In this sermon, the speaker shares a story about a young boy who was on the verge of death and desperately wanted to know how to meet God. The headmaster and the boy's father were unable to provide an answer, but then they remembered a friend who had been saved through a football stadium campaign. The speaker emphasizes the importance of evangelism and how even a young boy can be instrumental in leading others to Christ. The sermon also touches on the idea of following God's guidance, even if it means leaving behind prestige and comfort.

I'm reading in Acts 8, please, and then Acts chapter 10. Acts 8. And Saul was consenting unto his death, and at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And devout men carried Steve into his burial, and it made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering into every house, and hailing men and women, committing them to prison. Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. And the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits, crying with loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them, and many taken with palsies, and that were lame were healed. And there was great joy in that city. And then, verse 26. And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. And he arose and went, and behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority, under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship, was returning. And sitting in his chariot, read Isaiah the prophet. Then the spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and glue thyself to this chariot. Stick at it, and don't leave him until he is saved. Go near, and glue thyself, join thyself to this chariot. And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Isaiah, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come and sit with him. The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and like a lamb done before his shearer, so he opened he not his mouth. Verse 35 for brevity. Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus. And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water. And the eunuch said, See, here is water. What doth hinder me to be baptized? And Philip said, If thou believest with all mine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. And he commanded the chariot to stand still. And they went both down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch. And he baptized him. And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip. Now the eunuch saw him no more, and he went on his way rejoicing. A beautiful picture of us gathering the last soul to Christ, and then raptured home to glory. And wouldn't you like to be raptured home to glory in the act of winning a soul for the Lord Jesus? That's a beautiful picture. And then in the 10th chapter, in the 10th chapter, there was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, a devout man and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people and prayed to God always. He saw in a vision evidently about the ninth hour of the day an angel of God coming into him and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on him, he was afraid and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter. He lodges with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the seaside. He shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do. What an awful smell for a godly Jew to live with a tanner. And it seemed as if this was the Spirit's preparation for Peter bringing the gospel to the Gentiles. But verse 17 for brevity. Now while Peter doubted in himself what this vision which he had seen should mean, behold, the men which were sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon's house and stood before the gate, and called and asked whether Simon, which was surname Peter, was lodged there or were lodged there. While Peter thought in the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee. Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing. For I have sent them. Then Peter went down to the men which were sent unto him from Cornelius, and said, Behold, I am he whom ye seek. What is the cause wherefore ye are come? And they said, Cornelius, the centurion, a just man, and one that feareth God, and of good report among all the nations of the Jews, was warned from God by a holy angel to send for thee into his house and to hear words of thee. And then just for the sake of brevity, verse 33, Peter's preaching, To him give all the prophets witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins. While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard the word. Now, I want just to speak to you briefly this morning on what I call the partnership of Pentecost, or intimate fellowship with a third person of the Trinity. Now, you know it's the privilege of every believer to be guided day by day by the Holy Spirit of God. Now, I believe that we must have divine guidance in everything. If we talk about the Spirit-filled life, then we must talk about the Spirit-guided life. Because ye are sons, then we are told in Romans 8 that those who are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. And the way I know that I'm a son of God, that I have received the status of sonship, the spirit of adoption, is that I'm guided continually by the Holy Spirit. So, when we talk about the Spirit-filled life, we must also talk about the Spirit-guided life. Because it's my blessed privilege to be guided by the Holy Spirit day by day, week by week, month by month, and year by year. Now, when we talk about the fullness of the Holy Spirit or the Spirit-filled life, it means that we are going to be guided by the Holy Spirit in every department of our Christian experience. In every department of our private life, and every department of our public life, and every department of our social life, and also the assembly life. And, you know, that brings us into the realm of even our finances. Now, I believe, friend, that when I look back upon my ministry for the past 42 years, I believe that in almost every instance I was led and guided by the Holy Spirit. Now, I don't want you to think I'm standing up presumptuously. I'm only testifying to what is God's standard for us. My mother once said to me, she said, James, I don't think of sin for the past two months. I almost took a heart attack. But what my mother was saying to me, now she didn't stand up in the church and say that, but what she was saying to me was this, that