I want to know: how many of you have heard of him ministering the Word somewhere in this country, in your local fellowship, or in the Richmond fellowship? Okay, so not too many.
Apparently, a great number of you have not listened to our brother’s ministry, and you may not even have heard his name. So we thought it would be good first to ask him to share a little of his personal life with the Lord—how he came to know the Lord, and how the Lord called him into the ministry.
We thought that would help us a great deal to know how the Lord worked in his life, and to know a little of our brother and his relationship with the Lord. That will really encourage young people.
The Lord does work through human instrumentality, feeble as we are. But in God’s great wisdom, He chooses to work through those who are weak, those who are nothing, to demonstrate and manifest His great power.
First, we will ask our brother for a little of his personal testimony. I have heard it a few times, but every time I hear him share it again, it is always very refreshing, because it shows how the Holy Spirit works in lives. I think we will 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, sixty-five years ago, when I was in high school and we had meetings like this. So it really reminds me of the past.
Now, before I give my testimony, I would like to read a passage first, just to familiarize us with this type of meeting. Will you please turn to Luke 2? The Gospel according to Luke, chapter 2. We will read from verse 41 through verse 52.
This is about our Lord when He was twelve years old.
And his parents went every year to Jerusalem at the feast of the passover.
And when he was twelve years old, they went up after the custom of the feast;
and when they had fulfilled the days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and his parents knew it not;
but supposing him to be in the company, they went a day’s journey; and they sought for him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance:
and when they found him not, 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, both hearing them, and asking them questions:
and all that heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.
And when they saw him, they were astonished; and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I sought thee sorrowing.
And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? knew ye not that I must be in my Father’s house?
And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them.
And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth; and he was subject unto them: and his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.
And Jesus advanced in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
Our Lord Jesus, when He was twelve years old, went to Jerusalem with His parents according to Jewish custom. A male had to go to Jerusalem three times a year to worship the Lord.
At that time, twelve years old was the year when a boy was made a son of the law. Today, among the Jewish people, it 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 reached twelve years of age, he was made a son of the law.
From that day on, he was responsible for all his actions and for his life. He became a full-fledged member of the synagogue and was given the right to ask questions and to answer questions. So that was the time when our Lord was made a son of the law.
After the days were fulfilled—that is, the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened 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 their relations and acquaintances. According to the custom of those days, when they traveled, they usually traveled in groups. The older people traveled together, and the younger people traveled together as a company.
That is why you find that our Lord was not traveling with His parents, but was supposed to be with the other young people. You can also see how the parents of our Lord Jesus trusted Him. They had confidence in Him, knowing that He would always do the things that were right.
But at the end of the day, they could not find Him, so they returned to Jerusalem. 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 teaching, and the students would be there listening. But as they listened, they could ask questions. Sometimes the teacher would ask them questions and they would give answers. Sometimes they would ask questions, and the teacher would explain more to them. That was the way of learning during those days.
All who heard the Lord were amazed at His understanding and answers. Our Lord had tremendous understanding. He not only asked questions, but He gave answers.
I suppose the answers He gave were in the same spirit as we find later in His life. You remember, toward the end of His life, people asked Him what was the greatest of the commandments. Our Lord Jesus said:
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the great and first commandment.
And a second like unto it is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
In other words, our Lord’s understanding of the law of God was more than just the letter. He knew the spirit of the letter.
When His parents found Him there, His mother said, “Child, why hast Thou thus dealt with us?” The answer of our Lord Jesus was, “Did you not know that I should be occupied with My Father’s business?”
For other children, when they reached the age of twelve and were made sons of the law, their relationship was with the letter of the law. But with our Lord Jesus, it was different.
When He was twelve and made a son of the law, He had a relationship with God the Father as the giver of the law. In other words, the other boys’ commitment was to Moses, but with our Lord Jesus, His commitment was to His Father.
So we can say that this was the time when our Lord Jesus really committed His life to God, His Father. Or we may put it another way: this was the day that He really consecrated Himself to God, His Father.
With such commitment and consecration, He felt that it was His duty to be occupied with the Father’s business. Of course, His parents did not understand. Yet you find that our Lord Jesus went back with them and was in subjection to them.
You know, I think, brothers and sisters, we are coming together this time almost as though it were two thousand years ago, when our Lord Jesus was twelve and went to Jerusalem. 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 bondmen of righteousness; we are bondmen of our Lord Jesus.
With such commitment and consecration, it is only 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?
Again and again, we have heard during the past few days that we are not to live for ourselves. We ought 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 are to do for His own glory. So I believe, brothers and sisters, this ought to be our heart condition.
