Peter Brandon emphasizes the transformative power of the Holy Spirit in evangelism, illustrating how the early church, despite facing numerous challenges, effectively spread the gospel through the empowerment of the Spirit. He highlights the importance of understanding both Scripture and human nature to effectively communicate the gospel in today's context. Brandon encourages believers to engage in personal evangelism by building relationships within their communities, rather than solely relying on traditional church meetings. He advocates for a long-term approach to evangelism, focusing on consistent outreach and genuine care for individuals, which can lead to significant spiritual growth and transformation. Ultimately, he calls for a revival of passion for the gospel and a commitment to reaching the lost with love and understanding.

Last night we looked at the book of the Acts chapter 1 and we noticed that the word Acts comes from a Greek word called Braxes and it means the accomplishment of outstanding men. But we notice when we come to the book of the Acts it's not the accomplishment of outstanding men, it's the accomplishment of the Holy Spirit through simple men. Now please grip that because that's important. Now I'm not going to give you analysis again of the book of the Acts but you had it last night. But last evening we dealt with the problems that were the background to the book of the Acts and you remember we noticed they had a theological problem, they didn't basically understand the meaning of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. In fact the Pharisees knew more about that than the disciples. They had terrible social problems, three times they were caught a week before the Lord died arguing who was going to be the greatest. They had devotional problems, Judas betrayed the Lord, Peter denied him and they all forsook him and fled. They had terrible traditional problems concerning leaving Israel and becoming Christians in fact the apostle Peter had a terrible difficulty in going to preach to the household of Cornelius and you remember God gave him that vision of the sheet with all those kind of animals and told him rise Peter kill and eat. Then they had geographical problems they were moving no faster than Noah on a boat and they were moving no faster than Adam on a horse and yet this is a miracle within 40 years they shook the Roman world and they only had two authorities the authority of the word and the authority of the spirit and that's what we need today. We must get back to the word and back to the preaching of the gospel. Now we're going to see the infallible proves you remember he was showing to them these infallible proves concerning the Lord Jesus when he was with the disciples for 40 days and we looked at those infallible proves. Now I can't go into all the details of it because if I do we won't get into our subject that the Lord has laid on our hearts but we notice that those infallible proves were textual scriptural and if you go through the bible you will find that there are scriptures relating to his conception and scriptures relating to his birth and scriptures relating to his life and scriptures relating to his death 99 scriptures in the old testament that refer to the death of the Lord Jesus scriptures referring to his burial scriptures referring to his resurrection and glory and that makes Jesus Christ absolutely unique then we noticed that there was historical evidence the evidence of the great clouds the evidence of the teachings of the Lord Jesus the evidence of an empty tomb and the evidence of a transformed life and so we can see that there was real evidence and then we noticed there was a critical proof we ask ourselves the question if we were those first century Christians who was the last person would he ever imagine to become a Christian and we all said Saul of Tarsus the Lord wonderfully saved him and then last night we went through history showing certain people that were diametrically opposed to Christianity and they examined the evidence of the resurrection and the evidence of Saul's conversion and they became Christians and then we looked at men in this modern world of ours Mr. Morrison who wrote the book who moved the stone and C.S. Lewis who wrote that lovely little book surprised by joy and we noticed that there were brilliant critics who when they examined the word of God became Christians so we can say we are not ashamed of the gospel of Christ because it's the power of God unto salvation now may I say this to all Christians here tonight never get ashamed of the gospel if you're in a local church and they're not preaching the gospel there's something wrong the gospel is a wonderful message and never be ashamed of the gospel it's a wonderful thing to preach it now what we're going to look at right now we noticed that there were two great promises in the book of the Acts the promise of the coming of the Holy Spirit and the promise of his second coming and we dealt with that last evening now we're going to look at verse 8 would you turn to that Acts chapter 1 verse 8 but ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth now already we have noticed that the whole of the Acts is divided by that statement and it's the key verse in the book of the Acts and we notice from chapters 1 to 7 it's the gospel in Jerusalem from 8 to 13 it's the gospel in Judea and Samaria and then from 13 to 25 it's the gospel in the uttermost parts of the earth but there are three things I want to share with you concerning that particular reference first of all I want you to note the powerful witness ye shall receive power now this is wonderful after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you if you look at the disciples as they were seen in the four gospels and if you look at the disciples when they are actually in the Acts of the Apostles you will find they're almost like