This is called Survival in Economic Crisis and
Inflation.
The last couple days, these thoughts have just
been coming into my heart and have become
a priority over many other things I would
love to speak about.
Let's just pray together.
Lord, help us to really be realistic tonight.
We thank you for the way you are
working in hearts and lives.
We thank you for the joys of living
for you.
Yet, Lord, we want to know the reality
of this as well, in these desperate days
in which we live.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
Every spiritual movement has its strong points and
its weak points.
Our greatest attention in OM needs to be
to work on our weak points and not
worry so much about our strong ones.
Our errors and our sins have been many.
Yet, they are now under the blood and
we do not want to dwell upon them.
When it comes to the area of money
and finance, OM, in some ways, is very
radical.
Very hard for some people to understand.
There are many areas where the Lord has
given us great strength and great victory.
But there are other areas where there are
inherent weaknesses.
Because of the kind of work we are
in, because of the short-term factor for
many people, and because the life of faith
is not simple.
At the Lausanne Congress on Evangelism, and if
you would like a copy of the covenant
of that Congress, I would be happy to
supply one to you.
There was an emphasis by many of the
Christian leaders that we as Evangelical Christians should
go back to a more simple lifestyle.
And this is something we want to consider
tonight.
We want to consider this in a very,
very practical way.
In this conference, we have already covered the
biblical basis for this.
We have looked at many scriptures.
You have read books like Where is Your
Treasure?
and True Discipleship.
But now many of us are asking, how
does this work out?
On the team?
In my home?
Here we are in a movement that now
has grown rather large.
Eight to nine hundred people operating in some
twenty-five countries with campaigns in another twenty
-five countries dealing with tens of millions, tens
of millions of pieces of literature.
Hundreds of thousands of pounds, dollars, francs and
deutschmarks.
And we have to admit to some degree
even from the very earliest days in the
technical sense we were an organization.
We had to incorporate incorporate into a company
for tax purposes.
We have to submit to governments just like
all the other citizens.
You may not be aware of all the
restrictions and regulations governments put on even little
fellowships, expanding fellowships like OM.
And sometimes we find ourselves praying as we
are right now for a nine thousand pound
sterling fuel bill to be paid.
Nine thousand pounds sterling.
And then we find ourselves praying for another
ship.
Or for a million books.
And it can all be very overwhelming to
us as individuals.
I find it at times very difficult and
very overwhelming to exist in this kind of
large organizational structure.
And in the midst of the bigness and
the big praying we can be lost.
And we can wonder where do I fit
in.
And I hope we can take this vision
that God has given us right down to
the nitty gritty practical things that we have
to do every day living on this earth.
Little things count.
For example I was thinking and I figured
this out and I'm going to show you
a little bit.
And I calculated that by saving a little
bit in terms of soap and toothpaste paste
we could save five thousand francs this year.
And still brush our teeth and wash every
day.
Little things count.
But when we live in a community where
we get our soap by handing in a
little paper that says give me a soap
where we get our toothpaste not by purchasing
it as most people but by going into
the team's storeroom and taking two, three or
four tubes as many as we want.
Some people in OM seem to eat this
stuff.
The only way I can exist in this
work where sometimes I have to sign a
check for thousands of pounds is by to
some degree detaching myself from the work.
I live before God.
Whatever amount of money is passing through OM
to pay fuel bills or buy books that's
God's money.
And it's God's work.
But in the midst of it I must
maintain a sensible realistic and simple lifestyle.
Some people when they left OM have written
to me.
And they said they found it very hard
because they had not learned how to make
a budget when they were at OM.
There always seemed to be a source of
a little money somewhere.
They could always go out and sell a
living Bible at half price.
And a living Bible is quite a bit
of money.
Many people in this world work for more
than a half a week to get the
price of one hardback living Bible.
Now there are many things you can learn
on OM.
And you can learn them without too much
difficulty.
But there are other things that are very
hard to learn in this kind of structure.
Now this is normal.
This is the way life is.
Different stages of life give us different opportunities
to learn different lessons.