At the same time, you find that our Lord Jesus, even though deep down in His heart He had made that commitment—and He never fell back from it—went home with His parents and submitted Himself to them, because He was still a minor.
The Bible says that Jesus advanced in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man. Probably this is something that all of us have to do after this conference.
So this is a time of question and answer. I think this is the basis for our time, because in the Bible you have this incident. This is the way we learn; this is the way we grow.
Before this time, our brother told me that because I am unknown to you, I need to let you know something about myself.
Well, I am glad that I am unknown, because if you know me in the flesh, there is nothing to boast of, but everything to be ashamed of. You remember the apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:16. He said, “Wherefore we henceforth know no man after the flesh.”
Once, Paul even knew Jesus after the flesh, but what a terrible knowledge he had at that time. But now he said, “I do not know Him anymore in the flesh, but I know Him in the Spirit.” So I hope that you do not know me in the flesh.
But thank God, we who are in Christ Jesus are a new creation. So I do hope that you may know me in the Spirit, or, to put it another way, 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 into an old-fashioned Chinese family, if you know what that is—four generations living under one roof.
My grandfather lived during the Qing dynasty, before the Chinese Revolution. The missionaries began to come to China, and my grandfather was in the construction business. He wanted to do business with foreigners.
So when the missionaries came and started mission schools, my grandfather sent my father, who was the eldest son, to the mission school. The idea was that he might learn English so he could help in the business afterward.
My father went to that mission school. By the way, the lady who was principal of the school came from Virginia. I visited her when I came to this country. She led my father to the Lord, and it was real.
When my father told my grandfather that he had believed in the Lord Jesus, it was considered a disgrace to the family. At that time in China, anyone who believed in a foreign religion, or in Jesus, was considered a disgrace.
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.”
My grandfather felt very much disgraced that his son should believe in Jesus. So he kept my father away from the school. He thought that if my father were kept away from the foreign missionaries, he would be all right.
But thank God, my father’s faith was real. Finally, my grandfather decided to apprentice him out in order to cut all connections with the missionaries.
In China, a boy would be apprenticed out in the old-fashioned way. He would leave home and stay with his master, perhaps for three years, to learn the trade. He was almost like a slave in that family, doing all kinds of different things. He would not even be taught the skill until after a whole year.
Then he would begin to be instructed in the skill, the profession he was learning. After the apprentice had fulfilled his term, he had not only learned the skill of the master; he had learned the lifestyle and manner of the master.
That is the old-fashioned way. As a matter of fact, we who are disciples of Christ are supposed to be apprentices of Christ. We are to leave everything and follow Him, learning from Him not only the skill, but also the life.
Because of this, my father, though he was a young Christian, prayed much. The missionaries prayed for him also. That night, my grandparents and my father could not sleep, because the next day he was to be sent away.
After midnight, my grandmother softened and said, “Let him go back to school.” So my father finished the mission school.
But when my father wanted to go to college, my grandfather would not support him. So my father worked through college. He spent eight years finishing college.
By the way, he was the only graduate of the theological seminary of Soochow University—the only graduate, the only one.
When my father finished school, the Lord had called him to serve Him. So my grandfather could not get him back into the business. In a sense, my father was an outcast from the family.
But I do thank God that when I was born, I was born into a Christian family. My father loved the Lord; he knew the Lord.
In my home, every evening before the meal, we had family devotions. My father would gather all the children—there were seven of us—in the sitting room. He would read from a big Bible, and then we would all kneel down while he prayed for us.
That was my upbringing, and I am always thankful for that. Of course, I was sent to mission school from my childhood. I learned Bible stories and all these things, and as I grew up, I went to Sunday school.
Outwardly, I was a Christian. But somehow, even though I knew the gospel and never doubted the Bible, I felt no need of Him.
I knew that Jesus is the Savior of the world, but somehow I felt that I had no need of Him, because I felt that I was not a sinner. Look at the people in the world—how sinful they were! But I was a student in a mission school, and not a bad student. I felt that I had no need of Jesus.
The world needed Him, but I did not. So even though outwardly I was a Christian, really I was not. I had no desire for Him. I had no need for Him.
It was not until I was fourteen years old that I got sick. I was dying. At that time, there was no treatment and no medicine for such a disease. The only thing was to see whether I could pull through.
I was very sick for several months. I actually thought I would die. With my Christian background, and knowing that I was still a young man, I did not want to die. I wanted to live. So I prayed. You know, I knew how to pray.
My father and the missionaries all prayed for me, and somehow, after several months, I got through.