so far as she knew, she had not sinned. So far as she knew, she was walking in unbroken fellowship and communion with our loving Heavenly Father. And I can remember when dear F.B. Meyer was an elderly gentleman over 80 years of age, saying that so far as he knew, he did not know of one day in his Christian life that he had not open access to the throne of grace. Now, that's possible. As we read in Romans 6, 14, sin shall not have dominion over you. And I believe, friend, that of course, as long as we're in this body of humiliation, and as long as we're only human, and we live in this fragile vessel of clay, we will make mistakes. But they will be sincere mistakes. Now, don't be afraid of making mistakes. Mistakes are stepping stones to heaven, one preacher said. Well, we ought to be there long ago. But when a brother makes a mistake sincerely, don't hit him over the head with a hammer. You see, we're human. And I have made mistakes. In other words, sometimes I felt that I was guided by the Holy Spirit to do such a thing, and it was only my own human intuition or my own desire. And you see, many times you have to wait upon God for weeks and weeks and weeks. Until you know whether it is God's will or your own human inclination. I can remember God working a miracle for me. We were, the leaders of the missionary societies of Great Britain were called before government officials. During the time of the war. And they said to us, now, here are the certain mission fields in the world that you cannot send any money to. And my mission field of Europe was one of them. And yet, you see, I had made a commitment with about 50 national evangelists in Eastern Europe that I would carry on their support. And now the government said, all your hope is absolutely cut off. You will not be allowed to send a single dollar or English pound to any of these men. And you know, my wife was evacuated. And my family, because of the bombing, she being an American, and sent back to Alabama. And you know, I waited upon God. And I was almost 100% sure it was God's will for me to come to America. And I told my mother. And mother said, James, the only reason why you want to go to America is because you want to be with your wife and family. And I said, no mother, I believe it is God's will for me. Because God has a plan. Now I believe, friend, that God has a plan for every day. I believe God has a plan for every meeting. God has a plan for every message. This takes the monotony out of the Christian life. This brings romance into meetings. But I went up to the top of the Cheviot Hills for three weeks. And lived in a quiet sheep farm. And glory be to God, about midday one day, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt it was God's will for me to come to America during the war. And I raced right down the mountain to my friends in the sheep farm and said, Hallelujah, I've got to go to the USA. And you know, they said, but how will you get to USA? Well anyhow, I went straight to London. And I went straight into the foreign office. And to see, I couldn't see Anthony Eden. And I prayed and God gave me two verses. With God all things are possible and nothing shall be impossible unto you. And one of the leaders of the British government said, a brother that knew me, he said, Brother Stewart, you think God will perform just a miracle just for you? I said, of course, I'm his child. Of course. I said, you can perform a miracle just for me. Well he said, first of all, no male person can leave Great Britain during the time of war who is over 16. And they said, you can get. And furthermore, not only will you not get permission to leave, but there's no way to get out to America. I said, why God could get me a plane all to myself or a boat all to myself. And you know, every office I went in, I quoted these verses. And then I told the men, the ungodly diplomats and others, this is the promise God gave me. And in a supernatural way, God got me here to America. And I had supreme guidance in that matter, even though everything was absolutely against me. Now, I'm trying to say this to you, that God will perform a miracle for you, my brother, my brother. I believe that. But you see, I had absolute divine guidance and I had to go alone, you see, because I had got to differentiate between my own human inclination to be with my family and to know that this was actually the voice of the Holy Ghost. Now we know that many people say, I felt like to do such a thing, and afterwards discovered that the insult of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost never told them to do that at all. It was our own human intuition or understanding. But I still believe that even though we are in this body of humiliation, that in almost every occasion we can know the mind of the Spirit. I believe that with all the depths of my heart. And as I have been supernaturally guided by the Holy Spirit since the Lord saved me, I believe and I expect to be supernaturally guided by the Holy Spirit right to the day I'm taken home to glory. That's the book. And so, what about the financial giving? Now this is for those of us who need money. You know, the Lord has been speaking to me more than ever the past few days about the Spirit-filled life, the Spirit-guided life. Every believer must be guided by the Holy Spirit where to place their money. And this is one of the romances of the Christian service, is to see this remarkable guidance of the Holy Spirit of God and how the need is met in a supernatural way. I was just reading the other day about my friend Paget Wilkes. He was evangelizing there in Japan in tremendous need. And suddenly the Holy Spirit said to him, I want you to send a brother who is evangelizing in Great Britain a certain sum of money. Now, it was not a large sum. It was a very small sum. But it was a very unusual sum of money. It went into pennies and half pennies. And you couldn't buy anything with a pen or a half penny in Britain. And so Paget Wilkes sent this money to the brother. And he said, dear brother, because this is such an unusual sum of money, will you please tell me why you need this money? And the brother wrote back and said, dear brother Wilkes, he said, this is just to tell you that I had a tremendous financial need. And God sent me deliverance, but I still needed this sum of money. And God moved you 9,000 miles away to send me this exact sum of money to pay this bill. Now, you see, the unconverted people