Golden Jubilee — Oswald J. Smith

My father, like Enoch of old, walked daily with his Lord. And as he worshipped at God's throne, he saw his heart outpoured. He knew that he would faithfully be. On him he could depend. He's preached God's word for fifty years.

He'll preach it to the end.

Now I wonder if just before the short message of the evening, you would take the brochure that has been put in your hand that says, Fifty Years in the Ministry, on the front. Would you find that right now?

It's somewhere, and I think almost everybody in the congregation would have one. And if you'll turn over to the back page, in miniature form, you will find reproduced Dr. Smith's most famous hymn. The music written by Billy Sundy's song leader, Homer Rodeheaver, whom everybody here in Toronto knew and loved before he went to be with the Lord.

We're going to stand together and sing just the first verse and the chorus of this song, Then Jesus Came. It's on the back of your brochure. We'll stand together and sing the first verse and the chorus.

A Jubilee Celebration of Fifty Years in Ministry

We would like to take you back to May 18th and 19th of 1958, where in Varsity Arena, members of the People's Church gathered to honor a man who had then spent fifty years in the ministry. This is Oswald J. Smith's Golden Jubilee of 1958.

I have followed Dr. Smith's career with great interest inasmuch as he commenced his missionary work under me at Port Simpson in 1908. And that's signed Dr. G. H. Rayleigh and comes from the city of Vancouver.

The next comes from our cowboy friend, Red Harper, who incidentally commences a campaign in the People's Church for eight days the first Sunday of June. I hope you'll remember that. Commencing the first Sunday of June, Red Harper, Mr. Texas, in the Billy Graham film Mr. Texas, is going to be ministering in the People's Church from Sunday through Sunday, commencing the first Sunday of June.

Red Harper writes this,. We shall not learn this side of heaven, even half of what this great missionary statesman has accomplished for the kingdom of God. The next comes from William Culbertson, who is the president of the Moody Bible Institute.

Dr. Culbertson writes, and especially his worldwide vision of missions. Then from Mr. A. H. Chappell, who is the president of Marshall, Morgan Scott London, England, who has published all of Dr. Smith's 24 books, representing one of the largest religious publishing companies in the world, Mr. Chappell writes,.

I have watched with ever-increasing admiration the worldwide growth of Dr. Smith's ministry. His books are read and treasured among English-speaking peoples all over the world and in many foreign languages.

In his charming wife he has a gracious helpmate and his children loyal associates. And then from God's businessman, Mr. R. G. Letourneau,. It is now over 30 years since Dr. Smith was my pastor in Los Angeles.

God was using him mightily then and has been continually blessing souls through his tongue and pen all these years. This comes from Mr. B. D. Ackley, who is probably the world's greatest living writer of gospel songs.

Mr. Ackley says this,. Dr. Smith ranks among the outstanding gospel song poets. My high regard for him is comparable to that for my own brother. Then Dr. V. R. Edmond, the president of Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois, writes,.

Because Dr. Smith devoted himself entirely to the Savior, he has been used mightily of God to the very ends of the earth. And Don D. Mumaw. Don Mumaw, one of the great athletes of our generation who has played football in this stadium on many, many occasions.

An All-American football player writes,. Because Dr. Smith devoted himself entirely, or rather Don Mumaw telegraphs,. Thank God for Dr. Smith and his ministry. Both have challenged my own life. Then the next one comes from Great Britain, from Evangelist Eric Hutchings, who today is probably being used of God in evangelistic, great united evangelistic campaigns in the British Isles and from radio in Europe as much as any other minister in England.

Eric Hutchings writes this,. The recently conducted crusade in South America underlines in my view that Dr. Smith continues to be at the very forefront of evangelistic ministry around the world. There is scarcely an evangelical home in Britain in which the name of Dr. Oswald J. Smith is not known and honored.

