In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of living by God's commandments and having a strong prayer life. He highlights the main adversaries that can hinder one's spiritual journey, including the devil and negative influences from friends. The preacher expresses his frustration with the state of young people in the nation, who are caught up in destructive behaviors. He calls for a revival in the church and urges believers to fully commit to God and prioritize their spiritual growth.

Well, praise the Lord. Anybody here rather be in hospital tonight? Not one? Nobody. Would you rather be anywhere else? If so, go. I'm sure you wouldn't. Oh, I'm rough. When you get old, you'll be rough too, so don't worry. First book of Samuel, the first chapter. First book of Samuel, the first chapter, reading from verse one. Now, there was a certain man of Ramathaeb Zophim. Aren't you glad that's not your mailing address? Of Mount Ephraim. And his son's name was Elkanah. He was the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zeph, an Ephrathite. Now, why is that stuff all there? Well, we don't have time to explore it tonight, but it's there for a very definite reason. This man was a strange man. He had two wives. That's what it says in verse two. He had two wives. The name of one was Hannah. The name of the other was Penina. Penina had children, but Hannah had no children. Now, notice this man went out yearly to worship in Shiloh, the holy place. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were the priests of the Lord there. When the time was that Elkanah offered, he gave to Penina his wife and to all her, all, you notice that? All her sons and her daughters' portions. But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion, for he loved Hannah, but the Lord had shut up her womb. This chapter, as far as I'm concerned, it isn't headed this way, I guess. It isn't written over the top. I think this is the best, if you want to say, breakdown of intercession in the whole of the Word of God. The details are all marked out for us. If you want to intercede or learn to intercede, read this chapter, read it over, mark it carefully. The Lord had shut up her womb. I've been trying to recall a hymn of Wesley's, I can't. But I know one section of it says, Let barrenness rejoice to own thy fertilizing power. This woman has only one problem. Well, she's more than one, but the main one is that she's barren. She has a sister who's very fruitful. Her sister apparently aggravated her, not once, but year by year. Every time she went up to her, wouldn't you get tired of going up? Seeing people point their fingers, scorning your religion. Here she is again, she's not pregnant. God Almighty doesn't love that woman at all. Her adversary provoked her. Let me give you a warning here. If you decide, under God, to have a prayer life. By the way, I had a letter from a young man this morning, 24 and a half years of age. It was like reading David Brainerd. A young man in America, with all its activity and commotion. He set goals. He's done what Wesley did, what Brainerd did, what Roderick McShane did. He had it to the Ten Commandments and commandments of his own. And he says, I'm rigidly living by these commandments which God has given to me. It's not a harness he's made for himself, it's something God has asked of him and he's willing to do it. And it really is stupendous. Maybe sometimes I'll share it with you. This woman has an adversary. So have we. The main adversary is the devil. Maybe the second adversary that will try and keep you from a prayer life is your friends. They're not going this pace, why should you go this pace? Somebody will label you as a holy joe. Or somebody who thinks you're holier than somebody else. I don't believe there's anything that the devil hates more than praying men and women. You decide to pray, your church will be against you. I don't claim to be a prophet or the son of a prophet, but I know the weakest, smallest meeting in every church is a prayer meeting. Again, if you want to know how popular the church is, you go Sunday morning. If you want to know how popular the preacher is, you go Sunday night. If you want to know how popular God is, you go Wednesday night. Who loses? Our adversary is against us. The devil is against us. Maybe your church is against you. Maybe your friends are against you. Maybe your old theology is against you. An old hymn written by Cowper, I think, says that Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint upon his knees. I'd better go on or we won't get through this. Her adversary provoked her so, verse 6, for to make her fret because the Lord had shut up her womb. And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, and she provoked her. She provoked her. Who provoked her? She did. Who's she? The other woman in the house. The other woman who day by day said, look, I'm expecting again. I've got four or five sons and daughters and you don't have one. See how good God is to me? See how he's put a barrier up for you? But year by year by year, she went up to Shiloh. That was an awful long way away. She went year by year, verse 7. She went up to the house of the Lord. So she provoked her. Therefore she wept. If you don't like tears, forget all about