Cd Gv122

Let's remember, the Lord Jesus told us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every person. This is not our thing, this isn't our vision, this is a Jesus thing, this is a God vision. So let's pray.

Lord, we need your help as we open the scriptures, as we consider the world in which we live, as we consider what you're doing, as we consider the suffering our Lord enable us to receive, even that which may seem overwhelming when we first hear it, that we may respond in faith, that we may respond in a proactive, dynamic way, rather than allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by the sadness and the sorrow and the suffering that plagues planet Earth. We thank you that we are in the midst of the greatest harvest of people to Jesus the world has ever known, in the midst of all that agony and suffering and war and death and genocide. We stand stunned, we stand stunned by it, but we are going to go forward by faith.

In Jesus' name, amen. Six billion people in the world today, one out of three, what a miracle, one out of three profess faith in Jesus Christ. As the church grows beyond all comprehension, now we know that many of those who profess Christ or go to a Christian church do not yet know the Lord Jesus.

That was my situation. And it was through a Billy Graham meeting in New York City almost 50 years ago that I realized religion and even having the name Christian was not enough. And I had to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus and experience true salvation.

But even these people who only have Christian as name, they are often open, they are much more open than often Muslims and Hindus, though the untouchables of India would be an exception to that right now. And a lot of the harvest in the world today, even in India, and certainly Latin American Africa is among those who somehow already profess his name or who have the name Christian. It's very important to understand that in God's working, often he works in two or three steps before a person actually comes to full salvation.

In India, many came out of Hinduism through the mass movement, but didn't really know Christ personally. And then later on, through the ministry of men like Bhaktsingh and others, his biography, by the way, is off the press, came to know Christ personally. I invite you to London next March 4th.

It's going to be my 50th spiritual birthday, and we are going to have a party. When I stepped down from the leadership, that was in the north. That was in Keswick.

Most of my London friends didn't come. So this time it will be in London, but you're invited. You've got the most incredible train.

It even goes from this little whistle stop station. What is it? North Allerton, Allerton, or Allerjikim, or something. I was in there tonight making phone calls, and I thought, I think I'll go to Thirsk.

So I got on another train and went down. I thought that was a little closer, but in fact, I think we're in the middle. But isn't it amazing? You can get on these fast trains at North Allerton, and in three hours, you're in London.

It's a walk in the park, friends. Don't be afraid of London. How many of you have never been to London? Raise your hand.

Never been. Okay. Things have changed in the past hundred years.

It's good. Praise God. So you're welcome to my spiritual birthday, March 4th, either at our office in Forest Hill or central London.

We'll let you know closer to the date. Now, turn with me in the Bible to Luke chapter 10. This message is just burning on my heart.

And the DVD of this message tonight, or the video, may end up going around the world. A message I gave here many years ago went all over the world. I don't know if you remember where I shared how God got me involved in Mexico with the Pentecostal and the charismatic movement.

And that video, I think it's on CD now. Tonight will be DVD. There is a difference.

And I think that's being used of the Holy Spirit around the world. And I've been sharing this message, but I want to share it once again with all of you. Luke chapter 10, the story of the Good Samaritan.

You start at verse 25, where it talks about the most important commandment. One day, an expert in religious law stood up to test Jesus by asking him this question. Teacher, what must I do to receive eternal life? That's a good question, right? Jesus did not answer it in the traditional way.

What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it? The man answered, you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. Right, Jesus told him. Do this, and you will live.

The man wanted to justify his actions, so he asked Jesus, and who is my neighbor? Jesus would often tell stories. Sometimes we, in our day, when we're asked a question, we just sort of try to give an answer. Even if we don't even know what the answer is, we try anyway.

Jesus, the son of a living God, often answered with a story. So Jesus replied, verse 30, with an illustration. A Jewish man from Jerusalem is traveling to Jericho.

He was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes and money. They beat him up, and they left him half dead.

They left him half dead beside the side of the road. Wow. A friend of mine from Nigeria just had almost an identical experience.

A friend of mine from Kenya just wrote me an email, a woman. A man came into her house, put a gun straight to her head. The other man had a machine gun.

It took everything she had of any value. This is happening to people today. This is relevant.

