In this sermon, the speaker reflects on the importance of remembering God's sacrifice and staying humble and contrite in our hearts. He shares a personal memory of his cousin joining the army during World War I and emphasizes the need for faith to withstand difficult times. The speaker then discusses the concept of God revealing secrets and uses the example of Abraham's descendants going into bondage for 400 years. He highlights the significance of spending time alone with God and being willing to endure severe testing in order to truly know Him.

Samuel Chapter 16, verse 10. I'm assuming you know what this is all about, so let's see from verse 10. Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, It repented me that I had set up Saul to be king, for he had turned back from following me, and he had not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel, and he cried unto the Lord. Verse 13. Samuel came to Saul, and said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord. I'm sorry. And Samuel said to Saul, Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord. I have performed the commandments of the Lord. And Samuel said, What meanest then the bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the roaring of the oxen? Isn't that amazing? Just a little bale in the back bush there, and he cried. Gave the whole table away. Then we went to a very wonderful house. At one time we walked through England preaching. We had no bicycles. We weren't rich enough. We walked the length and breadth of the country. And one day a lady took us in out of compassion. She had a big church. She took us to this awesome home. I never seen a table spread like that. And there was six boys, and she had one daughter. And she put, you know, the different men around, and oh Mary, this happens in the room there. Yes, she'd be there, kept an eye on that guy all the time. She wanted the daughter to sit there. And so when we sat down, here's all this splendor, and she said to a little guy at the end of the table, Darling, would you say grace? And he looked at something, and he got through. Oh, he said, Thank you, John. He said, Mum, why don't we say grace every day? Breeding sheep and roaring oxen. I was in a meeting in Ireland, and there was a fellow there that had a pie sitting in his pocket. And he said, I know I can't get rich, John, but what can you do? The pie was out of his pocket, and he locked it in his nose. Did he get a victory in that? I don't know if that's all that's possible in the house. Bleating sheep and roaring oxen. Verse 14, What meaneth then this bleeding of the sheep in my knees, and the roaring of the oxen which are here? Saul said, They, they, they, they, come on, bring in someone else. They have brought them from the Amalekites for the people. Now look in verse 21. It says that the people took of the sheep. Look in verse 24. I have transgressed against the commandments of the Lord, because I feared the people. Do you remember when Paul was standing before, who was a greater in Acts 26? And he got an outline of what preaching is. To open the eyes of the blind, to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God. How many preachers do that? Do you know the average church doesn't get one person born again every 61 years. You invest millions of dollars in your building. I got a letter this week asking me to pray for a young man and build him a church. We've got the fastest growing church in Dallas. There are about 10 of them, by the way. All the fastest growing. I know you have a direct line to God. He said, Do you plead with God to give me 300,000 dollars? I said, Brother, I don't ask God. I don't pray for my boy's money. God is in control. Isn't it amazing how we believe in sodomy? And then we say, the prayer of faith in newsletter can do anything. I think we insult God. Fear of the people. One of the biggest monsters in the church. All right, verse 24. Paul said unto Samuel, I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandments of the Lord. And I would, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. Isn't that something? He'd heard the word of God and yet he fears it. And yet he didn't fear God. If he feared God, he'd never transgress. If he feared God, he'd live. We know he might cut us off at any moment. What does God owe you? Come on, tell me. He's been patient with you for years. Why don't you die in your sleep for God's sake? And get off his back, to use a phrase. Why are we always trading on the mercy of God? One day, as I told you, I want to so live that God doesn't have to give me one minute's notice to step out of time into eternity. I want to live in heaven on earth. Not just wait till I get there. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in earth. I am earth, I have to be earth. I go back to earth. And he says, it's an awesome thing to live every day conscious of the eye of God is on you. My mother took me on one side when I was seven and said, Len, I can't always see you where you are. But remember this, the eye of God never fails to see. That's been a wonderful protection to me all my life. Even if I was tempted. What about God's looking? My mother isn't here, no one's here. Somebody asked, as a matter of fact, there's a bishop of Bradford in England. He was a bishop of God. Edward and Mrs. Simpson fall out of the country. That's a good God. Best thing they ever did. He asked a class of children one day, what is a saint? A little red headed boy asked back for his hand up. He said, a bloke, meaning a guy that's good when there's nobody looking. A bloke is somebody who's good when nobody's looking. I fear the people and I obey thy voice. I will not return with thee, for thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee. See? Remember the moment when the Jews said, we reject Jesus Christ, get out of here. He said, you're too late, I've already rejected you. Your house is left desolate. And for 2,000 years the Jews have been the football of the world. I think they'll still get kicked out of Israel once more. Because they returned in unbelief, they didn't return for the Messiah. They'll get kicked out, they'll get so persecuted they'll almost crawl all the way to the country. And don't feel too comfortable. Persecution will come here. Somebody told me that a local preacher said recently that three great nations are going to collapse. Well, that's been in Time magazine for three years and nothing prophetic about that. I think it's going to happen. All that has to happen is that Mexico won't pay its bills. All that has to happen is that Brazil with a bigger bank balance is dead. And where's my specialist at, right? We've got the bank inspector here tonight to watch. It's dangerous. But dear God, is that all that frightens us? What about the wrath of God? Like the canopy over America tonight. God doesn't owe you a thing. The times he's knocked at your heart and you're fooled and send them back sitting and you've got God on a string. Not so. Not so. I read a book yesterday, somebody sent it to me. By a famous preacher. I've never preached with him before too long. The book is, what was it now? Once Saved, Always Saved. I'll tell you what, go to hell. Once in hell, it's always hell. There's no exit. There's no parole in hell. It's forever and ever. If the church believed that, this place would be packed. You'd be weeping already for your lost parents, your lost children, your lost in-laws. We don't believe it. It's a theological kennel in our minds, that's all. Jesus says you haven't rejected me, I've rejected you. Your house is left desolate. You know what that means? Bankrupt. Emptied. They haven't had a profit from that day to this. There hasn't been a revival amongst Jews as far as I know in 2,000 years. And it's a desperate situation. We don't think much. Let me try and put a piece of poetry together. I didn't think of it until this moment. In fact, I only heard it once, I think. I was about 