In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the need for revival in communities and governments. He mentions that two revivals can change the moral climate of a community. The preacher also highlights the prevalence of sin in society, including the consumption of sinful content on TV. He references the story of John the Baptist preaching and the people's response, including the question of what they should do. The sermon emphasizes the importance of repentance and seeking guidance from God.

Father, we bow before your throne tonight, recognizing thee as the high and lofty one who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy. Lord, we thank you, we thank you tonight that when you were afar off, without God, without hope, outside of the camp, when there was no eye to pitch us, your eye pitted us. When there was no arm long enough to reach us or to lift us, your arm lifted us. Lord, we strung it so often, out of my bondage, sorrow and night, Jesus, I come. We thank you you found us as slaves and you set us free. You found us dead, but you gave us life. You found us in darkness, but you gave us light. You found us hopeless, entangled in the machinations of sin, deep some of us, some drunken here, some that were once deep in drugs, some in prison. But Lord, we thank you you came to set the captive free, whether he's a dignified bishop, whether he's a colossal intellect or an ignoramus. We thank you, Lord Jesus, you stretched it in that fantastic, measureless word that whosoever will may come. Lord, we believe tonight in about a thousand tongues around the world, somebody's telling the story of redeeming grace. We thank you for everybody who's been born of the Spirit this one day. They pass from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified. Lord, that we thank you for what it means now to belong to Christ. The hill of Zion yields a thousand sacred sweets before we reach the heavenly fields or walk the golden streets. Lord, we bless you. We've sung it often too here. I'm not ashamed to owe my Lord not to defend his cause. In a world that's crumbling, we thank you that we are on the solid rock. There's no dynamites or atom bomb can blast the rock of ages. We thank you there's nothing that can hinder the coming of your kingdom. We bless you you're not coming for a weekend and we're not going to the kingdom for a weekend. We're going to reign with him forever and ever, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, and the government shall be upon his shoulders. He's going to rule the world in righteousness, in holiness, in justice. God, what a world to live in where there's no crime, no misery, no uncleanness, no sin, no diseases. We thank you that in him, Christ, the tribes of Adam, boast more blessings than their fathers lost. And we thank you we do have an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith, it is in Jesus Christ. We thank you for your holy word. We thank you as we read today, holy men of God, spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. We know it's not a fabrication, it's not a Shakespeare that wrote it, it was written by the Holy Spirit of God at the hands of like the herdsman of Tikur, a poor man, a farmer, at the hand of King David, at the hand of Isaiah, who had such fantastic revelations of the glory of God, had a preview of the atoning work of Jesus in that wonderful chapter in Isaiah. Lord, tonight, lots of people would feel so uncomfortable here, feel we're crazy. Well, Lord, if they're sane, we don't want to be anyhow. Their values are wrong, they've no hope, they're without God, they have no horizon in eternity. But Lord, again, we bless your holy name. Thank you for everybody who's ever helped us, Sunday school teachers, parents that have influenced our lives, hymns and books. We pray for all who have been in this prayer meeting from the first time over there in Brown's house, people that are still right, you go to Brown's prayer meeting. We thank you that you birthed it there, and then it's come here. We pray that you'll continue, Lord. We cannot do. We ask you to pour blessing. We ask you to take us deeper, deeper, deeper in the love of Jesus, deeper in the wisdom of Jesus, deeper in the authority of Jesus, deeper in the revelation of Jesus. Lord, get us out of water to the ankles, get us waters to the knees, and then to the loins, and then waters to swim in. Lord, we know in who we believe tonight. There's no despair in the gospel. He's able to save to the uttermost, it says in Hebrews, to the uttermost, all who come unto God. If they've sinned enough to damn a hundred people, he still accept them. If they come with the deepest of pollution and the vileness, we thank you. There's no heart you cannot purify. There's no will you can't put into subjection to yourself if we're willing. We will pray again tonight. This dear lady said in the letter, I've never heard of others praying for those in, not just the heathen, but those in slave camps in Russia, or in Afghanistan, or in China, or in Albania. Lord, we thank all lights that follow us on my way. Lord, I think tonight of millions who are in darkness. Why are they in darkness? Our light hasn't shone there yet. Lord, I pray do something as I prayed last Friday night. Bring something to birth in this meeting, whether we see it or not. Because you're a faithful covenant-keeping God. So Lord, we come to your holy word and ask you to bless it. Give us ears to hear what the Spirit says, not what I say, what the Spirit is saying. And then give us the grace of obedience in Jesus' name. Thank you, be seated. Had another letter from a lady this week, and I don't know whether she's here or not, I don't know her. But she said, you prayed last Friday night, God bring something to birth in this meeting. And she said, it is in me. She said, I was praying quietly, and the lady next to me put her hand on my arm and said, dearie, whatever you're praying for, God is going to give you it right now. And she said, I prayed, when I go to that prayer meeting, give me a radical experience, give me a burden that I've never had before. Give me a fire. And she said, I left with a burden, I left with a fire. And it's just getting better and better and better. Well, that's what it's all about. Ernst, are you Ernst? I can't tell you black boys. Some are blacker than others. At least you're honest, you're black on the outside, we whites are black on the inside. Well, Ernst, next week bring five minutes testimony, will you do that? Is this Moses over here? No. Where are you from? Where's your home? From where? Houston, yes, that's a sinful country. But where were you from before that? Yeah, were you from another nation? Were you born in Houston? Oh, that finishes it. So next week you bring us five minutes. Is Moses here? Moses spoke to us. I didn't ask him to speak because it'd take all night, but we get him to speak again. He was blessing last week to us. Good. You ever seen today about the prayer meeting, you know, it began over there in Browns. And I still get letters, do you go to Browns prayer meeting? I say yes, I still do. Browns have moved a little since then. I heard some people singing today, found they were marching up the road. Apparently the Lord told them to march around this area, so they were marching, singing. Not trying to scare the devil. They said the Lord told them that was the way they had to march and sing and praise and resist the devil. That's what it's all about. I think next week I might talk about warfare. Let's look now in the gospel recorded by who? Saint Luke. I guess there's hardly a person here that doesn't know John 3.16. That's for the sinners. Luke 3.16 is for the believers, but we don't know it. Luke 3.16. You know, I love to tease people, maybe I do it too much sometimes. You know, some of the Baptists, they back off from the baptism of the Spirit. I say, well it's your fault, John Baptist started it. He was the first to preach on the baptism of the Spirit, not the Pentecostal. And then I tell the Pentecostals, get away. Good night. John had declared this long before the upper room. So what does it say here? John answered saying, I indeed baptize you with water, but one mightier than I cometh, the larger to whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose, and he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Who said that? John Baptist. I reminded you before that between Malachi and Matthew, you have a gap wider than the Grand Canyon. A gap of 400 years. 400 years without a prophetic voice. 