“If a Christian never opens his mouth or functions in the meetings, he will become a dead member. My wife once said that if I do not speak for a month, my legs cramp, my back aches, and I do not sleep well. Therefore, she told me, ‘You need to hold conferences frequently. As soon as you open your mouth, your legs have no cramps, your back stops aching, you sleep well, and you have a good appetite.’ This is the normal condition of a Christian…Not only do I have the Lord in me, but I also exercise my spirit often, release my spirit, and function.” (Rising Up to Preach the Gospel, Chapter 7)

“In leading a home meeting, you need to have variations, to be living and flexible. Do not be set and rigid…If you are willing to learn to practice, you will become more and more skillful and flexible. You will know that all kinds of changes can be made as long as the spirit is living…As long as we have the spirit, what we do will not be in vain, and they will receive what we say…The most important thing is that you never allow these things to become a rigid and ritualistic practice. Before you go to a home meeting, you must have ample and living fellowship with the Lord and have thorough confession and prayer until you are filled inwardly. If your spirit is filled with the Lord and His word and you can sing and pray, then you are living, and whatever you do will be living.” (Rising Up to Preach the Gospel, Chapter 6)

“The Spirit, the Word, prayer, and singing are the four crucial elements of a meeting. Not only should we know the Bible, know the spiritual truths in our spiritual publications, and exercise to have a burning spirit, but also we need to learn to sing good hymns…To teach the new ones to sing the hymns is the best way to nourish them…After the time we go to someone’s home to baptize him, the next time we meet in his home, we can begin to teach him to sing. After singing only four or five times, he will be infused and nourished by the hymns…By singing a little, the truths in the hymns will gradually enter into them.” (Rising Up to Preach the Gospel, Chapter 6)

“When a person hears the gospel, repents, confesses, prays, calls on the Lord, and receives the Lord, this is the beginning of his salvation. However, we must not stop there. Rather, we have to continue to feed him and teach him, not allowing him to remain in his original condition. We must immediately care for him and nurture him, just as we would a child after he is born. If we wait a few days to care for a newborn, he will die. In the same way, after a person is baptized, we must immediately make an appointment with him within that week to set up a certain day to visit him and nourish him weekly.” (Rising Up to Preach the Gospel, Chapter 6)

“When we go door-knocking in the community and on the campuses, we must know how to do it. First of all, every time before we go out, we must have adequate and thorough prayer until we are filled with the Holy Spirit. Once we turn to our spirit and pray to the Lord, our inner being will be enlightened. We will sense many things that are improper, as though we have come to a mirror and seen our real situation. At that time we have to confess our sins, the more the better. This will cause us to deal with our sins. When we have nothing more to confess, the Holy Spirit will fill us. When all our trespasses and sins have been emptied out, the Holy Spirit will fill our entire being. Then we will have the boldness to go door-knocking.” (Rising Up to Preach the Gospel, Chapter 5)

“We have to learn how to visit by door-knocking…However, your person is crucial when it comes to door-knocking…There have to be some requirements for visitation by door-knocking. First, you must be one who loves and seeks the Lord. Second, you must be one who pursues the truth and is learned in the truth. Third, you must be one who grows in life and is being transformed day by day. Fourth, you must be one who deals often with sins, prays before the Lord, and is always filled by the Holy Spirit. Fifth, you must be one who has had a change in character because of the life that is within you.” (Rising Up to Preach the Gospel, Chapter 5)

“When you young people go to the college campuses, you are there to hold a reception for Jesus. Just set out a few cold treats, and use half an hour to share the gospel with your friends. That is your home. Alternately, if you can get your parents’ permission, you can invite classmates over for meals and to hear the gospel. The gospel presented in this way will save young people from becoming vile persons…Therefore, I hope that all of you will open your homes to give a great reception for Jesus, simply inviting “sinners” as your guests so that you may preach the gospel to them. If you open your homes, it will not be a loss but a blessing to you. The Lord Himself said that He will show lovingkindness to thousands of generations of those who love Him (Exo. 20:6). Hence, for the sake of eternity, we all should open our homes and provide an outlet for the gospel of the Lord. In this way the blessing will come not only to us but also to our sons and daughters for generation after generation.” (Rising Up to Preach the Gospel, Chapter 4)

“The house of Levi, a tax collector, and the house of Cornelius are excellent examples to us. Regardless of whether we are slaves of money, like the tax collectors who were vile sinners, or we are those who often pray to God and give alms to the poor, like Cornelius, who was a virtuous person, we are all sinners before the Lord; we all need salvation. We also need to open our house and hold a reception for Jesus, inviting all our relatives and intimate friends. I believe in that day when the Lord Jesus was with the group of tax collectors, there must have been many who eventually were saved…Therefore, the way to contact people with the gospel is in the homes. If there are no homes, the gospel will not have a way. When there is a home, the gospel has a way.” (Rising Up to Preach the Gospel, Chapter 4)

