Egypt was the most important country for the
evangelization of the whole Arab world.
We praise God for missionaries.
Some of them have laid down our lives.
One of our OM workers was shot dead
in Turkey.
Another was murdered in Afghanistan.
Another one was shot dead at a clinic
in Lebanon.
But many missionaries struggle to learn the Arabic
language.
And we live in a real world.
And in the real world there are problems.
And after they learn the language, begin in
ministry, one of their children gets extremely ill
and they return home.
I can give you ten other reasons why
missionaries return home.
You have been given one of the greatest
gifts God could ever give a man in
this day and age.
You have that gift.
If you speak Arabic, please raise your hand.
Seldom do I get 100% response in
my invitations.
You are halfway there.
You are halfway to the mission field.
And we are praying that as a result
of the Holy Spirit working among us, others
will make the commitment to go the rest
of the way.
And I celebrate with all my heart what
Arab people from Egypt are already doing in
the Muslim world.
We in OM have been here for a
half a century.
Our biggest target was Turkey.
And it was Afghanistan.
Because I had heard there are already many
believers in Egypt.
And originally I thought OM is not needed
in Egypt.
They have plenty of believers.
We go to Iraq.
We go to Syria.
But a team came here around 1964 driving
through, I think, from Libya.
And they fell in love with this country.
And they also discovered that many were not
sharing their faith.
Though they lived next to people of a
completely different persuasion, they did not share their
faith.
And so our work was also born here.
And it's not time to talk about it.
Instead, I want to show a very short
video.
From a brother that was called out to
minister in music and traveled with me around
the world.
It's an amazing story.
He may have been here before Bill Drake,
but I hope he'll return to Egypt again.
And so we created this short video about
the 10-40 window.
That's this area of the world around the
Mediterranean, 10 degrees to 40 degrees.
So if we can have the lights down,
and I hope...
I was so excited when I discovered Brother
Mafdy's vision for Christian literature.
I was even more excited when he said
he was going to reprint my old book.
Over 100,000 copies of this book in
many languages.
But I think it was 15 years ago.
So I started re-reading it.
And I realized what I wrote then is
just as relevant in this year, 2019.
I've written many books.
But this is the only book that is
100% about the challenge of missions.
I am more known in my ministry for
preaching about radical discipleship and radical grace.
And we'll be talking about that in the
next two days.
But I've never lost the focus to reach
the whole world with the gospel.
And God prepared me for difficult places.
Where not many responded.
Like Turkey and Afghanistan and Iraq.
But he gave us this command, this challenge.
That everybody in the world should have the
gospel at least once, whether they respond or
not.
One of the books we're distributing here is
one of the most influential books in my
life.
Oswald J.
Smith, The Challenge of Missions.
He'll be telling you more about that book.
And this is one of his famous quotations.
Why should so many people hear the gospel
over and over again when others never hear
it even once or read it even once?
Sharing our faith in some countries.
Where there are certain forces in strong power.
And that includes London where I live.
Where we have one million people from Asia.
You can guess the background of many of
these dear friends from Pakistan.
And Bangladesh.
And we've been working among these people for
50 years.
Many have come from Egypt to work with
our team in London.
And the response has been small.
And often people don't want the message.
But our joy is not firstly getting results.
Of course we want results.
But our joy is being obedient to God.
Our meat is to do the will of
God.
I get so discouraged in my personal sharing
which I've been doing all the time for
60 years.
And of course they want to argue with
me.
And they want to convert me.
I was living in Nepal.
Sharing my faith.
And seeing miracles in Nepal.
There were very few believers when we were
living there.
I had one of the first pastors conferences.
Only 15 pastors.
We now have over a thousand pastors.
Hundreds of thousands of Nepalese have turned to
Christ.
We're going to be talking a lot in
these days about this world in which we
live.
We're going to talk about the nations of
the world.
We're going to deal with some of the
false ideas.
I read one of them just 20 minutes
ago in an email.
It comes out of America.
And it said the 20th century was the
great century of missions.
Will the 21st century be the great century
of omissions?
Of missing.
Not doing missions.
I don't know what he's thinking of.
Maybe he's thinking about American missionaries.
There are less of those coming long term.
But we want to think globally.
We want to include what the Nigerians are
doing.
We want to include what the Brazilians are
doing.
We want to include what the Indians are
doing.
What the Filipinos are doing.
What the Egyptians are doing.
And let me go on record and you
can write it in your tablet.
The 21st century is the greatest century of
global missions.
And it's because almost all the major nations
of the world are now involved in missions.
Nothing to compare with it in the 20th
century.
And I'm a 20th century character.
And that was a great century.
I'm not worthy to tie the shoelaces of
many of those great missionaries.
But it's so simple to understand.
Because that was a great century and great
things happened.