When I recovered, a natural thought came to my mind. Because of my background, I thought, “I should be dead. But now it must be God who allowed me to live.”
I was very grateful, and I wanted 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.
Sure enough, when school started, I was in junior high at that time, and a friend came to me and said, “Could we start something in our school? It is a mission school, but could we start something on our own?”
I seized the opportunity. I thought that was the way to repay God for the goodness He had done to me. So we started to have meetings in our school.
After supper, before the evening study time, we used to knock on all the dormitory doors and invite our fellow students to come to our meeting. We used the school library for our meetings. We had two or three meetings a week—prayer meetings, Bible studies, and so forth.
I still remember the first time I led a prayer meeting before I was saved. What could I do? My father had a library of Christian books, so I went to his library and looked for a book on prayer.
I found a book and read some interesting things about how God answered prayer. I jotted them down, and that night I went and told the friends—well, not brothers and sisters. Probably none of us were saved at that time, including the teachers.
I told them how God answered prayers, and afterward I said, “Well, let us kneel down and pray.” We knelt down, but nobody prayed. Some students began to laugh.
I scolded them very seriously. I said, “We are in the presence of God. It is a serious matter. We should not laugh.”
I still remember the first time I preached. You know, I preached before I was saved. I was a pastor’s son. Again, I went to my father’s library, looked through the books, and found a sermon that was very appealing.
Actually, it had been preached by a great preacher in the United States, Dr. Truett, and it was on Noah’s ark. I translated it into Chinese, memorized it, and preached it.
As I preached, I felt very good. The only thing I regretted was that nobody came and praised me. That was the only thing I lacked.
You can see my ignorance—and not only mine, but my teachers’ too. We asked our teachers, who were all supposed to be Christians teaching in a mission school, to preach to us.
I remember one teacher who came and told us the story of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, because he was not saved. But later on, he became a famous preacher in China.
While we were having these activities, I thought I was repaying God for the kindness He had shown me. But strangely, it was during that year, without anybody preaching to me, that a sense of my sins came upon me.
I had always felt that I was pretty good—better than most people. In China, we have a saying that even a sage has thirty percent mistakes. So I thought, if I had some mistakes, it was all right.
But strangely, during that year, when I was trying to serve God in order to repay His kindness, a sense of the sinfulness of my sin came upon me.
I had not committed horrible things in society. I was just a student. But I was deeply convicted. I felt that nothing I did was right. My thoughts, my actions—everything was wrong before God. Sometimes I wept for my sins.
I did not know what to do, but I knew the gospel. I started to read the Bible. I prayed. I sought the Lord. I knew Jesus was 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.
During that year, I sought very earnestly. Wherever there was a revival meeting, a gospel campaign, or something like that, I was there. Some big, well-known preachers came to our city, and I went to hear them.
I was touched by what they said. Usually, after a campaign meeting, they called people to the front to kneel down and be converted. I went up a few times. I wept, and afterward I went home, but nothing happened.
This went on for a whole year. I was desperate. I wanted to be saved. I knew that if I died, I would go to hell. God is righteous. He is just. That is the just thing for Him to do.
So in the summer of 1930, there was a summer conference in a suburb of Shanghai, China. I registered and went there with only one wish: to be saved.
It was a conference conducted by three young Americans, recently graduated from Asbury College. They were the speakers at that conference, and there was also another Chinese speaker.
They preached the simple gospel. I knew it all. I agreed with it all. After a few days, nothing happened. I saw other people go to the altar and get saved, but nothing happened to me.
One morning, before the meeting, I was in my room. I do not know whether I was praying or talking—I do not know—but anyway, I was talking to God.
I said, “God, I want to be saved. Why is it that other people get saved so easily, and it is so difficult for me to get saved?”
Then I thought, “Maybe I heard somebody say that there are people who are gospel-hardened. Maybe I am gospel-hardened because I can preach.”
So I told God, “God, if You want to save me, save me now. If You do not, goodbye. I will turn my back toward You. I do not want You anymore.”
God knows our heart. If we are real with Him—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, if we are real, He will come to us in spite of ourselves.
That afternoon, I went to the meeting. Mr. Koperick was preaching on John 3:16. Now, John 3:16 was too familiar to me. Whatever he said, I knew. Nothing happened.
After he preached, he asked everyone to kneel down to pray. I knelt down by my bench and prayed. A Black preacher came by my side and urged me to go to the altar to pray.
To please him, I went again to the altar. I was there praying and weeping. When I finished, I looked around and said, “Why am I here? Nothing happened.” Then the meeting was over.
