In this sermon, the preacher discusses the qualities that Christians should focus on in their lives. He emphasizes the importance of seeking truth, honesty, justice, purity, loveliness, and good reports. He contrasts these virtues with the vices that the world often embraces. The preacher also shares a personal story about a man who remains steadfast in his faith despite facing various hardships. He concludes by sharing a touching story about a little girl who goes beyond the boundaries set by her father and experiences a special encounter with a horse.

Father, we recognize again how much we need thy breathing upon us. We think how beautiful you made Adam. You formed him. Put all the parts in his brain, in his body, in his will, in everything else. And yet you had to do the final thing, you had to breathe into him and he came to life. We think of the bones in Ezekiel's vision, a mass of bones, and suddenly they fly through the air and bone fits bone. And instead of a stack of bones we have a valley full of skeletons. And then on the skeletons came the sinews, and then on the sinews came the flesh, and then on the flesh came the skin. And yet, Lord, you still had to breathe. And that army of corpses, from bones to skeletons to corpses, but there was a moment when it must have been awesome, it must have thrilled your heart as a creator as you spoke the word. And they all stood on their feet, an exceeding great army. We bless you, Lord, you're still in the business of breathing on men. Breathe on us tonight, breath of God. All our hearts, I believe, have come out in this and breathe on me till I am wholly thine. Till all this earthly part of me, my body, my soul, my spirit, my mind, my affection, my will, till all this earthly part of me glows. It isn't just burning, it's glowing, it's radiant. Glows with thy fire divine. Breathe on us breath of God until these hearts are pure. Until with thee we will one will to do and to endure. Breathe on us breath of God. This is the craving of our beings tonight. We see a world around us going back to darkness and death and destruction. And you said, Lord, that when the enemy comes in like a flood. And Lord, if he isn't in like a flood now, I don't want to be around when he does come. Our nation's struck with everything that's vulgar and vain and vicious, with drunkenness and immorality and divorce and drugs. Every unclean thing has come in like a flood. But Lord, as yet you haven't lifted up that standard as you want to lift it. Lord, begin it tonight in some of our hearts. Put a new holy hatred for sin. Put a new consuming love for God. That we may be on the altar, a living sacrifice consumeth. Lord God, get us out of mediocrity. Get us out of self-satisfaction. Get us out of indifference. Get us out of our sloth. Lord God, don't let anybody in this room die bankrupt. Don't let anybody in this room be a disappointment to you from here to eternity. Lord, somehow ground us afresh tonight in our inmost beings. Lord, we bless you that we do sing as our dear brethren sang so well. Holy, holy, holy. We recognize before thine ever-blazing throne we have no lustre of our own. We bless you, Lord Jesus, you made it possible. You came from the ivory palaces into this world of woe. From the ivory palaces to this dunghill of a world. You came from where angels worshipped to where men would whip you. And you knew it was going to happen, but you came. Lord, we're glad you did it. And then even being found in fashion as a man, having made the great leap, as it were, from eternity to earth, and yet being in fashion as a man, you took the lowliest place. If you'd come as you're going to come, if you'd come with ten thousand saints, if you'd come to earth in the chariot that Elijah went to heaven in, the earth would have fallen down and worshipped. But you came into the womb of a precious little woman. And without ostentation, without a royal crowd of people to follow you, just fishermen and peasants, the poor, came to hear you. And they came gladly. And the rich you turned away empty, they were so self-contained and satisfied. Lord, we have burning in our hearts tonight, we have the only answer to this world's problems. The one answer is the redemption of men. A radical regeneration in human hearts. A radical revolution in redemption. We bless you that the blood will never lose its power. Till all the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more. Then in the noblest, sweetest song we'll sing thy power to save. When these poor, lisping, stammering tongues shout victory o'er the grave. Let's sing thou art worthy. Can you say that? Just before we read the scripture. Glory and honor. Glory and honor. For thou art a creator. Has all things created. For thou art a creator. All things. And for thy pleasure. They are created. Thou art worthy. Praise the Lord. Have you thanked God today you weren't in hospital? Or that you're not blind? Or that you're not in Russia in a concentration camp? We better value our privileges while we have them. They may not be here too long. They're going very, very quickly. Well I'd like to sing all night but I better talk to you a little while. If I don't I'll talk to myself. The epistle of Paul to the Philippians. Let's begin at chapter 1. Philippians chapter 1. If I remember right this epistle I haven't checked it today. I think it doesn't have one reference to sin in it. I did what I usually do. I made some nice notes and they're on my desk. I'll read them when I go home. Maybe I'll ask Dale to preach. Remember this man is in prison. Look in verse 4. His affection for them. Always in every part of mine making request with joy. He's making request for their joy while he's in a miserable horrible prison. And he's in a place that today nobody on earth would allow a prison to be like that. We wouldn't even keep cattle in it. Jump down to verse 12. Remember he's in shackles. He's maybe almost without food. He has no creature comforts. Possibly no light. Possibly nobody else with him. But he says in verse 12. I would you should understand brethren. That the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the fathoms of the gospel. I imagine somebody said. Have you heard Paul's in prison again? You know he's so reckless. You know we talk about people having a fan. A football fan or some other fan. Well of course it's an abridgment of fanatic. You know I don't want to be ordinary. I never will be. I never have been. Some people think I'm