You know this world is full of preachers, but just a few were chosen. Stay tuned for Treasured Heritage, a preaching program spotlighting those servants who have gone on to glory. Isaiah 5417 says, this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. And now, Treasured Heritage. I noticed, I was scared to death he was going to say he visited our church, and I didn't take him out for a steak or have him to preach as Brother Moore did, but I'm glad he said I wasn't there. But I wish you folk could visit our church, and I'd like for you to visit on the street. I think you'd enjoy it. We have 145 acres right at the busiest intersection in North Carolina, right at I-85 and Sugar Creek exit, 145 acres. It has a church on it now, a dome, a beautiful church, I think, and thank God for it. It seats 3,240 on the ground floor. We have a chapel that seats 500, dining hall, of course, in our school. Now in his thirteenth year we have a Bible Institute. We have a radio broadcast now in his thirteenth year. We have ten radio stations every Sunday and a television broadcast. I'm saying all that to say this. God has done it all in less than twenty years. I remember when I had the privilege of going there the second Sunday in September 1954, my wife and I, with twenty-seven other people, organized the Northside Baptist Church. God's blessed not because of me, but in spite of me. I get up every morning so thrilled and challenged that I can hardly wait to get there just to see what God is going to do. I'm like the woodpecker I heard about one time. He was trying to get a bug out of a little tree and he couldn't quite get him, so he got back to get him a start. He got back about seven or eight hundred yards, and I mean he got a start. I mean he was zooming. And just about the time he hit that tree, there was a lightning storm going on, and lightning hit that tree and split it wide open and killed that little woodpecker, and he died thinking he had split that tree. And I've kind of got it in my mind when I go home, I'm going to be a little bit like that woodpecker. I'm going to find out that God did it all anyway. But I tell you, it's thrilling to be there. It's just so thrilling. And it is, our street there is named, our address is 333 Jeremiah Boulevard. And I'll tell you briefly how that came about. We believed that we needed a verse, something that we could lean on, something that's in God's word that didn't change. And so we claimed Jeremiah 33.3. Call unto me and I will answer thee. and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not." And so we thought that was a good verse, so we claimed it. And so when we got ready to name the street, because it's ours there in the front, two-lane street, I called down to the commission and I said, look, could we pick a name for the street? Well, he said, I guess so. What did you have in mind? I said, what about Jeremiah Boulevard? Now, the reason I said that, just beyond us, there's a university. And it's got Robert Frost Street, you know, and Joyce Kilmer Street, and they honored the poets, and I think that's good. But I thought we ought to honor some of the saints of God. A lot of, you know, St. John's streets. And so I thought we ought to honor some of the Old Testament saints. And we've got another, Isaiah Lane and Hosea Boulevard, back up, you know, some of the other land. But the front street's Jeremiah. So he said, well, let me look. Well, he said, there's not another. Looks to me like it'll be all right. I said, let me ask you another question. Could I choose the address? And he said, well, there's no other Residents on that place know the place. He said, I don't see why. What did you have in mind? I said, what about 333? Well, he said, let me look. And he went and came back. He said, that looks hard to me, preacher. I said, amen. So our official address is 333 Jeremiah Boulevard. Now, when they were constructing the building, our dome itself is 55 feet high. Then there's a 75 foot spire right on the top of it. Now, if you'd look at it, you'd declare it was a sharp needle at the end, but it isn't. It's about one inch square. And when they started to go up, I said, wait, hey, wait a minute, fellas. And they pulled it back down and I said, you know, I know the Lord knows what we're depending on. Might be an angel flying by here someday and not understand the verse that we're claiming. And so we engraved on the top of that, Jeremiah 33, 3, just in case an angel's flying by and can see it or somebody hovering over in a helicopter, it'll be a witness to them. And so it's built on that verse and what a blessing it is. And every time I drive in, I think about how great and how many wonderful things God's done for us. Let me remind the Southwide Baptist Fellowship officers, if you will, to meet me immediately after this service for a brief meeting, and I praise the Lord for that, for the Southwide Baptist Fellowship. Now, I know you folk have met Brother Champion with the deaf ministry at one of the most unique Bible colleges I think you'll ever hear about, a college for deaf people and deaf preachers. I've had the privilege of both being out there and having them in my church. Now, I've had a lot of people to sing in our church, and I've been blessed. by people singing, I don't think I've ever been blessed any more than I have by seeing those deaf people sing. And I put that in quotations. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it. And I'm praying that if you don't get an opportunity to hear, that you'll avail yourself of that opportunity of hearing that group sing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Did you know they have a quartet? I mean, one of them's a bass, one of them's a tenor, one of them sings the lead, and so Did you know that? And they sing duets. A man and a woman sing a duet. Now they can't say a word, but you'll just have to see them. Most amazing thing I've ever seen. And when one of them, a man, sings his part, you know how they have a two-part sometime in a duet? The man steps forward and he sings. I'm always saying that in quotes now. And when the ladies part, then when they both sing together, I'll tell you the truth, if your eyes are dry when they get through, you need a trip to Calvary. I'll tell you that. You'll be blessed. Let me say this. I don't have anything here for you. I don't have a thing I wish to do, but I just had to come in and back out. But I'd like to just say a word. God has blessed. I did a series of messages, ten of them, on the second coming of Jesus Christ and began at the age where we are now and goes right on through until the time of eternity. I never knew that God could bless anything like that. I've had tapes for a long time and God has blessed them. And we put it in a little album, really eight tapes, but with ten messages and put it in a little album. And we've offered this year, just this year, and as a result of it over 80,000 of those sets have already gone out. Most amazing thing I've ever seen. And I need to tell you this little story about it. I was down in Miami, Florida two and a half years ago now in a meeting among many other people who came forward. was a man's name that you'll recognize now, but I frankly didn't know. I'm not that much of a sports fan. I didn't