Good job. Good job. Well, I'm certainly happy to be here for a number of reasons. I'm a little bit at a disadvantage, though, having, I believe, two carloads and a vanload of our own folks here, which is going to mean I'm going to have to tell the truth about everything. And that is going to make it a little hard on my preaching, not be able to exaggerate, and I'll have to be honest. But I'm very happy to be here, and I really mean that. I think, for one thing, of this wonderful work that God has raised up out here in the country, so to speak, and one of the great churches of America. And I'm always glad to be where Dr. Bobby Robertson is, and to be with the good folks of this church here. And then to be with Dr. Hiles and Dr. Beebe, I think they're two of the greatest, I tell you. I don't know of any man in the world I'd rather hear preached than Dr. Jack Hiles. And I don't know of anybody that knows any better and any more about bus ministry and how to reach people for the Lord than Dr. Wally Beebe. So I'm glad to be here with them. You may think, well, you preachers just always bragging on each other, and you won't stand in good with them. And that's just exactly right. That's just exactly the way it is. You know, we tell our preacher boys, don't ever tell folks when you're tired and if your voice is bad and all of that. First time you speak, you'll find out all of that. But I found a little thing here recently somebody gave me. I've been tired a long time. I think I was born tired and had several relapses. And I found a little thing here I thought I ought to read you tonight. It says, I'm tired. For several years, I've been blaming it on middle age, iron-poor blood, lack of vitamins, air pollution, saccharin, obesity, dieting, underarm odor, yellow wax buildup, and a dozen other maladies that make you wonder if life is really worth living. But now I find out, taint that I'm at all. I'm tired because I'm overworked. The population of this country is a little over 2 million. 84 million are retired. That leaves about 116 million to do the work. There are 75 million in school, and that leaves 41 million to do the work. Of this total, 22 million are unemployed by the government. That leaves 19 million to do the work. Four million are in the armed forces, which leaves 15 million to do the work. Take from that total 14,800,000 people who work for the city and state government, and that's 200,000 to do the work. There are 188,000 hospitals, which leaves 12,000 to do the work. There are 11,998 people in prisons. That leaves just two people to do the work. You and me. And while I'm working reading this, you are just sitting there. No wonder why I'm tired. I want to read to you tonight, right after I break something. I want to read to you from Luke chapter 9. Luke chapter 9. If you'll take your Bibles, and we'll begin reading verse 27. A very wonderful part of the Word of God. And I want to speak to you tonight, if I had a subject to attach to this message, I want to speak to you tonight on how heaven responds to us. and how heaven responds to earth. And let's read from Luke chapter 9 beginning verse 27. But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the kingdom of God. And it came to pass about eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James and went up into a mountain to pray. And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and blistering. And behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias, or Elijah, who appeared in glory and spake of his decease, which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep, And when they were awake, they saw his glory and the two men that stood with him. And it came to pass, as they departed from him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here, and let us make three tabernacles. one for thee, one for Moses, and one for Elijah, not knowing what he said. While he thus spake, there came a cloud and overshadowed them. And they feared as they entered into the cloud, and there came a voice out of the cloud saying, this is my beloved son, hear him. And when the voice was passed, Jesus was found alone and they kept it close and told no man in those days any of those things which they had seen. And I'd like to reread to you tonight verses 30 and verse 31. And behold there talked with him two men which were Moses and Elijah who appeared in glory and spake of his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem. I remember very well some years ago in my studying of the Bible for myself And as I said to someone today, that's the way I read the Bible and study the Bible. I don't go to the Bible looking for sermons and looking for something to preach to someone else. I go to the Bible looking for something for my own needy heart, and my own soul, and my own life, and my own strength. And when I find that, then I find something that's for somebody else, and that's my preaching. And I remember when God blessed this particular scripture to my heart in a wonderful way and caused me to realize the nearness of heaven and the response of heaven to the things that you and I are engaged in, in the work of the Lord on this earth. You know, heaven is real. Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. Heaven is as real as this pulpit I'm preaching from tonight. Heaven is as real as this church building in which we are meeting. Not only is heaven real, heaven is near. I do not think we realize tonight how close heaven is. Stephen certainly did, that first deacon who was martyred. And when he died, he said, I see Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father in heaven. Heaven was near and heaven was real to Stephen. But not only that, heaven responds to earth. Here you find one of the great events in the earthly ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. When Jesus one day said, there be some standing here which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God come in power and in glory. And he took three men, Peter, James, and John, and went up on the mountaintop and was transfigured on that mountaintop. But while they were there, Peter, James, and John, and Jesus, there were two men who came from heaven, and there was a great summit meeting, and they met to discuss The deceased are the death of Jesus Christ. And heaven came down on that mountain. And two men who'd been in heaven for hundreds of years came and met with three men and the Lord Jesus Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration. You know, it's wonderful to see in the Bible how heaven responded to Jesus while he was here on earth. Heaven responded to his birth. For an angel announced that a virgin would conceive and bear a son and call his name Jesus. And when Jesus was born, an angel announced his birth. Heaven responded to his baptism. I like to think of the baptism of Jesus, when He walked out into the river Jordan, and John the Baptist laid his hands upon Him, and Jesus was baptized of John in the river Jordan. But a heavenly dove came, the symbol of the Holy Spirit, and an audible voice was heard. God the Father spake and said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. I'm saying heaven responded to Jesus. Heaven responded to His birth. Heaven responded to His baptism. Heaven responded to His suffering. That night in the garden, when the Bible says, being in agony, He sweat as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. And the Bible says that an angel from heaven came and ministered unto him. Heaven responded to Jesus. Heaven responded to his resurrection. When the Lord Jesus Christ conquered death and arose from the grave, the Bible says an angel came, rolled away the stone, and sat upon it. Heaven responded to his ascension. For when forty days and nights he had appeared, one day an invisible stairway appeared, and Jesus walked back from this earth into the presence of God. And when he did, the Bible says, behold, two men dressed in white apparel came from heaven and said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you've seen him go." I'm saying heaven responded to Jesus. Heaven is nearer, heaven is closer tonight than any of us could realize. I thought today of that sweet old soul in our church a few years ago, Mrs. Hughes, a southern lady, and her husband who was saved in our church. And she was ill. One day my phone rang and Brother Hughes said, A pastor come to our home. My wife is gone to be with the Lord. My wife and I were the first ones in that home. Just as we walked in the home, here we met the husband. No one else there but her husband. And she was laying in there on the bed where she had just died. And Brother Hughes began to tell me about her home going. He said, Preacher, I wish you could have seen it. It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in my life. A little while before she died, he said, she said to me, open the window above my bed. And he said, I did. And in a few minutes, she lifted up her hand and said, there he is. And she closed her eyes, and he said, Oh pastor, it was beautiful to see my dear wife go to heaven the way she did. I'm saying to you tonight, heaven responds to what we do. For instance, heaven responds when the soul is saved. You know, they criticized Jesus in the 15th chapter of the book of Luke. They said, this man goeth and eateth with sinners and publicans. And Jesus said, let me tell you a parable. He said, there was a man that had a hundred sheep, and one of them was lost. And he went out and searched for it until he found it. And when he found it, he brought it home on his shoulders. And he said, I say unto you, there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth. of more than over 99 just persons that need no repentance. Heaven tonight responds to the salvation of a precious soul when God wanted to turn the gospel to the Gentiles. And when He spoke to Peter, and Peter, a Jew, said, Well, I can't go to the Gentiles. God let down out of heaven in a great sheet these unclean animals. And sent to Peter, slay, kill, and eat. Peter said, I can't eat anything that's unclean. And God said, what I have cleansed, let no man call common or unclean. And heaven responded to get the gospel to go to the lost Gentiles. I'm saying to you tonight, heaven responds. over the winning of a lost soul more than anything else in all this world. A man said to me the other day, and a preacher, said something astounding to me. He said to me, Brother Tom, let's face it. He said the days of building a church by house to house visitation are over. I said, not according to the Bible. For the Bible is never changed, and God's way is the way of soul winning. And heaven tonight responds to the winning of a lost soul for whom Jesus died. I remember years ago in Emmanuel Baptist Church, there was a very unusual and strange man in a way. We had tried, I think, nearly every soul