This sermon emphasizes the importance of living in God's presence, being a worshipper before being a minister, and seeking to have the aroma of Christ in our lives. It highlights the need for humility, faith, and devotion like Joshua, focusing on sitting at the feet of Jesus, seeking God's glory, and being quick to apologize and set matters right. The speaker encourages a generation to prioritize dwelling in God's presence and carrying His fragrance wherever they go.

So in keeping with the theme of our conference these two days, we want to hear brothers from the younger generation share their word with us, especially those who are elders of churches. So in this session we will listen, we will hear brother Victor who is an elder in a small village church in Tamil Nadu called Thirukattupalli. He's been with us a number of years and he'll speak in Tamil and brother Michael will translate. Please come forward. I want to thank God for keeping us as a family in the church and preserving us. Lately I have been meditating on Joshua. We see that after one generation of leadership and authority which Moses exercised, that leadership and authority being passed over to Joshua. I have seen a few things from Joshua. It's not an easy matter that Moses chose Joshua to be a man of God to lead after him. We read about him as a servant, as one a helper. At least three things should have been noted by Moses regarding Joshua. Before Moses engaged him as a servant, as a young man, Moses should have observed at least two or three things. Even as a young man, he purposed in his heart, he took a decision that from this millions of people who are murmuring and grumbling, I will stand apart from that generation, from those people. There was a mixed people who came out along with the Israelites. He determined when he was a young man that I will not take my stand along with these people who will murmur and grumble, but I will be with Moses. Moses would have noticed a second thing also in Joshua. There were so many activities which were required in the camp and Joshua put himself as a volunteer and voluntarily helped in all those activities. Moses noted that. We can imagine that in a camp with lakhs of people, so much of work would have been there and Joshua was available for those works and Moses would have noted that also. Even in that work, that faithfulness, when he was a volunteer, if someone told him to do that work, he would have done it with full strength and Moses would have noticed that faithfulness. With this kind of a servant, Joshua, you know Moses appointed him as his personal servant. Forty years of training. I want to show three things from those days they spent in the desert, 40 years of difficulty and so much of hardship, whatever they learnt. I learnt about Joshua's humility. I learnt about Joshua's faith. I learnt from him the spirit of devotion which Joshua had. I want to show that humility which Joshua had. We read first about Joshua in Exodus chapter 17. In Exodus chapter 17, the Amalekites come to battle with the Israelites. We see here that in Exodus chapter 17, the Amalekites come to battle with the Israelites. And Moses commands Joshua to lead out the people into battle. We read in verse 13, Joshua and his troops crushed the army of Amalekites, putting them to the sword. In verse 9, Joshua says to Moses, tomorrow at the top of the mountain, I will hold the crown of God in my hand. You can see the humility of Joshua in this, that Moses tells Joshua that tomorrow I will stand at the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand. Joshua was remaining in that humility, he knew that it is not because of him that the battle was won, but because there was a man of God who was lifting up the rod of God and praying for him. And the power or the authority in the rod of God, Joshua had seen even in the time when Moses lifted it up and the Red Sea parted for them. And later on when Joshua had to overcome the Canaanites, for that period God had given Joshua the training now against the Amalekites. If Joshua had not remained in humility at this time, he would not have been able to destroy the giants in the later days. I want to show a contrast with Samson. We read in Judges 15. We see here that, we read in 15th verse, it says that with a donkey's jaw bone, Samson had killed a thousand Philistines. You can see here how the Holy Spirit has recorded what Samson told after he had killed a thousand Philistines. Heap upon heaps, all with a donkey's jaw, I have killed a thousand men. We can see a spirit and Joshua which was totally different, far removed from the spirit of Joshua. Heap upon heaps, all with a donkey's jaw, I have killed a thousand men. We can imagine, we can picture in our mind how Samson had killed a thousand people and he said they were lying in heaps. That is, in one heap there were a hundred, in another heap there were two hundred, in another heap another two hundred like this. He saw many heaps and then he took the credit for himself and said, I have killed heaps upon heaps of this