How do we bear fruit by bringing people to salvation? During the past four years or more, we have practiced the visiting of people by knocking on their doors to save men through the preaching of the gospel. Strictly speaking, it is not a matter of knocking on doors. Rather, it is a matter of contacting people. To save people, we have to contact them. For example, to catch the fish, whether with a rod or with a net, we have to go to the places where there are fish. How can we not contact people when we are living in human society? Our communal life is simply a people-contacting life. First, we all have our relatives and in-laws. How many of these relatives do we have? Are they all saved? I am afraid that three-quarters of them are not saved yet. All these are the targets of our door-knocking. The Lord says in Acts 1:8 that “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the remotest part of the earth.” In preaching the gospel, we work from the center to the circumference, and then to the remotest part of the earth. Hence, you must first preach the gospel to your close relatives. Next you should go to your cousins and in-laws. In addition, your neighbors, classmates, and colleagues are all good potential targets. There are also lots of people in the public parks on the weekends. You can stop by one of the parks and preach the gospel to someone there. The opportunity abounds everywhere. The question is whether or not we are willing to do it.
If you are to preach the gospel to your classmates, first you have to build up a reputation. When they know that you are a “Jesus-fanatic,” and that the more you speak about Jesus, the more people change, they will begin to trust in you and will gradually believe in what you preach. There was a brother who used to work in the Telegraph Company. He preached to others all the time. His colleagues nicknamed him “Jesus.” When he came into the office, everyone made fun of him by saying, “Hi, Jesus!” One day, the Telegraph Company encountered a problem. There was a sum of money that needed to be entrusted to someone. Everyone agreed that it should be entrusted to “Jesus.” After all, it was “Jesus” that they trusted in. When you preach the gospel and others mock you, there may be the feeling of being ill-treated. However, others know in their heart that you are actually the reliable one.
It is so strange that when men talk about politics, the economy, or Chinese Confucianism, they become proud and loud. But when they talk about Jesus, they feel shameful; nothing seems to be able to come out of their mouths. This sense of shame is from the Devil. Actually, to talk about Jesus is the most glorious matter. Do not accept the feeling from the Devil. Every one has a conscience. Every one knows that the most reliable people on earth are those who persistently preach the gospel to them. When others begin to realize this, you can go on one step further by telling your colleagues, “You know that I am zealous for preaching the gospel. Do you have any relatives? Please introduce them to me, and make an appointment for me, so that I can go to visit them.” In this way, many more will be contacted. Hence, there is no need to knock on the strangers’ doors. There are enough people we know for us to knock on their doors.
As to the preaching of the gospel to the neighbors, there is the need first to have proper conduct and a testimony among them. If you would take care of the relationship with your neighbors in a proper way, they will honor you. After this, you can pay a visit to their homes and begin to preach the gospel. In this way, not only will they be saved, but they will introduce their friends to you as well. This introduction and spreading will bring a few to salvation, and the few families will become a small group. This is all very possible. The question is whether or not we are willing.
The same is true for preaching the gospel in the schools. Whether in the high schools or the colleges, the ones the students listen to the most are their own fellow-students. The second group that they listen to are the teachers. The third group, which they listen to only partly, are the parents. Hence, to preach to the classmates is the easiest thing to do. The eels in the sea latch onto each others’ tails. When you catch one, a whole train follows. This is the same with the students. As long as you catch one, many will follow one after another. You may even be able to start a small group meeting within a week. This is absolutely true. I have experienced this myself.
Today there are three million people in the city of Taipei. We have too many opportunities for preaching the gospel. Hence, it is not a question of whether or not the gospel preaching is workable. Rather, it is a question of whether or not we are willing. What is your actual relationship with the Lord? Is the Lord real? Or is He not real? The Lord will come, and we will have to reckon our accounts with Him. Is this word true or not? If we believe that every word of the Bible is true, then can we say that our life today is one that we are not ashamed to give an account for? This is why Paul said, “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel” (1 Cor. 9:16). He also said, “I am debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to foolish” (Rom. 1:14). He was a debtor of the gospel. Again he said, “For though I am free from all, I have enslaved myself to all, that I might gain the more....To all men I have become all things, that I might by all means save some” (1 Cor. 9:19, 22). If this is the attitude we all have today, the number of saved ones will surely increase more and more. At the same time, if we love men’s souls this way, surely we will be men of prayer. Every day, we should spend some time to pray for the sinners. We should say, “Lord, look at the multitude of sinners. Lord, save them! Lord, I love You, and I love them for Your sake. Grant me to meet more sons of peace.” The Lord will answer our prayers. This is the first step, the step of begetting. Paul said to the Corinthians, “For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel” (1 Cor. 4:15).