GOD HAD A PLAN FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD. IT WAS NOT FOR THE MIGHTY OR THE STRONG: IT WAS FOR THOSE OF FAITH, THAT WOULD WILLINGLY FOLLOW TRUTH.

God never used people that were big and muscular and strong, to do His work, that had made themself muscular for that purpose. I have nothing against exercise if it is done the right way, if a person knows why they are doing it and it is for a health benefit. That is what I was trying to say awhile ago, we sometimes strain at a gnat and swallow a camel, if we do not watch ourselves. I sure do not want to teach people in that way. I want to be genuine, and I want each of you to be genuine, I want your Christian experience to be real in your every day walk of life. As the song goes, we serve a risen Savior. I want to present somebody to you that is real, somebody that is concerned about the way they present themselves as Christians. I read, concerning the man that had a hundred sheep and he lost one. He went and searched until he found it. The woman that had ten pieces of silver, lost one piece and swept that house until she found that one piece. Jesus said, I did not come to save the righteous, but to bring the sinners to repentance. I cannot look down on anyone, trying to make myself better than what you are. Living that way, takes us out of the body of Christ, because I read in the 4th chapter of Ephesians, that the true body of Jesus Christ is compacted, so that every joint supplies something to the body. I know the body is made up of joints. It is fed from one to another. It has a little membrane up here that God has placed there with knowledge and understanding in it. They call it gray matter, but it is more than gray matter. When God created man, He made him a living soul, somebody that He meant to contact. You can teach an ape to do a lot of things. I have even seen these little dogs, when children got down to pray, they did the same thing. They were copying. You can teach a monkey to bow his head, but he doesn’t recognize God, but some of them do, even more than a lot of people. Jesus went all the way into hell, that He might preach to those imprisoned spirits, and let them know that during the time that Noah preached, they had an opportunity and ignored it. I am sure that a lot of them felt like they were treated in an unfair way. I would say today that the people in hell would think it is unfair, especially the people of our day, because people in prison that have killed, I was thinking of the two men that caught this doctor and his wife and two daughters, I believe it was in Pennsylvania. They beat the man senseless, they thought they had killed him, they raped his wife and then killed her, and their eleven year old daughter, they killed her. Now they have the death sentence, but how long will they be there? It will probably never happen because time will run out. They will still be pleading for mercy, and they showed no mercy. God has a remedy for that. He said to the ones that have showed no mercy, there will be no mercy. He is God: He knows. I now want to go back to Genesis and talk about Abraham and Lot. I want us to see the difference in the two men. I first want to go back to the 13th chapter. Abraham has gone to Egypt, there he has presented his wife as his sister. Pharaoh has taken her into his house and then Pharaoh’s house becomes plagued, because he has taken the wife of a prophet of God, no doubt to marry her, if God had not intervened. She is sixty five years old, Abraham is seventy five. Abraham came out of Ur of the Chaldees and Lot followed him. They went to Haran, which is near the Euphrates River. They were there for some time. Abraham’s father died. God’s plan was not for Abraham’s father, and it was not for Lot’s family. His plan was not really for Lot, but Abraham was fond of his nephew. Abraham had a brother that stayed in Haran after Abraham left and went to Canaan. You will find that in the 11th and 12th chapters. I am going to pick up the story in the 13th chapter. “And Abram went up out of Egypt, (Remember his name was still Abram at that time. This is all going to change. God had a plan for Abraham and his name would not let that be.) he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south. And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. (He was very rich. Warren Buffett could not have matched him. You can see that. He has grown up in Haran and has multitudes of camels, cattle, sheep, goats, and of men and maid servants. There are close to a thousand people with Abraham, there has to be.) And he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, (Remember the name Bethel. When you look at the word “El” that is God. Jacob, when he went to Bethel, he realized that. He said, this is the house of God. When it talks about Jehovah there, it is El-Shaddi, Elohim, El, that El means something. That is why God changed Jacob’s name to Israel. It has that el on the end.) unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai; Unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the Lord.” See, he had been there before, he remembered the altar that he had put there before. Abraham was a praying man. He had met God first, back in Ur of the Chaldees, and God spoke to him and told him to get out from there. He knew he had a mission but God did not tell him where to go, not until he had left his father’s house there in Haran. “And Lot also, which went with Abram, had flocks, and herds, and tents. (Remember these words, flocks, and herds, and tents. This is going to bite him later on.) And the land was not able to bear them, that they might dwell together: for their substance was great, so that they could not dwell together. And there was a strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s cattle and the herdsmen of Lot’s cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land. (God does not like arguments. He does not like foolishness. So what did Abram say? He realized that there was a strife in the camp. Wrong cannot dwell among right. If people have different ideas, it is better for them to separate. If a man or woman cannot believe truth, which is a revelation, as Bro. Bud has said, if it is a revelation to the minister, it must be a revelation to the people. It is the same Spirit of God in the people as it is in the preacher.) And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen, for we be brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? separate thyself, I pray thee, from me: if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left. (Lot had no revelation. They were brethren, but Lot was only looking out for his own betterment, not for the betterment of truth, but for his natural betterment.) And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar.” So it was a lush place of all types of beauty, where people went there as a resort. You have places on the west coast that are like that, and places on the east coast also. Remember the Dead Sea was not a dead sea at that time. If you go to the Dead Sea, that part of the world today, all you see is barren land because it is a desert, but it was not like that at that time. “Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other. Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly.” Why Lot? Why did you do that? Because he was looking at the physical, he was looking out over the land that he could see, where there was beauty. He was not looking at the promise of God, like Abraham was. He was looking for more in life than what God had given him. “And the Lord said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated from him, (Not while he was with him. God cannot make a lot of promises to people when everybody is together that don’t belong together. Sometimes there has to be a separation before God can really talk to His chosen. Now God is talking to Abraham, after they split up, not before. They are dwelling in the land, he goes down to Egypt, he comes back, he builds an altar unto the Lord. But there comes a strife between them, which is an upsetting scene. When that strife began to come in there, then they separated themselves. Then God begins to talk to Abram.) Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward. For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.” Now God has made him a promise, to thy seed, but he had no seed at that time. Our promise of God is not what we can see, our promise is what is unseen, but it takes faith to catch on to it. That all comes down to the grace of God, which is what my subject is: it is all about grace. By grace are you saved, through faith and that not of yourself. Now He has made him a promise, the land which you see. I am sure that he could not see more than forty or fifty miles away, but he is beginning to claim the promise, little by little, that God made to him. He is not looking at Sodom, because Sodom is going to be destroyed. Abraham has a much larger picture in his mind than what Sodom was, well watered plains like unto the garden of God. You remember the garden of Eden. “And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee. Then Abram removed his tent, (Removed his tent. Abraham had no permanent dwelling place because he was on the move. He was not settled there. He had never settled in one place, because he had cattle to feed, he had families to feed. He was on the move because God told him to go through the land.) and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord.” He has gone back, and was getting close to Sodom there. As you go through the 14th chapter, that is the chapter where it tells of Lot’s capture, him and everything he has is taken away. What happens? When Abraham hears it, he takes his three hundred and eighteen trained servants that have been brought up in his house and goes to bring Lot and his family back, Lot, his wife, and his daughters. There are several kings there that he is going to take care of. The king of Sodom comes out to bless him. He said, take whatever you want, take all the substance you want. He said, I don’t want anything, only what the young men have eaten, because if I do, you are going to say that you made Abram rich. Go to Chapter 15, starting with verse 1. “After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram; I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? (We remember his role when he went to get a wife for Isaac.) And Abram said, Behold, to me thou has given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but, he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord; (He still did not have what he had been promised. Fellow brothers and sisters, Christians, God has a promise laying out there for us, we see it as the apostle Paul said, through a glass darkly now. We are looking at it, but not clearly seeing it all, we are reading in the Word the same promise that was given unto Abraham, which is in His word, because Abraham is the father of the faithful.) and he counted it to him for righteousness. (Because he believed God. Your belief of that which is in the Word of God is what causes God to count it to you for righteousness. You want to live holy before God, believe His word, and believing His word will require that we follow Him in truth and holiness and righteousness. But if we believe His word, all these things will be added to us, because we finally have something to anchor ourselves and our salvation to, in believing His word.) And He said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it. And he said, Lord God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? And He said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon. And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not. And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away. And when the sun was going down a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him. (This is when Bro. Jackson said that time, that Abraham died, but God brought him back to life, that horror of great darkness that fell upon him, his life left his body.) And He said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.” This was already promised when they left Egypt, that they would come out with great substance. Remember how they borrowed from the Egyptians gold and silver, and everything they needed for their journey. God gave them favor, because He had promised here, four hundred years ahead of time. Every promise in this book is true, and the promises in this book are yours and mine, without fail they are ours.) And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites (that is where Abraham was living) is not yet full. And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces. In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt, unto the great river, the river Euphrates.” Now He has gone beyond what he can see, the promise grew from what he could see, from the river Egypt, all the way to the Euphrates. That is what is promised to his seed today, without fail. It was not until almost a thousand years later, eight hundred years later until this was realized under David. David was the first one to ever get to the Euphrates to conquer the land, all the way from Egypt unto the Euphrates did David conquer, this was eight hundred years later. Let us look at this from the natural standpoint. Sarah has never had a house to live in. She never will have. It has always been from pillow to post, Abraham could not settle because God was moving him at all times. We sing the song, This world is not my home, I’m just passing through, my treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. Sarah had heard Abraham say many times that God was going to give him a son. But God’s promise was to Abraham. When his promise was unto Abraham, Sarah tried to fix it. When we try to fix God’s plan, that is when we always get in trouble. She gave him Hagar, the Egyptian maid, which he had obtained while he was in Egypt, thinking that this would be the answer because she heard Abraham talk about this promise. We cannot talk about it enough, because it is so real and getting more real all the time as we journey on. Just as I was saying this morning, there is going to be something happen in Faith Assembly that we have not experienced before. Sarah’s plan with Hagar did not work out right. In chapter 17, “And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. (This almighty God is El-Shaddai, it signifies the strong one.) And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee.” I remember Bro. William Branham talking about this, he said He gave him a name like unto His own name, God did, Elohim, Abraham. I remember Bro. William Branham saying that. I did not understand it while I lived at Burkesville, I did not understand it because Bro. William Branham had uncles and cousins down there and their name was Branam. But Bro. William Branham’s name was B-r-a-n-h-a-m. Bro. William Branham’s dad fled Burkesville when Bro. William Branham was just a child three years old, because he had got in a fight with somebody and had hurt them pretty bad. He fled and went to Jeffersonville Indiana. Bro. William Branham said, I don’t know why, but for some reason, he changed his name from B-r-a-n-a-m, to B-r-a-n-h-a-m. That is where you get the seven letters in his name. Of course people use that, making Bro. William Branham God, but that was not why. Just like Paul’s name was Saul, God could not use that name because Saul had not been a great man, so God changed Saul’s name to Paul, making him a person that did not favor his past, but giving him another name. Jesus changed Simon’s name to Peter, because Peter means a rock, or a stone. So God changed Abram’s name to Abraham because, for a father of many nations have I made thee. “And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God. And God said unto Abraham, (He no longer calls him Abram.) Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.” Then God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. Let us go on down to the 15th verse. “And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah (that means princess) shall her name be. And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her; yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.” As you go on into the 18th chapter, I had wanted to get to this, where we find that God meets Abraham there in the tent door. See, he is still in the tent. God meets him. Abraham fixes a meal for Him. God makes a promise unto him and Sarah, and Sarah laughs. God says, is anything too hard for me? Let us go on to the 19th chapter and use the rest of our time on this. I want to get to Lot in here. I kept stressing about Abraham, he always dwelt in tents. It said he dwelt in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs of the same promise. There had been three angels that had met Abraham. Abraham called one of them Lord. “And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant’s house, (he no longer dwelt in tents, he no longer has men servants and maid servants, he has become a politician because he sits in the gate) and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat. But before they lay down, the men of the city, even the men of Sodom, compassed the house round, both old and young, all the people from every quarter: And they called unto Lot, and said unto him, Where are the men which came in to thee this night? that we may know them. (I think all of you know what that means, with so much of this perversion in our time.) And Lot went out at the door unto them, and shut the door after him, And said, I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly.” He had been around that mess too long, and knew what they were planning. But we read in 2nd Peter 2:8 I believe it is, where it says that vexed his righteous soul from day to day with the deeds of the wicked, he was vexed, but now he has no choice, he is stuck. He traded his tent for a house. What I am saying about this, just look at the place he traded it for, Sodom. As I said this morning, if I have to live with something like that, I would rather these doors were closed. Here is a man that came all the way out of Ur of the Chaldees and he got much as possessions, but he traded it for a house and traded it to be a judge, because he sat in the gates. When God told him to get out of that place, those angels had to take him by the hand, and his wife also, take them by the hand and lead them out of the city. What did Jesus say in Luke 17:32? Three words, that interrupted His conversation of talking about the end time, remember Lot’s wife. Do you wonder why He would say that? I remember Bro. Jackson talking about that one time, and he said she had gotten all entwined in the human affairs, Ladies Aid, for example. She did not want to go back to living in a tent anymore. She got out of Sodom, but Sodom did not get out of her. She had gotten used to living that lifestyle. No doubt many times, Lot wanted to leave, but then the pull of the world kept him there until God had to get him out, him and his two daughters. That would have been a far different story if she had not looked back to Sodom with regret for having to leave. That is like us wanting to remain in the activities of this evil world. Really, there is nothing to look back to. We must burn our bridges. If this message is speaking to somebody, and especially some young person, to serve God in truth, you have to burn your bridges behind you, never to turn back. Those things that would hinder you, that would hold you back, that would seem to be important, like it was with Lot’s wife, are not worth missing God’s plan for our lives. She did not even have a name. God did not name her, like He did Sarah. I am not talking to be hard on women today, because there were two young ladies there that did leave with their father Lot. You might say, well I would not call them ladies. Well this was a different time than what we live in today. Remember what Jesus said. That is the only thing He said about it, remember Lot’s wife. Why? Do you think He was just speaking that for no reason? No. He was saying, when you have been delivered from your old ways, do not look back to them with desire. When they were out of there, look what came next, Genesis 19:24-26. “Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; 25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. 26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.” Never look back with desire. We have had separation. I realize that, it has bothered me a lot. But brother and sister, as Abraham was, we have got to be willing to move with God, because He has always got a challenge out ahead of us, just like He did when it came down to the time of Joshua. He said, choose you this day who you will serve, whether the God before the flood, or whatever. Elijah, as he stood before that four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of Jezebel, choose you this day who you will serve. This is strange, I know it is. I have to make choices. Sometimes the choice is not an easy one. Walking with God is not always easy, but it is the best way, it is the only way for bride saints. When I am speaking here of Lot’s wife, I am not speaking of you sisters, I am speaking of choices. We can dig our heels in and say, I will not move, but if you do, you will not grow in grace. As I look at Abraham, he never had a house. He had two sons, they were not born in a house: Abraham never had a house. In the cool of the day, Abraham was under an oak tree trying to cool himself from the hot sun. If you would have looked at him, his skin was probably wrinkled because he never had an air conditioned house to dwell in, like Lot had in Sodom, a resort place, maybe like in San Francisco, or Los Angeles, Miami Florida, New York by the bay. But he had something far better than all this, something he could walk away from and move when God said move. This is speaking to me also. I have not preached this to pick on anyone. It is getting late in time, late in the season, we must be moving in the right direction. May God bless every one of you. I say these things because I love you.

THIS NEXT PART PREACHED- 2-05-2012 AM

