In this sermon, the speaker shares a powerful personal experience of someone being called by Jesus to follow Him. The speaker emphasizes that this person had no knowledge of Jesus or the virgin birth, yet still responded to the call. The speaker then discusses the importance of revival and how it should impact people's lives, causing them to prioritize spiritual matters over worldly pursuits. The speaker also highlights the need for preachers to focus on preaching the word of God rather than just addressing societal issues.

I'll tell you one way you can prove your love. I remember an hour ago, David and Nancy were leaving for New Zealand. They left from New York. They weren't married at the time, were they? Oh, they were married, but they had no children. Okay. I remember watching that boat go out. Hudson Taylor's mother said, I'd heard John 3.16 preached a hundred times. It never gripped my heart until I stood there, embraced my son. He was going out to China, maybe not to come back. In the old days, they had those sailing boats, you know, and they had to wait till the wind passed. And here's this colossal boat loaded with goods and people. And she said it was going out inch by inch by inch, as slow as ever it could go. And every inch it went, it tugged at my heart. Here's my boy going, here's my boy going. Going to China at that time, you know, they hated the white devils. They didn't want the missionaries to go. And she'd heard about hardships and adversity and all kinds of things. And it all came crowding on her at that moment. There's my son. My son, I've nursed him through sicknesses. I snatched him from the edge of death. I've done this, that, and the other. And here he is, making a commitment to go. And she said, as the ship got out further, I felt the strain. Until one moment, she said, that scripture flashed into my mind. God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son for certain death. I think sometimes we forget the fact that Jesus knew from the moment he entered the world, when he was conscious anyhow, even at twelve years of age, he says, must I not be about my father's business? And yet at that day, he could read the law and the prophets. He could read Isaiah, a virgin shall be with child. He could read the fifty-third chapter, that he's going to be put to death, an ignominious death. There were other terrible prophecies. Would you like to read the diary of your son for the next twenty years, if you know he's going to be butchered in a concentration camp in Russia? Or he's going to be starved to death, say, somewhere in Afghanistan? You know, these days things are so easy, comparatively. There's so little demand made upon us. A brother gave me a paper, well, I think of it. Gave me a paper last week, I hadn't seen this. It's the status of global missions in the context of the twentieth century. There's a line I've underlined here, it says, the average Christian martyrs per year in 1900 were 35,600. That's in 1900. By 1980, in 1980, there were 270,000 Christian martyrs, and you didn't see it once on TV. So between that and the next year, when 334,900 were put to death, you've got what? Getting up to half a million martyred Christians that don't make headlines. Yet the word says, another sparrow falls to the ground, but what the Lord takes care of it. He's got every name. But listen to the final prophecy here, that by the year 2000, 500,000 people in that year will be martyred. Come on now. Will your children be amongst them? Will my grandchildren be amongst them? There's more hostility every day we live to the precious word of the living God. It's the only true light in the world and the devil wants to stamp it out. And men will legislate for that. As long as they're popular, they don't care whether the youth are damned or not. If they cared, again, they wouldn't kick 10 lights out of every school. Every one of the Ten Commandments is a light for our path. So we put the lights out, and the youngsters are frolicking in iniquity, indulging in sin. The other day, I don't know if I quoted this last week, but a man said it in a report, he said, you know now, there's so much premarital sex that even 15 and 16 year olds are indulging. And then he said, just a minute, he said there are children who are not yet, in their teens, who are practicing sexual habits in our schools. Then almost, he did actually smirk, and he said, you know what, these so-called Christian schools are hardly any better according to statistics. They're as crazy about drugs, as crazy about sexual habits. Where? Why? Again, because the lamp has been put out. Because there's no fear of God before their eyes. Here's a challenge to darkness. This is written by a young fellow who used to live around here. I don't know how you pronounce his name. What's his name? Porcine, Porcine from Miami? Pardon? Yeah, oh well that's him, you heard it. This is what he says. There are 100,000 Haitians in South Florida, 600,000 Cubans, 50,000 Colombians. In greater Miami alone, in greater Miami alone, there are tens of thousands of Jamaicans, Nicaraguans, Puerto Ricans, and Bahamians. You see that? 600,000 Cubans. You say, I can't go to Cuba? Of course you can go to, all you have to do is go to Miami, down the main street, you'll never hear a word of English. All their names have been crossed out, even Maynards, the big jewelers, the name is crossed out now, and the Cubans have taken it over. Good Lord, you've got a world there. Oh, of course, it's not as courageous. If you're a youngster and you've no money, and you go to your church and say, I want to be a missionary to Miami. Oh, I'm sorry, we can't support anybody like that. You've got to get on the boat and cross the water. Dear Lord, we have millions of Haitians in our country, from Washington to wherever you like, and yet somehow we're not disturbed about it. Half a million? 600,000 Cubans? Many of them go to Pentecostal churches, and other churches. Why in God's name don't they go to South America? In South America they can speak Spanish eloquently, and the whole country there is dry South America. There's all kinds of countries where Spanish is needed, and these people need it. Some of these fellows go, have they gone up to New York yet? They've gone this week. This week. You know, every time I think of New York, it's like a pie, you cut it in wedges. You can go up a street in New York, you won't hear a word outside of Portuguese. You go up another area, it's French. You go in another area, it's Spanish. You go up in another area, there's Italian. There are tens of thousands of people in New York claiming to be filled with the Holy Ghost. Well, why in God's name, when they have the language, don't they go to their native countries in such darkness and such terror? But they don't. They got trapped in the American way of life. I talked with a brother today. Somebody had said, in the Philippines, a lady said, my boy is going to a certain Bible school in America. It's going to cost me all my life savings to send him. Give him a plane ticket there and back, and for three years in Bible school, it will take every penny I'd ever had, money I inherited. The other lady said, don't let him go to America. Why not? He'll marry an American girl and become naturalized American and stay there. Or else he'll get into the way of the Americans. He'll want to be a pastor and have a nice house. And it's easier for me, I live in a nice house, of course. But