This happens in Great Britain. Have you read about some of the murders lately here in Britain? I'm sure you have. They're headlines in the newspaper.

Laying by the side of the road. By chance, a Jewish priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road, and he passed him by.

That seems incredible, doesn't it? How could a man just pass by somebody beaten, laying on the side of the road? It still also happens today. Hard to believe. Then the temple assistant, he walked over, looked at him lying there, and also passed by on the other side.

What a sad, pathetic situation. Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt deep pity. Kneeling beside him, the Samaritan, and I'm sure those of you who know the Bible know that the Samaritans were considered enemies.

These were considered sort of scum, people down the road that we have no dealing with, like a Dalit or an untouchable in India, and a new book has just come out about that. And if you email me, I'd be happy to send a copy because copies except my sample have not arrived in Britain yet, published in India. So this despised Samaritan came along.

He knelt down, and he bandaged this man. He put him then on the back of his donkey, took him to an inn where he took care of him. The next day, he handed the innkeeper two pieces of silver and told him to take care of the man.

If his bill runs higher than that, he said, I'll pay the difference the next time I am here. What a powerful story. What a revolutionary story.

We sometimes in the old days when we have flannel graph before sort of PlayStation and PowerPoint, we love the story of the Good Samaritan for the children. I think I must have seen that in Sunday school. I'm sure I did as a little child.

And as adults, we sometimes just gloss over it. We read it. The thing that we need to understand is that Jesus, after he told this story, the man replied, the one who should pick it up in verse 36.

Now, which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits? And Jesus asked, well, Jesus asked him that. The man replied, the one who showed him mercy. Then Jesus said, yes, now go and do the same.

If he only hadn't said that, then we maybe could relegate it to the Sunday school, relegate it to the PowerPoint or say, well, this is a great challenge. But when it says clearly, yes, now go and do the same. We have to we have to start doing some thinking.

I made many mistakes in my Christian life. And God is very merciful. We can't possibly learn all the great lessons from God's word in one year or even 10 years.

And as I launched out into ministry, I was not that concerned about people's physical needs in terms of my own ministry. I, of course, prayed for people often if they were ill. And I was concerned in my heart.

But I made this mistake of thinking, well, other organizations like World Vision and the later Tear Fund and then medical missionaries. And we didn't feel God was leading us into that. And other kinds of missionaries like the Salvation Army.

And then later on, people like Mother Teresa. They, they are sort of the good Samaritans. And then there was an organization founded by Bob Pierce, the Samaritan's Purse.

So this is their ministry. Mine is literature evangelism and winning people to Christ, training people, planting churches, leadership. You know, with what we were attempting to do, we were overwhelmed.

Much less start taking on all kinds of other tasks in terms of people's physical need. That was a great mistake on our part. It took people from the two-thirds world.

People like Tony Campalo. People like Samuel Escobar. People, men and women from different countries.

And a deeper study of the Word of God. And a relook at stories like The Good Samaritan to completely change me in regard to this great challenge. There are many, many people today lying by the side of the road.

And we cannot pass them by. Nor can we just give them a tract or a Bible and say, we'll see you later. We must somehow respond to the challenge of Jesus concerning people's physical situation.

If you are already overcommitted, this message needs to be contextualized into your situation. Because if you're already overcommitted, like Jim probably, then I am not wanting you to sort of just take on more in terms of deeds and action. But at least I want you to take this message into your heart, into your spiritual DNA, and be able to share it to others who may not be overcommitted, who may not even be saved yet.

Also, this aspect of our kingdom message appeals to non-Christians. Many non-Christians are pace-setting in some of the things I'm going to talk about in these next few moments. And when we, maybe not even fully understanding it, at least sympathize with them, at least have some discernment, because Christians lack discernment in these areas, we are going to find them more open to talk about Jesus.

I was reading on the train a major book about British charities. These were mainly non-Christian charities. And some of the outstanding charities, and the number of charities in Britain is quite amazing.

Britain is one of the most philanthropic nations that has ever existed in history. It is part of the culture. It is part of the DNA of the nation.

