Power for Ministry Pt 2 — Alan Redpath

Speak just now, some message to meet my need, which thou only dost know. Speak now through thy holy word, and make me see some wonderful truth thou hast to show to me. For Jesus' sake, please be seated.

I should perhaps have just said to you that we shall be around for the rest of this month in various Calvary chapels, looking forward so much to it. We'll be at Harvest and Costa Mesa. And then we're going up to Northern California just to visit relatives for a couple of days.

And we shall be at Redlands at the end of the month. And then we move across to Chicago, Moody Church again to preach there and at the Institute. And then finally for a week with Billy Graham and the team at the annual retreat in Phoenix, a place called Carefree.

Sounds terrific. Looking forward to that. Then back home again in the middle of November. We would appreciate your prayers for God's grace and his sustaining strength. Staying, as you probably know, with Don and Jean.

The only trouble about that house is that there's only one meal a day, but it lasts all day. And I find I'm putting on weight, which is really tremendous. There's a zoo there, you probably know. And I'm learning to get victory over snakes.

Hallelujah. Christian friendship, Christian love mean more, you know, as you get older. And these folks and you all mean so much to us. Thank you. Now, to business. Ezekiel 47, I think, we'll stay with.

The River as a Picture of Life in the Spirit

And let me read again a few verses from the chapter we read last night. We've shared some thoughts on the subject of preparation for the ministry and the pattern for the ministry. And last night we began to think about power in the ministry.

The power of the Spirit of God. And just to save repetition, we'll read from verse 6 of Ezekiel 47. And he said to me, Son of man, hast thou seen this? Then he brought me and caused me to return to the brink of the river.

Now, when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other. Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country and go down into the desert and go into the sea, which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed or shall be made fresh.

And it shall come to pass that everything that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live. And there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither.

For they shall be healed. And everything shall live whither the river cometh. And it shall come to pass that the fishers shall stand upon it from En Gedi even unto Enigleon. They shall be a place to spread forth nets.

Their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many. But the Maori places thereof and the marshes thereof shall not be healed. They shall be given to salt. And by the river, upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed.

It shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary. And the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine. For as the margin has it here for bruises and sores.

The word of the Lord. Now we're thinking of this picture of the river as a picture of life in the spirit. And concentrating on Ezekiel's vision. Just a moment to recapitulate. We saw the energy of the river.

Its source, the throne of God. Its course, the cross. The force, waters to swim in without any human earthly tributary. And then we thought about the experience of the river's depth. Ankle deep, picture of carnality.

Knee deep, a picture of heart hunger. Loin deep, a picture of new strength. And waters to swim in, a life totally committed to the Lord. A life in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. An essential experience for all of us, because we cannot live or do a thing without.

The Evidences of a Spirit-Filled Life

Now today, we're going to think about the effect of the river's flow. There should always be, inevitably, evidence in the life of a man who is filled with the Spirit. Do you remember that on the day of Pentecost, the crowd asked two questions?

The first, what does all this mean? The second, men and brethren, what shall we do? There was something had happened in the lives of the disciples that needed explanation. And having received the explanation in the message from Peter, what shall we do?

The explanation demanded a verdict. We can't expect people to keep on asking, what are we going to do about Jesus? Unless we have something to explain. Something about us that can only be explained by miracle.

And this is what we're talking about today. The miracle of a Spirit-filled life. The inevitable evidences in the life of a man or a woman filled with the Spirit of God. It's a Methodist minister, of whom I'm afraid you won't have heard, that I realize is bad.

I shouldn't come over here with English illustrations. But I'm a bit out of touch with things in this country, so you must forgive me. But years ago, there was a man called Charles Inwood, who was a great preacher, Methodist preacher.

And he said, there is no such thing as a once and for all experience of the fullness of the Spirit of God. It is a moment by moment appropriation of a moment by moment supply from Jesus Christ himself.

The moment I begin to believe, at that moment I begin to receive. And as long as I keep on believing, I keep on receiving. Now I think that's tremendous. It's very simple, but it's very biblical. You'll get it again on tape.

That will save me boring you with repetition. The life of a person who is filled with the Spirit of God, and who claims the experience, may be imitated. But it can never be mistaken. There are many, many movements today, which claim all kinds of experiences of the Holy Spirit, which are not supported either from the Bible or from the lives of the people who claim them.

