Peter Brandon emphasizes the vital role of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer, discussing the conflict between the flesh and the Spirit, the fullness of the Spirit, and the steps to achieving that fullness through hunger, exposure, and faith. He explains that being filled with the Spirit is not just a one-time event but a continuous process of living, walking, and being led by the Spirit, which transforms our relationships and empowers us for service. Brandon highlights the importance of humility and brokenness in receiving revelation from the Holy Spirit, and he encourages believers to trust in the Spirit's power for deliverance and to embrace their identity in Christ. Ultimately, he calls for a spirit-filled life that reflects God's glory in our homes and churches.

I'm going to read from Galatians 6 because I've got such a lot to cover and I feel it's essential tonight that we get down to the Word of God. Now, so far in our study, you'll remember, we have looked at the conflict of the Spirit and we have seen from the Word of God that there is a real conflict between the flesh and the Spirit. Secondly, we have looked at the discovery of the Holy Spirit and we have seen the discovery of crucifixion and the discovery of resurrection. Now, unfortunately, I cannot go into the details of this because we have a vast subject tonight. And then we have seen the fullness of the Spirit. You will notice that we noticed what the fullness of the Spirit was. Immediately, a group of people acknowledge the sovereign Lordship of Christ. They are filled with the Spirit. And therefore, the filling of the Spirit is not really our relationship with the Spirit, it's our relationship with the glorious man on the throne that determines whether we are filled with the Spirit or not. And we notice that when God's people were able to call him sovereign Lord, then they were filled with the Spirit of God. And every dedicated Christian who has yielded up all his members to Christ, whether he is aware of it or not, is filled with the Spirit of God. Then we looked at the steps to that fullness. How is the fullness procured? And we noticed the first step was hunger, the second was exposure, and the third was simple faith, claiming our inheritance in Christ, which is the fullness of the Spirit. And then we looked at the scripture to see what are the evidences of a Spirit-filled life. And first of all, we noticed immediately a person was filled with the Spirit, the Lord Jesus was real. And he became absolutely precious. Secondly, the moment a person is filled with the Spirit, he will be filled with love, because the fruit of the Spirit is love. Well, dear brother, there's some lovely seats right down here. I'd love to see you there with that lovely smiling face. And then scripture in Ephesians 5, and we noticed that there were a threefold evidence. First of all, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, meaning the Word would become precious and would become like a song. And isn't it lovely when we can read the Word of God and it becomes like a spiritual song. When we are filled with the Spirit, the Word is no longer boring, but full of holy joy for the reader. Secondly, we noticed from the Word of God that it is a matter of singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Depression goes, and there is a spiritual song in the person who is filled with the Spirit of God. And then thirdly, it is not standing on a platform giving testimony to the fact that you've been filled with the Spirit. On the contrary, submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. And the moment he speaks about being filled with the Spirit, he talks about mundane service. Husbands, love your wives. Wives, be in submission to your husband. And may I say this, the moment we are filled with the Spirit, a man will be a man in the local church, bare-headed, showing the fact of his creatorial glory. And the woman in the local church will be a woman. And she will be beautifully, beautifully covered to show her absolute submission. So that when we look at the man, we see the reflection of the glory of God. When we look at the covered woman, we see a picture of the church in absolute submission to the Lord. Now what a lovely order that is. And if you want a happy marriage, keep that order. You know, I'm sure one of the great tricks of the devil in this modern age is to break up family life. And through existential philosophy, he's showing that there is no difference between the man and the woman. And therefore, the existential philosopher is trying to make women like men and unfortunately men like women. And unfortunately, the woman's never had it so hard. You know, I think it's a terrible thing. In our London tubes, when they were packed years ago, when a woman walked in, ten men would stand up for her. But not now. Not now. The gentleman-ness has gone. The feminine beauty seems to have gone. Why? Because we have broken up the divine order. Now I want to give one complete week on the New Testament home in a broken down society. So I'm not going into the detail of that now. But please do remember that a spirit-filled life takes you right into the home and teaches a man to really love his wife and the wife to submit to the husband. And when we have spirit-filled homes, we will have spirit-filled churches. Now we are going to look at Galatians 5 and we shall start reading from verse 14. Or perhaps for a better connection, verse 30. For brethren, ye have been called unto liberty. Now so that you get the sequence, go back to the first verse. And let's read it there. Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. And be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Now that was the bondage of the law. Where they were trying to bring in circumcision. Where they were trying to bring in holy days. Where they were trying to bring back the old Judaistic practices. Now brethren and sisters, we have been released from that. But we have not been released from New Testament principles. They do not bring us into bondage. But when rightly submitted to, they bring us into glorious liberty. And then you will notice he goes on. For brethren, ye have been called unto liberty. Only use not liberty for an occasion of the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. This I say then, walk in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary one to another, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murder, drunkenness, revelings, and such like. Of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. And they that are Christ have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the spirit, let us also walk in the spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, and envying one another. And the Lord will bless to us the reading of his word. Now just for the sake of those who are following through this series, on Thursday night at Springfield, or Springwood, I'm sorry, we shall be discussing the fruits of the spirit. And let's pray that this may be a night of revelation to us. Now I wonder could we just have a little word of prayer. Father we pray that as we tackle now this vital subject of stages in the spirit-filled life, we pray that we may be protected from the powers of darkness. Lord already we feel that we are being attacked. And we pray that the enemy may be disturbed right now. And that every fiend of hell may be driven from this place. And we pray that as the word of God is opened, that our hearts might be opened. That we shall receive not just theological education, but all may the word come to us in mighty revelation. Lord grant this we pray in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen. When God has filled a person with the Holy Spirit, we mustn't imagine that that's the end of the road, that's just the beginning. It is a divine command for every child of God to be filled with the Spirit. Just like it's a command for every child of God to be baptised. It's a command for the children of God to remember him in his death. And it's a command for every child of God to be filled with the Spirit. The word is be, being filled with the Spirit. And quite frankly a person who is not filled with the Spirit is basically a disobedient Christian. And I suppose we would have a problem if we had to discipline all those that were not filled with the Spirit. It would be a real problem. But quite frankly when we read the scripture, and if we read it carefully, it is the normal process of a Christian to be filled with the Holy Ghost. But that is not the end. The moment we are filled with the Spirit, we must then learn to live in the Spirit. And we must discover what the Apostle Paul means by living in the Spirit. Having started to live in the Spirit, we must learn what he means to walk in the Spirit. And having lived and walked in the Spirit, then we must try to discover what he means by being led by the Spirit. And therefore there seems to be three stages in a Spirit-filled life. To live in the Spirit, to walk in the Spirit, and to be led by the Spirit. Now first of all, we're going to take up what he means by living in the Spirit. Now if you will please look at verse 25, you will see this right on the surface. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Now quite frankly I love my authorise there, because it shows that there are two distinctions in a Spirit-filled life. If we live in the Spirit, then the consequences of that is that we should walk in the Spirit. So we mustn't confuse living in the Spirit with walking in the Spirit. Now what does it mean basically to live in the Spirit? Well let's get a contemporary scripture so that we shall see exactly what Paul is saying by living and walking. Would you turn to Ephesians 5, verse 8. Now that's clear, isn't it? Now if you turn to John, you will see the same form of parallelism. John's epistle, chapter 1, verse 7. Now what does he mean by this? First of all, he means that we're in the light, and now we're walking and enjoying that light. And because we're walking and enjoying that light, we can have fellowship one with another. And then we enjoy the wonderful fact that the blood of Christ has cleansed us from all sin. Now you might say, well, would it be true to say that the blood of Christ only cleanses those who are walking in the light? No. All God's children have been cleansed, but they're not all enjoying that cleansing. All God's children are in the light, but they're not all enjoying the light. All God's children are in the fellowship of the one body, but they're not all enjoying that fellowship. And therefore, whenever we read the word walk, it is always an experimental manifestation of the light and life that God has given to us. So we can see that there is a progression from living in and walking in. Now what does it mean, basically, then, to live in the Spirit? It simply means this, that I become aware of the glorious fact that the Holy Spirit is in me by divine revelation. Oh, you say, well, that's rather a difficult phrase. Yes, it is, but we'll explain. You might say 500 times, it's no longer I that lives, but Christ liveth in me. You might say it every day of your life. In fact, you might condense it and you might even say, Christ liveth in me, Christ liveth in me, Christ liveth in me, Christ liveth in me. So what? We taught a budry guard to say that. In fact, we taught a budry guard to say, we need a mighty revival. And it was lovely to hear him say. And we also taught him to say, no gossiping in this house. And he could say that beautifully. But you see, he said it like a parrot. But then there comes a moment