History of Halford House 4

[00:00:00] Could we read this evening in the prophecy of Zechariah? You can find the prophecy of Zechariah. [00:00:08] It's not too hard. It's the second book from the end of the Old Testament. [00:00:17] And chapter four. [00:00:19] Zechariah and the fourth chapter. [00:00:31] And the angel that talked with me came again and waked me as a man that is wakened out of his sleep. And he said unto me, what seest thou? And I said, I have seen. And behold a lampstand, all of gold, with its bowl upon the top of it and its seven lamps thereon. There are seven pipes to each of the lamps, which are upon the top thereof, and two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl and the other upon the left side thereof. And I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, what are these, my lord? Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, knowest thou not what these are? And I said, no, my lord. Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, this is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the lord of hosts, who art thou, o great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain. [00:01:34] And he shall bring forth the top stone with shoutings of grace, grace unto it. Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, the hands of Zerubbabull have laid the foundation of this house. His hand shall also finish it. And thou shalt know that the lord of hosts hath sent me unto you. For who hath despised the day of small things. [00:01:58] For these seven shall rejoice and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel. These are the eyes of the Lord which run to and fro through the whole earth. Then answered I and said unto him, what are these two olive trees upon the right side of the lampstand upon the left side thereof? And I answered the second time and said unto him, what are these two olive branches which are beside the two golden spouts that empty the gold out of themselves? And he answered me and said, knowest thou not what these are? And I said, no, my lord. Then said he, these are the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth. [00:02:48] We have spent two evenings saying something about the story of the house, particularly the way the Lord led us, how he brought us together, how he provided for us, how he provided this house and the story over this house. And really what I want to do this evening is to say something about the significance of that story, or perhaps more simply, the meaning of that story. Why has the Lord done this? [00:03:27] Would he do this everywhere? When I say, would he do this everywhere? I mean, would he sort of give to every company of God's children everywhere, a house, an old house, which is an ancient monument, and then not only give the money for its purchase in the most remarkable way, leading us to it, but in actual fact, restoring it and then giving all the furniture that was in keeping with the age of the house? [00:03:59] It seems so extraordinary. [00:04:03] What is the Lord's interest in doing such a thing? I mean, one doesn't feel that the Lord is an antique collector or that he has a tremendous interest in antiques as antiques, or that he has a great interest in period furniture or period furnishings or period houses. It seems reasonably logical to think that the Lord would be as interested in us being in a modern, contemporary hall, a building, with everything that we would want in the way of utilities, as in an old house, probably more so. So why this incredible story, which I might say has left those of us who've been in it from the beginning and known the inner inside story, not only of the provision and the glories, but also, also of the much criticism and much antagonism and much controversy over which, of course, we have seen people actually die under the hand of the Lord. [00:05:15] It has left us with an extraordinary sense of awe as to why the Lord was so in. You see, we are human beings, too, and we had our doubts at times and wondered why the Lord was doing this and wondered, are we misled? Is this a very clever deception of the enemy? Are we being trapped into material things and away from the real vocation that is our. [00:05:48] That God has called us with? But then we were only to be dumbfounded, dumb, awestruck at times by the way the Lord came in, sometimes like a tornado, with a provision that was unique, remarkable, and that riveted our attention, let alone anybody else riveted our attention upon the fact that he was doing something. But is the Lord so interested in bricks and mortar? We have, of course, always faced criticism, and in our early days, we were greatly ostracized. No one would touch us, as I said the other evening, with a barge pole. Now, of course, I think we can thank the Lord for that. They meant it for evil, but the Lord meant it for good. It was his way of stopping us being swamped by a whole lot of sensation seekers or those who like to cash in on a more dramatic or interesting ministry. This has been one of the unfortunate hallmarks of evangelical work, that as soon as a real ministry comes, as soon as something happens, all kinds of people flock in and just sit, and in the end they kill that work of God. Now praise the Lord. We were preserved from all that because of the rumors, because of the stories, because of the false things said about us, because we never defended ourselves, because we never proclaimed our side of the story in any way. [00:07:32] We were saved from being swamped by all these from outside. But we were very sensitive to the criticism, especially some things. We always remembered the word of watchman Lee when he wrote to Austin, Mister Austin Sparks, and said in a letter, Mister Sparks quoted this to me some years ago. In that letter, he said, he said, you know, I've learned from the Lord to face every criticism by asking the Lord, is it true? Can I learn anything from it? In this way? He said, I have taken the sting out of the scorpion's tale. [00:08:15] It's very true. If we can face criticism and that kind of thing like that and be able to say, now, maybe the motive's wrong, maybe the attitude is wrong, maybe the persons filled with evil. But is there something we or I can learn? Well, in those days we have, and I believe all the way through, sought to be very sensitive in our heart before the Lord over the matter. But as you can well understand, it is not easy when you have hundreds of criticisms leveled at you, sometimes diametrically opposite. One person says they like this. Another person comes and tells you they hate it. One person says, we should do this. Another person says, I shall leave if we do that. Someone says, you know, we ought to do this and this and this. And someone else says, we must never do such and such and such. It is very hard at times. The only way through is to trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not upon your own understanding or the understanding of anybody else in all your ways to acknowledge him. [00:09:19] And he then will direct our path. The interesting thing is that we've discovered that whenever we do the right thing, the critics finally come round. [00:09:31] It is amazing. Of course, today, as you know, I travel a lot, and I now know so many people who were 100% with us in the first years that I do believe I could fill St. Paul's Cathedral with them. [00:09:46] Now, we never knew any of these people, and sometimes when I go to some places, they tell me, oh, there's someone here in the meeting who was with you in the early days, right with you in the inner nucleus. Really? I say, since I know everyone by name including all those who passed to be with the Lord. I thought, who can this be? [00:10:06] And then I see somebody and of course I have to do my best to be theatrical. I find it very hard to smile sweetly at someone who I know very well was certainly not in the nucleus. Not only not in the nucleus. They used to dither in and out on the periphery, you know, on the circumference, because they were always afraid to throw in their lot with us, always critical and yet never really leaving us. You know, they're coming backwards and forth now. Of course they're in with us. They were there in the beginning, they were in on the inner thing, they were there on the battle. So once the Lord has done something, it is amazing the number of people who suddenly come to be our friends and who tell us how glad, glad they are. I even have people who were very much against us who come and tell me how they were converted in my own home or in the Townsend's home or in the club. They were. They were true, they were converted there, I remember that. But they took a stand very much against it later and so well all that we can leave. [00:11:12] But there was a period of ostracism when no one would touch us. So we were a kind of spiritual blockade around us. The fact that we had something to do with Mister spy and honour only labelled us with infinitely more evil in their eyes than if we had remained on our own. [00:11:31] And so that was an added safety for us all, for which we are very grateful. [00:11:43] We of course learnt a tremendous amount for Mister Spark and from some of those trojan saints. So spoken against that man was a sign spoken against by the House of Israel. [00:12:00] There may have been faults and there may have been other things, but basically, essentially, the man was a prophet and our fellowship with him. We must be forever ever thankful for the way that we as a company learnt so much from his ministry and from others associated with him. I think of Miss Liplick, I think of Miss Smith, those trojan prayer warriors. I think of Lady Ogle and a host of others, dear brother Oliphant and others. I doubt we shall one day see in the glory how much they meant to us. [00:12:39] But there then began and the latter part of the fifties and the beginning of the sixties, a period where people began to come to see us one by one, different ones who were walking with the Lord and alive to the Lord, but who perhaps were in other christian spheres, began to come to see what was going on. And when they came and when they took part, they were so deeply moved that they went away and talked about it to many others. And gradually, on the part of some, not all, a new attitude began. Now, these dear ones were also a great blessing to us, and they came, many of them. We asked those who had ministry come and speak to us. [00:13:29] They may not see exactly all that we see, but we felt they are members of the body of Christ, and therefore they have something to give that is real and valid and let us receive it from the Lord. And they came and they gave. But sometimes criticisms were made by folks who ministered, but others who came, dear people, they would see everything. They would say, you know, we feel they didn't know the history of the house. They would say, you know, we feel that this is too fine, too beautiful, it's too magnificent. [00:14:00] Well, of course, I suppose if you came from one of those little tin huts somewhere, you know, so often people did in those days. Now things have changed, but in those days, it was considered to be godly, to worship in a tin hut where you could hardly see through the windows for dirt and where you could write your name like the Lord did on the sand, on the dust on the table. [00:14:25] You know the story, of course, of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, who used to sometimes thump the pulpit and he banged the pulpit. He used to take the big Bible off, you know, the great, huge bibles on those great Baptist pulpit, and he used to bang the pulpit, and on this occasion, he banged the pulpit, and the congregation lost him in a cloud of dust. [00:14:48] After he coughed and spluttered for a while, he finally managed to move on with the message. [00:14:58] The fact of the matter is that sometimes it was thought to be. He didn't, of course, you know the story, how to try and get the elder deacons to. [00:15:09] To change the windows in the chapel. They wouldn't do it. They couldn't even open them in the heat wave because they'd all rusted. And so in the dead of night, he went with a silver topped cane and smashed the windows, called an emergency meeting of the deacons and offered a ten pound reward for any information that would lead to the apprehension of the culprit. Culprit. [00:15:39] Of course, they never found Spurgeon, but Spurgeon pointed out to the deacons that maybe this was the Lord's way of saying something to them about the windows. So it seems that many of these great divines also had another side to their character. [00:16:00] The fact of the matter is that we then folks began to come in, began to say things to us, and we were very sensitive about some of the things they said. And I remember on one occasion being particularly sensitive about a very dear brother who came and said certain things about what he thought about the thing. He was very thrilled with the company, the life and the way we were moving on with the law. But he made some comments about the place and so on. And so we had a purge. Some of you will remember it. You will remember how we swept through the house and took down different bits and pieces, all the. Oh, we had such a collection of horse brasses. How many of you remember those horse brasses? Oh, the whole beam was covered with horse brasses. And all the sides of the old stone fireplace downstairs, magnificent horse brasses, some of them on leather. Imagine there'd be a fortune today. We swept the whole lot down and there were two old swords. Many of you will remember, you younger ones when you were younger. Then, of course, you will remember. It was Eddie and Marshall's 21st birthday party, when suddenly they took the swords down from the beam and cut the 21st cake with the sword. You remember that, some of you. It was a scream of a time. Well, those swords were taken down, all those things and a number of others. We sold it all and gave it away. And next week, we had a furniture load arrive on us. A whole van, a big van of furniture arrived on it. Three or four weeks later, we had another whole lot arrived. And Margaret said to me, if you give any more away, it is quite clear that we will not be able to move in this place. [00:17:37] For every piece you give away, we get a very load back. [00:17:41] So then I began to think to myself, what is this? [00:17:46] We tried to be sensitive to criticism. We give it. We take all this down. What is it? So then I began to seek the Lord, and I asked the Lord very much, now, Lord, you must explain to me, because when these people make these criticisms, I have no answer for them. I feel very embarrassed. I thought, well, I myself can't explain why you've done this. I know you've done it, but why you've done it, I don't know, Lord. And the Lord said to me, not in an audible voice, but as clear as a voice from the Lord that I know. Anyway, he said, the day of signs is not over. [00:18:22] Then I said to him, lord, do you mean that this house is a sign? And the Lord said, it is a sign and you shall never again take anything that I have given to it and sell it. [00:18:40] So I rested from that day onward. It couldn't bother me. I said to the Lord, what about the people who criticize. And the Lord said to me, that's not your business, that's mine. [00:18:52] You just allow them to criticize you and you allow me to break you through it. That's my business. I will answer their criticism. Every tongue that rises against you, he said, I will condemn because your righteousness is of me. So I rested in the Lord from that day forward. But it wasn't just a kind of rest as far as criticism. If people wanted to criticize, okay, it was a tremendous blessing to me because I suddenly realized that every single sign the Lord has ever given can either become a finger into revelation or can become a stumbling. [00:19:31] And if you look back in scripture, you will find it again and again that whenever the Lord worked a sign, it either became a stumbling block or it became an avenue into a discovery of God. And of course, the Lord Jesus says as of himself, he was the sign. But at the same time he was a stumbling block. [00:19:49] Those who disbelieved stumbled on him, and those who had faith came into a discovery of his preciousness. Now, I found out that a sign is just there. A person can be healed and someone can say, rubbish. [00:20:02] A person can be healed in one of them, the person says, rubbish. [00:20:07] It's nothing to them. But another person finds the law to it. [00:20:11] They say, I saw it happen. [00:20:14] You see, it's amazing that the miracles do not convert people. Often we think, oh, if we had lots of miracles, thousands of people would be converted. But miracles do not convert. I've always been amused. I suppose one shouldn't be amused, but it's my irreverent type of nature that was always amused by the story of Lazarus. That when he was raised from the dead and the whole jewish establishment knew the family, when he was raised from the dead, they had a special council meeting, a special committee meeting as to what they should do to get him back into the tomb. I mean, the extraordinary thing was they didn't sort of, sort of sit there saying, you know, isn't this amazing? The man's been raised from the dead. What shall we do? I mean, this is obvious confirmation of Jesus of Nazareth's ministry. No, no, not at all. Their attitude was, let's get him back into the tomb. What can we do about it? [00:21:07] And I've always been highly amused by that incident because it reveals to me exactly what a sign does. Those who are open find the Lord and those who are closed become more bigoted and prejudiced than ever. [00:21:24] So I have rested on this matter of the house that it is a sign. [00:21:34] What really? [00:21:36] Does this mean? Of course, it makes the whole story of the house, in my estimation, sense. [00:21:43] You see, first of all, I began to realize something of our own history when we first came together. And those of you who were with us right at the beginning will remember this. We were not over clear about the church. [00:21:57] I think the first thing that brought us together was a terrible burden, that there was something radically wrong with the people of God, that somehow other, there was no organic life, there was no connection, there was no belonging. We would put it in one word, fellowship. There wasn't this sense of sharing something in common, of belonging, as it were, to one another. Rather, we felt that we were simply member units in a congregation, we were christians and so on, but no more. And that really was how we began. [00:22:38] When we called the work in 1952 Koinonia, we took the Greek New Testament word for fellowship, which comes from a root meaning to have in common. And that was how we began. That was how we explained it to people. We're just those who have the Lord in common, we said. From there we went on to a discovery of unity. We made a discovery. We didn't understand it fully, but we made a discovery that all God's people are one, and that the Lord Jesus is the oneness of the. More it doesn't matter whether Catholic or Protestant, whether they're Baptist, or whether they're congregational, Methodist or brethren, or Nazarene or Pentecostal, or whatever else, exclusive, whatever else, they're still in the oneness of Christ. Now, they may divide themselves from us, but we said, we won't be divided from any. We won't have a membership now. That's why we never had a membership. We said if we have a membership role, we immediately divide people from people, believer from believer. We put some inside and some outside. We won't have it. Our membership is inherent. So he said, we will, rather than putting out one person who is the Lord's in the area, one young person, we would rather not have a membership role. We'll know. We thought, of course, we were told, well, be careful, be careful, be careful, because you won't be able to discipline the people. You know, when you haven't got a membership, you can't discipline them. And there were other things too, but we could not find a membership in this book. The only membership we could find in the New Testament was the membership of the body of Christ. And that is really in Greek, literally being limbs of the body of Christ, not members, as it were received by the right hand of fellowship and their name written on a dusty roll somewhere. Now, we were very hot on that matter. [00:24:30] We didn't understand the full implications, but we did believe that every believer belonged to us and we belonged to them. We wanted no division. We also saw from that this question of being of one mind. Of one mind. [00:24:44] In other words, when we made that great mistake with a majority minority, you know, the majority vote against the minority vote, and the minority were right and the majority were wrong, we threw the whole thing overboard and said, from now on we go. We will do everything in prayer. We will seek the Lord's mind, find out what his will is, and then when we are together, we will do it. And for many years, when we were smaller, that's exactly how we did. Always in the premier, we never moved. When one brother held us up on the Lord's table for one whole year and he was doing it for political reasons, it drove us into the ground. We didn't know what to do. Political reasons. I mean, of course, spiritually political reasons. He had an axe to grind and therefore he wanted to stop the whole company from coming to the Lord's table till they came to terms. [00:25:38] Well, it came to his terms, really, basically. We didn't know what to do. We saw this principle of one of unanimity, of being of one mind. We didn't want to break it. And we thought, now can we put the brother out? No, that's wrong. I remember one sister saying to me, when I was saying, lance, I pray. Join me. Praying that. That brother, you'll be given strength to get that brother out. [00:26:03] And I sort of. She was such a nice, dear sister and a great prayer warrior. I didn't like to contradict her and I sort of hummed and hard. Well, she said, we can at least pray for his removal, can't we? So no glory at his being in your. So then I thought for a little while when I went up to bed, I thought. I tried to pray for his removal. I couldn't. And in the end, I found that the only I could pray for is that I would be given grace and everybody else would be given grace. We'd all learn from this. Blood came down the next day. She'd had a triumphant time pushing him out, but I must say I didn't. And I said, I just can't do it. She thought I was a saint, of course, but I don't really think that. I think it was just simply that when I asked the Lord, I couldn't do it. That brother remained with us till his death, but the wonderful thing about that unanimity of mine was this. We decided we would have a whole day of prayer and fasting. That found about that found him out. We were all there. Do you remember that amazing day? We were there at 09:00 in the morning. We went right through the whole day because they didn't appear, did they? Only came for an hour. [00:27:06] And then they had the cheat to say, well, it's a four dumb conclusion, they'll have the Lord's table. [00:27:14] And really I felt like going and getting hold of the brother and saying, now listen here, we've spent a whole day in prayer and fasting. If you go and spend a whole day prayer and fasting. Okay, so at the end of it, what did we do? We decided that we felt quite clear. The Lord said, you had the Lord say. We said, we will give. I think it was three months or six months, I can't remember. We will give notice in the name of the Lord that in such and such a number of months we will be having the Lord's table again. And of course that broke it. [00:27:44] But you see, it was interesting how we learned to be of this one mind. Now, these were less. We learned earlier, before we actually left the various denominations, those of us who constituted the nucleus of the company here, before we actually left, our various connections, all were put out. Some were put out, others left. [00:28:13] We saw what we called them, the centaur centrality of the Lord Jesus. That was the phrase. Some of you will remember that phrase, the centrality. It absolutely came in like a tornado and gripped us. Now, again, it was something we had known for quite a time, but it had never been defined. We had this one or two studies on Koinonia meeting night, which was Friday night, if I remember. And it was on the centrality. We traced it, it through the scripture. The Lord Jesus in the whole old testament. The Lord Jesus in the New Testament, the centrality. We found some amazing things. He's not only the center, he's the circumference. He is not only the foundation, he is the head. He is the fullness. He is all in all, we found some amazing. Eugene must remember. For us, it was a thrill. We'd never heard of such things. [00:29:03] We nearly went over the moon. [00:29:05] It was so wonderful. And then it was as if a tremendous amount of life began to come into us spiritually. We became alive to God in a new way because we got right in our relationship with the Lord Jesus. We saw the priorities, and one by one we put things aside and gave him his rightful place. Then we said, he must have his place completely in our midst. He must be head, he must be foundation. He must be life. He must be power. He must be our wisdom. He must be our all. Now some people began to say, well, they're going over overboard, you see, they're getting extreme. It's Jesus. Jesus, Jesus. Jesus. With them, I mean, there's nothing else. But we were just in love with him. I mean, it was amazing. Now, any of you who were there and those that you remember those days, because none of us ever forgot. And it is an interesting fact that all those letters of resignation that went, one of the reasons why it was said that I gave a master copy for everybody to take their own letter from was that in the vast majority of letters, the reason for going, people said, was they'd come to the conclusion that the Lord Jesus could never be central and could never have his full place in such and such a setup. That's in fact, what led us in the end to the conclusion that there was no point going on. It's a very sad thing. We had. I had loved the place I was in, really loved it. I had. I had fought for it, preached for it, worked for it, adored, I hear a worship to the pastor, everything I can think of in those years. But in the end, I came to the terrible conclusion. I was nearly sick. In one way. I felt like Daniel when he had his vision, you know, and was sick for many days. I suddenly saw one day that with all the goodwill in the world, we create an organization which in the end becomes a substitute for the Lord Jesus. [00:31:11] We create something that in the end crystallizes, institutionalizes, and takes the place of the Lord Jesus. And you may wish with all your heart that he had his place. You may have a pastor who longs that he has his place. And deacons, even some deacons who want his habit and certainly some of the members who want, but he can never have it. I remember the pastor of the church I was in saying to me one day, listen, Lance, if we were to have, if the Lord were to say to us that we should have a week of prayer, he would have to give us two years notice. [00:31:47] We had so many organizations, so many youth, so much youth work, so all graded right down to the youngsters, and they've all arranged their speakers. He says, as soon as we say we think we should have a week of prayer, everyone howls. The mothers union says, oh, we've got so, and it's been arranged for a year. And someone else got the young wives say, we've got so and so coming, a national speaker. It was arranged a year and a half ago and someone said, we can't leave the youngsters and we go. And that is why those of you responsible in different parts and the aspects of the work here is why we've always said when we have a week of prayer, everything else is cancelled. [00:32:22] We never want to get into that trap where in the end, like we did there, we would say, we'll have a week of prayer, but the other things will go on as well. And what happens? You have a meager few, everyone else wrapped up in all kinds of they never can get together on their knees before the Lord. Of course, there are problems connected with this, but we felt priorities are priorities. Sometimes it's a good thing for everyone to drop the whole world and get on their knees before God. [00:32:48] But we found a very simple thing that people just couldn't. The Lord Jesus could not have his place. You see, we always felt in many of our places as if suddenly we were so near to revival. But we always came up to it and always fell away. [00:33:04] It sometimes the most tremendous and anointed messages were brought to us and we felt as if the whole thing was right, teetering on the brink of a breakthrough, and then it would fall right the way back. [00:33:21] We came to the conclusion that with all the goodwill in the world, all the devotion in the world, when you've created a system that is not organic but is out from our own flesh, now this is pure Calvinism, out from our own flesh. It becomes a substitute in the end to the headship of Jesus Christ. [00:33:50] Strangely enough, at that time we didn't really so clearly see the church. [00:33:55] I had begun to see something. I had begun to see that the church is Jesus, the Lord Jesus. I saw that the body and head together, its wonderful. He is the head, we are the body. But it actually says in one corinthians chapter twelve and verse twelve, talking about the body, so also is Christ. [00:34:20] It doesnt say, so also is Christ, who is the head of the body, or so also is the body of Christ, of which Christ is hidden. It says, so also is Christ. Talking about the body, its that the body is like Christ, so also is Christ. [00:34:36] And I saw then that the church is not an all congregation of saved people. Yes, of course it is, but that is on a lower level. You must still go through to another level. [00:34:50] You've got to enter into a new dimension. The church is the Lord Jesus, because essentially the church is when we are in him and he is in us. That is the church. The essential principle of the church is union with God in Christ. [00:35:11] Now, when we see that everything else begins to fall into place, we suddenly realize you cant organize Christ. You see, it seems to be blasphemous. You can organise a congregation, but you cant organize Christ. [00:35:27] As soon as you realize the church is Christ, all you can do is pray. All you can do is know the mind of the head. All you can do is do the mind of the head. Do you understand? And so know the life from the head. And that's what the New Testament says. Growing up into him who is the head, from whom the whole body fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplies, and so on and so on, builds up itself in love. In other words, we found out that the church is supremely a relationship to the Lord Jesus, and then a relationship to one another. Now come back to the house. [00:36:12] We suddenly saw. I saw first, and then I think others began to see too, more or less simultaneously, that this old house was a sign. [00:36:22] It was a picture of the house of God, derelict, ruined. [00:36:29] You couldn't put your weight on it. The beams wouldn't take you. You'd hurtle, as it were, into the earth below. [00:36:39] You couldn't. [00:36:41] There was rots, dry rot, fungus of all descriptions. In the church there were wood boring beetles. I will not stop to say what, but there are wood boring beetles, things that gnaw away at the vitals of the church, until in the end, suddenly, with a crass, the whole thing goes floor after floor, the roof, caves in doors, drop the powder. That's what's happened to the church. We saw it. We saw that this magnificent conception of God, this, this heart's desire of God, had somehow or other been dragged down to earth. And the people of God were trapped within system after system, with different labels, or whatever you like to call it. And somehow or other, the dry rot had come in, beginning at the beginning with wet rot and then going into dry rotation, until in the end it just went away to powder. It was no great frontal assault of the enemy, always. Sometimes it was just the introduction of certain conditions which created dry rot and then it seeped through. Always. Dry rot is a terrible thing. It can go right under the whole floor and you don't even see it. And we saw all the house of God. We have been part of it, we are in it. The dry rot's gone right under. While we've been singing, while we've been having our great meetings and entertaining one another with all kinds of things, our choir pieces and everything else. The rot's gone right under. [00:38:17] And then, of course, we saw these other things, too, about this house. Foundations, roof covering, power. [00:38:31] There wasn't a bit of electricity in this whole house when we came, nor was there any gas. The gas things stood there. They'd been there since victorian days. Amazing things. I always wish we'd taken photos, but none of us had cameras. That shows you how poor we were. I mean, none of us had any camera, even to say, not even a box camera to take pictures in those days. So we. We never got of the very beginning. But I always wished we'd got pictures of those extraordinary things that hung from the ceilings. I have never seen them anywhere else. I suppose others might have done, if they've been into such. But it was like going into that old fairy tale of sleeping beauty, stepping back into the centuries, something that had been closed up and just left for many, many, many years. And then suddenly you walk back into it. Well, all I can say, there was no water either. Now, all these things had for us very real significance. We saw that the house of God, the church of God in our day and generation was like this house. There were things in it that should not be there. [00:39:41] There was no protection from the elements, there was no covering. The foundations had gone, there was no light, there was no power, and there was no water, no life. [00:39:57] It was a very interesting thing that when God first purchased it, he then did four things simultaneously. The foundations and the roof and the power and the water went in simultaneously. [00:40:18] Now, which of those four would you say is the most essential? [00:40:22] I don't know. [00:40:24] I say that those are the four great essentials for the recovery of the church of God. [00:40:32] Foundations, covering or headship, power and water. [00:40:44] Life. [00:40:46] Four things. [00:40:50] We saw it. Do you remember my word, our prayer meetings in those days, we did pray for the nation and we prayed for the nations. [00:41:00] But I think the biggest burden we ever had in those days was just that the house of God would be built. We were up against it. Let me tell you something. When I used to go around anywhere, or when I was asked, which was not very much in those days, to speak here or to speak there, I would go. And I had only one burden for the house of God, because this was the message which God had given us. This was really the vision he'd given us. And we went and we shared, but, you know, people's mouths were just. They would just drop open. People would sort of come up afterwards, say, I've never heard anyone speak on the church before. Now, this is 1950. In the 1950s, in the early 1960s, people had never heard of the church. I remember one pastor's wife writing a letter to a mother of one of our girls saying, I think all this business about the church is so petty when we're in the presence of the Lord. Well, see that? It was just needless. [00:42:05] And this was the wife of an evangelical leader of great standing. [00:42:12] You know, it was the Vatican Council and the World Council of Churches that forced believers all over the world to face the problem of the church. They had to face the. What is the church? Wherein does the unity of God's people truly lie? How can we manifest that unity? 20 years ago, 25 years ago, 20 years ago, 15 years ago, even those things were the cinderella in church, christian church circles, in evangelical circles, there was. I used to say to people, where do you find hymns on the church? Three or four at the very most, in all our hymn books. Where can you find a book on the church where we used to search for it? [00:43:01] Where do you find a book on the unity of believers? Where do you find a book looking at the biblical basis for our oneness and how it can be manifested? You will not find it anywhere. [00:43:14] Now, of course, you know, or all of you. This evening we are in a totally different atmosphere. All over the country, people talk about the church, talk about the body sometimes in terms which one feels are not healthy. I mean, people are always coming up to me and saying, we've got a body. We've got a body in Chicago and I. [00:43:34] And someone says, we've got a body in Stuttgart. A body in Stuttgart. [00:43:40] I mean, how can you have a body in Stuttgart? It sounds so irreverent, so awful. I want to ask, had they really seen, can they talk about the body of the Lord Jesus like that? We have a body, and so on. But the interesting thing is this, that in 25 years, the whole climate of the people of God has changed so that everyone talks about the church and the body of Christ. And it is no stupidity to talk about it. Everyone knows it is essential. [00:44:08] This is always when God recovers things. When God recovered the truth of justification, everyone laughed. Martin Luther and the others to scorn. Within a hundred years, it was a household word throughout every single believing family in the world. [00:44:28] When the early brownists or early Anabaptists talked about baptism, they were drowned in SAP, their heads held underwater as their way of execution. [00:44:45] People laughed them to scorn, held them in the highest division. Today, believers, baptism is a fact that is known from end to end of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Anglicans get baptized as believers. Now Episcopalians get baptized. Presbyterians get baptized, and then they go back into their own groups. But they get that because it's accepted. [00:45:10] It is interesting, isn't it? We have lived to see this matter of the church become a household word. [00:45:17] I will not say that everybody understands. No, no, no. If only there was greater clarity. But at least any more than everyone understands justification, they may know the word and know that it is truth, but do they understand it? Have they had revelation on it on any of these other matters? Now I find this tremendous, these four essentials. Foundations. We began to say, oh, how we prayed for the building of the house of God, how we came to be clear about our own foundations. What is our foundation? Shall our foundation be Jesus Christ plus this truth, or that truth, or this experience or that experience? No, we said, our foundation will be Jesus Christ crucified him alone. That is our foundation. That is the foundation. It says in one corinthians, chapter 311, that has been laid by God and can never be laid again. It is the foundation Jesus Christ. Then we thought, what is the minimum then? Well, of course, it does include doctrine, because it is. We cannot obviously have a foundation with those who do not believe in the divinity of the Lord Jesus, who do not believe in the triune God, who do not believe in the authority and inspiration. There's a minimum of truth. That is true. But we're not going to fight on details. [00:46:32] Our ground from the very beginning was that those who see the matter of the sovereignty of God and those who major on the human responsibility are two ends of one truth and must be kept together if you're going to have fullness. You've got those who want to go out from house to house, reaching men and women for Christ, and those who want always have meetings with the deep of spiritual life. We've got to keep the two together. [00:46:57] We saw this. We have those who are more emotional, more noisy, and those who are very quiet and more cautious. We must keep the people together, not fragment into temperamental groups and then spiritualize it. As if caution and quietness is spiritual. It can be thoroughly soulish, or that noise and emotion is spiritual. We all know that can be thoroughly soulless. [00:47:28] But when we keep together, we on that foundation. [00:47:32] You can't build a house without a foundation. You must have the foundation, and the house takes its character from its foundation. And we found this matter of foundation so interesting. And oh, how I do trust that God has shown you. Do you know why you're here? Are you here because you like the people? My dear friend, I'll tell you something. You'll last a few years. [00:47:57] It'll be a question of what type of grit you've got. [00:48:03] If you've got churchillian grit, you will last quite a number of years, but the enemy will finally get you. That is no foundation. People sometimes come because they like the people. Sometimes they come because they like the ministry. And then of course when the ministry disappears, they have to disappear. Sometimes people come because they like the place and then they find it too hot and they decide that although they like the place, they don't like the atmosphere. And then you've got people who come because somehow or they feel it's more alive there. [00:48:33] These are not bases for coming. That's not the foundation. The foundation is simply this, the Lord Jesus. And because you live in this area, if you live in this area, then the foundation is Jesus Christ. Youve got to be together. Now you may say, well, I dont know about that, okay, but were going to be together up there. [00:48:54] Now I have got to know the Lord sufficiently to know he has a great sense of humour. [00:49:00] And I do believe that many of us will be sharing rooms in eternity. [00:49:05] We have never got on with one another down here and have fled from each other. But the Lord will say, no, what were you doing down there? Running away? [00:49:15] Or you say, but I'll be different up there. No, no, no. Temperamentally you'll still be the same. [00:49:21] Your personality will say, you won't have any sin, but you will be you. [00:49:28] I mean, we might as well all get on with it down here, really get to know each other, understand each other, love each other, serve each other, care for each other and hold to Jesus Christ and him crucified. [00:49:43] And that alone. [00:49:45] It is what goes beyond that that causes our problems. [00:49:50] If I find the Lord Jesus in you, I can accept that. But it's then when I go beyond that to find the other thing, there are my problem. Foundation. [00:50:02] Why are you here? You're here because you were saved. You say here because you. Well, yes, that's good. That's a good answer. You're here because it's the will of God for you to be here. How deceitful can we be? Maybe next week you will feel it's the will of God for you to be just half a mile away. [00:50:23] That is not God hasn't given us the book in a bathian way. Karl Barth was a real believer, but he believed that this book was only the word of God insofar as it spoke to you. So if Genesis speaks to me, it is the word of God, but it doesn't speak to Paul. It isn't the word of God. He has a bible without Genesis because God has never spoken to him through Genesis. Now that is a subjective way of looking at it, but that is precisely the way we all look at fellowship. [00:50:57] God hasn't sort of said, now look here, I'll edge it this way and put it that way. This is more suitable to you, or this may be more suitable to you. Just like the Bible, he's defined the canon of the holy, of holy writ. It's defined. So he has defined fellowship for us. And he says, within that, we have to have. We have to be built together, we have to live together, we have to dwell together in unity, as it says in psalm 133. We have to overcome together and so on and so forth. This matter of foundations, I think, is very, very important. We saw a lot of things on this matter. We saw, for instance, not only our oneness. My were we tested at times to put some people out, but we found there were only one or two grounds upon which you could put a person out. Immorality and heresy. [00:51:46] You could not put them out for any other reason. And therefore we found the only way with difficult people was to warn them, to discipline them. But we had to love them and care for them. [00:52:00] There was one brother who was with us who, when he finally died, even his family had went to him. They couldn't hardly bear it. [00:52:12] I think it was the folks here that had to finally be with him in the end. [00:52:19] Foundations. We saw the local nature of the church very clearly. Not at the beginning, but later on we saw that the church is. [00:52:29] The church is expressed in locality and place. We don't want to make a great majoring on this, but our point is this, that you, there's only. The unity of Christ is indivisible. The only way you can correctly divide it is geographically. [00:52:49] If you do it continentally, you have racial unity, you will have oriental believers, you will have american believers, you will have european, european believers and so on. You will have african believers. But God doesn't do that. Nor does he do it nationally, or you will have national divisions. Nor does he do it in any other way. He does it simply by locality. In this way, races, nations, black, white, yellow, red, all brought together. [00:53:19] Where we live, we have to get together, we have to be together, we have to stay together. We have to allow the Lord to do the work in us. [00:53:26] And if we really believe in an eternity and in an age to come, this is where the real education takes place and where we are really being trained. Everyone believes in some kind of training. Many of you older ones, I think, wish, oh, if only. When I was younger, I'd thought more about training. I'd allowed, I'd listened a bit more, if I'd only when I was young, taken the opportunity that were given. But I didn't. Now God is giving us all opportunities for training, and there will be many a regret in the kingdom, many a tear to be wiped away, because people will say, oh, if only, if only I'd let the Lord do what he wanted to do. If only I'd allowed him to train me. I'm disqualified now from the throne because I would never allow him to train me for eternal government. It's here that we are trained within our fellowship together, in our rubbing up against each other, in the fact that we live in the same locality as believers. Well, that's foundations. And then this matter of covering was also as important. At the same time, the foundation was done, the roof was done. Praise the Lord. And the covering is a very important thing. All the dry rot in this building came because there was a great valley there, and originally this was in the garden. In 1780, this whole part was in the garden. And down there came a great big outside drain pipe carrying all the waters from the roof next door and that roof. When they built this on, they enclosed the pipe inside, but then it became a much bigger roof and it could not take the water. When the leaves collected in the pipe, it overflowed and water poured right the way down that wall and caused all the dry rot in this building. It all came from that. Where did it come from? [00:55:19] The covering. The covering had gone, and when the covering had gone, the elements got in, and when the elements got in, the conditions were created for dry rot. [00:55:33] That rot went through downstairs like a bomb. Gee, I shall never forget when Bill lifted up the floor downstairs and we put our head underneath, we had been all on top of it. Well, the whole thing was a sea of white cotton wool. [00:55:52] It was incredible when those were down. And that great big beam which took the two roofs with the, you know, first the beam came down, then the cross things, and then there was the big beam underneath it. That huge, huge beam that ran right across there had gone to powder dry. What? [00:56:10] Because there wasn't the right covering. What is covering? Covering is to know the lordship of Jesus Christ, to hear him and do his will. That is covering, practically. You may say, oh, I believe in the covering the name of Jesus. The name is you. But if you disobey him, you're out of covering. [00:56:34] Covering is to hear him and do his work. In that way. You state it. Covering is to obey those that have the rule over you. We don't want a major of that. Some have, but it is. There is a place for authority, and we have to submit to authority. Sometimes they're wrong, but it's the way we submit and the way we give it over to the Lord and the way we set about clearing up something where we feel the brethren are wrong that reveals our own heart, we can get out of covering. Now, the Bible says we are to submit one to another. That's very hard. Here is something quite mutual. What does it mean, submit one to a man? It means when we change a job, let's bring it into prayer. When we move our house, bring it into prayer. Oh, no, no, no. We don't any of that. We don't. We've heard about that in such and such a part of the country. Yes, yes, yes. I know it's got right out of hand in some places, but it is absolute truth in its essence. How can we, as members of the body, act as if we are not members of the body? Are we only members of the body when we sing hymns, when we listen to the word of God? Or are we members of the body all the time? If so, how can I go and do this or go and do that and not bring it into fellowship? How can I not bring it up now? It's not that the church wants to dictate. It's that the church will be your security. [00:57:53] I have seen believer after believer make terrible mistakes in this matter, buy things, do things, go off here, go off there, get into this job and get into absolute misery. And then they've turned against the people of God. [00:58:08] And it all comes back to the beginning that if they'd only come out in the open and been honest. [00:58:14] It's not that. If the church is wise, it will never say so and so. Do so and so. That would be extremely unwise, these kind of words of prophecy. Brother so and so. The Lord says, you shall marry sister so and so. It very rarely works out in some quarters. This is what happens. And it's caused tragedy, absolute tragedy. But our matter of being one together in this matter, that is important. It's part of the covering. Now, when the covering goes, what happens? The elements get in the powers of darkness come in and tamper with our minds, and suddenly we're filled with insinuation about the believers and about everything to do with them. We're filled with criticism. And before long, we feel alienated in alienating, alien. And then we feel almost embarrassed to face them. The dry rot is in, and it spreads underground right the way through the whole of our bill, our building, as it were, our life, until the thing collapses, one thing after another. Now, here's an interesting thing. When Bill opened up the air bricks, what happened? A month later, we put our heads under the floorboards again. He had them up. And right across that white cotton wall were avenues of dark brown earth. [00:59:27] The dry rock died. Where did the dry rock die? The moment air was let in. [00:59:37] We get into such a position over this whole matter of covering. You know, we fight against it. We have. There are many arguments. I could give you a few myself. [00:59:47] If you want a few good arguments against this whole matter of covering and the lordship of Christ, I'll supply you with a few. I've gone through it all myself, but I've also found out the other side, and that is this. That in the end, you are left a lonely, unhappy, miserable member of the body of Christ, living as if there are no other members at all in existence. [01:00:13] Covering. [01:00:17] Oh, it's an important matter, this. It is, of course, supremely a matter of being under the headship of Jesus. [01:00:24] Now, if I'm under the lordship of Jesus Christ and you're under the lordship of Jesus Christ, something happens to us. How can two walk together except they be agreed? [01:00:33] We have to walk in the light. What does it mean to walk in the light? It means I walk in an openness with you, and you walk in an openness with me. It's as simple as that. [01:00:42] Means that you're not afraid of me, that somehow you think if I say so and so, so I hear jump and you say with me. Now, of course there are problems here because we're all human beings. [01:00:54] But if we see this matter of covering, my word, it'll help us. Is it not interesting that this matter of foundations, even though it may not be wholly understood, is now gone? All over the world, there are believers everywhere who talk about what is the foundation upon which we sometimes in farmhouses, in homes, in halls, all over the place. So there's covering my word, this matter of covering submission authority and submission of discipleship. It's become a huge thing. [01:01:27] It is incredible, really. And then, of course, there is this matter of power. No electricity. [01:01:34] Oh, dear. We learned that the bitter way in this company. We certainly knew about the power of his resurrection, but we were deeply suspicious about anything pentecostal. [01:01:46] We felt that you could keep, that the real thing was the power of his resurrection. I remember some years sort of later afterwards thinking to myself how very funny it is that in our phraseology we use. I don't think I ever hear anybody speak about the power of the Holy Spirit, ever. [01:02:06] It's just a phrase that's never used, yet it's everywhere in the New Testament. I don't hear, we speak of the power of his resurrection. [01:02:16] Power. You've got to have power. You know, to change an old house like this, you need power. It's light, yes, but you need power for all other kinds of things too. My word, when the power got in, the changes started to come. [01:02:35] I just think of the central heating alone, my that transformed this old dry rock infested place when there was power to spark the boiler and power to get the pumps pumping, something right around the home building. Oh my goodness, we were so thankful. Power. [01:02:53] Yes, well, I just mentioned that I think it's important. It's not just a matter of doctrine. We've got to know the power of God, and we've got to function and contribute and grow and participate and overcome. How can you contribute? You all know what it is. People come in and sort of say, oh, it's no good me contributing all that lot there. And I mean, they're also perfect and all the rest, but I can't. So we broke up into house groups. It's an interesting thing that people now, they've still got the same thing, even though now it's not all that great, but sometimes it's just still people dont contribute. Why? Because theres no power. [01:03:33] God finally corners us on this thing that its not other people and its not atmospheres. In the end, its a matter of power. We all have to enter into our experience of the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit. Then the light gets on, then the light begins to shine, and then all other kinds of things begin to happen. You need power. It's essential. [01:03:57] It's essential. [01:03:59] You cannot have the functioning of the body of Christ without the power of the Holy Spirit. [01:04:06] And then of course there is this matter of the water of life, the word of God, as well as the life of God. Life coming through the word. Isn't ministry a mouth theme? [01:04:20] Real ministry? When it's real ministry of Christ, it's life giving all of a sudden, all kinds of situations that have been static suddenly begin to move because life comes in through the ministry of God's word. [01:04:36] There is a dearth of ministry. Years ago I once asked Mister Sparks, what do you think will be the end of the charismatic moment? This was about 64, I don't know about them back then. And what do you think will be the end of the charismatic movement? Maybe it was later than that. And he said, he thought for a moment and then he said, in ten years time, there will be the biggest cry that there has ever been for real ministry. [01:05:07] Exactly. It's exactly what, what does happen. [01:05:11] This moving of the spirit of God all over the globe has produced not only vision and revelation, so that people have for the first time begun to see the body of Christ and begun to see what real fellowship is and what the oneness of Christ is and the need to be built together. But it has brought now a tremendous cry for ministry, for teaching, for teaching. [01:05:35] Everywhere I go, they say the same. It's teaching we need, we must have teaching. [01:05:41] We've got the experience, we've got this and this. We've had tremendous experiences of the law, but we need teaching. [01:05:49] Water of life, oh, how we need that. [01:05:55] We need this reviving and renewing through the word, this being washed by the word, the word of God, the living word of God. Oh, well, four essentials. And then one other thing. [01:06:10] The house was only the beginning. [01:06:15] The house was turned into a home just because God made foundations right and roof right and put electricity in and put water in, didn't do anything. I mean, can you imagine what it would have been like? But the wonderful thing about this old house was that God then said, now I've got that. That's the essential. Now I turn the whole place into a home. And from that moment, the grandfather clock came, the very first thing. I mean, we all laughed and, well, everybody else laughed, I know I laughed about it, because it seems that everyone said, well, you've got a grandmother clock, we haven't even got things to sit on with no tables, we've got no chairs, you've got an old grandmother clock. [01:06:50] But God knew exactly what he was doing. What he was saying was this, now listen, everybody, listen. I'm not interested in an institution. I'm not just interested in you, anyone being a little rose. I want to turn the whole thing into a home. The first thing I give you is a clock, a grandfather clock, same age as the house. And so it came. And then after that came all those other things, pictures, carpets, pieces of furniture, all period room after room, until the whole house was done. People sort of look and they said, oh, did it really have? Yes, it did really happen. And not a penny came out of the treasury either. [01:07:27] Sometimes the things were extraordinary downstairs. I don't want to advertise it too much. On my desk is a little cedar wood tray, Chinese inlaid mother of pearl, which is one of the most valuable small items in the whole of this house that I tripped over on the front doormat. [01:07:48] I opened the front door and fell over it, half cursing that someone had left a basket right on the door. I noticed this extraordinary little piece, picked it up and looked at those chinese soldiers going to war. [01:08:03] It is incredible. [01:08:07] Why did God do a thing like that? Because he was saying, I'm turning this place into a home. I don't want it just to have. Just to be a kind of institution or just a kind of doss house or a kind of meeting place. I want it to be home. I wanted to have all the embellishments of a home. And that's why God changed the colors. We had certain ideas of colors, for instance, for the library, and other things got slightly changed, but the end result was much better. The music room was exactly the same, slightly changed, much better. People go and say, oh, oh, not everyone, of course, because these things don't suit everybody. But I mean, a lot of people do go and they say, oh, isn't it beautiful? What taste. [01:08:49] So sometimes some of us come into glory, you know, on this thing because people think, of course, you see it so and so. [01:08:56] But we know that we had to go by what God provided. When we found a bale of cloth on the door, at the door, we could do no other than you. [01:09:05] When we had those two carpets sold in Hampton sale, literally the same color, the same broad loom, a better quality, the right size of the same loom in the sale, what could we do? We had to get it. We got it. So we got the color. [01:09:26] God turned it into a home. Now the great tragedy of evangelical Christianity has been meeting itus, or better still, spectatoritis. [01:09:40] The whole thing is that we sit on our behinds and listen no more. That's all. It's as simple as that. So we have developed a relationship between pulpit and pew, where the pew does nothing but listen and where the. The pulpit is paid to do everything from the opening to the finish. [01:10:05] God wants to turn a house into a home. You can have the house. It may be right, but a home takes far more. [01:10:15] You don't. Even a furniture doesn't give the atmosphere of a home. [01:10:19] It's a quality that is elusive. Into some houses you will go and immediately you feel home. Into another house you will go and it's all there. But it's not home, you know it inside, and that's exactly what God wants. And what really is, in the end, the thing that makes a home love. [01:10:43] That is the final quality that turns out house into a home. Anything less means that there's an element of the institutional about the whole thing. It's just not home. [01:11:00] But when you step into a place where there's real love, the moment you step in there is that warmth, there is that sense there, that sense of belonging, that something in the very atmosphere that is, cannot really be defined by which you, which the Bible calls the love of God. Well, now, that is the sign, and I think that gives us a key for the future. [01:11:28] Our time's gone again this evening, as you can well see. [01:11:32] But the fact is that really, when we take the whole story of this house and the sign that God has made it, what does it do for me and what does it do for you? First of all, I think it means we have a tremendous responsibility entrusted that why did God do this here? [01:11:58] Why not somewhere else? [01:12:00] Now, this isn't because we're special people or more zealous people or more devoted people. I believe God came to us and said, here is a bunch of green youngsters. [01:12:12] They don't know where they're going, but they're trusting me. [01:12:16] They've fallen into my arms and they want to stay there. [01:12:21] I will do this thing amongst them because I think it may be that I will be able to constitute here an instant instrument of prayer and intercession that will affect the whole of my purpose in this generation. [01:12:38] Now, I'm not saying this just to this company, but I mean, through the dissemination of what God would do amongst us gradually, everywhere, perhaps it would come more by prayer than even ministry. [01:12:52] Now, over this house there's been a battle. [01:12:56] That battle has raged over every single stage of its completion. And I often used to say to Margaret and I and some of the others right at the very beginning, whatever will it be like when we come to the end, if we've had such a battle over that library that it nearly drove us into the ground, I used to think, what's wrong with the powers of darkness and heaven? I really did. I say, I've got an irreverent nature, but sometimes we laughed about it, and I believe even the law have to smile about it too, because we used to say, why is it that there is such a conflict over the bricks and mortar here. Why is Satan raging around the place? And those of us who were there, you will remember how Satan raged. It was incredible. It was as if he was absolutely here. And of course, the sign explained it to us. Satan hates a sign, just like the hated Lazarus. [01:13:47] It was something that rang a bell. As far as hell was concerned. [01:13:52] That thing is a picture and they hate even the picture. [01:14:01] We certainly had battles over. You remember, we've had to get together, pray things through, get on our knees at various times of day and night over things and seen it through. And then we thought, what's going to happen again? And here we are at the last room and we have as big a battle as we've ever had in the whole history over the completion of that last room. [01:14:23] Now my point is that is a picture of the completion of the house of God. [01:14:29] It's going to be a battle. If you and I think that at the end there's going to be the marvelous thing with people on every side, millions of them, all absolutely perfect, all devoted, all full of zeal, not a breath of criticism or antagonism or insinuation or faction anywhere. We've got another thing coming. I believe that the house of God will be completed in the midst of the most incredible confusion, in the midst of people being worn out by pressure from the powers of. Are we not feeling it? I have never anywhere known, not anywhere. I've never at any time known so much weariness amongst the young people as well as the older ones as today. [01:15:11] Everywhere we go we find the same thing. I sometimes wonder how we did it ten years, 15 years ago when we not only met in all the meetings we have, but also went into all other kinds of things. [01:15:24] It is a work of the enemy to wear out the saints, having been unable to smash us from frontal attacks or by other means to come in by weariness, until one after another we drop out. [01:15:40] Can't go on. [01:15:42] It's a battle. But thank God he's going to complete it. He said, Zerubbabel's hands laid the foundation that is the Lord Jesus. His hands shall finish it. And not by might nor by power, but by my spirit. The mountain will become a plain and the top stone shall be brought forth with shouts of grace, grace unto it. I wish I could speak about many other aspects, as I would love to. I will tomorrow take some as the Lord leads us. Either something about prayer or some of the other lessons. But one thing I want to just say this evening and close. [01:16:19] We had, for the first time in our whole history, a burglary. [01:16:24] It was a silly, nonsensical little burglary. [01:16:28] Someone who must have been, and I envy him very greatly, so slim that he got through the lady's window and swiped just a mantelshelf of brass and copper. A few years ago, I would have said to you that brass and that thing was the least valuable in the whole house. Of course, today it would fetch quite a lot, especially the one little copper, hand beaten copper plate. That was a georgian, a very early georgian piece that was very valuable. [01:17:02] And I know that we have sought as a company, the Lord. What does this mean? Various things have been suggested to me. Could it be this? Could it be that? Could it be the other? Do you know, I believe it is one very simple little thing. And I wondered whether we could at least not. I mean, go away and think about it and pray about it. I wonder whether the Lord is just saying, basically, you're moving, right? [01:17:29] Basically, you're holding to the vision. But carelessness has come in just a carelessness, that's all. [01:17:42] And without knowing it, some of the treasure ive given you has departed. [01:17:50] Not the big things, not the valuable things. [01:17:55] But if you go on being careless, youll lose the rest. [01:18:01] Now, I wonder whether that may well be the key to that little incident. [01:18:07] You see, we are getting careless. As we get bigger, we can't help it. We get bigger and bigger and bigger. And so in one sense, we all think, well, someone else will do it, someone else will do it. This one will go there, that one will go there, and no one does it. [01:18:25] Our care for one another, our love for one another. It must be greater than ever if we go, if we're going to grow larger. And I say this to those who are most responsible, as well as to myself, because it is not just a question of just everyone, just a few of us on the periphery. It's all of us. [01:18:49] We can leave a little window open in the house of God, and the powers of darkness can slip through and rob, they have seen now the inside, and they can plan for something much bigger to take much, much more. Unless you and I do what has been done here and smarten up and see that the catch goes on here and the catch goes on there, and this is done, and that is done and the other. Now, spiritually, that's what we ought to be doing. We ought to be saying to ourselves, may God give us grace. May he he help us now to really understand our history and understand our calling and then love him and love one another more than we have ever done before. [01:19:40] May he give us such grace and out of that kind of care for him and for his things and his people, I believe we shall be safeguarded in days that lie ahead. For in the end, I mean, I could say to you, I believe the future, the path in the future lies here and here and here. [01:20:07] And one could do a disservice much better to say the part in the future will be trod and the course finished if we are 100% sensitive to him, if we love him, cleave to him and serve him with all our hearts. If we care for one another and love our neighbour as ourself and love the sojourner in our midst, then God will take us over into the complete fulfillment of all his purpose for us. Only God can do that. May he burden our hearts with that and help us to go through in such a way that we are walking with him and at the end found in the centre of his will. Shall we pray? [01:21:14] Lord, we lift up our hearts to thee and we pray that thou make something of this evening's time to remain forever in our hearts. [01:21:25] Lord, we've talked about the meaning and significance of this old house and the way that thou hast provided for it. O Lord, write this thing indelibly in our hearts. Engrave it there in our spirits. O God, do this work and we shall give to thee all the praise and the glory in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.