In this sermon, the speaker shares powerful stories of children seeking God and experiencing brokenness before Him. The speaker emphasizes the importance of patience and faith in God's promises, even when it seems difficult to wait. The sermon also highlights the impact of showing love and kindness to others, as demonstrated through the story of a man who gave food to the poor and was unexpectedly rewarded with a luxurious resort stay. The speaker encourages listeners to prioritize eternal rewards over earthly pleasures and to bring their "pennies" to the cross, recognizing the incomparable riches found in Christ.

I'd just like to say good morning, and I hope after this sermon and through the whole day you have a wonderful day and draw nearer to God. And I hope you're as excited about the word of God as I am. You know, when you've got something exciting to preach about, my co-worker then in Africa, his name is Ivan Burisma. And when he says there's something exciting to preach about, he says these words, And I love Ivan. He really lifts you up sometimes. In the Old Testament, before I started the sermon, in the Old Testament, many of the Israelites and the heathen nations, even up to the Levitical order, started going after idols. They used to worship tree stumps and other worthless things. And you know, in the modern day, we still have idols, whether it's sport, or money, or other things. And a funny thing happens. Many people, when they want to give their idols up to God, they come with half a heart. And they do this. They put their idol in the cupboard, they go to the front and say, Lord, I lay all in the altar. But all they've done is they've put the idol in the cupboard for a few months, just to feel better. And they go back, and then after a few months, they take the idol out of the cupboard. And they start worshipping it again, whether it's sport or whatever. But you know what? There's only one cure for an idol. It's not to put it in the cupboard. It's to break it. Destroy it. Rend your hearts, not your garments. Now I know you've got an idol. There's nothing wrong with sport, there's nothing wrong with playing a bit of soccer. I love it myself. But when you're on your knees, reading your Bible, would you rather be doing sport? Would you rather be reading another book? Is this book everything to you? Is there something more important to you? Search yourself. You know, Zuck Kuhnen, he brought this illustration, and I can't remember it perfectly, but he talked about a rich man. A rich man, he came to a beggar, and the beggar had this can with his pennies in it. And he said to the beggar, can you give me those pennies, and I'll give you all my riches. That's God speaking to the poor man. And the poor man said, no, I want my pennies. I want my pennies. I'm not going to give up these pennies. And this shows every single pleasure in life, every single idol, that you do not want to give up. It's like a penny, compared to the riches which Christ offers to us. Now I wrote a little song. I'm not very good at writing songs, and I'm not very good at singing. But I'm going to try, if you're willing to listen. It's an old tune. It goes like this. Bring your pennies to the cross. Count them all as worthless drugs. God will make you more like Jesus every day. Soon we will die. Fly up high into the sky. Then those pennies will be worthless anyway. Oh, what pennies did you choose? When you're Jesus, you did lose. What on earth makes the world seem so nice? For Jesus Christ to die. Wait now for us in the sky. Which pennies hold you back from his best? Then one day when you stand before God, and he shows you the wasted time, and the wasted life, and the wasted opportunities, because of idols, and what you could have been for God, because you're not willing to give up everything. Then you'll wish that you threw your pennies in the garbage can. Could I ask Ram to pray for us before I preach? Please. Amen. We are living in a time in which I think Christians, or many Christians, have fallen for what I call the end-time philosophy. The end-time philosophy. Which is that the world is in the grip of Satan, and there's very little that we can do about it. The world is in the grip of Satan, and there's very little that we can do about it. This philosophy looks around at the world, and sees sin abounding, becoming more and more, and then says it's hopeless. But you know there's two ways. There's two ways in which you can look at things. Peter Schultz of South Africa says, when David looked at Goliath, he did not say, wow, he's so big, and then run away. He said, wow, he's so big, I can't miss. There's two ways of looking at things. When you look around you, I don't know if you've ever thought of this, at the power of the devil over this world, it should make your faith sore. Why? Because God said, greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. There's two ways of looking at things. Don Cabal yesterday showed me a little card, which I stole from him, or asked, and which is written Hudson Taylor, Volume Z, page 348, Anonymous, Edinburgh, 1910. At the bottom. And these words, we have lost the usefulness of Christianity, and have aged into calculating manhood. We seldom pray in earnest for the extraordinary, the limitless, the glorious. We seldom pray with real confidence for any good, to the realization of which we cannot imagine away. And yet we suppose ourselves to believe in an infinite God. We have an enemy, the