Maintaining Christian Walk — George Verwer

I think one of the beautiful things in the work the Lord has called us into is our emphasis on open sharing. And every leader should have at least some other leader that he can openly share with. Now that doesn't mean there are no pitfalls when you openly share.

Maintaining Spiritual Life in Revival

And we found that in everything we attempt in our Christian life, the enemy has his booby traps. He has his minefields. I shared part of this message when I had the privilege of speaking just about a year ago at the Canadian Revival Convention.

In fact, it is almost a year ago to the day. There is a movement in Canada that doesn't invite in too many outside speakers. They experienced revival in the churches in Canada about 10 or 11 years ago.

And what was once a river has become many streams. The main revival in a sense has not continued in its intensity. The whole church is being turned upside down. People are coming into newness of life.

But now there are many streams. The two men that the Holy Spirit has especially used in this revival are the Satara twins. They are twins. Very unique men. Italian background. And they go in a church, not for a couple of nights.

They go in for weeks at a time. It takes them one week just to get the people ready. Just to get them all off their TV addiction. Because most people go home at night and watch TV. Their meetings go on two and three hours.

You can imagine attempting that kind of thing in Canadian and American culture. It is quite an amazing movement. There is a man, Mr. McLeod. Some of you may have read some of his writings. He was praying about spending some time on OM.

He travels more overseas whereas the Satara twins feel really burdened for Canada. And so I worked a lot and prayed a lot and brought forth a message. Which I called maintaining balance in the midst of a revival.

If you study the history of revival, you will discover that very quickly revivals go into extremism. It has been our burden from the earliest days of OM that we would experience revival. At times it becomes a neglected emphasis.

And rather than thinking in terms of the quality of spiritual life. And living in revival and communion with the Lord and the power of the Holy Spirit. We become merely a form of Christian work. People join the Lord's work so they join Operation Mobilization.

As I shared yesterday, my burden in sharing these things with you. Is that you can go back and share them with your own team. It is God's purpose for our teams to be functioning in revival. And I want to talk about what that means.

And I believe by functioning in revival, we discover the best way to maintain our own spiritual life. Let's look at a very basic scripture that we've all ministered on. Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians 5 verse 19.

Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord. It's a text I often preach on. And I hope it's a text that you share as well. Compare that with Colossians 3 verse 16.

If you can keep both places in your Bible, it will be helpful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom. Teaching and admonishing one another. Beautiful, isn't it? Teaching and admonishing one another.

One of the things that we want to do here. To be able to admonish, to be able to teach one another. Psalms, hymns, spiritual songs. Singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.

Giving thanks to God and the Father by hymn. And then it goes into those very, very basic instructions for the family. About wives submitting themselves to their husbands. Most of you men don't. Probably lack that emphasis.

But what about verse 19? How are you handling that one? Husbands, love your wives and be not bitter against them. Maintaining spiritual life in OM means maintaining family life. You cannot separate one from the other.

And there's a passage where all of this. The reality of the fullness of God in a man's life. This is revival. This is revival. Don't think of revival as some special thing that comes every once in a decade.

Which everybody starts jumping up and down in the church. And will feel that the Lord has touched them. There are more backslidden people that once felt the Lord touched them than you'll ever be able to count.

But revival is Christ living in us, controlling us, working through us. There may be the times of special blessing. Amen. There may be the times when you feel like jumping up in the air. Be careful on the doulos.

Very low roof. But revival is a seven day a week reality. Not an alternate leap year spiritual jamboree. And there's no purpose in having a great revival at the next AIC. If the river is not going to be carried out into the teen life.

Seven days a week. I think there's a lot of confusion about revival. I think there's tremendous confusion about the fullness of the Holy Spirit. And I feel as much as we have to urge people to walk in this reality.

We have to be able to point out from the scriptures the dangers. I think most of you know enough of the word of God to know that most of the epistles were written to correct the church. You get people dissatisfied with OM and the OM team.

And sometimes we don't blame them. And they think that the reason is that this is not the local church. If they get in the local church, then that's really where the blessing is. But if you have fellowship with as many local churches as some of us.