I'm talking about the chance you young fellows have. It only comes once. Somebody said a smart thing the other week. They don't often say smart things anymore. You don't have a second chance for a first appearance. Isn't that something? You won't get a second chance at the judgment seat, none of us. Only once we'll stand there. We won't want a second chance. We won't dare to ask for a second chance. And do you know what? I was listening to a case a few weeks ago on the TV. And it was going to be one of these with a colossal verdict. I waited for it. And when it came, they said, the case was settled out of court. Well, let me tell you, friend, no case will be settled out of court either for the sinner or the believer. It's there, that awesome day, when the sinner will have to stand before Jesus Christ. Doesn't matter whether it's Pope or a president or a potentate or a plebeian. Won't make any difference. The scripture's clear. We must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. And there'll be no plea bargaining. I see now tonight on the news, Colonel North may be granted limited immunity. He's supposed to be a born-again Christian. I'm not criticizing that. He'll have a rough time. He'll go through a terrible time. But there's nobody going to have limited or unlimited immunity at the judgment seat. Whether it's Adam or Pharaoh or Genghis Khan or Philip of Macedon, it makes no difference. Boy, won't I rejoice when all the popes of the ages have tried at the judgment. I said one day I'd be happy to get behind them and kick them all into hell. And somebody from YWAM came and said, did you ever say that? I said, sure I did. You mean it? Sure I did. Would you like to see them go to hell? I said, God would, so why shouldn't I? They've distorted history. They've spilled blood of millions and millions of people. Read the history of the Jesuits alone. They're the most abominable system the world's ever had. Nobody says a word, for instance, now, for instance, about the underworld. What do you call the squad, the underworld gang? Mafia, thank you. But they're all coming to judgment. Now Paul is addressing, let me get away from this sheet for a minute. Let's go here to Paul a minute. Let me go to the second epistle, chapter one. Remember, this young man is precious to him. He's going to pass his mantle on to him, as it were. He's investing his knowledge, he's investing his revelations. He's trying to ignite him, as it were, with the same courage he has had. This amazing man that went so fast, his apostolic party broke up. The men he leaned on deserted him. Demas hath forsaken me. Not going into business, not going into evil, but having loved this present world. That's the thing that gets folk. I spent a day yesterday with pastors, and it was a very blessed day, very moving day. One of them came to our house after supper. I thought they'd finished, but they came back for another hour. And he said to me, oh, today, as you talked about the judgment seat, I began to see my, get my focus changed on my life. I don't do evil things, but for recreation, I golf. And gradually, it's getting more hold of me. I said it did me, till I decided I wouldn't play anymore. But anyhow, there's nothing very wicked about golf by appearance. It's just to eat your time up. It eats your life. It becomes a priority. Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world. He's trying to fortify this young man. Again, it's any sidestepping of any issues. He says in verse 5 of chapter 1 of the 2nd epistle, when I call to remembrance the unfamed or the pure faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and in thy mother Eunice, and I am persuaded in thee also. Look at his background. In one of my books, I've got a list there about a man, maybe it's in Wiley Bible Taris, a man who lived in the days of Jonathan Edwards, and I think his name was Luke, was it? Anybody remember that? You don't read my books, thank you. But there's a man, a godly man, and they traced his pedigree from the time he was living in the days of Jonathan Edwards. And it goes something like this, in the first hundred years, out of that family came two, what, presidents of the United States, about 50 lawyers, about a hundred preachers, and it gives you a fabulous list of people that came out of that godly family. Then I've got the other side, a man by the name of Luke. He was a deep-dyke criminal. What happened? Hundreds of their offspring down the family became prostitutes and thieves. A number of them were hung. Altogether they cost the American government millions of dollars for their corruption. You know why you're taxed to your ears? For sin, that's all. Or you don't need policemen around churches except at business meetings. You don't need them, do you? People don't get shot in churches yet. They may do later. We're paying for crime. We're up to our ears for crime. We're paying for military support. I remember being at a conference in 19... I won't give you the year anyhow. But here in America with Dr. R. R. Brown. And there was a man that had come home from the foreign field. I forget which place it was. Anyhow, the communists were coming through the country and night by night they saw the distant towns burning and burning. And they were scheduled to come to this town the next night. And they heard the whooping and shouting and yelling. They saw the flames. And it was only about three miles from the village to the orphanage. And I looked at that missionary as he told the story. He said the children were cringing. What will we do? Well, God has said he'll give his angels charge concerning us. But the communists will butcher us. They'll kill us. They'll do evil things. And he said the missionaries just lined up and stood there and resisted. The powers of darkness. The village was blasted. Communists were injured as well as the other people. Very badly injured. And the missionaries knew that would happen. And so the next morning they went down. They heard that there were men there minus legs, arms, and all kinds of stuff. And they went down and ministered to the communists. And they said, well, why didn't you come to us? They said we got just about a quarter of a mile from the gates of your building. We saw the place. But there was a row of people in white standing there. Hundreds of them standing there. And we didn't advance. Well, they told the children, he'll give his angels charge concerning you. This man said that was actually true. That without any defense, the Lord sent his angels to guard us. Somewhere in the second book of Kings, I think it is, it talks about an angel. One angel one night was going home late. You shouldn't go home late at night. What did he do? He tipped his wing a bit too deep. What did he do? He destroyed a hundred and seventy-five thousand with one wing. That's all. What did Jesus say? I can call twelve legions of angels. The minimum number in a legion is five thousand. He could call twelve legions. Five twelves is sixty thousand. Sixty thousand angels killing a hundred and seventy-five thousand with one wing. If they used two wings, it's three hundred thousand. Sixty-five angels doing that would wipe out the earth's population. Why do we bluff ourselves? We trust in God. We don't trust in God. Even his people don't. If they trusted in God, they wouldn't beg for the money and do all the things they're doing. Did you hear what Pat Robinson said on the TV tonight? He