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  WONDERFUL ASPECTS OF THE TEACHING OF JESUS CHRIST
  by Gerhard Du Toit
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Summary: Gerhard Du Toit's sermon explores the profound teachings of
Jesus Christ, emphasizing the importance of prayer and a deep
relationship with God.

Duration: 1:25:00 Topics: "Jesus Christ"
Scripture References: Matthew 5:1-20, Matthew 5:48, Matthew 6:33, Matthew 7:24-27

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DESCRIPTION
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In this sermon, the preacher shares a powerful experience he had where
he felt a deep connection with the Chinese people and a burden for their
spiritual well-being. He emphasizes the importance of having a heart
that is broken for others, just as Jesus taught. The sermon then
transitions to discussing the concept of Christian character and how it
is revealed in our everyday lives. The preacher highlights the idea of
the imputed righteousness of God and how it becomes the imparted
righteousness of God in our relationship with Him. The sermon concludes
by emphasizing the abundant blessings of God and the need for assurance
of forgiveness and a personal relationship with Him.

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CONTENT
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The entrance of thy words give us light. This message is not copyrighted
and is not to be bought or sold, altered or changed in any way. You are
welcome to make copies in its entirety for friends and neighbors.

For additional cassettes and the catalogs call 1-800-227-7902 or write
to Charity Gospel Tape Ministries, 59 South Crossdale Road, Leola,
Pennsylvania, 17540. Good morning to introduce to you all Brother
Gerard. Brother Gerard, I met him about a year ago.

My two boys and I, we went down to a prayer advance in Virginia a year
ago just to seek the Lord. The three of us, nice time for a father to
get together with his sons and Brother Gerard was speaking there at the
prayer advance and I noticed right away that a burden for God, he had a
burden for prayer, he had a burden for revival. And so I felt impressed
even while I was there a year ago, somehow, sometime, some way that God
would make a way for him to come and share with us.

He's going to be sharing all week, every evening, during the leadership
seminar. We're grateful that he can be here with us this morning and
share with all of us. He's originally from South Africa.

I know that some probably thought a black man would be standing up here,
but there are white men in South Africa. If you study history and
geography, you'll find out that the Dutch people colonized South Africa.
And I guess, I believe his background is Dutch Reformed.

That's a ways back in his experience. But he lives in Canada now and I
believe this is right, Brother Gerard. Are you the overseer of faith
missions in Canada? The West Coast? And I'm not sure if I can explain
all what faith missions is to you here, but maybe he can some during the
week while he is sharing with us.

But he travels and prays and preaches. And as I said already, he has a
burden for the Lord and for prayer and revival. I thought what a
blessing it would be to all of the men to hear him share the burden of
his heart week, day by day, while we're being instructed all day long.

So, we're going to hear from him this morning and then through the week
each evening. And I want to recommend him to you this morning. He's a
faithful brother.

He loves the Lord and he walks with God. So I recommend him to you based
on those credentials. Brother Gerard, God bless you as you come.

I just would like to say it's a wonderful privilege for me to be with
you this week. And I need to tell you that I didn't really come to
preach as such. I've really just come to seek God.

And if we do that, then the preaching comes secondary because God comes
first. And it's wonderful to be here and to share with you. As Brother
Denny mentioned, I was born and brought up in Africa.

And I was saved at the end of my first year in a theological school in
the city of Cape Town. And my background is German and French. And we
were brought up in a God-fearing family.

Although mother and father didn't know the Lord Jesus personally, but
our background was steeped into the Word of God in such a way that my
mother was one of nine children on the farm, eight daughters and one
son. And she used to tell me that in the evenings when they had family
prayer that my grandfather would read the Bible through once a year, two
chapters in the morning and two chapters at night. And then after they
would read the scriptures and they would sing a psalm as we used to do.

And then the whole family would go and they used to pray. And she used
to tell me and said when we would go and I used to pray, one of the
girls with daughters would slip out of the dining room into the kitchen,
which was a better way to wash the dishes and finish the dishes and come
back. And my grandfather was still praying.

And that was the kind of background that we were brought up with. So I
went to Bible college, studied there. And at the end of my first year,
there was a student with me in the same room that turned to me and said
to me, If you die tonight, where will you spend eternity? And I
discovered that night that I was never born of the Spirit of God.

And the Lord saved me and there were three things that I had to go make
restitution about. And then I went back to our farm. We were brought up
in a cattle ranch in Africa.

Farm was about 10,000 acres close to the border of Mozambique. And I
couldn't preach to my mother and my father because if I would say to
them, Now, you know, if you are a believer you don't do this and you
don't do that. Because my mother and father never did those things.

My father had a higher standard of Christian living than I would say 90%
of Christians in North America. So I just had to live. And then about
two weeks, I came back for December, which was our time for a vocation.

And I came back from the town one day, which was about five miles away.
And my mother turned to me and she said, There's a black African pastor
that wants to see you. And I had a little cottage about 50 yards or so
from our farmhouse.

And so when I walk into this cottage, this black man was sitting there
and I turned to him and I said, We're going to talk about theology. And
he said, No. He said, We will be involved in neology.

And before I could say another word, this black man literally fell on
his face on the floor of my cottage and began to seek the face of God in
prayer. And I watched him for an hour and a half as the Spirit of God
came upon him and just intercede and prevail and supplicate the presence
of God. And I sat there in absolute amazement and didn't understand it.

So then he turned to me and he said to me, There is a mountain here on
your farm where we spent days and nights of prayer and fasting. And
there were five of them. And I was the very first white person that was
invited to pray with them.

And you know, you need to understand Africa because it's different. It
was a Friday night about nine o'clock and I was in my little study,
studying the Word of God with a candle. And there was a knock at my
window and when I opened the curtain, I couldn't see his face because he
was as black as Africa.

But I saw the white teeth and he said to me in the African dialect, he
said, he said, Muruti, he said, Mudimu Ukai. And he said, We are going
to the mountain to pray. And I didn't, I didn't understand what it means
to spend the night in prayer.

I understand today. But as we were walking in the darkness of that
night, I got hold of his arm and I said, He said, How are we going to
spend the night in prayer? And I'll never forget this. He turned to me
in the darkness of the night and he said to me, He said, White man,
you've got a problem.

