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[ Applause ] >> You wanted to get a picture with you, standing here in the books. Come on.

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>> Dr. Williams, Dr. Hill, distinguished leaders of this conference on evangelism, I come to you today both empty and full, and inspired by what I have already seen

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and heard yesterday and today. If anything ever happens to Cliff Barrows, I want Miss Cobb to come. (audience laughing)

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If anything happens to Ethel Waters and she can't sing "The Eyes on the Sparrow," I want her to come and sing it in one of our crusades. (audience applauding)

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I thought at first that Dr. Williams was talking about me when he said that that conservative was stirred up back there. (audience laughing)

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Or that he heard a Southern Baptist almost get happy. Well, I've met a Lutheran and an Episcopalian here and they're getting happy. (audience laughing)

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And when that can happen, revival's just around the corner. (audience laughing) But this has been a great music that we have heard from both the choir and Mrs. Cobb.

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And I'm reminded of a story I heard the other day, maybe you've already heard it. But a fella was writing his mother from the guardhouse. He'd been in the army one week,

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and he was already in the guardhouse. And he wrote and he said, "Dear Mother, "you won't believe what's happened to me in one week." Said, "I got here and said the first thing they did

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"was cut my hair off. "And said the second thing they did, "they took my uniform, "they took my clothes off and gave me a uniform.

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"Then they took my name away and gave me a number "and my number's 196. "And said, 'Mother, you wouldn't believe it.' said they'd get us up every morning at five o'clock

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and we have to march and go over obstacles all day long and we come in at night and we just fall into bed. And said, "Mother, you wouldn't believe "the things they do to us."

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And said, "I was waiting for Sunday. "I knew that Sunday would be a day of rest "and I was dreaming about it all week. "But Mother, you wouldn't believe it."

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On Sunday morning, they got us up not at five, but at four. And they made us march 25 miles to church. And mother, you know, being a Catholic, I'd never been in a Protestant church before.

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And said in the middle of the service, the priest got up and said, "196, are you weary and heavy laden?" (audience laughing)

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And he said, "I stood up and I said, "Yes, sir, I'm weary of heavy laden." (audience laughing) And said, "I've been in the army a week

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"and you're the first man that has said a kind word to me "since I've been here." And said, "Mother, I'm in the guard house." (audience laughing)

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Now, when Dr. Hill preached sometime ago in Atlanta, he told about that when a preacher feels that he's got a weak sermon after listening to strong sermons,

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he usually says, "I've caught a cold. (audience laughing) "I'm just not up to par. "I haven't been feeling well this past week."

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Well, Brother Hill, after listening to some of these sermons here, I believe mine's gone into pneumonia. (audience laughing)

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Because these have been some tremendous messages, and we've got some great messages yet to come. I don't know whether they told you about the story of the old Texan.

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A lot of you are from Texas. And he was an old prospector, and he came into this little village down in Texas, and this Texas cowboy,

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who was a town bully, came up to him and said, "Old man, do you know how to dance?" He said, "No."

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He said, "I don't know how to dance." He said, "Well, you're gonna learn." He pulled out both six shooters and he began to shoot at his feet

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and the old man began to dance. And when he had emptied the six shooters, the old man went over to his saddlebag, pulled out a sawed off shotgun

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and held it up to him and he said, "Cowboy," he said, "have you ever kissed a mule?" (audience laughing) And the cowboy looked at that shotgun.

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He said, "No." He said, "I've never kissed a mule, "but I always wanted to." (audience laughing)

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Now, I've always wanted to attend a conference like this, where you could get white and black together singing and preaching about Jesus. Because he is the one force in the universe that can unite us.

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And there is no other force. Now they've assigned me a subject. I flew in with Brother Odie here yesterday, heard him preach last night.

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and my word, what a sermon. I was trying to think how many white clergymen I know in America could preach a sermon like that, and I couldn't think of a single one.

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We don't have any preachers today. Where are the great preachers? I believe that they're in the black churches. And I believe if revival comes to America

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and renewal comes to America, it may be the black church is gonna have to lead the way. You've got the brains, you've got the leadership, you've got the preachers, and you've got the fire, and we need it.

