Last, we should grasp the opportunity to preach the gospel to the people around us. The students should grasp the opportunity to preach the gospel to their classmates. This can be compared to sowing seeds. We are bound to have results if we sow many seeds. Even though our sowing may seem ineffective today, after twenty years a classmate or a friend may remember what we said and be saved. Many people have this testimony. Therefore, the Lord Jesus said, “In this the saying is true, One sows and another reaps” (John 4:37). The young saints should sow seeds today, and it may be that twenty years from now someone in Europe will reap the harvest. God will add the ones who are saved to our account. Therefore, we must sow the seeds. Paul says, “Proclaim the word; be ready in season and out of season; convict, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and teaching” (2 Tim. 4:2).
There is a new arrangement in the church in Taipei. Every full-timer will preach the gospel on the college campuses. These brothers and sisters should contact the college-age saints when they go to the campuses. These two groups of saints must cooperate with one another. The young people on the college campuses and the full-timers must work together to fight for the gospel. They can coordinate together to lead college students to study the Bible or to have meetings in order to be saved. I hope that every college-age saint can lead two classmates to salvation in one semester. Then they will all have two new ones. The students can bring in four new ones in one year. There are now more than one thousand three hundred students attending the training. According to our calculations, by this time next year there will be more than five thousand students if every student leads four people to salvation in a year. We should not say that this is not easy to achieve; it all depends on us. Some of the young people can lead even twelve people to salvation in a year. We need to make great resolutions in heart and have great searchings of heart (Judg. 5:15-16).
In order to experience the gospel as our living, we must follow specific steps in our work. We need to have a burden for the gospel. We should make a list and pray persistently for every person on our list in order to have a gospel spirit. We need to learn to be thick-skinned and crazy in spirit, and we need to realize that preaching the gospel is the way to bear fruit, which keeps us in a position to enjoy the riches of the Lord. We also need gospel tools. We need gospel verses and hymns, we should distribute gospel tracts and contact people every day, and we should grasp every opportunity to sow the seed of the gospel. In addition, the young saints on the college campuses should cooperate and coordinate with the co-workers who preach the gospel on the campus. If we practice this, it will not be difficult for us to lead four people to salvation every year. If we do not have a good result today, we can practice again tomorrow. By taking this way and by practicing to lead people to salvation, we will grow in life. According to John 15, the branches which bear fruit are those that will bear more fruit, but the branches that do not bear fruit are taken away. Therefore, we must bear fruit.
May we all practice the four items of Christ being our life, the truth being our freedom, the church of the living God being our house, and the gospel being our living. As we daily experience Christ as our life, we will live by Him, until it is no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us. As we daily contact and absorb the Lord’s word by reading with our eyes, understanding with our mind, and receiving in our spirit, we will experience the truth as our freedom. We also need to know the ground, nature, and function of the church and to enjoy the church as the house of the living God. Furthermore, on the practical side, we should labor on the meetings in order to experience the God who is really among us. Finally, our living should be to preach the gospel and bear fruit for the Lord. In this way we will gain the full enjoyment of the Lord and cause His Body to increase.
Question: What should a student do if he wants to spend one or two years in the full-time training after he graduates?
Answer: The most precious thing that the young brothers and sisters can do is to join the full-time training in order to be equipped and perfected. Hence, the young people should pray before they graduate and ask the Lord to prepare the environment, their parents’ heart, and their family’s financial condition so that they can spend two years in the training after they graduate. It is easier for the sisters in Taiwan to go to the training because they do not need to serve in the army. However, the brothers should set aside at least one year to learn to serve the Lord after they serve in the army. On the one hand, this will enable them to be equipped, to learn the truth, and to grow in life. On the other hand, they will practice preaching the gospel and speaking the truth to others. They will also learn other services. If the brothers feel that they need to get a job the second year, they may do so. Their one or two years of training will greatly influence them for the rest of their lives. In this way, the service and the testimony of the church will be strengthened.
Moreover, while the young people are in the full-time training, they can determine whether God has called them to serve Him full time. They may finish the training and have the desire to serve for two years. Some of these young people who are gifted may be produced to serve God full time for their whole life. Then the Lord will have a way to advance among us. This practice is beneficial, especially for the young people.