In this sermon transcript, the preacher shares a powerful experience from an evangelistic night in Africa. A young woman and her fiance attended the service and were moved by the preaching of the gospel. As the presence of God was felt and the Holy Spirit convicted people of their sinful condition, an invitation was given to accept God and confess their sins. Many people stood up and were taken to a counseling room where leaders explained God's plan of salvation. The preacher emphasizes the importance of fully committing to God and not quenching or grieving the Holy Spirit.

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold. You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www.charityministries.org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, EFRA PA 17522. These messages are offered to all without charge by the freewill offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. When God has given me a broken heart, I am overwhelmed with a sense of my own spiritual need. When I live a broken Christian life, there is a spirit of compassion about my life because I can forgive much because I know how much I have been forgiven. I always esteem others better than myself. When I serve God with a broken heart, I have a dependent spirit and I recognize my need for others. When I serve God with a broken life, I have learned the secret of denying myself. When my heart is broken before God, I have a motivation to serve others. I am motivated to be faithful before God and to make others a success. When my heart is broken before God, I have a deep desire to promote other believers. I have a sense of my own unworthiness and I am so thrilled that God would use me in any kind of the ministry or any kind of the fellowship. I am always eager for others to get the credit. And when my heart is broken, I rejoice when others are lifted up and I never defend myself. When my heart is broken before God, I have a hard attitude that says, I do not deserve to be part of this fellowship. I know that I've got nothing to offer God except the life of Christ that is flowing through my broken life. And when I'm broken before God, I'm so humiliated by how much more I have to learn. I'm not concerned about the self-life and I'm willing to take risks to become vulnerable and to be close to others and to open my life to love other people. And when I serve God with a broken heart, I always take personal responsibility and I can see where I have done wrong in any kind of a situation. And when I'm broken before God, I always receive criticism with a humble and with an open spirit. I'm not concerned. I'm concerned about being real. And what they care about and what matters to those who are broken, it's not what others think, but it's what God knows about them. And I'm willing to die to my own reputation. And when I live a broken Christian life, I'm willing to be open and transparent with others as God will direct me. And when I'm broken before God, I don't care who knows or who finds out about me. I am willing to be exposed because I have nothing to lose in my relationship with God. And so when I serve God with a broken heart, I'm always quick to admit my failures and I want to seek forgiveness whenever it is necessary. When I live a broken Christian life and I'm under a conviction of God's Spirit, I'm able to acknowledge the specifics about my sin. I'm grief over the cause of my sin and I'm grief over the root of my sin. And when I'm broken before God, I truly and genuinely repent over my sin and the evidence in the fact is that I want to forsake that sin. When I live a broken Christian life, I want to take the initiative to be reconciled when there has been a misunderstanding or a conflict in any kind of a relationship. I want to raise to the cross. I want to see if I can get there first, no matter how wrong the other person may have been. And when I'm broken before God, I compare myself with the holiness of God. I sense the desperate need of the mercy and the grace of God. I always want to walk in the light. And when I serve God with a broken spirit, I realize that I have a need of a consistent cleansing of heart and repentance. And when I'm broken before God, I continually sense my need for a fresh encounter with God the Holy Spirit. But when there is pride in my life as a Christian, I always focus on the failures of other Christians and other fellowships. When there is pride in my life, I've got a very self-righteous spirit. I've got a critical spirit. I have a fault-finding spirit. And I look at everyone else's faults through the microscope. But I always look at my own faults through the telescope. And I always look down upon the lives of other people. When there is pride in my life, I have an independent and a self-sufficient spirit. I'm protective of my time. I try to protect my reputation and my rights as a Christian. And I focus on the deficiencies of other Christians. When there is pride in my life, I want to be served by other Christians. I've got a desire to be successful. I want to advance the self-life. And when there is the sin of pride in my life, I've got this drive. I want to be appreciated. I want to be recognized. I'm offended and I'm wounded when other Christians are promoted. And I have been overlooked because of what I have done. When there is pride in my life, I've got this inner attitude. And this is what I said. That this fellowship is very privileged to have me and my gifts. And all I think is what I can do for God. And when there is pride in my life, I'm confident by how much I've learned other scriptures. And how far I have gone in my relationship with God. And when there is pride in my life, I always keep people in a distance. When there is pride in my life, I want to blame other people. When there is pride in my life, I'm unapproachable. When there is pride in my life, I'm defensive. When I'm criticized by other Christians. And when there is the sin of pride in my life, I'm so concerned to be respectable. I'm concerned about what other people think of me. And I try to protect my image and my reputation. And when there is pride in my life, I find it very difficult to share my spiritual needs. When there is the sin of pride, I want to be sure that no one else find out that I have sinned. And I try to cover up sin. And I have this instinct to try and not to reveal it. And when there is pride in my life, I always want to make sure that no one else finds out when I have sinned. And I try to cover it up. And I find it very, very difficult to say, you know, I'm wrong. Will you please forgive me? When there is pride in my life, I'm concerned about the consequences of my sin. I'm remorseful over my sin. Simply because I've been caught that I have sinned before God and sinned before man. And when there is pride in my life, I always wait for others to come and ask for forgiveness. When there is a misunderstanding or a conflict in my relationship with God. When there is pride in my life, I try to compare myself with other Christians and other believers and other fellowships. And I always think that I'm better than them. When there is pride in my life, I'm blind. I become blind to my own heart condition. When there is pride in my life, I don't think that there is anything that I need to repent of. I don't think that I need revival. But oh, I'm so sure that everyone else needs revival in my relationship with God. It's time to pray, shall we? Father in heaven, we want to thank Thee this morning for the way that Thou has been dealing with us. The way that Thou has been breaking our hearts. The way that God has been stirring us with realms and understandings of the brokenness of the presence of God. And we are so grateful that we have recognized in these days that God has come to us in new and fresh ways in our relationships with You. And yet our God and our Father, there are some of us this Sunday morning, and somehow we have not met with God. Somehow our hearts have not become broken. Somehow the Spirit of God has not broken into our relationships with You. My brother and my sister, as you stand here this morning, we have been exposed to the greatness of the presence of God. Both of you have not been with us in these sessions. Night after night, even before we turn to the preaching of God's Word, have we opened the altar of the church, and have we asked people to come and spend time with God. And I'm going to ask you, if you have not met with God, as we open the altar, I'm going to challenge you just to come right at this moment and say, Brother Gerard, I can't say that God has got through to me yet over this weekend. And I want you to come, and I want you to come and spend some time with Him at the altar of the church. Would you like to come right now? Come and find a spot. You said, I haven't met with God. I've prayed about things, and I just wait for you right here at the front. And you come and seek His face. We