said, because of PTO, we're twelve million down this year and we'll be twenty in a little, in a few weeks. And now the IRS is going to invest a PTO for what it's done. One of the preachers said yesterday, Oral Roberts, Tuesday this week, had a meeting. He called twenty-five of his friendly preachers to him and they'd stared at him. He said, you notice, I'm thirty pounds lighter than I was three weeks ago. I've had some stomach trouble. I've had problems. My health's gone. All because of my anxiety for the PTO. And they said, it's not over yet. Worse is to come. And now the world is ridiculing the saints of God. Comedians are making jokes, I hear, on TV about us. But my answer to that is, when the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of God will lift up a standard. It's for us to push, not back off. Say, this is the living God that we serve. Raise up men. The church is pretty paralyzed. Well, work outside of the church. Where did Jesus go for his disciples? Did he go to the Sanhedrin and say, give me the most likely young men? No. Did he go to the high priest? No, he didn't. He went to some smelly fisherman. And a tax gatherer. You know, there's a story there that I've never really heard preached. I'd like to. Some of you guys can do it. Here's a man filling out an income tax form. A shadow falls over the thing. He looks up and sees the most amazing face in history. And the man behind it says to this man, who's steeped in the law, he's a servant to an empire, a Roman empire. In other words, he's a vassal, he's a slave. And the shadow falls up. He looks on that wonderful face. And the man behind the face says, follow me. And he did. Would you? Don't say yes, for God's sake. Don't say yes, you young fellows. If you do, I'll say, well, why are you here tonight? You've heard him call you more than once. That's one of the greatest acts of faith. I've never seen it registered as an act of faith. I'll tell you where I got that. The great liberal preacher in England. I was crossing the Atlantic once and sitting there having my supper. I always sat by myself. I was afraid these charming ladies or somebody would come. Sitting there and this man comes in at the door. He looked across at me. He walked across. Dr. Leslie Weatherhead. He always broadcast right after the Queen. Every Sunday. Every Christmas Day. He said, hello, how are you? I said, fine. He said, where have we met before? I said, nowhere. I've seen you before. I said, maybe I sat under your nose twice. I sat under your nose ten years ago. I'll tell you where. I gave him the name of the church in Manchester, England. And I said, I'll tell you what you preached on. You remember it? I said, sure. I said, you started like this. Here is a man filling out a ledger. And suddenly there's a shadow on the ledger. He looks up into an amazing face. And the man behind the face said, follow me. And he dropped his pen and did. Would you? I said, I've never forgotten that. That's the most dramatic, it's the shortest, most effective introduction to a sermon I've ever had. He said, follow me. And he did. Would you? Dear Lord, that man didn't know about Jesus. He hadn't an idea of the virgin birth. He hadn't an idea of the crucifixion. He hadn't the idea that he's coming in splendor, in glory, in majesty. Which Paul puts down before this young man, Timothy. We were saying yesterday, how much amongst these preachers, we've lost sight of the majesty and the glory of God. We don't serve a risen saviour. As I said to a brother yesterday, I said, 90% of the preaching last Sunday in the nation, 95% was preaching about a man that lived 2,000 years ago. 5% was about a king who's coming. I doubt if 1% was about the one who's sitting on the throne with all power to liberate, release on us. He's inherited rights for us. We're not beggars, we're the children of a king, the word of God says. And Paul wants this young man, Timothy, to know something of the majesty of the God that he can serve. And he says, let's go back here a minute. I call to remember us the unfaint faith that is in thee, which first dwelt in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice. And I am persuaded in thee also. What a legacy, what an inheritance. Wouldn't you like to have heard that old grandmother praying over this boy? I didn't often get to my grandmother, she lived two doors away. But I prayed every night till I was 10 years of age in my sister and my mother's knee. That's old fashioned. That's the only right way to bring people up anyhow. In the fear and admonition of the Lord. Can you imagine this godly woman, thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice? Now look what he says, adding something to that. I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God. I don't care how spiritual you are. I don't care if you've had 10 baptisms and there's nothing wrong in having them. Phineas said he had successive baptisms didn't he? Going over Boston Common, the glory of God would come over him. Well I walked over the Common but nothing came over me. Except the smell of gas from the cars. But I preached in that big church at the corner he once preached in. And he said he had successive endowments of power. Not just one deposit. You don't expect to buy a new car and fill it up and that car on and that one fill up of gas to the end of your days. Stir up the gift of God. Well how do you stir up the gift? I stir up the gift by reading stuff like this. That there's nearly a million people in Miami and round about. In total darkness. They think they have the truth. They wave to the Virgin. They say they hail Mary. They make their sacrifices. And it's unacceptable to God that as damned as this they've never heard the thing. And yet it doesn't move the churches. We're loading young people up. Go to this meeting. Go to that place in another country. Why don't we tackle this country? And see God work. What right have you to go to a country and say God can change this country? What about changing Tyler? What about coming a bit nearer? What about saying now we're going to possess by faith. We're going to possess our little nearby town Lindale. Show us the works of God. As I said to a preacher yesterday, Paul didn't just preach this fabulous theology. And it is fabulous. He surveyed the wondrous cross. He did say my richest gain I count but loss. I can give you my pedigree of the tribe of Benjamin and the seed of Abraham. He had all aces as a gambler would say. He had every priority. And the child of Abraham, the seed of Abraham. And he had everything going for him. And he says I fling them all away. Like C.T. Studd did with his scholarship and his career. I fling it all away to go crusading. And Paul's wanting this young man to get that same. Stir up the gift of God. I'm stirred when I read this. I'll pray and cry over it. What's wrong with that? Dear Lord. People right now. The football season's here. Or I don't know whether baseball. Baseball season, I don't know much about them. And basketball. Isn't it amazing how many millions of Christians are frenzied on Saturday and frozen on Sunday. Huh? Scream on Saturday and sit mum in church. A man behind me almost got killed. He said under his breath, Amen. Amen. We reported him to the deacons. I should think so, it's terrible. Where's the zeal? Where's the enthusiasm? Where's that magnetism that draws us to the cross? God doesn't take any notice of all our singing if it's not acted upon. And Paul