In this sermon, the speaker shares his personal experience of being full of fire but lacking wisdom. He emphasizes the importance of experiential knowledge of the Bible and warns against being used by the devil if one lacks this knowledge. The speaker recounts a powerful revival meeting where many people, especially the youth, sought God. However, his life took a downward spiral, leading to a moment of realization when his daughter shared the message of repentance and salvation with him. The speaker reflects on his destructive behavior and the impact it had on his family, ultimately leading him to contemplate suicide.

In John, the dear Lord made some staggering statements that only John seems to have recorded of the four Gospels. John recorded these staggering words from Christ that he spoke to all of us because he knew that billions of people would hear this. Billions, not millions, have heard and read this holy book, but these words particularly, that Jesus came. And he says in John, chapter 8, verse 42, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. Now that is a staggering statement. If you have to look at it in the context, in the light of all other scriptures, on this particular topic Christ is speaking of, he's speaking of enslavement to sin. You say you're not enslaved to sin? Try stopping. If you're not saved, and then argue with me about what Christ said. Whosoever committeth, that isn't speaking of an isolated sin. That's speaking of a sinfulness that you cannot stop, you want to stop. Do you honestly believe a drunk man wants to see his son look at him with hatred and disrespect? Do you honestly believe a young man wants to see his father broken because of his sin? Do you honestly believe a man doesn't want to stop when he loses his wife's respect and love? And to walk through the door there's no welcome or love, but contempt and despair. There's an enslavement to sin Christ speaks of, that is tragic, that sin does. Whosoever committeth sin, that is something of an ongoing habitualness that just goes back like a dog returning to its vomit. That which destroys him, that which his body rejects. God uses this repulsive illustration to try and shake you to understand the wickedness and the evil of the repercussions of sin. The sinful heart, the sinful nature, the enslavement to sin. As a dog returns to its vomit, you and I, and I remember as a boy distinctly watching it, are shaken, repulsed that his body is repulsed, but it goes back and licks it up. It is shocking, it's disgusting to even think about, but God says this in his book, to make us see the horror, the shockingness of sin, to face up to it. You go back even if you lose your health, even if you lose everything in life. Do you honestly think a man wants to lose his family? Do you honestly believe he wants to see his family turn against him? No, deep in his heart it breaks him down, but enslavement to sin he cannot stop. That's tragic, that is tragic. In Romans 6 verse 16, Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey? His servant ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness. Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey? His servant ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness. Whosoever committeth sin, goes back to his sin, all the time drawn back. He's enslaved, he's the servant, he's an enslaved servant of sin. But he doesn't stop there, Jesus says two verses later, He says, But if the Son, capital S, shall set you free, you shall be free indeed, gloriously freed. That is something wonderful. If the Son of God, Jesus himself, shall set you free from enslavement to sin, that's destroying you and will destroy you, sin loses its happiness, sir, fast. Even in laughter, the heart is sorrowful, the Bible says. That's really repulsive, that you can laugh as if you're enjoying it, but inside you're dying. Because you can't stop it, if you had a choice you wouldn't be here, you'd be home with your wife. Oh, if the Son shall set you free, what a glorious statement from God himself. You shall be gloriously freed, you shall be free indeed, Christ God said, oh God lied. God now commandeth all men, I love that word, everywhere to repent. God now commandeth all men, everywhere to repent, Peter cried in action. Repent ye therefore, and be ye converted, that your sins may be blotted out. There's something God waits from you, before he blots out your sins. Just because you come with the blood of Christ, and faith in the blood and death of Christ, that's not enough. He asks something of you, that the blood can cleanse you, repent. Repent ye therefore, and be ye converted, that your sins may be blotted out. Who shall confesses and forsakes his sins, the same shall be said. Now that is a staggering statement also. What does repentance mean? Repentance doesn't mean you set yourself free, you can't set yourself free, you can't. You might give up certain things, going to Alcoholics Anonymous, you might give up certain things, but only Christ can set you free to a degree that you can look at this book and not know your heart is condemned, that you're still going to hell. Only Christ can do that. What is repentance? Repentance, that God asks of you, is to turn to God knowing you can't set yourself free. Until you come to that situation, you will never ever be able to truly repent, because you'll think, I'll have to give this up, I'll have to give that up, then God will forgive me. No, you come to God knowing you can't set yourself free. You come to God turning, knowing, but you're turning to him wanting him to set you free. Seeking him to set you free. Believing, not only in his death for the forgiveness and the damnation of sin, but you're looking to this Christ, this Savior of mankind, who shall save his people from their sins, the Bible says. You're looking to a God wanting him to set you free, that's repentance. Seeking him, allowing him, embracing him, looking beyond his forgiveness and carrying on in your sin, but looking to a God to set you free from that which until he does, nothing in your mind could comprehend that you are forgiven. Forgiven. The one word that lacks in the pulpits of the evangelical world today, around the entire world, is this word, repent. Come, receive, believe, accept, or you'll find that everywhere. And that is a totally blasphemous sacrilege in a presentation of what God says. Take out the word repent, and you'll have hell-bound sinners and their thousands sitting there, walking and leaping and praising God, and even giving you their tithing. With a testimony. No! You have to have the word repent. What drunk, what drunk will walk through that door with a bottle in his hand, reeking of drink, and hear you preach the gospel, and you make your appeal, come to Jesus, come, receive, believe, accept, and he comes, but he comes with a bottle. Would you pray with him? And he gets on his knees and