1 00:00:01,270 --> 00:00:10,160 Thank you very much, Pastor. 2 00:00:12,230 --> 00:00:15,350 I hope you won't have too much difficulty 3 00:00:15,350 --> 00:00:17,830 with a British accent. 4 00:00:19,800 --> 00:00:23,040 If I say something that you don't quite 5 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:27,060 understand, you come and ask me about it 6 00:00:27,060 --> 00:00:27,620 afterwards. 7 00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:33,220 Having lived ten or eleven years in Chicago, 8 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:37,560 I think the sharp end of it has 9 00:00:37,560 --> 00:00:38,480 been knocked off. 10 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:42,440 It's rather half and half in our house. 11 00:00:45,560 --> 00:00:49,940 But I may revert to type and put 12 00:00:49,940 --> 00:00:52,120 you in some difficulty in some words I 13 00:00:52,120 --> 00:00:52,460 use. 14 00:00:53,440 --> 00:00:56,120 Do please come and ask me what on 15 00:00:56,120 --> 00:00:56,640 earth I mean. 16 00:00:57,020 --> 00:00:58,640 In most cases, I could give you the 17 00:00:58,640 --> 00:00:59,520 American Revised. 18 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:05,820 May I say that it is a great 19 00:01:05,820 --> 00:01:07,200 delight to be here. 20 00:01:08,960 --> 00:01:10,000 And I mean that. 21 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:14,320 Your pastor has introduced me as a pastor. 22 00:01:15,140 --> 00:01:19,360 I was a pastor for about 27 years 23 00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:24,460 in Britain and in this country until the 24 00:01:24,460 --> 00:01:27,660 Lord laid me aside with a cerebral hemorrhage 25 00:01:27,660 --> 00:01:30,460 from which he has given me a miraculous 26 00:01:30,460 --> 00:01:31,260 recovery. 27 00:01:32,860 --> 00:01:38,440 Now I am traveling around on behalf of 28 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:41,600 various missionary societies, which you would all know, 29 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:45,320 on behalf of the English Keswick Convention, and 30 00:01:45,320 --> 00:01:47,560 I am linked, though not on the staff, 31 00:01:47,660 --> 00:01:50,720 with the Cape and Ray Missionary Fellowship, of 32 00:01:50,720 --> 00:01:53,220 which I imagine you have heard, Major Ian 33 00:01:53,220 --> 00:01:53,720 Thomas. 34 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:57,680 And as I travel around, quite frankly, I 35 00:01:57,680 --> 00:01:59,060 miss a pastor very much. 36 00:02:00,260 --> 00:02:03,740 I miss the opportunity for consecutive exposition of 37 00:02:03,740 --> 00:02:04,460 the Word of God. 38 00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:08,240 As I go around from place to place, 39 00:02:08,340 --> 00:02:10,820 I long to meet a fellowship where there 40 00:02:10,820 --> 00:02:13,980 is what your pastor has described, a hungry 41 00:02:13,980 --> 00:02:14,360 heart. 42 00:02:15,260 --> 00:02:18,380 Because I have no qualification for being here 43 00:02:18,380 --> 00:02:19,900 except my heart is hungry too. 44 00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:24,380 That may seem strange for a preacher, but 45 00:02:24,380 --> 00:02:24,840 it's true. 46 00:02:26,180 --> 00:02:28,460 And already this morning, in ten minutes, I 47 00:02:28,460 --> 00:02:31,840 have sensed something different, and I'm so thankful. 48 00:02:32,600 --> 00:02:35,100 I get so tired of the rat race, 49 00:02:37,180 --> 00:02:43,160 song service, hymn, prayer, hymn, reading, choir piece, 50 00:02:43,480 --> 00:02:50,380 song, solo, sermon, hymn, benediction, 52 weeks in 51 00:02:50,380 --> 00:02:53,380 the year, and everybody goes home and nobody 52 00:02:53,380 --> 00:02:57,540 seems ever to stop to ask why nothing 53 00:02:57,540 --> 00:03:00,960 seems to happen that has no explanation apart 54 00:03:00,960 --> 00:03:02,660 from God has done it. 55 00:03:03,700 --> 00:03:07,940 The average church today has organized out the 56 00:03:07,940 --> 00:03:08,540 Holy Spirit. 57 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:12,580 No room for Him. 58 00:03:14,180 --> 00:03:16,940 And I'm sure your language and mine would 59 00:03:16,940 --> 00:03:19,580 be in the language of John Samuel Mansell, 60 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:23,380 I hunger and I thirst, tease you my 61 00:03:23,380 --> 00:03:26,760 manner be, ye living waters burst out of 62 00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:27,220 the rock. 63 00:03:30,260 --> 00:03:32,640 So as one hungry heart to another, let's 64 00:03:32,640 --> 00:03:35,220 just look to the Lord a minute who 65 00:03:35,220 --> 00:03:36,300 alone can satisfy. 66 00:03:37,100 --> 00:03:38,280 Let us pray. 67 00:03:44,740 --> 00:03:47,160 Speak, Lord, in the stillness while I wait 68 00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:48,400 on Thee. 69 00:03:49,140 --> 00:03:52,020 Hush my heart to listen in expectancy. 70 00:03:55,240 --> 00:03:57,880 Speak, O blessed Master, in this quiet hour. 71 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:02,460 May I see Thy face, Lord, and feel 72 00:04:02,460 --> 00:04:05,940 Thy touch of power. 73 00:04:06,700 --> 00:04:07,980 For Jesus' sake. 74 00:04:12,270 --> 00:04:14,650 Perhaps you would turn with me to the 75 00:04:14,650 --> 00:04:17,070 portion which scripture which was read to us 76 00:04:18,230 --> 00:04:24,740 Colossians chapter 3, Colossians chapter 3 in the 77 00:04:24,740 --> 00:04:25,960 first 14 verses. 78 00:04:28,580 --> 00:04:32,040 I don't intend to give an expository message 79 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:34,220 on this, but it is the starting point 80 00:04:34,220 --> 00:04:36,500 for what I want to, I feel God 81 00:04:36,500 --> 00:04:38,520 would have us here this morning. 82 00:04:42,780 --> 00:04:45,600 Perhaps I begin by asking you a question. 83 00:04:47,080 --> 00:04:49,200 Each one of you might answer this to 84 00:04:49,200 --> 00:04:50,960 yourselves and your own heart. 85 00:04:51,820 --> 00:04:57,040 Tell me, how long would it take in 86 00:04:57,040 --> 00:05:02,540 any particular situation, seven days a week, for 87 00:05:02,540 --> 00:05:05,400 you to be detected as a Christian? 88 00:05:08,070 --> 00:05:10,090 How long would it be before you gave 89 00:05:10,090 --> 00:05:10,770 yourself away? 90 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:15,380 How long would it be before you betrayed 91 00:05:15,380 --> 00:05:17,080 the fact that you belong to Jesus? 92 00:05:21,780 --> 00:05:25,520 You see, a Christian life is a supernatural 93 00:05:25,520 --> 00:05:26,320 life. 94 00:05:28,500 --> 00:05:33,980 If you can explain somebody's religious experience on 95 00:05:33,980 --> 00:05:38,440 the basis of psychology, well, you've got a 96 00:05:38,440 --> 00:05:40,320 church member on your hands, but you haven't 97 00:05:40,320 --> 00:05:40,840 got a Christian. 98 00:05:42,830 --> 00:05:46,030 If you can only explain a man's religious 99 00:05:46,030 --> 00:05:49,410 experience on the basis of miracle, then you 100 00:05:49,410 --> 00:05:50,030 have a Christian. 101 00:05:53,660 --> 00:05:55,120 And there are many ways in which Paul, 102 00:05:55,260 --> 00:05:58,480 in various letters, demonstrates this. 103 00:05:59,500 --> 00:06:03,120 And here he defines it this way, in 104 00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:06,680 verse 3 of Colossians 3. 105 00:06:07,300 --> 00:06:11,940 For you have died, and your life is 106 00:06:11,940 --> 00:06:15,120 hid with Christ in God. 107 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:21,180 Without entering into the theological explanation of all 108 00:06:21,180 --> 00:06:24,440 this, which would be, take us far too 109 00:06:24,440 --> 00:06:26,400 long, let me just put it this way. 110 00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:31,300 You have bowed out, and you have bowed 111 00:06:31,300 --> 00:06:32,540 Jesus Christ in. 112 00:06:35,090 --> 00:06:37,290 There's been a moment in your experience when 113 00:06:37,290 --> 00:06:41,870 one kingdom has ceased, and another kingdom has 114 00:06:41,870 --> 00:06:42,270 begun. 