The Body Is the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit — James A. Stewart

Fellowship With Believers Behind the Iron Curtain

For me to have fellowship with you here in the local church. I was thinking as I was driving down in our blizzard in North Carolina here, how good God has been to me as my loving Heavenly Father. You know, I lost possibly maybe 200, maybe 300 ,000 friends.

300 ,000 is a lot of friends to lose, isn't it? Brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. Because after I was sentenced to death by the Russians, I managed to escape, but I lost all my Christian friends behind the Iron Curtain.

And I loved them. They were willing to die for me and I was willing to die for them. And when we left each other, we wept and wept. You know, we wept and wept and wept. Sometimes you would think we were going to offer 10 years.

We're just going to offer a day. But the fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ was so wonderful. It's like my wife sometimes says to me, I don't know why I'm weeping because you're going away, I'm weeping because you love the Lord and I love the Lord.

What is your husband-wife relationship? But she says, I sure miss you when you go away. We have such a hallelujah time together. And it's like these believers, we left the homes, and outside a sister would, maybe a very wealthy sister, maybe a very poor peasant sister, and she would stand and say, Brother James, before you go, let's sing again.

I said, Sister, we've been singing since 5 o 'clock this morning. And I said, I've got to get on that sledge. But she said, just another one. The brother said, and I said, all right, we'll sing. And then she said, let's sing Jesus Never Fails.

And then we'd sing it together, the whole family outside, tears rolling down their cheeks. Then the husband would say, Brother James, let's pray again. I said, Brother, if we pray again, I'll never get off to the next meeting you say.

That's heavenly fellowship, isn't it? Amen. Heaven's begun below. When unconverted people say there's no heaven, I just look at them and say, poor people, like a blind man says there's no green grass.

They're just blind. We've got heaven below. Once heaven seemed a far off place to her, till Jesus showed His smiling face. Now it's begun within my soul, to last while endless ages roll. Oh hallelujah, yes, there's heaven.

There's heaven to know my sins forgiven. Land or sea or a prison cell where Jesus is, there's heaven there. And we've got heaven below this morning. And how good God has been. I was thinking, I never knew what God was going to do when I come home this time to give you as my friends.

I knew He was going to do something down here, and I knew He was going to do something new for me this time I come back home. He promised to do it for me in missionary fellowship, in loving interest and prayers of the saints.

It was revealed to me, but not exactly just what it was going to be. And this is a bright and happy occasion that comforts my heart that I lost a lot of friends behind the iron curtain, but I'm getting a lot of friends here.

The Ideal New Testament Church in Acts 2

And we need your friendship in the cause of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now, I want to speak to you tonight about the characteristics of a high spiritual church. The characteristics of a high spiritual church.

Now, I'm reading from the second book of Acts. And I have dealt with this subject in what I think is my best book, Open Windows. I prayed more in writing this book than any other book, Open Windows. And I have dealt with it in the chapter called The Local Church, The Center of Revival.

But just this morning, as I have been with you, I felt led to change the message completely from what I have written here in The Local Church and Revival in the book, Open Windows. And so, we're reading, first of all, in the second chapter of Acts.

And we're reading from verse 41. Let's begin, maybe, I think, just for the sake of reading sense, we'd better begin at verse 33. Verse 33 is a key verse throughout the book of Acts. And if you have your Bible, you mark it with red pencil or red ink or something, outline that to verse 33, will you?

It's a key verse. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens, but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou in my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool.

Therefore, the second therefore, Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now, when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost for the promises unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off.

That takes us in, doesn't it? We were afar off in the day of Pentecost. Even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words that he testified, the exhort saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.

Then they that gladly received his word were baptized. And the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and prayers.

And fear came upon every soul. And many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together and had all things common. And sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men as every man of need.

And they continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house did eat their meat with gladness and signals of heart praising God and having favor with all the people. And I can just hear in between it just keeps on saying Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Right all the way it said. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. Or the Lord added to the church such as were being saved. Now here in the second chapter of Acts we have a thumbnail sketch for I better keep my short little notes I scheduled as I was sitting back there this morning.

