This sermon emphasizes the importance of total surrender to God, using powerful stories and illustrations to illustrate the need to fully yield every aspect of our lives to the Lord. It highlights the significance of being connected to Jesus, the true vine, in order to bear fruit and fulfill the purpose God has for each individual. The message stresses the call to be soul winners, to bring others to Jesus, and to live a life filled with the Holy Spirit, ready for Jesus' return.

I once autographed the Bible of G.I. in Japan, and I found a little poem in his Bible that I thought was so good that I wrote it down. It was this. The Lord had a job for me, but I had so much to do, I said, you get somebody else or wait till I get through. No doubt that the Lord came out and had his good work done, but I felt kind of sneaking like. I knew I had done God wrong. And one day I needed the Lord. I needed him right away. And I could, he didn't answer me at all. And I could hear him say deep in my accusing heart, child, I have too much to do. You get somebody else or wait till I get through. Now when the Lord has a job for me, I never try to shirk. I drop what I have on hand and do the Lord good work. And my affairs can go along and wait till I get through. Nobody can do the work that God has mapped out for you. The Bible speaks about bringing forth fruit and working for the Lord very clearly in John 15, where it's written that Jesus has said, I am the real vine. My father is the husband man. He removes any of my branches which are not bearing fruit. And he prunes every branch that does bear fruit to increase its yield. Now you have already been pruned by my words. You must go on growing in me and I will grow in you. For just as the branch cannot bear fruit unless it shares the life of the vine, so you can produce nothing unless you go on growing in me. I am the vine itself. You are the branches. It is a man who shares my life and whose life I share who proves fruitful. For the plain fact is that apart from me you can do nothing at all. The man who does not share my life is like a branch that is broken off and withers away. He becomes just like the dry sticks that men pick up and use for firewood. But if you live your life in me and my words live in your heart, you can ask whatever you like and it will come true for you. This is how my father will be glorified in your becoming fruitful and being my disciples. I have loved you just as the father has loved me. You must go on living in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will live in my love just as I have kept my father's commandments and live in his love. Do you see that love and obedience belong together? I have told you this, that you can share my joy and that your happiness may be complete. This is my commandment, that you love each other as I have loved you. There is no greater love than this, that a man should lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I tell you to do. I shall not call you servants any longer, for a servant does not share his master's confidence. No, I call you friends. Now, because I have told you everything that I have heard from the father, it is not that you have chosen me, but it is I who have chosen you. I have appointed you to go and bear fruit that will be lasting, so that whenever you ask the father in my name, he will give it to you. Let's pray. Father, in Jesus' name, will you show us a little bit more of what it means to bring fruit, fruit for eternity, by keeping in contact with your Son, Jesus? Thank you, Lord, for the blessing that you have in store for us this evening. Amen. It was once that I was in my traveling around the world, and I was in Formosa, and I had to buy a plane ticket, a rather expensive one. The Lord had told me where to go, and I knew I had to go with a plane. I had not the money, but I didn't mind that, for that has happened more with me. But, you know, the Lord is my treasure, and the Bible tells that He has the cattle on a thousand hills, and when I need money, I always say, Father, you have the cattle on a thousand hills. I think you must sell some cows and give me the money, and He always does. Now, the money came in time, but when I ordered the ticket, it was not yet there. But I said to the woman in the airport, will you write down? I need a rather complicated ticket. Write down. I must go from Formosa to Sydney, Australia, then to Auckland, New Zealand, then back to Sydney, Australia, then to Cape Town, South Africa, Tel Aviv, Israel, and then Amsterdam, Holland. She wrote it down, and she said, what's your end destination? I said, heaven. She said, how do you write that? I said, H-E-A-V-E-N, and she wrote under Amsterdam, H-E-A-V-E-N. Oh, she said, I didn't mean that. I said, but I meant it. But you have not to write it down, for I had my ticket already. She said, what do you mean? I said, about 2,000 years ago, there was someone who ordered my ticket for heaven, and the only thing I had to do was to get it from him. And there was a Formosan man sitting in that office, and he turned to me and said, that's true, lady. I said, have you your