0:00 [music] >> Okay. Um so today we're going to hear a story of three sisters from a their last name was Garrett. And uh from what we know, none of the three of them 0:20 married. Um and I'll show you here a picture of the Garrett sisters. So here's a picture of the Garrett sisters. Don't have many pictures of them, but this is the only one I could find. Uh there's a verse in Ecclesiastes that 0:37 says that a three-fold cord is not easily broken. And uh in some ways these three sisters became like a three-fold cord. The Lord used them mightily uh together throughout their life. All right. Uh the Garrett sisters. So 0:55 here we go. Joseph and Harriet were the parents of the Garrett sisters. And before their marriage, young Joseph had secretly admired Harriet. And we're talking about the Garrett sisters' parents before they got married, but 1:09 Harriet was not a born-again Christian. Even though she came from a Quaker family, the Quakers were God-fearing people, a God-fearing church uh denomination. So Joseph would not even consider marrying her. But during the revival of 1859, Harriet 1:26 was deeply convicted through a sermon by a preacher named Denham Smith, which revealed her own sinfulness to her. And she experienced an inner change when she knelt and gave herself completely to the Lord and lost the attraction for the 1:41 world with its dances and careless excitement. Shortly after that, Joseph and Harriet were married and set up their home in Glenvar in I in Ireland. To every visitor who came into their home, Harriet would speak about the need 1:56 to be born again. She prayed constantly for her six children that they would not live for the world, even telling God that she would rather he take them when they were little children, rather than that they should grow up to 2:11 live without him. That's a quite a powerful prayer for the mother to pray. I'd rather you take them, Lord, when they're young, than that they'll grow up to live without you. And God honored her attitude, and all her children were saved in their 2:24 childhood, giving themselves to Christ and his service fully. While main- maintaining her natural, cheerful, and light-hearted Irish temperament, she would not allow her children to go outside the home for parties and social 2:39 gatherings, allowing them instead to entertain their friends in her own home. So, she wasn't against them having a fun and enjoying time with their friends, but she didn't allow them to go to other people's homes where she didn't know 2:52 what influence they would have they would be under. The children grew up knowing that their mother always supported their decisions if they were spiritually guided. May, Emma, and Helena were the three youngest of the six children. 3:07 In 1883, when Emma was 15, she had a serious inflammation in her brain. Uh this is the middle of the three sisters that we're going to hear about today. She came very close to death, but God answered the prayers of her family, and 3:21 she survived. But, she continued to suffer from extremely painful headaches. Her parents were encouraged by the examples of several friends who had been healed from serious illness by obedience to the scriptural command in James 5:14, 3:37 which says that if anyone is sick, let him call for the elders who anoint them with oil. And so, they talked about it with Emma. Here are Emma's own words about what happened after that, which provided her with a stability of faith for the rest 3:51 of her life. Am I right? I felt that I should trust the Lord. At the same time, I couldn't think of giving up the doctor's medicine. So, I tried to forget about what my parents had said. And that lasted about 3 weeks. I can never forget what misery I went 4:08 through during that time until I fully gave up my soul and my body to the Lord. Once I had done this, everything changed. The Lord made me so happy. Such rest and peace filled my soul. On March 14th, 1884, my parents anointed 4:25 me with oil. I felt no immediate change in my body, and my greatest fear at that time was that I would bring dishonor to the Lord's name by unbelief. I still didn't have rest until I gave up a tonic which had been helping me a 4:39 little. Bless the Lord, we can do without tonics when we have him as our healer. The next day, I asked the Lord to show me if it was his will to heal me miraculously. I went to see my doctor who exclaimed, "Why, you look like a new lady." 4:57 I was then not sure whether I should just continue with my life like everyone else or help the Lord to heal me by laying in bed for some more time. I sought the Lord for an answer and was talking to a friend who said, "I asked 5:10 the Lord for a word for you and he gave me Isaiah 40:31." I think many of you know that verse. "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew or change their strength. They shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint." 5:28 And M. A. Wrights that removed all doubt and I was completely healed within a few days. Several years later, a returned missionary from China named Charlotte Kerr stayed in their home. This devoted Christian radiated such a 5:44 reality of Christ's presence that all of the Garrett children were drawn to the Christ whom she so clearly knew. What a powerful testimony that somebody can come and stay in your home and just by their being there they can know this is somebody who 5:59 really knows the Lord. And uh that's that's that