Sermon Texts (Adding Now)
Sermon Texts Beginning With H
Have Not I Sent Thee? (62-0124)
| Have Not I Sent Thee? (62-0124) |
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E-1 Thank you, my brother. The Lord bless you. Good evening, friends. It's a privilege to be here tonight in this nice little comfortably looking church. And--and so I'm sure the Holy Spirit's here, and He's--He's acquainted with all the crowd. So we're just glad to be here to set in heavenly places in Christ Jesus enjoying this wonderful fellowship...?... E-2 So we are--want to announce that tomorrow night now is... The--the convention starts tomorrow night over at the Ramada. I suppose the auditorium's right there with the... Yes, sir. And everybody that can, come out to every service. I guess Brother Williams has gone through it, in the procedure, and told all what's happened, all what's taken place, and what is to take place (as far as he knows what's to take place). 'Cause sometimes in these meetings, something takes place that we don't--we just don't know. We're going over there looking for something to take place. And now, the last time we sure had a wonderful fellowship over there at the Westward Ho, I believe it was called, the Westward Ho.
E-3 And now, as I guess it's been announced, that tomorrow night our beloved brother Oral Roberts will be speaking tomorrow night, the Lord willing. And there'll be many more there, and you're going to hear some great speakers--some of the businessmen, ministers from all around. I hardly know any of the speakers that's advertised outside of Brother Gardner, and I do know Brother Velmer Gardner. And so they've got now on until Monday night. So we're just expecting a great big spiritual gastronomical jubilee. So--so we're coming and feast upon the things of the Lord.
E-4 Now, I want to say that this has been one of the most grandest times that I've ever had in Phoenix. Usually when I'm in Phoenix I just get to, maybe, go into one place. But this time, I think this is about six or seven, maybe eight places that I've been, around through the Salt River. Nine, nine places that I have been--nine different places: that's nine different ministers to get acquainted with, shake their hands, and have fellowship with the different organizations.
E-5 And you know, I--I like that. I think we get more acquainted with each other, and 'cause we're going to have eternity to spend with each other. So we might as well get acquainted down here and know how it is.
E-6 Eternity never begins, never ends (See?), never had a beginning, never has an ending. You can't explain it. But anything that had a beginning has an end. So you say, "What about us, Brother Branham?" Well, as long as you're natural human of the earth here, you had a beginning. But if you're borned of heaven, you're part of God. Then that Spirit never had a beginning, because It's part of God. It's eternal. That's the only way you can ever live forever, is to have Eternal Life (That's right.), an Eternal Life. But anything that begins has an end. E-7 Now, 'course I'm not... I hardly know how to speak English and know... I've studied a word or two when I'd find it, to see what it was in the Bible, Hebrew and Greek. But the Greek word there for Eternal Life is the same word that's used for God's Life. It's spelled Z-o-e, Zoe. And he that has Eternal Life is Zoe, God's own Life. That makes you His own son or daughter (See?), 'cause you're borned of Him. His Life is in you. And you can no more perish than God can perish. So you got Eternal Life and, "I'll raise him up at the last day," God said. Isn't that wonderful? E-8 I was thinking, when God in the beginning He spoke and He said, "Let there be, and let there be," and brought forth the seeds, everything of its kind. You can hybreed it, of course, and turn it around, as I preached here in Phoenix one time on, I believe, "Hybrid Religion"; how that they try to interbreed it with denominations, instead of letting it be like it was. But you let a--you let a hybrid... Anything that's hybrid cannot breed itself back.
E-9 So when man tells you, and you children going to school, and they say that we come from a single cell, and the ethics of Darwin... He--he just doesn't know what he's talking about (See?), because... You take a horse and a--and a... You take a... Well, let's say a donkey and a mare, and they have a--a colt. It's a--it's a mule. But that mule cannot breed to another mule and have a mule. It finishes right there. Hybrid corn, you could hybreed corn, and then you could plant that corn. It won't be nothing (See?), won't be nothing; has to come back. E-10 So when God spoke and made man, and man's soul was lost, it absolutely... Anything outside of that: joining church and anything is hybreeding. You've got to come back to... God's got to speak the Word back again. That makes it Life Eternal. When God speaks Life into you, then that's eternal again. But until that it's a hybrid condition. You see? So the devil mingled with it and mixed--tried to mix faith and something, unbelief together, so it makes a hybrid (See?), and... But when God speaks and places the Holy Spirit in there and seals it, it's eternal.
E-11 Ephesians 4:30 says: "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God (not the holy church of God; the Holy Spirit of God) whereby you are sealed until the day of your redemption." And a seal represents a finished work. Nothing is sealed... Like you load a boxcar.
E-12 So glad tonight to know that I'm one of you. And I... When I was a boy I always wanted people to love me. I was an unlovable person. I was kind of what's called the black sheep in the family. All of them drank, you know, but I always... As you've read my life story, no doubt... E-13 Sometimes I preach pretty rough because I--I see that somebody getting out of line. You see, you're supposed to do that. A real daddy will. Why, he'd shake you and say, "Here, get back here in line," if he's a real true father. So sometimes your pastor has to wade down on something. Just love him that much more, because he's a real father to you (You see?), trying to keep you lined up; because he's watching over your soul, which the Holy Ghost has made him the overseer of the church. And you must always watch that. E-14 I pray that God will bless this little church, and may it grow and prosper. May many fine preachers come out of this church and go into the fields everywhere. And may its name be immortal, is my prayer. May God bless its pastor, its deacons, trustees, and its affiliation, whatever it is. May God be with all of you, and all of its members, as you labor and work together. I pray that the Holy Spirit will work with you, confirming the Word with great signs and wonders to follow the believers who believes the Word, that's preached across this platform here. God bless you. E-15 Now, I'm a little hoarse. Brother Williams has just given me a combing over. I told him I had it--was going to Ajo and a few cities tomorrow. I'm trying to find a place to move to out here in Arizona, to live out here. And then in coming to Arizona, I wouldn't come... And a precious brother the other morning after I preached on "The Royal Seed"... Now, I'm not a tape seller, you all know that. But the boy over here has got the tapes. Anybody that's got a tape recorder, I wish you, if you can, get that tape on "The Royal Seed" for last Sunday morning.
