Save Yourselves

A...the bottom of my heart that people of that age will come to church and not only come but listen sincerely that they might be able to grasp the Word of God. I don't mean by that that others haven't come and listen they have. But it look likes she's been as faithful as anybody I've ever seen. Now Brother Bobby...tonight and...keep it up. You need to concentrate here. Now if you've got your Bibles I'd like for you to read with me over in the second chapter of Acts. Let's see how many of you got your Bibles tonight, let me see your hands? All right that's good. Now the second chapter of Acts. I'd love to read. Let's start here where it says, I think I'll read in the sixteenth verse here of the second chapter, said, "But this" Let's start at the fifteenth verse. (Reads Acts 2: 15-47) Now then let's go back here just a little bit. Over in the fortieth verse here you'll notice Peter is exhorting the people to save themselves from this generation of his day. Now according to this in the day of Peter they were already, already gone into perversion and they were already having a, ah doing the wrong thing. They were already having trouble out of the people around them as they fought against the gospel. Even in the days of Peter they fought viciously against the gospel. Peter was beaten and some of the others that was with Peter were also beaten. And the reason that they were beaten was because that they confessed the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you'll notice anytime that you confess the name of the Lord Jesus then you'll always run into trouble. Now as long as you don't confess the name of the Lord you're not going to have any trouble. But when you confess the name of the Lord then your trouble begins. And so it is here Peter in their day was having such a hard time trying to preach the gospel. And the Bible said that on the day of Pentecost here where Peter spoke to them that God has gathered together out from among every nation or out of every nation under heaven, he has gathered together some people to hear this great message that was to be preached at Pentecost. And as Peter preached the message he told the people he said, Save yourselves from this untoward generation. He said, Save yourselves. Now then a lot of times we think that all we have to do is call on God and ask God to save us from our sins. But there is more to it than that. The Bible said, If you draw nigh to God, God will draw nigh to you. And it tells us that if we seek God then we shall find the Lord. And if we knock it will be open unto us. But if we just wait for God to do it all, then we'll never be able to come into the spiritual mind and the spiritual revelation and the spiritual oneness of God. But it takes our effort, it takes us doing something. We've got to put forth an effort to be able to get ahold of God because God is a Spirit. And the patriarchs of old when it speaks of them it says they endured as seeing Him Who is invisible. Many times around the country as Betty and I have travelled and sought the Lord Jesus, many times we've been stranded in the mountains, stranded in the desert. We've been in cities. A lot of times I've rode on to the city and just as I'd come into the city the gas would give out. And all the money would be gone and we'd be thousands of miles away from home and anybody we knew. And then tears would begin to roll down my cheeks and I'd lift my faith to the Lord. And I'd say, Father, you said to go and I'm here. And immediately the Holy Spirit would just sweep over me and begin to speak to me and say, Don't worry. And in just a little while everything would open up and God would have us somewhere. A lot of times in a nice motel all of the rent paid up, have the refrigerator setting over here, full of good things to eat and everything comfortable and cozy, just as cozy as could be because we dared to trust in the living God and tried to do what Peter said here, to save ourselves from this untoward generation. To get away from evil and to separate ourselves from the sins and the cares of life. Today I walked up town and I felt so bad. I felt like I was right down in Sodom and Gomorrah. Jesus said the last generation would be a sinful and would be an adulterous generation. And, and everywhere you look it's just sin and it's evil and I noticed all through the store, all the showroom and everywhere that you looked all you could see was just something that was portrayed to cause lust and something that was portrayed to cause sin. Many years ago it wasn't like that. That's why that in the day in which we live, that's why there's so much evil in the world. That's why there's so much lust in the world, that's why there's so much sin in the world is because the devil is doing everything that he can to put it on display. He puts it on display on the billboard. He puts it on display on the show counters and he puts it on display in the newspaper and in the movie and on the televisions, on the street corners. And