winner in the church had tried to win Charles Wilson to the Lord. Now, Charles Wilson was a strange man. He was a good man, as the world goes. He was a good husband, and he was a kind man. But he was a man of the fewest words of anyone I've ever known. If Charles Wilson said, good morning, He had just made one of his longest speeches. I mean, Charles Wilson didn't waste any words. I called him the silent man. Everybody tried to win him. No one could get him to talk. Soul winner after soul winner in our church went to try to win Charles Wilson. His wife was a wonderful Christian and she just kept begging and kept pleading for someone else to come and for people to keep on trying to win Charles Wilson to the Lord. I remember one morning, and I'd been to his home a number of times, I said to one of my preacher boys there in the church, Brother Frank Holman, I said, Brother Frank, let's go today and see if we can win Charles Wilson to the Lord. We commented, well everybody's been, you and I've been, and we've never been able to get Charles Wilson to even respond and to talk to anybody. We went to the Wilson home, and I can see it as vividly as if it were five minutes ago. Mrs. Wilson answered the door. Charles Wilson sat in a big chair in the living room. And when we walked in, he said, hi. I thought that's pretty good. That's about as much as I'd ever heard him say in all the time I'd known him. But we began to try to win him to the Lord. Brother Holman, I remember, came, and he got to his chair, and he got down on his knees, and he took his little Christian worker's testament, and he began to give him the gospel and tell him how to be saved, and Charles Wilson never responded. In a little while, a weeping preacher, Brother Holman, came back and sat down in his chair, I went over and took his place, and I began to pour out my heart to him. Charles, you're loved by your family, and you're loved by the Lord, and Jesus died for you, and God wants to save you. No response. Oh, I can see his little wife standing and just wringing her hands, and the tears flowing down her face. She wanted him to be saved. I said, let us pray. We got down to pray and I can hear Mother Holman right now. I can hear him sobbing as he's weeping and his heart is burdened. I can hear his little wife weeping and sobbing. This silent man would not be saved. And my own heart was broken, and I was weeping and praying. But thank God, in a moment, I heard some other sobbing. I heard a man sobbing and sniffing. And in a moment I heard him say, Oh, I want to be saved. I want to be saved. And I want to tell you, there were four happy people in that room when Charles Wilson gave his heart to the Lord Jesus Christ. But wait a minute. When that happened, according to Jesus and the Bible, the angels of heaven began to sing up and down the streets of heaven. I'm saying to you tonight, heaven responds to our efforts to get people saved. Heaven responds. Heaven responds when a Christian needs power. I do not know of any greater need tonight. than for the power of God in the lives of us who are trying to do the work of God. When the day of Pentecost came, the Bible said, and suddenly there came a sound from heaven of a mighty rushing wind. You know, if we, you and I, have been given the most inhuman and the most impossible task that could ever be given to anyone. We have been told to go to every nation. We have been told to go to every house. We have been told to go to every creature. And I'm saying to you tonight, there are one billion Buddhists and Muhammadists in the world tonight. Out of four million people, two religions claim one out of every four. And the fastest growing religion in the world tonight is the Mohammedan religion. And it appears that God has given us a task that is inhuman. But thank God He not only gave us the task and the responsibility, He gave us the power. There came the mighty rushing wind from heaven. All we need tonight, I was praying in my room this afternoon, that the thing would happen in this conference. that I've seen happen in conferences like this for many, many years. Not just learn some techniques, not just gain some knowledge, but have a life-transforming experience with God so that you might never be the same. I remember that preacher in my younger days who one Sunday morning discouraged in his church said, I'm going to quit and next Sunday you'll have to get another preacher and a new preacher. He went to a conference where a man I knew long since gone to heaven was preaching and the power of God was in that conference and the power of God was in that preacher. And the power of God came on that meeting. And the crowd filled the building. And when that man came, that defeated preacher, he had to stand and lean back against the wall. He leaned against the wall with his head on his chest. And his heart about to fail him. He was a defeated man. But the power of God came upon that meeting. And the power of God was upon a preacher. And the power of God got a hold of that man back against the wall. And the next Sunday morning he appeared in his church and said, I told you you would need another preacher, and you have another preacher. And I told you you'd need a new preacher, and you have a new preacher. And until God took him home, he won literally hundreds and thousands of people to Jesus Christ. I'm saying tonight, heaven responds to the need of the human heart, and that's for