This sermon emphasizes the importance of wisdom, humility, and perseverance as believers prepare to leave a spiritual gathering. It highlights the need for biblical balance, the integration of power and wisdom, and the practical application of spiritual experiences in daily life. The speaker urges listeners to embrace diversity, generosity, and a global perspective in their faith journey, while emphasizing the significance of humility and the ongoing marathon of spiritual growth.

Father, we have heard many, many messages, many challenges, and we need wisdom from you to know how to respond, especially when we leave this place, when we may no longer be in a big group of people that are of like mind, but we may be very much on our own. And we ask, Lord, that you would help us as we prepare to leave this place tomorrow. We look to you now as we look into your word together, in the name of Jesus. Amen. Well, this morning I want to try to give you a very short message. We have many speakers, and I know some people think for George Verwer that a short message is impossible. But I've had to many times give short messages. In fact, I once did a radio broadcast in South Africa of three minutes. The Anglican Church, where I preach often in Great Britain, where I live, they specialize in short messages, sometimes only 15 minutes. I always remember going to one of those churches, and they gave me 19 minutes on the schedule, and I begged the leader of the church, could I have a little longer time? I was new, this was my first time, could I have a little longer to share this burden? And he said, of course, you can have 21 minutes. Many, many people made a very important commitment last night to pray that prayer, Lord, here am I, send me. What do we do next? To make that decision is just the beginning. Many people make that kind of decision, find it very difficult to follow up afterward. They quickly become confused or discouraged. Without what I shared yesterday morning, I don't think we can understand what I was trying to say last night. In the morning we spoke from Acts chapter 13, and we shared this vision to see more workers thrust out across especially the unreached people of the world. One of the advantages we have at this Congress is we can pick up a videocassette of the ministry that's going on. This will also be helpful when people try to misquote what we're saying. They say, George Weber said this. We can say, please refer to videocassette number six. When we are committed to world missions, then we will be mission mobilizers. In other words, we will be sharing this vision with others. We will not be keeping it to ourselves. If you get a copy of this Acts 13 message from yesterday morning, you can then share this vision with so many people who are not here. We only represent a tiny, tiny percentage of the believers here in Germany. How can we get this message out to other people? We can share with them personally. They can see it in our lives. And we can share it through video or audio cassette. Even people who are at the Congress, some of them could not be here last night. And I would urge that those people get the videocassette or audio cassette from last night. This is a very special Sunday. Across the world, it is known as Pentecost Sunday. It especially should be special for Pentecostal people. All Pentecostals should stand on their head for at least ten minutes on Pentecostal Sunday. All Pentecostals should stand on their head for at least ten minutes on Pentecostal Sunday. But of course we believe every Sunday is Pentecostal Sunday. We believe every day is Pentecostal Day. And I don't think most of us do want to stand on our heads, though supposedly that is now good for your health. The Americans are very much into health and exercise. Though I live in London, I was born in the United States. So I minister there. Actually, I think it was in Canada. I went into the basement, and the man had a machine that could turn you upside down so that you could be standing on your head for 20 or 30 minutes. Thousands of people have purchased those machines. Thousands spend up to one hour upside down each day hoping something will get into their heads. People will go to any extreme. So try to be a little more healthy. We live in very unusual days. And we need a lot of wisdom. When I think of Pentecost Sunday, I think of course of the second chapter of Acts. And we always read the first verses concerning the coming of the Holy Spirit. And I will let other people do that today. But I wanted to look at the neglected last verses of this great chapter. Because here we have some of the secrets of what to do next after we have an experience with the Holy Spirit. What to do next after we make a commitment as we did last night concerning world mission. Let us read verse 42 until the end of the chapter. We'll just read in German to save time. 42 through 47. This is one of the most important pictures of the early believers immediately after Pentecost. And we can learn so much from this passage of God's word and every other passage. First of all we see them continuing in the apostles teaching. They did not have a new testament yet. The teaching was still verbal teaching. People who had been with the Lord. The early apostles. Some people in this day are wanting to unite all the religions of the world. That is a major force in Germany and in Europe today. Of course the Baha'i religion claims they have already done that and they want everybody to become a Baha'i. And they have created one of the most poisonous religious cocktails in the history of religion. More and more we are going to see the persecution of true believers here in Europe. It is constantly coming on television. Christians are mocked. They are all considered fanatical fundamentalists. Or completely crazy charismatics. Some Christians do not watch much television. Probably good. I don't watch much television. But I try to stay informed and read reviews and watch some of these programs to