In this sermon, the pastor begins by praying for the breaking of spiritual bondage and for the transformation of the past into light. He then talks about the importance of having a holy resolution to fight the good fight of faith. The pastor shares a story about a preacher who unknowingly drank vodka during a sermon, highlighting the need for authenticity and integrity in ministry. He emphasizes the significance of the Bible as a library of God's revelation and the conditions it presents for revolutionizing the world. The pastor also discusses the power of prayer and the humility of recognizing our spiritual poverty. He concludes by acknowledging the bloodshed and sacrifice of martyrs in preserving and spreading the Word of God.

According to the Bible, there are twelve gates to the city of God. But there's only one way to the throne of God. I love that word in Hebrews 1, I don't know what verse, about 8, where it says concerning Jesus, when he had by himself purged our sins, he didn't need the help of the Virgin Mary. He didn't need the help of Dallas, okay. He had by himself purged our sins. Father, we thank you tonight, it is with confidence that we now draw nigh, and Father, Abba, Father, cry. We recognize thee, Lord, as the high and lofty one, who inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy. And as that great American poet said too, we recognize before thine ever-blazing throne, we have no luster of our own. Lord, I think of David, ruling the greatest nation in the world. And then he cried, bow down thine ear and hear me, for I am poor and needy. And again he said, this poor man cried. Lord, I pray, help us to realize more than ever tonight, that prayer is the language of the poor. And we're all poor. Even if mistakenly we think we're rich and increased in goods and of need of nothing, yet in your holy sight we're poor. We thank you for your word tonight. We can truly say as we handle it, brothers, we're treading where the saints have trod. We recognize this book is about blood from beginning to end. We recognize, Lord, its covers are stained with blood, the blood of martyrs who died at the stake in order to get it to where it's come to us today. We thank you, it is a lamp to our feet. Lord, we pray for the idiocy of the politicians who have put out the ten commandments, the ten lights out of our schools and left the children to struggle in darkness. Lord, we think of those areas of the world, we understand there are still a thousand languages that have no part of the word of God, two thousand years after Jesus died. Lord, we pray this word may shine into our hearts tonight. It's thee we seek. We welcome you, Holy Spirit of God. We thank you for those holy men of God who wrote this holy book inspired by the Holy Spirit to produce holy people. Lord, we recognize the greatest miracle that can be done on earth today is that you take an unholy man out of an unholy world, make that unholy man holy, put him back in an unholy world and keep him holy. We thank you for the power of the blood to do that, the exceeding great and precious promises of God. And for the personal possibility that we may be vessels unto other. You've told us you do not dwell in temples made with hands, whether they're as costly as Solomon's temple or some glass cathedral or something, but you take your habitation in the hearts of men and women. Lord, we long for this holiness. As Wesley cried, to perfect health restore my soul, to perfect holiness and love. Lord, I believe that holiness is perfect health of spirit. We bless you for the power of the blood to cleanse us from all sin. Again, I ask you for illumination as we handle this holy word that we may not be the same as we leave this sanctuary. Lord, I pray with all my being tonight, make this meeting here, not in some capital city, in a little country town as it were, make this meeting a tragedy to the devil. Lord, let fetters be broken in hearts tonight that shall never become bondage again. Let the dark past become light. Lord, give us a holy resolution to go out and fight the good fight of faith. We give you thanks in Jesus' name. Pastor, I need some water, please. Thank you. Warm water. Warm, yes. I heard about one preach in a big hall, and he had a glass he kept drinking and drinking, and filled it twice while he was preaching. And the janitor afterwards thought, well, it's strange, he drank so much, and he sniffed it, and it was vodka. If you've got room, would you let those people in somewhere up there? Would you like to raise your hand if there's a spare seat? Good. I believe that our place in history right now is explained in the 12th chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews, where everything that can be shaken is being shaken, that the kingdom that cannot be shaken may remain. Arnold Toynbee, how many of you have read Arnold Toynbee? Anybody? Two intellectuals here, thank you. Arnold Toynbee is at least, I think, one of the greatest modern historians. He has to be, he's English. But he has reminded us that 19 times men have built what they called a permanent civilization, and that civilization has collapsed. And this is going to collapse with a bigger collapse than any other in history. God is going to glorify his Son if he pulls the pillars of the universe down. The sole business of you and I being here, and the sole business why Jesus came, was not that we'd escape hell. As vast as that is, it's a fringe benefit. Jesus came that we might give pleasure to his Father. Isaac Watts wrote 3,000 hymns. I like many of them. The best known, of course, is