The Spirit is for the Body. If we behave and work in the Spirit, the Spirit will direct us to the Body. The first thing we have to understand about the Body is the oneness. The Body is one (Eph. 4:4; Rom. 12:5). The people who are in denominations and divisions cannot realize and practice the real Body life because they are not on the genuine ground of oneness. The oneness of the Body can only be maintained on the unique ground of oneness. All the people who went back to Jerusalem under the leadership of Ezra and Nehemiah in the Old Testament were able to rebuild the temple. Those who remained in Babylon could not help with this rebuilding work because they were not on the proper ground. In the divisions, Christians may enjoy the Spirit a little, but there is no possibility of having the real Body life in any division. We must act, behave, and work in the Body and with the Body on the genuine ground of oneness.
When I began to talk about the young people going to the campus to preach the gospel, a number of the older saints began to think that they were being excluded. This is a wrong understanding of my burden. We need all the saints of every age. Preaching the gospel is a work for the entire Body. We should not do the gospel work in an individualistic way. We must do it in the Body.
We need the young people to go to the campuses, especially those who are eighteen and nineteen years old. All the young people in the church life are useful. This is why we have to work with our high schoolers. After graduating from high school, they all will be on the campuses to effectively contact the freshmen. People over twenty-five have a more difficult time in contacting freshmen. They are not as useful and prevailing as the younger saints on the campus. There is an open door for the eighteen-year-old freshmen to contact other freshmen. A person is most effective when he contacts a person who is his same age. Someone who is eighteen may not easily talk with me because I am much older than he is, but it is so easy for an older man to talk with me. We can talk because we are birds of the same feather. Birds of the same feather can talk together.
The young people’s preaching of the gospel on the campuses, however, should be in coordination with all the saints. Since we may not have that many young ones, we need many homes of the saints for coordination in the gospel work. Every young person who goes to the campus needs a home for his contacts. A young person who catches eighteen new ones should be able to bring all eighteen into the living rooms of the saints. We need living rooms to receive all these new contacts. All the ages can be used. No one is too old. The older saints can open up their homes to these new contacts. Even though the older saints have opened their homes, they can keep themselves in the background and invite some middle-aged saints to serve the new ones in the living room. This is coordination.
The younger you are, the more you should be in the front to take care of the new young ones. The older you are, the more you should be at the back. It would be good for the older ones to buy the groceries, cook the food, and wash the dishes to serve the young people and their contacts. The young ones should go to the campus and the middle-aged saints should serve the young people in the living room. Our living rooms should be filled with the enjoyment of Christ, especially through singing and psalming. Such an atmosphere of enjoyment and mutuality requires a great deal of coordination.
If all the churches practice preaching the gospel in the campus work in this way, we will have a prevailing church life. One of the best ways for the churches to get new contacts is to send our young people to the campus. The best fishing ponds for the Lord’s recovery are the college campuses. We should send our fishermen to the fishing ponds. Then the older saints can stay home to prepare snacks, refreshments, and the best dinners to gather the new contacts at least once every four weeks. The living rooms will catch them.
We need a young army that can be sent to the campuses to bring in more young people, but all the older and middle-aged saints are also needed. We should not be discouraged that we may be too old to go to the campus. The church’s gospel preaching needs all the saints. Because the local churches in the Lord’s recovery are standing on the genuine ground of oneness, we can have a very good coordination. We all need to learn so that we can have the best coordination.
We should not preach the gospel in an individualistic way. We also should not invite people to our homes or serve them dinner in an individualistic way. We should do everything corporately in the Body. This needs much fellowship and coordination. If we have the faith to apply the truth in the Bible, we will have the power, and if we have the coordination in the Body, nothing will frustrate our preaching. Our preaching will be powerful and prevailing. Then we will gain many young people for the Lord’s recovery in this generation. What we need is the revelation and experience of the Spirit and the Body.
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