Evangelism - Essentials

[00:00:00] In the letter of the Romans, the roman letter, chapter ten. [00:00:06] Romans, chapter ten. [00:00:15] Verse four. [00:00:18] Or we'll read from verse three, perhaps verse three. For being ignorant are gods righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. [00:00:38] For Christ is the end of the law unto righteousness to everyone that believeth. For Moses writeth that the man that doeth righteousness, which is of the law, shall live thereby. [00:00:52] But the righteousness which is of faith saith, say not in thy heart, who shall ascend into heaven, that is, to bring Christ down, or who shall descend into the abyss, that is, to bring Christ up from the dead. But what saith it? The word is nigh thee in thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the word of faith which we preach. [00:01:22] Because if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. [00:01:46] For the scripture. Whosoever believeth on him shall not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. For the same lord is lord of all, and is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. [00:02:09] How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? [00:02:15] And how shall they believe in him whom they have not heard? [00:02:20] And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent even as it is written? How beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of good things. [00:02:35] But they did not all hearken to the glad tidings. For Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed our report, so faith cometh of hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. [00:02:53] Now we'll sing another. [00:02:58] Now this evening we come to the second of these studies upon this matter of evangelism, and we have already spoken about the scriptural basis for evangelism. I must just once again explain for any who are not with us at the beginning, that when we speak of evangelism, we are not thinking of great mass meetings necessarily, or all the organization and the publicity and so on. That goes with what we often think of purely and only as evangelism. We are thinking of this word in its New Testament meaning, which is preaching the gospel to those who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ. Evangelism is really the outreach of the church to all who do not know God in Christ. [00:04:06] We call it evangelism and so we are talking about scriptural evangelism and not what perhaps some people might consider to be evangelism. Of course, it includes the big mass meetings and all that. We should probably be talking about that a little this evening. We have spoken just a little about the scriptural basis for evangelism. We have looked into God's word, and we've seen a little bit of what we believe to be the scriptural basis of evangelism. The fact that the Lord has commanded us to go and preach the gospel to every creature, and also that there are such people as evangelists recorded in God's word and given to us, it says, by the ascended Christ for the building up of the body of the Lord Jesus. [00:05:01] And then we have spoken about the objective of evangelism, to preach the gospel of God's saving grace, to represent Christ, to be his ambassadors, to seek to persuade and win men and women to Christ. [00:05:23] And this is the supreme objective of, of evangelism, to build up the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. The objective of evangelism is to go out and get material. You remember in the book of Haggai where we were told, the prophet told them, go into the mountains and set the wood and bring the stone. Now, this is, in fact, exactly what the evangelist, he goes out, as it were, to fetch the wood and bring in the stone for the building of the house of God. And if anyone wants to argue with me, then I suggest you go to those little dwindling companies of people meeting, often in large halls where they don't believe in evangelism. I know of hardly any company that believes in evangelism that grows. They remain a little tiny group, tight packed group of people who meet together and look after one another and often go quite deeply into doctrine, but who do not multiply and grow. And that's why you will find, if you look very carefully, that so many of the more calvinistic, and I am more calvinistic myself, but the more calvinistic places you will find are small and tiny, and many of them, in fact, are closing up altogether today. [00:07:01] Well, here then, is the objective of evangelism and the scope of evangelism. We've talked a little about the scope of evangelism. Why, people say, do people who profess conversion, why don't they go on? Why is it that those who do say that they found the Lord in after they've heard the gospel? Why do some of them go on for a little while and then Peter out? Surely all conversions, if the preaching is right and the atmosphere is right and the approach is right. Surely every conversion should be solid and genuine. Well, we've looked at Matthew, chapter 13, and we've noticed that in the four instances that the Lord gives us of the seed of his word, in three instances the seed fails, and in the fourth instance it bears fruit in a varying degree of success. [00:07:56] So all this brings us back to the point that the scope of evangelism, the field, is the world, and we are to scatter the seed everywhere and not bother our heads too much. In one way, if you don't misunderstand me about where the seed is falling, some will fall on stony ground, some will fall amongst weeds, some the fowls of the air will swoop down and take. But there will be that seed which in the grace of God will take root and grow and bear fruit. Our job is to sow. God's job is to watch over by the Holy Spirit the seed that is sown. And this is a great comfort to us. The scope of evangelism is the scope of God's love and grace and mercy. If you can find a man or a woman in Richmond who is shut out by God's grace and mercy, you don't need to evangelize him or her. But every single one that is within the scope of God's grace and love and mercy is a subject for evangelism. [00:09:13] Every one of them. This is the scope away with all these narrow ideas that come from spiritual barrenness, that somehow or other we can select the person by some spiritual radar equipment who's going to be saved. God has not given us any such thing, and you have only to look into church history. Such people are always people who've never led anyone to Christ. [00:09:47] And it is a psychological device in them to somehow justify their position that you must be selective. They're so afraid when they see other people leading others to Christ, somehow they feel that, well, they are in a peculiar position, and so on and so forth. This we have to watch very, very carefully. If you look into church history, you will discover that every single person who's been used in winning others to Christ or pointing others to Christ has been someone whose heart is very large and wide, and who in the course of it, has had to leave everything of the results with God. [00:10:28] Well, now, that's all to do with the past. Now, this evening I want to go on and I want to speak about, firstly, the essential constituents in evangelism. I don't like the word constituents. I thought of components. I dislike that even more. [00:10:46] I just don't know how to quite put what word to use, but I thought that the most reverent word word to use was constituent, and I have entitled it the essential constituents in evangelism. [00:11:02] What are the essential constituents in true and scriptural evangelism? [00:11:13] What should we look for? [00:11:17] How can we judge? How can we judge evangelism? Now, I suggest that there are three absolutely essential constituents. And if these three constituents are there, all is well. If they are missing, it is pure froth. [00:11:42] It is not worthy of our cooperation or even of our attendance. [00:11:49] Only if those three constituents are there is it true, Holy Spirit evangelism. Otherwise, it is just to do with man. Now, there may be many methods