There is a spiritual famine throughout the earth just as there was a famine in Joseph’s time. However, the Lord’s recovery is a storehouse filled with food, just as Joseph’s storehouses were. We have seen the need among God’s children; therefore, we should rise up and distribute the food in our storehouse. If we do not go out to distribute food, our food will breed worms and stink.
When I visited Taiwan in the past, I was not satisfied with our meetings, but this time I have a different feeling. I am satisfied and even surprised, because many saints have become “scholarly.” Their testimonies and prayers show that they have learned many things, and their use of expressions such as essence and economy shows that their utterance has improved. However, we still need to lift up our eyes to see that many households are starving and that there is famine everywhere. We need to send food to the starving households. Since we have so much food in our household, we should have the heart to distribute this food. The general subject of this training is “Guidelines for the Propagation of the Lord’s Recovery.” The burden and goal of this training is to propagate the Lord’s recovery. We should not merely sit in Joseph’s storehouses and enjoy the food. We need to distribute and propagate these riches.
For the propagation of the Lord’s recovery, we must pursue the truth in order to be equipped. Second Timothy 3:17 says, “That the man of God may be complete, fully equipped for every good work.” The Bible is our equipment, and we need to be fully equipped in God’s word. The Bible is our armor and our weapon in our warfare against the enemy. We do not have pastors or preachers among us. Everyone here is an evangelist and a preacher of the Word. We all need to be teachers of the Word, and we also need to be apostles and prophets.
Some saints may say that Brother Lee can be an apostle but that they cannot. We should not think that we cannot be apostles. When we speak the truth to our parents, we are apostles. We can say, “The Lord Jesus sent me to share good news with you: you need Him. He is life and light, and He is our Redeemer. When you receive Him, you will receive life and be satisfied.” When we say this, we are apostles. We can be apostles to our parents even though we are their children. We also have many friends and relatives with whom we can share the good news through preaching the gospel. The Bible reveals that apostles are all-inclusive. Their functions include preaching the gospel, prophesying, and teaching. We are apostles; we preach the gospel, and teach the Bible. Paul said, “I was appointed a herald and an apostle...a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth” (1 Tim. 2:7). Paul was sent to be an apostle to teach people the truth. We must also go out to meet people’s need.
We need to be equipped when we teach the Bible. Suppose we have a relative who has been a Christian for many years, but he does not know the meaning of justification, sanctification, essence, economy, and the dispensing of the Triune God. We should be able to speak clearly on sanctification. If we are unable to, we are a “false teacher.” To be a teacher, we need to know how to speak the truth. We should be able to say, “In John 17:17 the Lord Jesus said, ‘Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.’” Our speaking does not need to be longer than fifteen minutes, but it should be clear. This will surprise our relative, and he will realize that even though he has attended Sunday services for years, he never heard his pastor say that John 17:17 is on sanctification. Perhaps he will open his Bible and consider what we have said. Then he will be supplied.
If the brothers and sisters in the church in Taipei practice speaking the truth to people every day, there will be a result. In the past, sixty percent of our service to the Lord was in vain, and only forty percent was effective. We often had vain conversations with people and wasted their time by speaking about outward things. We need to seize the opportunity to speak with our relatives a short word about sanctification. When we ride a bus, we should have some gospel tracts and a small Bible with us. If we are equipped, we can speak to people. We may begin a gospel conversation with someone by saying, “You are blessed. There is a verse in the Bible that speaks about being blessed, and it says, ‘Blessed are the pure in heart.’” Whether or not he receives our gospel, we have sown the seed of the gospel into him. During a bus ride of ten or twenty minutes, we can do the work of the gospel. If we will do this, the city of Taipei will be permeated with the gospel in one year, and many will be saved and brought to the church.
Some may say that they are very busy, because they go to school, work, and do other things. In addition, they have a busy church life with meetings and services every day. Therefore, they do not have time for anything else. We should never be busy in a blind way and not have any result. We should consider how much time we waste in a day. We need to redeem the time and labor in the gospel in our neighborhood, at school, and at work. We may need to be like a nurse who speaks with people when she is giving them a vaccination. We do not need to hold a Bible in our hand in order to speak the truth, and we do not need to look as if we are spiritual. We simply need to be spontaneous. We need to spread the good news and be a gospel messenger. We also need to study the truth.
The outline of this message presents the following main points: the apostle Paul was a teacher of the truth (1 Tim. 2:7), the church is the pillar and base of the truth (3:15), God desires all men to be saved and to come to the full knowledge of the truth (2:4; 4:3; 2 Tim. 2:25; 3:7; Titus 1:1), the word of the truth is the gospel of our salvation (Eph. 1:13), knowing the truth sets us free (John 8:32), God’s word is the truth that sanctifies us (17:17), we must build up ourselves upon our most holy faith (Jude 20), we must be fully equipped with the Scripture (2 Tim. 3:16-17), we must cut straight the word of the truth (2:15), and the word of God grows (Acts 6:7; 12:24). These items require our careful study.
If we meet a pastor in Christianity, we should fellowship with him and speak the truth to him. Even if we speak with an archbishop in the Catholic Church, we can say to him, “Everyone needs to be regenerated, and you also need to be regenerated.” We can speak the truth concerning regeneration. We need to be trained and to practice so that we are not intimidated when we see a pastor or an archbishop. We all need to speak the truth, cut straight the word of the truth, and open the Bible to people in a clear way. Then people will be convinced and subdued, both inwardly and outwardly. We cannot hire people to speak in this way, because such people are a priceless treasure. The Lord Jesus needs thousands of priceless treasures who manifest their function.
This is not a tough requirement. Some may say that this is too difficult and that I want to reap where I did not sow and to gather where I did not winnow. But the Lord Jesus has already winnowed, and the harvest is ripe. There are millions of “fish” in Taipei. As long as we go out, we will catch a few. This word is fair. Our need today is to practice. We need to be determined to practice. If we do not practice, we need to fast, and if our labor has no result, we should also fast. We should say, “Lord, I am fasting because my work is not effective, but the work of the other saints is effective.” To fast is to refuse to eat before God. God loves us, and He is concerned when we do not eat. If we have this kind of desperation, our work will be effective.