...for me to have fellowship with you here
in the local church.
I was thinking as I was driving down
in our blizzard in North Carolina here, how
good God has been to me as my
loving Heavenly Father.
You know, I lost possibly maybe 200, maybe
300,000 friends.
300,000 is a lot of friends to
lose, isn't it?
Brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ, because after
I was sentenced to death by the Russians,
I managed to escape, but I lost all
my Christian friends behind the Iron Curtain.
And I loved them.
They were willing to die for me, and
I was willing to die for them.
And when we left each other, we wept
and wept.
You know, we wept and wept and wept.
And sometimes you would think we're going to
offer 10 years.
We're just going to offer a day.
But it's like my wife sometimes says to
me, I don't know why I'm weeping because
you're going away, I'm weeping because you love
the Lord and I love the Lord.
What is your husband-wife relationship?
But she says, I sure miss you.
And it's like these believers, we left the
homes.
And outside, a sister would, maybe, and she
would stand and say, and
then she would say, let's sing Jesus Never
Fails.
And then we would sing it together, the
whole family outside.
Then the husband would say, oh James, let's
pray again.
And we have got heaven below
this morning.
And how good God has been.
I was thinking, I never knew what God
was going to do when I come home
this time to give you as my friends.
I knew he was going to do something
down here, and I knew he was going
to do something new for me this time
I come back home.
He promised to do it for me in
missionary fellowship, in loving interest and prayers of
the saints.
It was revealed to me, but not exactly
just what it was going to be.
And this is a bright and happy occasion
that comforts my heart that I lost a
lot of friends behind the iron curtain, but
I'm getting a lot of friends here and
here.
And we need your friendship in the cause
of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Now, I want to speak to you tonight
about the characteristics of a high spiritual church.
The characteristics of a high spiritual church.
Now, I'm reading from the second book of
Acts.
And I have dealt with this subject in
what I think is my best book, Open
Windows.
I prayed more in writing this book than
any other book, Open Windows.
And I have dealt with it in the
chapter called The Local Church, The Center of
Revival.
But just this morning, as I have been
with you, I felt led to change the
message completely from what I have written here
in The Local Church and Revival in the
book Open Windows.
And so we're reading, first of all, in
the second chapter of Acts.
And we're reading from verse 41.
Let's begin maybe, I think just for the
sake of reading sense, we better begin at
verse 33.
Verse 33 is a key verse throughout the
book of Acts.
And if you have your Bible, you mark
it with red pencil or red ink or
something.
Outline that to verse 33, will you?
It's a key verse.
Therefore being by the right hand of God
exalted, and having received of the Father the
promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed
forth this which ye now see and hear.
For David is not ascended into the heavens,
but he saith himself, The Lord sent unto
my Lord, Therefore, the second therefore, therefore let
all the house of Israel know assuredly that
God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye
have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
Now, when they heard this, they were pricked
in their heart, and said unto Peter and
to the rest of the apostles, Men and
brethren, what shall we do?
Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be
baptized, every one of you, in the name
of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins,
and ye shall receive the gift of the
Holy Ghost.
We were apart often the day of Pentecost,
even as many as the Lord our God
shall call.
And with many other words did he testify,
and the exalt saying, Save yourselves from this
untoward generation.
Then, they that gladly received his word were
baptized.
And the same day there were added unto
them about three thousand souls.
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine
and fellowship, and in breaking of bread in
prayers.
And fear came upon every soul, and many
wonders and signs were done by the apostles.
And all that believed were together, and had
all things common, and sold their possessions and
goods and parted them to all men as
every man of need.
And they continuing daily with one accord in
the temple, and breaking bread from house to
house, did eat their meat with gladness and
signals of heart, praising God, and having favour
with all the people.
And I can just hear that in between
it just keeps on saying, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, right all the way it says.
And the Lord added to the church daily
such as should be saved, or the Lord
added to the church such as were being
saved.
Now, here in the second chapter of Acts,
we have a thumbnail sketch for, I better
keep my short little notes I've scribbled this
morning.
You find it on a church
fold of the Holy Ghost.
And I believe, friends, that this is a
picture of God's ideal church.
Now, we believe from the very depths of
our hearts, that the greatest need of Louisiana,
the greatest need of Mississippi, and Arkansas, and
Texas, and Alabama, the greatest need of this
North American continent is local New Testament churches.
And that is why Jesus Christ was crucified,
and why he was raised by the part
of God and informed at the Father's right
hand.
That's why he lived and died, and that's
why he was informed in order that there
might be New Testament churches composed of men
and women born again and washed in the
blood of the Lamb who would praise the
loving Heavenly Father.
And my great heart's desire for you here
at Milldale, in this Baptist church, is that
you'll be a typical New Testament local assembly
of the Lord's people.
And that preachers and evangelists everywhere can say,
Do you know what I mean?
Do you know what we mean?
You go down to the Milldale and you
will see what I mean.
That is a New Testament church.
I tell you that I'm always looking for
illustrations of a life filled with the Holy
Ghost.
And then
they say, Oh, I know what you mean
about being filled with the Holy Ghost.
And what we want is examples today.