Even as the nation has tended to depart and leave the basics of the Christian faith, that challenge of giving has remained within the culture. Not as much as we would like, and certainly not everybody, because there are many hedonistic, pagan, totally selfish people. And all these charities trying to raise money, believe me, they are discovering that.

And you and I, if we want to make an impact in post-modern Britain, have to learn to affirm people who are doing good things, but they don't yet know Jesus. Rather than constantly come across negative about anybody who is not a Christian, or anything they are doing, taking some maybe Bible text and clobbering them on the head with it, even though they don't even know what we are talking about. And the amount of prejudice against Christians today is greater than it has been before, for many, many reasons.

And rather than all get upset and just blame this person or that person, especially the government, we need Holy Ghost discernment to understand the new culture in which we live, the new generation of young people and the way they think. Rather than condemn all the young people because they'd rather play a video game than hear a boring sermon in the local church, we may try to understand video games and the huge impact they will have on our culture, both good and evil, because Christians are also moving into that area. This generation of children, because of video games, and some of them are horrendous, are generally more interactive.

So they don't just want to listen, they want to get involved in the action. Now if we can get them saved, they can be the generation that maybe finishes the task of world evangelism because they're willing to roll up their sleeves and get involved. And Michael, who's here with me on our little team, you know, he is as committed to Jesus as anybody I met in the 60s or even the 50s when I was first saved.

And as I meet these young people, and we have three and a half thousand now on OM in a hundred nations, I will tell you, God is working in this postmodern generation. Do not become one more old age wet blanket just because they don't want to sing the same hymn that you were singing when you went to Sunday school in 1908 or whenever it was. Who are some of these people laying by the side of the road? I want to just share seven.

There are more, and someday I'm going to do, I call this message my seven global scourges, and someday I'm going to do the next seven because there are more. Some of you know me well here that I am probably the longest speaker in the whole of Britain, and that's why many churches will not touch me with a barge pole. And many of you know my stories, that Anglican church I went to and the man said I could have 19 minutes, and I begged him for a little more time, and he said, oh, big Anglican smile, of course you can have more.

Take 21 minutes. Who are these seven people laying by the side of the road? We're not speaking now of individuals. We're speaking of great clusters of people.

This story is the small picture story. I want to now have you look at the big picture. Now many people, especially in rural England, tend to be small picture people.

They're living in a little village, and what's going on in that village is the main thing for them. They may live in a bigger town, and they have a little bigger picture of people in the town as drug addiction and alcoholism and all these problems are hitting the towns and, of course, the villages. Now it's good to have the small picture.

Don't feel embarrassed that you have a vision for your village or a vision for your town or a vision for farms. That's okay. But tonight, God has brought me from southeast London, someone who's lived in cities all of my life, Kathmandu, Bombay, Calcutta, Bangkok, Singapore, Madrid, Paris, Rome, many other cities where I've lived.

God has brought me here to share or attempt to share the big picture. And those who are watching this by DVD or video, I would ask of you to maybe not listen or watch this just once, but maybe again with some of your friends, because this is a message that God has put upon my heart. It doesn't mean it's going to be perfect, because whenever God works through us human beings, some of our earthness, some of our claypotness gets in the way.

And I pray you'll have this sermon to separate George Verwerstraw from Holy Ghost Wheat and receive what God has for you tonight. The first person laying by the side of the road is a little child. Millions of little children.

Did you see the headlines on one of Britain's major papers last week? Did you see it? One billion children at risk. I never thought I'd see that on the front page. That is an answer to prayer.

One billion children at risk. About one-sixth of the earth's population. They are lying on the side of the road.

Many of them are dying. And let me first of all give you the good news. Research has shown that the Church of Jesus Christ globally is the number one group in the world responding to children at risk.

There's a lot that we could talk about that's very encouraging among all different kinds of children. But research, especially by Viva Network and Patrick McDonald, has shown there's an awful lot of work yet to be done. We might be ministering among 10%, maybe 20%.

We got an 80% that are outside the ministry zone. We're speaking about children sold into factory slavery. We're talking about hundreds of thousands of children at 11 or 12 sold into sexual slavery.

We're talking about street children in places like Brazil where sometimes even the police pull the trigger and murder them. We're talking about AIDS orphans. Millions, millions, and millions of AIDS orphans in Africa and other countries.

