This sermon emphasizes the importance of doing God's will and being part of His family by following His commands. It discusses the need to abandon personal agendas and selfishness to fully commit to God's will, even in the face of challenges and opposition. The speaker highlights the transformative power of love, prayer, and obedience in spreading the message of Jesus and impacting the world for good.

You know, great issues are at stake, and what we are doing appears to be so little. Now, I have a little card before me. We printed this card to be given away. It says the Lord's Challenge, and it lists only 10 of the 11 or 12 telecasts. It does not have any mention of the many radio stations over which we are broadcasting. Of these 12 telecasts, only one is from a religious station. You see, all the rest are popular stations, which naturally require a very high monthly payment. And we are very careful in that regard. As a matter of fact, a leading person in that field of telecasts said to me, I pay my employers in his company from your check, which I can count upon to be on time. You see, that's how the Christian work should be done. It was quite amazing, because we are very late entrants, very late entrants, and we are very small. And we never ask anybody for money, as you well know. That these fellows, you know, are established agents of television stations and so on, should say, we depend upon your check to pay all our staff on time. I give glory to God for that. So, my dear friends, I do not know how many of you pray. We continue to have, of course, difficulties with television stations, who are not accustomed to our outspoken message. You know, they are only used to the soft-peddling type, pussy-footing, soft-peddling type. You see? And we certainly are not that type. But we need a lot of prayer backing, because sometimes the television stations are approached by altruists. There are many altruists. I don't need to go through the list of altruists who do not want Christ to be declared like this. So, when one television station, which broadcasts to that very strategic region, adjoining China and Burma, that whole area, Himalayan area, you know, when they doubled their tariff just recently, I said, certainly they cannot increase the tariff 100%. They should treat us better than that. Anyway, they said, look, people have approached us, altruists have approached us, saying, take this broadcast off from being telecast, because people are being changed. And they know that it's a dangerous telecast, which is transforming their particular fanatic enclave. So, in the face of all this, we go ahead. And we know that most of you are young people, and I want to see a bit of passion and love for Jesus in your hearts. You see? We don't take to the streets and shout for the blood of anybody. We only love. Those are the guns we employ. And they are invincible guns, the guns of love and prayer. So, folks, I just wanted to mention these things so that you, too, can get busy on eternal things. And we might be a working force, a praying force that really hits the mark, not just through our strength and our bullets, just all over the place, aimlessly. No. We must target certain parts of the world which have not been touched. As a matter of fact, we are approaching Al Jazeera just now to put us on the program. Some of you may not even know Al Jazeera. They're a special television station which is broadcasting to Arab people. I wish we could get, they will accept us, but we are just eating. Got the ball rolling. And why should they? You see? When they can shout their heads off, we can at least speak the truth. Can't we? Okay. Let us pray. Holy Father, thank you that you give us these opportunities to reach out. Only we want to be real and present the Savior just as he is, the risen, victorious, matchless Christ, the Savior of the world. O Lord, our God, in our days, let not the banner of the Lord ever droop. Let not palsied efforts come out of us, but dynamic, target-reaching efforts, efforts directed by your Holy Spirit. O, teach us to be a praying force. Behind all these moves, we beseech you. Hear our humble prayer. In Jesus' holy name, amen. Now, dear friends, let's turn to Luke 8, Chapter 20 and 21. Luke 8, Chapter 20 and 21. Let's begin at 19, please. Then came to him, Luke 8, from verse 19, Then came to him his mother and his brethren, and could not come at him for the press. And it was told him by certain which said, Your mother and your brethren stand outside desiring to see you. And he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God and do it. We see the same incident in Matthew 12, Chapter, from the 46th verse. Matthew 12, from verse 46. While he yet spake to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood outside, desiring to speak with him. Then one said unto him, Behold, your mother and your brethren stand outside desiring to speak with you. But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? Who are my brothers? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples and said, Look, behold, my mother and my brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of my father, which is in heaven, the same is my brother and sister and mother. Very early in my Christian life, when I got converted, you know, when my life was changed, very early, I came up with certain people who were very insular. You know, even if we were talking, a bunch of us were speaking to one another in English. Suddenly, one of them would see somebody else approaching and start off in a strange language, which we couldn't understand. I said, none of this nonsense. We need to keep a common language and not have these little particularities and partialities, clicks, and, you know, all these dividing lines. And today, in the 21st century, what do we see? A world hopelessly divided. Countries hopelessly divided into small little parcels with their insular agendas. That's all. And if we translate it into a very personal realm, you will find such divisiveness also in your own heart. You will find that somehow you have certain prejudices and particularities which exclude a lot of people. It's you. It's the way you think. It's your particular taste. You know, I can mention a lot of things that divide people. Now, I think there is a lot of that kind of divisiveness in Britain today. In the old days, we used to have Scots nationalism, the Welsh nationalism, or earlier than that, the Irish nationalism. Those things were in history. But politically, Britain has overcome all those things, as you well know. But this divisiveness of the heart is a very special kind of plague. See? This is my group, or this is my color. This is my region of the world from which this man comes, or that man comes. And so he is special. Early in my college years, that is soon after conversion, I began to regard everyone as special. I saw no partiality in my father. I saw him loving everybody. I didn't see that narrow divisiveness in my parents. So I had none of it, too. But more than that, the word of God and the love of God, it formulated my whole horizons, my course of action, the word of God. Now, here is a word of God from our Lord Jesus Christ, which says, Ha! These are my brothers and sisters and my mother. Well, all of us know that we can only have one mother. We can never have two mothers. One natural mother, out of whom, from whom you were born. All right. But what is the Lord Jesus Christ telling us? Those who do the will of my father, they are my family. You know, somehow, I did not have a great problem teaching the young people around me this thing. We had no real problem at all. You know, some of them were brilliant students. Some of them had excellent sports credentials. They could have thought of themselves as being extraordinary and very special. No. They were just part of the team, part of the family of God. So they learned to share, to love, to obey, to have just one agenda. We had only one agenda. You see, I do not know what is your particular agenda. Some people have an agenda of pure selfishness. That's all. They live for self. And you know, a week after their death, nobody really misses them. Nobody, except perhaps the father and the mother, who will say, and a brother and a sister. Now, that's not the kind of discipleship which the Lord Jesus teaches us. As a matter of fact, I see that Britain itself has become very insular and fearful. You know, they're not able to say, hey, listen, free speech does not imply that only one set of people can take to the streets and cry, we'll have your blood. There can be others who can say, hey, it's the love of Jesus that Britain needs. And none of your shouts and calls for the blood of others. Well, nobody needs to be afraid to say such plain truths. If Britain is going to be a place where you're afraid to speak in a non-insular manner, then Britain has lost its heritage altogether. It's a sad day that we are seeing today. Any set of hooligans can scoff at the law and get away with it. We can fill our streets with robbers who will snatch your attache case, who will snatch your mobile phone, who will snatch anything that they can take. You know, as I'm going to be preaching shortly in a place where they said you couldn't pass this place after dusk or at noontime or in any lonely time of the day. You couldn't pass this place because you would lose your clothing too. But I said, come on, we want to change. We want the Savior to change these very fellows here. You know, folks, now that is the kind of challenge which the Lord Jesus offers. And after all, don't forget that Britain has still a national church. Ostensibly, most people that were born in Britain were christened. And nobody needs to be told what Christmas stood for. They didn't get to the point of such heathenism that any child in the country would think that it was the birth of Santa Claus that Britain was celebrating. That was not the state of Britain. So Britain had its parishes, and people said the Lord's Prayer, Thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven. There