We have seen that Christ is our life, the truth is our freedom, and the church of the living God is our house. In this chapter we want to see the gospel as our living.
There are many ways to preach the gospel. The best way is to sing hymns to people. The young brothers and sisters can use the hymns to preach the gospel to their schoolmates. This kind of hymn singing should be informal. When the young people preach the gospel by singing hymns, their joy will touch their classmates, and when they sing to their classmates a second time, their classmates will easily believe in the Lord.
Since the gospel is our living, we should pay attention to and practice several things related to preaching the gospel.
When we preach the gospel, it is crucial that we have a burden. Paul was a person who preached the gospel. In Romans 1:14 he said, “I am debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to foolish.” This verse speaks of owing a debt, which is a burden. Burdens differ in size, but a debt is a heavy burden. If we owe others much money, this will continually be a burden. We will think about the debt when we are studying and working and even when we are sleeping. However, as soon as we pay our debts, this burden will be removed from us, and we will immediately feel lighter. This was Paul’s feeling toward preaching the gospel. He said that he was a debtor not only to individuals but also to the Jews and the Greeks. He was a debtor to different races, and he was a debtor to all men. This shows that Paul had a large capacity.
The young saints should preach the gospel at school because they feel the burden of a “gospel debt” to their schoolmates. Of course, the capacity of the young people may not be as large as Paul’s capacity. Hence, they may not owe all their schoolmates a debt. Nevertheless, they owe a debt to their classmates and especially to the person who sits next to them. As long as we are alive, we will always be indebted to a few persons. We bear the burden of this debt every day.
After we have a burden for the gospel, we need a gospel spirit. Even though a gospel spirit initially comes from a burden, there is still the need of prayer. We should pray about the gospel debts that we owe. The best way is to make a list of our classmates at the beginning of the semester and pray for them one by one. When we pray, we should seek the Lord’s leading. The Lord may give us a burden to pray specifically for certain classmates. The more we pray for our classmates the better.
Our prayer can be compared to placing a piece of paper on a balance. Paper is light and does not weigh much. However, if we pray every day in the morning and in the evening, we will soon place several hundred pieces of paper on the balance. This will eventually be heavier than any weight on the other side of the balance. Brother George Müller ran an orphanage, and he testified that he prayed for many people by name. By the time he died, everyone whom he had prayed for by name was saved, except for one person. Eventually, this person was saved shortly after Brother Müller’s death.
We also need to learn to be “thick-skinned” when we preach the gospel. If a person is not thick-skinned, his words cannot move others. However, few people are thick-skinned by nature. We need to practice in order to become thick-skinned. I am thick-skinned because I have practiced for sixty years. I was in primary school the first time that I spoke in public. I stood trembling before the audience and even forgot my speech. The young people should learn to be thick-skinned. Those who are thick-skinned and crazy in spirit can preach the gospel.