The Christian's Manifesto — George Verwer

Ask our father that you may speak to us from your word even now. That we may see the truth and do the truth. We may not be here is the word but doers. Speak O Lord for we listen. In Jesus name. Amen. I'd like you to open your Bibles.

The Christian's Manifesto and Its Biblical Foundation

You have your Bible with you to the book of Romans chapter 12. Beginning at verse 9. Let love be without dissimilation. That is let it be sincere. Abhor that which is evil pleads to that which is good.

Be kindly affectionate one to another with brotherly love in honor preferring one another. Not slothful in business fervent in spirit. Serving the Lord. These are great words. And God speak to our hearts From them.

Just add the 12th verse. Rejoicing in hope. Patient in tribulation. Continuing instant in prayer. Title of the message tonight is the Christians Manifesto and I want to declare. Somewhat of a manifesto tonight.

I want to Speak to you about what? OM this little fellowship of young people. Not so little now with about 500 full-time on the year and thousand or so for the summer. What they really believe. What they believe should be declared to every student in every university in the whole world.

And we're just crazy enough to believe that that's going to happen. And I remember when I had my first contact from the University of Moscow and the wonderful time of distribution He had in that University a few years ago.

And I'm convinced that nothing is too hard for the Lord. And I prayed the Lord for this brief privilege. I have to make this declaration tonight. What do we really believe? Very few of us know very much thoroughly.

If you're a university student you have to admit that and when you finish all of your studies and you go on to research you get to know more and more about less and less and very few people understand any Christian movement thoroughly.

I Would be a very foolish person to try to give you an analysis of certain Christian groups that I really don't know that much about. And I believe it's important especially for those of you praying and planning on going on one of these Crusades.

To know what we really stand for what we really are trying to declare. Over 6 ,000 students and young people have passed through our ranks. Some of them for only one month. To find out what on is like from some young person who spent three weeks in one day On the summer crusade is not the best way to get the picture.

Because even the summer crusade in itself in Europe Represents only about 25 to 30 percent of what I am does. So it's impossible to see really unless you have real insight and some fortunately do What it's all about.

What are we really trying to emphasize? What are we really trying to say? Now I can tell you that the devil is so powerful and so to see Deceitful and such a power to deceive that many young people come with us even for a year or more and never Get what we're trying to say.

If we're not fighting a physical warfare in trying to declare these truths that I'm speaking about tonight and The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked and the tendency is to blindness rather than to vision and to sight.

I Hope that some of you in your very first summer with us Or even not with us may see some of these principles because I don't know many Christian groups that would deny that these are the most basic issues a young person can get if he wants to really Be effective if he wants to really be used of God.

I think of what Eric Fife said he's one of the leaders of the inner varsity in the United States. He said today We have perhaps a higher standard of academic preparation for the mission field than ever before.

But it is unfortunately true That there are very few candidates whose prayer and conversation Are such as have a heartwarming quality. The first thing that we want to declare the first thing we want to emphasize is The need to know reality in worship.

Worship as the Christian's Highest Occupation

There is nothing more important in the Christian life than worship. We have become the activist generation. We measure everything by what we do how far we run how many pieces of literature we give out how many souls we want to prescribe.

Where God is seeking worshipers. He's seeking those who will worship him in spirit and in truth. His work was born in prayer and worship meetings meetings that Didn't last necessarily one hour, but sometimes went on for one day.

Because when we get in the presence of God and he's working in our hearts. We want to stay in his presence not that we ever have to leave his presence. We don't. Brother Lawrence knew more about worship and holiness in the midst of all the activities of the kitchen Than the average person knows in a prayer club.

And we've got to go back to the Christians highest occupation worship. Doesn't matter what you're doing. You can come on over work in the packing department and the shipping department where you put the books in the boxes.

Or you can come on OEM and work as a mechanic or you can come and drive a truck. I know one doctor from Cambridge Who was a truck driver with OEM in India working under an Indian team leader who had 150 of as much education.

But he learned a lot. Worship is what we're trying to teach young people. The first message they generally always get over in Belgium when they come is a message on worship. But the moment that message is in the head and in the heart or at least getting into the heart the devil comes puts it out and He has any one of our hundred major tangents going on right here in Britain today to get people away from priority.