And there are areas in the lifestyle that
we believe in where we have enormous opportunities
to save money.
And I believe in these days that we
are living we must learn to save money.
The people in the world are changing their
ways.
Some are selling their cars because they cannot
afford the petrol.
It's amazing what the people in the world
are doing right now because of inflation and
because of the financial crisis in some places.
In fact some of the people in the
world are utterly amazed the way we spend
money in OM.
Now that is also normal.
For instance they can't understand sometimes how we
spend money on a long distance phone call.
You see they are not living in the
context of an international movement with 800 people
in 25 countries where a phone call can
sometimes save hundreds of dollars or even a
life.
I think it's a great challenge to live
on the lowest possible money that all the
rest of the money can go for other
people and other needs and world evangelists.
This was one of the most explosive and
exciting factors about this work from the very
beginning.
We've seen the verses in the book of
Acts.
We've seen the unselfish lifestyle of the early
Christians.
Above all we've seen the way that the
Lord Jesus Christ himself lived.
We don't believe this is just theories.
We believe that this should affect the world
and affect every practical area of our life.
Let's talk about some of those areas.
Let's start with food.
Very important.
We need a balanced diet.
The price of food is just skyrocketing in
some countries.
In England it's costing us twice as much
as it was 4 years ago.
Are we going to be realistic about this?
Are we going to learn where we can
buy food cheaper?
Are we going to learn where the wholesale
markets are as some countries have done?
There are great advantages living in a community
when it comes to saving money on food.
Just picking things up in the local supermarket
can be incredibly expensive.
Though of course we will have to go
there sometimes if we are to survive.
But there are some things that you can
do.
I've heard of one team that has their
own garden where they grow their own food.
At least some of it.
We can learn how to make meals that
are inexpensive yet appetizing to the team.
I picked up a new book recently.
A cookbook that thick all on meals that
can be cooked in one pot.
But what a tremendous variety of meals there
were.
We can learn to eat different foods.
It's easier to be spiritual in the pulpit
than it is at the meal table.
Here's a man that's so dedicated to Christ
yet puts some food in front of him
that he doesn't like and he won't even
eat it.
Well that person is going to find an
interesting year in Operation Mobilization.
We have certain traditions that people want to
stick to Some people when they first came
on OM and they saw the meals they
thought we don't want this American food.
But just for your information I think the
Americans would be the most opposed to the
way we often eat in Operation Mobilization.
If there was ever a nation of gluttons
I think certainly we in the United States
would be in the top four.
Of course sometimes we feel we must always
have a dessert.
No doubt you have a scripture for that.
But it seems to me that we ought
to do a lot of rethinking on how
to get a better diet better food without
wasting money.
Let me make it very clear.
Most of the things I talk about tonight
are not rules.
Your team leader and country leader has to
work these things out in his country and
in his culture.
I will state some of the things that
I believe.
I will pray that it will be kept
in balance and that each one will work
it out in our own lives in a
realistic and spiritual way.
And you will come up with ideas that
I have never thought of and I hope
you will send them to me for my
new book on survival.
I noticed for example when traveling overland that
just buying cups of tea was really beginning
to add up.
It doesn't seem like much.
Most people wanted a second cup.
The cups in Iran are very small.
They're little glasses.
So I got this idea even when traveling
on the train.
I carry my own teapot and my own
tea and I just go into the tea
shop and I ask him for some hot
water and he's usually willing to sell that
for next to nothing and fill my whole
pot up because of course other teams have
a stove they can heat their own water
but that takes a long time sometimes.
I was amazed at the money that could
be saved through that little change in my
strategy.
If you don't drink tea you're going to
have an interesting time surviving out in India.
Last summer last year around this time I
had a children's special outing with my family
a special time with my children.
We went out and picked our own apples
in an apple orchard for one half of
the price they were selling for and we
supplied apples to many dozens of OMers and
they were very good apples.
Learning to live on that which is cheap
and in season and often what's in season
is also very nourishing for the body.