And he said, Your problem is you're in a hurry and God is not. And he
said, You're going to learn what it means to wait. The best times of
prayer we ever had was between twelve and three or four o'clock in the
morning.

Now our bodies were tired and emotionally we were drained and we said
all the things that we think we could say to God and we had nothing more
to say. Then the Spirit of God came and intercedes for us with groanings
that cannot be uttered. And then five o'clock in the morning, I had to
go back to the farmhouse.

I mean, you know, what's the farm about? We had to milk the cows and all
those kind of things. And the habit in my country is that the first one
that wakes up in the morning goes into the kitchen of the farmhouse to
make a pot of coffee. We used to speak of as Buddha coffee and pot of
coffee and then you take a cup of coffee to everyone in the house, in
the family, with a rusk that we used to speak of as the scape.

And I'd spend a night in prayer with these men. Now, if you spend a
night in prayer, your heart is so tender and broken and you're so
sensitive. I mean, you so care for what you say and what you think, but
you just come out of the presence of God.

I came into our kitchen and made coffee and took it to Mother and
Father. My father was a very, very proud man. And my father was a very
determined man.

My father used to say to me, son, it's not desire that controls destiny,
it's determination. My father was a great one for discipline. I was an
American citizen.

I would say, Dad, lay down the stripes and I saw the stars. And I
remember that day as I sat in the morning, I sat at the bedside and gave
him their coffee and I've never in my life saw Father weeping. And I
gave him his cup of coffee, just spent the night in prayer.

And you know, sometimes the presence of God is with you to a degree that
you don't realize it. And I sat at the bedside with him and suddenly
something happened. My father had his cup like this in his hand and he
began to shake like this.

And I didn't know what was really taking place. And then he moved to his
left and he put the cup down and he folded his arms and the tears began
to stream down his cheeks. And I turned to him and I said, are you okay?
I thought maybe he wasn't well.

And he just said, yes, but he wouldn't say another word. And he sat
there like five or five minutes or so, and then he got it out and he
just turned to me and he said, son, he said, why is it when you come
back from that mountain that there is something with you that convicts
me of my sin? And I didn't realize it was the presence of God. So I just
share it with you.

Turn with me if you will to Matthew chapter five. Matthew chapter five
and let's read from verse number one. And seeing the multitudes, he went
up into a mountain and when he was set, his disciples came unto him and
he opened his mouth and he taught them, saying, blessed are the poor in
spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are
the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do
hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they shall attain mercy. Blessed are the
pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for
they shall be called the children of God.

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for
theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye when men shall revile
you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you
falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your
reward in heaven, for so persecuted are the prophets which were before
you.

We are the salt of the earth, but if the salt of lust is savored,
wherewith shall it be salted? It is then so good for nothing but to be
cast out and to be trodden under the foot of men. We are the light to
the world, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hit. Neither do men
light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it
giveth light unto all that are in the house.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works
and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Father, as we bow again this
Sunday morning in the presence of the One that has given unto us His
life, Lord, is it such an encouragement for us to recognize that God is
in the midst of His people. And Father, we have come this morning to
humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God.

We thank you that you have said to us in your word that you want us to
humble ourselves and you said to us, if my people which are called by my
name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from
their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and I will forgive their
sin and I will heal their land. And God, we thank you this morning that
the ministry of humbling ourselves, it's not just a discipline, but
Father, we are so grateful that it can become a disposition and that it
can become a lifestyle in our walks before thee. And God, we confess
today that we've got absolutely nothing in ourselves to stand upon, but
we are here as thy people.

And Father, our hearts are broken because we long for God. And our
hearts are open for you these days to come and reveal unto us our need
to a degree that we have never experienced and seen it before. Father,
we ask this morning that at the outset of these days together that the
Spirit of God will pour out upon us as a congregation such a spirit of
prayer.

Father, that you will give us such a seeking after yourself that as we
would come to the end of this week that we would not be able to say that
we've heard some wonderful things of God's word, as wonderful as it is,
but that we would be able to say that God has met with us in such a way
that the word of God in the days to come is going to become part of our
life. And so we ask this morning that at the outset of this week
together, Father, we do not know if God in His great love have chosen
these days to pour out upon us thy Spirit, God, in such a way that we
would find ourselves in the midst of an organized disorder. But we come
to you this morning, Father, and you said to us in your word that you
will pour water upon him that is thirsty and that you will pour floods
upon dry ground and you have said to us that the mountains will flow
down at the precious of God.

And so, Lord, we lift our hearts to you this morning because you are a
prayer answering God. You are a God that loves those who are of a broken
heart. And, Father, we pray that you will come to visit us this week.

Father God, we pray that not one single one of us from the oldest person
within the fellowship to the youngest child will not be able to say that
God has not spoken to my heart. And we want to open our hearts before
you in such a way that when the wind of God's Spirit will come, we pray
that you will give us a sensitivity towards yourself. Lord, we ask that
you will cover us under your precious blood.

Father, I pray for my own heart this morning. God, I pray that you will
pour into my life this week the burden of God for what you are doing
within the fellowship. I thank you so much that observation affects
intercession.

We ask that something of the burden of God will come to rest upon us
these days in such a way that you will help us to pray through. Bless
your word to us this morning we ask of you because we ask it in Jesus'
precious name. Amen.

Now it's quite significant if you would study the gospel or rather the
gospels in the New Testament that you will discover and quite often when
I study these gospels do I often ask myself is there something about
those that were inspired by God and His Spirit because the Bible is
saying to us that holy men prophesy as they were moved by the Holy
Spirit but I consistently ask myself if there's something about
themselves that I can find within the gospel that they for instance
wrote. And some time ago I was looking at the gospel of Matthew and I
came across two possible little things about the life of Matthew, the
disciple of the Lord Jesus. I came to the conclusion that Matthew must
have been what we would consider an honest man because when the Bible
refers to him in the gospel of Mark and in the gospel of Luke well you
discover that God refers to him as Levi.

