In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the message preached at the Keswick convention, which is centered around three key words: victory, purity, and unity. The speaker highlights the importance of living in victory over the flesh, the devil, and temptations. He references Jesus' prayer for his disciples to be kept from the evil one as they are sent out into a hostile world. The sermon also emphasizes the training and example Jesus provided to his disciples, teaching them to trust in the Father and to preach the gospel with boldness and conviction.

Shout to the Lord, all the earth, let us sing Power and majesty, praise to the King Mountains bow down and the sun I'll sing for joy at the work of your hands Forever I'll stand Nothing compares to in you The things of earth will grow strangely dim In the light of his glory and grace Again we're focusing on the blessed Lord himself Just the chorus we'll sing together As Gary leads us into that on the piano Turn your eyes upon him In his mighty team Turn your eyes upon him Thank you, please sit down Such a joy and a privilege to have with us Dr. Stanley and his first trip but of course it's also a special pleasure for us to have Dr. Stephen Alford Now Dr. Stephen Alford is a name that many of us know, some perhaps don't but he's a name that many of us associate with over the years My own association goes back through the years of Filey, the Filey Christian Holiday Crusade Ah, somebody does that, wonderful, that's lovely and what wonderful days they were Well we're just thrilled that he's been able to join with us over these few days We had a wonderful day yesterday and we're going to have a blessed time again today We already have been blessed but we're going to be doubly blessed now as in a moment or two we ask Dr. Alford to come and speak to us His ministry is such a powerful ministry We won't go into all the details but his ministry in Memphis of Tennessee where he's training and teaching pastors and preachers and encouraging them back to the word of God What a ministry that is and God is blessing and using him in that ministry We're so thrilled that he's been able to spare the time to come So I'm going to pray for him and he's going to come and speak to us Let's just pause in the Lord's presence together Father we thank you this morning that already you have touched our hearts and blessed us through what we have heard and we pray that you will now just meet with us again in a special way Father speak through your servant We thank you for him We thank you for his years of ministry but we thank you too that you're still speaking through him a true Caleb in the gospel Man who Lord just brings your word to our hearts and we thank you and in anticipation we look forward to what we are going to hear We pray that you'll anoint him and touch him and bless him as he speaks to us this morning Open our hearts Father Perhaps we're still feeling a little tired from the traveling in this morning a little ragged from the day already but Lord we pray that you will now just bring to our hearts a sense of peace and receptiveness and an acceptance and a willingness for your word to penetrate to our needs Lord speak to us we pray through your servant and give him great peace and joy and confidence in you as he ministers the word to our hearts now Lord we commit him and ourselves to you in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ Amen Dr. Stephen Olford We have a thrilling subject to pursue these few hours together You've heard it already from Dr. Charles Stanley The secret of leadership at any level of life whether you're a housewife a Bible class leader an evangelist a preacher a pastor leadership is absolutely essential not only because it's biblical but it's practical and it's part of life May I just say that in 60 years of ministry I do not recall a time when there's been such a crisis in leadership from the presidents and kings and potentates around the world today down to the man in the street Leadership There are three qualities I look for in a leader One is character One is character If a man hasn't any character any integrity any purity then I don't want to follow him I want a man of character one to whom I can look up one who is in every sense of the word an example Number two, conduct What kind of behavior has he? As I watch what he looks like as I listen to what he speaks like I want to know whether he has a conduct worthy of my emulation I don't want to copy a person whose conduct, behavior belies the true principles of the Christian life Character Conduct and then counsel To me, a leader is a man to whom I want to go a woman to whom I want to go and seek counsel because I know that when they speak they're going to speak the word of the Lord they're going to give me what God has told them I want counsel wise counsel in a day when so much loose talk is the norm I want somebody who can speak wisdom wisdom from above With that as a background I want us to turn this morning to the greatest leader who ever walked this earth our Lord Jesus Christ and I want you to turn to the Gospel of Mark the Gospel of Mark and chapter three Mark chapter three and even though I want to bring an exposition of God's word I want to expound God's word this morning I want you to remember those three words because you're going to find that they really proliferate the passage that we're going to talk about Mark chapter three and let's look at verse thirteen verse thirteen Mark chapter three and verse thirteen Dr. Stanley already referred to this occasion when he took us to a similar passage in