When I Surveyed the Wonderous Cross. But I like his, what's the other one I was thinking of there? I told you sometimes I, I'm not losing my mind, I'm losing my memory. Anyhow, he sings about the world, and then he says, In Jesus the tribes of Adam boast more blessings than their fathers lost. You know, in the Scriptures the wheat and the tares grow together. I believe we're in the midst of a false revival right now. There never have been more decisions in Christianity, and nevertheless disciples. So there are three classes of people in the world tonight. Number one, those who are afraid. Number two, those who don't know enough to be afraid. And number three, those who know their God. I'm not right in everything I say, I guess. Most of it, yes, but sometimes not. I had a young man in my office this week. He was so excited. He came from California, which is, of course, another country. He said, I go to a wonderful church. We have five services Sunday morning. I said, what do you do? Oh, well, we have a service from eight to nine. I said, what do you do? Ten minutes tonight? Say, Holy Ghost, get out of here, come back in an hour? Do you dismiss the Holy Ghost every hour on the hour? How many services do you have Sunday? Oh, we don't have a Sunday night service. Listen, the Sunday morning congregation will tell you how popular the church is. The Sunday night service will tell you how popular the preacher is. The prayer meeting will tell you how popular God is. The prayer meeting is the Cinderella of the church today. Coming down the road, some fellow came past us, one of those 18-wheelers. I don't know anything about automobiles, except they're too expensive to run. This guy came flashing past us. I don't know a thing about it. I do know this, that 18-wheeler did not, N-O-T, did not have a Volkswagen motor in it. Isn't that profound? That some of you guys are trying to run an 18-wheeler church on a Volkswagen prayer meeting? Without power. Old Bishop Montgomery wrote over a hundred years ago, Prayer is the simplest form of speech that infant lips can try. Prayer, the sublimest strains that reach the majesty on high. O thou by whom we come to God, the light, the truth, the way, the path of prayer thyself hath taught, Lord, teach us how to pray. One of the world's most famous singers came to see me. He brought one of those abominations, you know, called a guitar. Guitars are back-slidden harps. Do you want one of my records? No, thank you, I have a stack. Jesus sang a hymn, but the disciples never said, Lord, teach us to sing. He preached the greatest sermon ever preached by the greatest man that ever lived, the Sermon on the Mount, but they never said, they never said, Lord, teach us to preach. They saw his authority over death, demons, every abomination, and he was Lord over them all. But they never said, Lord, teach us to do the miraculous. Supposing you had a chance of experiencing one event in the life of Jesus, what would it be? When I ask students that, usually the most popular thing is, oh, I'd like to have seen him raise Lazarus from the dead. If I had one thing that I could share in the life of Jesus, I would have loved to hear him pray. Particularly that masterpiece in John 17. In the first five verses, he prays for his disciples, or for himself, if you like, and then 6, well, to 19, he prays for the disciples, then 20 to 25, he prays for the world. I had one of the greatest advantages that any human being could have. I had a dad who prayed. He was a Methodist. I was raised Methodist, that's the proper way. Not what they have now. My daddy never took me to a sports event in his life. Never took him newspapers, but he prayed. One night when I was 14, he said to my mother, who was called Lucy, that's why I love Lucy, and he said, I'd like to take Len to the prayer meeting. Oh, no, you won't be back till 3 o'clock in the morning. Well, we went. Two other men, my daddy, Walter Ravenhill, another man called Walter Dacre, and a man called Albert Barnes, not the commentator. You know, at 2 o'clock in the morning, I saw my big husky daddy take off his coat, and his shirt was sticking to his back, interceding, travailing. I never forgot that. I've thought of it a thousand times. Will any of your children remember you because of that? Or is your pastor the best softball player in the Christian league? Lord, teach us to pray. I want to talk about a very profound aspect of prayer tonight, that's intercession. And we're going to find some points, if you want to put them that way, in the first book of Samuel. Let me say this. I want to come at least three more Tuesday nights. One night, I want to preach on a threefold vision. Another night, I hope to preach on a subject I've never heard preached on in my life. I've gone to meetings for 75 years. And Dr. Tolles, as we sat and talked one day, he said, Brother Len, I've been to all the conferences in America, I've never heard one sermon on worship. So one night, I want to preach on worship. One night on a threefold vision. One night, possibly on a threefold prayer. So let's look now in the first book of Samuel. I'm reading from the Living Bible, King James Version. Verse 2 says, This man had two wives. Of course, you know, that was abolished in the New Testament. You can't have two wives in the New Testament, because no man can serve two masters. The name of one was Hannah, the name of the other, Penina. And Penina had children, but Hannah had no children. And he went up to the house of God to worship yearly. Verse 4 says, When the time was come, he gave to Penina his wife and