The Revolution of the Love / Die Revolution Der Liebe - Part 5 — George Verwer

The Global Harvest and Mission Mobilization

I was just in South Korea, and the growth of the church in South Korea is phenomenal. And just in the past 20, 30 years, they've sent out thousands of missionaries. Thousands. The growth of the church in the Philippines, they don't seem to have the money to send out so many missionaries, but they go out as workers.

They go out as tent makers. So Filipino people are all over the world. Even sometimes in the palace of a sheikh in the middle of the Arabian Peninsula. It's exciting what God has been doing in the Philippines.

And the harvest is continuing. And our great burden is that the nations that have been left out now may be included in a greater way in this great harvest. And I really pray that many of you will get a copy of this book.

And if you can't find a copy after a week or two, maybe you could email me. Yeah, through the internet you can get it. Why don't you tell them how to get it? This is a brand new edition that has come out only a few weeks ago.

And when we compare it with the old edition, we are amazed what God has done. Praise God for your vision for prayer. The leaders of our ministry also called a day of prayer today for the crisis going on in India.

As the fanatic Hindu element is trying to close down this special meeting that was planned for November 4th. And I know in my own office back in London when I phoned, they told me on the phone that they called a special morning of prayer concerning the crisis in India.

If you do read English and you don't have a copy of my book in German, you can send me an email and I'll send you this as a gift. The English edition of the same book. It's called Out of the Comfort Zone.

The German publisher changed the title, but the book is the same. But I suggest you get one in German, then later on you can get one in English and give your German one to someone else. In fact, if you have a real vision for mission mobilization, which we talk about in this book, then you will want to get at least 10 copies.

But we know you don't want to get too much vision all at once. That might scare somebody. So I know many of you want to go just very, very slowly, very cautiously about this mission thing. But seriously, if you really believe the message that we have been sharing from God's Word, you're not going to be happy just keeping it to yourself.

You're going to want to become a mission mobilizer. You're going to want to get extra of some of this material that you find on these displays. Please visit every display and distribute it to others. Let's look together now into the Word of God.

Christ's Commission to Witness to the Whole World

Turn to the book of Acts. First of all, chapter 1. Verse 8, which I think you may have already looked at. The final words before Jesus went to heaven. Words that should be deeply, deep, deep, deep in our hearts.

But ye shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you. Ye shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost part of the earth. This is one of the great foundations for everything we are teaching.

And we realize the importance of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We realize that all of us are to be His witnesses. And it has to be to the whole world. And that's what we read about in the book of Acts.

And if you're interested, I have 11 lectures on cassette in English from the book of Acts. 11 messages, a series through the whole book. And all you have to do is request it by email or letter, and I send it to you as a gift.

And all you have to do is request it by email or letter, and I send it to you as a gift. Turn now to Acts 13. One of the great missionary passages in the word of God. We're going to have a Bible study.

A Radical Commitment to Jesus and the Seven Principles

Last night and yesterday, I shared a lot of biblical exhortation. And I felt very strong. That's what God put on my heart. And I felt very strong. That's what God put on my heart. And I thank God for all of you especially who responded last night.

To repent and to make a more radical commitment to Jesus. Greater grace, greater wisdom, greater discipline. Steps of faith. Realizing failure can be the back door to success. Holding high the shield of faith wherewith you can stop the fiery darts of the evil one.

But this afternoon, I want to have a Bible study. And I'd like us to read from the word of God, Acts 13. The first five verses. And then I'm going to share seven mega principles from these five verses.

And you can write these seven principles down. And if one year you send me, not now, but one year from now you send me the list of these seven principles, seven words. I will send you seven English books.

Which means many of you need to learn English in the next year. Very easy for Germans to learn English. Because Germans are generally quite intelligent. They're often quite disciplined. And they realize the rest of the world is not really into German at this present time.

I don't actually like English. I don't like the sound of English. In reality, I prefer Spanish. I like Spanish. It has a more nice, smooth sound. And French is like a dance. But somehow everybody around the world is speaking English.

In China, millions and millions are speaking and learning English. In India, tens of millions speak English. In Africa, over 100 million speak English. And God can use this to win people to Jesus. As there is a common language spreading across the world.

It's not enough. And in most of these countries, we have to learn the language of the people's heart. But it sure is a great help to get started. Let's read. We'll just read in German verses 1 through 5.

Let's pray. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you, God, for what you have been doing in our hearts during these days. We thank you, God, for the steps of faith that have been taken.

