Faint Yet Persuing

Amen. Let's turn to the word of God quickly. I want you to turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 58, the last verse of 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

And I believe this is a very powerful dynamic verse that we're going to deal with. I want to preach to you just from one verse on three points, but it's a very weighty, very important verse. It's a radical verse.

1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 58. We're on our series of soul winning or bringing men to Jesus Christ. This is a bit different, but it's absolutely vital.

What I'm going to deal with this morning. We're not dealing with techniques or ABCs or strategies. We're not into numbers.

We're into souls. We care about the individual souls of men and women. The Bible is very clear.

Every man, every woman will either go eternally to heaven or eternally to hell. There is a hell to gain and a hell to shun. It's real.

Life is soon over. Your days come to an end and it is set where you're going to go on the day you breathe your last breath. My message here this morning, faint yet pursuing, reading one verse, verse 58.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, always abounding, sorry, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. My message here this morning, faint yet pursuing.

I'm not talking about an old story in the Old Testament. I'm not talking about just not getting weary. I'm talking about not fainting in the context of seeking after the most precious commodity on this earth, souls.

Gold is not the most precious commodity. Stocks isn't the most important thing you can put your money in. Not property, not vehicles, nothing.

There's one thing I would say you ought to invest in more than any other thing, and that's the souls of men. Let's pray together. Father, we pray right now.

Lord God, for the faint, the weary, the tired, those that have labored, oh God, that have poured themselves out, that have prayed, that have wrestled, oh God, that have earnestly sought the souls of men. They're tired, they're weary, they look down over the years. Father, I pray that you quicken, that you encourage.

Lord God, that you'd grant strength, that you'd grant power from on high. Those that are fainting and I pray that even this morning the very power of God would come upon them, that they would find renewed strength, that their eagle is going to be exchanged like the strength of an eagle, that they're going to be renewed, oh God. They're going to find themselves mounting up with wings of an eagle.

Lord God, I'm asking of you. Lord God, those that are faint, those that are tired, those that are weary, oh God, let the power of the Holy Spirit come upon them. And Lord God, renew them in mind and soul and body and heart.

Oh God, help us to lay hold of you right now. Lord God, with faith in our hearts, with the prayer of the saints, oh God, that we'd wrestle with you at the throne of God, that many souls are even going to come out of this meeting, my God. Father, I pray that today that you're going to move mightily in the hearts of men, that you'd stir us, oh God, to seek after you, to seek for the souls of men.

In Jesus' mighty name, amen. My message, faint yet pursuing. Let me read the scripture again.

1 Corinthians 15 and 58. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast. Notice this, that's number one.

Be ye steadfast. Number two, unmovable. Then number three, always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

The first word of this single verse, this simple verse, therefore. See, we don't stop and think words are a very powerful thing. I wish I'd known that at school.

I got to 17 before the Lord began to open my mind with the English language. Oh, I miss so much. Look at the word therefore.

It's the first word of this verse, therefore. Do you know why it's written there? Because of all that has gone before it. 57 verses.

He goes down through all of chapter 15. 57 verses. That's a long sermon.

That's a lot of teaching. That's a lot of instruction. That's a lot of statements.

57 verses, an entire chapter. Chapter 15 is one of the most dynamic chapters in the Bible. It's a chapter you ought to know and be familiar with.

And here he is, he gets to the end of 57 verses. And then first 58, the first word, therefore, he's going to tell you something in the light of all of this, because of what I have just said, because of all the things that I've just spoken onto you. Therefore, he's going to say this.

What has he just been speaking about? He's been speaking about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He's been talking about the real gospel. This entire chapter is about the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of the Christian when they die.

In other words, there's a life to come. It's not all about this life. Life is short.

Life depends upon believing the real gospel of Jesus Christ. He begins chapter 15 by saying, this is the gospel that Christ died for sinners according to the scriptures. And then he goes on to show you that there is a resurrection.

There is a life to come. There is an eternity. There is a never dying age for the real Christian.

And as he begins to deal with eternity, since time without end in the presence of Jesus Christ, therefore, 57 verses on the life to come, on eternity, on resurrection, on the future life. Then he says, therefore, he brings you to the scripture. I want to preach to you here this morning on faint yet pursuant.

In Judges chapter eight, verse four in the Old Testament, we read about Gideon. It says this, and Gideon came to Jordan and he passed over and with 300 men that were with him. And listen to what it says about them.

Faint yet pursuing them. It says concerning Gideon and his 300 men, they are faint yet pursuant. They reached the Jordan.

It's time to cross over and they are tired. The word says there that they are faint. These 300 men and this great general, they are faint.

The word means to be exhausted, physically tired, in need of food. It means in your body. It means in your mind, in your energy, you are exhausted.

You've expended yourself. Do you know these 3,000 men had been in the fight? They'd been in the will of God. They'd been in the plan of God.

They'd been fighting the enemies of God. They'd been in the very front of the battle, the very heat of the battle. The Bible says in the story of Gideon, 120,000 enemy lay dead, and yet there's still 300 in the band of Gideon.

But do you know what? They're still alive. They're still pursuing. They're still moving.