There are new books coming out that are bringing the truth about children. And some of them can be living right down the street, sometimes abused by their own parents. If you don't think that's an issue in Britain, then you are living in cloud cuckoo land and you need to somehow come down to earth.

And if you don't think it ever happens among those who profess to be followers of Jesus Christ, then you obviously have not been involved in much personal ministry with people. Children at risk. The cases that my wife and I have been involved in, the phone calls that we have to handle in this area are overwhelming.

And it's time for the church to speak out. It's time for the church to preach out. It's time for us to reach out and do what this good Samaritan did in Luke chapter 10.

The third person lying by the side of the road, the second person, but lying by the side of the road, is a woman. An abused woman. A woman at risk.

Debbie Miroff has written a book called True Grit. I think we're more or less sold out, so you'll have to email me to get that book. I'll send it as a Christmas gift.

I believe it is probably the most significant book that we have ever published. It's published by Authentic Publishing, which is no longer part of OM. It's part of that STL thing.

That's a separate company for those that have tried to follow the growth of our movement. This is a book all about women and what they are suffering. And we've already had to go to press for another edition.

Debbie's a professional writer based on our team in London. I'd love to have her visit you someday. She's written about six books.

An amazing woman converted from Jewish background. Women. Sex trafficking.

It's big in the newspaper again this week. It's unbelievable what's going on in Europe in the area of sex trafficking. Even President Bush has been speaking out about this.

Other global leaders are speaking out. Cambodia is becoming another major place. We need to have a more biblical, revolutionary view of women and what they are suffering.

The abuse of women under certain religious systems is unbelievable. What was going on in Afghanistan among the Taliban and very few Christians were speaking out about it. The feminist movement and they have many positive points.

The feminist movement. Many negative points I'm afraid as well. One of the first to speak out about the suffering women in Afghanistan.

And in God's mercy, the Taliban is removed. And I read this week they are more or less, more or less out of business. There's a few left and they'll be killing more people in the weeks and months to come.

What about female circumcision? Have you ever read anything about that? Or do you prefer not to read things that are unpleasant? Let me just tell you friends if you don't want to read things that are unpleasant, then whatever you do, do not read the Bible. Because some of the most unpleasant stories I've ever read, including rape, are written in this book. And I believe one of the marks of authenticity of the word of God is that it does not gloss over sin even when it's committed by a great leader like David.

A man after God's own heart guilty of murder and adultery. You and I, yes, need to even speak out about things like female circumcision. I think the Danish government is one of the first to want to get a law against this.

I can read pretty heavy stuff without getting ill. I've never been able to finish what I've attempted to read about female circumcision. I have never been able to finish the article.

It is so sickening. It is so disturbing that women could be so abused and it's growing and it's still going on. Hundreds of thousands of women going through this unbelievable ordeal which in many ways is worse than rape.

That would seemingly be very, very difficult. The third person lying by the side of the road is what we call the extreme poor. Now, there are many poor people and it's sad that some Christians just with one cliche write the whole thing off, even misquoting or taking a quote out of context from the New Testament.

If we study the Bible, if we listen to men and women of God down through the years, going right back to William Booth and others, then we know God has a bias toward the poor. Some of you come from a poor background. You should never, ever be ashamed of that.

You should never feel inferior in this society that is still a class society and a racist society, even though we don't like to admit it. That doesn't mean everyone. Some of the greatest people in the world came from the poorest background and some are still poor.

What about the Dalits of India? They're known before as untouchables. Do you pray for them? There's 200 million of them, maybe 250 million. That's three times the population of the British Isles.

They are untouchables. Only in the past few years and it's a mystery why it hasn't happened in a major way sooner. It happened in smaller ways sooner, but in the last few years, the Dalits are beginning to move.

They're leaving untouchability. They're leaving Hinduism by the hundreds of thousands. Many have become Buddhists.

Others are now knocking on the door of the church. In OM alone, we have planted over 1,000 churches in the last couple of years, mainly of these people wanting to be baptized. Many of them experiencing the reality of the Holy Spirit.

It's an incredible thing. It is the most incredible thing that we have experienced in our movement and we're almost 50 years in the trenches. Extreme, disenfranchised, and poor.

