Gv in Holland Overlevingskansen (2) (Eng to Dutch) — George Verwer

Forgiveness in the Midst of Wounds

I don't believe in waiting for people to come and apologize. That's the world. That's the world. Oh, if he apologizes, well, maybe I'll forgive him. The love of Christ is forgiving the man even as the wound is being inflicted.

At the very moment of the wound, forgiveness is coming out. Blessed though to persecute. Vengeance is mine, said God. Vengeance is mine, says the Lord. I think we know that verse. And then the fifth principle.

Praise and Thanksgiving in Every Circumstance

Learning the reality of praise and thank-giving. 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 16. In all things give thanks. Two nights ago in Bombay, I was speaking on the life of praise. Such an important principle. Everything's going wrong.

Nobody loves you. Your car's broken down. You owe so much money. They've just taken the television set back to the credit company. Just failed your exams at the university. What should you do? Worship the Lord.

Look at Habakkuk, the last chapter.

Look at Habakkuk, the last chapter. There you see some remarkable verses. All the way back in the Old Testament. Chapter 3. In verses 17, 18 and 19. That gives us a terrible picture. Even though the fig tree wouldn't bloom.

And there would be no harvest at the vineyard. Disappointing the fruit of the fig tree. The fields would have no food. The sheep would be driven out of the cows. No cattle in the stables. That's pretty bad.

I gave a paraphrase of this on the ship Lagos.

I gave a paraphrase of this on the ship Lagos. On the Logos. No money in the safe.

No books on the exhibition. The engine room is broken down. There are no men working on the deck. The captain has gone home. And there's no cars in the garage. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation.

I will joy in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation.

What a tremendous verse. Is that your life? Is that your mentality? Is that your attitude? When everything's going wrong? You'll rejoice in the Lord your God. In verse 19. The Lord God is my strength.

He will make my feet like Heinz feet. And he will make me walk upon mine high places to the chief singer of my stringed instruments. And oftentimes, God allows circumstances to bring us to a place where we depend on him.

That's where we learn to praise the Lord. Some of our people get put in jail. Just had two Dutch sisters in jail in Istanbul. That's sort of a normal part of the ministry in Turkey. That's the prison ministry.

And we find they really learn the life of praise when they're stuck in a Turkish jail. Of course, they usually aren't allowed to stay very long. Sometimes people start accepting Christ as their savior in the jail.

Praising the Lord. Not just in a group. That's wonderful. In our nights of prayer, we sometimes spend hours in praise and prayer. But also alone. Praising the Lord. Something we're driving in our cars.

The Rest of Faith and Spiritual Growth

We can be singing praises to God. Turn off some of that junk on the radio and just make your own songs. Then the sixth principle. The principle of the rest of faith. Mentioned over 13 times in the book of Hebrews, chapter 4.

There's a rest of faith. Let's look at that amazing chapter just for a few minutes. Hebrews, chapter 4. Look, for example, at verse 10. Read in Dutch.

This is a very important concept. The Christian life.

Is not an endless stream trying to be a dedicated Christian.

It's not a constant struggle to be devoted to God. But it's God working in us. I know some people go extreme on that. That's dangerous. It almost gives the idea that you become sort of an evangelical spiritual computer.

You just go to the right conference. You say the right phrases. Like putting in a computer card. And from then on it's just automatic spirituality. There is no such instant spirituality. You may have a crisis at a conference or in someone's ministry.

If that crisis is not followed by a process it will become an abscess. In English an abscess usually refers to a tooth that has gone completely rotten. And it usually means the tooth has to come out. And sometimes it takes that kind of surgery to get some of the spiritual poison out of our lives.

If we have had a crisis.

A great spiritual experience without the process the training in God's Word the growing in grace the walking in the Spirit daily.

And many other principles.

The rest of faith.

Is a basic principle. And I hope that you know it.

The seventh principle. Let's see what time it is here.

God’s Loving Character and Freedom from Legalism

Realizing that God is easy to live with. I read that also in a book by A .W. Tozer. It's a tremendous help to me because I still had to some degree a legalistic view of God. God knows me He's watching every action and He's watching every action and if I don't please Him.

He's going to judge me or He's going to let me get sick.

Hit me on the head. And sometimes people that I counsel they have a God with a big stick. Perhaps it's because their father had a big stick. We often transfer our view of our own father to our view of God.

Now I don't know how it is in the Netherlands these days when I came here 16 years ago.

In going in many homes I was a stern father and all the children.

They went off to church and Sunday we don't do anything on Sunday in this house and I counseled some of these young people. I said do you have any relationship with your father? Relationship with my father?

We don't speak to him and know so many young people.

In our generation have no relationship with their father. He's the big stern man with the big stick and yet after they lived for some years to their surprise they discovered their own father.