recognize him, didn't know the name. He came up to me in weeping and he said, My name's Alvin Dart. And oh, how God's done for me tonight. I'll never cease to thank the Lord. While I was there that week, I was in morning services and Alvin Dart literally followed me everywhere. He went to the hotel with me, took me for lunch. We'd go out and he was talking to me about the second coming of Christ. And I tried to draw him some little diagrams and he said, Brother Hudson, why don't you put that on some tapes and draw a little diagram for me so I can understand it?" And I said, Brother Dark, I'll do it. Well, I was nearly two years, and so I sent him the first set of them, Alvin Dark, who is now the manager of the Oakland A's, as you know, and a real, born-again, witnessing Christian for the Lord. He's got a real testimony for Jesus, and I sent him the first one. The other day he sent me a—I got a letter last week, in fact. And he said, Brother Hudson, I'm waiting for you to come out and visit me at a baseball game. And I said, I'm waiting till you begin to win the World Series and I'm coming out. I don't want to fool with a losing baseball team, you know. So he sent me a check back and he said, this will help a little bit till you can, I can see it. And he sent me a check for a thousand dollars. I said, praise God for baseball, brother. Amen. Amen. And so I mentioned that to you for whatever it may be worth. The thing that I found that I'm so concerned, I never, I never have gotten a penny out of never. I just use it to support our radio broadcast and our book ministry. Any of you who have ever been there, I find I can give my books away a lot better than I can sell them. But we give books away and keep the radio broadcast on the air and the television program, and that's the only means of it. But if you're interested, you can write us. You can remember the address, can't you? It's in your Bible, Jeremiah 33. So just send 333 Jeremiah Boulevard, North Side Baptist Church, North Side. That's the side Heaven's on, you know. God bless you, that gives you Yankees a jump on us. But I tell you, we're coming back. You wait now. You just wait. God had more trouble with the northern tribes than He did with the southern tribes, I'll tell you that. I mean, need to fight a little bit there. All right. All right, now thank you. And Dr. Rice, don't worry, we'll be through. I'll tell you what little I've got to say won't take long. We'll be through. You know, I felt a little bit up here with these great men of God this morning. I felt a little bit, as Brother Bill Harvey was saying last night, I felt like the third verse of a song, you know, just Connie in there to fill up the space, you know. And these men do such a good job, but I'm glad to share and have a little part with you. Let's bow our heads now. Our Father, it's so good to be here with God's people. It's so good to be here with people who are concerned. We believe perhaps there are more concerned people here than perhaps I've personally ever spoken to. Perhaps I've spoken to more people, but not as many concerned, because they've left a busy, workaday world. They've come together with their hearts open, with their Bibles open, and they're wanting God to speak. Father, God forbid that I should take this time and use it foolishly or unwisely, but, O God, may the Spirit of the living God speak to us now. Pray that every one of us may remember that we'll give an account of the way that we've listened this morning. as well as I will of the way that I have preached. So anoint our ears, our Father, and give us receptive hearts. In Jesus' name, amen and amen. As I go over this country looking at the churches and thanking God for the ones that are growing and the ones that are attempting to grow, and people like you who are wanting to see something happen for God, I look across it yet, and I see churches that are being closed, and I see denominations that report loss of membership all the time. My heart is burdened and hungry. As I go through the word of God, I am reminded afresh and anew, beloved, that we are preaching from a supernatural book about a supernatural God whose Son had a supernatural birth, and we are preaching about a supernatural being, a born-again experience, so that we can go to heaven. Now, beloved, it seems to me very logical that we cannot do that unless we have a supernatural experience ourself. You can't take supernatural things and get them to a lost and dying world by the natural conveyances of men. I read in the word of God, and I believe I find something that emerges sort of as a pattern, something that if we want to say it is a little bit of a secret, at least it's a missing element today. For example, I read about Moses, and for about eighty years he was about like most of us. I believe that while he was on the backside of the desert, I believe in the morning he would have his devotions. I believe maybe during the day he was conscious of God. I believe maybe in the sunset he would look and say, Oh, God, I wish I could do something for you. I believe Moses wanted to do something for God. But, beloved, there was a day when he saw that bush burning and when God called him down there and began to speak to him through that bush. and said, Moses, take off your shoes for the ground whereon thy standeth is holy ground." You see, God visited Moses, and in the last 40 years of his life he accomplished so much for God it took five books of the Bible to record it all. But Moses didn't do anything worth talking about until he had a visit from God. I read about Joshua, and I read about how you don't read much about Joshua. Thank God that he went in with Caleb as a spies, but you don't read a great deal about him, really. until Moses dies and he gets ready to take the children of Israel across the river Jordan into the promised land. You know, I think if I'd asked most of you what sort of a person you'd think Joshua would be, you'd say, well, perhaps he was a mild-mannered man and never got upset too much. But I believe if you really study the life of Joshua, we will find different. For you remember there when they were getting ready at Jericho and he saw a stranger and he said to him, Are thou for us or our adversary? I believe if he had said, I'm against you, I believe Joshua would have cut his head off before he would have thought about it. And the man said, neither, but I'm the captain of the host of the Lord. And Joshua hit the ground. He had a visit from God. And when he had that visit from God, he won the city of Jericho. He led the children of Israel, did everything that God wanted to, took all the book, one whole book, just to tell us what that man did after he had a visit from God. I read about Elijah. And while the other prophets, you remember the prophets who were hidden in the caves in the time because they were afraid of a woman called Jezebel? There was an old uncouth fellow that didn't have everything that we're supposed to have. Doubted he had a degree from any sort of a school. He wasn't polished and sophisticated. He didn't have platform manners. He didn't know the latest jokes. He didn't know how to win friends and influence people. He didn't know any of those things. But brother, he stopped the heavens and when he stood there