But when we read about Matthew in Matthew's gospel he made a little bit
of a change and he said when he referred to himself he referred to
himself as Matthew the publican and Matthew the tax collector. You see
during the time in the ministry of the Lord Jesus which is not a very
popular work for people to do but I believe here was someone who was
honest enough to say that's what I was, Christ came into my life and he
changed my life and as a result of that I'm not a publican anymore. The
other little thing that I discovered about his life was not only that he
was an honest man but somehow it seems to me that he must have been a
humble man because you remember when the Lord Jesus sent out his
disciples in the different gospels in Mark's gospel and also in the
gospel of Luke the Bible is saying to us that Jesus sent out Matthew and
Thomas but when Matthew wrote about that same incident God allowing to
make a little bit of a change and he said well what actually happened he
said Jesus sent out Thomas and then he puts his name Matthew in.

Now if you and I would look at the gospel of Matthew this morning is
there a sense in which you need to allow me to suggest to you that it
seems to me that the Lord Jesus in his ministry of Matthew's gospel
spent the majority of his time as far as Matthew's gospel is concerned
working the region of Galilee because the Bible is saying to us in
Matthew chapter 4 that after these things Jesus departed into Galilee
and from what we could gather in Matthew's gospel that the Lord Jesus
spent most of his time there because in chapter 19 verse number 1 the
Bible is saying to us that Jesus departed out of Galilee. Now if it's
true this morning that he spent so much of his time in Galilee in
Matthew's gospel then you and I need to ask ourselves today to what
degree did the Lord Jesus minister within the gospel of Matthew. I would
like to suggest three aspects of the ministry of Christ.

There was that which the Lord Jesus taught in other words the teachings
of the Saviour and secondly there was that which the Lord Jesus wrote in
other words the miracles of the Saviour and thirdly there was that which
the Lord Jesus taught in other words reactions that came from the lips
of the Son of God. Chapter 5 to chapter 7 is speaking to us about the
great teachings of Christ and then chapter 8 onwards to chapter 10 is
revealing to us the miracles of the Saviour and the 10 of those and then
from chapter 11 onwards to chapter 18 where you come across 10 reactions
that came from the lips and the ministry of the Son of God. I'm
concerned this morning in this time that we have in our morning service
about what we would consider as the teachings of the Lord Jesus.

My brother and my sister I want you to understand this because the Bible
is saying to us that before the Lord Jesus began to do those wonderful
miracles in public in Matthew's gospel and before He reacted towards the
lives of people as He preached the word of God well you discover that
the Lord Jesus first of all looked at His disciples. That is saying to
me this morning that you and I need to realize in this Sunday morning
service that we are tremendously and tremendously valuable for God and
yet my brother and my sister I need to say to you that you and I as a
believer need to realize that we can't take people further spiritually
than that we are ourselves in our relationship with God and we can only
impart to people that which we possess in the life of Christ within our
work with the Saviour. You see the Bible is saying to us in Matthew
chapter 5 that when He went up into the multitudes He went up into a
mountain and when He was set He called His disciples unto Him.

It almost seems to me this morning that the Son of God as He was looking
upon those multitudes of people and realized that in His humanity was He
limited because He took up the form of man that in His humanity as He
looked at that He saw these multitudes of people and He looked upon His
disciples and said the only way that I'm going to reach these multitudes
of people is going to be through the lives of my disciples. The Bible is
saying to us He called His disciples unto Him. So the setting was
important because it was a little mountain and in the days of the
ministry of Christ that whenever the Pharisees or the Pharisees or the
Lord Jesus for that matter had something important to say to their
followers they would try and find a kind of a hill and these disciples
would come to them and they would be able to teach them.

The setting was important but the speaker was important because the
speaker was the Son of God. You see my friends it was a prophetic voice
of authority. No man ever spoke like Him.

It was a dynamic voice of authority because people would say that what
is it that such gracious words were coming from the lips of this man it
was a static voice of authority because the Son of God came on the scene
and people were captivated by what Jesus said. If you and I study what
we would call upon the Sermon on the Mount it's in a sense in which you
would begin to recognize that the Sermon on the Mount is dealing with
two wonderful concepts. First of all it's dealing with Christian
character and the first 15 verses and in the rest of the Sermon on the
Mount it's dealing with Christian conduct.

How Christian character reveals itself in our everyday living. It is
speaking to us about the imputed righteousness of God and the first 15
verses and then it explains to us how the imputed righteousness of God
is becoming the imparted righteousness of God as it works out in my
relationship with God. I want us this morning in the time that we have
available in our morning service the teachings of the Lord Jesus and the
very first thing that I would like to mention to you this morning is
simply that it seems to me that the Lord Jesus gave us an introduction
by referring to the abundant blessings of God.

Do you remember how the Bible is saying to us that when He saw the
multitudes and He called His disciples unto Him and the Bible says He
opened His mouth and what did He say to them? He said unto them, bless
it. Bless it this morning. If you study it in the Hebrew of the Old
Testament as you look upon it in the New Testament you will discover
that the little word, bless it is speaking to us this morning about the
wonders of the restoration of the work of God in our lives.

And the first aspect of this word, bless it is referring to the
possibility that I can know Him as my personal Savior. I wonder this
Sunday morning because I think it is possible in this Sunday morning
service that maybe there is someone in our midst and if you are
absolutely honest with yourselves is there a sense in which you need to
say I can't say that I have been born of a spirit above. I can't say
that my sins have been forgiven.

I can't say that the Lord Jesus has come into my life. I can't say that
there has been a time in my life that I acknowledged that I was lost in
the presence of God and I confessed my sins before God and I asked God
to cleanse me from my sins and I asked God to become my Savior. I would
like to suggest to you this morning that that word is for you.

And my friends I would like to say to you this morning that there is a
time we know not when a place we know not where and it seals the destiny
of men. You see you may sit in this service this Sunday morning and you
may say to me, Brother Gerard well I can come Sunday after Sunday and I
can give my life to God whenever I want to do that my friends it doesn't
work like that. You see the Bible is saying to us that my spirit shall
not always thrive with man and the same sun that is softening the butter
is the sun that is hardening the clay.

I remember a friend of mine in his life in South Africa who was the
principal of an institution and he retired, a very godly man and they
had a physician that came to see them every now and again and this man
was not a believer and every time when he came to the house Mr. and Mrs.
Davilio spoke to him about God and they spoke to him about his soul and
they said to him, you know, Jesus has died here on the cross and every
time when they did that this doctor would just turn around and kind of
turn his back upon that and say well I'm not really interested in that.

