In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of having a deep understanding and connection with the word of God. He criticizes those who try to appear knowledgeable without truly understanding the teachings. The preacher then refers to a story from the Bible where Jesus tests Philip by asking him when they will buy bread to feed a large crowd. The preacher highlights that Jesus was not interested in material things or gratitude, but rather in seeing the reflection of his son in people's spirits through the discipline of service. He concludes by discussing the concept of being plowed by God in order to yield a harvest, using the analogy of different types of plows and their impact on our lives.

I was just praying how often we are only conscious of surface disturbances because we live so on the surface of life. We don't penetrate down into the depths. Out of the heart, that means the lower levels, the lower levels of your being, the lower levels of your thinking, the lower levels of your... There are the issues of life, but they come poking their way up. Sometimes they are released and it takes days, weeks, and even months, and with some, even years, before it reaches the surface where it is made manifest. And so I often say, Lord, I am hungry and I am in need, but perhaps I am only disturbance, which is perhaps that has its origin down on the... I call the ocean floor of my being, down on the ocean floor. And so sometimes he has to go down. The real reason for this disturbance up here, or even the heart hunger... Now, sometimes when we analyze what we call the heart hunger, we will be quite amazed. It isn't just a desire, I want more of God. That's all right, that's all right. We won't talk about that, but that isn't it. The whole being, we are a trinity in our structural law of our being. And as our old church father said so pointedly, the heart was made for God, neither shall it find rest until it rests in Him. Now, he was not just talking about my soul finding salvation. It is to be brought, spirit, soul, and even body. Now, God takes regard to the body. Never become so spiritual that you lose consciousness. No, even in the resurrection, God's going to tamper with it. But why not? Because it's the completion of the redemption of the whole concept of spirit, soul, body. Well now, sometimes this urge to live... I'd like to read you a poem God gave me on the eternal urge. It's rather heavy, I don't know. The eternal urge is terrific. The urge that is birthed within every one of us. It does seek expression. Life seeks it. The first law of life is to become expulsive, to live. Well now, since that is true, that urge to live relates to three departments of your being and to my being. It actually does. To make the personality a complete concept, it has to be. If I disregard or become ignorant of any part of it, the response is only partial. And God is only partially glorified in the release and in the redemption of the whole being. Spirit, soul, body. He's concerned with your spiritual life. He's concerned with your soulish life, your psychic, soulish life. He's concerned. It's a part of you. Don't be shy off from it and think you are just a spirit. Know this great field of what we are. Sometime when I am freed in the millennium, I'm going to lecture and talk on some things which are very wonderful to me. I'd like to give you a real analysis. Not purely from the spiritual. It has a certain background, but there's no one in the world but this mystical spirit of God that can get in there and do it. And he is so wonderful in the delicacy of his dealings. He can get in there. Now sometimes the urge may rest in one department, the need, perhaps in another. As we found out, we know from just ordinary one, two, three psychology, that most all of the ailments that react in your affection body are mental and spiritual. They are. Jesus knew it too and he dealt that way with it. He dealt with it. He is the most gifted psychologist and psychiatrist that has ever lived. Ever lived. And any of you who have allowed him to give you a treatment, you have found it out. But don't ask him unless you mean it. I warn you, don't ask him unless you mean it. He may take you at your word. I heard people say, oh Lord, show me my heart. Oh, just as it is. I said, don't. Well it's true. I'm not laughing because we are not able to receive even a glimpse of it. In one of the chapters in my book, I hope that my books will come, you'll find a chapter there, deep. Call us unto deep. I want you to read that. I want you to read it quietly with the Lord. Not because it's a bit of truth, but read it quietly with the Lord. Deep. Call us unto deep. The two great profound depths which are discovered. The deep and the chaotic ruin of the human race. That's one of the most profound depths that people would ever want to dig into. What is the other deep? The deep in the heart of God. That deep yearning in the heart of God. That deep pushing of the heart of God down like this to broken humanity. And one deep calls to the other deep, continues. God is calling. Broken humanity is calling in ten thousand voices. Ten thousand million voices. All creation is calling. This lovely country clouded with judgment. How many know it's still calling? Why? For it's redemption. Redemption isn't just saving my soul and taking it out and putting it in a place they call heaven with gold and street law. I'd say thank you. But that's where it will be with me. I don't think heart will ever entreat me. If you are frustrated here and you've never had certain... Don't make heaven a projection of those frustrated things liberated in a glorified state. Do you get it or don't you? I got shoes, you've got shoes, all God's children got shoes. How did he write that? What in the world made a slave write that? When I get to heaven, I'll put on my shoes, I'll walk all over God's hip. But now, what provoked that? Do you know? The slave was conscious of a terrible lack that he saw provided for in his master and the household and all. So he comforted himself because that was denied. That was not forthcoming. There was a frustration here. So what does he say? Well, heaven to me will be what? Lifting this thing up into a new realm where it can be satisfied. On the golden street, on the golden slippers, golden slippers. How do you get it or don't you get it? Oh, just about half of the heavens that I ever... They are. Now don't say you don't have. Now it'll go out. Don't you believe in a heaven? Now listen everybody. The preachers even in Pentecost don't. And if I dare to let out a bit of real Christian... Well, that is the orthodox. I wish you could take my place just for a little while, dear. I just wish you could. Do you wonder why I hibernate in the woods back up in New York and they dig me out once in a while? Well, you'll get my shoes and you'll know just exactly why. You'll know just