prays, and looks at the blood of Jesus, and says the sinner's prayer with, oh yes, earnestly. Now he's saved, is he? But he gets up after the sinner's prayer, after asking God for mercy, for deliverance from judgment and hell, but he's got the bottle in his hand. So he walks out of the church, having prayed, having come out. Now that's obnoxious. You wouldn't accept that. He wouldn't believe it. Only a fool, a man deranged, would accept that that God would accept a man who comes with a bottle. Now tell me, what sin do you walk into God's house with? And you come seeking God for forgiveness, and you know you're not giving up your sin. It's as repulsive, it's as obnoxious as that man standing with a drink. Only you are standing, telling what your sin is, but God knows that you have no repentance. You've got nothing in your heart. You come for forgiveness, but you don't come for deliverance. To be set free, to be set free, God needs your repentance. You turning to Him, not able to give up your sins, but wanting Him to set you free. That's repentance. Don't try, don't stop this, that, that, and then say now. Don't change your clothes or your friends. That won't save you. Come as you are, conscious that only God, and when He sets you free, He'll deliver you from everything you're worrying about, and things you're not even thinking about, and more important, wait for God's deliverance. But come wanting Him to set you free from what you do know. Only God can truly set you free indeed, in one moment. If the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed. You know, many years ago, I was preaching in a town in southern Africa. They asked me, I was very young. I was so young that I looked younger than you fellows. Now, you might not believe that, but I got into trouble with the police because of how young I looked. People wouldn't believe I was a preacher in a certain circumstance, and they said, what are you doing here? I said, well, I'm a preacher. I'm coming here to try and invite people to come. You're still at school. What are you doing on those properties? Oh, the police. He must be some sort of a thief. I said, but I am a preacher. You're a school boy, man. It's always terrible to look young, but that goes fast. Trust me. In one moment, God wipes youth away. Anyway, I was young, but I was a young preacher. But they asked me, for some reason, to come to one of the largest conferences in the entire of Africa, in a great auditorium with buildings. People came from all over southern Africa. And this young fellow was to be the main preacher. Now, I don't think anyone quite knew how that happened. Even the leaders, I think, were sitting there flabbergasted when they looked at this young man standing up there, thinking, what's he doing in this great auditorium? Even I stood there trembling, looking at all this multitude. And so, I hung on to God, trembling, as a young preacher, full of fire, not much wisdom. That's a young preacher. So long as you've got fire, though, people forgive you with a little bit of wisdom you've got. You mustn't stay with a little bit of wisdom, though. You've got to get more wisdom, otherwise you'll be thrown out soon. But everyone forgives you when you're young, you know, so long as you're full of fire. Well, I had fire, believe me, but very little wisdom. Ah, but the little bit of experiential knowledge I had of this book. That's the only knowledge that matters, the experiential knowledge of what you have of this book is all that matters. Anything else, sir, the devil will use you, unless you know it. And experience, well, I poured my heart out. The first meeting, they streamed in their hundreds, just seeking God. The youth, especially. The youth that were so hardened, there were rebels there that had knives, that even attacked, that they had to punch these fellows to try and stop them. They came on their faces seeking God. It was an amazing seeking God. And it was over four days. Morning and night I'd preach. One morning I was preaching. An amazing amount of people, people from all over the community were now being gathered into this place and having overflow halls, the way God was working in the most amazing way. Two young preachers, very little experience, but my heart trembled before God. My heart longed, knowing I could do nothing without Him. And oh, I was just soaked in prayer, consumed in prayer for God to have mercy on me and use me and not let this opportunity be wasted because of my limited understanding and ability or experience. Well, one day this little girl comes. Now she was very little. And she had long white hair. I don't know what it is, but her mother must have never let her cut her hair. The first thing I looked at was, oh, look at this girl's hair. She went down, you know. White, it wasn't blonde. No yellow, it was just snow white. It was a startling white and she looked so pretty. But she was little. Now she comes, tears were in her eyes coming down her face. This missionary lady, I think from Kenya, I don't know where she was. She was one of the people dealing with the many, many souls. All these preachers and missionaries from all over Africa that were dealing with the souls, taking them all over and praying them through to God. Well, this missionary lady came and said, Brother Keith, this little girly has just given her heart to Christ. And I believe the way she prayed, she really has sought God and God has saved her, the way this girl prayed. But she said she wanted to speak to you. She needs to speak to you. And she was scared, so I brought her through all this crowd. She wants to speak to you. So I said, all right. I'm not going to take you to some private room. I don't do that. A lady deals with a lady. But if I have to deal with you, I want you, please lady, to stand with me. I'm not going to be alone. Now I want, with us three standing here, what is it you want to tell me? She said, Sir, you preached today about your daddy. You preached that he was an alcoholic. You preached that your daddy destroyed the home. You preached that as they ran around the country seeking for you when you were a little boy, you just disappeared and ran hundreds of miles. And the whole, there were people, hundreds seeking where you were in case you were still alive. But you ran from that home because of what happened when Daddy Yankee became aggressive. And he did things and you just ran in the end. You couldn't, you just broke. How they find you, how your daddy got on his knees in front of you and begged your forgiveness. I know it's me, but Daddy's never going to touch a drink again in his life. I love you so much, boy. Daddy's finished. You will never run from this home again. Your daddy means it. There's no drink in this home. You're never going to know what made you run. I know it's me, but you're never going to have to run from me. I love you, my boy. I meant to be the best daddy