“The mouthpiece for the gospel is man. Moreover, the outlet for the gospel is the homes. We are the mouthpieces for the gospel, and our homes are the outlets for the gospel. If your home is not given for the Lord’s use, and you preach the gospel only individually, then there will be a mouthpiece but no outlet. Acts shows us that at the time of Peter, the disciples not only broke bread ‘from house to house’ (2:46) but also announced Jesus Christ as the gospel ‘from house to house’ (5:42)...Hence, we should not only preach the gospel but also open our homes.” (Rising Up to Preach the Gospel, Chapter 4)

“In order to receive the power of the gospel, we have to enjoy the Lord. Once we enjoy the Lord, the Lord becomes breath and a storm wind to us. The storm wind brings the great cloud, and the great cloud brings the consuming fire. This is power. The wind, the cloud, and the fire are the power in the universe, and the issue is the electrum. Not only so, we also need to speak the truth of the gospel. When we open our homes and invite people to come, we cannot be silent. Rather, we have to speak boldly. We may not understand technology, astronomy, or geography, but we know the gospel and are clear about the biblical truths. This is enough; we need to spread the Lord’s word to others.” (Rising Up to Preach the Gospel, Chapter 3)

“Our power for the preaching of the gospel depends on our enjoyment of this all-inclusive Spirit. We all know that before we preach the gospel, we should pray to contact God and to enjoy Him. This is to ‘wait.’ By praying and waiting, we enjoy God. Then when we go out, we have the power of the gospel. On the other hand, we also need to learn and understand the truths. Peter said in Acts 6:4, ‘We will continue steadfastly in prayer and in the ministry of the word.’ To pray is to contact God, and to be in the ministry of the word is to release the Lord’s gospel to others. When the apostles did this, the result was that the word of the Lord grew, multiplied, and prevailed (v. 7; 12:24; 19:20).” (Rising Up to Preach the Gospel, Chapter 3)

“Coming and going is the living that the believers should have…Regrettably, most of the believers pay attention only to coming, such as coming to be saved, coming to be baptized, coming to the throne of God, coming to the meeting, coming to pray, and coming to read the Word. However, they have neglected the matter of going, such as, ‘Go therefore and disciple all the nations’ (Matt. 28:19); ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel’ (Mark 16:15); and ‘Go; behold, I send you’ (Luke 10:3). In Isaiah 6 the Lord said, ‘Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?’ (v. 8)...We need to be reminded not to be a ‘half believer’ but to be a ‘whole believer’.” (Rising Up to Preach the Gospel, Chapter 2)

“To the older saints I would say that when you retire…you can pray and preach the gospel. In the same way I would say to the young people that you have to rise up and cooperate. Do not be here merely for making money. Even if you gain the whole of America but do not gain one soul for the Lord, you will have lived and worked your whole life in vain. I hope that you all can see that on that day you will not be able to bring anything before the Lord except souls.” (Rising Up to Preach the Gospel, Chapter 2)

“Dear saints, what is the meaning of our human life?...If we are not here for the preaching of the gospel and saving souls, then what are we here for? You are working so that you can have food to eat, and you have been eating for so many years, yet it is still the same food. What is there to this? If we are not here for the Lord, what is the meaning of our eating? We cannot be the evil and slothful slaves. We must arise to do the work of reaping by actively preaching the gospel.” (Rising Up to Preach the Gospel, Chapter 2)

“...Apparently, the gospel has nothing to do with the world situation; actually, according to history, the world situation is completely under the control of the Lord’s hand with a view to the spreading of the gospel. Numerous events in history show us clearly that the world situation is in the Lord’s hands. He is the Lord of the heavens and the earth, and the throne is His. On the throne He carries out the universal administration and rules over the entire universe. Daniel 2 says, “He deposes kings and causes kings to ascend” (v. 21). We can see in the Old Testament that whatever nation He raised up, that nation would rise; and whatever nation He caused to fall, that nation would fall. What is the purpose of God in governing the universe and ruling over the nations on the earth? We all have to answer that it is fully for the spreading of the gospel.” (Rising Up to Preach the Gospel, Chapter 2)

“...We cannot say to the Lord, ‘You did not sow, and You did not winnow, so it is unreasonable for You to ask us to reap and gather.’ Apparently, He is not sowing. In actuality, we just may not know that He has sown already. Even when He was living on the earth, He said, ‘Behold, I tell you, Lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are already white for harvest’ (John 4:35). He then said, ‘The harvest is great, but the workers few; therefore, beseech the Lord of the harvest that He would thrust out workers into His harvest’ (Luke 10:2). This proves that the Lord had already sown the seed, which had turned into a harvest that needed workers to reap. Today this is even more the case.” (Rising Up to Preach the Gospel, Chapter 2)

“We preach the gospel not in fear of death but because we do not want to meet the Lord empty-handed. That we are saved is not a problem, but we still need to live an overcoming life so that we may have “trophies” to offer to the Lord. Paul says that the believers whom he led to salvation were his hope, joy, and crown of boasting before the Lord (1 Thes. 2:19-20). If when you meet the Lord, you see that everyone else is bringing a herd of lambs, and you alone are empty-handed, you will feel sad and ashamed. However, if you also bring with you a good number of lambs, your feeling and joy will be indescribable.” (Rising Up to Preach the Gospel, Chapter 2)

