In this sermon, the speaker describes a scene in a home where the family gathers around a table tennis table to read the Bible and pray together. The speaker emphasizes the importance of maintaining a focus on mission and spreading the word of God, both locally and globally. They highlight four key points: the world is smaller than we think, the task of spreading the gospel is greater than we think, time is shorter than we think, and the cost of spreading the faith is higher than we think. The speaker encourages the audience to surrender all aspects of their lives to God and to seek revival in their personal lives and ministries.

Good morning, everybody. Thank you. We return with me this morning to the Gospel of Luke, and the 14th chapter, and the 25th verse. Luke 14, 25. And there went great multitudes with him, and he turned and said unto them, If any man come to me and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. For which of you intending to build a tower, should not thou encroach and counter the cross, for we have sufficient to finish it. Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all of the whole, begin to mock him, saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish it. Or what king going to make war against another king, that hath not bound first, and count compriseth, whether he be able with ten thousand, to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassad, and desireth conditions of peace. So likewise, whosoever he be of you, that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. Fault is good, but if the fault of lust takes favour, wherewith shall it be freed? It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the downhill, but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Shall we just bow before the Lord in prayer, as we turn to the Word? Again praying together the prayer which I offer on your behalf and mine. Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. Speak just now some message to meet my need, which thou only dost know. Speak now through thy Holy Word, and make me see some wonderful truth thou hast to show to me. For Jesus' sake. Amen. He sendeth an ambassad, and desireth conditions of peace. So likewise, whosoever he be of you, that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. Fault is good, but if the fault of lust takes favour, wherewith shall it be freed? It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the downhill, but men cast it out. And my prayer, and the prayer of many of us, I'm sure, is that these days missionaries may become missionaries. That's true of everybody, either a missionary or a missionary. Right where we are, here, now, in Woody Barber Institute, in Chicago, anywhere, a missionary or a missionary. And we have based all this upon four simple propositions. That the world is smaller than we think. The task, greater than we think. The time, shorter than we think. The term, costlier than we think. If we're going to communicate our faith to the generation in which we live, the terms are costlier than we think. And it's with the last of these four simple statements that we are going to consider this morning. The terms are costlier than we think. We all realize that about two-thirds of the world's population have never heard of Christ. And we all realize that 90% of Christian work is done among 10% of the world's population. In the light of these facts, I have been forced back to ask myself, and satisfy my mind before God, two questions, which, in his name, I will put to you this morning. For you to ask, and satisfy yourself before him. The first is this. Did the death of Christ upon Calvary provide adequate salvation for everybody? Let me repeat this. Did the death of Christ upon the cross provide adequate salvation for everyone, in all the world, for all time, until he comes again? My answer to that question, based upon the scripture, is yes. He is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God by him. He is not willing that one should perish. A salvation adequate for everyone. And there is no sin that has gone too far, that the cross of Christ can go further. And there is no habit that is too deeply formed in any of our lives, that the blood of Jesus can cleanse. He breaks the power of cancelled sins. He sets the prisoner free. His blood can make a pile of clean. His blood avails for me. My second question. Does that mean that all men, everywhere, will be saved? That's what they've been taught in some areas today. That if there's anybody lost eternally in hell, that means that there's a breakdown in the love of God. That with all the authority of the word of God behind me, and the conviction of the Holy Spirit, my answer to the second question, will all men ultimately be saved? My answer is no. For he has provided salvation adequate for all, but effective only in those who believe and repent. Salvation sufficient for everyone, everywhere. But a salvation which is operative only in the lives of those who repent and believe. If that's not true, you will have to cut out whole portions of the gospel of Matthew, and practically the entire book of Revelation. All men will not be saved. My third question. Can anybody save without hearing a gospel? And that forces me back in my mind immediately, to Romans chapter 10. Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. But how shall they call on him on whom they have not heard? And how shall they believe on him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach without the defense? Nobody can be saved unless they hear. I remember a dear man of God once standing up for a young people's meeting and saying, when I was younger, I used to pray, Lord, show me what it means for a soul to be lost. And he said, God never answered that prayer. Because I believe that if he had answered it, I'd have gone stark scaring mad. I'd have gone raving mad if he'd really shown me what it meant for a soul to be lost eternally. It was John Wesley who said, that if hell is real, and if we believed it, every one of us would go across Britain on a road, if need be, on a road hooded with nails on our knees, in order to save men from hell. But we don't believe that these days. Or if we believe it, we don't act like it. For if this is right and true, if the answers to these three questions are what I suggest they are, we are called for immediate reassessment. First of all, how much of our church program is relevant to the twentieth century? We've organized out the Holy Spirit. How much room is there in your church program for God, the Holy Ghost, to work? We are satisfied every week, apparently, with a song service, hymn, prayer, reading, notices, offering, special number, anthem, hymn, sermon, prayer, hymn of invitation in which nothing ever happens, benediction, and then we all go home. Twice a week, twice a day, fifty-two weeks in the year, there's not the slightest evidence of God moving in to do the supernatural. Some of us would be as amazed if we saw Christianity really at work as we profess to be amazed if it's doubted. What room is there for God really to move in to do a miracle? How much of our church program is geared to the need of people who wouldn't dream of coming inside our church door? Is it relevant to a generation which couldn't care less what we believe and wouldn't dream of coming inside our evangelical fundamental churches? I say that this situation in which we live today calls for an immediate reassessment of the way that we're going about the task. We're all playing church, just a good program, just good music, average preaching, right doctrine, and we turn it on week after week, and millions of people on our doorstep are going to hell. And if we believe it, we don't act like it, it calls not only for a reassessment immediately, before it's too late, of our Christian education, of our whole program of evangelical thinking and approach, but it calls also for a reassessment of our personal lives. In the light of the fact which I have given you this morning, that 90% of Christian work is done among 10% of the world's population, and over 2 billion people alive today are on the road to a lost eternity, while I acknowledge that not every one of us can have the privilege of going overseas, I suggest to you that the burden of proof lies heavily upon every one of us here to satisfy the Lord that the circumstances in which he has placed us justify us remaining at home. It's not enough to say, I am willing for whatever the Lord may need, I must take steps to see whether or not he really wants me to remain in a country which has been surfeited with the gospel. I admit the need in the United States and in Britain is desperate, but it cannot compare with the need of continents which are absolutely in the dark and have never heard the name of Jesus. The burden of proof, I repeat, lies heavily upon every one of us to satisfy God that the circumstances in which he has placed us justify us remaining at home. It calls for a reassessment of our church programs, it calls for a reassessment of our personal life, and it calls for a recognition that the terms of discipleship are costlier than we think. And therefore this morning our subject as we think of the communication of our faith is the requirement that we must recognize. Did you notice that three times over in this chapter that I read to you we had the phrase he cannot be my disciple. Verse 26 last phrase of the verse he cannot be my disciple. Verse 27 last few words he cannot be my disciple. Verse 33 he cannot be my disciple. Let me just dispel an illusion which may be in your mind. There's no difference between a disciple and a Christian. The words are synonymous in the New Testament. They mean the same thing. A disciple is simply a Christian who is growing up. You remember we are told in Acts chapter 11 and verse 26 that Christians, the disciples, were first called Christians at Antioch. The two words are the same. So here is the Lord Jesus laying down in no uncertain terms what it costs to be a Christian. Someone has said that being a Christian is like joining a club. The entrance fee, nothing. There's a description, all you've got. In a sense, that's true. And here I am today giving you not my condition but the Master's condition which has never been watered down and never been changed his terms for being a follower of his. You notice that in verse 25 there weren't great multitudes with him. What an opportunity to take names and addresses. What an opportunity to take up an offering. What an opportunity to call in the television. What an opportunity to