I owe more to him as a father in evangelism for encouragement and inspiration than any other world leader. The next comes from Scotland, from Mr. John M. Moore, who is the superintendent of the Great Kent Hall in Glasgow, Scotland.

And from Scotland we have this greeting,. We in Scotland send our sincere Christian greetings to Dr. Oswald J. Smith. On this great occasion, which celebrates 50 years' ministry in the service of God, the influence of Dr. Smith's written ministry has been felt throughout the lengths and breadths of Scotland.

We in Glasgow will be wearing the Smith tartan on our neckties over the weekend in honor of Dr. Oswald J. Smith. And I didn't even know we belonged to a clan, but there you are. The Smith clan, I suppose it's the biggest in the world.

And then this comes from a man who is beloved by God's people around the world, Dr. Charles E. Fuller of the Old Fashioned Revival Hour. Dr. Fuller writes,. In these days when so many are departing from the faith, it is a great encouragement to my own heart and a blessed challenge to know that Dr. Smith is standing so firmly in his faithfulness to the Word of God.

And this comes from Dr. E. L. Simmons, who is the principal of the Toronto Bible College. And we're grateful to the Toronto Bible College for their help in this service tonight. They have given us these curtains and the bunting that is around the lower platform.

And in a moment you will have an opportunity of using the magnificent offering boxes that come from the Toronto Bible College. And if you can't get your gift in the boxes, you can blame Dr. Simmons. But we're grateful for their help in this service.

They use Varsity Stadium every year for their graduation exercises. Mr. Simmons writes,. Warmest congratulations and deep thanksgiving for your great missionary and evangelistic contributions. And then we have this from the cowboys of the world, Dale Evans and Roy Rogers.

And Dale Evans and Roy Rogers send this greeting,. You have been a blessing to so many, including us, and we are sure we speak for the entire Hollywood Christian group. Finally, this greeting from the world's greatest evangelist, Dr. Billy Graham.

And Billy Graham says this in a personal letter, I continue to hear the most fabulous reports of your meetings in South America. We rejoice exceedingly at the gracious way in which God has used you. You are the most remarkable man I have ever met.

And that's signed Dr. Billy Graham. And I'm sure you would like to join with these who have written their greetings from around the world in wishing your own pastor God's best on this, the 50th anniversary of his ministry and the first service of the next 50 years of his ministry.

Wherever evangelical church choir leaders gather together to discuss music, this next song almost always comes up for discussion. Johnny Ambrose joins his voice with the voices of our Jubilee Choir now to bring you the triumphant composition written by Dr. Smith, The Song of the Soul Set Free.

A Christian Home and a Son's Conversion

I'm so very, very glad that my own children know the Lord Jesus Christ as a personal Savior. I'm going to call now on my eldest son, Dr. Glenn G. Smith, who is a surgeon, a Christian surgeon, in Vancouver, British Columbia.

I'll never forget the night in Muskoka in the Elgin House after I delivered the salvation message. I'll never forget returning and finding Glenn in tears. He told us that he wanted to be saved. His mother and I knelt down beside him and we led him to the Lord Jesus Christ.

He was only nine years of age at the time. Now he's become a Christian surgeon and is giving his testimony in the city of Vancouver. And I want to have the joy of announcing and introducing my eldest son now, for I'm going to ask Dr. Glenn G. Smith, to me, Glenn, to come to the pulpit and bring you a word from faraway Vancouver.

He's a member of the Smith family. Thank you very much, Dr. Smith, for those kind introductory words. It's a great joy for me to be here from faraway Vancouver in one respect, but my, I wish I could have brought some of those cool Pacific breezes with me.

You really have it warm here. The name Dr. Oswald J. Smith, around the world, to many people, means an author that has written many, many wonderful books. To many other people, the name Dr. Oswald Smith is one they have heard as a great evangelist in person on many of his world tours.

To many missionaries, he is the statesman that has been responsible from the human angle of influencing their life for missions and for their finding themselves on the mission field of the world. To many of us here tonight, he is our pastor, pastor of the People's Church for many years, and he is to us a pastor.

