PROCLAIMING CHRIST             TO THE NATIONS
        By Pastor Max Solbrekken, D.D.          

     FOREWORD 

     by Dr. Don Gossett, D.D. 

      President of Bold Bible Living, Surrey, B.C. (1992)

    When I think of my friend, Max Solbrekken, words come to my mind; integrity, honour, anointing, zeal, sincerity, uncompromising!

    It was in 1962 I met Max and his family at Prince George, British Columbia where the Solbrekkens lived at that time. I was immediately impressed by the deep heart hunger of this man for the power of God. The next year he moved to White Rock, B.C. where we became fast friends, sharing together many ministry opportunities as well as rich personal fellowship. 

    Through these more than 30 years, our friendship has never been marred by personal differences or any form of strife. That's exceptional in this world of communication breakdowns, between even the saints.
     I have ministered in the nations of the world where Brother Max has been. Pastors and leaders all over the world speak so highly of him and the effectiveness of his ministry.

    His radiant smile has warmed the hearts of the coldest peoples of this world. His sparkling Norwegian eyes have penetrated the hardest of sinners. Max is well known in Hell as a fearless, courageous preacher of the Word of God that pulls down the strongholds of the wicked one wherever the Lord sends Max.

   Yes, there are a few more words that come to my mind when I consider my Brother Max Solbrekken... A radical for Jesus. A man ready to die as a martyr. A world overcomer through his faith in God. A remarkable family man.

    Brother Max, you are loved by millions in India, Africa and the Philippines.        -  Dr. Don Gossett, 1992        

                          

INTRODUCTION

My Declaration of

Total Dependence upon God

By Max Solbrekken, D.D.

   As I take pen in hand to lay out the parameters of the awesome mandate given to the Church by Jesus Christ our Lord, I am shocked to see how long, wide and expansive is the jurisdiction given His servants. The command to win the world of suffering lost souls to Him is magnanimous, indeed! It is impossible to fully understand the magnitude of His mercy, grace, and power that our Saviour has bestowed upon His love slaves.
                  TIME, COST, QUANTITY, QUALITY!

   In Project Management, they speak of four vital things necessary to lay out the parameters. It is the same in the Gospel Ministry: 

  We must give God the TIME He wants from us in prayer, study and ministering the Word; saving the lost, healing the sick and hurting, through the blood of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit.

     As we lay hold on the promises of God and encounter the pain, hardship and sorrow meted out to many of our fellow human beings, it becomes easier to devote more time than less to the work of the ministry.

   It will COST us everything. God must be first in our lives. We are His love slaves (doulos, gr). Jesus said, "But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matt. 6:38). 

   The more we love Jesus, the more we will love our family and our fellowman. We must lay our all on the 'altar of sacrifice' if we are to fulfill our calling and one day hear His, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." (Matt.25: 23)

    The QUANTITY must be great in order to reach the entire world with Christ's Gospel. The amount of time we give to the place of prayer will determine how God leads us in the service of winning the lost and healing the hurting. Diligence in praying, planning, working and worshipping God, opens the door for His blessings! As we faithfully execute the mission set before us, God's work will increase, not always exponentially, but always bringing forth fruit for His glory!

    The QUALITY is of utmost importance. As the years come and go, we realize how much fruit remains. It is not always evident to us and sometimes we will never know until we enter our Heavenly home. 

     The time we spend in His presence and the time we spend with the people to whom we minister, and the love in the Spirit and the godly wisdom we share will determine the quality of our labours for God and our fellowman! St. John, the Apostle of Love, gives us a powerful key. Here it is: "Peace be to thee. Our Friends salute thee. Greet the Friends By Name!" (3 John 14)
    That means that we must love one another and get to know each other on a first name bases as brothers and sisters in Christ!

                    PLEASING GOD RATHER THAN MAN!

     JESUS said: “I am come in My Father's Name and you receive Me not; if another shall come in his own name (referring to the Antichrist), him ye will receive. How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?” (John 5: 43, 44; John 12: 42, 43)

     In order to please God rather than man, it is often like going against the grain, swimming upstream and appearing like the odd man out!

  It is God's Word against man's ideology, political correctness, and Satan's cunning adulterous and perverted anti - Christ purposes. When Christ takes over the reigns of our heart everything changes! It is life under New Management. It is in fact, “Goodbye to the Old life and Hello to the New Life!”