see what they are saying against the body of our Lord Jesus Christ. A key word in our society today is toleration. This is also true in the United States. Political correctness. We must never say anything that offends any minority group. Some of these things are good. But the exception seems to be Bible-believing Christians. These are considered the enemy by so-called liberal-minded people. This is one of the reasons we need greater love and unity among us. Probably the most important book I have seen in this decade is a book called Grace Awakening by Charles Swindoll, that two years ago was also put into German. Grace Awakening. This amazing book has gone out by the hundreds of thousands of copies in many languages. If you read English, I'll be happy to send you one as a gift. If you want in German, go to your Christian bookshop. They need your encouragement. Or maybe they have it here on this book table. There are tremendous books available in German. The average Christian only sees a tiny percentage of those books because they're not that interested in Christian books. In this amazing book by this man of God, there's an important chapter. Learning to disagree and yet staying united together. I believe that is the way forward for the body of Christ. We are never going to all agree on all the different things that are coming at us from different sources in the church today. At the same time, Bible teaching and doctrine are important. I praised God for two years in a Bible college. I did not agree with everything they taught me. I was a little bit of a rebel. But those two years of so much time in the Word of God laid a foundation in my life. I have a cassette tape. Again, I'd be happy to send you free. Call Y, go to Bible college. We must never say that doctrine is not important. The teaching of love in 1 Corinthians 13 is doctrine. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me. That is a doctrinal statement that will revolutionize our lives if we believe it. The thing that upsets some people the most about world mission is when they hear we're trying to win people of other religions, you know, good Muslims and good Hindus, we're trying to win them to Jesus. They say this is a terrible thing. How do we handle that? We have to go back to God's Word. Jesus is the way. We don't want to put down other people's culture. In fact, missionaries must be very sensitive about culture. And we need a very high quality of missionary in the day and age in which we live. In a summer or for a year program, you can be a helper. You can have a ministry, praise God. But that must be a learning experience. You don't go as some dynamic apostle. You go as a humble disciple and Timothy learning from others. Many are getting a vision for long-term missions through their short-term opportunity. But long-term missionaries must be quality people who can learn a language, who can adjust to culture and do God's work. There are three other points just in that one verse. A great church planter in India who planted about 500 churches. He said verse 42 presents the four pillars of a solid New Testament church. It talks about doctrine. Then it talks about fellowship. Then it talks about worship expressed in the breaking of bread. And then it speaks about prayer just in that one verse. You don't have time to expound this passage. Another major follow-up from last night. And this whole congress is to remain in fellowship with like-minded people. Try to meet for prayer. Hopefully you belong to a church where you can meet for prayer and where you can have fellowship. But some people go off to university. They go off to different parts of the world. And I would urge you wherever you are to be in fellowship with like-minded people that you can share your heart with, you can share your vision with, and you can pray with. Many people ask me this question. Because I'm known for speaking openly about sexuality. They ask me this question. Why have so many people, including leaders, fallen into immorality? That is a question everybody asks me all over the world. We don't have time to give a big answer to that question. And that is not my subject this morning. But I can assure you, young people, one of the fiery darts that will try to stop you in your mission vision will be a gun. It will be the fiery dart of immorality or impurity. I have a 25 point strategy I have practiced since 17 years of age to stand against the fiery darts of immorality. And hallelujah, it has worked for 42 years. And all of it is found in the word of God. But one of the most important principles is being accountable, having some kind of accountability group. So I'm going to give you an example. So that you have people who are in fellowship with you, who are not afraid to ask you the hard questions about how you are actually living your practical Christian life. Some of you have heard of the promise keepers movement in North America that has spread to many other countries. People easily criticize something that is new, especially when it is so big. Nothing is perfect, and especially when it gets big. I was in Washington some months ago when one million Americans almost one million men came for a whole day of worship and repentance there in the capital of the United States. It was awesome. Over the past several years, since that movement was launched by a former football coach, hundreds of thousands of men have got right with God and right with their wives. I say praise be to God. Many of them have repented of immorality. Amen. Many of them have repented of immorality. And the secret of that unusual movement is not these big amazing meetings. It's the small accountability groups. Whereas it says in 1 John chapter 2 men are walking in the light with one another. One of the fruits of true revival is when men and women begin to walk in the light. No more darkness. No more double life. Saturday night one life, Sunday morning a different life. We become whole. We become healthy, Holy Spirit healthy. And