You will know that many local churches are experiencing the same problems we experience on our teams. And that often it's no different. Sometimes it's better and sometimes it's worse. Maintaining spiritual life, revival.

As it says in Galatians, walking in the spirit so you don't fulfill the lust of the flesh is difficult in any circumstance. Now it's interesting that in Ephesians. I'm going to need a glass of water, Rudy.

In Ephesians, it says be filled with the spirit. And then it follows it. Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord. Very similar to Colossians 3.

I don't know if you've heard me speak about this before, so I won't tarry here. But I hope you're showing your team members this. At this conference, I'm not interested in whether you've heard this before.

I'm not interested in even whether you're hearing it now. I'm interested in knowing whether you're getting some of this basic material. Firstly, through your own life. Down to your team members. The greatest challenge we have.

To get this down to the newest recruit on the team. Be not drunk with wine in which is excess. But be filled with the spirit. Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord.

And then what we emphasized yesterday. Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. You know, many of you are preachers.

And you go out and you take meetings. And you teach and you preach. And I hope in the midst of your teaching and your preaching. That you are also receiving. I'd love to know from some of you when you write.

Who's feeding you? Who's challenging you? Maybe I'm someone who listens to too many tapes. And I've been accused of being a tapeworm. As you have bookworms. I'd rather not mention that here in the fall.

But I have received so much spiritual help from these tapes. Of course, they're not a total answer. Just before leaving, I've been imbibing an Italian wildcat preacher. That I've never hardly heard of before.

Named Tony Compello. From the streets of Pennsylvania. I just can't tell you what a blessing that man was to me. In my time of making transition from Mexico. Packing and changing my suitcase and whatever else.

And coming here. We have a tremendous tape library. In Bombay. God has spared it. In the fire. I wonder how many of us really make use of that. Different men have such different insight into some of these truths.

And I don't see one man necessarily contradicting another. Though there are some contradictions. But I see how God works in different people in different ways. So important. So beautiful. And we have that portrayed here so beautifully.

Because Ephesians talks about being filled with the Holy Spirit. The book of Colossians hardly mentions the Holy Spirit. Yet the results in Ephesians and Colossians are the same. And it ends up on that same practical note.

Ephesians verse 20. Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. We have some extremist movements in the West.

That overemphasize submission. And submission becomes manipulation. And I always have a fear of this sort of heavy handed leadership. That sometimes gets into our teams. Where the team leader is doing just the opposite of what the Bible says.

The Bible says, Lord it not over God's heritage. In other words, you don't rule God's heritage with an iron hand. With a big stick. With some kind of heavy pressure. But you esteem them and you work with them in love.

And you encourage them with your own life. I was saying to Ray Eicher this morning. It would be tremendous if every leader. Including every main coordinator. Would spend one week a year out on the teams.

I'm sure some of you are. And I would tell you some of you are visiting teams. It is no good just going in there one day and leaving the next. You'll never accomplish really what God would have you accomplish with a team.

Through that type of team visiting. Now Ray Eicher, the overall coordinator of the work. Visits a team and goes in one day and leaves the next. Maybe that could be accepted. But if your responsibility is the cultivation of spiritual life on those teams.

You need to go out there at least once in a while and live with them. And go out on the streets with them. And get to talk to those men heart to heart. And you will learn something. That's very very important.

See verse 21 talks about submitting to one another. There is a sense where we as leaders. Are submitting ourselves even to the youngest new recruit. We can learn from him. We can receive exhortation from him.

He should share in all humility. What's on his heart. But we can often learn from the man out on the team. And we can learn from one another. And we can learn in our cross fellowship. That we have here during the tea break or during the free time.

Mutual Submission and Servant Leadership

For me the hardest part of these conferences are always the intensive sessions. Where we discover at times we don't agree on certain things. We even at times get upset with each other on certain things.

Sometimes it gets pretty intense. That is always the hardest part of a conference like this. God is always wonderful. Whenever you are in a situation where certain things are hard. Other things are a blessing.

And often the greatest blessing is just to get with individuals. And get to know them better. And go for a walk. And see where the cheapest tea shop is or whatever else. In the process. I think most of you know.