We need fresh fruit.
We need fresh vegetables.
And we need to avoid junk food.
And I think most of you know what
that is.
Of course how you eat also is very
important.
We should avoid arguments and tension at the
meal time.
So that the stomach and the inside can
concentrate on the food and not get all
wrangled up over somebody's hot arguments.
The book None of These Diseases says the
big thing is not what you eat it's
what's eating you today.
We need liberty in this area.
If we feel all uptight about the diet
in love we can go to the leader
and just be honest just tell him if
you eat one more day on his team
you're going to die and I'm sure he'll
listen to you.
I don't think God wants us to be
phony.
We can save a lot of money on
food.
In O.M. we've always avoided restaurants like
The Plague.
However sometimes it may be good on a
special occasion to go out to a restaurant
to demonstrate that you're not completely bound up
and inhibited in that area.
But why not do a little investigating to
see where there would be a restaurant where
you could get a decent meal at a
low price.
If you knew the money we would have
to spend next year on food you would
be amazed.
But you can be sure it is way
beyond a thousand dollars a day.
Probably closer to three thousand dollars a day.
Somewhere in between those two figures.
We have discovered on the ship that we
can feed people better diet and yet cheaper
than almost anywhere else in the world.
That's through buying wholesale and buying what's going
cheap in that particular port.
We have a great advantage.
This is the area of clothing.
How many have not yet visited Charlie?
I've not been there.
Raise your hand.
You've not visited Charlie.
Raise your hand.
You need to go to Charlie which is
downstairs.
Is that right?
Because there is clothing there.
We want to be faithful stewards of this
clothing.
We don't want you to just think what
you need this month.
Maybe there is something there you can use
next March or maybe something there you'll be
able to even give away to someone on
your field who has not been able to
come here.
And when you go to Charlie don't just
grab the best things.
They always go very easily.
Why not use your imagination?
And some of you fellows can grab those
old mini skirts that you can sew into
book bags.
There are two things you must have to
survive in Operation Mobilization.
One is imagination and the other is a
sense of humor.
But you know this used clothing has saved
us thousands and thousands of pounds that have
given people around the world their first spiritual
breakfast.
That is no laughing matter.
I don't believe so.
Yet every year we still spend a lot
of money on clothing because people don't take
advantage of Charlie when he's nearby and in
range.
Of course sometimes you just have to purchase
certain things.
The cheapest is not always the bargain.
If it falls apart in two weeks this
is where we can seek the advice from
other people.
We're always learners in these things.
Sometimes you can pick up tremendous bargains in
used goods or used clothing stores or jumble
sales in your own country.
But more important than this is for all
of us to keep our eyes on the
other people and to give to them things
that we have on a personal basis.
It's so easy over the years to accumulate
more and more things.
And we need more imagination as to how
to get these things whether it's clothing or
little household articles in greater use for the
glory of God to save more money.
Many people in the world have to do
this just to survive and not end up
bankrupt.
We should want to do it even more
for the Lord Jesus.
In this area it's also important to think
of how we take care of what God
has given to us.
Contrary to common opinion most things in O
.M. belong to somebody.
Because we believe in stewardship We must not
make the mistake on our teams of just
picking something up thinking it's common property and
also treating it like common junk.
We should not be ashamed to put our
name on things that we feel God wants
us to be a good steward of without
of course us becoming neurotic and possessive about
them.
We should not be ashamed to put our
name on things that we feel God wants
us to be a good steward of without
of course us becoming neurotic and possessive about
them.
I think it's good to
have in the teams a special place to
put the shoes so that the shoes can
be well taken care of.
The shoes are It can cost us thousands
of dollars, this year, just for shoes in
operational boots.
And sometimes people also go out with good
clothing on to do dirty jobs.
Why not pick up some old clothing from
Charlie and from now on, when you have
a dirty job to do, take your Sunday
trousers off and put the old clothes on.
It can save a lot of money and
a lot of work in the long run.
Why not pick up some old clothing from
Charlie and from now on, when you have
a dirty job to do, take your Sunday
trousers off and put the old clothes on.