115 00:06:44,540 --> 00:06:48,500 When you've suddenly recognized that when you pray, 116 00:06:48,500 --> 00:06:51,680 the family prayer, our Father which art in 117 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:54,720 heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, 118 00:06:54,880 --> 00:06:57,400 you cannot possibly pray that prayer until you 119 00:06:57,400 --> 00:07:01,200 have first of all prayed, my kingdom go. 120 00:07:04,040 --> 00:07:06,560 There can't possibly be two occupants of the 121 00:07:06,560 --> 00:07:08,340 throne, the sovereignty of our life. 122 00:07:11,500 --> 00:07:14,860 And the miracle, the miracle of Christian experience 123 00:07:14,860 --> 00:07:18,020 begins at that moment, when I bow out, 124 00:07:19,140 --> 00:07:21,400 and Jesus bows himself in. 125 00:07:23,430 --> 00:07:29,500 You have died, and your life is hid 126 00:07:29,500 --> 00:07:31,000 with Christ in God. 127 00:07:31,140 --> 00:07:34,760 With your life, as to its past, with 128 00:07:34,760 --> 00:07:37,820 all its sin, and all its failure, is 129 00:07:37,820 --> 00:07:40,840 hid with Jesus and forgiven. 130 00:07:41,980 --> 00:07:44,620 Your life, as to its future, with all 131 00:07:44,620 --> 00:07:48,260 its potential, all its possibilities, is hid with 132 00:07:48,260 --> 00:07:51,500 Christ in God, for fruitfulness. 133 00:07:54,580 --> 00:07:57,680 You remember that marvellous verse in 2nd Corinthians 134 00:07:57,680 --> 00:08:01,980 5, he who knew no sin was made 135 00:08:01,980 --> 00:08:04,240 sin for us, that we might be made 136 00:08:04,240 --> 00:08:06,620 the righteousness of God in him. 137 00:08:07,260 --> 00:08:09,900 The Living Bible puts it this way. 138 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:17,140 God took the sinless Christ, and poured all 139 00:08:17,140 --> 00:08:18,700 our sins into him. 140 00:08:19,700 --> 00:08:24,260 And in exchange, he has poured all God's 141 00:08:24,260 --> 00:08:25,540 goodness into us. 142 00:08:26,200 --> 00:08:26,900 That's the miracle. 143 00:08:28,320 --> 00:08:30,080 That's a thrilling thing, that every time I 144 00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:31,380 think of that verse, makes me want to 145 00:08:31,380 --> 00:08:32,640 hit the ceiling and shout hallelujah. 146 00:08:33,799 --> 00:08:34,780 Simply wonderful. 147 00:08:35,020 --> 00:08:39,179 All my sin poured into Jesus, and in 148 00:08:39,179 --> 00:08:44,000 exchange, all God's goodness into me. 149 00:08:45,220 --> 00:08:49,320 You see, the Lord is never, never in 150 00:08:49,320 --> 00:08:51,320 the self-improvement plan. 151 00:08:53,430 --> 00:08:57,190 He is always in the Christ replacement. 152 00:08:59,540 --> 00:09:04,260 To replace myself, utterly putre, utterly sinful, and 153 00:09:04,260 --> 00:09:06,460 remaining that way apart from the grace of 154 00:09:06,460 --> 00:09:07,960 God until my dying day. 155 00:09:08,360 --> 00:09:12,040 Replacing that with the goodness of Jesus. 156 00:09:14,060 --> 00:09:18,100 And because that is so, therefore, a Christian 157 00:09:18,100 --> 00:09:21,060 is one who finds himself now a member 158 00:09:21,060 --> 00:09:21,920 of another kingdom. 159 00:09:23,420 --> 00:09:29,500 One law has died out, and another law 160 00:09:29,500 --> 00:09:31,940 has come in. 161 00:09:32,860 --> 00:09:36,700 Romans 8 2 says, the law of the 162 00:09:36,700 --> 00:09:40,080 spirit of life hath made me free from 163 00:09:40,080 --> 00:09:42,480 the law of sin and death. 164 00:09:44,820 --> 00:09:47,580 As I travel around these days, I notice 165 00:09:47,580 --> 00:09:50,080 that in every country, in every place, the 166 00:09:50,080 --> 00:09:53,080 word, the key word, is revolution. 167 00:09:56,600 --> 00:10:03,320 Always by a minority group, who consider themselves 168 00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:08,000 oppressed, and who want to achieve freedom. 169 00:10:11,190 --> 00:10:13,690 But the Christian is the greatest revolutionary of 170 00:10:13,690 --> 00:10:16,570 all, and is the only one who really 171 00:10:16,570 --> 00:10:18,370 knows what revolution is all about. 172 00:10:20,640 --> 00:10:23,460 Because a man cannot be free until he 173 00:10:23,460 --> 00:10:24,660 is free from himself. 174 00:10:25,820 --> 00:10:27,880 The revolt begins from within. 175 00:10:30,500 --> 00:10:33,500 And this has happened in the Christian's experience, 176 00:10:33,760 --> 00:10:37,520 but now he's mastered by another law, the 177 00:10:37,520 --> 00:10:38,800 law of the spirit of life. 178 00:10:39,540 --> 00:10:44,360 As he has bowed out, that finishes the 179 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:45,420 law of sin and death. 180 00:10:46,480 --> 00:10:51,500 As he bows Jesus in, that enthrones the 181 00:10:51,500 --> 00:10:52,720 law of the spirit of life. 182 00:10:54,360 --> 00:10:57,480 So a Christian has come out from one 183 00:10:57,480 --> 00:11:01,720 sovereignty, which was destroying him, into another sovereignty, 184 00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:06,740 which is dynamic, and which remakes him into 185 00:11:06,740 --> 00:11:08,840 the image of Christ, so that others may 186 00:11:08,840 --> 00:11:11,380 see the reality, and the glory, and the 187 00:11:11,380 --> 00:11:14,540 wonder of a risen law, indwelling our hearts 188 00:11:14,540 --> 00:11:15,320 by his spirit. 189 00:11:17,680 --> 00:11:20,260 The law, the spirit of life, hath made 190 00:11:20,260 --> 00:11:22,540 me free from the law of sin and 191 00:11:22,540 --> 00:11:22,760 death. 192 00:11:22,820 --> 00:11:24,700 You are dead, but your life is hid 193 00:11:24,700 --> 00:11:26,740 with Christ in God. 194 00:11:28,700 --> 00:11:30,580 So this law gets into operation. 195 00:11:31,720 --> 00:11:34,720 A Christian, therefore, is free from one law, 196 00:11:34,840 --> 00:11:36,280 but is mastered by another. 197 00:11:38,240 --> 00:11:42,420 He's exercising and being directed and controlled by 198 00:11:42,420 --> 00:11:43,940 a new sovereignty. 199 00:11:46,950 --> 00:11:51,150 Putting it simply, a man is never free 200 00:11:52,840 --> 00:11:56,120 until he is never free to be free 201 00:11:56,120 --> 00:11:56,660 of God. 202 00:12:00,060 --> 00:12:02,960 Perhaps I'd better just say that again, for 203 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:04,260 my own sake, as well as yours. 204 00:12:05,680 --> 00:12:07,360 Just for a second, it was a bit, 205 00:12:07,680 --> 00:12:09,100 uh, just hit me all over again. 206 00:12:10,060 --> 00:12:15,660 I'm not really free until I'm never free 207 00:12:15,660 --> 00:12:16,720 to be free of God. 208 00:12:18,820 --> 00:12:22,280 2 Corinthians 5, the love of Christ constrains 209 00:12:22,280 --> 00:12:29,650 me, holds me in check, restrains, constrains, drives 210 00:12:29,650 --> 00:12:30,110 me on. 211 00:12:31,630 --> 00:12:34,590 And so therefore, we're free when we're not 212 00:12:34,590 --> 00:12:35,930 free to be free of God. 213 00:12:38,200 --> 00:12:41,980 And therefore, being mastered by this new law, 214 00:12:42,260 --> 00:12:45,000 a child of God will react in every 215 00:12:45,000 --> 00:12:48,220 situation completely differently. 216 00:12:51,030 --> 00:12:53,630 I am quite sure that I don't need 217 00:12:53,630 --> 00:12:55,950 to say this to this congregation, but I 218 00:12:55,950 --> 00:12:58,110 would need to to 99 out of 100. 219 00:12:59,650 --> 00:13:00,910 I'll say it, however. 220 00:13:03,890 --> 00:13:07,610 You've no right to expect anybody to come 221 00:13:07,610 --> 00:13:10,090 within the four walls of a church to 222 00:13:10,090 --> 00:13:11,290 listen to our sermons. 223 00:13:13,290 --> 00:13:16,170 I don't mind if it was the Archangel 224 00:13:16,170 --> 00:13:17,970 Gabriel who was your pastor. 225 00:13:18,670 --> 00:13:22,070 Every Sunday, twice a week, you've no reason 226 00:13:22,070 --> 00:13:25,070 to expect that anybody should come inside the 227 00:13:25,070 --> 00:13:28,570 four walls of this church to hear him 228 00:13:28,570 --> 00:13:29,030 speak. 229 00:13:30,210 --> 00:13:34,970 But you've every right to expect that every 230 00:13:34,970 --> 00:13:37,110 one of us, as we go out seven 231 00:13:37,110 --> 00:13:39,750 days a week to our homes, colleges, universities, 232 00:13:39,930 --> 00:13:42,970 business, what have you, people will watch our 233 00:13:42,970 --> 00:13:43,450 reactions. 234 00:13:46,250 --> 00:13:49,050 And when a child of God commences to 235 00:13:49,050 --> 00:13:51,930 react on a different principle and a different 236 00:13:51,930 --> 00:13:55,870 way from other people, then you're watching miracle. 