Open our Bibles to the fifth chapter of the book of Acts and I want to speak to you this morning on what we call God's plan for the church or God's plan for building a church. Now listen to me for just a moment before I read the scripture. I believe this is one thing that you you get in your heart and mind if you'll get it fixed and planted so that it never varies and never changes and you never doubt it, it'll mean ever so much to you in what you're doing for the Lord. And that is that God has a plan for church building. It's in the Bible. It's as unchanging as the Bible itself. It's God's plan, so it always works when it's worked. And I want to talk to you and read to you about that plan this morning. Now, we'll begin reading in verse 29, Acts chapter 5. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than men. Now, I ought not to stop because of time, but there's so much in here that needs comment. We ought to obey God rather than man. They said you filled Jerusalem with your doctrine. Say no more about Jesus. Speak no more in his name. They said we ought to obey God rather than man. I think that's true of me. I think that's true of you. We ought to do what God says. We ought to get back to doing it the Bible way. We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted with his right hand, to be a prince and a savior, for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses of these things, and so also is the Holy Ghost." How wonderful. We're witnesses of these things. So is also the Holy Ghost. When you're witnessing for Christ, the Holy Ghost is too. You're doing the same thing He is. whom God hath given to them that obey him. When they heard that, they were cut to the heart and took counsel to slay them. Then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space and set unto them. Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do as touching these men. For before these days rose up Thudas, boasting himself to be somebody, to whom a number of men, about 400, joined themselves, who was slain, and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered and brought to naught. After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him, he also perished, and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed. And now I say unto you, refrain from these men, and let them alone. For if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to naught. This is an important principle set forth in the Bible. If this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to naught. I had someone say to me one time, what about the greatest system of the Roman Catholic Church that involves millions and millions of people? Bible says if this council be of men, it will come to naught. You wait, you give God time. God will make good his word. Anything that's of men will come to naught. But if it be of God, you cannot overthrow it, lest happily you be found even to fight against God. And to him they agreed. And when they'd called the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. Notice the response. They departed from the presence of the council. rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. I'm glad this is in the Bible. I meet people with a persecution complex. They say somebody's criticized me. Somebody's persecuting me. Worst thing that could ever happen to you is to get a persecution complex. No, one thing worse than that is to get a persecution complex without even being persecuted in the first place. But here were people that were persecuted. And the Bible says they departed from the council rejoicing. They were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. Now here are 18 words. I'm going to dwell on them this morning. 18 words in the English translation of the Bible. And daily in the temple and in every house they cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. Daily in the temple and in every house they cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. Now I believe tonight, this morning, as much as I believe the Bible. I believe here is a divine plan laid down in the Word of God for church building. I also believe there is no other plan, no other way than God's way. You're hearing a lot of folks today, in fact, people having seminars and inviting preachers to come and study what they call managerial behavior. administrative techniques, and all this sort of thing. Now that may be all right. I do believe that we should know something, we people who are leaders in the work of God, about administrative techniques, managerial behavior, and how to be a financial wizard, and all of that sort of thing. But I think first, there's something far more important than that, and that is knowing what God has said about how to build a church. Now here are people that did some things daily. To these early Christians, these model Christians in the Bible, Christianity was a daily business, not a Sunday business. I preach a sermon sometimes on what these early Christians in the book of Acts did daily. They fellowshiped daily. They prayed daily. They witnessed daily. They studied the scriptures daily. They saw a need. that could only be met by the message that they had. To them, Christianity was not a Sunday business only. It was a daily business. And I believe the same thing is true of church building and soul winning and getting out the gospel and reaching people for Jesus Christ. It's a daily business. Why, if General Motors Corporation worked only one day a week, like some Christians pretend to be, there wouldn't be enough cars to go around in this