Maybe tomorrow Would like to share a little
of the history of O.M. Spain the
place that O.M. was born.
I don't know if you knew that The
very name of O.M. was originally came
to me when I came out of Russia
in 1961 but the decision to actually go
ahead with that vision Was made in the
mountains 300 miles from here outside Madrid with
a little group of Spaniards We had a
day of fasting and prayer and I shared
this vision and asked them to be the
leaders of This thrust operation mobilization They In
fear and trembling at that time Spain was
a closed country people were in prison churches
were closed.
No open evangelism In those days we only
dreamed we only dreamed and prayed of what
you have been able to do In in
the Canary Islands and in previous visits and
an operation Iberia You know openly in the
streets of Spain I don't think we could
say there's any nation in Europe more ripe
for the gospel than Spain And I guess
I've been in all the countries except one
or two It's very very very much God's
hour for Spain This country was closed as
I said when I came here.
I'm not that old And now there's just
complete freedom.
I mean that doesn't mean you know every
there's no obstacles And as foreigners there are
always restrictions on foreigners to some degree but
basically this freedom in Spain To stand out
in the streets and then give out tracts
to preach in the open air I know
this probably you know doesn't mean much some
of you this generation You don't know Spain
20 years ago Franco dictatorship Evangelicals persecuted imprisoned
Literature distribution all of our tracks had to
be printed in secret The first printing press
I had was hidden in our bedroom in
Madrid It's a duplicating machine I bought and
I would spend hours and hours cranking off
those tracks on this duplicating machine, then I
found a printer a Little tiny print shop
in the back streets of Madrid.
It was actually a little bit out in
the country Who would be willing for money?
to print private clandestine illegal literature And I
met one of the then I got another
printer in Barcelona, and we developed a network
of Getting literature out into the post and
we mailed 900,000 pieces of literature out
to everybody in every telephone book in the
nation all of it done behind closed doors
All of it Illegal we had to use
a Portuguese address I Went to Lisbon to
renew my visa standard procedure know him renew
my visa and Guts a postbox in Lisbon
then went back to Madrid and started Printing
these tracks and we printed them in Barcelona.
I when I was in Barcelona preaching recently
What the I met the printer he used
to do some of this early work, and
he remembers that as one of the greatest
Things he ever got involved in well, maybe
more about that tomorrow As the Lord leads
I want you to turn in your Bibles
to Mark chapter 1 Mark
the gospel of Mark Matthew Mark Luke There
it is Jesus
verse 16 now as he walked by the
Sea of Galilee He saw Simon and Andrew
his brother casting a net into the sea
For they were fishermen And Jesus said unto
them come after me and I will make
you become fishers of men and straightway They
took their nets or forsook their nets and
they followed him when he had gone a
little farther He saw James a son of
Zebedee and John his brother also, we're in
the boat mending their nets and Straightway that
means immediately He called them They left their
father Zebedee in the boat With the hired
servants and they went After him I think
probably some of you have heard me speak
from this text before But I'm not going
to be given the same message so don't
doze off Mark chapter 2 verse
13 14 And he went forth again by
the seaside And all the multitude came unto
him resorted unto him and he taught them
And as he passed by he saw Levi
the son of Alphaeus.
This was Matthew Sitting at the tax office
He said unto him follow me Follow me
and he arose and followed him And he
came to pass that as Jesus was eating
in his house Many tax collectors and sinners
sat also together with Jesus and his disciples
For there were many and they followed him.
I want to speak to you Probably the
strongest word I'm gonna give I think most
of my Speaking up to now has been
rather gentle bits of Information maybe a little
challenge a little bit of balance a few
old old ladies fables and Hope you got
something out of it But I feel that
it's always good to have something at least
a little more straight.
We don't like to beat around the bush
and This is Something I want to share
I know it's risky in fact Perhaps there's
no message.
I could give that will alter your whole
future as this message tonight Because I want
to speak to you on seven reasons why
you must Consider absolutely giving your whole life
to full-time missionary work, you know today
There's a big move in short-term missionary
work It's good But it's not the answer
It's good, but it's not the answer It's
part of the answer and I'll defend short
-term work, you know Till my dying day
But if we're going to get the job
done We need people who are going to
say Lord my life Evangelism fishing men, that's
what Jesus talks about.
You know some of your churches They think
it's great.
You come on a two-year program, especially
when you're young.
They don't know exactly what to do with
you When you're young anyway We have quite
a few churches send us their problem cases
we had another one recently a real a
real basket case and We called the pastor
up at the end of the summer and
we said, you know, how did you recommend
this person?
They said well, you know, we couldn't do
anything with him.
He's an impossible character.
