Episode Transcript
[Narrator] You’re listening to a podcast by Lance Lambert Ministries. For more information on this ministry, visit www.lancelambert.org or follow us on social media to receive all of our updates.
This is our third episode in a series of testimonies given by brothers and sister in the Lord. The audiobook for the testimony of Halford House, Let the House of God Be Built, will be released later this month!
In this episode, we will hear the testimony of Mary Rees, a servant of the Lord and a coworker with C.T. Studd in the Heart of Africa mission and across the world. This testimony was shared on March 1964 at Halford House. Let's listen.
[Mary Rees] That's good to be able to sing that hymn together down here. And we believe it's going to be better up yonder, amen, when we get up to the glory. I want to bring a portion of a verse to you tonight and we find it in Matthew six, verse 13.
And it's this: for Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ gave us those words, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. And we're not going to touch God's glory, we're not going to take his glory tonight.
And we will say, Heavenly Father, thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. The Lord Jesus Christ has told us in his word that his glory he will not give to another. And I trust tonight that, that your eyes are going to be fixed on the Lord Jesus Christ and that you'll, you'll give Him the glory of whatever he has done in my life.
The Lord Jesus Christ has done great things for me, I can say whereof, whereof I'm glad. And from the time that I knew God was working in my heart, I've been glad. Some people said mad. They saw such a change in me when Jesus came into my heart.
But I've been glad. People said, she's on the way, you know, to the asylum. But I've got a good Keeper, friends. He's kept me out of the asylum. And he's been helping me to praise Him ever since he saved me.
I want to tell you some of the great things that God has done for me in my life. And what he's done for me, I believe he can do for many others. I'd like to tell you that I had a dear old dad and mother.
And when I was a little one, I saw them kneel in prayer. When they came up to bed, I saw them kneel in prayer. If I was awake, Dad and Mother every night and in the morning too, they would kneel in prayer.
What were they praying about? I believe they were praying about the children. I was number seven and I don't know how it was, but God gave me the greatest blessing in the family. He blessed me abundantly.
Sometimes he so blessed me, I have to say, Lord, stop the tap. Stop it all. My heart isn't big enough to receive all those blessings, Lord. Just turn it off for a little while. That's how God has blessed me.
And so we were brought up to kneel in prayer from the time we could kneel. Thank God for that. Brought up by dad and mother to kneel.
I can remember one day going downstairs, I thought I would escape praying, but my little sister Becky went to Mother and said, Mother, Mary didn't say her prayers this morning. And my mother said,
Come and kneel by my knee, Mary, and say your prayers. We used to say Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name and thy kingdom come and thy will be done in earth as it is done in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.
Amen. So we were taught to kneel and pray. And we were taught to go to Sunday school. My mother, it was her job to get us ready for Sunday school. And she cooked the dinner, too, on Sunday. We were miles away, every day, in school except Saturday.
And she gave us a real good dinner on Sundays. And she saw us off to the house of God. My dad was there every afternoon and evening that I can remember, in the house of God, praising God for the Lord Jesus Christ.
One Sunday evening, I was not able to go to the service. Now, we didn't have a nice place like yours in which to pray and praise. We were out in the country. But there was a good old farmer who opened up his farm to Christians.
And the trap house was made into the house of God for Sunday. The traps were pulled out and there were lamps on the walls. There was a little organ in the corner. There was a bit of a pulpit, and there were benches.
My, it was a wonderful place. When I was a child, it was a wonderful place. And one Sunday evening, I was not able to go to that service. It was wet. The boys went, but the girls stayed at home. And I was looking through the Christian Herald and I saw, on one page, a picture of a girl preacher. A girl preacher preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I'm sure the Holy Spirit said to me, that's the greatest thing in the world, to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. And friends, I'll tell you today, it's the greatest thing in the world. Why? Because we read the gospel of Jesus Christ is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.
And I've seen in Africa, God saving the old and the young. I've seen God bring cannibals to Himself, men who have eaten human flesh. But God is able to save unto the uttermost, those who come unto him through Jesus Christ.
It's true, friends. The Bible is true. Now, friends, hang on to this Bible. The devil is going to take the Bible from you if he can. Perhaps some of you have not been holding on to the Bible. But I want to tell you tonight, friends, there is power in this book of God.
You say, some say it's no good, full of myths. Friends, you hold on to it long enough, believe it and hold on to it. And you'll know there's power in it. Just before I went back to the Congo, I was staying on a farm for the afternoon.
And then we were going over to in North Wales to the farewell service, my farewell service. And on that farm, there were a few young calves on a green pasture. And around that path, around that pasture, there were wires.
Now, they said they were electric wires. Well, I put my hand on the wire. I said, there's no power in this. But my word, I held on to it long enough. The farmer's wife thought I was going to drop dead or something, but praise God, I didn't drop dead, but I jumped from it friends.
I said, there's no power in that wire. There's no power in it. But you know, I believe the current was going around, and my, it struck me. And so I want to say to you tonight, friends, there's power in this book.
This is the book that's given me power in my life. It's the book that has helped me to live for God. It's the book that has given me love. Love for the heathen. It's given me joy. It's given me peace. It's given me a peace that passes all understanding.
