Peter Brandon preaches on the story of a widow who, in her time of desperation, seeks help from the prophet Elisha after losing her husband and facing the threat of losing her sons to creditors. He emphasizes the importance of recognizing what we have, even in our poverty, as the widow discovers a pot of oil that becomes the source of her miracle. Brandon highlights the necessity of prayer, the power of the Holy Spirit, and the significance of being empty vessels ready to be filled by God. He draws parallels between the widow's situation and the need for spiritual revival in the church, urging believers to seek God's presence and power in their lives. Ultimately, the sermon calls for a deeper reliance on the Holy Spirit to transform lives and communities.

Well dear friends, I hope I'm not too long. But let's pray that God will really bless us. We thank God for that lovely word we've heard from our dear brother. Now I want to follow on. This time again in the Old Testament, the 2nd of Kings chapter 4. 2nd of Kings chapter 4. Now there cried a sudden woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha saying, Thy servant my husband is dead, and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord. And the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bombers. And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? Tell me, what hast thou in thy hand? And she said, Thy handmaid hath not anything in the house, save a pot of oil. Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of thy neighbours, even empty vessels, borrow not a few. And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels. And thou shalt set aside that which is full. So she went from him and shut the door upon her and upon her son, who brought the vessels to her. And she poured out. And it came to pass when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more, and the oil stayed. And she came and told the man of God, and he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest. Now may God bless that short portion of his word to us. Nearly all the miracles of Elisha were done in an emergency situation. And if you look at this particular chapter, you will see four outstanding miracles. First of all, there is the multiplication of the oil. Secondly, there is the resurrection of a son. Thirdly, there is the purification of the pottage. And lastly, there is the extension of the twenty loaves. And if you look at these miracles carefully, they are a little replica of some of the greater miracles done by the Lord Jesus. But this miracle comes to me with power, and I do trust that God will give me the ability tonight to share it with you. First of all, I want you to note the predicament of the woman. And what a predicament! It was the predicament of bereavement, and then the predicament of bondment. Secondly, I want you to look at the poverty of this woman. And what poverty! Thy handmaid hath not anything, but in that extremity she discovers the pot of oil. So under that heading I want to speak on the desperation of prayer, and then the answer in the pot of oil. Then I want to look at her provision. And I'm going to give you the headings before I repeat them. They had to borrow vessels, and then when the vessels were brought there was a variety of vessels. Then the vessels had to be emptied, and then the vessels had to be filled, then they were set apart. And so you can see there's something there in the sanctified vessel. And then right at the end I had to smile when I was looking at this the other day. The Lord gave her a pension, and it would never be devalued. And she had to go and sell the oil, pay the debt, and live on the rest. Now already you've got the bones of the address, and you know what I'm going to speak about. First of all the predicament of the woman. And there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophet unto Elisha, that means God my Saviour. And she says, Thy servant, my husband, is dead. Now I believe all of us will agree, the greatest bereavement in life is when you lose someone that you deeply love. And only those that go through the period will know what it's all about. And I can feel for this woman as she comes to the prophet. And there she says, Thy servant, my husband, is dead, and thou knowest that he did fear the Lord. Now this man that died was not only a husband, but he was a man of God. Now what makes a person a man or a woman of God? First of all, he must have his commercial life right. In other words, he must have a testimony before the men before whom he worked. Second way, his home must be right. And that's why she says, my husband. It's a term of endearment. And then of course, his sanctuary life must be right. And this man feared the Lord. And therefore, these three qualifications make a person a man of God. Let's look at them carefully. My husband. The word can mean, my dear husband. Or perhaps, if it's paraphrased a little, so the scholars tell me, my darling husband. And here was a marriage that was made in heaven. And may I say this to young people, before you marry, make sure your life is on the altar. That you might know, first of all, what that perfect, acceptable will of God is. Then when you choose your partner, make sure you're choosing someone, not only that you love, but someone that's deeply spiritual. That's absolutely vital. And if you get those two things married together in your mind, someone that you love, with an Eros love, and then someone that you see is deeply spiritual, your marriage will be made in heaven. And this one was. But death came. And she was shattered. Now why is it the Lord