There was a day when he came to visit them and Mrs. Davilio turned to
him and said doctor I want to speak to you again about your relationship
with God and this man didn't really listen and at the end of that
conversation he laughed and he said, Mrs. Davilio, he said I'm going to
go to hell one day and he said, you will maybe see me going to go to
hell. Four days later they were sitting outside under the shade of a
tree and in the afternoon suddenly there was an accident and as those
two cars, their vehicles were crashing to each other she turned to her
husband and she said we better run and see if we can help and they ran
down the street and as they were running down towards the accident as
they came close to it she turned to her husband and said daddy this is
the car of our doctor and as they came running to this car he was still
sitting behind the steering wheel half conscious, half aware of what was
going on and they were able to open the door of that car and he fell
into their arms and he looked in their eyes and he died you see four
days earlier on he said to her he said, Mrs.

Davilio, I probably will go to hell and you will see me going to go to
hell and my friends, God take him at his word and I wonder this Sunday
morning if you would allow me to suggest to you because maybe you sit
here in this Sunday morning service and you do not have the witness of
God's spirit that your sins has been forgiven my friends, you are at a
loss you have absolutely no assurance as you leave the service today
that God maybe in the future will ever speak to you again what does it
mean?

It is the blessings of God so is that where the blessings of God is
stopping in our lives? no my friends, that is where it begins you see
the little word blessed is speaking to us about something far greater
the little word blessed is speaking to us about not only the incoming of
God's spirit to my life as an individual but the little word blessed is
speaking to us about the infilling of God's spirit in my life and I
wonder this Sunday morning my brother or my sister if somehow you would
allow me to ask you and how many of our lives as God's people can you
sit here this morning and you say I know that there was a day in my life
that I have asked him to come into my life and he saved me from my sin I
do not belong to Jesus but my brother or my sister I wonder this Sunday
morning if you

would allow me to ask you has there been a day in your life as a
believer where God has brought you to the place where you have
surrendered every aspect of your life to God you say what does that
mean? it simply means this that there are so many of God's people this
Sunday morning and do you know what they say? they say I know that the
Holy Spirit of God is resident in my life and yet I can't say that the
Holy Spirit of God has become present in my relationship with God that
means this morning that God is saying to us in his word I beseech you
therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your bodies as
as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God and I wonder if you
would allow me to ask you if you realize this Sunday morning that there
must be a moment in every one of

our lives that I lay my wife on the altar for God where I lay my husband
on the altar for God where I lay my children on the altar for God where
I say God I want to give you the right to be on the throne of my family
I remember when our little girl was born she was just 5 years old a few
months ago and I remember I was responsible for her in the early hours
of the morning because my wife Janice is not a morning person but I
would stand at her cot one morning at 5 or so I love to get up in the
early hours of the morning to meet with God but I would stand there
about sometimes 4 or 5 o'clock and there was this little bundle of life
and one morning I was complaining to God and said Lord I really would
like to meet with you in the early hours of the morning but with this
baby it's bringing so

much disruption into my times of God and I would never forget this it
was as if God said to me do you see that little bundle of life she is
maybe alone for maybe 17 or 18 or 19 years if I would spare her to come
and then I am going to do something else with her life and the way that
you are going to live in the next 17 or 18 years is going to determine
what she is going to do with her life I wonder this morning my brother
and my sister if you would allow me to ask you have you ever been in a
time where you have made an absolute surrender to God those of us who
are fathers this Sunday morning my brethren may I ask you has there been
a time in your life where you have laid your wife and the altar for God
you see my background is German and to be German means to be responsible
and to be

German means not to cry and to be German means to be strong and
determined and I remember when we were married and we were talking about
the spiritual development that was taking place in the life of my wife
that I so dearly love but there was a morning when God doubted me and
said Gerard are you trying to do the work of the Holy Spirit of God and
I could surrender her to God maybe you sit here this morning as a mother
and can I ask you as you lay those children in the altar for God how
deeply we love Him how deeply we care for Him but can I ask you this
Sunday morning if God the Holy Spirit on these days as we spin around
this world and your son or your daughter is going to come and say daddy
I feel God is calling me to go up to Africa or somehow into some eastern
black country and I

don't know if I will ever be able to come back how are we going to
respond to that oh you say it's not a problem to me it can be a problem
because we so deeply care for them I was involved in a conference and
there was a lady and her husband and four wonderful sons that was in the
services and God met her this Sunday morning in a wonderful way tell you
what happened they prayed for those sons one after the other they came
to God and God in His great love saved them in His time and there was
the youngest one and they prayed for him and he was a little bit of a
rebel but God one day saved him and when he got saved there were some
things it was converted that there were some things that had to be
straightened out in his life and the mother and the father and their
zeal and their earnestness

and their longing to see these things work out they piled those things
down upon him and it came to such a pace and to such a degree that it
absolutely overwhelmed him and he backslid one day they came back home
and he was gone he became a drunk addict he became a drunkard and every
now and again he would come back to that beautiful house that they were
living in and he would walk into that beautiful living room and threw
himself into one of those expensive love seats that they had and the
mother would say I would walk in there and I would look at my son and
before I knew what I said I would say why don't you change your life and
just walk out of the place and one morning she sat in a service like
this and the Holy Spirit of God put his finger upon her life and said
Mary my problem is not

with your son my problem is with you and she said God are you saying to
me Lord and God said you've never laid him in the altar and you've never
taken your hands off and that morning God met with her at the altar and
she gave that son over to God and brokenness and honesty and
transparency a few days later the front door of the house opened and he
came in and he was an absolute mess long filthy dirty hair, dirty denim
jeans he was on drugs and he was just an outcast and he plunged himself
down in that chair and she said I walk into that room and as I looked at
him she said there was no condemnation she said I went up to him and I
took that dirty hair away and I put my two hands around his ear and I
whispered to him and said son mother just want to say I love you and I
pray for you do you

