In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of having a clear vision and mission in spreading the gospel. He quotes Proverbs 4:25, urging listeners to keep their eyes focused on the Lord and to turn away from negative influences. The preacher also references Matthew 28:18-20, where Jesus commands his disciples to go into the world and preach the gospel. He emphasizes that having a vision without a mission is pointless, and that a mission without a vision can become burdensome. The preacher encourages listeners to let their vision of Christ lead them to take deliberate action in sharing the gospel with others.

Now these days we are thinking of the question, uh, what is a Christian? And for those of you who have just come in, we have been finding out a Christian is one who belongs to Christ, uh, who witnesses for Christ, and who suffers with Christ. We're taking this in the acrostic form. We found the capital C, a Christian, is a child of God. Then H, Christ, is a ne'er-of-God. Then Christ is redeemed by the precious blood. A Christian is one who is redeemed by the precious blood of a durable Lord Jesus. And then we found the Christian is uninfluenced. Then we found the Christian is a soldier. And now we're looking at the fact the Christian is a temple. So please open your Bibles, will you, again, at 1 Corinthians, chapter 6. 1 Corinthians, chapter 6, and we're going to read it once more, verses 19 and 20, of this wonderful theme, the Christian as a temple. There's a wonderful Old Testament picture, too, you found back in Ezekiel, chapter 41. I don't mean to turn to that now, but in your own quiet moment, you can find the story there regarding, uh, the temple. Verse 19. What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought for the price, therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit with your God. We found that wonderful joy last night, the fact of the indwelling spirit. I want to give you three little odds that you can very well remember. There's another odd, by the way. Here are the recognitions of His presence. I'm referring now to the Holy Spirit, the recognition of His presence. I wonder if all of us in this very fine group on this beautiful morning recognize the presence of the Holy Spirit indwelling each one of us here. The Bible's crystal clear. If we have not the Spirit, we are none of His. For when, my foe, I ventured on Christ's atoning blood, the Holy Spirit entered, and I was born of God. Now, is that thought still before your heart, the recognition of His presence? Where? In your body and in my body, having been cleansed by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus, just as in connection with the priests of old, there was the ear, the tip of the ear was anointed with their blood, the thumb of the right hand, and the great toe of the right foot. The blood had to be applied first, then the oil, and the oil is a picture of the Holy Spirit. This brings before me the fact our hearing must be anointed for the Spirit's voice, our hand, my friend, must be anointed and filled with the Spirit's service, the Spirit energizing our service day by day, and our walk must be energized by the Spirit. We must know what is, my friend, for the Spirit to be indwelling us, energizing us, and we are walking in the Spirit, and if we are, we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. One, then, the recognition of the Spirit indwelling the believer. Two, we must respect His person, respect His person. Remember, He is the Holy Spirit, so everything that is impure, everything that is suggestive, everything that is suspicious, everything that is given to jealousy, or malice, or envy, or backbiting, these are the works of the flesh, and they're going to grieve the Holy Spirit. So today, as we are recognizing His presence, we must also respect His person. He is the Holy Spirit. Then, in this connection on, we receive His power. Acts 1, verse number 8 says, and ye shall receive power as the Holy Ghost is come upon you. Ye shall receive power. Now, this is very vital, the recognition of His presence, respecting His person, and receiving His power. Keep that before you now, and let us turn over just for one minute to the Ephesians, chapter 5. Ephesians and the 5th chapter, looking in at verse number 18. Now, as you've got that played, I'll repeat for you a verse from Psalm number 19. It's a very large verse. It says this, Let the meditation of our heart and the words of our mouth be acceptable in thy sight, our strength, our God, and our Redeemer. Now, remember last night, dealing with the temple, we came to the letter T, and the first thing was the tongue. The tongue. Oh, how we need the energizing of tongue. Isn't that true? The tongue is only a little member. It can be a valuable member, and it can be a very valueless member. What a little member it may be, but what a big fire it can commence and start. William Higgins was one of the greatest preachers that ever came out of Northern Ireland. He was a dock worker, working in the shipyard. But God called William Higgins the full-time ministrate. Now, I heard him say when I was just a boy back in Scotland, regarding gossip, he said, if I could get the tongue that started the gossip, I would nail that tongue with a person right through to a tree. Nail them right through by the