Grace, Part 2

Rev. James Allen
Rev. James C. Allen

I know I have said some things that may seem hard to some, but as I said, I am not trying to make anybody feel uncomfortable, I just want us to be right in the sight of God. We are not just playing church: we are learning from the Word of God, by the anointing of His Spirit. This is real. We are coming down to the most real of all of it. Jesus said to Nicodemus, you must, you must be born again. There is no wiggle room in that, there is no getting out of it. Not everyone will have the same experience as others have had, but the essential thing, is that we everyone get the genuine experience of God’s grace that He has made available to all who will submit to His calling. You don’t have to have the same exact experience that others have had. Just do all you know to do, to get in the presence of God and stay there until you are satisfied. I am talking about something that will last, something that will set us free, free from guilt, free from sin. I am not following you home to see how you live, but I do know what it takes. It takes a complete surrender and a dedication unto a living God. This is the best life anyone can live. I am not talking about something that is going to make you an old fogey, I am talking about something that will make you a new creature. It will not make you a better farmer. It could. At different times we have been in places in other countries, and Bro. Steve would say, I have always noticed the ones that are living for God are doing better than the rest. David said, I have never seen the righteous forsaken, neither their seed begging bread. We are here this morning and we are at a point in time that is different than we have ever been, and we are getting ready for something we have never seen, and the world has never seen. The world saw a flood, but they did not see a rapture. Only two people have ever had that experience, and it was not shown to the world, Enoch and Elijah. It was said of Enoch, and he was not. In other words he could not be found. They looked. He had family members, but they were not walking with God. He had a family tree that reached all the way back to Adam. So did others. Young people, your schooling is important, but quit trying to be that little teeny bopper, seeing how tight your skirts can be. Sometimes you cannot even make a long step. We are at the end. Bro. Jackson used to tell about a man down in Virginia, I believe it was. He said his mind was always on the Lord. He was looking for something one day, and a man met him as he was riding his horse drawn wagon, looking down. The man asked him, what are you looking for? He said, I am looking for a city that has a foundation. This is something Bro. William Branham preached. This is something Bro. Jackson preached and emphasized. It may seem like it, and it may be, that I am going to hound you until I see something happen in Faith Assembly to make us to be what the Bible tells us to be. I once was lost, but now I am found. I once was blind, but now I see. God has pulled off the scales. Bro. Jackson is not here anymore. Bro. William Branham is not here anymore, but the Spirit of God is. It is the same Spirit that was in our brothers to teach us the word, to teach us what was right, that is here this morning to tell us to get things right. It made me move out of the Methodist Church, when I read there in Revelation 18 where it said, Come out of her my people, I had to make a move, there was no other choice. My mama did not like it, my daddy did not like it, my family and my preacher brothers did not like it. I was unknown, nobody knew me in the Methodist Church until I made up my mind that I was going to follow God, then everybody knew me. That is that little preacher, that is now selling donuts. I would rather sell donuts than to sell out spiritually. Sometimes in our lives we get to a place that we cannot go any further because of a roadblock. Then God sets us there and lets us figure out a way around this roadblock. He said, I will never leave you, I will never forsake you. I am proof of it. Sometimes we have to get up, and get to moving because we are nearer than we have ever been. Why are you preaching like this, Bro. Allen? I am concerned. Am I just going to let it go? Are we just going to keep on this hum-drum way, and I speak of myself also. It needs to go from the pulpit to the back of Faith Assembly. The Bible says, awake and shine, the time is at hand. This is January 8th, 2012. Is this the year that we are going to see something happen in this world? I believe we are. This is the year the politicians are cutting each other’s throats. I am talking about the Republican party. The way they are going, they will not have to worry about an election, they will have already cut each other down too much to expect anyone to vote for them. Let us read from Romans 3, starting in verse 19. “Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.” You can keep every law in this Bible but it will not make you righteous. I am not mixing Law with Grace today, I will not do that, because Law is not Grace and Grace is not Law. When I came before God, I came before him guilty. I could not say, well I have done this, I have done that. I have not murdered anybody. I have not taken other peoples’ property. I have not committed adultery. Well, you have a lot going for you. I had nothing going for me. I was guilty. You see that guilt all over my forehead. That did not make me any better than that other person, because the Law could not make anything perfect. That every mouth must be stopped, Paul said. He never sugar coated anything. He said if I raise up again that thing that I have destroyed, then I make myself a transgressor. Some have said, oh they will change, they will come back. If I went back on the third day, I would be a transgressor. “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” It only made you see that you were guilty, then you did your best, the Jews did their best, some of them did, tried do do the things that were under the Law. I remember Bro. Jackson saying, they would keep the Law, but some of them would be so mad they would want to kill. But then the Law kept them from killing, but the want to was already there. The Jews will get together and they will get so angry with one another that they will curse and call each other every kind of name, but they will not strike one another. Then in a few minutes they are off some place speaking to one another. All the Law was to them was a referee to keep them apart. “But now the righteousness (You are not righteous on your own.) of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference.” It is talking about Jews and Gentiles now. The Law and the people that went overboard with it, they cleaned everything, every pot, every kettle, their walls were cleaned and washed. But inside them, they were ravening wolves. I want to go over to John, chapter 4, starting with verse 1. “When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John, Though Jesus Himself baptized not, but His disciples, He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. (In other words He left the Jerusalem area and went back into Galilee. When Jesus was here the country was made up into three different parts, Samaria, Judaea, and Galilee.) And He must needs go through Samaria. Then cometh He to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there, Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey, (He got tired, that shows the humanity part of Him. We were all able to see that well because it is a dug well. It has an entrance which is kind of protected.) sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. (About dinner time. I am not talking about supper, I am talking about dinner, what used to be called dinner. The only thing ever mentioned now about supper is for communion, and they have that all wrong because the Church of Christ has it in the morning. They have the Lord’s Supper in the morning.) There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. (He was going to catch her spirit, just like Bro. William Branham did so many times as people would come before him, he would stand and talk about this and talk about that, because he was waiting on the Spirit of God to speak to him. Then he would turn around and say, Hi Sister, do I know you? He did not have to know her. Jesus did not know this woman. He had never been made acquainted with her before, I don’t know, He may have seen a vision of her that morning.) For His disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat. (To buy food) Then saith the woman of Samaria unto Him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, (The reason I go into this message first, there is no use of me going into the Law and all that, without getting down to where we are living. I am not saying today that you have not been born again, but has your experience grown a little stale? Does