used in evangelism. There may be many approaches in evangelism. There may be many secondary means in evangelism. But there are these three absolute and essential constituents. Without them, evangelism becomes mere entertainment. It is something for the entertainment of the saints, and the Lord knows how much there is of that today. Or it is religious, religious emotionalism. It is just simply the forcing up of an emotional atmosphere. And then the sort of compelling of people to make some kind of decision in a highly hysterical and emotional atmosphere. Of course, for some people it's a very good outlet. You know, in some mental homes, they tell the patients to scream their heads off for five or ten minutes every morning to let out their inhibitions. And I must say that sometimes I wonder whether some evangelistic meetings also fulfill this kind of thing. They certainly don't fulfill anything else. There's very little else done in those meetings but the releasing of inhibitions of the things. [00:13:34] Or it can be that if these three essential constituents are not present, then evangelism becomes mere exhibitionism. It is the cult of the personality. It is the big name, the big personality, the good looking man or the good looking woman. The singer with the beautiful voice, the man with the wonderful gift in playing and all the rest of it. And then again, it's just really. It has degenerated into, really a very high class form of music hall entertainment, of a very high class type compared with the other. [00:14:19] What are the three main constituents and essential constituents in evangelism? [00:14:27] The first is the presence of Christ. [00:14:31] Now you understand why I had difficulty over the word constituent. [00:14:35] The first essential constituent in evangelism is the abiding presence of Christ. [00:14:45] If Christ is not there, the evangelist may raise, the singer may sing. The atmosphere might be high powered and full of emotional pressure. But if Christ is not there, it is not scriptural evangelism. [00:15:06] Now, if you turn to Matthew, chapter 28 and verse 20. We have a clear cut promise that when we evangelize, we have the presence of Christ. [00:15:21] The Lord Jesus said, go and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. [00:15:35] Go and make disciples, and I am with you. And in another place, it tells us that the unbelievers should come in amongst us. [00:15:47] His supreme reaction is, should be, God is here. That's the point. [00:15:54] Beyond the preaching, beyond the people, beyond the hymns, beyond the personalities and the names, the abiding and transcending factor is the presence of God. God is there. Now, where there is this kind of scriptural evangelism happen. Oh, if only the Lord would do a greater thing amongst us in this connection, make us see how we need the presence of the Lord. I am, of course, not just thinking of meetings in this place. I am thinking of every form of evangelism, open air evangelism, radio evangelism, television evangelism, every form of evangelism. It is the presence of Christ which is the, the first essential constituent. [00:16:46] Where there is the presence of the risen Lord, then the impact is inevitable. People hate it, or they respond. But there can be no real indifference. Even if it's a facade of indifference, it cannot really be there in the heart where the presence of the Lord is. He demands immediately a decision. And people, almost without having to be asked, are having in their heart to make a decision either for or against. It is the presence of Christ. [00:17:27] And this is such a glorious thing about evangelism, to carry the risen Christ with us into the world. This, after all, is the real nature of an evangelistic outreach. We are the body of Christ. [00:17:44] We are the clothing for the presence of God in this world. And we are meant to be, as it were, his flesh and blood, by which he can presence himself amongst people. So that in our offices, in our homes, in our places of work, wherever we are, in our meetings, out in the street or here, it is the presence of the Lord in us and through us all that makes its great impact. Thank God we've had just a little bit of that. How often I've heard people say to me when they've been saved, that they saw something quite unconscious to the person concerned, but they saw something in the person who spoke to them. Perhaps it was on their doorstep, perhaps it was in the street, perhaps it was in the office. But they said, have you, have you not heard it again and again in testimonies? I saw something in that person and it arrested me. There was just, oh, what is it? What is it about that person's arresting lots of people in the world? What is it that should arrest the unsaved man? It is, after all, the presence of Christ. [00:18:55] It is something the unsaved man and woman cannot explain, but it awakens a yearning in them for God, a hunger for God. They cannot explain or define what they feel or they see in that person, but afterwards they will know it was the risen Christ. It was the presence of the Lord Jesus. This is the first essential constitution. I must say that sometimes I think in some of our evangelism the presence of the Lord has been driven out and it has been taken. Its place has been, his place has been taken by much else. [00:19:34] The second essential constituent in evangelism is the work of the Holy Spirit. The work of the Holy Spirit. If we turn to John, chapter 1616, John 16, seven, eight, nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you. But if I go, I will send him unto you, and he, when he is come, will convict the world in respect of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. [00:20:25] This second essential constituent in evangelism is the work of the Holy Spirit, the presence of Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit. If the Holy Spirit is not at work in our evangelism, then we might as well pack up, for it is the actual work, activity of the Holy Spirit, convicting men of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. You see, you and I can speak about sin, we can thunder about judgment. But until the Holy Spirit convicts a man and suddenly the shaft of God's word sinks into the heart with conviction, and when that happens, the heart is wide open. Wide open. Torrey once said, hammer home sin and let the Holy Spirit do the work in the heart. And then whatever happens, you can leave it. They'll be driven sooner or later to a savior. So absolutely true. But it is the Holy Spirit who must convict of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. [00:21:35] These are three essential things in evangelism, of course. Today we are often asked to tone down on sin and judgment. It is very interesting that it is the work of the Holy Spirit to convict men of these three things, of sin, of righteousness and of judgment, our sinfulness, Christ's righteousness, given to us as a gift by God, and the judgment that must come to all men, good or bad. In the end, well, it's a tremendous thing, isn't it? Unless we have seen that there is therefore now, no condemnation to us who are in Christ Jesus. [00:22:16] Well, that is the second essential constituent in evangelism. You can have all your choirs, you can have your great personalities, you can have your famous people giving their testimonies, you can have all the big massed atmosphere, but you must have, you must have the work of the Holy Spirit, otherwise it's worthless. [00:22:44] This is absolutely essential. Put it the other way round. You can have the work of the Holy Spirit without any of those other things, in fact. [00:22:53] And the essential thing is the work of the Holy Spirit convicting men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. [00:23:04] The third great and essential constituent in evangelism is one that I think many of us are in danger of overlooking. And I have said a little earlier, these three constituents will enable us to judge every method that is suggested, every new approach that is outlined to us, all these different things. We're living