In this sermon, the speaker discusses the importance of taking action when faced with injustice and violence. He emphasizes the need to not simply ignore or dismiss such events, but to actively engage and make a difference. The speaker shares his personal experience of canceling some subscriptions and taking new ones out to support causes he believes in. He then references Acts chapter 20, where the apostle Paul emphasizes the value of labor and supporting the weak, and Jesus' teaching on the importance of giving. The sermon concludes with a reminder to preach the kingdom of heaven, heal the sick, and freely give, trusting in God's provision.

Twenty million refugees in the world. There is so much death. And, you know, I hesitate to say these things but I'm committed to honesty but I have been so hit by so much death in this world and suffering that I have got to the point at times of being almost numb. And I have whole periods when I don't bother listening much to the news. When I get on the road, everything is so hyped up. I don't get to listen to the news so much. But when things calm down, I get back home, I get a little more routine. I watch the news and it's really awesome. And I think Gordon McDonald's challenge about being in the real world, what he shared with me on the phone about what's happened in his life since moving into New York City, still my city of first love where I was converted, it all somehow fits together. And I hope that we will not become a group of people, I don't think we are, we never will become a group of people that says, well, we really can't do anything about that. We're limited in our resources, we're limited in our manpower, we've got so many internal problems. We can't really do anything about 14 million refugees, that's not really our calling is it, except Gordon and Grace's exceptions. What are we going to do about Pol Pot and Campochea and that situation where no one knows? Have you ever read about Laos and how many people died there? I'm reading the history of South America now, they had some wars down there between Paraguay and Argentina and Paraguay and Brazil. The number of people that died, I never realized. How much death? And all of this for most of us in our background, in our society, it's all sort of historical, isn't it? It's just sort of more history. And when someone dies like Randy, then it comes right out of the history book, isn't it? Because we know him, we can feel it. I was with Randy just a year ago at the Sarnia conference. You always feel when someone dies like that, you wish you had taken some time. I can't even just say that, it's emotional for me. Maybe God can motivate us through this to do something more that of all these people who continue to die, many of them very young, that somehow we may see more of them in heaven. Somehow we'll have more funerals like Randy's where we know, we have that assurance that he's in heaven. I really believe this is directly related to our learning how to release resources for righteousness, for that which is good. I'm not thinking just of OM. The vision I have and what I'm sharing tonight goes completely beyond operationalization. If you guys, the movers and the shakers and the hustlers in OM want to do something with this vision, that's up to you. You have your little meetings here and there and do something. But my vision goes beyond that because that's just what's on my heart. In OM we're just so tiny. We think Offenburg is some big thing, but we know in the light of the whole situation, in the light of the world situation, it's just a small thing. I think we need to communicate that, by the way, with our other European mission agencies. I tried to do that with the leaders that I spoke to there. We believe that OM is just a tiny part of what God is doing in the world, but we're thrilled to be a tiny part of what God is doing in the world. We hope it'll grow bigger. Let's look at Luke 14 just for starters and then these other scriptures. Luke 14, of course, you've often had for me, so it's just a reminder point, a starter point. It's interesting, this passage, just how strong it really is. Starting in verse 25, the multitudes came to him. He turned and said unto them, If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, his own life, also he cannot be my disciple. That's a tough one, isn't it? Whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Anybody tries to say that Jesus Christ wasn't radical, all you have to do is read those two or three verses. For which of you intending to build a tower, sit it not down first, counteth the cost whether he is sufficient to finish it. And here again, we see Jesus, as we often see him, using for his illustration, very material things. Things that people can understand. He's talking about building a tower. And those people knew in those days to build a tower meant money. And so he's saying, counting the cost. That you have enough to finish it, sufficient to finish it. Now, it may have been bricks, it may have been some wood. When we think of the things that were built, even thousands of years ago, back to the Tower of Babel, ancient pyramids, things that we've read about, sometimes we've seen. It's uh, it's real. Lest, perhaps, after he hath laid the foundation, is not able to finish it, all behold, it begin to mock him. Saying this man began to build and was not able to finish. What king going to make war against another king? Very interesting illustration for Jesus Christ to use, isn't it? War. Today, in some places, they don't even want you to talk about war. I had a lady write me a very strong letter. Can't believe the letters that I get. And I mentioned something about warfare from her pulpit at a little church in Cambridge, Anglican Church. And how could I, you know, go on with this warfare terminology? I forget what I said there. What king going to make war against another king? Sitteth not down first and consulteth whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand. Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an embassy of peace and desireth conditions of peace. So likewise, whosoever he is of you that forsaketh not all that he hath cannot be my disciple. Words that have gone to our hearts again and again. Salt is good, but if the salt had lost its savor, with what shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill, but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Now, keeping that in mind, let's talk about resources. I think we should start with Matthew 6. I want to look at some verses in Matthew, Mark, Acts, Romans, and Corinthians. I hope you will perhaps write down the references. Matthew 6. The Lord Jesus Christ speaking. We're again back in the Sermon of the Mount where we were last night. There's quite a lot in the Sermon of the Mount that's tied into material things, tied into money. Verse 19. Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither must moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The lamp of the body is the eye. If the eye, therefore, thine eye be healthy, the whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness. Compare that very much with those verses after Luke 14.33 about the salt losing a savior in the parallel. No man can serve two masters, for he either will hate the one, love the other, or else he will hold to one and despise the other. He cannot serve God and man. I wonder how many Tony Compallo cheerleaders at Love Europe really accepted what he said. And if you didn't accept what he said, I wonder if anybody's got the guts to write him or challenge him face to face. You know one who does? His son. His son has challenged him, and Tony's admitted his lack of moderation. A.W. Tozer admitted the same thing. It's easy when you're a preacher. But I tell you, he said strong things. He said things that I was saying, and are even in some of my books have got me in trouble in places like Sweden. I won't go into that, but I hear Tony. I've listened to a lot of his tapes. He has a unique way of communicating that is not easily interpreted. But I can feel. I can feel with him. I can feel with a lot of these people who at times are angry about the way Christians live. The big cars. The big homes. I may not go all the way after wrestling through a lot of things about wealth over the years. I'm probably not exactly in the same camp. Um Maybe I'm uh I don't know. Maybe I don't have the guts to land in one camp. Being part of a movement like Operation Mobilization because I'm not sure. I'm unsure in a number of areas of my life. And you know when people come up and they read the scriptures and come up with one simple little interpretation, they say this is it. It just makes me angry actually. Because I've been studying the scriptures pretty thoroughly for 32 years. I'm not a scholar. I've studied a lot of books. I've listened to a lot of preachers. And I'll tell you there is a lot of contradiction. One top man of God against another top man of God. Some of the young people. I've got Winky Prattney's latest book on the nature of God. I don't know if you know Winky Prattney. Very amazing invitations he gets. He gets invitations into events in America that I wouldn't mind getting some invitations to for the sake of the work. But I don't get them. Maybe I do need to do some research on that. But truly there are a lot of passages where legitimately people can get two different meanings from the same passage. Peter Maiden spoke on this at our ICT retreat. It's on tape. I'd be happy to send it to you. So here we have the Lord Jesus Christ giving this clear plea not to lay up treasure in heaven. Whatever interpretation we may give. And I'm not going to get into that controversy. We have to acknowledge that Jesus Christ seemed to have a realistic teaching and attitude about money. And he spoke out about money. And I believe that if we are going to follow Jesus Christ as we talked about last night then we, in this work, have to start speaking about money. Now we already have. It's nothing new. It's just that at times when we spoke out, speaking about myself, we gave a partial picture or an incomplete picture or we got so excited about half the truth that we forgot the other half. And it takes time to develop your theology. And I'm still developing mine and still reading. I have a new research document on George Mueller that is absolutely awesome. This document proves that George Mueller was one of the greatest fundraisers in the history of the Church. George Mueller. There now seem to be several George Muellers. And this, of course, was sent to me by none other than David Hartz. Some of you who are so busy winning souls you don't know what's going on in O.M. don't even know who David Hartz is. Let's look at another scripture. Matthew 10. Matthew 10. Verse 9. This is interesting. Jesus having a little love holy land campaign here. And he's sending him out to preach. Verse 7. As you go, preach, saying the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick. Cleanse the lepers. Raise the dead. Cast out demons. Wow. He's obviously into all that even before Wimber. Freely ye have received. Freely give. Now we like that verse 8, don't we? So we write a whole book on that. What about verse 9? No, that's, verse 9's not for this dispensation, right? Provide neither gold nor silver nor copper in your purses nor a bag for your journey neither two coats neither shoes. I mean, not yet a staff for the worker is worthy of his food. This guy is nothing. This is a glorified beggar. He's going out and he's expecting the people that he meets along the way to cough up and provide him some food. Probably even some shelter. Into whatever city or town ye shall enter inquire who in it is worthy. It's interesting. And thereby to you go from there. It'd just be interesting to know where these guys stayed. Let's look at another passage. Let's try the 13th chapter. 13th chapter talks about the sower and the soil. Jesus often in his illustrations was so down to earth. That one especially. Forgive me. That's terrible. But I wanted to look especially at the 22nd verse. He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word and the care of this age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word and he becometh unfaithful. Now let's just stop for a moment on that because I think that's incredibly important. I believe it's the negative power of money that has driven a high number of committed Christians, especially in England, but also in other countries, into an extremist position about money. Now I certainly was in that camp. Things that turned me off, things that people said to me, things that I saw in my early days in the United States, the way they went about taking offerings and meetings, and what people said to me about young Christians being stumbled through this kind of thing. And just the thought of a young Christian being stumbled by some manipulating person up there trying to get money caused me to certainly move in the opposite direction and probably at times too far. I think we were very aware, I hope we still are, of the deceptive power of money. You see that in that film Wall Street. We see it in every nation. We see it in government. We see it when we read about the great Kennedy family. It's interesting the reference to Robert Kennedy because I've been studying his life this year and I tell you it's been such a moving experience for me to study the life of Robert Kennedy, to realize what happened in 1968 when we were all gun-ho, evangelizing the world. I was living in Nepal and the Democratic Convention that year changed the course, in some ways set the course of American history. We won't go into that in an international group. But we see it on every side, the deceitfulness of riches, and let's remember that. Let's remember that as we become a little more free, as we get a greater vision for releasing resources, as we speak more openly and honestly, let us walk with care. We can be deceived, you can be deceived. You find yourself suddenly having to go to hotels and maybe sit down for lunch with some millionaire who may want to give money to your field and pretty soon maybe you're fellowshipping with more of this kind of person and it can be a deception. And it takes, it does take, I believe, very godly committed people to handle money. I've never been able to understand everything about Bill Bright. He and I are very, very different. But I have become an admirer of Bill Bright and Campus Crusade and I believe that one of the reasons that God has committed so much money to them, their budget is awesome, they've been through great struggles with it as well, and I heard from a Campus Crusade for Christ leader that Bill Bright gave one of the strongest messages against materialism that they had ever heard him speak in their life as a Campus Crusade for Christ staff member because he feels that some of his own people are caught up in materialism, especially in the United States. And materialism is subtle. Let us not think as leaders with all this