In this sermon, the pastor shares an illustration about a test he gave to his congregation to encourage them to love their neighbors as themselves. Initially, nothing happened, but when he repeated the command, people started getting up and engaging with one another. The pastor emphasizes the importance of loving one's neighbor and not being consumed by material possessions. He also references Bible verses that highlight the significance of love and how it surpasses other spiritual gifts.

Did you come praying? Did you come expecting? Did you? I've seen two or three heads run up and down. Okay. You know, the revival back in 1971 in Saskatoon, our song leader was 85 years old, Dr. Virgil Brough. His voice was cracked, and he was sometimes off key. But he was so full of the love of God, nobody even noticed, you know. And you know, he actually, at one point, he went on the road, after he moved in Saskatoon, he started in Barnstorming around the country, preaching and singing, you know. Just a great man of God. And one day I said to him, there's an old man, he lives right back of our church, he's 90-something, he's 95, would you like to go with me and try to win him to the Lord? Let's go, he said, you know. Well, forget it. I sat here, the man sat here, and Virgil Brough sat here. And he explained the gospel to him. Then he got to his feet and walked over and stood in front of him, and here's what he said. Now, are you willing to receive Christ as your personal Savior? If you are, get to your feet and give him your hand. And he got to his feet and gave him his hand, you know. Oh, so neat. Virgil's in heaven now, of course, but a wonderful man of God. 85, you know, you don't have an 85-year-old man for a song leader, right? You just don't do that. But that's how it worked out. I have a couple of texts for this morning. And one is Solomon 8, verse 6, final verse. It says, love is as strong as death. You know, I've thought of that verse before. Love is as strong as death. How strong is death? You know, there are people who apparently die, all their vital signs are gone, and they're pronounced dead. But they're not really dead, and then they come back to life again. We have numerous accounts. I have several books in my library on that subject. It's very interesting to read about that. There's a part that says, unseen, an unseen umbilical cord. And if that breaks and you never come back, then that's death. Love is as strong as death. And then in 1 Corinthians 8, one of the verses says, knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. It was right after the famous evangelist to whom God probably won a million souls to Christ. Not long before he died, he was addressing a group of 400 pastors. And among other things, he said this. He said, brethren, hold the churches to love, because that's where we've gone wrong. Because you can see the replacement where there have been powerful revivals and hundreds, maybe thousands converted, and yet some years later there didn't seem to be much evidence of it. And in trying to assess the problem, this is what he came up with. Hold the churches to love. That's where we missed the boat. That's where we've gone wrong. I think that's certainly very, very true today. The statement, God is love, is given twice in 1 John. God doesn't have to try to love. I heard of some people who were having some relatives come to their weekend breakfast that they really didn't like. And they didn't know how they were going to put up with it. So you know what the two of them did? They practiced smiling in front of the mirror. You know, so they could give them big smiles as a form of belonging. But this was on sometimes. God is love. He doesn't have to try to love. He is love. He is guided by his love. Everything. Partakers of God's divine nature. What is his nature? What is it? Love. It's love. We have become partakers of what? Okay, we have become partakers of God's divine nature. That is, we have become partakers of love. The love of God. Greater than tongue or pen can ever tell. Ephesians 4 says, We were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and not blame before him in love. You were chosen to be a loving person. So was I. Sometimes people say, Well, that's not really my nature. I'm not that kind of an outgoing person. I just don't have it. Well, you better get it then. If you don't have it, you better get it. Because you're a Christian. The world expects something of Christians, you know. We were chosen to be a loving person. That's not just for specific occasions, but for the whole of life. It says, Let all your things be done with love. Everything. Let all your things be done with love. It's the goal of Christ's teaching. You know, I was thinking one day, Wouldn't it be great if you could go back in time and just sneak into a meeting where Christ was training the Twelfth? Well, I really couldn't. One day God gave me a verse that really helped me. In John 17, 26. Christ said, He was praying, Remember, it goes, Heavenly Father, I have declared unto them, That's the Twelfth. I have declared unto them, The longer with you have loved me, May be in them. So the goal of his teaching, the Twelfth, Was that they might be filled with the love of God. That was his goal. That was the goal of the Apostles too, Because in 1 Timothy 1 and 5, And I know there's different translations of that, The end of the commandment, His charity, His love, His true heart. But the one I'm going to give you, And it's the same thought. The goal of our instruction is, Love rising out of the Pure Land. So what Christ taught, the Apostles taught. And we should be teaching, of course, today. Okay? The Bible says that love covers a multitude of sins. We shouldn't be a gossiper. There's lots of them around you now. The Gatineau Church here in Winnipeg, When Mr. Springer, Gerald Springer, Came to be a pastor, Was just gasoline to last. They had a billion beds, seating 700, And they'd been fighting and scrapping, And they were down to about 60 people, And I was a member there, But I was on the road preaching in bush camps and so on, So I didn't have much to do in the church. But he came, And I chaired the meeting when he came. He leaned over the pulpit, and this is what he said, And then he let us know, If there's one thing I hate, It's gossipers. And if I heard that you gossiped, He called your name down to date, And who you said what you said to, Who you said it to, you know. When you had too much recklessness in the book, He called you into his office, And he read this enough. And he would say, I sat in a moment in sessions, And he had one very long and very frequently, He would say something like this, Now, are you planning to continue this kind of activity, Because if you are, I'll accept your resignation from the church today. He told me, he said, I would rather have a dozen blockers A member of my church in one gospel group. Over a hundred people joined the church, And in five years he was there, They added five hundred new members, They had rallies with twelve or fourteen hundred people there, He told me he had a goal of two thousand people, A man would have added. He was really a great man of God. He loved people, Had a gift from God, And knew it, And the thing was killed in a plane crash. And so, Others took over. Okay. Can't be trouble believing the Bible? All of the Bible? The Bible says, Therefore I esteem, I count, All your precepts, All your teachings, Concerning all things to be right. Why do you use all things? Because God said it. Okay. Okay. Now, St. Ignatius told me that faith, Did you know that? Faith works by love. And that's what it says. So it must be true. And spurging from that mystery, He said, Faith, Listen carefully, Faith is the soul at rest, In the love of God. Do you get it? Faith is the soul at rest, In the love of God. It's a great thought. 