In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of discipline in the lives of believers. He references a tape by Billy Graham that emphasized the disciplined life and shares his own experience of being inspired by a text from Hebrews chapter 12. The speaker encourages listeners to lay aside any burdens or distractions and run the race of faith with patience. He also highlights the need for believers to understand their inheritance in Christ and develop strategies for spiritual warfare. The sermon promises to address topics such as failure and sexuality, with the expectation that some may be offended or angry, but also anticipating a powerful outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Take your Bible, Galatians chapter 2 and verse 20. Many people ask, what kind of people are we looking for to join Operation Mobilization? And that's what we're going to speak about tonight. As we think about discipleship in the age of me-ism, when most people are thinking about themselves and what's in it for me, we're going to speak about the kind of people that God can use. The kind of people I'm sure we are looking for in OM, and I'm sure you're looking for the same kind of people right here in your own church. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, we thank you for all you're doing around the world. We thank you for bringing us here together tonight. We thank you for thousands of answers to prayer represented in this very church tonight. As you have saved people all over North America, Mexico, as you have sent them out to this place to receive further training, further preparation, whether it's witnessing across the street or across the ocean. We thank you that in your providence, after many years of praying about it, you brought us here to Hamilton. And we believe this is a very deep, a very significant partnership for world evangelism. Speak to us now from your Holy Word. We acknowledge your Word. We want to submit to your Word. We are not interested in the praise of men. We are not interested that much in the philosophy of men. But we want to know what you say to us from your Word. We ask in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. The kind of people that are needed in the mission field today, the kind of people we need to make an impact in post-Christian Europe or in semi-post-Christian Canada. And I believe this scripture in Galatians 2 and verse 20 gives us the picture, the first picture I want to leave with you, of the kind of person we need. Paul says, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. What kind of person? A crucified person. What a danger there is today when this kind of terminology is not easy for the average person to understand. What a great danger there is that we just sort of pass over it as some kind of super-spirituality that doesn't work in 1988. I'm amazed when I find people in our churches. I know that many of our churches specialize in superficiality. I am aware of that. Almost a little more south of the border than here. But I am still amazed when I find people five or ten years in Christ that have never understood the crucified life. They have never understood one of the most basic principles of the Word of God concerning living the Christian life. Whole movements have been built on this biblical principle. I'm part of a movement in England known as the Keswick Convention. Often misunderstood as people just generalize about things rather than understand what it's about. You can get books back on the book table about Keswick. I ministered there again last summer. Alan Redpath, who some of you may know, often ministers there. And it's simply a convention that emphasizes the need for holiness. You know, is that something way out? Is that off the wall? Holiness? What do we read in our Bible? That we should walk even as Jesus walked. Be ye holy, saith the Lord. Holiness is absolutely basic to spiritual maturity. Perhaps this is what got Alan Redpath in difficulty. In Chicago was the pastor of Moody Church. I was there at the time. Because he preached holiness. And some people didn't want to hear it. Because it cut across their lifestyle. It cut across their erroneous zones. We can easily point our finger today at different people who have fallen into immorality. And we know that is wrong. But I believe that pride is causing more corruption and difficulty in the church than immorality. Pride has certainly caused more problems in Operation Mobilization than immorality. And we've had 40,000 young people who have been with us over these 25 or 30 years. I believe that crucified life is the normal Christian life. Watchman Nee became very famous because of his emphasis on this. Now we are well aware that some people take these things to extremes. We're aware of that. But isn't there the danger that some of us who are a bit conservative and I'm a little in that camp myself, a graduate of Moody Bible Institute. I don't think most of you will be able to find much difficulty with my theology or O.N.'s theology. We'll be happy to send you our doctrinal statement. But isn't there a danger that some of us in overreacting to extremes by people who have got into the so-called deeper life, by overreacting to those extremes, we have gotten into the dead, the deep seas of dead orthodoxy. I remember so vividly ministering with Corrie Kim Boone in the Netherlands, land of my father's birth, many years ago. I spoke, I think she spoke in the morning and then I spoke and then Brother Andrew. Brother Andrew is known