In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the urgency and responsibility of sharing the gospel with every person in the world. He highlights the importance of not just meeting physical needs, but introducing people to eternal life with God. The speaker also mentions the opportunity to serve and learn together in a Christian multicultural community, specifically on a ship ministry. He references Matthew 6:7, where Jesus teaches about prayer and warns against babbling like pagans, emphasizing the need for sincere and focused prayer.

And it is really a privilege for me to be here. I'm from South Africa and I've been on the ship Logos 2 since October 1992. And I have a family, I've got three daughters, their ages are 10, 7 and 4. And if anybody says to us, where is your home? We have to say, it's on a ship. And that confuses some of the officials in our world, but really that is our home. I want you just to imagine with me a little bit this morning what it is like to come on a two-year program on Logos 2. Logos 2 is one of two ships that Operation Mobilization has. It's got Logos 2 and a Dulos. Now some people say, why Logos 2, where's Logos 1? Logos 1 ran aground on some rocks at the tip of South America in the beginning of 1988. Nobody was injured, we praise the Lord for that. And the Navy of Chile have kept the ship on the rocks as a beacon to warn other ships of the rocks that are there. But for us it is a beacon that the gospel has been taken to at least some of the ends of the earth. You can't go further south than the tip of South America. But I want you to imagine if you live on board the ship for two years, you live with some 200 people from 40 different nationalities. Now maybe you find it difficult to live in the same house as your sister or your brother, who are the same culture, who speak the same language. Can you imagine sharing your room with somebody who maybe is Spanish-speaking and who has a completely different culture to you? A wonderful experience for some. But a tremendous opportunity to work alongside people from some 40 different nationalities, learning that the way we eat is not necessarily the right way. It's not the only right way. I try to teach my children to eat correctly, but they look around the room and they see people eating with all kinds of different hands, all kinds of different instruments, even chopsticks. But in those two years you're not just living with 40 different nationalities, but you travel to some 11 different countries and having the opportunity together with ship people to go and visit churches like this one, to meet with local Christians in their home, to have local Christian leaders come and share on the ship what it's like to be ministering in that country, what are some of the problems in that community. And you begin to realize that God is maybe a little bit bigger than just the situations that you've known, that God is the God of the whole world, that God is at work in Sudan, that God is at work in Korea, that God is at work the length and the breadth of the world. Also you begin to realize that maybe there are a lot more people who need to know about Jesus that you never knew existed before, even within your community. We went to Spain just recently, and we were told that of the people in the city of Vigo, something like nearly half a million people, if you want to see Bible-believing born-again Christians, it numbers just a little bit more than a thousand. And maybe you can't even imagine that in such a large city, so few who claim to know and to serve Jesus and believe the Word of God. But you get to know some of these needs around the world. During those two years while you're on the ship, over one and a half million people come just to visit. Because on the back of the ship we have a book exhibition with a lot of educational books as well as a lot of Christian books. Now that might not be so exciting for Vancouver because you have a lot of book shops where you can buy just about any book you want to. But most of the countries we go to, people do not have access to good educational books. People do not have access to good Christian literature. And many people come to see the books, to buy educational books, and also to buy Christian books. And every single one of those one and a half million people who come to visit the ship in those two years receive gospel literature. And many of them buy a Bible. The Bible is still the best seller of all the books that we've had and have on board. Also you have opportunities to go and visit prisons and hospitals and schools. You have the opportunity of going door to door with the local churches in the communities we visit. You have the opportunity of just going to the street and having an open air meeting. I've been able to share the reality of Jesus with those in the communities we go to. And so in those two years maybe through your involvement and through the prayers and support of your church, this ministry touches more than three million people in just two years. Now that is an exciting ministry to be a part of. And that is really my privilege and the privilege of my family. And we long to share this ministry with you. And that