erratic. Some people think I'm dogmatic. And some people think I'm crazy. But I happen to know I'm right. And you know what matters? Only that we know that we're in God's will. But you could be fanatic for anything but Christianity. There's a woman on TV at the 8 o'clock news this morning. On the west coast. She says that she's a reincarnation of a spirit of a man. Pushya or somebody who lived 3,500 years ago. Well first of all the scripture kills the reincarnation theory. With one scripture it is appointed unto man once to die. Nobody comes back. I believe she has a spirit in her. It's a spirit from hell. But you know she's a fanatic. Women go. They were all women except one I think. And she said you know every religion in the world is true. Buddhism, Confucianism, Christianity. They're all true. And you're a God. You're a God. God is in you because you have life. And so she goes on. Boy the woman had a great time. It showed the miserable little house she'd been living in. And now she's building a super mansion. And it only cost $400 a night. Only cost you three here tonight. $400 a night for a session three or four. And she's getting 400 people at a time for $400. Now that's good money. But you know it says in the last days we'll get all these people. The man who was checking with her said there are hundreds and hundreds of people in California who believe their reincarnation. They must be insane. Boy once I can get out of this world nobody's going to get me back. Gabriel won't throw me out at the pearly gate. They'll say no. You can give me Buckingham Palace and all the gold in Fort Knox and all the tea in China. But I'm not going back. Praise God once I get out of this dump I'm going to stay out. You don't seem too happy about that. But anyhow. I'm going. You can all stay behind if you want. No come with me. Let me read this again. I would that you understand brethren that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather unto the fervents of the gospel. Well here he explains that in the next verse. So that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace and in all other places. Let me look at this a minute. Look at chapter 4 verse 22. He says in the King James Version. All the saints salute you. Chiefly those who are of Caesar's household. That was next door to hell. But go back again to that verse. My bonds. Chapter 1 verse 13. My bonds in Christ are all manifest in the palace and in all other places. Remember he writes to the Thessalonians. He says we were shamefully untreated at Philippi. But remember the Philippian jailer had an amazing awakening when Paul was there. And he spread the news through the royal family and everybody. Everybody in the palace. And the only way to get to the palace was to take God's man and put him in jail. You know there's some people in Russia and other countries in jail tonight. But God has a purpose in it. He says it's worked out to the fervents of the gospel. Again Paul is the best example of his own theology. He wrote Romans 8.28. All things work together for good. He said this is going to work out to the fervents of the gospel. It's a lousy deal I'm getting. The food is rotten. And the place stinks. And I have no companionship. And it's dark. But it's going to work to the fervents of the gospel. You put me in a dark shell. In a dark cell. But the light of the world is shining on me. You starve me of food and I'm eating the bread of life. You say I have nobody around me. I have the company of angels. Boy this man lived in heaven before he got there. As Spurgeon said, and he must have been right, he was a Baptist. And Spurgeon said a little bit of faith will bring you to, bring you to heaven. But a little more faith will bring heaven to you. Let me go now to chapter 3 and verse 19. We've been in this chapter as you know before. Chapter 3 and verse 10. That I may know him and the power of his resurrection. And the fellowship of his sufferings. And people say now if we suffer for him. It doesn't say if we suffer for him. It says if we suffer with him. You can suffer for him and get kicked out of a job. But suffering with him is something, it's an identification of him. In Gethsemane. It's an identification with him in rejection. It's an identification in being rebuked and refused of men. The fellowship of, not just with him, not if we suffer for him. It says if we suffer with him we shall reign. I don't find anybody, I find people say I remember the day I was saved. I remember the day I got my baptism. I've never yet heard anybody say I remember the day I entered Gethsemane. I don't remember the time when I couldn't eat. And I couldn't, I couldn't drink, I couldn't sleep. For groaning and feeling the bruising of Christ. For a lost world. But this man knows them. I may know him and the power of his resurrection. The fellowship of this suffering being made conformable unto his death. If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Well everybody's going to die. Everybody's going to be resurrected. Julius Caesar. Genghis Khan. Alexander. All the armies that ever marched through the world. All the men and women of the Roman Empire. The Medo-Persian Empire. The British Empire. The Indians. They're all going to come alive. What does he mean? When he says I might attain unto the resurrection. But the Greek says the out resurrection. The first resurrection is the resurrection of the redeemed. It's going to be glorious. Just for one day confessing Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. That you'd no means anywhere by your riches, by your intellect. You'd no means of meriting salvation. And you sang and meant it just as I am, I come. Without one plea. And because of that look what he gives to us. Verse 11. If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as I had already attained or were already perfect. Now if he was. Not as I had already attained. If he was you wouldn't need verse 15. Or verse 14. Because if he's already perfect he's nothing to reach for. But verse 14 he says I pressed toward the mark. For the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Now he says in verse 15. Let us therefore as many of us be perfect. This always reminds me of my dear brother over this young fellow over here. He loves that hymn blessed assurance you know. And we sing it. People say you can't be perfect. But we sing it over and over again. Blessed assurance. Perfect submission. All is at rest. Perfect delight. Visions of rapture now