I hope that you will not only grow in life and know the truth but also learn to apply the truth and speak it to others. This requires that we exercise our spirit, our heart, and our mind. It is not enough to have a strong spirit or a heart to love the Lord. We must have a sober mind so that we are able to speak clearly. Then we will be able to help others. This is the purpose of this training. The goal of this training is for us to be useful. In order to be useful persons, we must pay attention to these three items: growing in life, knowing the truth, and speaking the truth to others. We must learn how to speak the truth.
The saints who are studying or teaching in schools are in an environment that is useful to the Lord. No other environment is better. It does not matter whether you are a teacher, a professor, a teaching assistant, or a student. The school is the best environment for the Lord. From one perspective a school may seem small in scope, but even a small school can have several thousand students. The oldest students typically are no more than twenty-five or twenty-six years old, and they are not yet set and settled. They may still be deciding which job to take. Once a person begins to work, he becomes set and settled. Whether he goes into business or another field, he will quickly become set and settled. At such a time it will be more difficult to speak to him about the Lord. The best time to speak to him concerning the Lord is while he is still a student, because students are not set or settled. Students who have not chosen a profession are easy to reach with the gospel. Hence, if we desire to be used by the Lord, we should grasp the opportunity to preach the gospel in the schools.
Furthermore, the future of the church lies in the young ones. It is not easy for a couple who are in their sixties and who are set and settled to receive the truth concerning the Lord Jesus. Even after speaking to them for six months, they still may not be clear. Suppose they are clear and are saved; it will not be easy for them to go out and preach the gospel. This does not mean that we should not preach the gospel to older people. The Lord is not a respecter of persons. He will save older people and younger people. Nevertheless, our burden should be the young ones.
From the testimonies it seems that a good number of Taiwanese young people have been gained by the Lord. This is very encouraging. Hence, we should first do a thorough work in the schools to gain the young ones. Then our next generation will be Christians. It is very easy for young people to receive the gospel. Sometimes we need to speak for only half an hour, and a young person will become clear and receive the gospel. Once he receives salvation, there will be a desire and an impetus in him to tell his friends or his parents. The young people should know that their parents listen to them. After they are saved, the young people must tell their families. Initially, their parents may not be pleased, but if the young people will continue to speak, their parents will believe. Some parents say that the knowledge their children receive in high school or college is of a new era and should be right. Therefore, they will follow their children because they love their children, and they identify with what their children do. Hence, as soon as the students are saved, their parents can be saved without much effort.
The Taiwanese have a very strong practice of idol worship. If we preach the gospel to them without first saving their children, they will most likely chase us away. Young people today are very clear in their mind, making it easy to preach the gospel to them. After they believe, they will preach the gospel to their parents. This will be the easiest route for the gospel. A young Taiwanese brother testified that when he first believed in the Lord, he dared not go home during the New Year holidays, because his parents wanted to beat him. Instead, he went to the meeting hall. Recently his younger brother was saved, and his parents are ready to be saved.
The young people should not only pray for their parents; they should go home to “compel” their parents, telling them how good it is to believe in Jesus. In this new age, parents will follow their children. As a parent, I know that children are capable of compelling their parents. The more the children compel, the better they become at it. However, it is not so effective for parents to compel their children. I hope that this word will encourage the young people.
Our heart is for the Lord Jesus and His church. Therefore, we truly hope that the Taiwanese people will get saved. The way to reach this goal lies in the schools. The government in Taiwan stresses education. The basic education has been increased to nine years. We must preach the gospel to the young ones during their nine years of education so that they hear the gospel. This is our responsibility. Everyone is required to finish junior high school; therefore, we must aggressively preach the gospel to the students in junior high school. After their salvation, the junior high school students will become gospel seeds when they enter high school. They will be gospel seeds in college also. The co-workers need to open their eyes and see that to labor in the schools will reap double the results with half the effort.
However, even if all the co-workers labored in the schools, only a few students would get saved. But if the saints who are students can preach the gospel in this way, many other students will be saved. The saints in school will be like thousands of foot soldiers. This is our burden. We have no desire to give many messages. We want to train and produce useful “foot soldiers” who will be in every city in Taiwan. Then whenever the gospel is preached, a person will be saved, and afterward, a whole family will be gained. If we gain a classmate, he will preach the gospel to his parents, and in this way family after family will be saved. This is our burden. It is the responsibility of the young people to spread the gospel all over Taiwan.
Many of the young people love the Lord and have consecrated themselves to Him. Some of them are willing to serve the Lord full time. This is more glorious than going abroad to study. The most glorious thing for our young people, especially for the Taiwanese brothers and sisters, is to receive a burden from the Lord to spread the gospel to every corner of Taiwan. Leading a thousand people to salvation is more glorious than making millions of American dollars. We need to see the Lord’s way and receive a burden.
I do not intend to stir up the young people to be preachers. My desire is for them to graduate from college and then give themselves to preach the gospel throughout this island. They do not need to give up their jobs in order to preach the gospel. Before I began to serve the Lord full time, I gave messages seven days a week even though I had a job. I was working and serving the Lord at the same time. Hence, preaching the gospel does not depend on our serving full time. Preaching the gospel depends on our taking Christ as our person. If the Lord leads us to serve full time, we should serve full time. If He does not lead us to serve full time, we should not serve full time. Either situation should not be a problem. We must make a resolution and tell the Lord that we were born in Taiwan, we grew up in Taiwan, and we live for the people of Taiwan; we give ourselves for their souls to be saved. The Taiwanese need us. Therefore, we should place ourselves in the Lord’s hand. Do not wait until you graduate. Whether you are in college, high school, or junior high school, you should give yourself to the Lord while you are still a student. The students around you are your targets; whenever you gain one person, you gain a whole family. This is the Lord’s present desire.