We need the Lord’s mercy to see that the preaching of the gospel on the day of Pentecost was not a result of man’s stirring up and enthusiasm but of God’s gaining a group of people as His testimony. This group of people had dealt with the problem of sins before God. Within them the world had lost its place. They knew that Jesus had been raised and that He was living in them. They realized that He had ascended into heaven and that they were people in the heavens. Their hearts were in heaven, and they were on the earth to testify concerning Christ. They were a group of people living in God. In them heaven and earth were connected, and God and man were joined as one. As a result, they were full of Christ as the Spirit. Thus, He became their burden, and they could not help but impart Him into others. It was a small matter whether or not people perished, but it was a great matter whether or not they gained Christ.
On the day of Pentecost, when Peter preached the gospel, he did not mention the matter of perishing or of going to the lake of fire or to heaven. Rather, he spoke concerning Jesus Christ, a man shown by God to be approved, who was rejected and crucified by the Jews yet resurrected by God, exalted to the right hand of God, and made both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:22, 24, 32-33, 36). Peter’s gospel preaching was to present Christ as the Savior to all the people and to have them receive Him. This Christ had ascended to heaven and had sent down the Holy Spirit as the promise of the Father. Because the Holy Spirit had descended upon them, the apostles appeared to the people to be drunk with wine. Because they were full of Christ within, they were burdened to overflow Christ to others through their speaking. This is the real significance of Pentecost, and this is the real gospel.
The disciples practiced the proper way of preaching the gospel on the day of Pentecost. They were full of Christ within and were burdened to impart Him into others. They did not decide to hold a great gospel meeting because they were full of natural enthusiasm. I hope that many of us will enter into God’s presence by praying together in groups of three to ten people. However, this should not be done in a legalistic way. For various reasons, some may not be able to gather together with other saints, but they should still go to God on their own.
Instead of caring first for the salvation of others, including our relatives and friends, we should go to the Lord first to have dealings concerning sins, the entanglement and usurpation of the world, our living in the Lord’s resurrection and ascension, and our living before God and in God. After such dealings, the Spirit of God will fill us within and clothe us outwardly. Then we will know whom we should pray for, whom we should invite to hear the gospel, and whom we should bear as a burden. In this condition, whatever we do will be living, including our inviting people, interceding for others, bringing people to hear the gospel, speaking with others, passing out gospel tracts, or putting up gospel posters. Everything we do will be living.
We all need to go before God to practice dealing with each of the five points mentioned earlier. Only then will it be easy for us to come together and pray for the gospel in one accord, just as the disciples prayed for ten days before Pentecost. As a result of our dealings and our prayer, when the day of the gospel meeting comes and the gospel is preached, the meeting will be full of Christ.
Christ is salvation, life, power, authority, and everything (Luke 2:27-30; John 11:25; 14:6; 1 Cor. 1:24; Col. 2:10; 3:11). When we are filled with such a Christ and He is released from within us into others, they will be saved because they will gain the Christ who has been imparted into them. Once they contact Christ in this way, they will be thoroughly saved, and they will be in a position where their usefulness to the Lord in their service, function, and coordination to build up the church can eventually surpass ours.
May the Lord speak to all of us so that, on the one hand, our outward enthusiasm and excitement can be reduced, but on the other hand, the fire in our spirit will be actively kindled so that we can deal with sins and the world, with our living in the Lord’s resurrection and ascension, and with our living before God and in God. This will result in the Holy Spirit’s coming upon us and filling us outwardly so that the burden of the gospel may be released from within us.
Gospel preaching is not merely an outward activity. It is a matter of allowing the divine fire to burn within us. It is not a matter of outward excitement but of allowing God to gain our inner being. It is not motivated by something outward but is an inward rising up because we are filled with the Lord as our burden inwardly and with the Holy Spirit outwardly. Thus, the gospel is preached by a group of people who are the testimony of the gospel. What we bear is what we are filled with. When we sing, speak, contact others, lead others to pray, or visit others, we are full of Christ, and we allow Him to flow like an electrical current out from us and into others. This is the church’s preaching of the gospel.