as God's smuggler around England. I'm known, Brother George, as God's bungler. It's true. You know, he had this great program of taking literature into the Soviet Union about the same time he was doing that. I also had this phenomenal plan taking literature into the Soviet Union. And we had a printing press sitting in the car. I had learned how to type Cyrillic alphabet learning Russian. I was living in Spain at the time. And the second day, due to my own sophisticated stupidity, I was arrested by the Soviet secret police and accused of being a spy and promised long-term free or expenses paid vacation in Siberia. After two more days of interrogation, they decided I was a religious fanatic, gave me a submachine gun escort back to Austria. Fiasco. Failure. And I was broken before God. I went for a day of prayer in the mountains and that's when the great shift in our work took place. As God in those mountains on that day gave me these two words, Operation Mobilization. Before that our work was called Send the Light, mainly aiming at closed countries, the Muslim world and the communist world. But at that time, we became Operation Mobilization, confirmed by the leaders I met within Spain a week or so later. And the vision was to see Europe mobilize. The vision was to see a great movement of the spirit in Western Europe, all the countries, Britain, Sweden, Norway, Germany, and let that spill over. Let Europeans carry the gospel into the Soviet bloc and even drive into the Muslim world. And the history of what God did that next summer as he brought 200 people together, the next summer when he brought 2,000 together, is something that really is still quite staggering to our minds when we think of it. And I like to mention that because failure is often the back door to success. And we're going to be talking a lot this week about failure. Don't let your friends not come here because they think it's all about missions and it's all going to be stuffy reports with slides of the jungle. Here he is before he was saved. Here's the slide after he was saved. We're going to talk about things this week that I can assure you people have probably never heard about before, at least in the same way. We're going to talk about sex. We're going to talk about failure. We're going to talk about some things that probably normally wouldn't be mentioned in public. I'm very known for that. People are going to be offended. People are going to be angry. People may throw things. This is going to be an exciting week. So picket the ballpark. Make telephone calls. Turn on your answering machine. But let's pray that God brings in the people and that we have a mighty outpouring of the Holy Spirit as we wait upon Him here. But I remember what Brother Andrew told me in that meeting. Now this is the problem when I speak. You can pray for me. I try to go down the freeway. What do you call it here in Canada? Motorway? Freeway? Autobahn? Whatever. You know, the main road like this 403 going up here to the little town. What is it? Toronto. 403 going up to Toronto. People must really feel inferior when they're like in Toronto and they feel like they're a suburb of Hamilton. It must be difficult. I was there this morning. I sensed there was some feeling perhaps along that line. Maybe it was something else. But when I start mentioning people like Brother Andrew or Corrington Boone or something else then I get off on what we call in England an A road or a B road or a dirt road. And I've had people rebuking me about this and exhorting me. Let's, you know, stick to the subject, stick to the text. But other people write to me and they say, Praise God! I didn't get anything on your message until you got on the dirt roads. Getting back to the freeway, I spoke in the afternoon and I didn't give an invitation. Brother Andrew came in and cried a rambunctious, loud mouth type of Dutchman. It'd be difficult, two of us in the same meeting. And he said, Did you give an invitation, Brother George? Did you give an invitation for people to repent and get right? And I said, No. You know, I thought I'd leave that with you. And he said, Well, I'm going to do it. And he said something I had never forgotten. He said, I find it easier to cool down a fanatic than warm up a corpse. And I believe that somehow O.M. leaves Hamilton behind with a few fanatics. That, Brother Farrad, is more than happy to handle that. Do you think you can handle a few fools for Christ? A few overzealous soul winners wanting to pray to much loving people? Do you think you could cool them down? Do you have any gifts in that area? He looked skeptical. Brothers and sisters, when we take Galatians 2.20, we must not just read that and leave it. We must say, This is for me. This is what I want. I want to be crucified with Christ. I want that Verwer prize to be crucified. And I'll tell you there was plenty of it. I want that Verwer impatience. Greatest problem in my life. I want that Verwer patience, impatience to be crucified and Christ's patience to come out. I want that Verwer lust. So easy it is for me to lust. And if it hadn't been for this message coming to me as a teenager, of the crucified life, I would have been wiped out by lust. And the reason we had so many problems in this area, in our culture and in many of our churches, is that there's so little emphasis on the crucified life, dying to self. People don't even like you to mention that. And we have some preachers who have eliminated this kind of biblical truth from their terminology. They're very