In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the impact of one person's obedience to God. He uses examples of individuals who, despite their limitations, made a significant impact through their faithfulness to God's calling. The speaker also highlights the importance of living for God and not being consumed by worldly desires. He encourages listeners to surrender their lives to God and be willing to crucify their own desires in order to fully serve Him. The sermon concludes with a mention of John Wimber, a musician who turned his life around and abandoned worldly success for the sake of following God.

And God said to him, I'll not only anoint you, you'll heal the sick, but here's the secret. 21 days and nights he waited on God for the anointing. And he came back like an Elijah or like an Apostle Paul. But you know what he did? Every year after that, on the day that he entered that cave, he went back and spent 21 days and nights with God to restore his power. He didn't say, I got the baptism 10 years ago. He went and waited on God. He forgot about big crusades. He forgot about miracles he'd seen. Anyhow, Roger Volk said, he came back. I said to him, where have you been? He said, I've been talking to my father in this cathedral. Well, where's that? Well, the forest up the road. I've been there three days. Let's pray for your daughter. So here's the daughter, again can't lick her lips. There she is, a third of her brain removed. No hope for anything. The doctor said, resign yourself. She's a vegetable for life. There's no power on earth can do that. Medical science doesn't have an answer. Little Juma goes, little black guy, and he stands over and puts his hands down and said, Darling, Jesus loves you. You're his property. Be made whole. And immediately she stood and licked her lips and laughed. And he said, I said, well, that's wonderful. He said, but God did a greater miracle than that. I said, what do you mean? She's no brain. A third of her brain taken away and God heals her. She stands up and laughs. He said, but brother, I left South Africa a month ago and a month before that, that vegetable of a girl that was dead and paralyzed and useless gave birth to a baby. That's not it. That's the Christ of the New Testament. It's not the Christ of Pentecost. They're as paralyzed as anybody. You're going to Pentecostal church. There's nothing supernatural. They clap and shout and that's all. Do you see people wheeling people by the dozen to the front because of the sick? Let me tell you a thing quickly. When I used to do street meetings, I'd get opposition. Who ordained you? And I'd tell them, I don't agree with ordination. One day I went to rent a building belonging to the cathedral in Sheffield. And there's a gorgeous guy with his perichil collar, nice guy. And he said, what do you want? I said, I want to rent one of your parish halls. For what? To have meetings. I said, we've just had the big tent. Oh, I don't want anything to do with that tent you had in town. I said, well, I'm with the team there. And he said, well, Mr. Ravenhill, are you ordained? I said, yes. Who ordained you? He said, of course, the Church of England will not recognize your ordination. I said, sir, the Roman Catholic Church doesn't recognize yours. So he looked for a minute and I thought, where do I go from here? So he says, okay. I said, sir, here's a problem. You claim direct descent. You're in the apostolic, oh yes, yes, I'm in the apostolic succession, all right. The Archbishop of somebody laid his hands on me, I have a certificate. I said, listen, the Roman Catholics say they're in direct line with apostolic succession. You say, I said, sir, there's only one person has the right to say he's in apostolic succession. What's that? I said, apostolic success. I'm sick to death of seeing churches with a label on that are paralyzed. Let me tell you a thing quickly. A thing that changed my life, made me love America. When I was 17 years of age, I read in the Bridge Life of David Brainerd. He didn't do signs and wonders and miracles in one sense. But I did learn to pray partly in one sense. I used to go out at night and tie my mother's doggy to a tree in the forest and pray with my hands up. That was illegal in the church I went to. And I'd pray and call on God. I remember one night standing on the edge of the city. There was a big rock and I stood there and raised my hand and said, oh God, please. Lord, as you weep over Jerusalem, give me tears. And I went to my city and said, God, please. Don't let me die without seeing the real Holy Ghost revival. It will make people happy. Revival sends people to the ends of the earth. The Welsh revival sent people on fire for God to India. They went from India to China. They went from China to Korea and had Holy Ghost revival. Two years after I started praying, I didn't know there was a little man in town about this width. A little Pentecostal guy. He'd had two breakdowns, physically, not mentally, because he fasted too much. He spent days in fasting prayer. George Jeffries