In this sermon transcript, the speaker shares a powerful experience he had with a four-year-old boy named Joshua. After a church service, Joshua approached the speaker with tears streaming down his face, saying that God had broken his heart. The speaker is amazed by Joshua's deep understanding and emotional response at such a young age. The speaker also describes the incredible dedication and obedience of a congregation of two thousand people who would listen to the Word of God for hours and then spend time in humble prayer. Additionally, the speaker shares a testimony of how the church helped the old order armies by purchasing a combine to harvest their crops, demonstrating their willingness to serve and support others.

You know, twice a year, because of the extensiveness of our traveling to different countries of the world, if you are interested to pray for us, if you are praying for missionaries and you are interested to pray for us, I just brought a few, what we would call, prayer cards with us, and it's a picture of Janice and Monica and myself. And we ask people to pray for us, and then we also send out a prayer letter of the different countries where I need to be every year, about 10 to 13 different places, and then of course in Canada and the United States, where we live in North America. But if you are interested to pray for us, we would love to give you one of these cards per family. I don't want you to take one if you don't pray for missionaries. It costs us, it costs to do these kind of things. I'm very careful when it comes to the funds that God is sending to us, because we are responsible. But if you want to make a commitment, if God has touched your heart over the weekend, and you say, you know, I really want to be part of what's happening here. The Lord has given us more than 500 people in different countries of the world who are praying for us every day. Some of them pray for us two, three, some of them four times a day. Those people saturate these meetings, these days, brother and sister, in the place of prayer. And when I get home, they're going to ask me, and they're going to be in touch and say, we want to know how it went while you were in Australia, and what do you think of those Australians? And of course I would say to them, you know, they're such a queer bunch of characters. You need to pray more, because you talk about ungodliness, it's the worst in the world. No, I won't say that. But if you want to pray for us, we would just value that. And then if you want to receive our prayer letter, there's a couple of things about our prayer letter. We would never ask you to send money to us. You say, don't you need it? Of course we need it. But when I come to a place, it's never a question of money. It's always a question, is it the will of God? And if God wants you to do something, He's going to take care of the expenses of what this is all about. And so, if you would like to pray for us, we would value that. I just have a few of those here, and maybe you can ask us afterwards. But twice a year, I have a privilege to be in the most amazing circumstances. You say, what happened? I find myself amongst about 2,000 people that have come to Christ out of the old order Amish and the Mennonites and the Hathorites in the United States and in Canada. And I think it was about, I don't know, 13, 14 years ago when I was doing a prayer advance for Christ Life Ministries. I think Harold Vaughn has been here, and he's got these men prayer advances. I asked him the first time when I did one for him and said, why do you call it a prayer advance? He said, well, we are sick of Christians retreating, and we want to go forward. If you remember, Harold Vaughn is one of those characters. And he said, we call it prayer advances. We want to go forward. And I remember at that prayer advance, there were about 450 men, I think, at this. And you know, the Tuesday night, I think it was the Tuesday or the Wednesday night when the Spirit of God broke into that complex that evening amongst these men. It was an amazing gathering. When I came out of the conference hall at this conference complex in the state of Virginia, there were about 10 or 12 phone booths. And at every one of those phone booths, there could have been 10 or 12 men standing, waiting to phone their wives to make restitution because of the way that they were living as husbands and the kind of fathers that they were. And God just broke into that whole conference. In fact, there was a pastor at that conference with his associates from Calvary Baptist Church just outside of Philadelphia, with 17 other men of the church. And those men met with God. And brother and sister, they went back to their church and started to Friday nights of prayer. And God began to break into that community. And I think in a period of about 12 months or so, something like 150 people were gloriously saved as God was working in that community. But you know, at that conference, during those days, there was a man that studied at Dallas Theological Seminary and yet he felt that God wanted him to start a church amongst the old order Amish. Those people and their horses and their buggies. And he went into Lancaster, Pennsylvania and began this church. And for seven years, they struggled with about 30 to 35 people. They were getting nowhere in those meetings. And then they brought in a Mennonite evangelist and God broke into those meetings. And during the period of the next seven years or so, something like 800 people were gloriously saved amongst the old order Amish. And when I was at this conference for these men, this man was at this conference and you know, he has become just like the Amish. They wear khaki clothes and he had a long beard, suspenders on. And I kind of looked at him and I didn't realize or know where he was coming from. And after one of the meetings, he came to me and he stood in front of me, this little man. And he said to me, Brother Gerard. And I said, Yeah? He said, My name is Denny Tenniston. And I said, I appreciate that. And I talked to him and I said, How can I pray for you? Well, he said, The reason why I want to talk to you is because I want you to come to my church. And so I said, What do you mean your church? Well, he said, We have a church amongst the Amish people. And he said, I want you to come to my people and I want you to come and speak in our church. And he said, We've got about 800 people. And he said, We've never had anyone outside of the Amish or the Mennonite or the Hadarite community coming to speak in our church. But I feel led that you should come and speak. So I look at this man and you know, they're totally different. In fact, I look at him and I thought, Where did you crawl out from? I thought, I don't know about him. And I just looked him in the eyes and I said, You know, I appreciate you asking me this, but I don't think I will be able to do that. And he said, Why not? I said, I don't think I can relate to the kind of ministry that God has given to you. And I said, I don't think I will do that. And I will never forget, you know, he stood there. Never expect me to say that because there are many people who are trying to get into that place to speak and they just wouldn't let him. And he said, So why would you not do it? I said, Well, first of all, I will not go near unless God has given me a broken heart. Brother and sister, God can only use us to the degree that we have become broken. Because brokenness has to do with identification. And identification is when you see people the way that God sees them. And you look at someone with the grace of God and you see yourself without the grace of God and you will never be able to criticize that person. And I said, I don't think I can identify with what you are doing. And I said, I think you should consider someone else. And I will never forget this little man, look at me. And you know, he was a block of determination. And he said to me, will you look into my eyes? And I looked at him and I said, What is it? He said, I want to challenge you to pray about this. He said, You believe in prayer? Why don't you pray about it? And I said, You know, I am more than willing to consider that. And you know, brother and sister, it was amazing. We closed the conference and I went back to my home. And you know, once a month on a Friday morning at 7 o'clock he would phone me. He got my telephone number and I would be on my knees before God and around 7 o'clock he would phone me and I picked up the phone and he would say, Is this brother Gerard? And I said, Yeah, it's me. He said, I only have this one question for you. And I said, What is the question? He said, Has God told you to come to our church? And he said, Are you coming to my church? And I would say, No, I am not coming. And he would say, Why are you not coming? And I said, Well, first of all, God has not given me a broken heart for your people and I don't think I can do that. And so he would say, Well, thank you. He would just keep on praying and he would put the phone down. Four weeks later, on a Friday morning at 7 o'clock, the phone would ring. Brother and sister, you talk about determination. Month after month he would phone me and I would pick up the phone and there were some mornings when I would pick up the phone and I would say, Brother Denny, I know it's you. And he would say, Well, I only have this one question. He always has this one question. I would say, What is the question? He said, Are you coming to my church? And I would say, No, I am not coming to your church. And you know, brother and sister, for ten months we prayed. On 5 o'clock one Friday morning God broke my heart for those people. And 