2 Corinthians 5.14, Paul simply said, The love of Christ constrains us. It moves us. You can't think about the love of Christ, You don't hear people listening. It wasn't the nails of heaven on the cross. It was His love for you. And His love for me. He could have been off that cross any second He chose. He loved them unto what? What does He say? Unto the end. What an awful end it was for the Son of God, To be made sin for us. He whom you know sinned, That we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. The love of Christ constrains us. The Bible speaks in 2 Corinthians 8.8.24, About proving the sincerity of your love. He's afraid to prove your love. And then later on in the same chapter, To prove the sincerity of your love. What's He talking about? Oh, He's talking about forgiving. You prove the sincerity of your love for God, By what you give to God. You know? Did you know that? I mean, that's what it says. If you read the chapter carefully. We had a kid in our home one time, And he was struggling with spirits. And my wife and I were trying to help him. And we weren't making him make so much progress. I asked him a question, But the question is this, Are you tithing? Yes, I am. Now, right beside him, There was a floral lamp set on the timer. He didn't know that. And the minute he said this, The light went off. And he sat there for a minute, And he looks over to the light. Well, Okay. They paid me $30, And I'm just a money king. The tail end was very strange, you know. And, Some always made it. The first thing we did was this. There were two things that I feel. We determined to give God all the time. Time. Every month, no matter what. But we never asked Him for help from our families or anything. There's an old saying, you know. I hope you'll never forget it, If you haven't heard it before. If God knows the need, Who else needs to know? You know, there's a lot of people going around, And they're hinting about how poor they are, And they're hoping we'll give them something. Listen, if God knows the need, Who else needs to know? Doesn't He feed his spouse? Won't He much more feed you and I, Quite set? Of course He will. So you don't have to let people know what your needs are. Let God know. And we had over the years, I mean, we had an exciting time, man. Sometimes no money. But we always had the promises, you know. And we just trusted God. Praised the Lord, you know. I remember one time, A fellow called to see me, He called about 4.30, And I knew he was hoping to be asked for supper. But we didn't ask him for supper. And he stayed till about 7 o'clock, And then he took off. He was back about a year later. You like to know why? Yeah, I say, because it's like you're in nature, you know. And I said, we were dead broke, We didn't have any money. Didn't have any food at that time. We got it the next day. Now, he always had probably $500 in his wallet. He was so embarrassed, you know. But anyway, what I'm trying to say is this. You prove this in sin, What you give to God. And so, there are times, dear people, When we have to go beyond the time. And sometimes, maybe even far beyond the time. And every time you do whatever good thing any man does, The same shall you receive of the Lord, Whether he be God or free. You'll get it back, if you give. You'll get it. We don't give for that reason. Remember it says, To lend hoping for 8%? Oh, steal a moment. Love a little labor. Work with hands and feet and choose to live it. He may invest them at 8%. Well, it doesn't say that there are anywhere. But he may have to give to him that means. Hereby we perceive the love of God, Because he laid down his life for us. 1 John 3.16 I do have notes here, you can pick up afterwards. Okay. Let love be most humane. Let love be without hypocrisy. Are we hypocritical sometimes? John said, my dear children, It's not love in word or in tongue, But in deed and in truth. We can tell people we love them, And maybe they need $10 or $20 or something. We don't, you know, do we think of that. The manner of the other is money. And here in North America, Most of us are really gagged spiritually, Because we've got such a tight grasp of money. You know, we're worried because when we get to be 65, We're only going to have a little pension from the government, Saying, man, we've got to put a lot of money to buy, To make sure we're going to be taken care of, Because God will die. And I'll get to be 65. God's going to die. Did you know that? A fellow came to me from Florida one time, And I was up in Winnipeg, Here in Winnipeg, And he flew all the way up, A Christian pastor, And his wife had left him, And run off with some other guy. And he was absolutely heartbroken. He wept, And he could hardly tell me the story. He just wept and wept and wept and wept. And I couldn't get his attention. So finally I said to him, Did God die? Did you read an obituary about God dying? What are you talking about? I said, well, you're acting as if God died, you know. Your wife left you. Did God leave you? Is your wife's love greater than God's love? Of course not. And he saw it. And we got him out of it. And he finally left, Praising the Lord. God, your husband, takes off. That's not the end of the world. Not at all. God never forsakes us. And we can know that, And we should know that. Let me use an illustration. You're walking down the street, you're a Christian. And you come into some lights, And you see a blind guy, And he's crossing the street, On a green light, They have a bell, you know, for blind people. But he gets turned around, And he bumps into a car. And then he gets nervous, Because he knows the light's going to change. And you're standing there saying, You know, I shouldn't go and help that guy, But I just don't have that love feeling, you know. I don't have that love feeling. If I had the love feeling, I'd rush up there and get him off the street. So you stand and watch him, And then he gets, you know, And the light changes, And the car's removed, And he's afraid, and he runs, And a car hits him and kills him, you know. And you say, No, I don't know why God didn't give me that love feeling, you know. Love is not a feeling. It's a force. A power. It's God, you know, That leads us to help others. And sometimes they're little things. We had a night storm, On one of the highways, It was an inch of ice, At least I came to a place, I was driving with chains on. Used to have that in the back, You know, with chains. Sometimes it wasn't, you know, Anyway, kids were actually skating, Playing hockey on the highway, you know. And it was that bad. So I'm coming along, Here's a guy, He slid off, It wasn't really a ditch, Just a little Niagara person, He was sitting there. So I stopped and said, Hey, let's hook on, I've got a chain here, And I'll pull him to the top of this hill. It wasn't much of a hill, But he couldn't make it, you know. And he, No, no, no, no, He said, you go on the road, There's no way there. Yeah, come on. So we hooked off, you know, And we got partly up the hill, And the chain slipped off one of the wheels, And so, We're just walking again, He begged me to stop, you know. I said, no, I'm gonna get to the top of that hill, There's a bad truck, you know. So I get to the top of the hill. Gave him a gospel paper, And he was so