couldn't believe such a story. They would say that was coincidence. No, friend, we believe it was absolutely supernatural. And many times we have had the joy, you could tell the same thing, of how you waited upon God and the sudden sum of money was needed. And you prayed that the Holy Spirit would guide the brothers and sisters anywhere in the world to meet that need in a supernatural way. They were guided by the Holy Spirit of God and your need was met. Oh, this is a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful truth. The Spirit guided life. Now, I believe that this is one of the most neglected themes in the church of Jesus Christ today. The partnership or the fellowship with the Holy Spirit. And this has been one of the most vital experiences of my life. To be guided and led by the Holy Spirit of God day by day. And you remember in the last of the second Corinthians in the apostolic benediction, the apostle Paul praised the grace of the Lord Jesus and the love of God the Father and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all. Now, embedded in this idea of communion is the thought of fellowship and partnership. Now, you prayed this prayer over and over again to various congregations, but have you really prayed it intelligently and fervently? That the communion, the fellowship, the partnership of the Holy Ghost be with you all. Did you really mean that when you prayed that prayer? Now, you know, the more intimate you know, the more intimate you know the person of the Holy Spirit of God, the more successful is your partnership going to be. And so, it is the blessed privilege of every believer to know in a deep, deep intimate way the blessed Holy Spirit of God. And so, we have example the wonderful prophecy of our blessed Lord Jesus in the four gospels in the upper room concerning this partnership. Because you remember in John 14, or rather John 15, we read these blessed words. But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth which proceeded from the Father, he shall testify of me. And then in the very same breath, the Savior says, and ye also shall bear witness of me. Because you have been with me from the beginning. Now, here is the prophecy. Before our Lord Jesus went to the cross, before he ascended to the Father's right hand, he made this grand prediction of the fellowship and the partnership of the individual believer with the Holy Ghost. He shall bear witness of me, and ye also. The Holy Ghost and the believer together bearing witness to the majestic person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, when you come in, for example, here in studying the four gospels, you discover to your astonishment that during the life of the Lord Jesus here on earth, he occupied exclusively, rather the Holy Spirit, during the life of the Lord Jesus Christ here on earth, occupied exclusively the person of the Lord Jesus. In other words, in the four gospels, the Holy Spirit exclusively occupied Christ. Now, this is remarkable. He exclusively occupied Christ in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. And I say it reverently. The Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit had a blessed partnership together. Now, you may say that's blasphemy. And I hope you do think that at the beginning, because anything that will take away or rob my Lord of any glory is blasphemy. And I must not exalt the Holy Spirit in order, I must not exalt the Holy Spirit over the Lord Jesus. But as I read the four gospels, I can only come to one conclusion, that the Lord Jesus was occupied exclusively by the Holy Spirit, and that the Lord Jesus Christ himself was working in partnership with the Holy Spirit. Because when, for example, you go into Luke's gospel, you can begin there in Luke chapter 3, you discover that he received his anointing. Now, he was anointed, you see, for his inauguration of his ministry. And that was a special endowment or baptism of power. Now, and what happened after that? We read, for example, in the fourth chapter of Luke's gospel, and I think it's quite remarkable to find out this blessed partnership, because it really thrills my soul. It says there in Luke's gospel, chapter 4, And Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. Verse 14, And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee. So, we can see reverently that our Lord Jesus Christ worked in holy partnership with the Holy Spirit of God. And they were so one together in their ministry that the Lord Jesus Christ himself is called by the Holy Spirit. Isn't that astonishing? The Lord Jesus Christ himself is called by the Holy Spirit. For example, you have in Romans 8 and 9, and 1 Peter 1 and 11, the expression, the Spirit of Christ. And then you remember you have in Galatians 4 and 6, the Spirit of his Son. And then in the original Greek, in Acts 16, 7, the Spirit of Jesus suffered him not. The Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of his Son, and the Spirit of Jesus. And the Lord Jesus Christ is called after the Holy Spirit. Now, why is he called the Spirit of his Son? Why is he called the Spirit of Jesus? Why is he called the Holy Spirit? Why is he called, for example, the Spirit of his Son? The Holy Ghost so occupied and so wrought with and through the Lord Jesus Christ that they were one together. I say it reverently. And if my blessed Lord Jesus worked in such intimate fellowship with the Holy Spirit in his ministry, then if I am going to be successful, if I am going to fulfill the Father's plan for my life, I must also work in fellowship and partnership with the Holy Spirit. And so, if I am going to fulfill God's plan for my life, I must know this blessed partnership. And so, they were told that they would enter into a new experience at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit would come. And so, my ministry is only a continuation of the ministry of the Lord Jesus. Now, if that doesn't humble you to death, nothing will. As the Father has sent me into the world, so also sent I you into the world. And so, our ministry is only a continuation of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as the blessed Lord Jesus was energized and controlled by the Holy Spirit of God, it is our privilege in 1966 to be energized and controlled by the very same Holy Spirit. I have emphasized again and again here at Milldale that one of the wonders of Pentecost is that the very same Holy Spirit of God, who indwelt the Lord Jesus