The Young Pianist Who Thought of Love

The Young Pianist Who Thought of Love

by Bert Kerley

Transcribed from the original recording; may contain errors.

When I was in one of these Swiss camps, I was told by one of the campers of an experience that camper had during a creative silence in a previous camp. The camper was having some problems with the speaker, didn’t agree with what the speaker said, and he was getting more and more frustrated as the days went by. But during the creative silence, he went out and let God speak to him through the countryside. He looked at the geraniums, and as you know, if you’ve been to Switzerland, there’s geraniums all over the place. And had a look at the geranium leaves, and it had been slightly raining, and on the geranium leaf was five little spots of water. But as the man looked, the wind blew, and blew four little drops of water off, leaving one on. And God said to him, “You don’t have to take all that’s said, but just take that which is for you.” Which is exactly what Lucille said this morning, wasn’t it? No. So you see, friends, when speakers get up here, we don’t hold all the truth. I don’t suppose there’s ever been a person standing at this place that has been completely emptied of self. You don’t have to believe us, but you do have to love us.

Isn’t that wonderful? Thank you. You know, really, if we understood these two passages of Scripture that I’m going to read to us now, we wouldn’t need any talks or any sermons if we fully understood the truth of these two passages, which we all know so well. And they come from Matthew, if you have your books, your Bible’s with you. Matthew chapter 6. And the first passage is this.

Jesus says, when you pray like this: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. That’s the first passage. And the other one is in the same chapter, those beautiful verses, Matthew 6, 25 to the end of the chapter.

Therefore I tell you, said Jesus, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air. They neither sow nor reap, nor gather into barns. And yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you, by being anxious, can add one cubit to his span of life?

And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O men of little faith? He also meant women, too, remember.

Therefore do not be anxious, saying, What shall we eat? Or what shall we drink? Or what shall we wear? For the Gentiles seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day’s own trouble be sufficient for the day. Jesus was sharing with us great truths when He asked us to consider those things.

It was our privilege, Rosie and I, with two other friends, to go on behalf of CFO International to India this year. And it was a glorious experience, and I shall be referring to it just briefly here and there throughout my talks. But one thing that I found myself saying right throughout India, as I looked at the hospitals that were founded by Christian missionaries and the churches, as I looked at the schools, and I’m thinking now of a school in Asansol, which is just three hours away from Calcutta, founded by two American missionaries, Mr. and Mrs. Long, on the basis that they would not ask any help from the West, but ask directly to God that a school should be built there and be self-provided. That school now houses 1,500 girls from the ages of about 7 to 17, with a record on exams which is hard to believe, 100% for the last four years, only once getting 99%.

This and the other schools, one in Lucknow I remember, a tremendous school there called the ITT School also started, and I have to admit it here, and it pleases me to admit it, by American missionaries. That again of 1,500 students, a student’s college, with Christian teachers that filled a church where we gave a work. As I saw these things, these churches, these hospitals, and these schools, I kept on saying to myself and to those around me, all because of Jesus.

And then I began to consider that this was not the only country that Jesus had affected. But in fact, it was throughout the world. When we consider the schools, the hospitals, the homes established for the old, the sick, and the crippled, we have to keep on saying it, all because of Jesus. And when we look at us here tonight, what do we say again? All because of Jesus. Isn’t that wonderful? How the life of Jesus demonstrated one of His own great teachings. How the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed. The smallest of seeds when planted, yet grows into a big tree and shelters the birds of the air. So too with His life. In the Bible, we’re told to consider Jesus. Well, let’s consider Jesus.

This probably barefooted boy from Nazareth. And I know those of you that have seen Nazareth will wonder why God chose that spot to raise that boy. The least of places you would have thought you would have raised a young lad who would transform the world. Certainly, if we’d have been doing the job, we would have chosen Rome at that time. But this barefooted lad, Jesus, came from Nazareth.

And He didn’t come from a privileged family. Not privileged as we know it. One of the greatest Englishmen of all times, perhaps, but certainly of this century, was Winston Churchill. Now, if you’d have seen the family into which Winston Churchill had been born, with a background. Born in Blenheim Palace too. A wonderful place. You would have thought here would grow up a young boy to be a great man. But not so with Jesus. Born of Mary and Joseph. An ordinary couple.

