In a normal condition, a local church must always increase not only in life but also in numbers. Acts 2:47 says of the church in Jerusalem, “And the Lord added together day by day those who were being saved.” The new converts added to the church were brought in by the laboring saints. We often have the wrong concept that people are brought into the church through a gospel campaign or a certain kind of gospel activity. According to the first few chapters of Acts, however, many new converts were continually brought into the church, not through this kind of gospel preaching and ministry but through the labor of the believers. For this reason, we stress that every member of the Body has the function, duty, and responsibility to bring people to the Lord.
To bring people to the Lord is not a hard task. Rather, it is a daily labor, a responsibility which we must bear in a daily way. We should write down a list of the names of all the people we know. Then we should consider these names and pray for them. While we are doing this, the Lord will anoint us concerning certain names. We will have a realization that we must take care of a certain two or three at the present time. Then we should pray for these two or three specifically by name and fellowship with the Lord about the way to contact them and that the Lord would give us the best approach. Then we will know what we have to do, whether it is to write them, send them booklets or testimonies, or visit them. The Lord will give the guidance.
The foregoing is the principle of bringing people to the Lord, but we still need the details. In doing anything, we need the right technique. Even if we have the heart to do something, if we do not have the technique, it is hard to do it in a good way. Therefore, we must learn the technique. Of course, we know that we must pray much, trust in the Lord, and claim His power; there is no need to speak much about this. Even if we pray much and have power, however, we still need the technique. Many times the technique paves the way for the Lord to move; it is a good cooperation with the power from on high.
If we read the record of Acts, we can see that Peter was a trained person. He had been with the Lord for three and a half years; when the Lord was on the earth, He purposed and intended to train Peter. Although Peter was a fisherman, it is wrong to think that he did not know much. When we read how Peter stood on the day of Pentecost, ministered a message, and handled the situation, we can realize that he was a person who was fully trained. He had not only the power from on high and the anointing but also the technique.
We should not think that even if we know nothing one day, overnight we will receive power from on high to be more wonderful than an angel. This is a dream. If this were the case, there would have been no need for the disciples’ training for the three and a half years prior to that day of Pentecost. Even after the Lord resurrected, He spent forty days with the disciples before His ascension, perhaps mostly to train Peter. By the day of Pentecost, Peter was one who was trained. Consider the way he spoke and handled the situation. He was full of training. We need this kind of training.
We may have a heart and desire concerning a certain person, and we may pray much for him and claim the Lord’s power, but when we are with him, what will we do? We may look to the Lord for His guidance, but without training and technique, it is hard for the Lord to guide us. Many Christians today miss the mark. They say that we can do nothing because we are only human. It is true that we are human and that we can do nothing, but we must depend on the Lord and trust in Him. In the New Testament dispensation, the service of the Lord is in the principle of incarnation, which is the mingling of God with man and the cooperation of man with God.
God needs our cooperation. If there is no one raised up and trained by the Lord to be used by Him, the Lord cannot move. Again consider the book of Acts. The Lord could provide an angel to tell Cornelius to send for someone, but He could not and would not send an angel to preach the gospel to him (Acts 10:1-7, 34-43). The Lord needed a Peter who was trained to cooperate with Him. Without Peter’s cooperation the gospel could not have been preached to the Gentile Cornelius.
Today it is the same with us. Almost two thousand years ago the Lord said that the gospel must be preached to the uttermost part of the earth (1:8). The Lord has been ready, but why have almost two thousand years passed and the gospel has still not been preached to the uttermost parts? This is not due to the Lord; it is due to us. The cooperation on the part of man has not been adequate. We may be small in number, but if we are ready and trained and if we go along with the Lord, after only three months our number will be not only doubled but tripled. Some may say that I am following the evangelizing denominations to push people to preach the gospel, but I am not forcing or pushing anyone. I am only saying that the Lord is waiting for us. He is ready, but He is waiting for us to be ready. If we are ready, we will see the results. This is why we feel the need for training.