This is why we're constantly telling people to read the books of a W toes. Because he's calling people back to worship. He's calling people back to God. Because in this age of superficiality instant Christianity and spiritual pet pills here's a man who has a message a message that takes time to digest.

Here's a man who knew communion with God who followed in the steps of Madden gunion Fenelon and others in years gone by who knew God who had something more than an intellectual Rattle in their head who knew God in their heart.

Let's forget evangelism forget tract distribution book selling preaching and all the rest and get to know God and Learn what it is to worship God learn what it is to get off in the mountains alone with God.

Maybe that's where some of you ought to spend the summer. Not on Oh Emma with any other group go off to the mountains and spend a month in the presence of the Holy of Holies. And maybe you'll come down a different man like Moses and many others who came down from the mountains.

Men of God are not made in a summer. Nor in five years. It takes a lifetime to make a man of God. No one could be more confused than the man who thinks oh and there's a shortcut to Christian service. It's the shortcut with the longest road that I've ever met.

We don't believe Bible school nor university nor Both of them combined can prepare a man for real spiritual work. A man has to spend time with God. He has to know what it is to worship. Read that book by Gibbs on the subject of worship.

I don't think we have any on the table and you'll see what I mean. I'm not talking about coming into some little place once a week and going through an evangelical rosary God deliver us. I'm talking about something that is so beyond that that the average man trembles at the very thought of it.

Yet you read the Word of God and you see The reality of this kind of life in the prophets in the disciples in the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, this is our manifesto. We must worship him. He seek his worshipers.

He said that to thank him and to praise him was better than an ox and a bullock son 69. This is what God is seeking today. You say it's too old-fashioned. Call it old-fashioned call you what it what you what you want to but I believe it is the greatest area of reality worship.

If it wasn't for the hour to two hours, I spend every morning and Other times throughout the day with God my life would be nothing. I'm a weak person. I was overrun with habits foul language foul living screwy ideas wrong doctrines.

You name it. I had it but we become as him whom we worship and For almost from the beginning in my Christian life. I put this as number one Strange for a person of 17, but when I was 17 on my knees, I said only one thing I want to know prayer.

Reality and the nights of prayer that continue to this day all over the world started when we were 17 and 18. That's what carried me through an unbelieving university with unbelieving professors in all the possible Skeptical views that were sent my way several hours.

Many days not every day. I'll be the first one to admit. I've had days when I didn't get 10 minutes. But that's what carried me through. Do you know this? Do you want to know it you'll graduate from here or finish from here with a degree.

But how many are going to finish from here with a degree in prayer? We're looking for PhDs PhDs in the school of prayer. We aren't finding any hardly at all in our generation. I Would rather fail out of university and know God.

And Finish university the top of my class and come out with a zero minus two knowledge of the Holy One. Fortunately both are possible. Secondly we believe we declared we must emphasize this revolution of love.

The Revolution of Love and Humility

I'm not the first one to write a book on love if you know anything about Christian books. We've just produced 20 ,000 copies of a six-penny edition of Henry Drummond's book the greatest thing in the world.

One of the greatest messages ever given and if you study the church you will see Mad in years gone by many mighty things of God felt that this was the major emphasis love. Love thy neighbor as thyself.

This is the second commandment. The first is love God with all your heart soul mind and strength that's worship and obedience and many other things and. So I haven't talked about anything new have I just the same Basic commandment we had way back in the book of Deuteronomy.

The problem today we oftentimes want things that are new interesting and different when the message is old. It's revolutionary, but it's old thousands of years. Love thy neighbor as thyself. Very few of us understand what that means.

I preach that Subject I guess more than any other subject from first John from first Corinthians. I've gone through every single verse in the entire New Testament on the subject of love several times.

I've listed them all memorized many of them and yet I Find people and myself very slow to really grasp what this is all about. You see it's very much linked with humility. The last thing we seem to have in our day.

When I read this book it was the end. I was ready to quit. Because I don't have I don't even understand it, but I want. Do you want humility in your life? This is one of the greatest books in print. Andrew Murray's book humility.

And if we don't come out of here humble, and it's not easy to come out of Cambridge humble broke contrite. We've wasted five years four years as far as God is concerned and there's hundreds of Bible verses that prove We've got to get back to basics and to know the revolution of love one must humble himself.