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Even Southern better. They need to warm up and get back to where they were as far as their fervor is concerned. But we were coming in in a little plane and the weather was very bad. Brother Hoover and I were sitting there talking and we were looking out the window every little

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bit to see how the ice was coming on this little plane because it was icing up fast. And I told him about this Braniff Airlines plane that was coming into a Texas airport and they gave him runway E20, East 20. He said, "Roger, gotcha. On final approach." American Airline plane was coming in at the same time and the

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control tower said, "We give you a runway East 20." And the United, I mean the American pilot came back said, "Roger gotcha on final approach." Well the Braniff pilot came back quickly and anxiously and desperately and he said, "But that's the same runway you gave me." And the voice came back and said, "Y'all be

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careful here." (audience laughing) Now after all these sermons, and barely getting in here,

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I've got to be careful what I say today. And I noticed the subject assigned to me, and I'm gonna take a text that'll go with the subject and then depart therefrom.

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(audience laughing) And the text is found in the book of Revelation. It's about the fifth verse. In this version I've got, it doesn't mark 'em,

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and I don't like books that don't mark 'em. But I think it's the third verse of the first chapter of Revelation. I'm reading from Philips.

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Happy is the man who reads this prophecy, and happy are those who hear it read, and pay attention to its message. For the time is near.

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For the time is near. And I get from that passage that as we approach the end of the age, and we're approaching it, the age that's dominated by evil and the devil, when the kingdom of God is going to come to earth, as we approach that time, we are to read this prophecy and pay attention to it.

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The time is near. near and I believe as Howard Jones so eloquently said last night that one of the books we ought to be reading and studying is the book of Revelation. I don't believe the book of Revelation could be understood until this

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generation and a lot of it can't be understood yet but we can understand more and more of it as we see scientific and technological developments and this This book ought to be read and studied. And the first three chapters of the book of Revelation

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ought to be read and studied and preached in every church. Because those three chapters were written for the express purpose of giving the message of Jesus to the church in every generation.

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Now I'm talking here today to the church. And I want to say something to the church today. And I want to take the second and the third chapter of the book of Revelation,

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and I want to get God's message through the letters to the seven churches that will be applicable and relevant to us in 1970 as we face the times in which we live.

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I don't have to tell you about the times. You can read that in the times. And you can see it on television. All the hate and the lust and the greed of the human heart

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is being, flooding the whole world today. The Bible in the book of Revelation talks about there'll be a day when the frogs are gonna be let out of the bottomless pit.

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because frogs are demons. And as we approach the end, you're going to see demon activity intensify. - Yes sir.

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- As the devil sees his time drawing near, he's going to get desperate and do worse things than he's ever done before. And in my judgment, we're beginning to see

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the beginning of the end. The beginning of the end of the age. Now notice, not the end of the world. That's the end of the human race.

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But the end of an age dominated by the devil, because the Bible says the devil is the prince of this world. He's the god of this age. He has tremendous power.

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But the Bible says he's been defeated on the cross. He's a defeated enemy and all he's doing is moving around waiting for his execution. because he's condemned.

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And when Jesus said it's finished, not only was our salvation finished, but the devil in hell was finished. Now, in this passage in Revelation,

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we find Jesus is in the midst of the churches. The lampstands are the churches. And he's holding the stars in his right hand. Those stars are said to be messengers or pastors.

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They're the pastors of the churches. They're the deacons of the churches. They're the leaders of the churches. So the message of these seven books

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are to the pastors, the deacons, the leaders of the churches in every generation. Now what does he say that would apply to us today? The first one.

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The church at Ephesus. The church at Ephesus was an amazing church. It was founded by the Apostle Paul. He spent over two years in Ephesus preaching and teaching

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and founded this great church and it became one of the greatest churches the world has ever known. And in this passage, Jesus commends them.

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He says you've worked hard, you've endured much, you've had courage to throw out error. In other words, you're orthodox in your theology. But he said I've got something against you.

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One thing's wrong with you. What is it? What is it? You left your first love.

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You've left your first love. And notice, he didn't say you lose your first love. You haven't lost it. You left it.

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In other words, we willed to leave our first love. We got involved in intellectual sophistication. We got involved with sacramentalism. We got involved with all kinds of things

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and we lost the fervor and the fire of the first love. - Yes. - Yes. - Like a woman, she gets married. - Yes.

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- And at first, when the husband comes home in the evening from work, she runs out to meet him with a kiss. She always dresses up for him, but as time goes on,

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she keeps the house just as neat. She cooks the meals probably even better, but she doesn't always run out and greet him with a kiss. She's losing the first love.