I am going to continue on with Abraham and Lot this morning. This was something that was brought out to me after I peached 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 we do not like to say these things, sometimes there has to be a separation before God will really open up His plan to His true saints. I know we have gotten much criticism from dealing with Matthew 13 where the tares and wheat were separated, and the tares were put into bundles for burning, but never did we mention any names. We do not have to. Why would anybody say that we are calling them tares, when we never did mention names? That is a mystery. However in order to fulfill scriptures, if you go back into the first part of that 13th chapter of Matthew, where 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? His answer may seem strange to some, because He answered and said unto them, “Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.” Some would judge Jesus on a statement like that, because the world wants you to believe that Jesus is out to save everybody. Salvation that was paid for at Calvary 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. Therefore as we have this picture of Abraham here to look at, Abraham had to wait. He had come many years, some fifteen years or so, to the point of the separation. 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 got there, he found that there was a famine there, and he then goes on down into Egypt. All the time he is gathering much wealth. So was Lot. It got to where there was a problem between Lot’s herdsmen and Abraham herdsmen, they were fussing. There were probably a few licks thrown as well. Abraham, whether it was somebody that reported this to Abraham, or Abram, let me say that, whether this was how it came to his attention, it was reported to him and he did not like what was going on. He did not like problems. Neither do I. There is one thing sure, whenever saints of God have problems you have to deal with, that is one thing. But another thing is, when people leave and cause problems. We find here that there had to be a separation. I read that and I stopped, because I wanted you to think about it. Because it said, and the Lord said to Abraham after Lot was separated from him, not before, because the promise was not to Lot. When it came time for a separation, Lot headed the way of least resistance. He headed to Sodom. There he got rid of all his property and found a house. No doubt he went to Sodom as a rich person, he traded in his riches for their stuff. Brothers and sisters: we are rich in grace and we can trade that in for the least resistance, but not for our betterment. As I said last Sunday, if there had not been a stand made in times past, we would not be here today. Bro. Jackson made a stand when Bro. William Branham put in church order. He made a stand and even got out from behind the pulpit and stood on the flood in front of the pulpit and said, I will not stand behind the pulpit and say what I am going to say. He said, as long as I go to the Tabernacle, I will honor this thing, 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 all of those who opposed his decision, he would have still been their friend. But the moment he made his stand then problems came. I remember him telling about going to Missouri, and what happened. He went to Missouri, and while standing beside his car, he got so dizzy that he had to hold on to something. Finally he said within himself, I will not go along with this church order thing. He said later, it was like a band that had been tied around him, was loosed. After he had that experience, he came back to this area and went to a doctor. The doctor said to him, you have been under a lot of strain. He just shrugged it off to the doctor, but he knew that was right. Because it had got to the point that it was a health problem. We can carry burdens sometimes, that people heap upon us, until it becomes a health problem. There are people that like to see you go through things like that. I am not talking about saints of God, because they will stand behind you. But here He said, lift up now thine eyes, (here is where we are going to see something). The natural that Abraham saw is the spiritual that we see today. Paul said now we see through a glass darkly, talking about the heavenly scene, but we are not looking at these things darkly this morning. I agree with Paul on saying that what he saw was darkly, because he was looking into the heavenly realm. We don’t see it all, but we have a great explanation of it, and a great revelation of it. The things that I say we are looking at today is a clear picture. It is becoming clearer and clearer in peoples heart and mind. I say again this morning, we are looking for a great visitation of God in Faith Assembly. Then these people out here that watch us from time to time, you will share it also. Do not ever get down so much on things, like on your health, that you cannot be an encouragement to somebody else. I remember years ago there was a brother named Bro. Higginbotham. He was from Crawford County. He got cancer. The last person that visited him in the hospital, when he left, Bro. Higginbotham raised his hands to God and said, It won’t be long now. We sometimes have to be an encouragement to others even when we are down ourselves, in order for God to bless us. Don’t ever let the devil see your mully-grubs, because the Bible says, seeing that day approaching, begin to lift up your head and rejoice, because your redemption is drawing nigh. We do not all rejoice the same way. People rejoice in different ways. As our sister was singing the song this morning, there were a lot of people that rejoiced in hearing the song. I did, but it was in another way: tears were in my eyes, I felt something. Looking at this picture of Moses, I don’t know how they knew to do so, but somebody lifted his hands. The battle is not yours, the battle is God’s. The thing about it is, when the children of Israel were coming out of Egypt and they got on the other side of the Red Sea, when they got into the wilderness, then they began to have battles. Here was Moses, better than eighty years old. They began to watch him. They saw the battle was going so good when he had his hands lifted. Then some of the people who were around about him, saw his hands begin to get tired and began to go down. What did they do? They picked his arms up again. Rejoice. Today I had thoughts of what I wanted to see in this service this morning, but it is up to God whether it happens or not. Young people, you have an opportunity today, and I will say even six, seven, or eight years old, because God has dealt in young lives, even in seven years old. Right in this assembly, there are children no older than that, that God is already dealing in their lives. Are you going to discourage them? Absolutely not. If they feel the Spirit of God in their lives, I am going to encourage them, because I believe that we are going to see God dealing in young peoples lives in that way. I never want to see separation. It is not a thing to rejoice in, to see separation, but whenever you see unbelief among the people, there has got to be separation. The thing about it is, when we begin to look at things just with this natural eye, God cannot use it. It has got to be something that goes deeper than that. It has got to get in your mind, it has got to get in your heart. Old people used to have a mourner’s bench. They talked about praying through. I knew what that meant even as a child, it meant that they prayed until they got through to God. We are in the last round-up of God dealing with bride people, to make them into what He expects them to be before the rapture takes place. Lot looked also, but it was on his own. He saw the well watered valleys. Of course that was before God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Then there was another occasion where somebody looks again, and that was Abraham. God tells him to look. In other words, God is saying to him, you see that valley there of Sodom, I am going to give that to you too, one of these days: it is going to be a fruitful place, because there will be a stream of water come out from around the altar. Lift up thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward. From where you are, every direction that you can see, as far as you can see, I am going to give it to you. I believe he was looking over into the Jordan Valley. I believe he was also looking toward the Mediterranean. He was looking south toward Egypt. He was looking north toward where they are having all the trouble now, where that evil king is killing his own people, in Lebanon and northward. “For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.” God’s promise is not slack. Everything He promised, he will do, because God is not into negotiating. God does not negotiate, His promises are sure. God said, I will