237 00:13:57,980 --> 00:14:00,280 And then people begin to ask, why? 238 00:14:01,880 --> 00:14:04,100 Why doesn't that fellow blow his top anymore? 239 00:14:05,340 --> 00:14:08,480 Why doesn't he speak with that gossiping tongue? 240 00:14:10,720 --> 00:14:12,100 Why doesn't he get mad? 241 00:14:14,230 --> 00:14:16,810 How is it when the rugs pull right 242 00:14:16,810 --> 00:14:17,450 from under him? 243 00:14:18,630 --> 00:14:20,170 He doesn't press the panic button. 244 00:14:20,970 --> 00:14:22,950 I want to know that man's secret. 245 00:14:25,020 --> 00:14:27,280 And there you're beginning to move in the 246 00:14:27,280 --> 00:14:29,160 realm of miracle. 247 00:14:30,840 --> 00:14:32,860 Now I would like this morning, as the 248 00:14:32,860 --> 00:14:37,260 Lord shall have me, just briefly, to suggest 249 00:14:37,260 --> 00:14:39,840 to you some different ways in which this 250 00:14:39,840 --> 00:14:41,200 new law operates. 251 00:14:43,520 --> 00:14:45,780 Some different areas in which you find it 252 00:14:45,780 --> 00:14:48,060 happening seven days a week, so that we 253 00:14:48,060 --> 00:14:50,280 may check our lives to see if we're 254 00:14:50,280 --> 00:14:54,740 really living on this basis of miracle. 255 00:14:58,400 --> 00:15:01,120 Let me suggest in the first place that 256 00:15:01,120 --> 00:15:03,540 this law of the spirit of life in 257 00:15:03,540 --> 00:15:08,740 Christ, this new law, rides above the law 258 00:15:08,740 --> 00:15:12,620 of social justice and demands love for hatred 259 00:15:12,620 --> 00:15:16,940 and tolerance for intolerance. 260 00:15:20,010 --> 00:15:22,990 I remind you in my own heart of 261 00:15:22,990 --> 00:15:25,490 the first man who ever paid the price 262 00:15:25,490 --> 00:15:27,990 of his life for witness to Jesus. 263 00:15:28,890 --> 00:15:31,430 His name, Stephen. 264 00:15:32,510 --> 00:15:35,490 And as he was being stoned to death 265 00:15:37,370 --> 00:15:42,930 and battered, he saw Jesus standing at the 266 00:15:42,930 --> 00:15:43,810 right hand of God. 267 00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:47,920 And he lifted up his voice and said, 268 00:15:47,920 --> 00:15:50,980 Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. 269 00:15:52,800 --> 00:15:54,020 Where did you learn that from? 270 00:15:55,400 --> 00:15:58,840 Surely from one who at the cross, just 271 00:15:58,840 --> 00:16:02,980 a short while previously, had prayed, Father, forgive 272 00:16:02,980 --> 00:16:06,740 them, for they know not what they do. 273 00:16:09,470 --> 00:16:11,990 And you remember that our Lord in Matthew 274 00:16:11,990 --> 00:16:16,730 chapter 5 said, you have heard it said, 275 00:16:17,270 --> 00:16:21,790 you shall love your neighbor and hate your 276 00:16:21,790 --> 00:16:22,270 enemy. 277 00:16:23,670 --> 00:16:26,010 That of course was never taught in the 278 00:16:26,010 --> 00:16:26,310 Bible. 279 00:16:26,850 --> 00:16:30,930 It was the Pharisees' misrepresentation of God. 280 00:16:32,070 --> 00:16:34,870 But I say unto you, said Jesus, love 281 00:16:34,870 --> 00:16:35,770 your enemies. 282 00:16:36,410 --> 00:16:39,470 Do good to them which despitefully use you. 283 00:16:39,670 --> 00:16:42,210 Pray for them which persecute you. 284 00:16:42,710 --> 00:16:46,990 And in Colossians 3 and verse 14, above 285 00:16:46,990 --> 00:16:51,610 all these things put on love which binds 286 00:16:51,610 --> 00:16:59,220 everything together in perfect harmony, it rides above 287 00:16:59,220 --> 00:17:03,720 the law of social justice and demands love 288 00:17:03,720 --> 00:17:07,079 for hatred, tolerance for intolerance. 289 00:17:10,680 --> 00:17:13,040 How do you react to difficult people? 290 00:17:14,760 --> 00:17:16,800 Perhaps you don't have any around here. 291 00:17:18,300 --> 00:17:21,000 Let me be the first applicant for membership 292 00:17:21,000 --> 00:17:21,940 next Sunday. 293 00:17:24,030 --> 00:17:27,270 I have never met a fellowship, and you 294 00:17:27,270 --> 00:17:30,730 never will, until you get to heaven, where 295 00:17:30,730 --> 00:17:33,050 you don't find difficult people. 296 00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:39,020 When I was at Moody Church at one 297 00:17:39,020 --> 00:17:41,840 period in my ministry, there was one of 298 00:17:41,840 --> 00:17:46,220 my trustees, or elder, who used to come 299 00:17:46,220 --> 00:17:48,820 into the office from which I went to 300 00:17:48,820 --> 00:17:52,300 the pulpit at one minute to eleven, every 301 00:17:52,300 --> 00:17:55,640 Sunday, and say to me, hopeless pastor, the 302 00:17:55,640 --> 00:17:58,500 church is half empty today, and go out. 303 00:17:59,580 --> 00:18:02,200 Well, that does something to a minister right 304 00:18:02,200 --> 00:18:02,680 in here. 305 00:18:05,200 --> 00:18:08,800 Fortunately, thirty seconds later, one of the elders 306 00:18:08,800 --> 00:18:10,940 of the church came in and said to 307 00:18:10,940 --> 00:18:13,800 me, he came in actually and put his 308 00:18:13,800 --> 00:18:16,580 arm around my shoulder and said, wonderful pastor, 309 00:18:16,980 --> 00:18:18,400 the church is half full today. 310 00:18:19,860 --> 00:18:21,140 Saying the same thing. 311 00:18:22,220 --> 00:18:25,840 One with a view to raking me through, 312 00:18:26,360 --> 00:18:28,360 the other with a view to encouragement. 313 00:18:30,530 --> 00:18:32,690 The church seated four thousand, and there were 314 00:18:32,690 --> 00:18:34,450 two thousand people, that wasn't a bad congregation. 315 00:18:35,490 --> 00:18:39,610 But whenever I got into the pulpit, every 316 00:18:39,610 --> 00:18:41,930 Sunday morning, out of every empty seat, there 317 00:18:41,930 --> 00:18:43,770 jumped a little devil and said to me, 318 00:18:43,810 --> 00:18:44,350 you're hopeless. 319 00:18:44,590 --> 00:18:46,010 Didn't need another man to do that for 320 00:18:46,010 --> 00:18:46,170 me. 321 00:18:46,750 --> 00:18:50,970 Listen, listen, which of those two men was 322 00:18:50,970 --> 00:18:52,450 it easier for me to love? 323 00:18:55,300 --> 00:18:57,080 I don't need to answer that question, do 324 00:18:57,080 --> 00:18:57,260 I? 325 00:18:58,000 --> 00:18:58,400 You know. 326 00:18:59,320 --> 00:19:01,880 My reaction was totally negative. 327 00:19:03,680 --> 00:19:04,760 Get rid of him. 328 00:19:05,420 --> 00:19:07,780 Send him to another fundamental church. 329 00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:08,780 Get him out of here. 330 00:19:08,880 --> 00:19:11,400 We can't have blessing with people like that 331 00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:11,740 around. 332 00:19:12,800 --> 00:19:14,840 The only thing to do with him is 333 00:19:14,840 --> 00:19:16,400 write him a blistering letter. 334 00:19:17,300 --> 00:19:19,360 So I wrote him a blistering letter, and 335 00:19:19,360 --> 00:19:20,440 it blistered. 336 00:19:20,880 --> 00:19:27,030 But it lay on my study unopened, and 337 00:19:27,030 --> 00:19:28,890 my wife happened to see it. 338 00:19:32,380 --> 00:19:36,820 That evening she said to me, we don't 339 00:19:36,820 --> 00:19:38,160 use the word honey. 340 00:19:40,360 --> 00:19:41,720 Another word we use in England, doesn't matter. 341 00:19:44,680 --> 00:19:47,420 But, she said to me, don't you think 342 00:19:47,420 --> 00:19:49,940 we ought to pray about this before you 343 00:19:49,940 --> 00:19:50,300 send it? 344 00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:54,760 I said okay, and we knelt down to 345 00:19:54,760 --> 00:19:55,000 pray. 346 00:19:56,620 --> 00:19:59,620 Something happened that day, not to the man, 347 00:19:59,860 --> 00:20:00,640 but to the pastor. 348 00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:05,260 Have you discovered my friend, that you cannot 349 00:20:05,260 --> 00:20:08,240 pray for somebody against whom you hold resentment? 350 00:20:09,940 --> 00:20:11,800 One or the other will die out. 351 00:20:13,960 --> 00:20:16,580 Either your resentment will die, or your prayer 352 00:20:16,580 --> 00:20:17,440 life goes to pieces. 353 00:20:20,960 --> 00:20:26,240 Resentment dies, or hold it, and your prayer 354 00:20:26,240 --> 00:20:27,080 life is crushed. 