In this sermon, the preacher discusses the importance of having a strong relationship with God and with fellow believers. He shares a story about a week of prayer in a church where revival broke out after a powerful sermon was read. The preacher emphasizes the need for genuine hunger and thirst for God's presence and revival. He also mentions the current state of his home country, South Africa, and the alarming rate of crime and violence. The sermon concludes with a reminder to seek God in the secret place and to prioritize prayer for revival.

You know, it's sometimes so difficult to try and share with people who are in ministry because they're supposed to know everything. Most of the time they don't know a thing anyway, you know. But the other thing people sometimes say to me, so, after all these many years of trying to minister the Word of God, and you know, I don't think it's us ministering the Word of God, it's the Word of God ministering us. I often say to people, it's not the times that we spend with God that's the issue. Someone once said, the secret of praying is praying a secret. It's not the times that we spend with God, it's the times that God is spending with us that makes the difference. But people sometimes say, after all these years do you still get butterflies? And I always smile and say to them, you know, the only difference is they fly on formation. And I want to say to you, it's not easy to take these two sessions and to deal with... I was out to China, you know. I don't know if you realize that the last year in China, more than 680,000 people have come to Christ. More than 80% of the pastors have been imprisoned. And when you go to those countries, I mean, they're so strong spiritually, they're weak theologically, because they don't have the books that we would have to be exposed to. But when you go there, you feel you just need to sit at their feet and learn from those people. But it's great to be here. And when Eugene and Dr. Cook were speaking about Peru, January of this year when we were in Peru, you know, these different countries, you speak through translators. And I had a wonderful man who was translating for me. His name was Francisco Beltran. The first time that I was in a country where in 18 meetings we saw God breaking through in every single gathering. There was not a meeting where the Spirit of God didn't break through. I think one morning we dealt with about 450 pastors in one of the conferences, Christian Mystery Alliance, and the Spirit of God broke through one morning. We were in the midst of an organized disorder. I mean, God came to visit us. There was such a brokenness in my own heart. I had to stop because I just couldn't speak anymore because of the sense of the dealings of God. And we said to these Peruvian pastors, just leave and find a place anywhere in this campground. And I've got pictures of coming out of this conference hall in the mountains of Peru of these pastors all over the place just weeping in the presence of God. And my translator, I was sharing in one of the sessions about those two staggering statements in the Old Testament about Moses, the Bible says, he wished not that the Lord, Moses wished not that his face was shining. And so my translator translated that to these Christian Mystery Alliance pastors. And there was a famous man in the Christian Mystery Alliance whose name is A.B. Simpson. In fact, he was the founder. And then I mentioned in my second statement, and I said, there was another man. And the Bible is saying about this man that he wished not that the Lord departed from him. And I said, his name was Samson. And my translator mixed it up and he said, his name was A.B. Simpson. And you know, these pastors, they just burst out laughing because they realized that he totally missed it, you know. You know, I think we've heard so much this evening and we can spend some time in prayer together. You know, if we can't get through to God, how in the world are we going to get through to people? And someone once said that he that often speaks to God about people is often going to speak to people about God. And I believe in my heart that the reason why there is not a spirit of prayer in this North American continent is simply because we don't believe that prayer is going to make a difference. And there's nothing spectacular about prayer. It's hard work. You can't separate the answer of prayer from the dealings of God in your own heart, in your own life. Father, in our hearts, it's been so blessed tonight as we have been exposed to the different testimonies and the things that we have been able to share with one another. And Lord, as I was listening to just that which God has brought us through, I was reminded of the words of Alan Redpath, who so often used to say that God always creates a hospital for those who will be allowed to be hurt in any way. And we are so grateful that although we are coming from different backgrounds, you have given unto us a testimony. God, the reason why we have come together this weekend is because there is in our heart this sense of priority that we long to be in the midst of an outpouring of the Spirit of God and revival. And Father, we confess again this Friday night in your presence that 20 minutes of this reality of the visitation of God will do more for us than all the years of the things that we have tried to accomplish for you. Father God, we confess tonight again in your presence that His preaching in itself would have been able to bring revival, that the church in Canada tonight would have been ablaze for God. Lord, if our messages or our preaching would have been able to save souls, this country tonight would have been born of the Spirit of God. And Lord, we confess that there is something that we desperately miss, and it's this understanding of a commitment to seek the Lord of the harvest and to have a spirit of prayer resting upon us, and for God to come and visit us and so pour out upon us His Spirit. Father, you said unto us that if my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin, and I will heal their land. And Lord, there are some wonderful concepts in those verses, but what we want to say to you this Friday night at the outset of our weekend together is that we want to hear from heaven, and you will forgive our sin, and you will heal our land. Lord, I'm so grateful that you said unto us, do not despise the days of small things. And Father, I've come with a sense of expectation to this