Luke to which I'll make reference in just a moment verse thirteen we read and he that is our Lord Jesus Christ the great exemplar he went up on the mountain and called to him those he himself wanted one version reads those who he himself desired and they came to him then he appointed twelve listen carefully that they might be with him number one secondly that he might send them forth to preach with him send them forth to preach and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons Simon to whom he gave the name Peter James the son of Zebedee John the brother of James to whom he gave the name Bonergies that is sons of thunder Andrew Philip Bartholomew Matthew Thomas James the son of Alpheus Thaddeus Simon the Canaanite and Judas Iscariot who also betrayed him and they went into a house this is the word of the Lord may he bless it to our hearts the Lord Jesus had reached a midpoint in his ministry very soon he was going on to Calvary and he was going to shed his precious blood for us men in our salvation he was going to rise from the dead he was going to ascend to heaven and pour out his Holy Spirit and in so doing take the men that he had trained as leaders and scatter them to the far corners of the earth in worldwide evangelization to be followed again and again by that same principle because the words we have read in these verses in Mark are in a sense reproduced and quoted by Paul when writing to Timothy his final epistle he says the things that you have learned of me among many witnesses commit these to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also that's true apostolic succession teach others also who will teach others also who will teach others also until Jesus Christ comes back again but there are principles in this little pericope this paragraph here that to me are absolutely mighty in this subject of leadership and I want you to know there's three movements that I want to underscore. Number one like our Lord Jesus Christ if we're going to produce leadership and we are going to communicate that leadership to our kids and I'm talking to mothers here to our Sunday school class to our Bible class through our pulpit ministry if we're going to produce leaders number one we must invite people to be leaders we must invite people to be believers to be leaders notice the initiative is divine he went up on the mountain and called called to him those whom he himself desired wanted the initiative was on his part he did the inviting a true leader always invites others to produce leaders that's a divine principle and there's a crisis in leadership today that's why we have such trouble in the churches because we've never really taught leaders and we have a bunch of deacons for instance who are not even regenerate that's why you'll find an amazing verse in Hezekiah Hezekiah 3.5 of course you won't find Hezekiah but Hezekiah 3.5 and it reads like this resist the devil and he'll flee from you resist the deacon and he'll fly at you we need to teach leaders I want to make a statement here that you'll be absolutely surprised at and it's simply this 300 pastors are rejected from the churches of the United States of America every single week and it's mostly because of untrained leaders people called deacons or elders or officers so what I have to say is tremendously important here this morning based on that tremendous message from my beloved brother Charles Stanley but in inviting leaders notice we must act prayerfully that's where he left off that's where I start we must act prayerfully he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he himself desired or wanted and they came to him Luke in a parallel passage records Jesus went out to the mountain to pray and he continued all night in prayer that's before he invited men to be leaders wonder how many of us spend prayer hours of prayer days of prayer before making a decision of this quality how anyone can challenge that statement after this morning's message is hard to understand he went up to a mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God this insight into our Lord's prayer life is both challenging and convicting it's challenging because it shows the standard that God sets for a true leader it's convicting because it exposes your prayerlessness and my prayerlessness and I'm not hesitant to say the weakest point in your life right now as I look across this audience this morning is your prayer life when did you last spend a solid hour in prayer or several hours in prayer the average time a preacher prays today and I come now from the United States of America in terms of my ministry is ten minutes God have mercy on us God have mercy on us the prayer life of the Lord Jesus is beautifully exemplified in John 17 and you're going to discover that I'm going to take John 17 to expound this passage in just a few moments but remember that that prayer represents the essence of this prayer life we call it the high priestly prayer of our Lord Jesus we must act prayerfully but he prayed he prayed for his disciples even after he had chosen them do you recall that time when they were nearing Calvary and Peter made a great boast that he was going to stand by his Lord even though everybody else would flee out of fear and Jesus said to him Simon Simon he didn't call him Peter Peter here but Simon Simon his old name Sandman before he came became the rock man Simon Simon Satan has asked permission to take you and I've given him permission and he's going to sift you as wheat he's going to shake you to your very foundations but when you are converted when you are turned around you're going