Lukewarm No More - Part 4 — George Verwer

A Baptism of Optimism Amid Church Problems

And I believe God wants to bring a baptism of optimism to our hearts in these days in which the tremendous negative things coming from all sides, in books, on television, on the radio. And we all know of the problems in the church.

You don't need to have much intelligence to see the problems. We all see some of the depressing kind of Christian television that makes us feel negative about even the body of Christ. I have great struggles with so many things.

But it's my prayer that this weekend there may be a baptism of optimism and that just as God gave me this optimistic, faith-filled expectation in the airplane a few weeks ago, that somehow He would fill your heart.

Churches as Missionary Senders

Not just for this big ballpark figure for $200 ,000 that you may not be able to relate to, but for your own church to see that money come in, to see that budget met, to see new workers go out as well as the old workers supported, and all the other things that are connected with being a missionary sending church.

To realize that being a sender, which I feel I am much more than a goer, though you would classify me as a goer, living in London, England, in a basically sending country, I feel really I am a sender.

A lot of my work is raising finance, it's prayer, it's recruiting, it's church relationships. It's more to do with the sending than it is with the missionary strategy of how to plant the church in Turkey.

Other men and women in OM more talented in those areas than I are doing that kind of thing. But I am so thrilled being a sender. The prayer, the money. Some of you work hard. My life has been challenged more by lay people in the business world than almost by those in the full-time ministry, a term I don't like.

Sacrificial Support for World Missions

Because I know business people who are cutting edge in sending. I have a friend in Australia. I wish you could be with me when I visit him. I have another friend in Singapore who's putting large finance into ministry, but the pressure his company is under.

Next week I'll be several days with one of the best supporters of our work, a man in Oregon, an inventor, a scientist. He's an older man. He should retire, but he's cutting edge, sending. And you're talking big money.

You're talking sacrificial money. You're talking about people that instead of buying one more big thing or this or that, they put the money into world missions. Many years ago I had a hero. I had many heroes, but one of them was Borden of Yale.

He was a millionaire that went to Yale University and when God touched his heart about this needy world in which we live, and the Muslim world, Borden of Yale began to give all of his money away and he went to Egypt as a missionary and he was soon dead.

And there's a biography of him. And many of us in OM read his biography. And that's why OM today has a thousand people in the 1040 window. Do you all know what the 1040 window is? Anybody doesn't know what the 1040 window is?

Let's show you the 1040 window. Don't confuse it with something else like your bay window. The 1040 window is 10 degrees north of the equator to 40 degrees, my fingers span it, starting in the west coast of Africa.

It goes right across that whole heartland in the Middle East, right across Afghanistan, Pakistan, all through India, Burma to Japan. That window, you'll see lots of pictures of it. There's a video here, you can pick it up tonight, five minutes tonight before you go to bed, a song about the 1040 window by Bill Drake, a singer who often travels with me around the world.

That 1040 window video song was shown to all those leaders from all over the world when they gathered at Korea. 90 of the more unreached people in the world live in the 1040 window. And God and His providence, before we knew anything about such terminology, made this part the heartland of operation, mobilization.

We have 1 ,000 workers there. What is it going to cost us to keep those people there? What is it going to cost us to give them the tools to complete the job, the Bibles, the New Testaments, the literature?

The Need for Sending Churches

Some of you know, in India now, we're launching Project Light in India alone, and I'm going to finish in a few minutes, is to target another 100 million people in the land of India. I'm sure you'll be hearing much about that in the future.

100 million! That's just one part of OM's forward global thrust. The greatest need right now is not more people to go. That's there. The greatest need is for sending churches and sending people. My new hero is a little different than Borden of Yale.

A Financial Supporter Chooses to Send

Can I tell you about him as my closing story? My new hero is a guy that went on OM and heard me preach about the 1040 window and went to a seminar and heard about Central Asia. You know, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan.

These are not new pizzas. These are new nations that now are open to the Gospel. And he got so excited in this meeting, he made a commitment to go. And he wanted to go. Now, this young man belonged to an interesting family.

His father owned a business that was making money for the kingdom, and his father and mother were putting in tens of thousands for world missions. But when he got home from this OM summer campaign and he was excited about going back, he said that with his father, and his father shared that he just discovered he had a heart condition, needed surgery, would not be able to run the business in the same way, and the father said, Son, I know you want to be a missionary, but I want to ask you for a few years, would you lay that on the altar and help run this business to keep all this money going out to these workers?

I will tell you, you may not understand this, but if you walk with me these 40 years in 60 nations, you would. That's my new hero. And unless we see men and women raised up who are willing to be cutting-edge, committed senders, then neither the vision of the 200 ,000 nor the vision of Ralph Winter in 82 ,000 will ever, ever come to pass, at least in the next 10 years.

The Great Commission and the Call to Send

Serving as senders. Twice in Acts 13 it mentions the word send. And we're going to be talking about that for the next two or three days. And I'm praying that all of us will take greater ownership of this great commandment of our Lord Jesus and this great vision to see the whole world reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Prayer for Workers and Sending Churches

Let us pray. Father, you know everything about us and you love us still. You know the things that aggravate us and maybe have aggravated us even today, little things that have gone wrong, little times when our patience has been tested, like mine.

And we just somehow want to turn away from these little things and from the small world in which we're forced to live. And you will give us grace for this world in which we live. But, Lord, from these moments we want to move away and take on, we want to take on this global vision, the 1040 window and the whole world.

And we want to pray, Lord, that you, as it says in Matthew 9, would send forth workers into the harvest fields, yea, even 200 ,000, from 100 ,000 participating churches across the whole world. Oh, God, this may be too big for us, but it is not too big for you.

And so we would pray that you would raise up the senders and the sending churches in Argentina and Brazil, in all of Central America and Mexico, in Canada and across Europe, and out in Southern Africa and the rest of the world.

From Korea especially, send forth those workers. Those who sat in that stadium some months ago, send them forth and, oh God, raise up those who would joyfully and sacrificially give that this may be a reality in the next few years.

Repentance and Personal Revival in Sardis

For we pray in the exalted, powerful name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen. Revelation chapter 3, letters to the churches. Verse 1, unto the angel of the church in Sardis, write these things, saith he, that hath the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.

I know thy works. Thou hast the name that liveth and art dead. That's a terrible verse, isn't it? Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die. Wow. For I have not found thy works perfect before God.

Remember, therefore, how thou hast received and heard. Hold fast and repent. There's no way forward in our Christian life if we're not willing to repent. Repentance is the key to biblical personal revival.

And the word of God again and again says, hold fast and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. And then jumping, because we're battling the clock, let's go on to the 14th verse.

The Warning to the Lukewarm Church of Laodicea

Unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans. This is really scary. These things saith the amen, the faithful and the true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot.

I would thou were cold or hot, so because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods, have need of nothing, and knowest not, you're wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.

I counsel thee to buy me gold tried in the fire. Isn't that powerful? That thou mayest be rich and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness does not appear. And anoint thine abs with the salve that thou mayest see.

As many as I love, I rebuke.