tongue. If I could get the ear that listened to that gossip, I would nail that ear alongside of the tongue. Oh, my friend, how many characters have been torn to bits behind somebody's back. I've had letters sent to me from other people. It's one thing I'll never do. I'll never try and vindicate myself, and I'll never retaliate. I got that when I was a boy and a teenager. Hold thy peace, and I will fight for thee, saith the Lord. And I've done all down through my ministry. And I've had letters sent coming from other evangelists, and some from their wives, and from other people, who in a derogatory way, a detrimental way, have criticized the Lord's servant and his ministry, and God laid hold upon them and smitten them, and have written to apologize. I've never known a thing about it, so I've got the letter. There's no need for us to try and vindicate ourselves, nor to stand up. Beloved, you're the Lord's child. You belong to Him. And so, my friend, the little member of that tongue can set a great fire ablaze just by dropping a little word. So let me know of tongue, my friend, energize, and remember out of the heart the mouth speaking. So that's why I bring Psalm 19 right in here now, that the meditation of the heart and the words of my mouth may be acceptable in thy sight, for then now as I stand here minister out on the campus in conversation in whom, wherever it may be, my strength, my God, and my Redeemer. Now notice our bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost who is in us. Now look at verse number 18 of Ephesians 5. And be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be being filled with the Holy Spirit. It's in the present tense, by the way. Be being filled with the Holy Spirit. Now here's the only time you get this injunction. Regarding the indwelling, regarding the sealing, regarding the anointing, regarding the baptism, regarding the earnest, these all come from God's own blessed hand. And they're ours the very moment we own the Lord Jesus as our Lord and as our Savior. For not only do we know the joy and forgiveness of sins, but our forgiveness we receive the Holy Spirit. I wanted to get that. How often in our gospel teaching we preach the forgiveness of sins and forget that that very moment we receive the Holy Spirit. May God give us grace and blood whole with all the force of the Spirit, that double aspect of the gospel. The minute I know the joy and forgiveness of sins, that very moment the Holy Spirit enters into my life. But no, here is a command. Here is an injunction. And this, my friend, is just as binding upon us as baptism. The Lord suffered to come out from among them not to be unequally yoked with unbelievers. This is just as binding upon us as God's people as the other commandments. What does it say now? Be being filled with the Holy Spirit. I wonder do we know the joy of this? We may know it doctrinally, we may know it scripturally, we may know it theoretically, but do I really know this as a living experience in my own heart today? Now, remember, it is a sin not to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I know what it says in the very next verse now. Be being filled with the Spirit. See how it works out. I'm going to become a wonderful preacher. I'm going to move the masses. I'm going to see the souls coming through for Jesus Christ. I'm going to use my name far off lands. I'm going into the office, and the office is going to be transformed. People are going to bow down before me as they did with Phineas Bode. I'm going to move the masses like a D.L. Moody. You see that? Notice what it says in the very next verse. Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. There's one of the evidences of filling the Holy Spirit. It takes your tongue. What to do? Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. Then, verse 20, giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus. First of all, there shall be heart melody. There shall be thanksgiving, and there shall be submission. Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of the Lord. Then there comes a relationship between husband and wife, between parents and children, between the employer and the employee, and between brethren. Now, it fills my soul to know what God is doing during these days right here on this campus. It's amazing to know what God is doing. Rights have been, wrongs have been righted. Confessions have been made. Reconciliation being sought between others. Friend, the Spirit of God is working. I believe we're in the very beginning of revival, and that's where it starts. Revival's not a muddy in-gathering of precious souls. That may be the outcome of revival, but revival starts with you. Revival starts with me. You don't find a doctor and a nurse working in a graveyard, trying to revive dead people. They don't need revival, they need resurrection. But you won't find a doctor and nurse working hard in that hospital. The patient's got health, they've got a way of life, I don't know, but their life is ailing. They're in ill health. There's something coming in, my friends, endangering their health, and they're working trying to restore, to revive, to bring back to normal health and strength. May these days of conference just prove that to you, and prove that to me. Days of spiritual restoration. Days of spiritual revival. Oh, how