Christ, indwells us. That is a miracle. That is the status of sonship. Now, will you just let me suggest this to you, that just in the measure you carry on in the continuation of the life of the Lord Jesus, will your ministry in life be made a blessing? And so, I would like just to have a short Bible study in Acts. Now, I believe the key verse in Acts is what our dear brother Blackburn mentioned last night, Acts 9.31. Because there we read, they walked in the comfort of the Holy Ghost and were multiplied. Now, in other words, they walked in the Paraklesis of the Paraclete. They walked in the Paraklesis of the Paraclete. In other words, they walked in all the blessed ministries of the Holy Spirit. They walked in intimate day-by-day fellowship with the one called alongside to hell. And that should be the normal experience of every child of God, every church represented here. Your church, my brother. Your assembly that you minister over. The assembly should walk in the comfort of the Holy Ghost. They should walk in the Paraklesis of the Paraclete. They should walk in intimate fellowship and communion with the Holy Ghost. Now, will you just come with me back to Acts 1 in 8. And you would say, maybe that's the key verse in the book of Acts. Now, the Lord Jesus says, don't take a step, don't raise a finger. Don't do anything until the Holy Ghost comes. Carry ye in Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high. But ye shall receive power when the Holy Ghost is come. And then you'll begin at Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and you won't stop until you go to the uttermost part of the earth. Now, why could they not go? You could imagine Peter so impulsively saying, oh, why must I wait? Why must I wait? Why can't I go out and evangelize myself? Souls are perishing, going to hell. I must tell them the good news. And yet they were told to wait for the simple reason they had to wait until the Holy Ghost came because they had to enter, according to the prophecy of the Lord Jesus, they had to enter into a vital fellowship and partnership with the Holy Spirit. And then, of course, nobody could be saved apart from the Holy Spirit. Now, nobody could be saved apart from the Holy Spirit. They could have preached and preached and preached and preached, but they would only have psychological converts, sham converts, bastards and not sons. And they would be damning souls instead of saving souls. Because only the Spirit of God's anointing upon you, my brother, can bring conviction of sin and the miracle of regeneration in the hearts of your listeners. And so, here is another verse. Don't go. Don't do a thing, but you wait for the Holy Ghost to come. And then when the Holy Ghost comes together, you'll work in fellowship concerning my gospel. And so the Holy Spirit of God was given in the day of Pentecost for one specific purpose, and that was to empower the disciples to take the gospel to every creature. Now, if somebody asked you in your church, what is true evangelism? Could you give them an answer in one sentence? What is true evangelism? Well, I think we could say that true evangelism, whether here in America or in Mexico or anywhere else in the world, true evangelism is working in fellowship, in partnership with the Holy Ghost. What for? For the completion of the body of Christ. So that's the simple definition. And then we come to Acts 5.31, and just in case that you think that we don't see, this is not a truth and I'm making it up, but in Acts 5.31 we read these words. Peter is preaching, and he says, Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a savior, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are his witnesses of these things, and so also is the Holy Ghost. Don't you like that? And we are his witnesses of these things, and so also is the Holy Ghost. And then if you will kindly come to chapter 8. Come to chapter 8. Here is this dear blessed man, Philip, and he goes off on his own. He's just a deacon. He shouldn't have gone because he's not an ordained pastor. But he didn't know very much. He was a little bit naive, and he went off on his own, and he went down to Samaria, and he had a revival all to himself. And he preached Christ, and there was much joy in that city. Oh, I can remember in 1932 or 1933, I came to Thessalonica, and I said to the church there, I said, Where's the preacher? Oh, they said, James, we don't know. I said, What? You don't know? Is he ill? Is he dying? Is he dead? Or was he in heaven or what? They said, Don't know. Well, I said, You ought to know. Where's your preacher? Oh, they said, So they started to ask each other, James wants to know where the pastor is. They didn't know. He'd been off for a year and forgotten all about them. And I said to them, Well, I can understand. Don't you need a preacher? No, no, no. They said, We've got about 200 others can preach just the same. Can you see? And after I finished that Sunday morning, they all gathered around me with their Bibles, their Greek Bibles, and they were telling me what I ought to have said and so on. And they said to me, We just go off on our own. I said, What are you? Oh, he says, I'm a mechanic. Well, he says, I go off for a month's campaign by myself, and he's a butcher. He often goes off. We met a brother there later, and he was, you know what his job was? Sweeping the dung, the cow's dung off the village street. And he was the one, the one that finestly vanished the whole of Greece. He earned about $5 a week. And he went off on his own, having revivals. Well, that's New Testament Christianity. Praise God. And anyhow, suddenly the angel speaks and says, Arise and go toward the south, unto the way that goes down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert. Now, he could have said, Oh Lord, you know, you can get some other desert evangelist. Lord, I'm a massive evangelist. I'm a citywide evangelist. And Lord, I would lose my prestige if I went down to a desert. Lord, a desert? Haven't you got any other desert evangelist beside? Lord, I just couldn't go. And Lord, you know, I would be wasting my ability down there. I ask you this morning, are you fruitless? Now, this brings in the women. A lot of dear pastors, a lot of dear evangelists can't do the will of God, can't obey the Holy Ghost because of their wives. So that's a tragedy. Now, please remember, we're not talking, we talk about the faith of Abraham. I talk about the faith of Abraham's