In this sermon, the speaker discusses various principles and teachings related to the Christian faith. He emphasizes the importance of being loving and careful in our actions and words towards others. The speaker also talks about the need to stay focused on Jesus and not neglect our families. He encourages believers to maintain a balance in their lives and to constantly go back to the basics of their faith. Additionally, the speaker acknowledges that struggles are a normal part of the Christian journey and emphasizes the importance of knowing and accepting God's forgiveness.

You know, there are different ways to approach the scriptures. And sometimes I do expository speaking, and especially when I'm with a group for a long time, like when I lived on the ship, was ministering every week, I remember once going through the whole Book of Thessalonians, verse by verse, and I praise God for that kind of teaching and preaching, and we need more of it. But you know, back in the days of George Whitefield, this man who shook Great Britain and America in such a great way, many of his preachers were called exhorters, and they had the ministry of exhortation. And in some ways, this is what we have been into this weekend. The ministry of exhortation must be based on the Word of God. And it can be just as biblical as exposition, because it's not just a reflection of one verse, but it is speaking under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, on the foundation of the whole of Scripture. Many verses, many chapters, and I would certainly appreciate any feedback from you, on anything that you feel is not biblical. Of course, sometimes when I've spoken to you, I've immediately explained that something I was saying was not a major issue. But I think we have been very much trying to build on the whole basic foundation of Scripture, and I hope that as you continue in your Bible study, especially getting into some of those Emmaus courses we mentioned, and Scripture memory, that these various principles, we've been looking at biblical principles for perseverance, biblical principles for building our life upon, that you will again and again be reminded of some of the things we have spoken about during these days together. Now, my final message is a message I have given before in deforms, and it's called Secrets of Survival. In fact, the theme of the weekend came from this particular message. Most of you picked up a free copy of the book True Discipleship, which had a very important part in the early development of OM, though the book actually was written as a result of OM, not the reverse. But as it was written as a result of students that went from Emmaus Bible School and came back, and made an impact on the President, the author of that book, William MacDonald. So, new people coming into OM, of course, they read this book, and it became required reading with other books like Calvary Road. And I hope you'll read that. And I, of course, was known for someone who went around continually preaching on discipleship. Now, this word has fallen into misuse in the past years. And a lot of people in this country, not so much among the assembly, but other groups, when you say discipleship, they immediately think of the Civil Movement that came out of a group from Fort Lauderdale in Florida, came through the Dales Bible Conference into a place called Bradford, and then spread. And one of the teachings of the Bradford House Church Movement is that there must be strong submission. I think at times, by the way, they have been falsely accused. And if you understand the historical roots of Bradford, you'll know it's an amalgamation of the charismatic movement and Brethrenism. Arthur Wallace, Bryn Jones, men like this, I know both of them personally, they sort of, after years of praying, came together and the Bradford Church Movement, in which quite a few people who were once in assemblies are now a part of, is a very unique new denomination, they don't like that, but they just had 15 churches I heard pull out from them because they feel it's becoming a denomination. It's interesting, you know, if a church has leadership and structure and teaching and books, is it a denomination or not a denomination? We're still seeing this one out in the Brethren. And some have finally said, look, let's stop and just call it the Christian Brethren. Others are holding out against that, don't want to be accused of being a denomination. Well, I won't get into that this morning, but it's interesting to see that history repeats itself. So for a lot of people, discipleship means heavy submission to your leaders. This was never the message I was preaching. Discipleship for me and for William MacDonald means following Christ in all of the aspects of biblical truth, the life of prayer, witness, dealing with the problem of materialism, dealing with the problem of laziness, taking up the cross and following Jesus. That's the best verse about discipleship I know. It's not man-centered. It's not submitting to men. It's submitting to God. And it's submitting to the Lord Jesus Christ. I think wherever I went, and sometimes people never invited me because they were afraid my message on discipleship was too strong and perhaps would bring division. A certain part of this message, which William MacDonald actually emphasized more than we did, is the message of discipleship in relationship to material possessions. And he said some pretty strong things about that. Today, the message of simple lifestyle is quite popular. We have Rich Christians in the Hungry World. We have Beauty of Simplicity, or books about simplicity by Foster, Celebration of Discipline, a number of other books. But back when we started to preach and teach this message, believe me, it