# Involved in the Lord’s work

Key Passage: Joshua 6:3-5
Date: June 7, 2024

Getting involved in this season, involved at his church. But it’s exciting to see him here, back home and singing for us, and I appreciate that very much. Turn your Bibles, if we would, to Joshua chapter number six. Joshua chapter number six. And I think we’re working here on the lapel mic here a bit, and uh, make sure we’re good up here. I don’t see—let me see here—but this thing might have to be on. Just turned it on; it wasn’t even on up here, brother.

But on, right? Let’s see here what happens. Joshua chapter number six. Joshua chapter number six.

Just a bit we want to just talk about this thing or preach on this thing: being involved in the Lord’s work. It’ll just be the title. We’ll just call it “Involved in the Lord’s Work.”

And we’re going to use this over here in the Old Testament as a bit of an illustration. The children of Israel were coming in to take the Promised Land. There were a lot of enemies they had to overcome. The first place they came to is a place called Jericho. Jericho was a very large city of that day and time. It was a luxurious city of that day and time, very well fortified, had a huge wall around it.

The children of Israel, they were at that time nomads; they were moving a lot, and they were supposed to come in and take this massive city. It seemed very, oh, in some ways, impossible for them to be able to take it. God gives them a plan, all right? I want to just kind of see that plan. We’re going to start there in the book of Joshua, chapter number six, and we’re going to start in verse number three.

Would you please stand as we’ll read that together? Would you please just to show the Word of God? Joshua 6 and verse number three there of the Word of God. Notice what he says right there, Joshua 6, verse number three, and he says, “And ye shall compass the city.” Would you tell me what’s the next word?

“All.” He didn’t want a portion of them. He wanted all ye men of war. “Go round about the city once. Thou shalt do this six days.” So all the men of war were to march around it one time each day for six days.

Verse number four: “And the seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of ram’s horns. And the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets, and it shall come to pass, then when they make a long blast with a ram’s horn, and you hear the sound of the trumpet, what’s the next word right there?”

“All the people.” Actually, all the people were involved in that day. “All the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall send up every man straight before him.”

Now, let me just tell you the rest of the story. What happened? They did that. They marched around it one time for six days. Then on the seventh day, they marched around that city seven times. They were supposed to say anything. And then those seven men blew those ram’s horns.

And the people—can you imagine? I’m not sure how many it was, maybe two million people shouted. Oh, boy, that’d be loud, you know. And they all shouted, and the wall came and fell down flat. Now, that’s important because it’s so thick; if it didn’t fall down flat, they couldn’t get over it. But God knew that. It fell down flat so they could march right in. They had a great victory. Everybody was shocked, the shout of Israel. They took that major city. It was a great, great victory.

Then after that, they came to another city. They were supposed to take a little small town called Ai. Very small. And it was so small that the children of Israel said, well, we don’t have to send everyone in there. We could just send two or three thousand of our military in there. They won that battle, and they just sent in two or three thousand.

I do want to be honest: there was a problem. This man named Achan had taken of the cursed thing at Jericho. And that was a major, major problem. But I do want you to notice part of the formula was they only sent in 2,000 or 3,000. And when they went in, they lost. I mean, they got clobbered. Actually, 36 men got killed. Can you imagine that? 36 families didn’t have dad or husband come home. Sad thing.

They took care of the sin of Achan, and God led them in that. They took care of that. And they’re going to go back over there to this city, Ai, to do battle again. And I want you to notice what God says in chapter 8. We’re in Joshua 8 now, Joshua 8. And would you look at verse number three? Joshua 8 and verse number three. They’re going back to Ai. Last time they lost. They got killed, literally, some of them.

Now they’re going back. Verse number three, 8:3: “So Joshua arose and what’s the next word?”

“All the people of war.” To go up against Ai, and Joshua chose out 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them away by night. Now those 30,000, they went for an ambush kind of behind the city. They had several ambushes going on that day. But I want you to notice he sent all.

Now, if you would just jump over real quick to Acts chapter number one in your Bibles here, Acts chapter number one. We’re just going to use these a little bit as an illustration. This is the early church in the New Testament church age. By the way, next Sunday we’ll go back to the End Time series. We’ll go back to that. But for today: Are you involved? For being involved in the Lord’s work?

Well, this is early church. It’s only about 120. I don’t know what we have in here, but I would suspect in here we’ve probably got close to 120 people in here in the auditorium, others elsewhere. But I’d imagine we’ve got about that in here in the auditorium. So it’s not a big church, just 120 people. But I want you to notice what the Bible says here about these 120 people.

In Acts 1, look at verse number 14, would you please? Acts 1, verse number 14. The Bible there says these—what’s the next word?

“All continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brethren.”

Would you look over in chapter number two? It’s just a small group of 120 people, but they all continued in prayer and supplication. They’re all meeting together. They’re all praying.

And chapter number two, look in verse number one, chapter two in verse number one: “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were—what’s the next word?”

“All.” All with one accord in one place.

I’m not saying that every time, all the time, that’s God’s plan. Yes, yes, Gideon had his 300. But it seems God likes it when all his people are involved in the fight. In this scenario here, the early church, the Spirit of God fell in a great way, and thousands were saved. And actually on that day, 3,000 were saved and baptized. Wow.

But all—won’t you just—we’re trying to emphasize a little bit, all, just for a little bit this morning. Let’s talk about this thing: all God’s people being involved. Would you pray that the Lord would encourage us all to be involved in some way in the fight for the Lord? Would you do that? Just all of us be involved in some way.

Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated.

World War II was amazing. Over 30 countries of the world were involved in that World War. I would dare say every country in the world at the time in some way was affected and involved some way in World War II.

Some of you are here. We actually have a man—he’s not here this morning—but he actually fought in World War II. Very few of those living anymore.

But America, for a while, was trying to stay out of the fight. Now, we were sending resources, and we were helping a little bit, but we were trying to stay out of the fight. And that was kind of our stance. But something happened on December the 7th night, 1941, that changed everything. How many remember what happened on that?

Yeah, Japan sent their bombers over to one of our military bases in Hawaii called Pearl Harbor. And that morning—it was actually a Sunday morning, December the 7th—they flew their bombers and their fighter jets over our… We were just caught by surprise. God did some things to help prevent it being worse on that day. We don’t have time to get into all that. But, man, they just unloaded on us, literally almost 3,000 people died on that day.

Now, that was December the 7th, 1941. December the 8th, the very next day, our president declared war on Japan and the Axis, the other side of what were to—and America entered the war on that day. I love it. My history books of the schools that I went to, we used a Becker—Bob Jones curriculum, and I think it was a Becker, I’m not sure—but the curriculum that I used. I still remember turning the page to the next chapter, and the heading, the title of that chapter was, “The Sleeping Giant Is Awakened.”

And praise the Lord, America got involved in that war with all pretty much the resources we had. We devoted everything to that war. I’m talking about young men; they wanted to join so bad. Of course, the draft was going also; they didn’t have a choice in the matter. But many young men that weren’t even old enough, they would lie about their age just because they wanted to go and get involved in the war.

Everybody in some form or some fashion really got involved in the war. Companies would change over what they were making. Their products they were making, they would change over to war machinery in some form or fashion. Even the local police officer, if he didn’t go to war, he would be involved in the air raids. We were preparing in case they attacked us.

Many ladies—and I think it changed in a bad way some things in our country—but many ladies even went to the factories and started working in the factories because we needed every resource we could to bring Hitler to his knees. And it took everything we had. In some form or some fashion, most everyone got involved.

Some bought war bonds just so America could finance the war. They would have scrap drives. We needed metal for more bullets and more planes and more tanks and more jeeps. They needed every metal they could find. People would bring scrap metal. People would literally take the bumpers and the fenders off their car and devote it to the war because they wanted to give metal for the drive.

We needed more rubber for tires and things. There was a rubber drive, and people would bring in any old tire they could find. Ladies would even bring in—pantyhose were big in that day, you know—ladies would even bring in their pantyhose and devote that because they could use that in making rubber products for the war. I’m talking about America just unloaded all our resources on that war. People brought in old raincoats because they could use it to make more tires and use the rubber involved in that. I’m talking about all of our resources. We said, “Hey, everybody’s got to get involved in the battle.” Everybody did.

It was amazing what happened. Even the Admiral of Japan, Yamamoto, said this—I’m quoting from him: “I fear all we have done is awakened a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve.”

And in four years, four intense years, America took all our resources and we got involved in this thing, and really America spearheaded in many ways at that point this war to bring down Hitler and the terrible regime that was trying to take over the world, because in many ways, everybody got involved in the war. Amen.

Friend, we are involved in a much greater war. How can you say that? Because this war is not about a man or a lady living for 30, 50 years more; it is about a soul going to hell forever and ever and burning for all eternity, or a soul going to heaven forever and ever with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Friend, in this war, it is not for 30, 40, 50 years. It’s for all eternity this battle’s about. And it’s about every baby that is ever born; that soul is going to live or die somewhere forever. It’s the greatest war there ever has been. There is not a more noble cause in all the world than the souls of mankind. That’s what the battle is really all about.

You and I, we’re in the middle of it, whether you want to be or not. That’s why First Peter over there, he says, “Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour.” That word vigilant, it really has to do with strength. It really has to do with being alert. It has to do with you being willing to say, “We’re in a battle.”

And friend, just for a bit, I hope the Lord would kind of stir your heart if we all got involved. Hey, children of Israel, all of you marching around, all of you shouting, all of you involved in the battle. Hey, when we go to Ai, I don’t want two or three thousand. I want all of the children of Israel involved in the battle. Hey, over here in the New Testament, I want all of that. That’s a small church, but I want everybody involved in this fight. All involved, because the battle is so mighty.

I enjoyed it this morning coming in. As people were coming in for Sunday school, little Timmy came in, and man, praise the Lord, he had new shoes on. He was showing off; he was liking to style those. He even pulled his pants legs up, man. I loved it. He didn’t want to show them to me, you know. And then Molly came in a little after that, you know, and I love that. She’s had her little—that little hoodie on it has ears on it, cute as can be—girl, man, I love that. I love all that.

I was complaining to Joshua and Giselle; they didn’t bring Sage into Sunday school like they used to. They said she’s a little older. “You don’t want us to bring her in Sunday school right now,” you know. And she’ll be teaching the lessons instead of me teaching. I say that. It’s been a little bit of a joy for me just this morning to see all the little ones coming into church. And I love that. There’s something special about that.

But, friend, every little bitty baby that’s ever born, there’s a battle for their soul. The Lord Jesus Christ shed His blood for that soul, and He wants him to get saved. He’s not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. But on the other side, the devil is over there, and he’ll be working. He’ll be tugging on that heart, trying to get that little heart hardened and involved in sin that changes them down where they don’t want to turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, and there’ll be a battle over that soul between the two forces. And it all ends up with that soul right there’s going to go. There’s a battle.

God needs everybody in His kingdom, as a born-again Christian, everybody to be involved. As America did in World War II, we really just got our resources involved in the war. Would God Christians would get our resources involved in the Kingdom of God? Amen.

Oh, it’s so important. Every Christian. Now would you look over in 1 Corinthians chapter number 12 for just a moment here. 1 Corinthians chapter number 12.

1 Corinthians chapter number 12, would you look down in verse number 7, please? This really is a chapter we often talk or say is about spiritual gifts, and it is. But I want you to notice verse number 7. 1 Corinthians 12, look in verse number 7, would you please? Right there, 1 Corinthians 12, verse 6. And if you’re there, would you say amen? Good deal, good deal. Here we go: “But the manifestation, or the—” He’s showing, he’s opening up, showing the manifestation of the Spirit (capital S, the Holy Spirit here)—“is given to every man to profit withal.”

Did you know it’s every man? Can I put that in English—you know, Southern? Maybe I should say not English, but Southern. Can I put it in Southern language, therefore, you know, on my level at least, you know, that’s way down here? When you got saved, the Spirit of God moved inside of you, and He spiritually gifted you in some way. You have a talent. You have something that you can do for the Lord in a special, unique way. And God has gifted you—every born-again Christian in the Kingdom of God—God has given you talents. He’s given you gifts. No one’s exception. He said to every man, you have something to offer our Commander-in-Chief in this battle. God’s gifted you with that. Everyone. That’s what he’s saying. That’s so important.

By the way, would you look down in that chapter? You’re still there in 1st Corinthians 12. Look down to verse number 12, right there, verse number 12 of 12, 12, 12. He says there, he says, “For as the body”—used to be the body of Christ here—“is one and hath many members.”

Now let’s just stop. I’m sorry. Let me just stop there. One body, but many members. And actually, he’s not quite talking about the body of Christ yet. He’s just talking about a body here. All right. Most bodies have a hand on the left side and a hand on the right. Most bodies, you notice that day, you know? And we have elbows. Then we have shoulders. Then we have hair. Okay, most, you know. And we have ears, and we have eyes—some better than others, you know. Brother Aaron, he’s over here singing that, and he got his phone out without glasses, and I thought, man, that’s just not fair, I tell you. Don’t have that glasses on them, you know. How many of you thought that? Somebody are like, “Yeah, I thought…” Yeah, that’s just—come on now, you know.

But anyway, we got eyes and cheeks, and there are all these members of our body, but just one body. And he’s comparing the body of Christ. If you’re saying you’re part of that body, you’re part of a member somewhere in His body.

Let’s keep reading here, verse number 12: “For as the body is one and hath many members, and all the members of that one body being many are one body, so also is Christ.”

Jump down if you would—we’re in verse number 12—jump down if you would to verse number 20, verse number 20: “But now are there many members, yet but one body? And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee; nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary.”

God is saying every part of the body is so very, very necessary. Even the part you think, “Well, that’s not important.” I always tell the most important job around here is the one where somebody didn’t show up to do it. All of a sudden, it becomes vital. Every job is necessary.

You think about the body, you know, the part really that really gets no recognition but probably does the most work is the feet. Now, they stink to high heaven—please keep your socks and shoes on this morning, you know—but they carry you around all day long. You pound on them all day long. They pick you up, they carry you, they take abuse all day long. I mean, but nobody said, “Well, bow the feet, they’re wonderful.” I mean, have you ever heard a lady say, “My feet are not pretty”? Well, no feet are pretty, come on now, you know. Anybody don’t talk about their…

Brother Anthony said, “That’s a good preacher,” you know. But man, they’re so important. In the body of Christ, there are those parts that somebody says, “Well, that’s not very important. That’s not a pretty job.” But some of those are the most important.

You take this ministry, Love and Action Ministry, where we minister to people that are sick or shut in and whatnot. They’re going through a tough time. Wait till you’re having a tough time. Wait till you’re down. Wait till you just, man, I don’t know if I can keep going. And then bring a meal over to you—wow. I’m saying every job, every part of the body of Christ is vital. Whether you hold a position or not, you have a job to do.

We’re in a church, and it can be compared to the body of Christ all over—all the people that are saved. It can be compared to a local body of Christ, a church here. And let me just think this through with you for a minute. I’ve already kind of worked on it a little bit ahead of time. But let’s just think about one service. It’s just this one service. Let’s think about what all happened to make this one service happen.

Well, first of all, we’ve got to have a meeting place. Somebody had to put some money in the offering plates so we can buy the place and so we can keep the lights on, amen. So we can have heat or air conditioning—ooh, that’s a good thing. I mean, just so we can maintain it, somebody had to do that. Somebody has to pay the bills once the money comes in. Brother Anthony does that. All ushers count the money. Brother Anthony pays the bills on that.

Someone has to clean the building. I mean, if not, it’d be trash all dirty after a while. I mean, you’d be surprised how much just cleaning and maintenance goes into a building like this. We’ve got people coming in and out, in and out. Someone has to keep the lawn looking good, cutting the grass. Five different people do that around there. Praise the Lord for… By the way, I like the Bible verse Brother Bill put on the sign out there. I can’t remember how it goes, but it’s talking about the Lord raining down on the mown grass. I thought that was a good one.

Someone has to go out and invite people to come. You just don’t have people come in. “Well, they’ll come.” No, you go get them. That’s the way it works for Him. Somebody’s got to invite the people to come in.

Somebody has to have the PA ready to go. By the way—and I’m not trying to make light of whoever’s in the PA—but I’m just trying to show you, this is just a classic illustration. Usually one man comes very early and makes sure everything’s turned on, and he’ll usually make sure that lapel mic is on. And I should double-check it, and I didn’t do it today. But he had something else; his wife is sick, and praise the Lord, she’s able to come, so he couldn’t come to Sunday school. But I’m just saying that one man, and so he had a problem. You understand how all this thing works. And I’m not trying to say anything about anybody. I’m just trying to show you how vital every little bitty thing is for just one church service. It’s all so important, every little bit.

Somebody’s got to have the PA ready as part of it. Somebody’s got to have somebody in the nursery. Somebody’s got to man the nursery. Who does the work for a service? Somebody here early playing it, playing it upbeat and loud, and just kind of gets everybody their blood flowing and the organs going and all that together. Man, that does a lot for people coming in. And then the choir is singing. The choir is singing a good special. Brother Anthony does a great job leading the singing. By the way, I love it when a congregation sings out. That’s just awesome. Even if someone comes in and they’re not singing, if they just see everybody around them singing, they’re like, “Wow, these people are into it. They must believe this.”

But all that—I’m just talking about all the different parts of one service. People being friendly inside of church is so vital. You go to a church and people are snobby, you don’t talk to them. I’ll turn you off real quick. I mean, friendly people, just people when you come in smiling at you—that’s important. I’m coming to church and nobody even looks at you. You’re like, “Man, what’s wrong with this church?” Oh, everything’s so important.

Sunday school is a place for the kids to go and be trained in children’s church. Some people have come to our church—I think a man in particular years ago—and the reason why he came, he said, “Because my girls are learning something when they go to children’s church.” That’s important. By the way, God changed his life during that time. Praise wonderful. All that’s important.

I’m just saying that this is one service we’re talking about. The bus ministry bringing in many times the unreached. Boy, we want to reach them. If anybody needs to be reached, those young folks, they need to at least have the opportunity. The bus ministry is wonderful.

Somebody’s got to preach, and boy, it is important that there’s a preacher that they’re not perfect because there’s no such thing, but he’s trying to live right and deliver the Word of God and lead in the right direction. That’s just part of it. Someone is so important.

Someone—if someone’s been praying about that service—it may be somebody that can’t even come to church. It may be—she’s been on my mind a little bit here lately; I need to call her—but it may be Ginny Fontaine in a nursing home down there in Tullahoma, and yet she’s praying, “God, would You work in that church service?” And somebody may have their heart changed or touched in a special way because she’s praying and she can’t even be here. It’s saying of an effective church. All the—this is just one service we’re talking about. It’s vital someone praying over the… just so very important. Someone’s bathed that service in prayer.

The invitation. By the way, when you respond in the invitation, so often it helps others to respond in invitation. The music they’re an invitation. The deacons coming forward. If anybody comes forward to get saved… so many things, and I miss things. All that’s happening so hearts can get what they need. Man, they can get strengthened. They can get challenged. They can go out of here and say, “Man, I’m ready to get back out there in the battle for the Lord. I got my battery charged.” All it takes is everybody making a good church service happen. Everybody’s important. It may not be that you’ll have an official title, but friend, you got a part, I promise you. Everybody does.

They say years ago when America was at a time when there were agnostics and the age of reason, and those things were out, and really the agnostics and the atheists were trying to take over a little bit of our country during that time. They say that in a meeting hall, a very gifted speaker got up to speak—and I think it was an atheist or agnostic, I can’t remember which—but he was just very gifted with his words, and he put up a good argument against God.

It kind of made the Christians in there, they’re just, “Pooh, this guy’s so good with his tongue, and so sharp.” They didn’t want to say anything. So at the end, he felt like he had soundly defeated the Christians in the Lord. He said, “If anybody has something to say against what I said, say it now.” Everybody was quiet, unfortunately. Nobody would say a word. They were all in fear.

And they say one teenage girl in the back stood up and very quietly started singing: “Stand up, stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the cross.” When she stood and started singing it, a verse or two, another person stood up with her: “Stand up, stand up, ye soldiers.” Another person stood up. And they say before long, so many people were standing and singing, “Stand up, stand up for Jesus, ye soldiers of the cross.” Pretty soon the man was kind of embarrassed, and he just turned around; he walked out. And it started with just one. Everybody’s important. Everybody doing their part—it’s so vital.

I’ve got—I’ve got other things we’re not going to have time to get to them. I’ll just mention them. It’ll help you if you get involved. It’ll help you, I promise. It’ll give you purpose. It’ll give you value of life.

I thought about this. I thought about Brother Warren. How many of you know Brother Warren? He used to come sit up front over here. Just a dear brother, he was older, had a lot of health problems. And we just had a memorial service; he just went home to heaven. But he used to tell me, before he got saved, his life was so messed up. He told me, he said, “Preacher, back in the day when my life was just so bad,” he said, “I would walk down the middle of the road hoping somebody would take me out,” just had no value in life.

And I thought about it. Man, he got saved—not here, but he was saved. And we saw him near the end of his life. Well, man, he just had so much purpose and drive. He spent the last year or so in a nursing home. I got to visit him a little before he passed—I don’t know, maybe a couple weeks, a month before he passed; I’m not sure. But my last meeting, I still remember he was bedridden at that point, could not get out of his bed. But I remember him saying this: “Well, this nurse, she’s not saved. This nurse says she’s saved.” And I thought, he still has purpose. Amen. From a man that had no purpose in life, hoping a car would hit him, to a man that on his dying deathbed said, “I have purpose still.” That’s how it gives you purpose and value when you get involved in the fight.

He couldn’t come to church anymore—I’m not saying necessarily here—but just it’ll change you. Get involved in some form or fashion. It’s vital. It’ll help your heart stay right. Your treasures are where your heart is also. By the way, the one rowing the boat typically is not rocking the boat. It’s true.

Psalm 1, you know it: “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of God.” Notice he’s walking not in the counsel of God, nor standing in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. Usually people sitting around doing nothing, they’re the ones scorning, criticizing everything. Just get involved. It’ll help you.

Can I just say this? We’re not rewarded by doing what others do. No, no, no, don’t compare. That’s not wise. But you get rewards by doing your part. Whatever part you are. Maybe you’re a fingernail. You say, “Well, that’s got to wear.” That may be vital. Try to get something out of your wallet or something. How many men have ever said, “Hey, babe, I can’t get this. I need your fingernails”? Any of you? Yeah. I’m just saying everything’s important. All of it’s important. Just getting involved, it’ll do something for you.

I had so much more, but I’ll give you a couple things at the end. We’re going to skip some parts here, but you’re just talking about every little bit of parts. You know, every vote is important.

During the American Revolutionary War, there was a lot of anti-British sentiment amongst the leaders of the war, for sure. And the Continental Congress, at one point, they proposed a bill—because of so much anti-British feeling—they proposed a bill that we change the language of America from English (because we’re fighting against the English, you know, British) to German. And English won by one vote. We’d be doing all that stuff right now, one vote.

This is interesting. 18… I’m just about just one. Everybody doing their part. This is amazing. November the 8th, 1923. The leaders of a tiny little bitty Nazi party met in a tavern in Munich—is that how you say it? And this tiny little Nazi party voted, one by one vote, to make Adolf Hitler their leader. And we’ve already talked about World War II and the millions and millions that died from it. One vote. Don’t say, “Well, I’m not important.” Friend, you may be the one vote. Everybody.

There was a revival. It’s called the revival in the Isle of Lewis, the Hebrides revival, some will call it that, a little bit off the coast of Scotland—a great, great revival. These two older ladies, Peggy and Christine Smith, started praying. At this point, they couldn’t even go to church. One was blind, and one was so hunchbacked over. I’ve seen pictures of them. They started praying. They made their little roadside cottage really just a place of prayer. They would pray, they say, really day and night, and really the thing they began to claim was, “When God said, ‘I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, floods upon the dry ground.’”

