The video is about a campaign to raise awareness and support for Christians in the Soviet Union. It promotes an action pack that includes an audiovisual presentation, a book called "The Siberian Seven," posters, stickers, and other materials. The speaker emphasizes the importance of paying the price and seeking God's face for revival in Britain. He asks the audience if they are in God's race and challenges them to be on fire for God, devoted to Him in every aspect of their lives. The video also highlights the importance of both enjoying fellowship and having reverence for God.

Send down the rain, Lord, send down the rain. Send down the light of the rain. Send down the rain, Lord, send down the rain. Send down the light of the rain. Send down the rain, Lord, send down the rain. Send down the light of the rain. Send down the rain, Lord, send down the rain. Send down the light of the rain. Singing in the rain! Singing in the rain, Lord, singing in the rain. Singing in the light of the rain Singing in the rain, Lord Singing in the rain Singing in the light of the rain Sing down Sing down the rain, Lord Sing down the rain Sing down the light of the rain Sing down the rain, Lord Sing down the rain Sing down the light of the rain Praising in the light of the rain Praising in the rain, Lord Sing down Sing down the rain, Lord Dancing in the rain Dancing in the rain, Lord Sing down Sing down Sing down the rain Well the Holy Spirit Sets my feet a-dancing The Holy Spirit Thrills me through and through The Holy Spirit Sets my feet a-dancing He'll set your heart a-dancing Well the Holy Spirit Sets my feet a-dancing The Holy Spirit Thrills me through and through The Holy Spirit Sets my feet a-dancing He'll set your heart a-dancing Ladies only! Come on ladies! Come on son! The Holy Spirit Sets my feet a-dancing The Holy Spirit Thrills me through and through The Holy Spirit Sets my feet a-dancing He'll set your heart a-dancing Last time! All together! Come on! One more! The Holy Spirit Sets my feet a-dancing The Holy Spirit Thrills me through and through The Holy Spirit Sets my feet a-dancing He'll set your heart a-dancing Thank you Ish Let me uh He should come with a t-shirt Carrying a government health warning emblazoned on it Uh Ish We're glad to have you on the platform Come here a minute mate I just wanted to ask you something about the lunchtime, funtime thing Oh! I haven't got a pie Have you not got a pie? We wouldn't, no we wouldn't do that to you Just come here a sec Can we just do a commercial for that? I mean I'm very aware that uh Numbers were up a bit this time Yes Are you pleased with that? Yes uh Yes, very pleased Very good Is it right you've been doing some terrible things there like Putting custard pies in people's faces and things? Terrible Yes uh Very true, very true More, more, more Right I'm sure that just as we were enjoying ourselves Uh in fun and fellowship That God was also enjoying that too And I think it's great for us to To realise that And I think it's also great for us to realise That there are times when we can laugh Because we have confidence with each other In the family of Christ We can just relax and just have fun At the same time There are times when we can turn immediately Just before God and acknowledge who He is And how great He is And how wonderful He is And we're going to do that right now Number 47 Jesus, how lovely you are You are so gentle, so pure and kind Last, Sheila to take the lead on the verses Then when we come to the chorus Let's just again move into a spirit of praise Lifting Jesus into the centre of our worship tonight Number 47 Jesus, how lovely you are You are so gentle, so pure and kind You shine as the morning star Jesus, how lovely you are Jesus is the King Jesus Jesus, how lovely you are So gentle, so pure You shine as the morning star Jesus, how lovely you are Jesus Hallelujah Jesus Jesus, how lovely you are You are so gentle, so pure and kind You shine as the morning star Jesus, how lovely you are Jesus Jesus will take you soon Jesus, how lovely you are You are so gentle, so pure and kind You shine as the morning star Jesus, how lovely you are Spring Harvest is very much a partnership when it comes to putting it together It's an interesting partnership between British Youth for Christ and Buzz magazine And part of the cooperation is that I gladly give Clive Calver an elastic five minutes One week, one night in Spring Harvest to talk about their important work That'll be tomorrow night And he gladly in return gives me an elastic five minutes to talk about the work of Buzz magazine And the allied work on another evening And that's tonight But I'd like to break the rules slightly Because rather than spend most of my time talking about the magazine I'd like to spend most of it talking about something which is far more important And if you can imagine something more important than Buzz magazine Then you know I'm talking about something very important But let me just get out of the way for a moment a few practical details Which I'd like you to be aware of And then get into the meat of what I want to talk to you about Which is a very important project about which we need to commit ourselves Last night we were hearing from David Pawson talking about leadership And one thing is clear is that leadership brings responsibility And when you're producing a magazine which is going to be read by about Well, bought by about 30,000 people each month or more You feel responsible Particularly when it's going to be read by something like 100,000 people each month As it gets passed from hand to hand and so on And as we work out our responsibilities What we're trying to do through Buzz magazine Is to give you a clear understanding of what God is doing in his world So many of us live in situations where we're forced to have blinkers on Because of the fellowships we're in, the denominations we're in and so on And if only we could get a grasp of what God is doing around the world And realize that in many places in the world God's church is growing faster than the population rate And at the same time getting the balance to see that there are some countries in the world Where you could get all the believers sitting in the front row here Or gathered