355 00:20:29,820 --> 00:20:32,440 Well, it was with some burden of heart, 356 00:20:32,540 --> 00:20:36,380 that I found myself beginning to love that 357 00:20:36,380 --> 00:20:36,640 man. 358 00:20:37,560 --> 00:20:38,800 I never liked him. 359 00:20:39,620 --> 00:20:40,680 I never have liked him. 360 00:20:41,840 --> 00:20:44,060 But that's a very different thing from loving 361 00:20:44,060 --> 00:20:44,280 him. 362 00:20:45,520 --> 00:20:47,940 A concern came into my heart, a desire 363 00:20:47,940 --> 00:20:50,680 that the man should really love the Lord. 364 00:20:52,920 --> 00:20:55,000 Oh, he didn't change a great deal until 365 00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:57,200 after I left the church. 366 00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:01,300 And two years later, we came back to 367 00:21:01,300 --> 00:21:02,020 Chicago. 368 00:21:02,780 --> 00:21:05,960 The first person we should meet was this 369 00:21:05,960 --> 00:21:06,320 man. 370 00:21:08,020 --> 00:21:10,440 And he said, he came up to my 371 00:21:10,440 --> 00:21:11,860 wife, and he hugged her, and kissed her. 372 00:21:11,940 --> 00:21:12,480 I didn't mind that. 373 00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:14,940 And then when he finished with her, he 374 00:21:14,940 --> 00:21:16,860 said to me, pastor, we do miss you. 375 00:21:19,280 --> 00:21:20,480 I felt like saying to him, I wish 376 00:21:20,480 --> 00:21:22,260 you'd said that a few years ago, but 377 00:21:22,260 --> 00:21:22,780 he didn't. 378 00:21:23,320 --> 00:21:24,080 See what I mean? 379 00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:28,700 Could it be possible that in this precious 380 00:21:28,700 --> 00:21:32,740 fellowship this morning, the tinge of resentment. 381 00:21:34,300 --> 00:21:37,140 Somebody with whom you're not really in fellowship. 382 00:21:38,360 --> 00:21:40,200 Somebody to whom you're cold. 383 00:21:41,460 --> 00:21:44,560 Somebody whom you avoid, and don't love. 384 00:21:45,660 --> 00:21:48,260 And at that point, the Holy Spirit is 385 00:21:48,260 --> 00:21:48,780 grieved. 386 00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:51,840 I beg of you in Jesus' name, if 387 00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:54,700 that be true, at the end of this 388 00:21:54,700 --> 00:21:57,140 service, get it dealt with at the cross. 389 00:21:59,610 --> 00:22:01,290 Get it dealt with at Calvary. 390 00:22:06,340 --> 00:22:08,640 Because if you are mastered by the law 391 00:22:08,640 --> 00:22:12,120 of the Spirit of life, that law will 392 00:22:12,120 --> 00:22:16,160 get through you in love, instead of hatred. 393 00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:22,040 Another area in which I find that this 394 00:22:22,040 --> 00:22:24,300 law of the Spirit of life, in Christ 395 00:22:24,300 --> 00:22:27,360 Jesus, masters the law of sin and death, 396 00:22:27,660 --> 00:22:28,060 is this. 397 00:22:29,600 --> 00:22:32,720 That it writes above the law of physical 398 00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:34,980 fatigue and exhaustion. 399 00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:40,300 Isaiah 40 verse 30. 400 00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:43,380 They that wait upon the Lord shall renew 401 00:22:43,380 --> 00:22:44,340 their strength. 402 00:22:44,740 --> 00:22:47,620 They shall mount up with wings as eagles. 403 00:22:47,760 --> 00:22:50,100 They shall run and not grow weary. 404 00:22:50,280 --> 00:22:52,120 They shall walk and not be bent. 405 00:22:54,440 --> 00:22:57,320 Remember the New Testament equivalent of that? 406 00:22:57,960 --> 00:22:58,800 The apostle Paul. 407 00:22:59,940 --> 00:23:03,860 Who, as he tells us in 2 Corinthians 408 00:23:03,860 --> 00:23:08,700 chapter 12, as he opens his heart to 409 00:23:08,700 --> 00:23:10,900 us and speaks of this thorn in the 410 00:23:10,900 --> 00:23:16,740 flesh, which we cannot define clearly, but which 411 00:23:16,740 --> 00:23:19,640 he said was Satan's messenger to buffet him. 412 00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:23,360 Three times he prayed to the Lord about 413 00:23:23,360 --> 00:23:24,680 this concerning the flesh. 414 00:23:24,780 --> 00:23:27,120 Lord get rid of three times. 415 00:23:29,330 --> 00:23:33,010 Most commentators on that passage suggest that three 416 00:23:33,010 --> 00:23:36,850 times means he was constantly praying, never stopping. 417 00:23:37,710 --> 00:23:41,190 With every respect, I can't take that line, 418 00:23:41,710 --> 00:23:42,210 that view. 419 00:23:43,390 --> 00:23:45,710 I can't help thinking that he was being 420 00:23:45,710 --> 00:23:49,910 reminded constantly of his master, who at the 421 00:23:49,910 --> 00:23:54,550 Garden of Gethsemane three times prayed, Lord if 422 00:23:54,550 --> 00:23:57,270 it be possible, let this cup pass from 423 00:23:57,270 --> 00:23:57,530 me. 424 00:23:58,090 --> 00:24:00,310 Nevertheless not my will, but thine be done. 425 00:24:00,470 --> 00:24:03,510 And his sweat was as it were great 426 00:24:03,510 --> 00:24:04,990 drops of blood on the ground. 427 00:24:05,390 --> 00:24:05,990 Three times. 428 00:24:07,960 --> 00:24:13,280 Three times Paul prayed, Lord take this thorn 429 00:24:13,280 --> 00:24:13,860 away. 430 00:24:14,100 --> 00:24:17,400 And the answer, my grace is sufficient for 431 00:24:17,400 --> 00:24:17,580 you. 432 00:24:18,320 --> 00:24:22,480 My strength is made perfect in weakness. 433 00:24:24,820 --> 00:24:25,260 Three times. 434 00:24:27,740 --> 00:24:32,120 I hesitate, hesitate indeed to introduce a word 435 00:24:32,120 --> 00:24:35,280 except for the glory of God concerning this. 436 00:24:36,940 --> 00:24:38,780 Seven years ago I was flat on my 437 00:24:38,780 --> 00:24:39,520 back for a year. 438 00:24:40,740 --> 00:24:43,680 Couldn't speak, couldn't move. 439 00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:48,100 And I had promised my church in Edinburgh 440 00:24:48,100 --> 00:24:49,940 in Scotland that I would return to the 441 00:24:49,940 --> 00:24:51,840 pulpit on a certain particular Sunday. 442 00:24:53,220 --> 00:24:55,200 Gradually I was getting stronger, but I thought 443 00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:56,420 I'll never be able to make it. 444 00:24:56,980 --> 00:24:59,680 So I decided that the Sunday prior to 445 00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:01,640 my recommencement of ministry, I would go up 446 00:25:01,640 --> 00:25:05,360 to another little church in Scotland, just taking 447 00:25:05,360 --> 00:25:07,900 about 80 people, and ask the ministry if 448 00:25:07,900 --> 00:25:10,280 you'd mind me trying again there. 449 00:25:11,100 --> 00:25:12,240 So I went to that church. 450 00:25:12,340 --> 00:25:14,880 I stood up to preach and lasted exactly 451 00:25:14,880 --> 00:25:15,660 four minutes. 452 00:25:16,860 --> 00:25:19,720 My tongue stuck to my mouth and I 453 00:25:19,720 --> 00:25:20,660 couldn't say another word. 454 00:25:20,820 --> 00:25:24,260 I sat down and wept and said, oh 455 00:25:24,260 --> 00:25:25,760 God this is the end. 456 00:25:27,100 --> 00:25:28,320 That's seven years ago. 457 00:25:29,840 --> 00:25:31,120 I went back to Edinburgh. 458 00:25:33,540 --> 00:25:35,500 The church in which I was passed to 459 00:25:35,500 --> 00:25:39,800 there, quite large one, had eight steps, steep 460 00:25:39,800 --> 00:25:40,980 steps up to the pulpit. 461 00:25:42,760 --> 00:25:44,900 I arrived there on the Sunday morning trembling 462 00:25:44,900 --> 00:25:48,440 and fearing, as I don't think I'd done 463 00:25:48,440 --> 00:25:49,260 before in my life. 464 00:25:49,980 --> 00:25:52,080 I stood at the bottom of those steps. 465 00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:53,560 Church was packed. 466 00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:55,600 They'd been so good and gracious and kind 467 00:25:55,600 --> 00:25:57,960 and praying for me, and that day meant 468 00:25:57,960 --> 00:25:59,100 much to them as to me. 469 00:25:59,880 --> 00:26:01,440 I stood at the bottom of those steps. 470 00:26:01,800 --> 00:26:02,340 I looked at them. 471 00:26:02,420 --> 00:26:03,260 Lord, I can't do it. 472 00:26:03,700 --> 00:26:05,020 I can't get up. 473 00:26:06,300 --> 00:26:09,920 And I felt a touch, a touch of 474 00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:13,060 his power, and he lifted me up. 475 00:26:13,820 --> 00:26:14,620 I'm sure he did. 476 00:26:15,260 --> 00:26:18,260 And I preached for 15 minutes. 