with those prophets, he waited until God visited him And he stood there and said to those fellows, now if you don't want your whiskers singed, you better stand back, brother, for I'm fixing to pray and call down fire from heaven. And he prayed 63 words and the fire of God fell. And brother, when it did, he won the victory. And the Bible says he went over then and he said, what do you see? And the man said, I see a cloud just about the size of a man's fist. He said, well, you better start running for cover, fellows. There's coming a frog strangler. I mean, there's coming a gully washer. And brother, they hadn't seen rain for three and a half years. Have you ever thought about this? There were some little boys and girls who were maybe two, three years old and never had seen it rain. And they'd hear their mother and daddy talking about when it used to rain. And a little old boy or girl said, Mama, I wish I could see it rain. I never have seen it rain. Did you know some of your boys and girls have never seen a great revival? They've heard you talk about it, but they've never seen it. And I can see that old prophet as he stood there and with the power of God on him, Loose to heaven, brethren, the rain began to fall. I can see it as it gushed down that riverside, down through the gullies, and taking the sticks and the dust and the debris with it. And the little boys and girls ran out in it and began to play. And the rain began to fall from heaven. They said, Mother, what is that? And she said, Honey, that's rain. Well, Mama, where is it coming from? There's a man on the top of that mountain that's had a visit from God. I read about old Samson. Samson wasn't much. I never thought Samson was a big man. Never have. You know why? The Philistines didn't know where his strength was. If he'd have been nine feet tall and shoulders like that, they'd have known. I believe he was just like you or me. And he was going down to Timnath one time, you know, and the Bible says that a lion roared out against him. Now, I don't know, Brother Rice probably wouldn't because he knows more theology than I do, but when we get to heaven, I'm just going to ask Samson to be sure. But I've always believed when that lion roared out against him, I believe Samson just ran his hand all the way through his mouth and caught the end of his tail and turned him wrong side out. Took the gates to the city, put him on his shoulders. Stood there a bunch of Philistines defying the armies of God. I can see that man as he stood there and he said, I don't have anything to fight with. And the Lord said, there's a job on, what else you want? And he picked that up, brother, and when they got through, there were a thousand of them dead. But he had had a visit from God. I read about a man that you don't read a thing about in his life. You don't even hear his name. His name is Shamgar. And Shamgar was there, and the nation of Israel had been defiled. The armies had come in, had taken away their weapons, had taken away their... They'd come in every morning, 600 of them, the Bible says. And they'd march in with their armor gleaming and their swords clanking against their sides. And they'd walk in, the Bible says, they'd take the grain from the people of Israel. They'd take their children and put them into slavery. Doesn't that sound a little like the world today? The devil taking what we've accumulated, taking our young people and getting them on dope and hung up on rock and roll, cutting their skirts off and laughing at us and saying, what are you going to do about it? Well, bless God, there was an old boy there named Shamguard. How would the God we had some here this morning. He said, you know, I'd about as soon be dead as be like this. And he stood there and he said, I don't have anything to fight with. Don't have a thing. I don't even look like a soldier. Don't have a shield, don't have a sword, don't have a thing. And God said, what's that lying down there beside you? And he said, Lord, that's an old ox skull, just an old stick pointed on the end, and you go, that's all. He said, well, you forgot about me. And I'll tell you what, you stand out there, and they can't see me, but if you'll stand, they'll think you by yourself, but I'll stand there, and I'll tell you, Shamgar, we'll whip that crowd so bad they wish they'd have never heard the name of God. And old Shamgar said, Lord, I might die, but I'm going to do it. And I can see that crowd when they came in that morning, 600 of them strong, and they stood there and looked around, And they began to laugh, and old Shamgar walked out with that ox-coat. He said, you've defiled the name of our God, and you've defiled our nation. And he says, I don't know where you're coming all at one time or one at a time, but let's get at it, fellas. And brother, about that time, it broke loose. And I can see the dust begin to fly. The sweat, they sweat in those days, they perspire today, but they were hard at work. The sweat began to fly, the blood began to fly, and in a little bit it settled down. And there was one man on his feet. His sides were heaving, and he had that ox goat, it was bloody, all the way up to his hand. And God said, I told you we could do it. The thing I'm trying to say, he had a visit from God, brother. And the Bible says he won the victory for Israel. There were three little old boys, you don't read much about them, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, just mentioned in the Bible is about all. And one day they called up, they said, all right, I want you to bow down now to the image that we've made up here, denominational image. No, I shouldn't say that. No, it didn't say that now. That's Hudsonology, that's not theology. And there's the golden image, and I want you to bow down when we blow the trumpet. And they blew it, and these fellas just stood there. They didn't cause any trouble, they just stood. Have you ever noticed this? Nobody ever noticed them until everybody else bowed. Do you know when you're going to get noticed when everybody else bowed and you stand? You bow with them, nobody will ever know you've ever been there. Of course you can keep it quiet and keep it good with the statue builders. I didn't say that other word, did I? Now here's what I'm saying. They took those fellows, and you know the story, and they put them in the fiery furnace. Heated seven times hotter than had ever been heated, and the men who took them there were consumed when they got to the door. Have you ever noticed that it says they were walking around inside that furnace? And one day, ten years ago, I guess I was reading that, and I said, Lord, for the life of me, I can't figure out why these fellows were walking around in that fire. I said, Lord, if you will tell me why they were walking around in that fire, I'll tell everybody. Any time I mention it, I'll tell everybody. I'm going to tell you. Now if I tell you, you've got to tell somebody else. Because I know why they're walking around in there. The reason they were walking around there, when anybody's right with God, you can't get warm by the devil's fire, brother. They had to walk to keep warm. Nebuchadnezzar sat there and he said, how many do we throw in there? They said three. He said, let me see. two, three, he said, there's four