And here's the decision that we made that surprises some of my older friends. We have decided in India to be involved under the leadership of Joseph de Souza who's written this book about the Dalits. We have decided to become involved in human rights.

Not in every aspect because it's such a huge area and you can easily get beyond your boundaries, but we have felt led to be involved in human rights in connection with the persecution of Muslims by Hindus, to speak out for our Muslim friends, especially after the slaughter of quite a few of them in Gujarat. I've got a book about that. That thick.

I don't think I'll ever get through it. And we have decided to be involved in human rights. A new movement was born called the All India Christian Council.

Joseph de Souza, the leader of OM, was asked to be president of this council that's separate from OM. All different agencies and churches, mainly biblical people, to, in general speak, in connection with the persecution of Christians in India. That was their first thing after Graham Staines and his two children were murdered.

And then they got on to the cause of the Dalits. Human rights, concern for human rights, defense of human rights is part of the kingdom. Guess what? Most Christians who are not involved in anything in connection with human rights still believe in it because they get really upset in their own little house when one of their neighbors does something that's a breach on their human rights.

And I am amazed what upsets the average person. It's usually trivia. But it often is connected with human rights without us realizing it.

And if injustice is done to someone on a train and you're sitting next to that person and you see that injustice, you as a believer should attempt to do something. You at least should immediately pray or contact the authorities and tell what the truth is. We all believe in this country with such deep Christian roots.

We believe in justice. We believe in human rights. And this is something that I believe has huge implications as we come to understand the kingdom because, and it took me years to grasp this, we're not just called to evangelize the world.

We are called to build the kingdom everywhere. Of course that's overwhelming. Of course you then have to find your place and get guidance.

But you can capture the whole vision in your heart that will enable you to respond better to your particular part of the vision, no matter how small that may be. The global poor. That should be a priority.

And there is much that we can do. And the church more than ever before in history, please understand this, is responding to this challenge. The story of Tear Fund is one of the greatest Christian stories in the British Isles.

The story of Bob Pierce founding World Vision and then founding Samaritan's Purse and then hundreds of other smaller unknown agencies around the globe on the move. In fact, there's a new mission agency born pretty well every hour. Every hour, every day, because the church is so big.

Another agency is born. Pick up Patrick Johnson's book over there. The church is bigger than you think.

You'll understand better what I'm trying to say. The fourth person laying by the side of the road is the person with HIV and AIDS, and there are now 40 million of them. Forty million.

And I would urge you to pick up Patrick Dixon's book. We just printed in India another 40,000 of this book. We are supplying it free around the globe.

I'm going with Patrick to Uganda in January to meet with about 150 Africans and others who are concerned about the church's response to this huge pandemic. And it is overwhelming to think of the task. Again, the church is on the move.

I picked up a special packet with about 50 different pieces of literature in produced by the Assembly of God that they want to give to every Assembly of God pastor in the whole of Africa. The way they're going, it's going to take many years. There's a great lack of finance in this battle against HIV and AIDS.

We're trying to combine it with the message of salvation. And many people dying of HIV are coming to Christ because they know they're going to die. Now, if they're in a wealthy country where they can get these expensive medical and medicine cocktails, they can live another five or ten years.

But so many in India and Africa do not have access to these medications, these medicines. We know of a few cases, a few cases, where God has intervened and healed people. I don't believe we should limit our response to this huge problem only through prayer.

Of course, that's got to be part of it. God sometimes does unusual things. We must respond in the mobilization of the entire church for prevention.

Because now in Africa, almost every church has people in the congregation with HIV and AIDS. It spreads through many, many different methods. It's uncanny.

Many of these people do not die of AIDS. You don't die of AIDS. AIDS runs your body down so that any one of 50 different illnesses takes you in the end.

And often only an autopsy or careful checking in blood can tell that it was HIV and AIDS. And many die very, very young. The fifth person laying by the side of the road is the person, the thirsty person.

30% of the people in the world do not have access to pure water. I've learned from the younger generation to carry a bottle of water. I got my bottle of water here.

I filled it here in your little room here so I have it on the train when I go back tomorrow. Studies have shown that most people in Britain do not drink enough water. My little grandson, he's in the States.