Philistines with just one donkey's jaw bone. The moment that word left Samson's mouth, the Lord rebuked him. We read in verse 18, he became so thirsty that he was almost dying of thirst. The moment he had that thirst, in a moment he repented. And he saw that Lord, you had given this wonderful deliverance for me. A few moments ago he had said that I had killed a thousand. The moment Lord chastised him, he immediately gave the credit to God and said, you helped me to have this wonderful deliverance. The Lord miraculously brought forth water there and satisfied his thirst and made him to live. For every victory that we experience, we can take credit like how Samson took. But Joshua was a man who lived in humility. He could see that the spirit of God and Jesus Christ helping him to have victory against the Amalekites. We can read about his humility in another place also. We read in Numbers 11 Before 70 years, it was the time when Biblically Moses rebuked Joshua. We read in Numbers 24 In verse 25, the Lord came down on the cloud and the Lord took the spirit of that was on Moses and put it on the 70 elders. And two people outside the camp, they were also prophesying, Eldad and Medad. And a young man ran and told Moses what was happening. We read in verse 28 And Joshua, the son of Nun, one of Moses' personally chosen assistants, protested, Sir, make them stop. Moses rebuked him and said, Are you jealous for my sake? We read here, how Moses rebuked him and said, Are you jealous for my sake? We read here, how Moses rebuked him and said, That will be good if the spirit of the Lord would rest upon all. If when Joshua was a young man, Moses had not rebuked him like this, one day what would have happened would have been We read about another rebellion which Korah instigated along with 250 other prominent people If Moses had not rebuked Joshua at this time, when Korah rebelled against Moses, Joshua would have collected a group of people and started fighting in a carnal way against Korah He would have shown a carnal zeal for Moses and he would have had this kind of rebellion Moses recognised this spirit of carnal zeal in Joshua at a young age and rebuked him for that Don't have a human zeal for my sake These are the times when in young people this kind of human zeal should be rebuked The situation in which Joshua was rebuked was, in front of all the 70 elders he was rebuked He took that with a good spirit, with a humble spirit We don't read about the other 70 elders, we don't read about them later on He had taken this rebuke in a good spirit He had said, let the righteous man give me a knock on my head and that will be good for me It will be like an anointing on my head We have to take this kind of rebuking as an anointing on our head These are the last days when people get offended and leave the church when they are rebuked To whom shall we go? We need the spirit which was in Peter who said, you have the words of life, to whom shall we go? Peter did not know any other church other than the church of Jesus Other than the living God living in our midst in the church, there are people who can see so many other churches People tell us, is this the only church, don't we have other churches? They say, can we go to heaven only through this church, aren't there 1000 other churches? The reason is that they have been offended, they have stumbled and they have left Many years later they return and their children are in the world 10-15 years later they are broken, they repent, they mourn and they come into the church but their children are in the world When I enquire, where are your children? They weep saying that their children have done these wrong things and they have got caught in these kind of situations and they weep Yes beloved, in the last days at least for our children, for our future generation We need to be humble and say, God I need this rebuking, I will take it in a good spirit It is so important brothers and sisters to say that we will take this rebuke and remain in the church at least for the sake of our children, the next generation We have learnt this thing from Joshua Only one thing is recorded, we don't know how many more things he was blamed by Moses In the 27th verse we read about Moses We read about his humility We read about his humility Now it is almost 120 years old, Moses is 120 years old We read in 16 and 17 We read in verse 18 We read in verse 20 The Lord replied, go and get Joshua son of Nun who has the spirit in him and publicly give him your authority so that all the people of Israel will obey him For 40 years the eyes of the Lord watched Joshua The words of the Lord itself, give him your authority If the Lord had not had that humility, the Lord would not have spoken these words For 40 years in the wilderness, he did not have the thought that he was going to be the second leader He was a person who was afraid, when he was given the responsibility, he was afraid and the Lord had to speak to him saying don't be afraid To take that responsibility and so God had to keep on telling him don't be