exactly why. No, there was a disturbance. So heaven will be to many people. The perfect satisfaction of all the things which we're not able to attain, acquire, possess or experience here. Heaven will be to the majority of people. A release up here where it can be. How many get that or don't you? Half the hymns are written on that beast. Well, now I believe in heaven and hearts and golden streets and all this business. That's all right. But it never intrigues me. Ten thousand golden hearts are not strange to me. Where is the wonderful Lord in all this? Where is a deeper understanding of His heart? Where is a deeper communion? Where is the release? For that adoration and the glory which is becoming our glory. If I can only stand before His eyes, holy altar. To lift my head in the adoration and the praise. It's not even praise. I thank you for it. No. No, it's the adoration. The burst of the Spirit of God. Who once more wants to possess instants through whom that might vibrate back again? That adoration. I think we'll have a beautiful heaven. Don't worry. It's going to be very beautiful. But I want to find there something that God has been seeking all through time. He seeketh them to worship Him in spirit and reality. That's your worship. That's real. But then it's alright if you want, but if it's limited to that, why that's good. I'm not quarreling about it. But that isn't the point. He wants the whole Trinity of the being satisfied, redeemed. Redeemed. Redeemed. The fact is that even the body in which we live shall partake of His power. Strange, wonderful power that can transform us. And we shall have a glorified body in which to live. I'll come back to this idea of the hunger or the thirst. That is, that's a potential thing. It belongs to us. It's a part of our setup. It's a part of the creation. Now, God is the answer. He doesn't mean that He is just the answer by having salvation, so that my desire for salvation is answered in Him. But He means the whole being is to find its perfect and adequate adjustment and satisfaction in Him. I believe that with all my heart. I believe it reacts in the body. Sometimes I feel just nothing but vice, like I could go that way and get out of it. I don't think that's fanatical. Here I'm 75, I'll be 76 in a couple of weeks or so, and I feel as if I were 40. I feel as if I were 40. These are all my own feet. I can eat and sleep and carry on and do. Why shouldn't I? Well, He lives in me, dear. I am a vibrant living spirit that's alive forevermore. It shall never die. I'll never die. No, you won't either. You only knew it. Well, now, come back. This urge, this desire, don't let it become too local in any one certain field. But remember, your whole being is crying out to God. Your whole being is crying out to God for its redemption. And so we will have our heaven. Of course we will have a beautiful heaven. I remember speaking not just along this line one time, but I said, Heaven for some of us would not be just merely a satisfaction of a frustration here, and a desire which has not been satisfied, and an urge that never found it. And somebody heard me talk like, Oh, there goes my heaven! As if I had knocked the heaven out of her living. She said, Right on, I shall put up here. Oh, there goes my heaven. I don't want to take anyone's heaven. I want you to have the sweetest heaven you can have. Isn't that generous? I believe in that. I'm not taking anyone's heaven away. I'm only letting you feel some of the things that God has, and he hopes that we too may have it. Now we're going to get at these questions we'll never in the world get through. We had two yesterday. The one, can you remember? You see, I'm an old school teacher. I'm a graduate teacher, and I used to teach, you see, before. It's in my blood. How many of you can remember some of the points of this? How many of you remember that first one? Where am I? Your position. Let's get that. How many see it? That's your position. A fallen, broken down creature. In need of help. Unmasked. All the leaves of all the masks are taken off. And there we are. And he says, Here I am. Well, now do you remember the other one? That's going out a little bit after you have come past that first phase of your living. This is a picture of your experience in God. These are all little pictures of what happens to us as we move into God. This Bible isn't just stories. It's one of the most profound and marvelous, amazing revelations of truth that you could ever have. It's all hidden away there in picturesque, dramatic form. But don't become involved with that. Now, afterwards we found another question. What was it? Can you, before God, answer the question when he says, What is your name? Now, I said yesterday, a name spells your character. Your name. The name always indicated the character of the person. It was given because the person carried certain characteristics by a word which would cover it. Jacob. What is that? Jacob means a deceiver, a crooked one, a liar, a deceptive, subtle one. And so, this man, Jacob, could not get through to God. Nor could God even get through to him until he could make that confession. Just one word. What is your name? What are you? Now, don't bring out your camouflages. Don't do that. That's an old trick. No. Jacob. Fine, he said, that's all. Then you remember how the question provoked an answer. The answer became a confession of a platform upon which the blessing will always fall. Now, that's a principle. I found it. Nobody told me. And I have traced it all the way through my... What are you? A sinner. All right. My confession of being a sinner does what? Makes a platform for... You take that all the way through. In some forms, it's rather dramatic than others. The jaw of it is still there. If you want to analyze and go... Now, we will get those two bits of your setup straightened out. Now, I want to talk about... And both of them are asked when the Lord knows... And as we found yesterday, there is a reason why... Not for his benefit. It isn't to satisfy his ignorance. But it's to do a miracle in every one of us. Now, this next question has to do with... Provision. We've had position, condition. Now our third is of our provision. And in John, if you want, 6 and 5, we will find it. I'll read it to you. So if you don't want to fuss around with the Bible, I'll read it. I read the same kind of Bible. Well, some people don't believe it. So sometimes when I say in such a text, they all grab to see if I'm lying or not. And so I often am disturbed with them doing it. Because... I believe I have some mine left. But it's one track, sort of. The gifted person. I've known... Sit down at the breakfast table. And he's been eating breakfast. Reading the newspaper. Listening to the blare of all the latest news on the radio. His wife has talked to her. When I like... The minute someone comes in. And you feel like you want to visit. Is your