1 00:00:01,350 --> 00:00:03,130 A couple of years ago, I was walking 2 00:00:03,130 --> 00:00:04,850 out to the pastor friend of mine, the 3 00:00:04,850 --> 00:00:07,430 leader of the ministerium in the city of 4 00:00:07,430 --> 00:00:08,950 Victoria, where I live, in Canada. 5 00:00:10,150 --> 00:00:12,270 He's a delightful brother, I delight in him, 6 00:00:12,370 --> 00:00:13,690 he's a fine, godly man. 7 00:00:14,730 --> 00:00:16,010 He made this comment to me, he said, 8 00:00:16,110 --> 00:00:18,890 Garth, I love being with you because you've 9 00:00:18,890 --> 00:00:20,290 got a fire in your belly. 10 00:00:22,370 --> 00:00:25,430 He meant that as a compliment, but immediately 11 00:00:25,430 --> 00:00:28,610 through my mind went a question, why doesn't 12 00:00:28,610 --> 00:00:29,230 everyone else? 13 00:00:31,409 --> 00:00:32,570 I want to tell you a little bit 14 00:00:32,570 --> 00:00:34,090 of my testimony, I want to walk you 15 00:00:34,090 --> 00:00:36,710 through my testimony of what God has done 16 00:00:36,710 --> 00:00:38,770 in my past a little bit, and then 17 00:00:38,770 --> 00:00:40,250 to tell you the passion of my heart 18 00:00:40,250 --> 00:00:40,590 now. 19 00:00:41,590 --> 00:00:43,230 I was born in the country of Wales, 20 00:00:43,310 --> 00:00:44,890 you can probably tell that by my accent. 21 00:00:45,910 --> 00:00:48,010 Everywhere I go, people comment about my accent. 22 00:00:49,290 --> 00:00:50,730 I tell them I haven't got an accent. 23 00:00:53,190 --> 00:00:54,890 Everybody in Wales speaks like this. 24 00:00:55,970 --> 00:00:58,010 The problem is, with Welsh people, when we 25 00:00:58,010 --> 00:01:00,490 get excited, we tend to talk very, very 26 00:01:00,490 --> 00:01:00,730 quickly. 27 00:01:00,810 --> 00:01:01,990 And if I talk very, very quickly, you're 28 00:01:01,990 --> 00:01:03,410 going to have to listen very quickly. 29 00:01:05,770 --> 00:01:07,210 The trouble is, when I talk about the 30 00:01:07,210 --> 00:01:08,790 Lord and about the good things he's done 31 00:01:08,790 --> 00:01:10,470 in my life, I tend to get excited. 32 00:01:11,790 --> 00:01:13,190 And so if I get too quick, you're 33 00:01:13,190 --> 00:01:14,290 going to have to listen quickly, okay? 34 00:01:16,070 --> 00:01:17,930 I like being with you, Garth, he said, 35 00:01:17,990 --> 00:01:20,650 because you've got a fire in your belly. 36 00:01:21,150 --> 00:01:22,510 I came to the Lord when I was 37 00:01:22,510 --> 00:01:24,190 17 from a non-Christian background. 38 00:01:25,330 --> 00:01:27,530 My pastor in Wales was a young man 39 00:01:27,530 --> 00:01:29,230 who had been birthed in the stories of 40 00:01:29,230 --> 00:01:29,990 the Welsh Revival. 41 00:01:32,890 --> 00:01:34,750 He had a desire in me to know 42 00:01:34,750 --> 00:01:36,670 something of that experience in my own life. 43 00:01:37,610 --> 00:01:39,250 In my very early days, I was taught 44 00:01:39,250 --> 00:01:41,430 the stories of the Hebrides revival in Scotland. 45 00:01:43,450 --> 00:01:45,030 And I hungered to hear more of these 46 00:01:45,030 --> 00:01:45,430 stories. 47 00:01:45,710 --> 00:01:46,770 I loved to hear these stories. 48 00:01:46,870 --> 00:01:48,030 This is what I was birthed on as 49 00:01:48,030 --> 00:01:48,410 a Christian. 50 00:01:50,340 --> 00:01:52,720 That pastor lit in me a fire, a 51 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:53,980 desire for more of God. 52 00:01:54,220 --> 00:01:56,000 I wanted to see those things happen again. 