There is a real story which took place in Tsinan, Shantung in China. There was a brother who worked for the provincial government. He went to America to study water conservation, and after graduation he came back to China to help the province of Shantung regulate the Yellow River. At that time he had not yet believed in the Lord, but there was a believer, a brother who loved the Lord very much, who was working under him. Every morning when this brother came to clean the office, he made his manager’s desk very clean and orderly and placed a gospel tract on top of the desk. When the manager came to work, he sat down at the desk and discovered the gospel tract. At first he was annoyed when he saw it, and he immediately threw it into the wastebasket. Every day it was like this, and he continued throwing the tracts away for half a year or longer. Although he threw the tracts away when he saw one, the next day the cleaning brother would place another one on his desk, and the third day he would do the same. After the manager threw away one tract, the brother would place another one; every day the brother would place a new tract. This caused the manager to become very annoyed. But after a long while, one day he suddenly thought, “This person has been doing this for such a long time, so there surely must be a reason and there must be something special here. I must speak to him to find out what this is all about.” In this way the manager was saved, and subsequently his wife also was saved. In addition, both of them became very zealous for the church.
This is a good illustration for not being discouraged in the preaching of the gospel. This is also the way for us to spread and propagate. Every one of us has many people around us. The Bible tells us to be fishers of men, and the people around us are the fish. Today we do not even need to go fishing. The fish are jumping at our feet, and we can grasp them easily. Therefore, we must know the truth and speak the truth frequently to people. We have to find opportunities to preach the truth to our relatives, including our uncles, aunts, grandparents, and cousins. If we would practice this, then in a year, in 365 days, we will be able to gain at least one “fish.” We will bring at least one person to salvation.
If you save one, if I save one, and if each one of us saves one, we will have an increase of one hundred percent. Not only so, if we can save one, we should be able to save two. To save one is not difficult, and to save two is even less difficult. Very often after we save one, another one follows. Sometimes after a husband is saved, the wife would follow and be saved; sometimes after a wife is saved, the husband and children would eventually follow. We have seen this matter very clearly. The problem today is that our knowledge of the truth is not sufficient and that we do not know how to introduce the truth to people. People who have been to Hong Kong know that the merchants selling precious stones there bring out their expensive jewelry to show to the customer, and when the customer’s heart is touched, he naturally pays a high price to buy it. We Christians often are very foolish because we do not know how to bring out the treasures in the Bible to show to people. We have plenty of treasures at home, but we do not know how to bring them out. This is due to our lack in our daily pursuing and being equipped.
For this reason we definitely have to schedule all kinds of educational courses in the church meetings to teach the brothers and sisters so that they may be built up in the truth. Then when they go out to contact people, everyone will have his function. For a country to be strong, it must provide widespread education, and its citizens must be highly educated. In this way the country will naturally be strong. If we have education as a base, it will not be difficult to do anything. We are for the testimony of the Lord, but if we are not strong in the truth, then without that base, whatever we speak to others will be in vain. Conversely, if we have been equipped with the truth, then whatever we speak will benefit others.
The third way for us to speak for the Lord outside of the meetings is to speak to Christians in general. Christians are the third category of people that we should speak to. Today although the number of Christians is not so great, neither is it that small, so we will always be able to meet some. When we meet them, we should not argue with them concerning doctrines because there will be no end to it. The best way is to set before them the truths, the precious truths in the Bible, especially those concerning Christ, so that they may be attracted.
Today in all kinds of Christian organizations, there is insufficient knowledge concerning the following four big categories of truth-Christ, the Spirit, life, and the church. The truths they know are quite superficial; however, now they also have started to treasure these four truths. Many of them have read The Knowledge of Life and The Experience of Life. Therefore, we must minister the truth to Christians to meet their need.
There are two things we need to avoid. First, when we are speaking with others, we should not give them the sense that we are teachers or that we are speaking with a teaching attitude. We have to be like learners, fellowshipping with them in mutuality. Second, we should not try to draw people to our meetings as soon as we contact them. There is no need for this. Wherever they want to go for meetings and however they want to meet, we should let them have their choice. Our responsibility is to release the truth and to minister life, because we are for the Lord’s testimony. Whether people come to our meeting or not, we should let them choose and not try to draw them over. However, we must endeavor to save the unbelievers. Our attitude is not to draw people out of Christianity into our midst. Our responsibility is to release the truth and to minister life.
If we enter into the truth and are equipped with the truth, and if at the same time we also receive the burden from the Lord in prayer, then we will naturally take care of the new believers whom we are feeding by speaking the truth to them frequently. At the same time we will also surely have the burden to preach the gospel to our relatives, friends, and neighbors. Of course, we will also care for the Christians we meet, releasing the truth to them and supplying them with life. This is the Lord’s commission to us.
Although we do not have a great number of people, if all of us would proclaim the truth in this way, then the Lord Jesus could have a glorious increase on the earth. Therefore, when we meet together, we should do nothing but learn the truth. When we go out and meet people, we should also speak nothing but the truth. The first group of people we need to take care of is the newly baptized ones among us. Then we need to take care of our relatives, our friends, and other Christians. By this we can see that our responsibility is very great and that this work is actually without end. If we all endeavor together with one heart, we will surely reap the fruit. The final result will be that the church will multiply and increase.
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