Thank you, Dr. Dan.
The Word of God tells us in 1
John 1, verse 7, that if we walk
in the light as he is in the
light, we have fellowship one with another in
the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, keeps
on cleansing us from all sin.
Aren't we glad tonight that we have that
foretaste of glory?
We can have fellowship.
On a rainy night, we're going to warm
up a little bit with No.
61.
Remaining seated as we sing, what a fellowship,
what a joy divine, leaning on the everlasting
arms.
What a blessing and what a peace divine,
leaning on the everlasting arms.
What a fellowship, what a joy divine, leaning
on the everlasting arms.
What a blessing and what a peace divine,
leaning on the everlasting arms.
I don't know whether it's the PA, the
acoustics, or my hearing, but I can't hear
too much singing up here tonight.
Let's all join in a little more heartily,
turn on the, pull out the stops, turn
on the music while we sing the second
verse.
Oh, how sweet to walk in this pilgrim
way, leaning on the everlasting arm.
Oh, how bright the path grows from day
to day, leaning on the everlasting arm.
Leaning, leaning, safe and secure for all our
lives.
When Jesus Christ became real to you for
the first time, what a joy it was
to have the relief of the burden of
sin rolled away.
What a joy it was to have the
cleansing power of the blood of Christ.
Let's sing about it.
Number 116, please.
Years I spent in vanity and pride, caring
not my Lord was crucified.
Knowing not it was for me, he died
on Calvary.
We're going to stand as we sing number
116 at Calvary.
Years I spent in vanity and pride, caring
not my Lord was crucified.
Knowing not it was for me, he died
at Calvary.
When Jesus Christ became real to you for
the first time, what a joy it was
to have the relief of the burden of
sin rolled away.
As we approach our prayer time, we have
so much to praise the Lord for.
We've had wonderful blessings during our services.
We've had many, many people write in from
our television audience telling us of the wonderful
things God had done in their lives.
Many have found the Lord, and others have
returned from backsliding.
Now we bring to you our members who
are sick in hospital, and we need to
remember the family of Mr. and Mrs. Gordon
Stewart.
His mother passed away, and the funeral was
held today at 2 o'clock.
In the hospitals we have, in Scarborough Centenary
Hospital, Mrs. Doris Reed.
In Scarborough General, Mr. Tim Williamson, and Ms.
Heldy Kumpelainen.
In Bendy Lakers, Mr. Merlin Jones.
In Sunnybrook Hospital, we have Mr. Ralph Wickware,
Mr. H.
Burns, Mr. Kenneth Smith, Mrs. Rose Barrett, and
another Mrs. Doris Reed.
In North York Hospital, we have Mr. Lloyd
Kennedy, one of our elders.
In Women's College Hospital, we have Mrs. Mary
McBride.
In Riverdale Hospital, Mr. Bob Dean, Gene Johnson,
and Mr. William Grosser.
In Toronto Western Hospital, Mr. Henry Alban.
In Queen Elizabeth, Mrs. Lily Johnson.
In St. Joseph's Hospital, Mrs. Grace Hayward.
In Queensway General, Mrs. Ethel Swallow, and she
asked me particularly to convey her thanks for
the prayers of God's people.
She has had a real good recovery from
the operation.
And then, in Branson Hospital, Mr. William Mercer.
And then Newmarket Nursing Home, we have Mr.
J.D. Tai, Ms. Helen Woodcock in St.
John's Convalescent Hospital, and Mrs. Evelyn Hamilton in
the nursing home in Whitby.
And then ill or convalescing at home, we
have Mrs. Minnie Lewis, Mr. Bob Ritchie, Mr.
Hayden Minton, Mrs. E.
Weber, Mrs. C.
Webb, Mrs. Marlon Sebastian, Mrs. Beth Topp, Mr.
K.
Nielsen, Mrs. Lynn Hunt, Mrs. C.
Williams, Mr. R.