Wasn't quite the angel that he appeared to be. Quite a surprise to some discover their father is also a sinner. Praise God there's a little more reality in this generation.

Coming out.

We often have a false view of God. It's so hard to live the Christian life. It's not true. God is easy to live with. Because he loves us. He's quick to mark the simplest thing we do.

Out of sincere love to him.

Even a cup of cold water Given in his name brings a reward. Can you imagine how much more a cup of coffee will bring. And if we could only somehow get a greater view of God He knows all about us. Do you have trouble telling God about some of your problems?

I found that I had trouble telling God about a problem. I have real struggle with some of these magazines. Women has always been my weakness from age five. I was first in love at age five.

I remember standing outside of school I wasn't in school yet waiting for this girl to come and sharpen her pencil at the window.

Between then and when I was sixteen there were over thirty girls. And even after I became a Christian You know the way some people preach When you come to Christ Born again Filled with the Spirit. And after that everything is just wonderful.

When you go to the newsstand And there is a six-color pornographic magazine. There's no temptation. Just Bible verses. Come to your mind.

And I have discovered.

I can talk to God about my problems.

And I can confess them. Why should I hide what He already knows. Why am I afraid to say with my lips that which God already knows. Why am I afraid to say with my lips that which God already knows. It's so wonderful to know.

If we do fail the Lord. If we do sin. And it is sin to lust after. There's nothing wrong with a woman's body. But those women in those magazines. They're not yours. They're not mine. Most cases they already belong to somebody else.

And it is a big thing in Europe today.

The infiltration of pornography.

And its effect on the minds of this generation. And yet many young people will never talk about it. And so it gets worse. One hand they want to serve God. On the other hand they can't get free from lust and they get torn apart.

They don't understand God's ways. Then the ninth principle. The eighth principle.

God’s Patient Pattern of Spiritual Growth

Accepting God's growth pattern.

Philippians 1 ,6.

What He has begun He will continue to do. Now this is very important. Different people are growing in Christ.

At a different rate. We're not all the same. And I used to get so impatient Lord, why am I not getting stronger and growing spiritually quicker. And we can get very guilty. We see someone else.

Why, they're just two or three years in the Lord. And they've become so strong. Here we are, ten years. And we're chugging along.

And it's so important to see how God works in different ways in different people. And I am convinced. And this is brought out in a tremendous book by Lane Adams called Why Is It Taking So Long That if someone is emotionally unstable bad family background no proper love relationship with father and mother when that person is converted the process of true spiritual growth.

Is often very, very slow. And there will be relapses. And that person will need.

Extra care extra love to bring him through many years of spiritual therapy to a place of maturity and security in Christ. Some of the people that I've been working for I have figured it would take ten years to bring that man to a place of spiritual balance.

And some of my greatest and strongest leaders are men I started working with ten years ago when they were struggling failing and from very difficult backgrounds. In fact, if someone is really stable no great problems in their Christian life then I don't have much to do with it.

I just let them get going. I end up fellowshipping the people that are really, you know falling on their faces. And yet some of those also have become great witnesses and missionaries in God's work. People with all kinds of problems now being mightily used of God.

Discipline, Liberty, and Walking by Faith

Number nine. The freedom of a disciplined and ordered life. I think of Galatians chapter 5 verse 13.

We're called unto liberty. Only don't use the liberty as an occasion to the flesh. By love serve one another. Discipline is not the road to bondage. Discipline is the road to freedom. Now, I always have trouble getting out of bed.

I just love to sleep. In fact, I went up and laid down. In fact, I just laid down during the coffee break on my bed.

It is the grace of God that I managed to get back here. Because my body is still standing to the clock that it is now 4 o 'clock in the morning. I love to sleep And I can't get up early. And I found that really a problem in my life.

And therefore I wouldn't be able to get the time in prayer and in the word. So I acknowledge this weakness and made this a major goal in my life in an area of discipline and even got people to help me.

They ring on my doorbell until I come down and then go running out for a mile or so in the morning. Often in my Christian life I've had to practice 1 Corinthians chapter 9 Where Paul said He disciplined his body He buffeted his body lest after preaching to others he became a reprobate.

And I found this brought freedom I was more free.

To do what I wanted to do rather than be a slave of my own feelings and my own emotions. In OM we have many emphases.

But I think the one that so many young people have appreciated.

Is emphasis on self-discipline. It's a beautiful thing. And it produces strength of faith. It makes your character your personality stronger. That we live by faith.

And not by feelings. If the good feelings are there wonderful. But if they're not there we still go forward Tozer said.

Feelings are like music. It's like marching to music. We like to hear the band play when we're marching. But with or without the music we've got to keep on marching. With or without feelings in our life.

We've got to keep on living for Christ. That's the problem in many marriages. I thought the main thing in marriage was nice feelings. The Americans talk about vibrations. And I really feel your vibrations.