devil, who specializes in taking away our childlike faith. Like that message he sent to you, I think it's Hezekiah. So don't trust in the God which is promised us. The devil specializes in taking away our childlike faith. One of the ways he does that is, the first time your prayer isn't answered, and he whispers in your ears, God doesn't think of your prayers. God doesn't think of your prayers. He doesn't worry about your prayers. Perhaps those great men of faith, but he won't worry about your prayers. The first time one prayer isn't answered. I remember, I was listening to this person, he'd come out of a terrifying background, and he got saved. And one day he was sitting in the night time, and he prayed to God, and he asked God, please, I don't know why he asked this, but please can I see a shooting star. And then the shooting star appeared and came down as he had prayed. And I listened to this and I thought, well God has never given me a shooting star. So I didn't tell him this, I looked out the window in the night time and I said, Lord, could you please give me a shooting star. And the more I prayed, the less that shooting star came. And then the devil started to whisper, your prayer is perhaps your answer, but not mine. And I wonder, we pray for many things. So I believe that the devil has robbed us of the concept that there are many things in life which we will never receive because we never dare to ask. Because of a few prayers that sometimes don't get answered. There are many prayers in life which will never, things we will never get because we never dare to ask. We have not because we ask not, says the Bible. You know, I heard the story, I heard the story, of how Spurgeon's mother, I think it was after Spurgeon's death, sent Deal Moody, Spurgeon's Bible. And Deal Moody was very grateful that he got this Bible. And I thought there at college, this was some time back, actually this year at the beginning of the year, I thought, you know, that would never ever happen to me, something like that. Never ever would God, I mean that happens to Deal Moody but not to little Roy. No. And I thought, it's worth asking. I said, Lord I dare, even though it's impossible, there's no way I can see that ever you could do that. I don't see how I could get a Bible like that. So have I dared to ask you and I'm going to leave it at that. So I asked God and nothing happened and I forgot about it. Until the next term, a few months later, the first day of term, Rudy, ex-policeman, godly boy there at the college, came to me and said, Roy I want to show you something. I've got something to give you. And there in his hand he had this tattered old Bible. And he was excited about this Bible because he knew whose Bible it was. And when he told me whose Bible it was I was amazed. At our college they had a whole hall called after this person, named after this missionary. Claiming our missionary would never have been there if it wasn't for this missionary person. We read her books and you know, I was so lifted up. Because I knew that God doesn't only listen to the prayers of Dio Moody. He's willing to answer the little people. The little Roy. And the little Samuel. I went into the work of the AEB there, Africa Evangelistic Band in South Africa. And I remember having gone to the shops and I saw their books. And I longed to have a Strong's. I don't know if you've heard of the Strong's Concordance. But I saw that in South Africa it was 200 Rand and I could not afford that. I longed to have a Strong's but I could not afford it. And one day I just said to God, you know I don't deserve it. And I don't have to have it. But I'm just going to dare to believe that perhaps some miracle, I don't know, without asking anybody that you might give it to me. And just before I came to America now, just before I came to America now, someone walked up to me and said to me, it was laid upon my heart to give you this book, Strong's. And I do praise God. When I was flying down to Cape Town, you know I have cried and cried over one country and that's England. Three percent of their population goes to church. About one percent call themselves born again. I have cried more than over any other country I think is over England. And I wanted to get this truck. I knew that I was flying through, landing in London, coming through to here and going back. And I wanted these trucks, a certain type of trucks, which I knew that if I prayed for them I just believed God could do something through them. But I didn't know how to get them because I didn't have the money to buy them for a start. And I had to travel many hours if I had to ask someone for them. And I had asked people, do you have these trucks? And no one could help me. Eventually it came to the last moment when I was flying down from Boxburg down to Cape Town. The next day I would fly to America. And I did not have these trucks. It was on that plane which I said to God, Father, it's impossible, there's no way I can see you can get me these trucks. No way. But I'm daring to believe that the impossible is possible for you. And I'm just going to dare to ask. And I asked God on that plane as we were coming down. And there, the day before I left, as I arrived in Cape Town, went to our house. And at some point in the day I decided I'm going to sit down in my father's room. And I lay down there on the bed. And as I was lying on the bed enjoying myself, I looked forward and I saw a whole packet of these special trucks. Right