into one of our chalets That is the kind of balance we're trying to get across We're also concerned to tackle the major issues of our world And see how our Christian lives relate to the world outside And what the world outside is doing to our Christian lives Our responsibilities went a stage further when we became concerned about a year ago That marriages in this country were hurting About one in five marriages in Britain today ends in divorce And Christian marriages are not exempt We wish they were but they're not And so we felt the need to launch a magazine Aimed directly at strengthening and sustaining Christian families And we launched Family Magazine back in September And the response has been overwhelming The circulation of that is now in the region of 20,000 copies a month or more Which excites us because it shows it's meeting a need I mean the current issue which is on sale on the Basen Family Stand Includes something on how to talk to your children when death comes How to explain death to your children Tackles the whole issue of why is sex such a problem so often in Christian marriages Looks at case histories like a family that decided not to have an abortion When they were told that almost certainly the child to be born to them would be handicapped There's an answers column dealing with those sort of issues We'd be delighted if you would stand with us and with your family and your church And take these magazines regularly That's all I want to say about the two magazines But as I talk about responsibilities A responsibility came into our hands just ten days ago Which we as an editorial team felt we couldn't budge You'll have found on your seats a piece of paper which is headed Free the Siberian Seven Now it may be that you're very much in touch with the situation Concerning these seven Christians But if not I'll touch on it briefly The situation is that in the basement of the American Embassy in Moscow Are seven Pentecostal Soviet Christians Whose homes are really in Siberia They're comprised of members of two families And they're basically held hostage by the Soviet Union's continuing persecution of Christians For example, members of these families have already served time in labor camps And in psychiatric hospitals They've already had their church services broken up Members of these families have already seen their children confiscated by the state for re-education Because of the blessing of God upon their local church The authorities insisted that they registered as a registered church That was quite easy All you had to do was sign a document saying You would not give any religious instruction to anyone under the age of 18 They said how can we do that in conscience before God As a result they faced this kind of persecution Almost three years ago They went to the American Embassy Quite legally But found themselves needing to take refuge there For reasons that are explained in this little panel here You can read it at your leisure But that was three years ago You've now been in your chalets here for three days If you can imagine seven adults Virtually adults in there Not for three days or three weeks or three months But by 27th of June they will have been there for three years They're in a basement so there's little light coming in There's a Soviet guard on the outside and there's a grill to their window At regular intervals during the night He will rub his baton along the railings outside their window To make sure they don't get sleep They're under that sort of pressure An American Christian who's been working in that embassy Has made friends with them And he came out recently and said They are in a deadlock situation The Russians don't care The Americans are embarrassed Neither side trust each other They may have been there three years now They may be there another three years Unless an independent country does something He said if only British Christians would take up the cause He said I believe something would happen When Georgie Vins was being treated the way he was And the British public rose up Led by Christian leadership He became free and he said The situation for many others facing that kind of persecution Was drastically changed And so Buzz is taking a commitment along with others To do something about this situation To let the Russian authorities know that we're concerned To pray about change And also to do something to let the Christians there themselves The Siberian Seven know that we love them And are doing something A number of things that you can do And they're outlined on this leaflet In June we're going to issue a special issue of Buzz With them on the cover Covering the three years they've been in there And highlighting the problem And laying out a plan of action There are a number of these things you can do The first thing is we've made arrangements To get a message from Spring Harvest Into the basement of the American Embassy Don't ask me how it's going to get in there I can't tell you but I do know I just can't say how public it's going to be there But anything we say here in written form Will be there within two weeks In the corridor by reception When you get out tonight There'll be a big sheet of paper Where every one of us can write messages Of greeting, love and support We shared this last week We've already got a huge page Full of signatures and greetings We'll put that up there To show you what the last lot did And it'll challenge our creativity And our involvement We're going to stick the two together And get it out there to them Within the next two weeks The next thing you can do Is to order an action pack Which we're going to be making available That pack will include A 12 minute audio visual of the situation Telling the story on slide and tape Including photographs even from the Embassy itself So you can stir up interest Among churches in your area And get something moving Obviously it's going to cost something to produce that We're going to have a sheet of action ideas Telling you who you can write to And what you can say Who you can phone And you can badger To make sure that people know we care There's going to be a copy of the book The Siberian Seven Which covers the material To clearly indicate what's gone on In the