says, I want you. Because you have a record. Your mother's prayers will rise up against you. Your grandmother's prayers will rise up against you. And you heard my ministry and seen my works. And they rise up against you. But after he's talked about his grandmother Lois and mother Eunice. Look what he says in verse 6. I put thee in remembrance thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. Can you imagine that? Huh? The man who's being caught up into the third heaven. The man who declares, as he does at the end of the fifth chapter there in Galatians. I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. He's not talking about a stigmata. He's talking about a body which is as yielded to God as the body of Jesus Christ was. And he says, I laid my hands upon you. I guess when he put his hands on him he must have been shaking down to his very toes. But that's not all he says. Look in chapter 1. I mean, first epistle. In chapter 4, 14. He said, neglect not the gift that is in thee which was given thee by prophecy and by the laying on of hands. By the presbytery. You see his awesome responsibility? The apostle had laid hands on him. Godly men had laid hands on him. He has a background of prayer. He has a background of a praying mother and father. As I said to a preacher, I think today, yesterday I said, Brother, almost every phone call I get, I'm reading away there in the book of Jeremiah. It stirs me. Or I get letters, I'm reading Jeremiah. I said, forget the whole thing about Jeremiah. For a little while, read about the church at Laodicea. That's where the church is today. In Jeremiah's day there was one Bible for the whole nation. Now we have 600 million Bibles in America. That's three for every household in the nation. How much are they used? We're told at least a thousand radio stations give a few minutes, five to ten minutes on the gospel every day in America. We have more Bible schools in America than the rest of the nations put together. Does it stir you? What are we doing with it? It's light, it's responsibility, it's authority if we take it. And the world goes to hell at an express speed and it doesn't disturb us too much. Stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the laying on of my hands. When you think the day in which he lived was easier than our day, it sure wasn't. Look in the third chapter of the second epistle to Timothy. This know also, in the last days perilous times shall come. Men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truth breakers, false accusers. That's the mess that he goes into. Remember again when Paul went to Corinth, you didn't have to say the Corinthian, he's a licentious man, he's a liar, he's a drunkard, he's a thief, he's one of the most disreputable man in the world. All you said was he's a Corinthian. When you said he's a Corinthian, as we say, you threw the book at him, you threw the book at him. He's the essence of carnality, he lives for flesh. He has no vision, except the world immediately around him. And Paul sending this young man right into a cesspool like that. Okay, let me read verse 4, 2 Timothy 3 verse 4. Traitors, heady, high-minded. Lovers of pleasures, not pleasure of pleasures, more than lovers of God. Having a form of godliness, denying the power thereof. You know, Paul says to one person he's writing to, listen, I come to you with an expansive and an expensive and an expressive gospel. But listen, he says, I come to you not with word only. I'm not bringing you a book of theology. I come to you not in word only, but in power and demonstration of the Holy Ghost. We've lost that. Those preachers, two of them yesterday, out of 16 or 18, all of them were Pentecostal preachers, and they were all saying the same thing, we don't have the power, we don't have the glory. Who does? Does the Salvation Army? I spent all afternoon in 1932 on the hills of Wales, a place called Rubina, with a man I thought was old, he was 80. And I sat and he told me about sitting at the side of William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army. Told me how he prayed, told me how he groaned in the spirit, told me how he prayed with anointing. And this man slipped away, this man Major Russell slipped away in 1904 to see the Welsh Revival. He's going to stay a day, he stayed a second, then he stayed a third, then he stayed a fourth, then he caught the night train and went home. And he worked in the office with William Booth. When he went in, the old general was there, and he just looked out of his eye corner and said, Where have you been, Russell? He said, Brother Raymond, I answered very quietly, To heaven. He said, what? He barked out with his big, deep voice, Where? To heaven. How did he get to heaven? I took the train to Wales. Imagine a young man with hardly any experience in theology, But the power of God came upon him, greater than any crown you can get in science or education. Here's a young man, 26 years of age, moving a nation, 26 years of age, And for 13 years he had prayed as a child for revival. Because there'd been a revival in 1885 in Wales. But it had gone out, the light had gone out. If you don't stir the fire up, what happens? It goes out. Now we have switches, you turn it on, hot, cold, high, low. We've forgotten about the days when you stoked up the fire two or three times in the morning and afternoon. He said, You've been to where? What happened? He said, There's a young man by the name of Evan Roberts. What's happening? He said, The football fields are not, there's nobody going to football matches. There's nobody going to theatres. Everybody's going to the house of God. Why? Because the glory of God is there. Again, you don't have to advertise a fire. William Bull, the head of the greatest spiritual movement of that day, left his office and went to hear a 26-year-old young fellow preach. F.B. Meyer, the giant of the Baptist pulpit, was at the other end of London. He went to hear him. People came from other countries. Why? Because the Holy Spirit of God had come. As I told the preachers, I hang on to little things, very little things. The last verse we quoted, I think yesterday, John, you were there. What's the last part of Malachi? The Lord whom she seeks shall suddenly come to his temple, and he shall purify the sons of Levi. And what? What's the end of that? Oh, I thought you quoted it. Well, you should do. Somebody read it. The end of Malachi 3, isn't it? The Lord whom he seeks shall suddenly come to his temple, and he shall purify the sons of Levi. I can't remember the rest. Pardon? Yeah, and then what's after that? That's what I was after. I'll be a swift witness against the sorcerers. We can fight Mormonism, Humanism, Romanism, Communism, every ism we like, and we'll exhaust ourselves and spend our money. But when the Holy Ghost comes, he'll rebuke them very quickly. But it's to purify the sons of Levi. We have to be purified. We have to be the channel through which he comes. And then he says he'll purify the sons of Levi. William Boone went and he hung breathless, listening to a 26-year-old fellow where the house was packed with the glory of God, where there were no altercars. I was reading, thinking of Elijah today. You know, he was so busy raising the dead, he had no time to be raising funds. We're so busy raising funds, we've no time to get the dead. I mean the dead, spiritually dead. Every church, every row of people in a church, to me it's death. It's death