Generally have your morning exercises with your new
trousers and suit and tie running around the
woods.
Generally have your morning exercises with your new
trousers and suit and tie running around the
woods.
In all these areas, we never want to
get into the slavery of judging others.
We are all different.
I think the diversity in OM is as
beautiful as the unity.
We are not robots.
We are people.
We are free to have different ideas.
Some brother says, I don't believe in drinking
Coca-Cola.
Eat your stomach out.
Somebody else says, I don't believe in eating
this food.
Somebody else says, I believe all neckties are
of the devil.
All neckties are of the devil.
There are so many things that can go
out of balance when we speak of these
areas if we are not wise and discerning
and spiritual and careful.
There are so many things that can go
out of balance when we speak of these
areas if we are not wise and discerning
and spiritual and careful.
Another area, the personal things.
This is where the men who own the
shops make a lot of money.
All the little bottles of chemicals and things
we rub on our hair and on our
faces and all this kind of thing.
You can get a bottle for two pounds.
It's called beauty water and all it is
is fresh water with a little incense.
Women rub it on their face for beauty,
beauty water.
If it promises to increase a woman's beauty,
you can sell it no matter what it
is.
This is an area where we men need
to be very patient.
For 15 years of marriage, I have not
been able to figure out what all these
bottles contain.
But we may want to at least do
a little bit of research, women.
I am a great believer in the mud
pack.
It's still dirt cheap.
The mud pack, putting mud on the face.
I don't think they do that in France.
There is one thing in OM we would
like to spend a little more money on.
We feel the average young man is too
conservative on this expenditure.
And that is deodorant.
We seem to have a lot of disciples
when it comes to this area.
Somehow they have these scriptures about the sweet
smelling savor confused.
The scriptures about the sweet smelling savor, they've
got these twisted in their minds.
One OMer did diligent research to show that
baking soda with water is an extremely effective
deodorant.
But in this area what concerns me?
It's sometimes in the team supply we seem
to have an excess of these things.
And sometimes they've been there for 2 or
3 years until they have to be thrown
away.
When you go to buy something, here's a
few questions to ask.
Do I really need it?
Do I really need it now?
Can I buy it cheaper somewhere else?
Is it something I can do without?
And do I really have the money?
Very very important, though in some people in
OM it doesn't seem to enter their heads.
The need does not justify the expenditure.
The need justifies the prayer and the faith
which then will enable the expenditure.
The need justifies the prayer and the faith
which then will enable the expenditure.
It is so easy to think upon ourselves.
It's my own personal opinion.
And I know some do not agree.
That is a sin to spend so much
money on expensive Bibles when 90% of
the people in the world have not the
Bible at all.
I've never been able to understand that mentality.
I personally have never had peace of building
a personal library.
I do not understand how we can accumulate
hundreds and thousands of personal books, many of
which we never read, when millions haven't even
one Gospel tract.
I've never understood that.
Of course in OM we have a tremendous
advantage because there are always books around, so
I certainly will not judge another brother for
a small and well-used library.
But often times we don't even take care
of our Bibles.
I am guilty of that.
And Bibles sometimes in OM just within one
overland journey come out in pieces.
Then when we get married, especially when children
come along, we develop this mentality.
Anything for the baby.
And this is where a lot of wastage
can come in.
Maybe to be a little more balanced, we
should consider the millions and millions of babies
that will not get proper food tomorrow.
At the same time in handling our children
we have a very delicate area.
I do not believe in enforced poverty upon
our children.
In my family the only ones who have
a bank account are the children.
Once in a while I have to take
a loan out from them.
I cannot force my convictions on my children.
They must grow and they must learn and
experience this for themselves in God's time.
We will have to allow our children to
make some of the very same mistakes that
we made if they are going to be
real people.
Moving on, I would like to say a
word about this area of household and furniture.
Of course, the cost of clothing and furniture
is just phenomenal.
And when we think of the money that
goes into furniture, that ultimately is just thrown
away or scrapped or burnt, it can
really break our hearts.