wife. She had more faith than he. Because sometimes the wife has to follow the husband, and follow him in the blind and the dark, sometimes because he's the head of the house and God gives him the guidance usually. And she has to follow blindfoldedly, if it were, in faith and following her husband. And we thank God for all these wonderful faithful wives. And when you get, I'm diverting just now, when you get into a place of blessing, dear brother, try and bring your wife into the place of blessing with you. Sit down and talk over things and pray over things. And work together. But isn't it, is it possible for you just to obey God right now? Are you willing to obey God right now? I mean, if the Holy Ghost sent you to a desert, would you be willing to go? And you know, this dear man must have had remarkable faith. Because you know, he wasn't told what he was going to find in the desert. He had remarkable faith. And he got down to the desert and he said, Now Holy Spirit, I'm down here and what is thy work for me? And glory be to God, friend, here's the chariot coming. Now I don't know if you've ever been in a desert. I have. And the most amazing thing, remarkable thing to me about the whole story is the split-second guidance. You know, that chariot could have five minutes or ten minutes difference in time. We've never seen that chariot. But the Holy Ghost makes no mistakes. And many times the Holy Ghost will call you from a great place of blessing to win one soul to soul for Jesus Christ. We're an old Presbyterian minister and we're evangelizing in that town just now in Scotland. And this old Presbyterian minister over a hundred years ago was asked by his elders to leave, to resign. They said no souls have been saved. Of course, they wouldn't talk that way now in Scotland, the Presbyterians. That was the old days. And they said, No souls have been saved. And we think you ought to resign. You're old. You're over 70. And the old brother broke down weeping. But he said, What about Bobby? What about Bobby? Oh, they said, Bobby, he's just a youngster, 12 years of age. But you see, Bobby became Robert Moffat. An even greater mission than David Livingston to my mind. And of course, David Livingston married Robert Moffat's daughter. Only Bobby. And we must not despise the dee of small things. Many times you look down and say, Oh, that brother's work, it's nothing, it's so small. It might be even bigger than you, what the looks make. In other words, the whole message of this, I must obey the Holy Ghost. Because I'm working in partnership. I'm working in fellowship for the completion of the body of Christ. And in all probability, the winning of that one man for Christ was far greater blessing than that mighty revival in Samaria. And you know, I say this because I'm getting old, so you'll pardon me, but you know, when I went and told the evangelist, you know, that I was saved, he didn't listen to me. And because it was really three Evangelistic meetings, I was saved there, I wasn't saved in the church. I stayed in the football stadium. But it was the prayers and the Evangelistic campaign that went on at that time that won me to Christ. And when I went up and told the evangelist, he smiled and patted me and he said, God bless you, Sonny. But he didn't count me in the congress. You see, I was only a boy at 14. But oh brother, that dear brother was so glad to count me in the congress later. But I was only a boy. They didn't count me in. And so it wasn't a small thing. And you see, there's split-second guidance. Isn't it amazing? He was guided and there was a chariot and the Holy Ghost said, go glue thyself to the chariot. That's why I called you away from Samaria. I want you to win this man for Christ. And the man was reading Isaiah. And of all places, the 53rd chapter. And he had the supernatural words to say to that man. I can remember one day I was traveling in a train in England. And I went into the luncheon car. I was on the way to London. And I prayed to the Holy Ghost, just guide me where I sit. And the Lord said, you sit there. And I sat there. And right across the table from me was a, oh, one of the worst kind of English women. And she was high society, I could tell, and ain't no one haughty. And I said, oh Lord, I said, I'll never get a word in that way. And I said, Lord said, you go on, I'll help you. And I said, good afternoon, madam. She said, good afternoon. And I said, lovely day. Yes. And that was all I could get from her. Well, we're coming to the end of the meal. And I said, Lord, I said, I'll never land her. I'm going to get a word in anyway. And there's that now. Then the Holy Ghost, I said, Lord, what shall I say? And the Holy Ghost said, you tell her the story. And I said, no. I said, tell her that story. I said, she will not listen. I can't even get a word in it. She looks at me, and she's angry already. And she's disturbing. And you tell me to tell the story. I said, go ahead. Are you my servant or not? I said, yes, Lord. Well, you tell her the story. So I told the story of a friend of mine who was 17 years of age. He was in a school. And it was a private school for exclusive children, boys. And the boys were playing up on the top of the roof against, of course, the headmaster's permission. And one accidentally fell. And he crashed to the cement beneath. And he was headed to the hospital. And we became conscious that this guy was dying. The doctor said, you have only an hour to live. And his father was gathering the mother and the friends around. And he said, oh, you've taught me everything, but you haven't taught me how to die, he said to the schoolmaster. Oh, please tell me how I can meet God. And the headmaster couldn't tell him. And his father couldn't tell him. And then the headmaster remembered my friend Robert, 17 years of age. And he sent for Robert. And Robert came hurriedly. And the headmaster said, so and so is dying there. And he said, have you got your testament? He said, yes, sir. Well, go and tell him how he can meet God. And I told the story of how my friend Robert came in and everyone went out. And Robert read the scriptures, John 3, 16, and then how the boy was saved. Well, of course, I knew the woman wasn't interested, you see, so I wasn't looking at her. I was looking out the window and I said, oh, ho, ho, ho, ho. Suddenly, I felt something grabbing with her arm. And she said, do you know who I am? I said, no, madam, I don't know who you