I said to Joan last night, I said to Craig, where's Craig? He's down there. Craig called me last night and said, the free church is not perfect. You only got to look at Mike Barrett and you know that. The free church is not perfect. But when the chips are down, there is no body of people on God's earth that I would prefer to be among. We have had our churches, our ministers and their congregations around the world praying for us this week. And I know that when our own family was bereaved, just to see the men come around, it's not shallow, sloppy, sentimental stuff that they're here today and gone tomorrow. They're there with you. And we have people who are praying for us, whole congregations who are upholding us and upholding these families. And when the chips are down, the going's tough. As I say, our churches are not perfect, but I do thank God that across the world, wherever you go to a free church, it's still a free church, and there's a fellowship, and there's a bond, there's a oneness, there's a family that, to be quite honest, I have never known in any other extended group of people, churches. I'm glad to be among them. I'm glad we have one of them here. Jeff Bannister has come down to be with us through these funeral services, and I really do appreciate Jeff's coming. It's a long way to come from Indianapolis to here, and I really do appreciate his coming. And I'm glad that he was able to stay over for tonight. It's a long time since you've got to hear him preach. He preached at the Minister's Week of Prayer, and we were all tremendously blessed. And I asked him since he's here, and he came prepared for he knew I would ask, since he's here, if he would bring us the word before we get down to prayer tonight. He's one of our own. Remember here until the Lord called him out and he's been gone now for many years, but he's still one of our own. And I hope that he feels he's at home and he's back home where he belongs. Geoff, the Lord bless you. Tell us about the needs of the work there too, but come and Give us the word. The Lord bless. It certainly is a great joy and delight to be home, so to speak. The Green Bill still holds the record for me in terms of longevity for places where I have spent the years of my married life. I was in this city, this may surprise some of you, I was here for nearly ten years and I've never lived anywhere that long. Indianapolis is getting close now. I've been there for eight years now, so we're coming up on something that's close. But it is good to be back. I'm sorry for the occasion that has brought me back. This has served kind of a double purpose for me. I think it's very necessary. I've come to appreciate this more even today. My son needs me to come and visit him, I think, at least once a semester or else he needs to get home once a semester or both just to help him stay focused and realize that he's in the Lord's will serving the Lord. So this was good for me to be able to come down and see him. And I certainly had a desire to be with the Lord's people on this sad and tragic occasion. I'm glad about the report concerning Mike Walsh. I spent a summer working for Mike while I was still here, and I will certainly keep him in prayer. And I trust you will, too, that the Lord will do a deep work on his heart, bring him back to himself. We need to pray for him and for that family. And I think I can take the liberty here of speaking on behalf of you all, when I say I know of no other man I would want ministering under such circumstances as these as your pastor and the man that I in many respects still consider to be my pastor, Dr. Cairns. And the Lord has used him in a tremendous way. And I thank God for his ministry to me these last couple of days. I know he has ministered to those who are bereaved and he's ministered to us all. And how I thank the Lord for this man. My respect and appreciation grows over the years for this man. And I thank God and I pray for him and for the pastoral staff here that the Lord will bless and continue to do great and mighty things. And he has done great and mighty things here. I confess tonight I'm a little bit amazed. The last time I was at a prayer meeting in Greenville. I didn't have a podium like this. We met over there, and we filled up that section and maybe a part of this section, sort of divided them up, and we used the music stand. And you didn't dare touch it because it would drop on you. You sort of had to hold it up. And so this looks pretty solid. This is good progress, but I'm amazed at the turnout here. And that's wonderful, and that's encouraging. It's a good thing for the Lord's people to meet together and pray. And I thank God for that. If you would remember us in Indianapolis, pray that the Lord will keep us a praying church. For a small work, there are so many battles that you have to fight just for people to get out to the prayer meeting. And we need to pray. If anything is going to happen, it will be because we pray. And so I'm encouraged tonight to see a tremendous turnout of the Lord's people here to seek his face in prayer. The needs in Indianapolis are very simple. We need to see the Lord move with power, with grace. We've been encouraged since the time that I took up the post. I don't know if this would hold true now, but I reported to people about Thanksgiving time. that I think in the weeks and months that I've been there, there have been more Sundays in which we have had visitors than there have been Sundays in which we have not had visitors. I don't know if that would hold true today. We've gone through a little dry spell here recently, but we are seeing people come in slowly, but we need to see them stick. We need to see the Lord get hold of hearts and bring people into the work that will just catch on to the emphasis and catch on to the burden and the desire to make the name of Christ known and to worship and praise him. So I trust he'll keep us in prayer up there in Indianapolis to that end. I'd invite you to turn with me for a few moments tonight to Philippians chapter four. Philippians chapter 4, I'll begin in verse 1, we'll read down through verse 8. Looking at verse 8 as our text tonight. And with the Lord's Word open before us, can we still our hearts in a word of prayer? And let's all pray and ask the Lord now to speak to our hearts and prepare us to seek His face. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the access we have into Thy presence tonight. We thank Thee, Lord, that we are not following cunningly devised fables, but Christ is indeed the risen and exalted Son of God and our Savior. And we thank Thee for the wonderful privilege tonight of coming into Thy presence in prayer. And we ask of Thee tonight, O Lord, that Thou wilt quicken us by Thy Spirit. We are mindful of our dependence upon Thee. We are mindful that in our flesh there dwells no good thing. We are mindful, Lord, even of that spiritual law that tells us that even when we would do good, evil is present with us. And we find ourselves in need of grace. We find ourselves in need of the Spirit's help. And so we call upon Thee for it tonight, Lord. Please quicken us by Thy Spirit. Please prepare us, O Lord, through thy word that we may seek thy face, that we may do business with God, that we may know thy presence, and that we may leave this place with assurance that we've met with God and that God will answer prayer. So, Lord, draw near now, we pray. I plead the blood of Christ over my own heart and life. I am mindful, O Lord, of my unworthiness and my inability for the task that is upon me. But I plead that blood over my heart and life and pray that thou would cleanse me and then fill me with thy spirit and make me a vessel fit for thy use now in this season. Lord, carry us on, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen. Philippians chapter 4, we begin in verse 1. Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved, and longed for, my joy and crown So stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved. I beseech you, Odius, and beseech Syntyche, that they be of the same mind in the Lord. And I entreat thee also, true yoke fellow, help those women which labored with me in the gospel, with Clement also, and with other my fellow laborers whose names are in the book of life. Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, Rejoice! Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. Be careful for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. And then verse 8 I want to take as our text tonight. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things. Amen. And we know the Lord will add his own blessing to this reading from his word for his name's sake. This eighth verse from chapter four really commends to us the practice of meditation or thinking, dwelling, spiritual dreaming, if you will. Not that kind of carnal dreaming that springs from vain imaginations or the depravity of our hearts or from pride, but true, genuine, spiritual dreaming. Thinking upon things. Thinking upon these things, Paul says. When Dr. McClellan was in Indianapolis the last time, I think it was a year ago, this past November, he was criticizing a practice of dreamy Christians, those who, according to him, could build that church in the sky, so to speak, but would do nothing in terms of actually initiating action toward the fulfillment of that dream. And that was a very good point. We need to engage in action. We need to give feet to our prayers, so to speak. But as he was making that point, the thought occurred to me, there's something even worse. What about the Christian who can't even dream? What about the Christian who is so tied down to the things of this world? The Christian who is so mindful of the things of this world and the things of the flesh that he doesn't even know how to dream or think in terms of how great his God is or what his God can do? That's a situation that's far worse, being tied too much to this world. And you know, that thought was really impressed upon my heart anew today. How many churches there are that are so tied to this world and can never get beyond it? We were faced this morning with some very solemn truths, the solemn truth of heaven and hell, the solemn truth of eternity, the reality of life and death and tragedy. And my, you couldn't be there without a sense of solemnity and the awful majesty of God and the glory of His holiness, which in turn makes salvation such a blessing. But you know, as I was driving back to Greenville from that funeral, I passed a sign of a very large church, some Baptist church out on Augusta Road, which had their sign up and it said, contemporary worship, casual dress. And I thought, boy, that sure seems cheap in light of what I have just contemplated. How cheap in terms of the awful issues of eternity and life and death. It made me wonder, how would they treat a tragedy like this? Call the band together. I don't know, but it made me realize we need to learn to think and to dwell and contemplate on spiritual things, things that are true. things that are real. We need to learn to dream sanctified dreams, spiritually minded dreams. And the greatest test you can put to your dreams to determine whether or not they're spiritual or whether or not they spring from a carnal imagination is this simple test. Can this dream lead me to prayer? Is this something I can pray