I was walking out, and another preacher stopped me. Everybody had left, and the two of us were in that hall. He asked me a point-blank question: “Are you saved?”
I had to be honest. I told him, “I hope I will be saved.”
He asked me, “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 to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
He said, “Do you believe 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 it twice with my name in it. At that time, my name was not Stephen Kong. Stephen was the name I used after I was saved.
So I put my name in it: “If I confess my sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive me my sins, and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness.” I read it twice.
Then he said, “Pray according to the Word.” Well, I knew how to pray. We both knelt down, and I started to pray.
I began to confess myself. I told the Lord, “I have committed this thing, I committed this thing, I committed this and that, this and that.” Then I said, “I have many other things I have forgotten, but You remember.”
“I confess my sins. Now I have done my part. Now it is Your business. You do Your part.”
When I was praying that time, it was different. How can I describe my feeling? My feeling was that I was like a person who cast myself upon the Lord and said, “Take me, or I die.”
Strangely, after I finished praying, something happened.
I stood up, and the preacher asked me, “Are you saved?” I said, “I am saved.” He said, “How do you know?”
I said, “That load of sins that had been 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.”
Then he told me, “Go out and testify immediately. Tell someone what God has done for you.” And I did.
I went to my room and opened the Bible. When I read it, it was a new book. I had read the Bible before, but when I read it that afternoon, it was 2 Peter 1. I opened it, and God spoke to me.
God became a reality to me. He was no longer a distant God. He was now very close to me—my Father, my God. It changed my whole life.
If you are honest with God, He will deal with you, reveal Himself to you, and save you.
After I was saved, according to the custom of the time, at the end of a conference of any kind, the last meeting was always on consecration.
By consecration at that time—we were also ignorant at that time—we meant offering yourself as a preacher, a Bible woman, or a missionary. That was consecration.
At the last session, the preacher stood on 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.”
A large map of China was hanging on the back wall of the platform. The preacher said, “If you want to serve God, you can choose where you want to go. Come up to the platform. Point your finger to the place where you want to go and serve God.”
Remember, I was fifteen at that time and newly saved. I was so touched by the grace of God. I said, “Well, what should I do? Of course I want to serve God. Where should I go?”
“Go to the furthest place, the most difficult place, to prove my love for God.” So I walked to the platform and pointed my finger to Mongolia.
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 that I would go to Mongolia.
To me, it was very real at that time. I made a decision. From that day onward, for a whole year, I collected everything I could find about Mongolia. I set my mind on going to Mongolia to be a missionary.
During that year, I was in my senior year, and we began to organize Christian meetings again. This time it was different: two students and two teachers were all saved.
We began to organize meetings, and you could see that it was different. Many students were saved. We invited preachers to come and preach to us, and one-third of the student body came to these meetings.
It was during that time that I met Watchman Nee. Four of us arranged all the meetings. Every Friday afternoon after school, voluntarily, we had a meeting. We invited what we called famous preachers of Shanghai to come and preach to us.
After a few months, we had exhausted all the famous preachers we knew. One day, the four of us were talking: whom should we invite next?
A teacher said, “I have heard of a man by the name of Watchman Nee. I will try to find him and ask him whether he will preach to us.” So he did.
As a matter of fact, it was on the other corner of our city. It was a Tuesday, and they had a meeting on Tuesday afternoon. Brother Nee was instructing the brothers and sisters in gospel truth—what is now translated as Gospel Dialogue.
My teacher was a recent college graduate, so he was also young at that time. He went there, and when Brother Nee was talking about gospel truth, he argued with Brother Nee. He did not agree with him.
After arguing with him, he asked him to come and preach to us. Brother Nee came. I still remember what he preached: it was a gospel message on “God Is Willing.”
During that year, we were so busy serving the Lord. We were really on fire. We organized gospel bands to go to the villages, preach the gospel, and pray for the sick.
I still remember one home we went into. There was a man who was sick, and we all went there, put our hands all over his body, and prayed for him—after he was dead already.
He had a contagious disease: meningitis. But we were all on fire.
Whenever the Methodist church had a gospel campaign or meeting, we were at the forefront. We were on the street, pulling people into the building to get them to hear the gospel.
I still remember one rickshaw coolie. You know, a rickshaw: one man is pulling, and you sit there. When I invited him to come inside, he would not go because that was his business.
So I tried to talk to him in the street, but he did not want to listen. He put his hands over his ears, and I shouted over his hands. That was the way we preached the gospel.
After a whole year, thank God, I graduated. I did not want to go to college. I thought it was a waste of four years. I wanted to serve the Lord.
