From now on, the way the church should take is to knock on doors, lead people to be baptized, and set up home meetings. The regular church life is the home meetings. If in Taipei there are one hundred twenty thousand brothers and sisters who meet regularly and are reliable, their coming together to meet week after week will have a great impact here. This many brothers and sisters will comprise at least thirty to forty thousand families. Although we have not worked to this extent, we can already see that there are familiar faces everywhere. Therefore, we must work out the estimated number by the Lord’s grace until there are nine hundred sixty thousand brothers and sisters living the Christian life in Taipei. This outlook seems unlimited, but it will be achieved one day.
I hope that every one of our brothers and sisters will have a normal living, proper attire, and an appropriately furnished home. If we are all proper and we spread throughout the different classes of society, the impact will be immeasurable. I believe that what the Lord said in Matthew 5 will be fulfilled. There the Lord said that the disciples are the salt of the earth (v. 13). The earth has been corrupted, but salt comes to kill the germs of corruption. The disciples are also the light of the world effacing the world’s darkness (v. 14). We believe that within ten years this condition will appear. I hope the young people can all focus on this target. This is more valuable than anything else.
The key to success depends very much on our use of Life Lessons. We cannot go through these four volumes in one year. We estimate that although there are only forty-eight lessons, it takes one and a half years to complete this course. What we expect is that after one and a half years, after we have gone through all the forty-eight lessons of the four volumes of Life Lessons, the new ones we lead will become what we are, and the number of saints will double. If we multiply in this way, the people we gain will not be indifferent or like the “church members” in Christianity. The ones we gain will be solid.
We all today have studied in school. We have studied science, English, and many subjects. However, our parents, who were born many years earlier, did not have the environment or opportunity to study. Therefore, it is difficult and too harsh for us to demand that they learn what we know. It is the same in the church today. We cannot make harsh demands on the elderly brothers and sisters. However, we hope that the young full-timers will learn well, specifically to gain people wherever they go.
To others our door-knocking and visiting are like drinking sweet and sour soup. When people first receive it, it is hot and sour, but after they receive it, they find it very sweet. When people see us neatly dressed and knocking on their door, they feel embarrassed if they do not open to us. However, once they open, they cannot get rid of us, and eventually we even baptize them in water, which is difficult for them to understand. Nevertheless, when they listen to us, they find that what we speak is real. What we are bringing to their home is a “diamond,” and they feel it would be a pity if they did not receive it. That is why our visiting is like sweet and sour soup. Furthermore, people may think that if they receive what we speak, that will be enough. But then we begin a home meeting, which brings them not only the Lord Jesus but also the Bible. That is why they may show us a long face when we first come, but after talking with us for five minutes, their face relaxes. Then after talking for another five minutes, they begin to smile, and after ten more minutes they will pray, sing hymns, and thank and praise the Lord together with us. Finally, they will even make an appointment with us for the next visit. This is all our experience.
After they see us off, however, they may reconsider what has just happened, and they may start to doubt. On the one hand, they believe, but on the other hand, they may doubt. After doubting they believe again, and after believing they have doubts again. As long as you are a Christian, you will have this kind of experience. It is like someone who grinds in a mill; first he pushes the grindstone in one direction, and then he pushes it in the other. When you have gained more experiences, the Lord Jesus will make even more trouble for you. In the past we were free to watch movies, play sports, and travel around freely wherever we desired. However, it is now different. The Lord in us often objects to this and disagrees with that, which makes us feel uneasy within.
We all have had these experiences after believing in Jesus. We are progressing or backsliding, going up or down all the time. Moreover, on this path there are many temptations, especially after we have started to serve the Lord full time. When we look at ourselves, we find ourselves meeting today, meeting tomorrow, and serving the day after, but no matter what we do, we will never get rich. Some of our classmates have become great in the exporting business or as contractors, but we are still poor preachers loving the Lord and thanking and praising Him every day. Others can hardly understand this. In 1944 I needed to recuperate from an illness for two and a half years, and I was alone in Tsingdao for the last one and a half years. Because of my tuberculosis, I could not walk for a very long distance. One day as I took my cane and went for a walk in the scenic area of Tsingdao, I was complaining and feeling sorry for myself. I considered that I was empty-handed, possessing nothing, and without my family. I felt that I had nothing at all. It was at that very moment that the Lord operated in me again and made me joyful. Then I began to thank and praise Him because I knew that what I had gained was the most precious thing in the universe. People in the world pursue after houses, land, and other things, which are dung. The only truly valuable thing is to gain the Lord.
Do not be afraid that the newly saved ones will have fluctuating feelings. Man’s feelings are like the weather; if the weather is not good, after a couple of days it will be sunny again. Do not look only at people’s outward condition. It does not matter if they are not joyful today because they will be joyful again tomorrow. Moreover, we who serve the Lord should have a long-term view, because there will be a time when people come to the end of their life. At that time everyone who believes in the Lord will see that what he has done has been very valuable. When someone approaches death, he will understand that houses, companies, and money do not count. All that is valuable is the Lord deep within him. There is nothing more valuable than what we do. We need to be encouraged by this good prospect that there will be Christians everywhere meeting in different homes.