was not popular. And articles came out in Brethren magazines, like this little Brethren magazine from America, against the book, True Discipleship. And I felt actually in some of the articles that what was being written was quite good. And it brought the book, True Discipleship, into balance because it's only one book. It's written by a bachelor. And, of course, I think it needs balance. And I discovered the more that I preached, the more I needed to bring into balance some of the things I was saying. Like we have Luke 14.33. It's a pretty strong verse, right? Except for take all that you have, you cannot be minus. I heard someone as a result of the simple style seminar you had here, I heard somebody maybe better go sell his old car. Daimler is supposed to be, you know, a big name car. I mean, I don't know which car he's referring to if it's that old thing that's sitting next to my bus over there. I hope he's not too optimistic about how much he's going to give to world missions after he sells it. But it is easy after we hear one message to get a little bit uptight and think, you know, have I got to forsake my Walkman for Jesus in order to buy Bibles for New Guinea? And it's not an easy area except you forsake all that you have. I remember one of my meetings in Holland, there was a woman who was already a little emotionally disturbed in the meeting. And when she heard that message, she just, you know, things just went wrong. And she went back to her flat and took her possessions and threw them in the nearby canal. Except you forsake all that you have. And, you know, I wish I'd been under the bridge when she was throwing them. It was a very sad thing and God really spoke to my heart. The need for spiritualness, the need for Scripture to bring another Scripture into balance. Some people get upset by this. Even some of my old hard-lining OMers got upset at some of my emphasis on balance. They said it's compromise. But, you know, as long as it's taking one Scripture to bring another Scripture into balance, that's not compromise. That's biblical. And we need that. You need that. And other Bible teachers, you're going to hear the days to come, they're going to bring some of the things I've said into balance. You know, let's face it. You've been very kind to me giving me so many hours to speak. And I think some of you got an overdose of George Verwer. That's why you need some of these other cassettes that I have here. I especially wanted to mention this series on morality since we just barely touched on that subject this weekend. Ralph Shallis. Ever heard of him on morality? Peter Brandon. Talk about a burning bush for God in the assemblies. You listen to his message, sin and your body. And then also, one of my messages on sex. But I hope that when you hear some other Scripture, it may not be that what he says is a direct contradiction to what maybe I'm sure. It may be just another red light on the same subject. And it's an ongoing battle to continue to find the most biblical position on these many, many areas. I thank God that young people today are asking so many questions about the human rights issue, about the homosexual problem, about the nuclear problem, about the poverty question. For too long, we have not been willing to deal with these issues. And that's why sometimes we've been left way behind. And then what happens when we don't deal with these issues and people finally are exposed to them, they swing the pendulum. And I've seen people when they get really into some of these social issues, the pendulum swings so far, they just leave the assemblies. They feel the assembly movement is not relevant, is not really contemporary in its teaching and thinking. And that's also very, very sad. I personally believe that the assembly movement in Britain, and I hope and like to believe it's still a movement controlled by the Holy Spirit to some degree, has an enormous foundation for spiritual growth, for discipling people, and for world evangelism. And I could give you many, many positive points about your own home churches and the structure and the foundation they have. There is a foundation we can build on. You know, one of the fastest growing churches in Spain, where I first lived when I came to Europe, are the assemblies. Some of them are huge, 500 in fellowship. And you know one of the reasons they grew so much and they survived the days of Franco? Because they were not hinged on just one paid pastor. They were not tightly controlled by their building program. There was flexibility. There was plurality of leadership. They were able to meet in homes. And they were the main group to survive the Franco regime. The story of the assemblies in Spain is an exciting bit of church history. And they are on the move today. And I praise God for the involvement we have had with many of the men trained in OM in the early days are leaders in the assemblies today. Some of them have planned new assemblies. And we have had the joy of working with them. Secrets of survival. Secrets of perseverance. 