Stephen, Full of Faith and Power — Leonard Ravenhill

Stephen's Defense Before the Council

Acts chapter 7, reading from verse 2. This is the defense of Stephen, as you know, I'm sure. Verse 2, he said, men and brethren and fathers, hearken, the God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia.

The God of glory. It's also interpreted, our glorious God. The God who supersedes every other concept of God, is this God of ours, the God of holiness. But notice, that's the second verse of this 7th chapter.

He's reciting this under tremendous pressure, hostility, we'll go to that in a minute. But I want to stress it again, he said, men and brethren and fathers, hearken, the God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham.

Now go further down in the same chapter, after he's poured out a whole fantastic recitation of the history of Israel. He says in verse 54, when they heard these things they were cut to the heart and they gnashed on him with their teeth.

Remember these are the theologians of the day. These are the men outstandingly righteous. These were men who were versed and saturated in the law of Moses and everything else. And they gnashed on him with their teeth.

But look, he being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven and he saw the glory of God. Do you think that when he was going through that pressure, as he begins, the God of Abraham revealed himself, he saw the glory of God in Mesopotamia?

Do you think he thought that before the day was out he would see the glory of God? He saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand. And I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God.

See usually we jump over that. We just say that he being full of the Holy Ghost looks steadfastly into heaven and Jesus standing. No, but there's something else he sees. He sees the glory of God. Go back a little into the chapter, verse 6, pardon me, chapter 6 and verse 8.

Stephen's Faith, Power, and Holy Spirit Anointing

Stephen, full of faith and of power. Again I remind you this is just, this is just an elder. This is not what you call an ordained minister or an apostle. A young man called me today and he was almost in tears.

He said, Mr. Raymond, I want to ask you a question and go ahead. He said, where are the evangelists today? I've been to an evangelistic meeting. They told stories, they sang, they twisted, they pulled, they did every conceivable thing to get somebody to come for the altar.

You don't have to do that when there's true Holy Ghost conviction. When there's Holy Ghost conviction, like I have in the third chapter of Luke, when John Baptist was preaching, the soldiers cried out, what should we do?

The people cried out, what should we do? The publicans cried out, what should we do? You see, people don't go to meetings night after night now to get on the conviction. If there's conviction they stay away.

And therefore there's going to be no revival until there's a calling to a halt of the thing that we call evangelism. But notice, remember this man gets the appointment as the first deacon in the church, with apparently unanimous call, and he's full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and he did signs and wonders and miracles.

And so in verse 8 of chapter 6 it says, Stephen, full of faith and of power, did great wonders among the people. They arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenius and Alexandrius.

This is a collation, if you like, a conglomeration of synagogues. They've heard about one young man, he doesn't have a Bible in his hand. He isn't a rebel, he isn't stirring anything up against the nation, but he's presenting a revelation that they haven't known.

They've talked and they've, when they've had their festivals, they march up and down the temple or the synagogue, and they recite that superb chapter in Isaiah 35, that when the years come the eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped, the lame leap as a harp, the tongue of the dumb shall sing.

And here's the young guy does it. He doesn't wear the gorgeous robes of the high priest. He doesn't have a plate on his forehead that says, Holy the Son to the Lord. He doesn't have bells and pomegranates round the skirt of his wonderful dress.

He doesn't wear a linen coat. He has no outward sign at all, but he has the blessed anointing of the Holy Spirit of God. He has that which money cannot buy and education cannot give, and the seminary can't give you it.

It's an election of God, but by the same determination, remember, God is found of those who seek after him. And that's the whole secret. Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness. Well, here is this man.

All these folks from different synagogues, the Libertines, the Cyrenians, the Alexandrians, and from Cilicia a nation. Now that's a gang of people. How many days do you think they've been traveling? They didn't live round the corner.

They spread the news that there's some phenomena happening. There are some people, just a handful of deacons, Stephen, one or two others. They're a threat to our system. When you become a threat to a religious system, all hell will oppose you.

It doesn't matter if it's in America or anywhere else. As soon as God begins to anoint a man, immediately all hell is against him. That dear little Englishman, I used to have a church in the town where he was born.

