing, and wisdom.
Concerning the home meetings, we have considered a life of pursuing the truth and the importance of being filled with the Lord’s word in our living. When we rise early in the morning, we should first contact the Lord and fellowship with Him. We should then enjoy the Lord’s Word in order to be filled with His speaking during the day. This will enable us to preach the gospel at work and to live a meeting life in the evening. We will be able to speak the Lord’s words to one another in the meetings, and the words we speak will be words of truth.
May we all be led into a proper, normal Christian life. The most important thing in such a living is to call “O Lord Jesus” the moment we wake up in the morning. As soon as we get out of bed, we should fellowship with the Lord. We can enjoy two verses from the Word, and we can read while praying and pray while reading. All day long we should be soaked in the Lord’s word; then spontaneously we will live Christ.
We all have a heart and a burden to preach the gospel. We should not preach the gospel in an ostentatious way but in a spontaneous way. In other words, preaching the gospel is our living and our occupation. If someone asked me what my occupation is, I would say that I am a gospel preacher. I hope that all the brothers and sisters can also say that they are gospel preachers. Preaching the gospel is our main occupation. The jobs that we do to meet the necessities of our living are side jobs; they are secondary. The most important goal in our Christian life is to preach the Lord Jesus and bring people into the Lord so that they can follow Him. This will bring in the kingdom of the Lord.
After fellowshipping with the Lord in the morning, we should stay saturated with the Lord’s word, live Christ, and preach the gospel during the day. In the evening we should not merely “attend a meeting” but rather “go and meet” in order to offer our portion. Through preaching the gospel, our relatives, classmates, and colleagues may be brought to salvation. If we feel to visit someone in the evening, we should go. We may miss a meeting, but we will be meeting with someone. At another time we may feel burdened to meet with our family at home. Whether we go out or stay home, we should come together to enjoy the Lord.
The words attend a meeting imply that we do not need to do anything but simply sit, listen, and look around. But the words go and meet mean that we are active participants, not spectators. If we are going to play basketball, we do not “attend” basketball; we play basketball. The difference is crucial. We should not attend a meeting; we should go to meet. We should not attend a prayer meeting; rather, we should go to a prayer meeting. To go to a prayer meeting means that we go to pray. There is a great difference in these two expressions.
We should all study the Word every day. We should also pray, sing, and speak the truth to others. We should not speak idle words; we should speak the Lord Jesus and the gospel. In addition to this, we should have an occupation as a side job to cover the needs of our living. If we are able to cover our livelihood by working eight hours a day, we should not work more hours even if we are offered a higher salary. We are not slaves to this world, and the world is not worthy of us (Heb. 11:38). Every evening we can visit our relatives or friends. If we do this for several hours in the evening, we may save two people or edify four. This is much better than working overtime and having an increase in salary.
This is the normal living of a Christian; this is the genuine, proper Christian life. We are not here for our education, our career, or for money. We are those who spend our energy on the Lord Jesus. This means that we labor on the Word of God.
First Peter 4:10; 5:10; 2 Peter 1:2; and 3:18 can be grouped together into one category because they all speak of grace. First Peter 4:10 says, “Each one, as he has received a gift, ministering it among yourselves as good stewards of the varied grace of God.” We are stewards ministering grace. It is a pity that the Chinese Union Version translates the word grace as “gift.” It says that we are “good stewards of the varied gifts of God.” In the original Greek the meaning of the word varied implies more than a large amount; it also implies a large variety. Therefore, varied implies a large variety as well as a large quantity. For example, one hundred small cakes may be a large quantity, but there may not be a large variety of cakes. But if the one hundred cakes consist of British biscuits, Danish pastries, and German bread, then there are many varieties. For this reason the Recovery Version of the Bible translates the phrase as varied grace, implying that there is largeness both in number and in variety.
First Peter 5:10 says, “The God of all grace.” Our God is a God of all grace, and this grace multiplies. For this reason 2 Peter 1:2 says, “Grace to you and peace be multiplied.” The Chinese Union Version translates be multiplied as “be added bountifully.” The word bountifully is an adverb or an auxiliary in Chinese, but in Greek this word is a verb meaning “to multiply and to increase.” It refers to the grace that is multiplying in us. This means that grace will multiply and increase in us. Eventually, the apostle Peter admonishes us to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (3:18). Grace is varied, all-inclusive, and multiplying; it is inexhaustible. Therefore, we should grow in this grace.
Acts 6:7; 12:24 and 19:20 belong to another group which says that the Lord’s word grows and multiplies. Acts 6:7 says, “The word of God grew.” Anything that grows must have life; hence, the Lord’s word has life since it can grow. A rock that is planted will never grow. However, any kind of seed will grow if it is planted. Just like a planted seed, the Lord’s word grows in us. Acts 12:24 says, “The word of God grew and multiplied.” God’s word not only grows but also multiplies. Acts 19:20 says, “Thus, the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.”