to be a rock man you're going to be a leader you will lead your brethren but Jesus prayed for Peter and what did he pray for Peter I'm going to pray for you that your faith does not fail I'm going to pray for you that your faith will not fail and isn't it interesting that when Peter begins to write his first epistle he talks about that precious faith precious faith we're going to talk about Peter in our second session my message this morning is the call to leadership this afternoon it's going to be the cost of leadership and we're going to come to Peter once again but Jesus prayed for him and what a lesson this is for you and for me how we need to pray for the leaders of our churches as well as our members I wonder how many pastors are here this morning and right in your pocket right now in your wallet right now you have the names of your leaders you have the name of your elders you have the name of your officers and you pray for these men and you demonstrate that prayer by the friendship and fellowship and interaction you have with your men week by week notice we must act prayerfully we're inviting people to be leaders number two we must act personally he went up onto the mountain and called to him those he himself wanted in the Greek the pronoun is emphasized he called unto him whom he himself desired and after reading that I understand how personal Jesus was he knew these people's names he knew these men's names as a matter of fact he knew them so well that he had the liberty of giving some of them nicknames Simon he called Cephas the sand man and became a rock man he called John and James Bonerges meaning sons of thunder he not only knew their names but their natures and their needs and he knew that these were fiery couple a fiery couple both John and James because if you read the gospels a little later on it was John and James going through a village called Samaria they said to the master Lord they haven't welcomed us here let heaven open and let judgment fall upon this village they were sons of thunder sons of tumult you remember they wanted to storm the throne their mother came and said Lord Jesus would you do something for me when you come into your kingdom will you make John and James right and left of you on the throne what a request that's the kind of men he was dealing with as a matter of fact they were quite an assortment and if you go through them and we had time to analyze every one of them which I love to do because I gave a series of messages right in Duke Street Baptist Church when I was pastor there for some seven years entitled God's men meet God's men and I went right through those disciples names a wonderful study he knew their names he knew their natures he knew their needs and he studied these men he studied these men and he went up and spent a whole night in prayer inviting each one of them including Judas Judas Iscariot Judas Iscariot you ask me the question why Judas for Jesus knew that he had a demon a devil he knew that he would betray him he knew that he was the son of perdition I want to tell you quite frankly after 60 years of ministry it's a ministry and a mystery a ministry because he ministered to Judas right to the very end a mystery because I never know why he would ever invite a man like that my simple explanation is that he wanted to teach for all time that Jesus never gave up on anyone he never gave up on anyone having loved his own he loved them unto the what? the uttermost the uttermost he went all the way and at that last supper he dipped that sop of bread in the vinegar in the wine and handed it as an act of love to whom? Judas Judas right to the very end so there's our first point friends we must invite people to be leaders we must invite people to be leaders a leader always looks for leaders always looks for leaders and that is God's principle for the perpetuation of his kingdom number two I want you to notice very importantly that we must act purposefully not only prayerfully not only personally but we must act purposefully he appointed the twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach I emphasize that in the reading but I want to underscore that you can't be a leader and you can't train leaders as a Sunday school teacher yes even as a mother in your family as a father in your family and especially you preachers to whom I'm addressing this especially you can't train leaders unless you have them around you he wanted to be with them that he might send them forth Jesus always says first of all come before he says go come before he says go all right we invite leaders prayerfully personally purposefully but now I want to go deeper and notice the second great principle which I share with you today we must instruct people to be leaders we must instruct people to be leaders remember a leader is a man of character of conduct and of counsel all rooted in the word of God we must instruct men to be leaders he appointed the twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them forth of course he taught them formally because they sat and heard him speak those gracious words we call the sermon on the mount those mighty utterances that were publicly declared but he also taught them informally adopting the great principle of Socrates yes and the rabbinic teachers of the day he got them around him I would love to have been with him on that boat I would love to have been with him on that mountain side I would love to have been with him when they quietly sat and listened to him teaching and challenging Nicodemus as those light breezes floated through the trees and the shadows of darkness came