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We need to get back to the honeymoon in the church. The first love of the first century of those early Christians. And it's interesting to me that in these passages,

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Jesus says, if you don't do it, I'll remove my power from you. Now brother, you go to Europe today, as I preach a lot in Europe,

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and see the deadness and the coldness and the emptiness of those churches. What happened to them? They left their first love.

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What's happening to many of our churches in America? We left our first love. And God has removed his power. You go in and sit down,

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you don't feel the power of the Lord. We've left our first love. - We have to talk to it. - And the scripture says,

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"He that hath an ear, let him hear." Now one of the greatest needs we have today is the hearing ear. - Yes, sir.

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- A lot of people can see, but they can't see. They can hear, but they can't hear. They can't hear the Spirit of God speaking. The hearing ear.

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Oh, foolish people, Jeremiah said, without understanding, which have eyes and see not, which have ears and hear not. Now to these seven churches, to five of them,

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Jesus said one word. Seven churches, seven letters to seven churches, and to five of them, he had to say one word. What was it?

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Repent. - Yes, sir. - Amen. - Amen.

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- Repent. - Amen. - And if you don't repent, I'll remove my power from you.

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- Yes, sir. - I wonder if the hour hasn't come for us to repent. - Yes, sir. - Amen.

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- The hour has come for the white-dominated churches to repent. - Yes, sir. - The hour has come for the black-dominated churches

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to repent. - Yes, sir. - Let us repent together and let our tears flow together we get on our faces before God

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and let's see a revival sweep our country. (congregation cheering) It could. But we're going to have to repent.

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Now brother, repentance costs something. You can't have cheap repentance. It's a repentance that costs something. You have to face God, then you have to face yourself,

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and you have to tell yourself, you have to tell it like it is. And as Howard Jones says last night, you have to call sin by sin.

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That's not just a mistake on error that we make. Sin, let's call it sin. And one of our sins has been racialism and racism. Let's repent and return to our first love

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where there was no distinction between Jew and Gentile or black or white. (audience shouting) Then the second letter.

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When you have seven points, you have to go fast. (audience laughing) Thank you, brother. (audience laughing)

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If I get tired, I'll turn it over to Brother Hill. (audience laughing) Smyrna was the next church. Now that represented the problems of suffering.

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Christ warned them that they will be cast into prison, they'll be tested, and they'll have to die. A lot of you people have already been through a lot of that. And when you went to prison,

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And you went to the fiery furnace, who did you find there? - Yes, sir. - God. - Yes, sir.

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- The fourth was like unto the Son of Man. - Yes, sir. - In the fiery furnace. But I want to tell you something.

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We haven't seen anything yet. We're heading into a period, ladies and gentlemen, of judgment and trouble and trial and testing, and I'm convinced that the first true believers

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that are going to suffer are the black believers. - Yes. - Yeah. - That's right. - And that's why those of us that have white skins

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and come from other churches are going to have to stand by your side and hold your hand and be with you and die with you if necessary.

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- Yes, sir. - Suffering. God didn't tell us we're going to be exempt from suffering. He said, "If you live godly in Christ Jesus,

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you're going to suffer." But our suffering is nothing compared to the glory that's our genre. I was in Vietnam some time ago, and they told me that sometimes

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when the Viet Cong comes to those villages that you never read about in the newspapers, they choose the Christians. And they'll bury them

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up to their necks in the dirt. They cut out their tongue and cut out their eyes. And nobody can go and rescue them or help them.

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That hasn't happened schools of times, that's happened hundreds of times. That's a story you don't hear much about. - Amen.

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- Amen. - Amen. - And you know, suffering all over the world. Last summer, we had the executive committee,

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Dr. John Williams was there, in Vienna, Austria. And about a thousand clergymen were there from Eastern Europe. And I think Dr. Williams will tell you

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They told us about the lack of freedom. Many of them had come from jails where they'd served six years and some of them 10 years. But they had a glory on their face,

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and they had a joy in their heart. And I couldn't help but wonder, maybe the church, in countries where there's no freedom, may be stronger than the church where

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there's been plenty of freedom. In the midst of suffering is many times where we see God. (audience murmurs) And then thirdly,

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Pergamos represents the danger of theological compromise. Jesus said, "I know where thou dwellest, "even where Satan's throne is." Now the Bible doesn't teach the devil's in hell.

