In this sermon, Mary had a powerful encounter with God and was described as a brilliant dancer and singer. She was hesitant to go to church because she didn't want to be put in the spotlight. However, she eventually stood up and preached on the stories of Diaries and Lazarus. The preacher, Duncan Campbell, witnessed God's presence during her sermon. The sermon emphasizes the importance of being filled with the Holy Spirit and the recklessness that comes with it. The speaker also mentions the judgment seat and the need for righteousness in God's eyes.

Those wounds yet visible above in beauty glorified, I thought of an old professor in the University of Edinburgh. He taught Hebrew to the seminary students, and he always took the Bible as his textbook. And one morning he read to them the fifty-third chapter in Isaiah. This man was a Scotsman, but they nicknamed him Rabbi Duncan because he had such a profound knowledge of Hebrew. And he read this fifty-third chapter of Isaiah one morning, read it in Hebrew, read it in English, and when he got to the place where, as you remember, it says he was wounded for our transgressions, and he was bruised for our iniquities. And then he stopped and he said, listen to this, it pleased the Lord to bruise him. We make a great deal about the sufferings of Jesus, the physical sufferings, the bleeding wounds, and yet it wasn't his body that was offered, it was his soul that was made an offering for sin, the word said. And they said, the tears crossed down his face, and he said, and his soul was made an offering for sin. Gentlemen, it was damnation, and he took it joyfully. The students were discussing this profound teaching, and one of them said what I say about every man I meet. I'd like to hear him pray. So at night they went up to his bedroom, his dorm. They looked through the keyhole, and they'd watched him going to the bedroom. He was kneeling there in his nightshirt, he'd just had a candle at the side of the bed, and he read his scripture quietly. And then he put his hands together, and the teller said, he's going to pray, he's going to pray. Well let me look through the keyhole, wait a minute, here I was. And they all wanted to just squint and run, and squint and run, you know. And this man with such profound knowledge, not only of Hebrew, but of God, put his hands together and said, gentle Jesus, meek and mild, look upon a little child. Pity my simplicity, suffer me to come to thee. And I'm increasingly conscious that with greatness there's simplicity. With the deepest knowledge of God, there's an awful conscience of ignorance. I want to share some thoughts with you tonight on the, almost the greatest exercise we can have as Christians. As I've repeatedly said this week, that prayer is preoccupation with our needs, and praise is preoccupation with our blessings, and worship is preoccupation with God himself. And I think that praise should precede petition, and I'm sure that worship should precede petition. Men are always putting a label on the age in which we live. You know it's a scientific age, it's this age, it's that, the other, and I'm quite sure it's an age of rush, and push, and crush. And there are very few people that want to wait upon the Lord and renew their strength. Wait upon the Lord. And again I say, wait upon the Lord. The classic prayer to me, the classic prayer of the intercessor in the Old Testament, is made by women. The church is always described in the New Testament as a woman, because she brings to birth. There are three phases in a child's birth. One is conception, the other is gestation, and the third is birth. You can't change the order, it's not possible. The same is true in revival. There's a sense in which you can't accelerate it, and you can't delay it. I was thinking as we sat here tonight, well let me say this, I'm glad I got in here when the tidal wave came. You missed the meeting last night, you missed the tidal wave. The glory of the Lord filled the temple. By the same token, if people knew tonight that God was going to fulfill his promise and suddenly descend in majesty, not for a rapture, but to visit us with revival, the house would be crowded. As I said, I hang on to a word. In Malachi it says, the Lord whom ye seek. I thought many other things for years. I thought miracles and saw them. I thought clouds and got them. I thought friendship with famous people and had some. And there wasn't much in anything of it. But the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple. And remember those shepherds that night didn't expect that the prophecy that had been said hundreds of years ago would be fulfilled that night. They were looking after their stupid sheep. And the scripture says, suddenly there was a sound of a heavenly host. And those men in the upper room that had been waiting there for ten days, suddenly had an invasion. It says that suddenly there was a sound of a rushing mighty wind. And Malachi says, the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple. And one day God is going to, just as you pull a switch, he's going to descend. I mentioned this morning there was a revival. It began just as the clock got to eleven o'clock on the 13th of August 1727. It began with a group of people being quarrelsome and arguing about doctrines. And somebody got them together and said, let's forget our differences and unite here fundamentally on the word of God, on the things we agree on. On the virgin birth, on the redemptive work of Jesus by himself without any help, on the physical resurrection and on the work of the Holy Spirit. And just as the clock got to eleven, as though it was going to strike eleven, suddenly God descended on a bunch of people. One of the most unique things in history happened there at Hernhut. That prayer meeting lasted without a break for one hundred years. Never stopped. The longest prayer meeting I can find recorded in history. Little boys and girls prayed in the spirit. If you went into the sanctuary at two o'clock, you might find thirty people there. You went at two in the afternoon, you might find seven or eight little girls there, weeping, praying for revival. They'd been born in that atmosphere. They learned the vocabulary. Somehow God invaded those tremendous little personalities. That was the greatest move, revival move, the greatest missionary move, through the Moravians. John Wesley was really converted to a Moravian. Peter Bollock. The Moravians through Zinzendorf gave us some of our greatest hymns. You see, you take on the likeness of the atmosphere in which you're born. If you're born in a flimsy revival, most likely you'll be a flimsy Christian for a long while till you get your feet. If you're born in a fire, you'll never be satisfied to live in the smoke. If all you have is water baptism, you can swim the rest of your life, but there's another baptism too. A baptism of fire. And there's another baptism which less people have. Jesus says there's a baptism. Are you able to take the baptism that I'm baptized with? The thing that the apostle Paul knew, and yet he still desired that he may know more of it. The fellowship of his suffering. I remember Mr. Chadwick said he'd often been in prayer meetings with preachers when they would almost scream, Oh, that I may know thee, and the power of thy resurrection. But that's where they stopped. Would you like to know resurrection life? It's easy. I hear people saying, Lord, fill me, and I think they should knock the F off and put a K on it. And if you let him kill you, then he'd raise you up in resurrection life. But you see, the only way to get resurrection life is to die first. And Mr. Chadwick said, well, if you're willing to die, you'll get resurrection life. God won't hold it back. And then from there, it isn't just joy bells necessarily. You know, we'll have all eternity. You won't be able to weep in eternity. You'll weep at the judgment seat, most likely. Revelation says there are no tears in heaven. It also says God shall wipe away all tears. When's he going to wipe them away? No tears in heaven. Just at the judgment seat. Our last regret. Our last miserable looking back at all the places we missed. All the burdens we wouldn't carry. All the spiritual pregnancies we wouldn't have. All the loads we wouldn't lift. All the disobediences. All crowding on us. The pastor prayed tonight so beautifully there. Sure, it'd be wonderful. I tell my crowd, my wonderful church, nearly 25 of us. And I say to them, I don't get too much inspiration looking at you. You're not that bright and not many of you. But I keep looking at the end of the journey when we sit down again with Abraham and with Isaac in that great marvelous banquet. That's going to be really something. A way there in eternity. And there's just one horrible experience before you get your seat at the banquet. And that is that we all have to go to the judgment seat. That's about the only thing keeps me sane. It's almost terrifying. But by the same token, the word of God says and how beautiful it is. Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? Nobody will get a false deal or a wrong deal in that day. Well, it's been good to be with you. I don't know whether you say that. And I don't care whether you do or not. I told you what the Lord told me. As I told you, I didn't have to come here. I'd much rather have gone to New Zealand because my boy's there. And there'd be about 3,000 people a night that I just couldn't go, couldn't get free to go. My wife would have liked to have gone. Bless her darling heart, but she wouldn't go without me. Sure, she's a wonderful woman. Look what I've done for her for 30 years. But I'm glad for the privilege of sharing some thoughts with you. And I don't ask you to believe all I said anyhow. I asked you to obey the life he gave you. That's all. Whatsoever he said, unto you do it. All right, the first book of Samuel. We'd better start, shall we? First book of Samuel, the first chapter. I say this is the classic prayer of an intercessor. The intercessor is even beyond the person who prays. The intercessor is beyond the prayer warrior. The intercessor is the one who himself will take the load. God said more than once that he marveled that there was no intercessor. Do you think that God has kind of wound the clock up of the ages, you know, and set the alarm and said it's going to go off in say 1978 or whatever happens? Oh, I know he knows all things in his foreknowledge. But I'm asking you, do you think he's wound up the clock of the ages and set the alarm it's going to stop at a certain time? Does judgment come by reason of time or by reason of temperature? When judgment fell on Sodom, two things happened. Abraham ceased to pray. As I said maybe yesterday, that not only was it true that the corruption of Sodom was so great, but the salt had lost its savour. There were not ten righteous. And if there had been ten righteous, judgment would have been postponed. While ever Abraham made representation with God, he represented man before God and while ever, Abraham yes, and while ever love was in Sodom, God could do nothing. Read the story, that's what he says, hurry up and get out. And then at that moment judgment fell. In this chapter we have all the necessary, I almost said ingredients, that sounds a bit too like Betty Crocker. It's not a mixture, all the necessary, what do we call them? Attitudes, dispositions, and the true intercessor are found in this chapter. When Norman Grubb wrote his book, Rhys Howells' Intercessor, and if you haven't read it, you've missed one of the greatest books of this generation. I said to him after, I said, Norman, you are very daring to say that Rhys Howells was an intercessor. You don't find one intercessor amongst a hundred thousand Christians. But then he said he was an intercessor. That's exactly what he did. That's exactly what he did. As I told you the other day, the last time I preached at that school, Bible School of Wales, I walked up some stairs when Mrs. Howells asked me to, and she showed me a door and said, my husband went in that door at six o'clock in the morning, and he stayed there till six o'clock at night, every day for eleven months. Twelve hours a day along with God. That's why afterwards he had authority. As I said this morning, Elijah didn't say there'd be no rain, according to God's word, he said there'd be no rain according to my word. He knew the mind of God. I'll shut up heaven. I'll open heaven. Now here is this wonderful woman, Hannah. Let's skip over this quickly here. Look in this chapter. This man went up out to the city yearly to worship. Notice that. He went to Shiloh and so forth and so on. All right. Verse five, to Hannah he gave a worthy portion, for he loved Hannah. But the Lord had shut up her womb and her adversary provoked her so for to make a threat, because the Lord had shut up her womb. And as he did so, year by year. Now this wasn't some sudden thrill she had in a meeting. It wasn't some quick, unpremeditated prayer. She had been provoked. Just pin that down will you. There had been provocation. It says in the middle of verse seven that she wept. It says in the middle of verse eight, why eatest thou not? So she was fasting. It says in the same verse that she would grieve. It says in verse ten that she was in bitterness of soul. It says in verse ten again, not only did she weep, but she wept sore. It says at the end of verse fifteen, she poured out her soul in prayer. That always reminds me of Jesus. Obviously he walked into the garden of Gethsemane, and then he knelt in prayer, and then he prostrated himself in prayer. She prayed, yes, but she wept in her prayer. And not only wept in her prayer, she wept until she ached. She was sore. And not only wept until she was sore, she prostrated herself in prayer. So here are the ingredients again that she was provoked. She wept. She didn't eat. She was grieved. Verse ten, she was in bitterness of spirit. Verse eleven, she vowed a vow. The same verse, she had an affliction. And in verse twelve, she continued praying. And in verse fifteen, in the middle, she had a sorrowful spirit. And at the end of that verse, she poured out her soul in prayer. And in verse sixteen, she had a complaint and a grief. Now I suggest that's quite a mixture. A complaint, a grief, a bitterness, a sorrow, weeping. For what? For what? Because she was a barren woman. It was a reproach. I remember going down High Holborn in London some years ago. There's a little woman there, looked very much like Charlie Chaplin. Her feet were out like this, and she's a little old dresser, and she just walked about at that speed, and she put a letter in the mailbox. And a friend said to me, do you know who that is? I said, no. That's the widow of Hugh Price Hughes, one of the greatest preachers London ever had. And in the autobiography of her father, his daughter says this, when my daddy came from the sanctuary on a Sunday night, that great big Methodist temple in London, it might be packed to the rafters, right to the very end of the high gallery, and the people would hang on every word. He was a master of preaching. He was eloquent. He was passionate. You'd think he was seeing visions, although he could see into eternity when he preached. And at the end, he would sing, let's sing a word of welcome, you know, I hear thy welcome voice that calls me Lord to thee. And he would ask people to come, and they wouldn't come, and he would put his hand up and say good night. And she said, daddy would come home and take his coat off, I don't want any tea, I don't want anything. And she said, he would throw himself on his bed and weep and weep. Why don't they come? It was inconsolable. Not because it's fair to catch fish, but somebody slammed the door in the face of the Son of God. In other words, he said, I'm going to hell rather than repent. Do you think it's fun to preach? I go on many times, break my heart. Every meeting is a favor of life unto life or death unto death. Somebody will die in this meeting tonight. You might