When God Calls Part 1 — George Verwer

In the months of July and August 1968, just on a thousand young people, and some older ones too, gathered together in an empty factory just outside Brussels for preparatory conferences, each lasting about a week, before going forth into Europe with the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This recording is of one of the many messages which were given there. Because many of those present could not speak English, interpreters were there to translate to six language groups in different parts of the auditorium.

This translation work has been extracted as far as possible to make listening a little easier, and consequently there are various unexpected changes of tone in the speaker's voice. And also the interpreters can sometimes be heard where they overlap the speaker.

Nothing has been added to or taken from the actual message itself.

Communicating this way is not the best way to communicate truth. That's why we had discussion groups and other sessions. And I can only say that I just pray that somehow through it all you may catch a glimpse of what's on the heart of God tonight.

God’s Love for the World and Christ’s Self-Emptying

Lord, you talk tonight about the world. Of course it means the people of the world. God loves the people of the world, and because he loved the people of the world, he gave his son. We have this poster here from 2 Corinthians 8 -9, speaking about him, Christ, who was rich, yet for our sake he became poor.

How true that is. And God, we believe, does love the world, all the people of all the world. Again, tonight we've seen that prayer is our weapon. And I can only say amen to what Brother Mike Evans has said.

Prayer, Intercession, and the Whole-World Mandate

Now I want to speak to you a little bit about the target for prayer. As we get on our knees to pray, we realize priority, of course, is worship and praise. We've already spoken about this. However, there is also, as we have had it described in ministry, of intercession.

We begin to pray for others. We begin to pray for the world. And I hope that tonight, in this brief message, I can set before you some of the targets for prayer. Some of the goals we believe that Christ has given his church.

And dare we have any goals less than that which Jesus himself gave. If Jesus Christ said the whole world, it's sin to remain in only part of the world. If Jesus said every tribe and tongue and nation, it's sin not for us to think in terms of every tribe, tongue, and nation.

If the Bible is true, then it should be given to the world. If it is not true, then it would be better if it were taken from the world. And I believe tonight that God wants to broaden our horizons. In Acts chapter 1, we have a very famous verse.

It tells where we are to be his witnesses. It says that we are to be his witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. That means the most northern part of Siberia.

That means the most extreme part of China. That means the most vast jungle of Brazil, of the Amazon. It means the last tribe in New Guinea. It means the last village in France. It's the whole world. How many of us can say tonight, I thank God he's given me a vision of the whole world?

How many can say that? How many can stand and say, God has given me a constant burden for the millions of China? How many can stand and say that? God has given me a burden for Afghanistan. God has given me a burden for Africa.

God has given me a burden for South America. God has given me a burden for the Jews, for the Muslims, for the Europeans, for all people, just as Jesus Christ taught. I don't find many of those kind of people.

If there are more, then perhaps I've noticed maybe they're all introverts. I don't know, but I haven't found many. Men with a world vision. I would travel a hundred miles to hear a man speak who I knew had a vision of the world.

And as I read my Bible again and again, I'm impressed with this love of God that must be spread throughout the whole world. You know, there are various kinds of vision. When we're first converted, and even before we were converted, most of our vision centers around ourselves.

Very few of us realize the tremendous importance of ego involvement in our own life. In other words, when it concerns us, it's very important. When it doesn't concern us, then it's not important. And as young Christians, most of us are selfish.

God is just beginning to chisel in on our selfishness. Finally, somehow, God gets through to some of our hearts, and we begin to see others. We begin to see our next-door neighbor. We begin to see our own community.

We begin to see the need of our own church, of our own family. And in some cases, we decide we're going to do something. And there are quite a few believers, thank God, who at least have some of this vision.

Then we get this greater vision. As we grow and grow, we begin to see our own nation. The Englishman sees England. The Swede sees Sweden. The Spaniard sees Spain. Oh, the American sees America. It's usually mixed quite a bit with nationalism.

God bless America. England stole that tune, you know. And in that stage, our religion gets very much mixed with our politics and with our national feelings. Our nation must follow God. Our evangelists come on the radio.