You find in a very short poetry a midget poetry if you please of a church living in the midst of revival blessing or a church filled with the Holy Ghost and a church filled with the love of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And I believe friend that this is a picture of God's ideal church. Now we believe from the very depths of our hearts that the greatest need of Louisiana the greatest need of Mississippi and Arkansas and Texas and Alabama the greatest need of this North American continent is local New Testament churches.

That is why Jesus Christ was crucified and why He was raised by the power of God and informed at the Father's right hand. That's why He lived and died and that's why He was informed in order that there might be New Testament churches composed of men and women born again and washed in the blood of the Lamb who would praise the loving Heavenly Father.

Local assembly of the Lord's people. And that preachers and evangelists everywhere can say do you know what I mean? Do you know what we mean? You go down there and know dear and you will see what I mean.

That is a New Testament church. I tell you that I'm always looking for illustrations of a life filled with the Holy Ghost. So that if anybody says to me Brother Stuart I don't understand what you're talking about I can say come with me and I'll show you what I mean.

Just you live one day with that old sister that old grandmother. Just you live one day with that young fellow there. And then they say oh I know what you mean about being filled with the Holy Ghost. And what we want is examples today.

And I'm praying and I have been praying since leaving you in October that this New Deal Baptist Church indeed would be a real New Testament church. Now I know we're all human. And Mr. Spurgeon you remember what he said?

Now he says if you find the perfect church don't join it. Because it'll be perfect no longer. But that's alright. But I believe to inspiring for God's best. I believe in inspiring for God's best. Now here is a thumbnail sketch or a short picture of a church that is God's ideal.

The Thrilling Fellowship of a Spirit-Filled Church

Oh God make this a reality in my heart and life and make this a reality in this New Testament assembly. Now will you notice first of all that it was a church with a thrilling fellowship. You see they were thrilled because they were saved by the sovereign grace of God.

They were thrilled to the very deepest depths of their being that they had been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. Statement and expression that their bodies were the temples of the Holy Ghost.

And it was a church with the thrill of a holy fellowship. They could sing now I belong to Jesus. Jesus belongs to me not for time alone but for all eternity. I got the news just maybe two days ago from my wife that my mother went home to glory.

And I just had to give my life over to God again. And then I had to sing Amazing Grace. But you see the verse that the Holy Ghost sang through me was that one when we've been there 10 ,000 years. And so I had to change it and say to the Lord when she's been there 10 ,000 years bright shining as the sun she's no less days to praise his name than when she first began.

Poor mother. You see there's no end. You've been there a thousand years and you haven't even began to praise the Lord. And she's glorified and she's begun a cycle of a prayer not a prayer but a praising the Lord.

Now I believe friend that if you had entered this church meeting up in the upper room or if you had entered some of these churches that were in fellowship with this church in the book of Acts maybe met in a cave or an old, old building you would find there was nothing in the building.

But oh friend when you went in if you were an unbeliever even you would have been convicted of the mighty power of God in the meeting. Why? Because it was a company of a fellow of a holy fellowship. They were redeemed by the blood of Christ and they were subjects of the sovereign grace of God.

And they could sing amazing grace. How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. Now I remember when I was first saved and you know I don't tell all about it and I must tell because I couldn't tell everything there but you know I ran the whole way home from the football park and I hammered the door and as I was going up the street I was shouting everywhere we lived in a busy thoroughfare I'm saved!

I'm saved! I'm saved! I'm saved! And I hammered the door and Mother opened the door and she said Yes James I can hear you down the block. Yes she said I know you're saved I told you you were going to be saved.

Now go in and wash yourself and have a bath and then get your Bible out and praise the Lord. But not so loud. And then you see I got into the group of believers who prayed the different believers who were praying for me Mother would say don't forget pray for Jimmy pray for Jimmy pray for my boy the footballer boy and then when I went with my taxpayers into these places that were praying for me they didn't want me they didn't want me and they would come and dear old brother would come and say Jimmy come out please and they would take me outside my taxpayers and they'd say dear Jimmy God bless you.

Now there's a church just about down the road there is a church not the third corner the fourth corner and there that's a good church you see and they didn't want me in the churches because you see when I got in you see you could hear me coming down the street with my taxpayers.

I had a megaphone there's no electronics these days and I had a megaphone and I was blasting away you see and then I would come into the church and then suddenly I would just say oh hallelujah no they were all born again oh yes they loved the Lord they were dear souls they were separated from the world and then a brother would come along and see and then I had he would whisper in my ear he says you must be Jimmy Stewart.