They're still in the will of God. They're still in the plan of God. But it says they were faint.

They're utterly, physically exhausted. Mentally, they're going, how can we function? They haven't eaten. They need food.

And when they ask their brothers, other believers of the tribes of Israel, they won't even help them. They won't feed them. They won't sustain them.

Here you have 300 soldiers in the fight and they are exhausted. They're ready to collapse. They're ready to give in.

Since I believe many in the church are like that. They've been in the will of God. They've been in the fight of God.

They've been in the plan of God. Do you realize the Bible shows the full physique of a man? It shows his mind. It shows the battle of the mind.

It shows the weariness of the body. It shows the effect of sickness in the body. There was a great preacher many years ago called Dr. Lloyd-Jones.

He actually was going to be the up-and-coming young doctor at Harley Street in London. If he would have stayed in his profession, he would have been the royal physician for the Queen of England. It would have been his task to administer to Queen Elizabeth.

He was being trained for that position. He was a brilliant man, a dynamic man. But God called him to preach the gospel.

He become a doctor of the soul. He wrote a book once on depression. And this is what he said.

He said, I personally have never once had depression. And yet he wrote a book from the Psalms, from the Word of God on depression. You know why? Depression is real.

Discouragement is real. Frailties of the mind and of the soul. Emotions, feelings, thoughts.

I'm talking about a state of being tired of God. Now notice with me in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. It says, Therefore, beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding.

What's it talking about? He's just talked an entire chapter about eternity, about heaven, about resurrection, about the life to come. Then he says, Therefore, in the light of all this, I'm going to tell you something. I'm going to give you simple instructions.

What is he talking about? Is he talking about your walk with God? Talking about faith in God? No. He's actually, look at the context of it. He's talking about always abounding in the work of the Lord or your labor for God.

Now I want you to notice this carefully. Listen to me for the next minute or two. He's talking in the context in this verse, having talked about eternity, the life to come.

He talks briefly. Therefore, in the light of all this, that you're going to spend eternity with Christ, that you've got an eternal life to come. Therefore, listen to me now.

Beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding. See, I believe there's a great danger for the Christian to think in their labor and their service for God or in the context of this morning's message, in the context of winning souls to Jesus Christ. I believe there's a grave danger in the church with preachers, with Christians, that they become faint and tired, that they're sabotaged in their mind, in their emotions, in their physical circumstance, and they are removed from the battle for winning souls for Jesus Christ.

And I believe that's why this scripture was given here. The word labor that Paul uses here concerning laboring for the Lord or working for the Lord. The word labor means to labor to the point of exhaustion.

Now notice this. He's talking about a condition of a real Christian. You're going to spend eternity with the Lord.

There is a real resurrection. This life is very short. Therefore, he says concerning your labor, your work for the Lord.

He's talking about what you do for the Lord, of pouring yourself out. The word labor there means to beat the chest. It means toil.

It means a state of discomfort or distress. It means to be troubled or to have difficulties. It means to be weighed down with work or busyness.

It means to be encumbered with many weights. So he's talking about those who are laboring for God, serving God, wanting to do God's will, wanting to reach souls for Jesus Christ. You know what he's saying? I'm going to give you three very important instructions.

Because you know what? When you're laboring, when you're serving God, you can get tired in your mind. You can get weary in your mind. You can get discouraged.

And if you never face that, you're a pretty remarkable person. Lloyd-Jones was remarkable that he never suffered depression. He was a brilliant man.

B. H. Culloden once preached a sermon. He called it life's greatest danger. And that message was on depression, the depression of Elijah when he ran from Jezebel.

He could call fire down on the mountain against the false prophets. And yet he gets one letter from a false prophetess. He gets discouraged and he runs out, sits under a tree and says, I want to die.

You see, the Bible is a real book. Read the Psalms and it says, Why art thou cast down, O my soul, rejoicing God? You see, the ailments of men internally in their thoughts, the Bible is very honest and very real. The thoughts that come to your mind that say, what's the point? What's the point? What point? Once many years of situation, walking in the mountains, it was louder than you can imagine.

The voice kept rolling. What's the point? What's the point? What's the point? I got to the house. As I walked in the house, the lady on the phone, her mouth dropped open, says, Keith, the lady on the other end of this phone, she said, there's a young man just walked into your door and I've got a message for him.

Says, you have heard a voice say, what's the point? What's the point? What's the point? But I say unto you, lift up your hands for I'm about to work. Saints, there is a real working of God. And so God, in showing us that there is a heaven, that there is eternity, that there is a life with Jesus Christ ahead.

You know where the battle is? It's now and we get weary. Tiredness is a part of this course. The mind battle is a part of this Christian life.

Getting discouraged is a part of what you have to fight through. You're going to be tempted along the way. These guys, I know I said at the water baptism, having that tablet waggled in your face, finding drugs, lying about the streets of Limerick.

There is a real tempter. There's a real devil. There's a real vexing of the soul.

And if you don't realize how real this is, you'll think it's just you. It's just me. It's my mind.

There's something wrong with me. You better be careful. Because you know what? The human frame, apart from a spiritual work, can be a very complicated thing.

