In this sermon, the speaker discusses the issue of one-third of the people in the nation being overweight and the need for a renewal of sacrifice and discipline within the Church of Christ. The speaker emphasizes the importance of spreading the vision of God through literature and using it as a tool to spread the word of God worldwide. The sermon also focuses on Jesus choosing his disciples and the motivation of compassion in mission work. The speaker encourages prayer as a starting point and obedience to God's commands in order to see the fulfillment of the harvest.

We live in the world like a village. We live in a small country. And why none of you leave this small country is totally incomprehensible to me. Maybe Anne can explain it to me again. I can't stand to live where there are no mountains. Whenever I travel through the Netherlands, I get incredibly bored just looking. I did live in Guelph and we had at least a few hills. But last month when I was in Scotland, my favorite place, I discovered that the Dutch people are all going over to Scotland and are buying millions and millions of guilders worth of property in Scotland. They want to buy the whole place. And wherever I go, I meet Dutch businessmen. These are a hard-headed group. They'll go anywhere for a dollar. They're not fussing, even in Deutschmarkt. They'll go anywhere. But for Jesus, to preach the gospel, to serve Jesus Christ, not too many are thinking that way. We still love our little country. We're basically insecure people. We like to get our nice little house. We're one of the few nations in the entire world where the people put all the shades at night so you can look right into the house and see how much money they've spent. And we've got everything we need right here. No doubt in a few more years, they will import a mountain also from Scotland. I'm wanting your vote. But I would beg of you to consider this foolishness tonight, in the name of Jesus. And at least in one or two years of your life, in these other nations, learning, growing, and getting a vision from God. Then if you do come back here, you'll be a different person. You'll be more balanced. You'll be a little less Dutch and a little more human. And that's true of every nation. And you know what Indians are facing just to get one more meal into their stomach. This is why we welcome people to come on Earth. Even if they're not missionaries. Even if they're going to go back and work for the Mercedes-Benz company. Here is the interesting thing. That in Germany today, missionary interest and the number of workers that are beginning to go out is higher. How can this be? We had 250, 300 Germans with us this summer. And it's the Germans that have just caught the vision for this second ship. And God is moving. And I believe God wants to do the same thing in every nation. And of course I know in Germany there's still a long way to go, as is true in every nation. But I hope you will remember this area. This area is absolutely wide open. And there are almost as many people here as in China. I am a burden for China. And there are certainly big cracks coming in China. And we're praying about visiting China with a ship. I've had letters. Brother Andrew knows more about this than I do. The Word of God is going in. I'm going to tell you something you may not know. One team in North India will distribute more literature in a week. And we could get into China in a year. And we're hoping that's going to change. You cannot understand the hunger for Christian literature in India right now. China may open in the next decade and India may close in the next decade. Let us move in India while we have the chance. 660 million people. Some cities have almost as many people as all of Netherlands. I can believe this is a priority for God. I am convinced that this is a priority for God. The third vision is the vision for Southern Europe and the communist world. Europe as a whole. I'm not going to tell you anything about communist Europe. Anne van der Baal knows much more about it. Spain. Italy. Greece. These lands. And even Belgium. One of the most unreached nations for the gospel in the world. We just came from Belgium. I couldn't even dictate 20 letters when I arrived here already. The Word of God says in Acts 1.8 You shall be my witnesses. Jerusalem. That's here. Judea. All of Holland. Samaria. Belgium. France. Germany. And then the uttermost parts of the earth. Next summer our major effort worldwide will be in Belgium. When I talked to some people about India. About these other countries. They say I don't speak good English. But in Belgium you don't need to speak English. They speak Dutch. They call it Flemish. But it's the same. You can use your own language to reach one of the most unevangelized nations yet in the entire world. God gave us a vision for those countries. The middle of Austria. And southern Ireland. Where we had a tremendous crusade this summer. And then the fourth vision. That's the best one. The whole world. We decided the whole world was the field. And this is where we began to