Let us go on to see a key to the home meetings. Today we want to bring out one key to the home meetings, that is, to bring others to our meetings. If we desire to see our home meetings prosper, everyone must bring others to the meetings. If you would do this, and he would do this, soon the number in the home meetings would increase. This principle is very scriptural. Consider the Shulammite in the Song of Songs. She was only thinking of herself. Her word to the Lord was, “Tell me, you whom my soul loves, Where do you pasture your flock? / Where do you make it lie down at noon?” (1:7). The Lord replied, “If you yourself do not know, / You fairest among women, / Go forth on the footsteps of the flock, / And pasture your young goats / By the shepherds’ tents” (1:8). This seeker of the Lord told the Lord that she was tired of seeking. She did not have peace; she needed rest. The Lord told her, “You may follow the footsteps of the flock. As long as you take the way of the flock, you will find Me. But do not forget that there are still the kids. You must bring your kids along as well.”
Where are the “shepherds’ tents” today? They are in the church. And where is the church? It is in the home meetings! Therefore, we all must bring our young, new, and unbelieving “kids” to the “shepherds’ tents.” Do not think that it is only in the world that we have children. As seekers of the Lord, we should also have children. We should have apprentices following us. I have seen many precious brothers and sisters in both the West and the East who are very dear. Yet they have a big problem: they do not have any offspring. Neither do they have any apprentices.
All believers must be like parents, bringing forth children. They must also be like masters taking on apprentices. Everyone must learn to bring in people. We learn many lessons when we bring in people. All parents can learn many lessons from their children. Up to now I have been a parent for three generations. I have not only grandchildren but also great-grandchildren. I am a father, a grandfather, and a great-grandfather. I have learned the most. What teachers teach us is theoretical, but what our children teach us is practical.
John 15:2 says, “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes it away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it that it may bear more fruit.” Every branch in Jesus must bear fruit. Perhaps some may say, “The fruit-bearing in chapter fifteen does not necessarily refer to people. In Galatians chapter five, the fruit of the Spirit refers to love, joy, peace, longsuffering, and so forth.” If you read the context of John chapter fifteen you will see that the emphasis there is on people as fruit. If a branch has only one fruit it is unattractive. But if a branch has no fruit at all, the Lord said that He will take it away. To be taken away means to be deprived of the enjoyment of the riches of the tree.
The fruitless ones are in danger of losing their enjoyment. As a branch, if you want to enjoy the riches of the tree, you must bear much fruit. The more fruit you bear, the more riches you will receive from the Lord. That means the more fruit you bear, the more enjoyment you have. You must go and bear fruit. You must bring in people. In this matter there are too many lessons to learn. I have mentioned this in the past. You must deal with different kinds of people in different ways. To teach gospel songs to your relatives’ children is one way. To sing to your grandfather is another. Of course, you must pray for them. There are many ways. The question is whether or not you have the heart to take care of them.
We who are saved and are the Lord’s are destined to bear fruit. Whether or not you have the desire, you must bear fruit. If you do not bear fruit, you are doing something other than the Lord’s destiny for you, and you will lose the enjoyment of the Lord. Chapter one of the Song of Songs says that we, the seekers of the Lord, must not give up our “kids.”