appreciative Of what had happened, He never forgets that, you know. Just a little thing, He said, I know. By love serve one another. That's what the Bible says. Okay, The Bible says in Ezekiel 33, 31, They show much love, But their heart Goes after their covetousness. Is that how it is? Is it? Not going with you? Maybe. But if they're not, They show much love, But their heart, Their heart Is chasing after covetousness. Okay. The statement, Love your neighbor as yourself, Is given ten times in the scripture. Must be important, you know. Any of you hear Dr. Price on the TV? Maybe one or two of you do, yeah. He used this illustration just a short while ago, And I want to use it this morning. I didn't ask his permission, I don't think you... It was a church with about a thousand members, And they were good people, But they never did anything. And the pastor didn't have a... How to fix this, you know. And so, One Sunday morning, God gave him the text. So one Sunday morning, He went to the Pope, And he said, I'm not... I'm not preaching the sermon today. I'm just going to give you a text. You're to love your neighbor as yourself. And he sat down. So he got up again, Went to the Pope, And he said, The text is... And then movement began in the congregation. People started getting up, And going to other people, And talking. Very soon, The whole thing was a beehive of activity. He found later, That six people who were unemployed Got a job that morning in the church, You know. And all kinds... So a week or two later, He said, I don't have a sermon this morning either. The sermon today is, Love your neighbor as yourself. He said, The church was empty in five minutes. Where had they gone? They'd gone to their neighbors. To love their neighbor. To preach the gospel to their neighbor. Love your neighbor as yourself. Ten times. Blanche Johnson, Her husband, Was a doctor. God touched their lives in the revival. And they had a very sad thing happening. They'd gone to China on holidays. And while they were there, They left their children. I think they had, Was it three or four? I'm not sure now. With her neither parents, Her mom and dad, Took the children for a walk. And a drunk teenager, Ran into them. The kids weren't hurt. They were on the ditch side. The mother, The grandmother, Like her mother, Blanche's mother, Was killed instantly. Her daddy died the next day. They had an awful time finding them in China, But they did get them. They came home. And, A son-in-law of mine had the funeral. I wasn't there. After the funeral, Blanche said, Where is the young man? And she went to the funeral. And they let her in. And she said, Basically, Something like this, You killed my mom and dad, And I miss them very, very much. And I really do miss them. I forgive you for what you did. And I love you as the love of God. To handle things. Hold the churches to love. This is where, You know, I was in Minneapolis, And I met a fellow. He was a very strange man. His name was Justin Time. Now, that wasn't his original name. But he got saved. Justin Time. He was on the Sunset Strip in California. It's a place where everybody goes In drugs and stuff. It was a great big deal. And he was in there one night. He was lying there, Almost out. And a Christian girl came by And ministered to him. And got him sober finally. And eventually married. It was a great story, you know. And he had his name changed To Justin Time because he said, I got saved in Justin Time. By the police force in Minneapolis, In St. Paul. The reason for this was because He had such a sweet, loving nature. He was really different. Just simply reaching out to everybody. And they especially called him in When they had somebody Threatening suicide. Tell stories about the street Or something. They would get Justin Time in there. And he would get in there And start talking to these people Whoever they were, you know. And pretty soon he had them In his hand, you know. He was such a sweet, Saving everybody. Also put on, Just a godly control of his heart, You know. You know, sometimes we need To ask a total stranger, How's it going with you? And we're not done. Sometimes, you might say, It's none of your business. I've never had that happen. You might say, well, And they sometimes say, I'm not doing very well. And why is this? It's a bus story. And they stopped for maybe Five, ten minutes to have coffee. And I didn't drink coffee. To begin with, Last night my wife took off. She left me. And he said, I don't really love my wife, But you know, I only had four or five minutes, You know, and I did what I could To get the gospel across to him. But otherwise, He was just a guy Sitting on a stone wall, right? Why should I bother? He's not related to me. He's Scots. He's not even Canadian, You know, see. If you go looking for people To help you, You'll find them everywhere. They're all over the place, You know. We had a conference one time Down in the states. Ralph and Mr. Terror were there, And Leonard Ravenhill was there, And a bunch of others, And I was there too. And we were all speaking At different times, And we had a great time. But the others all had to leave Before I left, And so I had to conclude Friday, Saturday, and Sunday With the people at this conference. And God led me to bring messages About the love of God in them all. And Friday night, We had a time of testimony. Ho, ho. The most unfortunate people testified. This one thing they got Out of their hearts. One guy, I'll just mention the one guy, After that meeting, When I first brought a message On Ralph, And he found he was On the way home, He sees a car Parked at McDonald's Or some place, And the lights are off. So he backs up, He goes back in there, The doors open, So he turns the lights off, And he goes on his merry-go-round. He said, I normally wouldn't have done that, And he's too bad For what he did. He can take care of that. So he's going along, And he sees a couple in a car, And they're looking at a map. So he pulls over and says, Can I help you? Yeah, what can I do for you? We've come to a family reunion, And we don't know where Ralph is staying, But we lost the address somehow, And we don't know what to do. And he said, Well, I know there's a telephone, Can I help? Well, they said, Yeah, If you can find this guy, And his name is Gene, You know? And that's all he had. So he drives up to these telephones, And there's several telephones, And he's in this one, Just going to phone him, In the next booth, Somebody addressed, Somebody called Gene. So he waits, Until that turn, He walks out, And said, Who is this Gene? He said, You know, I know some people That are sitting in the car, And they're all, Hey, we're looking for him! And he took the whole thing The guy had for him. So he goes on, And he's feeling real good, You know? And he sees two ladies, One was quite old, And she looked quite ill, In a motorhome, And he pulled him in, Asked if he could help, And the gal said, Well, my mom, She's, You know, She's a diabetic, And she's having a stun, I don't know what to do. Don't you worry, sir, I'll go and get help. So he went and got help, And he told the story, He said, You know what? And that younger lady, You know, I bet she was, Oh, She must have been At least seventy-five. And the lady got up In the meeting, And she said, No, dearie, I'm eighty-five. And this lady was In the meeting, You see, He didn't know that. So the mother's Flowing like a river, Right? It doesn't flow Too much, Or too easily, In the average Church today. Some people Come to church, They look on And make sure What it's also