And I'm praying, and I have been praying
since leaving you in October, that this Milldale
Baptist church indeed would be a real New
Testament church.
Now, I know we're all human.
And Mr. Spurgeon, you remember what he said?
Now, he says, If you find the perfect
church, don't join it, because it will be
perfect no longer.
But that's all right.
But I believe in aspiring for God's best.
I believe in aspiring for God's best.
Now, here is a thumbnail sketch, or a
short picture of a church that is God's
ideal.
And our prayer should be, Oh God, make
this a reality in my heart and life,
and make this a reality in this New
Testament assembly.
Now, will you notice, first of all, that
it was a church with a thrilling fellowship.
A church with a thrilling fellowship.
You see, they were thrilled because they were
saved by the sovereign grace of God.
They were thrilled to the very deepest depths
of their being, that they had been redeemed
by the precious blood of Christ.
And they were thrilled beyond all excitement and
expression, that their bodies were the temples of
the Holy Ghost.
And it was a church with the thrill
of a holy fellowship.
They could sing, Now I belong to Jesus.
Jesus belongs to me.
Not for time alone, but for all eternity.
I got the news just maybe two days
ago, from my wife, that my mother went
home to glory.
And I just had to give my life
over to God again.
And then I had to sing Amazing Grace.
But you see, the verse that the Holy
Ghost sang through me, was that when we've
been there 10,000 years.
And so I had to change it and
say to the Lord, when she's been there
10,000 years, bright shining as the sun,
she's no less days to praise His name
than when she first began.
Poor mother.
You see, there's no end.
You've been there 1,000 years and you
haven't even begun to praise the Lord.
And she's glorifying.
She's begun her cycle of interest.
A cycle of prayer.
Not a prayer, but a...
Now, I believe, friend, that if you had
entered this church, meeting up in the upper
room, or if you had entered some of
these churches that were in fellowship with this
church in the book of Acts, maybe met
in a cave, or an old, old building,
you would find there was nothing in the
building.
But oh, friend, when you went in, if
you were an unbeliever even, you would have
been convicted by the mighty power of God
in the meeting.
Why?
A fellow of a holy fellowship.
They were redeemed by the blood of Christ
and they were subjects of the sovereign grace
of God.
And they could sing amazing grace.
How sweet the sound that saved a wretch
like me.
Now, I remember when I was first saved.
And you know, I don't tell all about
it, and I must tell, because I couldn't
tell everything there, but you know, I ran
the whole way home.
From the football park.
And I hammered at the door, and as
I was going up the street, you know,
I was shouting everywhere.
We lived in a busy thoroughfare.
I'm saved!
Yes, James, I could hear you down the
block.
Yes, I said, I know you're saved.
I told you you were going to be
saved.
And then, you see, I got into the
group of believers who, Mother would say, don't
forget, pray for Jimmy.
Pray for Jimmy.
Pray for my boy, the footballer boy.
And then when I went with my taxpayers
into these places that were praying for me,
they didn't want me.
They didn't want me.
And they would come, and dear old brother
would come and say, Jimmy, come out please.
And they would take me outside my taxpayers,
and they'd say, Jimmy, God bless you.
Now, there's a church just about down the
road there.
Not the third corner, the fourth corner.
That's a good church.
You see?
They didn't want me in the churches.
Because, you see, when I got in, you
see, you could hear me coming down the
street with my taxpayers.
And then I would come into the church,
and then suddenly, I would just say, oh,
hallelujah.
Now, they were all born again.
Oh, yes.
And then a brother would come along, and
then he would whisper in my ear, and
he says, you must be Jimmy Stewart.
I said, I am.
He said, oh, we were told to expect
you someday.
Now, he said, keep a bit quiet.
You see?
Quiet.
And I was carrying my taxpayers once down
the street.
I've never told you before.
And it was after midnight.
And there was a dear Bible teacher.
And he had been away from a meeting
late and got off the train and waiting
on a night bus to get him home.
And I come down the street, you see,
with a prostitute.
Stewart.
I said, yes, sir.
He said, they told me I would meet
you sometime.
He said, now listen.
He said, it's true we're on the winning
side, Sonny, but you mustn't let them know
it.
Oh, bum.
Bum come.
Let everybody know we're on the winning side.
Let everybody know the devil's defeated.
I don't believe in that.
And they try to, you know, the older
people, they've been saved for years, but last
February meeting, I went in, you see, I
was just shocked.
And that was enough, you see.
Please, if you're going to shout, let me
know.
Give me some signal.
Yes, well, I said, they
say that, and
you know, we couldn't go home.
And we would march down.
I was the baby, 14 years of age.
And we would march down the street singing,
you see, sweeping through the gates.
And then we would march down the street
to the next fella.
And then it would usually happen, a fella
would say, Jimmy, we're the two last ones.
And we'd go down singing down after midnight
to them.
And then he says, Jimmy, I'll march you,
I'll walk you home.
And then he walked me home.
And I said, oh, I think I'll walk
you home.
And so I walked him home, another two
miles back to where he lived, you see.
And then Mother would say, Jimmy, why are
you so late, two o'clock in the
morning?
I said, Mother, you don't know what to
wonder, what do you say?