E-16 And Brother Fuller... he got out the--got out in the pulpit after I left and told the people to tell me I could come take over his church. He and his wife would be janitor. Well, that was very sweet. Brother--Brother John Sharritt with his church, and then... but I don't... I... If I'd come to Phoenix, no, sir, I wouldn't start no church. No, siree. That's not in me (See?), 'cause if you start a church, you're... E-17 And I may--always wanted to come west. And I... Maybe the last tie that's bound me to the east was my mother that just went home to be with Jesus a few weeks ago; and my wife's mother about a year ago. So now we're both orphans without father or mother in this earth. They're gone on to be with our Lord. And we are planning on maybe, the Lord willing, coming westward to live. Pray for us. E-18 Now, now, in the... Before we approach the Word... I want to read some of the Word tonight and just speak for a little while. And by the way, I forgot... Did Billy give out any prayer cards? All right, sir. That's--that's good. Then we'll... It's going to be a small place for a prayer meeting, but I've had it where... Someone said, some... Like the pastor one time sometime would have a small church, maybe it seat a hundred or two, they say, "Oh, Brother Branham, if my church was just big enough..." It's plenty big. The only thing you have to have is just the Word from God, (See? That's all.), no matter where it's at.
E-19 I never let my meetings get big, 'cause when you do (or some obligation of radio, television, or something, or some books, or press, or something)... When you do, right then you're tying yourself down. I want to be where I don't have to have any money; I never took a offering in my life. And I--I don't have to have money, and the place can't get too little. If it's in a cottage prayer meeting, that's fine.
E-20 And I've went overseas. In Bombay, India, I preached to five hundred thousand at one time; south Africa, two or three hundred thousand; way out... Don't... say, "How do you get the money to do that?" Well, if God sends me, He always sends somebody with the money with it. You see? So He just... We must live by faith, you know. So it's a great life, a faith life, isn't it? Just believe Him. E-21 Let us bow our heads now as--'fore we approach His Word. Solemnly now, after we feel like that we're acquainted and kind of know each other, if there's a request here tonight that you would like for me to pray for you, for some something another, would you just raise up your head--your hand, rather, and say, "Brother Branham, pray for me." God bless you. Just all around, the heavenly Father sees. E-22 Now, precious Lord, the Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who brought again the dead to life when He raised up Jesus Christ from the dead, we are so happy tonight to know that He raised up from the dead, and He's not dead no more, but alive forever more. Two thousand years has come and gone, and yet we--we are with Him tonight just as real as He walked in Galilee in His days. We just simply know that He is risen from the dead, making Hisself known to us in the form of the Holy Spirit. We're so thankful for that, Lord. E-23 And to see right now in this evil day that we live in, when unbelievers and--and scientists and so forth are trying to cut away the very value of the Word, yet God lives in His Word. And we see Him manifest Himself, make Hisself known just as clearly and plain to us, and we're so thankful for that, Lord. And to know... What if we were out tonight, out of the ark, and didn't know just where we were, wandering souls like the raven that was turned out of the ark... He was satisfied with living upon the dead carcasses that was floating on the water yet. But like the little dove had to find its way back to the ark and knock on the door, or the window, until father Noah let her in, we're so happy tonight to know that Father God has let us in this ark.
E-24 And tonight we're safely, completely resting in the atonement that our Lord made for us, knowing this, that when the judgment comes, that we'll float above the judgment. We'll be taken out of the world and will not have to stand the judgment, for our Lord promised us in St. John 5:24, "He that heareth My words, and believeth on Him that sent Me, has Eternal Life, and shall not come into the judgment; but has passed from death unto Life."
E-25 We have needs, Lord, as we go through the world. This body is still physical, still borned of sin. Someday it'll be born of God; but today it's borned of sin. And we are struggling as we walk through this dark, dismal world, looking above where only light can come from. And I pray, heavenly Father, that You'll remember each one of those people that raised their hands. From the least to the greatest, from the youngest to the oldest, answer, Father. I pray that You'll grant them their requests. E-26 Now, many people like to kind of read the text and so forth, as we read it, and I wrote down some texts and so forth, as usual. And tonight I want us to turn over to Judges, the 6th chapter, and read for a few moments. And tomorrow night being the starting of the convention, I--I'll try not to keep you but just a little while tonight. Then we'll pray for the sick, and then adjourn, and get ready for tomorrow night. Some are standing, and I know it's hard to stand.
E-27 I went to get my car greased this afternoon and the boy was so slow it taken around three hours. And I--I was reaping, I guess for what I'd been sowing--for keeping people standing so long. So I started to complain, then I just shut up when I thought about it. I thought, "No, they been... They had--they never said nothing; I won't either. So I just let it go."
And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour.
And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, then... why then is all... is befallen us?... where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up out of Egypt? but now the LORD has forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.
And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee?
E-28 May the Lord add His blessings to these Words. Now, we're all familiar with the Scripture that I've just read, all reads the Bible. It was a time of the judges, when there was a--well, kind of a time between... From the kings, God had judges. And there had been several judges. And every time that God the--would get the people straightened out, they'd all try to go to--to doing right after He'd send judgment or something. And then the first thing you know, they'd fall away again. It's just natural for people to do that. It's just human for them to do it: fall away. And--and as soon as they fall away, then God's judgment comes right in again. See? You cannot do wrong and get by, 'cause God is just.
