This sermon by Derek Prince emphasizes the importance of aligning with God's purposes: the coming of His kingdom on earth, proclaiming the gospel to all nations, and preparing a people for His kingdom. Derek shares personal stories and biblical teachings to highlight the need for obedience, discipleship, and sincere love for the brethren as we await the return of Jesus and strive to fulfill God's ultimate plan.

Derek Prince Ministries. Proclaiming the inspired Word of God around the world. Derek Prince is an internationally recognized Bible teacher and author. Through books, audios, videos, and radio broadcasts, Derek seeks to reach the unreached and teach the untaught. In over 50 years of ministry, Derek has reached over 100 nations in more than 50 languages. And now, Derek Prince. Now, I joined the British Army, not by choice, but by compulsion, on the 12th of September, 1940. I happen to remember the date because it was my mother's birthday. Anyhow, the two things they taught me were this. That once an order is given, it's in force until it's cancelled by someone with authority. Second, ignorance of orders is no excuse for disobeying them. And that is true in the army of God. I smile when God's people talk about being an army. Because they're so far from being an army. Let me tell you one thing. When I joined the British Army under King George VI. I never got a little certificate signed by the King saying, I guarantee you, you will not have to lose your life. No soldier has ever joined an army on that basis. And no soldier has a right to join the army of Jesus on that basis. It may cost you your life. Don't talk about being a soldier, if your motive is self-preservation. So let's read the words of Jesus. Matthew 28, 18, 19 and 20. All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. It's important to know who has all authority. Not some authority, but all authority. It's all vested in one person. And his name is Jesus. That's right. So having said that, having cleared up the whole issue of authority once for all. Jesus says, go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all things that I've commanded you. And lo, I'm with you always, to the end of the age. Now he said, go and make disciples of how many nations? All nations. Are you sure? Have we done that? By no means. Nineteen centuries have passed and we are still far from doing that. Then I want to point out to you that he did not say make church members. He said make disciples. One of the biggest problems that we have in the church is members who are members but not disciples. Because by their lives they contradict the message that we bring. If you've never started a work for the Lord and you feel led to do so, begin with disciples. Don't begin with members. If you make disciples, sooner or later the members will come along. But they are not primary. I really mean this. I think the greatest single problem of the church in America is that we've made members who are not disciples. They tell me such and such a church has so many thousand members. I say that's wonderful. How many of them are disciples? A disciple is one who is under discipline. A disciple is one who has laid down his life. Jesus said unless a man forsakes all that he has, he cannot be my disciple. It's not, it's difficult but some succeed. It's impossible. That's what we're told to do. You see our problem is disobedience. We've not been following the commander's orders. Then it says baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Understand that properly practiced water baptism is a commitment to discipleship. And if people are not willing to be disciples and come under discipline and lay down their lives, they shouldn't be baptized. Because they're going to be buried. And then they're going to be resurrected. See? So water baptism is as important in the New Testament as the baptism in the Holy Spirit. It is a decisive step. And it's urgent. Jesus said when going to all the world, incidentally, preach the gospel to every creature. Not just all nations. Every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved. And I do not find a single instance in the New Testament from the day of Pentecost onwards that anybody ever claimed salvation without being baptized in water. And I tell people if you say you're born again and I am a believer in Jesus but I've never been baptized by immersion. I say you're taking a risk. Because there's no guarantee in the New Testament that you are saved. Right? I think you've found it's right. And don't be in this line, well if you want to be baptized as we're having a baptismal service in two weeks, put your name down. That was not the attitude of the people in the New Testament. When God visited the house of the Philippian jailer and mind you he visited it in a powerful way with an earthquake. I'm sure he had the jailer's attention. When he and his family became believers they were all baptized that hour of the night. They didn't wait for dawn. Water baptism is urgent. When Philip met the eunuch on the road to Gaza he got in the couch area and the Bible says he preached to him Jesus. Doesn't tell us he said anything about baptism. But when they passed a pool of water it was the eunuch who said look here's water, what would prevent me to be baptized? And Philip didn't say well you've got to memorize 53 scriptures and attend a