We thought you could and Well some of
the churches after people been with us two
years and suddenly they begin to blossom and
They're not so difficult to deal with and
they know something of the word know how
to pray Then they don't want him to
stay on OM any longer That's not a
problem But often they don't want him to
go on any mission They want him to
join the join a church choir, you know,
you've had your two years of training you
come back meet a church secretary be the
church custodian or become a deacon Now again,
I can't judge that But how in the
world that we're going to get the world
evangelized if the church wants to hang on
to all the really trained people the gifted
people the communicators the disciplined ones And I
just feel That if we're going to see
this Job done that the Lord gave us
the job, you know, it's not my job
The Lord gave us the job acts 1
8 Just before he left.
Jesus said ye shall be my witnesses in
Jerusalem Judea Samaria and the uttermost parts the
uttermost parts and you can look up the
references in Corinthians You can look up the
references in Romans Where Paul says I want
to go to the regions beyond Where Paul
says I don't want to preach where Christ
is already named.
I Don't want to start a church down
the road from already one of Barnabas's churches
I Want to go to the regions beyond
that's 2,000 years ago, and I believe
it's logical.
It's reasonable That a large number of you
Consider With every inch of brain power and
spiritual power you can muster up the possibility
that God wants you the rest of your
life in evangelism now, that's my testimony and
I I Don't share this kind of message
much.
I Didn't even share it at the July
conference Because I want to be one of
the first ones to say if God leads
you in a very clear way Back to
your home country or the doors closed so
that you can't leave your own country I'll
be the last one to ever say you're
out of God's will Because I'm not interested
in you living in a guilt trip the
rest of your life thinking you missed God's
plan But I think my oversensitivity and my
fear that somebody's going to get you know
feeling too guilty Has caused me to sometimes
compromise the message of the Word of God
in giving a clear call From the scriptures
and presenting clearly the reasons why you must
consider this the possibility of a life of
service Overseas and I want to be clear.
I'm talking about overseas out of your own
country Again There's no problem if the Lord
leads you very clearly to work for Christ
in your own country But that's not what's
on my heart tonight Because that's where most
people end up those who do go full
-time 99% their own country pastors Sunday
school directors Assistant pastors big churches in America
I was just in one 11 pastors 11
full-time workers 20 grand a shot 40
grand for number one one church and That
you know, that's why what I'm talking about
tonight I'm talking about leaving your country even
though you may love your country and Going
to the unreached parts of the world Now
I know that in your own countries There
are still unreached people I know in Brazil,
there's some unreached people I know in in
most countries, there are there are little pockets
of unreached people and That's that's great Brother
Pais was sharing last time.
We talked not this trip, but a year
and a half ago How only recently in
Venezuela the church has got the vision to
reach their own tribes you know the city
folk and The church people go out into
the tribes.
So all those things are important, but I
want to speak to you seven reasons why
you should consider fishing in the lakes Where
there's not many other people fishing, you know,
it's crazy when you get 100 people all
fishing in a pond 30 foot by 40
foot Your lines all get tangled up Your
bait gets all tangled up you think you
got a big fish, you know, you got
somebody else's line and This is a state
of the church in many places.
The lines are all tangled up.
They got each other's bait sitting in the
put in the pews the pastors are fighting
over which bait is better and which fish
belong to their church and which fish belong
to the church down the road and You
got people arguing over what kind of a
fish you should be You should be a
Pentecostal fish or Baptist fish or brethren fish
what kind of fish you should be It's
crazy There's whole lakes down the road.
Just you know, just get on a ship
or get on a plane There's a lake
fish are jumping.
They're leaping right out of the lake.
There's nobody fishing The climates not pleasant around
the shores there's no McDonald's around the shores
and It's so far from home You can't
be home for Christmas.
Isn't it terrible can't be home for Christmas
My heart just breaks when I think some
of you don't get you aren't gonna get
home for Christmas this year, really Well
You say what a hard-hearted vagabond this
guy Yeah, well, let me get to my
reasons.
I wrote my notes down here While you
were praying number one number one the
need is so So unbelievably great Now I
wish I had five hours to talk to
you about the need I Don't have five
hours got a condenser.
Some of you think Argentina needs more preachers,
right?
Probably I talked to a man.
He told me about a great missions conference
in Argentina I don't want to pick on
any countries, but I will anyway and I
Met this man in Chicago He's telling me
about this great missions conference Thousands were going
there.
It's just tremendous Praise the Lord brother.
How many missionaries are they sending out?
Oh, no, we're not sending out any missionaries.
I Said wait a minute.
Could you repeat that?
No, we haven't sent out any missionaries yet.