just wait for you, our beautiful young people, mothers and fathers, people that are visitors, and you've not been in these sessions. If you haven't met with God, we're just going to wait. And if you have met with God, we're going to ask you to go on your knees wherever you are. But if you haven't met with God, we're going to ask you to come to the altar of the church. You just come. I challenge you. Come and spend some time with God. We're waiting for you. Say, Brother Gerard, I haven't met with God yet. There's many of our sisters to my right, and you need to come and meet with God. If you haven't been out and spending time with Him, we just wait for you. And if our precious young women need to be sold out to the Lord Jesus, we just wait. There's still room at the altar, you just come. Those of us that are standing, I'm going to ask you to just slip around on your knees. You said earlier this morning that this is a different service. So let's spend some time in prayer. You can pray out loud if you want. You can pray quietly. You just pray as God would lead you. Pray about your own relationship with God. Let's spend some time in prayer. Whether there's someone that wants to lead us, lead out in prayer, brother or sister, you just feel God move upon your heart to pray. We want to ask you when you pray that you lift up your head and pray out loud so that we would be able to hear you. Whether there's anyone who wants to lead out in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, we want to thank you this morning that these times of refreshing that has come from the presence of God has been times of great searching and yet times of great encouragement. And we are so grateful that you speak to us because we are precious to God. That you speak to us because you've got a plan for our lives. That you speak to us because you want us to become more effective. And that you speak to us because you want us to become men and women of God. And Father, so many of us have testified that you have been touching our hearts and you have been purifying us and you have been cleansing us and you have revealed yourself to us. And we are so grateful this Sunday morning for the vision of the Lord Jesus that has been stirring our hearts. We are so grateful this Sunday morning that the future is just as bright as the promises of God. We are so grateful this morning that the will of God will never ever be able to lead us where the peace of God is not able to keep us. We are reminded that the Old Testament said to us that the thoughts that you have towards us, those are not thoughts of destruction and thoughts of discouragement. But, O God, that they are thoughts of great encouragement. That God has a plan for our lives as His people. That you want us to find this plan. Father, that you want us to follow it. But most of all, that you want us to finish it. And Lord, we are grateful this morning. Our hearts have been marvelously encouraged. Our lives and our souls have been stirred. And you have lifted us up and you have touched us. And you have broken through in our relationships with you. And God, you know this day that in the own inadequacy of the expectation of my relationship with you, is there such a wonderful anticipation to see what you are going to do in Charity Christian Fellowship in the days to come. We ask this morning that you will forgive us, our God and our Father, that we did not climb underneath the burden of God to pray for the ministers and for their wives and for their children in the way that you wanted us to pray. We ask that you will forgive us that there were times that instead of committing ourselves to prayer, that we find ourselves criticizing. And that we find ourselves gossiping. And that we find ourselves slandering against aspects of the leadership of the fellowship. And yet, Father, last night in our half-night of prayer, and in the times of praying together, have we found ourselves crawling over to one another and we have asked for forgiveness and we wanted to make reconciliation because what we desire was for the movings of the Spirit of God and the lives of your people. And Lord, you have given unto us a burden. It's a burden not just for our own relationships with you. It's a burden not just to pray for our wives and for our children and for our young people. But, oh, it's been a burden to pray for our husbands. It's to pray for this community. God, this morning as I was driven to, was brought to this fellowship, it just broke my heart, my heart to see so many of these horses and buggies going to different places of worship. And, Father, we looked at the blackness of these little beautiful buggies and yet in many of those buggies that we see, men and women who sat, they are on their way this morning to worship and yet they have never been born of the Spirit of God. And maybe there are some of them at this very moment who are standing somewhere at the telephone booth and they are listening to this morning's service and they are lost and they do not know Christ and they need to be born of the Spirit of God. And, Father, I pray this morning in Jesus' name that there are those who are listening over the telephone or those who are standing in the telephone booth that suddenly that the conviction of the Spirit of God will come upon their lives. You said unto us in Your Word that when He, the Holy Spirit, will come, He will convince and convict of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. And I pray that in Jesus' name that You will reveal to them their lost condition, that they will recognize that You have said in Your Word that God do not have any pleasure in the death of a sinner, but that He will repent, that You have said in Your Word, come now and let us reason together. Say of the Lord, though Your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, and that they will trust You for salvation at the very place where they find themselves. And that in this Sunday morning that they would be glorious, born of the Spirit of God, and that they would cry to God for mercy, and they would ask God to forgive their sin, and ask Christ to come into their lives, and that You will give them the assurance of their salvation. Lord, there is a spirit of great excitement in my heart because in the days to come You are going to lift up our elders and the ministers and the deacons and their families, and You are going to unctionize these men with the Holy Spirit, and You are going to set them apart unto Yourself. And I pray, Father, this morning in Jesus' name that these leaders will not be discouraged, that they will not become despair, but that somehow in these days to come that God the Holy Spirit will come to their hearts, and that You will so deeply encourage them. We thank You this Sunday morning for the testimony of our brother Denny Keniston. We thank You for the brokenness of his life. We thank You that he never wants to defend himself, but that he longs for God. And God, our hearts are broken this morning because You have given us leaders. You have given us these ministers. They confess that they don't have it together, but they confess that they want to walk with God. And we want to pray that You will give us the burden of God to pray for them in the days to come. They are our leaders, our God. They also have faults and infirmities and weaknesses, just like us we are. But, Father, we have no other leaders. And like Aaron of old who came to Moses and who lifted up the arms of Moses, so do we as a congregation and as a fellowship this Sunday morning want to lift up the arms of these men that You have called. And we ask that You will give them the spirit of joy. We ask that You will give them the unction of the Holy Ghost. We ask that You will give them a baptism of brokenness in their relationships with You. And, Lord, if criticism is coming to them, if it's from within the fellowship or it is from without the fellowship, we ask that You will make them flames of fire. And somehow, Lord, that they will become like ducks, that it will roll down from them like oil upon the water. And if a criticism of us is from God, we ask that You will break their hearts. But, Lord, we do not want the enemy to take advantage of our leaders. We do not want him to bring condemnation. And so we pray that if it is not of God, that You will put a shield around them, God, that You will protect them, that as they serve You with brokenness, that their hearts will not be so open before God, that they will be torn in part by the opinions of men, or the onslaughts of the evil one, but, O God, that they will be men of prayer. And so what we pray for our leaders this morning, we want to pray for our fellowship. God, we know that the enemy of our souls, if he is not able to keep us back, he is going to try to push us over the edge. We pray this morning that the onslaughts that has come from the enemy of our souls upon the