Speaker 1: Luke chapter 11 in your Bibles tonight, please. The Gospel of Luke and chapter 11. Well, what a time.

What a glorious time. What a glorious couple of days and especially a glorious couple of hours in this day. I was so blessed by the testimony time of declarations of what God has done for people’s souls. we had the last session my brother Jim began to preach I immediately sensed God was here and friends what a difference when God comes what a glorious difference and many were moved by the presence of God that’s what that is

that’s the outpouring of the Spirit of God and I rejoice in that our hearts were stirred and you are tasting and seeing that the Lord is good. Testimony after testimony, declaring the goodness of our great God. I’m sure your heart was stirred as we all sang, How Great Thou Art. And you know, when you’ve met that very God in the real ways that many of you have,

those songs take on new meaning, do they not? I remember the first time that particular song and arrangement was sung at a holiness conference back in the 1990s. My father was standing on the platform.

And he had to drop out as the tears were streaming down that face. As he was looking into the face of that God. How great thou art.

Well, hallelujah. What a glorious time that we’ve had. And friends, it is a commencement.

It is the beginning of more that God wants to do. It’s really a culmination of much that God has been doing. I’m sure many have been praying in your various churches and so forth. I know there have been many intercessors praying right here,

right even through this conference. But the reality is this is just the next step in that pilgrimage with God. That’s a glorious, glorious pilgrimage.

Now, I’m sure that Pastor Schultz went over some ways to disciple what God is doing with the sponsors. But for the young people here, let me suggest two ways of really allowing yourself to be discipled in what God is doing. God uses what He calls the foolishness of preaching.

You’ve been hearing that. You just heard the encouragement to listen to the MP3. But another venue for that is printed preaching. I don’t know how many times I’ve been in meetings where people have bought books off the revival focus table

that are dealing with the very truths that God is leading us into in the meeting itself. And I’ll get a letter, sometimes a phone call, but many times I’ve gotten a letter or a card months later. And I love this.

Months later. We’re not talking two weeks later and then it’s all forgotten. Months later, they’re thinking about what God did.

And their hearts, they’re reading. Their hearts are getting stirred. And somebody will write a letter.

Oh, God stirred me. I knew there was something there. I didn’t quite get it all.

But oh, man, the lights have gone on. I was reading Charles Trumbull, Victory in Christ, or whatever. And they’ll name a book.

They’ll name a chapter. And there it’s just seven months later. You know what that is?

That’s God fueling the fire through printed preaching. And so let me encourage you, as the Lord would lead, Go by and get a book. It may be that some of the churches will be able to buy, you know, maybe several of the books and be able to lend them out to the young people.

Whatever. That’s really my burden. In my meetings, it’s kind of a hassle for me to bring those books, to be honest with you. It takes up space in my trailer that I could use,

especially now that I have a son and all the prayer for me that goes with that. But it is valuable to have that truth that would extend the meeting far beyond the couple of days that we have together. so that’s one way another way that what God is doing in your heart if you are aware of that and submitting to that and seeing God work if you are blessed by the atmosphere that you have been in and you want that nurtured in your soul

let me encourage you to prayerfully consider Baptist College of Ministry now friends I’m telling you I mean that You are blessed by what has happened in these couple of days. That’s what that college is about all year long. And prayer meetings and intercession and access and God breaking through, that’s what it’s all about.

And I’ll tell you what, it’s a glorious thing. I mean, there’s prayer meetings going on left and right. Student instigated.

And God instigated, I should say. But students yielding to that and so forth. But the whole preaching and the whole focus and the burden of Baptist College ministry is revival.

It is Christ manifested to us. That’s the outpoint of the Spirit. And through us, that’s the filling of the Spirit. And if that emphasis has stirred you in these couple of days,

let me encourage you to prayerfully consider Baptist College of Ministries. Are there other good colleges? Yes, there are.

I’m not saying it’s God’s will for everybody to come here, but I’m going to tell you something. If you have been blessed by this kind of atmosphere and you want this kind of truth nurtured in you, this school, by God’s grace, fans those flames. And that is a reality.

So let me just encourage you to prayerfully consider that. I am not here full-time. I do get to teach.

I’m privileged to teach about twice a year in the college. But I thrill when I hear the reports of what God is doing on a regular basis. All right, Luke chapter 11 is where we’re going to look tonight.

We’ve looked at a lot of truth in these days. The Spirit of God has confronted us, I’m sure, with many things. I know I have been spoken to.

And God has opened my eyes to truth. And that has been a great blessing. And we’ve talked much, especially today, on the great provision of Christ in you. of grace, of God intervening in your life, of accessing the very divine life that walked this planet 2,000 years ago

to still walk this planet through your body. We’ve been dealing with that glorious provision. And a lot of what we’ve focused on thus far is how to access that, the inflow truths of being infilled with the Spirit of God. But in order for that to go where God wants it to go,

there must be outflow. I remember when God began to open up the Spirit for life. Now, we’re all learning.

It’s a journey. But when it first began for me was 1992, 1993. And that is when God began to bring me to the end of myself, the futility of the flesh, the necessity of the Spirit, the need for grace all the time for everything. And when God began to open my eyes to resting in Him, to yoking up with Him to find rest for my soul, not just in salvation, but in full salvation,

in that rest of yoking up with Him so that He carries the burden. When those truths began to explode across my heart, I am telling you, I was so moved, I could hardly talk about it without tears coming to my eyes. And for two to three weeks, I mean, I was just in the throes of it.

I was just reveling in it. I had just entered full-time evangelism. I was back at Market Manor Baptist Church where I had been on staff with my father and the class that I used to teach in Sunday school, the teacher asked me, Hey, why don’t you take the class?

I was back on a Sunday. And so I was just so burdened. I just wanted to declare what God was doing for my soul. And for 45 minutes, I cried my way through trying, attempting to explain

what God was doing for my soul. I don’t know if it made any sense to them at all, but I’m telling you, it was that precious. It was glorious.

It was overwhelming. and then it all dried up. After a couple of weeks, it all dried up.

I thought, what is going on? And the truth that we’re going to look at tonight was what was going on. It was the problem. Inflow, which is what I was experiencing in a new way, let me tell you, without outflow,

eventually stagnates. Technically, it didn’t dry up, it stagnated. You see, outflow without inflow is emptiness.

That’s the attempt of trying to serve God in the strength of the flesh. It’s empty. But inflow without outflow stagnates.

It becomes a dead sea. But when you have an even inflow and outflow with the channel that is cleaned and filled with the Spirit of God, then you are experiencing that constant flowing work of the Spirit, the abundant life, that glorious provision. So tonight, I want us to focus on the outflow part of this, in I trust a simple way.

