In this sermon transcript, the preacher describes a powerful encounter with the presence of God. The atmosphere was filled with a tangible force that overwhelmed everyone present, likened to a rushing wind or an unstoppable flood. People of all ages, including old men, women, and even young children, were deeply moved and distressed in their souls. They prayed and cried out for mercy, showing a genuine concern for their salvation. The preacher also mentions the importance of heart searching and preparation for revival, urging pastors to spend time alone with God and reflect on specific passages and scriptures. The transcript also includes a reference to Duncan Campbell's experience in which anxious souls were gathered and led to Christ during a revival meeting.

You know, last night we were speaking about revival and there were a few things that I just would have loved to read to you because they say to us that 75% of our growth as Christians is depending upon what we read. I trust that you have still a deep passion to read great Christian material and one of the things that we do in the prayer encounters that we are involved with and to me the blessing of these prayer encounters is that sometimes from a Sunday to a Sunday is they bring churches together and we spend a week in prayer with them. What happens in the mornings is that from about 9 o'clock to 12 o'clock in the mornings we bring all the pastors together and we spend the mornings together not just sharing with them about the subject of prayer but praying together with them. So I really believe that if God is going to do something in the church in North America it's going to need to start with the leadership and you know as well as me this morning that we cannot become great leaders unless we have become great followers. Someone once said that the leader is a monomaniac with a mission. He's got a compass in his head and a magnet in his heart. He doesn't wait for things to happen. He makes them happen. He doesn't work on the basis of pressure. He operates on the basis of pleasure. His work or ministry is not in endurance but it is in enjoyment. And my burden you know is for leaders. We work with pastors. I don't know if you are aware of this that the average pastor today in North America spends something like three to five minutes alone with God three or four times a week. And it's just an awful thing. I find it very difficult. We have the privilege to be in Bible colleges and seminaries and most of our time overseas is really spending with leadership. But I find it very difficult to find a school in Canada and in the U.S. who are teaching students how to pray and how to get through to God. And then because of the fact that we cannot help people further spiritually than we are ourselves and we can only impart to people that which we possess in our relationships with God, it's just an immense struggle. It takes three to five to seven to nine to eleven to thirteen to fifteen years to see the average evangelical church in North America becoming a house of prayer where there is an underlining spirit of prayer prevailing amongst the people and amongst the pastors. One of the great things that I enjoy doing is to help pastors developing a personal and a private prayer life. And so what we do, we share the reasons with them. We look at the requirements. We help them with material on prayer and a personal walk with God. And then what we do, we share with them the regulations. How do they go about? And then we get them to make a commitment. And they would say, we're going to make a commitment and we're going to spend 30 minutes alone with God, three or four mornings of the week. And then after three months or sometimes six months, we spend time with them again and say, okay, how has it been going in those times alone with God? And if they have a 60 to 80% consistency and discipline and effectiveness in those times alone with God, then we say to them, why don't you make a commitment now to 45 minutes? You stay with three or four days of the week. Or you stay with your 30 minutes alone with God. And when you spend those 30 minutes alone with God, why don't you go to five mornings of the week? Let me give you some statistics. And this is what breaks my heart. I would say out of about every hundred pastors that we are trying to help to develop this personal walk with God, after a period of about 12 months, there would be about 40 of those pastors left that would say, I'm going to follow through in that. I just about killed myself six years ago because God began to give me such a burden for people in ministry. And I began to spend extended time with pastors at the conference center that we were involved with out there in British Columbia. And when I began to spend time with these things, I didn't have the discernment to realize that there is a bunch of people in ministry and all that they want to do is to dump all their stuff upon you, want you to pray it through, carry the burden of it, but they're not willing to do something about it themselves. And it just about killed me. And so God began to give me discernment and said, no, you need to spend time with people that are serious with God. People that want to do something about their relationships with God. I wish you could have been with us in August of this year. We were involved in a conference for pastors out in a game lodge in Southern Africa. And the last morning, the Spirit of God broke into the second session with these men. And at the last session, the last morning, and you know when we are involved in ministry, you die a thousand deaths. I never slept that night. And that morning, I nearly got in touch with the leader and said, you know, I don't think I can speak to these men. But God just said to me, just get up and go and tell them what's burning upon your heart. And in that last session, God broke into our midst. You know the reason why we are part of the Canadian Revival Fellowship, and the reason why we are existing, brother and sister, is because we want to see God breaking into the lives of people. And we can't anticipate God to break into the lives of people if God doesn't break into our lives. And if we, those of us who are involved in itinerant ministry, and we go to places and we pray and we preach to people, if the Spirit of God is not breaking into those meetings, we have no reason to anticipate that they would ever ask us to ever come back again. The only way that we go forward is when the Spirit of God breaks into the hearts of people. You know, this thing of God breaking through, I never came out of the Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa, was saved while I was studying theology, and never had a concept of revival. Never perceived the breaking in of God into the lives of people in the meetings. And I will never forget, I was a young evangelist, and I was asked to go to an Easter camp convention in South Africa. I was part of the same organization, and the meetings were in a tent, about 600 very God-fearing Dutch Reformed