have the press around and report it. Great multitudes flooding after him. And he turned to them and said, If any man. It's as if he held them back and spoke to them one by one and said, If any man. Today at the Institute is perhaps a strategic day. A momentous day. It's a day of prayer. A day of waiting upon God. A day in which the whole faculty have felt the burden and the concern to call you aside from study of books for a day that you might seek the faith of God. That's a wonderful thing. My heart goes out to an Institute that is prepared to do that. And I want simply this morning to remind you very, very lovingly of the Master's terms which you must face and I must face in my life if I'm going to be a Christian. The first of them. Verse 26. If any man come to me and hate not his father, mother, wife, children, brethren, sisters, yea in his own right also he cannot be my disciple. Have you had any difficulty with that verse? Has it troubled you? Does that mean to say that in order to be a Christian I've got to have a personal animosity in regard to my family? Of course it doesn't. Let me put it in the more positive way in which Matthew translates the same statement. If any man love father or mother, brother or sister more than me he is not worthy of me. And it seems to me that here the Lord Jesus is saying to me to my heart this morning some things. He's saying to me first of all that he's the only one who has the right to make a home as well as to break it. As a matter of fact he's the only one who can make a home. I mustn't get diverted but I want to say to you that the only marriage that is happy is not the one where the wife dominates the husband or the husband dominates the wife but where both husband and wife are dominated by the Lord. Two months ago I was in Bristol in England and I only stayed a night in the home and they had scads of children. I'm not sure but I think it was 11 an absolute football team and they varied in age from about 21 to 3. Do you know that at 7.30 in the morning a bell rang and I responded to it. I felt it had a pound of authority about it. I suppose you know a bit about bells around here. And this bell rang and I leapt to it and I went downstairs and there was a tremendous story and from every part of the house somebody was running. And they all arrived at the same time around a huge breakfast table. Actually it was a table tennis table with a cloth on it. And yes it was the only way they could all sit down together. And there they were various stages of dressed and undressed half shaved, hair half brushed and not brushed at all some still in their pyjamas some just ready to go and Father opened the words and read a chapter. And then scripture union knelt for the day and then the whole family knelt and every one of them prayed individually a missionary, a friend, a need, a person and that home was like a bed of heaven. Oh it would have been so easy in that home for all that to be crowded out the easiest thing in the world. But and this bell and I went down I leapt to it and there was a tremendous and I in every part of this story and from the house somebody was running like that nobody else can. He is not only the only one who can make a home but he is the only one who can break it. What do I mean by that? Just this, at any time he has the right to step into a home and help himself to a boy, a girl out of that home and thrust them out into a service to the uttermost parts of the earth. And speaking as a father not as a preacher who has been through the experience when the valedictory service comes and one of those precious children whom you have brought into the world and God has taken into his service I tell you there is a tear in one eye but there is a twinkle in the other. For God has done such a wonderful thing he has helped himself to that son or that daughter you won't see them again for five years if you see them at all that they have responded to the greatest thing of all God has called them into his service. Let me say a word to you in utmost love and tenderness if you come from a home where your parents are unsaved and you have had all the agony of the battle of that even to get to a Bible school let me say to you that the key to their conversion is your obedience to the Lord Jesus. If you say well I can't possibly go I must obey my parents I must go along with them they don't want it I can't hurt them I can't afford to do it you'll discover that in the Christian life inevitably you're bound to hurt somebody and often it's the very people you don't want to hurt. You either grieve and hurt the Lord or you hurt someone down here you can't have harmony at both ends of the line you either have conflict with heaven or you have controversy on earth. But if you want to see those parents of yours one to the Lord obedience to the Lord Jesus at all costs is what matters. He's the only one who has right to break a home and make it. This verse almost tells me also tells me that I must have no rivals in my love life to Christ. If any man loves more than me he's not worthy of me. We pass that test today. No rivals in my love life in my affection life to Christ. He must differ. Some years ago following the morning service at my church a girl came up to me a young girl and held out her left hand