With Gideon and his 300 men, they got to the River Jordan. They had seen much done. They had done the will of God.

But you know what the danger was? 120,000 enemies had died, but there was still 15,000. 300 opposed to 15,000. God's will was an utter work.

Working until the end, until it was all over. But they're tired. They're faint.

They're weary. They're hungry. They've done a lot.

They've served a lot. They've gone very far. Some 40 miles.

They've gone all night long. And you know what? They're at the Jordan. Let someone else do it now.

Since there's many temptations and dangers in this spiritual walk of ours. But you know what? These men of God, it says, they were faint. They were faint.

They're exhausted. They're tired. Have you ever been there? You ever got so tired that you stood at the door of a church, said, oh God, help me.

Just one more Sunday. Help me to seek the face of God. Do the will of God and to fight through.

Have you ever stood there going, I don't have the energy to evangelize or witness. But oh God, help me. Anoint me with the power of the Holy Spirit.

Gideon and his band, this is what it says of them. Faint, yet pursuing them. The word pursuing means to chase after, to be on the heels of, to be against your enemy.

It means to latch onto and not let go of. So you had men that are utterly exhausted in their mind and in their physical body and in their circumstance. But you know what? It says they were pursuing.

So we're not going to stop. We're not letting go of this. Since you've got a short journey.

You've got a short ride to Jordan. You're at Jordan. Some of you's are tired.

Some of you's are weary. Some of you's are confused. Some of you's don't know whether you're coming or going.

You don't know whether you're up or you're down. You don't know whether you're standing on your head or standing on your feet sometimes. But I want to tell you, you're at the Jordan.

It's time to pursue. I want to exhort you right now. I'm exhorting you.

I'm commanding you from the Lord. It's time to pursue. Don't let go.

Don't let go of souls. Seek after souls. Pursue after them.

Don't be turned aside because of weariness or tiredness or anything else. Let's go into this text and let me deal with these three things. But I want you to notice something here.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, what a beautiful way. Do you know when people are weary and tired, they need to be called beloved brethren. You are my beloved brethren.

You're not strange. You're not something foreign. You're not outside the body of Christ because of your condition.

You're my beloved brethren. And you know what? When we labor, when we're in the will of God and we're exhausted and tired, not of the work of God, but in the work of God, it's time for the comfort of the saints. And I want to give you three instructions on remaining steadfast, wholehearted, and seeking the souls of men.

It says, my beloved brethren, be. Will you underline that in your mind, if not on the page? Be. In this verse, he's telling them to be three things.

Be. It's a command. Therefore, in the light of this, be.

You know why? Because you're laboring for God and you're weary. And we as a church can get weary and tired. And you know what? That's okay.

There's some church circles say, you should be like an eagle. They just coast on the wind 90% of the time. They only fly 10% of the time.

And they just coast. There's no effort. And there's some people you meet in the church and they'll say, I don't know what all the bother is.

And if you're ever exhausted or every tired or every ever weary must be sin or you're not in the will of God or you shouldn't be doing all these activities. Don't do things that tire yard. I want to tell you that's false because listen to me in Revelation chapter two and three, Jesus talking to the church at Ephesus and he's commending them.

Listen to what he says. And for my name's sake, thou has labored. That word labored means worked for Christ to the point of exhaustion and tiredness.

Some people say you shouldn't labor for Christ or expand your energy or get tired or get weary. Shouldn't stay up at night. Shouldn't labor long.

Shouldn't pour yourself out. Christ commends it. Said Ephesus, you have labored to the point of exhaustion for my name.

And you know what? He poured in the wine and he encouraged them. And he says, and has not fainted. You have labored to the point of exhaustion, but you haven't fainted since it is something when we're there laboring and he came to his last sermon and he was holding the light and he was preaching to people at the bottom of his stairs and they were crowded in the house and said, Mr. Whitfield, just another word from the Lord.

He was up in his fifties, labored, preached for many years, some 30 years. And as he held the candle, he preached them a last word of the Lord. You don't want to say last things that he said.

He said, I'm tired in the work, but not of the work. His body was worn out. He was a tired man.

You know, as he spoke, the candle went out and he walked on up to his bed and they never came down. He went to be with the Lord. He was tired soon after souls, even at the bottom of the stairs, his last words, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.

Listen, this word B is the Greek word to know my, where we get our word, the genome, the DNA, all of that. The word to know my, it means become to be birthed into used of a woman given birth. It means to bring forth or bring into existence something that wasn't there before and then birthed forth out into the midst of everything, into maturity.

So Paul right in this first, he says, be these three things. He says, bring into existence in your life. Each one of you birthed forth, establish it, bring it forth.

And these are three bees that I'm going to preach to you here this morning. Number one, be steadfast in soul winning. What does it say there? He says, therefore my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast.

That's the first thing I want you to understand here. Be steadfast and soul winning. The word B means to birth forth, to bring forth, to cultivate.

If you don't have it, then bring it forth in your life. Make it, allow the spirit of God to work. He says here, be steadfast.

The word steadfast is taken from a Greek word, meaning to find a seat, to sit down. It means a chair, a place of a boat, a place where you sit down and you do not move from. This Greek word to be steadfast means firm, settled, steady, unshakable, stable.