all her sons and all her daughters potions. But unto Hannah he gave a worthy portion, or a greater portion. But notice, the Lord had shut up her womb. I believe the true church, if I can put it out, even the evangelical church today is more barren than she's been for a couple of centuries. You know, America has had some of the greatest praying men in history. I just wrote the foreword for a book. It's volume 1 of 3 volumes on the life of a praying patient of Portland. The floor in his bedroom was like this. He had no rug. But he prayed this way, so much so that he scooped the wood out of the floor of the side of his bed. There were grooves there. When he prepared his body for burial, his knees had great big caps on like a camel. Praying patient of Portland. Number 1 volume is out. It's 600 pages for volume 1, 600 volume 2, 600 volume 3. They cost you $24 each. Instead of investing for your children, buy them something substantial. I doubt if these books will be printed again. There isn't an appetite for this kind of stuff. Everybody wants 5 easy steps to do this, and 3 easy steps to do something else. You see, prayer is the most simple thing in the world, and yet it's the most profound thing in the world. Prayer is the simplest form of speech that infant lips can try. Prayer, the divinest strains that reach, the majesty on high. In fact, prayer is so great, it strains every vocabulary. We'll learn a lot from this woman, at least I hope we will. Notice what it says. In verse 16, her adversary provoked her sore and made her fret because the Lord had shut up her womb. And as he did so year by year, when she went up to the house of the Lord, and she provoked her, notice twice this provocation, that she wept and did not eat. So she's weeping, fasting, that's provoking. Come down from verse 7. Right, come into verse 9. Eli the priest sat upon a seat at the post of the temple of the Lord, and she, Hannah, was in bitterness of soul and prayed unto the Lord. You see, in true travail, there's only one thing wrong with this woman. She gets more affection from her husband, she gets the best clothes, she gets the best attention, but her sister provokes her because her sister has a bunch of children. And this woman has no children. And it isn't something that passes like that. She goes year after year and everybody says, well there she is, there's Hannah again, she isn't pregnant. God's crown is on her. And this happens year after year after year. Verse 10, she was in bitterness of soul and prayed and wept. No, it says in verse 7 she wept. It says in this verse she wept sore. She wept until she was sore. Verse 11 says, she vowed a vow unto the Lord. So you see, there's weeping, there's bitterness, there's provocation, and then she vows a vow and says, O Lord of hosts, this thou wilt look on the affliction of thine handmaid. So she recognizes her barrenness as an affliction. I'm not that much worried about Russia. I'm troubled about God. God loved Israel. He sent the priests, he sent the most amazing men in history, these towering characters in a classification all their own, beyond scientists, beyond anybody else. The priests, pardon me, rather the prophets of the most high God. There's a Jewish scholar in America years ago, he converted to Christ, a brilliant Hebrew scholar, and he said the prophet is by the very nature of his calling a tragic figure. He has a fierce loyalty to God and he has a compassion for a broken nation. We have no prophets. There isn't a prophet in America today, I don't believe, or in England. There are men preached with prophetic urgency, but that's very different from standing in a robe that Almighty God has put on a person. She weeps. She's in bitterness. And so, back a minute, you get all this parade of holy power. Sometimes God uses a king on the throne. Sometimes he uses a herdsman of Tikoa. They say tremendous things by revelation. And then you come to Malachi. Then from Malachi to Matthew you have 400 years of darkness without any prophetic light, 400 years of stillness without any prophetic voice. And then suddenly, dramatically you find a man come on the stage, a God-made man. As I said last week, every preacher today, you don't need a vacation, you need a cave. You need to get away from everything and everybody. We're all looking for shortcuts. I skipped last week, let me put it in. I mentioned Moses. He has three periods of 40 years. 40 years on the backside of a desert. 40 years after eating at the king's table, learning all the wisdom of the Egyptians according to the 7th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. He was a superman. He's a superintellectual. And God is going to set a little common bush ablaze to get his attention on the backside of the desert. He's there for 40 days. You see, he could never have made it from the throne of Pharaoh where everybody bowed to him, washed his feet, gave him adoration as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He could never have made it from there to go straight through the wilderness and meet Israel. And so God puts him on the backside of the desert. Oh, I can't afford the time. Well, Jesus, anyhow, was 30 years. Doing what? Well, sweeping the shadings up at night, brushing the shadings off his legs before he went to the house. He'd received the adoration of angels. And yet he's patiently there. And the Word of God says heal and obedience by the things he suffered. There's no shortcut to maturity. Now, this precious woman, she's crying because she's barren. She has a reproach. They re-heal her. They scorn her. Where? In the