This is just a missionary conference and I
think he did mention that some are going
out in Argentina but overseas It hadn't quite
hit them.
I think maybe they thought about a little
bit And when we think of the resources
of Argentina Think of the churches in Argentina
You know, there should be a thousand workers
out of Argentina They should have been out
20 years ago, and you're you're you're Christian
leaders.
They're gonna stand before God you can write
them gently and tell maybe perfectly better write
the letter, but They're gonna stand before God
and their blood is going to be all
over the hands Because there's not an inch
of scripture that says that world missions is
an anglo-saxon event There's not a scrap
of scripture that says world missions is for
Swiss Germans Swedes English Americans World missions is
for the whole church and we cannot go
on taking part of the scriptures and leaving
other parts of the scriptures and We just
gotta face it That though Argentina still needs
work and still needs churches planted and still
there are lost people in Argentina The same
about Brazil Chile Peru there is no comparison
between those countries and Kurdistan or Balochistan or
the Patan people or or We could name
500 larger people's group just like that.
We could start naming people's groups We've got
the research more than ever before in the
history of missions.
No church They say there's 2,000 or
more people's group.
Some of them are very small.
No church.
Not one church.
No church Turkey why aren't there people going
from Argentina to Turkey?
Is that another planet?
Do you need a spaceship?
Do you need a telegram from heaven?
Does Jesus have to come on a white
horse?
Grab you by the head There are 40
million Turks All the Turkish believers could sit
in the first two rows the first two
rows of this auditorium They need Christ Jesus
gave the command when ten years ago If
it were ten years ago, we'd say, you
know, you're a little slow Ten years to
obey What's wrong?
You got your foot stuck in your sandbox
playing with when you were a child But
it was two thousand years ago brothers and
sisters Two thousand years ago now we know
people don't live for two thousand years, but
the church has been going for two thousand
years and Some of the leaders in our
church.
We got leaders 50 years old 70 years
old that means they got 70 years 70
years of disobedience that doesn't mean God doesn't
bless them.
God is merciful But there is a sense
that people who are not obeying the Word
of God are living in continual disobedience or
continual blindness continual blindness Other cases it's continual
selfishness.
We're concerned about our own little church How
many do we have in our pews how
much money at the end of the week?
so I can get my salary increase or
so we can put a new organ in
the church or so we can get a
new Stained glass window with Peter painted on
it or so we can get some other
strategic thing like a gospel bowling alley No,
really, I mean the church is in America,
that's a big thing now to have a
gospel bowling alley.
I Mean what kind of church you're gonna
have without a bowling alley?
And now we got to have camps every
every church big church in America has got
to have Christian camp I'm not against the
Christian camp movement.
I know God uses that But far more
money goes into Christian camps Than you could
ever even ever ever ever imagine and now
they're luxury camps air-conditioned yachts boats Airplanes,
you know, you just you probably don't know
All that's happening.
I don't want to get you depressed Telling
you about it.
The need is so great.
So great Even an optimistic estimate would say
40% of the people in the world
have not had the gospel We're not talking
now about planting a church They haven't even
heard yet.
There is a church Maybe 40% Now
that's encouraging in one sense because in the
last in the last 100 years one of
the greatest probably the greatest missionary effort of
all times has taken place and The 60
% of the people in the world.
That's my rough estimate That they've received tracks
and films or heard messages on the radio
or seen a text on the billboard Something
we know they're not totally evangelized But they've
had a lot more than the other 40
% the other 40% They've had nothing
now on and on I could go about
the need The need is not the total
Thing is it to guide us you're not
guided only by need but it's one factor,
right?
You know Oswald J.
Smith's old illustration ten people are carrying the
log One man's carrying one end of the
log Nine people are carrying the other end.
Who are you gonna help if you?
were a man of great gift and you
were an engineer and a deck man and
You came to apply to the Duluth's you
had this great talent engineer and a deck
man unusual And they had 400 people working
on the deck That would be crowded 400
people working on the deck one guy alone
in the engine room Where would you work?
You know, you don't need to go to
college to make that decision You don't need
a you don't need six courses in Greek
You're gonna go down the engine room and
help this one lonely guy Generators blowing up
in his face Main engine.
Well, that's okay Electrical wiring looks like it's
about to go elevators.
Drip drop about drop through the bottom of
the ship.
You're gonna help this Engineer, you know is
all on the 400 deck man.
They'll make it.
How are you do George with 400 deckman?
You'll go crazy What I'd like to know
with a captain back there and a first
mate here who's keeping the thing going up
there No doubt it's on autopilot No, we
know there are other mates But let's go
to the second point Second point so few
are going so few are going Muy pocos
muy pocos amigos No muchos pocos Muy pocos
mexicanos muy pocos argentinos muy pocos brasilianos.