fellowship, God, we pray in Jesus' name, that You will put a guard and a gate around the fellowship, around our families, that the enemy of our souls will not be able to distract us from the greatness of the preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and that You will bring the joy of the Spirit back, and that Your Word is said unto us, Rejoice in the Lord always, and I say again, rejoice. Be careful of nothing, but in everything by prayer and by supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And this morning we bring this fellowship to You. Father, we are not satisfied by what You are doing. We want much more of God. There is the sound of the abundance of rain. And oh, we pray in Jesus' name that You will come to us as families, that our homes will become homes of prayer, that our families will become houses of prayer. Father, we pray this morning in Jesus' name that You will pour out Your Spirit upon every household of Charity Christian Fellowship, upon every household of the other fellowships that are meeting this Sunday morning, those fellowships that have been planted out of charity, the other fellowship here in the community. God, we are not different fellowships. We are part of the fellowship of God. And I pray this morning that You will bring in amongst us such a great sense of oneness in the Spirit. God, that You will bring upon us such a great contriteness of heart. And I pray, Father, in Jesus' name, that the sense of the oneness of the Spirit of God and the love and the brokenness and the transparency will flow from this fellowship. And Father, that our love will not be able to be denied because You said to us in Your Word, by this they shall know that You are my disciples because of Your love to one another. Lord, we need an outpouring of Your Spirit. O God, we need revival. But if You are not going to send revival to us as Your people, how can we anticipate You to send revival to these dead areas where people met this morning and the language is in a language that our young people cannot understand. And there is a deadness and there is a religiosity, but there is no life. God, if You don't break through in the revival in our midst as Your people right here where we confess to know Christ, where we are desperately needy, how can we anticipate You to break through in revival blessing in the other communities that we are surrounded? Father in Heaven, You have planted this fellowship right in the midst of this area of Lancaster. You have saved people. This morning we lift up our hands and our hearts towards Thee and we say to Thee, our God and our Father, it is time for You to visit us again. It is time for You to pour out Your Spirit. It is time for You to send conviction. It is time that the Spirit of God will be poured out upon this district and men and women will have sleepless nights. And men and women will be in desperation and they will come down in their horse and their buggy and they will see someone who has been converted and they will stop and say, Can you help me to find Christ? And we will see someone in a bicycle cycling down the road and when they see us, the Spirit of God will say, Here is a believer. Ask Him how you can be saved from your sin. This morning, our God, we cry to Thee. Lord, we have nothing in our hands to bring. We are like this man that Brother Denny spoke about. Our lives are so withered. We are like the man with a little crippled hand who came to Jesus and said, Could you heal me? And Christ turned to him and said, Do you want to be healed? And then you turned to him and you said to him, Stretch out your hand. This morning we stretch out our hand. Father, we can't bring revival. We cannot manufacture the presence of God. We can't bring the power of the Spirit of God down. But God, we can humiliate ourselves. We can fast and we can pray. And you said unto us in your Word, 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. We are thy people this morning. We have been called by thy name. We have humbled ourselves. We have confessed our sins before you. God, our Father, we want to hear from heaven. We want you to come into our midst. And I pray this morning in thy great name that again and afresh that the seed of revival will be sown in our hearts today. That the burden of revival will give life afresh in our souls. That the Spirit of prayer will be poured out upon our community. And that you will come and visit us with a great movement of the Spirit of God. Father, reveal to us what is preventing it. If we haven't prayed this thing through to God, then beseech we thee in Jesus' name that you will pour out upon us a great Spirit of prayer. And us men and women will look upon this fellowship that they will be able to say what Duncan Campbell said when the revival came to the island of Lewis and he said, I never brought revival to the island of Lewis, but the island of Lewis was a community saturated with the Spirit of prayer. This morning we pray in Jesus' name that men and women will look upon these fellowships and that they will be able to say these fellowships are fellowships that are saturated with the Spirit of intercessory prayer. Lord, I was so shocked last night that merely a handful of us as your people have a quiet place where we meet with you. Merely a handful of us as fathers and as husbands and as mothers have a closet where we meet with God. Father, you are not going to come to the church unless you are going to come to the husbands and the fathers. And you are not going to come to the church if you are not going to come to our mothers and our families. And so we ask of you as we climb underneath the burden of God, we ask that you will pour out upon us this burden and that you will wake us up in the hours of the night. Lord, as you woke me up at 2 or 3 o'clock this morning, suddenly the burden of God was there. And there was no option but to respond to the greatness of the burden of God. This morning I pray that once more that you will remember us here at this fellowship of your people and that you will come to visit us with the greatness of the movement of God. Thank you for your word this morning. O God, we love this book and we pray that as we ponder upon it that the Holy Ghost will come this Sunday morning and that you will breathe upon the Scriptures and so that the Scriptures should become part of our lives so that we can be called the people of God. Thank you for that in Jesus' name. Amen. I'd like you to take your seats this morning and I want you to open your Bible. I want you to open your Bible with me at Hebrews chapter 10. And just for the sake of our time and our being together, I want us just to read a few verses from that wonderful chapter, Hebrews chapter 10. And we have been on our knees and why don't we stand for the reading of the Word of God? Why don't we rise to our feet and we stand for the reading of God's Word? A few verses from chapter 10. And then also a few verses from chapter 11. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 19. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and a living way, which He hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, His flesh. And having an eye-priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart, full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for He is faithful, that is promised. Let us consider one another to provoke unto love and also unto good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more, as you will see the day approaching. Hebrews 11, verse 1. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report, and through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. By faith Abel offered unto God the more excellent sacrifice than came by which he obtained witness that he was righteous God, testifying of his gifts, and by it he being dead yet speaketh. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death, and he was not found because God had translated him. For before his translation he had this testimony that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that His rewarder are them that diligently seek Him. By faith Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the world, and he became the heir of the righteousness which is by faith. By faith Abel, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed, and he went out not knowing whether he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs who of Him are the same promise. For he looked for a city which had foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Through faith also Sarah herself received strength to conceive seed. She was delivered of a child when she was past the age, because she judged in faithfulness who had promise. Therefore sprang there even of one and he was good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky, in a multitude and in the sands which is by the seashore innumerable. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and they were persuaded of them, and they embraced them, and they confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims in the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country that is heavenly. Wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He hath prepared unto them a city by faith Abram when he was called, when he was tried, offered up Isaac. And he that hath received the promises offered up his only begotten Son, of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called, accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from whence also we received him in a figure. By faith Isaac blessed Jacob, and Esau concerning the things to come. By faith Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph, and worshiped leaning him up on the top of his staff. By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel, and gave commandment concerning his bones. By faith Moses, when he was born, was it three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child and they were not afraid of the king's commandment. By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ's greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured in seeing him as invisible. Through faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. By faith they passed through the Red Sea, as by a dry land, which the Egyptians sustained to do, they were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were compassed about seven days. By faith the harlot Rhea perished, not with them that believed, not when she had received the spies with peace. What shall I say more? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthah, and of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection. And others at trial of cruel mockings and scorchings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were tempted, they were slain with a sword. They wandered about in sheepskins and in goatskins, being destitute and afflicted and tormented, of whom the world was not weary. They wandered in deserts and in mountains and in dens and in caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise, God having provided something better for us, that they may without us should be made perfect. You may be seated. A little epistle to the Hebrews is a wonderful little epistle. I often say to myself, one of the two great New Testament books that is a must for us to memorize as the people of God, is the 433 verses of the epistle to the Romans. And it's the 303 verses of the epistle to the Hebrews. Somehow they are speaking to us about two marvelous aspects of the New Testament. Romans is giving unto us the greatness of the life of Christ. And the epistle to the Hebrews is giving us our inheritance of what God has in store for us. And so when you and I would study this epistle, or in fact, if we would study the New Testament epistles and the importance of the understanding that when the Word of God becomes part of our lives, that we cannot move from our experiences to the Scriptures, but our experiences of God is always the consequences of the Scriptures in our relationships of God. And brother and sister, when the Scriptures has become part of our lives, we come to this place where we spoke about brokenness. That we will never defend ourselves as the people of God. That we will always see people with the grace of God and we see ourselves without the grace of God. That we will never be guilty of slandering. That we say something behind someone's back and we can't say it in the face of that person. That we will never become guilty of gossiping when we say something in someone's face and we can't say it behind their back. Because the Word of God has become part of our relationships with You. I trust this morning that you sit here in this little time that we are together and there is still a love in your heart for the Word of God. There is still a yearning in your soul that the Spirit of God will come because my brother and my sister, the Holy Spirit of God has nothing else to work upon than the greatness and the efficacy of His Scriptures. And when the seed of God's Word is sown in my life, the Holy Spirit of God comes and He breathes over my garden and it's the freshness of bringing me to the place where He fertilized that seed of God's Word in my life. And then what is happening to me, it begins to manifest itself if it's becoming a woman of prayer, or if it's becoming a man of prayer, or if it's becoming a great sense of purity in my relationship with God. It's as a result of the fact that God's Word has become part of my life. And the Holy Spirit of God never brings condemnation, you know. That's why the Apostle Paul said to us in Romans 8, where is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who live not after the flesh, but who live after the Spirit. For he said, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death. For he said, for that which the law could not do and that it was dead through sin, God sent His Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh. So he said here this morning, he said, Brother Gerard, what about the little epistle to the Hebrews? Well, you see, when we study the New Testament epistles, you will discover that most of those New Testament epistles is giving unto us what we would refer to as a doctrinal aspect. In other words, they are speaking to us about the great doctrines of the Bible. It's like the armor of God, you see. When the apostle Paul made this statement and he said, take on the whole armor of God, and he speaks about the armor of God, and he speaks about the loins girded with truth, we discover that he is speaking about all the truth of God's Word. And so he speaks to us about doctrine. So in the first nine chapters of the epistle to the Hebrews, in fact, right up till Hebrews 10, verse number 18, he is giving unto us this great revelation of doctrine. And yet, brother and sister, you will discover that from Hebrews 10-19 onwards, he is beginning to apply to us that which he has been saying unto us about the great fundamentals of the doctrine of Scripture. And so you say, brother Gerard, so what happened? Well, let me explain to you what happened. You see, when we study the New Testament epistles, you will discover that there is a message that God has in store for us, brother and sister, as His people. And you say, brother Gerard, what is that message? That is the message of freedom. That is the message of confidence. That is the message of a spiritual life. That is what the apostle Paul meant when he said in the epistle to the Ephesians that God has put us with Christ. And brother and sister, we are sitting in heavenly places. Why do we say that? Because the writer to the Hebrews is saying to us that the Lord Jesus is interceding for us this morning. What is He doing at the right hand of the throne of God? The writer to the Hebrews said He is interceding for us day and night, and He is praying for us the way that He prayed for those early disciples. And you remember what the Lord Jesus said? He said, if you confess Me before men, He said, I will confess you before My Father which is in heaven. And I wonder this Sunday morning if I may ask you, are we in the process of confessing the Lord Jesus before men? Are we giving Him the freedom this morning in the presence of His Father to confess us before Him? What did He pray for those early disciples? He prayed and He said, Father, sanctify them through Thy truth. He said, Thy word is truth. And my brother and my sister, I wonder if you would allow me to ask you because, you know, I think it's possible this Sunday morning that there are some of us that sit here and you've never been set free. You have never been born of the Spirit of God. You've never received the greatness of the life of Christ. Would you allow me to suggest to you that if you have not been saved, if you have not been set free, there is a time we know not when and it seals the destiny of men. There is a place we know not where it seals the destiny of men. You see, if you sit here this morning and you say, Brother Gerard, I'm not saved. I've not been born of the Spirit of God. Would you allow me to suggest to you this Sunday morning that you do not know if God is going to speak to you again? You say, why do you say that? Listen to what the Bible is saying to us. He said, My spirit shall not always thrive with man. If there is someone in this morning service maybe listening over the telephone and they are listening to this message, I would like to say to that person, if you die today without Christ, you are going to land up in the lost eternity of the eternal flames of hell. God said, I have no pleasure in the death of a sinner, oh, but that we will repent. I will never be able not to remember this. It was an evangelistic night in a large hall on my own homeland of Africa. And there in the back of this hall, when the gospel was preached and the presence