we need these, do we not? Yes, we love it. So there we are now, speaking to ourselves. Our time's going to be yours for God's glory. I love that. Then we go to our Father's morning, shall we? Down to the next letter, the letter is E. And now we have our I. Remember, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in us, and the Christian is a temple, the Christian is a Christ one, one who belongs to Christ, and now not only must he speak through our tongue, but he must look through our eyes. Now my good brother Andy did not know the theme this morning, but think of those lovely hymns again he chose. And you'll find how to fit right in with the message. The Bible says, where there is no parish, the mystery vision is the blending together of correct information with Spirit-begotten inspiration that leads to definite action. Now, you didn't get that, did you? No, no, it was rather a mouthful. I'll go a little slower. Thank God for the tape. Now may I help you right here? The mystery vision is a blending together of correct information with Spirit-begotten inspiration that leads to definite action. I'll qualify that as I go on this morning. But vision is only of value when it becomes the inspiration of vocation. I'll go a little slower. Vision is only of value when it becomes the inspiration of vocation. As you, dear sister, being with us in the prayer meeting for the brethren this morning, because if we could listen in your prayer meeting too, we'd probably hear the very same prayer. But you know, I am so thrilled. As one brother got up after another, there was a real burden for others. A burden that the ministry we've been having during these past days might be put into practice in our lives day by day. And that's what I mean. You during these days of conference, right through these many weeks you've been together, may anointed boundless Spirit you've had here, who have been reclaiming the Lord Jesus in all His solitude, dignity, and glory, and beauty. Your heart's been strained and moved as you gaze upon the Lord Jesus. But brethren, my sisters, that is not enough. This now must lead to vocation. This must lead to definite, deliberate action. If not, it's just like rain in the middle regions. It won't do the earth much good. If you just get your mind informed, and it doesn't lead to definite action. Now listen carefully. Vision without mission is visionary, whereas mission without vision can be drudgery. Is that good enough? Vision without mission is visionary, whereas mission without vision can be drudgery. And the desire of my heart for your heart this morning is this, that we're going to have the vision is going to lead to definite vocation by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Now I know the late Dr. Fullerton said so many years ago, it's the whole duty of the whole church to take the whole gospel to the whole world. Did you get that? It's the whole duty of the whole church to take the whole gospel to the whole world. Now these days of conference is going to mean anything. It should lead us out in definite spirit-energized service. Keeping that before your heart now, let us think of the eyes again. Turn back in your Bible over here just for a moment to Proverbs chapter 4 and verse 25. Proverbs 4 and verse number 25. Now this will keep you awake, you see. By turning over these pages. Verse number, limit verse 23 for the connection here, keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. Put away from thee a full of mouth and perverse lips, put far from thee. Verse 25. Let thine eyes look right on. Let thine eyes look straight before thee. Now Lamentations chapter 3. The Lamentations and the third chapter and verse number 51. Lamentations chapter 3 verse 51. My eye affects my heart. My eye affects my heart. What my eye sees is going to affect my heart. So the Bible says, remember, keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. Remember Henry Pickering's little book for object lessons. Through eye-gaze to heart-gaze. Did you get that? Through eye-gaze to heart-gaze. And what my eye sees is going to affect my heart quicker than anything else I might hear. Dear very Perry said to me yesterday, sorry he's gone home this morning, he said, Jim, you know, it would be good if you take all these initial letters from the acrostic and just put them right there on a card. Each word for each letter. Now that's rather a tall order. But he says, you know, these years people are not quite so young at parts of the palms anymore. I didn't quite like that. I said, they may not be very young, but they're still young in heart. They're still young in heart. And they say they don't get it just quickly, just as quick as they once did. Well that may be true too. But you know, what hear the word, but it doesn't get you in the same way you can see it with your eye. What your eye sees is going to affect your heart. Now you all know the verse I'm going to quote. Hebrews chapter twelve and verse number two. Now according to the Revised Version, looking off unto Jesus, the off and the finish of these days, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame. Make the picture. Looking off, looking away from all else unto Jesus, he alone filling the vision, he alone occupying my heart's affection, as I continue to behold him, so am I going to be changed from glory to glory into the same image. Turning eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. You remember that wonderful scripture in John one verse twenty-nine. Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Now he wanders this morning to get the telescopic view of the whole wide world. Not just an old little airtight compartment, an old little gospel chapel or gospel hall or Bible fellowship chapel. The Bible says, Christ says, the Baptist said it, John the Baptist, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. But verse number thirty-six says the same chapter. John, seeing Christ walking, said, Behold the Lamb of God. And the disciples went following John, and they followed the Lord. The first one is just a mere glimpse of faith that brings salvation. The other is a continual gaze that brings practical sanctification. I looked to him, bearing away my sin, the burden of sin rolled away, O happy day. But now I see him no longer upon a cross. I see him no longer in an empty grave. We stood in that grave just about one year ago now. I can't sing. I prove that to you. And I remember with all my heart shouting, saying, for others were with us in the tomb, I serve a risen Savior. He's in the world today. You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart. As we came out, beloved, from that grave, I was falling away. Then a great crowd of people standing outside. As we came up, we began to sing again. Lord, on the grave you lay Jesus, my Savior. Waiting the coming day, Jesus, my Lord. And up from the grave he arose, for the mighty triumph over his foes. And up there in God's bosom were another group of people standing. And when we came to hallelujah, the old John hallelujah, Christ arose. Oh, friend, we never felt the rain, never felt. The Lord is alive, is living. This morning we present to you not a dead Christ, not a call, not a religion. We present to you a living Lord. But this morning we lift our eyes, we cry, look His face, that such is glory. See the man of sorrows now, from the fight return victorious. Every knee to Him shall bow, crown Him, crowned become the mighty victor's crown. And as I with the eye of faith come to you to behold Him, the ever-living, ever-present, the omnipotent, omniscient Lord. What happens? It says in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 18. As we continue to behold Him, not in vision, not by entrance, not by dreams, but through the revealed word of God. Next, my dear child of God, we urge you to read and study the Holy Scripture. You want to know what Christ looks like? Go to the Holy Scripture. And as you do so, and as you behold Him, you'll find yourself being transformed to the moral likeness of your beloved Lord Jesus Christ. Now, you go with me now to John 3, 16. For God, sing with me, come on. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Get the picture. God so loved the world. Acts 1, verse 8. He shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me, unto Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth. The focus unto me, the scope, the uttermost parts of the earth. The power, ye shall receive power. Christ went up, the Holy Spirit came down, and they went out. They went everywhere, preaching the word. Acts 15. And this is God's great purpose in this age. This is great program in this age. Not the education of the world. Not the civilization of the world. It's the evangelization of the world. What it's saying? God in this age is gathering from among the nations a people for His name. He's gathering out a bride for His Son, but it's from among the nations. Now, I want you to come with me for a moment. In your mind, in Matthew 28, verses 18 through 20, and I'll repeat them for you. But follow very carefully. The Lord, He's now standing on resurrection ground. He's crying over sin, and death, and hell, and Satan. The mighty conquering Lord stands with all gathered around Him, and He says, All power is given unto Me in heaven and on earth. All power invested in our adorable Lord Jesus. Then He says, Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel. Disciple the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I move you all away, even to the consummation of the age. Beloved, let me ask you very tenderly, have you ever taken time, only ten minutes, on your knees, for the two mad firsts of Matthew's gospel, and haven't asked the Holy Spirit to make them real in your life? And have you ever encircled that personal pronoun, I? I command you. That dear man of God, the late Dan Crawford said, often quoted by A. P. Gibbs, that no more without the goal. Go, and lo, I am with you. And each and every believer here this morning, is saying to you, and is saying to me, as my Father sent me, even so send I you. Right into that world. It may not be the far off lands of Africa, China, or India, or South America. Maybe right back my friend to the office. Right back to that school. Right back onto that campus. Right back into that home. Into that hospital. Into the labs. Into the factory. Out onto the farm. To our old family, and to our neighbors. And he's saying, as you go, lo, I am with you. So remember my friend, may God get this across your heart with my heart. Don't just see a face of clay. And don't allow the face of any man or woman, my friend, irrespective of their