Soviet Union It's a tremendous book Which I would encourage you to get as part of that And there'll be posters and stickers And everything else We mean business And it's going to be in the pack Now the pack is going to cost We reckon in order to produce and post to you Something in the region of six pounds And that's what we're asking you to part with For it when you order it If there's anything over We'll put it into a fighting fund To do all the other things we want to do The next thing we need to do is pray It's going to take a miracle To break the kind of diplomatic deadlock That we're talking about Lastly, keep June 27th free We want to have a worshipful And positive demonstration in London To show the media And the Soviet Union and the authorities That we mean business And we're concerned about these people I believe it's possible through this To have a tremendous triumph image In the media today To show what can happen When God takes hold of people's lives Under persecution I believe that rather than Condemning the Soviet Union We could do something together Which would show the triumph And the glory of God In the lives of Christian believers In the face of persecution In a godless regime So let's work together And pray together And see something happen For the glory of God For the Siberian seven In faith, I'm going to ask That we sing number 87 Thine be the glory Risen conquering sun Endless is the victory Thou or death has won These brethren of ours In the Soviet Union Are but part of a whole persecuted church Who are standing faithfully For the cause of Christ And I believe we should stand with them Let's stand and sing number 87 Thine be the glory Risen conquering sun Endless is the victory Thou or death has won These brethren of ours In the Soviet Union Thine be the glory Risen conquering sun Endless is the victory Endless is the victory Thou or death has won O Jesus Christ Risen from the tomb Lovingly he brings us Sadness, fear, and woe Let the church with gladness Hymns of triumph sing For her Lord now liveth Death hath caused this thing Thine be the glory Risen conquering sun Endless is the victory Thou or death has won O Lord we doubt thee Glorious Prince of Light Thine be the glory Earth, wind, air, sea, and sky Make us all that confess To thy heaven's power Bring us safe and joy Thine be the glory Risen conquering sun Endless is the victory Thou or death has won I believe that what we've been challenged with is something important That it's something we need to hear And on behalf of Youth for Christ I want to give every endorsement to what Peter said We're so thrilled that Buzz has taken this lead Let's pray, shall we? Graham, would you come and pray for these Siberian Seven and the position that they find themselves tonight? Father, we thank you for the amazing power that there is through prayer and through actions of faith which are born out of your spirit and out of love and concern And we thank you, Lord, that through this power through the power in the name of Jesus through our prayers that things can be done which are beyond our expectation Father, I want to pray that you'll give us a high level of expectation as to what you can do through our prayers and through our action in this situation So, Father, just right at this moment we want to focus in on that basement We thank you, Lord, that prayer knows no geographical limits at all We thank you, Lord, that our prayer is as powerful here, thousands of miles away as if we were actually just down the road from the American Embassy in Moscow So, Father, we just want to concentrate our prayers upon that basement and pray in the name of Jesus that you will pour into that basement such a sense of hope and such a sense of refreshment that a kind of miracle happens in their hearts Father, I pray that if the atmosphere there is heavy and that they're depressed Lord, that you'll pour in your love and your light so that it's like heaven for them Father, I believe you can do that such that they'd rather be there than here because of the sense of heaven that you bring Lord, we pray that you will give a sense of your presence there that everybody, the God outside the people in the embassy get a sense that something's happening that this God that they believe in is real We ask, Lord, you'll give them hope We ask, Lord, that you'll give them joy We ask, Lord, that you'll give them your divine wisdom to know how to act what causes of action to take if any are open to them And we pray, Lord, that you'll sustain them and strengthen them and give them a sense that they are not alone Lord, we just ask that now in the mighty name of Jesus believing, Lord, that you are doing it And we pray also, Lord, that you will put a burden on many of our hearts to continue praying for them until we see them set free We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ Amen Our speaker this evening is George Verwer We are very privileged to have him with us. God has used George under his hand to raise up a mighty missionary army particularly of young people around the world primarily as a training school and also in addition to see millions of lost people beginning to be reached for the gospel. We're privileged because the time George has given us during Spring Harvest, as I understand it is proportionately more than he actually gives his own organization in terms of ministry And so we're very grateful that he would be able to clear his diary to be with us And I trust now we'll still our hearts and open our wills to hear what God has got to say through him. George Verwer I'm very grateful to Buzz and Youth for Christ but firstly to the Lord for this opportunity to be here one of my deepest convictions I mean this with all my heart is that as different fellowships different organizations and movements here in Britain we may be able to move together in God's great purposes. We're not all the same, we're not all doing the same thing but we have one Lord How my heart was touched last night through the ministry and I hope we'll not forget that which we've heard especially when I think of what God is doing here in Britain and I've actually felt this for a number of years it's one of the reasons in a very strange way, there's not