sanctuary. So, where does she go? Isn't it rather amazing? A super character in the Old Testament is Hannah. And in the New Testament, Anna. Anna was how old? 100 years? Poor little shriveled up woman goes every morning to the temple. And she cries there at the side of a whiskery old man. A man who's vowed to the people I will not die until I see the salvation of God. Our nation may have gone through repeated experiences of travail and bondage to foreign people. But I'm going to live and I'm going to handle the Christ of God. The man's nuts. He and the old woman. She prays and prays. Wouldn't it be wonderful when the rewards are given out? Just these people that we know so little about. But the point is that after all the revelation that God had given to Israel. And remember, as I say so often, this is not a book, it's a library. You can't get 66 volumes of Shakespeare in your pocket or your handbag. You can get 66 volumes of God's revelation. And all that's needed to revolutionize this world is here in this book. There's one reason why we're in a mess we're in now. We prefer anything to the Prince of Peace. He's already given us the conditions that can be met. Anyhow, this woman gets worn down. She's worn. She's weeping. And she says she continued weeping. And in verse 15 it says, Hannah answered and said, No, my Lord. You see, one of the great dangers today is that some of you might become more spiritual than your pastor. Boy, that's a trouble. You get more spiritual than your pastor. She comes day by day to pray. And here's a big man in his flowing robe and his authority. And he sees this little shriveled woman there praying and weeping and weeping and groaning. She disturbs the place. And he sums up, Do you know why she comes? She's intoxicated. She's drunk. Let me tell you something. The church never does anything when it's sober anyhow. Didn't they say about the men who came from the upper room they're drunk? Nobody will ever say about our generation of preachers from Presbyterians to Pentecostal. These men are not drunk. They have no suspicion. They think we've all had Tylenol. I poured out my soul unto the Lord. What did she do? In the middle of verse 11 it says, If thou wilt look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me and not forget thine handmaid, but will give thine handmaid a man child, I will give unto the Lord as long as he shall live. No raisin shall come upon his head. And as she continued before the Lord, only her lips moved. Prayer is so profound it exhausts vocabulary. Well, people say, I have a prayer language. Well, give me the verse for it in the Bible. Oh, Jude talks about praying in the Holy Ghost. I don't believe it's praying in tongues, though I do believe that you can pray in tongues. I believe there's a profounder experience where you exhaust your vocabulary. I remember a man in England, George Jeffries, one of the great leaders in England in my day, and he said, I pray in English, and then when I exhaust in my English, I pray in Welsh, which is a very, very dramatic language, and then when I exhaust in that, I pray in tongues. And then there's another area I move into. Praying in the Holy Ghost, I believe it's praying in the wisdom of the Holy Ghost, the strength of the Holy Ghost, the love of the Holy Ghost, and the revelation of the Holy Ghost. The thing that baffled the preacher was, this woman never said a word, but I can see there's something in her all the time. She's groaning. Let me take you back here, into Exodus, chapter 32. Remember this is, Moses had gone up the mountain, and he left everything secure in the hand of the preacher. The preacher had garments, he wore a plate on his forehead, holiness unto the Lord, and Moses thought everything was all right. And there's Moses up in the crowd, wrapped in the glory of God, and the fire of God descended. And he comes down and what happens? The Lord says, in verse 8, verse 7, The Lord said unto Moses, Go down, for thy people, which you brought out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. Would that be true of us today? They have turned aside quickly after the way which I commanded them. They have made a molten calf and have worshipped it. And they said, These be thy God to Israel. Leap over for a moment, into the next chapter, and verse 24. No, no, I'll go back, I'm sorry. The Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people Now, verse 10. Listen. Some of the most awesome words in scripture, I think. God is not speaking to an archangel. He's speaking to Moses, a commander, like he might speak to you as a pastor of a church. Listen to what God says to Moses. Let me alone. People have often asked Billy Graham, Why did God choose you? He said, I don't know. When I see him, I'll ask him. It's a wonderful thing when God reaches down and takes a sovereign selection and gets hold of a man. There's only one thing on earth greater than God reaching down to a man. That's when a man reaches up and gets hold of God. Let Moses in the spirit grow, the paraphrase is. And God cries out, Let me alone. You think God ever cries out when you pray or your church? Or just blow you some kisses to God in praying? Do you ever get so intoxicated? Do you ever get so drunk as it were in your spirit with embarrassment? Do people get saved in your church or are they drifting from other churches they're sick of? There are not many people being born again. Everybody's making decisions. They're not being miraculously born. If a man is born, it takes the blood of Christ, it takes the love of God to adopt him, it takes the Holy