Peter Brandon emphasizes the necessity of being filled with the Holy Spirit, using the story of a widow from 2 Kings 4 to illustrate how God provides in times of desperation. The widow, facing the loss of her husband and the threat of losing her sons to creditors, turns to the prophet Elisha, who instructs her to gather empty vessels and pour out her small amount of oil. This act symbolizes the filling of the Spirit, where God can multiply what little we have when we surrender to Him. Brandon highlights the importance of prayer, humility, and recognizing our own emptiness to receive God's fullness, ultimately leading to restoration and blessing.

How we need to be filled with the Spirit. Now what I want to do is to give a similar address following the same theme, only this time an Old Testament picture. The 2nd of Kings chapter 4. The 2nd of Kings chapter 4 reading from verse 1. Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, Thy servant my husband is dead. And thou knowest that thy servant did fear the Lord. And the creditor is come to take unto him. And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? Tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, thy handmaid hath not anything in the house, save a pot of oil. Then he said, go borrow thee vessels abroad of thy neighbours, even empty vessels. And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons. And shalt pour out into all those vessels. And thou shalt set aside that which is full. So she went from him and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her and she poured out. And it came to pass, bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, there is not a vessel more, and the oil spayed. Then she came and told the man of God and he said, Go sell the oil, pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest. And the Lord will bless to us. The days of Elisha were dark and dismal. The dark shadows of Ahab were still on the land. The wicked seduction of Jezebel was still corrupting. The people were in a state of depression. The light in the temple was almost out. And in the midst of all this apostasy and sin, this man Elisha moved before God in the power of the Spirit. You will notice from the Old Testament particularly, that all the miracles of Elijah were nationalistic, with one or two exceptions. All the miracles of Elisha were domestic, and they referred to individuals. And therefore we can see through this man, how to act and react in days of declension. And we see in this miracle, a mighty explanation of what it means for a few people to be genuinely filled with the Holy Spirit. You will agree with me, I feel sure, that every movement of restoration has been when God's people have got back to the upper room and rediscovered the power. And I believe tucked away in this Old Testament story, we see... Now the way I'm going to tell the story will be quite simple. First of all I want to speak to you on the woman's predicament. Then I want to get right into the sanctuary and hear this woman praying. And then we want to get right into her home to see her poverty and her extremes. And then we want to hear Elisha speaking to her so as to see her provision. And then right at the end, and forgive the heading, but I've justified this, we're going to look at her pension, the way in which the Lord permanently blessed her. Her predicament. She comes to the prophet and she says something like this. Thy servant, my husband, is dead. And the creditors have come to take my sons as bondmen. I believe that you will agree with me, apart from unfaithfulness in marriage, the greatest blow that can ever come to a human... No, I do not want to cause tears, but when I look over a company like this, there must be a number of people and you have felt the bitter blow of belief. That bony monster has come into your little Bethany and struck a loved one. And you know the hurt. You know the bleeding of death. When death takes place to a believer or even to an unbeliever, the Christian should be profoundly kind. True Christianity is to visit the fatherless and the widow. And I trust we all do this. But here is a woman and she loses a husband, but he's a good husband. And there are three qualities here that I want to share with you. First of all, she says, thy servant. That was his commercial life. My husband, that was his matrimonial life. He feared the Lord. That was his spiritual life. You know it's a wonderful thing when a man can go out to work and in the place where he works, he has the esteem of a Christian. So easy to be a Christian, isn't it, in the assembly? So easy to be a Christian in your Christian home. But very difficult sometimes to be a Christian in the place where you work. This man was a servant of Elisha. And she could say with a sense of esteem, thy servant. In other words, she put the spiritual first before her husband. And any man of God who has the preeminence of Christ in his life will be a wonderful witness in the sphere where he works. Now you say, Brother Brandon, that's very elementary. Yes, but very important. You see, the moment he speaks about being filled with the Spirit, he doesn't put you on the platform, but he speaks about the nitty-gritty of life. He speaks of the servants working for the honour of God before their masters. And then he speaks of the masters serving the servants with humility and understanding and care. And I'm sure of this, that if the Christian testimony was strong in the workplace, we would see thousands born of God of the Holy Spirit. It's there where the light should shine. Then she says, my husband. The scholars inform me that the word my is enshrined with endearment. It could be translated, my, my, my beloved husband. You see, she loved him. He loved her. And when he breathed his last, the bottom of her world fell to pieces. She was shattered. I wonder, dear friends, if there's someone like that, and you've come to this conference, and somehow you can't get it. You feel the whole of life is dark. You feel that people don't understand. And you're sitting there at that moment with a heart that aches. God has a special word for you today. He's going to bless you. You know, I think it's true to say that you can never tell a