praying. Jump down a little into verse 10. She was in bitterness of soul and prayed unto the Lord and wept until she was sore. Keep in that verse 10 again. It says she prayed. Go down to the middle of verse 12. She continued praying unto the Lord and she wept until she was sore. Verse 15 says, Hannah answered and said, No, my Lord, to the criticism of the priest. I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul. To me, this is a perfect picture of Jesus going into Gethsemane. He walked into Gethsemane. He knelt in Gethsemane. He poured out his soul in Gethsemane. If you want to get old quick, get a prayer life. It will drain your body. It will drain your nerves. It will drain your emotions. Hannah prayed. She continued praying. She wept. She continued weeping and she wept until she was sore and then she poured out her soul unto the Lord. What did she pray for? You say a child. No, she didn't. What did she pray for? Well, look in the middle of verse 11. Now, let me summarize this a minute here. Let me add it together. Verse 6 says, She had an adversary who provoked her. You'll get provocation if you're going to pray. It says further in verse 7, She provoked her. Therefore, she wept. Verse 8, Elkanah her husband said, Hamlet, why weepest thou? Why eatest thou not? She was a fasting woman and a weeping woman and a praying woman. You can't separate them. If you can't get to the place where you fast and you weep, I think you're in trouble. I like to spend at least one day a week fasting, praying. Wednesday is my most precious day on earth. My principal said he would rather preach than have his dinner. So would I. But I'd rather pray than preach. When I preach, I stand before men on behalf of God. When I pray, I stand before God on behalf of men, which is the most important. So she had an adversary. She had provocation. Verse 10, She was in bitterness of soul. Why not be in bitterness? I believe there's a sanctified bitterness. I believe there's a holy hate. I believe there's a holy anger. God is holy, but he gets angry. Moses says, Turn away thy fierce wrath. A modern version says, Turn away your blazing anger. So she has provocation. She has tears. She has fasting. Verse 8, Why eatest thou not? Verse 10, She has bitterness. Verse 11, She made a vow. Come on now. I wonder if I can make you blush. How many times have you made vows when the pressure has been put on you in a ministry meeting to go somewhere or do this or do that or give more money or something. The man in the pulpit knew how to put pressure on you, how to get something out of you. The road behind us for most of us is littered with broken vows. I'll do it and it doesn't survive the atmosphere. It's easy to make a vow in a warm atmosphere. I don't make altercoles with people singing. They're too emotional. I believe that Finney was the greatest soul winner America's ever had. And he said he attacked the human will. That everything is resolved in the will. Remember that lovely hymn? One of the girls here used to have us sing it so often. Take my life and let it be consecrated. It goes down. Take my silver and my gold and finally take my will and make it thine. I think that's the last thing we surrender to God. It's easy to take your bank book out of your pocket and give a hundred or thousand dollars to missions and say, Lord, here's my will. I'm getting married to you, never to be divorced. Come hell or high water. Come tribulation, distress, famine, peril, nakedness. So does Paul said, I'm married to the will of God. And again, he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. She had bitterness. Let me go over it a minute. Bitterness of soul. Verse 11, she vowed a vow. Now she comes down to it. She says, look on the affliction. Look at my barrenness. Now she doesn't pray for a child. She prays for a man child. If you like, she makes a deal with God. If you'll give me a man child, I'll give him unto you all the days of his life. Did she get a man child? No. She didn't get a girl. No, she didn't. What did she get? A prophet. You see, we have no idea of the reproach. Do you remember the 30th chapter there of Genesis without looking? When Rachel comes to Jacob and throws herself at his feet, she's a barren woman, everybody scorns her. She has a sister too with a bunch of children. Rachel was the most beautiful woman in the tribe. Everybody went look twice or three times at her. Her sister had big red sore eyes, but she had a bunch of children around her. Finally, Rachel gets tired of doing her hair the best and putting on the best robe she has and going to her husband, putting on perfume and being beautiful. I can see her going in that one morning into the tent or moving out of one part to another and throwing herself at his feet almost screaming, Give me children, Jacob. Give me children or I die. If we could get every American who professes the name of Jesus Christ to be as zealous as the man that said, Give me liberty or give me death. What was his name? Patrick Henry. Must have been Irish, Martha, dear. Patrick Henry. Give me liberty or give me death. Do you think we could get every Christian in America or everybody who professes to be filled with the Spirit to say, Give me revival or give me death? I don't believe God answers