In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of ministry and warns against false teachers who may arise within the church. He urges the audience to be vigilant and to remember the teachings of Jesus. The speaker also shares his personal testimony of working diligently and not relying on financial support from others. He concludes by encouraging the audience to support the weak and to remember the words of Jesus that it is more blessed to give than to receive.

We are looking at the crucial place of the minister in the purpose of God in breaking revival. I would say the first priority is the man himself, is the minister himself. But now we look at the ministry, how do we execute this mandate that God has placed on our lives how do we bring practical effectiveness into the work to which God has called us especially in these days when things are generally dry when the interests of many and the love of many are what's called and when the gospel that used to be a common knowledge has gradually dwindled almost to a point where mission sending bodies before where loads of missionaries have been sent out we are now in a place where we are needing to receive mission and receive missionaries now how do we respond, what must be the response of our ministry at this point in a time like this and as I continue to meditate on this what came to my heart is to look at the illustration that we could get from the life and from the ministry of brother Paul as we mirror the ministry of Jesus Christ that he represented we could look at men who followed the Lord he said be ye imitators of me as I am of Christ so when we see men that followed him who are like our own nest of kin people that walked in the situation in which we find ourselves we could learn a bit of things from their life and ministry and even though there are so many many places so many texts, so many biblical references that we could have engaged ourselves in and trying to study I found a small, what I would call a small summary of Paul's life and ministry that we could quickly look into not in great details but at least it could give us an insight into ministries that bring effectiveness when you think in terms of how the Bible said that they turned Asia upside down in three years when you look at the much that has come out of that life and his ministry that has continued to be a blessing even to our own generation up till now what were the secrets behind it how did he execute ministry and I am hoping that as we study this as we look at it together when we come back from our lunch break which will be a time of deep interaction of praying for one another and of discussing how do we go on from here what does God want us to do what do you perceive the Holy Spirit is saying to us at a time like this then we might be able to bring an input from different perspectives so I found a summary and so usually when you begin to study from a summary it's just a summary, isn't it details of the content you may have to go back into the entire book but I thought that we could just take a summary and I found a summary of his ministry being put to us in his own language again what makes it strong for me is that now he is speaking from himself he is speaking as if he is giving a personal testimony and the power of personal witness especially for men of integrity those who do not exaggerate can be very much so I want us to look at Acts chapter 20 and Acts of the Apostles chapter 20 and I would like to take it from verse 17 verse 17 that was a summary that was a summary and you will notice that that was about his last public ministry before he went down to Jerusalem and before he went to Rome and before he spent the rest of his years in quiet ministry of writing and of encouraging the churches through his epistles and so this gives me a very good point that a man was giving account of his ministry when he was about to step into what we call retirement he wasn't retiring he was only moving to another segment of ministry where some of you I can look at are already stepping into some of you by God's grace you spent your earlier years on the mission field and you are back home now and what are you going to be doing? what else does God want us to do? I know that if the spirit of God says go again we are willing to go but then the truth of the matter is that we are coming to another segment what will you do at this age again in fortress of the gospel in this land and in the nations how do we do it? so I look at the life of Paul and I found that his life was broken into these wonderful segments there was a segment when God arrested him as a young energetic man he was going everywhere and was preaching sometimes they dragged him on the floor but he is back again preaching now there came a point at which he would say let's go back again onto the places where we are preached and let us ordain elders he came to the point where he can no longer be going up and down he must raise Timothy's that he will leave behind he must raise Titus's that he must leave behind he must raise people like Epaphras that he must put in different paths to make sure that what God called him to do was sustained and was kept going now we cannot ignore the fact that there are seasons different seasons in our ministry seasons in our lives as God's servants and we need to be responding onto what season we are at even in the discharge of the call of God on our lives and there came a point when it was no longer about going it was now empowering younger leaders now all these epistles do you know that we would not have known what Paul preached if he did not take time to write isn't it? we would not have known all that God used them to do if they did not write and some of you by God's grace have come to that point now where some of you experienced this what God used you to do in your younger days so that it does not get buried with