reservation for heaven? He said, sure I have. I have received Jesus as my savior, and he has made me a child of God, and a child of God has a reservation for the house of the Father. I said, brother, come here. I said, lady, if you have, if one has no reservation for an airplane, you come in great difficulties. But if you have no reservation for heaven, you come in greater difficulties. And brother, you must be sure that your colleague is not too late. Was that a joke? No, I meant it. And I ask you, have you a reservation for heaven? If you have not, then I will tell you from the word of God how you can get it. For what had to be done was all done at the cross of Jesus Christ, where he carried the sins of the whole world, also your sins. And the Bible tells that Jesus said, Come unto me, all who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. You see, that's a matter of coming to Jesus. The Bible says, Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. That is believing. And to know the way, you must listen that Jesus says, Nobody comes to the Father but by me. Do you understand now that you have to receive Jesus as your savior? The Bible tells in John 3, 16, God has so loved the world that he has given his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him will not perish but has everlasting life. Do you see that it is for all, also for you? And the Bible tells also that when you come to Jesus, he will in no wise cast you out. I was five years old when I accepted the Lord Jesus as my savior. It was my mother who brought me to him. And the Lord accepted me as his child. I really have known now the Lord, now, let's say, 78 years, for I'm now 83, and when I was five years, I said my first really yes to Jesus. That yes is a very positive word. And that's what you must say if you have ever done it before, and then the moment that you say that, he makes you a child of God. And you may say to God, Father, my Father. And he says to you, my girl, my boy, my child. And that is such a great joy that when you say that for the first time, the angels rejoice. Did you know that? For you are very precious in the eyes of God. That's why the angels rejoice. For every sinner that is saved, and when you receive Jesus, you are a sinner that is saved. Some people do not understand that a little child can already accept the Lord. And I read a little poem last. Said the precious little lady to his father one bright day, May I give myself to Jesus. Let him wash my sins away. Oh, my son, but you are so little. Wait until you older grow. Bigger forks, it's true, do need him. But little fork are safe, you know. Said the father to his lady, as a storm was coming on. Are the sheep all safely sheltered, safe within the fold, my son? All the big ones are, my father. But the lambs, I let them go. For I didn't think it mattered. Little ones are safe, you know. Good, eh? Yes, also your little boy, your little girl needs the Lord Jesus. And what a joy is it to bring them to Jesus. Jesus says, let the little children come to me. Did you understand that you have to surrender when you will be the branch of the vine, you must be connected. Then the Lord is the vine and you are the branch. And I like so very much that illustration from the Lord. For you see that it is such a relaxed business to be a branch of the vine. A branch does not try and try hard to bring forth fruit. No, it just is connected with the vine. And the vine does the job. Sometimes when I feel very unable, then I repeat a little poem that I learned. Coward and wayward and weak, I change. There is a changing sky. Today so eager and brave, tomorrow not willing to try. But he never gives in, and we too shall win, Jesus and I. How simple is it. But the Word of God is simple. I don't believe that we must make it too complicated. I learned a very good slogan, and that is KISS, K-I-S-S. And I learned it. That means, K-I-S-S, keep it simple, stupid. It is simple but it is deep and it is joyful to be a branch of the vine. And the Lord said very clearly, who is that overcomes the world, he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God. And a very sick world is to overcome. Like the Father has sent me, so I send you. I told some of you about a time that I was in the underground work to save Jewish people. There was in Amsterdam a Jewish orphanage where the babies were in great danger. Adolf Hitler had sent the message that the babies had to be killed because they were Jewish babies. And when I heard it, I told the boys with whom I worked, save these babies. And they did. They stole 100 babies. And I remember that one of my bravest boys, Piet Hartog, said to me that evening, I feel so happy when I think that we have saved these babies. I said, Piet, I feel so happy. But do you know that there is still a work more important than saving lives, and that is saving souls, and bringing people to Jesus? Then Piet smiled and he said, no, it's true, I'm a child of God. I pray, I read my Bible, I go to church. But to tell other people about Jesus, that's not my job. That's a job for my pastor. I said, Piet, every child of God is called