and showed me on one finger a diamond. So I rejoiced with her I'm always thankful when that happens and I knew the fellow she was engaged to an awfully nice Christian boy I was so happy about. Provisionally they arranged the date. Six months later after morning service she came into my study held out her hand. She couldn't speak but there was no doubt. I said well what's the matter? What's happened? Oh she said nothing really. But you know only this I've become increasingly conscious in these six months that God wants me in Thailand as a missionary with OMF. My fiancé feels he ought to stay in Britain. He hasn't any calls for mission fees. We've battled with this for months. That's all. And God has had his way. Two months ago less than a year ago I was in Thailand at an OMF conference and met her. And she looked at me with a shining face and she said to me I'd a thousand times rather be here in the will of God unmarried than in Britain out of the will of God unmarried no rival in our affection life. Oh it doesn't always happen like that. Not always talks like that. I think for the moment a thrilling thing that happened to me just recently I was in Ethiopia at CSIM conference about 18 months ago and there's a fellow there he's about 35 years of age a bachelor and I was there a week in that station and at his conference got to know him pretty well when I left just before I left I shook hands with him and I said Bill there's only one thing that matters with you and he said what's that? You need a wife and I'm going to pray for you. Where do you live Bill? Oh he said Melbourne, Australia. I said I'm coming to Melbourne at Christmas. I'll tell you what we'll do Bill I'll pray for you that you may have your wife and when I come to Melbourne for this Christmas I'll take you and your fiancée out to lunch. Oh he said that's ridiculous absolutely ridiculous. There are a lot of eligible missionaries on the field and all were sort of looking at that his way but he wasn't having anything to do with any of them. But you know when I went away he wrote to me he said to me that word of yours came to me somehow right from the Lord and you know what happened? He went home on furlough in November convinced that that was of God and on his way home to Australia in Singapore he bought an engagement ring never even seen the girl and at the same time he bought a watch beautiful watch showed it to me it was called a Rebecca watch a splendid timepiece and he said now Lord make this an Isaac and Rebecca relationship and let the first girl I meet in Melbourne be the one to Melbourne and the first night of his furlough he was due to speak at MBI which in Melbourne is Melbourne Bible Institute and as he was going up into the platform to speak he bumped into a girl coming down he said hello and she said hello and after meeting in Edinburgh that was in November and when I was there two days before Christmas I took them out for lunch they were engaged to be married and you know what? she'd already been accepted by the S.I.M. she had her heart set on going to Ethiopia and today they're on the same mission station man and wife in the country to which he'd been called and to which she was called led together by divine appointment both of them determined that nothing would ever and nobody would ever realise that was contrary to the will of God and there they are today on the mission field oh God does wonderful things when we really give him every bit of our life no rival in our love life to the Lord Jesus my dear friends as a man who just loves being with young people working with them I just say take your hands off and what's God worth miracles? no rival in your love life to Christ is that true right now of you? that may mean the breaking of a friendship that may mean putting your eyes on the altar that may mean breaking an engagement that will mean being thoroughly realistic in God's presence that it will mean ultimately the will of God being done in your life no rival in your love life to Christ the second thing no right except to do the will of God whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple what's it mean to bear his cross? some people have an extraordinary idea of what that means a fellow come up to me and speak to me after his service in church he said to me pastor he said I have a shocking temper I blow my top for nothing I suppose that's my cross hmm and I said to him rest your heart it's not your cross it's your wife's cross she's got to live with it how amazingly we can rationalize a thing like that that's not your cross man that's your sin God has given Jesus for you to make you sick instead of sour and grumpy it's not your cross what's it mean whosoever does not bear his cross Matthew 16.34 again puts it more clearly in a positive sense if any man would come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me let him as the New English Bible has it let him leave himself behind no right except the right to do the will of God the Christian life isn't broad at the beginning and gradually narrowing down we don't all sort of crowd in together we go in one by one straight as the gate narrow as the way that leads to light and few there be that find it and when you go in that gate you've got to leave yourself behind you can't take two masters