400 years of darkness without a light. Then just like Haley's coming, Haley's coming, coming across the sky. Here comes John Baptist, unannounced, unusual, unpredictable, unwanted, and there he was. One of the most amazing men ever in history. I think I'm right saying this, there's some theologians around tonight. You know, there's one thing said about him that isn't even said about Jesus. It wasn't even said about any other person in the Bible, whether you take Jeremiah, Isaiah, anybody. I'm trying to find my verse here. Okay, it says he was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb. Now look at these for a minute. Look in the first chapter 41, verse 41. It came to pass that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost. When? When she met Jesus. He wasn't visible, but not until, not until Elizabeth, not until Mary went with the child in a womb and they went to see a cousin. It was then that she was filled with the Holy Spirit of God. Look at chapter 2 and verse 25. And behold there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon and the same man was just and devout. Well what does he want? What does he need? He's just, he's devout, he's got impeccable morality, he's a scholar, he can recite the first five books of the Bible merely by memory, he can quote all history. It says he was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it's in verse 27, he came by the Spirit into the temple. Let's go a bit further here. Chapter 1 and verse 67. Let me wait and see what I am here. His father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost. Huh? His mother was filled with the Holy Ghost, his father was filled with the Holy Ghost, his priest was filled with the Holy Ghost and he was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb. Look at chapter 3 for a moment there, at the beginning of chapter 3. In the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being the governor of Judea, Herod being the Tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip the Tetrarch of Arcturia, in the region of Trachonitis and Lysanias, the Tetrarch of Abilene. That's about as interesting and tasty as a mouthful of sand, isn't it? What in the world does it mean? When you see, we preach sometimes as though John just came down, there was no religion known, everything was easy, he came in the wilderness. He had the most formidable opposition of any man in the word of God, I think. And he was alone. He said in verse 2, Annas and Caiaphas being the high priest, that was illegal, you can't have two high priests, but they had two high priests. At the end of chapter 1 again, let me skip back. Go to verse 74. This is him speaking. He says, if you would grant unto us that being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, we might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life, so there you are. You were promised that if you walk in obedience, you can live in holiness every day of your life. And that's not a freaky thing. Do you know what holiness is? I quoted some brethren this week. One phrase keeps coming back to me from the many hymns that Charles Wesley wrote. In one of them he says, to perfect health, restore my soul. Now you boys are all after health and you've developed your muscles, but holiness is soul health. It's the soul cured of its diseases, of its corruption, and health coming. The Holy Spirit of God coming where there's been carnality. But he's removed that carnality. You know, I preached to a bunch of preachers last Monday morning. I didn't think I had too good a time. They're hard, you know, they're criticizing your homiletics, and I'd left mine at home. And they were sitting there in judgment all the time. But I said, you, you, many of you, you're leading people to destruction, which of course doesn't get you a popularity vote. You say to people, you know, even the Apostle Paul finished up in Romans 7, with all his achievements, even though he'd been to heaven, even though he'd subdued demons, cast out demons. Oh, he finished up in such distress saying, oh wretched man that I am. It's not I, it's sin that dwelleth in me. I said, you're lying, that's not where he finished. I believe Romans 7 is an unsaved man. Sin does not have dominion over a true Christian. And he didn't end up in Romans 7 saying, oh wretched, he didn't say, it's not I, but sin that dwelleth in me. He went up the road, he said, it's not I, Christ that liveth in me. Don't congratulate me for writing 14 epistles. Don't say that man raised the dead, that man cast out demons, that man did all this fantastic, he did everything Jesus did except walk in the water, walk on the water. But don't give me any credit. I love the Apostle Paul, do you know why? He's the best, what shall I say, sample of his own theology. He dares to say to people, what you have seen and heard in me do. Is there a preacher in the country there, stand up behind the desk and say, you live exactly as I live, think as I think, act as I think, as I act, speak as I speak, have your relationship with us like I have my relationship. Here is a man that's known every part of the enemy and he's completely transformed. Let me go past this, that's not where I want to start. We can submit in holiness and righteousness before him, we're in Luke 1 yet, all the days of our lives, and thou child should be called the prophet of the highest, for thou should go before the face of the Lord to prepare the way, to give the knowledge of salvation to his people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God, whereby the days start from on high, or days spring from on high of visitors, to give light to them that sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet. Now listen, the child grew and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the desert until the days of his showing forth. Look at verse 2 now of chapter 3. Ananias and Caiaphas were the high priests, the word of God came unto them, the word of God came unto John the son of where? At the Passover? No. In the temple? No. At the monthly meeting of the Sanhedrin? No. Where did God Almighty meet him? He met him in the wilderness. I keep telling preachers, why in God's name don't you drop what you're doing and take a month off, get in the wilderness. Where did Moses meet God? Not that sitting at the at the banqueting table of Pharaoh, not walking in a royal palace of the greatest nation in the world, he met Jesus looking after stinking sheep, and it was Jesus he met actually, I guess in that fire. And the Lord appeared to him what? In a burning bush, on the backside of the desert. It says here what? The word of the Lord came unto John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. Tell me what year? Tell me what year? When did he leave home? How many years did he walk up and down? If you read it says he walked up and down in the wilderness among the wild beasts. Doing what? Doing what? How many years was he there before God spoke to him? How long was Moses on the backside of the desert? 40 days? 40 weeks? 40 months? 40 years? A third of his life. And even before he became the anointed of God, it says in the seventh chapter of the Acts of the Apostles that he was mighty in word, but he wasn't an anointer because he stammered. He tried to back out and say Lord I can't do it. You better watch that because if you don't do it God will say well I'll make somebody a lips anyhow. I'll get it done. Somebody might be walking around eternity wearing a crown that you should have worn. You backed off. So what are you going to do? Hold fast to that which thou hast but no man, not no devil, not that God take away your crown. You gave your crown away. He commissioned you. He called you. It got too rough. It got too difficult. The obstructions were so high. There were nowhere near the obstructions of this man. John the Baptist, I used to say, you've heard me say it so I have to apologize. I said you know he stood there just a unit, backside of the desert, no temple, scorching sun every day. Among other things there's one fantastic thing it says about him that I love so much. It says John did no miracle. People are not lining up. Nobody ran after him saying John mercy on my son, he's a ruin to take. Nobody said there's a rich man here asking you to go to his house to heal the dead, raise the dead. He did no miracle. In the world's revival I've been reading and it stirred me so much. There were no miracles except moral miracles. What do you do when thousands of people instead of going to the football match go to a prayer meeting? Isn't that a miracle? What do you do when the young people didn't want to do anything but go to prayer? Isn't that a miracle? When the judge sits in the court and there's nobody's been drunk, nobody fought, no crime. So they give him a pair of white gloves. What's happened? The whole neighborhood is changed. As dear Dr. Toole used to say, true revival changes the moral climate of a community. Brother reminded me today, Mr. Finney says, when God's in power, we say if you could get some Christians in government, most of them are backside anyhow. What do we need in government? We don't need to put men of God in government necessarily. If we had true revival in Washington, it would change the government in a day. Change legislation. It would change everything. It would abolish selfishness. It would abolish this horrible thing that, you know, I love my country, it is of thee. So what? We're as wicked as any cunt on God's earth. So what do we boast about? We've more religion than babies. I was thinking there's a folk were marching around on the road today about the house across the road, which of course is used now as a, or is to be used anyhow, as a, what do you call it, father house. But they showed a picture on TV, I don't watch much, but in the news the other day, it's something that made me sick, revolting. I know there's a outcry against abortion and I cry against it too. I'm not wondering if there isn't something more devilish than abortion. They showed me a hospital with about 20 babies from a day old to about three months and every one of the babies has AIDS. Instead of being killed in its mother's womb, it, that child's going to be killed inch by inch every day for the next few years because there's no answer. You can't legislate against iniquity, you can't legislate morality, you can legislate against iniquity, if you've got a voice strong enough to do it and the guts to do it, if you pardon the phrase. But see this, what they say, today I think, they said in America, this land of the free, so privileged. I was going to say we have the finest homes in the world, we don't, we have the finest houses. How is it that a million young people run away from home, they've everything in the home, some have swimming pools, they have game rooms in the house, they've everything you could give them and they're not sat, they run away. Why? Because it's a spirit of rebellion in the age. We have the greatest percentage of teenage pregnancies in the whole world. Last week, not the turn of the century, last week 214 beautiful people in America died of AIDS and 240 others were suspected. The argument of the sociologists and others is that by 1900 and, no by the year, is it 93? 