Useful for the Master - Part 5

I'm not naming a noble birth. I believe that we have Princess Sandra here. And you may already know that there was another member of the royal family from the Netherlands, I believe, who knew the Lord and read His verse and used to say, I thank God for the M. But it doesn't say not any wives by human standards, not any influential, not any noble birth of Princess, not many.

So she said, I thank God for the M. A few, a few wives, a few influential, a few noble births, but not many. So she said, I thank God for the M. A few, a few wives, a few influential, a few noble births, but not many. It has changed, because most of us, in our efforts at evangelism, we start somewhere else.

I don't know why. I've been to many, many missionary conferences in the last few years, and they're nearly all different. I hope this one is an exception.

They're nearly all directed at students. They're nearly all directed at people who can read. They're nearly all directed at people whom they believe will be influential.

And I believe they're unscriptural in starting there. I'm glad they're not those people. But they aren't going to be in the minority.

And the people whom God is not going to be brought about by their influence, by their wisdom, by their education. He wasn't called by them to be the church of those times. He was put down to them by one authority, by one authority, by one authority.

This authority came from God the Father. I've got some friends in England. They're lovely friends.

I love them, really. And they've always gone evangelism the opposite way around. They've always... I love the people in England.

Everything. He was such a clever man. He was so wise.

He wanted to make a wonderful Christian. Couldn't afford music. So they've got this big plan in mind, you know.

This is a top banker. Imagine that. They're aiming at the top banker.

They're aiming at the top barristers. This is great. I'm glad they're not in my opinion.

This is great. But you know, God doesn't need those men to bring about the Kingdom of God. And if we look at the history of revival in any country, we are going to find that revival comes about when God does wonderful things about the weak, the poor, the under-incompetent, those who have nothing to recommend them, like the Lord Jesus.

That's why this movie doesn't end well. Why? Because people look at what the Lord Jesus does in us who are poor and weak and have not built a family and poor education and they say, but I speak to Jesus. It could be no other way.

That's how our people get here today. You know, he couldn't even come to Hong Kong when he got his visa from New Zealand and there's no way to get to New Zealand from Macau. So he had to be escorted through.

He had to get off the boat in Hong Kong and the customs officers had to march him to the airport and stay with him the whole time before he got on the train. There's no way in man's wisdom or in man's intellect that he could have come. But God chose the despised and the foolish so that everyone could see him as Jesus.

And that's which is impossible in itself. What do you think those customs officers said? They said, when they saw him and when they saw our people who are so kindly with the customs officers, they said, oh we trust you God. We know doctor's truths.

The gospel is rich just because he can walk to Hong Kong. There's nothing else to recommend to me as a man for life. Are you beginning to see how it works? You see, it's very unfair.

I really think gospel preaching is unfair to me because it multiplies itself. When you've done your little bit, which is a very, very small bit, God goes on doing the next bit. Because our people believe in Jesus and his life has changed and people just look at him and they believe.

Customs officers look at him and they hear about Jesus. You see him and you rejoice. So many times over.

Preach the gospel to the poor. God has chosen the foolish things in the world to shame the wise. God has chosen the weak things in the world to shame the strong.

I'm speaking about this from two angles. First of all, I think there are many of us who do feel very useless and possibly with the challenge of this great commission may feel a bit daunting already. You know, I used to like to buy bags of chocolate and stuff to missionary conventions.

And for all five afternoons a week and then come home and be like, I can't do this anymore. You're feeling weak and not quite up to it and the marching songs aren't quite as fun in your bedroom. This is for you.

You're chosen, you see. And the reason you're chosen is because you are weak. And you're going to have to know that it's not, it's not without Him.

You know if you fell back to it, He couldn't choose you. If you feel quite unequal to the task, you're going to have to believe that He's strength, that He's wisdom, and He's a marching individual. Then you see, you'll get to know Him.

And you'll start counting the minutes you've worked. There won't be a working day. It will be just what He chooses to do and lets you be in it.

It's always that way around. It's kind of unfair to be in it, I suppose. He knows it and you get to be in it.

That's it. That's it. I remember when my first, well around about six years I suppose, when I used to visit friends in prison.

And they were all friends. I didn't just visit prisons. I visited men I knew.

And there was a prison governor who used to say about me, he said about me and to me, it was the problem of Japanese human rights losers. And I could see that was true because for the first few years I didn't see anyone come to Jesus. And the people I visited were in prison and they didn't change.

And they came out and they made lovely promises and they went back and they went in and they went back and they went in. I think that was kind of...