WHERE
CHRIST
WAS
NOT NAMED
By Pastor Max Solbrekken, D.D.
"For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ
hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by Word and deed. Through
mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem,
and round about unto Il-lyri-cum. I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.
“Yea, so have I strived to preach
the gospel, not where Christ was named. lest I should build upon another
man's foundation: But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they
shall see: and they that have not heard shall understand." (Rom. 15:18-21)
WHERE GOD'S
VOICE WAS HEARD SMALL!
Many years ago, Dr. Oral Roberts shared how God had told him to proclaim
the Gospel of Christ, "Where God's Voice was Heard Small and
where His Light was seen Dim".
I
am sure that God has used Oral Roberts greatly in that capacity, through the
ministry God has given him. The impact of Oral Roberts' healing ministry
through crusades, radio, television and literature - especially during the
fifties and sixties - has made evangelizing easier for all of us who proclaim
the full gospel.
I
sincerely thank God for Oral Roberts!
It has been my calling, however, to travel extensively among the poor,
needy, sick and suffering and to give my time, money and ministry to the
heathen - in nation after nation for more than a quarter century.
Often
in our evangelizing, we have broken new ground and taken the Word of God to the
unreached. Yes, to places where God's
voice was not only heard small but where it was not heard at all and there was
No Gospel light. Even
to places where Christ was not Named!
THEY HAD NOT HEARD JESUS NAME!
During our 1966 Guntur India Crusade, I heard
a voice speaking to me with these words: “Son, you are helping to confirm My Word.”
I turned to see who had spoken to me. No-one on the platform was seeking my
attention. I realized that it was the Holy Spirit and I was deeply touched. I asked, “How could I, a young Canadian preacher possibly
help to fulfill your Word, Lord?” Then, I was directed to ask my interpreter,
Brother Vandenam, how many people in the crowd had not before heard the Name of
Jesus.
He
replied, "I estimate that about 95% have never heard the name of Jesus
Christ before. They are mostly Hindus". Then, I was led to turn to
the following Scripture:
“I am the Lord, and there is none
else, there is no God beside Me: I girded thee though thou hast not known Me.
That the may from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is NONE
beside Me. I am the Lord and there is none else.” (Is. 45; 5,6)
My heart was deeply moved and
the tears flowed down my cheeks as God whispered into my heart words of
encouragement and inspiration. I felt so
good to be there sharing the good news of Jesus Christ night after night to
throngs of people who had never heard the sweet name of Jesus and yet I felt so
unworthy!
To
think that He would use "one such as
I", to preach the gospel to mankind - the gospel that brings
salvation, deliverance, hope, joy, peace and healing! To be part of a program
that dispenses the Word of God which brings Eternal Life to Eternal Souls, is
such an important and vital part of God's program!
It
is indeed humbling to realize how crucial it is that we are faithful in all
aspects of this great work of God! And that we are being led by the Holy Spirit
according to God’s Word!
GOSPEL MINISTRY IN
A SPECIAL CATEGORY!
On the night of his political
victory over the Hon. John G. Diefenbaker, P.M. Lester Pearson telephoned his
aged mother with the news. He said, "Mother, all my life you've wanted me
to be a minister. I am finally a minister. I am now the Prime Minister of
Canada"!
His mother replied, "Congratulations son, you have done well and I
am proud of you, but you only came in second best. Your father still outdid
you".
Pearson's
mother believed that to be a minister of the Gospel was more important than to
be Prime Minister of a Nation. I agree with her. The work of winning precious
souls for Christ and Heaven, is certainly more important than anything else.
There is no other vocation in life, to compare with preaching the Gospel
which deals in eternal things! A teacher
spends her time instructing students in an effort to prepare young people for
their life's work, a medical doctor diagnosis, prescribes and performs surgery,
a car dealer sells automobiles and a mechanic makes engines run.
An
architect helps create buildings of steel and concrete, a mayor leads a group
of men and women in governing a city and a banker lends money and counts his
profits.
A
preacher of the Gospel, however, deals in Eternal souls; praying for them and
teaching them the ways of God. A Christian minister brings healing to sick
spirits, minds and bodies and most important prepares them for Heaven and
Eternity. He leads them to Christ; counselling, instructing and praying.
THE MINISTRY: A DIVINE CALLING!
What an opportunity! What a Divine responsibility is ours to work for
and with God. My prayer is that God will give to me and countless other Ministers
of Christ, the grace, strength, ability, wisdom, faith and power to do the job
right! That we may please our Lord in this greatest and most important of all
undertakings and earthly tasks! Amen.
As I
was pondering the greatness of God and the mammoth task of evangelizing the
world, He spoke to my heart, "Son, you are helping to fulfill my
Word"! I asked, "How, Lord"?
He showed me that it was His will to reach the entire world through the
preaching of Christ’s Gospel
and that the souls I was reaching
for Christ who had never heard the gospel before, were a part of His great plan
of redemption. He then directed me to the following Scriptures: "So
shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and His glory from the
rising of the sun". (Isa. 59:19).