One must first of all admit He doesn't have it. Admit his spiritual bankruptcy the coldness of his heart and then come and believe that God will do it. It won't happen in a day. You may have a crisis.

You may have a crisis tonight as you go on the side of your bed. And face God and ask him to revolutionize your life and to make this revolution of love real. But if this crisis isn't followed by a process it will soon become as I've often said an abscess and I'm convinced that many of us want the crisis and Some have a crisis some don't.

But there's not many of us that are ready for the daily process of going to the cross of Instant repentance of claiming the blood of Jesus Christ of admitting What we are. I'm convinced with all my heart That God in our day wants to begin or to continue this revolution of love.

I haven't got time. I Could talk to you all night on this subject. I have many tapes available on this subject if you'd like to hear more. I can't overemphasize it love. This is the disease that's killing the church lack of love everywhere.

I've been all over the world. That doesn't mean a thing anybody can travel. Travel means nothing. Sometimes I'm afraid about OM. I Have a little motto for OM called much travel little fruit. Traveling won't accomplish anything.

But what we do when we get there. That's what's going to make the difference. Crossing the channel will not make you committed. Working in France will not cause you to be dedicated. But this love in your life, which comes when the Holy Spirit has his way.

This can do something you have to learn the life of love. I know a lot of people are just sort of waiting for it to fall on them. I have never met a man yet in my 13 years of the Christian who got love and that I know some who had an experience and that was a help you have to learn out of love.

You have to be broken again and again because there's so many aspects to love you may have Developed in one particular aspect of this revolution of love, but you'll only discover as you really get close to Jesus.

There are dozens of aspects to this revolution. There isn't time to go into thirdly. We want to declare. We want to emphasize the need for honesty. Absolute honesty in our dealing with people in our facing of ourselves.

Honesty, Confession, and Walking in the Light

Many of us live spiritually dishonest lives. We're pretenders. I almost asked Peter to sing one of my favorite songs. It's a favorite song before I knew Christ. I used to hear it in the nightclubs where I spend a lot of my time.

It's called the great pretender. Peter has a great Ability to change all the words or some of his friends do so he has some very spiritual words to this song. But it's true. Many of us are the great pretenders.

Pretending to be what we're not to be. Pretending that we're living along in victory. Pretending that somehow we're on the way and all the rest. We're not honest. This is so true, especially if people if they're introverts if they're shy they will not share.

They will not share they push things they repress it and they catch up later. We have found a very important aspect of the Christian life is fellowship real. Straight honest fellowship, you know, it's wonderful to know that your life is an open book.

There's nothing about my life. That isn't known nothing. It's tremendous. I Don't go around telling everybody everything about my life. But there are those around me. Those who are close to me and others who know everything about.

I've nothing to hide. No, my thoughts is all under the blood anyway. Nor my present and I know young men. Who have for the first time in their life when they've come on? Oh and open their hearts. Another brother about the things who are really bothering them really eating away at their soul.

Sometimes they weren't even conscious of these things to the light of the Word of God began to shine in their hearts. And when they came out They could really be taken under the blood. It's amazing what happens.

This is what happened out in East Africa when these church leaders bishops Top boys began confessing openly their failures. Began admitting they weren't all that they pretended to be. Began to admit they didn't love the Bible began to admit they didn't have reality in prayer.

When they started to admit honestly what they really were and claim the blood in the Lord's grace and realize that Christianity is a message of grace. Revival came to East Africa and it has never left 30 years ago.

This is what we need to see today. Roy Hessian talks about this in his book. Stanley Volk talks about in his book reality. Reality is not some super set of standards that you try to keep. Eventually you fall.

When you fall you get so depressed because your self-image has been broken that you do not easily get back up again. But reality is a cross. Reality is Christ. Reality is taking your place as a failure as a sinner as a nobody and allowing the grace of God to make you what?

Jesus would have you be. So many of us are maintaining an image so many of us are shooting for a particular image. Many of us will end up extremely nervous because we'll fail somewhere along the way. And especially if you're Christian you have a greater possibility for failure in many ways.

Because God is going to let you drop until you finally get at his feet and say Jesus. You're all I want not Jesus plus success in Christian work. Not Jesus plus souls. Jesus plus Christian leadership.