to be a soul winner, for you know the way. And Piet, in your lifetime will come a moment that you will see it for you, the most important thing. It was half a year later that Piet was arrested. And he came into prison and there he heard that he had only one week to live. And then they should kill him, shoot him. The day before he was shot, he wrote us a long letter. And he wrote, all the men and the boys in my cell are sentenced to death, just like me. And I was, I'm so glad that I could tell them about Jesus. That I could tell them that when they receive Jesus as their Savior, he would make them children of God. I'm so glad that I could tell them about the house of the Father with the many mansions where Jesus is preparing one for everyone who believes in him. Now I know that the most important work for a Christian is to win souls for eternity. I have a message for you from Piet Hartog, especially for you who are young. Don't wait till the last week of your life. But say today, yes Lord, take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to thee and make me a soul winner. And when you do that, then once when you enter a beautiful city and the saints all around you appear, many of them will tell you, it was you that invited me here. If that will happen, you will know that you have not lived in vain. It is possible that someone says, no, that's not possible for me, for I am not good enough. Would you say that? I once was in New Zealand and I spoke to a prison, there were prisoners in a prison. And my text was, you are the light of the world. Prisoners do not often hear that. They hear more, you are the darkness of the world. But when a prisoner accepts the Lord Jesus, he is the light, often in the very prison where he must be. And I know it was a joyful message. And I told them, the ocean of God's love is available for you and you can be the salt of the earth, the light of the world. And so I told a little bit of how the world, the Lord could choose everyone. And then one of these fellows stood up and he looked at his fellow prisoners and he said, folks, this morning I was reading my Bible and I read about three murderers. One murderer was called Moses, one David, and one Paul. Were they murderers? Yes. He was right. All three were murderers. And the prisoner said, fellows, what can God do with a total surrendered murderer like Moses, David and Paul? There is hope for you and me, fellows. Yes. There is hope for you and me. Decent sinner. When you surrender all, there is such a joy that you know for yourself when you receive the Lord Jesus that you are His own and that you belong to Him and you may surrender yourself totally. Not a little bit, but totally. We must understand that we are bought by a high price, the precious blood of Jesus. And it is the legal right of God to have you and me 100%. He has paid the price and we must give ourselves to Him. And when you do that, then you experience that when you give yourself to the Lord, that He does the job to make you a branch of the vine that brings forth fruit. You have to surrender also the problems. Yes. Sometimes we are so thinking of the difficulties in our life. I remember in my life was a little problem. I walked very much with my father when he was an old man. And then when he was leaning on my arm, oh, that was a joy always. And I remember that sometimes I thought, my father has a daughter. Now he is old. But what will happen with me? I'm not married. What will it be with me when I have no girl or boy on whose arm I can be? Now I just surrendered it. I didn't worry about it. And that's the thing you must do when you have such a question. Surrender it to the Lord. And I said, Lord, it doesn't mean I'm not afraid to get old. You will take care for it. For when you surrender yourself with your problems to the Lord, then it is what Jesus says, you lose your life for my sake, but then you win it. Now I can tell you I'm not old. I'm 83 years old. I have no daughters. There are many arms on which I can lean. The Lord took care for that. Sometimes children of God cannot understand that God calls them to be single. It was for me a short, but a rather strong struggle. When I understood that God's way was with me, not to be married, but to be single, I said, Lord, I'm yours. And you can use me, whatever my life is. Just take that part. Take everything, my body, soul, and mind. And when there are problems in it, then let your victory be demonstrated in that part that is now suffering a little bit. And Lord, it is the only thing you have to do when you are single. I saw so many people who were single and they were not happy. They knew that they were children of God. And they knew that they were the light of the world. They knew that they had everlasting life in Jesus. But they were not happy because they were not married. Poor people. The only thing they have to do is to lay it in the hands of the Lord and claim Jesus' victory over it. And you will experience it. And sometimes when it came back to me, oh, I just brought it again to the Lord. The vine takes care for the branch. It is not try, but trust. It is not do, but