1 Corinthians 15, 58. Don't turn to it. Just memorize. Quickly as I repeat it to you. Be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Did you get that? Good. But I want to again emphasize what I said yesterday that memorizing the Word of God will be such a great help to you in your spiritual life. God wants steadfastness. God wants us not to allow this time here to just be a mountain peak experience. You know, I only discovered as I went jogging this morning and looked for a new route that to get down to that, in that direction on the beach, you don't go that way on this road. Why didn't somebody tell me that? You don't turn left here and go down to the main road and go down to the main road and get killed, almost killed. You turn right, right here outside the gate and that road goes right down almost to that little railway station. Anyway, I want to come back here again because I'm only just feeling at home here. I'll stop in the middle of the summer next year since I'll be in North America. I do want to say, however, that we are committed to for your camp ministry here. I'm sorry until Steve wrote to me, I never heard of this camp. That's my own fault. But praise the Lord for the ministry you have here and for the many lives that have been touched over the years. God wants this not to be a mountain top experience in which we then go down into the valley, but he wants this to be the beginning of more mountain climbing for the Lord Jesus. When I was sitting on top of the hill about a mile from here yesterday morning and I was praying, I let each one of the mountains, it was very clear yesterday, each one of the mountains in the background, I've climbed a couple of those, I don't know which ones looking at it from here, I let each one of those represent a country and I said, Lord, there's Pakistan, be Thou moved. There's Nepal, be Thou moved. There's India, that big one off there, be Thou moved. And each mountain, I let it represent a different country. One of the messages I haven't been able to get to here is the burden I have for world missions. You probably wonder how in the world did George Verwer get here in three days and not give us some missionary message. Must be backslidden. But you know, I've always believed this, that when we get right with God and we get into the Scriptures and we lay a foundation of biblical principles, then we get in the best possible position in the world for God to call us into missionary work. And I still believe the Holy Spirit is a hundred times better at recruiting than I ever was or ever will be. And I believe the Holy Spirit is going to recruit some of you for India. I have confidence in that. And I believe the Holy Spirit is going to recruit some of you for the Muslim world. And He still is going to have plenty of you left over to evangelize the Merseyside, shake Wales with one hand and England with the next hand and work toward renewal within the assemblies and throughout the whole church in the British Isles. What are some of these secrets of survival? Well, they're not secrets. The word secrets, it's not a good word, really. They're very clear in the Bible. And let me just give them to you, realizing that perhaps, perhaps this isn't the best message for our final time. I don't know. Sometime in the final session I give a strong message with an appeal to recommit to Jesus Christ. Now maybe that will fit into the end. But this is more of a teaching message because I'm just so convinced about these principles. Number one, we touched on it at the breaking of bread yesterday morning. Knowing you are accepted and forgiven. Ephesians 1, 6. I can't tell you how important this is in my life. I'm hilariously forgiven. Do you ever get it? Hilarious? Do you ever just feel so filled with joy you've got to jump and leap and dance? Now don't think that I'm going to try to invade your assemblies with my teaching about dancing in the Spirit because it's too controversial and I've seen too many churches divide over this subject. But let me just tell you that if you're someone like me you just can't help your legs. And I generally do it on the beach or in the woods and I don't get any complaints. I haven't invaded any assemblies over my teaching. But oh how I love to just leap with joy. Now I don't teach the theology. But I believe there is a place to worship God with all of our being. Now if you're the phlegmatic non-movable type praise the Lord. Some of you just to move your head is quite a breakthrough. But if you're a character like me and I've had to accept myself and I've got a lot of energy that's why I job to burn some of it up so I can sleep better at night. My wife looked at me the other day and she said I get tired just looking at you. But I'm forgiven and when I think of the fact that I am forgiven I have been set free from sin then sometimes I just leap with joy. Now if you don't feel happy doing that no problem. You can be a sitter for Jesus. Some of you have tried being sleepers for Jesus. By the way I think that was one of the funniest films I've ever seen. I don't know if some of these teachers are you cannot go to these Hollywood films they're from the devil. And after they give that message they go home to their full color television and their video recorder and they watch you know James Bond. But I think one of the funniest films I've ever seen is Sleeper. I'll never forget it. There was a good brethren brother and his wife she was a German. She's supposed to be having a baby and it was overdue. And I said look I called him on the phone I said I know a method for you know getting this thing over with. It's a true story. I said we'll go to a really funny film because I've heard that a pregnant woman at you know eight point some odd months really laughs and does it. So I took him and his wife out good German wife and we went to see Woody Allen in the Sleeper. I tell you she almost rolled down the aisle and the baby was born the next day. Praise God not Simba. Anyway it's wonderful to know that we are forgiven. We are set free. By the way I think on the end of your singing which is quite interesting where he comes his singing this is a new thing and I'd like to get a copy of it. I think at the end of the tape you ought to just put some of this laughing in there. It's a very gifted group in this laughing. This actually develops in the assemblies because sometimes we're so uptight sitting through somber meetings week after week that when we get away and you