They have the same problem. We thought he had a heart condition. We took him to the doctor.

It cost a lot of money to see this heart specialist. I was in the room when the heart specialist took my little grandson aside and said, basically, you have one problem. You're not drinking enough water.

Apparently, young children, if they don't drink enough water, there is something connected with the electronic system in the heart that can go a little cuckoo. Ever since he started drinking water, he's feeling fine. Now, that's a separate bonus health message I just threw in free.

There's not going to be any extra charge for that. But we can learn from this younger generation who like to carry water with them and make sure they drink it. Some of these airplanes, these cheap airplanes, they won't even give you free water.

I was on, I don't know, it was Ryanair, and I, you know, I went up and asked them for a glass of water. They look at you like you came in from another planet. You have to carry your own water or you get a pound, you might be able to buy a bottle.

But that's not really my issue at this point. My issue are the poverty-stricken people of the world in so many areas where there's drought and other difficulties that have no access to pure water. They will be drinking impure water from the river and many of them will be dead within a year.

And you and I now can do something about it. Christian agencies are being raised up that primarily deal with getting pure water. It's spreading across the world.

It's a phenomena. Non-Christians, of course, are doing it as well. Would you at least pray for these people? Would you pray for the release of money? Because it takes money to drill wells.

It takes money to get these very primitive, I saw one being done in Tajikistan where they can make a water-purifying machine from very basic things. It's incredible what can be done when we get a little sanctified imagination. That's always been one of my prayers for God's chosen frozen.

A little more sanctified imagination. And if you're one of these basic, boring Christians, let me tell you, there's still hope for you. Don't give up even if you're my age.

There's still hope that somehow a fire would be lit in your heart. And I tell you, the way you praise the Lord here, I think there's a lot of potential. But remember, most of the week you don't have the music.

So you need to learn how to praise the Lord with or without the music. With or without the music. And you need to learn how to praise the Lord when you're actually feeling quite miserable.

You don't need to pretend going around giving the idea you're living up here when you know you're way down here. You can just be real and you can just be honest. And I believe with all my heart, honesty is the road to reality and it's the road to revival.

And I believe it is our privilege in Jesus Christ to know revival in our lives. The thirsty people, the sick people, simple lack of pure water. The sick person laying by the side of the road.

This is going to really surprise you and you can write me emails. You can get instant feedback these days with email. But the sick person laying by the side of the road is planet Earth, the environment.

I was reading and doing some work on the train and the man sitting behind me said, Are you George Verwer? Doesn't always happen to you on the train. And I got to talk with him and he's a Christian from Sunderland and he had heard me preach in Dublin in the 70s and somehow it struck a chord in his heart. I don't think we'd ever seen each other maybe I did without introducing myself and he shared how his work is in connection with the environment.

And I was able to say to him, I preach about that now. I preach about the environment. The need to be concerned about the rainforest, about the air we breathe.

Asthma is going out of control in the British Isles. This is linked with the environment. The woman sitting across from me on the train, I thought she was going to pass out as she was wrestling with asthma.

God is concerned about all these things. We can do something about all these things. Why do so many British people just throw rubbish all over the place? We are now getting known and I feel very British.

I've been here 42 years. We are now getting known as the dirtiest nation in Europe. That's not a pleasant thing.

Especially if you're English. Have you ever walked different places and just seen all the rubbish? Sometimes my wife and I go out for a walk now. I bring one of these bags and I pick up rubbish as I go.

The other day when I got back, I tell you this huge bag. Little things count with God. To reach down and pick up a beer tin in the name of Jesus and put it where it belongs, I think it gets a reward in heaven.

It says, if you give a glass of water in the name of Jesus, it gets a reward. Are you radical and out of the box enough to think that picking up a beer tin from the road that someone could cut themself on, even a child, might get some kind of reward? Hey, are you willing to think out of the box? Do you even know what that means, those of you who are older? Out of the box. That's a young expression.

It means you're not just conforming to the same old ways. It means you're willing to be different. It means you're willing in church to clap or dance or hop.

And who's the most out of the box person that ever was born in this part of the British Isles? He's sitting here on the stage with me. And that's how you got Miracle Valley. That's how we got this church.