12. And I don't know who wrote it, but it went like this. O England, thou privileged nation, how truly thy children are blessed. Thou hast, since the great reformation, had liberty, riches, and rest. Such blessings are not of thy making, it is God who has given thee all. But if divine laws were out-breaking, like Babylon too, thou shouldst know. Thy armies and navies will fail thee, bless the Lord God of the saints. Political schemes won't avail thee, if sacred commandments fail thee. For God has his eyes on this nation. O England, to thee will we send. The doom of life, death, condemnation. Accept, thou accept, thou repent. Find an old hymn book and find Kipling's recessional. You hear people quote so often that statement. The tumult and the shouting dies, the captains and the kings depart. Well, that comes from that great recessional. How does it begin, Marcus? Tell me. I'll tell you. I'll tell you, then do it. God of our far-flung battle line, beneath whose awful hands we hold dominion over palm and pine. God of the nation, spare us yet, lest we forget, lest we forget. The tumult and the shouting dies, the captains and the kings depart. Still stands thine ancient sacrifice, a humble and a contrite heart. Lord God of hosts, be with us yet, lest we forget, lest we forget. Far called, our navies melt away. Our dune and headland sinks to fire. See all our pomp of yesterday is one with miniver and tyre. Lord of the nation, spare us yet, lest we forget, lest we forget. But England forgot. 1914, the 4th of August, I remember the day, watching my cousin go down the street. Came to tell his aunt, my dear mother. I'm going to the army. I had a red jacket on, nice blue trousers, a big white, red stripe down the side. He marched down the, belonging to the Grenadier Guards. You couldn't be in that team, I was going to say. That army measured over 6 feet, and he was about 6 feet. Well, that's how he went. He came back crippled. Thousands of men. You know, if the church had been as guilty of folly as politicians, they'd have burned the thing out. What are we doing? We're $2 trillion in debt now, aren't we? $2 trillion, that's all. One little bit of news I heard tonight, they were going to pass a law to make all homeschools illegal. They didn't pass it today. They said, no, we didn't do it yet, but they're going to try. They're going to bring all schools under subjection, private schools, Christian schools, homeschools. You'll have to take the dope the government gives out. I don't know about Mr. White very much. He doesn't seem very white to me. Hope he gets kicked out. Would you tell him if you see him? The Lord has rejected thee from being king. Okay, that's verse 26. Verse 28, Samuel said unto him, The Lord hath rent the kingdom from Israel and given it from thee this day, and given it to a neighbour of thine, who is better. Oh, boy, isn't that humiliating. Takes thee from a king and gives it to a shepherd. Boy, you can smell the stinking sheep on his clothes. Verse 29, Also the strength of Israel will not lie or repent. Chapter 16, verse 1, The Lord said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul? Go down and kill him. This is time to quit mourning. Do you know what mourning turns into? Self-pity. You've got to cut it off and say, That's it. I'm not going to mourn for that person who's gone. I'm not going to mourn for that person who's hurt my feelings. I found out years ago, when I mourned the devil's lap, so one day I cursed him. I said, Get out of my life, you monster. You're happy when I mourn. You're happy when I'm down. Get out. I'm not going to mourn. I mourn for the lost. I mourn for revival. But I'm not going to mourn over personal injury. God help me, I'm not a child. I hope I'm not. The trouble is God can't get us to go out. We're so injured. A pin prick. It's like the lady, she had a, what do you call it, a hangnail. So she told the pastor. The pastor thought the church should have a night of prayer. For a healing. Oh, I didn't put this on. It's okay. It's just as well off, maybe. Verse 16. Pardon me. Chapter 16, verse 1. How long thou wilt mourn for Saul? Seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel. Fill thine home with oil, and I send thee to Jesse, to the Bethlehemite. For I have provided me a king from among his sons. Verse 4. Samuel did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. He spoke to the people of Bethlehem. Listen. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming. Dear God, do you know a preacher that, if you, he said, if the cops stopped somebody and said, what are you doing? Carrying dope? No, I've got radenil here. Oh, oh, don't tell the city fathers, they'll all have a nervous breakdown. Radenil's come? I know churches that would almost do that, but not city fathers. I'd love that. I'd love to be. I've told you, I want to be on the devil's list of most wanted men in America. Any other list? Forget it. I'm wanting God to give me a prophetic ministry. There isn't a prophet in America tonight, as far as I know. Somewhere prophetic urgency, prophetic style, but not a prophet. You never found a prophet beg from anybody. The prophet gives, he doesn't ask. His word is, thus saith the Lord, and that's it. Come hell or high water, he doesn't care. And the people, and the elders of the town, boy, you know, they make, get the elders of the church to tremble these days. And they said, comest thou peaceably? Isn't that wonderful? Dear Lord, I'd like to go into some churches or some areas and say, listen, I'm not coming peaceably, I'm a man of war. I'm going to tear the place up. I went to one church, and the elder came to me the first night. He said, you won't rock the boat, will you, Mr. Reid? I said, I sure will. I won't sink it, but I'll rock it every night I'm here. So he didn't come. So that's fine. I don't care. You've got to shake him up somehow. Verse 5, OK, chapter 16. And he said, peaceably I am come to sacrifice unto the Lord. Sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and called them to the sacrifice. It came to pass when they were come that he looked on Eliab and said, surely the Lord's anointed is before me. Why? Because Eliab's tall and dark and handsome. He's got everything that's needed to be a good politician or a good leader. This is the right man. Surely this is the Lord's anointed. The Lord said unto Samuel, look not on his countenance. Doesn't that make you happy? You folk like me that are not very good looking. He doesn't look on the outside. You know, if all the ladies going to church Sunday morning spent as much time on their knees as they spent on makeup, good Lord, we'd turn the nation upside down. I told you, I lived in a house in Chicago for three or four months. And the lady said, I'm taking my Bible with me. I'll be out. Would you answer the phone? I said, sure. She said, I'm going to the beauty shop. I thought, well, you need it. But I didn't say it. She said, you know, I've been going to this beauty shop for 20 years. I sighed. Good Lord, what was she like when they started? Aren't you glad that we men are handsome? We don't have to go to beauty shops. What a sight. You know, all they spent at that time, it was considered extravagant, $10 to get your hair done. What do you pay now, you ladies? Come on. Gather all that. How much? Gather all the money that's spent by women in churches. They spend more on that stuff than they do on giving commissions, most of them. We spend more on dog food and cat food, pet food in America than all the combined offerings to missions. So how long is God Almighty going to put up with it? Now, I'm not preaching from the NIV, you know. Verse 7, look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord seeth not as man seeth. Doesn't that make you happy? Man looks on the outward appearance. You think the scripture says, when you go in church, the angels are saying, you see that lady in red there? She has a Christian deo dress on. That lady over there, she has a, what do you call those? Designer dress. And all the angels bow. Three people going in that church with a designer dress, and what's the shoes? Ujiguchi shoes, or whatever you call them. Oh, yesterday, the precious brother, I didn't have time then, but I'd like to have called you in. The brother that's from, Brooklyn Tabernacle, the way they have a 1,516, there's a place to go for a week. Don't go to Florida, forget it. Go up there and get into that prayer meeting for one or two nights. I preached there, I prayed there. 