down on those two he was ever teaching them ever teaching them but now I want you to notice something very interesting bible interprets bible scripture interprets scripture try and recall because we haven't time to read it through right now that high priestly prayer of our savior and you'll find that the word with the preposition with is used again and again and again and again in John chapter 17 Dr. G. Campbell Morgan who once had a great pulpit here in London as you know Westminster Chapel made this amazing statement he says it is unsafe to build doctrines upon prepositions but if there is one exception it would be this preposition with and I want to take that 17th of John to interpret what happened in the life of our lord as he taught and trained and tested his leaders number one we must teach leaders in the word of God we must teach leaders in the word of God listen to these words from John 17 verses 8 and 14 jot those down 17 8 and 14 father he says I've given them the words which you have given me and they have received them and have known surely that I came forth from you that they have believed that you have sent me and again verse 14 I have given them your word and the word world has hated them because they're not of the world just as I'm not of the world in those two amazing statements we have an insight into our lord's teaching the teaching of these leaders the teaching of these disciples that beggars description we could spend the whole of the morning just on that alone just on that alone let me jump into the second chapter of the acts where we read that mighty explosion on the day of Pentecost when Peter preached that God conceived Christ-centered spirit-controlled sermon and some 3,000 people responded and we read that they were all baptized and they were added unto them about 3,000 souls and they continued steadfastly finish it with me in the apostles doctrine let's stop there a moment what doctrine what doctrine sure the apostles quoted the Old Testament that's the only Bible they had the Old Testament but it doesn't say that it says the apostles doctrine where did they get that doctrine where did they get that doctrine during those three and a half years he taught his leaders the word of God as a matter of fact if you want to extend that that doctrine eventually became the New Testament the New Testament the New Testament in our church at Duke Street right here in London and especially at Calvary Baptist Church which was something completely new the first thing I ever did as I went to Calvary from Duke Street having learned my experience there was to invite men to become leaders and I cancelled all the deacon boards all the trustees we hadn't an officer in the church on my arrival I explained why I did it I said nobody's going to serve as an elder as a deacon as a deaconess in this church until they been through the school of leadership the school of leadership and I broke down into studies 1 Timothy 3 Titus 1 Peter 5 all those wonderful passages but particularly Timothy because Timothy is the pastoral epistles and more teaching is given on leadership in 1 Timothy 3 and the associate passages than anywhere else in the word of God and I gave a whole month a whole month of teaching on what are the qualifications of a leader what are the qualifications of a leader now if you read those qualifications they're the most searching challenges to human character, human conduct and human counsel you'll find anywhere and I want to tell you there was a drop out a number of drop outs and of course those drop outs could continue to come to the church but they couldn't serve never allowed to serve never allowed to serve only those who went the whole course and did an examination as a matter of fact and then met me personally were eligible for election to either elder deacon or deaconess positions in our church you know what happened we had heaven on earth heaven on earth the verse in Hezekiah 3 17 I quoted was scrubbed right out resist the devil and he'll flee from you resist the deacon and he'll fly at you I can honestly say to the glory of God that in all those 14 years of ministry at Calvary Baptist Church we never had to take a single vote never a single vote all deliberations came to this one point are we all of one mind are we all of one mind and everybody say amen amen and we closed and went home after a meeting if somebody said no there's a problem I can't see this I'm not prepared to go with this I'd say alright let's look at the word of God our authority is the word of God not your opinion my opinion I'm an elder just as you are I happen to be a preaching elder but I want to tell you something it's the word of God that must settle it now then phone your wives tell them you won't be home for night and we hit the floor and prayed through the night until we were of one mind of one mind tell me anywhere where they took a vote in the New Testament outside of casting lots for Matthias who never appears again in Scripture do you think they'd take a vote between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and yet Paul says that unity which exists between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is to be fleshed out down here God the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and that word God is draw swords draw swords, six bayonets fight anything that spoils the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace the church isn't supposed to be the center of conflict and battles and fist fights I'm afraid it's true and you're going to hear a lot about that this afternoon so make sure you phone all