This is a better century with greater things
about to happen.
And your amazing movement that many people don't
even know exists is part of that great
21st century global explosion.
But you know I live in England.
I lived in Europe 60 years.
I started in Madrid.
I learned Spanish.
I sent other people to this part of
the world.
But God sent me to the Soviet Union.
And I made a stupid mistake.
I was still a young Christian, a young
missionary.
So I was arrested by the KGB and
accused of being an American spy in the
Soviet Union.
It looked like an all expensive holiday in
Siberia.
In other words, a prison camp in Siberia.
After two more days of interrogation with the
police, they decided I was a religious fanatic
and I must be removed from the country.
That failure changed the course of my life.
Because my vision at that time did not
include Western Europe, Germany or Britain.
It was not in my thinking.
It was only Turkey and Afghanistan and hard
places.
But because of that failure, I went for
a day of prayer.
And God met with me.
He gave me the name Operation Mobilization.
My wife's father had been killed in the
war.
I was very aware of the war.
I was born as that war was born.
God gave me this vision for free Europe.
That they would send hundreds of workers to
Asia.
But they would start first in Samaria and
give everybody in Europe the gospel at least
once.
No one had ever heard of us.
But God moved me to Great Britain as
I turned the work in Spain over to
Spaniards.
God had especially prepared students at Cambridge and
Oxford University for this radical message of discipleship
and missions.
A book came out last year recording the
history of what God did at Cambridge University
in sending out so many workers.
200 of us came together.
And tried to reach 25 million people with
the word of God in one summer.
And we sent from Madrid our first teams
across North Africa and to Egypt.
The next summer, 2,000 came together.
We started to send trucks full, whole vehicles
full of workers from London and Brussels all
the way to New Delhi and Bombay.
Then God surprised me and sent my wife
and our three children to live in Bombay
and be in India for a number of
years.
I wanted to give just a little bit
of my history that I hope will help
you understand what I try to share in
these days together.
I'm a little bit crazy as a speaker
because I challenge people to write me personally,
to email me personally and I will read
it personally and I'll pray for them and
I'll probably send them some books and films
as a gift and in some cases I
will be following them the rest of their
life.
So you can imagine as an old person
I stepped out of all leadership in OM
17 years ago you can imagine what's keeping
me busy.
Some days especially when stuck on an airplane
I just have seven or eight hours non
-stop praying for people all over the world.
I've only been to 100 countries but I'm
in touch with people from about 150 countries
corresponding with Egyptians for 50 years and some
of them even come to my home in
London and visit me and so I hope
you will also take that challenge.
Now I have one of my helpers with
me, Ray Aimee I don't know where he's
sitting.
Is that to visit you in London or
to write you?
No, both.
Write first and visit later.
Don't all come on the same day.
But I want to introduce Ray Aimee who's
helping me.
He lived in Egypt many years he'd love
to meet you and if you know English
he will give you the English film of
my life story.
This is not about me but about God
answering my questions.
This is not about me but about how
God answered my prayers.
You'll travel with me to Mexico then we'll
be in Madrid then you'll be with me
in Nepal then you'll hear my wife share
who never speaks in public but she's on
this film then we'll be on our ship
then we'll be in Singapore and meet the
present director of OM Lawrence Tang, a Chinese
brother and my dream is someday this film
will be in Arabic at least in the
subtitles but right now it's only in English
some of you very young people you are
anti-DVD DVD old people for
you we have this little memory stick George
Verwer memory stick it's the same film but
Ray will interview you and if you don't
know English you are not getting it you
can pray for the Arab edition I'm known
for promoting learning of English even though
I don't like English I prefer Spanish Spanish
more rhythm I like rhythm but French is
my favorite because I love the dance and
French they make me dance but unfortunately English
is being spoken all over the world English
is one of the keys to global evangelism
but you have a very special language because
to be a missionary to the Arab world
and look at the size of the Arab
world from the western Sahara over on to
Saudi Arabia and the Gulf I've had the
joy of being in all of these countries
and so you don't necessarily need to know
English but we have this problem in OM
boy meets girl love he doesn't even speak
my language he's speaking English it's amazing how
quickly the girls learn English when they fall
in love with an English fellow I
have parents all over the world upset with
me they're upset with me because they think
I promote international marriage and
many countries I will not give the names
they don't want their children marrying people from
other inferior countries but
you know when you get a ship and
you got 400 people living on that ship
for a year or two things happen this
was not the vision God gave me in
the beginning this was not the vision and
now over one I'm sorry over 1,000
couples have met each other on OM there
are thousands and they all believe in big
families they almost all believe in big families
thousands of children they're all a much better
color than I am and when I meet
these children of course they don't pay any
attention this old man they're usually playing their
computer games and I stop them and I
say look at me little boy if it
wasn't for me you would not be here
suddenly there's a revival and some of those
children later go to OM teen street and
they join OM we
have hundreds of second generation that are getting
involved in global missions I'm so excited about
it one of my own
grandsons he thought he's in a Christian home
he must be a Christian and he told
people he was a Christian I'm not an
atheist I'm not a Hindu never read his
Bible there was no spiritual reality but he
as a young man was a very gifted
welder they put steel together welders the ship
needs welders this is an old ship it's
rotting underneath our feet so he got accepted
by the ship and then he had to
go through that OM training course and one
of our leaders spoke about the need to
get into the word of God the first
time in his life he got into the
word of God he joined the ship he
saw tough men in the engine room who
radiated the life of Jesus and it spoke
to him and
he listened to a strong message on the
internet and God broke him and he was
