In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of total surrender and commitment to Jesus Christ. He references Luke 14:33, where Jesus teaches that whoever does not forsake all they have cannot be His disciple. The preacher highlights the need for dedication and passion in every area of life, comparing it to the dedication seen in sports and business. He also mentions the obedience to God's word as a logical reason for this commitment. Overall, the sermon encourages believers to live a life of surrender and wholehearted devotion to Jesus Christ.

I referred to this book, Calvary Road, last night. And if you've not yet read it, there are a few copies on the table. Unfortunately, some people take the teaching of Watchman Nee to extremes. They fail to realize he was also just a human being who was not perfect and did not have perfect theology. But I feel of all of his books, this one, The Normal Christian Worker, is by far his best book. It has some very practical chapters about handling money, about humility, and I can very strongly commend this to you. If you know English, you have a real opportunity to get this book on the subject of prayer. And we're going to give it for only half a guilder. So, you want to get that. Let's look again to Romans, chapter 12. Did you read that this morning? Just to begin our thinking. In verse 1 and verse 2, you have God's call to true commitment. Let's just read that again in Dutch. Let's just pray. Father, speak to us again from your Word. Enable us not to just be hearers of the Word, but doers. So, we do not deceive ourselves. We thank you for what you're doing around the world. We pray for these countries. And believe that you are going to send out workers. Lord, search our hearts this morning. That we may know the reality of total commitment. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. How exciting it is to see God answering prayer almost every day. This is the kind of life that I've been able to experience these last 24 years. I shared my testimony last night. How through the prayers of mainly originally one woman, this whole movement of OM came into being. And we are only one of many movements and fellowships that our great God has raised up. It's exciting to be a follower of Jesus Christ. There is reality. There is victory. There is power. Sometimes we're on the wings of eagles. Other times, as last night, we're just battling by faith for survival. And we know what to do if we do sin. We believe in the sovereignty of God. But in His sovereignty, God has refused to turn man into some kind of computerized robot. And God is calling us to surrender our lives to Him. To yield to Him every area of our life. Our time. Our talent. Our possessions. Everything. This is the clear message of Jesus Christ. Look at Luke 14, 33. Luke chapter 14. The whole chapter is very important. It talks about counting the costs. It talks about denying self. Notice in verse 27. Whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. And verse 33. This is God's word. This is actually the words of Jesus. So likewise, whosoever he be of you, that forsaketh not all that he hath cannot be my disciple. This kind of teaching is found in every gospel. And it's very important to understand that God is calling His people to a life of total surrender and commitment to Jesus Christ. In every area of society we see dedication. Think of the area of sports. The people who win the Olympics. The way they train. The way they forsake so many other things in order to give themselves wholly to training in that sport. Think of some people in the business world. My son recently got a part-time job in London. With McDonald's hamburger chain. And one of our leaders was reading the story of the man who started that. With a small little hamburger shop. It is now one of the biggest multinational corporations in the world. It is now one of the biggest businesses you can find in the whole world. The story shows the way this man was dedicated. They keep the business clean in a fanatic way. The business closes at 11 o'clock in the evening. And they have to clean and polish everything until 2.30 in the morning. And I was reading just a small article in one of the magazines. Their burden to reach the entire world with McDonald's hamburgers. In which they describe their vision to reach the entire world with hamburgers. They now have negotiations with China to set up their programs there. I'm thinking if only we could just slip one gospel tract in each hamburger. I mean in a big Mac we could put a cassette tape. I think the same thing about Coca-Cola. These people are fanatic. And China is now beginning the production and the sale of Coca-Cola. Five years ago that would have been considered the most impossible thing to ever think of in communist China. I think of the dedication and the commitment of some Dutch businessmen. That have made this little country so influential, so powerful in many, many ways. But when it comes to the church. To dedication to Jesus Christ. Oh well that's different. The same Dutch businessman who is so totally committed to his business. Goes to church once a week. There seems to be a little concern that the church is not growing. That there is not reality and revival and power in the church. And that this church here in the Netherlands. Has less than 500 missionaries in the entire world. And then little Singapore will have more missionaries. Little tiny Singapore than all of the Netherlands. A.W. Tozer said this. And he was not speaking about the Dutch church. He was speaking about the American church. He said if any secular company, any secular business. Needed so much raw material. To get so little finished product. It would go bankrupt in six months. And I believe one of the basic