Ghost to regenerate him. The greatest miracle this side of eternity is a man who's really born of the Holy Spirit of God. He becomes a new creation, he has a new heart, a new mind, new interests. All things have passed away. But that doesn't happen anymore. For one reason, there's no birth chamber in the church. Part of the reason I came to share these nights with dear brother Gracie Greer is we miss him from our prayer meeting Friday night. He's always had a good input there along with some other precious fellows that are here. He knows a bunch of American Indians here tonight don't run for the door. Looking at one up there who was not too long ago lying in a ditch, drunk, drunk, snow falling on him and the Lord came and redeemed him. I love to pray with these guys on a Friday night. Do you know why? Because they pray with tears. If your preacher doesn't weep over the pew, let the pew weep over the preacher. Let Moses in the spirit groan. He isn't swinging wonderful vocabulary, he's groaning with groanings. Let Moses in the spirit groan and God cries out, let me alone. Go to the next chapter, verse thirty-one. Moses says, and said, Oh, these people have sinned a great sin and they've made gods of gold. Now I will forgive their sin and then you'll be dashed there. If not, block me out, I pray. Do you pray that? Didn't we say last week that Samson finished up better than he began and his final prayer was what? Oh God, hear me just once. Even if I die, do you go on record to a holy God tonight? I would rather die the next year if there's no move of God in my church or are you looking after a job? I had a chance to preach to professors and a lot of seminary students last Sunday night and I said, you know, if the devil has a danger list, I hope I'm on it. I don't want any honors with anybody but I let the devil be afraid if I start moving in the power of the spirit of God. After all, that's the greatest honor. When the men tried to cast demons out, even demons have self-respect and they said to the guy that was trying to get the demons out, Jesus we know and Paul we know. Fancy being rated with Jesus Christ. All these young preachers want to be somebody. Half the young Baptist preachers are waiting for Criswell to die so they can get his pulpit. Forget it. The greatest honor in the world is not following a good man as he is. Are you on the devil's danger list? Remember the hymn that says, Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saints upon his knees? A little boy said, well why does he let him get on his knees? He's got it wrong. But I'm glad I've known some of the great praying men in the last generation. If thou wilt forgive, let me look at something a bit tougher than that for you. In Numbers chapter 11 and verse 11, Moses said unto the Lord, Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant and wherefore have I not found favour in thy sight that thou layest the burden of this people upon me? Come on, are your people a burden to you? Hmm? Do you know anything about the burden of the Lord? Or are you just after a good church? I believe the most awesome thing on earth right now is to be a minister of the gospel. I'm not going to pray for Pat Robinson, he's backslidden. Any man that wants to leave a ministry to be President of the United States is backslidden. Or whether he needs to be King of England. The greatest honor in the world is to stand on behalf of a holy God, a living God before a dying population. Richard Baxter went to a town where in the 1500s and he said there were not three family altars. And by the time he finished his ministry, there were not three houses that did not have a family altar. Come on now, you guys, you pastors, you deacons, you Sunday school teachers. Do you have a family altar or do you have a Russian home? A Russian home has no altar either. We've taken the lamp out, as I said in my prayer, we've taken ten lights out of every school and so the kids are stumbling around in darkness. Is the light shining in your home? Do you get the children around your knee every day? Do you teach them? Do you instruct them? Get them to memorize scripture. I think you do that, Bill. And the children enjoy it. One of my sons, I got three amazing sons. One of them is very, very fond and has memorized many scriptures in Proverbs. That's a great book of wisdom anyhow. Verse 11 says, Moses said unto the Lord, Wherefore art Thou afflicted Thy servant? Afflicted Thy servant? Dear Lord, we're all after good health. Burden? Why take a burden when somebody else can take it? If I've not found favor in Thy sight, Thou lay'st the burden of this people upon me. Have I conceived all this people? Have I begotten them that Thou shouldst send to me, carry them in Thy bosom? As a nursing father beareth a sucking child? Is that how you carry your family? Your spiritual family? Verse 13, Wherefore should I have flesh to give all this people? For they weep unto me and say, Give me us flesh that we may eat. I am not able to bear all this people. Come on, tell me, ever, did you ever hear anybody preach on this text? The next verse? I'm not able to bear all this people alone. It is too heavy for me. If Thou deal'st with me, kill me, I pray Thee. Does anybody else have to die for this congregation? I can't carry this burden. If need be, I'll be killed and get out of the way if Thou will release blessing. Kill me, I pray Thee, if I have not found favor in Thy sight. And let me not see their wretchedness. So, let me emphasize this here. Prayer is the simplest and yet it's the most profound thing. I have the privilege