go to a hundred meetings after this and almighty God has an obligation to knock at the door of your heart. Who do you think he is? You notice what he says, behold I stand at the door of not? Now that isn't really at the heart of man, it's at the door of the church. There are some churches tonight, God can't get in. But he does give a knock at the door of the hearts of individuals, sure enough he does. But he's not obligated to keep knocking, knocking, knocking. Now this woman is praying for what? You say she prayed for a child. No she didn't. Well what in the world did she pray for? A man child. And the Lord gave her a man child. No he didn't. Well he didn't give her a girl. No he didn't. But he gave her a child. Yes he did. Well if she didn't get a man child and didn't get a little girl, what in the world did she get? She got a prophet. God did more than she could either ask or think. And you see this little fellow was born of prayer, conceived in prayer. I see some of these young women going around pregnant and smoking. I feel, boy if you weren't pregnant I could almost hit you on the jaw. Do you know why? Because that child in that womb has already in its conception also conceived an appetite for nicotine. A pastor friend of mine told me in England. A while back he said you know we had a problem here with a baby. It was born and from the moment it was born it screamed and screamed and they did every jolly old thing they could do to Christ. Every old wise tale you know. Give it some cinder tea and poor thing they experimented on it more than a guinea pig. The only thing it yelled. Morning, noon and night didn't seem to sleep. Yelling, yelling, yelling, yelling. And finally somebody said oh there's a new doctor in town. Now you bring him along he's got the answer. And in our homes of course we have a fireplace and the young man was smoking as he came in and he took the last pull and he threw the cigarette in the fireplace and he just leaned over the crib and said well the baby quit. Oh the mother said how wonderful. What did you do? Gave the baby what it wanted. Didn't give it anything. I did, I gave it a breath of smoke. The baby wanted to smoke. Was born with an appetite for smoke. You used to see gorgeous girls almost blinded with their beauty coming to Teen Challenge pregnant. The little baby already has a habit. It's born handicapped. It's got a drug habit. So scream and cry. The baby cries. You can't console it. Because it was born in the atmosphere of drugs. Conceived in the atmosphere of drugs. By the same token this little fellow somehow mysteriously you see he took on the nature of his mother. Now you women who are pregnant you better, you ought to pray. And my mother did that while I was coming along. She sang. She was always singing. Not for sorrow, don't think that. For joy that I was coming along. And she had a beautiful voice. Oh how she used to sing. I used to love to hear my mother sing. The result was I loved to sing. For three years I traveled with a revival party and I never preached once. I just sang, sang, sang, sang. Loved to sing. What happened to this little fellow? He became a man of prayer. No she did not get a child merely. Or a man child. But she got what? She got a prophet. That's why right now to me disagree if you like. I told you the pastor would disagree whether he was wrong. But anyhow disagree if you like. But you see every period of barrenness brought forth a supernatural child. Again there came a day when Rachel wasn't happy to bear having the nicest clothes and the jewelry. One day she comes her hair's blowing in the wind and she says to Jacob give me children or I die. I said to you and say to you again whether you're a pastor or not. The only reason you don't have revival in your church is you're willing to live without it. When it becomes a matter of life or death really in your life you won't care about anything on earth. What did Rachel get? Did she get a child? No. Yes she got a child. Did she get a prophet? No. God didn't want her. Not a prophet. You see very often when we pray and God answers prayer we think that God's answering our prayer. God was solving his own problem. He wasn't solving Hannah's problem. He needed a prophet up the road twenty years ahead. And do you remember when they put him out of office? When they put this marvelous man Samuel out of office he says alright put me out. And there was no spirit in him that rebelled either. But he says God forbid that I should cease. That I should sin in ceasing to pray for you. And if you ask people to write a catalogue of sins I guess that prayerlessness would not be on the list. You say thank God I've got victory over sin. I don't smoke. I've no bad temper. I don't have this. Did you sin today by prayerlessness? You find the case again of Samson. His mother was a barren woman. She was in great need of a superman and she conceived and she brought forth Samson. Go right down to the scripture. The man we had the other night John Baptist. His mother was old. Beaten up old woman. You know we read the Bible often don't we and just put it down it doesn't thrill us too much. I get awfully thrilled about it. I think of Sarah going up to her husband Abraham and says No he went to her first and he says I've got news for you. Oh he says What's the news? He says I'm moving again. He says No dear we're not moving again. I've just got over that trip from out of the Chaldees it nearly broke my heart and I've just got the garden set and a few other things Oh we're not moving. Praise the Lord we're not moving. Well now what news is it? Well he said Darling you're going to have a baby. Have what? Going to have a baby? Oh sweetheart she said I forgot to send it. Hmm I forgot to send your greeting card the other day. You're a hundred years old I'd forgotten about that. And I'm eighty and we're going to have a Oh wait till I write home and tell my mother about this she's going to say something interesting. I told him in the first place not to marry a preacher that I'm not sending help and he took you all that way to out of the Chaldees and now you're going to have a baby. Marvellous. Hmm But he came along alright. What an amazing time. You know talking of get well cards reminded me just the how often as our dear pastor said tonight we substitute as I said this morning in the Christian life you watch this write it on a piece of paper maybe the good is the enemy of the best. Satan won't tempt you to get well he'll tempt you to go to the smiths up the road and listen to two records and somebody's tape when you should be making intercession. It's the good that's the enemy of the best in the Christian life. Books are alright mine particularly but anyhow good books are alright but they're no substitute for the word of God. Records are alright but they're no substitute for a song in your heart. What writes me about a lot of the modern singing is this when I was a kid you know people used to have nights of prayer. They couldn't sustain a two hours prayer night but they could stay all night at a gospel sing and pray five books to go. Yeah there are some wonderful songs that I've lost pace I spit them out nearly do you know why? Because some folk that wrote them that were unknown a few years ago they'll take a trio to a church and ask five thousand dollars for the weekend. Forget it I'm not interested. Not selling the blood of Christ as far as I'm concerned. Now I would go to a shop and get a birthday card for my wife. Sure. I'd get a get well card for a friend but I wouldn't let anybody else write my love letters would you? Supposing you were away and you said Mary Jane I love you dear but I'm very busy I've got two men coming and I've got to play golf with a guy for business this afternoon so I've asked the man he was sitting there in the hotel I said hey are you busy? He said no I said would you write a love letter to my wife? Sure what's her name? Sue and ooh he piles it on all gooey and you know puts a lot of barbed wire at the bottom and