I said I am he said oh we were told to expect you someday now he said keep a bit quiet you see quiet and I was carrying my taxpayers once down the street I never told you before and it was after midnight and there was a dear Bible teacher and he had been away from a meeting late and got off the train and waiting in a night bus to get him home.

And I come down the street you see with the prostitutes and drunkards and my right and left shouting and bawling my text. And then he called me over and he said Jimmy you must be Jimmy. He said Stewart.

I said yes sir he said they told me I would meet you sometime. He said now listen. He said it's true we're on the winning side Sonny. But you mustn't let them know it. Oh bum bum. Come let everybody know we're on the winning side.

Let everybody know the devil's defeated. I don't believe in that. We're on the victory side. And they try to. You know the old people they've been saved for years but lost the thrill of being saved. And so every meeting I would attend you see I would just shout hallelujah glory to God.

And that was enough. You see the poor preacher couldn't compose himself in his notes in that way. The poor fellow was stunned. And then he would say to me Jimmy please don't come here again please. So if you go what are you going to shout.

Let me know give me some signal. Everything everything. Well I said didn't you pray that God would save me. Yes. Well I said here I am 100 times since you've been in the meeting you're saved. Well I said I'm still saved.

Praise God. And you see you know we have the saying birds of a feather flock together. You know birds of a feather flock together. And you know they say the doctors and the lawmakers say it's a strange thing how all the homosexuals can find each other.

Put them together and they'll find each other in a few minutes. Well glory be to God. All the hallelujah shouting Christians can soon find each other in five minutes. And it wasn't very long until I found a group of young people.

I never met them before didn't know them before in my city of Glasgow. And I discovered that they had the flair of the holy fellowship. They belonged to a New Testament church. And you know we couldn't go home at night so we're sleeping.

We would go to a meeting you see. And then we'd all march down the street. The fellas maybe 60 of us and we would march down. I was their baby 14 years of age. And we would march down the street singing you see sweeping through the gates of the new Jerusalem washed in the blood of the Lamb or some other hymn.

You see. And then we would that was then we'd sing a farewell hymn to the brother outside the house he lived. And then we would march down the street to the next fella. And then it would usually happen a fella would say Jimmy we have the two last ones.

And we'd go down singing down after midnight to them. The police would stop us. I said we're not drunk it's alright. And then he says Jimmy I'll march you. I'll walk you home. And then he'd walk me home.

And I said oh I think I'll walk you home. And so I'd walk him home another two miles back to where he lived you see. And then mother would say Jimmy why are you so late. Two o 'clock in the morning I said mother you don't know what's wrong.

I don't know what you're saying. We were all you see we were all talking about the Lord and we couldn't say goodbye to each other. And I believe friend that there must be a new testament sent with the thrill of a holy fellowship.

The thrill that I belong to the Lord I've been redeemed by the blood of Christ. I'm on the way to glory. And then there is what I call the the I wouldn't say it's the thrill of a holy fellowship. But I say the second would be it was a company or a fellowship or a bible believing fellowship or a bible loving fellowship.

A Christ-Centered Fellowship

Now I say maybe I'll go second first second better. It was a Christ centred fellowship. A Christ centred fellowship. The Lord Jesus Christ was so magnified by the Holy Ghost in the midst that he took first place over everything.

Now please remember we've emphasised before the convention the Holy Ghost can never be the figure head of any movement. I believe that many of our dear Pentecostal friends make that mistake. Not all but some of them try to make the Holy Ghost the centre of the meeting.

The Holy Ghost will never make himself the centre of the meeting. He always will withdraw. If you try to make him the centre of the meeting he shall glorify me says the Lord Jesus. And the business of the Holy Ghost is to make Christ real and very precious to you.

And the more the Holy Ghost is manifested in the meeting the more Christ will be the centre of the attraction. And you see this fellowship was the Christ centred in that the Lord Jesus Christ stood in the midst and the people knew that the Lord Jesus Christ was there and the unconverted people knew it says and they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus.

Now I wrote I have written down in open windows something what they sang in these meetings something like this O God I love thee. Not that my poor love may win me entrance to thy heaven above nor yet that strangers to thy love must know the bitterness of everlasting woe.