two different men in the gospels they didn't understand the Lord very much theologically in the gospels they failed socially and they failed devotionally but when you come to the book of the Acts they're completely transformed they're different people now why because they had received the power of the Holy Spirit now what I want to do tomorrow night is to speak on that subject of power I want to go right into it because if there's ever a time when the church of God needs to be empowered by the Spirit of God it's now but you see if we're going to be used of God we must get back to the power and therefore you can see there was powerful witness now I want you to look now at the nature of witness what does this word witness mean it comes from a Greek word called martyrs where we get our word martyr from so every time you read that word witness it is always associated with martyrdom always remember this when you read the word martyr blood's in it blood's in it now nearly all these apostles and a good number of the first century Christians that you read of in the book of the Acts died as martyrs and those of you who are familiar with history will know that Nero almost slaughtered a million and a half Christians and so we come from a good stock we come from the first century covenanters forgive me using that word but they were people who were prepared to lay down their lives for the cause of Christ and it may be as we come to the end times that some of us may be placed in prison because of preaching the gospel I have no doubt in saying this that when in my own country they hear me preaching against broken families and they hear me preaching about homosexuality and the wickedness of it I may be in prison you see all of us have got to be counted and we need a church that's on fire for God and that's why I trust that some of you young people may catch fire for God and be used in this land to bring the gospel to the Lord Jesus so can you see the nature of the witness then I want you to look at the sphere of the witness Jerusalem Judea and Samaria now I want to use your imaginations now imagine for one moment we were the first century Christians and we were all in an upper room together 120 of us and we were all feeling a little sore because we had let the Lord down every single one of us and then the Lord stands up among these people and he says right I want you to be blood witnesses in Jerusalem Jerusalem Jerusalem the place where they crucified you there yes Jerusalem the hardest place on earth then he would say Judea and you would almost have a shock why because in Judea there were all the synagogues and all the theologians and they were bitterly opposed to the Lord Jesus and they intellectually opposed him now he says when you finish that Jerusalem I want you to go into Judea and can't you imagine them saying my word that's almost impossible then he said after you have witnessed in Jerusalem and Judea I want you to go into Samaria now the Jews hated the Samaritan if there was ever an ethnic barrier it was between the Jews and the Samaritans now he says I want you to go there an orthodox Jew wouldn't even walk on the soil of the Samaritan but that's where you must go and then there was this great explosion and then I want you to finish at the uttermost parts of the earth how would you feel oh that's absolutely impossible how can we do that we've all failed how can we do it well on the day of Pentecost they were filled with the Holy Spirit and they went everywhere preaching the Word of God and within 40 years they did it now can you see even although we have failed if God meets us and fills us with the Spirit we can do the same thing today and in this tent there's enough people to shape the whole of Australia and that is not an exaggeration if only we got down to evangelism now what I want to do and I've never done this before before a group of young people I want to share with you as far as I know it of problems in modern evangelism we preachers like to stand up and always give a good report of our work well I'm not going to do that tonight I'm going to speak about the real problems I face then after sharing with you the problems I want to show you the possibilities and what glorious possibilities they are now I'm going to take it that everyone in this room is bible based I'm going to take it that everyone believes in the gospel and loves the gospel and I'm going to take it that everyone in this room would like to see the gospel going all over Australia before the Lord comes all right how are we going to do it now if you're going to preach the gospel well now may I say this again you must understand that book and that's why I'm pleading with you to have a disciplined life so that you read the scriptures carefully don't always rush to a bible college get a job after your university training and if you don't go to university specialize in the job that you do and study this book privately and let the spirit of God be your teacher so that God raises up men that haven't been channeled by a bible college but he will raise up men whose minds have been widened by the spirit of God now we desperately need that now I'm not going to say you're all going to be preachers because that's a gift of God but there are those in this tent that God is calling to preach may not be in Australia may be abroad but there are those who will get the call both among you ladies and you men to spread the gospel abroad now if we are going to preach the gospel we must not only be grounded in that book and may I say to you young people start memorizing the word of God so that you learn a scripture each day and the more you can fill your mind with the better because when you preach personally or publicly if the scriptures can constantly come out you'll find that there's power in it and then the other thing we must preach or understand the book of human nature now this