Welcome to from the pulpit and classic sermons
each week We bring you a different message
from some of history's greatest speakers in the
Christian faith and powerful sermons from modern preachers,
too This week we have bill mclaughlin with
his message the return of God's glory Chapter
3 if you have a Bible with you,
we're going to begin at verse 6 The
last word of verse 5 and then reading
on from there God who also has made
us able ministers of the New Testament not
of the letter, but of the spirit For
the letter kills, but the spirit gives life
But if the ministration of death written and
engraven in stones was glorious So that the
children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the
face of Moses for the glory of his
countenance Which was to be done away?
How shall not the ministration of the spirit
be rather glory?
For if the ministration of condemnation be glory
much more does the ministration of righteousness exceed
in glory For even that which was made
glorious had no glory in this respect by
reason of the glory that excels For if
that which is done away was glorious much
more that which remains is glorious Seeing them
that we have such hope we use great
plainness of speech And not as Moses who
put a veil over his face that the
children of Israel could not steadfastly Look to
the end of that which is abolished But
their minds were blinded For until this day
the same veil remains untaken away in the
reading of the Old Testament Which veil is
done away in Christ?
But even unto this day when Moses is
read the veil is upon their heart nevertheless
When it shall turn to the Lord the
veil shall be taken away Now the Lord
is that spirit and where the Spirit of
the Lord is there is Liberty But we
all with open face Beholding as in a
glass the glory of the Lord are changed
into the same image from glory to glory
even as by the spirit of the Lord
13 times glory or glorious verse 8 How
shall not the ministration of the Spirit?
be rather glorious And I don't know if
you've ever considered this portion of the Word
of God or not But what Paul is
saying to put it simply is this that
the Old Testament system There was glory there
the Bible talks about the sight of the
glory of God On the top of Mount
Sinai being like devouring fire But the Old
Testament system has been done away and Paul's
argument is that the ministration of the Spirit
the New Testament Will be much more glorious
Than anything the Old Testament you Boxing well
known in India a Great man of God
wrote a book Called the return of God's
glory.
I don't think you can get it in
North America He's not a great writer.
That's not his gift but I read the
book some years ago and was greatly challenged
and helped by it as he discussed the
problem of the losing of the glory of
God in the work of God and Then
how we may see The glory of God
Returned and that's what I want to talk
about this morning I'm borrowing his title Not
his book One of the great problems of
course here is that we may not even
be conscious of the fact that the glory
is gone Indeed we may never have known
it But perhaps there was a time When
God was working powerfully in my life in
my church and He is not now, but
it happened.
So gradually the erosion was so gentle and
took so long That I'm not even aware
of it Phinehas wife she died in childbirth
She had just gotten the news Her husband
was killed Her father-in-law had fallen
off a seat and his neck broke, and
he was dead and her pains came on
her and A baby boy was born and
she named him Ichabod Saying the glory is
departed from Israel because the ark of God
Had been captured and taken by the Philistines
and the ark of God contained The testimony
was called the ark of the testimony it
contained the Word of God and the Word
of God was gone And she died the
glory is Departed she knew that others maybe
did not know that And here we might
think of King Saul The glory of God
left him Sometimes people think well, he never
really Got a good start and somehow perhaps
God shortchanged him.
No God did not Get a glorious start
He was filled with the Holy Spirit Samuel
told him the Spirit will come on you
and you will be changed into another man
and it happened and he saw the glory
of God and At the beginning it says
everywhere he turned himself he vexed and troubled
the enemies of God But it didn't stay
that way And the glory of God left
him and he knew it But he would
not repent and he never did and he
struggled for years with the problems the problems
consequent upon a failure to repent He prayed
He sought the Lord He inquired of God
But the Bible says he did not inquire
of the Lord And the Bible is not
contradicting itself.
It's just telling us this If we saw
him we would say Saul is praying earnestly
seeking the Lord but God saw his heart
and God said he was not praying at
all.
The Lord did not answer him in any
way.
