Peter Brandon emphasizes the significance of spirit-filled evangelism, outlining a structured approach that includes a program, prayer, people, power, praise, and priestly participation. He highlights the necessity of being witnesses for Christ, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and the importance of prayer in the early church, which was foundational for their evangelistic efforts. Brandon encourages believers to actively share the gospel with compassion and to engage in communal prayer, asserting that true evangelism requires collective effort and a heartfelt desire to reach the lost. He also stresses the need for simplicity in preaching and the importance of pastoral care in nurturing new believers. Ultimately, he calls for a revival of fervent prayer and a commitment to bringing souls to Christ.

We're going to read first of all from Acts chapter 1, just one or two verses in that chapter please. 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 and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Now just another verse, verse 13 and 14. And when they were come in they went up into an upper room where abode Peter and James and John and Andrew and Philip and Thomas and Bartholomew and Matthew and James the son of Alphaeus and Simeon the or Simon the lotus and Judas the brother of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary the mother of James and with his brethren. They all continued please note with one accord in prayer and supplication. Now over to Acts chapter 8 reading from verse 1. And Saul was consenting unto his death that's the death of Stephen and at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was a Jerusalem and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria except the apostles and devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him as for Saul he made havoc of the church in entering into every house and hailing men and women committed them to prison. Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them. Now just one more portion in Romans chapter 10. Commence reading at verse 14. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard and how shall they hear without a preacher and how shall they preach except they be sent as it is written how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things. But they have not all obeyed the gospel for Isaiah saith the Lord who hath believed our report. So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Now I'm sure the Lord will bless to us the reading of the scriptures. We have looked at two things so far which we believe are vitally important. First of all we have considered the spirit filled believer. Secondly we have looked at the features of a spirit filled church or if you like assembly which is a better word. Now moving from those two factors we must now have the third and the most important really in one way spirit filled evangelism. Now I've made a few notes but I'm not going to look at them tonight but I'm going through them with you and then I shall forget all about them. First of all in spirit filled evangelism there must be a program. Secondly after program there must be prayer. Then after prayer we must have the people and after the people there must be power and after power there must be praise. You see if there's not praise the gospel can become mechanical and then last of all there must be priestly participation. Now this is a very important matter in gospel preaching and then of course there must be the preacher and pastoral care but I don't know how long we shall have. I want to finish a little before time so that we can have a little public prayer together. Now first of all the program. The word of God says ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Now there the Lord gave them this great almost in one way an infinite program and the last part was the uttermost part of the earth. Now dear friends we must remember that these early disciples all failed and yet the Lord Jesus now is speaking of divine power that they were going to receive and therefore in view of that he speaks of this great program. Now just imagine someone coming among you tonight after there had been failure in the church and saying something like this. I want you to begin in New South Wales not just here then I want you to move right the way through Australia then from Australia to the uttermost part of the earth. What would you be saying? I'm sure to use your language you would say you must be joking. It was a massive program but we must remember this in the acts of the apostles they fulfilled that within 40 years and they were moving no faster than Noah upon the sea and they were moving no faster than Adam upon a horse and yet within 40 years the utmost part of the world as far as the Roman Empire was concerned was reached and thousands and millions were saved. Now they needed power and we were discussing that last evening but the Lord told them that they were to be witnesses. Now that word is Jeghed it comes from the Greek word Martyrs the scholars tell me and it's where our word martyr comes from and every time you read of a witness in scripture always remember this there's blood in it and suffering for that's basically what the word means and therefore