Reed, Mr. B.
Baxter, Mr. W.
Vincent, and Mrs. Emily Gross.
And then we need to remember our missionaries
and all the facets of our church, particularly
at this time, our Sunday school class.
Shall we just bow in prayer?
Father, we just bless Thee and worship Thee
for all Thy loving kindness to us, for
Thy grace poured out upon us in a
wonderful way.
We thank Thee for the many, many who
have made decisions for Thee during these past
weeks.
And Lord, we thank Thee for the way
Thy word has worked so effectively in our
television audience.
And now, our Father, we ask Thee that
Thou would pour out Thy blessing upon this
evening's meeting, that Thy servant, as he brings
us the word, may have unusual enablement from
above.
We ask Thee that our own hearts may
be opened to hear Thy word.
Lord, we commit to Thee our pastor and
ask Thee that Thou would undertake for him
as he ministers elsewhere.
We commit to Thee our Sunday school and
thank Thee for the movement of Thy spirit
in our midst.
And we ask Thee to continue to work,
Lord, and to draw in large numbers.
We ask Thee to fill the halls of
our new facilities.
And then, our Father, we think of our
ranch and thank Thee for all that has
happened there.
We pray for our country.
We pray for the presidential elections in the
state.
We know how far-reaching this could be
in Thy cause.
We ask Thee to sovereignly overrule, as well
as in those war-torn areas of Lebanon,
and then Israel, and Rhodesia, and South Africa.
Now, Father, as we continue to worship Thee,
pour out Thy spirit upon us and give
us hearts that are yielded to Thee.
We pray with thanksgiving in the name of
the Lord Jesus.
Amen.
All right.
Now, tonight, we're delighted to see such a
good number here.
And, of course, Dr. Oswald Smith, our founder,
will be speaking in just a few moments.
And I know you'll be greatly blessed.
We have a couple announcements we'd like to
make tonight.
Certainly, as Dr. DeSena was speaking, we can
thank and praise the Lord for what he's
done in our midst, particularly the last two
months, or last month and a half, really.
I got to thinking this morning, I wonder
how many decisions, how many people have been
dealt with in our inquiry room since Labor
Day weekend.
And I asked Dr. DeSena and his secretary
if they could accumulate or if they could
add up all the decisions that were made.
And the number that was made from the
first Sunday in September to last Sunday comes
out at 341 people who have accepted Christ
as Savior and made recommitments to the Lord,
have been personally dealt with on a personal
basis.
We have much to thank the Lord for
and praise the Lord for.
And, of course, we need to pray for
these who have made new commitments to the
Lord.
There are several right in my own Sunday
school class whom I've had the privilege of
contacting and they're coming out to Sunday school
and church faithfully.
And we need to uphold them in prayer.
Even older folks got saved.
I think that's tremendous.
You know, sometimes it's very difficult for a
person after they've passed the 50th or 60th
year of their life to find Christ, to
ever become a child of God.
In fact, the odds are against it.
But right in my own class there's been
something like, oh, about a dozen that have
been won to Christ during these weeks and
have been dealt with by our counselors.
And, incidentally, I think we ought to thank
our counselors tonight.
They certainly stayed with the stuff, so to
speak, as the Bible says.
They've stood by us.
They've been here Sunday night after Sunday night
and Sunday morning dealing with people about Christ
and winning many to the Lord.
And we want to take the privilege tonight
and the opportunity tonight, rather, to thank you
as you've had a part, you counselors, in
leading these people to Christ.
Now, Dr. DeSantis asked me to announce that
on December the 5th, to keep that date
open and clear, particularly for the counselors as
well as for our regular attenders, as that
night we'll be having, speaking here in the
People's Church, Nicky Cruz.
He's been here twice before.
And great numbers of people have found Christ
through the ministry of this young, former gang
leader from New York City.
And we're expecting a great time that Sunday
evening on December the 5th.
