The church is Christ and the Spirit. When we speak in the meetings, we need to obey the Spirit. Sometimes, when someone makes an incorrect announcement, a young person can point it out in a proper manner in his spirit. We should not think that we are not in our spirit when we correct other saints. We can correct others in our spirit. Nevertheless, it is not easy to correct others. We should not say, “Brother, you are wrong. Did you not hear what Brother Lee said? Why was your announcement so confusing?” We should not quarrel, because when we quarrel, we are not the church. This does not mean that we cannot adjust one another, but we need a proper attitude when we adjust others and when others adjust us. As long as we are human, we will make mistakes. Only God does not make mistakes. If we believe that we are never wrong, we must consider ourselves to be God.
I have been giving messages for fifty years. Sometimes certain situations are exposed when I release the word. Once, when I was in the Philippines, the brothers and sisters were concerned that I would mention their names in the meetings. At another time I stayed in the home of an elderly sister and asked her about her prayer, not knowing that she had not prayed. That was the exposing of the Spirit. This is the church life. When unbelievers see this, they will say, “Indeed God is among you.”
Between 1941 and 1943 we held gospel meetings in Chefoo during the Chinese New Year. During this time there was a deaconess who was a widow and had a son who refused to believe in the Lord. This sister brought her son to a gospel meeting. In that meeting I pointed at him and said, “You say you have not sinned, but you have stolen chalk from school.” This caused him to be saved. The Lord’s presence is real in the meetings.
On another occasion in a gospel meeting in Chefoo, I spoke of how women make their husbands work many hours to support them so that they can have high-heeled shoes. A woman in the audience, who had accompanied a friend to the meeting, was unhappy when she heard this, and she accused her friend of exposing her situation to me. The sister assured her that I did not know who she was and that it was the Lord’s grace to allow someone to point out her sin. These words subdued her, and she confessed that she was a sinner.
When we preach the gospel, we should not give dead messages in a mechanical way. We need to follow the Spirit. When we stand up to speak, we should have the faith to declare, “The economical Spirit has been poured upon the church and is upon me as I speak for the Lord in the Body.” We should believe this. Whenever we meet in the Lord’s name, His Spirit is in our midst.
The young brothers and sisters should also preach the gospel. According to the present leading, there will now be co-workers preaching the gospel on the large campuses. We hope that the young people will cooperate with the co-workers. On the Lord’s Day the young people are in the ministry meeting and the bread-breaking meeting, and during the week they have a campus meeting. We hope that they can set aside one or two evenings to labor with the co-workers in the gospel. This may be in a Bible study or in a gospel seminar. We hope that the young people who are students, whether in college or in a special trade school, would bring a minimum of two people to the Lord every six months. However, they should not think that they cannot remain in the church if they do not bring two people to the Lord.
The students should encourage one another to attend the meetings on the Lord’s Day. The bread-breaking meeting is usually at the meeting hall, and sometimes it may be in the small groups. During the week they should have a small group meeting with other students to fellowship and encourage one other. Furthermore, they should do their best to help with the campus gospel work. On the personal side they should spend five minutes to pray and ten minutes to read the Bible every morning. In this way they will make significant progress every year. During their vacation time they should read a few Life-study messages. By practicing these matters from their freshman year to their senior year, they will advance every year. They will be well nourished and receive a good education in the truth to be proper children in God’s house who live a life of loving the Lord.
In conclusion, we must know that Christ is our life, the truth is our freedom, and the church of the living God is our house. Furthermore, we need to see that our living must be a life of preaching the gospel to lead people to receive salvation and turn to the Lord. All the young saints should understand, know, and actively practice and experience these four points.