TAKING THE SHEPHERDING WAY
TO PREACH THE GOSPEL AND REVIVE THE CHURCH

SERIES THREE
TAKING THE SHEPHERDING WAY
TO PREACH THE GOSPEL AND REVIVE THE CHURCH

Message Two
Living a Three-in-one Life

Scripture Reading:

Exo. 30:7-8     And Aaron shall burn on it fragrant incense; every morning when he dresses the lamps he shall burn it. And when Aaron sets up the lamps at twilight, he shall burn it, a perpetual incense before Jehovah throughout your generations.

Col. 3:16         Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to God.

A THREE-IN-ONE LIVING

A three-in-one living: burning the incense, lighting the lamps, and singing praise.…In the Old Testament the priests had to do three things: burn the incense, light the lamps, and sing. For us today, to burn the incense is to pray. Our praying is our burning of the incense. For us today, to light the lamp is to read the Word. By this, the light of God shines in us. And for us today, to sing is just to sing hymns.

The Lord has given us a Bible. We should spend ten minutes a day to read it. In time we will experience an inward renewal and transformation, and we will have an unveiled face, beholding the Lord’s glory. We will then be transformed into His image, from glory to glory. Then when you come to the meeting, you will not be without words. You will surely have songs to sing, words to speak, Bible verses to share, and testimonies to give.

Spending Ten Minutes Every Morning to Read the Bible

A Christian’s speaking depends on his reading of the Bible. I am not asking you to read a lot. Every saved person should spend at least ten minutes a day to read the Bible. You cannot spend less than ten minutes. I advise you that the best time to read is the morning. Allocate at least ten minutes a day to read the Bible. Take all of God’s words into your being. Be filled with His word to such an extent that it is no longer you reading the Bible, but the Bible reading itself to you from within you.

If we love the Lord, we have to go to bed as early as possible. I discovered the same thing with both Chinese and American children: they do not like to go to bed. Not only do the children not like to go to bed; both young people and old folks alike do not like to go to bed early. In the evening they always want to drag on longer. In order to be able to wake up in the morning, I suggest that you go to bed early. As soon as you wake up, the first thing to do is to go to the Word. This will make a great difference. If you read ten minutes a day, you may not notice much difference; you may only have three or five verses a day. But as the months go by, there will be more of a deposit in you, and the Bible will open itself to you in a wonderful way.

If you would do this for ten minutes a day, in ten years how rich a person you will be! The deposited word in you will make you a scholar.

Living in the Fellowship with the Lord

Whenever we feel that we are not fresh, we must contact the Lord and confess our sins. His blood will cleanse us. This cleansing is always effective; it is an instant cure. Nothing will annul this law.…I myself have the same experience. For a while I did not like to see the brothers and sisters. I became tired of meetings. Invariably my love towards the Lord was not fresh at such times. However, once I would pray a little, be enlightened a little in my prayer, and confess my sins and plead for the cleansing of the blood, I immediately would be refreshed.…If we would do this, we will live daily in the fellowship with the Lord.

We need to exercise all the time to say “O Lord, Amen.” Whether young or old, all of us must exercise to do one thing: from the time we wake up in the morning until we go to bed at night, as long as we are awake and breathing, we must set our minds on the Lord. Perhaps you would say, “I want to do this. But whenever I become busy, I forget about this.” I admit that sometimes I forget the Lord also. But one thing which I have learned makes it hard for me to forget the Lord: I always call on the Lord. If you would call “O Lord” all the time, you will be reminded of Him. Sometimes you also have to learn to say Amen. Many times we become busy with something. While we are busy with that thing, we become buried in it for two or three hours. The Lord is gone, and we are lost in that thing. I have learned a secret: no matter how busy I am, I would learn always to say “O Lord, Amen.” This kind of calling brings me into fellowship with the Lord.

Learning to Sing

We all have to learn to sing. It would be good if after this week’s home meeting, an announcement would be made for next week’s reading. There is no need to use a whole Life-study message; we may pick out just two paragraphs. Everyone would then go home and prepare themselves in the assigned portions by pray-reading and praying. Some related hymns can be selected, and one can practice singing them first at home. When you are thus prepared, you can come to the home meeting praying, singing, and speaking. When you come to a point or a sentence in the message that touches you, you can start singing. Your singing must bring everyone into the enjoyment.

Some of you drive to work. While you are driving, you can call on the Lord. Sometimes the road is too congested. The cars ahead of you are moving too slowly. At such times you have to exercise yourself to say “O Lord, Amen.” You may even joke a little, “O Lord, the cars are slow. But You are not slow.” The Lord is indeed not slow. He never fails us. If your mind is turned, the songs will come: “He faileth not, for He is God; He faileth not, His grace how good!”

Both Ephesians chapter five and Colossians chapter three say that when you are filled within, you will be full of grace to sing with your hearts and speak to one another. You will be speaking the word and singing the word. This is why I urge you young people to learn to sing the hymns. You have to practice singing in a harmonious way and to exercise your throats. Even you older ones have to do the same. It does not matter if you sing out of tune. You have to have a singing that is full of the Lord, full of the Spirit, and full of life. You must sing out the feeling in the spirit. All of us must be like the Old Testament priests. We must have a three-in-one living: burning the incense, lighting the lamps, and singing. Every day we must pray, read the Word, and sing. (Key Points on the Home Meetings, msg. 2)

PREACHING THE GOSPEL DEPENDING ON OUR LIVING

We need to live a normal life. A person cannot become strong and healthy in one day. The way to be healthy is to live a normal, regular life. Preaching the gospel is a normal item in the spiritual life of a Christian. It is not a special act.…In order to have a normal spiritual life, we must first tell the Lord that we desire to live a life of preaching the gospel.

It is not difficult to preach the gospel, because it depends on our living. In order to preach the gospel, we first need to be revived; otherwise, our spirit will not be strong.

After being revived, we need to live an overcoming life. Some people think that it is difficult to overcome. To live an overcoming life is to walk according to the spirit. When we get up every morning, we should first think of the Lord and call on His name and then spend ten minutes to read two verses and pray over them. By praying over the verses, we will be supplied with spiritual air, water, and bread. This is a good way to begin our morning. We also need to walk according to the spirit during the day. This is the way to have an overcoming living.

Living an overcoming life is the means for us to bear fruit. Our living must be to go forth to bear fruit. If we do not visit our neighbors and preach the gospel to them, we are indebted to them (1 Cor. 9:16; Rom. 1:14). We do not have any excuse. We also need to spread the gospel gradually to surrounding areas. This is a long-term matter. We cannot depend on so-called Christian revivals.…So-called revivals do not last. The revival that I am referring to in this fellowship is the revival that comes from fellowship with the Lord daily by drawing near to Him, walking according to the spirit daily, and living an overcoming life daily. Such a revival will last. (The Proper Way for Believers to Meet and to Serve, msg. 4)