people were coming to this convention, Easter, first day to the Monday, and the Saturday night, we had a half-night of prayer. And the leader of this convention was a very godly man. And he said, we're going to have a half-night of prayer, and we're going to ask God to break into this camp. And I was just a young fellow out in the ministry, didn't understand what did they mean by God breaking through. And we had a half-night of prayer, and it was probably around midnight when he stopped us and he said to us, I really believe God has helped us to break through. You see, God can't break through unless you've prayed through. And when you've prayed through, by that time God has broken through in your own life. And that Sunday morning came, and that Easter Sunday morning service started, there was a man by the name of Rev. Denis Sorum, who was bringing the message. It was a very simple message on Easter Sunday morning. But brother and sister, as he was preaching that message, there was a moment when God came. And when the Spirit of God broke through, we were just in the midst of an organized disorder. It was unbelievable. These were God-fearing Dutch Reformed people, very conservative, you know, had their suits on, their ties, their white shirts, the ladies all had dresses, many of them had hats in those days. And as God broke into that meeting, that 10 of about 600, maybe 650 people became the meeting place of God. You know, the Spirit of God is the best counselor, isn't He? And as those people went in the dust, on their knees, seeking the Lord, they had to push the lunch away, because of the way that people were sought God. I was in South Africa recently, and I stayed one night with this man, Peter Schorz, who was leading the meeting, and he was the superintendent. And we sat one night and we were just reminiscing about those days. And I turned to him and I said, Mr. Schorz, I said, Do you remember that Sunday morning, Easter? Oh, he said, I remember it as clear as a bell. I said, What do you remember? He said, I remember when God broke through. And I was a young fellow out in the ministry. I was standing at the door of the tent, and as I was standing there was an elderly man, he must have been in his seventies, and he looked at me and he just said to me, Are you a young man? And I said, Yes. And he was taking his hand like this, and he would just wave it over this group of people. He said, That's what happens when God comes. I want to say to you this morning, I mean it's wonderful to be part of CRF. The day when we lose that, we will cease to exist as an organization. If you sit here and you think of becoming part of Canadian Bible Fellowship, if it's a member, if it's an affiliated team, or if it's a full-time team, the only reason that you could ever consider that, we've often said this to God, my wife and myself, we don't ever want to become a hindrance to this organization. We want to become a help. But if you think of joining this organization, you know God needs to regulate the traffic. You don't want to be part of an organization that carries a bunch of garbage and baggage with you. We want to be part of an organization that we know are moving forward. But I'll never forget that morning. He said to me, Do you see this? He said, That's what happens when God comes. And I don't know about you, but I have a burden for CRF. We need some massive breakthroughs. Many of you probably don't know this, but we need some massive breakthroughs when it comes to financially. But you know what I believe? If God breaks through spiritually, He's going to take care of all that stuff. But we need breakthroughs. It's a burden on my heart to see young teens going out into Western Canada. Young men and women ablaze for God. A spirit of prayer. A sanctified, set-apart life. Unctionized. Saturated. Intoxicated. With a sense of brokenness. A commitment to pray through. A commitment to stand up and to preach through. A commitment to draw the net. And bring the net in. And see people meeting with God. That's the burden and the vision. Many times what we do, we have material like this. It's called Heart Searching for Prayer Preparation and Revival. And these are 23 passages of Scripture. And when we are content to pass this, and God breaks into our midst, I give him this and I say, go and find a place where you can spend time alone with God. And then there are passages of Scripture. And at every passage of Scripture, one for instance, I'm not even going to give you one, but there's questions that you need to answer. And you need to answer yes or no. Have you robbed God by withholding his view of time, talents, or money? Have you robbed God by withholding your income? Have you failed to support mission work, either in prayer or in offerings? Is there anything in which you have failed to put God first? And these pastors, and I wish you can be in these sessions, we've got this translated in Spanish. When we are amongst the Peruvians, we gave it to them. And they would sit under trees and they read the passages and they answer these different questions. So if you are interested in that, we would love to give this to you. I want to read you something that I wanted to read last night about revival. This comes out of the journal of John Wesley. Wesley said, I want you to listen to David Bray now. Upon the assembly like a rushing, and with an astonishing energy, bore down all before it. I stood amazed, and could compare it to nothing but the irresistible force of a mighty torrent, or a swelling deluge, that with its insupportable weight and pressure, bears down and sweats before it whatever trail cuts its way. Almost all the people of all ages were bowed down with concern together, and scarcely one was able to withstand the shock of this surprising operation of God. Old men and women who had been drunken, wretched for many years, and some little children not more than six or seven years old, appeared in greatest distress of soul. They were almost universally praying and crying for mercy in every part of the house. And many outdoors, and many could neither go nor stand. Their concern for their souls was so great, each one for themselves, that none seemed to take any notice of those about them, but each prayed freely for himself. This is what happened in Charles Grant's and Finney's meetings. And I know he was a controversial individual, but sometimes there are some great truths that came out. This is what Finney said, I have not spoken to them in the strain of a direct application more than a quarter of an hour. With all at once an awful solemnity seemed to settle down upon them. The congregation began to fall from their seats, on their faces, in every direction, and cried to God for mercy. It's not this stuff that you hear today. When God comes, you don't fall on your back, you fall on your face. You don't roar like a lion and bark like a donkey. You weep in the presence of God. And it just staggers me that sometimes these things are taken and applied to what's happening today. It's