we learn how to walk in the light. If I had not learned that as a baby Christian, I would not be here today. I would have been knocked out of the battle. And then we see that emphasis on worship and breaking of bread, which is part of worship. In a congress with so much emphasis on worship from others, I don't feel I should speak more about that. Only to say that I learned this when I was 17. And I began at a young age to distribute books urging people to make worship the number one priority of their life. Not just when we're together and we have wonderful worship bands, but when we're all alone and we're feeling lonely to worship God with the inner harp that he has put in our hearts. And then we see that fourth principle there in that verse. The principle of prayer. And we have had that emphasized in a wonderful way these days. We see the results. Look at verse 43. They were filled with awe. Many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. That has been your emphasis. Praise God for what he has done. But of course when we get to verse 44, we decide it's time to go home. Many people want signs and wonders. People will travel thousands of miles for signs and wonders. Some are gifted in creating signs and wonders even when there are no signs and wonders. But I seldom find people interested in verse 44. And when we get to verse 45, we decide that we're going to go into cafeteria Bible study methods. It means we pick and we choose. It's like a smorgasbord, like a smorgasbord. We have those restaurants in Germany. All the food is spread out in front of you. It's like the little breakfast we have in our little hotel here. Five, ten different kinds of German bread and biscuits. You just pick and you choose. Some people have developed this method of studying the Bible. Oh, verse 43, that's my favorite. Signs and wonders. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's eat, let's eat. Oh, verse 44, let's look at that. All the believers were together and had everything in common. No, not today. I'm not very hungry for that today. Well, let's take a look at, you know, next verse. Selling their possessions and goods they gave to anyone who had need. Not today, thank you. Maybe tomorrow. Oh, that verse is for my rich uncle. I certainly hope he gives me something soon. So, so many of the Lord's people play little games with the word of God instead of taking all of it and facing the reality of that. Now, when we get to verse 46, well, that's a little easier. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes, ate together with glad and sincere hearts. And verse 47. Praising God. Enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Glory to God. So many important decisions have been made here during this congress. Some have been healed. Some have had a fresh experience with the Holy Spirit. All of this happens not in the absence of our humanness. It happens in the midst of all of our humanness. But the big question. What do we do on Tuesday morning? What do we do on Tuesday morning? As we go back to our jobs. As we go back to families, some families that do not even know Christ. As we get back into the real world situation. Jesus never promised an easy road. And that's why once again I want to emphasize. Together with Pentecost. We always must have the message of the cross. Never put these in competition. We need the word. We need the spirit. We need the spirit-filled life. But we need the crucified life. It's wonderful to have a crisis experience. But the crisis must be followed by a process or it will become an abscess. So people who once were so filled with God's grace. Are knocked out of the battle. I close with these words from the Apostle Paul. From the book of Corinthians. He said, I buffet my body. I bring my body into discipline. This is the Apostle Paul. The man who had some of the most incredible spiritual experiences ever recorded in the word of God. He says, I buffet my body. I bring it into subjection. I discipline myself. So that after preaching to other people, I do not end up a cast away. Disqualified. That's from the word of God. That's not my idea. And the Apostle Paul needed that kind of discipline. That kind of crucified reality. How much more all of us who are sitting here. Need to take that step of faith. Paul said in Galatians 2.20. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ who liveth within me. That is the message. That comes together with the great message of Pentecost. And when we get that Holy Ghost combination. The crisis and the process. Nothing will stop us from running this marathon race. Until we are with the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us pray. Let every hand be bowed before the Lord in a moment of silent prayer. I believe God has spoken to many of you. About biblical balance. About what to do when you leave here. About the need to have the reality of the Holy Spirit. Together with the reality of the crucified life. The need to take these basic principles from Acts chapter 2. That Pentecost chapter. And put them in practice in our daily life. Are you willing to do this? When you leave here. Starting Monday night, starting Tuesday morning. Discipline in the word of God. Discipline in fellowship and accountability. Discipline in worship and prayer. Disciplined in every area of your life. So that when your body is trying to pull you into something sinful. You will be able to deal that blow. And bring it back to the cross. So that five years from now. You will not be one more congress casualty. Are you willing for that kind of life? That kind of discipline? I'm not going to ask you to come forward. But if you're serious about the disciplined life. If you're serious about what I have just spoken to you about. And you'll make a specific commitment to walk this road. I'd like you just to put your hand up. I just want to see you. Because I know it is a majority of people. God bless you. Lord I pray for each person. That has just put their hand up. That they will become disciplined marathon runners. In your great race. That the crisis they've experienced these days. Will be followed by the process of daily denying self. Taking up the cross and following you. And that all the grace they have experienced these days. Will follow this fruitful life. And that they will exist. Lord I want to commit myself. To continue to walk this road. Lord I thank you that when I have failed. There has been a lack of discipline. That you have forgiven. Lord I pray for those that feel. A struggle in their hearts. Because maybe they tried to walk this road. And they have failed. And we thank you for grace Lord. And forgiveness. That when we fail you love us just as much. Because we are your children. And we have been cleansed by your precious blood. By your grace we will stay in this race. Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Praise be to the living God. We've certainly been praising the Lord. For a lot of time during these days. We now have the privilege of leaving. And carrying this blessing to other people. It's been a privilege. To share this opportunity with you. In some ways I wish I could have been here. For every single meeting. But as I was ministering here. I have many other responsibilities. In the leadership of OM. And so spend a good part of my time on the telephone. And we would appreciate your prayers. Because our work has grown so quickly. And to be honest there are always many problems. When a work grows quickly. I've hardly said anything about operation mobilization. During these days. And I'm not going to speak about that now. But if any of you would like more information. In German or English or any other hundred languages. I would love to hear from you personally. And I'll be here after the meeting. Giving out my address. Nelson asked me to share some of my impressions. Of these days together. And as you may know I like to express things. With dynamic words. During these days we've had words from the Lord. We've also had words from the word. And that constantly has to be kept in balance. So as I was preparing and waiting upon God. To share these impressions. God gave me seven words from his word. I wrote them down on this piece of paper. And maybe you can write them down. And think on them in the months to come. And if one year from now you send me these seven impressions. Seven words. In English I'll send you seven books. In German I'll send you one book. The first word that impresses my heart from these days together. Is the word hunger. It's been a privilege to be among people who are hungry for God. Sometimes meetings like this are criticized. Sometimes people say in some of these meetings. These things are extreme. I'd rather have people a little bit extreme. In the hunger for God zone. Than extreme in spiritual lukewarmness. And all of that kind of thing. I've seen too many people overreacting to extremes. And ending up in the deep freeze of dead orthodoxy. Traditionalism, legalism and other forms of ism. Brother Andrew said it's easier to cool down a fanatic. Than it is to warm up a corpse. Hallelujah. It's good to be with people who are warm. Amen. We are hungry for God. And we have many verses about that. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. They shall be filled, the Word of God says. The second impression that hits me is expressed in the word generosity. Incredible generosity. When I hear of the money that has been given, I just want to weep and thank God. We're living in a day of growing materialism. We're living in the day of me, my, people concerned about mainly their own world. It's great to see hilarious, glorious generosity on the part of the people for God. After all, the Bible says it's more blessed to give than receive. The third impression that comes on my heart is expressed in the word diversity. I've met many different kinds of people. I've had some very valuable personal fellowship. And I've met such a diverse range of people. And I think the Spirit of God has emphasized to us in the ministry as well, that His unity is in the midst of diversity. Not everybody has had the same spiritual experience. Last night, I, toward the end of the meeting, I do what I'd often love to do in the meeting. I get out on the floor and dance in the name of Jesus. If David danced before the Lord, then George can dance before the Lord. But I know many people who do not engage in that. I am married to one such person. She is not about to stand out in front of several hundred people and start dancing around. Of course, that means that I am more spiritual than my wife. But we've realized that is not the way it works. God is working through different people in different ways. And God's Spirit does not destroy our personality. He doesn't change a Bavarian into a Scotsman. He doesn't change a Chinaman into a Mexican. And we are all different, created in the image of God. And that diversity has been beautiful during these days. Maybe you haven't been happy about everything that you have seen. First of all, nobody here has seen everything because it went on for 24 hours. We've seen, I believe from the Word of God, this challenge about the grace awakening. That enables us to accept that God works through different people in different ways. Hallelujah! Another word that is impressed on my heart, and I hope I am partly responsible for this, I will blame it on Nelson for bringing me here in the first place. That is global. I believe we've all become more global in our praying. A number of people have wanted these jackets. I always sell my jacket or give it away at the end of a conference, so it's available. The donation will go to world missions after we pay for the jacket. Being global is a matter of the heart. We've seen that sending is just as important as going. We stood amazed as so many came forward to pray that prayer, Lord, here I am, send me. What a responsibility is upon us to pray for those people, to help those people, to make this a reality that the