This is like managing a home. If your child does not have any clothes to wear, you cannot say, "Good, just go and pray! Trust in the Lord!" You cannot say this. If the weather has turned cold today, you have to change the children's clothes for them. If the older brothers simply say to pray, and the older sister simply says to pray, and even the mother simply says to pray, it will not work this way. This is not a question of prayer. You cannot trust the Lord to do something instead of you. As parents, you have the responsibility. If you do not manage the home, but go to the movies and the games every day, and leave the children at home, you can do this. Your family will still survive all year round from spring to winter. But if you do this, what kind of a home will this be? In order for your home to be proper, you have to take care of every area. You have to do something, because there are all kinds of needs in a family.

In the same principle, with something as big as a church, there are bound to be some brothers who have learned the lessons and who have been called. Yet they have such things as family burdens, physical problems, material needs, and family opposition. All these are problems. You cannot just say, "Pray about them!" Of course they have to pray about them. But you have to realize that there is a question of human responsibility also. In order for the coordination of the church to be strong and powerful and to be advancing all the time, you cannot neglect these matters. You may have helped others through all the previous eight points. Now you have to make arrangements to take care of their practical human needs.

Some have problems with their marriages. They may have been involved in a romance with another before. For instance, a sister may have loved a man, or a brother may have loved a girl before they were saved. What are they going to do now? They have learned the lesson and have indeed grown. But here is a history of a romance. It is a problem. How are you going to help them terminate the relationship? Still there are cases where two persons are engaged, but are not married yet. Now one party has decided to cancel the engagement. What are you going to do? You cannot say, "Just pray. The grace of Christ is great and manyfold and sufficient!" This will not work. You still have to help them terminate the relationship practically. You can see that the flowers that are in the fields grow in one kind of way, and the flowers that are planted in the garden, that have been cultivated and cared for by man, grow in another kind of way.

Problems such as these that have to do with the church and with the family are many, and you will encounter them all. How can you render the help? When the brothers and sisters come to you for fellowship, you cannot say only the spiritual words. What kind of help are you going to give to them? How are you going to help them solve the problems? This is a necessary work. Some people have been helped by you through all the eight points. If they cannot get through in some of these problems, all your previous efforts will be in vain. Perhaps it is for this reason that the ones you have helped have gone downhill one after another. Therefore, you must never neglect this matter.

Some brothers and sisters have received a lot of grace. They have been brought through the eight points, they know the truth, and they have the experience of life. Yet they have come into an argument with the elders, or they have come into an argument with another serving brother. Here is another problem. How are you going to help them solve it? You have to bear some responsibility to help them take care of this problem. Otherwise they will go downhill.

Dear brothers and sisters, it is not enough just to say spiritual words. Even in the preaching of the gospel, many times you must kneel down to the ground. Your cry must come before God always, and you must preach the gospel to others with sweat on your brow. Only then will others be saved. You cannot just say, "Look to God! Pray that God would work!" You can try and see if others will be saved this way. Brothers, this is not the way. There are duties that we have to fulfill.

Please consider the churches in all the places. We have to admit our shortcomings. The overseeing of the elders in all the churches is quite inadequate. Here are a few brothers who have served with me in northern China for a long time. I believe they can testify from their conscience how we helped the brothers and sisters at that time. If you cannot help the brothers and sisters, up to a certain time they will face problems, and all your previous efforts will be lost. This is like having a child and raising him up to over ten years of age. When he is ill with a serious sickness, the parents will surely look for his healing earnestly. Why do they do this? Here is a problem. If they do not deal with it, the child may die. This is the way you should look at the problems of the brothers and sisters. You have to solve their problem, or else they will go down.