over? Because that becomes the first initial step of giving action to your thoughts. Take it to the Lord in prayer. Now, this text commends to us, as I say, the practice of true, legitimate spiritual dreaming, if I could borrow that phrase. Whatsoever things are true and honest and just and pure and lovely and of good report, think on these things. What I want to do tonight is simply apply this text in a couple of different ways. Two applications that I want to draw from the text. Think with me, first of all, on how this text applies to our thinking toward Christ and our thinking toward the gospel. And Christ truly fulfills this text, doesn't he? Who can better fulfill all that this text encompasses? better than Christ Himself. How often have we heard that our thoughts should be filled with thoughts of Christ, and yet sometimes we don't have a clue as to what that means or to actually put that into practice. Our text gives us some very good guidelines for thinking on Christ and thinking on the Gospel of Christ. Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, Christ is true. Christ is honest. Isn't it interesting to pay attention to the emphasis that Christ Himself placed on His own honesty and His own truthfulness? Verily, I say unto thee. That's the formula that Christ uses time and again in the Gospels. Truly, I say unto thee. Verily, I say unto thee. Or in John's Gospel, He places double emphasis on it. Verily, verily, I say unto thee. Oh, isn't it good to hear words from one that you know you can trust, one that you know is honest and cannot lie? Especially when you consider the important issues of eternity that he addresses. In my Father's house are many mansions, Christ said. He's stressing the fact that heaven is real and heaven is sure to those who follow Him. Now listen to how he stresses the truth of it. If it were not so, I would have told you. He's telling the truth. I find that tremendously condescending of our Lord that He has to emphasize to a culture of depraved men that I'm telling you the truth. The things that I say unto you are true, as if God would need to say such a thing. But to condescend to men of a sinful culture, to men who are so used to the practice of lying and cheating and deceit, Christ has to emphasize, I'm not in that category. The things I'm telling you are true. Well, of course, we all realize, don't we? We live in a culture that's dishonest today. Lying and cheating are so commonplace today that they've become accepted. People today actually expect to be lied to. So when politicians lie to us and their lies are exposed, no one's even offended because they've come to expect it. But the Lord lays emphasis on the fact that He doesn't come into that category. And so he prefaces many of his sayings with, verily, I say unto thee. Paul emphasizes the same thing. In hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, has promised. Oh, it's good to know, isn't it, that we're dealing with a God of truth. That we're dealing with a person who is true, who is honest, who we can trust. Whatsoever things untrue, think on the things that are true. This would be a good study to take up sometime. The verilies that Christ gives you, they encompass His law. They encompass the new birth. They encompass heaven. They encompass everlasting life. They encompass the greater works that we're to do. These are good things to dwell on. These are good things to pray over. And we know that they're true. Whatsoever things are just, and whatsoever things are pure. And here again, Christ can fill our thoughts and the gospel can fill our minds. Christ is just. Christ is pure. the holy, sinless Son of God, pure in His thoughts, pure in His words, pure in His deeds. I love the text in 1 Timothy that describes Him in chapter 3 and verse 16. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. Christ was justified. Christ was declared righteous. And because He was declared righteous, you may be declared righteous. I love the familiar text in 1 John, and I love to emphasize this word from that text that tells us if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Oh, it's a good thing. It's a just action. It's a pure act from God to forgive us our sins. This is what gives the Gospel credibility to our hearts. We know that He is just and the justifier of those that come to Jesus. If we didn't know that God could righteously cleanse us from sin, we wouldn't, in the depth of our hearts, truly believe the Gospel. Because we know, in the depth of our hearts, that the God of all the universe must and will do right. His law will not be compromised. His standard cannot be lowered. But in Christ we know that the law has been fulfilled in its precept and in its penalty. These are good things to think upon. and to move us to prayer and thanksgiving. These are things that bring peace to our souls. Being justified by faith, we have peace with God. Whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, the gospel is just and the gospel is pure. Whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report. What do you think about when you think on things that are lovely? I know of no more loveliest scene than the scene of one dying in my place, one dying for my sins. Greater love hath no man than this Christ said, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Or again in John 13 verse 1, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. A steadfast love. and a pure love. The sight of Christ dying on the cross has not always been a lovely sight. The world finds it to be a repulsive sight. You used to find it to be a repulsive sight. I used to find it to be a repulsive sight. It's a testimony against the depravity of the world. One who is bruised and beaten and bleeding. His back is torn. His hands and feet are pierced. He wears a crown pressed into his brow, which brings streams of blood down his face. And what about that face? It's been marred more than any man's. And there he hangs between heaven and earth on a rugged cross in agony and pain, bearing shame and scoffing rude. Oh, it's a heart-rending sight. But it's a heart-stirring sight. We call it a lovely sight because it's a testimony of His love to us. In my place condemned He stood, bearing shame and scoffing rude, sealed my pardon with His blood. Hallelujah! What a Savior! And the emphasis that the Holy Spirit places in Scripture is on the truth that He did this for you, for a believer, unto you, is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. The kingdom of God is come unto you. It is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom. My peace I give unto you. What an emphasis that this gospel comes to you personally, this love is to be your portion and is your portion as a believer. Isn't the cross of Christ then a lovely sight to behold? We see our salvation there. We see God's love there. We see the breadth and length and depth and height of a love that passes knowledge there. This heart-rending but heart-stirring sight of Christ dying for your sins is based on a good report. This is the gospel of free grace. In John's gospel, he makes a rare reference to himself toward the end of his report when he says, this is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true. This is a good report. Whatsoever things are true, and honest, and just, and pure, and lovely, and of a good report, Paul tells us, think on these things. Think on Christ. Dwell on who He is and what He's done. Bask in His love and be assured that it's true and that it's real. We have enough, you know, in that application of the text to take us to prayer. We have much for which we can worship and give praise and give thanks. But I want to approach this text from one other angle tonight, just before we get down to prayer. Let's think of it in terms of what God can do. Let's think of it that way also. Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, I see another scene before us now. And it's a true scene. It's an honest recollection of that scene. It's the day of Pentecost in the book of Acts, in Acts chapter 2. And there has been a mighty outpouring of God's Spirit You know, when you hear reports today, and you do hear them today, oh, God is moving over here. Or God is moving through this group, or through that group, or through this campaign, or somewhere else. And when you hear these reports, you greet them with a certain degree of skepticism. What's being exaggerated when I hear this report? What's being distorted in the figures and the description that they're giving me? What's being left out? They're not telling me everything. What else is there that they're holding back? And you can hardly trust what you hear because there's so much that's so crazy and so false. But in Acts chapter 2, you have something you can trust in, something that's true, something that's honest, something that's heart-stirring. It would be tempting to dwell on it for a while because I've begun preaching through the book of Acts now in Indianapolis. And we did a survey of chapter two last Sunday. And the thing that impresses me about that chapter is how the Spirit of God moves to draw people to the preaching of Christ. That's what happened. You look at the tongues phenomenon, and you look at all the other strange and unusual things that are going on, and people want to become so focused on those things that they fail to realize those things serve the purpose. I think the purpose is clearly revealed in the text that says the multitude came together The phenomenon of tongues and all the unusual things that were taking place drew that crowd together. It was bringing the people to church, so to speak. And then Peter was going to preach Christ to them. And it is so unmistakably clear. But that's what Peter preached. You can analyze his sermon very simply. He gives an explanation of what was going on. And then he gives a proclamation. And in that proclamation, he offers a scriptural demonstration of the thing that he is proclaiming. And then it leads to a conclusion, followed by an exhortation. And if you look on that section, his proclamation, it begins with Christ, ye men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved among you. He begins with Christ, and in the end of that section, he concludes with Christ. Therefore, know assuredly that God hath made this same Jesus both Lord and Christ. What happened on the day of Pentecost? The Spirit moved, the Spirit drew the crowd together, Peter preached Christ to them, and souls were saved. That's a good report, and it's true. And it's honest. It's one we can trust. This is revival, and nothing can hold it back. Not all the forces of earth and hell combined. Not all the kings of the earth taking counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed. When the Spirit is poured out, the darkness is put to flight, and the light shines in glory. I can't the mentality of modern day preachers, prophetic experts so-called, that they consider themselves to be. And they tell us God can't or God won't send revival. The day is too dark. Wickedness has reigned for too long. It's too deeply entrenched. It wouldn't be right for God to send revival, they say. I prefer to govern my thinking by things that are true and honest. And I find the day of Pentecost, I find Acts chapter 2, to be true and honest. And the account of Pentecost is just that. And