time to tell that tonight God very clearly 18 years ago made this country my home I've never been back to my own country except to speak for a few weeks and it was with that conviction that God was going to do something very great in this country. He has been down through history and it's just exciting to be a part of it ever since my conversion I've been accused of being a fanatic not a very interesting cloud to live under the last five years I've been preaching about spiritual balance, I guess trying to get away from my image of being a fanatic, I don't think that's the reason actually but I am very very strong on this subject of spiritual balance and we've been seeing that in the life of Jesus in our seminar on Jesus my daughter came to me the other day and she said she felt I was getting extreme on the area of balance and I come with a heart very very full, I've just arrived back from Turkey, Jordan Israel, Syria Hungary, Yugoslavia Greece, a few other places traveled by van, thought we'd never make it we had three punctures before we got out of Germany my heart is so full I'm known as a fanatic about literature I've written a book on literature an absolutely dead book it doesn't sell, we have to give them away every time we get stuck with the edition because the fact of the matter is the church does not have a vision for Christian literature to any great degree a few of these men do and I've cut my book review by 80% because I know they're talking to you about books all the time but I hope you will visit the book tables not just to get something for yourself, praise God that's good, but to think in terms of perhaps giving books to others you may not be a great communicator but as you give books away, loan them lose them, I just put a book of about a famous converted political leader Senator Harold Hughes in the library in Bromley where I live they sent me a letter of appreciation imagine if everybody here put a few books of Christian testimony in the library next to a lot of the liberal teaching and other books that are in the libraries, what a ministry that could be I want you to turn with me now in your bible to a number of scriptures we're going to be asking some serious questions it really excites me when I see people taking notes if you look in the seminar book and you turn to my notes, you will find them very easy to memorize don't do it tonight but there is a page actually that you can write on if you don't have some blank paper with you and I would like to also engage in operation feedback I was too afraid to do this last week but George Whitfield used to do this when people were preaching when he was preaching, he would ask people to send up notes to him in the pulpit about what God was doing in their hearts probably the greatest British preacher of all time used as greatly as Wesson, incredible now I don't want you to hand your notes to me up here a number of reasons I once had a note and said your time is up, please sit down I'll probably get one of those from Clive but you keep your notes and send them to me later on or turn them in at the OM literature table where you can pick up a lot of free literature but if there is anything you want to ask anything you want to say I won't be able to get to it all this week just feel free to communicate I actually can say this honestly I actually prefer small meetings in Turkey I spoke to almost all the believers in the capital city of Ankara I would have preferred that to be a little bigger there were only five Turks in the whole meeting so I'm a little overwhelmed here but I would like to have some communication and so feel free to communicate any question any burden now if we can get to that scripture in the book of Hebrews sorry to leave you there halfway chapter 11 tells us about faith, if you can read that chapter on your own you will be greatly stirred remember even as we hear the word of God tonight, if we don't mix it with faith and it's true all day it says that earlier in Hebrews if the word preached is not mixed with faith it will be of little value that's why I so believe in the ministry of counseling and pray that you will seek help and counsel if you have a spiritual question or you want to make a commitment there are people that want to help that's not the total answer but it could be part of the answer one of the young men who shared with me recently some very heavy things said he had never talked to anybody in his life about this I don't believe that's God's way as Christians to go around with things bothering us eating away at our conscience making us feel guilty we've never talked to anybody ever about it I would have been wiped out years ago as a very weak struggling Christian if I hadn't learned something of opening up and I'm scared because I know that keeping things in also can create about 50 different psychosomatic illnesses it's just not healthy it's just not sensible and it's not God's way the word of God says confess your faults one to another pray for one another that ye may be healed and we're the introspective bottled up generation and I pray that many even among ourselves will be sharing and praying for one another and there'll be a flood of spontaneous fellowship right across this great camp the word preached must be mixed with faith faith will demand action faith will demand decision and I believe we're in a divine moment tonight last night God was speaking especially to leaders tonight I believe God very strongly wants to speak to just ordinary nobodies especially some who may be very young in the faith and you may be just struggling along bound up with doubt in some bondage gripped by some problem or whatever else and God wants to bless you those whom he loves he chastens if you feel the chastening hand of God tonight it's because he loves you and if you're never chastened if there's never any correcting ministry of the Holy Spirit in your life it's because you may not be yet his child then you better really be scared so in Hebrews 11 we have this great message of faith and then we get to Hebrews 12 and I want us to read starting at verse 1 what a wonderful thing to hear those pages of the Bible let me see the Bibles, I learned this from Buck Singh in India he planted about 