born again the Bible says except you be
born again you'll never enter the kingdom of
God there might even be someone here this
evening you've been in a Christian home you
say you're a Christian but have you been
born again it may not be in a
dynamic special emotional way it may be in
the quiet of your own home but you
put your faith in the Lord Jesus and
what he did for you on the cross
as a personal experience on the film I
share how that happened to me and tomorrow
I will also share that I was also
in a home where we just presumed that
we were believers even though my Dutch grandfather
was an atheist and it's a miracle that
I ever found Christ as a young man
that led to the birth of Operation Mobilization
we're going to look at many scriptures in
these opportunities together but I want to start
with Psalm 67 we'll read the whole chapter
Psalm 67 please read only in Arabic go
ahead read please some
people ask well where do you find this
message about missings where do you find that
in the Bible yeah where do you find
the message about global missions we
have a missionary Savior the Lord Jesus himself
said as the Father sent me so send
I you that is not just for those
of us who become missionaries with that name
you don't need that name in some countries
it's not acceptable the Bible says we're also
ambassadors of Jesus if you're talking to someone
and you tell them I'm an ambassador of
Jesus they'll be quite surprised you can try
it try it on the bus I love
to travel on the buses all over London
so many special things can only happen when
you get older if you live in London
when you're old like me all transport is
free I go the whole nation free of
charge on the bus in London itself the
trains are free the subway is free this
is why so many Arabs are coming to
London especially the Saudi Arabians we have an
outreach in Switzerland among Saudi Arabians that's one
of my favorite countries when my grandson worked
in Switzerland he worked on the ship for
two years he gave him the prize he
got a prize Swiss wife now he's got
three Swiss children I've got three Swiss great
grandchildren if you think grandchildren are a problem
wait till you get the great grandchildren so
here we have this amazing psalm it's a
missionary psalm may God be gracious to us
and bless us and make His face shine
on us and I say this with all
my heart He wants to bless you in
these days He wants to bless you and
we're all different and He loves each and
every one of us in our counseling of
the young people who came on OM many
thousands we found many young people were struggling
does God really love me especially if they
had some physical problem or educational problem maybe
at a young age they already did something
really stupid or maybe they were too young
to do something really stupid could God love
me and we had the joy from the
word of God to show thousands of young
people how God loved them and when they
believed that God loved them they could take
that next step that God would use them
God would use them with their struggles their
weaknesses their disabilities one man who traveled the
whole world with me he typed my letters
he sang in my meetings he was completely
blind he could see nothing but God used
him and we celebrate the greatness of God
let me tell you a story that I
heard from another preacher that really helped me
you will not forget this story it's about
a family in a thunderstorm we have lots
of those in America we have some in
England big thunder and lightning and the family
in this thunderstorm even the older people were
a bit nervous then they realized their little
girl little 70 year old was alone up
in her bedroom they ran up the stairs
they opened the door they thought she would
be hiding under the bed the little girl
was looking out the window another flash of
light are you ok they are worried are
you ok big smile she said I'm fine
I think God is taking my picture God
is taking your picture he's got the biggest
selfie camera in the world you are his
son you are his daughter you are important
with him because you've been cleansed by the
blood of Jesus Christ and even when you
sin and when you fail he sees the
Lord Jesus precious blood for you and I
just thank God for this message of radical
grace and blessing from God's word I've
known something of it every single day since
I was born again in the spirit of
God let us read the
other verses and bring this to a close
so that your ways may be known on
earth and your salvation among the nations so
God wants to bless us so that we
in turn can bless the nations and I
want to challenge you especially you young people
to get out of Egypt as quickly as
possible get some training in Egypt and I
think you have that kind of program and
then get to some of these surrounding countries
even if it's just short term and when
you come back here you will find a
greater sense of purpose and reality in what
you do here whether it's a doctor an
engineer or an IT specialist whatever you do
it's so wonderful to see so many young
people there are bible verses just for you
let no man despise let no man make
fun of your youth but be an example
of the believers in my own hometown after
my conversion to Christ many of the Christians
after just one year of the power of
Jesus after just one year of living for
Jesus the word went out that George Burwell
was an example of Jesus in the local
town when I was 18 I spoke at
my high school I went back Christmas break
from university and spoke at this big high
school hundreds
came to the meeting and I shared the
gospel I was just learning to preach but
I shared John 3 verse 16 and I
asked people to stand and believe on Jesus
and 120 stood in that meeting including my
own father the son of an atheist I
was 18 years old at 19 God sent
me to Mexico by the time I was
20 when I left university and went to
Moody Bible Institute in Chicago I had seen
hundreds of answers to prayer I had become
saturated with the word of God and I
learned how to pray of course I had
to continue to learn and I failed and
sometimes I sinned but I knew Jesus and
I knew from the word of God if
we confess our sin he's faithful and just
to forgive us and cleanse us from all
unrighteousness you can be an example as a
young person we're not talking perfection we're not
saying you won't be criticized if nobody's criticizing
you it's because you're probably not doing anything
and I pray with all my heart that
this stays together which will be days of
specific steps of faith to be more totally
radically committed to Jesus and the nations will
feel the impact of what's happening here you
have a nation very close to you where
they love to meet you they're not so
into Arabic how many have never heard of
Ethiopia you've heard of Ethiopia raise your hand
in the Bible wasn't there an Ethiopian man
I never met him and we have seen
amazing things God working in Ethiopia O.M.