1,500 people at the prayer meeting. But now they have a prayer meeting Friday morning, 9 to 11. He said, Brother Raymond, you can't imagine what God is doing in our church. They prayed for an expansion, a church across the city said, look, we've only six members. We've a gorgeous building. If you'll take it, we'll give you our bank balance, $60,000, we'll give you the building. As long as you give us a man that loves God and can preach, and you supervise it. And they've gone there. And they've been there, what? Less than 11 months, and the place is packed out already. He has a line up right around his church. There was a big shindig to be on, campus crusade, actually, I think. Took the Carnegie Hall for Easter Monday, and something went wrong. Pardon? Pardon? Yeah, but that wasn't what it was for. Somebody backed down, so they asked their choir to go, so his wife went and took the choir. And there was a line up right around the building. Carnegie Hall. They played choruses, sang choruses, the glory of God came down. And they turned the whole of Carnegie Hall back to the rafter into a prayer meeting. Heavyweight fights there, that's the heaviest fight that's been ever since the Blessed building was put up. And now he's planning to take another building. Who was in the building? Rockefeller. Somebody told Rockefeller. Do you know what happened in the Carnegie Hall? I think he owns it. Last night they had a marvelous concert, but it ended up everybody praying. What? Praying? Yeah. They're looking for a bigger building. He said, well, there's another hall in town, I forgot the name of that. Carnegie Hall's over 2,000. 6,000 a new one. 3,000. 6,000 a new one. And they're going to have a prayer meeting. 6,000 people, he's going to have it. If anybody wants to pay my ticket, I might go. But isn't it wonderful that there are people praying like that? He said, you come in our Friday morning prayer meeting, 9 to 11. It pulsates with eternity. People weep. They groan. Strong men. He said, have a man come into my church now, because it makes Nicky Cruz look like a Boy Scout. He's been in jail seven years. He's raped. He's broken banks. He's done every damn foolish thing you can imagine. And he said, you couldn't imagine how peaceable. He said, I took him down to Peru with me, because he speaks Spanish. He said, God just swept over the building. He said, a little Indian woman came, a high cheekbones, a typical Inca type of woman. Indian, high cheekbones, nice eyes. And she knelt and said, pray for me. He understands Spanish. He said, her hair was full of lice and grease and filth. And I was going to put my hand. She turned her head. I was going to put my hand. Oh, mercy on us. You may as well put your hand in a pile of filth. And he said, the Lord said, I would touch her. You touch her. And he said, I put my hand on her and prayed for her. And the glory of God came on the place. I'll tell you something later. I won't tell you now. Where he's going to go anyhow. Verse 10 says again, Jesse made seven of his sons pass before him. And Samuel said to Jesse, the Lord hath not chosen one of these. And Samuel said to Jesse, I hear all thy children. And he said, there remaineth yet the youngest. Why wasn't he there? Why wasn't David there? Because he's a bastard. I believe that. Doesn't he say in Psalm 51, I was born in sin and shaped in iniquity. And Jesse was too embarrassed to bring the child that didn't belong to him. I know we've built theology on that Psalm. But again, you see, God is not impressed with the size of your head, size of your house, size of your bank balance. All he's concerned about is the size of your heart, the size of your love, the size of your compassion. But when the angel drops a measuring line into your heart, it keeps going down. And he says, Father, I can't get to the bottom. This man's love is bottomless. This man's compassion is bottomless. Okay, verse 11 again. Samuel said unto Jesse, I hear all thy children. And he said, there remaineth yet the youngest. And behold, he's a keeper of the sheep. In other words, what are you going to get, a little shepherd lad? He's no candidate for being a sheep. He's no education. He's a country bumpkin. He doesn't know anything. He's no manners. He couldn't go into a royal court. Are you suggesting that boy of mine, with a stinking sheep, is going to be king? He says, I do as I tell you. He keepeth sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse, send and fetch him, for we will not sit down. Now remember, he's already been anointed in the previous chapter. He'd been anointed as a king, and yet he's humble enough, because Jesus was anointed, but he served. You know, we don't want to serve. We want to be sheeps, not Indians. OK. I'll find it just right. The end of verse 11 again. And Samuel said unto Jesse, send and fetch him, for we will not sit down till he come hither. And he sent and brought him. Now he was ruddy. We would say he's a healthy looking fellow. And withal, had a beautiful countenance and goodly to look at. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him, for this is he. And Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him from that day forward. Now this is his first anointing, but not is he anointed in private, in the privacy of his own home. In Psalm 89 verse 20 says, I have anointed him with holy oil. In 2 Samuel 1 and verse 4, it says he was anointed again by the men of Judah. In the chapter 5 and verse 13, he was anointed again by the elders of Israel, and Christ was anointed three times. I'm not going to dig that up for you, you can dig it out yourselves. What does it say? At the end of this 13th verse, of 2 Samuel 16, Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. But look at the next verse. The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord came upon him. What a difference. I'm trying to cut it up so we don't take too much time here. Verse 18. Then answered one of the servants and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse, the Bethlehemite. He is cunning in playing and a mighty, valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the Lord is with him. Wherefore, Saul sent messengers unto Jesse and said, Send me David thy son, which is with the sheep. Verse 21. David came to Saul and he made him his armor bearer. And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David I pray thee stand before me, for he hath found favor in my sight. He came to pass when the evil spirit of God was upon him. But Saul took a harp and played with his hand, and Saul was refreshed and became well. He was healed. Isn't that wonderful? Because of the presence of the man of God. Chapter 17. Verse 3. The Philistines stood on one side of the mountain and Israel stood on the other side. And there was a valley between them and there went out a champion of the Philistines named Goliath whose height was six cubits, which is just a little over nine feet. Quite a man. He had a helmet of brass on his head and he was armed with a coat of mail and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. Good night. He must have been strong to hold that thing up. Verse 11. Verse 11 says when Saul and all Israel heard the words of the Philistine they were dismayed and greatly afraid. Now David was the son of the Ephraimite, Bethlehem Judah. His name was Jesse and he had eight sons. Well I read part of that. Let me go