7 o'clock that morning the phone rang. I pick up the phone and he said, Brother Gerard, this is Brother Denny. I said, Yes, how are you doing? He said, I am doing fine, but I just have this one question. I said, So what is it? He said, Are you coming to my church? And I turned to him and said, Yes, I am coming to your church. He just about fell out of the chair. He was dead quiet. I thought the line was cut off. I said, Are you still there? He said, Why are you coming to my church? The guy, you know, he just about gave up on me. I said, I am coming to your church because God has broken my heart for your people. Oh, brother and sister, I tell you, I had no idea what I was in for. He said, What are you talking about? Why didn't he explain to you? They are totally different. The service started at 9 o'clock on a Sunday morning. It goes on till 2 o'clock in the afternoon. I would like to see what happened to you Australians if we began to do that. 9 o'clock in the morning till 2 o'clock in the afternoon. You say, How does it work? Well, they have no musical instruments because they are reaching out to the old older Amish. The men sit on one side and the women sit on the other side. You know, I got so messed up. I began to call the brothers and sisters brothers, but they were so forgiving those people when you were trying to speak to them. They all wear suspenders. I mean, you are not allowed to wear a tie. It is one of the most wicked things that they think could exist that you don't wear a tie amongst those people. I had to identify with them, brother and sister. The service started at 9 o'clock in the morning. You say, What do they do? They sing for about 45 minutes the old hymns. They don't have this thing, you know, that the children are separate from the parents. They have huge families. 8, 9, 10 Some of them would have 12. Some of them would have 14. There is one family with 16 children. I mean, just like the pipes of an organ although they don't have musical instruments. Just like the pipes of an organ. And brother and sister from the youngest to the oldest sit in those services from 9 o'clock right through until 2 o'clock in the afternoon. And those children, they don't play around doing little pictures and all that. They sat there and they just drinking the Word of God. And so you say, What happened? 45 minutes they sing the old hymns and then the pastor would get up and he would turn to you and he would say to you, Now you have an hour and a half to two hours to speak to us and we want to hear the Word of God. And you need to have a word from God. And for an hour and a half to two hours those people would sit there, spellbound and they are just taking in God's Word. You know what happened after you preached to them? They have a time of humiliation. You say, What does that mean? You know what they would say? We don't want to listen to one message that we are not willing to obey. We don't want to read one chapter of the Bible that we are not willing to obey. And as a congregation of 2,000 people now, they will go on their knees and sometimes for 45 minutes to an hour there is a hush upon that gathering as they allow the Spirit of God to search their hearts about this message that they have just been exposed to. You know, I spent 10 days with those people. I tell you, it was an unbelievable experience. You say, What happened? Joshua, the pastor's son, had eight children and Joshua was four years old. And I wish you could hear little Joshua singing, A mighty fortress is our God. Only four years old. Monday night after the service, he came walking up to me and he grabbed me on my trousers like this. And when he grabbed me on my trousers, I looked down and I said to him, What is it Joshua? And that four year old boy looked up and the tears were streaming down his cheeks. I mean, I'm not kidding you, brother and sister. And I looked down at this four year old and I said to him, What is it Joshua? And he looked at me and he said to me, Uncle Gerard, you see God broke my heart tonight. Four years old. And I looked down at him and I said to him, What do you mean? You know what he said? This is exactly what he said. He said, God broke my heart and I wept in my pants. I mean, it's more than one way of doing it, you know. I said, What do you mean? He said, I was all bent over as God broke my heart. He's on his way to the mission field, you know. I came out of my room and Samuel was 11 years old. And he came out of his room, 11 year old boy, and as I came out of my room here, he came out and his whole face was red like someone has been on his knees with his hands, with his face in his hands. And I look at him and I said, Samuel, I said, I want to know what you have been doing. He didn't want to tell me. And I took him and I said, Samuel, very shy boy, I said, Uncle Gerard wants to know what you have been doing. And he just looked at me and he looked up and he said, If you really want to know, I spent this afternoon in prayer for you that God will help you to preach tonight. 11 years old, you know. I can't find pastors in North America willing to spend an afternoon in prayer with me. I came down from the kitchen one morning around 6 o'clock and there was Hannah and Esther. Esther was 8 years old and Hannah was 10 years old. And I was coming down and so I came down to get a glass of water. Just as I came down, they were sitting there in the living room with their open Bibles and I heard something. I thought, what are they doing? What is this? And I stopped and I recognized that they were listening to the Bible on cassette. So I said to them, what have you been doing? Oh, they said, we're having our choir time. I said, how are you doing that? Well, they said, we listen through the Old and the New Testament four times every year. I said, why are you doing that? Well, they said, God has given us such a hunger in our hearts for His Word. Hannah and Esther are both in the mission field, you know. You say, what happened? Oh, brother and sister, these people are serious of God, you know. And I mean, they're totally different, you know. When I came into that house, you know what? I discovered that they don't drink any coffee. I thought I was going to die. I phoned my wife and I said, you're going to need to pray for me. And she said, you're a total drug addict. I said, I've got these awful pains in my knees. She said, are you spending more time in your knees than normal? I said, no, my darling, I'm not. She said, it's the coffee. And they wouldn't give me a cup of coffee. I tell you, when I got to the airport in Philadelphia, into the restaurant, the lady came and said, sir, can I bring something? I said, bring me ten cups of coffee. And she said, is there something wrong? I said, I've been amongst the Amish. And she just smiled and said, I fully understand. Brother and sister, these people, I mean, it's unbelievable. You know, I was with them last year. You wouldn't believe this. You know what happened? The old order armies have no equipment that is machinery. The old, old order armies. And so they would plant wheat. They would put wheat in the lands. And you know what happened? The hail came and it just flattened it. And a storm came over it. And so they don't have equipment in order to do the harvesting. And the church went and they bought a combine. And they spent more than $40,000 buying this combine. And they went to the old order armies and they said to them, we know you're not going to touch this because you don't have the kind of equipment. And they said, would you allow us to do this for you? And once we have done it, we're going to sell it all and we will be able to bring it. And they went out and it became a tremendous testimony area. You know, when I was there last year, it was incredible, brother and sister. Because you see, the old order armies, they don't have radios. They don't have television sets. They don't have musical instruments. They don't have electricity. But you know what they do have outside of their farms? They've got a telephone booth. They won't have it on their farms, but the government has put a telephone booth in because they are business people. They make furniture and they do all kinds of things. And there's a telephone booth. And you know what the church did? The church brought in a system that on a Sunday morning you can go and you put 25 cents, the 25 cents coin in, and you dial the number at the church and you listen to the whole Sunday morning service. And if you go through Lancaster in Pennsylvania, on Sunday mornings there are buggies, horses and buggies, standing around telephone booths because the armies are throwing the money in and they've got these little speakers that they connect and they listen to the message on the phone. And it was wonderful. On Sunday morning I was stopping my message and I said, now I want to speak to those who are listening on the telephone. And you thought, where are they? They're all over the place. You know what? There were 17 families saved. I mean, God is doing some tremendous things amongst these people. These people, I mean, they mean business of God, you know. They're serious about the things of God. And ah, brethren and sisters, when you go amongst those people, when you speak about prayer, you know, we've been into this subject and people have said to me, you know, this is so deep. And someone has said to me, it almost gave me a headache. I can understand that. But they said, you know, so much that I've been exposed to. When you go to those armies, you know what I've done this whole weekend, I will do in one single day with those people. You say, why? Because they are so hungry and so thirsty for