pray for a ship. There's no time to tell you that story. Ten years ago God gave us the first ship. And it's just a miracle. That ship has reached 25 million people in the word of God. Two to three million have actually been up the gangway of this very small ship. And more happens after we leave a port than when we're there. Because it's a work. It's a Holy Spirit. And I just heard this story. A missionary said an OM team came from the ship. A lot of our people are new. Some of them are not great preachers. A missionary said he came and preached a terrible sermon. Very sad. Everything went wrong. And this simple... It was an Indian brother. He gave an invitation. Nine people stood up and gave their life to Christ. And three years later these nine have started a new fast growing church in that area. I'm not against education. I'm not against Bible school. He chooses to use often very ordinary, weak people to accomplish great things. Now by this time OM was getting stretched. And we thought we can't move another inch. We're going to come apart. If we take one more program, one more nation, we're going to come apart. One of the miracles in our work is that for 20 years we've hardly ever had any disease. God has kept about 200 of us leaders of one heart and one mind. And when you consider how many of us are strong minded, and that we're from 25 different nations, and almost every kind of church you can think of, that is a miracle. You know the devil is very clever. And here in the Netherlands, And here in the Netherlands, especially among Pentecostal people, the rumor went out they don't want to go on OM, they don't believe in the Holy Spirit. They're not Pentecostals. I think it's only in the Netherlands they think this. Perhaps because of some early problems. But one third of all the people in the whole movement worldwide are Pentecostal or charismatic people. The biggest churches I've preached in, and the ones that seem to love me the most, I don't know why, are usually Pentecostal churches. Churches like the City Pentecostal Church of Stockholm. And many other churches, small and big, all over the world. And I say this because I believe this is one of the great miracles. In this work, there's now a thousand of us, longer term, or for a year, Pentecostals, Baptists, brethren, people of all different backgrounds are moving together in the power and the love of the Holy Spirit. We learn from one another. We grow together. We repent together. And the Holy Spirit moves. We can't do everything that a local church can do. But the young people on Sunday are encouraged to go to their own local church. There they can just be totally free. And when they come back into this spiritual army, there may have to be some bending. There may have to be more sensitivity toward other people of different groups. But I believe the Holy Spirit has honored this. And I can tell you, tens of thousands through this ministry have been filled with the Holy Spirit. Some call it the filling of the Holy Spirit. Some call it the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We generally say to the young Christian, brother, it's not the vocabulary, it's the reality, it's the power that we want to see. We generally say to the young people who come, it's not about which word you use, it's about the power and the reality that is at work in your life. And it is because of this unity and because of this burden that four years ago God asked us to build a second ship. In the first place, because we would be able to transport so many more people. It's not about ships, it's about people. And God gave us that ship. The ship has been here in Latin America and South America. And it has just arrived today, I hope you will pray for it, in Recife in Brazil. In Rio de Janeiro, we were able to welcome the vice-president of Brazil on board. And he gave, as it were, proof of how much he appreciated the visit. And now, in almost a year's time, almost one million people have been on board the ship and have received God's Word. And I want to tell you something that I believe will encourage you. If it wasn't for a few of the Dutch people that God has given, people like Ebo Burma, who have been with us ten years and more, and others, I'm not sure this vision would have become a reality. I have always been aware that God is working here in the Netherlands. There are people here who pray. There are people here who have a vision. We've seen amazing things. But I just believe so much more could take place. And as that ship soon comes back to Europe, first to Germany, before it goes to Germany, he will cross almost eighty Latin Americans for one of the most historic spiritual invasions of the Iberian Peninsula. And then he will move us into these countries, back then Spain and Italy, and then return again to Latin America where there is such wide, responsive, open door at this time. And then the fifth vision is the vision for one of the most That is the vision for reading. Using literature as a tool. To spread the word of God throughout the entire world. When I first came to live in England where I now live, I learned not to exaggerate. Americans, we tend to exaggerate. A man went fishing in Lake Michigan and he caught a fish that was, you know, this big. It was actually this big but he looked at it through a magnifying glass. And in England I learned just to try to, you know, state it as it really is. So I'm going to do that. And because God answered that lady's prayers for these young men and women moving across the world, all have been in much weakness and in much failure. 