This was all, you see, and I believe,
friend, that that's, and
then there is what I call the, the,
well, I wouldn't say it's a flow of
a holy fellowship, but I say the second
would be a, it was a, a company,
or a fellowship, or a Bible-believing fellowship,
or a Bible-loving fellowship.
Now, a, I say maybe I'll go second,
first, second better, a Christ-centered fellowship.
A, the Lord Jesus Christ was so magnified
by the Holy Ghost in the midst that
he took first place over everything.
Now, please remember, we've emphasized before the convention,
the Holy Ghost can never be the figurehead
ahead of any movement.
I believe that many of our dear Pentecostal
friends make that mistake.
Not all, but some of them.
Trying to make the Holy Ghost the center
of the meeting.
The Holy Ghost will never make himself the
center of the meeting.
He always will withdraw if you try to
make him the center of the meeting.
He shall glorify me, says the Lord Jesus.
And the business of the Holy Ghost is
to make Christ real and very precious to
you.
And the more the Holy Ghost is manifested
in the meeting, the more Christ will be
the center of the attraction.
And you see, this fellowship was that Christ
-centered in that the Lord Jesus Christ stood
in the midst.
And the people knew that the Lord Jesus
Christ was there.
And the unconverted people knew.
It says, And they took knowledge of them
that they had been with Jesus.
Now, I wrote, I have written down in
open windows something, what they sang in these
meetings.
Something like this, Oh God, I love thee.
Not that my poor love may win me
entrance to thy heaven above.
Nor yet that strangers to thy love must
know the bitterness of everlasting woe.
But Jesus, thou art mine and I am
thine.
Classed to thy bosom by thy arms divine.
Who on the cruel cross for me has
borne the nails, the spear, and man's unpitying
scorn.
No thought can fathom and no tongue express
thy grief, thy trials, thy anguish measureless.
Thy death, O Lamb of God, the undefiled.
And all for me thy wayward sinful child.
How can I choose but love thee, God's
dear son?
Oh Jesus, loveliest and most loving one.
For there no heaven to gain, no hell
to flee.
For what thou art alone, I must love
thee.
Not for the hope of glory or reward,
but even as thyself has loved me, Lord.
I love thee and will love thee and
adore.
Who art my king, my God, forevermore.
It was a church of a Christ-centered
fellowship.
Jesus Christ was the center of the attraction.
It was noised abroad that he was in
the house.
And when the unconverted people came in, and
believers came into these early gatherings of this
church, they knew right away that it was
a...
Now, that is, I believe, one of our
greatest needs today.
Do you know that you can go into
evangelical meeting after evangelical meeting, fundamental church meeting
after fundamental church meeting, and there is no
sense of the living Christ in the midst
of these people.
And when they leave the meeting, it's just
as if they have left a baseball park,
or a cinema, or a theater, or a...
Why?
Because Jesus Christ and all his reality has
not been in the midst.
Supposing some friend said to you, why are
we in the middle of the old Baptist
church this morning?
What would you say?
Would you say, I was there to meet
with my Lord.
Yes.
And did you meet with your Lord?
Was he there?
And tragedy is after tragedy that we have
to see many times, no, our Lord wasn't
there.
Because, my dear friend, if Jesus Christ came
into this meeting this morning physically, and he
came in here, my dear friend, we would
know it.
And yet, where two or three are gathered
together unto my name, he says, there am
I in the midst.
And friend, we will never have revival, we
will never see so say the power of
God, until it's a church that is, as
I say, Christ-centered.
Now, I don't mean a sentimental Christ.
Now, you dear ladies, you see, don't get
a sentimental Christ.
I read the other day from a lady,
and she writes quite a number of letters,
and you know, she has a sentimental Christ.
Now, we men, we want a masculine Christ.
Yes.
But you see, the Christ that you have
as a wife, and the Christ that you
have as a husband, he's just the same.
And we want a deep Christ, a big
Christ, a majestic Christ.
You understand what I mean?
A Christ in all his beauty and all
his matchless glory.
Not a superficial, sentimental love to Jesus Christ.
No.
Something that's deep.
It's like your marriage life.
Your marriage life goes deeper and deeper and
deeper as it proceeds.
It may not be so emotional, but it's
deeper and deeper, because you have known each
other longer than you'd ever known before.
And you go on with Jesus Christ, the
Holy Ghost, deepens and deepens your love for
Christ.
And, oh friend, the church is filled with
the glory of the Lord.
Then I hurry, and I notice that it
was a church with a Bible-loving fellowship.
They continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine.
Now, I believe, friend, that if we're going
to have a real New Testament church, there
must be a church of doctrine.
Now, may I say to you, dear sisters,
it's not easy for you to get down
to Bible study, because you have the homework,
taking care of your husband.
You have to take care of children.
But you must try and get your Bible
down and say, Blessed Holy Ghost, they teach
me thy word.
Open up the book to me, you say.
It's not easy to rise.
My wife has to rise sometimes at five
o'clock in the morning to get an
hour alone with God before she starts the
day.
And you see, every one of you is
going to fight for this time.
But we must have the word of God
in our meetings.
It's a church that is a Bible-loving
church.
Now, we've got to know what the Holy
Ghost says in the book.