it not mean what it did fifteen or twenty years ago? We need to get our thinking and our desires up to date in the Lord, that He may be able to speak to us on a daily basis, and we may be able to speak to Him in the night, that He might be able to give us a dream or a vision to show us what we need to do. Or that He may show us in His word, something that is relevant for our own lives. You say, well you are sounding awful serious. I hope so. You know I am not mad, I have not spoken in anger. I have not spoken like this to try and make somebody feel guilty, but I am trying to say, let us get this thing together and move on with God. Like I said about the man that was riding down the road in his wagon, that Bro. Jackson talked about, the thing about it was, he had his experience up to date. Paul said, I die daily, nevertheless I live, not me, but Christ in me. Christ in me is life. He was not talking about yesterday, he was talking about right now. I die daily. We need something that is water proof, fire proof, because there is a fire coming. Noah had something that was water proof. We need something that is rapture-ready. Jesus answered and said unto her, if thou knewest the gift of God, He was talking about grace, if thou knewest the gift of God.) and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water.” A well that you cannot use a pump to get what we need, a well that cannot be run to your faucet. Why was it water He talked about? Because without water, you die. Without living water, we die. In the 2nd chapter of the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah said to Israel, you have hewn yourselves cisterns, broken cisterns, cisterns that can hold no water. Come, buy of me water and bread, without money or without price. She did not know who she was talking with. He did not look different. That was at a time when they were not wearing pajamas to Wal-Mart. A few days ago I was in the emergency room with Mary Lou and here came in a man with pajamas on and two women wearing pajamas. Why did they not stay home and go to bed? What a time we are living in. People do not even know where they are anymore, they are so doped up and so duped and so drunk, that they don’t even know where they are. Young people have lost their way, but Faith Assembly young people, you don’t have to lose your way. I am talking of something better, something that is going to last. This world is not going to last. If thou knewest the gift of God and who it is that saith to thee, give me to drink, thou wouldest have ask of Him and He would have given thee living water. Living water, not from some stagnant pond that has no outlet. The only time it ever has an outlet is when it rains and runs over. At other times it has tadpoles and all kinds of junk in it, frogs, lizards, snakes. That living water is eternal life “The woman saith unto Him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again.” In other words He was saying, whoever drinks of the water from this well will thirst again, but I am going to give you something that will quench that thirst. Let us now go back to the 4th chapter of the book of John. Let me say this, These great men of the Bible, as I think about them, the ones you read about there in Hebrews chapter 11, great men and great women that gave their all for an opportunity to be able to know more about God, and to be acquainted with what He was doing in that hour of time. Paul did not come to condemn the Law, but he came to say that Jesus was the fulfilling of the Law. As it was said, the Law and the prophets were until John, but from that time the kingdom of heaven is preached, and men press into it. It lets me know that there is something that goes with being a child of God. It lets me know that it is not a loose life that we can live, and think that we can have everything our way. No, it is His way. I remember growing up, and and how it was in the community where I lived on a dirt road. In the summer time cars would come along and all you could see was a cloud of dust. Women of that hour had to hang their clothes out on the line. They gathered a lot of dust while hanging there. I remember when we did not have electricity; and women had to use a wash board to scrub their clothes. Now you see those old wash boards hanging on the wall at Cracker Barrel, along with a lot of the things I remember from my childhood, things of another time, which are antiques now. I guess that makes me an antique. I was somewhere the other day where I had to give my age, that fellow said, you didn’t miss the flood by much, did you? I said, no, I was driftwood that came in after the flood. I am talking about the Ohio River Flood of 1937, not Noah’s flood. Things have really changed since then. It went from a time when people had hope. Young men where I grew up, traveled a lot of miles to be able to find a job. A lot of them worked in tobacco patches. After they cut their dad’s crop, they went up north around Lawrenceburg or Versailes to get a job cutting tobacco for someone else. Some of them ventured on into the cities. I remember some of the boys, when things began to open up a little bit, went to Indiana. They did not have an education, but people there needed workers. They went to a plant that built mufflers and heaters for cars. I remember when they used to list what was on a car. I remember that you had to order a heater as an extra to get it in a car, it was one of the options available. Then I remember when they used to abbreviate, P.S. and P.B. I did not know what it was. I found out later, it was power steering and power brakes. There used to be no such thing as that. The thing about it is, as I mention those things, young people were different back then. I went to work at Ford Motor Company in 1963. There were many men there then that could not sign their check, but they were good workers. They knew how to do a job, even though they did not know how to sign their check. In 1973, they hired a bunch of people because they were going to make two different automobiles over there. Then they started building the pickup truck in 1973, they thought they would hire a bunch of eighteen year olds. Eighteen and nineteen years old were what most of them were. They brought those boys in there, they were too high on dope to work. I saw the line break down and I saw these young boys gather in a circle. They smoked pot and blew it in each other’s mouth, from one to another. Because there was a generation gap, they called it. These were children of that generation gap, that bunch of hippies and yippies, things of that nature. They began to lose their way. Now young men that should have a life, do not have one any more. They are breaking into houses and taking the property of other people, in order to support their drug habits. They have fried their minds. You know somebody that has done the same thing. That is why Bro. Jackson could preach the message he preached, that there will not be too many that will go into the Millennium to repopulate the earth, because they have destroyed their mind’s. Instead, there is going to be a few. Why? Because this nation rejected the Word of God that was delivered to them. God sent a prophet to this age, a prophet that grew up in a family of heavy drinkers, but he kept his life apart from all that. God told him, never drink or smoke or defile your body in any way. That was telling him not to mess around in this sex-crazed world. We have a generation now, and I guess the first time I began to hear the things I did, walking down the street during the 1970’s and heard boys and girls go by saying words that at one time people would have blushed hearing them. You hardly ever see a red face from blushing anymore, because all of that has become so common. It went from the streets to the movie theaters. It went from the movie theaters to the television. Then it went from the television to the internet. The internet is a wonderful thing if it is used right. Television can be a place of information if it is used right. Some of those old movies that my mom and dad would not let me go see, today are G-rated, compared to what is shown in theaters today. But those days are gone. We live in a time now where they have gory movies and gory shows on television, what they used to call cartoons. Now they are demons for the little children to see. Do not think you can sit your little children in front of a television and expect everything to be alright. Do not think you can sit them in front of a computer and everything will be alright. I know some little boys, no one here at Faith Assembly, I am not talking about that, less than ten years old, that were caught watching pornography. They were seven and eight years old. What can become of a mind like that, they have already seen more than a lot of us would ever see in a lifetime, and I am glad of that. Whatever our minds dwell on, that is what we become a part of. Jesus said, that which you take into your mouth does not defile you, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles a man. When Jesus said that, Peter said unto him, “Declare unto us this parable. And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding? Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man” I know this is different. This is not just a variety program that we are talking about, this is life. God said, Behold I set before you life and death, choose life. It is a choice. Let me say to a young sister or brother, if you have done all that you know to do to live for God, if you are doing all you know to do, the time is coming when you will be satisfied, because God is not going to leave you out here in limbo some place to wonder, is all well with my soul? His Word says, having done all to stand, stand therefore. I read this morning, and I want to go back to that same scripture from the book of Ephesians. I was in the 14th verse, because we need to lay hold on this, which was spoken by the apostle Paul. Let us read verse 13 and go on from there. “Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, (How?) having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15 And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, (Your faith is your shield, your sure protection.) wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: 18 Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. ” This is where it really gets down to the nitty gritty of what Jesus was talking about. There was never a man that lived like Him on this earth. There were some good men, great men, prophets, seers, but when John the Baptist was here, he told about Solomon, Behold, a greater than Solomon is here. John himself said, I must decrease, He must increase. The same words that Bro. William Branham said in the seals book. He knew that there was something coming down the road that he did not quite see, because of the fulfilling of the message, Matthew 25, then in 1st Thessalonians chapter 4, it said Behold a cry went forth. Then in Thessalonians 4, it was the shout. Bro. William Branham said, this is the message of the hour. It cannot be another generation, because God will not let it linger into another generation. When that shout went out, and when that cry went out, that was the call, because it was a midnight call. I place Matthew 25:10 in there, because it tells you that the Bride has made herself ready and the door is closed. Here in John the 14th verse we find this, “But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.” These things that I am talking about tonight, will take the thirst of these things away. We do not have to put on the dog, we do not have to try and make somebody believe what we are, or are not, because there is something real that is staring us in the face, more real than anything this world offers. It was so real that Jesus told Nicodemus, you must be born again. As I said, I am not trying to make anybody doubt their salvation, but I am saying this, let us get our experience up to date. Because today is the day of salvation. I am not here trying to scare anybody, saying you are going to hell and all this, which is the way a lot of preachers used to do. Come on, surrender, or you are going to hell, what if you die tonight? All of this and that, in order to scare somebody into accepting, because they wanted to see a number at the altar. I myself have not preached for numbers. Paul said, if I yet please men, I become the enemy of Jesus Christ, an enemy of the cross. But whosoever drinketh of this water that I shall give him, Jesus said, shall never thirst again. He was not talking about water you could draw from an old well: that water He was talking about is available to all that believe the gospel. He does not have a yardstick, holding it out here, saying, you measure up to this, or else. You do this and you do this and you can have it. He said, come, take the water of life freely, it is a free gift. “But the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” A well of living water in you is something that is there every day. It is with you when you are on the job. Young people, it is with you when you are in school. When you are before the ones that might make fun, He is still there with you. Those who make fun do not have what you have, or they would not make fun. They are not your judge. How can anyone judge someone else of something that they know nothing about themselves? A well of living water, springing up into everlasting life, or eternal life. Jesus said, if you believe on me, you shall never die. Of course this body gives up, because it is temporal, but the spirit, the life that is in you, is something different, and especially if it has been changed by you trusting Jesus. We are going to live somewhere. If we are wrong, we are going to live somewhere for a time, a time of regret, a time of no promise of ever being loosed. There is no purgatory as some believe, regardless of how many believe there is. That woman was beginning to look at this, but she was looking at it in the wrong way. “The woman saith unto Him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. (Now He is going to tell her something that she has never heard before. He simply said, Go call your husband. She was not a righteous person. She was not a holy person, but she was of the elect. Go call your husband. She tried to cover up her situation, but she could not. She had already committed herself. She had already said too much. Notice though, Jesus did not condemn her. He did not say, you ornery woman, you have had five husbands. Jesus Christ is not mean with us, not even in our worst failures. He stands as an advocate. An advocate is the same thing as that blood upon that altar. Because He became the blood on the altar that was taken before the Father. They are always looking for the blood of Jesus or something of that nature. Why? Because they think that they can find something that is going to appeal to their carnal ideas. The shroud of Turin, I do not know of anybody that was born again, that ever saw that shroud of Turin. I do know of people that have been born again, that found their way to the cross. That is what makes the difference, because it changes lives. Go call thy husband and come hither, Jesus said. “The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus saith unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband. For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast (the one you are now living with) is not thy husband: in that saidst thou truly.” He had already opened up her very life to her: Did she deny it? Did she deny what she had been in the past? She had already said, I have no husband. “The woman saith unto Him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.” You don’t see one word there where He jumps on her to condemn her. The woman that they brought before Jesus, that had been caught in adultery, they came bringing her, and threw her down at His feet, ready to stone her, standing there with rocks in their hands. What do you think? He could look upon that greasy looking, religious gang of people, that were just dying within themselves to get Him to answer them. In other words, We are going to catch you here, because we know what is written in the law. But He gave them an answer that they never thought they would hear. You, you, you, and whoever among you that is without sin, let him cast the first stone. He then squatted down and began to write in the dirt. The words He wrote are not recorded in the scripture, but no doubt He began to reveal to them what they each had done, even at that time. He then stood up and looked at the woman and said, where are your accusers? Brothers and Sisters; that does not sound like just a religious man: That sounds like a Saviour. We get all mixed up sometimes in our life, thinking that God is accusing us. Go call your husband. You said you have no husband, and you are right: you have had five, and the one you are living with now is not your husband. I believe she was saying with excitement, Sir, with respect, instead of with a scowl, I perceive that you are a prophet. “Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, (It is just ahead, a few months later, the hour cometh,) and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth.” Jesus told His disciples, before He went away, back there in the 3rd chapter. I started reading that, or quoting it. There was a man of the Pharisees, a religious man named Nicodemus, who came to Jesus by night. As I said, he wanted to hide himself from his friends and that bunch of self righteous Jews. Let us read that. “There came a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto Him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with Him. (He recognized that part, he recognized the miraculous, but he wanted to come in secret.) Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Brothers and sisters, that is what gives us that new birth, it gives us insight into the Word of God. You do not have to stand outside and look, you can be inside. Oh I just love to see the Spirit move. Do you love for it to move in you? I quoted those two scriptures from Matthew 25:10, then from the place where the cry was made, then where the shout was made. There cannot be another generation. There cannot be another hundred years, or even ten years until God visits the children of Israel. A brother gave me a piece out of the Israeli news where they had found oil, much of it. This nation has an oil supply so that we do not need to depend on Iran. We do not need to depend on another nation. We do not need to depend upon Saudi Arabia, but we have such foolish people running this country and regulating everything, that they leave us vulnerable. The Spirit of God is not regulated tonight. The oil still runs freely. We can stand without looking at what God is doing, or we can come inside and be a part of it. We cannot do both. We cannot have one foot in the world and the other foot in the kingdom of God, and make it in the rapture. The Bible says, and this is a hard word, the Bible says, Be sure, your sins will find you out. If I am going to be a Christian, I want to be one just as much at home when I am by myself, as I am here before all of you. I don’t want to miss that visitation of God when He comes knocking, I want to say, you are welcome. I want Faith Assembly to be a place that welcomes the Spirit of God, and I certainly do not want it to be only on a doormat, but be on the side post and every post in here, and in every pew and every time someone steps up to this pulpit. I now want to go to the next statement Jesus made to Nicodemus. Notice, “Nicodemus saith unto Him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listest, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” When the day of Pentecost came, Jesus told His disciples ten days earlier, go tarry at Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high. He did not tell them how it was going to come, He just told them they were going to be endured with power from on high. But when it came, it came as a rushing mighty wind. They could not tell where it came from. I long for the day that we can be sitting in Faith Assembly and this building would shake from the power of God. A little tremor would come and shake the building where we are. I would not want it to scare the liver out of anyone. Those disciples were expecting something. They had been persecuted, they had been ridiculed, they had been called names, but none of that can cancel out the love of God. You have something inside you that cannot be shaken by that. The Holy Ghost will be a witness to that. If that comes tonight, it will be fine with me. I am ready. Back there tonight, I heard someone say that Sis. Elinor was going home from the hospital, and I thought they meant she was going to rehab tomorrow, but no, she was going home. Three nurses got hold of her to assist her, and she just walked off from them. The doctors can cut, but God is the healer. I never want to stand in the way of anyone getting something from God. I never want to stand in the way of anyone being healed, or of you testifying of what God has done for you. Little children used to sing a song, “Come into my heart, Lord Jesus, come in today, come in to stay.” As for the Holy Ghost, Paul said He would walk with you, because He would be in you. Brothers and Sisters, We are not going to give up on this until every one says, I surrender. The way I feel, I feel, we are in the final windup. I do not mean to condemn anyone, I am standing here to help you, if I can. I want to help you see that our lives need to be in compliance with the Word of God. There may be a hunger and thirst from the little ones up to the older ones. I hope you get more out of the services here, than you do that tree stand for deer this year. I am talking about food for your soul. When is the time going to come that we put our mind more to things of God, than we do to the things of the world? If you do hunt, then make sure somebody eats what you kill. How much of this world does it take to satisfy us? I am not talking about a good job. I am not talking about making money. I am not talking about the necessary things of the world. I will ask you though, From where is our enjoyment derived? The Bible says, Luke 12:34, “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” There are treasures in serving God, there are pleasures in serving God. I am not looking at this thing as a way you cannot please God. You can please Him. He wants to be pleased. Sometimes we have to stop and say, Lord, I surrender. Sometimes we have to go to Him and say Lord, I was wrong. I remember when Bro. William Branham used to pray, he would say, forgive us our sins. That is the same thing Daniel prayed, forgive me my sins and the sins of Israel. That way, you don’t leave anything out. Jesus was telling us how to pray when He told about the scribe or pharisee, that stood praying and said, Father, I am glad I am not like that publican over there. I give my tithes every week, and I say that is commendable, but that will not get you eternal life, because the price has already been paid for that. It did not cost us one dime, if it did, that would be by debt, but it was not there by debt. The debt has already been paid at Calvary. It cost the Son of God His life. I said this morning, if you wanted more of this, come back tonight, and I see you have come back. You did not come here to watch a show. Neither did you come here to get something sugar coated. I am looking back here at some young people, and I see that you are interested, God bless you. I want everybody to get what they want. We do not get what we deserve, but we do get what we want when we come to God the right way. My life is worth more to me than what another day can bring, because I want my life to be pleasing to my heavenly Father. Some preachers are satisfied just to please people, but I am not. Paul said, if I do, I am no more a servant of God. God is looking for young people that will serve Him, and are not ashamed to shed a tear every once in awhile. I know God is speaking to some hearts here tonight, I know He is speaking to some young people especially. We are not on a picnic. We are not on a fund raiser. Somebody asked me, When you built on over here, what kind of fund raiser did you have? I said, We had no fund raider. We have a hole in the wall back there, and God provides, because true Christians know what to do. Nobody was asked for even one dollar to build on. Nobody has asked anyone for even a dollar for this internet, nor for this Contender. You are not asked, but you give. Why? Because you see it in the Word, and because you love God. I remember when I was young, a lot of them would say, let’s keep the preachers poor to keep them humble. They did that. Preachers were paid with chickens and hams, and things like that. We had a preacher back in the late 1940’s or 1950’s, still driving an old Model T. He turned the thing over, and still drove it. That was not right. If that is what it takes to keep, or make me humble, give me bread and water. I remember Bro. William Branham said, before I would compromise, I would eat soda crackers and drink branch water. He would have too. I am not just preaching to two or three people here tonight, there are people on the internet also. There is a woman from England, she said I have been getting the Contender, me and my two daughters, we want to get on your internet to get the live services. That makes me feel little. I don’t feel puffed up because people listen to me. It makes me feel little. I felt little when I walked out of that room yesterday after visiting Sis. Elinor. They came in to give her physical therapy, I said, just give me two minutes to pray with her before you take her. I prayed with her, I did not just pray for her, I prayed with her. We prayed together. She already knew how to pray. Do not ever think because you dress different than others, that you have to apologize. don’t let anybody put that “old foggy” thing on you. When you live for God, you should dress different than those of the world. You be different, you dress different, you live different and thank God for it. Live holy for the glory of God. The greatest testimony that anybody can have is by the way they live. I had not planned to speak as I have today. I just knew what I had in my heart, and did not know exactly how to get it out. I have not spoken out of sarcasm. I have not spoken out of anger. I have just spoken out of my heart, because I love you. Young people, I love you, I have seen you grow up from babies. Now you are reaching the age of accountability. You know what is right and what is wrong. I would say this to the parents, be careful what you say and how you live before your children, because they are watching and listening.