prayer. God answers desperate prayer. Eli sat there, dignified, the priest. She's drunk. That's what people will say about you. Do you know what? The church never does anything when it's sober anyhow. It's only when we get drunk. What do they say about those men who came out of their prayer? These men are drunk. There is a spiritual intoxication. I've told you about the first day of World War II. I was preaching at the head church of the Nazarenes in Scotland. When we came out to the meeting, they said, The city's in total darkness. Grope your way where you can. You can't ride your automobiles. We couldn't because we didn't have one anyhow. You can't drive automobiles. Streetcars. I went up the street with a Nazarene pastor and he said, I'm going in here. They're giving out gas masks. They were free. So everybody in Scotland was there the first day, you know, getting this gas mask. And he left me standing by a post. I was thinner than I am now. And he left me standing there. I said, well, Brother McLaren, James, Hamish in Scottish. Hamish, will you find... I'll come straight out there and I'll know you're standing there. The streetcar came up. A man got off the streetcar, drunk, rolling around and he was singing at the top of his voice, Maxwell, Tom, Braes, or Bonnie, Where e'er ye fall to the dew, he said. It's dew, but it wasn't bad for a drunk man. And as he did that, he stumbled. He put his arm round the post and me as well. Ach, he says. What's your name? Are you a Cessnack? Yeah, I'm from England. Ach, he says. Can you fight? I said, no, I can't fight. Can you sing? No, I can't sing. Well, he said, you can't fight? You can't sing? He said, I can fight. I said, I'm sure you can. And I can sing. I can sing. Sing away. So he sang Maxwell, Tom, Braes, or Bonnie. Then he put his hand in his pocket and offered me a handful of silver. Now, when a Scotsman does that, you know he's drunk. Offered me a handful of silver. No. Ach, he says, you're no good. It was nine o'clock at night. If I'd seen that man at nine o'clock the next morning, he wouldn't give me the time of day. It's sure he had the wrong spirit in him, I know that. Doesn't alter the fact. Something took possession of him that made him brave. He wanted to fight. He wanted to talk. He wanted to sing. He wanted to give. Why does the apostle put the two together? Not be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess? Not drinking excessively, but doing excessive things, going beyond your strength, going beyond your thinking, going beyond your understanding. When a man gets intoxicated, he's blind to everything in the world. He'll face anything ten times bigger than himself, ten times stronger than himself. He feels something else inside of him. Surely that should be us, when we're really filled with God. Again, she did not pray that God would give her a child. What did she pray? He would give her a man-child. Did she get a man-child? Yes. No. She got a prophet. Why did she get a prophet? Because twenty years up the road, Almighty God... He wasn't getting her off the hook. He'd found a channel through which she would work. He wasn't meeting her need, he was meeting his own need. Rachel crumbles up at the feet of her husband Jacob and says, Give me children or I die. Did God give her a prophet? No, because he didn't need a prophet. What did he need? He needed a prime minister twenty years up the road, so he gave her Joseph. This man is so busy looking after the house of God, the guy hasn't the sense to look after his family. She's drunk. If he'd looked after his wretched sons, Eli and Phineas, they wouldn't have gone to hell. Verse 22 of chapter 2 says, Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did in Israel, how they laid with women at the assembled door of the tabernacle. They would never have been there in their lust if they hadn't have been drunk. First of all defiling themselves, then defiling the gates of the sanctuary. If he'd told his children and warned them at home, it would have been a very different story. There's a word in Genesis 18 and verse 19 I very seldom hear people quote, and you should quote it often. Where is it now? Genesis 18 verse 19. Oh, let me go back a bit. Verse 17, The Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I do? Who are the most discerning people in the world? Remember, Lot had been with him. Lot had become the mayor of Sodom. Lot was lost in politics. He was expecting the moral majority to pull something off. Shall I hide, do you hide from your dearest friend something that's burning in your heart? I don't. Isn't Abraham called a friend of God? No other man in history was until Jesus came and he said, I call you not servants but friends. And here's the old man up there on the hill. Every day he's making an offering to God. And God whispers into his heart, Abraham, I want to tell you something. I'm going to burn those two cities out, burn the whole wretched outfit up. Verse 17 of chapter 18. The Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I do? And the answer is no. Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed with him. For I know him that he will command his children and household after him. Why was he blessed? Because he knew how to take care of his children. Do you know how to take care of yours? I'm not asking how well they are educated. I'm not asking if you put a little bit of money in the bank so they'll need it. They sure will in a few years. Do you know how to care of them? Do you remember what Job said? Before my children go out in the world I'll cover them. I'll protect them. Every day I cover my children, children of some of our precious friends every day with the blood of Christ. They're not safe outside of it. I know him that he will command his children and household after him and he shall keep the ways of the Lord. To do justice in judgment the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he has spoken to him. If you go back there again you'll find out that this man doesn't do that. 2 Samuel 2 again. Eli was very old and heard all that his sons did unto Israel how that they were with women and assembled in the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. I don't think there can be anything more horrid than a preacher to stand at a judgment bar and God says your children are all down in the pit forever and ever. I told you the story of my dear son Paul. He'll be coming home soon to teach me. Been reading a story of a man in Baltimore whose daughter was exceptionally beautiful. She fell in love with a ragtag guy that was no good, a dopey, drinky guy. And she left a note saying she was going to Chicago changing trains or planes and then going to the West Coast. And Erwin Prang tells in one of his books how this man got so torn up. Now had he said my daughter will go to hell it wouldn't have moved me so much. I've heard that often enough. But instead of this when he hears his daughter's going up to this place to marry this fellow he fell on the floor in agony and he cried to God. In his prayer he said this amazing thing. If I come to heaven I'll spoil heaven. The gold on the streets will show my tears because while I'm in eternal bliss not his daughter, he didn't say that he said a part of me will be in hell forever and ever. A part of me will be in hell forever and ever. How can I be eternally happy? I don't try to make laws for anybody. I give you some advice though. I think every family needs a day of prayer and fasting in these wicked days. There needs to be a special time of concentration for the immediate circle. In verse 14 going back to the first chapter How long will thou be drunken? Put thy wine away from me. Isn't it terrible? The amount of letters I get. This young man that wrote today said I'm moving with people and telling them that God is teaching me to fast and to pray and to have intercession and they're scorning me. Come on, life's short. Eat, drink and be merry. I've heard people quote that so often. They think they're smart. The Bible says eat, drink and be merry. It says if there be no resurrection live as you like, do as you like. But if there be a resurrection it's entirely a different thing. But godliness is profitable for the life that now is and that which is to come. If you're determined to walk with God in a... Oh, I won't use any other word. Let me just say the traditional type of church. If you get to prayer and then they hear you're praying and fasting and even weeping they'll mark you out. You won't be popular there very long. What are these people drunk for? I guess they've been to some Pentecostal meeting. That's dangerous. It's better to go to hell than go to Pentecostal meeting to many people. This woman is barren. What does she get? Shall I put it in this language? She got a super child. She got one of the great prophets of the Old Testament. Rachel prayed. What did she get? One of the greatest men ever bought the earth. Joseph. You know, we think we have to give God such wonderful things. God is so contradictory. I was reading again today about Abraham. Goes to say his wife said Darling, I've got news for you. She said We're not moving again, are we? Oh, no, we're not moving again, dear. I've got better news than that. What's that? You're going to have a baby. A what? Where do you buy those? You're going to have a baby. Wait till I write home and tell my mother about this, you see. I told you not to marry a preacher, they're crazy anyhow. I read there in the fourth chapter of Romans that Abraham is a hundred years of age and he considered not the deadness of the womb of his wife. He's over a hundred years of age. And Sarah had a womb that was dead. But they had a child. Oh, they tried to help God out. You ever tried to do that? Oh, it doesn't mean God's going to give you a child. It's a custom. You take the most beautiful girl that you have working for you and she can have a child by you. That's quite legitimate. And it will work out all right. Boys are boys. I wish they hadn't. We wouldn't have trouble with the Arabs today if it had all gone wrong. But it went right. We can't help God out of difficulties. His ways are past finding out. But Abraham and Sarah had a child. Then up came who? Their child was Isaac. Who did he marry? Rebecca. What was wrong with her? She was barren. It says he entreated. He didn't just pray. He entreated of God. He begged. He groveled before God. He deplored the shame on him. Take away our reproach. Let my wife be normal. Give her a child. God did exactly that. Now who was