done. Our God has planned for us great victory through His Son. I once was on a mission field in Africa and I met a missionary lady. And she told that she had four children, little children, and it was rather difficult to educate them. And she knew as soon as they were the age that they had to go to school, they had to send them far away. And that was a terrible thought for her. And now she expected a fifth baby. And she was not happy. Oh, a fifth baby, and that here. Now there is one more that I must send away from here. But then she talked it over with the Lord. But she did not get directly an answer. And the time came that she had to give birth to the baby. But in that place where she was, there was no hospital. And the hospital was rather far. So her husband took her and all the four children and went away to that hospital for the birth of the fifth baby. And do you know that when they were in the hospital that the Maumaus came in the place where they had lived and they killed all the white people? Had they been there, all should have been killed. And that fifth baby was used by the Lord to save the life of the whole family. My! And she told me that she had a beautiful baby on her arm. And she said, this is the baby that I did not want and it has saved the life of my family. You see, it is such a joy that you can talk over things with the Lord. And He gives the answer. And you are so safe. And then when very difficult things happen, even persecution, you have not to give room for fear. I have worked behind the Iron Curtain and I have met people who were persecuted. And some time ago I read a letter from a Swedish man who had visited the people in Siberia. And he wrote something that I also had experienced. So I will read it to you. He wrote, in spite of 53 years of persecution, the Christians in Siberia are living in victory. They take advantage of every good opportunity to proclaim the good news. We were ashamed when we thought of our freedom and how often it is misused. We compared our Christian work in Sweden with the commandment what the Lord has given us to go out with the gospel. When we heard the Christians pray in Siberia, they did not pray at all for freedom or for release, release from difficulties, but only for power to endure to the end and power to walk the narrow way. Pray for them and for all the Russian people and all the children there who are growing up and brought up in atheism. We have no opportunity to find a way to God, but our Lord is able. So pray for them. Siberian young people said, we have only one leader, that is Jesus Christ. I have experienced the same things, the same words, wherever I came, where people were in tribulation. And when you will have the honor to suffer for the Lord and go through persecution, the Lord will give you all the grace. You have nothing to fear. For when you have a surrendered life, surrendered to the Lord Jesus, you stand on victory ground because He never gives in and you too will win, Jesus and you. It is not only necessary in very difficult moments, but be sure that your everyday life is worth the gospel of Jesus Christ. My father had a jewelry store and sometimes he said to me, Corrie, my name is on the shop, but really God's name should be on the shop. For I am a watchmaker by the grace of God. You see, he was a surrendered watchmaker and I worked with him 25 years in the business and I saw what it meant, a surrendered watchmaker, a surrendered businessman. He was honest, absolute honest in business. He was victorious. Were there difficulties and problems? Oh, yes. Very often financial difficulties, but father always trusted the Lord. And also when the ways went through depth, he knew a pit cannot be so deep. Always deeper are the everlasting arms. That everyday life of yours, you must also surrender. And then you will experience the Lord's victory in that problem of today and tomorrow. It is not too small to tell the Lord, no. And it is necessary for you belong to the Lord, 100%. And you may and you must surrender everything. I believe that we Christians must understand that to be a child of the light in this time is a very special business. The world is very sick. There is terrific much darkness and sin in the world. And every child of God is standing on the front line of the business, of the battle. And the battle is very severe. There is no time anymore for a compromise. It is all either you do belong to the Lord, lock, stock and barrel, or you do not belong to Him. And then you belong to the enemy. Just imagine when you are on the front line of a battle and you compromise a little bit with the enemy at the other side. You yourself are in danger and your nation is in danger because of you. I once read a word that Brother Langston in Africa had written down. I met that man. He was a man of God. But now he is with the Lord. And I am so glad that I wrote down his words. He wrote, None of us can afford to be anything less than absolutely controlled by the Holy Spirit. Let God have His way with you, because if you do not, that unconsecrated thing, that sinful habit in your life will be a foothold for