Now I want to know how many of
you have heard of him ministering the world
somewhere in this country in your local fellowship
or in Richmond fellowship.
Okay, so not too many and apparently a
great number of you have not listened, have
not heard our brother minister and you may
not even heard of his name.
So we thought it would be good first
to ask our brother to share a little
bit of his personal life with the Lord,
how he came to know the Lord and
how the Lord called him into the ministry.
So we thought that would help us a
great deal to know how the Lord works
in his life and to know a little
bit of our brother, his relationship with the
Lord and that will give us, that will
really encourage young people.
And the Lord does work through human instrumentality,
weak as we are, feeble as we are,
but in God's great wisdom he chooses to
work through those that are weak, those that
are nothing, to demonstrate and manifest his great
power.
And so first we'll ask brother to share
a little bit of his personal testimony.
I heard it a few times, but every
time I hear him share it, it's always
very refreshing because it's the Holy Spirit, how
he works in life, and I think we'll
all be encouraged.
First of all, I want to thank you
for inviting me as a guest.
I told some of the friends that my
coming here reminds me of the days when
I was young, 65 years ago, when I
was in high school.
And we have meetings like this, so it
really reminds me of the past.
Now before I give my testimony, I think
I would like to read a passage first,
just to familiarize us with this type of
meeting.
Will you please turn to Luke chapter 2,
the gospel according to Luke chapter 2.
We'll read from verse 41 through verse 52.
This is about our Lord when he was
12 years old.
And his parents went yearly to Jerusalem at
the feast of the Passover.
And when he was 12 years old, and
they went up to Jerusalem according to the
custom of the feast, and had completed the
days, as they returned, the boy Jesus remained
behind in Jerusalem, and his parents knew not
of it.
But supposing him to be in the company
that journeyed together, they went a day's journey,
and sought him among their relations and acquaintances.
And not having found him, they returned to
Jerusalem, seeking him.
And it came to pass, after three days,
they found him in the temple, sitting in
the midst of the teachers, and hearing them,
and asking them questions.
And all who heard him were astonished at
his understanding and answers.
And when they saw him, they were amazed.
And his mother said to him, Child, while
hast thou dealt thus with us?
Behold, our father and I have sought thee
distressed.
And he said to them, Why is it
that ye have sought me?
Did ye not know that I ought to
be occupied in my father's business?
And they understood not the thing that he
said to them.
And he went down with them, and came
to Nazareth.
And he was in subjection to them.
And his mother kept all these things in
her heart.
And Jesus advanced in wisdom and stature, and
in favor with God and man.
Our Lord Jesus, when he was twelve years
old, he went to Jerusalem with his parents.
According to Jewish custom, a male has to
go to Jerusalem three times a year to
worship the Lord.
And our Lord, at that time, was twelve
years old.
And during those days, twelve years old was
the year when a boy was to be
made a son of the Lord.
Today among the Jewish people is thirteen, but
at that time it was twelve.
Before a boy reached the age of twelve,
he was under the instruction of his parents.
He was not responsible as an individual.
Because he was under his parents.
But when he got to twelve years of
age, he was made a son of the
Lord.
And by that it means, from that day
on, he is responsible for all his actions
for his life.
He becomes a full-fledged member of the
synagogue.
And he is given the right to ask
questions and to answer questions.
So that was the time when our Lord
was made a son of the Lord.
Now after the days were fulfilled, that is
the Passover and the Feast of the Leavened
Bread, his parents started to return home.
But our Lord Jesus remained in Jerusalem.
After a day's journey, his parents tried to
find him among the relations and acquaintances.
Because according to the custom of those days,
when they traveled, they usually traveled in groups.
And the older people would travel together, and
the younger people would travel together, you know,
as company.
So that's the reason why you find our
Lord was not traveling with his parents, but
he was with the other young people, supposed
to be with the other young people.
And also you can see that how the
parents of our Lord Jesus trusted him, had
confidence in him, knowing that he will always
do the things that were right.
But at the end of the day, they
couldn't find him.
So they returned to Jerusalem, and after three
days, they finally found him in the temple.
He was sitting among the teachers, the doctors,
the rabbis, and he was there hearing what
they said, and asking questions.
In those days, that was the way of
learning, the way of instruction.
The teachers would be there, they would be
teaching, and the students would be there listening.
But when they listen, they can ask questions.
Sometimes the teacher will ask them questions, and
they will give the answers.
