In this sermon, the speaker reflects on the hunger for God that he sees in America, particularly among the younger generation. He emphasizes the need for wisdom and guidance from fathers in the faith. The speaker expresses a desire for something greater in his generation and a dissatisfaction with spiritual stagnation. He shares a story about a meeting where God's presence was evident and encourages the congregation to seek a deeper experience with God.

Well, it's been very refreshing to be here. We have another day to go, so there's some more trouble coming. But it really has been wonderful. You've been so receptive and so gracious. One lady said to us last night, why don't you come and live up here? We'll take care of you. It reminded me of the girl who went to take a position in England as a servant. And the lady showed her the house, showed her that's your private room and all the things you need. And she said, come and work for me, she said. We'll treat you as one of the family. She said, oh, they did that at the last place. So one time during the war in England, I went to see a house out in the country. It was a stone house. There was a chair at the side of the wall and there was a window. And I put my hand out and I could just, the walls were about three feet thick and a house was built 800 years ago. And there's a very wonderful old church there. In the marketplace, they still have the stocks, you know, where they used to punish people. There was a Celtic cross there, that's a cross, you know, with a circle on it. And photographers would come from all over the world to take pictures of the ancient church and the various things. And one day a busload of people came, they were loaded with cameras. So when you see a lot of guys, you know, with a camera on their belt, one in their hand, one around their neck, children bringing them up behind. You know, one of two things, they're either from Japan or America. So these fellows took pictures of everything and going out, as they went out of the village, there was a man sitting on the wall, an old man, and he was leaning on his stick. Put up your hand if my voice disappears, and gaze if I disappear. If I go up, how many want to come? Good, that's great. Anyhow, this old man was leaning on his cane there, and one of these kind of smart young guys came up, and he said, listen, I like this village of yours, it's very historic. This is the oldest church we photographed. Oh, he said, by the way, any famous men born here? He said, no, only babies. It doesn't matter how mature a man is, he was once a baby. And growing up isn't easy in any place, spiritually or otherwise. I know I'm not much of a preacher, but I'm less of a teacher. I'm going to try and teach this morning from the first epistle of Peter. That famous Puritan preacher by the name of John Owen said, the people in the Old Testament did not heed the Word of God. The people in the New Testament did not heed the Son of God. And people today do not heed the Holy Spirit of God. I think it was John Owen who said that reading, reading makes a full man, prayer makes a holy man, temptation makes an experienced man. I like the beginning of this wonderful epistle. It begins, as you know, Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. The little boy in England was wrong when he said an epistle is the wife of an apostle. No, the epistle is the product of an apostle. When immediately you see that word, I suppose if you think of him as I think of Peter, he's a kind of a dropout from the Twelve. He was as, uh, what's the word I want there? Well, he was, he was the most vocal of the, uh, of the disciples. And, uh, what's the thing? I'm thinking of another word, like vocal, vacillating, irregular, uncertain, unpredictable. Okay, thank you. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. When Jesus found Peter, he was not an apostle. He was Simon. The very name means shifty. If you could take one grain of sand and put it under a microphone, uh, put it under a microscope, rather. I'm, these tormenting things. You, you get that one grain of sand, you'll find it's got peaks on it like that and cavities on it like that. But if you put it under pressure, it forms sandstone. We used to live in the city of Bath in England. It was founded in 55 BC by the Romans. And everything in the city, by law, must be made of sand, must, must be made of bath stone. You can't build brick or any other stone. So the whole city is one shade of gray. And the stone is so soft, even though the foundation of the abbey was laid in 444, and there have been two subsequent abbeys built that have been destroyed. Now this is the third one. And yet you can take that stone and you can saw it with a saw, cut it in pieces. So Simon is shifty and irresponsible. In other words, he needed to be put together. And he got put together. The final act was in the upper room. It's amazing that a man that ran away from the finger of a girl, sticks his finger in the eye of the high priest and says, you crucify the Lord of Glory. That takes more than guts. It takes grace. It takes conviction. And it's going to take that in the day in which we're living. In a common phase, we're going to have to stand up and be counted. I'm just going to make some comments as we go down this chapter. Verse two says, elect according to the foreknowledge of God. Well, anybody on the front row will explain election to you after the meeting and predestination. I'll leave that. Let me slip for a moment over here into verse 15. But as he which has called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation, which literally is be holy in all your lifestyle. You see, God only has one class of person, and that's holy people. I don't know what kind of version you have. David has a strong sense of humor like me. It gets me in trouble sometimes. He says, you know, there are ten versions. Five are wise and five are foolish. Most of them are foolish. But whatever version you have, is it in the 12th or 13th chapter of Hebrews, it says what? Without tongues. Not even faith. You're getting warm. Holiness. Not without miracles. Not without ministry. Not without gifts. Without holiness. Boy, when you check in at the pearly gates, if you haven't got holiness, they'll send you somewhere else for improvement. Without holiness, no man shall see the Lord. Change the word. Make it purity. Without purity, no man shall see the Lord. What I want to do here is, in the time I have, is to try to show you what is consistent with holiness. There's such strange interpretations of what holiness really is. I heard of somebody recently who said, well, you know, the doctrine of justification was not invented by Martin Luther. He rediscovered it. Then after that, you had the doctrine of sanctification, rediscovered by Wesley. And this person said, the next thing we need to discover in our day is lowliness. No. You've got people lowly. They abandon their fortunes. They go live in monasteries. They go live in convents. They've sacrificed way beyond us. Some of them still sleep on a board instead of bed. They eat as little as they can. And they have a consistent grind in their religion. Holiness and lowliness go together. You can have lowliness without holiness. You cannot have holiness without lowliness. I have a friend, and for years, he's quoted a verse every time I see him. Make me little and unknown, loved and prized by thee alone. You know, the evangelists all want exposure. They want to get here and get there. But the men of God want to get in hiding. They want to be found. They don't want to be seen. Of course, you get blamed for that. Let me go to verse three. Well, pardon me. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. You know, one of the greatest pictures ever painted was a painting by Raphael, which I believe is in the cathedral in Madrid, Spain. And people went, oh, ah, and everything else. They'd stand in crowds. They'd stand back and pay homage to the famous painter. And they'd say, look at the positions of this. Look at the colors and everything else. Everybody get excited about it until Ruskin, the great English critic, went. And there were a lot of people admiring it. And he stood there and he laughed and laughed. And they were already almost to lynch him. What's wrong with the picture? Well, he said, I'm trying to find out what's right with it. Well, what do you mean? Where did this miracle take place? Well, on the Sea of Galilee or Lake Gennesaret, if you think. Well then, in the background of the picture, you have the dome of St. Peter's. And that's a thousand miles away. So number one, it's wrong. Number two, how many men were on the boat? In the scripture, seven. How many in the painting? Eleven. So it's wrong again. Then there's a man there with a lace collar, lace cuffs, pulling in fishing nets. Now, if you haven't fished with a lace collar and fishing nets, you've never fished. Can you imagine Peter leaning over there and he's pulling in the nets and getting his fancy crotary caught in the net? You see, that's our idea of sainthood. You have to wear certain things. You have to have a certain type of dignity. I'm all for dignity. I think it's beautiful. But this wasn't Peter. Now this is your portion and mine. Look at verse three. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope. There's no comma there, no period. By the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. There are two at least famous Ambrose Flemings, and one of them said the best attested fact in history is the miracle of the resurrection. The miracle of the resurrection could have been killed the first day and that'd be the end of Christianity. All they had to do was produce the body of Jesus, not write books about him, produce the body. Alexander White, the great Scottish preacher, says, Potter envies Potter. Singer envies singer. Preachers envies preachers. But there was one of the greatest preachers of the day, just about a hundred years ago in England, by the name of J. H. Jowett. Dr. John Jowett. He was in Carslane Congregational Chapel in Birmingham, England. And he said when he, when he got down, which he often did, and I feel the world is on top of me, I don't go fishing, I don't go riding a horse, I catch the next train, I go to London and I listen to Dr. Joseph Parker preach. And he said I was there one day and he said he buried Jesus only he could. Then he said like an explosion he said he lived. And that state English congregation they all dropped in up in the air and clapped. That's the synonym to death in those churches. Do you know I believe the resurrection of Jesus was the saddest day in his life. He had told them over and over I am the resurrection and life. And they didn't believe him. Don't you think on the resurrection morning after all their failure, after Thomas had doubted him and Peter had disgustingly failed, wouldn't you think they'd be standing there at the grave waiting for him to come out. There weren't. There wasn't one person there. The resurrection of Jesus glorified Jesus and terrified demons. Let's see him. Here's the grave. Against that grave you put a stone. The Bible says then they put wax. They filled the airtight place so no air could get in. And then they put a Roman seal all around it. So you've got the stone, the wax, the seal, four quaternions of soldiers which is 16 taking different guards during the day. And so you've got there the stone, the seal, the wax. The devil's scared. He said I've never ever beaten that man Jesus Christ. I tested him for 40 days and he beat me every time. He was more than conqueror. He triumphed. He embarrassed me. He humiliated me. When I went back to hell the demons said well why didn't you pull it off? Because I said I can't. He's a son of God with power and authority. So here's the stone, the wax and the seal. Wait a minute. I'm not very comfortable with it. So one demon says your excellency I'll tell you what we'll do. Let's roll the sin of the world against the stone. So you have the stone, the wax, the seal, the soldiers and all the billions and billions of sins. You know when he went up the hill carrying that cross and he crumbled under it. It wasn't the weight of the cross. It was the weight of a billion sins. He was carrying every impurity, every diabolical invention of men. Every curse that could come because of sin. The curse of death. So there you have the stone, the wax, the seal, the soldiers. All the sins of the world by the billions are there. And then suddenly he said I'm not satisfied. And one demon says your majesty Satan I'll tell you what to do. Get every demon in hell to put his shoulder against that stone. You've got the stone, the wax, the seal, the soldiers, all the sin of the world and millions if you like of demons all stand against it. And he says if we can hold it just a few seconds we can destroy the whole program. You see we're not saved because Jesus died. We're saved because he rose from the dead. Do you think the devil's going to let this thing go easily? He's going to lose dominion over millions of people if Jesus rises from the dead. He's going to move the gates of hell. He's going to lead captivity captive. You know there are no gifts of the Holy Spirit. All the gifts are the gifts of Jesus. He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. The Holy Ghost is the executive of the will of God. He distributes what Jesus purchased for us. Wesley has a hymn in which he says the purchase of thy death divide. Give me with all the sanctified the heritage of love. So now every angel in hell is watch and pardon me every demon in hell. Demons are over here. Your side. I have to have the saints on this side because Mike's here and my wife. So all the demons on this side. And every demon in hell is looking. This is the central thing. The stones are there. The wax. The seal. The soldiers. All the sins of the world. And Satan says hold it now for 15 seconds and he goes down. If I were to say to you where was the first countdown in history? You'd say Cape Canaveral on a certain day. When they counted down and then finally that rocket. No you missed it by 2,000 years. The first countdown was when Jesus was sealed in that tomb. Sealed against the stone and there wax and the seal and the soldiers and the sin of the world and every demon there. And Satan says hold it. We're going down the list. 10, 9, 8, 6, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. He was just going to say 1 and the holy ghost beat him to it. You dumb crowd. You don't have a hallelujah for him? You'd have been at the tombstone saying nothing. In that very moment the foundations of hell broke. The power of death was broken. The power of Satan was broken. At that very moment it says in Romans 8 the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead. The holy ghost has never done anything small. The world was a ball of mud in the womb of the universe and the holy ghost came and brooded over it it says in this book. And out of chaos he brought cosmos or if you like out of death he brought life. The holy ghost did it. Here's a little woman and she has an empty womb and the spirit that brooded in the beginning broods over that little woman. And here comes this marvelous miracle as Wesley says God the heaven of heavens cannot contain him and yet he's pressed into the matrix of a woman. What do you think the angels felt? Have you ever thought of the loneliness of God when he loaned his son to us for 30 years and the father couldn't have the same communion? Have you ever felt of the the wonder of Jesus putting up with these stumbling staggering unbelieving fools and slow of heart people he labored with? Because you see 1 Corinthians 13. I'll tell you how to read 1 Corinthians 13. If you read it in the authorized version it says charity suffereth long. Charity means giving away your surplus cash and things that don't matter much to you. Take out the word charity the most of the modern versions put love there. Love suffers long in his kind. Love envieth not. Love vaunteth not itself and so forth. Well take them all out and put Jesus. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels if I have not Jesus I'm sounding brass and a clanging cymbal. Jesus suffers long in his kind. Jesus envieth not. Jesus vaunteth not himself. Jesus was never rude. Jesus never resentful. Jesus never puffed up. He was the smallest the least. So you take you take charity out and put in love. You take love out put in put in Jesus. 