know what happened that boy just broke down and through that dirty hair
and his stinking condition the little words began to tickle through and
he said mummy I'm far from God he said mummy you know it and I know it
he said mummy will you give me love and will you pray for me and that
day mother and son sought their way back to the cross and today that boy
is a blaze for Jesus Christ I wonder this morning my brother and my
sister are we really on the altar for God I mean I came from a farming
background I knew what it means to be on horseback every day I knew what
it means to smell the freshness of the manure and people say oh my
goodness and for us it was wonderful I mean I knew what it means to be
on the back of cars riding them with the African people and if they
don't do it we take

their tails and bite them until they run that's my background but it
becomes part of our lives and sometimes these little things get in and
it's standing between us and God we develop a form of religion set apart
unto God in our heart and in our life there was a farmer in what was
called the orange free state one of the provinces and this man and his
wife was a wonderful believer in Africa and they had a son of 17 years
old they were very wealthy cattle farmers and that young boy they
discovered was suffering from cancer he was dying they tried the best
treatment that they could get for him to die on this beautiful farm in
this beautiful farmhouse and while he was dying the father went into his
room and he said to sit down with his son and he said to him son what he
said that I can do for

you he said anything else that I can help can I bring the minister in
again and he said no I don't want to see the minister he said can I
bring your friends just one request daddy the father said what is it he
said daddy when I die he said will you give me a grave amongst the
cattle the father sat back and he said I will never do such a thing he
said my son when you die you will have the most expensive coffin it will
be the greatest funeral in the town and the son said no daddy he said
when I die dig a hole in there and put me in that coffin the father said
why do you want me to do it he turned to his daddy and he said daddy as
long as I knew you the only God that I knew was the cattle God wants us
to be given over to God and my brother and my sister I need to be
absolutely honest with

you about these days that we will spend together the greatest longing of
my heart is to bring my family up and the fear and the apprehension is
God but I can't really say that I've come this week to really meet with
God that's the prayer of my heart and I wonder this Sunday morning what
will happen if God will come to your life in these days that we will
spend together around this world and God will bring things to the
surface and God will say you know this is not from me this pattern for
thought pattern that you have or this something that you are saying to
your wife or this attitude towards the children or the way that you
handle people or that arrogance it's not from me and God will deal with
it and I want to be absolutely honest with you this Sunday morning if it
happens so that in

one of these services I'm standing up here and my absolute
insignificance and God speaks to me about something of my life I would
leave this pulpit right here and get on my knees before God we were in a
Mennonite church in Western Canada about 5 years ago and right in the
middle of a Sunday morning service I was in the middle of my little
sermon when the Spirit of God spoke to my heart and I believe God said
to me you said something to Janet yesterday that really hurt her and my
heart broke and when God speaks to me about something it's instantaneous
obedience and I went to this group of Mennonite people and just said
will you just excuse me for a moment and I walked down my wife was
sitting at the back and knelt down there and looked her in the eyes and
I said mummy will you please

forgive me for what I did yesterday my wife being a typical Canadian
said get back to the pulpit I wonder this Sunday morning if I will ask
you oh my brother and my sister we have come to be absolutely honest
with God each day if God is going to lay his hand upon your life and the
areas that we struggle with and you sit here this morning and you say
there are mountains and I don't know how I can get over those mountains
you sit here and you say I want to become a man of prayer and I don't
know how that's going to happen and it's a mountain for you and God is
saying just let me meet with you and I do it last year about 8 months
ago I felt one morning in my choir time the whispering of the Holy
Spirit of God saying I want to spend more time in prayer and I look at
my schedule and schedule

sometimes is a curse in the presence of God and I look at it and I say
to God in all the honesty of my heart I said Lord I don't know how I can
do this and I look at all the conferences and the administration and the
conference centre and the district and all kinds of things and it's my
family I said Lord I can't spend more time in prayer but I felt God
wanted me to begin to pray about it and every morning I made it a matter
of prayer and said Lord I felt you spoke to me about spending more time
in prayer and I don't know how I will be able to do that but Lord I'm
praying about it and I couldn't see it happen and do you know what
happened half way through December of last year I was sitting in my bed
at night and just as a family little time together and suddenly my
brother and my sister

something happened the Holy Spirit of God came upon this insignificant
life and I found myself sitting there and sobbing and shaking and
wailing and weeping like a child for three hours and my little daughter
come and stand in front of me and said Daddy are you ok? my wife would
say what can I do? and sat there for three hours and my wife said Gerard
are you going nuts?

I said no I said God is doing something and everything came out you know
all the excuses Lord I can't spend more time in prayer you know about
this Lord and surely you don't expect me to do that and what about that
Lord? and God said it's sin and it all came out all came out and now I
can see I can see and realize that it's so easy now to do it and then
the burden of God came upon my heart to pray for the family of Fred God
gave me a burden to pray for my wife and I prayed for her for three
weeks every morning and said Lord you did a great new work in my heart
you gave me a fresh baptism of honesty and brokenness and passion and
transparency and honesty I said Lord I long to see you doing something
for Janet and I went to the conference and Saturday night I phoned home
and she picked up

the phone and I said how are you doing my darling? she said I've been
crying all day and I said why? she said God is doing a new work in my
life my brother and my sister I've come this week for God to do a new
work in our life and you could sit here this morning and say oh I'm not
sure if that's for me let me ask you this morning as a father when last
have you been broken in the presence of your wife? let me ask you this
morning as a father you're the leader of the house your wife is the
follower your children are the followers and listen gentlemen when I get
stuck they get stuck if I'm resisting God they are resisting God and I
would like to know what could happen if God in his spirit in this week
would come to the main at this conference and in this church I don't
know if you will

appreciate me saying this but listen I believe if God is going to start
revival it is in the lives of men and the only reason why we don't have
revival is because we are not ready for it and the heart and the mind of
God is absolutely open and said I want to send it I don't do this and
that I'm ready to send it but I can't find a man who is willing to stand
in the gap and he needs to break our heart secondly there is not only
the abundance of blessing but you know what I've discovered my friends
this is the heart of the issue the spiritual life is not a goal it's a
gateway and you and I can't sit here this morning and this fellowship
and you say oh I remember there was a time when I asked God to cleanse
me and to fill me with his spirit because Calvary can only cover that
which I'm