E-29 Now, He just... He... In order to be just, He must--He must keep His laws. And law without penalty is not law. See? If there's a semaphore out here in the street, and that says "stop," that's a law for you to stop. And then if you pass on through it and the law has no penalty, then it isn't a law anymore. See? It should not even be hanging there.
E-30 You remember, boys, the first little corn-silk cigarette you smoked? You know what? Mama said... You know, you was afraid that Mama was going to smell it on your breath, so you got some coffee and eat it, or something, you know, to--to keep her from being able to smell. Mama said, "Let me smell your breath," See?
E-31 You remember the first time you trifled on your girlfriend? You remember the first time you--you sassed your wife, the wife sassed the husband, something like that? Remember the first time you heard that hymn sang at church and something beat at your heart, and you just shook yourself and turned away, "I'll do it some other time."
E-32 And when you feel that little buzzer down in your heart warning you, then you better stop right there and take inventory. Like I was--been preaching along through the nights of the people drifting away from God. When you hear the Word, come right back. It's truly the Word of God. There's a little buzzer rings; you better listen to it. Don't walk across that, 'cause you'll never get any farther till you come right back here where you left Him.
E-33 I had a chaplain friend that was telling me of a case in the second World War. There'd been a captain that'd been machine gunned with a, I guess about a fifty caliber machine gun. He was cut across his chest, and he was--he was dying. And this chaplain was called to him. They told him to go out in the tent (they'd just picked him up), in the hospital tent, that--that he was dying. He couldn't live. He was already cut through with bullets and he couldn't live. He was bleeding inwardly. E-34 Now, you might've left Him on--on a doctrine in the Bible, something that told you, "Thou shalt not steal"; you walked right over it. "Thou shalt not lie"; walked right over it. Something or another that you should not have done, and yet you walked right over it, now, you have to come right straight back and pick it up right there again.
E-35 And so, this captain was bleeding inwardly, and the blood gushing into his lungs. And he was catching his breath very fast, and he knew he was going. Said, "You better hurry up, Captain, and think."
E-36 Israel always getting out of the harmony of God... Nothing goes right till you come back to harmony of God. And now, they'd just been delivered from a--an alien army. And instead of turning to the Lord, they turned right back away from Him again. Isn't it strange? We'll get sick; the baby will be so sick till we just don't know what to do. Mother will wring her hands. And her and dad will say, "Oh, God, we'll serve You if You'll just heal this baby." And the baby gets well. Then you forget about it. See, see? So easy to forget about it. Yes, sir. E-37 Now, the people had got away from God and had gone wrong. And so the Midianites, and the Philistines, and different nations would come in and take them over. Now, we don't have Midianites and Philistines, but we have a lot worse. The world gets right in and eats us up, just takes us right down (See?), unbelief. And we get right away from the Spirit part of the church, and the Spirit part of God, get out too formal. And just, "How do you do, pastor? I want to take my letter out of this church over here, because they--the... Sister So-and-so, she and I don't speak. So I'm going to bring it over to your house." See? Oh, oh, yes. See? And then (See?), we're just passing letters. But when you once write it on the Lamb's Book of Life, it's at home then. See? That's right.
E-38 Now. But we find out that these things happen. And the--the time had come in this case for action, because the Midianites had come in like locusts across the country. And the Israelites had to dig caves in the mountains to hide, get back in there and hide a little food to live--just getting back, way back, get away from them, because that, why, they was coming in just swarms of them. E-39 So we find out that there was a mighty man of--of valor, who really didn't claim to be. But he was threshing his wheat down by the wine press, trying to get a--a little together to take care of his family for that year. His name was Gideon: later become a judge in Israel.
E-40 Now, we find out that before God ever sends deliverance to His people... Now, I want you to catch this now for what's to follow afterwards. Before God sends deliverance to His people He always sends a prophet to notify them, always sends His prophet; because most the time people won't read and study His Word. They just simply go join church, and let it go at that. They don't set down and read. E-41 So then, God had--had been good to them, and they--and they had not deserved it. But then, before this great event taken place, we find out that a prophet was sent to them, and he spoke the Word of the Lord for them. And then we notice immediately following that prophet's message, when He come to Israel, and said, "I'm the God that brought you up out of Egypt. I'm the One that give you the land that you live in. I've done all these things for you." See, the prophet always points back to the great supernatural God: a real prophet of God, that's a real preacher, in a pulpit. A modern day prophet is a preacher. So a real true prophet points back to the Word of the Lord, the promise of the Lord, not the declaration the--the church has made, but a declaration that God has made. (See?) Back to the Word of the Lord.
