In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of spending time in prayer and seeking the face of God. He highlights the low average time spent in prayer by believers in North America and Canada, urging listeners to increase their prayer life. The speaker then transitions to discussing the Acts of the Apostles and the period of witnessing in Jerusalem. He emphasizes the responsibility of believers to be living examples of God's saving grace and suggests that the early disciples had a clear and specific experience of salvation based on their time spent with Jesus. The sermon concludes with the story of Peter and John healing a man in the name of Jesus, which resulted in a crowd gathering and witnessing the power of God.

Now, turn with me tonight, if you will, to the third chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. We are going to read from Acts chapter 3 and reading from verse number 1. Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour, and a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple, which is called Beautiful, to ask alms to them that enter into the temple. Who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked an alms. And Peter, fasting his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us. And he gave it unto them, expecting to receive something of them. Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up. And immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered with them into the temple, walking and leaping and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God. And they knew that it was he which sat for alms at the beautiful gate of the temple. And they were all full of wonder and amazement at that which had happened unto him. And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon's greatly wandering. And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? Or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? The God of Abram and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his son Jesus, whom ye delivered up and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go. But he denied the Holy One and the just, and he desired a murderer to be granted unto you. And he killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses. And his name, through faith in his name, hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know, yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. And now, brethren, I wit that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. But those things which God before hath showed by the mouth of his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Our Father, as we bow again this night in thy presence, is it so wonderful for us to realize again this evening that our lives are so precious to God. We thank thee tonight that we can come to humble ourselves again under the mighty hand of God. Father, we thank thee tonight that thou would speak to us for but one simple reason, because of thy great love towards us. And we thank thee that thy love was manifested in this, that thy Son came and he gave unto us his life, so that we might have life and abundance of life. Dear Lord, as we acknowledge tonight our need to thyself, realizing that we need the covering of thy precious blood, realizing that we need the unction of thy Spirit, is there a sense in which we confess this evening that we want to open our hearts in the presence of our God? Lord, if thou would speak to me tonight, or to our pastor, or to any one of us in this congregation, then I pray that thou would help us not to keep anything back from thee, but that thy Spirit would have his way in our hearts and in our lives. Lord Jesus, we long for thee to come and to touch us, to break us, to melt us at thy feet, so that we would be able to come and bring broken sacrifices to thee. But we also acknowledge tonight that we cannot work the power of thy Spirit up. But Father, we can pray and we can ask thee that through thy Word that thou would come this evening, show unto us tonight how precious we are in the sight of our Savior, so that we can bring a love offering of ourselves to thee. For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, this is our third night as we turn to the Acts of the Apostles, and it's very significant when we come to the third chapter. Can I just say that we are dealing these days on what we would call the period of witnessing in Jerusalem. God kept His disciples for no less than seven years in Jerusalem, and they had to learn a number of lessons before it was possible for God to send them out into Judea, and into Samaria, and eventually unto the uttermost parts of the earth. Now, those years were vital for those early disciples. You know, it seems to me that we so often think that if God would come to do something in our hearts and in our lives, that we would expect that the next day or the next week suddenly the world needs to be turned upside down. But it was not like that in the early church. Although last night we turned to that wonderful passage of the remarkable day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came, yet after the day of Pentecost, God was working. And after Peter preached his first sermon in Acts chapter 2, the Bible says that there were 3,000 people who came to the Savior. And in Acts chapter 5 we read about 5,000, and it's very interesting that the Greek text speaks of 5,000 men. In other words, there could have been far more than just 5,000, but God was mightily at work in Jerusalem and also in the parts surrounding or in the area of Jerusalem. Now, it's very significant that when we look upon this passage, which we have turned to this evening, that we start to deal with what I would call the opposition of the church. You see, from chapter 1 to chapter 2, verse 13, we were dealing with the founding of the early church. And there was the days of personal preparation, and last night the