if you read the acts of the apostles in the closing chapter and if you read Peter's epistle you will see that the early Christians suffered and many of them died for their faith but they still went everywhere preaching the word that's why I love Acts chapter 8. It's the great classic on preaching if you read it carefully you will find that the word preach is mentioned seven times in that chapter and it's the only chapter in the Bible where the word preach is mentioned seven times and the three Greek words for preacher actually used in the chapter. So you see it's a great classic on preaching but the preaching is divided into two there is first of all conversational preaching and then there is congregational preaching. Those early Christians were persecuted and they were scattered but not shattered. There's a vast difference between being scattered and shattered. When we're shattered we can do nothing but when we are scattered we can be like a forest fire bringing the fire into every form of flame. And these early Christians although they had been terribly persecuted especially the women they went everywhere gossiping conversing the word you see they were so full of the gospel they couldn't keep quiet. And then in the next verse we read and Philip went down to Samaria and he didn't converse the gospel he preached the gospel and it's a beautiful word it means to put a trumpet to the lips and give a clear unmistakable note and he preached Christ in all clarity so that the people could understand and really that's the sum and substance of evangelism. We need hundreds of people that will gossip the gospel and after we have gossiped the gospel God will bring in his public men and there will be a harvest just like you see there in Samaria. So let's look at this program and we've looked at it very briefly and it simply means that we are prepared to be martyrs for the sake of the Lord. Now when we consider evangelism always remember beloved it's hard work and even when revival comes it will never be easy. An evangelist is called a labourer. I love the word. In fact the word means a hard labourer and therefore the Lord Jesus wanted to send out labourers into the harvest and the word send is beautiful it means thrust out, pushed out. In other words there's only one thing that the person can do when he gets the call of God and that is to go. That's how strong the word is. Now beloved if we bear in mind that evangelism and I want to say this nicely as you know is not sitting on comfortable seats listening to a message it's all of us going and spreading the word of God. Some of you sisters over the garden fence, some of you sisters in the shopping centre and God will give those opportunities. Some of you brethren perhaps you can go from door to door in a way in which some of our sisters cannot do in these days. But everyone going gossiping the gospel and in that way I believe we're going to see blessing. Now from there we turn to this program of prayer. Immediately they came together after receiving that program and after the Lord Jesus ascended up on high they went into that lovely upper room that we were speaking about last night where probably the Holy Spirit came and there they continued in prayer. Now if you follow prayer through the book of Acts there's as much said about prayer as preaching. Can I just from the top of my head give you the first 10 chapters. In chapter 1 they're praying. In chapter 2 they continue steadfastly in prayer. In chapter 3 they go up to the temple at the hour of prayer being the ninth hour. In chapter 4 we read when they had prayed the place was shaken. In chapter 5 it appears that Ananias and Zephara were judged in the atmosphere of prayer. Acts chapter 6 we will give ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word that's why the apostles appointed deacons. Acts chapter 7 Stephen is praying when he goes into the presence of God. Acts chapter 8 the apostles are praying. Acts chapter 9 behold Saul is praying and he never stopped it is. And then in Acts chapter 10 Peter is praying and Cornelius is praying and they meet. You see prayer in every chapter. Now could I share again this with you because I believe it's so important in evangelism. As Christians those who meet in assembly capacity we have specialized in the study of the word and that's excellent. But we have become pygmies in prayer. Do you know quite frankly most assemblies now only have a half an hour's prayer a week. How can you survive on that? A half an hour a week. No wonder we are so weak in our testimony. Every time we have seen a real movement of the spirit we can say this without the fear of contradiction it has always been preceded by prevailing prayer. And when we go among a group of people that haven't prayed we know before we start we're not going to see much blessing. It's as simple as that. But where we go among a group of people who have spent many hours on their face before God be sure of this we're in for a time of blessing. Let me give you a case in point. When I first went into the Lord's work this would be over 45 years I was invited to a place in Scotland called Cowdenbeath in Fifeshire. I traveled all day on the Flying Scot. I got to Edinburgh and then I caught another