had an impact on these young girls staying in whose home she was staying. But there was a deep dissatisfaction in the heart of each of these young Christians. Emma shares about these inner struggles and 6:14 how she was led into the great crisis of her life. Emma writes, "As I grew to the age of 16 or 17, I was filled with worldly desires and aims." Now listen, this is these are young girls who grew up in a Christian home, had made a confession of faith of 6:32 trusting in the Lord, but then when they got to their middle teens, they wrestled as some of you young people might wrestle when you get a little bit older. So listen carefully, especially dear children and young people, to this 6:44 testimony. Emma writes, "As I grew to the age of 16 or 17, I was filled with worldly desires and aims, and I longed to do as others did, to join in worldly pleasures and be like the world. For the most part, I avoided actually 6:59 doing any of these things to not dishonor my parents, but there were still these unsatisfied longings in my heart. If God had not met with me then, I surely would have gone wholly into the world. Around that time, my two brothers went 7:15 for the first time to the Keswick Convention where the teaching was specifically on holiness and the importance of separation from every form of worldliness. The messages weren't recorded fully like they are now, so my brothers sent me 7:30 their notes. I received deep revelation through those messages that Christ was willing to keep us from sinning and to make us holy. Until then, I had thought that even though Christ saved us without any work of our own, yet he expected us to make 7:46 ourselves holy. In fact, to struggle to heaven as best as we could. Through the letters from my brothers, we knew God had done something new for them. And from their notes, we realized that there was a deeper blessing and fullness 8:01 that we did not yet know. It created in me in my heart a desperate conviction for holiness. I want you to think about that line, dear brothers and sisters and children, that the messages that we hear in the church and messages like this that emphasize 8:17 holiness ought to produce in us a desperate desire and a conviction for holiness. I believe that when the Holy Spirit is in the church and speaking through what we hear in the church, it will produce in anybody who has a 8:31 willing heart a desperate conviction for holiness. So, be sensitive to that. If you hear a convicting message, don't don't allow the don't sweep it under the carpet. Don't let it pass you by. There's a conviction toward holiness 8:46 that the God that God wants to bring about in our lives. And here's somebody who wasn't even in the meeting. She couldn't go to the meeting. Her brothers were in the meeting. They wrote letters to her about what they heard. And that itself brought 9:01 conviction. So, uh it's a wonderful testimony. "I saw myself," Emma continues to write, "as even more sinful and needing the cleansing of the precious blood of Christ than even at the time of my conversion. Even though that was many years ago, I 9:16 could take you to my home and to the very room where I knelt and cried to the Lord Jesus in agony of soul. I told him that unless he sent his Holy Spirit into my heart and cleansed me from sin and all these worldly cravings, I would give 9:32 up calling myself a Christian anymore. I felt that nothing in this world was worth keeping if I could only have him in fullness in my heart and have him cleanse my heart completely from sin. When we come to that point of 9:47 desperation, she goes on to write, "God will soon come to meet us and do exactly what we are seeking for." As I knelt in the agony of longing for holiness, the Holy Spirit came into my heart in a fullness in which he hadn't 10:00 yet come before. Then and there he delivered me from the things which had held me before and I knew I was free. I can truthfully say that life from that day has been as different from what it was before as night is from day. 10:17 I knew I had given him my all and return he had given me his all. It is true of course that life has been full of testings and trials since and there have been mistakes, failures, and even sins, but the work that God did 10:32 that day has never been undone. He led me that day into a higher plane and a different atmosphere of spiritual life. I was sharing with my dad even as we were driving here this evening that so part of the reason why I'm really 10:48 challenged by these stories that we hear is that it's not about what they did. It's not that they went as missionaries or they were they led churches or or anything like that. It's not what they did outwardly, but that they came to a 11:02 place of recognizing their own need after they were born again, after they had some level of Christian life, but they weren't satisfied with that. They wanted something more. They recognized their need like Emma writes here, Emma Garrett writes here, 11:19 and they they desperately cried out to God and they received an experience of being filled and continual filling after that. And may the Lord do that for all of us. Cuz I believe that we as a church are often in danger of that cuz God is in 11:35 our midst. He's doing a good work. Many of you children are growing up and you're giving your life to the Lord and you have a good outward life. But if you ever lose that desperate need to continually be dependent on