God. You say, how do you know that? Because they live broken lives. You sit here tonight, you say, how do I know that I live a broken Christian life? My heart is broken before God when I'm overwhelmed with the sins of my own spiritual need. I live a broken Christian life when there is a spirit of compassion about me and I can forgive much because I know how much I've been forgiven. I've learned the secret to esteem others better than myself. When I live a broken Christian life, I've learned the secret of denying myself. I've developed a sense of motivation to serve others. And when my heart is broken before God, I want to be faithful and I want to make others a success and a blessing. And so when I serve God with a broken heart, I've got a sense of my own unworthiness. I'm thrilled that God would use me in any kind of a ministry and I'm so eager for others to get the credit and I rejoice when other Christians are lifted up. And so when my heart is broken before God, I have a hard attitude that says, I do not deserve to be part of this ministry and I know I've got nothing to offer God except the life of Christ that is flowing through my broken life. And so when I have a broken heart, I'm humbled by how much I have to learn. I'm not concerned about myself. I'm willing to take risks to get closer to other people. And when I'm broken before God, I accept personal responsibility and I can see where I'm wrong in any situation. But, when there is pride in my life as a Christian, I focus on the failures of other people. When there is pride in my life, I'm self-righteous. I have a critical and a fault-finding spirit. I look at everyone else's faults through the microscope, but I see my own faults through the telescope and I look down upon the lives of other people. And so when there is pride in my life, I have an independent and a self-sufficient spirit. I'm self-protected of my time and my rights and my reputation. And when there is pride in my life, I've got this inner desire that I want to be served by other people. I just want to be successful. I want to advance myself. And when there is pride in my life, I've got a drive to be recognized by people. I want to be appreciated. I'm deeply offended and wounded and promoted when I've been overlooked and other people are promoted about me. And so when there is pride in my life, I've got this subconscious feeling and this is what I say. This church or this ministry is so 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 feel confident by how much I've learned and I'm self-conscious and I keep people in a distance. And when there is pride in my life, I'm unapproachable. I'm defensive when I'm criticized. I'm concerned about being respectable with what others think and I try to protect my work and my reputation and my image. And when there is pride in my life, I find it very difficult to share my spiritual need. I want to make sure that no one finds out when I have sinned. I've got this instinct to try and cover up my sin. I find it very difficult to say, I'm wrong. I'm sorry. Will you please forgive me? And when there is pride in my life, I'm concerned about the consequences of my sin and I'm remorseful over my sin simply because I have been caught. And when there is pride in my life, I always wait for others to come and ask forgiveness when there is a misunderstanding or a conflict in the relationship. And when there is pride in my life, I compare myself with other Christians and I always feel that I'm better than them and I'm blind to my own heart condition and I don't think that I need anything to repent of. And when there is pride in my life, I don't think I need revival, but I'm absolutely sure that everyone else needs it. And when I'm broken before God, I'm easy to be entreated. When I'm broken before God, I receive criticism with a broken and an open spirit. When my heart is broken before God, I'm not concerned. I'm concerned about being real. What they care about and what matters to them who are broken is not what others think, but it's what God knows in my heart. And I'm willing to die for my own reputation. And I'm willing to be open and transparent with other Christians. And when I'm broken before God, once I'm broken, I don't care. I don't care who knows or who finds out about me. I'm willing to be exposed. Why? Because I've got absolutely nothing to lose. And when I'm broken before God, I'm so quick. I'm so quick to admit my failure and seek forgiveness when it's necessary. And when I'm broken before God, I'm under conviction of sin. I'm able to acknowledge the specifics about my sin. And I'm grieved over the cause and the root of my sin. And once my heart is broken, I am truly able to repent over my sin. And the evidence in the fact is that I wanted to forsake that sin. So when I serve God with a broken heart, I always take the initiative to be reconciled when there is a misunderstanding or a conflict in the relationship. And I race to the cross. And I see if I can get there first no matter how wrong the other people may have been. And once I'm broken before God, I always compare myself with the holiness of God. And I feel desperate of my need for mercy. And I want to walk in the light. And I realize the need of a consistent cleansing of my heart and a fresh encounter with God the Holy Spirit. Can I ask you a question tonight? I want to ask myself this question. You learn to serve God with a broken heart, brother and sister? You say, what does it cost? It costs absolutely everything. Absolutely everything. I often say to pastors, because we spend most of our time with pastors, I say, listen, if you can't serve God with a broken heart, don't you go near the ministry, because you're not going to make it. Heavenly Father, as we come to you at the end of this marvelous day that we have been able to be together, we want to say to you that our hearts have been overwhelmed and there has been moments in our lives today when a sense of the brokenness of God has come upon us and we recognize that you have been speaking and dealing with us. And yet, Father, in the midst of that, have we been able to come to grips with the tremendous reality that every single one of us, that we are precious to you. We thank you that you have said unto us in your Word that we have not been redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from our vain conversation, but that we have been redeemed with the blood of Christ as a lamb that was slain. We thank you this evening that you love us so much that you have bestowed upon us the work and the ministry of your Spirit. That the witness of God's Spirit is relevant, it's real, that it testifies with our relationships with you. And that you have said unto us in your Word, how much more shall the blood of Christ through the eternal Spirit purge and cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God. And Father, we are so grateful that you have said unto us that if we confess our sins before you, that you are faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That you have said unto us that if we walk in the light, as God is in the light, we are fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, keeps on cleansing us from all sin. And Father, we are surrounded with the incredibleness of the promises of God. And you have given unto us your Word. And when your Word becomes part of our lives, then we discover that we learn the language of prayer. We learn the language of purity. We learn the language of the fullness of the Spirit of God. We learn the language of the supremacy of the centrality of the life of Christ in us. We learn the language of the sovereignty of God. We learn the language of the soul winner. And we learn the language of the possibility of being saturated with the greatness of the presence of God. And God, we realize this Sunday night that it only happens when we allow your Word to minister to us and to speak to us and to become part of our lives. And that you are building up Christian character. And that the life of Christ begins to dwell in us in every aspect of our relationships with you. And Father, we are reminded that the Apostle Paul said that we are crucified with Christ, and yet nevertheless we live. Yet not Christ, but Christ liveth within us. And the life which we now live in the flesh, we live by the faith of the Son of God who loved us and who gave Himself to us. We are reminded that you have said unto us that we are the treasure in urban vessels so that the excellent sea might be of God. We are reminded that the Apostle Paul said that the fullness of God dwelleth in the Lord Jesus and that we have His fullness in Him. And that we are sitting with Christ in heavenly places. And that there is therefore now no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. And so, Father, we find ourselves being engulfed with the greatness of the supremacy of the Word of God. And we want to pray this evening that when Paul said to us let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, and when he said to the young man in whom he invested his life, little Timothy, study to show yourself approved unto God a work when not needed to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth. And when he said to Timothy, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and it is profitable for reproof and for correction and for instruction in righteousness. And when Christ came and He said unto us that heaven and earth shall pass away, and yet My Word shall abide forever, our God we pray tonight that the consequences of these days that we have been together, that it will create in our hearts an unquenchable hunger and a thirst for the Word of God. And