sends the letter and you read it and say this is fantastic my husband never did look like this and he gets on the phone and says hey sweetheart this letter what happened? Have you had a baptism of love or something? This is an amazing letter and you say well sweetie I didn't write it I got a friend to You got a what? Huh? Do you want somebody else to write your love letters to God? All right this woman has prayed look at the ingredients she's prayed with sorrow she's prayed she's been provoked ha ha she made a vow to the Lord don't make them better not to vow than to vow and not fulfill the vow the word give me the child I'll give him back to thee are you going to suggest she did that easily? are you going to suggest every year she made him a cod and took it to the sanctuary her heart didn't ache as she came back without the child she made her vow she kept her vow the glory of God had departed but read the book through it before you get to the third chapter God has come back again to the temple why? because one woman prevailed and travailed and God God restored the authority of the prophet do you know why she prayed the greatest prayer? because she never said a thing do you know why she prayed the greatest prayer? because she lay there in her grief and the man of God came and said you know I don't like this woman coming every day I think she's drunk she must have never said a word the greatest prayers in the word of God have no language there's a poem that says what am I an infant crying in the night an infant crying for a light with no language but a cry brother elder my wife was saying she saw that baby today lovely baby should be with a daddy like mummy like that supposing how old's the baby six months five months six months supposing in the middle of the night the little boy little girl little boy yells out elder I want the light he'd say to his wife did you hear her voice yeah well you better go in the room a little fellow sticks up he says hey dad I need the light think dad's light would you ask you don't expect him to ask for the light he's afraid and he yells and not affect it's fear put the light off quits crying night after he cries and elder says oh what's wrong will you leave the light on yeah he's hungry what did he say no bring me a bottle boy she'd be startled if he did he has no language but a cry he cries in pain with one voice he cries for a feed with another voice he cries for loneliness with another voice he has no language but a cry but the instinct of the mother knows the language of the child we don't move God with eloquence some people can paint stained glass windows nicer than these things behind with words you don't impress God I'm so thrilled it fills me to death you can't impress God your prayers are not more valid because you earn a thousand dollars a day than the man down there that sells newspapers at the corner you're not more impressive to God because you have a PhD or an XYZ don't make any odds to God you see some people think that prayer is a position you've got to kneel or you've got to face to the east prayer is not a position it's a disposition it's not an attitude it's an attitude this woman prayed why? it wasn't really her badness but in Israel the priests were corrupt and Eli refused to deal with his sons and they corrupted further this little woman cried this little woman prayed she had no language oh you mentioned about you shouldn't pray like that tonight you got me excited sitting down with Moses I'm going to talk to him for about ten thousand years so if you see me would you keep your nose out of it a bit till I've asked him a few questions I want to ask him a lot of questions and about his prayer life when God said Moses come here a minute let's talk to him did God ever say that to you? or are you too busy to listen? Moses I'm sick to death of the corruption of these people I've delivered them again and again and again and every time now look this is what I'm going to do I'm going to rub them out just like you rub them out off the wall rub them out and out of your loins I'm going to make a far greater nation if he'd had half an ounce of carnality in him he'd have said well hallelujah I've been waiting for you to say that I can't wait till I stand there tomorrow and say listen you backslidden folk two million of you are going to burn in hell forever and I'm glad it's what you deserve but me I'm so sanctified the Lord is going to preserve me and not only preserve me he's going to produce a new race out of me and God says come out you see one of the greatest things in the world is when God reaches down and takes hold of a man there's only one thing greater and that's when a man takes hold of God and there's a paraphrase in the old Methodist hymn book about that situation let maltes in the spirit grow and God cries out let me alone that isn't that isn't maltes screaming because God has a grip on him it's God screaming because maltes has a grip on him let maltes in the spirit grow and God cries out let me alone you see the prophet Isaiah talks about praying concerning the work of my hands command me when were you last in a prayer meeting that was bathed with tears or somebody got angry over the monopoly of the devil in the world prayers don't move God because they don't move us if they don't move us they never move God again it doesn't necessarily mean exciting language but deep down there in your spirit what we said there in Romans 8 with groanings which cannot be uttered it's the language of the spirit the spirit groans the whole creation is groaning we groan within ourselves it's an orchestration of groaning we want birth without pregnancy we want birth without pain there is no revival that has ever been in history that isn't preceded by traffic at least I can't find one this woman doesn't care a hill of beans about the man of God she prays read to the end of the chapter she comes in church one day with a baby and she doesn't say any sarcastic bit away she says for this child I pray when you can produce the answer to prayer does it matter what folks say for this child I prayed and the Lord has granted me the petition that I asked of him yes she'd watched the other woman not as attractive the other woman getting more clothes but not getting as many clothes not getting as much attention of the husband but she did have a bunch of children around her skirt and every time she heard the laughter of those children she was sour in her own spirit look at my sister's condition same with Rachel wasn't it I think that's one reason why it's good to read the history of revivals they're provoking they get under my skin they hurt me why is there no movement of God today as in former days this country has had some of the greatest revivals in history because it's had some of the greatest praying men in history told you the other night when they buried Patience they found at the side of his bed there was a hard floor like this they found two long grooves they found his kneecaps were like a camel and the kneecaps had gone hard by rubbing in those grooves at the side of his bed where he used to pray with fervency John Hyde the lady asked me in a conference one day did you ever meet John Hyde I said no I wish I'd rather meet John Hyde than meet the President of the United States did you meet him yes I met him at the Cyclops convention in India she said a friend of mine she said they used to say to him brother John you will be at the conference next year God willing I can remember when they used to invite me to go to conferences to sing don't do that anymore I'll tell you that and then they invited me to go to conferences to preach they didn't ask him to go to sing they didn't ask him to go to preach they asked him to go to pray and one man said to him one day would you grant me a favor could I pray with you tomorrow and he said yes yes you could pray with me about a quarter to ten tomorrow morning in a little room at the back of the auditorium the man said I went along got there at quarter to nine