He didn’t have the benefits of special education, such as Moses had. We would have expected Moses to have been a great man, really. For he had the best of the Egyptian learning. And in fact, we see a record of this through our scriptures. How this has gone right through the Israelites. But Moses certainly knew great things. And they stood him in good stead when he was leading the people out of Egypt. But not so with Jesus. We don’t read that He had any benefits of high school education at all. He learned about God asking questions.

He had no powerful organization either. We know here to become president of the United States, you need to have behind you a tremendously powerful organization. With such an organization, then we know that a man can in fact influence the world. For good and for evil. But with Jesus, no. No great organization. But Jesus was a boy who realized at a very young age the secrets of the universe. And He gave Himself undividedly to them and to sharing them with us.

Could there ever have been a greater demonstration of the power, the potential, the purpose, and the strength within an individual than we see here in Jesus? And someone gave the term to Him, the God-intoxicated Nazarene. He said, the meek shall inherit the earth.

And this unassuming lad has inherited the earth. Can’t we thank Him enough, friends, for the choice He made to share His discovery with the world? And we must remember at all times, Jesus did have a choice. He chose to go the way that would bless the world.

Now what was it that Jesus wanted to share with all of mankind? What was this knowledge He shared with His disciples in secret, but to the crowds in parables? What was it that enabled Him to demonstrate these tremendous truths of healing and power? What was it that Jesus offered to all men?

Before answering that, I’d like to read you now part of a writing written by a great spiritual searcher, Raynor Johnson. Raynor Johnson certainly sought after the great secrets of life. I’d just like to read a part of his writing. He said, We are born then into this world, and to a very large extent are conditioned by it on all levels, physical, emotional, and intellectual. To very few does it occur seriously and persistently to ask why they themselves exist. What kind of world they live in. Or indeed, why there is a world at all.

These questions are supposed to interest the academic philosophers, to which select band I have no qualifications to belong. For me, however, they are not academic questions. They are central to all my thinking and living. I would rather have trustworthy and satisfying answers to these questions than all the gold of the Indies. To know. Not to believe. Not to hope. Not to have faith. But to know that the universe is friendly. That our feet are set on an intelligible pilgrimage. And that there is love at the heart of things. This is knowledge for which I am still questing. And for which I would gladly barter, as for the pearl of great price, all other knowledge.

He wanted to know so much these great truths that Jesus has already shared with the world. Jesus summed it up like this. He said all these truths represent the kingdom of heaven. And you’ll notice from the start of His ministry, when He says, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Until the time when He rose again from the dead, when He went around for 40 days, speaking of the kingdom of heaven. And you remember throughout His ministry, He’s telling parables of the kingdom of heaven. He said that we should pray that the kingdom shall come. His life demonstrated the kingdom of heaven. All the time Jesus was saying, then love is the heart of things. The universe is friendly.

Glenn Clark wrote a book, What Would Jesus Do? And if you haven’t read that book, I would certainly recommend it. And that title came to mind as I went away to prepare these talks. And I found myself asking this question, if Jesus was standing here tonight, what would He say to these dear friends? And of course we know that if I was able to be completely selfless, then Christ Himself would be here speaking to you tonight. He does use all of us, and uses the channels that are available. But knowing our thoughts as He does, and He would know the thoughts of each one of us here tonight. Knowing our circumstances, and He would understand our circumstances. Knowing our sicknesses, knowing our sicknesses, and He would be so concerned about our sicknesses. And knowing our problems, He would look with compassion on everyone here, and He would say, my friends, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. He would then go on to say, the kingdom of heaven is within you.

And He would say, the knowledge of the truth of this will set you free from all these things that trouble you. See Jesus’ concern, when He first gets up to speak in the synagogue. He opened a book, found the prophet Isaiah, found the place where it was written. This is it. He said, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. And He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant. That was what He loved to do most of all. He wanted to tell the world they were free. He wanted to tell the sick that healing was available. He wanted to tell those that have problems that there was an answer there for every problem. Oh, what a wonderful Lord we have.

