Skills are essential in whatever we do. Hence, skills need to be considered in preaching the gospel, but we should tell new believers that they should simply go and preach the gospel and not be concerned with other things. Our preaching is our skill. There are two things that newly saved brothers and sisters should pay attention to when preaching the gospel. First, they are believers, and this is their power. Second, their preaching is their skill. If they do not know how to preach, they will know how to preach when they preach. If they are unable to preach, they will be able to preach when they preach. They should not ask how they will know or how they will be able to preach, because the more they ask, the more unclear they will be.
Every law is spontaneous and has a natural outcome. Being a Christian is the power for preaching the gospel, and preaching itself is the skill. Both of these are natural. Therefore, we do not need to learn many methods. We should simply preach according to the natural law.
We often like to do everything in an orderly manner. We feel the same about our gospel preaching, but God may not like it this way. Gospel preaching was always disorderly in the Bible. After Philip met the Lord Jesus, he immediately went to preach the gospel (John 1:43-46). He even said the wrong thing, not caring for accuracy. As soon as he met Nathanael, he preached Jesus to him. Philip seemed to be saying, “Whether or not He is Jesus the Nazarene and the son of Joseph the carpenter does not matter. You must believe in Him. If you do not understand, just come and see.” His preaching was a complete mess, but Nathanael was eventually saved through his preaching. Nathanael was not saved by an experienced, accurate, and skillful evangelist but by a new believer who was unclear, inaccurate, and ambiguous in his preaching. Therefore, new believers must go and preach the gospel. The skill for preaching the gospel is in their preaching. Being a believer is the power, and their preaching is their skill.
In the practice of gospel preaching, we should first make a list of our relatives, friends, colleagues, and schoolmates. We do not need to be concerned for those who are already saved, because those who are not saved are the objects of our gospel preaching. We should first preach to our relatives and friends. According to Exodus 12, if a household could not eat an entire lamb at the passover, the children of Israel were to share it with their neighbors (v. 4). Every local church should lead all the new believers to practice this. Acts 1:8 says that the gospel was to be preached “in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” The principle in spreading the gospel is to spread from the center. Hence, we need to start with our closest relatives and friends and spread from there. After listing the names of our unsaved relatives and friends, we should try our best to contact them, not to befriend them or to socialize with them but to preach the gospel to them. In contacting them, we do not need to talk or argue much. This may hinder them and shut the door of salvation. When the church holds a gospel meeting, we should do our best to invite those on our list so that they can hear the gospel and receive the Lord.
Second, as the opportunity allows we should endeavor to preach the gospel to all men. A good way is to distribute gospel tracts whenever there is the opportunity. They can be distributed on buses and trains or even at bus stops and train stations. We can distribute them to people on our way to a meeting. Sometimes a team of two or three should distribute tracts at street intersections or important locations. We may even sing gospel hymns, post banners, or speak to people. These should be done without formality. We often did these things when we were in mainland China. It is regrettable that we seem to have neglected them. May we all pick these things up again and practice them diligently.
In the preaching of the gospel, speaking is a must. This is a crucial point that is generally neglected by Christians. Many hold the concept that gospel preaching depends entirely on the testimony of the daily walk and not so much on speaking. This is the enemy’s scheme. The more a brother or a sister speaks the gospel to others, the more their daily walk will be changed. Someone who does not preach the gospel may say, “How can I preach? Look at my daily walk. Since my conduct is poor, I should not speak. If I do speak, it will be useless and may even cause damage.” In reality, however, his conduct will worsen if he does not speak. But if he rises up to preach the gospel, he will be more proper day by day. Brothers, the gospel is not preached by our conduct but by our words. Therefore, we should go and preach. We should go and speak. The more we preach, the better our conduct will be. The more we speak, the more proper our living will become. Our conduct is poor because we do not preach the gospel. One may have been saved for three years but still go to the movies because he does not preach the gospel. If he preached the gospel immediately after his salvation, saying, “I have believed in Jesus. You should believe. Jesus is the Savior of sinners. Jesus can save people from their sins and from their bad habits,” he would be the first one to be delivered from his bad habits. He would never again go to the movies, and if he went, his own speaking would condemn him.
Ephesians 6:15 says that the gospel is a pair of shoes for our feet, which keep us away from the world’s filth. The more we preach the gospel to others, the less they will ask us to join in their sinful activities. They will say, “Do not ask him. He just preached the gospel to us yesterday, so what is the use of asking him?” If we remain silent and never speak the gospel, but instead merely think of our good behavior as being a testimony, our colleagues who gamble and our classmates who watch movies will drag us along with them. There are many such cases. A person often does not have a good testimony before his neighbors because he has never spoken the gospel to them. Speaking the gospel once would preserve him from wrongdoings before his neighbors. Therefore, we should never say that in order to preach the gospel, we need to have good conduct. This word should be spoken to believers who have been saved for a long time. However, we should simply tell the new believers to go and speak. Gospel preaching requires speaking. This speaking is our safeguard.
When I was young, I also heard that it is better to preach the gospel by good conduct rather than by speaking. Later, a servant of God overthrew this teaching by asking, “What verse in the Bible says that the gospel is preached by conduct or that preaching is not by speaking but by conduct?” He pointed out that Acts 4:17-18 shows that Satan always wants to shut people’s mouths and stop them from preaching. In order to preach, our mouth cannot be shut. We should not think that we cannot speak because we are weak; rather, we are weak because we do not speak. Once we speak, we will be strong. We should not think that since our living is abnormal, we should not speak. Our living is abnormal because we do not speak. Once we speak, we will be normal. We must overthrow the common concept in Christianity and not consider our own condition but simply go and speak. Gospel preaching is not simply taking people to a meeting but speaking to people. Even if we do not know how to speak, we must still speak. Even if we cannot speak well or our speaking is incomplete, we must still speak. Oh, I cannot stress this secret too much; I cannot exhaust this mystery. We will know how to speak as we practice. Because the God whom we serve is a speaking God, we should be a speaking people. Our God is not a dumb idol.
This treasure, which belongs to every believer, has been lost and even seized by the children of the devil. The most prosperous people in the world today are the most articulate ones, but they speak lies and deceit. The words that we speak are the truth, yet we do not speak. This is a huge mistake! We should speak constantly. When on the bus, we should stand up and speak as soon as the door closes. When we are in the barbershop for a haircut, we should speak. Whenever we have the chance, we should speak, regardless of whether people listen or whether they believe. Two months ago six hundred brothers and sisters were baptized in the church in Taipei. If, from the day they were baptized, everyone spoke daily, they would stir up Taipei. But the present situation is silent and dormant. This is abnormal. Although some say that gospel preaching causes trouble and brings unrest to society, actually, the gospel stabilizes society. In the newspapers we daily read of such things as murders, suicides, fornication, and robberies. This shows that society lacks the gospel. Therefore, we must go and speak. What the law cannot do, the gospel can; what man cannot restrain, God has the power to restrain. It is a pity that degraded Christianity has turned gospel preaching into a profession that can be used to make a living. Our concept must be changed. At the same time, we must not think that only those who are matured, grown, experienced, and know the truth can speak. Even those who were baptized yesterday should go and speak. We should not keep our mouths shut. A believer’s mouth should not be shut. Believers must speak constantly. We should go and speak. Whether we speak correctly or incorrectly, we still need to speak. As long as we preach Jesus as the Savior, our preaching cannot be wrong. By this continuous speaking, the gospel will be spread.