weekend here with CRF, and I've set myself in such a way that the wind of the Spirit of God is going to come that we want to launch out into the ocean of the possibilities of the grace of God. And so Father, we say to you this Friday night, we didn't come to this weekend because we had nothing else to do, but God, we have come to this weekend because we want to meet with you. And so we ask you that you will prepare our hearts. Lord, I was reminded that the Old Testament is saying unto us, break up your fallow ground. It is time to seek the Lord. And we thank you for this beautiful Hebrew interpretation of this fallow ground, that this is not ground that has never been plowed, but this is a land that has been plowed, and yet it has not been freshly tilted. And we ask tonight in Jesus' name, in the midst of the fact that many of us have spent hours on the road today, and many of us, we feel the strain emotionally and physically. God, isn't it possible that in the closing moments of this evening that you will just quicken our spirits, and just visit us with the greatness of your Word. We ask that you will sanctify, Lord, I always remember Dick Sipley praying that you would sanctify the room in which we find ourselves. We pray that you will cleanse this little room. We ask that you will capture our hearts and our minds. And God, we pray again tonight with the Puritans of old, Father, that we will not just be informed by Scripture, but oh, we pray that we will be inflamed. We ask that we will be like those two disciples on the way to Emos, that when you departed out of their presence, that they turned to one another and they said, did not our hearts burn within us when he spoke to us on the way. And Father, we pray at the outset of this weekend that you will give us the burning heart. And we want to know a sense of brokenness in our midst. And we want to come to grips with the purity and the cleansing efficacy of the blood. And we want the realization of the fire of God that will so set us apart unto yourself, that we will become intoxicated and saturated with the supremacy of the greatness of the life of Christ. Bless your word, Lord, we love this book. Father, we know so much about this book, and yet it knows so little about us. But I pray tonight that as we ponder upon the Scriptures, oh, that the Spirit of God will come, and that you will breathe upon the Scriptures, and that it will purify our hearts, and set us ablaze for the Lord Jesus. In Jesus' name, Amen. But let's turn to Acts chapter 2, and let's just read from verse number 1. And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as if a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as a fire that sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. And they were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, out of every nation other heaven. Now when this noise abroad, a multitude came together, and they were confounded because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed, and they marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans? And how hear we every man in our own tongues, wherein we were born? Parthians, and the Medes, and the Elamites, the dwellers of Mesopotamia and Judea, Cappadocia and Pontus in Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, and Egypt, and parts of Libya about Cyrene, strangers of Rome, and proselytes. Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our own tongues the wonderful works of God. And they were all amazed, and they were in doubt, saying one to another, What mean of this? Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine. But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and said unto them, Ye men of Judea, all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, Be this known unto you, and hearken unto my words. For these are not drunken, as you suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. And it shall come to pass in the last days, sayeth God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. And on my servants and my handmaidens I will pour out of those days of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath, blood, and fire, and vapor, and smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord comes. And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. You know, I'm sure every single one of us who are here over this weekend have deep down in our hearts this great, unbelievable, burning desire. And that is to be in the midst of the movement of the Spirit of God. And I really trust tonight that you've never lost the brokenness for the possibilities of God pouring out His Spirit in Revival. I've come to the place where there's a deep fear in my heart for Revival, because I don't think we realize what it is that is going to cost us if God is going to send to us a God-sent Revival. I was thinking of the life of Jonathan Edwards, you know, the great George Whitefield, when he was preaching in the open air in Whitefield, with the man that spoke to what was the 27,000 people in Cumberslain in Scotland. The man that used to pray and said, God give me souls, or take my soul away. And Jonathan Edwards, the young Edwards, did not want to go and listen to Whitefield when he was preaching in New England. And Ian Murray in the biography of Jonathan Edwards in Whitefield made the statement that eventually there were people that persuaded the young Edwards to go and listen to Whitefield as he was preaching. And this is what Ian Murray said. He said that as he was standing in the distance listening to Whitefield preaching, he was standing under a tree and he was holding on to this tree with the tears just streaming down his cheeks. And God began to stir him on this possibility of the reality of Revival. And you know the story of how the young Jonathan Edwards turned around and went into the vestry of his church and spent, as they say, three days and three nights alone with God. And God gave him this message or this sermon, sinners in the hands of an angry God. And how Edwards, who was no great dynamic preacher, was one of the greatest Christian philosophers that ever lived, I believe. But now he got up this Sunday morning in that church of more than 800 people that he was ministering to, and all he did was to stand up amongst them and he was reading that sermon, sinners in the hands of an angry God. Suddenly the Spirit of God broke into that service. And how the people who sat there said, it was as if we were looking into the eyes