conversation worth listening to? Don't do those things. They're horrible. You say, well, get the... I'm very practical. No, the minute you get in, put a television so that you can... Don't do things like that. When I hear fine music. I don't want somebody chattering at me. I don't want to be looking at things. I want to get the music. I want the spirit of it. I want the... The texture. How many of you know there's great texture in it? And it's subtle. And it's lost. And... What do you do today? Do you get it or don't you get it? Please don't do things like that. If you don't know nothing, you may not be as stupid. So I'll take it for the sake of... Appearing as if you know something. If you don't, see? My grandmother used to say, keep still. People think you're intelligent anyway. Don't say... Isn't that good advice? Yes. Well, here's this little story. When Jesus then lifted up his eyes and saw a great company come unto him, he said unto Philip, When shall we buy bread that these may eat? I mean, you got your question already. When shall we buy bread? And he's so good to tell us. This, on the side. And this he said to prove him. For he himself knew what he would do. Isn't that exactly what I've been telling you? Exactly what I told you. He knows. This he did for his sake. Not for Jesus. This he did to prove him. Knowing himself what he would do. Of course. Then why not let him do it? No, you can't. You've got to fuss around. Getting a hold of God and praying and tearing up the... Don't get into that confusion. By the Spirit, penetrate in past that thing and come into the possession. He has that. But he's going to ask this question. And now listen to his answer. Listen to his answer. It's so very typical. We're going to discover another little principle that's going to run from Genesis to Revelation. Right in this little story. A principle. Philip answered him. Two hundred tonny worth of bread is not sufficient for them. That every one of them may take a little. Do you see something or don't you? How do you see he's reverting now to his natural limited resources right away in the presence of the whole loaf of the bread of heaven. Isn't it? Isn't he the great loaf of life? Isn't he the loaf of the bread of heaven? Certainly. And here is the loaf of heaven. All supply. All supply for eternity is saved. He can't see eternity. He can't see the eternal supply. He can't see even Jesus in his miracle power. He is truly as centered. How do you get him centered? In what? His own little interpretation of the problem. With his... What is he doing? Well he's counting. He's counting. So instead of saying to the Lord Oh Jesus We have seen you work before. This is quite... Will you be the host and feed them? Wouldn't it be nice if he could have done that? But he can't do that. He's not advanced enough yet to do that. He has to twiddle around with his flesh. With his natural processes. With his counting. And so he says A little handful of bread. Two pence worth of bread. It's not sufficient? And the Lord smiling said Certainly it's not. We all know that, Philip. We all know that. But then he's going to help himself out of this difficulty. How? One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother says to him There's a land here which has five barrels and two small fishes. Now again, fall down. Fall down. But what are they among so many? You see them always falling down on the the limitation point. Or don't you get it? Both of them. Right away. Answers to both of them. Fall right down. But what are two pence worth? What are... Even if you have fish and bread, what is that? To this multitude. Do you get it or don't you? They are too self-conscious of their limitation. And they become that way because of their rationalizing. Now let us count it. I wish I dared to open up the the types in here. The features of it. How many of you notice there are seven items? Five, those, and what? Two, fish. Five and two make what? Seven. All right. I don't want to get in there, but it's good eating in there. That's really good. And seven is your completion. It has to be five and two. It can't be four and three. It has to be five and two. But I won't go in there. That has to be that way. It has to be that way. The story won't reveal the truth that's underneath here. It won't be five and two. And so, he says, we have this surprise. So they begin to count it. How many times you and I have had to I tell you, the benefit of my trash is he just leaves me out. And after I get out, I say, oh and after, I know of all the thousands and one of them was a failure. Do you see the ratio? How many get to ratio? So I said, all right, Lord. If all I got is four people out of this camp meeting, I will be happy. The ratio is very tight because your price is very tight. So if there's five, two, well, when you count, don't, don't fall back upon counting forevermore your limitations. Now I have this, and this, and this, and this, and that. Now that group, and this. But I can't make it come out to feed a multitude. You never will. Do you know why? You have counted your limitations five thousand times and never counted in the loaf of bread which was standing right by you. Do you get that? Do you get that? He's not so concerned about their limitations. He's concerned with the fact they wouldn't recognize he is the great loaf. Now the next time you're tempted to count your limitations, count them in his presence and then look up. Just, just so happy to say, thank you, Lord. I'm counting you in on this. Now don't be afraid to do that. But if you take comfort in falling back upon there's sort of a little simplification in feeling poor. You know? Yeah. How many know some people are only happy when they strike a note like that? You know? You know that'll damn you quicker than tug tobacco. The next time you count, you count him in. He is the loaf. Alright. I like it the way that it's given over here in the in Matthew, the story when it's given here. It adds some little touches that I like very much. And when it was evening, his disciples came to him saying, this is a desert place and the time is now past. Send the multitude away that they may go into the villages and buy themselves little. But Jesus said unto them, they need not depart. Give ye them to eat, not let me feed them. Oh, you want to get by by saying let him feed. No, he didn't say that. He didn't say that at all. He said, you give them to eat. He didn't say, now, I'll feed them, don't worry. No, he didn't say that. Because he's telling us something. He says, give ye them to eat. Why is it that instantly the need is revealed? The disciple always has an escape, some way of getting rid of it, by projecting it off here, there and yonder. He says, send these hungry groups, send them to the villages. No, no, you can't do that. What are the villages? How many of you know what the villages are? Do you know what the