Now, by way of announcements tonight, we'd like
to remind you that this Sunday, both at
11 and 7, Dr. Paul, our pastor, will
be back with us.
And we're having, speaking, both services, Dr. Stephen
Brown.
He's a young man of 25 years of
age, and he comes with a heart for
young people, and he's going to be ministering
to us musically, both on the television telecast
at 11 and in the Sunday evening service
at 7 p.m. And this would be
a good time, I think, for us to
invite our young people to join us as
they hear this man minister in music as
well as Dr. Stephen Brown minister from the
Word of God.
I believe this Sunday will be a great
day in the people's church.
It's October the 24th, right?
Is that this Sunday?
And this is also the second Sunday of
our Sunday School contest.
And we didn't get the phone call through
on Sunday, largely because of the conference call
they were trying to set up from Florida
to Baltimore to Toronto.
And by the time they got it fixed
up, ready to go, the Chinese fellow, Mr.
Elam, who was it, had already started his
testimony, and of course it was too late
to put it on here.
But this Sunday night, Lord willing, we'll be
able to contact Florida.
But let me give you a little bit
of the results if you were not in
our teachers' meeting tonight.
We didn't come out very good as the
first Sunday of our contest.
In fact, we're rather competing on a department
-department level.
In other words, our primary department is competing
against, or with, I should say, their primary
department, and so forth.
Our adults with their adults, and so on.
And out of the 13 different departments, we
were winners in three.
I don't know how to say that without
sounding very bad.
But anyway, let me say this.
The challenge has been given very heartily by
Northside Baptist Church in St. Petersburg, Florida, and
Dr. Ken Moon, who many of you know
personally, because that's where you visit during the
wintertime or whenever you go to St. Petersburg
in Florida.
And I had the opportunity of speaking to
him last Sunday in person, and of course
he'll be calling Dr. Paul this Sunday night
at 7 o'clock.
Now, when I told Dr. Paul the news
on Monday morning, he said, My, I'm glad
that that wasn't given to our people.
Now, Dr. Paul's got to sort of bear
the brunt of the responsibility.
And I don't know about you, but after
we've done so well on his behalf in
raising the money and calling the new academy
building, the Dr. Paul B.
Smith Academy, and so on and so forth,
it would be tragic if Dr. Paul, in
the course of our conversation Sunday night, for
him to get up here and go through
all the departments and to give the same
report that I had to give last Sunday
night in private.
It wasn't so bad at giving in private,
but to have 2,500 people out here
listening.
So we need you in Sunday school.
We've got to reverse that trend.
This is what I'm saying.
And be here at 945 Sharp to get
counted for Sunday school and prepare yourself for
the teaching of the Word of God.
Now, most of us, I think, are adults
here.
I see some college-age students as well
as some teachers.
But the adult department during these days is
studying one of the most fantastic books in
all the Word of God.
It's the Book of Acts.
And it's the greatest book on the outpouring
of the Holy Spirit, Pentecost, the beginnings of
the early church, and what a tremendous thrill
it is.
And if you want to be blessed, I
don't know if everyone in my class has
been blessed as much as I have or
not by studying for these lessons.
Boy, I wouldn't want to miss a Sunday.
Now, you've got it a little different.
You have to hear me if you come
to my class or hear one of the
other teachers.
That may make a difference.
But let me suggest that you read the
first six chapters or seven chapters in the
Book of Acts if you haven't already done
so before you come Sunday.
And then as your teacher, your adult teacher,
rises to speak and to teach, you'll gain
that much greater blessing out of it.
Believe me.
And I hope you'll join us at 945
this Sunday.
We need you.
We need all adults and their families.
Actually, the adult department is broken up into
three sections.
And we did take two of the three
adult sections.
We only took one other child's department as
junior three.
And a very strange thing happened.
I still can't understand it.
But the department last week that I won't
tell you which one it was.
Actually, I already told you.