remarkable day of Pentecost. But from chapter 2, verse 14 to the end of chapter 2, two things would come to our minds immediately. There was the simple creed. In other words, what did those early disciples preach? And secondly, there was their sanctified conduct, the way in which they lived amongst those people. And the Bible says, those who listened to them, they said that there was a sense of fear upon the lives of those who listened to them whenever they preached God's Word. And yet they were greatly respected by the early disciples as they sat and as they listened to the glorious message of the gospel. But it brings us to our section tonight, and also the chapter which we will look upon tomorrow night, God willing, when I want to speak to you on what I call the subsequent infillings to the Holy Spirit, which is a great subject in the New Testament. But we are dealing here with the opposition of the early church in chapter 3 and also in chapter 4. I want us this evening to focus our attention upon one of those little verses. There was a moment when Peter and John, when they looked upon this man who sat at the gate of the temple, that the Bible says that they looked upon this man and they said to this man, Silver and gold have we none, but such as we have do we give unto thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. Now there are two words in the New Testament which speaks, in the Greek text, which explains to us the reality of miracles. The first word is a word which, if we read it, if I may say that with a sense of respect, is it true to say that it simply means a miracle, although it was God's wonderful doing. But you know my friends, there is another word, and it's a very precious little word in the Greek text, because it speaks of a miracle, but the meaning of that word speaks of a miracle which Jesus did, or a miracle which happened, and with that it tried to explain to us something spiritual. In fact, it's almost what we would call signpost. Before I came into Welland the other night, I think I saw a signpost which said, Welland five kilometers, and it was a signpost towards the city. Now that's exactly what that Greek word means. And you know it's very significant that when you study the New Testament, especially John's Gospel, and also the Acts of the Apostles, that that word is a word which we constantly would come across, and you come across it in the Acts of the Apostles. When the miracle of the Day of Pentecost took place, the people came together, and it was the occasion for the early disciples to preach their first sermon. And when the miracle took place, it brought the crowds together, and it gave an opportunity for them to preach the Word of God. Now that's exactly what happened here in Acts chapter 3. When Peter and John looked upon this man and said, You know, we don't have any silver or gold or anything which we could give to you, but we can give you something far more. In the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk. And the moment when the miracle took place, this man got up, and he was leaping and jumping and praising the Lord. And when that happened, the crowds came together, because they knew this man like the palm of their hand. They knew that he sat there for many years, every day asking for alms. I was reading what Dr. Graham Scroggins said some time ago about this passage. He said what this fellow was in need of was not alms, he was in need of legs, because he had to walk. But there he sat, year after year, at the gate to the temple. And the miracle took place when Peter said to him, Rise up and walk. But you know, my brother and sister, what I want us to do tonight, is to ask ourselves the question, What was the secret of the lives of these disciples? Why is it that they could say to this man, Looked upon us. We would say in one sense, well, does it mean that there was a sense of boasting when they say, Looked upon us. But can you remember that Jesus said, As my Father sent me, so sent are you. And the places where Jesus was supposed to walk, He looked upon His disciples, He said, Now, as my Father sent me, so I want to send you. And Jesus was not with them anymore. And they became living witnesses of that which happened in their own lives, and in the lives of Jesus. And they said to this man, We want you to look upon us the way that we walk, the way that we talk, the way that we live amongst people, and as we live amongst people, we want you to focus your attention upon our lives. Now, my brother and sister, may I say that that brings a tremendous sense of responsibility to us. Because we are living examples of the saving grace of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. I would like to suggest to you tonight, as we looked upon the lives of these early disciples, that somehow it seems to me, that there was a two-fold secret being found in their lives as they were serving God. First of all, I would say, it seems to me that they had a very clear and a very specific experience of salvation. Well, you ask me, why do I say that? Well, for the simple reason, it seems to me that their experience of salvation was first of all based upon what they heard or when they sat under the ministry of Jesus. Can you remember that for almost three years, they sat under the ministry of Christ, they listened to His words, they listened to the standards which He preached, and as they sat under His ministry, they must have said to themselves, well, if we ever come to the Savior, it means that we need to come to this place where we would experience the very same standard which the Savior is presenting to us. And my brother and sister, may I say to you tonight, it seems to me that we are living in a time where there are so many people who are trusting God, but it seems to me that sometimes it can be merely professions and not really possession. The Bible says, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature. All things have passed away and everything has become new. And I would say to you this evening that I am a great believer in the reality that it is necessary for men and women to sit under the ministry of God's Word. There is no substitute for the preaching of the Word of God, because as we sit, as we listen, we say to ourselves, it is the precious Word of God. If you study the work and the ministry of the Holy Spirit, you will discover that when Jesus said, when the Holy Spirit will come, He will convict us of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. If you study the conviction of the Spirit of God, do you know what the Holy Spirit does? In the very first aspect of His ministry and in His conviction, He always brings me back to the Word of God. And when He brings me back to the Word of God, He focuses my eyes, my mind, my heart upon that which Jesus Christ has done for me. My brother and sister, I want to say to you this evening, it was of the most vital importance that they sat all those days under the ministry of Christ. It was because of what they've heard. And I wonder tonight, because it may be possible that you sit here in this Tuesday night meeting, you see, whenever we counsel people, I say to them, I can't say to you, and I point them to the Savior. I saw them coming to Jesus. I did that with a young man on Sunday night. But after I counseled him and I saw how God touched his life, I said to him that night, My friend, I can't say to you that you are born again of the Spirit of God. I said, because the Bible says, the Spirit of God be a witness with my spirit that I am born from above. And Jesus said, the wind bloweth, and you do not know where the sound is coming from, so is everyone that is born of the Spirit. You see, there is that moment when God's Spirit witnesses, but it is because of what I've heard. And maybe tonight you sit here in this meeting and you say, I've heard the message of the Gospel. I've sat under the ministry of God's Word, and yet I cannot say that I've been born again of the Spirit of God. Some time ago I was in the land of Austria, and one morning in one of the convention meetings which I took, a lady came to me and she said to me, Gerhard, you know, my husband is here, and my husband is not a Christian. She said, he believes in God, but he's not born again. She said, would you mind if I asked you that every morning when you start with your message, if you can maybe just take about five or ten minutes and share about the Gospel before you launch into your subject. Well, I was thrilled to hear that there was some unsaved in the gathering. And every morning from then on, for the first five minutes, I spoke about justification and brought it into the lecture which I brought that morning to them. Well, you know, God started to speak to that man the very next morning. You ask me how did I know that God spoke to him. Well, you know what happened from the next morning as I was looking for him, I couldn't find him, although I knew that he was in the service. But the moment when the Spirit of God started to speak to him, he started to hide behind one of the pillars in this building. But every morning I continued. I just preached God's Word. And every morning he was sitting. The moment when I started to speak about salvation, he was sitting behind the pillar. But I knew that God spoke to him. Do you know the last morning I came to my final lecture and I did the very same thing again and I said that morning, I said, well, because he was the only unsaved in the service, I said that morning, well, maybe you are here this morning and it just happens so that you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. I said, I would like to suggest that I've got a very specific word for you. You know, it is the most amazing thing which happened. The next moment, I just saw this head coming out behind the pillar. I almost shouted down in this building, and I said, Fred, I'm really speaking to you. But you know, I didn't do that. As we went to Switzerland, on the airport in Switzerland, he came to me and said, Gerard, I think it's time for me to talk to you. And as we were walking up and down the passages, I was able to explain to him how he could give his life to the Savior. Oh, my brother and sister, if you sit here tonight and you are saved, you would say it's because of what I've heard of the message of the Gospel. Secondly, it was not only because of what they heard, but it seems to me it was also because of what they saw. You see, they were the lines of people who were dramatically changed by the wonderful power of the Spirit of God. Can you remember Jesus when He spoke to Nicodemus the Pharisee in the third chapter of John's Gospel? It was in the very first year of His ministry. And in the first year of His ministry, the Lord Jesus called Him at ten different places. And the Bible says that He started right up in Nazareth. He came down to the town of Beth Abarah. There the Lord Jesus was baptized. And we're dealing with the ministry of John the Baptist. Then He came down to the wilderness of Judea. He went up to Cana of Galilee where He changed the water into wine. He spent a day or two in Capernaum. Then He came down to Jerusalem where He attended the Passover. And at Jerusalem, in the first year of His ministry, He cast those out of the temple. He cleansed the temple. And He had His conversation with Nicodemus the Pharisee. That night when He spoke to Nicodemus and said to Nicodemus, unless a man is born again, he shall not see the Kingdom of God. Nicodemus said to Him, Lord, how can this be? He said, how can a man enter the second time into his mother's womb? Jesus said, Nicodemus, that which is born out of the Spirit is spirit. He said, that which is born out of the flesh... You see, He was speaking about a spiritual experience. And