biblical class and if you pass at the end I'll baptize you. You see I was with a mission that was a wonderful group of people but they wouldn't baptize anybody if they hadn't been in a baptismal class for six weeks. You know the result? They were baptizing educated pagans. They'd been through the class but they'd never been saved. They just became religious. So remember, water baptism isn't a step you take somewhere down the road. It's part of your salvation. On the day of Pentecost the unbelievers said what shall we do? Peter said repent, number one. Number two, let every one of you be baptized and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. And 3,000 people were baptized in one day. That takes a lot of hard work. If all the apostles did the baptizing it must have taken several hours. But I'll tell you what, it made an indelible impression upon the people of Jerusalem. This is what it means to become a believer in Jesus. I have to go through the water. Then it says, teaching them to observe all things that I've commanded you. So the real teaching process doesn't come before baptism. It comes after it. When they've committed themselves to discipleship then begin to train them. But don't train uncommitted people. Because it's a waste of time. I say all this from experience. I've seen the results both ways. In our, well our, in the church that we attend in Fort Lauderdale, Good News Church, of which Ross knows quite a lot. Scott, I mean, sorry. We have a friend called Ross and I keep calling you Ross when I should be calling you Scott. Forgive me. Anyhow, we basically have the principle that if you want to get saved you repent, you believe and you get baptized. And they have a baptismal tank available every Sunday morning. And most of the people that get baptized in water get baptized in the Holy Spirit. There was a time before the church was really going when the people used to come to our house on Sunrise Quay and they'd get baptized in our swimming pool. Well that's a good place to get baptized. And we had one couple, they were just total pagans before they got saved. And we said, you need to be baptized, come to our house. And this dear precious lady came in a knitted bikini. You know what I said, thank God we've got somebody who isn't religious. So we provided her with the cover up and she got baptized. I was in a meeting many years later in, I think Johannesburg in South Africa. I was invited to speak to the B'nai B'rith. You know what they are? This Jewish anti-definition organization. And they began by giving my, what is it? Kursus Vitae, my background, etc., etc. Because they wouldn't have invited me to tell them about Jesus. But what they really wanted to know was why I believed in the prophecies of God for Israel. So I was trying to tell them this. And in the middle of it, two men sitting back lit up their cigarettes. And I thought, wonderful to be in a place where people are not so religious they don't know that you can't smoke in church. I'll tell you what happened at the end. The leader of that meeting was a Sabra. That is, he was an Israeli or a Jew born in Israel. But he'd gone out to Johannesburg to lead this organization. And he had no religious language at all. But at the end he said, while Dr. Prince was talking there was something very interesting here. It was kind of warm. It was kind of comforting. What was he talking about? The comforter. Oh, what a privilege to talk to people who don't have all the language. I wish we did it much more often. My problem is I hardly ever meet unconverted people. I mean, I see it's God's plan for my life. But I can remember the good old days when I was in the British Army and all the people who were around me were unconverted. Well, I'd better go on. No, I think, well God wants me to tell this story. Some of you have heard it before. But I ended up in the Sudan. In a little place, it wasn't a town, called Jibet. On the Red Sea hills, overlooking the Red Sea. I was a corporal at that time and I never got any higher. My wife, who was in the Marines, became a sergeant. So she outranks me. Anyhow, I was in charge of what they call the native labor. That is, the Sudanese. And there was one man who was the Rais, the head of all the labor force. And my business was to relate to him. I was to see that he got the men doing the right thing. So for a little while, and he was the only one who spoke English. And if he spoke English, he'd learn from British soldiers, which is not exactly King James. But he was very intelligent, very bright. So for quite a while, we just met one another and talked about the jobs. And then somehow or other, I discovered that he believed in the devil. And I said, well you know, I believe in the devil too. So that was our point of contact. We both believed in the devil. And a little later, he came into my store, where I met him. And he was late. And he said, I'm sorry, but I had to go to the clinic. I'm sick. Well I had never prayed for anybody in my life. But I knew it was in the Bible. So I said, would you like me to pray for you? He said, yes. Which frightened me. So I said, well I'm going to pray in the name of Jesus. He said, that's all right. He was a Muslim. So treating him like a bomb that I was defusing, I laid my hands on him, prayed in the name of Jesus. A week later he came back and said, I'm perfectly