Now I am aware that nearly all in camp are very familiar with the life and the ministry, and the message of Jesus. And yet there is a simple test by which we can tell whether we really have understood what He was saying. And the simple test comes from the words of the Master too. He said this. He said that this kingdom is like a pearl of great price. And it’s like a treasure hidden in a field. And here comes the test. He says, Seek you first the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and everything you need will come to you. Now we only have to pause for a little while and ask ourselves, what really are our priorities in life? What captures our fault for most part of the day? What is our ambition? Now that we are retired, for instance, what is it we are giving ourselves to more than anything else? Friends, if the answer is not the kingdom of heaven, and the kingdom of God’s righteousness, then we haven’t really understood what Jesus was saying. But we don’t have to feel guilty, because if we really understood that, and we were carrying out 100%, He wouldn’t have us here this week for realignment. You see? Because we wouldn’t need to be here.

And one of the reasons we come to camps is that we should come into a knowledge again of this, and come into realignment, and be reminded of what He said, and practice what He teaches. I think this is where our problems lie. The fact that we don’t really understand what Jesus was trying to say to us. In Hosea, there are two passages which keep striking my mind whenever I turn to Hosea. My people die through lack of knowledge, the prophet says. The Lord speaking through the prophet. And the people without understanding shall come to ruin. And that’s exactly where we stand.

But we don’t have to feel guilty. Now then, what are these dynamic truths that caused the young Jesus to change the world for good? I would just like to list three of them, and talk about three of them this week. One is, Jesus showed that the creator of the universe is a God of love. And we can call Him Father.

You can give some great illustrations of the love of this great God that Jesus showed us, but I would like to share with you two. Simple. One happened to me when I was a young man, about 21, 22 years of age. I’d been a youth leader, and as some of you know who have been youth leaders, you need some time to get away for a break after a while. I went into a field in a country village, and was sitting in the field on my own reading the Bible.

As I was doing so, I saw coming across the field a woman with a child, a little girl, and they were both crying. And seeing their distress, I walked quite a way to meet them. Met them in a certain spot, and then asked what caused their distress. It appears that the young girl had taken her father’s gold watch from the mantelpiece, had played in this field, and had lost the watch, but they had no idea of knowing where that watch was. At that spot, I bowed my head, closed my eyes. I then thought you had to close your eyes to pray.

But when I opened my eyes, at my feet was the gold watch. Friends, would you think that was coincidence? Coincidence? Now, if it’s not coincidence, what does it show us? Does it not show us that someone brought us together at that certain point? And that that someone had a heart that cared for His children in such a way that He was distressed when He saw this mother and child upset? And there, you see the other thing? He did have at that time a channel which He could use. And He chose to use me. He’s always seeking to bring someone who will be a channel for Him into relation with someone whom He loves. And you know He loves everybody.

Now, I didn’t understand the great truth behind that experience at that time. I wish I had it done because I would have committed myself undividedly to finding out the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven. Just two years ago, we were in camp in England and I remembered that story and I remembered that experience.

We have a big hall and some of you have been there to England to see what… where we have our devotion in motion. And this big hall has a high tufted carpet all over it. And we had been doing devotion in motion for about forty minutes or so, about ninety-odd to a hundred people all dancing around all over the place. At the end of it, a woman comes to me and says, Bert, she says, I’ve lost the diamond from my ring, my engagement ring. Now, those of you who know engagement rings, that’s pretty important to a woman. Well, the diamond is anyhow.

They add the sentimental value to the other value and you’ve got something precious. So I said, are you sure you had the ring? You’re sure you had the diamond in the ring before you saw it. She said, I’m certain of it. So at that moment, I remembered the incident some years previous. And also, at that moment, I realised we were in kingdom living. We had been loving one another. We had been building up in faith. Our consciousness had been brought up to a sense of expectancy. And our love meant that we were in the kingdom. And so standing there, we all stood there, and this time I didn’t shut my eyes. I remembered that I didn’t have to shut my eyes to pray this time. So we just said, Father, Father, You know where this diamond is. And of course He did, didn’t He? Yes.