row. Why? Because they're dead in trespasses and in sin. And that's our business. You remember when Elijah, he'd done all the miracles, he prayed and the fire fell, he prayed and the rain fell, he prayed and the people fell. Dear God, I'd like two deacons like that. I'd go to hell and have a crusade, I think. He prayed, one man, and the rain fell. He said, bring all the people, that's suicide. He was the most hated man in the world. Nobody had had a good meal for three years. There'd been no food. They were in rags, they had no clothes. And then he says, you assembled two million people, what does he care about two million, whether the people are demons? The power of God is on him. And he stands there and I say, he prayed and the fire fell, he prayed and the rain fell, he prayed and the people fell. Well, isn't that enough? He goes back to his lodgings and the woman says, here, are these the wages I get from you? You talk about your God. Look, here's my baby, here's the corpse. He says, give me the corpse. What did he do? He ran into a loft. Have you got a loft in your life? Or a basement? Or a beaten up old chair where you seem to be nearer to God than anywhere? It's spoken to you? It's been wet with your tears? Groanings? He's brought down fire. He's made the whole nation recognize there is a God. They cried, the Lord is God. Now he's faced with death. And he takes the child. And we're told he prayed over it and nothing happened. He prayed a second time, nothing happened. What do we do? We back off. It isn't God's will. Well, why did we waste God's time? We need to know the timing and the mind of God. He prayed once, nothing happened. He prayed a second time, nothing happened. Then he stretched himself on the child. He touched the child and prayed. What did he pray? Lord, let this child's life come into him again. Vindicate my ministry. No, he didn't. The child's life came back. If I were an artist, I talked with an artist yesterday. He said, I'll paint an eagle for you. I've got a house full of them. I would have a house, an eastern type, you know, and I'd have steps down here. And I'd have a picture of this bearded man going down with a baby in his arms. And the woman looking. And he says to her, here. Here's your child. Do you think he did? Of course not. He was well mannered. He goes to the back room and sits on her chair and says, Are you there? I don't want to disturb you. I have a little news for you. The corpse you gave me is crying. Of course he'd do it decently. You don't get excited about spiritual things, do you? Only about football and Kentucky Derby and who's winning the game. Do you know why there's no life in the church? No joy because there's no life. It changes life, doesn't it, when a baby comes into a home. I talked with somebody the other day. Oh, since this baby came, he's upset at the house. Everything's changed. Sure. You knew that before you had him anyhow. I kicked up a row at home when I first came, I'm sure. I'd been in a dark chamber for nine months. And, boy, when I got out, was I happy. I yelled for about two days. Mother said, You didn't seem as though you'd ever stop making a noise. And I never intend to anyhow, by the grace of God. She goes and gives the child. He goes and gives the child to the woman. What did she say? By this. By what? By the fact that the whole nation now is worshipping God. They're singing. I can hear them praising God and magnifying. She didn't say that. By this I know thou art a man of God. By what? Because the drought is gone and the rain has come. No. By this I know thou art a man of God. What? I gave you a dead baby. You give me a live one. A child is alive. What does Paul say, writing to the Ephesians? You hath he quickened to a dead in trespassing and in sin? Bonnke, the great German that's had so much good times there in Africa, and has come to this country. He's always saying to a preacher, when he talks to a preacher, and he's, well, I need Jacob here. He can imitate. I can't. Bonnke says, You know, you preachers, your job is not to deliver sermons, but to deliver sinners. Isn't that good? Wish I'd said it myself, but anyhow. That's what we're here for. This man is concerned that this man will not just be a great preacher. Though he reminds him in verse 16 of chapter 3, All scripture is given by inspiration of God. And then he goes down to the verse 2 of the fourth chapter, Preach the word. Preach the word. We're not preaching the word today. We're preaching against drugs, we're preaching against immorality, and that's all right. But preach the word. It's the word that gives life. It's the word that is truth. It's the word that has power. It's quick and powerful. Our people, God help us, they can sit through a meeting, you can pour your heart out fast and pray and grieve and deliver your soul, and they go out smiling and dash straight home and turn TV on. They're not quickened. But when the Holy Ghost comes, it's a painful business. We're asking about revival. He'll take away your appetite, maybe for business. Take away your appetite for pleasure. You'll be completely transformed. It will be God's word that dominates. It will be God's word you feed on, God's word you talk on, God's word you utter. You see, we haven't been in revivals that stop business. We haven't been in revivals where nobody wants to go to a movie house. We're not in that class anymore. And Paul is concerned about this young man. Preach the word. Be instant, in season, out of season. Now let me skip over, let me quote it, just you know what he says in there. Be a good soldier of Jesus Christ. And he says, preach the word, not to be acceptable to men, but to deliver your soul. Be instant, in season and out of season. You know, there's no such thing as a clock once revival comes. Everything's chaotic. It's a marvelous chaos. It's a divinely ordained chaos. People didn't go to business, it didn't work when revival came in Wales. They didn't go to the movie house. There weren't movie houses, but there were concert halls. Didn't go to the dance hall. Didn't go to the professional matches. They were as crazy about soccer as we are about football. America is. I'm not crazy about any of them, thank God, now. And you're in verse 2 Timothy now, chapter 2 and verse 2. These are things that he's advising him about. Remember, this is the man that's going to carry his mantle as it were. In verse 15 he says, Study to show thyself approved unto God. You know what lots of guys do? They want to study to be approved by the crowd. He's our man. His theology is correct. He doesn't transgress anything. Don't help if you get out of line with the theology or denomination. Study to show thyself approved unto God. Is that your desire? Or do you just want to be famous? Become a great preacher. A great evangelist. Have a great ministry. Study to show thyself approved unto God. A workman that needeth not to be ashamed. You know what they keep doing? The other week, two or three weeks ago, they recalled, what was it, ten million automobiles have not been functioning right for the last seven or eight years. So they're calling them back. They're malfunctioning. And they gave the dates. They gave the names of the cars. The ages of the cars. I wonder what would happen if God recalled all the malfunctioning preachers. They're not preaching the word of God. They don't go to bed hungry for God. I taught yesterday and this man came to me afterwards. Good night. I couldn't