in days, of course, when we've got to look to the Lord for new ways of reaching men and women. But in the end, every method and every approach has got to be judged by these three constituents. Now the third is the preaching and the hearing of the word of God. This is essential. [00:23:58] One of the things I don't like, and I may upset some, I don't know. But one of the things I don't like about the new films of the Billy Graham Evangelistic association is that the gospel, the word of God, is somewhat hidden in them. Of course, it is a story, and I've heard of conversions. Well, I thank God for that. I'm convinced that God can save anyone, even through Balaam's ass, if they've only got a heart that's toward the Lord. [00:24:32] The Lord can do anything. But I must say that I believe it's the preaching and the hearing of God's word which is the general and normal way by which God saves men and women. Now that doesn't mean to say that a man's got to stand on a platform and preach God's word. It can be in the street when you're fishing that as you get into conversation, as you explain the gospel to a man. There again, it is the gospel. It is the word of God that's going. It can sometimes be in a testimony, because in one sense a testimony can be a living example of the word of God in action. [00:25:15] But we must come back to this essential constituent in evangelism, the preaching and hearing of the word of God. Now I'm going to give you some scriptures. Romans ten, verse 17. We have read that this evening so faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. [00:25:46] Faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of Christ. If you look back in verse 14, you will see the last part of the verse. And how shall they hear without a preacher? You're back to your evangelist again. How shall they hear without a preacher? Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ, and the word of God, or Christ by someone sent by God to preach the word. Now, look at one corinthians one. [00:26:25] Now, of course, there are those amongst us who are more clever and more intelligent. And it's only natural that when we hear the gospel and the way that it is put over, we should sometimes wonder, oh, dear, will this ever reach people? Will this kind of thing ever reach people? [00:26:48] And then you wonder whether perhaps the best thing to do is to try and lift the thing up and sort of put it onto an altogether higher plane. But this is false. [00:27:00] And if we read one corinthians right through, we will find that one of Paul's great arguments is that he avoids being too clever. He avoids giving the impression of being too intellectual, although he could have been. He says, I can speak wisdom amongst those who understand. [00:27:18] But he speaks of it in this way in verse 21, foreseeing that in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom knew not God. It was God's good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save them that believe. You know, it is amazing how God does save. [00:27:44] I have always been interested in really intelligent people, how they found the Lord, really intelligent people. [00:27:52] And, you know, when you really discover how they've found the Lord, it is sometimes almost comic. I think of Mister Shaw, for instance. He was sage in a meeting, which was the most terrible meeting that they'd ever had in that christian union at Cambridge. In fact, the graduate of tutorials took Mister Shaw along with Mister Harrison, known to quite a few of you, was so covered with confusion that he just didn't know where to put himself. He fidgeted and fidgeted and fidgeted. And even Mister Shaw says that the man who spoke, he'd never seen a performance like it. Never. And he's quite sure that none at the university had ever heard anything so terrible in all their lives. But Mister Shaw was converted in spite of the fact that he was listening. Now, a little later, there will be a lady coming to stay with us from Austria, who is a very highly intelligent woman, and a very, very able and capable woman indeed. She was very high in the nazi regime in Austria. This woman told me how she came to the Lord. She went to hear a preacher who couldn't even preach in grammatical German. And she said, at the front, she said. And she found German, which she's always loved so much when it's spoken beautifully. She's been a teacher, of course, of German. In her younger days, when she heard it being murdered, she began to jot down all the grammatical mistakes. Because she thought she must tell the little man who was Hitler's chauffeur, who had taken her to the meeting afterwards, she was going to tell him, why don't you tell the preacher that he might learn a little bit of grammar before he preaches to us people? But two thirds of the way through the message, she found herself weeping. And she wept, and she wept and she wept until she was converted. And yet she didn't even like what she was hearing. Isn't this strange? And it shows that in some amazing way it is through the foolishness of preaching. And sometimes the Lord uses the most odd instruments to convert the most remarkable people. [00:30:06] Well, there you are. It is the foolishness of the preaching which says. It is a little bit foolish when you think of it. We are preaching to blind people. [00:30:17] And we are told that the natural man receiveth not the things of God. We might as well sit down like a lot of our more clever people do in christian circles and give up preaching the gospel altogether. Because we say, well, it's God who must convert. How can we convert them? We can't do it. Do you understand? It says, in God's word, the father must draw all who will come to Christ. He's the only one. [00:30:46] In fact, the amazing thing is this. It is the foolishness of the preaching. We know that they're blind. We know it's nonsense to them. We know that they could shoot us down with their arguments if they wish. In some ways. And yet we have faith to believe in the power of God's word to convert men and women. This is the amazing thing. Now, if you will turn to Romans, chapter one and verse 16, you will find it. Put another way. Paul says, I am not ashamed of the gospel. For it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. And then again, if you will turn to Galatians and verse three. [00:31:47] Chapter three and verse two and verse five. [00:31:51] Here it is again. [00:31:54] Galatians, three, two, five. This only would I learn from you. Received ye the spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith, verse five. He therefore that supplieth to you the spirit and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law or by the healing. Hearing of faith. The hearing of faith. So this third essential constituent in true evangelism is the preaching and the hearing of God's word. I wonder whether we ought to pray more that God would unstop the ears spiritually of those who hear. Very rarely do you hear people praying that that deaf ears spiritually may really be opened to the word of God, because once a person can hear, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Well, there you are. Those are the three essential constituents. Judge everything by it. All these ideas that we have, all these things being brought up and suggested to us, let us judge everything by these three essential constituents. We can have all kinds of things so long as these three things are there. [00:33:23] But anything which cuts out one of those or two or three, it's no good. We're wasting our time. It'll lead us into a sidetracking altogether and will in the end be of no true value. Now some practical observations for the last half an hour of our time this evening, some practical observations on the question of evangelism. [00:33:52] First of all, I would like to underline something which will appear to you all to be a truism. Evangelistic gifts and meetings are to reach unsaved people. [00:34:04] This may, you may feel this doesn't need to be said, but I want to tell you that it does need to be said, and it needs to be said in this company as