Challenging Your Faith

You know, Jesus said, I'm not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. I've come to seek and to save that which was lost. I was lost, and He found me. God went out and sought you out. He said, You've not sought Me, but I sought you. He loved us while we were yet in our sins, and He gave His Son to die for us, to seek and to save us. Now that we're found, we're the wonderful household of God, and we're making up the wonderful children of God, the wonderful children of light. There's nothing like the children of light. That is to say, the children of the revelation, the children of understanding, the children that have this wonderful knowledge, this heavenly treasure that's in these earthen vessels. It's so good to be a Christian.

All right, we want to talk about the Word of the Lord this morning, and the most beautiful words that's ever been spoken, it's the words of the Lord Jesus. Now we've read this to you a number of times as the Scriptures, most of the Scriptures we've read here and there over and over to you, and took a thought as to one day this avenue of thought or another day, another avenue of thought. And always, this wonderful word of wisdom is so deep and dimensional that you always get something new out of it. It's like getting thirsty over and over and going to the old open well as we use to do when I was a boy, and getting a cool drink. Sometimes Betty and I, we use to be traveling along, and they had a lot of open wells and we'd stop. Sometimes the car would get to steaming. You had to stop and get some water and pour it in the radiator. We'd be just so hot and stop along the way. People use to be real neighbors, you know. We'd just stop and get a drink out of their well. Didn't have too many stores along where you could stop and get pop or Coca Cola and whatever, and of course folks was a lot healthier. Didn't have as much money, but they didn't need as much. They'd drink some well water.

I want to read just a little bit from over in the book of Ephesians, and if you've got your Bibles you can read with me. I think I'll start in Ephesians this time at the first chapter. I think we'll do it that way. Let me say this, that if you've never come into the revelation of Jesus Christ, you've missed the greatest thing that's ever been given, in that the revelation is Christ Jesus Himself within your heart. And a lot of people wonder why that we speak of the revelation of Jesus Christ, but if you recall, I've read to you a number of times about the revelation of Jesus Christ, and how that Paul received this revelation. He speaks of it in his writings. And then I have taken you to the book of Revelation, where it starts off at the first chapter and the first verse it says, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to shew unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass; and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John: Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand." (Revelation 1:1-3) The time is at hand. We've tried to point out to you that the time is at hand. The time is at hand. And I'd like for you to dwell on that thought this morning. The time is at hand. Reading a little bit from the book of Ephesians, it might go along with this. It says, (Ephesians 1:1-23.) I want you to notice this. I want to read just a little bit of Chapter 2, and I want you to notice what he says: (Ephesians 2:1-10).

He says in the third chapter of the book of Ephesians: "That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen." (Ephesians 3:16-21)

Now there's a lot of preaching here that we could be done for a few months, but Paul speaks in Ephesians of the wisdom, in the seventeenth verse of the first chapter, "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened;" (Ephesians 1:17-18) "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him." Now, if I ask the question, if I said, which one of you today that's here, which one of you have the Spirit of wisdom and revelation? The Bible said that we should pray that God would grant unto us the Spirit of revelation. Then I would say to my spiritual children this morning, of course you being my spiritual children, I would say, "Now, which one of you that I have here, which one of you, do you have the Spirit of wisdom? Do you have the Spirit of revelation?" And then I wonder how you would answer me, if I ask you if you had the Spirit of wisdom this morning and the Spirit of revelation, how would you answer me? First of all, if we have the Spirit of wisdom, then we walk according to wisdom, whereas the Bible said wisdom is justified of her children, or that is to say, a child of wisdom, will all day long justify wisdom, in that whatever a child of wisdom will say or do, then it will be the proof that wisdom is right. See? Or that is to say, if I say something to Brother Taylor, if it's wise, if it's wisdom, if he be a child of wisdom, he'll say, "Amen." He'll justify it. He won't condemn it. He won't try to wrestle with it. He won't try to deviate from the truth or pervert the wisdom of God; or as the Bible said change the truth of God into a lie. He won't try to do that. He'll justify it. He'll say, "That's right." I say, "But Brother Taylor, you're guilty. I saw you stumble." He'd say, "That's right, Brother Pike. I stumbled, but I can't lie against the truth. I stumbled. I'm guilty. I'm guilty. But I'm a child of wisdom. What God said is right, though I be guilty." So if I said to you, "Do you have the Spirit of wisdom?" how would you answer me? Or if I said to you, "Do you have this Spirit of revelation?" how would you answer me? What is the Spirit of revelation? The Spirit of revelation is the Spirit of revealing, of unveiling. When you have the Spirit of revelation, that means that things are being revealed to you or things are being unveiled. So I would say to the congregation or those that are listening, thos that are looking, I would say, "Now do you have the Spirit of revelation, of things being unveiled to you?" Are there things that's being revealed to you; whereas the Bible says that God has given us these things in Christ before the world ever was. Before the world ever was, He gave me all these wonderful things.