man from the platform. Can I repeat that? You can never tell the spirituality of a man from the platform. A man can be a saint on the platform, but he can be a sinner in the platform. You can tell the spirituality of a man by the way in which he acts. That's where you see the godliness of a man of God, his activity. Then it says, he feared the Lord. Now, there are so many connotations to that. He was filled with awe and esteem for the Lord God. Every time the name of the Lord was mentioned, this man would drop his head and say, Yahweh. He revered and reverenced the Lord. When he came into the presence of God, figuratively his sandals were off his feet. And he feared the very name of the Lord. His heart was filled with holy awe whenever he turned his eyes towards the Lord. He reverenced, feared him in holy awe. He did not fear his judgment, for that was past. But he feared less he should grieve the sensitive and loving heart of the almighty God. With awe there's a sense of worship and adoration. Sometimes you can apply the word to worship. And every time he looked up and saw the glory of God and heard the scripture, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart. And his heart would be filled with worship and love. And it poured out. That's awe. And mingled with awe and mingled with worship and honor and reverence and love, there would be functional faith. So that when he moved into the presence of God as a servant of Elisha and he prayed, he touched the very throne of God with living faith. The materialism of the day, the filth of the idols had not rubbed off upon his soul. Faith was functional in the presence of the almighty God. And this man had died. When I was pausing upon this a few days ago, forgive my emotion, I almost wept. You see, when godly men are taken, so few are being replaced. Can I repeat that? When godly men are taken, so few are being replaced. May I say this to my young brothers and sisters? Go in for godliness. Don't bother about being an outstanding teacher. That's all given to you by grace. Don't even bother about being an outstanding teacher of the word. That's a gift from the risen Lord. But set your mind to go in for godliness and holiness, without which no one shall see the Lord. We do need God to raise up a community of men and women who will live godly, holy lives. That's vital. Then you will notice that there is another predicament. The creditor. Now, first of all, this creditor was unscriptural. Why? Because, quite frankly, he had no right to take a Hebrew servant to be a bond slave. Leviticus 25 makes that absolutely clear. But this man was beyond failing. When I read this narrative a few days ago, quite frankly, what our brother was talking about, here is a woman that's lost her husband, and here is a creditor that's coming in, and with his ugly hands, he wants to make the two sons bondmen. In other words, he wants to bring the blow of bereavement himself. What a callous brute. I have no doubt that this creditor is a direct type of Satan. And note this. When godly men are taken, that's when the enemy comes. Can I repeat that? When godly men are taken, that's when the enemy comes. You see, as we shall see in a few moments, godly men have holy hands. And in the sanctuary of God, they can bring down the strongholds of Satan. And if God has given to you a group of godly elders, thank God for it and pray for them, because those men can keep out the power of Satan. This man was taken. And in comes the creditor. Do you know, brothers and sisters, as we travel various parts of the world, I must share this with you. My wife and I are heartbroken. Heartbroken. We go to places where we have seen scores of souls saved and thy people wonderfully edified in the Lord. The elders were taken. A new generation came in all over the world. The enemy has come in. And then sometimes we look at our families and we see the devil attacking our families and we see boys and girls that were reared by Christian parents. But now they're in the world. The creditor has come. And so we see churches being closed, families being broken by the direct power of Satan. Isn't that true? Don't you all agree? Can't you say yes? That's happening even in Australia. And now notice the predicament of slavery. That creditor, with his evil eyes and with his clammy hands, wanted to put them on those two fine boys. I can almost hear him saying, I love them to be two slaves. I will get thirty pieces of silver for each. When we go through the Scripture, there is such a thing as a slavery to sin. I don't know, I think the Apostle Paul, when he cried out, O wretched man that I am! Beloved, can I ask a question? Is there someone here this afternoon and there's a sin that's been wrangling in your life? You go into the presence of God with tears and you say, Lord, I've done it again. My dear brother, I've been like that. In fact, when I was thirty years of age, I thought of resigning from preaching. I know that's an awful term because of defeat in my life. Slavery to sin. It may be lying. It may be a private lust. It may be sort of materialism. It can be anything. But it grips you. Thank God there's deliverance in the Holy Spirit as we shall see in a few minutes. Is there someone who is in slavery to the law? Now, of course, when we talk about the law, we're talking about the Ten Commandments. I'm not talking to refer to the whole of the Mosaic economy, but those things that relate to the commandments. Is there a person here that's trying to get deliverance the law way? Now, note this. The law never saved the soul and the law will never sanctify a saint. You will never get salvation by struggling and striving and you will never get sanctification by struggling and striving. The same principle of faith that saved you is the same principle of faith that will bring... You see, we have been delivered from the oldness of the letter. That's the law way of accomplishing things. And we have been brought into the newness of the spirit. And the spirit's way is faith's way. It's love's way. And it's doing things in the energy and the power of... Could I ask another question? Is there someone in slavery to the world? Dare I say it? Has the television ripped? Now, I'm not