God, I don't know if we will ever see one another again. I think it is possible that we probably will not this side of heaven. But oh God, we pray tonight that when we will see one another again, that we will be able to say as those Christians in Uganda, when they were so brutally slaughtered by the dictatorship of Idi Amin, and when they will meet one another in the forest and in the mountains of the country of Uganda, and they will look one another in the eyes and they will say to one another, my brother and my sister, are you still broken before God? And God, I want to pray this evening that I don't know what has happened in many of our lives, and you said unto us that men look upon the outward appearance, but God is looking upon the heart. But oh God, I want to pray tonight that somehow through the work in the ministry of your Spirit, that not one single one of those of us who have been in this gathering sin, there are about 60 of us here this evening, God that not one single one of us, from the oldest person until the youngest child, would be able to walk away from this Easter convention, and not being able to say, I have really met with God. God has touched my heart. He has ministered to me, not because of some special speaker or messages that I have been exposed to, but simply because there has been moments when God the Holy Spirit has come. My heart became broken. God purified my soul. He filled me with all the fullness of God. He gave unto me a baptism of brokenness, and He gave unto me a sense of unction, and an understanding of transparency and passion that will bring me to the place where I will live a Christian life that will demand a supernatural explanation. And Father God, we say to Thee this evening, we only have one life to live. And You said unto us, as my Father hath sent me, so sent are You. We want to say with the great Apostle Paul, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. We ask that You will create in us this sense of determination and this sense of commitment and this sense of passion that in the days to come, in this beautiful land of Australia, that we will be intoxicated with a total abandonment to the greatness of the life of Christ. And Father, as we spend these last few minutes of this evening, just pondering upon the infallibleness of Scripture, we ask that we will not just be inflamed or informed by the work of God, but we ask of Thee that we will be inflamed and that we will be like those two disciples on the way to Emmaus, that when You departed out of their presence, after You expound to them the Law and the Prophets and the Writings, and when You departed out of their presence, did they say to one another, Did not our hearts burn within us when He spoke to us on the way? Give us the burning heart. God, I just want to pray for my Janice and Monica this evening in Canada. It is in the middle of the night in the early hours of the morning. And Father, You know how often when I find myself in these prayer encounters in different countries, that they come under some of the most brutal attacks from the evil one. Tonight we unite our hearts in prayer. And I ask that the efficacy of the precious covering of that which Your Word is saying to us about the blood of Christ, that You will protect my home and my little family and everything that this little family is about. And God, that You will work in their hearts tonight in the same way that You have been working in our own relationships with You. And so we thank You that You are a prayer answering God. In Jesus' name, Amen. Aaron, when we come to 9 o'clock I want you to put up your hand. And if you don't put up your hand, I make an invitation you first at the altar. So we only have about 20 minutes. We have promised you that we would limit these times to an hour and a half and the times that we are together. So turn to me to Luke chapter 11, if you will. Luke chapter 11. And just for the sake of our time, Kevin, if you give me this watch, you are not getting it back. Okay? It's done. So we have 20 minutes and if I see you looking at your watch, we take up another offering and you lose it. Okay? Luke chapter 11, verse number 1. The Lord Jesus said, the Bible says, and it came to pass that when Jesus was praying in a certain place, when He sees that one of His disciples said unto Him, Lord, teach us to pray as John also taught His disciples. And He said unto them, when you pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins as we forgive everyone that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. And Jesus said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and shall say unto him, Friend, let me free those, for a friend of mine in his journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him. And he from within will answer and say, Do not trouble me now, the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give it to thee. I say unto you, though he will not rise and give it to him, because he is his friend, and because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he need. And I say unto you, ask, and it shall be given unto you. And seek, and you shall find. And not, and it shall be open unto you. For everyone that ask, receive. And to him that seek, find. And to him that not, it shall be open. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give unto him a stone? Or if he shall ask for a fish, will he for a fish give unto him a serpent? Or if he shall ask for an egg, will he offer to him a scorpion? If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those that ask Him?" This is our last little session after this morning and this afternoon, and we have tried to cover some aspects of what the New Testament is saying to us about this great possibility of developing and cultivating a life and a spirit of prayer, and for us to be able to learn the language of prayer. And I said in one of our sessions today that when you and I would study the New Testament and we bring the New Testament together, we discover that out of those 7,957 glorious verses in the New Testament, will you discover that the New Testament is speaking to us about a tabernacle of prayer in the New Testament Scriptures. And that tabernacle of prayer consists of 24 possible words in the Greek New Testament that you and I will be able to study and look at. The six pillars of those tabernacles consist of the six words that are most often used in the New Testament and they become the pillars in understanding New Testament prayer. During those four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, those 2,033 verses that came from the lips of the Apostle Paul, the epistle to the Hebrews that is giving us 303 glorious verses, the little epistle of James in its 108 verses, Peter in his 105 and 61 verses in the 2nd epistle of Peter. And so we plow through the New Testament and we come across six major words. And brother and sister, if we were together in a week of prayer, then it would have been wonderful for me to be allowed to put those six words down and say, why don't you walk with me through the New Testament and we explore those six pillars. Because those six pillars will not leave us on their own. They will come to you and advance upon our throats and grab our souls and say, you need a roof over these pillars and you discover 12 words in the New Testament. And those 12 words become the roof of this New Testament tabernacle of prayer. Those words are connected to those six words, but they are interrelated to those words and they are used not so many times as those six pillars that we are speaking about. And once we have put a roof over this tabernacle, you're going to say to me, well, how are we going to be able to keep this roof down? I will be able to take you to six other words in the Greek New Testament and they become the ropes by which we would be able to look at this New Testament tabernacle. Now, if you and I would be able to do that, and you would say, well, is it possible for us to explore this? Brother and sister, in that tabernacle, those 24 words is going to lead you to 248 prayer passages in the New Testament. I'm so glad my wife is not with me, because she always get after me and she always said to me, she said, Daddy, why are you giving them all those statistics? None of them care for it anywhere. And then if I go too long, she would stand there at the back and she would do that if I go over my time. And I'm delighted. I miss her, but I'm delighted she's not here tonight, because I'm having the time of my life, you know. So what has happened? I hope this is not recorded. Anyway, she will understand. But you know, brother and sister, it's wonderful. And if I would have been able to walk you through the Scriptures, I really trust that these days, you know, God has given you a love for the Scriptures, you know. I mean, the Bible is so wonderful, you know. And when the Spirit of God is in it, you know, it changes everything. And when your life is clean and you live a spiritual life and you're broken before God, God can tell you anything in His Word, you know. And so when you walk into this tabernacle, there are these 248 glorious passages. Now, every one of those passages, brother and sister, they have a key passage in the New Testament that you need to use as the airstrip from which you're going to take off, to explore these 12 aspects of prayer. And as you take off from the basis of what this is all about, they're going to take you to all the other passages that are speaking about these aspects of prayer. I don't want to mention them all to you, but we've looked at some. Fellowship praying. We spoke about routine praying in the New Testament when you