If we put these two groups of verses together, we can see the relationship between grace and the Word. In the Bible the Word is God, the Lord Himself. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). The Bible also shows that grace is God Himself. John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us...full of grace and reality.” In this verse the Word and grace are connected. This verse also shows that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The Word came to dwell in us as grace. This grace is the embodiment of the Word; hence, the Word is also called the word of His grace (Acts 14:3; 20:32). The genuine, proper Christian life is a life that spends time in the Word and enjoys the word of His grace. The Word is God, and grace is also God. Hence, we should enjoy God and grace every day.
Some say that we cannot gain people, because we do not know how to speak when we go door-knocking. It is indeed impossible to gain people if we do not know how to speak when we knock on doors. The secret to gaining people is speaking. There is a saying in Chinese that a statement can cause a nation to rise or fall. Likewise, a sentence can cause a person to be saved or to perish. Whether a person is saved or perishes depends on our speaking. If we speak appropriately, people will be saved; if we speak inappropriately, people will perish. Hence, we need to be trained.
The co-workers in America wrote me to say that saints in a mountain area came together during one weekend. There were several small churches in that area that are far apart from each other. These saints gathered together to keep a feast by knocking on doors to bring people to salvation. The saints in America call this a “festival.” This was more than one locality that went door-knocking. It was several neighboring churches coming together to hold a feast. This can be compared to the children of Israel who came together in Jerusalem whenever there was a feast. It was only recently that we heard of the saints in America practicing in this way. This also requires training.
We have been conducting semi-annual trainings related to the life-study of the Bible for over ten years in Anaheim. This past summer training was a training for the new way as well as a training for the life-study of the Bible. Fifteen hundred saints were in the training. The training was not conducted as in the past. We did not have two messages in the morning and one message in the evening, and there was no testing. This training was not only for the life-study of the Bible but also for the new way; everyone had to go out to knock on doors in the evenings. Some of the saints had been trained for one or two terms and could be considered to be experienced. Others, however, had never been trained and did not know what to do or say. Three sessions in the training were used to train the saints. Then we fasted, prayed, and went out in three hundred assigned teams.
The leading ones were concerned about whether fifteen hundred saints would be able to gain people by knocking on doors. However, we conducted the training with confidence because of our past experience with door-knocking. On the first night the three hundred teams baptized one hundred fifty-one people. When the saints returned, they were beside themselves, because this was unprecedented. In the afternoon of the second day, the saints gathered and considered how to improve. Then they went out again. Originally, we estimated that two hundred people could be baptized in ten days, but three thousand seven hundred people were baptized. All of Orange County was shaken.
When we go to knock on doors, we need to have words, and then we need to have grace. When we knock on doors, we should not speak common words. We should speak proper and essential words that can touch people’s hearts. We should speak what we have been taught. If we speak only crucial words, we can touch people’s hearts after just two or three words and lead them to pray and be baptized. When we knock on doors, we also need grace. We must be filled with the Holy Spirit and have the Lord’s grace. Therefore, we must contact the Lord to be filled with the Holy Spirit and to have grace. The Word is for our speaking, and the Spirit is for our moving. The Word and the Spirit are one. If we speak the right words and enjoy the Spirit, we will definitely succeed when we go out to knock on doors.
Everything we do depends on a method. Even after finding the method, however, we still need the motivating power. For this reason a genuine Christian should be one who labors on the Word and enjoys grace. Then he will be full of motivating power and able to speak in the meetings. Even though we may have listened to messages for more than thirty years, we do not have much to say, and we cannot speak the truth. When people come to fellowship with us concerning their problems, the most we can say is, “The Lord is faithful.” We do not even know where to find this verse in the Bible. Sometimes the brothers have encouraged us to speak in the meetings, but we could not say anything even though we desired to speak. We had nothing to say. Eventually, all we could do was attend the meetings. This was truly the situation among us.
There was a time in China when it was possible for a person to become a “scholar” but still be unable to write a letter to his family. This was the product of an old style of education. One of my granddaughters is almost nine years old, and she writes very good letters in English to my wife and me. This is the result of a new way of education. When we read two verses in the morning, we should not read them without knowing how to apply them. If we read the Bible in that way, we will receive little benefit. We must learn to apply what we read. The American education is like this. As soon as students learn something, they must immediately apply it. This is the reason that my granddaughter’s English is much better and more advanced than mine, even though she may not necessarily know as much as I do. The environment has trained her to speak and write. Whenever she learns a new word, she is able to use it appropriately and precisely. Her writing is also fluent and vivid. This is the kind of education we desire.
Some may say that as long as we love the Lord and love and pray for the church, the Lord will be pleased with us. They may say that since they do not have the gift of preaching, those who have the gift should go and preach, and they will pray for them and offer money. There are many brothers and sisters who think this way. They are faithful and love the Lord, but they do not understand that the Lord desires us to be His mouthpieces, speaking for Him and speaking Him into others. The Lord does not want only a hundred people to speak for Him. He desires that every believer who has received His grace would speak for Him.