Used furniture you can generally get almost all
you want in most countries, either free or
at a very low price.
When you come to some of our homes,
those of us who have been around for
many years, you will not see lack of
furniture.
In Bromley we have to chop the stuff
up just to get into the house.
When you get out to India, that same
furniture would be worth a fortune.
And of course, those of you in the
underdeveloped countries will have a harder job finding
the necessary furniture you need.
Use your imagination.
Learn a little bit of carpentry.
You can make a table.
You can make a lot of things.
And it can be a family project.
Or a team project.
We need a little imagination and creativity in
this area.
It's utterly amazing to see what people can
make curtains out of.
You've noticed here, certainly in the warehouse or
the seminary.
I believe we should, as Christians, be interested
in ecology and in preserving the natural resources.
Let us learn to recycle things.
Many envelopes can be used again.
In the long run it saves trees.
Don't you like trees?
In fact, it saves trees.
Don't you have trees?
And there are limited possibilities in this domain.
And when we study this domain, when we
see these domains, we must always remember that
we must live before God and not before
men.
It's not the praise of men that we
seek.
It's the praise of God.
But I believe he
uses
all these practical domains, these little things, to
demonstrate love in a very practical way this
year.
1 John 3.16 says, In this we
perceive the love of God.
In that he gave his life for us,
so we ought to give our lives for
the brethren.
And there's just unlimited possibilities in that area.
In the midst of this, we have to
constantly remind ourselves and when we study this
domain, when we see these domains, we must
always remember that we must live before God
and not before men.
It's not the praise of men that we
seek.
It's the praise of God.
But I believe he marks every honest, sincere
effort in our hearts to demonstrate love on
a practical level instead of just talking about
it for another year.
1 John 3.16 says, In this we
perceive the love of God.
In that he gave his life for us,
so we ought to give our lives for
the brethren.
Verse 17 says, He that has this world's
goods, sees his brethren in need and doesn't
do anything about it, how dwelleth the love
of God in that person.
As we get convictions in these areas, love
must always be the dominant factor.
If love is not the dominant factor, the
diligent saver of money becomes one of the
most ugly persons you can ever come across
in life.
And he easily can become neurotic.
Many a marriage has been broken over fights
and arguments over money matters and expenditure.
I must confess that I've made some of
my greatest mistakes in marriage in this area.
Not understanding women and their needs and their
differences.
And it's important that we understand this in
marriage.
Remember the things that we buy quickly depreciate
in value.
For example, if I went in the diamond
business, I can buy diamonds at 70%
discount.
That means generally the moment you buy that
diamond, it goes down 70% in its
value.
The businessmen and the advertising people of the
world want to convince you and I that
certain things are valuable, but generally it's not
so.
Also the advertising world and especially the insurance
companies want us to be convinced that we
cannot live without at least three insurance policies.
I don't believe there's any greater insurance than
believers simply putting into practice New Testament discipleship
in loving and caring for one another.
This is where we need an understanding of
the Church.
The Church is a beautiful community of loving
and caring people.
I personally will choose that over any insurance
company that anybody can manufacture which can go
bankrupt so easily.
Some of these decisions will be very big
for you someday, though at this point in
life many of you are hardly thinking about
it.
But the Lord Jesus urges us to count
the cost before we go into battle.
Someday many are going to have to decide
whether they're going to have a television in
their home or not.
New things are going to take place on
television.
In Japan already there are full striptease shows
right on color television into everybody's home.
I believe in a few years our children
will be viewing open sex and sexual relationships
on television.
OM has never encouraged television in their headquarters
and in their bases.
We feel it is the great thief of
time.
And the good programs are more of a
problem than the bad ones.
The good programs are sometimes more problem than
the bad ones.
Because nowadays you can consume hours and weeks
watching good programs instead of being involved in
God's best activities that he has outlined for
us in his Word.
It will take a lot of thinking and
a lot of praying.
And a lot of discipline.
Without discipline nothing works in the Christian world.