burst on my sight. And when we get there we're moving up the ladder very obviously. Let us therefore as many as be perfect. I think that translation there actually let many of us who are adults. We've grown up and we're be perfect be thus minded. If anything we're otherwise minded this should be revealed unto you. Nevertheless where unto we have already attained. Let us walk by the same rule. Let us mind the same thing. Now he's always on about the mind. Look here. If you go back in the chapter just mark it. I'm not going to read them all. Or maybe I will. Chapter 1 and verse 27. He says only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ. The word conversation there is not talking. It's your manner of life. Let your manner of life be such as would fit in with the gospel message. And whether I come to see you or be absent I may hear of your affairs that ye stand fast in one spirit with one mind. That's his goal. That's his desire. Verse 27 of chapter 1. One mind. In chapter 2 and verse 2 he says fulfill ye my joy. Be like minded. Having the same love being of one accord of one mind. The next verse let nothing be done through strife or vainglory but in lowliness of mind. It's a mind of one accord united in lowliness as well as in holiness. Then he says in chapter 2, oh well verse 5 we've quoted that already. No we haven't. Verse 5. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God. I hear people sometimes talk about spiritual pride. That's pure nonsense. You can't have spiritual pride. Any more than you can have pure sin. It's not spiritual pride it's carnal pride. What did the devil get kicked out of heaven for? Beating angels up? Stealing slabs of gold off the streets? No. For pride. You see that's why he said you can't overestimate worship, what worship really is. Remember what he said to Jesus? You fall down and worship me. Why? Because he was in heaven when a multitude which no man can number were praising and magnifying the Lord. When cherubim and celibate cried holy, holy, holy. He'd seen what worship is. There's nothing to surpass it anywhere. He said you fall down and worship me. Just bend the knee. Acknowledge your inferiority. I'll give you all the kingdoms of the world. It didn't mean real estate. The devil's smart. He knew that Jesus made the world. I'll give you the whole world. What did he mean? He meant the military world. I'll give you the Roman Empire. He meant the religious world. I'll give you the Jews. He meant the intellectual world. I'll give you the Greeks. I'll give you all these world systems if you'll just fall down once and worship me. What a deal. But Jesus answered him. He said thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve. You cannot serve two masters. Then you've got the Hebrews 1 where it says let the angels of God worship him. The constant exercise in eternity is worship. We know so little about it. I'm trusting God will lead us into it to what it really means. Speechless adoration. I want to go into meetings. We'll get them someday I'm sure. Where we'll sing something like we sang, the men sang beautifully tonight. And suddenly we'll all be cut off. And we'll have to kneel or fall and prostrate and worship and adore him and magnify him. I don't believe speech has words any more than true prayer does. True prayer has no language. It's groanings which cannot be uttered. Not even in tongues. It doesn't say it's all prayer. You can't pray till you speak it. There is a gift of tongues. I've got two sons who are Pentecostal preachers and I love the fellows. And I love the message. I love to hear people. I haven't heard many. I've been around the world. I haven't heard many intelligent messages in tongues. I'll tell you that. And besides tongues are not a message to us. They're a sign to the world. What happened after the gift of tongues? The year 70, Amor Dominus 70, Titus came and he wiped the city down. And blood was up to the knees of the horses. But the warning was through tongues. I don't remember any visitation until about the 1600s. The bloody massacre that swept the monarchy into the garbage can. And in the revolution, the Spanish revolution, the French revolution. Right at that time the Huguenots, one of the finest breed of men, they were kind of super edition of Quakers if I may say that. They had such marvelous men as John Follett. Some of you have seen Follett's books. They're published in this country. He was the stock of the Huguenots. But right after the outpouring of the spirit there, what happened? You had the French revolution that swept that whole country into the garbage can. I don't remember any. There was never any manifestation of tongues in Wesley's days. So that's okay. But I'll tell you what there was just before the turn of the century. There were men in England that began to exercise these gifts. Prior to 1930, there was a little Welshman about this height. And all he had that was clerical was a clerical collar he bought in a store. And he got his Bible and he went through the country. And you talk about a Stephen. His name was Stephen. He was like Stephen. Signs and wonders and mighty works were done. People lined up round the huge auditoriums in England all night in the rain to get a seat in the afternoon meetings. And then they went home if they could get out and let the other crowd come in. Big halls at least seating 3,000 people. And that man went in the power of the Spirit of God. And he had been anointed. And he spoke in tongues too. Then he had a stepbrother by the name of George Jeffreys. You remember him maybe. George Jeffreys founded the healing movement. And then the other. He had a son anyhow. But you see these men ushered in right before 1914. Then 1914 4th of August 1914. War was declared. And there's a great manifestation of God in tongues and miracles as a sign to the world that God isn't dead. It's not that God can't do it. He won't do it. It doesn't work to our timetable. People think God's on one side. What a week of tragedies have been. That air crash in California. Ninety-one people perished. People tonight being pulled out of a wrecked Pan Am plane. And maybe dozens dead. A Russian boat went down with a thousand people on it. It's been a week of tragedy. But the thing when I hear that I wonder where did it go? To hell? They weren't even saved. Those Russians were as lost. And went into a lost eternity. Ninety-one people perished. Can you imagine falling from 20,000 feet all the time and just