got absolutely nothing to do with it, you know. He said, if I had a sword in each one of my hands, I could have cut them out of their seats as fast as they were falling. Indeed, nearly the whole congregation were either on their knees or prostrate in the presence of God. I should think that in less than two minutes from this first shock of conviction that fell upon us, everyone prayed for himself that was able to speak at all. There were too many wounded souls to dismiss. The meeting continued all through the night. I've got a treasure in my hands. I wish I could give this to everyone who's part of the Canadian Revival Fellowship. It's about a hundred reports that came from the pen of Duncan Campbell in the midst of the Lewis revival, when God poured out His Spirit and revival. When I was in the island in 1982, the minister of a church in Scotland and Stornow were at ten days of meetings. It's a great church, like Spurgeon's Tabernacle. And they probably seat about two and a half thousand people. And we had great meetings. But I said to the minister, I said, I want you to take me to the places where the revival came. And Roddy Morris took me to different places. And I'll never forget the last morning when he said, you know, there's one more place I need to take you. He took me to all these places. And you know, it's unbelievable. When God has visited those places and you visit Him, there is a fragrance. I don't know if you realize that, you know, the Hebrew word for the word Spirit is the word Ruach. But from the word Ruach is the Hebrew word, and it's the word Riach. And it comes from the root understanding of the word for the word Spirit. And that word is applied to the life of Moses. When he came down from the mountain, and the Bible said his face was shining. It's the Riach. And the Riach is the consequences of the Ruach of the presence of God that came in the life of Moses. In fact, Duncan Campbell in the Lewis revival, there were times the people would pray with Mr. Campbell. And the elders would pray with him in the little room. And they would come out of that room and their faces were just beaming with the glory of God. And people would say to them, what happened? And they would hardly want to say what happened. And when they were pressed, they said, what happened in those meetings when you prayed with Duncan Campbell? And these people very carefully would share and they would say, you know, as Duncan Campbell was praying. And you know, here was a man who knew what it was to get underneath the burden of God. And to systematically dissect the burden of God. And brother and sister systematically prayed the burden of God through. And they would say that as Duncan Campbell was praying, they said there was a moment when he got through to God. And as he got through to God, they said the fragrance came into the room. And people would say to them, what do you mean? And they would say we could smell the presence of God. And I wish I could put this in the hands of everyone of us who are part of this. This is what Duncan Campbell said. Yesterday I preached in three different churches. To crowded meetings. At the last meeting, God manifested His power in a gracious way. The cry of anxious souls was heard all over the church. I closed this service. You need to go to the islands of Scotland to recognize what this is all about. He said the anxious souls were heard all over the church. I closed this service but the people would not go away. So I gathered the anxious swamps beneath the pulpit. And along with the minister did what we could best to lead them to Christ. Vargas, the island of Louis. December 21st, 1949. We are in the midst of a glorious revival. God in His great mercy has been pleased to visit us with showers of bliss. The desert is rejoicing and blossoming as the rose. Some of us will live to praise God for what our ears are hearing. And our eyes are seeing these days in newness. Meetings are crowded right up to the pulpit steps and into the pulpit. On several nights the meetings continued until 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning. Already about 70 adults have professed. We are dealing with anxious souls in every meeting. Can you imagine if this would happen in Canada? We are dealing with anxious souls in every meeting. Last night at our 5th service, just as the people were leaving, a young man began to cry for mercy at the gate leading from the church. Just then an elder began to sing the 102nd Psalm. And the whole congregation took it up. Singing verses 13 to 16. I did not know when that young man was one of the leading tenor singers in the north of Scotland. The congregation all came back into the church. And before we dispersed, 12 men and women found the Savior. It is with a heavy heart I leave for home this week. But God's work will go on. Revival fires are spreading. And at present it looks as though the whole of the island of Lewis is coming under the sway of the presence of God. Barbers, this has been another week of God's right hand. Meetings have been larger than ever. 900 have crowded and many have been turned away. I may say, sleep when it is possible for me. I am writing this report at 2 o'clock in the morning. The revival has come to this parish. The meetings continued until the small hours of the morning. You know, it just goes on and on and on. What would happen if God could come and visit us in this beautiful land of us in the same way? Heavenly Father, we want to thank you this morning for the tremendous blessing and the privilege that you have given to us to come together this little weekend. What an encouragement for us to be able to be given this gift of drawing together because we have the burden and the passion. We have a longing to see God pouring out His Spirit and the promise of revival. What a tremendous encouragement for us to know that you are the one that is able to set us apart and to sanctify us. You are the one that is able to fill us and give us a broken heart. You are the one that is able to unctionize us and give us a spirit of prayer. Father, we are part of a little organization and yet this morning we are in a country and in a land where these things that we seek for seem sometimes so rare. Yet God, the only way that we can minister to the Evangelical Church in the year of 2006 is when our hearts are totally broken before God. We are so thankful that the God that we are serving is a God that answers prayer. We are so thankful this Saturday morning that it is your nature to answer prayer. We are so immensely thankful that you are the one that initiates prayer. God, long before we even have a desire to climb underneath the burden of God for revival and for the church and for leaders and for pastors, that long before we do that is there the immensity of the greatness of the burden of God. Lord, I can't imagine this Saturday morning without times when our own hearts have been so burdened for the possibility of the workings of the Spirit of God in this other land. How much more is there a burden