The department last week that we won in
the children's division happened to be the department
that had the lowest gain.
In fact, they didn't have a gain at
all.
They decreased by 16%.
And the only reason we won in that
department was that Northside's competitive department decreased by
30%.
Now, that's winning by default.
But we're willing to take it however we
can get it.
But anyway, we don't want to do that
again.
We want to have an increase there.
So I hope you'll join us this Sunday
morning at 945 and help us in our
Sunday school time.
Remember, all adults will receive the third in
a series of six glasses, set of glasses,
on the various ministries of the People's Church.
And on this Sunday, you will receive a
glass with the school on it, the People's
Christian School, and with its logo or insignia.
And it's a very beautiful one, actually designed
by Mr. Bill Parlane.
Is he here tonight?
I think I saw him.
I'm not sure.
But what a great job he did, and
we appreciate his help.
It's a lovely drinking glass tumbler.
And you'll receive it for having been here.
And let me say this just before we
have another song.
In regard to the glasses, some have told
me, said, Now, do we keep these tickets
and then all come at the end of
the contest and pick up our glasses?
Now, let me correct that.
You pick up a glass each week.
And if you have picked up a ticket
the first week, perhaps as well as last
Sunday, you have not picked up your glasses,
make sure you see me either after the
service tonight or with your ticket or after
the morning service Sunday morning because we are
getting low now.
We're just about out of our first week's
glasses.
They're just about all gone.
And if you have not received yours, you
better get your ticket to me tonight or
as soon as possible, at least on Sunday,
or else they'll all be gone this Sunday
and they will not be available even though
if you have a ticket.
So please keep that in mind.
All right.
I believe that's all the announcements we have
at this time.
And I'm going to ask the ushers, if
they will, to come forward tonight as we
wait upon you for your Wednesday evening offering.
What would
you have done?
If the multitudes were to gather in great
numbers, what would you say to them?
Would you say something nice, something pleasing?
Or would you say something convicting and something
that might stir them up?
When there were great multitudes gathered to hear
the Lord Jesus, this is what he said
to them in verse 26.
If any man come to me and hate
not his father, that doesn't sound very encouraging,
does it?
And mother, and wife, and children, and brethren,
and sisters, yea, in his own life also,
he cannot, cannot be my disciple.
I wonder if those words would drive the
people away or I wonder if they would
attract them.
Here was Jesus ministering to great multitudes.
He could either say something that would drive
them away or he could say something that
would draw them to him.
He said something that you and I would
hesitate to say.
He said you must hate your fathers, and
hate your mother, and hate your wife, and
hate your children, and hate your brethren, and
hate your sisters.
Well, that's the entire family.
Hate them all.
If you don't do it, he cannot be
my disciple.
Then in verse 27, he says something else.
And whosoever doth not bear his cross and
come after me cannot be my disciple.
Now those are pretty harsh words.
And yet those were the words that Jesus
Christ said to these multitudes as they gathered
together in his presence.
I'm going to use an illustration tonight.
I want to leave the message with you
in such a way that you'll not forget
it.
One time before I spoke briefly on this
subject, and some of you may remember the
illustrations that I'm using tonight, I trust that
they'll be a blessing to you again as
I emphasize them once more.
These verses make it perfectly clear that Jesus
Christ wants to be the Lord and the
Master of your life.
Now there's a difference between knowing Jesus Christ
as your Savior and knowing him as Lord
and Master.
Most of you here tonight know Christ as
your Savior.
How many of you know Jesus Christ as
your Lord and as your Master?
That is a closer relationship.
In other words, you may be God's child
and not be a disciple of the Lord
Jesus Christ.
Discipleship takes you beyond childhood.
And even though you're God's child, you may
still live your life without ever having become
a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.
According to God's word, what is a disciple?
You all know what it means to become
a child of God.
To accept Jesus Christ as your own personal
Savior, recognize him as your Savior, but have
you ever thought of what it means to
make him the Lord of your life, to
make him the Master of your life?