in there, and I want you to look who that fourth one is. Oh, they had a visit from God. I can go to Paul. The Bible says he was quoted, he had turned the world upside down. He had a visit from God. I look around today and I, Moody Memorial Church, Moody Bible Institute, a man that led over a million souls to Jesus and took England and America and let them both kiss the cheeks of Jesus. He had a visit from God. They said men would hold on to the posts of the Church and beg God not to let them die until they could get saved. He had a visit from God. Dr. John R. Rice has touched the lives of more people probably than any man living today. When I was first saved, the name John R. Rice didn't mean one thing to me. But somebody gave me a little pamphlet. It was a soul winner's fire. And I read it and read it and read it and read it. And I said, God, I want to be a soul winner. He's had a visit from God. I doubt that there's been a man on this platform this week who couldn't tell you that they've had a visit from God. Now, I'm using a term maybe that you're not as familiar with. I'm not talking about the thing that will make you talk in tongues. I'm talking about something that will make you talk for Jesus. I'm not talking about something that will make you go around all the time bragging on your experiences because the very opposite is true when you're filled with the blessed presence of the Holy Spirit. For he said, he shall not speak of himself, but he shall speak of me and glorify me. I think the greatest evidence of a man being filled with the Holy Spirit of God is he'll brag on Jesus. And he'll tell other people about it. He can't help it. He can help you. Beloved, I'll be honest today, while you and I are here, if we don't have a visit from God, we're going back home just like we were. We'll go back and fight and use homemade equipment and warmed over things. And as David refused to do, we'll have on an armor that's not right for us, trying to wear somebody's coat, trying to have somebody else's experiences, trying to use somebody else's messages and illustrations. And while there's nothing wrong with that, We're just substitutes, just counterfeits. Beloved, what we need to understand today is we need this fresh visit from God. I want you to listen, if you will. I think the problem is today, for those of you who have been born again, and I know the scripture well enough to know that when you are saved, the Holy Spirit of God comes in and takes up his abode in your heart. But somewhere down the line, there's something happens, and you don't have the joy, and you don't have that power that you had when you were first saved. And something happens along the way. And in Ephesians 4.30, the scripture says this, And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed until the day of redemption. You know, that word grieve is a very interesting and a very powerful word. You know, when I go to funerals, last Saturday evening I was studying, I guess seven o'clock. The phone rang and it was a nurse from the hospital. And she said, I've got a man here and told me his name. His five-year-old boy drowned and they brought him into the hospital, and there's nothing we can do for him. He wants you to go to the house and tell his mother she's there and waiting supper, doesn't know where they are, and we want you to go. When I went there, I took my wife and we went to the house. I told the lady, I said, your little five-year-old boy has slipped out and gone home to be with the Lord. I looked at her and from long years of experience I knew what I was hoping. I was hoping she'd begin to cry. Because if they do, then we call that grief stricken, and that kind of gets it out. Now any pastor here knows the ones you worry about are the ones that can't cry or won't cry. And it builds up and builds up like pressure, like a hot water tank that builds up pressure without a pop off valve. Now that's what we call grieving. Grieving is a hurt so deep that you can't even cry. I read one time in the paper about a man, an old man lived alone, had an old dog, They said when he died the dog followed him to the cemetery and finally after the burial the old dog just lay down on the grave. He laid there and they said they took him water and food but he wouldn't eat, he wouldn't drink. And the newspaper reporter who was not writing in a Christian light said the old dog grieved himself to death. And as I read that the Holy Spirit of God says don't you know that's what you do to me sometimes. You grieve me so that I can't even cry over it. I want to bless you. I want to do things through you. I want to work in your life. But you grieve me. Did you know I learned something there? When I grieve the Holy Spirit of God, it grieves me. For while he's grieving like that, he will not bless my life as he would and as he wants to do. But he's working in me, trying to get me to confess my sin to the Lord so that we can go on for the Lord. Now let me show you why you need to do it. If you're going to win souls, if you're going to build a church, if you're going to build a bus ministry, if you're going to do anything, above anything else, you've got to have this visitation from the Lord. But I want to tell you something. For without that, you can't even pray effectively. For the Word of God says in Romans 8, 26, for we know not how to pray as we should, but the Holy Spirit himself maketh intercessions with groanings which cannot be uttered." Oh, I thank God for teaching me that. I didn't know how to pray. Did you know I believe in prayer as much as anybody here, but yet I believe that prayer is sensible? I do not believe that God will answer any prayer that you pray, and I believe I can back it up. The reason I say that, if God would answer every prayer of every person who is saved, I believe this world would explode in 30 seconds. They'd be somebody who'd say, we need this man for president. Lord put him in. Another one said, this man for president. Your politics would be in such a mess that none of us could ever survive under. One of them would say, Lord, let it rain today. I need it on my crops. Another would say, Lord, let it be dry. I've got an outing today. We've got a Sunday school picnic planned. Let it be dry. And another one says, Lord, do this. Another one said, Lord, do that. No, there's a check valve to it. The Bible says, if we ask the Lord, if we ask him according to his will, And the Holy Spirit of God is the one who can do this. If we know not how to pray as we should, but the Holy Spirit himself make it intercessions. You know, I've thought so many times when I go to the Lord, it's much like childish prattle. And I just put things before God that I don't understand. And I remember reading the Word of God in Psalms 37, where it says, God puts desires in your heart. Have you ever had God put a desire in your heart? Something that you just can't get over. We call it a burden. We call it leadership of the Lord. It doesn't matter to me what you call it. But God puts desires in your heart. Have you ever gotten on your knees and said, Lord, I don't know how to pray as I should. I don't know how to pray about the progress of our church. Lord, I wish you'd put the desire in my heart. And suddenly there's an area that you couldn't