knowing you go to your death it must have been a screaming, terrified, horrifying thing. Children there. Women frantic. No sign of anything. Just falling on top of each other and going to certain death. And you think of the calamity around us. You know, they've been saying this week about the fact that there are 23 million Americans who cannot read or write. And most of them got diplomas in high school. So what? Isn't it terrible? Well surely, I'll tell you something worse. There's a hundred million people got certificates to say they belong at church and they'll go to hell. It's not just normal intellectual illiteracy. It's spiritual illiteracy that's crippling the country. There's no prophetic sound. I'm not thinking of saying prophetic things which often are just guesswork or opinions anyhow. I'm talking about men who stand in the stature of the prophets of old or in the prophets of the New Testament with a holy indignation. I've been asking God almost every day this week give me a baptism like Moses had. Remember he was on the mountain with God and God was angry and Moses said turn from your fierce anger. Lower down in the charter Aaron says to Moses you turn from your fierce anger. Why was Moses angry? Because they'd built a golden calf. Because they were naked. Because they'd rejected. They'd failed God. He delivered them. He's delivered America out of two world wars. You haven't shed a spot of blood in two world wars in this country. But you'll shed some in the next I'll tell you that. And yet are we grateful? Sure we're not. Where's the gratitude for the mercies of God? Let me go over to this while I've got some time left. Let me go back to that in a minute. I count not myself to have verse 13 I count not myself to have apprehended mercy on us for getting those things which are behind and reaching forth to those I press toward the mark for the prize of high calling in Christ Jesus. I've, he's not apprehended that which God has revealed. If I'd had all the epistles revelations he has 14 if you count Hebrews man I'd be staggering around I'm sure I'd be swell headed and thinking I've had more revelation, I've seen more miracles I've stood before more kings and this is a man that begins the epistle says these bonds you remember when he stood before a gripper and gripper was startled he said I wish you were like I am except for these chains keep your wealth, keep your coronation I've got more inside of me than you've got in your vast empire and now he talks about bonds at the beginning of this chapter which means the same thing in change, in fetters and yet you can't put him down there used to be a song I don't know who it's about in America you sing about somebody the unthinkable Molly Brown who in the world was she it wasn't Betty Brown, we know that unthinkable Molly Brown this is the unthinkable apostle doesn't matter what hell wasted all its ammunition on him I believe hell had a celebration when he died we never see a fool like this some of you, come on you know your Bibles where is the script that says be ye followers of me even as I am followers of Christ is it in this epistle? oh thank you, 317, ok yes, yes, yes, thank you brethren be ye followers together of me and mark them which have us for an example listen, this is a sarcasm that men used to say in the factory oh that man preaches but he doesn't practice what he preaches nobody could ever lay that to the apostles charge everything that he believed he practiced he was a living phenomenon if you like how comprehensive is this come on brethren be ye followers together with me and mark them which have us for an example what does he mean? are we left to guess? well I'll tell you what he means look in verse 9 of the next chapter look at this summary he says you be followers of me now look at verse 9 those things which ye have learned and received and heard and seen in me do and the God of peace be with you now isn't that a standard? he says you follow me and when you get to the pearly gates I'll be glad to say Lord I led them this way what does he mean by be ye followers of me? I believe the whole explanation for his life is in verse 20 of the first chapter according to my earnest expectation and my hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed but with all boldness as always listen to it so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body whether it's by life or by death Christ magnified in my body whether by life or by death how was Christ magnified in him? well by his preaching because he says in 1 Corinthians 9 and verse 16 woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel this is not a mantle he puts on at the weekend or goes to a conference this is his lifestyle he lives and moves and has his being in God he says that to the most intellectual men in the world he says I live and move and have my being in God the God that made this vast universe and I can't help but think of F.W.H. Myers here when I think of him preaching he says of the apostle then with a rush the intolerable craving shivers throughout me like a thunder roll oh to save these to perish for their saving to die for their life to be offered for them all with a rush the intolerable craving shivers throughout me I believe every birth pain that Jesus had this man had every anguish that Jesus had for a lost world this man has he died he has no rights of his own he is completely sold out to God it is going to take that to move this generation to God I am going to read that 17th verse again of chapter 3 Brethren be followers together of me and mark them which walk as ye have for as an example for many walk of whom I have told you and tell you now even weeping that they are enemies of the cross of Christ now I mentioned this the other week that these religions today they are not enemies of Christ they are enemies of the cross of Christ the Roman Catholic Church is not an enemy of Christ it makes millions of dollars out of him a plastic Christ on a plastic cross they tell me in South America they talk about Jesus a dead man on a stick the Roman Catholic Church makes its money out of Jesus bleeding and suffering they are not enemies of Christ they are enemies of the cross of Christ because they say Mary is co-redemptrix with Jesus that she is virtue in her dying the Mormons are not enemies of Christ they are the church of the Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints but they are enemies of the cross many of these make it and claim it