down to verse 28 again which I mentioned. Eliab the eldest brother heard Oh, pardon me. Let me go back to 15. Verse 15. David went returned from Saul to feed the father's sheep at Bethlehem and the Philistine drew near morning and evening for forty days. Forty is always a period of testing. The book of Matthew is the fortieth book in the Bible. The Jews were tested by the presence of the Lord Jesus and they failed. Jesus was in the wilderness forty days and forty nights. Moses on the backside of the desert forty years. Forty is always a time of testing, severe testing. Come on, before God. Could you be on the backside? Some of you can't be forty minutes alone. You rush off to somebody's house. You wouldn't come to my house I'll throw you out. A guy this week said I must come and talk with you for four hours. I said another guy wants to come for four hours. Another wants to come for two hours. One man said I want to stay with you twenty-one days. Well go to the coach light. They'll be glad to have you. Not come to my house. We don't think we wouldn't ever think of stealing somebody's purse but we'll steal their time. Oh I'm just going of course I'm a saint. I want you to hear my testimony. I've heard it friend I don't want to hear it any more. Don't waste my time. Oh I'm young I'm only twenty-three. Plenty of time. I'll be with somebody at the cemetery your age. Go have a look at the grave. If you're really as close to God as that, that you're willing that you have nothing else to learn you don't want to be more intimate with him. You don't want any more revelation from him. You don't want any more burden in prayer. Waste your time. Don't waste anybody else's. He'll judge at the judgment seat. Time's precious. We talk about tithing. Who tithes their time? If you give God a tenth of every day you give him two hours and twenty-four minutes. Are you behind? Some people didn't die. If they haven't given the tithe to the last minute they think Peter will meet them at the gate and say you're five hundred and sixty dollars behind. But we don't think about our time. It's my time. It isn't it's God's time. My dear wife was saying yesterday how when young people get saved in their church they bring a scripture and say what are you bringing to Jesus? Your lousy sins? He'll forgive your sins. But remember when you say I'm sorry and repent and become a child of God you're bought with a price. You've no rights to yourself. No right to your time. No right to... Are you going to be a doctor? Put it on the altar. Are you going to be a lawyer? Put it on the altar. He wants everything there is of you not just something. Find out what God's want and do it. Don't be a tramp going from here to there and here to there. I think if I came and lived with you for a while you might be up the wall in a week. I'd only come and live with me. I'll be friendly with you. I'll be kind. I'll pray as best as I can. But you know we don't value time. You ought to value every precious moment you have. I tell you I laid for months in a straitjacket in hospital. It was agony. I couldn't stand it. There I was. I couldn't move anywhere. The only time I've been tied down but I'll tell you it was tough. But you know time and again I thought my if I was only fit. Do you know why God stopped me? Because I was going on a tour of the world to preach. I was going too fast. And God says stop. Be still and know that I'm God. That's as real as be fit with the Holy Spirit but we don't stress it. You can't flutter trip around here there and everywhere. Keep out of other people's houses. Mind your own business. And if you go don't got it for God's sake. Keep your mouth shut. If you have nothing to say go back home and stay home. Do most of us think it's good to stay at home three months and see nobody? Oh well it's better going down there. I like the fellowship better. Why? Are you a failure at home? You won't get any more here than you get at home if you seek God. Isn't there a hymn that says Could I be cast where thou art not? Was that Madame Guillaume that said Could I be cast where thou art not? That were indeed a dreadful spot. But with thee my God to guide the way it is equal joy to go or stay. The grass is always greener there. Look God can make you in a room by yourself. I had a precious young man came to see me three weeks ago. His father's extremely wealthy a banker. His daddy lives in a palace. He's chosen to live in one room down the road somewhere up in over Alabama or Carolinas. And the lady wrote to me she said you can't believe what this young man has, how he's moved in God. He got your book two years ago. Why did I vote for him? He's been shut away. He spends X number of hours every day in prayer. Come on. Why don't you go to other people's houses to talk? Why don't you pray? Spend the time in prayer. There's not much time left. Again I say it sounds facetious maybe. I believe the choice in America is either we concentrate in prayer or we pray in concentration camps. You say it can't happen, it will. God's patience is running out. And we shouldn't have to be driven with our backs to the wall to pray. We should pray because God wants me to pray. He invites me every day to pray. I can't get enough time to pray. I'll get through this in a little while I promise you. So anyhow this man's come for 40 days it says in verse 16 of the 17th chapter. Morning and night. How do you think that people are anxious and aggravated? They look at Saul's tent. There it is the tent. You know they open the door and they see the sign. There's where King Saul is. That's the other royal tent where Jonathan is. That's where the elders of Israel are. Look at this uncircumcised village line mocking us, laughing at us, scorning us. These are people who say their God divided the Red Sea. But their God gave them shoes that didn't wear out in 40 years and clothes that didn't smell after 40 years. And God opened heaven and sent them cereal down every morning. Always fresh and good. But if you got greedy it went rotten. This is the God that's been challenged by this uncircumcised Philistine. Verse 20 David rose up early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper. He didn't let them run around. And he went as Jesse had commanded him. He came to the trench or the valley as the horse was going forth in the fight and shouted for the battle. The Israelites and the Philistines put the battle in the rear against the army and he left his carriage, his accoutrements in the hand of a keeper and ran to the army and saluted his brethren. And when he talked with them they came up the champion Philistine of Gath, whose name was Goliath. He came out of the armies of Philistine and spake according to the same words and David heard them as he challenged God. And all the men of Israel when they saw him fled, ran for their lives. They're all trained in military warfare. When it comes to the crisis they run. Supposing there's an invasion of communists tonight. They come in their thousands and you wake up in the morning and discover them in the street. Will your faith hold up? They say you're going to prison for two years. We say you know God tells secrets. Yes he tells secrets. Oh you know how God blessed Abraham? Yes I'll tell you how he blessed him. He said your children are going into bondage for four hundred years. Would you like God to tell you that? The only way you can learn to know God is in secret. I'm going to put the whole nation into bondage, into slavery. They're going to make bricks for four hundred years, four centuries. You don't hear people probably saying that kind of stuff do you? Usually it's good things. I see now people are saying lay this up, food up. Isn't that ridiculous? You know say you've got umpteen whatever that is umpteen bags of flour and half a pig in a backyard somewhere or not in a backyard I mean but you've got it in cold storage and you've told people what do you think is going to happen when