The first item in the Slave-Savior’s gospel service was to preach the gospel. We have pointed out that the Lord’s preaching always implied teaching, and His teaching implied preaching. This indicates something important related to our gospel preaching today. Many saints are burdened for the preaching of the gospel. They earnestly desire to preach the gospel to their relatives, neighbors, friends, classmates, and colleagues. However, many have had the experience of not knowing what to say when they try to preach the gospel. The reason for this is that they have not developed the skill to teach the gospel, although they have the burden to preach the gospel. If we do not know how to teach, we shall not be able to preach effectively. Gospel preaching depends on teaching.
I urge all the saints who are faithful to the Lord in His recovery to learn not just to preach the gospel, but also learn how to teach the gospel. For example, in speaking of God, some may say, “Friends, in the universe there is only one true God. Apart from Him, there are no other gods. Anything that claims to be God is false. The true God is the God we worship.” This way of speaking concerning God is very limited. In this kind of preaching, there is no teaching of others concerning God. I use this as an example of the need to develop the skill both to teach and preach the gospel. Therefore, I would encourage the elders in the churches to spend much time and energy to get into the Word and to help the saints learn the various truths of the gospel and also learn how to present them to others. First, all the saints need to learn the truths themselves. Then they need to gain the skill of presenting these truths to others.
The meetings of the local church should be all-inclusive. Spiritually speaking, the church is a home, a restaurant, a hospital, a hotel, a gymnasium, and also a school. Regarding our need to develop the skill of teaching the gospel, certain meetings of the church should be like a class for instruction. In these meetings the saints may be helped to know the truth and present it.
Concerning this need, I would say a word to the elders. It is very difficult to be an elder in a local church because an elder must be able to do a number of different things. Since the church is a home, an elder must know how to raise spiritual children. Since the church is the restaurant, an elder must know how to prepare nourishing spiritual food for the saints. Since the church is a hospital, an elder must learn to care for the brothers and sisters as a spiritual doctor. Since the church is a hotel, an elder must learn how to serve the saints, how to wait on them. Since the church is a gymnasium, an elder should know how to be a coach, training the members of the “team” in their spiritual exercise together. Since the church is also a school, an elder must know how to teach the saints. This teaching of the saints is on different levels: kindergarten, elementary, junior high, college, and even graduate school. An elder should be able to teach the saints in spiritual things on all these different levels. Although the responsibility of the eldership concerning all these matters is extremely heavy, by the Lord’s mercy the elders need to learn to do these things.
The way of the Lord’s recovery is narrow. Because this way is narrow, we should not expect that a large number will take this way. Nevertheless, if the present number of saints in the Lord’s recovery are properly trained, all the saints will be able to present the truth in their daily living at school, at work, and in their neighborhoods. Wherever the saints may be, they will preach by teaching and teach by preaching. If we preach in this way, our preaching will be effective.
Much of our gospel preaching has not been effective or fruitful. The reason for this lack of effectiveness or fruitfulness is that the preaching of some saints is lacking in content. When we speak to others, we need to have something rich to present to them. For example, it is certainly not adequate to give someone a cup containing only a few drops of water. Instead, you should give him a cup that is filled to the brim. This is an illustration of our need to be filled with the divine riches so that whenever we speak to others we may supply these riches to them.
Suppose you meet someone who says that the local church is heretical or cultic. Instead of arguing and denying that we are heretical and cultic, you should take the opportunity to give this one a “diamond” of the truth. For instance, you may refer that person to the promise made by God in Genesis 3:15—the promise that the seed of woman would crush the head of the serpent. Then you may go on to point out that the Lord Jesus, as the seed of woman, is the fulfillment of this promise and that on the cross He crushed the head of Satan, thereby destroying God’s enemy. When you have another opportunity, you may share a different aspect of the truth with this person. It may be that after a period of time he will express the desire to attend a meeting with you. The right way to deal with those who accuse us of being heretical or cultic is to share with them the precious truths of the Word of God.
Although we have the riches, many of us do not know how to present these riches to others. We have no intention of selling these riches—we want to give them away. But we may not know how to give them to others. If you argue with someone, denying the false accusation that we are a cult, you may fail to give away any “diamonds.” Instead of arguing with others, we should give them one diamond of the truth after another.
I realize that many of the saints love the trainings and enjoy the Life-study Messages. But the saints may have only a general idea of what is contained in these messages. The real content of the messages may not have been constituted into them. Let us use once again the example of the promise in Genesis 3:15. If we are constituted of this truth, we shall be able to present the truth concerning the seed of the woman to others in a brief conversation, perhaps during a five-minute break at work.
At present there are approximately seventy-five hundred saints in the Lord’s recovery in the United States. Although this number is actually quite small, consider what the effect would be if all the saints were trained to report the truth day by day. I believe that after a number of years there would be a great impact upon the whole country. Therefore, although we are burdened to preach the gospel, we need the proper ability to teach the truth. In our preaching we must have teaching.