1 Corinthians 13 to me there are 13 verses. It's a full-length portrait of Jesus Christ. Now you put them all right. Put them all out. Put yourself in. I suffer long. I'm kind. I envieth not. I don't puff myself up. I'm never rude. I'm never resentful. I bear all things not some things. It's pretty tight isn't it? Love never faileth. You know there's one word that scares people stiff. It's when you talk about perfection. Christian perfection. They go back to is it Philippians 2 where Paul says not as though I had one or or were. What? I know I'm not dumb. I'm asking you what the next thing is. I'm asking you what it says after that. Yeah press on okay. Not as though I had already attained or were already perfect. There you are. He wasn't perfect at all. I don't know. Go two verses further down. Let us who are perfect. Now what do you do? Pretty embarrassing isn't it? Are you embarrassed? Bye bye. I'm going. But you don't go to a shop and say give me a watch. I don't care what it is. I mean as long as it has diamonds outside and so forth. That's all that matters. The works don't matter. I mean if it loses an hour every four hours that's okay. It looks nice. You know when you're an evangelist you need a big watch. We expect perfection in everything. God expects perfection in us. Perfect submission all is at rest. Perfect obedience. Perfect love. You can have love but perfect love casteth out fear. And we must have that perfect love resident in us. God is love. I'll tell you where's. No. What do you call brother Noel? Noel. I've got a text for you for Friday night. In the middle of Romans 8 there are three folds. The spirit of God is in you. The spirit of Christ is in you. And the Holy Spirit is in you. The threefold indwelling. Now that's your text for Friday night. For Thursday night. And I'll leave my address. Send me a tape. Yes. Okay. This third verse again says. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ which according to his abundant mercy have begotten us again to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. To what? Oh boy we've been to some places and boy they treat you like a dog. They give you a love offering. It's all love and no offering. The resurrection of Jesus Christ means I have a lively hope. And I have something special. I mentioned it yesterday. An inheritance. Three things about it. It's undefiled beyond the reach of sin. Is that what it says? Undefiled. That's right. Beyond the reach of sin. It faders not away. It's beyond the reach of time. And it's reserved in heaven for who? You! Dear Lord. The churches I've passed and people 50, 60 years ago said I'm going to leave you this. And I remember once my daddy opening the paper and saying to my mother the Duke of so-and-so has died. And mother always liked reading people's wills. So she said well you know usually it says he left 5,000 acres, 6,000 sheep, 5,000 this, something that. And so many millions of dollars. So mother said well what did he leave? So my daddy said laconically everything. What are we laying up? Treasure in heaven or earth? I don't care what you put in that offering as long as it's good. If you put a check in for 10,000 which I'm sure two or three of you will. Forget it. You didn't put a check to me. You put a check to Christ. In as much you do it to the least. And that's one argument I'll have with the Apostle Paul in eternity. But don't interfere. If you see me talking I want the first 5,000 years with it. I'm going to ask you about Romans 7 and a few other things. But in as much as we do it to the least we do it unto him. I have an inheritance. As I said yesterday reserved in heaven. I mentioned a chair that the Duke Lord Belmore had. He lived across the field from us in Ireland. And he had two chairs in his awesome recreation room I think. And they had a tag on one said Lord Belmore the other said Lady Belmore. And there were chairs that they sat on at the coronation of the Queen of England, the present Queen. They brought them there to show their children and their friends. And in the back there was some what do you call needlepoint it said Rx Queen Elizabeth. And to show it was royal property. And when you went in at the door everybody was checked they'd say well there's your seat, there's your seat, there's your seat. There were reserved seats. And as I said yesterday somebody might say to me which they did say, had you been in England would you have been at the royal wedding? And I said no, because my name is Raiden, you're not Lord Raiden's God or Lord Raiden's seat. So they turned me away. And then they said are you disappointed you can't see the royal wedding? I say no, I'm going to a royal wedding soon that will make this thing look like the dishes in the kitchen sink. And listen I can't take any chances. There's a place in heaven with my name on it. Reserved in heaven for you. You may not be very much right now but listen we're a royal priest and a holy nation. And we're going to the king of kings is going to have the bride of brides at the wedding of weddings. Boy will that be something. I'll tell you what that's going to be a wonderful honeymoon up in heaven. I don't know what we're going to eat but I know it'll be wonderful. And it's reserved in heaven for us who are kept. And some people are afraid to move up into a new situation with God because I can't keep it. But it says we're kept by the power of God. In my office I have a piece of paper it's an inch and a quarter by an inch and a quarter. It was uh it's a microfilm of the whole bible. It's one inch and a quarter by an inch and a quarter. There are three hundred there are three quarters of a million words in the bible and they're all in that one little bit of stuff that I have. And people look at it and uh they want to buy it. I say well uh no no you can't buy it for oh you can't buy it for a hundred dollars. Give me a thousand and I'll think about it. What's unique about it look at the bottom. It says this bible was carried by the crew a member of the crew of Apollo 15 onto the moon. And the man had it in his pocket and he walked up and down the moon with his bible in his pocket. So I keep it I treasure it. They sent it to me from Nassau there. And sent me some pictures. And the men who were up on the moon said you know we often stand here and there we look at the moon hanging on nothing. But when we got halfway between earth and and and the moon we look back and the world the world was hanging on nothing. We spent millions of dollars to find that out. Aren't we dumb? It says that in the book of Job two thousand years ago. He hangs the world on nothing. We get some rockets and we what do we do? Put some men in and shoot them in the air. They cost billions of dollars. And we keep spending. They shouldn't do that. They should send us those rockets to Japan. They'd make them every week. You'd be able to buy them in Kmart almost. You look at a map when you go home and here you'll see that you see the world like this. And down here is Australia where our brother's going. It's a lovely country I've been. My dear precious wife lived there about two and a half years before we married. And he's going back where the kangaroos are and all that. You see in the sky the sign of the southern cross. It's a really wonderful country. But when you look on the map there's Australia and there's the sea underneath it. Why doesn't the sea drop off? You think that isn't a miracle? You get a handful of water and try and stick it on the bottom of the bucket and find out. He hangs the world upon nothing. We were fishing in the Bahamas. We used to go every year. People paid our fare. We lived in a lovely home. They had servants. One of the guys had a plane. They had a beautiful yacht. And we went fishing. And we went fishing to a place there's a drop off of 800 feet and we fished. And I caught a kingfish. It was about this size you know. Well speaking evangelistically it was this size. But it was a lovely fish. It was a kingfish. It weighed 34 pounds. The next day the dear old cook there, she'd cooked it and it came on the table. Boy was it dressed up. The table was always set with silverware you know. Three knives, three forks, two spoons and all the stuff. And here's this great big fish looking so pathetic and I caught it. So they said well give the preacher the first cut. So they gave me. Well I've never eaten kingfish before. And I tried it. No, don't like it. They said did you put any salt on it? Salt? That's the saltiest ocean in the world. The skin on that fish isn't as thick as that paper. It can live in that salt. That a fish that size is maybe 10, 15 years old and the salt hasn't got through to it. Are you going to tell me God can put a fish in the sea with the salt and the salt can't get through? He can keep the salt from going through. He can't keep me in this lousy world without sin. He hangs the world upon nothing. The