So, would You please draw one of Your children’s attention to it? Thank You, Father. So what we all did then is, we all got down to answer our own prayer. And we all got on our hands and knees and tried to search for the diamond. Which is another lesson we want to learn, isn’t it? That God sometimes can do it without us. However, that was a loving act. And we spent about ten minutes on our hands and knees looking for the diamond. The coffee bell rang once, twice. On the third time, I thought, well, it’s only kind to go out. The girls have got the coffee. So, we say, we’ll go out to coffee. Going out to coffee, I sit in the room outside. And as we’re all waiting, the warden comes along. The warden of the conference center. And I said to him, Ben, I said, when you get the latest sweep with your electric hoover at the end of the week, would you put a new bag in? See, I was helping God answer the prayer now, you see.

And I said, he said, why? I said, well, one of our friends has lost a little diamond. And I thought, perhaps, at the end of the week, sweeping it up, we can sift it out and maybe find it. Oh, he said, well, we’ll do our best, Bert.

Then comes in, from looking after some of the youngsters, a man, one of our friends, who hadn’t been in the rhythms and didn’t know anything about the diamond at all. And he comes through and goes into the hall where we’re having our creative art. Would you believe it, friends? Instead of sitting on a chair, what does he do? But sits on the floor with his back towards the wall. And he puts his hands on the carpet. And he picks up a piece of glass. And he thinks, who’s left this piece of glass here? And just as he did that, Ben walks past and says, is that the diamond? He says, what diamond?

He says, they’ve lost a diamond. And sure enough, it was the diamond. Friends, what are the chances of that being coincidence? Now, if it’s not chance and luck, it tells us something else. It tells us that there’s a great God who’s got a great heart and a great mind. God is love. So that’s what Jesus told us. And I shall be talking about that a little bit more in a moment or so. Excuse me. The second thing Jesus showed us was that this God dwells within us. The next thing Jesus showed us, that this world, this universe, is based on orderly laws. Perfect law, perfect order, and it works for good when you work with them.

Now, I feel sure that most of us know these things, but I wonder whether we know it with hinds’ feet. And those of you who have read Glenn Clark’s books and other CFO books, you know what hinds’ feet means. You’ll see the term in the Psalms, you’ll see the verse also in Habakkuk. I’m glad you didn’t laugh when I said Habakkuk. Because every other place I’ve mentioned Habakkuk or any other Old Testament book, it seems as if I say the pronunciation wrong.

But I’ve learned this, that when pronouncing names in the scriptures, you’re used to say them boldly and with confidence. And everybody else thinks they’re wrong. Isn’t that so? But in Habakkuk, and I’m doing myself no good here, because I’m going to turn to it, and you know what that’s like in the middle of the Bible. Habakkuk.

Especially when you’ve got Indian paper that ravels. Have you ever been like that? The minister says, we’ll turn to Micah, and everybody in the church is reading Micah while you’re still trying to find it. Habakkuk. And I think this is a real illustration of a man that knew God was love with hinds’ feet. Though the fig tree does not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail, and the fields yield no food. Though the flock be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls. Though everything’s gone wrong, he says, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. God the Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like hinds’ feet to tread upon high places. And of course, for those that have not yet understood that term hinds’ feet, we know that the hind, the female deer, puts two feet on, tests the rock first, and then places the rear two feet in exactly the same spot. Enabled it to move forward safely, up and down rocks. And so, the truth is that we sometimes know a thing up there, with our conscious mind, but we don’t know it, or really know it, with our subconscious mind. But when the two are in harmony together, when they both know it, we then have a tremendous force that works.

A tremendous work. It’s important, friends, as Jesus says, that we should have faith in God. One of the laws of prayer that Jesus showed us. And He says, don’t doubt in your heart that God is love. Now, let’s consider this, God is love.

Jesus declared it, and He showed it in His life. But in life, sometimes we begin to lose the certainty. A few years ago, in Wales, in the United Kingdom, there was a school full of young children. Behind the school was a coal slag mountain, where they put all the sifted slag from the mines. I’m sure most of you have seen this. And these sort of slag heaps were right the way through Wales, through England, and Scotland.

There was a period of rain. Heavy rain that went on for days, that saturated this mountain, a mountain of slag. And the mountain began to move. And it moved slowly at first, and then gathered speed, and went right through that school, killing 60 youngsters at school.