doesn't even work there but the ship visited
there in the 70s and Haile Selassie said
it's one of the greatest things that ever
happened the O.M. ship and he brought
the captain and all these people to his
palace if you landed in the airport in
those days everywhere there were communist signs communism
was ready to take over Ethiopia that young
man who went to Ethiopia in the early
70s I sent him back there again a
few months ago because I have literature projects
there I have Bible projects there my key
contact was killed in a car crash my
key friend contact was killed in a car
crash so my friend went and
when you land in the airport everywhere you
can look for advertisements for evangelists and preachers
coming to Ethiopia and the leader is a
professing follower of Jesus and tens of thousands
tens of thousands of Ethiopians have been coming
to Jesus of all different backgrounds God has
been blessing the nations as it says in
this psalm I encourage you to read more
of the psalms I close with this verse
I believe God has put on my heart
it's a key verse one of the key
verses for this conference it's from the book
of Matthew very important verse in my life
seek ye first the kingdom of God and
His righteousness and all these things shall be
added unto you tomorrow I'm going to tell
a story of how relevant that was in
my struggle with girls and women even after
I became a Christian and
through making that verse an important verse in
my life and setting me free from all
this romantic buzz that was always in my
head and in my eyes and then gave
me this amazing wife and in a few
months we celebrate 60 years of serving the
Lord Jesus the first thing in this conference
isn't missions it's certainly not us speakers it's
not us the speakers it's even not one
another praise God for the fellowship the first
thing God Himself let us seek God in
that morning prayer time in our private prayer
time let us never neglect the word of
God no matter where we are no matter
how busy we are let us never neglect
the word of God and I encourage you
not just to read the scripture to meditate
on the scripture to memorize the scripture and
now in my senior years when I walk
to the station and I walk over to
the bus place I try to walk four
miles every day or six kilometers and often
I'm just quoting the word of God many
of those verses I learned before I was
21 God's word is sharper than a two
-edged sword and one of the reasons in
Germany and England where I'm often ministering that
the churches are often not doing anything and
they're losing their young people is because theologians
30, 40 years ago they told us the
Bible is not the word of God all
this Noah and the Ark and the Virgin
Mary this is mythology and they're in one
seminary one theological institution they didn't even read
the Bible they read theological books about the
Bible proving that the Bible was not the
word of God and then we wonder why
50 years later in Europe we are suffering
so much in the body of Christ and
you can be sure that some of this
has invaded Egypt as well in India where
I've lived it's one of the most destructive
forces in the church and I understand the
struggle it's not easy to believe that all
these people are lost that Jesus is the
only way I don't want to believe
that but the Bible says Jesus said I
am the way the truth and the life
no man cometh to the Father but by
me and there are other verses that are
very very strong and I embrace it by
faith and I love those last verses of
Romans 11 who has understood the mind of
God do you have questions about some of
these things do you struggle with doubts as
I do about some of these things stop
trying to find the total answers to everything
embrace mystery embrace uncertainty realize
the greatness of God someday we will be
with him and we will understand all things
let's get as many people to go with
him in every nation of the world let's
pray our father we thank you for your
word we thank you for the hard passages
that convict us that challenge us that challenge
us Lord we seek you together in these
days in our prayer times in the study
of your word that we may be permeated
by the reality of your Holy Spirit but
we ask in the glorious name of Jesus
Amen Hallelujah