And we've got to be deep, intelligent Christians
and know what's in the Bible from the
end of Genesis to the end of Revelation.
I can go to some denominational churches and
I just exactly know, because they live in
one book or one chapter.
Now, the Holy Ghost wants us to live
in all the chapters of the Bible.
And, you know, if we, friend, do not
have an intelligent group of believers in the
word of God, then we're going to backslide.
I shall never forget Dr. Graham Scoggins saying
to me, he said, James, when Dr. A
.T. Pearson left the Welsh Revival in 1904
and came to London, he said to me,
Dr. Scoggins says, there's a great danger in
the Welsh Revival just petering out.
Why?
Because he said, there is very little Bible
exposition.
You see, these dear believers in Wales, they
were so enthused with the love of Jesus
Christ.
Their meetings were on day and night for
two years.
Can you imagine day and night for two
years?
If it was like Baton Rouge, every church
in Baton Rouge would be filled for two
years every night.
Can you imagine?
And just the same, the same would be
in the Shreveport, the same would be all
over, you see.
New Orleans, just the same.
And the people were so filled with the
glory of God.
For two years, there's almost no Bible teaching
in any of these meetings.
And, you know, after two years, it did
die out.
Now, I believe, I believe, my brother, my
sister, that if we just live on our
experiences, we will soon backslide, our hearts will
grow cold.
And many of you may have lost something
even since November.
And you were sincere in everything you said,
in everything you prayed, in everything you did.
You were absolutely sincere.
You say, oh God, I'll do this 100%.
And maybe you didn't go on deeper with
God at all.
Now, I can give you one reason.
You can't live on experiences, no matter how
precious they are.
Now, you may tell about them if the
Holy Ghost releases you to do so.
You know, I have to be careful the
stories I tell, because I could tell you
thousands.
But I must ask the Holy Ghost, now,
do you want me to tell that story?
I'm asked to write many of my stories,
and the Holy Ghost says, no, don't you
write about it, you see.
Don't you write about it.
But if you're released to tell your experience
to another brother or in the church, that's
all right.
But beware of living on experiences.
We must live upon the Word of God.
How can we abide in the vine?
We abide in Christ the vine, by daily
communion with the Lord Jesus.
And that is by the systematic reading of
the Word of God.
And you know, I've often longed, when I
was a boy, I used to long that
I could preach like Spurgeon.
But when I grew older, I wished that
I could get preached to Spurgeon's congregation.
Now, if you could get me Spurgeon's congregation,
I think I could preach like Spurgeon.
But you see, old I have Spurgeon's congregation.
They were giants, you see, giants.
I was in meetings recently in Denmark, and
you know, every one of the thousand believers,
almost every one of the thousand believers could
have stood up and expounded the Scriptures from
Genesis.
You see, that's easy to teach.
It's easy for a pastor, easy for a
Bible teacher to come in to teach the
Word of God.
I started to tell you about Russia, and
I'll tell you about the Volga.
Now, I believe, friends, that this church, it
continues steadfast in the Apostle's doctrine.
Now, people say, we don't want doctrine.
We must have doctrine.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God
and is what?
Profitable.
And I'm praying that God will make you
a pastor, a Bible expositor more than ever.
I pray that you will take this book,
my brother, my sister, on your knees and
say, Oh, blessed Holy Ghost, reveal Thy Word
to me.
Now, you can see how the Apostle Paul
and Philippians and Colossians and Ephesians praised.
But the church eyes would be open that
they would have what?
These local churches would have a deep spiritual
insight into the Holy Spirit.
And I could tell you of all the
men and women who have been taught of
the Holy Ghost alone without theological summary.
And they are giants in the Word of
God.
Now, we need brothers and sisters in our
churches.
Every believer taught of the Holy Ghost.
It was, I say, a Bible-loving church.
Oh, God make you a Bible-loving church.
And may God make you a Bible-intelligent
church that you'll know this book intelligently.
You ask the average Christian, you know what
he believes.
And you soon discover the only thing he
knows is what his pastor told him.
That's all.
But we need the ministry of the pastor.
We need the ministry of the evangelist.
We need the ministry of the Bible teacher.
These are all the sovereign gifts of the
ascended Christ of the church.
But my brother, don't be like a Roman
Catholic.
You know, I asked a Roman Catholic once
in Ireland, what do you believe?
He says, I believe what the Pope believes.
I said, what does the church believe?
And I said, what does the church believe?
He said, I believe what the Pope believes.
And I said, what does the Pope believe?
He says, what my father...
He knew nothing except what the church told
him.
What his priest told him.
Now friend, don't be a spoon-fed Christian.
Don't keep on being a bathing Christ.
Get down in the book and let the
Holy Ghost speak to you.
And say, I thank God for the ministry
of my pastor.
I thank God for the ministry of the
Bible teacher evangelist.
But I know this is true because the
Holy Ghost has revealed it to me.
And how wonderful it is to come with
this blessed book to another sister, another brother,
and say, hallelujah, that Lord has revealed to
me this precious truth.
And do you know what D.L. Moody
used to do?
I collect Bibles.
I have Hudson Taylor left two Bibles, I
think.
I've got one of them.