Then, I began to fully understand the
Scripture: "For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our
Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the
truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus. Who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” (1
Tim. 2:3-6)
It is His will that everyone from East to West hear His Gospel and respond
to His invitation. The Word of God burned in my heart, where the apostle said: "...God is not willing that any should
perish but that all should come to repentance". (2 Peter 3:9); The angel
told the shepherds that the good news of the Saviour being born was for all people!
“And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good
tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this
day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:3-11); No
wonder, Jesus said: "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in
all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end
come". (Matt. 24:14)
And I was helping this to happen. I was helping
to fulfill God’s divine Holy Word. Praise God forever!
WHO IS JESUS CHRIST? SHE ASKED
In
December 1967 we were conducting a crusade in Trichinoppoli, Madras State, India.
During a water baptismal service in the river, I noticed a woman standing afar
off watching the proceedings. I felt
compelled to share with her the gospel of Christ and His wonderful
salvation. She was elderly and stood leaning
against a shepherd's stick watching over a few sheep. Her skin was wrinkled, her
hair was gray. She had no teeth in her
mouth and her clothing was ragged and thin.
I approached her and said, "Lady, do you know that God loves you
and that Jesus Christ died for your sins?
She spoke quite abruptly, "What is all this about and who is
Jesus Christ?" I asked: “Have you ever heard of a God whom you
cannot see?” She said: “I think when I was a little girl, I heard
of a god that you cannot see.”
I continued: "Have you ever heard the Name of Jesus Christ?" She said, "No! Who is He, where does
He live and what does He want with me?" With compassion in my heart I shared with her
the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I told her the good news of our Saviour, who gave His life a ransom for us,
that we might live and have total deliverance from the devil and all his evil
power. As I poured out my heart to her about
the love of God, I noticed a change starting to come into her countenance.
ARE THERE MANY LIKE THIS?
She
was hearing the Good News for the very first time! Turning to my interpreter, I
asked: "Are there many like this in India?" The reply he gave me, had a great effect upon
my life - it changed the course of my ministry and gave me strength to go again
and again to the poor and needy of this generation; to the heathen!
Yes, it has been my lot in life, and indeed my privilege to go to the
heathen as the representative of Jesus Christ. To go where Christ was not named!
What a privilege and what an honour! How I thank God for His goodness to me, in
allowing me that great opportunity. Hallelujah!
THERE ARE MILLIONS AND MILLIONS!
My
interpreter answered, "There are millions and millions and yet millions more
who have not one time heard the precious name of Jesus here in India.” My heart
was stirred and broken as I thought of great multitudes who would never enter
Heaven's gates unless someone reached them for Christ. I thought also of the untold millions across
the world, who still sit in heathen darkness!
My
feelings at the moment was that if I could have stayed in India and given the
next 20 years of my life in constant evangelistic crusades day after day
preaching to thousands daily, going from city to city, I would still not be
able to reach them all.
It was then that God burdened me to print millions of Gospel tracts to
give to the heathen across the world. What a great way to reach them with the
printed Word – Gospel messages on paper!
One
thing we have found out is that many people in heathen lands will read, re-read
and read again the little message they receive in a gospel tract! They will not throw it away but will pass it
to other members of their family and may even hang it on a nail on the wall and
read it every day.
Often, when tracts are given away on the streets of North America, they
are thrown down immediately when the recipient realizes that it is the gospel.
Not so among the heathen! What a great opportunity to reach precious souls for Jesus
Christ!
In the summer of 1975, while my wife and I were driving across the
Province of Saskatchewan to a camp meeting.
God gave me a song about the little lady I had witnessed to in India,
and my prayer is that it will be a great blessing to you and many others!
IT JUST ISN'T FAIR!
I met
an old woman in a land far away, tending some sheep in the heat of the day the gospel
of Jesus with her I did share. She had not heard it, it just isn't fair.
Her skin was so wrinkled, her hair was all gray, her eyes bore the look
of despair and dismay, I wanted to reach her with God's divine love, to tell
her of Jesus who came from above.
Her body looked tired, her clothes were so thin, with fear in her heart
and a quivering chin, I wanted to tell her that Jesus did care. She had not
heart it, it just isn't fair.
Who is this Jesus and what does He want, where does He live and what's
all this about? Then I told her of
Calvary and what happened there. She had not heard it, it just isn't fair.
With tears in my eyes and with joy in my soul, I proclaimed the glad
story that makes people whole. I told of our Saviour who died on the tree,
defeated the devil and sets all men free.
Free from all bondage and
sickness and sin, free from the fears and the struggles within, free from the
devil and his evil power, delivered by Jesus in this glorious hour.
I spoke to her gently with love in my heart,
the gospel of Jesus to her did impart, I told her of heaven and all that is
there. She had not heart it, it just isn't fair.