everywhere you look Satan is continually putting lust on display. The Bible said, Know ye not that the spirit that was within you lusteth unto envy. Now then the spirit that is in mankind is always lustful. It's always wanting something from the world. It's never satisfied. I made mention in the message here the other night how that the spirit of man is never contented with anything that you give him. Did you know it's a statistical fact that American people are known to be the most restless people in all the world, the most unthankful people in all of the world, and they're also the most unholy people in all the world; and yet they're the most religious people in all the world. Did you know that statistics show that America has more new inventions than any other country in the world. And yet statistics say that her people grow weary of the inventions more rapidly than anybody else in the world. She's never contented. Now you say, What causes that, Brother Pike? It's because America has come to a knowledge of God and of the heavenly things, and she'll never be satisfied anymore with the things that's in this world. America will never be contented anymore because she's tasted of the Holy Spirit. She's been made partakers of the Holy Ghost, has tasted of the good world of God to come, and shows the things the Lord and she'll never be satisfied with the beggarly elements of the world anymore. Now then people overseas can be satisfied with those things because they've never seen anything greater. But if they ever taste the good things of God they'll never be satisfied with it anymore. Did you know Paul gave us a warning. He says that in the last days in the last days this was the warning that he gave. You know sometimes the Spirit of God speaketh expressly. And as it speaks very clearly and you understand it very clearly. Sometimes it's not too clear, but sometimes He speaks very expressly and you understand what He says. And Paul one day the Holy Spirit was moving and Paul began to prophesy and he said, he said, The Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry, commanding to abstain from meats, which God has made to be received with thanksgiving of them that know and believe the truth. He said in the last days people would be heady and highminded, lovers of self more than lovers of God. That they'd be lovers of pleasure, that they'd be wicked, despisers of them the do good, trucebreakers. He said perilous times shall come and there'll be earthquakes and there'll be turmoils and perplexities and failing of heart and roaring of the sea. All of these things shall come to pass. And Jesus said in the final analysis of it. He said and the stars shall fall from heaven. He said and the moon shall turn into blood. And all of the earth shall mourn for these shall they see the sign of the Son of Man appearing in the heavens. We are in the last days. We're right in the very last hours and we're waiting right now for Christ to break the clouds of heaven and appear to us. And Peter here in his day he kept preaching he said, Save yourselves, do something, rise up and save yourselves from this untoward generation. When the lepers set at the gate there in the records of the Old Testament, they set there at the gate and they were dying. They had nobody to help them, nobody to offer them a hand. And on the inside of the city there was a great famine. And just over the way there was a great battle and people were battling over here and people were starving over here and they just didn't have anyway at all to turn and they didn't know what to do. One of them turned to the other and said, Well, said, we could go back into this city. The other one said, Well, if we do they're starving over in the city. They're having a famine in this city. I don't see any reason for going back into the city. Another one said, Well, if we sit here we're going to die. So another one said, Let's rise up and see what we can do. Let's save ourselves. Let's make an effort. Let's get up from where we're at and let's save ourselves. Listen folks, you're dying. Every day of your life you're dying. It doesn't matter how much you stand before the mirror and comb your hair. It doesn't matter how much of the pretty things of the world that you buy to adorn your body with or how much food that you buy to take care of this health. You are dying every day, every minute, every hour you're dying. You're passing on. You'll never come back this way again. This is the last time that you'll ever go through this place that you're going through right now, did you know that?. You'll never pass this way again. Now then the prophets of the Old Testament they had made the statement back there, he said, we'll not pass this way again. We're going this way only one time. Oh people say, Well, tomorrow I intend to do something for myself. I intend to do something for God. I intend to rise up from this place that I'm in. But did you know that tomorrow will not account for today? Did you know that if I live