well as in many other places. Evangelistic gifts and evangelistic meetings and evangelistic outreach is for unsaved people. They are designed by God for the unsaved. [00:34:36] This is their primary aim. [00:34:41] I cannot underline this point more. [00:34:44] They are not for the teaching of the saints. [00:34:49] It is not for the building up of the saints in that sense, although it is for the bringing of new material to the house of God. In that sense, it's building up. They are certainly not designed by God for the entertainment of his people. I think it's a terrible thing when there's an evangelistic campaign and you see all those christian people pouring into an evangelistic campaign because they've heard that a certain great singer is going to be there, or a great pianist is going, they're there or there. And they wouldn't go to a theater. Oh no, no, no. And they wouldn't go to the cinema. Oh no. And many of them wouldn't go to a concert. But my word just hears there's a christian singer there and they're there in the front row, eyes wide open. They've not prayed for the thing. If they had their pray for 1 minute before they hopped into bed, they've not really prayed for it. They're there to hear, they're there to say how wonderful it all was. They're there to have some kind of emotional feeling as they see people saved. [00:35:53] Now there's a very thin line between attendance at these times which is necessary and vital by people who perhaps cannot bring friends, but who can be a vital contribution in such a time in prayer. There is a fine line between being a real contribution and just simply it being entertainment. But I think if we had some evangelists here this evening that we all know well, they would tell you this is one of their greatest problems. The entertainment value that so called christian people put on evangelism. So much so that I once remember Mister eparth getting so angry that he threatened to turn them all out because all the christians packed in and kept the unsaved people out. And when the unsaved people, they tried, the stewards tried to turn some christian people out, they got very angry and lost their tempers. [00:36:46] You see, this is the kind of thing you're up against, entertainment value. And then of course, you wonder why there's an atmosphere which is so difficult and why many evangelists have to turn over to giving very heavy and clear cut words to God's children. [00:37:06] Well, I just want to underline it. It is true. [00:37:11] If it is true that evangelism is designed for unsaved people, then everything must be adjusted in a right way to those who are, generally speaking, ignorant of God's grace and truth. Now what do we mean? Well, we mean this, that of necessity, the meeting and the approach must be simple, it must be direct, and it must be clear. [00:37:40] Basically the same thing has got to be preached. I don't mean the same message and I don't mean the exact same words, although I do know those who have. [00:37:53] And even so, the Lord does sometimes use it greatly. But what I mean is that essentially the fabric of the gospel to those who are not saved has to be the same. [00:38:08] And therefore we have to understand as believers that there cannot be all that great variation in the preaching of the gospel to unsaved people. We can, however, go too far and we can forget that only God can open blood blind eyes to see his salvation. [00:38:35] In one corinthians 214, it says, the natural man receiveth not the things of God, for they are foolishness unto him because they have to be spiritually discerned. And it is a danger that you try to get down to the level of the people in order to help them understand without realizing that it is only the Holy Spirit that can open their eyes. And in so doing, you can in fact, bring the flesh in. And in that way you can hinder the work of God. Because instead of being dependent on the Holy Spirit, you are depending upon yourself to somehow get over to people what it is. Nevertheless, nevertheless, evangelistic gifts and meetings and all other forms of outreach are designed to reach the unsaved. And therefore they've got to be simple, direct, and clear. [00:39:39] Often believers are very selfish and self centered when it comes to this kind of gift and meeting of time. [00:39:51] At the worst, as I have said, they will often turn it by their very attitude into entertainment. They're there to be entertained at the best. They often are wanting novelty, something new. They forget that the people fished in have never heard it before. They want just something new. They want something. They forget that the whole design and objective of the. The time is to reach the people out in the street who've never heard in their life. And therefore, the preacher saw the evangelists subjected to a terrible pressure to somehow be so novel because of the mass of christians that are there, that the one soul who would be benefited by hearing it absolutely plainly, it's lost on him. [00:40:41] Now, I'm not talking nonsense in this matter, because many Christians judge this kind of meeting by what they feel and what they get out of it. [00:40:53] They judge it by whether they have been personally helped. And I'm quite sure that, as everyone says, if the Lord is there, you should be helped. But the evangelistic meeting is not for you to be helped. The purpose of it isn't that you should be helped. You. You've got to grow up if you're a little baby, a spiritual child. Yes, of course the evangelistic meeting will help you because it's food in a very, very basic and simple form. But, you know, if you were a little bit older, it was the time you woke up. It's time I woke up. Those meetings are not designed to help you or for your help and comfort and encouragement that you may go away, as it were, feeling that you got something out of it. Those meetings are, in fact, an altogether different objective. And you, if you're grown a little in the Lord, are meant to be positively in the battle. Positively in the battle and into it up to the neck. [00:42:00] Well, now, I've heard some people come to me and say, that was a wonderful gospel word, a wonderful gospel word. And I have been terribly depressed by them because I knew in my heart that it might have been a wonderful gospel word for a saint. [00:42:26] But any sinner would have had to have been half a saint to have understood it. It's as simple as that. And this is the kind of thing you get again and again some dear saint will say to you, oh, that was wonderful. What they really mean is that was something that helped them. [00:42:44] And sometimes some christians think, oh, I don't know how. Once I remember preaching on the Passover, and I thought afterwards how utterly involved it was. And one or two saints said to me, that was so wonderful, I wish we could print it. No one in the streets could understand it. I tell you myself, although I preached it, no one in the streets could understand it. One or two of the saints here, they thought it was rather wonderful because it opened to them a new sphere, a new sight into it. But, you see, for the man in the street, many of them now, they don't even know what the Passover is, never read the Bible. This is the whole problem, you see, of evangelism. Yet, let me put it this way. Believers are not to be helped in such a time, but they are meant to help. [00:43:35] And their attitude and their approach to the time is vital, absolutely vital. It's not only the preacher or the leaders or those who take part, who play or steward those who publicly take part, but it is the mass of christians, of believers, who make or break events. [00:43:56] So let me make this observation that evangelistic gifts and meetings are to reach unsaved people. Another observation I would like to make is this. [00:44:09] I would like to say how necessary and vital it is, how vitally necessary it is to bring the unsaved into touch with God. [00:44:21] To bring the unsaved into touch with God. If such ministries and such times are for the unsaved, we must find ways of reaching them. Now, this