there in front of me. I said, wow. And I knew it must be my dad's, but I knew my dad didn't normally have these trucks ever. So I went to my dad with these special trucks and I said, Daddy, can I have these trucks? And my daddy said, yes, I wasn't going to use them. Some missionary decided to give them to me. I happen to know who that missionary was. You see, many times you have not, because you are not. Do you get excited when you've got a need? Some people go down when they have a need. But many times, not that God always answers your prayers, but many times I get excited when I have a need. Because now, I can get excited when God answers my prayers. Do you have expectancy that God will answer your prayers? I love that old story of George Muller. A man came to one of the meetings and said to him, You know, I've prayed 40 years. I've prayed something like 40 years for my seven children to come to the Lord. Not one of them has turned to God. In these 40 years, what must I do, George Muller? And George Muller said about two things. One, pray more than ever before. Two, pray with expectancy, expecting God to work. For without faith it is impossible to please God. For he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder than the diligence he seeketh. And thirdly, he said you must praise God. Be careful in nothing but in everything with thanksgiving that your requests be made known unto God. You know, there's more said in the Bible of praise than prayer. How can you expect God to answer your prayers if you never praise Him for His faithfulness? There's more said in the Bible of praise than prayer. Not that you must go towards praise without praying. A church that doesn't pray is a dead church. So I come to the point now, what is faith? What is faith? Number one, faith is one of the most misunderstood concepts in Christianity. That's what faith is. It is one of the most misunderstood concepts in Christianity. What is faith not? Faith is not working up an emotion. Telling yourself, I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe. I've seen someone do that. Now you might laugh, but I saw a person with real zeal. We had gone to the prison to preach and we were late. And when you're late, they leave you at the prison and you have to walk back. Or at least this time. We had to walk many kilometers back to Bible College. And on the way back, this fellow student was standing there and he wanted to lift hitchhike back to college. And he said, I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe. And he said to me afterwards, you know, your faith, your lack of faith is the reason why we're not going to go to college. He pointed at me. He said, I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe. But that's not faith. Faith isn't saying, I believe. Faith isn't working up an emotion. I've many times prayed and God in His mercy has turned cars around without me even lifting up my thumb and picked me up. Faith isn't saying, I believe, I believe. Faith is trusting in the faithfulness of God. Faith isn't a feeling. Some people think you must have this amazing feeling coming up in your stomach and then you say, sorry I said it like that, but in your inside and then you suddenly feel I can do anything and then straight to the mountain, bang, move. And lands in the sea. That isn't faith. Faith isn't an amazing feeling that comes up. Certainly faith is not a complicated thing only certain Christians can have. Hudson Taylor said, when someone, oh I wish I had your faith, he said, this faith is there for the taking. He said those words and he meant it. I'd like to examine two points. How do you get faith? One. And two, how faith works. Now firstly, how do you get faith? Well you don't get faith. You have faith. When you were born again, you were saved by faith. It's called in Ephesians 2. And then you have the first seed of faith. What you have to do to that faith is not to receive faith on you again, it's to let that faith grow. D. L. Moody made the mistake. He prayed for months, Lord give me faith. He expected faith to hit him like lightning, bang. And then he read in his Bible, as you've heard my dad say, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And when he read that, he said I used to close my Bible and pray for faith. I have now opened my Bible and read and faith came. And he read through the Bible over 400 times in his life and he attributed every single revival that he ever had, every single bit of faith that he had for revival to come from the reading of this book. George Miller, who some consider to be the greatest man of faith in the history since the apostolic times, said I attribute my faith to two things. One, stoking myself in the Bible. Two, having a clear conscience before God and man. It's pretty simple. When I was first at college there, I remember thinking to myself, I cannot expect success in the ministry through the fact that my father has had success. I cannot expect success in the ministry because at school perhaps I was a good speaker. I can only, well then I thought, how can I, there must be some way that I can expect some success. And at that point I said to myself, these three things. I think the way is to stoke myself in the Bible, to give myself to prayer, and to be on fire for God, to my utmost ability. And for that moment, that's what I tried to do, to stoke myself in the Bible, to give myself unto prayer, and to be on fire for God and soul. You know, Psalms 27 verse 