But to three of us who are in this building tonight, and only three, we can call him Father. Now, a more wonderful father one would never want to find. I was brought up, as you all very well know, in a Christian home.

I was brought up, what is more, in a minister's home. Now, I'm sure many of you must wonder what a minister's home would be like to be brought up in, especially one that was as famous as my father. And I can tell you that, in some respects, perhaps it is peculiar.

And that, no doubt, is why Glenn and Hope and Paul are a little queer. You will probably think that a minister's home is a very austere place because we spend so much time going to church and doing things of a religious nature.

But I can assure you that we had many very pleasant hours in our home and many happy experiences on which we can look back into our childhood. To show you an example of some humorous incidents that occurred in our home that you probably never hear about, Father was always interested that we should get to know some of the animal creations that God has made and put in this world.

And I think it is only the rightful heritage of every boy to have a dog. And as boys, we had many dogs at different times, also cats. The house was on occasion filled with 50 or 60 birds of different varieties.

We had fish. And on one trip that he came back from Florida, he brought us two crocodiles. But perhaps the most interesting little animals that we had, on one Saturday afternoon, we had two little baby goats or kids.

They were very young and cried all night. The following morning, we went to church. And when we arrived back at noon, we were told that the baby kids would not stop crying. So Paul, my brother, spent Sunday afternoon in a packing box being the mother of the two kid goats.

Now needless to say, the kids left the following morning. But on the more serious side, perhaps one thing that I remember above all about the Christian home in which I was brought up was the importance that my father attached to his life of prayer.

And as children, we will never forget, not on Sundays only or not on special occasions or not just when we were going on a trip, but every day in the morning, we would hear him walking, walking back and forth in his study because that was the way he prayed to God.

And he felt it important enough to spend time before God for the guidance and direction of bringing up his family and the importance of prayer in carrying on the great work that he was interested in. And that, to me, is a remembrance which I will never forget of my home.

Now as well, of course, I have grown up outside of the home in the people's church. All my life, I've been brought up in a church atmosphere. And two things stand out in the church that I will never forget.

One is the Sunday after Sunday seeing at the conclusion of the service men and women walking down the aisles and accepting Christ as their own personal Savior. That is a sight as you get out of Toronto and live in other areas that we do not see in our churches very frequently.

And then the other important aspect of the work that will never leave me, of course, is the tremendous influence of the missionary program and the importance of the tremendous commission going into all the world and preach the gospel.

And as a son and a doctor, I am proud tonight to be the son of a minister. I count it a great privilege to have a heritage of a Christian home and to have been brought up in a church where the evangelistic message was stressed and where missions and the evangelization of the world was so important.

Thank you. Thank you, Glenn. And ladies and gentlemen, if any of you have any trouble with your kids, a word to the wise is sufficient. I said a little while ago how thrilled we were to see so many of our family here.

The People's Church Missionary Ministry

But I think most of you realize that a great segment of the family of the people's church who would very much like to be here is not here. I'm speaking of the 360 missionaries that we have the privilege of helping support, that are working on many, many different fields around this world.

And in addition to our own 360 missionaries are many thousands of other missionaries that look to the people's church as a sort of focal point for missionary inspiration and zeal and provocative missionary giving.

Every year at Christmastime we have the privilege of contacting some 8 ,000 missionaries of many of the faith missions, almost all the faith missions, and some of the denominational missionaries. Practically in every country of the world through the medium of our Christmas books, every year beginning in about the month of July or August, our book room is extremely busy wrapping Christmas presents.

Books which we send out shortly after the summer so that they will reach over 8 ,000 missionaries all over the world by Christmastime. And immediately after Christmas within about one month's time we begin to receive letters from our missionaries.

And in the course of the next few months I suppose we receive nearly 8 ,000 letters from missionaries around the world. And I wish you could look over our shoulder and read some of those letters and read of the thrill and the blessing and the inspiration that those books are to missionaries, many of whom are in lonely, lonely places all around this world of ours.