problems. Is the lack of total commitment to Jesus Christ. In some places. Some of these words. Like commitment. No longer have any meaning. Because we don't understand what God means. For example if someone goes to the prayer meeting in the middle of the week. We think wow he is really committed to the church. That is a good thing. But that is a very small thing. The life of total commitment touches every day of the week. I want to share why I believe this total commitment is so reasonable and so logical. It says that this is our reasonable service. It's not extremism. It's not fanaticism. It is the normal Christian life. To be filled with the Holy Spirit. Is not firstly some spectacular event. That takes place in the life of a few sort of super saints. That is not something spectacular that only happens in the life of a few super saints. But it is the privilege of all believers. To be filled with God's Holy Spirit. That is not the end goal. We have not arrived there. But it is only the beginning. There will still be battles. And there will be testings and there will be temptations. And we will have to apply the principles of discipleship and survivalship that we learned last night. All of us probably know many people who had a great experience with the Holy Spirit 10 years ago 20 years ago who are not even walking with Jesus Christ this morning. In the United States we have hundreds of thousands. Even great pastors who had great experiences and we are teaching these experiences. Today they are on their third wife. Or they are away from God altogether. No experience is a guarantee that things will automatically go right. The experience and God works in different people in different ways. Must be followed up. And there is no escaping the need for daily reality. Total commitment. Total daily surrender. This is very very important. Jesus said again and again if any man come after me let him deny himself take up the cross daily and follow me. Let me give some of these reasons very quickly. Number one because Christ gave everything for us. If Christ gave everything for us should we give less back to him? He died on the cross for our sins. Before that he became a man. Philippians 2 he became a servant. And then he went to the cross. And it's because of the cross that total surrender to Christ is so logical. And if you want to know reality in your Christian life it's the way of the cross. It's embracing the cross. It means death to self. So many passages Romans chapter 6 Galatians 2.20 Where Paul says I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live. Yet not I but Christ liveth in me. This isn't just words. I have seen thousands of people come to know these principles and have their Christian lives radically transformed. And saw the message of total commitment. The life of total surrender. And you can use other terminologies. I'm not going to argue with your terminology. And I think we know what we're talking about. It's logical. It's reasonable. Because Christ died for us. And I just want to ask are you sure about your own personal relationship to Jesus Christ? I'm sure most of you know Christ personally. And have been born of his spirit. But there may be someone you're unsure. You're confused. What a wonderful day to make sure of your relationship. It's not by works. It's not by promising to do better. It is by faith. To believe that Jesus Christ personally died on the cross because of your sins and will take your sins. What a privilege it is to preach the gospel. In every country we are working in. More than 50 lands. Not all of those throughout the whole year. About 25 countries we have permanent bases. Of course India is like 20 countries. Every one of these lands through the proclamation of the gospel and personal evangelism and literature we are seeing people come to Christ. We are seeing them grow. And a number of our best leaders in our work today we personally won them to Christ 10, 15 years ago. And we worked with them these 5, 10, 15 years. Now they are winning many. I think of one English brother. He was hitchhiking to India to do social work. He was not a Christian. And our first truck headed to India in 1962. They picked up this young man and his brother and they won both of them to Jesus. And now this particular brother is an outstanding Bible teacher in England. Winning many to Christ. The power of the gospel. And when I find Christians who are not winning others to Christ or at least helping to win others to Christ I just wonder what has gone wrong? How selfish can we be? We are saved. We have the salvation. Now we are going to keep it to ourselves. We get in our little churches and we close the door and we create our own little culture and we fail to move out and bring in the unconverted people. If you think it is cold outside I will tell you it is colder this morning in many of the churches in Europe and in America. And those of us who work among the people of God are very used to the ice. Because we find many of God's people are frozen. There is a verse that says God's chosen people not God's frozen people. And we are going to do You all know English. The second reason why this is so logical is the shortness of time. I just can't believe it when I see my 18 year old son he is bigger than me. It seems just a few years ago he was just a little baby in my hands in Madrid, Spain. 