These two ladies, they just night and day were begging. One was 84 and one was 82 years old. They couldn’t go to church anymore, but they could pray. One of the sisters, she was just pleading day and night, and she felt like the Lord came and said, “Hey, I’m going to answer your prayers.” They were really burdened, by the way, about the youth of the area not being in church, just being so sinful and worldly. She said the Lord spoke to me; He’s going to do something.

Right after that, seven men met in the barn for a prayer meeting. And that prayer meeting in that barn, one of the men—God just got a hold of that man. And they say he put his hands up and he said, “God, are my hands clean? Is my heart pure?” He said when he really got real sincere in that prayer meeting, he was doing that out loud. They said he just dropped. He just fell flat. He said, “Lord, I’m not right myself.”

But God began to move in a unique, special way. They say His awareness came on that island, the islands around there, in just an amazing way. They called for a preacher. They had a local preacher, but they called for a preacher. Duncan Campbell was one that attributed to it, but Duncan Campbell is one that tells so much about those two ladies. He wanted people to know where it started.

They called, and he came. He traveled all day long to get there. And he got there later that afternoon, the evening. The man that met him, the guest preacher, he said, “I know you’re tired. I know you probably want to get some food.” You know, they didn’t have all the modern conveniences; he hadn’t eaten. He said he was, but he said, “Look, we’ve got some people gathered already. We’ve got about 300 people gathered. I know it’s—by this time it was 8:45—but would you come to speak to those people?” And he said, “Okay, I’ll come.”

So by the time he got there, it was around 9 o’clock. And he said it seemed like the Lord blessed. The people were alert. They were hungry, you could tell, but nothing major happened. He finished out, closing down the service. It was around 10:45 at this time. He was closing down, ready to leave. And that same man, from what I understand, was kind of in the middle of the congregation. People were leaving, and he just talking to the Lord, he yells out, “God, you can’t fail us! You can’t fail us! You promised to pour water on the thirsty and floods upon dry ground. God, you can’t fail us!”

It caused a little stir. About that time, the doors of the church opened, and the local blacksmith—this is back in the local blacksmith days—came to the church. He said, “Mr. Campbell, something wonderful has happened. There’s no… We’re praying that God will pour His water on the thirsty and floods upon the dry ground, and He’s done it! He’s done it!”

Mr. Campbell said he went to the door of the church, and there were 600 people outside waiting. He said, “Needless to say, I never ate that night.” The service, if you will, lasted till 4 a.m. So I can’t tell you how many people got saved that night. He said, “I can tell you that five pastors”—how many long-term in the ministry—five pastors came out of that meeting. God touched their heart that night.

He was leaving there, and someone as he’s leaving said, “Hey, would you come to the police station?” And he thought, “It’s 5 a.m. Let’s go to the police station.” He said, “I’ll go.” And there was 400 people waiting at the police station to have service. That’s the way it was, he said, for about three years. The place, the whole thing was a total different place when it was all said. They said by the time the revival was done, the prayer meetings had more people going to them than they had going to the church when it all started. Just prayer meetings, and people just came more than they came to church before. So many preachers, so many missionaries, a great mission work came out of that. We sing hymns that were written out of that revival. And it all came from two ladies praying. They couldn’t even go to church at that point of their life. But they said, “This is the member that I am in the body, and I want to do my part.” Every part, every part, every part is vital.

Would you bow your heads and close your eyes? Our heads bowed, eyes closed.

You hear this morning, you say, “Preacher, by God’s grace, I want to do my part. By God’s grace, whatever my part, whatever God’s made me and called me to do, I want to do my part.” God’s spoken to my heart. I want to do my part. By God’s grace, I’m going to do my part. By God’s grace, I’m going to do my part. By God’s grace, I’m going to do my part. I want to do it. God bless you—many hands, many, many hands.

Maybe there’s somebody out there thinking—put your hands down—you say, “I’ve been on the sideline too long, and I want to get involved in some form, some fashion.” You may not have a position per se, but I’m going to get involved in the fight for the Lord. And God spoke to my heart about that. I’m going to get involved. I’ve been on the sideline too long. I’m going to get involved. I’m going to get involved. I’m going to get involved. I’m going to get involved. I’m going to get back in there. God bless you. God bless you.