By their fruit, Jesus said, you shall know them. But the effect of the life of a person, man or girl, filled with the Spirit of God, indwelt by Christ, will be unmistakably genuine. And I've just put together in my mind about three things.

That sounds fairly orthodox. Three things that don't all begin with the same letter. That's not too good. That will mark the reality of a Spirit-filled life. And the first of these, all of which I take from Ezekiel 47, the first of these is fruit.

Fruitfulness as the First Evidence

Let me ask you to look at that passage again at verse 7. When I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other. Very many trees on the one side and on the other.

Verse 12. And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed. It shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary, and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.

The first evidence, therefore, of a Spirit-filled life is fruit. And you notice that as the river has pursued its course, it has attracted growth to its banks. Very many trees. And the roots have dug in to the riverbed and draw constant strength from its water.

Now here there's a fullness that never fades. And it doesn't disappear, or shouldn't, when youth gives way to age. All through the journey of life there in God's mind is intended to be a constant freshness of soul.

Unless the revelation which I claim to have had years ago can be supported by the experience of today, it's worthless. Absolutely worthless. A psalmist described it, as I quoted, I think, yesterday, in Psalm 1.

Like a tree, the godly man planted by the river of water that bringeth forth fruit in his season, his leaf shall not wither, and whatsoever he does shall prosper. The Lord Jesus described that also. John 15, verse 16.

I have come, and I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain. No flash in the pan, not simply an emotional experience, but a steady increasing fruitfulness displayed in a growing likeness to Christ.

The Lord wants more than anything else from each of us a family likeness in all of his children. You see, the experience of the fullness of the Spirit, therefore, is a crisis followed by a process. I remember John Stott, of whom I'm sure you've heard, speaking at the English Keswick Convention a few years ago, and saying, beginning his message, when he was speaking to about, oh, 1 ,200 missionaries from all over the world, by the way, I hope you can get to Keswick sometime, you'd enjoy that.

Come with all your waterproofs and umbrellas and ready for anything, but you would really enjoy the ministry at Keswick. And as he spoke to these missionaries and began his message, he said, I want to speak to you about your greatest problem.

I saw 1 ,200 missionaries sit right up in the end and say, only an Englishman could realize what they were saying, but I saw by the way they had their backs up, how does he know? Nobody knows about my problem.

We keep it to ourselves. He said, your greatest problem is your fellow missionary. That was a bang. And it would be true of all of us that our greatest problem is often our fellow worker. He said, my answer, of course he elaborated considerably on it, treat every fellow missionary as though he was Jesus.

React to every fellow missionary as though you were Jesus. That's it. That's it. Listen, it takes all the glory of Almighty God to bring His glory, His reality into commonplace daily life. That there, there might be reflected a likeness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so the fullness of the Holy Spirit is a crisis which opens the eyes of a Christian to a totally new plan of Christian living, upon which he may live and in which Christ is everything. As by faith we appropriate that life, then we can begin to apply it in every area.

We are reconciled to God by His blood, and we are saved by His life. Thank the Lord I have a share in His death, and thank Him even more that I have a share in His life. And the fruit of the Spirit, of course, is in Galatians 5 .22.

You know it, love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control. Love, joy, peace, that's my relationship to the Lord. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness.

That's my relationship with others. Faith, meekness, self-control. That's my relationship with myself. The fruit of the Spirit. And that means that faith appropriates that life and begins to apply it in every detail of living.

By that I very simply mean, Jesus, I may have said to you this already, but it deserves an emphasis, is exactly the opposite to everything that I am. And where we go so desperately wrong is trying to narrow the gap between the holiness of God and my sinfulness.

And as long as we go on trying to do that, we end up drinking masses of coffee, taking pills in the hands of a psychologist or even a psychiatrist. And in the end, quite probably, a nervous breakdown.

By trying to polish up the flesh and refine it and make it religious. I'm so thankful that I'm beginning to learn, though it's not a natural tendency, and I can easily revert at any time, and I'm so often fearful that I do.

But I'm beginning to learn. When I'm almost on the point of blowing my top with someone, Lord Jesus, your patience right now, please. And when Satan comes at me with foul thoughts, Lord, your purity, thank you, I take it.