And sometimes they will ask questions, and the
teacher will explain more to them.
That was the way of learning during those
days.
And all who heard the Lord was amazed
at his understanding and answers.
Our Lord had tremendous understanding, and he not
only asked questions, but he gave answers.
And I suppose the answers he gave is
in the same spirit as we find later
on in his life.
You remember towards the end of his life,
people asked him what is the greatest of
the commandments.
And our Lord Jesus said, love the Lord
thy God with all thy heart, all thy
mind, all thy soul, all thy strength.
This is the first and greatest commandment.
And together with this, love thy neighbor as
thyself.
In other words, our Lord's understanding of the
law of God is more than just letter,
but he knows the spirit of the letter.
And when his parents found him there, his
mother said, child, why do you act like
this?
And the answer of our Lord Jesus said,
do you not know that I should be
occupied with my father's business?
You know, for other children, when they reached
the age of 12, and they were made
sons of law, their relationship was with the
letter of the law.
But with our Lord Jesus, it was different.
When he was 12 and made the son
of the law, he had a relationship with
God, the Father, as the giver of the
law.
In other words, the other boys, their commitment
was to Moses.
But with our Lord Jesus, his commitment is
to his father.
So we can say that this is the
time when our Lord Jesus really committed his
life to God, his father.
Or we may put it another way, this
is the day that he really consecrated himself
to God, his father.
And with such a commitment and consecration, he
felt it was his duty to be occupied
with the father's business.
But of course, his parents didn't understand.
And you'll find that our Lord Jesus went
back with them, and was in subjection.
You know, I think, brothers and sisters, we
are coming together this time.
It is almost like 2,000 years ago,
when our Lord Jesus was 12, and he
went to Jerusalem.
And now we are here.
We commit our lives to God.
This is the time of our consecration.
We have heard how we need to submit
ourselves to the Lord.
We are born ones of righteousness.
We are born ones of our Lord Jesus.
And with such a commitment, a consecration, it
is but right for us to be occupied
with our father's business.
Or to put it another way, what is
going to be our life?
What are we going to do?
I think again and again, we have heard
during the past few days, that we are
not to live for ourselves.
We are to live for him.
We are here to be occupied with his
business, not to be occupied with our own
businesses.
We give our lives to him.
We belong to him.
And it is he who should direct us.
As to what we ought to do for
his own glory.
So I believe, brothers and sisters, this ought
to be our heart condition.
But then at the same time, you find
our Lord Jesus, even though deep down in
his heart, he had made that commitment, and
he never fall back from his commitment.
And yet because he is still a minor,
you find how he went home with his
parents, submit himself to his parents.
And the Bible said, Jesus advanced in wisdom
and stature, and in favor with God and
man.
And probably this is something that all of
us have to do after this conference.
So this is a time of question and
answer.
And I think this is the basis for
our time.
Because in the Bible you have this incident,
that this is the way we learn, this
is the way we grow.
Before this time, our brother told me that,
because I am an unknown to you.
Therefore, I need to let you know something
about myself.
Well, I'm glad that I'm an unknown, because
if you know me in the flesh, there's
nothing to boast of, but everything to be
ashamed of.
And you remember the Apostle Paul in 2
Corinthians chapter 5 verse 16, he said, Hereafter
I know no man after the flesh.
Once I even know Jesus after the flesh.
But what a terrible knowledge he had at
that time.
But now he said, I don't know him
anymore in the flesh, but I know him
in the spirit.
So I hope that you don't know me
in the flesh.
But thank God, we who are in Christ
Jesus, we are.
There is a new creation.
So I do hope that you may know
me in the spirit.
Or to put it another way, to know
what the Lord has done in my life.
I am always grateful to the Lord.
Well, I was born in a Christian family.
Actually, I was born to an old-fashioned
Chinese family, if you know what it is.
In other words, four generations living under one
roof.
And my grandfather, of course, that was during
the Qing dynasty.
In other words, before the revolution, Chinese revolution.
The missionaries began to come to China.
And my grandfather being in construction business, he
wanted to do business with foreigners.
So when the missionaries came, and they started
to have mission schools, my grandfather sent my
father to the mission school.
My father was the eldest son, with the
idea that he may learn English, so he
could help in the business afterwards.
My father went to that mission school.
And by the way, the lady who was
the principal of the school came from Virginia.