no man can serve two masters either you love the one and hate the other or hate the one and hold to the other you cannot serve God amen if you would come after me then leave yourself behind there can only be one master no right except to do the will of God now of course this is something which has the cost of failing to understand it has led to missionary casualty after missionary casualty it's led to collapse in Christian service and Christian life have you heard somebody say perhaps you've said it yourself I had a perfect right to be consulted in that situation nobody asked me though in my opinion I'm going to resign I had a right to be heard a right to hear my opinion stated a right to have my views expressed a right let this mind be in you which was in Christ who counted it not a thing to be grasped after being equal with God but humbled himself made himself of no reputation took upon himself the form of a servant was made in the likeness of man was obedient unto death even the death of the cross wherefore God hath highly exalted him and given him a name that is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow and why? because he forsook all his rights he counted it not a thing to be grasped and he stepped from a throne came right down to the cross what was he doing? forsaking his rights I have a right to be consulted I have a right to my own life I have a right to do my own way I haven't any rights except to do his will and it's failure to recognize that that has absolutely caused the Christian church to be paralyzed resignation from church board resignation from the mission team because I wasn't consulted my rights weren't considered you haven't any rights you've died to them all your only right is to do his will if any man doth not bear his cross and come after me come be my disciple just look with me how that worked out in the life of the apostle Paul look at 1 Corinthians chapter 9 with me a moment would you here's the example of a man who had every right but he forsook them for Jesus a man whose authority in the ministry was being challenged by this carnal church who questioned his right to speak to him as he did thus really my answer to them that do examine me is this have I not power to eat and to drink? have I right to normal ration? have I not power to lead about a sister and a wife? have I right to normal romance? for I only and Barnabas haven't I the power to prepare working? have I right to normal recreation? verse 14 so hath the Lord ordained that they which preach the gospel should live of the gospel have I right to normal remuneration? verse 15 but I have used none of these things for though I preach the gospel I have nothing to glory for the sentence is laid upon me if I preach not the gospel oh yes I have a perfect right I have an absolute right to normal rations an absolute right to normal romance to normal recreation to normal remuneration but therefore I have refused them and thrown them all aside for Jesus sake now let me bring that up to age right here in October 1968 in Woody Barber Institute student body, all of it, myself included haven't I got a right to normal food? oh sure say have you ever denied yourself a meal? for the sake of Jesus? have you ever fasted? for Christ sake? and for the sake of prayer to lay hold of Him? do you have a right? do you have a right to normal food? nobody can deny it, you have? perfect right but say one time or other there'll come a point where Jesus will test you are you prepared to miss one meal or one day that you might really lay hold of that and show me that you mean business? of course fasting is much more than missing a meal fasting is absolute denying myself from the flesh all its ways and all its rights but have you even gone so far as to miss a meal for Jesus? do you have a right to normal romance? about a sister and a wife but it may well be that the Lord will test you about that do you have a right to normal romance? I underline the word normal perhaps it's a bit difficult to know what that means these days I remember last summer I went to the island of Jersey that's in the Channel Islands some distance south of England and I was there to find some sunshine because we hadn't any that summer and I didn't find any in Jersey either but I saw a very extraordinary thing I saw in the streets of Jersey stops just in front of me a hippie van mobile van and out of it jumped four or five of the most extraordinary little creatures I've ever seen I wouldn't know whether they were fellows or girls and on the back of that van there was a heart drawn and an arrow to it and this statement let's not make war let's make love now that's very plausible it sounds wonderful sounds as if you've got the answer but you know what it means don't you? it means every barrier down every indulgence of every kind of sexual appetite regardless of the marriage tie if you become a follower of the Lord Jesus you're listening aren't you? that kind of romance is out you're entitled, every one of us is entitled to normal romance say, fellows and girls is your romantic life getting out of hand? and has the Holy Spirit been speaking to you about it? oh you have a right to normal romance and the loveliest and the normal and the wonderful and the thrilling is that which is within the marriage