14 says, shows us another method of allowing faith to grow. Faith won't grow if you don't read your Bible, with exceptions. But it says, wait in the Lord, be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart. May God strengthen your faith, as you spend time waiting upon him in prayer, with a balance. Well I can ask you a question. Would he who died for you, lie to you? Never. So when God says, when you wait on him, be of good courage, he shall strengthen thine heart, he means just what he says. What should make you more excited to go to your knees than the word of God? Do you have to wait for a feeling, some amazing thing from heaven, to go to your knees in prayer? Or can you just stand in the word of God? But God will work in faith in you, if you go to your knees. God cannot lie. I wrote a little song, to a children's tune. He stands beside me, and lives to guide me. He cannot lie, who died for me. This precious savior, is my redeemer. I will always trust in him. So now we have examined, the root to faith, or more correctly stated, how faith grows. And secondly, how does faith work? How does faith work? Finney's definition of revival, was simply this. I don't know if you've ever read it. Revival, is nothing less than God's children coming back to full obedience to him. Revival, is nothing less than God's children, coming back to full obedience to him. And through his lectures on revival, most of the revivals after that, 90% of revivals across the world, started through those lectures on revival in Korea, and the revival in South Africa. Through his lectures. Jonathan Goeppel, when he read of Finney's work, he said these amazing words. And I've heard say that, Jonathan Goeppel was probably the most used man of God in China, in their history. As he read Finney's work he said, if Finney is right, if Finney is right, then I will, look up, search, for things to obey. And that's a staggering thing, for someone to do. And how God used him. You know there's over 3000 promises in the Bible. There's over 3000 promises in the Bible. And most of them have a condition. Most of them, a condition to obey. Imagine, when God, if, when God told the Israelites, if you want to take all the Jericho, march round it, for 7 days, and then the 7th day I think, go round it 7 times, and then, and then shout. If when God said to them this, and then, I will destroy, Jericho. Imagine those Israelites said, yes Lord, I believe you, very much, this is a wonderful promise, but right now, I'm going to my room and I'm going to pray. Lord I claim your promises, I believe Jericho is going to fall to the ground. And they don't walk round. You know many Christians do this. They claim the promises, but they never fulfill the condition. They say they believe the promises. But if you believe in a horse, you'll be willing to ride it. If you believe in the word of God, you'll be willing to obey it. There's no use claiming what you've never done your part for. That's stupidity. It's about as silly as, the Israelites going to their knees and praying, for something they've never fulfilled the condition, to pray. They could have shouted the first day then. God's promises have conditions. I'll tell you over in India, how a revival started when, one person dared to obey Luke chapter 6, in a city. But right now I'm going to tell you about a young man in South Africa, who I know, who decided to go on an adventure, of faith, through obedience. You know it's exciting to be a Christian. I hope none of you have lost that concept. It's exciting to be a Christian. We walk by faith and not by sight. Sure there's going to be hard times. But it's exciting to be a son of God. This boy, decided to go on an adventure, of faith, through obedience. He realized that, one, if he did his work before men, three things he realized. If he did his work before men, he had lost his reward. Number one. Luke chapter 6, the city, 8 says that. Number two, he realized that work, not driven by God's love, is useless. Number three, he realized, that God resisted the proud, that gave us grace, unto the humble. Just after one of those verses of faith, God says, in Luke chapter 17 verse 10, So likewise ye, when ye have done all those things, which are commanded of you, say, We are unprofitable servants. We have done that which is our duty to do. Don't think God ever owes you anything. He honors his word. He doesn't owe you anything. He loves you, but he does not owe you anything. And he resisted the proud, that gave us grace, unto the humble. Now this boy, started to search the scriptures, or as he was reading through, he came to Luke chapter 14, and there he found something that he felt, that he'd never met anybody who truly obeyed. Not anybody he knew really. In its simplicity. Chapter 14 verse 12 to 14. Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner, or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbors, lest they also bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the lame, the lame, the blind, and thou shalt be blessed, for they cannot recompense thee, for thou shalt be recompensed, at the resurrection of the just. And he began to think, and he couldn't think of anybody, who'd ever truly done this. Obeyed this verse, these verses. And first, he began to pray to God, Lord give me love for the poor. It's no use just giving something, without loving them. Lord give me love for the poor. And he got a great love. God gave him a great love for the poor. He went down to two people of a despised nation in Africa. Very poor. And he took them to an expensive restaurant. He didn't have much money himself, by the way. And in this expensive restaurant, which was in a sort of, I believe, no one, they had never been there before. He sat them down, and let them buy some wonderful cakes, and tea. They were Christians. And so he obeyed this verse. And his love for the poor, in the night time, he would go with warm drinks. He'd seen these people sleeping, under plastic somewhere. And with warm drink, and some bread, he would look for them. And even though, at first he couldn't find them, he wouldn't give up. He'd go on, and he'd look, and he'd find them. And he, as he gave these warm drinks to these people, under plastic, tears rolled down that man's face. That someone considered him. He started as a missionary, earning about, I've estimated about one hundred and twenty American dollars, per month, just to meet his needs. But he lived. He lived. To give most of it away. He lived to give most of it away. Not before men, but he saw the needs of other missionaries. And into their bank accounts, without making sure that, at the bottom, they did not know, who it was. He would give most of his salary away. Before I carry on, I'd like to refer to Job. In case you think I'm going to preach prosperity now. Job did a few things. I made a study in the Bible, of the poor. And one of the, this great study that I made, which took me many, many hours, and most of the years, I went right through the Bible, looking for what God said of the poor. I saw in Job 50, verse 25, that Job cried over the poor. Job helped the poor, verse 16. Job shared his food with the hungry, verse 17. Job shared his house with them, verse 18 to 22. He gave them clothing. His fleece of his sheep, he gave to them. He was hospitable to strangers. And yet God, didn't always take Job, through wonderful times. This missionary, who decided to start obeying God, not only in this area, but in many other areas, did not go through an easy time. He kind of misjudged. As a consequence, he often survived on shampoo, no soap, no shaving stick, cream, no toothpaste, at one time, no shoe polish. But he did survive on the shampoo. He did not believe in death either. Obeying one command, and forgetting the other one. Oh no man, anything. Gone to Rome. He wouldn't go to death, he was by his knees. He knew what Paul spoke, when he said, It is not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatever state I am therewith, to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things, I am instructed, both to be full, and to be hungry. Both to abound, and to suffer need. I can do all things, through Christ, which strengthens me. But God doesn't only give you the bad times. He honors those, who honor his word. And God's word, said that, if you give to the poor, you are lending to God, says the prophet. One day, he was walking down the street. God had given him such a love for the poor. You have not, but you ask not. If you want love for the poor, pray to God for it. He'll give it to you, if you pray and earn it. As he was walking down the street, he saw, he was going to give a check, to a man around the corner. He met a man in the street there, who said to him, can you help me? I need clothes for this fair, I'm a Christian, I'm born again. And he looked in his eyes, and he believed. And after hesitation, he took his own jacket off his back, and gave it to this man. And went on, to give that check. The next day, a woman met him, in a restaurant, and said, I want to talk to you. Could you come to my factory, please? Could you come to my factory, or my husband's, this large factory, that distributes to many clothing outlets, in South Africa. And I want you to choose anything you want. This was the day after he gave his jacket. Sometimes God honors people, according to his word. And he went there, and he went into the factory, and he didn't really want much, because he wasn't a grabber, so he took a few things, and when he went out of the factory, they said, no, go back. And he went back, and he chose a lot more. And they kind of forced him to. But another time, as a missionary, in his short time as a missionary, in the night time, he thought, there must be children somewhere. There's always children on the street, in the night time in Africa, poor people, in the cold. And he went to a McDonald's, they have them in South Africa as well now. And he bought, with what little money he had, or much of it, food. So he took a little packet for himself, and then took the rest, and sought in the street, till he found two poor people. And said, Jesus loves you, and I think gave them a track, and gave them this McDonald's food, in the night time. The next day, to his surprise, Now God does amazing things. The next day, to his surprise, someone suddenly, on their journey, said to them, tonight you're sleeping, someone they'd just met recently, tonight you are sleeping, in this hotel. Well he didn't know what the hotel was going to be like, that it was just a normal hotel, a nice hotel, but not too wonderful. He went up there, up the hill, and found that it was a luxurious resort. This was the next day. A luxurious resort. Twice his salary for a month, would have taken for one night, at that resort. He was staggered, he didn't look for it. You know what his prayer was? He didn't want other rewards. When he said to God, Lord if you reward me in any