This book, the Bible. And so I prayed that Sunday night, Oh, God — I didn't let anyone know I was praying. I just prayed quietly — I said, oh, God, if you can make one girl a preacher of the gospel, you can make me a preacher of the gospel.
Please make me a preacher of the gospel! Hallelujah. You know, God loves to answer prayer. He does. If you can only believe, believe and God will answer your prayers if it's for his glory. And that was for his glory that I should become a girl preacher.
We read that great is the company of women that spread the tithings. Hallelujah. I'm very glad I'm one of them. I'm very glad. And, you know, sisters, the first resurrection message came to women you know. The angels gave those women a message and then Jesus Christ himself gave them a message.
The angel said to those women, go quickly and tell his disciples that he's risen from the dead. And then they went with joy and they met the Lord Jesus himself. He didn't say, Go and tell my disciples.
But he said, Go and tell my brethren. You know, the angels wouldn't dare to say, Go and tell his brethren. The angels didn't say it. They knew something about worshiping God. They knew who Jesus Christ was.
The Son of God. The King of Glory. The Lord of Lords. They didn't say go and tell his brethren, but go and tell his disciples that he's risen from the dead. But the blessed Lord Jesus, the Saviour, the risen Saviour, he said to those women, go quickly, go quickly and tell my brethren that they go to Galilee and there shall they see me.
The risen Lord, a message for the women. Now then sisters, take it in tonight. You young women, very glad to see you. I'm an old woman. I don't feel an old woman though. Praise God. But I am. 50 years I've been serving the Lord Jesus, and I thank God for every day.
I haven't been miserable one day for 50 years. I was miserable enough before I came to Jesus. I was sorry that I'd never been born. There was darkness in my soul. Oh, I believed that the Lord Jesus Christ had died for the whole wide world, I believed that. And yet I was in the dark. I was sorry that I'd been born. But I praise God that God saved me, and I've been rejoicing ever since. Now, 50 years, that's quite a while, friends.
Once my hair was golden, and now it's silver. But I praise God for those 50 years. One part of my life, I went out to Canada for Jesus Christ, and I received a lovely message from someone in Ireland.
It was something like this. The Lord thy God knoweth thy wanderings in this wilderness, these 40 years wandering in this wilderness. And it said, thou has lacked nothing. Moses lacked nothing. And when I arrived in Canada, I was just 40 years of age.
It was my birthday, and I said, as I touched Canada, I'd trusted God for the 40 years. I'll trust him for the next 40, and I'm getting on for the next 40. Well, I do praise God that God answered prayer and made me the girl preacher.
And very soon, God gave me an opportunity to lead a little boy to himself. The first soul that God gave to me. How wonderful it is to win a soul, to lead a soul to Jesus Christ, to introduce a soul to Jesus Christ.
And I remember sitting on the hay in the summertime, and there were children around, and one little boy. He had a bad heart. He was only four and a half years of age. But his language was terrible. He picked it up from the workman on the farm, but it was simply terrible.
But I told that little boy about the Lord Jesus. And Jesus Christ can save all who will believe. And it doesn't matter if we're children. I told him as much as I could tell of Jesus. I said Jesus was the son of God.
Oh, the Gospel is very simple, friends. The Son of God, he came down to this earth and he taught us, and he died for us. He poured out his precious blood on Calvary so that your sins could be forgiven.
He can make you clean and he will take you to heaven, and he will give you a home there. And he'll give you a beautiful robe up yonder. And that little boy believed the Gospel of Jesus Christ and God saved him four and a half years of age.
What happened to him? God filled him with his Holy Spirit, that boy of four and a half years of age. And I could hear him going through the cowsheds saying Jesus is the light of the world! Do you believe in Jesus Christ?
And one day I heard him say to his dad, Daddy, whose side are you on? That boy knew something. The Holy Spirit had been teaching him something. And the dad said, what do you mean? You mean, which side of the house am I on?
I believe his dad knew what that boy was talking about for his own grandfather had been a great preacher of the Gospel. Which side of the house am I on? No, the little a boy said, Stanley said, Are you on the Lord's side or are you on the devil's side?
And the father didn't answer. A little while after that, Stanley took scarlet fever and it was my work to play with the children while the women were milking. They didn't have milking machines in those days.
And so I used to play with the children and help bath them and put them to bed. And one day, as I bathed Stanley, I saw that the skin was coming off his hands and off his feet. He'd had a rash. The doctor said it was from eating raspberries, but it wasn't.
It was scarlet fever. And so I received scarlet fever from Stanley. Later on, Stanley took diphtheria too. The doctor made a hole in his neck and put a tube in to get to his lungs. But God called little Stanley to be with himself.
And while I had scarlet fever, I watched the trap that carried that little body to the graveyard. And I got out of bed and I watched it. And friends, before I got back into bed, I got on my knees and I said, oh, God, I don't want to die.
I want to live. And if you will heal me and get me to see these beautiful flowers and the hedges and the trees and the fields and the birds, I give you my life. 13 years of age I was. And God took note.
He takes note of our vows, friends. It's better not to vow at all than to break your vows. Now let us think back tonight. Have we made a vow to God? Have we kept the vow? The vows? And so God healed me. And I got up from that bed and I praise God that God opened the way for me to serve him. Into the town, I went to work. We had to work for our living. Hallelujah.