when you think about it, what time in the history of the world was darker than the time when Christ walked the earth? He vindicated His identity many times over. He proved beyond all doubt that He was the Son of God, and yet such was the strength of apostasy that they took the long-promised Messiah and nailed Him to a cross. Was it a barrier to God's power? Was it victory for sin and for darkness? No. Rather, God chose to break forth by His Spirit at the time when darkness seemed to be the thickest. What were the days that preceded the Reformation? We refer to them as the dark ages. Was the length of that awful time a hindrance to revival? Was the strength of the devil's church strong enough to withstand God when once he moved in power and might in revival blessing? Oh, when we think of revival, we're thinking on something that is true and honest and just and pure and lovely and based on a good report. We have the report of the Scriptures. We have the good report of the history of revival. Let's think on the things that God tells us to think upon, and then let's pray. And it's in this vein of thinking, I believe, that we need to learn as Christians how to think big, how to dream. What do you dream about when you dream about revival? What scenes are you able to bring to your mind's eye? I can see our children on fire for Christ. Oh, what a dream. I pray for it. Children that love the worship of Christ. Children that desire more than anything in the world to learn of Christ and hear from Christ. I dream of a spiritual atmosphere in my home and in my community in which children take the lead, so to speak. They want to come to church. They manifest spiritual initiative. They don't merely conform to their parents' wishes, but they have affection for Christ. What a dream. I think it's one worth praying for. I think it's one worth going after. Oh, this is dreaming, you might say, but isn't it a lovely dream? Is it far-fetched? I don't think so. Not when we take into account the good reports of what God has done in days gone by. I think it's something to strive for in our praying. And what about the world in which our children are growing up? I dream of a world that's free from blasphemy. Now that may seem far-fetched, but when I think back to my early days, I wasn't brought up in a Christian family. My parents never went to church, but neither did they ever use profanity. Neither did they ever take the Lord's name in vain. Oh, I dream of a day when our culture will become so much more godly, free from blasphemy. I dream of a world where our children won't even know what homosexuality is. I dream of a world that is free from the provocations that are launched relentlessly toward our depraved natures over the airwaves and by the billboards and by the very magazine racks in the checkout line of the grocery store. Is it a far-fetched dream? Well, it would seem to be, but you know what? It's also pure, isn't it? It's a pure dream, and so I feel the liberty to think on it. And I feel the liberty to strive for it in my praying. Lord, send revival that will change this nation, that will change this land. And what about our churches? What about this church? What about the church in Indianapolis? How should we think? I love the scene from the account of the Isle of Lewis revival. I'll take it for granted that you're all familiar with that. Duncan Campbell has gone into the church for the very first time. He is to give a simple word of exhortation before he receives his supper. And when they make their way out of the church, all of a sudden there's a great crowd gathered just outside the doors of the church, hundreds of men and women. under the deep sense of conviction and a deep sense of God's presence, seeking help. Oh, what if after this meeting tonight we left this building and found a parking lot filled with people aware of the awful holiness of God under deep conviction of sin, seeking help? Oh, that's a far-fetched dream, you might say. What's the likelihood of that happening? How can we even think that way? And I have to admit, it does seem to be beyond reach, doesn't it? But on the other hand, it's certainly based on a good report. We have the good report of scriptures. We have the good report of history. In our church in Indianapolis, we have the good report of an eyewitness account when Mary Peckham came and gave testimony to us a few years back. I say, let's dare to think of it. Let's dare to strive for it. Let's dare to pray for it. When all is said and done, folks, we need to learn to think big. And that's one of the things I am most thankful for that has been instilled into my mental framework and spiritual framework in this church. I have been taught and I know you have been taught to think big because we serve a great God. And so tonight, may the Lord unshackle our minds. May the Lord give us the spiritual guidance and liberty to think big and pray big. Let's be idealists. Spiritual, scriptural idealists. I love that text from the Lord's Prayer. I think it holds out to us the liberty to seek revival. When the Lord teaches us to pray, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Christ himself giving us the very standard of heaven for the ideal of what to seek and what to pray for. Christ teaches us then to think big, to pray for great things, to think great things. Oh, let's go for it tonight in our praying. Think big. Think large and continue to seek God until he pours forth his spirit upon us. And I can promise you that if you'll continue to do that here, we'll continue to seek him in Indianapolis the same way until God moves. May God then move upon our hearts with grace and power for his name's sake.