afraid, fear not, don't be afraid For 40 years God had seen this humility in Joshua I want to show the faith that was in Joshua Numbers 13 We read that when they had gone into the land of Canaan to spy it out, there were 10 people who spread a bad report So the majority report of the spies was negative Just the negative report of the 10 people made lakhs of people to be destroyed or fall away in the wilderness That is what is happening among the Christians also today beloved There are so many Christians ready to believe that bad report These are the days when people have become dull of hearing but their ears are itching to hear the wrong doctrines There are people who have got ears which they want to stop listening to the right doctrines Among these lakhs of people there were two, Joshua and Caleb who stood out They had this faith that God is pleased with us The protection which God had on those people has been removed God is with us We don't have to look at the giants We can immediately conquer them We don't have to look at ourselves We don't have to look at the giants God is big and he is great The Lord is pleased to give us the kingdom God condemned the sin when Jesus Christ died on the cross In the flesh of Jesus Christ the sin was condemned He was crucified on the cross The world has been conquered God is pleased to give us the kingdom Joshua had this kind of faith in his old body In the new body, as the next generation we need to have this faith In the new generation, next generation we need to have that faith It is so difficult to find anyone talking about victory over sin in this Christendom But we boldly proclaim that We see the examples going ahead of us Because of that faith that we have, we boldly proclaim God saw the faith that was in Joshua That was something which God delighted in God saw the faith that was in Joshua Yes beloved, we need this kind of faith I would like to show one more thing about Joshua I would like to show Joshua's devotion His faithfulness We read in Exodus 24 We read in Exodus 24 Verse 12 So Moses and Joshua his assistant went up into the mountain of God We read in a place that only Moses may come near to God But the people may not come near to God But we read in verse 13 That Moses and Joshua his assistant went up into the mountain of God We read in verse 18 In verse 18 we read And Moses disappeared into the cloud-covered mountain top And was there for forty days and forty nights Then in verse 15 we read Then Moses went up the mountain and disappeared into the cloud at the top Beloved, it will be good to meditate on this picture Moses has just gone to the top And this cloud had covered him And he disappeared from the eyes Here Joshua also goes up with Moses up to the hill We read in verse 14 We read in verse 14 How Moses told the elders Stay here and wait for us until we come back If there are any problems while I am gone Consult with Aaron and Hur Where would Joshua have been now? He was not below in the camp And in the presence of God only Moses entered He was neither at the top nor in the camp He was somewhere in between Forty days No food Joshua was a true servant Moses did not tell him that I will be back after forty days You wait for me I will go and talk to God and come back One day, two days, three days, forty days What happened to the people below? The people went to Aaron and to one place They did not know what happened to the top Joshua and Moses We immediately told them to make an idol And they made an idol below The people doubted After they had been baptized They became suspicious God was watching Joshua God was watching his truthfulness What happened? It has been so long since Moses came He did not doubt at all Moses had told that he will come back Why is it that he has not come back till now? He was determined that How many ever days it may be 10, 20, 30, 40 When my leader returns, I will go down What would he have been doing at that time? He took that as a time to worship God Since God was in relationship with Moses On this side of the cloud Joshua was in relationship with God God's eyes were looking at them Beloved God is looking at such people In the last days God is looking for people who are in need of money and health On that day God said, talk to me In the presence of God He was in relationship with God In the last days We read in chapter 32 He does not know what happened below In chapter 32 Verse 17 Joshua heard the people shouting And he said that there was a war in the palace He did not return from the palace In the last 40 days, there was a relationship with God in the rain There was this fellowship which was there with God for 40 days. We read that in the next chapter, verse 33. We read in verse 7 that Moses erected the sacred tent far outside the camp. That is what God had told him to do. And whoever wanted to enquire of God would go up to that place, to that tabernacle. And Moses was frequently going to that tabernacle and coming back. In verse 9 we read about how one day he entered the tabernacle. In verse 11 we read how God spoke