are. Well, why don't you tell me the story? Well, I said, to tell the truth, I said, the Holy Ghost told me to tell you the story. She said, the Holy Ghost, she said, the Holy Ghost must have told you to tell you the story. I said, well, do you know? I said, why? She said, I said, do you know the story? Yes, she said, my children went to that school. And we were 300 miles away from the place, traveling at 100, almost 100 miles an hour in the train. And she said, I want to tell you, she said, did you know that headmaster was so ashamed that he couldn't help our boy die that he searched all around the churches to find Christ and he found Christ in the Salvation Army opening meeting. And you see, I believe, friend, that I had the right message for that woman. Now, this is the supernatural guidance. And then, you know, you can hurry on, for example, in the 10th chapter. Here's another Gentile. He's religious, but he's not saved. And you know, he's praying, O God, O send forth thy light and thy truth. O God, I want to be saved. Lord, I'm seeking after thee. And then the Holy Spirit says, Philip, or Peter, you go, you go. And you know, Philip goes there. And what do we discover? We discover that Philip begins to preach. And here we find a prepared heart, you see, and a prepared messenger. Have you ever had that experience? God working at both ends? I remember, I think I was just a few days saved. I was very, a little, I didn't know too much about the Holy Spirit, but I remember I started off to carry my text this Saturday afternoon. And I said, Lord, I'll go to the ball game, a soccer football game. There'd be a hundred thousand people there. And I said, Lord, this would be a wonderful way for me to placard the text. And the Holy Ghost said, don't go. And I was walking toward the ball game. The Holy Spirit said, don't go there. And he directed me into the center of the city of Glasgow. And I began preaching and carrying my text. And then the Holy Ghost said, you go to that big gospel tent. And there was a large gospel tent near my chum jock troop preaching there. But I said, Lord, there's no use going in there. And I said, there's nobody in there. And the crowds are not here, Lord. The crowds would be the football stadium, a hundred thousand. The Lord said, don't you argue with me. You go inside that tent. And I said, Lord, the tent's empty. There's nobody there. The Lord said, you go inside that tent. I said, Lord, fancy, because I think I'm stupid. Carrying gospel placards inside an empty tent. Seating two thousand people, nobody in the tent. But the Lord said, you go in the tent. And I went in the tent. And I walked around the tent. And I started to preach around the tent. And I thought, well, I'm just obeying the Lord anyhow. But I said, I hope nobody comes in. And then I turned around and sure enough, here's a man walking toward me. And the poor fellow thought he'd seen a ghost. And he, then he said, and then he stopped and he looked at me and looked at me, looked at me. And then he broke down weeping. I said, what are you weeping for, Oh, he said, you know, I was going to go to the football game. I said, well, I said, we're friends. So was I. He said, you with that? I said, yes, with that. I said, I was going to witness. But he said, you know, I've been under an awful conviction of sin for weeks. But he said, I couldn't go to the football game today. And he said, when does this game service start? I said, you see it outside inside the civil court tonight. Oh, he said, I can't wait tonight. I may be in hell tonight. Oh, he said, son, he said, you're only short trousers on, but could you tell an old, wicked, miserable sinner like me out of his size? I said, sir, that's my business. And you say, and that man, I had the joy of seeing that man grow in grace from the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. And that man later became a deacon in my mother's Baptist church. Now, you see, every one of us could go on that way. Now, I want to hurry just quickly. You'll find there in verse 43 that we read that the Holy Ghost fell when he was in pedo-preaching in Cornelius' household. The Holy Ghost fell upon everyone that heard the word. Now, under Jewish law, there had to be two witnesses. And glory be to God, the Holy Ghost was the second witness here. In the word of two witnesses, every word shall be established. And, you know, when I was preparing some material for my little book on Spurgeon, I remember how that some who heard Spurgeon, some of the children of the deacons told me, they said, James, that we who knew Spurgeon intimately, we knew that when he was preaching that he was praying more than preaching. And especially when he was coming near the end of his message, he was sending out SOS telegram prayers to the Holy Ghost. O Holy Ghost, corroborate thy word. O Holy Ghost, corroborate thy word. And every man of God, as he ministers, he must wait for the second witness, the corroboration of the Holy Ghost. Because without the corroboration of the Holy Ghost, all our ministry is absolutely in vain. And so, what a tremendous blessing Peter would have missed if he hadn't gone and preached to Cornelius. It opened up salvation in that whole household. I was yesterday reading Tolstoy's life the other day because I have to keep up in European history and Russian history and so on, Chinese history. And I was reading about Tolstoy the other day. And you know that Tolstoy spent the last days of his life going from pilgrimage, religious pilgrimages from one Greek Catholic monastery to another, one Russian Orthodox monastery to another. And he died, so far as we know, without finding the Savior. But a friend of mine, Pastor Malo, of our Russian Bible Society, the Holy Ghost told him one day, go. And go and visit Tolstoy and tell him of the Savior. And he disobeyed the advice of the Holy Ghost. And so then when he wanted to go to obey the Holy Spirit, Tolstoy was dead. And that dear man of God, Pastor Malo, for I have written his life story called A Man in a Hurry, our greatest Russian Baptist, he vanished for the past 100 years. He is the founder of the first Baptist church in Moscow and another 200 Baptist churches in Russia. And he said to me, Brother James, he said, when as an elderly gentleman, he said, Brother James, that was the biggest mistake in my life when I did not instantaneously obey the voice of the Holy Ghost. I never got another chance. And there are many