It says And later on it says God
flew him Because he did not inquire of
the Lord, but he had But the problem
is this He that turns away his ear
from hearing the law that is the Word
of God even his prayer shall be abomination
So I may be praying But at the
same time I may have turned my heart
my ears away from the Word and will
of God So my prayer becomes to God
an abomination So as far as God is
concerned, I am not praying at all They
that forsake the law Praise the wicked They
that keep the law contend with the wicked
He that turns away his ear from hearing
the law even his prayer Shall be abomination
and Saul is one of the most tragic
figures in the whole Bible as God left
him God's Spirit left him And an evil
spirit Terrified him the Hebrew language says and
he died a poor suicide He started it
an Amalekite had to finish it That it
in itself was probably a judgment of God
because he had failed to destroy the Amalekites
as God had asked him to do much
earlier Then think of Samson He spent this
night with his head on the knees of
an unconverted evil woman and God only knows
what went on in that chamber And when
he when she cried and said the Philistines
are on you She done this many times
before he said well I'll go and shake
myself as I've done many times before and
it says he never knew that the Lord
had left him He didn't know the glory
was gone.
Oh People the glory had been there He
once carried a gate which archaeologists say probably
weighed a couple of tons He carried it
on his shoulders a distance of 11 miles
uphill all the way 3,000 soldiers of
Judah had to ask his permission Before he
would allow them to bind him with ropes.
They knew what would happen when the Spirit
of God came on him The glory of
God he was probably for 20 years the
most talked-about person in the whole country
For the job one of an ass he
flew a thousand men but then he sinned
and The glory left him and he never
even knew it Somebody told me not long
ago The Spirit of God has left me.
I said, how do you know?
Oh, she said I could just feel him
going I don't really think that's how it
is.
And I said so to her The spirit
may leave you may feel exactly the same
as you felt before The glory may depart
You may not even know it.
Thank God in Samson's case.
It was sort of deathbed repentance I suppose
you might call it He was blinded Grinding
in the prison house Fetters of brass brass
is often in Scripture a picture of the
judgment of God The Philistines were having a
great day a victory celebration because their enemy
Samson Had been defeated and was in jail
Everybody was there 3,000 people on the
roof of this big open temple and probably
many thousands more down below And they were
worshiping their God and praising their God Dagan
the fish God and Somebody had the happy
idea.
Let's bring Samson up and let him make
sport for us and to humiliate him They
had a boy Lead him by the hand
And he asked the boy where the pillars
were.
He knew the temple.
He'd seen it before He knew its structure.
He asked the boy where the pillars were
and the boy told him And he laid
hold of the pillars and called on God
With all his soul and the glory came
back and He slew more by dying that
he did by living Which is the Old
Testament way of saying Galatians 2 20?
Delilah died too She was there the Lord
got them all The man of God perished
the man of God perished in the doing
But he was restored and God's glory returned
The glory left King David And for perhaps
a year we don't know the exact time
we know the child was born the exact
time after his sin with Bathsheba But the
glory left him Day and night God's hand
was heavy upon him.
His moisture was turned into the drought of
summer And somehow he didn't seem to connect
This awful spiritual experience he was having with
his sin So God sent Nathan the prophet
and you remember that dramatic story in the
Bible Thou art the man and Then thank
God his instant repentance.
I Have sinned It was very costly the
whole thing Which store unto me he cried
the joy of My salvation it was gone
No fellowship with God nothing, but the frown
of God And he'd known such sweetness before
And no doubt he tried many times to
get back to that again and he couldn't
somehow Not until he repented Not until he
saw his sin Restore unto me the joy
of thy salvation Then will I teach Transgressors
thy ways and sinners Sinners shall be converted
unto me.
Oh God deliver me.
He said from blood guilt in us Many
of us need to pray that too because
we're not witnessing Christians And the blood of
the lost is on our hands We're praying
for the power of the Holy Spirit and
it does not and cannot come Because we
want the power of the Spirit for wrong
reasons Not in order to share Christ with
others Not in order to live a godly
Self-sacrificing life But in order to be
looked at and admired And maybe to get
out of my present bad feelings and so
my motives are wrong Has the glory departed
from your heart?
from your church Are you aware of it
or has the erosion as I said before
being so gentle Over such a long period
of time that you don't even know it.
What is the glory of God To put
it as simply as I can the glory
of God is Jesus and His work in
the Old Testament.
God said I will set glory In the
land of the living it was a prophecy.
I am sure of the Lord Jesus Christ
Isaiah Look upon Zion And we need to
remember that in Hebrews chapter 12.