250 million people have been given a piece of Christian literature. No one could add up the tears, the toil, the work that led to that massive outlay of the word of God. It wasn't just tracts. Millions and millions and millions of New Testaments and books and manuscripts and it's amazing how God uses the printed page. Whole publishing houses have been born in England, France, many places. New books have gone into print and many have come to know Him. This is the five-fold vision God has been burning into our lives these years. We hope you will take this vision as well. Many of you already have. Because as we obey the Lord Jesus Christ, I believe we can see the fulfillment of the command of Jesus Christ. Jesus said and that has been the message we read. The harvest is plenty if the laborers are few. May ye therefore the Lord of the harvest that He'll send forth laborers into His harvest. Where do we start? In prayer. Prayer groups. Private prayer. Church prayer meetings. And then as we pray we obey. And we begin to move. And I'm going to talk about that in a few minutes. I think it would be good to stand up and just sing something before I bring some closing thoughts. I don't know how it is here in Holland, but in America so often we go to our meetings. We get a challenge. First thing we do leave the meeting we go to a restaurant and we eat a big meal but one third of the people in the nation are overweight. And we need somehow we need a renewal of a spirit of sacrifice and discipline within the church of Christ again. There are specific things God wants us to do. Sometimes even giving somebody a piece of literature can be used as God. Now I want you to look in Mark chapter one. Mark chapter one. Here we see Jesus in action. We already saw him moving from village to village because he was moved with compassion and that's our motivation in mission work. But here we see Jesus choosing his disciples. And it's something we really need to study right here. We see Jesus walking along the sea of Galilee and read verse sixteen through verse twenty very carefully. And Jesus said to them come after me and I will make you fishermen of men. And they let their nets lie down and followed him. And when they had gone a little further he saw Jacob the son of Zebedee and John his brother while they were busy in the ship putting their nets in order. And there stood Ruth with them and they let her father Zebedees in the ship behind with the day laborers and went after him. I get very excited when I read this because I believe Jesus Christ was the same yesterday, today and forever. And this is an amazing thing. These are ordinary working men. They are out fishing. And along comes Jesus and he speaks to them and immediately they leave everything and they follow him. The second set of brothers they were with their father and they even left immediately their father and they followed Christ. Does Jesus Christ do that today? Does Jesus Christ speak to people in the same way today? I believe he does. Notice in chapter 2 verse 14 where Jesus spoke to Alpheus, Matthew the son of Alpheus. He was sitting there he was a tax collector and Jesus simply said follow me. And he arose and he followed him. And Jesus Christ is amongst us tonight. And as believers he is in us. And I believe he is wanting to speak to some of us in this very same way. He is wanting to say follow me. Now I think it's very important to realize it is possible to have a secular job in your own hometown and to serve Christ. That's possible, of course. Especially in our work as a training work most people don't stay with us. They train with us for one or two years. Many go back to their own countries and they take up a job and they're disciples. I believe they're disciples as much as I am. I have seen some people very effective in that kind of ministry. But I believe other people are to be as these men very, it's very clear. They are to leave their nets. At sixteen I owned three businesses and were very small but the money was coming in. And in a very clear way I sensed this was God's will in my life. I never had a great missionary call. You know, when God sees someone like me my father was very stubborn. My grandfather was very stubborn. I don't know if any of you had that problem. When God sees a stubborn Dutchman he doesn't give a call he gives a kick. God kicked me twenty some years ago and I never stopped. All many of my friends said, who will be careful? You know, within the church today we have many who carry around buckets of cold water. I don't know if