pray for the same things every day. We have considered the realm and the work and the ministry of the Holy Spirit of God as it relates to prayer. We have spoken about the place of faith. When we went to James chapter 5, and he made this incredible statement when he said, the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man availeth much. And we discover the place of faith when prayer becomes effectual, when prayer becomes fervent, when prayer becomes prayer, when prayer comes out of the life of a righteous man, and when prayer availeth much. We explore the reality of what does it mean to pray in the will of God when the Scriptures are saying to us, this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will that He hear of us, and if we know that He hear of us, we know that we are the petitions. And there are twelve aspects of New Testament prayer. What does it mean for us to pray through? What does it mean for us to recognize the high priestly ministry of Christ in prayer when the epistle to the Hebrews is saying to us that He's interceding for us, ever interceding, when the epistle to the Hebrews is saying to us, we do not have a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who is tempted in all points like as we are, let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace. Why should we do that? So that we might receive grace and mercy and time. And so there are twelve of these aspects. I want to share with you one. You say, what is it? Task-oriented praying. You say, where do you find task-oriented praying? And this marvelous passage that we have been looking at. And all I want to do, brother and sister, in these few minutes that we are together, give me five more minutes, Darren, remember that now? All I want us to do in these few minutes, brother and sister, I want us to explore it. You say, Gerard, what is task-oriented praying? Let me explain to you. You remember Jesus was praying at a certain place. And brother and sister, as He was praying, one of those early disciples came to Him and he said, Lord, teach us to pray. Can I ask you the question again tonight? When last did someone come to you and me and say, will you teach me how to pray? And so the Lord Jesus, they were so impacted by His prayer life. They never asked Him how to preach. They never asked Him how to raise money. They never asked Him how to become missionaries. The only thing they ever asked Him was, Lord, will you teach us to pray? And brother and sister, do you remember what happened? He began to teach them to pray. So what did He say to them? He gave unto them what we would refer to the Lord's prayer. And we have covered those nine ingredients in how to develop a personal private prayer life. Now the Lord Jesus comes. And do you know what He is doing, brother and sister? He introduced unto them this understanding of task-oriented praying. You say, can you explain that to me? Now listen to the passage. I am just going to quote it to you. This is what Jesus said. He said, which of you shall have a friend? And he will come to him at midnight. And he will say to him, friend, lend me three loaves of bread for a friend of mine in his journey has come to me. And he said, I have nothing to say before him. Then the Lord Jesus said, he from within will answer and say, travel me now. The door is now shut. My children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give it to you. And then he made a statement and he said, because he is his friend, and because of his importunity, which is a wonderful word in the Greek language, you say what it says, it is shameless persistence. He said, because of his shameless persistence, he will rise and give him as many as he needs. Now you say, can you expose to me this understanding of task-oriented praying? Brother and sister, let me do it. You say, how are we going to do it? Let me explain to you. We are speaking about three friends in this passage. Friend number one, friend number two, and friend number three. And I want you to remember that. What is task-oriented praying? The Lord Jesus said, which of you shall have a friend? You say, what is it? It speaks to a friendship with God, you see. That's why the Old Testament is saying to us, how can two walk together unless they agree with one another? And so here we discover the friendship with God. Ah, you remember how God referred to Abram and referred to him as a friend? Do you remember when the Lord Jesus spoke to those early disciples in John 14-16 that we ponder upon on Friday in our times together, and now as He imparts unto them those marvelous statements about prayer, and when He said to them, if you abide in Me and My work abides in you, you shall ask whatever you will, it shall be given unto you. When He said to them, whatever you ask in My name, He said, I will give unto you. And brother and sister, when He imparted to them, He came to this moment when He said to them, I call you friends. And I wonder tonight if you know the secret of friendship with God. You see, friendship is a wonderful thing, you know, because in the relationship of friendship is there an unbelievable degree of trust. There is a sense of confidence. There is a sense of commitment when it comes to friendship. And Christ came and He said, when you speak about task-oriented praying, He said it's based on the reality of friendship. He said, which of you shall have a friend? Listen to what He is saying in that passage. He said, which of you shall have a friend, and he will come to you at midnight. He said, Gerard, what is task-oriented praying? It has to do with the impossibility of time. He will come to him at midnight. It's in the middle of the night, you know. Do you remember how He responded and He said to him, My children are in bed with Me and I've got nothing to say. It's the impossibility of time. But brother and sister, let's take it a moment further. He said, which of you shall have a friend? He will come to him at midnight and He will say to him, a friend of Mine in His journey has come. Ah, here is task-oriented praying. It's got to do with friendship with God. It's got to do with the impossibility of the circumstances. And do you know what, brother and sister? It's got to do with someone else. What did He say? A friend of Mine in His journey has come. You see, when we come to this understanding, as you and I would explore the greatness of exposition as it relates to New Testament praying, brother and sister, it brings us to the place that when we come to the place of task-oriented praying, I have moved away from my own needs. I have moved away from routine praying. I have moved away from fellowship praying. God has dealt with me in my life. Now I begin to focus upon the hearts and the lives of other people. So what did He say? A friend of Mine has come out of His journey. This is friend number two. So you see what happened? Here comes the next point and I love it. You know what He said? He said, a friend of Mine in His journey has come to me and I have nothing to set before it. He said, do you know what He said? That's the need when it comes to task-oriented praying. You see the beauty when you and I pray for people. Brother and sister, you know what God does? God reveals to us the need of those people. And as you and I would pray for those people, you know what? Those people when they put their trust in us and we become their friends and we befriend them and we take the burden and the responsibility the day when they are in difficulty, you know what's going to happen? They are going to come to us in the middle of the night. And so here is the reality. I have nothing to set before it. You say, what does it mean? There is a need, you see. There is a need. So you see what happened? Well, let me explain to you. Here comes the silence of God. You see, this is why we said earlier on today the reason, and you know brother and sister let me be absolutely, I mean, let me give you a piece of my mind that I can't afford to lose. You know why we didn't have a place packed with people? Let me tell you something. If we would have brought a bunch of entertainers in here, we could have filled this field, this street with people. I want to tell you something. It would have been a mile wide and an inch deep, you know. And at which time we wouldn't remember a thing. You see, and God laid it upon my heart because I've got a burden for this country. And I knew that if we ever going to do this again, and nine years ago when we did, and I know there were people nine years ago that said, you know, this is really strong stuff. Listen, if we ever do this in nine years again, you say, I rather want to go to heaven. I don't want to ever be in a conference like that again. Because we're going to go deeper, you know. But as we were praying, and we sought God about these days, and the Lord just prompted me, and I kept saying to my wife, you know, we're going to plow into prayer. We're going to plow. You know, my dear Janice, she would say, Daddy, whatever you do, don't empty the place. Whatever you do, don't empty the place. I said, my darling, if we empty it, we're going to fill it again. Don't you worry. Ah, brother and sister, this costs, you know. This costs. You can't mess around with God when it comes to prayer. You can't fool around with the things of God. Because it costs absolutely everything. Blood, sweat, and tears. That's what it's costing. So here is the responsibility of task oriented prayer. I've got a friend. What is he doing? He's coming to me at midnight. What happens? I've got nothing to say before him. And here is the silence of God. He from within will answer and say, trouble me