Our nation must turn back to God. We'll get the blessing if we turn back to God. But often it remains extremely selfish. Our government's going to turn back to God, and then we're going to get a better deal in the common market.

And many of our countries are filled, especially America, with all kinds of Christ-centered so-called politicians who say that America and Christianity go together. They are inseparable. And unfortunately for many years, the curse of much of British missionary work was that it was linked with the British Empire.

And when that folded up, the missionary work folded up with it. Do you realize, up until the last ten years, in a large percentage of mission organizations, they would only accept people of one nationality.

International Missions and the Global Church

Nine years ago, God showed us very clearly that there was no such teaching in Scripture. That any real movement of God must be international and be completely open to whatever God might want. Whether he wanted many internationals or not, it had to be open to that.

In the last two years, all major missions now have come to agree that internationalism should be their policy in the last two or three years. And to think that the world is going to be evangelized by British or by Americans or by British and Americans is just pure folly.

The Church of Jesus Christ in Brazil, for example, is much larger, as far as I can see, than the Church of Jesus Christ in the British Isles today. More people are coming to Jesus Christ in the country of Mexico than in all of the British Isles.

And there are many countries around the world today that are non-English speaking, that have a great and a large church that also has something to say to the world. If those of you on the continent think that evangelical Christianity is dominated by the Anglo-Saxon element, then it is only evidence that you have failed to do much studying of the subject.

I recently spoke in a convention in India, and at that convention we had 100 ,000 Christians. But 100 ,000 gathered in that convention in India. Unfortunately, due to economic problems, these countries, such as Brazil, Mexico, India, and other countries with large Christian populations, have not been able to move out and evangelize like our wealthy friends from the Anglo-Saxon element.

But that doesn't mean they don't have anything to say. That doesn't mean that in the future God isn't going to use them in a way that has been unthought of in missionary history. That doesn't mean that as hundreds of Americans came to Europe after the war, so hundreds of Indians in days to come might go to America to evangelize there.

Only God knows. But most people stop at the end of this vision of their own country, and never do develop a world vision. After all, what can I do in these countries? And because ego involvement is so important, the fact that we can't particularly do anything ourselves, or we don't think we can, then we think those countries are unimportant.

The Neglected Nations and the Cost of Localized Vision

Why aren't we crying to God for communist China? Because it's very difficult for our ego to ever think of getting any satisfaction out of communist China. What are we going to do in communist China? So we think because we can't go there, well, we sort of forget it.

And more people spend more time praying for some little area, of course, right where they live, where there might be 15 people, or 200 people, than they would for China, where one-third of the whole world lives.

And this is also because everything is so linked with our feelings. There is a very small percentage of people, for example, today who are taking dope. In terms of world population, extremely small numbers, as they believe.

And yet in England today you can find dozens and dozens and dozens and literally hundreds of Christians who are getting called to work among dope addicts. Yet in all my time in England, I've hardly ever met a man that came up to me and said, I feel called to China.

Or even the countries that are open. There are more people working among drug addicts in Great Britain than there are British people working in the entire Muslim world, where one-seventh of the world population is.

Because we don't go by faith. We don't use the common sense that God has given us. We go by emotion. We see this man. We see the effects of drugs on his body. We sense, we want to help him. So we do. Or we try to.

And of course, because we operate so much in the realm of feelings, most of us never get out of our own culture. There's about 1 ,000 Christian organizations in Great Britain right now, of small types and big types, including little missions, that need workers.

And in some senses, to get out to the foreign field, you've got to get by all those groups. And many of them are doing good work. But you can see how it's easy to lose your vision of the world. There's so much going on at home.

There are so many drunkards yet to be reached in the United States. And there's more people working among drunkards in the United States than missionaries in all of India, Africa, and the Middle East, all put together just among drunkards in the United States.

In Chicago alone, there are more than 50 organizations and missions dedicated to reaching drunkards in Chicago alone. And of course, it's very logical. Just go to Chicago. You see these people. It touches your heart.

