Every lover of the Lord must be like paste; he must be able to be spread anywhere. Whoever touches us should get stuck to us. The lovers of the Lord cannot be like steel plates; they cannot have a hard and unyielding personality. If so, they will not bear fruit even if they love the Lord until they die. Every brother and sister who is like paste is able to catch men. Everyone whose personality is like steel can scarcely lead others to Christ. The Lord’s word is clear: believe in the Lord, and your household shall be saved. I have been observing this for sixty years. It is difficult to find one who was saved without his household eventually being saved also.
Many did bring their whole household to the Lord, but not without many frustrations. For example, some husbands do not like their wife’s personality; they think their wives are too strong. But they can tell that before their wives were saved, there was one kind of hardness. After they were saved, there was another kind of hardness. Before they were saved, they were stubborn senselessly; their hardness would come and go with their temper. After they are saved, they are hard for a specific purpose: they want to bring their husbands to the Lord. But in nine out of ten cases, these husbands will not call on the Lord until they are about to die. When they call on the Lord, the wives would cry, “Hallelujah!” They would say with tears that the Lord has heard their prayers. I have seen too many cases like this. Children of those who love the Lord may refuse the gospel at first; they may strongly oppose their parents. But eventually they also believe, and they regret that they hurt their parents and did not turn to the Lord sooner.
Today, we hope that the number in the church will increase. The only way this can happen is by the brothers and sisters all bringing in new ones. Who can say today that all his relatives are saved? There are still many relatives and intimate friends whom we must try our best to bring in. Acts 1:8 says, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Our unsaved relatives and intimate friends are our “Jerusalem.” We must receive power from the Lord to begin preaching from Jerusalem, that is, from our relatives and close friends. We must labor on them.
There are fifty-two weeks in a year. It is impossible for us not to be able to lead one relative to the Lord within these fifty-two weeks, 365 days. If our relatives and friends are not saved, it is because we do not preach. If we preach and they are not saved, it is because we preach in the wrong way. It all depends on how we do it. We need to learn. Look at chapter four of the Gospel of John. As soon as the Samaritan woman was saved, she left her waterpot and went away into the city and testified to the men. Because of this woman’s testimony, many Samaritans in that city believed in Jesus.
In Acts 11, when Barnabas arrived in Antioch and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain with the Lord with purpose of heart. A considerable number was added to the Lord. He then went away to Tarsus to seek out Saul. When he found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they were gathered in the church and taught a considerable number of people. I do not believe that when Barnabas found Saul, he imagined that this Saul would one day become the foremost apostle to the Gentiles. If Barnabas had not gone to Tarsus to seek for Saul, I doubt whether there would ever have been an apostle Paul. Let us simply go ahead and bring in people. Who knows whether those we bring in will one day have a bright and hopeful future?
First Thessalonians 5:14 says, “We...admonish the disorderly, console the fainthearted, sustain the weak.” This tells us that we must bring in people. We must be accommodating towards the disorderly and must identify ourselves with the fainthearted and the weak. None of them can be rejected carelessly.
James 5:19-20 says, “If any one among you is led astray from the truth and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner back from the error of his way will save that one’s soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” Among the brothers and sisters, there are unavoidably those who sin and are led astray from the truth. It is our responsibility to restore them. All these items are included in the subject of bringing in people. These are all key points on the home meetings.