Of course, he'd gone long before I got there, Hudson Taylor. He said one day, when God opens the window of heaven upon you, the devil will open the door of hell. You'll be caught between the two. And as I've told you, a man's crazy that looks to be a leader these days in spiritual matters.

There aren't many sheaves, there are more goats. But they want to go their own way. So here's a holy man. Here are people who say their prayers every day, blessing Stephen, thank God he healed my crippled dad.

Thank God he drove leprosy out of somebody. And day by day they were thanking God. And all hell gets mad. And the religious system gets mad. Because here's a man, he has no big system behind him. He has no hierarchy behind him.

You know, as I read this today, I thought, well dear God, there were seven deacons, where were the other six? Are they leaving him by himself? Well, look at the pressure on him. I've read that verse to you twice, verse 9.

Opposition From Religious Authorities

They came, the Libertines, the Syrenians, the Alexandrians, and the Cilicia and Asia, disputing with Stephen. They were not able to resist the wisdom by which he spake. What do you do with a man like that?

He's an embarrassment. He has authority over demons, he has authority over sickness, he has wisdom that's starving everybody. So naturally he's a magnet, he draws people. That's what the Spirit of God does.

I hear preachers say, you know my job? My job is to dispense, or my job is to introduce you to truth. I don't think so. I think the preacher's job is to introduce you to life. You can have truth and truth and truth, till it's going in one ear and out of the other, not of a fault.

But it's life the devil's afraid of. Men are not just bad, they're dead, in trespasses and in sin. And it's an awesome thing to stand before a congregation. I'm glad I don't have to do it sometimes. This congregation is entirely different from the average church congregation.

Every row of people in a church today is death row. They're dead in trespasses and in sin. They need to be pitied as much as the folk down in the state penitentiary. They were not able to resist the wisdom and spirit by which he spake.

Then they suborned men, they bribed men, which said, we've heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God. They not only got those rascals, look, and they stood up the people and the elders and the scribes and other bunch of, they were the folk that wrote out the scriptures.

They didn't print them, the scribes. I think lots of people think I'm the only scribe left. I scribble all my letters. And so they got it. They stood up the people and the elders and the scribes. You see the pressure now?

He's got all these people from the synagogue. They've come hundreds and hundreds of miles, full of bitterness. Every step they go increases their hatred for this, this system. We have this to handle. Our fathers handled a man by the name of John Baptist.

Then came Jesus. We got rid of Jesus, we got rid of him, all right? And now here's a little fellow come up. They set up false witnesses. Oh, pardon me, verse 12. They stood up the people, the elders and the scribes.

They came upon him and caught him and brought him to the council and set up false witnesses. You see how they're piling it on? They're building as it were a stockade around him. All these liars, all these cheats.

Come on. If you and I are preaching the same truth, we get the same opposition, the same resistance, the same hindrances. The devil isn't any more kind now than he was in the beginning. In fact, as we get nearer, isn't it Revelation says he knows his days are shorter, his days are numbered.

And he's putting pressure on. And it seems the church is falling back instead of intensifying. It's getting weaker. And satanic powers are getting stronger. Verse 13, they set up false witnesses. We've heard him speak blasphemous words against this holy place.

They said he spoke blasphemous words in verse 11. Verse 13, he spoke blasphemous words against this holy place. We've heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place and shall change the customs, which was it?

Tradition, Customs, and the Cost of Discipleship

Boy, that's a hard thing, isn't it? You know, you'll be all right. You can profess Christ. You can wear a lapel pin with some fancy word in. And you won't be an objection to anybody. But let your lifestyle change and you will.

The immediate opposition will be in your family, most likely. The immediate family. And then the next, somebody else comes along. You see, what was it Pilate said, but ye have a custom. What was it? It was Pilate, I think, said, but ye have a custom.

So what? So it's Easter. So Christians have bunnies and all kinds of junk. It's Easter. It's a custom. We never saw those in England. I'm not saying it's a particular American wickedness, but anyhow it's stupid.

They put rabbits with Easter eggs. You ever see a rabbit lay an egg? It's about the most silly thing I've ever seen in my life. But ye have a custom. So when is, what's this other horrible thing coming up shortly?

Pardon? Valentine's Day. That's an old superstition. And what's the other? Oh, we got over there. What's the other thing they have with the kiddies, you know, with the masks and things? Halloween. That's a satanic thing and yet they do it in churches.

But ye have a custom. You have a custom. Why do you send Christmas cards? You have a custom. Well, you didn't get one from me. But we have a custom. We're tradition bound. There are certain things you do.

The Roman, when I first came to America, almost every other automobile had a little plastic figure. Do you remember of Christopher on it? You don't remember that? In the 19, in the 1950s, a little plastic, Catholics had a little plastic Christopher for safety on the, on the, what do you call it?

Dashboard and in the back window. When I was working in a factory, the Catholics dare not eat fish on Friday, uh, meat on Fridays. It was a, it was a sin. Well, the Roman Catholic Church changed it. They tell a story about a man in a remote part of the country.

The priest came in and found it in a strange country, a foreign country. And the priest had introduced him to, to Roman Catholicism. And the priest came in and here it was, it was Friday. And the fellow was eating, eating meat.

And the priest said, you eating meat? It's not meat, he said. He said, it sure is. He said, isn't it fish? He said, it's not. You know very well that that's meat. He said, no, no, it's fish. How did it become fish?

He said, well, I, you came to me, you sprinkle water on me and say, you no heathen? You Christian. I sprinkle water on the fish and say, on the, on the meat and say, you no meat, you fish. Well, it's just about as valid.

But ye have a custom. Don't you think this fellow was a thorn in the flesh everywhere he went? Oh, oh boy, what if, what if Stephen comes along? He says things, he does things they'd never heard of. You know, when we do have a real Holy Ghost revival, that will happen within a week.

We'll get a wave of persecution such as we've never had before. It's going to upset all the hierarchy. It's going to blow the top off all this fantastic, so-called charismatic stuff, which has no foundation.

We're going to get back to the living word of the living God and he'll produce a living people. And we'll shake all the foundations of hell. Verse 14, we've heard him say that this beast of Nazareth shall destroy this place and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us.

And all that sat in the council looked steadfastly on him and saw his face as it had been the face of an angel. Do you think for a minute, immediately the illumination of the Holy Ghost came upon him?

Do you think there wasn't one of them there who didn't think of a time when Moses came down from being in the presence of God and his face shone? They said he should veil his face. This past week I was reading an old, I call it a facsimile.

We call it a Xerox copy of a letter in June in 1734. I thought it was January. It was February. I think that February 4th, 1734. It's a copy of a letter by Esther. What's her name? Esther Edwards, the daughter of Jonathan Edwards.

And she's writing to a friend. She's nine years of age. And she says, my daddy conversed with me sweetly about communion with the Lord as we rose on our horses through the bushes today. My mother came out of her prayer closet.

Her face was shining like the face of Moses as it is every day when she's been alone with God. What a nation we'd be if children came home from school and mother's coming out of her prayer closet with her face radiant with the presence of God.

Stephen's Bold Condemnation of the Council

They saw the face of this young man and he wasn't intimidated with all their threats. He wasn't scared of all the big polished guys with all the religious, what do you call it? Junk on them clothes. Well, I'll tell you how I prove that.

I can't read the whole thing, I wish I could. But he goes over the sins of the nation and he's piling up antagonism against himself. Well, look now, when he comes into verse 46, he says, who found favor before God and desired that the tabernacle of God and the God of Jacob, but Solomon built him a house.

How be it the most I dwelleth not in temples. What do you mean? They've just come out of the temple. They're going into the temple at a big ceremony. And this young upstart here, this guy who has no credentials says, God doesn't dwell in your big building.

He dwelleth not in temples made with hands. He dwells in human personality. God indwelt Adam before ever there was a building. And this man is destroying it. He's like some, what do you want to call it?

Iconoclast, isn't that the word? Somebody's slashing at everything he can see, destroying it because he hates it. And they're just building up their hatred more and more and more against him. He says, how be it God dwelleth not in temples made with hands.

I set the prophet thy throne, heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool. What house will you build me? What place of my rest? Hath not my hand made all these things? Now listen to him. You know people tell me I'm too rough sometimes.

I say, dear God I wish it was ten times rougher. What about John the Baptist? He wasn't very polite was he? Was Jesus polite? Did he call some of them white at sepulchres? Was it John Baptist says you generation of vipers?

It's like me going up to a minister's conference and saying, say you swine. Boy do you think they vote me the man of the year? They vote me the man to be abolished. Ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised.

Boy that put them outside the ring didn't it? Uncircumcised. Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did so did ye. Do you see that? He says you're not resisting me, you're resisting the Holy Ghost.

Your fathers did that. You know we're not ashamed or afraid of resisting the Holy Ghost anymore. I believe it's dishonored in almost every sanctuary in the country these days. It doesn't embarrass us.

We're comfortable. When we should be uncomfortable. Verse 54 says,. And when they heard these things they were cut to the heart and gnashed on him with their teeth. That makes you realize again what the Word of God says.

Seeing Jesus in the Midst of Persecution

In Hebrews the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any twedged sword. Was it the day of Pentecost when Peter was speaking? They were cut to the heart. They hated him. I'd love to see just one Sunday when every congregation leaves a sanctuary hating the preacher.

Not loving him and saying you're such a nice guy. Oh you're so much better than the last preacher. You're so kind. Forget it. I feel sometimes they ought to feel as though they've been on a battlefield.

The Spirit of God has been probing. When they had that revival in the 1740s under Jonathan Edwards in Northamptonshire. Do you know what they said? They said when the Spirit of God came on the community everybody walking on the street had a drawn face as though they had some sickness.

They were drawn and they were bent under conviction of sin. Day after day after day until the Holy Ghost came and relieved them. But we don't get this kind of thing anymore. They gnashed on him with their teeth.

The being full of the Holy Ghost looked up steadfastly. He didn't glance. Notice that word? What is it doing to him? Well it says they stoned him. I put it this way for myself. His very body, all his broken bones were making a symphony of praise to God.

What's he doing? He isn't saying look there's that brilliant young Jew by the name of Saul. I've heard that man talk about the first and greatest commandment is to love people and here he's watching me die.

My six other deacon brothers have deserted me. What kind of holiness is this? He doesn't say well there's the Pharisees. There's the pocket of Sadducees. There's the Roman soldiers. He didn't see them.

He saw Jesus. The heavens are open. Remember when the heavens opened for Jesus? When the Spirit came down upon him? I believe you may not find it in a book but then you have to come here to learn it. I believe when the Lord opened the skies to let the angels look down and see what they'd never seen before.

God contracted to a span. Jesus Christ very God and the angels had seen Seraphim bow down before him. They'd never seen God in flesh and blood walking around. Perfect man. Perfect obedience. Perfect submission.

Willing to go through the whole gamut from the incarnation to the resurrection. But they looked down and angels I'm sure were staggered when they saw the Son of God there on earth. So the heavens were open so they could look down.

Now the heavens are open so this man can look up. Where did this happen? The heavens open. Did I say this respectfully and gently to you? Don't pray for the heavens to open. Really I want you to and I don't want you to.

Where did the heavens open for Jesus? When he started on his ministry which is going to be blood and suffering the whole way. Where did it open here? When he'd ended his ministry. When does the heaven open?

I think it opened for Moses at the burning bush. You can think of other people in history. When was the form of the fourth seen? When the three Hebrew children were in the fire. No a fire that was heated seven times hotter.

All hell said we can't let these men live. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego have got to be destroyed. And as they walked up and down in the furnace it was a heathen king said I see the form of the fourth like unto the son of God.

When? When the fire was stoked up. Well are you a candidate now for an open heaven? What did the fire do? It did them a lot of good. It says they came out of the fire and the hair of their head wasn't even singed.

What did it do? Well they went in bound hand and foot. What did the fire do? It burned off the fetters the world put on them. And the only way that God can get fetters off some of us is put us in the furnace and get them burned off.

Sitting in a chair won't make you holy. Reading a bible won't make you holy or me holy. We've got to work out our own salvation. And God may put me in the furnace and leave you out. And I say I'm not going to say Lord I'm looking at my dear friends there my dear Indian friends I'm a good brother here.

I have to keep looking unto Jesus the author and the finisher. If you look outside you'll be disturbed. If you look inside you'll be disappointed. If you look ahead you'll be discouraged. The only place to look is as it says again in Hebrews 12 and 2 looking unto Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith.

So every man when he gets there into the tightest roughest spot the greatest revelation ever given to a human being was given where? On a devil's island called Patmos where they dumped every incorrigible character.

Every the vilest of the vilest. It was what do you call it in America Alcatraz? It was the Alcatraz where everybody in Asia Minor they put all their junk there. They put the most immoral incorrigible cruel wicked carnal vile people all dumped together.

It was a cesspool of iniquity. And God Almighty put to man by the name of John. A man who had a marvelous ministry in Ephesus. A man who was to write wrote a gospel and three epistles. But here is in the darkest hardest hottest vilest place where God sees a million miles away.

And what does he do? He takes the veil away for eternity from eternity. And he sees a fourth chapter of Revelation he sees a door open in heaven. What did he see? He saw more than any other man had ever lived apart from Jesus Christ himself.

But he saw it when he lost all his civil rights his religious rights his family rights. He's in splendid isolation if you like. No he moves up and down all he heard all his cursing and impurity and uncleanness.

And yet in the midst of it as Paul says on another occasion there were saints in Caesar's household and that was next door to hell. And yet people living a sanctified life. The only way God could get through to your family was to purge you and cleanse you and transform you.

That even when your lips are silent your personality radiates something which is not of this world. And yet we shrink from it don't we? I was reading that chapter you know I love so much Hebrews 11 even today or at two o 'clock this morning I guess.

Many of them chose to suffer affliction not accepting deliverance. Dear God we pray for it don't we? Lord take this please take this thing away it hurts me so much. People think I'm funny people think you've left me and I'm under pressure I'm under this.

Wait a minute. Live with eternity's values in view. It's all going to reverse. I did read this morning at two o 'clock I read Madame Guillen's wonderful little poem. A little bird am I shut off from fields of air content within this cage to lie since God has placed me here well pleased a prisoner to be because my my God it pleases thee.

And then she used to she says God bound my wings because I flew too high in other directions. And so she spells ten years. I guess this about 30 feet wide they put in the Bastille. If ever you're in if ever you're in Washington going to Mount Vernon isn't it?

Washington's house. When you come out of the kitchen you come around the corner go up the staircase look to the left. There's a block it looks like something like clay and it actually is a copy of the Bastille.

Of course the roof is off it to show the outside. The walls were 30 feet thick they put her in there. They took everything from her the Bible everything else. And it was there where God revealed himself to her.

And so you read her book she has about four or five. The deeper experiences of famous Christians is one thing. The deeper experiences of Madame Guillen is something else. But it was there where she lost everything.

She lost her husband. She lost her wealth. She had carriages and horses. And she lost a big estate. She lost her servants. She lost her carriages. Her husband died. Uh I think one of her two of her children died.

And she was considered the most beautiful woman in the world. Princes came and begged on their knees please marry me please marry me. Some of the wealthiest men in the world. And they said she was a beautiful woman.

Her face looked as though it was enamel. It was so gorgeous. You know what she did? I don't know if you ladies pray to be beautiful I won't pass any remarks about that. But she prayed Lord disfigure me.

Lord disfigure me. So what happened? She got smallpox. And it made big holes in her face all over the place. And her nose began to go uh I don't know whether it went red or black or what. And he used to put leeches on you know to suck out the bad blood.

And then she said please don't do that leave them. And little by little her face went the very opposite way. She was disfigured. And she argued with God please take away my external beauty and add my spiritual beauty.

I don't care what it costs. It's easy to sing. We nearly sang it tonight. Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me. But it's something Gabriel sprinkles on you while you're sleeping. Forget it you're not going to wake up you know some morning you wake up and think of a halo.

Then you remember it's a curling pin you left in your hair. You're not going to wake up with a halo around your head or wings on your back. And all God is doing is seeking our dross to consume and our gold to refine.

You've heard me cry and I have cried many times. I don't want to die immature. I don't want God to say you could have if you use a figure you could come to heaven 10 feet tall worth 10 billion dollars spiritually.

And you're coming here five feet tall and you're almost worth nothing. You see we're trading for heavenly things. Oh you can't buy anything from God. Well read the good old King James. It says I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire and white raiment.

How do we buy? By obedience. It's easy to think perfect submission all is at rest. But is it? My dear wife a lady came to see my dear wife this week and she said she talked about rebellion. Having rebellion.

Well there should be no rebellion in the Christian. All is at rest. I settled down to what God's will is whatever it may be. Trying to think of the author. I think it was Wesley who wrote. Upon God's will I lay me down as child upon its mother's breast.

No it was Madame Guillen. No silken couch nor softest bed could ever give me such sweet rest. Thy beautiful grand will my God with triumph now I make it mine. And she's sleeping on a wooden floor in a prison cell.

No silken couch nor softest bed could ever give me such sweet rest. As I say in the last verse is what? Upon God's will I lay me down as child upon its mother's breast. No silken couch nor softest bed could ever give me such sweet rest.

Thy beautiful grand will my God with triumph now I make it mine. And faith shall cry a joyous yes. God doesn't have to explain anything to you that he's doing. You've to faith to trust him in it. It's easy to sing and I love that precious hymn.

I traced the rainbow through the rain. Originally it was I climbed the rainbow through the rain and feel the promise is not vain. Anyhow all these experiences. He looked up steadfastly to heaven. It wasn't a casual glance.

He's standing there. He's ignoring all the other things. I believe with all my heart that as he looked up there steadfastly and he saw Jesus standing but the scripture says he's sitting. But one old preacher said when Jesus saw this young man murdered his bones were crushed little by little and he could say forgive them father they know not what they do.

It was the echoing the word of Jesus that Jesus he said was so excited he jumped from his throne and and put his hand down ready to reach him coming up. But he sees Jesus standing. He sees into the glory of heaven.

Behold I see the heavens open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. Then they crowd with a loud voice and stop their ears and run upon him with one accord and they cast him out of the city and that's in itself was being defiled.

Like Jesus was put outside of the city and this young man is rejoicing. They think they're humiliating him. Boy his heart's bursting with joy. I'm getting the same treatment Jesus got. They throw him out of the city.

They put him to death. Everybody came against him and call him a malefactor and a strength. Let me just turn to one thing that I found very interesting. I'll tell you if you get up at two o 'clock in the morning it's much easier to listen.

Christ's Ascension and the Believer's Focus

Look in Acts chapter 1 please just for a couple of minutes. Acts chapter 1 verse 1. The former treatise I made of Theophilus of all that Jesus began to do and teach until the day which he was taken up.

Mark that. Acts 1 chapter verse 2. Now turn over or on the same page maybe in your Bible to verse 9. And when he had spoken these things while they beheld he was taken up and a cloud received him out of sight.

Verse 11 which also said ye men of Galilee why stand ye gazing up to him this same Jesus which is taken up. Now go over to verse 24. And they prayed and said Lord thou which knowest the hearts of all men.

Is it 20? No 22 sorry. Beginning from the baptism of John until the same day he was taken up from us four times. Four times it says taken up, taken up, taken up. We've got to keep our eyes there. He's taken up.

What does this man see? Jesus. If you go to the Hebrews 12 and and is it is it 12 2? In Hebrews 12 2 isn't it where it says looking unto Jesus? Well here this man is actually doing that. He's looking unto Jesus.

I see Jesus standing. What's he doing? Remember the whole crowd there, the whole crowd. Pharisees, Sadducees, high priest, other priests. They believe they got, they've done away with Jesus. And here he is testifying to the death and resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ.

With broken bones and bleeding face. Ribs crushed maybe, legs crushed, arms crushed. And then he's glorifying. I see Jesus. And can you imagine? Do you wonder? They were gnashing their teeth. They say we killed Jesus.

We put him to death. We, nobody's ever seen him since except a few fanatics. And yet he sees the Christ, the Redeemer, looking unto Jesus. We need to look to Jesus in the crib, Jesus on the cross, and Jesus on the coronation.

I talked with a man today. Had a wonderful conversation with a man I've admired for years. And he's been going through a horrendous experience. And he told me last Friday, two weeks ago today, he got his church together and he said now tonight we're going to go in different groups, twos and threes, little families, in different parts of the church.

And you have two hours with God by yourself. Do some heart searching. And he said they went all over the church. And after the two hours they played on the piano and the people got together again. He said I went by myself.