tests us so brutally sometimes? And quite frankly, there are times in our life when we're in the sanctuary and we cry out with tears. Why, oh Lord? Do you know why? He always tests our life concerning the ministry that we've received and the ministry that we have given. And the more ministry we give, the more we shall be tested. So that all the ministry might be practical. And this is what I've discovered. Any ministry that I give that's just in my head and is a matter of teaching theology and a matter of elocution, never communicates. That ministry that's dragged right down from the head to the very constitution of my being, that and that alone is the ministry that really communicates. And here is a woman who has lost the man of God and she calls him my husband. Now this is true. A man can be a saint on the platform but a serpent in the home. And it's what you're like in the home generally speaking, makes you a man of God. Secondly, you will notice something else that I love. Notice what it says, Thou knowest that thy servant, my husband, did fear the Lord. So he was first of all an endearing husband and then he was a servant to the prophet. In other words, he was a man that had a witness in his commercial life. Now that's vital. You see, if every believer was a witness in the place where he lived, we would see more people in the gospel meeting. In my recent mission there at Ballina, there was a young man that was very prosperous in business. He had three factories. And one night he invited them all to a hotel. And this is only a few days ago. With their wives. And he gave them an excellent meal. Then his manager who was saved three years ago stood up and gave his testimony before all the workers. Then he stood up and witnessed. And told them that the business was not just to make money or to give them money. The business was for the glory of God. And I watched the faces of those men and I could see they were accepting that witness as absolute truth. And I shall never, never forget that witness. And there by his side was his own dear wife. And so you could see two relationships. A good relationship in the home and a healthy relationship with those that work for him. That's splendid. No wonder we were speaking to souls right into the midnight. Why? There was a witness in the home and a witness in commercialism. Then you will notice something else. He feared the Lord. Now please consider that. The word fear means that he looked upon the Lord as awesome. Now when we use that word awesome we must only use it in relation to God and nothing and no one else. Now that is absolutely vital. There is only one being that we reverence with holy awe and that is the almighty God and the glorious Trinity. And this man had had a glimpse of the glory and the majesty and the holiness and the love of his Lord and he feared him. The fear of God was always before him. That's a remarkable thing. But when you go through the scriptures you will notice too that the fear of the Lord has to do with faith. In fact in some translations instead of translating it as fear they put the word faith. Like here sometimes in the scripture where grace is mentioned in the Old Testament sometimes it's translated as blessing. And sometimes the word fear has to do with functional faith. And this was a man who had been taken quite quickly into glory and this man had a functional faith in the Lord. Thank God for that. And then sometimes when we read the word fear it has to do with worship. It has to do with the idea you have a glimpse of his glory you have faith in the glorious one and because you have faith in that glorious one your heart bursts out in worship. Wonderful. And this man feared the Lord. So therefore if I may use the analogy of the lampstand he was a lampstand there in his commercial life a lampstand in his home life and a lampstand before the Lord in the holiest of all in the sanctuary. A man of God and he was taken. Now note when men of God like that are taken and they are not replaced they are a dangerous eye. Can I repeat that? When men of God like that are taken from a local church or from a home they are a dangerous eye. Now I do not want to be rough tonight we never do anything when we speak roughly. But may I say this an assembly will never rise above the level of its spiritual leader. And one of our greatest problems in the assemblies in the western world is the lack of godless spiritual leadership. And if ever we should pray that God will raise up spiritual leaders it's the day. Last year I went back to Africa. As you know in 1975 there was a marvelous movement of the spirit of God in Cape Town. And many assemblies went out from the Athlone Assembly and were formed. I went back this year. The old leaders have gone. Mr David Mr Sangster Mr Flocker All gone. Men that were deeply spiritual. Mr Jardine A new line of leaders have come in and they were more intellectual than those old leaders. They had some of them a vast knowledge of the word of God. But this was the problem. Not so spiritual. And you could see a decline among the people of God. A revival generally speaking in scripture only lasts one generation. And if it's not replaced with godly men then it slowly dies. And this man was taken and what was the result? Two of his boys were going to be taken to be bombed. You see when God raises up a mighty group of overseers and these men spend their lives in prayer and pastoral care if they are not replaced Satan will attack the young people. And that is what's happening today. Now you will notice this creditor comes. I'm going to use a word that we all understand I think