of God. How men and women were clinging to the pillars of the church, crying with this concept that they were sliding into the reality of hell. And now in one Sunday morning service, in one service, 437 people were swept into the Kingdom of God. When God came in revival. And I trust, you know, because that's why Canadian Revival Fellowship is existing. Because deep in our hearts is there this sense of passion, this cry that would come from the lips of the psalmist, that he would say, oh that thou would revive us again, so that thy people may rejoice. I think it's possible that if we read the history of revivals, if it's in the Old Testament or the New Testament, or in the early history of the church, or through the Reformation, or in the life of the ministry of the Puritans, or in the lives of the Westies and the Whitefields, and in recent years, I think it's possible that if God is going to send us revival, that it's possible that it will come in a way that none of us was expected to come. The chance that in spirit is to say, one of the great surprises in heaven one day, is that the people that we expect to be there is not going to be there, and the ones that we don't expect to be there is going to be there. And I think that when we pray for revival, and when we ask God to come to us, you know it's this same old principle, that what needs to happen is that we need to draw a circle around our own lives, and we need to say to God, if you send revival, is it possible that you can start it within this circle? Duncan Campbell was an amazing man, you know. I spent eight years up in the Highlands of Scotland, and one of the things that struck me about the revival in the island of Lewis, from 1948 to 1953, is when I visited the island after the revival, and I went from place to place, because I was speaking, I went from place to place, investigating, researching, asking people their testimonies, wanted to find out what really took place in that great movement of the Spirit of God, that after thirty-five years, I could not find one single backslider who was saved during the Lewis revival. I was reminded that when Duncan Campbell lost his voice in the Lewis revival, you know the revival, as some of you would know, that the Spirit of God don't need rest, and so people found themselves going day and night, and it happened in the Highlands of Scotland, that they would have cottage prayer meetings, I was in some of those cottage prayer meetings, that we would pray right through the night, and in the mornings, you would look through the window, and it's getting light, and you would turn to the elders and say, what is it all they said, it's just another night is gone, in the greatness of the presence of God. But when Duncan Campbell lost his voice, and he went to stay in the house of Dr. Stephen Alford, who was the Duke Street Baptist Church in London, and Stephen Alford said, I went and I sat at his feet, and I said to him, Duncan Campbell could hardly speak, because his vocal cords were shot, and he was trying to recover from the intensity of what God was doing, and Stephen Alford said, I sat at his feet, and he said he could only whisper, and he said, I sat at his feet, and I said to him, Mr. Campbell, I just don't want you to talk to me, I just want you to whisper to me, and I want you to tell me about these movements of the Spirit of God, how Duncan Campbell would say that he could count in his one hand, the people that were saved in the nursery Bible that he counseled personally, how 75% of those people that were saved, did not come to Christ in meetings, but they came to one service, and the greatness of conviction of sin was so awful, and it was so terrible, that many times before they came back to another service, they were gloriously saved, and I remember hearing Stephen Alford saying that, as he sat at the feet of Duncan Campbell, and he said to him, Mr. Campbell, when all those people were saved, and they were gloriously converted, he said, how did you do follow-up work? He said, how did you disciple them? He said, how did you teach them about the concepts of a Christian life? And Duncan Campbell turned to him in a typical way, and he said to him, Stephen, when the revival came and the people were saved, he said, we never ever did follow-up work. He said, there was no need for follow-up work, he said, the only thing that happened, is that they just followed us. And I want to say to you tonight, you know, that's the essence of revival. The fear in my heart in what's happening today in North America, you know, it's a staggering reality, if you have the privilege to go to other countries, in the Balkans, or South America, or East Asia, or Africa, and you come across this unbelievable hunger, and we come back to this beautiful continent, and this land of Canada, and it's so cold in so many aspects and senses of the world, and yet, a lily grows where you plant it. Brother and sister, if we can't trust God for revival in our land, how dare we trust God for revival in any other country? So what is it about this movement of the Spirit of God? I was just pondering and just plowing through this great passage in the Acts of the Apostles tomorrow morning. I want us to look into the subject of prayer in the New Testament, you know. There are 7,957 verses in the New Testament, and there are approximately 248 possible prayer passages that is coming out of a possible 26 words in the Greek New Testament that is speaking to us about prayer that divided them up into 12 aspects of the greatness of New Testament prayer. But what is this thing about the possibility of revival? This passage in Acts chapter 2 is a great passage, and there are a few things that I would like to share with you, and I know many of us, we've had a long day, and we've spent quite some time in this meeting, but just bear with me as I try to mention these few concepts to you. And the first thing that I would like to do this evening is to try and mention to you the importance of the time of the visitation of the Spirit of God. Now listen to this scripture. The Bible says, when the day of Pentecost was fully come. And there is this historical reality that if you look at the day of Pentecost, which we know it was the 50th day, it was the Feast of the Firstfruits. There were three feasts in the Acts of the Apostles. The Passover Feast, and the Feast of the Tabernacle, and the Feast of the Firstfruits that took place during the month of May. And it happened