the Holy 11:47 Spirit, you will just live a dissatisfied life that's not really useful to the Lord. And the Lord wants to use every one of us. And he must fill us with the Holy Spirit continually in order to do that. Let's continue reading. Helena, who is 12:03 the youngest of the three sisters, was facing other issues which needed to be resolved before she could receive a clean heart. And she hesitated for a little while. She feared that God might ask her to do some public ministry or be a foreign 12:16 missionary and such a price seemed too high to pay. One day, while reading the words of the prophet Malachi, "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse." That's Malachi 3:10. When she read these words, she found 12:35 release. Then, taking Frances Ridley Havergal's beautiful consecration hymn, "Take my life and let it be." She struggled to surrender her moments, her days, her hands, her feet, her voice, her lips, her silver and gold, 12:54 her intellect, her will, her heart, her love, and herself. It was quite some time before she could say yes on every point. But when she did, how wonderfully God answered. And here too, I've thought, but how often so many people have just sung that song 13:13 casually. "Take my will, take my silver and my gold." And never thought anything of it. But Helena thought about every word and said, "Lord, I'm going to sing this and you're asking me to give up every single one of these things." And because she did so 13:28 point by point by point by point, God met with her because she really meant it when she sang it. So, may we also do the same. She writes, "But when my all was on the altar, God opened the windows of heaven and poured out a fullness of blessing that 13:43 satisfied my whole soul and changed my whole life. Though once I had found sin too strong for Listen to this. Really good. Though once I had found sin too strong for me, I found I now found that Jesus was too 14:02 strong for sin." I'm going to read that again. "Once I had found sin to be too strong for me, I now found that Jesus was too strong for sin." Wonderful. I proved that in one moment he could do what all my powerless striving could not do. 14:21 She wrote a poem sometime later, and these verses express her experience. Let me read this poem. "Fearing to launch on full surrender's tide, That means that when I'm afraid to go out on the sea of full surrender." She calls it like an ocean. Maybe you're 14:39 standing on the banks of that ocean thinking, "I I don't want to give up all. What will happen if I give up all, really turn it all to the Lord?" So, she writes, "Fearing to launch on full surrender's tide, I asked the Lord, 14:52 Where would its waters guide? My little bark, where would its waters glide? My little bark to troubled seas I dread." "Unto myself," he said. So, when she was afraid, "Where will this take me if I really give up all to you? If I really 15:09 forsake everything?" He says it will guide you to me. The poem goes on to say, "Searching for truth, I wearied in the quest. Man's very tracks of thought brought me unrest. What all the other ideas of people only brought her unrest until one 15:28 teacher, that is the Holy Spirit, ended all my night unto myself, my light. Unto myself, two words, but worth to me a world of gold because in them I see an end to all my questionings and pain. 15:47 Unto myself, my gain. Unto himself, the jealousy of love would wean my heart from all to things above. The end is sweet, though bitter be the way. Unto himself, for aye. For aye means forever. 16:05 Unto himself, no earthly tongue can tell the bliss I find since in his heart I dwell. The things that charmed me once seem all as naught. Unto himself I'm brought. The story goes on to tell us, "The Garrett sisters faced opposition from 16:23 many of their friends who criticized them for embracing unscriptural teaching." And there's many people in the world who believe that you don't need to seek for more of the Holy Spirit or you have all that God wants to give 16:36 you when you ask Jesus into your heart. And yet the Bible tells us clearly to continue to seek to be filled with the Holy Spirit. So, many of their friends criticized them for this new unscriptural teaching. But the young women received much grace 16:50 to withstand it. Once they testified that while others were singing the words, now I was convicted by this, too. Listen carefully. The young women were so Others were singing the words in the church meeting, "Prone to wander, Lord, 17:03 I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love." I think you all know which song that is from. Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing. They remained silent. And I thought about that, too. When When I sing that, is that really true? Now, 17:16 if it's true, okay, you can sing it with your heart, but they remained silent and they said that used to be their testimony before they were filled with the Holy Spirit. And that challenged me that, okay, I don't want to sing that line carelessly 17:30 anymore. That it shouldn't be my testimony all my life, yes, Lord, I'm prone to wander, prone to leave the God I love. That means I haven't really come to know the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit will lead me to a life where I'm not wandering 17:43 from God anymore. Uh now, we don't have to criticize the author of that song, but let's think about those words the next time we sing