When we preach the gospel, we must proclaim the Lord’s name and lead people to call on the Lord’s name. The opposers say that calling on the name of the Lord is an erroneous doctrine. However, in Acts 3 Peter spoke to the lame man who asked for alms at the door of the temple which was called Beautiful, and said, “Silver and gold I do not possess, but what I have, this I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene rise up and walk” (v. 6). That man stood up and began to walk. He entered with the apostles into the temple, and was walking, leaping, and praising God (v. 8). After this incident the Jewish rulers, elders, and scribes threatened the apostles and “charged them not to utter anything at all nor teach based upon the name of Jesus” (4:17-18). We need to teach people to call on the name of the Lord, because the Lord’s name is all-powerful, and it is in this name that we are saved (vv. 10, 12).
When we go out to preach the gospel, we should not think that we are small and insignificant. We are not insignificant. In Matthew 28 the Lord Jesus said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and disciple all the nations” (vv. 18-19). When we preach the gospel, we represent the authority in heaven and on earth. Our believing this depends on our exercise. We do not need to shout and yell and say to people that we represent an authority. Our faith should confirm this. We do not need to say this to people, but we need to say to the devil, “Satan, you need to know that Jesus Christ has obtained all authority in heaven and on earth; He is the Lord of heaven and earth, and I am His representative.”
In conclusion, in order to have the power to preach the gospel, we need to pray, enter into the Lord’s word, and be released. In addition, we need to be in the Lord’s name and apply the Lord’s authority.
What is the channel of the gospel? Human beings are the mouthpiece of the gospel, and the homes are the channel of the gospel. Every saint should open his home to preach the gospel. Acts 2 and 5 show clearly that the early believers first opened their homes for meetings (2:46), and then preached the gospel from house to house (5:42). After Cornelius was instructed by an angel to send for Peter, he invited his relatives and intimate friends to his home (10:22-24). Then Peter spoke to the household of Cornelius and also to his relatives and intimate friends (11:12-14).
In order to preach the gospel and gain people, we must open our homes. Every family has relatives, neighbors, friends, classmates, and colleagues. We need to invite them to our homes. We do not need to invite them all at one time, but we can invite three to five people at a time in a consistent way. The saints, who have a burden, should invite their relatives and friends for a “gospel dinner” at least once a week. The mealtime can be used to share the gospel. Just as people in the world have social engagements to do business and solicit clients, we should invite people for meals in order to preach the gospel. Every saint should invite people to his home for the purpose of preaching the gospel. Human beings do not have a heart of iron; they have emotions. When we invite someone to our home for a meal, his heart will open, and the Lord Jesus can enter into him. We can be assured that if we invite two people for a meal, we will gain at least one.
There are five thousand saints in the church in Taipei. If we are all willing to endeavor to lead one person to salvation every year, there will be ten thousand saints by next year. If we continue to increase in this way every year, there will be five million people in ten years. The Lord is leading us to attain our goal in many areas. Some saints are involved in the campus work, others are involved in the children’s work, and still others are preaching the gospel in the communities. By laboring in these areas and opening our homes, it will be easy for us to double our number every year.
When we lead a person to salvation, we do not gain only one person. Every person is a new branch that can bear fruit; he can lead his relatives and friends to salvation. In the past we only had old branches; we did not use this capital. Hence, year after year there has not been much increase. We need to seriously consider these words. We should immerse ourselves in the Lord’s word through prayer, push out the Spirit by being released when we speak, receive the Lord’s name, and exercise His authority. Then we will have the power to preach the gospel. Finally, we should open our homes as an outlet for the gospel.
Another channel of the gospel is to spread through migration. Initially the church in Jerusalem had at least ten thousand believers, but they were all concentrated in Jerusalem. Therefore, God allowed persecution to scatter them. When they left Jerusalem, they went to various places as immigrants and spread the gospel (8:4-5; 11:19-21). It is good that some of the saints have the burden and are prepared to migrate. However, we need to take care of the testimony in “Jerusalem,” and then we can spread to other places—to other cities and to other countries—and deliver the gospel to them. This is the way we should take today. We must receive this burden to rise up and preach the gospel and save souls.