I preached the other night on the potentiality of your inheritance, and as to your ability as to utilization of this, and that by faith. That is to say, the challenge of your faith. I ministered to you as to the challenge of your faith, as to the ability of utilization of that which is the potentiality of God, that is Christ in you the hope of glory. The Bible said God is able to do abundantly above all that I can ask or think, all by the power of God or this Spirit of wisdom and revelation that works within me. I pray, "God give me the Spirit of revelation." So, God gives me the Spirit of revelation. And then He reveals to me or He makes known to me the mystery of His will, for the Bible said great is the mystery of godliness, for God the great eternal Spirit was manifested, and that in the fullness of God, in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ; for God giveth not the Spirit unto Him by measure. So then, He was manifested in the fullness of Himself in Christ Jesus, God, the eternal Spirit, and great is the mystery of godliness, for God was manifested in the flesh, He was seen of angels, He was caught up into heaven. So then, God, who is a Spirit, is living on the inside of you, and God, who is a Spirit, is living on the inside of me.

I know when we say that, you know, it doesn't sound like much. You know, I say you ate a full meal and on the inside of you is the ice cream and the soda pop and whatever, you know, and it doesn't sound like a whole lot. But while you were eating it, you really got a thrill out of it, you know. The taste buds being excited and whatever, and now it doesn't seem like much. But yet, according to what we understand scientifically speaking, all of that, that went into the tummy is going to turn into strength. It's going to turn into strength as to the elements of those things that went inside, the vitamins that the food contained or all of these things that was in this thing as to ingredients, whatever, it's going to turn into strength. And the more that you utilize your ability, whether it be lifting weights, or whether it be jogging, or swimming or whatever they do out in the world, the more of this great potentiality as to what you have placed on the inside of you, is going to turn into human energy and human strength. It's going to stimulate you to the extent that your brain is going to be sharper and clearer. Your eyes are going to be stronger. These nerves are going to be noticed by this, and all of this energy is going to fill your body.

See, that's the way it is with God. We don't think much about it. We get excited because the preacher preaches. They sing songs, and all of this greatness comes to us, and we feel this inspiration and the pouring out of God's Spirit, and then after that, we go our way and we wait for the next service. We say, "Well, we had a wonderful service." But folks, if you're able to absorb what God is saying to you, in that it's not the minister speaking to you but God speaking to you, if you're able to absorb that, then that goes on the inside of you, and all through the day this is working on the inside of you. Those heavenly ingredients are working. Those elements, the traces of elements from heaven, all these potentialities, they're being revealed in your body, and you're becoming that great super man, Jesus Christ. Not you living, but Christ living within you. And the Bible said and this life, this potentiality is being made manifest in your mortal genes. This very life is being made manifest in your mortal genes. This great thing is taking place. Just like within your body, there is that which is refused and which is rejected, because the system will not feed off of it. It is not what is needed, and it's only a carrier. It's like the husk in which the ear of corn grows. And so then, the body rejects that, and all of this is refused and passes through the anus and is gone. See, once the body has taken out the ingredients, once it has taken out the potentials as of life and taken it, captivated this and transmitted this into your blood genetics, by means of those organic parts through, the functioning of those organic parts, then that which is rejected is gone. See, whether it be of the fluids as of water to carry the poison from your body, or whatever it might be, as to relieve you of the ptomaine poison or of the uremic poison, and it keeps it out of your system.