popular. They don't want to talk about repentance. They don't want to talk about the crucified life. How archaic. We only want to emphasize the positive. We only want to emphasize the possibilities of your personality. If you would just bloom. If you would just blossom. It's like trying to get a squall to fly over the moon. Paul and many others have said very, very clearly that they could do nothing in themselves. I'm not saying we shouldn't be positive because there is biblical positive thinking in the New Testament. And we've got some great books on that. But it must never do away with the message of repentance, the message of dealing with sin, the message of revival, the message of the crucified life, which we find right through the New Testament. Consider the words of Jesus, because that's pretty bottom line, isn't it? Jesus said, If any man come after me, let him deny self, take up the cross, and follow me. That, I believe, is the heart of the message we are trying to declare in our feeble fellowship across the world. I think as you get to know us, you'll understand that our first burden is not geography. It is reality. Our first burden isn't to get you all to join OM. That's not the reason we have come to Hamilton. Our burden is just to see you going on for Jesus. Just to see you walking with Him. Just to see self being crucified and Jesus being magnified in your life. Though I'm a bit of a skeptic, as I have lived with people like Hessian and Alan Redpathin and so many others whose names just don't tumble into my mind instantly, hundreds of people all over the world, I can testify, even as a doubting Thomas, that I have seen reality in the lives of these people. When I first arrived at a little sleepy Presbyterian college in Tennessee, in God's providence, I went to this college. I met a character named Dale Rotund. I was warned about Dale. I was told almost the first day on the campus, he was a sophomore, I was a freshman, Dale Rotund is a fanatic. He's baptizing people in the showers. Watch out. So I knew, here's a man I got to find fast. And I met that man on Sunday walking home from church. Never forget it. And we've been together now for some 33 years. And I tell you, I have watched this man's life. He, in a sense, was my teacher. I've watched this man's life. I have peeled it, like peeling an onion. I was always, even before I was converted, used to drive the teachers right up the wall because I would have endless questions. If a teacher even dared open for questions in a session where I was, I mean, watch out. And so I peeled Dale Rotund over the years. And the more I peeled the layers off, the more my eyes began to water because of the reality in this man's life. And there are many others like him. They're not perfect. But Jesus is reigning and ruling in the heart. And I would not preach here tonight if I didn't believe that Jesus Christ could take over a man's life or a woman's life. No matter how many problems, no matter how egocentric, no matter how caught up in materialism or me-ism, Jesus Christ is able, well able, to take over. But he will never force you. Too many people sitting around expecting God to make the next move when it's their turn. My favorite sport really now is tennis. Because it's simple. I like things that are simple. Dale Rotund plays chess. I get, you know, just blows my circuits just looking at the board. Chess. One of our board members, Val Green, he's written a book. He's a lawyer. He's written a book on the resurrection. He plays chess with a computer. Talk about intimidation. I like things that are simple. Tennis. The ball comes over, you just hit it back. Comes over again, you just hit it back again. I never even read a rule book. Never read a rule book. I play tennis quite frequently. Brothers and sisters, if Jesus Christ is living in your heart, then the next move, in terms of your spiritual life, the next move is yours. Too many people praying, Oh Lord, touch me. Oh Lord, do a new thing. I'm not totally against those prayers. If you understand that, generally speaking, if the Holy Spirit is already in you, you don't need a touch. You've already had an invasion. Now you need to step out. You need to let self be crucified. You need to repent of specific sin or deal with specific areas and believe God in an act of faith that something is going to change. My favorite song, one of my top ten of the old songs is trust and obey. There's no other way. So we're looking for men and women that will put their life on Galatians 2.20. That will put their confidence in the words of Jesus when he said, If any man come after me, let him deny self. Take up the cross and follow me. For those of you who are joining OM at this time, we must again tell you it is going to be rough, it is going to be tough, but it's not going to be rough and tough in the way that you're expecting it. You may think the big hardship is going to be sleeping on the floor and you'll end up sleeping in a bed. You may think the big hardship is going to be eating some of this wild food. You've heard, you know, that OM is into, you know, wild honey and berries and cactus, which isn't true when you've heard the stories. And you think your big problem is going to be eating this kind of food when actually your bigger problem may be that person that's sleeping in the same room, both of you on a comfortable bed. But the person is a very uncomfortable person to live with. Maybe at each midnight he bursts out, like a friend of mine that I traveled with, with snores that