on the 50th day. And it's a great corresponding factor with the Old Testament. Because you know the Old Testament is revealed for us, and the New Testament, and the New Testament lies hidden for us, and the Old Testament. And if you go back to the book of Exodus, or you go back to the first five books of Moses, you will discover that it was approximately the same time when God came to visit Moses on Mount Sinai. And there are similarities in the giving of the law, and the ten words of God to His servant Moses, that you will discover that took place here at the day of Pentecost. And it speaks to us about the signs of the visitation of God. So what kind of a time was this, in the lives of those early disciples? It was a time of great... You know when we think of the possibilities of the Bible, and I'm sure this evening maybe you are just like me, that when I begin to think of the possibilities of God pouring out His Spirit upon this country, and I really believe if God is going to visit us in Canada, I really believe it's going to happen in the prairie provinces. You know there is a heritage here. We've never seen a coast to coast outpouring of the Spirit of God in the land of Canada. I mean there's been drops of God's visitation. But this importance of the time, when the day of Pentecost was, and it was the time of preparation. It's great when you study the Old Testament, when it relates to the Bibles. And when you come to the New Testament, and you look at the lives of those early disciples, and you plow through the three, maybe three and a half years, when they sat at the feet of the Lord Jesus. It was the manifestation of the possibility of the reality of revival. I mean Christ was there. And as they sat at His feet, and sometimes when we are in a seminary or in a Bible collection, sometimes when you are in a seminary, if you are in a cemetery, but when you are in one of these places sometimes, the students would come, and as they would come, they would make this set, but then they would say, you know it must have been great to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus. It must have been tremendous to be able to sit at His feet, and to listen to Him. And when I hear students say that, I sometimes stand up, and I look at them and I say to them, can you imagine sitting at the feet of the life of Christ, who was not just sinless in His birth, but He was supernatural in His life, and every word that came from His lips, never ever neutralized people. Whatever He said to people, it cut into the reality of their beings. Do you remember in the Gospel of John, when there was a time in the life and the ministry of Christ, when the Bible says, many of His disciples left Him, and they did not walk with Him anymore, and when you look at the passage, you will discover that what happened, is that they followed Christ, not because of the mission, and the meaning, and the ministry of His life, but they followed what He was doing, and there was a moment in the chapter of the Gospel of John, and He turned to them and He said to them, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of God, and you drink His blood, and He was bringing to them the essence of the reality, that life comes out of death, and if revival is going to come, it's going to come through a crucified life, and the Bible says that many of His disciples left Him, and they did not walk with Him. And do you know what we would have done in 2006? We would have grabbed our little Greek New Testament, and we would have run after them, and say, you know, maybe there is an easier way out of this thing. What did the Lord Jesus do? He stopped. He turned to those disciples who were left, and He said to them, why don't you also go away? Listen, we never do God a favor by following Christ. What is it? It's to claim Christ upon our lives. That great man, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who suffered so greatly under Nazi Germany, and was so brutally, brutally abused under that system, and when Bonhoeffer came after that, he made this grave statement, and he said, Jesus Christ bids you to come to Him and die. What did Christ say to those disciples? He said, why don't you also go away? Do you remember what they said? They said, Lord, where can we go? You've got the words of eternal life. Do you know the heart of this prayer of revival is this statement, where can I go but God? And I wonder tonight if I can ask you in this little time together of this weekend when we started, is there still the burden and the push for a sense of revival? We lost the vision of it. It was a time of God's visitation. It was a time of preparation. You know, Elijah, that great prayer, and James, and Jonathan, and Monica out there in the West Coast, and as I was sitting on this plane, I began to ponder upon these passages in the New Testament that is speaking to us about prayer. Do you know this thing that we know so much about the Scriptures, and yet the Scriptures so little is flowing through our lives, and I came across this statement again in the little epistle of James when he said, the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth much. And I grabbed my New Testament, my little Greek New Testament, and began to look at these statements. When does prayer become effectual? When does prayer become fervent? When does prayer come from the heart of the righteous man? When does prayer availeth much? And I took it back into the New Testament and came to this statement in the life of Elijah when James made this observation and he said, Elijah prayed. And if you go to the Greek New Testament you see this, almost this contradiction, this complex interpretation of the structure of the things that what he said was, he said, Elijah prayed within his prayer. And then he takes it back into the Old Testament and you discover the pathway of preparation of God in the life of Elijah where he said a prayer of 56 words. That's all. But if you look at that prayer of 56 words and you go back to those years of preparation you discover the depth of the preparation of God in his heart. And brethren, I wonder tonight if I would be allowed to suggest to you, and I want to say this to my own heart, God is not going to send us a revival unless he has been allowed to prepare us. It's time of preparation. It's time for great hunger, you know. I wonder tonight if I can ask you. You know, we refer to ourselves as the Canadian Revival Fellowship. We better not do that if we're