Manoah? M-A-N-O-A-H. Who was he? The father of who? You don't know. You should. Samson. His mother was barren. And he was entreated of God and she bore a child. She bore another super child. God comes in the nick of time every time. He raises up his Isaac. He raises up his Joseph. According to his appointment. And I think he's gracious to me when all the time he's not considering me at all. He's considering himself. I woke up the other day a year older than when I went to bed. I didn't sleep a whole year but next morning I woke up a year older. And before daylight came I thanked God for my godly mother and father. I can't remember it but the first day I was born mother put her hand on me and said Lord make this boy a preacher or don't let him live. Boy if I'd heard that I'd have been scared to death I think. God comes in the nick of time. He's never in a hurry but he's never late. You go down to the end of Malachi and between Malachi and Matthew there's a gap of 400 years. Total darkness. No prophetic light. Total silence. No prophetic voice. Then suddenly a woman who is barren her husband is told your wife is past age she's going to bear a child. And Jesus said afterwards he's the most remarkable child the world ever saw. He was born of the Holy Ghost. He was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb. His mother was filled with the Holy Ghost. His father was filled with the Holy Ghost. His preacher was filled with the Holy Ghost. Dear Lord. Could he have any much better than that? Oh but I was reading. Let me read. I read something very beautiful here today. Now you've never read this before I'm sure. It's in the Gospel of Luke chapter 1. Let me read it to you. Verse 39 says Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste into a city of Judah and entered into the house of Zacharias and saluted Elizabeth. And it came to pass that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary salutation of Mary the babe leapt in her womb. When? When Jesus came. Didn't leap in a womb before. When Jesus comes I leapt for joy when I got saved. When I got filled with the Holy Ghost I leapt for joy. Completely changed my personality. Aren't you grateful? There's the babe locked up in the womb of Mary and Jesus is in the womb here and immediately Jesus gets into the presence of the child there the child there suddenly begins to manifest life. I think that's wonderful. You don't seem to think so but I do. Immediately that Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary the babe leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost. Doesn't say she spoke in tongues but it does say she spoke out with a voice. Blessed art thou of women because of the fruit of thy womb. But when did he come? He come in a bankrupt society. He came when the priests were as dead as Sarah's womb. He came when they were tied up with ritual and formality and new moons and sabbaths and all that they did in obedience to the old law but there was no life there. And one man comes. Sometimes I think outside of Jesus this man had the greatest task in history. One man, no money, no organization and the Lord says to him you prepare the way of the Lord. It didn't say go to the temple and organize a committee. He didn't say sit down with a high priest and consider it. It says you, you, you, you go before the Lord. You go and pull down the hills and fill in the valleys and make the crooked places straight. That's enough for a million archangels to do. He doesn't back off. He's aware he has supernatural strength more than Samson ever had. He's filled with the Holy Ghost therefore he has the wisdom of the Holy Ghost. He has the power of the Holy Ghost. I wish sometimes folk would stop shouting about being filled with the Holy Ghost because nobody knows we're around anyhow. But when the Holy Ghost really comes they do. I say jokingly but well I'll skip it but anyhow. As I get older I'm still hanging on to the fact I don't want to go to heaven until I see the Holy Ghost come. I want to see a Pentecost that will out Pentecost, Pentecost. At the first Pentecost what happened? There's a mountain blazing, rocking, rolling and there's a smoke and there's a pillar of fire. Fifty days after the children of Israel slew the Paschal Lamb God poured out the Spirit of Truth on tables of stone after the darkest night in history. After the second darkest night in history which was Calvary fifty days after the Holy Ghost came. A bunch of unlearned unlettered almost unnamed men went out. God's timing again. There's a twisted man looks like a pretzel at the door of the temple. Jesus passed him a hundred times so did Peter and John. There came a moment when Peter said look on us. Two or three verses after when the crowds look he said don't look on us. He didn't go on TV and say do you know how many miracles I've done? He says don't look on me. No, no, no you'll take the glory. Give it to God. And they set off against impenetrable walls uncrossable rivers put it any how you like against the most unique religious system in the world the Jewish system against the biggest army the world ever saw the Roman system against the greatest barrier of intellectual power the world ever saw the Greek system and those unlearned uneducated men went and pierced