so at least. We call him the landlord. And he's a cruel man. And he comes and he wants the rent. And she can't pay the rent. Now I'm paraphrasing all this of course. And then she gives part of the furniture to him. And he's constantly taking the furniture. But he's got his eyes on her two lovely sons. And he's constantly saying this. I could get 30 shekels for each of them. And probably that was worth more than all the furniture put together. And probably with 60 shekels in those days it could buy a big house. And here was this cruel man with one objective. And that was to get those two sons to be bombed. You see the man of God had died. The just man that we were hearing about. Just a few moments ago. He had been taken to heaven. No longer replaced. And the sons have come into bondage. Beloved I've got to pass by this quickly. But let me repeat the bondage. We can be in bondage to the flesh. Some are in bondage to the world. Some are in bondage to self. Some are in bondage to the law. And the legal side of Christianity. But if the son shall make you free. He shall be free indeed. And God wants to set us free. So that we are a liberated people. May God begin to do that by raising up godly men among us. Let's look at the woman again. Now when bereavement comes you can die with sorrow. Now perhaps I should say this. And I've never said it before publicly. And I won't say it again. Since my wife died. There's not a day when I haven't broken my heart. Not a day. Now I'm not saying I'm right. But I've missed her. And sometimes I have said in the anguish of my heart. Why did you take a law? And some of you feel like that too. And you're sitting here. But this is what I want to tell you. Even in the midst of your deep sorrow. The Holy Spirit can give you a vision of Christ. The like you've never had before. So that when you can't sleep at night. You can get out and go into your little study. And you can worship and adore the Lord. Even in that midnight experience. And here is a woman. Who has lost the man of God. And she could have died with a heartbreak. But what does she do? She comes and she cries to the prophet. You know I can see her now. Weeping. At his feet. Listen to her. My husband thy servant is dead. And thou knowest that he feared the Lord. And the creditor has come. To take my two sons. To be slaves. Oh man of God. Help me. Beloved. Here is the secret. When the church gets there. The Lord bless us. You know God is waiting for a group of people. To come together. Who will lay hold upon God. In fervent believing prayer. Now all you who have studied the history of revival will know. That every single revival was started by prevailing prayer. When men and women got together. Because they had come to the end of their tether. It was the darkest part of the night to them. And they threw themselves at the feet of the Lord. And with tears and brokenness. They prayed to God. Now that's the prayer. That moves the Lord. Do you remember Martha came to the Lord. She was heartbroken because her brother had died. And she said Lord if thou has been here. My brother had not died. That was a slight rebuke. And yet in it some kind of faith. But even now I know that whatsoever thou would ask of God. God will do it. Jesus said thy brother shall rise again. All she says I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last days. Jesus said I am the resurrection and the life. He that liveth and believeth on me shall never die. Do you believe this? And she said yes. But I doubt whether she believed it. But notice how Mary came. First of all she falls at his feet weeping. And Mr Darby points out the word falling at means upon. And in it there is the flicker of real faith. And she says exactly the same as Martha. Lord if thou has been here. My brother had not died. But we read this. When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews also weeping. He said where have you laid him? Beloved those old people they wept their heart out. In Gateshead. When are we going to come together and break our hearts in the presence of God. Because of our barrenness. May God begin that work. It always starts with prayer. And then Elisha speaking on behalf of his master says. What shall I do for thee? What a request. In other words basically he represents the Lord Jesus here. And he is asking what she really wants. You see it is the broken and the contrite heart that the Lord never despises. And when we are there broken in his presence. He will say to us. What do you want me to do? And then he goes deeper. He says what have you got in the house? What have you got in the house? She says thy servant hath not anything. You know when I was reading that early this morning. I was thinking of some local churches where I have been. And if the Lord had said what have you got in the house? They would say something like this. Come and have a look at the new organ. And the new Steinway piano. It is beautiful. And we have got two of the best musicians in the country. Lovely. Lovely. But the piano and the organ won't bring revival. Then I have been to some places and they said. Now we have got a wonderful comedian Peter. And he is going to tell a few jokes. And he is funny. You love a funny story don't you? Well I suppose I do. And when you hear it. And it is bringing crowds of people in. What have we got in the house? And then I go to other places and they say. We have got that famous play group. The best in the country. They have been on the BBC. And you are going to see three slots. And you are going to see some of the best theological acting you have ever seen. And I have seen