believe. When we began there in 1954 in that little A place covered with tar paper, no running water, no restroom facilities, no central heat, no anything. I just prayed, oh God, put a desire in my heart. I wish I could say that I had it all figured out. I wish I could say that I knew that God would do all this, but I'll be honest, I never expected it. But God puts a desire down in your heart and then gives you the courage to follow it. And beloved, you'll never be able to win souls until you're able to pray. For Samuel said, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you. And again in Isaiah 59, God says, God's ear is not heavy that it cannot hear, neither his arm shortened that it cannot say. But your sin has come between you and God, and your iniquity has separated between you and your God. Now, beloved, if you have sin in your life, you can't pray. And if you can't pray, you can't get divine directions. You don't know where to go. I remember when I was first saved and first went into ministry, I did what I call now a cold turkey visitation. I'd just stop in my car and get out. Ma'am, most of the time I found more empty houses. I'd come in, brother, and the old flesh felt good. And I felt, man, I'm working for Jesus. But I'll be honest with you, I didn't accomplish a great deal. Then I learned a secret. And I learned every day when I get in my car from wherever I'm going for visitation, I put the key in and I say, now Holy Spirit, I don't know where to go today, but I want you to guide me and direct me. And I don't mean now fight it, but that first person that comes to your mind, don't fight it, just follow it. And you'll find that the Holy Spirit of God has preceded you. He's prepared that heart. And it's not winning souls, it's leading souls to the Lord. And there's a world of difference, did you know it? Winning seems to be a combat, you know. You out-argue them, you take the scripture and you pry it and you use it in the right way. But leading somebody to the Lord is like picking a ripe fruit. And you'll lead more people to the Lord being led by the Holy Spirit than any other way that you'll ever do it. But you can't do it when you sin against the Lord, when you grieve the Holy Spirit. There's another thing. You won't understand your Bible. Did you know this Bible was written by the Holy Spirit of God? He's the one who interprets it for you. There's no other way that you can understand it. You can read it for a month of Sunday, and all you'll do is have a head knowledge of it, but not a working knowledge of it in your heart until the Holy Spirit of the living God begins to interpret it. I remember I was reading several years ago in Psalms 119, And I came across that beautiful verse that says, Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. And I thought, my, that's beautiful. And I remember when I was a boy, I used to go possum hunting, and we had an old lantern, and then we'd have a five-cell flashlight. And we'd hold that old lantern, and that's where we'd walk, and then we'd see the possum up in the tree. We'd turn it on and shine it, you know. I said, that's what it means, I thought. But it just didn't feel right. Now, do you know what I'm talking about? Just didn't feel right. And I thought about it, and I thought about it, and I said, now, that sounds pretty good to me. So I got all my commentaries, and I began to look at them. And I found out that the Bible throws more light on the commentaries than the commentaries do on the Bible. Now, you ought to have commentaries. I do, and read them. But I'm trying to think. The commentators seem to be as confused about that as I was. Well, I let it go. I said, I guess it's something we don't really understand. I guess it was six months later I was reading again, and I came across that verse. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. Then I did what I should have done at the beginning. I said, Holy Spirit of God, would you help me to understand what that means? Now, I don't mean anybody said anything. I don't mean it. I just looked at it and I saw I had been putting my emphasis upon the wrong word. Now, the verse didn't change. I didn't change. The emphasis shifted. It was not on light, lamp, and light, but it's on foot and path. And I saw what it was, and I nearly had a glorified fit when I saw it, for here's what the Lord meant. If you'll study the Word of God, I'll show you where you are now, and I'll show you where you're going, and you don't have to wonder. Bless God. Did you know what's wrong with so many pastors today? They don't lead their church. They watch and see which way their church is going, then run and jump in front of it and make out like they're leading it. God, we need some light from the Holy Spirit of God, some unction, brother, so that we can see and lead and guide and show us which way it is. And you won't understand your Bible. Let me ask you a question. I don't raise your hand, I don't nod yet. How many of you read your Bible and you read a chapter and you have to go back and read it again because you don't know what you've read? You let the Holy Spirit interpret. You'll get places in there that you don't like to hear anybody else read. You become so jealous. You say, Lord, they're reading my verse. Lord, you remember when you and I would have that tristing time, when we were making love to each other, Lord? That was my promise. That would be almost like a girl and her boyfriend and him calling her cutesy or something like that, you know, or cuddly, or bootsy, or whatever kind of an intimate name. Then they kind of break up, and her hearing him calling somebody else that, she would walk over and say, hey, how are you? Boy, wouldn't she? That's almost the way you feel. They're so sweet and so precious to you. And they become the living word of God when the Holy Spirit of God helps you to understand it. Then I'll tell you something else. You'll never have real joy. You just won't have any joy. Do you know the difference between joy and happiness? This world is so confused and so happy-conscious today that most Christians are trying to confuse worldly happiness with joy that comes by knowing the Holy Spirit of God. If you've ever read Galatians 6, it says, Now the fruit or the works of the flesh are these, and it names all the things that you and I can do without even helping the devil. The devil gets blamed for an awful lot of things he's not responsible for. This flesh is worth so much as about all you and I can do to take care of it, did you know? He lists adultery, fornication, and he goes on down along. Then when he gets there, he says, But the fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy. And the word joy, I think, is something that this world doesn't understand anything about. Happiness is from an old English word, hap, which means the result of what happened. If things happen good, you're happy. If they happen bad, you're unhappy. I always like to think of it, if you've ever seen a buoy out in the ocean, and the buoy is up here floating, and the wind comes along, and the waves, and it moves back and forth, and it wallows all around, you know, it's the subject of what's happening. But there's a long cable attached to it, and that cable goes down, and on the bottom of the ocean, there's a great big weight that, brother, nothing can move. That can move all. Now that's happiness up here. But down there is joy. Bless God, it doesn't matter what happens. Joy is still there. And that's what God, the Holy Spirit, puts in your heart, joy. They walked into Joseph, everything you've got is gone. Brother, if it had been up here, it would have been upset, wouldn't it? But no, it was down there. And it said, it's all right, it's all right. Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." I'm going to give you another little something. Now, this is free. This is not part of the message. I was in the hospital not long ago, and I was reading the book of Job, and it said in there, you know, that God gave him back twice everything that he had. Donkeys and camels and houses and fields and everything. He had ten children. They were all killed. And he had ten more children. I said, now, Lord, wait a minute. Let's see here. You gave him twice the camels and twice the donkeys and twice this and twice all that. But he's only got ten children. That's not twice. He said, Boy, I have so much trouble with you. You're so dumb. He said, Think about that a little bit. I thought about it a little bit and it didn't help me much, to be honest with you. He said, Have you ever asked a mother how many children she had? And she said, Well, I've got two in heaven and two here. And he said, If you'd have gone up to Mrs. Job and said, Mrs. Job, how many children do you have? Well, she's got ten in heaven and ten on earth. And he said, Now you see, that's double. I said, Thank you, Lord. Isn't that good? Isn't that good? Sure. Now that was free. That didn't cost you anything. I just gave you that. Now what I'm saying, brother, is this thing of joy. Listen to what I'm saying. But the fruit, the results. Fruit is synonymous with the results. If I'd ask you what is the results of an apple tree, you'd say an apple. If I'd say what is the fruit of an apple tree, you'd say apples. So results and fruit is synonymous. So I can say to you, the results of being yielded and filled with the Holy Spirit is that you'll have love, joy, peace, gentleness, meekness, and temperance. The nine full fruits of the Spirit, you'll have it. And I'd always believe that until two or three years ago, I was sitting in my study and out in my backyard, I've got a great big apple tree. I put it out when a first great big apple tree, just one, and there's not really enough that can, and we don't can apples much anyway, so we just let people eat them. And I thought I needed a little break, and so I stepped out in the backyard. Didn't hear a sound, didn't know a thing, and I know now the Holy Spirit leading me. And I went out there and I saw one of the neighbor boys, and he was up in that apple tree. And he had apple stuffed all around in his shirt and had his pockets full. And he was just pulling an apple. He saw me and he just, like he paralyzed. Then he knew it was too late. He dropped down out of the tree, looked at me, and he said, just get me an apple, preacher. I said, God bless you, son. Help yourself. And he went lickety-split down through there, apple just wallowing all around in his shirt. And the Holy Spirit said, now I'll teach you something if you want to learn something. I said, Lord, I'd sure like to learn something. He said, now look at that tree. He said, what did it do? to bear those apples. And I said, well, Lord, about the biggest thing it did was just be sure it was an apple tree. Did you ever hear it groaning or straining or doing anything? No. Well, why did it have those apples on it? I said, well, Lord, it just causes an apple tree. Well, he said, if you're a Christian and filled with the Holy Spirit of God, I'll give you some fruit. And he said, now here's what I want to teach you. He said, how many of those apples did that tree eat? I said, Lord, that tree didn't eat any of those apples, not a one of them. He said, it produced them for somebody else, didn't it? I said, yes, Lord. He said, that little old toe-headed boy was going to enjoy those apples, didn't he? Didn't do a thing to earn them, did he? Came up in your backyard and got them off of your tree. He said, why don't you let me fill you with the Holy Spirit so you'll produce some fruit, some love, and some joy, and some peace, and some gentleness, and some meekness, and some things so that people can come and feed off of your life get some love, and get some joy, and get some peace, and get some meekness, and some gentleness, and feed off of you like a tree of life." And I stood there, and I said, Oh, Holy Spirit of God, help me to grow some apples for Jesus. I want people to be touched with the love of Jesus, with the joy that comes from knowing Him, the peace, the deep, settled peace that should this day be my last one, Blessed God, I can take his hand and walk through the valley of the shadow of death without any fear whatsoever, the peace that passeth all understanding." God wants you and me to feed, to be filled with the Holy Spirit so that we can feed people with these great attributes. Then very quickly, I want you to know not all that, but your power. You'll never have power apart from the Holy Spirit. I don't know if you're something of the old as I am or not, but I remember when I was a boy, we were on the farm, and I didn't know it then, I don't think we did. But subconsciously we despised grass because that was our arch enemy. We had to go out and pull it out of there. We never had grass in the yard. I remember on Saturday we'd all, everybody worked together and we'd take some sticks and tie them together and sweep the front yard. We didn't want a sign of grass in the front yard. Then we moved to the city and kind of got sophisticated and we thought we ought to have a little grass. Though we didn't like it, we still had it. And my dad thought he'd help us all greatly and so he bought one of the push mowers. I'm not talking the kind you push with the motor sitting on top. I'm talking about the kind you really push. Brother, when they came out with a power mower and all you had to do was push it and it did all the work and the grass would fly, man, what a difference it made. Did you know there's a lot of men today still pushing an old push mower for the Lord? God's got power that he can turn on. That'll do most of the work for you and get it done for God. And ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. Before I was saved, I used to drive race cars. In fact, there's my family. I'm the youngest of my family and my brother's before me. We won the championship three years in a row. And my brother has raced out here at Indianapolis. We raced mostly on short tracks and so on. And I'll tell you there's something about it. I said you'd sit in those sprint cars with a great deal of horsepower and you'd have to straddle a transmission, you know. And of course, it was open cockpit, and I've had them to accelerate and run so fast that it would blow my mouth open and I couldn't even put my lips together over my teeth, it runs so fast. We'd change directions four times in a half mile, turning into evening in those days in 23 and 24 seconds. And I tell you, brother, if you ever experience any power like that, you can't get in a little