the power of God tonight. There came a mighty rushing wind from heaven some years ago when I went to Lubbock, Texas to preach. I was met by two preachers, one of whom brought his sweet little girl, I think 11 or 12 years of age. We got in the car and I was sitting in the back seat with a little 11 or 12-year-old girl. Not long before I went to love up Texas, they'd had one of their worst cyclones in the history of the city. And they were showing me, they said, here there used to be houses all along here, but it's all been cleared away now, for the homes were all destroyed. They showed me a downtown building, leaning, about 12 story building, leaning, no windows left in it, and actually leaning from the force of the wind. And the little girl was explaining it all. She said, a wonderful thing happened here, Brother Malone. She said there used to be a house there. And they had a Bible in that house. And said that house was blown away. But there was a table left standing. And on that table, there was left a Bible. And that Bible was open to Psalm 84, 15. So persecute them with thy tempest, and make them afraid with thy storm. And there it laid. God was showing to a city the truth of the Bible, that God is an omnipotent God. And I want to say to you tonight, the greatest need in the lives of the people of God is to have more of the power of God upon our life. I remember years ago when a lady came and many others were coming to be saved in Emmanuel Baptist Church. And one of our deacon's wives, Mrs. Johnson, linked arms with that lady, as people do, and went into the prayer room to lead her to Christ. When the two women came out, Mrs. Johnson was smiling, of course, and I want to tell you, to have the privilege to take the Bible and show someone how to be saved is something to really smile about. And she was smiling, and the lady was still drying of tears, and her whole countenance was changed. But the lady said to me, and to Mrs. Johnson, she said, you know, when I came to church this morning, I had no intention of being saved. She said, I came because someone has been bugging me and bothering me and asking me to come so many times. She said, I came thinking I would get these people to leave me alone. That's wrong thinking in the first place on her part. But she said, I didn't have any intention of being saved. But she said, when the sermon was preached and the invitation was given, She said, all of a sudden, I begin to weep. She said, all of a sudden, I felt like a guilty sinner. She said, all of a sudden, I had a desire to have my sins forgiven. And she asked this question. She said, preacher, what was that? And I didn't get a chance to answer, for Mrs. Johnson answered. She said, Lady, that's what we call the power of God. She said the Spirit of God was here this morning, and the Holy Spirit of God spoke to your heart. Listen, heaven tonight is conscious of the need of power in the life of the church on earth. And heaven responds to that need tonight to give us the power of the Holy Spirit of God. And I want to say to you, you know, this is the day of technology. This is the day of how to do it. But I'm saying to you tonight, we need the know-how. But we can have all the know-how in the world. But we need the power of God to do what we know how to do. Heaven responds to earth's need of the power of God. I think of another wonderful thing, and I thank God this is in the Bible. You know, heaven responds when a Christian is suffering. Now maybe this is superfluous preaching, because it may be that not too many people are suffering for the cause of Christ. But I believe heaven responds when a Christian is suffering and when a Christian is going through a test. I was thinking the other day, you know, so many folks say to me, I always make the mistake of asking people how they're doing. I'm trying to get over that because really after they tell me I didn't want to know. But I always make the mistake of saying, how you doing? And they usually start talking about the circumstances. And I don't know how many preachers I've heard say in the last 25 years, well, I'm doing pretty good under the circumstances. I was thinking of some people and their circumstances in the Bible. I was thinking of old Elijah, you know, when Elijah had a message from Jezebel. ran down under the juniper tree, had a nervous breakdown, came apart at the seams, had suicidal tendencies, and said, I'm the only one left and I might as well die. And the Lord said to him, why, that isn't true. I have 7,000 who have not bowed the knee to Baal. And I got to thinking about what Elijah thought and what God said and what Elijah thought was the circumstances. Listen, there's many a Christian tonight that's suffering from despair and suffering from discouragement. I got to thinking again. And when I think it's time-consuming, I know. But I've got to say it again. You know, when David and his men were marching with the Philistines, and they said these Hebrews, ought not to be in the Philistine army, turned them back and went back to their city, and found it burned with fire, and all their family gone. And there was David and 600 of his soldiers, and his soldiers, and David, the Bible says, wept until they could weep no more. And then the soldiers said, we ought to stone him. That's David. He's the one that's responsible. And the Bible says, David wept until he could weep no more. and the city burned, and families