going to throw stones at the television. That's all wrong. Neither will I throw stones about the wireless or the newspaper. That kind of thing. But has the television hooked? And it's really drained all your spirit. May God help us. You see, the devil is bringing in his bondage. That's why in so many of our meetings there is a sense of hardness because there is a sense of bondage with the people of God. Now, come away from the predicament. Now, they cried. You see, here was a woman that lost her husband and here was a creditor that was constantly coming and she knew his evil eyes and his hands were upon her sons. And what could she do? We shall see in a few moments she got to a point of extremity where all her furniture went. He was still coming. And in her extremity she comes to the prophet and she cries to him. Now, that's prayer. You see, prayer expresses human weakness at the same time of repotency. It's a time when God's people begin to feel that they're in a spiritual corner. They begin to feel that they're being attacked and therefore they're thrown upon God who is the source of all... And she cried. Have you noticed the difference between Martha and Mary when Nazareth said... Martha comes and she says to the Lord Jesus, Lord, if thou had been here, my brother had not died. Now, that's correct. Wherever you find him, it's only when he's... But then she says, I know that my brother shall rise again. So the Lord Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He that lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? She says, I believe that thou art the Christ. And then she went and told Mary. Now, when Mary got to the feet of the Lord Jesus, she said exactly the same. Lord, if thou had been here, my brother had not died. But there was a difference. She fell at his feet and she wept and wept. And when Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews also weeping, he said, Where have you laid her? And then he throwed... Now, can you see? He listened to all the Pharisaical theology of Martha and he was unmoved. But the moment Mary came and fell at his feet and wept with the weeping people around her, then Jesus said, Where have you laid her? Friends, that's where the Lord wants us. I am sure if I'm in the spirit, God is calling his people to pray. But not just an hour's prayer. Forgive me raising my voice, but I feel it so much. He wants God's people to come and cry to him. We feel the dirt. We feel the barrenness. We feel the deadness. Lord, we're crying. That's when God, he can stand all the theology. He can stand all the oration. He can stand all the spiritual poetry. But the moment he sees the church at his feet and people weeping, Oh, I thank God for this woman. Then I want you to note her poverty. He said to her, What shall I do with thee? In other words, the prophet is rather alarmed. He sees this woman crying. He can see her predicament. He can see her soul's distress. And he's moved and he says, What shall I do? Then he says something that's very potent. What is in thy heart? Do you know I was asking myself that question. Would you mind if I turn from speaking to you and do something that's very rude. Speak to myself. And this is how it came to me. What's in thy house? Do you mean our gospel hall, Lord? Well, we've got a brand new gospel hall. What's in thy house? We've even put lovely carpet on the floor and it's so lovely. When we come in, you can't hear the people walking. What's in your house? We've got a brand new organ and it does sound lovely. It gives a sense of awe. What's in thy house? Oh, we have quite a large fellowship now, Lord. We have about a hundred and twenty and everybody seems quite happy and we have lovely social events and we have tea set classes and all things like that. What's in your house? Do you know I had to bow my head. We have... Now I know some of my conservative brethren will be shocked when I... I have tried every trick in evangelism but they've all failed. They've all failed. They've all failed. And this woman was saying something like this. Look, the creditor has come and he's taken the dining room and the chairs. The creditor has come and he's taken the beds and the furniture. The creditor has come and he's taken every single thing out of the house and we have not anything. And all I've got and in my extremity I've just that. Dear friends, I believe I can say this as a word from the Lord. The Lord is bringing us to the end of us. He's doing that all over the world. Until we say something like this, Lord, we have nothing. We only have two authorities. The word of God. And the Lord is bringing us back to that holy pot of oil and that's where we must come. Now let's look at her position. First of all, he says, I want you to go and borrow vessels. Even empty vessels. Borrow not a few. And I want you to bring them into the house. And then I want you to take the pot of oil and pour out. So we could call it the multiplication now. First of all, I want you to note that they are borrowed vessels. And can't you imagine those two sons going abroad. The word means go everywhere. Far and near. They're knocking on doors. The lady is well known. People know all about the creditor and the bereavement. And they're giving their vessels. But every vessel would be marked. Every single one. And they would bring back the vessels and they would place them all in the room. And every single vessel was borrowed. It didn't belong to this lady. It didn't belong to the sons. It belonged to the friends. Borrowed. Beloved, have you ever gone into the bathroom? Please do this. And look carefully at yourself. What know ye not that which is in you you have bought with a price? Therefore glorify God in your body. If every one of us realized that on us was the Word of the Lord and we have been bought with the precious blood and we are not our own. We are the Lord. That would be the purpose. When you go home, my own, I'm a borrowed vessel. Every part of me, body, soul. Secondly, I want you to note the variety of vessels. If you were in that room looking at all the vessels you would see a vessel of gold, a vessel of silver, a vessel of copper, a vessel of clay, a vessel of stone, and one or two rarities, a vessel of a