social status, their intellectual or scholastic achievements, scare you. The Spirit said to Jerry and I, don't be afraid of their faces. Lo, I am with you, and I am with your mouth. I want us this morning to get this, that we may not just see a face of clay, but see a soul for whom Christ suffered and bled and died. And from our heart pray, Lo, lay some soul upon my heart, and love that soul through me, and help me, Lord, to humbly do my part to win that soul for thee. No wonder that saintly Ebert Carmichael wrote so many years ago, O for a passionate passion for souls, O for a heart that yearns, O for a love that loves unto death, O for a love that burns, O for a love that burns. A little poem just flashed in my mind as I was quoting that. I have it here in my Testament. Stir into flame. Remember Paul said to his young son Timothy, stir up the desert within you, but if I perish in this beautiful, stir into flame. Stir me, O stir me, Lord, I care not how, but stir my heart in passion for the world. Stir me to give, to go, but not to pray. Stir the red blood, banner be unfurled, O land that's still in heathen darkness lying, O desert where no cross is lifted high. Stir me, O stir me, Lord, till all my heart is filled with strong compassion for these souls. Till thy compelling must drive me to praying, till thy constraining love reach to the poles far north and south in burning deep desire, till east and west are caught in love's great fire. Stir me, O stir me, Lord, till prayer is pain, till prayer is joy, till prayer turns into prayer. Stir me till heart and will and mind give all of holy life to you through all the days. Stir till I learn to pray exceedingly, stir till I learn to wait expectantly. Stir me, O stir me, Lord, my heart was filled with my love's intense fire, till thou didst give thine only son, thy best beloved one, even to the dreadful cross that I might lift. Stir me to give myself so wholly back to thee that thou canst give thyself again. Through me, stir me to give myself so wholly back to thee that thou canst give thyself again. Through me. Now Isaiah chapter six, remember this without a word. In the year of King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord high and lifted up. His train filled the temple. He saw him in all his pre-incarnate glory, called the John Twelve. He saw my train there sitting upon the throne. The throne on earth was empty as I had died. Saw the throne of heaven filled. He saw him revered and worshipped. He saw his majesty, he saw his power. He saw his purity and his holiness, and a little glimpse into the future. When the whole house could be filled with the glory of the Lord. He had seen my train, the chariot of heaven, fill with faeces that peaked and did fly. He heard him calling, Holy, Holy, Holy, O Lord God of hosts. Then he said, Woe is me, for I am undone, I am a man of unclean lips. Then he heard a voice saying, Whom shall I send and who will go for us? He had the vision, he heard the voice, and then he volunteered. What did he say? Here am I, send me. When did he have the vision? He was angry to close. In the year of King Uzziah died, as long as Uzziah my train was there, he had no vision of the Lord in his glory. I have seen the King, my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Beloved, may I quote to you a little poem? There is a man often stand attracts me in thy glory. His name is self, my carnal self, stand attracts me in thy glory. O mortify him, mortify him, put him down, my savior, and exalt thyself alone. May I pray lovingly, as you had the vision of your adorable Lord this morning, as you just look in for a moment, is there some Uzziah in your life? Is there some God coming in between and obscuring the vision of your adorable Lord Jesus? So much so you have not yet heard his voice speaking in your innermost being, and you certainly have not volunteered, and the valiant victory service has not taken place where you're concerned. Isaiah said, other lords have held dominion over my soul. Has he during these days been putting his finger upon other lords? Is that Uzziah? In quietness morning hour we're going to pray. The dearest idol I've known, for heir that I will be, help me dear Lord to tear it from thy throne, and worship only thee. There is a man that often stands, betwixt me and thy glory. Here it is. His name is self, my carnal self, stand betwixt me in thy glory. O mortify him, mortify him, put him down, my savior. Turn your eyes, look through his wonder, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light. 337. We'll go on from there this evening with our acrostic on the temple. I hope to finish it tonight if I possibly can, but it's a wonderful thing. I trust today our tongue will be so energized by the Lord himself, the spirit, that I may have a clear vision of our adorable Lord Jesus, that shall lead to definite vocation. 337. 337. There is light for our look at the Savior, and light more abundantly. In Seattle some time ago I was giving a series of talks for the CBNC on the radio each morning. I inferred to this hymn, I had not left the studio when the phone rang. The lady asked if I'd go to certain hotels that particular morning. And I did. There was an author of this hymn. We had a wonderful talk together. She loved the Lord. She'd seen Him face to face. Thank you.