Because he's always the opposite to everything that I am. And I have to day by day, moment by moment, feed my life on him and draw upon his power. His strength shows up best in weak people and made perfected in our weakness.

How did Christ react in that situation? How did he deal with that misunderstanding? So, in every moment, there is victory. As we learn, deliberately, to refuse to display ourselves and choose to reveal Jesus.

As the old hymn says, moment by moment, I've life from above. Moment by moment, I'm kept in his love. The fruit of the spirit-filled life. Many trees on one side and on the other. Is that happening in your life and in mine?

It's only that kind of life that can be attractive. And people are attracted not to you, but to Christ in you. I want an explanation. Study wall. There's a calendar. And it has pictures of Scotland. And the one that I left behind at the end of September, had a picture of one of these beautiful Scottish glens, with a river just flowing through it and tumbling over a waterfall.

And I thought to myself, what a lovely picture of Ezekiel 47. Then I noticed that this picture was taken in wintertime. And the trees were bare. The leaves were not there. So I supposed to myself that, well, it must be an imperfect picture, because Ezekiel says, the leaf shall not fade.

Oh no. When the tree is bare and there's no sign of life, the barrenness of wintertime is merely a preparation for spring and summer. Life is there, but it's gone underground. And that's an essential part of the growth in fruitfulness in the Christian life.

Verse 12. It shall bring forth fruit according to his months. You know, if you reflect upon it, how true that is of Christian living. Oh, you remember the early days after your conversion. Maybe the early years, I don't know.

Well, everything's become new. Birds are singing, skies are blue, and burdens have been lifted at Calvary. Springtime in my soul. Time of great release and joy. Why, this Christian life is perpetual sunshine.

But then comes autumn. Or, as you very appropriately call it, then comes the fall. And the sterner lessons in the school of grace are learned then. And the fall time and autumn time, that's the time of stripping.

Being laid bare. Signs of departing fruit. Until apparently winter is everywhere. I wonder if you've all known a time in your life when it seems as if God had forsaken you. And your ministry was stripped of every evidence of fruitfulness.

A grim experience. Especially as if you've persuaded yourself, or some other stupid person has told you, that summertime is going to exist forever. But that happens, and it doesn't mean that everything's gone wrong.

It's a principle of growth. You can bring greater glory to God in your spiritual winter, than you can in your summer. For, it says verse 12, the leaf is for medicine, margin, for bruises and sores. And our ability, as ministers of the word of God, all of us in fact, to minister to a bruised, wounded life, depends on whether or not I've learned the lessons of spiritual wintertime.

In my own soul. In the book of Habakkuk, or Habakkuk, I don't know, depends what side of the Atlantic you come from, in the book of Habakkuk, we read this, as he closes. Though the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vine, the labor of the olive shall fail, the fields shall yield no meat, the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls yet.

I will rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God of my salvation. In other words, hallelujah anyway. You know, I used to make a habit of saying that, and I thought I was so spiritual. Oh, everything's gone wrong, there's no sign of blessing and no sign of fruit, and I feel as dry as dust.

Oh, hallelujah anyway. And my dear son-in-law in heaven now, said to me one day, Dad, you shouldn't say that. Oh, you know how you react immediately when you're ticked off by another generation. Why shouldn't I?

I've been saying it before you were born. And he put his arm around me, and he said, You should say, not hallelujah anyway, but hallelujah because. And I hugged him and said, Don, you're right. Not hallelujah anyway, but oh, thank the Lord because you've taught me what winter means.

Isaiah, Isaiah, Isaiah. Speaking of Jesus, said chapter 50, verse 4, The Lord has given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to them that are weary. I gave my back to the smiter, and my cheek to them that plucked off the hair.

I hid not my face from shame and spitting. What a winter time. You know C .S. Lewis' book, Screwtape Letters? The allegory of satanic attack on this earth. There's a paragraph that reads, Be not deceived, Wormwood, writes Screwtape to his nephew, Our cause is never more in danger than when a human being, no longer desiring, but still intending to do the enemy's will, the enemy of course being God, looks around him upon a universe from which every trace of his existence appears to have vanished, asks why he's been forsaking, but goes on obeying.