Not only a Savior, but a disciple.
Because if Jesus Christ is your Lord and
your Master, then you have become his disciple.
And if you are only saved and you
know him only as your Savior, you may
live your entire life, never recognize him as
your Lord, never recognize him as your Master,
and never become, in the truest sense of
the word, his disciple.
In a word, what is a disciple according
to the word of God?
A disciple is a learner.
A disciple is a follower, one who follows
another, recognizes another as his leader, and follows
that other as his leader.
A disciple is a servant.
Now, you may become God's child and recognize
Jesus Christ as your Savior, and yet you
may not become a servant of the Lord
Jesus Christ and may not serve him.
He wants you not only to be saved,
he wants you to serve him.
He wants you to get busy for him.
He wants you to follow him in service.
A disciple is one who obeys another as
the Master and the Lord of his life.
And as I speak tonight, I want you
to keep asking yourself the questions, am I
his servant or am I simply his child?
I've been saved, but have I become a
disciple?
Am I serving the Lord Jesus Christ and
am I obeying him?
In a word, a disciple puts God first.
How many Christians today are putting God first
in their lives?
We meet so many who have other interests
in life that mean more to them than
the service of God.
We know that because even when it's not
necessary, they work on the Lord's day.
We know that because they do not go
all the way with the Lord Jesus Christ.
They attend this or that on the Lord's
day when perhaps they could be in the
church, they could be having fellowship with God's
people.
This is the way the Bible states it.
He that loveth father or mother more than
me is not worthy of me, starting with
the father and the mother.
If I love my father and my mother
more than I love Jesus Christ, I am
not worthy of him.
If you love your father or your mother
more than you love Jesus Christ, you are
not worthy of him.
That's exactly what the word of God says.
That's the question you ought to ask yourself
tonight.
Does my father come first in my life?
Does my mother come first in my life?
Or does Jesus Christ come first?
He that loveth father or mother more than
me is not worthy of me.
Now listen.
And he that loveth son or daughter more
than me is not worthy of me.
That son of yours, does he take first
place in your life?
If you had to separate, would you separate
from Christ or would you separate from your
son?
If you had to lose the one or
the other, would you lose Christ or would
you lose your son?
Does your daughter come before Jesus Christ or
does Jesus Christ come before your daughter?
Now I know it's a terrible thing to
lose a son.
I know it's a terrible thing to lose
a daughter.
It's a terrible thing to lose a child.
But I think I can honestly say that
if I had to make a choice, I
would rather lose my son or lose my
daughter than lose Jesus Christ.
I would put Christ before my son or
before my daughter.
I'd put Jesus Christ first.
That's a searching question, and you and I
ought to ask it and then answer it.
Who comes first?
A disciple is one who puts God before
all else in life.
So you see, it takes us a little
farther to become his disciple than it does
just to become his child.
We have to take another step.
And it's a very searching question that I
ask when I ask you whether Christ comes
first or whether some member of your family
comes first in your heart and in your
life.
Does Jesus Christ come first or does that
wife of yours come first?
Does Christ come first or does your husband
come first?
If you really have to make a decision,
make a choice, would you let your wife
go, your husband go, or would you rather
let Christ go?
I think I know what I'm talking about.
I've lost my wife.
I was with her for 56 years.
I know what it is to lose a
wife.
I've been through that experience.
But I say without any hesitation, if I
had to make the choice again, I would
choose Jesus Christ.
Regardless of the pain and the anguish and
the agony and the sorrow and the heartache,
I would rather let my wife go than
let Jesus Christ go.
And of course the beauty of it is
that my wife knew Jesus Christ as her
own personal Savior, and I know that I'm
not letting her go forever.
I realize that I let her go for
a few short years, but there's going to
be a glad reunion.
And when we meet again, we'll dwell together
through all the countless ages of eternity.
I realize that fact.