there's starvation? It'll all come to your house first. They'll smash the door down, break the windows and they'll eat it up and you'll have to watch them. And so they should. Don't tell them I gave them information but there you are. Isn't it amazing how we can trust God when we've everything? Give us this day our daily bread and you've got a refrigerator packed to the ceiling. We trust in God and have another refrigerator in the garage. Come on, who are we fooling? Maybe God's going to test us. I don't hear any amens tonight, do you notice? Brother Dave, you're back in a Quaker meeting tonight. Let me skip over to this. I'm leapfrogging but I have to for time. In 28 Eliab, the eldest brother, heard when he spake unto the men and he laughs and he and he laughs and he laughs and he laughs and he and he laughs and he laughs and he and he laughs and he and he laughs and he laughs and he laughs and he and he laughs and he and he laughs and he delivered it out of his mouth. And when he arose after me, I caught him by his beard." Wouldn't that be something? Not taking a tiger by the tail, but taking a lion by his beard. That takes some doing, I would like to try it. But notice this, God says the man that's faithful in secret will reward him openly. Nobody applauded him when he chased that lion. Nobody applauded him when he chased the bear. He heard the squealing, crying of the little thing in the mouth, that the teeth were going to crunch it. And he has a shepherd's heart, so he doesn't care. I heard just yesterday from a brother from New York, talking about a child, a seven-year-old boy, who the house was burning and the neighbors were all there. Oh, isn't it terrible? Isn't it terrible? I think the little boy got out. But there's a little boy in there, I think. Well, why don't we go in? And suddenly the little guy ran in the side door. He jumped up through a window and went in and came out with his little baby brother, two years old, in his hand. How did he do that? The fireman didn't do it. He said, I heard my brother cry. I heard my brother cry. I couldn't let my brother die. You could have been burned up. He said, I know that. But it's my brother. It was my brother's cry. I know his voice. And I went in. Well, how many brothers have you got crying? Going to burn in hellfire forever. When did you last try and reach them? When did you last fast and pray? People say I get tough. Sure, I don't want to train Boy Scouts. I want some of you to be warriors. I want some of you to really lay in dust, lives, glory dead, and say, I don't care in God's name what happens. My career, my future, my friends. We used to sing a hymn. Here I give my all to thee, friends and time and earthly store. A friend of mine was standing by a precious young lady that he was going to, he'd started courting. They'd already bought the house, he'd bought the furniture. And as he was singing that, here I give my all to thee, friends and time and earthly store. Soul and body thine to be, only thine forevermore. The Lord said, do you mean that? You know, we sing more lies in church every Sunday than they do in all the taverns in Tyler, in a week. We're the whole realm of nature, man. And people could have been here tonight and not. The Lord said, this young lady you're going to marry in six months. You say you'll give your all, I'll take her. An earthly store. You've got a house packed with furniture. Sell it all. Go out to the meeting, tell her, darling, I can't marry you for six months to a year. I'm going to a college. You went to a college I went to, by the way. And the first week he was there, I believe it was, he'd been saved from drink, he'd been saved from hell. He woke up one morning with a burden for the college. It didn't even change. There were no girls in that college. He just ran down in his pyjamas and started crying before God in the third lecture hall where we had most of our lectures. At one o'clock in the morning, by half past one, the college was empty. The place was just roaring with men weeping and seeking God. The greatest revival he ever had in that school. It cost him all. My friends, my time, my earthly store, soul and body thine to be. You know, we want to give God our lousy sins. What do you think he does with them? He wants that will, he wants that career of yours. He wants that selfish heart to knock the selfishness. You're thinking about little me. Oh, I'd like to go here. It's so nice being here. Oh, get rid of yourself. Go to some hell hole and work. I've done it, I know what it means. My dear wife, my precious boys went through the first two or three years of the founding of Team Challenge in New York when it was rough and tough. When if we got twenty dollars we almost had a war dance around the building. Five dollars, twenty dollars, you can't believe, twenty dollars in the offering. Good, now you get that, now you expect twenty thousand a week. But I'm glad they went through that tough school. I've been reading the dear Mother Shaw, you ask who she was. She was the eldest daughter of the founder of the Salvation Army. She lived to be ninety-five. She came to a conference I had in a big church in England. And I watched the tears, her face was cragging and the tears were spilling over. There was a love constraining me to go and seek the lost. And I said to myself, I'm not standing by the Mother Shaw, she's still in Paris. Or she's still in Switzerland. The judge said to her one morning in Switzerland, now you go to jail. Be back here, where are you going? The judge said to her one morning in Switzerland, now you go to jail. Be back here, where are you going? I'm going back to France. You've got to be back here at nine o'clock next Monday morning and start a prison sentence for blocking the traffic in the street with your street meeting. She said, no, your honor. He said, I say yes. She said, well I say no. Are you defying the law? You won't be here at nine o'clock? Why? She said, because I'm starting a prison sentence in France. I just got one or two friends like herself who went to a hell hole and went to the basement. As I've told you, you never have to advertise a fire. You never have to beg when there's a real Holy Ghost fire. Colonel Bringle came from this country. They said he'd be the greatest lawyer, he may be a president. He led it all along one side and left a little place in Newcastle in Pennsylvania. I pulled in on the train there one night and as I got off I thought, well this is the very place where Colonel Bringle went, with all his degrees. And the first job William Booth gave, he said, you clean the shoes of the boys. So he cleaned a hundred of those boots, they came up to the knees. And he worked and worked. And the devil said, cleaning shoes? You a doctor of divinity? You? You explain the Greek? These boys don't know the difference between a Greek root and a rhubarb root. I'm just polishing their shoes. And he said yes. And he said, it was there I made a commitment to God. And he became one of the outstanding men in the history of the mighty, mighty salvation. I'm sick of mediocrity. I'm sick of men begging for money. I'm sick of men saying this is the will of God and they abandon it six months after God helped them. God's going to do some new things, he's going to find some new men. I'm sure I get excited about it, why not? You can get excited about kicking a pigskin round a field, I can get excited about the glory and will of God anyhow. I've got to read that again, I enjoy it. Verse 35. There's a lion, verse 34. There came a lion and a bear and I took the lamb out of the flock. I went after him and smote him. I'd like to see him punching the nose of that lion. I caught him by his beard. Boy, that must have hurt. And I smote him. Verse 36. Christ sent through both a lion and a bear. Now for the filly's time. I've had training in the quietness. I got rid of a lion, a bear, nobody else dare face me. It doesn't say there's anybody, it says