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The devil's not in hell, he's never been in hell. He's not down there with a pitchfork throwing in the cold. The devil is here on this earth in great power as the God of this age,

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and he directs the principalities, the powers, the world rulers of darkness and the spiritual host of wickedness. And one of the great sins that he points out to Pergamos is

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you compromised with Erich. In other words, you left the Bible as the word of God. You began to laugh at the idea of the virgin birth of Christ. You began to take out of your hymn books

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all reference to the blood. And you quit talking about the coming again of Christ in the coming kingdom. You compromise.

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He said, repent, or I'll remove my power from you. And we're living in a day when we've come through an age in which the Word of God has been laughed at and ridiculed within the church.

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-Yes, sir. -Amen. -Yes, sir. -We are now paying the price in a generation of young people who were taught by the church to doubt the Word of God.

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-Yes, sir. -Amen. -And we are reaping a whirlwind. -Amen. -Yes, sir. We need to get back to God's Word,

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and I want to tell you something. We're beginning to see it. In almost all major denominations, there is now a great evangelical movement.

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They just had a conference in Dallas, Texas. And the Methodists that were born in the heart of revival and evangelism and got so far away had a meeting in Dallas the other day

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with hundreds and hundreds of representatives from all over America to call the Methodist Church back to revival and evangelism and theology. Next year, can you believe it?

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The Presbyterians are gonna have one. In Cincinnati, yes, Presbyterians. They're gonna have five to 8,000 delegates in Cincinnati to bring the evangelical wing of the whole Reformed faith

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back to the Word of God and evangelism. God is at work. God is at work. Because we are seeing today,

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the seminaries where the gospel has not been taught and proclaimed are going down. And the seminaries, the evangelical seminaries where the gospel is still held at a high level

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are filled and overflowing. Something is happening. Great movements like you'll hear Jim Kennedy tell about. And Bill Bright is here who will tell you of the fantastic movement on the campuses

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of America where hundreds and thousands every year of young people are turning to Christ. God is at work. Brethren, let's don't stand up and apologize any longer for believing in the Bible. Let's don't apologize for believing in the deity of Christ.

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Because I found that the young people I talk to, and about 70% of my audiences are under in these Crusades, when I stand up and preach with authority the Word of God, they listen and they respond. (audience agreeing)

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You know, last night when our brother Weston spoke here, and he had been a Black Panther just 18 months ago, he spoke with authority and he quoted the Scriptures. (audience agreeing)

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And he told it like it was. And this is what people want to hear us say. They want us to believe it. (congregation agreeing)

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And I'll guarantee you if you believe it, you know Bobby Kennedy once said something. He said, "You know, 15% of the American people "will follow anybody who believes anything

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"if they believe it strong enough." Well I'll tell you we need to believe the Word of God strong enough until thousands and millions get on the march for Jesus.

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(congregation agreeing) And then fourthly, Tharathar is the next one, represents the danger of moral compromise.

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Now, if the devil can't get you through your head, he gets you through your life. He's after you at every direction. A permissive society in which anything goes.

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Lying is no longer looked on as lying. Stealing is no longer looked on as stealing. Immorality is not looked on as immorality or wrong. And the interesting thing about it

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is, man, through history, always awaits the permission of religion to indulge himself in the sins that he loves. And in our generation, he's got the permission of much of religion.

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So that a great deal of the playboy philosophy has been condoned by certain elements of the church. You tolerate that woman, Jezebel. "You tolerate that woman, Jezebel!"

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Now I'm not talking about the Women's Liberation at the moment. I'm quoting the Bible. (laughter) I just...

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The Ladies Home Journal asked me to write an article for them on the Women's Liberation, and I sat down and wrote it to send it to them. Because they said they'd give $5,000 to my association

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for our work if we'd do it, and I made sure it went in on time. (audience laughing) And I turned it over to my wife,

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I said, "I want you to read it." She handed it back to me and said, "I don't believe any of it." (audience laughing)

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Brethren, I rewrote it. Because we've got woman power in my home. And I love it. So we wrote it together,

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and you'll read it in the Christmas issue of the Ladies Home Journal. But there was this woman, Jezebel. - Go ahead.

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- And apparently this was symbolic of the immorality that invaded the church of Thyatira. And Jesus said, "Repent!" You know, we've got to back up what we say with our lives.

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- Yes, sir. - Yes! - We've got to back it up with our lives. - Yes, sir.

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- And he says, "If you don't, I'll take my power from you." - Yes, sir. And then fifthly, Sardis represents the danger of spiritual deadness.