Thank God for those who work for their living. Amen. And so I joined up with the open air meetings. But when they asked me to speak one night, I found that my knees were trembling and I didn't feel that this was glorifying to the Lord.
Will you give a word? I said yes. I'm willing. Spirit was willing, but the flesh was very weak and the bones were weak. They were letting me down. So I said, Lord, I want you, I want you to give me your Holy Spirit.
But first of all, let me tell you, God moved me from the town and took me back home and into that place where we learned to read the Bible, where we heard his Word. God wonderfully saved me. I went home from the town and I didn't know why, but all the way God is willing to guide us.
And when I got home, I found there was a week's mission in that place next door to the stable. You could hear the horses kicking next door. But God can save anywhere. God is not a respecter of places.
You haven't got to go to the cathedral or the abbey to be saved. You can be saved just wherever you believe in the Lord Jesus. It can be in a garden. It can be in your bedroom. And so God got me home for that week and I went every night.
The devil fought against me. Oh, someone might say, there's no devil. Don't you believe in it. My friend, you start serving God and you'll know there's a devil. If you're in his basket, he won't trouble you much.
No. But you get out of his basket and you soon know there's a devil. Well, he tried to keep me away from going to those meetings. But I thank God that God got me there every night. And the first message, I remember them all the minister gave, the first one was this: all have sinned and come short of the glory of God and there's none righteous no not one.
Well, I knew I was in that company, all right. I'd been spanked good and hard from my dad for being a sinner, for telling a lie. He wouldn't have lies in his house. I set the haystack on fire. The devil gave me hard time when I was young because he knew I'd be giving him a hard time later on.
And when I was this high, the devil said, Go and set the stack on fire. And I had to get on a chair and reach up to the mantlepiece. It wasn't very high. And I found the matchbox and I took one match out, that's all.
And I found a little stone and I struck it and put it underneath the stack. It was a good thing I had some big brothers there and they came along and put the fire out. And then I said, I didn't do it.
John did it. See, that was the lie. Father came home and he passed that stack and he didn't know he had been on fire, praise God, because we were poor folks, eh? We had one cow that we counted on for milk and butter and puddings and all the rest of it.
And so he passed it and came in the house. And then these boys said, Dad, our Mary set the stack on fire. It was our Billy and our John and our Sammy, you know? Our Mary set the stack on fire. He went to have a look at it, and then he came into the house and he was a man who wore a belt around his pants.
I said, I didn't do it, Dad! John did it! What he was going to give me, well, he gave me twice as much after that. He said, he put me across his knees and did he tan me. I remember it today. It must have been 64 years ago.
But he said, I'm not thrashing you for setting the haystack on fire, I'm thrashing you for telling lies. Liars will not enter into heaven, friends. We've got to be true, and we've got to speak the truth if we're going to land in heaven.
Liars won't enter there. Now, those boys, oh, they were lovely brothers. But there wasn't one of them that said, Dad, I'll take the punishment. Spank me instead. Not at all. They let me have it.
And I do praise God that I found one who sticks closer than a brother, the Lord Jesus Christ. He went all the way to Calvary for me, friends. Take a beating? He was spit on for me, he bore a crown of thorns for me.
He took the nails in his hands and in his feet and the sword into his side for me. He bore it all for me that I could be saved. What a brother. There is one that sticketh closer than a brother and his name is Jesus.
And oh, I do praise God that I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. So the minister spoke and said all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, there's none righteous, not not one. I knew I was a sinner.
And then the next night he spoke on it from another text and he took it from the word of God. And he said, be sure your sins will find you out. Be sure your sins will find you out. We might hide from man and mother, but we cannot hide from God, friends.
You cannot hide your sins from God. Whether they are open sins or secret sins, we cannot hide them from God. I knew that I was a sinner. And then he spoke the next night of God's wonderful love, this time for Ephraim.
And we read in the Word, O Ephraim, how can I give thee up? That was God's yearning for Ephraim. God wanted to save them, but they were disobedient. And God said, how can I give you up? Ephraim, how can I give you up?
And then the next night, friends, he took that wonderful verse from the Bible, the best in the Bible from John 3:16. And he read to us and preached to us, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Friends, I believed all my life, as long as I could, from the time I could understand that Jesus died for the whole wide world. I believed it absolutely. But, friends, that night I believed that Jesus Christ died to be my Saviour.
And the Lord saved me. He saved me just like that. And friends, I've been saved for 50 years. If it wasn't real, it would have passed away, friends. But the word of God is real and his salvation is real.
And his love is real, and his peace is real, and his joy is real. And I've got it. Hallelujah. That's the best thing I can tell you. I've got it. So I thank God. God set the joy bells ringing in my heart.
And then the folks began to think she's on the way to the asylum. They didn't know anything about the joy of the Lord. I was singing away. One farmer said Good morning, have you had some bird seed? I said, no, sir, I've had a drink of the water of life.
The tram man said, in the city of Chester, have you got a pain? I said, no, the pain has passed long ago. Hallelujah. Then the next night, friends, Thursday night, a lady came along from London. Mabel Edwards her name was. She was a Wesleyan deaconess. Nice little lady in blue and a bonnet and white strings here. But she gave us the word of God. Thank God for the company of women who were preaching the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And she took a message from, was it? No. Joshua, no. They were building the wall of Nehemiah. They were building the walls and she said, those people building the walls around Jerusalem, they only took their clothes off for washing.