See, and that's the way it is with God. On the inside there's a lot of things that are rejected, because you have thoughts come to you that you don't want to entertain. You have thoughts that come to you through people. People speak to you and your ears record those thoughts, or you have impulses or you have reflexes or you have human desires. You have desires to come to you, and much of this is rejected, because God cannot use it. It's detrimental to the Christ life, and you cannot have it. You go out into the world and you are acquainted with many things out there. You relate to many things out there, but there's many things out there that you don't want to bother with, though they might look good and they're all right for the world. But you don't want to bother with those things, because those things have death. They have death within them. It's like a snake biting you, and the venom going into your blood veins, and then hurrying over to your heart, or to strike your brain, which brings immediate death. See, like a blood clot that lodges in the body, and then it moves around until it strikes the heart or the brain.

So then, we know that there's a lot of things that our body rejects. It's like a dove. A dove cannot eat anything bitter. It doesn't want anything bitter, because if it eats anything bitter it will die because there is no gall bladder there, as to your gall bladder, that will take away the poison. And the little fellow, he can't digest those evil things. And we're like a dove, we're gentle and we're pure and we're clean and upright. Like the little dove that gives off oil, that comes out of it's body, and that oil that comes out of it's body, keeps it's little wings slick and keeps it clean and nice. See, from within us the oil of life comes out of our bodies, that is spiritually speaking, and we glisten like the noon day. When Jesus stood on the mount of transfiguration, He glistened. The Bible said His raiment glistened as the light because this oil of gladness comes out. He said, I will anoint thee with the oil of gladness, and said, Because thou hast loved righteousness, God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

A lot of times God will exalt you, or He will pick you up. He will make you greater. Like David of old, He said, I've taken you from among the sheepcote. I have given you a name liken to the great men of the earth. I've made you a king. I've give you all this wisdom and understanding. The same way with Solomon, because they loved righteousness. Wouldn't it be wonderful if everybody loved righteousness? And that way they could have the Spirit of wisdom, and they could have the Spirit of revelation. But because we as a people don't love righteousness the way that we ought to, then we are robbed of this great, wonderful treasure that God has given to those that do love Him. That is to say, this that is in earthen vessels. Though this great wonderful body of Jesus is in the world, the question is: am I'm a part of it, or are you a part of it? So we see that this is a great, wonderful, exciting thing. We eat the meal. We go our way, and we don't realize what has taken place. But did you know, after a while if you'll watch, when you exert a lot of energy, and you do a lot of things, and you're not paying too much attention as to the long, strenuous hours that you're putting in, after a while you begin to kind of weaken. You begin to feel fatigued, and your eyes, they're not quite as sharp as they was as to the early morning, and you find that your body doesn't have the zip and the zeal, that you had in the early morning when you sprang out of bed. See, and then you become aware that something has taken place. You are exhausted.

See, as it was when Esau met Jacob, he was famished. He felt like he was just about to die. He had to have something to eat. He had been exuberant all through the day, been hunting and doing things, and had forgotten to prepare a meal. But Jacob was a little more clever. He was looking for something. He was interested in the birthright, and he had been very protective of his strength, and he had utilized his strength in the direction of refurbishing or having something at the right moment. And so then, he had applied himself to have that which would be needed at the end of the day. Of course, when he ran into Esau, Esau was so famished, like the prodigal having used up all that he had as to squander his goods, and here, when he meets Jacob, Jacob makes a deal with him. He bargains with him. And he says, Esau, I'll give you something to eat providing that you give me the birthright. And Esau, you know, his mind on eating and drinking, and no doubt he felt like I'm the first born, what kind of a foolishness is this? What makes Jacob think he could ever get the birthright? I'm the first born. I'll just eat the pottage. I'll eat what Jacob has prepared here. I'll go my way. And I'll forget about it. I'll still have my birthright. But see, God doesn't look at things the way you do. He kept looking down, and He knew that a deal was a deal and a bargain was a bargain, and He saw a man so foolish with his birthright and with his great potentials as to what he had coming, in that the child of the birthright, the first born, was lord over the mother at the death of the father. He was lord over all the cattle. He got all the money, all the wealth. All the servants were under him, and whatever he said, that's the way it was. He was the king of that little kingdom. See, but when he thought about it, he thought Jacob was just foolish. Being young you know, he was just foolish. But nevertheless, he made a deal. And when the time came for the birthright, God remembered that Esau cared so little about his birthright.