E-42 So God spoke to this prophet, and they... The Midianites had taken all they had, and they were starving to death, and He said, "Don't you remember that I'm the God that brought you up out of Egypt? Don't you know that I performed all My miracles down in Egypt? Don't you know I opened up the Red Sea? I fed your fathers for forty years in the wilderness. I broke off the enemies around them. Did not I take out the Amalekites and everything else from before you? I'm the God. Just turn back to Me. Watch Me." E-43 If he isn't, he will say, "Well, now, we believe that..." Who's "we?" Not God and His prophets, and God and His Angels, and God in His Word. They say that "Heavens and earth will pass away" said Jesus, "but My Word shall never fail." That's right. "If any man adds to or takes away any of the words of the prophecy of this book, the same will be taken out of the Book of Life for him." So you see, the real true prophet stays with the Word. E-44 And he begin to show them what was taking place. And immediately God came on the scene, immediately after the prophet's message. It's always been that--that God... Now remember, God moves behind the prophet if the prophet's got the Word of God. "For My Word will not return to Me void, but it'll accomplish that from which It was sent for, and the purpose It was sent for." It'll have to come... There'll be a group that'll just like throwing water on a duck's back. But there'll be somebody there to get it because God is sending it. Amen. See? The Word will not return void. It will accomplish what It's been purposed for. E-45 And now, this prophet stood and prophesied. The reason that God sends a prophet, the people get so far away from God by traditions of the elders and so forth, and they bring everything into the church that's worldly. And first thing you know they compromise a little here and a little there, and a little here and a little there. And the first thing you know it's nothing but an organization. It's nothing but like a lodge. The people come there and have--have all kinds of soup suppers, and dances, and buncos, and everything else. And the church is no more than a--than a lodge. That's right. E-46 But then, you see then that's way off from the Word. And many honest souls set out in them big mortuaries out there and thinking, "This is it." But, and before God sends His judgment, before He lets anything happen, before deliverance comes for the church, God is just and He sends a voice through the country speaking the Word of the Lord God. Then as soon as God speaks His Word, God is in His Word to make It real and manifest His Word what He said. God is just. He just can't be nothing else but a just God. See? He stands right in behind His Word. When that true Word goes forth... Jesus said, "If ye abide in Me, and My Words in you, then ask what you will, and it'll be done for you." 'Cause it's God's Word; it's got to come forth.
E-47 Now, how... God don't come down and speak it literally with His voice out of the heavens. He's wrote it on paper and expecting me and you to receive the Holy Spirit, to believe that Word. And when we speak that Word, if it's God's true Word, God stands behind it. That's right. God performs the miracles through the hands of His children. E-48 "Ye are My witnesses. You shall receive power after this the Holy Ghost is come upon you: then you are My witnesses," See? You have to get the thing right first. "Wait in the city of Jerusalem, until you're endued with power. Then you're witnesses to Me." Just in Jerusalem only? No. "Jerusalem, Judaea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the world, you are My witnesses." E-49 After the--the--the vine and the branch is connected together, or after the vine has put forth a branch... For if one is grafted in, it won't bear the right kind of fruit. But if the vine itself puts forth a branch, it'll be... The kind of life that's in the branch will be in the vine bearing the fruit. Therefore, a true prophet of God says the Word of God is right from A to Z. Every word of it, it's the truth.
E-50 Now, the reason God does those men and sends those men, is because if people won't study the Bible. They won't read the Bible; they won't study; they won't pray, no more than write out a little prayer and say it of a morning, or something another, or run over a few beads, and say something another, and--or hail Mary and God-something. But that's not it. See? But God sends a true prophet, and the Word of the Lord comes to the prophet always. The Word of the Lord comes to the prophet.
E-51 Look at Peter. He saw God at work. Look at Paul, saw God at work. Look at the prophets of old. They saw God at work. Exactly right. You take a man today, a preacher that's preaching the full Gospel, the baptism of the Holy Ghost, they'll look at them men and see God at work. He will have a life that'll reflect anywhere, beyond a reproach, anything. See? It's God working and the people can see. "You are written epistles." What kind of an epistle? An epistle of God, God bearing record that He sent you. E-52 Now, now notice. Now, when we... Gideon, he would been in a terrible condition. He was out there threshing out his wheat. And the first thing you know, he looked over there. And he'd just heard that prophet's message. Now, you'll get that in the 7th to the 10th verse; you can find where he met... The--the--the prophet come and gave the--the message, telling them that to remember that God was God; and He's the same God that delivered them, and for them just to return to Him. Now, wouldn't that be a message for today? My, certainly it would.
E-53 God's still God. God is a God that was at Pentecost. God is a God that was in the burning bush. God is a God that opened up the Red Sea. What do we care about hydrogen bombs, or fallout shelters, or whatmore man can make? "God is our refuge and strength, a very present Help in the time of trouble." He's still God of Abraham, Isaac, God of David. Certainly. He's still God. We just want to hear the Word, that's what... We are thankful that we have heard the Word and found it to be so. Yes, sir. E-54 Now, Gideon, when he was out there threshing his wheat, no doubt but that prophet's message was going through his heart, what that prophet said. "I'm the God of--of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. I'm the One that brought you out of Egypt. I'm the One that give you what you've got. Turn to Me." There he and his father out there threshing this wheat, and an Angel came to him--or he thought it was an Angel. It happened to turn out it wasn't an Angel; it was God Himself, 'cause it's capital L-O-R-D. You see?
E-55 And when He spoke to Gideon, Gideon was a little surprised. He said, "Now, mighty man of valor..." He didn't know he was. Maybe you don't know you are. You might be many of those mighty men of valor tonight, setting here. "You saying the--the little church, small group?" Oh, my. There was only two there, him and his daddy. There only has to be two here, you and Christ. That's all it takes to be a mighty man of valor. That's right.
E-56 Now, He looked like, probably, an old bald-headed man setting over there leaning up against a bush, you know, setting back against the bush, -maybe a sheepskin wrapped around him, or something another, stick in his hand. He wasn't very much to look at. And He said--told him He'd come to commission him to go deliver Israel. The prophet had done give his message, so he said, "I'm sending you to do this." E-57 Well, now, what if he'd have said, "Oh, sure, our organization growed ten thousand this year. God is with us. No, each one of us got so prosperous, everything prospered till each one of us got two Cadillacs apiece." That's what you can't be spiritual nowadays till you own three or four Cadillacs, you know, at least with these things, (See?), something like that, have the biggest thing there is in the country. But listen. E-58 No, he--he couldn't get that. He didn't say that. You see? He said, "If..." Today we say, "Well, how do you know God's with us? 'Cause we're growing in numbers. We got more churches than we ever had. We got... Why, you know, even the mayor of the city comes to our church. We know. We--we--we're the biggest church in the... We're the best there is. We know that God is with us because our people are prospering; they're wearing better clothes. They're--they're... They got better homes." That's all right. We're thankful for that. But that isn't a sign God's with you.