holy tomorrow, it will never take the place of today? No matter what I do tomorrow it still doesn't effect today. Today is either on record for me or it's on record against me. Yesterday is on record in my behalf or it's against me. I'll never go back into yesterday. I'll never return today in this day, and tomorrow if neglect tomorrow I'll never have a chance to go through it again. Remember, the Bible said that you're going to be judged according to the deeds that your spiritual man does while he's living in this body of clay. Peter said as long as I'm in this tabernacle, I feel a need to stir up your pure mind in Christ. Listen. You're going to be judged. You're inner man's going to be judged by every deed that you do while you're walking in this tabernacle. You're going to be judged, folks. Every deed that you've ever done whether it be in secret or whether it be openly God will bring you into account on the day of judgment and you'll stand there in the presence of the living God and you'll give an account for everything that you've ever done. He even went further than that. He said by your words you'll be justified, and by your words you'll be condemned. Every word that's ever spoke you'll give an account thereof in the day of judgment. And Paul said, My God, God shall judge the secrets of mens' heart. Every word that you ever spoke whether it was in secret, whether it was in the open, no matter where it is you got to give an account thereof in the day of judgment. Did you know that as a minister I have tried diligently to remember God in my secret chambers and to speak in my secret chambers to my wife and to my children and to my friends and to my self the words that I want to face in the day of judgment because I know that I'll have to face every last one of them. And with all of the caution and with all of the effort to try to do what's right and try to please God, I still shake and I still tremble when I think of coming into the presence of God and knowing I got to give an account for every thought and every intent of my heart. I still shake and tremble before God when I think about it. How much more those that live careless? If we live right and we try to do right and we try to do everything that's pleasing to God and we still know that we'll just scarcely be saved, he said, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? He just wrote in here, he said, Save yourselves. Save yourselves. You say, God saved me, Brother Pike. God took me away from sin. God's going to take me into the gates of glory, but Peter said, save yourselves. You've got to save yourselves. You've got to do like the lepers. You've got to get up and make an effort or you're going to sit there and die. You're going to sit there and die. They're going to sit there and die. They're going to sit there and die. Leprosy was eating them up and they said, We can't go back into the city. Did you know that's typical of our day? Did you know that's the typical church of today? Somebody goes out and they invite somebody to come to church. And the person says, Well, why come to church? There's nothing over at the church. Why, I'd love to go to the house of God. They say but the people over there they don't live right. There's nothing in the church. They think you don't have disputings in the church. You don't have the Word of God in the church. All you have is programs and parties and that kind of thing. You're not getting anywhere. Why you're dying over there and what's the need of us coming in with you? Why we know that we're dying. We know that sin is taking our life. But we're persuaded to believe that you're in the same category. We're persuaded to believe that you're doing the very same thing. So then why go back? Why go back? So then the leper one said to the other, said, I think the best thing to do is start using our faith. Let's start to using our faith. Did you know it took faith for them to rise up from where they was at. Can you imagine leprosy? You know what? The other day I went by a place. I felt led of God. I tried to go just according to the leading of the Lord and this woman over in Georgia had sent word over to Tennessee that she wanted us to come to Georgia or whenever we was in Georgia to come and pray for her and she was down near Covington, Georgia. So we was in Atlanta, Georgia in a meeting and I went down there to pray for her. I waited until I felt lead. And I went down there to pray for her; and I want you to know I went in and looked at her and her face, her face had already shriveled up to where it was bony looking and that was horrible to think that a woman even had that kind of appearance. But I just shook myself a little bit and said, Well, there's nothing too hard for God. God can do anything. And so then I prayed and I felt the Spirit of God come down. And I felt God's healing touch. I know in my heart that God touched the woman. But did you know, did you know that after that I prayed for that woman I got the biggest shock that I ever