not, the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I can... The silence of God. You say, what is going on? God is silent. You say, why? The answer is going to be delayed, brother and sister. You say, Gerard, why is the answer delayed? There is something that God needs to do with me in my life, you know. I can't separate the answer from what He's going to do. And ah, brother and sister, I'm not sure if you're getting this, you know. But let me give you an encouragement. Let me give you a hint this evening. When you learn and cultivate a life in the ministry of intercessory prayer, can I encourage you tonight that when God gives you a burden to pray for someone, alongside that burden, will you begin to say to God, Father, whatever happens, I don't want to miss that which you have in store for me in my own life. A number of years ago, I tell you, we went through the fire. And I got hurt so deeply. And God gave me a word in the midst of that, in my choir time, when I came across a statement of what the angel said to Mary. And he said, a sworn soul pierced through your own soul, so that the thoughts of many might be revealed. And we were in this situation. And I tell you, brother and sister, I got so deeply hurt because I'm one of those people, I need a lot of encouragement. And I take things immensely personal. And I take things so seriously. And sometimes I go way to the other end. And when this thing happened, I got so hurt because of what we went through. And being in an organization for 31 years. And then when I resigned, I had to pay rent in order to stay in the house of the organization that I've been in for 31 years of my life. And I had to stay. They say, if you stay with your wife, I want her in another six months. But if you want to stay with her, you need to pay rent. And you know, it hurt me so deeply. I thought, God, how is this ever possible? And brother and sister, night after night, I was lying on my face before God. And I would weep like a child. And I would say, God, whatever happened, whatever happened, don't let me become bitter. Don't let me become bitter. Because, brother and sister, the moment when you become bitter, it's the end of your relationship with God. And you know, for months, God was silent. Just silent. Silent. And I will never forget being in the land of Peru, all on my own in a hotel room in the early hours of the morning, 3 o'clock in the morning. I had to preach that Sunday in a huge church in the city of Lima. And 3 o'clock in the morning, in the corner of that hotel room, suddenly God came and He said, the time has come. The silence is gone. And the answer is going to be there. Oh, it was precious. Have you ever gone through a time of silence? You search your heart. The presence of God is nowhere. You search your heart. There is nothing wrong from what you are conscious of. And God is just totally silent. Brother and sister, you know what Oswald Chambers said? He said, when you are in a tunnel, just sit still. Just wait for God to come. And here is the silence of God. He from within will answer and say, He from within will answer and say, trouble me not, the door is now shut. My children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give it to you. And you remember what the Bible said? I love us, you know. He said, because He is His friend, and because of His importunity, His shameless persistence, He will rise and give Him as many as He needs. You say, task oriented praying. Can you summarize this for me? I would love to do that. You say, how will you do that? Do you remember what happened? The Lord Jesus made a statement right at the end of this passage. And this is what He said, brother and sister. He said, ask and it shall be given. He said, seek and you shall find. And He said, not, and it shall be open unto you. You say, how do I understand those previous verses? How do I understand friendship with God? How do I understand someone that comes in the middle of the night? How do I understand nothing that I have to say? How do I understand the silence of God? Brother and sister, those three statements. Ask and it shall be given unto you. Seek and you shall find. Not, and it shall be open. You say, Gerard, what is it? Brother and sister, it's three dimensions of task oriented praying. You see, asking is not the same as seeking. Seeking is not the same as knocking. And so Christ came and He gave us those three statements. And you know, and we don't have time to do it, but listen, if you want to go home and you sit and you write out those verses by hand and you put down the word ask and you say, God, can you explain to me in those previous statements in this passage right from verse number one what did Jesus really mean when He spoke about asking? And you know what you'll discover when you put the word ask down and you go to those previous verses? You discover this dimension of task oriented praying. And then you put the word seek down and you go back to those verses and one after the other they fall into place. And then you come to the word knock. And brother and sister, you know what's fascinating in the Greek language? I tell you, it was such a blessing for me when I discovered it's in the imperative mood. You know what Jesus said? He said, don't you ever think, stop doing that. He said, keep on asking. He said, keep on seeking. And He said, keep on knocking. And you know the word knock in the Greek language? It's a fascinating word. It's not a word that is just speaking about someone that's knocking at my door. No, no, no, no. It goes a lot deeper. You know what it's saying to us? This word knock in the Greek language gives unto us brother and sister, the indication that the person who's knocking on the door, he is conscious of the character of the one that is behind the door. He knows his consistency. He knows his trustworthiness. He knows his stability. He knows the reality of the absolute confidence of his character. And now he is standing, knocking at that door. And he is knocking and knocking and knocking until the door is going to open. That's what it means. And so let me ask you tonight in closing, where are we? Where are we? Seeking? Asking? You see what he's asking? I explore the greatness of what God is about. And the revelation has come of what this is all about. And when I am exploring it, now it's taking me into seeking. Now I begin to find out. And now I begin to pray. And it's zeroing down to the specificness. And right in front of me here are the issues that he's standing. And now on the basis of God's Word, and His righteousness in prayer, and His character in prayer, and everything that he is about, brother and sister, on the basis of that, I come and I knock and I knock and I knock on the basis of those two things. And so you say, what happened? Jesus said to him, how are you going to do that? Ah, here he comes. How much more shall your heavenly Father express an imperative mood? How much more shall your heavenly Father keep on giving the Holy Spirit to those that keep on asking? So what is it? It's the Spirit of God. Task oriented praying. I want to close. You know, when I was a student in South Africa, we, I began to, at the end of my first year with SAFE, and we began, I went back to our farm in Southern Africa. It didn't belong to us. My father was overseeing this huge cattle ranch, and we didn't know that on this farm there were six black African pastors that spent days and nights in prayer. And so when I came back from the town one day, and my mother said to me, there's this black man that wants to see you, and I walk into my little cottage, and this black African pastor was sitting there, and I said to him, are we going to talk about theology? And he said, no. He said, are we going to pray? And this black man fell on his knees on the floor of my study, and for the next hour and a half, I was exposed to a life that was saturated with God. The presence of God became so real. People often say to me, what is the presence of God? And I would say to them, I can't always define the presence of God, but I always know when it's not there. And the presence of God became so real in that little cottage, and I didn't sit long because for an hour and a half, this black African man climbed underneath the burden of God in prayer, and oh, brother and sister, the tears were streaming down my cheeks, you know. I didn't know, I didn't know that a man could live so close to God. And he was praying in the African dialect, and I was able to comprehend and understand that I was brought up amongst the African people. We were hunting together in Africa and those kind of things, and after he spent an hour and a half, I mean, he climbed underneath the burden of God in prayer, and he systematically began to dissect the burden of God in prayer and systematically prayed this thing through to God. And when he stopped to pray, when he stopped his prayer, I mean, I didn't sit long. I got on my knees and tears were streaming down my cheeks, and then eventually I went and I sat with my back against the wall and I opened my eyes and I thought, I didn't know that someone could ever pray like this. I mean, you talk about prayer, you know, we don't know a thing about prayer, brother and sister. The depth of the presence of God in this man's prayer, I mean, it blows every circuit in your mind, you know. And when he closed his prayer, I looked at my watch, and an hour and a half was gone. You know, brother and sister, I'm not kidding you, it felt like five minutes, you know. And that black African man, Pietro Smalipa, turned to me, and he just said to me, he said, white man, he said, there is a mountain on your farm where we spend days and