They were so keen on working for the glory of God. They didn't take them off at night for sleeping. They took them off when they were dirty and they needed some soap and water on them for washing. And then she said, what are you doing for God?
And she pointed at me and she pointed at some others. What work are you doing for God? And I was ashamed because I wasn't working for God. But, you know, God could change that. Friends, I began to pray, and prayer changes things.
Hallelujah. Prayer changes things. And I said, oh, God, give me some work to do. I want to work for you. And the next night was the last night of the mission. And the minister spoke again. And he spoke from Isaiah's vision of the Lord.
Isaiah heard God say, who shall I send? Who will go for us? And Isaiah answered and said, here am I, Lord. Send me. And we read, God said go. And that night, I said, here am I, Lord. Send me. If you want me over the land or overseas, just send me.
Open the door. Lord, I want to be a missionary. And if we trust in the Lord, the Book says that he will give to us the desires of our heart. Hallelujah. And so I prayed, God, I want to be a missionary.
I want to go and tell of Jesus in some land where they'd never heard of Thee. And I kept on praying and believing. Hallelujah. No use praying unless you believe. So I prayed, God, I want to be a missionary.
Open the door. How could a country girl become a missionary? Anyway, I was willing to follow the Spirit, the leading of the Spirit. I prayed God would fill me with his spirit, his Holy Spirit and God can.
I went into my little room, it was a very little room on a farm, and I got on the knees and I said, Lord, I'm trembling when I'm witnessing for you. This isn't right. I want power in my life. I want power to witness for You, Lord.
And I got on my knees and I prayed to God. I said, Father God want the power. I didn't know that I was asking God to fill me with the Spirit. I didn't know so much of the Bible, but I said, Father God, I want power in my life to witness for you.
And God filled me with the power. I was kneeling down at the bed and, friends, God filled me with such power from my feet to my head and with such awe that I daren't open my eyes. That was the power of God that came into me.
And I stood up and I walked in that little room and all I could say was oh, Lord and oh, God. Oh, Lord. Oh, God. Like Thomas when he believed. My Lord. My Lord and my God. And God tells us in his word, don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost?
Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost? Your body, the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit of God wants to come into your body that you can witness for the Lord Jesus. What did he come for?
The Lord Jesus Christ said that the Holy Spirit would come and he should testify to Jesus and he would convict the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. And he is doing it. And many souls are not taking any notice of him.
They're turning him away. They're not listening. But if we will listen, he will convict us of sin and of righteousness and of judgment, which is coming. And so I praised God that he did give me this power.
And then I moved on to Liverpool. Why? I didn't know. But I knew I wanted to get into the work of God and win precious souls to God. And while I was in Liverpool, I went over the river over that Mersey to Birkenhead.
Someone had told me, an old gentleman and old Christian had asked me to go and I went. And I met there Mrs. C.T. Studd. And she was the wife of the founder of the Heart of Africa Mission. Someone had given me a magazine and I got her address.
And I said, Mrs. Studd, I want to be a missionary. What am I to do about it? And she wrote back to me and she said, you pray. Well, you know, I believe that's the shortest place. The shortest way to get the mission field.
You pray, pray and keep on believing. And I gave no peace to God until he did make me into a missionary. I was a whole missionary before I was a foreign missionary in Liverpool. Hallelujah. Working for God while I was praying.
And so I met this wonderful woman of God. She was a big woman. And she said, I hear you want to be a missionary. Yes, Mrs. Studd, I want to be a missionary. Well, how old are you? I said, I'm 27. She said, you've left it rather late to apply to be a missionary.
I said, Mrs. Studd, I wrote to you eight years ago and told you I wanted to be a missionary, and you told me to pray about it. I said, I've been praying about it ever since. And she said, that's the kind of woman we want on the mission field.
A woman who will pray for what she wants and don't let go until she gets it. Hallelujah. We praise God that God loves to answer prayer. And he's answered my prayers. And he's willing to answer your prayers if you'll only believe.
So in three weeks time, I was in the Bible school in London. And it wasn't too easy going through the Bible school either. I got into trouble many a time. I had an accordion. So I took my accordion with me to London.
And when going to the factories one day, the conductor said, give us a tune, miss. And that's all I needed. So I got the accordion out and played nearly every chords I knew and sang. But there was one young lady on the bus and when she got home she said Ms. Ross, Mary Rees is playing her accordion on the bus and singing.
So Ms. Ross, she'd been to India, she sat at the table and she said, I've heard rumours about you. You were playing your accordion on the bus. I said yes, Ms. Ross. The conductor asked me too, so I did.
Well, you know, some folks got onto that bus and paid the pennies and jumped off straight away. Others stayed on and I preached the gospel to that man. It was wonderful. I had a lovely time, but I had to suffer for it afterwards.
But was worth it, it was worth all I had to go for through it. Well, she said, it isn't becoming to the college. It isn't becoming for the college. Won't tell you the name of it. But the college she said, it isn't becoming to the college.
Well, I said, dear Lord, in my heart, I said, get me out of this place as quick as you can. I said, Get me under those palms, Lord, of Africa, and let me pull on that accordion. And you know, the natives say I've broken a few.