on earth, but somehow socializing and the work and everything with drink has made me what I am. I'm giving up for you. I'm finished. You said that it was a few hours later he lay drunk. After saying with every breath in his body, every faculty of his being with utter sincerity and meaning it, he's stopping. He couldn't. He was back. Hours after he said with every faculty of his being and sincere heart to something he loved, you said, sir, how one day your daddy got on his knees, weeping. And when he got up from his knees, he walked through and took your mother and said, Mother, I have given my life to Christ. And I shall never take it back. How he took all the alcohol, all these shelves in the socializing place that he had built for dancers in our own home. Daddy was wealthy. And he broke every bottle, weeping, pouring it out and said, Mother, never again till I die will there be alcohol in this house. Not even wine. No champagne. It destroyed my life. And you shared how your daddy never touched another drink again. He didn't go to alcoholics anonymous. He went to alcoholics anonymous. And said, you want me to say I am an alcoholic before you believe I have any hope? No, I won't. I was. But Christ has set me free. You said he never even had a desire after all the years of being enslaved as an alcoholic. No matter what he did, no matter what he went to, no matter what therapies he had, nothing could stop him. But in one moment as he stood up from his knees, he never wanted it. He hated the smell. Sixty cigarettes a day. But 25 years nevertheless, he never touched another one. Drink right through the day. Never touched again. Delivered by God. And how your mommy, that was divorcing him, returned. And sought Christ also. And how your whole family came to God. Sir, my daddy's an alcoholic. My daddy, I'm not allowed to see him. I haven't seen my daddy for a long time, sir, because the police, the law said he's not allowed within a 50 kilometer radius of our town. Or he will be jailed. He doesn't go to court. He will be jailed if he comes near us because he's so aggressive and he's so physically abused. My mother and my brother especially. He is not allowed into our town. He will be jailed if he comes within 50 kilometers radius. I'm not allowed to contact my daddy. I haven't spoken to him for a long, long time. My daddy got on his knees once, begging my mommy and us for forgiveness when he saw what he did to her, when he saw what he did to my brother. Weeping, saying I couldn't have done it. How could I have done it? But he was again the next day, three days later, I think she said. Sir, my mother doesn't know that I have my daddy's telephone number. And sir, I'm calling daddy. I'm going now. And I'm not telling my mother because I'm forbidden to contact him. My mother's had enough. And I'm going to tell him what you preached today. I'm going to tell him what I did, how I gave my life to Christ. I'm going to tell him about your daddy. I'm going to tell him every word you said. I was praying as you were preaching. Don't let me forget. I've got to tell daddy. I want you sir, right now, to write down in the Bible with me the verses you quoted. Please, that verse. If you commit sin, you're the servant, you're enslaved. That verse, that if the sun shall set you free, you shall be. Please show me. I put papers, marks in all the places. And I embarked there in the Bible. In this God now commanded all men everywhere to repent. Repent ye therefore and be converted. I want to tell my daddy that daddy repentance doesn't mean you stop. But you turn knowing you cannot stop. I want to tell my daddy that you have to come to God knowing that you can't set yourself free. But if the sun shall set you free, you shall be glorious. I want to tell my daddy that verse. I want to tell him repentance is turning to him, knowing. Not giving up in your own strength to become a Christian. To be accepted by God. I want to know. I want to write these words down. Then she said, now pray. Before I leave. Because I'm leaving with people that only came for this one meeting. I want you to pray that God will use me to convey to my father. What you preached from the Bible and about your daddy. I want you to pray that they'll reach my daddy. And God will do the same. I want my daddy back. I prayed. And she left. I don't know how long. Some people say it was two years. I think it was more three years later. I'm just not sure. I wish I was accurate here. But I don't want to grieve God and say exact. It was a good while later. I was preaching in another town. And after the service, the people of course all linger. That's something they do. In many, many places I go. They don't want to go home. So you preach. You better preach for two hours. Otherwise they'll stand you for two hours afterwards. They say, oh, so good. So I pour my heart out and people are lingering and lingering. And everybody wants to greet you and say hello. You know, people travel from many different communities and towns and areas of Africa. Well, Joe, there was this big man. He had blood red hair. Thick. All the days of brew cream. Do you remember that? We looked like something out of space. But everybody did, you see. So today, this thick red hair, but big. With a big black leather jacket. But a big guy with a big Bible. He was like me. Because they don't allow you to travel anymore in airplanes with big Bibles. They think bombs in there or something. So some American gave me this young boy. But I love a big Bible too because I want to read for hours. And the night preventeth. My eyelids prevent the night watchers. You know, you don't want to stop. But a big print, of course, you can go on and on and on. So he had, like me, a big Bible. You even walk into a building and people start running. Big Bible. Not ashamed, though, because he was, hey, there's no shame. Well, here this man had this. And here he was standing with this beaming face, you know. And he was looking at me. And every now and again, trying to walk, and then others would come and speak to me. Whole groups. So eventually, I walked up to him and I said, Are you wanting to speak to me? Are you wanting desperately to have a word here? Oh, yes. Thank you for coming through. I thought I'd never get you. So I said, Well, what do you want to say? He said, Sir, would you do me a wonderful honor here tonight? I said, What are you talking about? Would you really honor me by doing something that's terrible? Is that all you want to tell me? What is it that you want me to do that's terrible? I was getting a bit unnerved. But he was smiling. He said, I want you to run as fast as you can from this building to get rid of all these people. To get away from them. Look at them. They're like spiders waiting for you. There's no hope. I'll never be able to speak. I came a long, long way when I heard you were here. And I want you for myself. Now, sir, I