1999, which isn't far off, less than 10 years, that somebody, there'll be one person in every family in America affected with AIDS. The devil's on the rampage, what in God's name are we doing? If any man had an argument with God, he'd say, Lord, here I am in the wilderness, I've no seating, I've no choir, I've no money, I've no backing and I apologize. I used to say, and he didn't have a group to pray, he had the greatest prayer group on earth behind him. Who were they? An old woman, nearly a hundred years of age, who maybe for 80 years had gone in the little corner praying and weeping and saying, oh God send that gift. It mentions it in this third chapter of Luke here, verse 2 again, Ananias, Ananias and Caiaphas being the high priests, the word of the Lord came to Zacharias in the wilderness. And he came into all country about Judea, preaching the baptism of the repentance, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Leap back in about the second chapter of Matthew, what does he say about John Baptist? He says John Baptist is the most amazing man in this world, greater than Isaiah, greater than Jeremiah, greater than Ezra. Why Jesus? Have you got it all mixed up? What do you mean this guy? He hasn't written a book like Moses has. He hasn't had any miracles. Why is he the greatest? Well he says he's the greatest ever born amongst women. Why? Because he had the most unique place in history. He did what was never done before, never needed to be done afterwards. He introduced Jesus to the world. When he shouted down the Jordan Valley, he didn't shout down Jordan Valley, he shouted down every corridor in hell, and hell was terrified. Behold the Lamb of God. Jesus said, what did you go into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind. They could look round and see weeds shaking in the wind. He said he didn't go to see, he didn't come here to see a reed shaken by the wind. Here's a man of integrity. What did he call him? He called him a prophet, and greater than any other prophet. John Baptist the prophet. Here's a man of total integrity, and he's a voice crying in the wilderness. He is a one communication man. What did he have? What did he have? I'll tell you what he had against him. He had a bankrupt priesthood. It was a day of, what was his name? Herod. Herod the Great. He was the one that allowed people to live promiscuously. He corrupted the priesthood. He deceived the people. He was a master of deceit, and he taught it. The nation is under the heel of Rome, remember. There's every reason why this man should keep a bit quiet, but he doesn't do that. John is the voice crying in the wilderness. In front of me he has mountains up to high heaven. He has the Pharisees. He has the Sadducees. He has the Essenes or Essenes. They were another section of the Jews. They were a group of people that believed in absolute purity. They believed in immortality, but they did not believe in resurrection, and yet they were a strong forceful people. They had communal living. You couldn't even trade with another man and make a profit. They said that's not fair. We're Jews. We're brothers. We're sisters. Let's trade. Let's trade. Let's trade. You know, we say, oh, I remember the upper room. There were 120 men in the upper room. Do you know in the old synagogue, in Old Testament day, there were 120 choice men that ruled over Israel for 150 years, and God shows their bankruptcy, and so he gets 120 men in the upper room, who were not brilliant men. They were very ordinary men, and very extraordinary when they came out. But here you have this man single-handedly, John the Baptist, a voice crying in the wilderness. Prepare ye the way of the Lord. What happened? Chapter 3. You know, this man doesn't come with some pleasant words. We pray sometimes God will send a prophet. Do you know what they do? He's got a tongue like a two-edged sword. He'll tear your heart to pieces. He's got a miracle power to show you into eternity. He'll give you a vision of hell maybe that will terrify you. He'll give you a preview of the judgment seat that nobody wants to hear much about. John preached. He's a success whichever way you take him. They came from the north, the south, the east, and the west. Geographically he's a success. Numerically he's a success. He had crowds, he had disciples. What happened? You talk about the Holy Ghost preaching. This man has a mother filled with the Holy Ghost, a father filled with the Holy Ghost, a priest filled with the Holy Ghost. What was he doing in the Jordan there all the time with the wild bees? I'm sure he was reciting what it says here about Israel. He was to be a voice. And all the time you've got a prayer group there in Israel, a prayer group in Jerusalem. Who were they? Simeon the old priest, tottering. Hannah, Hannah rather, Hannah in the Old Testament, Hannah in the New Testament. And there she for years and years and years that traveled more than maybe Hannah in the Old Testament traveled. We can't let the nation die. We can't go on with our religion. We can't go with these bankrupt priests. We can't keep new moons and Sabbaths and formulas. We're invaded by the enemy. We're invaded with disease. We're threatened on every hand. And here it is, an incubation. You see guys, preachers are afraid to get away. You might lose a couple of weeks wages. I tell every preacher, get away for at least a month. Take your Bible, forget about phones, and just wait on the Lord. I've told God, oh young preacher, Mr. Rainer I can't do that, I'm so busy. I said no, you're, you're busier aren't you? Yeah, yeah, you know how many meetings I have? I don't care a hill of beans if you're in a thousand. Oh well, I have six meetings all lined up, throw it in the waste paper basket. What do you mean? I say we've got these run-around preachers, one night stands anywhere, make a big lump of money. Finney could go to a town and not make an altar call for the first 28 nights. He didn't say come on, come on, come on out. Go home and have a sleepless night. Do you know why they had two or three sleepless nights? So they wouldn't have a million sleepless nights in hell, that's why. It disturbed their consciences, it disturbed their memories. It made them realize that God is a holy, just God, and nobody's going to bribe Him. I rejoice to think about the great judgment seat. It's a terrifying aspect, I'm trying to write on it. It's a terrifying thing to think, but I know this, justice will be done there. Jesus is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He's the judge of judges. In England we talk about the assize court, you talk about the supreme court. That's the supreme court of the ages, that's the assize court of the ages. That's the last checkout counter. You may get away with a hundred things that God should punish you for in this life, but He won't. He'll give you the bill at the end of the line, and there's no repentance. You know, once you cross the deadline from time into eternity, whether you're on the broad way that leads to hell or the narrow road that goes into heaven, there's no u-turn on any road. As Augustine said, there's no sanctification in the sepulcher. One day I'd like to preach to preachers, I'd say, you've led more people to damnation and deceit than the tavern keeper. You know that man that you buried, he wasn't a Christian, you said some nice words over him. Well Liberace died the other day with his disease. What did the priest say? Threw some holy water, he might as well have found me throwing urine on him. But he went to heaven because the priest said so. Rock Hudson had the same dirty disease, so he had the priest come in just before he died, and say absolvo dios, and he's free. John Wayne the Duke, oh the prize of American theater goes. All his life he was a Presbyterian, but he wasn't very sure the last week, and so he became a Catholic. Why? It's the short way to heaven, it's the short way to hell. The biggest enemies of the cross in America are the Roman Catholic system. I get into trouble for saying that. This is a day when we get mixed up. I've got a nice neighbor who's a Catholic, so what? Does it make any difference? They're enemies of the cross