your friends to be here because Doctor Charles Stanley is going to talk about conflict he's going to talk about the real rows that occur in churches because we haven't followed Jesus Christ's teaching of leaders yes we must teach leaders in the word of God secondly we must train leaders in the word of God now there's a difference between teaching and training, our educational institutions, Oxford, Cambridge all the universities in London here and schools are absolutely wrong, they believe in education, teach, teach, teach no, no, no, we want train train, train as well as teach teach you can send a bunch of students out with their heads apt, it's a block of knowledge and the Bible tells us knowledge puffeth up holy love edifies and I want to tell you the toughest people, you have to deal with the people who are a bunch of know-alls that can't do a thing just like Isaac Walton who wrote an absolute classic on fishing fly fishing, fly fishing a classic on fishing a book that thick, I've read it the first time he went out to fish he got seasick and couldn't fly set his line out at all there are people full of knowledge today who don't know how to do the job Jesus not only taught them, he trained them we must teach leaders the word of God we must train leaders in the word of God, listen again I'm quoting now from John 17 verses 18, 22 to 23, listen, very important, and Jesus prayed as you have sent me you have sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world and the glory which you gave me that is the outshining of your deity I have given them, the outshining of your deity that is to say through his humanity, that they may be one as we are one that the world may know that you have sent me, boys what a training they watched him in personal work they watched him in public ministry they watched him in his quiet times, they watched him in intimate situations like that time in the boat, you remember, you remember and the storm began to roar lightning flashed the waves began to beat in that little Tiberias sea sea of Galilee and the boat began to take in water and Peter shook him and said master wake up, wake up wake up, don't you know we're all going to perish, Jesus stood up and he said, cool it boys, that's the Orthodian translation here cool it boys what's the problem you mean to say that that boat could have sunk with me in it, now I'll teach you a lesson wind muzzle yourself peace, be still waves, be calm and then he taught them, where's your faith let me give you a lesson on faith, I went to sleep trusting my heavenly father I've got a job to do I won't finish until I cry on the cross, finished in the meantime I'm in his hands, haven't you remembered that and just as I am trusting my father, you to trust you to trust the father and he hadn't finished talking when the boat already landed they didn't even notice it, the boat landed, they were already at shore, he taught them a lesson, that's how Jesus taught that's how Jesus trained trained his disciples Dr. David is the president of the Stephen Olford Center for Biblical Preaching and does major part of the training but we brought on board a young man who is to help us in training, his name is the Reverend John Balmer, it just happens that David and he were at Wheaton College, they did their undergraduate work and their masters work, David came over here to do his Ph.D John went to Dallas Seminary to do his post graduate work or graduate work, but young John Balmer came to me one day and he said, all this academic stuff in a theological seminary isn't making much impression upon me I need some training I need some training may I impose upon you for a whole summer or as long as it takes to train under you? I said listen, this has been my life this has been my joy all through the years, to train young men join the bandwagon I'm going to make you drive me everywhere, he came into my room to pray, he watched me preach, he watched me prepare my messages, I discussed them with him, in fact God made such an impact upon him that he went back to Dallas and wrote his thesis for his Master of Theology on my life and when I ordained him he gave me a bound copy of that book the man the method and the message of Stephen Overton, training training David and I rejoice in a young man in India, right now his name is Edgar Sataluri he came to the Stephen Oldford Center for Biblical Preaching he went right through our courses and then we had an internship course where David and I poured our lives into him and trained him and trained him now he's just a little way out of Madras in India he has so mastered my preaching that even though he's talking to illiterates, 85% of the people, the population of that area don't even know how to read or write, but he's teaching them little by little, but he's training leaders, and do you know how he does it? He actually preaches my sermons preaches my sermons because he so memorized them into the dialects while a tape recorder is going, and then with those messages in that tape recorder all ready to be listened to, he gets these leaders, these potential leaders to come and listen to those tapes, and they've got to preach back those messages to him, and he's got to critique them, and when they've mastered him mastered the message, he sends them out, and do you know what's happening? Churches are being born all over the place, churches are being born all over, they call them prayer hearts, and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds are being converted. There's a young fellow in Italy right now, his name is Gaetano Sottili, he's been in this country, he