believe he prayed to God. I won't tell you why, but anyhow. But he said today, I got on a conviction. I'm going to answer to God for my time. I said, you sure are. I said, I was thinking about that hymn, Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee. There's everything in it except one thing, about time. That's what I thought. Take my silver and my gold. Take my feet and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee. Take my hands and let them move at the impulse of Thy love. Take my lips and let them be filled with messages for Thee. Take my heart, it is Thine own. Take my will and make it Thine. What's left out? Take my moments and my days. Listen, when you yielded yourself to Jesus Christ, you gave Him every moment of your life, you gave Him every penny that you have. It's not yours, it's His. You're spending His time, you're spending His money. As I talked with this fellow, I said, supposing instead of putting so much emphasis, not that it's wrong, you know, you go to some church, you go to hell if you don't tithe. If you're two weeks behind when you die, you'll have to have a week, not on your life. What's it saying in that same scripture about purifying the sons of Levi? It says about those men, bring all the tithes. It's the zzzz that's the problem. It doesn't say bring all your tithe, it says bring all the tithes. So go home and practice the zzzz. Not only give your money, give your time. What kind of Christians, come on, what kind of Christians would we be? Every time you turn the radio, there's somebody showing you a new health club. Expand your chest, you fellows, get some muscles. Do this, do that, do the other. Why aren't we as concerned about spiritual health? That's all that holiness is. Wesley says, to perfect health, restore my soul. Wherever I'm stained, wherever I'm crippled, wherever I'm handicapped, move it. God, give me some strength. Not physical or intellectual really. Study to show yourself approved unto God. There's no delight in the world like the delight of knowing the spirit answers, as Wesley says in another hymn, the spirit answers to the blood and tells me I am born of God, and tells me I'm in subjection, obedient to God. Come on. There's no second chance for a first appearance. You're not coming back to this dirty old world anyhow. You're crazy if you want to. I don't believe in reincarnation. The good book shoots that down in one scripture. It's appointed unto man once to die. This is our one chance. But in the mercy of God, you know, I looked at some of the fellows yesterday. Look at Spencer and some of you guys. How many of you have been to jail? Put your hands up. What a crowd. The rest should have gone. They weren't caught, that's all. Many of them. There must be a dozen fellows who have been in jail. Do you think they don't enjoy the emancipation from jail? Don't you think they don't know a sense of liberty we don't know? But listen, as I say, the second verse of that lovely hymn, Can it be that I should gain, was written by a man with an impeccable record. He's a giant intellect. Came from the greatest family in England after the royal family. There wasn't a stain on him. He had no crime behind him. He had no adultery behind him. He was about the most perfect man that's ever walked the earth since Nicodemus. What does he say? He says, What change? Superstition. Hand me down theology that is eaten up. Manny, you talk about Wesley and his holy club. Dear God, I'd like to have been in it. Do you know I have a problem with Wesley? I'm going to talk to him one day about it. So, when I'm talking, please don't interrupt for the first thousand years. I want to ask him a lot of questions. Do you know why? Wesley and the holy club, they prayed from eleven o'clock at night till three and four o'clock in the morning and they weren't even born again. He heard too much about the Indians. You ought to love him, Spencer. He came to the Indians in Georgia. He wore his long hair like Spencer does. He got down in the mud to sleep. There was nowhere to... And he slept in the mud. I woke up frozen to the ground. He said, I struggled and I got one arm free. When I got one arm free, I released the other. Then I released one leg. Then I released the other. And he said, Then finally I was able to pull my hair out of the mud. And I brushed off the light snow that was on me. And I raised my hands and sang the doxology. Dear Lord, if our preachers did that, I expect you'll get a fund to send him to Miami or somewhere for a month to recover. All he did was praise the Lord he hadn't died and go after the Indians again. Boy, you know what's killing us? Creature comforts are killing us. You know the biggest curse in America? Our wealth. Our monies. Kill these guys. Whatever else you say, that boy wanted money, he got it. He and his wife, they got fame, they got it. Now they may have to go to jail. I won't be surprised to do them a world of good. Let's see if they can sing and get out of it. But the God's going to answer. I'll tell you that. We're going to see a moving of the Spirit of God. I hope you do pray every day for our dear brother Joe Foss. He does a wonderful job in the jails. One of the few men that's allowed to go up and down death row. Fancy looking in the eyes of a man. You know that man could put his hand through the bars and strangle you? And Joe goes and says, you know Christ loves you? Who pays you to come? Nobody, I love you. They can't understand a message like that. They think everybody's a racketeer if he has a Bible under his one arm, he has a bank book, a Bible in his hand, a bank book on his hip pocket. That's what they think. But there are some wonderful people here in America. Teen challenge in one sense has almost eclipsed the rescue missions. There's a man in Ireland. He lives in Portadown. I've forgotten his name. Has a big furniture deal there. And he had a farm. Do you remember him? You don't remember him? You don't remember him? No, a short man, a short name. His daddy had a big business before him. Anyhow, he came to America and he saw lots of things. He went to big churches and they said to him when he got back, what was the most impressive thing? A church service. In where? Oh, well, in the millionaire church. The Rockefeller building with about $24,000 in New York. No. Where did he go? The cathedral in Washington. No. Well, what was so stunning? He said, I went to a place called Pacific Garden Missions in the center of Chicago. He said, almost every man on every seat was a criminal. Almost every woman was a prostitute. And he said, they sang the praises of God like I've never heard anybody sing in my life. Why? They'd been prisoners. They'd been in darkness. They were released. They were delivered. Were they going to heaven? No, they were not going to heaven. They'd already got heaven in their hearts. He'd come to abide in them. Christ was living in them. Sin didn't have dominion. Every fence had been broken. I told preachers, dear brother, you get people to the altar, they go out and they're smiling. They don't know a thing. They just say, Jesus, I'm sorry. Does that take rid of a million sins? Repent. Not only repent, but restitution. I said, I would have people stand at the altar and turn to the congregation and say, listen, here I renounce the world, the flesh, and the devil. I put off the old man. I put on the new man. I believe that even as I pray, the blood is cleansing me. And Christ is going to take up his abode in me. That's heaven. I remember talking with a girl. Martha and I were waiting in that famous church, Baby Simpson. I had the privilege of preaching there a number of times. On 8th Avenue. 