But Jesus thou art mine and I am thine Christ to thy bosom by thy arms divine who on the cruel cross for me has borne the nails the spear and man's unpitying scorn no thought can fathom and no tongue express thy grief thy trials thy anguish measureless thy death.

O Lamb of God the undefiled and all for me thy wayward sinful child. How can I choose but love thee. God's dear son. O Jesus loveliest and most loving one where there no heaven to gain no hell to flee.

For what thou art alone. I must love thee. Not for the hope of glory or reward but even as thyself has loved me Lord I love thee and will love thee and adore who art my King my God forevermore. It was a church of a Christ-centered fellowship.

Jesus Christ was the center of the attraction. Christ so proud that he was in the house. And when the unconverted people came in and believers came into these early gatherings of this church they knew right away that it was a fellowship where Christ was the center now that is I believe one of our greatest needs today.

Do you know that you can go into evangelical meeting after evangelical meeting fundamental church meeting after fundamental church meeting. And there is no sense of the living Christ in the midst of his people.

And when they leave the meeting it is just as if they have left a baseball park or a cinema or a theater or a political gathering. Why. Because Jesus Christ and all his reality has not been in the midst supposing.

Some friend said to you why are we in the middle of the old Baptist church this morning. What would you say. Would you say I was there to meet with my Lord. Yes. And did you meet with your Lord. Was he there.

And tragedy is after tragedy. We have to see many times. No our Lord wasn't there because my dear friend if Jesus Christ came into this meeting this morning physically and he came in here my dear friend we would know it.

And yet where two or three are gathered together unto my name he says there am I in the midst and friend we will never have revival. We will never see souls saved the power of God will never fall upon the unconverted until it's a church that is that is as I say Christ centered now I don't mean a sentimental Christ.

Now you dear ladies you see don't get too sentimental a sentimental Christ. I lettered the other day from a lady and she writes quite a number of letters and you know she has a sentimental Christ. Now we men we want a masculine Christ.

Yes. But you see the Christ that you have as a wife and the Christ that you have as a husband is just the same. He's just the same. And we want a deep Christ a big Christ a majestic Christ. You understand what I mean.

A Christ in all his beauty in all his matchless glory. Not a superficial sentimental love to Jesus Christ. No something that's deep. It's like your marriage life. Your marriage life goes deeper and deeper and deeper as it proceeds.

It may not be so emotional but it's deeper and deeper because you have known each other longer than you have known before. And you go on with Jesus Christ the Holy Ghost deepens and deepens your love for Christ.

Loving and Understanding the Whole Bible

And oh friend the church is filled with the glory of the Lord. Then I hurry and I notice that it was a church with a Bible loving fellowship. They continued steadfastly in the apostle's doctrine. Now I believe friend that that if we're going to have a renewed testament church there must be a church of doctrine.

Now may I say to you dear sisters it's not easy for you to get down to Bible study because you have the homework taking care of your husband. You have to take care of children. But you must try and get your Bible down and say blessed Holy Ghost.

They teach me thy word open up the book to me. You see it's not easy to rise. My wife has to rise sometimes at five o 'clock in the morning to get an hour alone with God before she starts the day. And you see every one of you is going to fight for this time.

But we must have the word of God in our meetings. It's a church that is a Bible loving church. Now we've got to know what the Holy Ghost says in the book. And we've got to be deep intelligent Christians and know what's in the Bible.

So from the end of Genesis to the end of Revelation I can go to some denominational churches and I just exactly know what the preacher is going to preach about because they live in one book or one chapter.

Now the Holy Ghost wants us to live in all the chapters of the Bible. Don't just know some favorite parts of the Bible. Try to study the whole Bible. And you know if we friend do not have an intelligent group of believers in the word of God then we're going to backslide.

I shall not forget Dr. Graham Scroggie saying to me he said James when Dr. A .T. Pearson left the Welsh Revival in 1904 and came to London. He said to me Dr. Scroggie says there's a great danger in the Welsh Revival just petering out.

Why? Because he said there is very little Bible exposition. You see these dear believers in Wales they were so enthused with the love of Jesus Christ. Their meetings were on day and night for two years.

