Are You Willing - Part 8

Jesus says, May thy rich grace impart strength to my fainting heart, my zeal inspire. As thou hast died for me, so may my love to thee pure, warm, and changeless be. Supposing God were as fitful in his attitude to you as you are to him, what would happen? A little servant girl says, I'm on my knees two and a half hours every morning, and every time I strike a match and light a fire, I say, Lord as I kindle this fire, kindle your fire in my heart, the fire of the Spirit of God. And I've been here for years, I must have lit hundreds and hundreds of fires. She wasn't at the table serving meals with all the celebrities. She's up at the crack of dawn, she's carrying a heavy bucket of coal. She's clearing the dirt out. And it's a ritual most people wouldn't have. But she turned it into a sacrament. She turned the tables on the devil. And when he says, well you could be praying, I couldn't do more than that. She said, I'd bow there some days lady, and I'd just worship. I'd see the flames go up, and I'd think of the sacrifices that were made. No, don't pity me, she said, I've got a wonderful job. They pay me to have my devotions. They pay me to sustain my prayer life. I wish there were a lot more people like that. Look out, he might bring you up this week and ask you to drink of the cup. Can you share my baptism? Oh, you can have the baptism of the Holy Ghost, that's not his baptism. My baptism, a baptism of sorrow, a baptism of desertion, a baptism of pain, a baptism of loneliness, a baptism of darkness, it's all combined. Well, can you drink it? Or do we try and make some excuses? All he's asking for is obedience. Obedience is the key to everything. Well, I don't know if I said all I wanted to say. But I'm not going to say any more anyhow. We're going to spend some time in prayer. Now let me say this to you very lovingly. Last week there were disturbances, there were people, you can pray in tongues, you can pray in anything you like, but don't do it audibly. Don't mutter, mutter, mutter and distract people around at the side of you. Some of them come from houses where children are muttering and carrying on all day. Some services like that, we don't. I like stillness. I want to know what you're praying about, therefore I need to listen. The people didn't come next to you to be disturbed. You don't help them when you're muttering all the time. Do it, do it in your heart, do it quietly, not audibly. This is serious business. Time is running out fast for all of us. I don't believe the economy will last five more years. The next decade will be the toughest America has ever had. Unless again like in 1742 when God raised up some men. And I want to remind you of this as I finish. The greatest revival that swept America wasn't staged. It wasn't advertised, it wasn't financially backed. It didn't have broken down film stars and ex-footballers. It was in the ordinary course of a meeting of a previous Presbyterian. Jonathan Edwards preached his sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. There was nobody advertised, nobody projected. In my later years I've been on the road. I say yes I'll come but don't put my photo and picture in the paper. Just tell the church I'm coming to be helpful to the church. I don't want publicity, I don't want preeminence, I don't want projection. Jesus says how can you be blessed of God when you receive honor one of another? I've got a placard I say this height on my desk. There are all these men that are coming to this great revival conference in Dallas. It's not David Wilkinson, it's another one. It's the Maranatha thing. This man is, there are about six of them in the fastest growing churches in America. And this man's written so many books and all that junk. What in the world does it mean to God? Another thing. He resisteth the proud and saves such as are of a contrite and a broken spirit. It's a lonely life but it's a glorious life. Nobody stood by Jesus, maybe nobody stands by you. Then he again says come down from the cross and save yourself. You see somebody else saving his neck and you follow him and you lose your blessing, lose your reward, lose your power. Amongst other things you pray for what you like. But I'm quite sure about this tonight. Many of us have unsaved loved ones, unsaved children, unsaved relatives. The other night we prayed for the Indians, we'll pray for them tonight. Brother Spencer's here tonight. He's a full-blooded Indian and he's a burden for his tribe. And we want to back him in prayer. I don't know why Americans don't look after the Indians. There's two million of them. And I guarantee all but 100,000 are going to hell. It doesn't worry us. We go to the mission field. We go to another country, get churches to raise money. We want to send one of our children down to South America or somewhere. Why not get them on a bus and give them some sandwiches and send them to an Indian reservation? It's not glamorous. People perish on our doorsteps. And we're praying for Spencer, God will anoint him and anoint others to go into those reservations. Again, we need to pray for our young people. It's getting more and more difficult every year now for children to be educated. We pay them to poison the children. Throw the creation story out, bring in evolution. And the whole balance is going to the devil. And it's not going to be stopped by legislation, it's going to be stopped by revival. Only God can put up a barrier against that rotten corruption that's sweeping the land. Now if you need to go, we'll understand if you go, but please again, if you're not going to pray, be quiet. If you're going to pray, speak audibly so we can share your prayer. Can you give me a chair, brother, please?