FROM HERE ONWARD, THIS MESSAGE CHANGES TO
“THE GRACE OF GOD”

I had meant to get into Romans for weeks now, and it seems as though I keep being drawn to something else, but it is still the same subject, except I have added a couple words to it. Today we are looking to the Lord for His love and grace, and being thankful for the kindness He shows us. The Bible says to grow in grace. How do you do that? I thought grace was just grace. But Peter said, grow in grace. He added another word, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. So if you do not grow, then you are stagnant. If you are stagnant, then you will surely die. Of course this is a new scripture, one that I did not have on the list. They are scriptures that have been gone over before, but the Lord willing, sooner or later I will get to all or most of them. I just had the word grace when I started, thinking you might be able to separate it all out as you go, and be able to identify certain settings. Now I want to add these these other words to it, and call it “The Grace Of God,” and later go to,“Grow In Grace.” If we do that, we are going to be a different people. That is my aim and purpose in this late hour of time, to see growth, and only can you grow as you grow in knowledge and understanding. Sometimes people will ask you questions, which really speaks of their growth in the Lord. For instance, someone wants to know what they should do about certain situations. You don’t have to go into a lot of details to tell them. I am not a person of detail. I remember my dad, that he was not a person of details. He would tell you to do something, then you would do it. He did not explain, he could not count, he only went to about the third grade in school, so he did not know fractions. If he said, I have told you once, that meant one time. He did not expect us to frame the situation in another way, could it be this way or could it be that way. The scripture is not written like that, could it be. It either is, or to make things simple, it is not. There is no in between. Jesus said, let your yea’s be yea, and your nay’s be nay. Paul said, in Jesus Christ, it is yea and Amen. He made that plain in his preaching. If you ask me something one time, then the answer is probably going to be the same if you ask me again. That is because a revelation is a revelation. It is not a maybe. It is not a hope so, nor could be, or maybe this way or maybe that way. As Paul said, it is yea and Amen in Christ Jesus. There is no in between with Him. The things I have preached, the only thing that people wanted to question about it, was to get me to change my mind. If I had changed my mind, or if Bro. Bud had, Faith Assembly would be like some of these off-shoots where you would not really be given a direct answer, but you were given a maybe. I could say something here, maybe I should not, God did not call everybody to lead a church. Really, He had a ministry to do that, not somebody appointed by man. As we look at the scripture, you do not see that. I know I will have some disagreement on that. A man is not called to preach by another preacher. Either you are called of God, or you are not called at all. I am not trying to use these words loosely. But we have a lot of self appointed people in many places, preaching today. I know years ago there were at least a couple of men that left here, and I remember one that had Bro. Jackson, Bro. Bud and me, upstairs with some others. He complained because nobody had recognized him as a preacher. Nobody knew it. That was the first time I had ever heard about it, it was the first time Bro. Jackson ever heard about it. But then there were some complaints because he was not recognized as a preacher. Well I have other things to say, knowing that this is not just a vocation to have something to do. There are times that it is a great blessing. Well it always is, but let me put it another way, because there are other times you have to bow your head. I guess, that what I am going to tell, was the first time anything like that had ever happened to me. A couple weeks ago I was sitting there at home, and there were not really words that came out of my mouth, but there was expressions that came out of my mouth that I did not know was going to be coming. The Bible says there will be groanings that you will utter, without really knowing why. Those are the times that you have experienced things, that just goes beyond human expression. God can use those times to teach you something, to tell you something. I love Him for it. Whenever I get to the place that I cannot tell God I love Him, then I am in the wrong place. I mean it, and I say, Thank You Lord that you are so gracious to me. I see the situations in the Middle East that are grievous. I see situations in America that I have no control over. But I see something coming in the Middle East, throughout the weeks, I see something coming that I know is scriptural. I remember when Netanyahu got to be prime minister, there was a man that had a lot of following in the Likud Party. Since Netanyahu became prime minister, he was supposed to be in the Knesset. Netanyahu moved him from number twenty all the way to thirty six, so he would not have any part, because Netanyahu is afraid of him, and that is because he does not want to give any land away. There was about a nine minute skit on him, talking, right now there is no way Netanyahu can do anything about it because he has too much of a following. When a man gets afraid of people that are threatening their leadership, then that is a scary situation. Because God is wanting to do something that man does not see. Are you speaking of yourself? Absolutely not. Because I was not appointed pastor here at Faith Assembly to set around in fear that I was going to lose my job, because Bro. Bud knows any time that anything happens that he can have it. I back him a hundred percent. I do not say that because of you people. I am just saying that because, if God has appointed us to something, then we should not fear. The church is going to move. It is going to move in this hour we are living in, and I see the movement because there has been an encouraging ministry here. Sometimes it cuts, sometimes it cuts me, that does not matter. But I see growth because of it. You do not have to guess where we stand. Some might say, Maybe they will compromise? No. Not in any wise. I now want to go to 2nd Peter. Never do I want to use arrogance, to say I know everything and you know nothing. Sometimes I am surprised as to how God speaks to us, because I know it is not in my ability to know the things that God has shown me. That is why I speak here in fear, sometimes in trembling, because God is doing something. He is doing something in Faith Assembly as well as He is around this world where people are hearing. I know that because of the report that comes in. For every negative report there are at least five good ones. If you were a baseball player and you got five hits to every one strike out, you would be batting 800. Nobody has ever batted that. But I praise the Lord this morning, I thank God for His wonderful grace and the truth of His word. I will start reading in the 14th verse of the 3rd chapter. He has spoken of the coming of the Lord, of the heavens being on fire and so forth, now in the 14th verse he says, “Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless.” There are so many things in America today that are being done by the government, if I did not have hope in God, it would be frightful. You just hear it every week, nothing approved by Congress, or Senate, it is just simply a case of running over people by the president and his czars. I heard this morning, about our telephone bill, why it is so high. It is because we are paying for cell phones and paying for all these other things that they say are for the poor. But what they are