I got rid of them. It didn't whistle for help and say anybody around, there's a bear here. Get hold of his tail while I punch his nose. He slew the lion, he slew the bear. I caught him by his beard and smote him and slew him. That's three times, didn't you enjoy that? Christ sent through both a lion and a bear and this uncircumcised filly's time shall be as one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God. He wasn't doing it for the king's sake, he wasn't doing it for the nation's sake, he was doing it for God's sake. They defied the armies of the living God. Verse 37, the Lord delivered me out of the paw of the lion, out of the paw of the bear. And he will deliver me, he's prophesying now. Look in verse 37, skip over to that, see what he says. Oh, in verse 37, that's right. He delivered me out of the mouth of the lion, out of the paw of the bear. And Saul said unto him, go and the Lord be with thee. And Saul armed David with his armour. Isn't that great? He put on a helmet of brass and he couldn't see where he was going. The helmet covered his whole head, he couldn't see where he was going. Gave him a breastplate, could hardly wear the thing. He says, here's my sword. He girded him with the sword of his armour and he hesitated to go. He said, I cannot fight with these, you see the weapons of our warfare are not carnal. We're borrowing everything the devil has. They've got rock music, we've got Christian rock music. Sick stuff that it is. This man is content to fight alone, fight a bear, save a poor lamb, fight a lion, in the darkness, in the danger of the night, without anybody's help. And at the end of verse 39, David said, I cannot go with these. And he put them off. Come on boy, why don't you do that? That's ridiculous. I mean when you walk down in that, do you know what I think? I think when David wrote this psalm afterwards, I'm not afraid in the valley of the shadow of death, I think he's referring to the time he walked down there when that man said, I'll take you and break you over my knee and throw the bits to the birds. The valley of the shadow of death, but he feared no evil, for God was with him. Verse 38, he armed David with his armour, put on his helmet of brass, a coat of mail, girded him with his sword upon his armour. And he hesitated to go, for he could not prove it. He hadn't proved it. And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these things. And David put them off. Don't you think if he marched down into the valley there with that most gorgeous helmet there was in the whole world of the king, and the king's breastplate, all the trimmings of the king, but you see this man isn't showing off. You know young preachers, I talked with a young preacher the other day, I said you young guys you're fighting to get all the exposure you can. That's stupid. I was stupid myself once. Oh I wish this door would open for me. I'm praying doors will close for me. I don't want doors to open, I want doors to shut. But we want exposure, how will you get known? Get known in heaven, get known in hell. If you're not known in hell I don't care what crowd you sing to in rock concerts, or preach to as far as that goes. If I'm not on the devil's danger list I'm not worth much. They knew when Samson was anointed, and they knew when this man was anointed. You see he that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much. Verse 41, the Philistines came near to David, and the man that bared a shield went before, isn't that wonderful? Here's a man nine feet high and he has a man with a big shield in front of him, David's got nothing. David says you'll come to me with a sword and a spear, that's for two barrels on the gun, isn't it? He throws the javelin if he misses, well he's going to chop him up. But he's got problems. The Philistine looked out down and saw David and he disdained him, he was contemptuous. He's only a youth, ruddy, fair countenance. The Philistine said unto David, am I a dog that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David, do you know what? Let everybody in the world curse you, the devil and all hell, if God has blessed you it won't make that much difference. It shouldn't make that much difference to you, let them curse you, let them blast you, let them misrepresent you. You see what this man does in every crisis is alone. We want to lean on everybody. Stand on your feet, or as I say, get on your knees and you'll stand on your feet. The test is when you're alone. He was alone when he met the bear, he was alone when he met the lion, he's alone. Here's the crowds of people here on the top of the hill, all the tents of Israel. And there's the valley and all the tents at the other side are the tents of the Philistine. And they're all peeping round the tent and saying, oh that poor kid. And Eliab says, what will we tell daddy when we go home? We shall have our own brother chewed up by that big monster of a fella. Forget it. The Philistine said to David, come to me, I'll give you a flesh of the fowls of the air and a beast of the field. Listen, David says, thou comest to me with a sword and with a spear, but I come to thee in the name of the Lord. Isn't that great? What a stupid man this big Goliath was. I heard a lady the other day trying to sing, it was pretty good, the Lord is my light and my salvation, of whom shall I be afraid? Well David wrote that. The Lord is my light. Do you remember in the 15th chapter of where, Genesis? God says to Abraham, I am thy shield. Not I'll give you a shield, not that I'll be a shield between you, not that I'll forgive you, I am your shield. Look, if you're in the will of God and you have his shield, all hell won't break you. All hell won't turn you back. I am thy shield. The resources of God are behind him. This man says, God is my strength. So what do you look at? A mountain of flesh there, so what? He's not afraid of that. Everybody else is afraid. Everybody else wants to use karma methods. You know, if we eat more money and govern more stations, why do they want money? To spread the weakness they've got? I mean, they can't do out on the 25 or 200 stations they're on. Why in God's name do they want to be 200 more stations? You know, we're making a substitute. If I could get this money, if I could do this, if I could do that, we'll do anything except crawl on our bellies before God and fail the refuge of Anon. Isn't it as scripture says, it's the lame that take the prey? We read that 40th chapter of Isaiah, they shall mount up with wings as eagles. We don't read the verse before that talks about weakness, the weak being strong. You look up in Corinthians, see how often Paul says, I'm weak and you're weak. If you're weak, I want to be weak. My weakness is my strength, my sufficiency, my self-strength is no good. You come to me with a spear and with a shield, I'm not worried. The Lord is my light, the Lord is my salvation. I mentioned the three anointings, let me just not mention them except I may not go explicitly to them, but after those three anointings is trouble begins. I wonder what's the proof I'm filled with the Holy Ghost? Number one, you live a holy life. Number two, you're easy to live with. Number three, you'll get cartloads of trouble you've never had in your life before. They hardly got out of the upper room, they were imprisoned and they rejoiced that they were counted worthy to prosper. No, no, no, that's the Dallas version. That's as ugly as the elephants. They came out of the upper room and they rejoiced they were counted worthy. They hardly got out of the upper room, they're in jail. Why? What does the early church do? It does everything Jesus did, except walk on water. He delegated his power. And I'm not just thinking of miracles, like again physical, although wonderful, I've seen many of them, all kinds, except raised from the dead. I've seen blind people, a blind man got his eyesight when we prayed for him, seen people leap out of a chair, but that