shook the entire motorhome. I know at the end of the summer some of you are going to think that David Hicks and Frank Fortunato and Dave Lundy got back together here and planned how things could go wrong. We don't plan that. We actually work overtime to try to get everything as possible going right. Because we believe that honors God. But no matter how hard we try in something of this dimension, this is fast lane living. If you're a slow lane operator, you have got yourself in a big pickle joining a limb. This is a fast lane operation. But you can take counsel from my wife because she's a slow lane operator and she married a fast lane operator. She looked at me some time ago and she said, just looking at you makes me feel tired. But I can tell you, I can tell you, that we need operators, disciples in O.M. in all the lanes. With all the different gifts. And it's the slower people, not the fast characters like me, that have done the real work in O.M. I couldn't plant a church in the Muslim world. I couldn't even probably plant a church in Hamilton. I can mobilize church planters. I can encourage them. I can write them a letter. I can phone them. I can send them a book, send them a tape. I can jiggle them when they come back. But I couldn't plant a church in the Muslim world. You need slow, steady, sort of pragmatic, mega Canadian types planting churches, you know, in the middle of the Muslim world. So brothers and sisters, it's going to be rough. It's going to be tough. The problems are not going to come. And this is true for those that remain at home as well. It's true in the ministry in North America as well. The problems often come in ways that we don't expect. And if we're to deal with problems effectively, self must be crucified. More people have written this one statement about their time on OM than any other statement that I have ever seen. I say this truthfully. I have learned more about myself this summer than I ever expected. I thought I was going to win souls. I thought I was going to speak to Muslims. I thought I was going to do this and do that and learn how to witness and learn how to be a cross-cultural, contextualized, bonding, incarnational communicator in the third world. And they come back and they write the same thing at the end of the summer. I learned what a wretch I am. I learned about myself. What does the word of God say? Accept the seed, fall into the ground, and die, and abideth alone. My young brother, my young sister, you want to serve him, you want to live for him, you want to be used of him. Then Jesus is saying to you, come and die. Come and die. When you fall into the ground, that ego, that strong personality, that hostility or that anger, as that somehow falls into the ground and somehow that precious blood and the power of the cross comes through your being and your personality, then you will bring forth much fruit. Hallelujah. It happens. I think the second way to describe the kind of people we want in this fellowship is found in the book of Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5 in verse 18 it says, be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled, be filled with the Spirit. Again, some places today just speaking about the Holy Spirit you get on dangerous ground. One of the things that some people find difficult when they come on OM is they find people come from different backgrounds and different churches who have different teaching about the Holy Spirit. Truly this is one of the authentic marks of OM as a spiritual movement that there are people from many different backgrounds in many different churches and we do not agree on all the terminology concerning the Holy Spirit. We do not agree even as leaders on some of the fine-tuning about the doctrine and the teaching concerning the Holy Spirit. I guess sometimes we go to our great spiritual mentor Billy Graham and speaking about the Spirit-filled life he said, I do not care how you get it just get it. It says in the book of Ephesians as I have just read let us read it again and be not drunk with wine wherein is excess but be filled with the Spirit. Yes, we need crucified people but we need Spirit-filled people. I want to ask you are you living in the fullness of the Holy Spirit? I praise the Lord a new edition of Calvary Road has just come off the press in Great Britain and in the same book they put Roy Heshin's other book Be Filled Now with some very clear less controversial teaching about the Holy Spirit emphasizing the need to be filled now. They were gathered in Acts 4.31 praying, the place was shaken and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and went forth speaking the word of God with boldness. That's what we need this summer, isn't it? That's what you need right here in Hamilton. You're preparing for evangelistic work. You're preparing for Billy Graham to come. What a ridiculous thing for some people to think that Billy Graham is not filled with the Spirit because he doesn't speak in tongues. And this is a very controversial area. As you get to Europe you're going to meet young people in O.M. who speak in tongues and you may come from a church where that's considered, you know, that's not on. And to keep unity and to keep love within O.M. we emphasize that if people feel burdened to exercise gifts that have tended to divide their body and bring controversy that we've been arguing about for at least a century that it's better for that to be manifest in your own church. And this is what you'll discover on O.M. especially in the