OUR COMMITMENT FOR OVERSEA PROPAGATION
Message Six
Being Aggressive in Service and Diligent in Learning
Scripture Reading:
1 Tim.4:15 Practice these things; be in them, that your progress may be manifest to all.
12 Let no one despise your youth, but be a pattern to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.
Being Aggressive in Learning
Everything Related to Serving the Lord
We must be aggressive. I hope that the young people who are serving full time will study Greek. There are even good videotapes available that teach Greek. In order to serve the Lord, you must be immersed in the Lord’s Word and spend time in it. Hence, you must learn some Greek. Some may wonder when they can find the time to learn Greek. You can find the time to learn Greek by spending less time for your meals, your sleep, talking on the phone, conversing, and reading the newspaper. Saving time in this way is what the Scriptures call “redeeming the time” (Eph. 5:16). For example, it is important to know the world situation, but for this there is a need to read only the international section of the newspaper.
Redeeming Every Minute
by Learning Everything Related to Serving the Lord
You should not rely on the diploma from your school; instead, you should study hard and be aggressive. You are still young and full of potential. Your time is precious; you must redeem every minute by learning everything related to serving the Lord. In addition to Chinese, you should study at least two other languages: Greek and English. This will help you.
You should also be aggressive to learn how to converse with others and how to speak for the Lord. You should learn how to have the proper attitude, expression, and gestures when you converse with others. I have studied all these matters. In 1927 I realized that I would spend my whole life preaching the Lord’s word. I did not study theology, nor did I study methods of preaching, but I came up with two ways to practice—I would preach to the ocean, and I would stand before a mirror and practice preaching. This practice helped me greatly. When it was time for me to stand up to give a message, everyone was surprised and asked where I had learned to speak. I also learned how to contact others and to use proper mannerisms in greeting or shaking hands with others so that I could earn others’ respect.
You should not think that these matters are unrelated to serving the Lord. When we go out to contact people, our attitude, expression, speaking, and conduct have much to do with serving the Lord. If we are proper in these aspects, we will give others the impression that we are a weighty person who does not act rashly or frivolously. Thus, what we say will be taken into consideration by others. Our work consists of nothing but speaking with others to help and to enlighten them. If the way we speak or conduct ourselves is not acceptable, no matter what we say, others will have a negative impression of us, and this will nullify everything. Therefore, I advise you to learn all these things.
Those who learn to be diplomats must be trained to contact people. Not only must they be courteous, but they must also have a certain demeanor. A diplomat represents his country. Therefore, when he meets with the heads of other countries, he must have a proper demeanor in order to gain others’ respect before he can gain their trust. We are not uplifting ourselves, but when we speak for the Lord, we are what Paul calls an ambassador of Christ (2 Cor. 5:20; Eph. 6:20). Hence, we should learn to speak and conduct ourselves with gravity even though we are young. We should not be hasty in our speaking; rather, when we speak, we should consider to whom we are speaking, what to say, how much to say, and when to stop speaking. We must learn all these things because we represent the Lord.
The Lord raised up a church in my hometown when I was young. A year later the Lord led me to leave my job, and after that He took me to Shanghai. At that time I prayed that the Lord would give me wisdom to know how to go out and come in among His people (cf. 2 Chron. 1:9-10). I prayed this for at least two or three years, and I believe that the Lord heard my prayer. We must be aggressive. We should pray concerning the way we dress. We should consider even the style and the color of the clothes we wear. We must not love fashion. As soon as we dress fashionably, we sell ourselves cheaply. However, we should not dress like an old person. When we pray concerning how to dress appropriately, the Lord will lead us.
Young People Should Have this Kind of Training;
You Must Be Aggressive
You should conduct yourselves such that others consider you as weighty young persons full of gravity. If others have this impression of you, your words will have weight. People will be amazed that you are only in your twenties, and they will treasure and receive your words.
Since I understand the Bible and the truth, and I also know history, I know the spiritual application of history. The book The World Situation and God’s Move proves that I have a thorough understanding of world history. Hence, you need to study a little history and know the world situation. This will help you in serving the Lord. If you know history and the world situation, you will understand people and different circumstances. Young people should have this kind of training. You must be aggressive. The more you learn, the more useful you will be.
These points illustrate that we must learn to be aggressive in everything. If the two hundred full-timers are aggressive to learn, even your hairstyle and clothing will show others your quality. All these things are related to your serving the Lord; hence, you must be aggressive, not casual, in everything. (The Proper Aggressiveness of the Lord’s Serving Ones, msg. 8)