when suddenly your eyes are open and you say, Christ liveth in me. Oh, hallelujah. That's wonderful. What's happened? It's the divine cleft. It's the revelation of the Spirit taking place. Now, beloved, I cannot give you revelation. I can give you education, but it's only the Lord can give you revelation. Now, immediately you will say, and rightly so, we must question everything that we hear. Is it right for the preacher to say that? Is it scriptural? Yes. Ephesians 1, verse 16. Please cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. And this was his prayer, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge, and that word is experimental knowledge of him, the eyes of your understanding, or as it should be correctly rendered, the eyes of your heart being enlightened that you might know. And therefore, Paul prayed that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto them the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, so that the inner eye should be open. And therefore, when a person begins to live in the spirit, his inner eyes are opened, and he sees that the Holy Spirit is within him. And from that moment, he begins to really live in the spirit. So, instead of doing things by his own active force, instead of controlling his own life by his own energies, he allows the blessed Holy Spirit to control him. Now, I do trust, dear friends, that that revelation has come. Now, you will say to me, but when will that revelation come to me, when we have a humble and contrite heart? And that's why I preached on humbling. I have been ministering on this subject for three weeks, but I can tell it's not going to grip until there's a humbling. And immediately, you will say to the preacher, and rightly so, well, how do you know that when we are humble, we shall get that particular revelation? Because God has two thrones, says Isaiah, one in the highest heaven, and the other in the humble and contrite heart. He says, I've hid these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed it today. And it's the humble, broken, contrite heart that the Lord will reveal that to you. Now, beloved, could I share this with you? If you have a spirit of rebellion, you will never understand what I'm saying. If there is a spirit within you that says, well I'm going this way, I don't care what they say, I'm going to do this. You will never understand the fullness of the spirit. But the moment there is that real brokenness, and coming to the Lord with that humble, contrite heart, hungry for divine truth, he will give you that revelation. Now, could I share something with you? At the moment, I have been lecturing, but I am aware that there have been a number of the Lord's people whose hearts have been broken. Now, let's pray that we shall be in a state of brokenness, where God can say to these minds and hearts, let there be light, so that we begin to live in the spirit. Now, this is the subtlety of what I'm about to say. It's possible for a person to have a brilliant theological knowledge of the Galatians. It's possible for a man to have such a grasp of Galatians, that he might even surpass Bishop Lightfoot. And I'm not exaggerating. And yet, not knowing his own heart the mighty movings of the spirit. You see, before we can really know the mighty movements of the spirit of God, we must come to God with a broken and a contrite heart, and we must come to God realizing that only revelation can teach us these deep things. Secondly, I want to share with you now the glory of this discovery. The moment you begin to live in the spirit, the moment your eyes are opened and you begin to understand that the spirit is living within you, then you will begin to understand the might and the majesty and the glory of the spirit. Who is this spirit that indwells me? He is the same glorious Holy Spirit that brought about the creation. For he is the creator, according to Job 33. He is the same glorious Holy Spirit that brought about the glorious birth of Christ. Think of that. He is the same Holy Spirit that caused the Lord Jesus to be aided and helped when making the atonement. He is the same Holy Spirit, and I say this with reverence, it moves me as I say it, who actually raised Christ from the dead. He is the same Holy Spirit that took him through principalities and powers. He is the same Holy Spirit who will, when he hears the word of the Father, immediately change your body so that you will no longer have a body of humiliation, but you will have the body of glory, but more. He is the same glorious Holy Spirit that will change the whole of creation and remove its inarticulate groan and bring about the first fruits of blessing so that the whole of creation will be redeemed. The Holy Spirit who dwells within us is omnipresent. We cannot flee from him. He is omnipotent. He has all power. He is omniscient. He knows all things. And think now, he dwells within our little body. Now ask yourself a question. Can he give you power over your besetting sin? Can he give you victory? Is there anything too hard for the Lord? Can you see what's happening? God has opened your eyes to see the presence of his indwelling. He's opened your eyes now to see that you have been baptized into him so that you can move and live and have your being in the Spirit. And now he's opened your eyes to see the might and the majesty and the glory of his being. Brethren, that should cause our heads to be bowed in worship. And then thirdly, I want you to think of the potentials of the discovery. Immediately we begin to realize that the Spirit of God is living within us. We can say, is there anything too hard for the Lord? Is there? Is there? And therefore any problem that I might have can be solved. Any act of service that he calls me to do, I can do. Any problem through which I might pass, he'll give me