53 00:01:56,080 --> 00:01:58,640 I never questioned the God who moved in 54 00:01:58,640 --> 00:02:00,720 Wales in 1904, the God who moved in 55 00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:03,100 the Hebrides, the Isle of Lewis in the 56 00:02:03,100 --> 00:02:04,700 50s, was the God who could move in 57 00:02:04,700 --> 00:02:07,300 my life and in my circumstance and in 58 00:02:07,300 --> 00:02:08,820 the cities where I was dwelling and in 59 00:02:08,820 --> 00:02:09,639 the countries where I go. 60 00:02:09,720 --> 00:02:10,360 I believe that. 61 00:02:10,900 --> 00:02:12,100 I'm still convinced of that. 62 00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:14,880 I believe God wants to bring revival to 63 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:16,760 this nation, Jamaican nation of Canada. 64 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:18,860 I believe He's able to do that. 65 00:02:20,140 --> 00:02:21,040 I hungered for God. 66 00:02:23,250 --> 00:02:24,730 When I went to university, I went to 67 00:02:24,730 --> 00:02:25,330 study physics. 68 00:02:25,470 --> 00:02:27,050 I became a physics teacher and I taught 69 00:02:27,050 --> 00:02:28,850 physics in secondary schools in Wales. 70 00:02:29,310 --> 00:02:31,490 In fact, I emigrated to Canada in 1975 71 00:02:31,490 --> 00:02:32,670 as a physics teacher. 72 00:02:33,010 --> 00:02:35,910 But all that time, the passion in me 73 00:02:35,910 --> 00:02:37,910 was growing for the things of God. 74 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:41,720 I remember when I was in university. 75 00:02:42,680 --> 00:02:44,160 I remember that day so well when I 76 00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:46,560 met in the living room of the house 77 00:02:46,560 --> 00:02:47,900 where I was in digs. 78 00:02:47,900 --> 00:02:48,600 It was midday. 79 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:51,060 It was May the 4th, 1961, five years 80 00:02:51,060 --> 00:02:51,860 after my conversion. 81 00:02:52,960 --> 00:02:54,380 I was pleading with God. 82 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:55,360 I needed to know Him more. 83 00:02:55,520 --> 00:02:57,600 And God visited me in a wonderful, wonderful 84 00:02:57,600 --> 00:02:59,500 feeling of His Spirit, the baptism of His 85 00:02:59,500 --> 00:02:59,740 Spirit. 86 00:03:00,100 --> 00:03:01,800 Whatever terms you want to use, God came 87 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:04,340 into that room and He lit that fire 88 00:03:04,340 --> 00:03:05,760 and sanded it into a blaze. 89 00:03:06,240 --> 00:03:07,680 The praise of God has never gone out. 90 00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:10,860 There have been days when it has been 91 00:03:10,860 --> 00:03:12,300 the dampening of the embers. 92 00:03:12,980 --> 00:03:14,360 But that is why I spend time in 93 00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:14,680 the morning. 94 00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:16,100 And I encourage you to be people of 95 00:03:16,100 --> 00:03:16,920 morning devotions. 96 00:03:17,040 --> 00:03:19,340 And my prayer in my morning devotions often 97 00:03:19,340 --> 00:03:20,740 centers around the Holy Spirit. 98 00:03:20,860 --> 00:03:21,460 Fan the flame. 99 00:03:22,620 --> 00:03:23,340 Fan the flame. 100 00:03:26,390 --> 00:03:28,490 I remember going to preach in a church 101 00:03:28,490 --> 00:03:30,390 in Wales back in the 70s. 102 00:03:30,450 --> 00:03:31,650 I was leading a youth work in Wales 103 00:03:31,650 --> 00:03:33,010 at that time that God was blessing. 104 00:03:33,130 --> 00:03:34,190 It was growing very rapidly. 105 00:03:34,930 --> 00:03:36,370 I was a layman, a physics teacher. 106 00:03:37,390 --> 00:03:38,930 I went to preach in a little chapel 107 00:03:38,930 --> 00:03:40,430 in Wales or a big chapel in Wales. 108 00:03:40,570 --> 00:03:42,270 There was lots and lots of opportunities for 109 00:03:42,270 --> 00:03:43,290 lay people to preach. 