and he was praying and I nestled up near to him and I waited till ten o'clock and I thought oh well he's waiting for me to pray so he said I'd pray about ten minutes and I was washed up worn out didn't know what else to say so I quit apparently you know what I'm talking about but anyhow he said I'd pray about ten fifteen minutes and that was it then he said John began to pray oh my couldn't believe my ears is this a man praying am I imagining myself in Gethsemane isn't this man a Hercules carrying the weight of the world is this man filling up the sufferings of the world and then he said no I'm not going to the door I'll never get back to pray with this man he'll never let me I'm not going to the door I'll keep knocking I'm not going I'm not going somebody put their head round the door and said brother hi you're to speak on prayer you know this afternoon at three o'clock ten minutes of free the man said ten minutes of free that's stupid started praying at ten o'clock it can't be much more than eleven at the most Mr. Hyde got up very quietly hadn't a word to say walked out to the auditorium and he said I looked at my watch five minutes to pray from ten to eleven to twelve to one to two to three he prayed all that time sigh Ian Bownes was very much the same Bownes said that God killed a man in this country to pray think he would I'll argue with Bownes not me who did God kill Stonewall Jackson right because every major prayer that he prayed God answered then he was praying for something God didn't want and God had to break the man's heart to kill him and so he killed him that's what Bownes said little and prayed alright I said there are three things about natural birth conception gestation birth the same thing happened in revival conception why did Jesus come through the body of the Virgin Mary it wasn't spectacular he's going to come with ten thousand of his saints why didn't he come that way the first time he had captured the world came to a little maiden to everybody else a doubtful pregnancy but she carried the child and brought forth the Christ of God you see this figure is carried out in the word of God when Zion travailed she brought forth children on one occasion the word says that she traveled and she had no strength and brought forth women but in the normal things travel precedes the birth of the child I'm convinced with all whether you agree or not doesn't bother me anyhow but from history and from the Bible and from the fact that every church should have a little spiritual nursery it should have mothers in Israel and fathers in Israel that can get spiritually pregnant and bring to birth preaching won't do it heaven knows if preaching could bring revival we ought to have revival years ago if singing could do it with more singing groups we've ever had in history but neither of them can do it because again God has established the virgin was a body and the Holy Ghost conceived in the Virgin Mary alright the church is his body and the church is always likened to a woman because she brings to birth and you can't say how long that period will be in which there is a spiritual pregnancy in a church but if the Holy Ghost conceived it there will be birth now you can't have birth in any normal way when it comes down to this business I remember in England we would read the newspaper and it would say the Queen has cancelled all her engagements for the next six months uh uh there'll be a prince or a princess in the Royal House I remember when Mrs Kennedy the last child she had and it said Jackie Kennedy has quit her social calendar you say Mr Remy how would I know if I'm really getting to the place where I want to I want to as it were carry a spiritual pregnancy I'm meaning that for the birth of it how would I know because your life will change all its habits you'll quit doing the things you've done you'll start doing things you never dreamed of very often a woman expecting a child suddenly there are things she's liked all her life she doesn't like and there's something she's never liked that she wants as it gets nearer to the time of birth so much more does the pattern of life break up Mrs Kennedy wouldn't go water skiing because she might hurt herself she didn't ride horses she might go over a fence and fall and injure the unborn child and as it gets nearer and nearer to the time of birth she sits up at night she can't sleep and there are all kinds of inconveniences she can't go where she used to go she sleeps when she didn't want to and she's awake when she'd rather sleep and the whole pattern of life is broken up and by the same token when a church begins to feel the birth pangs of revival everything's broken up once you get the real birth pangs of revival in this church those lives won't go out for months not necessarily in this building but in financial groups there'll be a group of people who agree to pray some say from twelve at night till two in the morning some have already prayed from nine till twelve and there'll be an endless chain just as in the case of revival in Hermholtz when little boys and girls prayed in the anointing of the spirit of God prayed for hours didn't want to play with dolls didn't want to play with toys didn't want to play with Indians and cowboys they were taught the world was lost they were taught that this was one of the final hours and as a result of that those little things grew up in the nurture and admonition and the fear of God they grew with the concept of God's majesty and God's holiness and God's power and the only reason they were in the world was to serve God I wonder if that would be foreign language to your children would it maybe it's foreign language to some of their daddies and mothers you see there is no way to get you can't organize revival you can't say revival will be born there for if you do it will be born there you can't say that the man is the revivalist because he'll come from here all right she suffered all these things Eli thought she was drunk well have you discovered the church never does anything when it's sober anyhow what did it say about the men that came out of the upper room said run I remember the first day of World War II I was in Scotland at the head Nazarene church holding a meeting and the warning came out everybody must stop and get a gas mask going home and the pastor there James Baxter McLagan said I'm picking up a gas mask and I said well the only reason you're getting it it's free that's why you're a Scotsman no he said we should carry one and I said I'll get mine when I go home well he said do you mind if I go in this building this is where I said go ahead he said now look when I come out of that light room I won't be able to see it would you stand against this lamp post I know where it is when I come out of that door I'll walk straight up there and you'll be there I said fine he went in the room quite a lot of people scrambling for gas masks a street car came up the street without any lights on and a Scotsman got out he was filled with a spirit it was a long spirit and he staggered across the street you know and he caught his foot and he put his arm round the lamp post and me as well suddenly realised that was a ah he said how are you I said fine he says well who are you so I told him ah you're not a Scotsman no he says can you sing I said no oh he said listen to me he began to sing Maxwell Tom Bray the bonny wedder he called the dew he meant the dew but it was good enough for a drunk man he got near enough any and he sang it and when he sang he rolled his feet and he said can you say it I said no no no I can't do that who's your favour told him all my father was ah he says my favour and he goes on with a long pedigree put his hand in his pocket got a handful of money out when a Scotsman money you know do you want the money I said no yeah he said you're no good you keep singing you don't want and you're not a Scotsman and he went down the road singing Maxwell Tom Bray the bonny now that was about ten minutes past nine at night in the dark if