And I believe by God's mercy I have proven this. These twenty some years of the work in India. That in no way am I interested in lording over the work here or anywhere else. I have had to constantly change.

Through what I have learned from other people. I had to acknowledge the gangrene of extremism in my own life. And some of those early tapes. There are things that are extreme and need to be brought into balance by other things.

I believe if some of you developed a message. And were able to communicate on this thing of spiritual balance. And maintaining spiritual life. That you would become such demand in the churches. That you would find it hard to know how to continue and live.

Because I have found all over the world. Enormous response to this kind of message. So many of God's people have been crushed by extremism. They have been worked over by unbelievable uncontrollable local church situations.

And by manipulative leaders. Who often are very insecure people. Leaders are often very insecure people. Trying to build their own little empire. Which helps them in turn remain more secure. And when criticism comes.

And disunity comes. And problems come. They crumble. Keep that in balance. I would love to share with you. I don't think I will have time. A message that I have been working on. On how to understand Christian leaders.

This has been one of the messages I have been working on the most lately. By the way I find that every year the Lord gives me at least. 10 or 20 major totally new messages. We cannot just keep preaching the same thing.

Now of course when we preach. Some of the old basics will creep in almost every message. There is nothing wrong with that. Have you ever heard of Billy Graham? I have heard probably more than most of you I am sure.

And some of it is incredibly basic. And yet most of Billy Graham's messages. Some new little avenue of light comes in. I believe that Billy Graham's ministry of exhortation and teaching to the church.

Will in eternity prove to be a greater significance than his evangelistic preaching. Because through that he has influenced so many Christian leaders. Who have gone out across the world. And have become mighty harvesting instruments for Christ.

This may sound strange to you. But it has been one of my prayers that God would raise up within O .M. More anointed preachers. I would rather have one anointed preacher in some of your states. In some ways don't misunderstand that all your team is put together.

There is no substitute for the anointing of God brothers and sisters. All the energy, all the activity, all the commotion and all the book sales. Will never be a substitute for the anointing. The Holy Ghost anointing of God.

Upon a man who is walking with Jesus. One of the leaders here felt yesterday if he didn't have enough team members. His base would not be justified. He must have been jolted. But my rather quick reaction to that.

Which may or may have not been in the spirit. When I get to heaven. I will no doubt get a fair number of spankings at the throne of grace. But I said to him. That base is justified if only you are there.

Yes. That the numbers of the people that justify. Whatever that word means. O .M.'s basis. One anointed man. One anointed man with a ministry. Demands secretarial help. Demands other practical help. And if we have some anointed men in India.

Then let's rally around them. Loving them, exhorting them. Working with them. We do have some anointed men. Some are right here in this room. We know they will be a primary target for the enemy. Often anointed men are subject to experiences and depths of struggle.

That others don't know so much about. Many of the anointed preachers I have read about. Are subject to depression. Spurgeon. The great. Perhaps the greatest preacher of all times. Was subject to depression.

Some said. Some say it was because of a gout. A disease that I never understood. Mary McShane was subject to depression. And this is why it is important. For an anointed man. To also know. How to maintain.

Being Continually Filled With the Holy Spirit

The spiritual life in the midst of the battle. And I believe some of the keys are found here in Ephesians. And Colossians. Being filled with the Holy Spirit. Cannot be just a once and for all experience.

I have a note in my Bible. That says this is in continuous tense. In the Greek. I don't know whether that's true or not. Because I don't know Greek. But it's wonderful that those of us who don't know Greek.

Can still study at the feet of Greek scholars. We can still read commentaries by men who do know Greek. Probably that's how I got that note in there. So continuous tense. We go on keeping on. Being filled with the Holy Spirit.

It's a daily experience. I want to ask you. Is that your daily experience? I'm not interested in knowing whether you were baptized in the Holy Spirit. Terminology some people use. Or filled with the Holy Spirit.

Terminology some other people use. Five years ago or ten years ago. I'd like to know whether today. You're going on being filled with the Holy Spirit. Is this just spiritual jargon? Is this just terminology we use?

So that we have a spiritual message that sounds good? Or is it a practical reality? I think if I had to choose any one group of people to work with in the world today. I would choose Indians. I would choose Indians.