Jesus plus preaching ability. Jesus plus him or her Jesus plus this or that not even Jesus plus Cambridge University. I Know in the past how God has allowed people to fail and the thing they wanted the most to bring them to the place Where all they wanted to see.

That doesn't mean Christianity is a group of failures working together. No because when God Takes over though. We are failures. He brings success. He brings victory. But first we go down then we go up not first up.

Except the corn of wheat fall in the ground and die it abideth alone. Do you know this in your life? Reality the cross. Amy Carmichael Said if we covet any other place In all the world other than the dust at the foot of the cross.

We do not know. Calvary love. This is what we're trying to teach on our this is what we're trying to bring through to our generation. Reality opens honestly. The masks off the curtains open. All the behind-the-stage activities that you've engaged in are now there.

And brought under the blot. Oh Beloved. If we don't see this in the church. There's no hope. I know that You're having not been out in the hundreds of situations. I have been in in the evangelical church.

Cannot even begin To know how much dishonesty how much hypocrisy and how much sham there is and. And unfortunately, you're probably as I have and it's thousands who I know hundreds who I know. I've had to learn it the hard way.

I Believe that Tozer hit the nail on the head when he described the evangelical climate of our day. Here's what he said. It's true. He said the spiritual climate into which many modern Christians are born does not make for vigorous spiritual growth.

Indeed the whole evangelical world is to a large extent Unfavorable to healthy Christianity. We may as well face it. The whole level of spirituality among us is low. We have measured ourselves by ourselves until the incentive to see higher plateaus and the things of the spirit is All but gone.

We are making converts to an ethnic type of Christianity that bears little resemblance to that of the New Testament. The average so-called Bible Christian in our times is but a wretched parody on true sainthood yet We put millions of dollars behind Movements to perpetuate this degenerate former religion and attack the man who dares to challenge the wisdom of it.

This isn't from some little schoolboy. This is from a man who spent 40 years in the very thick of the battle a man who is becoming more one of the most widely read men even in Britain's day. Now that he's dead when a prophet is dead We begin to listen.

But America turned their back to this prophet why he lived. Because he cut at the very heart core of our nation, which is rotten right through the middle. And we as a nation have refused to listen. You will have to answer for your nation.

Personally, I'm mainly concerned about answering for myself. We believe there must be a revolution of honesty a revolution of walking in the light what we don't mean really then. Let's not say it. Everybody's running around saying god bless brother this god bless I'll pray for you.

If we prayed for all the people we promised to pray for we'd be have to spend dozens of nights in prayer and. The whole evangelical church has become a long series of cliches and we've developed a whole set of jargon.

And most of it is completely meaningless. We can talk about being a Christian soldier. We can talk about take my life. Let it be take my silver and my gold all these fantastic hymns. And We can go out of church and not be one iota different.

From when we came in how long are we going to push it on? No wonder most students in Britain today are Becoming agnostics. Why don't we face it? Why do we continue with our heads in the sand? And Do you think that out of the students who go through our Christian Union's in Britain and declare themselves little evangelicals during university?

Do you think they're all going on? I could tell you have so many backslidden degenerates who have gone out of our Christian unions. You wouldn't believe it. Why? Because we have given them dry husks. We don't know reality.

We don't know revolution. We don't know spiritual honesty. We don't know New Testament Christianity. You say those words are too hard. I can give you the names of 25 Christian leaders. What does it mean who would agree to the same thing?

Alan Redpath is one a man from this nation whose feet I sat under for two years at Moody Church. And I saw that church turn a deaf ear to another prophet. Oh May God open our eyes before it's too late.

We're young. We're flexible. God can change us. We're not yet set in our ways. May we not go down the drain of unreality? May we've determined to Buck against the tide and stand for that which the Bible talks about.

The Victorious Life and Spiritual Power

Fourthly we believe We must emphasize the victorious life. The victorious life is not a myth a Life of abundance the life of victory the life of spiritual power the life of overcoming there must be at least 200 books written on this subject many different vocabularies.

Sanctification the spirit-filled life the victorious life the abundant life the Keswick life whatever you want to refer to. I Like to say as Billy Graham said I don't care how you get it. Just get it.