18 years are gone. I am no longer young. I am middle aged. The hair is falling out The face is changing. I am no longer allowed to the young people's meeting. Unless I go as a speaker. And time is going by. This life will soon be gone. And to take some of the valuable time and just waste it. David Wilkerson said the great sin of young people is wasting time. Perhaps even more than some of the big bad outward sins. The sin of wasting time. Only a Christian can do this. For the unconverted person it doesn't matter. But the Christian he is bought with a price. The precious blood of Christ. We named our second ship Doulas. It means servant. Because we want to learn to be servants. Actually it means slave. We are slaves of Jesus Christ. We want to do his will. And in such a short time. We have all of eternity. And only this one life. To serve him. Michael Griffiths wrote a very good book. He is a present international director of OMF. Great mission organization. He had the joy of sending many ex-OMers into that mission. It was founded by Hudson Taylor as the China Inland Mission. And Griffiths wrote this book Give Up Your Small Ambitions. And as I talk to young people I am amazed the things they are going to dedicate their lives to. The small goals they have in life. And now there are many life is just to get a job. And I am amazed to make some money. To buy some food. To have a house. To have some rest. So you can go to the job. So you can get some more food. And go to your house. And rest. So you can go to the job. And they just go in a circle. And they have no goals. No vision. No fire burning in their hearts. The Bible says our God is a consuming fire. And a man of God a woman of God there is a fire burning in his heart. And it is that fire that will consume the sin and the dross and the deadness and the spiritual myopia. So that every day counts. Every day counts. I can't remember wasting a day for 24 years. It's hard to remember wasting any hours. I'm sorry I have wasted many minutes. What a challenge it is to live for Jesus Christ. We see the Apostle Paul. It says in Acts chapter 20 See the Apostle Paul. It says in Acts chapter 20 For the space of three years he ceased not to share and to warn men night and day about Christ. The third reason why this commitment is so logical is because it is in obedience to God's Word. That really is enough. If God told us and showed us this is the way to live then we don't really need any more reasons. And we have the example of Jesus Christ. Not just his death but his life when he looked over Jerusalem he wept. And we read in Matthew 9 that Jesus Christ himself went from house to house to village to village Praise God that he didn't just sit back and tell us what to do. He set the example and we need to follow in his steps. The Word of God has at least 200 verses on the subject of total commitment and surrender to Christ. You know, two of the strongest verses we may not realize this. Love God with all your heart soul, mind and spirit. That is the strongest verse on commitment in the whole Bible. And love your neighbor as you love yourself. We think of verses like Hebrews. Chapter 12 Turn there with me in your Bible where it speaks about running the race. And we're told to run with patience the race that is set before us. This speaks of commitment. It speaks of exertion of dedication and verse two tells us how to do it. Looking unto Jesus. And so the Word of God commands us to total surrender and it is the will of God. But another reason is the state of the world today. Even if we were not commanded to evangelize the world which is the priority task. The big thing now among evangelicals as the pendulum swings over pendulum thinking. I don't know if you have a way to express that. People are thinking on one thing now we're thinking way over here. About 50 years ago many evangelicals did not have much interest in social action. Actually many did like the Methodists the Salvation Army but others did not. Now the very big emphasis among evangelicals is social work. And in the United States England and even here in Holland if you want to raise money then you have the relief work social work and the money will pour in. If you want to receive money then you have to open a certain relief fund and you will see how the money flows in. But if we read the Bible the Bible makes it clear that the most important form of social relief is on a personal basis your relationship with your neighbor. Although I am against it Believe me I am afraid that this whole social work will be taken over by the evangelical Christians of today. Because then we are on our way to become obedient to the commandment of Christ to proclaim the Gospel in the whole world. People often say to me Why are you not doing social work in India? So many people don't have houses. They don't have enough food. And often in the West we are very ignorant of these situations. There are tremendous problems in social work. Actually in a place like India much of our Western social work is an insult to them as a people and as a nation. Also there are more millionaires multi-millionaires in India than there are in Holland. These men have a wedding for their daughter nothing to spend a hundred thousand guilders. That's small money. They have money in London money in Zurich money in Amsterdam. Our burden is to see social revolution starting in their hearts. That they will take care of their own people. And I believe the proclamation of the Gospel and seeing people change by the preaching of the Gospel is the most effective social work you can ever do. Because when we just give these people so much money as America does ultimately they only end up hating America even more. My own country America is the most hated nation in the world today. Because she has given more money and food than almost all the other nations all put together. And governments don't know what to do. And people are getting very upset. And as we go with the proclamation of the Gospel and see government men converted and see the poor converted then you will see social revolution. And these people within their own country can do more than we ever can do as foreigners