Let’s begin tonight by looking at Luke chapter 11 and verse 13. The authority of the inspired word says, If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children. How much more?

How much more? Shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? The title of the message tonight is Steps of Faith for Empowered Witnessing.

Shall we pray? Lord, we do thank You for what You’re doing. We thank You, Lord, for meeting with us.

Now, Lord, I’m sure there are some that have unfinished business. Oh, God, would you continue to work, and may there be a thorough, complete work done. Lord, for others that are responding, Lord, I pray that you would open eyes now to this glorious truth of outflow.

Spirit of God, would you be our teacher? Would you connect the dots, as it were? Oh, Lord, would you make it simple and clear and plain? Lord, that every young person here would know what it is to walk out and apply truth

and take steps that are of faith and know with expectancy you’re going to work. Oh, Lord, I pray that in the next days and weeks to come, there’ll be glorious testimonies in the various youth groups and churches here represented of experiencing the grace of empowered witnessing. Oh, Lord, we look to you.

I do plead the blood of Jesus once again. Lord, protect us from the attack of the enemy. Who hates the truth of this conference and the truth that we’ve been dealing with all a couple of days here and the truth of this night.

And again, Lord Jesus, I thank you that you were victorious over Satan at the cross and over the world and the flesh. We thank you for the cleansing power of the blood. We thank you for your ascended position at the throne, seated right now far above all principality and power and might and dominion. And Lord, in you we thank you that as your children we are in you and that therefore we are at that throne far above the enemy,

as far above the enemy as you are. And so, Lord, I claim our position in you now above the enemy and exercise your authority over the powers of darkness that would seek to hinder. Lord, we claim our protection in you there.

Oh, Lord, continue to meet with us now. Lord, continue to carry this moment. Spirit of God, continue to speak to our hearts, to our innermost being.

May truth be understood clearly. Blow away any fog. And Lord, may it be embraced by faith. May there be real choices of surrender and faith, not just tonight, but Lord, day after day, that we might experience the very life of Jesus

in every way, including empowered witnessing. We thank You for it. We trust You for it, Lord.

We look to You for it. May the Lord Jesus now be honored. We ask in Jesus’ name.

Amen. Amen. As has been clear in this conference, I grew up in a preacher’s home.

I was saved at the age of six. As far back as I can remember, I have been around ministry. I’ve been around witnessing, giving out of tracts, declaring the gospel verbally.

My parents and so forth, the church. If I’m remembering right, the first time that I ever had the privilege of leading a soul to Christ was when I was in the fourth grade. and I was involved in witnessing when I was in the youth group, both in junior high and then in high school.

I surrendered to call to preach when I was 15. That was a key year for me. I was telling some of the young people from Ann Arbor, my sophomore year of high school was a very key year. That is when, as we mentioned earlier,

as I mentioned earlier, I had finally grown. I had finally caught up with the other guys in my class in height and now I wanted to be cool. And I really wasn’t that cool.

But at any rate, I wanted to be and all that kind of stuff. And I was hanging around with some of the cool guys. Not the flagrantly worldly guys, but the borderline cool guys.

And I had a youth pastor named Wayne Van Gelderen. And I remember one time we were out in the car and he was talking about, what do you think God wants to do with your life? And I said, well, you know, I played sports.

And I said, maybe a PE coach. I don’t remember his exact words, but the basic response was, well, that’s ridiculous. now there’s nothing wrong with that if that’s god’s call on your life but uh my family had prayed otherwise and uh so uh that option was gone just like that with one statement it was evaporated and we talked further and talked about the mission field and so forth

that conversation led me to really think about what does god want i was a little kid i always wanted to be a scuba diver you know you got all these you know childhood dreams you know go down there and see the fish and get paid for it whatever but uh uh you know all those ideas were not they weren’t holding any weight you know and god was working in my heart and really what

happened in the early months of that sophomore year god used that to bring me to a willingness a surrender to do whatever god wanted well when that was settled it wasn’t but a couple months later and I knew down deep God had called me to preach. And so I was running to call to preach. And that was a tremendous help as far as my pilgrimage with God. I was involved in witnessing in those

years. I liked my brother Jim’s testimony. I was shy. I

did not enjoy visitation night. I knew I was supposed to do it and I did it out of sheer duty. PK, the expectations and all of that. And I knew it was right to do

and so I did it. But oh man. it was fairly miserable most of the time well as a preacher boy went off to Bible college and in Bible college training you go out witnessing as part of the program so forth and so on that’s what I did and then in grad school I was still a part of that but I also was an intern pastor at a church and worked 30 hours a week almost full time while I was in grad school

I was heavily involved in outreach at that time and God was stirring my heart in some special ways especially in the matter of soul winning. I was sent to some conferences on bus ministry and this and that, and God began to really ignite an actual now desire to actually be used of God in witnessing, and so that was a tremendous help. And then I was back on staff when I finished grad school at Market Manor with my father, and for five years was his assistant.

For the last four of those five years, Dad put me in charge of the outreach training there at the church. and those four years I taught ten semesters of soul winning training. That included a couple of summer times as well, if you’re trying to figure out the math on those semesters. But ten semesters in four years, that brings you to age 29,

just before I entered full-time evangelism, and I had a dilemma. Now over those years I had seen a number of people make decisions for the Lord. I had seen a few get baptized.

I think I’ll see some of those people in heaven. But at age 29, I can look back over all those years of service, and I could not point to one person where God had used me to lead them to Christ, see them baptized, disciple them, see them assimilated in the church and go on for God. Not one.

Now I’m going to tell you something that bothered me. it greatly bothered me I knew there was something wrong with that picture I didn’t understand what was wrong at that moment but I knew something was wrong this is ridiculous there’s no fruit that remains now again I do believe I’ll see some of those folk in heaven but I knew something was wrong why weren’t they going on for God that is the time in my life

when God began to open my eyes to the futility of the flesh. God began to show me, Van Gelden, you’ve been doing all this or much of this in your own strength. Oh yeah, there’s a few moments, as I said earlier today, you accidentally happened into the basket through desperation.

You accidentally happened into faith. But I’m going to tell you something, most of the time I wasn’t desperate. Most of the time I was just going through the motions.

I knew the right motions. I had them down pat. But there was a lack of carrying power.

There was a lack of that genuine life of Christ that produces fruit. That remains, John 15, from abiding in the vine. And when God began to open my eyes, it was right then things began to change by the grace of God.

I remember the first one was a man who’d been an atheist for 20 years. Now, many were involved in witnessing to this man, but I did have the privilege of being a part of that. And many were praying for him.

But I had the privilege of being there when this fellow got saved. And I had the privilege of discipling him, seeing him get baptized. I had the privilege of training him in evangelism training.