to Moses face to face as a man spoke to his friend. And Joshua who was the assistant for Moses, he went along with Moses. Maybe around 10, Moses would have returned back to the camp. But Joshua, we can read about his devotion here. It says here that that young man, that servant of Moses, he did not depart from the tabernacle and stayed there. That is what beloved. This is the one devotion which separated him from the others. And God was watching his hidden portion, hidden part. We don't read in Exodus or Numbers that God spoke to Joshua. We read in the book of Joshua how God spoke to Joshua. You know the longing, the burden of God's heart. The burden that I should go into God's presence. And I should listen to His voice. Lord God who spoke to Moses, you should speak to me also. You spoke to Moses like you spoke to a friend. In the same manner speak to me. Lord I want to listen to your voice. I want to see your face. This kind of strong desire, longing God saw in that young man's servant Joshua. And this one thing took him to the next generation as a leader for the next generation. These are the last days where the spirit of devotion will be slowly stolen away from us. These are the days when we shouldn't go to God's presence, shouldn't sit at His feet. These are the days when thousands of things are stealing our things. These are the days when we will be prevented from seeking His face, from sitting at His feet. And so many things will distract us and lead us away from that place. What would he have done in that tabernacle? He can't even hear the sound. He can't even see God. He would have just sat there in the tabernacle. He did not depart from the tabernacle. These are the experiences which we should go through in these last days. Sometimes we may have to go to the presence of God like this. Like Mary, she sat at the feet of Jesus Christ. We may have to sit at His feet. Sometimes the burden of the Holy Spirit for us must be like this. Sometimes I go into the presence of God. I take some books with hymns of praise. There is just this longing in my heart that I should praise God, I should sing songs of worship for Him. After 5 songs, I should sing the burden of my heart, praise Him and come out. Sometimes we may have to go into the presence of God. And the Holy Spirit will push us forward. There is no song. There is no prayer. There is no prayer. The Holy Spirit asks me, why have you come to this place? I have to tell God. God, I have come to see you. I have come to see your face. Do you have any request? No, I don't have any request. Do you want to pray for your wife and children? No, God. Do you want to pray for your church? No, not for that. Have you come to sing songs? No, God. Then why have you come? I have come to see you. How long will you see my face? As long as I have that longing in my heart, I will see you. I want to meditate on your cross. I have seen. I am satisfied. I am satisfied. Now I am leaving. Sometimes brothers, when we go into the presence of God, there is no speech, there is no song, nothing. This is the spirit which I learnt from Joshua. The God who spoke to Moses had not started speaking to Joshua. He was outside the temple and he was looking at everything. For 40 days, when Moses was in the top of the mountain, he was doing this. Beloved, let us be caught by this love. Let us be gripped by this kind of faith. Let us be gripped by this kind of humility. We read that because of his faith, they wanted to cast stones at him. Because of his faith, people wanted to cast stones at Joshua and Caleb. Yes beloved, for the glory of this gospel which we have heard, let many people speak in many different ways about us. Let them throw stones at us. We have to have faith to boldly proclaim the full gospel. We have to take this faith for many more years. Any victory that we get, we have to say it is because of the rod of God, the spirit of God. That is why we have got this victory. We have to humble ourselves. Let us remain in that humility, in that faith and that flame of love which has gripped us. Let us walk with that, boldly proclaiming the gospel. I want to thank God. Amen. Let me read a verse from Psalm 27. I praise the Lord for all that we have heard. And I hope you would also give thanks. David was a man after God's own heart. And he faced many enemies. And all those enemies that he faced were part of his training. I have sometimes asked people this question. Tell me the names of the first three kings of Israel. You know the answer. Saul, David, Solomon. Out of the three, who ended up in a bad way? Saul and Solomon. David, he was not perfect. You know that. He slipped up. But he ended in a good way. And even Jesus, when he came to earth, calls himself the son of David. What an amazing thing for the son of God to take the name of David. He wouldn't say son of Saul or Solomon. Not even son of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but son of David. There was a reason. See, Saul came from a very rich family. With servants. And he grew up like that and he became a