400 churches by the way, slight anointing raise your Bible where are the Bibles, hallelujah shame on any of you who don't have a Bible my oh my, you better get to the book stall quick well let's try something else you got a bit puffed up on that how many of you have not read yet, you love the word of God you love Jesus and you believe it's God's word but somehow you know, television, other books, Little Orphan Annie Bionic Man how many somehow have not yet read the Bible once let's be honest here, maybe a few never read the Bible once, raise your hand well, you're honest about 75% of you you know it was a blessing last week people came up to me and they said God's spoken to them about reading the whole Bible through this year we did it as a youth fellowship years ago, as a group, we did it individually as well, it only took us 66 hours, we just read it non-stop in the church 66 hours 70, something like that it was so funny the local people thought this was so strange, this pagan community and made front page and got on the Associated Press, went all over the world youth group reads Bible, you know, big thing let's read the word of God wherefore seeing we also are compassed or surrounded about with so great a cloud of witnesses, you read about those in Hebrews 11 let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us, hinder us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame in his set down at the right hand of the throne of God for consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be weary and faint in your minds we read more and I hope you will read more from Genesis right through Revelation I want to ask you a number of questions tonight, I think it's good to take spiritual inventory it's Wednesday night, it's the middle of the week, and I feel these are some of the most important questions you can ever ask, I wrote them down this morning in my Bible I may not get to all of them you can write them down and you can before you go to sleep tonight and there may be some tonight that right from this tent you'll just want to get alone with God and not just be caught up with more activity others, God will lead you into activity but all what a need there is as we're here receiving much, receiving much to have times alone with God there may be some that may want to try to get to sleep early and try to get up early and get out on that beach, not necessarily to run, that's not my main burden, but to seek the Lord I believe these are days when God wants us to seek His face the key to revival found way back there in 2 Chronicles 7 14 if my people which are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked way then I will hear from heaven and heal their land beloved in our Christian life there will be no gain without pain, there will be no revival in Britain without a paying of the price upon our knees and upon seeking His face let's ask some serious questions first of all I want to ask you are you in God's race I had a rush to get back to England for a leadership conference a week or two weeks ago drove almost non-stop from southern Italy to London the amazing thing is when I got to London one of the first things I read about was the London Marathon which they're expecting to become one of the great sporting events or athletic events in the future somehow in an unexpected way 4,300 came and finished the race 26 miles the main thing that everybody in Britain was thinking about was the great horse race that was going on that day and if they weren't thinking about that then they were probably down at the Thames watching Oxford beat Cambridge again in rowing and I was sitting on the tube late at night and there was obviously a Cambridge fan on the tube and I asked him who won Oxford and he said well I said well you know what happened he said well I'll tell you how they did it I said well how he said they import Americans hallelujah there's still some hope in the race they also had a woman calling as Cox Wayne so maybe that was the secret but it's interesting to watch racing to watch the Olympics and if you think this is irrelevant you obviously haven't studied your New Testament because not only here in Hebrews 12 do we have the picture of a Christian as a runner but also Paul in 1st Corinthians chapter 9 says I so run and he goes on to say and I believe it's the missing link in many Christian lives and I believe it's the reason that many of God's people instead of being his chosen people are his frozen people is because they don't know the secret of what Paul talked about in 1st Corinthians chapter 9 do you know it? Paul said I buffet my body discipline I buffet my body and bring it into control bring it into subjection lest after preaching to others I become a castaway disqualified beloved the Bible teaches not me you can forget me the Bible teaches that we are in an intensive race I say this with fear lest it will be misunderstood but I pray that you'll at least think about it I'm really convinced that few of us I don't care whether you're from a house group or a cathedral whether you're with OM or who you're with I feel that few of us know the kind of commitment we read about in the book of Acts and it burdens me day and night I feel that many of us are just playing games and I feel even many of my friends and co-workers as Christian leaders, many of them have been deceived into a commitment into a commitment that is less than what God would have and we have neglected whole basic emphases in the New Testament like the warfare discipline, buffeting the body and such things as when Paul wrote to Timothy and said endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, this is why though the church is growing and it is the number of missionaries from Britain is decreasing because somehow the thought of going to a strange country and eating strange food and maybe not having the things we're accustomed to does not appeal to most people it does maybe appeal to a few and they have to experience much of crucifixion less they do it in the energy of the flesh Tozer said and I hope you'll read his books that we have measured ourselves by ourselves for so long, there are no longer higher plateaus in the things of the spirit and for 25 years I've gone from nation