of God was real and there was a sense of the presence of God and the Holy Spirit was convicting people of their lostness and their condition before God. And as the gospel was preached at the end of that message, there was an invitation that was given. And right in the back of the hall, there was a young woman sat there with her fiancé. They came that night to the service because they were invited to listen to the gospel. Outside of that city hall, there was a big motorcycle standing. It belonged to this young man and his fiancé was with him. And he sat at the back of that hall and as the gospel was preached that that evening, God was working and there was an invitation. And men and women at the end were said to now, if you want to accept God, if you want to acknowledge your lost condition, if you want to ask God to come into your life, if you want to confess your sins, it's going to cost you absolutely everything. But it's going to cost you more to miss it than it's going to cost you to find it. And at the end of that service when the invitation came, men and women were asked to stand up wherever they were as their heads were bowed in the presence of God. And one after the other people stood up and as they stood up, they were invited to come into a counseling room. And there were some leaders that took them and systematically explained to them God's plan of salvation. And as those people would come, this young man and his fiancée sat at the back. And she stood up and she wanted to give her life to God. And the tears were streaming down her cheeks. And she wanted to be converted and she wanted to be saved. And when the invitation came and said, now you need to step out and come to the room so that someone would be able to pray with you. The moment when she wanted to get that step forward, her fiancée who sat next to her, his eyes were open and he realized what was happening. And so he grabbed her in her arm and she was trying to drag herself away. But he grabbed in her arm and he dragged her down into the chair. And he would not let her go to that room. That service was over and he got onto that motorcycle. And as they were speeding down from the city hall, maybe about half a mile further, there was an awful crash. That motorcycle crashed into a vehicle. He was thrown through the air. She who sat behind him, she was thrown a lot further than that. And as they came to those two bodies and they tried to revive them, they were both gone into eternity. You see, life is very brief, you know. It's just like the falling of a leaf. I wonder this morning... You see, we can't go through this conference without putting out a challenge to people who are not saved. I wonder this morning if there are some of our young people and you don't have the absolute assurance that you have been born of the Spirit of God. I wonder if there are some of the visitors here this morning. Maybe you've heard about these services. Maybe this is the first time that you ever came into a service like this. And this has been different, you know. This is not the average mess that is going on in a church on a Sunday morning. No, no, no, no. We want to be in business of God. We are not looking for churches full of people. We are looking for churches that will be full of people that will be full of God. And you sit here this morning and you've never been born of the Spirit of God. You lost in the presence of God. If you die this moment, you're going to open your eyes in the eternal flames of hell. You say, Brother Gerard, what should I do? I should respond. You say, do I have to respond to me? No, no, no, no. You should respond to God, you see. God is the One that is able to save you. You should respond to the fact that you are lost in the very presence of God. That's why in Canada where we live, when someone wants to come to Christ, he takes me three hours. You say, what do you do? I sit down and systematically go through God's plan of salvation. And if you sit here this morning, you say, I want to be saved. I want to be born of the Spirit of God. And I want to spend time with you. You're going to need to give us three hours of your time. We will sit there and we will go through the Scriptures. You say, why do you have to spend so much time with me? Because I am dealing with the eternal value of your soul. It's the most important decision of your life. You say, what is it? It's the assurance of salvation. And oh, I wonder if you would allow me to ask you, do you know that you have been born of the Spirit of God? Don't misunderstand me. If you sit here this morning, and I know the light of the Word of God has been shining upon our hearts, and you sit here and you know that Christ has come into your life. My dear brother and sister, I don't want you to question your experience, but let me tell you something. If there has been no growth taking place, then I need to question your experience. So what happens in the epistle to the Hebrews? You see, we discover in chapter 10 the wonderful life in the Spirit. Ah, you say, brother Gerard, the life in the Spirit. When I was saved, when I was born of the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit came into my life, didn't He? Absolutely, my brother and my sister. How did I know that the Holy Spirit came into my life? This is how I know. You remember the day when you and I prayed, or someone prayed with us and explained to us God's plan of salvation. And you and I prayed, and we asked God to come into our lives. What did we say to God? We said, God, I know that I'm a sinner. I'm lost in the presence of God. I need to be saved. And I asked Him to come into my life, and I asked God to save me. And so the burden when I confess my sins, and I look through the Scriptures, the burden of my lost condition, suddenly the burden lifted and the assurance came. And the witness of the Holy Spirit came. And when the witness of the Holy Spirit came, God witnessed with my spirit that I was a child of God. And so you sit here this morning and you say, I've got that witness. I know that. I know that I belong to Christ. You say, brother Gerard, what happened to me? I receive the Holy Spirit as a person. My brother and my sister, the Holy Spirit is not a something. The Holy Spirit is not an eat. The Holy Spirit is not a manifestation. The Holy Spirit is not an experience. No! That can be part of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a person. You say the Holy Spirit is a person. What is a person? We find three things in the realm of our personality. You say, what is it, brother Gerard? We find the will. We find the emotions. We find the mind. Three things that is in personality. Now the Bible speaks about the will of the Spirit. Do you remember the Apostle Paul? They wanted to go into an area and the Acts of the Apostles, Paul and Barnabas and us, they wanted to go into a certain area. The Bible says, the will of the Spirit came to the surface. What was the will of the Spirit? The Bible says, the Spirit of God suffered them not. This evening in our last session we are going to look at prayer again. And we are going to discover the spirit of prayer. And we will discover how the spirit of prayer leads us to the will of God in prayer. And now the will of God in prayer, brethren and sisters, is surround to the promises of God as they relate to prayer. And so the Spirit of God has a will. The Spirit of God has a mind. A mind! You say, what do you mean, brother Gerard? The Holy Spirit has a mind? He never speaks about Himself? The Holy Spirit always brings us back to the Word of God? And He always brings us back to the life of the Lord Jesus? Now you say to us, the Holy Spirit has a mind. Ah, listen to what the Apostle Paul said. He said, let this mind be in you that was also in Christ. So there is the mind of the Spirit. And so the mind of God needs to be God. That's why the Apostle Paul said in Romans 12, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you will present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God. He said, this is your reasonable service. And here comes the second verse. I love it. Do you know what He said? He said, be not conformed to this world, but He said, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Why should you do that? So that you may prove what is that good and that acceptable and that perfect will of God. And I wonder this morning if I may ask you, have you given your will to God the Holy Spirit, not to a thing, not to a spirit, to God the Holy Spirit, the life of Christ, the mind of the Spirit, the emotions of the Spirit? I want to tell you something this morning, and I wish while I was doing this I could have asked the leaders of this church just to put earplugs in their ears, because I really don't want them to hear it. But I want to tell you something. Listen, I've been to hundreds, in fact, I can tell you, brother and sister, I've been to thousands of