way, it's this, give me souls. I don't want any other reward. You know when, when people cry like that, God often, anyway, gives them the other reward. And the only reward they want, for obeying God, is more souls. And in all this time, I can guarantee you, and by the way, God blessed them in many other ways, financially they were staggered, at times. Although he went through times, where he didn't have toothpaste. God tried his faith. And all this time, souls came to God, in the most miraculous way. In a way that people were staggered. And by the way, I'm one of about, I guess three people, who knows about these things. He didn't throw it to all the world. Do not draw arms before men. I've been in Rochester, for a revival. I don't know if you believe, in the power of simply obeying God. In India, of which 1.5% of the population, profess to be a Christian, nowadays, there was a man, I think in the 1800's, a missionary. So as he went through, he decided that, he was going to translate Luke. He was going to translate Luke, to the people around him. And so he started, day by day, 10 to 12 verses, translating, translating. The next day, he translated another 10 verses. The next day, he'd translate another 10 verses. He was at the Livingstone Inland Mission. And then he had a problem, when he came to Luke chapter 6. He had a problem, when he came to Luke chapter 6. Because he knew, that these men, were notorious beggars. In Luke chapter 6, he read this, a very hard verse, to explain to notorious beggars. Give to every man, that asketh of thee. I think his name was Henry Harvard. And he knew that he could not, translate this to the beggars. Because then they'd come to him, and ask him for everything, in his house. And so, to make life easy for himself, he went back to Luke chapter 1, and he started translating again. But the more, that he thought about it, the more he realized, that God means, just what he said. When God said, walk round Jericho, he meant, just what he said. Not something else. And as he was coming back, to Luke chapter 6, he decided, I'm going to translate this to them. And I'm going to buy it. And when he translated this verse, these notorious beggars, that were the Indians there, came to him immediately. They said, can I have that, and can I have that, and can I have that, and that, and that. And most of the stuff in his house, was taken away. But he gave it free. Strange man. But they began to speak, among each other. An amazing thing happened. Those Indians, began to speak, among each other. And said, this must be God's man. Because never, before, has a man, given so free. Never, before, has a man, given so free. And a revival started there. By the way, they brought, everything back. Nothing, that they had taken, did they not bring back. And a revival started there, that at the end, there was not one person, in that area, who had not turned to God. Because someone dared, to obey God's word. Not one person, to be found, in a country, right now, which is 1.5 percent, of its population, that calls itself, Christian. Estimate. Now that's a miracle. When someone dared, to obey God's word. The second point, on how faith works. My dad quoted last night, the word of the Lord, tried him, Psalm 105. Here is 10 verse 36, probably speaking, in this context of heaven. It says, We have need of patience, that after we have done, the will of God, we might receive, the promise. And he's not only, talking about heaven. Everything on earth, you need patience. Faith is tried, through patience. And the devil, the devil loves, to make Christians, give up. He makes them, walk by sight, and not by faith. You want me to give you, an example of that. When I was in South Africa, when I was in South Africa, we had prayed much, and there was much prayer support, behind our college, touring a neighboring land. Going to schools, and churches, and old age homes. And one time, I was asked to speak, in a school. They still allow, openings in schools there. A school where the, president's grandson, went to, of that country. And other parliaments, nephews and so on. And there I gave, a very simple story. There was a couple of us, that gave different stories, to these, junior school children. And afterwards, we made an appeal. Oh we prayed much, we believed at that time, by God's mercy, we were right with God. And we preached, expecting God to work. And guess what? Nothing happened. Not one hand, went up. So God says, by, we walk, by faith, and not by fight. You know, every other student, decided to leave. But I, although I was feeling a bit down, in that particular school, I said to the teachers, I said, just tell the boys, if they want to come later. If there's anybody, please let them come. And where the other students left, I thought, I'm going to stay there, just in case one soul comes. And I waited, until they allowed to come back. They screamed. Not only did they scream, but there, among them, the president's grandchild, that had come out, in the, I think it was for salvation. The tears, the brokenness, of those children, I think it was minutes and minutes, of tears rolled down their faces, as they were in brokenness, before God, seeking God, and other different things in their lives. Now imagine I walked by fight, and not by faith. Imagine I'd walked out with the rest of the students. I didn't have the patience to wait just in case, God was faithful, as He is. Imagine I'd walked out, all those children, including the