well. Well after that, I had his attention. So I began to tell him, well I believe in Jesus. And I read the Bible. Then another thing happened. I was in my village. And I got stung by a Sudanese hornet. Well I tell you, Sudanese hornets are in a class by themselves. It was the most agonizing thing I've ever felt. I jumped off my bed, with terrible pain. And I thought to myself, Jesus said you can tread on serpents and scorpions and they won't harm you. So I said, well that should include even hornets. So I walked up and down for about ten minutes, praising the Lord with this pain in my ankle. But it never swelled up. So next morning I met my friend Ali. And I said, you know I got stung by a hornet last night. He said, you were stung by a hornet? Where? So I pulled my stocking down and showed him. He took me to the door of the store. And he showed me a man limping across the compound with one knee up. He said, you know what happened to that man? He was stung by a hornet in the knee. Well I said, why didn't you get stung? Why didn't it happen to you? I said, I prayed in the name of Jesus. Well by then I had his attention. So I began to read to him from the King James Version. Translating it into Soldier's English. Which takes a certain amount of ingenuity. And then he said, I want to teach you to ride a camel. We were really good friends by that time. So I said, okay. Well I discovered there's a peculiarity about camels. There's no part of a camel that's always level. If one part is going up, another is going down. But I learned. I mastered a camel. And I know some of you have probably been to Egypt. And ridden those tame creatures that they have at the Sphinx. That's not even in the same league with a Sudanese camel. So then we decided we'd take a little picnic. And I had access to the store. So I could get a few things to eat. And we set out on our camels. Rode a certain distance. And sat down at the base of a little hill. And there was this brackish stream of water. Running down the hill. And he said to me, we Sudanese drink this water. But you white people don't. Well I said, I'm prepared to drink it. He said, how come? Well I said, there's no other water. The Bible says if I drink any deadly thing in the name of Jesus. It will not hurt me. I drank it. Had no problems. So we had our meal together. Got on our camels. And I read to him, while we were there. From John chapter 3, the first verses. About being born again. Well this absolutely fastened on his mind. Born again, he kept saying. What does it mean to be born again? Well I said, means God gives you a new heart. Well he burst out laughing. That was ridiculous. How could God give anybody a new heart? But I saw he was very much in earnest. So I said, now listen. Would you like to be born again? He said, yes. Well I said, I didn't know what to do. I mean I haven't been to any Bible school. Or theological college. So I said, well listen. You go to your little hut. I'll go to my billet. And at six o'clock this evening. When the sun goes down. You pray there. And I'll pray in my billet. And you ask to be born again. So I met him next morning at 10 a.m. as usual. I looked at him. I said, did you pray? He said, yes. I said, did you get it? He said, no. And I was glad first of all. That he believed something was going to happen. If it didn't happen, he didn't get it. And the Holy Spirit whispered to me. He's a Muslim. I said, did you pray in the name of Jesus? He said, no. I said, you can't be born again. Unless you pray in the name of Jesus. Are you willing to do that? He said, yes. I said, six o'clock this evening. You pray in your hut. I pray in my billet. I met him next morning. I looked at him. I said, you got it. He said, I did. And the whole staff of the hospital knew within a week that Ali had been born again. And my British soldier friends came to me and said, what's happened to your friend Ali? I said, he's been saved. They said, what's that? I said, let me tell you. I started a Bible class with three British soldiers. And before the end of the class ended, two of them got saved. Because they saw what happened to a Muslim. Now, I didn't intend to say any of that. But anyhow, I ended up by baptizing him in the swimming pool of the hospital. So I did the complete job so far as I understood it. Listen, there are people all around us that really would like to know how to meet with God. Just make up your mind. You're going to carry the good news of the kingdom wherever you go. All right? Don't be embarrassed. Don't be shy. One thing about my wife is she's not shy. When I'm standing there listening, she's talking to people about Jesus. And she has such a sweet smile on her face. They are always willing to listen. Okay, so that was talking about taking the gospel to all nations. And let me just show you a passage I've read once already here. Revelation 7, verse 9 and 10. This is part of the vision that John the Revelator had in heaven. And he said, After these things I looked and behold a great multitude which no one could number of all nations, tribes, peoples and tongues standing before the throne and before the Lamb clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands crying out with a loud voice saying Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. And I pointed out already, but it deserves emphasis they were from every people, nation, tribe