LOVE'M & LEAVE'M!--Fruit that Remains!--Jn.15:16.
DO 1760
3/84
1. THE NOOSE IS TIGHTENING & THE SITUATION IS TIGHTENING, THE WORLD IS TIGHTENING! The Devil's tightening the World trying to squeeze us out, & little by little the Lord is allowing him because we are finishing the work, finishing the job. Apparently we have finished our job in some countries. I don't know how much the people who are trying to stay in some places [quietly] are even going to be able to survive.
2. WE HAVE TAUGHT & WE HAVE ADMONISHED & WE HAVE WARNED: YOU HAD BETTER GET AN INDIGENOUS CHURCH READY TO CARRY ON, because the stay of foreigners is always in jeopardy & always in question & tentative & could end at any moment, as it has in some places. How well-prepared you were for it, I don't know. How well you are organised, how indigenous you are, how nationalised you are, how well-organised & taught & grounded in the faith your national church is, I don't know.
3. IT WOULD BE A SAD COMMENTARY ON OUR FAMILY IF AFTER SO MANY YEARS IN A FIELD WE SUDDENLY ARE FORCED OUT & HAVE TO PICK UP & LEAVE & FIND WE HAVE NOTHING LEFT BEHIND! I would say the Family in that case has been a total failure & all their work has been an almost virtual loss, except for a few salvations. But if they're not organised to self-propagate & self-govern & self-support, then they're not organised to survive & they're going to die out.
4. SO I THINK SOME OF OUR PEOPLE NEED TO QUESTION THEIR FIELDS & QUESTION THEIR METHODS & QUESTION THEIR RESULTS as to, "What if we had to go today, what would be left behind? What would be left that would be lasting?" That's a good phrase & question to remember: "What would be left that would last? Do we have a good native church, well-taught & grounded & loyal & faithful & solid, 100% & already TRFers, proving their complete sold-out loyalty & wholehearted membership & well-organised to carry on without the foreigners?"
5. I THINK THAT'S ONE OF THE MOST SERIOUS QUESTIONS THAT WE NEED TO ASK OURSELVES: In the countries where we have been forced out, how much is left that is carrying on? How much solid, permanent results will we have left that can carry on & prosper & propagate & proliferate after we're gone? I want the leaders of these countries to ask themselves that question: How much can you really count on? How many people do you think would really carry on without us, even if their support were cut off?
6. IN THE COUNTRIES OF THE THIRD WORLD & THE SOUTH TO WHICH WE HAVE FLED & where we have been received with open arms for years, ten years or more in some of them, & where we have proliferated, propagandised, prospered & saturated them with our message & our people, we should have a good strong indigenous church that we hope will survive! How many nationals can we really count on to carry on? What have you got to show for all your years of labour & years of sowing & years of harvesting?
7. YOU SAY, "WELL, DAD, WE WON MILLIONS OF SOULS!" Thank the Lord! But if those souls are not well-enough taught, trained, grounded, organised & indigenous to be able to survive, so that when we leave virtually nothing is left but a few scattered disciples, unorganised, unled, ungrounded, unsupported, unable to carry on anything of sufficient value to be fruitful or profitable at all, what have we got to show for it?
8. THE TIME IS COMING WHEN ALL COUNTRIES WILL PERSECUTE US OR SUPPRESS US OR BAN US, RESTRICT US, WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO THEN? Will we have anything left that can carry on when the foreigners are all gone? I'll tell you, it's a serious question we need to think about & question ourselves about: What are our lasting fruits & results that would be left?
9. IF THAT END COMES--which it could very easily & is most likely going to come--to where we are eventually forced out of all foreign countries, as foreigners not of their nationality, & no longer able to lead those people in those churches, what will we have left behind that's going to be lasting & strong & fruitful & able to govern themselves & organise & continue to labour till the very End? Are they just going to be scattered stray sheep that have been left out there with no folds & no shepherds because we didn't leave anything lasting behind?
10. I'VE BEEN PREACHING THIS FOR YEARS, YOU KNOW THAT! My God, I went to Tenerife in 1974, ten years ago, & I got out a whole series of Letters on the indigenous church, indigenuity, nationalising the church. (See Nos.315C, 316A, 316B, 318, 328B, 659, 663, etc.) I wonder what we've got now after ten years of emphasising it, preaching it, promoting it, advocating it & warning about it? Is there a strong national church, organised, with good leadership & grounded in the Word, loyal, faithful & able to survive & remain fruitful in the lands we have to leave?