We thank you, God, for increasing our vision. We thank you, God, that there's a ring of reality in our hearts this afternoon. Help us to receive what you have in this holy scripture. That these biblical principles may be a dynamic reality in our lives.

That we may take even bigger steps of faith. That we may share this vision with others. As your word so clearly teaches in 2 Timothy 2 verse 2. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. The first word.

The Local Church as the Foundation for Missions

Verse 1. The word church. Now there were in the church that was at Antioch. The local church is absolutely key in world missions. Now, when you say that in Germany, it is quite different than many other countries of the world.

Germany is a very special country. And many young people I've known don't actually belong in an involved way in a local church. Especially in Stuttgart, where I visited many times. We find people love Jesus.

They go to the Lutheran church and they belong to a special fellowship, which is sort of part of the Lutheran church. One year ago in Stuttgart, I spoke at a huge event of people from these kind of fellowship groups.

These have been some of the greatest supporters of OM here in Germany. You may know the name of Friedrich Hansler, the founder of Hansler Verlag publishing house. And now his son's carrying on. They're the people that have published these books.

And often make them available at a special price. And that is a unique and beautiful movement of the Holy Spirit of God. And sometimes the mother church, the big particular Lutheran church, are not really that interested in world missions.

But these fellowship groups within the church are absolutely committed to world missions. Now there are similar situations in other countries. But in most cases people just belong to a local church. That local church may be very proactive about missions or they may not be.

Now let me take one of my special George Verwer afternoon sleepy time surveys to see if you're all awake. How many of you belong to a living local church, an active local church like the MTR church? Raise your hand.

That is a tremendous testimony. And I'm sure it's one of the reasons, one of the reasons that you're here today. Of those of you who raised your hand, how many would say that your church is supportive, it is proactive, it is supportive of your mission's vision?

Raise your hand. Now we lost about, well okay, we lost a few hands. On a global scale, many young people who want to go into world missions, their church is not proactive. In some cases they have actually counseled them not to go into world missions.

They said you need to stay here and teach in the Sunday school. Our church is the priority. So you just forget about this mission thing and certainly don't read any of these George Verwer books. The church is absolutely key.

For 40 years I've tried to spend every single Sunday preaching in a local church. We have several thousand local churches that are linked in partnership with the vision that God has put upon our hearts.

Several thousand, that has been one of our most important factors in our growth. Now for me that was quite a step. Because I came from a very liberal church, that didn't even believe the Bible was God's word.

It was a social club. It was called a reformed church, it certainly did need reforming. I became the president of the youth fellowship. And I was teaching them how to rock and roll back in the days of Haley and the Comet and Elvis Presley.

And then the pastor made me his assistant. There's a verse in the Bible about this. It talks about the blind leading the blind. Then in God's providence Billy Graham came to New York City. And a lady across from my high school, as I already mentioned to you, she started praying for me.

She sent me this Gospel of John through the post. I began to read God's word and that began to change my life. I was so excited about the Bible, before I was even a true believer, I started to raise money to give everybody in the world the Gospel of John.

I wasn't even saved yet. I believed that somehow you had to do good works. I was in my pilgrimage. And I wanted to do what was right. But I had not heard the liberating message of the Gospel. And then Billy Graham came to New York City.

And just for one night. He came to Munich many, many years ago. And over lunch today I've been talking to friends who live here in Munich. And Munich surely is a tremendous mission field. There are tens of thousands of Muslims in Munich.

Very few people working among them. What a tremendous challenge to the church. How many of you are from the greater Munich area? Quite a few, many more last night. I want to be more faithful in praying for you.

If you send me an email, five ways to pray for me in greater Munich, I will read that, I will print it out, I will carry it with me on the plane and pray for you and pray for your ministry. Praise God, in the last 10, 20 years new churches have been born here just like this church that we're privileged to be in right now.

Five Challenges for Local Church Involvement

Five challenges about the local church. First of all, the local church Pray for the local church. Be involved with the local church. Be a grace-awakened member of the local church. Beware of unrealistic expectations and don't get discouraged as you attempt to work for revival and for world missions within your local church.

Now this church in Antioch was started in a rather unusual way. A group of people who were persecuted they ended up in Antioch and a church was born. And it's amazing the many, many different ways that God works.

In my book, I try to get people to understand how different ways God works. So they can be less judgmental less critical and have a bigger vision of the way that God works. Some people who go to a church that may be very lively and they have really tremendous music they maybe visit another church where people are quite quiet and where they may still have an organ instead of a guitar and a keyboard.