upon the heart of God to be able to move in the midst of His people? And Lord, we have been trusting you for a breakthrough in our ranks even in Canadian Revival Fellowship. Father, some of us have been on the road for a long time. We saw God at work in the 70s when you came and you moved by your Spirit. But God, we cry to you this morning and say to you it's time to do it again. It's time for you to visit us in a fresh and a new way. Father, I have no perception this Saturday morning what it's going to cost. I have no understanding if we are even ready for the slightest possibility of an outpouring of the Spirit of God. But I know this Saturday morning it's going to cost us more to miss it than it's going to cost us to find it. And I pray that this little weekend that somehow that you will give birth in our hearts to the greatness of a sovereign God who in His righteousness and in His holiness and in His omnipotence is able to open the heavens above and to come down upon His people and to send us a move of the Spirit of God that no man would be able to question. And Father, I was reminded that Jonathan Edwards said that when God sends revival, revival touches the man on the street. And Father, we haven't seen this. And there are some of us in this little gathering this Saturday morning and we've been praying for years that again at once we will be able to behold the glory of God. God, is it possible that you can answer those prayers? I pray that in the rest of this little weekend that we are together, oh, that you will give us the Spirit of prayer. That you will give birth in our hearts. Lord, even if it seems to mean that you're going to wake us up at 1 or 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning and we're going to sit right up in our beds and sleep is gone. Suddenly the burden of God is going to come and we will not be able to sleep because we will find ourselves underneath this greatness of the burden of God. So Lord, you need to do it and I'm thankful that we don't need to be a thousand people here this morning. Lord, we can just be a handful and God can get a hold of our lives and you can do this. Thank you for your Word today. We love your Word, Lord. We want you to minister to us. We want you to speak to us. And we ask that as we take these few minutes, just ponder upon it. That you would just come afresh and speak to our hearts. In Jesus' name, Amen. We just have a few minutes left. I want to take a few minutes if I may to speak to you on prayer. You know the medical science world has given us a wonderful illustration and a wonderful scenario. And what they have done is that they share with us an illustration and they say to us that when a child or when a baby is born in a house that it takes about something like six months for that child to be able to descend. That is taking place in the average household. And they would say to us that during the first six months of the life of that child is it possible to say that that child is exposed to what we would refer to as millions of different sounds and voices that is coming to the life of this newborn baby. And then they would say to us that after six months is it a fact that the child is able to begin to respond and the child is able to say mommy or daddy. So what has happened there is the process that has taken place in the life of that child and as a result of that process the child is able to recognize the differences or the voices that is taking place. The other voices are the voices of the primary caregivers which of course is the mother and the father. And then the medical professionals give us this definition, a wonderful name or a phrase and they would refer to it as the process of saturation that is taking place in the life of that child. I mean if a child is born in a house in the first six months of the life of that child there is not going to be any sound that would come to the surface and we would anticipate that child to respond. It is just not going to happen. You say why do you use this scenario or this illustration? My brother and my sister let me say to you this morning the only way that we are going to learn the language of prayer, the only way that prayer is going to become part of us, the only way that we are going to develop a lifestyle that not just demands supernatural explanation but the only way that we are going to come to the place where it is not the times that we spend with God but it becomes the times that God would spend with us and the only way that that is going to happen is when that which God is saying to us in His Word as it relates to prayer, when that becomes part of our lives. You say why do you say that? Well first of all we are born with personality but God is in the process of building up Christians. 75% of our growth as Christians is depending upon what we read. We can't fall into the fanaticism of prayer. You know the devil if he can't get us back he is going to try and push us over the edge. And as it relates to prayer we can't fall into the fanaticism that we would move from experiences in prayer to the exposition of the Word of God. I'm collecting books on prayer and have probably close to 80. In fact I need to tell you a great material on the theology of prayer. 60-70% of relevant Christian books, I'm not speaking about junk that's out there in the market that you just waste your money to go and even buy that stuff. I'm speaking about people who has known the secret of what it is to get through with God. But sometimes 60-70% of those books is giving out to us the theology of prayer as it is coming out of their experiences. Now there is a huge deficiency because there is this subjectivity as it relates to prayer that lose the objectivity of what scripture is. And so what we are saying is that you can't move from experiences to the exposition of the scriptures. You need to go from the Word of God to experience. Because what will then happen is the consequences of that kind of intimacy and the relationship with God. The scriptures become part of my life and there is a balance in the understanding of the will of God and the discovering of the will of God in prayer. And it's not the claiming perception, but it's the perception that I'm dealing with the unfolding of the will of God. And my responsibility in prayer is that I need to discover the will of God. That's why when you look at the life of Christ as it relates to prayer. And if I may say to you this morning, I don't think it will ever be possible as it relates to prayer if we have not come to grips with the life of Christ. But Christ was the manifestation of the will of God. And as a result of the fact that He was the manifestation of the will of God, my brother and sister, was it possible for the Lord Jesus to say, Father I thank you that you always listen to me. Was it possible for Him to say, Lord I've come to do thy will. Was it possible for Him to say, the Son can do nothing unless He sees the Father do it. And when Christ, you go to those 89 chapters of the Gospels, almost 4000 