You get a calling into that work. And so the vision for the rest of the world becomes very dim. The amount of money that goes out to the rest of the world is always less than 10%. And if some of you determine to move out to the regions beyond, your biggest criticisms might come from your best friends.

You tell somebody, I believe that perhaps God wants me to work in Turkey. Turkey? The job isn't done here yet. Don't you see what's happening in Britain today? What is that saying they always say? Charity begins at home, my son.

And you'll hear all kinds of sweet songs. You don't know the language there. They won't appreciate your ministry. And anyway, you're not trained really enough. You work your 10, 20, 30, 50 years and then think about Turkey.

I tell you, I could weep tonight for the situation in Turkey. 33 million souls. Less than 50 believers. Practically no church at all. Only a few mission societies. Most of them with not more than five people.

Only a handful of us who are out there. How many years has this continued? Dale Roton has gone up and down England. Back and forth across the United States. Others of us have gone out back and forth talking about Turkey, crying to God, speaking to people about Turkey.

Very few go. Very few even consider it. And you just wonder sometimes how many people really are, really are moving in the perfect will of God in our day. Sometimes you wonder. Millions and millions and millions of Turks will go out into eternity having never heard of Jesus Christ.

And there's so many countries we could talk about. We think of the land of Persia. We think of Saudi Arabia. We think of all of North Africa. We think of Afghanistan. Fourteen or more million people. Perhaps ten believers in the whole nation.

Perhaps. No one knows. We think of places like Pakistan. East Pakistan has 50 missionaries among 50 million. That gives each missionary a congregation of a million people to take care of. Doesn't that break into your heart?

Doesn't that want you to redevelop your priorities? We don't have to go that far. Talk to Brother Giovanni about Northern Italy. There are more evangelical churches in Manchester than in the whole of North Italy among 20 to 30 million souls.

Tell somebody that in Manchester they'll get offended. Because until God brings a revolution into our minds, the important place with us is always right where we're standing. We don't have a world vision.

We don't have the vision that Jesus had. And because of it the church becomes sicker and sicker and sicker. I'm not saying we all have to go to these places. I am saying we are all to be vitally, intricately concerned about these places.

Ready to go. Wanting to give. Desiring to pray. Desiring to spread the vision. Hungry for nights of prayer for world evangelism. Hungry for fasting and prayer for China. Hungry for tear-stained maps and torn trousers from praying too much.

Operation Mobilization’s Mission and the Call to Stand in the Gap

This is our target. This is declaredly in every way the target of Operation Mobilization. That the church of Jesus Christ might mobilize and reach the whole world with the gospel of Jesus. And that we're not just setting that target high with the expectancy of reaching half.

We're putting it high with the expectancy of reaching all for the glory of God. Because the word of God says it. And we believe God is looking for an army. Oh, many of you have heard the tape by Billy Graham.

In which he speaks of Ezekiel chapter 22 and verse 30. And he said, I sought for a man among them. I sought for a man that was among them. That should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before the land.

That I should not destroy, but I found none. I believe the same is true tonight. God is seeking for a man. God is looking for men, looking for women. To stand in the gap. All kinds of gaps. For all kinds of people.

In every country I've traveled in. I've seen these gaps. The need for men. The need for women. Of all kinds. With many different abilities. You see, God is building an army. In his army all kinds of people are needed.

Not just theologians and preachers. In his army he needs mechanics. Because his army must move. In his army he needs secretaries. For his armies must communicate. In his armies he needs cooks. Because his armies must eat.

There are needs for all kinds of people. In order that this massive invasion planned from the beginning of eternity might take place in our generation. Nine years ago we began to speak this way. There were a handful of us.

We were not there. Idealists we were called. Idealists. Visionaries. Youthful enthusiasts. Wait till they get married. Wait till the children come. Beloved, our children have come and many of them are already evangelizing with more zeal than us.

And God over these past years has proven to be running way ahead of us in his burden to see this fulfilled. But there are many enemies. Can I speak to you about a few of them tonight? I know you're tired.