I've worked with many people. Mexicans would perhaps run a close second. Maybe the Spanish and the Italians would run third. Maybe the British would run fourth. In one sense it doesn't matter. Because life isn't that way.

But generally speaking there is a spiritual appetite here in India. I don't know what it is. People are willing to talk about spiritual things. People respond in the churches. I've never had a church in India where I went and didn't see some response.

The problem is one that I'm so bad at. I've repressed it. Forgotten about it. Of course Indian brothers always brought me into balance. I went down to Kerala. And boy the people seem to be coming out of the trees for Jesus.

These conventions are just people responding. Then someone told me this was a habit. It can be rather disappointing to the young preacher who finally feels that the anointing of God has settled upon his ministry to be told that these people are doing this out of the habit rather than because the Holy Spirit was convicting them.

But the awakening that any evangelist and any preacher has when he begins to discover the deceptive heart of man can be so great he may never recover from it. And they say that one of the hardest ministries to maintain is a ministry of evangelism.

It truly is amazing that Billy Graham has gone on for so many years. And many others. Oswald J. Smith now of over 80 years of age. Bob Singh. Regardless of things we may not agree with and the extremism that has caused much grief within that work certainly is still a tremendous testimony of the grace of God.

80 years of age. Only recently has health beginning to go down. There are many, many others. Being filled with the Spirit is the normal Christian life. When we teach on this subject I think we need to teach the brothers and sisters not only what this is but what it is not.

Being filled with the Spirit you may want to note a few of the things that it's not. It does not mean you always feel wonderful. It does not mean that you always feel wonderful. The Spirit-filled man is still very human.

In my mind I've been working very, very much on a new book. Probably write it in my retirement which means I probably won't write it. But I was going to title the book The Human Factor. I wanted to borrow some of your testimonies.

The Human Factor. And one of the things that has caused much grief in O .M. and O .M. India especially is the failure to recognize the human factor. That every leader, every anointed man is a human being subject to the human factors, the weaknesses.

Rejecting Legalism and Embracing Human Limitations

Legalism, as I said yesterday has paid a heavy toll on the church in India. The idea that you're not spiritual if your hair is not cut at a certain length. You can be sure I didn't want to take any chances with any of you and so I got a Nepali haircut.

Before coming down to Butwal. It was a beautiful experience because it was so cheap. You know, you can't realize the blessing of working in India where everything is so cheap if this is the only place you've worked.

Because I'm sure you see how the prices in India are going up. Up. Up. But you know if you go in Germany and you're in a railway station and you just happen to crave a cup of tea you'll never get a decent one, I will tell you that.

It's going to cost you about 9 rupees Indian for a cup of tea. And when you come out here to India and you discover how inexpensively a lot of things can be done. It really does challenge you to try to emphasize India a little more.

Some people feel that for years George Burwell has had the rest of the movement by its throat. In order that India may go forward. And to this day finance for India gets absolute number one priority in all of OM worldwide.

If 10 groups all need money India will always generally get it first if we know that the need is there. Sometimes people like Alfie are a little hesitant to let us know. Other times there's a lot of confusion as to what the situation is.

We count this a great privilege because we highly esteem what you're doing. Do not think because I come out with some negative things that we are not just in the total picture just so wonderfully thrilled about what you're doing.

In the midst of the struggles and the failures and the problems we believe this is an anointed work. We believe the Holy Spirit is bringing the past an important and historic work. But of course we long to go on.

And my greatest burden really is your own spiritual walk. I wonder if some of you are being driven a little bit into extremes at times because of the failure to understand the human factor to understand your own humanity to understand your own limitations.

Billy Graham said that if he had to do things all over again he would pace himself more. It's incredibly hard in OM in some places to pace yourself because people look down spiritually on people who are just trying to relax or just trying to get a little bit of a break.

It's interesting that one of our main sisters has not had a break or a holiday in I don't know for how long a year or two. We somehow seem to have it in our minds that a holiday must mean we've run out of steam or we're going through a hard time.

We don't take a holiday when we're feeling great we're committed to the work we're highly motivated we're filled with the Spirit. We don't take a holiday or a break at that time. It's an absolute mistake, that is.