old Falcon and drive it no more. Did you know it just loses its zip somehow? I was down in Florida one time with a pastor friend of mine. I flew down there and he said, Brother Hudson, he said, I got a car here. He said, if you don't mind driving it, you can get back to the motel any time you want to. And I said, alright. And I went out there. It was a little Falcon. And I got in the thing and I turned it on and it sounded like my electric shaver. I said, well, it's alright. And I put it in what I thought had this kind of gear shift on it, you know. And I put it in, and I let the clutch out and it didn't move. And I said, well, wait a minute, I must have it in high gear. And I said, I shuffled around a little bit more and pulled it another gear. And I said, the brakes are on. And I let the, I did everything. It wasn't that at all. It just, I finally wound that thing out. And it moved, you know, and I started down the road and I thought I was going pretty good. And I looked and here came a lawnmower by me. on the inside. I said, I'm doing good. And I looked and here came a fella turned right out in front of me and it just kept going. What was the embarrassment? He was jogging. You know, I said. Reminds me of that fella who went one time to buy a bus ticket right, you know, where the states change time, you know. He said, hey, he said, could you tell me what time that bus goes to that city? And he said, leaves at 11 o'clock, 11 o'clock. He said, what time does it get there? He said, 1101. Now, he didn't bother. Tell him it's an hour difference, you know. He said, what was that again? He said, it leaves here at eleven o'clock and gets there at eleven on one. You want a ticket? No, he said, I don't believe it does. But he said, I'd sure like to stand here and just see that scudder get off. Have you ever let the Holy Spirit of the living God work in you and open that scripture and give you that joy? You can't go back to driving spiritual falcons, did you know it? Some of you are miserable here this morning. You know why? You've traded that powerful life with the Holy Spirit of God for a defeated life with the world. And you turn on that engine to go for God and it says, and you can remember better days. You get up to preach and you have to warm over something and there's just nothing there. Just nothing there. And you pull it in low gear and let out the clutch and you remember the days when you could burn rubber for a block. And all it is is just a little fear. You stand and watch that thing as it shoots off to the moon. I watch it every time. That's all I watch, just it leaving. I say, bless God, look at that power. After they get there, I'm not even interested. I've always wondered, though, what those fellows would do if they got on it and the moon started to come back. One of them said, well, give me the key. We're ready to go. Give you the key, man? I thought you had the key. I don't know. Maybe I don't have a key for it. But listen, brother. You ever see that thing take off, you don't get excited over kids throwing firecrackers out anymore, did you know it? And the thing that you need to understand, brother, is power that cometh from God, comes by and through the person of the Holy Spirit of God. I remember when I was a boy, quickly again, my sister still has a farm, got about 70 acres I think, and she's never allowed anybody to hunt on them, never farmed on them. And it's got hickory nut trees on it that grows why they're as tall as this place and taller. I've never seen hickory nut trees. And squirrels live. She doesn't let anybody, whatever wants to watch, she lets somebody go in there because so many of them get in there, they just can't live on what's. So she lets them go in there and shoot some of them. And there's a fella who knew me and knew that was my sister. And he, you know, just bug-eyed with envy nearly. And they called him Posse Davis. Now the reason they called him Posse was short for possum. He hunted all the time. And he had the prettiest little L.C. Smith 20-gauge double-barrel shotgun you've ever seen. The barrel was engraved. He carried it in the case, and he had that thing with all those shells. I mean, he was a hunter. I mean, anybody miles away looked at him and said, there goes a hunter. I mean, you wouldn't have thought he was a doctor. You said, there's a hunter. The boss came to me one day, and he said, Brother Hudson, do you think you could arrange it with your sister? And I said, well, yeah, I guess so. And so I said, I'll go. Now, my dad, in fact, I still have it today, an old Ivor Johnson shotgun, single-barrel, 12-gauge, full choke. Now, if you've ever hunted, you know what? It'll turn you around every time. I never did like to shoot it. It'll turn you around. You don't know where you killed anything for 15 seconds or not. I mean, it takes that long to see. Well, I thought I wanted to kind of look like a hunter, so I took that old gun with me. We went out to the, and old Posse, I can still see him in, he had that little hat on, those shells, and he opened up that case and put it, I was right embarrassed, and I reached in the back, and it, the thing had rust in the barrel, you know, I kind of blew through it and got the, and put, finally had to cram a shell and got it, and so we went walking down through there, you know, and about that time, oh boy, they were in there by the, just literally filled, and I said, Posse, there's something, he said, yeah, there they are, he said, wait a minute, I said, shoot him, Posse, I said, shoot him again, Posse, you didn't get him, and Posse shot again, and I saw the bark on the bottom of the tree. And I said, Posse, he said, shoot him, I've got to reload. I didn't want to shoot. And I turned over to Liver Johnson up in the general direction of the tree and shut my eyes, and I pulled the trigger, and when I got to where I could see, the limb, the squirrel, and everything, still six, eight feet in the air, and coming down, end over end. And he was on the low side of the tree. Now if you fellas ever hunted, you know a squirrel always falls on the low side of the tree, and that's where Posse was, and it fell right at Posse's feet. And he picked it up. I said, Posse, there's another one. Shoot him again. And Posse shot twice again and hadn't bothered him. I wasn't saying he wasn't shooting him. He just didn't have enough power to reach up there. And I turned that old Ivor Johnson up again and I shut my eyes and I pulled the trigger in the general direction and brought the half of the tree and I squirreled everything else up there came down. Looked like the year's crop of hickory nuts fell at the same time. And I never will forget what old Posse said. He stood there and kind of wiped across that engraved barrel of that little old LC Smith 20 gauge and he said, Brother Hudson, I guess that's enough. We better go home. Now, here's what I'm saying, brother. You may not know how to hunt, you may not know how to aim, but if you will turn that old gospel gun in the general direction of a sinner by the power of the Holy Spirit and pull the trigger to blow the devil out of him, brother, and you can get him saved. Then you won't have any assurance without the Holy Spirit. Did you know Him? His Spirit. bears witness with our spirit, not to