In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of praising and worshiping Jesus. They encourage the audience to open their hearts to Jesus and ask Him to restore their lost song of praise. The speaker shares their experience of feeling a darkness and then entering into the presence of Jesus, where they witnessed people loving and praising Him. They emphasize the power of praising God and how it can bring victory and change in our lives.

I'm glad tonight that he will be precious. Can you say that tonight? He is precious to me. What does that mean? What is precious? We talk about precious things. We have beautiful diamonds, jewelry, money, people, gold, you know. They become precious. But, here's something far, far different, far, far superior. When we can say, Jesus, you're precious. You're precious, you're a treasure. You're my everything. Hallelujah. Oh, hallelujah. Peter says unto those that believe, is the preciousness. And as we put our trust in him, we find that he reveals himself like that to us. And we lose our interest in other things. That is, they take their place, don't they? And the priority goes to Jesus. And loving him, finding out the preciousness of Jesus. Hallelujah. It takes the Holy Ghost, you know, to reveal that to us. If you love Jesus like that tonight, it's not your doing, but it's his revelation. Flesh and blood have not revealed it to you, Peter, but my Father in heaven. And when he reveals Jesus to us by his Spirit and makes him real, oh, then we, then we've found our treasure in Jesus. And I'm so thankful that all of us can have that experience. It can be very real to all of us. Jesus, you are precious to me. Hallelujah. And we certainly take care of those precious things that we own, that we have, we consider them valuable. Maybe you have them in a safe deposit box in the bank. These papers are precious, or these articles are precious. I have, somebody gave me, or I got 25 silver dollars. You know, I put them in the safe deposit box in the bank. The old-fashioned silver dollars. I keep them, they're precious. But, you know, you can take them away from me, and I won't, my heart isn't attached there at all. But, Jesus is mine. You know, there's an old time song, Fade, fade each earthly joy, Jesus is mine. I heard a young lady sing that. Years ago, she was the daughter of a missionary, had come to this country to study, and had really made a good, got a good education here. But her heart was over there, where God had called her. And so she got up and sang that song one night in a meeting, and it made such an impression on me. Oh, hallelujah. Dark is the wilderness, earth has no resting place, Jesus alone can bless, Jesus is mine. So we can sing, fade each earthly joy, Jesus is mine. When you have him, you have everything. Hallelujah. We were down in Florida, listening to a radio broadcast, and they sang that song, Jesus is precious. The chorus, he is so precious to me. You know, I learned it. We took it home, taught it to the people there, Jesus is precious, he is so precious, Jesus is precious to me. He is my savior, Lord and my master, Jesus is precious to me. And I was singing that, and Phil Wannenmacher was at our meeting. He heard it, he loved it, and he sang it. But he wanted to use it on his radio program, and so he realized he'd have to do a little research there. Where did it come from? Well, I could tell him a little bit about it. Some preacher there in Florida, he's got a funny name, but he was the one that sang the song on the radio broadcast he had, and they sing about the troubles in life, and then they come and do Jesus is precious. He is precious to me. And so Phil looked it up, and he used it then on his broadcast. That's a marvelous truth, isn't it? And testimony. He is precious. Hallelujah. And so I think that all of us this weekend ought to find Jesus more precious. All of you. Everyone. God wants to reveal Christ to us in such a way that we'll finish this Labor Day retreat, and we'll say, Jesus, you're precious. You are really precious. And you know, he wants to reveal himself, and when he does that, why we cannot help get a larger sight of him, and turn our eyes upon him, be occupied with him, and as we do that, he's going to reveal himself, and I expect that change in my heart, too, to grow in that experience, and say, Lord, you're just wonderful. You're wonderful. You're precious, Lord. Hallelujah. And God will do that for you. Let's forget ourselves, and let's honor him by looking to him, and praising him. You know, his praise shall continually be in my mouth. We're learning that, too. Sometimes we can lose that spirit of praise, or that praise that God gives us in a church, can lose that. And God is the one who introduces that, gives us praise, and we have to be careful that we obey him, honor him, and continually praise him, because the enemy is out to fight that. Oh, my. And what a fight it is sometimes. We have people at home that are constantly finding fault. If we praise the Lord too loud, he's just trying to show off. If you lift your hands, you're drawing attention to yourself. You know, stuff like that. Always, always. And the flesh doesn't like it. Not a bit. But God likes it. And we want to keep that praises of God in our midst, in the meetings. They ought to be marked all the time by the praises of the Lord. And, you know, God has high praises. He lifts us. I was sitting next to Brother Betzel. Some of you know him from Austria. And he had just come back from Canada, where he had met with his brother and their, you know, ministers, and visited them. And he turned to me, and I'm sitting there, and the Olympics were on. He said, How many gold medals did America win today? I said, Slightest idea. You're a minister, and you don't know that? He said, Up there in Canada, they all were occupied with that. And he said, You know, I come here, and you start praising the Lord. And first of all, sometimes you notice there's a little labor there to really get people to enter into real praise. And he said, Suddenly, I notice you shift into high gear. You know, that's something God does. Have you noticed that? It's true. We persist in praising the Lord, and here, all of a sudden, you're going to get into a higher gear, as Betzel said. He's a mechanic, you know. And I got a kick out of that. But he had discerned that. He had heard that. He had seen that and felt that. And he said, Here, you're not interested in the earthly things. But there in Canada, all those ministers felt, I've got to know how many gold medals Canada won. And they knew all that. That occupied their minds. You know, our minds, that's where the trouble is in our thinking. We're attacked there. And we can think His thoughts and lift our hearts in praise and adoration to Him. And as we do that, the Holy Ghost comes and anoints those praises and gives us what the Bible calls the high praises of God in their lips. Hallelujah. You know, that's wonderful. Because we read that God is enthroned upon the praises of His people. That's where the victory is. It's on the praises of His people. And that exalts Jesus, puts Him on the throne. And He has authority there. And so we have something to do with that. Let's not lose. Let's not lose our praises. But ask God. I felt in these meetings, God is restoring that somehow to us. Where it's a battle, people have sort of lost that in many places. But we don't want to do that. We want Him to strengthen us with might by His Spirit in the inner man that Christ may live in our hearts. And you know, He is reigning and He is enthroned on His praises of God's people. So let's stick to it, shall we? Let's worship Him and love Him with all our hearts. Hallelujah. Oh, praise the Lord. I used to say, the flesh can shout too, the flesh can. And my uncle says, if that's the worst thing your flesh ever does, why, it's not so bad. Let the earth hear His voice. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let the people rejoice. Oh, come to the Father through Jesus the Son and give Him glory. Great things He has done. Great things He has taught us. Great things He has done. And great are rejoicing through Jesus His Son. But purer and higher and greater will be our wonder, our transport when Jesus we see. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let the earth hear His voice. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Let the people rejoice. Oh, come to the Father through Jesus the Son and give Him the glory. Great things He has done. We praise the Lord Jesus. We worship the Lord. We magnify Your name. Don't be afraid to praise the Lord in other tongues. That's what He gives them to us for. We feel sometimes my language is too limited. So He comes from heaven and He says, I'll praise anyone. He danced before the Lord. The ark was coming up the road. His wife despised Him in her heart. The ark was coming up the road. Oh, it's coming. Hallelujah. The ark is coming up the road. He's coming. Hallelujah. The ark is coming up the road. I do believe without a doubt. The ark is coming up the road. And the child of the Lord has a right to shout. The ark is coming up the road. Oh, it's coming. Hallelujah. The ark is coming up the road. It's coming. Hallelujah. The ark is coming up the road. Pray on, press on. We're gaining ground. The ark is coming up the road. And the glory of the Lord is coming down. The ark is coming up the road. Oh, it's coming. Hallelujah. The ark is coming up the road. It's coming. Hallelujah. The ark is coming up the road. Oh, we thank you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. We love you, Lord. We praise you, Lord. We praise you, Lord. We praise you. We praise you, Lord. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. I remember in Taiwan, we would hear something there when they praised the Lord, and then they'd say, Samae Jesu. What does that mean? Samae Jesu. Huh? Praise the Lord. And they'd just say, Samae Jesu. So sweetly, you know. Well, that's right. Amen. We praise the Lord. And they did too. And they enjoyed it. They enjoyed Jesus. That's the thing that mattered. And they were taught those things, and you know, it was wonderful, wonderful. Because they came out of heathenism. They knew what they were saved from. Sometimes we have a different impression, but they were in the darkness, and now they're in the light. And when they'd come to praise the Lord, they raised their hands, and with all their hearts they praised Him and thanked Him for bringing them out and bringing them into His presence. And you know, their church was sort of up on a hill, and you could walk up from the main drag down there. When you got to the corner, right here was the heathen temple. And the priest in there, he spoke in tongues too. Can you believe that? You'd hear him. But there was a darkness there, I really felt it. And then you walked a little further, up the stairs, and you got into heaven. There's such a difference in the atmosphere, I tell you, it's so striking. Because the presence of Jesus was so wonderful there. And people learned to just sing His praises and love the Lord. Hallelujah. Sister Gerda can tell you more about that than I can, because what did I know? But you know, I came back there last year to one of their meetings, and here they were, still loving Jesus, really loving Him. And praising Him was marvelous to me. God just kept them in that wonderful light all the time, and we never want to lose that. Praise the Lord. His wonderful face, and the things of earth and hell grow strangely near, in the light of His glory and grace. From death into life everlasting, we learn and we follow Him there. For us there's no more half dominion, for more than conquers we are. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, the full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely near, in the light of His glory and grace. Hallelujah. I praise you Lord, Hallelujah. You know, if we've lost something, why, Jesus is here to restore that. He is. And He's doing that as you open your heart to Him. Say, Jesus, I've been a little remiss about praising you. I've lost that song that you gave me, and I want you to restore that. You know, He does those things, that's why we're here. Oh, Jesus has lifted us, folks. Hallelujah. Out of the night, into glorious light. And dear Lord, if those lights have grown dim, we pray one for another tonight. Oh, Jesus. Just touch everybody in this meeting. Every heart, Lord. And we open our hearts to You, and expect You, Lord, in Your great mercy and love, to lift us, to change us, Lord. To restore us, O God. He restoreth my soul. He does that, that's His work. And He's here to do that for you tonight. So don't be discouraged, but be encouraged. And let God encourage you and add to your experience, and you'll be so thankful. And you'll make His heart glad if you do that. Because He just loves to bless His people. Hallelujah. Oh, we believe You together, Lord, that everyone here shall be lifted into the glory of God tonight. The glory of Your presence. Wonderful. Wonderful, Lord. Fresh anointing. A fresh anointing. Holy Spirit, breathe on me. For I need a new empowering in my life to be used more for Thee. Fresh anointing. A fresh anointing. Holy Spirit, breathe on me. For I need a new empowering in my life to be used more for Thee. Now, David said, I know I'm going to be anointed with fresh oil. And, you know, I looked that up. I said, hey, fresh oil, what does that mean? Well, that's the first pressing. When you press olives, you know, the richness comes out first. First oil, I'm going to have the best. I'll be anointed with fresh oil. He knew that God would do that. And he expected that. And we want to expect that, too, don't we? Why, sure. Fresh anointing. A fresh anointing. Holy Spirit, breathe on me. For I need a new empowering in my life to be used more for Thee.