strength. Can you not now see the wonder of it? The potential that the mighty Holy Spirit lives within me. Now let's ask ourselves a question. Why is it we are so weak? Why is it our meetings are marked sometimes by a dirge? Why is it souls are not being saved? Isn't it obvious? Because he, the blessed comforter, the glorious advocate, God's great counsellor, is being constant. May it be that we shall see the error of that and turn from it tonight. Now having seen something of what it means now to live in the Spirit, let's take the more practical subject which is a step on from living in the Spirit. Let's talk about walking in the Spirit. Now first of all, what does it mean to walk in the Spirit? Well first of all it means to discover that he is in me. That is, living in the Spirit. Secondly, it means not only to discover but to appropriate. For instance, when a baby is born, it's born with life and the life Spirit is within it, given by God. And that baby is born to walk, to talk and to think and to act as a rational being. But when it's a baby, it doesn't walk, it doesn't talk, it doesn't act as a rational being. All it does is to sleep and to eat. But then potentially in that child there's everything to make it a rational being. Now when the Spirit of God came into you and you discovered the Holy Spirit, in that Holy Spirit there is the potential to make you a Christian that's going to be filled and overflowing with God. It's all there. But then there comes a time in a child's life when it begins to grow and it says, Dada, and that's a wonderful thing, or Mama. And then after a little period it takes its first step. Now it was born to walk, but it didn't walk until it moves out and takes a wonky step and then over it goes, until it learns to perfect its walk. And it's quite a marvellous study to watch a child taking its first step. Now there comes a moment in a believer's life when God reveals to him that he's in the Spirit, now says, God, walk. In other words, he's going to push you out of the nest and he says, now look, you've got the power, it's there and as a Christian you can fly and I'm using the analogy of a bird. Now, says God, I'm going to move you out of the nest. And God wants us to use now the Holy Spirit. Now let's ask the question, is he there? Yes. How is he there? At the moment of our conversion, when does he become real? At the of revelation. Now comes the next step. Are you willing to trust him? Are you? Are you prepared to say right now, the Holy Spirit is within me, he is the Spirit of God, he is the Spirit of Christ, he is the Spirit of truth, I've got everything that I need to make me a full-orbed Christian. Now, am I going to utilise that power? Am I going to walk? Again, let me go back to the old illustration of Peter in the boat, when he was defeated by the elements, the Saviour comes near to him in the storm and just says, come. But will he walk? There are the waves roaring at him, the water speaking to him and saying, Peter, you just can't do a thing like that, the moment you step on us, you will sink. But the Lord of faith says, all things are possible, only believe. And he has to step out. And there comes a moment in your experience when you say, yes, I've got the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit is within me, now I must step out and I must use the Spirit of God that he's given me. Now, beloved, if only we would do that. If only all of us right now at this moment would say, right, God's opened my mind to see that the Spirit is dwelling within me. And now he wants me to walk. He wants me to utilise that Spirit so that I walk in his power. Now, when that comes to you, we can be so much like the unsaved man. An unsaved man can sit in a congregation for years and he can say, yes, I know the Lord can save me. And you cry out, trust him. Oh yes, yes. And you say, well, trust him. Yes, yes, lovely message. But trust him. Yes, yes, I'm going to. But no. And you just can't do it. And what a moment it is when he kneels down and he just trusts the Lord. And it's all over. And you say to him, why didn't you do that two years ago? Don't know. And scores of Christians are like that. Spirit of God is within them. Now, says the Lord, walk. Begin to utilise the power that I've given you. Say, thank you, Lord. I'm moving out in the power of the Spirit. Now, how can it be made practical to us? Someone might say, all right, Brother Peter, I can see that walk is a development of living in the Spirit. And it's a matter of utilising the power of the Spirit or allowing the Spirit of God to utilise me. Yes. Well, how can you make this really practical? Well, first of all, it's practical in relation to deliverance. Paul was utterly defeated in his Christian life by the law of sin and death. He got to a point in his experience where he cried out, all wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me? Now, let's go over the details of this. Never excuse yourself for your besetting sins. If you have a bad temper, don't cover it. Face up to it. If you're subject to lust, face up to it. If you've got an irritable spirit, don't cover it, face up to it. If you have privately committed a sin that's immoral, confess it, because whilst it is covered you'll get no release at all. Now, we mustn't be, shall I say, over-pious. Every single person in this room, whether you're a matured Christian or not, you have a besetting sin. And people come to me privately, and they've been coming today, confessing those sins. And I say to them, do you realise this? That scores of God's people are doing the same thing that you're doing. What? Doing that? Yes. But if you cover your besetting sin, you will get no deliverance. And if you say this, well, all Christians do these things and I suppose I must be like them, then I must do the same