nations and the peoples of the world will feel the impact of this congress in the years to come. Then the next word that was impressed on my heart, and perhaps this is my greatest plea in these few final moments with you, is the word wisdom. Yes, we've had a tremendous emphasis on power and the power of God, but we've also, I believe, realized the importance of wisdom. We have the book of Psalms, and that seems to be emphasized by most Christians. I try to read and pray and praise the Psalms every day, but I saw as a young Christian that I was lacking wisdom. I remember in my early days selling Christian books door to door in my own home area before I ever went to Mexico, and a woman of God bought a big pile of books, made me really happy. Then she said, young man, come in and sit down, I have a word for you. She said, do you read the Proverbs? Well, I mean, not too much. She said, I recommend you read a Proverb a day. There's 31 Proverbs, one for every day of the month. And as a baby Christian, I began to read not just the Psalms, but the Proverbs. It's all about wisdom. And the Proverbs has been one of my main sources of practical wisdom to found and lead the work of OM for over 40 years. We need the whole counsel of God from Genesis to Revelation. Power without wisdom can lead to confusion. So many have been encouraged one minute and backslidden the next minute. We have been warned that Satan will counterattack what the Spirit of God has done here. We need great wisdom when we go from here. That's why it's good to take some of these tapes to review some of the things we heard, especially the messages that impacted us the most. As we need the wisdom to contextualize, to adapt what we've received here back into our home church and our home situation. That love may be the rule. If you just without thinking tell somebody something maybe that happened to you here, not only they may not understand, they may then turn and be opposed to you and be opposed to what is burning on your heart. The Spirit of God has to prepare people for the truths that are just rolling out of our hearts and out of our minds. The book of Proverbs talks so much about controlling your tongue. Many of my problems in life have been because I spoke first and then I thought about it afterward. That is a great mistake. It is good to think a little bit first about what you're going to say, consider the implications and then try in love to say it. This leads me to my next word that's been impressed upon my heart especially as we prepare to leave. That is the word humility. The Spirit of God has humbled many of us during these days. We have had to confess things before God. Some of us have confessed things to brothers and sisters. God has met us. When you receive special blessing, when you receive extra teaching from God's Word, there is always the danger of spiritual pride. We are now better than other people. When you come to the Congress, you poor jerk, you missed God's plan for your life. Let us have humility as we go from here. Somebody else may have gone to another meeting somewhere else or maybe their own church yesterday and were greatly blessed of God. When we have legitimate interest in what God is doing in others, we may discover they're taking more interest in what God is doing in us. May God make us good listeners. To be honest, I think you must be one of the greatest groups of listeners in the whole of Germany. For 38 years I have been visiting Germany. I've never seen German Christians sitting so long in one place listening to so much ministry. But of course if that causes us to become proud or foolish, we are spiritual because we listened to 10 hours of non-stop messages even though we in fact were brain dead one half of the time. Let us go in humility for that is the heart of reality. We see it in the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. We see it in 1 Corinthians 13. We see Biblical spirit-filled living produces humble, godly people. My final impression is summed up in the word marathon. This has been a worship marathon. 150 hours, I believe, of non-stop worship. Not for me personally, I must confess as I have slept very well and though I tried to worship in my sleep I tend to have regular interruptions from some of the most bizarre, stupid dreams I would ever want to tell you about, so I will not tell you. But every morning I have woke up during these days for the sense of vision, the sense of what God is wanting to do in my heart and our hearts together. In the book of Hebrews chapter 12 we read about the bigger marathon that God has put us into where it says, therefore, since we are surrounded let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. This is what it says in verse 1. Having to go the extra mile in worship and prayer and I know it has been hard for some people and let us be sensitive about individuals who are going away from here with some struggles, with some doubts with some mixed emotions. Let us not look at that as something weird or unusual for great faith is not in the absence of those things great faith is often in the midst of those human experiences and emotions. The bigger marathon lies ahead of us. It starts on Tuesday morning. It already started. The practical things, the work we have to do. In fact, my talking to a lot of people has been a great help shows that when they are away from home for 5 or 6 days and they get back home almost automatically they have problems they did not have when they left home. Do not think of that as something unusual. Do not immediately think, oh, how did the devil get in? Maybe I should not have gone to that congress. But get on your knees and ask Him for solutions to those problems. Overreacting to the problems of life often leads to wrong decisions and foolishness and be knocked out of God's great marathon race. So there are my 7 impressions. Now I could give you 25 more but 7 is a good number. God bless you as the Spirit of God works these things in your heart. Amen.