it. And it is all very funny. And sometimes the congregation are busting their thighs with laughter. Oh there is great crowds there. But what have we got in the house? Then I have been to another place and they say. Peter what do you think of our 120 voice choir? Oh lovely. And what do you think of our preacher? Do you know? He is probably the best preacher that we have got in our land. And we have got something in the house. Not this dear little lady. What have you got in your house? Thy handmaid has not anything. I am totally bankrupt. Save a pot of oil. Thank God for the pot of oil. Can I share this with you? You will only rediscover the pot of oil when you get to the end of yourself. Can I repeat that? You will only rediscover the pot of oil when you come to the end of yourself. Now this pot of oil. What does it mean to us in this particular century? Well it speaks of the Holy Spirit as you know. It is very clear there in Zechariah 4. Who is the Holy Spirit? Is he a pot of oil? Of course not. He is symbolized sometimes as commercial oil. He is symbolized as ceremonial oil. He is sometimes symbolized as domestic oil. But he is not oil. The Holy Spirit is as divine as God. He is not the influence of God. He is not the activity of God. He is co-equal with God in every single detail. In fact the first divine person to be mentioned in Scripture is the Spirit of God. In the beginning God created the Heaven and the Earth. It is the word Elohim. But the Holy Spirit is the first person. And almost the last divine person to be mentioned in Scripture is the Spirit of God. When the Spirit and the Bride say come. Therefore when we think of the Holy Spirit of God never think of him as oil or fire or wind. He is a divine person and as great as God in every single detail. God is omnipotent. All power. So is the Holy Spirit. God is omniscient. That means he never thinks he knows. So is the Holy Spirit. God is omnipotent. All power. God is omnipresent. That means he is everywhere. And yet is able to fill us individually. The glorious Spirit of God. What is the objective of the Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Christ. That's why all the figures there in Zechariah 4 were made of gold. Because it speaks of the glory of God and the glory of Christ. And the whole work of the Holy Spirit is to make Jesus Christ real to us objectively and real to us subjectively. And then he is called the Spirit of Holiness. And he specializes in holiness. And therefore he is bringing us back to the Spirit of God. And one more thing. In the assemblies we are totally dependent on the Holy Spirit. We have no human leader. We have leaders who are overseers that go before the flock. But the leader is the Holy Ghost. And we are totally dependent upon him for all the activity. Now note. If he is grieved individually and if he is quenched publicly then the assembly will not work properly. And that's our big problem. So therefore we have to get low before the Lord so that the Holy Spirit becomes sovereign in our lives individually and sovereign in our lives publicly. And then we will see God moving in power. As simple as that. Now notice what happens. He gives the news. Go borrow thee vessels abroad of thy neighbours, even empty vessels, borrow not a few. And when thou art come in thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons and pour out into all those vessels and thou shalt set aside that which is full. Now what we must do just for a little while is to forget that we are in the hall and we must go back a few thousand years and we must try and recapture what took place in that room on that sacred occasion. Now first of all obviously the boys go out and knock on the doors and they are saying to the neighbours look you know that my father has died. Yes we are very sorry to hear it. You know that the creditor has been coming and he's taken nearly all the furniture. We've heard about it and that's terrible. Mother has been to Elisha and Elisha has given her the orders that we are to borrow vessels. And all that's left in our house is a pot of oil. Forgive me saying it. Hallelujah. For therein is salvation for all things. Now there's going to be a miracle but we've got to borrow vessels. Have you any vessels for mother please? And you could almost imagine four or five being given. Some of silver, some of gold, some of copper, some of china, a very few of earth or wood and I'll explain that in a few minutes. And the boys bring in the vessels, not a few. And here's the room and it's beginning to fill up with vessels and there's a calculation in one of the boys mind. How can that little pot of oil fill all these vessels? Seems impossible. But mother believed God. She didn't believe in circumstance. She believed God. And so all of the vessels were brought in and I can imagine all the vessels being labeled. You know what we used to do in the old days when we all had to bring a plate and knives and forks. We put our mark on it so no one else took it. And I suppose they were all labeled. And what did it mean? Every single vessel did not belong to that family. They all belonged to someone else. Because they were borrowed. That's the first thing. Beloved, that was the speaker's word for us. That we are borrowed vessel. And you know we've all got one word written right across us. You say, what's that? In big red letters, sold. And you all belong to the Lord Jesus. And what a price. And then inside us there is the sealing of the spirit. And therefore we are sold through blood and we are sealed by the spirit and we all belong to the Lord. You know if only we take that away with