is vital you see it's no good preaching the first century gospel to a 21st century society in a 19th century way you've got to learn to preach the gospel in a language that the 21st century people can understand now could I say that to my older brethren you see we use a language that goes right over the heads of the people so then we've got to understand two books number one the bible and then the book of human nature and if we understand those two books I'm sure we shall do well now because of this we must look at the moral problem now I don't know about Australia I'm only going to give you the facts and figures concerning my own country and because they are so appalling I'm going to underestimate some of the figures less than 10 percent of the people of Britain have a secured marriage nearly three quarters of all the marriages finish in divorce not only that in our own country today we have jettisoned the ten commandments we have jettisoned the idea of marriage and now we have the permissive society and we have hundreds and thousands of boys and girls who cannot get on with their new mum and new dad so that when we go into schools we see a long line of boys and girls all waiting for a and that from a head mistress and these are little children because they do not have that affection at home now that's the problem we've got a shocking moral problem we've got almost a homosexual society being raised before our eyes and we have as I have already said all these broken marriages now note this the politician cannot deal with it there's only one message you can deal with that and that's the gospel and once people get right with God then they will get back to the scriptures and back to happy home living secondly we have a religious problem that means less than 10 percent of the people in Britain go to a place of worship furthermore 75 percent of those churches do not preach the gospel that means if a man wants to hear the gospel and he goes into a local church invariably he won't hear it and that eventually means this that nearly 75 percent of our people have never heard the gospel and they are completely blind to all the facts that we have in scripture therefore in Britain we are no longer Christian but pagan now immediately we face up to those two facts that we have this awful moral problem and we have this terrible religious problem where perhaps only a few of the churches ever preach the gospel of God now can you see what we have done we have allowed our people to move into a state where they are no longer Christian in ethics but now they are pagan and it's very difficult to preach the gospel to pagan people now when I go to Northern Ireland there's a different situation altogether almost 30 percent of the people of Ireland go to a place of worship and 75 percent of all the churches there preach the gospel so that you can go to an average man and say are you born again and he will say yes or no but if you went to a Briton and said or you went to an Englishman and said are you born again he would look at you as though you came from another world no idea you see there in Northern Ireland where the gospel is being preached they know the language but in our own country they don't know the language now can you see that problem but there's a bigger problem than that there's an evangelical problem now I want you to analyze this carefully already we have seen together what we believe and we believe outstanding things let me go over it we believe that if a man dies in his sins he's eternally lost now we believe that and we believe that that person is eternally lost in a sphere that is indescribable because of its horror now we believe that we believe that the emergency of the situation was so great that God sent his only begotten son into the world who was co-equal with God and he died upon the cross on behalf of our sins now we believe that now that one fact is mind-boggling that the almighty God should come down with a body and with that body bear the sin of the world that's amazing we believe too on the third day he was raised again from the dead not figuratively but factually and we believe that he's gone back to heaven and we believe that if we put our trust in the Lord Jesus and repent of our sins he will forgive our sins and give us eternal life eternal life now you think of that and we believe too that the Lord Jesus is coming and most of us believe he can come any moment and therefore this puts an urgency on us but how do we preach this gospel now i want to share it with you now some of our brothers and sisters take the trouble to preach the gospel to boys and girls and thank God for that if you are a Sunday school teacher you're doing a sterling work for the Lord then there are other men and women that work with the youth and if you are a bible class teacher or if you have a youth craft class be sure of this i want to tell you you're doing a wonderful work for God go on with it if you're a sister and you lead a ladies meeting and you have a fellowship where the ladies come and hear the gospel thank God for that you're reaching the unsaved women and if you are a sort of person that you're looking after babies so that other mothers can go to work and you're doing this and you're instructing even those little children you're doing a work for God but quite frankly our normal outreach if i've missed some you'll forgive me but our normal outreach is Sunday at 6 30 or it may be in the morning at 11 o'clock and i want you to analyze that on an average in Britain i do not know how this refers to Australia because i'm only here for a few months and then i'm out of the country but in Britain i know that fairly well the average congregation among evangelical churches would be 30 or 40 people among those 30 and 40 people on an average there would be one unsaved and so every Sunday night a gospel hymn will be given out we've heard the