primitive form of China. Then you would see big vessels, medium vessels, small vessels. Then you would see artistic vessels and inarticulate, inartistic vessels. And quite frankly, the variety would be comical. You would look at all those vessels in the room and you would say, just imagine that vessel being filled with oil and that vessel being filled with oil. You see, he didn't bother so much about the shape and the size. It was what was put. Beloved, in the Church of God, there's glorious variety. There's variety of gifts, there's variety of services, and there's variety of power. Now, may I say this to some of our older brethren? We must not put people in trends. We must not try and squeeze personality. There is a sameness of personality. We certainly do not want that. You see, there is this terrible danger of instead of making disciples, we make proselytes, so that we all look just the same and we all speak the same and we all turn left and we all turn right. Now, my dear friends, there is unity of mind and unity of heart, but there's glorious variety and variety of expression in the local church. It's very vital in the day in which... But then they were emptied this. You see, that simply means before they filled them with oil, they washed them. A person cannot be... No, I find it difficult... We haven't got... And our local church... And if we're going to be filled with the Spirit, there must be a time... So that we say with the sameness, Search me, O God, and know my heart. Once we're cleansed and purged, then the next act in being filled with the Spirit is to lay yourself upon the altar so that you are... Don't wait for feelings, don't wait for manifestations, apart from the fact the moment you're filled with the Spirit... And then they were healed vessels. Now, what does it mean? Does it mean just as they filled those pots with oil, the Lord Jesus fills us with the Spirit? No. No. That's not the filling. The Greek word is plural, and it has many connotations. And first of all, it's what our beloved brother was teaching this afternoon. When you're filled with the Spirit, the Lord Jesus becomes predominant, preeminent, and Lord, His fellow. When you are filled with the Spirit, you are filled with a new authority, and that's the authority of love. But when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, you come into maturity, and it's an ever-growing maturity. And that's the main meaning of being filled with the Spirit. It means to fill out, or come into maturity. Now, why is it that thousands of the Lord's people... Because they have never been filled with the Spirit. You never grow until you have been filled with the Spirit. And it's a command to be filled. It's imperative, the verb. It's being filled with the Holy Spirit. Now, how can I put this over? As you know, I'm very interested... And last year, we had our best crop of beans. And I had to pray that the Lord would keep me away from them. And I grew the biggest bean ever. It was 25 inches long. Now, I know the only time a fisherman tells the truth, it was 25 inches. It was two days before I could pick it. But the bean right near it was weathered. It was less than four inches. And it was all weathered. And really, it is. I could imagine the big bean looking toward it and saying, what a terrible thing to have that bean. Beloved, there are many shriveled beans among us. They've never been filled. But when a person is filled with the Holy Spirit, he comes into fullness and maturity. And would you believe it, there's no end to the growing. You grow and grow and grow until the fullness of Christ is seen in you. Now, can you see what would happen if we heeded our brother's ministry and we were filled with the Spirit? Just imagine a group of people gathering together and you see what is an imagination should become a living reality. And then you will notice she was to set aside that which is full. Now that is a lovely term for sanctification for that's what it means, set apart. And when the vessel was set apart, it was filled. And when people asked, so the pots are all full. But before she goes to the prophet, she heeds what the prophet says. So all the pots are brought in. Can you see them? A complete variety of vessels, multifarious in their form, multitudinous in their number. And they're there in the room. Then she says to her two boys, shut the door, shut the door, close the shutters. And they're closed. Then the sacred manifestation takes place and she goes from vessel to vessel, pouring out. No one sees it but three. The doors close. And when every vessel was full, the oil stayed. Can I show you a site that's more sacred? There were a hundred and twenty believers and they were all defeated, that all failed the Lord. And they were in another room waiting. The doors were shut. And suddenly, there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind. And it filled the house with it. And cloven tongues of fire sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with that, the glorious baptism of the Spirit. When they were all joined together and every mighty movement of the Spirit, God's people shut the door, closed the shutters. And they don't wait for the coming of the Spirit. They want to rediscover the fullness. And that's when the blessing of God starts. Beloved, we are foolish people to do so much adventure. We are working and working and nothing's happening because we're not in the upper room yet. God wants a group of people today. Then she runs to the prophet and she tells him the whole story and he quietly says with dignity, Go and sell the oil. That's training. Pay the credit. That's doing. Beloved, can I share with you now a vision that's actually taking place. Groups of Christians all over the world now are closing the doors. They're not going through the process of meeting, but they're shutting the doors and on bended knees they're getting right with the law. Elders are getting right and beginning to see the responsibility of true elderhood. God is cleansing a few of his people. They're consecrating themselves to the Lord. They're being filled with the Spirit and just little groups are being blessed by him. May God raise up a group of people that will close the door.