to nation looking for examples looking for men I could pattern my life after, looking for men who I could learn to pray from looking to men who had more love more zeal, more compassion more reality, who were living examples of what I see in Paul and in Jesus and in Timothy and what I read about in books like Hudson Taylor and George Mueller and others who I don't believe are fairy tales and I found few I found few I can tell you praise be to the living God I have found some and some I'm not worthy to tie their shoelaces and don't misunderstand what I'm saying because I can assure you no matter how committed a man is no matter how zealous no matter how much he knows of total commitment no matter how much he is in that race he's still an earthen vessel he still will have his weaknesses and his failures and that's where God had to break me and God had to humble me and God had to show me I was looking at times for things that didn't even exist and I went back to the word and developed I hope a little bit of spiritual balance but you see if you're not committed if you're not really in the race if you've never really presented your body as a living sacrifice unto God, there's nothing to balance balance is not a position of compromise, not a matter of sacrificing the basic truth it's a matter of taking the often extreme strong statements of the New Testament and letting one statement balance off the other love and truth, zeal and wisdom freedom and order and there's a hundred areas where we can find that one truth will balance out another truth the Concorde, the fastest airplane in the world, is a perfect example of balance and if you're more balanced, you can go faster for God so it's not a matter of compromise but if you don't even have that basic commitment if you're not really filled with God's spirit and moving forward as a soldier in the battle well it's nothing to balance, it's like having two wings out in Heathrow airport and no main fuselage of the airplane can you imagine it would be a strange sight for airline spotters to see two wings going down the runway there's got to be the body, there's got to be in your life that commitment that abandonment to God and then God can bring in the balance I remember when I was ministering in the Netherlands with Brother Andrew some of you know Brother Andrew God's smuggler, tonight you've got Brother George God's bungler and that's no joke I went into the Soviet Union one of the first things I ever did in Europe got arrested by the Soviet secret police due to my own stupidity and accused of being a spy it wasn't very exciting so God uses even mistakes but Brother Andrew gave oh we met together for tea and he asked me if I gave an invitation at the meeting and I said that I hadn't, I said well you can do that, he said he thought he would because he discovered that it was easier to cool down a fanatic than warm up a corpse I don't know, I don't know your churches, maybe the greatest problem in your church is too much enthusiasm too many people just getting excited about Jesus, running out witnessing all over the place, disturbing the neighbors A.W. Tozer said this he said to think that too much enthusiasm was the greatest problem in the average church, was like sending a squadron of policemen to a local cemetery to guard against a demonstration by the residents at midnight if you don't like that you can take it up with Tozer when you get to heaven oh how we need that God-given enthusiasm, I was reading just a few moments ago, a little bit in this book on the subject of zeal, William McDonald says that's the one thing we are without excuse for not having you don't need a theological education to have zeal all you need is to be born again and that leads me to another question I wrote it down and I don't want to forget to ask it are you really a child of God we have to step back a little bit because you don't enter God's race by your own efforts you don't enter God's race by baptism or church going or being good to grandmothers or taking little children to school on whatever day they go these days but by faith in Jesus Christ and I sense there may be some that have never even begun the race in terms of being born again perhaps I could just briefly share my own testimony because someone may be able to relate to this I at sixteen would not have understood anything about this kind of gathering I would have considered it complete fanaticism, this was not my side of life my grandfather from the Netherlands was an atheist my other grandfather from Glasgow, Scotland was a drunk my father came over from the Netherlands to find a good life and we were not finding that so well because the Bible says he who commits sin becomes a slave to sin when you live near New York City as I did at sixteen things get very heavy I don't want to go into the details but one woman began to pray for me, she'd been praying for the school that I was attending for fifteen years, not only that God would save people but that God would send them, that school, that ungodly secondary school became the first birthplace London became the second in a sense of operation mobilization, it wasn't called that back then one woman who believed in prayer I will tell you if she was here even though she's very very old now she would be in every single prayer meeting going on around this place she went for prayer meetings like ducks go to water prayer is as Mr. Vendoran of Caponry once said I think it's the title of his book the Christian's vital breath no wonder so many of God's people are anemic and that woman prayed for me for three years, she sent me a portion of God's word, a gospel of John through the post and I read it over a period of two years three years approximately and every year I got worse my conduct was so bad I was blacklisted by the teachers of the school I was arrested by the police for housebreaking and stealing and a few other things that should have discouraged her completely but she kept praying then Billy Graham came to New York City one night, I didn't know what that was either, I didn't even know what an evangelist was, I was a little bit into pornography, I went to pick up some once and there was a magazine about Billy Graham right next to it I saw he