I visited her when I came to this
country.
And she led my father to the Lord,
and it was real.
So when my father told my grandfather that
he had believed in the Lord Jesus, at
that time in China, anyone who believed
in a foreign religion, or in Jesus, was
considered as a disgrace to the family.
Why?
Because at that time, only the poorest people
joined the church in order to gain some
benefits through the missionaries.
We called them rice Christians.
So my grandfather felt very much disgraced that
his son should believe in Jesus.
So he kept my father away from the
school.
He said that if only my father would
be kept away from these foreign missionaries, he
would be all right.
But thank God, my father's faith was real.
So finally, my grandfather decided to apprentice him
out in order to cut all the connections
with the missionaries.
You know, in China, a boy will be
apprenticed out, and that's the old-fashioned way.
He will leave home and stay with his
master, maybe for three years, to learn the
trade.
And he's almost like a slave in that
family, doing all these different things.
And he will not be even taught of
the skill until after a whole year.
And then he will begin to be instructed
in the skill, the profession, his learning.
So after the apprentice has fulfilled his terms,
he not only learned the skill of the
master, he learned the lifestyle, the manner of
the master.
Now that is the old-fashioned way.
And as a matter of fact, we who
are disciples of Christ are supposed to be
an apprentice of Christ.
And we are to leave everything and follow
him and learn from him, not only the
skill, but also the life.
Now because of this, of course, my father,
even though he was a young Christian, he
prayed much.
And the missionaries prayed for my father.
So that night, my grandparents and my father
couldn't sleep, because the next day he was
going to send away.
And they would just stay there waiting.
And after midnight, my grandmother softened and said,
let him go back to school.
So my father finished the Michigan school.
But when my father wanted to go to
college, my grandfather wouldn't support him.
So my father worked through college.
He spent eight years in finishing his college.
By the way, he was the only graduate
of the theological seminary of Suchow University, the
only graduate, the only one.
And of course, when my father finished school,
the Lord had called him to serve him.
So my grandfather couldn't get him back to
the business.
So in a sense, my father was an
outcast of the family.
But I do thank God that when I
was born, I was born to a Christian
family.
My father loved the Lord.
He knew the Lord.
And in my home, every evening before meal,
we have family devotion.
My father would gather all our children, we
have seven of us, and will gather us
in a sitting room.
He will read from a big Bible.
And then we'll all kneel down, and he
will pray for us.
That was my upbringing.
And I'm always thankful for that.
Of course, I was sent to mission school
from my childhood.
And I learned Bible stories and all these
things.
And as I grew up, I went to
Sunday school.
And awkwardly, I was a Christian.
But somehow, even though I knew the gospel,
I never doubted the Bible, I knew that
Jesus is the Savior of the world.
But somehow, I felt I had no need
of Him.
Because I felt that I wasn't a sinner.
Look at the people in the world, how
sinful they were.
But I, being a student in a mission
school, and not a bad student, I felt
that I had no need of Jesus.
The world needs Him.
But I don't.
So even though awkwardly, I was a Christian,
but really, I wasn't.
I had no desire for Him.
I had no need for Him.
It wasn't until I was 14 years old.
I got sick, and I was dying.
At that time, there was no treatment, no
medicine for such disease.
The only thing is to see if I
could pull through.
So I was very sick for several months,
actually dying.
And of course, with the Christian background, and
knowing that I was still a young man,
I didn't want to die.
I want to live.
So I prayed.
You know, I know how to pray.
And of course, my father and the missionary,
they all prayed for me.
And somehow, after several months, now
when I was recovered, a natural thought came
to my mind.
You know, because of my background.
I thought I should be dead.
But now, it must be God who allowed
me to live.
And I am very grateful.
And I want to show my gratitude to
Him.
So I was looking for a way to
show my appreciation, to show my gratitude.
I think this is natural thinking.
And sure enough, when we started school, I
was a junior at the time, and a
friend of mine came to me and said,
could we start something in our school?
No, it is a mission school, but still,
could we start something on our own?
Well, I seized this opportunity.
I thought that that's the way to repay
God for the goodness He did to me.
So we started to have meetings in our
school, after supper, before the evening time
that the students usually have a time to
study their lessons.
We used this time, and we knocked at
all the doors of the dormitories, and inviting
our fellow students to come to our meeting.
We used the library, school library, for our
meetings.
And we have, oh, we have two, three
meetings a week.