that song. I say, Lord, I don't want to be one who's always wandering from you and leaving the God I love. Give me the 17:58 fullness of the Holy Spirit that draws me closer and closer to you. I don't believe it was Paul's testimony that he was constantly wandering from Christ and coming back and wandering again and coming back. The Holy Spirit did a work and that's 18:10 our example. The meetings in their Glenvar home now emphasized the grace of holiness. They had a burden to reach to reach people who were Roman Catholics. See, they were in Ireland where number of people there were Roman 18:25 Catholics by tradition. So, they rented a small hall which they called the Tin Tabernacle. Soon, that place was packed with interested people. The Lord led them and these are three young sisters who in the absence of others to take the 18:39 lead, they were zealous for the Lord. Wonderful example. The Lord led them to provide employment for the poor people around them. So, these young women opened a laundromat where they could employ people who were quite poor. They started each day for 18:54 the employees with a cup of tea and a gospel message. A friend of theirs said this about May, Emma, and Helena. They are absolutely unique in their spiritual devotion. They are perfectly natural to be around, gifted at painting 19:09 and fond of music and fun, but there is a light on their faces and a spiritual power in them that amazes us. And I like that, you know, that they they weren't stiff and and somber and just kind of super spiritual. It says 19:24 that they were they they enjoyed music, they enjoyed having fun, but there is a light about them and a spiritual power in them that was that amazed those around them. And one person wrote, "Even my brother who tends to scoff at 19:37 everything admitted, well, I will admit that their faith seems genuine and something I would want to believe in." That this man, whoever it was that observed these ladies, even though he was tended to scoff at other Christians, 19:52 saw something about these three women. He says, "Well, their their faith seems to be genuine, something I would want to have as well." There was a reason for the consistency of their walk with God. They would always take time to you be alone in 20:05 secret with the Lord. Helena writes, "No matter how full the day is or how heavy the work, nothing should cause us to give up our quiet time with God. As we wake up in the morning, may our first thought be, I must meet my God today. 20:22 If we neglect this habit, not only do we miss the Lord, but he misses us." I don't know if I've heard anybody put it that way. Not only do we miss the Lord, but he misses us. Have you thought that the Lord longs for you to take time out in the 20:38 beginning of your day. He says, "I wish so-and-so will turn to me when he wakes up in the morning." For he lovingly longs that his own should always have time for himself. Beautiful words that Helena wrote. The year 1891 was a memorable one for these 20:52 sisters, for it was then that they met a man named J. G. Govan, who founded the Faith Mission in Scotland. They realized that the principles that he followed were identical to theirs. They invited some of the pilgrims from 21:05 from organization to Blackrock, which was the town they lived in. They held meetings in the tin tin tabernacle for four weeks, during which souls came to Christ almost every night. At the end of that time, they started a 21:18 prayer union, the first in Ireland. The purpose of this mission was to lead those who were converted into being disciples by completely surrendering their lives and powers to the savior, to claim complete cleansing of their 21:34 hearts through Christ's blood, to seek for the power of the Holy Spirit, and to engage in direct service for their risen and exalted Lord. Those four things, I think is things that you hear in our churches well. Let me read 21:46 those again. To lead those who are already converted into being disciples by completely surrendering their lives and powers to the savior. Secondly, to claim complete cleansing of their hearts through Christ's blood. Thirdly, to seek for the power of the 22:02 Holy Spirit, and fourthly, to engage in ministry and service for the risen and exalted Lord, whatever that looked like. From this time onwards, many conferences were held at Glenvar, their home, and Mr. Govan himself attended the first one 22:16 in 1894. Other members of the Faith Mission came to serve at these conferences. The converts were led into a stability in their Christian life because of the teaching they received continually. Let me read that sentence again. The 22:33 converts were led into a stability in their Christian life because the teaching they received continually emphasized the need of holiness in the personal life in such a way that they sought for it and obtained it. So, it 22:47 says here that these converts actually came to a stability of Christian life. And I even as I read that, I thought, I wonder how many Christians, after they become Christians, their life still remains up and down. And the reason for that is because 23:01 holiness is not preached. And here the testimony is is wonderful that in these meetings where holiness was emphasized, the converts actually came to a stability in their Christian life. Um many of these converts soon started 23:16 holding open-air evangelistic meetings despite the opposition they faced from