I'd met that man at ten minutes past nine in the morning he wouldn't even have acknowledged me he wouldn't have spoken to me isn't it amazing that those two things are put together be not filled with wine where is an excess but be filled with the spirit you know why because when people are filled with the spirit there's a recklessness and you better watch out because a lot of sharks around take advantage of the recklessness too I don't care if an evangelist gets a thousand dollars a day some of us is worth it but it's not what you earn it's what you do with it I can't wait till I get to the judgment and God rolls the book out to see how much some of these guys have earned a friend of mine was preaching in his native church a while ago he's the he's the favorite son he's the only preacher that's come out of his church and he went back to his church and had an amazing week and they took a love offering they gave him a nice fat cake a professor said I want to tell you something it's only half the offering when you told people you'll give me the offering yes but it was it was such a big offering we didn't want to give you it all you see so much money's been taken three weeks ago some people came here I wouldn't tell you who the happy bunch were but there were two of them and they were only there three and a half days and they got three thousand five hundred dollars for three and a half days that's not bad pay maybe your pastor gets more I don't know but a thousand a day isn't bad pay for evangelists they took it without a bless we deserve it of course I mean we're hard to get you know very grateful we even came for three days you know the hindrances to revival the greatest hindrance to revival made in America is evangelism singing groups teens that go and raise money live like kings one bunch opened me first but they made a million dollars in a year one singing group you know what I always thrilled me while evangelism costs a lot of money revival doesn't cost one red cent while red cent while evangelism has to be organized revival cannot be organized while revival is always turning around a pardon me while evangelism spins around a famous personality revival doesn't do that very seldom has an outstanding well known man become a revivalist the revivalist has made the man famous in that in one sense it's not a famous man that brings revival I don't believe anybody knew Hannah until she conceived and bore this wonderful child and bore a prophet but you know what happens I'm not going to be a there would be many prayer groups and they prayed and prayed and got nearly to the place of birth and then the devil got in and discouraged them and there was a there was a miscarriage a spiritual miscarriage you see the thing is the hard thing is the woman it doesn't matter how painful it is doesn't matter how lonely it is doesn't matter how sick she gets doesn't matter how it breaks up the program she has to stay with that pregnancy until there's deliverance and the devil's cute enough to get us to the place where we get weary in well-doing and suddenly comes along and says you're on the wrong trail and somebody else comes up with another argument and we give in sometimes I think this is the reason why many of the great prayer warriors today are women they know more about patience and travail and waiting so the men do Hannah prayed and it says she rose up and she worshipped too and she prayed for a child and God gave her a man in her another woman prays God doesn't give her a prophet he gives her a prime minister because that's what God needs up the road and she prays for an old woman prays and God violates every normal law and Isaac is born and then to show that it wasn't kind of an impossible thing or an isolated thing you get the same thing again when John Baptist is born of an AIDS woman I remember preaching in an alliance church some years ago in Louisville Kentucky the church there is a big fine church and the front of it has a huge communion rift and I spoke on Hannah one morning the pastor of the church was sitting halfway up the aisle and when I finished he walked down the aisle on his hands and knees and I can see him coming down he grabbed hold of the communion rail and he said oh God don't let this church get too old to conceive you see there's a period in a girl's life she's too young to conceive and there's a period in a girl's life when she's too old and churches get too old they get stagnant and relief gets in they have no expectation they become weary but when there's an expectation when there's a laying hold of the word of God the promise of the Lord exceeding great and precious promises I remember years ago a man who put a slogan outside of his church when he realized there was balance there a number sure sure money yes but not life the proof of this church's life is how many young men and women you get to the mission field with a burning vision that they don't care whether they live or die our dear boy came home from mission field not long ago he should have been home a year to eighteen months he hadn't been home for over a year and he stayed home five weeks and his mummy was talking to him one day and he said you know I may never come back again do you know originally we're in the Roman Catholic church before a missionary went to another country furloughs are a fairly new thing in missionary activity we spend fortunes bringing people home before a man went to the mission field or a nun they took their appendix out all the bad teeth everything they thought would need repairing and shoved them on the mission field gate go away and die and they did it God helped the church that gets too old it's our God helped the pastor that's afraid to put a slogan at the door like this man did this church will have a revival or a funeral he said but you better not devout you see she made a vow you think her heart wasn't torn when she took that child to Eli and said here he is this is my contribution to the temple and I just want to come and see him every year I bring him a new suit and she saw him blossom into a fine young man I don't know when she died maybe she saw him with the anointing of God he was the one that went and anointed the king and she could say my God I remember the hours that I traveled I remember my misery I remember the place where I said listen give me a child or I'll die I said this will you understand it God does not N.O.T. God does not answer prayer he answers desperate prayer and I said the other day again I can find no trace of Jesus ever praying with his disciples he prayed for them but not with them they wouldn't understand his language people in the Chicago church didn't understand Joseph and he quit going to prayer meetings why because nobody would pray to Joseph and then when he prayed nobody dared pray he prayed in a dimension he prayed with an anointing he had a language that came from of God he had a groaning in his spirit his last message to his own church was Christ's reigning authority in his church I've been with many famous men great men prayed with them taught with them my most happy memories are when we were meeting in his office which was about from here to there I was up behind his church there in Chicago and we would talk for hours then he'd say let's pray let's really speak God Maccafee was with him at the time man to hear that man pray that was before tape recorders if we'd had one I'd have smuggled one in my shirt and switched it on you know and said man I'm going to keep this man's prayer I get a little suspicious and weary of people who talk about the baptism of the Holy Ghost and it didn't revolutionize your prayer largely you'll miss it somewhere we talked about tongues we talk about interpretation we talk about prophecies you know Jude says the epistle of Jude that little book before the revelation is a whole epitome of the whole Bible and it talks there about praying in the Holy Ghost I believe in an eternity that's going to be an instant replay of all our lives my my my I I boy