    The Bible says: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: Old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.” (2 Cor. 5: 17). We are on the winning side. The Light has come and the Night is past. The Day star shines and Satan's power over God's children is zero. The shed blood of Jesus has stripped him of any power over Believers in the Lord Jesus. 
    The Holy Bible states: "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also himself likewise took part of the same; that through DEATH He might DESTROY him  that had the power of death, that is the DEVIL. And DELIVER them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." (Heb.2:14,15)

   Christ rules in the lives of those who love Him, worship and serve Him. Satan's dominion has come to an end through Jesus Christ's perfect Redemption. His BLOOD prevails forever and Satan has been eternally defeated. Blessed be our Lord Jesus Christ, King Eternal forever and ever.

    The Holy Bible states: “And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom Thou has sent.” (John 17: 3);
  “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God, which He hath testified of His Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made Him a LIAR, because he believeth not the RECORD that God have of His Son.

  Here is an important truth which no-one should underestimate. All those who reject Jesus Christ as the Saviour of the world are not only rejecting Christ, but are calling His Father in Heaven a LIAR, by rejecting the RECORD which He has given us of His Son Jesus Christ!

    “And this is the RECORD, that God God hath given to us eternal Life and that life is in His SON. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written to you that believe in the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe in the name of the Son of God.

    “And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask any thing according to His will, He heareth us: and if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him. 
   "And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know Him that is true, and that we are in Him Who is True, even His Son Jesus Christ, This is True God and Eternal Life.” (1 John 5: 9-20). Amen.

                                   MISSION STATEMENT!

    As servants of the Living God, we believe it is incumbent upon us to obey the Great Commission given by our Lord Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church after His sacrificial death and glorious resurrection from the  dead!
    We, therefore, do solemnly declare that by God's grace and in His Name, we will diligently dispense His Gospel by His Holy Spirit to as many as possible, wherever possible and for as long as possible, for His honour and glory!
  Upon the Authority of God's Word, by the blood of the Everlasting Covenant, through the power of the Holy Spirit, and in the Name of Jesus Christ, we have the right to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to Heal the sick, Cast Out unclean spirits and bring Abundant Life to the lost and dying through Faith in the Redemptive Work of Jesus Christ. Amen.

    Why can I make that statement? What right do I have to bring this glorious message to multitudes of people around the world? By what authority and in Whose Name have I delivered the Message of Jesus the Living Lord to many peoples in numerous nations for more than 50 years around the Globe with signs, wonders and miracles?

    My answer has its foundation in the Holy Scriptures and what happened to the Early disciples of Jesus! When the impotent man was healed under the ministry of Peter and John, the multitudes were filled with wonder and amazement at that which had happened. 

    Peter answered: “Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? Or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?

    “The God of Abraham, and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified His Son Jesus; Whom ye delivered up, and denied Him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you.

     “And killed the Prince of Life, Whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses. And His name through faith in His Name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith that is by Him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.” (Acts 3: 12-16)

                                     ITS ALL ABOUT JESUS!

    They were so shaken and convicted that 5,000 men gave their lives to Christ when the the miracle power of God healed a man impotent in his legs from his mother's womb! The religious leaders, however were upset and threatened them:

    “Then Peter filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole;

     “Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, Whom God raised from the dead, even by Him doth this man stand before you whole. Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4: 7-12)

     When the Jewish elders and chief priests threatened them, they prayed for more miracles in Jesus' name: “And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto Thy servants, that with all boldness they speak Thy Word. By stretching forth Thine hand to Heal; and that Signs, Wonders may be done by the name of Thy Holy Child Jesus. 

    And when they had prayed the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the Word of God with boldness.” (Acts 4: 29-31)

                      WE HAVE ETERNAL LIFE NOW!

  JESUS said: “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have eternal life.     "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.” (John 3:14-16, 36)

    Jesus was very specific when He said: “The disciple is not above his Master, nor the servant above his Lord. It is enough for the disciple to be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of His household?” (Matt.10: 24, 25)

    Again our SAVIOUR declared: “Whosoever shall come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the gospel's the same shall save it.

    “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of Me and My Words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him shall also the Son of man be ashamed, when He cometh in the glory of His Father with the Holy angels” (Mark 8: 3-38)

                 TOTALLY DEPENDENT UPON JESUS!

    JESUS said: “I am the Vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without Me ye can do Nothing. If ye abide in Me, and My words abide in Me, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” (John 15: 5, 7)

    An old Gospel song says: 'Without Him I would be nothing. Without Him, I'd surely fail. Without Him, I would be drifting like a ship without a sail. So, I've asked Him to be my Pilot, His Word my compass and guide, Till I've anchored safely in Glory, For without Him, I'd drift with the tide! Amen.