I've worn them out. I've been pulling on the accordion for years, preaching the glorious gospel and singing the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, praise God, the time came. I could tell you a lot about the Bible school, but I mustn't stop.
But the time came in 1926 when the door opened and I went out to Africa. Now, I'm going to tell you, young people, it isn't easy to leave all. Don't think you're going to have a lovely time and a bed of roses or that is all fair sailing if you go out to be a missionary. It costs. It cost the Lord Jesus to come to this world to die for you and for me.
It cost him. It cost him more than we know to leave his Father, the Heavenly Father. And it costs to leave your dad and mother. It does. I loved my dad and mother. They loved God. They brought me up in the way I should go.
I loved them and there came a morning when I had to say goodbye to my dad and mother. And dad was going out early and he was trying to say something to me when I went to say goodbye, and I couldn't hear what he was saying, friends. And the tears were rolling down his cheeks and the tears were rolling down mine but I said, Dad, what did you say? He was an old Welshman. He hardly knew the King's English. But he said, I said, Dad, tell me again, what did you say?
I didn't want to miss that last message. And I heard him say, God bless you. A great harvest. He meant a great harvest. A great harvest. God give you a great harvest of souls. And so I said, Dad, I wouldn't leave you for gold.
Two brothers had gone to Australia to make their fortunes. They didn't make much of a fortune. But they left, they left home to make a fortune. They weren't satisfied with England. And so I do praise God that God gave me the grace to go.
I said, Dad, I wouldn't leave you for gold, but God has called me and I'm glad to go. And then it wasn't all easy sailing when I left. Very soon on the boat, the devil met me. First night at sea, as we were cutting through the English channels, swish, swish, swish, through those waves.
Old Satan was there, he said, you've done it now. Just like him, eh? You've done it. You've left your dad and your mother. I was able to say, by the grace of God, I'm getting nearer to the heathen. Hallelujah.
And God just gave me victory all the way. And so we came out to Africa and we met dear old C.T Studd. And a few minutes after we'd met, he was giving names to the missionaries. And he said, your name will be Risasi.
My name is Rees, you see. So he said, your name will be Risasi. And I said, [unintelligible] what does that mean? He said, It means Ms. Bullets or Ms. Gunpowder. Well, I said, thank you very much. I was satisfied with my name.
And so we praise God that God has promised that he'll go with us. If we go for him, friends, he's promised I'll never leave you or forsake you. And I don't know what it is in 50 years to be lonely. Jesus Christ has been with me.
He said, I will never, and the never of Jesus Christ is never. I will never leave you or forsake you. I'll be with you. You go and preach the gospel to the uttermost parts of the earth and I'll be with you.
And whether I've been, I've been around the world twice for Jesus on the boats and on the trains and Jesus Christ has never left me. He's always been with me.
And he's given me the grace to witness for Him wherever I've gone. Hallelujah. I remember once being in Canada. I was going to a place called Saskatoon and I should have changed at Regina and I didn't, stayed on. Presently the conductor came along. He said, Where are you going, miss?
I said, I'm going to Saskatoon. Well, he said, this train doesn't go to Saskatoon. Well, I said, Stop it. Now, if you're on the wrong line, get off it. If you're on the wrong train, you get off that train as quick as you can.
So he went to the wall and he took the button, and soon the train pulled up and I got off. Now, he said, Put your coat on. I said, you go onto your train. I'll fix this. There was a great suitcase, a box of slides, apparatus, handbag, and the snow in Canada wintertime.
And I had to march back about 2 miles in the snow. I said to someone, Where's that train going to? They said, Montreal, 300 miles away. I was glad I was off, even in the snow. And so I came along, rushing along as quick as I could and puffing and blowing.
And I saw a little train on the right hand side. And the conductor called out, Where are you going? I said Saskatoon. Best I could have said, Saskatoon. He said this train goes to Saskatoon. So I rushed over to the train as quick as I could go, put the bags on and got up best way I could.
And as soon as I got on board, I said, Praise the Lord, and every head turned around. They thought the bishop had got on board. But it wasn't the bishop, it was just Mary Rees praising the Lord! Hallelujah.
Praise the Lord. Never be ashamed to praise the Lord. He that honoreth me, hallelujah, glorifieth me. Let's glorify the Lord. Then I was in the United States. I was taking a trip around the world, back to Africa, and the customs came on board.
He said, Where are you going? Said round the world. Well, he said, Where are your bags? Where's your luggage? I said a suitcase. One suitcase. Now, now, now, stop that. Where's your bags? One suitcase.
I said, I'm a missionary. I'm going to Australia. When I'm finished with the States. New Zealand. Tasmania. And I'm going back to Africa that way. When I get to Perth, I'll buy what I need for my kit to refresh in the quick kit.
Well, he said, have you gotten any valuables? I've said, yes, here it is. But he soon put a chalk mark on my bag. And so, praise the Lord, God helps us to witness. If we're willing to witness, God will help us to witness.
And he says, now, you open your mouth and I'll fill it. Don't you think it's you that's going to speak. It's the spirit of your Father that speaketh within you. Jesus said it. And if you're willing to have the open mouth, he will fill it.
And so praise God. God took me to Africa and there I prayed to God in Africa. Now, does God take any notice of our prayers? Of course he does. One time I had measles, took them from the boys. Had measles when I was a child, had measles again.