nobody will dare talk to me then I'll dig him in the ribs if he does no nobody will talk we'll be too we'll be too amazed when we're in eternity. Now and I'll be sitting on my chair or throne I might have a throne how do you know somebody's going to roll over the some sections but I'll sit there on my chair and the Lord said now now Gabriel let's have a replay of the prayers of that little man David Brainerd. I was in a church not long ago and I and I mentioned I didn't know a thing about the church and I mentioned in that church I said you know we went to a house and and the man was sitting in a preacher's chair you know lazy boy's chair and I said you know I said the congregation laughed they said Mr. Brainerd we just bought him a lazy boy's chair last week for his birthday they bought the pastor a lazy boy's chair how would I know that? No he had no lazy boy's chair. He had a coat do you know what it was? It was the skin of a cow that he had beaten out till it was supple and soft and he wrapped it round himself and he had a piece of corn and he wrapped it round himself and he had a Lincoln Continental it was a little mare about this size and he was sitting little horse he rode everywhere and he said he prayed when the snow was up to his chin and pressing on his breast and he was in protagonist for those Indians that when he finished praying he should only touch the snow with the tips of his fingers. So he was a strong man he weighed about a hundred pounds. He had a bark like a wolf he was torn with tuberculosis. So were many of the greatest men in history sick men, weak men. The comparable figure in in in the history of Scotland was Robert Murdoch McShane. He died at the age of 29. But he didn't die till the whole city had been moved under the power of God. A whole city. They prayed. I I I I say before God it's a language we don't know. It's an experience we don't teach. Travail of spirits, praying with groanings that cannot be uttered. But all these mixtures are found here in this marvelous marvelous chapter. Read them. Meditate on them. You know there's prayer and there's supplication and there's petition and there's intercession. There's praying. Jude says praying in the Holy Ghost. When you pray in the Holy Ghost you never pray a thing for yourself. When you grow up in spirit you never say Lord bless me. Because you don't care whether he blesses you or not. What you pray is make me a blessing. And in the process of making you a blessing you're blessed. You can pray until you want to be blessed. You're blessed like a little child wants to get every time it comes home. Every time daddy comes home. This same type of praying, let me finish, this same type of praying was known to the Apostle Paul. That ninth chapter in Romans to me is always a staggering chapter. Do you remember what he's praying? He's praying for Israel and he said I could wish myself a curse. Do you know what the real word is? I said I'd write an article on it but I don't know if any editor would take it. I'd write an article and I'd give it this title. He said well I'll be damned. That's not good language is it? Scriptural language. That's what he says. I could wish myself a curse for my brethren. Madame Guillaume says if the faith in heaven is restricted well send me to hell and let somebody enjoy Jesus in heaven. I've enjoyed him so much I know the memory in hell will be sweet. Little petite beautiful French lady praying like that. I'm not suggesting I've got there, don't think that. I'm not suggesting that. But I'm telling you that such was her love for Christ, such was her love for lost people. They'd miss so much. Let me go to perdition if need be in the memory, the hangover, from all the ecstasy. You see she knew how to worship. She knew what adoration was. She knew what travail was. People said when she wrestled in prayer she literally wrestled with the devil. And if there was something on the floor in the room upstairs that she wrestled. Now I don't care who you know. If you don't know God. As I said in that majestic prayer of Jesus, one of the great themes in the, what we call the high priestly prayer, John 17, he says Father that they may know thee. Does it matter who you know if you don't know God? Does it matter if you don't know if you do know him? Now I don't care who you know if you don't know God. And I don't care where you're known if you're not known in hell. Particularly as a preacher and evangelist. If you're not known in hell, I don't think you worth a hill of beef. I read it this afternoon. Nineteenth chapter in the Acts of the Apostles. So men tried to get in on the deal. Have you heard what happened? Now to make money cast out demons, heal the sick. Okay. These seven brothers got together and decided they'd do it. And they found a man demon possessed and so they went up to him and they tried, it's the exorcist. They tried to get the demons out. And even demons have a bit of respect. Do you know what they did? Just what I'd do if I were demons. They jumped on the guys and beat them up. Isn't it amazing invisible demons tore the clothes off them and wounded them? And they fled out of the house screaming and naked. Even the demons were insulted because somebody tried to put someone else on them. They used the name of Jesus and they had no authority. And they got hold of those men and they stripped off their clothes, those invisible fingers, clawed the clothes off the men and then they beat them and wounded them. And when the men ran out of the house the demons screamed out to them, Paul I know and Jesus I know but who are you? In other words they said you've no authority. We've suffered at the hands of Jesus, we've suffered at the hands of the apostles. So we talked with Jamie Buckingham today. He's writing a book on angels. I said after Billy Graham wrote his book on angels we'd get a dozen. You know somebody writes on demons you get fifty books on demons. But Buckingham had started his book on angels five years ago, long before Billy Graham started. And I went and had a little time of prayer for him. And the word that came to me as I prayed was this. I sent a telegram to him. I said Father help him to write a book on angels that will scare demons. Write a book on angels that will make demons mad. You say will they read it? I don't know what they'll read. I'll tell you what they can feel the effect of it. That's why God brought him here this afternoon because his book was biased. He said oh now I see the other side what we have to do. We've got to deal with fallen spirit, evil spirit. If you knew what was going on in the heavenlies right now, either as a Christian you'd just say hallelujah I know what God's doing. Oh you'll be scared to death. Do you believe that there is a demon power that rules over Titusville? Do you think all you have to do is just say Lord Jesus bless Titusville today. Bless the pastor and let him help the choir to sing and bless Bill as he leads the song. We enjoy it so much ain't we? Do you think that scares the devil? I doubt if it does any good to be honest. One of the perfect characters, the most perfect characters in the bible was Daniel. I'd like to have heard him pray wouldn't you? Do you know what he says? He says the prince of Persia up in the sky there resisted him for three weeks. Did you ever pray and feel you haven't gotten through for three weeks? Most of us we don't get through in three minutes. We're ready to cry and call the pastor. And he resisted and he resisted and he resisted and all the time he fought straight and fought back. And the prince there in the air resisted but he got through. I said to Jamie, I said Jamie you know one of the staggering things about the word of God to me is this. Oh it may not affect you, I don't know. But you know Jesus said you say you've saved them through the spirit. Well you've got a lot more responsibility than anybody else. And one thing that Jesus says, I give you power over the enemy, no over all the power of the enemy. I said to Jamie too, I said