I think that's tremendous. Three cheers in heaven, panic in hell. Satan hasn't an answer to that. Have you learned your winter time? Or are you a summer time Christian? Only prepared to obey the Lord if he gives you lovely feelings.

More can you face winter. Does your fruit remain? Does your leaf not fade? Fruit like that is the outcome of the flow of the river of life. The evidence of the supernatural. A few years ago I was in Kowloon, near Hong Kong, and with OMF, that was his missionary fellowship.

And I was having a day with Philip Teng. He is the director of East Asia Theological Seminary. He took me out to the Chinese border. And there we looked right out into communist China, across the river, where so many people have sought to escape and have been killed.

And he said to me, that's my country. Yes, I know. He said, you know, the church today is twice as strong as when Chairman Mao took over. I said, you don't believe it. You don't mean it. Oh yes, he said it is.

And he said, I'll tell you something, there isn't a hypocrite left. Oh, I got that. It took pressure, winter time, to clear out the hypocrite. And he said to me, when we get back to China, and they're back now, may I ask you something?

You westerners, please stay out. I said, why? He said, only Chinese people can evangelize China. We'll need you. We'll need you for teaching in Singapore, here in Hong Kong. We'll need your funds. We'll need your support.

But, when we go in, we've got to do the job. I hope we've learned the sense in the West of the tragedy, tragedy, of trying to westernize a situation like that. It's impossible. Now, do you know that there are more than nine million Christians in China?

When the missionary was driven out in 1949, 50, or something, there certainly weren't more than a million. Nine million. And there's not a missionary among them. They're not the same, of course. They haven't the old western type of church building.

They're all in house groups. Church is alive. Wintertime. The Lord teaches what wintertime can do. Fruit. Now, in a Christian life, that knows something of the spiritual fullness of the Spirit, the fullness of the Spirit is given us for character.

Spiritual Gifts and Christian Service

There are also gifts of the Spirit. And they are given to us for service and ministry. Now, I don't want to get involved in controversy. Though, of course, I am leaving, as I said after this meeting. But, oh, this is a terrible denial of what I've been saying.

An awful advertisement of myself. But, if you want to know more, there's a book. It's just been published. And you'll find some things in it there which may be of help to you. But, to me, one of the greatest tragedies today is a division that's been created by charismatic movement.

Tragic. Of course, you understand that simply because we could do nothing apart from the Holy Spirit, it is the Holy Spirit upon whom Satan concentrates his attacks. And on that issue, he's got the whole church split.

Everywhere. I wonder why. Christian as you are, charis, grace, matic, gifts. If I have no grace, and I have no gifts, I'm not even born again. So every Christian is charismatic from birth. And the only charismatic movement I know began at Pentecost.

And it's been going rolling on ever since and will continue. But, let me just say this to you. How may I put this? You can discover the fullness of it in 1 Corinthians 12. You will have, or may have, and should have, all the fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians 5 .22. But you cannot have all the gifts of the Spirit. Never since Pentecost till today, or until the coming of our Lord, has there been anybody who has had all the gifts of the Spirit. The gifts of the Spirit are distributed sovereignly according to the will of God.

1 Corinthians 12 .7. In that chapter, there are 14 gifts mentioned. It doesn't say anything about pastors, or evangelists. Fortunately, there are some more gifts mentioned in Ephesians 4 and Romans 12.

About 19 in all. But you can't have a lot. What an extraordinary person you'd meet if he had everything. And therefore, it is utterly unbiblical to enforce one particular gift upon others. You've got to have my gift if you want it.

I remember after speaking at a meeting on this subject in London, a lady came up to me and said, what a pity you haven't got it. And I said, I beg your pardon, ma 'am. And she said, what a pity you haven't got it.

I said, what do you mean? Oh, if you only come to my church, we have it. All the gifts are in operation there. Come and get it. So I said to her, my dear lady, I'm not looking for it. I'm looking for Him.

Not the gift, but the giver. And I'm saying to Him, Lord, I'm ready for any gift you'll ever give me. I believe that all the gifts are available for the whole body everywhere. That in these last days, the church may stand its ground against all the attacks of the enemy.