As Mr. Dave mentioned earlier, the Board of Managers tried to make the offering at this great service a love offering for Dr. Smith. However, he begged them not to do that and asked them if they would mind using this entire offering tonight to enable us this year to send the books to the missionaries.

We're going to begin to do that. Within about one month's time our office staff will have to start working. And so we're going to take the entire offering tonight, whatever you give, and we're going to put it to the ministry of our Christmas books.

And you can be assured that every dollar, every five dollar bill, will send a messenger by literature to some missionary that perhaps may receive absolutely nothing else by way of a Christmas gift this coming Christmas.

It takes about one dollar to send a book to a missionary. That means if you give a dollar in your offering tonight, you will be actually sending a Christmas present to one of our 8 ,000 missionaries. If you're able to give five dollars tonight, it means that you will send a Christmas gift to at least five missionaries somewhere in the world this Christmas.

If you're able to give a $20 bill, you bless and encourage and inspire some 20 missionaries around the world. I'm going to ask the ushers that they will come forward at this time and put in your hand one of these envelopes in which you can put your gift, your missionary gift, for the Christmas books this year.

I'm going to ask the men to go ahead and distribute the envelopes immediately. And when you get your envelope, I want you to look at it. I hope everybody will take time to take an envelope. And I want you to look at your envelope.

May I ask you please, whatever you do, don't seal the envelope. Whatever you put in, do not seal it for just a moment. After you have put your name and address on it, you'll notice at the bottom, it says, All who give two dollars or more in this afternoon's offer will receive an official receipt suitable for income tax purposes, and you will receive the People's Magazine, published by the People's Church for two years, absolutely free of charge.

And then this is very important before you decide what you're going to give. It says at the bottom, special, and this is extremely special on this occasion, Those who give five dollars or more, five dollars or more, are entitled to Dr. Smith Golden Jubilee long play record with greetings from Billy Graham and Oswald Smith and also a number of Dr. Smith's best known songs.

I hold in my hand this beautiful Golden Jubilee record. I think everybody in this auditorium will want to make it a point to get one of these records. They are not for sale. You cannot buy these records anywhere.

But everyone who gives to the Christmas books five dollars or more is entitled to receive this record absolutely free of charge. It's in a beautiful gold finish. It has a picture of Dr. Smith on the front, and then on the back is the list of what you will get.

First of all, there's a greeting from Dr. Smith that you'll want to treasure in the years to come. You'll have his voice on record. Then you have George Beverly Shea singing Dr. Smith's great song, Then Jesus Came, for this special occasion.

Then you have Red Harper singing Dr. Smith's song, Come With Your Heartaches. Then you have Johnny Ambrose singing the song of the soul set free. On the other side, you have a wonderful message of greeting by Dr. Billy Graham.

You will hear the voice of Dr. Billy Graham on this record, and you can treasure it as long as you live. Then you have the People's Church Choir singing Christ Is Coming Back Again. You have Don Billings at the piano when Frank Trenchard at the organ playing a special arrangement of Dr. Smith's songs.

You'll have Ronnie Avalon singing the glory of his presence. And then you'll have the gospel harmony makers singing When I've Changed My Address to Heaven. Now, some of you have seen this record. A great many people have come to me and said, Paul, how can I buy a copy of the record?

You cannot buy it. This record is not for sale. But this afternoon, or rather this evening, everyone who contributes $5 or more to this special missionary offering tonight is entitled to take one of these records home with you.

Now you say, how do I do it? Well, first of all, of course, put the $5 or more in your envelope. After you have put it in, seal it. Put your name and address clearly on the outside. And then if you want the record, put an X in the little square at the bottom of the envelope.

The envelopes will be collected in the offering. And then immediately after the service, you can come to this table on my right in front of the platform, or this table on my left in front of the platform, or you can go to either of the refreshment booths directly behind you in the vestibule.