But there is a life of victory. There is a life on the right side of Jordan. There is a life in which we're not up and down and and one minute. Rejoicing in the next minute complaining one minute living in victory the next minute defeat.

Depressed discouraged and it's a life that Caleb and Joshua chose the only two of the whole multitude out of the world. All the rest saw the Giants and I know as some of you hear about this message tonight.

All you see is Giants. The walled cities you see. The walled cities in your own life the areas that seem so impossible psychological problems emotional problems battles. Walled cities. Giants. And although there's milk and honey and you see that.

Not for me back to the room greatest mistake you can make. And if I didn't believe in the sovereignty of God I wouldn't even speak because it makes me tremble that my wretched personality my miserable accent or something else I might say tonight.

Would cause you to turn away from the life of victory from discipleship. I know he is sovereign. I know that somehow he can overrule my weaknesses. Don't throw the baby away with the dirty bathwater. Throw me away.

Too noisy American go home Yankee fine. Throw me away, but don't throw away this message. Take the New Testament and search it out. Throw LM away. I don't care if you ever come on OM. That's that's meaningless unless it's part of God's plan.

But oh don't throw away this wonderful message of the abundant life of victory in Jesus Christ of the fullness of the Holy Spirit. This is something that we need to know. Some people come into it through crisis.

Some people come into it without even knowing. I've seen and met people of both categories. The crisis boys the process boys doesn't matter. I'll take all the Whitfield's and all the Wesley's I can get.

I'll take all the Darby's and all the Muellers and I'll take all the Finney's and all. I'll take all of them on my team and know this life. Do you know it? Are you learning it here at Cambridge? Victory power abundance fruit reality.

God. Do you want it? If you want if you really want you will know. I believe we must emphasize this. I believe we must declare it. It's a subject. I preach about more than anything else. People think that I go around preaching about forsaking all.

Hardly ever touch the second. Because when a man falls in love with Jesus Christ, he'll forsake all. Forsake all anyway is not an ultimate. We're only learning to forsake all. I'll give you the best definition.

I think I've ever seen of. What a committed life? Really is I wrote it in my Bible from the book taste of new wine. The totally committed Christian life is a life of Continually committing oneself and one's problems day by day as they are slowly revealed to his own Consciousness is it there's no ultimate.

Till we meet him and. This is one of the ways God uses this this OM. Because most of us are used to living in a British culture. We have the climate we're used to the food. We're used to the friends. We used to the family.

Were used to the music we're used to all the things we used to why we can live pretty victorious. Is that victorious? Or is that I wouldn't say. But throw that man out in the southern heat of Italy in July.

Take away his five cups of tea. Give him macaroni instead of pork chops. Take away his girlfriend for a month. Allow his letters to be lost in the post from mommy and daddy. And give him eight hours a day.

Witnessing on the doors under an Italian leader who he can't understand and you'll see how victorious he is. This is why so many people get turned upside down in these Crusades. This is why now leading mission societies are assigning candidates to come on OM.

They know it works. Not because we're anything. But because when we expose ourself to new situations new pressures it takes bank and we're either going to sink or swim if you Allow. I don't know if that's America.

I don't know anymore. What's American? What's English? I'm totally confused and I'm convinced with all my heart that God does want some Cambridge students on these campaigns. I'm not ashamed to say that.

When I think of the fact that no matter how many go from Cambridge to serve Christ on the continent there will still be 500 times as many people serving in the British Isles. It's hard for me to panic over the exodus.

You have no conception of the situation on the continent if you start comparing needs in Britain. If you believe the biblical teaching about evangelism. If you believe the unscriptural teaching that our job is to save everyone.

Stay in Britain because you're going to have a long long journey to save everyone in this island. I'm convinced God has called us to evangelize. I believe with all my heart That we've got to know this victorious life.

I Believe as watchman knee says in his little book released of the spirit. I don't have a copy up here. That this is the most important thing. I praise God for this set of books that just came out. For those of you who read a book a day like many of you.

This is nothing. But if you want to dig your teeth into something this summer you read the only books that watchman knee ever wrote. All the rest are taken from notes. Watch me me pen this encyclopedia on spiritual life in three volumes.

The spiritual man. This is what we need. Now you can get it without reading even one volume. You can get it just reading the New Testament. But I believe we've got to get down and develop a spiritual life a victorious life in all of its many aspects.