you you've got to write I'm not talking about angry authors I'm not talking about people that just want to write just because they want to make a name but you have a story to tell you have an epistle that you must write before you go and this will mark a turnaround sometimes we are crying for revival but one of the things you will notice is that presently the volume of truth that is available to the younger generation is very scarce when you turn to the television that the young men are watching there is no content much of what is said is not sustainable actually if that was what our fathers had we would not be here today because it is not sustainable there is no content there so as I look at the life of Paul and as we begin to discuss as ministers of the gospel how do we respond to the challenge of revival in Northern Ireland at this time now I appreciate the fact that several of you by God's grace you represent different streams different denominations and several of you came out of revival isn't it now those of us that come from what was called the mission halls in those days it was a revival that broke forth here and when I went to Scotland and I'm interacting with the ministry that came out of Duncan Canberra how they send people just with the mission you go on missions sometimes they will just go and visit the whole city for weeks trusting that God will give it a revival movement now all of this and all the things that our fathers had gone through that produced some of you now you are now on top of the work you are now the leaders you are now the people that God is depending upon to do something so that the heritage is not lost so how do we go about that so I found the life and times and ministry of brother Paul as an illustration now I must say that the greatest man God had introduced to us is Jesus this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased isn't it, hear him but God in his mercy had also given us men like I call them our own nearer kinsmen people that are nearer to us in experience people that went through the same thing we are going through who also followed in the footsteps of Jesus that if we were to be careful they would also have guided us to follow Jesus very very deliberately and closely that's why we look at their lives and is it not in the Bible when it says those who have followed the way look at their lives isn't it so we have a reason so I take this summary from this chapter 20 by the time we move out of this chapter every other thing you will be looking at was towards the end of the life and ministry of this man of God and all the epistles that was now coming out of his ministry to Romans to Corinthians to all of this it was after these active years of ministry that most of it began to come out so sir I must remind you sir don't sleep without writing don't get gathered to your fathers without putting down the great deeds of the Lord because the only hope for our next generation is that we must pass on the truth undiluted the way God has given it to us the gospel must be preached again in this nation we have assumed that the gospel had been preached may I tell you that the generation that had the gospel they were your generation they were the generation where the word of God was meticulously taught the new generation you meet now is a generation of excitement where somebody just want them to do something and there is no content and I am praying that as we are looking for revival again it will be a biblical revival it will be a restoration to biblical Christianity so let's quickly look at Paul from Acts 20 and from verse 17 again if we can we will have gone through to the end of that chapter if we are able but if not we will pick what we can at this point and from Miletus verse 17 he is sent to Ephesus and called the elders of the church again this looks like our meeting isn't it? he called for the elders of the church he sent to Ephesus he said bring them aside let them come to see me at Miletus let's talk heart to heart and when they were come to him he said unto them ye know from the first day that I came into Asia after what manner I have been with you at all seasons serving the Lord with all humility of mind and with many tears and temptations which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews and how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you but I have showed you and I have taught you publicly and from house to house testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ and now behold I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem not knowing the things that shall befall me there except that the Holy Ghost witnesses in every city say that bonds and afflictions abide me but none of these things move me neither can't I my life dare to myself so that I may finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God and now behold I know that you all among whom I have gone preaching the gospel I mean the kingdom of God shall see my face no more that I am pure from the blood of all men for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the cancer of God take heed therefore to yourself and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost has made you overseers to feed the church of God which he has purchased with his own blood for I know this that after my departing you not sparing the flock also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years I cease not to warn everyone night and day with tears and now brethren I commend you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and among all them which are sanctified I have coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel yes ye yourselves know that these hands have ministered to my necessities and to them that were with me I have showed you all things how that so liberally ye ought to support the weak and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus to give than to receive when he had those spoken he knelt down and prayed with them all and let's stop there let's stop there now as I look at this summary there are few things that I thought we should look into as ministers as men that God has called to bear the mantle of ministry in this present time especially that the cry of our heart is that God will visit us again and he will send revival across the land now what are the things that we could see we could gain from the life and from the ministry of brother Paul here as we put it all in the context of the call of God that we have also received was the power of a personal testimony the effectiveness of Paul's ministry was resident in the in the power of his own personal life testimony and more and more as I look at what made them effective what made their ministry effective I couldn't run away from the reality that the effectiveness of a minister is first and foremost the effectiveness of his own personal life but now how did Paul how did he harvest how did he harvest effective ministry by the power of his own personal testimony how did this happen now I will look at it from here but we will peep into some of the places where he had walked and what he said now he said when they will come to him he said to them ye know from the first day that I came to Asia after what manner I have been with you at all seasons in that little bag of ours there are several issues that jumped to me there the first thing was that he was not boasting he was not he was not dazing them he actually appeared to what they know he said you know and I thought that a man of God's authority of ministry is enhanced when he could draw and challenge those who have lived or those who have listened to him or those to whom he has preached I said you know you know what manner of man I have been you can close the bible but you know you know what manner of man not occasionally but at all seasons in every situation in every circumstance that came my way since the first day I came to live among you you know what manner and as I was looking at how Paul began to say you know what manner of man I have been with you at all seasons serving the Lord with all humility of mind with many tears and temptation which befell me by the lying weight of the Jews you know that you know you know all that happened to me you are living witnesses of the kind of man I am I said oh does it matter how transparent a man of God lives his life in the midst of the flock will it become a positive ingredient for the effectiveness of our ministry if apart from appealing to the written word of God apart from appealing to the Lord Jesus that is generally invisible to people does it bring an ingredient for effectiveness if we also can appear to the life that we live and I want to submit to you that every genuine ministry does not only appear to the written word of God which it must appear to it does not only appear to Jesus who is invisible it must appear to a man a life that is lived in the midst of the people and these three witnesses around the gospel must be congruent did you get what I am saying there are these three things that has to be congruent the word of God we preach we must preach the word of God because faith only comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God isn't it we must point men to Jesus even though they cannot see him because it is only by him that we are saved we must point men to him but there is yet the third component we must point men I am not talking of arrogance I am not talking of pride I am talking of a correct ministry we must point men even to ourselves it is not correct it is not complete and it is not going to be effective to say look at Jesus don't look at me it is not correct it is not biblical the biblical ministry say look unto Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith that is one leg the second leg is look at me is prisoner a ministry that does not have those two legs and the third tripod is the word of God a ministry that is not anchored on these three cannot be balanced and maybe one of the things that killed the move of God was when we have more people who preached but their lives were not available for examination no matter what the modern way of preaching has brought it will not be sufficient until men could identify with the lies really before they can believe now please permit me to ask you to look at how it worked out in the book of Thessalonians Paul was talking to Thessalonians now particularly now let's see how it worked out at first as I am reading scripture I am wondering why did you say like that but I realize that that is the way God has ordained it God has ordained it that he will identify with a life and from that life amplify his message unto those who hear us that is the will of God that is the way it must work out we cannot be distant from the truth that we preach and expect that truth to create effect we cannot now Thessalonians chapter 1 please quickly go there look at verse 5 and verse 6 for our gospel came not unto you in word only but also in power and in the Holy Ghost and in much assurance as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake and ye became followers of us and of the Lord having received the word in much affliction with joy of the Holy Ghost now what does that mean what does that mean Paul said our gospel came not to you in word only I am happy that that is very important if he said our gospel came not to you in word that would have meant that there is no need to preach but he said it came to you not in word only which means it must come in word so preaching is important we must preach the word is that ok but when he said not in word only which means the word as important as it is is not enough as to bring effectiveness of result to our ministry he said it came to you in word not in word only but also in power and in the Holy