came to town. The whole town was shaking in less than three weeks. People going in wheelchairs and walking home, taking their wheelchairs home. Because the power of God was there. Yes, sirree. I esteem these men highly. But they're very careful. As our sister said this morning, if you're going to trust God, if you're going to die to self, die to your business career, die to all else you have, it'll be the most expensive thing you've ever had. But is it worth it? Ten thousand times over it is. I stood outside of St. Peter's, that wonderful church in Aberdeen. I looked at that big sign outside. It's in a rock, maybe eight feet by eight. And I read the story of the pastor there by the name of Robert Murray McShane. He prayed revival there until his health was broken. He had to go for a two-week vacation into Israel. And while he was there, W.C. Burns came. Paul may plant a pollis water if God gives increase. Burns came in the power of the Holy Ghost. He preached. The whole city shook. St. Peter's was packed to the rafters with people. Men with hearts of stone, the Holy Ghost pounded them until they crumbled at the feet of Jesus Christ. Learned that people from the universe became enthroned as something more than intellectual riches. And they mourned and sought God. The whole city moved. So what do you do? You sign him up for a crusade in London, a crusade in Birmingham. No surrey. Out of that holy fire, God took William Burns and dropped him in China. In a remote part of China where nobody had ever seen a man without a pig tail or seen a white man. And what he did, he carried on in prayer for years. What happened? After he poured out his life in prayer, Jonathan Goforth, an American missionary, went and had revival in that area. After that, another man came along by the name of Watchman Lee had revival. I believe that John Sung was in that whole area. You see, we'd take a man and say this man's wonderful gift, but that man knew the guidance of the Holy Ghost. And so when I read a story like that, Paul, I'm about that size. When I read the story of men like Duma, get the book. It's sold in the bookstore now. You couldn't get it in America until recently. It's about $14. Get thy glory, Lord. It's a super story that will stir your faith and surely break your heart. Let's come down. I've got two things. I'm making a guess at this. I think I'm right in saying John Wimber. Well, you know John Wimber. You've seen him. He's a big, nice-looking guy. Do you know John Wimber? Well, I don't want to put this. I've got two of his, a few of his spies here. So let me put it this way. John Wimber worked for the Righteous Brothers when he was unrighteous. Isn't that right? He wrote music for the Righteous Brothers and all the rest of it. What happened? If he'd stayed on that course, he might have been a multimillionaire now, but no, it all abandoned. What happened? God helped him to found a vineyard. There's vineyards all over the world now as a result of one man's obedience. He could have been sitting at home or riding his yacht and having a good time, but instead of that, God took his life and distributed it around the world. You see, do you think when the little boy went with his five loaves and two fishes, he ever dreamed he'd get in the history book of the world and millions of us would read and read and read about little guy, about five loaves and two fishes, and somebody took it and blessed it and fed the multitude? He never dreamed of that. There's a precious little lady in America. She was blind when she was six weeks old. She's still blind when she's 86. She wrote some of the greatest hymns ever written. Connie Crosby wrote the hymn we sang this morning, Blessed Assurance, or To God Be the Glory, she wrote, and she wrote Blessed Assurance. Somebody said to her one day, You know, dearie, it's a shame that you are blind. You can't see the sunset, you can't see the flowers, and it's a shame. I mean, why does God let you be punished like that? I mean, you've missed so much blessing. And she said, What do you mean I've missed? Well, you can't see the sunset, you can't see the flowers. She said, No, I can't. But you've blessed the whole world with what you've written. I feel so sorry for it. Don't waste your compassion, I don't want it, she said. The lady said, Pardon me, what do you mean? She said, You're telling me I can't see the sunset, I can't see the flowers? And she said, Darling, she said to the woman that's so dumb, She said, Darling, don't you realize the first face I ever see will be his face? Doesn't it say in Revelation 21, that they shall see his face? Read the same book, it says, When the sinners saw it, they fled from the face of the Son of God, because he's angry, he's going to pass out judgment. They've ignored his word, they've ignored his commandments, they've lived for the flesh. Come on, Christian, what are you living for? Now look here, here's the very final thing. Preacher, God gave you a ministry to do one thing, to prepare people to be part of the bride. Now come on