want you to get run, turn, run out of that door. Get in the car and we'll screech off. Because I won't be able to have fun. Look, they're coming already. Will you run with me? So I looked at everybody in the church. And, you know, they did look like spiders that night. I thought, Goodness me. They were all just coming, you know. No, I had never done this. I said, Okay. Were you ready? Yes, run. Well, I was young. And I ran. We ran out of the church building. I had my Bible. I had my jacket. Down to the car, through the parking. All the cars everywhere. To his car. Get in. Look at them. They were running after us. Get in. There was groups just running. I couldn't believe it. Oh, this man's really true. So I thought, Well, I'm going to be excommunicated from the missionary society I work for. You don't run from people you've just preached to. But, unfortunately, I had another occasion. Only one other occasion that I ran from a church. I won't tell you about that tonight. But, anyway, that was very different. I literally ran for my life. But, anyway, we get in the car. We're driving. He said to me, Do you remember back at this convention, there was a little girl with long white hair that prayed with you for her daddy. She asked you to pray. Do you remember that? I said, I do remember that little girl. How she was weeping. Even when I prayed, just weeping. He said, Well, I'm the daddy. Now I looked at him differently. Oh, you're the daddy. Yes. He said, Brother Keith, when I was a little boy, the bottle store owner of the town I come from, he got young boys in the back of the bottle store and he gave us alcohol and we lay drunk. I was little. We thought it was big. We thought, Oh, it just made us really big, you know. We thought this was great. This is what a young boy did. So we lay drunk and he would encourage it. But there came a moment that most of us, that we grew up as teenagers, couldn't stop. We got married and I had children. But I found something terrible. I beat my son nearly to a pulp. I beat my wife. I don't remember anything when I get sober. I couldn't, I just wept and sobbed and begged everyone, I begged, please, help, send me but nothing could help me. Brother, I got so aggressive and defiant. If it was outside of the home, I was with other people but in the home I did it in my, I got this anger and this aggressiveness and brother, I tried to stop. I tried to stop when I saw I was going to lose them and the police were going to take them away and I didn't have a family. Everything was going to be taken from me. I tried, whenever I tried to stop, I eventually saw these strange living creatures just all crawling. But the most, you go to real alcoholics whose minds have been destroyed and they think you're not doing damage. You destroy your mind, it can't even function. So here I am trying to stop now after a few days. All I see, whether it's dark in the night with these monsters, these creatures all through the day, walking down in the sun, all I see is these things and you're going off your head and I remember smashing my hands through the window of the bottle store in the town, grabbing a couple of blood when I drank I became like an animal, a maniac. When I tried to stop I was totally helpless and destroying my life. But then, brother, they took my family away and I wanted to die. And as the time went by I thought again and again let me just kill myself. What's the point of life? I can't change, they'll never come back. Things got worse. One day, she came to me. I couldn't believe it was her voice. I just began to sob so loud that she couldn't speak for up to 10 minutes I just sobbed and sobbed and sobbed. And she told me about you. She told me she gave her life to Christ. She told me what you said about your daddy. She told me, Daddy, listen to what the Bible says. Look at what Jesus says. Listen to what God says. Now, Daddy, you can't set yourself free but you have to repent. And it's not just about wanting Him to, allowing Him to, seeking Him to, believing, not just on His death for your forgiveness, but in His Resurrected Life, the Living Savior that promises as many as received Him to them gave He the power to become the sons of God even to them that believe in Him. Brother, I just listened to all these verses. I listened about your Daddy. I listened how he broke the bones. I listened how God set him free in one moment, though he had been to therapy, he had been to alcoholics, and in one moment he couldn't, he didn't touch it again, how he poured the bottle, eventually the phone goes down because I was sobbing so loud again, and then when I heard she's gone, my brother, I couldn't get these words out of my mind, but something terrible happened, something terrible happened the next day, it was so terrible as a result of all my evils, that I got in my vehicle and I went out of the town onto the freeway, and I drove toward the town where my wife and children live, now I had not been on that road, I had dared not go on that road for a long, long time, but brother, I went on that road and I began to weep as I just drove my mind numb in a whirlwind of what destroyed life I had, but my little girl's words kept coming, Daddy, Jesus can set you free, but you've got to allow him, you've got to ask him, knowing you can't say, Daddy, Jesus wants to save you, he will, but you've got to ask him. I went up this pass, a very high mountain, and I knew that there's a cliff that cars and vehicles and large trucks had gone over since I was a boy, many had lost their lives there, they put these big ramps all around to try and prevent it, it's a dangerous pass, so I put my foot on the petrol, on the gas, I put my foot down flat, and I was screaming, sobbing in agony of my life, what had happened back in the town, and everything destroyed, as I'm driving, the car reached a speed I didn't know it could reach, the whole thing was vibrating, and I came to this cliff, brother, and I was going to go off that cliff, I just wanted this moment, just finishing it off, I can't go on now, but suddenly that voice of my little girl penetrated into my conscience and my mind, and her weeping, Daddy, Daddy, Jesus will set you free, he can, come death, let him, seek him, ask him, you've got to come though, you've got to want him, you've got to believe, you've got to want him, and as I was trying to turn that car off the cliff, something terrible happened, the steering wheel wouldn't move, brother, at first I said, what's wrong here, this can't be, it's impossible, and then I realized there's no possibility, I realized something is stopping me, that this whole car cannot, I cannot take it off the cliff, eventually I got so frightened, that I pulled the car somehow to a stop, smashing against the rim, but it somehow stopped, and I opened the door, and I got down on the street, on my knees, and I screamed, I screamed for my