Ghost that the gospel and may I say that the gospel the true gospel the Bible says is the power of God isn't it for changing man that the gospel we preach must not just come in word only it must also come in power especially the power of the Holy Ghost now he now went on to raise one more point the third leg and in much assurance as you know what manner of man we were among you so I said ah what are you saying he said look men have heard the word of God quite alright even men could have experienced the word of God in the power of the Holy Spirit but it's not sufficient there's one more point that we bring them to become converts they need the assurance and they will not get the assurance of the gospel unless they know what manner of man we were among you do you get that ok but when they will respond look at their response the Bible now says and you became followers of us and of the Lord I was thinking that the right way to put it the real order should have been you became followers of the Lord and of us so I first thought maybe it's King James that made it so so I started checking all other versions and I found that they maintained the order you became followers of us and of the Lord why? let me explain that man cannot follow the invisible God until they find visible man to follow in order to follow God please take note of this man will not be able to follow the invisible Father until they have found visible man who transparently mirror and amplify Christ to them so when they will follow the first thing they will follow they will follow you in order to follow the Lord this was Jesus this was his method when he saw man what did he say to them? follow me follow me you know the appearance that Jesus made to the disciples even when they have not yet known him as the Messiah because I felt that before they now started knowing him as the Messiah the Christ that is coming the first thing he did is follow me take my yoke upon you and learn of me I am lowly I am meek and lowly of heart and you will find Jesus did not ask people to follow doctrine oh am I making a mistake here? it was not doctrine introduced to them sometime we were overzealous that what we are introducing to people is doctrine not the person of Jesus and when we start introducing the person of Jesus which is the reality the people say but we can't find Jesus we can't find Jesus we want to follow the person but we cannot find the person and you say no he is here he is here that was what was the contention even among the disciples Philip said show us the father and it will be sufficient for us we want to see the father and what did Jesus say? he didn't start drawing a picture and say the father has a big head in fact he sits in the heavenly and all the angels no that's not what he said he said Philip how long will I be with you? if you have seen me you have seen the father if you have seen me you have seen the father I pray that God brings our ministry to that level no matter how little that we will be the resident Bible that our members can read that when we point and paint Jesus to them what we give them assurance is that they look at the picture of Jesus we have painted and they look at us whom they can see and there is no difference that's what brings effectiveness to me and I found brother Paul saying you know me you know the man or man we were among you so you became followers of us and of the Lord so I found that the biggest need and the biggest ministry that each one of us must engage and which I think is the critical need in this present day the youth the young people they are looking for models please take note when Michael Jackson died I don't know whether you are aware there was one young man called Michael Jackson who turned our world almost upside down with his useless music they call him Michael Jackson he was a young man when he began to sing and he could have been singing in the Sunday school but somehow somehow he got derailed and he went into the world and Michael Jackson had great talents he could compose songs he was a great activist unfortunately not for Jesus and if you want to check how popular Michael Jackson is go into the world of the youth you will see how much he has affected them he affected the way they make their hair he affected the way they dress he affected the kind of dance honestly speaking sometimes when you go into youth group meetings and you see the kind of dance their beauty it is after the pattern of Michael Jackson he affected his generation so much the young man died at 50 and I was surprised how the whole world the whole unbelieving world celebrated I was back in Nigeria and I saw many many young people mourning him I said what? they are mourning a useless thing but he has affected them young people are looking for models they are not particularly interested in theoretical analysis they just want to see and if the ministry of the word of God is going to attract the young people again and fill our churches with souls this is an implement that we cannot ignore I want to lay it before you as a matter of prayer to say Lord will you please make our lives a living bible may we bring this dynamic onto our ministry a dynamic of life that could be touched that could be examined that could be analyzed now as I am looking at it from Paul's angle I just chose Paul because I felt we should be able to identify with Paul because he was like us the right person I should have been looking at is Jesus who said follow me at the end of his life Jesus life people who followed him do you know what they said John was right he said we were with him we were with him we beheld him full of grace and he was a man full of grace and truth that was the testimony of those who were with him what would be the testimony of people who are with me what would they say you know when we read that in the bible we say ok it's for Jesus it's for Jesus but Jesus