is why we are planning to come up the west coast of North America in 1996. We hope that some of you will take the opportunity to come for a week or a week and a half to come and work on the ship while the ship is in port. Come and just taste what it is to be part of this incredible Christian multicultural community. To have some of the discipling and missions training that is on board. To be able to learn what it means to chip rust. Paint. Wonderful job. Peel onions for 200 people. Wonderful job. But these are some of the real issues of what it means to live for Jesus and to be able to learn and serve together. So I do trust that some of you will take that opportunity and maybe in years to come some of you might even come and live and work and serve with us for two years. Now I want to share a little bit from God's word and we will share a little bit more of the testimony of the ship's ministry as we go through the message this morning. I want you to turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6 and I am going to read from verse 7. This is the portion where Jesus is talking about prayer as part of the sermon on the mount. And verse 7 of Matthew chapter 6 Jesus says And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. This is how you should pray. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. May God help us as we look into His word a little bit more this morning. How many of you know this prayer? A few of you? Most of you? All of you? How many of you have prayed this prayer? Good. I was in a similar situation to our sister who shared her testimony this morning. I learnt this prayer long before I had the right to call God my Father. I learnt this prayer in school where we prayed it together with everybody else. But in many ways I was babbling like a pagan. They were words that were empty. Words that I had learnt with my head but did not understand with my heart. What does it really mean to pray the Lord's Prayer? It is very interesting to me that it begins as Jesus teaches us to pray. He does not say when you pray begin by praying give us today our daily bread. And yet for most of us that's where our prayers begin. We pray because we have need. And many times we only pray when we have need. And most of our prayers are selfish, praying because of what we think we need from God, what we would like God to do for us or give to us. But Jesus says when you pray it begins with who God is and what God wants. And that is true prayer. Beginning with God, the Father, the God Almighty, a Father who loves us, a Father who wants the best for us, a Father who knows what's best for us. And at the same time a Father who is in heaven, a heavenly Father, an almighty God, a Father whose love is never frustrated. Now I have three daughters and there are many times there are things I would like to do for them, things I'd like to give them but I do not have the resources to do that. And I'm frustrated in my love. But that's not true of our heavenly Father. He is all powerful and is able to do for us anything that is best for us if we will let Him. The only time God is frustrated is when we do not cooperate with Him, allowing Him to bless us as He wants to. But I want to look this morning more at verse 10, which to me is the heart of this prayer. How is God's name going to be hallowed? How is God's name going to be glorified? This whole purpose of the church, the purpose of our lives, to bring glory and honor to the Father. How is it going to happen? And here I believe in verse 10 is the key. As Jesus says, the heart of this prayer is your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. What does it mean to pray this prayer? What are the implications? If I'm going to pray this with my heart, what does it mean? First of all, the kingdom of God is not a place. The kingdom of God is not heaven. The kingdom of God is not something we look forward to when we die. When Jesus was on earth, the Pharisees questioned Him and said, what about the kingdom? And Jesus said, the kingdom of God, no one will say here it is or there it is, but in Luke 17 He says, the kingdom of God is among you. If you have asked the Lord Jesus to rule in your heart, if you have been born again of the Spirit of God, so that the Spirit of God is the one who reigns and influences you, when you have bowed the knee to Jesus as your King, then you have entered the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is that place, that situation, where Jesus is allowed to extend His rule and His will is done. So to pray your kingdom come, there are a number of things that it means. The first thing to me, as I understand this prayer, is if I'm going to pray your kingdom come, I'm saying, Lord Jesus, I want you to have complete control in and through my life. Lord Jesus, I want you to have complete control in and through my life. Now if you don't mean that, then you really cannot pray this prayer. It's no good just asking God to sort out the mess of other people's lives as they affect you, or to sort out the government or the community or whatever it is, because you can't get on with your life. To pray this prayer begins with, Lord Jesus, start with me. All that I am and all