Militant Evangelism! (12 page)

God thanks anyway.

We didn't say too much on the way home. Then, while driving back through
Aranui
,
along the portion of road where I first prayed,
I noticed a large bus parked in a field. We stopped the car, and I went next door to see if I could locate the owner.

I looked through the back door and saw a middle-aged man, who was fixing something on the floor at the end of a hallway. The bus belonged to him, so I asked if he was interested in selling it. He stood to his feet, scratched his head, and said, "That's really strange ...
I was just thinking of selling it."

God gave me my bus for a grand total of $600, and it was twice the size I had envisaged. We tore out the old seats, carpeted it throughout, and put new seating around the walls. The destination on the front said "Heaven." We put scriptures around the outside, and also painted a large picture of a man in a coffin on the back of the bus. Piled around him were masses of money, and the words, "What shall it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul," under it. We didn't get too many tail-gaiters.

It was a big bus. In fact, it was so big, I steered the thing while Sue worked the pedals. One day I was driving through the city and found that it was so big, I couldn't get it around a corner. I carefully checked the rear view mirrors, and backed up. It was then that I heard a sound I will never forget. It was a high pitched
"Ne-ne-ne-ne-ne-ne!"
with a "
scrrrraaaaape
" following it. I checked my mirrors again. Nothing there ... and drove forward. Again I heard the mystifying "
scrrrraaaaape
" noise, so I pulled in around the corner to check what I thought was something dragging under the bus.

Suddenly, there was a feverish knock on the door. I opened it and saw a young man with a pale face. He had been parked directly behind the bus in a very small car, when a coffin with "What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul," began heading towards him. He honked his car horn
"Ne-ne-ne-ne-ne-ne!"
as the bus scraped across the hood of his car taking the corpse, the coffin and the scripture right up to his windshield.
I think God was speaking to that man.
Over the years, the bus travelled thousands of miles, and was a means of taking the Gospel
to
many.

Locked Out

The second exploit was a tabloid Jesus Paper called "Living Waters." This 12-page newspaper had no income from advertising, no subscription fee and after the first issue, we never asked for financial support. We saw God supply finance for a total of

359,000 copies which were given away.
On one occasion, I had ordered literature with only $5.75 in the bank.
Some time
later, we found a paper sack with over forty $20 bills in it, at our front door. The scripture which motivated us to get the bus and start the paper was solely, "Go into
all the
world and preach the Gospel to every creature."

The third exploit was the writing of our first book. I had previously published an eight page paper called "My Friends Are Dying," and felt that there was an opening for the Gospel through a paperback with the same name. It was after I began writing the first chapter, that the verse was quickened, "Commit your works unto me and I will establish your thoughts." The first edition wasn't brilliantly written, but God blessed it anyway, and it sold between 15-20,000 copies, and now is in its ninth print. The scripture that motivated me to write the book
was,
"Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature."

Three years after the book, we felt that a movie of the same name could also be an opportunity to share the Gospel, so we committed our ways to the Lord and He established our thoughts. Over a period of time, He supplied the necessary $24,000 to pay for the production costs. An amazing two thousand three hundred people showed up to the premiere. The
theater
was so packed, a thousand had to be locked out and an unscheduled second viewing held. Since that time, it has been screened hundreds of times, and seed has been sown in the hearts of many unsaved. God didn't tell me to get a bus, start a paper, write a book or make a movie—the sole motivation for those exploits was the same, "Go into
all the
world and preach the Gospel to every creature."

CHAPTER SEVEN: IN HARMONY WITH HEADQUARTERS

"...
that
you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God" (Romans 12:2).

W
hen things don't work out as we think they should, we often quote Isaiah 55:8: "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways
My
ways, says the Lord." God's ways are above our ways, and often we have no idea why He allows certain things to happen. But the scripture we so often lean on for
consolation,
is not directed at the godly. Here it is in context:

"Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his
thoughts ...

For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways
My
ways, says the Lord" (Isaiah 55:6-8).