was only showing us how to serve him how to be a minister they said we you know first John chapter 1 says we have touched him we have handled him we have looked into him we have examined him and he was full of grace that's dynamic of ministry when our lives become vulnerable enough for people to examine it such that even if they do not want to believe the word we preach something in their conscience is convicting them you say Paul you can't ignore this man it's true even if you don't want to be a Christian you want to be like him isn't it he's living a life that you are looking for and now he says it is Christ that makes that possible why don't you follow that Christ that's the assurance so Paul was saying you know this you know me and that was a very critical point and as pastors those of us that are sitting over a congregation and we are raising people at various levels how do we work that dynamic how do we give people opportunity to be able to say we know him I didn't know the power of this until I started writing books I didn't know I didn't know that it means a lot when you have read an author you could only imagine how he looks but the day you meet him and what he writes in his book and the man you are meeting are congruent what does he do to you he gives you a different assurance even when you take that book you go and meet somebody boldly and say I met him what he writes exactly is who he is I have been with him in fact I ate with him but supposing you have been reading a man's book for 20 years you have really believed him you really followed his work and you suddenly met him and he was living a life that is totally contrary to what he has written that you have followed for years please talk to me what happens to all his books in your in your shelf from that day you go and pack it you just take it and anywhere you see other people buying that book even though nobody mobilized you to do that you would just walk there and say oh hmm ah ok are you reading this man well I have many of his books if you want come and carry them but I am not wasting my time on such rubbish I met him he is not a genuine man what happens if your ministry has affected people for 10 years when they don't know who you are the day they discover who you are if it is not congruent with what you have preached that is the day all your ministry in their lives is finished in fact it doesn't take one week everything finishes the power of your personal life personal testimony is what authenticates what we preach and it is what gives assurance to the people is what gives them conviction and I found that that is not to be treated lightly any of us that want to be engaged in a revival label any of us that are crying to God send revival to this land send revival to my church send revival to our area even though this will not come as a very high point when you are meeting people that are preaching about how to bring church to the world to the to the to the to the world to the to the to the world to the world to the world to the world to the to the world to the world to the world to the to the world to the world to the world to the to the world to the to the world to the world to the to the world to the to the world to the to the to the world to the to the world to the to the to the to the world to the world to the world to the world to the to the to the world to the to the to the to the to the world to the to the world to the world to the world to the world to the first. The church is looking for visibility. And if there's no visibility, there's a problem. So many of them thought that church has become abstract, there's nothing there, let's go to where something is happening, because they need something visible to follow the invisible. May the Lord help us. Now, Paul, in his own summary, back into Acts 20 that we are studying, he also again noted another aspect that I thought we should highlight as we are looking for ministry, effective ministry, now in this present day Northern Ireland, you will see in that verse 20, verse 20, passionate commitment to the whole counsel of God, passionate commitment to the whole counsel of God. He said, how I get back nothing that was profitable unto you. But I showed you and I've taught you publicly and from house to house, I have not kept back anything that is profitable to you. I've not kept anything to you. Then in verse 27 he said, I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Have you noticed that? Now, this kind of minister who is passionately committed to the whole counsel of God, but I'm going to ask us to look at it in two ways quickly. What is the passion I'm seeing there? Number one, he is passionately committed to the undiluted gospel and he is passionately convinced that the truth of the word of God is profitable to men. You know, one of the things that I'm struggling with in our own time is the fact that even the man of God on the pulpit seem to have lost confidence in the word of God. It looks to me nowadays that people will rather preach psychology, they will rather go to motivational speaking, rather than doggedly, committedly preach the word of God. Somehow I'm sensing that we have come to a situation where something tells us that the word of God is not enough. So let's tell them other stories. Let's fill the meeting with other things. So I found that we will come to church, every other thing will be giving space, but when it comes to the word of God, you give it 15 minutes. I used to wonder, I say, does it mean that the people have no capacity to hear the truth? Yes, I realize that it's not so. It is the man of God himself that has lost confidence on the potency of the word of God. And unless we are committed to the word of God as God's comprehensive equipment for changing men, the Bible says all scripture given by the inspiration of God is what? Is profitable, profitable. If we believe that