saying, Just to make sure We don't sit In the same pew. You know what's Going to happen When you get to heaven, If you do get to heaven, You might have to Shine your shoes For a thousand years, You know. I'm serious. It's a spirit of love. Romans 15-30 speaks about The love of the spirit. Did you know that Was in the Bible, The love of the spirit? The Holy Spirit Is the spirit of love. In Colossians 1, There's a verse That says, Your love In the spirit. When you put The two together, It's powerful, You know. Your love In the spirit. In the spirit, The love Of the spirit. You know, Looking back At the revival In Saskatoon, I would say that The hallmark Of the revival Was simply love. We heard it again, We heard it a thousand times. There were some Meetings that were So powerful, You know. And people would be Sure, I remember one couple, They said, You know, My wife and I Have loved each other Nearly whenever Since the day We got married, Five years ago. But, wow, They said, Now, We're up in the ceiling. I mean, The house is just An ocean of love, You know. We heard this again And again. One gal gave The testimony, And some gal named Alice, Who lived in Edmonton, Had stolen her wife, And stolen her husband. And so, She told us What happened one night. God had dealt with her In the meetings, And so she said, I hated Alice And her passion. I wouldn't let my kids Even talk about Alice In one line. I hated that gal. And God dealt With her about So she wrote a letter Which she read To the congregation One night, In which she asked Alice To forgive her For the bitterness She felt towards her. And she assured Alice She'd be praying for her That someday She might come to know The love of God as well. And then she said, She mailed the letter. Nothing ever happened. Her husband never ever Came back to her. I lost track of her, You know. After that, What happened to that gal, You know. And about a year ago, I was holding meetings With the gal, In a certain house. And it was this gal And her husband. Not her original husband, But another husband. And she said, I could hardly wait Till you got in the door. I had to tell you What happened since, You know. Anyway, I don't know how she Could write the letter, But she did. And she meant it. And God blessed her for it. You know, You hurt yourself. You don't hurt them. You hurt yourself. And no matter How bad a thing They've done to you, When you look at Chow Yun-Fat, All of this stuff Disappears. General, When communism Took over in China, They had a period of time When they allowed Young people Whom they called Red Guards, They allowed them To go into homes Anywhere in China, And they could kill Or maim Or rob Intellectuals And religious people, Particularly Those two. And wealthy people. And thousands Of people died. Until it got so bad They finally Called it off. The government did. This guy Brought people Home with a club. And he beat The whole family To death. The father, The mother, But she lived. He didn't know that. And killed All the kids. Years later, When it was all over, She found out That the guy Who did that Was living Without two dogs In her place. How did she handle it? She began Praying for him. And praying that Somehow God Could put them together, You know? And it happened This way. She had heard That he had a child That was not well. And he had no money. And he couldn't afford A doctor or medical help. And so, She went over And she didn't let him Know who she was. She just said, I would like to nurse Your boy back to health. It won't cost you anything. I'll take care of that If you let me have him For a couple of weeks. And so, He was overjoyed Because he had a job He had to take care of So on. And so, She nursed him Back to health. And took him back. And he thanked her. And then she told him Who she was. You know, You're my husband. Now you're my children. One man. But I forgive you. And he fell on his face On the floor. And began to sob. And she led him To Christ. You know? What we remember Is as strong As death. It's a powerful thing. Use it. We should be using it Dear people. All the time. All the time. Alright. If you're not filled With love. You are not filled With the spirit of God. Some of you probably Heard this story before. But a lady Came down the aisle In one of my meetings. Driving her husband. He was a very Unwilling captain. And she got him To the front. And then she turns to me And she said, He's a backslider. Talk to him. So I began to talk to him. He said, Look, creature. He said, I'm not ready for this. If I didn't go along With my wife, She'd tear me apart When we got home. So that's the only reason I'm here, you know. Oh, okay. So I turned to her. I said, Are you a Christian? Of course I'm a Christian. I said, Are you filled With the Holy Spirit? Absolutely. She said, I speak in tongues 30 minutes every day. I said, I didn't ask you To speak in tongues. I asked if you were Filled with the love of God. Well, it's the same thing. It wasn't. It's the same thing. And I began To talk to her. I talked to her. And God spoke to her. And she broke up In tears And fell on her face, You know. And cried to God. And God removed her. And I don't know What happened Between her and her husband. But you know, People, I don't care What kind of Significance And experience If you're not Filled with the love of God. It wasn't real. It wasn't from God. You know. Nobody Prayed for me. Prayed for months. Six, Eight months. Walking up and down the streets Crying to God. And he filled With the Holy Spirit. He knew he wasn't. Well, he had The biggest Sunday school In Chicago at the time. Then he noticed A couple of Methodist Ladies sitting On his knees. And when he was Preaching, They were always Praying. And he didn't like that. So he asked What was going on. He said, We're praying for him. And he filled With the Spirit. That's how it all Began, really. So then he began Meeting with these ladies And praying, you know. And then, For six or eight months, Just day and night, Crying to God. And one day, Walking down A certain street In Chicago, He said, I was filled With the Spirit of God. He said, I was so filled With the love of God, I felt I could take The whole world Into my heart. He didn't Preach any new sermons. He preached the same Sermons he'd been Preaching before. But now, Where before Ones and twos Were converted, There are sometimes now Hundreds and occasionally Thousands of me Converted to a single sermon. But remember What he said. I felt as if I could take The whole world Into my heart. What about Finney? Finney was Just newly converted From out of the bush After finding Christ as his Savior. And sat down Beside his fireplace And received A mighty infilling Of the Spirit of God. He said, I was filled With the love of God, I felt as if I could take The whole world I could take The whole world He was an evangelist and not doing very well. Nobody was responding, nobody was getting saved, and he was getting discouraged and thinking of leaving the ministry. But he finally decided. He was invited to go somewhere for 10 meetings, 10 days. And so, here's what he did. He said, I made those sermons as hard and hard and tough and rough as I could. I determined to break those people. He said, I put cactus in them and barbed wire and saltpeter and everything you can think of, you know. And I preached 9 of my sermons and my soul stirred. So he took the 10th sermon and he reworked it. He put more dynamite in it, you know. And preached it with great fervor. And that night, J.B. Earle was in his room alone and he was talking to God and he