They call them the German measles. They were a bit smaller, I think. And after measles, I was feeling really weak. In those days, we couldn't get lovely bread and butter. And I thought back to that lovely bread and butter of Mother's. She could cut bread and butter, I'll tell you. And it was good. And I thought, if I could only have a plate of mother's bread and butter. But I couldn't. We couldn't get much food in those days.
But I thought of biscuits and I said, Lord, I'd never bought a tin of biscuits, but I said, God, please send me a tin of biscuits. And I said, I don't want crackers. I said, Father, I want biscuits with sugar on them and cream on them.
I want a real good mixture. And do you know God tells us in his word that before you call I'll answer? What does he say here in Matthew? We've we've had it this evening. Your heavenly Father knows what things you have need of.
Even if it's a tin of biscuits, he knows. And, you know, in about two weeks time, a big package came from Liverpool. And on the top of that box there was a little box. And I opened up the paper and I read on a little card the long felt need printed in golden letters.
And I lifted up the paper and there with the biscuits sugar on them and cream in them. Hallelujah! God had them rolling over the sea while I was praying. He knew. And then I wanted a cycle. Well, I was going about on a bicycle made from spare parts.
And it was one of those, you boys haven't seen those kind. They had cushion tired wheels. It had cushion tired wheels. You didn't put any wind into the tires. They were solid. And it was very difficult to work, took a lot of strength.
So I said, Lord, I'd like a new bicycle. Then I got C.T. Studd's old bicycle. Now, C.T. Studd was a man who and his legs came to about there. So it was difficult enough to get on that bicycle, but it was more difficult to get off it.
And I said, Lord, this won't do. I want a new bicycle. And one day, C.T. Studd came up to Dettie for a weekend. And I saw through the corner of my eye a beautiful new lady's bicycle. A BSA. The best. I didn't say anything to him, but before he left, he said to Ms. Dennis, I'm leaving the bicycle for Saucy. He called me Saucy after going into some of those witchcraft dens. So I got that. Then I said, Lord, I want a typewriter. And I said, Lord, I don't know anyone.
I have no friends, rich friends. I can't think of anyone who can send me a typewriter. But I said, Father God, you know. I was writing one letter in the evening, 14 pages. My hand was aching. So I said, Lord, if you send me a typewriter, I believe I can do five at a time.
And so, in five weeks time, I received a letter from my sister. And I read in that letter showing me that when I prayed there in Africa, God worked in my sister's heart. And she said, can you use a typewriter?
I didn't tell a soul I wanted biscuits. I didn't tell anyone I needed a new bicycle. I didn't tell anyone I needed a typewriter. But I told God. And whatsoever things ye ask in my name, he will give
if it's for his glory, if we can believe. And when the next missions came out, one lady brought the typewriter. Well, I wrote my sister, yes, I can use a typewriter. And so I got the typewriter. And then, friends, the greatest thing that God has done is save precious souls.
I went there for souls. Some people go there for coffee and they get it. And some people go for cotton and they get it. And some people go to look for gold, they get it. And they go to look for diamonds in Africa and they find them.
But missionaries go for souls, and if they don't, they should stay at home. I went for souls and I'd been praying to God to save souls. He'd given me the joy of leading five to Himself in three years. And there came a time when I said, Lord, I'm not satisfied with five souls in three years.
I want to see many coming to thee, Lord. And I said, oh, God, if you don't use me to win these souls, I'm going to pack up my trunk and I'm going back to England. I got to the end of myself. And the next Sunday, the meetings were over and no souls had come to God.
And I was disappointed. We were going to sit down to tea. I don't know what we were going to have, but there was a meal. And I was disappointed. I wasn't interested in it at all. But I saw five people coming round the church, walking at a good pace, and they came right in and they said, We've come to believe.
I said hallelujah. And very soon we'd got the book and we opened up to John 3:16 and we led those five people to God. And that was the beginning of a multitude of people came. And I'm going to tell you of the best one that ever came that I was able to lead to God, the most interesting. And the next Saturday, I was going out on a trek. We go out on treks. We take the bed, the table, the chair, the box of food, things we need because you can't get them in the bush.
And I was busy finishing the packing when the missionary in charge of the station said, go and see what that old man wants. He's sitting outside my house. And I went out to see him. He'd got a basket full of witchcraft paraphernalia.
There was teeth and whistles and bones and powder and gunpowder. I found out after there was gunpowder. He had 13 guns. The Arabs had given them to him. And I went to him and I said, [foreign language]. He was sitting down,
[foreign language]. And that was greetings to you. What do you want? And that old man looked at me and said, [foreign language]. And that meant I want to know God. I said, Hallelujah.
Come in. Aye friends, God has taught me to say Hallelujah. You know what it means? It means praise the Lord. Hallelujah. And it comes out. Let it come out. Hallelujah. If God wants you to say it, say it. Don't be quiet.
There's a time to be quiet and there's time to shout. If God wants you to shout, you shout. And if you don't shout when God wants you to shout, you're not going to have the power of the Spirit of God in your life.
You've got to be obedient to Him. You've got to do what he wants you to do. You must be obedient to Him and then you'll get his power. So I said, Come in. Took him in. Opened up once more John 3:16. Friends, there's enough in that one verse in John 3:16 to save the whole wide world.