opportunities we have missed because we have not obeyed the voice of the Holy Spirit. Now I must finish because the time is gone. But if you want to pursue this subject, for example, you can go into the 13th chapter. This is not an individual believer. This is a local assembly. And as they are praying and fasting and ministering to the Lord, the Holy Ghost says, Separate me bones and soul for unto I have called them. There is no confusion. The Holy Ghost did not just tell the two men. He told the whole assembly. He did not just tell the whole assembly. He told the two men. And you notice there was no confusion. The Holy Ghost is calling you out into a new ministry. He is going to confirm that with some other brothers and sisters. There is no confusion. The Holy Ghost is not the art of confusion. And it will be established beyond a shadow of doubt that the Holy Ghost has called you. When I first went to Eastern Europe to Russia, everybody was against me going. And I read this scripture and I said, Lord, there is something wrong. Why haven't you told somebody else? Oh, Father, please confirm my call. And I got a letter from a brother in the north of Scotland, a pastor I did not know, saying, Dear Brother Stuart, the Holy Ghost revealed to me last night in a very definite way that you are a chosen vessel to bring the gospel to the nations of Eastern Europe. And stay by it. Stay by the calling. And that was a great comfort to me. Now, this is an individual assembly. And then you will notice that we are ministering the Lord when the Holy Ghost spoke to them. Now, we minister the gospel to the poor, we minister the gospel to the unsaved, but when do we minister the Lord? Now, the church has lost the art of ministering the Lord. You have heard dear Brother Dusty Rhodes mention again and again here in the past conference about the art of worship. And this is what we have lost in our churches. And I believe if we had this ministering the Lord, we would again and again hear the voice of the Holy Ghost. Now then, I just want to finish with this. You will find again in the fifteenth chapter, here are many assemblies together. It is the grand council of the church. And you remember James is the chairman, not Peter, and he sums up the theological discussion with these words, It seemed good to the Holy Ghost unto us. Now, when did the Southern Baptist Convention finish out that way? It says, you see, It seemed good to the Holy Ghost unto us. We would say for the sake of orthodox and world, it seemed good to Brother So-and-So and me and so on, and of course the Holy Ghost, better bring him in. I wonder, does it seem good to the Holy Ghost, the conditions in your church? Does it seem good to the Holy Ghost, the conditions in your personal life? Does it seem good to the Holy Ghost, the conditions in your ministry? Is the Holy Ghost pleased with everything? And then, I want to finish with this. In the sixteenth chapter, you have this partnership of Pentecost again. The partnership of the Holy Ghost to preach. Now, many times the Holy Ghost forbids us to preach. And when the Holy Ghost doesn't give you a message, keep your mouth closed. Never, never, brothers, stand up if you haven't got a message. Many times, I just simply say in Europe, I'm sorry, sometimes there are five thousand people there to hear me, I say, I'm sorry, I haven't got a message from God. Now, is there anything, is that wrong? No. Why? Not because there is a plan in the meeting. The Holy Ghost has a message from somebody else. And the Holy Ghost may call you to give the message. And so, we see here, we are forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach. And he was going back to where he had been before. But the Holy Ghost wanted to enter into new territory. And he got the Macedonian call to come to Europe. Now, if in the fourteenth chapter, we must have a definite call of the Holy Ghost to a particular mission field. In the sixteenth chapter, we learn, we must be the Lord of the Harvest, his dictate. We must work in fellowship with him in that mission field. And it wouldn't be wonderful if every one of us at home and abroad were all working in that fellowship and that glorious partnership with the Holy Spirit. Now, I wonder, could I have five minutes, you think, Jay? I'd just like to mention this to you that would be a real encouragement, a divine guidance. You know, I did everything in my own natural intelligence to evangelize Western Europe before I evangelized Eastern Europe. And when the Holy Ghost called me to evangelize Russia, the Eastern lands of Eastern Europe, the Russian lands, I was away up in the Orkney Islands. And if you look at the map of Scotland, the nearest city on the continent to the Orkney Islands is the city of Bergen, the third largest city in Europe, the third largest city in Norway. But I didn't get to Bergen until many, many years later, the nearest city to where I was called to go to Europe. And, you know, I even stopped evangelizing Eastern Europe once, and I began to evangelize in Amsterdam. And God was giving us about 5,000 people. And I was going to hire the large opera house every night. And I couldn't understand, there was no glory and no power in my ministry. You know why? I was in the wrong city. I was in the wrong country. I was going to evangelize Europe my way. And I had to leave in the midst of great blessings and go back to Eastern Europe. And the moment I went back to Eastern Europe, even a little handful of believers in Romania, I had such a peace and a glory possessing my being. And, you see, if I had began to evangelize Western Europe before evangelizing Eastern Europe, Eastern Europe would never have been evangelized. I didn't know the war would break out this way. I didn't know, friend, that the Soviets would move almost 1,000 miles inside Europe. And if I had been trying to evangelize Eastern Europe, no, I couldn't have. You see, we must never forget that the Holy Spirit has a divine strategy for the evangelization of America and the world. Some of us have been up at the Maranatha Bible Conference last summer, and we are in a prayerful fellowship with the Holy Spirit. We believe that God has a divine strategy for that minister there. We believe that God has a divine strategy for that minister right here in Milldale, and in your ministry, my brother. And we must find out that strategy. And with the result, you know, that we have more believers behind the Iron Curtain