Maybe there’s somebody else: “I need to get involved in the fight for the Lord. I want to be right in the middle of it all doing my part.” I’m not asking you to do something you’re not supposed to—not somebody else, but my part. I’m going to do my part. Anybody like that? I’m going to get involved. Anybody else? God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. That’s wonderful. Thank you.

Maybe you’re here this morning, you say, “Preacher, really, for me to get involved in the fight as I ought to be, there are some things in my life I need to get right. I cannot be effective for the Lord as I ought to be unless I get some things right. And I’m going to make some changes so I can be an effective soldier for the Lord Jesus Christ.” God spoke in my heart about that. If that’s you this morning, you lift your hand up. “I need to get some things right.” God bless you. God bless you. We’re all—me too, there from time to time. God bless you. So vital to be effective in this battle. Oh, it’s wonderful. Thank you. Many, many hands. Thank you for that.

Maybe you hear this morning, you say, “Preacher, really, for me to get involved in the fight as I ought to be, I need to get saved myself. I need to sign up for the Lord Jesus. I need to receive Him as my Savior, my Commander-in-Chief. I need to get saved myself.” That’s you this morning: “Preacher, I need to get saved.” Would you slip your hand up? “I need to get saved.” Anybody like that? Just slip it up. “I need to trust Jesus Christ as my Savior.” I see one. Would there be anybody else? Just hold it up. God bless you. God… Would there be anybody else? “I need to get saved.” Anybody else?

In just a very quick moment, we’re going to all stand. As soon as we stand, I’m going to say a quick prayer. As soon as I say amen, if you’d like to get saved, would you step out of your aisle and would you come down front here? There’ll be some men standing there. Would you come? And they’ll take the Bible and show you how you can get saved. If you’re a lady, they’ll get a lady. But we want to make sure that you’re enlisted in the Lord’s army on your way to heaven.

Would you please stand? Would you please stand? We’re going to have a word of prayer. If you raised your hand, would you come down to an old-fashioned altar and say, “Lord, by Your grace, I want to do my part”? Would you let Him know that? Need to make some changes so I can be effective. If you need to get saved, would you come? Would you come?

Father, thank You so much that You’ve given us all a job in Your army. Father, help us to fulfill it. Help us to make real-life changes so it’ll be effective for You this morning. Lord, this one who raised their hand helping to get this thing settled—would You work in our midst? Continue to, Lord. We’ll thank You, Lord, for what You do. It’s in Jesus’ name we ask. Amen.

Would you come? God spoke to your heart. Would you come? You need to get saved. Would you come? I want to be active in the army. Would you come as we play? Would you do that?

It’s amazing when all of God’s people say, “All right, I’ll do my part.” It works so wonderfully. It’s like a well-oiled machine. So much can be accomplished. People are saved. Marriages are helped. Lives change. Missionaries sent out. Communities brightened. It just takes everybody doing their part. God never asks you to do something He doesn’t give you the ability to do it. Or if He’s calling you, say, “I surrender.” He’ll give you the ability to do it. Wonderful thing to be a part of His team. Would you spend some time yielding to the Lord? Would you do that as we sing?

Amen. So thrilled you’re here on a Sunday morning. I want you to stop by these tables. There’s all kind of tables. Stop by at least. Talk with them. And we’re not asking you to do anything the Lord doesn’t want you to do. Just stop by and talk with them. Ask the Lord, “What would You have me do?” I guarantee if you’re saved, He’s gifted you to do something somewhere. It may not be one of these tables, but just somewhere in His kingdom serving Him. And just you being here at church is a statement. Amen. And that’s awesome. I spoke to your neighbors. I guarantee they noticed it.

And you said, “Preacher, you already preach. Quit preaching.” We’ll be back tonight, 6 o’clock. Hope to see you in your place. And make sure you stop by one of these tables. I’m thrilled to have every person here this morning. And so good to have Brother Mike Arnold here today. And brother, could you lift your voice? You’ve got to realize this: the man has been in the hospital for weeks and just getting his strength back. Would you dismiss this with a word of prayer, please, my friend?

Original File: Pastor Paul Chisgar - Every Member - Sunday AM 03052023