churches the last 31 years. This last year alone, we've been in more than 40 places in so many different countries. I want to tell you this morning, I've been to very, very few places where I've found a group of leaders that are so hungry and so thirsty and so desperate for God to work in their hearts and in their life. Can I ask you this morning as a congregation, do you appreciate the leaders that God has called amongst you? Can I ask you this morning, are you praying for these leaders? You see, sometimes we expect perfection, you know. You know why we expect perfection? Because we know in our hearts we will never get there ourselves. And you say, what is it? We've become legalistic. You say, brother Gerard, what is legalism? It's when my convictions determine my relationship with God. You say, what is the opposite of legalism? The opposite of legalism is that I have a relationship with God and it's so intoxicated with a sense of the presence of God. It's so saturated with the reality of the life of Christ. It's so full of the greatness of God that there are things that I don't want to do. You say, why don't you do them? Because I've got no desire to do them. There is nothing in my heart to do those things. So you say, what are we speaking about? We're speaking about the Holy Spirit, you see. Now, brethren and sisters, He comes in my life and He came into my life as a person. But you know what happened to many of us? The Holy Spirit is in my life like a little bird in a cage. This area is of my life that I've never given to Him. And I can't live a spiritful life. You see, we're speaking about our inheritance. Hebrews 10 is giving us the secret into the life of the fullness of the Spirit. Now, may I say to you, the life and the fullness of the Spirit, brethren and sisters, it's not a goal. You say, Brother Gerard, what is it? If it's not a goal, then what is it? The life of the fullness and the Spirit of God is a gateway. You see, many of us, you know, we just, you know how we are. We start to run this race and we get ready. And there is a moment when we start to run the race. And do you know what many of us do? We run for about 40 or 50 yards and then we stop. And do you know what we do? We say, you know, I think I could have started that one better. And then we all go back to the front again and say, I think I'm going to start this one better. God doesn't work like that, you know. You see, what is it? You see, the Spirit of God is there. But, brethren and sisters, the Spirit of God can be grieved. The Holy Spirit can be quenched. The Holy Spirit of God can be resisted. In my life as a Christian, I will never be able not to remember this because I was on my knees one morning many years ago at our old house down at the beach in Western Canada. We lived close to a place called Crescent Beach. It's a very old house. We used to call it the house that Jack built because it was a cottage. And then when the cottage became too small, they digged in a foundation. And when the foundation began to become too small, they lifted up the cottage and they put rooms. I mean, it's just a mess of a place. But you know, it was like heaven. I loved it. You say, why? Because there was a downstairs room and it was a large big room and we had a big old bed there. It was supposed to be for guests. And every morning in the early hours of the morning, I would come down into that room and my Bible suit would be stretched out on this big old bed. And I would be on my knees and God would just search my heart. And those were just great and wonderful days. And one morning I was on my knees and God spoke to me. He said, Brother Gerard, how does God speak to you? Does He speak to you through a voice? No. Does He speak to you through dreams? No. How does God speak to you? 99.9% of the times, you know how God speaks to me? Through His Word. Ooh, I love it. That's the best way to go, you know. You can't go wrong. So you say, what happened? When He spoke to me through His Word, He broke my heart. And you see, when the Word came, the Word of God had a message. It was speaking to me about prayer. And God was stirring my heart. And as He was stirring my heart and stirring my heart, stirring my heart, the Holy Spirit kept whispering and said, And you know how dumb we are? I mean, sometimes, you know, I think I don't have enough brains to give me a headache. I mean, I am so dumb. God is so patient with me. He is so merciful upon my... I learn so slow. You talk about someone who learns slow. Listen, you haven't met anyone yet. You come and pray with me and I am as dumb as a donkey. I am still precious to God, but I am as dumb as a donkey. Well, I tell you what happened. The Lord spoke to me and He said, You need to spend more time in prayer. You need to spend more time in prayer. And you know what I did? I looked at my schedule. What a terrible thing to do. I opened my schedule and I've got my journal. And so I look at my schedule. I mean, every morning, there are a number of hours that belong to God. Nothing interfered with those hours with God, except there was one thing that interfered. We found a simple black rabbit. And this thing became our pet and he was in the room where I prayed. And you know, he would bit me in my toes now and again, this thing. I was ready to have him for breakfast some mornings. One morning I was on my knees and the phone rang. It was a very urgent phone call. And I lifted up the phone and this rabbit didn't get my attention. You know what the simple thing did? He went and he bit the line off that I was talking on the phone to. And the next moment the phone was cut. You know what I did? I put an electric line out and I said, buddy, you go for that self-assisted suicide. But he didn't do it, you see. I mean, he could be a fool, but he wasn't stupid. Ah, but you know, there came a morning when God came. And he said, Brother Gerard, you need to spend more time in prayer. More time in prayer. And I look at my program. And I said, God, don't you understand? 4 o'clock to 7 o'clock, 5 o'clock to 8 o'clock, those hours belong to you. How do you want me to spend more time in prayer? And I just wrote it down in my diary. And this evening, you know there are 248 prayer passages in the New Testament. And in the Greek New Testament there are 26 different words that is speaking about prayer. And tonight we are going to explore some of those concepts of prayer. And one of those areas of prayer is routine praying. You say, what do you mean by that? It means that you pray about the same things every day. And so I open my journal, and I write down in my areas of routine praying. Because it's fellowship praying that leads to routine praying. And routine praying leads to task-oriented praying. So out of routine praying, there comes the burden of God, and it becomes task-oriented praying. And then it becomes warfare praying. And praying in the Holy Spirit. And there are 12 aspects of New Testament prayer. You don't need to legalistically follow them. They just become part of your life. And you know, I began to pray about it. Morning after morning. Kneel on my knees. Routine praying. Pray for my relationship with God. Pray for my relationship with God's Word. Pray about the developing of my own life. And every morning, pray for my wife, pray for my daughter, pray for the family, pray for the staff. And every morning, I would come to this little thing. Spend more time in prayer. And I was in prejudice, but I would look at that every morning. I thought, God wants me to spend more time in prayer. How will I be able to do it? And brother and sister, you know what? For six months, I prayed. And suddenly one morning, God came. You see, it's not the time that we spend with Him in prayer. It's how we're spending the time with Him in prayer. That's the issue. It's not the time that we spend with God. It's the time that God is spending with us. And I tell you, it was awful. I didn't see it, you see. I didn't realize it. I didn't recognize the depth of my need. But suddenly, brother and sister, that morning God came to me. And when God came to me, everything broke. And you know, my schedule became not a schedule, but it became a curse. All these other things that seem important. This office appointment, and this appointment, and this thing. And you sit here this morning. Listen, I was shocked last night. I don't want you to misunderstand me, because I dearly love this fellowship. But I was really shocked last night. And I hope if I ever come back here again, and we ask that question again, that it won't be the same. But you know, there is a handful of us that are spending time alone with God. There's a handful. There are some of these fathers who sit here. And my brother, you don't meet with God. I mean, how can you be the leader of your family? There are some of our mothers here this morning. My sister, you don't meet with God. You say, brother Gerard, you