doing, one person is getting several cell phones and they are selling them. I am talking about the minutes that are on them. They sell the minutes for profit. This has never been approved by Senate or Congress. It is just something that has been done. Now they are going to take that very same thing, which is over a billion dollars a year, and they are going to take that and increase it until you will be buying computers for them also. How many ways do they have to take taxes from you? It is that way with so many things being forced through by a run-away government that has no concern for the people. They are trying to make it, so if you work, you have less privileges than the ones that do not work. We are not being led, we are being ruled, and in many cases without the knowledge of it. Your gas bills that you pay, there is money being taken from it for other people without your knowledge. That is taxes. Whatever they want to say it is, it is taxes, and they are using that to wipe out peoples’ wealth that have earned it, and many of them honestly. It has not only happened under this president, but you go on back to George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush’s dad, he was the one that started this one world government thing. Of course you have churches today, prophecy preachers that are saying that this is the mark of the beast, because they do not know that the mark of the beast comes through the Catholic Church, because that scripture is unseen by most right now: It was not supposed to be seen by everybody. Many scriptures are not supposed to be seen by the natural man: that is why Jesus took His disciples off and told them, I speak to these people in parables that they may not see, that hearing they may not hear, seeing they may not see. You might say, that is not fair. Then take that up with the Lord. That is the way it is. That goes along with the message which we believe, there are things about it that others do not believe, because it is not given to unto them to understand. The Bible says there are few that will be saved. Bro. Jackson said it will not be in the thousands from America: it will be in the hundreds. Brothers and sisters, you have not been ruled over, you have not been made to stay here. But I thank God for every one of you that have been willing listeners. The Bible says, he that hath an ear to hear, let him hear. It is not he that has ears: we all have ears, but there are some that have ears that cannot hear good because of a deficiency, but they still understand the Word of God that is taught. This reaches down further than just our natural ears. Some of you think it is a privilege to be able to be here, and it is a privilege for me also, to be able to be with a group of believing people. I am talking about from little children on up to older brothers and sisters. As I shake hands with people, little children that are playing, will stop their playing just to shake hands with me. I hope no one ever thinks I do not recognize that? They love us because we have loved them. We have made it plain enough that the small children can understand at least part of it. I want to read that 14th verse again. “Wherefore, beloved, (See how he talks? He is not talking to the world. Peter has finally understood that this message goes farther than to the Jewish people. This was a hard thing for him to understand because this thing of Judaism had been ground into him for so long, that it took him years to get it out of his mind, that it was not just as Paul had said, a Jews religion. Paul was able to take the message to the Gentiles, because he said God had broken down the middle wall of partition. A partition is something put up, that you may not be able to see or go into the other side. But God removed that partition. He took that partition out, so that Gentiles could be included in His provision for believers. He wanted us to be able to see what had been spoken to the Jews through the Law, and so that Paul could see what God had done in the Law to bring it unto Grace. Grace is God’s unmerited favor to man.) seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent (Listen to him talk, be diligent. This is a man speaking from his heart of what God has done for him.) that ye may be found of Him in peace, (Be found of Him, not of Peter, but of Him in peace.) without spot.” I did not know you could live like that. Well, the Methodists tell you that you cannot. The Baptists will tell you that also, but when you remove the spots and the blemishes, a lot of it is religious ideas that we have carried along through the years, that we have to get rid of. When church order came in at the tabernacle, Bro. Jackson did not go along with it in Faith Assembly. But the ones that were in this thing, they did not carry it out as it should have been. They made a law out of it. You abide by this or else, which put a strict order on people, when we know that the Bible is something that brings freedom to those who read it right. Their law was, you can no longer speak in tongues in here, you cannot testify, and you cannot clap your hands. I remember all those things. This was not what Bro. William Branham had in mind when he made it, and it was not carried out like that when he was there. He would tell people to shake hands. They would shake hands. He would tell people to hold hands with your neighbor while they prayed, but when he was not there, that was not carried out like that. It was just that old strict, dogmatic thing that never added anything to anybody but to a bunch of deacons that ran things as they chose to. I am not talking about Faith Assembly deacons. We have wonderful deacon brothers here. We have wonderful brothers that are in other positions as well. Those men at the tabernacle ruled. They would listen to a tape, then they would play a tape of Bro. William Branham’s and go to Jerry’s restaurant while the tape was being played, because they knew how long it would last, then they would come back just before it finished so they could see that people marched out in file. If you wanted to shake hands with anybody, you get on the sidewalk first, don’t do it in here, because you are supposed to be still and know that He is God, while you are inside. I wonder how many little children cried, and how many laughed and played when they were in the wilderness all that time? That was an awesome presence of God to even feel the mountain there, it said if anybody, or anything even any animal touched it, their lives would be taken from them. But there were little children down there that were playing in the presence of that mountain. But what happened? I did not plan or even know I was going to say these things, but what happened? The leadership there erred, got afraid, told everybody to bring your jewelry, bring your gold. When Moses came back they had a calf there that had been molded out of the gold and they were all worshiping it. Aaron made the excuse, I just threw it in the fire and that is what came out. That was not true. He formed that thing. Many times we realize we are inadequate of doing what God has told us to do, or that which we feel that we should do in the presence of God, so then we make excuses. I don’t want to be like that. Bro. Bud does not want to be like that. Never do I want to make an excuse for what God is doing. This is off my subject, all this is off my subject, but I am talking from my heart to you. I am mostly talking of leadership. God is going to have His people in a right attitude and a right place. All this thing of traveling around in all these different services and all these things that used to be, is just about over. God has narrowed it down until there are not all these places that you can go to. Really there are very few, one or two in the country. Not all these places are in the United States. There are people living in areas, where one