After getting filled with the word of God, we must speak the word to others. [We must see a principle, a fundamental, a law: you must speak if you want to be healthy. You will be the most healthy person if you speak unceasingly each day. But you must speak the word of the Lord. When you speak the Lord’s word, you have joy. People may oppose you, but everyone has a conscience within him; there is an element of fairness in the human heart. A brother who once worked in the telegraph company spoke Jesus whenever he met his colleagues; that is, he spoke for God. Then the others looked down at him, saying in a derogatory way that he was Jesus. But when they had difficulties or when they needed someone to take care of certain important documents for them, they all came to him. Whenever these colleagues faced difficulties, the gospel they had heard operated in them.]
[Dear saints, now we are in the Lord’s recovery and I do believe that now is the time for the Lord to carry out His up-to-date move. All of us in the Lord’s recovery have to speak Christ in our daily life to our parents, our children, our cousins, and our in-laws. We all owe so much to our relatives. Try to write a list of all the names of your relatives. Among these names maybe twenty percent are saved, and the rest are remaining in unbelief. They need your speaking. All of your relatives need the real help rendered by your speaking of Christ. Do not preach in a religious way, but speak Christ to your relatives in a living way. Speak to your father. Speak to your mother. Speak to your aunt. Speak to your uncle. Speak to your brother. Even if both you and your brother are Christians, you still need to speak one to another. Let your parents hear your speaking. Do not talk about computers, physics, or mathematics, but only Christ. He is the unique treasure! Speak about Jesus, Christ, the life-giving Spirit, the all-inclusive, processed Triune God. Your parents would marvel at such a speaking.
Continue to speak Christ every day. All human beings today need Christ, yet we need to speak to them. Speak in a living way, in a practical way, according to your experience of Him.] Speak in your school, in between classes, in your study groups, during your lunch break, and after school at least five minutes every day, five days a week, four weeks a month. In this way, you can speak Christ to others at least twenty times a month (Isa. 59:21).
In 2 Timothy 4:2, Paul charged Timothy to “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season.” The word of God that we have learned makes us complete and equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:15-17). This is the word that we preach. If we do not know the Bible, what word can we preach? [We must preach the word that we have learned from the Word of God. This is what the early believers did in Acts 5:42 when they met from house to house “teaching and bringing the good news of Jesus as the Christ.” In the home meetings they taught and preached what they had learned concerning Christ.
Paul charged Timothy to be ready “in season and out of season,” to preach the word. Many times we say that now is not the time to speak; that it is out of season. That is the right time for us to speak. We all must speak out of season. I surely treasure all the young saints and desire to rescue them from the pastoral system. The young ones who are still in school have the most people around them. Every school is a big fishing pond full of fish. This is an environment arranged by God for speaking to others. Students always enjoy listening to their classmates much more than to their teachers or parents. We have to learn to catch these fish by speaking Christ to them. We have to be made the fishers of men, bringing people to Christ and to the home meetings. For this, I do not trust in any human arrangement, but in the young saints’ acting, behaving, working, endeavoring, and struggling to contact their fellow students. If we would do this, within a short time many would be baptized and added to the churches.]
Another place to speak is in the meetings of the church. The apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 14:1, “Desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but rather that you may prophesy.” In verses 3 and 4, he said, “He who prophesies speaks to men for building up and encouragement and consolation...he who prophesies builds up the church.” We need to see that the most important part of our meeting is the prophesying, which is to speak for the Lord, to speak Him forth, and to speak the Lord into people. Through the speaking of the Lord’s word, the riches of Christ are released and are dispensed into all the attendants. To prophesy is to speak for the Lord and to speak forth the Lord. It is to supply Christ to others. This is the main work in the church meetings. After having been constituted with the truth in the Word and filled up with the Spirit, we should prophesy in the church meetings to build up the church. The Lord’s goal is the built up church. Our studying is not only for ourselves but for preaching the gospel to produce members for the Body of Christ and to build up the church. We need to have such a view and practice it.