has spoken at a number of meetings in this country, and the British people just love him. He was converted with his brother and his father and his mother in a crusade in Sicily, when I preached by interpretation, all of them were converted the same night. But I knew from the very beginning that Sottili Sottili was an unusual fellow, and I coached that young fellow, I knew that he was an evangelist from the tip of his head to the sole of his feet. He's married a beautiful American girl who's a wonderful singer, and he has established the greatest work in Italy today called Italy for Christ. Italy for Christ. He's in television now, they've got their own magazine, the wife is teaching women, and year 2000, 60 million Roman Catholics are going to converge on Rome. 60 million Roman Catholics are going to converge on Rome for the great Jubilee, and Sottili has networked that whole work in Rome with other organizations to win these men who come for that celebration. David and I have been there, we've been in his training center, and we've given everything we can give. I trained him, he's now training others. I trained him, he's now training others. David, our son here, went with his Sunday school class to Kenya just a little while ago, and these guys who had never been out of Memphis, suddenly landed in the jungles of Africa. And they built a stone church with a corrugated roof for a wonderful little guy called Paul Ndungu, Pastor Paul Ndungu. He's about this height, not even as high as I am, and I'm as Ikea's. Do you know that he's won the heart of the Maasai chief? Land has been given, and he's planted churches all over Maasai country. You train a leader, you make leaders. You train a leader, you make leaders. That only by way of illustration. And it's been the joy of my life, always, to have young men around me, training, training, training. Not only teaching, but training. Not only teaching, training. Remember the three C's? Character, conduct, counsel. They're watching you. They're watching you. And listen, Mother, all your kids are watching you. You're making or breaking leaders in your home right now. You're making or breaking leaders in your home right now. It's your prayer that your kids are going to say when you are old and ready to go to heaven. Oh, I thank God for Mother. I thank God for Mother. Didn't a tear come into your heart when my friend Charles Stanley said, I thank God for my grandfather. One week with him changed my life. One week with him changed my life. And he's still living out and fleshing out and preaching out the principles he learned from his grandfather. Leaders. Leaders. Leaders. But now I come to something very sensitive and very important. We must not only teach leaders in the word of God, train leaders in the work of God, but thirdly, we must test leaders in the will of God. We haven't finished with John 17. We haven't finished with John 17. Listen to these words. I do not pray that you should take my disciples, my leaders out of the world, but Father, keep them from the evil one. Keep them from the evil one. Listen again. Sanctify them by thy truth. Thy word is truth. And again, I pray that all may be one as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be one in us. John 17, verses 15, 17, and 21. Listen, folks. You all know the Keswick Convention. You're a London crowd here and you know that great convention takes place in Keswick up there in the Cumbrian Hills year by year. Over that tent are the words, all one in Christ Jesus. But you know the message, the heart of the message that is preached there and expounded there from the word of God. It's summed up in three words I want to leave with you. Here they are. Number one, victory. Number two, purity. Number three, unity. They're all in the verses there. Father, keep them from the evil one. Keep them from the evil one. I'm sending them out into a hostile world. Father, keep them from the evil one. Victory. Victory. No leader can leave unless he lives in victory. Victory over the flesh. Victory over the devil. Victory over the passions. Victory over the temptations. Victory over those things you were hearing about earlier on. That's the will of God. That's the will of God for you and me. But not only victory, but purity. Purity. This is the will of God even our sanctification. You know what that word sanctification is? Separated from sin. Separated to God. It's a life of purity. Purity. Purity. Most important of all. A life of unity. Father, make them one as you are in me and I in you. Lord, bind them together. Bind them together. Make them in one. Do you know what our prayer is in the church today? Is that we as evangelicals may be one in Jesus? Why? Listen to the prayer. Make them one that the world may believe that you have really sent me. All our factions, all our rows, all our denominationalism, all our labels, do you know what they do? Drives us unsaved away. It's about time we learned that labels are only for two reasons. If we go up, they blow off. If we go down, they burn off. And what we need is not only victory, not only purity, but unity. And he tested them on these issues. He tested them on these issues because he prays about it in John 17. He prays about it in John 17. I must hurry. My time is gone. One last great principle. We must invite people to be leaders. We must instruct people to be leaders. And thirdly, we must inspire people to be leaders. We must inspire people to be leaders. Listen carefully to the reading. He appointed twelve that they might be with him. That he might send them out to preach