tie you have a right to that you have no right to the other and if it gets out of hand it'll ruin your studies at the institute and all your future life but you have a right to normal romance but even there God may well test you verse 6 you have a right to normal recreation you have a right to normal remuneration may I just take you very quickly this morning for a glimpse in a mission to you in the Central Africa Republic and there on the Sudan border south of the Sudan I went and stayed and saw 35,000 Sudanese refugees who had been thrown out of Egypt by Nasser for no other sin than that they weren't Muslim some of them bankers some of them lawyers some of them doctors some of them well educated some of them speaking English well anyway destiny nothing to live on no clothes hardly separate on their back Red Cross trying its best to do something for them into that situation the Africa in the mission had sent two girls will you underline that in your mind two girls they hadn't been men they lived in a house that was dirt and pretty no sanitation no shop no day off a week no nice things to see they didn't bother about that but when my wife and I left that place we came away feeling so absolutely humbled because we had met two people who had touched a depth of exhilaration and joy in doing the will of God that they didn't matter about anything else all they were concerned about was that some of those 35,000 destitute, helpless people might be one for the Lord that every right to a normal life every right to normal recreation that they'd died for and denying it had found life earlier, that same tour I flew from Nairobi in a missionary aviation fellowship plane piloted by Gordon Marshall the MAF does a tremendous service job for missionaries I lived with Gordon Marshall for two or three days missionary aviation fellowship pilot he's not only a pilot but he's an engineer, a navigator missionary shopper and above all an evangelist after seven hours wearily flying a one-engine Cessna jet at about 140 miles an hour at 8,000 feet being tossed about like a cork and having two stops on the way being interrogated by customs officials and answering tricky questions at the end of the day taking orders from missionaries absolutely exhausted I saw him on his knees with his Bible midnight he was in bed five o'clock the next morning he was up again on his knees with his Bible out to prepare his plane for the next leg of the flight witnessing in the language of the people with an open Bible about Christ I saw a man who was a pilot a navigator everything but above all a man of God and listen Gordon Marshall is a South African could be flying for South African Airways today and earning $30,000 a year instead of which he's earning a full missionary aviation fellowship why? because he has no right except to do the will of God I have no right except to do God's will have I acknowledged it? one more thing he that forsaketh not all that he hath he cannot be my disciple does that mean to say that a Christian is someone who goes to his bank manager if he has one and gives away all his money well some people God will ask to do that but that isn't what this text means it means much more than that F-A-I-T-H forsaking all I take him that's faith and except a man forsakes all confidence in himself and puts all confidence in me says Jesus he cannot be my disciple in other words except he moves off the ground of self-confidence onto the ground of Christ's confidence except he gives himself completely and takes me completely he cannot be my disciple for the whole essence of the Christian life is an exchange of sovereignty in which it's no longer I but Jesus and I don't go on giving and giving and giving myself but I go on taking and taking and taking Christ have you ever when you're tempted to blow your top very quickly said to him thank you Lord Jesus I take your patience when you're tempted to impurity of thought have you ever said thank you Lord Jesus I take your holiness have you ever discovered that the opposite to all that you are is in Jesus and it can be me to produce it through you day by day except a man forsakes all that he has except he comes to a point of absolute disillusionment absolute despair in himself and begins to lay hold of an ingrowing lord and sovereign he cannot be my disciple one of the most gracious men I ever met wonderful Christian men whose books many of you will have read was the late Dr. F.B. Meyer whose studies in Bible characters were tremendous Joseph Abraham Albrecht one day at a Catholic convention in England with 8,000 people present he was preaching and he was that kind of preacher who never preached at a congregation he was right alongside them and he gave a testimony and that testimony said three years ago as a minister something came into my life which I knew was wrong but I loved it and I didn't think it would affect anybody but me but from then on every time I preached that thing came between me and the congregation it came between me and power and God and congregations grew smaller and smaller nothing ever happened and my heart was so filled with a sense of guilt and sin and I fought with it and struggled with it and I went on preaching but he said before I came up to Keswick I went away alone and like Jacob I wrestled