I know you want to go to bed, some of you. But there's a tired world that we're trying to communicate to you about. You're going to heaven. They're going to hell. This meeting tonight could be a revolutionary step in your life.

Please listen. Even as I speak to you, India comes to my mind. A land where I live myself six months a year. A land where I've traveled from one end to the other. A land where for hours and days I've stood in the streets and traveled in the trucks to reach a few more people for Christ.

India and the Moral Urgency of World Evangelism

512 million Indians. Do they mean anything to God? Of course they do. But do they mean anything to you? That's another question. If we could only have a world vision. A vision of India. Millions and millions and millions of people.

Every year more people are added to India than live in the entire nation of Belgium. We want to reach Belgium for Christ. But in India we have a new Belgium every 12 months added to the population. In five years we've had another France added to our population.

Oh, and it's been in India almost five years. In that time we've been dropped right into our laps another nation the size of France right in front of us. What are we going to do? Do you think we can do the job with 15 trucks?

With a hundred men? Or a few more? With a few thousand dollars going out there every couple of weeks? Sometimes we look up in the air, don't we? We see a jet fly over our heads. A military jet. Do you know what that costs, that one airplane?

It costs more money than all the missions of Great Britain sent out to the foreign field in any month. All the missions in the entire nation in any five months, really. In the United States we spend more money on chewing gum than we do on missions.

Recently I read about a church that spent $400, a couple of thousand French francs just to kill a dirty grass that was growing in the middle of the good grass on their lawn. When I think of India my heart just doesn't know which direction to go to.

Are we going to do anything about it? And I want to speak to those of you from the continent. Time has come to stop thinking that America is going to evangelize the world. Or that England and America are going to evangelize the world.

Time has come to realize that the church in Europe is just as much involved in this task or should be as any other church in any other part of the world. And in these lands in the Middle East and in India we need Swedes, we need Germans, we need Dutch, we need French, we need an international army of fools for Christ that will launch out and declare this message of love.

Oh may God open our eyes tonight to a lost world. But what are those enemies? Enemy number one, the status quo. Accepting the existing situation. You know, don't get excited. Don't, don't, don't, don't be extreme.

Don't go overboard. Get a good night's sleep and it'll pass. Absolutely if you, after this meeting, get it all excited, someone will say to you, emotionalism. As many so-called evangelists in the past, I have been accused of mass hypnotism.

And right now I'm casting an emotional spell over you. And you're getting to think about India. I keep saying India. It's a slow hypnotism. India, India. And you're beginning to hear India. So if you get excited about India, someone will surely explain it away.

Well, that's George Brower. He's a powerful personality. He cast a spell on you. You get some good sleep and get a good meal in the morning and just forget. Watch out for this emotionalism. But our friends, our critical friends are so illogical on this point.

The same fellow will go to the football cup and almost leap out of his seat, cheering for some bunch of clowns on the ground running back and forth. And I don't know about England, but if in America you told him it was emotionalism, he might poke you in the nose.

And, you know, we seem to be willing to accept emotion and excitement in anything but religion. And we get excited about some of the most ridiculous things. But if you get excited over the fact that 500 million people in India will be in hell, within the next 50 years you'll be called an emotionalist.

I think the most logical thing in all the world is for us to get emotionally upset concerning the situation in India. What would the world we live in be today if some men had not got upset in past generations about social evil and about wickedness that prevailed in so many places.

And then, of course, we're told that we're young, as if we need to be reminded, and that this will all pass off as we grow older. Well, I hardly think that's so. When I meet men like Richard Wurmbrand, I hardly think it's all passed off in his older age.

When I see men like Dr. Schaefer, I hardly think that he gave up it all when he passed 35. When I meet with men like Oswald Smith, now over 75, who can hardly sit still in terms of world evangelism, I hardly think it all passes necessarily when we become older and mature.

Praise God for men around the world today, double our age, who in many cases have double our zeal and double the love for a lost and dying world. Praise God for men like Buck Singh, almost 70 years of age, but burning out like no leader on O .M. who's 21 and 22.