And seeing him go on for God. Today he is a professor at a Bible college. And that was the first fruits of now a string of fruit that remains from that day to this across this country and around the world.

Now let me just say, I know there’s times when I have failed miserably. And I wish there were much more than there is. But I’m going to tell you something.

compared to the first 29 years, it’s been a radical difference. And I tell you that testimony to encourage you that if you’re sitting here thinking, you know, man, I’ve tried, I’ve worked it, you know, something’s wrong, it’s not happening, okay, that can change. That can change. Now, we’ve heard in these couple of days the need for faith, the need for believing God, for accessing grace, God-dependence,

accessing spirit enablement. but practically speaking how do you do that? that’s what this message is about the steps of dependence the steps of faith we’re to walk by faith and walking demands steps so since walking by faith demands steps we’re going to use one application tonight in this matter of evangelism obviously there’s much truth that could be applied in many other ways but when it comes to this application we must take the steps of faith for empowered witnessing.

You say, what are they? There’s three clear-cut, simple steps in the Word of God that are steps of faith for empowered witnessing. The first step, ask.

Ask for the power of the Spirit in this matter of witnessing. In Luke chapter 11, we have a tremendous passage here, and earlier in the passage there’s the need, the parable there or the story that’s given, there’s the need to give bread to someone in need, but the person has no bread. And so it’s the picture of us.

We need bread for sinners. We don’t have it, but God does. And so we can go to God and we can ask.

Now look at the emphasis here on asking, verse 9. I say unto you, ask, and it shall be given to you. Verse 10, for everyone that asketh receiveth.

Verse 11, if a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then be an evil on how to give good gifts unto your children,

how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? So the first step here is to ask. Now a couple of thoughts here in regard to verse 13 that are important for understanding.

This is not asking for the Holy Spirit to indwell you. When you trust Christ as your Savior, the Holy Spirit moves in. Whether you knew it or not, that’s what happened, okay?

That is a done deal. You are sealed with the Holy Spirit until the day of redemption. We’re not asking for the Holy Spirit to indwell us.

No, He indwelt us. He moved in the moment we were born again, the moment we trusted Christ as Savior. That’s not what we’re asking for.

In fact, it’s very interesting here, the grammar brings this out. In the Greek language, when a definite article, that’s the word the, is before a proper name, it emphasizes the person. But when it is absent before a proper name, it emphasizes the quality of that person. Now, in the English language, the definite article is always inserted

because it would sound funny to us without it. So the text is obviously rightly rendered. But technically, the definite article is absent before the name Holy Spirit. So what we’re asking here is for the quality of the Holy Spirit, for Holy Spirit-ness, for the ministry of the Holy Spirit,

for the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, that can be applied in many different ways, but in the context here, it’s the need for spirit enablement so that there’s bread for sinners. Friends, the letter of the law kills.

It’s the spirit that gives life. And when we declare the gospel, we need the power of the Holy Spirit to ignite that message so that as we declare the good words, the good news, the good message of Jesus Christ, that as we declare the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of Christ, manifests the face of Jesus, so that as we are declaring the message of Jesus, the people we’re talking to are confronted with the living Savior Himself of that message.

We need to ask for the ministry of the Holy Spirit. That’s the point here. Now, the word give and the word ask are in the present tense indicating this is a continuous matter.

In other words, this is a repeated matter. This is not a one-time thing. And all that we’re talking about, we are not talking about a second blessing.

We are talking about a repeated access of your first blessing. You see, the Spirit moved in when you were born again, but we need to access His power. How do we do that?

Ask. Hey, that’s pretty simple. Ask.

Ask for the power of the Spirit of God. There may be times when you know you need to confront another member of your youth group about something that’s going on. It’s not right.

And you know about it. So you’re stuck. You’ve got to say something to them.

Or you’ve got to say something to the authorities. And so you need to go to them. And you need to say a word.

Well, you need God’s power to do that. Well, ask for it. I’m going to tell you something.

Every time we go out to give the gospel of Jesus Christ. Oh, my. We need the power of the Holy Spirit.

We need Holy Spiritness. We need that quality of the Spirit. So that the face of Jesus is manifested.

As they hear the message of Jesus. We’ve got to ask for it. Do you realize if you go so many and you don’t ask for the power of the Holy Spirit, you are in unbelief?

See, belief is dependence. So unbelief is not depending. Asking shows dependence upon the one to whom you’re asking. So when it comes to a promise,

the first step of faith is to ask for it. Now the promise here is dealing with the power of the Holy Spirit. specifically applied in the matter of evangelism.

But any promise in God’s Word is not like we saw today with Galatians 2.20. That’s a fact. That already is.

You can take it. But this is a promise. This is not a present tense.

This is a future tense. How much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him? Therefore, this is not a reality.

This is a potentiality. The first step here is to ask. Ask for it.

just like children ask for things from their father. That’s the whole context here. Ask for the quality of the Holy Spirit.

For Holy Spirit-ness. Ask from your heavenly Father. Now, friends, obviously, if you don’t witness, you’re in disobedience. If you don’t declare the gospel,

then something’s obviously missing. Hey, did you notice today in the Testimony Times, we hadn’t even dealt with outreach yet, And many of the testimonies ended with a burden for the lost. You know why? Because you have clean hearts and filled lives, and the life of Jesus was actually being manifested in those testimonies,

and He’s burdened for the lost, and it came out. That’s always the way it is when people get clean hearts and filled lives. All of a sudden, there’s an immediate awareness of the need of the lost.

And friends, that’s very, very real. And the point is, if we’re not witnessing at all, okay, we’re obviously in disobedience, but even if you witness, if you don’t ask, you’re in unbelief. Now, for me, of course, there’s been times when I just did not obey.

That’s blatant disobedience and unbelief. But as I gave my testimony, I’m going to tell you something. I witnessed a lot in those years. I mean, there were times, because I’d gotten stirred about the need of witnessing,

but I didn’t understand the power of it. I mean, there were times when I was working hard. I mean hours. There were times when I was teaching those courses at Market Manor,

I’d pull double duty. I’d have two teams. And I’d go three hours with this team and three hours with another team in the same week.

I mean, we were working hard. No fruit that remains. And a lot of it was because I didn’t ask for the power of the Holy Spirit.

That is unbelief. It’s self-dependence. so the first step here is ask just simply ask you know that’s pretty simple yeah i think we can handle that ask but it doesn’t stop there there’s a second step now notice what the promise goes on to say here it says if you then mean evil on how to give good gifts to your children how much more shall your heavenly father give and keep giving holy spiritness the quality of holy

Spirit, the power of the Holy Spirit, to them that ask and keep asking. Okay, this repeated matter. Okay, so here it is. If you ask, in other words, this presupposes

you’re not hiding sin in your life. By regard to iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. But if you have a clean heart, okay, if that’s settled, then you can ask. Friend, you can ask for the power

of the Holy Spirit. You can say, God, I’ve got to go witnessing. God, I need your power. God, I can’t

do this. Now, God, I am weak, but you’re strong. God, I am coming to you. I need

your strength. I’m asking for it. And here’s what it says. If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,

how much more shall your heavenly Father give Holy Spirit this to those that ask? Now, if He gives it, then what’s the next step of faith? Take it!