preacher, could you, five minutes from now, take your church as it were, and say, Lord Jesus, here is my church, it's part of your body, my church is pure, we don't love the world, we don't do worldly things, we don't talk worldly ways, we don't watch worldly TV, we've no worldly habits. I've a hundred people, or two hundred, or five hundred people in my church, and I've been preparing them for ten years, to be part of the bride of Christ, not to just speak in tongues and do miracles, but to be part, he's coming for a bride, but listen friend, he's not coming for a widow, he's not coming for a broken down woman. Jesus says the bride he comes for, no, Jesus says in the book of Revelation, the church of today, the Laodicean church, is poor, wretched, naked man. Your church has no vision, because you've no vision. The church has no passion, because you have no passion. The church has no vision, because you have no vision. Well then, if we don't have it, how can we transpose and give it to others? Come on preacher, would you like this very day, without ringing up everybody that's a member, and every deacon say, Jesus Christ is coming at five o'clock tonight, I'm going to introduce you and say, this is my senior deacon, this is my best Sunday school teacher. Would you shrink at that? Do you know my ambition is to live every day, so that if I die at a moment's notice, I won't embarrass God. I'm so living in obedience and subjection to Him, that I can walk into His holy presence, and I won't blush, and He won't blush to all me. Will He hold my worthless name before His Father's face, not unless I'm walking in purity. What's the final word from the Bible? The final word from the Bible is this, without holiness no man shall see the Lord. You can see without ministry, you can see without miracles, you cannot see without purity, and only He can make you pure. I'm going to do a thing I've never done in my life before, I'm going to ask you pastors who say, Brother Raymond I'm embarrassed, I haven't led my people in purity, I've had other ambitions, I'm embarrassed, but I want to come and repent before God. I repent I haven't led my people, I haven't been a role model in prayer, I haven't been a role model in humility, I haven't been a role model in sacrifice. I would like Jesus to come today, but I'll come and repent publicly, and say here Lord, I come with my hands up, I've nothing in my hands, I bring out mercy on me, cleanse me from all my defilement, and fill me with the Holy Ghost, for the rest, the stretch of my life. I'm asking preachers, come and humble yourself, part of the business, break yourself before God, raise your hands and say, Lord, here I am, I've failed, I come as a failure, I come in my uncleanness, I come in my bondage, Lord have mercy on me, have mercy on me, have mercy on me. That's why God brought you to this conference, that you can be purified, and go lead your church into purity, lead your church into holiness, lead your church into the anointing of God. Tell him I don't care how you break me, I don't care what you take from me, just this morning, please, give me one more chance, I've failed you so often, I come now, give me one more chance, give me one more anointing, give me one anointing for the rest of the journey, I'm coming broken and contrite, I don't care about public opinion, all heaven looks down, Jesus has been waiting for you to come today, and confess, here I am Lord, I'm lying at your feet, I'm useless, I'm powerless, I'm empty, cleanse me and fill me, cleanse me and anoint me, lead me into prayer I've never known, lead me into trouble I've never known, lead me into sacrifice I've never known, I let go of my money, I let go of my time, I let go of everything. Well look, there's enough men kneeling here to turn America upside down, if they'll stay faithful to their commitment. This may be God's last call to some of us, he's called you early in the week, you're in the bay, come and obey him now, if there isn't room here, kneel in the aisle, if there isn't room there, kneel at your chair. You women say, I'm going to be a holy mother in the house, you fathers say, I'm going to be a holy father in the house, I'm going to be the example of holiness, the example of purity, the example of meekness. God's tired of an arrogant ministry, self satisfied, brother tell Jesus if need be, he isn't going to add something to what you've got, he's going to take away what you have and put something there you've never had. Don't be surprised if you wake up at night with a broken heart, don't be surprised if you're shopping and you can't see for tears. After this moment, you're not your own, you're bought with a price. It's your heart he's going to live in, it's your mind he's going to use, it's your spirit he's going to possess. I want every man here to get a double portion of the Spirit of God today. Lord, I pray men will tell you now, Lord, this moment, I want to be crucified with Christ. They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with their affections and lusts. Lord, let