know the littlest thing and people just you know burst out laughing. You know like one of the elders coming to visit us and falling down the stairs. People are all laughing. Well I think you need to bring it under control. The second secret is from 1 Peter 5.7 1 Peter 5.7 Casting every care upon him because he cares for you. Probably the moment you get home there's going to be some problem or some care that you are suddenly entering into. That's normal. I know when I get home my wife has some burden. She's already shared some on the phone. We have a little dubbing machine a tape dubbing machine that a believer in Dubai gave us. Fantastic cassette recorder and it dubs double speed tapes that I want right away. So before I left I gave my wife a whole load of tapes. She has a very tiny kitchen. I could see she wasn't over enthusiastic about this but I said you dub these while you're cooking. And the tapes apparently were all the wrong size. They're old tapes because I like to reuse tapes. I don't believe in wasting anything. I even save old chewing gum. She told me on the phone that this was a heartache and she erased one of my originals. She was really feeling quite bad about that. But it's normal. When you get home there's going to be some problem. Did you hear on the wireless this morning? See how I learned English? Wireless. You say that in America they look at you? Of course if you say it here now they look at you too. I'm so out of date I'm still using fence pieces. Ever tried the parking meters? But I heard on the radio this morning it's actually very sad how a bunch of young people after one of these car rallies last night they went all off to get drunk and to drink and they were all coming down the street together and to protect them a police car was sort of escorting them back and somebody came around a bend in another car and that man I believe it was the policeman at least one man was killed. There it is. You know it's so typical of life isn't it? A big fun time a great weekend and suddenly the tragedy those people will never never forget. One policeman is killed. Government relations have been broken today with Libya. We don't know what that is going to lead to. There's thousands of people living in Libya. The whole world is stirred over one policeman that was killed and we should be. One policeman was killed out on the highway last night in two days except for the people involved it'll all be forgotten. I tell you every time you get in one of these cars you better get on your face and ask God to help you in your driving. Billy Graham says this poor driving is a spiritual problem. And the number of great Christian leaders that have been killed in car crashes said many preachers that he's an angel behind a pulpit and he's a devil behind the wheel. And driving is a big responsibility. Whatever problem you may face in the coming days back in your home out on the highway in your office some of you within a few weeks may lose your job. You've got to learn this basic principle of survival. Casting every care upon Him. So easy to say this. So easy to say this. So easy to sing about it. I want to ask you are you doing this? If you are not you are disobedient to the Word of God. It's one thing to get in great arguments about inerrancy of Scripture the authority of the Word of God and people give us some pretty strong messages on this don't they? This is the Word of God we cannot disobey one job. And yet often there's subtle disobedience in these areas. And we find I personally find a lot of Christian leaders are weighed down by worry and by tension. And it brings a lot of illnesses. Doctors say more than 50 psychosomatic illnesses just as a result of emotional problems and linked with worry. There's a book on that table how to deal with depression. Doctors tell us the number one illness in Europe today is depression. Now often they're speaking about chemical imbalance that kind of depression. But other times it's a more mixed type of depression linked with spiritual problems and basic emotional problems that are dealt with in some of these books we've been recommending this weekend. The third secret of survival is making God your goal. How many times have you repeated Matthew 6 33 Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you. You know one of the greatest needs in my life is to keep things in perspective. I think as Christians sometimes we go mountain climbing over mole hills. Do you have moles here in this country? I don't mean these guys down in London in the government. I mean the kind that are in the ground you know just a little bump in the ground. Wouldn't it be funny to see you know a rock climber with a helmet and ropes and you know all this equipment and you say what are you doing? I'm going over this hill now. That would be the height of the ridiculous. And yet as Christians we're like this. We are. We make a mountain out of a mole hill. That's why it is important to develop a sense of humor. In the present church scene it's either laugh or cry. It's either laugh or cry. It's either laugh or pop your cork. And a lot of Christians are popping their corks. You know that expression? I mean I'll teach you a lot of slang. Forgive me for that. You know lose your marbles. You know. Displacement of the upper story. Removal of the inner follicles. Crack up. It hurts. It hurts when we see people mountain climbing over mole hills. Jesus said we strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. Did Jesus have a sense of humor? Strain at a gnat and swallow a camel? And oh my sometimes in our families we're straining some little thing. Some little thing. We got our little one verse and we take it out of context sometimes like the Jehovah Witnesses. They're in the lead in that