I used to have Mr. Moody's Bible.
Maybe I still have it.
The one he used in the London campaigns.
You know what Mr. Moody did?
He used to...
When he studied his Bible, he would write
footnotes.
St. Romans or Ephesians or Ezekiel.
And then he would say to your brother,
here's my Bible.
Would you lend me your Bible?
And then the brother had his Bible all
marked.
And Brother Moody would go through the notes
of that brother.
What the Holy Ghost had revealed to him
in that book.
Wouldn't that be precious?
Now wouldn't that be lovely if you gathered
that way some of you sisters?
That you say, oh, I want to...
I'd like to show you what the Lord
has revealed to me there in the book.
Will you take my Bible and you read
my margin?
I'll take yours.
Wouldn't we have a wonderful time together?
Now, then I hurry.
It was a church with a steadfast membership.
They continued steadfastly.
Now this is practical.
This is nothing about doctrine.
This is practical.
They continued steadfastly.
Now, the greatest leap today we have in
our churches is for believers who are absolutely
steadfast.
Now I believe in emotion.
I believe in getting excited.
My mother never got excited about anything at
all.
She had a nice little hallelujah, that's all.
But my mother loved the Lord Jesus in
the deep, subterranean way.
Deep, deep, deep, deep way.
You know?
Many people like that can't express themselves.
But they express them by their life.
Now, you know, if you want to express
yourself in faithfulness, come down to an early
morning prayer meeting, if you want to express
yourself in faithfulness, clean up the church, wash
the dishes.
Now, it's strange how many believers that shout
glory hallelujah admit that the noisest profession of
loving the Lord and when it comes to
steadfastness in the ministry of the local church,
they're miles behind.
Others who don't make any high-sounding profession
at all.
And you know that many Christian people during
meetings will make alibis and excuses why they're
not at the meetings.
When I first came to the States, I
told you before, I couldn't understand what the
pastor was always doing.
It's often the people that turn up every
night.
In our meeting, you have to ask the
believers to stay away every night because they'll
keep you going every night.
And you'll say, well, let's have a break.
You'll say, oh no, you're tired, Brother James.
You'll just carry on yourself for the next
week.
You'll meet with us the next week.
And here we have motor cars, heaters in
the car, and it gets a little bit
cold and you'll find that the pastor gets
discouraged and the evangelist gets discouraged, the Bible
teacher gets discouraged.
Why?
Because the believers are not there.
Do you know that our believers in Russia
and in Eastern Europe, they were walking icy
roads, in blizzards.
They had not even money for a bicycle.
Of course, a bicycle couldn't even go in
a blizzard, as you know.
And we would know, no matter what the
blizzard was there, they would die in the
attempt to get to the morning meeting.
You see?
Die in the attempt.
And yet any little thing would keep us
away.
I remember when people would come to our
home in Glasgow and it was Wednesday night
or any night, and there was meetings on
in my mother's church.
And she would just say, well, I'm so
glad she stays here.
We're going to have our meal.
And then she says, our service starts at
half past seven and I know you'll enjoy
the preaching tonight.
And they said, oh, Mrs. Stewart, we just
couldn't go.
I said, my mother, six and I leave
at seven o'clock because we have a
prayer meeting before the evening service.
And she just left.
She won't stay at home.
And as the pastor said in his announcements,
and I said, if there's nobody at the
early morning prayer meeting, Mother Stewart, the oldest
member of the church, she'll be there.
And I've seen my mother strike out in
the blizzard to walk to her church, seven
miles down the road.
And she was about 70 years of age.
In the ice.
And you know, every time I came to
evangelize in my own city of Glasgow, my
mother was never there.
She was never there.
Where was she?
Oh, in her own church, of course.
And I said, Mother, you could come out
sometime to hear me.
She said, James, we have meetings every night
in my own church and the Holy Ghost
told me to remember that church and I'm
there.
But I said, Mother, I'd just like to
recognize you one night and tell the people,
you led me for Christ.
Oh, she says, we all know that.
You say, no.
Now, I believe, friend, that we need men
and women of that caliber today.
They'll be as steady as a rock.
They'll be unchangeable.
You know, it's a terrible thing.
My wife sometimes says to me, oh, she
says, I wonder when we go back now
after three years if that brother will be
still shouting Hallelujah.
I wonder if we go back to this
city, to this city, I wonder if that
sister still has the same missionary enthusiasm.
The sister has lost her passion for foreign
missions.
That's a tragedy.
God wants us to go right on.
Therefore, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in
the work of the Lord for as much
as you know that you're laboring.
And then you'll notice again it was a
church with a sanctified membership.
In verse 40, Peter says in the end
of his Pentecostal sermon, save yourselves from this
untoward generation.
Separate yourselves from it.
It was a church of a sanctified membership.
Now you know what sanctification simply means.
The Sabbath was a sanctified day.
The sanctuary was a sanctified place.
And a saint is a sanctified person.
Now, you know, the original meaning of a
word is usually found, or the first meaning,
or the meaning of a word is usually
found in its first original mention.
And the first original mention of sanctified as
you know, God made the Sabbath day and
he sanctified it.
So the Sabbath was a sanctified day, a
separated day.