said, Lord, what in the world is wrong with those people? And God said, nothing, but it's all wrong with you. Why? Wait a minute, God. He said, I often preach with tears. Yes, he said, but it's water off an iceberg. J.B. Earle spent several hours on his face before God that night. And all he ever said was this. And suddenly, God filled me with the love of Christ. And before he died, 150,000 people found Christ as their Savior in his meetings. I said, again? It was a love experience. You know, in our church in Saskatoon, Gordon Bailey, he was a cabin inspector, grade 8 education. Six years a Christian, never tried to win a soul to Christ. Didn't even think it was his responsibility. But he was always in church. Which is a dangerous thing if you're preaching the Bible. Because it can do things later on, maybe not right today, but down the road. And so one day, God got a hold of him. And some of you have heard this before. What he did, he walked to the front and stood by the communion table. And he said something like this, I've been back fighting for two years. I've been sitting in the back too because I hate some of you people. And I want to be forgiven and be a real spiritual Christian. Can you forgive me? Well, the congregation all took their heads up and down. And I had my deacons take them off into the side room and pray with them. And he went home. And then he set out five chairs for his wife and his kids. Four or five chairs, I forget now. And asked each kid to forgive him for being such a bad Christian. Such a poor example of Jesus. Then he said, I have to ask my wife. I've been such a poor rotten husband, you know. He got the whole thing taken care of. Then what happened? That night, people that same day, that night. He was walking in the bar and he had a herd of black Angus cattle. And he said, God suddenly filled me with the Holy Spirit from top to toe. He didn't speak in tongues, nothing like this happened. But he knew God had taken over. And he had such a love for people. He started witnessing. He led 30 people to Christ in about nine months. And then he went to an Indian village and got an Indian war going. Led 35 Indians to Christ. And then churches began inviting Gordon to come for meetings. I don't think his own family really understood what God was doing with him. He had meetings in Vancouver where the power of God was so great. Gordon said, I stood there and I shook. I didn't know what to do either. He preached one time to a bunch of people. Finished the meeting, gave an invitation to thank him for it. He dismissed the congregation, took his men in the back room, came back to the third ministry, the whole congregation still sitting there. Not one person is left. And he sees conviction in every face. So he counseled him from the Pope. And many things like this happened. That one year he preached 105 times, just on weekends. The power of God was in his life. Not when he got convicted. But when he humbled himself under God's hand. And if God is asking you to humble yourself in some way, go ahead and do it. To be a blessing, it's for you. That you can't even imagine. You know what is called the Royal Law in James 2 verse 8? It's the Royal Law. It's more important than any other law in the Bible, you know. The Royal Law. I said before, I'll say it again. Let all your things be done with love. Everything. Your wife, your family, your neighbors. How do we get this kind of love? Spurgeon said, listen carefully. Love comes when self dies. Love comes when self dies. Okay, keep that in mind. Very important. We get it from the Lord because the Lord made you, Paul said, the Lord made you to increase in the bond of love one toward another, toward all men, even as we do toward you, to the end, that he may establish your house from blame, wrong, and wrongness, before God, even the Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, with all his saints. We are not ready for the coming of Jesus. If not filled with the love of God. And so we need to be praying one for another, to this end, as Paul was praying for many others. 1 Thessalonians 4 and 9 says we're taught of God to love one another. How are we taught? We're taught in three ways. We're taught by command. In 1 John 3 he says this is his commandment. Then he gives two commandments. Why didn't he say these are his commandments? He didn't say, he just said this is his commandment. That we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another as he gave his commandment. In other words, you can't divorce the one from the other. You believe in Christ, you should then automatically become a loving person. This is his commandment. Example, 1 John 3, 16, Hereby we perceive the love of God because he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Okay. By precept, beloved, it says in 1 John, Beloved, let us love one another for love is of God and everyone that loves is born of God and knows God. He that loves not knows not God. He that loves and loves dwells in God and God in him. And in the book of 1 John there are twelve places, dear people, where love has made the acid test of reality in the Christian life. Twelve places. He that loves and loves dwells in God. 1 Timothy 1, 5 says that love, the golden instruction is love, rising out of a pure heart, out of a good conscience, and out of a genuine faith. Rising out of a pure heart. Let's begin there. We need to stop there. You can't really love people. It says in 1 Peter chapter 1, Seeing you have purified your souls and obeying the truth through the Spirit, unto, and the word there in the Greek means motion toward, unto love. Unto unseeing the love of the brethren, see that you love one another with a pure heart, true in belief. Then in 1 Peter 4 he says, Have fervent love among yourselves, for love shall cover them up to their cities. So a pure heart. Love rises out of a pure heart and then out of a good conscience. Do you have a good conscience? Is there some monetary thing you should take care of? Like a friend of mine, you know, he farmed and he had a caterpillar tractor and just afterwards, over the warranty period, it went boom. I mean, it meant a brand new unit, you know. So he turned it back. He was a Christian guy, but he turned it back and took it to the dealer and said, Look at this. It's still okay. You know, I'm under warranty. So they replaced it. But then he was in some revival meetings and the Lord got a hold of him. He had a hard time. But you know, finally he went and he did it. He said the guy was very angry and called everything under the sun. But anyway, he made it right. And what happened to him? I don't know anybody I've ever met in 65 years that had such a love for souls as that man had. Do you know what he did one time? He was driving through a village and he had a PA system on his car. And he did this constantly in the summertime, you know. Drive up and down the village at two miles an hour, broadcasting the gospel. He gets stopped by a policeman. He said, We have an anti-noise bylaw and you broke that bylaw and I arrest you. Oh. And he said, This is a court case this afternoon. You can take care of it right away if you'd like. Well, okay, fine. So he goes and then it was his turn. And the judge says, Well, young man, what have you got to say? Well, he said, The policeman will have to say that. Well, the policeman says, I've told this young man many times, I'm Bill. And his name was Bill Webb. Well, he stopped him. He said, Now wait a minute. We just met today. You didn't tell me many times. You told me once. Oh, oh, so he backs off. And