soul, Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, set me free, but I didn't pray other things that people tell me you should have prayed, but as I, on my knees in that street, reeking with alcohol, I admit that, as I cried out, suddenly a peace flooded my heart, it was like a wave of divine love, there's no words I could ever utter, I couldn't agonize, I couldn't ask God any more, not one sentence, agonizing for God to set me, I just began to say thank you, thank you, it is beyond comprehension, this amazing presence of God, flowing over me, a peace that passes all understanding, a joy unspeakable, but there's no way anyone could understand, by words they have to experience to come anywhere near understanding, it's a peace that passes all understanding on a human level, unless you've experienced it, it was just flowing through, I got in the vehicle, I drove back to my town, I realized beyond any doubt, God has saved me, and I was so full of joy that I ran, because everyone in the town knows me, brother, that's my town, and I told them what happened, I told them about my little girl, I told them about you, I told them how I did in the vehicle, the car wouldn't go off, I told them, I got on, screamed, and this peace, they just looked stunned, so, but I wanted to tell everybody, oh, the Christians, after a few days, when they realize this is real, he's finished with drink, forever, oh, they said, well, now you've got to stop going near the bottle store, because there's a, like a magnet, get close to what you used to be enslaved to, and it'll draw you, just that, get close enough, pow, you're back, go blocks around, but don't go near the bottle store, don't go near the bar, the pub, don't go near the clubhouse, where all these men go, and drink all their money away, before they get back to their wives, who all sit trembling, by the time they get home, because they're going to be violent, and aggressive, oh, don't go near, you're all friends, don't go near these places, but brother, I didn't listen to these preachers around the town, and these Christians at all, starting taking note now, I went to the bottle store, and I walked in there, and I said to this man, that gave us alcohol as soothing, you, sir, will be damned for eternity, you will suffer, and I got scriptures, of what God says, He will do to people, who give drink to others, and make them drunk, you did it to little boys, and you thought that was great, we thought you were great, but you destroyed our lives, you will be judged, unless you repent from the wickedness of being in this, and making money from this, where others lives are being destroyed, more than anything, more than any drugs, across the entire world, has destroyed lives, alcohol has destroyed lives, alcohol has destroyed families home, made them go through hell on earth, through what you're doing for a living, and what you're pushing upon people, even boys with no conscience, unless you repent, you will go to hell, and you deserve it, I shared with him what God did to me, and he burst out sobbing violently, then I walked out, and then I went from there to the pub, to all these men I grew up with, and I shouted to those who were in there, what God had done to me, get out, come to Christ, don't die like this, don't die shameful, wicked, evil men, whose families hate them, don't die like us, come to Christ also, He can do it for you, they stood there weeping, most of them, no one said a word, because they knew what I put my family through, and they knew it's real, by now they knew this is real, and they were trembling, I went down to the clubhouse, and I did the same to all those men, get home for God's sake, don't die coming to places like this, and going home drunk, what do you think you're doing to your family, what right have you to do it to them, and I told him, now brother, I haven't touched a drink again, in these years, not once, and brother the smell of drink repulses me, it angers me, I have no desire for it, God set me free, what became of him, well he became a preacher, how could you not, when you have experiential knowledge of what God can do in one moment, how can you waste your life with other things, to the degree that man was set free, he just gave everything up, and he just went out preaching, now he has led multitudes and multitudes across southern Africa to Jesus Christ, most of whom were alcoholics or drunks, even lying in the gutters, that he and his team, and the work he built up, oh he's an old man now, but he still preaches as he's able, because that was many years ago, some 40 years ago now, hallelujah, for the savior we have in this world, I was preaching in a town where the rain came, they say it's the largest rainfall in the southern hemisphere of the world in that town, and boy did it rain, it was unbelievable, so I was preaching, and it rained and rained and rained, and I come to the church, it's empty, what 20-30 people, now that's a big auditorium, and I couldn't judge the people, why, how could they get out of the door, how could they come down the hills, and from the lands, the plots and the farmlands all surrounding, they couldn't, this is the worst, I've never seen rain like this in my life, just pouring like a waterfall, to get from the vehicle to the church in the night, I didn't even bother to take a umbrella, because it was just stopping anyway, it was just pouring, and the whole series that were advertised and arranged came to the last night, now I was really disillusioned, I don't know if preachers are supposed to admit that they get disillusioned, they might lose the right to preach, oh I've been disillusioned, well there I was, I was so young, but I remember that night sitting, and I said to the Lord, as the rain came down worse than any other night, why Lord, I didn't come here, because I chose to preach, I had to preach, the way you put on my heart and circumstances, I would have defied thee, and like Jonah gone through terrible circumstances, I obeyed thee, now I'm preaching God, and this happens, no one can come, the rain, why couldn't thou in mercy just have let the rain stop for the night, even an hour before I preach, why every night, no one comes, I was really disillusioned, depressed is the word, let's be honest, I suppose I'm the only preacher on God's earth, that ever got depressed, well I did, I just, God said long ago, be honest and the well, so I decided, well, what's the use of trying to keep myself dry, there's no hope, I didn't even put the umbrella, that's how to preach, I would, I'm going to get from the car now to the church, it's pouring, let's put my Bible, my notes under here, and cover it with this jagged ramp, and come in, they open the door, they pull me in, shut the door, because it was, the whole church was full, but I mean so full, it was unbelievable, I just stood there, oh, oh, now you're going to smile, that no one knows you were