Op World 4 Wednesday 1982 — George Verwer

We regret that some mains interference broke through into this recording whilst the original was being made in the marquee. It has been reduced as much as possible by filtering, and we hope you can obtain blessing in spite of the unpleasant noise.

Here now is George Verwer.

Persevering in the Vision and the Christian Faith

Now let's continue on with some of these basic principles of perseverance. We're assuming, because this is a series of messages, and we hope if you haven't been here that somehow you'll get the series, otherwise you can't really follow it very well, and we're assuming that you've caught the vision to move.

You've understood Acts 1 -8, you're a fulfillment of Matthew chapter 9, and you're beginning to move. And our burden in sharing with you these principles of perseverance is simply that you may keep on moving.

So when we meet you 10 years from now, 20 years from now, you're still moving. Actually I've had the opportunity to meet quite a few people, not in comparison with the total number, but quite a few in general, and it was a blessing last night to meet a sister I don't think I've seen in 15 or 20 years.

She was on OM in 1963, and she shared how this was a turning point in her life. And I believe Operation World, for many of you, is going to be a turning point in your life. You might want to even say that, if it's true, on that little piece of paper.

You can even give it in tomorrow night. This is a turning point in my life. I need prayer. Because I tell you, when you turn away from some of the things of the world, and some of the very subtle, softening type of lukewarm Christianity of our day, and you start moving in the flame of God's love, the enemy hates it.

We've already brought that out, and you will need prayer. I'm convinced very, very much that if you will take seriously these principles we've been sharing, that is going to enable you to persevere, to run and keep on running for Jesus.

And then I can meet you 20 years from now. I'll be pretty old then. I'm not going to tell you how old, but we can have a reunion. And you'll say, you know, it was in Operation World, in Chester, that God, not yourself, God turned the direction of my life.

Reviewing the First Six Principles

We've already covered some of the principles. Let me review them. We've talked about, number one, knowing you're accepted and forgiven. Number two, we've talked about casting every care, constantly, constantly, upon the Lord.

1 Peter 5, 7. Number three, we've talked about making God our goal. God, God-centered living, God-centered evangelism. Number four, we've talked about learning how to be heard. Do you know that amazing book, Where Is God When It Hurts?

That's a great book. And then, number five, we talked about the reality of praise and thanksgiving. I had such a great time this morning. I hardly slept a single wink last night, because my body clock is still out in Colorado.

So I finally, boy, it gets light early. About four of them looked out the window on the bus, sleeping there on the bus, and it was light out. So I put on my flipzles, about five o 'clock. I just had a time of praise around the wall.

You can just have very good jogging, especially five in the morning. You don't want too many people. You can go right around. This is a beautiful city. What a privilege you have living in this city. A walled city must just be constantly thinking of Joshua, living here in this city.

And oftentimes, I find it hard to pray in a stuffy room. I like to get outside in the woods, and I like to have a prayer walk. I got inspired to do that through Oswald J. Smith. He always prays marching around his office.

He's been marching around for 70 years. I mean, not the same office. It'd be a hole in the floor. So I just walked and praised and worshipped the Lord. And then I went back, and I finally did get an hour or two of sleep before my next meeting.

The reality of praise and thanksgiving. And then we ended last night with talking number six, that God is easy to live with. And his love, his care for us, his mercy, his grace, his forgiveness. The way he meets us when we fall flat on our face.

The Rest of Faith as a Way of Life

All right, let me share a few other points, because we want to be a little brief for tonight. Allow time for a break, get some of the literature, and then have prayer together. So number seven, learning the reality of the rest of faith.

Now I really got excited when I came across, in full intensity, Hebrews chapter four. Have you meditated on that chapter? Where it speaks, it's a paradox, labor to enter into that rest. And for some years, I preached the rest of faith.

Some of you have heard some of those old tapes as sort of a crisis experience. I used to give invitations for people to come into the rest. Then a couple of theologians took me to task. I started to think about this and wrestle with some of the theological implications of the chapter.

I'm more convinced now that this is a way of life. There is a sense that, of course, coming into the rest speaks of salvation. And some seem to argue that way. Some argue for it being some second experience.