477 00:26:19,900 --> 00:26:21,500 A year later I was back in Chicago 478 00:26:21,500 --> 00:26:22,360 at Buddhist Church. 479 00:26:24,020 --> 00:26:24,760 Founders Week. 480 00:26:27,990 --> 00:26:30,290 Public address equipment broken down. 481 00:26:31,770 --> 00:26:33,290 You can't speak from the pulpit. 482 00:26:33,410 --> 00:26:34,690 You have to go to the communion table. 483 00:26:34,850 --> 00:26:35,710 They'll hear you better there. 484 00:26:35,810 --> 00:26:36,470 So I went there. 485 00:26:38,310 --> 00:26:39,270 No amplification. 486 00:26:39,770 --> 00:26:40,630 Nowhere to lean. 487 00:26:40,770 --> 00:26:42,590 I could only preach in those days by 488 00:26:42,590 --> 00:26:44,610 holding on hard in case I fell over. 489 00:26:46,190 --> 00:26:50,460 And I stood by that table and I 490 00:26:50,460 --> 00:26:52,140 heard a voice, my grace. 491 00:26:54,460 --> 00:26:57,360 He touched me, and I'm sorry to tell 492 00:26:57,360 --> 00:26:59,000 you, I lasted for an hour and a 493 00:26:59,000 --> 00:26:59,300 half. 494 00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:02,580 Don't get worried, please. 495 00:27:02,880 --> 00:27:03,280 It's all right. 496 00:27:04,380 --> 00:27:07,280 Oh, but I tell you, not, not theoretically, 497 00:27:07,500 --> 00:27:08,460 but from experience. 498 00:27:09,040 --> 00:27:10,440 Listen, my friend, listen. 499 00:27:10,620 --> 00:27:12,860 Is there anybody in this church this morning 500 00:27:12,860 --> 00:27:14,180 who's just at the end of your rope? 501 00:27:15,940 --> 00:27:18,640 Just absolutely exhausted and done. 502 00:27:19,120 --> 00:27:20,620 You've been on the rat race. 503 00:27:23,150 --> 00:27:25,550 Absolutely finished, and you don't know how you're 504 00:27:25,550 --> 00:27:25,930 going on. 505 00:27:26,030 --> 00:27:29,470 Listen, God's greatest blessings are not reached by 506 00:27:29,470 --> 00:27:30,850 stretching up your hand. 507 00:27:31,350 --> 00:27:33,070 They're reached when you're right down at rock 508 00:27:33,070 --> 00:27:33,270 bottom. 509 00:27:33,730 --> 00:27:34,470 Jesus is there. 510 00:27:36,370 --> 00:27:38,750 My grace is sufficient. 511 00:27:43,500 --> 00:27:45,500 Let me say something else to you about 512 00:27:45,500 --> 00:27:47,300 this law under which you and I are 513 00:27:47,300 --> 00:27:47,940 to be mastered. 514 00:27:48,140 --> 00:27:52,080 It rides above the law of physics, that 515 00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:54,900 all things contract under pressure. 516 00:27:55,380 --> 00:27:55,940 Christian doesn't. 517 00:27:57,040 --> 00:27:58,040 Oh, no. 518 00:27:58,820 --> 00:27:59,520 Oh, no. 519 00:28:00,220 --> 00:28:03,260 Put three men in a burning fiery furnace. 520 00:28:03,980 --> 00:28:06,000 You know those fellows with unpronounceable names. 521 00:28:06,400 --> 00:28:08,180 Put them in a burning fiery furnace. 522 00:28:08,180 --> 00:28:09,640 Those fellows with unpronounceable names. 523 00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:11,920 Put them in a burning fiery furnace. 524 00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:12,820 That's pressure. 525 00:28:14,720 --> 00:28:17,500 Within the burning fiery furnace, they meet one 526 00:28:17,500 --> 00:28:18,940 like the little Son of God. 527 00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:20,080 That's enlargement. 528 00:28:22,510 --> 00:28:23,190 That's enlargement. 529 00:28:24,150 --> 00:28:26,210 Christmas, a Christian doesn't contract. 530 00:28:26,570 --> 00:28:28,570 He enlarges under pressure. 531 00:28:30,760 --> 00:28:39,780 Job, whom ten kids taken from him, all 532 00:28:39,780 --> 00:28:44,080 his money, all his farms, all his possessions, 533 00:28:44,620 --> 00:28:48,920 he's left with absolutely nothing except a nagging 534 00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:52,420 wife who said to him, Job, the only 535 00:28:52,420 --> 00:28:54,600 thing for you to do is to curse 536 00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:55,700 God and die. 537 00:28:56,960 --> 00:28:59,760 And God gave to Job songs in the 538 00:28:59,760 --> 00:28:59,980 night. 539 00:29:01,870 --> 00:29:02,950 Songs in the night. 540 00:29:03,410 --> 00:29:06,570 Put Paul and Silas in a jail at 541 00:29:06,570 --> 00:29:09,150 Philippi, thrash them, beat them. 542 00:29:11,380 --> 00:29:14,140 And from that prison wall comes songs. 543 00:29:17,990 --> 00:29:21,610 I stood last August, 12 months, on the 544 00:29:21,610 --> 00:29:25,290 edge of the communist border, 25 miles west 545 00:29:25,290 --> 00:29:30,930 of Kowloon in Hong Kong, beside a Chinese 546 00:29:30,930 --> 00:29:33,590 pastor, a great man of God. 547 00:29:35,050 --> 00:29:39,430 We looked into communist China, that mysterious country 548 00:29:39,430 --> 00:29:41,990 with all its mountains and valleys, and in 549 00:29:41,990 --> 00:29:44,290 front of us was the great river over 550 00:29:44,290 --> 00:29:47,010 which so many thousands of people have sought 551 00:29:47,010 --> 00:29:50,190 to swim and escape and have been shot. 552 00:29:51,150 --> 00:29:52,770 And he looked over it and he said, 553 00:29:52,850 --> 00:29:53,530 that's my country. 554 00:29:54,890 --> 00:29:55,710 That's my country. 555 00:29:57,090 --> 00:29:58,930 Do you know, Pastor Ed Perth, do you 556 00:29:58,930 --> 00:30:01,930 know that the church in communist China, he 557 00:30:01,930 --> 00:30:04,350 said, is twice as strong as it was 558 00:30:04,350 --> 00:30:05,730 when Chairman Mao took over? 559 00:30:06,650 --> 00:30:08,750 And then he added a comment that I'll 560 00:30:08,750 --> 00:30:09,330 never forget. 561 00:30:10,090 --> 00:30:12,090 And there isn't a hypocrite left. 562 00:30:16,650 --> 00:30:17,990 Of course not. 563 00:30:18,410 --> 00:30:19,710 Of course not. 564 00:30:21,470 --> 00:30:23,590 The phony can't stand it. 565 00:30:24,650 --> 00:30:27,910 In pressure, the man who plays church quits. 566 00:30:29,330 --> 00:30:31,890 He may be fundamental in his doctrine, he 567 00:30:31,890 --> 00:30:34,770 may be right in his head, but somehow 568 00:30:34,770 --> 00:30:38,270 Jesus hasn't come in all the power of 569 00:30:38,270 --> 00:30:39,810 the Holy Ghost to live in his heart. 570 00:30:39,910 --> 00:30:42,290 And then will the man and be mustered 571 00:30:42,290 --> 00:30:44,470 by this law, the spirit of life in 572 00:30:44,470 --> 00:30:44,750 Christ. 573 00:30:44,890 --> 00:30:46,210 And so the man quits under pressure. 574 00:30:50,210 --> 00:30:53,830 No pressure on you today in your home, 575 00:30:53,890 --> 00:30:54,450 my John. 576 00:30:56,900 --> 00:30:57,520 Thank the Lord. 577 00:30:57,980 --> 00:30:58,740 Thank the Lord. 578 00:31:00,860 --> 00:31:03,660 Count it all joy when you fall into 579 00:31:03,660 --> 00:31:12,270 diverse, various testing, because this law, the spirit 580 00:31:12,270 --> 00:31:14,930 of life, rides above the law of physics, 581 00:31:15,450 --> 00:31:17,070 that all things can factor. 582 00:31:19,220 --> 00:31:21,200 He will not suffer you to be tested 583 00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:23,060 beyond that you're able to bear, but will, 584 00:31:23,160 --> 00:31:25,420 with the testing, provide a way of escape 585 00:31:25,420 --> 00:31:27,300 that you may be able to bear it. 586 00:31:32,530 --> 00:31:33,930 I'll tell you in just a minute, I 587 00:31:33,930 --> 00:31:35,950 find this exciting to my view, but I 588 00:31:35,950 --> 00:31:36,150 do. 589 00:31:37,170 --> 00:31:40,150 This law, the spirit of life, rides above 590 00:31:40,150 --> 00:31:45,530 the law of self-preservation and promotes the 591 00:31:45,530 --> 00:31:46,610 law of self-sacrifice. 592 00:31:48,590 --> 00:31:49,790 John 12, 24. 593 00:31:50,250 --> 00:31:52,050 Except a corn of wheat fall into the 594 00:31:52,050 --> 00:31:54,330 ground and die, it abided alone. 595 00:31:54,430 --> 00:31:56,630 But if it die, it bringeth forth much 596 00:31:56,630 --> 00:31:56,930 fruit. 597 00:32:02,350 --> 00:32:03,270 Galatians 6. 598 00:32:05,470 --> 00:32:06,970 Let no man trouble me. 599 00:32:07,690 --> 00:32:11,050 I bear in my body the marks of 600 00:32:11,050 --> 00:32:11,690 the Lord Jesus. 601 00:32:16,140 --> 00:32:21,130 Everywhere I go in these days, I meet 602 00:32:21,670 --> 00:32:24,970 every different country, the charismatic movement. 