scripture doesn't say when we sin. It says if we sin. Sin is not normal to the Christian life. It's abnormal. Oh no you say sin is normal. All right then God didn't make Adam normal. We're easy on sin. How much, you don't know much about anything apparently. No I think you do. But listen, most of you, most of you know your knowledge of the Bible is so great that you can answer at least one question. How many times did Adam sin before he got kicked out of the garden? What? Fingers have got worms. And God wouldn't put up with it. Get out. Every time we sin we hurt God. Whether it's Swaggart's, anybody else, millions. These guys took 20 years to build Swaggart's ministry, 20 years to build PGL and they lost it in 20 minutes. Not only that they lost their eternal reward. The unfaithful steward loses everything. They wouldn't have a dime. They'd be stark naked in the presence of the Holy God. Sin is offensive to God. There's no sin that will ever help us. And in this dirty, lousy, filthy world in which we live, we have the covering of the blood, we have the Holy Spirit, we have the precious promises of God. How can we fail? We don't take our resources day by day and step into a world which is antagonistic and increasingly antagonistic. The church today is fighting problems that Finney never thought. So I said last night, America gave the world the two great errors, Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormonism. But listen, what you sow you reap. We sow the will, we reap the whirlwind. You know there are 2,000 gurus in America today? They've come from the filthiest country in the world, from India. And kids will sit cross-legged at UCLA and elsewhere and listen to them. But you go and preach. Do you know what they'll do? They'll punch your jaw. There's a fellow called Holy Hubert. Do you know him, any of you? He was around our way last year. A precious man. He's a witness there. They've burst his lips. Do you know what they did finally? I think there was a woman came up behind him and hit him on the head with a rock. And he's totally blind. In Christian America, you won't get out of trouble if you become a Christian. You just get into it. The world of flesh and the devil will militate against you. And yet the word of God says we're more than conquerors through him. He led captive and decapitated and gave gifts unto men. Again he breaks the power of cancels sin and sets the prisoner free. His blood can make the foulest clean. His blood avails for me. We're kept by the power of God through faith and through salvation. Ready to be revealed in the last time. Do you know what? When I was praying this morning, I don't know what time, between two and three, I think, I saw the whole of Kansas City. Any of you been to California? Have you seen that sign on the hillside for Hollywood? You've seen it. The letter about 20 feet high there on the rock, Hollywood. Well, I saw stretched over Kansas City this morning as God is my witness. I saw those immense letters. They were miles long in white. B-A-B-Y. Something is going to be born in this city. I was hoping it will be this week while we're here. No, the Lord said to me, right now, what you mentioned last night, but there's no brokenness. I don't think many women laugh when they get in the last paint. It's all right for a woman to be pregnant. That's not the problem. It's getting the baby through the birth canal. They said on TV a couple of weeks ago, a woman had a baby 20 pounds in weight. Dear Lord, how did they get that thing out? It's then the birth pangs come. It's then all the difficulty. We have a precious son in South America. I'm hoping one day that Paul, our son, and David, and this old man, we can all come together and see you. And because Paul has a very wonderful ministry, he has a wife. David Wilson calls her the, fun? Yeah, David Wilson called her the, yeah. Do you want to come up here? Yes, David Wilson calls my daughter-in-law Irene a new Madame Guillaume. She has a fantastic walk with God. We finished her service and nobody said a word to her. She suddenly started praising and magnifying the whole place was filled with she kind of glory of God. Couldn't believe it. Why did I say that? Yeah, well, well then. I don't think a woman laughs when a baby's being born. I think she's in too much pain. There's so too much at stake. Oh, I was saying about the baby she had, that there was some difficulty there in South America where the medical stuff isn't so good. And they had to help her deliver the baby. And now that child is suffering. She's seven years of age and it still suffers. They have this child. They've seen healings. And what does she have mother doing? Diabetes. Okay. And when we asked Paul the other day, how's your daughter? How's Paulette? He said yesterday she had a, what she's never had before. She had convulsions, very severe convulsions. And the next day her mother had to, what does she take? She took the blood 16 times. That girl is seven years, eight years of age. They've never had one night's sleep. And they're fighting Romanism and voodooism and every devilish thing. But I'm saying that to say this, that the birth pangs that haven't come to this congregation yet, they're going to come. We passed a building up the road and in my heart, and then immediately brother, what was his name? John Paul? Brother John Paul said, we're believing God to give that to us as a prayer chapel. I get young man calling me. The Lord has told me to come and live with you for six months. The Lord has come, told me to come and live with you for a year. I said, when he tells me you can come apart from that, keep away. Well, do you know a place I could go to for two days to pray or three days to pray? I want to be alone. There are hundreds of men across the country like that. And you know what? They're going to come to this city. They're going to go to that prayer chamber. The devil's going to hate the place. I think there'll be a new sign in hell. Just as I said last night, when Napoleon put his finger around the map and then pointed to it and said, there lies a sleeping giant, let it sleep. Now I changed it, said the devil took a plan of the ages and he ran his finger around the church and says, there is a sleeping giant, let it sleep. There's going to be an awakening. There's going to be birth. There's going to be a new assault on the powers of darkness. Read the second chapter. I, I, I'm going to speak on faith, I think tomorrow morning. I don't have much, but I'll talk about it. But you know, I've read and read and reread. I know we say Jeremiah, the man of sorrows, but read, read Lamentations chapter two. This is what he says, my liver is torn, my heart is torn. And in the second chapter he says, God is tearing me apart. That's what he's looking for. Everything Jesus takes, he breaks. There's a beautiful vase and she break it at his feet. Jesus says, this is my body which is broken for you. And Jesus breaks everything he handles and then he puts it back together in newness. It's stretched, it's larger, it's purer. I tell you before God, I want to move into that section. What I can say before God, Lord, I was in a meeting, let me say this, I was in a meeting a month ago. And dear me, when I got in, Jack Taylor was there, you know Jack Taylor? He's one of the big shots in the Southern Baptist Church. Jack Taylor was there, and worse still, do you know who else was there? Paul Cain was there, and uh, what was the other fella? Rick Joyner was there, and a bunch of other guys. And, and the God came down in a marvelous way. So at the end I sat down and Taylor got up. He said, listen, I'm not touching this thing. One man touched the ark ones and he fell dead. I didn't touch this meeting, but I want to tell you something. He said, I've seen everything. I've seen banners, I've seen parades, I've heard praise, I've seen dancing and everything. And then he said, listen, I want to tell you something before God. If there isn't something better for this, for my generation, let me die. It's a cry of Rachel again, give me children or I die. And again, he said it, I mean business with God. I'm tired of mediocrity. I'm tired of the nation going to hellfire. We talk and we give our prophecies, we give our references, and it doesn't praise the devil. And he said, listen, and there were 800 people there. He said, how many of you tonight will pledge before God, I would rather die than stay in this present stagnation over