that I have is yours to do with what you want to do. What I do with my time, what I do with my money, where I spend my energy, the books I read, the places I go, the movies I watch. Lord Jesus, your will be done. It is a tremendous privilege to be part of a community of some 200 people and to see how people come to the ship with teaching that is not biblical and with attitudes that are not godly and to see how in the time God deals with us until we are brought to that point, humble before him and saying, your will be done, your kingdom come in my life. We have a gentleman on board who is, in his 50s, a Japanese man who was the regional director of the Christian Literature Crusade books throughout Japan. A godly man, an honoured man, a statesman among the churches of Japan. And yet he sends God saying, I want you to go to the ship Logos 2 and work in the kitchen. And this man for a year was committed to just peeling potatoes, cutting up salad, washing the dishes because he said, God has called me to come and work in the kitchen in a practical way. And for young people to come and see here an example of a godly man, a man who is respected by many of the Christian communities, a man who said, your will be done in my life, your kingdom come in my life. Is God given the freedom to rule in your life? Who decides for you? Lord Jesus or yourself? Prayer is not coming to God demanding of him what we want. Prayer is not us bursting into the throne room of God almighty and saying, God you promised, now you must do it. No. Prayer is humbling ourselves before him and saying, Lord Jesus, your will be done in my life. And it is only when we do that that we will begin to understand the will and the heart of God. It is only then that we will begin to know the power of God working through our life, changing not just our lives but the lives of others as well. And this brings me to the second implication of praying your kingdom come. Not just, Lord Jesus, I want you to have complete control in my life, in my family, in my church, but Lord Jesus, I am committed to prayer and spiritual warfare. There are some wonderful promises in the first letter of John. And in chapter 5 we have three of these promises. He says, first of all, I am writing these things to you who believe that you may know you have eternal life. One of the things we can be sure of is that as we believe in Jesus we have eternal life. Then a few verses later John says another thing you can know for sure is that if God hears your prayer you can know that as you have prayed according to his will you have what you have asked for. But then in verse 19 there is a third thing he tells us that we can know for sure which we would rather not know at all. He says, we know that this world is under the control of the evil one. The same assurance that you can have of eternal life, the same assurance that you can have that God hears your prayer, you can be assured that this world is under the control of the evil one. And if you are going to pray, Lord Jesus, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth, then you are declaring war against the one who is reigning in this world at this time. And the will of God cannot be accomplished in your life. The purposes of God cannot be accomplished through your church without prayer and spiritual warfare. Until we come against the forces of the evil one and in Jesus' name break his hold in the lives of individuals, over the community, we cannot accomplish the will of God. It is war to live for Jesus. We cannot expect to be comfortable in this world. If we are, it is because we have adapted to the world and we are probably worldly. We are to be effective in this world for the kingdom of God, bringing the influence and the control of Jesus into the circumstances and lives of others. Again, we have just recently been down the coast of Brazil. We came to one port, Salvador. The name means salvation. And yet on the streets there are idols. On the streets we come across sacrifices offered up to demon gods, evident wherever you go. On the sea there are little posies of flowers being sent off to the gods of the sea. Idolatry, witchcraft, wherever you look. The Christian community in that place, battling to live together with other Christians, division, discouragement because of spiritual opposites. And we had the tremendous privilege of going in there and seeing how God was able to bring together 5,000 people for an evangelistic meeting, something the churches never imagined was possible, as we saw the light of God breaking into the darkness in so many people's lives. Because people around the world have been praying. One of the tremendous privileges that we have is we see God using ordinary people. Somebody comes out of school, joins the ship, they have a little bit of training, they go to a school, they share their testimony, just like our sister shared today, and 20 people come to know Christ as a result. And we say, how is this possible? Because wherever we go we've got almost a quarter of a million people who are praying for the ship's ministry, praying that God's will will be done, and that Jesus would break into the lives of many people. And that is a tremendous