603 00:32:30,290 --> 00:32:34,800 There's so much reality in it, so much 604 00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:35,940 that I thank God for. 605 00:32:36,700 --> 00:32:39,080 So many hundreds of people that I've found 606 00:32:39,080 --> 00:32:42,020 enter into life and enter into a new 607 00:32:42,020 --> 00:32:43,280 relationship with Jesus. 608 00:32:44,080 --> 00:32:45,880 But, but, there's a danger. 609 00:32:47,580 --> 00:32:50,320 There are many who are seeking for a 610 00:32:50,320 --> 00:32:52,080 Pentecost without a Calvary. 611 00:32:53,460 --> 00:32:54,340 You can't have that. 612 00:32:57,320 --> 00:32:59,160 Lord, give me Pentecost. 613 00:32:59,920 --> 00:33:02,560 And God answers, you give me Calvary. 614 00:33:03,340 --> 00:33:04,920 And Pentecost is inevitable. 615 00:33:09,040 --> 00:33:11,740 It rides above the law of self-preservation 616 00:33:11,740 --> 00:33:15,100 and promotes the law of self-sacrifice. 617 00:33:17,100 --> 00:33:19,980 Young person listening to me today, is it 618 00:33:19,980 --> 00:33:21,300 costing you much to be a Christian? 619 00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:25,340 I don't mean in terms of dollars and 620 00:33:25,340 --> 00:33:25,560 cents. 621 00:33:25,720 --> 00:33:26,640 I mean in terms of life. 622 00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:31,680 A little while ago, in Edinburgh, there came 623 00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:33,300 to me after a Sunday morning, a young 624 00:33:33,300 --> 00:33:36,000 lady, about, I'm not a good judge, but 625 00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:38,620 about 24, I think, years of age, and 626 00:33:38,620 --> 00:33:39,780 she held out her left hand. 627 00:33:41,300 --> 00:33:42,780 There's only one place you look and a 628 00:33:42,780 --> 00:33:43,320 girl does that. 629 00:33:43,420 --> 00:33:44,620 Sure enough, there it was. 630 00:33:44,620 --> 00:33:46,220 Lovely diamond ring. 631 00:33:47,120 --> 00:33:48,740 I said, praise the Lord. 632 00:33:48,900 --> 00:33:49,780 I knew her fiancé. 633 00:33:49,880 --> 00:33:51,580 Well, I'd seen, watched it all develop. 634 00:33:52,240 --> 00:33:54,120 I mean, Minister Caesar got a lot more 635 00:33:54,120 --> 00:33:55,860 from a pulpit than the most, the average 636 00:33:55,860 --> 00:33:56,700 congregation imagined. 637 00:33:56,940 --> 00:33:57,900 I saw it all happening. 638 00:33:58,220 --> 00:33:59,400 And I was thankful. 639 00:33:59,580 --> 00:34:00,640 I was thankful indeed. 640 00:34:00,800 --> 00:34:01,560 It was all for it. 641 00:34:01,560 --> 00:34:02,700 And I said, that's a wonderful order. 642 00:34:02,740 --> 00:34:03,520 I'm so glad. 643 00:34:03,980 --> 00:34:05,220 And we arranged the wedding day. 644 00:34:07,940 --> 00:34:10,260 Three months later, she came to see me, 645 00:34:10,920 --> 00:34:12,679 held out her hand again. 646 00:34:13,600 --> 00:34:14,199 No ring. 647 00:34:15,580 --> 00:34:17,659 I said, what's happened? 648 00:34:17,960 --> 00:34:20,380 Oh, she said, nothing, nothing. 649 00:34:20,620 --> 00:34:22,320 I said, that's the understatement of the century. 650 00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:25,320 Then she broke down and wept. 651 00:34:27,830 --> 00:34:32,380 And when she'd finished her weeping, she said 652 00:34:32,380 --> 00:34:35,280 to me, well, she said, it's really your 653 00:34:35,280 --> 00:34:35,639 fault. 654 00:34:37,690 --> 00:34:38,969 Well, I've been blamed for a lot, but 655 00:34:38,969 --> 00:34:40,389 I didn't see that anything to do with 656 00:34:40,389 --> 00:34:40,570 that. 657 00:34:40,670 --> 00:34:41,949 So I said, would you mind telling me 658 00:34:41,949 --> 00:34:42,449 what you mean? 659 00:34:44,520 --> 00:34:47,260 Oh, she said, for three months, I and 660 00:34:47,260 --> 00:34:50,560 my fiancé have been listening on Sunday mornings 661 00:34:50,560 --> 00:34:52,560 to you preach on the acts of the 662 00:34:52,560 --> 00:34:54,239 apostles and missionary principles. 663 00:34:56,950 --> 00:34:59,550 And more and more, I've been convinced that 664 00:34:59,550 --> 00:35:00,830 God wants me in Thailand. 665 00:35:01,550 --> 00:35:03,690 And more and more, my fiancé is convinced 666 00:35:03,690 --> 00:35:05,750 that God wants him in Edinburgh. 667 00:35:05,990 --> 00:35:11,390 In the month or two, we had a 668 00:35:11,390 --> 00:35:12,250 valedictory service. 669 00:35:13,410 --> 00:35:14,910 And I tell you, there's a tear in 670 00:35:14,910 --> 00:35:16,370 one eye and a twinkle in the other, 671 00:35:17,310 --> 00:35:18,490 as far as that was concerned. 672 00:35:19,730 --> 00:35:22,390 That girl was going out to Thailand with 673 00:35:22,390 --> 00:35:23,330 a broken heart. 674 00:35:24,910 --> 00:35:27,470 She was mastered by the law of the 675 00:35:27,470 --> 00:35:28,690 spirit of life, in fact. 676 00:35:30,090 --> 00:35:32,330 And she was treading right over her own 677 00:35:32,330 --> 00:35:33,450 life, her own wishes. 678 00:35:33,770 --> 00:35:35,630 And she'd given up the greatest desire that 679 00:35:35,630 --> 00:35:38,270 any girl can have, the natural desire, because 680 00:35:38,270 --> 00:35:40,910 she was demonstrating to the Lord, like Abraham 681 00:35:40,910 --> 00:35:43,410 did on Mount Moriah, that he loved his 682 00:35:45,560 --> 00:35:46,240 answer to him. 683 00:35:46,580 --> 00:35:51,730 Now, I know that girl went out to 684 00:35:51,730 --> 00:35:52,270 Thailand. 685 00:35:52,990 --> 00:35:55,370 I imagine just the Lord saying to her, 686 00:35:58,520 --> 00:36:05,280 promotes the law of self-sacrifice and rides 687 00:36:05,280 --> 00:36:06,240 about the law of self. 688 00:36:08,330 --> 00:36:10,010 You'll forgive me, but I'm on the board 689 00:36:10,010 --> 00:36:11,790 of one or two missionary societies and have 690 00:36:11,790 --> 00:36:12,750 served a number of years. 691 00:36:12,830 --> 00:36:14,670 And you know, it absolutely baffles me these 692 00:36:14,670 --> 00:36:17,030 days when people come and say, now look, 693 00:36:17,090 --> 00:36:19,290 Jim, what will be social security? 694 00:36:21,030 --> 00:36:23,270 What will happen to my children? 695 00:36:24,630 --> 00:36:26,150 What about the climate? 696 00:36:27,010 --> 00:36:28,350 Do you mind if I come for a 697 00:36:28,350 --> 00:36:29,710 month or two and see what it's all 698 00:36:29,710 --> 00:36:31,410 like, and see if that suits me, and 699 00:36:31,410 --> 00:36:32,990 I get on well there? 700 00:36:33,310 --> 00:36:36,410 And if I do, I'll really come, stay 701 00:36:36,410 --> 00:36:36,910 with you? 702 00:36:37,730 --> 00:36:39,210 How do you think Paul would have reacted 703 00:36:39,210 --> 00:36:39,590 to that? 704 00:36:43,260 --> 00:36:47,420 Brother, sister, I tell you, when Jesus gets 705 00:36:47,420 --> 00:36:50,600 hold of you, there's only one thing that 706 00:36:50,600 --> 00:36:52,580 really matters in a man's life. 707 00:36:52,960 --> 00:36:54,980 It is knowing the will of God and 708 00:36:54,980 --> 00:36:56,940 doing it at any cost, at any time, 709 00:36:57,200 --> 00:36:57,880 any place. 710 00:37:00,730 --> 00:37:02,750 I met that girl in Thailand two years 711 00:37:02,750 --> 00:37:03,030 ago. 712 00:37:04,630 --> 00:37:05,530 She was radiant. 713 00:37:06,550 --> 00:37:09,830 She said to me, I'd rather be here 714 00:37:09,830 --> 00:37:11,690 unmarried in the will of God than I 715 00:37:11,690 --> 00:37:13,110 would be back in Scotland out of it. 716 00:37:14,510 --> 00:37:16,210 Though I think I ought perhaps to be 717 00:37:16,210 --> 00:37:19,670 fair to add, I who have a pretty 718 00:37:19,670 --> 00:37:23,030 discerning eye for these sort of situations, thought 719 00:37:23,030 --> 00:37:25,750 to myself, I don't think this isolation is 720 00:37:25,750 --> 00:37:27,070 likely to continue much longer. 721 00:37:28,430 --> 00:37:30,090 Sure enough, she wrote to me. 722 00:37:31,070 --> 00:37:35,010 She's married now, but look, married to the 723 00:37:35,010 --> 00:37:36,290 man of God's choice. 724 00:37:37,950 --> 00:37:42,650 Just suppose he'd chosen the second best, and 725 00:37:42,650 --> 00:37:43,810 God won't stop you doing that. 726 00:37:44,370 --> 00:37:45,450 He won't stop you. 727 00:37:46,130 --> 00:37:48,570 Though at the time he will say, are 728 00:37:48,570 --> 00:37:51,050 you quite sure this is my will for 729 00:37:51,050 --> 00:37:51,270 you? 730 00:37:53,570 --> 00:37:54,550 You'll have a check. 