the devil to wreck your witness. Seeing that the devil is working so insidiously in the churches, let us come to God in His last days and tell Him that we want altogether to be His, devoted to Him, led by Him, filled with His Spirit, taught of Him, so that we may be kept from sin and error and at the same time we may be ready for that glorious event when we shall see Jesus face to face. Yes. Be filled with the Spirit. Not only for the job to be the light of the world, but also to be ready for Jesus coming. Be at peace with God and at peace with man. And that is possible through the Holy Spirit. And I do not ask you, have you the Holy Spirit, but has the Holy Spirit you? M.E. Carmichael said once, the Holy Spirit is willing to enter and fill our hearts like the light is willing to flood a room that is opened for its brightness. The Bible has no suggestions, only commandments. And be filled with the Spirit is the sweetest commandment of the whole Bible. I have here a glove. That glove cannot do anything. It cannot write, it cannot cook, it cannot do anything. But when my hand is in the glove, it can write, it can cook, it can do many things. You say, no, that's not the glove, that's the hand in the glove. You are right. You and I cannot do anything. We read it in John 15, without me you can do nothing. But with the Lord you can do many things, everything. What this glove can do, this hand can do, that is tremendous. What the Holy Spirit, no, what you can do, when the Holy Spirit fills you, that is enormous. Yes, you. I have now my hand still in the glove. My whole hand is in the glove. But these fingers are not filled. Now the glove cannot do anything. You must surrender every corner of your life. Also the shelf behind the door, throw it down, tear it down, throw it out. Don't use it anymore. For Jesus wants your dwelling from the ceiling to the floor. He even wants that little shelf you keep behind the door. It is years ago that I heard Oswald Smith, that great man from Toronto, that evangelist. And he spoke about total surrender. And he used an illustration and he took four books and he said, Lord, I will surrender all. Lord, I will lay myself on the altar. Here is my family. Here is my time. Here is my house. Here is my money. I have lost my life for Jesus' sake. I laid all on the altar. Here is my time. But you know, I've ordered a hotel for my vacation. And the time of my vacation I keep for myself. They're not my time. One book went back. My money, yes. My money is the Lord's money. But that money for my hotel, for my vacation, yes, that I keep for myself. They're not my money. And a second book went back. My family, oh yes. We dedicated our children to the Lord, both of us. They are the Lord. My whole family is the Lord. But my oldest daughter, she has told me that she will be a missionary. Oh, but that's impossible. She must help her mother. We have a big family. No, she may not go. So I cannot give her my permission to go to the mission field. She must stay put at home. They're not my family. A third book went back. My house. Oh, I'll never forget when we dedicated our house for the first time. Oh, and we had a beautiful celebration. And we committed all the rooms of the house to the Lord. And we said, this is the Lord's house. I got a letter from my sister yesterday. She has six boys, very undisciplined, naughty boys. And now my sister is very ill. Now everyone can understand that I cannot invite these six boys. For my house is spick and span. And these boys will make it dirty. Not my house. The altar is empty. I can tell you, I left that meeting. And I went alone and walked over the fields. And I had to talk with my Lord. And I said, Lord, is the altar empty? You know that I gave myself to you. But is it empty? And the Lord said, yes. And I took my life again. And I laid it on the altar. Was that the only time I had to do that? No. I had to do it again and again. But the Lord has such patience with me. And I believe we must never forget that the clay in the hands of the potter cannot be formed when it is not totally laid in his hand. Impress thine image on me, dear Lord. I would obey, but thou, the skillful potter, and I, the yielded clay, mold me, oh, mold me to thy will, while in thy hand I am lying still. That's it. Let's pray. Lord, show us if the altar is empty. And listen, Lord. We'll now say the same words as I say now. Will you repeat it? I will say one sentence. And if you are willing, then repeat it. Lord Jesus, I surrender my life to you. Thank you that you will use me as a branch that brings forth fruit. Lord, I am not able to win souls. I am not able to be the light of this dark world. But I lay my weak hand in your strong hand. And I thank you that we too shall win, you and I. I yield. Take me. Mold me. Use me. Lord, make it so that when I enter the beautiful city and the saints all around me appear, Lord, that many of them will tell me it was you that invited me here. Amen. And so, brothers of mine, stand firm. Let nothing move you as you busy yourselves in the Lord's work. Be sure that nothing you do for him is ever lost or ever wasted. Amen.