We have already seen that the goal of the new way is to build up the Body of Christ. Building up the Body of Christ is an organic function, not an organizational work. Like our human body, it is not by outward organizational means that the Body is sustained, but by the inward organic function of each part. The church is the Body of Christ; it is altogether organic. Every brother and sister is a member of this Body, that is, an organic part with an organic function within. This Bible-revealed, God-ordained new way that the Lord has shown us is to build up the organic Body of Christ through the organic functions.
The first major step in God’s ordained way is preaching the gospel to gain people. In visiting people to preach the gospel to gain them for the Lord, we not only desire that people be saved, but also that they become the material for the building up of the Body of Christ. They must repent and be regenerated; then they must be transformed and grow up. Regeneration, transformation, and growing up are all organic matters. These are included in the organic building up.
For many years in the past, the way we preached the gospel was for the church to set the date for a gospel campaign. We passed out tracts and pasted up posters. Then the brothers and sisters were burdened to endeavor to invite relatives, friends, neighbors, schoolmates, and colleagues. Though we exerted great effort, it was often without much good result. You cannot say that this way is not a right way or a useful way, since there is such a gathering of people for the gospel from the Bible. However, if you study the Bible carefully, you will see the basic thought in gospel preaching is to go to where the sinners are. The Lord wants us to be the fishers of men (Matt. 4:19), indicating that the gospel preachers are fishermen. Which fishermen, instead of going to the ponds or sea to fish, send invitations asking fish to come to them? The Bible shows us that the Lord Jesus Himself came from the heavens to visit us. He visited people village by village and even house to house. Afterwards, He sent twelve disciples to visit people (Matt. 10:5), and later He sent out seventy (Luke 10:1). For lambs to visit wolves is not an easy thing-not only is there no blessing, but they must be prepared to encounter hardships and even scoldings.
We who have gone out to preach the gospel by visiting have all had such experiences. Sometimes we meet people who really are like “wolves”; but other times, when the door is opened, the people inside welcome us joyfully, and we know at first glance that they are sons of peace. By just a little speaking, they immediately believe and are baptized and thus are saved. There are many wonderful stories about meeting the sons of peace while preaching the gospel by visiting. (We hope to publish a periodical to relate these testimonies.) There are over one thousand churches around the world, and most are practicing this way of preaching the gospel by visiting. There have already been over a hundred thousand people who have believed and been baptized since the second half of 1986 through the preaching of the gospel by visiting. Even some other Christian groups have been influenced by us and are practicing preaching the gospel by visiting.
We used to invite twenty to thirty guests to hear the gospel and not even two would show up. Now we go to knock at twenty to thirty doors, and at least one person will be brought to salvation. This is the scientific way of working, and it is very effective. However, it is not easy to carry this out. It requires us to pay a price to lay down our status. We must believe that the Holy Spirit is with us, and we must speak the Lord’s word to people, sentence by sentence, by the spirit. Some people are very rough with us at the start, but after our preaching they not only repent, pray, and believe, but also are baptized. Truly in an instant, wolves become lambs. We have spent one and a half years with hundreds of people, concentrating on experimenting with this matter. As a result, we have the proof that this is the most workable and effective way.
The secret in preaching the gospel by visiting is to be thick-skinned and tenacious. No matter how people revile you, your countenance is not changed, and no matter how much your head is hit, it is not broken. First you need to pray, confess thoroughly, ask for the cleansing of the Lord’s blood to get the filling of the Holy Spirit, and offer yourself to the Holy Spirit that He will go out with you. Then, you will surely have the boldness and be full of authority. You can declare to the heaven and earth that you are going out with the Lord Christ to preach the gospel to sinners, commanding them to believe that they may be saved. You can even command demons to leave the homes which you are about to visit. Because the Lord said all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him, therefore, we should go and disciple the nations with this authority, baptizing them into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This is not a small thing.
All in all, we have rightly seen that this is the correct way. If we want to preach the gospel to people, we must go to the people. Who will go if you and I do not go? Who can God send? God cannot send the angels, since in the New Testament God did not become an angel but a man. God became flesh to move together with us. If we would not move, God has no way. Hence, we need to go to bring salvation to people’s homes, just as the Lord Jesus brought salvation to Zaccheus’ home.
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