vision we have and all these messages and love for Jesus that we cannot become materialistic. We can. Most of us are still battling with what that actually means. It is difficult. But we see clearly from the word of Jesus Christ that riches, money can be deceitful. Now when we meet people who we feel are deceived by riches, what are we to do? Are we to declare anathema upon them? Are we to declare that you couldn't possibly be saved? Or are we to be used of God through literature and sharing and prayer, help these people see the light about the deceitfulness of riches and be set free? Don't we believe in seeing people set free from moral impurity? And haven't we seen homosexuals set free through the history of O.N.? Don't we believe in seeing people set free from other sins? And should we not therefore if we see and discern that someone is deceived by riches in love and pity not write them off, not declare them anathema, not refuse to dine with them or talk to them or send them run away and send them some semi-obnoxious cassette tape but in love to try to see, especially if we feel they are a believer to see them set free from the deceitfulness of riches. Let's go on. Nineteenth chapter. And I hope this will whet your appetite to study what the New Testament says about money. I actually made this study over twenty years ago and I've never used it except isolated verses. For this message the first time I went through my Bible, all these just some of the places where I have dollar signs. I have dollar signs by all these verses that refer to money. It's just part of my code. I have all kinds of other symbols, doves for the Holy Spirit and I'll be happy to show. I forget at times what they mean so I have to look it up. I have it written back here but I can't find it. Let's look at Matthew 19. Let's look at verse 16. I hope that this will help us to pray in faith tonight for some big things. I'm going to get to that. Really big. Some really big things are on my heart tonight. And I know some of you are going to laugh. And I know last night I said I'm not going to come up with any big visions but this vision isn't for O.M. This is for the whole church. Matthew 19, 16. Matthew 19, 16. The rich young ruler. I don't think we'll read the whole thing. Why did Jesus put this in here? This is a guilt producing. This is another one of these guilt producing chapters. You ever read this in the yuppie church somewhere? You know about Compala when he went into that Presbyterian church. Big Presbyterian church I think it was and he swore from the pulpit. I think it was SHIT or something like that. Just let it rip. People. Let me explain what he did. First he talked about thousands of people dying everyday without food, without shelter, without the gospel. Nobody said anything. And then he swore. People were infuriated. I mean you never heard the end of it. Now we all use it as an illustration. But we're afraid to say the word. But he did this to drive home. You know when Compala gets a truth in your head you don't forget it easily. You might get angry but you don't forget it. He wanted to point out that those people were more disturbed that their preacher had used one moderate swear word. That's possible. Then that thousands of people were dying without food, without clothing, without shelter and going to hell. It's a terrific point. I never forgot. Never forgot. And I just sense in my heart that God wants to do something new in O.M. It wasn't me that started mouthing off God wanted to do a new thing. I don't know who started all that. God wanted to do a new thing. I know Maiden picked up on it. I agree. But I wonder if we're really willing for that. I wonder if we're willing to get a whole new orientation of what God wants to do. Not primarily through O.M. That's not God's great first vision. That's not God's great burden. We're part of the whole body of Christ. I was saying something about Bill Bright and I didn't finish it. Forgive me. But the thing that's impressed me about Bill Bright is that he's handled all this money, hundreds of millions, and he's basically continued in a modest lifestyle. In fact, when I read about his lifestyle I was so encouraged I phoned him direct and I just said, Bill that just meant so much to me. You know if you phone people or write people more about something positive then the door may open to you to say something eventually negative. If you're not saying anything positive, and this is to your own team members as well, you have no credentials to say very much negative. And you may think it's off the wall but I do think we as a movement need a re-read of Dale Carnegie's book, How to Win Friends and Influence People. It used to be required reading. Now some of you don't need it but most of us do, including myself. And I just believe that we can, we can win the people we need to help get the job done for the King of Kings. But if we are honest, some of us, maybe because of personality maybe because of lack of knowledge, maybe because of other needs and hang-ups, we're all different, we actually drive people away. We actually drive people away sometimes from our vision and sometimes, especially people who have resources. There's something often unpleasant about OM for the men who has resources. I don't have a simple answer about that. But let us be honest, brothers and sisters, it's men and women with resources, fairly wealthy people, that have been a major factor that God has used to keep this movement going. So before we make our little cliche about these people, we better acknowledge what's been putting the bread on the table for the last 30 years. It is not enough just to make some statement about God supplying. The Bible doesn't speak that way and we must not speak that way. God uses people. Who has kept the engine room of the ship going? It's been the chief engineer. Is it wrong to speak of how God used Mike Pointer in the ship ministry? Is it wrong to speak about Johannes Thompson who does the job of three people keeping one of the oldest ships in the entire world going? No, it is not wrong if it's done carefully with sensitivity. Neither is it wrong to say that God mightily used a man named Frampton in Bromley, who's now in heaven, to keep OM going to a certain degree over a period of over 20-some years. And just as God gave us the Mike Pointers for the engine room, just as God has given us to fill bushels for church planting in Bangladesh, God has given us men and women of resources who are a vital part of what we're doing. And they deserve better than they're getting from us at this present time. I'm just on the phone with Everett Langlett, who's one of the great resources. Many of you have got support from Everett Langlett. If it stopped, it's probably because you didn't write him the thank you letter fast enough. I can talk to Everett about anything in the area of money, because he knows me. And I called him up, and he was fighting fires in his fields. He owns a lot of land. They're on fire. Everett actually is not just committed to modest lifestyle in American context. He is committed to fairly simple lifestyle. And yet, I've never seen bitterness in him about that. And some of you know his dear wife, and you know his children. Everett came on OM. He went to India. He wasn't even really walking with the Lord. When he got in Bombay, he heard my message on forsaking all. I was really coming across strong that day. He had all this junk with him. I don't know what he was bringing all this stuff out to India. And