thing. Well, there's no deliverance like that. Come clean on your besetting sin, tell the Lord, Lord, I'm utterly defeated in that particular realm of my life. And then face up to the mighty Holy Spirit. It's the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, which really means the law of the Holy Spirit, is he dwarfed by my besetting sin. Beloved, forgive me shouting, he is a million times greater than your besetting sin. And there's power within you tonight to give you absolute deliverance. No matter what it is, no matter how old it might be, you can get deliverance. Claim it right now. Say, Lord, I've discovered and now no longer am I going to fight that particular sin, but I'm going to take up that in the power of the spirit. And now from this moment, I'm going to trust the Holy Spirit to give me deliverance. And it's a simple life. I think it's true to say that probably I have more besetting sins than the normal person. And I've been through brothers and sisters, a miniature hell on earth, trying to conquer them and fail. And I know what it is to go into the presence of God and say with bitter tears, Lord, I've done it again. But you see where I went wrong was this, I was trying to improve the flesh and you can't do it. Now I see it's been condemned and now I see the Holy Spirit is within me. And he says, walk in the spirit and you shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. And I take hold of that precious Holy Spirit each morning and I just quietly tell him, Lord, you're going to relive your life in me. And as I'm walking in the spirit, I don't fulfil the lust of the flesh. And there's deliverance. But more. It's not only related to deliverance, it's also related to problems. Problems? Yes. You say, what problems? Well, let's look. Philippians 4 verse 12. I know both how to be abased, that's to be in need. I know how to abound, that's to be in luxury. Everywhere and in all things I'm instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. Look, he says, I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me. Yes. Now let's take the first step. To abound. It's a difficult thing to hold a full cup. May I say to some of you young men and women, if ever God blesses you with luxury, you'll need to be filled with the Spirit. It's harder to hold a full cup with a steady hand than an empty cup. And you must remember this, that immediately you have a full cup. Pray, oh God, fill me with the Spirit so that I can stand it. But then he says, I know how to abound. I know how to be abased. Now quite frankly, this is a beautiful thing. I can't say that I have been often in a time of need, but I remember we were serving the Lord in Africa and quite frankly I was worried about my dear wife. I have a constitution like I am, but I think my wife is a little more sensitive. And when we went into some places for a meal, we had to pray a carnal grace. I was telling some friends the other day, Lord, I'll get it down, you keep it down. It was terrible. But this was the most wonderful thing. That was the finest time that we've ever had in our spiritual experience. And beloved, if they gave me an invitation, if the government would just open the door, we would be back in a flash. I got amoebic dysentery. And I was telling our friend, I was doubled up with pain, agony, and I was looking for relief. And there was one of those golden gem calendars. I looked for a little bit of help. And there when it came to the day I was in, it was none of these things moved me. There I was completely doubled up. But we can look back with praise. And dear friends, no matter what your problem is, and perhaps it may be a problem of bereavement, maybe problems in your family, but the blessed Holy Spirit is within you and he can strengthen you to bear every problem. Now isn't that wonderful? But more, not only in times when we're abased, but times of suffering. Let's go to Peter. There's something beautiful here. 1 Peter 4, verse 12. Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you. But rejoice inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's suffering, that when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. For if ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye for the Spirit of glory, and that should be spelled in capitals because it is a particular noun, the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you. On their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. And therefore what he is basically saying is this, when you are going through a period of suffering because of reproach, he says happy are you. Why? Because there is a special Spirit of glory that shall rest upon you. Beloved, if you want to see holy joy, you go to Russia. Go to Poland. We were actually at an Iron Curtain conference meeting and I shall never forget this. Someone slipped out from Albania and he was giving a testimony that was not exaggerated. Now may I say this, in passing, we must not always imagine that our brothers and sisters behind the Iron Curtain are on the bread line. In fact they are far from it. In some parts they must, but in other parts they are looked after quite well. And they are not all being persecuted. But in Albania they are. And this particular brother told us that when they first met and they had to be sensitive to the leading of the Spirit in order to get to a meeting. As you know in Albania they are not allowed to meet or worship in any place whatever. And you have to be sensitive to the leading of the Spirit in order to get to a meeting. A man might be hoeing in the field and the Spirit of God will relay to him that there is going to be a meeting 8 o'clock on Thursday morning in brother so and so's house. And he will go three times past the house and then he'll move into the house and then the meeting is held in the bedroom. And