And there you will find a sack of the records. Now you do two things. You walk up, and you sign your name and address on a piece of paper. And then you take your copy of the record home free of charge.

And after the service is over, our workers will check the names that have been signed with the envelopes that have come in. And if for any reason there are not enough records, I believe we have a large enough supply to take care of everybody who will want one.

But if when you get there the supply is gone, you'll be able to get your record, if you live in the city of Toronto, from the People's Church anytime within about ten days when we get a new supply. If you live outside of the city of Toronto, and the supply is gone when you get there, and I doubt if it will be gone.

We have a great many records here tonight. But if it should be gone, and you live outside of the city of Toronto, if you wait about ten days, your record will come to you through the mail. So that everybody who gives the five dollars, or a ten dollar bill, or a twenty dollar bill, and some of you may want to write out a check in the service tonight for this work of missionary books, everyone who gives that much or more will receive this beautiful golden jubilee record, which is absolutely irreplaceable.

You cannot buy it anywhere in the world, but you can get it here tonight, and in twenty or twenty-five or thirty years from now, you'll still be able to play it because it will last just about as long as you last.

It's unbreakable unless you deliberately break it over your knee. And I doubt if anybody will want to do that once you've heard it and been blessed by it. We'll wait just a moment while you fill in your envelope.

Be sure to write your name clearly on the outside, and your address, and when the usher is past the offering boxes, you put your envelope in, and it will be included in the missionary offering tonight.

While you're completing your envelope, may I say this, we're very grateful for the beautiful floral display that's on the platform tonight. It comes from one of the great gospel singers of Toronto, Mr. Gunnar Knudsen, who runs a florist shop at the corner of Cotswold and Danforth, the Cotswold Florist Shop, and we're so grateful for these flowers that have been made available to us absolutely free of charge by Mr. Knudsen.

We're thankful too for the cooperation of Mr. McElroy of Varsity Arena. In the work he's done, he's helped us so much in making the arrangements for the service here tonight. And for these chairs, these very fine platform chairs that have been made available by one of our elders, Mr. George McQueen, I think the envelopes have been filled in.

Prayer for the Missionary Offering

Shall we bow together as we ask God's blessing? After the blessing on the offering has been made, we'll ask Frank Trenchard to lead the band in the offertory tonight. Blessed Heavenly Father, again we ask for thy blessing upon thy people as they think of the missionaries in the regions beyond.

May our gifts be adequate. May they prove a source of inspiration. May they cheer the hearts of the missionaries. May we be grateful to God for this opportunity of reaching beyond this arena to the regions beyond.

For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Now I don't want you to feel for one single moment that I'm going to keep you long tonight. In a moment I'm going to have something to say to you. But it will not take very long to say it, I can assure you.

This evening has been a wonderful program. We thank God for every item on the program. I want to say, before I introduce my daughter, I want to say that Walt Huntley, the one who has done the work on this magnificent record, Walt Huntley has done a splendid job on it.

He's here with us on the platform tonight, and we want to thank him for his contribution. You know, when I listened to the greetings by Billy Graham on this record, I was deeply humbled. I'm going to treasure those greetings for a great many years to come, if God spares me.

And I'm sure that as you take this record home tonight and play it, you too will treasure the words of Dr. Billy Graham on this record. We're putting you on your honor. When you go back to the table, if you say, if you tell those who are at the tables that you have given five dollars tonight, they're going to take your word for it.

All you have to do is to sign a slip of paper with your name and address, as has been explained already, and the record will be handed to you. I trust it will be a great blessing to you in the days to come.

Now you have heard from the boys. You have heard from Glenn. You have heard from Paul. You haven't heard yet from our one and only daughter, Hope. And some little time ago, Hope felt led to write a poem.

And she wrote this poem to her father on behalf of this golden jubilee. And so we're asking Mrs. Lowery, Hope Evangeline, to read this poem for us tonight. Just as it touched my heart when I read it, so I'm sure it will touch your heart.

And now, our one and only daughter, Hope Evangeline.

I'm not going to faint, I just think I better have a drink of water. That's better. After that introduction. As I think back over my father's life and his wonderful ministry, and think of all that God has accomplished through him, I always marvel at the fact that God chose a delicate country boy to do such a tremendous work for him.

And so I wrote this poem entitled, God Chose a Country Boy. My father was a country boy, his body weak and frail. He had to trudge barefoot to school with pet crows and lunch pails. And no one ever thought that he would live to be a man.

But God had work for him to do, and for his life, a plan. Upon this blond-haired, blue-eyed boy, rich talents he bestowed. He took him from the country lanes to walk another road. Away from relatives and friends, God led him by his hands.

And like disciples long ago, he heeded God's command. Like Peter, James, and John of old, left all to follow him. In faith, my father followed on, though oft the path grew dim. Because he listened to God's voice, obeyed his first command, he chose to send this country boy to every foreign land.

And many others, Father sent to those who've never heard, who've never read of Jesus' love in God's own holy words. And from his pen, such hymns of praise have reached most every tongue. Around this great wide world of ours, his hymns are played and sung.

His books have spread throughout the earth. They've helped both young and old. Until we reach the glory land, their words cannot be told. Why didn't God choose someone strong, you may be prone to ask.

Because he looks upon the heart and fits men for the task. He chose a little shepherd boy to fight a giant strong. Thus showed his power the greater far to all the doubting throng.

The Call to Preach the Gospel

Well, wasn't that tremendous? That was just the conclusion of side one of this program. Dr. Oswald preaches the sermon on side two of this tape.

Now, my friends, it's just impossible for me to express my appreciation for all that has been done in connection with this service tonight. As I look at this magnificent choir, my heart wells up within me.

And I thank God with all my heart and with all my soul for those who have been willing to make the sacrifice that has been made in order to make this meeting a possibility. I want to thank Mr. Dade, the managers, the elders, the adherents of the People's Church.

I want to thank each and every one for placing at my disposal that magnificent car to use while I'm still connected with the Church. I know that Mrs. Smith and I will find it a great comfort, a real help to us in the days to come.

And I want to thank everyone who has had any part in it. And I want to thank all those who have sung tonight, all those who have spoken, all who have taken part, and all the workers who have cooperated in connection with this jubilee program in order to make it the success that it has been.

I'll never forget it. You know, I believe God calls men into the ministry. I believe he calls men today just as he did in olden days. When I was only a boy about 12 years of age, I heard God's call. I was sitting in my Sunday school class.

A farmer's daughter was teaching the class. Suddenly she turned to us and she said this, Any one of you boys might be a minister. I don't know what the other boys said. It was in the Cody Corner Schoolhouse there where I was attending school.

This was Sunday school. But I answered instantly, not out loud but in my heart, I'll be that boy. You know that from that day to this, I've never had a desire to do anything else in life but to preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It's been a glorious ministry, and I thank God for it all down through the years. Three times I tried to leave Toronto, and each time God brought me back. First of all, he brought me back to Dale Presbyterian Church.

Then he brought me back to the Alliance Tabernacle on Christie Street. Then he brought me back to the People's Church. And now for the last 30 years of my life, it's been my privilege to be the pastor of the People's Church in this great city of Toronto.

And I'm so glad that I've had little parts in connection with the evangelism that has been carried on in this city. God has kept the fires of evangelism burning in my soul. They've never died out. I pray God that they never will die out, but that as long as I have breath, I'll still do everything I can to win men and women to the Lord Jesus Christ.

For that, after all, is the great mission of the Church. And I want to thank all those who are helping to make that possible, all who are cooperating and have been cooperating down through these years that have passed and gone.

I came to this city 43 years ago after I'd been ordained to the gospel ministry. I came as the associate pastor of Dale Presbyterian Church, corner of Queen and Bellwoods. And you know, when I came in 1915, I was the youngest minister in the city of Toronto.

Today, after 43 years have passed since I came to Toronto, I find myself perhaps the longest in service of any minister who is still in active service in the city of Toronto. For 50 years, I've been preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I started preaching when I was 18 years of age, and I've been preaching ever since. And I trust that I'll be able to preach as long as God gives me breath. I thank God for evangelism. I thank God for evangelism at home and abroad.

I thank God for the privilege of ministering for the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to express a word of appreciation for the way my wife has stood by me. During these 43 years that we have labored together, and has helped to make possible this great work that God has enabled us to carry on.

I thank every member of this band. I thank every usher, and all those who have helped us with their service tonight. Now, I am not going to preach a sermon, but I do want to read just a verse of scripture.

The Two Ways: The Narrow Gate and the Broad Way

And it's found in the 7th chapter of Matthew's gospel, verses 13 and 14. Enter ye in at the straight gate. You see, you must enter in. You'll never get in unless you enter in. Enter ye in at the straight gate.

For wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereafter. I didn't say that. God said it. God tells us that the broad way is strong. There are many on the broad way.

And then he says this, because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. This is God's book. This is the word of the living God. This book means more to me than any other book in the entire world.

This book is authoritative. This book comes from God. I believe it. I believe it from cover to cover. I believe that it's God's word. And when God speaks, you and I must pay attention. This, I say, is the word of the living God.

The Necessity of a Decision for Jesus Christ

Now you say to me tonight, you say, Dr. Smith, why all during the years of your ministry, why have you pressed for decisions? Why is it necessary for a man to make a decision for the Lord Jesus Christ?

I've talked to Billy Graham. Billy Graham does the same thing. I've done it for nearly 50 years. Billy Graham is doing it constantly. Men and women are making decisions for the Lord Jesus Christ. And Billy Graham is going to call for decisions continuously in his great evangelistic citywide campaigns.

You say, why do you do it? Let me tell you why I do it. I do it because the Lord Jesus Christ did it. I do it because my Savior did it. I do it because as I study those with whom Jesus dealt, in this word, I find that He, too, demanded a decision.

Let me give you just one illustration. Do you remember one day, the Lord Jesus Christ was speaking to an audience of people. Presently He saw a man in the audience with a withered arm. Now He knew that that man needed to have his arm healed.

But did He heal him? Not for a moment. Why didn't He do it? He could have done it. He had the power to do it. He could have healed that man right where he was. He could have healed him instantly. But He never did it.

Why didn't He do it? Because He always demands a decision. There must be a public acknowledgement of some kind. What did He say to the man? He said, stand upright on thy feet. And the man stood. And every eye was fixed on Him.

Everyone was watching Him. He stood there all by Himself, absolutely alone in that great crowd because Jesus had asked Him to do something. He had to make a decision. Did Jesus heal him then? Jesus did not heal him even then.

Jesus wanted another step. He demanded another step of faith. And listen to me. The reason so many never get anywhere with God is because they will not take that step of faith that Jesus Christ demands.

What did He say to him then? He said, stretch forth thine arm, thy hand. Raise your hand. Put your hand up. Oh, you say, I thought Billy Graham was the only one who ever asked anybody to raise his hand.

I thought Dr. Smith was the only one who asked people to raise a hand in a meeting. I didn't know that Jesus did it. Nineteen hundred years ago, Jesus Christ told a man to raise his hand, to stretch forth his hand, to put up his hand.

And the man did it. Right before everybody. What happened? He was instantly healed. Now, my friend, listen. That's exactly what this book says. And if you want results, if you want something to happen in that life of yours, you'll have to take a step of faith.

You'll have to walk down an aisle. You'll have to go to an inquiry room. You'll have to stand before a platform. You'll have to kneel at an altar. You'll have to do something if you want results. And all during my ministry, I've demanded action.