Before the small group gatherings were established, the saints in Taipei were used to attending big meetings. In the large meetings one speaker took care of the speaking while they simply sat there to listen. Suddenly they were assigned to go to small meetings. There was no leader there, neither was there a speaker, a singer, or a reader. No one knew what to do, but gradually they began to exercise their spirit and use the Word. They began to realize how precious the Word was. They treasured the Word in a practical way. Now when they go to the small group meetings, they have a way to use the Word. They have also been helped greatly to get into the experience of the infilling and outpouring of the Spirit.
For us to exercise our spirit in the meetings requires much exercise in our daily life. We need to exercise our spirit in speaking the word to everybody. When you do not have anyone to speak to, you may practice speaking to dogs, to cats, or to the windows. You may practice speaking, practice the exercise of the spirit, and practice the belief in the infilling and outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Then it will not be difficult for you in the home meetings, regardless whether the attendants are unbelievers or believers. You will have a way to exercise your spirit to talk to people with the Word according to the need. The home meetings will become very flexible according to the situation because you can meet there with two or with ten, and you can meet with people from all levels of society.
Even the sisters may learn to be bold to speak something for the Lord, by giving a short testimony. The result, the effectiveness, and the power will be prevailing. Through the small meetings many will be saved. In Taipei at the beginning of the year they had three hundred ninety-nine small home meetings, and they may have more today. I encouraged them not to have small group meetings with over ten attendants. Once they reach ten, they divide into two groups. The fewer people there are in a small group meeting the better it is.
We all need to take the way of getting ourselves experienced in the word and experienced in the infilling and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that we may come in a proper way to any kind of meeting. Then even in the large meetings we will be able to exercise our spirit to release the word. In the meeting we can speak a good hymn to one another. However, for you to speak a hymn you must be experienced in the holy Word because a good hymn is always composed according to the biblical revelation. If you do not have much knowledge and experience in the holy Word, it will be hard for you to speak the hymns. You will only be able to repeat the words and phrases.
In Colossians 3:16 and Ephesians 5:18 and 19 a few important words are mentioned. Colossians 3:16 mentions teaching, admonishing, and singing. Teaching and admonishing are not in the speaking of ordinary words, but in psalms. The psalms are used to teach and admonish people and also to sing. In Ephesians 5 the word speaking is used, as well as singing and psalming. In these verses are teaching, admonishing, speaking, singing, and psalming. To do all these things you need an adequate knowledge of the biblical terms. To speak forth Christ you have to exercise your understanding, your spirit, and your heart, with the proper words, phrases, and expressions, mostly from the Bible.
We need to get ourselves built up in the experience of the holy Word and built up in the experience of the infilling and outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Then in any meeting it will be easy for us to release something. This will enrich, uplift, and enliven the meeting making the meeting so living. Eventually the meeting will be upholding, attracting, preserving, and even embracing people. Whenever one comes into such a meeting he will never give up coming, but will continue to come again and again. It is by this way that we can retain and hold all the new increase. By going out to contact people in the principle of one on one we gain people. By meeting in such a living way we can keep people, teach people, educate people, and build people up with the proper supply of life and truth.
To gain the increase and to have the proper meetings requires our experience in the Word and our experience in the infilling and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. This is all that we need. I hope that we would be deeply impressed with our need today. We all need to go to the Lord: “Lord, have mercy upon me. Give me the help that I would be serious in handling Your Word. I want to learn Your Word seriously. I would also like to make a thorough confession to get myself fully cleansed and thoroughly cleared up that You could have every inch of space within my whole being, to fill me up and to saturate me, and even to pour Yourself out upon me as the very power from on high. Then I will be a living person with Your Word and with Your Spirit. Then wherever I am I will be a speaking person. I will speak all the time.”
If we practice this way, we will surely get the increase. It will be so easy for each one of us to gain a person monthly, to bear fruit every month like the tree of life (Rev. 22:2). However, at the present time not many among us even bear fruit yearly. If everybody bears one piece of fruit yearly, we will have a hundred percent increase yearly. If you daily practice what I have presented to you, be assured that you will gain people, not only one a year, but perhaps five, six, or ten a year, perhaps even twenty a year. Then, how could we count the increase? It would be beyond our counting. It will be doubled or tripled in one year. If this is the case, in a short time your hall will be filled up. We would not need to have the training or a conference to fill the hall. Simply in the weekly church meetings the hall will be crowded with people. I have seen this kind of situation in the past. But we all have to endeavor to become rich in this kind of experience. May the Lord have mercy on us and give us grace.