country. Oh no, Christianity is not a one day a week matter. Church building is not done on Sunday. This matter of winning souls and building churches and doing the work of God is a daily business. I remember one tremendous night God gave me with this verse. I think I can honestly say this morning that one whole night I lived with Acts 5.42 many years ago. One whole night. I was alone with God and this verse, studying it hundreds of times, I let it sift through my heart and through my mind and through my soul. Daily in the temple and in every house, they cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. Until God has so planted it in my heart, that I not only believe it is God's way, but I firmly believe there is no other way. I mentioned last night, somebody said to me, and a preacher too, said, well, we have to admit the days of the success of house-to-house visitation is over with. That's not true. That same person said, also the day of large churches is coming to a close. That neither is that true. Let me say to you, this is in the book. This is what God said. Well, I remember old Dr. Lewis S. Bowman. He was a brethren preacher, but my what a preacher. He was a teacher of the Bible. He'd preach along and every once in a while he'd say, it's in the book, what are you going to do about it? And he'd preach a little more and say, it's in the book, what are you going to do about it? One day he went visiting and the lady said, Pastor, I think you want to see what's happening with some children out in the backyard of my home. She took him around and there was her own little boy. He was being Dr. Bowman. He was up preaching. There were some children listening to him. He said, you must be born again. It's in the book. What are you going to do about it? And that's what I say this morning. I say to these people that know more about it than God knows, this is in the book. What are you going to do about it? This is God's divine plan for a New Testament church building. It's in the book. Now I'd like for you to notice quickly this morning some wonderful things God gave me from my own heart out of this verse. First of all, I'd like for you to see the persistence. It was a daily business. They never ceased. They never quit. They ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. A daily persistent business of going from house to house. I believe that's what God wants the church to do. I think that's God's way of getting people saved. I remember years ago, my Sunday school superintendent at the time said to me, one Monday morning, he said, Pastor, I wonder if you would go with me this morning out on visitation. So Monday morning, 10 o'clock in the morning, Sunday school superintendent and I went out on visitation. We went to a home, traffic was going, it looked like in the back of the house instead of the front. So we went around to the back door, knocked on the door. Mrs. Scott, the mother of that home, came to the door. She had on her apron, old-fashioned apron. She'd been washing dishes. She was drying the soap suds from her hands. She invited us in. We went in that home and this Sunday school superintendent stopped in the kitchen where she was. I saw a boy in uniform up a few feet further in another room. I went in that room and engaged him, didn't win him to the Lord at that time, later he was saved. But when I came back to the kitchen of that dear lady, this Sunday school superintendent were getting up off of their knees. She still had that little apron, only this time she's not wiping soap suds. She's trying to get it up to her cheeks and she's wiping her tears. And there was a light on her face that you only see when someone has come out of darkness into light. Brother, this Sunday School superintendent, Brother William said to me, oh Brother Tommy said, Mrs. Scott has just given her heart to the Lord and she's just been saved. And we rejoiced. Listen, Charles Haddon Spurgeon said, The greatest single thing that a Christian can ever be involved in is to get some soul out of darkness into light, and that's to get some person saved. We rejoice together. We got in the car and, thank God, we'd had our souls saved. I said to this superintendent, Brother Williams, at the time, I said, now, there are five children, I understand, in this home. We had the names, one of them, the soldier boy. We'd taken those five names and given them to the five appropriate departments in the Sunday school. according to age. These are folks we had found going out on Sunday afternoons and going from house to house and riding up people. So I said, there are six in all, counting Mrs. Scott, the mother. There was no father in the home. Five besides the mother, six people. Six departments in the Sunday school calling on these people. Here's the first one that was saved this Monday morning. I said, I'd just like to know something. I wonder how many visits have been made in this home before this morning when Mrs. Scott came to know the Lord. This Sunday school superintendent said, I'll find out. He went to all the other departments. where people have been going, I suppose every week, have been going one department after another, and he came to me three or four days later, and he said, Preacher, it looks to me like that before you and I went, And Mrs. Scott was saved. There were 39 visits made in the home before one person got saved. And so we said, well, our visit was the 40th visit. Later, every one of those five people were saved and along with that mother, they were all baptized and all came into the membership