and the faith boys in Dallas they are enemies of the blood they hardly ever mention it there is a great enmity against the cross of Christ in the day in which we live and Paul says I tell you even now weeping that they are enemies of the cross of Christ and he says whose end is destruction I don't usually read translations but I like this one of Phillips not because it is English either but he says of these men in verse 19 these men are heading for utter destruction their God is their own appetite their pride is what they should be ashamed of and this world is the limit of their horizon when it says here in the King James Version they mind earthly things sure they mind earthly things they mind earthly honors they mind or they like earthly honors they like earthly titles somebody asked me to preach next year so I said well if I'm around maybe I will don't advertise me as Dr. Ravenhill Lord, no, Reverend Ravenhill just put Leonard Ravenhill that's all these flattering titles that men have they don't mean a thing look at John 5.44 there for a minute and write this and give it to your pastor all these big shots how can you believe which receive honor one of another and seek not the honor that cometh from God alone I see some of these guys on TV and they're plastering this man who he is and what he's done and what he's built and everything else he won't mind a hill of beans in that great day what God is looking for is holy character we are his workmanship he doesn't make buildings he doesn't dwell in temples made with hands whether it's Schuller's old place over there that old glass house he has I think he should grow tomatoes in it or whether it's Westminster Abbey or this new 34 million dollar place down in Houston God occupies human personality men there's nothing more wonderful in my mind than scholarship on fire for God like the Wesley's had scholarship without it take it to the morgue that's where it belongs these men are and that's a distraction reading Phillips again their God is their own appetite more, was there ever any more celebration of food you go down main street anywhere it's either a eating house or a gas station eating house or a gas station everywhere you go every city in America is the same there's a uniformity and he says their God is their belly their pride is what they should be ashamed of and this world isn't this something this world is the limit of their horizons or if you want it again let me read it here in the in the King James whose end is destruction whose God is their belly and whose glory is their shame and they mind earthly things but whether they're the opposite of that here you get the idea the mind that he's dwelt on so much here he says in the in the 8th verse of the 4th chapter look at this gorgeous summary of the Christian life watch whether things are true watch whether things are honest watch whether things are just watch whether things are pure watch whether things are lovely watch whether things are of good report if there be any virtue and if there be any praise think on these things that's the very opposite to the world the world loves everything that's vicious and vulgar and full of vice and we're the very opposite of that now I'm going back to no let me go down into the same chapter 3 in verse 20 for our conversation is in heaven our conversation is in heaven ok I look up that word one person translates it our citizenship is in heaven now it's a privilege to be a citizen of a country but if so you're in subjection to all the laws and if we're in subjection to heaven if heaven is our country then we ought to live according to the laws of earth not the laws of men not the laws even that the body demands their glory is their shame our conversation is in our citizenship one translation I look like so much is we are a colony on earth we're a colony of heaven if you go to Washington there's a little piece of area there that even the FBI can't get in and the government because it's owned by Great Britain it's a British embassy and everything that's done in there is done according to English tradition they don't keep the 4th of July they don't keep other things that we keep but if you go to England there's a little area there and you see a great big enormous stars and stripes hanging out and it's the American embassy and the British government can't go in the lawyers can't go in the law can't go in there the famous Scotland Yard can't go in there nobody has access because it's a piece of America outside of America you'll find the best hamburgers in London there and all the other ways but you know what this has a special appeal to me it says we are a colony of heaven if you go to England you'll find there's a city called Chester it's a beautiful city it has a wall around it it has a great gate there's a huge church there and there's a clock and on the clock it says what was it I can't remember it totally when I was a child I slept and wept time crept but when I became a man was it time ran no when I became a man ok it's part of that anyhow when I became a man time flew but as I older grew time flew pass it to me can you read it time ran good thank you well there's a big clock with that sign written under from the original statement that was made about it but you see the city still has a wall you have Chester you have Manchester you have Chichester you have a dozen cities and you know whatever the Chester at the end of the name it was first a Roman colony and they built a wall around the cities where they colonized and people climbed trees and looked over to see the strange ways that these people ate to see the way that they ploughed their fields we're thinking now of 55 BC 55 years before Jesus Christ was born we used to live in the city of Bath and that was established by the Romans in 55 BC but you see everybody inside of that wall that colony they did exactly as though they were living in Rome and Paul says here we're a colony of heaven we should live like heaven and earth our language should be heavenly our attitude should be heavenly the laws of the kingdom which again are given by Jesus there in the sermon on the mount should be active in our lives every day you know what if the church of Jesus Christ would follow unlike the acts of the apostles communism would never have risen its head but somewhere selfishness got in in the new testament whatever they had they shared one with another it was heaven on earth they didn't go to worship on Sundays they went