us. That's the first step towards the Revival. Therefore glorify God in your body and your spirit which are God's. Secondly, I want you to look at the variety of vessels. There'd be thin pots. Big pots. Be careful there. There would be fat pots. All kinds of pots in the room. And you know perhaps when you look at all those pots you say, what a variety. Think of the variety that's here. Every single one of us has got a different suit on. We've all got different dresses. We've all got different faces. We've all got different hairstyles. There's not one of us identically the same. I don't think there are any twins here. Good. You see, there's a glorious variety and that marks the local church. Not monotony. But variety. You see there are variety of gifts but the same spirit. There are diversities of administration services but the same Lord. There are variety or diversity of operations that's power. And that's the great work of the Lord. God never works in little tram lines. He moves like a mighty sea. Why? Because He's the God of the universe and in each local church there is that glorious variety. But we must look a little closer at those vessels. They're all spotlessly clean. Why? Because oil and water never mix. And therefore before the oil goes in can we see some dish washing? And there's no washing machines here. Every pot is taken and washed thoroughly and dried, ready. They were empty vessels. Beloved, there are two words in scripture for the grieving of the spirit. One is in Ephesians, Grieve not the Holy Ghost. And what does the word grieve mean? It means deep bereavement. Why should he be in deep bereavement? If there's any sin in our lives it grieves him deeply. Now notice now. The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Life and yet the sins in us bring death. If we live after the flesh we shall die. And can you see now? He who is the Spirit of Life goes into deep bereavement because of sin. That's why in every movement of the spirit God's people get alone and they ask the Lord to search them. So that everything that grieves the spirit is put right. Then the next word is quench. Quench not the spirit. Now that's public. What does that mean? It means putting water on a flame. Secondly, it means damming a river so that you divert its course. Three, it means to put something on an upflow so that you prevent the phantom. But can you see whether it's water on the flame or whether it's a boulder to prevent the upflow. It's the Holy Spirit being quenched in the chair. That is why we need this emptying. We need this cleansing. Now why? In the gospel we have to stand up and be a light. And we have to stand up and lovingly explain to our congregation that their sins grieve God. And if they die in their sins they will be eternally lost. Now lovingly we've got to put that over to the man in the street. But this is the problem. How can we condemn sin in the lives of sinners and condone it in the church? You see the point. So first of all there must be a cleansing and emptying of the past. May there be that in our lives tonight. And then God will move. Immediately they were cleansed and emptied. Then the boys would bring the vessel and she would fill it. Now what does it mean to be filled with the Spirit? Does it mean just like those jars were filled up with oil so we are filled up with the Holy Spirit? Not a bit. If we had time to go through the Ephesians and perhaps one night we'll take this up. The word fullness or filling there is mentioned more in the Ephesian epistle than any other. It has to do in the first chapter coming under the Lordship of Christ. In the third chapter the filling of the Spirit is linked with love and it means coming under the authority and the power of God. And in the fourth chapter the word fullness has not to do with sovereignty or authority but it has to do with maturity. In other words we never grow until we have been filled with the Spirit. In Canada I was staying with a family and they had two sons I shall never forget this. And one son was 18 stone and the other boy, forgive me saying this was a weed. He was 12 and he was only 6 stone. And sometimes I went down in the gym to watch these two boys and the big boy 18 stone you may not believe this but it's perfectly true he never had an ounce of fat on him. He had a wonderful body and he was a weight lifter. And you could see these weights going up and down and foolishly when they were gone I tried to lift one and nearly gave myself a hernia. And that's why they call me Ernie Brandon I've had four operations. Well one day I was in the gym and I was watching this boy and the mother came down and you know what mothers are and she could almost read my thoughts and she says I know what you're thinking Peter. I said what's that? How did they come from the same stock? Well that's what I was thinking. And then she said this in remonstration When he fills out he'll be as big as him. And I said under my breath some hope. Well a few years ago they were at a family wedding and all I got was a photograph and the name and address nothing in it. And it was a picture of these two boys and he has filled out this seventeen stone. And on the other side she's got these words I told you so. Would you mind a little bit of vulgarity? There are many weeds among us because we have never been filled out. May God fill us with the Holy Spirit and the growth moves almost into the infinite. We are constantly growing. Oh may God fill us and then note and set aside that which is full. And any local church that's filled with the Holy Spirit I say this without the fear of contradiction