Testifying III - Spiritual Growth for New Believers

Chapter Three: The Importance of Witnessing for Christ

1. The Joy of Witnessing

Every believer experiences two joyful days in their life. The first joyful day is the day they believed in the Lord and received Him, bringing them great joy. The second joyful day is the day they first lead someone to the Lord. The joy of bringing someone to Christ can be even greater than the joy of their own salvation. Many Christians are not joyful because they have never shared a word for the Lord or led anyone to the Lord.

2. Learning to Be Wise in Leading Others

Proverbs 10:30 says, "The one who is wise will win souls." Therefore, when we first come to believe in the Lord, we should learn various ways of saving others. We need to learn how to be wise so that we can be useful in the church. This does not mean preaching the gospel from the pulpit. Preaching from the pulpit does not replace personal evangelism. Many people can preach but cannot lead others to Christ. We are not encouraging you to preach from the pulpit; we want you to save people. Many can preach well but fail to lead people. Being able to bring one person to Christ is far more valuable than just preaching to a crowd.

3. Life Must Bear Fruit

No tree has buds and fails to grow; similarly, no one who has the life of Christ in them fails to bear fruit. If someone does not witness to sinners, they may need someone to witness to them. If someone does not have the heart or interest to lead others to repentance, they may themselves need repentance. If someone has no voice for the Lord before others, they might still need to hear the gospel. No one can advance in their spiritual life to the point where they no longer need to witness to others. New believers must learn to witness right from the start, and this is a lifelong task.

As you walk further in your spiritual journey, you will hear fellow believers say, "You should be a channel of living water. You should be connected to the Holy Spirit so that living water—Holy Spirit—flows through you." But the pipe of living water has two openings. One opening is towards the Holy Spirit, towards life, towards the Lord; the other is towards people. If the opening towards people is not open, living water will never flow. No one can be so mistaken as to think that only being open to the Lord is sufficient. If the opening to people is closed, the life water will not flow. Many people lack power before God, perhaps because their connection to the Lord is not open, but perhaps more often because they have not opened the connection to people for witnessing and leading them to Christ.

4. The Tragedy of Eternal Separation

Many people have never heard the gospel because you did not witness to them, and as a result, they are separated from you forever, not just temporarily. That is a truly serious matter. There was once a brother who personally experienced a situation: One evening, he went to someone's home for dinner. He was very learned and articulate, so he talked about many academic topics. At the dinner, there was an elderly friend who was also very learned, and they talked for a long time. As the evening grew late, the host invited them to stay overnight. The friend's room was across from his. Not long after entering his room, he heard a sound from across the room, like something heavy had fallen to the floor. He rushed over and found that the friend had collapsed on the floor and had already died. The others soon gathered around. He immediately felt deep sorrow and said, "If I had known this would happen, I wouldn't have spent the last two hours talking about these academic matters. I should have shared with him eternal matters. But I didn't spend even five minutes talking to him about the salvation of his soul. I didn’t give him the opportunity. If I had known what I know now, I would have done my best to tell him how the Lord Jesus died for him on the cross. But now it’s too late! If I had shared those words earlier, you would have laughed at me for being out of season. But now it is too late. But I hope that you all can hear this: Everyone needs to believe in the Lord Jesus and His cross!” We must understand that this separation is eternal, not temporary. How tragic that, by missing the opportunity, this person will never make it to heaven! Therefore, we must always seek opportunities to witness.

Moody was a great soul-winner. He had a rule: whether he had a pulpit or not, he would witness to at least one person every day. One day, as he was going to bed, he suddenly remembered that he had not witnessed to anyone that day. What should he do? He got up, dressed, and went out to find someone. He checked the time—it was already late, and the streets were empty. What could he do? He approached a night-shift police officer and said, "You need to believe in the Lord." The officer, upset about something, angrily responded, "Why are you bothering me at this hour with talk about Jesus?" Moody briefly shared a few words with him and then left. However, the officer, moved by Moody's words, came to see him a few days later and was saved.

Once someone believes in the Lord, they should have a resolution to seek out others. Everyone should set a goal, such as leading ten people to Christ in a year, or twenty. Then begin praying for these people. Prayers that are vague and directionless are of no use. When you pray before the Lord, say, "Lord, please save sinners." But this prayer should be specific. Set a clear target—whether it’s ten or twenty people. You can keep a record in a book, noting each person you lead to the Lord. At the end of the year, count how many have been saved and how many are still not. For those who are not saved, continue to pray for them. Every brother and sister should do this. Leading thirty or fifty people to Christ in a year is not too much; ten or twenty is quite normal. In prayer, you must have specific numbers to present to the Lord. The Lord will hear your definite prayers. You must pray every day before the Lord, and when you have an opportunity, witness to others. If we all take this approach—preaching the gospel and leading people to Christ—our spiritual lives will grow significantly over the years.

We must raise the banner of the gospel and light up everyone. Let each of us, as Christians, go out and light others. The witness of the gospel should continue from us until the Lord comes. We should never be the ones who are lit up but fail to light others. We must use one candle to light another, and that one to light another. We do not know how many souls around us need salvation, and we should do our utmost to witness and lead people to the Lord.