the word of God is profitable to men, we must give them. We must teach the word, we must give space for the word of God. At the time I began to think, is it that in this land people no longer have space for the word of God? Because sometimes we go for a meeting, sir, and I'm in a meeting, and people say, look, we have many things to do in this service. I say, okay, okay, so when do you want me to bless you? Can you manage with 10 minutes? Can you manage with 10 minutes? And I say, okay, if that's all. They say, you know, because people cannot endure, they cannot do anything, 10 minutes. So we will do a service, 10 minutes of preaching. But then I'm now looking at what did they do with all the rest hours? And I used to think that maybe the people are in haste, they are running somewhere, then we will finish the service. And then they will spend two hours to take tea, to talk, to do other things. I say, what has happened to us? Do you know that it is in this nation that Orson Taylor came out from? It is from here that the doctor, what is that doctor, Leo Jones, it was in this land that they preached. How did they preach that we are having expositions upon expositions that they wrote in volumes? Where did Chasportian, where did he get audience? Where he did all the elaborate expository teachings that they made? I said, no, I don't think people have changed. I don't think it is the capacity of our people that have reduced. I think it is the man of God on the pulpit that has lost confidence in his own instrument. And the only instrument God has given us to change man is the word of God. Paul said, I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for changing man. Do you know that if we stand up again to preach with passion, to do exposition of the word of God with passion, do you know that people will turn? They will turn. But something already defeats us inside. We seem no longer to believe in the power of the word of God. We think, well, if you tell them something, they will not come again. It is not true. I have started to experience the fact that wherever the word of God is taught, the word of God is magnetic. The genuine preaching of the word of God is magnetic. It draws people. It draws people. It draws people. Wherever the truth is taught and taught consistently in the power of the Holy Spirit, it draws men. It draws men. But we have accepted the blackmail against the word of God that makes us to feel that, no, they won't listen. So sometimes when people come, we entertain them with many other things, thinking that that is able to sustain them. May I say, brothers and sisters, before we close, that the seed of the kingdom of God is the word of God. If you plough a big field and you did not cast in the seed, will you get harvests? No harvests. No harvests. The quantity of the word of God that is going out has reduced. The depth of the gospel, the whole counsel of God that we are releasing on our pulpit is not commensurate with what we are expecting God to do. If we cannot go on with this brother Paul, let me request that you take it as personal study. Please, when you get back to your pulpit, can you ask God, renew my passion for the word of God. Renew my passion for the undiluted truth. I have found that every other thing that we use to attract people cannot sustain them. Even when we advertise miracles, say, come here, oh God, we make you a millionaire, is not sustainable. The only sustainable implement for revival that changes men is the word of God. That was what brought revival in the early days. That's what all of you experienced and you couldn't go anywhere again. Am I right? It's the word of God that hooked you and you couldn't go anywhere. Some of you, you traveled many, many, many miles only to go and hear the exposition of the word of God. Let me tell you that it's not that that has changed. What has changed is that maybe we have lost confidence in our own implement. He said, I have not shunned to show you the whole concept of God. Now, I know I must stop on this so that we can have our lunch, but I would like you to pray that apart from the testimony of life that makes the truth manifest among people, the next implement for effective ministry is the undiluted, passionate preaching and teaching of the word of God. Brother Paul, I mean the apostle said, it is not reasonable for us to leave the ministry of prayer and of the word. Somehow, as the church has grown so much, most of our experienced pastors, gradually we take them away from the ministry of the word of God onto administration. You will think it's promotion. You know, it takes years for God to produce a preacher. Am I right? It takes years of life, years of experience. It doesn't take so many years to produce an accountant. It doesn't. Send any intelligent young man to go to the polytechnic. He will learn. He can come and help you with church accounts. He can help you to do the fires, but we can't produce a man of God in two years. We cannot produce a fervent servant of God who will rightly divide the word of truth, not just by intellectualism, but by life. We can't produce that one overnight. But unfortunately, our experienced preachers, they are now administrators. They hardly preach. They hardly stand up to teach the word of God because they are now busy with administration. I want you to consider this. Revival will come again when we pray and when we preach. I want to say that while we pray, we must preach. And we must preach the whole cancer of God. Somehow in my spirit, I believe that this thing we carry is exclusive. The word of God. I have seen it work in my little area. I have seen what the word of God can produce. I have seen lies violently converted. I have seen people that I thought would not be interested. When they were confronted with the truth, they sat down like this and they can't go anywhere again because God's word has