A sanctuary, a separated place.
A saint, a separated person.
Now, this was a church of a sanctified
membership.
They were separated from the present evil age.
They were separated from sin.
They were holy people.
I wonder now, is everybody here this morning
separated from sin?
From doubtful indulgences?
Are you completely separated from this unholy world?
Then I hide.
It was a church with a worshipful service,
or say, a worshipful fellowship.
Now, I believe the most precious meeting in
the church, and the most important meeting in
the church, is the hour of worship.
Now, you know, if I had my way,
I would have a worship meeting every Sunday
morning, I would have a break and a
bread every Sunday morning.
I hope that it would be, I think
it would be lovely if this coming, this
week, God willing, that we could have a
break and a bread service on Friday night,
or some day before we all separate.
Wouldn't that be wonderful?
Now, I believe, friend, that around the gathering
of the Lord, the Lord's table, that's where
you can really worship.
And I am told that, that those who
knew Mr. Spurgeon best, the preachers and everybody
said, most of the preachers said, Spurgeon never
stood so solitary alone.
He never seemed so far removed from all
of us, as when he stood at the
Lord's table, and staffed with talk about his
blessed Lord.
Now, I believe, friend, it's at the break
and a bread.
On the first day of the week, they
came together to break bread.
And I believe, friend, that we shouldn't hurry
the communion.
I've been in so many churches, and being
tacked on to the end of the preacher's
sermon, that's a sin.
That's a sin.
Sin against the Holy Ghost.
The Lord's Supper is far more important than
the preacher's sermon.
And how wonderful it would be to have
the Lord's Supper and gather around the blessed
table as great high priests to partake of
the emblems of our Lord's death, and all
together worship the Lord inside the veil.
And I believe that's the most important service
of all in the local church, the ministry
of worship, the service of worship.
And, oh, friend, it would be wonderful if
we could only have meetings sometime for a
week for worship only.
We're not coming to beg.
Not coming as beggars.
You see, Mary, she was the first to
worship the Lord.
Others, of course, had fallen on their feet
before.
But they were all beggars.
Give me, give me, give me something.
But Mary was the first to fall at
the feet of the Lord Jesus and give
Him something.
She gave Him her heart's affections.
Now, we need worshipers.
And you'll discover sometime, you know, that when
you're going to pray, your heart's just dry.
I don't understand the illustration about, my wife
often gives about a pump.
I'm not a southerner.
You've got to put something in the pump
to get it out or something?
Jesus, I don't know.
I don't know.
I've gone in the city.
I don't know the southern talk.
Anyhow, you know, just the other morning when
I was praying, I was going to start
interceding, you see, the ministry of intercession.
And I was dry.
And I knew just exactly what was wrong
with me.
And so I started to worship the Lord.
And then the devil came along.
You know, the devil is very religious sometimes.
He sometimes comes as an evangelical fundamental, you
know, pastor or leader.
Oh, yes.
And he's saying, now James, he said, forget
about that.
You need money for your missionary work.
And these missionaries need your prayers.
And the Christians around the world need your
prayers.
India needs your prayers.
You better get busy.
And I knew it was the old devil.
And I said, I'm just going to spend
the morning without rushing at anything, just worshiping
the Lord.
See?
And we worship the Father.
Now, be careful not to forget the Father.
My children, I think I told you before,
all had the terrible habit of growing up
talking to the Lord Jesus only.
Dear Lord Jesus, never saying, oh God, our
loving heavenly Father, anything.
And I would always whisper, our loving heavenly
Father, our loving heavenly Father.
Nothing.
I couldn't get them out.
And even Sharon now, fifteen, and she starts
off her prayers, dear Lord Jesus.
But that's all right.
She'll get to understand more.
But I find that it's God the Father,
you see, in the name of the Lord
Jesus, and by the energizing power of the
Holy Ghost, you see.
Because we have it in Mr. New's beautiful
hymn, all the grace that drew salvation's plan,
all the love that brought it down to
man, all the mighty gulf that God did
span, God the Father did span at Calvary.
And it was God the Father that devised
this plan of salvation.
And it was executed by the Lord Jesus
Christ, and applied to all hearts by the
power of the Holy Ghost.
And you know, when I began to worship
the Father in the name of the Lord
Jesus, by the power of the Holy Ghost,
then my heart warmed and warmed.
I just worshipped the Lord.
And then you see, afterwards, my heart was
warm and I was ready to pray, to
intercede, and the power to intercede for the
salvation of souls and revival in the church,
and that God would drive back the forces
of hell.
Now, this was a company, because when you
read there, you can discover right away that
Christ was in the midst and they worshipped
the Lord.
They worshipped the living God.
It was a fellowship of holy worshippers.
And then, will you notice again, it was
a church with a soul-winning fellowship.
There was only 120 and 3,000 souls.
As I said before, if we had a
fellowship of 3,000 members and we won
120 in one day, we would call that
a revival.
But we had only 120 souls and 3
,000 were run for the Lord.
It was a church of a soul-winning
fellowship.
Now, please remember this.
You can magnify every truth out of proper
proportion until it is error.
But there is one truth you cannot magnify
out of proportion, and that is the awful
truth that men and women without Jesus Christ
are eternally damned.