repay, saith the Lord, whatsoever the canker worm, the caterpillar, and all this has eaten, I will give to you. “And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.” Through the generations of time, there have been millions and millions and millions of Jews, which were the seed of Abraham. I have this picture to represent Lot, then we will move on to something else. This is the result when you do things on your own, or when I do things on my own. This is the end results of all that, it has no good flavor to it. Do not ever be ashamed of Him, young people, don’t be ashamed of Him. Don’t be ashamed to wear a dress that is decent. Don’t go to school and pull your dress up and double it over so that it will be short. That may make you to be popular with some, but not with God. I heard a girl, which is not a girl any more, but a woman, say something like that, I would go to school and pull my skirt up because I wanted people to see my beautiful figure. That figure will fade. It is just the devil setting a trap for you. Well somebody will laugh if I wear a long length dress. Let them laugh, you will have the last laugh. I remember Bro. Jackson telling about a young girl one time, she never had a relationship with a man, but these other young girls that were talking to her, had. They laughed at her. She said to them, any time that I want to, I can become like you, but you can never become like me. Young girls and young boys, there are all kinds of problems with young people today because they have violated their virginity, boys and girls. We want to talk about girls like that, but I remember a man, the last place I pastored in the Methodist Church. This man came to me and told me, my mom and dad told us, (they had several boys.) you boys be virgins too, the same as girls. You cannot help what has happened in the past, but I am trying to talk to some young people. If you want the Spirit of God in you, do something about it. If you have already violated that trust this morning, I don’t stand here to condemn you, God can forgive you and make you as though it had never happened when you submit to Him. The devil’s great delight is to put guilt on people. You can become almost anything you want to today in this old world, but not many will become Christians. We have got to the place that this old world has become so lax, with very few actually being serious with God. Today, it is all over the news, that they are having a football game up here at Indianapolis. People can drink on the sidewalks today in Indianapolis, but tomorrow they cannot. Somebody is going to pay for this demonic possession. Some might say, but I like football. That is not football, that is fools ball. People giving thousands of dollars for a ticket to watch a football game. They will stay home instead of going to church tonight. Where is their God? These things have become a god to many in America. Our president backed this Arab Spring so much in Egypt, and look what happened. There was a soccer game between the main school in Egypt and a lower school. The lower school beat the main school and there were seventy six people killed. It went from Arab Spring into soccer spring. When God gets through with Egypt, it will have an altar to God in the middle of it. Wait and see. That is what the Bible says, and I will believe the Word of God before I will a bunch of politicians. What I say is not politically correct. But where Lot went is where he looked, and this is what the world is looking like today, just like Sodom. Some may say Sodom, I don’t know what that means. Yes you do, but for you who may not know, If you read your Bible, you will know. “Arise, (Now He is telling Abraham something, Arise. Abraham is well into his eighty’s, and God is telling him to walk through the land. There is no age limit in God. He did not call Moses until he was eighty years old. He got Abraham when he was seventy five. I was seventy five the other day, maybe I’m not too late. You should not tell everybody how old you are. Why not? I am not a woman. I hope you count me as a man. It sometimes seems like, yesterday I was a teenager. Time has passed and I don’t know where it has gone to, but I thank God for every day of it.) walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it; for I will give it unto thee.” There is God’s deed to Abraham. Whenever I started pastoring Faith Assembly, a little over seven years ago, some of them already had me as a feeble old man. I may look feeble this morning, but I’m not, I am not ready to kick the bucket. “Then Abram removed (Get up in your faith this morning, begin to walk, and begin to believe God. Don’t wait for the next bus load, or the next train load to move out of the station. Move in faith today.) “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” he moved… his tent.” Not his house, he never did have a house, because he was always on the move. I was not ready to pastor Faith Assembly, I was sitting in my easy chair, I would preach every two weeks on a Thursday night, and Bro. Bud and I could not decide at times, which one should preach. I tell you, that day that we were working in Corydon and Bro. Steve called us and told us to come to the hospital, we went, not knowing what we would soon find out. When we got there Bro. Steve was standing outside waiting on us. The first news he told us, was, the doctors said Bro. Jackson may not make it. It was like a weight came from the top of my head down through the bottom of my feet. My thinking was, well Bro. Jackson may miss a few services and we will have to peach. We did not care to do that. But I tell you, there was a long time that I just could not talk about it. What I felt that morning, I could not talk about it, it brought tears to my eyes. I am glad, that when Bro. Jackson left the scene, God did not die. When he left the scene, and when Bro. William Branham left the scene, God did not die. To a lot of people, it was as if He died. A lot of people are already on the teeter totter of being dead. Abraham picked up his tent and walked. He walk through the land. Not to see whether God’s promises were true or not, but He wanted to see what God had promised him. I love God this morning, I praise Him. If you love Him, you should praise Him. I had not meant to go this way with the message this morning, but I don’t care that I did. We should never apologize for what the Spirit of God does. When the Spirit of God moves, we should move with Him. I am saying to young people, I could make an altar call this morning and say, who wants to get closer to God? Everybody would want to do that. If I turned around and said to you, how many are not living like you should, would you still move? This has been heavy upon my heart and my mind because I want us to be ready for whatever is next. I am not saying that you are not going to make it, but I am saying this, the quicker we get our lives in order, the quicker the Spirit of God is going to move in this place. You say, well you are judging. I am not judging anyone, I am just saying what I feel. There is somebody that needs to make a move. As I look over the congregation, I am not looking at any certain person. I can go over to Bro. Jerry’s shop and begin to talk about scripture to my brother, and he will say, look here, look at these bumps on my arm. God wants us to be in that kind of mode every day. We sing the song, God is an on time God. God is a real God. He is waiting on somebody to make up their mind. I say these things because I love you. Abraham was ready to walk. It was not that he did not believe God, he just wanted to see what God had for him. I want to see the other side, what God has for us. I say it again because I mean it, I love you brothers and sisters. I love this family of God.