time it was a thriving community for people to go and worship. Now there are brothers and sisters that cannot go there any more. They sit and watch these services on the internet, and they are happy because they feel they are being fed; and that they are a part of it. This may be a crude illustration, Faith Assembly is a feeding station, but some would say it is not. We either come here to eat with the eagles, or we just come here. Verse 15. “And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; (Our longsuffering. Jesus Christ was crucified once. He still has the scars, but He will never be crucified again, except by unbelieving people who have no respect for the truth of God’s Word. I remember Bro. William Branham preaching the message back in the 1960’s where he said, I indict this generation for the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. I was there when he preached it. That does not make me any better than you, because there are a lot of people that were there.) even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you.” Here we are in 66 A.D., things have changed, things have changed with Peter. Peter has grown in the grace that he talks about, to the point that now he is seeing things as he should. That is the reason why he could say, grow in grace, because it is a process. I know that there are preachers that are still preaching, or people that are still preaching, let me put it that way, that are saying that if you are saved today, then you will be in the rapture. That is not scriptural. Where is the growth? Growth brings spiritual fruit. In a few weeks an apple tree, or a peach tree will bloom. But because it blooms does not mean you have an apple crop or a peach crop. I have been around growing apples, I know that when a freeze comes, you can look at that bloom when it blooms, but when a freeze comes, if it is down to 26 degrees and stays there for a few days, you will lose your apples. One night will not affect it very much if the temperature goes back up. But then in June, regardless of what it is in June, you are going to lose a lot of those apples that were on that tree back then, because they fall off. But there are others there, that were predestinated to go into your mouth, and mine. I am glad for those predestinated apples. Because there is growth, because we are coming, not just to June or July, we are coming to the fall. We are in the fall of our walk with God. In the fall of the year is when you pick those apples. “As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable, wrest (Unlearned, there are a lot of children that have graduated from school, but they are unlearned: They went to school, but never learned anything. The truth of the gospel message is not for those that drop out. God has no drop outs. We are either in or we are out and Unlearned. I remember all those preachers that used to get their picture made on the platform here. I put myself in the back row because I felt myself insignificant among them. I do not say that trying to be humble this morning. I thought every preacher that came in here that were privileged to preach, had more than I had. But the scripture says that some of them were unlearned and unstable. The Bible expresses in the Old Testament about someone that was unstable as water. Unlearned and unstable they…) wrest, (That means that they divide or pull apart, and people are listening to unstable people that are wresting the scriptures, tearing them apart. I was thinking this week, and I do not mean to keep mentioning this, but it just comes handy. I was a pretty good person until it came down to my message on the third day, but to those that understand it, it is the easiest thing they have come across to understand.) as they do also the other scriptures, (wrest them, tear them apart. It is a funny thing, when that message was printed, then people that had dreams and visions and everything else about seeing my picture on that Contender, I was not caring about seeing my picture on that Contender, I just wanted people to be able to identify the fact that I was the one that preached it, and not put somebody else’s picture there. I will identify with what I preach. This is hard.) unto their own destruction.” That is not pretty, but it is what Peter said. I am not out to destroy anybody. That was not my aim or purpose in the things I have preached, that have been torn apart by some. That was not my aim. I did not even know I would have opposition. I thought, I see this, this is going to make somebody happy. It did. But it made others get in the parking lot and talk loud, to where young people could hear them. Some went among unbelievers and got loud, so they could hear. I would rather crawl under a rug than I would to just be heard by a bunch of unbelieving people that could not care less. I am talking about spiritual growth. I am talking about what this is going to do with us before this life is over: we are going to be a grown up people. We are not going to be ashamed of our growth. “Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, (You are beloved, you know these things.) beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.” I don’t want that, and I don’t want that for you. “But grow in grace, (To grow in grace means getting to look more like Him. Paul said, I in Christ’s stead. Jesus is not coming back to preach the gospel, neither is Bro. William Branham. Shame on you, saying that he will come back to preach the other part. He will not come back until the rapture, and he is not coming back to preach. Anybody that would make a statement otherwise while trying to preach, should sit down. You do not belong in a pulpit. Bro. William Branham will not come back to fulfill that other part they talk about, because there is not going to be arms and legs all added on to people before the rapture. I got that message when it was preached back in 1963. I was just a poor, ignorant country boy at that time. When he said, when he preached the seals, this is the third pull, I got it. Everybody else was looking for a great healing ministry that Bro. William Branham was going to have behind a curtain, everybody that went in there, they were going to walk out with new arms and legs, new teeth. I could do with some of those, and new hair, I could do with some of that. But that will take place later. But grow in grace…) and in the knowledge (or understanding) of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. (The knowledge of Him, that is what He expects out of us. It is like, when Bro. Bud and I had to stand against that preacher seven years ago, that had wrote his book, saying that Bro. Jackson would be here until the rapture, and he refused to withdraw those statements. Out here there was a man that opposed him for saying such a thing as he did, and he cursed him, that little preacher cursed him. He said, you will grow no taller. He was already fifty some years old. I curse you in the name of Jesus Christ he said, you will not grow any taller. It worked. What a fool! You say, you should not call your brother that. I did not call any brother that.) To Him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.” Now I will go to 1st Corinthians, chapter 3, starting in the 9th verse. Who are we laborers with? “For we are labourers together with God: (If you are a laborer, you are not just a worker. If you are a laborer, you are not a nine to five worker. I do not hesitate to tell you that He is on my mind all the time, whatever I am doing. Brothers and sisters, this is not ours, but God was good enough to send His Son into this world to give His life, that we may be able to labor together with Him.) ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.” In 1967 we were on strike for sixty seven days where I worked. I went to work, I worked there I think it was seven weeks of that time, working on apartment buildings. The foundation had already been put there and we were to add to that foundation, the rest of the building. The walls were all prefab, everything was already there. It was the outside insulation, that is what it was to the building, they already had the insulation in them. They already had the wires in them. They were shipped to us for us to put them together. Every part of that building, every room was marked where we should put each wall. I was not responsible for what went where: I was just responsible for helping them put it together. We put one wall up, and nobody noticed it until we had got beyond that, but the window was six inches off from being in the middle of the room. Days after that, we found out we had put the wrong part in that place. But we left it there, that window was always six inches off from being in the center of the wall. Somebody just had to come in and go from socket to socket to put the wires together. On and on we went building this, which was a big apartment building. It was on Ewing Lane in Jeffersonville Indiana. Then we got to the roof, started cutting plywood. The man who was over the job site had to go get plywood for the top part because there was a little strip that we did not have enough for. But since it was already pre-made, those strips were in there and we did not know it. If it had been done right, we would never have had to cut a piece of plywood. It worked out ok, but it was already there. Brothers and sisters, it is already pre-planned. They took our dimensions that we had for this building, and they pre-fabbed what was needed, somewhere in a factory, and if it had been done right, it would have worked just fine. So we had to make it work. Well we talk about predestination, our lives have been predestinated, but the thing about predestination is, there is a plan that was already made for the Church of the living God, and she will get it right. When I began to think of that, I just thought of this Friday night, I had something else in mind, but when I began to think of that, it did not take long to put the picture together. If we listen, if we do what the word says, we are going to fit into a plan that was made from eternity. There is no reason to go get new material, if we will just look at the material that has been given to us to work with, which is the Word of God. It was not that our lives were pre-planned, it was just the fact that everything that God has designed to go into the Church of the living God, is already pre-planned, so when we get into the presence of God with our lives, so that we get the right understanding of His Word, this is all going to work. I love His Word, because it works out what it is supposed to. I love His plan, because He made it so we can fit into it. He said, grow in grace. Go on over into Ephesians, and it is fitly framed. Fitly framed describes it. I believe Paul was looking at this hour of time, his spirit was, the spirit that God put into his being, was showing us the route that we must take in order to find grace to grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and fit into that building. I am happy this morning, I am happy for what He gives us, I am happy for what He shows us, which is always truth. The only thing I can do is get out of the way and say, God help me. I cannot just think of God’s word and get it right: it has to be a revelation to me. If it is ever going to be a blessing to you, it has got to be a revelation to me.

THE GRACE OF GOD CONTINUED

I am going back to Abraham and Lot. This was something that was brought out to me after I preached it last Sunday night. I want to refresh your memory on this, because there is a lesson in it. Genesis 13:14-18. “And the Lord said unto Abram, after that lot was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward.” Even though you don’t like to say these things, sometimes there has to be a separation before God will really open up His plan to His saints. I know we have got much criticism from Matthew 13, where the tares and wheat were separated, and the tares were put into bundles for the burning. But never did we mention names.We do not have to. Why would anybody say, you are calling us tares when we did not mention names? That is a mystery. But in order to fulfill scriptures, if you go back into the first part of that 13th chapter of Matthew, Jesus spoke parables to the people. When He got through speaking parables, the disciples came to Him and said, why do you speak to these people in parables? He made a funny statement there, when He said, seeing, they may not see, and hearing, they may not understand. Somebody would judge Jesus on a statement like that because the world wants you to believe that Jesus is out to save everybody. His salvation is enough to save this entire world, the blood that Jesus spilled was enough to do so, but then you defeat scripture because Jesus said all that the Father hath given me will come to me. So as we have this picture of Abraham here, Abraham had to wait. He had come many years, some fifteen years or so, Abraham had come to the point of separation. Because he went from Ur of the Chaldees, to Haran, and he stayed there as the scripture says, until his father died. When his father died, then he moved on to Canaan. When he gets there, he finds a famine there and he goes on down into Egypt. All the time he is gathering much wealth. So is Lot. It come to the point that there was a problem. Lot’s herdsmen and Abraham herdsmen were fussing. There were probably a few punches thrown. Abraham, whether it was somebody that reported this to Abraham, or Abram, whether this was how it came to him, he did not like that. He did not like problems. Neither do I. Whenever saints of God have problems you have to deal with them. When people leave and cause problems. We find that there had to be a separation to fulfill the Word of God. I read that and I stopped, because I wanted you to think about it. Because it said, the Lord said to Abraham after Lot was separated from him, not before, because the promise is not to Lot. Lot headed the way of least resistance. He headed to Sodom. There he got rid of all his property and found him a house. No doubt he went to Sodom a rich person. He traded all his riches for stuff. Brothers and sisters, we are rich in grace. We can trade that in for the least resistance. As I said last Sunday, if there had not been a stand made in times past, where would we be? Bro. Jackson made a stand when Bro. William Branham put in church order. He even got out from behind the pulpit and stood in the floor in front of the pulpit. He said, I will not stand behind the pulpit and say this, as long as I go to the Tabernacle I will honor this, but we will not put church order into Faith Assembly. It would have been a lot easier on him to go the way of the crowd because that way he would have had no problems out of them, he would still have been a friend. But the moment he did, then problems came. I remember him telling about going to Missouri. I know the preachers he went to. I would not know them now, but I did at one time. He went to Missouri, and standing beside his car he got so dizzy that he had to hold onto something. Finally he said within himself, I will not go along with this church order thing. He said it was like a band had been tied around him, and it was loosed when he said that. After that happened, he came back to this area and went to a doctor. The doctor said to him, you sound like you are under a lot of stress. He just shrugged it off for the doctor, but he knew that was what had happened, because it got to the point that it was a health problem. We can carry burdens, and sometimes people will heap them upon us until it becomes a health problem. There are people that like to see you go through things. I am not talking about saints of God, because they will stand with you.