Satan is attacking the church today, I think, more subtly than he ever has before. A few miles away from where I lived for the last 14 years at Cape and Rain, there was a church of Satan. And they were praying regularly for the collapse of Christian families.

And they made a pretty good job of it. Satan is very powerful. And the Lord has equipped His church with all the gifts. And I think it is absolutely unbiblical to say the gift of tongues, the gift of healing, the gift of prophecy are cancelled at Pentecost.

How can we arbitrarily dismiss three of the gifts because we don't understand them? All the gifts are available for the whole church. But not one of the church can have them all. Some people whom I love very dearly, close to me, have received the gift of tongues.

I would never know because they don't boast of it. They don't speak of it. The gift of tongues is for worship. And they worship the Lord that way. I wouldn't know unless I ask them. And they certainly never enforce it upon me.

I presume they know that it takes me all my time to speak right with the one tongue I have got. But I'm ready for it if the Lord wants to give it to me. It's not withdrawn. Nor is the gift of healing.

Nor is the gift of prophecy. But I have no right to seek to enforce my gift on anyone else. That gift and all the gifts of the Spirit are given to every member of the church sovereignly in order that he may take his part in the body and contribute to the health of the whole body of Jesus.

So will you just remember this in 1 Corinthians 12 which I hope you will read on your own. You can't be a loner if the head, as Paul puts it, says to the foot, or the foot says to the head, seeing I'm only a foot, I'm no longer part of the body.

How can you do that? We're all essential. All necessary. All dependent of each other. And when one member of the body suffers, we all suffer. The body in action. Every member using the gift that God has given them for the glory of Jesus.

At our Open to God meeting in England, occasionally, not often, occasionally, somebody will pray in a tongue audibly. At once the minister stops the meeting and says, an interpreter please. And somebody interprets.

Fine, everybody is perfectly happy. No fuss. But in some churches, if that happened, they'd be turned out completely. And there'd be no fellowship. When will Christian people learn to disagree agreeably and not break fellowship?

Why do we smash the body of Christ into shreds on secondary issues and fail really to unite and to love around the Lord Jesus? I'll say no more about that subject this morning. There isn't time. But that's enough, I hope, to give you food for little thought and for a further study on the subject of the gifts.

But with the fruit of the Spirit which produces character, the Lord will give you the gifts that he knows you need in order that you may take the part he has for you in his body. I hope you'll get that.

He will give you the gifts that he knows you need in order that you may take the part he has for you in his body. And I trust you will prove that in the future. Fruit. Gifts, very briefly, but healing too.

Healing and Life Where the Spirit Flows

Verse 8. These waters go down to the desert and go into the sea and the waters shall be healed. As the river flowed down to the sea it brought healing. What wonderful healing the Holy Spirit brings to the heart.

The worst disorder of the soul, the unhappiest estrangement in the family, the most damaging misunderstandings in the church, the bitterest feud in society can all be healed by the Holy Spirit, by his sweetness and by his fragrance.

Oh, what the Spirit of God can do if only he was let loose and set free. The trouble is that when he begins to work and to operate we set up a committee and we're afraid of him and we'll say this church is getting too emotional and we'd better do something about it.

The Holy Spirit is grieved and withdraws. There's a hymn we used to sing There is a balm in Gilead that makes the wounded whole. There's a balm in Gilead that heals the sin-sick soul. If I really believe that that the Holy Spirit can heal deep down in my heart the disorder that's there most psychiatrists would be put out of work.

He heals. And wherever the Holy Spirit or the river comes look in verse 9, there's life. Everything shall live where the river flows. That's the whole principle of Christian growth. The only sure method of growth.

You can see it running right through in the Acts of the Apostles. Holy Spirit life in every fellowship. The church, the Lord adding to the church day by day those whom he was saving. Life. Does that mean to say that wherever a spirit-filled Christian goes masses of people will be converted?

Oh no, it doesn't. It means masses of people stop being neutral. It means he's bringing life. The evidence of Christ wherever he goes. And most of all it means in his own heart in his own life, in his own home there's a renewed love to the Lord Jesus.

There's more time given for his Bible. More time given for prayer. There's a greater burden for other people. There's less undisciplined habits. Less waste of time where the Holy Spirit is producing life.