E-59 Gideon knowed what he was talking about. He said, "Then, sir, if God is with us, where's all of His mighty miracles? That prophet told us that He was a God that brought us up out of Egypt. He smote the land, He delivered them. He's a God of deliverance. And if He ever was God, He's still God."
E-60 He said, "Now, if that be God, if God is with us, where's all the miracles at--at? Where's all the signs that He done?" Now, they might've had all kinds of signs and everything else, but they wasn't Scriptural signs. Now, you--you got to have a Scriptural sign. E-61 Jesus didn't say, "They'll have better organizations as they grow and--and serve Me, they'll have better churches as they grow and serve Me." Jesus said, "These signs shall follow them that believe; in My Name they shall cast out devils; and speak with new tongues." There you are. That's Scriptural signs. Yes, sir. If Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, then where is He? We have a right to say that.
E-62 When Elisha had followed Elijah... And he said, "I'm going to ask for one thing. That's a double portion of the spirit that's upon you." And he throwed back his robe. Walked down there and took off that robe, struck the Jordan, and said, "Where is the God of Elijah?" She opened again.
E-63 The thing that has to take its first is Word. Don't go off out here on some tantrum and believe you can do it. You've got to come back to the Word, get conditions right. You've got... You must believe His Word and act upon every Word that He said to see the mighty works of God. Now, remember, if you will just do that (See?), believe His Word, what He said, and then act upon it... You believe that? E-64 You can't say, "Well, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I believe I received the Holy Ghost when I believed." That's not what the Bible said. No, sir. It isn't. You can believe is right, unto Eternal Life; but then you have to have God to seal it with the Holy Ghost. "Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?" See? Not when you believe, but after you believe you receive the... After you believed then you were sealed with the Holy Ghost of promise, says the Scripture: after you believe. That's right. But first you have to believe it and act upon it. E-65 You can't say, "Oh..." There's many sympathizers say, "Oh, the Bible's right. Yes, Brother Branham, I believe that the Bible's right. But you know, I--I don't know." There you are, "But I..." See, there you are, just like an old goat butting his head, you know. Just... See? "But it's all right, but you know, our pastor don't believe that. It's all right, but I--I don't believe it can be done." See, there--there you are again. You see? You'll never see it done. You've got to act. You've got to do something. And when you will take God's promise, and know that it is God's promise, and act upon it, you'll see the mighty miracles of God return back to the church of the living God. That's right. You'll do it.
E-66 Now, just think of this, friends: how could God lie? Are you going to believe a church? When I first... When my mother was dying the other day, she said--told Dolores (That's my sister; nine boys and a girl, and Dolores was the youngest.), she said, "Dolores, you're my youngest. You've loved me, and helped, come down and washed for me, and taken care of me since I've got old." Said, "Billy, you're my first." Said, "You've fed me, and seen that I didn't go hungry, and--and way back before your daddy died, fifteen, twenty-five years ago." And said, "You've always cared for me, and seen that I had food, and fuel, and everything." And said, "Billy, you've been a guide, a spiritual guide to me that's led me to the Lord Jesus." And said, "Now, today I'm going, and I'm happy. I want to go home so bad I don't know what to do."
E-67 "Well, then," I thought, "it isn't right, so many of these different ones. I have to go see what the other one says.'"
E-68 Noah had a promise from God. It was God that spoke to Noah. But Noah, before he could see the mighty miracle of God, he had to go to work on the ark. He had to build the ark holding onto a Word, driving on the boards, beating out the pitch, pouring it into the wood. He had to make the ark ready when it sound crazy to everybody else. But what was he doing? Making it ready anyhow. He must've been on it over a hundred and twenty years a building the ark. Still no sign of anything else but he held onto the Word. He was acting upon his commission. Amen.
E-69 You say, "I--I've received the Word of God." You be prayed for, and the Holy Spirit promised you healing. Then I don't care how long it takes till it comes, still act on your commission. Act like you're healed, giving God praise, just keep going on. That's right.
E-70 No, sir. They stayed there and waited till evidence come. Amen. They come there and stayed till they seen something that they could take a hold of and say, "This is it." Why? They had a Scriptural evidence of it. E-71 Noah built right on the ark, holding onto it, preaching all the time, standing right in the door of the ark, preaching to them, building away and preaching to them. That's a real prophet of God today, standing right in the ark, Christ Jesus. "If ye be in Me, My Words in you," just keep building, pounding them up everywhere they are, chinking up every hole. Don't let the devil have a loop nowhere. No--no, sir. Stay right in the door and preach. Stand right in the door of the ark and preach. The ark, the door, Christ is the Door to the ark. That's exactly right. "I am the Door to the sheepfold." And so, stay right there and preach. E-72 Noah, before he saw the mighty miracles of God to know that He was God, he seen the promise first, got the promise, held onto it, and acted upon the promise until he saw the mighty miracle of God. Amen. Yes. Then he seen the mighty miracle of God. E-73 Moses, going on his road to Egypt with a stick in his hand, as I said the other night; a one-man invasion going down to take over with an old dry stick in his hand. See? He--he done it too. Sure did. Sure did. Why? He was acting. How do you know? "Well, when you get down there, Pharaoh will hang you. He's been looking for you for forty years. And whenever he finds you, you're certainly gone. You killed an Egyptian. You know what it is to even smite an Egyptian is death. And here you done killed one, and hid him, and run away. When you get back down there, it's death." But what was he doing? Acting. Amen. I don't know how many days it took him to get from Midia down there, but he went down. Oh, he went down with that stick in his hand, because he was acting upon what God promised him that He would do.
E-74 Now, if God give you an evidence of the Holy Ghost, like He appeared to Moses in fire back there and let him know that He was God, then you ought... If you've seen God heal others, like Moses throwed his stick down once and he knowed He would do it again, turn it to a serpent. He knowed He was God and what He done once He can do again. Just like the prophet said to Gideon, "The God of your fathers brought you up out of Egypt and brought all these miracles and things. He will do it again." That's right.
E-75 Moses acted first, then he saw God's mighty miracles. When God told him to walk towards the sea, he had to go towards the sea to see the mighty miracles. Whatever he did, he had to obey God to see God's mighty miracles. That's what we have to do.
E-76 Then when he did, he laid his sacrifice down at the time of the evening offering. Rolled up the twelve stones to show fellowship, all the twelve tribes of Israel, and he walked out there and said, "Now, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel (called Him His prince name. See?), of Israel, let it be known today that Thou art God, and I'm Your prophet, and I've done all this at Your Word."
E-77 Joshua. He marched around that wall just exactly like the chief Captain told him to do it. He was out one afternoon walking. He was wondering how he was going to get the walls. He knowed that he was--he was the... The enemy was defeated because they was inside the wall. But how was he going to get in there? So he took a little stroll one afternoon to meditate. (That's a good thing, get away from everybody and get to yourself awhile.) He seen a man standing with his sword drawed. Joshua thought maybe that might've been one of the aliens, so he jerked his sword, and run at him. He said, "Are you for us, or are you of our enemy?" E-78 Now, it's kind of a hard thing, think you could blow a trumpet and a wall fall down. But he acted. See, God makes it so simple and silly, it goes plumb over the top of the head of the learned. It takes those unlearned that don't know very much to understand it; that's all. When you go try to figure it out, you can't figure it out. You've got to take God's Word for it, the way He said to do it, not the way we think to do it, but the way He said to do it. That's it, do it just the way He said do it. And Joshua marched just according to the commandment. And what happened? He took God at His Word and acted upon It, and he saw the walls fall and the enemy die.
E-79 The Hebrew children, they were acting upon the Word of God. God told them they should not bow down to any image, and they should not do it. So the king said, "You'll either bow down or I'll throw you in the fiery furnace." They said, "Now, wait a minute, our God is able to deliver us. We know what He will do. But we're not going to bow down to your image anyhow."
E-80 Now, Gideon... (I'll hurry.) Gideon, now, he wasn't sure. He wasn't too positive. Here was just an old man setting, leaning back against a tree, telling him what to do. He said, "Now, I don't know. How am I going to do it?"
E-81 Then after he got ready to act, He give him so many thousand. He said, "There's too many cowards in here." Just kept on, kept on hunt them down, 'cause he got them that was--that God had called for. That's right. Sometimes when we see things going wrong, dropping off, maybe God's just getting an army ready (That's all.), or some fighters ready. You can't never tell. God... He was ready to act... When he saw the living Word of God, he was ready to act upon it. When we see God living in His Word, then let's be ready to act upon it.
E-82 One night in a room... (I hope I don't take too much of your time.) I--I went into a room when a big campaign, and they had a room twice this size just full of straight jackets, and insane, and things. I walked into the room. There was one of the prettiest women I ever seen setting there, a young lady. I said, "How do you do?" E-83 She said, "Well, Brother Branham," said, "when was a girl," said, "I was raised up with Christian parents that really believed God." And she said, "I went to church." But said, "All at once I got to going with a boy that smoked." And said, "I happened to find out that he drank. And one night he wanted to get me to drink, and I wouldn't do it." Said, "I absolutely wouldn't do it. And he persuaded me to eat some candy, or, no, drink a coke, was one night, and he had some stuff in it." And said, "I wasn't a moral girl no more." And said, "Then I thought, 'What's the use?'" Said, "I just throwed my life away. And I become a regular street prostitute." And said, "Then I--I--I just did everything that was mean. I got to drinking; I got to be an alcoholic."
E-84 And she said, "Then somebody told me to change my religion. I went away to the Good Shepherd's Home in the Catholic church, changed my religion. They sent me up there for two or three years." Said, "I done fine. I got back out." Said, "When I got back out, I was right back at it again." And she said, "I went on like that for about a year. The law picked me up and sent me to the woman's penitentiary, and I served there two years" and said then, "for delinquency."
E-85 She said, "Oh, yes, Brother Branham." She said, "Who would have me?" See? Said, "What could I offer a man?" Said, "I've nothing but a cruel life, get drunk and carry on and things." Said, "What could I do?"
E-86 And I put my hand on her shoulder, and I said, "God bless you, sister."
E-87 She's married and got three or four children now. What was it? She took God and stayed with it till actually something happened. That's it. Something had taken place. The living Word become a living reality to her.
E-88 John the Baptist, he was... Strange, John's father was a priest. We know that, that he was a priest. Instead of going out now when you... I guess it was kind of hard on him and his mother to--to find out that little John, being promised the way he was, and he was going to be a mighty man of God. But they knowed they'd never live to see it, 'cause they was getting too old. At about nine years old they say his father and mother died.
E-89 Now, he knowed there'd be all kinds of signs, and all kinds of this, 'cause it always is that way, phronies and everything else, 'cause it just does it to hide the real thing. There's a lot of people act like they got the Holy Ghost, and go out and live any kind of a life. That's just an old scarecrow, to try to scare you away from the real thing.
E-90 So then we find out that John didn't want to be all confused. So he waited out there until he heard from God. And God told him what kind of a sign the Messiah would have. So John was acting upon the Word of God. They come down and said, "John, are--are you the Messiah?"
E-91 What we ought to do today, brother... It's time that the Word of God's fulfilled. It's time that the signs follow the believer. It's time for the evening Lights to go to shining. It's time for Jesus Christ to manifest Himself the same yesterday, today, and forever.
E-92 First time Christ come was through the virgin. Next time He comes is through the lion of the tribe of Judah. The crossed fishes, the cancer age, and all, as you read it through, as Job studied it... And you who read the book of Job, you'll understand. Now, the devil, 'course, takes and does things with that.
E-93 Why didn't that... They never did put a cap on the stone. I've been there at the pyramid. Why didn't they put a cap on it? Because it was rejected.
E-94 Now, what's He doing? That's got to be honed out so perfect, that church brought into such a place, that the Stone that's coming to fit on top of it... See what I mean? That pictures the church. And through it all is the church. Now, that's--that's just--that's making a--a parable, I'm talking about. Don't try to go into it. E-95 Don't you see the church shaping up? Luther, justification; Wesley, sanctification; then come the Holy Ghost. And now, church getting honed and fixed, then without spot or wrinkle, so Him that had no spot or wrinkle can come down and--and connect it together for the resurrection, for the church of the living God to take its flight into the glory. yes. See? Yes. Now, we're living in that day.
E-96 Now, John was looking for that to come. He said, "I'll know Him. He's out there, I don't know where He is. He's standing out there." Maybe some bishop walked up and said, "You know, I've been having a peculiar feeling going over me for a while. You know, maybe I'm the Messiah." He said, "Get away." Said John, "That's not Him." All right.
E-97 And remember, John saw it and nobody else saw it. It was a sign given to John to see it. And he saw it, and John was sure. And the reason he could announce, "That is the Messiah..."
E-98 The Bible said, "These signs shall follow them that believe: In My Name they shall cast out devils (can't even deny it. See?), speak with new tongues; take up serpents or drink deadly things; lay hands on the sick and they shall recover." Jesus said, "He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also."
E-99 Quickly, Martha. Oh, my. Poor little thing was heartbroken. She'd left her big church, her and Mary. They had harbored Jesus, made Him a little place in Bethany. After He... He was had no place to stay. They'd give Him a home there with them, with her, Martha, and Mary, and Lazarus. And they thought that He surely was the Messiah, and all this. And the brother got sick.
E-100 And so Jesus went away. And He said He's going away. And so then they sent for Him, said Lazarus got sick. So they sent, said, "The one you love is sick." Jesus never paid a bit more attention to it than nothing, went right on, went to another city. And more runners come and said, "Lazarus is sick. He's ready to die, come on back." Jesus just ignored it as if nothing had happened, went right on. See?
E-101 He walked by and healed that man laying there that had prostate trouble, or TB, or something or another, and had it thirty-eight years. It was retarded, wasn't going to kill him. Left thousands laying there lame, blind, halt and withered, and walked right away from them 'cause that's what... He said He knew that man had been in that condition for that time. See? Then He told them, "I can't do nothing till the Father shows Me what to do." Now, we find out.
E-102 Martha, she was aware that He was... After while... Now, Martha, they had been saying that she wasn't--she was dilatory and things about keeping her house clean. But when the showdown come, she showed her color. Yes, sir. Mary was setting weeping, because her brother was dead. But Martha went out and met the living Word. "In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." He was the living Word of God (That's right.), God's Word made manifest. No wonder He could stand and discern the thoughts of the people. Now, the Bible said... You say, "Oh, is that the Word?" Yes, sir. Yes, sir.
E-103 So Martha, when she come up... And she fell down at His feet, and she said, "Lord," Lord, that's what He was, "if You'd have been here my brother would not died," See? Said, "But even now, whatever You ask God, God will do it." Oh, there you are. There you are. "No matter what you've done, your attitude, you're following what God said do. Whether you said this or that, or whether you did come, or didn't come, whatever you ask God, God will give it to you." E-104 What is it? She's acting. She wants to see a miracle, so she's finding out what the Word says. "I believe the Word. It's standing there in the form of the Son of God. His Words is not His. 'Not Me that speaketh, but the Father that dwelleth in Me.' Whatever comes from them little lips of Yours that speaks, I'll believe it's the commission of God. (Oh, my, my.) You are the Messiah." What is Messiah? The anointed One. "You are God's anointed One."
E-105 God had an anointed one in a lesser measure one day, and his name was Elijah. And there Elisha... And the woman had a baby that died. And she went up to this servant of God, and she said, "Thou man of God." She recognized him. And that anointed one of God come and walked through the floor (Oh, my.), laid his body upon that little dead baby, and it sneezed seven times and come to life. E-106 You sick people tonight, if you want to see a miracle, take away the stone. Take away that stone, that sin that lays at the door. What is it? Say, "Brother Branham, I don't do nothing." But if you don't believe it, it can't happen. Take away that stone of unbelief and watch what happens. Just take away the stone. And when she obeyed the Word of the Lord, she saw a miracle. Sure.
E-107 The woman at the well, she was kind of under... She didn't know what to say. She seen this Jew setting there. "Now, it's funny that that Jew would talk to me. I'm a woman of Samaria. Wonder what His cause is?" She said, "Well, you say... you Jews say, 'Worship at Jerusalem.' Our fathers worshipped in this mountain." He said, "Woman, I'm telling you now that neither in Jerusalem, or neither in this mountain. But God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship in the Spirit and Truth."
E-108 She turned. What? She'd met the living Word. She said, "Sir, I perceive that You're a prophet. Now, we don't know about any prophet in this day rising. But we know that when the Messiah cometh, that's going to be the sign that He will show us. He will tell us these things."