And so when they go home or they meet their friends after church they say, ah, that church is dead. Are we sure? Is spiritual life mainly outward things? Outward things are important. But some of the great believers that I know that God has used I'm not talking one year 30, 40 years they've been used of the Holy Spirit of God are actually quite quiet people.

They're not like me. We're all different. I've already pointed out that my wife is very different from me. She once said to me just looking at you makes me feel very tired. And if I had not changed by God's grace our marriage would have finished many years ago.

But I learned that God was working in my wife in a different way than he was working in me. And God revolutionized my thinking about spirituality. And I realized the Holy Spirit was doing a much wider work in a different way in different people.

And those of you who are committed to world missions if you don't have wisdom you will actually drive people away from world missions rather than draw them into the circle. Because you don't have the spiritual discernment to understand where people are and attempt to respond to them where they are.

If someone is living in immorality or they've got a half a ton of emotional problems they don't need a globe and a punch in the nose from you or me. They need someone to listen to them. They need perhaps a book on those particular subjects or a testimony of how God can set people free from immorality.

And then when there's a beginning work of grace in their lives start to share Jesus a little bit with their friends. They start to function as part of the local church or some kind of biblical fellowship.

Then in God's timing you may be able to talk to them about the regions beyond and show them a copy of Operation World. You don't go to a baby Christian one night after they were saved with this big huge book and say well I really believe you need to pray through this next week.

He's not going to understand what you're talking about. A local church loving God's people listening to them. The book of Philippians chapter 2 talks about esteeming other people better than yourself.

That's pretty radical. It's so easy even in our Christian life to be self-centered. The second word is much more than a word a person. Verse 2 As they minister to the Lord and fasted the Holy Ghost said the Holy Spirit said separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.

The Holy Spirit's Leadership in Mission Work

The Holy Spirit that's the second word. And the Holy Spirit is the chief executive officer the chief operating officer the leader of all mission work. How sad it is that the church is still having so much fighting and arguing about the Holy Spirit.

That is truly the plan of the devil. I am just so convinced the Holy Spirit is working in different ways in different ways in different people. Some emphasize the baptism in the Holy Spirit. And I am sure many of you have had that experience.

When I was a baby Christian I read a book a little book baptism of the Holy Ghost. I said Lord whatever that is I don't understand it but I sure do want it. I was involved in ministry in jail at that time.

Not very much was happening. And I remember at university getting on my knees and praying for a baptism of the Holy Spirit. And I felt that something happened. I was very young I wasn't sure but when I went down to the jail the next week to share the people I spoke to were under conviction immediately repented and believed on Jesus.

And it's interesting that the emphasis in this particular book was a baptism of power power for evangelism power to see people's lives impacted by the gospel. Later on I read another book. So I wasn't so sure that what happened to me in my room wasn't baptism of the Holy Spirit.

So I prayed again and I've had many other experiences where I experienced something special in the presence of the Lord often during a day of prayer and fasting at the same time as I look back over my life it seems that from the moment I was converted I've known something of the joy and the power and the gifts and the reality that God gives.

I meet other people who are very strong in God that have not had these special emotional experiences. So surely I'm better than they are. They need to get the George Verwer blessing. They need to go climb a tree in the mountains and get zapped on the top of the tree like God did in my life.

Let me take a survey. How many of you have been zapped by the Holy Ghost on the top of a tree? Raise your hand. May the Lord help you. This afternoon we should go out into the woods and climb trees. It's only when you get to the top of the tree you're really going to find God's will from the Lord.

I feel very sorry for you. And I'm not sure if I can fellowship with non-tree Christians. I need to fellowship with people I'm like-minded with. Those who climb trees. Those who get zapped. I think we should start a tree-zapping denomination.

We laugh. I'm glad you can laugh. Because sometimes we are like this. Not to that extreme. But we want people to be like us. We want people to have the same experience we've had. And if they don't we sometimes don't fellowship so much with those people.

There are 27 ,000 denominations in the world today. And some local churches like in Great Britain don't like to fellowship with other churches. Some special things are happening in their midst and I'm not against that.

But they become a new denomination. And some of the people in the old denominations are very upset by this and they say this is not good. In my walk with God I've had one foot in the old denominations and I have one foot in the new denomination and I say hallelujah what a tremendous privilege to fellowship with such a wide range of God's people.