every day they met together the glory of God filled the temple they were poor this blessed man here with all his mighty authority he says I have nothing but I possess all things I'm poor yet making many rich and having nothing yet possessing all things you see he says about these people here they mine earthly things well doesn't doesn't the scripture say set not don't set your affection on things which are above is that in Colossians 3 Colossians 3 2 set your affection on things which are above on things which are above not those beneath that they've set their affections on things things below the average man lives for everything that's corruptible everything he touches has death in it everything he touches will perish the only intelligent thing in the world is to be a believer to follow the Lamb with us wherever he leads set your affections on things above not things which are beneath why well look at that a minute Colossians the next chapter isn't it Colossians 3 Colossians 3 and verse 2 first set your affections on things above not things beneath why because you're dead and your life is hid with Christ in God you know if you go to a dead man if he's been a miser and you shake a bag full of Krugerrands and say I've got a thousand a hundred thousand it won't make any difference to him well we used to sing a hymn in England if I can find it I get to sing it but in the hymn it says dead to the world and all its toys its idle pomp its fading joys Jesus my glory be again there are only two kinds of people in the world not rich and poor not black and white not intellectuals and illiterate two kinds only those who are dead in sin and those who are dead to sin they've already died to this world that's why Paul doesn't care a hill of beans what they do to him he says go ahead I don't care where I live Christ will be magnified in my body whether by life or by death I'm going to die like my master died you know I was reading Stephen the other day how he died what a marvelous young man the first of the deacons and the youngest maybe and the most perfect example of what a deacon should be and it says he was full of faith and the Holy Ghost and many signs and wonders many signs and wonders and mighty things were done through him he did miracles it's true he startled them more than anybody who had lived since Jesus but I noticed this he never did a miracle for himself every miracle he did was for others and he died triumphant like his master remember the prayer of Jesus forgive them they know not what they do and Stephen did exactly the same thing isn't that something could you really say that you're dead what was it chapter 2 again I can't get the pages there anyway if you're dead and your life is head with Christ in God what defense do we need outside of that we're covered with the blood we have the promises of God we have the Holy Spirit well then we ought to be more than conquerors as Paul has already written more than conquerors through him that loved us he says I say Christ was magnified by his body let me run through this before I finish magnified by his preaching woe is me wouldn't you love to have heard Paul preach a friend of mine went round the world and he went to very historic places when he came back somebody said what was the greatest thrill did he go to Calvary yes was that a great thrill no go to garden of Gethsemane yes but that's out of my reach what was the most stirring thing he said every part of my being vibrated when I stood on Mars Hill outside of where was he where Athens where all the intellectuals stood and Paul stood there and declared that there was a supreme God and you don't know anything about it but he said he's appointed a day in which he's going to judge the world he said I thought of that little man standing there as it were with death hanging over his head and yet he defies the whole world and he said I stood there and thought well I know Jesus was a son of man as well as a son of God but this man in one sense had his disadvantages and yet he stands there with all boldness and he's prepared to recognize his intellectual barrenness I believe he's the greatest brain I say sometimes people tease me the most colossal brain in the world outside of Jesus and yet he says I have nothing that I may possess all things in a Roman colony people love to be in a Roman colony the one thing that men boasted of in that day was like when Paul talked to this man and Paul said I'm a Roman what what you're a Jew I'm a Roman I'm a citizen of a citizen are you fooling me are you a citizen yes I'm a citizen of Rome do you remember what that centurion said with a great price I obtained his freedom it could have cost him a million dollars if he didn't want it sign to obedience don't blame the devil don't blame the in-laws or the outlaws for the rising and falling of the stock market the devil can't touch me without he gets a permit from God I wonder if the devil goes back to God I think he goes every day to give reports I wonder if he ever says have you considered my servant Leonard Ravenhill I know he's a bit retarded and various other things but how do you think he's getting on what did he say I've been going through and throwing the earth what's your problem it's a man called Job oh I can't touch him and Job says pardon me God the devil says to God because you put a hedgerow about him isn't that something let me touch I like to use it this way I say look here's Job my fingers Job ok you put a hedgerow about him take that hedgerow and let me get to him the Lord says no you see the devil God never takes advice from the devil you or me either here's Job I won't take the hedgerow I'll draw it a bit nearer to him now go do what you like so he goes Job goes to bed a multi-millionaire he wakes up bankrupt he hasn't got a thing and while he's surveying all the debris somebody else comes up oh Satan says well of course he's a smart business man he'll recover all his losses let me get to him again he says no I'll pull the hedge in a bit the first stroke of the devil was what bankruptcy the second stroke he killed all his children that was bereavement well pull it in a bit further no no no no well he says I'll have another shot the first stroke was bankruptcy the second stroke was bereavement the third stroke was boils he couldn't stand up he couldn't sit down there he is poor old Job in his misery well what is he going to do oh well I attacked his body he's lost his vast wealth he's lost his family he's