the whole lot of them. It doesn't say that they were filled with the Holy Ghost and prospered it said the Holy Ghost and they went to prison and counted all joy that they went. They weren't married to prosperity and peace and quietness they were married to what? Prisons? Persecution? Pain? Well the Holy Ghost comes to what? Make me a star preacher? No, forget it. He comes to give me strength to live like Jesus lived and Jesus lived on the continuous persecution from the day he was born. The man who made the world has to sleep in a field like and has no water home than the foxes have holes and the birds of their own nest. And there he is his disciples did exactly the same thing. Let me go back a bit a few minutes here. Verse 13 of 1 Samuel first chapter says this verse 13 Hannah spake in her heart only her lips moved but her voice was not heard. I have some of the greatest times of prayer when I say nothing. When I'm too full up I'm choking. I stammer through my tears. Oh I could talk and shout like a bull and roar and people say that man's praying and not mean that much to God. God reads our disposition. God reads our heart. There's nothing in us that's not knowing totally to Him. I think it was Montgomery who wrote the hymn in which he says prayer is the burden of a sigh the falling of a tear the upward glancing of an eye when none but God is near. Prayer is the burden of a sigh. That's all this woman that she sighed she groaned in the spirit while she's tired of her barrenness she's come to the end of the line. She seeks help nowhere except of God Himself. Let's say this skipping over a bit two or three minutes here this first chapter again of Samuel I mean verse 22 So Hannah went not up she said unto her husband I will not go up until the child is weaned then I will bring him that he may appear before the Lord and there abide forever. Isn't that something? Huh? She lives in there in a temple and sees him once a year takes him a new suit of clothes every year knows he's growing and she goes yearly just sees her boy for a few minutes and embraces him and loves him and says darling I'm glad God called you to this because God is going to speak to that child when this wise old prophet here is too dumb and sleepy to listen. There's an old hymn that says Hushed was the evening hymn the temple courts were dark the lamp was burning dim before the sacred ark when suddenly a voice divine rang through the silence of the shrine goes on to say if I remember correctly O give me Samuel's ear the lowly ear that waits within thy courts O Lord or watches at thy gate and it says Eli's sense was dim and yet the ear of a little boy heard O give me Samuel's ear the lowly ear that waits within thy courts O Lord or watches at thy gates that I may see with childlike eyes these truths that are hidden from the wise God can't get through to the prophet so he comes to children Demas Shekarin will tell you I talked hours with Demas one night in a Hilton in New York talked about that boy twelve years of age somewhere about eighteen what eighty five eighteen ninety stood up in their assembly and he said I had a vision from God our race is going to be wiped out get out of this nation as quickly and they did Demas his grandfather got out his father I believe too through the prophecy of a twelve year old boy when all the other wise heads were nodding their heads and shaking their heads and everything that twelve year old boy came to pass hundreds of people owe their lives to that little boy who was tuned into God let me read this quickly verse twenty one the man Elkaner and all his house went up unto the Lord yearly to sacrifice notice he hasn't quit his sacrificing he hasn't quit attending because his prayer isn't answered he doesn't back off he doesn't say I've got all I want so what? in fact he's more zealous than ever but Hannah went not up middle of the verse says I will not go up until the child is weaned then will I bring him and they may appear before the Lord notice that not before Eli before the Lord Elkaner her husband said unto her do what seemeth thee good tarry until you have weaned him only the Lord establish his word isn't that beautiful so the woman abode and gave her child suck until she weaned him when she had weaned him she took with her the three bullocks and one leaf for a flower and a bottle of wine and brought them into the house of the Lord in Shiloh and the child was young they slew the bullock and brought the child to Eli and she said oh boy can't you see her there's the old boy look oh this is that little woman that came drunk last year what happened? she goes up and says hey my Lord meaning a Lord Bishop of course hey my Lord she says thy soul liveth my Lord I'm the woman that stood by thee here praying unto the Lord for this child I prayed boy that's the thing when you take the answer to prayer in your hands and say this is what I prayed for and God's given it to me all hell was against me my pastor was against me the church was against me and the Holy Ghost bypassed a whole bunch of them because of a faithful God that's not the end of the story let me just read here verse 21 the Lord visited Hannah and she conceived and bare three sons and two daughters I wonder what her sister thought about that oh I