I turned to the man who was speaking for me, 'Are there many like this
in this great country, who have never heart of Jesus' love, how He came down to
save us from heaven above'?
There are millions and millions and still millions more, who bow down to
idols and don't know the score, they never have heard His sweet precious name,
of Jesus our Saviour who from glory came.
The message I'm asking for you to receive, from this little song, an
imprint to leave, to help take the gospel to folks everywhere, they have not
heart it, it just isn't fair.
It just isn't fair that the children of men, are bound by the devil and
all of his sin, It just isn't fair that the heathen are lost, when Jesus has
paid the terrible cost.
GOD'S CALL TO THE MISSION FIELD!
My
conversion to Christ happened in June 1957, in a little motel in Prince Albert,
Sask. The very next afternoon in my Mom
and Dad’s farm home in Norquay, I received the Baptism of the Holy Ghost and
Fire with the evidence of speaking in other tongues.
My life was totally transformed!
The Bible says, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new
creature; old things are passed away, behold all things become new". (II
Cor. 5:17). Again, the Word of God assures
us that the ‘Born Again’ experience is a passing from death unto life. I was transformed by God's grace and power. (Eph.
2:8-9; Rom. 12:1-2)
For
six years I read the Bible, sought the Lord in fasting and prayer and studied
theology, philosophy and the deeper Christian life. I spent six years in intense study of the
Word of God in preparation for the ministry.
My burden was for my own nation of Canada.
I had no desire to go to the nations beyond. In August 1963, I launched out in the full-time
ministry and immediately began to draw large numbers of people to our crusades,
many of whom were saved, healed and filled with the Holy Ghost.
In
1965, during a crusade in Calgary, Alberta, God redirected my pathway and the
pattern began to develop for World Evangelism among the poor and needy and the
masses of unfortunates in this world; To places where Christ was not named!
IT WAS THEN GOD
SPOKE TO ME
On
a Sunday morning during the crusade I was invited to speak at a Full Gospel
Church. During the praise and worship
that morning something happened that changed the direction of my ministry. There was a divine utterance in tongues followed
by an interpretation. The message was so
powerful and anointed that I immediately fell to my knees in deep prayer.
Here
is the gist of the message that came to us that worship service. "There are multitudes of lost souls who
are waiting in pagan darkness and who will perish if the gospel message is not
brought to them. Someone must bring them
the bread of life, that they may live."
Then the gift of tongues and interpretation was used by the Lord the
second time and the message was the same, only stronger - so strong in fact
that I wept and cried for the lost souls who would be doomed forever if someone
did not go to them with the Word of God.
I prayed, "Lord send someone to these people of whom you speak so that they
may be saved".
I SEND YOU TO THE HEATHEN!
I SEND YOU TO THE HEATHEN!
I
felt myself being overtaken by the Holy Spirit and all the prayers, weeping and
rejoicing around me seemed to fade away and from deep within me like it was
coming out of Eternity itself, came the voice of God to my spirit! This is what He said, "Son, I am changing your
ministry".
I
cried, "Thank you Lord, for any changes you make in me will be for the
better". Then the voice of God
said, "I send you to the heathen"!
I
was trembling in God's presence and heard my spirit cry out to God,
"Yes Lord, but where? How do I
begin, what do I do and when do I start"?
God
continued to speak to me mentioning city after city and nation after nation
where I would be led of the Holy Spirit to share the Word of God, where I would
conduct large crusades for Jesus. Many
of these cities and nations have been stirred for God during these past 19
years of overseas ministry and tens of thousands have answered our altar calls
for God's glory.
In the 1973 Port-au-Prince, Haiti Crusade,
on the final night an estimated 40,000 stood to their feet to say yes to
Jesus. Three times I asked them to be
seated and explained to them what we were doing. I asked them not to stand to their feet if
they were not sincere.
Still
40,000 people stood to their feet in that massive crusade and lifted their
hands to Heaven in fervent, earnest, devout and reverend prayer to God for
their souls' salvation.
Staggering
miracles of healing have taken place by the hundreds and hundreds through this
anointed End Time Ministry. How
we praise God!
Since
God spoke to me, our hearts have bled for the heathen. Especially, those masses
to which the Gospel has not been preached and where the Name of Jesus Christ
has not been heard!
WHEN HE CALLS ME, I'LL BE READY!
There
is a song that has blessed thousands of Christians in our crusades across the
world, which I believe will be a blessing to you as well. I have taken the liberty to change some of
the words to make it more relevant to our ministry and the End Times.
When He calls me I'll be ready
When He calls me I will hear Him
When He calls me I will answer
I'll be somewhere working for my Lord.
"I'll be somewhere working
I'll be somewhere working
I'll be somewhere working for my Lord
When He calls me I'll be ready
I'll be somewhere working for my Lord.
What a privilege it has been for me and what
an honour to go with the glorious gospel to many places where CHRIST HAS
NOT BEEN NAMED! Praise the Lord! W
