This sermon emphasizes the importance of experiencing the fellowship of Christ's suffering, not just enduring personal trials but sharing in the suffering of others as Jesus did. It highlights the necessity of true spiritual experiences rooted in the Word of God and obedience to the Spirit, rather than relying on personal encounters. The speaker shares a personal testimony of feeling the birth pangs of Christ's suffering while preaching, leading to a profound stroke, illustrating the depth of spiritual connection. The message challenges believers to rebuild their altars of prayer, sacrifice, and devotion, renewing their commitment to God and clearing any hindrances in their spiritual walk.

I preached, was it in this hall I preached before, or the other one? I preached one Thursday night from Philippians 2, 5, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his suffering. Not suffering for him, but suffering with him. And the difference is this, immediately Paul was called, Saul, and he was called to preach, and Ananias says, go and tell him what great things he must suffer for my name. And he did suffer, he was whipped, and he was stoned. But that's not the fellowship of his suffering. The fellowship of his suffering is this, that every time Jesus turned, he suffered. If he saw a paralytic, he suffered. If he saw a corpse, he suffered. If he saw somebody demon possessed, he suffered. If he looked at the temple that had lost its glory, and the priests were going through the ritual, he suffered. And while I was preaching, I was saying under my breath, Lord, don't let me die in this pulpit. I've never known the agony of a woman in travail with a child, but I knew it that night. And I said, Lord, don't let me die here. And two days after, I had a stroke, and a pretty severe one. And I believe it began in this hall while I was preaching that night. I felt the birth pangs, I felt the suffering of Christ. Now, if you want to grow old quickly, get a prayer life. Don't ever measure your, don't ever trust in your experiences. It's a dangerous thing when we try and prove our experiences as a source of our strength. The only strength we have is in the Word of God, in the obedience to the Spirit of God. But I'm quite sure of this, God is going to show our generation, we're at the point of bankruptcy, we can't turn around as a nation. You can have your moral majority if you like. They never worked anyhow. If you think I'm wrong, ask Gideon. How did he get on with the moral majority? Why didn't Jesus wait for the 500 brethren that saw him at once together? Only 120 came out of 500 brethren, 380 of them never turned up. It's like that. Look, if you're determined to be more than somebody with the knowledge of God, but real experience of Him, you better get ready to walk alone, be quiet. Let other people throw rocks at you. It's easy to accept the contradiction of sinners. It's when you get the contradiction of saints it hurts. When people who profess to be spiritual try and weigh you down because you're praying more, or fasting more, or doing something else more. Elijah wasn't born in a day for sure. He had to have years of quietness, and then out of that he had to come and publicly display that faith and courage that God had been building into him for those three and a half years alone. But boy, the nation soon knew when he came. And the same with Elijah. Let a prophet of God arise in the true sense of the word. He won't need any advertising plans. He won't need to get on public TV. The magnetism is the abiding presence and power of God. Well, I've overstayed in my time tonight. It's the first time I've been out of my bed for months, actually, really. First meeting I've been in for months, so I'm a bit longer than usual, but anyhow. I'm not going to ask you to dig up your dirty past. I'm going to ask you this. If you could remember an altar you built, and that altar's broken down, a vow you made about prayer, a vow you made about sacrifice, if you built an altar and that altar's broken down tonight, your life, your prayer life's broken down, your private Bible study's broken down, or some other thing, I'm going to ask you to stand up and confess it and say, Lord, my altar's broken down, but here by faith I rebuild it tonight, and in your presence I'll keep my vow. Forgive me where I've failed, and from here let me continue in this vow that I make now, to keep my prayer life in order, or my devotional life in order, or I'll go back and straighten out what was wrong, and I've let natural affection get in the way of my spiritual affection. If need be, I'll postpone my marriage. Whatever the thing is the Lord's laid on your heart, it'd be a good thing to start this first Friday night and get things cleared up for the days that lie ahead. So I'm going to give you two or three moments of quietness to do that, and I'm going to wind up the service. So if you want to straighten it up, you stand up and straighten it up with the Lord.