Some of you are going to wait until you have a nervous breakdown then you're going to ask for a holiday and for some of you that will be the end. You'll never recover. You're afraid to talk to your leader.

I hear this often in OM. I don't feel my leader is approachable. When you say that you're demonstrating your own immaturity together with perhaps his unapproachability. Two wrongs never make a right. Some people outwardly never will be very approachable.

History shows us that many great, great Christian leaders were not very approachable at least to certain types of people. But the man who knows the Word of God and loves the Lord Jesus Christ will approach it anyway.

And if he senses rejection in the first effort just like a boxing match he will go back for round two. Building relationships is not easy and it deeply grieves me that so many people give up trying to build a relationship with this brother or that brother because in round one it didn't work out.

I have people who totally reject me on the simple basis that I forgot their name. I've only had 23 ,000 people in Operation Mobilization. You know often we get false ideas about Christian leaders. Some people because in an unusual way have a great memory which only hinders further progress because then when I don't remember the person really feels bad.

They feel they're the special case. I don't have that great a memory. I have a mediocre memory. I remember some and I don't remember others. If you want to go into a very nerve-bending place especially someone in my position visit the doulos.

One Mexican girl shared with me that she told a friend that she just couldn't consider me as a friend since I had never even shaken her hand. Do you know what it's like to go on a ship and try to shake hands with 300 people?

It's alright with the first 50 after that you can't remember which ones you're shaking hands with and which ones you haven't. Especially as they appear really good to meet you brother and he says you just met me.

As I was going around the ship on sort of a tour I dodged around the corner and into a tiny room and for some reason I said hello to this Mexican girl and I shook her hand. Just a few hours before she was more or less assuming that she would never even meet me and certainly she would never shake my hand therefore I would never be her friend and you can imagine how it just about blew her away.

She must have thought someone was talking. I didn't know anything about her I wouldn't even be able to tell you who she was today. But somehow the spirit or the coincidence or the providence or whatever you want to call it led me to just go into that little room and say hello to her and I shook her.

You know that just about you know the big term in America blew her away. Not literally for those of you who are learning English. But in this kind of work for every one that you that you win you seem to lose some.

And so many of us as leaders live under the cloud that we are unapproachable. You have as many women confessing to you over the years had my secretaries at times finally acknowledge that they were afraid of me.

I accept that. I must at times be very very frightening. Sometimes my visit to my own office consists of about five minutes. I come in from one series of whatever I've been into wanting to do more in five minutes than any three people would want to do in several hours.

Including getting my cup of tea which really needs the right amount of milk the right amount of sugar at the right temperature. You know not even one out of ten in O .M. can make a decent cup of tea. Now we know this is of the flesh.

But the flesh enjoys it. And so it becomes another another hassle another problem. I've had to really repent. I've had to take extra time with people and just allow them to get to know me better in more calm situations so that in turn I became more approachable.

And I hope you will do that as well. If people are not coming to you in your area opening their hearts sharing with you not everybody but some it is a sign that perhaps you are unapproachable. You have an air about you that sets you apart from ordinary folk who would like to talk to you and like to share with you.

Fellowship, Confession, and the Human Factor

Fellowship should be as much a vital part of the work in India as evangelism. Evangelism should spring from a team that is in fellowship one with another. Being filled with the Holy Spirit will bring fellowship.

It will bring approachability because with it comes humility. The human factor will still be there. Failure at times will still be there. One of the men who was touched in that Canadian revival has written a book Failure the Back Door to Success.

How much failure to your team. I can't believe it when I meet with people who have never heard their leader acknowledge real failure. Don't be afraid to acknowledge failure and to share some of the struggles you are having.

If you just try to maintain this air of spirituality that you don't have these struggles you don't have these problems you are way up here some of the team members for a while but ultimately it's going to cave in.

And we want long-term relationships with people. We want reality at any cost. So the spirit-filled life does not destroy your humanity but slowly continuously brings it into control. It's a long-term program.

Don't be surprised when some of these team members say this is stupid. See there's a great danger in OM that for short people we force for a short time we force people into a spiritual capsule. I think this is especially true of women because some of the things in OM are so contrary to the cultural lifestyle of a woman in India.