he brought it and put it all on my desk. He said, sell all this for the kingdom. That was a crisis for Everett, and he's never been the same. Not that it's been all easy. We joined together and made one of the most classic mistakes in OM's history. The Bangkok connection. Only the Kabul, Peter Conlon, Singapore, Katmandu is as off the wall as the Bangkok. Everett and I were going to make money for the king. And he had been buying and selling in the United States, and the war was going on in Vietnam, and a lot of people were making money on the war, and we thought, you know, let's get in on the action. And so we started buying Vietnam surplus. Now Everett could deal with Minnesota farmers, but for Everett Langlant to take on a Bangkok Chinaman was like me trying to fight a dinosaur with a toothpick. It did work. We had all these sleeping bags, and all these stopwatches, all this. I still have some of those. And I think God showed us through that situation that we were not in OM to go in business, to make money for the king. That we were to stick to prayer, we were to stick to the knitting, if you read some of these funny books. But we learned through that. Everett went back to the States, he went back into selling nuts and bolts and scrap, and he has poured, you know, I hope he never hears this tape, but he's poured hundreds of thousands, hundreds of thousands into this work over, you know, 25 years. Now tell me, who's more a part of OM? The man who comes on the two-year program, leaves, and we never hear from him again, or Everett Langlant. Tell me, who's more on OM? Some of you in this room who will leave OM in a couple of years, and that's acceptable. But now you're at, this is a privilege to be in this field. Maybe you think it's a pain in the neck, but it's supposed to be a privilege. Who is more at OM? You here who also get the inside information? We have information that motivates us. I know people have gone to these conferences and got the inside information, went home and sold their house. We've got that information. That information motivates us. That information causes us to renew our commitment to OM. Renew our commitment to World Evangelist. And we, if we are to do this job, if we are to be fair to the Bible, we need to be willing to take the inside information, the guts of what's happening at OM, and share it with the people like Everett Langlant. Share it with the prayer partners, with the business people. How can they, wrestling with all they're attempting to wrestle with, 50, 60 letters coming into their post box, looking for people, looking for money, how can they possibly know when to give to us, and when not to give to us, and give to someone else, if they don't have the hot, real information? Not the cliches. God's always supplied our needs for 29 years. You think he's going to desert us now? That cliche isn't. What does that accomplish? They don't know. They don't understand some of these cliches. And it miscommunicates. Here we see so clearly, in the Word of God again, the strong emphasis of Jesus Christ on money, when he gives us this story of the rich young ruler. And he says in verse 21, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell what thou hast, and give to the poor. I'll tell you, Everett Langlet could be living really high these days, if he had put that money, the money he gave to us, into stocks, or put it into the right, he could be a multi, multi, multi, multi millionaire. But he decided to follow the teaching of Jesus. He has a house, he has a car, he provides for his family. Do you know Everett Langlet's wife also works as a nurse? They're committed people. And there are hundreds within OM's orbit, there are probably thousands, various degrees of commitment. And in God's work, there are many more thousands. And I will tell you, when this grips you, when this vision grips you, and I know it already has gripped many of you, it will change your ministry, it will change your life, and it will give you greater hope that the job can be done. I'm going to get to what I mean by that in a few minutes. Jesus Christ is very, very clear. And we know there are many interpretations, there are many other passages to bring that into balance. But I want to just look at verse 29. And everyone that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. Very challenging verse to interpret. I can't get into that now, but it's just there, that Jesus speaks openly about these things. He makes incredible promises to the person who forsakes houses. I speak openly, I try to do it sensitively, challenging God's people to sell possessions for the kingdom. And I don't get a lot of anger or opposition in the way I do it. I talk about Wallington's missionary auctions, I try to bring balance, not just promote a lot of guilt. I take some surveys, how many people have ever sold one possession for Jesus Christ. You know, even in a garage sale, even in a boot sale, we say in England. Very few Christians have ever sold anything for Jesus Christ. I mean, something rings, I mean, with these verses, something rings wrong. And I believe it's worth really thinking about. Look at Mark's Gospel, 1241. Mark's Gospel, 1241. The widow's mite. You know, this is the word of God. These stories given through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, this one about the Lord Jesus Christ, were given for our edification, for knowledge, for teaching, for doctrine. What do we have this little story here for? Jesus sat opposite the treasurer. And beheld how the people cast money into the treasury, and many of them were rich, casting in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. And he called unto him his disciples. And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, the poor widow has cast in more than all they that have cast into the treasury. For all they did cast in of their abundance, but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living. As far as I can see, Mrs. Clapp, who helped found this work, has been doing that all of her life. Even now, she still gives regularly to the work, though now her mind is going, she can't figure out where to give and how to give. She got it all confused because she's got so many people. She's turned it over to her son. But I know that right to this day, her great passion next to prayer is just giving. Now do you think that Mrs. Clapp would have ever done that if she had never met me or O.M.? Or we cut her off the prayer list because she wasn't a big donor or didn't answer the letter. Mrs. Clapp, I'll tell you, gets hot information. She's been getting personal letters from me for 30 years. Ad visits and phone calls. And I just know there are a lot of Mrs. Clapps out there. The widow's might. If you think that in O.M. we are just somehow writing letters and phoning people who have wealth, you don't know what's going on. I'm going through my whole mailing list right now, praying through the entire list. That's two and a half thousand. Very few people on there have a lot of money. Very few people that I write to, it's even money related. Though I believe it is not wrong to write a letter that is money related. It's taken me a long time. I'm still battling with it because I'm so concerned about motivation. But if our motivation is right, we're not building up. You know, this isn't just for ourselves. And the Word of God says a laborer is worthy of his hire, so even communicating your own personal needs says surely nothing's sinful in that. But I, in my own ministry, because of