It is a spiritual sign You are come
the writer says to Christians to Mount Zion
To the city of the Living God the
heavenly Jerusalem Look upon Zion the city of
our solemnities Thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a
quiet habitation Not one of the stakes are
off shall ever be removed Neither shall any
of the cords are off be broken, but
there the glorious Lord Shall be unto us
a place of broad rivers and streams Wherein
shall go no galley with oars neither shall
gallant ship pass thereby our glorious Lord Jesus
Christ listen to sinning on Lord now let
your servant depart in peace for my eyes
have seen your salvation Which thou hast prepared
before the face of all people a light
to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of
your people Israel he said all of that
about the Lord Jesus Christ It is written
of Jesus That he manifested forth his glory
We beheld his glory John said the glory
as of the only begotten of the Father
full of grace and truth and Of John
17 Jesus Christ said something and we need
to lay hold of this He said to
his heavenly Father and the glory that you
gave me I have given them We too
should have the glory Greater works and they
shall he do because I go on to
my father The glory of God It's the
person of Jesus remember Moses prayer in Exodus
33 Show me thy glory.
I Think what he expected to see was
thunder and lightning Some great fantastic glorious majestic
display of the power of God that would
shake the universe That's not what he saw
it says the Lord passed by and declared
the name of the Lord Which speaks for
the faithfulness of God and the entire person
of God?
It's goodness.
It says his mercy his forgiveness the glory
of God Passed by and that's what it
was So we have the Lord Jesus Christ
saying the wicked sinners go in peace go
and sin no more He manifested forth his
glory Dear people he wants to do that
again He's doing it in some places He
wants to do it in your life and
in mine and in our churches, too.
How do we get the glory back?
We get it back by asking for it
we've indicated already Repentance is absolutely essential.
I must repent remember therefore from whence you
are fallen and repent and Do the first
works?
That's what God says the way back ask
God restore unto me the joy Of my
salvation And uphold me with thy free spirit
That's where it all begins When I get
to the place where I can't live without
the glory of God Without seeing something of
the manifesting of the glory of the Lord
Jesus Christ It's a glorious gospel Paul said
because it speaks of a glorious person The
people rejoiced because of all the glorious things
that were done by him Some of us
saw some of those things back in 71
72 and to some extent even after those
days And to some of you some of
these things will not be new to others
perhaps They will We were asked to go
to Toronto and seven of us went Toronto
Baptist Seminary wanted a team to come Because
the chaplain of the seminar had come to
Saskatoon I well remember him sitting in my
office and saying don't expect me to get
involved.
I've come here to pick up some information
I've been asked to write some articles in
the Canadian Revival.
I just smiled because I knew it would
happen.
It was happening to everybody and And one
night he and I were standing against the
wall of the Third Avenue United Church where
the meetings were being held 1,400 people
probably there that night at the invitation the
whole front of the church was crowded with
people kneeling Crying to God and he and
I were standing against the wall and he
said Don't ask me to go down there
and counsel I wouldn't have any idea what
to say to those people, but I know
how to lead a sinner to Christ He
no sooner said that than out of nowhere
a man came laid hold of his arm
and said sir Could you play it pray
with me, please?
And I just walked away and left him.
I thought he might as well learn Well,
he went back to the seminary and the
next morning He was walking across the campus
and a student told us later on what
happened They passed on the campus and they
said good morning and the student said I
saw Jesus in a chaplains face and he
turned and ran back into his room and
fell on his knees and prayed for two
hours and met God and The glory of
God returned to his life.
So they asked us to come with a
team and there was Art Birch another Baptist
preacher myself and five Alliance people including Walter
Bolt's son Wayne was now pastoring Successfully in
Meadowlake Saskatchewan.
He was then about 18 or so cowboy
cowboy boots and all we flew to Toronto
As long as I live I can't forget
the glory of God in that meeting in
the seminary It went on for 14 hours.
It was the longest meeting I was ever
in The team all shared they asked one
of the ladies to share her Testimony the
second time and she did the same testimony
the second time.
I spoke about 10 minutes And then sat
down no invitation was given and You know
if God isn't in town, it's quite embarrassing
a student jumped to his feet and said
what's going on here Is this of God?