got in my life. You say, Well, did the Lord raise her right up? No. No. I know it to this hour that God done something for her and yesterday I believe it was, I was over at Fred Tom's and God spoke to me again and He gave me another assurance that He done something. But I got the shock of my life when one of the ladies there said, I want you to see her hands. And she pulled back the cover and there her hands had grown out like chicken claws. Some of the things that protruded way out here, long nails that went off of them and they were long and skinny and bony looking, the little old arms was dried and they were scalely and the meat was falling off of the bone. I don't mean just the scale coming off. I mean the chunks of meat was falling off the bone. And then I thought well that's absolutely horrible. That's just about more than you can stand to look at. But then I said, Well, I might as well just to see what kind of condition the woman's really in. So they uncovered her feet and there her feet had deformed and grown out crooked and flat like this and caked up thick, real thick like a great big sour piece of meat with big chunks of flesh falling off. I mean it looked awful. I can't even describe, can't even begin to describe to you the horror that I saw as I looked at that woman. It was absolutely fantastic to think that any individual could get in such a condition. It's just unbelievable. I wish you could see. It's unbelievable! And even through all of that that woman is trying to save herself from sin and save herself from the evils of the world. I don't see how in the world she laid there and testified the way she did. She testified of God. She'd been that way for years and looking up to me and tears streaming down her cheek she testified of the glory of God and how good God was and how that she did not mind suffering to glorify the God of heaven. Laying there in that kind of condition and praising and glorifying God and we mumble and we grumble and we complain. Oh what will we do in the day of judgment? I was down in old Mexico not too long ago. And there I sat down and as I set there I watched Sister Nave. I remember when I went to the state of California and there in California I saw Sister Nave living in a nice big brick home and her husband on a government, a governmental job. And he fed me like I was a king, gave me a good place to sleep and then God spoke to me and said you got to tell him he's got to go to Mexico. He's to be a Mexico missionary. And I did. And about a year later God moved him into Mexico. But the same year he went to Mexico and had been there for about a year, then I was down there, and I set there and Sister Nave was trying to figure out how to feed us. They wanted to know how they could feed us. They didn't have anything to eat, no place to get anything to eat to amount to anything if they'd had any money. Didn't have hardly anything to cook it on if they'd had anything to eat. And there they had one old bed and I know that Brother Bobby's probably described it to you. It was just a cover that was laying over some planks. That was all he had. And the dirt floor and the adobe walls with a straw top, and I set down over there and Brother Al Gonzales had just stepped outside for a little bit. And I set down over there and I watched Sister Nave. I can't speak their language and I'd have to get the brother to interpret for me. And Sister Nave she can't speak English but very little, so I didn't try to talk with them. And I just set there and I watch them. And while I was setting there watching her, I saw her pick up a knife and she started to peeling some I guess it was avocado. I don't know what it was. But little old something she'd found over in the corner somewhere and she started to peeling on those things. And I set there and I kept watching her and as I kept looking at her, and I noticed a tear come into the corner of her eye, then another tear, and then I noticed as she, she just kept peeling and tears began to stream down her face and drop off. Betty and I looked and I set there and l looked at her and I said, Dear God, dear God. I said, That's a real woman there. I said, That's a real woman! That's a typical woman of what a Christian ought to be. That's a real godly woman like the frontiers of old. That's the kind of women that God raised up in the olden days, great and mighty women. Like Mary that gave birth to the Lord Jesus, women that were clean and women that are pure. Women that does not care for the frivolous fashions of this world. They were not interested in the tangible substance. They wasn't interested in how they looked. They were interested in being faithful to their companions or being faithful to God and carrying the message of eternal life. I set there and watched her and all the time she was doing that the tears was dripping off. You know what she was doing? She was trying to save herself from this wicked and sin cursed generation. She was trying to separate herself. The Bible said, Come