joyful sound Jesus saves and in some congregations they will sing it in beautiful harmony but always remember it's all within brickwork monastic evangelism and there's only one unsaved but we're singing from the bottom of our heart then someone will get up and pray a prayer as though everyone in the building was unsaved and he'll preach the gospel to the Lord then they will give out another hymn and it might be uh something about the precious blood of the Lord Jesus and that's exceedingly precious but they're all singing it to themselves and to the one unsafe then someone will get up and give the notices up what will happen on Tuesday night what will happen on Thursday night and Friday night and we shall break prayer 11 o'clock Sunday morning and then next Sunday Mr so-and-so will preach then the brother will read his scripture and give out another hymn it may be a beautiful gospel hymn and we'll all sing it then he will preach his heart out and the congregation will ascertain whether it was good or bad then right at the end that a brother will shake him by the hand and say that was a lovely message we enjoyed that tonight the power of God was there pity there was only one unsaved person but never mind you were faithful you served the sea now were they faithful were they faithful now note this if they did that in the acts of the apostles they would have died within 12 months you see they went everywhere preaching the word and what we have been doing for 60 or 70 years is preaching the gospel to ourselves and the people outside are totally ignorant so the elders will come together and they will say perhaps we need a mission good who are we going to ask and they have their five star men their four star and their three star and their two star and they start at the top and they send out the invitations and then when they get the person that they feel that they like and then they tell the assembly in two or three weeks time we're going to have a mission and then they have some printing and then all the saints go around knocking at the doors inviting the people to come nothing wrong with that and then everybody gets busy and the first night there will be a few unsaved in and the second night maybe a few more but let's face it the people that we are bringing in have never heard the gospel before and it's the evangelist job to sow the seed at eight o'clock see it grow at quarter past eight bring the sunshine out at half past eight and quarter to nine to put them under pressure this may be your last chance wise as a man first time i've heard it my last chance and all kinds of psychological pleasure is brought upon them and then invariably the mission is over and they say well brother you were faithful you sowed the seed but what was happening we were bringing unsaved people in who were totally pagan and we expect them all to be saved within a week now here's some facts nearly everyone that's been saved in the missions that we've had in the last three months all had a six months background you say what do you mean by that well someone was working on them for six months and the people that get saved are those upon whom you've been working months before the mission well you say brother peter what are we to do then carry on turning the handle just being faithful now look that's not being faithful so then what are we to do now i'm going to give you a plan and i trust in your minds this will be sown so that in your locality you may see this put into effect we want to forget a week's mission we want to forget a three weeks mission we want to forget a six weeks mission and we want to think in terms of three years you see our people are they don't know the gospel and therefore if we're going to really now preach the gospel we've got to tell ourselves we've allowed our society to get pagan and we're responsible therefore we've got to really reach them somehow therefore i imagine the elders coming together and the church coming together and saying something like this look we've got to be realistic about this matter matter otherwise we cease to be a new testament church we cease to be a lampstand we're just playing at it that is drawn up i imagine of the area that's workable in the area of the hall so if an assembly has about 40 or 50 they're saying well i believe we could reach about 400 houses in this area so a map is stretched out and over it our mission field of the area in which the hall is placed and all the roads are clearly tabulated and on every road there's a flag and when you look at that flag you get a shock your name's on it what my name what do they expect me to do they expect you to visit 30 houses and that will be your mission field for three years and that will be your parents 30 houses you see what we do when we evangelize we all get concerned when there's a mission and we knock at the doors and we invite the people to come to the hall but that's not evangelism evangelism is knocking at a door to try and give that person the gospel now it's almost impossible to stand on any door and give them the gospel immediately so you've got to build bridges between you the hall and those people and then of course we shall want literature now we find this it's no good giving people a book like stop becoming a christian because it takes almost a half an hour to read and people are not readers so what are we going to do we must split the gospel up into sections and so we need a series of booklets and i would suggest this is what we do the first one who is god the second booklet what's wrong with the world i talk on sin the third one is their life after death the fourth one who is jesus christ the fifth one why did he die the sixth one did he rise again from the dead don't use the word resurrection they don't understand it did he rise from the dead then the seventh one was it the seventh and can we really know him and then eight repentance nine