my particular job, most of my letters are not necessarily money related. I have a ministry of encouragement. I know you do as well. And some of you probably heard the story of the year, at least my story of the year that I just called this dear black pastor, just to encourage him. I hardly knew who he was. I thought my visit to Little Rock, Arkansas two years ago was a bit of a downer. I didn't see really a lot happen. That's my temperament. I always like to see a lot happen. And I thought, Little Rock's in Arkansas, it's a downer, and not much is happening. And I thought, I met this black pastor, and of course I'm so, feel so guilty about the whole black thing in America and how little we've done and how complex it is. Anyway, I phoned him and I just said, look brother, I love you. I hope you're going on for God. How's your church? It just blew his mind that someone would phone him, especially a pale face. It's nothing to do with money. Little did I dream. I mean, you know, generally in the states, the black people are not in the church having a lot of money. And if they are, they're not going to give it to groups like Operation Normalization. You can be sure of that. That man was so excited. He wrote me, he phoned me. We became close friends. He was used to release $80,000 six months ago for the work of the kingdom. Then I invited him to Peachtree City. Of course, everybody jumped on him in love, of course. He just sent in $20,000 or $30,000 for relocation, $20,000 or $30,000 for something else. Love Europe scholarships. We don't look to man in the bottom line sense. We're aware of spiritual warfare. But I will tell you, as that one man through a foundation I think he belonged to, as that one man in that particular culture, which can match anything you have in the third world, my friends, the black ghetto American situation can match anything in terms of complexity and problems that you have in the third world. If we can see $130,000 released in these last few months, and much more spiritually, much more spiritually, then I know that from Singapore and from Hong Kong and from South Africa and from Argentina and from Brazil we can see released for the work of God. It doesn't have to be O.M. Millions, and I pray that from now on you will start praying in millions. Millions released for the kingdom and the work of God. If Campus Crusade can handle it better than us, let them handle it. If YWAM can handle it better than us, and I mean they have goals and programs that I can't even relate to, give it to them. World Vision has ability in handling money. And I believe that one of our sins at times in O.M. has been our small mindedness. We maybe have seen their mistakes. We maybe have seen that some of them are traveling first class by plane. We may not agree with certain things the way this group and that group is carrying on, but I tell you the true score is in heaven. So let us as O.M.ers be a little more humble in the future. Let us be a little slower to open our mouths and let heaven give the score as to who is really accomplishing what needs to be done. We have learned that it's not possible to do big things without wastage. If you want to do small things, if you want to be small minded, good, start your own mission. Leave O.M. and start your own little fellowship of the small minded. And aim at small things. Aim as low as you possibly can. And don't bring anybody else to work with you because eventually you'll fight with each other, as we have in this work. Don't misunderstand what I'm saying because I am not about to want to launch O.M. into anything that is not honoring to God and that's what we talked about last night. But I believe we must think big. We must pray big. Is it wrong that we pray that every one of those refugees could find a home in 1990, 1991? We went out of our minds to rescue a couple of boat people. We made a big thing about it. Let's face it. Every time you see something about the ship, we hear about the great Lagos refugee rescue program. I'm not against that. But we need that times 10,000. If we are concerned for those boat people who are being murdered at sea, pirates are attacking them. Awful things are happening. We need to be burdened for that situation right now in Colombia. I just heard on the radio 4,000 were arrested in the last 24 hours in Colombia. The drug barons almost control Colombia. This may be the last stand of some people with righteousness trying to get on top. They've rescued, they've arrested 4,000 after the murder of the man that could have been the next president. Now when we read these things in the paper, when we watch them on TV, what do we do? Do we say, we can't do anything about that? I hope not. The power of money in the hands of the drug people of the world is awesome. In Pakistan right now, it is awesome. We can sit back in our suburban righteousness, which isn't righteousness, and say these people shouldn't grow the crops. Some research, and I may be wrong, shows that if people grow poppies for drugs, they get this much money. If they grow the food that somebody's telling them to grow, who's against drugs, they make this much money. What if you were the man with the field and that decision would determine whether you put bread on your own little screaming son's stomach? What decision would you make? Most of us from a suburban background, who have had most of our needs met, we don't even know what these people are going through. Mentally, emotionally, it's awesome. What the poor and those without are going through. And I believe, through prayer, through preaching, through literature, through steps of faith, through greater biblical emphasis on resources, we can be a part, maybe only small, of seeing millions released. Do you know how much money some of these baseball players have now in the United States? One minute I talk to Tony Campala at Love Europe, the next minute I'm talking to Eddie Waxer. How do you put that together? Eddie Waxer targets those who have resources. His second target, which may be his first, are the sons and the daughters of those who have resources. He wins them to Christ. You say, hey, this is heavy strategy. I don't believe with Eddie it is. But I tell you, I thank God for the vision of Eddie Waxer. I was all angry about the salaries these sports people are getting. I read about the baseball players' salaries. And I said, Eddie, what do you think about the money that these guys are getting? I expected him to come out. He said, boy, I think it's great. The resourcing of the work of God that can come, because he was thinking of the Christian athletes, through these men and women. Well, you can think about that. But when I see the salaries and the money that people are making, I have a list in one of my business magazines of the salaries of all the top executives in the United States and all the top executives, and most of them in the world. It's just staggering. Cannot, without us becoming extreme, can we not lay hold of some of this for God? Must we go on in our own fellowship with half our people, half our people not even seeing their support come in? And some people say, oh, and we'll always be the same. Well, let me just tell you, brothers and sisters, forgive me if it's going to be the same. I'm leaving. I'm leaving, because I don't believe God wants it to be the same, and I don't believe you believe it's going to be the same. We can see the support come in for our brothers and sisters. We can not only see the support come in, we can see them having