invariably there are 30 people who have been called from various fields to be at the meeting. And when they meet they have a hugging session for the first 20 minutes. Praising and worshipping the Lord. You see when we go through suffering for the cause of Christ the Spirit of Glory rests upon us. And you see that in Acts chapter 16. Paul's back was bleeding with Silas. They were about two inches in water. They were sitting in mud. And then at midnight their weakest point what did they do? They started to sing and they didn't sing a dirge here with suffering grief and pain in the other prisons are just the same. No they were just praising and worshipping the Lord. And the prisoners heard them in the Greek that's beautiful it means they were listening. And they were listening with deep emotions. You see the joy of the Lord was in there. Now beloved we had a touch of it Sunday morning. When we had that glorious spontaneous pray. Brethren praying for the first time just worshipping the Lord. And let's pray that God might repeat that over and over again. So you can see He helps us in problems when we're abased. Times of suffering and also times of physical suffering. Now I'm sure I must turn some to this scripture because I believe this is very important indeed. Could we turn to 2 Corinthians 12. For this thing I besought the Lord Christ that he might depart from me. And he said unto me my grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made perfect in weak. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ might rest upon me. Now first of all if ever you have a sickness try to understand why the sickness is given to you. If you discover that the sickness is given to you that you might be chastened of the Lord don't ask the Lord to remove it. Why? Because through that sickness his strength is going to be made par excellence. That's the French for absolute perfection. And therefore you will find this that some of the most powerful men that have ever been in the church have been crippled. And quite frankly some of the most used men in the economy of God have been men who have shortcomings. Now when God gives me his permission to speak of my shortcomings I'm going to do it. But all I want to say is this. Professionally I should never be a preacher. That's all I can say. I should never be a preacher. But we learn this. In our weakness we find perfect strength. Now is there someone here tonight and you feel mentally you're a little below par. You feel that you can't communicate and that's why you're not really giving yourself to God. God's strength can be made perfect in your weakness. And that's why he's given you the Holy Spirit. And then lastly for service. Now I'm just going to rush through the scriptures. I'll quote these so that we will not have time to turn to them. First of all he says in Acts chapter one, ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you. And ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth. When Paul went to Thessalonica he says and when I came to you I came not with word only but in power and in much assurance and in the Holy Ghost as ye know what manner of men we were among you. When he came to the Corinthians that were steeped in Greek philosophy he said I came not with excellency of speech declaring unto you the testimony of God. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling and my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom but in the demonstration of the power of God that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. Now those scriptures you will see will reveal that when the Apostle preached and when the Apostles preached it was in the mighty power of the Spirit. And therefore when we go through the scriptures note this, they were told to pray in the Spirit. Now beloved, what a prayer meeting it would be if we all prayed in the Spirit. Think of it. So that when every person that took part irrespective how short his prayer might be, it was all in the Spirit. Wouldn't be long before the place was shaken. Wouldn't it be grand if every person that worshipped Sunday morning worshipped in the Spirit. Now could I say this for your help, not discouragement. We've got to face it, we know a very little of the leading of the Spirit. So much of what we call the leading of the Spirit is mechanical. You say why do you say that brother Peter? Isn't that critical? No. I've been back to men who died 20 years ago and when they died most of them were well over 90. Mr. Faraday, John Sayers, the Greek scholar, E.W. Rogers father, Samuel Rogers. These men could go back to 1860. Everyone has told me in those days they knew what it meant to be urged by the Spirit. Almost urged off the seat. But beloved that's gone and we've got to recapture it. Dear friends I believe this. He wants us to worship in the Spirit, pray in the Spirit, preach in the Spirit and if God can get two groups like that here multiply and multiply and multiply. You see we don't have to multiply the church. They were praising God, having favour with the people and the Lord added to the church He does the adding. When God can raise up a powerful lampstand for his glory we shall see him multiplying, multiplying and multiplying. And could I say this and I believe I'm saying this prophetically, we're going to see many places being closed. No one's going to take a charade assembly or church seriously. And we shall see a few places blooming with new life and then we shall see this glorious holy multiplication. May God do it quickly before he comes. Now beloved I was going to speak to you about being led by the Spirit but I feel now we should spend a little time in prayer and I feel you do. And just let's talk to the Lord. Pour out your heart to the Lord and ask him to do this holy thing in us individually and in us collectively.