731 00:37:56,130 --> 00:37:58,250 But if you choose to take the bit 732 00:37:58,250 --> 00:38:00,230 between your teeth and go right ahead, he 733 00:38:00,230 --> 00:38:01,110 won't stop you. 734 00:38:04,580 --> 00:38:07,020 But if you're mustered by the Lord, the 735 00:38:07,020 --> 00:38:09,840 Spirit of life in Christ, he will check 736 00:38:09,840 --> 00:38:10,040 you. 737 00:38:11,260 --> 00:38:13,500 His musty will mean more to you than 738 00:38:13,500 --> 00:38:14,940 any human love. 739 00:38:20,050 --> 00:38:21,330 Let me say something else to you, if 740 00:38:21,330 --> 00:38:21,950 you can stand it. 741 00:38:22,970 --> 00:38:25,870 This law, the Spirit of life in Christ, 742 00:38:26,570 --> 00:38:32,940 rides above the law of psychology, that old 743 00:38:32,940 --> 00:38:36,560 age reduces the signs of wonder and amazement, 744 00:38:38,690 --> 00:38:40,810 that familiarity breeds contempt. 745 00:38:46,170 --> 00:38:48,970 They shall still bring forth fruit to an 746 00:38:48,970 --> 00:38:50,950 old age, says Psalm 92, 14. 747 00:38:51,970 --> 00:38:54,010 And what wonderful old men there are in 748 00:38:54,010 --> 00:38:54,390 the Bible. 749 00:38:55,730 --> 00:38:59,030 Daniel, one of them, Abram, 119 years of 750 00:38:59,030 --> 00:39:02,690 age, when God tested him most severely, the 751 00:39:02,690 --> 00:39:04,050 most severe test in his life. 752 00:39:04,970 --> 00:39:09,750 Daniel, after all his experiences in Babylon, yet 753 00:39:09,750 --> 00:39:12,390 he opened the windows three times a day 754 00:39:12,390 --> 00:39:14,150 towards Jerusalem and prayed. 755 00:39:16,720 --> 00:39:18,900 And he was hurled into a lion's den, 756 00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:21,000 and lo and behold, the lions had locked 757 00:39:21,000 --> 00:39:21,160 him. 758 00:39:22,300 --> 00:39:25,840 No manner of hurt came upon him, and 759 00:39:25,840 --> 00:39:28,820 he was not, not, not a singe of 760 00:39:28,820 --> 00:39:29,960 flame upon him. 761 00:39:33,190 --> 00:39:36,370 Oh, it's tragic when a man gets stale 762 00:39:36,370 --> 00:39:37,170 when he gets old. 763 00:39:38,710 --> 00:39:41,370 When he lives and serves Christ in the 764 00:39:41,370 --> 00:39:43,750 terms of a commission that's long since ceased 765 00:39:43,750 --> 00:39:44,410 to be fresh. 766 00:39:46,740 --> 00:39:48,640 I was just a young Christian, a very 767 00:39:48,640 --> 00:39:50,860 backsliding Christian, I'm afraid, when I was in 768 00:39:50,860 --> 00:39:52,280 business as a CPA in London. 769 00:39:54,860 --> 00:39:56,460 I was running away from God. 770 00:39:57,600 --> 00:39:59,780 I thought the Christian life cost too much. 771 00:39:59,920 --> 00:40:02,000 I thought the other life with football and 772 00:40:02,000 --> 00:40:04,040 dance and show and friends and everything was 773 00:40:04,040 --> 00:40:06,220 so much more thrilling, but I was unhappy. 774 00:40:07,100 --> 00:40:08,380 That's how I know I was saved. 775 00:40:12,390 --> 00:40:14,130 Can't enjoy anything when you're trying to do 776 00:40:14,130 --> 00:40:14,470 that. 777 00:40:14,830 --> 00:40:15,510 Found that, have you? 778 00:40:16,650 --> 00:40:18,390 Man running away from God is the most 779 00:40:18,390 --> 00:40:21,270 miserable creature on earth, because he can't enjoy 780 00:40:21,270 --> 00:40:22,530 what he used to enjoy, and he doesn't 781 00:40:22,530 --> 00:40:23,170 enjoy the Lord. 782 00:40:23,630 --> 00:40:25,830 Do you know that every Sunday night, every 783 00:40:25,830 --> 00:40:28,730 Sunday night, I used to creep into the 784 00:40:28,730 --> 00:40:32,130 back row of Westminster Central Hall in London, 785 00:40:32,710 --> 00:40:35,890 the headquarters of the Methodist denomination, and sit 786 00:40:35,890 --> 00:40:37,610 and listen to a man preach? 787 00:40:39,270 --> 00:40:41,170 His name was Dinsdale Young. 788 00:40:43,180 --> 00:40:44,100 The place was packed. 789 00:40:44,740 --> 00:40:46,300 Nearly three thousand people it held. 790 00:40:46,640 --> 00:40:48,140 I could just find a seat somewhere in 791 00:40:48,140 --> 00:40:50,040 the back row, and I used to, the 792 00:40:50,040 --> 00:40:52,780 whole congregation was spellbound, and they listened to 793 00:40:52,780 --> 00:40:53,100 this man. 794 00:40:53,140 --> 00:40:54,140 He wasn't particularly clever. 795 00:40:55,280 --> 00:40:56,160 He had hippy hair. 796 00:40:57,120 --> 00:40:57,940 Nothing new about it. 797 00:40:58,520 --> 00:41:01,620 Long, long flowing white silvery hair over his 798 00:41:01,620 --> 00:41:04,360 shoulders, a black suit, black coat, black tie. 799 00:41:05,920 --> 00:41:08,300 And he was so short-sighted that he 800 00:41:08,300 --> 00:41:10,440 had to bend double over his Bible to 801 00:41:10,440 --> 00:41:11,040 read his note. 802 00:41:11,560 --> 00:41:12,180 Just like this. 803 00:41:13,420 --> 00:41:15,060 Not a sound from the congregation. 804 00:41:15,640 --> 00:41:17,860 Every few minutes he would lift up his 805 00:41:17,860 --> 00:41:21,080 head, and everybody waited for that moment, for 806 00:41:21,080 --> 00:41:22,460 his face glowed. 807 00:41:22,920 --> 00:41:25,540 Absolutely glowed with the reality of Christ. 808 00:41:26,520 --> 00:41:29,300 And I, a backsliding Christian, said to myself, 809 00:41:29,440 --> 00:41:31,520 Oh God, he's got what I want. 810 00:41:34,560 --> 00:41:37,000 Familiarity breeds contempt as you get older. 811 00:41:38,540 --> 00:41:40,100 It might do with some people, but I 812 00:41:40,100 --> 00:41:41,960 tell you, I hope it's true of your 813 00:41:41,960 --> 00:41:43,560 life, I get more excited with the Lord 814 00:41:43,560 --> 00:41:44,320 Jesus every day. 815 00:41:45,880 --> 00:41:48,160 So wonderful to know him, to live for 816 00:41:48,160 --> 00:41:50,660 him, to find that he lives and controls 817 00:41:50,660 --> 00:41:53,520 my life, and that one day we're going 818 00:41:53,520 --> 00:41:54,360 to see each other soon. 819 00:41:56,040 --> 00:41:59,340 It rides above the law of psychology. 820 00:41:59,740 --> 00:42:01,000 It's familiarity that breeds contempt. 821 00:42:01,320 --> 00:42:04,060 And one more, and I mean it, and 822 00:42:04,060 --> 00:42:04,580 then I'm through. 823 00:42:04,880 --> 00:42:06,060 I'm going to go on for ages, but 824 00:42:06,060 --> 00:42:06,560 I'll stop now. 825 00:42:07,060 --> 00:42:08,380 Listen, listen, listen. 826 00:42:08,540 --> 00:42:10,000 This is the most exciting of all, I 827 00:42:10,000 --> 00:42:10,180 think. 828 00:42:10,180 --> 00:42:12,640 The Christian life, the law of the spirit 829 00:42:12,640 --> 00:42:15,440 of life in Christ, it rides above the 830 00:42:15,440 --> 00:42:17,600 law of mathematics that two plus two equal 831 00:42:17,600 --> 00:42:17,980 four. 832 00:42:18,280 --> 00:42:18,540 They don't. 833 00:42:21,180 --> 00:42:22,980 You know, you look a bit mystified. 834 00:42:23,440 --> 00:42:25,180 Let me just explain to you. 835 00:42:27,640 --> 00:42:29,840 The law of the spirit of life in 836 00:42:29,840 --> 00:42:33,700 Christ deals with multiplication by division. 837 00:42:36,200 --> 00:42:39,300 I remind you, the only miracle in the 838 00:42:39,300 --> 00:42:42,280 Gospels, in all four Gospels, the feeding of 839 00:42:42,280 --> 00:42:45,680 the five thousand, must have been ten thousand, 840 00:42:46,520 --> 00:42:49,620 probably fifteen, including women and children. 841 00:42:50,980 --> 00:42:51,500 You remember? 842 00:42:52,880 --> 00:42:55,480 Disciples had gone for a retreat with Christ. 843 00:42:57,510 --> 00:42:59,290 You'll find it, for example, in Mark 6. 844 00:43:01,130 --> 00:43:04,190 And a huge crowd gathered. 845 00:43:05,070 --> 00:43:10,460 So the disciples formed a committee, naturally, and 846 00:43:10,460 --> 00:43:13,620 then they passed a unanimous resolution, send them 847 00:43:13,620 --> 00:43:14,140 all home. 848 00:43:14,840 --> 00:43:16,140 We can't do anything about it. 849 00:43:17,520 --> 00:43:19,160 Jesus moved an amendment. 850 00:43:20,520 --> 00:43:23,160 And he carried it, not by a show 851 00:43:23,160 --> 00:43:25,420 of hands, but by a demonstration of power. 852 00:43:25,840 --> 00:43:26,740 How much wood have you got? 853 00:43:28,930 --> 00:43:32,570 Five fish, five loaves, and a few fish. 854 00:43:33,470 --> 00:43:34,050 That's all right. 