The Status Quo and the False Security of Comfort

The status quo, it's a curse. Many of you will go back right into that status quo. A dinky little job, making a winky dinky salary, to spend the rest of your life doing winky dinky things, when you could be involved in the vision that Jesus Christ gave to the world and to his church.

But we've been brainwashed. Security, security, security. Especially the girls. Security, security. We must get insurance. We must get a husband with money. We must get a home. And all these things that we must get, we must get because we must be secure.

And when we get it all, we go to the psychiatrist because we're still more insecure yet. Who are the people committing suicide? The poor people? The Indian villagers? No, people who have listened to this brainwash about worldly security.

And who, when they tried everything in this world, and who had everything in this world, discovered that basically they had nothing, and then went over the bridge or off the tower to death. These are enemies of world vision.

Pleasure, Hardship, and the Cost of Discipleship

And then there's the love of pleasure. Oh, what a pleasure-loving generation. And we just don't want suffering. Just the thought of the heat of India. Maybe no ice cream for months. And just all these things, they just don't attract us.

We are a comfort-loving generation. We want to be comfortable. We want to be comfortable Christians. And then later, as we grow, so-called, we want to be comfortable, committed Christians. But we don't want any uncomfort.

And so we build our life on a sponge. And it's an enemy. Paul said, endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Learn to love hardness. Learn to enjoy the difficult way. So many things I could say about that.

Education, Status, and the Loss of Missionary Vision

But then there's another enemy. Intellectualism. Education. Nothing wrong with education. I believe in it. But it has become a deadly enemy of world vision. Though I am not against seminaries, I believe that most seminaries are the most destroying factor within the religious world.

A survey has shown that very few theological students are going out to the mission field anywhere, anymore in the world today. We must get education. We must get another degree. You can't be used in the mission field without a degree, we're told.

Poor Buck Singh. Never got his degree. He's only won 300 ,000 souls. Imagine what he could have done with a degree. And our parents make it very clear what they have planned for our lives. And some of us know that they might even have a nervous breakdown if there were a change in those plans.

And the pressure becomes very great. We never stop to consider that the souls are still going to hell. We get so quickly involved in our own little home situation. And it's easy. Off to college we go.

Going to get that degree. When we get that degree, we discover that it's not really respected that much and we've got to get another higher degree. And now basically if you don't have a Ph .D. in the 20th century, most people don't think anything of the rest.

And you watch. You write it down. Within five years there'll be a new degree. It'll be the super Ph .D. degree. The drive for status and to be top rat never ends. And to such people the world is very unimportant.

I praise God that in a few places there are men with such pursuits who at the same time have a vision for the world. And this is a wonderful thing. But now we better do a lot of praying before we presume that that's our ministry.

You know I'm not at all against education. But if it isn't balanced out, a world vision, a life of prayer, a life of love, a life of brokenness, a passion for souls, and all these other things, to me it's worthless.

This has become a great enemy. We're even studying missions more than ever before. Leaders at Urbana, the greatest missionary convention in the world, have said there's greater interest than ever before and less candidates than ever before.

Sexual Immorality and the Choking of a Missionary Calling

And it's true. And then there's another enemy, our immorality, our loose living, our inability to control our sex life. Many a young man was looking to the mission field, ready to reach the world for Christ, but he couldn't control his body.

And along she came. And I've seen the most zealous young men just drag right down into absolutely nothing because they couldn't control their physical passion. And the same is true with so many girls.

God had called them to be a missionary. God had given them a vision of a certain country. God had put a passion in their heart for people. But perhaps in a time of loneliness, perhaps in a time of frustration, along came the young man.

He had no vision. He had no passion for souls. But he was a nice fellow. And you'd be able to change him. Why, when you got married, he lived with you. He saw your zeal. He saw your passion for the world.

Surely he would say, honey, or darling, whatever word you use, let's go to the mission field. It doesn't happen that way. Your vision begins to dim. Domestic things begin to choke out the vision. Children come.

Think of taking your children to India? What are the national health privileges out there in India, my friend? What will happen when my child gets mumps or measles? And mother comes along and assures you that your thinking is very clear on that point.