Whatever qualquer cosa.
Can you say about you in America?
Peruvianos Chileites Como Bueno, un dia voy a
ver lo que hay But It's unbelievable the
number of people that nibble at missions.
This is my fear sometimes for OM It's
a movement of missionary nibblers Have you ever
gone fishing and and a little sunfish I
used to fish for sunfish, you know It's
sunfish.
It doesn't matter.
Anyway, they swam along and they just nibble
I used to put a worm on the
end of my hook.
So now This windy little sunfish nibble never
bite the hook just nibble away pretty soon.
All my baits gone.
No fish Now we get a lot of
nibblers a lot of OM nibblers.
Oh, oh, yeah, that's interesting especially Americans Thank
you, they give us they Canadians do they
They may be you know, they join they
join OM, you know how long they join
seven days They go back to Canada Exo
emmer The number of Canadians that went to
Mexico went up to I don't know to
200 this year seven day crusades a long
trip They meet their wives on the bus
going down, you know future wives and They
get engaged coming back no, I mean that
doesn't happen, but almost and We never hear
from them again, we never hear from them
again they have had the OM experience and
Many of them never never go overseas It
just breaks my heart just breaks my heart
and I am very close to writing Burt
and say no more I've already tried to
cut it to maximum 100 Canadians to Mexico
If we I'm going to Canada again for
three weeks this year Our number of recruits
from Canada even for the Summer Crusade has
dropped this year and Canada is one of
the most potential nations in the world for
missions so in fact, even when we look
at America in Canada and England we throw
in all the countries where there's been strong
missionary forces It's only a few The Mormons
have more men than all the churches of
North America put together the Mormons I Tell
you that that kicks me hard that that
hurts me.
It's this cult has a new film out
by the way really exposing Mormonism really exposing
that thing that is Absolutely a dead ringer
right from hell and Yet they've got these
Sometimes I think they're demon-possessed People go
out like little zombies Well-dressed neckties.
They're ready to mow your lawn.
They're ready to you know, they seem so
friendly They got these plastic faces.
I tell you it scares me you ever
get a Mormon on the door It's like
a record like a phonograph record Breaks my
heart Can't we get more men than the
Mormon Church out of North America so few
and We think of our seminaries They are
not able to produce missionaries There are some
that make it through Very few get a
vision in a seminary to go to the
mission field Our Bible schools praise the Lord
have a better record places like Moody and
Prairie all Nations I can name others some
in Singapore.
They they boy they've made missions a priority
Prairie Bible Institute I'm a back there again
in 1965 at their sort of deeper life
meetings.
I was there at their missions conference many
of you have heard those tapes Boy world
mission that's prior praise God for those places
and there are other places But despite all
these great schools Very few go very few
and Many who do go they go to
countries where there are already many missionaries like
the Philippines Americans love to go to the
Philippines.
They like the Philippines like the food Like
the girls there.
I don't know what they like there Get
so many Americans going to the Philippines they
don't like to go there to go to
Kenya Kenya has the highest per capita missionary
rate in the world Now if somebody tells
me the Holy Spirit absolutely has led them
to Kenya.
No problem but the church in Kenya If
it if it was obeying the New Testament,
they would be sending hundreds of missionaries out
to the unreached parts of Africa They're not
even going to the Sudan.
The Sudan is right north of Kenya very
few Kenyan missionaries in the Sudan I just
don't understand it.
I Just don't understand it Christians just they
like to get in little clusters They like
to get what other Christians are and maybe
I don't know what what what's in the
minds of some of these people So very
few are going Now when you get back
home You'll be given the traditional line You
must settle down What are you gonna be
some kind of spiritual gypsy People will insinuate
that you're unstable.
Yeah You need to settle down how much
education you can't get anywhere in the world
today without a degree They used to tell
us we have to have a bachelor's degree
or we were nothing I Don't have a
bachelor's degree.
I'm nothing Then they tell you have to
get a bachelor's degree.
A lot of my friends got bachelor's degrees.
I say wait a minute you said We
got a bachelor's degree That wouldn't happen anymore.
They said oh, no, you got to get
a master's degree.
All right Get a master's degree Now what
they what do they tell you now?
Get a master's degree.
You're nothing Can you get a doctor's degree?
So you sweat beat your brain out for
three or four more years and you get
a doctor's degree And then as an American
you go to Europe, you know what to
do.
They all laugh Say that's a joke.
That's an American doctor's degree.
Where'd you get that in a box of
Wheaties?
You got to get a European doctor's degree.
You got to go to Oxford.
You got to go to Cambridge It's American
education.