train to Cowdenbeath and it was then seven o'clock in the evening. So I took my cases to the hall because the meeting started at half past seven and a sister there gave me a cup of tea. And all the time I was drinking this cup of tea before I had to go onto the platform she was telling me about these strange prayer meetings. Obviously she didn't agree. She says you know Mr Brandon they're all minors. Oh yes. And they've been coming up straight from their mind not going home having food. They would come straight to this hall and they're praying. And they have all kinds of peculiar shifts. They have a morning shift an afternoon shift and an evening shift. And they're all taking turns praying. Well I said what's strange about that dear sister. You listen she said. I come in to clear the place and there are tears all over the floor. And quite frankly I thought we had a leak. But it's their tears. I said what are they crying about? They're crying for souls. I shouldn't tell you this. They're crying because certain things have been wrong in the meeting and I've been putting them right. I've never heard anything like it before. Well I went on the platform started to preach and the glory of God was in that place. The power of God was manifested. Do you know brothers and sisters there were times when people stood up and stopped the meeting and actually said a church elder. I'm a church elder in the hall across the room. He says across the road. He says I'm awfully sorry but I'm not saved. Could someone help me now? And someone took him to the little side room and led him to the Lord. You see there was a mighty move of the spirit. We used to have open air marches on Saturday afternoon and some of the other assemblies joined us and there'd be 200 of us walking through the street singing there's power in the blood. And some of these miners would speak to their friends on the street and they would say something like this. John it's time you trusted Christ. You need the Lord. And you could see conviction breaking out on the street. Now what was it? Here was a group of people that had been broken in the presence of God. The assembly had been cleansed and the spirit of God was working in mighty power. That's what we need brethren. We need prevailing prayer and may God bring us back to it. And then we'll see God moving in our midst. But we need a program. We need prayer and we need the people. Now how are we going to get the people? Now of course I know we put up gospel halls and we tell God to bring them in. But you will never find one scripture in the New Testament where we should pray like that. Lord send them in. We have been told to go out to the people. Now I believe that God will bring some in. But always remember we have to go out to the people. Now how are we going to do this? Now first of all we all need to ask and I do too with you. You know it's so easy after being in the work for 51 years to get a stale and rusty old preacher. It is to go through a series of sermons and lose all your zeal and all your compassion for souls. If that happens it's far better to be taken to heaven isn't it? And to stay here just turning a rusty old handle. We all need compassion. Now I know this is a bit hurtful and I asked myself this afternoon in a little bedroom. When did you, when did I last weep over a perishing soul? When did you last look at your neighbor and say if that neighbor died she would be in a Christless hell? What a terrible thing and you wept. Can you see the point? When did I last weep? You know in preaching dear friends if I can share this with you. If you do not love people you're useless. Because it's a metallic and plastic message. When the heart is full of love for perishing souls the people feel it and that's what draws people to the Saviour. Compassion. Let's ask the Lord during the coming week that number one he will lay a soul on our heart. Some of you sisters I know you're shy and you find it difficult and some of you brethren may be nervous and shy but let's all pray. Lord lay some soul upon my heart and help me to contact that soul and give me the grace to be able to bring that soul to the mission. That's the secret of evangelism. Compassion. You see on a law of average, I'm not speaking now of Australia, I'm speaking of England, we have about 40 people in every gospel hall. Some a lot more, some less in Britain. And on the law of average there are about one, sometimes less than that, attending the gospel meeting. So then our gospel outreach has this kind of mathematical output. It's 40 people taking one hour to preach the gospel to one person. Now we'll start by singing a lovely hymn. Sing them over again to me wonderful words of life. Beautiful hymn, nothing wrong with it. But we're singing it to ourselves and to one person. Then the brother will pray an evangelical prayer as though everyone in the room was unsaved. Now I understand that and so does the Lord. Then he gives out another hymn. We've heard the joyful sound Jesus saves. Good, lovely. But we're all singing it to ourselves within brickwork. Monastic. Monastic evangelism. You see what I mean. And then the notices are given out that sometimes take five minutes. And then the scriptures are read and another