faith and the last one assurance well you've all had a shock you've been given a little parish of 30 houses you're going to work on those 30 houses for three years and you're going to do all that you can to help the people in your little parish now already isn't that better than shutting yourself in brickwork in a little gospel hall or a gospel chapel singing your heads off we've heard the joyful sound jesus saved at last you're going out to the people now we're all nervous we're all apprehensive some of our sisters are saying i don't think i can do it dear you know i'm afraid of dogs and they've nearly all got powerful dogs i know this is the language i've heard so the brethren get together and they're going to send letters to all the people in these 400 hours and in the letter they're not going to thump them hard with the gospel that's the personal visitor's job after a time but it's a letter that says we are concerned about the area we want to help the area lots of people are in need and we're going to put a visitor in the area just to help you and you send two letters introducing the visitor now my dear friends the letter should be stamped it should be handwritten so it's not put in the rubbish of all this kind of mail that we get that we don't want a nice homely letter from the local church saying that you want to really help the people and you're going to put a visitor then then you will need some get well cards get well cards what does that to do with evangelism you listen then you will need some birthday cards then you will need some sympathy cards all this is very important indeed and now you've got your literature and with your literature you're going to visit them each month to give them one little tract at a time but then comes the problem the first breakthrough of the ice you're going out to visit don't do what one sister did she took two aspros to quieten her nerves the lord will give you the power you'll walk to the door and you'll knock at the door and you'll be shaking and then there's an enormous dog that bites never put your hand through a letterbox dogs love fingers and be very careful of those little jack russels they don't attack you when you come but the moment you walk away they bite your ankles and you knock on the door and then you say something like this you've had a letter about the visitor i'm your visitor if i can do anything to help anything we'd love to do it as a local church we do want to help the people and here's a little book that's helped many and remember we're from the hall any night you'd like to come we'd love to see you but that little book will help you and they'll take it and then you go down all your little missions and that will take you approximately an hour and a half and that once a week now isn't that better than singing in brick work rescue the perishing care for the dying we've heard the joyful sound jesus say you see the old devil sits on the perch of the assembly and he laughs we're playing at it now you're getting out to the people and after you've been round whether you're a sister or a brother you'll find a wonderful sense of joy now comes the next month take a little book with you and a little notebook and you take your second track what's wrong with the world knock on the door and say i'm the visitor oh yes were you able to read that booklet oh no haven't had time don't worry don't worry here it is again do read it you find it helpful if we can do anything for you we'd love to do it if you need a car anytime would you just send me a call or put a note through the door and we would love to help you you see show to the people that you love them and you're willing to do something for them you didn't mind me calling you oh no no no i'll be calling every month let's see if we can help oh good good you see you're not standing there stunting all the time with the gospel you're showing to these people that you love them but you're getting it in then you'll find someone that's read the booklet yes i read it what did you think of it one or two things i couldn't understand could you share it with me and then you might be able to help them then you'll say read this one it's as good as that one what's wrong with the world oh thank you and then put that down in your notebook they've read number two and then you will find only 10 percent of the people read the first one but that means almost four or five people have read the first one give them the second one and then keep going round getting your little booklets in it will take you nearly three years to get the 10 in but what's happening they're getting to know you and you're getting the word in little by little and then note them you might see a child and you might say does he go to sunday school no well we would love to have him at our sunday school would you mind if i came round for him no if he would like to go of course that will build your sunday school up and as you're going round you will meet some young people do you go anywhere you go to a youth club we've got a fine group of young people if you'd like to come there they'll be very pleased to see you and then send some young man round that will build your youth work up i've seen it and then you might find some old people there especially some of the ladies and you might say do you go anywhere tuesday afternoon there's a lovely cup of tea at the hall and that can build up your women's work but all the time you're trying to get the gospel now note this then you'll find an old lady and her grass needs cutting her grass here you get some of the to do it and cutting that lady's lawn will do as much as those booklets will do we've got to show that our christianity has hands and feet then you will find that someone in your parish is in hospital send them a get well card from the visitor how would you feel if there was a person visiting your home and you had the flu and they sent