of Christ, because they say that Mary is co-redemptrix, and that's a lie from hell, she is not. I like that verse in Roman, not Roman, pardon me, Hebrews 1. I was preaching in the First Baptist Church in Boise about 20 years ago, and the pastor said to me, he opened the door, you know, through the slit of a, you see that lady there with the big glasses? She's a super intellectual Mormon. Oh, she's the top of the ladder in the university. Oh, she can argue their theology, and she's this one and the other. It's a good thing you're staying for two weeks. It'll take two weeks to get through that dull brain of hers, brilliant brain of hers, which is dull spiritually. Well, the Lord has his way of tricking her. She got saved the first night. Two days after, she came in the morning service, clapping her hands, clapping, in a Baptist church? That's not legal. That could take you to the funny house, doing that in a Baptist church. Clapping her hands. Oh, Mr. Rainey? I said, what happened? She said, last night I got delivered from over 10 years of strict Mormonism. I had one word you said. I said, I didn't mention Mormonism. No, you quoted Hebrews 1, who went by himself in Purge House. As soon as you said himself, the Lord said, there you are. He didn't need any help. He did it by himself. We have no idea what went through eternity when Jesus said it is finished. Every angel leaped for joy. There was ecstasy beyond anything we can comprehend. There was fear in hell. We haven't entered into the fullness of blessing. We've just got rid of a few lousy sins, and we don't spit on the rug, and we're kind. We haven't entered into the fullness. It's going to take that to move this generation to God. We're up as many barriers as this man was, against the Pharisees, and the Essenes, and the two high priests. The whole of Judaism was in shreds, and of all things John Baptist comes. That must have been a shock. Good night, preaching, and he wasn't ordained. Isn't that terrible? He had no covering. Did you know that? You didn't know that, Sonny. Well, you learned something anyhow. Well, everybody has to have a covering today, don't they? They won't let me preach in some churches. Ravenhill's what they call it. It's a Texas word. A maverick. I don't know what that was. Something like rheumatism, I think. Except it's rheumatism in your head, and in your heart. He's a maverick. Do you think I want to be like other preachers? Dear Lord, no. It's taken me 60 years to get where, 80 years to get where I am now. But then Moses was 80 when he started. Well, what a wonderful man of God. He did no miracle. Listen while he's preaching. He's got a voice like thunder. He's got a tongue like a rapier. Listen what it says in verse 10 of chapter 3. The people asked him, saying, what shall we do? There are no altercals in the New Testament. The altercal is a sign of the absence of the Holy Ghost. I've seen people either puke and walk on their knees to the altar. They were so convicted of sin. It doesn't happen much anymore. We're so used to sin. We buy it, we sell it, we eat it, we think it, we drink it, we watch the hellish thing on TV. Some of you guys say, oh the country's in such a bad state. I hate all the murders. Why do you sit in a chair and watch them half the night? Come on, don't be a hypocrite. The crowd, the people are there. The Pharisees are there. The men have come all the way from Rome with their panoply, their display, wearing their plumed hats and their breastplates. Well look, let me run on to this quickly here. The people asked him saying, what shall we do? That's the people crying out while he's preaching. Oh we can't do any further. What do we do? Well he gives the answer there. Let me go to verse 12. Then came the publicans. Fancy that bunch coming. The people came to a hearing. The publicans came to what did the publicans say? The publicans came to be baptized and said to him, master what shall we do? And he said, go and exact no more. Verse 14, the soldiers likewise demanded of him saying, and what shall we do? You see when the spirit of God is there, he forgets all about class distinctions, intellectual distinctions. Sin is sin, whoever commits it. Whether he's a king or a commoner. Whether a so-called righteous man or a rogue. He's committed sin, he's offended a holy God. And these men have never been in the atmosphere where God was alive. Most of our people have and that's why they sleep in church. They select their church. Do you know what the most popular church in town, any town is? The church where there's least conviction. The church where there's least amusement, more entertainment for the young people. If people were in a meeting where the Holy Ghost began to work, really work, suddenly a husband gets up his seat and walks down the aisle, runs to the altar and says, I can't go through this meeting, there's something in me, something in me that needs attention. It must have staggered the people. Look at that man, he's the best businessman in town. And he cried out, what shall I do? What shall I do? Every time I've cheated, it's like a thorn in my being, it's tearing me apart. Then the Pharisees with all their so-called aristocracy, they didn't believe in the resurrection. As somebody said, they were sad, you see. That's why they were sad, you see. They didn't believe in the resurrection. And here's a man declaring the resurrection. This man disturbs everybody in every level. If you've gone down Main Street, you say, we're going to hear John Baptist. You say, there's a high priest going in the temple. What does he wear? He wears a thing on his forehead with holiness unto the Lord. He wears a gorgeous garment down to his feet with bells and pomegranates. What's he wearing on his breast? He wears 12 different stones with 12 different names, the names of the tribes. There you see, that's our high priest. He's hundreds or a thousand years of authority behind him. And yet there's a bit of a ragamuffin guy in the wilderness. Do you know what his high priestly garment is? It's a piece of an old camel skin. And a leather girdle around his loins. No clerical attire, no clerical language, no clerical domination. Totally free in God. Most of our preachers need to get free from the domination. You go to church, what do you hear? Do you meet God? No, you meet your church's theology. You meet your church's doctrine. How often do you go and come out breathing, gasping, God, the Holy Ghost is at meeting and I'm absolutely shaken to my feet. We don't do that. We'll have to do it. We will do it. Because God has a controversy with our generation. Let me go again to Luke 3, 16. John answered them saying, I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but one mightier than I cometh. The latchet of whose shoes I'm not worthy to unloose. Boy, this fellow has no pride. He doesn't strut around and say, there hasn't been a man like me around since Elijah. Malachi finished up by saying what? Who shall abide the day of his coming? Who'd he been talking about? Elijah. He doesn't say I'm a reincarnation of Elijah, he knows he's not. He does mightier things than Elijah did. You say he didn't raise the dead. No, he didn't. He did more than that. He raised a dead nation. Not a dead individual, a dead nation. When this nation was awakened through those, what were they, were they Presbyterians? The Puritans, mostly Presbyterians or, I forgot the other breed, I forgot their name. Congregationalists maybe. The whole nation was affected. Do you know when the civil war was on, one of the greatest experiences that whole communities and armies of men were shaken with Holy Ghost conviction and repented? The greatest meetings of revival were in the midst of a civil war. Maybe we'll have to go to war before we wake up. As I've said, I think the option to America is either concentrate in prayer or go to concentration camps. And that's true of England too. But I love that phrase. He says, I'm a man. I baptize, there are two baptizers. One, John, baptized with water, two recipients. The other baptizer, Jesus, he baptized with fire. John baptized with water on the outward, Jesus baptized on the inward. It says here, he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and fire. But many of the Greek translations change that. They say it's not the Holy Ghost and fire, it's Holy Ghost fire. Fire is not saying that the Holy Ghost has it, something the Holy Ghost is. Our God is a consuming fire. Jesus said, I'm come to bring fire on earth. All this week, it seemed everything that I've met, I've met lots of people this week. You know, in the last two weeks, we've had 62 visitors at the house. Two very nice ones from Canada. 