not hungry for this reality. Do a great statement in the Old Testament. He said, I will pour water upon him that is thirsty and I will pour floods upon the dry ground. I wish I could take you to my homeland, the homeland of South Africa. We just spent 8 weeks in that country and that country is in a terrible state. He said, what do you mean? 25,000 people have been murdered in that country the last year. I just came out of a city and a week later there were such brutal crimes that took place that in one day there was one of these armored vehicles that came from one bank to another town and they were pushed on the road because they were so frantic and they were in the vehicle and they were trying to phone the police in the previous city where they came from and as they were doing this these men in their violence they poured gasoline on this vehicle and they burned them to ashes. But you know what's happening in that country? We saw God breaking into meeting after meeting amongst the white people because they've got nowhere to go anymore. We saw a hunger and these white duchess fortresses one Sunday morning they said, what is it? They said, this. And I wonder tonight if I could ask you Brethren and Sisters are we so hungry and thirsty for God? You see, if we're not hungry God can do a thing for us, you know. And so the old priest came and what did he say? He said, I will pour water upon him that is thirsty. He said, I will pour floods upon the dry. You know that great statement that came from the life of Christ in John chapter 7 and it's a beautiful picture at that feast of the tabernacle the feast that took place because as it happened on that last day and the choirs were coming these Levitical choirs were coming and they were singing the hallow it was Psalm 133 to 134 they just go and sing to them they took the water and they would pour it and it happened for seven days and on the seventh day the last day of the feast Jesus stood up and he shouted if any man thirst let him come unto me and I love the Greek text he said, he that believeth into me as the scripture says he said, rivers of living water shall flow from the innermost of his being he said, what was it? he was speaking about the force of his river he was speaking about the force of his river and you see that he suffered of being hungry for God I wonder tonight if I can ask brother and sister are we still hungry for God? you know, Dr. Campbell used to say if we are full to the Spirit of God you can't be full to anything else it's as simple as that it's a great statement that the Old Testament you know when a psalmist and we often sing this little verse and we've made a chorus after this and we often I often hear we have people singing this and when they sing I ask the dear tantrum after the water this is really about us because you see in Hebrew poetry there are beautiful pictures and this picture is coming to us he said, what is it? I asked the dear tantrum after the water he said, what is the Hebrew picture? it's the hunter the Hebrew hunter in the Old Testament and he's got his bow his arrow and he's following this this little deer and now he's on his track and he's following and when he would come close to this little deer he would take that bow and that arrow and he would stretch it when he's close and that arrow would go and he's running the blood would and when there comes a moment when that little deer realises that he's not going to survive and he's not going to escape and that Hebrew hunter is following the blood trail swiftly and carefully and when that little deer realises the moment of death is going to come this is the concept of Hebrew poetry they say he would jump in the air and he would shout and he dropped down dead I wonder if I can ask you tonight do we know what it means to be thirsty for God it can't be referred to as an ending of our fellowship if it's not a thirst and a hunger for God but I wonder tonight if I can ask you and I'm asking myself and my precious wife so seldom that Janice can travel with me like this I wonder what will happen to know if God will come to us on a little weekend like this suddenly you will wake us up one o'clock in the middle of the night I wish I could introduce you to a pastor we just turned out of a church in the United States and I tell you it's a terrible situation in many of these places in North America I was in a church of 1700 people doing a prayer encounter and Sunday morning they brought all the adults Sunday school classes together we were about 900 people and I just I'm burning my heart and spoke about prayer and I knew this was going to be so difficult it was just as if you were speaking a foreign language and God began to meet you the pastor it was so wonderful we made invitations after those services and brother and sister at every single there were 7 pastors at every single one of those invitations the first 7 people that visited the altar in that church were the 7 pastors I've never seen this before and the senior pastor when the meetings were over this man is so hungry I mean he's been filming every day it's great sometimes that you don't have to answer the phone you know and it's great that you have this thing called screen so that sometimes you can just have a bit of a break you know but he's been filming day after day and he said I just need a prayer do we say our prayers first for God? Fr. Bob used to refer to that as the sensation of desperation great you know when the islands and the highlands of Scotland we were in a touch of revival in a place with the name of Gerlock and Dundonald and the highlands and the highlands of Scotland and there was this first amongst these people and if you go to the islands and the highlands you don't make invitations I mean they are so strong reform and Calvinistic I mean it is unbelievable it's almost like the Calvinistic minister who said when he had an accident he said thank God this one is over I miss those people and you know people were saved and there were 19 people gloriously saved but you know what we discovered in that movement of the Spirit of God there was this unbelievable sense of how can we anticipate conviction of sin upon the life of the unbeliever if we don't know the conviction of the Spirit of God upon our own life that's why that's why even Robert used to pray you know he said God will you bend the church and save the people and Reverend Sister Maya I said to you this evening maybe I'm way off track in saying this