it. Read your Bible, not to it, with it, along with it. The truth is established in the mouth of two or more witnesses. Here's what he's saying. No man can call him Lord but by the Spirit. And I get on my knees and I say, Lord. The Holy Spirit says, that's right, that's right. He's one of yours. He's a witness. Oh, beloved, what a difference it makes. The assurance day by day. Did you know it's important to know that you're saved? Did you know that? I don't believe you'll ever be a soul winner until you know that you're saved. And the last thing, you'll never have boldness apart from the Holy Spirit. Let me ask you a question. How many of you have had an opportunity this week to speak to somebody and you didn't do it and when you left you were so ashamed? Do you know what's wrong with most of us? As Paul told us in that great verse, Romans 1 16, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel. That's what's wrong with most of us. Beloved, I'll be honest with you, that fresh meeting with the Lord will give you a holy boldness that will let you take a water gun and charge hell with it. Brother, you will stand with somebody because you don't know what else to talk about. And I'll let you in on another little secret that I believe from the depths of my soul. God won't let you talk about His Son with a cold heart. God wants you to be so in love with His Son that when you talk about Him that people can see Christ in you. God won't let you talk about it. You know, there's a kind of a strange verse there in the book of Ephesians. Here's what it says. Be not drunk with wine wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit of God. Now what does he say that for? Don't drink wine, but be filled with the Spirit of God. I believe he's saying now the natural spirit, the natural side of man has to be energized with natural spirits. That is, don't they call liquor and things of that alcoholic beverages spirit? He's energized with it, but you don't need that. You can be filled with the Holy Spirit of God. Have you ever seen a little old drunk, five feet tall, weighs 125 pounds, soaking wet, and he starts drinking? He says, man, I believe I can whip Cassius Clay. I believe I can take him on any time. He'll fight anybody when he's drinking. And God says, you don't need to do that to get any courage. If you get filled with the Holy Spirit of God, you can walk in a fiery furnace, go down into a lion's den. You can do about anything that God wants you to do, and you can come out unscathed on the other side. I'll give you the holy bolus to stand, brother. You talk about loving people. You watch an old drunk. I don't believe there's anything in the world any harder to deal with than an old loving drunk. Have you ever seen one? I've had men come up and slobber and kiss me on the side of, God bless you, Brother Hudson, you know. It takes grace to work with them. The natural spirit of this world gives them love. Brother, you get in love with Jesus and the Holy Spirit of God. Here's what the Bible says. Tribulations work if patience and patience experience and experience hope. and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our heart by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us." The Holy Spirit of God is the one that brings that grace to us. Listen as I close. Let me say this. Do you remember what he said over there to the church at Ephesus? Nevertheless, I am somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love, not lost it, left it, left it. The literal reading of it is, nevertheless, I am against thee. Why? You've left that first love. Now, I've been trying to study this out, and Dr. Rice, if I'm wrong, you straighten me out later. Don't let me lead anybody astray. I've read my Bible, and I've tried to read these things, and I've come to this conclusion with the best light I've got right now. Listen, I don't believe the Lord will take second place in your life, or third place, or fourth place, or fifth place. The Bible says, "...seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and these other things shall be added unto thee." Now listen, I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is first in your life. If not, then you've relegated Him to the last place. I don't believe He's second. He's either first place in your life or last. Remember from whence thou art fallen. You know what most of us need to do is have a good old time of remembrance. Remember from whence thou art fallen and repent. Or else I'll come in and remove thy candlestick Now let me close with this. I wonder if some of you men here have left your first love. I'll tell you how you can find out. Do you love your wife right now as much as you have in other times in your life? Preachers, I'm afraid, neglect their wives many times to give attention to their church and many times to the spiritual duties and many times the wives of the neglected people in this age. God says you love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. And when you're filled with the Holy Spirit of God, you'll have a romance going with your wife that no one else in this world can understand and believe. And I say this, God forbid that I boast, I've been married 33 years, but I tell you I've never been more in love with my wife. There's not one week unless I'm out of town that we don't go out at least one time just like sweethearts and go out and have dinner. I want to ask you preachers something. Do you love your children? Preachers today run all over this country and leave their children It's no wonder that many of them are having heartache and heartbreak and sorrow and sadness because of the way you've gotten away from your first love. Now, let me tie that in as I'm closing. Beloved, I want you to know this. Unless you love your wife, you won't love the people in your church in the right way. Isn't that what 1 Timothy 3 says to us? And if you don't love your own children, you won't love those bus kids like you ought to. And if you don't love them, you can't love the Lord. He's got to be first. And there's only one thing that will ever keep us straight, and that's that visitation from the Lord. Let's stand together with our heads bowed. O Holy Spirit of God, this morning in this meeting while we're waiting upon thee, do for us what we can't do for ourselves. This may not be your verse, but God visited me one day. Never forgotten it. Never, never. And here's the verse that he used. If ye, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give of the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? I wonder how many of you here this morning, I don't have time for an invitation and maybe God didn't want me to have one, but how many of you here this morning say, I need that visitation from the Lord. I need it. Slip up your hand and ask God to visit you, will you? It may not be a burning bush. It may be, in any way, it may just be a fresh fullness of your God bless you. Many, many, many hands are up. Ask Him now to come into your life. Surrender to Him. Yield to Him. Let Him have His way. Who's gonna preach the Bible and never compromise at all? Who's gonna give their heart and soul to spread the gospel? We appreciate you listening to Treasured Heritage. Tune in at the same time every weekday to hear God's Word.