62 visitors. Have you any food stamps left? Monday, a brother came in from East Germany. He was in the meeting last Friday night. And I said, where are you living? He said, East Germany. He's an American. The Lord called me there. And he said, we've just got settled. We've got a beautiful home, 4,000 square feet. It's like a palace. It's belonged to a rich man. He's renting it to us for $700 a month. I said, how long are you staying? He said, no, I'm going to California. Then I'm going back to Germany. Well, then where are you going? He said, I'm going to the Zulus. Mercy on us. We used to make jokes about the Zulus when we were kids in England. The Zulu warriors. I said, well, what takes you there? He said, did you hear about revival in 1966? I said, I did. He said, I got settled down in my house and said to my wife, darling, this is a wonderful house we've got. This is a wonderful place. And the Lord said, get up and go. Take at least six months with the Zulus. This man speaks about, I don't know, six, seven, eight languages. Very intellectual. Go to the Zulu. Well, he'd been to some other areas of the world that's supposed to have revival. But a man died recently by the name of Koch, K-O-C-H, not like Bill Koch, K-O-C-H, but pronounced Koch in German, I guess. And he was in that revival in Nagaland and other places. But he said of all the revivals he'd been in in the last 20 years, there's been no revival like the revival with the Zulus. I said, well, tell me about them. Where, let me jump here, where was John when the Holy Ghost came? In his mother's womb, yes. But when he came on him and anointed him to preach, he was in the wilderness, the most hopeless place of all, surrounded by all animosity and hatredness and false religion and cults. And he doesn't whimper and whine and say, Lord, this is too much. He's a proof that one man with God is a majority. This man says, I'm going to the Zulus. I said, well, what about them? Because they had a revival in 1960, I said, tell me about it. Where do you think it started? It started in a place like Jesus was born, in a stable. Stinking manure there. And five men, they've been kind of harassed, we say harassed, harassed. And he said, the spirit of fire came. I said, how do you know? Because one man cried, Oh God, Oh God, he said, my eyes are burning. Another man said, Lord, my lips are burning. He said, ten minute shoes were flying over. Every man said, my feet are burning. I can't stay here. A mighty revelation of God. Not in Johannesburg, not at the coast there in one of those wonderful places that they have, Pietermaritzburg or somewhere. In a stable, right in the middle of Africa with a bunch of hungry men. You see, our trouble is we're not hungry enough. We're satisfied with meetings. God says, have your meetings. When you get past that and you say, we want God, he'll come. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness. It wasn't in a crowd of hundreds, it was five ordinary, ordinary men who said, Lord, we're walking in righteousness as far as we know, but the standing we're missing, please endure us. And then he said, the Holy Ghost came. And this man says, my eyes are burning. This one says, my lips are burning. This one says, my feet are burning. What happened? They stayed in submission. He showed me a picture, gave me a picture. He said, look, this is there, as we would say, what do you call it? Plantation. It's a farm, okay, it's a farm. And they have now, they've got these round African huts on it. They have an auditorium seating 7,000. They had an annual convention recently and people came from 15 nations. Why? Because five men dared to honor God, dared to say, we'll never go back to the old way. See, John the Baptist didn't go back to the sanctuary. He didn't go to, God Almighty didn't anoint one of the two high priests. He took this little guy, surely his daddy was a priest of the And yet, God didn't choose Zachariah. He chooses the man. Do a bit of homework. When do you think he left home? When he was 12 years of age? When did he begin to minister? When he was 30 years of age. In the old economy, a man could be a soldier when he was 20, because then and now you don't need brains to kill anybody. He could not be a priest until he was 25. He could not be a high priest until he was 30. John the Baptist was 30, Jesus was 30, Joseph was past 30. The walls of the ark were 30 cubits high. The walls of the house at Solomon Lake were 30. It's not a matter of 30. 30 is a number of completion. And when John the Baptist finished his probation in the wilderness, God says now, what does it say? He was in the wilderness until the day of his showing forth. Well, who in the world do you think showed him forth? That's the last verse in case you're interested. Eightieth verse in chapter one. He grew and he waxed strong in what? Oh, he went around lifting rocks. He was a superman physically. It doesn't say that. It says he was strong where? The child grew and waxed strong in spirit. We get men now, we want a man strong intellectually. We want a man who's a good organizer. A guy who's a fundraiser. As I told you about the Puritans, they weren't fundraisers, they were hell raisers. Everybody knew the name of every Puritan preacher. When I told the preachers that I've only one ambition at my age, I said, well, I'm 80 years of age. But Moses didn't start preaching till he was 80. So, boy, you've got to put up with me for a while. Will that be all right, Dale? Dale doesn't want me to go if some of you do. Anyhow, OK. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and fire. Come on, let's look at this for a minute. I mentioned it about this man saying, I want to go. It takes an awful lot to get the Spirit of God to brood in a place. It doesn't take much to grieve him. And these men have walked in the light since 1966. That's what, 22 years ago? Or 21? Can't get my arithmetic straight, anyhow. What was it? About right, thank you. That's what I wanted. Noncommittal. But they didn't grieve the Spirit. They walked in humility. They don't say, look, our conference gets bigger every year. We started with 500, it's got to a thousand. Now it's 15 and now it's two. They didn't do that at all. They said, God, it doesn't matter how come I'm in a stairway. You come in power, come in glory, fill this place. One of the greatest preachers in the world asked me to go to his conference. I said, no, I don't feel equal to preaching to people like that. He said, well, I'll promise you one thing. If you come, I won't advertise you. I said, no, that attracts me. I don't want advertising. Why do preachers need all this promotion and stuff? There's a good book says, promotion cometh not from the east or from the west, but from the Lord. And these men have been so jealous. Oh God, stay here, stay, stay with your glory. Don't let the crowd move. Let people come here, not because we're bringing superstar preachers for a miracle or miracle worker. You come. No wonder Charles Wesley said, thou O Christ art all I want and more than all in thee I find. Do you notice what you sang tonight? Breathe on me breath of God. What was it? Till I am holy thine, till all this earthly part of me glows with thy fire divine. Breathe on me breath of God. What was the other one that has fire in it? You've forgotten. Oh, you're a terrible class. You forgot. Come on. I can't remember. Come on now. Spencer, come on. You get demoted. Breathe on me breath of God. Yeah. Till I am holy thine, till all this earthly part of me glows with thy fire divine. Not glowing eyes. Your speech is glowing. Your actions are glowing with something of another world. We've got to get the powers of the world to come on us. So people, we don't need badges. God pity you. If you need a badge that says I'm a Christian, forget it. Wear one on your back. I'm stupid. Wesley wrote so many hymns about, let me quote one or two to you. One that always stayed with me, refining fire go through my heart. Illuminate my soul. Scatter thy life through every part and sanctify the whole. Then he wrote this gorgeous hymn. Come Jesus, come Jesus Lord with holy fire. Come and my quickened heart inspire, cleanse in thy precious blood. Now to my soul thy self-reveal, thy mighty workings let me feel, since I am born of God. Me with a quenchless thirst inspire, a longing infinite desire, and fill my craving heart. Listen, less than thy self who do not give. He doesn't say give me a gift of working miracles or tongues or something. Less than thy self who do not give. With all thy power within me live. Come all thou hast and art. There's another hymn, let me find this one if I can here. I made a note but I forget the notes. Oh I got it. Do you remember the name of William Booth's wife or was it? Catherine. Good. I didn't know her. I preached about Dr. Tozer once and a lady came to me and said, you mentioned Dr. Tozer. Somebody said, you knew him personally. Yes I did. Oh can I touch you? I said, sure. So she touched me. Oh it's wonderful to touch somebody who touched Dr. Tozer. Wonderful. So if you want to touch me I'll be at the door after but anyhow. At the end of the week she said, now this this part of the week you quoted Wesley more than you quoted Tozer. Did you know Wesley personally? I said no. He died the year before I was born. He died in 1691 before I was born. I didn't meet Mrs. Booth but I met her daughter Catherine. Beautiful, wonderful woman. Was consciously born again at four years of age. Received the Holy Ghost when she was 18. Kissed her daddy goodbye as he wanted to go. She plunged into the underworld of Paris. A hell of hell hole. Cleaned a basement out with ladies that never even put up their own hair. People left their castles. People left their stately mansions. As I've told you it sounds a bit facetious. You never have to advertise a fire. Why did these women drop their semi-royal living and go live in the in the gutter in Paris? Why did people from the Sorbonne and the