and tongue. And the age will not close until there's at least one representative from every nation, people, tribe and tongue. Because God the Father will honor His Son Jesus for the sacrifice that He made. And He will make sure that there's one representative at least from every ethnic group every language group that has received the sacrifice and is there to praise the Lamb. So our job is not complete until we've reached every people, nation, tribe and tongue. I'm not directly connected in any way with the Wycliffe translators, but I certainly support them. I think they're taking God seriously when many people with more fancy titles are just playing religious games. They are committed to get the Scripture in the language of every language group on earth. Because of this verse, it has to be. What are you living for? All right, now the third thing that God wants. Number one was, He wants His kingdom to come to earth. Number two, He wants the gospel to be preached to all nations. Number three, very logical. He wants a people for His kingdom. Come up here sweetheart and we'll make a proclamation. Your favorite one. Titus chapter 2, verses 11 through 14. Titus 2, 11 through 14. Are you there? The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people zealous for good works. That's what God is waiting for. His own special people. You might wonder why God tolerates the awful wickedness, the agony, the suffering, the poverty, all the terrible things that are going on in the earth. God could speak a word and stop it. But He won't stop it until He has a people for Himself. Jesus wants a bride to share the throne. And that is a main purpose of God. A people. And they have to come from every people, nation, tribe, and tongue. A holy people, a purified people, whom He has purified from every lawless deed, from all self-will, and self-ambition, and self-seeking, zealous for good works. That's what God is after. Now concerning that, John tells us in 1 John chapter 3. We could say this together again too. Shall we say that? All right. Now you see how I preach. I preach from our proclamations. Because you see, I've absorbed them. They've become part of me. I think in terms of them. 1 John 3 verses 1 through 3. Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God. And we are. Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God. And it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that when He shall appear, when He shall be revealed, we shall be like Him. For we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure. So what's the mark of those who really are waiting for the revelation of Jesus? What are they doing? They are purifying themselves. How pure? Just as He is pure. God has only one standard of purity. It's Jesus. You may say, well I'm looking forward to the coming of the Lord. But if you are not purifying yourself, it's not true. Because that's the evidence in the life of every person who honestly and sincerely looks for the coming of the Lord. Everyone that has this hope in Him purifies himself just as He is pure. Now how do we purify ourselves? Peter tells us, 1 Peter 1, verse 22. Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto sincere love of the brethren. So how do we purify ourselves? It isn't a mystical experience. It's obeying the truth. What truth? The truth of God's Word. That's what purifies us. Obeying the Scripture. What is the goal? It's sincere love of the brethren. Now the brethren, believe me, are not always easy to love. You acknowledge that? As Bob Mumford used to say, God has got some strange children. And then he would add, and you may be one of them. But that is the mark of purity. Sincere love for the people of God. That's what will make us ready for the coming of the Lord. So let me just recapitulate, and we're going to close. The three purposes of God, with which I believe we need to align ourselves. Number one, the coming of His kingdom on earth. Number two, the proclaiming of the gospel to all nations, peoples, tribes and tongues. And number three, preparing a people for the kingdom. God's own special people. Now I'll just close with what I consider to be Paul's response to this challenge. These are words that have become very, very real to me just recently. 2nd Timothy, chapter 2, verse 10. And it starts with a therefore. And some of you have heard me say, when you find the therefore in the Bible, you need to find out what it's there for. And you can read back and find, we're not going to look at it. But he says, Therefore I endure all things, for the sake of the elect, the chosen ones, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. I believe that's a motivation that will take you through the pressures, the trials, the disappointments, the persecution. Whatever it takes. You have to have a vision. That's my vision. I got it from Paul. I endure all things, whatever it takes, for the sake of God's chosen ones, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory. You see, I have a vision. I don't see it with my eye, but I see in every tribe, people, nation, and tongue, God has got those whom He has chosen from eternity. And the age will not close till every one of those is in the kingdom of God. Copyright © 2020 Mooji Media Ltd. All Rights Reserved. No part of this recording may be reproduced without Mooji Media Ltd.'s express consent.