I think we ought to get married. We've got the same vibrations. Three years later. No more vibrations. They decide the divorce court. Marriage is not mainly feelings. They can be there. They often go up and down.

But a married couple in Christ with or without feelings they are committed to one another. Just as I am committed to Christ I don't always feel some emotional tingle about Christ. Sometimes he seems so far away.

And it all seems unreal. But I walk by faith. I am committed to Jesus Christ. And I am committed to my wife.

If suddenly she is paralyzed And cannot move from her bed Then I am committed to her. Recently I visited a woman Her husband is totally paralyzed from the neck down.

From his chest And his arms But to see her care for her husband. He was a strong navy commander.

Now he sits in that chair.

Paralyzed. And she loves him And serves him. And we need this kind of commitment in our lives In our relationship with Christ In our relationships with our wives and with one another.

That will take more than a guitar and a new chorus. It will take discipline. To fall into the ground.

And die. Of course if we die we bring forth much fruit.

Rest, Marriage, and Learning to Relax

And then just very quickly. The tenth principle. Learning to refuel and to relax. I had to learn this. I didn't find it easy to relax.

And I thought you always have to be doing something. Preaching, tract distribution, prayer, helping somebody. It's put a terrific pressure on my wife. My wife is a totally different temperament. I am very fast In almost everything.

She is very slow. Not in the wrong sense. Probably in a good sense. And it's good that her temperament is different. If you marry a person of the exact same temperament as yourself you're going to have real, real fireworks.

And I had to learn to understand her. Not think she was unspiritual. She didn't want to get up in the morning to do the exercise program.

We couldn't even walk down the street together. I'd walk and she's so slow. And I'd actually be pulling her along the road. Or I'd give out tracks on the corner waiting for her to catch up with me. And I don't know your experience.

But in marriage little things can become so big.

And I believe in being thrifty Taking care of money.

Don't waste anything. Now we drink a lot of tea.

And I feel out of each tea bag we should get at least four or five cups. And if you squeeze the bag on the side of the pot you get more tea. And then you can refill the pot. And my wife refuses to drink my tea.

And the second filling.

Now this may sound funny. This is a serious thing.

And I've accused her of being wasteful. I've accused her of being wasteful.

And she's accused me of being selfish. You know, it's often the little things where the devil gets in. When I pack my suitcase it takes about 15 minutes. I grab what I see I put it in and we put it together.

When my wife packs the suitcase she starts 20, 30 days in advance to draw up her plan. In advance She pretends to send the suitcase to the moon. And every item has its place. And I just look at this thing.

Is this a museum? I only say this. Because so often times after we get married we discover our partner is very different from ourselves.

And we've got to learn to adjust to bend to break. And it's linked to this thing of learning how to relax. And God had to slow me down. He had to shut me up. And teach me to just relax. Let your wife live her own life.

And you go take a walk. And I started to play tennis. A world league game. Wasting time. I could have been giving out tracks. I could have been going door to door. Here was George Wuer.

The director of OM playing tennis. People wanted to come and take movies. And I just so praise God I still have a lot to learn. And I praise God that He is so patient. And just a couple of other things.

Fellowship, Positive Thinking, and Active Ministry

Number eleven. Learning real fellowship and sharing. I'd like to talk about that a little more tomorrow. Real fellowship. Really being honest with people. It's so basic to survive. If we bottle it up It does not resolve the problem.

And then twelve. Developing a positive attitude. Philippians 4, 8. You may be a little like me. Tend to be a bit negative.

Bit cynical. And there can be no place for that in God's work. We need to develop a positive attitude Even in the midst of great negative situations. Thirteen, remaining constant in the word and prayer.

That of course we know. And fourteen Make sure you're active in the work of God. There's nothing wrong with being busy in God's work. It's often when people are just sitting around Nothing to do. That the devil gets them occupied.

And I think it's so tremendous When young people Even in the summer. So many people get in trouble in the summer. Can launch out and serve Jesus Christ. And we've seen so often Young people who have a head filled with Bible knowledge.

No reality. Until they begin to step out And serve the law. And we need that If we're going to survive. The enemy's attacks And the pressures. Fiery darts of Satan. Well, you've been very, very patient.

And so many of you taking notes. This is very encouraging. Unless you're writing love letters to your girlfriend. Trust God to give us a great day tomorrow. Let's just pray Lord, I thank you for these principles.

Prayer for Forgiveness and Perseverance

From your word.

I thank you for forgiveness above all else That when we fail With our eyes or our tongue Or our disposition You forgive us.

You don't throw us away You love us.

And we just breathe.

In this love tonight Turn away from all that's not from you And we embrace you and your cross And your life Through Jesus Christ Our Lord Amen.