University, why did they come and listen to a brilliant little English woman? She spoke French better than they spoke it. What happened? All the harlots in town came. The murderers came. One night when the place was filled the Queen of Prostitutes was there and the leading criminals were there and the prefect of police came in. He said lady, English lady, you cannot conduct this meeting. That man there has murdered, this man has, and he pointed all those horrible records at. He said lady you can't handle this meeting. She said sir you're right I can't but the Holy Ghost can. You want to stay? What did she do? When they started playing they played accordions. This Queen of Prostitutes lifted her skirts up and began to dance. Marisol said just a minute. Would you like to dance for 20? Oh yes. She said clear all the chairs, they stacked them all up and they played the music and the woman and the harlots danced for 20 minutes. But she said listen when you dance for 20 minutes you have to give me 20 minutes to preach. We'll do that, we'll do that. At the end of 20 minutes she clapped her hands and the harlot woman got up and said sit down. So everybody sat down terrified of her. And she said I preached for 20 minutes with another 20 minutes had it on. That is me. What happened? She stayed until the whole town shook under the power of God. Then she went to Belgium. The same thing happened. Why? She didn't put up a record. I've just come from a super revival. Paris has been shaken and it's never been shaken before or ever in history by a spiritual power. It was swept in the bloody revolution. But Leckie a secular historian says remember when the bloody revolution swept over France and they threw the monarchy into the garbage can. They cleared out the aristocrats. They put up their tricolour liberty fraternity and equality. Leckie a secular historian says that bloodbath that slaughtered hundreds of thousands if not millions was going to engulf England. And he says God raised up two men by the name of John and Charles Wesley. He missed it. The first man that birthed it was Whitefield. Whitefield lit his candle off John Wesley then Charles Wesley. But the point is the Holy Spirit of God came on Paris through a little English woman. The Holy Spirit of God came through John Wesley. Came what? Well listen to what he says again. Come Jesus Lord with holy fire. Wesley had no miracles but was a miracle. The whole nation was transformed. Immorality they committed sexual immorality in the streets during voting periods. Every other house was a gin house in London. And yet this man stands up. He's kicked out of the Church of England. Get out we don't want you. Whitefield wanted to preach in Gloucester Cathedral and the, what do you call it, a bishop, an archbishop of that area said you can't preach because you preached in the street. So he went out and preached in the street. John Wesley, you know he preached. Oh he had no religious clothes on. What was the Scottish famous David Hume, a deist wasn't he, in Scotland. He's going down the street one morning at five o'clock in the morning, a dirty rotten English morning with darkness and drizzle. And he goes around the corner bumps into a man. The man said hey, hey aren't you David Hume? So he pushes his big hat back. Yes I am. What are you doing out at this five o'clock a wintry morning? What are you here for? He said George Whitefield is preaching on, on, on, what was it common called? No darling, not Boston. Dick Sutton, you're in for trouble letting me down. Anyhow it's, oh, oh, I was going to say it's white something, white something common. Five o'clock in the morning, here's an ungodly man. And the man says where are you going? I'm going to hit George Whitefield. He stood, he said George, he said David come on now, you don't believe a word that Whitefield says. He says no I don't, but he does. Do you ever wonder if a preacher meant what he says or a professional parrot? The world knows the real from the artificial. People don't always rush to meetings when the Holy Ghost is there. They're afraid because there's a spirit of conviction, there's a spirit of revelation. Here's what the Marashal wrote. I remember when I was leading a conference in England. I stood up at the side of her, boy she was ugly. She had a huge nose and a big masculine appearance. We sang this hymn, she wrote it, O Lamb of God, thou wonderful sin-bearer, hard after thee my soul would follow on. Ask perhaps my heart for streams in desert dreary, so perhaps my soul for thee, O thou life-giving one. I mourn, O I mourn the sin that drove thee from me. Then blackest darkness brought into my soul. Now I renounce this accursed thing within within me and come once more to thee to be made fully whole. This then the heavens thou whom my soul adoreth. Exchange my thy throne for my poor longing heart. For thee, for thee I watch as for the morning. No rest or peace is mine, my saviour apart. Come Holy Ghost thy mighty aid bestowing, destroy the works of sin, the self and crime. Burn, burn in me my idols overthrowing. Fire is the most attractive thing in the world. It's the most painful thing in the world. It's the most purifying thing in the world. What did it finish in the Old Testament? Malachi, when he comes he shall purify the sons of Levi. The greatest need in America today is a baptism of purity amongst the preachers. A woman told a friend of mine, in fact I heard this week about a woman and they asked her, she said, oh well, so and so, he led me to the Lord one afternoon and he took me to bed at night. She said it in one breath, didn't mean a thing. The whole of the charismatic movement is sinking or sunk. Do you know why? It had no emphasis on holiness. It was all signs and wonders and miracles and excitement. There's going to have to be a revival of holiness in America, in England, everywhere. God only has one standard. You can get into heaven with a cancer, you can get into heaven if you're bankrupt. You can get into heaven if you can't write your own name. But without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. Heaven is a holy place prepared for holy people. And if you're not holy, you'll not make it. That's a wonderful thing. I'm trying to think of another, I'd better quit here though. Mother Moreshaw was singing, arise or away. I was saying to myself, she's not here, she's in revival in Paris. They sent her to jail for getting big crowds in the street. She went to Switzerland and had big crowds and the judge said, you start a prison sentence next Monday morning at nine o'clock for seven days. She said, no your honor. I say yes. I can't. You'll have to come. Nine o'clock next Monday morning you report to the police here in Neuchâtel, I think it was. Sorry I can't do it. Why not? She said, I'm starting a prison sentence in France that day, at the same time. Well I know lots of preachers that should be in jail for sure. But not for preaching the gospel. Is anything hurts more than fire? Come thy mighty aid bestowing, burn out the sin and self and pride. One of the favorite verses of Dr. Chose was F.W. Faber's verse. How did it begin? Oh Jesus, Jesus dearest Lord, forgive me if I say for very love thy sacred name a thousand times a day. Then the chorus is, how beautiful, how beautiful the sight of thee must be. Dr. Chose could lay there, he told me, two and three hours without saying a word of prayer or saying a word of praise. Just gazing on the holiness of God or the majesty of God or the mercy of God. He had such a relationship with God. We're satisfied with so little aren't we? Just a nice meeting, clap our hands and go home. Oh it was nice, the preacher was good today, but not profoundly moved to our toes. Till everything that's in unholiness cries out for cleansing, she cries burn, burn in me. Faber says, oh Jesus, Jesus dearest Lord, forgive me if I say for very love thy sacred name a thousand times a day. Burn, burn within me love of God. Burn fiercely night and day till all the dross of earthly love. Your problem isn't adultery or drunkenness, you're just tied up with earthly systems, earthly method, earthly honors. And it's got to die. And if we don't want to do it voluntary, God will take it from us. Two or three people have said to me on the phone today, I believe we're heading for the most dangerous days we've ever lived. I believe that too. I'm trying to think of the last verse of that. How does it start? Martha, you remember? Of Faber. Oh how dread, how dread are thine eternal years, oh everlasting Lord. Thy prostrate spirits day and night incessantly adored. And Joseph used to say over and over, how beautiful, how beautiful the sight of thee must be. Thine endless wisdom, awesome power and perfect purity. Do you wonder, he says, forgive me if I say, for very love thy sacred name a thousand times a day. Do you ever go back and thank him for lifting you out of the pit? Spencer, you might have been in hell, but for the mercy of God. And you weren't such a good boy either, sonny. Some of us were brought up religious, good, kind. I never smoked, never drank, never went to a movie in my life. That's a good methodist, or a bad methodist. But I remember the day I got born again of the Spirit of God. I remember the day when I knelt at the altar, I was the youth leader in our church. And everybody