depressed, because you've got to preach now, everybody's trying to get dry, oh, the noise, the calamity, but they were all shopping with, somehow they all got in, but they decided in that town, they better show this young man, that there are some Christians in the whole town, even if it's raining, so they decided, let's assume the last night, we better all get there, even if we've got to go through a hangover time doing it, well, they went, and I was blessed as I walked in there, so I get up in the pulpit, and everybody comes down, and I start preaching, and suddenly I heard a man screaming, in such a way that I got scared, while I was preaching, he was standing at the door, and the elders were pushing him out, I could see, as he screamed, uncontrollably, in fear, with a fear, scream for them to let him in, but he was drunk, and this one man said with a loud voice in the end, you're not coming in, you're not destroying his meeting, out, push him, but they didn't physically do it, they just pushed him with one man with his whole body, until he went out again, and suddenly the screaming again, and then suddenly I noticed something, because I couldn't preach, while this was going on, everyone's looking around, I noticed a little lady in the front row, and I mean a lady, the way she dressed in God's house, the refinement of her face, the Bible, this little lady in the front row was shopping, and people behind her putting their hands on her, people kneeling in front of her, trying to comfort her, this man, this drunk, screaming, is this lady's husband? I picked it up immediately, she was so ashamed, she was so broken at the way he was screaming, and the things he was saying, that I couldn't even preach, that she just sobbed, and then he said something that shook the whole church, he shouted with a loud voice, you're not going to stop me, I don't care what you do, I have to get in this building, because God told me, I have to be in this meeting tonight, now that shook the whole building, he'd never said that, the men looked at him, I saw how they began to walk back, so they let him in, a quiet came on the whole building, they shoved his arms behind the pew, right against the back wall, to keep him sitting up straight, and he was groaning, because he had drink in him, and he was making noises, and I now try to preach further, but I couldn't, I couldn't, so I did something that I don't ever remember doing, ever before or since, I said, I'm so sorry, but I cannot preach in this meeting tonight, I'm just not strong enough, I, my mind, and I don't think anyone's following me, everyone is so unnerved here tonight, and broken, I am very sorry, but I'm not going to go on with the sermon, and then I said, but just in case, there's someone, anyone that God has spoken to, that God needs to meet with tonight, in spite of not getting anywhere near the end of the sermon, if you would need to seek God to save your soul, please come, and kneel here at the altar, there's one, and I'll kneel with you, there was a dead silence, and I was just about to tell them to stand up, if we can close with him, when suddenly this man stood up, and ran, screaming, but weeping, and he fell, oh, he fell against this pew, everybody just agonized, I agonized, they helped him up, then he comes to, and he falls down on his knees, and he lifts his hands up to me, I'm still in the pulpit, please, please help me, I stood up, and walked up to behind him, tears pouring down her face, I stood up, I went down, the whole church stood, I knelt beside him, I took his arm, and I said, God, I don't know how I can pray for this man in the condition he's in, but I don't know how I can't, Lord, in case this is God's last moment for him, so I said, Sir, as best as you can, pray with me, and we cried to God together, now you may not believe this, but when we're in heaven, let the Lord Jesus Christ tell you whether this is true or not, that man stood up, saved, he stood up totally sober, and don't tell me he wasn't drunk, no one will believe you, from that burden, when he came through that door, I wish I could say, oh, he was sober, it was the right moment, I don't know how to comprehend the greatness of God, or the compassion of God, or why God did that that night, that that man knew he had to be in there, though he reaped with drinking, and embarrassed everybody, and shamed his wife, he stood up, and he never touched alcohol again till the day he died, he was totally delivered, he did not go around the nation as the man with blood red hair did, who did a girl brought into Christ, and bring thousands, no he didn't, he brought souls to God though, but what they said of what he did with the 12 years, I believe that he lived after that, was staggering, you see, he had been the chief magistrate of the entire area, and through socializing, he had become an alcoholic, and with all his wealth, and the esteem given to him because of academic, and the authority of his work, he had just become a slave, and a shame to the town and community, and to his wife and family, he never touched alcohol from that night till the day he died, he never had it in his home, but he went through this book from cover to cover so many times, soaking himself, it was like he gained a thirst from that night till the day he died, he didn't run around the country preaching like the other men, he did bring souls to God, but this book was what he desired, and soaked himself daily, delighting in it, and sharing it in the most precious way from pulpits even, as he delivered that which God broke open to him, but he gained more respect than he had ever known in his entire life before he had become an alcoholic, because of what he sought God to do, and what God did, the entire community revered him above most in the history of that town, and that was God, and that was precious. I was in a building, the city hall of Johannesburg, the largest city in developed Africa anyway, and in this massive hall I had been helping in some little meeting, I wasn't a preacher, I was still just young saved, and after helping this miserable lady, and all those that organized this other preacher from inner land in Africa to come and say, all the work of God, God's doing, I went down the stairs, and I saw in the main hall that seats thousands and thousands of the great operas, and the classical orchestras there in this great city, and I saw that there's a little signboard there that said child evangelism, child evangelism, so I looked through, and I saw these masses of children, this was some big outreach, and there was these American evangelists, a man and his wife, who were speaking, as I pushed my way in there, don't want to disturb anybody, all the crowds, I was enthralled, the way they spoke to these children was so beautiful, so thrilling about the Bible, about salvation, that I said, wow, this is better than the other meeting, and here