year program. Everybody's going off on Sunday to different churches. We all start our own O.M. churches. We belong to other churches. We're sent from churches in our home countries and when we're overseas unless we're in a totally unreached area where some of our people are planting a church and that is more complex we go to different churches that have different emphases. But one thing we have agreement on people coming from various sides of the theological spectrum agreeing very, very clearly that it's not right for a person to be considered a second class Christian simply because he doesn't have this gift or doesn't have that gift. I speak in many great Pentecostal churches 30% of all Pentecostals have never spoken in tongues and I've had a counseling ministry with many of these people who feel very, very inferior very second class they may have tried more than 100 times to speak in tongues they never have and so they feel God can't use them. This is wrong. God gives different gifts to different people. Many of the greatest men the most anointed men in history have never spoken in tongues and just for others who may be on that side of the scale many of the greatest men in history who have preached the gospel have spoken in tongues. So what are you going to do with that? Let's fight. No. Let's lay aside the differences let's continue to discuss and study no one's stopping you from going to one of the theological cemeteries and getting these seminaries and getting these things but meanwhile let's get on and start and evangelize the world. How ridiculous it looks to Muslims in Turkey to see Christians fighting over all of these peppy issues. Don't overreact to extremes about the Holy Spirit and end up out in the dry desert of spiritual barrenness. D.L. Moody was known for his emphasis on the Holy Spirit R.A. Torrey many great fundamentalists were known for their emphasis on the Holy Spirit. A secular encyclopedia says about D.L. Moody that he depopulated hell by 2 million souls. Not that. Who can bring people to Jesus Christ in true conversion? Only the Holy Spirit of God. Moody would emphasize the need to be filled again and again and again. I know most of you have heard this story but it's a privilege to always be ministering to young people you can tell the same story over and over again you see that's an advantage I have over you. You don't have to get new messages, new messages I'd go crazy if I had your job you'd go crazy if you had mine do this thing here I'll go there. But D.L. Moody would emphasize the need to be filled again and again and one day a lady said to him Mr. Moody why do you keep going on about being filled again and again and Moody looked her in the eye and he said lady because I leave I'll tell you that ministers to me because I find this is the story of my life. One minute I can be just so so anointed so sensing God's grace His reality His attributes and the Lord seems to be working and the next minute somehow I seem to be a bit dry I get a wrong attitude because someone just bumped into the back of my car and I'm not yet told me to spiritual driver or the dog is just misbehaved again or my daughter is mouthing off or something else and suddenly I seem to have weight and there's little at that moment to draw upon to really you know minister in that situation something I learned as a baby Christian and I hope you have learned it as well there are free refills available this is the thing that really amazes Europeans when they first go to the states they go to a restaurant a little lady running around the restaurant with a big thing of coffee you can't hardly get one cup out look you know they measure it if you want another cup you pay free refills don't take it for granted but I will tell you when we bow in our morning quiet time with the word of God in prayer when we bow at the foot of the cross in repentance and brokenness we are filled again young person before you go to Europe make sure you have been in our being filled with the Holy Spirit a lot of people are confused on this because they think that when this happens they will arrive they think when this happens the first person they witness to just like under Phiney boom he will fall down on the street and I have seen I say this from a broken heart I have seen people so hungry to be anointed and filled they got into extremism because they were comparing themselves with other people they had cockeyed ideas about the spirit filled life they thought you had to have a different voice I have seen people even develop spiritual voices especially in prayer meetings talk to the guy in the street he's got a bit of a rough voice sort of a that kind of person he gets in the prayer meeting spiritual voice how many of us really feel spiritual how many of us get up in the morning we walk in the mirror we look in the mirror ha ha a spiritual man I hardly ever feel spiritual I have to take it by faith that if I am obeying God if I am walking with God if I am doing His will then I am a spiritual man I don't look spiritual I don't feel spiritual I almost gave up the Christian life completely as I read about some of these great men of God then I picked up a missionary leaflet characteristics of a true missionary about 25 characteristics that I never saw anybody who had all of them and it came to the idea you need all these characteristics to be a missionary no wonder I would never have gotten into any mission society I didn't want to start my own the thing that scares me is the way O.M. is going if