doesn't trouble me too much now. I want to see miracles in character, I want to see people with integrity, I want to see people with, there's many Christians, you can't trust them, they'll say one thing, forget it, they won't do it. Don't tell me to fill with the Holy Ghost and speak in tongues, I don't care if you stand on your head and speak in tongues. If you've no character, if you've no loyalty, if you've no integrity, if you're not steadfast in love, if you haven't the compassion for the lost, if you say Lord let me get to the lions and the bears, forget the pastor. You come to me with a sword and a spear, I come to thee in the name of the God of hosts, and the God of the alleys of Israel whom thou hast defied and despised. Verse 47, all this assembly shall know, the Lord saveth not with sword and spear. Isn't it prophesying again? He's a boy, isn't he? So the battle is the Lord's. You see, you thought it's your battle. Well if it's your battle, fight it. Use your flesh, use your brilliance, use your smartness. But when you say at the refuge have I none, hangs my helpless soul on the edge, then when God turns the heat on me, he begins to deliver. We move this way, we move that way, and God says forget it. I don't believe there are many people that really know God, and there are not many people who really trust God. I think having the Bible and reading it, it should be difficult to be unbelievers. But we're the biggest bunch of unbelieving believers the Lord's ever had. We're afraid we'll strain him or something, embarrass him. There's some days ahead when we're going to have to trust him. And they will trust him wholly, find him wholly true. I nearly had to sing that act tonight. Can I step back a minute here in verse 40? He wouldn't take the armor, he wouldn't take the sword, he wouldn't take the helmet. He took his staff in his hand, and chose five smooth stones out of the book. Why? Why did he do that? Because Goliath had four brothers and he thought they might come and rescue them, so he was going to kill a lot while he was at it. Wouldn't that be wonderful? Some boy, this David fella, he says, you come to me with a sword, and with a spear. But listen boy, I didn't show you this in my pocket. You see this thing? Do you know I'm the champion sling-thrower in the Jerusalem? I've just, the other week, oh we had the Jerusalem Olympics, and there were people from ten nations, and I hit the target every time. And the fella says, forget it, that's no good, I've got a sword and a spear. He says, well, do your thing. So he took him up on it. It's beautiful, verse 49. David put his hand in the bag, and he took then a stone and slung it, and smote the foot of his hand. You see, that's the only place he had no protection. He had protection on his arms, on his body, but there he had none. And that's why the stone went, you know, and such a thing never entered his head before. Did you know, that's where the devil's got our theologians, that's where the devil's got our boys in college. He doesn't put out their eyes, he hits them right in the middle there, and knocks them unconscious. And there's no sword in the hand of David, so what did he do? He jumped on the chest of the big shot, chopped his head off with his own sword. Isn't that what the devil, God does? He's going to wreck the devil's kingdom from the inside. But the question I ask you tonight, how many lives do you have in your life? You wish somebody would help you, and you have a prayer meeting, you call on others. There's a time when you can do that. The Word of God says, in a multitude of counsellors there is safety. But Paul says, in the greatest crisis of his life, I conferred not with flesh and blood. If you want somebody to explain your situation, you'll find a dozen people do it. But what does God say? I get guys come to me, I'll come and see you. I live a thousand miles away. I'll fly down. Wait a minute, what are you coming for? I want you to help me. I'm in a crisis. I need to know the mind of God. Well, I'm not God. But you can help me. I say, look, if I help you, and you'll go on three years, and everything's great, and you say, hey, if you have any trouble, go see Ravenew. That guy has some wisdom. He got me out of the hole. And then at the end of three years, you hit a wall like that, you can't say but God. Ravenew told me, and God says, why didn't you ask me? If Ravenew got you out of the trouble, go back to him again. How do we trust him? They who trust him wholly, W-H-O-L-L-Y, they who trust him wholly, find him wholly true. Between the first and the third anointings, if you read the story, you'll find he's full of difficulty and trial. He's misunderstood by his family. That's difficult when you get there. His own brother is envious. Afterwards, what do you think his brother was like? He must have been furious. My brother, do you know what they're doing? They're going down the main street of Jerusalem, and they're singing, Saul has slain his thousands, but David his tens of thousands. Almost single-handedly he's delivered the nation out of the hand of that monster. You'll find the same thing in church history. God finds a man, raises a man. We build monuments to them after they've been dead. They're starving when they're living. They're fools when they're living. They give up a career, give up friends. It's not easy, you said it is. Jesus never said that Christian life was easy. To use an old cliche I used to use in the streets at street meetings, Christianity is not N-O-T being weighed in the balances and found wanting, it's being tried, found difficult, and rejected. It's more than giving your sins, it's more than giving up a few habits, it's giving up the rights to yourself. Do you think this fellow had the jitters, oh I'm going down in the valley tomorrow, and my brothers will be up there peeping out of the tent, the king won't help me, the prince Jonathan won't help me, my brothers won't help me, oh I'm going to go to pieces, I'm going to be in the valley there all by myself, it's terrible. He didn't. God was this strength, and because of that he feared not what should happen. I will fear no evil for thou art with me, come on now. If you say that, God has a right to put you in that situation where you've got evil against you, and test you. God doesn't test you to prove you to him, he knows you to prove you to yourself, that much of what you say is words, it's theory, it's philosophy, it's theology. He wants to get right down to the centre of my being where he has total control. I haven't fathomed that thing, I quoted it the other Saturday or the other Friday, where Paul says before those intellectuals on Mars Hill, he's got the Stoics and the philosophers and the cream of the intellectual world there, he's got Greeks there, Jews, everybody that's smart were there, and he says I've come to tell you about the God that you don't know a thing about, in him I live and move and have my being. Tell me how you get there. You live in him, you move in him. There's nothing in the world that allures you. Why should the world allure me? He said, dung heap anyhow. If you see a beautiful bride going down the aisle, and you say, well darling, that's a Christian deodorant. Yes, it was flown from Paris for me, as a matter of fact, it's made for me personally. Beautiful. I said, did you see as it came in, there's a pile of manure and junk there? I'd like to take you into the junkyard, there's something there I want to show you. Do you think she'd go? She said, not likely. Look, if I am Jesus Christ, I want to walk in purity, I'm not looking for a way to sin and cover it up with eternal security, I want to hate what God hates. And he hated the enemy of God. But we've got so many Goliaths now, we can't slay them. We've got so many Ahabs, but we can't put them away. And people say, by the way, they'll take comfort, 7,000 down by the knee to their God's name, shut up. They told me that 70 years