THE GRACE OF GOD

I am still on my lesson about God’s grace that He has shown us. We have scriptures listed up here, that I want to get to in this message, but right now I am going back into Isaiah 53 again, because I saw words in there that I wanted to bring out. I am using three verses. God does not repeat Himself without a reason for doing it. He tells someone something they need to take heed to. I was thinking this morning about the sister speaking in tongues, and you can tell if you listen, what it is pointing to. I did not know what was being said, but I could tell by listening that the interpretation was going along with what was being said. God is in our midst, and you can touch Him. I will not tell who, and I will not tell where, but I heard something about a large church in this move, that probably had about a thousand people that were members. But the minister only preached about Bro. William Branham. He told the hunting stories that he had been on with him, how he had been with him hunting, and it was just a none ending thing. I remember Bro. William Branham mentioning his name back when he was alive. People got so tired of hearing all of that, that they split, half of them went one way and half went another way. I hope people that are leaving are leaving because of the hunger for God, and not just to follow another man. The only way you will be fooled in that way, is as Paul said, who is Paul, who is Apollos, who is Cephas, but servants by whom you believe. There are people that have gone to these assemblies so long, that they have heard over and over the same thing, that they have dropped out and no longer going to church services because God is not doing anything in those services. As I have been thinking lately, our congregation does not drop off much from Sunday morning to Sunday night or Thursday night, it is because people are hungry. It must be that God is moving in our midst to let people know that something is going on. We are not just promising something of hot air, but we are living in a time when we know that God has a purpose and He is fulfilling that purpose. I am so thankful to know people as you and others out there that listen because of a hunger for the Word of God. People are getting excited. There was a young woman tonight, as I walked down the aisle, she has not been coming here very long, but she said, I am so thankful to be in this place, I love this place. It is not the building: it is what goes on in this building. I am thankful for the building, God has protected it through the years from many things. He continues to protect it because we have tried to use everything wisely, not just to build on to a building but to build on to peoples lives. I know that we have re-worked a lot of things, the internet, tape room, things like that, but it was for the benefit of many people, and not just for us. It was not that we did it for Bro. Bud and me to be seen, because I remember when they first started showing this on the internet, I did not want to be on it, but now I realize it has helped many people who are not able to come here to the services. The Contender has helped many people that never would have heard or seen any of us on the internet. I have had people away from here, as well as people here in this area, and not just one or two, express how they have wanted the things that have been ministered here the last few years, to be published in the Contender. I have had one message published, which was the third day, and I got a lot of criticism from that because there were people that said, cancel me off the mailing list. What did we do? We cancelled them. It has been spoken against, but when you have run out of messages to print, and there are a lot of people depending upon the Contender for their spiritual lively-hood in a Christian walk. I am so thankful to those who print it and get it ready for the mailing. I have been thankful for what has gone out from that into the world by our precious brother that has given his life in service for the benefit of people. God blessed him in his ministry, in a way that there is no other preacher out there that has come out of the Branham move that God did for them, what was done for Bro. Jackson. There was criticism when he preached certain things, but there always will be. It was even said that he would have to reprint the Contender over some of the things he preached that later he saw more light on. He did not do that: he just simply preached what God had later revealed to him. When he preached those seven messages that he saw in a dream, of him working in a field and Bro. William Branham came to him and said, I want you to preach for me. He first refused. Then finally he said, if I can preach these, then I will go. Bro. William Branham looked at the titles he had wrote down and said, perfect. Then one of them, he later changed the title of it, and a certain preacher contacted Bro. Bud and me, telling how wrong Bro. Jackson was, but he did not know that Bro. Jackson had said before he left this earth, that if they feel that way about it, just let them stew. He said that because somebody is always looking at every word you say, and if you do not say it exactly like they think you should, they complain, but yet, they themselves do not keep up with what they themselves say. We must keep up with what we say, or somebody is pointing out every little thing. The thing about it is, I have quoted the Contender for a few times, but I have not preached from the Contender. I did not preach from the Spoken Word books either. I have used this Bible for what I have preached. If that is an advantage, it is God’s advantage. I have been criticized from that and I will be criticized in what will be printed, but it is not because I have wanted to do that, it is because of pressure. People have put pressure on me, to get me to print something concerning certain subjects that I have preached on, even Bro. Jackson’s family. I have to take it in a way that I will be obedient to the things that have been pressed upon me to do. You see that in scripture. The disciples would never have left Jerusalem if there had not been pressure put upon them. But Jesus told them, go into all the world and preach the gospel, and I will be with you. But here they were in Jerusalem, because that was more of a place where everybody could gather. Then the persecution came. When Jesus was raised from the dead He said, go into Judaea, which would have covered Jerusalem and that area, then He said go to Samaria, then from there to the uttermost parts of the earth. But they did not do that. Because of this, we find that Stephen’s life was taken from him. Then that began to push them out. After his death, Philip went down to Samaria. This is where Jesus told them to go. This was the pattern that He gave them. Philip went down there and had great success as an evangelist, because the Bible calls him Philip the evangelist. Though he had great success, nobody received the Holy Ghost. They were baptized in Jesus’ name only. So what happened? After that, Peter and John went down there; and began to lay hands on the people and they began to receive the Holy Ghost. What they received was so evident that a certain man among them named Simon, wanted to buy what the believers received. Peter told him, you cannot buy this, and furthermore your heart is not right with God. He begged them to pray for him that none of the things would happen to him that had been told him. Tonight, here in February 2012, the pressure is on and we are pressing into something. We are pressing into an era of time, I believe with all my heart that we are going to see a big change here. I believe what I said this morning, concerning young children. You are going to see that. It is not just something that I am saying, but you are going to see that, that God is going to move in some young peoples lives. I don’t want to be on the outside, standing somewhere looking on: I want to be on the inside watching God work, and let Him work inside me as well. You can either get to be old and fluid, or you can get to be old and foolish. When this begins to drip, I want to be under the spout. I know some of the older people used to say, I want to be under the spout where the blessings come out. I have not heard that in a long time, but I remember it. I want you to be there too, I want us to be there together as a body, young and old and all in between. I fit in there somewhere, young, old, middle age. I know I don’t fit in the young group, and I don’t fit in the middle age, sorry to say. But I still feel young. I don’t feel that I am too old to be corrected by the Holy Ghost, and I don’t feel that I am too old to receive the blessings of God. One man told me one time, that he testified with just a few words, I am saved and sanctified and satisfied and sat down. That