but you know I want to tell you it's not getting easier to preach the message of revival it's getting more difficult I mean we are sitting in North America tonight with churches that are full of people but you know what those are churches that are full of people but they never been full with God the prime manifestation of God you see what you see it was the people that was hungry it was the people that was committed it was the people that was prepared in the presence of God let me share with you one or two more things they say what is it was not just the time of God's preparation but listen to this it was the place the people the Bible says when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all with one accord and one faith you know look it's a wonderful it's a wonderful historian and he used terms look who's a doctor and he used about 50 technical medical terms and the gospel of Luke and then the Acts of the Apostles and if I may say this to you some of those terms pop up in the Greek New Testament in the Apostles of the Hebrews where they come from I'm not sure are they there but Luke was a great historian and you know what he does he used some marvelous words and one of the words that Luke used is this word it's a great word you know in the classical Greek it's got a beautiful meaning you say what is it it speaks it's speaking of the symphony orchestra it speaks of the audience that is sitting there and the curtains are closed and these these these these these orchestra the members of this orchestra they're tuning in their instruments and they're getting ready for this for this presentation of the symphony and the people are waiting and then there is the moment when the curtains open and as the curtains open it's this moment when when when when when there is the sign given by the director he gives a sign and the moment when he gives a sign and he looks at them and he starts with this suddenly they are in unison and every instrument is in unison now to a question tonight you know this thing has got a two-fold application upon our lives it has to do It has to do with our relationships with God and it has to do with our relationships with our fellow men. They were of one accord. We were in a church, I don't know how many years ago, out there in British Columbia, probably maybe 10 or 12 years ago, and it was a conservative church. We had a week of prayer in that church. People often say, why do you do these weeks of prayer and not revival meetings? And I say, you know, God is going to send revival, it's going to come through prayer. And so we had this week of prayer and we started Sunday morning, the church was full. Sunday night I think there was maybe about half of the people out. Monday night there were even less people out. And so Monday, Tuesday, 20% of the people coming to the services. And Wednesday morning we had a men's breakfast in this church. And that Wednesday morning I brought a simple little message on Stephen. It was like the face of an angel and that Greek concept that they were cut to the heart. And in the Greek New Testament it means that they were sawn asunder. It's like a saw that you took and they were just cut apart by the sins of conviction. And the chairman of the board of that church got up that morning and he turned to them and made a statement. He just broke down and he said, gentlemen, there was a time when I had something against each and every one of you. And he just broke. I mean it's a darkly man. They were homeschoolers, I think they had about eight or nine children. And God met with him right there and I turned to him and I said to him, Steve, I said, you said to these men you're sorry? I said, but Steve, you're self-employed. We spent this morning in prayer at the church. I want you to come and join us. So he came and we spent that morning in prayer. We were praying together every morning with the pastor. And you know Wednesday night the Spirit of God broke into the service. We may be at about 40, maybe just more than 40% of people. And God came and met with us that Wednesday night. And you know there was a little move amongst these people. But when the move began, first day we spent the morning in prayer. Friday we spent the morning in prayer. And as God broke in Wednesday night, we're cut out amongst the rest of the church that God is doing something in the church. You know sometimes why people don't come to special services? It's because nothing is happening. I mean nothing is happening. And so we're cut out. God is doing something. And so people were coming. And they were coming. And by Thursday night we had more. We're going to spend Saturday in prayer and fasting. So Saturday morning I think there were maybe 20 or 30 people that came. And we waited on God. And you know people often say, how do you spend a day in prayer? How do you spend a week in prayer? And I often say to them, I don't know. They say, what happened? I say, God gives us a spirit of prayer. And when He gives us a spirit of prayer, remember I said, hours become like minutes. I mean the time just goes. That's what McCain has taught us. So much of my time of praying is preparing myself how to pray. On Saturday we spent it in prayer. And you know we came to about 6 o'clock Saturday night. And there was such a spirit of prayer resting upon these people. And I came to the pastor and I said, listen Marvin. I said, you know what we're going to do tonight? He said, what? I said, we're going to have a half night of prayer. I mean by that time we just prayed. God has just said, it's wonderful. You know it's a great thing when God gives people a spirit of prayer. So the people went home for dinner and they came back about 7 or 8 o'clock. And we spent a half night in prayer. About 1 o'clock or 12 o'clock that night we closed the prayer meeting. I went back to my room. And 2 hours later God woke me up and said, it's going to be different today. Sunday morning we came to this church. You know it's just the average Canadian church. The church is before Sunday morning. I mean all they talk about is baseball and hockey. Wasn't that great 2 or 3 years ago when we had a hockey strike here in Canada. There was no violence on television. Wasn't that great you know? I mean that's all the people were talking about. But you know what happened that Sunday morning? Brother and sister we came into the church. Now you need to know. We spent a week in the presence of God. I wish the churches in this country could get a