nights of prayer and fasting. And I said, what do you mean? We call them coppices, small little mountains in the African Bushville. And I said, what do you mean? He said, we go there, and sometimes we go there for 40 days, sometimes we go there for 21 days of prayer and fasting. I said, what do you do? He said, we take a blanket, we take a canister of water, we take our Bibles, and he said, we spend sometimes 40 days on this mountain. And I said, what do you do? He said, we wait upon God. 40 days and 40 nights. And you know, I have no idea. I thought, how in the world do you do that? I mean, I can see many of you, if I would say, listen, why don't you come with me, and we can spend 21 days of prayer and fasting. I mean, I can see in your face, you say, I need to get out of here as soon as I can. Brother and sister, we don't know what it is, you know. And so, he didn't invite me. You know, you don't invite people to those kind of things. You let God select them, because they can't handle it. And he didn't say to me, hey, would you consider to come with us? I said, what do you mean by prayer and fasting? He said, fasting is praying without words. And so, he just walked out of my cottage, this black African man. I thought, well, his name was Peter Osmalip. I thought, I'll never see him again. Ah, you know what happened? It was a Friday night, and I sat in my little cottage, a dark African night. I mean, maybe in Australia, the night gets so dark, listen, you can't see your hand in front of your face, you know. And I sat in my little study, in my little cottage, at 9 o'clock in the evening. In fact, I was studying the Word of God with a candle in those days in Africa, and I was studying God's Word in my little cottage, and 9 o'clock that night, there was a knock at my window. And, ah, I got up from my desk, and I went to the window, and I don't want you to misunderstand me, but you know, brother and sister, when I opened the window, I mean, I couldn't see his face. He was as black as Africa. Some of those guys, you know, they're blue-black. I mean, they're really black. And you say, ah, I couldn't see his face. You say, how did you know it was him? Ha, I tell you, I saw the white teeth. I mean, they've got beautiful teeth. You say, why? Because they brush their teeth with ashes. Have you ever tried that? Don't you try it. Australian teeth is not going to make it, you know. Those guys are as tough as nails. Well, you know what happened, brother and sister? He stood there behind that window, and all he said to me, he said, he said, all he said to me is, we're going to go to the mountain to pray. This young theological student, you know, didn't know a thing. These six black African pastors are going to take me and allow me to go and spend a night in prayer with them. I'll never forget this. As we were walking that night towards this mountain, you know, I mean, we're as dumb as donkeys, you know. I thought, how do you spend a night in prayer? How are you going to do this? What are you going to say to God? How are you going to figure this out, you know? How are you going to pray? And I wrestle with this thing. And they were walking in front of me, singing just the way the Africans can sing. And as he's walking in front of me, Petros Malipa, I grabbed his arm in the darkness of the night. And so he looked around, he stopped and he looked at me. And I'm so glad I couldn't see his eyes because they were a piercing to my soul. And I said, Malipa, I said, how do you spend a night in prayer? What do you say to God? You know, he said, white man, he said, you're in a hurry and God is not. And he said, you're going to learn what it means to wait upon God. You know what? They didn't allow me to pray with him. We got to the top of this little copy, this little mountain. And I want to jump in there and pray with him. He said, no. He said, go and sit there. You know. I said, what do you mean? He said, you have no idea. You're not ready. Petros Malipa, took a little black African boy to that mountain and suffered from polio. And he spent five days in prayer and fasting. And God gave him a word that he was going to touch that boy. And you know, he didn't do all the stuff that people today are running around and falling on their backs and roar like lions and bark like dogs. No, no. He just went to this boy. And he prayed over him. He didn't even lay hands upon him. He just prayed over this boy. The Spirit of God touched him and he ran home completely healed. You say, where does he come from? What is he from? Can I give you the shock of your life? He was a black Presbyterian. But they were students of the Puritans, you know. You say, who are the Puritans? The Puritans had an unbelievable insight into the character of God as it relates to prayer and the righteousness of God. And prayer was initiated by God. And God didn't answer prayer because they were praying. God answered prayer because He was a covenant-keeping God and He needs to taste through to His Word. And so I was allowed to pray with him. And do you know what happened? You're dead if you come near me again. You know, it's a mosquito. Can you believe it? If you kill one a thousand, come to his funeral. Brother and sister, you know what happened? I went back to the school and I went back to the principal of our school, the Bible college, and I said to him, Sir, I said, I want to ask you something. He said, what's it? Beginning of my second year. He said, what is it? I said, Sir, I want to start with Friday nights of prayer. I was all fired up, you know. I mean, these black guys spend these days and nights of prayer and fasting. And I thought, this is what we need at this Bible college. And I went to the president and I said, I want to spend Friday nights in prayer. And he said, how are you going to do it? I said, I don't know, but I need to do it. And he said, go ahead and do it. And I went to the men's students, brother and sister, and I said to these fellows, listen, gentlemen, I learned to pray with these black men on this mountain in our farm, and I want to tell you Friday night, I want to invite you to a night of prayer. You know, my fellow students look at me if I just arrived from another planet. You say, what happened? Friday night came, brother and sister. One guy turned up to pray with me in the night. He fell asleep about an hour later. He snored through the night while I was praying. Oh, brother. But you know what? I persevered. I kept at this thing. And God began to work in this school where I studied. And the men's students began to come. And you know, brother and sister, there was a time where about 95% of the men's students coming to spend Friday nights in prayer with me. I'll never forget the guy who was my roommate. He could never make it, you know. He was frightened of me. And he could never make it. And we were roommates. And he was never able to spend the night with us in prayer. And I remember one night I came into the room about 3 o'clock in the morning, and I tried to be a squire. And this guy was so... He was so threatened by this thing that we spend the nights in prayer. He was sleeping. And he was lying right in his back. And as I came in, he was so affected by all of this stuff. He was sleeping. And he sat right up and he said, we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. And he went right back again. Hey, you know what happened? These guys were coming to pray with me. And I had a simple philosophy. I said to them, gentlemen, this is how it works. You come and pray. And when you're tired, I want you to go to bed. Because you need to cultivate the spirit of prayer. And so I said, as God creates the hunger, you spend longer. And brother and sister, you know what happened in that school where I studied? Normally by 1 o'clock in the morning, most of them has gone to bed on a Friday night. But there were 3 other students and myself left. Those guys are out in the ministry. And they are just a blaze for God. And there were 3 or 4 of us left. And we said to God, Father, we want to persevere through the night. Not because we are more spiritual than these other guys. No, no. We want to learn the language of prayer. We want to explore this thing of prayer. And brother and sister, we would say to God, Lord, we're so tired. But we want to pray. And God would come. And brother and sister, you know what happened? God would give us a fresh spirit of prayer. And the greatest times of prayer we had was between 1 and 5 in the morning. God would just come. And actually, it was so easy. And those hours just became like minutes as we were praying. You see what happened? Saturday was our off day at this theological school where I studied. It was the anticipation of the faculty that the students would go and go for runs, play tennis, and go for walks, and take a mental break from the week of studying. But you know what happened with us on Saturday morning? We would go to bed at 5. And normally by 8 o'clock we would be up and have our quiet times. By about 9.30 in the morning, I met those three guys. And we had breakfast together. And I said, fellows, let's go. And we take her from the college. And we went down to Cape Town, the city of Cape Town. And we had bundles of gospel trash. You know, someone once said, he that often speaks to God about people is often going to speak to people about God. And our hearts were so burdened for people. And so we would go to the Cape Town parade. It's like a flea market in the city center of Cape Town. And people are selling things. And there are thousands of people. And every Saturday morning we would just flap the Cape Parade crown. And we'd give out these gospel trash. And