privilege. Not many folk here know that much about OM, but it's an organization that at the moment is working in something like 81 different countries across the world, with almost 3,000 workers. And in the summer when we have short-term campaigns, it's got far more. But many folks say, how did it begin? And folks, as they think about the history of OM, go back to a man called George Verwer, who God converted him, brought him to Christ, and in a very short time he had evangelized his neighborhood, and he was taking teams to Mexico, and eventually began to spread across the Spain, to Spain, Portugal, and throughout Europe, and now in many, many, as I say, 81 different countries around the world. But if we are really to ask, where did OM begin? Where did Operation Mobilization begin? I believe heaven will show us that it began with an old lady who lived across the road from a high school in New Jersey, and she prayed that God would bring the students in that school to a knowledge of Jesus, and use them for world mission. And for 12 years this lady prayed. And then she began to pray very specifically for the biggest rebel in that school, and that was George Verwer. Prayed for him for 12 years. Gave him a Gospel of John. He read it, but it did not make that much impact on him. She continued to pray for him for three years, and eventually through a Billy Graham crusade, the power of the Gospel broke into his heart, and he came to know Jesus. The beginning of this organization began with Mrs. Klepp, a lady who prayed. Nobody saw it. The Father heard her pray. And I believe the real heroes of the Christian faith will not necessarily be the missionaries that we read of, will not necessarily be pastors we hear of, but will be those who quietly and in secret have committed their lives to praying, your kingdom come in my church, your kingdom come in my community, your kingdom come in my country, your kingdom come in the nations of the world, as it is in heaven. And unless you are willing to commit your life to prayer and spiritual warfare, then you should not pray this prayer, because that is what God intended for us, that we should pray that the power of heaven could break forth in the kingdom of darkness, and the extent of Jesus' kingdom, getting more and more in depth and in area, as we pray, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. During the last century, there was an organist who travelled around Europe, and there was no electricity, and there was no electronic organs in any way, and so wherever he went, he had a little boy who travelled with him, who used to pump the bellows, big leather bag, pump the bellows of the organ, so that there would be some sound. And one night in a cathedral, he really played well, and they had a bit of an interval, and the little boy came running around, he was about 10 or 11 years old, he came running around and he said to the organist, we are great tonight, aren't we? And the organist looked at this little boy and he said, and who is we? And this hurt the little boy, he went back behind the organ to the bellows, and after the break, the organist sat down at the keyboards, he dived into the keyboards, not a sound. And the little boy put his head around the corner, and he said, and who is we now? If the church of Jesus is not pumping the bellows of prayer, then it doesn't matter how many workers we send to the ends of the earth, the kingdom of God will not be established. Unless the church of Jesus is pumping the bellows of prayer, there will not be a change in the hearts of the nations that need to come tonight. So to pray this prayer means that I'm going to be committed to pray not just for myself, but for what God wants to do in my community and amongst the nations of the world. The third thing that it means to pray this prayer, I want Jesus to have complete control of my life, I'm committed to prayer and spiritual warfare. The third thing is, if I pray this prayer with my heart, it means that, Lord Jesus, I'm going to be actively committed to evangelism and world missions. I'm going to be actively committed to evangelism and world missions. How can you pray, Lord Jesus, your kingdom come on earth, and then ignore the command of the king himself, who said, make disciples of all nations. How can I pray, Lord Jesus, your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven, when I refuse to speak to my friend at school because I'm embarrassed. I don't want to break our friendship. I don't want to share with them about Jesus. I'm ashamed to speak for him on the bus, on the train, or wherever he might be. I'm not willing to give time, energy, finance, whatever it is in my life, that the kingdom of God is extended. If I pray this prayer with all my heart, I will be actively involved in evangelism and world missions. And it is a tremendous privilege to go to different communities and to be able to present the gospel of Jesus to people who even in cities where the church is reasonably strong, there are people who've never heard about Jesus. And that is discouraging in one way, because many times the church is just concerned for itself. And it waits for somebody else, from somewhere else, to come and meet