of preaching with and sometime living with and particularly praying with Duncan Campbell, the man that God used in the revival in Scotland. And it was a profound experience. That revival in 1949 was actually birthed by an old woman, 84 years of age. You see, the ministry of the pulpit isn't open to everybody. You should be glad about that. I'm going to receive a greater judgment than anybody else and so you preacher, you better watch your step. James says we should receive a greater condemnation. So, here is this Highland preacher. These two old ladies were 84 and she was totally blind. She had a younger sister, she was 82 but she was crippled, doubled up with arthritis. They called for one of the deacons of the church and they held hands and they covenanted they would not die until God sent a move. And that's exactly what God did. The old lady said write to Duncan Campbell, he's God's agent. He wrote back and said I can't come because I'm booked. So, the lady that could read read to the blind lady, he can't come, he's booked. He said he can't possibly come in two weeks. Ah, the old Scots lady said that's, she said that's what he says. I'll tell you what God says. God says he's coming and he's coming. And in two weeks he was there. And he didn't know why he cancelled the other meetings. But they covenanted together. They would not die. They said our young people are dancing and smoking and sinning. They've never seen the glory of God. You know, there aren't, I guarantee there aren't six people here tonight ever seen a Holy Ghost revival. You see, Holy Ghost revival changes the model climate. We have million dollar crusades and they do nothing. Revival doesn't cost a penny but broken hearts and people that refuse to live. They say Lord, change my lifestyle. Change my habits. Change my sleeping. Change my lifestyle. I don't care. I don't want America to go to hell. But when revival comes as it came there, it came with awesome power. Duncan Campbell got a man to row him across part of the sea to an island. When he got there as a boy he says laddie, is that the kirk as they called it? Yes, that's the kirk. We don't use it. It hasn't been used for years. He said well, who is the chief elder? He said well, he's a Mr. Brown. He lives in that farm. Would you go up and tell him that Duncan Campbell has arrived? Campbell of the Argyle Revival? So this great big fella comes lumbering down the hill. Ah, he says good to see you brother. Yes. He says I got on my bicycle and I went right round the island at five o'clock this morning. I told all the people to meet in the kirk tonight. It hasn't been used for years. But he said I told them you were coming. You'll be preaching. Duncan Campbell says well, how did you know I was coming? He said how did you know to come? You know there's a telegraph system between eternity if God can get our ears he can't get them. You know a lot of the PTL and all that junk. PTL, you know what that means? Pity the listeners. Do you know PTL and 700 Club have killed thousands of devotional families? They used to sit and they laughed at the women. They have coffee and they sit round and they read the word of God. They don't watch clowning. They've devastated more than they've done. You see when the glory of the Lord fills a temple you'll never have to advertise a fire. Either physical or spiritual. You'll get the glory of God on this church or any other. You won't have a seat. But you've got to go through a period of testing. Let me go back a minute here. So they have a wave of blessing. Duncan goes and the church is filled. He moves from there to another place. And he said Brother Amiel the heavens were like grass. And the place was crowded. The preachers were there. They wear their colours backwards away. Scotland still has some of the greatest preachers in the world. Well you see the scripture lays a condition down. You know your trouble isn't the devil. It isn't the economy. It isn't politics. The trouble is you sabotage your own prayers. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord even with our clean hands? That's our relationship with men. And a pure heart that's our relationship with God. So the preacher can't get going. So instead of you know saying let's all get happy and sing in all this junk that we do to get our emotions stirred. He called on a laddie there. 16 years of age a high school boy. And he says laddie would you pray? And the boy stood up and he says Ah he says what's the good of praying when we're not great with God? And then he quoted Psalm 24 Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord even with our clean hands and a pure heart? He prayed for 45 minutes. And at the end of the 45 minutes he turned as though and Duncan Campbell said I watched him his finger was up he said Satan get out of this territory get out. I forbid you to stay here in the power of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost and the promises of God be gone. And the Holy Spirit came and people at the other end of town got under conviction of sin. They stopped dancing in the dance halls. America has 500 evangelists tonight she has not got one revivalist. The last revivalist in America was Mordecai Ham maybe I mentioned him before. Billy Graham was saved under him. An old man I had one night really good preaching this old guy next day said you reminded me of Mordecai Ham last night. I said why? Did you ever hear him? He said yes. He said you know when he came to town he brought a tent holding about four or five hundred. The third night preaching he had to have a police escort to