president's grandchild, that wouldn't have been able to speak to after hours in tears, I was broken, as I listened to the stories of these children. Now they sought God. Patience. You have neither patience, but after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise. When you have fulfilled a condition, your faith in God's word, will be often tried by the pest of time. As excited godly lady in South Africa, she said, you know, it's wonderful. It took five years, but now he's done it. How many of you are willing to trust God's word for five years, and nothing seems to happen? Faith is simply trusting in the faithfulness of God. Many people I pray to, you've got lists of these people you pray for, many of them don't come to God all the time, and suddenly they come to God. What have I stopped? What have I stopped praying? Many people, concerning faith, they refuse to believe in God, and His promises, and His faithfulness, and His power. And I can show you an example of this in the Bible. One woman touched Jesus' cloak, and she was healed. Jesus turned around and asked him, who touched me? How can you ask that? This is a big crowd. No, who touched me? And they found that woman, or she admitted, she had faith enough to touch Jesus. Do you know what happened a few chapters later? I don't know how many people realize this. When other people saw her face, everybody was touching Jesus. Read it a few chapters later. People were just touching Jesus. They saw the face of one. It lit their faith. Most revivals in history have happened when people read of other revivals in history, and it lit up their faith to see God. I've done a study on this, I know it's true, including the revival in our country. Anyway, as this woman touched Jesus, and through her faith other people started to have faith. So when my younger brother, I remember last year, I spoke to this church and I told her, Samuel, pray. He saw that evil shop, and he said to his daddy, please pray for that shop to close down. And after he prayed, it closed down. And then I told those of you who were here last year, that he prayed for the second shop to close down. And it started to close down until someone gave him a good reason why he shouldn't pray. He stopped praying and the shop opened up again. That's my younger brother, 13 years old. He dared to have faith in God. Me and another student in college, we thought, you know, if a young 13 year old boy prays like that, perhaps God will be willing to do it for us. And we obviously didn't have his faith. It didn't happen overnight. But we started to pray for this shop to close down. A shop that had been there many years, where we used to have open air there in Claremont, Cape Town. We prayed. I know we used to pray together and we claimed the Word of God. Two things. We prayed in secret. In our simpleness and foolishness, I should say, we claimed two things. We broke the telegram. We went to the principal and told him all the naughty things we'd done in college. He said, OK, we'll claim that word. And the other word was we didn't speak it. We won't tell anybody. We're going to speak God together. This is our little secret, we said. We enjoyed it. We're excited together. We have a secret. We're praying to God. You ever get started like that? Oh, we used to pray and pray. But something funny happened. Normally we went every single weekend to that Claremont. Every single weekend we went to preach on the street. And this last section, a few months or something, suddenly we didn't go. As soon as we started praying, God somehow allowed it that we didn't go anymore. So we didn't know what was happening. The next term, I think it was probably the first weekend of term, we heard that we were going to Claremont again to preach. My name was on the list for one of the preachers. They're at college and I prepared and I spoke to them. You know, aren't you excited? Perhaps God's done it. And we were excited. And we drove there and when we came around the corner of Claremont we looked and it wasn't closed. Oh, I felt down. I felt pathetic. I had to go through my whole sermon. I prayed a whole term for a shop to close down and now the shop doesn't close down. I've broken the telegram. I've prayed in secret. It's only God's destiny. I felt in my heart, Lord, I've been underestimating you. Why don't I ask that you close every single shop down in this city? And I said, OK. But I still felt down. And I said, God, I'm going to trust you anyway. I'm not going to work by sight. I'm going to work by faith. You know, as we drove out there, both of us feeling very down, we hadn't told anybody yet about this. We drove around the corner where this evil shop had been there for many, many, many years. Evil shop. And I looked out the window. I believe God has a sense of humor. I saw a little sign in the window, a little, little sign. And it just caught my eye and it said, Last trading day on this date. I said, God, my friend, you know what I read? It said, the last trading date on some date And I think that means, or I think it means, you know, we didn't know what that last trading date was. We went home to college and the next weekend we went to Claremont again. And there we saw, in one week, the entire shop was closed. It was too late. One week. Do you work by faith? Or do you work by sight? When you take the Word of God, do you simply trust in the faithfulness of God and the faithfulness of God to His Word? Or do you wait for some amazing feeling