The English word means to stand firm without moving around. It refers to something that is firmly fixed in one place. It is secure.

It is permanent, not moving around, but it finds its place and it stays there. It isn't going to move or change direction at a later point. Mr. Vines, the Greek teacher, he actually said it was moral fixity.

In other words, an attitude of heart that fixes itself, immovable, that will not change. We don't have this naturally. You do not have this naturally.

What the Bible says is be steadfast. In other words, cultivate it, bring it forth, birth it forth, raise it up in your life. You may not be a very fixed person.

Paul was writing to the Corinthians. One minute they loved him, the next minute they wanted to stone him. One minute they thought he was an angel, next minute some of them thought he was a demon.

See, that's moving all over the place. That isn't being steadfast. And so the first thing about being soul winners here is being steadfast.

You get tired, you get weary, you get discouraged. Circumstance of life happen. Money comes, money goes.

Jobs come, jobs go. Friends come, friends go. Your mind plays tricks on you.

But you know what the Bible says? Be steadfast. In other words, find your seat in the house of God. I'm talking about a seat of evangelism.

Since all of you in this church are called to reach souls for Christ, there's someone you've got to reach for Christ. Either someone will go to hell or they're going to go to heaven because of the influence of your life. There's a grave responsibility.

That's why in the Old Testament, if you could warn them, but you know, when I was 17 years old, that verse shook me to the very core. I had drank on a beach with two young men, 17 years old. I had enjoyed their drink, ashamed of my Jesus, running, living a life of sin.

I knew Christ was real. Three days later, I watched them die in a helicopter and go out into a lost eternity. And I went, their blood is on my hands.

I knew the gospel. I was ashamed of Christ. I didn't warn them.

That revolutionized my entire life. Since I was woken up, the Bible wants you to have a seat of evangelism. Find your place in the house of God.

You may not be that yet, but bring forth, establish yourself. Where is your seat? This seat is an established thing, unmovable. This same word is used in chapter 7, verse 37.

Listen to what it says. It gives you the heart of this. Nevertheless, he that standeth steadfast in his heart, having no necessity, but has power over his own will, and has decreed in his heart, he doeth well.

Now look what being steadfast is. It involves your will. You decree.

You make a will. You become steadfast. You have no necessity.

You find your seat and you're saying, I'm staying here. I'm going to be a witness in my family. I'm staying here.

Should it be 30 years or 50 years, I'm going to find my spot. I thank God for my old great grandmother that I never met. You know what? In the night she died, she didn't know of one soul in her family born again.

Not one soul. Her children weren't following Christ. Her grandchildren weren't following Christ and she certainly didn't know about me.

I didn't exist at that point. And yet since there are four, five generations have come to know the Lord Jesus Christ. You know what that lady? She was writing letters.

Or my old aunt Susie. She would write letters. I've got one or two of them.

And she was pleading with family members. Says I send them tracts, send the Bibles. None of them respond.

None of them seem interested. But I keep praying. I keep laboring.

I keep reaching out to them. I keep believing God. Aren't you glad for these things that were steadfast? They found a place that weren't moved by their eye.

So you think, oh, but nothing's happening. I'm weary. I'm tired.

I'm going to give up. Don't give up. Be steadfast.

Find your seat. Find your place. Be immovable.

You know what? Have power over your will. Your will will lead you out of things. Your mind plays games.

Your emotions play games. You feel like all hell, the heavens are crashing in on you. Don't move.

Be steadfast, unmovable in the things of God. This word means not easily disturbed. Aren't we easily disturbed? Aren't you easily disturbed? The devil boos and we cry.

Since that's real, it ought not to be. We should not be easily disturbed. And so this word steadfast means getting to a place.

It means to be in a settled position. It means to have settled ideas. It means to have settled practices.

And how would you have habits? You know what? Every time I fly on a plane, I'm going to have a gospel tract. Every time I used to, when I went in and used the old phone box, the old red British phone boxes, every single time I left a gospel tract there. I never heard once of where one of them went.

But every time I go in there, I'm going to leave a gospel tract of the good news of Jesus Christ behind me. You have to build in habits, practices, find your seat, be steadfast, or you're only going to do it for a time and you'll get talked out of it. Saints, establish this practice.

The greatest thing you can do is win a soul to Christ and be used over your life. George Muller prayed for someone for some 50 plus years to be born again. He had a prayer list and every time someone got saved after one year, they got saved.

He'd write their testimony. Some of them 10 years, some 20, some 30, some 40. He kept praying.

There was one way into 50 plus years, I think it was 58 years. He was praying for them, praying for them, praying for them. And you know what? He didn't let go.

Finally, as an old man, he recorded in his diary, they believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. We ought to fight for souls. Is a soul worth it? Oh, I'm tired.

I'm weary. I know you are. I know you are.

Oh, everything is against me. I know it is. Get up and pursue after the enemy.

Stay on their heels. Don't be moved aside, says in Colossians 123. If you continue in the faith, grounded and settled and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel.

Notice here in this verse, it says you can be settled, but it still tells you don't be moved away. You can be settled. Find your seat, find your position, have your habits, know where you ought to be, but you could be moved away.