king. Straight from a rich home to the throne. The same with Solomon. Grew up in the palace. Straight from the luxury of the palace to the throne. David was different. That's the reason why David endured to the end. He had a very rough time before he became king. He went through. You know, first of all, he was despised by his father. When Samuel came to say, one of your sons has got to be the king. Call your sons. David's father called all his sons except David, who was the youngest. Say, it can't be him. He's always strumming his guitar and out there singing songs. How can he be the king? Little did that father know. The devotion of that young man's heart. Which God was watching while he was sitting looking after the sheep. He was singing those songs of worship. And so he went through many enemies. Saul tried to kill him. He had to run for his life. At least for 10 years. I think he must have been around 18 or 20 when he killed Goliath. But he was 30 when he became king. In all those 10 or 12 years he was running for his life. Sometimes not enough to eat and struggle. That's why he became a good king in spite of his failure. Because God had succeeded in breaking that man. And here he says in Psalm 27. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life. Whom shall I dread? We shall need these verses brothers and sisters in the days to come in India. We're not going to face easy days in this country. Christians especially. Learn to say words like this. The Lord is my light. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life. Whom shall I dread? When evil doers came upon me to devour my flesh. My adversaries and my enemies they stumbled and fell. And even if a host of enemies encamp around me I will not fear. Even if war rises up against me. I shall be confident in this. Because there is only one thing I desire. I don't desire to be king. I don't desire to be an elder. I don't desire even to live. If these enemies kill me that's fine. I will only seek one thing from my Lord and that is that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. Like we heard not to ask him for anything. Not to tell him anything. Just to sit and behold the beauty of the Lord. And meditate in his temple. How many of you know how to do that? We need a generation growing up who knows how to sit in the presence of the Lord. Asking for nothing. Saying nothing. Just saying Lord let me see your beauty. Let me see your glory. Moses had that desire. Lord show me your glory. And God said you can't see my glory and live. But I will show you a small portion of it. The greatest men whom God has used in church history are those who have had a longing to see the glory of God. And when they see the glory of God they see their own need like Isaiah. One day he saw the glory of God and he was never the same after that. Because he saw what he was. And I believe that is why even a man like Paul on one hand he could say like he said in Acts 23 verse 1 All my life I have lived with a good conscience. What does that mean? I have never taken the Lord's name in vain. I have never worshipped idols. I have honored my father and mother. I have never committed adultery. I have never murdered anybody. I have never stolen. I have never borne false witness in court against anyone. I have kept the Sabbath faithfully. And then one day I found Christ. And found all that was rubbish that I could glory in that I found the righteousness of Jesus. And I am justified. God looks at me as I have never sinned in my life. And that same man in the same breath would say Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am number one. Have you ever thought how that could be? On one hand he has lived such an upright life. And at the same time he thinks he is the greatest sinner on the earth. That is the mark of a genuine man of God. He lives with a clear conscience. But he feels he is the greatest sinner on earth. Because he lives in God's presence. And therefore he is quick to humble himself. I want to ask all of you, many of you are senior brothers in the church. Do you ever apologize to anybody for something wrong that you did? Just use your mind a little bit right now. Think of the last time when you went to somebody and said brother I am sorry I was wrong. Please forgive me. I want you to be honest. Some of you are elders. And you can't remember when you ever said that to anyone. Be honest before God. You can be satisfied with your ministry. Oh! God is blessing me. God is using me to help so many people in the church in so many ways. Maybe God is helping you in your church to advise the brothers and encourage them. And preach sermons that will challenge them and exhort them. And many of you elders are even in your churches conducting marriages and establishing happy homes. Wonderful! Sharing God's word. And we have distribution of articles now in Tamil, Malayalam, everything. Wonderful! And you are doing so many ministries. Great! But let me ask you, when was the last time you went to somebody and said brother I am sorry I was wrong. I made a