gone, and 600 men wanting to kill you. That's the circumstance. But here's God's picture. God said, I want you to go after them. And you'll not only recover your wives and your families and children, and you'll not only recover what they took from you, you'll take all they have. and this city that's burned, I'm going to put you on a throne in Hebron." And God had it all worked out. Listen, no Christian tonight, as long as God is alive, should ever live under the circumstances. Heaven responds to a Christian when he's suffering or going through a time of testing. And I know of no Christian who's ever done anything for the Lord. who wasn't tested and tried in the fire, if God is using him, he's been tested, and he's going through. You know, there are two kinds of suffering. There's what we might call the cup, and then there's the cross. Look at Jesus' suffering from the cup. That night, no cross yet, no nails in his blessed hands, no spikes in his feet, no spear in his side, no thorns yet on his brow. But that night in the garden, three times he prayed, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. And the Bible said his soul be in agony. And you know there's many a Christian suffering from the cup. There are more kinds of suffering than just physical pain. There's the suffering of the cup. Elijah had that kind of suffering. Many Christians are suffering tonight because of the cup. Elijah had it. But an angel awoke him, and an angel fed him, and an angel sustained him. Thank God heaven responds to every test of our faith and to every bit of our suffering. Then of course, there's the suffering of the cross. Jesus said, if any man will follow me, let him deny himself, take up my cross daily. and follow me. And there's no such thing as a Christian disciple without a cross in his life. I like to think of the fire furnace experience. I just, I'll tell you, I really enjoyed. I think of them turning the thermostat up seven times hotter than it's ever been before. Because they had three men whose knees wouldn't bend. And we need some people in America tonight whose knees won't bend. Pardon me, but there's a many a person and a many a preacher, and you may get mad at me, but you won't be the first one that has. And I have a scratch button built in me. I just turn it down. And what I don't want to hear, I don't hear. What I want to hear, turn it up loud as it go. You may get mad at me, but we need some preachers in America tonight whose knees won't bend. We need some preachers in America tonight who will say, I don't care who's going that way. If it violates this blessed book and dishonors my blessed Lord and compromises my conscience and my heart and my conviction, I will not go that way. We need some people whose knees won't bend. We got so many folks saying, well, brother, so-and-so's doing it. Well, what in the cat hair has that got to do with it? Not one thing in the world. I love to read about three men. They said, now, when the band plays, knees must bend. And they looked at one another and said, you think your knees will bend? Mm-mm. Mine won't bend. Said, mine won't be in either. And others said, mine won't be in either. So they turned up the thermostat seven times hotter than it ever turned it up before. Said, throw them in there. Now at this time I'm about to cry because I know there's a price to pay if Christians are going to stand the test. But they throw them in and slam the door. And the Bible said, when they opened the door, and they thought there'll be nothing left, they said, we three men were bound, but four men are walking. And the Bible says the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. And I want to say to you, I'd rather be in a fiery furnace with Jesus than be upon a bed of comfort and popularity, with Jesus displeased. Heaven responds to a Christian when he's going through the hour of suffering and testing. I like what Paul said. Therein that Lystra, when he was stoned and they thought they'd killed him, they were so sure of it, they led him by the feet and drug him like a dead dog out to the edge of the city and cast him upon the city dome. And that's heaven's, that's earth's picture. That's what earth saw. But here's what heaven saw, and he never mentioned it for 14 years. And then one day he said, I knew a man in Christ about 14 years ago, whether in the body, out of the body, I cannot tell. Caught up in the paradise, into the third heaven, and heard words which are not lawful to utter. And the Apostle Paul went on to explain it. He said three times, I said, Lord, a thorn in the flesh. I don't know what it was. One time he said, see how large a hand I've written unto you. Another time he said, I know you would have plucked out your eyes and given them to me. It might mean that's poor eyesight, and I think mine and yours would be poor. if we'd stopped as many rocks and slept in as many jails and been hit in the face as many times as he was. But he said, I knew a man in Christ about 14 years ago, caught up in the paradise. That's heaven's picture. And then he said, I besought the Lord Christ that the thorn of the flesh might be removed. But the Lord said to him in substance, I'm not going to remove the thorn, but I'll tell you what I am going to do. and my grace is sufficient for thee." And Paul said in substance, that's good enough for me. He said, God said, my strength is made perfect in thy weakness. Oh, Paul said, Most