of Emmanuel Baptist Church. But I'm saying to you, it took 40 visits to get that woman saved, and 40 visits before we could ever win a family to Jesus Christ. And I want to say two things to you. First of all, any precious soul for whom Christ died on the cross is worth 40 visits from any church. And secondly, I want to say to you that I believe 40 visits in any home in America will be used of God to get somebody saved. These people, we met it all the time. You know, we used to tell our folks, now if you go out and something bad happens to you, Don't come back telling about it. If you go out visiting, you fall off the porch. Why just to get up and go on? Don't come back and say I tore my hose and I busted the knee out of my breeches and I got a knot on my head and all of that business. You know the devil pour enough cold water on the meeting without us helping him, as we've already seen demonstrated this morning. And so we said, now, don't tell us bad things. But if something good happens, we want to hear about it. One night, we were all seated in Fellowship Hall. Scores of people had been out visiting. A fine middle-aged lady stood up. I can see her now. Had her Bible. She looked so wonderful. And there was her partner seated here, and her Bible was in her lap. And they're both smiling. And this lady said to the pastor, we know what you say. If something good happens, tell it. If it's something bad, don't relate it to everybody else. And she said, but something happened tonight I think you ought to know about. She said, my partner and I, and she pointed this lady, said we went to home. Now, this been many, many years ago. I started Emmanuel Baptist Church just shortly after the time of Noah and the flood, and I've been there. This is my 42nd year as pastor. I've been there a long time, and it's been many years ago. She said my partner and I went up to home and said we started to knock on the door. But we never got a chance to knock. The door opened and a man stood there and said, ladies, come on in. I've been waiting for you. He said, now, ladies, I want you to sit down over here on the couch, and I want to talk to you. Said, we still hadn't said a word. He said, I've never been so nervous in all my life. He said, you know, Monday nights, I like to look at television. He said, Monday nights, my TV night, And he said, every Monday night, there's somebody from that church down there where you ladies come from, comes rapping at the door every Monday night. And he said, now listen, ladies, I'm getting tired of this. He said, we still haven't said a word. I can just see these two sweet ladies sitting there holding their Bibles in their laps and looking up. They went to do the talking and they're listening to somebody else do it all. He said, ladies, I understand there's a hillbilly preacher out there at that church. He said, I'll tell you what I'm going to do. He said, if you leave me alone, One Monday night, promise me, promise me, I'm going to come out to that church and I'm going to hear that hillbilly preacher preach." I said, hallelujah. That didn't throw any cold water on the meeting. Listen, I believe that a church ought to be worrying people about where they're going to spend eternity. This was a persistent and daily program of these early Christians. I'd like for you to notice the participants. Some folks say, well, preachers ought to do the work. Well, I want to tell you, a preacher that's worth anything will work for Jesus day and night. And a preacher ought to be a soul winner and will win souls and will go visiting. And if he's not going to do that, he ought to get out of the ministry. He ought to not even be in it. But let me say to you, there's nothing in the Bible that teaches that preachers only are to win souls. Our full-time workers for the Lord only should be the soul winners. Oh no, the Bible teaches just the opposite. The Bible says, and they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the gospel, and it says, accept the apostles. You know, in Acts 1.8, God said, you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you. You shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, on the uttermost parts of the earth, Acts 1.8. But Acts 8.1, says there was a great persecution that arose about the death, the martyrdom of Stephen. And Christians were scattered abroad. You know who did that? God did it. God put them in Acts 1.8, and they wouldn't operate in 1.8. So God said, I'll put you in Acts 8.1 and see how it works out. Of course, I know now, don't come up and say, Preacher, don't you know it wasn't written in chapters and verses that time? Yeah, I know that, but I'm preaching right now. I don't have time to fool with technicalities. But I will say, if you don't operate in 1A, You'll wind up in 8-1. God will see something happens to you. God will stir you up. God will see that you're moved somehow or another. And so the Christians were scattered abroad and except the apostles, I'm talking about People like men and women who were not apostles, not deacons, not leaders. They went everywhere, the Bible says, preaching the Word. They were scattered abroad. You know, when it comes to the participants, I've had folks say, well, you know, Preacher, I don't have the gift of gab. I've had a lot of ladies, for instance, say, you know, I can't speak in public. My sweet mother used to say that to me. My mother won numerous people to the Lord. She won all four of her brothers before they died and kept them from going to hell. A lot of folks say, well, I don't have the