by the way. We're way behind. And we make we make a mountain out of this this little mole hill. Oh may the Lord help us. I want to tell you these problems you have in your churches they are common everywhere. The new movements the new house groups the Anglican churches the Baptist. I minister in fellowship with all of them. Thousands of churches and fellowships and assemblies over the last 29 years. And sometimes it's so true that when we think it's greener grass on the other side of the street and we actually get over there you know what we find out? Concrete. Somebody's painted it green. I love that little expression. I think someone wrote a book by that title. Bloom where you are. God has put most of you in a good biblical church. Bloom where you are. And make your goal God himself. Don't let your major attention be on people on the church on the problems on success even on oh we are going to have the greatest camp this summer. A goal as we come here this summer must be God himself. I find that very motivating. I find it helps me bring things into perspective. Do you know that analogy? Get things in perspective. I do a lot of ministering at family conferences to married couples. Some of you married couples want some of my married couples tapes. I'd be happy to send them to you. Survival in the home. Unity in the dark. Various messages. No that's actually a book on ecumenicalism. But I really believe that one of the things that blows marriages apart is when we get uptight about little things. Uptight about little things. The wife is very systematic. Very organized. She believes that you should squeeze the toothpaste tube from the bottom. Systematically. You've all heard this story. It's now gone on all over England. It's like the story of the Wesleyan Chapel. But she believes that systematically day by day as you brush your teeth you squeeze the toothpaste from the bottom until it's finished. The husband is non-semitic. He's my type. Just, you know. But it's amazing how Satan uses little things to break up relationships. And our goal is not God. Our goal becomes our little doctrine. Our little way of doing things. Our little set of traditions. Do you have any traditions here in this camp? That's normal. But beware when new people come in. I'm just jumping on them. Because they don't know what their traditions are. When I was, you know, I was looking for the the wayside chapel or the loo when I came here. And I went over there and I saw this little this little military hut. And I saw on one end officers. And I saw on the other end boys. I thought, well, I guess the officers are the women and the boys are the men. And with fear and trembling I went in to the the officers. And, uh, this is all part of your camp tradition. No problem. No problem. But when people come and they're just you know, they're just young and they haven't been here before. Beware of jumping on them too quickly. They're gonna make mistakes. They're young. They're very young often. And they sometimes don't know even the basic things. And I just mention this again. Beware of belittling the new young camper. Maybe you mentioned some basic biblical thing. Some name in the Old Testament and the young person doesn't know who that is. And they're sort of embarrassed. Oh, you don't know who that is? Some young people it's no problem. Other people feel very embarrassed by their lack of Bible knowledge. And sometimes among us there comes Bible knowledge pride. Some of them won't know the books of the Bible. Some of them won't know where to find the book of Hezekiah. And you're gonna have to help them. You're gonna have to help them. The secret of survival is learning how to be heard. Jesus taught us to love those who persecuted us. Love those that did evil against us. It's obvious from the teaching of Jesus that people would be hurt. He was hurt. And I feel it is very important to learn how to be hurt. I've already emphasized this so I'm gonna move on. But if you don't wanna be hurt, remember what I said? Try another planet. You're on the wrong planet. And don't overreact back in your assemblies to things people say to you that may be hurtful. You cannot have church life without being hurt. You think people aren't being hurt in these other churches? You think people aren't being hurt in these new, supposedly more revived churches? You haven't visited them. People are people. They change slowly. And it's easier to change doctrine than to change basic personality. Did you get that? It's easier to change doctrine than basic personality. And I found that some people who were obnoxious before conversion, forgive me, they're still a little obnoxious years later. And I know that certain things in my life that were not really beautiful before I was converted, they still have a way of getting in. Of getting in. I had to apologize to my friend Dirk the other morning because, I don't know, something happened and the way I expressed something to him it was more, the other brother who lives with him is not here right now. The way I said it, it wasn't what I said, the way I said it, it was that old verber, that old, irritated, somewhat upset George Verber. The positive point in my kind of getting upset is that I quickly forget. I never, I don't know whether I'm not smart enough or what. I never hold anything against people. I've never had that problem. Isn't it good? I wanted to say that to bring things into balance because some of you got the idea I got a lot of problems. And you know, I wouldn't want you to go away from this camp thinking, you know, boy this guy's got a big lust problem, let's break right here. You know, he's probably down on a beach right now with his penicillin. But, you know, I thank the Lord there's enough areas where