there was a moment when Nicodemus said, Lord, how can these things happen? And Jesus said, Nicodemus, can you remember as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness when they sinned against God? And those serpents came and they were dying because of the poison of the serpents. Can you remember how Moses found mercy with God? God said to Moses, Moses, I want you to make a brazen serpent and lift it up amongst My people. Then the message went around. They said, Moses found mercy with God. There is a serpent which has been lifted up. As you look upon this serpent, you will receive life. My brother and sister, do you remember? As those people looked, suddenly life came to them. And Jesus said, Nicodemus, just as Moses lifted up the serpent, so shall the Son of Man be lifted up that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Why did He say that? Because of the consequences of sin. As we turn in our lost condition and we focus our eyes upon the Savior, spiritual life will come to our hearts and to our lives. And so it happened, you see. From that night on, the life of Nicodemus was changed. The message went around. Nicodemus the Pharisee has been saved. And he has become a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. Ah, my brother and sister, it was because of what they saw. In John 4, Jesus spoke to the woman at the well. And He said to her, the water which I will give unto you shall become a spring or a fountain of water. Ah, the Bible says, she left her water pot and she went to the city. And she said, listen, come here is a man. He told me everything which I have done. Isn't this the Christ? They saw the change, you see. My dear friends, it was not only because of what they've heard. It was not only because of what they've seen with their very own eyes. But it was because of what they experienced. Ah, you know, sometimes people say to me, well, I've been born a Christian. I say, it's rubbish. If I was born in a garage, it never made me a motor car. I need to be born again of the Spirit of God. They experienced it, you see. And I wonder tonight at this very point if you would allow me to say this. Ah, can you think back of a time in your life when you said I had a personal encounter with a Savior? Somehow He changed my life. Spiritual life came. A new sense of direction. He took the sense of bitterness away. And He saved me from my sin. Some years ago, I was involved in a crusade in South Africa. And you know, people came to these meetings and I remember one night there was a lady and her husband who came. And God spoke to them in a very specific way. I went to their house after the service and I said to her, we sat down, made me a cup of coffee. And as we sat down, she turned to me. She said, Sir, I want to become a Christian. Well, I explained to her the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but I sensed that there was something which kept her back in her commitment to God. And after some time, I realized I was not getting through to her. I said to her, Madam, will you forgive me for asking this? I said, but I sense that there is something which is keeping you back. I said, may I ask you if there may be something which has happened in the past and you are not prepared to forgive. At that moment, she burst out into tears. She ran out of the front room, the living room, into their room in the house. She plunged herself down on the bed and I heard the shouts from the room, I will never forgive them. I will never forgive them. And I, in my utter amazement, turned to her husband and I said, My friend, what's wrong with your wife? I said, Sir, my wife is an illegitimate child. She doesn't know who is her mother or her father. She was picked up in a dustbin on the corner of one of the cities in South West Africa. There from the room I heard the shouts, I will never forgive them. I will never forgive them. You know, I sat there that night in my Ictulus and I turned to this man. I said, Will you please go and call your wife? He went and he called her and she sat down in that broken state and I turned to her and I said, Madam, I said, Jesus wants to save you. I said, But the Bible says, if you do not forgive, God says, I will not forgive. And you know, I remember that night, she was so hard, so absolutely unbending and unbroken. And in my simplicity, I turned to her and I said, Listen, we are going to go on our knees and you say to God tonight what is upon your heart. Thus we went on our knees. I did not expect her even to pray. But we said the words came from her lips. God, I am prepared to forgive them. That moment God saved her. Before she could confess her sins. Do you know, she jumped up from that chair. She was running. You know, my wife has seen a thing like that. Running up and down in the passage. She said, I am saved. I am saved. I am saved and I know it. Can you say that this evening? The experience that you see. Ah, the Apostle Peter said, Lord, where shall we go? Thou hast got the words of eternal life. Jesus sent them out in Luke chapter 10 and in Matthew chapter 10. They came back and they said, Lord, the demons themselves are submitting under the preaching of thy name. Jesus said, Listen, be glad that your names are written in the book of life. What I want us to do very briefly, it seems to me that they were not only saved in the most remarkable way, but my brother and sister, it seems to me that there was something more. Somehow it seems to us that it is necessary that we need to focus our attention upon the lives of those who have committed themselves to Jesus. And the first thing which I would like to bring under your attention was the fact that it seems to me that there was a moment, although they were saved, and although they were followers of Jesus, that they start to look upon the life of a Savior. I wonder this evening if you have ever found