out from among them and be ye a separate people. Touch not the unclean things the Lord said and I will receive you. And she was trying her best to get out from among the evil. Trying her best to save herself. Like the leprous men she had realized her condition and now by faith she was rising up and going on with God. And now just on this last trip we went down to Mexico about three or four weeks ago, then we come back up to the Carolinas over here and while we were down there Brother Al was very discouraged. Some of the brethren had come down and discouraged him. And had made him think that his labor all in vain. And so then I went down there and Brother Al had had a dream. And he said, Brother Pike, said in a dream said, I saw you and said I had a little baby and said, I was trying to get the little baby healed and said, I couldn't seem to get through to get it healed. And said, The Lord spoke to me and said, I heard a voice and said I came around and said, There you was looking right straight at me and you said, Brother Gonzales, Don't worry. The baby will be healed. And then I realized that God was talking about the little church as far as I could tell down there. I said, Brother Al, I said, I got news for you. I said, Everybody seems to discourage you and telling you that your labor is in vain. I said just work with this church and work with this people. I said, it's in the will of God. I said, I tell you in the name of the Lord, God will heal the breach and He'll give you souls right here in your midst. And he realized that the baby would be healed. Immediately it was just a little infant work. And so then we come back immediately to North Carolina. And Brother David Allen was rejoicing and talking to me with tears swelling up in his eyes and they was telling me how that God had dealt with him and said, Brother, Brother Pike, I had just sent a $1027.00 to our Brother Al Gonzales. Think about that. Can you imagine somebody peeling a little old avocado with dirt floors to sleep on and nothing around them and rejoice as $1000.00 came to them that was their very own. Why I don't expect you could have held Al. No telling what Nave and the children done. A whole $1000.00 coming to a little group of people on starvation. Did you know what? Those men came to me in the wee hours of the morning and they had wanted me to pray for their throat, where they had been out all night long trying to irrigate the land just to raise something to eat because there had been a promise made for them. And they were out there by ...?... (Side 2) trying to water the ground. I don't know whether they'll ever get anything out of it or not but I believe God will give them something, don't you? I believe God will make that barren land produce. I believe He will for their sakes. And I want you to pray. You say, What are they trying to do, Brother Pike? It's just a little group of people that's trying to save themselves from sin and from the things of the world by trying to rise up and go forth in faith that there might be an inspiration and be a light to be saved from evil. The leper said, There's no need for us to stay here. Folks, let me tell you. Get away from the things of the world. Tear loose from the things of the world. Get your minds off of the things of the world. The Bible said, Lay up treasures in heaven where thieves don't break through and steal, where moth doesn't corrupt. For wherever your treasures are that's where your heart will be. Somebody said, Well, I want to build me a house. I want to plant me a vineyard. I want to get me a nest egg. I want to put a little money in the bank. I want to send my children through college. Not too long ago a man made the statement he said I quit the ministry. Oh he didn't give the ministry up but said I quit the ministry as far as being active. He said, I felt like my children had to go through college. He said, Let me tell you something. He said, I sent the children through college. He said to my sorrow and he said now I've lost my ministry. Another man I talked too, Brother Bob probably remembers this one. I told him, I said, mister, or brother, I said, You better go out and serve God. I said, You better go out and preach the gospel. He said, I am going out. He said, I lack about one or two more payments on this little home. I'll have it all paid for and when I get it all paid for said, I'm going to preach the gospel. I said, You better go put God first. God doesn't want to be second in your life. He will not be second in your life. Either God will be first or God will not be in your life at all. So this man went out here and as far as I know he paid for his home. But the last report that I got, right over behind his house is a lake. And in this lake one of his boys lost his life. See, you say, That's cruel of God. Let me tell you something. The Bible said not to give place to the devil. God didn't do it. He let the devil in. Don't give place to the devil. The Bible said, Resist the devil and he'll flee from you. You have to put up an effort against him. His boy lost his life. But how many people lost their soul because he didn't go preach? How many will be charged against him in the day of judgment? So then you see you cannot play around with God? You can't play with God. Now rise up. Peter said, Rise up and save yourselves. You got to do something. You might as well as get use to the idea. Rise up and save yourselves. Save yourselves. You want a home, you want a car, you want these things, but the Bible said, It's no time to build houses. Now then how many of you know when Gehazi come back there to Elisha. And Elisha said, Gehazi, where have you been? He said, I haven't been anywhere. And he said, Don't you know that I have spiritual discernment? Don't you know that I can see you in visions when you are gone? Don't you know that I saw you as you run down the road after Naaman and after the world? He said, Why did you come and lie to me? Don't you know that I saw all of those things? After that I had refused them, and after I had shown him as my servant they had to be refused. He said, Where have you been? And then he made the confession. And here's what he told them. He said, You can have the worldly things but just like the leprous man he told him, said, Leprosy will cleave to you and your seed as long as you live. Brother you can have the things of this world, but you're going to have sicknesses and sorrows and heartaches and troubles and at the end of the way sin is going to destroy your soul and you're going to be cast into a burning lake of fire. What can we do? We can save ourselves. Now what did he tell that man? He said, Naaman, he said, it's no time I want you to listen to this folks, he said, It's no time to build houses. Many hundred of years ago, even thousands of years back, he said, It's no time to build houses. It's no time to plant vineyards. But the Bible said, Labor for God. For soon the night cometh when no man can work. Jesus said, Sell all you got. Give it to God and take up your cross and follow. You haven't got a cross till you sell all you got. Then you've got a cross. What can we do? We can save ourselves if we will. We can save ourselves from sin. I'm going to say this and close. Did you know that if there was no time then to build houses and to plant vineyards, friend, I can assure you there's no time now. I only repeat the words that Elisha that the world said Elisha said to Naaman. I want to say the same things to you. Jesus Christ the Word, the same yesterday, today and forever. I want to tell you in the name of the Lord. It's no time to build houses. It's no time to plant vineyards. It's time to rise up and save yourselves from this wicked and sin cursed generation and get ready to meet God. It's time to...?... Let's all stand together will you?...?...tonight, trying not to weary you and take too long as far as I said. Let's bow our heads for just a little. Praise the Lord! Father of heaven, as we come to you tonight. Lord, in the name of your Son Jesus. Lord, we're grateful for your great...?... precious people that's here tonight. And Lord we pray tonight though there be just a few here that something has been said that'll sink deep down in their heart and make them to realize what they're going to look like in the day of judgment. Father, as we stand there before God with men like Job and Elijah and the of old Lord Jesus and all the faithful of long ago, Lord, help us to consider. Help us to examine ourselves and see if we be in the faith. Help us tonight, Lord, we pray in Jesus name. I'd like for us to sing a verse or too or the old song Amazing Grace. What is the grace of God? It's the most amazing thing...?... I guess it's one of the sweetest songs of all times that's sung about as much as any other because it's so expresses the condition that we were in and the way that God feels to us and the way that we feel to Him. Let's sing a verse or two. (Singing) Let's sing a verse or two of the song: Pass Me Not Oh Gentle Saviour. How about coming up here right close.?.. and let's see if we can get it on tape while we're praising the Lord will you? Come up here for just a few minutes. While we're worshiping the Lord and I feel His presence. (Singing) Father, tonight we thank you for your wonderful presence. Lord, we thank you for you Spirit. Lord, we thank you for the people...?...thanking for the opportunity to worship the Lord. I pray that right now the Holy Spirit would come down. Break every yoke tonight I pray that you will do it. Father, heal the sick body. Heal tonight, Jesus. Father and give them the desires of their heart. Let them feel the liberty, Father,...?... Hallelujah! I feel you breaking the yoke, Jesus. I feel the anointing coming down and I feel faith. Lord, as those hands are lifted up. Grant it tonight. Hear from heaven. Oh God...?... we ask it in Jesus name.

By Rev. George Leon Pike Sr.

Founder and first President of Jesus Christs Eternal Kingdom of Abundant Life, Inc.

Holiness Unto The Lord