That's just chicken feed There's no end You
know, I'm not against education if that's the
way the Holy Spirit leads But I think
it's a trick That so much and William
Macdonald teaches this and many others do so
much is is is laid on the altar
of education and It's not producing the men
and the women the world needs to evangelize
the multitudes and the millions I Remember an
Indian who came to study at Moody and
And No, we left India came to Moody
Bible Institute He had a vision.
I Won't give his name But he got
accustomed to the good life, you know, life's
nice States So he went back to India
try to be a missionary in his own
country The most one of the most needy
nations in the whole world When he got
back, he didn't like the food It's his
own food.
He's an Indian.
He liked the food Didn't like the climate
Didn't like the water Water Indian water didn't
like the water So his wife You know,
she was moaning, you know India what a
dirty place These are Indians.
These aren't you know people from?
Scotland So what do they do?
Forget it man quit the mission Quit the
whole thing went back to the States We
got 20,000 Indians as engineers in New
York City We got far more Indians Making
money in New York than we got missionaries
from one end of the India and you
can multiply it five times Something's got wrong.
I protest If I'm extreme forgive me you
can write me a letter But I protest
Something is wrong If the Bible is true
If Jesus said go into all the world
and preach the gospel to every creature If
Jesus said be two witnesses be as witnesses
in Jerusalem, Judea Samaria the innermost parts then
that's the priority That's the priority not education.
Not my thing.
Not even my little talent We get a
lot of people today.
They want to use their talent for Jesus.
This is a big thing How many people
have is their talent winning men to Christ
if you met many?
We get a lot of people now coming
to him.
They want to use their talent Studied in
the University of Florida basket weaving and water
skiing they say how can I use that
for Jesus?
Can I water ski for Jesus?
You know, I've there I've heard things more
ridiculous than that The very basic things of
winning people to Christ So winning that's what
it says here fishing men people People aren't
into it You know God has used the
ship as a big magnet to draw people
into em who would never ordinarily come into
em Just telling you the truth because going
door-to-door and winning people to Christ
to the average person today is about as
attractive as Asking him to go fishing for
for shark with with some kind of a
clothespin But people come into om to use
their talents and They hear the ship needs
engineers They're dead scared of witnessing And they
don't want to get involved in any kind
of heavy door-to-door thing but they'd
like to use their talent as nothing wrong
with that when you're a babe in the
Lord and When you're just starting to get
this vision nothing wrong with that.
Let's use our heads.
Let's you know, let's use whatever bait whatever
bait we can and It's legitimate to use
your talents for God nothing wrong with that
But we can't end there We can't end
there with 1,000 people all looking around
where they can use their talents.
Some of these gifts can be used But
often your gift The way the world thinks
of it your career your little talent can't
be used.
It can't be used.
Oh But I've trained in this I've trained
in that I'm an opera singer can't God
use my voice Of course Maybe one or
two but overseas.
I haven't heard of any call yet for
opera singers We got some on a summer
crusade in Austria The birds are probably flying
all over the nation but Generally generally in
missionary work In missionary work, you've got to
be a little more flexible Dick Griffin got
his degree in agriculture Now he's in bookshops
and literature and evangelism is the leader of
OM in Mexico.
What does he do with his agricultural degree?
And I feel that it's it's It's so
sad That so few are going in to
fishing men fishing men fishing men especially in
the unreached areas Even among those who go
on the OM two-year program.
We have to be honest at a high
percentage of them Never make it back overseas
long term and I think if I'm honest
The biggest problem lies 50% with a
church and 50% with them The churches
often don't have the vision and so if
the young person isn't very stubborn very stubborn
So he said Lord by your grace I
believe this is your will that I'm going
to reach unreached people that I'm going to
obey that Great Commission and they if they
don't have that that drive and that perseverance
and They don't make it.
They don't make it.
That's one of the reasons I'm sharing this
tonight number three Why this is so important
for you to think about this is this
is big now Because very few ever get
as far as you've got You've got at
least part of the vision, you know about
these people.
You're praying for these people You've had a
lot of light on this ship a lot
of light.
You've been exposed to missionaries You've been exposed
to people from all over the world If
you don't do it, who will?
Your nephew on the farm in Dunga Bunga
southern Argentina Huh Your aunt living in the
mountains of Peru taking care of goats Your
grandfather in Vancouver who lives on a yacht
Who's gonna do it if you don't?
Who will?
You've read those books like operation world.
You've prayed through those prayer cards.
You've seen the slides You've seen the films
you've had more exposure to missions in one
year than most people in a lifetime in
a lifetime and I tell you you're responsible
for that light If you don't go who
will So in God's providence you're on the
hot seat It was no easy thing David
Greenlee told me to leave 30 people standing
on the queue on the quayside in where
was it Brazil?