gift of gab, and I don't know how to talk. Oh, listen, I never heard anybody, saw anybody that didn't have the gift of gab. You put one of you sweet ladies on the telephone, and you have the gift of gab? Oh, yes. Anybody can talk for Jesus if you get a heart that's burning. If you get it right down in here, and if Jesus really means something to you, you can talk for Jesus. Well, we had a man saved in our church years ago. He worked in the plant, but they said this man not only can't read, he can't write, he cannot even sign his own text. His name was Ira Van Tassel. I wish you could have seen him. Why, after he got saved, he'd come on Sunday afternoons when we would have surveys. And he wore a cap, and he was ball-headed. His head just looked like a big bowling ball. And he wore a cap, and he didn't even know how to take that off. He didn't take it off this way. He just reached up and grabbed it and raked it off. Of course, it didn't matter. It didn't disturb anything. Nothing there to disturb. And he'd just rake it off and wad it up and hold it in his hand. He appeared to go out on canvassing, pocket full of pencils, sharpened pencils, handful of cards. I looked at him. He went out and he came back, cards all filled out, pencil points all dulled. I walked right up to him. I couldn't help it. I said, Van, I want to ask you something. How did you do it? He said he had that cap in his hand and a handful of cards. He said, you know, I can't write. But he said I'd go up the door and hand him a card and hand him a pencil and say to them, would you put on this card the information requested? And he said, Pastor, with that cap in his hand, not a person refused me. But he couldn't read. When Brother Wallace Watson, one of our deacons, led him to the Lord, he just put the Bible down on the floor. And he got to John 3, 16. And he showed old Van how to be saved. And old Van believed in the Lord. And God saved him and made him a new creature in Christ Jesus. He called me one morning and he said, Preacher, I have a brother that's lost. I want to get my brother saved. He said, I don't want my brother to go to hell. I want to get my brother saved. He said, my brother lives 400 miles North of Pontiac that'd be right on up in the upper peninsula said I'm going to see my brother pray for me He went up to see his brother to win him to the Lord and came back and called and said pastor Thank the Lord. I got my brother saved. I said to him van. How did you do it? Tell me about it Said, I took the Bible, laid it down on the floor. Said, I know where to find John 3, 16. And he said, I pointed to it with my finger. And I said to him, brother, if you'll believe what this verse says, God will do for you what he's done for me. And he said, my brother read it and believed it. And he said, thank God my brother's going to heaven. Let me tell you, we have educated people that don't do this. We have people that can read and write, and they're knowledgeable and intellectual, and some of them are even graduates of Bible colleges, but they don't do this. Oh no, they're too far advanced. They're too refined. They're too cultured. They know too much. They've gone too far. Let me tell you, this is God's way, and there is no other way. You can go to all the seminars you want to, and all the feminars, and all the cigars, and you won't find anything will beat what this says in the Word of God. What we need is to take God's blueprint, and God's plan, and do it the way God says do it. Why? When we started Emmanuel Baptist Church nearly 42 years ago, I didn't know, but maybe some of these folks were right that said preachers are supposed to do it. And we just pay the preacher, and the preacher's got to get it done. And folks were handing me cards. I told them, I said, I want the names and addresses of anybody you know. I want to go see them. And they were handing me cards, and I had a pocket full of them. I was on the radio every day, holding revival meetings and trying to start a church. And I was running and going. They were working me to death. One day, an old man came to me. And he asked me a strange question. He said, Preacher, do you love these people? I said, I sure do. I love them with all my heart. And I did, and I still do. I love the people of Emmanuel Baptist Church just like they were my family. I want to tell you, they're the most precious people on the face of God's earth to me." I said, sure, I love them. He said, well then, you better be teaching them the right thing. I said, my friend, if I know my heart, I am. He said, no, you're not. And I was sitting down in my office. He stood up. He said, haven't you read in Ephesians chapter 4? He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors, some teachers for the equipping, perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry. And he said, if you love these people, Don't let them be giving you all these cards and you not give them any. Give them some cards! Put them to work! Bless God, we've been playing cards ever since at our church. In fact, I was preaching one time in a conference down in Fort Worth, Texas, and a lady came up and Well, she didn't come up either. She kind of fluttered up. And I smelled her perfume. She got 20 feet of me. She had a fur piece on. She came fluttering up. And she said, I want to ask you a question. What do you think about playing cards? You know, I've said a lot of dumb things in my life. Listen, I'm not kidding you, I have. Sometimes, sometimes, I say something and then I say, what in the world did you say that for? But