and strangers. At the same time praise God when a relief work takes place. I was reading about some of it this morning and praying during my prayer time and some great work is being done. But we are not we need to see the balance. And as believers if we have the vision for the spiritual needs and preaching the word and distributing the word then that's where most of our emphasis should be. Because most Christians do not have that vision. Most Christians are interested in the other side. And even many non-Christians many non-Christians are interested in the other side. So if you have discernment about the true need of man and the power of the word of God then you should give your effort in that direction. Sometimes in O.M. we help in relief work we sometimes use the ship a little for that but God has told us to be obedient to Jesus Christ in preaching the gospel loving people personally and bringing about social revolution starting in the heart of men and then moving outward. Many times when I see the world situation half the world still not having heard the gospel so much suffering so many needs that has often caused me to rededicate my life to Jesus Christ. I stood in a garbage dump in Mexico when I was twenty among those people whose houses were made out of little bits of tin and string who were living on the garbage dump tens of thousands of flies swarming over the children never forget that day so I walked toward the sunset and recommitted my life to Christ and to the people of this planet I believe that what we're doing in OM is not fanatical it's the most logical thing in the life of the need in this world but there's another reason for this total commitment for this total commitment and that's the love of Christ the bible says the love of Christ constrains us when we think of God's love for us it's so great and truly our motivation can come from the love of Christ it says in that same chapter we are ambassadors of Jesus Christ sometimes we're not very good ambassadors and that's quite a challenge and then lastly total commitment is logical in the light of Jesus Christ coming back the second coming of Christ is a very important doctrine in the New Testament there are different interpretations but the basic truth is clear Jesus Christ is coming back if you die first then you will meet him don't try to put this into a time capsule Albert Einstein I think showed us that time is relative and we now know if we could get into a space capsule and if we could travel out into space faster than the speed of light which of course is slightly impossible we would be able to go out into space and see Jesus Christ dying on the cross tonight we would not be out of our own galaxy and our galaxy with millions of stars is only one galaxy and we all know there are millions of galaxies with millions of stars and how foolish it is to take the God who created all this and try to put him into a time capsule and we just can't do it but we know that Jesus Christ is coming and we know that when the believer dies he goes to the presence of Christ for six years Captain Padgett was the captain of the ship Lockheed I was at his bed in England the day before he went to be with the Lord he told us he was ready to go four in the morning he was in the presence of the King of Kings at his funeral a few days later it was a time of praise it was a celebration graduation ceremony as one more went to be with the Lord that's why he was created in the first place that's why we were created we weren't created so that we could fall into sin and then be saved so that we could now go save others God was not starting an evangelistic team when he created man God was creating a people who would worship him for eternity God created man to worship him for eternity and who would rule with him in the universe in ways that we will never understand an amazing new book in English we have come to see even more our eternal purpose with God as his children and this whole earth is a training ground when we can understand this then we understand suffering the same author has now written a book called Don't Waste Your Sorrows on the subject of suffering hundreds of thousands of people have been helped through these two books and God is impressing upon his church that worship is our highest call and here on this planet as believers we are being trained we are being prepared through suffering through intercessory prayer to reign and to rule with Jesus Christ for eternity and there are dozens of verses that show this like where it says those who suffer with him shall rule and Satan is so clever he doesn't want God's people to see this he'll do anything to stop us from having a ministry of intercessory prayer he will try to stop us and in turn try to stop God's eternal purposes which we know he cannot do you may make a deeper commitment to Jesus Christ you will become a marked man by Satan it's a serious thing and yet we know it's God's way present your body present your body as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God because this is your reasonable service this is God's way and the child of God will never be totally satisfied until he's walking on this Calvary road before he's walking on this Calvary road let us pray Father we praise you for the reality of your Holy Spirit the way and your purposes you've brought us together we believe you are doing great things in our midst that we may go from this place as people that are truly committed to you ready and willing to be used of you in Netherlands and around the world deliver us from our excuses and enable us to truly present our bodies as a total living sacrifice and enable us oh Lord to present our bodies as a real sacrifice for you in the name of Jesus Christ who gave his all for us Amen Amen