We need a greater understanding of the church and the Holy Spirit. Billy Graham who was a very conservative Christian in his background put into writing something that helped me. He said one of the reasons for church growth across the world was what God was doing through the modern charismatic movement.

And Billy Graham was criticized and attacked viciously for what he said and what he did. Several million fundamentalist Christians in America including leaders turned against Billy Graham because of his openness toward other believers and what God was doing.

And Billy Graham got terrible letters. One college declared him part of the anti-Christ movement. And I remember reading that Billy Graham took these letters some of them were hate letters and he put them on his bed before as he was praying.

Maybe it was his desk it doesn't matter. He said God I don't want to go to sleep tonight until I have forgiven all of these people. And Billy Graham speaking about the Holy Spirit the reality the practical reality of the Holy Spirit.

He said I don't care how you get it just get it. It might be more of a process you may speak more about the fullness of the Holy Spirit or it may be a crisis you may speak of the baptism of the Holy Spirit but the key thing is where are you right now in your walk with God.

For 40 years I prayed for greater unity among God's people here in Germany. When I arrived here 40 years ago different kinds of Christians were not even speaking to each other. They were writing against each other.

They were accusing people of being instruments of the devil. We have the same thing in Canada we have the same thing in the United States but the situation was just a little extra complicated here in Germany after the war for various reasons.

And I thank God that things are changing here in Germany and in our own fellowship. We pioneered recruiting people from evangelical churches Lutheran churches Pentecostal churches and trying to get them to live together on our ships.

And on the same teams thank God for His mercy. And thank God there are people at this conference from many different churches. We don't all think alike on every issue. One thing I believe we have unity on that the Holy Spirit is wanting to send us into world mission work.

I don't think we're going to get unity on the subject of speaking in tongues. I don't think we're going to get total unity on personal prophecy and miraculous words of knowledge. And other things that the church is arguing about all over the world.

I say that unity is in the midst of diversity. I remember when two people were staying on a cabin in our ship. I believe it was in North Germany when the ship was there. This was many years ago. One was a charismatic believer who just got the gift of tongues.

The other was a young committed German who was taught well that tongues was from Satan. They were roommates living in the same little cabin. And one morning the man is praying in tongues at his bed. The other guy is trying to resist the power of Satan.

I didn't know about this. And here I am preaching. And I brought out a story just similar to this story. It gave them the idea that I knew what was going on in their cabin. I didn't know anything. I had the same experience once on the Afghan border.

This is an amazing story. This was a mission group where they were working together from different missions. And they were going to the same sort of church. And some were very strong on the gifts of the Spirit.

Others were not quite sure what this is all about. I was trying to call them to unity to love one another. And I remembered reading in a book about two very conservative people who didn't believe in speaking in tongues.

And suddenly one of them, I think the wife, boom, got some kind of blessing and started speaking in tongues. And the husband, ahh! What happened to my wife? I just gave this as a story. I found out the next day that two Germans on the team, very conservative, the wife had just started to speak in tongues.

And in God's providence I ended up having lunch with them. And I wondered why the husband was looking at me with a rather strong look. That was 15 years ago. That couple is still together. Worshipping Jesus.

God works in different people in different ways. And we need to constantly walk in humility before God. So that love, first Corinthians love, is constantly flowing from God. From our lives. The Holy Spirit works in different people in different ways.

Billy Graham, who has won millions to Jesus Christ, doesn't have all the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Other people have other gifts. To be honest, it's a mystery to me. To some degree, it's a mystery. But I stand on God's word that He works in different people in different ways.

We're all on a pilgrimage. Let's keep learning in wisdom and grace. The third word is the word worship. The third principle is worship. In this English translation, verse 2 says, as they ministered to the Lord.

Worship as the Setting for Hearing the Spirit

That's worship. Ministering to the Lord. That's what we were supposed to be doing a little while ago. Worship is the highest calling of the Christian. And as we brought out yesterday, especially not just when we have great music, but on a daily basis, with the inner harp that God has put in our hearts, we can worship Jesus.

Now notice, there were five people gathered in this prayer meeting, in this worship meeting. It's such a powerful picture because it's as they worship, the Holy Spirit spoke. And I believe as we've been worshiping here, the Holy Spirit has been speaking.

Now that doesn't mean you're going to get everything perfect as a human being. And if you sense the Holy Spirit is leading you to do something, I believe you need to wait upon God and get some affirmation from other godly people that they sense this is from the Lord.

And so this is a beautiful picture.