You couldn't possibly take the little one to India. And soon the prayer mat falls off the wall and you put up a picture of the kitty. And if I had the time, I could present a few dozen other enemies of a world vision.

Unfortunately, I've had personal contact with too many of them. But I believe with all my heart that through Jesus Christ, we can triumph over every one of these enemies. That with the shield of faith, as it says in Galatians or Ephesians, we can stop every single fiery dart of the devil.

Persevering Zeal for Christ and the World

Twelve years ago, I used to ask a question of myself. It was 12 years ago when I was 17 years of age. I began to preach this exact same message. And I began to ask myself this question. I said, is it possible that 10 years from now I can be just as excited about Jesus Christ?

My friend said it's not possible. When you get older and when you have a family, you must become more logical. You just can't be all involved in the work of God. You just can't be eating, thinking, drinking Jesus and world evangelism and the Bible all day long.

Anyway, you get used to it all, so you can't possibly get as excited about it as in the first or second year of your conversion. You become mellow with the years. And when you become 30, you round out into a balanced Christian, even keel life.

And you realize that these things you were once so excited about, after all, God can take care of those things. You get a broader view of God. You realize that God doesn't really need you. Your family needs you.

But God can take care of the rest of the world. He can't take care of your family, but he can take care of the rest of the world. We get so illogical when we defend our status quo that we could literally fill a joke book with it.

Every Believer’s Part in World Evangelism

But I close with this testimony. And I challenge any OM leader who's known me over these years to rebuke me and just cut me into the ground on this. And I just say this. I'm as excited about this thing and more so than I was 12 years ago.

I can't get off how tremendous living for Jesus Christ is. I'm thrilled at the very thought of the world and what God wants us to do in it. I'm thrilled at the very plan of seeing this ocean-going ship carry 50, 60, or 100 vehicles into continents to reach millions of people every day and every hour with the gospel of Christ.

And if God can do what we've seen in the past 10 years, what more can he do now in the coming 10 years? The world is the limit. And I just pray with all my heart that somehow by his Spirit tonight you'll become excited about what Jesus has told us to do.

You'll become excited about your faith. You'll realize how tremendous it is to be saved, how wonderful it is to be an ambassador for Christ, how terrific it is to throw everything else to the wind and just launch out depending absolutely on the living God.

You begin to see a vision of the whole world. China will become important to you. India will become part of your daily thinking. Africa will be something that you begin to want to know about. Islam will be something that you'll want to begin to understand.

The fact that 50 of the people of the world are going to bed hungry tonight will bring a choke to your heart and a desire in your feet to do something at any cost. And the result will be, Lord, here am I.

Use me in your vision of the world. If it's behind a typewriter, praise God. If it's underneath a vehicle, praise God. If it's on an ocean-going ship, praise God. If it's out in the streets with the tracks, praise God.

If it's preaching to thousands of people, praise God. If it's humbly witnessing to one little child, praise God. If it's teaching the children of those who go forth, praise God. If it's adding up the sums in the accounting office, praise God.

It doesn't matter what part it is, but whatever you do, get some part in this task that Jesus has given to us. Don't be found on the sidelines. Don't be found behind the scenes without seeing what's going on.

But get involved, spreading the vision, giving to the vision, going with the vision. God will show you. As you step out without any holding back, he will show you your part in this great task of world evangelism.

And because of it, our generation will hear the gospel. You believe that tonight? Leaders, do you believe that? Old-timers, do you believe that? Newcomers, do you believe that? Our generation shall hear of Jesus Christ.

Prayer for Unselfish Commitment to World Evangelism

I believe. May God help my unbelievers. Let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, it's easy to say these things, but we tremble at the very thought of what's involved. Oh, Lord, take our lives for world evangelism, for world vision, for others, Lord, for an unselfish commitment of outflowing power to an endless world.

Lord, you know our hearts. You know our home situations. You know our office situation. We commit it to thee. Take us. Use us for your glory. In Jesus' name. Amen.