The best promises turn to nothing.
We have to use natural resources.
And they are becoming more and more expensive.
It is going to cost us thousands of
pounds to heat the OM offices and headquarters
this year.
Probably between 5 and 10,000 pounds sterling.
And a lot of this fuel to heat
our homes could be saved.
Some of it could be saved.
And a lot of this fuel to heat
our homes could be saved.
Some of it could be saved.
For example, close the door.
Because the heat you pay for goes through
the door.
80% of the heat or something like
that in a house goes through the roof.
And another part of the heat goes through
the windows.
Even good curtains can save a lot of
heat.
And you may say, but why talk about
these things in an OM meeting?
We need something spiritual.
This is the way some people think.
Because they live in a dichotomy.
Spiritual life over here and the rest of
their practical life is over here.
I believe this is a challenge to our
spiritual life.
Why not learn to turn the lights out?
Even around this building, it's amazing to see
how the lights are left on in some
of the offices, burning up the juice.
Electricity is getting more and more expensive.
Let's learn how to conserve it.
When we're working in an office, we can
put a little more clothing on.
And cut the temperature at least a few
degrees.
Americans are the most guilty in this area.
If you have ever been in an American
centrally heated home in the United States, you
won't believe it.
They like to keep it very warm.
But it's very expensive and things are changing.
Sometimes there's whole rooms that we don't need
to heat and we don't even need to
use, except for certain times.
Let us not judge others in this area.
But of course, if you feel that you
need a little extra, if you realize that
you need a little extra, why not make
it a matter of prayer to see a
little extra money coming in?
That's reality.
There's nothing wrong with buying something that you
think you should have.
If you really think you need it.
But it's not realistic if you really don't
care to know where the money comes from.
But we want that if it's God's plan,
when you leave OM, you'll be able to
readapt to the secular world.
Now we're going to move on to communication
problems.
The price of telephone calls in England increased
by 66% a few days ago.
In each headquarters there should be a sheet
of information where the price of communication is
specified and every member of the team should
know how much it costs.
In general, those who are in OM are
not allowed to make long-distance calls without
asking for permission.
We have
even
been told that in some houses that do
not belong to OM, in some families, there
are OMers who have made long-distance calls
without even saying it and without paying.
I say that this is theft.
I don't know what you think about it.
Fortunately, it hasn't happened often.
The telephone is a very valuable and very
useful weapon, but it should be used in
a way as wise as the pistol.
We should know how much the letters cost.
And we should realize how good it is
to have stamps.
Stamps are a good thing.
But sometimes in an office, there are all
the stamps that hang on the desk.
Every year, OM loses thousands of dollars through
stolen goods around the world.
Thousands of dollars every year.
Most of it is in Asia.
This year, it will happen again if you
and I are not more concerned and wiser
in all these areas.
We need to combine letters and send them
with personal carriers or in group packets.
We should divide mail, priority and non-priority,
and some of it can go boat post.
We need to discover the best way to
send certain things, like cassettes, because one system
can be 25% or 100% cheaper
than another.
There is unlimited scope for saving money in
all these areas.
At the same time, time equals money.
And if we are going to evangelize the
world, it is going to cost money.
And we are not beggars and God is
not broke.
And we want to see, in one sense,
more money spent on letters than ever before,
if it is for the right purpose and
God directed.
Especially because we, in one sense, are also
in the book business.
Through selling books, through increasing our sales, many
of our expenses can be covered.
For instance, it would be better to rent
a car and get the big quantity of
books to the meeting than go to the
meeting with a little box of books and
lose 50 to 100 pounds in book sales.
And this brings me to travel.
Always double and triple check information about trains,
buses and planes.
Learn to have a little bit of healthy
skepticism.
Many of the people working in these companies
are new and they don't know what they
are talking about.
And you are going to spend a lot
of money and waste a lot of money
in the process.
Learn the cheapest way to travel.
In England, we are discouraging train travel altogether.
Because we discovered that couches cost one third
of a train.