was scarcely anybody in the land who had not said the Lord's Prayer, at least at school prayers. But do we have a situation today when these things are almost called pure superstitions or unwanted old traditions? No. It's a very meaningful thing for anybody to say, O God of love, O God of holiness, let your will be done in this heart of mine and in this nation just as it is done in heaven. Who should be ashamed of saying that? Who should be ashamed of saying that? Except anarchists. My dear friends, who should be ashamed of saying that on the sound waves? Is there a greater prayer that you can pray for yourself or for the nation? But you know, if you are going to have a situation where every anarchist can question the law and the freedom of speech and the freedom which love procures. Love instills freedom. Love brings openness. And that is Jesus. And nobody need be ashamed of the Lord Jesus. He never said conquer by the sword. He only said it is by love suffereth long and is kind. It says his word. It is his love that changes sinful hearts and empties our overcrowded prisons. What a tragedy that there is no room in our prisons to put away some of these people who call for blood openly and unashamedly with the police standing by helplessly. What does the Lord Jesus teach us? Who is my brother? Who is my sister? Who is my mother? Those who do the will of God. You know, it is my father's will. How does the Lord Jesus Christ put it? He does not want to see anybody lost. Not one sheep lost. Not one grandchild lost. Not one son or daughter in the family lost. Today, we don't see that love even in grandmothers and parents. We feel a kind of, see a kind of fatalism. Well, you know, my son has made a mess of his life or some other child has done something else. And so it is. But it's not our father's will that one should be lost. It's not our father's will that Britain should lose her way in the midst of a babble of voices with no clarity, no direction, no truth. Now, when the Lord Jesus Christ says, I am the way, the light, and the truth. Most British children learnt those words in their infancy. Is there any way by which anybody can be ashamed of the way of Jesus Christ? The manner of his life? Historically, put him beside anybody. Guru, teacher, prophet, whoever. Put him beside anybody. Can they hold a candle to him? Now, do they compare with his holiness, with his matchless love? Dear friends, we need never be ashamed of the truth. You know, it is tragic when anybody who is entrusted with the truth becomes a covert. It's a great tragedy. And so we have got a church today which believes in a lot of compromise. Why? It has lost its moorings. It owes no allegiance to the truth anymore. It is not committed to do the will of God, which is to save a lost world. So, friends, this whole thing boils down to this. Are we the family of Jesus? In other words, are we those that do God's will? Or we find it very awesome, very hard, very disabling. You may say, oh, I can't have my own will. Every child loves its own will. You know that. Every person loves his own will. But why did Jesus teach us to pray? Your will be done on earth as it is done in heaven. Why did Jesus? Because when we do Jesus' will, we automatically bring forth fruit, blessed fruit, which transform others, bring into society a current of purity. You see, every family should be providing certain momentum to this current. Every son and daughter. When we do God's will, you know, as a matter of fact, when we think of Florence Nightingale, you would do well to study her life because she had to work against parental opposition. They couldn't understand how a highborn person who could move in the circles of the court, you see, was going out to the down and outs and the deprived and the suffering at a time when hospitals were in an awful state. The parents couldn't understand. What is this girl after? Yes, her compassion, her drive, which was derived from Jesus, resulted in a transformation over the whole hospital scene. It crossed the Atlantic. It lifted the hospitals of America. It brought such comfort to the soldiers in the Baltics in that savage war where, with a lamp, she used to walk through miles of the wounded. Of course, that was a compassion that came from Jesus. We don't see that today. We see a situation where a newspaper declares plainly on the front page, no more money in the NHS to take in a lot of patients. They will have to wait. Well, my dear friends, there is only something which money can do, but money and compassion are completely different values. And so when the medical profession or the organization says it's money, it's not lifting the suffering that matters, but money. What have you got? You have gone a whole circle and have almost returned, not quite, to the point where Florence Nightingale took up. A whole circle by sheer godlessness. And how much money has been pilfered from the NHS by false claims and so on, inflated bills? I little know. But when a nation comes down into a Christless