They wanted to go Let's believe their motives
were right But the leaders in Europe Analyzing
and praying over the whole financial situation said
there's no way we can break our financial
policy For the long run the long run.
We got to think not just for the
short the long run and just let an
army of people come Because you know quite
a few people we'd have to fly them
back and there's some people not just from
Latin America other countries They come to Europe
They get a little support to come and
that's it And we got to fly him
back, but you want to know the truth.
We don't have any money to fly him
back And so I tell you get hurt
feelings you get trouble from the churches you
get parents screaming over the telephone What have
you done with my daughter?
Is this a cult?
Fly her back And you've got it.
And so what do you do you borrow
money?
You borrow money To fly them back.
We're not going to do that anymore God's
gonna pay by God's grace by his grace
as we go.
We're not gonna borrow more money and And
this this victory has to be one that
OM goes forward without borrowing money or or
we're finished I'm not saying what part of
OM is finished, but part of it is
just gonna be finished.
Maybe it'll be me I don't know.
So it was hard to leave some people
behind But those of you were here Thousands
of miles now from your home country some
of you You're in the hot seat Because
you're gonna get more and more exposure To
world missions to to the whole world picture
and by God's grace, you can never be
the same without backsliding That's scary.
You can never be the same without backsliding
you have to respond to the light that
God has given you and many of you
should be signing the dotted line as the
student volunteers 80 years ago as As the
new movement born in America and the universities
have these new pledge forms I therefore Volunteer
sign the dotted line.
I'm going by God's grace.
I'm going No more.
Well next year.
We'll see how I feel You're gonna say
by God's grace.
I'm going have you ever signed one of
those?
You ever put your John Hancock to something
Apart from a letter to Your girlfriend if
you don't go who will Most people don't
get this far.
Most people don't have the vision You have
most people have never prayed in the night
of prayer most pastors I've talked to have
never prayed in a single missionary long night
of prayer If you don't go who will
number four, they're endless open doors unbelievable Endless
open doors, especially when people are young flexible
ready to travel ready to live out of
the suitcase Endless open doors It won't always
be that way if you don't get in
the right direction before you're married and get
Married to a woman who's going in the
same direction Then despite all your lovely fanciful
dreams about world missions.
You're not going anywhere You're not going anywhere
Of course when you marry a little Sally,
it's got those big eyes bug you It's
got those big lips that do things She
says Oh before the wedding I'll go anywhere
with you.
Yeah heavy duty But after the wedding it
changes After the wedding little Bambino comes.
Oh We must not jeopardize little Bambino And
so for the sake of little Bambino and
little Tatina We're not going anywhere We're gonna
settle down.
We got to get a mortgage We got
to get a car.
We got to get a baby carriage We
got to get a lot of things and
soon before you know it you're sucked into
the materialistic trip of your nation You've signed
on the dotted line for a fridge.
You've signed on the dotted line for the
house You've signed on the dotted line for
the baby buggy.
You've signed on the dotted line for the
car.
You're not going anywhere.
Forget it There are a few beautiful exceptions
hallelujah, there's even some on this ship Who
by God's grace they got fed up with
all this?
materialism in all this kind of peer pressure
and They just somehow launched out But There
are other legitimate complications.
We're going to talk about later on that
Somehow if you don't develop that courageous Reckless
total abandonment spirit when you're young and You
get a late start.
You may make five years.
I've seen a lot of people five years
and that's it.
They go back Because they didn't have enough
Roots, they didn't have enough preparation.
They didn't know enough about You know the
kind of lifestyle that it that it's demanded
to live in in Sudan People can do
it But it's not easy.
I think of Neil Norm Brinkley He wanted
to join the ship in Tampico.
I'm so glad I was there in Tampico
I specialize in picking up ship rejects.
And of course, everybody can't go on the
ship at least in those days Norm Brinkley
got rejected too big a family one of
the most quality men God's brought into the
work in the last few years.
I Said Norm, it's too bad man.
It's too bad.
It's a rough life But you know, there's
one place you can come in wallpaper my
house in Bromley You can come as a
maintenance man in Bromley Bromley has been a
clearing house for all kinds of people We
figure if you can't adjust to Bromley England,
you're not going to adjust to working among
the pygmies in the Congo Norm Brinkley comes
We discover the guys got more than the
average person Lo and behold the Arab world
recruited him when I must have been on
sleeping or something The Arab world recruited him
right under my nose He left the he
left the room half painted and he went
to Sudan with I don't know He's got
a he's got a number of children.
I with a baby being born every five
days.