verses out of the New Testament in those 4 Gospels, and you discover that about 46 times in the ministry of Christ, He was involved in preaching and He was involved in teaching. When He was preaching He was challenging the wills of people. When He was teaching He was informing their minds. And about 50% of those times in one way of standing of prayer, and He never spoke about prayer not being answered. Because prayer to Christ was that which was in the center of the will of His Father. And when He had found to us the doctrine of obedience in John chapter 15, and when He made the statement and said, He said every branch in me that beareth not forth fruit, He said He threw it away, He cast it away. But He said every branch that beareth forth fruit, He said He purified it, He purged it. So the basis of the doctrine of obedience, as it flowed out of the rest of the scriptures and the heart of that chapter, He made this great statement. He said, if you abide in Me, and He said, My word abides in you, He said, you shall ask whatever you will, and it shall be given to you. Because to Christ it was a given fact. That if you abide in Him and His word abides in you, you and I will never ever dare to ask anything outside of the will of God. That the rest of you know. That's why when someone came to George Muller and said, Mr. Muller, and Muller was the man with 85,000 answers to prayer. And the longest in this dispute about it, I have found two great journals of Muller in my library. Probably about 350 to 400 pages each. And he gave me the journals. I mean I wouldn't sell them for $100. Don't test me with $200. But I tell you, they're very precious, you know. If you go through those journals of prayer, it was not Muller bringing his stuff to God. No. It was Muller who came to the place where he discovered the will of God. And one of the key verses in his life was 1 John 5, verse 14. When he said, this is the confidence that we have in Him. If we ask anything according to His will, and if we ask anything according to His will, He will hear of us. And it's wonderful in the Greek language, you know. It means, this is the confidence that we have in Him. If we ask anything according to His will, God is in the process of listening to us. And if we know that He's in the process of listening to us, we know that we are those petitioners of the things that we are asking. And I know there's a dispute, you know. Some say, the longest that he prayed for someone is 50 years, 53 years. Others say, maybe it could have been 63 years, but whatever. You know when that person was saved three weeks after Muller died. I get so sick, you know, when people talk about the life of George Muller of Bristol. And they say, oh it was the times that he spent in prayer. Because that was the issue in his prayer line. Brother and sister, it wasn't that. People say, oh it's all the answers. Look at all the answers that he had as it relates to prayer. The righteousness and the character of God in prayer. He served a God to whom there was nothing impossible. And I wonder this morning if I can ask you. You know, we're part of a little small organization. And some of you are just... God has given us a little name. It's called Canadian Revival Fellowship. But I wonder this morning, my brother and sister, have we lost the vision of God? You see, there was nothing that God could not do for you. So what is... it was this understanding of God. I think the Old Testament... I have five little concepts I wrote down earlier this morning. But if we could just look at these two or three things in the Old Testament. As it relates to prayer. As we can maybe contemplate one or two concepts of what the New Testament is. Let me just mention to you one or two things from the Old Testament. Abram, the prayer life of Abram. This encounter that he had with God. And may I say to you something this morning. My prayers for us, the 16 of them. For us to go to the different kinds of Old Testament prayer. And they are multiplying in the Old Testament scripture. To go to those 11 Hebrew words that is speaking to us about prayer. To go to those prayers in the Old Testament. To go to those 18 classic Old Testament prayers. And as we study the Old Testament prayers. We say, what wonderful prayers. We only get about 25% of the message. We say, why do you say that? If we want to come to grips with the prayers. And the Old Testament is speaking that we are not going to come to grips with those prayers. It's that first of all, we need to go to the lives of those people that pray those prayers. And you say, what needs to happen? We need to look at their understanding and their perception of God. You see, it's the understanding of God that brings me to the place where I utter the unfolding of the manifest. It's their encounter with God. You see, when they had a perception of God. The perception of God leads to an encounter. It's just like in Isaiah chapter 6. When the prophet Isaiah saw the Lord. And it seems to us it was one of the Old Testament Christophanies of Christ. The Gospel of John says, he probably saw the Lord Jesus. And so what happened? When he saw the Lord. And when it happened. And he had this perception of God. It was an encounter with God. And you know what happened? When there was the perception and the revelation. Where they wanted to accomplish something for God. And as they had these exploits for God. My brethren, sister. The reason or the way to understand the Old Testament prayer. Is these three things. Their understanding of God. Their encounters with God. And the combination of those to bring them to exploits. Things that they did for God. And then they prayed. And when they prayed. The consequences of their prayer. Was based upon those three things. Have you studied the prayer of Jonah? In Jonah chapter 2. 16 references. Maybe 19 references to the Psalms. As he was praying. In the belly of a fish. And as he was praying. There was this understanding of God. There was the encounter that he had with God. There was the disobedience that he had. And he prayed. Classic example. Elijah. When he prayed to Noam Carmel. Only 56 words in the Hebrew language. And it was based upon three and a half years. Of the dealings of God in his life. You know. That's why someone. I think it was Mr. McLeod. Someone in one seat. You only need to spend five minutes with someone in prayer. And you know exactly where they stand with God. Because as they pray. You discover the depths of the dealings. Of the spirit of God in their heart. My brother and my sister. Can I ask you this morning. You know we prayed. I think last night. That God creates. Alan Rippa used to say. God always creates a hospital for those who. Who are allowed to be hurt. You know. And I want to tell you something. When we deal with the concept of revival. You think whatever you want. But God is going to allow you to go through the fires. You say why? Because he's consumed with his glory. And there is no easy way when it comes to that. It's going to cost the death. A thousand