God is directing Himself to the wicked and the unrighteous man. He is speaking to the unregenerate,
those whose
"carnal mind is at enmity" with Him, who "walk in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened." Before we trust in the Savior, we are enemies of God in our minds through wicked works, and even our thoughts are an abomination to the Lord (Proverbs 15:26). Like a lost sheep, we have also "gone astray," we have "turned every one to his own way," and our
ways
are an abomination to the Lord (Proverbs 15:9).

Upon conversion, God puts His Law into our minds (Hebrews 8:10), giving us a new mind, the "mind of Christ," and renewing us in the "spirit" of our minds. He gives us a "new and living way" (Hebrews 10:20). Now God's ways are our ways and God's thoughts become our thoughts. We are led by the Spirit, walking "in His ways" (Psalm 119:3).

Once, our lives were dead in trespasses, governed by sin, selfishness,
satan
, the soul and senses. But God made us alive in our spirit. Now we walk in the Spirit, have the mind of the Spirit, worship in the Spirit, and live in the Spirit. If we are walking in the Spirit, with our
Adamic
nature crucified, we can therefore be assured that the desires we now have are in line with God's desires. For example, before I was a Christian, it never entered my mind to start a Jesus paper, or get a bus and put Bible verses all around it
—it would have been the last thing I would have been interested in.
Now my desires are
radically
different.

I'm sure few of us have failed to underline Psalm 37:4 in our Bibles: "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart." But what are our desires? What do we want most in life? Do we desire above all things to have a better paying job, a bigger house, thicker carpet, a superior car, and more money? Are we controlled by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, or have we been transformed from the way of this world by "the renewing of (our) mind," that we may prove
what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God
? Are our desires now in line with God's desires? Are we above all things "not willing that any should perish," that all men come to the knowledge of the truth? If that is our testimony, it is because we have the same Spirit in us as the Apostle Paul, who said, "For it is God who works in me to both will and do of His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13). Look at this verse in the Amplified Bible:

"(Not in your own strength) for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you— energizing and creating in you the power and desire—both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight."

Scripture tells me that the reason I get desires to do exploits for God, is because He is in me "energizing and creating in me the power and desire to work for His pleasure." When I get aspirations to do things to reach the unsaved, it is because my desires have become His desires, and His desires have become my desires. I can pursue my aspirations, trusting that they are in the will of God, and therefore I can confidently expect Him to
honor
them. Remember, this is not presumption, "an arrogant taking for granted," but a pure, unadulterated desire to do the right thing by reaching out to the lost.

Let me ask you another question. Whose idea was it for Peter to walk on water? See if you can detect whose idea it was in these verses:

"Now in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, 'It is a ghost!' And they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'Be of good cheer! It is I; do not be afraid.' And Peter answered Him and said, 'Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.'

So He said, 'Come.' And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus" (Matthew 15:25-29).

Peter said, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." Peter had the idea, and Jesus put His blessing on Peter's notion. Peter knew Jesus intimately—he knew the mind of the Master. He knew that his desire wasn't an impertinent presumption, but just a longing to follow the Lord into the realm of the supernatural. Jesus said, "If anyone serves
Me
, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves
Me
,
him My Father will
honor
"
(John 12:26, italics added).

This is why, when you and I do godly exploits, we can trust that we are in the will of God and that He in His goodness will
honor
them. This is the thought in the words of Jesus in Mark 11:24 when He said, "Whatever things you ask, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them." The same applies to John 15:7: "If you abide in
Me
, and My words abide in you,
you will ask what you desire,
and it shall be done for you." (
italics
added). Or the often misinterpreted Mark 11:23: "For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will come to pass, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them."

Does this mean that we need merely speak the words, "Mercedes Benz, diamond rings, fur coats," into the air through believing prayer, and God will give them to us? I don't think so. If our covetous heart has been crucified with Christ, our desire won't be for
more, bigger, better,
but that none perish.

We seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to us, if we need them. Scripture actually warns that a covetous prayer will not be answered: