A Great Light In The Midst of Darkness - Part 4 — Peter Brandon

Faith Revealed in Desperate Circumstances

She fell at his feet and in the new translation Mr Darby points out she fell upon him. It's an action of faith. And then she said exactly what Martha said, Lord if thou has been here my brother had not died.

The Tears That Moved Jesus

But all the difference, when Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews weeping, he said, where have you laid him? And he wept. It was the tears that moved him. Here's a woman and she cries from the depth of her heart.

Discovering What Is in the House

And Elisha said, what shall I do for you? Then he said, what's in your house? Do you know I was thinking about that this afternoon? And in my thoughts I went to a particular place only in my thoughts.

And it used to be a corrugated building and in that corrugated building they saw revival. But now it's beautiful. What's in the house? Come in Peter. Look at this building, isn't it beautiful? Look at that platform, marvellous.

Look at the beautiful knee-deep carpet, oh yeah, wonderful. Look at the lovely soft seats, yeah, marvellous. Come and have a look at the abiding rooms, good. See what we've done. What's in the house?

Then I went to another place. What's in the house? Look at the Steinway piano. Do you know what it costs? No. And he tells me, I don't say anything. Look at that Hammond organ, that's the finest one that they make, beautiful.

Do you know we have singing here that's lovely. What's in the house? A Steinway and a Hammond. Then I went to another place. It was bigger than all the others. What's in the house, I ask? You wait, you see the choir, 200 of them.

And out they come, all beautifully dressed. And the music, beautiful. I thought I was in heaven. And the conductor was marvellous. And then after them, who should come but the dancing girls, oh very nice.

And then after them, the drama group. And would you believe it, it looked all so wonderful. What's in the house? Then I left that place with a sigh and I went into another place. And they said, you'll see a pop band and hear it, that's the finest in the country.

Oh. I said, I forgot my earplugs. Never mind. And then he said, after them we've got the comedians and the clowns. You'll split your sides laughing, Peter. What's in the house? Listen to this, now listen.

What have you got in the house, dear? Thy handmaid hath not anything, bankrupt, only a pot of oil. Can you see what's happening? She was brought to a point of utter extremity until she discovered the pot of oil.

The Holy Spirit and the Power of Small Things

And in that pot of oil is revival. You say, where's your scripture for that? You remember Zechariah? He gives that wonderful vision in the fourth chapter. And there's a rabble in the fit of depression fast asleep and the angel wakes him up.

The foundation has been laid and then stopped. And the enemy has overcome them. And in his vision, he sees a lamp stand all of gold. And then right at the top of it, there's a reservoir that holds the oil.

And then there are two golden pipes that are fixed to two olive trees. And that golden oil goes through the pipes into the reservoir and out to the seven lamps. The angel says to him, do you know what this means?

No, my lord. And this is what he said. Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit saith the Lord of hosts. Then he goes on. Who art thou, O great mountain? Before the rabble shall become a plain. And who hath despised a day of small things?

What does that mean? He can only do small things in the last days? No. Through small things and weak things and little things, he can do mighty things. He can remove the mountains. Beloved, God is bringing us back to the pot of oil.

Are we willing to rediscover the power of the Holy Spirit? Then he gives her the provision. I want you to go and borrow vessels. Borrow all kinds of vessels. Go abroad and borrow them and borrow none of you.

Borrowed Vessels and God's Provision

Now you think of that. Out goes the sons and they're knocking on the doors and they say, you know father died? Yes, he was a godly man. We do miss him. That creditor has come. And he's after us two boys.

And the home's absolutely bankrupt. We know that. We've heard it. Terrible man. He wants to read the book of Leviticus and that would stop him. Well, she's been to the prophet. She's cried to the prophet and he's told her to borrow vessels.

Have you any vessels? Yes, certainly. And you see the boys coming in with an armful of vessels. And out they go. More vessels. Out they go. They're not circumscribed. They're going all over the place for vessels and they bring them in.

Belonging to the Lord

Now let's look at those vessels. Every single vessel is borrowed. Not one belongs to her. You know the old days what we used to do when you had a tea or a dinner? You used to bring your own cutlery and you used to bring your own cups but you would put your special ribbon round it.

So that afterwards you got it packed. And probably all those vessels were marked. Not one belonged to her or to the neighbours. Beloved, that's what we've got to learn. We have been bought with a price.

And we are not our own. When you go home tonight, right, right, right, right across your being, borrowed. And then sold. We all belong to the Lord and we've got to remember that and think of the price, the precious blood.

The Variety of Vessels and Spiritual Gifts

Secondly, look at the variety of those vessels. There would be gold vessels. There would be silver vessels. There would be copper vessels. There would be china vessels and all kinds of vessels. Big vessels, thin vessels, fat vessels.

And quite frankly, it was quite comical to look at all the vessels. That's the house of God, a place of variety. There are variety of gifts, variety of services, variety of operations. A place not of monotony but variety.

Cleansed and Filled by the Holy Spirit

Then look again, they're all empty vessels. What does that mean? They'd all been under the tap or water and thoroughly washed. You can't mix water with oil. And therefore each vessel had been cleansed.

How we need that cleansing. Then you will notice all these vessels were filled. And what do we mean by filling of the Holy Spirit?