World Evangelism and the Call to the Nations

Fifthly. I Believe we must declare. We must emphasize the need for world evangelism. If men are lost we've got to reach. I don't care how Calvinist you are. Doesn't matter we have some of the most on-fire Calvinist that I've ever met right in this work and we have on fire our minions.

Theology of all kinds under the right pressure will catch fire, but I'm convinced. That we have been called to evangelize the world. I believe I believe firmly what this book says that it's the world that's running away, and I believe we got to catch it and I believe that the church has lost the vision of a lost world.

We don't realize any longer that the Holy Ghost is going to bring a holy go. That we're either going to evangelize or fossilize. And one look at British churches can tell you what direction we're moving and It's not anything to laugh at.

The heart of God is broken. The heart of God is is crying out as he did in Ezekiel. Looking for men. Looking for women that will stand in the gaps. Too many young men today are praying that aged prayer.

Lord Here am I send my sister? And the world the mission field is filled with single girls too for every single man. While the Mormon Church a little fanatical sect from Salt Lake City has 20 ,000 men on the march tonight more than all the churches of Britain and America all put together.

Somehow we don't want to face the realities. Somehow we always come out with that trite little saying charity begins at home. If only I could find it in the Bible. But I don't. Not that I don't believe we should practice charity at home.

We should. But there'll be no problem with you doing that. Because most of you will not end up on the mission field for a long time. I hope that some will. But when I think of the comparisons, it's just staggering Afghanistan for believers among 13 million.

I challenge anyone anywhere to come up and try to compare any need with that. Or do we believe perhaps that these are subhuman people? It's only the Aryans sort of a Hitler theology the white-faced boys the Anglo-saxons who Deserve the best and throw the bones to the rest of the world.

That's what we've done Evangelistically speaking and as the cream of most of our universities ends up in the big industrial jobs of Britain. We send off a few Bible school boys to evangelize the world.

Most of whom do not have that which it takes to lead and to evangelize and to conquer. We need people in the mission field as well with the brains with the equipment with the natural ability. Anointed from God to do the task.

I think those of you who have received gifts from God and natural abilities and something upstairs Need to pray and make sure it's on the altar and it's going to be really used for God. That could be an industry.

I Believe God wants to call spirit-filled men in every area of society. I don't separate the secular from the sacred. Some of the most dedicated men. I know are in business. Personally I prefer to be known as a businessman than a clergyman.

But the neglected aspect today is not the business world. The neglected aspect today is Afghanistan Turkey Iran North India, Nepal. I was speaking at the main pastors conference in Nepal. We had seven pastors in the whole nation.

Maybe eight one or two weren't there. Hundred and fifty believers among ten million people. Can you picture London beloved? Ten million people with seven pastors in a hundred and fifty believers. What would London be like so you can know what it's like in Nepal?

But where are those who will go? They say it's a closed country. We've had gospel and educational book exhibits everywhere right under the King's nose. Right in the streets in the biggest universities, we're showing gospel moody science films all over the place.

Closed countries. If I could only find the verse about this closed country business I'm willing to believe anything I find in here. But we don't find. That's why we believe in invading closed countries with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

That's why we're in Turkey. Praise God for those Oxford students enrolled in the University of Turkey one of them getting his PhD in the University of Turkey. We don't have any Cambridge men there yet.

I never want to compare Cambridge with Oxford. It's not good politics. But I'm concerned about Turkey and the University of Kabul and the University of Tehran and the University of Shiraz and the University of Beirut and the University of Paris in Austria in Vienna and all these schools if The Mormons can all get two years of their life almost all of.

Do you think one year for you? Would set you back that far in your professional goals. Are you willing to give God at least one year in? Militant Christian service to see if perhaps that is not his plan.

And if you go back from that in the industry in the business in the research, I believe you'll be a better man for it. We've had some do this already and they've testified that this has been a blessing.

This is enabling them now to pray for missions to give to missions and To see that this is not a job for just a little woman's sewing circle in the church. This is the task of the whole church of all of us together.

We believe in world evangelism. Read this little book. Go you means you and you will see what I mean. This is our declaration. There are many other things we emphasize about 200. Maybe more. Because we believe we should declare the whole Council of God.