is what poor Wesley and Whitefield in their day, had to face. [00:44:43] And so they went out into the open. In fact, they found the churches were being closed against them. And Wesley, you know, he records in his journal that he felt as if he was stripped. Now, when he preached for the first time in the open air, with his Oxford training behind him and his very definite feelings for propriety and so on, he couldn't think of anything more terrible than preaching in the open air. And yet finally, he went out, and God mightily used, that means the Salvation army. It was exactly the same. They couldn't find the people inside the churches. And, you know, Booth had a tail terrible battle with his own denomination. They would not let him bring the people in. And when he fished those people in from the streets, there was a public outcry in his church because of these flea ridden, bug bitten people he was bringing in from the verminous parts of the town and sitting in some of the best seats, which, by the way, were empty. [00:45:45] And they wanted to push these unsaved people in a so called evangelistic meeting behind the pulpit. [00:45:53] So you know the end of the story, how Booth was pushed out, and Booth went with his one supreme aim of reaching the down and outs and everyone who was shut down. And he went and preached the gospel where he felt the people were. This was the beginnings of the Salvation army. And it happened again and again. [00:46:13] You see, if such ministries and such times are designed to reach unsafe people, then we have got to find ways of reaching them. We're living in the 20th century, and we've got to be flexible and sensitive to the Lord as to ways and means of reaching men and women. This is the whole point. There's no point in having evangelistic times when there are no unsaved people. I've always been a little amazed at some of the assemblies amongst the brethren, particularly where the gospel is preached solidly every Sunday evening, as if there were many unsaved people there, and as often and generally not one. [00:46:59] So you see, we've got to find ways and means of reaching the people. [00:47:06] The principle of this bringing of the gospel to people is in one corinthians nine. Now I want to drum this home. [00:47:17] One corinthians nine. [00:47:19] If I may put it rather crudely, it really knocks for six a lot of cockeyed spiritual ideas. [00:47:28] One corinthians 922 23. To the weak I became weak that I might gain. The weak I am become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some, and I do all things for the gospels sake, that I may be a joint partaker thereof. Here is the principle of bringing the lost into touch with God. By all means do let us underline it by all means. [00:47:59] This does not say by some means. It doesn't even say by the majority of means. It is by all means. Now, it does not mean by any mean, any means that shuts out those three constituents. [00:48:14] But it does mean that given those three constituents, any means by which we can reach men and women is legitimate. [00:48:29] I think we could underline it more and more. We must never limit the Lord to any one way or few ways of reaching men and women. This is the curse of the church. [00:48:47] Every time the Holy Spirit leads believers to discover some new spontaneous way of reaching men and women, within half a century they have traditionalized it until its dead. [00:49:01] And then you can't get the same people to budge, because dad did it this way, and old pastor so and so did it this way, and when we were children, we did it this way, and so it goes on. This is the curse of the church. It must be. By all means, let us underline it. And here I think we also see the importance of what we call fishing. [00:49:30] Of course, I'm not just thinking of going out into the streets only, but I'm thinking of all forms of going out and reaching people, whether it's in the pubs, whether it's out fishing people into gatherings, whether it's visiting people at the door, whether it's through this newspaper work in hospitals, every way by which we can go out and contact people as people. Now here is the danger which we were speaking about another week. Personal soul winning are becoming tract machines, christian newspaper machines, kind of little things that you put a coin in and they run out a few texts, you know, sort of thing. And people are very quick to know whether they're talking with flesh and blood or whether they're talking with the machine. And some christians get very quickly into this automatic habit of having a few catch phrases and a few sort of organized, spontaneous reactions, which mean that whatever happens people, you've got the right answer for everyone. Well, this just will not work, because evangelism is the heart of God, reaching the hearts of people. [00:50:41] And he reaches God's heart, reaches lost hearts through saved hearts. And it's only when flesh and blood touches flesh and blood that people really get saved. Now, you'll find this in every case where people have been really saved as a result of fishing or talking, it's been personal contact, personal living conversation, and not just ramming something down a person's throat or discussing theories about what we shall eat or what kind of bodies we shall have in the hereafter. [00:51:18] So I must say that fishing is a very important thing. If it means that we are bringing people into touch with God, either by going to them or bringing them into a gathering where the gospel is being preached, it is vital. I also would like to say how important it is to really seek to get neighbors and friends, friends and work colleagues under the sound of the gospel. This again is a tremendous, of tremendous importance, and every one of us should have it on the heart, even though at times it isn't easy. People don't come as easily as that. Nevertheless, as long as there's a concern God can work. [00:52:05] What does all this mean? Well, it means this, that corporately we need to be sensitive to the Lord and flexible over new ways and approaches, providing that those three constituents are safeguarded. [00:52:22] The presence of Christ, the work of the Holy Spirit unhindered, and the preaching and hearing of the word of God in one form or another. [00:52:33] The other. I think it means individually. On the other side, individually, it means that we ought to be exercised in prayer for our friends and colleagues and neighbours. I think some of us are far too quick in these things. You know, we just sort of. We just suddenly seem to get an idea and think the person should come there and then. But, you know, I believe that if we're working with someone, there ought to be real prayer, a prayer preparation in the unseen, behind the scenes, personally praying for that person, watching that person, and in the end looking to the law for an opportunity to speak to that person. [00:53:11] And again at home and amongst neighbours. Oh, there are so many ways, you know, we tend to get so hidebound in the question, all of us and ourselves included in the question of how the Lord can save people and where he can save people. I mean, sometimes I think it'd be a wonderful thing if in some homes a husband and wife were to invite a few friends that they've got to know through the children in not have any singing necessarily, unless you know, people like singing. But you can have one or two people to know, you know, to give a testimony. If you know someone with a certain background, you know someone in the company who's got that. I mean, there are all kinds of ways and means of reaching men and women, not necessarily, and only on a Sunday evening. And if we're all open to these ways and means, the Holy Spirit can undoubtedly lead us. Another observation I would like to make is about means and methods in evangelism. If evangelism is for the unsaved, then every means by which we can reach them and draw them is legitimate, providing it honors Christ. [00:54:24] I do not believe that some means honor Christ. I remember once in one great evangelistic rally, a pony with a plume being brought on to the platform. And I've seen many other things that I will not mention, which I do not think are honoring to Christ. However, I did hear only yesterday of an evangelist in Southern Ireland who's just had a successful mission in Cork, whose wife plays sleigh bells and draws great crowds, and her husband preaches, and evidently quite a lot of people have been saved. Well, I don't know. Of course, that's a catholic country. And slave bells evidently attract them down there in those southern parts. [00:55:08] And they can. You see, the point is that Catholics can go into a meeting whether something like that. They're not allowed to go into a meeting in Southern Ireland still, where there is any singing of protestant hymns or prayer made by Protestants. So you can give a little word which is entitled a lecture, and you can play the sleigh bells or something else, and they'll all come, evidently. But that's by. Again, by the way, what I'm trying to say is that our means ought to honor Christ as long as they honor Christ, and they do not hinder or obscure the objective. All's well. I sometimes feel with Doctor fbe Meyer, that choirs do obscure the objective if they're not spiritual men and women. It was once said of Doctor FB Mar that in the campaign in New York, he always felt the devil was centered in the choir in any given company. And when he announced that the choir would sing, he didn't realize, he expected that the amplifying would be switched off from the pulpit and turned on from the choir. But instead they left it on, and the whole company heard him say, oh, Lord, give me grace. [00:56:25] It certainly is true, anyway, that the choir has got to be watched singing, playing testimonies. Well known names can all be used legitimately. Don't get frightened. It's so. I don't know what gets wrong with some people. They say, well, you mustn't use a name that sounds spiritual. But I mean, goodness, if we had St. Paul here, what? I'd publicize it over the whole region to get everyone I could in to hear and rightly. And Paul would say, I don't mind at all if it means that we get the people under the sound of the gospel. It's the spirit within which it's done. We can use names as we did with Jeffrey Bull, as we're doing with Bach Singh. We can use singing. Singing isn't unspiritual. It was said of Sanke that when he sang the gospel hymns, more men were converted than through the preaching of moody. And I heard Mister Redpath himself say that the toughest men that were saved in his campaigns were saved through the singing of Jeffrey Lester in those days in the war. [00:57:34] It is amazing. God can use it, but it's the spirit. If it's just singing for singing's sake. If it's because the singer likes to captivate an audience, it won't get anywhere. But if it's singing a message from God's heart to human heart, it can sometimes kiss somewhere. I know, of course, that Paul didn't have singers in his group that moved around and didn't employ it in the New Testament. That's quite right, especially lady Singers. [00:58:05] But nevertheless, what Paul did in the New Testament is there are a lot of things we do now. You know, we've got things like radio and television and all kinds of things now which we use and rightly which they didn't have then we've got to be rightly up to date. And yet we must safeguard those three essential constituents all the time. Any means by which we can draw people in, any means by which we can preach the gospel, let's use it, whether it's by the zoom or by radio or by the telephone or by television or through singing or testimony. Above all, by the preaching of God's word. Let us get the gospel out to people. [00:58:56] We must be careful that it is presenting Christ and not mere entertainment. This is the all governing law. I could tell you some of the stories, musing and otherwise, of the way that I've known different people get congregation. I remember Mister redpath in Luton when he found it very hard in the. In the marketplace to get people. He put his hat down on the pavement and then he started looking at it. Before long, a crowd began and they said to him, what's, what's wrong? What's wrong? He said, something alive under it. Something alive. And before long there was an enormous crowd all crowding over. And everyone sings with him when there's something alive under it, something alive, and he doesn't know what it. If we don't know what it is, what is it? And then there was a huge crowd and Mister red pile started preaching to them. And they all listened in rapt attention as he told them that under their act there was one of the most living and vital things he thought he'd ever seen in his whole life. When he took his hat off, it was a pocket bible. [00:59:54] He captivated them all. They all bored with laughter, but they never went. They all listened. And right through some people were saying, now, of course, if you've read General Booth's life story, the others, you'll know there are far more shocking things than that that have been used in bringing people under the sound of the gospel. I'm not saying that we should do it, but I am saying this, that all means and methods are legitimate. If it is not exhibitionist, but a real means of getting the gospel over to unsaved people. [01:00:33] There are two arguments that we often hear against aggressive evangelism. One is, when everything is right, the Lord will draw the people and save them. [01:00:47] We don't have to go out to them. [01:00:52] All we have to do is just pray and see that we are right with the Lord. Now, of course, without the Lord's drawing power, we are absolutely helpless. [01:01:06] It says in the word of God, I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto myself. It says again, no man can come unto the Son except the father. Draw him. The Lord Jesus said, except apart from me, ye can do nothing. We know that apart from the Lord, we can do nothing. But we also know that if we do not go, the Lord does not work. [01:01:31] And the Lord's word is go and make disciples. And the grammatical construction is that you and I are to make disciples. [01:01:42] This you and I cannot do. It is the work of God and you. Yet the Lord used a grammatical construction that seemed to suggest that you and I were the operative people in making disciples. In other words, what he was trying to tell us was, I will do it in and through you. [01:02:04] Go and make disciples. Go and preach the gospel to every creature. Again, another argument that we often hear is we do not have to preach the gospel in a particular way to the unsaved people. [01:02:24] All we have to do is preach God's word. [01:02:29] Because if we preach God's word, people will get saved. Thank God they do. I know people who've been saved in Bible studies. I know people who've been saved in prayer meetings. I know people who've been saved at the Lord's table. [01:02:42] The Lord will save people at all times. [01:02:46] But even if it is true that God will do, there is truth in it. You still have to face the fact that there is a person called an evangelist. What is he then? What does he do? What does he preach? What is his job? [01:03:00] There is a sphere in which the evangelist has a place, and we have to recognize that. And it is a vital and important, important place. [01:03:14] And then I would lastly like to say this. [01:03:18] Evangelism involves us in a battle. [01:03:23] It is going over into the offensive. [01:03:30] Evangelism is really going over to the offensive. [01:03:34] And it means, therefore, conflict. [01:03:38] We are actually making forays into enemy territory. [01:03:45] We are carrying the lord's victory into enemy held country. [01:03:53] It's as if we are going in and liberating men and women. You remember that amazing thing. Now then, I'm going to tell you a story. I normally always tell stories on the other side of the fence, but this time I'm going to tell one on the other. That amazing operation by which in the last war, the Germans rescued, tried to rescue Mussolini and rescued. I've forgotten now the name, it's gone from it. But they rescued him in Italy. Do you remember the story how they dropped down from the sky, enemy held territory? It was held by us and they actually took man and whisked him off. [01:04:32] One of the most amazing stories in the war. And I shall remember the name afterwards. It's completely gone from me at present. But you know, that's exactly what you and I are doing in evangelism. [01:04:50] We are going into enemy territory and we are liberating people and whisking them out of enemy territory. Literally, we are making a foray into any country. We are taking hold of a person and seeing the power of Christ to break the man's chains and carrying him bodily back into the kingdom of God. It's as simple as that. We are doing exploits for the Lord. In one John, chapter five, verse 19, we're told the whole world lies in the evil ones. And in two corinthians, chapter four and verse three and four, we are told this terrible words. [01:05:32] And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in them that perish, in whom the God of this world blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them. Blinded by the God of this world. Isn't that terrible? [01:05:54] The whole world lies in the evil one, and they are blinded by the God of this world. And then again in one Timothy, and I think it's or two Timothy, and I think it's chapter two, and I think it's the last verse. It says something along this line, that those whom the enemy takes captive at his will. [01:06:15] Isn't that terrible? [01:06:18] Now our job is to go into enemy territory, not on the defensive, but over onto the offensive. And we're going in with the victory of the Lord in the name of the Lord, to rescue men and women from their bondage to Satan. [01:06:38] You know, if evangelism means conflict, we need to know how to take the victory of Christ and we need to know how to bind the strong man and release the captives. This is the secret of evangelism. [01:07:00] And I would not be at all surprised if it isn't this that we are finding just at present. We are up against. [01:07:06] It is the simple taking by faith of the victory of the Lord. In John, chapter twelve, and in verse 29, we read this. [01:07:19] No, that's quite wrong. [01:07:25] I can't just find that. But you know where it says about the strong man? It says in one place about him. First, the Lord Jesus said, in connection with a young man bound by demons. He said to them, when they charged him with having a devil, the Lord Jesus was having them. He retorted that first, how can you release a man unless first you bind the strong man, then you can spoil his goods. Evangelism is useless unless we first bound the strong man. We must bind the devil in the name of the Lord. Then when we bound the devil, we can spoil his goods. We can take them off. Take them off in, take them back. Rejoicing just like the Israelites spoke the Egyptians. We can do it again and again and again and again in the name of the Lord. The evil one knows that he must undermine our faith in order to win this battle. [01:08:23] We are impregnable. We are invincible people. The devil knows he cannot overcome us if we fight the good fight of faith, if we stand fast in faith. But once we let go of our faith, the devil knows he can win. And so his assault is upon is along the line of our faith. And so often, and I speak to us as a company as well as in many other places, so often, what do you find? You find a company of people gathered together from an evangelistic time, and not one of them blessed believes anything will happen. [01:08:59] Not one of them really expects anything to happen. They don't expect people to get saved. They don't believe that people will really be saved. And the preacher is also in exactly the same condition. So he's preaching his gospel, but he doesn't believe anyone will be saved. [01:09:18] He's been so battered and often, not only by the devil, but by the saints as well, that he just feels, well, nothing will happen. But we preach the gospel in a kind of half hearted hope, but nothing happens. This is the real trouble so often in evangelistic meetings, and I might say this again, even if it's hard hitting. The people who do mean business in this matter of us evangelism are often confused by the talk and the theories of those who do little else but talk. [01:09:58] And this is the whole problem. They don't go fishing. They're not in the, they never go into a pub. They don't go into the hospitals. They don't try to bring anyone on, but they've got plenty of ideas. And some of the ideas are so rational and so intelligent and so good. And they just undermine the faith and the confidence of those who are really doing the job. Talk, talk. [01:10:22] If the trumpet has an uncertain sound, who will prepare himself for battle? And the devil's objective is just by such a confusion and babel of voices and ideas and theories to undermine the confidence so that the note of the trumpet is uncertain. Uncertain. And therefore, who can expect the unsaved to take real note when there's that, that note. Intuitively they feel it of uncertainty. There has to be clear cut authority, both in the people and in the preacher and in everyone who takes part in this matter of evangelism. That's why evangelism often bull like people with hides like a rhinoceros that go through like tanks. I'm mixing them at. [01:11:17] But it's the only way that such can sometimes survive in this evangelistic rat race. Literally, it's the only way they can. Because of all the comments you get, the ideas you get, get the suggestions made, the theories propounded, people don't give you any mercy. You may have been preaching the gospel and maybe exhausted, but they'll give you half an hour of it afterwards about what they think is wrong and how they think you could have done it better. And where you've gone and this and that and the other and all the rest of it. Well, I don't know. I know a little of it here and I know many others know much more of it elsewhere. [01:11:59] But it is this terrible uncertainty which creeps in and paralyzes everything. If a people don't expect the Lord to work, is it not true that if the Lord said amongst the gadarenes, he said he could do no great work in that place because of their unbelief, and they were unbelievers? How much more must it be when he comes amongst the Lord's people and they don't believe? [01:12:21] Is it impossible that the Lord stands back and says, I just can't do, do anything? They are my own children. But they don't believe. [01:12:29] They've come there to sit through the preaching of the gospel, but they don't believe anything will happen anyway? [01:12:35] Oh, well, now then, let's end then on a lighter note. Let's end on a more triumphant note. In evangelism, we need to positively exercise faith. [01:12:46] Faith. And faith is infectious. When one person starts to say, I believe, others start soon to say, I believe. And when one person says I don't believe, it's so it goes the other way. We're all afraid. Sometimes, to nail our colors to the mast, we need to positively exercise faith. Faith in what? Faith in Christ. [01:13:09] Faith in Christ's finished work. There's not a thing to be added to Christ's finished work. It's absolute. And so wonderful is it that every single sinner in the whole wide world could be saved. [01:13:22] It's so tremendous. There's not one single person that couldn't be saved by the finished work of Christ. And there is not one single battle that could not be won through the finished work of Christ. No battle that you're facing? No battle that I'm facing. No battle the church is facing which cannot be won by the finished work of Christ. It's done. [01:13:41] And if only there were people who could see it and enter into it, the. The devil would run like mad with his tail between his legs. He can't bear the finished work of Christ if he can only reopen it again and get us all to think that somehow there's something to be added to that work and something more. In the 20th century is really too difficult for the finished work of Christ. And the