you a get well card what would you do ah isn't that nice of them fancy sending me a get well card you see it shows that you care about people and then when there's a bereavement get right in and you will find a bereavement pray with them send them the loved one that spared a sympathy card you know that can touch people it shows that we care you see all they see is this they see us coming all well dressed as though we were going to the queen's birthday beautiful floral hats and we all go into the and that's all they see and then they see us all coming out now what's happening the church is moving into the people now can you see it you're getting right into society no when you get right into society you will run up against terrible marriage breakdown children's difficulty and behind those closed doors there are scores of people with broken heart and they need you but you say can young people do it yes in Glasgow the assembly at Pollock Shores have done this now for over 12 years no wonder it's packed to capacity and this is what I discovered there was a young man only 17 years of age and he gave me the addresses of people that live in those great concrete multiple buildings and as we knocked at the door to speak to people that he had sent us to we got a wonderful shock we were invited in and this is what they said that young man we love he comes in and does some errands for us he does a little jobs for us and he brings a glow of sunshine to us now he didn't know that but here was a young man 17 years of age doing tremendous work for God he was working on 30 houses and God used that young man mightily and he can use you too you see what happens we knock at the door oh I can't knock on that and then we don't knock on that door for about two years therefore they never get to know us but now can you see what you're doing you're working on 30 houses until the people get to know you now what will be the result after 18 months of that kind of visitation have a mid-mission and some of the visitors if you've got your own home should invite some of these people into your own house give them a cup of coffee and let the preacher come in for about 20 minutes and have just the conversational souls are being saved in the homes of people you don't have to sing a hymn after all how can unsaved people worship God they can't do it you're making them sing things that they shouldn't sing you see they can't sing it's only the saints that can sing now get them into your home and let the evangelist preach and you will find this from their home to your home is a stepping stone to the hall and we have seen that over and over again in fact in some places we've never touched the hall we've just had missions in us we invite them in they sit down we don't sing a hymn we have a cup of coffee then I open the scripture and preach it and God is saving souls now does it matter where they're saved of course not the moment they're saved and born again they will want to be among the people of God but can you see they're going up now after 18 months of personal visitation you will find a small stream of people coming into your gospel hall on an average you will find about 10 to 12 people coming why because the people have gone out they've shared the gospel with these people and they're beginning to trickle in now can you see if you had a mid-mission after 18 months of personal evangelism there should be a few souls saved why you've been working on them can you see that instead of just suddenly bringing them in and say right now give them the full blast you've been working on them and therefore the seed has been sown but don't stop after the mission go on and say lord I would like to see two souls saved in my town around you go again with another series of booklets a little more deeper and pray for those two souls and this is what you would find as you were coming to the three-year period there would be 25 to 30 unsaved people coming to your normal gospel why because you've gone out and you've touched them now can you see I'm not saying rule out gospel meeting but I am saying don't pray at it and I am saying this the church has got to go and if we go out we shall see God moving and that's why we need a program the lord gave them a program and it was this Jerusalem Judea Samaria and the uttermost part of the earth and they fulfilled it now this is the great shame the people who are doing this doorstep visitation are not the evangelical christian they are the JWs the mormon and the christodelphia and they made more converts in Australia than all the evangelicals can you see what's happening whilst we are fast asleep the devil's sowing his tears now isn't that a shame but they make a terrible blunder they knock and then they don't knock again for about eight months and therefore the people slam the door they don't know but can you see the profundity of this you're going once a month not slamming all the time with the gospel but trying to do the best you can and getting the word of God gradually and praying that two souls would be saved in your area now how does this affect a local church first of all it will transform your life the moment you start doing doorstep work you'll get a love for the people in your area that you never had before now here's a fact i want to share with you i never get a love for the people when i'm preaching publicly but when i get on those doors and start speaking to the people individually the Lord gives me a love for them now the moment you take on a parish and you start visiting you'll get a love for the people in your area a love that you've never had before and then when you find someone being hooked and they've enjoyed the first three books and they're asking your question you'll realize that someone is getting near to the kingdom of God and what will you do you'll have a prayer meeting now the reason why our prayer meetings are so boring