How could I serve Him? The only thing I knew was to go to a Bible school. I thought that was the only way to learn the Bible and serve Him.
So I looked around for a good Bible institute. Thank God, at that time there were some good ones. I knew them because I was active in Christian activities, so I knew these pastors and professors.
I made up my mind to choose a good one. It was a Bible institute founded by the Oriental Mission. You may not know the Oriental Mission, but I think many of you have probably read Streams in the Desert.
Streams in the Desert was written by Mrs. Cowman, and Mr. Cowman was the founder of the Oriental Mission. So I chose that institute. I set my mind to go and prepare myself to go to Mongolia as a missionary.
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 do not go to the institute. 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. Then I asked, “What should I study? I want to serve the Lord. Why should I go to 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 plunged myself into Christian activities—Sunday school and all.
But after a while, I began to notice something different. I thought all Christians loved God, believed in the Bible, and believed in the Lord Jesus.
But to my surprise, I discovered that my professors, who were missionary professors coming to China to teach us Christ as the Word of God, did not even believe Jesus is the Son of God.
All they talked about was political, social, and economic matters. It was a shock to me.
After we graduated, one of my fellow students went to be with Brother Nee as his secretary. Later, my teacher also went to be with Brother Nee. They were all baptized by immersion.
My teacher began to talk to me about baptism by immersion. As Methodists, we had been sprinkled when we were babies.
I felt I should delay my baptism because I loved my father. I did not want to hurt him. He was a Methodist pastor.
But when that word came, there was nothing I could do. Immediately I went downstairs and knocked on the next door, which was Watchman’s room.
I knocked on the door. He came down and said, “What do you want?” I said, “I want to be baptized.” I was baptized.
For a whole year, I had kept it away from me. But after I was baptized—that was Saturday—the next day was the Lord’s Day. After a whole year, I had exhausted all my excuses.
During that year, the Lord began to speak more to me. I searched the Scriptures, and I began to discover that God’s people are one—one body. They should not be divided into sects and denominations.
I should return to the unity of the Body of Christ. When the Lord began to show me this, thank God, the Lord gave me two or three fellow students in college to follow the Lord with me.
The Lord said, “If anyone would come after me,” the word used is very strong, “hate”—his father, mother, brother, sister, wife, children, and 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 do not forsake everything and follow the Lord, you cannot be His disciple.
After the preaching, we had lunch together, and then we all had our prayer time before the Lord. I was sitting in my chair and praying. I said, “Lord, I want to follow You.”
But that was not the end of the story. After I surrendered my life to Him, I began to think of my future. What was I going to do?
I could not sleep. I went to class, but I did not hear what the professors were talking about. I was in a deep struggle.
During college, the Lord began to raise up a meeting. There were very few brothers, mostly sisters, and people began to come from different places.
By the grace of God, I was busy opening the doors, welcoming people, preaching, teaching, sending them out, closing the door, and visiting. I was so busy.
None of these Christian institutions would receive us. We were greatly persecuted.
My 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.
In 1935, I graduated. I was thinking about the future. I knew I wanted to serve the Lord, but I felt that something was not right.
The next morning, I was still arguing with the Lord. “Why did You do it? It is not right.”
Then the Lord began to speak to me. He said, “This Brother died for you. You want to serve Me. What do you say? ‘Not now’?”
“Look, if you die today, will you have the time then?” When this came to me, I said, “Lord, all right. This is the time to serve You.”
So again I talked to my father. He kept me in suspense for a whole year. I think he did it purposely. It was good training.
You have to prepare all the time. In other words, when you are preaching, you do not just spend a few hours preparing. It is a preparation of a lifetime.
That is why I always tell young people, those who feel called to serve the Lord: let me tell you my experience.
During that year, from 1935 to 1936, there were over two hundred to three hundred people with us. We were unfaithful, but He is faithful.
It is His faithfulness that has kept me to this day. I thank Him for that.
So that is what the Lord has done for me in my early years. I share this with you in the hope that you can see that if the Lord is willing to deal with you, He is willing to deal with you even more.
So may the Lord help you. I think I have used the whole time already. That is good. That is good. That is good.
“The best years of my life” was in the context of my life at that time. As we go on with the Lord, we enter different phases and different contexts, and then we begin to learn different lessons.
The reason I say that is because I learned a great deal during those early years. Let me put it another way.
One brother mentioned—Brother Watchman—that all the lessons you learn when you are young become deep. When you are old, there is very little, if any, new lesson to be learned. What you learn are the lessons you learned in your youth, which become deep.