you know Jamie a lot of sermons that are born die. A lot of them are still born. A lot of them shouldn't be born. But I'll tell you what. You may have prayed a prayer ten years ago and it hasn't been answered yet. Now let me tell you something, God's got it on file. How do you know? Because Revelation says what are these under the altar? The prayers of the saints. You never prayed a prayer that God didn't register. Did you ever pray the prayer of the psalmist when he said store my tears in my bottle? Hmm? You never shed a tear, but what an angel picked it up your cheek and stored it up there in eternity for the record. One hymn writer talks of Jesus who every grief hath known but wrings the human breast and takes and bears them for his own but all in him may rest. One thing I'm sure, we were talking about Duncan Campbell this afternoon. The man that had revived in the Hebrides. He was in a church one night that was packed. He tried to preach. God seemed a million miles away and he called on a boy sixteen years of age. John Smith. That was Israel day. John Smith. Would you pray? There were deacons and elders there from the Presbyterian church and a free church, but he wouldn't ask them. He asked a sixteen year old school boy to pray. The boy got up and said, Ah, what's the good of praying if we're not right with God? And he read and quoted the twenty-fourth psalm. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Prayer is the most demanding thing in the world. Before you can go to God you have to clean hands. That's a relationship with the world, a pure heart relationship with God. Holiness is a right disposition in our spirits toward God. Righteousness is right relationships with men. The boy stood up and quoted psalm twenty-fourth. And when he finished he started to pray in that crowded church. He prayed ten minutes, fifteen minutes, twenty minutes, thirty minutes, forty minutes, forty-five minutes. And when he finished it was just as though God pulled a switch in heaven. God came down on the community. Not on the church. Do you notice what I said? He came on the community. He came on the dance hall at the end of the road. He came on the tavern at this end of the road. He came on the home. The disciple was brought. And Duncan had such amazing stories of how God answered prayer. There was a girl in Africa this evening. Her name is Mary Morrison. She's married now. She wasn't then. She worked with a space mission. And she had a girlfriend called Wilson. And they sent them out two by two. Two men, one area, two girls in another. And these girls went to an island and they weren't there for eight years. Hardly saw a concert. There were some big rocks like this at the seashore and those girls would go behind the rocks and groan. The waves would spray over them. The sun would blister them. They stayed praying year after year after year. One day their superintendent came and he said, you girls, you're even noted for your piety here and you're praying. And we're going to move you to another island because you've broken up the fallow ground and you've sowed the seed and you've been so faithful we thought we'd send you to another area where you can reap. That's about as stupid as you can get, isn't it? If you took a piece of virgin ground up there and you tore all the trees up and you got the rocks out and you fertilized it, would you go to Arkansas to reap your harvest? You'd stay there where you'd broken up the fallow ground, where you'd sowed the seed, hauled plants to polish waters. They begged to stay in the island and they stayed eight years, nine years, ten years, eleven years. It got to twelve years. They decided to have a conference. They brought Duncan Campbell over to speak and the people crowded in. One night while they were sitting there, Mary had had a marvellous meeting with God. She was a brilliant dancer. She danced on swords, you know, with a kilt. She was, she was that and she could sing. And when she was on stage, somebody asked her to go ahead and, Ah, she says, I'm not going to Kirk. I'm not going to the church. There were five of the girls. The other four said, where are you going? She says, well, I'm not going. Why not? Ah, she says, if we go to the Kirk now, it's late. The Kirk is the church. They'll take us right up to the front pew, stick us right under the preacher's nose. You see, five of us go in. I do say, Ah, the Lord has somehow told me tonight to pray on the, to preach on the five foolish birds. The girls say, Oh, don't be silly. He wouldn't do a thing like that. Oh, well, I've got to keep it quiet. They marched in and sat there and old Duncan gets up and he says, it seems very clear tonight. I had a word from the Lord early this morning that just knew. He told me to preach on the five foolish birds. Oh, terrible. And she thought she resisted God. She didn't go back for weeks. And she went back one night under pressure. Her name was Mary. And again, they had to go up to the front. And he said, tonight the Lord has changed my message. I have to preach tonight on Mary. The Master has come and called us for this. Getting a bit personal, isn't it? Got down from five to one. She got saved that night. She's a fantastic preacher. So, she can't preach. If you're a Baptist lady, you can't preach. He just let them go to the missionary and tire themselves out to preach. They can't preach in our focus. Miss Bertha gets away with it. That's all right. I'm glad she does. All right, Mary Morrison has been on this island with this other lady for twelve years. Duncan Campbell has preached in the power of the Spirit. They've sung their hymns and as they're singing, he nudges Mary Morrison and he says, I have no words from the Lord. You'd better preach. No, no, no. This is a conference. You came from Scotland. You've got to preach. No. He says, I have no anointing. You talk about John Knox praying, give me scarf and or I die. I think the greatest thing he ever did was when the cathedral was packed out in Edinburgh and he went to all the preliminaries and they sang the hymns and they took up the offering and he stood up and said, would you kindly stand? I have no word from the Lord. And he dismissed them without a sermon. That takes courage. You'd have warmed an old one up, wouldn't you? But anyhow, he says, I have no word from the Lord. And that was it. And Mary stood up and she said, I have a word from the Lord tonight. And she preached on David and Lazarus. And Duncan Campbell said you could almost see God walk through the door while she was preaching. God came on that hymn. Twelve years of weeping behind rocks. Twelve years of loneliness. Twelve years of criticism. And God put it all together one night. People were marvelously, marvelously saved by the Spirit of God. See, God is never in a hurry, but he's never late. I've been praying for revival for fifty years. I feel more thrilled about it now than ever. Despite world conditions, despite the laziness of the church, and that's the crying sin of the church, the laziness after God. Not because I'm an optimist, but because I've got a book here and I stand on the book. God's going to pour out his Spirit on all flesh. Not just all denominations, all flesh. I had a talk last night on vision. The young men shall see vision. Shall all men dream dreams. On my servants and my maid, he's going to pour out of his Spirit. It's all possible again because he died. Not only died, but he rose. Not only rose, he ascended. Not only ascended, he liveth to make and to take. I've said the longest prayer meeting in history. Lasted a hundred years. Well, of course, that's the prayer meeting amongst men. The longest prayer meeting in history is from the time Jesus rose to this moment, because he's been praying for two thousand years. And God's going to answer his prayer. And the world is going to see the power of the risen Son of God poured out through the revised, quickened church that's going to conceive in his And bring to birth a Pentecost that without Pentecost, Pentecost.