lost his bodily health what did he do he said he startled me he said what no man has said since creation he looked round surveyed the debris he looked at the bodies of his children all been put in graves he looked at his own body with all its terrible pain and then he said he jumped up and said listen you miserable crowd looking at me I want to tell you something it's bad I'm bankrupt I'm bereaved I'm bald in my body I want to tell you something but there's something I know through this I know that my redeemer liveth and even if worms destroy this body yet in my flesh I shall see God what do you do with a man like that God says you can do anything but you don't touch his life destroy his property destroy his children destroy the security he has but you're not going to touch him you're not going to touch the soul of the man and the Lord lets things come very near you get nearly nervous about him at the last minute God says no you can't do it you know we don't live in a victory we should live in at least I don't I want to learn to defy the devil more and more every day I want him to know I'm around not for my sake but for God's sake that Christ may be magnified in my body alright by my preaching woe is unto me 1 Corinthians 9 16 it was an obligation to him it wasn't just a privilege it's an obligation if you haven't got a woe don't go you've got to say woe is me I'm just helpless I didn't face God unless I preach my life away so he says woe is me he magnified God in his preaching 1 Corinthians 9 16 he magnified God as being a pattern what things you've seen and heard in me do that which we read Philippians 4 9 he magnified God by his poise none of these things move me would they move you would they move me as I said last week on that ship he could have said Lord oh Lord I think I'll slip off I'll get drowned he says preserve me I want a safe comfortable journey why to get my head chopped off is that sense and that's what he did boy we fall over toothpicks didn't take much to upset us much to get us distressed oh a bit of news comes or something or a pain in the back but this man says look at my poise look at my power nothing moves me look at my poise listen to my preaching look at the pattern of my life would to God every preacher in America could say that we'd set the nation on fire then look at his passion I'm a debtor to all men he never saw the color of skin he never saw their social standing he didn't care whether they're in prison or out of it he said I've got a passion I don't know what it's Amy Wilson Carmichael it sounds like it that said give me a passionate passion for souls give me a pity that yearns give me a love that loves unto death give me a fire that burns give me a prayer power that prevails to pour itself out for the lost victorious prayer in the conqueror's name all for a Pentecost men have got away from being highlings you know people may well I suppose you live on the offering that you get Friday night if I did I'd be in the morgue I've been coming ten years and I'm not a dime out of the stingy crowd I'm still alive very much alive but you know I heard G. Campbell Morgan say once one of the saddest days one of the saddest days in the history of the church was when Constantine tried to make Christianity the state religion of the nation he was the first that appointed himself as the number one preacher of the nation and you must all applaud when I come in so if you go to a church where they do that you know they're following a heathen custom the second he said was when we divided men from the pulpit and the pew as though there's something standing a foot higher than you doesn't give me any elevation in the sight of God but when we began to pay men from that day on the church has gone down we're going to go back to the place I'm sure before long we won't be able to have buildings I'm hoping God's going to give us one in Tyler keep praying we've got to have a place where we can meet God and really worship so you have him he magnifies God in his preaching he magnifies God by the pattern of his life he magnifies God by his poise he magnifies God by his boldness he magnifies God by his persecutions in 2nd Corinthians or 1124 but let me go back before we close here let me look back to this in chapter 3 our citizenship our conversation is in heaven from whence we also look for the Lord Jesus Christ now step back into the 19th verse are these people whose God is their belly and whose glory is their shame and they mind earthly things they're tied up with this world they mind they have an affection for worldly things but we set our affection for things above we're not after status symbols it doesn't matter whether your clothes whether they're what do you call these designer clothes you get them out of Goodwill they mentioned a lady the other day on TV showed a picture of her dress my goodness what she dressed she's worth millions she said I'll get all my clothes from the Goodwill store they showed a film star and her home is loaded oh you've got a fortune in the where do you buy either the Goodwill or the Salvation Army I've collected them for the last 10 years I don't care whether they're there or they're home made stuff and you've painted it yourself it gives me no value to God outside of spiritual things what do they get he says beginning of the verse 19 the end of these men who whose God is their belly and whose glory is their shame and mind earthly things now go back to the first line whose end is destruction but our citizenship is in heaven from whence also what's the outlook of the man of the world doom and damnation doom death and damnation that's all what's the outlook for the man the believer well I'll tell you what it is our citizenship is in heaven and we're looking for one who's coming we look for the saviour the Lord Jesus Christ that's number one number two he's going to change our change our vile body number three it may be fashioned like into his glorious body and it's going to have all power where he's able to subdue all things to himself well wouldn't you think that if we're going to have this we're going to have a home eternally in the heavens he says in 2 Corinthians 5 doesn't he begin by that saying if the earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved we have a home eternal in the heavens I've already got my mansion there in the heavens reserved for me I'm going to have my body changed it's going to be likened to his glorious body I heard C.S. Lewis