855 00:43:34,930 --> 00:43:35,830 Sit them all down. 856 00:43:37,800 --> 00:43:40,160 Give all you've got to me. 857 00:43:42,740 --> 00:43:45,140 So he took all they had. 858 00:43:46,180 --> 00:43:49,880 He lifted up his arms to heaven and 859 00:43:49,880 --> 00:43:50,220 blessed. 860 00:43:51,480 --> 00:43:53,200 And then he broke. 861 00:43:54,740 --> 00:43:57,520 And then he gave back to the disciples, 862 00:43:58,620 --> 00:43:59,740 to give to the crowd. 863 00:44:01,020 --> 00:44:04,800 Everybody was satisfied, with a garbage can left 864 00:44:04,800 --> 00:44:08,740 over, as a reminder of that tremendous day. 865 00:44:10,900 --> 00:44:14,400 He dealt in multiplication by division. 866 00:44:14,920 --> 00:44:18,920 And when I'm prepared to share Jesus, he's 867 00:44:18,920 --> 00:44:19,680 prepared to multiply. 868 00:44:22,150 --> 00:44:24,710 That's the whole principle of Christian growth. 869 00:44:26,070 --> 00:44:28,630 Two plus two equals four. 870 00:44:30,190 --> 00:44:31,670 That's the average church program. 871 00:44:33,090 --> 00:44:33,710 That's it. 872 00:44:34,910 --> 00:44:35,890 Organized all. 873 00:44:36,830 --> 00:44:38,170 Get the whole thing lined up. 874 00:44:38,610 --> 00:44:41,630 Get masses of people together, especially people who 875 00:44:41,630 --> 00:44:41,990 have money. 876 00:44:43,330 --> 00:44:44,830 Form masses of committees. 877 00:44:45,950 --> 00:44:48,110 Then let's have a little prayer meeting, and 878 00:44:48,110 --> 00:44:49,050 then wait for the explosion. 879 00:44:51,100 --> 00:44:56,960 But God, oh, what Gideon! 880 00:44:58,140 --> 00:44:59,620 32,000 men. 881 00:45:02,620 --> 00:45:05,260 Send 22,000 home. 882 00:45:05,560 --> 00:45:06,060 They're scared. 883 00:45:08,320 --> 00:45:10,660 Now send 9,700 more home. 884 00:45:11,180 --> 00:45:12,060 They're undisciplined. 885 00:45:13,900 --> 00:45:16,840 And Gideon finds himself left with 300 men, 886 00:45:17,700 --> 00:45:19,900 masses of food jars left behind in the 887 00:45:19,900 --> 00:45:22,940 retreat of all the rest, and hundreds of 888 00:45:22,940 --> 00:45:25,600 trumpets against the many knights who had kept 889 00:45:25,600 --> 00:45:28,020 them in dens and strongholds for more than 890 00:45:28,020 --> 00:45:28,320 a week. 891 00:45:28,320 --> 00:45:29,420 Ridiculous. 892 00:45:31,140 --> 00:45:39,300 But, but, a very ordinary person, Gideon, did 893 00:45:39,300 --> 00:45:40,700 a very ordinary thing. 894 00:45:41,640 --> 00:45:42,440 Blew a trumpet. 895 00:45:43,140 --> 00:45:45,040 With extraordinary results. 896 00:45:45,820 --> 00:45:47,740 The millions ran for their lives. 897 00:45:50,570 --> 00:45:50,850 See? 898 00:45:52,130 --> 00:45:56,430 Oh, friend, when I'm prepared to share, God 899 00:45:56,430 --> 00:45:57,670 is prepared to multiply. 900 00:45:58,850 --> 00:46:01,950 He takes all. 901 00:46:06,060 --> 00:46:07,740 Has he helped himself to your life? 902 00:46:09,000 --> 00:46:09,600 Completely? 903 00:46:11,420 --> 00:46:12,160 The back reservation? 904 00:46:12,960 --> 00:46:16,160 Then he takes it, and then he blesses 905 00:46:16,160 --> 00:46:16,380 it. 906 00:46:17,240 --> 00:46:19,600 And oh, how wonderfully he blesses what he 907 00:46:19,600 --> 00:46:19,900 takes. 908 00:46:20,400 --> 00:46:23,300 And then, and this is rather painful, but 909 00:46:23,300 --> 00:46:24,360 he breaks it. 910 00:46:28,410 --> 00:46:31,710 Then he hands it back in blessing to 911 00:46:31,710 --> 00:46:32,230 a crowd. 912 00:46:36,030 --> 00:46:37,110 What a wonderful thing. 913 00:46:37,230 --> 00:46:39,310 Can you think of anything more wonderful this 914 00:46:39,310 --> 00:46:43,130 side of heaven than to be given out 915 00:46:43,130 --> 00:46:47,360 of the hands of Jesus to people? 916 00:46:49,020 --> 00:46:49,900 That's evangelism. 917 00:46:52,000 --> 00:46:54,420 Impossible kind of life, this, that I've been 918 00:46:54,420 --> 00:46:54,920 talking about. 919 00:46:55,260 --> 00:46:55,820 Impossible. 920 00:47:00,680 --> 00:47:06,520 God's demands upon our lives are, from the 921 00:47:06,520 --> 00:47:11,920 divine point of view, absolutely reasonable. 922 00:47:13,200 --> 00:47:16,020 From the human point of view, impossible. 923 00:47:16,940 --> 00:47:18,280 And the missing factor? 924 00:47:20,520 --> 00:47:26,460 The Spirit of the Lord came upon us. 925 00:47:26,640 --> 00:47:27,500 Impossible life? 926 00:47:27,620 --> 00:47:27,960 Yes. 927 00:47:28,460 --> 00:47:31,240 But your life is hid with Christ in 928 00:47:31,240 --> 00:47:31,520 God. 929 00:47:32,120 --> 00:47:34,620 And you are mastered by the law of 930 00:47:34,620 --> 00:47:37,260 the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. 931 00:47:39,560 --> 00:47:40,100 Let's pray. 932 00:47:44,320 --> 00:47:45,820 A moment's quiet prayer. 933 00:47:49,880 --> 00:47:53,360 Oh God, for Jesus' sake, if you haven't 934 00:47:53,360 --> 00:47:58,120 already obtained the mastery, just help yourself to 935 00:47:58,120 --> 00:47:58,800 each one of us. 936 00:48:00,080 --> 00:48:01,020 Master us Lord. 937 00:48:01,920 --> 00:48:05,400 Bring under divine control every part of our 938 00:48:05,400 --> 00:48:10,780 being that would seek to hold back, to 939 00:48:10,780 --> 00:48:11,580 control itself. 940 00:48:13,340 --> 00:48:16,180 Lord, may each of us fulfill all the 941 00:48:16,180 --> 00:48:17,940 potential you have for our lives. 942 00:48:19,140 --> 00:48:21,240 As moment by moment and day by day, 943 00:48:21,360 --> 00:48:26,760 other people see that we are mastered by 944 00:48:26,760 --> 00:48:31,680 the Savior and controlled by his life, and 945 00:48:31,680 --> 00:48:35,040 therefore reacting in every situation in a way 946 00:48:35,040 --> 00:48:37,040 that reveals the Lord himself. 947 00:48:38,300 --> 00:48:39,820 We ask it in his dear name. 948 00:48:49,280 --> 00:48:53,680 I'm sure that our hearts reaffirm what the 949 00:48:53,680 --> 00:48:56,320 Apostle Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the 950 00:48:56,320 --> 00:48:59,180 gospel of Jesus Christ. 951 00:49:01,970 --> 00:49:05,690 I know my own heart is greatly thrilled 952 00:49:05,690 --> 00:49:11,930 right now by the kind of gospel that 953 00:49:11,930 --> 00:49:13,430 this man preaches. 954 00:49:17,980 --> 00:49:20,240 This is the gospel of Jesus Christ. 955 00:49:22,700 --> 00:49:24,320 Now I want us to pray for Dr. 956 00:49:24,800 --> 00:49:28,840 Redpath that God will use him in this 957 00:49:28,840 --> 00:49:33,080 city-wide emphasis of this Key 73 this 958 00:49:33,080 --> 00:49:33,560 week. 959 00:49:35,960 --> 00:49:39,500 That people will really, in their own personal 960 00:49:39,500 --> 00:49:42,840 lives, all of us, in a greater measure, 961 00:49:43,460 --> 00:49:48,600 experience this law of life in Christ Jesus 962 00:49:48,600 --> 00:49:52,360 that rides over this law of sin and 963 00:49:52,360 --> 00:49:52,620 death. 964 00:49:55,200 --> 00:49:57,700 Let's pray for the meeting tonight. 965 00:49:57,700 --> 00:49:59,760 Let's bring people with us. 966 00:50:02,600 --> 00:50:05,440 Let's pray for the meeting tomorrow night at 967 00:50:05,440 --> 00:50:09,980 7 30, and Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. 968 00:50:11,280 --> 00:50:15,900 Let's pray that God will do something here 969 00:50:16,960 --> 00:50:19,860 in our lives and in the lives of 970 00:50:19,860 --> 00:50:22,880 our brethren, the lives of others. 971 00:50:30,380 --> 00:50:34,380 Let's be very cautious now not to be 972 00:50:34,380 --> 00:50:37,400 thinking about someone else should have heard this 973 00:50:37,400 --> 00:50:41,360 message, but let's say, Lord, what do you 974 00:50:41,360 --> 00:50:42,200 have for me here? 975 00:50:50,060 --> 00:50:52,120 Now unto him that is able to do 976 00:50:52,120 --> 00:50:55,660 exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask 977 00:50:55,660 --> 00:51:01,580 or even think, according to this kind of 978 00:51:01,580 --> 00:51:03,740 power that we've heard about, that worketh in 979 00:51:03,740 --> 00:51:08,960 us, unto him be glory within the church 980 00:51:08,960 --> 00:51:16,300 by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without 981 00:51:16,300 --> 00:51:16,620 end. 982 00:51:17,700 --> 00:51:18,660 Amen. 983 00:51:20,260 --> 00:51:21,460 Shake hands with each other. 984 00:51:21,940 --> 00:51:22,640 God bless you. 985 00:51:24,300 --> 00:51:25,260 Amen.