That's my second point. Unmovable and soul winning, not only steadfast and soul winning, not only finding your place in the house of God, but unmovable and soul winning. That's the second word Paul uses.

Be steadfast, be unmovable. The words are not the same. They're different.

They mean totally different things. To be steadfast means to find your place, settle down and stay there unmovable. But this word unmovable in the English or the Greek, it means once you're there, once you're steadfast, don't just do it for a year or two years or five years.

The word unmovable, and this literally what it means, nothing moving you, not shifted from your position. The Greek word means not moved away to another place, transported, removed, or change in your entire environment. It means to be away from laboring for the Lord.

So this first 58 that we're dealing with, to be unmovable means to stay in your position, serving God, laboring for God. Don't let anything change that. It means you're going to have to resist.

Something's going to come against you. See how there's two different things here. The first word means to get in the position.

Do you see that? The first word to be steadfast means you're fighting your way through to get into a place where you're firmly established and we don't naturally get there. We're born again like that. Some of you were born again.

Your character's up and down. One minute you're saved, the next minute you're not. You're in, you're out.

He loves me. He loves me not. He loves me.

He loves me not. Up and down. You need to get steadfast.

You need to find your place in God. Some of you, one day I'm going to reach the nation for Christ. Oh God, send revival.

Use me. The next day, can't fight. Where's Jimmy Bloggs? Don't know.

God says getting into that position there, you've got to stand against and resist all the opposition. Do you know what that tells me? There's forces that will come to move you away. There's going to be a fight.

Someone is going to be on your heels. There's going to be a warfare in your mind, in your emotions, and the only thing that can move you is your will, a choice of will, a decision of will. That means the devil's got to trick you, got to fool you.

You've got to get worn down in your mental thinking. You've got to get tired in your emotions. You've got to become faint and weary.

What a dangerous place to be that when you've been serving God, in the will of God, doing what God desires, encouraging other Christians, reaching souls, suddenly you get moved from your position. That's why Paul writes here, be unmovable. It's not enough to be steadfast.

You've got to be unmovable. That's more. And the word unmovable means nothing can move you from your position.

This speaks about forces, violent forces, influences from the outside, stratagems of the evil one that are trying to undermine you. Do you realize there's a real devil? If you're after seeing salvation in your home, don't you know you have an enemy that wants to undermine that? We were at King John's Castle the other day, and I stepped on a stone and sprained my ankle. The stone moved.

Don't stand and move in stones. It's not a good idea. But as we're in that castle, they showed us how they sapped in under the walls.

They would hide in a house and begin digging in under the ground, in under the wall. They didn't have enough explosive to blow up the wall or to be visible. So what the enemy done in besieging Limerick, they went underground.

And they said this is where the word undermine was created, to undermine someone. What they were doing is in Limerick Castle, they began digging underground, unseen, unnoticed. And when they were in under the wall, they would place explosives to destroy the walls, the refuge, and protection of that city.

Do you realize that's what the enemy does? You're a danger to the evil one. Every steadfast Christian who says, I'm going to be in the prayer meeting. I'm going to faithfully give the house of God.

I'm going to be in evangelism on Saturday. I'm going to be involved in this children's work. I'm going to see these children come to Christ.

I'm going to protect my children. I'm going to reach my parents. I'm going to reach my family.

You're dangerous. The devil only has one enemy, and it's the body of Christ. When you turn to Ephesians chapter 6, it's not a picnic.

It's not a holiday. You're in a warfare against vicious enemies. You know, Tony, you had your wife in here last week.

Praise God. My heart so rejoiced. I went, who are these folk with them? I go, praise God.

Let's fight for his wife. Let's pray for a move of God for his children. You know, one of these days, I'm going to preach on household salvation.

And you know, the common denominator six times talks about household salvation. Entire families getting saved. Do you know what the common denominator is? One of two.

And I studied it closely. One of them is bringing your entire family and under the word of God. It's key.

It's critical. Keep fighting. It's a warfare.

Can you imagine the thought says, man, what's the point? Well, I'll do it. It's useless. I'll just go after God.

There's a thousand fights going on. You see, once you're steadfast going, I just want to serve God. I'm in prayer.

I'm seeking for someone to come to Christ. The danger now is to be moved. Oh, I've done it for a year.

That's not enough. Oh, I served God for a year. It's not enough.

Oh, I got to Jordan. I'm exhausted. Let's someone else do it.

Don't do that. Since you're tired, keep going. Keep pursuing after souls.

Don't give up. Oh, but I tried speaking to them. Don't you dare judge.

You're not God. Remember, we've said that before, haven't we? You don't have the right to judge anyone. You don't sit in judgment of their heart.

You don't know their heart. Keep praying. Keep preaching.

Keep inviting. Keep telling them. You know, even the English are coming to church these days.

When I was young, preachers used to dread God in my life. But see at the minute, you know what they're saying? Something strange over the past couple of years is happening in England. Past three years.

Past year. Bible sales are going through the roof in England. Can you believe it? English people reading the Bible.

Who would have ever thought it? They're coming to church. Top comedians are getting born again. People who are atheists are turning to Christ.