E-109 How do you know? Just like John did. How do you know he's standing among you? It's the age for it. How do you know it is? That's the very Messiah, because it's time for Messiah to appear. E-110 If God be with us, where is His miracles? Where are they at? Where do we see those signs? If God's in all these churches and these great big ecclesiastical towers, and so forth, and all these Ph.D.'s and things, show me His miracles. Where is God? Glory. That's it. Where is God? Where's His miracles? Where God appears, He's supernatural. His supernatural signs follows a supernatural God. God is... Where's all of His miracles at?
E-111 She seen the miracle of God, the sign of the Messiah. She caused the whole city... The Bible said that all the men... Jesus didn't do it anymore. They believed the testimony of the woman. She had the privilege then of leading all the whole city to Christ, because she followed His Word and seen that He will--could perform a miracle, knew that it was.
E-112 Brother, when the Word was made manifest, they got out of the windows and doors and out into the streets. Something had happened. Why? They had seen a miracle. They seen lights like tongues of fire setting upon each one of them. They'd felt the power of the Holy Ghost shake. They both seen and felt. They knowed something happened. They run out to try to testify of it and couldn't even speak their own language. Something happened. E-113 If you go out here on any day, if the time is right in the day... Do you believe it is time for the Messiah to appear? Do you believe it's time for the church to show His Presence? to show the Presence of Christ? And instead of you want to go to church and join the church and say, "We Presbyterians... We Baptists... We Methodists... We Pentecostals... We So-and-so, and we... We're--we're--we're the ones, we--we got this and we got that." That day is dead as midnight (That's right. See?), just doing that. That's right.
E-114 But it's time for the evening Lights to be shining. As the song says, "It shall be light in the evening time." It's time for those evening Lights to shine. This is the time. E-115 But we got a lot of ecclesiastical clouds that's shaded Him off from us. A lot of denominational nonsense has kept Christ from us. Just fan back, by prayer, every one of those old clouds and see if Christ doesn't appear the same as He ever was; if He doesn't appear in the same Light, the same power, the same signs, the same wonder. See if He isn't still the same Messiah. Amen. Knock back all the clouds; wave them back from one side, see if it isn't. Sure. If you... But first thing you got to do is believe and act. Now, that's the--right.
E-116 The mighty man of valor. was correct. If God be with us, then let us see His miracles. Where's all the miracles? Where is the signs? If Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, then where is the sign that He's the same? What did He promise? St. John 14:12, "The works that I do shall you do also." Where is it? He promised it. "As it was in the days of Lot, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of man," when God came down. We never know where that body went.
E-117 God, what was He doing? He was showing something. Just like He cast out the bondswoman and her child at the--freewoman and her child... That's the reason Abraham didn't want to marry Hagar. But He--she said, "Marry her. Listen to what Sarah tells you" because it had to be fulfilled. E-118 Here we set today. Here we are today. There's the unbeliever, the Sodomites. Look at them out there: women walking through the streets wearing shorts, smoking cigarettes, bobbing their hair, calling themselves Christians. Yeah. Oh, my, doing all these kind... Yeah, calling themselves Christians. Oh, yes, sir. Parties, dancing... Man perverted. I get letters after there... Homosexual on the increase. You see the... I get the government's statistics of it. Increased thirty percent last year. Perversion, natural course of human life perverted, Sodom... Look at the cold, formals just right into it, just the same, wallowing with the hogs.
E-119 Watch that messenger that went down there, two of them: a modern Billy Graham, as it was, preaching and blinding them with the Word. Then there was a church that didn't do--that was called-out, that elect church. Glory, glory. The elected church, Abraham and his group, what appeared to them? The messenger that appeared to Abraham, called him what his name was that God had give him just a few days before from Abram to Abraham, from Sarai to Sarah. And said, "Where is your wife, Sarah?" called her name. E-120 Jesus so much as said, before the time come that that elected church, that Pentecostal group... Now, Pentecost is not an organization. Now, you brothers that's got the Pentecostal Assemblies, the Pentecostal Oneness, the Pentecostal Church of God, the Pentecostal Foursquare, and all that, you're fooling yourself. That's an organization which is all right. I have nothing against it. But you're not the group. Pentecost is an experience that Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, that--that the Assemblies, and the Foursquare, and the Church of God, and the--why, the Jesus' Name, and all the rest of them can have it, if they'll just obey the Word of God and follow after Him. They'll see the miracle of God will change their live and the things will fall away and they'll become... The Methodist can have it; the Catholic can have it; the Presbyterian can have it. How many Catholics, was once Catholic, raise up your hand. Can't the Catholic have it? How... [Blank.spot.on.tape.--Ed.]
E-121 Jesus said, "As it was in the days of Sodom, so shall it be in the coming of the Son of man." It's evening time. Where is God? If God is with us, where is the miracles? Now, Hebrews 13:8 said "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever." Do you believe it?
E-122 The world's a trembling. "There'll be fearful signs," You said in the last days, sights. "Signs in the heaven and in the earth; fire and vapor and pillars of smoke, earthquakes in divers places, perplexity of time, distress between nations; man's heart failing for fear." But that time, Lord, You said, "Lift up your head, your redemption's drawing nigh."
E-123 Oh, God, let us see Him setting yonder on the right-hand of the Majesty of God, setting there on the throne of God tonight, ever living, the High Priest to make intercessions upon our confession, a High Priest that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities.
E-124 Then if His mind be in us, He will act the same way, because He is the High Priest. And He's the Word of God; He is the Word of God. And if the Word of God be dwelling in us, then It's sharper than a two edged sword to preached sermons that'll cut to the core, that'll lay out the axe to the root of the tree, and it's also a discerner of the thoughts of the heart.
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