11. ARE WE GETTING THE JOB DONE & GETTING IT DONE RIGHT, & ARE WE ESTABLISHING SURVIVAL CHURCHES IN THESE COUNTRIES that will be able to carry on without us as we're getting forced out of these countries? And it's not going to happen, it's already happening & it's already happened in many of them!
12. THE LORD INTENDED FOR US TO BEAR FRUIT THAT WOULD REMAIN, that was a part of the Lord's call! "I have ordained you that ye should go forth & bear fruit, & that your fruit should remain!" (John 15:16)--Not fruit that would melt & vanish into the crowd after we're gone & give up in discouragement & despair because they don't know what to do or how to do it & how to carry on! They never had any leadership training, they never had any organisational training, they were never given any responsibility, they were never trusted with anything, they were never forced to do anything on their own, because the missionaries, the foreigners did it all for them.
13. I THINK THE LORD IS GIVING MAYBE ONE LAST CALL THAT YOU'D BETTER GET IT DONE & DONE NOW & DONE QUICK or you may be next to have to leave that country behind, & whatever's left will be what you've already got & got organised & grounded & taught & who are already experienced leaders, organisers & fruit-bearers! Try to ground & confirm the sheep & make them into real mature Christians that are able to carry on when you're gone.
14. I SUGGEST TO ALL OF OUR LEADERS AROUND THE WORLD, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO ARE FOREIGNERS IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY, that you had better finish the job while it is yet day, for the night comes when no man can work! (John 9:4) It'll be very difficult to do lacking communication, lacking contact, lacking fellowship, lacking opportunity to get the local Church organised. If you haven't got it organised by this time, for God's sake, get it organised quick & give them responsibility now, train their leadership now by making them leaders now & compelling them to take care of themselves!
15. HAVE YOU PREPARED THEM FOR THIS? Are you preparing them for it? Have you appointed leaders? Have you designated authority? Have you made it known to the whole Family: "Now if we suddenly disappear, So-&-so is in charge, So-&-so is the boss of this, So-&-so is the boss of that & So-&-so is the overall head." I have warned you to be ready to go at a moment's notice & to feel satisfied you've left behind a well-organised Home, a well-organised Church that will be able to carry on in your absence without your immediate personal presence.--Even if you're able to continue to supervise & superintend by mail or by phone or other communication.
16. EVEN IF YOU HAVE TO LEAVE, YOU CAN CONTINUE TO BE A BLESSING IF YOU HAVE PROPERLY ORGANISED YOUR NATIVE, NATIONAL, LOCAL INDIGENOUS CHURCH TO CARRY ON WITHOUT YOU, by teaching them now to carry on with you, yet without you, if you know what I mean, even while you're still there. Are they able to conduct meetings now? Are they able to carry on leadership now? Do they have their committees & organisational structure formed now? Are they operating & leading it now? Are they supporting it now? Are they doing the job themselves now without you, with you just standing in the background behind the scenes watching & making sure that they're doing it?
17. ARE YOU FORCING THEM INTO THE FIELD NOW? ARE YOU PUSHING THEM INTO LEADERSHIP NOW? Are you just supervising & superintending & seeing that they are doing it & they are getting it done & they are the church & they are the native nationals now, even while you're still there?
18. EVERY PARENT HAS TO TRAIN CHILDREN TO BE ABLE TO STAND ON THEIR OWN & MAKE THEIR OWN DECISIONS & be strong in the nurture & admonition of the Lord & the knowledge of the Word & serving the Lord now, so that they won't have any qualms or worries about whether they're gone or there. If that child is mature, by the time they leave or have to leave or they have to be separated, they know that child will carry on somehow without them--with or without them--because they've taught the child to carry on on his own with them while they're still there without them!
19. HAVE YOU TAUGHT YOUR CHILDREN, HAVE YOU TAUGHT YOUR SHEEP, HAVE YOU TAUGHT YOUR HOME TO CARRY ON WITH YOU WITHOUT YOU? In other words, to carry on by themselves without you even though you're still with them.--If not, it's doubtful they'll be able to do it when you're gone. You'd better do it now! You've got to teach them to carry on without you now with you, or it's very unlikely they'll be able to carry on without you when you're not with them any longer. So God help you to do it, in Jesus' name, amen. PTL! God bless & keep your national churches indigenous, so you can love'm & leave'm!
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family