Ah, there’s our step two. Why? Because He gives it.

So when He gives it, then we’ve got to reach out and take it. Now look, this is what the promise says. If you ask, He gives.

He gives it. Now, to help us understand this even better, let’s build on this. I’d like you to turn to Acts chapter 1.

I don’t have you turn much once I start preaching, but in this message I think it’ll be a help. Let me just have you turn over to Acts chapter 1, where we’ll see the second and third step in verse 8. Now, I love this.

And we’ll tie the two verses together here. Acts chapter 1, verse 8, a very familiar verse, a missions conference verse, an evangelism training verse, a wonderful verse. It says in Acts 1, verse 8, but ye shall, what’s the next word?

Receive. receive what power now here’s what I want us to see notice what it does not say it does not say you shall be given power Luke 11 13 says that there’s other issues in chapter 1 that deal with that as well but that’s not what this says it doesn’t say you should be given power it says you shall take power that word translated receive in other passages is translated To take. That’s what it means.

It’s active. You shall take power. Ah.

And here’s how it works. You got a need. I’m going to tell you something.

We have a need every day. Luke 11, 13 is one of those daily verses. I’m telling you that.

Sometimes it’s several times throughout a day. But you have a need. You go to God.

God, I need your power. God, I can’t do this. God, I need your help.

Lord, I’m weak. God, I’m insufficient. But God, you’re all sufficient.

God, I don’t feel anything right now. But God, I’m coming to you because I need your power. This is how it works.

And you’re asking. You’re asking. And I’m going to tell you, here’s what happens.

As you’re asking, there’ll come a moment when the Holy Spirit will bear witness with your spirit. Here it is. And at that moment, don’t keep asking.

Take it and say thank you. now look he says he gives it so when he bears witness with your spirit here it is I’m holding it out then take it take it you know my son he’s seven he is he’s got a sweet tooth I guess nearly every kid does and from time to time people will give us candy or we’ll buy it whatever, and there’ll be candy in the house somewhere. He knows that.

Not the house, but the trailer. It’s our house. But nonetheless, my son will, from time to time, ask me for a piece of candy. Now, if it’s far enough away from the next meal so that he and I don’t get in trouble, and I hold out that piece of candy,

do you know that he has never failed to take it? do you know that if he would stand there while i’m holding that out and keep asking that would be an insult no at that point that little hand comes up and wham it’s gone he takes it now look folks let’s tie the two verses together we need bread for sinners we need the power of God. We need Holy Spirit in us to free us to speak and free them to hear.

I mean, we need the power of God in the whole situation. We need the quality of the Holy Spirit to enable us, to free us, to say what ought to be said, but to enable them to, I mean, to give that kind of atmosphere where they see Jesus so that they’re literally confronted with the Savior of that message and so we’re to ask. We go to God and say, God, there has to be that dynamic. This is

going to be an utter waste of time. In fact, You know, your word without the Spirit, it deadens, it kills. God, this is vital.

You’ve got to step into this equation. God, I need your power. I acknowledge my need.

And, friend, I’m going to tell you something. When the Spirit of God bears witness with your spirit, here it is. If you keep asking, you step back into unbelief.

Because when He gives it to you, it says He will. And if you’re right with God, when you start praying, it won’t be long. And the Spirit of God will bear witness with your spirit.

Here it is. At that point, stop asking. Or you’re going to step back into unbelief.

At that point, take it. In other words, have a transaction. Say, God, I take by faith the power, the quality, the ministry of your Spirit.

Because you said it. God, thank you that I am filled with your Holy Spirit. Regardless of how you feel.

Just like salvation. Just take it. And say thank you. When God began to teach me the need to ask,

boy, I’ll tell you what, man, I started asking. I mean, when that opened up, I started asking. But you know, it was a long time before I realized I was supposed to take.

I wonder how many times God was holding it out and I walked away. Or I just kept asking and never reached up and took it. And went out and still was defeated.

Well, it happened a lot because I remember the defeats. But oh, I’m telling you, when God began to open my eyes, just take it. Just reach out and take it.

What a radical difference. So there needs to be that transaction. Now, sometimes God will bear witness with your spirit. Not only can you ask for His power to work

so that you know you’re going to have a divine appointment. By divine appointment, I mean a God-led conversation where God’s hand is obviously being manifested and God’s truth is being vindicated. Yes, sometimes a person gets saved.

Other times they’re going to go from here to here and they’re thinking. I’m going to tell you something. When they go from here to here and they’re thinking, God’s at work because only the Holy Spirit can do that.

He’s the convincer of sin, righteousness, and judgment. Now, all that’s wonderful, but there are times when the Spirit of God will stir you. God, can I go beyond claiming a divine appointment to expecting you to actually do such a work that somebody’s going to get saved today?

You can’t conjure this up, but I’m going to tell you something. You can look to God and He’ll convince you about it. I remember, I guess it was last summer, I was in a meeting over there at Jim Barker’s church in Elmont, New York.

And near the city there. And on the Friday night of the meeting, there was an ensemble coming in from a college. And so they came in early.

And the pastor called me and said, hey, John, the ensemble’s going to go out solo. You want to go? I said, sure.

So they took us to a neighborhood. It’s a beautiful, nice neighborhood. they’re getting out and they’re kind of divvying things up and I just kind of walked away. And I had already prayed about the general aspect of

God, I need your power. But I got stirred that day. I said, God, I don’t want this time to be wasted in any way. Can I expect you

to save somebody today? And the Spirit of God bore witness with my spirit. Yes, you may. And I remember

saying, God, thank you. You’re going to do it. I walked back over to the group They said okay you’re supposed to go with so and so Well we started knocking the doors of our street It wasn’t long We saw a 20 year old guy walking down the sidewalk Well we’re not supposed to pass him up Just because we’re knocking doors So we engaged him in conversation Kids stood out there for 30 to 40 minutes

As we declared the gospel of Jesus Christ The spirit of God did his convincing work This kid bowed his head And called on the name of the Lord Man hallelujah can take. One time I was in a meeting in Marshalltown, Iowa. The pastor and I were going to go.

So what? And I said, Lord, he’s busy. And right now all these things are pressing. But God, this is obviously

what we ought to be doing. Now, Lord, would you make it profitable? God, I need your power. Just what

I’m talking to you about. Lord, I need you to work. And that was another one of those times when God moved me to ask for more than just Holy Spirit. It was one of those times I said, God, can I expect you to save somebody

today? And it was one of those occasions where I knew it. It’s not a feeling.

It’s a knowledge. The Spirit bears witness with your spirit that we are the children of God. Okay, that’s not a feeling, it’s a knowledge.

Okay, so when he bears witness with our spirit, you’ll know it. That’s how I knew I was called to preach. I knew it. Okay, well, back to this situation,

I knew God was going to give us a soul that day. And sure enough, and it was a glorious one. Well, they’re all glorious.

So ask and then take. There are other times, there are multitudes of times where I’ve just gone to the Lord and said, Lord, I need Holy Spiritness. And I’m going to tell you something, we’ll have divine appointments.

And I understand that sometimes they’re not going to get saved that particular time. But I’m saying, you see God work. We were just the other day in downtown Ann Arbor talking to a couple.

They’re out in the Diag, as they call it there, in the University of Michigan. And this couple was from Asia. I think they were Japanese.

And so we began to get in the gospel. Well, their Buddhist background, this, that, and the other, and so forth, knew nothing of Christianity except the girl said, Oh, my grandmother was a Christian. And she talked to me about it all the time.

I said, let me tell you something. It is not an accident that we’re talking to you right now. It’s an answer to her prayers. And though that couple didn’t get saved that day,

I’m going to tell you something. That’s the hand of God. See what I’m saying?

Okay, well, you’re seeing that reality of the Holy Spirit of God. Okay, so we’re to ask and we’re to take. But you know, it doesn’t stop there.

Use the analogy of a piece of candy. My son not only would ask, he would not only take when I give it to him, what do you think he did next? He ate it!

Okay, it’s amazing how fast a wrapper can go off a piece of candy, you know. It’s just amazing how it just, boom, I mean, it can just be like that. That’s funny, my son, he’s not a good eater.

It’s one of my wife’s dilemmas in trying to get food in him. But I’m going to tell you, he’s a good eater when it comes to candy. I remember one time we were at a theme park with my brother Jim. Somebody, a pastor had gotten some free tickets for us,

and he and all of us went, and it was one of these little kiddie parks and whatever. And so he had some boys and stuff. I thought, well, let me get some cotton candy for all the boys.

So I got some cotton candy, gave it to John Jr. I said, now share this. Well, he was sharing it, but I’m going to tell you what.

I didn’t realize he could eat that fast. I mean, he was like, poom, poom, poom, poom, poom. His arm was going like this.

I thought, unbelievable. I didn’t know, because he eats so slow otherwise. and I mean he was pumping that stuff in and then you know he’s about halfway through and I said now John go back over to those boys offer some more and there’s this little boy in a stroller so he offered some of that little boy and when the little boy reached out to pull a piece the whole wad and before I mean before it came even fully off that little white stick

my son grabbed the majority of it back the third step is to act okay in the case of the candy the action is to eat you know right back to our real deal here we’re to ask for the quality of the Holy Spirit then we’re to take but then thirdly act on it now see if you don’t ask at all you’re in unbelief if you ask but never take you step back into unbelief

if you ask and you take but you never act then at that point you step back into unbelief see how this works You see, they’re steps of faith. And depending on the moment you’re at, it depends on which step. If you haven’t asked yet, okay, that’s the first step.

But when you start asking, the Spirit of God bears witness. Hey, here it is. Okay, at that point, stop asking and take and say thank you.

But once you’ve had that transaction, now act on it. All right, that’s our third step. That’s the middle of the verse.

And ye shall be witnesses. Open your mouth. Declare the gospel with that expectant reliance that Dr.

Jim talked about this afternoon. expecting God to grace you. And you know what?

He does. Now, don’t wait for a feeling. You see, the spirit of life is not waiting for this zap. You know, I think sometimes people think that, you know, what you do is,

you know, you pray and whatever, and then you run into this phone booth. And something happens. And you come out super soul-wetter.

It’s never happened to me, I’ll tell you that much. No, it’s not how it works. It’s not waiting for a spiritual zap. No, you’ve asked, you’ve taken, and now the Spirit of God says,

okay, all right, there’s the one. Go talk to that one. And you’re thinking, oh, Lord, I don’t feel anything.

Forget the feelings. You’ve asked and you’ve taken. I’m going to work.

Just take the step of faith that’s next. Open your mouth. And friend, when you do, guess what happens? It’s the Spirit of God at that moment of exercise of faith energizes you, imparting to you the very life of Jesus,

freeing you to speak and freeing them to hear. Remember, one of the dear ladies in Ireland, God really stirred her with this, and she had never let us hold a Christ. Never let us hold a Christ. And God had really stirred her with grace and supernatural enablement about other issues for holiness, but now God was stirring her about applying this to service,

and she was faced with a crisis. She knew that she needed to surrender to obey the Holy Spirit about witnessing. That was the next step of surrender for her at that point. And so she wrote me about it, my wife and I, and she said,

I told the Lord the next time you tell me to speak, I’m going to do it. I surrender. It’s already settled.

She said, well, within 24 hours I had my opportunity. And the Spirit of God said, speak. And she wrote in the email, I was terrified.

But thankfully, faith is not a feeling. Isn’t that wonderful? You know, faith can be exercised opposite feelings.

Hallelujah. Well, she said, I knew I had to obey. And so, you know, she said, I looked to the Lord.

And the steps of faith that we’re talking about are all a part of this. And she now knew the next step was to act. And so she said, God, you’ve got to step in.

Now, Lord, here we go. And she said, I opened my mouth. And she said, when I began to speak to, it was a teenage girl, she said, it was as if the Holy Spirit took over. And within the second conversation, which is within 48 hours,

she led her first soul to Christ. Man, hallelujah. And do you know that that lady has continued to see people saved from that day to this?

In fact, she’s heard me tell this story. And she said, she came up to me afterwards. She says, I’ve forgotten about being the terrified.

She said, because that part’s gone now. Now, there’s a certain sense where we’re always terrified, but you understand what I’m saying. There is that sense where now you’ve tried and proven the Lord over and over again, and you know, as soon as I open my mouth, He’s going to step in and enable.

And He does. So we have to act on it. You see, acting without asking and taking is acting independently.

It’s outflow with no inflow. But acting with asking and taking is acting dependently. You see, acting without asking and taking is flesh dependent.

But acting after we’ve asked and we’ve taken is spirit dependent. Man, hallelujah. I think it was last summer.

I think it was last summer. I preached in Ann Arbor Baptist Church. It was on a Wednesday night.

And I preached a whole message on Acts 1-8. We ended with these three steps. And I just quickly went over them at the end of the message.

And we went into a prayer meeting. And I’ll tell you, there was person after person that was asking. They were asking.

And I said, Lord, I was just praying by myself. I said, Lord, have somebody go beyond the asking to taking right here in this prayer meeting. And one of the men had already prayed and he’d already asked, God, we need your power.

Lord, I need your power in witnessing. Oh, God. And he was asking.

Well, he started praying again. And I was thinking, oh, Lord, have him take, have him take. And boy, you can hear it coming.

Oh, Lord, he’s going to do it. Go on, Lord, have him do it. Have him do it.

And you can just hear, reach out and take. Within 24 hours, that man led us all to Christ. Man, he talked to me about it, and he was just rejoicing.

Well, hallelujah, this is what God says. You see the simplicity of it? Ask.

Ask for the quality of the Spirit to free you to speak, to free them to hear. And then when the Spirit bears witness with your spirit, here it is. Take it and say thank you.

and then act on it, expecting God to work regardless of how you feel. There are times when God lets you know you’re being carried by the Spirit. There are other times when you don’t feel anything, and the person falls under deep conviction and gets saved.

So forget the feeling part. Don’t worry about that. Sometimes God lets you be there, sometimes He doesn’t. You just trust, expecting that God is going to be true to His Word,

and He will. A couple of weeks ago, one of the men in our church asked me, Hey, I’d like to go sewing with you sometime. He hadn’t done a whole lot.

He’d been around it and so forth. But as far as he’d talked to a lot of people, he was good at talking to people, but as far as really getting to the gospel and so forth, he said, Could we go together? I’d like to just, you know, go with you and whatever.

I said, Sure. So we worked out a particular night. It was two weeks ago.

And all week long I was praying. Lord, I said, I’m nothing. He needs to see you at work.

And he was praying as well. And he was saying, God, we’ve got to see you do something. And so both of us were asking.

We were asking. And a couple of weeks ago, they were having the art fair in Ann Arbor, and just hundreds and thousands of people descend on downtown Ann Arbor, and the streets are lined with all these weird old crafts, and some of them are nice, but whatever. And all this stuff, and people everywhere. And so we got down there, and we had several good conversations, one or two of what I would consider definite divine appointments,

but the person not saved yet. But I remember earlier that week, I said, Lord, you’ve got to work. Lord, we’ve got to see the whole thing. And I was going expecting not only to have divine appointments,

but to actually see somebody saved. Well, it was now getting late. You know, about time we’re going to have to go back. So we were actually headed back to the car,

but we were still walking through the fair. And there was a guard at the end of a street where they had the barricades, and he was just standing there, you know, guarding and making sure nobody was running off with anything or somebody wasn’t setting up a booth that hadn’t registered and all that kind of thing. Well, the man I was with, he sells alarm systems, and so he immediately engaged this guard in conversation, found out the company was from Detroit,

and they had been hired by Ann Arbor to come in and do this fair and so forth and so on. And he was asking all sorts of questions. Then we got on the gospel.

This guy was Roman Catholic background. And it was neat. You know, he has four kids, and he says, I’m busy now, I don’t do much with church and so forth and so on.

But he was works mentality. And we began to open it up. That truth that I mentioned to you earlier, I guess it was yesterday, on the clean heart, that the moment you trust Christ as Savior, and I read them, Romans 4, 7, and 8, your past sins are forgiven, and your future sins will not be credited to your account.

See, a Roman Catholic wrongly thinks he can deal with his past sins. You know, it’s worse, so it’s still wrong. But he has no way of dealing with the future. And when he saw that verse, that you can have your sins forgiven, and have your future sins not credited,

you could see the lights going on. You could just see it on his face. And so we continued further with the gospel and what it means to believe. And, you know, we had to move quickly in this setting

because he was on duty. But, you know, he was watching, so everything was still okay. And that man bowed his head right out on the pavement and trusted the Lord.

It was glorious. Now, young people, that’s what God wants for all of us. And I’ll tell you what, teenagers can grab a hold of this. I remember a kid back when I was in youth group, this kid got a hold of this long before I did,

and he prayed that God would give him 20 souls one summer. He had 40 by the end of the summer. I mean, this kid would go to the mall, find a couple of kids smooching, he’d stick a track right between their lips.

He did. And he got their attention. and he’d give them the gospel he saw 40 kids say that summer remember Perry? I remember Perry you know God uses teenagers man hallelujah God uses teenagers you can ask you can take because God will be true to his word he’ll be just as true to you to you with his word as he will with your pastor if you then be an evil I give good gifts to your children how much more shall your heavenly father give

Holy Spirit, that’s to those who ask. And so when you ask, the Spirit of Barrett went, here it is, then you can take it and say thank you. You can go out and you can act on it expecting God to work.

Now friends, I’m going to tell you something. When you take that final step, then you need to be ready. You need to have your New Testament with you.

You need to have gospel tracts with you. Look, if you don’t carry gospel tracts, you’re not anywhere close. The readiness needs to be there.

You talk about a man who’s ready. I think of Charlie Kittrell. man, his pockets were bulging everywhere. I mean, his coat never looked trim because, I mean, it was bulging with,

I mean, just scores of gospel tracts. And he didn’t just pass out two or three. I mean, he’d pass out 75 just like that.

I’ve been with him when he had every person in a restaurant. And he told me, he said, John, I don’t do it randomly. He said, I pray about it.

He said, whatever God tells me to do, that’s what I do. I thought, you know, that’s a great idea. You know, why not ask God to guide you even in giving a gospel track?

That’s part of what we’re talking about. Holy Spirit-ness, leadership, enablement, guiding the right person. You know what will happen?

This is what happened for me. One is I pass out way more tracks than I used to. And two is I have a ton of people thank me for giving it to them.

Why? Because God led me. Here’s somebody who’s working on it.

And I’ve had people, I pass out that good news track. Oh, man, do I need this? Thank you.

Man, you do. And they may be on the job and I can’t go through a full-blown witness in some of those scenarios, but I’m going to tell you something, same dynamic. But there’s other times when the Spirit of God is right there working.

Boy, you can have your New Testament ready. And you can declare the gospel and watch God work. I don’t know how many times on an airplane I’ve seen God work.

Sare in settings like that where they’re stuck. Remember one dear lady, man, she was just sanguine and loud. And we’re on those little tiny planes, you know.

And so I begin to declare the gospel. We’re flying from Memphis. I’d just been with Brother Savage there at his church.

I was flying back to Wichita a couple of years ago. And we get in, we’re talking, I turn that conversation toward the gospel, and she goes, Oh, no! You’re not one of those, are you?

You know, about half the plane turned around to see one of those. I said, Yes, ma’am, I am. And I said, if you don’t mind, I’d like to take my Bible.

I’d like to show you how you can know Jesus. It’s your Savior from sin and hell. May I do that?

She rolled her eyes. She said, ah, go ahead. It’s all you need.

I began to declare the gospel. Then I started dealing with the problem of sin. Man, she’s laughing.

She’s mocking. She’s having a good old time. The Bible says fools make a mock at sin.

That’s what she was doing. I thought, well, okay, she understands. She’s just denying.

I guess I better go to the next point. So I began to deal with the penalty. And as soon as I mentioned the word hell, she went ballistic.

She said, oh, come on. She said, come on. You don’t believe that?

Nobody these days believes in hell. Oh, come on. You don’t believe that, do you?

About half the plane turns around. Yes, ma’am, I do. Now, may I say at this point, this is not an obvious prospect.

And, you know, it’s funny. In nearly every net seminar we hold, somebody will raise their hand and ask the question, well, what do you do if they don’t believe the Bible? You know, if they don’t believe in God, I mean, how can you witness to them? Now, look, what would a police officer do if he had a criminal cornered at gunpoint

and the criminal laughs and says, ha, ha, I don’t believe that’s a real God? Now, do you think the police officer will walk with him, Oh, man, I can’t arrest this guy. He doesn’t believe this is a real gun.

No, all he has to do is pull the trigger. When somebody says, I don’t believe that’s a real sword, all we need do is wield it in dependence upon the Holy Spirit to pierce with it. And he’s a master at it.

If we would just depend on him, you’ll see. he’s a master at it go back to the story you know she wasn’t telling me to stop this was not a matter of trying to obnoxiously make something happen in the flesh and she understood and she was just denying what I was saying having a good time while she’s doing it I thought well I only have one option shoot I’ll go to the next point next point’s the payment

I began to lift up Jesus. And it was right in there when I was dealing with the finished work of Christ. It is finished.

The cleansing power of the blood to deal with past, present, and future. And then the glorious truth of credited righteousness that not only is your sin debt taken care of, there’s a need for something positive, but the righteousness of Jesus can be legally transferred into your account. she wasn’t laughing anymore her countenance had changed I tell you there’s nothing like watching those countenances changed by the power of God that lady was under conviction

and I believe she’d been under conviction long before I could see it and before it was over that lady bowed her head on the plane and out loud admitted to God that she was a sinner that deserved hell and called on the name of the Lord Ask. Take. And act.

Those are the simple steps of faith for empowered witnessing. Let’s bow our heads for prayer. With heads bowed and eyes closed, let me try to focus our thoughts.

to allow the truth to fully penetrate where God wants it to. Thank you again for listening. I wonder who would say, Preacher, I just don’t witness at all.

It hasn’t been in my thoughts. It’s not a matter of doing it in the flesh. I just don’t do it, period.

I’ve been in disobedience about it. and I realize especially after dealing with some of the other sin issues in my life God making me much more aware I realize the wrongness of that the negligence of that the disobedience of that and I’ll admit it would you raise the hand please yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes a number of hands the preacher I just for the most part I just don’t witness period now who would say preacher

I witness, but it’s in the flesh. Man, I don’t ask for the power of the Holy Spirit. I go through the motions, duty, all that stuff, but like your own testimony, there’s very little to show for it.

And now I see what’s going on. I’m not depending. And it’s made apparent because I’m not asking.

I’m not even taking that first step. And God has revealed that to me tonight. Would you raise the hand, please? Yes, a number of hands God bless you Now, I wonder who is a preacher God has already stirred me about asking And I’ve been asking But I’ve still been anemic And God spoke to me about that second step I’ve got to take it He says He’ll give it And boy, that’s where I’ve been stepping back into unbelief

The point of taking Was the message of the hour for me Would you raise the hand please? Ah, yes, many hands. God bless you. And then I wonder who would say, Preacher, I do know what it is to ask and to take, but oh, you know, the inflow is so wonderful, but I’ve been failing to act,

to open the door for the outflow. And that’s where I’m at. I’ve learned to ask, and I’ve even learned to have transactions, but then I just fail to obey, to actually act on it.

And that’s where I’m at. Would you raise the hand? Yes, yes, yes.

A number of hands again. God bless you. Appreciate the honesty.

Now, friends, prerequisite to this is having a clean heart. You have no filled life unless you have a clean heart. Many of you have one.

God has been dealing with things yesterday, today, this afternoon especially. But I wonder who it’s a preacher. There’s unfinished business.

for me. And I need to deal with it. And I realize, perhaps for the first time in this conference, that my life could affect hundreds, if not thousands, in eternity, contingent on the choices I make, even this very day. And God is awakening me

to one of the reasons why He hasn’t taken me to heaven yet. And there’s sin in my life, and I need to make it right. I need to get that clean heart so that I can move then to the filled life. And one of those applications of the filled life

is what we’re talking about tonight. And you’d say, for me, there’s a sin issue that I have not yet dealt with. By God’s grace, I know I need to.

Would you raise the hand, please? that’s where I’m at God bless you Amen are there others? yes God bless you are there others? say there’s some unfinished business I’ve got to deal with some sin issues yes I see that hand back over here and maybe you haven’t responded at all thank you sir God bless you it may be that you responded but it was partial and you’ve got to come all the way clean come all the way through

and friend when you do you won’t regret it and you say yes There’s some issues I need to deal with. God bless you, young lady. Thank you.

Anybody else? Say, that’s where I’m at, preacher. Yes, God bless you.

Amen. Thank you, sir. God blessyou. Thank you, young man

Thank you, young lady. Yes, over here. God bless you.

Anyone else? Oh. There’s some unfinished business.

I’ve got to deal with it. Yes, God bless you, sir. Anyone else?

Yes, God, bless you, young lady. Amen. Somebody else? Say, preacher, I’d hate to walk out of a conference like this has been so good

and I don’t want to walk out rebelling. I need to come all the way clean. There’s still some unfinished business.

I haven’t raised my hand yet. I’ll raise it now. Anyone else?

All right, God bless. Now let me ask this. Is there anyone in this audience that said, preacher, I’m not even saved. You’re talking about these stories

about people getting saved. I’m not even saved. If I died right now or ten years from now, I don’t know I’d go to heaven.

I don’t know that my sins are forgiven. I don’t know I have eternal life. I need to get saved.

That’s my need. If that’s you, would you raise the hand? Say, preacher, that’s me.

I’m not saved. It’s about time I get saved. I’m not saved.

I’m headed to hell. I know it’s about time. I trust Christ.

And settle this salvation matter. Receive that eternal life. Anyone at all.

Now, Lord, I pray that you’ll bless in the final moments of this service. Lord, the steps of faith that need to be taken. May they be taken.

And Lord, I pray that initially we’ll get honest with you about the unbelief. The unbelief of just total disobedience, period. Or the unbelief of going in the strength of the flesh but not asking.

Or the unbelief of asking but not taking. Or the unbelief of asking and taking but not acting. Or whatever the issues are.

And Lord, the sin issues. Oh God. Lord, I pray, demolish the lies of sin. make it clear to the heart of each young person that you’re speaking to who needs to come all the way clean that if they’ll take one step toward you your grace is right there to meet them and to carry them all the way through oh Lord may they experience that grace tonight by taking that step of obedience to deal with sin so Lord we look to you

Do what man cannot do. We thank you for it. Would you quietly and reverently stand to your feet?

Quietly and reverently stand to your feet. Just a moment. The pianist is going to play through a verse of a song. If God has spoken to your heart about any of these issues of unbelief,

the steps of faith, you can, of course, deal with the unbelief. And we can begin asking now, God, I need your power. I need your power to do right tonight.

I need your power to do right tomorrow. We can begin application. A young person where you need to come clean.

There may be some of you that really ought to talk to a counselor. You head backwards. Others, you come and get on your knees and do business with God up here.

But let’s obey the Holy Spirit right now as the music begins. Teenager, if you’ve come clean about a lot of things, you’ve gotten right with God, let me encourage you, take the next step about empowered witnessing. You may be terrified, that’s okay.

Because we’re not talking about you, we’re talking about Christ in you. Remember that? Why don’t you come and do business with God and begin to access the power of God for witnessing.

You’ll have an inflow-outflow set up that will allow you to be a channel filled with the Spirit of the living God. There’s unfinished business of sin that needs to be dealt with. Let me encourage you to head to the back.

Counselors are ready. Let’s do business. Let’s come all the way clean.

There may be some aspect of surrender that’s just holding you back. You may think, well, it’s not a big deal. I’m going to tell you something.

If it’s the next step for you, it’s a huge deal. Because if you say no, you’re quenching the Spirit. You’ll walk out of here not filled.

Filled with the flesh instead. That issue that may seem small, you yield to the Spirit of God and you’ll find you’ll access the grace of God. You’ll access the abundant life, Christ in you.

Much bigger than we realize.

Speaker 2: You got a burdened young person, you need to do business with God. Make sure you head to the back. Counselors will be there to open a Bible and help.

There are young people perhaps right now. You know there’s business you need to do with God. don’t leave if you just need if your parents are here you want to touch your parents i need to talk to you do what you need to do brother john mentioned god prompts you obey okay you may be seated and if you would please look this way for a moment uh i sense in my heart that there may be a

few young people that perhaps know that they still have a testimony to give or maybe even an adult i know many testimonies were given this afternoon and we’re certainly grateful for each one of those They were a tremendous blessing to me personally, and I know I’m convinced they were a real help to many of your peers. But I know a lot of things were going on, and some young people were working and breaking through things.

And it may be before we close the meeting, and I know some folks have to get on the road and those things. We don’t want to take too long unless the Lord so leads. But I do want to take a moment, and if there’s a young person or even adult for that matter, who knows the Lord has done a work in your heart and you ought to stand and give a testimony of that,

I’d like to give at least a few moments here for that to be given. So if that would like to give one, as we did this afternoon, if you just give a hand up. And I’d like to give opportunity to those that perhaps know they really need to speak and have not done it or perhaps have spoken but know there’s more they need to give testimony of.

As I mentioned, the testimony can be a help in two ways. Number one, it can be a help to you because you need to access God’s grace in giving the testimony. and secondly if you give it in obedience to the Lord he’ll use it somebody’s going to be helped so I know there are wonderful testimonies but there may be another so if there is one would you raise your hand real quickly and I’d like to give you an opportunity

before we close this Teen Revival Conference if there is one other yes Matthew amen that’s a good application of preaching as it is in any aspect of ministry okay anyone else who would sense the need to give a testimony here before I turn it over to Pastor, and he’ll close to see if he’s fit. Is there anyone over here? Just quickly raise your hand.

I certainly want to give that opportunity. Many of you bore your soul here this afternoon, and it was a wonderful time, but I want to make sure. Anyone else?

The sense is okay. Pastor, you’ve, oh, hold on. I missed it.

We’re, oh, go ahead. Great. Well, young people, it has been a great delight to have you here.

And sponsors, thank you so much. 2011 is in your notebook. We are planning in the month of June to have our third Teen Revival Conference. And I will say that one thing you can do is if you’ve been encouraged by a certain message,

you can, I would assume, where’s Bob Bosler, Bob, are you around at all? How long do you think before the messages are online? Okay, give them about a week.

A week from now, teenrevivalconference.org. There’s 07’s messages around there, 09’s will be posted. And so you can continue to use that website, hopefully, as the Lord continued to use that in hearts.

And we certainly want you to know the information will be there for the future ones as well as the past ones. So hopefully it will be a website that God can use to continue to stir folks with revival truth. Pastor?

Speaker 3: Amen. That’s exactly what we needed here at the end. And, young people, I hope not only will we hear a victory in your lives, but souls being saved through your ministry in the weeks ahead. would you let Amenman Ministries know what God is doing send them a note yes

Speaker 2: on teamrevivalconference.org we do have a little where you put your revival testimony I’m going to ask if God stirred your heart you get on there and that’s something you can read each other’s testimonies what God did in your life and that’s right under one of the tabs there you’ll find it here more computer savvy than I but you go ahead and put your testimony up there I hope many of you will do that and you can get online

check each other’s testimony and be encouraged when God’s done

Speaker 3: all peers. Amen. I would like to ask the adults and the sponsors here, let’s do pray, as I mentioned earlier, for these young people, the vast, vast majority did make key decisions. And we’re very

thankful for that. Satan does not like that. He is guaranteed to battle. But greater is he that is

in us than he that is in the world. So we thank the Lord for his goodness. So let’s stand for a closing word of prayer.

And we’ll look forward to what he’s going to do in these days ahead. Lord, Thank you for each of these young people, their churches, those that have brought them. Thank you for this very special time.

Lord, you have clearly orchestrated every message to bring us right through to this point here tonight. Now, Lord, we know that your word is a sword, that it is powerful. The Spirit of God will take the word that we’ve all heard.

And, Lord, you’re able to do a thorough work in our hearts. Lord, any that are resisting, you’re still able to take that word. And Lord, use it, I pray, to bring each one that’s been participating to great victory.

Now, Lord, we call upon you to accomplish your will. We depend upon you to do it. Would you work mightily now?

Thank you for all you’ve done. Give traveling mercies to these dear folks as they go back to the many states represented. And would you bless them this Sunday?

Would your hand be upon their churches? Bless, we ask now, in Jesus’ name. Amen.