was no testimony because he had not reached the goal. He had not got to the goal post yet. He has just got part of the way. We cannot survive on Wesley’s teachings, even though that generation did back then. We live in an era of time after much more has been revealed, and the Bible says, God is not mocked. We live in a time when people have made a mockery out of Christianity, I do not say out of religion because you can be religious and never be a Christian. Let me just say this, I want what Bro. Dewayne has, but for my own purpose. You have yours, Bro. Dewayne, but I want it to meet my needs as well. The thing about it is, God will blend all that together, He will blend together His congregation, to satisfy the desire in each heart. You may say, well I sure wish I had what Bro. Dewayne has. Are you willing to be what he had to be, in order to have what he has? He moved here from Georgia to get the need fulfilled that he had for the desire in his heart. Others have come from different places because somewhere, just like the dove that went out of the ark, the old crow could sit anywhere. It just went from one dead body to another, but the dove could not do that because it has no craw. It is a unique bird. It does not eat a dead animal that has been laying and wasting for months. When the crow was sent out, it was months, when Noah sent it out, but it did not have any message. But when God sent the dove out, He sent it out and it did not have any message that time, it came back. He sent it out again and it came back with a twig of an olive tree. It was bringing a message back to Noah, that the water is abating, because the olive tree had to be growing in order to have those leaves on it. It had to be a little sprout that had come up. Then he waited a certain length of time and sent it out again and it never came back. Noah knew it was time to start tearing the ark up. I love that. God will tear our nest up. Every once in awhile He will do that. He will tear our little resting place up because He means for us to move. As I was talking about Abraham this morning, he never did have a house to live in. If he had ever settled, then that would have been the land that God would have allotted him. But God told him to move and go through the land. He did. Go north and south, go east and west. Why are you saying this? I am saying these things for encouragement to the saints of God. God does not want us to rest on our laurels and forget about what His promises are unto those who love his Word. Jesus had no where to lay His head. When you listen to Trinity Broadcast, they will tell you He was rich. But if you pay attention to the Bible you will see that when He was rich, was when He was raised from the grave. Our promise is not for us to get settled here with minuscule things, and they are minuscule. God expects us to keep pressing on. I now want to go to Isaiah 53, verse 3. Jesus was on the cross. I saw something here this week, what Jesus did for us. “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.” There are six different times in three verses that he says, our. It says, we hid as it were our faces from Him. I remember when I was about eleven or twelve years old, conviction was on me so bad that I got weak, my heart was beating so hard and fast, I could hear it in my ears. God has His time, He has His place. But we are sometimes very stubborn people. It was really when I was six years old, I remember I was in the garden behind the house, just a little country boy, God spoke to me and told me He was real. From that time on, there was never a doubt in my mind that there was a God that is real. He gives you reminders. As you think back in your life, if you have ever rejected Him as a young person, or whenever, you always remember that time. I remember Bro. Bud telling about how he wanted to wait and surrender to the Lord when he got to about fifty years old, but it did not work that way. God had a work for him at a much younger age. We sometimes have plans. I know I had plans. One time I wanted to be a baseball player. But then God began to speak to me during that time. I was not a Christian, but I felt like if I ever got in that position then I would have to testify for Him. I don’t know why I did that, but I did. I could never have made it. I remember the many times that Bro. Lau talked about how he wanted to be a baseball player. I remember him telling how he was a left handed batter, how he wanted to strike that ball. But then he got saved, and he and his daughter went to the slum areas of the town and began to sing and testify of the grace of God. I remember that. When God did save him, he was telling a black man, a preacher, I had a dream last night. I dreamed that I was laying in a gutter or something and I was cut up and my insides were all laying outside of my body, so dirty and everything. An angel came along and put Mercurochrome on it, and it burned terribly. Then the angel put it all back in place. That preacher told him, I would love to have a dream like that. He let him know what it was, that was not Mercurochrome, it was the blood of Jesus Christ. “Surely He hath borne our griefs, (Brothers and sisters, your griefs have already been borne, when that thing that troubled you so much, and was such a burden to you, a grief or a loved one you have grieved over, or someone that has passed away, He bore that for you. I remember before Sis. Turner and Sis. Adams died, I remember our brothers looked like they would not make it much longer. I know Bro. Turner would not care for me to tell this, he began to think that maybe he would not outlive his wife. But He bore that grief, whenever these brothers’ companions passed away, they began to gain strength because God bore that, Jesus Christ did, on the cross.) and carried our sorrows, (Grief and sorrow, whatever you are troubled with tonight, He has gone ahead of you. He took it upon His shoulders when He carried that old cross, that rugged cross down through Jerusalem, which was a long way, He did not carry it from here to the back of the church. I have been there on the pavement where it all began, where it is written on the stones. Then He carried it all the way through the Damascus gate, on into the garden, from the garden to the place of the skull, which is very evident, then up on a hill, which the Jews call Golgotha. They don’t call it Calvary, they call it Golgotha, because they say that is the name the Catholics gave it.) yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, (None of that was for Him: He had done no wrong.) He was bruised for our iniquities: (Our sins, as the song goes, our sins stained the old rugged cross, but His grace, when you go down the highway, it is His grace that keeps you on the road. When you travel here from distances to be in these services, it is the grace of God that enables you. Bro. Steve and Sis. Elsie and I have traveled the world over, but not for pleasure. If you think it is for pleasure, then follow us sometime to the Philippines. They do the best they can, but present conditions are not pleasurable. I just saw where Bro. Dong has lost his church house, so pray for that brother: he has asked for prayer. When we were there, there were about ninety five people there. So he has quite a congregation. They do not have money to buy a building.) the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; (When you lay your head down on your pillow at night, when you go to sleep, when you have dreams that are pleasant, when you have dreams that are not too pleasant, just as Bro. Chris was talking, the dream was not too pleasant, but it worked out in the end. There are young people that face sicknesses. It is because of the enemy. God does not tempt you with things, but if there is something in our life that we need to make right, then He will let Satan take over for a little while. Then He will intervene and do something about it. You might say, well is that what happened to you? Judge that for yourself. But I am saying tonight, it is getting better, I was prayed for last Sunday night. The prayer of faith availeth much. The prayer of faith means much in the hour we live in. God said through James, is there any sick among you, let him call for the elders of the Church. Let them anoint him with oil and the prayer of faith shall save the sick. He is an on time God.) and with His stripes we are healed.” It is either our, or we, or you. This is what this chapter is about and it all hinges around this, it is not what I can do, it is not what I can say on my own, but it is the anointing of the Holy Ghost. The anointing is what breaks the yoke. Just as the scripture Bro. Bud read Thursday night, how as I mentioned this morning, when Jehoshaphat was getting ready to go out to battle, all he had was a bunch of singers. He did not have an army of children, or of