hold of this vision. That we are serving a prayer answering God. Sunday morning came. I came to the church. Pastor came to the church. People came in just as they were coming in Sunday morning. But they didn't talk about baseball or football or hockey or all this junk in this country. They didn't talk about it. No. It was hushed up. They packed the church out as every Sunday morning was. But no one said a word. They were in the presence of God. I was sitting behind the pulpit and the pastor. I was sitting there. Pastor was sitting there. And we watched people. And the people. They were people. They were broken up. Because of the greatness of the presence of God. And the pastor turned to me. This is where we are in this country you know. He said to me. Brother Gerard. I said what is it? He said what is this? I mean he's been in ministry for 29 years. He said what is this? I said Marvin. It's the presence of God. He said what do you think we should do? You know what I said to him? I don't know. It's a great place to be you know. Ah you laugh. Wait till he gets you. He said do you have a message? You know what I said? I think so but it feels pretty rotten. And I said Marvin I don't know. And we just sat there. And I got a sense in my heart about something. And I just got up and I said to these people. I said listen. God is in this meeting. And as I looked to my right. The chairman of the board. His name was Steve. He sat at the front of his wife and all his children. And I said Steve. I want you to come and just tell the church what God did for you. And you know I never forget. He said God leaves a good fellow you know. But he came. And he was kind of a self confident man. But I tell you. He was just about staggering. He was just shaking. No confidence in himself. And he came. And I was sitting behind him. And he came. And he stood straight behind the two people. And I said Marvin. Look at his face. And his legs were shaking. He didn't know what to do. And he just stood like this. And he looked over the church. And he just said to them. God has met with me. And the next moment we were in the midst of an organized disorder. You see what happened? God came to them. That service started at 9 o'clock that morning. I think it was about 3 or 4 o'clock that afternoon. We were still in the church. I'm not a priest. It's great when the revival comes you know. Sometimes you don't have to preach. You see what happened? God came. I remember men that never talked to one another for years. They came crawling out of their pews to the front of the church. Crawling to one. Two men. They must have been in their 70s. They just sang. And they hugged one another. And they went. Husbands and wives and children. Meeting with God at the altar of the church. I think by 4 o'clock or so. We told the people. We said. Why don't you come home. Go home. We'll be back here tonight at 6. 6 o'clock that night. The church was full again. I wonder up to today if we ever should have stopped those services you know. One more thing. Here are some great truths you know. The time of the visitation of God. The people of the visitation of God. The manifestation in Acts chapter 2. You say what happened? Ah you remember what happened in Acts chapter 2. When the Holy Spirit came. They were coming for fire that came. And it distributed itself upon each and every one of them. That's the word in the Greek language. It distributed itself. And you know what happened? They spoke in 16 known different languages. Brethren and sisters you need to get this. They never did that ever again. You see why did they do that? You see it was the feast of the first fruits. Historians are saying to us. That there would have been about a million people in and around Jerusalem. At that time. And as the Spirit of God came. And as God turned upon. And they spoke in those. Now they didn't preach the word of God. You say what did they do? They spoke about the glorious things of God. One of the possible ways that the church in Rome was born. Was because they were people from Rome. We don't know how the church came into existence. And the epistle to the Romans. And one of the possible. Is that they were people that were saved. And they spoke in those languages. That was the manifestations. There was something else you know. Just the evidence. What was the evidence of the coming of the Holy Spirit? Was it the languages that they spoke in? No brother and sister. Was it the tongues of fire that came? No. Was it the fact that there was the sound of the rushing water? No no those were things that came. It was part of the manifestation. You say what was the evidence? The evidence was in Acts 15. Ah you see what happened. You remember when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the household of Cornelius? What happened? The Spirit of God came upon the household of Cornelius. And in Acts chapter 15. The Apostle Peter had to give an account. At the first. What we would refer to as the first. Synod meeting. The first council of it. And Peter stood up. And the Spirit of God was poured out upon the Gentiles. And they wanted to know what happened. And the Apostle Peter stood up. And this is the hardness of the crucified life. You say what happened? Peter stood up and he made this statement. He said God made no difference between us and them. Who was them? It was the household of Cornelius. Who was us? It was us. It was the Pentecost. He said God made no difference between us and them. He said He gave unto them the Holy Spirit. The same as He did unto us. And here comes the secret of Pentecost. Do you know what he said? He said He purified their hearts by His Spirit. What happened at Pentecost? There was the Word of Oxley. That was in place. That is the evidence brothers. You say why do you say that? Because there is no power without purity. And here is the wonder. When the day of Pentecost was fully come. They were all in one place. And they were together. It was the place of the visitation of God. I wonder if I may ask you tonight. Have we got a place of a possible visitation of God? Tomorrow morning as we try to look at this concept of prayer. Matthew's gospel was predominantly Jewish. And there is a sense in which we need to interpret statements. And Matthew's gospel within the context of Jewish culture. Not with taking away the possibility of the authority upon our lives. But there is a sense in which it was Jewish. And when Jesus came in Matthew chapter 6. And in chapter 5 