the privilege of seeing more than a support so they can give. So they can give. We will get what we aim at. If we're going to crawl along the ground aiming at half support, if we're going to be a nickel and dime operation counting the pennies and somehow feeling we're all very spiritual through this, that's what we may get. But if we can think big and pray big and work hard, I believe we can see our people supported. And when they are supported, and we're going to pray about this tonight, that means when they leave us there's a much higher chance that they're going to make it, whether they're in the secular world or whether they go in the mission society. I read an article last night from Missionary Quarterly by Coggins, Wade Coggins. I already wrote him a letter congratulating him on this article. Brilliant. You know what he's talking about in that article? He's talking about a high percentage of Americans now that are not going to come to the mission field because of school debts. The Swedes were in this before the Americans knew anything about it. But now it's hit the United States. I think it's hitting England too. School debts. People coming out of college with ten, twenty, thirty thousand worth of debts. They've got to stay home to earn their money. While they stay home, they get married. While they're married, they get children. The possibilities of going to the field after that are slight. And he just made gentle, and Wade is mega, mega gentle, a couple of suggestions, though, like the church might do something about it. Or mission societies might do something about it. And I asked him to keep me informed because to me, if a church sees there's a couple that have got giftedness and missionary qualifications, if they've got ten thousand in debt, there's hardly a church in the states that doesn't have a businessman that couldn't write that off. Why? Why is so much money of the king frozen in banks, frozen in assets, frozen in lands, frozen in second houses, frozen in yachts and boats? Don't you ever get angry? Some of you, I don't think you've ever been angry. You get angry in your life. Stomp your feet. Stand on the chair. Break something. But don't just sit around letting the world go to hell without doing something about it. Jesus got angry. Jesus taught, don't let the wrath, don't let the sun go down upon your anger. We know there are different kinds of anger. And I'm still reading about anger because the last thing I want is to justify any verbal garbage. But I am angry and tired of seeing so often Satan walk off with a big price. Don't, if you're an extreme Calvinist, don't at this point throw me some sovereignty verse. Because you may get me very angry and I'll spit at you and then I have to repent. You and I know that some clichés have been used to keep us from doing what needs to be done. They threw those clichés at Wilberforce, they threw them at Carrie, they threw them at many of the greatest men that have ever walked in the world. And my Arminian streak says we have got to do something about this. We've got to do it in God's way, we've got to walk in humility and godliness, we've got to of course incorporate sovereignty, but I believe when it comes to what we should be doing in the world, sovereignty is God's part and free will is my part. And to try to figure it out will become a theological headache. Let's do something about Lebanon. Let's do something about the refugees. Let's do something about the unsupported. We should be so embarrassed by our whole Latin America thing. We should be embarrassed by it. I am embarrassed by it. I've just spent time with Frank Dietz, he's surviving. Because of all that's happened and all the complexity it's being held back. We know it by lack of finance, by not getting the money out. And I am ashamed, I'm calling my own bluff, because I would like to put hard money into Brazil or give it to Love Europe, and I did for a little bit so that in turn I would use the Brazilian money for projects within Brazil. There's plenty that has to be done for God in Brazil. Do you think the work is all over in Brazil? If we had a million dollars, we could spend it in Brazil. Especially if we get into the green campaign. Have you been reading about that lately? That's the big thing. I mean, it's getting overwhelming. We've not only got to evangelize the world now, now the Christians are telling us we've got to repair the ozone layer in the process. We've got to reforest the Amazon. You know, a lot of people think, oh, we're out to lunch. Groups that just want saving souls and people go to heaven. This is not where it is. It's to make the earth greener. It's just overwhelming. Some of the idealism, I was just reading about it in 21st Christian, I think, I don't know when that was, last night, and it just amazes me. And now if you want to sell your product, you've got to prove that that product and manufacturing it has not hindered the environment. And I'm just dreaming, how do we work this into books? Books come from paper, paper come from trees. We have got to get a new variety of book. It can be recycled. I mean, that's a possibility. This book has been recycled from hair that's fallen out of people's heads that's not usable. Well, let me not get into the absurd. Go to Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2. By the way, I've got some bad news for some of you, that you will be held accountable for what you hear tonight. Not by me. You will be held accountable before the Lord. And I will as well. We all know the Acts 2 verses, so we don't want to dwell on them, but it just shows how the same message of Jesus Christ flooded into the book of Acts, and they got excited about loving one another and helping one another, and they were concerned about the physical needs. They were concerned about the physical needs. Verse 45 says they sold their possessions. Part of them, as old men, had need. Verse 44 talks about being together and having things in common. Seemed to me it was a pragmatic operation for a particular situation demonstrating a reality in their hearts, rather than the law of the Medes and the Persians, so to speak. Acts chapter 4, we find also people gripped with the need and releasing money for the kingdom. Verse 37, having land, sold it. Do you know how much land is in the hands of Christians? Praise God for that Christian in Georgia who gave us a piece of land, and I think recently we sold that. Praise God for what's happening in Pakistan with us being offered this property and piece of land for what is it, $60,000? Some unbelievable figure. And I just believe that God can release land through prayer. What God has done in Carlisle. What God has done in a number of your countries in releasing land, releasing buildings. But I'm again not primarily thinking of a land, but the whole work of God. And sometimes if those who are godly and those who are committed, and those who have been proven and tested in the handling of money, if they don't move in in boldness and action, then people with lesser motivation move in. We've had the Jimmy and Tammy Baker thing thrown in our face so many times, we don't want it anymore. But it's interesting that Philip Yancey, another one of my favorite writers, just went down there and took a tour of the place and wrote about it in my favorite magazine, Christianity Today. And I believe everybody in OM ought to subscribe to that. I offer free subscriptions and I got very few takers. I don't know why. I guess maybe everybody already gets it. It's interesting that when things get tight, if you're getting magazine subscriptions, you will be challenged as to the wastage. Somebody else can go off and spend $4,000 for further education, but if you're getting a few magazines for your research and your studies, somebody's going to breathe on you, especially if things are tight. I don't have a simple answer to it. I canceled some of my subscriptions and took new ones out later on when I got the victory. Acts chapter 20. Acts chapter 20, just very quickly I know the time frustration that Gordon experiences in the morning I experience. The verse I was thinking of is verse 33 and 35. Paul said, I coveted no man's silver and gold or apparel. 