I don't seem to have much of a struggle. I don't have much attention about material things, buying things. My wife thinks I'm just the opposite. I don't have trouble holding things against people. To me that's, to me, in my mind it's worse than stealing or punching somebody in the nose. I don't like to do that. So when I go to bed and I've been this way for 29 years since my conversion, I've never had anything against anybody that I can remember. But I do have a problem sometimes just getting a little irritated when something just, you know, goes wrong. You're driving in a car and you're having fellowship and the person gets all caught up. Instead of turning right he turns left and pretty soon, you know, you're driving through a field and the cows are all looking at you. I say, hey, do you think you could be a little more careful driving? See, the way I said it was not really loving enough. I should have said, brother, is this the right road? The fifth secret after learning how to be hurt, probably some of you think, this guy's just, he's just, somebody's gonna criticize this message, especially somebody over 90 who listens to the tape and they're gonna say, this guy's just telling jokes. I had no plan this morning to tell a single joke. I don't know how to tell jokes. I've tried and usually people just, especially English, you ever see an American telling a joke to the English audience? They all sort of look at him. I have had a number of messages where nobody has laughed once in the entire message. That's absolute truth. And, you know, the way I speak, I ask God to control me but not destroy me and different messages I use a different set of railway lines to get the message home. This message about survival, somehow, sometimes it comes out a little bit humorous. Other messages that I give, there's a few thousand of them on cassette tape, there's no humor. And I think this is, again, a picture of balance. There are messages, there are different truths, there are different ways of expressing things. I listen to all kinds of preachers. I was listening to Tony Compala who was bursting with laughter listening to him. Then I've listened to some of the messages by David Wilkerson. That message over there given by that leading charismatic figurehead, David Wilkerson, on the Christless Pentecost, is one of the most unique messages I think somebody from the other side of the fence could ever listen to. And it's interesting what this man is saying in the books he's reading right now. Because he's been specializing in reading some of the old Puritan writers. He's only discovered these people in the past few years. It's quite amazing. And some of the Brethren writers. He's only just discovered them after 20 or 30 years living for Christ. You know, one of the reasons I fellowship with a wide range of people even though I don't always agree with them is because I've got to know some of these people. I've prayed with them. I've lived with them. Men like Wilkerson. And though I may not agree, and my theology may be different, I cannot deny that they are men of God. I cannot do it. And it hurts me that sometimes in our assemblies we're getting to know people we write them off as heretics. We write them off as just, you know, almost enemies. Almost enemies. There's a book on that table called Love Covers. I think it's one of the significant books of our decade. You probably won't agree with it all. But it shows how even when we don't agree we can love one another. And we can learn how to compassionately disagree. And I praise God for the tendency, the strong tendency in Britain right now for assemblies to be in fellowship with other churches in their own time. And to say, look, we don't fully agree with you, but we respect you. Let's meet together once in a while. Let's unite hands and get involved in Mission England together. When it's all over we'll come back to our own assemblies. We'll teach our own basic doctrine. And there's nothing wrong with that. I think it's beautiful what God is doing in this area. And I praise the Lord for it. I believe it's honoring to God. Number five. Am I up to number five? Learn the reality of praise and thanksgiving. I think you've been doing that in these days. I think it's beautiful. You say, how much can we get away with in the local morning breaking of bread? It is in some places a tradition. You need to walk with a prayer that God will give you and give the leaders and elders in your assemblies about how the breaking of bread can incorporate the great emphasis on the death of the Lord Jesus Christ and remembering Him and the equally biblical emphasis of praise, adoration, thanksgiving, worship, in all of its various forms. It is just as biblical. And it comes from here. And some of the first books on worship, who were they written by? The brethren. They emphasize this before many other groups were even born. That book by Gibbs, that thick. Worship. I've been pushing that book for 20 years. I think we're sold out right now. It's a big book. And it's beautiful. Praise and thanksgiving. Worship. Praise the Lord. You can have other young people's meetings. Most assemblies now do have young people's meetings in young people's groups. Women's meetings. I think the assemblies are often more broad-minded than people perhaps give them credit for. And in those meetings sometimes there's a little more freedom. And that's beautiful. Number six. Living in the rest of faith. Hebrews chapter 4. By the way, my verse for verse 5 in each of these, I remember verses, is 1 Thessalonians 5, 16. This is the will of God giving thanks. Living in the rest of faith. Hebrews 4. Number seven. Realizing God is easy to live with. That's a direct quote from A.W. Tozer. You know, some of us are religiously jumping. We think God's watching our every move. I picked that up in reading some of your questions. God's going to punish us. We go out with a girlfriend in a weak moment. We kiss her. After we kiss her, we think the Lord is going to hit us on the head. Now, I will not get into my theology of kissing because there's not enough time right now. But, uh, I think it's dangerous when we don't understand God's mercy and God's grace and God's love and God's forgiveness. God is easy to live with. That doesn't in any way put aside His holiness. And sin is dangerous. But I think there's a tendency in some places to call some things a sin that are not clearly indicated in the New Testament as a sin. They are gray areas. I read just the other day that young people don't like gray areas. Yeah. Gray areas are for those of us in the mid-years. I picked up a book some time ago, The Midlife Crisis. You know, I was feeling great until I started to read this book. I'm supposed to suddenly get desires to leave my wife and run off with some young chick. Not me. These wildcat women's lips, if I got married to one of them, I wouldn't last even a week. I thank God for my old-fashioned wife. I hope she doesn't hear this tape. But, you know, we need a lot of wisdom and a lot of balance. I'm not convinced about all this midlife crisis business. To me, all the Christian life is a crisis. For me, it's always been a struggle. It's always been a crisis. There's always been things I don't understand that I've been able to understand. And I've always had a problem with God's peculiar people. Have you read that verse in the King James? The author of... Boy, I tell you, when I came across that verse, I began to understand more church life. God's peculiar people. God is easy to live. He's quick to mark even a cup of cold water. Look at that, the man who brought this to me. He's going to get a reward. How much more for orange juice? Then number eight, accepting God's growth pattern. Some beautiful trees here. Have you seen these trees? What if you went to the... I've been wanting to go over that wall ever since I came here. But I figure there's probably snakes and vipers over there. What if you looked over that wall and you saw somebody sitting by the tree? And you say, hey, what are you doing there? And he said, I'm watching this tree grow. What? Yeah, I'm watching this tree grow. You might, you know, you might want to have a little chat with him. It's ridiculous, isn't it? You're not going to see a tree grow. Tell me, are those trees growing? Most of them are growing. Stop looking at yourself so much. Operation introspection. How spiritual am I this week? How much have I grown this week? Am I coming into fullness? Am I becoming mature? Operation introspection. We need to be more relaxed. If you're in the Word, if you're repenting of any sin, the Lord definitely convicts you of, and walking with the Lord day by day, you're growing. You're growing. You won't see it. Like a tree. The great redwoods of California. I remember seeing those trees. Couldn't believe it. So many years. You never see them move an inch. If you had a time-lapse camera and you put it there for a year or a couple of years, you'd see it. Have you ever seen those moody science films? What great films with time-lapse cameras. And I believe, I believe all of you coming this weekend are growing through this experience. But you may not see it with a time-lapse camera. God's growth rate. Different people are growing at different speeds. Don't become spiritually jealous over someone who's growing like a weed. He may actually in a few years that he is a weed. And I grew very quickly because there was a strong weed aspect in my spiritual growth. And later on, God had to purge. God had to purge. We're all different. Most people are not preaching at 17 years of age. Going to Mexico to start a new movement at 19 years of age. We're all different. Relax. God's got a plan for you. It's tailor-made. And as you're faithful in the Word and as God speaks to you, you will grow. Praise God for God's growth pattern. Individual for each person. Number nine, the secret of the freedom, a tremendous freedom of a disciplined and ordered life. Yes, it's good we focus on discipline. The brethren have been known for their emphasis on the ordered life. I think one of the great brethren writers, his biography was called The Ordered Life. It's good. I think of men like Lang, that great brethren. I remember him sitting in front of me when I was ministering at Woodcroft Hall years ago. He was always there. Founder of the great Lang Construction Company. What an ordered life. I heard once from a friend of his that he wrote down even when he spent money, a cup of tea, six pence, one pence, whatever. I tried that. I gave up. I can't get it down. I try to keep my accounts to pounds, to fifty pence. I can't keep track of those pence. Yet the Lord is somehow still using me. We're all different. But we need more order in our lives. We need discipline. That's one of the great roots of the brethren movement. Thank God for it. Number ten, learning to refuel and relax. We've already discussed that. So for time's sake, I'll give you the rest of my list. Number eleven, learning real fellowship. Taking off a mask. Being real. If it's any help for you to learn the way of real fellowship, write something down in a letter to me that you've never told anybody before. Put on a confidential. I'll pray over it and write to you or throw it away whenever you want. But even better, to have someone back in your own area that you can really walk in the light with. I've had this all my life. And you can imagine some of the things I've had there. Not very pleasant. Not very easy. But I have found that kind