Can you imagine day and night for two years. If it was like Baton Rouge every church in Baton Rouge would be filled for two years every night can you imagine. And just the same. The same would be in the Shirey Fort.

The same would be all over you see New Orleans just the same. And the people were so full of the glory of God that there was very little. For two years there was almost no Bible teaching in any of these meetings.

And you know after two years it did die out. Now I believe my brother my sister that if we just live on our experiences we will soon backslide. Our hearts will grow cold. And many of you may have lost something even since November.

And you were sincere in everything you said and everything you prayed and everything you did. You were absolutely sincere. You say oh God I'll do this 100 And maybe you didn't go on deeper with God at all.

Now I can give you one reason you can't live on experiences no matter how precious they are. Now you may tell about them but the Holy Ghost releases you to do. So you know I have to be careful the stories I tell because I could tell you thousands.

But I must ask the Holy Ghost now do you want me to tell that story. I'm asked to write many of my stories and the Holy Ghost says no. Don't don't you write about it. You see don't you write about it.

But if you're released to tell your experience to another brother or in the church that's alright. But beware of living on experiences. We must live on the Word of God. How can we abide in the vine. We abide in Christ the vine by daily communion with the Lord Jesus and that is by the systematic reading of the Word of God.

And you know a when I was a boy I used to long that I could preach like Spurgeon. But when I grew older I wished that I could get preached to Spurgeon's congregation. Now if you could get me Spurgeon's congregation I think I could preach like Spurgeon.

But you see old I have Spurgeon's congregation. They were giants. You see giants meetings recently in Denmark. And you know every one of the thousand believers almost every one of the thousand believers could have stood up and explored the scriptures from Genesis and Revelation the same as I could.

But you see that's easy to teach. It's easy for a pastor easy for a Bible teacher to come in to teach the Word of God. If the people know the book and love the book supposing I started to tell you about Russia and I'll tell you about the Volga River in that way.

Well you wouldn't be interested because you don't know anything about the Volga River. You see now if I'm going to say I'm going to give an exposition on Malachi you might go to sleep with me. You wouldn't be interested because you don't know anything about Malachi.

Now I believe friends that this church it continued steadfast in the Apostle's doctrine. Now people say we don't want doctrine. We must have doctrine. All scripture is given by inspiration of God. And is what profitable.

What. First of all for a doctrine. And I'm praying that God will make you a pastor a Bible expositor more than ever. I pray that you will take this book my brother my sister on your knees and say oh blessed Holy Ghost reveal thy word to me.

Now you can see how the Apostle Paul and Philippians and Colossians and Ephesians prays. But the church eyes would be open that they would have what these local churches have a deep spiritual insight into the revealed word of God.

And I could tell you of all the common men and women who have been taught of the Holy Ghost alone without theological summary and their giants in the word of God. Now we need brothers and sisters in our churches every believer taught of the Holy Ghost it was a I say a Bible loving church.

Oh God make you a Bible loving church. And may God make you a Bible intelligent church that you know this book intelligently. You ask the average Christian you know what he believes and you soon discover the only thing he knows is what his pastor told him.

That's all but we need the ministry of the pastor. We need the ministry of the evangelist. We need the ministry of the Bible teacher. These are all the sovereign gifts of the ascended Christ of the church.

But my brother don't be like a Roman Catholic. You know I asked a Roman Catholic once in Ireland what do you believe. He says I believe what the Pope believes and I said what does the Pope believe. He says what does my priest believe.

What does the priest believe. He said what does the church believe. I said what does the church believe. He said what I believe. What do you believe. I said what does the Pope believe. My priest believe.

My priest believe what I believe. What's going on in the circle poor fellow he knew nothing but what the church told him but my Now friend, don't be a spoon-fed Christian. Don't keep on being a bathing Christ.

Get down in the book and let the Holy Ghost speak to you. And say, I thank God for the minister of my past. I thank God for the minister of the Bible teaching evangelists, but I know this is true because the Holy Ghost has revealed it to me.

And how wonderful it is to come with this blessed book to another sister, another brother, and say, Hallelujah, that Lord has revealed to me this precious truth. And do you know what D .L. Moody used to do?

I collect Bibles. Hudson Taylor left two Bibles, I think. I've got one of them. I used to have Mr. Moody's Bible. Maybe I still have it. The one he used in the London campaigns. You know what Mr. Moody did?