I would want Christ to be first in
my heart and in my life.
If you're his disciple, you've got to ask
yourself the question, is my business, does it
mean more to me than Jesus Christ?
And would I do things as a businessman
that I know would put me to shame
before Christ?
Or would Christ take first place in my
life?
Is he more important to me than my
business enterprise?
I say that's a very, very important question.
Who comes first?
What comes first?
Jesus Christ or business?
What about money?
Is it your aim in life to make
money?
Is that your great ambition in life, to
make money?
Are you going to stress the making of
money to such an extent that Christ will
have to take second place?
Or are you going to put Christ first
and the making of money second?
There are those who have deliberately refused to
spend their lives just making money because they
want to follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
What or who comes first?
Jesus Christ or money?
Then when you think of pleasure, for we're
living in a day when the world is
pleasure mad, when our young people are bent
on pleasure almost before anything else, when pleasure
means more to them than the house of
God.
They could be in God's house, but they're
out indulging in pleasure.
They could be in the service of God,
but they're giving themselves to pleasure.
They're putting pleasure before the Lord Jesus Christ.
Can you honestly say that all during the
years of your Christian life you have put
Christ first?
Or have you ever put pleasure first?
Are you in the church when you ought
to be in the church?
Or are you engaged in some kind of
pleasure?
Is something keeping you at home or taking
you away from home and away from the
church?
Does Christ come first or does pleasure come
first?
What about the members of your family?
Do any of the members of your family
take first place in your heart and life?
Or does Jesus Christ take first place?
I'm throwing out questions tonight that I want
you to think about and that I want
you to answer before God.
Are you putting the members of your family
first?
Or are you putting Jesus Christ first?
That's a question that every Christian has to
answer.
To some Christians, family comes first.
The members of your family mean far more
to you than Jesus Christ does.
But those who are his disciples, they put
him first and they put the members of
their family second.
Christ takes first place.
Not always easy, but it's what God demands
in his own precious word.
A disciple means in a word, renunciation.
When I become a disciple of Christ, I
renounce all.
What does the Bible say about it?
Whosoever he be of you, that forsaketh not
all that he hath.
He cannot, he cannot be my disciple.
Now Christ is speaking to you tonight, and
you're a Christian.
And he says, unless you forsake all that
you have, you can never be his disciple.
Now let me add very quickly that while
the King James translation uses the word forsaketh
to translate the Greek word, practically no other
edition of the Bible does.
Because the Greek word is not the word
for forsaketh in this passage.
It is the word for renounce of.
And there's a great difference.
Jesus did not say you must forsake all
that you have and are in order to
become his disciple.
He did say you must renounce all that
you are and all that you have.
Now he may ask you to forsake this
or that or something else.
It isn't likely that he'll ask you to
forsake all that you have.
In a few cases, he does.
Very often when a young man or a
young woman goes to the foreign field as
a missionary, he has to literally forsake all
that he has.
Occasionally everything has to be forsaken, but not
as a rule.
But always everything has to be renounced.
And even though you never go to the
foreign field, and even though you never forsake
some of the things that you have, you've
got to renounce everything that you have.
Unless you renounce everything, you are not his
disciple, though you may be God's child.
Now then, what does it mean to renounce?
What is the difference between renouncing and forsaking?
He doesn't say renounce.
He doesn't say forsake all that you have,
but he does say renounce all that you
have.
What does he mean when he tells you
to renounce all that you have?
The best way I can explain it is
to say that it simply means to relinquish
all claim to what you have and what
you're using and recognize that it does not
belong to you.
It belongs to another, your Lord and Master,
Jesus Christ.
That's renunciation.
What I have, what I am using, doesn't
belong to me.
What I have and what I am using
belongs to God, belongs to the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Now God may ask me to forsake some
of the things that I have.
Again, he may not.
He may let me continue to have and
to use what I have, but he will
ask me to renounce all that I have.