will be set aside for blessing. In Acts chapter 2 they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and what do we read? They were praising God having faith with the people and the Lord added daily such as should be saved. May God do it again. I want you now to go in that upper room and see the miracle and then we're closed. She says to the first boy bring me a vessel and she takes the pot of oil probably that size and the vessel would be three times as big as the pot of oil and she poured it in and it's still full. Mother it's full. Put it on one side dear. Bring me another vessel. Mother it's full. Put it on one side. Bring me another vessel. Mother it's full. Put it on one side. Bring me another vessel. Mother that's full. Bring me another one. Oh that's a big one. And that's full and everyone was full. Can you see the picture? The door shut. The world didn't see it. Every vessel filled to capacity. May God find one or two companies of people like that and then we'll see the blessing of God. And then this when they were all filled and you can see those boys looking at it almost saying Shhh I've never seen anything like this before. What a sacred moment. Then she went to the Prophet and said Well everything's done. Right he says. Now these are your marching orders. Go and sell the oil. That's preaching in the power of the Spirit. Preaching in the power of the Spirit. May not always be in gospel halls. Maybe we'll have to open our homes but preaching in the power of the Spirit. Then he says this. Go and sell the oil and pay thy debt. And that wicked old landlord pay him the debt and pay him perhaps for about six or seven years so that you're completely covered. What does that mean? It means that when the church is filled with the Holy Spirit they're praying the Spirit and we shall see the devil defeated instead of the saints being defeated. There'll be a glow of victory about the Lord's people when they pray in the Spirit. And then he says Go and live and your children on the rest. And that speaks of living in the Spirit. What does that mean? It means being aware of the Spirit. Walking in the Spirit. Led by the Spirit. So that the world can see that we are the sons of God. But it all started when she heard the word. Said to her sons shut the door and they did what the Prophet said. Now I'm going to tell you something that took place in this hall that revolutionized my wife and Isa. There used to be six years ago two rows of Chinese students that came to the mission. They were over here to do their PhD. And I could see as they came they were sterling Christians. Some of you will remember they all came with a board a pile of notes and the moment you started to speak they started to run. One night I asked them to stay behind. And I remember saying to them where do you come from? They said Beijing. I said why are you over here to do our PhD? Why have you come here where there's a liaison between Sydney and Beijing? With students. Oh! How long have you been here? Three years nearly. So you'll be going home soon? Yes. Would you mind if I ask you a personal question? What kind of church do you come from in Beijing? Well they said there's only two kinds of churches as far as we know. The self church, the three self movement and the house church. We come from the house church. Are you seeing blessing? Yes. Are there many being saved? Hundreds. I said do you preach in the streets? No. We can't even give a track time. How many in your local church? Thirty. And when we get over that we have to start again. Are there many house churches? Thousands. Do you get persecuted? Yes. Well what do you think of the churches here in Sydney? They're very similar to the churches in Bedford and London. And then I got a shock. They were very polite and they wouldn't answer me. So I said look I'm not shockable I want to know. What do you think? And one girl stepped forward and she used one word. Superficial. Brethren, sisters, hit me like that. The western church is superficial. I said can you give me something that confirms that? Well said one young man when we accept Christ we receive him as saviour and lord and we lose light. I said what do you mean? When we get back we shall notify that we are Christians and we'll sweep the floor work at the till all the days of our life. But they all said in symphony We are ready for that. Jesus is saviour and sovereign. Think of that. They had lost life. Now I said you have been listening to me for nearly a fortnight and this is where I got the shock. Is there anything in my ministry that you could rectify? There was no reply. I said please help me and my wife. And one fellow came forward he said one thing Mr. Brandon We recognize that you have given the word of the Lord on two occasions. It came from the Bible but it came from the heart of God to us. Yes. But we did nothing. We just had cups of tea and a cake and spoke about all kinds of things. And we all went home. We never do that in China. And one young man said this When we hear a word from the Lord we stop where we are and pray it through. And then I received this loving rebuke from a young girl. I believe she wasn't older than 25. She said Mr. Brandon until you obey the word that God gives you he will never bless you. Gwen and I went home and we thought of the years we had given the word of God and nothing happened. Wouldn't it be lovely if something happened tonight? And a small group of Christians got in that little room and shut the door and may the vessels be filled and then we could go out with the power and the direction of God. Beloved may he do it in Sydney. Amen.