howling mobs and the blowing of horns and whistles to distract them. Even the three sisters were amazed at the boldness of these young converts and 23:29 joined them in their outreach efforts. As the persecution increased, taxi drivers would refuse to take visitors to the Garrett home because they heard about what all was going on there. While they were on a holiday in County 23:43 Donegal, which is up in in the northwest of Ireland, the three sisters were invited to share their testimony at a small Methodist church. Their testimonies were so anointed that it resulted in a gospel campaign including a series of meetings in other 23:58 nearby districts. For the next 20 years, Helena and May would travel here to continue these missions. Emma could not travel as much due to the suffering in her body. Even though she was cured of her former illness, remember she was the one that 24:13 had that serious illness that God miraculously healed her. Even though she was cured of her former illness, she experienced another physical ailment ailment which involved three surgical operations. The fact that this time she had to use 24:28 medical means weighed on her for some time. See, God doesn't always heal us miraculously. Sometimes he uses medicine. Often more often he does. And that was a trial that Emma had to go through as well because she remembered 24:41 that God had healed her without medicine once. And now God seemed to be using medical means to heal her and she was troubled about it. And the story goes on to say, sometime later she contracted typhoid fever. And it was during this time of suffering 24:57 that she wrote a booklet called The Diary of an Exhausted Soldier. This extract from it shows how she came through this trial. And she writes, "How often I praise God that he taught me holiness when I was in health. For the power of the truth of Christ in 25:14 you is perhaps most needed during physical sickness. I have discovered that when Christ is truly in you, your character is the same when you are experiencing experiencing physical sickness as when you are in health." I'll read that sentence again. 25:30 I discovered that when Christ is truly in you, your character is the same when you are experiencing physical sickness as when you are in health. In other words, you can't use that sickness as an excuse for why you can't be Christ-like to others 25:47 around you. The Lord has also taught me, she writes, "What a great service it is to him when we pray for the sick. Listen to this. For weeks and months, when I was so sick that I could not read the Bible and could only pray but a few 26:00 words, it was such a help to know that friends were praying not only for my body but also for a blessing to my soul." A good challenge for why we should pray for others who are going through sickness. The three sisters endured 26:14 pains that all soldiers in warfare will experience. For Emma, who was frail and sensitive, these wounds were felt more deeply than others. She was so eager for converts to grow steadily in their spiritual walk that she would take it personally when she 26:29 saw spiritual backsliding in them. Helena wrote this about her sister's endurance. She wrote She writes, "Emma has the same courageous spirit in tackling those whom she thought were in the wrong, but she always did it with a 26:45 breaking heart, whether in Africa or in Ireland. She hated any false human love that refused to deal faithfully with sin. Listen to that carefully. She hated any false human love that refused to deal faithfully with sin. 27:04 She wished there were more Christians who prayed as J.C. Ryle did. Listen to this prayer from J.C. Ryle. He says, "Lord, from the false freedom which says that everybody is right, from the false love which forbids us to 27:21 say anybody is wrong, from the false peace which comes at the expense of truth, may the good Lord deliver us." It's a very powerful pro-life statement. I never heard it before. Let me read it again. May the Lord deliver us from the false freedom which 27:39 says that everybody is right, from the false love which forbids us to say anybody is wrong, and from the false peace which comes at the expense of truth. Cuz you all children will probably face situations down the road when you're 27:57 older where you can have peace and not conflict, but you have to compromise the truth. And everybody will feel free around you, but that means you allow for everybody being right. And a false love where you say, "Oh, I love you." or people love you, but you 28:16 never speak out against the wrong. Emma had the habit of waking up. This is Emma who was often sick. She had the habit of waking up at 5:00 each morning to spend time alone with God, and she did this even when she was sick. 28:28 She would also take time in the evening to meditate on God's word. She wrote in her Bible, "A desire for God is a weak thing if it cannot break the chains of sleep. A desire for God is a weak thing if it is not powerful enough to wake you up in 28:46 the morning or break the chains of sleep. If I indulge in my desire for excessive sleep, I will not be able to be of much use to God, she wrote. On a blank page in her Bible, she pasted a picture of Christ in Gethsemane. 29:00 This was a reminder her to her of the time when at 30 years of age, she had had a deep personal experience where she had to yield her will fully to God. The Lord took away a marriage prospect, and she wrote to her sister, "I am glad, 29:17 for I can shut out that distraction completely from my heart. It all seems too dreadfully like a storybook, and sometimes I feel sick in my heart. I know you will pray for me. Do ask the Lord to make himself real to me." So, when God showed her that he was 29:32 taking away the prospect of marriage that she had, um she yielded it to him, and that picture of Christ in Gethsemane was a constant reminder of the path she had chosen to take to follow Christ. Around this time, Emma wrote a short 29:47 article entitled The Writing Across the Wound, in which she wrote, "You will read over and above the wound that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." That's from Romans chapter 12, uh verse 1 2. 30:04 "That good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And though you may always feel and see the dark line across your life, yet you will not regret that this was part of God's plan for your life. But rejoice if, through it, others in 30:23 their turn learn to write across their hearts' deepest wound that good and acceptable and perfect will of God." See, in Romans 12, it's talking about giving up your body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, that good and acceptable and perfect 30:40 will of God. When the Welsh was in full swing, the Garrett sisters found great and loving fellowship with many of the workers and converts. They visited Holyhead, which was where the Welsh Revival was based. They visited Holyhead many times and took 30:55 many people to the meetings there at their own expense. In 1916, the lives of the Garrett sisters were deeply affected by the death of their brother Willie. Their father had passed away in 1885 and their mother in 1900. And why the death 31:10 of their With the death of their brother, the sisters decided to sell their spacious home. For some time, they had felt drawn to foreign mission work. And even though friends heatedly advised them against it at their age, Helena, 31:24 who was the youngest, was now 47 years old, yet within 6 months, they were on their way to South Africa with an unknown future ahead of them. Once they arrived in Cape Town, they started a weekly Bible study for women and a monthly meeting for extended 31:40 prayer. When the Lord opened doors elsewhere, these meetings grew into what became known as the Victorious Life Conferences in South Africa, which led many hundreds into a clearer understanding of the deeper truths of the gospel. 31:54 The Lord placed a burden on their hearts for the police force in South Africa. And so they conducted meetings at police stations in the large cities, not only for British officers, but also for native officers, many of whom were 32:07 heathen and had to be spoken to through interpreters. In 1918, there was a worldwide epidemic of influenza and many of the police force were weakened and needed a place where they could receive care and rest. The Garretts prayed for a home in which 32:24 they could care for them and purchased a small building named The Aloes, which was near the sea. Over time, this was slowly enlarged into a lovely rest home for those needing to recover in body and in soul. The sisters partnered with other godly 32:40 people there to carry the burden of the spiritual needs of the country. In 1923, after much prayer, they started a mission called the Africa Evangelistic Band, which I think is still around to this day. And has been used by God to 32:55 reach out to many countries in Africa. The goal of this mission was to preach full salvation and to only look to God for support. The sisters carried out the work much like the Faith Mission in Ireland, which held a warm place in their hearts. 33:11 As the years went by, the mission fulfilled the purpose of its founders, which was to spread scriptural holiness. By 1927, the AEB, as it was called, spread into the region of Congo, which is now called Zaire. The sisters realized the need for a 33:27 training center where local workers could receive instruction and sought the Lord in prayer for it. The Lord led someone to loan them the use of a beautiful home called the Manor House. From 1928 to 1938, students were enrolled whose desire was to win souls 33:44 for Christ. It was during this period, however, that Helena experienced deep sorrow. In 1930, Emma went to be with the Lord. That's the middle sister, after suffering from an illness for 6 months. 5 years later, May, who was the eldest 34:00 of the three sisters, also died suddenly. In 1938, the AEB purchased a two-story building in a suburb of Cape Town as a more permanent home for the training center, and they named it Glenvar in loving memory of the Garrett sisters' 34:15 original home in Ireland, where God had started his work through them. The workers spent their time in Bible studies, extended times of prayer, doing aggressive outreach work, and the discipline of the community life. This produced in them an experience of 34:30 practical holiness in personal life and service through the knowledge of God and his word. Helena's prayer life and study of the scriptures were described by one of her co-workers this way. She would come out of her room from 34:44 spending time with the Lord with a glory light on her face. And she taught the young workers to pray. If the mission was facing a crisis, she would say, "Let's not have any meetings this afternoon. We will spend time waiting upon God." 35:00 At a time when apartheid, which is racial separation, was still practiced in South Africa, the AEB carried Christ's mission to all people. In 1944, another home named Bethel was opened for the mixed-race people whose hearts yearned for God and who desired 35:18 to work for him. Many of them had been saved from paganism and became rescuers of others who were in desperate need in the saving gospel. In 1952, Helena Garrett joined her sisters to be in the presence of the Lord. Of her too, it can be said that she was, 35:36 as Paul exhorts Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:12, an example of the believers in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, and in purity. A wonderful testimony of the three Garrett sisters. You know that God ended 35:53 up leading them to Africa to be missionaries there, but what challenged me especially about their faith and their walk was that they started just by being faithful where the Lord placed them in their circle of uh influence right there in in their home, 36:11 opening up their home. And so, may the Lord use us also to be faithful right where he calls us. Amen. I read many missionary stories in my life, but almost all of them 36:29 is started by a man or by some brothers or men. This is a unique story I'm hearing for the first time of three sisters. >> [clears throat] >> And I'm sure all the 36:46 churches around them are led by men, but they loved the Lord and the Lord used them amazingly not only in their home town, home's country of Ireland, but all the way across to South Africa. Start missions and it's obviously they 37:03 were quite a wealthy family. And they seem to have used all their money for >> [clears throat] >> missionary work and to buy buildings. It's an amazing example where God sees that a person is really given himself and all his 37:23 wealth and everything to him. There's no limit to what God can do through them. A work that will last even after they are dead and gone. That's one thing. And something from the early part of their life when they were 37:45 you know, they refused to sing that song. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. It's a >> [clears throat] >> Come thou fount of every blessing is a song uh many people sing. 38:02 But, there are lines in some songs which we sometimes sing without thinking. They we think we are being humble when saying prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. But, if it is true 38:21 >> [clears throat] >> we need to seek the Lord. Something missing in our life. Proverbs 4:18 is one of my favorite verses. And Proverbs 4:18 verse is the verse I 38:40 most frequently send to people on their birthdays. Proverbs 4:18 says, "The path of the righteous Not everybody, but if a person is really righteous and seeking righteousness in Proverbs 38:59 is a like a new covenant book in the Old Testament. Everything in the Old Just all the other books are all Old Covenant, but there's one book which is little prelude to the New Covenant as it were. And Proverbs 1:1 39:18 book like that. And you know, God gives us grace to the humble. Probably similar words in Proverbs. And here it says in Proverbs 18, "The path of a righteous person is like the sunrise after they're born again. 39:37 That shines as a righteous person's try. That shines brighter and brighter and brighter until the noon day position." Now, if you believe that, that's what the Holy Spirit has written down. They could not be righteous in the Old 39:55 Testament. But today we can by the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, we're not to get discouraged if this is not our experience. But this is God's perfect plan for every one of his children. 40:13 And when you see it, you take it as a and when you find you're not able to attain it that's what will drive you to seek for the power of the Holy Spirit. It's that awareness, Lord, I'm not measuring up to what you want me to be. 40:33 Then you realize I try in my own strength and I fail and I fail and I fail. Then I need to seek for the power of the Holy Spirit. And then what does it mean to be the sun getting brighter and brighter 40:52 and brighter as the light gets light is a picture of God's life. It gets the life of God comes more and more in us. Now the new covenant interpretation of that 41:10 we can see in 1 John chapter 3. It says here in 1 John chapter 3 and verse 2. When we are born again, that's like sunrise. The perfect day is when Christ comes and 41:30 we have become like him. So that's what Proverbs says. You're born again, you're like the sun is risen. And the sun never backslides. Not only it never backslides, the sun never stands still. It's moving in the horizon or in the sky 41:50 until it reaches the bright noonday position. That's when Christ comes back. It's a beautiful picture. It's the path of the righteous. The reason I send it to people on their birthdays and when they get married, I say, "This is the way your life should 42:04 be in the future. This is the way your marriage should be." Not perfect, that will only come. So, 1 John chapter 3 it says, "We are children of God." That's the sunrise. We are born again. "But it is not yet appeared what we will 42:22 be." Now, but when Christ appears, "we will be like him." That is in the sun at the bright noonday position. We'll be like him. "Because we will see him just as he is." And listen to this, verse 3, 1 John 3:3. 