I don't want to get into that tonight, but I just want to say this. I don't care how you get it, just get it. It's what Billy Graham says about the work, the reality, the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit.

You see, there's a great danger after this conference. There are many dangers when you come and get an exposure as you're getting here. All day long, some of you. There's a danger that you're going to run out of here and try to do an awful lot of things in the energy of the flesh.

Now, of course, all of us, in our effort to live for God and to allow the Holy Spirit to work, there will always be some things that are part of what I call the human factor. I'm just longing to write a new book and call it The Human Factor.

I'm thinking about this. Lo and behold, I looked in Smiths the other day and a secular book has just come out. And guess what it's called? The Human Factor. Anyway, I probably never get around to writing a book because of my human factor, of procrastination and lack of discipline and a few other things.

But it does disturb me that Christian spiritual people often become very black and white in their thinking. They either think on any particular day, they're all in the spirit or they're all in the flesh.

Most of us live quite a few days a bit mixed. In that we're probably basically walking with the Lord, but there are times during the day because we're human, because the devil's clever, because of other basic reasons, the deception of our own hearts, we do things that are in the gray area and, of course, sometimes even in the black area.

The Human Factor in Christian Living

You know, God is not just concerned about your actions. He is concerned about your reactions. He's not just concerned about your outward activities. He's concerned about your disposition. How's your disposition?

And sometimes we can have a big smile, a big evangelical smile. Praise the Lord, brother. Oh, so good to see you. How do you feel? Oh, fine, yes. And inside there can be crocodiles and snakes and cobras.

And we're really in a very, very foul mood. Sunday morning can be the most miserable morning of the week as we have, especially if you're a family, the kids don't really want to go to church. Everybody would like to sleep in.

I got to bed late Saturday night. And yet this is the Lord's day. This is Sunday morning. We're running around the house. Somebody's gobbling down his cereal and somebody else can't find her dress. And somebody else is running, trying to scratch up a little money for the offering.

And you finally pile in the car and you're driving off to church. Your nerves are frayed. You know, you're going to break bread. You're praising the Lord. Have mercy on me. And somebody cuts you off and the car breaks down.

What do you do when that happens? You hear this tremendous sound in the back. Boom, the tire. And then, you know, some people like the second blessing. Boom, the second tire. You say, now, family, let's just thank the Lord for this experience this morning.

And son, you change that tire. Daughter, you change that tire. I'm going down here, have a cup of tea and I'll be back after a little while. No matter how spirit-filled you are, there will still be in your life the human factor.

A spirit-filled man that has ever lived, that I have ever read about, I admit I have limited knowledge, very limited, but I've read about a few, a few hundred actually, they have human factors. They say dumb things at times.

They get in the flesh. They make mistakes. And young person, it is absolutely essential that you don't go away from here thinking you're going to live on some hyper-super-spiritual plane every day from now on.

There are going to be those difficulties. There's going to be that human factor. Of course, our desire is always to be as close to Jesus as possible. To keep other aspects of biblical truth in mind or in balance.

Accepting God's Pattern of Spiritual Growth

Well, let's move on. Number eight, accepting God's growth pattern. Have you seen Lane Adams' amazing book, Why Is It Taking So Long To Get Better? I don't know if I can find any more copies of that book.

But if I can, I'll be happy to send you one as a gift. Put it on your feedback paper. Send me that book. If you feel you'll read it, you need that book, you're asking that question to yourself, why is it taking so long to get better?

To be more spiritual. Have you ever become impatient with your spiritual growth rate? The next time you become impatient with your spiritual growth rate, go out into a nearby woods and watch a tree grow.

Just sit there, take some sandwiches, and just sit there and just watch this tree grow. You can imagine you're walking in the woods, you come up and there's a tree, and you see a little fellow there with his Bible and sandwiches, and you say, hello, what are you doing?

And he says, oh, I'm just watching this tree grow. You might want to get somebody on the phone for him. Yet trees grow. And some of you need to stop worrying about your growth. Your growth, you stay in the word, you won't put Jesus in openness and brokenness and just press on in the very basics that you found in the New Testament.

You'll grow. Stop worrying about it. I am convinced that every Christian is growing at a different rate. Now, if you're growing super fast, you may be a little careful because you know what grows fast?