thought you were going to be left behind did you ever know God get left behind? I never did I know times it seemed to be late but boy then he comes in he comes in with a bonus on a bonus on a bonus you've got a weeping fasting praying humiliated woman I poured out my soul unto the Lord I think those words of Travail Isaiah 66 verse 8 when Zion Travail she brought forth children the devil did not want Jesus to go to the cross he offered them the kingdoms of this world not real estate I don't believe he offered them real estate he offered them all the systems of the world the intellectual system the banking system the military system the religious system I'll give you them all but don't go to the cross if you do I'm doomed and friend you'll have every conceivable thing against you if you decide to go to the cross not to go to the cross you won't have too much trouble but when you say to your pastor I just don't want to go to the cross I want to get on the cross I don't want him just to die for me I want to die with him and that's really what water baptism is about if folk walk on water baptism won't do a thing for you if you're not crucified with Christ read Romans 6 Paul says in Galatians 4 remember my little children for whom I travel that Christ may be formed in you the trouble with the average believer today is he's like like what's his name now the fellow in the tomb Lazarus Lazarus, thank you Jesus spoke to Lazarus he comes out hands bound gagged round his mouth hardly move his legs he's alive mercy only just he was dead a minute ago he had no eyes to see he gets up and shuffles out Jesus says loose him and let him go 99% of the believers in America or England or in the world tonight need to be loosed and let go again you may have to let go of denomination you may have to let go of your theology but in God's name I ask you in the light of eternity is it worthwhile being bound with anything when the world is going to a lost eternity I preached in 1950 I think it was two or three days in where Louisville, Kentucky in a big old fashioned what was a Methodist church was now a church belonging to the Christian Missionary Alliance I preached on Hannah that morning and the preacher was half way up the aisle and he crawled on his hands and knees to the old fashioned altar you remember you used to have a big altar rail round and he crawled up and he clung on to it like a drowning man put on one hand and he says oh God I'd said this there's a time when a church gets too old to get pregnant there's a time when a church is too young to get pregnant there was a revival in 1905 the reason there's such a move of God today in Korea was the in 1905 the time of the Azusa street outpouring here there's an outpouring in Korea Sign 2 the body of Jesus Christ not just prayed with and not given them a tract you must say this man I've been dealing with him for six months and last night he passed from death until I that was the only entrance into membership apart from the fact you were born again each person must bring to birth another person and then each church must bring to birth another church I could go join a church now get a staff place on the staff they've 12,000 members I'm not interested in that so much I went to a church a few what was it a week last Thursday I understand the method there is that they have satellite churches all around and then the first Thursday or some Thursday in the month everybody comes in and has a whoop here but I enjoyed that meeting so much I enjoyed it so much they won't have me back I think but anyhow I'm tired of monoliths I'm tired of these monstrous churches with 12,000 15,000 members good lord you could get rid of 99% of them the temperature spiritual temperature in the city wouldn't drop that much and I meditated today I'm sure of this if the church is true to its character it's going to end up where it began and that's in houses in England we don't grow grapes out in the field you don't have to grow anything in England you can grow weeds they do a great job there you get a glass house as big as this and you leave a brick out and you plant the vine outside of the house and you bring the tender shoots through into the building and you start slapping them all over and they fill the house if I took you in a place like that and led you backwards what do you see grapes grapes grapes come on brother come on come on grapes grapes bananas yeah this is a modern vine it grows grapes and bananas a bit further up it's got pomegranates then it's got apples and at the end it's got cabbages you say that's not a true vine sure it's not a true vine neither is your stinking church a true church if it doesn't got all the gifts of God in it if the grapes are not there if the life isn't there if the power isn't there Finney was right when he said when the glory of God is in the temple we pull people from the world in to see the glory of God and when it's not there the world pulls them out because they have no joy as I've said to you more than once entertainment is God's substitute for joy the more joy we have in the Lord the less entertainment we need let me finish with a bit of royalty when we lived in England we'd read a newspaper and it would say the Queen has cancelled all her engagements for the