gladly, therefore, with our rather glory in reproaches, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Listen, I'm not much, but I'd rather have that than the plaudits of men. Oh, tonight, to realize that heaven responds to every challenge of the faith of the child of God. Many a Christian, many a preacher in this country tempted to quit. I've often thought if we could have a revival in the ministry, that you haul companies that go out of business. We could just have a revival. Oh, many a preacher. They call me on the phone. I know they do, these preachers do. Hardly a day goes by. It can't be done here, they say. And I'm discouraged. And there's somebody against me. Listen, that comes with the territory. When you buy a car, you get wheels and an engine and a steering wheel. And when you get into ministry and in the work of the Lord, that's standard equipment. I've had it so long, I'd miss it if it weren't still there. Oh, thank God. Heaven responds to the challenge of our faith and of our testing in this world. I like what the lady said. I read about New York City, walking along a dimly lit street one night, and a would-be attacker said to her, are you alone? And she said, no, I'm not alone. He followed her in the dim distance. And she came to a door and reached in her purse as calmly as she could be and took the key and unlocked the door. And he's standing there. And he said, I thought you said that you were not alone. She said, I'm not alone. For Jesus has taken every step with me, and Jesus came to the door of my home with me. And I want to say to you tonight, I have the sweet consciousness that all the money in the world couldn't buy, that Jesus is with me tonight. There is nothing in this whole wide world as wonderful as knowing your pleasing God. And that the form of the fourth is walking through the fires with you. Oh, we have so many folks this day and time want it ready-made. Ready-made! Everything's ready-made! Do you know what? We had a thing in our church, and some idiot cooked up the idea that the men were going to bake the cakes. My wife said, I know one man won't bake any cake. She said, Tom, are you going to bake a cake? I said, sure, I'm going to bake a cake. And I baked a cake. And nothing to it. I just went to the store and found the color I liked best and picked it out and read the directions. My wife stood off and looked at me. I could see her big brown eyes. She had about to bug out of her head. My husband baking a cake. Anybody can do it. Everything's ready-made. You know, I think they even have ready-made garbage. If you don't have any garbage, you can get ready-made garbage. Everything's ready-made. But I want to tell you something that's not ready-made. And that's a testimony. And that's a Christian who stays with the stuff And that's a Christian who said, I'm going to do right. I don't care if I lose every friend in the world. And I'll tell you something that's not ready made. And that's a preacher that'll say, by the grace of God, I'm going to stick to the stuff. And I'm going to stick to the Lord. And I'm going to build a church. And I'm going to do the work of God. That's not ready made. Oh, tonight, thank God, heaven responds. And thank God I can say to that whole devil and ever demon on earth and in hell, I'm not alone. Heaven responds tonight. Oh, what we need is to make up our mind. Come what may, we'll pay the price. We'll never quit. I never will forget when the Lord saved me. I met a fellow. His name was Paul Lupo. I never will cease to thank God for Paul Lupo. I don't know if there's one person in this room that ever heard of Paul Lupo, but I will tell you, God in heaven sent him in my life, and I was a country boy. I was saved out of as much poverty as a person can live in. I know there's no one here tonight that was ever more poor than I was. If you were, you wouldn't be here. You wouldn't be living if you were. The poor folks in the community referred to us as the poor family lived down the road. 1935, the Lord saved me in a little old crossroads country, Methodist Church, when it was having a revival and people were shouting and women were weeping and begging people to get saved. An old country circuit riding preacher with an old T-model Ford with a chicken coop on the back led me to Christ. And I met a man by the name of Paul Lupo, and he said, Tom, you believe God's called you to preach? I said, I know it. He said, you've got to go to school. I said, I can't go to school. I don't have any money. I remember one year, and this is the truth if I ever told it, preachers. I'm not preaching now. I'm telling you the God's truth right now. One year, in the fall of the year, in the harvest time, there was only two of us boys in my family, and my grandfather, whom I had the joy to lead to the Lord, called us two boys together, my brother John and myself, and he had two quarters And he said, you boys have worked hard, and God knows that's the understatement of the century. Sixteen hours a day, milking cows night and morning, working in the fields from sun up. We never ate but one meal in the daytime. We ate one before it got daylight and one after the sun went down. And that was by an old-fashioned kerosene lamp, and the globe on it was always dirty. And my granddad sat at the head of the table, and I can see him now. He'd take hold of the base of that lamp, and he'd keep turning it and turning it until he got a clean place on the globe