42:40 "Everyone," there's no exception, "who has this hope fixed on him." Now, let's ask ourselves, do you have a hope that Christ will come? A lot of Christians have. But it here is more than that. Do you have a hope 42:58 that when he comes you will be like him? That's a little more than knowing that he's coming. A lot of Christians say, "I know he's coming." But do you believe you're going to be like him? A lot of Christians say, "Yes." 43:10 So, what? "Everyone who really has this hope," not just in theory in their mind, "everyone who really has this hope that I will be like him when he comes." The mark of such a person is "he purifies himself." 43:29 Keeps on purifying himself until he reaches Christ's standard of purity. It's the same as Proverbs 4:18. We know we are children of God, the sun has risen. We don't and we know that when he appears we'll be like him. That's the 43:47 noonday position. And so, if you really have this hope and it's not just a theory, be more and more and more and more like him. And so, I agree with what we heard there that "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it." 44:05 "Prone to leave the God I love." I can honestly say that's not true of me. I don't want to leave the God I love. And and I'm and I'm not prone to wander. But it was in the early days it was like that in my Christian life after I was 44:21 born again. Until I was baptized in the Holy Spirit. But that day came because I was so defeated and I was desperate. I was not satisfied with my defeated life. This prone to wander is there in the 44:39 lives of most Christians when they're born again. And I believe that's a testing period. God allows it to happen. You're born again and then you try to live a good life and you find it goes up and then down and up and down and up and 44:52 down. And God's testing you at that time. Are you happy with this? Is this the type of life you've read in the New Testament? Is this the type of life you hear in the church? Or have you heard something and say, "Oh, that's impossible. That's not for 45:07 me." That's exactly what the devil wants you to say. That that is not for you. That's for certain special people. There are no special people. God doesn't have any special children. All are exactly the same. And what he's done for one he'll do for 45:21 us and not only that the Bible says what he did for Jesus he'll do for us. So I hope what we heard here will challenge us and say, "Lord, when I feel like feel I'm drifting drifting, it's a challenge to me say, 'Lord, I need to 45:41 seek you for the power of the Holy Spirit.'" And that's something we need continuously. And the we know it's like water coming, you know, in your in our taps supplied from a source and it must always be there. Otherwise you'll dry up. I mean, just 45:56 because I had it yesterday doesn't mean I'm satisfied in our in our earthly circumstances see the necessity of it. And Jesus said, "If anyone thirst So, you know, if thirst means you hear a message like this 46:14 and a desire comes in your heart. Lord, I want that life. Wait, how is it they could get that life and not me?" And the Lord says, "You have a thirst, come to me." Go to Jesus. And he who believes in me, that believes means who completely commits himself to 46:33 me wanting Jesus more than anything else on earth. Out of his And who thirsts for it. Thirst means I seek him and nothing happens. I seek him and nothing happens. And it was like that in my life, boy. How many days and weeks and months seek 46:49 and seek and seek. When will it all When will he enter into this, Lord? Well, I'm not going to give up. And because I had a brother to pray with me, it was easy. And it's If you If you're married, you should pray with your wife. 47:03 And you're single, you should pray with some other brother. Ask God to lead you. And two of you agree concerning anything, the Bible says it shall be granted. There's a tremendous power when two people agree. And so, say, "Lord, I'm not satisfied 47:22 this life. I want something more." And I know in my case, it's almost at the point where I I'm not willing to give up, but it is almost as if there's no no hope. I don't know why it is, but God allows us to hit rock bottom. 47:40 And then he lifts us up. It's like something like the die, and from that death comes a resurrection. So, something like that. So, you find yourself frustrated, defeated, don't give up. Say, "Lord, bring me to that zero point quickly so that 47:59 I learn and experience a resurrection power that pulls me out of that death. And the things I hear about in the church become real in my life. And uh sometimes you know, we can hear things in the church and we think we've 48:14 understood it and we can we can even preach about it. But it's not really in our life. Don't be satisfied with that. Don't ever be satisfied with I've understood it and I can even speak about it. And people appreciate what I say. 48:31 Uh-huh. But is it really in your life? We must be completely free from the opinion we have given to other people about our spiritual life. God will test you on that. Are you happy with other people think you're a good spiritually minded person? 48:50 I say, Lord, that's garbage. The opinion of men is fit for the trash can. I always say that to myself. The opinion of everybody, what they think about me is fit for the trash can. What do you think of me, Lord? That's the only thing that matters. 49:06 May God help us all. Amen. >> [music]