Folks, that's the way it is. You have to remember that. If you don't eat at God's table, if you don't fill yourself with the strength of God, you can't come to God's table later after you have eaten at the table of the devil. The Bible said you cannot eat at the table of devils and eat at the table of God. You can't go out there and fill your belly with the husk that the swine eat and still retain an appetite toward heavenly things. You can't do it. You quench that appetite. No matter what you put on the inside of you when you are hungry, that will quench your appetite. You can eat whatever you want to, if it ain't nothing but what the pigs eat. But when you get through, your appetite is gone, and they can set steak on the table or whatever, but you don't have any hunger for it. Well anyway, Esau, he just took it for granted everything's going to be all right. So he went his way and he done his thing, and then he took this food in a bargain, in a deal with Jacob. Now the world is not without food as to a blessing. God has given the natural food, but He's also given them a spiritual food, in the sense that the water is upon the unjust. The rain is upon the unjust, and they are eating, and they are drinking, and they are being healed, and they're enjoying the wonderful presence of God, and they are just as the others enjoying this love and this compassion and this mercy that God has given to all humanity, whereas the Bible said surely the goodness of God leadeth us to repentance. And God has given them the love and mercy, just like He's given it to us. But the thing is, there is a world of difference in water being poured out on you, and water coming on the inside of your being. When you are thirsty, you know, you can be thirsting to death and they could be pouring water all over you and you'd still thirst to death, and dehydration would set in. If there was food all around you, see, you've got to have food on the inside of you.

So then, we see that God is pouring out of His Spirit upon all flesh, and everybody has a chance or an opportunity to come to this. We sing that song, For God has given us this chance to decide our destiny. Where will you be a million years from now? He has given us this sovereignty. He has given us this chance. He has poured out of His Spirit that it might cause the atmosphere of evil to go away, like turning on a light and eradicating the darkness, so that every individual can get a glimpse of this light, that they may think clearly long enough to make a decision, as to whether they love light or love darkness. And the Bible said many of them loved not the light, but they loved the darkness, because their deeds are evil, and this is the condemnation that is come into the world that light has come, and men loved darkness rather than light. That is the condemnation or what they'll be charged with in the day of the judgment: that light came to them, understanding came to them, but they loved the darkness rather than light. That is, they did not like these thoughts of righteousness and holiness and godliness and pureness. They did not like these thoughts as of light that comes, that shows them that they should feed the hungry, deny themselves, go into all the world to help the needy, pull souls out. They did not like those kind of things. See, but they liked those things: as to the ball games and the frolics and the eating and the fussing and the life of lasciviousness of the flesh, as to the gullible desires of passions and fault finding and lying and back biting and cheating, all these kind of things. They loved the monetary values of life and cared little about the spiritual things. See, that's the way it was as to what God saw in the judgment. That's the way it is right now as to what God sees in the world. And the Bible said and this is the condemnation, or this is the charge against them, that I did come into the world, but they loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. The things that they wanted to do fit better with the thoughts that they thought.

You know, the Bible says as a man thinketh in his heart, so he is. Whatever you think in your heart, that's what you are. As to my thinking, that's what I am. It's like human desire. The Bible speaks of desire failing. When desire fails, there is on the inside of you a desire to do things, and you're rewarded according to that desire, as to what we've said in the past; whereas God looks to see if there is a desire to do right. You know, you cannot do right unless there is a desire to do right. Somebody said, "Well, I try to live a Christian life." They've come in among the saints of God. They fellowship the saints of God. Brothers and sisters are together. And then they go off, they get away from this light, and then the desire that's on the inside of them begins to spring up. Their desire is for new homes, and their desire is for automobiles, and their desire is for money, and their desire is for prestige, and their desire is to laugh and talk and joke and lie, and do the things of the world. Their desire is for passion, and their desire is for anything outside of something that's godly and holy and right. Their desire begins to come up, and their desire takes them wherever they go, and the child is known according to his doings, because his doings is according to his desire. So then, the desire on the inside of him, that desire is a perverted desire. It is not the desire of God. He does not have that desire of God that's given by the seed of Christ, as to the Word and inspiration of light. He does not have that desire. That desire on the inside of him that's rooted in righteousness. That root as to desire that springs up from godliness, he does not have that. But he hath a desire that is satanic. The root of that is devilish. It is a satanic root, and that desire has sprang up in this way: that the Bible says that Lucifer, the god of this world, savors the things that be of the flesh because that is his desire. He is the god of this world. He desires the things of this world. He's made for that. So the devil is desire. The root to that desire that you have is a perverted desire, is a devilish desire.