with God all night and I said O Lord you had every key to every part of my life except one and I've hung on to it and it's ruining my life and testimony ministry Lord Jesus please I can't go on like this please take this key, the last key and F.B. Meyer when he gave his testimony said with a face that absolutely englobed with the glory of God he said you know what the Lord Jesus did he never took that key he took out the door and in place of the door he put in a window and ever since then the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ has shone into my heart you know that day at Keswick there was scarcely a dry eye in the congregation and all the various missionary house parties and people that were staying there 8,000 of them lights were on till 2 and 3 in the morning people getting right with God and a real breath of spiritual revival struck that place listen do you want revival? really? you just talk about it? or do you want it in your life? in the institute? in your church? in your ministry? and you? are you prepared to say to him Lord take the key every key not just 90% of them not just 99 out of 100 but Lord every key and he's reminding you even now as I close my message of that one key that holds back the power the blessing, the joy that you need in your life today no rival no right no reservation Lord every key let's pray just let us have a moment of silent prayer many of you here have followed me sympathetically prayerfully you've entered into life and into victory by the grace of God and you know the thrill none of us perfect but we press on towards the month many more however in this school at this point this morning are desperately needing mission for you simply because God hasn't been allowed to have every key there are rivals there are other rights there are reservations are you prepared today at this moment to tell him you've abandoned all that other Lords have long held sway now thy name alone to bear you prepare to hand Christ every key just in a moment of quietness with a hush of God's spirit upon us may I ask all of you who right now are saying to him Lord Jesus I've been battling and fighting resisting I've had reservations I've had claims and other rights I've had rivals but now Lord it's useless in everything may I ask that those who are saying that to Jesus today not those of you who have already said it but those of you who are saying it now I want you to stand and I want to pray for you all those who are saying Lord Jesus today this be the day when you have every key would you just quietly rise to your feet remember I'm not speaking to those of you who've entered into this experience but those of you who now just know that there cannot be another day go on in your life when you have rivals rights that you insist upon some of you may have made that transaction but withdrawn it but today desire to renew it to you also I'm speaking and I trust the Lord has spoken and we're going to close in a word of prayer for you particularly anybody else would like to stand no rights no rivals no reservations oh dear Lord how we thank thee today for the gracious moving and working of thy Holy Spirit in our hearts God we believe that beyond the human voice with all its intersection beyond the message with all its simplicity and faltering delivery you have shown yourself and many have heard another voice you taste in their hearts like an alarm bell knowing that life can't go on with tears such a mess such failure and here we stand in thy presence many this morning to witness the respect and our heart's desire is that thou wilt cleanse us from our sin Lord put thy power within Lord take us as we are Lord and make us all thine own keep us day by day Lord underneath thy sway Lord make our hearts thy palace and thy royal throne how we thank thee that as we cast our burden upon the Lord thou dost sustain as we commit our way to the Lord and trust in him thou dost bring it upon us how we thank thee that all the responsibility of the future is at thy feet that the government is upon thy shoulders and how we praise thee that there's no tangle of circumstance no defeat in our lives nothing impossible with God Lord send us from this place this morning so that the sessions of prayer might be precious to us and as we pray together may what thou hast done to us in these mornings and these days this morning especially be worked out before thee in the leading prayer may thou shine upon this place and upon every heart this day make it to be just an empty room to heaven where the glory of the Lord is relieved where the shout of a king is in the camp where Jesus himself makes himself known to us as a living bright reality when he becomes more precious than he's ever been in our lives hear our prayer Lord we're not worthy of the least of all thy mercies but we praise thee that thou hast loved us with an everlasting love and our hearts would be wide open and tender toward thee today and each one of us would say my Jesus I love thee I know thou art mine for thee all the spoils of sin I was thine answer prayer for the sake of thy freedom for the glory of thy name and the sake of perishing multitudes who await the healing of the gospel through life utterly abandoned to God the Holy Spirit we ask it in Jesus name Amen you are dismissed