It seems as if all of us have nothing else to do besides hurrying to meetings, busily going to meetings, and attending meetings. Actually, it is not that we have nothing else to do. Rather, we are those who have been called by the Lord Jesus out of all our busy engagements to meet together. The Lord has not called us to meet together in the meeting hall. Instead, He calls us to meet together into His name, that is, into Himself. We worship and enjoy Him together by meeting in Him.
The hymn that we sang tonight, hymn 791, shows us that in the Old Testament the priests had to do three things: burn the incense, light the lamps, and sing. For us today, to burn the incense is to pray. Our praying is our burning of the incense. For us today, to light the lamp is to read the Word. By this, the light of God shines in us. And for us today, to sing is just to sing hymns.
Although I do not know much about music, and although I do not have a good voice or an ear for music, I do love to sing. Both Ephesians chapter five and Colossians chapter three say that when you are filled within, you will be full of grace to sing with your hearts and speak to one another. You will be speaking the word and singing the word. This is why I urge you young people to learn to sing the hymns. You have to practice singing in a harmonious way and to exercise your throats. Even you older ones have to do the same. It does not matter if you sing out of tune. You have to have a singing that is full of the Lord, full of the Spirit, and full of life. You must sing out the feeling in the spirit. All of us must be like the Old Testament priests. We must have a three-in-one living: burning the incense, lighting the lamps, and singing. Every day we must pray, read the Word, and sing.
Recently, in all of our speaking we have not left this one subject: the home meetings. I am not only talking about the home meetings here; I am talking about them in the United States also. I spoke about them in the Chinese-speaking meeting, and I also spoke about them in the English-speaking meeting. I did not talk about the big meetings. All I talked about was the home meetings. Even in my dreams I am still shouting about the home meetings. I will never forget about the home meetings. The burden for the home meetings in me has not diminished; rather, it has increased. I am very glad to see all of you here again, because I can discharge my burden to you once again. I hope that after these few meetings in this conference, all my burden will be passed on to you. For this reason, I beg you to share somewhat in my burden.
Tonight we want to talk about the key to the home meetings. What is the key to the home meetings? It is difficult to state it in one word. But I believe after the past eight or nine months, all the brothers and sisters have come to realize the importance of the home meetings. Regardless of how many thousands and tens of thousands of messages you have heard, they can never replace the home meetings. The big meetings can never replace the home meetings, because the home meetings afford people the opportunity to speak. In the beginning of October we had three conferences. In them we spoke concerning “The Full Knowledge of the Word of God,” “Everyone Speaking the Word of God,” and “Meeting to Speak the Word of God.” I believe we all saw that God desires very much that all His children would speak.
All the mothers know that as soon as a child is born, the thing she is most anxious about is to hear the child’s voice. If after six months the child would still not utter any sound, the mother would be very anxious. But one day, if the child suddenly opens his mouth and says “Mama,” the mother will be beside herself with joy. She will go around to tell people that her child can now say “Mama.” Every mother just loves to hear her child speak. It does not matter if the words are all nonsense; they will still be music to the mother’s ears. This is a very good illustration.
We have been regenerated to become the children of God. But if we would not speak for a year, two years, eight years, or even twenty years, would that not be a strange thing? What is happening to you? Forgive me for saying this. We have been talking about the home meetings for a year already. The main purpose of the home meetings is to promote speaking by everyone. Yet there are still many who would not speak. They are the “dumb old babes.”