deaths. Again. And again. And again. It's very very costly. You know. So what happens? It's the fish. Of God. And the vision leads to the understanding of the word burden. You know. Responsible for the righteousness of God. And you know. We are in the New Testament. And oh. The sermon and amounts. How precious it is. But the attitudes. Deal with the imputed righteousness of God. The rest of the sermon and amounts. Speaking to us. About the unparalleled righteousness of God. And when you study the prayer of Abram. In the Old Testament. Brother and sister. What happened? You remember when he prayed. For Sodom and Gomorrah. He did not come to God. On the basis. Of the sin that was so relevant. And the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. No. You say what happened? He came to God. On the basis. Of his righteousness. And so when we come to God. On the basis. Of his righteousness. There is nothing. That stirs the heart of God. And so is the righteousness. Because brother and sister. That's why you can't separate. The answer of prayer. From the dealings. Of the spirit of God. In your own life. That's why we say to people. God. Spiritually. Then we are ourselves. Passionate about his righteousness. And so with this. That relationship. And you remember Jesus. And what we call the Lord's Prayer. Which is not really the Lord's Prayer. Brother and sister. It's the prayer that he taught his disciples. To pray. It's not a prayer that he necessarily. Want us to repeat. You say why not? Because Matthew Chapter 6. Is not the same as Luke Chapter 11. You see what I say. He gives us the ingredients. Of developing a personal. Private prayer life. He spoke in Matthew Chapter 6. He spoke about the continuity. Of God in prayer. He said when you pray. You are going to say. Oh Father. Oh God. Christ did not use the Greek word. No no no. When he spoke about the Father. He used the Aramaic word. And he introduced us to the righteousness. Of the Fatherhood of God. And I wonder this morning. You know. Three legs to prayer. My burden for Canadian Roll Fellowship. You know. Janice and myself. We're just playing together there. And to be honest with you. I really don't want you. To misunderstand me. But you know. We are kind of a young stick. In this organization. That doesn't mean. That you aren't in years. It means. You're growing. And let me tell you. If you are on in years. This morning. Don't you ever think. Your life is nothing worth more. For God. You know. That great statement. In Acts chapter 2. When Peter got up. And he spoke. And he said. In the last days. God said. I will pour out my spirit. Upon all flesh. And he said. Your sons and your daughters. Shall prophesy. And then he made. This profound statement. He said. Your old men. Shall dream dreams. And this is the theological. Perception of that statement. Your old men. Shall dream dreams. This is why. Those of you. Who are on in years. And say. I want to tell you. We can't do without you. I mean. I don't know. What would happen. He said. What does it mean? Your old men. Shall dream dreams. You know what it is? It's when those men. Who have been through the fires. And they proved God. And they trusted God. And they seen the workings. Of the spirit of God. And those of us. We want you to mentor us. We want you to speak to us. We want you to explain. To us. The greatness. That's why. I'm totally against it. This thing. That we take. Young people. Already afraid. This burden. Free. I ask you this morning. Is there. That sense. Of vision. Observation. Affects. Intercession. You know. The prophet. In the old testament. Said. My eyes. Has affected. My heart. Jesus did. The harvest. Is white. He said. The fields. Are ready. You know what he said. He said. Look. That's when we see. Through the eyes of God. We see. The possibilities. You know. That's why Christ. When he look at the life. Of Simon Peter. And he said to him. You know. I'm going to change. Your name. I'm going to call you Peter. He spit out. He started a rock. He said. Upon this rock. There was a man. Who melted. In the presence. Of course. He couldn't face. Their wishes. But Christ. Looked upon him. And he said. And then he said. I prayed for you. In the first. Concept of the Greek language. And you remember. Matthew chapter 5. What a great statement. Jesus said. Blessed are the pure in heart. Why did he say that. You know what he said. Blessed are the pure in heart. For. They shall start. You've got the joy. Of being involved. In about. Coming close to 40 countries. But there are certain countries. That just grips your heart. You know. Rabbi Zechariah. We said. Obey me. A couple of. Number of years ago. Speaking to the Albanian. Parliament. Now. 51 years. Of a brutal communist. Dictatorship. And a total. Fall in mentality. Albania. The average income. Is 30 Canadian. Dollars a month. There are Friday. There are weekend nights. Then people know. About this. That in the streets. Of the city of Karana. Of 800,000 people. A city. That people would go. In them nights. And they look. For stray cats. And dogs. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And when you look at those aspects of the Old Testament, and here comes the life of Christ, and the Hebrew language for one of the words of prayer, three times, look upon the Messiah, and they call Him a prophet. And here comes Christ, and His performance, and His principles as it relates to speaking to us about waiting upon God. And you know what happens? One of those great concepts that the prophets in the Old Testament, and you know what the prophets did? The burden of the Lord was upon me. The burden of the Lord was upon me. I learned to pray on a mountain farm in Africa. We met in South Africa recently. I went back to this little mountain. Some years ago Janice and Monica went with me, and we came close to the mountain. And there was a moment, and people have often asked me about those black men that spend those days and those nights in prayer. Oh, I tell you, they had a spirit of prayer. And brother and sister, sometimes they stayed there for 40 days and 40 nights. Petrus Malipa, I was looking up his family when I was in that area a number of months ago in South Africa, and I was trying to find some of his family. Andrew Murray has prayed, they say, around 500 of his descendants right into the ministry and into the kingdom of God. And people often say to me about these black men that so knew the burden of God, and the vision of God, and the sins of God. I mean, Petrus Malipa took a little African, and Petrus Malipa was a Presbyterian, a black Presbyterian minister, but he was a student of the Puritans, and they had this understanding of the character of God in prayer. And he took this little black boy to this mountain, and he suffered from polio, and he spent five days in prayer and fasting. And God gave him a work. I mean, he didn't do all the funny things that we hear about. God gave him a work that he was going to heal this boy. And he went to this boy, and he didn't even lay hands upon