America, this spiritual stagnation. Say it after me, I would rather die. And the great chorus went up, I would rather die. Boy, I felt something tearing on my inside. Do these people mean it? There is a hunger in America that I haven't seen since I first came in 1950, when I was tripping over the Atlantic twice a year. Among the younger men particularly. That's why I see my prayers fulfilled in these young fellows. Bob has prayed and I've prayed. I've got too old, we missed the turning in the road somewhere. Young men shall see visions. But you see, then you have to talk. John says, I write to you little children, I write to you young men, I write to you fathers. What you like around here is some fathers like us with wisdom. Would you keep quiet? What do I, what do I say, help? Wherein ye greatly rejoice. Oh, do I love to rejoice, do I love to clap, do I love to shout, do I love to dance? Wait a minute, it's tied into something. I greatly rejoice, then what? Though now for a season. Do you know there are seasons in the Christian life? There are periods of darkness, God will let you go in and he won't give you any light. There are periods when the word of God seems like you're chewing on an old rope. There are times when it seems like the very heavens are made of brass. Somebody said to an old lady in England, they said to a young preacher, you know, you visit the people, there's one old lady there and you know, she never there is, it doesn't want to happen. If things go up, she's the same. If trouble comes, she's the same. If poverty comes, she's the same. It doesn't make any difference, she's always the same. So the young guy, fresh from college, thought he'd cheer her up, so he went to talk. And they tell me that you're, you don't change. You don't, you know, you're not variable. If there's war or peace, if you're, if you have money, you have no money. If the church is going well, you're always the same. Well, do you have a scripture? She said, yes, sure I have a scripture. She loved this verse, it's for a season. And she says, when I see trouble coming, she said, I say, well, it came to pass. So you didn't see that, oh thank you. It's not here to stay, it came to pass. Moments of ecstasy are not here to stay, they come and they pass. But he abides forever. He's there, the unchanging Christ, yesterday, today and forever. Though now for a season if need be, ye are in what? Heaviness. That's the other side of the coin. Rejoicing, heaviness. Oh, there's something wrong, there's something wrong with me, I'm heavy. Nothing in Gethsemane was what? Heavy. Who for the joy that was set before? Is any joy hanging on a cross, dark naked? He understitch on him, that's part of the humiliation. It's the very opposite. All that flesh is typical of flesh. And there he is with a bunch of theologians saying, you see, that's the man who's going to set up a new kingdom. He is greater than Moses, greater than the other prophets, they say. And look at him, is that the way to set up a kingdom? Yes. They saw him on a cross, it wasn't a cross, it was a throne. Immediately he was lifted up from the earth, he had under his feet principalities and powers and every other damnable thing there is. You see, the trouble with us, we haven't come into our inheritance yet. We're heirs of God, but how much have we appropriated? As I said the other day, I don't want to stand up at the judgment seat with billions of people looking and Gabriel says, come and stand here before the king of kings. And I look on those flaming eyes and he says, look, here's your record. Do you know when you were on earth, you were so busy, I couldn't even get your ear. I couldn't get you to be still. When you were on earth, there were a number of things I wanted to trust you with, but you weren't mature enough. Am I going to be embarrassed when he says, I had many things to tell you, but you couldn't bear them. There's a time when a girl is too young to bear children. There's a time when she's too old to bear. And it's like that with churches sometimes and denominations. A man asked me a while ago, he said, you know, I'm in this denomination. I said, oh. And he said, I think we're going to make a move. I said, why? He said, we're going to join up with another denomination. What do you think of that? He said, I know we're pretty dead, but he said, I think it's going to do something. Well, I said, maybe it will. But in my long life, I've never seen two corpses get married and have a baby. It's not new theology we need. It's a new revelation of Jesus and his majesty. Not only what he's put down, but what he's made available for us. Resources that are four billion lost people in the world. Does that make Christ happy? Pascal, the famous Frenchman, I think the greatest brain the world ever saw after the Apostle Paul, said many wonderful things. For one thing, he said, perfection, no trifles or little things make perfection. But perfection itself is no trifle. He said this also. I believe that from the moment he ascended, Jesus Christ has been weeping and he'll be weeping until he comes and has total dominion over the universe and over men. Do you believe that, Brother Paul? He's weeping. He's the same yesterday and forever. Do you think anything that's happened with these terrible big evangelists has made heaven happy? They re-crucified Jesus Christ. They've dragged his holy name in the gutter. But listen, God's going to take a vengeance. He's going to raise up a royal priesthood, a holy nation. He's going to find people totally drained of themselves that supremely want the will of God. Just for a season, we're in heaviness through money-filled temptation. That's a wonderful thing, isn't it? Temptation. I was wondering about something. I thought I was going to preach tonight, and so you can be grateful I'm not. But last night we went out and had a, what was it, supper or snack or something? Anyhow. And our David said something that I'd been pondering earlier. And, oh, well, let me put it this way. Jesus is talking to Peter. One day he meets Peter and he says, Peter, I want to tell you something. I was coming up the road there, and right behind a bush, Satan was hiding. And I said, hey, what are you doing here? I'm waiting till Peter comes. I'm going to get hold of him, beat him up. And I said to him, you go back to hell and leave Peter alone. He's my precious possession. Did he say that? He said, Satan has desired thee to sift thee. Not just to obstruct you, not to make you have a little bit of pain inside, but he's going to sift you as wheat. But then what does he say? Tell me. Yes? For what? I have prayed for thee that thy health faileth not. Oh, sorry, got it wrong. That thy wealth faileth not. No? You're doing well. You're right twice. I have prayed for thee. Listen, I get so many phone calls. If I did everything everybody's saying, I'd never sleep, I'd never eat. Pray for me. Pray for us. Do this. Do this. From in the country and outside the country. Oh, I need somebody strong to pray for. Listen, every morning I get up, I have somebody who's been praying for 2,000 years. You say, I'm not sure if the pastor ever prayed. Forget the pastor. He lives to make intercession for us. The pastor can't solve his own problems. Never mind yours. There are things God keeps us in the darkness with, but there he is. He knows me. He knows our frame. He remembers we're dust. Let me read a scripture that I think is so fascinating. The classical example is Job. You know, my daddy and mummy used to argue sometimes in front and talk about patience. Patience is a virtue. Possess it if you can. Daddy would say, never found in woman, but always found in man. Mother turned it around and said, patience is a virtue. Possess it if you can. Always found in woman, never found in man. Well, listen, let the scripture settle it. The scripture, what does it say? You heard of the patience of Mrs. Job? It doesn't say that, but listen to the beautiful thing in this. It says in Job chapter one and verse six, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord and Satan came among them. You see that? And the Lord said unto Satan, whence comest thou? He said, from going to and fro in the earth. Now listen, it is the word of the Lord, the eternal God, to Satan. He says, listen, you've been going down in the, have you considered my servant Job? There's nobody like him in the whole earth. Three things about Job. He's perfect, he's upright, and he hates evil. And