he gets a little more honest and he tells the story. And so the judge says, Well, I'll have to fine you $200 for two weeks in jail. And Bill said, Sir, I highly respect your office. I refuse to pay the fine and I will go to jail for two weeks. But I want you to understand this. When I get out of jail, I'll do it again. What do you suppose happened? The judge put his head on the desk, began to cry and said, Young man, here we go, here we go. And one day he's driving down the road and he sees a bunch of priests and nuns and they're having some kind of open air time, tables and food and everything in the field, you know. So there's a gate there, so he drives up to the gate. And the guy at the gate, he said, What's going on over there? Well, he said, It's called a retreat. Oh, Bill said, I've talked in retreats many times. Well, he said, Would you like to go in? Sure, he said. So the guy, that's the method. And he drives up into these priests and nuns and for a half an hour, he preached the gospel to them. And do you know what happened? When he was finished, a bunch of priests came over and thanked him profusely for what he said about Jesus. He traveled with me one winter when we preached in logging camps. And what a blessing, I'm telling you. You get on bad roads sometimes, you know. And sometimes we were on a bad, newly bulldozed road, no snow on it, just roots and stumps and rocks and everything, you know. And you have to drive about three miles an hour to avoid all these obstacles. And we finally bent the time rod. And we couldn't drive then because we just shot off to one side all the time. Well, Bill said, That's no problem. So he cuts a piece of spruce about this long, about this big and round. And he climbs underneath. And we got that against a bend in the time rod. And then I just backed up from the thing and finally got it straightened out. And away we went, you know. But he was so good with guys, you know. He wasn't afraid of anybody. But he was really filled with the love of God. And you know what? More than once, he and some friends put a track to Never Home Alone again. The first time they did that, I think there were 18 people converted. And I think there were 200 people asked to get a Bible. They had all this track thing they had. If you want to get a Bible, contact us, you know. He did that twice over the years. He and some friends of his. But it all began, you know, when Bill got filled with the love of God, you know. So, going to mention, we forgot one thing. And a genuine thing. 1 Timothy 1, 5. Faith, that song of mighty faith. The promise sees and looks to God alone. Last set of possibilities inquires, it shall be done. And cries it shall, it shall be done. And cries it shall be done. Last set of possibilities inquires, it shall be done. 7,487 promises in the Bible. Did you know that? No, you say, the first reaction we get is people say, well, they're not all meant for me. No, so let's chop it in half. Let's say you've got 2,000 promises. Is that enough? Do you need more than that? They're called exceeding great and precious, and they are. You don't have to have money in the bank. You've got these promises in God's bank. And God is waiting for people that will simply believe Him. George Mueller, you know, very highly educated person. He spoke eight languages. He could have been a professor in the university if he wanted to, but he didn't. And God called him to look after kids in Bristol, England. They start off with a dozen kids in a home. One up with 2,000 kids in an enormous establishment down at Ashley Downs in Bristol, England. And there are several books in his life. One is called Delighted in God. You ought to read it. If you haven't read it, your education is not complete. There's other books in his life as well. There's one book, and all it gives, it's a thick book, and all it gives is his day-by-day account of answers to prayer, which he had about 1,000. When he was 85, I think he lived to be 94. When he was 85, he had a list of 85,000 prayers that God answered. He kept a prayer ledger. So the prayer he prayed the day he prayed the day God answered. He had all this in his book. And he had 15,000 prayers that God answered the same day he prayed them. And the others took a little longer, maybe a week or a year or two years or five years or something, you know. He never ever hinted at anybody, and many, many times. And that wasn't a voluntary book. He had nothing for the kids and the staff. He just told God. He kept on telling God, and God kept sending it in and sending it in. It's a moral story, you know. Delighted in God. And he was simply delighted in God. I don't know that he had any deeper experience, but he learned very early in life that the promises of God are real. They're meant for Christians everywhere all through this age. He understood that. What an example. You know, he toured the world after he was 70 in those old sailing boats and stuff, you know. No airplanes. Wherever he went, immense crowds. He came on a ship. He was to speak in Montreal, Canada one Sunday afternoon. But their ship was becalmed in a fog at the mouth of the river there, and there they sat. Well, the captain was a Christian, so Mueller was talking to the captain and said, I haven't been late for an apartment set up by God in 50 years, and I'm not starting today. I have to be in Montreal tomorrow at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, so you better get this half-moving aboard. And the guy said, Mr. Mueller, you understand the Bible, but you sure don't understand the sea. We may be here for three days or even a week, you know. Oh, no. Mueller said, no, no. I'm going to pray right now that God will lift the fog. So two of them knelt, and I read that prayer. It was very short. Dear Lord, I think it would please you to lift the fog for the sake of your word. Thank you for hearing me. Thank you for doing it. And then the captain started to pray, and he stopped. He said, no, no, no. He said, you don't need to pray. It's already happened. Besides, you don't believe it's going to happen. Let's go and look. And he looked, and the fog was gone, you know. This happened all through his life, and immense, wonderful things. And we can sit here in an icebox and say, I don't believe that kind of stuff. And we just reject it. Don't do that. Don't do that. Don't reject it. I know for myself, over the years, I wish I kept a record of answers to prayer. My wife and I were down. This was shortly after we married in this little church I mentioned before. And we didn't have any money, and we didn't have any food. And we were praying. And I went to pick up my mail, and here I got a letter from a relative of mine in England who sent me a check, you know. And God had to get that thing there at the right time that day. And he did. No problem for God, you know. And we had hundreds of answers to prayer like that. I needed a vehicle. When I started the church of Transphoto 45 years ago, I had a bicycle. Somebody loaned me a bike. But the church that I had was then in the country. And I knew I had to have a car, so I told the Lord. Some of the men in the church said, oh, we'll start a car firm. No, I said, you won't start a car firm, because God knows all about it. We don't need a car farm, you know. And one day somebody phoned me and said, I'd like you to come see my wife tonight. We have something we'd like to give you. And we went there, and he said, we want you to go to Steinbeck and buy a vehicle, and we'll pay the whole shop. You know, it's a man in the car, you know. And things