villages are? That often you have set the hunger of your heart and that urge within you, you have sent it to strange places. Those are the villages where you think you might find the sequel, the answer, the supply for the thing that's here. The hunger is in you and you have to do the giving. But he has a nice arrangement for it, a very sweet, beautiful arrangement, that stops sending them to the villages. This village business is always an escape mechanism for people. On the way to Emmaus, why were those discouraged disciples so happy to leave Jerusalem and make their way to Emmaus? Because Emmaus is an escape mechanism, so they don't have to live in the atmosphere of Jerusalem where they feel they have met the... Jerusalem is where they have had all of that idea of a kingdom and then they explode it. And the Messiah that they are following dies and leaves them. Well, who would want to deal with a more depleted wreck than that? A little handful of disciples completely reduced. All hope, which was on a natural basis, swept out from under them. And all the things that they desired, wrecked. And then Jesus goes way up in heaven and leaves them. How do you think that was a nice position? He may do it to you sometime. Don't be scared. He may dare to do it. He does it to some souls. He dares you. But not to many. Anybody can take a blessing and stand it. But few can take a defeat and live. Because you don't know how. Your reactions are not right. Your reactions are too terrifying and you fall down under. That's why God doesn't always trust some souls with great suffering and great trial and great discipline. He can do it. Because they are not tempered to it. He can trust the multitude with a blessing. Well, who couldn't take a blessing? But so few that he can say, will you watch with me an hour? He tried it with three of his disciples. That very thing. Can I trust you three to watch with me an hour? I'm going through one of the most terrifying experiences in my whole living. He couldn't trust that little bunch of people. He couldn't take his disciples in. He had three whom he felt were fairly well tempered. He says, will you watch with me? Oh, I'll go where you want me to go. Oh, put your hand in my midst. I really do. Because it's so shallow. There's no real depth to it. There's no real significance. It's a habit. A religious habit. It makes me smile. You condemn harder in an Episcopal service which is ritualistic and beautiful. I don't know a more beautiful service for worship than the ritual in the Episcopal church. It is beautiful. If you can have spirit in there, it's all that you need. It is beautiful. Don't condemn it. And go out and make one of your own. Let me know. We have our little thing. Nothing but foreign. But we are... You move continually in a pattern. And you carry it out in your service. You wouldn't have to have a service without it. And I know it. You fall back upon the technique of that and condemn someone who worships innocence of the Lord. I can worship in any church. I can worship in a Catholic church. I can worship in the high Episcopal church. Because my worship doesn't include the typology of it. And I can get the spirit. So people say, oh, that's foreign. And he says to worship in spirit. Well, now let me straighten you out on that. When he said to worship in spirit and truth, he was not condemning. He was telling you the motivation of your... How do you know the Old Testament is back? Where did they get it? The devil? How do you know God ordained it? How do you know God ordained that? Or do you think the devil got in there? God ordained that. It had its function. It had its place. And God could bless it. And he used it. How do you know they burned incense? How do you know it had significance? Well, when he said worship in spirit and truth, he was not talking about... He was talking about the motive of your heart. Let your heart in spirit worship in reality. If you need a form, if that will help you, that's all right. I'm not condemning that. He didn't condemn that. He was telling us that the motivation of the heart in the attitude of... Let it be done in spirit and in truth. He wasn't saying a thing about form. Of course, that ate up our poor dear Quaker brethren when they broke out. So they let the Catholic Church run off with a cross. You can hardly stand it. You can see it on your... Please get away from all those bondages. Please do it. Please do it. It will wreck the real thing that God is after. It will wreck it. So the Quaker said, No, we will not have the priest to stand with a black robe and talk. We will put him in a long coat with 72 buttons and a big black square. Do you know what that is? To inform... Do you know you can worship the Lord on a... You have to have it just as... He's the author of beauty. Well, why not include beauty in the thing? Now, I come from a Quaker stock, so I know what I'm talking about. My mother's grandfather was a Quaker. We come from the Long Island Quakers. I love much of it. The quietude. But when you go to extremes of saying you can't have a robe on when you... In a coat with about 72 buttons down the front. Are we holier? Why, no! Holiness is not in externalities. Don't be caught in that. Why, people can look like that and be full of the devil. And even be proud of their humility. You know, they're so humble. Well, you might as well be proud of something that's decent than to be proud of your humility. So people... Ah, that's the way people are made. I meet them. I see them all the time. But you see, we have to have charity with all of God's children because they aren't all made alike. They aren't all made alike. So we have great charity. I'm just as happy with one another. I go to all denominations. I've spoken to Catholics. A priest asked me to come to address 150 students in the Catholic Church. Well, I said, Father Colligan, you know I'm... I know, I know all about that. He says, you have something I wish my students... He says, you have something. You have a plant on Christianity. We can talk about it together. He says, I want my students to get a plant on Christianity. Will you come? I said, I'll come if you'll pay the consequences. Well, he says, we'll take the host off of the altar and not have the presence light. And when we do that, the sanctuary is turned into a general hall for any speech. But you can't minister with that. So out they went. The Virgin Mary was on one side, and Saint Joseph on the other, and I just said, move in that group. Now here, in this one, he says, the first way of getting rid of this thing is to send the hungry multitude away to some village. Think of the villages to which you have sent your heart, your mind, your spirit. Can you think of some of them? Everyone is guilty. Everyone is guilty. You have tried to project that thing into another field, lest it would cost you something to have it fed properly, and you would like a substitute. So you say, I'll send them over there. In my first hungering for truth, I was born and brought up in a Methodist church, and we didn't have too much. I was saved. I got that far. Not too salubrious an experience, but it was enough. If I died, God would take me. I was quite certain of that. But I never had the general preparation of it. I'm saved. Now don't doubt that. How many believe I am? Well, I was hungry, and I thought that if I... people advised me, and I thought that was my village. I went over there with this hunger in me, pushing this hunger into a village to find food. I didn't find it. I found an interesting village, but I never found my food. I exhausted it, and came back from the village hungry. Hungry. Well, he said, you don't need to send them to these villages. Give ye them to eat well. Now wait. Give ye them to eat. How can this be done? Well, these people had the same little fault of counting their limitations. So listen. But Jesus said unto them, they need not depart. Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, we have here but five loaves and two fishes. Here's where the lovely thing comes. Bring them hither to me. Isn't that sweet? Isn't that lovely? How do you see an entire absolute surrender and detachment from every one of those things? And you put them into the hands of the Lord. You get that or don't you? Bring them to me. Now stop counting them. I know who you are. I know your possibilities. I know your potentials. I know all of that. I knew you really before you were born. You haven't come into any kind of real consciousness yet as an entity. But I do. Many Christians don't come into those realms of consciousness at all. They're saved, filled with the Spirit, and have a glorious time of going to heaven, and have never come into what I would call a real inner consciousness of the reality. They don't. And you dare push in there to speak a little word, and hum, you know, their face gets as black as a goat. He says, you don't have to do that. You bring that to me. Do you dare to surrender to me? Would you dare to surrender all of that to me? Now that's all you have to count on, isn't it? Well, it's really all I have in my life. That's all I want. Now you dare to put that into my hands, that's all I ask. And I will be so grateful for the entire surrender of your being without any of these attachments, without any of these little village experiences, without that. Without that, he cuts absolutely out. It's a stripping that few will take. He says, if you dare to do that, I can do something. But I cannot as long as the consecration is only partial. That it has to be, because as he talks, if you want to follow mammon, go ahead. If you want to follow me, this is the way. He's very, very explicit about this. Very drastic. I like him because of it. One thing I love about my Lord Jesus is because he was a radical. And I admire him for it. I love him. I just poo for him all the time because he was a radical. These flimsy ideas of Jesus walking around with white dress on and things, sweet honey. I get very tried with them. He was a man. He was not effeminate. He was a man. I love his manhood. I love his daring. I love his bravery. I love to see him dare to go in and explode the thing right in the midst of those. I stand back and say, goody, goody, Lord, you can do it. I can't. He's saying, go to it, Lord. Well, why? They demanded it. How many know they get the treatment that they demand, they itch for it, like children. Have you seen the child itch for his fashion or haven't you? Well, you know. I know plenty. I know more about half the children, the folks have than they do. I'm an old bachelor, but I can tell them plenty. Now, listen. You know why? Because the child is merely the projection of your own being. And therefore, it is impossible for you to get at a vantage point far enough away because you are still conscious of that attachment. But let a person who has got that attachment stand over here. How many know he will get a perspective that you cannot operate? You cannot get. That's why old bachelors and old maids know so much. A father, a mother, they cannot help it. But if you dare to have a detachment, that's why we have to get out of this centered thing. One of the signs of maturity is that you have power in God to become detached. That's one of the first signs. But if there's still any clinging, you're only going to wreck the thing. You know, it'll only be partial. He says, Bring them to me. Well, here's one little fish that doesn't look very good. I think I can see... Bring them to me. Well, this little loaf looks kind of scorched, and I don't think you can do... Bring them to... Well, this loaf looks... Bring them to me. But Lord, this loaf... Bring them to me. Will you please stop your arguing with God? Please stop it. If he says bring them, then bring them. He says, I knew you before you were born. I know all of that. But please bring them to me. That's all he wants. That's all. Signs of maturity is that you have power in God to become detached. That's one of the first signs. But if there's still any clinging, you're only going to wreck the thing. It'll only be partial. He says, bring them to me. Well, here's one little fish that doesn't look very good. I think I can see... Bring them to me. Well, this little loaf looks kind of scorched, and I don't think you can do... Bring them to... Well, this loaf looks... Bring them to me. But Lord, this loaf... Bring them to me. Will you please stop your argument? Please stop. If he says bring them, then bring them. He says, I knew you before you were born. But please bring them to me. That's all he wants. That's all he wants. I never knew what that meant. Because it happened to me that I couldn't relate it. You see, I was not born in Pentecost. I never had seen it or heard of it. I never had seen a person baptized in the Spirit when God baptized him. I'm so glad I hadn't. There wasn't anyone saying, now say, glory, glory, glory. Not at all. I had never seen anyone baptized. I had never heard of it. But you know, the Lord has a way of isolating you when he's asking you. And before he could fill me with the Spirit, before he could fill me with this marvelous Spirit of life and light, before he put me through a most grueling, terrifying, with before, he was preparing the soil. People often say, why doesn't this person know why this has been removed? He's all been baptized. I said, listen, don't you know God has to have something to baptize when he baptizes? Yes, he has to have something to baptize. He couldn't baptize me as I had come along that way until about 3, 4 o'clock in the morning on the floor. I had never seen anyone get on their knees and lie down and pray. Methodists don't do that. But you know, when the Spirit moves on you, how many know, it doesn't matter about the past. And here was this awful