played sports and he had a wife, I figured he wasn't totally crazy I figured I'd go in and see what he had to say and there, in that huge place, a little bit similar to this with my doubts with my questions, I even had my binoculars because I heard he was a hypnotist I heard the simple gospel Jesus Christ died on the cross for my sin and I was convicted of the Holy Spirit and I went forward for counseling and I repented of my sin and trusted Christ as my savior and I can tell you this is not an exaggeration it has been real every day ever since and if there's anyone within the sound of my voice tonight that's not yet made that commitment to Christ to trust him as your savior I pray that you may make your way to that counseling room and someone can show you how tonight you can know the peace and the forgiveness and the joy of salvation, it's real beloved oh it hasn't been an easy road for me I had many questions especially God's people any of you ever had this problem? Everything was going right until you got more and more involved with God's people God's peculiar people you haven't met me yet you know if there's anyone here tonight that I turn off, you know, we Americans I've been 18 years trying to learn English, you can see I failed we live with a total inferiority feeling when we're in Britain and we know the moment we open our mouth, I preach in Christian unions almost every other week, if it's an evangelistic meeting, the moment I open my mouth, they find out I'm American they're switched off look, if you're switched off by anything I said, be encouraged because when I listen to my tapes it really switches me off and I am glad for cassette recorders with automatic quick stops but I will tell you though, maybe something I say or someone else says switches you off, God can switch you on, we are weak, we are human we fail, we do turn people off at times, I remember witnessing to a hippie up in Kathmandu I think he was a little high and I was going strong, boy I was using all my apologetics, Dr. Francis Schaefer, FF Bruce, you know boy, I thought, he's gonna come to Christ any minute, I'm crying to God in the name of the Lord, in the name of the Lord, he looked at me he said, buddy, I don't read your vibrations I didn't want to ever witness again you know, failure is often the back door to success and those of us who are so-called Christian leaders, we're not always bounding over the wall in some kind of gospel van I remember once giving out tracts in the street of Thailand I really wanted to be home, drinking a Coca-Cola, having a milkshake oh, the great day that McDonald's came to England thank you, Lord oh, I'm sorry about that I don't get paid for that, but I was dreaming about hamburgers and milkshakes and here I was, standing in the streets of Thailand giving out tracts, I've always had trouble with my nose, that's why I don't turn sideways I don't like these people sitting over here and they have an expression in Thailand it's, if they don't like a foreigner, they call them, because their noses are so streamlined, these nice noses, they think ours are like Pike's Peak sort of a Snowden on the face and here as I was giving out tracts, a man came up to me, and instead of taking the tract, he reached out, and he stroked my nose if I ever had a missionary call, and I never had a call, God just saw me, knew what a bullheaded character I was, and gave me a kick and I've been going ever since but I think if I ever had one, I would have lost it there but failure is often the back door to success, and if there's any of you you have doubts, you have fears you have questions would you at least seek some counsel would you open God's word in a fresh way and let the Lord Jesus work in your life but just a couple of other questions I want to ask before we go, and we're going to keep to our time tonight and that's this I think I heard Clive's explanation after David Pawson's message, and I agree with it 100%, because I have the opportunity to come back in two days time, just about the time you're getting relaxed, and you're I'll be back but I want to ask, just in closing, a couple of other very serious questions, and that is simply this, are you filled with the Holy Spirit how in the world can we ever even think of evangelizing Britain, or the world unless we know we are filled with the Holy Spirit oh, I listen to A.W. Tozer on this he hit me very hard you need to know, he says you need to know you have been filled with the Spirit some speak about a baptism of the Holy Spirit some speak in other terms I'm not going to argue about that tonight I think of what Billy Graham says, he said I don't care how you get it, just get it just get it and it won't hurt you to get on your face and pray for 20 minutes tonight, to make sure that you're filled with the Spirit of God Acts 4, 31, after Pentecost some of the same people who were at Pentecost were praying, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they went forth and spoke the word of God with fullness you cannot explain the book of Acts without understanding that doctrine it's not just some spectacular event that happens to a few certain people who need to preach the fullness of the Holy Spirit is a very down to earth thing, it's a very practical thing, God works in different ways in different people, some are more emotional than others but you must know if you're going to walk with God, if you're going to run in God's race, you must know God's power, Ephesians 5 be ye filled with the Holy Spirit Hebrews chapter 13, you'll find another verse that should warm your heart because in that chapter, it says our God is a consuming fire have you ever heard anyone preach on that text? our God is a consuming fire, and I want to ask you this other question are you on fire for Christ? isn't that the will of God? it doesn't mean you'll necessarily be loud like me some of the most consistent on fire people I know, they don't preach they live and their light burns there was once a man who went joined the Salvation Army, became one of the greatest soul winners of all times, he wrote a book called Resurrection, Life and Power, and in that book he gave a definition of fire, let me give it to you what is fire? it is love, it is faith it is