If it is I want it Can somebody
tell me?
What is this?
And he came forward and we had a
chair here and our team came and knelt
and prayed with him and the rest were
all listening And he got to his feet.
His face was shining like a June morning
He went back to his seat and then
it started and they started coming one after
the other And people left the meeting get
on the telephone and phone friends and crowd
began to grow and grow and it went
on and on The professor after some hours
got to sleep with a loud cry like
Esau And he started down the aisle.
He was tripping over his feet.
The tears were spreading out of his eyes
He fell over the chair and he said
oh my god all these years I've sought
and taught the academic and today.
I want the spiritual my god has mercy
on me Though he met God And then
from that school Teams went all over Ontario
into churches sharing the message of revival and
I was preaching himself in here to a
gathering of the Mark Plummer Church Which has
a tradition that Thomas the Apostle started them
and I think the tradition is well supported
by the facts It was their annual conference
with several thousand people there and I spoke
and I mentioned this happening in the Toronto
Seminary It just flashed into my mind.
So I shared it and the next speaker
when he got up He was from Canada
a team missionary And he said I want
to say something about the Toronto Baptist Seminary
because he said I was a backslidden missionary
I've made up my mind.
I was not going back to India again
And a team came from the Toronto Seminary
to our church and they shared in the
glory of God returned to my soul And
I'm back here now because of that I
Prayed with a pastor one time.
He'd been guilty of Doing things for the
funds in the church.
He should not have and he'd been indiscreet
with some women in the church I don't
think it had gone to him to adultery
But he but he was in trouble and
he wouldn't admit anything and he and I
were kneeling praying and was a big pillar
Right beside his chair and we were praying
and he was hard and cold and suddenly
he gave a shout And he threw his
arms around the pillar And he began to
cry at the top of his lungs to
God not to kill him.
Oh God He said don't kill me.
Don't kill me.
Please don't kill me He told me after
as the hand of God came around his
body and squeezed him.
He thought he was dying in the spot
The glory of God touched his life.
I Was in another meeting before the meeting
began in the Maritimes There were only about
25 or so at the most Christian workers
there before the meeting.
I was introduced to a pastor I found
out he was the most successful pastor in
the whole area in terms of evangelism and
missions He was talking and telling me all
about all that God was doing and in
my heart I had a dead feeling as
if there was something wrong with this dear
brother.
So I was praying for him He was
sitting in the meeting And Howard Gardner my
song leader he didn't share it and let
in a song or two and I was
talking very low-key For five minutes when
some of this man began to weep.
He put his head between his knees He
began to weep and he wept so loud
finally We just we couldn't we couldn't preach
anymore and Howard went over and took him
off into another room in the church and
to all these Walls where you'd hear him
crying at the top of his lungs to
God to have mercy on his soul The
glory of God had touched his life He
came back in and a half an hour
or 40 minutes and we asked him to
give his testimony And he wept he said
brethren.
It's never happened to me before in my
life When I was sitting there he said
Jesus came and He demanded That I give
him my all Oh Brethren, I've never been
confronted this way before The glory of God
used to steal God do it a thousand
times Accelerate this whole thing the people may
know your power and who you are the
glory of God Howard and I once spoke
to a gathering of 40 pastors Was the
strangest thing?
every now and then it was just as
if the hand of God touched the crowd
from this side and moved to that side
and Then went back and the heads would
all go down like this and come back
up again and go down like this Just
in a row across like that and back
again and back again and back again And
Howard said after did you ever see anything
like that?
I said no God was there It was
different than anything we'd ever seen before We're
not just thinking in terms of the spectacular
But more in terms of the dynamic of
what the spirit was doing in the hearts
of people a pastor came we were holding
meetings in Winnipeg and Brother Ralph here could
tell hundreds of stories like this.
I'm sure to In this pastor.
I was glad to see him because we
had things between us that needed to be
straightened out I hadn't seen it for many
years.
He was pastoring in the States then And
he come all the way to Winnipeg because
he said I heard about the revival.
I need it now and I want it
We never even chaplain Winnipeg and we prayed
we got to see that I never felt
a thing I never felt a thing But
when I knelt at that chair, I know
what I did.
I gave God everything.