We have prayer meetings, we have Bible study,
and so forth.
And I still remember the first time I
led a prayer meeting, before I was eight.
You know, well, what can I do?
You know, my father had a library, Christian
books.
So I went to my father's library and
looked for a book on prayer.
And suddenly, I find a book, and I
read something, and find something interesting.
There are some, How God Answered Prayers, and
things like that.
So I jot them down.
And that night, I just went there and
told the brothers and sisters, I mean, to
the friends, not brothers and sisters, probably none
of us was saved at that time, including
the teachers.
And so I told them how God answered
prayers.
And after I told them all these stories,
then I said, well, let us kneel down
and pray.
And we knelt down, and nobody prayed.
And some students began to laugh.
And I scolded them very seriously.
I said, we were in the presence of
God.
You know, it's a serious matter.
We shouldn't laugh.
And I still remember the first time I
preached.
You know, I preached before I was saved.
I was a pastor's son.
And the same thing I did.
I went to my father's library and looked
over the books, and I found a sermon
that was very appealing.
Actually, it was preached by a great preacher
in the United States, Dr. Truett.
And it's on Noah's Ark.
So I translated it into Chinese and memorized
it.
And I preached.
And after I preached, I felt very good.
The only thing I regretted was nobody came
and praised me.
That was the only thing I lacked.
And you can see my ignorance.
And not only me, but my teacher too.
You know, we asked my teacher, our teachers,
they are supposed to be Christians, teaching in
mission school.
And so we asked our teachers to preach
to us.
And you know what my teacher did?
I remember one teacher, he came, and he
told the story of Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens'
Christmas Carol, because she wasn't saved.
But then later on, he became a famous
preacher in China.
But anyway, that was the way, you know.
And so while we were having these activities,
I was thinking I was repaying God for
the kindness he showed me.
But strangely, it was during that year, without
anybody preaching to me, somehow, a sense of
my sins came upon me.
I always felt myself as pretty good, better
than most people.
You know, in China, we have a saying,
even the saints have 30% mistake.
So I'm neither a sage or a saint.
So if I have some mistakes, it's it's
all right.
But strangely, during that year, when I was
trying to serve God, to repay his kindness,
a sense of the sinfulness of my sins
came upon me.
I didn't commit those horrible sins in society.
I was just a student.
But I was deeply convicted.
I felt that nothing I did was right.
My thought, my action, everything was wrong before
God.
Sometimes I wept for my sins.
I didn't know what to do.
But I knew the gospel.
I started to read the Bible.
I prayed.
I sought after the Lord.
I knew Jesus is the Savior of the
world.
But somehow, he evaded me.
I wanted to be saved, to have my
sins forgiven.
I felt sin as a big load over
me.
And yet, salvation evaded me.
So during that year, I sought very earnestly.
Wherever there was a revival meeting, or a
gospel campaign, or things like that, I was
there.
We have some big well-known preachers coming
to our city at that time.
And I went to hear them.
And I was touched by what they said.
And usually, you know, after a campaign, a
meeting, they call people to the front, to
kneel down at the front, and get converted.
And I went up a few times.
And I went up, I wept.
And after that, I went home, and nothing
happened.
And this went on for a whole year.
I was desperate.
I wanted to be saved.
I know that if I die, I'll go
to hell.
God is righteous.
He is just.
That's the just thing for him to do.
So in 1930, in the summer, there was
a summer conference in the suburb of China,
Shanghai.
So I registered, I went there.
I went there with only one wish, to
be saved.
It was a conference conducted by three young
Americans, recently graduated from Ashbury College.
And they three came, and were the speakers
at that conference.
And also there was another Chinese speaker.
Now they preached the simple gospel.
I knew it all.
I preached myself.
So after a few days, nothing happened.
I saw other people went to the altar,
and got saved.
But not me.
But one morning, I was in my room,
before the meeting.
I was praying.
I don't know if I was praying, or
I was talking.
I don't know.
But anyway, I was talking to God.
I said, God, I want to be saved.
Why is it other people got saved so
easily, and it is so difficult for me
to get saved?
Well, I said, well maybe, I heard somebody
said, there are some people who are gospel
hardened.
Now maybe I'm gospel hardened, because I can
preach.
So I told God, God, if you want
to save me, save me now.
If you don't, goodbye.
I will turn my back towards you.
I don't want you anymore.
God knows our heart.