And we can get off a tangent this
way.
We can off-balance that way by over
-emphasizing some particular doctrine.
Never exaggerate.
That's the awfulness of a lost soul damned
in hell.
And as I look back over my 43
years, I could tell you of leading preachers
and others who backslid.
And do you know why they backslid?
If they did not backslide because of sin,
or if it was doctrine, it was because
they got off-balance over some doctrine.
You know, they just emphasized one particular doctrine,
and they got out of all proportion to
the whole truth of the Word of God.
But the men, friend, who kept the evangelism,
the salvation of souls, and the front line
of the ladder, of the platform, they went
right on with the Lord to the very
end with a keen passion for lost souls.
Now, it was a church of a soul
-saving fellowship.
I believe, as I say again and again,
when we are full of the Holy Ghost,
when we have revival, automatically sinners will be
saved.
Now, what about the district of Milldale here?
What about all these homes?
Now, let's pray.
You visit them this afternoon.
But, you know, I was feeling this morning
that we ought to say to those who
come to the conference, when you drive by
these different homes all round about during this
week, would you not drop them and stop
at a home and say, I'm the so
and so and I'm from Baton Rouge.
I wonder, I'm at Milldale just now.
Would you come to our conference meeting tonight?
You know, last summer we had a Bible
conference in Ireland and so many hundreds of
unconverted people started to come to the Bible,
the camp meeting at night time that I
had to stop preaching and start teaching the
gospel, stop Bible teaching.
Because, there's so many hundreds came, leading businessmen
in the district and the preacher says, we
never saw this for 40 years.
So many, these people have never been near
a gospel meeting in their life.
And now they're coming.
So preach the gospel.
Wouldn't that be nice to have happen here
this week?
Different pastors would have to preach instead of
Bible teaching to us in the evening.
Wouldn't that be blessed?
Now let's pray, friend, for the salvation of
souls around here.
And then, will you notice also, it was
a church with a sacrificial fellowship.
They sold the possessions.
And they later defeated the apostles for the
distribution, for the good of the church and
the evangelization of the lost.
Now it said with all things common.
Now, you know, friend, I believe that communism
would not have grown so fast if there
had been a real exhibition of true Christianity.
You know that?
I believe, friend, that if there's any members,
if there's any people in this community in
sorrow and trouble, the people of Millville Baptist
Church should be the first in the doorstep.
You know that?
First in the doorstep.
And I believe, friend, that we should have
such love to each other because we have
such love to Jesus Christ.
And then, we'll be sacrificial in our giving
for the spread of the gospel to the
uttermost parts of the earth.
Now, if in the first sea of the
church's history they needed to sell their lands
to spread the gospel and their property, how
much more in the last seas of the
church's history when there's hundreds of millions who
have never heard the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ.
And I want to thank, Pastor, and I
want to thank you.
All of you who are helping in this
book ministry.
This is a tremendous help because the profits
from these books enable us to pay bills.
We have a $3,000 bill just now
to pay.
And by selling these books, the profits that
we make goes right into selling these books
out free to the mission of the native
Christians around the world.
Now, friend, this is a church of a
sacrificial fellowship.
They sacrifice and sacrifice in order to get
the gospel out.
And, you know, I have put here in
my little book Open Windows this word.
I warn you, said A.J. Gordon, that
it will go hard with you at the
judgment seat if he finds your wealth hoarded
up in needless accumulations instead of being sacredly
devoted to giving the gospel to the lost.
I say that again.
I warn you, that it will go hard
with you at the judgment seat if he
finds your wealth hoarded up in needless accumulations
instead of being sacredly devoted to giving the
gospel to the lost.
O God, make this a mighty missionary church.
I pray God will make this a Millville
Conference grounds a mighty missionary center for worldwide
evangelization.
And then, will you notice I'm about closing,
it was a church with an interceding fellowship.
They continued steadfast in the apostles' doctrine and
prayers.
Now, I said before to you at the
convention in November, or if I didn't say
it publicly, I said it to many of
you privately.
Don't you think it's an amazing thing that
we know that the greatest ministry that we
can perform here on earth is the ministry
of intercession.
We know it's the greatest ministry.
And yet, if God had looking down this
morning from heaven on North America, I believe
when he looks down in wonder and amazement
at the few places of intercession, you could
travel the length and breadth of North American
continent and you'll hardly find one place given
over to the ministry of intercession.
And we read in Hebrews 7.25 Wherefore
he is able also to save them to
the uttermost all that come unto God by
him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession
for us.
And when the Lord Jesus went up to
heaven, he looked all around at heaven and
then he looked down and asked great need
and then he came to this conclusion.
The greatest ministry I can perform for the
church is the ministry of intercession.
And my Redeemer ever lives to make intercession
for us.
He ever lives to make intercession for me.
And you see, I want to be like
Christ.
Well, friend, you can be like Christ by
praying and it's wonderful to think that when
you're on your knees you're doing down here
just exactly what the Lord Jesus is doing
up there.
And that's the Holy Ghost springing through you
with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Isn't that wonderful?
Now, this is what I pray.