on many occasions we've got nothing really to pray for we pray for the Eskimos in the igloo well praise God for that and we pray for those in the heart of the Amazonia praise God for that but you see we can't really have deep compassions for those people but once you start praying for people in your area now if imagine a sister shall we call her Miss David she's never done visiting before but she starts and for the first time in her Christian life and she's been a Christian for about 40 years she gets this joy speaking to people never had it before then she shares it with the elders that there's a lady in her row that's interested would they pray and the whole church prays for this lady think of the joy that would bring to this you see it can revolutionize a prayer meeting now think of some of you young people and you've got a road and you're going down there each month and then you find that there's a man that's been hooked with the gospel and you're sharing with him the moment that you got saved and he says to you something like this you know I would love to have that experience would you yeah but I'm an old rogue you know well so was I but the Lord dealt with me can't you imagine running back to that prayer meeting and saying would you pray for this man and the whole church prays for the man can you see it would revive a prayer meeting then it would revive ministry meetings why when you start knocking on the doors and when you get one or two of them really hooked with the gospel the scripture calls it conviction they will say something like this to you have you got power in your life do you live a victorious life now if you're not living a victorious life forgive my language it will hit you straight between the eyes and then you would go and seek the Lord that you might be filled with the spirit that this might be your power and you will want ministry that's really tactical then what about your gospel meeting what a joy for you to see one or two people in your parish sitting in the gospel meeting wouldn't you go up afterwards and shake them by the hand and say oh it's lovely to see you and then supposing one night they stayed behind and they got saved oh the joy you know some of the most beautiful moments we've had is when we have led a person to Christ and then we have seen the person that brought them to the meeting and prayed for them hugged them and to see those tears of joy is more than wonderful may God do such a work in all our hearts that we shall go back to our own local churches and say right I'm going to take on 30 houses and I'm going to ask the Lord to give me a couple of souls and wouldn't it be wonderful if some of the local assemblies could get that glorious vision of evangelism and have a three years plan of evangelism so that God could add to the assembly daily such as should be said let me give you an illustration and then I'll close I was having a mission in Cambridge and some young men came to me and they said would you come into our college I said what is that down in college and give us a talk on faith oh I said I'd be delighted to come I said what time do you want me to come well he said it's half past 12 on Sunday well I said I'd be very pleased to come in and how long do you want me to speak for as long as you like I said are you all Christians he said mainly all Christians all right I said I'll be there on Sunday well they gave me a bread and cheese lunch and I'm not exaggerating it was the strongest cheese I've ever tasted it stripped the lining of my mouth and it's an awful thing when you're preaching and you can feel bits of skin coming down on your mouth well I started with this subject of faith and then halfway through I stopped and I said to these fellas excuse me gentlemen you're ministering far more than I'm ministering to you they were all young men round about 19 to about 28 and they were radiant with the joy of the Lord it was beautiful to see so after the meeting I thought I'm going to find out the secret of this so I went to one chap and said what are you reading he said I'm reading engineering I said how long have you been here nearly three years I said where do you come from he said I've come from South Africa I said do you mind if I ask you a question are you saved he said yes I said how long have you been saved three weeks and I said who led you to the Lord he said that fella there so I went over to him I waited until he finished talking and I said what are you reading he said engineering I said how long have you been here three years I said where do you come from Liverpool and then we had a chat about Liverpool I've been there many times now I said how long have you been saved he said six weeks I said and where did you get saved he looked he said that fella there led me to the Lord so I went to him so I took a good look at him and I thought well he doesn't look an old Christian so I said how long have you been here he said oh just for three years I said where do you come from he says I come from where you live near where you live I said where's that he said I came from Bedford oh I said Bedford I said I live in Woburn Sands oh yes he said I know that I said and uh can I ask you a question how long have you been saved he said eight weeks and then he pointed me to someone else and then he pointed me to another and I thought I must find the source of this so I traced it back to two fellows and when they joined Downing two years ago they went into their respective bedrooms and they did exactly what I was talking about this morning they laid themselves they did it genuine and then they asked the Lord to give them one soul within six months and there were 40 yes radiant with the joy of the Lord and a lot of those fellows have been mightily used wouldn't it be lovely if we laid ourselves on the altar and then we took our 30 houses and said Lord give me two souls that would be witness