preach once I thought it would be fantastic it was tragic as far as I was concerned but he did say at the end here's a man with a colossal intellect some call him a modern apostle Paul I didn't agree with a lot of what he said but he did give some good things in that thing he said you know what he said a friend of mine she had a little girl they lived in a mansion and he bought her a pony and he let her learn to ride and after a while she could ride by herself but never go past that tree in the driveway outside the gates because there's a road you'll crash and get killed she came back one day and she was so disconsolate weeping and she had the reins of the pony behind her and he said darling what happened did the horse kick you no did it bite you no did you fall off no what happened well I got down the road I went past the tree daddy I told you not but daddy there was a horse just behind the tree and he nodded his head and I went and talked to him and I hugged him I gave him a kiss and the horse talked to me too he kept going and I listened and he said get on my back what's that thing not much bigger than a dog that pony why didn't your daddy buy you a proper horse like this he said darling you've got five faults you don't mount properly you don't dismount properly you don't hold your riding prop properly and something else but he said when you get all those faults ironed out I'll buy you that horse or any other horse you want he said just looking over the fence he saw what he desired he said I look out over the fence of time into eternity I see my glorified body I see my expanded intellect I see my being as I shall be in eternity when he died not just to save me from sin and death and hell he died to give me a body a body likened to his glorious body an intellect likened to his glorious intellect and this colossal man is standing there talking to about five hundred preachers and they were bug-eyed almost watching him he finished his message most impressive part telling the story of a little girl but he says everyday I look over the I look over the railing from time into eternity then I see my body I think of my ministry I think of my writing and I say Lord but I'm just aching to get there I'm so sick of this world and its stupidity and its vulgarity all the dishonesty of politicians all the corrupt philosophies all the vain fighting religions I'd like to get out of it I want to get a glorious body and he says the Lord says C.S. you stay down in that dump for a while I don't like the way you do this I don't like the way you do that I don't like your prayer life you lack sacrifice you don't have a love for the souls of men and when you get them all I'll take you to heaven that's something to think about surely you see Paul had all these things settled he had no life I sometimes think only he though I'm wrong I know I sometimes think that only he and Isaac Watts who wrote the hymn when I surveyed the wondrous cross could really sing it my richest gain were the whole realm of nature mine they won't give him such as Wednesday night prayer meeting were the whole realm of nature mine and yet they want to live as near to the world as they can with its pleasures its pomp its pride the way it dresses the way it talks the way it appreciates us socially or intellectually or spiritually or financially boy all that perishes the men that God have used the Wesley's the Finney's I'm still struggling I've mentioned once or twice this man Savonarola who when Rome was at its most corrupt when all the system of Rome was against him when the Medices and the Borgias the wickedest families may be in the history of Italy when they were around this man he doesn't boast of any blessing I'm not in any way against the baptism I preach baptism and the Holy Ghost myself but he doesn't mention having the baptism he got a consuming love for Christ that's all they talk about and he went to that city without any financial backing all hell was against him religion was against him Pope was against him the citizens were against him the town council was against him he didn't ask for support he didn't have any rallies he began to work and that whole city was purged with the Holy Ghost Revival completely transformed through one man who was totally sold out to God no financial backing nobody to lean on no committees he just did the will of God and that was true of so many down the ages and I believe with all my heart suddenly I believe it's going to happen again I believe that God is going to do what he said take the things that are not to bring to naught the things that are because the fellows that are have done nothing except steal money and build their own ministries and live extravagantly but that's going to go and God is going to find the things that are not I like to say everyday to myself there's some little black boy up there in Alabama driving a school bus or maybe behind an old horse plough and he's one of the anointing of God for the next awakening the are not are going to become the somebody the somebody is going to be left on one side and this is a thrill as I see it of knowing the God that the apostle Paul knew people glory in their shame today the woman said to be the prettiest woman in the world I've met she's three different children with three different men she hardly knows her husband hardly knows who's the father she's been so loose in her living and you get all these people so outstanding and they're nothing in the sight of God but rebels and sinners he's looking for a people totally sold out who can say my citizenship is in heaven for whom I look for the coming of the Lord Jesus he's going to change this body of humiliation and make it like to his glorious body he's going to take my cramped intellect and give me an expanded intellect he's going to take my spirit and do something that I can't even comprehend well brother with all that in view ought we not to go out and say with the poor I can't rest while men are lost I can't sleep while men are lost I can't count anything of value I'm not living for this world I'm dead to the world I'm dead to its values I'm dead to its honours I don't want anything of them I want to live move have my being in God I want to think like Christ and act like Christ and love like Christ and weep like Christ Christ in me Christ in you is the greatest miracle in the whole world we're going to go to prayer if you do need to slip out you're free to go I hope you'll stay for a while anyhow