hymn is given out. God loves the world of sinners love. Beautiful. Nothing wrong with the hymn. I love to sing it. But we're singing it to ourselves and to one person. And then after one hour we have preached the gospel to one soul. 40 of us. Now if they carried out that practice in the book of the Acts they would have died within three years. You see they went everywhere preaching the word. In fact there's no such thing as a gospel hall gospel meeting in the book of the Acts. They went everywhere preaching the word. And I'm quite sure of this in Acts chapter 2. Peter did say let's sing Psalm 110. Of course not. Let's have a little prayer. Brother Andrew will give out the notices. Not at all. He got up and he preached Christ and him crucified and there was tremendous blessing. Now somehow we've got to get back to the art of bringing people under the sound of the gospel. It can be in this hall. It can be in another hall. The hall, the venue doesn't matter. But as long as we get them there. Now that's absolutely vital. To give you what happened just two years ago, 18 months ago I should say. I had a mission in one town. I'm not going to mention where it was. And there were about 50 or 60 in fellowship. And they turned out every night. Well dressed. Well clothed. And that was good. But no one brought any unsaved with them. They all enjoyed the gospel. But you see the gospel was not really for the saints. The gospel is for the sinner. And I think we reached about five unsaved people in a fortnight. I went from that local church to another place in Scotland. And all within a few days. And we had a fortnight mission there. And we reached 300 souls in a fortnight. 300 unsaved souls. Now what was the difference? The others came with no real compassion to bring people. So I was preaching to the initiated. There in Scotland they had a real burden for souls. And they brought the people. 300 we reached in a fortnight. And therefore we saw a blessing and the saints refreshed. Now can you see how vital it is to bring in the unsaved. Now I know you're working at it. It was lovely to hear in the home where I was staying today. Someone bringing someone next week. And I know some of you are going to bring some of your friends. And I have that confidence we're going to see many in this hall. But let's pray that all of us will have that wonderful joy of bringing someone. And the joy of it. Imagine someone sitting there and hearing the gospel that you bring. And on that seat they're born again. Can you think of anything more precious than that? A soul born of God that you brought to the meeting. May the Lord give us that joy in the coming week should he not come. But then there must be praise. You remember in Acts chapter 2 the Holy Spirit came in the form and as a sound of a rushing mighty wind and it filled all the house. We were discussing that last night. And then cloven tongues of fire sat upon each of them. And they all spoke in another language. Actually there were 13 nations mentioned and nine different languages among those 13 nations. And none of them were linguists. But what were they doing speaking in another language? Note they were speaking out the wonderful works of God. It must have been wonderful to have heard them. There was one Galilean speaking probably in fluent Hebrew and he was talking about the wonderful works of God in creation. And they were listening spellbound. There was another Galilean and he was speaking about the wonderful works of God that was seen among the children of Israel when they were brought out of Egypt across the Red Sea. And they were spellbound. There were others that were talking about the wonderful works of God in the incarnation that was seen in our Lord Jesus. And they were spellbound. Perhaps another was speaking about the wonderful works of God that were accomplished on the cross. Perhaps another was speaking about the wonderful works of God in the resurrection of Christ. You see they were full of praise and joy. Now why do I say that? The gospel can become very tedious. Now can I bear my own heart? You can get literally mentally exhausted preaching the gospel. There are times after I have preached some nights when I go home and I can hardly speak a word. I am absolutely drained and evangelism can be like a great stone around your neck and it can almost drown you. If you're a Sunday school teacher you can find this a burden. If you're coming every night to gospel meetings trying to bring someone it can be a burden. If you feel burdened that you've got to talk to someone because you feel that's your responsibility and you're nervous sometimes it can almost give you a nervous breakdown. Now that's a fact. But my dear friends if your heart is overflowing with the love of the Lord Jesus and you're full of praise and worship then when you preach it's an overflowing heart flowing out to God. Now that's what the world wants to see. You know it's a lovely thing to see someone ministering the scriptures and is enjoying it. It's lovely to see it and it's lovely to see someone preaching the gospel and it's good news for him. He doesn't look like a man who's sitting in a dentist chair before final extraction but he's enjoying what he's preaching. Now beloved