prepared to uncover and you say I remember there was a time like that in
my life and I've arrived there and now I don't know my brother and
sister it's not a goal it's a gateway or five years ago that's what God
is doing this Sunday morning in my life you know what Jesus said he said
bless it he said I'm going to save you and I'm going to cleanse you and
I'm going to fill you with my spirit and one of the greatest aspects of
the fullness of God's spirit is the consequences of the rest of the
beatitudes you know what he said he said blessed are the poor in spirit
and when we surrender ourselves totally to God you and I realize our
absolute inadequacy in the presence of God and Jesus said blessed,
blessed are the poor in spirit you say pastor what does that mean in the
life of a believer

well let me give you two wonderful references listen to what God is
saying in his word in 2nd Corinthians Paul said for ye know the grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sake he
became poor so that you may be rich and so that you, ye through him his
poverty might be able to become rich you say what does it mean to be
poor in spirit my brother my sister to be poor in spirit this morning
means to identify myself with what God is doing in my life and to
identify myself with what God is doing in my family and to identify
myself with what God is doing in my church and to identify myself with
what God is doing in the world and I wonder this morning if you would
allow me to ask you do you know what it means to be poor in spirit it's
been a verse of a hymn that has

been ringing in my heart the last two weeks and every morning in my
times of prayer I just lift up my arms to God and say at thy feet I fall
giving up my all to suffer, live or die and I wonder this morning if you
would allow me to ask you if you learn the secret to identify with what
God is doing in your life oh my brother my sister it's wonderful when
God does that because you know what happens to us I don't know maybe it
doesn't happen to you but this is what's happening to me when I pray in
the mornings without iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear and I
think of about 10 days ago we've got a policy with my staff out in the
west coast of Canada that the policy is that if anyone on staff comes to
me in my office and says Gerard I want to talk to you about the property
manager's

wife I will turn to them and say have you prayed about that and they say
no we haven't and then I also say have you talked to them about that I
say I want you to go and pray about that and you talk to them about it
and if you can't then come to a conclusion then we come and we pray
about it and we will go and spend time with them and that's the policy
do you know what that does it brings a purity a purity in our fellowship
and about 10 days ago one night I turned to my wife and I said to my
wife something about our property manager and I thought well maybe it
was just a construct of criticism but when I got on my knees the next
morning that was destructive and I prayed and prayed and I couldn't get
around and I just got honest and broken before God and God said you're
not going to get

anywhere and I said Lord what do you mean God said get up there and go
and talk to her and she was in the midst of her quiet time and my heart
was so smashed and broken up and I just fell on my knees and I turned to
her and I said mommy I said I need to talk to you about something she
said what is it I said Janet you know what I said to you last night
about Jim I said God convicted me about that will you please forgive me
and she broke down and she turned to me she said Gerard I've been
struggling with what you said last night for 45 minutes because I
couldn't identify I wonder if you sit here this morning and you guilty
of slandering you say what is slandering slandering is when you say
something behind someone's back and you don't have the courage to say it
in the face of that person I

wonder this morning if you here and you and I are guilty of flattering
that's when I say something in someone's face and I don't have it in me
to say it behind his back my brother and my sister do you realise this
Sunday morning and listen I'm speaking to myself I said to brother Denny
last night as we were driving here I said Denny I said you know I
haven't come to preach I said I've really come to pray and I've been
saying to my wife oh it's wonderful to have a week to spend in prayer
you know what I want I want God to break into these meetings folks in
such a way that I don't need to preach but I wonder this Sunday morning
do you realise that every single word that you and I allow to come
through our lips that we are going to stand before God for every single
word that's awesome you

know every single thing that has gone through my mind there will be a
day when you and I will stand before God and God says look at it you say
I won't stand before the great white throne if I'm a believer no you
won't that's for the unbeliever but the Bible is saying to us so shall
every one of us give account for himself and the Bible says we will
stand before the judgment seat of Christ and our works are going to be
revealed there will be hay and stubble and wood those works of the flesh
those carnal things and there will be silver and gold and precious
stones the works of the spirit I need to stand before God poor for my
family you are men this morning I'm sure you are doing this but oh it's
wonderful every morning to come and pray for my family and lift my wife
up before God and say

Lord thank you for my wife and the more I pray for my wife the more I
love her and the more sensitive I become to her needs to lift my little
daughter up before God and when we were expecting and Genesis is going
to give birth I tell you we were crying to God because we prayed and we
said we don't want a child if we are going to populate hell give us
promises morning after morning I'm coming to God with these promises
before she was able to pray herself I taught her to pray oh it was maybe
one minute and then five minutes and she prayed after daddy and every
morning she prayed Lord Jesus please prepare me to be saved I mean she
didn't know what she was praying I prayed and she prayed and she would
pray for the perfection of your spirit I mean if she knew what she was
praying holding on to

the promises of God which I've identified and I wonder this morning if
you would allow me to ask you how many of you have identified with the
leadership of this fellowship or from any other place where you come
from I spend 90% of my spare time with men who are in ministry and one
of the great curses today upon the so called church of the Lord Jesus is
that there are people who are just passengers in a boat my brother and
my sister would you allow me to suggest to you this morning it's not
what you have come to receive this Sunday morning in the service but
it's what you brought into the service that will determine what is going
to happen with us in the days to come God help us to identify what about
the people around us our neighbors have you ever been poor in spirit for
them you know

how I pray for people who do not know the Lord Jesus the Lord is not
slack concerning His promise as some count slack work but is long
suffering to ask for not willing that any should perish but that they
would all succumb to repentance and when I meet someone that God brings
across my path I begin to pray for those people I say God give me a
burden and I begin to pray for those people and as I pray for those
people I say God reveal to me what is holding them back from giving
their lives to God now I know it is sin I begin to confess them before
God I say God I want to come and stand on the behalf of this person and
I want to confess those sins before God you say will God forgive him for
that I am not sure if He will but you know what I discovered in the
preaching to the believers that He

gives me the right to come and identify Him I mean I think of Hannah in
1 Samuel chapter 1 she just didn't pray for her son I mean she could
have prayed but she came to the temple every year and she saw the sin
and she saw the adultery and she saw the blasphemy against God and the
backsliding sin and she came to pray and one year she said God will you
give me a son that I can give him back to you son who was born she
identified with the people can you identify with people you know I
prayed for months months about these days and so have many of us but one
of the greatest fears to my heart was that I would stand up here and say
Lord my heart is not one with the people a sense of identity we were
involved in a weekend conference for a Chinese group out in the west
coast of Canada about 250