Weeds. And I think, in the long run, pacing ourselves, pacing ourselves. Growing. Some of you want to go off to India next week. You're ready to go. You're in a challenge of India. You've been looking for two days trying to find the thing on a map.

You've never looked at a map before, and you're ready to go to India. That's not God's way. You need to get into the word. You need to wait upon God. You need to grow stronger in the faith, in your understanding of God, in your knowledge of His way and of His word.

And then, as you learn to walk with Jesus in your own home area a little bit, maybe in a nearby country, then in God's time, He can lead you to the next step. I believe it's a great mistake to base too much of our missionary movement on feelings, on experiences.

I believe we need to use those minds that God has given us. It's wonderful we're all willing. That should be true of every spirit-filled disciple of Jesus. But in many cases, the Lord is not going to lead people out to some of these countries.

Accepting God's growth pattern. Philippians 1, 6, That which He has begun in you, He will continue. Basically what that verse says. The Navigators. Oh, I love the work of the Navigators. How many of you have been encouraged or helped at some time in your life by the Navigators?

That is amazing. They always looked like a rather slow operation when people first watched them. Looked like a bit of a tortoise operation. You know, slow and steady. Slow and steady. Discipling individuals.

They disciple other individuals. What an army they have across the world. Discipling individual people. No one can measure the influence of the Navigator movement. They have a lot of great material. I'm sorry they weren't able to put a display here.

They're probably all out. They have a display. I didn't see it yet, so go see their display. But they didn't used to have these displays. They used to be too busy. Discipling individuals. They're not going to put up any displays.

We're out discipling. We're out. Now they're putting up a few displays. Well, it's spiritual balance. But they've got some tremendous courses. You can get into their Bible study courses. You can get even Bible memory verses.

And all kinds of materials to help you grow. We were in a missions conference together. Navigator man and myself together in Cornwall just before I went on this last trip. And I was amazed at the material they have to help people grow.

You know that verse in Peter? Grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. One of the greatest books that can help you along that line is Ralph Shallis' book, From Now On. How many of you have read that book?

It's been widely circulated lately. It's available in that special bargain pack. I think it's free in that pack. We've got quantity of that book. I think we'll cut the price in half just for tonight. That book is being used of God in about seven or eight languages.

Discipline, Freedom, and an Ordered Life

The book on growth. Growth. All right, let's move on. I put here number nine, The Freedom of a Disciplined and Ordered Life. We talked the other night about that book by Raymond Edmond on discipline. They're all gone.

But Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones' book on discipline and it's almost an encyclopedia on the spiritual life is now available again. Many of you could not get it. Some more copies have arrived. That book on dealing with spiritual depression.

And the chapters on discipline and dealing with feelings. They're just tremendous. You know, Lloyd-Jones had this practice of talking to himself. This is really good. Some of you ever find your body's always sort of wanting to do things that really your mind is saying, that's not on for today.

And Lloyd-Jones had this practice of talking to the body. Paul said, I buffet my body and bring it into subjection lest after preaching to others I become a reprobate. If Paul had to say that, what about the rest of us?

People sometimes say to me, that often people that know me say, are you still jogging? And they heard, you know, five years ago, ten years ago. You know, when you're younger, you all expect when you're younger in the exercise thing.

But I mean, everybody gets that up. I mean, that's a pain in the dick of it. Jogging, running around, unless you have an infatuation for running. I have an infatuation for running away from running. And they seem to be surprised when they say, you know, when I say, well, yeah, I still jog.

They say, when did you start this exercise thing? I say, well, about 24 years ago. You've been doing it almost every day for 24 years? I say, yeah, that's no big deal. I say, you eat every day.

You get the same thing with a quiet time. You have a quiet time every day? Isn't that bondage? You know, it's a long time ago now.

Oh, and they get into quiet time bondage. You know, they all get up early in the morning. They sort of have to study their Bibles. Wow, this is really bondage. We need to be set free from this. You get that same person, eh?

You have breakfast every morning, huh?

Ah, bondage, breakfast bondage. You go to the toilet every day, huh? You need deliverance. Maybe I have a prayer over here for you.

Basic. We don't talk about whether you're going to do it every day or every other day. They're basic. You just do them. And I think when we're born again and we know Jesus, that communion with Jesus is basic.