34 Ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered unto my necessities and to them that were with me. Biblical basis for tent making. 35 I've shown you all things how that so laboring you ought to support the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus how he said it is more blessed to give than receive. When he had thus spoken, he knelt down and prayed with them all. They all wept much and fell on Paul's neck and kissed it. There's not time to share with you those whole chapters 2 Corinthians 9 and 8 where we have so much biblical teaching about money. Please if you can study those on your own. Many many other verses. So try to summarize this. Try to get the Lord's mind. First of all it's to increase our praying for the release of finance. And I have legitimate honest concern for the prayer life of Operation Mobilization. There almost seems to be at times a war going on to shorten the length of the prayer meeting. And the ones like me who want to make it a little longer are running out of steam fighting the battle. I know there's no virtue in necessarily having a long time of prayer. But the fact is with shorter prayer meetings there are many major major things that are not prayed for. They are not prayed for. Because it takes time. So OM is that much bigger with that much more things to pray for. Just practical. And the prayer meetings are that much shorter. So maybe you can write me your note on how that's going to work out. It seems to me we need more prayer. And you know I don't have the same steam I used to have on this. I have far more struggles with prayer than I used to have. But by God's grace I'm hanging in there and I believe the bottom line for releasing finance, for influencing Lebanon, for influencing Afghanistan, for influencing South Africa, for not just influencing doing things. I believe prayer is the first bottom line. Now a lot of people are moving way beyond me in this. They actually are going to take over these places. I am not into reconstruction theology. I've studied enough of it. I'm not into it. You want to read a healthy book on that? Try Colson's book Conflict in the Kingdom. Read it right through from cover to cover. Awesome. I believe Charles Colson could use a million right now. A million dollars right now for prison ministry. The possibilities are so great. Someone said to me, if you had a million would you be able to spend it? What are you joking? A million barely gets all the amount of debt. Or pay the bills. How much does Dale need? Two million. Yeah. And I'll tell you if sometimes you think I'm changing a little bit, you go ask old pop guru sitting in the corner over there why I'm changing. He has changed faster than I have on some of these things. I just got the bigger mouth. I always have. He's got the bigger brain. Brothers and sisters I beseech you in the name of Jesus Christ to change your mentality. We have had in our work at times the sin of small mindedness. I am not despising anything we have done in the past. I am not in any way despising the whole message of God working through prayer. I esteem very highly groups that may not particularly agree with me. I don't even agree with myself in the sense that I'm constantly growing and changing. I'm learning. I'm keeping the L plates on. But for us to look out at dying, hungry, starving people and not do something is wrong. It's not ethical. That's why Tony Compallo swore at the Presbyterians. And how some of you at times can be so blase about the state of the church of Jesus Christ is beyond my comprehension, except I know it must be your temperament. Because I am convinced that in many cases, as Compallo and Tozer and others said, the church is sinning against God. It has left the first calling. Compallo went as far as to say it's not even really Christianity. I mean, go on. And it's because the church sees these things. They see it on television. They see the suffering and the dying and the starved and we go beyond that. The spiritual needs. People without Bibles. Do you know the need for Bibles right now? The need for New Testaments. The open door in the Soviet Union. Why is almost every mission agency, directly or indirectly, looking for money? Why is it? You think they're infatuated with that? No. They're good people, most of them. And they see the need. He that sees his brother in need opens not his heart of compassion. How dwelleth the love of God in him? Brother Andrew, who wrote that powerful article about the problems we are facing, those of us who are in faith missions and are looking to God through prayer. Incredible article. I think I sent it to most of you. But on the bottom line, Brother Andrew is one of the most brilliant fundraisers of our day. Don't use that term. But I mean, I'll tell you, they know how to release money. And they are printing in the process of a million New Testaments. Now maybe we can't distribute all this literature because we've got so many different strategies and this mega pluralism we're into, which is great. Other groups are willing. And I believe as we release funds in prayer, a lot of it will never touch us. See, you bookkeepers and accountants can relax. You're worried about having to handle too much money. This is really getting on your nerves, all this money pouring in for Real Love Europe. And I can understand it. That's why I pray for big gifts. Big gifts. One of the reasons, takes the same amount of energy for the bookkeeper, generally, as a small gift. I just processed a gift, remember Vera, last week? It was at one pound. Cost us more to process it. But who knows? That may have been the widow's mite. So I keep a right attitude as I process that one pound. Brothers and sisters, let's take some giant steps to feed the poor. Let's take some giant steps to minister to those in prison. Let's take giant steps to make sure everybody in the world has a Bible or at least a Gospel or a New Testament. Let's take giant steps in praying for the financial needs of every mission agency that we're in touch with. Let's take giant steps in wanting, especially through literature, through video, through letters, through every possible method, influence the people in power. One of the reasons missionaries are still in Bangladesh is because somehow people were influenced in tough places. When the axe was about to come down, somehow some uncanny influence came again. And God uses different situations. I believe some of the money that governments release to help the poor, to feed the starving, to meet the needs in Sudan, to meet the needs in Ethiopia. I believe prayer is behind that when these government people release that money. I know there's politics and all, but there we see God's sovereign hand working even through the sinfulness of man. I remember the influence Ingemar Empker made upon me in this area