you have them here in the church. That's their ministry. The cold water begins. And when a young Christian gets on fire for Christ filled with the Holy Spirit then they come with buckets of cold water. And I can tell you I had a lot of cold water over my body when I was young. But I believe if you remain filled with God's Spirit and Hebrews says that God is a consuming fire and spiritually speaking when that cold water hits a man of God it turns to steam in seconds and blows back in the other man's face. I had people call me a fanatic. Maybe you've had that term thrown at you. As if the greatest problem in the church today is too much enthusiasm. Is this the greatest problem in the church in Holland? You know what A.W. Tozer said about this? He said to think that the greatest problem in the church was too much enthusiasm is like sending a squadron of policemen out to the cemetery at midnight to guard against the demonstration by the residents. It's really not the greatest problem in the church today. We need fire. Our God is a consuming fire. I was reading a book by a man in the Salvation Army. His name was Bringle. He gave a definition of fire. What is fire? It is love. It is faith. It is hope. It is passion, purpose and determination. It is utter devotion. It's divine discontent with formality. Ceremonialism, lukewarmness and indifference. It's discontent with sham and noise and parade and spiritual death. It is a singleness of heart. It is a consecration unto death. It is God, the Holy Ghost, burning in and through a humble, holy, faithful man. I remember just before I went into Russia. I went into Yugoslavia. I distributed a lot of the word of God. I also got arrested. I came out and I met with two missionaries in Austria. Two sisters. I think they're from... Are they from Holland? And they taught me a chorus. I had never heard it before. My wife told me later I was singing it all the time. She couldn't get it out of her head. It's an old Salvation Army chorus and it says, send the fire, send the fire, send the fire. That's our great need today. That will purge away the unbelief. That will purge away the spiritual pride. It will purge away the unloving spirits, the divisions, and the confusion there is often among God's people. God works in different people in different ways. It's very important to understand that. You don't have to worry that if you become filled with a missionary vision and filled with the Holy Spirit that you're going to become something like me. You don't have to worry about that. Meeting me is actually not a good picture of Operation Mobilization. 75% of our people are shy, relatively quiet people. God uses them. God doesn't need many big mouths. A few more Brother Andrews and Brother Verwers and the people would go out of their minds. That's the size of your mouth. It's the size of your heart that counts with God. And I think some people today, they have a problem in their Christian life because they've never accepted themselves. And all the recommitments they make to Christ, all the times they raise their hand, the experiences they have with the Lord, nothing much happens. They've never really accepted themselves, which is an act of unbelief toward God. Greatly grieves the Holy Spirit. I had a great struggle with this. I remember before I was a Christian. I wanted to grow big and strong. My big interest together with money was the girl. And I saw this advertisement in the newspaper. And there was a picture of a very nice girl sitting on the beach and a real skinny fellow like me was sitting there with her. And then in the diagram, a big, strong fellow came and he knocked away this little skinny man and he took the girl. I thought, this is what's going to happen all my life. And it said right in today Charles Atlas Muscle Building Weight Gaining Guaranteed. I quickly wrote in. I was lifting weights. I was eating extra food. After about six months I gained half a kilo. I had difficulty looking in the mirror. Especially when I took the clothes off. And then, oh my, the struggles this can bring in our life. And it was a great day in my life. It came gradually after my conversion that I could really accept myself. I could even learn to laugh at myself a little bit. I had real problems with this nose. I don't know whether this is a Dutch nose or what. And I thought this is too long. And people would draw pictures. George Feur had a big nose, you know. And one day I was giving out tracks in Thailand in the streets. And a man came and he just looked at my nose. And I tried to give him a track and he reached out and he touched my nose. I tell you, if I never had a missionary call I would have lost it there. One of the things we have tried to do in our work is combine the message of world evangelism and holy commitment with a message of spiritual balance and victory in our emotional and mental life. They must come together otherwise people will become evangelistic machines. We must minister to the whole man. God is concerned about the whole man. And it's wonderful to see what God can do.