8th Avenue, West 44th Street. This girl was coming out. She said, oh, you preach. About six months ago, you preached in the big Baptist church there. What do they call it? Calvary Baptist on West 57th Street. I said, yes. She said, I was there. God moved on my life. And she said, I gave up my job. I have a secretary's job in one of the greatest offices in America. And she said, I'm going there. The last six months, she said, I've been training. And I'm going to tell those people, he can deliver them. He can set the captive free. He can undo every burden. That's our business. In God's name. Our business is to get a nice, well-dressed people. Oh, look at the nice people coming to church. Lovely people. You know, the old version says, God looks not on the outward appearance. The new one says, He does look on the outward and not the inward. Oh, but our ladies wear such lovely clothes. They don't get their stuff at J.C. Penney's. Didn't mean no. They go to Decatur or somewhere. Or over to, what do you call it now? Neiman Marcus. What do you call those fancy things they wear? I always forget the name. Designer clothes. That's a symbol of greatness now. And how big your watch is. Not how big your heart is. The apostle is saying, bore your way into this Word. This Word will electrify you. This Word will dominate you. This Word will guide you. This Word will be the lamp to your feet. He says, you're going into a world with cunningly devised fables and all kinds of heresy. Get dug into this Word. And when the devil comes to you, do what Jesus did. What did he do? He threw the book at him. Jesus said, it is written, it is written, it is written. And that's the only answer. It's not what the professor said in the seminary I went to, or the cemetery. It's what God said. Do you wonder, this man had such a marvelous life and Paul had such a wonderful interest in him. Preach the Word. Be instant, in season, out of season. Rebuke and correct. They won't receive it kindly. How many people receive books, rebuked kindly? Boy, they tell you, who do you think you are to set me straight? You know, when they go to the doctor, they say, now doctor, I've had a pain here for about a week now and I want you to tell me the worst of such a pain. My mother died of cancer and I think my grandmother did. Doctor, don't fool me. Tell me the worst. And he checks her and says, you're all right, it's just cabbage. That'll cost you $50. That's what they say to the doctor. Don't tell me the worst. I mean, tell me the worst. Don't fool me. That's what they say to the doctor. They say to the pastor, please don't threaten me, don't disturb me, don't upset me, don't stir my conscience, don't take sleep from my eyes, don't lift the veil and show me eternity. Brother said, yes, they... He said, I was trembling today when you were talking about eternity. It seemed as though the veil drew back and I could see into eternity. I said, brother, you're fortunate. Act on the vision God has given you because otherwise we're so materially conscious, materially minded. We're so conscious of materialism. Not just the world, even the churches. I quoted that scripture to a brother, I think, today. Let me say this. Okay. One thing. Martha showed me a magazine a couple of weeks ago. A man had made a tour of China. They asked him what he thought of China. He said, well, of course it's archaic in many things, it's behind. But he said, what's the most impressive thing? The most impressive thing was to go into the home of a Chinese family. The children are obedient. Never once did I hear them answer back to their parents. They're diligent in their studies. In the schools you don't find any row like we have in our schools. It's a disciplined thing. He said, I was amazed. I don't agree with their philosophy. But he said, when I saw the children, how they are in subjection, how obedient they are, and how in the school they're so responsive. They don't yell to teachers and so forth. And he said, these were his words, they're not like Western civilization where children are spoiled and undisciplined and do just about what they want to do. I don't know all the answers about raising children. I was hardly a martyr raiser. I know this Mrs. Booth said her children never cried after they were six months old. Now they're beginning to say this. I call it, at six months old, the child knows who's the boss. If you pick it up every time it screams, it'll scream its head off. Oh, I don't like to hear it scream. Well, let me give you a little witticism here. It's not so witty, because I didn't say it. But somebody said, you know, if you control the child in the high chair, it won't end up in the electric chair. If the trig is bent, the branch will be bent. Even Dr. Spock has admitted now that his theories are no good. And the only way that we have to do is to do what the Word of God says, to bring the children up in the most holy faith. And I'm through. A wonderful thing, when you can say, the unfamed faith that is in thee, in thy grandmother Lois, and in thy mother Eunice, and I know it's resident in you, plus you have the laying on of the hands of the presbytery, you have the laying on of the hands of the apostle Paul, one of the greatest men ever. And yet this man is going out to face hardship and martyrdom. He says, be a good soldier. He's not trying to make it easy. He says, you're going out to a rebel world. What does a soldier do? He endures hardness. He loses all his rights. In England we used to say about a man, he'll sign on the dotted line if it's broke, if he isn't working. And they give him about a dollar. And the moment he signs, he can't say five minutes after, I've just thought it's over. They say, you can't think it over. It's once you've done it. Immediately he goes. He has no rights to his life. He can't say, well, I'd like to go to that field where they're fighting, but you know, my wife can't sleep at night without me. She's nervous. I'll tell you why. She may have to sleep for three years. You may have to go to Vietnam and not even come back or come back minus legs. Come back minus part of your body. You know, I get so boiled about the situation. Some parents are so worried about their children going to the mission field. But if there's a war and the son's called up, we call it calling up in England. What do you call it now? Drafted. Drafted, yeah, drafted. If he's drafted, he says, I can't go. I can't fight. I don't want to fight. I can't imagine Jesus with a machine gun cutting people down. I can't. Daddy says, oh, you'll bring shame on the family. You've got to fight for your country. They're far more interested in the battlefield than the mission field. But let me tell you, friend, it's getting more tense. Every area is a battlefield now, whether you go to Timbuktu or stay at home. As I say, this fellow in this report here says, 600,000 Cubans in Miami alone, 50,000 Cubans, 600,000 Cubans, 50,000 Columbians, thousands of Jamaicans, Nicaraguans, Puerto Ricans and Bahamians, all on our doorstep. What are they seeing? They're raised in Roman Catholic churches, rich and dead and superstitious. What do they do down the road? Will they be electrified? Will the word of God be just going through the sanctuary