I'm not going to take it back Then
he went back to his church Began preaching
this message and a revival came They had
to continue with special meetings every night for
11 weeks He did all the preaching they
prayed with about 3,000 people they have
to establish a revival center They sent teams
to the whole state of Oregon The glory
of God just touched the life The glory
of God can so easily depart.
How do we get it back by praying?
by repenting of our sins God said how
weak is your heart seeing you do these
things?
the work of an imperious whorish woman He
was talking about Israel married to God but
committing adultery With those that were no gods
committing adultery.
It says with stocks and stones with their
idols And with other nations and we sometimes
understand because the new idolatry remember is covetousness
Covetousness is idolatry.
The covetous man is an idolater a Man's
life does not consist in the abundance of
the things which he possesses Contrary to what
most New Testament Christians in North America seem
to believe How can my beloved brethren has
not God chosen the poor of this world
rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom
Which is promised to them that love him,
but you have despised the poor it says
Yes, and in many cases we have We
wouldn't give them the time of day because
they might make some financial or other demands
on us We just don't have the time
to do that.
The glory is departed, but thank God it
can return It returns to faith.
I had fainted Unless I had believed to
see the goodness of the Lord in the
land of the living Psalm 27 What did
Christ say in John 11 to Martha and
Mary he said Didn't I say unto you
that if you would believe you would see
the glory of God?
Did you ever stop to think of this
that the raising of Lazarus from the dead
had something to do with the faith of
Martha and Mary He said if you believe
you'll see the glory of God, which means
that they didn't believe they would not see
the glory of God It was not just
the power of Christ It was only the
power of Christ in one sense, but in
another sense it had to do with the
faith of the people Back in the early
1800s.
There were many revivals in the United States
of America And a man called Reverend Calvin
Colton wrote a wrote a book which was
republished a year or two ago I discovered
in the eastern states, but the price is
a little too high for such a small
book.
I think $17 anyway It's a very interesting
book.
I have an old copy printed in 1832
in my library and There's one element or
teaching in the book.
That was a great interest to me.
It was this He talked about the glory
of those movements of God He said we
were never satisfied with what they call insulated
conversions We would use the phrase isolated conversions
one here one there a family and so
on He said we were never satisfied with
that that was not revival We kept praying
and fasting and believing God until the Holy
Spirit came He said and took the work
out of our hands and made whole communities
aware of the glory and power of God
And thousands would be converted And he said
this This kind of revival never came to
a church that did not believe it would
come This kind of revival never failed to
come to a church that believed it would
come Do you suppose God works in different
ways today That God doesn't honor faith today
or that God doesn't turn away from unbelief
today.
No, I don't think things are any different
today There has to be faith repentance prayer
say Identification with Christ Peter said if you
be reproached for the name of Christ Happy
are you for the spirit of glory and
of God is resting on you You want
the spirit of glory to rest on you
We have to be willing to be reproached
for the name of Christ The doctrine of
identification with Christ is a sweet doctrine to
those that understand it But it's not sweet
perhaps to be reproached for the name of
Christ, but that's the outworking of complete identification
with the Savior Think of Hebrews chapter 13
where the Word of God puts it this
way It says wherefore Jesus also that he
might sanctify the people of his own blood
suffered without the camp outside the gate and
Then comes the appeal let us go forth
therefore unto him outside the camp bearing his
reproach For here we have no continuing city.
We seek one to come bearing his reproach
Outside the camp Why that's where they took
the blasphemers and killed them.
That's where they took the murderers and killed
them That's where they took all the refuse
and buried it.
That's where the human dung was buried outside
the camp That's where the rebels were taken
and stoned to death outside the camp and
Christ died for the ungodly so he was
identified with the ungodly outside the camp There
was one clean place outside the camp and
that's where the cross stood But it was
surrounded with a stench of burning garbage the
sins of the world Jesus died there if
you be reproached for the name of Christ
Happy are you for the spirit of glory
and of God is resting on?
You what a boxing say He tells how
you know in the early days he worked
with American missionaries for years They call him
the Billy Graham of India, and he was
greatly used many people found the Lord over
the years But after a while he became
disillusioned with a kind of work.
They were doing Because it was not really
meeting the need as he saw it in
India So he broke with the missionaries amicably
some of them haven't forgiven him yet And
it began working in what he thought was
a more biblical way Today I think he
has about 600 assemblies that have been started
through their work.