the people who live next door to tell them about Jesus. But if I'm praying this prayer, and if I mean this prayer with my heart, if I'm concerned about the will of God, if I'm concerned about the kingdom of God, I will be actively involved in evangelism and world missions. Two years ago, I picked up a report from the chief executive officer of Coca-Cola International to the different shareholders of Coca-Cola. And I was really struck by what he said as he wrote his annual report. And I want to read it to you. Coca-Cola is the one name you can use just about anywhere in the world. You don't have to be able to speak Spanish, Italian, French, whatever. And you can ask for Coke and they know what you want. This is what he writes. All of us in the Coca-Cola family wake up every morning knowing that every single one of the world's 5.6 billion people will get thirsty that day. And that we are the ones with the best opportunity to refresh them. Our task is simple. Make Coca-Cola and our other products available, affordable, and acceptable to them, quenching their thirst and providing them with a perfect moment of relaxation. If we do this, if we make it impossible for these 5.6 billion people to escape Coca-Cola, then we assure our future success for many years to come. Doing anything else is not an option. Now, how should that really be? All of us in the Christian family wake up every morning knowing that every single one of the world's 5.6 billion people are doomed to destruction unless they hear of Jesus. And that we are the ones with the best opportunity to meet that need. Our task is simple. That the gospel of Jesus be made known and available to every single one of them. Not just giving them a perfect moment of relaxation, but introducing them to eternal life. Can you believe people give their lives not because they want to meet people's thirst, but because they want money. It's dollars that move Coca-Cola, not a real demand to meet the thirst of people. But that we can give our lives for something that is far better. Not just giving people a moment to quench their thirst, but eternal life. An abundant life with God. If we do this, if we make it impossible for this 5.6 billion people to escape the gospel of the Lord Jesus, then we will know the success of the church, the purpose of God for the church. How many of you would like to see Jesus return? How many of you? Today? You don't want to get married first, or have children, see your grandchildren, whatever? There are a lot of Christians who would be disappointed if Jesus came today, because we are not living for the kingdom of God. We are living for ourselves. But there's one thing that's got to happen before he can return. In Matthew chapter 14 verse 24, Jesus said, until this gospel of the kingdom has been preached amongst all nations, he says, then the end will come. When that has happened, then the end will come. And to me, I am so excited about being part of God's missionary arm, the privilege of meeting people who do not know Jesus. Because in Revelation chapter 7, we are told that in the end, all that God has envisaged, if you want to look at those verses, Revelation 7 9 and 10, and I'll end with this, as we look at this, the kingdom of God will extend among every nation, every tribe, every language. In Revelation chapter 7, as God gives John a vision of what heaven is going to be like, he sees all the Jews who have come to know Christ. And then in verse 9 he says, after this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count from every nation, every tribe, every people, every language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. People worshipping the Lord Jesus from every nation, every people, every group around the world. It will happen. The kingdom of God will be extended to every people. And God's will will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And you know, if you know Jesus, then you will be in that crown. You will be amongst those people on that day. Isn't that a wonderful thought? But I've got two questions on that day. Lord Jesus, what was the last group to come to know the gospel and so make it possible for the end to come, that the kingdoms of this earth have become the kingdom of our God and of His Christ? And in my mind I picture the Lord Jesus pointing out a group of people, maybe hundreds, maybe thousands. They were the last group of people to accept Jesus and to make it that the gospel has reached every people on earth. But the second question is, Lord Jesus, who reached this people group? And you know it's quite possible that Jesus says there's this Chinese church in Vancouver who began to pray that my kingdom come and began to ask for real direction and I laid this people group upon their heart. And they not only prayed but some of them went and the church supported them and that church reached this people group. And so the end could come. Now isn't that something worth living for? Isn't that something worth praying for? Isn't that something worth giving your life for? Lord Jesus, your kingdom your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Take complete control of my life. I'm committed to praying and spiritual. Lord Jesus.