groaning for God. I was saved, but God wanted to do something in me before he could really fill me with his Spirit. And you know what it was? It was just this. I never had related it before in my life. I had experienced it, but I didn't know it had any relation to anything in here. All through that evening until 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning, down on my face before the Lord, I was conscious of the Lord. I never knew he could talk to people because I never had been taught that. I didn't know about that, but I knew if there was ever anything real in my life, here was the presence of God dealing with my immortal Spirit. And when he began to deal with me, it was not concerning sins and failures and all that. That had been taken care of. I was a Christian already. He was beginning with all of the legitimate issues of living. All of the right things, all of the correct things, all of the good things to which I might become attached in some way. Family. During that period of those 3, 4, or God, I buried every one of my relatives. I wept all my tears for them. My heart was broken for them when I said, Am I buried? I never had any of that anguish when my loved ones go because that's all gone. That's all been taken care of. That's all taken care of. My sister was the first one to go in the family. And I was way off of town. I was in college, away from home. I felt God so wonderful that when they said, Would you like to see Mabel? I said, Yes. And the first thing I did was just stand and sing. Wasn't that strange? I just couldn't help it. I just sang to the Lord. There was such a sense of victory and triumph. The undertaker came to me by the shoulders. He thought that I was demented or something to take me out of the room. I wanted to say, Brother, if you only knew what I know now, you wouldn't even touch me. Well, he did that. All the legitimate things. I like schooling. I like schooling. I was born from folks that like schooling. My father was a teacher at the time. My grandfather. We all like intellectual things. That isn't it. You are to surrender that. I surrendered that night things in scholarship that today Pentecost is all yowling to get. And I can't understand it. I can't understand it. Maybe our patterns are different. But when God dealt with me to separate me unto Himself, to fill me with His Spirit, He swept all of that thing completely out of my life. Now, I have that. I don't belittle it. I like my degrees as good as anyone. You've never seen me use a degree, have you? You never will. You'll never see me use that. God doesn't want any of that in my life. He doesn't want it at all. Not at all. Not long ago, I came across a little box of some of my credits, my college credits. And here were all my credentials. I could have two degrees easily now, you see, isn't it? No, He says, you don't need them now. I'm going to do something where you or that will never fit. You're coming out of that. You're coming out of that. I don't want you mixed up with it at all. And when I find our people going over into that sort of a thing, I don't understand it. I really don't. I don't understand it. Now, I'm not depreciating. I think it's splendid if you can have it and keep it where it belongs. But if it's going to become a subject where God is dropped out, then I say, I'm afraid of it. I'm afraid of the results of it. It took my social life. Now you'd like to get into my romances, wouldn't you? Well, never mind, dear. I don't create those in public. I'm very human, very normal, and I'm in the natural. You see, you're not going to be in the natural. Now you surrender all this to me. Let it be detached. I don't want any of these things in you. I want you. And for at least an hour or more, all I want is to possess you. Will you fall into my hands? All I want is to possess you. Will you fall into my hands? All I want is to possess you. That's all he ever asked. He never asked me to preach or to teach or to sing or dance or pray. Those things that come up. I want you. If God could actually get a hold of people in this room this morning, without some of this religious collateral, how many know we wouldn't need to pray for a revival? It would be present. It would be present. It would be present here. It would be a beautiful spiritual revival. Not one which has been... So you see, that preceded even my baptism. What was he doing? He was doing this. He was detaching me from any... You need not go to any village. You bring life. Pray it. You bring that to me, and let it get into my hands. Will you let me possess it? That's all he ever asked. And when I surrendered to myself, this is the most real thing I've ever found, though it's wrecking my life and absolutely taking everything from me. I was as empty as a barrel with both ends knocked out. So the next night, he filled me with the Spirit. Reality. You have seen reality. You have seen reality. And so with this, he says, let me... let me... take this provision. Well now, listen. Get this. What did he do with it? He accepts it. He blesses it. He breaks it. That's a terrific thing. He took it and he blessed it and he broke it all to pieces. Well, who wants their life wrecked? Nobody. Nobody. Self-preservation is too present. Nobody wants that. But he says, I can't feed unless it's broken. And so he breaks it all to pieces. And then on top of it, he passes it out to a multitude. Isn't that something? Now, now get this. When he started to feed those people, he asked for... and the life is put together, isn't it? Now let me help you. These urges and these desires, clearly, beautiful, and in the Spirit, some of them are tremendous. The... that radiates from his breath. You get me or don't you? How do you know he didn't have something else? He will bring a satisfaction. He did it here. He didn't bring... introduce any... They were sacred. They were... they... they were... If you fast, if you are denied... I'm not talking now about fasting. If you, in Spirit, to be denied, to go without, legitimate food, proper food, good food, God-given food. If you are called upon to fast, let your fasting be done here. When you come out, anoint your face with oil. Do you get it or don't you? Some of you see the mask, or don't you? Do you get it or don't you? You don't come out and say, I'm... I'm almost killed. No, you come out and say, isn't the Lord wonderful. People say, how, how, how do you... Oh! He will use... that God can so... that these things appear... Do you get it or don't you? It's a strange announcement to get in there to see it. So here... is this... I must write this on the blackboard. Yes. How many are getting something? How do you know he didn't say... He just wept. Do I cry about it? Oh no, I've got something to sing. Oh, here it is. Now, where will this be? I want to read you something. This is a poem. I want to read you a poem God gave me when he had been... And you