And we just do it whether we feel like it or not. And I think today, in this generation, where often we don't get so much exercise because of the automobile and because of a lot of other modern contraptions.

Soon churches in America will bring the preachers in, many of them overweight, on conveyor belts. You know, these churches are big. It's an enormous strain. He has to walk all the way from his car to the pulpit.

He could have a heart attack. And it's been one of the things I've at times disliked, getting daily exercise. And yet it's been one of the things that's helped me the most. It's not a total answer. No one of these things is a total answer.

Do this and your Christian life will be fine. No, it's part, part of the answer. I find it a help because when I'm more awake, I can study the Bible more diligently. Some people find that it helps them to exercise early in the morning.

Other people may do it some other time in their life. Freedom of a disciplined and ordered life. It's not bondage, it's freedom. If you discipline your time, you discipline your eating, you discipline different areas of your life, you have more free time.

I have free time to do a lot of the things I want to do. Including once in a while, play a little game of tennis. Or take my children out and just do some, run around with my daughter's dog. I'm convinced that so many have been wiped out in the long run in the spiritual race because as a young Christian, they never learned to discipline their life.

We're free. Some of you like certain sweets. This is a nation of sweet tooths. Never seen so many sweets for sale in any other nation. I don't believe it's just in these shops for display. Somebody must be eating all this stuff.

Entire shops dedicated to sweets. And I've talked to a number of dentists. I have a Christian friend who's a dentist. He's trying to get me weaned off Coca-Cola. That's still one of my weaknesses. I'm trying to get off that stuff.

But it's so important to realize we are free. But it seems to me that in a lot of these areas, 9 out of 10 times, we ought to say no. And the 10th time, maybe just if it'll help you relax, or if you're getting uptight about something, all right, go get your ice cream, go buy your little chocolate bar.

But if we could learn something about moderation, something about self-control. Imagine all the money we could pour into world missions if we just cut corners. An Indian brother in the United States is challenging people to give up all their soft drinks.

Coca-Cola and all these things. Every time they're about to spend money on that, it's getting more and more expensive. Dedicate that money to gospel literature. And a lot of people are doing it. Moderation, discipline, the ordered life can have a direct effect on whether the gospel is ever taken to the ends of the earth.

Don't become neurotic. Don't become legalistic. Don't become critical and judgmental of others. But realize what it is to have your body controlled by your mind, and by the word, and by what you sense the Holy Spirit wants you to do, rather than by its appetites.

Refueling Through Rest and Spiritual Balance

Oh, I hope we learn something about that. And then number 10, learning to refuel. You notice that some of these basic principles balance off other principles. I've seen people who somehow don't know how to refuel.

Do you know what I mean by that? Refuel. We're human beings. We run out of energy. Mentally, we can be drained. And our spiritual life and our physical life are closely related. Some people think they have a spiritual problem, and it's a physical problem.

I had a beautiful letter today from a very, very weak believer who's had a lot of emotional problems. She was in one of my meetings about two weeks ago, and she thanked me for having compassion in my message on people with emotional difficulties.

I don't remember what I said, but over the years, the Lord has shown me that some people are just much more emotionally weak, and they need to accept that and not get so guilty and not think it's all spiritual.

Some people go into a depression that proves later on to be basically physical. We know there is spiritual depression. We know often there's a combination of spiritual and physical. That's very hard to discern.

But I find, try to follow me on this. Easily in the church, we make everybody feel guilty without giving them any really down-to-earth answers as to what to do with all that guilt. And it's my burden that we may understand what it is to really accept ourselves, to face up to our limitations.

I believe I would have destroyed myself and my family and a lot of other people if I hadn't faced up not only to my limitations, but the results of those limitations, things I have to live with because of my limitations.

I got neurotic about that statement that was made to D .L. Moody. You remember the statement someone said to Moody? The world has never seen a totally dedicated man. That hit me like a truck. My type of temperament and commitment, I want to be a totally dedicated man.

I was straining, it's a miracle, you know, I didn't just pop. And I was not living a restful, I was not living a restful life. Spiritual balance is not optional, my friend. Spiritual balance is absolutely essential.