I apply to Port Gilbert or Atlanta I probably won't get accepted so I'm not going to apply I'm just staying in brothers and sisters don't let the devil get you into extremism about the Holy Spirit this treasure is in earth and vessels the spiritual man still occasionally burps the spiritual man still you know forgets to zip up his fly I remember preaching to a great crowd in England you know here I am the spiritual man we become so phony really we become so phony at times as Christians as Christians we don't do this as Christians we always wear a tie when we preach as Christians we always look especially when we shake hands with the pastor at the door happy God bless you pastor it was a wonderful message it was a wonderful message if he asks you two days later what was the message about pastor it was a wonderful message I don't know anything about it but it was a wonderful message then some people get really uptight if we laugh in the middle of a spiritual message what a great mistake the church has made in failing to understand the importance and significance of humor praise God there are now ten books written on the subject of the Bible and humor I am not trying to be funny when I come here if I try to be funny it gets really sick so I'm not trying to be funny life is just funny some of you look funny I may look funny and one of the problems and A.W. Tozer pointed this out in one of his books one of the problems with some of us as we get deeper and closer to God as we get closer to the word and to the Lord we become spiritually uptight we sense the Lord is looking at us every minute he's watching us every minute and he's ready at the slightest move that's wrong to somehow hit us with a big stick and it gets us into a very subtle form of legalism I want to invite all of you new recruits who have just come on O.M. you're a little uptight, a little tense you feel you don't know too many people here are you going to have an interview an interview an interview what are you going to ask me are you going to ask me if I brush my teeth every day you get people really uptight at these conferences I want to ask you just in the name of Jesus tonight relax God knows all about you and he loves you still O.M. turns very few people away the interview is not to send you home it's to get to know you to help to send where should you work and it's just to build start building a relationship and to give counsel not everybody can go to the field of their choice we get people coming in with funny ideas I feel God is leading me to Adam and Eve for the two week campaign for church planting we learn the language in the first week and we plant the church in the second week and I have to be back as I'm meeting my girlfriend to buy her wedding ring in the third week so not everybody can go to the field of their choice some of you would like to sit down with me and just hear what's on your mind some of you have been through difficulties some of you may have been through divorce we have seen divorce people mightily used in the work of God but we just like to know what's the situation so we can pray so we can get God's plan if you've been married to 7 different women and you still have these as your wife we feel this is a problem that we would like to talk to you about you know we don't want you to get tense one of the things we try to emphasize in our fellowship which is emphasized in this book parallel world is walking in the light don't hide things from us we've had candidates hide some pretty serious stuff it comes out in the middle of the year it's better if there's something that's a bit difficult in your life a deep deep complex situation a hurt a complex health problem we've had people fail to tell us about health problems because they came they were completely healed when we checked out they were healed the week before they came to the OM conference and there was no more proof yet that they were healed over that particular complexity and so we want to walk in the light we want to be honest the third and final thing in terms of what we're looking for in the people that join OM first it was a crucified life second it was the fullness of the Holy Spirit realizing that's an ongoing process realizing it doesn't destroy the human factor realizing that still leaves you as a person who has a lot to learn we used to say if you want to join OM all you need is to be a learner in some ways that's still true but the final thing I want to just mention what we're looking for in the people that unite with us is discipline discipline Philip Gorman speaking at our band way back in 57 that tape used to be required listening for all those on OM emphasized a disciplined life as I drove into Toronto this morning several thousand people actually passed me running on the highway I didn't really know what I was going to speak on in that church this morning and as I saw these people run by me I got the text Hebrews chapter 12 and maybe we could finish with that text this evening because it speaks of that great marathon race that we are running in Hebrews chapter 12 we are foreseen we also are compassed about with so great a crowd of witnesses let us lay us out overweight and sandwiched us so easily beset us and let us run with patience the race that is set before us we had a much bigger marathon in London England 25,000 run 26 miles can you imagine that someone 60 years of age isn't it interesting that the Lord chose this comparison in Holy Scripture in another scripture back in Corinthians it says Paul