the more you love God, the more you'll hate evil. The more you love the things of the spirit, the more you'll hate the things of the flesh. But here he is. Here's this multi-billionaire guy by the name of Job, and God says of him, he's upright, he's got integrity, he fears God, and he hates evil. Now listen, Satan, you know, people say sometimes, oh, a lady in Australia, I hope you don't meet her. She said to me when I was in Australia, oh, I enjoyed your meeting last night, but do you know when I got up this morning, the devil was standing at the side of my bed? I said, congratulations. She said, what? I said, if Satan was there, he can't be anywhere else. He's not omnipotent, he's not omnipresent, he's not omniscient. By the way, why was he at the side of your bed? Oh, this is a special day, I'm baking Christmas cakes. Oh, I said, I happen to know he's allergic to Christmas cakes. Forget it. The devil spoke to you. Why? What did you do? How did you damage his kingdom? Why is he afraid of you? Have you some hidden secret weapon you used? And you're driving back every time he comes, and he goes embarrassed back to hell and says, I can't get through to Bob, I can't get through to Mike. And he says, some way we've got to get there. Then it says what? Satan answered the Lord and said, does Job fear God for naught? Of course he doesn't. I don't fear God for naught. I'm going to sing with a glittering crown on my brow. I'm going to walk with all the redeemed of all the ages. I'm going to heaven, and I'm not going for the weekend. I'm getting a one-way ticket. What are you getting, Mike? You know, we're so earthbound. We don't think of the robes we're going to wear. We know all wear the same. Oh, you can't buy anything from the Lord. Well, read the King James Version, and you'll change your mind. I counsel thee to buy what? What kind of gold? Tried in the fire. Not gold, fire that's been refined and refined and refined and refined. You know how they refine gold? They put in a, I forgot the name of the crucible. Anyhow, you put a bar of gold in, and it gradually melts. A fellow comes along with a sieve. He takes the scum off the top and throws it away. Again, he takes it and throws it away. Takes the scum off and throws it away. And then he goes and he puts the sieve down and smiles and says, beautiful. Well, why do you know it's beautiful? Because I can see my reflection in it. Do you know the chorus, let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me? No? How many know it? Let me see. Dear Lord. Some of you rich people buy some hymn books for this church. Most of you, when you get to heaven, you'll have to go rehearsing in the back room. You won't be able to sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb. I used to sing. I used to be a soloist. I sang tenor. Now, you imagine in heaven with that glorious company. There's 10 million sopranos, 10 million, what do you call it, contraltos, altos, 10 million basses, and me by myself as a tenor. And they start singing the song of Moses and the Lamb, and suddenly Gabriel stops and says, less volume from the tenor. We need to be exploring heaven more and more and more. Boy, we're going there for an awful long while. But listen, here's Satan, and listen to what he says, not me. Satan answered and said, does Job fear God for naught? Listen, this is Satan. Hast thou not made a hedge about him? Okay. Let me read it carefully to you. Hast thou not set a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, his substance increased in the land. Put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. Isn't it what the devil says? This man's piety is tied into his prosperity. You puncture all he has, he'll turn around and curse you. We have a day, a lady, my precious Martha and I used to pray with her every Wednesday in a home, a beautiful million and a half dollar home. Her husband drove the best cars, BMWs, she drove gorgeous cars, wore the most wonderful clothes and jewelry and everything. And we loaned her some books on Madame Guin and others, and she would say, oh Madame Guin was so wonderful, she lost everything. That woman five years ago had millions and millions of dollars, now she hasn't a dime, they lost all through the oil going down the bottom. And I've thought of her so often like, like John. Okay, okay. Let's say this pencil represents Job, and Satan says, you put a hedge round about Job. Take that hedge away and see what happens. And the Lord says, I won't take the hedge away, I'll pull it nearer to him. Now go on, do your dirty work. So he comes, what happens? Gives you the story here. Verse 12 says, the Lord said unto Satan, behold all that he hath is in thy power, only himself, on himself. You can go destroy everything, and listen, the devil can destroy everything in the world you have, your house, your property, your clothes, but when it comes to your skin, he can't get through. It's a lie to say the devil made me do it, he didn't. He can't, unless he gets your will in cooperation. And if you stand against him in the promises of God and the power of the Spirit and the precious blood, he can't do a thing. You can embarrass the devil as much as he's embarrassed you. We don't take what's available. Upon him put not forth thy hand. His sons and daughters are eating and drinking, let's look. And suddenly, remember, here's Job in the middle, here's the fence, and the Lord pulls it in and says, Satan, destroy everything outside, but don't touch him on the inside. So Satan comes and what? The first stroke against Job is bankruptcy. He loses everything he has, he goes to bed a multi-millionaire and wakes up without a dime. The next thing is this, it says, while he was yet speaking, there came another and said, fire fell from heaven, burned up the sheep. And while he was speaking, there came another. And he said, the Chaldeans came. And while he was yet speaking, in verse 10, there came another, and thy sons and daughters were eating, drinking wine. So the first stroke of Satan is to go around and destroy every bit of property that Job has. The next thing he moves in, he's destroyed his property, now he comes and touches his family. The first stroke is poverty, the second stroke is bereavement. And Satan can't get the victory. I can't move this man, he's an embarrassment. I thought he was anchored into those things, and he laughs when they went. It's easy to say it in a meeting like this, isn't it? Dear Dr. Sangster of Westminster, I had the privilege of talking to him. His church is Kitty Corner to Westminster Abbey, and I had a chance of praying with him. And he said, Brother Rayner, one of the godliest, holiest men in America today is the pastor of the first Methodist church in Baltimore, Maryland. And he said, I'll tell you, he has just staggered me. He said, one Sunday morning he preached on Romans 8, 28. And the people went out with tears, they could hardly see him. You know, they were so full of gratitude. They all went out, they sent one little old woman, and she came up to him and grabbed him by the hand and said, listen, it's easier you talk about all things work together for good. You have a rich daddy, you've been to the best schools, you've traveled the world, you've got a car, you've got a boat, you've got everything. Me, I'm a widow, I've hardly enough money. Our first baby died, the second baby died, my husband died, my parents were killed in a crash. I've got nothing. It's easy for you, a rich man, with a beautiful home, with the best private library of any preach in Baltimore. I could say, all things work together for good like you. You've reserves in the bank, you've everything. And look at me. The next Sunday, that tall, handsome guy that could read his Hebrew and his Greek, that had traveled the world, accumulated all kinds of books, he had a super intellect, they took him by the fingers and led him there into the pulpits. Two days after he talked with that woman, he was cleaning a shotgun and it went off, and blew both his eyes out, lost both his eyes. So he said, well, you know what happened in my life on Tuesday? Somewhere, I can't see you mother, but somewhere, there's a little old lady, he described her, he said, and you said, you could rejoice and say, Romans 8, 28, if you're as well off as I get. If you stood here this morning, in this pulpit, I've lost, I can't read a book, I've gathered them for years, I can't drive a car, I can't see the paintings I love, I can't do any