I said, oh yes, I believe card playing's fine. But she got me out of it because she said, what kind of cards do you play? I said, well, we play survey cards, and we play get acquainted cards, and we play prospect cards, and we play get well cards. And by that time, she was gone. I haven't seen her since. And I believe this survival principle. I don't think God meant for me to do it all. I think I cheat people if I don't tell them, if I don't in love teach them what the Bible says that Christians ought to do. This is a partnership thing. You know, it's a wonderful thing. Now, I know I've seen hundreds of people saved when I went out by myself. I've seen hundreds of people saved in the hospitals, for instance. And I've gone many a time all alone. I don't think there's anything in the Bible that teaches that a person can't go alone. But I do think there's a principle that Jesus taught about going two by two. In Luke chapter 10, he chose 70, sent them out in 35 couples. In the apostolate, more than once he sent two to do a task. There's a little verse in the book of Ecclesiastes says two are better than one because they have a great reward for their labor. Two by two. This is God's plan. And oh, let me tell you, when God can get some people that want it to work, God will see that it works. Well, I've gone with my wife many, many, many times. I remember in an old folks home one night, lady in her eighties, not long for this world. And I stepped up to the bed and my wife and I, I took her by the hand and I did everything I could to lead her to the Lord. And she was so sweet and kind and responsive and everything except to say, yes, I want Jesus. I'll take him. And I was about ready to give up for the moment. And my little wife stepped up and she reached and got her little old bony hand in hers. And she hadn't talked to her 30 seconds till that precious old lady began to weep and she said, yes, I want to be saved. That's right, two are better than one. for they receive a due reward of their labor and of their deeds. Now notice the plan is from house to house, house to house. I believe that a church ought to be responsible for every house in their city. You say, oh well a lot of other churches I know, but I'm not talking about a lot of other churches. I'm talking about my church, your church. I believe a church ought to feel I'm responsible for this city. It is a house-to-house plan. That's what Paul said, I've taught you publicly and from house to house. I was preaching down in South Bend, Indiana one time. And a preacher was there. He had on clerical garb, clerical clothes. He dressed like a preacher. He came up to me, and after I'd preached, I think, if I'm not mistaken, I don't keep a record of what I preach and where I preach, because when I started out, I never expected to preach the same place twice. I didn't ever dream anybody'd ever invite me back a second time, so I thought record keeping would be a bunch of foolishness. But if I'm not mistaken, I really and truly believe I was preaching on Acts 542. And this preacher came up to me and he said, have you read such and such of books? Now listen, don't misunderstand me. I read books and I love books. I love the Bible first of all. And I made up my mind when the Lord saved me, that'd be the book of my life right there. But I love good books, and I read good books about the things of God. And I have a good library. But this preacher came up and he said, have you read such and such a book by Dr. So-and-so? And I said, no, I haven't. I'd neither heard of the book nor the man that wrote it. He came with a second one and he said, have you read such and such a book by Dr. somebody, fluffy head, I forget who it was. I said, no sir, I'm sorry, I've never read it. He came with a third one. You know, he was trying to impress me with his intellect and what he knew and what he'd read. And I want to tell you folks, I don't believe a preacher ought to be a dumbbell, but he ought to remember nobody ever went to heaven head first. They go heart first. And he said about this third book, said, no, never read it. In fact, I said, I don't think I've ever heard of those three works. He said, well, how many volumes do you have in your library? I said, I really don't know. I've never counted them. And I still haven't counted them. I don't know till this moment. He said, I have 5,000 volumes in my library. And he reared back like a Philadelphia lawyer. And I said, well, where are you, pastor? And he gave me the name of some church. And he had a big grin on his face. And he said, 10 years ago, We went underground. He said, we built a basement church. And he used his hands like a woman, and I hate that. He said, we went underground. And he said, we built a church underground. And he said, we've been there 10 years. And I said, well, may I ask you, how many people do you have? He said, well, we have about 50 people. And I said, well, sir, only one thing I want to say to you. I wouldn't trade my people for your library for anything in the world. because we were seeing that many saved just about every Sunday in the world. And I'm going to say to you, my friend, God's plan is from house to house. And don't you think if you're a preacher, you can sit up and study the word all day long and come out with some great profound sermon, and that'll never get it done. No, it won't. you'll be the best preacher in the world and preach to a wood pile unless you get this in your heart. God's plan is from house to house. The place in the temple and in every house. I'm gonna close. You