If we fellowship with the Lord every day, labor on His Word and are saturated with the Lord’s word, live before Him and genuinely live Christ, and take the gospel as our primary occupation, speaking the Lord Jesus to every person we meet, we should each be able to save one person every day. Some may consider that this is not possible. Some saints have not led a single person to salvation in twenty years, because they have not had a normal Christian life. If we love the Lord, fellowship with Him, live in His word, and take the gospel as our main occupation, we should be able to lead at least one person to salvation every week. In today’s society, particularly in Taiwan, there are people everywhere. There is no need for us to cast a net; the “fish” will jump in to us, even into our homes. Every day there are many people around us at our schools, at our work, and where we live. These places are our “fishing ponds.”
If we made a list of our relatives, friends, classmates, and colleagues, there would probably be at least fifty names, and if the gospel was our primary occupation, we could save forty-eight people in a year. This means that in a year of fifty-two weeks minus four weeks for holidays, one person could be saved during each of the remaining forty-eight weeks. Even if we lowered the standard and saved one person per month, we could still save twelve people a year. If there are two thousand five hundred people in our meetings and each person leads twelve people to salvation in a year, thirty thousand people would be saved in a year. This would be glorious.
I hope that all the brothers and sisters, especially the older saints, would consider this as a business deal. It is worthwhile for us to devote our whole being to this matter. We know that it is not easy to change the system, because for over thirty years we have unconsciously established an unshakable habit among us. We have even conducted ourselves according to this habit. For example, since I grew up in Shantung Province, I spoke Mandarin with a Shantung accent. My desire to change my accent was to no avail. Similarly, for thirty years we have been in an old way of meeting in which we never had to speak much. Now we are suddenly being asked to speak in every meeting. Even though this is difficult, we must change. If we do not change, we will not go forward.
When I was young, I studied in an American school. The school was run by Americans, and almost all the teachers were Americans. Most of the subjects, whether geography or mathematics, were taught by Americans. The students were Chinese and Korean. All the teachers wore Western suits, but the students dared not wear suits or speak English, even though we were taught English. When I went to Taiwan, I was still wearing my long Chinese gown. It was only when I was preparing to go abroad to the Philippines that I changed my attire. We hold on to our old ways to our loss. We should be willing to change our ways.
If we love the Lord, we should gain people for the Lord, eat the Lord’s Word every day, and speak the Lord’s word to our family members, neighbors, and friends. If we would speak every day, the Lord would be happy. We should not consider that since we are sitting in God’s presence and listening to His servant, it is sufficient to sit in a big meeting in which one brother gives a message. We may even think that this is better than going to the movie theater or watching television at home, but if we conduct ourselves in this way year after year, the church will not increase or multiply. If we fellowship with the Lord every day, are saturated with His word, preach the gospel to lead people to salvation, establish home meetings and small group meetings, and gather together with others to speak the Lord’s word, then spontaneously people will be supplied and edified. Those who are supplied and edified will become remaining fruit. As a result, the church will grow and multiply.
As long as we are saints in the Lord’s recovery, we must take this way. Whether we have been saved for many years or are new believers, whether we are young or old, we must fellowship with the Lord daily, be soaked in His Word, pray, live Christ, and preach the gospel. In this way we will not be idle, and we will bear fruit. In John 15:1-2 the Lord said, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes it away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it that it may bear more fruit.” The branches that do not bear fruit will be taken away and will lose the enjoyment of the sap of the vine tree.
The church is taking the new way, but this does not mean that it neglects the spiritual care of the brothers and sisters. We must rise up in the morning to contact the Lord through His Word. Our Bible is an opened Bible. If we pray-read it and study it diligently, we will be edified in life. May we all receive the Lord’s grace to practice this. In addition, whether we are young or old, we must make a schedule that is according to our environment, family, job, and other factors in our lives. The schedule should include when to go to bed and when to wake up. This will give us a regulated living. If a lover of the Lord is not regulated in his daily living, he will surely fail. We should exercise self-control and be restricted in all things. It is not appropriate to conduct ourselves according to impulse. We must rise up in the morning at a regular time to enjoy the Lord and go to bed at a regular time. Then we can rise up early the next day.
If we do not work on a night shift or hold an evening job, we should go to bed early and rise up early. We should be regulated in this way and do everything with a plan and a budget. This will enable us to utilize our time appropriately. Even though we need to preach the gospel every day, taking the gospel as our main occupation, our gospel preaching should still be according to a schedule. We should go out to knock on doors at least once a week for two hours or longer. We must set aside a certain time to go out once every week.
Furthermore, we should be willing to learn. We need to learn how to feed others with the Bible and how to use the truth to help others so that they may enjoy God’s grace. We should speak the Lord’s word and also be those who have a motivating power. We should not only receive the arrangement of the church through our enjoyment of grace; we must be those who have a vision. We should not do anything rashly or casually. We should exercise our spirit to preach the gospel and have weekly home meetings according to the help of the brothers and under their leading and teaching. In this way our church will be the church in Philadelphia, and the numbers in the church will increase. Grace is universal. There is rain, and there is grace everywhere.