of real fellowship for people had enormous help for a person like me. I get so worried about people pulling things up. I think it's a reason for a lot of our emotional problems. Operation. I can't tell anybody about that. What if it's found out? My reputation. You know, I'd rather lose. I probably lost my reputation. When you heard of me coming here. By the way, can I have the rest of these? I use this as scrap paper in the back. Okay. You know, George. God's answer to the problems today. George Verwer. Operation Mobilization. Probably when I was before I came here he thought, wow, you know, man of God. Disciplined. Totally committed. Totally filled with a spirit. Now, you know me. Lost my reputation. I'll tell you. I'd rather lose my reputation and keep my sanity. You can have your reputation. I want to get to the end of the race. And I believe we over emphasize guarding our reputation. We don't want people to find out about us. I believe often we lose mental breakdown. We risk serious illnesses. I don't think everybody should stand and speak about themselves as I do. No. God has given, I believe, the anointing and grace and will to do this. But we all can be a little more open. And we all can have at least one or two that we can really pray with about the real struggles and issues in our life. Real fellowship is absolutely basic for survival. For survival. And you know, if we don't, we risk becoming absolute hypocrites. A friend of mine was sitting on a train. Maybe I shouldn't tell this story but I like to call the shots the way they are. Because I'm tired of playing games. He was sitting on a train going into a particular city in Britain and two men were discussing the increased price of prostitutes in London. And he couldn't believe it as he got off the train and noticed they were two leaders from a local church. I won't say what church. It's too hot an issue. He said, I can't believe those things happen. My young friends, the satanic efforts against the church are baffling to the United Nations. You're dealing with the little seeds of sin in life now and someday you'll be among those who are trapped into hypocrisy as those two church leaders sitting on that train. I am not now mainly involved with young people your age. I want to be. But in a lot of my meetings there are always the middle-aged people and the adults. The ship, it seems, whenever they want me to come, pastor's conference. Next Monday, pastor's conference. And I will tell you the number of pastors and Christian leaders and elders that have written to me and shared the double life. I would never want to put it in print. We are in a warfare. We cannot afford to play games. And if you want to avoid the double life, the spiritual schizophrenia I talk about in my book Hunger for Reality, then learn to walk in the light. 1 John chapter 1. Learn to be honest. Learn to take the mask off. Deal with the seeds now as a young person and you won't have those ugly oak trees of the double life when you're in your 40s and your 50s. And then number 12, keeping a positive attitude, Philippians 4.8. We have to sometimes state negative things. It is encouraging that someone gave the feedback that they felt the majority of my ministry has been positive and optimistic because that is the way I am. I see the negative. I don't dwell there. And that's why I'm so committed still. 27 years after I was baptized in a little, or 26 years in a little brethren assembly in Wheaton, still committed to this ministry. And believe me, a lot of winds have tried to blow me away from fellowship, ongoing fellowship with brethren assemblies all over the world. Being positive, Philippians 4.8. 13, remain constant in prayer and in the Word. That's utterly basic, isn't it? 14, keep active in His service with your eyes on Him. Praise the Lord, we started this session. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. 15, don't neglect your family. A little fun, a few laughs. Recreation, having a hobby. 16, keeping the balance at any cost. We've had plenty of that. If we say any more, it'll go off balance. 17, keep going back to the basics. Go back to the basics. You know, I've had times when I thought I was going to lose my faith. But when I feel I'm going to lose my faith, I go back to the basics. Do you know what I mean? Is there a God? And I'm always convinced through many, many reasons there is a God. And then I get to Jesus, and I realize He was a historical figure. Then I go to the very basics of the Word. I have my little doctrinal statement. And pretty soon, I'm able to retake in the whole thing and all that I believe from the Scriptures. And then last, struggle is normal. Struggle is normal. You've probably picked up pretty clear that I am a struggler. There's no sense pretending. I refuse to pretend when I speak. Give the idea that I've got it all together. Here I am, Mr. Spiritual, Mr. True Disciple. I'm a struggler. God has a plan for your life. He will not be without difficulty and struggle and heartache. And I just pray that you will realize that often the greater the struggle, the greater the victory, and the greater the coming reality as you press forward. The only other thing I can say is that the secret of survival is completely, utterly linked with the Lordship of Christ, Headship of Christ, the reality of Christ living in us. We have all had many messages about that, right? And I've said here, we'll just bring some of those other great messages on the Lordship of Christ, the sufficiency of Christ, the Headship of Christ, which we in our assemblies have been so strong on. Just bring it into focus. It's so beautiful to let various biblical principles dovetail together so that we can have a consistent, balanced, totally committed Christian life.