If we are real with him.
You know, sometimes we are not real.
And because we are not real, God knows
our heart.
He will not be fooled by us.
But if we are honest, we are real,
he will come to us, in spite of
ourselves.
And that afternoon, I went to the meeting,
and it was Mr. Kirkpatrick, who was preaching.
And he preached on John 3.16. Now
John 3.16, that's too familiar to me.
Whatever he said, I knew.
Nothing happened.
So after he preached, he asked everyone to
kneel down to pray.
So I knelt down by my bench and
prayed.
And a preacher, a black preacher, knelt by
my side, and urged me to go to
the altar to pray.
So to please him, I went again to
the altar.
And I was there praying and weeping.
And after I finished, I looked around, and
I said, why am I here?
Nothing happened.
And the meeting was over.
I was walking out, and another preacher, I
think he must notice me, he stopped me.
And everybody left, and we two were in
that hall.
And he asked me point blank a question.
He said, are you saved?
Now I had to be honest.
I told him, I hope.
I would be saved.
So he asked me a question.
He said, do you believe the Bible?
I said, from my childhood.
So he opened the Bible and turned to
1 John 1.9. If we confess our
sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive
us our sins and cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.
He said, do you believe in this word?
I said, of course I believe.
He said, all right, take the we out,
put your name in.
So he asked me to read this twice,
with my name in.
If Stephen was the name I used
after I was saved.
So I just put my name in, and
if I confess my sins, he is faithful.
God is faithful and righteous to forgive me
my sins and cleanse me from all unrighteousness.
I read it twice, and he said, pray
according to the word.
Well, I knew how to pray.
So we two knelt down and I started
to pray.
I began to confess my sin.
I told the Lord, I have committed this
sin, I have committed that sin, I have
committed this and that, and this and that,
and this and that, and then said, I
have many other sins I have forgotten.
But you remember, I confessed my sins.
Now I have done my part.
Now it's your business.
You do your part.
And you know, when I was praying that
time, it was different.
How can I describe my feeling?
My feeling was, at that time I was
like a person who cast myself upon the
Lord and said, take me or I die.
And strangely, after I finished praying, something happened.
I stood up and this preacher asked me,
are you saved?
I said I am saved.
He said, how do you know?
Well, I said, that load of sins upon
me for a whole year is gone.
There is such peace in my heart.
That preacher was a very wise preacher.
He said, no, think about it.
I thought for a while.
Immediately I said, I know I am saved
because God says so.
He said, you are right.
Your feeling may change, but God's word never
changes.
And he told me again, he said, you
go out and testify.
Immediately tell someone what God has done for
you.
And I did.
I went to my room, opened the Bible.
When I read it, it was a new
book.
I read the Bible before, but when I
read that afternoon, it was 2 Peter chapter
1.
I opened it and God spoke to me.
God became a reality to me.
He was no longer a distant God.
He is now very close to me.
My father, it changed my whole.
If you are honest with God, he will
deal with you, reveal himself to you and
save you.
Now after I was saved, according to the
custom of the time, at the end of
a conference of any kind, the last meeting
is always on consecration.
And by consecration at that time, well, we
are all so ignorant at that time, is
to offer yourself as a preacher, a Bible
woman or a missionary.
That is consecration.
So the last session, the preacher pounded at
the platform and said, now you who are
saved, you who are redeemed by the precious
blood of the Lamb, of course, you should
consecrate yourself and give yourself to God and
go and preach and be a missionary and
so forth.
And a large map of China hanging on
the back wall of the platform.
And the preacher said, if you want to
serve God, you can choose where you want
to go.
And he said, come up to the platform,
point your fingers to the place where you
want to go and serve God.
Now, remember, I was 15 at that time,
and I was newly saved.
I was so touched by the grace of
God.
And so I said, well, what should I
do?
Of course, I want to serve God.
Where should I go?
Go to the furthest place, most difficult place
to prove my love for God.
So I walked to the platform and I
pointed my finger to Mongolia, because at that
time, Mongolia was the furthest place in the
mind of the Chinese, and the most difficult
place.
You remember the Gobi Desert and all these
places.
So I decided I'll go to Mongolia.
You know, and to me, it was very
real at that time.
I made business.
And from that day onward, for a whole
year, I collected everything on Mongolia.
And I set my mind going to Mongolia
to be a missionary.
And thank God, during that year, I was
a senior year at that time.