mistake. Please forgive me. If you are honest, I think some of you will have to say I don't remember that I ever said that. I can't remember in the last ten years ever said that. Oh! Then you must have become perfect ten years ago. I will tell you my dear brothers. The reason why there is not more freshness and anointing in our CFC pulpits is because we are not sitting in the presence of God. Like David did. We are not seeing his glory. We are not being humbled by the sight of our own sin. Paul was the holiest man that was living on earth at that time. And yet he felt he was the greatest sinner. How do these things go together? They do go together. The holiest man on earth is usually the one who feels he is the greatest sinner on earth. Because he lives in God's presence. If he does not live in God's presence, he may be living a very holy life. There are many brothers who live a very good life. They don't violate the law. They do so many good things. They are so active in God's work. They are elders also. They are serving and serving and serving and sacrificing and all that. But they never apologize to anyone. Because there is no sense that I have ever done anything wrong. Something is wrong. Is it really true that you have lived your life for so many years without ever hurting anybody? Without ever stamping on somebody's feet? You may say, I have apologized to my wife. That is not a great thing. You apologize to your wife because it is a selfish desire. You want peace in the home. All husbands will apologize to their wives because they want peace in the home. Otherwise life is miserable at home. I am not asking about your wife. I am asking if you have apologized to another brother. Have you apologized to an elder brother or a younger brother anytime? It is really true. I am speaking. If the Lord speaks to your heart, take it seriously, brother. You may be a very senior brother. But there is something you have missed out completely in your life. Despite all the wonderful ministry God has given you. I am not denying it. Maybe hundreds of people are being blessed through you. But something is missing in your life. And you will discover it when you stand at the judgment seat of Christ. That it is not your ministry God looks at, but your life. Martha was active and she was doing so much for the Lord. And so may you and I. But Jesus said, Martha, you are worried about many things. Look at Mary. She is just sitting at my feet. Looking at me. One of my favorite hymns is, Father of Jesus, love's reward, what rapture will it be. Prostrate before your throne to lie there. And gaze and gaze on thee. Not doing any ministry. Just gazing. Do you know anything of that in your life? Do you know anything of these words of David? One thing I have desired of the Lord, not ministry. Just to sit. Just to see you Lord. Just to sit around and look at you. To see your glory. That is a worshipper. Very few people know what it is to worship God. And that is the tragedy of our generation. Jesus said in Matthew 4.10, you shall worship, thou shalt worship. And then thou shalt serve. I have remembered that all my life. That I cannot serve without worshipping. And worshipping is not singing songs in the meeting. People, all of Christendom says we have praise and worship. There is no worship there. All those songs are praise and thanksgiving. They have not understood what worship is. I have hardly ever, I think A.W. Tozer was perhaps the last man I have read of in the recent days who knew what worship was. Most of the others only talk about it. That man knew God. And that is why his writings have such power even 50 years after he died. Be a worshipper. That is what I would tell you. That is what I always tell my fellow elders. Be a worshipper. More than preaching and serving. Be a worshipper. Live in God's presence. Keep your face in the dust. Like John at the age of 95. This is my favorite picture of a servant of God. John the Apostle in Revelation 1. Flat on his face before God. Before Jesus. And like a dead man. Beholding his glory. We need many, many experiences like that. All of you young people, brothers, sisters. I loved such times when I was young. David was a young man. We are, you know, when we think of CFC and the ministry and reaching out and what God has done. These are all secondary. We must say to the Lord, Lord, ministry is not the main thing for me. I want to be a worshipper first. And if you give me a ministry, so be it. If you give me no ministry, that is also fine. I can sit in your presence and be a worshipper all my life. That is what I am going to do for all eternity. I am not going to be preaching in heaven. I am not going to be planting churches in heaven. I am not going to be healing the sick or casting out demons in heaven. All that would have finished. But there is something I will do for all eternity in heaven. It is worship God. And I want to begin to do that here. And let me tell you a little secret. You learn to do that here. And your ministry will be far more effective. Just sit in God's presence. And