when he gave them the Sermon on the Mount. And he mentioned those three things. In the Beatitudes when he spoke about imputed righteousness. And the rest of the Sermon on the Mount when he spoke about the unfathomable righteousness of God. And when he spoke in the Beatitudes about Christian character. And the rest of the Sermon on the Mount Christian conduct. And he mentioned these three things. He said when you fast this is not the way I want you to fast. He said when you give this is not the way I want you to give. And then he said but when you pray. He said this is the way I want you to pray. And do you remember what he said? Here comes the heart of it. He said when you pray it enters into your crust. And the Jew in the Old Testament brother and sister. The only thing that he could think about was the holiest of all. That's all. The Christ demonist. And when you pray. He said it enters into your crust. Can I ask you tonight. Have we lost the crust for revival? Is there still a little place in our relationships. When it comes to the possibilities of revival. That it's so burning in our hearts. That God has so seen us. A movement of the Spirit of God. It's a wonderful word that the word crosses. Four times in the Greek New Testament we find this little word. It speaks of two things to us. It speaks of the secret den. And it speaks of the sore else. That's what it's speaking about. The secret den. And so the Jew. All he could think about was the holiest of all. He said what was the Gerard? It was the place where the high priest was allowed to enter in once a year. And the scripture says not without blood. The great day of the atonement. Now Christ died on the crust. And you remember what happened? The veil of the temple was swung. Not from the bottom to the top. But from the top to the two sets of oxen on both sides. They would have not been able to tear it apart. And the mother from Christ died. Just went from the top to the bottom. And the way into the west. Having therefore brethren boldness to enter into the holiest. By the blood of Jesus. Through you in the living way. Which he has consecrated for us. Through the veil that is to save his flesh. And having a high priest over the house of God. He said let us throne here. With a true heart. Full assurance of faith. Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. And our bodies washed in pure water. May I ask tonight when we throne. And I ask tonight. Do we still have a secret death? I don't know if I should share this with you. But you know when we were brought up in South Africa. We were really poor. I mean. I was about 11 years old. And we were really poor. We lived in a little town. Next to a river. In a province of the Orange Free State. And many times we would ask Mama. And say what do we have for lunch? And she would say bread and coffee. And sometimes we would say what do we have for dinner? And she would say bread and coffee and milk. And sometimes we had sugar. And sometimes we had jam. And that's the way that we were brought up. It was years of great difficulty in my country. And so I was in a school. And one day the schoolmaster came. Brought us together. And as he brought us together. He said to the children. He said listen kids. He said two of the classes of the school. Is going to be chosen to go to the great city of Johannesburg. Now I mean as kids we've never gone to that city. It was something way out there. You just never had money to go do something like that. And we were desperately poor. And he said two of the classes are going to be chosen to go. And lo and behold. I was eleven years old. And my class was chosen to go. Now listen. We were so poor brother and sister. I mean we never had money for a coke. Chocolate. It just didn't exist. We never could get those things. And lo and behold. They took us on the steward to the city of Johannesburg. And when they took us on the steward. I had to get a little bit of pocket money. Mama and Papa helped me. I went on the steward. And when we went on the steward. They took us to different places in the city of Johannesburg. And one day the teacher came to us. And he said to us. Now listen children. Tomorrow we are taking you to a factory. So we said. So which factory are we going to? He said. Well. We are taking you to a Coca-Cola factory. I thought. Good night. You know. We never had money to buy cokes. They're going to show us how they make Coca-Cola. And do you know what happened? The next day they took us to this Coca-Cola factory. And it was incredible. They showed us how they made it. They had the bottles. And they filled them up. And you know. I was standing there at eleven years old. I thought. Oh man. This is great. And when they took us. The owner. Or the manager of this company. He took us. Into a room. And brother and sister. When we walked into that room. You know what? It was full of cokes. Guess what? He turned to us as kids. And he said. Listen. You see this room is full of cokes. He said. You can drink as many cokes as you want. Oh brother. You see what happened? I mean. Forgive me. My little bladder was just about that size. He said. Why do you say that? You see. It's a storehouse. That's the other meaning of this word. Well. Guess what happened? We went back that night. To the place where we stayed. And we spent the night in the washroom. You know. Well. You know what happened? The next morning. We got up. And do you know what happened brother and sister? The teacher turned to us. And he said. Kids. We are taking you to another factory today. Oh. He said. Which factory are we going to? Guess what? We are taking you to a factory. We are taking you to a chocolate factory. Oh. Man. You know. They took us to that. And when everything was through. You know what happened brother and sister? They took us to a room. And they said. Kids. You see all these chocolates? You can eat as many chocolates as you want. Oh. Man. I tell you. We were just about in the hospital that night. You see what happened? Let me tell you what happened. We fell in the store room. We couldn't get enough. Oh. Let me ask you tonight. You see this secret den. You say. What is it? It's a secret den. And I'm alone with God. But that secret den becomes a store room. We scream to ourselves. The greatness of the concepts of this world. And sometimes when there are these little places. Of the visitation of God. Do you know what happens? It becomes the eventual place. Of the outpouring. Of the spirit of God.