men say they're willing to crucify their TV, cruelly crucify their appetite for sport and be totally gods from this moment, that they'll never love anything else more than God, they'll never love anything else more than the will of God, they'll never commit anything more of the power of God. Lord, God of hosts, fall from heaven right at this moment with the fire. Don't let us wait for the judgment fire. Send the fire of the Holy Ghost upon us now, that everything in us may be consumed, which is unlike Christ. Burn off every barrier that's in us. Lord, empower these precious men, I pray that when they read the word of God, it will burn like the fire burned in the heart of Jeremiah, that, Lord, they won't have to drag themselves to pray, that prayer will be their burden, that when they stand in the pulpit this coming weekend, there'll be something new about them, there'll be an anointing from heaven, there'll be a power from heaven, there'll be a zeal from heaven, there'll be a revelation from heaven. If need be, Lord, give us all a vision of hell to show us the horrors of eternal darkness. Show us, give us visions of eternal glory. Lord, we're wanting your glory only at this moment. Lord, give us broken, weeping hearts, help us to acknowledge. Lord, I thought earlier this morning, well, I think the psalmist says, store my tears in thy bottle. I wonder how many hundreds of tears you've picked from Jackie's eyes, weeping over a corrupt people, but Lord, we're just as lost. We've got our divorce courts, we've got our jails, we've got our kids with crime, we've got our kids with AIDS. Lord, give us a broken heart, help us to weep over America like you wept over Jerusalem. Weep over it like Paul says to Timothy, I'm mindful of your tears. Lord, I pray, let these strong men know what it is to pray in strength and in weakness, to pray in tears, to pray in brokenness, to preach in brokenness. Maybe, Lord, some preachers will preach ten years in their pulpits. This Sunday we'll break down with grief, break down at the unbelief of the people, break down with the selfishness of the people and realize, Lord, that we're holding up revival. We're holding up God from coming for his bribe. So, Lord, do a great work of purging. God, let every man go to his own funeral at this altar this morning. Father, we thank you again for your faithfulness this morning. God is faithful to convict us and is faithful to cleanse us and is faithful to endure us. I trust right now there's pandemonium in hell because these men have come broken, no pride, seeking nothing, not asking for gifts, asking for the anointing of the Spirit, asking for a new endowment of power, a new introduction to traveling prayer. America could turn round on this meeting if we obey God and go out and do what he tells us to do. Father, we thank you afresh for your faithfulness. You could have cut us off weeks ago when we were bankrupt and backsliding, but Lord, you brought us in mercy to the cross again this morning. We thank you for the precious blood that can cleanse us from all sin. We thank you for the indwelling Holy Spirit that can make us conquerors, more than conquerors, through him that loved us. Lord, take everybody here, whether they're at the altar or in the congregation, take us to a new level of victory. Take us to a new level of revelation. Take us to a new level of compassion for a lost, dying world. People are still on the muck heaps. They're still going to clubs and other places to find life. They will not come. They might have life. I pray, Lord, that these precious pastors, particularly, will over-forward divine life until people wonder what happened to them. And they'll say, you know, they went to Anaheim, but they went to the cross, that they went to the upper room. They found every bondage broken. They found every difficulty in their lives that hindered blessing from being removed, was removed by the mercy of God. Lord, I pray again, let some of these men who bow here, Lord, they've been working in churches that are hard. Maybe you want them to shift and go to some other country. Take somebody from this meeting to China. Take somebody from this meeting behind the so-called Iron Curtain. Lord, let the ends of the earth feel this meeting this morning. Breathe on us, breath of God. As Edwin Hatch said, breathe on me, breath of God, till I am holy thine, till all this earthly part of me glows with thy fire divine. Lord, let there be a holy fire in the hearts of my brethren as they preach this weekend. Let there be a holy vision in their eyes. Let there be a holy compassion in their spirits. Lord, we pray we'll never go back after this day. Go forward. There's so much land ahead to be possessed. Lord, we don't want to disappoint you. We've disappointed you too often. Take us on. Maybe too, Lord. I think of William Booth just now, singing now, Christ the burning, cleansing flame, send the fire. Look down and see this waiting host. Give us the promised Holy Ghost. We want the Pentecost, Lord, nothing less will satisfy us.