There's a whole generation in England beginning to become open. I heard someone the past week. They said, see, in England now, there's about a 30% chance if you ask someone to come to your church, they'll come.

That was unheard of some years ago. See, people are seeking. They're saying in this world, war.

They're speaking about war. We need to go to war. There's many distractions.

You can get sick. When I was 22 years old in Scotland, I had my strength, my energy, everything. And we embarked on a brand new church.

I was out in the streets, in the open air every week. Every week we were going to doors. We went through entire towns, visiting every single door, knocking on the door, giving them a gospel tract, speaking to them about their soul.

We went from town to town doing this. We're starting a brand new work. There was a handful of us, about six of us.

And yet we were hungry after souls. I was 22 years old. And suddenly this day, I got hit with a sickness that was going to last for the next year.

Every three days, my entire body rejected the liquids in it. I had diarrhea and vomiting at the same time every three days for one year. Now, let me correct that.

That wasn't for one year. After three months, it went on. Diarrhea and vomiting.

I'd be standing talking to someone, and I'd collapse, run to the toilet. I'd just blank out. People started getting me those gulf syndrome videos and saying, you've got the gulf syndrome.

I told all our team, don't tell any of the mummies in the church. All the mummies are trying to put me in the hospital and bringing me all these remedies. Three months, this went on.

And I took a holiday at my mummy's. And after three days, I went, I'm not getting sick. Nothing's happened.

That's why I know it was every three days. I was at home for two weeks. I went, praise God, it's gone.

It must have some strange illness. My mummy was coming back to me, to Scotland, to where we evangelize, where we're starting this church. And as we drove about 100 meters from the church building, and as we're driving, it was like something like a mantle came down over me.

My whole body reacted again. And I said, I've got about two minutes to get to that toilet before my body starts. And it kept going on for the next nine months without fail, every single three days.

Do you know what I done during that time? I went, this isn't natural. It's not the ghost syndrome. It's not anything I'm eating.

It's not duck eggs. It's not anything else. Do you know what this is? This is spiritual.

This is spiritual power because you've got a group of young people. I'm 22, and we're evangelizing. We're going to establish a church.

We're going to reach souls for Christ. And it went on for one entire year. Now it's in a meeting.

And this preacher, we prayed for everyone else, for the sick and those that needed encouragement, all the rest, got to the end. Only him and me left. And I says, will you pray for me? And he says, what, you as well? Says me as well.

And I just told him, I said, I'm really sick. I need prayer. So he went to pray for me.

And then he stopped. I'll never forget his face. He smiled.

And he says, you do know you're going to have to go back to Ireland, don't you? And I says, I do. I didn't want to. Anywhere but Ireland.

And he says, okay, as long as you know, you're going to have to go back. Now we'll pray. Soon as he laid hands me, instantly healed.

It never happened once again. You see, there's resistance. We're not aware of this.

We're not conscious. Paul writes in 2 Timothy chapter 4 and 10. This is his last letter.

He's sitting in a prison in Rome. Listen to what he says. For Demas has forsaken me.

Who's Demas? He was a young preacher, a fellow labor. Listen, someone in ministry. He was in the prayer meetings, in evangelism.

He was going to churches, encouraging the believers. Demas have forsaken me. He's left me.

He's left the battle. Having loved this present world. And has departed unto Thessalonica.

Look what it says here. He loved, agapied this present world. Paul's sitting in a prison.

He used to preach with Paul. He was commissioned by Paul. They prayed together.

They fast together. They were co-labors. Paul had trained this young man, this young preacher.

And yet it says he loved this present world. Don't say he loves sin. Said this world, this normal world, he loved life.

I don't want to be sitting in a prison cell. I don't want to lose my liberties. So he left his position.

It was extreme, but he left his position. And he loved this world. The word there is agapy.

It's almost never used for anything, unless it's a supernatural love of God. And it says he loved this world. He loved it.

So he left Paul and he forsook him. I was in the Gulf War. Mentioned in dispatches.

If you have your name mentioned at dispatch, it is unbelievable. You could live your whole military career just wanting to be mentioned in one dispatch. Listen to this.

I've just written it down. One of the oldest, most important forms of recognition in the British Army for bravery or distinction in service, or where a serviceman or servicewoman is mentioned in dispatches. If they get mentioned dispatches, it's the highest credit to their career.

A dispatch is an official report written by a senior commander in the field to pass on information about the progress of military operations. When I was in the Gulf, I had a friend work with me. We were out there.

We were told 50 percent of us would die on the battlefield. It was on the eve of going to the border of Iraq. Nobody knew what was going to happen.

We got told, write your last letters to mommy, girlfriends, wives. 50 percent of yous are not coming back. They said it exactly like that.

One of my friends come and he said, guess what I've just saw? It's one of our friends in there before the officer said, crying, saying, sir, you can't send me there. I'm going to die. Sir, you can't allow me to go.

It's dangerous. I'm going to die. I know I'm going to die.

You've got to let me go. The officer, of course, rightly rebuked him and said, son, why did you join the army? You joined to fight, to be in danger, to be in trouble. Here's a soldier who signed up for the pay, the glory, the glamour.