There are some people, of course, who, because
of pressure, have to be more concerned about
time than other people.
This is an important thing to keep in
mind.
This year, I estimate, we will lose a
thousand pounds just through being lost in the
OM vehicles.
We are lost while travelling by car.
Calculate how much it costs per litre.
How many litres there are per kilometre.
And tell yourself that each vehicle will be
lost at least five times during this year.
Calculate what the expense will be.
And all this comes because we did not
ask the information office what the exact route
was and to have asked twice.
This is where a phone call can save
us a lot of money.
We arrive in a city.
Phone.
How do we find your house?
We are now doing maps of many of
the OM headquarters so that you can find
them without driving around the city burning up
gospel tracts in your tank.
That's what it comes to in my mind.
I hope no one will be as naive
as to put gospel tracts in your fuel
tank.
One way to save fuel is operation leg.
Why not do a little more walking?
Or running?
Or cycling?
I think many of us could be doing
some of the jobs we do on bicycles
instead of jumping in the OM vehicles.
Which is a fuel guzzler and driving it
off on your little trip.
Many of us who are here, if we
were out in the world, we wouldn't have
money to even run an automobile, at least
for a while.
Now this is why we need to be
patient with one another.
Because there are other people here from very
wealthy homes.
Who would be living at a standard ten
times higher than others who are here.
So we're all different.
And we've got to grow according to God's
plan for us.
There is so much more I would like
to say about this, but our time is
gone.
In the midst of all of this, we
need to be more thankful.
God has been so good to us.
He has so blessed us.
And in OM in general, up to this
date, we don't really know much of what
real problems are.
Far more difficult days may be ahead of
us.
Days in which we may be forced to
live on a much smaller sum of money.
What if we didn't have the money now?
What if we did not have the money
now?
To even leave.
What if we prayed for a better future?
We prayed for a month and it didn't
come.
I wonder how many would still be here.
I wonder how many would stick with us
through such difficult days.
Even in very many crises along this line,
we had people who immediately left, feeling that
the Holy Spirit had departed from the movement.
The Holy Spirit is not firstly a banker.
Some of the people most dedicated to Jesus
Christ have been very poor and have not
seen their prayers answered for material things.
Or even for health.
And there is no greater gift than health.
And until you lose it, you won't know
what that means.
We received the sad word yesterday that our
dear friend Dr. Bob Pierce is dying of
leukemia.
Bob Pierce, the founder of World Vision, cancer
of the blood.
And as you and I go on in
this life, we're going to discover that the
really valuable things are free.
Let's thank God for them.
They may not be free in the future.
The pure air we still can breathe in
some places the water we can drink the
health we can enjoy this is a plea
for reality.
You must work it out in your own
life.
You must work it out on your team.
It won't be easy.
Where people are involved, complications always come.
Perhaps among rabbits and squirrels you could work
it out better.
But people are a little more complicated as
you are going to discover this year.
God has blessed our efforts in the past
in this area and we believe to a
small degree we are beginning to practice the
lifestyle of the Lord Jesus and of the
early Christians though we don't believe that is
a narrow thing.
You will meet wealthy people upper middle class
people who may not practice any of these
things and yet they may know God a
lot more than you do.
And that may frustrate you but we can
learn from each other and maybe if they
knew these things they could know God even
more and God is not going to hold
them responsible for life they have not received
but he is going to hold you responsible
for life you have received.
Half the world has never heard the gospel.
What you do as an individual in these
areas and many others is important.
You are important.
You live not in an organization but before
the living God.
Let us pray.
Lord help us to be realistic in these
areas.
You have entrusted us with so much money
and so much literature and places to sleep
and food and so much God.
We thank you and we praise you and
we want to be more faithful stewards and
we are believing you to help us we
know we are going to fail in many
things and when we do we know the
forgiveness and the grace and the mercy will
be there but keep us from abusing it
or misusing it and help us to keep
love as the overall rule in all things
that millions may be reached with your word
and that the world may know that we
belong to Jesus and we pray in his
name.
Amen.