See, there is a human desire, a human desire that springs up as to that which is necessitated to life. There is a desire that comes up which is a human desire; and this desire comes up as to the necessitated means of life. That is to say, this desire comes up and you have a desire to wash your face. You have a desire to go to bed and get some rest. You have desire to eat. You know, normally speaking as to a moderation in all things. You have a desire that is a human desire, and yet, it is a God given desire, because those things are necessitated to life, and they are needful for you. Nothing wrong with that. But at the same time, there is another spiritual power, and this power becomes interwoven. Either as to satanic power or as to a godly power, and it becomes interwoven with your human desires. Now, if God becomes interwoven with your human desires, then your human desires are beneficial to you, and if God becomes interwoven with your human desires, then your human desires are relative to the things that make for edification, or they are relative to the object that is something of a potentiality toward life. And this relativeness to this you are drawn, and from this comes the ingredients of life that you get because of your desires. As the little babe is drawn to the breasts, and as it takes hold to bring the milk down because of being drawn to the breasts, so comes the milk as to the thirst and to the hunger and the effort of the little babe. So it is with you and I, though we be babes in Christ, yet we're to desire the sincere milk of the Word that we might grow thereby. And then, if we want to grow up into real manhood, then the Bible said that the meat belongs to the strong, and we look toward God to get that meat, in that that meat is what brings us into a maturity as to manhood. We cannot live altogether on milk. We've got to have some meat.

All right, so it's wonderful then to know that this great potentiality is with us. This desire is with us. Why is it that a person that's ever so religious, that comes to church with a regularity, that fellowships just like all the rest, why is it that this person does not live an overcoming life, when another person will live an overcoming life? Why is it, that that person cannot deny themselves, to put their hands to the plow, not looking back, willing to sacrifice the body or travail toward Christ, when another person can do that? What is the difference? It is their desire. Take a man that has a desire to be a millionaire: he'll apply himself day and night. He'll use up his strength when others are trying to find rest. Take a man that wants to be the president of the United States or wants to be a great celebrity: he'll put forth his effort. Take a person that wants to be a wrestler or a boxer, and they're continually jogging or boxing. They're continually doing something to develop the potentials of their body to where they will be alert and agile and can within a moment's time come, you know, in strength and power; their reflex. They coordinate those things to where they can get the very best out of them. I don't know if this is true as to what I'm about to say here, but they tell me that this man that was so outstanding with karate, I can't think of his name right off, you know, and a lot of you have read about him. I've heard you talk about him. But they say that he was so agile, so fast, so quick, that before, I believe it's a cobra, before a cobra could strike, as quick as a cobra is in his reflex, that he could grab the cobra before he could strike. He could move that fast. Now whether that's true or not, I don't know. If you've ever seen a film of a snake burst a balloon, you know how fast a snake is. They'll hold a balloon up here. The cameras will catch the snake over here. And you watch and the balloon pops and you never see the snake move. He's that fast. You never see it. The camera never sees him, never catches the motion of the snake. All you do is see the balloon burst, and you know that the snake struck the balloon. And they tell me that this man was so fast in his reflex, and so coordinated as to being agile that he could move so fast, he could move faster than the snake. You know the little mongoose, he's so fast that he can set here and watch a snake, and before the snake strikes, he can watch him, and then when the snake goes to make his first move, he's so fast, he'll catch the snake, you know.