we spoke to people about Christ. But you know what happened? One Saturday morning, one of the students and myself, we were coming back. The other two guys went on their own. And we came back towards the college. And as we were coming back towards the school, we were in a suburb with the name of Weinbach. And we were walking on the sidewalk. And as we were walking, I turned to my fellow student and I said to him, why don't we just pop in for a cup of coffee? And there was a little restaurant. And so we popped into this restaurant. And as we sat there, I was sitting like this. And he was sitting there. And as we were sitting like this, there was a man outside standing outside of the door, nicely dressed. And we were sitting like this. And we didn't know that this man was walking behind us for maybe a kilometer as we came out of the train towards this restaurant. And he was listening. And we were talking about God. You see, we just spent the night in prayer. And if you spent the night in prayer, brother and sister, your heart is so tender and so sensitive. And you are so open for the things of God. And so we were sharing with one another. And this man was walking behind us, listening to every word. I didn't know that. And so we went and we sat down. And I looked at this man. I wondered why he was there. Didn't think a thing of it. And as we sat there, this guy came in and he walked into this restaurant. And as he came walking in, he came to me because I was the closest to the passage. And he said to me, Would you mind if I see you for a moment? And so I look at him and I said, Sure. I excuse myself. And we came out. And as we were walking, we were walking on the sidewalk, and he turned to me and he said, I've been walking behind you and your friend. And he said, You've been talking about God. I said, Yes. He said, Something has touched my heart. And he said, Something is speaking to me. And he said, What is it? And I knew it was the Holy Spirit. And as we were walking, I began to give him my testimony. And as I gave him my testimony, his heart just went open and open. I mean, he was well dressed. And you know, all this kind of stuff. And I shared with him. And as we kept walking, I thought, Man, I tell you, something is going on here. And I said to him, Do you want me to explain to you God's plan of salvation? He said, Please. I said, You know, there's a library. I said, Why don't we go and sit in the library? I took him into the library. I put a chair in the corner with a chair in front. I mean, the library was crowded with people. But he sat in front of me. I took out my New Testament. And systematically, I explained to him God's plan of salvation. And I never forget that Saturday morning, you know. Oh, brother and sister, I love to see conviction of sin, you know. This big man sat there and he sobbed like a child. I'll never forget. He sat like this. And there was a pool of tears. And you know, the library was crowded with people. They must have wondered what's going on. I had peace with that bunch of sinners. I was leading the soul to cry. And he got gloriously saved that morning. You know what happened? I went back to the school. And somehow I lost contact with this man. Three and a half years later, finished the studies, went out into evangelism. The school got in touch with me and said, would you come and speak to the students for a week on what does it mean to be out in the ministry? And brother and sister, I came back to the school and I was back at the school. And one night I went to visit some people in the Cape Town area. And it was about 10.30 or something that night. I was driving back to the school like this little Volkswagen. I was driving back to the school. It was raining as it often rains in the winter in Cape Town. And I was driving and I came through a suburb on my way back to the school. And as I was driving through the rain, I saw a man who was running from one shop to the other because of the rain. And I never pick up hitchhikers, you know. And as I was driving towards him and was going towards him, God the Holy Spirit, you know when God speaks to you. And this huge sense of conviction came. I need to stop and give this fellow a lift. I brought, it was raining and he was nicely dressed, had a briefcase. Parked next to him and I put the window down. I said, what happened? He said, I missed the bus. And he said, I don't have enough money for a taxi. And I said, where are you going to? He said, Halfway, about 12 miles or so. And I said, jump in. I said, I'll take you. Way out of my way. But that was fine. And he got into my car. It's pit. You know, it's dark. And brother and sister, that man was in my car. And as he was in my little car, we were taking down the road. And I don't think he was a minute or two in my little car. You know what happened? He began to speak to me about Jesus. And he began to ask me questions about Christ. And you know, he was on fire for God. And you know, I was sitting, driving and I said to myself, I'm not going to tell him I'm a Christian. I mean, it's so seldom that someone speak to you about Christ. And I was driving and you know, he was at it. He said, if you don't come to Christ tonight, you're going to go straight to hell. And I thought, man, I'm glad I'm a Christian, you know. And he was at it, and he was at it and at it. You know, at some point I said to myself, you know, he needs the gift of his sermon to discover that I know Christ. And I thought, I'm not going to tell him. And brother and sister, he was on fire for God. I mean, it was great, you know. And we're driving and driving, and we came to help a... And I turned off the road where he had to jump out and sat in the car in the darkness, and I could hardly see his face. And in the darkness of the night we sat there and I turned the engine off and I said to him, I said, my friend thanks for speaking to me about Christ. He said, well, you're welcome. I said, I need to tell you something. He said, what is it? I said, you know, I am a Christian. He was so disappointed. I mean, I was listening everywhere, he said. He was so disappointed. I said, in fact if you really want to know, I said I'm in full-time ministry and ministry scared my life out of him, you know. I said, no, my brother. I said, you've done great. It's just marvelous. It's wonderful. I said, thanks for doing it. He said, oh, he said that's great. And I said, but you know what? As you were talking to me I had this nagging question and it kept coming back to me. I said to myself, I wonder if I haven't met you at some point. I said, would you mind to tell me how you came to Christ? We sat in this little vehicle. He turned to me. He said, well, you know, let me tell you. He said, it was a Saturday morning three and a half years ago when a young theological student pointed me to Jesus Christ. And I looked at him and said, that's me! Oh, brother and sister, you know, I mean, forgive me for saying this, you know, but you know, um, how can I say this? You know, he was coming, at that moment he was going to some wild Pentecostal church, but who cared in moments like that? I mean, it's the closest I ever came to lift my hands up, you know. I mean, we had some time in that little car. Oh, it was great because here was the man that I led to Christ, you know. And we prayed together and everything. In fact, I don't think I will see that man in heaven one day. You say, why not? He'd be so close to the throne of God, I won't be able to see him. I've got you for that in life. You know what happened? Just as we parted from one another, I said, let's pray. We prayed together at a great time. And I said, my friend, I just have one more question. He said, what is it? I said, what spoke to you that morning when you were walking behind me and my fellow student? And I will never forget this. He said, Gerard, you have no idea. He said, I was walking like this to pick up every single word. I said, what was it that spoke to you? What was it? You know what he said? It was the presence of God. He said, it broke me. He said, I was afraid to leave you and your friends' presence because of this thing. I drove back to the school and I was weeping, you know. He said, why were you weeping? I tell you, the tears were just streaming down my cheeks. You know why? Because I was just saying to God, oh God, why does this only happen once in a lifetime? He said, what was it? It was the presence. What did it cost? It cost absolutely everything. What about your life? Let's close in prayer. Our Father, we have come to the end of a wonderful weekend and it's been very, very precious. Sometimes we feel so sorry for ourselves because the infallibility or the inadequacy of our minds can only process that which we are ready to receive in the realm of the Spirit in our relationships with God. And we ask you, Knight, that you will forgive us because so often, and Lord, I'm speaking about my own life. I'm so slow to understand. I'm so slow to comprehend. And I'm so slow to come to grips with that which God wants to say to me in my relationship with you. And yet, dear Father God, you have been with us this weekend in an amazing way. And maybe we haven't had crowds and crowds of people, but I want to thank you that this is probably one of the most outstanding, blessed Easter conventions that I've ever been in my life, where you have crowned every session with an amazing sense of the presence of God. And you have touched our hearts, and you've worked in our relationships with you. And this evening we pray that as we part from one another, dear Father, we pray that God the Holy Spirit will dig deep into our relationships with you. In Jesus' name.