ago. I'm looking for those 7,000 to come out, show themselves, get to the issue and fight the fight of faith, fight the battle. Well, what did he do? Well, he killed a bear when there was nobody there. He must have felt good about that. He woke up in the morning, well, I guess that bear's got a sore jaw tonight, this morning. I guess that beard, the lion's aching, his beard's been pulled. What does he do? He says he danced before the Lord, maybe more than once. Before the Lord, not before the congregation, you know. In Dallas, they've got choreographers now, you take your dance shoes with you and they signal when you have to dance. They may as well signal when to say amen, and thumbs down when they say something else. It's so stupid. If people dance with the joy of the Lord, fine, but if you referee it and work it up every Sunday, keep it. I'm sure this man had a dancing heart, and dancing feet are no substitute for a dancing heart. He beat his enemies, he drove, he rescued the perishing, he rescued the sheep, he rescued the lamb. And now he says, I've had that training. And he doesn't parade and say, oh, I'll show them my thing, I'll do my thing, I'll wear a king's helmet. Boy, I'm going to make an impression when I walk down. He doesn't want a thing that's got to do with the world and carnality. He says, my weapons are not carnal, they're mighty in God. You watch this, you angels, look on the new demons, watch this. And he goes with a ridiculous thing like a sling? Well, he takes the weak things to confound the mighty. Samson the Superman picks up the jawbone of an arson. That must have been funny. And it was more powerful than an atom bomb. All this to say, let's pray and slay some of these giants. Believe God for them. I'm sick of reports, oh, we've had such a marvellous time. A preacher said to me today, well, these reports, thousands say, go three months after and see how many. My son-in-law told me the other day, somebody said, we have 500 decisions. Go three months after and see how many of them are abiding fruit. Because God doesn't produce any abortions. If they don't come through, it's our fault, not God's. When we were in crusades, nobody ever came to the altar without somebody going with a Bible and sitting at the side of them. And if it took till one o'clock in the morning, sometimes dozens and dozens. Oh, Nicholson used to say that till two o'clock in the morning. But before you left the building, you ought to have assurance, not just sing it. Have you assurance you pass from death unto life? What assurance do you have and so forth? But now it's amazing, say a few words, say a little prayer, and they go out as worldly tomorrow, they want as much TV, they want as much sport, they want to go to a bowling alley, they want to do some other thing. These are people, people totally sold out, that's what he needs. My hands are his, my feet are his, my mind is his. This little guy isn't looking sideways, isn't looking to see if his daddy's there, isn't looking to see if somebody's cheering him or his brothers, isn't looking about the enemy frowning, he says, I've got to do a job and I'll do it for God. And he is my strength, I'm not sufficient in myself, he's my strength and my shield, and he goes and does it. You see this is more than a children's story for Sunday school, it's a national disaster. And one man got them out of it, quickly. After the hundred years of darkness in Europe, God raised up one man, Martin Luther, and the world still feels the benefit of him. He raised up one man by the name of Whitfield. Whitfield was a pioneer, not Charles Wesley and John, they picked up the torch after Whitfield got them into stride. And yet they changed the history of the world. Gilmore went to Mongolia, Hudson went to China. Everybody talks about the great work Hudson Taylor did, but who preceded him? A man by the name of W.C. Burns, the great weeping prophet of Scotland. I stood outside of his church in Dundee once, and it says this is the church of Robert McShane. They said every time he went to church, he went in the side office, he put his hands on the desk, put his head down, he wept and wept convulsively. He went up in the towering steps of the pulpit, because of the big gallery, they had a high pulpit, and he put his elbows on the padded thing there, a pillow, a velvet pillow which most of them have, and he put his head down and he wept. And he prayed and he wept. He learned Hebrew, he was a brilliant Hebrew scholar, he learned, you see you thought you were rusty, you young people don't bother, you want to play a game, why don't you get down, quit running around seeing folk, get down and master language, maybe God wants you in another country. You'll have to admit, you'll have to own up to your intellect one day, you'll have to account for your scholarship, you'll have to account for wasted years, and I'll try and get you to learn a language to do something, while you have time. Well Shane did that, okay, and he goes to be a missionary, and when he got there God said, go back and pray for Scotland. And he went back and prayed for Scotland, but while he was away about, I don't know, a year and a half or two, W. C. Burns went, the whole town was shaken from the scent of the conference with the Holy Ghost revival. Paul plants Apollo's waters, God gives an injury. So here is a man, and the anointing of God is in him. Well he's shaken the town of Dundee, he sent him to Glasgow, sent him to Edinburgh. No, no, no, no, no, no, he said. I said last week, if God gives you ministries you'll have to say stop, and if you have sense you'll do it. Forget everybody's opinion. And W. C. Burns had shaken that city as it had never been shaken before or since, and God said go to China, he went. And he died almost in obscurity, but he laid the foundation for the China inland mission. He gets no credit, Hudson Taylor gets it all. So what, in God's name does it matter? Paul plants Apollo's waters. God gives the increase. And God is looking for people who want to be obscure, not predominant and seen and known. Forget it. It's going to be shocking when you get to heaven, lots of these guys that have studied around the nation. The last should be first, the first should be last. I used to have problems over that, I don't now. Some of the most obscure people that weep at night, before you get up, weep after you've gone to bed. They're going to be there at the great day of judgment and we're going to stand amazed and say, I never thought that woman had that compassion, never knew that man had that intercession. He's going to level it all out. That's the only thing that keeps me sane. Most people think I'm not, I think I am. But the one thing that keeps me sane, shall not the judge of all the earth do right? Yes. I see Christian preachers boasting, I see Christian men that get money and misuse it. And it used to break my heart. It doesn't now, they've answered the judgment bar, God pity them. It's a difficult day and it's not going to get easier. And if you can't be victorious in the secret, you won't be victorious in the public. If you can't slay the bear when you see it or the lion in the dark, if you can't be faithful when there's nobody there. I looked up that little saying and I'm through with this today. I'm going to get it written out on my card. Make me little and unknown, loved and prized by the unknown. Don't say it because God will take it away. He may be put you on the back side of the desert. Maybe you won't come to a gospel meeting for the next two years. Why should you? In God's name what have you done with what you've heard the last three years? Why not get quiet and wait on him? And say I don't care, I don't go to any meetings hardly any of these days. I don't get to preach, nobody wants me anyhow. I'm going to preach next week. Where is that? Grace Community Church. Next Saturday night and Sunday morning and Sunday night. So come if you want but please pray.