They have annual conferences with 20,000 people
Some of their assemblies have a thousand or
two thousand people in fellowship.
The center is Hyderabad in India George Verwer
who spoke at this conference several years ago
as a personal friend of boxing's they often
get together They pray together.
They're concerned about the lost in India They
have about 400 workers or operation mobilization have
in India trying to meet the enormous need
of that great country 700 million people or
more Jammed into an area the size of
Western, Canada but he said We lost the
glory of God When we started doing God's
work in human ways He said we used
to send teams out to the marketplace and
they would give out a hundred thousand tracks
in a day And nothing happened almost nothing
seemed to happen So we send them to
another marketplace to another village and nothing seemed
to happen so then They began to pray
for answers from God Lord.
What's wrong?
What are we doing wrong?
No answer so they fasted and prayed they
were getting a little more biblical now and
then God showed them You never asked me
what marketplace or what village to go to?
All So then they began praying and they
would not go out anywhere until God indicated
where they should go And when that was
clear, it was also usually made clear how
large the team should be and how many
who should be on the team And they
started doing it this way and still there
was no real blessing So they fast and
prayed some more and God said when you
got to the marketplaces, you didn't wait for
my guidance You just rushed ahead and did
your thing And so he said through fasting
and prayer the early apostles it says in
Acts They said we will give ourselves continually
to prayer And to the ministry of the
word the ministry of the word rises out
of the prayer you see God indicates what
where and when?
when we fast and pray and wait on
his name and They made this discovery and
he said when we started doing God's work
in God's way the glory of God returned
And he described some of those meetings Where
people couldn't even walk to the front there
under such tremendous conviction of sin They sometimes
just lay on the floor prostrate where they've
been sitting they couldn't walk We saw that
happen to I remember a preacher He signaled
us and preachers in the Winnipeg meetings.
He wanted to get the altar.
He couldn't walk There was no strength left
in him because he'd seen the holiness of
God Preachers came and carried him to the
altar put him on his knees And he
met God the glory of God touched his
life Was a thrilling little story the return
of God's glory Supposing Peter on the day
of Pentecost had gotten up in front of
that great crowd in Jerusalem and simply Exuded
a quiet confidence in God and said nothing
What would have happened?
Well, supposing he got up and invited those
people in the crowds To come down to
this certain camp where they were having a
conference where the meals would all be free
Well, supposing he did something else such as
we do today Didn't preach the gospel All
people say you have to build a bridge
before you can preach the gospel to a
person You must build a bridge to them.
I'm not saying that that's always wrong, but
it certainly isn't always right Peter didn't build
a bridge to those people.
He didn't know most of them.
They did not know him They did not
know whether he was genuine or hypocritical.
They knew nothing at all about him But
that day 3,000 people were converted just
the same Supposing the Apostles had said well
now this fasting business You know, it's pretty
demanding and spending hours a day in prayer
that takes up a lot of time that
we could use in better ways What would
have happened?
To the work of God The glory would
slowly be withdrawn and then We'd be like
a windmill beating the air Getting nothing done
Seeing very few converted seeing little very little
of the power of God Because God has
withdrawn because his spirit has been green So
We're told Ephesians 430 do not grieve the
Holy Spirit of God Whereby you was sealed
unto the day of redemption don't grieve God's
Spirit he's the source of the power and
glory the dynamic of Christianity is the spirit
of the Lord and when he's gone and
There's nothing can happen.
We heard something about Korea Brazil 25%
in the nation of Brazil I read or
was it 20% are probably born again
now fantastic some of the things happening there
Chile Tomoko and southern Chile a city about
the size of Saskatoon.
They told me that 40% were evangelical
40% I've seen churches in Chile seating
3,000 5,000 15,000 The glory
of God Is it work?
Wherever he can find people whose heart is
right who do things in God's way biblical
ways And not turn their ear away from
the law of God How is it in
your heart?
Have you ever known anything of the glory
of God?
the working of the Spirit Through you a
pastor in one of our Crusades was making
the announcements And a man sitting down in
a congregation Saw the glory of God in
the face of that pastor and went to
the prayer room and met God.