state, this is what happens. Everybody is greedy. Everybody wants this chunk of the pie. Whether the pie is there or not, you want your chunk of the pie. And you have got people who are just there for the money. See, Christian values have declined. Who is my mother, my brothers, and my sister? Those who do my father's will. And that's where we are awfully coming short. It is sad. So, my dear people, if we are ready to ditch, abandon our own agendas, and, you know, you will find your agenda is made up of 99% of selfishness and maybe 1% of other things. But we love our own will because we are sure that's the way of security, of comfort, of getting to affluence. Now, are those the criteria which guide us? No. The will of God took our Lord Jesus Christ to the cross. And how many are the sons and daughters of Britain that said, no matter what happens, I will take this good news to the cannibals, to the places which are dense of brutality? You know, Livingston met these slave traders who were destroying whole villages, killing off thousands of people. And, oh, his heart bled within him. He said, I must open up Africa so that this trade cannot be perpetrated anymore. You see, those were men who did God's will. When Mr. Stanley, who led that expedition, which went out to discover whether Livingston were dead or alive, found him at last, so low in supplies, he had two requests. One of those requests was that he should return to civilization, where he would receive a glorious welcome. He said, no. For five years, they did not even know whether he was dead or alive. He was so lost in his mission. You see, that is the compassion of Jesus. That is the love of Jesus. I will do my Father's will, whatever it costs. That comes to us from the cross of Jesus. That becomes a natural heart cry instead of all these selfish little idols, you know, dancing up and down in our little hearts. No, we don't care for those idols. Nothing is going to stop me from doing my Father's will. You see, my dear friends, such is the kind of drive which takes over in your heart, you know. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ also told us of two sons. The father said, son, go to the field. And the son said, yes, I will go. The first son said, no, I will not go, but changed his mind and went. The second son said, sir, I will go, but did not go. And the Lord Jesus said, which of them did my Father's will? And, of course, the people answered, the first, who began with a no. You know, sometimes we see slow starters, people who are just namby-pamby for a long time. They're always dithering. They're always saying, tomorrow I will repent. Tomorrow I will turn to the Lord. They're pretty slow starters. You know, in 100 yards or a 100-meter sprint, a poor starter has a very little chance. But life is not just a 100-meter sprint. It tends to be a longer stretch. So if you see a slow starter who begins by saying, no, it's beyond me. I can't do it. I'm stuck here. You know, even parents may say, oh, this is a bad egg. This fellow is not going to come to much. Even parents dismiss certain people, children like that. But Jesus says, here is one who said no, but then changed his mind and went and did what the Father had commanded. So doing the will of God is such a crucial thing that in the course of my life, I have seen people who started out very well, but their own agenda gripped them, or some idol gripped them, and that's it. Their growth was stultified. They lost out. Who is my brother and sister and mother? Those that do my Father's will. Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does my Father's will. Let us pray. Let us tell God in our hearts, Lord, teach me to turn from my own agenda to do my Father's will. It's best. It's the greatest. It's the highest. Nothing will beat it. My Father's will. It's the safest. It's the surest. My Father's will. I'll do it. I belong to the family of Jesus. Yes, my heart has often said no, but Lord, I will do your will. Tell the Lord and let it be true and real. Gracious Father, we stand at a point in history when nations, when people, when individuals are reaping the bitter harvest of turning away from the will of God. People who had learned from their childhood to say, teach us to do your will. Let your will be done on earth, even as it is done in heaven. While nationally, almost every church says so, individuals mouth it at least, have mouthed it many times. And yet, oh God, an agenda of selfishness, an agenda to pursue the flesh. Oh, Lord, I pray, turn us. We plead with you from self-destruction, from national destruction. Save us, we pray. And let us never be ashamed of the words of our precious Lord, who told us that when we do his will, we are part of his family. Yes, dear Lord, we want to please you and to be your very own. So make it real to everyone who is within the sound of this message. Everyone here, as anywhere else, make us true, make us real, that we might be a blessing to many. In Jesus' holy name, amen. www.lefi.org Please tune in next week.