next eight months so she's pregnant it destroys her social life destroys her political life before long it destroys her social life she doesn't eat she doesn't go to banquets I remember I think I was in this country when the press announced that John Kennedy's wife was expecting a baby she's cancelled all her engagements one of the things she loved to do was water ski she gave it up because she might have an accident she might not just land properly the ski might come up and hit her where that little baby is it's natural and unnatural you can't have travel without pain it's natural for the woman to bear a child but the nearer she comes to the time of deliverance that little thing is pushing everything else out of the way so she's pain agonizing pain usually I understand I talk to my wife about travel she says what do you know about it today you're not going to experience it I hope not spiritually yes it's worse there's more pain in spiritual travel than physical travel that's why we don't travel I'd like to find a group of people that really want to travel changes her social register it's all cancelled for the next nine months changes her sports life changes her social life changes her eating does she grumble about it no I've got a baby the queen says there's going to be a little boy born who's going to be the king of Britain British Empire and it'll decide what's left of it a woman travels and endures the agony of it for the joy of knowing there's going to be a moment when suddenly some little thing cries she's never the same after you don't need to be smart to run a church good night I've run the biggest church in England at one time and I was only in my twenties I need to go back and apologize to them I'll tell you that but I'm not going I'm too old and tired but you know when the Holy Ghost is a director when he's the authority when he's the inspiration when people are all of one accord in one place read it and don't stick with the first verse everybody says they were all of one accord in one place well go through the whole of the Acts of the Apostles that's when at least twelve times they were of one accord once the Holy Ghost came they didn't look for the first chance to split and then splinter and then splinter more they reasoned they considered will this glorify God will the devil get more out of it than God why should we split come on let's heal the breach let's get down and pray and humble ourselves and see God's face and they continue keeping the unity of the spirit in the bond of praise I don't know there's much very much around these days that God can really bless I'm not saying there's none I'm saying there isn't much we're going to change our style of these meetings usually we I talk too long and then we have some prayer we sing a couple of hymns and go home and refreshments and come to the back I ask them to change the style today last week the Holy Ghost was on this place in the best meeting we've had in 10 years I've been in in 10 years God swept through the place and stupid me had to finish it I thought some people are babysitters or something well from tonight onward it's an open ended meeting I'm going to give my message as I've done now sing a couple of hymns you're free to leave if you want I hope you won't no refreshments it's too much work for these folk anyhow and a young man said to me today he said you know I find when I've got blessed in the meetings so often it's all dissipated before I go home because you sit and talk about something that doesn't matter if you want a social life you can find it somewhere I'm not concerned I'm more concerned this year to get more into prayer than I've ever been in my life I don't care if I have to weep and groan and fast and pray it doesn't matter to me this year is the most critical hour in American history every Mohammedan is praising Allah that America is on its face the Ayatollah Mohammed today was marched through the streets tens of thousands of people screaming to hell with America let's kill Mr. Reagan what good are all our bombs right now what good are our airplanes what good are our what do you call it aircraft carriers we billions of dollars and somebody's got us by the throat I love America if I didn't we wouldn't be here I know where God called me I know what he told me to do they told me the streets were paved with gold and I'm still looking for them but anyhow I've no regrets I came I don't believe America is God's only hope but it has a great hope we have a great challenge and God is seeking a people who will travel it'll kill your social life forget all about going out to drink coffee and tea and talk at night either get in or get out either tell God I'm more serious than ever I've been or quit playing I get angry when I think of the devil's monopoly of our young people in the nation dopey drunk diseased every devilish hellish thing and the church is looking on while hell is getting filled but it's going to stop by the grace of God the tapes will be at the door in future just a little way out there'll be a a table nothing in the back no going in the back no eating and drinking we're going to get to business again the tapes will be outside if you want one tonight we're going to sing our two hymns usually what do we sing? 29?