him. He just prayed over him. And the Spirit of God touched that boy and healed him. And he's healed up until today. People often say, what do you think about these black men? And I say to them, I don't think I will see them in heaven one day. They say, oh, what do you mean? I mean, are you a racist? I say, no. They say, why do you say you will never see them in heaven? And what I say to people, ah, they'd be so close to the throne of God, I won't be able to see them. Well, ask that you ask God to give you a vision of the possibilities of your own life. You know, sometimes we're so hard on ourselves, Brethren and Sisters. I mean, you're talking about, I can speak out of experience. You know, I'm one of these people, I need consistent encouragement. Consistent encouragement. You say, what is it? Because sometimes we're so hard on ourselves. You know what, John, you can see, man, this is great. You know, John, you can see, whenever we are really hard on ourselves, we're always soft on people. But you know, when we're really soft on ourselves, you know what happens to us? It's that we're so hard on people, you know. It's sometimes we view it as slandering. Slandering is when I say something behind someone's loose tradition. Loose tradition. I say to the Prophets in the Old Testament, the burden of the Lord was upon me. Oh, can I ask you this morning, our time is gone. Can I ask you this morning, do we still have a burden for God? A burden? Dr. Sybil Baxter and Alan Redpath, these two men were in Charlotte Chapel in Scotland, in Edinburgh. Charlotte Chapel fell apart. You can see probably about 2,000 people at Charlotte Chapel in Edinburgh. Charlotte Chapel fell apart before their days. And there were two ladies in Charlotte Chapel who got underneath the burden of God. And they were praying this thing through. And do you know what they did, brother and sister? They dissect the burden of God. Listen. If God will bring to us, you know this word, Hebrew word, masal. It's a wonderful word. It's based upon revelation. Coming out of the life of Moses. When he faced the burning bush and the revelation of God. And he was caught between the revelation of God and the revelation God said, I see the need of my people. And he was caught between these two. And now Moses had to respond. And listen. When you want to find a Christian or an intercessor that has a burden for God. And you begin to talk to that person. Do you know what? You discover the nine reactions or the responses that came out of the life of Moses. Now in 40 years he was prince in Egypt. And 40 years he was pastor in Midian. And after 80 years God came to Moses. And nine times he responded. That's the consequences of the revelation of God and the revelation of the need of the people. And Moses did it. And nine different things he said to God. And you know, you study those nine boxes. And brother and sister, you find the characteristics of the intercessor. And do you know what he said? He said, Who am I that I should go? The impossibility of doing this for God. The burden of God. The revelation of God. You know, we shared in the board meeting yesterday. And I can't remember if we shared it last night. But because of this beautiful reality of the land of Peru. And these Peruvians. And they are just such precious people. You go to these different countries. And certain countries just crawl in your heart. And these Peruvians. I mean, if you go to Peru or you go to Lima. When Eugene spoke last night about 75 churches. That's not the country. That's just Lima. And you go and preach there on a Sunday. You spoke at seven or eight services of a thousand people each. And these people are so desperately hungry for God. But when you go to these countries, it's the burden. It's the vision of those countries. And it's the burden of what this is all about. Now, we are in Canada. There are young people in our Bible colleges all over this land. Do you know why? They long for a little organization like this. It's got a passion for God. And it's not because we are better than other people. No. It's because He has entrusted unto us the burden for the Bible. And so God needs to take us to this country. But brother and sister, we can't bring them into a little organization like the Canadian Bible Fellowship. And throw them down a shaft, a main shaft. There need to be ways that we can collect them as they fall into the depths of the realities. We caught them as they come. There are these outlets in different areas that they are gifted. That God has gifted them. And God wants them to minister. And we need to create the avenues for them to minister in the areas that God has given to them. The burden of the Lord is on me. One New Testament Council. 248 wonderful passages in the New Testament speaking to us about prayer. 233 verses out of the writings of the Apostle Paul. You know Paul, he never heard Christ prayed. Remember in Luke chapter 11, Jesus was praying in a certain place. And one of the disciples came to him and said, Lord, will you teach us to pray? Can I ask you a question this morning? I want to ask myself this question. Brother and sister, when last did someone come to us? And said, will you teach me how to pray? So there's 248 passages. And Paul, he never heard Jesus prayed. No. Not from what we know about. He never heard Christ preach. And so when you come to Paul's theology of prayer, you say, what is it? It's 233, 2,033 verses in his epistles. You know the longest epistle in the New Testament, it's not Romans. Romans is like 433 verses. You say, which is the longest one? 437 verses. Which is 1 Corinthians. So why is it so long? But your Paul never heard Christ prayed. So what happens? He had this encounter with Christ on the way of the Messiah. So you look at 2,033 verses, brother and sister, out of that 7,937 verses, those verses are the epistles of the Apostles. Now! He wrote it in Hebrews, and it was translated by Hebrews. And the epistles of Hebrews to the writings of the Gospel of Luke and Acts of the Apostles. Maybe there is a corresponding factor. And you bring all of that together, and Paul begins to speak of prayer. But you know what he's given you? He was to Pharisee, he sat at the feet of Gamaliel. Gamaliel was one of the most outstanding teachers in Paul's time. And he had to be a brilliant student to sit at the feet of Gamaliel. And so when he sat at the feet of Gamaliel, and he found Christ, and he went to Arabia for what was his three years, whatever it was, now Paul begins to write in prayer. And do you know what he does? He gives you the word of the Old Testament, because he was Pharisee. He gives you the indwelling of the life of Christ. And he brings these two together. And he gives you an aspect of New Testament theology of prayer. Brother and sister, that will blow every circuit in your mind. I mean, it will give you a new lease on life. Do you see what he says? He spoke about the Holy Spirit. Ah, you see what happened. Jesus came in the Gospel of Luke. Do you remember what he said? He said, if we