yourselves in the presence of someone and the moment when you listen to that person, the moment when you speak to that person, something about the life of that person touches your heart in a very real way. Well, can you imagine those disciples? They were followers of the Lord Jesus. Oh, my brother and sister, for all those months they watched the life of Jesus. They could say we knew that our sins had been forgiven. They could say we sensed that Jesus was in our lives. They could say that we are disciples. We were those who were following the Lord Jesus. But can I suggest something to you? As they looked upon the life of a Savior, first of all, it seems to me that the prayer life of Jesus spoke to them. My dear brother and sister, I wonder this Tuesday night if you would allow me to ask you where do we stand in relation to this great reality of the prayer life of Jesus. You know, as I studied the life of Jesus again today, I was reminded by Jesus whenever we read about the Gospels that prayer was a reality in the life of a Savior. Ah, the Bible says in Mark 1, early in the morning, deep in the night, He was found in the place of prayer. Before He made any decision, before He chose the disciples of the Twelve Apostles rather, the Bible says He spent a whole night in the place of prayer. Ah, my brother and sister, there was something about the life of a Savior, and it spoke to those early disciples. A friend of mine, if I mention his name, I'm sure many of you must have heard of him, but he's a great expositor of the Word of God. Some time ago we were at a conversation and he said these words to us. He said, you know, it's known today that in North America and in the land of Canada, that those who belong to the Savior spend an average of three minutes every day in the presence of God. I was utterly taken aback when I heard those words. And I said to him, Stephen, surely it must be different. Ah, he said, can I say something else to you? He said, those who are in full-time ministry. I said, those, they spent an average of five minutes in the place of prayer. My brother and sister, can I say something to you tonight? If we want to see God at work, we need to focus our eyes upon the prayer life of Jesus. It seems to me as I study the Scriptures, that we cannot expect anything to happen unless we come to the place where we are seeking the face of God in the place of prayer. It seems to me as I study the Scriptures, that we cannot expect anything to happen unless we come to the place where we are seeking the face of God in the place of prayer. Oh, we speak to people about the tithes. And I trust that you are not robbing God of that. But oh, my brother and sister, have you ever asked yourselves, isn't God maybe expecting from me to spend a tithe of my time in the searching of His Word and in the place of prayer? That's the difference, you see. That keeps us fresh. That keeps us broken. That keeps us yielded to God, the reality of the place of prayer. You know, some time ago when I was in Scotland, I stayed with a lady and her brother. She was a missionary in the land of Peru. And she had to come back from Peru because of ill health. And when I stayed there with her and her brother, she was an absolute perfectionist in the sense that it was almost for me like being back in a theological college. I received my cup of coffee every morning at half past five when I started with my choir time. And every morning at nine o'clock I had to be down for my breakfast exactly at nine, exactly at half past ten every morning. I had to be down for my cup of coffee again, exactly at twelve o'clock for lunch. And it was just like being back in a theological college. I thought it was great. But you know, she was a remarkable woman. In fact, I was asked to pray at the coffee table, at the breakfast table, at the lunch table. And they expected me every time to pray quite a long prayer. I discovered in two weeks time I prayed about 210 times. I did all my intercession during those times that we came together. But every morning when I came down from the breakfast table at nine o'clock, she was just a short little woman, and she would come and stand right in front of me. She looked me straight in the eyes and she said, Garar, what did God say to you this morning? Boy, I tell you, I was in trouble some of those mornings. Every morning when I woke up I said, Lord, you better speak to me because Margaret is waiting for me. My word, you know the challenge which came to my heart. I remember the second week. It happened so that in my quiet time I found myself in the jolly book of Numbers. And if you know the book of Numbers, you know it's just a lot of names and a lot of things there. And one morning she came and she stood right in front. She said, Well, how did it go this morning? I said, Margaret, I'm in the book of Numbers. Leave me alone. Well, the challenge. She came to me every day. And she asked me, she said, Did God speak to you today? I wonder tonight if I can ask you in this meeting. Was there a little time this morning when you set yourself apart to God? Oh, my brother and sister, you go to your place of work and you want to witness for the Savior and when you want to speak to those fellows, you say a few words about the life of Jesus and they listen to you, but somehow there is not the impact. There is not the sense of authority. And they said, Well, that's nice words. We could just as well listen to a psychiatrist or a psychologist because you just speak to us. But if we meet with God, it's different, you see. And I want to say to you this evening that the life of a Christian, my brother and sister, is a different kind of life. It is a life which carries with it a sense of the presence of God. It was His prayer life. I told you on Sunday morning at the mountain in our farm in Africa where we spend days and nights in prayer and fasting with the