hope it's passion purpose, determination it's utter devotion it's a divine discontent with formality ceremonialism lukewarmness, indifference sham, noise, parade, and spiritual death, it is singleness of eye, and a consecration unto death it is God the Holy Ghost burning in and through a humble, holy, faithful man or woman, are you that man? are you that woman? then I want to ask you, is Jesus Christ Lord of your life? Lord of your money? Lord of your time? how I praise God for the emphasis that's come across here, on a simple lifestyle, to me that's so basic in our day not that we're all going to be the same, not that we run around judging people whose God may have prospered in a special way, for a special purpose but that we may become a little more like the Lord Jesus, is he Lord of your life? a constitutional monarchy may well work for the British government we all pray for the Queen, I remember when I came across on the Queen Elizabeth, first time I went to an Anglican service, heard them pray for the Queen she's number one but she has no power, the power is in the hands of the Prime Minister and other ministers that's alright for your government, but it's not for your Christian life Jesus wants to be King absolute Lord absolute monarch in your life have you made him King? or is Prime Minister self somehow still running your life, if you're really honest and all that's hard all that's in these days Prime Minister self and some of his other departments, the department of jealousy the department of social affairs the department of greed that somehow these departments and Prime Minister self may be dethroned and Christ may be made Lord, Lord of our lives have you ever done that? are you still doing it? I believe this is God's word for us tonight I share this as someone who has failed often times in the midst of the race yea, even fallen flat on my face and I know one thing that whether I'm running full speed winning men to Christ and praising him or somehow I've fallen flat on my face and usually with me it's either lust of the eyes or my big tongue that somehow for a few moments gets me down I know that at that moment he still loves me and somehow there's someone here tonight, you've been in the race you've known what it has been to run for Jesus to experience the exhilaration and the joy of being in God's way and in God's work and yet somehow tonight you're down maybe lust maybe pride maybe bitterness has got in maybe fear somehow you're down all to just realize he's reaching out and he's saying come and run again with me lay aside every weight fix your eyes on your Lord allow him to fill you with the Holy Spirit and believe me you will be running not some little dinky 26 mile marathon but a full total life thousands of spiritual miles for Jesus and the joy of that which I've only known 26 years it's not very much talked to my friend on the phone Oswald J. Smith 90 years of age still running, still praising God I almost wept a man came up to me in South Africa, he gave me some sweets he thought I was a little boy he was 100, personal friend of George Mueller patted me on the head, run along sonny a hundred years of age still running the race oh beloved may this can't be filled with men and women who in these days put their hands on the plow allow God to fill them afresh with the Holy Spirit make Jesus Christ Lord and never, never though all hell resist us turn back from our Savior who we love let us pray let's have just a moment of silent prayer searching our hearts asking those questions are you in the race are you really His child are you filled with the Holy Spirit have you made Jesus the Lord of your life so that you'll go anywhere, anytime whatever the cost by His grace, by His power are you on fire for Christ if you're not, would you confess would you come to the cross and say Lord Jesus forgive me lukewarmness, pride playing around one more even jellyfish floating downstream may God give us a backbone by the power of His Holy Spirit before it's too late would you just spend a moment in silent quiet confession commitment, prayer to the living God who loves you with an everlasting love let's pray silently just pour it out, pour it out oh Lord Jesus I can't pray for others in a full extent but I know that I must pray for myself fill me a fresh oh God with your Holy Spirit that I may not be found just playing around that I may not be found speaking things that I'm not living and experiencing Lord I seek your cross tonight deal with the little areas, the hidden areas Lord Jesus we thank you for your cleansing we thank you for your forgiveness we thank you that you know all about us and you love us still and even though there may be some that have fallen flat on their face you're reaching out you're wanting to pick them up and to thrust them back into the battle back into the race that they may run and not grow weary that they may be your man that they may be your woman to go where you want to go and to do what you want them to do Lord grant it tonight for we pray in the powerful authoritative name of our Lord Jesus Christ Amen Amen Amen Let's stand and proclaim that kind of reality shall we Jesus is Lord creation's voice proclaims it for by his power each tree and flower was planned and made Jesus is Lord the universe declares it sun, moon and stars in heaven say Jesus is Lord Let's stand and proclaim creation's voice proclaims it for by his power each tree and flower was planned and made Jesus is Lord the universe declares it sun, moon and stars in heaven say Jesus is Lord Jesus is Lord Jesus is Lord praise him with hallelujah for Jesus is Lord Jesus is Lord yet from his throne eternal in flesh he came to die and reign on Calvary's tree Jesus is Lord from him all life proceeding yet gave his life for ransom thus setting us free Jesus is Lord Jesus is Lord praise him with hallelujah for Jesus is Lord Jesus is Lord for sin the mighty conquered from death he rose and all his foes shall love his name Jesus is Lord God sends his Holy Spirit to show the world the power that Jesus is Lord Jesus is Lord Jesus is Lord praise him with hallelujah for Jesus is Lord let's say the words of the grace shall we the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore Amen