hooked them. Paul was passionately committed to the cancer of God. Finally, he was passionately committed to making sure it is preached. He said, I went from house to house and I preached publicly. Can we do that again? Can we give individual attention to souls? Can we call somebody and say, I need to spend time with you? Do you know that if you politely invite somebody in your church and say, I think I would like to spend one hour with you Personally, a week for some study in the word of God because I think it would be profitable to you. Do you know that not many of our members will refuse? They will regard it as a privilege. When it is coming and his life is affected, he will go and tell someone, hey sir, can I bring my friend along? One will become two, two will become three, three will become four and you can see revival. Let me commend to you the word of God. When Paul was finishing, he said, I commend you to the word of his grace that is able to give you inheritance among the saints. We don't need new methods, we don't need new strategies, we don't need anything else. This is the ever sufficient implement. It is comprehensive. It will give us all that we are looking for. It will bring to us all that we are longing to see. There is miracle here. There is healing here. He sent his word and he healed. So let me commend you to the word of God, to the word of his grace. As a preacher, may I say to you that you don't have another implement. When God wants to bless a man and bless his ministry, what does he give him? He gives him his word. There is nothing else that he will give me that will matter. Money is not the basic implement of a preacher. It is the word of God. It is not even all of this. It is not public address. The trouble is that we now have public address. Very, very sophisticated equipment, but we don't have the equipment. Let's pray about that. Let's say to God, Lord, restore to us passion. Passion for Jesus and passion for his word. Make us hungry again for the word of God. Do you remember that in the days of revival, and I know some of you know, there are weeks you call Bible weeks, isn't it? When you just arrive on Monday and you are not going to dismiss until Saturday and you are doing nothing but what? Studying the word. That was all brought revival. They committed themselves to the word. The Methodist revival that John Wesley spearheaded, do you know what brought it? They formed what they call holy clubs. And what do they do? They are studying the word of God. You cannot commit yourself to the truth of the word of God and not find revival. Let's pray that God will take us back. There is too much talk. There is less teaching and preaching of the word of God. There is so much administration, much administration, much organizational problems. Little, little word of God. And this is not just peculiar here. I find it gradually becoming the matter in the world. I have gone for international conferences that cost huge millions of pounds. And I went and we always disappointed because the word of God was not given the central place. Psychology was given central place. Strategy was given central place. Administration was given central place. Discussion was given central place. Sometimes cultural representation was given central place but not the word of God. How do you have a church that will experience revival and the only implement that God uses to break the heart of man has been relegated to the background? I want us to pray and say Lord restore to us passion for the word of God. Passion for preaching. Preaching. I am begging God that you will go back from this week with a fresh passion to preach. Announce to your church members and say Wednesday we are having Bible study. They will come. At first two may come, three may come. Don't worry. Teach. It will grow. It will grow. It will be the rallying point. May the Lord help us. May the Lord renew our passion. I have told some of you that are elderly, don't go down to the grave without writing. Can I beg you, put what God has done in your life, put it in writing. Even if it is not published in your lifetime, it will be published. It will be published. Your experience on the mission field, write it down. There are younger generation coming who need it desperately. Please put it down. If you can't be going up and down again, why don't you call a few people and say come and see me. Over a cup of tea and draw out the sword as I thought I should share this with you. As the word of God increases, the number of disciples will multiply. That's the way. May the Lord help us. Father, we ask you this, restore to us the power. Lord, we have become so private that the people we are preaching to don't know who we are. They have concluded as if ministry is a performance. But for us Lord, we have understood, you said follow me, learn of me. As they saw you pray, that was when they said teach us to pray. As they saw you serve, that was when it became clear to them what manner of servant leadership they needed to have. Oh God, please visit this nation. We plead with you Lord, restore the glory of the word of God again. Father, we pray, restore to us our own implicit confidence in the word of God. As God's comprehensive equipment of making man. Lord, please restore to us passion to proclaim the truth. Passion to preach, passion to teach the whole counsel of God. Lord, we pray that we are meeting in a little room today. But you can give this an increase. You can multiply this. You can make each one of us a multiplier effect in the body. Some of us will represent some denominational groupings. Lord, I ask that as we go from this point. Cause this fire to spread into our denominations. To spread to our colleagues. And when next it will please you God to visit the land as you have said. There will be men on the altar that you can kindle the fire upon. Thank you. In Jesus name we pray.