like this have happened hundreds of times over the years with their people. It's great, but you know, we don't get anywhere if we're full of unbelief, you know. Faith works by what? It works by love. Let all your things be done with love. Love believes all things. Let's get with it. And let God use us in the measure that He wants. The first fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5.22 is love. That's the first thing mentioned, you know. Love becomes joy and other things, but love is first of all. Ephesians 6.23 tells us that both faith and love come from God the Father. It says that in Ephesians 6. It comes from God. If you don't have it, ask God to give it to you. You know, Andrew Murray prayed an astonishing prayer one time. I wish I had it here, I don't have. It was a prayer that began this way. Dear God, empty me. Empty me of myself. And then fill me with your love. Fill me fully, he said, to overflowing. Fill me with love and kindness to everybody that I meet, anywhere, at any time. And then the prayer went on like this, you know, sentence after sentence. And somebody wrote a book on his life called The Apostle of Abiding Love. Troy was the author of that book. A tremendous book. This man was so filled with the love of God, you know. And love attempts great things to the glory of God. Did you know that we Christians are supposed to provoke each other? Did you know that? I see a couple of heads going up and down. Okay, so it's nothing new, eh? Hebrews chapter 10 says we are to provoke one another to love and to good works. Okay, are we doing that? Are we? Provoke one another to love and to good works. I'm doing that right now, of course. It's not the only time I do it. Provoke one another to love and to good works. If you see a Christian is faltering and not getting anywhere, and they're not really involved, they don't love anybody. You ought to work on it, eh? Exhort one another daily, it says in Hebrews 3. It says it again in Hebrews chapter 10. Exhort one another. Daily. When was the last time you exhorted a brother or sister in Christ? Have you ever done this? But the Bible says daily. We're supposed to be at it all the time. And if we don't do it, notice what it says in Hebrews chapter 3. Exhort one another daily, what it's called, unless any of you be hardened through deceitfulness of sin. If we're not doing this, Christians in our assemblies are going to get hardened through deceitfulness of sin. Exhort one another daily. Okay. Provoke one another to love and to good works. Are you involved in any good work? Paul wrote to Titus and he said be careful to remind the people that have believed in God that they maintain good works. As a Christian believer, every Christian believer should be involved in some kind of good work somewhere. It could be praying for missionaries. It could be writing for missionaries. We've been in missions here many times, and you know, many times missionaries have told us they're too long to get a letter from home. And somebody's writing to say we love you and we're praying for you. And sometimes you don't get that. But there's some way in which every Christian can be involved in some good work. Remember, we're taught of God to love one another. We're taught of God. Are we listening to God? Well, we certainly need to be. Okay. Paul, Philippians 1-9. This I pray. That your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment. That you may approve of things that are excellent. That you may be sincere without offense until the day of Christ. So. Okay. This I pray. We should be praying for one another with the love of God. Remember, what did Rudy say? This is where we've gone wrong, churches. This is where we've gone wrong. I was a district worker for a group of 60 churches at one time, and I did a lot of traveling and had to, you know, deal with church problems. It wasn't very exciting. And the little trifles that some people would seize on, you know, and they didn't care if they upset the whole assembly. They didn't care. They were going to have their miserable little way or else. This kind of stuff. I'll just give you one example. Pastor in Kenora, Ontario. He was an American fellow. Pastor in the Baptist Church in Kenora. And he said, you better come down. He said, the Russians have the Americans on the run. I said, what do you mean? He said, there's a Russian guy in my congregation. He's giving me a hard time. Okay. So I drove down. I met with his couple, this Russian couple. I'm sure they were Christians. And so I asked this man, I said, now I understand you have, you're angry with the pastor. What was the reason? Ah, he said, because he baptized people not born again. I said, Pastor, did you know? I don't know of anything like that. And so this guy mentions a certain lady that he baptized. And so the pastor, well, she's certainly a born again believer. No, no, he said, she's got this red stuff on her lips. She's not born again. Then I did a mean thing. I said, so this red stuff on her lips, that's the reason for all this problem? I said, well, it's a funny thing. I see you're wearing red socks. You're sitting on red Chesterfield. You're driving a red car. What about that? Well, he didn't know what to say. So he turned his life into a little cry on each other's shoulders for a while. It didn't really get settled, you know. They left the church over that. But there's little things going on, you know. I love, sir, one another. No, no, no. That's so out the window. I don't know. I wonder sometimes if Tozer wasn't right when he said only 20% of the people in the evangelical church are born again. I don't know where he got the figures, and I'm not going to quote them as being definite. But there's certainly something wrong. I love, sir, one another. All through my life, sir, one another. You know. Too long. People keep saying, when are you going to retire? Retire? How do you spell that word? I told her, I'd be willing for us to be 106 as long as I can teach and preach, you know. And live the Christian life. I think that would be great. If I get to 106, I'll ask him when I'm 115, you know. I don't know what will happen. He might call me today or tomorrow. Who knows? But retire? To watch TV? Oh, come on. That's dead stuff, you know. But to pray and seek God at work. Oh, you know. After meetings, I had a psalmist with me. And they brought a girl. She was probably 18 years old. And they said, she's crying, but she won't tell us what the problem is. See if you can help her. So we talked to her. She wouldn't say a word, you know. She wanted to listen and said, why don't you tell us what the problem is and we can help you. She kind of got frustrated and jumped her feet and rallied. They brought her back the next night. And the same thing happened. They brought her to me, you know. And then she began and she said, We didn't know she couldn't talk to us. I said, have you ever thanked God? that you can't talk, and she shook her head violently. I said, you know what the Bible says in the book of Exodus? Who has made man's mouth? Well, who makes the dumb of the deaf and the seeing of the blind? Haven't I the Lord? I said, God made your mouth the way it is, why don't you thank Him for it? Ooh. And we kept gently urging her, and finally she went like this. I said, okay, now you pray and talk to the Lord, and thank Him for what He gave you. So she didn't pray a lot, but she prayed. And then we drove her home, and on the way home she started to talk. She was in the backseat. She started to sing hymns, and she was praising the Lord all over the