I have prayed since I came here in
November that walk these roads and pray, O
God, make this Milldale community a community of
intercession.
I pray God to bring in even families
to live in this community.
You know that?
To live in this community you can get
a trailer, you can build a house, you
can work in Baton Rouge, live here.
You must have more believers.
And to have a minister of intercession every
hour in the 24 hours.
Do you have a schedule?
Talk among yourself and put it up in
the church and everybody has the schedule.
The time that minister is going to be
carried on so that it won't be forgotten.
Some will say, well, oh, I forgot it
was my turn or I couldn't do it.
And I believe, friend, that that could be
carried on.
And you know, I have been praying that
for these minister of intercession for prayer meetings
all around this countryside.
Why not, for example, you've already begun it.
You had a prayer meeting Friday night here.
Wouldn't it be wonderful to have another prayer
meeting in another church, another prayer meeting in
another church, and all come, 20, 30 churches
all gather just for the minister of prayer.
Just a little message in prayer first and
then all get down to spend that day
in prayer.
Morning, afternoon, evening.
You can't come in the morning, afternoon.
You can drive out in the evening.
And five or 20 churches praying together.
And I've been praying that there could be
a convention, an intercession convention, where 1,000
for four or five days, 1,000.
I've asked the Lord for 1,000 already.
1,000 believers would come from the different
states just to pray for a week here
on these grounds.
To pray for the Holy, pray for the
Revival of America and for worldwide evangelization.
Where Mitchison prayed, we ought to be giants
in prayer.
And why not have an intercession conference in
Baton Rouge?
Why not one in Shreveport?
Why not one in New Orleans?
Why couldn't we have 3,000 believers to
come for one day just to pray morning
and evening, morning, afternoon, evening?
Why not?
3,000 believers come together, not for preaching
but for praying.
Why not?
They had it in the early church and
we want to get back to Pentecostal days
again.
Now, I could give you illustration after illustration
of places in my ministry that were intercession
places.
And you knew the very part of God
was there.
You knew it.
You didn't need a prayer, God bless me,
you knew you would get blessed.
Why?
Because they carried on this ministry of intercession
day and night.
Now, if you have any resolutions for 1966,
make this your biggest one.
Oh God, make me an intercessor.
Make me a mighty intercessor.
Teach me how to pray.
Holy Ghost, pray through me with groanings which
cannot be uttered.
Pray through me.
Now, let us pray for this for Mildale.
This is not something that is just a
dream.
This is something that must become a reality.
The need is desperate.
And so, let us pray for this.
And let us pray that all hindrances will
be removed.
Animosities, jealousies, backbiting, sin, indulgences, anything.
And there'll be so one in Jesus Christ
that the Holy Ghost can walk through us
and He can pray through us.
Oh, the pure delight of a single hour
as before Thy throne I spend, as I
kneel in prayer and with Thee, my God,
I commune as friend to friend.
Let us bow in prayer.
Now, what I would like to pray for
this morning is that God would send in
the money for more buildings here.
You see, if these things are going to
come to pass, they'll have to be more
buildings for accommodation.
Not just one dormitory, several dormitories.
There's nothing for God to send $5,000
from somebody that you don't even know about.
The Holy Ghost could lay it in the
heart of someone in another state to say,
here is $5,000 for the Milldale Bible
Conference.
God's able.
And if these believers are going to come
from all over America here, they've got to
be housed accommodated.
And let us pray for these buildings.
And you know, let our faith be so
great it would just be as if we
see these buildings actually standing all round about
us.
Eh?
Just as if that these buildings were actually
standing all round about us.
Eh?
Just let us cry to the Lord round
about, will you?
It's only quarter past twelve.
Just a cry to the Lord.
No long prayers.
Just a cry to the Lord.
Could somebody claim these buildings from the Lord?
Claim this ministry of intercession from the Lord?
Our Father, we are playing with toys when
we ought to be conquering kingdoms for Thee.
Deliver us from our impoverished concept of Thee.
And give us a bigger Lord, Jesus.
Keep us from worshipping just a mere symptom
and give us a great dependence on the
Holy Ghost.
To honor Him and obey Him.
Oh God, we cry to Thee.
Lord, give us faith for these buildings.
Oh Father, give us faith.
Father, we've been looking into Acts 2.
And Lord, the church with this holy fellowship
of people who were thrilled because they were
saved.
This company of worshipable saints sacrificing all they
had for the spread of the gospel of
Jesus Christ.
Carrying on this mighty ministry of intercession.
Oh God, make it a reality here.
Raise up a mighty band of intercessors.
Lord, we cry to Thee.
Make this a mighty day of intercession.
Make this a week, a mighty week of
intercession.
Bless all the pastors and the dear wives
and family.
Oh move in Baton Rouge.
Move in, even in Shreveport and all over
Lord.
In New Orleans.
You can send them from all over Lord.
Remember those who are not concerned about coming
cold and hard and saying, I don't need
a blessing.
God send them in.
And oh God, Father, will you raise up
the ministry this week.
Oh Holy Spirit, you can take control.
You be the chairman.
And you give the messages through Thy dear
people.
Through Thy servants and handmaidens all the time
Lord.
In ministry of Word and Son and in
faith.
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