110 00:03:44,490 --> 00:03:47,210 I probably preached 200 times before I became 111 00:03:47,210 --> 00:03:47,990 an ordained pastor. 112 00:03:49,410 --> 00:03:51,270 And this church in which I was invited 113 00:03:51,270 --> 00:03:53,090 to speak had been built during the Welsh 114 00:03:53,090 --> 00:03:55,450 Revival to seat maybe 1,000, 1,500 115 00:03:55,450 --> 00:03:55,950 people. 116 00:03:57,590 --> 00:03:59,270 The night I was there, there were 25 117 00:03:59,270 --> 00:04:02,950 people in the congregation, scattered different places through 118 00:04:02,950 --> 00:04:03,310 the building. 119 00:04:04,550 --> 00:04:06,490 And the elevated pulpit that was there for 120 00:04:06,490 --> 00:04:08,030 the preacher, because in those days they didn't 121 00:04:08,030 --> 00:04:10,330 have PA systems, there was an elevated pulpit, 122 00:04:10,790 --> 00:04:12,930 all the seats surrounding two levels. 123 00:04:14,170 --> 00:04:15,790 Behind me was the organ that had been 124 00:04:15,790 --> 00:04:18,130 electrified, so I pressed the note for the 125 00:04:18,130 --> 00:04:18,709 first hymn. 126 00:04:19,010 --> 00:04:20,089 Let us sing together. 127 00:04:20,630 --> 00:04:21,089 I pressed the note. 128 00:04:21,190 --> 00:04:22,270 Ah, we sang a cappella. 129 00:04:23,970 --> 00:04:25,690 I had to do everything during the service. 130 00:04:25,790 --> 00:04:28,630 I opened in prayer, came finally to preach 131 00:04:28,630 --> 00:04:29,630 the word, and I finished. 132 00:04:30,530 --> 00:04:31,890 And I don't know if this was the 133 00:04:31,890 --> 00:04:33,030 church, but many of the churches, they would 134 00:04:33,030 --> 00:04:34,550 have little notes in the pulpit that said, 135 00:04:34,550 --> 00:04:36,550 Please finish by ten to seven because we 136 00:04:36,550 --> 00:04:37,930 have to go home to milk the cows 137 00:04:37,930 --> 00:04:38,790 or whatever it might be. 138 00:04:40,490 --> 00:04:42,330 And I finished, and I came down, and 139 00:04:42,330 --> 00:04:44,030 a lady came to me with seated gesture 140 00:04:44,030 --> 00:04:45,550 on my left-hand side with her husband. 141 00:04:47,640 --> 00:04:49,180 And she said the first words, Thank you, 142 00:04:49,220 --> 00:04:49,680 Mr. Evans. 143 00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:52,280 I need to apologize for my husband. 144 00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:56,040 She didn't realize that her husband was standing 145 00:04:56,040 --> 00:04:56,820 right behind her. 146 00:04:56,860 --> 00:04:57,720 He said, It's okay, Mary. 147 00:04:57,740 --> 00:04:59,300 I can apologize for myself. 148 00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:03,140 Mr. Evans, please forgive me if I appeared 149 00:05:03,140 --> 00:05:03,860 to be asleep. 150 00:05:04,840 --> 00:05:06,060 I was not asleep. 151 00:05:07,180 --> 00:05:09,060 But when you opened in prayer, I was 152 00:05:09,060 --> 00:05:12,960 taken back to that day in 1910 when 153 00:05:12,960 --> 00:05:14,860 sitting in that same pew as a 16 154 00:05:14,860 --> 00:05:16,220 -year-old boy, I gave my life to 155 00:05:16,220 --> 00:05:16,540 Christ. 156 00:05:18,820 --> 00:05:21,140 I remember so well when Elder Lewis prayed 157 00:05:21,140 --> 00:05:21,760 for me. 158 00:05:23,300 --> 00:05:25,100 Tell Mr. Evans I have not lived for 159 00:05:25,100 --> 00:05:25,780 him as I ought. 160 00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:29,600 And while you have been preaching this evening, 161 00:05:29,980 --> 00:05:31,720 I have been making myself right with God. 162 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:36,380 Then he said, I do not know what 163 00:05:36,380 --> 00:05:39,460 it was about your preaching or your prayer 164 00:05:39,460 --> 00:05:42,000 that caused me to be taken back to 165 00:05:42,000 --> 00:05:42,720 those moments. 