and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons. Now don't blur that. That's exactly what the Bible says. And that's the message for today. It is true that these twelve men disappointed the Lord Jesus, especially as he faced Calvary and the darkness of the cross. Judas betrayed him. Peter denied him. The rest forsook him. But forget Judas for a moment. Despite their failure there, such was the depth of instruction and inspiration that these men received from the Lord Jesus. That once he was alive from the dead, the Holy Ghost came upon them. And upon the shoulders of those men was the entire responsibility of the evangelization of the world, teaching others to teach others. And every one of them was martyred for the Lord Jesus Christ, except John, who was exiled to the Isle of Patmos. Everyone stood firm right to the end. That's teaching leaders. But I want you to see how Jesus inspired them. He devised a means of inspiring them. First of all, he gave them authority to proclaim the message. He gave them authority. He said, I delegate you the authority to preach. That word preach used by Homer, used by Greek scholars, used by the New Testament, is the heralding of a message from the king that demands immediate obedience. And they discovered that the gospel does that. You remember when Jesus came onto the earthly scene after his being born through a virgin and living until 30, then being anointed by the Holy Spirit, he went forth preaching. And we read, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, saying, the time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel. He said, now go preach that. Preach that. Preach that. Preach the gospel. Bring people under the rule of the kingship of God. Call them to repentance and faith. Go preach. Go preach. And boys, did they preach? When Pentecost came and the power of the Holy Spirit fell upon them, do you remember? Do you remember? They tried to shut their mouths, and Peter, who cowered and cringed at the giggle of a little girl, and denied his Lord with oaths and curses, stands up and he says, we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. Talk about inspiration. They would have preached anywhere. Preached anywhere. Just like Billy Bray. Most of you young guys would not know who Billy Gray is, or should I say you young fellows. Billy Bray was a wonderful Cornish evangelist. They could shut him up once he was converted. He was an absolute drunken but wonderfully converted. And he preached everywhere. Any time of the night, any time of the day. He could say, if you put me into a barrel, he said, I'll preach through the bunghole. One day one of his pals hid in a hedge while he was passing by. And suddenly as he passed by, he said, I'm the devil! Billy Bray jumped up and he said, thank God you're that far away. Hallelujah. The victory. These men were inspired to preach. These men were inspired to preach. But one more thing. Not any divine authority to proclaim the message of Christ, but the divine authority to perform the mission of Christ. And Jesus explains that he gave them authority to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons. Now don't dilute that statement. That's a beautiful, powerful statement of the condition of London as I speak. In one sentence, we have a perfect definition of the world in which we are to serve. It's a world of spiritual sickness, moral sickness, physical sickness, relational sickness, every kind of sickness. And I believe our God is able to heal. And sometimes it needs this kind of healing, that kind of healing, or that kind of healing, but don't scrap about definitions. God is a healing God. And the cross spells reconciliation, and reconciliation means the healing of God's people. And that's our mission. Not only to overcome all the relational problems, but all the demonical problems. Relational problems, demonical problems. He gave them authority over the devil. Over the devil. Over the devil. He's our beginning, but thank God we have, we have the capacity to beat the devil at his own game. Charles Stanley talked about Jesus in the wilderness. He went there to pray, to wait on God. Do you know what he was reading all the time he was in the wilderness? Do you know what he was reading? The book of Deuteronomy. Why the book of Deuteronomy? Because the book of Deuteronomy was the book that was commanded to be read before you went into battle. And he knew that he was going to meet the devil. He knew that he was going to meet the devil. And every one of those quotes was from the book of Deuteronomy. It is written! It is written! It is written! And as he drew that sword, the devil left him with clouds of dust. He came back again and again, but Jesus beat him every time. Greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickednesses of high places. But say hallelujah after this. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. Hallelujah. We're on the victory side. On the victory side. Amen? On the victory side. Don't look so pessimistic. We're on the victory side. He's going to win. And thank God I'm going to win with him. Why? Because he's invited me, he's instructed me, he's inspired me. And as a leader, I want to train other leaders. And I say you go forth and train other leaders. Amen? Amen. Lord, seal home to our hearts this exposition of your word and in the light of the tremendous challenge we heard on prayer, make us men and women of prayer. Meet with us as we gather this afternoon and pour out your blessing upon us. May our veritable revival start right here in this church. We ask it in Jesus' name and all God's people said, Amen. Applause