And so for a period of time we force them into a particular lifestyle. We don't mean to do that it just so easily happens. To ask yourself what's happening to these women when they leave the team. That's why I believe that the cycling women in category 2 in the context of their own culture is as important as bringing them onto the team and the cycling them in category 1.

And I think if we cut down on the number of women we'll be able to increase our input into category 2 the cycling and encouraging women not just single women but married women. And I just pray that many of our women will develop an anointed women's ministry teaching in small groups sharing.

In OM worldwide there is an enormous need for more women who will have a public ministry. Enormous need. One sister wrote me a note on the Dulaws just saying how much she was praying open that some of the married women she was thinking of one in particular but I'll use it in general terms you know would develop a public ministry.

There are things that women can say that men cannot say. Things that women understand that men will barely understand. There are open doors that women will have that we will never have. I'm thinking the women's work is secondary.

The reason we would like less women is not because they are less effective it's simply because the women's work is more complex and it's the women's leaders trying to cope with all of this that would prefer less women so that a more in-depth training can take place.

We think of being filled with the spirit when we're ministering the word of God but in contemporary society we need to emphasize being filled with the spirit in rearing your children. Some of the mistakes I made as a father in moments when I was not walking in the spirit I think really hurt my own children.

Spirit-controlled discipline in the home is not easy. Under the pressure it's so easy to get into the flesh. I find especially in certain cultures men very unwilling to really share about the sins they've committed in their own home.

They have operation cover-up. If Watergate is a tragedy it's just as much a tragedy when we're trying to cover-up our sins. Afraid to really walk in the light even end up telling lies. Yes, Christians tell lies because there's a fear of the truth being known and what may come as a result of that.

We can be filled with the spirit and weep. We can be filled with the spirit and laugh. We can be filled with the spirit and be hurt. Being filled with the spirit is not a mistake. Being filled with the spirit is not an arrival point.

It's a continuous journey. It is not an arrival point. I'm here now. The main thing now is to get other people to come up and be with me. We're constantly growing. No matter how filled we are we need to be filled more.

Somebody came on D .L. Moody who emphasized being filled with the spirit and we need to be filled again and again with the Holy Spirit and Moody said because I leak I leak like the little barrel you pulled off the truck yesterday.

The leak. All of us have leaks. I have leaks. I have to be filled again and again. I heard testimonies of some that say they have a good I'm going to go directly from my quiet time into the kitchen and say something totally in the flesh to my dear wife.

Now those of you who are on a higher plateau of spiritual reality than me in that area praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Our quiet time is not some kind some kind of programmed computer, the rest of the day it all just ticks out in neat orderly fashion.

There has to be the moment-by-moment crucifixion, going into that kitchen after your quiet time and whatever happens, whatever your wife says, to somehow be able to take the lower road, to somehow respond in love and to have a sensitivity toward her and where she is.

She missed her quiet time trying to get you your perfectly patterned cup of tea, or perfectly brewed cup of tea. We all have a bit of our fathers within us. If you want to understand yourself, and I've had real struggle in that, understanding myself, understanding your own father.

Some of you may not even know who your father is, the one that gave you the very genes that are in your body. But I can remember my father grousing at my mother because the egg was not boiled the exact amount of hardness.

We have in the Western world, and I'm sure you do in India, a soft-boiled egg, medium soft-boiled, hard-boiled, you know, in many different eggs. And we are a family into soft-boiled eggs. And yet the man who likes a soft-boiled egg hates a runny egg.

I'll never forget Buck Singh, the only man in the world who forced me to eat a raw egg. He's a raw egg neurotic. He pops raw eggs into his mouth, you know, like a squirrel would eat acorns. And he felt this was one of the keys to taking me further in the things of the spirit.

And he insisted on me eating a raw egg. It's a miracle that my entire stomach content did not come up on his plate. I like my eggs cooked at just a certain temperature. And I eat my eggs in a very special way.

I put them in a little cup. The cup has to be the exact right size, so that the egg does not drop into the cup, so you cannot get it. But it sits in the cup like a Nepali hat on the top of a Nepali head.