that is absolutely essential in gospel preaching. It's lovely to look upon the faces of the Lord's people and as the gospel is being preached especially those positive messages of eternal life and see them enjoying the gospel with you. It's lovely. It's encouraging to the preacher. You see they were praising God. And may I say this even when we are singing the hymns if we are really enjoying it. Unsafe people detect that immediately. So that there must be praise among the people. And then in Acts chapter 2 there is something else. There is priestly participation. You say where do you get that brother Peter? Peter stood up with the eleven. The eleven is a representative number and it refers to the whole company. But they were all there. You know it's lovely to come out of a real spirit filled prayer meeting before the gospel meeting. Take your place in your seat. Let another person open the meeting because we don't want one man ministry when we're teaching New Testament truth. It's always good for two people to be there. And dear friends it's lovely to look around and see all the saints with you. All there. But it's a terrible thing to come out from a side hall where you've been praying and you take your place in the congregation and half the Lord's people are missing. You know before you start you're defeated. You know in the first thirty years of our work especially in the summertime when we had a fortnight or three weeks mission some of the saints used to have their holidays. And they would say we're not going away we're having a mission. And I want to be with you brother Peter on the doors getting the people in. And so for three weeks they would spend the whole time with you. No wonder the Lord blessed us. But now when you have a mission what do you find? Four or five families go away on holiday. Now my dear friends that's not body life is it? Is it? How could you row a boat with three men missing in the boat? Impossible. And you see when people are not there when they should be there. The spirit is grieved. So Peter stood up with the eleven. They were all there. Now I know some of you with families can't be there but you can be there in prayer. The Lord understands that. And I know some perhaps may be too old to come but the Lord understands that. But when you can come and you're not there that's a hindrance to the work of God. Then you will notice this they were not only all there but they were all filled. I love that. You know in the back room before the gospel meeting sometimes you hear prayers like this. Lord fill our brother with the Holy Spirit. Amen. Amen. That's good. Blot out brother right out. Amen. Blot him right out. Some will say put him on the cross Lord. Yes put him on the cross. Amen. May only the Lord Jesus be seen tonight. Yes. Amen. But wouldn't it be better if we said fill us all with the Spirit. Got it? Blot us all out. Let no one be seen. But Jesus. You see a believer that's not filled with the Spirit is disobeying God. The word is in the Aorist tense. It's be, being filled with the Spirit. And you see it's a command. And when we stand before the Beamer if we have not been filled with the Spirit there will be a rebuke from the Lord. So can you see we should all be there and all filled with the Spirit. Now can I say a word with care. Supposing now we have someone that's hiding a moral sin. May have taken three years ago. But it's never been confessed and put right. And we've got that in the local church. Or supposing we might have in the local church a husband and wife who are not getting on together and they're constantly irritable. Right? And there's constant nagging going on in the house. What happens when the preacher starts preaching about sin. And he shows how that immorality is wrong. When we've got it in the sanctuary. Irritation is wrong. When we've got it in the sanctuary. A gossiping tongue is evil in the sight of God. When we've got it in the sanctuary. Can you see the point? The sanctuary must be clean. If there's going to be that real conviction. And this is absolutely vital that all of us should be filled with the Spirit. They were all filled. They were all there. And then they were all with him. When Peter stood up and says we are not drunk with wine seeing it is about the third hour of the day. I can imagine them saying Amen. We are sober. When he got to the point this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. One or two of them didn't drop their heads and say oh Peter, Peter you've got your dispensations all right. That's only partially fulfilled. It's yet to be fulfilled in the tribulation. There'd be no blessing here. He's got all his dispensations wrong. No, no, no. They weren't critical like that. They were saying Amen. Amen. And when he came to that particular point where he said you have taken them with your wicked hands you have crucified and slain. You can almost see them nodding their heads. And when he got to that point where he says this same Jesus whom you have crucified. God has made both Lord and Christ. I'm sure some of them said very quietly. Hallelujah. They were all with him. They weren't fast asleep like this. Terrible thing when you're preaching your heart out and you see the saints fast asleep. They were