I can't keep track of them All they're
all they're all wonderful.
I love them all and God has so
used him in the Sudan.
He's lived through several years there He's holding
the fort in Sovington right now because he
had to lose leaves out leave us Sudan
He may go back to California for a
little while, but he and his wife and
his children They have found a place.
They're going back to the Arab world.
Maybe Senegal.
Maybe Mauritania.
Maybe who knows?
So it can be done even with families
it's not easy not easy So there are
endless open doors But especially so for people
who get started when they're single and who
develop a radical lifestyle Who learn how to
have you ever read in Timothy endure hardness
as a good soldier of Jesus Christ?
Do you have to endure any hardness on
the ship at all I think you do
praise the Lord for that I Remember when
we first got the ship I was down
in one of the lower tanks down there
under that section They're working on I was
working down there.
I thought boy.
I tell you this is lousy I Don't
want this job You see me and you're
crawling through coffer dams.
I crawled through a lot of coffer dams
on the Lagos as well and To me
it's hard really a lot of the work
on this ship to me.
It is enduring hardship Now we can expect
people to do that for money You give
hardship pay go to Alaska until your bottom
is permanently frozen, but you get big pay
you'll do it guys Go up to these
oil rigs.
Do you know what they're enduring in these
nut house oil rigs in the North Sea?
I tell you it's hard Go up on
a pipeline go join that Russian pipeline.
They're building It's hard for money men will
do almost anything the love of money is
a power It's a God in our society,
and I praise the Lord the cement on
this ship That for the love of Jesus
are willing to endure hardship working in stinking
filthy Situations not for just a week some
for years, and I'll tell you without those
hard-working people Who are willing to endure
a hardship for Jesus this ship would have
been finished four years ago or five But
brothers and sisters there are other opportunities to
endure hardship Out along the Ganges in May
where the temperature goes a hundred or forty
five and If we don't find some people
who want to endure hardship for Christ We
can't reach the world because a lot of
the places where the people are lost and
have never heard their hard places They're hot
places.
There are places where you can't get proper
food There are places where at times you'll
scream on the inside for for a milkshake
or a McDonald you'll fantasy about it You
you know you'll wake up at night In
the middle of a McDonald milkshake dream You
know I'm not a missionary type this is
why if I could last four or five
years out in India and in Nepal and
In a few other situations that I didn't
particularly like all the time.
I'm sure anybody can do it But the
earlier you get started the better see I
got to Mexico when I was 19 And
I got sick when I got Mexico I
got really sick I got the amoeba You
know when you're when you're skinny like me.
It's a big contest between an amoeba and
you you're liable to disappear and I got
sick and I felt miserable But I learned
I Learned how to let the mind controlled
by the word and Jesus tell the body.
What's the body supposed to be doing?
Who's in control of you?
your feelings Or your mind your Sentimentalism Your
emotions or your mind through the word through
an act of the will through discipline So
there's endless open doors But they're in hard
places And we need people are willing to
say Lord Jesus I will deny self take
up the cross and follow you number five
boy look at the time There are the
resources The problem isn't money The problem is
your heart Problems the heart of your parents
your churches my parents my church my right
here The resources are there is there any
money in Argentina?
Anybody got a car in Argentina Any money
in Brazil any money in Venezuela?
What what is all your church members riding
bicycles Traveling on burros like the old comic
books.
We used to read about Latin America.
No, no, no No, there's money when people
want something.
They really want it.
They really want it It's there how much
do you want the world to be evangelized
you ever want something until it hurts That's
the way it's got to be if the
job is ever going to be done there
are the resources and I believe when you
and I and this whole movement gets to
the place God wants us because he's humbling
us and he's breaking us And he's trying
to get some Messages into our hearts and
into our heads and I believe when God
gets OM to the place He wants us
we are gonna see an avalanche of finance
that will make your hair stand up Even
if you don't have any hair There are
resources we got to learn to pray we've
got a little a learn learn to lay
hold of finance and Because there are these
resources I believe the job can be done
number six Here's one that'll help you a
little bit.
Some of you get no tense.
I can see it in the eyes Maybe
you're just tired.
God can always stop you.
He loves you so much He's not gonna
send you to purgatory Any of you Roman
Catholic background purgatory gone and as an evangelical
Christian?
He's not gonna send you purgatory As many
ways God can stop you if he sees
and God takes into mind all your limitations
He sees your health cannot stand up To
India.
He's not gonna send you there or if
he sends you there.
It'll be short-term.
It'll bring you back God loves you.
You can trust God if he leads you
to Turkey, he's gonna take care.
He's not gonna leave you at the Turkish
border say no.