I am, let me sit, I'm going to get, and I enjoyed the children's meeting, my word can they preach to the heart, whoa, these child evangelists, these American accents, I think they came from Texas, I'm not sure, or Alabama, probably, but anyway, there they were, and I was enjoying, I was enthralled when suddenly the door opens, but this time not like me, just pushing it, and pow, bang, boom, and in come these two drunks, but I mean they were drunk, they weren't just drunks, they were champs, their shoes, their clothes, they were men who didn't work, and had no living place, they just lived in the gutter, and they somehow got in, now the whole meeting stopped, the way they walked in, and they were so loud, these American evangelists, wife down there on the stage, just stopped, and I said, oh no, the devils sent you in here, you're going to destroy this meeting, and they were loud, making noises, and laughing, so they sat, and this lovely godly man, who was preaching to the children, carried on, very conscious of them, and carry on looking, and they did make noises, loud noises every now and again, but I just thought, oh whoa, how did satan get you in here, how did the devil manage to get you here, to destroy these godly people's ministry, and all this, that must have been a great effort, how is this possible, eventually, as this man and woman were just pouring their lives out in the most graphic, wonderful way, that a little girl couldn't move, couldn't hardly breathe, and an old man couldn't hardly breathe, well, suddenly I looked around, and I looked at these faces of these two drunks, these tramps from the gutters, the tears were pouring down their faces, and they were sitting straight, they were pouring down their faces, eventually, an appeal was made for all the children that wanted to receive Jesus as their savior for life, and oh, never forget the way he said that, for your life, it's for the rest of your lives, oh don't come, they started streaming, and then these two men, the one first got up, and he walked out, and he started going down, weeping, but he was weeping uncontrollably, under conviction, the other one followed him, weeping, they knelt with the children, oh probably about a hundred children, I don't know how many were in the front there on their knees, and there they were sobbing behind these little children, and this American man looked at them with a smile, I'll never forget this, there I said, from the devil, the devil sent them, and he goes and kneels with them, took them to the side, sorry, and he kneeled to them, and I looked at his face, the love, the gentleness, the warmth, the care, the compassion, and then they prayed, now this is the wonderful part, those men were so mightily saved that night, that day, sorry, that they became a force for God in Africa, tramps in the children's meetings, who didn't close their heart to Jesus Christ gospel, those who preached to children, those men turned to God, and I would watch them as I grew in the faith, before I went out preaching, and even after, when I go back, they attended the godliest and most conservative, or you could see they were from some terrible background, but they were dressed, they shone, their faces shone, they dressed clean, they had their bibles, their bibles looked like they were in tatters, they loved it, and they longed to be in the conservative, that means the uncompromising presentation of the gospel anywhere, and they were in meetings upon meetings, and they were loved, and they became a force for God in their own way, to reach the lust for Christ, those two men, I don't know what happened to them, because after about, I would say seven years of seeing them and all, I lost contact, so I'm not sure, but all I know is God saved them, and I bless God for that, and I have no doubt he kept them till they died. Why do I preach this? Why do I tell you this tonight? Let me tell you from my heart, because there's no one in this world that you know that God can't reach through you, even if you're a little girl, sitting here, a little girl can mean more for Christ than a man been through a theological seminar for seven years, a little girl who receives Christ and believes enough to go, and preach in a way that a man with seven years of university and theological degrees cannot preach, because she believes. You don't have to wait till you're a minister, a preacher, or some evangelist that's been through the best faculties in the world, no, a little girl with all God needed to reach a broken man that no other preacher in the community was able to reach, so they tried. That's all God's waiting for, is someone who believes that there's no one on earth Christ can't reach, even if it's through them. God needs you. Let me shock every one of you. You know, when most people are saved who are broken, I mean destroyed, it's not only their faith, it's your faith equally that God can save. There's something about how you deal with a soul. There's something about how you speak that installs faith in them, because you have faith in the God who can set them free. You believe as much as they believe for them to be saved. It's not just their faith. I don't care mother if you were a drunk son. I don't care if you've got a drug addict son. I don't care if your son's committed murder. I've been sent by mothers and fathers on so many occasions to men who killed, who sat in jail, who had killed their children and their wives, and I led them to Christ. And they said, no, God could never forgive a monster like me. And I said, listen, there's no murder. He tasted death for every man, God says. That means you. That means you. And these men turned to God. And to my memory, I don't remember one that didn't go through with God and become men of God in prison till life, yes. In jail clothes, yes. But shining with Christ's likeness and holiness of life and integrity and bringing others to God, even the warders. There's no one God can't reach, no matter what you've stooped to. D.L. Moody, the preacher of love, the apostle of love in this country, Moody was walking with the president of the United States of America in Chicago along the pavement because of the great movings of God that came. And Moody was now a world known name, a household name in Christianity and religion. The way God had turned Scotland, turned the royal family of England to Neil, Queen Mary, Moody, who'd never been through a theological seminar in his life, this man from Chicago. He led Queen Mary to Christ. And she said, how can I serve God, Mr. Moody? And he gave her a track called Safety, Certainty and Enjoyment, one of the greatest tracks you'll ever see in your life, how to be saved. Give this to every soul you can as a queen. She gave out 250,000 in her lifetime to every general, every prime minister, every president, every dignitary that ever came near her in that palace of St. James, Queen