like a flash of lightning? Or will they sit there while somebody mumbles something? Where is the living word? Again, I say, I don't care about the numbers. I'm not concerned how many come. I'm concerned that, like the woman said to Elijah, I'm not thrilled that you brought fire from heaven, that you brought rain from heaven, the people fell when you prayed, the rain fell when you prayed, the fire fell when you prayed, but my child's dead. What good is comfort to me? The people are singing and shouting there. My baby's dead. Well, he said, I represent the living God. And he takes the corpse in his hand and prays over it after he'd laid on it. And he takes the child and she says by this, not by that, not by that, by this, I know thou art a man of God. By what? By the fact that he brought life where there was death. Isn't that exactly what Luther did when God reached down into the middle of a cesspool called the Roman church and took one of his own, their own people and cleansed him and anointed him and the vibrations went through the whole world and still go through the world. Because he rediscovered, he didn't invent it, he rediscovered the doctrine of justification. Century after, an old man by the name of Wesley in England rediscovered the message of sanctification. He didn't invent it. And he shook England. The Salvation Army came out of that. They went into 70 countries in 90 years, not 70 cities, 70 countries. Out of them came the holiness people. Out of them came the Pentecostals. And a whole bunch of them are as dry as dust right now, as God's my witness. Where is a pillar of fire over any sanctuary? I'd go a hundred miles if I knew there was a place where the shaft of holy glory is. And I'm going back to say this last thing. The Lord whom ye seek. Come on, are we seeking, are we seeking the Lord? Are we seeking miracles? Are we seeking a better state for the nation? What are we seeking? Are you really in your heart seeking God more than health, more than business, more than... Do you want God? Do you want to see a manifestation of deity before judgment comes? The Lord whom ye seek shall what? Suddenly come to his temple. OK, two things. Shepherds were watching their flocks by night. Then what? Suddenly there was a sound of the heavenly host. There's a streak in the sky. We talk about angels singing. I can't find in the Bible if they ever sang. They were saying glory to God in the highest. But one minute the shepherds were there like any other night and suddenly there's this holy proclamation. It's though the voice of God comes through every being in the sky. The Lord whom ye seek. Wesley says, Hark the herald angels sing. Glory to... Mild he laid his glory by born that man no more may die, born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth. That's the greatest miracle. A man testified yesterday. I heard you preach in London, Kentucky thirty years ago. I was crippled walking on my leg and he said, I hardly got in the meeting. And you said, if you want prayer come forward. He said, I went. You prayed and said, I believe God's touched you. He said, I walked to the church door. Do you remember the church? It had eight big steps down. I said, yes. And he said, Lord, I believe you touched me and brother Abner prayed. He said, the Lord said, well jump down the steps. Lord, he said, jump down the steps. I could break my neck. He said, I ran back as far as I could through the church door held it open and I ran and I I jumped through down the steps and hit the floor and as soon as my leg touched the floor it was healed. I never had a moment to pain sin. I said, that's great. I forgot to take an offering. That's wonderful. But when I see a man come in crippled with fear and sin and drunkenness and sex and vice and God Almighty touches him and in a moment he becomes a new creature. He has a new heart, a new disposition, a new mind, new appetite, new interest. That's the miraculous. And if we don't get that America won't last another ten years. We're doomed. We don't need Russia to destroy us. We're doing a good job of self-destruction. We don't need an enemy. We've got the enemy in the gate. We've got traitors in the pulpit. They're not preaching the word of God. That's why it says watch men cunningly devise fables and all these other things that they have. Well, the Lord whom he seeks will suddenly come to his temple. Wild shepherds watch. Suddenly there's a sound of the heavenly host. A bunch of men are shivering in an upper room and suddenly there was a sound suddenly a sound of a rushing mighty wing. One minute there was nobody there. Next minute there's this roar from heaven and balls of fire and the whole not only nation was transformed but they streamed out to other nations. A hundred and twenty from the upper room. Now you've at least a hundred and twenty Pentecostal churches in Dallas and nobody knows they're there. You don't have to advertise a fire. Let the glory of God fill the temple. Let you and I get to the place where we say I can't live like this anymore. I don't want to be good. I want to be holy. I don't want to be nice. If need be I'll be objectable to people but I'm going to deliver my soul because everybody I preach to I have to face at the judgment seat of Christ. The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come. Well when we go to prayer tonight here's some things to pray for. Spencer are you going up tonight? Well Spencer's going off to Oklahoma tonight to the Indians again pray for him and those that go with him. Jacob, our brother Jacob is down in Louisiana there with the French folk for two days. Anybody know where Joe Forth is? Well he'll be giving the devil some trouble somewhere anyhow. That seems to be his main interest. So we pray for brother Wilkerson and his crowd and pray for Joe Forth. Pray for Jacob. Have you any teams going anywhere? Last weekend in a month. Good, let's pray about that. When's that big jamboree or what do you call it powwow in August? Thirty tribes in the same meeting. Eight thousand Indians going on the warpath of hell that's all. Indissipation, drunkenness, vice, sex, twenty-four hours a day. Our dear brother and his brothers and some others are going up there. Let's pray for them tonight. Let's pray for them every day. That's the biggest disgrace to America. Two and a quarter million Indians dying, drunken, not even getting enough money to buy toothpaste now or soap. We're giving millions to AIDS, millions to homosexuals, and yet the original Americans are dying without God, without hope. They're four times the rate of suicide we have. They're about ten times the rate of alcoholism there. And the church is all sweet. They're getting new pews and all the rest while people die. We need a revolution. I need it. You need it. Let's cry to God. Let's call on God tonight for all these situations. Yeah, Bob Roberts. You know Bob Roberts. Well, he's gone, as he does so often, he's gone down to Belize. He has a back problem, but the guy, he's helping to put buildings up in his pain, and Dr. Walker, and a crew of them that go from Green Acres, they're down there again. That's a tremendous job. And his wife, Gay, is sick. She has something very serious. But anyhow, let's remember them. The word of God says, pray one for another that you may be healed. If you have to go, we're going to pray for a season. I hope you can stay, and if not, get as many as you can go if we go to meal and prayer. Thank you.