He used to, when he studied his Bible, he would write footnotes. St. Romans or Ephesians or Ezekiel. And then he would say to your brother, Here's my Bible. Would you lend me your Bible? And then the brother had his Bible all marked.

And Brother Moody would go through the notes of that brother, what the Holy Ghost had revealed to him in that book. Wouldn't that be precious? Now, wouldn't that be lovely if you gathered that with some of your sisters?

That you say, Oh, I want to... It was revealed to me there in the book. Will you take my Bible and you'll read my margin after eight years? Wouldn't we have a wonderful time together? Now, then I hurry.

Steadfast Membership and Faithful Service

It was a church with a steadfast membership. They continued steadfastly. Now, this is practical. This is nothing about doctrine. This is practical. They continued steadfastly. Now, the greatest need today we have in our churches is for believers who are absolutely steadfast.

Now, I believe in emotion. I believe in getting excited. My mother never got excited about anything at all. She had a nice little hallelujah, that's all. But my mother loved the Lord Jesus in the deep, subterranean way.

Deep, deep, deep, deep way. You know? Many people like that can't express themselves. But they express them by their life. Now, you know, if you want to express yourself in faithfulness, come down to an early morning prayer meeting, if you want to express yourself in faithfulness, clean up the church, wash the dishes.

Now, it's strange how many believers that shout glory hallelujah admit that the noisest profession of loving the Lord and when it comes to steadfastness in the ministry of the local church, they're miles behind others who don't make any high sounding profession at all.

And you know that many Christian people during meetings will make alibis and excuses why they're not at the meetings. When I first came to the States, I told you before, I couldn't understand what the pastor was always doing to often the people to turn out every night.

In our meeting, you have to ask the believers to stay away every night because they'll keep you going every night. And you'll say, well, let's have a break. You'll say, oh no, you're tired brother James, you'll just carry on yourself for next week and you'll meet with us the next week.

And here we have motor cars, heaters in the car and it gets a little bit cold and you'll find that the pastor gets discouraged and the evangelist gets discouraged, the Bible teacher gets discouraged. Why?

Because the believers are not there. Do you know that our believers in Russia and in Eastern Europe, they were walking icy roads in blizzards. They had not even money for a bicycle. Of course, a bicycle couldn't even go in a blizzard, as you know.

And we would know, no matter what the blizzard was there, they would die in the attempt to get to the morning meeting. You see, die in the attempt. And yet, any little thing would keep us away. I remember when people would come to our home in Glasgow and it was Wednesday night or any night and there was meetings on in my mother's church and she would just say, Well, I'm so glad you're here.

We're going to have a meal. And then she says, Our service starts at half past seven and I know you'll enjoy the preaching tonight. And they said, Oh, Mrs. Stewart, we just couldn't go. And my mother says, All right, we eat at six and I leave at seven o 'clock because we have a prayer meeting before the evening service and she just left.

Amen. She wouldn't stay at home. And as the pastor said in his announcements, he noted at the early morning prayer meeting, Mother Stewart, the oldest member of the church, she'll be there. And I've seen my mother strike out in a blizzard to walk to her church seven miles down the road when she was about 70 years of age in the office.

And you know, every time I came to evangelize in my own city of Glasgow, my mother was never there. She was never there. Where was she? Oh, in her own church, of course. And I said, Mother, you could come out sometime and hear me.

She said, James, we have meetings every night in my own church and the Holy Ghost told me to remember that church and I'm there. But I said, Mother, I'd just like to recognize you one night and tell the people you led me for Christ.

Oh, she says, they all know that and the Lord knows that. So, that's alright. She says, they don't know in heaven they don't know in earth. She says, so I've got to be in my own meeting. You see, now, that was a church of steadfast members.

Now, I believe, friend, that we need men and women of that caliber today. They'll be as steady as a rock. They'll be unchangeable. You know, it's a terrible thing. My wife sometimes says to me, Oh, she says, I wonder when we go back now after three years if that brother will be still shouting Hallelujah.

I wonder if we go back to this city, to this city, I wonder if that sister still has the same missionary enthusiasm and she's still sacrificing her money to get the Gospel of Christ out to the heathen.