And I said that to say this, that that's the way it is with God in us. The Bible teaches He's quick. We are quickened by the Spirit. We are quickened by the Spirit. Like a flash of light we move, and Satan can't catch us. We're faster. We can move in and out with the speed of light, or more than the speed of light, as to move before Satan can strike. The evil spirits that strike at us, we can move because of the agility of Christ within us and the quickening of Christ in us. And we're so powerful. Like Samson, when he reached and got the lion, when the lion roared at him and he just reached and got the lion and tore it as though it was a kid, because of the power of God, filled with the power of God, filled with the understanding of God, filled with the agility of God. This is what we should be within our strength, with the utilization of our faith, and our ability that God has given us, by the potentials of that which is placed on the inside of us. You understand what I'm saying? And the thing that causes all of this is a desire. A desire prompted this man that was so quick, to learn to move like a flash. This desire causes a man to become a pilot. It causes a man to become a president. It causes a man to become a celebrity or some great, outstanding figure in the world, whether a millionaire or whatever. Desire. What has built Bethlehem? A desire. There was a desire. It's like a great man of God wrote a song one time. Vep Ellis, he wrote this song: I Have A Desire. I have a desire. When you have a desire, then you can do what you want to. But if desire fails, then as Solomon said, Desire will fail. And when desire fails, it doesn't matter how religious you are. It doesn't matter how active you are in a thing toward a thing. Somewhere you're going to forsake it, somewhere you're going to leave it, and somewhere your program is going to fail, because desire has failed.

But folks, let me tell you: when you're born again of Jesus, when you're born again of God, and you get this desire of Christ on the inside of your heart, it won't fail. It will never fail. This desire is on the inside. Christ said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. Lo, I am with you always, even until the end of the world. And as I said in reading that of revelation, and the time of the end was there at the revelation of Jesus Christ, for he said, And the time is at hand. Speaking of the day that we're living in, the time is at hand. If you're going to have any utilization as to meet the challenge of God with your faith, then you're going to begin to move, and you're going to have to get born again to get a desire, or you're never going to live an overcoming life, because you don't have the desire for God. You don't have the desire for the knowledge of God. You don't have the desire for the understanding of God. You don't have the desire to develop that Christ that makes you the great super man, that someday will show as to the outshining of the brightness of the noonday. You don't have that desire. You don't have that desire to be His bride, the most beautiful thing that shall ever be seen by human eye. You don't have that desire.

See, it's like a woman. She wants to marry a man. She's laid her eyes on him and she says, "That's mine. I'm going to have him." So she works toward that. She never stops. She works toward that. Day and night she works toward that. If she can ever just catch his eyes one time, to think that he would notice her, she really applies the pressure, and she moves in very shrewdly, and she works and she works until the day that he is looking at her and proposing to her, she knows that she's going to be his bride, and she'll do anything just in anyway to be beautiful in his sight, or to look in his sight just exactly the way that he wants her to look. I know some act like a devil after you married them, but nevertheless, these I mean, you know, when they want what they want, they go after it. Isn't that right? Somebody say, "Amen!" You know that's true. But anyway, there's some that even after they get a husband, they still love him, they'll be a real wife to him. They'll do anything they can to please him and try to conform to his way of life.

And that's the way it is with the bride of Christ. You know, He hath wooed us. He hath come to us. He has drawn us to Him. And now we love Him with all of our heart, with all of our mind, with all of our strength. And the more that a woman loves a man, the more she absorbs the man. See, the more that she loves him, the more that she conforms to his desire and his way. And after a while, you can't tell them a part to the extent as to their characteristics. You know, like Jesus said, You've seen Me, you seen the Father. The characteristics are so great, the spirit is so great, that the woman is literally become one with him, and whatever he would say, though he be absent, that's exactly what she would say. You go to get his mind. He doesn't have to be around. As long as she's there, you've got his mind, because she's going to think and say just exactly the way he does. And that's the way I want it to be with me and the Lord Jesus. I say so often, I'm jealous over my thoughts with a godly jealousy, over my reflex, over all of the intents of my heart because I want to draw nigh to Christ, and the Bible said draw nigh to God and He'll draw nigh to you. I want to be exactly the way He thinks, exactly what He wants to do. I want to move in every way He would move. Be as graceful in what I do as He would be if He was doing it. I want to do it just exactly the way that He wants it done.