166 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:45,820 And then he stopped. 167 00:05:47,060 --> 00:05:48,340 Oh, yes, I do, he said. 168 00:05:48,500 --> 00:05:49,000 Yes, I do. 169 00:05:49,980 --> 00:05:52,100 It is obvious to me that you, like 170 00:05:52,100 --> 00:05:55,860 he, old Elder Lewis, are a child of 171 00:05:55,860 --> 00:05:56,340 the revival. 172 00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:03,190 I wasn't born in the Welsh Revival, but 173 00:06:03,190 --> 00:06:04,750 I knew the reality that I can live 174 00:06:04,750 --> 00:06:05,630 in revival today. 175 00:06:07,950 --> 00:06:09,990 You can live in revival, brothers and sisters. 176 00:06:10,770 --> 00:06:12,670 I drove down the valley that night singing 177 00:06:12,670 --> 00:06:14,270 at the top of my voice that I 178 00:06:14,270 --> 00:06:15,970 should be considered a child of the revival. 179 00:06:21,980 --> 00:06:23,340 I went back to Wales a few years 180 00:06:23,340 --> 00:06:23,520 ago. 181 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:25,800 I was doing a series of preaching in 182 00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:26,060 London. 183 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:27,680 I had been invited by Christians of the 184 00:06:27,680 --> 00:06:31,280 National Westminster Bank, speaking to the chapters of 185 00:06:31,280 --> 00:06:34,280 the Christian believers in the bank on releasing 186 00:06:34,280 --> 00:06:36,240 your gifts into the secular marketplace. 187 00:06:38,220 --> 00:06:40,020 I had a friend from Victoria pass his 188 00:06:40,020 --> 00:06:41,640 wife, who was coming to Britain for the 189 00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:42,700 wedding of her daughter. 190 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:46,260 And Karen had just booked for five days 191 00:06:46,260 --> 00:06:46,620 in Britain. 192 00:06:46,620 --> 00:06:48,680 You can't go to Britain for five days. 193 00:06:48,800 --> 00:06:49,740 It's too much to see. 194 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:53,000 I persuaded her to extend a holiday, and 195 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:54,460 I met her when she came just after 196 00:06:54,460 --> 00:06:54,860 the wedding. 197 00:06:55,380 --> 00:06:56,880 And I took her down to Wales, and 198 00:06:56,880 --> 00:06:58,440 I took her around the valleys, and I 199 00:06:58,440 --> 00:06:59,740 showed her some of the beauties of my 200 00:06:59,740 --> 00:07:00,120 homeland. 201 00:07:01,980 --> 00:07:04,720 And we ended up in the village of 202 00:07:04,720 --> 00:07:04,960 Lough. 203 00:07:07,340 --> 00:07:09,200 Probably the village that's most known around the 204 00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:09,400 world. 205 00:07:09,500 --> 00:07:11,080 It's the place where the Welsh Revival was 206 00:07:11,080 --> 00:07:11,360 centered. 207 00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:14,720 You see, I married a girl from Lough. 208 00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:18,580 My mother-in-law was a child of 209 00:07:18,580 --> 00:07:20,800 two in the church where Eben Roberts' ministry 210 00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:21,220 began. 211 00:07:22,720 --> 00:07:24,280 So Mother knew the stories. 212 00:07:25,700 --> 00:07:26,820 She met Eben Roberts. 213 00:07:27,660 --> 00:07:29,480 So from the time I met my wife, 214 00:07:29,500 --> 00:07:31,020 I got to know more of the stories. 215 00:07:32,520 --> 00:07:34,120 Secondhand yet, but by people who had been 216 00:07:34,120 --> 00:07:35,020 touched by the Revival. 