know, a lot of folks today talking about the deeper life and the and um charismatics and a lot of other things except the right thing, and that's getting people saved. I remember I used to have a man that followed me on the radio. I was on the radio every day and on the Pontiac station until that station moved to Detroit for 19 and a half years every morning. He'd follow me. He's, well, I guess you'd call him Pentecostal preacher. That's what I hope I am too, but that's what they call him, Pentecostal preacher. He preached on everything. I heard him preach one morning on, he said, he preached against cuffs on your trousers. Said there's nothing in the world but a damnable dust catcher. And he said preachers running around. And listen, this is back in the days when cuffs looked all right on trousers. I go back to overalls and all the styles, you name them, I've been there. And he, I felt a lot of what he's preaching, he was preaching for me, you know. He listened to me preaching and he'd wanted to refute it and so forth. I just laughed. He said, he believed in sinless perfection. Why can't sin? So one morning, I waited at least through this broadcast and I said, let's have a cup of coffee. We got talking about sinless perfection. I said, I don't think you're perfect. He said, I am. I believe in sinless perfection. I said, no, you're wrong. He said, I'm not wrong. I said, the Bible doesn't teach. He said, it certainly does. And I said, there's no such thing as sinless perfection. He slapped the counter. He said, I know there is. And his face got red as blood. And I said, see, I told you, a friend, you're not perfect. But what I started to tell you, one day, one of my men came up. And he handed me a little greasy piece of cardboard about the size of a calling card, about that big. But it wasn't, it'd been torn off or something and had greasy thumb prints all over it and had a lady's name and address. And he said, preacher, would you call on this lady? I said, I'd be glad to, and I put that little old greasy piece of cardboard in my pocket. And about the next day, I went up in what's called Huron Gardens, and I found that address knocked on the door, and a lady I later learned was 79 years old came to the door. And I said, I'm Tom Malone from Emanuel Baptist Church, and I came to talk to you. And may I come in? The old lady opened the door, and I went in. And I began to talk to her. If I've ever seen a hungry heart in my life, hers was. It is like reaching up to pluck an apple off a tree and it fall in your hand. And she was just ready, heart hungry. And I stood up in front of her, and she's sitting on the couch in her little old living room, and read her the story of the gospel, and she wonderfully saved. And I had prayer with her, and I talked to her a little while, and she said, you know, I've raised five children. Said, none of them ever come to see me, hardly ever. And she said, my husband and I lived here in this home for many, many years. And said, my husband died when I was 50. That was 29 years ago. And she said, for these 29 years, I've lived here all alone. And she said, preacher, you'll never know how lonely I've been. But she said, I don't think I'm going to be lonely anymore. I said, no, you're not going to be lonely like you were. You have someone who's going to live in your heart and live in your home, and he'll never leave you in the forsaken. She said, thank God for that. I had prayer and stepped out on the porch, and this preacher's church was right across the street, and it was a gravel street, wasn't even paved then. And I stepped out, and I'm standing on the porch of a home, and there's this church right across the street. I turned around and knocked on the door again. A lady came to the door, and she said, yes, preacher, did you forget something? I said, yeah, I want to ask you one more question. I said, has anybody ever come to your home and talked to you about the Lord? Anyone ever tried to get you to give your heart and life and soul to Jesus? Anyone ever talked to you before? She hesitated just a moment, then she said, no, I don't believe so. She said, now the man that delivers my fuel oil, that was Art Flasher from Emanuel Baptist Church, he drove a fuel oil truck, said the man that delivers my fuel oil, when he brought it the other day, asked me if I went to church anywhere, and if I was a Christian, and said he mentioned it to me, and I suppose he's the one that sent you. I said yes. That little old greasy car, that fuel oil driver wrote down her name. He's interested in her soul. And I went to see her and she got saved. Now listen, I turned around, closed the door and stepped out on the porch and I could have reached down and picked up a pebble and thrown it over on the front step of that church. And there's a church that for 29 years A woman lived alone and never walked across the street to keep her out of hell. And I said something, and I wasn't irreverent. I said, if that's Pentecostalism and the fullness of the Holy Spirit, I hope I never get it. Listen, this is God's plan. I don't care how much equipment and how much technique and how much ability and how much talent. This is God's way. Let us pray. Oh Father, burn it into our hearts and Lord burn it into my own heart afresh and anew. So many think that there's some better way, and we don't want anybody to ever make us believe that. Your way is the only way. Oh, God, burn these tremendous words into our souls today until we leave here believing God has a plan, and it works. I pray in Jesus' name, amen.