don't understand the children. All my responsibility. I absolutely understand. I'm not telling you when to meet with God. I'm just telling you, you need to meet with God. If it's in the middle of the day, or if it's at night, or if it's in the early hours of the morning, my brother or my sister, we need to meet with God. You say, why do you say that? If we don't do that, we are going to become passengers in the bus. And they're not going to be the leaders of the church. And I don't want you to misunderstand me this morning. But I want to tell you something. It's possible that these leaders and the fellowships have been struggling and struggling, because there are some of us in this fellowship, and we are dragging our feet, and we sit like a bunch of passengers in the bus, and we are not moving forward. And what is happening, they are trying to drag us. And when the onslaughts of evil come, those onslaughts could be upon them, because they're right at the forefront, and we have lost the burden to pray. So let me ask you this morning. You say, why do you say that? You see, the Holy Spirit of God... Brethren and sisters, I waste my time these days trying to speak to you about prayer. If you don't live a spirit-filled life... So what happens in Hebrews 10? He has prepared for us the way. You said the way into what? The way into the surrendered life. The way into the spirit-filled life. You say, Brother Gerard, what happens in chapter 11? In chapter 11, He tells us what God wants us to experience. You say, what's going to happen? He's going to speak to you about the life of faith. He's going to say to you that without faith, it is impossible to please God. He's going to bring you to Abel. And He said by faith, Abel, offer unto God a more excellent sacrifice than his brother Cain. Why? Because he received witness. And He's going to bring you to the personal altar, the place of sacrifice. It means slaughtering. It means giving myself to God. It means day by day, there is an altar in my relationship with God. He's going to take me to the life of Noah. He said by faith, Noah prepared the ark to the saving of his house. Why did he do that? He became a preacher of righteousness. And God said there is the practical aspect of the Christian life. He's going to say to you as a mother, when you are washing the dishes there in your kitchen, you can know the presence of God to the same degree that you know the presence of God on a Sunday morning when we are meeting as a fellowship. He's going to say to you as a brother, when you are at your place of work, or you are busy with something, that same sense of the presence of God. You say, what is it? It's practical faith. He's going to bring you to faith to be changed that we mentioned last night. He's going to say to you, without faith, it is impossible to please God. He's going to say to you, by faith, the elders receive a good report. He's going to say to you, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. You say, Brother Gerard, what is that word substance? Let me explain to you. You know what it is? It's not when we dig a foundation, and we say, okay, we dig a foundation, now we are going to pour the cement. You know, when we live out in Western Canada, we get earthquakes. And so you can't dig a foundation. You can't just dig into the ground and say, now I'm going to pour the cement. You need to go down until you get to bedrock. They won't let you dig a foundation unless you have come to bedrock. And sometimes we need to go down 15, 20, 30 feet until we come to bedrock. And once we hit bedrock, then they allow you to pour a foundation. And do you know what this means? He said, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of the things not seen. And that word substance in the Greek New Testament, you say, Brother Gerard, what is it? It is the bedrock. It's that which is underneath the foundation. Do you know why many of your Christian life this morning is just wobbling? Why many is like running upon rubber? Why many is like jumping on a trampoline? Because it has never gone down into the bedrock. And you struggle. You say, why? That which God wants me to experience. You say, what about chapter 12, Brother Gerard? Do you know what chapter 12 said? It gives us the secret of how to maintain a life in the fullness of the Spirit. Brethren and sisters, if God can fill me with the Holy Spirit, don't you think it's possible for God to keep me being full to the Spirit of God? So, let me ask you this morning. Are you living that kind of a life? The surrendered life? I tell you, if something has happened to me this weekend, this is probably the most difficult thing. If something has happened to me this weekend, I've fallen in love with these young people. And I say to God, 3 o'clock this morning, there is such a burden and a passing up on my heart for them. They are the next generation. You see these men? You see these leaders? Guess what? We're getting old, you know. One of these days we're just going to walk like this with a walking stick. And we need young men. If I go away with a burden to praise, not just for the leaders, for the deacons and their wives, for the pastors, for the families in the church, but it's for our young people. What is He saying? Having therefore, brethren, boldness. There's no condemnation there, you know. Nothing. You say, Brother Gerard, how is it possible that I can be born of the Spirit of God and now I'm not full to the Spirit of God? I could have been full to the Spirit of God with my experience of conversion, but somehow, you know, there are things in my life that have not been surrendered to God. What happens to the Holy Spirit? Hey, listen. These New Testament epistles, brother and sister, they were written to Christians, you know. They were written to Christians. They were not written to a bunch of unsaved people. I mean, they wouldn't understand it. Why? You say, why wouldn't they understand it? Well, the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians, he said, the natural man cannot receive the things of the Spirit. They are foolishness unto them. He cannot understand them. He cannot comprehend them. That's what the Greek New Testament is. You have no understanding of perceiving. But he said, the spiritual man, he said, the spiritual man perceives all things. Now, he said to someone who is indwelled by the Holy Spirit, but he's not full to the Spirit of God. And this has been written to Christians. So, what is he saying? He said, God has created in us a boldness. You say, what is that boldness? You know what it is? It's a hunger for God. It's a sensation of desperation. It's an unquenchable hunger. You know, I will never forget. It's about, probably about 29 years ago, when God filled me with the Holy Spirit. You say, what happened? I was saved at the end of my first year at Bible college. And I went out into the ministry, finished my second year, and I went into the ministry. Studied at the same school where Keith Daniels studied. In fact, I studied with Brother Keith's wife, Jenny. We were in the same class together. I was a very eccentric little student, you know. And I was so funny, and I was so different. You say, why do you say that? Because as a student, I believed the only way that God would be able to listen to me is when I was praying out loud. And right in the middle of the night, one o'clock at night, I would cry to God in my room, wake the whole college up, and brought the principal down, and the vice-principal ran into my room and said, what are you doing? I said, I'm praying. Well, they said, you can pray, but you don't have to pray so loud. I said, I don't think there's any way that God else can listen. They said, well, you're keeping us all awake. I mean, I think they were ready to kick me out, brother and sister. In fact, you know what I did? I began to pray in my cupboard. I thought, well, if I can close the cupboard, and I pray in the cupboard, they won't hear me, but at least God will listen to me. And I used to have a lamp in my cupboard, and then I would close the door, close the door of my room, and then I go into the cupboard, and I pray there in the cupboard, and I close the door of the cupboard, and there's this lamp with my Bible, and one or two o'clock in the morning, reading my Bible, and then I would pray out loud. And one night I fell asleep, and I had a nightmare. And in my nightmare, I was dreaming that someone was suffocating me, and I was screaming and yelling to try to get out of that cupboard, and I woke the whole place up. And they wondered what was going on. Next morning, I came into the washroom, and the men stood and said, what was going on last night in your room? Was there a demon? I said, no, it was just me. I mean, you know, I was hopeless. I was hopeless. But you know, brother and sister, I will never forget. I mean, you laugh, you wait till God gets a hold of you, and you're