As wings on an airplane so balance on a committed believer and keeps him in the right direction. You go over to the airport in Liverpool or Manchester and you see just a body of a plane going down the runway.

Get out of the way. I know for some people this is not a problem because there's nothing to balance. There's nothing to balance. They've never put their life on the line. They've never been filled with God's Spirit.

They've never really dedicated themselves to Jesus and to his great commission. That would be like going to an airport and see two wings going down the runway with nothing in between. That would really be interesting sight.

You see it, you'd be sure to send me a photo. It's got to be both. The commitment, the zeal, the love, the passion. Then the balance. Somebody says, but I can't find the word balance in my New Testament.

Now there's a word they use in the New Testament instead of the word balance. You'll find it a lot of times. It's spelled L-O-V-E. Try Galatians 5 .22. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, temperance, meekness.

Against such there is no law. We don't ever have to talk about balance again. You get that Holy Spirit, that fruit, falling in your life, and I believe as you stay faithful to the Word of God in obedience, you'll be balanced.

Balance is simply just a modern term to try to help people understand the great principles of this revolution of love. When we face up to this reality, then we learn to refuel. For some it's a walk in the woods.

For some it may be some music. For some it may be a one-month total holiday just getting away and reading. Some people are just greatly relaxed when they read. Reading doesn't relax me so much. I respond very intensely to what I read.

I start crying out if I hit something hot in a book. I start crying out. When I have a night of prayer, I want to immediately go out, grab somebody, and share what I've just read. I can relax more easily just watching maybe a good film.

Fellowship, Honesty, and Christian Friendship

You know, what's that film? You know, the girls dancing all over the hills. I haven't seen it in a long time. The Sound of Music, yeah. Number 11, fellowship. Have you had some real fellowship in these days with people?

Boy, I think that's one of the purposes of Operation World. You know, initially I wasn't too impressed with this Operation World idea, even though it was O .M. that started it. Because I felt this kind of thing is lopsided.

People get all caught up, all these world evangelists and nuts. You know, every meeting, you know, India, China, then one minute you feel you're called to China, the next minute you're called to the Sudan.

Then another guy comes in and makes you all feel guilty if you're not traveling in a truck in the back of North Africa. So, you know, this can really be lopsided. And O .M. does get very lopsided at times, I can assure you.

But as I talk to people involved in Operation World, I realize though they wanted to present world evangelism and they wanted to present missions, their burden was also for spiritual health. That's my burden.

You get your life on the line. You know the fullness and the reality of the Holy Spirit. You get right with Jesus and walking day by day with Him, and then He can guide you far more as to where you should be working.

The first step is not geography, it's reality. And that's why in these evening meetings we're not mainly talking about all these different countries. Yes, we're doing that, but we're focusing on how to live the Christian life, how to keep on keeping on, how to be a witness, how to be a missionary the rest of your life.

That's our first burden. And part of that is the need to emphasize fellowship. Taking the mask off, being real. Some of you are never going to get more victory in your Christian life until, because your problem is quite serious, you've tried various ways to get more victory until you get that mask off and you're honest about where you really are.

It's easy as a Christian, a supposedly keen Christian, to pretend you're living up here when you know you're living down here. And God wants to just take that mask off. It doesn't mean you have to jump up in front of your old church, you know, and air out all of your problems, but you can have some people that you're walking in the light with, you're fellowshipping with, you're praying regularly with.

I pray that when you leave here, you will find a prayer partner and a share partner, maybe more than one, that you can, you know, pray together about these things, and share together. Because it's just so basic in the Christian life.

I can't tell you how much fellowship has meant in my Christian life. And long-term friendship. God will give you long-term friends. He who wants friends, let him show himself friendly. Let's start taking the initiative.

It's not a matter of sitting in your home on Saturday night, nobody loves me.

Little Sally sitting up, nobody's asked me on a date in the last 25 years. Take the initiative. Take the initiative. Now, that doesn't mean little Sally picks up the phone, says, you know, how about it, how about it, Joe?

Some of you are already doing that.

I'm talking about fellowship. But I believe a lot of people are lonely because God's people don't know the way of fellowship. I praise the Lord for some of the newer movements that have an emphasis on fellowship, greater emphasis on relationship and fellowship.