women. But they all had to get in there. It lets me know that God is concerned about all of you. I could see that little child looking around to his mother, seeing the great army out there coming, marching toward them. I could see Jehoshaphat scared, but then God speaks to him, the battle is not yours. Take the singers, do you think singing does not make a service? This thing that these religious broadcasts call singing, is not singing. I see some that try to move witth the music, but there is nothing in it to move to. I know if a cow will not give her milk with stuff like that going on, then God is not blessed in it, nor is He blessing it. Before Faith Assembly would ever get like that, I would rather go out and hear the birds and squirrels chirp in the woods. Don’t bring that stuff in here: I don’t want to hear it. You may say you are just an old crank. Well a crank does something worthwhile. It used to start cars. It did the same thing that the battery does now. I thought this morning, listening to certain songs, our young brother was playing the steel guitar, and I like that. He was playing and you could hear the words come out of it. I thought, that is the way they used to play. Now you cannot tell whether it is a steel guitar or what. I like good music, I like good singing, but don’t bring me this other stuff. When I go home Sunday, I like to have a good meal without having my stomach upset. I am going to read a little further here. Verse 6, “All we like sheep (We, not Him. Think what a crowd He died for. We had done everything against Him because we were born that way. That is the reason there has to be a change in a person’s life, because you cannot go on and serve God the way you were when you came into this world. Did Jesus say to Nicodemas, maybe you ought to just wait until the first of the year and turn over a new leaf? God is not after props, He does not want something propped up. Jesus’ death was real, and what He is wanting for us is real, in our lives. He went from our to we. When He said our, He did not leave out anybody, and when He said we, He did not leave out anybody that was supposed to be a part of this family. All we like sheep…) have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way;(Now it goes from we to us) and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Everything He did was for the Bride of Christ. This is what I want to get into in this message, it was not to prop up the Jewish religion, Paul called it that. When you get into Galatians, the apostle said the Jews’ religion. He came under the Law, He was made under the Law, for what purpose? To deliver them that were under the Law. That is the reason He talked to Nicodemas like He did. He was telling Nicodemas something that cannot happen to him now, but the story had to be told. If He had not mentioned the new birth, we would never have known what it was. If Paul had not talked about the old man, we would not have known what it was. “He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth: He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth. He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare His generation? For He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people (Israel) was He stricken.” It does not say Israel, but that is what He was talking about. God has let us live for this hour that we are in right now. He did not just let us live to breathe, to eat more soup and sandwiches, a steak every once in awhile, a piece of chicken now and then. These are all good, but they will not give you eternal life. They will keep you living here for awhile, but if time went on and some of you young people lived to be seventy five, you would think that it was yesterday. Every once in awhile I think of my high school days, or even further back than that, it seems like yesterday. The Bible says your life is a vapor. You see that steam as it comes up, it does not last, because that is just a vapor. That is not the real thing. Living here, if we do not live for God, that is not the real thing. We have no life, because there is no promise in that natural life. Young people, I am preaching this message so that you will understand what I am talking about. This was not meant to be deep, but very easy to understand. This grace of God is not something of a mystery, it is just a mystery to them that will not accept it. But unto the saints of God, the grace of God is what saved you and makes a new person out of you, a new creature, it makes you easier to get along with. You are not just always thinking about yourself. When a brother or sister gets in trouble, you can go to God in prayer for them. When they are weeping, you are not out laughing, and when they are rejoicing, you are rejoicing with them. How many times have I seen Bro. Dewayne walking off the platform shouting. Then people begin to clap their hands. They are rejoicing because God has blessed him and He is blessing us through him. I mentioned his name, but he is not the only one. Bro. Turner, I am glad to see you doing better. Bro. Adams, I am glad to see you doing better. Sometimes God lightens the load for us because we have gone through so much that this life has no more meaning here. The only meaning is that there is a better day coming, but I tell you what, when God begins to lighten the load, you can see the step come back into the feet. You see the twinkle begin to come back into the eye and the praise begin to come back upon the lips. Not because of the loss of a loved one, but because God has lifted the load for awhile. That is what the loving of your companion does. If you say to your companion, I love you, and you never show it, then how does that companion know that you really do have true love? Don’t just tell that person you love them, show them. So many times I have heard this said, when you say you love somebody, they say I do you too. I do you too what? Can you not get that word to come out of your mouth? God said when we were yet sinners He loved us. He did not wait for us to say it first. He meant it, because He saved you. He was willing to send His only begotten Son to show us that much. I would like to go to everybody in this church tonight and say I love you and I appreciate you, but I cannot get to all of you. I do try to get to most of you before service time comes. I don’t necessarily tell you I love you, but I mean it when I say I do. I am telling you now, I do love all my brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus with a godly love. We need that agape love in our hearts, that life changing love, than when this old world begins to shake, rattle and rock, then we can look at things and say Thank you, Lord, you have told me it would be like this. You told me so. You told me how it would be, and I believed you. I just have to say, Let us get real with God. He was real with us when He provided us with something the world cannot give anyone. We could not do for ourselves what Jesus did for us, we could not die for our sins, because we would yet be sinners. I was reading this week, for a good man, some would even dare to die, there are people that would give their life for someone else, because they were a good person. But for a righteous man, hardly anyone would die. When you confess that you are a Christian and that you believe God, people of the unregenerate world crowd will spit on your grave and call you all kinds of names. That is how much Jesus Christ means to this present generation and to this nation that was founded upon Christian principles. They have said for the last three Sunday’s Obama has gone to church, but he had not gone in the last three years before that. I say this, You hypocrite. And anybody else that does it for that purpose, that is all they are. Why do you say that? Because I still have freedom of speech, at least for now. These other politicians, also get very religious around election time, even though they would walk on your grave later on. Don’t try to make me stop believing what I do. You may shut these doors, but with my last breath I will say, Praise God, I love Him. You cannot keep me from saying that. We are living in the end time, and I want to be ready to meet my savior when He comes back for His bride. Not only for that, but God has been good to me ever since 1959 especially, and He was before that when I first surrendered to Him. I thought, when I became a Christian, that everybody ought to listen to and be glad to hear about this new life. I began to talk about it, when I worked at Fischer Bodies. I had just become a Christian, and I walked up the steps, dumb as I was, I said something to one fellow about being a Christian. He turned me around before everybody and began to laugh, saying, this fellow is a Christian. He began to laugh about it all. He was older than me, and I have to wonder where he is tonight.