If you haven't got another verse, if there isn't another word in the Bible there's enough in John 3:16 to save the whole wide world. So I preached John 3:16, told of that wonderful love of God as well as I could with the power of God, and told him of victory in his life over sin. Told him of love and joy and peace. Told him of a lovely home up yonder and a white robe when he was ready for it. And after listening to that, he said, I believe what you've told me.
I said, hallelujah we pray. Let's pray. Now you pray and I'll pray that God will cleanse you from all your sin because of the precious blood of Jesus that was shed for you on Calvary's tree. Well, he said, yes, we'll pray.
But he said, I want to tell you something before we pray. I said yes. And I looked at him and I heard him say I can't number the people I've eaten. Well, I said, let's pray. Was I glad to get that man praying. You know, God saved him. I met him years after, I hadn't seen him for twelve years. I'd gone to another mission station. I'd had a holiday. Vacation rather, not a holiday, eh? And I went back and I said, I want to go up to Dettie for the weekend.
Will you give me permission, Mr. Harrison? And bonnie Harry said, yes, certainly, go up for a weekend. And there was a great company of people there, friends. And I was looking out for one man there and I saw him and I said, Hello, Masaba, are you still following the Lord Jesus?
And that man looked at me very severely and he said, who else is there to follow? He was disgusted with me for asking such a question. Well, God is able to save to the uttermost friends, those who come unto to the Lord Jesus. I want to tell you about an old woman who came to the Lord Jesus and her name was Nessie Makora.
Now, God is able to save the old. It doesn't matter how old you are. And here's an old woman. She meets me in the village. She's got one big eye with a filaria in it. She's dirty, she'd been a slave. She'd come back to her son.
Her son wouldn't make a bed for her to lie on. But she came to the meeting and friends, she heard the word of God. She heard this gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And she believed. When she came out of that meeting, she said to me, Madame, the word of God has gone right into my heart. I said, Hallelujah, praise the Lord. Now, I went into the house and found a piece of loc soap. I said, Go off to the stream. That was the bathroom. Go and wash yourself and wash your head because she'd be lying on the floor.
And she saw a little girl. She said, now little girl, you come and wash my back for me. She couldn't reach her own back. She was old. And the little girl got the smell of that loc soap and she was soon on the way to the water.
She knew she'd get her own back washed and her hair as well. And when she came back, I dressed up the old lady in a yellow, in a yellow dress this colour, beautiful yellow. Few black buttons on it. And she looked lovely.
And then, listen how the Spirit of God is leading her and teaching her straight away. She said Madame, she said, I love God first, and then I love you. I said, thank you, Gran. I bowed to the old lady.
Said, thank you, Gran. I was honoured. She loved me. Hallelujah. Now I said come along to the meeting tomorrow. And she was there. We'd had the hymns. We'd sing like you were singing a few hymns first and then the reading, and then a message.
And I stood up to give the message. And the old lady sitting on the back row, she began to speak. And all the people turned around and said, be quiet! It's the missionary's turn. When she's finished, you can have your say.
I said, Where the Spirit of the Lord is there's liberty. What have you got to say, Anessa Makora? And she said, What I told you yesterday, I tell you today. The word of God has gone right into my heart.
We all said Hallelujah. And that day I left to go on to another village to preach the gospel in another village. Months after I was back again, not so very many months. And the old lady came to meet me. Now then, old ladies, any old ladies here? Perhaps I'm the oldest, eh?
Ah. She came to meet me and she said, Madame, do you know what these people are saying about me? I said no. Please tell me. She said, they're saying Anessa Makora, when folks have something to say, they say and finish.
But you've never finished. You're always praising and praying. Oh friends, what a testimony. That old lady was filled with the Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God, and she began to witness. That's what Jesus Christ said.
Jesus Christ didn't give us the Holy Spirit, that our lips should be shut. God gave that old that old lady the Holy Spirit. Her body became a temple for the Holy Spirit of God. And she began to witness.
And so I left her. This time I gave her a blue dress. The old yellow one had gone, and a few days after, three days I think it was after, a letter followed me and I read in that letter Anessa Makora has gone to be with the Lord.
I said hallelujah! God has called the old lady home. She doesn't need any blue dresses or yellow ones. She's got a beautiful white one. And I want to tell you friends, we'll meet her up yonder and we'll meet many from the heart of Africa in the glory.
If you are there, you'll meet them. You can get there by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ as I believed in Him. And you can have joy in his service if you let God fill you with His Holy Spirit. And if you continue to be filled with His Holy Spirit, if you will be obedient to Him, God can use you.
I met a woman in Toronto, a youngish woman, perhaps 30, and she said, you know, I haven't done anything for God. I haven't done any work for God. Well, I said begin today. Goodbye. And I met a ten her ten years after in the same city, Toronto.
She said do you remember me? Do you remember? I said to you I wasn't working for God? And you said to me, Well begin today. She said, I've got too much work to do for God. God gave me work to do for him praise God.
You know, friends, God loves to answer prayer. I could take, my time's gone, I know. But God is willing to use you to win others to the Lord Jesus Christ, to introduce them to Jesus. That's all you've got to do.
Just introduce them to Jesus. Jesus Christ will do the rest. He's the one that saves. We can't save, but Jesus can save and he is saving. He's been saving all through the years. Hallelujah. Our Christmas conference there were 3300 there at David's Mission station.
And 37 more came to know Jesus at that Christmas conference. Was it beautiful to hear those Christians praising God, singing those carols, praising God for the Lord Jesus Christ. It was grand. And I want to say to you young women and young men, if you want to know joy, you serve God.
Put him first. Put him first. Be sure you put him first. It doesn't matter about the other things. The devil will tell you it does. It doesn't matter about the other thing. Put God first. Serve the Lord Jesus Christ.
Serve him with your whole heart. Give Him your body, your soul and your spirit and my, he'll fill you with his love. And it won't be for your own family. God will give you a greater love for Himself than you've got, even for dad and mother.
And he claims it. He wants it. He needs it. He wants us to love Him. And he'll give you love for the whole wide world. It won't matter whether you're black or white or brown or yellow, whether you're Chinese or Japanese.
The person on the ship said, Ms. Rees, do you mind changing cabins? And will you take, will you will you take a cabin with a little coloured girl from Africa? She was a little nervous girl. I said it doesn't matter whether she's Chinese or Japanese.
Sure, I'll take the cabin with the little coloured girl. And we had a lovely time. We had prayer before we left too that God would bless that little girl. God will fill you with a love, a wonderful love, and it's a lasting love friends.
It's a love, it's a joy, it's a peace that lasts. It came to me 50 years ago and it's the same today. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever. And bless his holy name he will never leave you, he'll never forsake you, he'll be with you and he'll give you victory too.
When I arrived [unintelligible]. God has taken me on airplanes. I'm not very fond of them, but he's taking me on airplanes and we'd be right up in the blue. And I remember going over from America to New Zealand and it was such a wonderful trip.
It had taken me some weeks to get there ten years before. And now God took me over. 11:00 we got on the airplane and we were there at 05:00 the next evening. And God said, you can't get off this plane without praising me.
I said no, Lord, I can't. And I'm ready. I said, what do you want me to sing? And when that old plane stopped, friends, and we touched ground, I began to sing. Praise God from whom all blessings flow! Praise Him all creatures here below! Praise Him above ye heavenly host! Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost! And I didn't have a cold either.
But we praised. An old gentleman raised his hat and joined in with us. Betty Bradley, a missionary, joined in, and I got off because I'd been obedient to the Lord, got off with joy. And after finishing in New Zealand, the people in New Zealand said, just stay a few more days and we'll send you on the plane instead of going on that ship. We'll pay you back.
I said all right. I like meeting people. I love what we sing for God. And so I got on that plane and, you know, the presence of the Lord was beautiful. It was really wonderful. The Bible says if I go up thou art there and if I go down thou art there, if a Christian in a submarine, Jesus will be with him.
And if he's up in an avian, God will be with him. And Jesus Christ was there in a wonderful way, and I praised him for his presence. And then someone else came near to me. It was the devil. And he commanded me with such a command.
He said, you're not to sing when you get off this plane. I said, oh, I don't take orders from him anyway. And so I said, Lord, do you want me to sing when I get off this plane? And if you do, just let me know what I'm to sing.
So I got a piece of paper. I'm ready with the with the pencil. And I thought of that wonderful chorus. Thank you, Lord for saving my soul thank you, Lord for making me whole. Thank you, Lord for giving to me Thy wondrous life so rich and free. So I changed it a little bit. And when that avian came down and stood on that ground, I began to sing. Thank you, Lord for saving my soul! Thank you, Lord for keeping me whole! Thank you, Lord for giving to me, this wondrous trip across the sea!
Well, I'm sure they thought I was crazy but that's all right. That doesn't matter. If all the world thinks you're crazy, that doesn't matter if you're obedient the Holy Spirit. You've got Jesus with you. And it's worth everything in this old world to have Jesus and more, to have Jesus with you, to have the Holy Spirit of God with you and his peace and his love and his joy to have everything.
What's it matter if people think you're crazy? So I said, Let us thank God for a good pilot and a safe journey. And the door opened. And my, I felt the devil jump off first. I don't know why he stayed there so long, but he got off first.
He did that. And so, praise the Lord, God is able to use you wherever you go at the top in the air, on the ships, on trains. If you are filled with His Spirit, he will use you and he'll give you a mighty joy in being used.
Oh, God bless you tonight, young people, give your lives to Jesus. Let him have them all. Don't hold anything back and you'll find that God will give you his all. Not only will he give you a hundredfold here, my, not only will he bless you here in what you do for Him, but he's going to give you eternal life up in the glory land. He's promised a hundredfold for all you do for him here. That's what he's done for me.
He answers my prayers. It doesn't matter whether it's been a box of biscuits or a motor car. God has answered prayer. Hallelujah. Motor cars. He sent me two motor cars once. I gave it away to someone who didn't have a car.
I didn't pray for it, but God sent it to help someone else with a motor car. Our heavenly Father is rich. He's rich. And he is able to do exceedingly abundantly, above all that you can ask or think. So go for it, young people, let God have your life, give Him your all and you'll find that God will give your all, give it all to you. God bless you.
[Narrator] May you be a Christian who puts the Lord first in everything. May you know the deep deep love of Jesus.