of these Chinese people and I mean I didn't know much about them and I
always had the problem to try and understand what they were trying to
say and there I was asking to speak and I prayed about it and God gave
me peace to go and speak to them and my wife we went to this weekend
conference away out of the city of Vancouver and I said God please make
me one with the Chinese people and I tell you surely I mean they are
different I mean they tried to pronounce my name and they crucified us
from every corner of the world so they all began to call me Sam Wong but
I was you know I was trying to figure this out you know what's going on
with them but then this Sunday morning came and the Holy Spirit of God
came this Sunday morning and broke into the service and every little
place where we sat

became a counselling room and our hearts were just melted and broken
before God and I was half way through my message and stopped and said I
think it's time to see God and the little Chinese pastor jumped up he
said no, no, no, no he said go on, go on, go on we will see God, just go
on I just went on preaching and at the end of the time he turned to the
people and said our hearts are broken let's see God and everyone is on
their knees and faces before God and that meeting went on until 3
o'clock in the afternoon and my heart was just crushed you know like a
drummer that went over a something that he just crushed and we got into
the car and we're driving back home and I turned to my wife and I said
mommy I I will never be the same she said what do you mean I said God
has made me part of

the Chinese people I didn't realise what I was saying you know what
happened weeks and months after that we would walk down the street and
I'd see that face and my heart just broke because I became one with him
and I remember we were in a mall and walking down with my wife and child
and as we came down there's this beautiful couple seems to have just
arrived from Hong Kong and coming down and I saw them and my heart just
broke and I couldn't take it and went and stood somewhere in a corner
just like this my wife and daughter went on and on turning around and my
wife said what is it I said it's these Chinese people they laugh you sit
here this morning and you've got neighbours they laugh I saw them this
morning on their horses and their buggy and I look at them and I thought
these people

are going to church and my scold and the sacrifice and the fear of God
my friends do you realise it takes the preparation and the work of God
and the lives of these people to be converted and I saw some of them
there and my heart just broke because they are looking for a God and
they don't know how to find him and what they know they try to resist
you sit here in this church this Sunday morning and God needs to break
your heart and I ask you a question this morning when last have you shed
a tear for your neighbour that seems so arrogant and so determined and
so adamant against your Christian faith when last have you asked God and
said God just break my heart for them what does it mean it means to
identify with people when Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5 blessed are
the merciful you know

what it means in the classical Greek it speaks of someone who is looking
through the eyes of another person is feeling through the hands of
another person is walking through the feet of that person is thinking
through the mind of that person he has learnt to identify and my brother
and sister do you know what Jesus said he said I was hungry and you
never gave me anything to eat he said I was thirsty and you never gave
me anything to drink he said I was in prison can you see them in their
little horse and buggy in prison in the prison of bondage and he said
you have never cried for them and God needs to break our heart time is
gone the abundance the abundance of poverty oh Paul said when I'm weak
he said that's when I'm strong oh God convict me last week in my time of
prayer one morning

and I don't know if I've done that or so but it's just a conviction that
came and I felt the whisper of the word coming and said do you realise
that there is absolutely nothing that you have no matter who you are or
even your experience of God that can even be compared to the majesty of
his glory I remember a number of weeks ago in my time of prayer how I
felt the impression of God upon me and said Gerard you've been so
affected by the North American concept of thinking you just come to me
and you just want Lord I want this Lord I want that Lord will you save
this person and you begin to ask me what you can do we just want service
you know we just want things and God said it's not what you want it's
what you can give the blessedness of poverty then finally the
blessedness of brokenness

blessed are those that mourn I wonder this Sunday morning my brother and
my sister would you allow me to ask you have you ever asked God to give
you a broken heart are you speaking about tear I don't necessarily think
so you see there are two aspects to brokenness there is the inward
aspect of brokenness and there is the outward aspect of brokenness and
in the outward aspect of brokenness I would say maybe 15% of that is the
emotional response that we can't contain what God is doing inside you
say what is the inward aspect of brokenness it's when God begins me to
when God begins to do a work in my life that makes me part of the
sufferings of Jesus Christ you remember the disciples of the Lord Jesus
and this is so precious you remember the disciples of the Lord Jesus
came to them came to

him at some point and they said to him Lord will you show us the father
and they said Lord Jesus if you can show us the father that will be
enough for us and the Lord Jesus turned to them and what did he say to
them he said I've been with you so long and you've never recognized me
and my brother and my sister can I share with you something in the
Christian life there is a time that you and I are following the Lord
Jesus we get used to the things we sing the hymns we pray we listen to
God's word I mean we listen to tapes and listen tapes can become a curse
in my life if I built my relationship of God on tapes and not the word
of God and I do all these necessary things and I say to myself it's
great and it's wonderful and I'm following the Lord Jesus and I think
everything is fine and

suddenly something happens because I begin to see Jesus Christ making a
statement and said I have set my faith like a flint to go to Jerusalem
why did he do that he did that simply to die in a cross and Oswald
Chambers said suddenly he changed his countenance towards me and he
begins to speak to me about brokenness and I wonder this morning what
will happen if God comes to our lives these days and God gives us broken
hearts my friend you and I begin to see people the way that God sees
them and when we see their struggles we don't look at their struggles
but we ask ourselves why do they struggle and we get in there and our
hearts are broken and we pray for them and we come alongside them and we
become broken before God the inner part of brokenness is the suffering
of the Lord Jesus Christ

in my life somehow when the Lord Jesus Christ comes and the sufferings
and the strugglings of Christ have you seen his sufferings my friend do
you realize that the Son of God came down from heaven he left his glory
I wonder if I can take a glimpse into the realms of heaven and see the
Son of God with his Father and the Father said you see a lost humanity
and the Son of God responded and said Father I see it I see what is
happening and he is saying are you willing to go down there and become
flesh and take up the form of a servant and be identified and die he
suffered when he saw a lack of faith he suffered when he saw a lack of
understanding he suffered when he saw a lack of dedication he suffered
when he saw a lack of brokenness you know when God breaks our hearts
it's part of our lives