And when bullets begin to flow, he goes, I'm not going to be here. Send me back to mommy. Well, the officer said, go back to your tent.

You're going to war. Next thing, he shot himself in his foot, got mentioned in dispatches and said, how ironic. This guy, this coward, 18 years old.

I was 18 years old. He gets mentioned in a dispatch for shooting himself in the foot. He's a coward, but he gets the very thing all of us want.

Listen to what I'm about to say. Demas gets mentioned in Colossians 4 and 4, and he's commended, he's mentioned in a letter of the apostle Paul by Paul as a fellow labourer, as someone he's serving with. Demas, my fellow labourer, he gets mentioned in dispatches on the battlefield.

In the heat of the fight, Paul's writing from prison, his first prison visit, and he mentions Demas. Second time he's in prison, he writes to Timothy, and when he's departed, he's forsaken me. Don't let it be said of you.

Third and finally, always abounding and soul winning. B, you may not be doing this yet. It may not be happening yet.

Why not cultivate it? Why not stretch yourself? I am battling my life. It seems they could have buried me and finished me, and Anna's helping me very kindly, and we're there, but I still feel there's that healing process and that walk. But you know what? I'm setting myself in these days.

Things of God, there's souls to reach, places to go, lives to be impacted. You can't turn in on yourself. You can't be focused on your own self.

You'll be destroyed. No one can handle a darkness of their own mind. See that old flesh of yours.

You're not called to spray it in perfume and fix it and all. Crucified. You begin looking into your flesh, you're going to plummet very low.

That flesh, it sins. Remember Paul says in Romans 7, he says, I sin. No, actually my flesh sinned.

He's not shifting blame. He says, I did sin, but it's my flesh. It's that warfare.

Some of you's going to get distracted from the will of God because your own flesh, your flesh hindering you, and you get caught up in this battle of flesh with the old man. You've left the will of God. You've left the plan of God.

You've been tricked. But look, as we close, always abounding and soul winning. Saints, I am determined to abound.

I'm weary. Here, let me tell you something. I am exhausted.

I am tired. I am faint. I literally am, but I'm pursuing saints of God.

You're looking at a man who's faint, but pursuing. I'm not letting go of this. I'm not stopping preaching.

I'm looking for a Bible. I'm looking for souls to come to Jesus Christ. And this is the last B, the always abounding in the work of God.

Notice it says at all times, always abounding, always abounding, always going forward. David Brenner, that missionary to American Indians, 28 years old. For three years, he's gone out there.

He's labored. He lay in the snow praying. He's got tuberculosis when he would go and pray.

He's trying to evangelize them. The Indians are all drunk. They laugh at him.

Do you know the only translator he could get was a drunk Indian that he had to pay. And under the stupor of his drink, he was translating for this man of God, who was on fire for souls, not one soul, three years laboring and not one soul. But near the end of his days, suddenly the wind, one sermon, not drunken Indians preaching on the window.

God began to blow in just one sermon on hundreds, hundreds of Indians began to get converted. Listen what he said just before he died. David Brenner.

Oh, I longed to fill the remaining moments all for God. Though my body was so feeble, he was dying of TB, bleeding in the snow. He'll never see 30 years old and wearied with preaching and much private conversation.

Yet I wanted to sit all night to do something for God, to God, the giver of these refreshments, be glory forever and ever. Amen. Someone worn out, dying to give the gospel and saying, I wish I could stay up all night just to do more for Jesus Christ.

We're too careful. Don't be stupid with your time or your health. I'm very careful in these things.

Don't wear your body out. Don't burn yourself out. But the problem is some of you aren't.

You're wrapped in cotton wool. You're scared you get melted if you go out in the rain. You know, here it says always abounding.

The word abounding means super abound, to be in excess, overflowing, to excel. What's it talking about? Works for God. Some of yous are struggling to find one thing you're doing for God.

You're meant to super abound. It's meant to be many-faceted. I can't keep, I want to write a thousand books.

Honestly, I've got 10 books I want to write just this year. I've got so many people I want to phone. I can't phone one hardly.

There's so many I want to encourage. I want to reach out, places out to me. We sit and talk.

Her dad very kindly said Am I allowed to say this? I'll let the secret out. Her dad said to me, I haven't had a, imagine a father-in-law saying that. Says, she'll kill you.

I said, what sort of dad do you have? I said, maybe he knows his daughter. Do you know what? We're not going to rust out. We're not going to die of boredom.

We're going to serve God. Let our lives be poured out to serve him. There's a nation to reach.

There's a place to go. There's somewhere where no one else wants to go. And I've got a crazy enough girl, she's actually mad enough to say, you say jump in the plane in the morning, we're gonna go.

She's crazy like me. I'm one of the most conservative people that you've ever met in your life. I hate change, unless it comes to the will of God.

Super abounding, to exceed, to increase. This isn't just talking about amount, but quality. I always want to press forward.

I want to be sharper in the will of God. I want to know the will of God. Are you called to reach children? Do it well, saints of God.

Do it in this church. Are you preaching on the, on the streets every Saturday? Do it well. Improve yourself.