and shined in his plate so he could see, and everybody else ate in the dark. My old granddaddy called the two of us and he said, you've worked hard, boys. I'm proud of you. And he gave us each a quarter. You think I complained? No. That's the first quarter I think I ever held in my hand. I said, can you imagine that, John? 25 cents. That'll buy five hamburgers or five bottles of pop. Think of it. They were nickel apiece. Paul Lupo said, Tom, you've got to go to school. I said, Paul, you don't know how poor I am. My daddy broke up our home and divorced my mother and left her. And I've been raised here on this farm. We have nothing. You see that, he said, you've got to go. So one night, scared slap to death, I got on a train in Sheffield, Alabama, rode to Chattanooga, Tennessee, and took a bus from Chattanooga to Cleveland to go to Bob Jones College. The lady said, here's five dollars and I'm not giving it to you, I'm loaning it to you. I want you to pay it back. I didn't know when I'd ever get it paid back. That's what I had to ride the train and the bus. Got up there and you know, I learned a philosophy I just thank God for tonight. It was a don't quit philosophy. No matter what happens, don't quit. If somebody kicks you from behind, thank God you know you're in front and just keep going. Old Dr. Bob, great big man, he was in his very prime. And old Dr. Bob, he'd get up and say, God hates a quitter! I'd say down here, and that's what I am. Because if I live till tomorrow morning, I'm going home. Next day you get up and say it again. God hates a quitter! I said, and that's what I am. One day, he did something I haven't gotten over till yet. He said, you know, the highways are filled with people hitchhiking, they're going home. He mimicked him, said, going home to mama, going home to mama, going home to mama, going home to mama. And I said, I'm going home to grandmama in the morning if I live another night. That great big old giant of a man. And that mighty man of God stepped out on the edge of the platform and said, bye-bye. Bye-bye. And I said, nobody's going to talk to me that way. Bless God, if he thinks he's going to run me off, he's got another thought coming. And listen. I've never learned anything in my life any better than that. Don't quit. Listen, you quit one little good thing, someday you'll quit your wife or your husband. You'll quit the work of God. Don't quit! Heaven tonight knows the test of your faith and the trial of your soul. Well, there's more to this sermon, but I've gotten so far away from what I started at, it's not worth trying to get back on the right track. You know, the Bible says heaven responds to the righteous judgment of God. I read in Revelation chapter 8 and verse 1, And when he'd opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about the space of a half an hour. All of heaven stunned, stunned. Not an angel could say a word. No saint in heaven opened their mouth, not one syllable. And up and down the halls of heaven, there is an eternal silence. like never been heard before for half an hour. Why? God bringing judgment on the world. And heaven responded to the judgment of God, the righteous judgment of God on the world. I know what's going to happen to the world. I don't have to read the newspapers. I know God's one of these days gonna burn this old earth up with a fervent heat. Somebody said to me, you believe in the bang theory? Yeah. But I don't think the bang theory started it. I think the bang theory's gonna end it all. Well, the Bible says, with great noise and fervent heat, God will burn up this earth. But hallelujah, hallelujah, I read. And I, John, saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for us. And I just can't wait. Oh, I just can't wait to see the city full square descending from God and walk in and get my little sweet baby in my arms and kneel down at the feet of Jesus and kiss His feet and see my sweet old grandparents that I've won to the Lord. and the hundreds and thousands of people God has helped me to turn toward heaven. Oh listen, heaven's responding to me and you. Now then, What we need is to respond to heaven. We need to look up tonight and say, God, I don't care what the cost. I don't care about the loss of friends. I don't care about how hard it is. I want to be true till someday I hear you say, well done, good and faithful servant. Shall we pray? Oh, Father, tonight we love thee. We say to you like Peter said, and as weak as he ever thought of being, Lord, thou knowest we love thee. And Lord, we want to do your will. We'd rather do your will than to speak at the White House. We'd rather do your will than to hobnob with presidents and kings, because the king of kings is the one we love. We do love thee. O Lord Jesus, tonight, as our dear brother preaches in a few moments, may the power of God in a great way come. We think of millions dying in our own city, seemingly more lost now than ever before. Oh God, help us. Lord, make this conference life-changing, life-transforming. May this preacher that's just preached and may no human being in this conference be the same. If you tarry, you're coming until the closing service. Oh, may thy Holy Spirit deal with us. Lord, bring comfort to that heart that's been enfeebled and that person that's weak tonight and discouraged. And may they realize heaven responds and is here to help. Help us, we pray. We need thee. We wait upon thee. In Jesus' name, amen.