see, we have to be proud to get anywhere. I was brought up in the country, of course, and I walked in the... I went barefooted so we could have shoes in the winter. Don't wear them all out in the summertime. Go barefooted. So we lived in the country and Dave was our man. Well... Now... And I had noticed the soil that he would have to plow. Now sometimes we have in the country what we... And so when God spoke... My head is... Now, in order to get... Well, there's all kind of plowing. You know the point? The point, the crosshair? How many of you know we have one for garden plowing? I know... How many of you know when one strikes you? I don't know. How many know when one of those strikes you? How many of people have plowed like that? They have a surface, a semi-depth, and a deep plowing. And I found that out because... So when he had plowed me, I... I knew because I had been in it. And so he gave me this one day. When I write, I don't sit down to study, but the Spirit of God releases me and I think, and I tell myself, God plows within my heart. And plow long furrows one by one through fallow ground so hard and firm from early morning till set of sun. The plowshare was eternal truth which tore the hidden roots in me and turned them to the light and air till selfhood laid a field. I felt him walk each day. I knew he felt the briars stick. The field was his. It was his joy. For lo, I heard the plowman sing. He only plowed that he might sow it. There must be seed to scatter. Why? And then I felt his presence. He stood in silence at my side. And so I gave him all of me. My hopes and dreams and inner throne. All these he scattered far and near and left me not to call my own. They fell like seeds in furrows deep and all were buried neath the sod. All that I had went down in death to wait the mighty breath of God. He did not leave me then alone to mourn the loss of earthly things. To be thus stripped to be thus stripped gave greater place for life. His radiant His radiant presence. How could I grieve for a heart I covet now no sweeter thing than wait with him the harvest day. And in the meantime hear him sing. Do you like that? God did that. Well, God did that. That's true. Do what? Watch for my harvest? To have it published abroad? To be counted as visits? No. No. That's all God's business. That's all God's business. If he buries it he will bring forth a harvest. I covet now no sweeter than what? Wait the harvest day. And in the meantime hear him sing. How do you know he will sing over you? He rejoiced if he said so. He sat over Jerusalem. Rejoiced over it. He does that. So this provision I can't go too far with this. But are you getting something? You get it? The provision. What have you offered for the provision? Now I'm not talking about your services. He's not too interested in the things you're doing with that discipline. He's not concerned with that. He's concerned with you and with me. He's not after your works. He's after you. He has 10,000 million angels who can work but he has only one of you whom he may be able to plow and bring a little harvest unto his glory. Now don't fret because you can't get results that other people have. Be willing to be plowed and let him gather in the harvest when he sees it. Now why isn't he too concerned with my doing? He never asked me to preach. He has never asked me to teach. He's never come and said, now this, that. He never does that. He only just comes, I want you. I want you. I'm glad it's that way. I'm temperamentally made so I couldn't take it any other way. I'm glad he keeps it on there. Why do we serve? Why do I teach? Why do I preach? Why do I write? Why do I publish books? Why do I do that? Well, I'll tell you. It's a part of the technique which he has established by which an immortal spirit may be released, cultured, educated, trained, disciplined for him when he wants it. He will never say to me, Fuller, how many souls did you win? Well, I say, I never kept track of them. I suppose they're half-dead. He'll never ask me that. He'll never say, how many churches did you? He will never ask me, how many books did you? Never. Never in the world. Do you know what he will do? He knows that already. Do you remember how the churches in the Revelation all do that same thing? What was his first salute? Why have you to show for this? Now have you? And the churches didn't know that. You couldn't have done any of that. He says, I can't very well. I know that. You're completely wasted. You may be popular. He says, I know. I know all about that. But I have something to say to you. Do you remember that? That's what he will do with me. He will never ask me to give a report. Most people think it's that way. And the Lord will say, he'll say to the recording, Do you get that or don't you get that? That's not Scripture. He did not do it that way. Your reward is not of a gold house because you gave to the missionary cause. That is a lot of phony. And I hate it. Because it's error. It is not truth. He never thanked one of those people. Never thanked them. What did he do? He looked at them. All he will ever do to me. He'll say, Well, let's turn around. I think just a vision of mine. To see if any. He says we are to be. He is looking for what? A reflection of the Son of God. So may your services forever and shall pass away. But there's something more. He never passed away. Whatever the result might be. By which he wrought in you the transforming and conforming us to the image of eternity. Eternity. From the bondages of this. Of this fresh thing. And project this upon a plain with him. With what? Something of the image and likeness of his Son. Etched upon through the mechanism of the things which he is to do. All service is reaction. It is not for the service in itself. It was the impact of and diversion. Do you know something? It is much easier for you to do something. Now there is a sermon in a nutshell. Do you know it? Why? To do doesn't call necessarily from you the strange plowing and searching. But to become will call for a discipline which is not necessary always for your little services. Do you know you can get by with a lot? Don't I know? You can get by with plenty. But he will never ask about that. He will say what did that do to you? Not what did you do for me? You never say what did you do for me? What did you do for me? He looked to you. What is the reaction in your makeup because of that? He said to that those servants he said and he looked at them he looked at them and do you know what he said? Oh, you have done wonderfully well. I never could have gotten through. No, he didn't. He didn't. He said well done. He doesn't say a thing. He does not. He can. So he says through all of the mechanism under the power of the Spirit nothing he can't do. Under the Spirit. It has brought in you something. What is it? Well done. Good, faithful servants. How do you see those are all abstractions