And we began to organize Christian meetings again,
and it was different.
Two students, two teachers, all saved.
And we began to organize.
And you can see it's different.
Many students got saved.
We invite preachers to come and preach to
us.
And one third of the student body will
come to these meetings.
And it was during that time, I met
Watchman Lee.
You know, four of us were arranging all
the meetings Friday afternoon after school.
It's all voluntary.
After school, Friday afternoon, we have a meeting
that we invited what we call famous preachers
of Shanghai to come and preach to us.
And after a few months, we exhausted all
the famous preachers that we knew.
So one day, four of us were talking,
now whom should we invite next?
And a teacher said, I've heard of a
name by Watchman Lee.
Now I'll try to go and find him
and ask him to come and preach to
us.
So he did.
He went.
As a matter of fact, it was in
the other corner of our city.
And it was a Tuesday.
They had a meeting Tuesday afternoon.
Brother Lee was instructing the brothers and sisters
of Gospel Truth.
And it's translated now called Gospel Dialogue.
And he was doing that at that time.
And my teacher, who was a recent graduate
from college.
So you see, he was also young at
that time.
And newly saved, he was saved one day
before me.
And so he went there.
And when Brother Lee was talking about the
Gospel Truth, he argued with Brother Lee.
He didn't agree with him.
And after arguments, he asked him to come
and preach to us.
And Brother Lee came.
And I still remember what he preached.
It was a gospel message on God is
willing.
But during that year, we were so busy
serving the Lord.
We were really on fire.
You know, we organized gospel bands going to
the village, preach the gospel, you know, and
pray for the sick.
And I still remember at one home, we
went into a home, and there was a
man sick.
And we all went there and put our
hands on all over his body and prayed
for him after he was dead already.
And he was a contagious disease, meningitis.
But we were all on fire, all on
fire, you know.
And whenever the Methodist Church, with the Methodist
Church, whenever they have a gospel campaign or
meeting, we were at the forefront.
We were on the street, pulling people into
the building and get them to hear the
gospel.
And I still remember one coulee, rickshaw coulee,
you know, rickshaw?
One man is pulling, and you sit there
and pulling, you know.
And of course, when I invited him inside,
he wouldn't go because that's his business, you
know.
So I tried to talk to him by
the street, and he didn't want to listen.
He put his hands on his ears, and
I shouted over his ears.
Yeah, that was the way we preached the
gospel.
Well, after a whole year, thank God, I
graduated, and I didn't want to go to
college.
I thought it was a waste of four
years.
I wanted to serve the Lord.
Now, how could I serve Him?
Well, the only thing I know is, go
to a Bible school.
That's the only way you can learn the
Bible and serve Him.
So I tried to look around to find
a good Bible institute, and thank God, at
that time, there were some good ones, and
I knew them because I was active in
Christian activities.
So I knew these pastors and professors and
so forth, you know.
So I made up my mind.
I chose a good one.
It was a Bible institute founded by
the Oriental Mission.
I mean, you don't know the Oriental Mission,
but I think many of you probably have
read Streams in the Desert.
Streams in the Desert was written by Mrs.
Kalman, and Mr. Kalman was the founder of
the Oriental Mission.
So I chose that institute.
I set my mind on it to go
and prepare myself to go to Mongolia to
be a missionary.
Well, I talked to my father.
Of course, my father loved the Lord, and
I had full assurance that he would let
me do it.
But to my surprise, he opposed it.
He said, no, you don't go to that
institute.
He said, there is nothing really good in
China.
You go to college.
After you finish college, I will send you
to the United States to study theology.
I was so disappointed.
But in China, we learn to obey our
parents.
So I felt I had to go to
college.
He sent me to a Methodist college in
another city, and then I said, well, what
should I study?
I wanted to serve the Lord.
Why should I go to a college?
What should I study?
Finally, I said, well, maybe history has something
to do with the Bible.
So I became a history major.
I went to that mission school, and immediately,
I plunged myself into Christian activities, and
the Sunday school and all.
But after a while, I began to notice
something different.
I thought all Christians love God.
All Christians believe in the Bible, believe in
the Lord Jesus.
But to my surprise, I discovered that my
professors, who were missionary professors, coming to China
to be missionaries, to teach us of Christ
as the Word of God, they did not
even believe Jesus is the Son of God.
All they talk about is political, social, economical,
and things like that.