going to feel sorry for yourself. But I'll tell you something. God began to create a hunger in me. I really know Christ. I was born of the Spirit. But brother and sister, I did not know the Spirit for life. And God began to create this hunger in my heart. There must be something more. There must be an abundant life. There must be a sense that I can live in victory. If He's able to get me from sin for an hour, isn't it possible for Him to get me from sin for two hours? Isn't it possible for Him to get me from sin for a day? You say, brother Gerard, are you speaking about sin as perfection? No, no, no, no, no. That's not what I'm speaking about. You say, what are you speaking about? I'm speaking about the possibility that God is able to cleanse me from all conscious sin. And the writer to the Hebrews came. Do you know what he said? He said, having therefore boldness, He creates the hunger. I want to know what will happen to charity Christian fellowship. The day when our young men are going to be spirit-filled men. Oh! The day when they're going to be ablaze for God. The day when they will begin to pray and the unction of the Spirit of God will come upon them. And there will come a spirit of prayer. And there will be a sense of God. And there will be a freedom to pray. And they will climb underneath the burden of God. And as they climb underneath the burden of God, they're going to systematically pray. Listen, young men, you are responsible for the generation of young men in this community. They're not going to listen to your fathers maybe. And their fathers are not going to listen to your fathers. But those young men, they are going to listen to you. And when they see the fragrance of the presence of God and these young lives, you say, what's going to happen? It's going to create a hunger. And the same with our young daughters. Spirit-filled. Sanctified. Set apart. Ready for the Master's use. Our mothers and our fathers. You say, Brother Gerard, what do you say? It's a sanctified church. I believe in my heart and our time is through. This is a terrible place to preach because if I had been here, my precious wife said to me, I don't know what it's going to take to bring you back to reform again, you know. And I said, what do you mean? She said, you are so different. She said, you can't go and preach in other places as long as you preach amongst the armies. They all think you're the armies, you know. I always tell them, no, you haven't met them. They are precious, you know. Let me ask you a question. Are you hungry for God? Are you thirsty? Boldness. Brother and sister, don't sit in a pit of despair. Don't do that. That's where the enemy wants you. That's where he wants to keep you. He knows that if he can throw cold water upon the blanket of your relationship with God, he knows that you're not going to do a thing for God. He knows it. Don't sit there. I said, what is it? It's boldness. Boldness to enter. What is enter? It means I take a step forward. Boldness to enter into what? Entering to the holiest of all. The place where the high priest was allowed to enter once a year. Ah, you say, Brother Gerard, can you give me any indication of a life in the holiest of all? Absolutely. Study the life of the Lord Jesus. Now you know what Colossians, the apostle Paul came in Colossians, and do you know what he said? He said we've got the fullness of God in the Lord Jesus. We've got it. In the Lord Jesus. It's ours. It's our inheritance. Forgive me for using this expression. He's given us a blank check. A blank check. Beginning of January, my wife and myself and our daughter are going to go on vacation. We're going to go away. Someone has given us a precious little spot in the sun. And just up the road from us there is a friend of my daughter. And her daddy is dying of a brain tumor and cancer. And it's an awful thing. And she is just under this burden. The other day she came to spend time with my daughter. And as she came into the house, I wanted to pray for her because her name is Vanessa. And I so dearly love her because she's such a precious child. She came into our house. And as she came into the house, she's always bubbly and friendly and everything. But as she came, I could see that she's struggling. And she said, I'm Mr. Du Toit. How are you doing? And I said, Oh, I'm doing well. How are you, Vanessa? And she said, I'm fine. But I knew she was trying to hide something. And I just got right to her. And she was standing in front of me. And I put my arm around her. I said, Oh, Vanessa, how are you really doing? And all the sobbing just came out. I said, I understand. I'm praying for her father. You can pray for him. His name is Don. He's got a brain tumor. We're asking God that He would heal him, the Christian people. And she was just crying. And she just took me. She can't do it with her daddy because he's in such pain. And she just took me and she just put her arms around me. And she was just weeping on my shoulder. And my Monica was there. And Monica came and the three of us just wept. And we wept. And we wept. And when everything was over, I turned to her and I said, Vanessa, I said, Mr. Du Toit, I want to tell you something. And she said, What? I said, I want you to know we really love you. And I said, I know that you're hurting and I know that Mama is hurting, but I want you to know that this can be your second home. And I said, If Papa can't be Papa, I said, I'll always be to be part of Papa. I said, You know you can trust me. And she was so grateful and so, so thankful. And then I turned to her and I said, Vanessa, I said, You know from the 2nd of January to the 14th, someone has given us a beautiful holiday spot right in the sun. And I said, To me it's a time of studying and prayer. I said, But Vanessa, I would like you to pray about this. And she said, What? I said, I want to invite you to come with us and it's not going to cost you anything. You can just come with us. And she was just overwhelmed. My daughter was overwhelmed that I did that because my wife and daughter know that in times like this, I really just want to be with them. But we're just making the sacrifice just to bring her out of those circumstances. And you know, and her mother found out about this. And her mother phoned and she said, Are you really willing to take her to just get away from the grief of the house? And I said, Absolutely. And her mother said, I'm going to pay for the flight ticket. And I said, Well, we trust in God. And do you know what her mother did? She said, No. She said, And do you know what her mother did? She signed a blank check. Just signed it. And here's just the check. And I phoned her. I said, Madam, I said, How can you do that? I said, You know, I can write down $100,000. Wouldn't that be great? You know? Of course, I wouldn't do it. She said, Do you know what she said? Hey, You can trust the one that died for you. Why did he die for you? Because he became the author and the finisher of our faith. The author and the finisher of our faith. Why don't we stand? Heavenly Father, thank you. Oh, it's been precious these days. And I know we're not through yet. There's still so much land to possess. You said unto us, I will not give you the land at once. I give you the land portion by portion. And yet, Heavenly Father, our lives are just valuable to God. Valuable. Brethren, Sister, we don't want to make the altar an easy thing these days. And yet, maybe there are some of us and you haven't met with God. Maybe there are some of us and you say, Brother Gerard, I just need to take that step in faith. Maybe there are some of us and you just need to say, I need the hunger and the thirst for God. Maybe there are some of us as fathers and we don't have our own quiet times and we need to make a commitment. And I don't want this to sound easy. Maybe we've opened the altar again and again, but I just wonder if there is someone else and you want to come and spend some time alone with God. We don't want you to miss it. We don't want you to miss it. So I'm just going to ask once, is there anyone and you said, Brother Gerard, I just need to come and I just need to meet with God. We want to open the altar. And you just step out. We just wait for you. We're not going to wait long, but we just wait for you. And just come and make your way and find a little place where you can meet with God. Would you like to come? Just come right now. And we're just going to wait for a moment. I'm going to ask you once more, just this once, do you have an opportunity to come? Come and seek His face. I have not met with God yet. Maybe I'm not even saved. Do you have any father? Do you see those of us at the altar? You see many of us at the altar this weekend. Lord, I'm so concerned that we would really give our walls to You. We want to thank You for Your presence and the working of Your Spirit. In Jesus' name, Amen. Brother Danny, could you come and close?