Now everybody then was challenged, and certainly the Christians were challenged. Is God love? And some began to wonder. There was a main road at the bottom of the street in which we lived, at Harold Park, in Essex. And this was a very dangerous main road. Many youngsters and elderly people were being injured as they sought to cross the road. Even though there was what we call a zebra crossing. A walkway. A black and white stripes. And in our country, if you give the driver enough room, and you put your foot on those black and white stripes, the cars must stop, by law. Doesn’t happen like that in other countries, in our countries. But it does in our country. Bringing two boys from a club at the church one night, two young little boys in uniform movement, was a leader. And the leader stopped on the edge of the curb. Looked right, left, right again, saw nothing coming, and went to move off. And one young boy, pulled the arm, with the arm, and stepped forward, around about a foot and a half in front of the leader. At that time, a young man who had no business to be driving this car, no insurance, no license, came up the hill, over the hill, at 70 odd mile an hour, and hit the boy, and shot him up into the air, and he hit the ground, and died.

It took the button off the leader. It was cold. But this young boy had just been to church. And again, the people around began to ask, is God love? And that certainty that is in our mind, the knowing mind, began to, not to be so certain, down in the subconscious.

A young woman in our church had been saving for a number of years, and saving with her fiance. They had planned to get married and start a business. One morning, a phone call came, telling her that he’d gone off with her money, with another woman.

And she had to face that question then. How could God allow this? And certainly, in her mind, she began to doubt whether God was love. I was walking out of her house, going to walk over into the park, one Sunday afternoon, not too long ago. And I saw a car on the other side of the street, and went to talk to the driver. I knew him. I’d known him some years previously, when I’d been visiting houses in the area to proclaim Christ. He was a man that played the organ in a Methodist church. But here he was, sitting in the car. So I stood talking with him, and then I thought, I’d go and sit with him instead of going for a walk. You see, he couldn’t come for a walk with me. He’d had both legs amputated. So I sat with him in the car.

Rosie tells me now, while I’ve been away, he’s just had one arm amputated too. And we begin again to see this question, is God love? And we begin not to be sure sometimes. We can’t understand it. And especially when we see one of our loved ones suffering. And I’m sure many of you have been in that position, haven’t you? When you’ve had to face one of your elderly parents, and you’ve seen them in pain and suffering, you say, why? Why?

When we were travelling through India, and seeing all the poverty there. Seeing the appalling conditions in which they live. When so many of us in the western world are living far beyond what we need. And we begin to say, why? Why? If God is love.

Now, to doubt is very understandable. And yet our very doubts give strength to the truth. For when we consider the evil, and the sickness, and the tragedy, and the poverty, all that within us rises in rebellion, and we say, no, no, it shouldn’t be.

And that’s what Jesus says too. It shouldn’t be. It need not be, He says. In our trip to Asansol, India, we were invited to go to see the Cheshire Homes. Now, the Cheshire Homes were founded by Group Captain Cheshire, VC, one of our armor pilots, who was with your forces at the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima. But he so wanted to dedicate his life after the war to helping people, that he founded homes for severely handicapped children and adults. And these homes in the west are beautiful places, doing a wonderful job. But when we went to see this one in India, well, they’re doing a wonderful job. There’s a lovely Christian woman there that came to the camp. But the home was so dumb, straight, absolutely bare. The dormitories were absolutely bare, except for the rows of beds. The furniture was the least they could make do with. And we were ushered in to see around about 25 youngsters, badly crippled in many ways, impoverished. And they sang to us, “We Shall Not Be Moved.” And it was a wonderful experience. And then the leader says to the group of us, and says to me, Bert, would you lead a singing to them? And I started to try and sing, no, they began, “We Shall Overcome.”

That was it. And I started to try and sing, you will overcome. And I couldn’t. I couldn’t sing, because there were tears running out my eyes. Friends, whose tears were those but Christ’s tears? Whose love was being touched but God’s love?

That’s just an echo of the love that He has for these children. And He’s saying, no, no, it shouldn’t be. When a person realizes the truths of the kingdom, and allows God freedom to move through them, what happens? We have a Mother Teresa. And what happens when we have a Mother Teresa? We see the same thing happening through her, as happened through Jesus. We see the grain of mustard seed planted in love, and we see a big tree begin to grow and the birds of the air come and shelter in the nest. And so too, what is happening through Mother Teresa? Hundreds and thousands of those who were suffering are now being blessed. And it’s spreading throughout the world.

Enough love, Emmet Fox says. If there’s enough love, all these things can be overcome. That’s all the world needs. Enough love. Enough love. God’s got enough love. But He wants the channels to manifest. I think no better example could Jesus give in showing the love of God and the relationship we have with Him than in the parable of the prodigal son, where He says that when you recognize that God is your Father and come back to Him, then you are embraced by Him. And He says, keep that in mind.

On a television program, I was watching Freddie Laker, the air millionaire who had those Laker planes, you know. But you heard that he became bankrupt. It all blew up in his face. And someone was interviewing him on TV and said, Freddie, with all the problems that you’ve had with your business and with the problems you’ve had with your wife, how is it you haven’t had a nervous breakdown? And it interested me what his answer was. His answer was this. I remembered I got a son to educate. There’s the love of a father for a son.

Do you remember what Jesus says? What man of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him?

When you pray, say, Our Father, says Jesus. And if earthly parents at their best can long that their creative act, their child, should grow up beautifully, fulfilled, happy in every way, how much more the Father longs for His children to receive the same.

If the earthly friends would go without food in order that their children should be fed, go without clothing that their children should receive clothing, how much more our Father will give of His best to feed and clothe His children? Jesus said, if we would train our children, how much then… God will train us? If we would chastise our children, how then… God must chastise us? If we would give our children freedom to act, then God gives us freedom to act.

And as we are always available for our children, so God is always available for us. And as we would be forgiving and merciful and loving to our children when they’ve committed any wrongs, so He too is with us. It does not give Him great pleasure to see us groveling in the mess we’re in. It doesn’t give Him great pleasure to see us wallowing in our guilt or grief. It gives Him pleasure to come and help us. And as it hurts us when our children are hurt, so it hurts Him.

And as it pleases us when our children are happy, so it pleases Him. I’ve often wondered if we as parents could perfectly love and our children would perfectly obey, what would happen? Wouldn’t that be wonderful? But we know we don’t, do we? We don’t love perfectly and they don’t obey. And so we have problems.

The Bible declares God is love. It may not seem like it at the beginning of the Bible, but they only could write about God as they knew Him then. It was no pleasure to Him to see nations wiped out. What we do see, however, is that we see that when a man or a woman or a nation goes with God, then the whole of the universe works with them. But when they go against God, destruction comes in.

It didn’t please God to see all these sacrifices of animals. Later on, the prophets were knowing this, were they not? And they said the sacrifices of God that pleases God is that of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. And so we go on. Even Jesus would not be the one who defined God. He left it as He always does to someone else. To John, when he says God is love.

Everything in life which stirs us, which moves us, which upholds us, is love. Everything that thrills us is done with love. When we see an artist working with love, it attracts our attention in an amazing way. When we hear music which has been composed with love, then it speaks to us the deep within. And speaking of music, another television interview I happen to see, don’t think I’m always watching the box, will you? But it just happens sometimes I see a little interview which stirs me. And this one was for the Young Musician of the Year, which was held in the United Kingdom this year. And the winner was a young girl. She was a brilliant pianist. And it was in the interview afterwards that the remark she made caught my attention. The interviewer said, Tell me, what do you think about whilst you play? Friends, I didn’t know that you could think of anything else while you played. When I see those fingers running up and down the keys, I wouldn’t have thought she was thinking about something else.

But you know what she said? She said, I think about all those people who love me. I think about my mother and father who have sacrificed so much for me. I think about my teacher who has given me so much love. She was thinking about love all the time and it was showing in her fingers, this tremendous power of love. Love creates and self destroys. It’s so important, friends, that we should know that God is love and that He loves you and me. This woman that was jilted, how important it was for her at that moment to realize the truth that God is love and He loves her. Because if she realized at that moment and says, Father, straight away the Father puts His arms around her and He starts to build a new life for her. But while she holds back and regrets her mistakes, while she’s grieving, then nothing can happen. But the moment that she says, Father, the whole of the arms of God start to wrap themselves around her. It was so important that she knew consciously and subconsciously that God is love.

What about that story about Aberfan, that Welsh village, that mountain of slagheap then, you may say? Friends, in the inquiry afterwards, it came out that there had been numerous letters written, numerous protests made, not only about that slagheap, but the slagheap throughout the country. And the authorities had done nothing about it. God had tried to get through a message, but we didn’t hear it. What is it we want from God? Is it red letters in the sky? If so, we’ve got a different world altogether. But those youngsters died. And what happened then? We saw a movement throughout the country, reducing all the danger, sowing grass on every slagheap, making places that were waste beautiful. Here again, we see the wonderful truth of redeeming sacrifice, redeeming love. What about the little boy? Do you know we had tried so long to get something done about that black spot on the road? We had protested to the police, to the local councillors, and they had done nothing. After that accident, we went to Parliament, three bus loads of people, and we met the MP, and we told him again our concern. Within weeks, the plans were drawn up, and very shortly afterwards, there was a subway there, so that boys and girls, men and women, could go under that subway, safe for years to come. Stopping untold agony, and lives, and limbs.

Again, it took a little boy to die in order that so many should live. Do we not hear again the story of Calvary? Do we not hear again why one man had to die in order that the whole world should be safe? Here again is redeeming love.

What about this gentleman, lost both legs, and now an arm? Do you know, it was the most impressive time I have with him. The first thing he said to me was this, I don’t believe God wants sickness, and wishes sickness. Isn’t that amazing? And he had two legs on. He had Buerger’s disease. He was telling me, this is what he was telling me. He said that there is a relationship between smoking and that disease, in his particular maker. But he chose not to give up smoking. Do we hear again the cry about cancer? When we know that so much evidence points to cancer, but still the people will smoke. He must have freedom for this. His arm, I was surprised when I went round to visit him, and while he was out of the room, his wife told me that he’d been looking at his arm for, I don’t know, weeks and weeks, through a magnifying glass, to see if that disease was going to be manifested there. What if he had spent all those hours thinking of God, and thinking again of healing? Poor man. We go back to see a tremendous spirit there. But it’s not God’s will that he should suffer like that. What about the suffering of appearance, the old people?

Isn’t it wonderful that God has brought forward men and women who have dedicated themselves to discover the secrets of the plants and the minerals, so that they can give drugs to these friends, so that they should be relieved of pain? Isn’t it wonderful that the Lord is also continually getting men and women to devote their lives to these sick people, so that they should be relieved of pain? He wants to do so much more. It’s not His will that they should suffer like this. Love has reduced the suffering, and will go on reducing.

Look at India. Is this not again a sign of man’s greed? There is enough in the world for everybody to have enough. If we loved enough. Friends, I would like, just in the last few minutes, to read a passage from scripture. It comes from Ezekiel.

Here again, the voice of God. You say, the way of the Lord is not just. Hear now, O house of Israel, is my way not just? Is it not your ways that are not just? The house of Israel says, the way of the Lord is not just. O house of Israel, are my ways not just? Is it not your ways that are not just? Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed against me. And get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord God. So turn and live.

Even the suffering brings us back to God. And that’s not the way He really wants it, you know. He wants us to know that He is love. To really know. And in our healing week this week, that’s so important. If we would only know that He is love, then He will be able to do something so beautiful with all of us. Shall we just pray?

Father, we do thank You for revealing so clearly that Thou art love. And we do in fact thank You that You are love. That this universe has been built, is sustained by love. We thank You that love is stronger than hate. That faith is stronger than fear. That truth is stronger than error. We thank You that You are good. And we thank You that You gave us Your only begotten Son. That we should know these things for true, for real. Jesus, we do thank You for the way that You gave Yourself so selflessly, Lord, that we should know these truths. We thank You that they do indeed set us free. We thank You also that You gave us Your Spirit to continually remind us of these things. So we would ask that You would help us to keep our thoughts always on You. On the Father, who is love. This we pray in Your name. Amen.