And that's how he was willing even to fellowship with the likes of me because I tell you, the cold shoulder I've had for 42 years from British leaders, you don't even want to think about it. It's changed a little bit now. So I'm so old, they feel less threatened.

Brothers and sisters, let's start thinking about the environment because that's also going to enable us to talk to many young people who have made this a big thing. Maybe they've made it too big. And if they don't know Jesus and they're only concerned about insects and animals and the environment, they're making a big mistake.

And they will never get to heaven through those good works. But by talking to them, listening to them, sympathizing where you can, you may see them believing on Jesus. That's so worth, that's so worth reaching out even of your own comfort zone to people that maybe in yourself you don't understand.

I easily get irritated at things and there were two in the station in Darlington, there were two guys smoking. Not only were they smoking in the waiting room, they were smoking in a section that had signs that even I didn't go there. It said for older and disabled people were there.

So these two young tough guys come in and they're smoking in there. And I was gonna, this crusader mentality I have, I was gonna rebuke them for the smoking. But instead I got on the phone and I stood in front of them on the phone and talked to my friend Randy Alcorn in Portland about how Jesus was saving all kinds of people.

And then I said something that really wasn't totally loving and I said, Jesus is even saving idiots all over the world. And then I walked away and explained to Randy that I was just trying to get at these two smokers in the old folks section of the waiting room in Darlington. May I see them in heaven.

I probably should have rephrased the whole thing in a more grace awakened way. I say that because if you think I've arrived at some great spiritual level in regard to all this, you're making a big mistake. I'm a pilgrim.

I'm a struggler. I fail. I get bad attitudes.

Sometimes when I'm supposed to witness, I'd rather punch somebody and I'm constantly having to crawl back to the cross and re-read books like Calvary Road and be filled afresh with the Holy Spirit. The seventh person laying by the side of the road, and I'd have to be honest, I changed this from one message to the other, but the seventh person lying by the side of the road is the lukewarm Christian. I believe lukewarmness in the church is greater than all these other problems.

When it comes to the kingdom, now I must confess in some cases, my seventh person has been the person that has been involved in abortion, but I wanted to include that under the children at risk section and talk about the fact that children in their mother's womb are being murdered and I believe as God's people we need to be more proactive about that. It's actually the reason I was talking to Randy Alcorn because he's written a new book on pro-life that's written for the non-Christian and he's given me a thousand copies and I'd be happy to send it free to anybody who asks me for it because this book, this pro-life book is very down to earth, logical, it's not just hitting people with scripture verses which that doesn't always mean much to certain kinds of people and I believe another mistake in my life has been the failure to speak out about abortion more often. It's a horrendous thing and if you've seen the photos you know that even after a few weeks that is a child.

The arms, the legs, the eyes, that is a child. Nobody, and I highly esteem women and I know there are very complex situations but they do not have the right to take the life of that little child and most men and women of God are in agreement on this and yet often we're still silent but I decided tonight to make my seventh person the lukewarm Christian because I think there's a danger that somehow we think all the big problems are out there but in fact the big problems are often here. Lukewarmness is a scourge I've been in meetings where a high percentage of everyone in the meeting acknowledged that they were lukewarm and they stood up to ask, to repent and ask for forgiveness and to ask that as it was in Acts 4.31 they could be filled afresh with the Holy Spirit and go forth and speak the word of God with boldness.

Don't confuse basic lukewarmness with battling with lukewarmness. We're all going to battle with lukewarmness. I have to battle with lukewarmness just as I have to battle with wrong attitudes or impatience.

But don't. Don't succumb. Don't give in.

Don't stop studying the Bible because it's boring. Maybe the one exception to this is the person who is suffering from chronic medical depression. This is a very unique kind of illness.

Those people need extreme special attention, concern, and prayer. But most of us are not in that category. Most of us, that is not our particular struggle.

If it is, may you get the care that you need. And it's not an easy road for many godly people have gone through that. My own wife went through it for a year and in His mercy she came out of it.

But we're talking more about spiritual depression. We're talking about basic lukewarmness linked with neglecting the Word, neglecting prayer, or allowing bitterness to come in, or getting discouraged, or allowing disappointment. My wife and I have had so much disappointment in our life we lost track years ago.