get in the pulpit and a police escort to get him home. Why? He blasted sin in high places. He terrorized people. People's conscience became alive. One old poet says quicken my conscience till it feel the loathsomeness of sin. You don't have to have an altar call when there's conviction people hit the altar. They're afraid they're going to die and drop into hell before you can get to the altar call. That's why I say most have never been in a revival. So anyhow this woman prayed. What did she pray for? You say she prayed for a child. She didn't. What did she pray for? She prayed for a man child. Because in Israel then and even today the first if the child is a male it's a special sanctification from God. So she doesn't pray for a child. She prays for a man child. So God gave her a man child. No He didn't. Well He didn't give her a girl. No He didn't. What did she get? He did more than she could ask or think. She say Lord take away my embarrassment and you know what she did? She took away God's embarrassment. She didn't give birth to a man child. She gave birth to a prophet by the name of Samuel. You see you'll find here in the word of God over and over again when these people get into a tight spot what happens? You finally cry to the Lord. So many of these super people were born of barren women. You think of that first case. Boy if some old lady came up to you tomorrow and said you know I'm pregnant you'd say what? You're not pregnant you're crazy. So this old lady says to her husband oh he says we're going to have a baby. What? You're a hundred years old? And I'm I'm getting up that way. Can you imagine her saying to her servant Hagar I'm going to write to my mother tomorrow and tell her I'm pregnant. She'd say you never should marry the preacher anyhow they're all crazy. Did she give birth to a child? The barren woman gave birth to a child. What was his name? Come on tell me. I won't, I won't. Isaac, sure. But the classical you see you'll go along satisfied that you teach a class and you're this that and the other until you once taste the birth pangs and what praying really is. Until you're ashamed to stand before God and say Lord I never birthed anybody. I'm not talking about teaching them nor helping them at the altar. I'm saying that you get such a burden for a relative or somebody that you take birth pangs. In the 30th chapter of Genesis you get a woman there she is competition with another woman in the house. She's the queen of the whole of Israel. She's the most beautiful creature alive. Her husband dotes on her he loves her he gives her all the best of everything. One day she comes into the house she hasn't got her hair immaculately done her hair looks wild she hasn't the best dress her eyes are bloodshot she throws herself at the feet of Jacob and she said Jacob give me children or I die. I can't live like this anymore. I'm sick of the reproach. Apparently you're not. Do you remember when Paul the greatest intellectual the world ever had outside of Christ went up the main street was it in the 16th chapter of Acts and he went up the hill and they said what would this babbler say? He admitted he was no orator Apollos was the orator of the early church here is a man with a colossal heart a man that's going to out-preach everybody out-sacrifice everybody out-suffer everybody out-pray everybody and he goes up the hill and he sees these intellectual stoics poets philosophers all on the hill there Mars Hill and he went and reasoned with them. What disturbed him? He said I walked up main street and I saw temples to strange gods you've got every blessed religion in the world here but you don't know God it says his heart was stirred within him one translation says he was exceedingly angry he was overcome with emotion come on you go down the street what do you say? Oh that's a nice bunch of people that lovely little hall it's a kingdom hall it's a kingdom of hell not the devil you say you go to Washington see what? 30 million dollar cathedral the Catholics have put there a cathedral of hell we've more cults in America today as I told the class the other night we gave America gave the world Jehovah's Witnesses America gave the world the Mormons America gave the world Spiritism revived in 1845 we gave the world all these damnable cults we sought to the wind and now we've made the world win we've 2,000 gurus in America and the Mormon church makes 3 million dollars a day that's over a billion a year I got a letter today a man said I'm getting a lot of my stuff printed good but I saw a copy the other day of Plain Truth which is Armstrong's thing do you know the circulation every month is 10 million do you know that Jehovah's Witnesses circulate 5 million pieces of literature I think in America alone I'm sick to death of all this devilish propaganda all the Roberts can see Christ 900 feet high forget it I want to cross the Christ that walks in the midst of the 7 golden candlesticks that when I go out of service Sunday morning I'm speechless I can't talk about anything I've been overcome by his love overcome by his majesty overcome by his joy and peace we don't get that but that's what happened when revival comes in the Welsh revival the young man that was used there well let me go back a minute and follow this analogy through well look there are three things about a woman about birth first thing is conception the next thing is gestation and the third thing is birth you get the same thing in the spiritual level where people are gathered together the editor of Decision Magazine came to see me a few years ago so I talked about revival as I know it and understood it and read it and met others who have been through it in the Welsh revival he said Mr. Braithwaite you talk a language I don't know well learn that's the best thing I've been in those churches in Wales do you know the Welsh revival that came in 1904 the human agent was a young man by the name of Evan Roberts 26 years of age 26 years of age do you know how long he'd been spiritually pregnant? 