country. And my son said, Bill, do you hear what I hear? I said, yes, shut up, man. When have God heard me? And months later I got a letter from her, and she told me about all the problems she had in her life because she was angry at God for what He had done to her, you know. And she said, I've got them all dealt with, you know. She said, it's just great. And then a gal came one time, she was a Southern Baptist gal, and she was in a university in Saskatoon, and she had serious problems, and I discovered she'd been into some occult junk, so we helped with that. And she really repented, and then it was time to pray. And so I began to pray. And Jesus came. I can't explain what happened except that she saw the Lord Jesus standing there beside her, and she cried and pointed to Him and said, can you see Him? Can't you see Him? Look how wonderful He is. Look, He's just touched me. He's healed me. He's healed me. The thing wasn't put on. I stood there like a dumb dog. I didn't see anything. You don't have to see. You know He's there. See. But if you don't get into it, you don't venture on anything, and you won't see anything either. Remember the saying, mind the faith of promises, and looks to God alone, laughs at impossibilities, and cries, it shall be done. You know, my wife and I went, and it was the first time we were off the North American continent, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, a city of 10 and 12 million people. And nobody met the plan. The only Spanish I knew was C. We found out later on, the contact man I had, he had just moved to Buenos Aires from Santiago, Chile, and nobody knew him in Buenos Aires, and he never got my last two letters. He said, did you use a big stamp on your letter? I said, yeah, I did. Why? Well, he said, the post office is here if they'd like the stamp to take the letter home. And we never got your last two letters. Well, I had his phone number in my pocket, and I couldn't find it, it wasn't there anymore. I think an angel stole it or something. And so, here we are in this city, we don't know the language, what number are we going to give you? A guy walks up, a man about 50, speaking perfect Spanish, and I let him know, my amigo, Lyle Eggleston, he grabbed the phone, I said, no, no, I didn't know then, but I found out later on, he had another listed phone. Well, we tried the phone, but he wasn't listed. So, he bowed to me, and he walked in a little circle, came back and handed me a slip of paper. And on the slip of paper was Lyle Eggleston's name, his phone number, and his address. And Lyle turned around and told me what happened. He said, Bill, listen, nobody in this city even knows me. Nobody, you know. I just got here, and I showed him the paper. He couldn't believe it. He said, Spanish people, they can't spell my last name, Eggleston. He said, they can't spell it, but that was his name, Lyle Eggleston. He said, they can't pronounce it, they can't spell it, it was properly spelled. So, it came to the only conclusion was that an angel had come, that God had sent an angel. You know, we have numbers of things like that happening in foreign countries. It doesn't happen here, maybe because we don't expect it to happen, we don't have so many resources and auxiliaries here in Canada, we don't need it. But you see it in other countries sometimes, you know, as you walk with God. You see his power in his hand. True love. Love seeks not her own. That's the best definition of love I can find anywhere in the Bible. Whatever it is, it never seeks its own. It's always seeking, look not every man on his own things, but every man on the things of others. We're not supposed to seek our own things, but every man is supposed to seek the welfare of others. 1 Corinthians 10.24. Okay? So, love seeks not her own. She's always looking for someone else to bless, someone else to help, someone else to encourage. That's how it should be. That's what revival is all about, dear people. When a true revival comes, this is what happens. When I think back in a month, and it's too soon, when I'm planning a month, I could die happy any day. I got so many things, I think back to the things that God did, the things that God, I just happen to be there. And God did these things. And we doubt it? How can we? Let no man seek his own. That's 1 Corinthians 10.24. Philippians 2.4. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. But Paul says this when he's talking about Christians. All seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ. How do I know he's talking about Christians? Because the context goes like this. I have no man like minded who will mentally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ. So the same problem is we have today. Christians living selfishly. Not really concerned about the work of God. If you're not tithing, start. That's God's. If you don't do it, then you're robbing God of sin still. And how can you rob God and get away with it, you know? It's a starting point. And it's a test to faith too. We're supposed to prove the sincerity of our love. The proof of your love, Paul said, not boasting in your behalf. And so part of them boasting was some congregations, the wonderful way they were serving God and loving God and loving one another. And he saw this is a proof of their love. The way they were giving, not just money, but themselves to others. Right? That's what it said. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. Now I want to read something in closing. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have not love, I am become a clanging gong or a clashing cymbal. I'm just a noise. He's just a noise. He's just a big noise. That's all. You know, in the Minor Prophets, God spoke about praying. He called it howling. You've not cried to me when you howled on your beds. He called singing howling in the temple. Our singing can be howling. Our praying may be howling. Our preaching may be nothing. Maybe a clanging gong or a clashing cymbal. Just a noise. That's how it is, people, if we're not truly commandeered by the love of God. And though I have the gift of prophecy and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith so that I can remove mountains and have not love, I am nothing. That's a good starting place. I am nothing. Though I be so all my goods to feed the poor, though I give my body to be burned and have not love, it profits me nothing. It profits me nothing. Love suffers love and is kind. Love doesn't envy, doesn't vomit self or push itself forward, is not puffed up, does not behave itself unseemly, seeks not her own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil, rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. In all these human situations, love never fails. Great to know that. Whether there be prophecies, they shall fail. Whether there be tongues, they shall cease. Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, but when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child. When I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly, but then, face to face, now I know in part, potential I know, even as also I am known. And now abides, now he's talking about abiding gifts. You see, in the chapter before, chapter 12, he talked about all the gifts of the Spirit, and then by saying, covet earnestly the best gifts, and yet I show unto you a far better way. And the far better way is to seek not for spiritual gifts, but to seek to be filled with the love of God. And now abides, faith, hope, love, these three. But the greatest of these is love. That's all I have for this morning.