is speaking I have death in my body I bring it into subjection lest after preaching to others I become a castaway that's Paul and I just thank God for the influence I had when I was a young Christian after my conversion that emphasized the disciplined life I thank God for Dr. Culberson the president of Moody when I was there who emphasized holiness and the disciplined life and one person if you don't want to hear something about discipline you have chosen the wrong fellowship to work with this summer and it's not too late to go home we're not talking about legalism in fact some of you will be upset with us because we are not as regimented as you think there's a lot of freedom in OM it's a European movement with a big international flavor and so there's a lot more freedom than you would find in maybe even some of your bible schools some people find OM too free some people find OM the other extreme not free enough it's not easy to make people happy in our pluralistic Christian society the discipline that you must practice in this fellowship which has grown so large which is so in a sense over committed is self discipline it's not some great Paul on your team who's grabbing you by the neck and sort of taking you around we do have that kind of training more on the year program in some situations it's depending on your initiative I have men submit themselves to me in that way each year but generally OM is a team operation and a lot of the key discipline has got to be self discipline and you know the main purpose of this is not to be a missionary the main purpose of it is to be a disciple whether you're here or overseas I believe the lack of training and the lack of emphasis on discipline in our contemporary church in North America is bringing more grief than we could ever ever imagine there is no reason for some of this immorality that is taking place if people learn discipline especially as young Christians if they're converted later in life I'm a little more sympathetic for when you convert young in life where so much can change in your life you can become strong in God you can stand against those temptations you can learn how to wear that whole armor every day don't stand around afraid that you're going to get knocked over any minute by some trick of the devil when you are in Jesus Christ in some ways the devil is nothing but a big loud mouth scarecrow the problem is many of us don't know what our inheritance is in Jesus Christ we've never spent enough time in God's Holy Word memorizing Scripture developing a strategy for spiritual warfare understanding how to resist Satan understanding how to deal with our emotional struggles and our problems and I've got plenty of them so we invite you to learn about discipline the nights of prayer in which you feel like going to bed after the first hour some of the meetings which may seem a little long but if you were in military training you would be put in long meetings and you would be expected to learn everything that was given out and produced out in the military field probably would be in the end of the week or you would be in big trouble in some ways next to military training OM is almost like a joke it has to come from you we can't force you we can give the goals the Lord knows our own lifestyle the Lord knows the way we walk with Him I live the same when I'm in front of people as when I'm living in my own private world in fact I might be a little more extreme when I'm private because I don't want to lead people astray and I know God hasn't let us all to live exactly the same way do you want to go on for God in Hamilton or in India do you want to be a disciple in this age of egotricks then you've got to determine to stand on God's promises to take daily steps of faith and to have a crucified life a spirit filled life and a disciplined life there is no other way and we're going to be seeing that in these days to come let us pray let's just every head every heart bow before God and pray some prayers of confession and submission to Jesus let us say as Paul I am crucified with Christ let us say as Paul fill me fill me afresh with the Holy Spirit and let us determine to run that great race that great marathon race with our eyes fixed upon Jesus laying aside every weight and hindrance that so easily entangles us discipleship has not lived in the absence of failure and struggle and sin and doubt but it's lived as we bounce back in repentance appropriating God's grace and going forward again in God's great marathon race will you call your own prayer bow at your heart before God even at this moment oh Lord you know all about us everything about us and you still love us so much and when you feel really hit hard by a challenge from your word we know we just have to sort of collapse at your feet and receive that grace fill us afresh tonight with your Holy Spirit even before our eyelids close we may know that we are filled with your Holy Spirit Lord we put our hands on the plow and by your grace we will not turn back each day we shall through your strength in ourselves take up the cross and follow you we shall learn this way of discipline we shall learn by your grace what it is to buffet our bodies and bring them into subjection lest after preaching even to others going on a summer campaign with O.M. we end up castaways or reprobates oh father keep us from leap warmness on one side and extremism on the other we may follow that narrow highway of holiness right to the very end through your grace through your power in Jesus name Amen