painting. Here I am, I feel like a piece of dead wood. Could you stand here this morning, lady? You lost your things over 15 years. I lost mine in 15 seconds. Could you stand here and say to this great house, I understand it's packed right to the rafters this morning, could you stand here and say, in all these things, we're more than conquerors through him that loved us? He said, listen, I can't see a thing, but I've seen God more clearly since last Tuesday. I felt more of the joy of the Lord than any time I was speeding up the river in my boat, every physical emotion I had that delighted me has been eclipsed. Christ is exceedingly wonderful this morning. I want to tell you that I can say from the depths of my heart, in my blindness, I have to start to write, to learn to read Braille, I have to start to write. I'm starting like a child. I want to tell you, Jesus Christ is more real to me this morning than ever. Now that's victory. When the devil takes all, okay, so the first stroke against Job is what? Bankruptcy. The second stroke is bereavement. The next stroke, he gets boils. Boy, I had a plague of boils when I thought about Job. He couldn't stand, he couldn't read, he could hardly walk anything, and here he is sitting in the house. He's lost everything, lost his property, lost his sheep, lost his oxen, lost his family. And there he is, and now he's in the midst of all this debris, if you like, and the despair. Well, you know, those famous comforters of Job, they came in. Eliphaz the Temanite sat in that corner. Bildad the Shuhite, he was a dwarf, he's only a Shuhite. He sat in the other corner. Then somebody else came in the other corner. And you know what? Listen, there's something wrong in your life. I mean, this doesn't happen. A man doesn't lose millions of dollars, lose all his children, lose his health, lose everything, unless he's grieved God somewhere. He hadn't grieved God at all in anything. But isn't it just like the devil? He took everything he had. He took everything. I'm stressing that. He took everything that Job had and left him with a nagging wife. Isn't that terrible? Why didn't he take the wife and leave the other things? Do you know what she did? She came in and said, curse God and die. They tell me, I don't know Hebrew, but they tell me in the Hebrew it means blaspheme God and commit suicide. Get out of it. You'll never explain these. Do we have to explain? I discovered years ago, God owes me no explanations. I submit, it doesn't matter what comes, and hell has come at times. As I told you, I sat on a window of a burning hotel. The fire department in came and jumped down three stories onto the street, lay in hospital for nearly three months. My precious mother came at nine o'clock in the morning and stayed till nine at night, 12 hours a day for three months. No wonder I love her for all that, amongst other things. But I'll tell you, when you, you see, you have an added authority by experience, not by knowledge. Oh, I've been through it. I've been in death's wrath many times, and God has wrought wondrous deliverance. Okay. So here this man is in the midst of all his devastation. His wife comes in and says, hey, listen, you get things straight. Curse God and die. He says it may get worse than this. Isn't this one of the most exultant things in Handel's Hallelujah Chorus? I know that my Redeemer liveth. He jumps up from his high sheep and scratches him where he's itching. And he says, listen, I want to tell you, ladies, I've lost everything, everything, everything. I want to tell you something. Even if the worm starts eating this body, I don't care. Even though my flesh is destroyed, I know that in my flesh I shall see God. I know that my Redeemer liveth. Oh, we need to, again, celebrate in a new way, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. That's why I had you sing those wonderful hymns last night. Low in the grave he lay. There's a rapture about the meeting. People were just rejoicing and weeping and raising their hands. After all, Jesus is alive this morning. And he's there to make intercession. Can you imagine him bearing the sins? We sing so often, don't we? What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins. And it suddenly hit me the other day, and all our griefs to bear. There are more griefs in the world maybe than sins. And yet he bears them all, living there to make intercession for us. And we can be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. Let me find my page a minute. Much more precious we are than of gold tried in the fire, that we might found to the praise and honor and glory, and appearing at Jesus Christ. You see, all that you and I suffer now is coming out at the appearing of Jesus Christ. It's all being hidden, it's being, what do you call, transmuted or transformed. And that thing that you thought was a rock is going to be a diamond bigger than anything you ever saw. It's all working up to that glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 9 says, we've seen in the end of your faith even the salvation of your souls, of which salvation the prophets inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that would come unto you, searching what? Oh, what manner of time. Listen, get hold of this, the Spirit of God which was in them. I've heard teachers on radio and on TV and elsewhere say, you see, the difference between the Old Testament and now. In the Old Testament the Spirit was with them, now he's in us. This scripture says the Spirit was in them. He was made unto them wisdom, righteousness and sanctification. Where in God's name? What is it, a banquet with all the kings of the earth? That Moses was there and suddenly the heavens opened and somebody said, look at Moses, he's daydreaming again, he wasn't. What does it say he did? He left the most fabulous empire in the world, the greatest rigid in the world. He was a genius. Read the seventh of Acts. He was mighty in word and deed. Before ever he got the Ten Commandments he was a statesman. He ruled the nation with his genius. Maybe he learned a dozen languages. But what did he do? He says he forsook Egypt, turned the back on all the treasures of Egypt for what? Esteeming the reproach of Christ. Nobody ever mentioned Christ, had they? Except it could be Enoch going up and down the street, said the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints. What in God's name did he know about that? There wasn't a Bible in the world, there wasn't a prophet in the world. Enoch has had revelation of God. No wonder the word of God says despise not prophesyings. But there are times when God gives you a revelation and it will take you through the roof in ecstasy. There are times it'll fall you flat on your face. You see the sorrow of God over a church that's backslidden and powerless. All her weapons are rusty and she's indifferent and self-satisfied. Let me go back just a second there. It talks about the trial of your faith. I love the old hymn that says, I need thee every hour, stay thou nearby. Temptations lose their power. Temptations. Jesus was tempted in all points. What happened? He threw the book at the devil. It is written, it is written, it is written. That's one of the benefits of knowing the word of God. You throw the book back at him. But temptations, they may take only a minute. There are different temptations. When I was a little boy, I was an inveterate thief. I stole jelly. My mother would make jellies, you know, jam as we say, and seal it up and put it on a shelf, and I'd pull a little chair there, go up and reach. I always went to the jar at the back, and I took it, and I got a spoon, I ate some. I thought, boy, I'm gonna get into trouble anyhow. So I may as well die for a sheep as a lamb. My daddy was an old Methodist, big old guy. Boy, he could pray. And you know, he believed in the laying on of hands. That was all right in church, but boy, when they laid them on me, it was something very different. Do you know, I want to report, I'm really invicted today. I haven't stolen jelly for years. Well, a temptation that works on a six-year-old won't work on a man sixty. A temptation on a man sixty won't work on a child. There are degrees of temptations. Temptations in the flesh, temptations in the spirit. And temptations may be over in a second, but the trial of your faith, not your faith, the trial of your faith, it stretches out. I don't get out of my bed one morning. Even before ever I get out of bed, my mind goes to