And it was a shock to me, because
I remember one time I went to
Shanghai, and by the way, I told you
four of us started meeting school, two teachers
and two students.
Now after we graduated, one of my fellow
students went to be with Brother Nee, to
be his secretary.
And then later on, my teacher also went
to be with Brother Nee, and they were
all baptized by immersion.
And my teacher began to talk to me
about baptism by immersion.
You know, we as Methodists, we were sprinkled
when I was a baby.
So my teacher began to talk to me
about baptism.
I felt I should delay my baptism because
I love my father.
I don't want to hurt him.
He was a Methodist pastor.
But when that word came, there was nothing
I could do.
Immediately I went downstairs, knocked the door, or
the next door, which is Watchman Nee's room.
I knocked the door.
He came down and said, What do you
want?
I said, I want to be baptized.
I was baptized the next day.
For a whole year, I kept it away
from him.
But after I was baptized, that was Saturday,
the next day was the Lord's Day.
And of course they had, it ended.
Now after a whole year, I exhausted all
my excuses.
And it was during that year, the Lord
began to speak more to me.
I searched the scripture, and I began to
discover that God's people are one.
One body.
They should not be divided into sects, into
denominations.
I should return to the unity of the
body of Christ.
And when the Lord began to show me
this, thank God, the Lord gave me two
or three fellow students in college.
Multitudes followed the Lord.
The Lord turned back and said, If anyone
wants to be my disciple, let him, the
word used is very strong, hate his father,
mother, parents, brothers, sisters, wife, children, himself, and
follow me.
It is just like a man building a
tower, or going to war.
Count the cost before you start.
Otherwise, if you cannot finish, you will be
a laughingstock.
If you don't forsake everything and follow the
Lord, you cannot be my disciple.
He finishes preaching, we have lunch together, and
then we all have our quiet time before
the Lord.
And I was there sitting on my chair,
and pray.
I said, Lord, I want to follow you
that afternoon.
It is His love.
But that's not the end of the story.
After I surrendered my life to Him, I
began to think of my future.
What am I going to do?
Three nights, I couldn't sleep.
I went to class.
I didn't hear what the professors were talking
about.
I was in struggle, deep struggle.
In college, the Lord began to raise up
something, a meeting in that city.
Very few brothers, mostly sisters, and people
began to come from different places.
And I was the one who, by the
grace of God, most, mostly, we opened the
doors, welcoming people coming in, preaching, teaching, sending
them out, close the door, visiting.
I was so busy.
None of these Christian institutions would use us.
We were greatly persecuted.
But brothers and sisters, I can tell you,
during those two years were the best years
of my life.
I prayed almost unceasingly.
The Lord was so close to me.
Well, in 1935, I graduated.
It did exist, but the school would not
allow it.
And I was thinking of the future.
I knew I would serve the Lord, but
I felt I was, it's not right.
And the next morning, I was still arguing
with the Lord.
Why did you do it?
It's not right.
And the Lord began to speak to me.
He said, this brother died for you.
You want to serve me, but you say,
not now.
Look, if you die today, will you have
the time?
When this came to me, I said, Lord,
this is the time.
So again, I talked to my father.
So he kept me in suspense for a
whole year.
I think he did it purposely.
It was a good training.
You have to prepare all the time.
In other words, when you're preaching, you're not
just spend a few hours and prepare it.
It's a preparation of a lifetime.
That's the reason why I always tell young
people, those who feel called to serve the
Lord.
You know, today, young people, when they feel
called to serve the Lord, what should they
do?
But let me tell you my experience.
During that year, in 1935 to 1936, when
I was there, we have over 200 to
300 people there.
And he is not unfaithful, but
he is faithful.
And it is his faithfulness that has kept
me to this day.
I thank the Lord for that.
So that's what the Lord has done for
me in my early years.
And I just share this with you.
I hope you can see that the Lord
is willing to deal with you even more.
So may the Lord help you.
I think I have used the whole time
already.
The best years of my life in the
context of my life at that time.
You know, as we go on with the
Lord, you enter into different phases under different
contexts.
And then you begin to learn different lessons.
So the reason why I say that during
my early years, I learned a lot during
those early years.
Let me put it in another way.
One brother mentioned, it was Brother Washburn, he
mentioned that when you are young, when you
are old, there is very little, if any,
new lesson to be learned.
What you learn is, all these lessons that
you learn in your youth get deep.