the Lord says, what do you want? And I say, Lord, I want nothing. I just want to sit and look at you. You are precious to me. And you will see your need like Isaiah. And say, woe is me. You will see the people with whom you need to set matters right. I will never forget an instance once. I asked a brother about some particular matter. And he gave me a quick answer. Yeah, it was like this. I said, okay, fine. And I think it was after a Sunday meeting in CFC. And as I was walking back to my home, he came running after me. He said, brother, I am sorry. I didn't tell you the full truth. This also was there. I praise God for such people. Who didn't sort of cover it up and say, well, yeah, I told him. It's not so serious. A sensitive conscience comes because you live before God's face. This is the reason why there is so much of dryness. You can't make your ministry fresh by just studying the Bible. The Pharisees did that. You can't make your ministry fresh even by writing so many notes. Or by speaking for a long time. If you have sat in the presence of God and the beauty of the Lord God has come upon you. It says when Moses came, they could see the glory of God on his face. He didn't even have to say anything. There was the radiance of... That's how it can be, brothers. I have always felt that the power of the spirit is something which can be manifested even without speaking words. And I've said, Lord, if you really fill me with the spirit, and I go to some church where nobody knows me, and I sit in the back of the hall while the meeting is going on, and I never say a word, I can change the atmosphere in the meeting just by sitting there. Do you believe that? Do you believe you can do that? I believe it. Imagine if in a church meeting where nobody knew, and in the back of the hall Jesus Christ came and sat there. Never said a word, just sat there. Don't you think people will sense? They're not seeing him, they're all facing the front, he's sitting in the back. Don't you think... And before the meeting was finished, he walked off, nobody knew that he was there. Don't you think people will go home and say, Hey, there was something special about today's meeting. I can't explain it. There was something special, I can't understand it. It was not in the great preach, there was nothing special about what the preacher preached. There was a man who lived before God's face who sat in that meeting. We must have faith So many people are longing, Oh, I want to get a chance to preach, I want to get a chance to preach. Get up and speak. Those who have a great longing to preach, usually don't have much to say. Have a longing to live in God's presence, my brothers and sisters. Some of you sisters, I don't know whether you wish, Oh, I wish I were a man, I could have been an elder, or I could have got up and preached. Is that what you want? You can bring the presence of God in a meeting by Mary who sat at the Lord's feet. That is a woman who sat at the Lord's feet and poured out the perfume. And the whole house was filled with the odor of the ointment. Imagine, one woman's presence filled the house with this aroma. It can be like that with you. Seek to be like that. We need men and women in the next generation who live before God's face like that and who bring the aroma of Christ. Haven't you sensed that sometimes? I sometimes sit in an airport and I get a whiff of some perfume. Oh, there is some lady walking by. Amazing, I am quite a distance away, but you get this. Something like that, you know, the aroma of Christ. It is not a physical smell, but there is a sense of God's presence. You know, you can be a man like that when people come and fellowship with you. They have gone away feeling that they have met with God. You are not God, but they met with God because God dwelt in you. My dear brothers and sisters, young brothers and sisters, may this be the passion of your heart. Lord, I want to take the presence of Christ with me wherever I go. That whatever people may say about me, they call me cult leader, heretic, whatever. They will never forget me. They will never forget that there was one man who showed something of Jesus to them. In their dying moments, they will remember it, till their dying moments. You can be a man like that. Even if you have no gift of preaching, you can be a woman like that. Seek to dwell in God's presence and be filled with His Spirit. That the aroma of Christ will saturate you like a perfume. Who can stop you from being like that? You don't need any elder brother's influence to put you in the pulpit or any such thing. Let's pray. There are many things God has spoken to us today. Let us absorb them, allow the Holy Spirit to remind us of them in the appropriate season. Thank you, Father. We humble ourselves before You. You are such a wonderful Father. What a wonderful God. We seek to see Your glory more and more. Show us Thy face, O God, one transient gleam of loveliness divine. And we shall never think or dream of other love, except Thine. Help us in prayer, each one. In Jesus' name, Amen.