Russia. There's somebody my age, and he's been in prison three decades, four decades. He hasn't had a new suit. He hasn't had a decent meal. He hasn't had a bath. Dear God, when we get to heaven and see the rewards of those people, we're gonna be embarrassed. They'd never ask, God, why? Why me? On the Damascus road, when the Lord struck Paul, Saul, he never said, why me? He said, who art thou, Lord? Are you Lord? Yeah, the trial of your faith, it may work, it may stretch and stretch over a period of years. Nobody understands why. The trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold. It said in verse eight, having not seen ye love, though now for a season, if need be, ye seem not, ye are rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Okay, let me jump over this. When we have meetings with young people, well, look, you can be as holy as it's possible for a human being to be, but you'll be tempted. It's consistent with holy living. Fiery trial is consistent with holy living. Misunderstanding. You know, some Christians, the only exercise they take is jumping to conclusions. You don't believe me, eh? Well, whose is this? Well, it's Joseph's coat. It's the only one in Israel. Well, how do I get it? Because he dashed into my room and I screamed. And as he ran, I snatched his coat. So what happens to Joseph? He's as innocent as a lamb. He gets 13 years in jail. Circumstantial evidence. We're very swift to judge, aren't we? I was going to say this. One problem with young people particularly is this. Look, Mr. Rainey, I'm a Christian. I love the Lord. I love the Bible. I go to prayer meetings, but I have troubles up here in my thought life. I have so many evil thoughts. The devil says you can't be clean. You can't be clean. Well, wait a minute. Don't listen to the devil. Of course, you're smart. Now, come on, Mike, don't you shout up too soon. What is the difference between evil thoughts and thoughts of evil? There's a difference between a houseboat and a boathouse. Evil thoughts come from an evil heart. Thoughts of evil come from the devil. Wesley quoted it. Before him, John Knox quoted it. You can't stop birds flying over your head. You can't stop them building nests in your hair. Okay. Evil thoughts come from the inside. Thoughts of evil come from the outside. How do I know the difference? I'll tell you why. Because when it comes, immediately I say, listen, Satan, forget it. I'm not interested in that at all. I plead the blood. Get out of here. He comes with accusations. He comes with all kinds of stuff. Wait a minute. I like to use the illustration. Remember when we were young, of course? Do you know when I was younger, no automobiles, no TV, no radio. It's a wonderful world. New porcelains have all the junk. So, I used to take a phonograph record and put it on a phonograph. Okay, so I put my phonograph record there. Then I took a pound of sugar, and I poured it on top. There it stays, a pyramid of sugar. Well, it can't play the phonograph. So, you take it off, you shake all the sugar off it, clean it up, put it back, press a button, it goes round and round, and you pour the sugar on. What happens? Boy, it goes all over the furniture. Fifty directions. Why? The scripture says, thou will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee. My mother used to say to me, bless her heart, keep your mind busy, keep singing, and then Satan can't get in. You see, if you keep occupied, he can't get in where there's an occupation. And thoughts of evil, you get victory over them because you have the indwelling spirit of God. Evil thoughts come from inside, thoughts of evil come from the outside. And we can be more than conquerors even in that area. Let me read one scripture to you. I can't remember what chapter it was. Okay, troubles and trials come to everybody. Listen to Peter here in 1 Peter 5. Verse 8 says, Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, the roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist? You resist him steadfast in the faith, knowing this, the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren in the world. You get happiness, so does the man in the world. You get trials, so does the man in the world. You get bereavement, so does the man in the world. You get misunderstood, so does the man in the world. But there's a difference. He has nobody to flee to. He has no help. And so he gets drunk, or he commits suicide, or some other thing. Whereas you and I trample these things underfoot and say we're more than conquerors through him that loved us. I'm looking for the verse. You maybe can quote it, some of you from the scripture. But what does it say? Is it in Peter? As he was, so we in this world who did no sin. No, no, it's in Peter. Sorry to trouble you. No, it's Peter. I'm not shifting. Excuse the ignorance of my brethren. It's in one Peter. Verse 20 says this. What glory is it if when you're buffeted for your faults you take it patiently, but if you do well and suffer for it, you take it patiently? This is acceptable with God. Listen carefully. Even here unto were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us. Listen. Leaving us. Not the people in the epistle. Leaving us today what? Leaving us an example that ye should follow in his steps. Now if that was a blank and you could fill it in, boy, wouldn't you put some stuff in there? But listen what it says. Here's the example. Here's the example. Number one. He did no sin. Do you get that? And you have to be an example. The devil often fools us with our infirmities and says the sins and the not. If you say sin is a voluntary transgression against God. Jesus did no sin and you and I are to live in this world in total victory over sin. If we sin, we don't get in it. We don't make excuses. We get up and run for the blood for cleansing and grieve over it and say, Lord, I'm sorry I failed you. I want to live in a state of victory. Again, Adam didn't sin day and night, day and night. He did one thing, got kicked out. And if you and I are sensible, as I said the other night about David when he's in Psalm 51, he says the bones which thou hast broken. When I had all my body broken as I jumped out of the hotel and hit the ground, I'll tell you what, I knew something about pain I'd never known before. And it's painful to grieve God. You don't just smile and say I'm sorry. You let the devil in. You open the door. You forgot to resist him. Resist him, he'll push. You push. Throw the book. Plead the blood. You can't. I'm not your property. I'm not a dead leaf for you to kick around. I'm not a football. I'm his property. I'm not coming under your control. I'm under his control. And I can be more than conquerors. Because Christ also, what is it here? Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example you should follow. He did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. I think that's a very beautiful thing. We're so careless with our tongues. Oh, you say my tongue slipped. Sure it did. It's in a wet place. And if it isn't under control, it'll keep slipping. Is it James? I think it's James that says what? Who is the perfect man? What's he saying? He bridleth his tongue. You know, when I see a congregation singing, oh, for a thousand tongues, I say, thank God they don't have them. If you did 999 times more gossiping than you do now with the one you've got, it'd be hell living around here. The psalmist said on an instrument of 10 strings will I praise thee. I take that to be my two feet, my two hands, my two ears, my two eyes, one tongue and one heart. You can do far more damage with your tongue than anything else. Now get this straight again. Nobody can, anybody may destroy your reputation, but nobody can destroy your character. Character is what God knows I am. Reputation is what men think I am. And while I walk in the light, I'll have the sweet, glorious witness of the Holy Spirit that I'm walking in the light. I'm walking in purity. I'm walking in truth. In everything, I'm pleasing the Father. Well, I think I'm going to finish there and tomorrow, God willing, unless I get fired, I'll come back and talk about faith. I do. Do you feel better because you came? Good. Well, all we have to do is keep walking. When we walk with the, let's sing it. Where's her penis? Have we got somebody? He's getting his calisthenics in now. Let's really sing it. When we walk with the Lord, isn't it wonderful to walk with the Lord after we walked in darkness and walked in fear?