Very many trees. Verse 7. Verse 9. A great multitude of fish. Everything that lives, which moves, whether wherever shall come shall live. That's the answer of the Bible. Now, just one thing before I finish to be very practical.

Repentance, Obedience, Thirst, and Faith

The result of a spirit-filled life fruitfulness, healing, life. How may that be mine? I've got to do a thorough job of repenting. That's a word that is almost a forgotten word in ministry today. To illustrate what I mean for several years now I have put this sheet of personal questions self-examination on the subject of repentance.

I don't often take these into public. But they become very dear to me. I would like to share them with you. I'm not meaning to be introspective but meaning simply to be honest. Here they are. Am I either consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I really am?

Is there the least suspicion of hypocrisy in my life? Am I scrupulously honest in all my words and acts? Do I exaggerate? Do I confidentially pass on to someone else what was told me in confidence? Am I reliable?

Can I be trusted? Am I slave to books? Dress? Friends? Work? Or convention? Am I still self-conscious? Self-pitying? Or self-justifying? Is the Bible alive to me? And do I give it time to speak to me every day?

Am I enjoying my prayer life? Am I making contacts with other people and using them for the Lord? When did I last speak to another with the object of winning that person for Jesus? Am I getting to bed in time and getting up in time?

Do I pray about the money I spend? Am I disobeying God in anything or insisting upon doing something about which my conscience is uneasy? Am I defeated in any part of my life? Jealous? Impure? Critical?

Irritable? Touchy? Or distrustful? How do I spend my spare time? Am I proud? Do I thank God that I am not as others, especially the Pharisee? Am I running away from life? Is Jesus real to me today? Is there anybody I dislike?

Disown? Criticize? Hold a resentment toward? Or disregard? If so, why? And what am I doing about it? Am I grumbling? And complaining? Realizing that I am a single unit in an advancing army, I will surrender myself to the discipline of a soldier in active service.

I will welcome criticism from anybody else on the field and meet them regularly for prayer and frank discussion of progress and problems. If I see what is inconsistent, I think is inconsistent in another, I will first examine myself to see whether I also am inconsistent there.

I'll refuse to discuss that person's weakness behind his back. And if I find myself doing so, I'll tell him and apologize. I'll pray for him. And if led to do so, I'll go and tell him. He'll be as grateful to me for that friendly act as I should be under similar circumstances.

I will be absolutely loyal to my fellow worker. If I want to know the fullness of God's blessing in my life, there must be a thorough job of repenting. And then there must be implicit obedience. Ninety-nine percent obedience is the road to disaster.

It must be a hundred percent. Then there must be thirst. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Said Jesus. Thirst. Do I want him? And then I must really ask him, how much more will you, our heavenly Father, give the Holy Spirit to them who ask?

Luke chapter 11. And finally, I must believe. He that believeth into me, out of his inner man shall flow rivers of living water. I close with this quotation from a hymn by A. B. Simpson, the founder of Christian Missionary Alliance.

I take salvation full and free through him who gave his life for me. He undertakes my all to be. I take. He undertakes. I take the promised Holy Spirit. I take the power of Pentecost to fill me to the uttermost.

I take. He undertakes. I simply take him at his word. I praise him that my prayer is heard and claim my answer from the Lord. I take. He undertakes. I take thee, blessed Lord. I give myself to thee and thou, according to thy word, dost undertake for me.

That's it. Let's pray. Just a moment of quiet prayer. Dear Lord, your word is really so simple and yet it goes down to the depths. We want, Lord, that our lives should be fruitful, that they may know the inner healing of your Spirit, that as we go from day to day in the power of your Spirit, everything may live.

Deliver us from dead orthodoxy. May we know the power of the river of the Spirit of life. Thank you for being together. Thank you for what these days have meant to me, fellowship and joy of it, worship.

Thank you, Lord. Thank you for dear Chuck, his wife, their vision, their ministry. Have your hand upon them for good. First class target for the enemy. We surround him with our believing prayer. We, all of us, each one here today who has the responsibility of leadership, pastoral, church and music and everything.

Lord Jesus, let us all stand together as in a wonderful testimony to a risen Lord. Lord, grant that this fellowship may just sweep this nation and there may come a mighty Holy Ghost revival. We ask this for your name and for your glory's sake.