Know the scripture. What are you going to do? And he says, for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. You've got to know this as we close.

Saints, can I plead with you? Do you know that your labor is not in vain? Because your mind tells you, useless, don't do it. Don't write another poem, Christi. You're wasting your time.

That's a lie. That's a lie. You see, all of our minds are being undermined, undermined, to stop us being steadfast, unmovable.

Oh, I'll tell you, not only am I going to be steadfast, remain in the same place. Not only am I going to be unmovable, not get moved away. I'm going to super abound.

I'm going to move forward. I'm going to do more. I'm tired.

I'm weary. I'm a bit older. My eyes aren't as good as they were 10 years ago.

My ankle got sprained the other day, but I'm going to do the will of God. I am going to go forward and should it kill me, I'm going to super abound. Because you know what? I know my labor is not in vain.

The word vain means empty, empty, useless, hopeless, worthless. God's work is an empty. What if you labor and reach out to 100 people and none of them come in the door? Is your labor empty? What if you keep asking someone, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Why don't you come to me? They haven't listened to you in 10 years. Your labor empty. Is it useless? Who are you doing it for? Who are you serving? Why not push out further? Henry Martin, that missionary, he said, let me burn out for God.

He wasn't meaning being reckless with your health or not eating properly. He wasn't saying that, but he was saying, why not burn out for God? Some people, they're giving themselves to the useless things of life. Thousands of things in life.

It's useless. Why not give yourself for the souls of men? Why don't you labor for souls? The night is coming when no man shall work. Do you realize darkness is going to fall? You'll never preach again, never serve again, never go again.

Why not serve them today? Why not super abound? What's my message? What was the title of it? Faint yet pursuing. Oh, I've got to wait till I'm not faint. Then I'll pursue.

I'll just hang around here. Get rested. I'm going to feel okay.

And all my hurts are healed. I met Christians years ago in Switzerland. They're still sitting there looking at their belly buttons.

They said, oh, you've got to have all your hurts healed. You've got to have all these things. And then you can go minister.

And they pulled me into that devilish inner healing, counseling, deliverance. Almost destroyed me. Within six months, I'm confused.

I'm sitting on a bus on the way to my German language class. Six o'clock in the morning, I'm sitting there. And I go, I can't evangelize anyone.

I'm like, hold on. Something's gone wrong. I was in an army camp of 1500 men evangelizing everyone.

Here I am one year later on a bus in Switzerland. And I can't speak to anyone because you've got this hurt and this hurt and this hurt and this hang up and this person done this on you. And you've got to have all this healed and you've got to be all set free and you've got to have all this.

Then you go and serve God. I was thinking 20 years time, I'll go do something. And I suddenly woke up and went, you've been tricked.

You've been deceived and you've been taken away from reaching souls. Christ, I couldn't even witness to someone on the bus. And that's when I know there's something terribly wrong with us.

I've lost my joy, lost my freedom, lost my liberty. Are you tired? You're weary. You're in the battle.

Got things going on in your mind. It's okay to be faint. Christ commends people who are exhausted, tired in the battle.

I want to do the will of God, but I'm so tired. I'm so weary. That's okay.

But pursue. Since we're going to pursue as a church, we've expunged, we have given out over this few years. And we can get tired as a church.

Do you know what? We're not stopping. We've got children we're going to reach. The children's work, the evangelism, missions.

We're going to give ourselves because we don't know how long we've got as a church. And then Jesus is going to come. Saints, 1 Corinthians 15, it's all about the resurrection.

You won't be tired then. You're not going to get weary or cold or discouraged or depressed or doubt or have fears or have temptations. None of that.

Therefore, be steadfast, unmovable, always abandoned in the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. This altar is open as a church. As brothers, so comes just for a couple of minutes as we close, let's bow our knees.

Let's meet with the Lord. Do you need the touch of God again? Have you been faint? Are you faint and have you been weary? Do you need a fresh touch of the Lord? Do you need your strength renewed as the eagle? Why don't we stand together? Why don't we labor together as a church? It's time to be renewed again. Father, we ask right now, right here, right this morning, renew our strength, O God.

Father, I pray today that lies from hell would be destroyed, nor God's strongholds and imagination, emotions, O God, stratagems that have been forged on the anvil of hell, nor God, I pray that you break them here this morning. My God, that you'd set us free, that you'd restore the joy of the Lord. My God, we are tired.

We are tired. We are weary, but O God, we're not tired of serving you. We're not weary of doing the will of God.

We're just tired in body and mind and soul and emotions and mind, but O God, we ask for the power of God. We ask for the anointing of the Holy Ghost. One more time, like Samson of old, anoint us that we can bring in the very roof of this building.

My God, that more may die in our death than all of our life. O God, that you'd use us in these last days to accomplish your will and your plan and your purpose in Jesus' name. Let's pray.

Consecrate yourself. Saints of God, here this morning, have faith that God would touch you anew. He wants to renew you and strengthen you and help you.

Don't grow weary. Don't grow tired. Don't change position.

Don't move. Stay in prayer. Stay in the Bible study.

Stay in the Sunday mornings. Stay in the house of God. Just keep in the right place in Jesus' name.