and not material crowns? Why? Because they are a character. I, when God I never read this in a book. Tell me. Tell me. No, I didn't. No, I didn't. I read it in life. I read it in my heart. I know it. What did he do? He looked at them and he found that here were three things he could well done, faithful. Well, Lord, what about my church? He said, Lord, what is that? Well, he said well done means the work has been correctly motivated and raw in the correctly motivated and raw in the power of the Spirit. Then God says well done. Not much done. Well done. Good. I said He said that's from the same root as God. Meaning a God likeness has been brought in you. A God likeness has been reflected in you. Something of God like a fragrance. Have you ever been near people you felt God or haven't? Was it because they were handsome, good looking? No. I've been close to a colored person that radiated God. He said I see that in you. A God likeness has come into your life and being. Your character has partaken of the essence of that. And that's what I see. Through it has wrought in you the miracle that I want for still another age. Well done. Now we know you can be faithful when you can't be what the world calls successful. But you can be so faithful. So he says you have been faithful over a few states. And he's not dealing with the things. The things was the thing that provoked the faithfulness. How do you get that or can't you? How do you conceive? Do you get that or don't you? These servants did not have these qualifications when he put them in the field. They certainly didn't. This was all built up. Built up. Built up in them through the prophecy. Now he says through that an element I call faithfulness in you has been manifested. I will take that element called faithful and I will lift it up and push it over here on another plane and you shall be faithful over many. Do you get it or don't you? How many of you see it mother's side? How many get it? How many see it in gold houses and crowns or anything like that? Just that's all. Crowns are not souvenirs. They are ones. Now he says that will be lifted up and put over there. Now perhaps another one had which he is dealing with in the construction. We talk about translation and the bride of Christ and all this business and I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. It seems to me about half of it is 4,000 miles off the beach. It has nothing to do with what God is doing but it's a traditional thing that you can nowhere on earth let alone in heaven. No. He takes that element and multiplies it. How many see the reward was an abstract thing? Do you get it? How many see the reward was a character quality? Faithfulness was the reward and I can multiply it now because the thing that I was after was that element. Now he does and the age is yet to come. So as we go to dinner let's try to remember Oh we didn't get the fourth one. I'll do that another time. That's real good too. But how many see there's the multitude what will you do with them? What are you going to do with your multitude? Have any of you learned anything this morning? I want you to. I covet you. I pray for you. I love you like spirits to me. People are not just flesh and blood. I see potential possibilities in spirit. In people. I know them. And oh some of them I just covet. I say oh oh don't wreck this thing. Don't wreck it. Don't wreck it. Let God have it. But some can't. Well learn to pay your price. One of the young men who went through college with me and I can very very well train him to be a missionary in a foreign field. Yes he did. We shared everything together. He was a wonderful spirit. Well the day came when we got out of school and finished. The Lord filled me with his spirit. And I let him know it. And here he was. He was president of one of our big colleges in the United States. You probably know his name by now but I don't like to talk about it. When he took his two or three degrees we were both working in Rochester. So he had finished and he knew I was in Rochester. And he was going through to be married. This girl lived way out here near Albany and she was not ready. And so he came to see me at Rochester. Took in a service and spent we had dinner and spent the day visiting. Well I knew that he knew what we had. Here was Pentecost. And we had a very good service and I did pray Lord don't let somebody go off the handle now. I thought Lord it's probably the only chance he'll have of seeing or knowing anything about the spirit of God. And now don't let somebody, one of your sweet precious children the demons go clean off the beans. How many know how that goes? But the Lord kept a pen of beautiful spirit lovely meeting and he knew it. So after we sat down we knew this whole Pentecost and he says he called me by my old nickname I wouldn't say it he called me by my old nickname he says I'm so good go on with it go on with it this is God. Well I said why don't you come in with us? You know what he said? The most pathetic thing he weighed it in its balance considered it and he looked at me so sort of wistfully he said I can't pay the price on you get a third of it. He was making a choice right there I can't pay the price did he go to hell? No. He went on in his popular swing he became quite missionary minded and became a president one of our colleges and he's having his prayer he's having his day and it's all good it's all in the name of the precious blessed beautiful Jesus and it's all for dear God's sake of course he doesn't get anything out of it of course they never do and you know that lingo too all for my dear God's sake you aren't getting any hand off over here oh no glory to God well he owned up to it he said and he never had now will he go to hell? no no no no he will wake up sometime to find out that he had missed the real essence of his whole Christian teaching and experiencing God he had missed it he had missed the core of the thing he had been dealing with externality he was dealing with his uncle wonderful working in China missionary working oh but he had his chance God wanted him God wanted him he wanted him so he goes to another village with his you see he took it over to another village he didn't give it to God precious Lord we've talked so much this morning that we pray it's not my word it's not my truth you have given us truth you've opened truth you've laid us upon you have burdened us with us and we like Lord to dispense it and give it to those who are able to hear and may those who have ears to hear listen in and if there be needed some spiritual adjustments in our thinking and living make us courageous enough to say yes Lord and get a hold of every heart in this audience and don't let us go until we can face thee you have put restlessness even in religious things about some hearts that you might bring a revelation don't let them miss the day of their visitation for Jesus sake Amen