as he was used in the United Nations to help release money. Think of what the World Bank is doing. I know a Christian who works in the World Bank. Let's dream dreams. Let's think of new ways to influence this planet that we're in with six billion souls. It can be. And I want to give my remaining years to this kind of thinking, this kind of praying, this kind of message to the churches. If you know any businessman anywhere that's got resources, if he's willing to sit down with me, you tell me, and I'll sit with him. Because God has given me this truth, and I'm not going to keep it. And the wealthy people that I'm linked with, which isn't that many, as far as I know, most of them appreciate me. Most of them want me to come and stay with them and have holidays with them. I wish I could multiply and divide and stay in all these places all at once. I know I can't. And so I share this with you. You've got to be willing for this ministry. I'm only one person. Some of you are already in it. Dale is in it. Peter's in it. Phillip's in it. Maiden is in it. A number of you are in this. There's nothing wrong with it. We want a chief engineer? We go for him. We go for him. John, you're on the phone in Australia. Anything, John. We want you. Just respect your persons. We got him. The first chief engineer was the toughest. Pretty soon we had him lined up. Why is it right to go with all of our heart for a chief engineer? I think of something brilliant that Mike Wakely wrote on this subject. We praise God for the balance that comes when we're reading one thing and somebody submits something else. We need that. And I know there's far greater dangers in, for instance, looking for somebody to give money than there is for looking for a chief engineer because we just read about the deceptiveness of riches. But I believe we can do it. And I'm praying. I'm praying that God's going to give some big people with resources to support the work in South America. We've got to have it. We cannot continue the way that we have. I'm praying that we're going to get resources for the Muslim thing. I mean, the pain that I read in one letter from one leader in the Muslim world, I just can't relate to that. And I think there's a danger that we're going to get... We're willing just to live that way. We're willing just to go on that way, throw stones at the prosperity movement and become the poverty movement. I don't think so, really. Let's pray. Lord, you know, my own heart, I believe this is a very vague kind of a vision in some ways, that each field has to work out in its own context. Fritz will be having, I believe, a seminar on how to increase support. Other people are here. Olin Henrichs. We may not agree with everything, but surely we have to listen. You know that we're not interested in throwing away any of our basics, any of our distinctives. And in a sense, it may be that you want to bypass us in terms of this big money. And just shoot it direct. You maybe want to work through, I'm sure you want to work through Habitat. I'm sure you want to work through even secular groups, even through government. We thank you that Wilberforce believed that something could be done about slaves. And we believe that something can be done about poverty. Something can be done about inequality. Something can be done about 16 million refugees. Something can be done about boat people. Something can be done about millions and millions that don't have gospel tracts or Bibles. Something can be done about people who want to serve Jesus Christ in India and other countries, and don't even have the finances to go one more week, one more month. Something can be done about the fact that a small percentage of people in the world are accumulating, consuming a great amount of all of the wealth. And 90% of the world, or 80% of whatever it is, are often suffering. Lord, we don't want to just go in this through a lot of guilt. We want to go in this because of our desire to be Christ-like. Because of these scriptures and other scriptures. Because we are people of compassion. We have to be honest that sometimes we find it difficult to push the fork in the mouth with a full meal in front of us. When people are without food, and Lord, we pray you would deliver us from imbalance or selfishness, from excess of guilt. We have to bloom where we are. We can't pretend something we're not. But God, we can do something. If it's to pray a more realistic prayer before we eat. If it's a little more fasting. If it's to share with people of wealth the real situation in the world, and that something can be done. There are honest people. There are godly people. We can commit money to them. They will spend it properly. There's great movements like S.I.M. There's M.A.F. Flying Food out to the village people. There's Cheer Fund. There's World Vision. There's hundreds, thousands of godly medical doctors who need help in their hospitals. There's Habitat and other similar programs that want to put up better housing. There are pastors in local churches in Pakistan, around the world, who have tremendous needs. There's Flood Relief. There's Earthquake Relief. There's Famine Relief. In many cases the structure is there though there's always need for more godly administrators and people. But we need the cash. We need the resources. We need that widow's money. We need the kind of people that we've mentioned who will see that they are as much a part of this work by financing it as they are if they got in the plane and flew with us to the front lines. Once and for all, oh God, break down that wall between us and our supporters. Break down that wall of super spirituality, of clichéism and help us to be honest and open in love, in balance and with discernment to understand the deep, ugly, deceptive power of riches. We ask this in Jesus' name. I want us to go right into just prayer for finance. Finance for the whole work of God. Do you know how much it cost for Ralph Winter to get the U.S. Center for World Missions? When I first heard it, I almost opposed it in my small-mindedness. How mightily God has used him. But putting up a center to teach people about missions is just the beginning. Can we not see that same amount of money released each day to plant the church in every one of these unreached people's groups? Let God decide who should handle the money. We all need some. We're going to survive. But let God decide which group is going to become bigger or smaller. I'm not dictating that tonight. But I want to see money released for the kingdom. And when they can spend half a billion dollars to put one airplane in the air to avoid radar. And when they can spend millions and millions to put one more missile up or satellite up so we can have another extra channel which we don't need on the television. I tell you, I say, Lord, somehow you're bigger than all that. God doesn't have to bring in any money to prove anything. We're not in Mueller's same situation. If you really study him, what he was trying to prove. We're not into that. That's not our calling. That could be a good foundation. God is God. And we know he works in an awesome way even through the poverty and the suffering and the chaos. But we've got to take both sides of the scripture. Let's different people just pray for the release of finance. I believe this pyramid could release maybe more money than we have released corporately together in the past year. That's probably overstated. But I believe God wants to take us into a new thing in releasing finance for the kingdom of God.