before you're willing to trust God? You wait for lightning to come down from heaven. What will it take before you will have faith in God? You know what proves that God is true to His Word? That He gave His Son to die for us. You know what proves that God is able to fulfill His Word, to keep His promises, that He has the power to do it, that the resurrection, the cross and the resurrection are what you can base your faith on. That He gave His Son proves that He's willing to do everything else He said. That He rose His Son from the dead proves that He is able to keep His Word. That the devil comes, and as I read at the beginning, takes away the youthfulness of Christianity. He loves to take away our childlike faith. Simply trusting in the Word of God. What more do you want than to simply trust in the Word of God? And God says, this is what you must do, this is what I will do. He means it. Do you believe that? I believe it with all my heart. God doesn't promise prosperity. Some people believe faith is going insane. Can I please have a BMW or a Mercedes-Benz or a Ferrari? That's not faith. That's greed and covetous. God says, and I'm going to end off now, lose not your simplicity in Christ. So many Christians get so complicated, worrying about how to get faith, how to do this, how to do that. They get so complicated that they forget the basics. The basics. The basics are that God works only in answer to prayer. Faith is simply trusting in the faithfulness of God, in God's faithfulness and keeping his word. If you truly believe God's promises, then you'll be willing to obey their conditions. Let us pray. There's two appeals I'm going to make today. The second is going to be harder than the first. But I beg you to bring your pennies to the cross. Count them all as worthless joy. The first appeal is simply this. If you've had a misconcept of faith, thinking that only amazing people like Neil Moody can have faith, or that somehow faith is going to have to strike you from heaven before you believe in God. You haven't simply trusted in the word of God. And God is faithful. And he said he'll also do. And you wish to start and tell God, sorry, that I have not simply trusted in your word enough to even obey it. And you want to tell God, sorry, and start on the adventure of faith, which is what I call it. The adventure of faith. Simply trusting in God. It's a reciting adventure. It's an adventure where you look to the Bible and look for what God has promised them. And then faith. Obey. And then claim. And then walk by faith and not by sight. Simply trusting in the word of God. If you want to start now on the adventure of faith, which I call it. And you want to tell God that now. From now on, I'm going to trust your word whatever comes. And I'm going to simply obey the promises. Like those of you who wish to start on the adventure of faith today with all your heart. Like that young man in South Africa who God has so honored with souls. Not before men. Those of you who wish to start on the adventure of faith, I wish to raise your arms. And I hope you mean it. I hope from now on you're going to go and look for those promises and they're not before men. And they're claiming through obedience and through prayer and through patience. Which is perhaps the most important. Thank you for all those hands. The second request. If there's any of you who have neglected the word of God. Who have neglected prayer. Because you're waiting for some amazing thing to happen to you before you go to your knees. Not simply trusting in the word of God. But God wants to have fellowship with you. According to one John. To be lightest in the prayer of the upright. Not waiting for some feeling before you pray. Just standing upon the word of God. He delights in your prayer. Those of you who have allowed an idol to come into your life. Perhaps sports. That happened to me a few years ago. Perhaps sports or perhaps something else. That you would much rather be doing than being on your knees. Those of you who wish to confess that to God today. I ask you to raise your hand. Thank you for those hands. I'm going to pray for all of you. But after that, those who put up their hands for idols. There were much less of you for the second request and it's harder. I wish those of you who put up your hands for idols to go out with me to pray. But now I'm going to pray for all of you. Father, I thank you that you never send out your word in the literature in void when you send it out Lord. That you are true to your word. And I ask that every single one of us from now on will have the ability to in simple faith trust in the faithfulness of God. We ask forgiveness. All those hands, ask forgiveness for not simply trusting in you. For looking for something amazing to happen. Not just simply trusting in the word of God. We ask forgiveness. What is not done of faith is sin. Without faith it is impossible to please God. We must believe that he is and that he is a reward of them that diligently seek him. Father, we confess our sin of not simply trusting in God. And we ask that you from now on would accept our little adventure as I call it. A marvelous adventure. The adventure of faith. Where we take hold of the promises of God and our weapons and our car, no matter if we're pulling down a stronghold. We must use the key of the promise. The promises. Father, we all say ask forgiveness and we all say that we are now going to trust you. From our hearts in Jesus' name. Amen.