13 years he prayed on the hills of Wales when there was nobody else to pray he'd seen the vision of his nation lost without God and without hope they're a very religious people you can go into church today and the man isn't even saved if you read the 23rd Psalm you'll break into tears he's a wonderful voice he read it like this the Lord my shepherd I shall not want it maketh me to lie down and grieve past this he restoreth my soul he'll heal it boy you'd shame any Shakespearean actor they're very religious but without God this young man would go into a hall he wouldn't let them photograph him I'll tell you how powerful the ministry was supposing you've been living in London and I say to you brother where are you going Sunday oh I'm going down I'm going down to hear F.B. Meyer where are you going oh I'm going to the Salvation Army to hear a hellfire preacher by the name of William Booth oh no I'm going to St. Paul's Cathedral on Sunday afternoon there's a man called Dr. Clifford he gets three thousand people every Sunday afternoon no dramatics no histrionics straightforward preaching of the word of God or you could go down the road and hear Spurgeon or you could go hear the greatest preacher in the world at that time Joseph Parker there were all these selections to go to and yet when the fire of God fell in Wales the precious leader of the Salvation Army William Booth went to see the fire falling he went to sit at the feet of a 26 year old young man Campbell Morgan the greatest expositor in the world went to hear him again William Booth went to hear him Joseph Parker went to hear him here's this 26 year old young man almost no Bible teaching he'd been to God's University Bush University where he takes men like Moses and he comes back in the power of the Holy Ghost he wouldn't let them photograph him he wouldn't let people interview him when Dr. F.B. Meyer wanted to talk he said I'm so wrapped up in God I cannot talk to people he wouldn't even talk to dignitaries and they thought he was snobbish dear God some of you preachers you'd sit down like the Catholic if the woman told you to forget it stand up before God honour God and he'll honour you anyhow here's this young man 26 years of age the church is crowded 800 people you know there are two kinds of stillness one it creates it creates the other kills in this day we're afraid of stillness I'd like to go back to some of the old Quaker meetings I've been in one where the whole congregation sits for an hour if need be until the spirit moves on somebody and then when he moves he's the key and the thing goes through alright so this young man walks in the church 800 people have been there for more than an hour with their heads bowed not expecting Evan Roberts to come expecting God to come and he came to the front seat and this young 26 year old preacher he'd never been taught the skills of homiletics or exegesis he just had anointing he sat on that front pew for 3 solid hours and never said a word could you imagine one of the TV preachers doing that oh we can't wait on God we're paying $50 a minute for this TV program to hell with the program give God a chance he sat there for 3 solid hours and then he stood up and preached for 15 minutes the glory of God came what happened? he was so overwhelmed he had to preach the next day he walked out of the sanctuary and he laid on his belly all night interceding for the next day's meeting the congregation stayed until 3 in the morning you see when the Holy Ghost is on a meeting you don't send the Holy Ghost home you stay there let others go if they want stay and have dealings with God ok so this woman is pregnant in the newspaper in England it would say the Queen has cancelled all her engagements for the next 10 months oh boy that's an announcement she's pregnant she likes to ride horses she can't ride horses you remember when Mrs Kennedy was pregnant she was skilled I understand at water skiing and she said no, no change my calendar she didn't want to water ski in case she had an accident that ski might come and hit that unborn child immediately the woman is pregnant her whole attitude is changed her world is changed her thinking is changed her lifestyle is changed her eating is changed her social calendar is changed we're not going to have revival by the way we want it neither in this church or any other you bond together to meet in this church or your church at 6 or 7 every morning it will cost something well an experience of God that costs nothing does nothing and is worth nothing it cost Jesus a lot to come from heaven too have you thought of that little pregnant girl growing up with a big belly and some old parasite he says look that little tramp he knows she's not married I talked to Joseph the other day and he says he doesn't know a thing about it I guess he's one of those German soldiers up the road or somebody got her pregnant ever thought of the reproach ever thought of Jesus when he started with the intellectuals what did they say they said we were not born of fornication in other words you're a bastard it's following all his life why do you expect better treatment from this world than it gave Jesus