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Now brethren, I don't believe there's any deadness here today. - What? - No.

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- Or been in this conference, so I can just skip over this. But for those of you that may come from a church that is dead, and I have people that come to me all the time, and they say, "Our church is so dead."

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Do you ever hear that? (congregation responds) You know what the scripture says, what Jesus said? He said, "Wake up!

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"Wake up! "Strengthen what still remains." If you can find anybody in your church that's alive along with you, strengthen that person,

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get you another one, and get another one, and put a fire under the church, and get a fire even under the preacher. (congregation responds)

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(crowd shouting) Repent, he said. Or I'll remove my power from you. We need some feeling in our faith.

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You look at these young people that are rebelling, watch 'em on television. You don't see 'em up there giving some cold logic. They're up there shouting into that camera.

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They've got some people marching with signs for whatever they believe, or throwing rocks, or throwing off bombs. There's some feeling in it.

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And we in the church sit back. - Yes. - You remember when they had the march, when Dr. Martin Luther King

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and the others led that march at Selma? - Yes, sir. - Well, I was in the hospital in Hawaii, and I watched that on television.

00:32:22.580 - 00:32:33.620

And I saw some friends of mine in that picture, and they had on their clerical collars, and I knew the churches they came from. And you go in some of their churches

00:32:33.620 - 00:32:43.940

on Sunday morning, brother, and if you hear one amen, it'd shock the whole congregation. (audience laughing) But you know, when they turned that corner

00:32:43.940 - 00:33:01.300

and saw the capital of Alabama, and they began to sing "We Shall Overcome," Those preachers that I knew that came from these cold churches, they began to dance all over the place.

00:33:01.300 - 00:33:05.300

Now why? They believed in their cause. Let's believe in Jesus just as much. Sixthly, sixthly, Philadelphia.

00:33:05.300 - 00:33:17.880

They believed in their cause. Let's believe in Jesus just as much. (congregation shouting) Sixly, sixly.

00:33:17.880 - 00:33:31.660

Philadelphia. That's not Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but some of it could apply there. Philadelphia is what we're here to talk about,

00:33:31.660 - 00:33:45.780

because Philadelphia represents the church with problems and opportunities in evangelism. That's Philadelphia in this passage. And Jesus said,

00:33:45.780 - 00:34:04.140

"There is a door open that no man can shut." Brethren, we've got a door open today for the gospel and Republicans and Democrats and Panthers, White Panthers, Black Panthers can't shut it.

00:34:04.140 - 00:34:11.980

(audience shouting) It's wide open and it's been opened by God and it'll be kept open by God 'til he gets ready to come back.

00:34:11.980 - 00:34:24.000

(audience shouting) I agreed with what Dr. Odie Hoover said last night. You know, we criticize the church so much. - Yes, sir.

00:34:24.000 - 00:34:33.500

- But I wanna tell you, Jesus said the gates of hell shall not prevail. (congregation murmurs) The church with all of its failures

00:34:33.500 - 00:34:41.800

and all of its imperfections is the church. (congregation murmurs) It's God's organization upon earth. (congregation murmurs)

00:34:41.800 - 00:34:49.740

And let all the people try to destroy it. (congregation murmurs) It'll still march. (congregation murmurs)

00:34:49.740 - 00:35:00.420

And let me give you that picture now in the 16th of Matthew because a lot of people misinterpret that. This is not a picture of the church on the defensive.

00:35:00.420 - 00:35:10.460

I used to think that the church was in a city and had a great big wall around it, and we were sitting up there defending it against the devil. But that's not it at all.

00:35:10.460 - 00:35:27.440

It's the devil defending his empire against us. We're the ones supposed to be on the march, and we're to be attacking the devil in his fortress, And the gates and the walls of hell will not prevail.

00:35:27.440 - 00:35:34.580

- Yeah! - That's the promise that Jesus gave in Matthew 16. - Yes! - Sir!

00:35:34.580 - 00:35:40.120

- We're to be on the march. - Right. - Well, right. - Oh, bless him.

00:35:40.120 - 00:35:46.860

- And the gates of hell, which were the defensive parts of the city, will not prevail. - Right.

00:35:46.860 - 00:35:58.940

- Oh, yes. - And Jesus said something else very interesting. He said, "This gospel shall have been preached "in all the world, then shall the end come."

00:35:58.940 - 00:36:27.200

And for the first time in human history, the first time since he said that, it's possible to preach this gospel in all the world radio, by television, by printed page, in a thousand ways. You say, "But how in the

00:36:27.200 - 00:37:00.080

world are you gonna reach some remote place like Tibet?" Oh, listen. Some of us went Berlin four years ago. We heard Bishop Chandu Ray from Pakistan. Tell us how he and a group translated the word of God into the Tibetan language. The Chinese communists came in and tore up the old religions of Tibet. Their ancestor

00:37:00.080 - 00:37:30.640

worship and their decadent Buddhism tore it all to pieces. And then the Dalai Lama, The king and the god of Tibet had to flee and he fled to northern India. There was nothing in writing in the Tibetan language. The only book that they had in writing in the Tibetan language was the word of God.

00:37:30.640 - 00:37:50.780

So the Dalai Lama sent for the word of God. So you had a picture of God reading, the Buddhist God, reading the word of God, and people in Tibet began to get converted as these Bibles

00:37:50.780 - 00:37:56.980

were smuggled all through Tibet. - Yes. - Let me tell you, there's a lot going on. You and I don't know that.

00:37:56.980 - 00:38:09.940

The church moves on. I'm in China. If you go to Hong Kong today and interview some of those people

00:38:09.940 - 00:38:20.780

that cross the border from communist China and hear what God is doing in China, I would not tell you what's going on. What I know what is going on.

00:38:20.780 - 00:38:32.220

Because I wouldn't want to jeopardize some of those people. But I can tell you the church is not dead in China. - Yes, it is. The gospel is being preached in all the world.

00:38:32.220 - 00:38:39.260

- Glory to God. - And this is one of the great signs that Jesus gave us, that the kingdom is soon to come. - Yes, sir.

00:38:39.260 - 00:38:47.640

- Yeah. - Yes, sir. - Martin Luther King said in that last address he gave in Memphis, "I've been to the mountain."

00:38:47.640 - 00:38:54.680

- Yes. - Yes, sir. - Brethren, let's go to the mountain together. - Yes.

00:38:54.680 - 00:39:02.540

- Yes. - And wait for the coming of the Lord. (audience applauding) Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

00:39:02.540 - 00:39:08.220

(audience applauding) He's on his way. - Yes, sir. - And we're to be faithful in evangelism.

00:39:08.220 - 00:39:17.500

- Yes, sir. - Now let's, you pastors, listen to Jim Kennedy and get all the ideas you can because that's one of the most phenomenal churches

00:39:17.500 - 00:39:28.740

I know in America. Let's listen to Bill Bright. Tell you a method of evangelism that is so unique in our times

00:39:28.740 - 00:39:39.580

it could have only come from God. And so simple. One of its secrets is simplicity. And then let's go out realizing

00:39:39.580 - 00:39:53.220

that you and I may be participating in the last great push of God's mighty army. And when we pray the Lord's prayer, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth

00:39:53.220 - 00:40:09.140

as it is in heaven, that prayer is gonna be answered it may be answered for you and I die. You and I may not, we may not die. Did you know that those that are alive and remain are going to be caught up into the

00:40:09.140 - 00:40:22.780

air with us? Things are moving so fast. Some of those that are here today may be alive when that great moment comes and the kingdom of God comes to us.

00:40:22.780 - 00:40:37.740

Amen, I'm ready to go today. And then the last one, and I'm finished. This is the seventh. Oh my, I'm already past my point.

00:40:37.740 - 00:40:57.640

Laodicea represents the problems of complacency. This means that in our work for God and in our evangelism, we depend upon ourselves. Not by might, nor by power, nor by organization,

00:40:57.640 - 00:41:15.060

nor by technology, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord. And Jesus said to this church, "Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.

00:41:15.060 - 00:41:30.940

Now brethren, let's get hot or let's get cold, but let's don't get lukewarm. Because lukewarmness, God's gonna spew us out of your mouth, out of his mouth.

00:41:30.940 - 00:41:41.320

We've got gadgets, we've got computers, we've got everything that it takes to do the work of evangelism. We've got affluency, we've got money,

00:41:41.320 - 00:41:55.800

all we need is the power of the Holy Spirit. (audience cheers) And we can finish the job in our generation. And he says, the last picture that you see

00:41:55.800 - 00:42:21.480

in this passage is a pitiful picture. Because you see, the church says to Jesus, need anything. I can do it all on my own. And Jesus said, "You have no eyes to see that you are wretched and pitiful and poverty stricken and blind and naked." And

00:42:21.480 - 00:42:59.720

he said, "Repent of your lukewarmness." He said, "If you don't, I'll remove my power from you." And then the pitiful picture is a picture of Jesus knocking on the door. He says let me in I'll fellowship with you. And the church has Jesus on the outside and won't open the door. But then he makes it personal. Is he on the outside

00:42:59.720 - 00:43:15.400

of your life knocking and saying, "I want to come in." See, you may be a pastor, you may be a Christian worker, and you're saved and your name is written on the book of life, but you're not totally surrendered to Him as Lord,

00:43:15.400 - 00:43:30.080

and there's no power in your ministry. The power is gone and you're like Samson. Samson had all this tremendous strength and his hair was cut, and he wists not that his strength had departed.

00:43:30.080 - 00:43:45.220

And you're up there every Sunday, preaching, leading, nothing happening, no power, nobody being converted. Your strength is gone, the power of God has been removed,

00:43:45.220 - 00:43:59.900

and you're going through the motions and drawing your paycheck. Come to a point of repentance, And we as Christians need to repent and rededicate our lives

00:43:59.900 - 00:44:15.020

and become filled with the Holy Spirit to do the job of evangelism in our generation. What's it going to take? What's it going to take?

00:44:15.020 - 00:44:34.900

It's going to take the Spirit of God. And it's going to take some people like they were at Pentecost, filled with the Holy Spirit, unafraid, and you know the key word in the book of Acts is "bold." Stand up with boldness and declare the gospel of Christ.

00:44:34.900 - 00:44:59.900

Let the listener hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Shall we pray? I'm sure that there are many that were not here last night. You would like to say on this occasion,

00:44:59.900 - 00:45:13.900

"I would like to repent of my sins. I would like to be filled with the Spirit of God. I would like to have a new anointment in my life. I want a new power.

00:45:13.900 - 00:45:28.900

I want to go back to my church, a different man and a different woman." You may be a layman or a pastor, But you say today, "Oh God, I need a touch from you." And if you will, lift up your hands signifying that,

00:45:28.900 - 00:45:41.900

and then we're going to have a prayer. God bless you. I want to lift my hand with you. I need a new touch from God in my own life and my own ministry. Our Father God, Thou hast seen our hands and Thou hast seen our hearts.

00:45:41.900 - 00:46:00.580

And Thou hast said in these passages, "I know Thy works. I see thy heart and Lord you see on the inside and there's no use us trying to cover up with you Let us just open it Open the wound and let you see it and then touch it and heal it Lord

00:46:00.580 - 00:46:11.580

Forgive us of our sins Forgive me of mine Wash me by the blood of Christ anoint my ministry touch my lips and

00:46:12.580 - 00:46:29.580

And may they always declare the whole counsel of God without fear or faith. Bless these brethren and sisters that are here today. Touch their lives. And may our lives and our ministries never be the same again.

00:46:29.580 - 00:46:54.580

For we ask it in Jesus' name. And all the people said, Amen. Friends, please don't go now. Don't go now. Dr. Hill wants to say something to you. But I want to tell you, after hearing a message like this, can you get up and walk out?

00:46:54.580 - 00:47:12.580

I want to tell you something else. I know you want to go to your lunch, but can't you forego lunch just a few more minutes? Please do that. Dr. Grimm, we thank you for that message. God bless your heart.

00:47:12.580 - 00:47:23.580

It was a wonderful message. A true message. And we all have been blessed by it. Now Dr. Hill, you come.

00:47:23.580 - 00:47:31.580

I was looking for Dr. Smith. Where is he and Dr. T.W. Wilson? Stand up, Dr. Wilson. Where is Dr. Smith?

00:47:31.580 - 00:47:52.840

Oh, there. You see these men they're behind, you know the scenes, but I want to tell you the They are right on the right and left of dr. Billy Graham and we thank God for that ministry They are wonderful men and and dr. Graham you all of the members of your team

00:47:52.840 - 00:48:11.820

To me are dedicated men filled with the Spirit of God and they have a wonderful example in you All right All right now I would like to ask you just for an extension I want us to be quiet We are asking that you give an offering today

00:48:11.820 - 00:48:28.300

we're going to Automatically declare all of you deacons down here right here [BLANK_AUDIO]