and it changes us and it's not fun and games anymore it's cost me
absolutely everything I had a man that came to me with a considered to
be ministry some time ago and he said to me you don't need you mustn't
be so serious with God he said you know God wants us to have all kinds
of fun I turned to him and looked him straight in the eyes and I said
maybe you can get away with it but I can't my brother and sister it
starts here someone came to me quite some time ago and said to me what
was the greatest hindrance in your ministry I don't think we've got a
ministry brother Denny the ministry that we have is what God allows us
to be part of I mean that's all that we have and it can blow up on us
and we are gone it's like Elijah sitting in the retreat and said God I'm
the only one left and take

my life away and what will happen and God said the work will just go on
the way that it has but he said what's the greatest hindrance in your
ministry and I know what he wanted me to say he wanted me to say it's
these people and it's this and it's this and I just became absolutely
honest with God and my heart broke and I dropped my head and wept like a
child he turned to me and he said oh I must have hurt you Gerard I said
yes you did he said what did I say wrong no I said if you had said
anything wrong that would have been fine I said but you said something
that cut my soul so he said what was the greatest hindrance I said it
was me what do you mean I said if I could have just got more out of the
way maybe God would have been able to do so much more my brother and
sister the reason why

God is not working is us I said to the Lord for example I woke up this
morning in the room there at the Kenniston home and I stood in that room
and I would I pray I would pray a bit downstairs and walk up and down
and pray in that room you know I cut so many circles I'm getting drunk
sometimes but there I was standing in the room and I said Lord Jesus if
you are going to break us this week it starts in this circle I said
break my heart in this room break my heart for the Kenniston family
break my heart for Robert Denny and for Jackie and for those beautiful
children that you have given to them and those in the house break my
heart for the church what are you going to do if God is going to break
your heart close to this I've got a friend who is a missionary in Japan
and we met in Northern

Ireland I spent 8 wonderful years in Britain we met in Northern Ireland
and we are from the same country and we talked to the early hours of the
morning in our time of fellowship I turned to him and I said Neil I said
tell me what God is doing in Japan he said what do you want me to tell
you I said tell me of an incident that can break my heart and he said I
will do that and he told me of one of their workers in this missionary
organization in Japan they work amongst the patients who suffer from
tuberculosis and this Christian worker every Thursday morning went to
the hospital to visit the man who was suffering from tuberculosis and
every Thursday morning he shared the gospel of Jesus Christ with him
tell him he needs to be converted and every Thursday morning this man
turned his back

said I don't want anything to do with it that happened week after week
after week and one Thursday morning he went to the hospital and he
shared the gospel with this man and the man listened to him and at the
end of the time the man turned to him and he said I don't want anything
to do with it and that Christian worker got so upset that he turned
around and he walked out and he walked out of that and he said I will
never ever come back to see this man ever again he didn't know that this
man in the hospital had a little diary in which he journaled every day
and every morning he would write something and every Thursday morning he
would write and say the Christian man is coming to see me today and he
said I'm never coming back but the following Sunday night the man wrote
the first time ever

in a Sunday night in the diary in his little journal and he said I don't
understand this but I'm thinking more and more about the Jesus of the
Christian man and Monday he wrote exactly the same word and Tuesday he
wrote I'm thinking more and more and more about the Jesus of the
Christian man and Wednesday night he wrote the Christian man is coming
tomorrow to tell me about Jesus I want to give my heart to him and
Thursday morning he wrote he said this afternoon he's coming I'm ready
to give my life to his Jesus and 2 o'clock first time ever in a Thursday
afternoon he wrote he's going to be here shortly and he made a statement
and he said I can't wait to see him but he didn't know that the previous
Thursday he walked out and he said I'm not coming back and he never came
and 6 o'clock he

wrote in his little diary and he said the Christian man never came today
and then he put a little sentence in there and this is what he said he
said but maybe he's still going to come and 10 o'clock on Thursday night
he wrote for the first time since I've been in this hospital he said the
Christian man never came I wanted to give my life to his Jesus but I
couldn't do that because he didn't come do you know what happened
Thursday night he was gone and I said to my friend what happened he said
Gerard he said Friday we had our staff meeting and he said we met around
10 or 11 o'clock on a Friday morning and he said we got all the staff
together and the reports came in from the hospital and we sat in a
circle and I gave the different reports to the different missionaries
and he said I gave

this report to this man that we are talking about and he said I watched
him as he looked through it and he said suddenly he turned as white as a
ghost and he almost got sick and he ran out of that staff meeting do you
know what he did he ran to the hospital he got into the hospital and he
ran to the room where this man was and the body was taken away the
sheets were gone the sheets were put on the bed and he just stood there
and the sister came and she said can I help you and he said no she said
is there anything wrong he said no I'm just standing here I'm just
meditating and then he turned to his left and there was a little book
lying and he said what is this and she said that's his diary he
journaled in that every day and he said may I look at that and she said
sir would you please take

it please and he took that little diary and he began to open it and he
read Sunday night I'm thinking and Monday night I'm thinking and Tuesday
night I'm thinking more and more and so on Wednesday night and Thursday
morning I can't wait and 2 o'clock he's coming soon and 6 o'clock he
didn't come but maybe he will come and 10 o'clock he never came and I
said to my friend what happened he said he locked himself up in one of
our cottages on the mission compound for 5 days and he said for 5 days
he was under a blanket and the door was locked he couldn't get in and
for 5 days we heard him weeping and howling and agonizing before God I
said how did you know he was under the blanket he said we could see
between the curtain and the wall and we heard we heard the agony he said
I was afraid he was

going to lose his mind and then my friend said Gerard after 5 days he
opened the door and he came out a broken man and I turned to him and I
said broken in mind no he was fine I said broken emotionally maybe a
little bit he said I said where was the broken needle he turned to me
and he said broken in spirit and since that incident God has used this
man mightily but my brother and sister God don't need to do that to us
to break up God can give you a broken heart this morning you are
absolutely honest and open before God explain

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Audio: https://sermonindex1.b-cdn.net/9/SID9415.mp3
Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/gerhard-du-toit/wonderful-aspects-of-the-teaching-of-jesus-christ/
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