Mary. And in the end, the king, her husband, came to God with Moody kneeling, but it was her life that brought him to God. The great Moody, now he's walking down the streets in Chicago with the president, people standing in their throngs, the honor of a preacher having the president, those days presidents were respected, honored. It was something for a man like this who had no education, but had shaken the whole world because he had one thing in his heart, the word of God and love. And Moody walked past the drunk, whose body was lying in the gutter. And Moody walked away from the president and started weeping and knelt in the gutter and called for help from others. This is what he did with every drunk body he found through Chicago. They lifted this man up. He couldn't speak to him, he's too drunk. They carried him. Moody never ever walked with the president of the United States again. It was finished. The president, tears coming down his eyes, walked away. He never had that honor again. He left that honor for a drunk. That's God's way. If you're real, you don't care about honor, you care about souls and you have belief. Let me tell you about that drunk. He housed them, he clothed them, they bathed them, they showered them. And they brought him to Christ, Moody particularly brought him to Christ. That man became a preacher. That drunk, that Moody, walked away from the president. He became a great preacher. He didn't live long, but he became someone that had an impact for the kingdom of God in an amazing way. He really had been saved. What am I saying? I'm saying, sir, don't you go out there into the gutters to get drunks, you might be killed. I'm not saying, drag them into the meetings, they might destroy your meetings. I'm not saying that, but I am saying this, don't dare believe Christ can't set free anyone who he brings into your path, who is destroyed by sin, enslaved by drink. I was in the streets of my city, one of the greatest cities in the world, one of the most beautiful, if not the most beautiful. And I had been preaching in some Lutheran church right in and I was sitting with some man in the car when a drug addict came and bashed his head against our car window, covered with blood, his head was open and the whole window was pouring with blood as he was just trying to pull himself up, screaming, give me money, help me, please, just give me some money, sir. So I opened the car door. The man in the car said, don't get out, you'll kill, you look at him, he's like a wild animal. I opened the door, because I knew who he was, he was a man I'd been seeking, praying for God to help me to find him. I couldn't, but I knew this was the man God brought to my car. I said his name, he was so shaken, he pulled himself up, drugged so that he didn't even know blood was pouring, he had no feeling, so drugged. How do you know my name? How do you know my name? I said, listen, Lionel, God must love you. And I told him how I searched, driving through the streets to try and find him, just by that description given, and I was so scared you would die, because they said you'll probably be dead if you don't get there in time, and you, I missed you, where they said I could meet you, you were gone. Now Lionel, I found you, don't believe this happened, God must love you. I don't care if you're drugged out of your mind, look at you, you're covered in blood, you don't even know me. I'm not leaving you, because I probably will never see you again, you'll be dead by tonight, probably. If you're willing to seek Jesus Christ with me, now I have enough faith to believe for you that God will set you free. He couldn't believe it, he turned with his hands in circles, just making these noises, then he looked at me, tears coming down his face, he knelt, people stood a few hundred, and this man, a man covered with blood on his knees in the city, the main street of the great city, and I prayed, and he prayed, and he stood up, saved. Now you say that can't happen, that did happen, that man was so mightily saved, I don't say go to the gutters and pick up drug addicts, who's covered with blood, whose lies that they'll kill you, I don't say go into the city, I don't say go bring drunks, and I don't say welcome these people into your meeting, no, bring back a man into his home, and let a little girl in, no, I'm saying if God, if God in your heart tonight, no matter who in your family, or in your distance, you know you can, if you got saved like that little girl, you are the means that God, God didn't just have in mind you, I'm saying to all Christians, who sit here and giving up hope with your drug addict son, with your drunk fathers, whatever they've stooped to, they've become, there is no soul in this earth that God can't reach, but God wants something unique, someone who believes that, someone who believes in his grace, God wants that, little girl, for Christ's sake, not mine, God wants more than you, you won't believe who he can reach if you believe, and if you embrace and experience his truth, and you seek to win, those who God miraculously will send to you to the degree you will believe, he'll give you your daddy back, he'll stagger the powers of hell through you before you die, little girl, but Christians and unsaved, will you, or will this world remain unchanged even after this message through you, can we stand please, can we bow our heads please, father take this message, and anyone with one iota of a conscience left in their life, don't let them ever forget this message until they're living it, whether they're unsaved yet or not, or the same, in Jesus Christ's name, amen, brother would you have one more short prayer, please don't make an appeal, I know that if they want Christ brother, they'll find them without anybody tonight, or they weren't listening to a word, so we can't help them anyway, but anybody that's actually listening and needs Christ will be saved tonight, unless they hate, hate righteousness, and love the devil, they will go to hell, and anyone who is saved will be used of God from tonight, they'll be on the phone tonight to those people they had no faith for, they'll be on their knees tonight, and they'll be giving people scriptures, nothing we do or say further will change that, if they don't, they're never going to, you can do that with me please, father, we've heard your word, let our hearts Lord be seized by the truth of what you have said through your whole servant, our hearts be gripped, our lives overtaken by holy love, and holy fear, and holy obedience, I pray that this truth that comes from your word crushes our pride, crushes our self-dependence, it helps us see that you're the God of the impossible, and I pray for those here that don't know you, Lord that they would believe, they would call out upon your name, and be radically, thoroughly, powerfully saved by your grace, and we give you praise in the name of your Christ, amen.