We're praying for 100,000 Antioch churches.
I talk about that in this book.
I show and break down the different countries
to show how easily this can happen.
100,000 new churches who will take a
step similar to Acts 13.
Of course, there may be some that are
already doing this.
Then my prayer is to do something more.
The numbers, that is not important.
I put a lot of numbers, statistics.
That is not the main thing.
I'm asking for 100,000 churches to send
200,000 workers.
I'm asking for 100,000 churches to send
200,000 workers into the harvest field.
Of course, that has to be put on
top of what already is happening.
But the big numbers are not the main
thing.
The main thing is this biblical principle from
the word of God.
Actually, it should be a lot more than
100,000 churches.
A lot more than 200,000 workers.
Then my fourth word is the little word,
send.
Verse 3.
They fasted, they prayed, they laid hands on
them, and they sent them off.
They fasted, they prayed, they laid hands on
them, and they sent them off.
There is a fantastic book.
I hope it is available here.
It is called, Serving as Senders.
We have a lot of books about going.
In this book it is about sending.
What are the problems?
We talked about some of them last night.
If you can't find that book, send me
an email, we will try to get a
copy to you, because that book is absolutely
basic for what we are trying to do.
Written by a great missionary leader named Neil
Parolo.
Neil Parolo.
He has written another new book especially for
the church on how to handle returning missionaries.
It is called, The Re-Entry Team.
It is a tremendous book.
YWAM has a book on the same subject,
though quite different.
It is written for the missionary.
It is called, Re-Entry.
And we need to understand.
Many young people after two or three years
out on the field found it more difficult
to come back to their hometown than they
did to go to the mission field in
the first place.
But we can learn from these books.
Sending is a vital ministry.
Many of you want to go.
You need to find prayer partners.
You need to find support partners who are
going to send you.
You need to learn how to relate to
business people.
Because the local church never hardly covers enough
to make it happen.
The history of mission shows it is the
local church plus individuals, often business people who
make missionary work happen across the globe.
Please understand that.
In verse three it is the people who
lay hands on them and send them away.
But look at verse four.
Here it is the Holy Spirit.
So they being sent forth by the Holy
Ghost.
Isn't that beautiful?
It is not one or the other.
It is the church working in symphony, harmony
with the Holy Spirit.
If you look at Romans chapter 10 verse
15 it says how will they go?
How will they preach?
Unless they are sent.
There is that word again.
The greatest mistake we made in our early
days we did not put enough biblical emphasis
on sending.
We were all go, go, go.
And sometimes in our meetings if you weren't
going you felt second class.
Then God showed us from his word.
Those who send and those together who go
we are one in the task.
Both are important.
And then the fifth word.
Or is it the fourth?
Fifth right?
Is the word prayer.
They were worshipping in verse two.
But the worship in verse three moved to
prayer.
Praying for workers.
I want to urge you to develop a
ministry of prayer.
I was 17 years old when I said
to God I want one thing in life
and for me to say this was very,
very unusual.
Because I was interested in so many things.
But I said God I want one thing
in life.
I want to know how to pray.
And from the age 17 until this very
afternoon every day I have known something of
the reality of prayer.
Group prayer, personal prayer, all kinds of prayer.
Sometimes I enjoy it.
It's just a great time of blessing and
prayer.
Other times I have to really push myself
to get in my car and drive to
that half night of prayer.
And even in the prayer meetings I have
many struggles.
I remember a prayer meeting in Switzerland.
And I was trying to pray.
And of course when we pray we often
close our eyes.
There's no bible verse teaching that you have
to close your eyes.
But I think for people like me that
are always looking around at the pretty girls
it's better to close your eyes.
But some of us become very, very sneaky
in the prayer meetings.
Because when someone new comes in we like
to see who that is.
So I remember praying, maybe about 15 years
ago.
And I didn't have any glasses at that
time.
And I was praying.
With my hands it looks very spiritual when
you're praying with your hands.
But then I could open this and I
could peek through that little crack.
So when the door opened and someone came
into the prayer meeting I opened my little
door, my little crack and I saw this
beautiful girl.
Whoa, Jesus!
And suddenly I could not pray.
Then I followed her as she went to
sit down.
Then I felt condemned.
Then Satan reminded me what a hopeless case
I am.
And to think that God would even listen
to any of my prayers.
And I had to battle my way back
to forgiveness and to some degree of prayer
in my heart.
Not that I even lusted after that woman.
I don't remember that.
It was just so beautiful to look at.
That is a mystery, isn't it?
There's a fantastic book out written for men
You know English and you're a man I'll
send you this book.
It's dynamite.
So how to deal how to deal with
sexual temptation?
The first chapter Why are naked women so
nice to look at?
Of course it's not really true because some
naked women surely are not nice to look
at.
I've never been to a nudist camp but
once I saw some pictures of a nudist
camp it was not attractive at all but
that is not the theme of my message
today.
The ministry of prayer it is not just
for super saints it's for ordinary people like
me needy ragamuffins who are constantly having to
claim the blood of Jesus Christ over my
mind and over my life.
And then very quickly the sixth word it's
the word work.
Verse 2 Separate Barnabas and Saul for the
work whereunto I have called them.
There's a lot of work to be done
and we need to understand that I'm going
to talk more about that later after the
break.
There is so much work.
I think of our two ships I also
know the YWAM ships the mercy ships I
just visited one the big one in Newcastle
there's so much work to be done it's
not just for theologians and bible teachers you
need men and women who can work with
their hands on our ship Logos 2 we
have a German woman in the deck department
the deck that's hard work with the ropes
and I think when she returns from her
vacation in Germany I've heard she's going to
be in charge of the deck department on
the ship that's the men who work on
the decks the ropes when the ship comes
in the
word work Arbeit is an important word in
God's vocabulary there's a work for Jesus Paul
and Barnabas were sent out for the work
where unto I have called them God does
the calling we do the responding and then
the final word is there in verse 5
the 7th word how many have 7 words
it's the word helper the little word helper
very similar in German and English in this
translation it uses the word minister other translations
use the word assistant the
Bible speaks of the gifts the gift of
helps that's a great gift we're having this
wonderful conference people have been helping with the
food, with the cleaning all kinds of organizational
things people who corresponded and sent me emails
over the past 2 years if it wasn't
for my secretarial staff I might not even
be here I have people telling me you
take too many meetings almost 400 meetings a
year but I can do that because I
have a lot of help I have staff
who are when you send these emails they're
going to help send out those books I'm
not going to be able to put those
books in a plastic bag and send them
to you and often when we go out
to mission work in short term or for
a year that's our main ministry we just
go to serve we just go to help
some of the people who came in our
fellowship when they were very young they just
came to help today 20, 30 years later
we have thousands of former OM people thousands
in leadership position in the church and other
agencies all over the world God
has a great plan for your life but
generally the first steps are small steps and
you're just helping and growing and becoming stronger
in God what a tremendous passage of scripture
we can get 7 life changing words from
5 verses imagine what you can get if
you go through the whole book of Acts
you surely will never be the same again
let us pray our God and Father we
thank you for this special time together in
your holy word Lord I thank you for
so many in this room that sense a
call that sense your call upon their lives
Lord we just believe that you O Lord
of the harvest are going to send forth
workers into the harvest we thank you for
this tremendous example in Acts 13 the way
that you can work in a local church
and we pray that this will happen in
local churches all through Germany and that many
more Paul and Barnabas will be sent out
into the harvest fields we ask this in
the name the glorious name of Jesus Christ
Amen Amen