I only work with Greeks No, he's gonna
take area Now let's we gotta face it
We gotta face it half of you Even
if everybody here decides to start moving the
unreached people world of Angels half of you
will be stopped at least Because we just
know What people are like what the problems
are what the obstacles are But you know,
it's a wonderful thing to know that before
God You're absolutely willing You've gone past willingness.
You're moving by faith.
You're moving.
You're saying Lord you can stop me How
can the Lord stop you number one the
church can stop you if the church stops
you?
There are some back doors But I believe
that the church stops you especially if you
do have some of the basic qualities that
Can accomplish the job then I think the
blood is going to be on their hands
We can ask you to push doors But
we can't ask you to burn the church
down.
And so this means there's going to be
a lot of patience The financial problems can
stop us They can stop us If we're
honest, we're realistic No greater obstacle is stopping
Mexicans from going to world evangelism then finance
The moment I say that because we've had
this vision for Mexico for 23 years.
I Know it's not the finance.
I know there's money in Mexico big money
Even at the terrible present rate of exchange
and you know how many Mexicans have money
in the United States banks Only a dumb
Mexican or a poor Mexican doesn't have money
in other countries and There are other ways
other ways he's a poor Mexican There are
other ways So there are the resources But
God can stop us Therefore we need more
people willing to go we need more people
to start pushing the doors with a hope
Some of us will get through What if
you're in an invasion you move a thousand
men onto the beach?
900 killed 100 get through With the present
state of the church the present problems in
the world If 300 of us on this
ship say we're going by God's graces.
He opens the way we're going forward Only
50 will get through but if only 50
start Only ten will get through and then
number seven as we go others will follow
and If we start to go and God
stops us That happened with Oswald J.
Smith for a while You know what?
He said if I can't go I'm gonna
send others.
I Can't go back to India anymore temporarily
But I can send others and For 13
years since I was not allowed in India
before that as well.
I've been just sending people in you sending
people in me What encouragement I my heart's
broken.
I can't go send others Some of you
for various reasons you may not be thinking
of them tonight I have a lion's share
of the influence tonight, right?
Ultimately my share in your life is very
small Especially when you leave us it gets
smaller and smaller and smaller you listen to
less and less tapes George Verver's voice comes
out And Uncle and auntie and the dog
and mommy and puppy and pastor and deacon
and elder and Rudy kazooty and the mortgage
collector and This half converted girlfriend their voices
become bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger
and all this that you getting on this
ship can fade Way into the background.
We've had 13 years to prove it because
I tell you There's a lot of ex
-lagos people as far as I can see
They're not amounting to much for God and
there's some that are totally backslidden There's some
that have even rejected the faith It's war
And when God gives you an opportunity to
move to get involved you need to grab
it You need to grab it as we
go others will follow We can't evangelize the
world with people that are just talking about
it We've got to do it and This
is why it's so important that many many
more people will take this step of faith
as those men along the Sea of Galilee
as Matthew and Say I'm leaving my nets
I'm following Jesus now We know the Lord
leads some people to stay by their nips
the Lord mean may lead some of you
back to get a good job Canada may
be up on the pipeline or One of
the oil wells and you're gonna make big
money and you're gonna support ten missionaries Praise
the Lord if that's your guidance Fine there's
a number of Oh emmers ex-members doing
that we know God leads different people in
different ways and This message tonight has to
be kept in balance with many many many
other messages only one message But it's an
important message and There are many other things
that can bring it into balance now.
How are we going to make this reality?
We run out of time, but let me
give you just five or six ways quickly
to make this reality Number one of course
by prayer by prayer Increasing your prayer life
learning how to pray Becoming spiritually stubborn about
prayer though you'll find prayer hard though you
find nights of prayer pain in the neck
You'd rather sleep though.
You feel you're not very spiritual.
I never feel too spiritual somehow you believe
in prayer You believe in prayer and you're
gonna learn to pray and through prayer these
things can come number two study Study Learn
a language study missionary books study operation world.
Listen to tapes Let God increase your vision
Number three discipline learning the discipline life with
balance You know every bit of the message
of spiritual balance you can get your hands
on Because when you start moving in this
kind of heavy commitment to world evangelism into
the kingdom You can't keep it up without
balance.
I could never keep this kind of intensity
Somebody said to me years ago.
Hey, you're pretty intense Yeah, I'm that type
of person And if you're intense some of
you are and you need balance even more
than the non intense person So discipline with
balance Number four and I think this is
one of the greatest areas of failure of
the average oamer You've got to learn to
win others.
You've got to learn to win others to
this vision Do you know years ago an
oem was required reading how to win friends
and influence people Dale Carnegie?
Is that book in the library used to
be required reading?