It may be true that some have gone extreme. But I think it was also true that so many churches have been frozen into a formalism that does not lead to life-giving fellowship and relationship. And praise God, many, many established long-standing churches have understood this and incorporated more fellowship into their own church.

Many major churches, I'm talking about even Anglican churches, Baptist churches. Now, once a month, some once a week, they also have house fellowship groups where people can get to know one another. Then on Sunday, they come all together in the church.

A number of churches have experienced revival and blessing through putting a greater emphasis on the small group. Tonight, we're going to be praying in small groups. We're going to be sharing. And I believe that God wants to give us new friends that are going to stick with us the rest of our life.

Keeping a Positive and Biblical Mindset

I pray He'll do that. And then number 12, keeping a positive attitude. Philippians 4, 8, thinking of that which is pure and good and lovely. Take that verse, memorize it, hide it in your heart. It's so easy to be a negative thinker.

I wonder if any of you are sort of naturally negative. You just naturally just tend to see the negative side of things. Any of you like that? Any of you? Raise your hand. Let me tell you something. You're going to have a really rough life.

You're going to have a really hard time. Life for you is going to be bad. You better think of something drastic. Now, before it gets worse, it's going to get worse. I don't like to be negative. I just got that same bend, you see.

I'm going to tell you what you need to do. Whatever you do, whatever it costs, start becoming positive. I have to force myself. I can see I'm so easily negative. Every day I see negative things. I step on one of our ships, immediately I see 5, 10, 15 negative things.

I see an old book table. I don't see all the good books.

I immediately see the books that aren't there. Somebody said to me, boy, when it comes to book tables, you're a hard man.

Hyper-idealism combined with a lot of other funny things. Wow. And God has been teaching, I'm still learning, be positive, be positive. And I have to do it as an act of the will. It doesn't just fall out of the tree.

There's not a little tree outside my house when I walk under, a little baptism of positiveness falls on me. I have to appropriate it by faith. Lord, help me to see the bright side. There's 88 things wrong with this, brother Lord.

I'm sure there's something right. Where's my microscope? You know, being positive actually creates energy and being negative actually drains you physically. I believe that. I read in a book, I also believe it.

Fixing Our Eyes on Jesus in the Race of Faith

And then very quickly, a couple of other things that were closed, remain constant in the word and prayer. We've already dealt with that. We won't go into it more. 14, keep active in his service with your eyes on him.

Hebrews chapter 12, running the race with your eyes fixed upon Jesus. So easy to get introspective. So easy to look at the circumstances and get discouraged. Look at other people and get disappointed.

Look at yourself and get depressed. Three D's of the downhill to the doldrums. Learn to look at Jesus. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in his wonderful face. Even at the most depressing moment, Jesus is reaching out.

Family Responsibilities and Persevering in Balance

And then number 15, don't neglect your family. Some of you I think during these days need to write a letter to your mother or your father. And then number 16, in everything, let's keep the balance. Now for many of you, these things are just very, very basic.

You may have heard it many, many times. But I've had a few thousand letters and feedbacks over the past years that indicate that many of God's people somehow haven't got down to really putting these principles into practice.

I'm amazed when people write me a note. I'm 80 of the time ministering away from OM and churches. I'm amazed I get so many notes. People say, you know, I never saw these things before. I never understood spiritual balance before.

So many people have written and thanked me for some of the simplest little basic biblical truths. I just, I just, I stand amazed. And I believe that some of you, as you take these basic principles of perseverance, survivalship, the word we coin, is going to revolutionize your life.

Prayer for Perseverance, Balance, and Faithfulness

So that as you make this big turn in your life, you will keep on keeping on. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for so many principles in your word. We thank you how one strong, seemingly extreme truth brings another strong, extreme truth into balance.

We don't want to compromise. We don't want to reject strong truth. But Lord, we want to know balance. We want to know what it is to be able to run the race through difficulties and trials and setbacks and heartaches and problems.

We believe, Lord, that you can deliver us. But we believe that unless we follow up what you may do in our hearts through crisis by your process, that somehow we'll end up on a dead end street. So by your grace, we will appropriate these principles.

We know you're working in different lives in different ways. And we're trusting you. In Jesus' name, amen.