than we have in front of the Iron Curtain. That's God, isn't it? I can remember when I was burdened about Vienna. I had no money. I was in Czechoslovakia. And the Holy Ghost said, I want you to evangelize Vienna. It's a city of about two million people. I didn't know it so. And suddenly, a businessman in Czechoslovakia came to me, and he said, Brother Stuart, he said, God's told me you've got a burden for Vienna. I said, yes, sir. How do you know? He said, God told me. And he said, you've got no money. I said, I've no money to take the train there. Well, he said, God told me that I've got to give you enough money to have meetings there for one month. Oh, I broke down weeping. God's goodness. And I said, brother, but I don't know a single soul in Vienna. I said, you know anybody? Yes, he said, I have a friend that a Czech pastor, Czechoslovak pastor. We have about maybe three hundred thousand Czechs in Vienna. And we have a Czech church. Now, you go to the brother, and he'll give you introductions. But I said, no, I said, I don't know I said, the Holy Ghost has a strategy and I'm scared of these introductions. It may not be God's way. I'd rather begin with one person and then work up. He has a strategy. But, you know, I went in and checked into a hotel, modest hotel there. And the, I went straight to the house of this, went by the bus and got to, got to the house of the pastor, knocked on the door and a servant girl opened the door and she spoke to me in German and I told her, one of the pastors said, oh, he's not here, sir. I said, where is he? Oh, he said, he's off on his vacation back to Czechoslovakia. Oh, and I left and I said to her, I said, she said, where are you staying? I said, I told her the hotel I was staying in. And, you know, outside the house, I broke down weeping. Now, I was just a young man, but the fancy young man weeping. But I said, Lord, there's something wrong, we've got our wires crossed, something wrong. And I felt that this man, somehow this pastor was a key man. So, I went back to the hotel. And went into my room and weeping and praying, I said, no, Lord, we're out of touch with each other, something wrong. And I'm not moving until you, you, you, you, I'm just going to stay here in this room until you explain things to me. And I waited and the Lord said to me, no, you go to the Salvation Army Headquarters. So, I told the hotel people, I said, no, I'm going off to the, how can I get to the Salvation Army Headquarters? And he drew a map and told me to me what streetcar to get on. I had never been to Vienna before, a big city, and I got, I went in the wrong direction, the right number, but the wrong way. I was an awful model and about three hours later, I got, I was on the right direction, the right car. And I had a slip of paper for the Salvation Army Headquarters. And the car was absolutely packed and jammed and you could hardly move standing. And there was a man blowing, he's blowing right into my face, but he, and I thought, I, I held this up to him, you see, as much as I couldn't, pointing there. And he said, you speak English? I said, yes. He said, the, you are going there? I said, yes. You want to go there? I said, yes. Come on, he said, I go there also. Oh, I said, hallelujah. He said, did you say hallelujah? I said, yes. He said, well, I say hallelujah. He spoke broken English. Well, I said, I also say hallelujah. And he said, the, are you a salvation army? No, I said. I'm an evangelist. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. He said, you are not the young man that's been to my house as your name, James Stewart? And I said, yes. I thought he was going to pass out. Well, he said, I said, he said, well, I'm the Czechoslovak pastor and I've come to find you. Oh, I said, let's get off the, the, the, the Trump. That doesn't make sense. I said that you are on vacation in Czechoslovakia. You said, I'm not. I'm here. I said, no, you're not here. You're on vacation in Czechoslovakia. I said, well, what's the matter? Are you or not? He said, I was until yesterday. And he said, that the Holy Ghost said to me, you go back to Vienna. Go back to Vienna, go back to Vienna. And I get up at lunchtime and I said to my wife, he said, and my and my in laws, I said, you've He said, I've got to excuse me, he said, I've got to get back to Vienna. But he said, you're on a vacation, you need a desperate vacation. He said, oh no, I've got to be gone. He said, I just can't eat. He said, I've got to go back to Vienna. Well, why? Don't know. I never had this experience before. I've got to get back, I've got to get back. And so he said, when I got back to Vienna, my servant girl told us about the story. And he said, I went to your jail, and the jailman said, you're on the way to the Saoish army. And here in a city of over two million people, two people unknown to each other meet in a tram car. That's God. That's God. And you see, I could just go on all afternoon giving you the same thing. And you could, I'm afraid to do that because you'll get excited and you'll want to come up too and follow me. Because you could give the same blessed experience. And so let us pray today. The grace of the Lord Jesus, and the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all. Let's have just a few short prayers, will you? Let us do some confessing as well. As well as praising God that we have the Comforter and we have this divine guidance. Oh God and Father, I do confess to Thee that I have not always been guided by Thy Holy Spirit. Sometimes I have gone my own way. I have been rebellious maybe. Or sometimes I've sincerely thought it was Thy will and it was not Thy will. And I confess this to Thee and to my brothers today. But I still believe it is Thy plan, oh Father, for me to have direction from Heaven. And that I can walk in glorious fellowship with the Holy Spirit hour by hour, day by day, week by week. Now Father, Thou seest all the ministry here today. Thou seest the blessed evangelists who are going out week by week into the churches. Thou seest the missionaries. And then Thou seest the beloved pastors. And oh God, we represent hundreds of thousands of people. Oh God, may we more than ever before know this blessed intimate fellowship in partnership with the Holy Spirit. For Christ's sake I pray. This message was preserved and made available by Revival Literature, Nashville, North Carolina. For more information, you can visit them online at RevivalLit.org.