African minister. Many of those mornings I had to leave early and I had to say to them, Listen, fellows, I need to go back to the farm about a mile and a half or so away because we had to work on the farm. We had to milk the cows and do the things which you always want to do. I always wanted to become a vet. And God never permitted me to do that, but I said I had to go back. But we came out of the presence of God. And the habit in Africa was that the first one who wakes up in the morning, he goes to the kitchen and makes a cup of coffee for the rest of the family. And I was always first up because I wanted to have my quiet time. But you notice an amazing thing. Many of those mornings when I came back from the mountain, came from the presence of God, go to the kitchen, made a cup of coffee for my mother and father. They were not Christians at that stage. They were religious people. They read and prayed every night. But they were not born again of a spirit of God from a Dutch Reformed background. Do you know many of those mornings I would go, take them a little cup of coffee, sat down at the bedside, never spoke to them about Jesus because when we had our family altar, that was the place where I shared the Gospel. Many of those mornings when we spoke about the everyday things of life, about the cows and the sheep, the chickens and the cattle and the cows and all those things, many of those mornings my father turned to me and he said, My son, why is it when you come from that mountain that there is a sense that there is a presence with you? And he spoke to me about my need of God. You see, I was unaware of it. And the Bible said about Moses, Moses did not know that his face was shining. But my brother and sister, it was that mysterious presence of God. I wonder tonight if you sit here in this congregation and if you are absolutely honest with yourselves, are there areas in your life where you are missing the presence of God? Do you know what a joy it is for me to be in this beautiful land of Canada? But oh, my dear friends, I wish you could go to some of the third world countries where sometimes those people would say to you, I give you a bed, but it is a place on the floor where you sleep. I can give you the last little meal in my little simple hut. But oh, for the sense of the presence of God! Do you know in this beautiful land of Canada, oh, my brother and sister, we have got everything. We have got our farms, your nice house, you have got your nice car, you have got a monthly income, you have got a place of worship, you have got a wonderful family, nice wonderful clothes, and yet we can miss the presence of God. I often say to God, I am in a mission which we trust God for every cent which came in. Sometimes people ask me, where do you get your support? I say, I am living by faith and the box at the door and God is looking after me. But you know, many a time I say, Lord, whatever you do to this life, if you can see the danger of me losing a sense of your presence, keep whatever you want to get back from me. That's what happens, you see. Jesus, my, and the difference today, if you listen and if you look at what's going on in the so-called religious world, I often say to myself, the Saviour never had a place where He could lay His head upon. But He knew the presence of God. My brother and sister, the Bible says He can give us the desires of our hearts and He sent a leanness into our souls. Ah, sometimes I sat with people and they said, if I only know the presence of God. But they watched the life of a Saviour. And as they looked upon the life of a Saviour, I tell you, they saw within the life of a Saviour a sense of the presence of God. Would you allow me to ask you tonight, if you and I go to those people with whom we have dealings today, if I would say to them, listen, you know John or Mary or Peter or Gerard or whatever my name is, he stopped here today at this petrol pump and he spoke to you. Yes, he was here. I would say, can you remember, was there something different about his life? Ah, maybe not so well. He was just a normal everyday person. But if the presence of God was there, they'd say, you know, there is something about this life. In the beginning of my second year as a student, I started with Friday nights of prayer. One Friday night, we prayed right through the night, gracious times of God's blessing and visitation to our souls. Saturday was our off day and we used to go into the market areas of gospel tracts and witnessing to people about the Lord Jesus Christ. But one Saturday morning, one of the students and myself, we were coming back and we were walking in Weinberg, which is a suburb of Cape Town. And as we were walking, we came out of the presence of God that night. And as we were walking, we were talking about the things of God. And you know, behind us, there was a big strong man walking, an accountant, and we were unaware of the fact that the Spirit of God touches heart. We came to a little wimpy restaurant and I said to my friend, let's just pop in for a cup of coffee. We sat there in the restaurant. I looked out of the window. I saw this man and I said to myself, I wonder why is he standing there? Eventually this man came in and he came to me simply because I was sitting closest to the passage. But he turned to me and he said, Sir, can I see you? So I got out of the restaurant. I said to my friend, excuse me for a minute. And we were walking down on the pavement and this man said to me this word. He said, I was walking behind you and your friend and he said, I sense a sense that there is something about you which spoke to my heart. I knew it was the Spirit of God. I started to witness to him about the Lord Jesus Christ. And as I witnessed to him, I could sense the hunger in his heart to be saved. I took him that morning into the library. We went to sit in the corner. I sat in the corner, put