enemy's coming out in such great force now, and the evangelicals are so divided and unhappy and superficial and impoverished. Well, what's it matter anyway? And so on and so on. But the finished work of Christ includes it all. The Lord has foreseen it and his finished work has provided for it. Faith in Christ's finished work. When we proclaim the finished work of Christ, it's a wonderful thing. The vilest sinner can be saved, the most hopelessly incorrigible can be transformed. Yes, they can. The trouble is, you and I don't believe it. This is the thing that Booth saw. He saw the most amazing cases turned into saints and become pioneers in his own army. It is amazing because he believed and because others believed. But you and I, we find it so difficult sometimes. Just faith then, in the power of Christ's blood to cleanse and free from sin, his ability to save anyone, faith in the fact of his authority. Do you believe in the authority of Christ? Well, why not use it? When you see an atmosphere in the evangelistic meeting which somehow or other seems that the enemy's sitting pretty there, well, then claim the authority of Christ. Get down in your heart and say, lord, this can't be. Can't be. [01:15:29] This is to be resisted in the name of the Lord. And he'll go. [01:15:33] It may be a difficult time, but he'll go. He's got to go. If you try to fight him. He'll stay. He'll overcome you too. But if you plead the power of Christ's name and the power of his finished work and precious blood. The devil's got to go. [01:15:52] I could give you so many scriptures, but I won't. But there are plenty of them. Scriptures you can use. The law. The savior was Jesus was manifest to destroy the works of the devil through death. He's destroyed him that had the power of death. Colossians chapter two and verse 15. He's stripped principalities and powers naked, triumphing over them in his cross. All these wonderful scriptures we can take if we really want to enter into this battle. Faith in the fact that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Do you believe it? Do you believe that some have got to have something more than the gospel? Do you believe that we need something less foolish than the preaching of the gospel? God says all we need is the foolishness of the preaching of the gospel and it will be his power. Do we believe it? Oh, for an exercise of faith. And we need to engage in prayer. [01:16:50] We need to know how to use God's word, how to take in the meeting over people who know who are well versed in God's word. And when they see a difficult person, they combine them. When they see someone who's disturbing, they know how to take the Lord, they know which scripture to quote. That's what we need, that kind of executive prayer, as Mister Sparks calls it, which really gets things done, finished, cleaned up, signed and settled, and the devil's out the door and people are saved. That's what we need, that kind of prayer. So we need to watch and pray in evangelistic meetings. And I could say quite a lot about how to use scripture and how to exercise faith in this way and how to stand with the Lord. Even when we can't talk, even when we can't pray, when we're separated across a room, we can be together in this battle. Not one single one of you need feel that he's, he or she is dead wood. [01:17:51] All be in this battle together and see people saved. We need to watch and pray. And dear friends, do remember in evangelism a number of little things we should be talking about some things in the personal side of soul winning another time. But do remember just a few things. You know, things like yawning. [01:18:12] Of course, we all know the air sometimes gets bad, and we all know you've heard it again and again. But just when someone's besought to put their faith in Christ is enough to put anyone off. But it happens. It happens. People just don't. Some Christian who's heard it all so many times and wish, oh, let's have that cup of tea and biscuit. You see, they're only bothered about what's going to come on afterwards, and they'll yawn so loudly. And do you blame an unsaved man or woman who thinks, well, if they're christians and that's all they think of, the gospel, there can't be much in it. Or when, again, in some point, when you're speaking about the cross and someone blows their nose so loudly that it's drowned, the very words drowned. You see little things, but you know it's not the unsaved, it's the believers. [01:19:11] And then you'll suddenly. Well, I won't say a lot of other things, but you'll suddenly someone will get up and go out just at the point where it's most important. There are times, of course, when you have got to get up and go out, and that's understood. But if you're feeling ill or something else, but you understand what I mean. And then there's another little point. Christians, and this is quite innocuous in one way, but it can be very off putting when you hear a preacher quote a verse, sometimes you christians want to look it up. And so it's in some place in Nahum, and you're not quite sure where Nahum is. So all the way through the word does this, you see, and of course, you see the unsafe person. What on earth's happening behind them? [01:20:02] Do you see what I mean? All these little things, they just need to be watched. And little things, you know, the little flies that spoil the ointment and the little foxes that destroy the tender vines. These are the things that we have to watch. And if we, and I might just add this, that if you're really in the battle, really in the battle, you won't yawn and you won't blow your nose, and you won't be rustling all over the place. You'll be far too much in the battle to bother about things like that. Those are usually when you're just there and being lulled along and interested in what's happened and just seeing how things are going. Now, let's just seek in these little ways as well, to be intensely practical, because it is sometimes in the small things that a time is made or marred. Of course, sometimes you get foolish preachers who knock glasses of water over at important points or do other terrible things as well. These things do happen, and we have to. I'm afraid we just have to take it from the Lord. Even though we feel terrible about it. Nevertheless, let's try to watch for things that could be avoided as far as possible. [01:21:28] And look to the Lord that he may give us all grace when there's an emergency to rise above it. Like that marvelous occasion when the ceiling and the Lord gave us all such grace. That, like in the war, we were able to go on and preach the gospel. I never forget that little man in the back there. He was terrified. And as soon as the blessing being given that he shot out. Now, he's never seen him from that day to this. And I'm sure that to his dying day. He'll never forget the day when the preacher was preaching on judgment. When this healing fell in. He'll never forget it. But, you know, it is something when people are so disciplined. So disciplined and so under the control of the Holy Spirit. That when an emergency does take place, it can be turned to good account. This only happens when everyone knows the Lord. And everyone knows who to turn to. Not to one another, but to the Lord. Then it can be turned to good account. [01:22:28] And knowing the devices of the enemy. We must be ready always for anything. Well, shall we pray? [01:22:39] Lord Jesus, we do pray that thou wouldst write some of this upon our hearts. We cannot retain it all. But, Lord, we do pray that where we need various things that are important. [01:22:52] Well, Lord, thou wilt write them and keep them in our heart and memory. And do grant, Lord, that every one of us may grow as a result of this time in our understanding of evangelism. Of thy desire to reach men and women with thy saving grace and power. So, Lord, hear us. We cover ourselves now together in prayer. And we pray. Watch over us through this night and through this coming weekend. And make it a time, Lord, where we shall see something of thy working in a very mighty way. We ask it in thy name. Amen.