then who are evil, know how to give good gifts unto our children. He said, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him. You know the structure of the Greek language is so static. Listen to this. He said, how much more. Now when he said, if you then who are evil, know how to give good gifts. If you study that word evil, and you go, and we get there in a moment, in Romans chapter 8, you discover what he was speaking of. But he said, how much more. Because the prophet Zechariah says in the Old Testament, God said to those days, I will pour out of the spirit of supplication. Out of the grace of God flows the Holy Spirit. How much more shall your heavenly Father, and this is the hardest. He said, how much more shall your heavenly Father keep on giving the Holy Spirit to those who keep on asking. It is stressed in the imperative moment. Paul came in Ephesians chapter 6, and what did he say? He gave us the armor of God. Brother and sister, I am not sure if prayer is a weapon. He said, what do you mean? I think prayer is a battlefield. He gave us the armor of God. The greatness of His spiritual glory. And he said, now you are going to move forward? How are you going to do it? He said, with all prayer and supplication in the spirit. And Jude came in his biblical sermon and he said, praying in the Holy Spirit. And here comes Paul. And do you know what he said in Romans 8? He said, then he said, for now no condemnation to those who have Christ Jesus. Walk not out of the flesh but out of the spirit. And then he said, for what the Lord could not do that it was dead who sinned. God came and enlightened us of sinful place. Christ came and enlightened us of sinful place. And false sin condemned for sinning. And here comes the secret. The spirit of life has made us free from the law of sin and death. And here is the heart of it. Romans 8. He said, the spirit. And forgive me for saying this. I don't want you to misunderstand me. I love the Old King James Version of the Bible. And that is what I have been memorizing through the years. But even I say this, there is a mistranslation in this country. When he said, the spirit itself helped our infirmities. In the Greek history, it is the passion of the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 4. When Paul said, grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed unto the day of redemption. And the context of the Greek language is speaking about the deity of the Holy Spirit. He said, you grieve the Spirit of God because of his sensitivity, because of his sanctity, and because of his sufficiency. And here is Romans Chapter 8. He said, the spirit himself. He spoke about the Holy Spirit as a person. The spirit himself. What does he mean? He helped our infirmities. You know Bisa. I love it. Bisa was the contemporary of John Calvin. By the way, everything that John Calvin said wasn't wrong. You know what is the problem? People take him a lot further than he ever went himself. Bisa was the contemporary of John Calvin. And do you know what Bisa said? I love this statement. He said, this word, the spirit is helping our infirmities. Brother and sister, it is so precious, you need to get it. He said, the spirit is helping our infirmities. He said, in the classical Greek. The classical Greek gives us great illustrations. There is a liberal theologian by the name of William Barclay. I mean, you can read him, but you need to be careful what you read. And he has got these outstanding illustrations that he is using. And he is getting them out of the classical Greek. And this is it. In the classical Greek, this illustration comes up. This helping of the spirit. And he said, this is what happened. There is a man. And he is not strong. But he is cut down a tree. And he said, when he cut this tree down. Now what happens? He is cutting the branches down of this tree. And as he cut the branches down, here is this long tree. Now this little man wants to take this tree and move it to a point. But he can't. He doesn't have the strength. And you know all that he is able to do, Bishop said. He is able to go to the right end of the tree. And he is able to lift this tree up. And that is all he can do. And then Bishop said, here comes the Greek language. He said, someone else come who is a lot stronger than him. And he said, I am going to help you. I am going to help you. And the little man said, how are you going to help me? And he said, Bishop, I will tell you what. Can you lift up the light into this tree? And the little man said, yes, I can do that. And the man said, can you lift it as high as you possibly can? And the little man said, yes, I can. He said, what I want you to do is to lift it up as high as you can. And he said, so what will happen? He said, you lift it up and you leave the rest to me. And that strong man came. And he gets underneath that tree stump. And he gets to the place where he can balance it. And when he balanced it and he straightens up, he lifts it up. And he said to the little man, I can't carry this tree without you. I want you to hold the balance. He said, but we are going to move this load forward. That's the Holy Spirit helping our infirmities. It's interceding. Interrupt is the Latin word. Stepping in between. Facing the fullness of the context. And he's interceding for us. How is he doing that? With groanings. That's the word that cannot be uttered. We are free. In the relationship with God. The greatest burden of this precious little life of mine in our hearts is that we will never become a bus, a passenger in the bus of Canadian Revival Fellowship. We have the same burden upon our hearts when we were praying for God to give us a child. We only had one daughter. And we cried to God and we said, God, we don't want to have a child if we are going to populate hell. And I wonder about you this evening. This little organization, hey, this is a great organization. We need the burden of God. And the visions. And the brokenness. And the saturation. And the intoxication. And you know what we need? We need unction. Unction. Unction. And we need to know that there's no power without spirit. Father, we thank you this morning for this precious, precious little time. And we are just so grateful that we are serving a God who is able to do far above that which we can think. And Father, we feel so inadequate. And we feel so small. And yet we are so precious to you. And Father, you know upon many of our hearts is there a deep longing that God will give us a wonderful breakthrough. Not just in our own relationships with you. Or our relationships with our fellow men or our family. But in our relationship to the organization that we are part with. And I thank you for the great anticipation in my heart of the things that God is going to be able to do in the days to come. Through this little work called Canadian Revival Fellowship. Thank you this Saturday morning that the future is just as bright as the promises of God. Thank you that the will of God will never leave us. For the grace of God is not able to keep us.