his chair in front of me that he could look at me and not be distracted by the people which crowded in the library. And that morning I pointed him to the Savior. He sobbed his way through to God. Until today I wonder what those people that morning in the library thought. But he got wonderfully saved. Do you know for three and a half years I never heard a word from that man. I knew that he trusted the Savior. I finished my studies. I went out into full time ministry. And it happened so that for two weeks I was back in Cape Town. One night about half past ten I was driving through one of the suburbs as Cape Town was raining. There was a man running from the one shop to the other because of the rain. And something in my heart said to me, he stopped next to this man and he jumped into the car. And do you know the moment that he got into the car he started to speak to me about Jesus. He was on fire. And boys, it was a dark African night but he challenged me. He said, Sir, are you saved? I never said a word because if you are in the ministry it is not often that people speak to you. I just sat there and said, Great! Here is someone on fire for God. My word, I tell you, let loose of the gospel. I said, Where are you going? He said, I missed my bus. I am going to out way about 12 miles. I said, Did you lift? There he was sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. And he was on fire for God. But you know, when we come to the place where I had to drop him off, I said to myself, there is something about this fellow. I wonder if I haven't met him at some convention or some place where I have preached. But you know, when I switched the car off, I told him, I said, My friend, I know Jesus as my Savior. Thank you for speaking to me. I said, But my brother, I said, I would like to know, how did you find the Savior? Ah, he said, Sir, it's no problem. He said, It was about three and a half years ago when a young fellow pointed to the Savior in the corner of a library. Ha! I said, That was me! Boys, we had some convention that night in the car. And you know, I asked him, I said, Listen, I would like to know what spoke to you that Saturday morning. Do you know what he said? He said, It was the presence of God. He said, Now I can look back. And he said, I remember, it was the awareness of God which came from the life of your friend and yourself. And it spoke to me of my need of Jesus. We touch lives every day. I wonder tonight if it's necessary for God, my brother and sister, to take the scales from up our eyes, and to challenge you in this service, and to say, Listen, Christian, are you satisfied with 100 or 120 or 30 people in a Sunday morning? Maybe 60 or 70 in a Sunday night? Sometimes 20 or 15 or 30 during the weeknight service. Are you satisfied with it? Or is it possible that you would say to God, Lord, would you take the scales from up my eyes? Why? So that I might see a saviour. And as they took hold of a saviour, you know, it seems that a cry came from their lips. They said, Lord, teach us to pray. Why? They saw what you see. Can you remember John 12? The Bible says, Philip came to Jesus and he said, Lord, the Greeks want to see Thee. And as Jesus went, the Bible says there was a moment when he was amongst the Greeks. Do you know what happened? Ah! There was a voice from heaven. But those around said, listen, listen, listen. This is maybe thunder or lightning. Someone said, it's the voice of the prophet. Ah! The apostle John said, listen, it's the voice of God. This is my beloved Son. My brother and sister, we are dealing with practical issues. How is it going in the kitchen? How is it going in the bedroom? The place where you kneel every morning. Do you say, this bed is the sacrifice. This bed is the altar. And this life is the sacrifice. Listen! Have you got a quiet time, Christian? Have you got a family altar? Is the reason maybe why the children are not serving God the fact that we do not have a family altar where we taught them or teach them in the fear of God? Saints, the presence in the life of the Master. They sense His passion for souls. Wherever Jesus went, He was looking for precious souls. Follow His footsteps. I'm preparing a series on the ministry of the person and the ministry of Jesus Christ for a church in a number of weeks' time. And I've been doing the first and the second year of His ministry. My word, as I follow the footsteps of a Savior from one place to the other, do you know what is His great desire? A passion for souls. A passion for souls. My brother and sister, I wonder tonight if you would allow me to ask you, have you ever pointed anyone to the Savior? Oh, you say, it's the work of my pastor. It's not. Somehow there's a great responsibility. Oh, the pastor is there to do it. But it's my great responsibility as a believer in the Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ to point people to Jesus. I preached in a campaign in South Africa some years ago. And you know, God broke into the meetings. I think it was the 13th night of those meetings. And you know, there were people that night who sought the face of God. Their hearts were absolutely melted and broken. And that night there was a lady in the congregation. She was there every night. She came every night for the prayer meeting before the service. She was the most dedicated Christian in that whole town. And that night when God broke into the meeting, she was there. She sought the Lord. And you know, I remember we prayed. I heard her saying these words. She said, God, can You forgive me? And I couldn't understand it, because for 12 nights she prayed a wonderful prayer. There was nothing wrong with her. There was a smile upon her face every night. Suddenly she said, God, can You forgive me? Two days after that I felt constrained in my heart to go to that house. When I knocked at the front door of the house, she opened