217 00:07:37,000 --> 00:07:38,320 So just four or five years ago, I 218 00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:40,920 took my American friend, who passed his wife 219 00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:42,780 from Canada, to Wales, and I took her 220 00:07:42,780 --> 00:07:44,820 to the home of my in-laws, my 221 00:07:44,820 --> 00:07:46,000 brother-in-law and sister-in-law. 222 00:07:48,050 --> 00:07:49,750 Betty, of course, her mother, as I mentioned 223 00:07:49,750 --> 00:07:50,990 to you, was a child there at the 224 00:07:50,990 --> 00:07:51,910 time with Eben Roberts. 225 00:07:52,450 --> 00:07:54,730 Vivian, my brother-in-law, his grandfather was 226 00:07:54,730 --> 00:07:55,970 converted during the Revival. 227 00:07:56,270 --> 00:07:57,490 He was one of those men who built 228 00:07:57,490 --> 00:07:58,330 the local chapel. 229 00:07:58,650 --> 00:08:00,410 His father grew up with those stories. 230 00:08:00,510 --> 00:08:02,470 His father was a teenager during the Revival. 231 00:08:02,790 --> 00:08:04,130 And Vivian, my brother-in-law, of course, 232 00:08:04,170 --> 00:08:04,870 read the stories. 233 00:08:06,230 --> 00:08:08,810 So we sat down and we drank coffee 234 00:08:08,810 --> 00:08:11,710 and ate waffles as Vivian is telling Karen 235 00:08:11,710 --> 00:08:13,410 some of the stories of the Welsh Revival. 236 00:08:15,110 --> 00:08:19,930 And I said to Vivian, Vivian, what was 237 00:08:19,930 --> 00:08:22,270 the most striking thing about the Welsh Revival? 238 00:08:22,530 --> 00:08:24,070 What was the major characteristic? 239 00:08:24,250 --> 00:08:25,070 Was it the hymn singing? 240 00:08:25,170 --> 00:08:26,770 Because many wonderful hymns came out at that 241 00:08:26,770 --> 00:08:27,090 time. 242 00:08:28,230 --> 00:08:29,150 Was it the preaching? 243 00:08:29,270 --> 00:08:30,190 I knew the answer to that. 244 00:08:30,250 --> 00:08:31,789 We have no preaching record of Eben Roberts 245 00:08:31,789 --> 00:08:32,169 preaching. 246 00:08:33,270 --> 00:08:35,150 What was the most striking thing about the 247 00:08:35,150 --> 00:08:35,690 Welsh Revival? 248 00:08:36,409 --> 00:08:37,950 And my brother-in-law and sister-in 249 00:08:37,950 --> 00:08:42,150 -law in unison said together, Oh, Gareth, it 250 00:08:42,150 --> 00:08:45,530 was the awesome presence of God. 251 00:08:48,850 --> 00:08:51,470 Both sinner and saint came into the place. 252 00:08:52,390 --> 00:08:54,130 F.B. Mayer came down from London to 253 00:08:54,130 --> 00:08:55,350 visit this place and he says as he 254 00:08:55,350 --> 00:08:56,750 got off the train in Swansea, as he's 255 00:08:56,750 --> 00:08:59,110 coming out to the village of Dorseinen in 256 00:08:59,110 --> 00:09:01,310 Lacha, he said, Oh, I felt the awesome 257 00:09:01,310 --> 00:09:04,150 presence of God. 258 00:09:08,280 --> 00:09:09,880 When was the last time you sensed the 259 00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:12,380 awesome presence of God? 260 00:09:17,450 --> 00:09:19,050 When was the last time that you can 261 00:09:19,050 --> 00:09:21,070 remember being in a place, maybe walking a 262 00:09:21,070 --> 00:09:24,410 beach, maybe in your private closet, maybe even 263 00:09:24,410 --> 00:09:28,110 in a meeting, when you sensed the awesome 264 00:09:28,110 --> 00:09:28,370 presence? 265 00:09:28,370 --> 00:09:30,590 I'm not talking about feeling goosebumps because you 266 00:09:30,590 --> 00:09:31,210 enjoyed the singing. 267 00:09:33,090 --> 00:09:35,150 I'm not talking about getting emotionally wound up 268 00:09:35,150 --> 00:09:37,190 because of the Christian karaoke that has just 269 00:09:37,190 --> 00:09:37,910 been up on the platform. 270 00:09:39,850 --> 00:09:42,330 I'm talking about the awesome presence of God.