I don't know what he saw He said
he saw the glory of God in the
face of the pastor Gordon Bailey, and I
were in a meeting in Clarny Manitoba one
time Not many years ago a woman sang
and the glory of God Came over the
place while she sang the ministry of the
Spirit, which is now It's supposed to be
much more glorious than anything.
They knew in Old Testament days And I'm
not really arguing for a lot of you
know outstanding miracles per se You know that's
not what I'm thinking.
Oh, I'm really thinking of the Spirit of
God working in the hearts of men and
women and young people Christians first of all
And then the unconverted Just a couple of
weeks ago Gordon Bailey saw the power of
God in some meetings in Calgary and a
few months ago he and I were down
Mount Vernon, Washington an afterglow meeting and God
came and The meeting went for over four
hours 80 people there right at the start
a man got up and Confessed his sin
to the whole crowd And said please pray
for me So he knelt at the chair
and some of us prayed to them ten
men in a row all of them leaders
in the church a good-sized church Came
and knelt at the chair, and then it
went on for four hours Petra and I
saw this just a few weeks ago in
British Columbia an Afterglow meeting maybe 70 80
people there it went on for four and
a half hours As people were meeting God
Dear people are you concerned that the glory
of God should return to our churches?
Return to our lives our hearts personally.
I wonder are we willing to pay the
simple price?
costly but simple Repentance prayer faith Identification with
Christ Willing to suffer for his sake Hereby
we perceive the love of God because he
laid down his life for us, and we
ought to lay down our lives For the
brethren We are called to that To lay
our lives down for the people of God
Therefore my beloved brethren be you steadfast unmovable
Always abounding in the work of the Lord
for as much as you know that your
labor is not in vain in the Lord
a man singing in one of our meetings
one time do the Alliance in Edmonton a
Pastor not the pastor of the church, but
a visiting pastor He'd met God the night
before Now he was singing.
Oh Happy day that fixed my choice on
thee my Savior and my God it was
another one of those times When the glory
of God returned God said I will set
glory in the land He said I will
be the glory And people it's just Christ
In hearts that are surrendered and open to
him It's Jesus manifesting his presence and his
power Coming to people's hearts and speaking directly
to us and then through us to other
people Restore unto me Habakkuk chapter 3 Oh
Lord.
I've heard your speech, and I was afraid
Oh Lord Revive thy work in the midst
of the years In the midst of the
years make known in wrath remember mercy and
what's the next statement God came And his
glory covered the heavens and the earth was
filled with his praise God came Revival is
God coming and his glory is seen Psalm
85 will thou not revive us again that
thy people may rejoice in thee I Will
hear what God the Lord will speak for
he will speak peace to his people and
to his saints But let them not turn
again to folly and then a verse or
two further he talks about glory dwelling in
our land Glory in our churches in our
homes in our hearts Would you deal with
sin?
What's holding it back?
What are we doing a screaming God?
Fleshly methods of doing God's work every kind
of a program and plan you can think
of and I know we have to plan
But when our dependence is on our plans
and not on God Sometimes we do like
God said about Israel.
She was like a silly dove without heart
Looking to Egypt looking to Syria looking here
looking there looking for another plan that'll work
for a while But not looking for God
Not looking for the glory of God In
closing I would say and the words of
Jesus said I not unto you that if
you would believe You would see the glory
of God My dear friend would you deal
with sin?
Would you get down before God and say
Lord search my heart I Want the glory
to return to me restore unto me the
joy of my salvation I'm sure there are
many here today who feel empty and cold
and maybe somewhat critical Even what's being said
right now?
Your life is fruitless But you want to
change you can God thank you for this
time of blessing Thank you for the presence
of your spirit father forgive us that sometimes
You're gone, and we don't even know it
the glory is not there so we We
try to whip it up.
We're trying to sail father with yesterday's wind
and we can't We can't glorify you because
of this Father even Jesus said glorify thou
me that I may glorify you And how
can we glorify you father?
We're much less than Jesus Unless you glorify
us and that glory father must return Will
God give us repentance hearts?
Broken hearts humble hearts that we might see
your face Christ You've been listening to from
the pulpit and classic sermon series this week
You heard Bill McCloud with his message the
return of God's glory Tune in next week
to hear George Burwer talk about this one
part one on from the pulpit and classic
sermons