the door. She said, God, I'm coming. I looked at her in the face and I saw the blue marks under her eyes. I said to myself, this woman hasn't slept the last two nights. We sat down. I said, madam, what's wrong? Well, she said, I'm fasting. She said, I'm praying. She said, I'm seeking the face of God. I said, what's wrong? She said, I don't know if God can forgive me. I said, why? I said, nothing was wrong for 12 nights what has happened. No, she said, she said, sir, something was wrong for three years. I said, what? She said, three years ago I was having my quiet time one morning. She said, the Spirit of God spoke to me. I said, how did you know? She said, it was the persuasive voice of the Spirit who grew deeper and deeper with a great sense of the peace of God. I said, what did He say? She said, He said to me, Mr. Watson on the other side of the town. He's in his seventies. I want you to go and share the gospel with him. Ah, she said, Mr. Watson belonged to a different church and there was nothing wrong with Mr. Watson and I said, why should I go? She said, I didn't go. She said, three days after that I was having my quiet time. The voice of God came again. God said, I want you to go and speak to Mr. Watson. She said, I felt I couldn't go. She said, I didn't go. She said, the next morning the phone rang. She said, it was my best friend on the telephone. She said to me, Mary, she said, do you know what happened this morning? Oh, Mr. Watson of seventy-five years old, there was nothing wrong with him, but he had suddenly had a heart attack and he has gone into eternity. It was Mr. Watson. She said, my husband, my minister. She said, no one knows about, but she said, for three years in the deep depths of my soul I've been going through hell. I tell you, I'm glad I'm involved in the ministry of counseling. Because that morning I said to myself, if this woman is not going to see the light of the cleansing and forgiveness of the blood, you could just as well send her to a mental institution. But she got forgiveness. Forgiveness. My brother and sister, I want to ask you tonight, what about those people at your place of work? People who just popped into your home. Your friends. We must not have worldly friends, but if we do not have friends in this world, there is something wrong with you. Because you are just like the Dead Sea, just receding, just receding, never giving anything out. The passion for souls. That's the secret. They saw the life of the Master. They saw the life of the Master. And they said, Lord, teach us to pray. My brother and sister, I wonder tonight, if you sit here in this meeting, and you've got nothing to do with me, listen, nothing to do with me. I don't know if I'll ever be back in this church. I would love to be, but I don't know if it will ever happen again. Nothing to do with your pastor. You've got to do with your relationship with God. And we didn't come together these few days of crusade meetings to have a great time and say, what a precious time. We've come to meet your God. We don't want you in the days to come and say, it was great, it was good meetings, but I'm still the same. We want God to touch our lives. What I'm saying to you, I'm saying to myself, that they saw the life of Jesus. You know what happened? They landed in a crisis. Jesus died on the cross. Brought them to a crisis so that they could come to the place where God met with them. I want to close with this tonight. Do you know, the second biggest diamond in the world was found in India. It was found, India was the colonial state of Great Britain. It was found by a young Indian boy, came from the high society, high class of Indians, and he send it, the diamond, the second biggest diamond in the world, because of his loyalty to the throne in Britain, he send it by post to London. And what a miracle that it got there. He send it by post. And it got there. It was only about 12 years old. And he grew up. He was a young man of about 24 years old. When he sent a letter to Queen Victoria, he said, Your Majesty, I'm the young man who found that precious diamond. Out of my loyalty to Thee, I send it to Thee. I request that it would be granted unto me that I might come to London to see that precious diamond, second biggest in the world. Queen Victoria read the letter and she grant him permission to come to London. He came to London. He came to the palace in London, was taken into the palace. They said that the Queen sat in a chair and there was a table and this beautiful cabinet on the table and in this beautiful glass cabinet there was this wonderful diamond, second biggest in the world. He came and he stood there and he was allowed to look at it and for a long time he gazed at it and he gazed at it and after some time he turned and he turned to the Queen and he said, Your Majesty, would I be allowed to hold this in my hands? And she granted it to him. They opened the cabinet and as they opened it, they took out this wonderful diamond and they put it in his hand and he looked upon it and he gazed upon it for a long time and the tears started to stream down his cheeks. And as he gazed upon it, was there a moment that he turned to Her Majesty the Queen and he said, Your Majesty, when I was but a boy, I found this. I did not realize the value of this precious diamond. He said, I send it to thee out of my loyalty to the throne. He said, But today I am a man. I know that what this is worth. I know what this is about. He said, Your Majesty, today I have come to give it back to thee. When Jesus came into our lives, it was a precious day. My brother and sister, there is a day that we face the cross and Jesus said, My child, I want you to come and give your life back to Me. Back to Me. I cleanse the bitterness. I cleanse the habits. I cleanse the wrong things. You come and you give your life back to Me. Are you prepared to do that this evening?