all with him. There was one brother fast asleep when I was preaching my heart out and I was speaking on the ten virgins. They all slumbered and slept. And I know it was a carnal thing. I shouldn't have said it. But I said sleep with that brother there. He says I'm praying. But he was snoring and I knew he wasn't praying. And I had to apologize because I grieved the spirit. And you can grieve the spirit. But you see they were not only all there. They were all with him. Do you know it's lovely when sisters and brethren preach with you. When you start preaching about sin. They're praying it out. Lord convict now. When you're talking in love about judgment. They're saying Lord bring this home to their hearts. When you're talking about the cross. Lord open their eyes. You see we're all preaching together. It's this priestly participation in gospel preaching. All moving with the preacher. And that's when we see the mighty power of God. And then I want you to look at his preaching and with this I'll have to close. First of all with Peter's preaching it was scriptural. I went through it again today and I discovered this. 52% was a pure quotation of scripture. And 48% was exposition. Now that's great gospel preaching. The more scripture we can put in the better. May I say this to young men. If God is going to use you as an evangelist. Learn certain portions of God's word by memory. Especially the Roman epistle. If you can learn it off by memory. That will be a tremendous help to you in the preaching. If you're going to preach the gospel well. Soak your mind in the Roman epistle. Secondly it was not only scriptural it was simple. Now I went through every verse and I went through every sentence that he made. And according to a Judaistic congregation they would understand every sentence that Peter spoke. But if Peter had preached that sermon in London no one would understand a thing he would say. You see in England we have become pagan for 15 years and therefore the people know a very little about God. They know nothing about sin. They don't know anything now about the Ten Commandments only a few. They know nothing about eternal judgment. They know nothing about the perfect humanity of the Lord or the deity of our Lord. They know nothing whatever about the atonement. They know nothing about resurrection. We have to use the word to rise again. The word resurrection isn't in their vocabulary. They know nothing at all about the word repentance. They know nothing at all about the word faith. They know nothing at all about the word saved, redemption, propitiation etc. So that when we preach we have to be exceedingly simple and down to earth and that's why I'm going to preach here. Every night I shall make the gospel as clear and as simple as I can. I shall try and sermonize. I shall make the word of God clear and I shall measure on the cross every night. I shall lift up the cross before the eyes of the people and if the Lord has cleansed and purged us and filled us we shall see some people born of God and saved. Now that's the preaching. And then lastly they had pastoral care. The moment they were saved they were baptized. I love that. Now some of you brethren may not believe this but you know I feel sometimes when we're preaching we should have an open baptistry. They did in the Acts 3000 repented. How could you interview 3000 people on one day? 3000 were baptized. How did they baptize 3000 on one day? When Fred Elliot was having that mighty mission in Hebron Hall and 300 were saved it took them a week to baptize them. It took them a week to baptize 120 in London. But these early Christians knew the secret and probably they were all baptizing. But wasn't that a wonderful joy? 3000 in one day and added to the assembly. Now what was the secret? They continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine, breaking of bread, fellowship and prayers. Yes but the secret was this. They went from house to house. They'd eat their meat with gladness of heart. Now it's lovely to know that in this area there is hospitality among the saints. Keep it up. You will teach people far more in your homes than you will in the hall because they can ask questions. And when souls get saved invite them to your home. Let them see in a Christian home. Give them a little meal and discuss the word of God with them. Don't discuss any assembly problems. Keep that up. They had gladness and singleness of heart and let them see the joy of a Christian home and then there will be blessing. But beloved the main thing is this. We need fervent agonizing prayer, don't we? And we all need a compassion to win souls for the Lord. And I know with our Lismore assembly they will be bringing in unsaved and it will be lovely to see a number in that area saved and added to that local assembly. And I know those from this assembly you will be bringing in your loved ones and your neighbors and it will be lovely to see a number saved, baptized and added to the assembly. There's no joy brothers and sisters in coming back after three or four years and seeing those that were saved around the Lord's table and the men actually taking part. No joy like it to see them not just believers and saved but becoming real disciples of the Lord Jesus.