“The Lord loves us, but sometimes He also rebukes us. If we are not faithful now, when He comes back, He will not let us get away with it; rather, He will rebuke us as being ‘evil and slothful.’ The third slave was evil because he had the talent but did not go to work with it, trade with it, or even earn interest with it. Not only so, he blamed the Lord for not sowing or winnowing (Matt. 25:24). To trade with the talent is difficult because it requires psychological as well as physical labor. To earn interest with the talent is also not easy but troublesome because it requires some calculation. However, to wrap the talent in a handkerchief (Luke 19:20) is very easy; it is the slothful way. Therefore, the Lord called that slave an ‘evil and slothful slave.’” (Rising Up to Preach the Gospel, Chapter 2)

“The spirit of the gospel is a spirit of being beside ourselves. In order to have the spirit of the gospel, we need to be ‘crazy’ in our spirit. Do not pay too much attention to rules, and do not care too much for others’ feelings. Sometimes when we are sitting in the meetings, we look around at the brothers and the sisters, and we feel embarrassed to do anything. Whenever we have this kind of consideration, our spirit is restricted and has no way out. I hope that whenever we meet, we would break all rules, rituals, and formalities, thereby letting our spirit be released.” (Rising Up to Preach the Gospel, Chapter 1)

“The third point that we have to learn in the preaching of the gospel is the release of the spirit. To preach the gospel you must have a spirit that is so released and strong that if you faced the devil, you would convince even him to receive the gospel. This is the spirit of the gospel…You should not be bashful. Some brothers are so “unmanly” in their preaching of the gospel that they appear to be more female than the females. They are timid and apprehensive of everything. In particular, they are afraid of offending others. Their preaching of the gospel is doomed to failure.” (Rising Up to Preach the Gospel, Chapter 1)

“The second point that we have to learn for preaching the gospel is to open our mouth widely to speak everywhere. It does not matter even if you speak wildly; as long as it is the gospel, there will still be the effect. If you intend to convince people by reasoning and therefore speak properly with eloquence and persuasion, you will tend to kill them with your speaking. In the past fifty years in China, the most effective gospel preacher was Dr. John Sung. I heard his preaching. While preaching the gospel, sometimes he jumped from the platform to the ground and then used someone as a stepping stone to jump back to the platform. His messages did not follow any logical order. Sometimes he screamed at people and scolded them, and occasionally he even made strange noises in his speaking. Nevertheless, his gospel preaching was very effective.” (Rising Up to Preach the Gospel, Chapter 1)

"In order to be gospel preachers…First, we must be ‘thick-skinned.’...those who have been able to bear fruit for the gospel have all been thick-skinned. People who are thin-skinned cannot preach the gospel, much less be fruitful. To have the impact of the gospel, we must have a ‘skin that is thicker than our soles.’ Not only so, while preaching the gospel, we must have a face like brass. If we do not have a face like brass, we cannot preach the gospel. I was not a gospel preacher by nature, but due to the Lord’s mercy I was forced out of my old nature to become a ‘crazy’ preacher of the gospel for the Lord.” (Rising Up to Preach the Gospel, Chapter 1)

"I would like to present a simple way to bear fruit. First, you should make a vow to the Lord. You can pray, ‘Lord, as one of Your branches, I realize that I must bear fruit according to Your charge in John 15. If I cannot get one sinner saved within a year, this is a shame. Lord, every week I will spend two or three hours to contact people for their salvation.’ This is the principle. This does not mean that you have to spend two or three hours at one time in one day. You may spend some time in the morning to consider how to contact and save your unsaved relatives. You may spend twenty-five minutes to pray and make a record of these relatives. These twenty-five minutes should be reckoned as part of your two to three hours of labor in the gospel every week. In the evening you may write a letter to one of your relatives to find out how he is doing, opening the door for you to have further contact with him. The time spent in writing this letter is also a part of your gospel labor. Let us suppose that you have five unsaved cousins. If you labored three hours a week on these cousins in a concentrated way for one year, surely at least one of them would be brought to the Lord."

(Elders' Training, Book 10, The Eldership and the God-ordained Way (2), pp. 143- 151)

If we want to go out to preach the gospel by visiting people through knocking on doors, we must be one with Christ. In 2 Corinthians 12:2 Paul told us that he was a man in Christ, and in Philippians 3:9 he aspired to be found in Christ. He wanted to remain in Christ all the time, doing things in Christ, acting in Christ, and living in Christ. In other words, he wanted to be one with Christ that people might see him in Christ, find him in Christ, and meet him in Christ. He was a person altogether in Christ and one with Christ. To go out to visit people for the gospel preaching, we need to be persons who are one with Christ and in the organic union with the Triune God.

(The Scriptural Way to Meet and to Serve for the Building Up of the Body of Christ)