But we know that disappointment can be God's appointment to do better things for His kingdom. Also, many of the things that keep us from lukewarmness are not necessarily positive things. Negative things can keep us on our toes.

Almost being killed by a train can really wake you up for the rest of the day. And so we learn. We learn through the pilgrimage how to respond to our environment, to the circumstances, to the circumstances.

And until, until we can keep our spiritual temperature in a place where it's not dependent on the weather, spiritually, we will never be God's marathon runners. And spiritually, the weather does change, doesn't it? Sometimes Christmas time can be an incredibly difficult time for people. People getting drunk, with people celebrating who don't even know what the whole thing is about.

Often among those who are bereaved, who have lost loved ones, and I have many people in that category, Christmas is the toughest time of the year. And if you know anybody who's lonely, if you know anybody who's on their own, you should go the extra mile to try to reach out to them during the Christmas season. For us as God's people to mainly think about ourselves or even our own family only and not reach out to more lonely, confused, bereaved people is a great mistake.

It's again a breach of the teaching of Luke chapter 10. May God enable us to receive this word. May God keep us from just feeling totally overwhelmed and enable us to understand even the smallest thing we do.

For any of these people lying by the side of the road will be honored in the kingdom. Many of you have already been doing this for years. God bless you.

Many of you have been pouring your funds into global missions in which they have been doing this on a global scale such as OM, a movement completely transformed in the last 15 years so that our ministry throughout the world includes both the physical and mental needs as well as the spiritual needs. And even the new ship as we launch it will be more involved in the HIV AIDS crisis, in global poverty, and in proclaiming, proclaiming this message that I have shared with you tonight. And can you imagine the multiplication impact through prayer, as we share, as we distribute books about this, and DVDs? I tell you, I believe we're on the verge of major global transformation.

Some of you have heard about the transformation movement. It's not easy to get your hand on it. Some of it may seem a little extreme.

That's always true. When God is working, some things go out of control for a while. We have to, by prayer, bring it back.

But I always remember that person. I don't know whether it was Brother Andrew or Corey Tinboon, a friend of Brother Andrew, who said, it's easier to cool down a fanatic than it is to wake up a corpse. So let's not worry about becoming too enthusiastic for the global poor, too enthusiastic concerning HIV and AIDS, too enthusiastic concerning the problems of the environment.

I don't think that's going to be our biggest problem. Too much enthusiasm. I don't know.

Maybe in this church you'll have counseling for those that are too enthusiastic. But A.W. Tozer said, to think that was the greatest problem in the church was like sending a squadron of policemen out to the nearby cemetery to stop a major demonstration by the residents. Not the biggest problem in town.

Let's go for it. Let's take Luke 10. Let's take God's Word.

And with all of our struggle and weakness and vulnerability, let's respond and make sure we're filled with the Spirit. Lukewarmness is not getting a hold of some area of our life that we may in turn minister to all these groups of people we have spoken about tonight. Let us pray.

Our God and Father, You have brought this Word to my heart. I've shared it before. And I cannot run away from it, even though maybe I have tried.

And I believe, Lord, You are going to raise up, even from this meeting tonight, those who will pray more concerning all those things. Those who will help release more finance. Those who will help release workers.

And we would pray, Lord of the Harvest, just as we're taught also in Luke and Matthew, Lord of the Harvest, to send forth workers into the harvest. We think of these nations in the 1040 window where there's so little work, relatively speaking. We think of many unreached peoples.

We think of some of the impossible nations like Korea and Saudi Arabia and Turkmenistan and Libya, Mauritania and Bhutan and Socotra and Tibet and Iraq. And we cry out to You, Lord of the Harvest, to send forth workers. We think of this huge global crisis in Africa concerning HIV and AIDS.

And we pray, O Lord, send forth workers, release finance, stir the churches to reach out of the box to all these people laying by the side of the road. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Let me hear from you and those of you who maybe watch this by video or DVD. It's georgeverwer.com or georgeatverwer.om.org. We'd love to send you that book about HIV, send you that book about pro-life. But we want to hear from God's people.

Amen. Amen.