thought, well he's the, you know, the greatest kind of thing. But I'll tell you when, when the Spirit of God, do you know, do you know what brought me to the Lord the second time? A preacher preached on the life of Abraham. And he said, Abraham came in one morning and his wife said, I suppose she said Abe, said Abraham, you have to do something about this. What? Well, this child of yours. Remember God said to Abraham, take thy son, thine only son, but two sons. But one was a child of the flesh, it was one he designed. The other was a child of the Spirit. And it says this, the child of the flesh was always abusing the child of the Spirit. The Spirit lusted against the flesh. And she said, get this bondwoman and her son and cast them out. She didn't say put them in the basement and put them on little less rations. Get rid of him. I get rid of him. People ask me, do you believe in two natures? Yes, I do. I believe in a spiritual nature and a physical nature. I don't believe in two natures, that you have an evil nature and a bad nature in the same heart. You can't. How can you have an indwelling Spirit and an indwelling devil? You can't. But you see the trouble with us, you sang it tonight, we refuse to die. This little thing came to me today, and I'm going to finish with it. I don't want to, but I will. Not far from our house, there's a town in England called Huddersfield. And next to it is a small town called Marston. That area is what they call in England the heavy woolen district. It's where they get all the fleece from the sheep and they make the best clothing in the world, I think, at least the best cloth. And this man got prosperous. I believe he was a Quaker. All the Quakers are rich, aren't they? I teased Dale about being a Quaker. He's the godly daddy. How old is your daddy, 95? 93 and your mother's young. Oh, she's 92, she's young. They've been married what, 70 years? My goodness, if that happens within 10 years, they'll have her in museums. Only had one wife in 92 years. Goodness me, isn't that wonderful? But it tells me that, look, if a man can be loyal to his wife for 90 years, why in God's name can't he be loyal to Jesus every day of his life? Isn't it more wonderful to be loyal to the Lord Jesus Christ than even to the woman you love, which is wonderful? I love my precious wife. Well, John Marston bought all the property round about. My goodness, every mill was John Marston's. And right in the middle of it, right behind these, if you want to call them skyscrapers today, there's a little cottage. It was, I don't know, it's a hundred yards across the front to the back. This lovely little cottage with a white picket fence round. One day this famous guy was saying he'd bought this man out, he'd bought that one out, I bought this, I bought... He said, you know, if you take the whole of Huddersfield, I own every bit of it. Man said, wait a minute, you know I spent millions out of Stirling. I bought everything in this, I bought everybody out. He said, wait a minute, what about the little man? And he was a quaker too. Right behind number six mill or whatever it was, he said, you've got that beautiful little cottage, picturesque cottage with a fencing round. You should be honest and say, I own everything in Huddersfield except that little patch. No, no, no, no. He said, I want to own everything. Well, let's go buy it. So the little fellow's working in his garden, he sees the carriage and two horses pulling the carriage. Sir John gets out with his tall hat. How are you, sir? Fine. Oh, Sir John, what brings you to my house? He said, I've come to buy, I want to buy every inch of your house, of the garden and the house in the middle. And he offered him a king's ransom. He said, no, I won't do it. At that time they had golden sovereigns. The man argued with a little old quaker, one quaker against another. He said, I want to buy it. Sell it. No, I'll double the price. No, I'll treble the price. No. Well, I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll bring a sack of golden sovereigns. And I should have, I don't have sovereigns, don't even have a dime. A sovereign's less than this. He said, I'll put sovereigns on the ground like that and I'll put them side by side till I cover every inch of your garden. He said, that's an incredible thing. But you're a quaker, you'll keep your... Yes, I'll do it. Let me think about it. No, no, I can't take that. Not even if I cover the ground with golden sovereigns? Oh yes, if you cover it. I thought wait a minute. But don't lay them down, stand them up sideways. And he said, put them all across the ground. He didn't need the wealth of England almost to do it. And the little fellow said, now when you're boasting again in your club or somewhere, don't say I own the whole of this except the piece of ground that Peter has in the middle. You know what? That's like the life of many people. There's just one thing in you that keeps you back from total victory. What did Jesus say to the rich young ruler? You're a whore, you're a liar. He says, one thing thou lackest. He was a gentleman. One thing, that's all. Can the Lord save you? I own every part of that man, spirit, soul and body. And the devil says, except one little corner I've got in there. He's got pride there. With that woman, he's got a bit of spirit. Without somebody is selfishness. What is the little thing that keeps Jesus from saying, I'm Lord of all? Because if he's not Lord of all, your spirit, your soul, your body, your affections, your mind, your will, your today, your tomorrow. If he's Lord of all, he isn't Lord at all. We've got too many people want to serve God about an hour a day. He says, throw yourself blindly at the cross. I lay in dust, life's glory dead. It may be a career. God is saying, give it up. Like our dear David says, that young people in the meeting, don't come with your sins, just come with your career. Say, Lord, take my spirit, my soul, my body. I'm planning to be a doctor, forget it, die to it. I'm planning to be a lawyer, die to it. You see, if you want to give God our lousy sins, what do you think he does with them? Store them in heaven? No, he doesn't. He died to redeem us from what? All iniquity. Oh, you can't live without sin. Well, why don't you tell the children what they can sin at? Ask your pastor, put a notice in the church. Oh, you know what, these preachers get by, we're only human. We're not, when the Holy Ghost comes, we're superhuman. Why cover carnality and failure? We're only human. Do you think God didn't know that? Yes. Every man that's moved his generation has been human, plus the indwelling spirit of God. There's come a place in his life, where after he's born again, he says, Lord, there's something in me I need, I've been reserving something, and the Lord breaks the fetter. He gets released. What does he do? He becomes a Hudson sailor that goes to China without a dime. He becomes a CT stud. I used to take a night once a week in the largest air force camp in England during World War II. I went to the shoulder of the hill, you couldn't keep your lights on, but in the moonlight there was a big, big house, like a big sugar house, where the race goes on. That's where CT stud used to live. Every time I went to that camp, I used to think about him. Remember, he'd been a success before he ever went to Africa. He went with a Cambridge 7 into India, pardon me, into China. Then at 53 years of age, nobody wanted him. Missionary societies wouldn't take him. So he went to Africa and started the HAM, Heart of Africa Mission. It's rather ironical, the sons of Ham founded Africa, and HAM, Heart of Africa Mission, was the greatest power to redeem it. There's something glaringly missing in the church of Jesus Christ today, you know it. We're more organizing, but not as much agonizing. We could go on, I won't go on as I say. What did these men do when they came out of there? About 120. Pentecost today is married to prosperity, and personalities, and pleasure. Pentecost in the New Testament is married to pain, and persecution, and prison, and privation. It's the very opposite. But the center of the Christian religion was founded, and it must go on, on the foundation of sacrifice. There can be no success in the individual life, or in the collective church, unless there's sacrifice. We sing sometimes, as thou hast died for me, a lovely American hymn. My faith looks up to thee. I like the phrase that says, as thou hast died for me, so name my love to thee, pure, warm, and changeless be a living fire. We're up against more difficulties than ever, even John Baptist had. He had the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Essenes, a few other wild people. The country's swarmed now with what? Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Mooniites. One thing I learned today, a brother called me, not today, this week. The Shiites are shaking the world. They've told America, you shoot one of our men, and we'll damage every American embassy in the world. Isn't that something? Huh? There's thousands of men hidden in America already. They can go to every embassy in the world and make us suffer here. Daddies and mommies will suffer for their children who've been murdered. But the other side, I think it was in US News and World Report, that young men are lining up in Beirut, walking day by day, men 18 and 20, and they don't say, I've come to be a soldier. They say, I want to be a martyr. I want to be a martyr. I want to die. What's the promise in Acts 8? You shall receive power. The Greek word there is dunamis, from which we get dynamite. And you shall be witnesses. It is not witness, it's martyrs, marturius. You shall be martyrs unto me. Christian religion has thrived only on martyrdom. We're in easy street. Our homes are lovely. We get them more comfortable than God knows our churches. I'd rather have been a stable with those five men than the most beautiful church in the whole of this area, where the living God speaks, where they come out every day bowed under the Holy Ghost. When somebody prays and you, you almost want to say, hey, please stop, stop. The pressure's getting too much. God's presence. Oh, I feel so unholy, so unclean, so unfaithful. We don't get that. We thump and roar and preach and whimper. Oh, we'll sing a nice chorus. There's room at the cross for you. Get out friend, there isn't. Get to the cross. You can't be disciple and not have a cross. He must take up his cross. We had an old lady, I'm rightful with this. We always have a lady in our church. And every prayer meeting, she got her English mixed up very badly. She wanted to pray for everybody in the universe and she said, Lord, bless everybody in your university. Okay. But she said, Lord, help me to bear your cross. I said, one day, lady, he did a good job. Bear your own. You only carry a cross till you're willing to die on it. And that's the end of the cross. And then comes resurrection life. No, the Puritans didn't talk about the power of the Holy Ghost. They talked about the resurrection of Jesus. I don't remember, and I believe there's a baptism of the Holy Spirit. I believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. But what did Paul do? He went to Corinth. In Paul's day, you didn't say about a man, he's a sensualist, he's a liar, he's a thief, he's got AIDS or something. He didn't say that. He stuck one word on him that meant the whole bag of corruption. He's a Corinthian. And then he goes to that hellhole. One of the old German divines said, the blessed and sublime miracle of God, that a church could be established in Corinth. And yet it became one of the most powerful. You know, I'm absolutely sure. We talked with a man today. Let me say this. What was his name? Yeah, I said, I'm not going to see anybody today. So four people came. But I was glad to see the man because when we were at New York 25 years ago, he came in one night and I said to the staff, David Wilkinson's staff, the girl I had as a secretary, I want you all to come to our house as a man coming. He's a marvellous man of God. So he came in. And this blonde girl that was the secretary of David said, oh have him to pray for me. Please get him to pray for me. He's such a wonderful man. You know, I never said a word to him. He prayed for everybody in the room except that girl. He got down. I heard his voice. It was muffled. And I looked. And there he had one hand on one foot of our David and one foot on the other. And he didn't know he was my son. He says, this young man will go and stand before kings and rulers and preach the gospel. David was in Tonga at the time of the coronation. And they had the head preacher of the Methodist church to give the message. And then David followed him. A man said to him, do you know, while you were preaching in front of the royal palace, the king was walking up and down with the prime minister who happens to be a friend of our David. And he said, those royal people were listening to the message you preached, a fulfilment of all that man said. He's a precious man. I said, what's happening? He was going on to Dallas. Just one minute, I'll get this. I said, what's the Lord saying? He said, I had a letter asking me please to go and minister up in where? Alaska. I turned it over in my mind and then I thought, well, I don't know my, that's a long way to go. I mean, preachers all in winter get called to Florida, where it's warm and comfortable. Good night, you don't go to Alaska. He got another letter, would you come to Alaska? Didn't stir me, he said. Then a man said, if you'll come, I'll pay you all your expenses. He said, that didn't move me either. He said, but Lord, show me. He said, I woke up in the night and he has visions. He said, there was an angel standing at the side of my bed with an anvil. And he took a hammer and he hit it. And you know, it echoes, echoes, echoes, echoes. He could hear it echoing. And he said, the Lord said, that's the sign for you to go. He flew up there. When he got off the plane and went to a house, a man came out of a back room with what? A bar of red hot iron in his hand and a hammer. And he said, come. And he took him into the room and he had an anvil. And he started smiting it. And he didn't say, God show me that in a vision. He let the man do it. But then he said, the Lord show me, not only one man at an anvil, he showed me men standing with an anvil from where he was in Alaska, right down the coast of, to California somewhere. And then diagonally, right across to somewhere in Louisiana or something, which I think takes us in. I hope it does. But you know, it was, it wasn't a fence run. There were angels and every angel had a hammer striking an anvil. That's pretty good. If you don't believe me, okay, that's fine. God has his way in the world when there is a storm. He's bypassing the seminaries. He's going to bypass big organized religion. He's going to raise up men. Farm boys are going to come here some night. Some of these precious brothers. I would, I'd miss this meeting off when I could take $300 for the night to be away somewhere. What's $200? What's $300? You say you have plenty of money. You're wrong. I come not because I take part in it as a speaker. I hope I do. And I hope I get some inspiration over. I come because God is here. I come because there are men who touch the throne of God. Men who pray and my heart is broken. You pray tonight, my dear brother Ernst. I hope you will. These are the men that God has given a ministry of prayer. Can't even think of your name now. Sonny and Spencer and Dake and Dale. All these men have had a different touch on their lives this year. My reward is when men say to me like that woman said, I got the spirit of prayer when I came to your church last week. Or someone else wrote and said the same thing. And that's the rewarding. If not money, what's money dear Lord? It won't be, it's not much good now. It'd be worth less next year. But the presence of the living God, you can't buy it. You can't organize it. It's a sovereign act of God. He comes and touches us and he gives me to share his burden and share his grief. There's an old saying in the world, laugh and the world laughs with you. You can say that about the church. Laugh and the church laughs with you. Have a bunch of people for a supper. Oh it's for the church. It's for a new building, a new organ, new something. But you say we're going to have a night of Friday, we'll see how many you get. You won't get them there at all. We think we're going to order God about, we better forget it. God's going to wait until we're fat on our bellies and say Lord there's nothing I want more than the anointing of the Holy Spirit of God. And if you give me the anointing like those men have, I'll walk in obedience that from 1966 to 1987 they're still seeing an increase of power and revelation and they're seeing people come from other nations to a bunch of black men that started in a stable. That's the way God works. He finds a lonely Church of England man and makes John Wesley. He didn't raise up Methodism, he raised up John Wesley. He didn't raise up the Protestant Church, he raised up Luther and he's done that over and over and he's going to do it again. It's time for a new chapter to be written. Okay we're going to go to prayer. If you can't stay the whole time I understand, I hope you'll stay a while anyhow. Now remember again please, it's not the one who prays the longest and the loudest and I can stand long praying and loud praying. But rather, as I've said before, rather than pray one long prayer, pray two short ones. If you start repeating yourself, that's the time to quit. You've already told God, so leave it there. I want us to pray tonight. I want us to pray for the last days. We're having a bit of a tough time right now. Pray for Sonny's work. Pray for the work down the back road there, the little guy at Calvary Commission. For Dave Wilkerson as he goes to New York. Listen, we're swept, the nation's swept with lust. Our prisons are jammed out. Girls are getting pregnant like mad. Kids are getting sex orientation in school now. We're handling the nation to the devil on a platter. Nobody's going to lift up a standard except the Church of Jesus. And we're going to have to pray with burden, with travail. Forget all about being nice, bluster through if you have to, weep through. God would rather have your tears than your offering. We need to pray as we need to say, Lord touch me to pray in the Spirit tonight. I want to pray God's mind, with God's intelligence, with God's power. And then, if you want to sleep out later, that's up to you. I hope you'll stay a while anyhow. So let's go to prayer.