Let me say this in looking for a place to close. So, in that the time is nigh at hand, and we are speaking of these things as to the coming of the Lord Jesus, let's think just a few minutes on this, as to the utilization of our potentiality. What is my potential? I said the other night, all things that pertain unto life. For God has given me all things that pertain unto life. Everything I could want, everything I could desire, I have it. He's already given it to me, for He made me to be what He wanted me to be. He made me to be this in Christ Jesus. He purposed in His own self, that He would do with Christ Jesus what Brother Pike was to be, or He would make the Lord Jesus what I was to be throughout eternity, and whatever He made Christ to be, the Bible said so am I in Him in this world. So He made me exactly what He made Christ Jesus. When He made the Lord to be perfect, when He made the Lord to be righteous, when He made the Lord to be holy, when He made the Lord to be all powerful, when He gave the Lord all things, when He gave the Lord His mind, so gave He me the same. See, I am identically what Christ Jesus is in the sight of God because He knew I could never be it. I could never obtain unto it. I'm like a little babe. I could never do those things. I could never reach those things. So He wanted me to be so much His own image, His own way of life, His own state of being, until He made me to be what He wanted me to be in Christ Jesus. So He purposed in Christ Jesus that I should be the walking Christ Jesus. He purposed in His heart that ye should be the walking Christ Jesus. Now, the only limitations there is, as is to what I am willing to believe, or what I am willing to submit to, or conform to as to surrender this world to accept that. So then I am only limited as to my unbelief. The Bible said, concerning the people in the wilderness, they limited the Holy One. Not that He was limited as to His potentiality or His ability, but they limited Him as to what He could do for them by their unbelief.

Like I was saying to Sister Betty yesterday. I said, "Betty, do you remember the Scripture that says without faith it is impossible to please God? He that cometh to God must believe that God is, and believe that God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him?" I said, "Then do you understand what God was saying when He said, It is impossible to please God without faith?" You know, to you and I a lot of times, we misconstrue the Scriptures and we misunderstand. So we say, "Well, God said, without faith it's impossible to please Him. That means I got to believe. I got to believe or the Lord won't be satisfied." Folks, that isn't what He was saying at all. It is true that you've got to believe or He isn't going to be satisfied, but without faith it's impossible to receive of God.

Let me talk on this for just a minute now. I have so many people around the world, they come to me at different times, and they'll say, "You talk about God and God being good." And they'll say to me, "I just don't understand all of that," they'll say. They're a little bit afraid to speak against Him sometimes. So then, I just don't understand all of those kind of things. I'll say, "Well, what is it that you don't understand?" They say, "Well, a little baby's dying overseas. Dying, and the mother, she's crying and God stands by them, let's it die. Or somebody brutally mistreats somebody, taking advantage as to molest. And God stands idly by and He let's this thing happen. Somebody beats a man's brains out. Somebody stabs a wife to death. Somebody does some horrible, hideous crime, and then God allows it. You tell me that God's good." Then he said, "Can't God do all things?" Well, you're kind of on the spot. You know that God can do all things, because the Bible said nothing is impossible with God. Said, "Well, if He's all that good, why didn't He do something about it? If I'd been there, I'd done something about it." You know, and the devil, he boasts himself, when he knows he's the devil that done it, you know, and not only does he know that, but he also knows that he's the devil that's questioning the goodness of God right then and there, as to bring about unbelief to damn the soul of the man that he's working in, or to pervert the man's mind that he's trying to assail. See, he knows that. He's shrewd. He's cunning.

But folks, let me tell you something. God can't do anything about it. So then, we're really running into a snag then, sure enough. Somebody says, "There's nothing impossible with God, Brother Pike." That same old devil, you know, to get his point over, he'll jump up and say, "There's nothing impossible with God," you know, to prove that God is a villain. But folks, let me tell you something: He can't do anything about it. When the little baby is dying, do you think I'm better than God? Do you think you're more compassionate? If a mother was weeping for her little one and you was close by, and you could keep that little one from dying, would you keep him from dying, as wretched as some of you are? Wouldn't the compassion of the mother move you, so that you'd do something about it? Of course you would. And that means that you're better than God, as the devil would have us believe. You know better than that. You know better than that.

Why is it that you don't help that little baby? That little baby is dying. Why don't you do something about it? You know that's death. You know it's going to die. Why don't you do something about it? Because you can't do anything about it, that's why. If you could, you would. And even medically speaking many, many doctors, physicians, nurses, people, mothers, whatever it might be, they can't stop death when it strikes. They might give it all kind of medicine. They might cuddle it. They might do whatever. You admit it to the hospital, but it still dies, because they can't do anything about it. They can't do anything about it. So then, what do we say? It's because they couldn't do it that they didn't do it.

See, and it's the same way with God. Would not God be more compassionate? Would not God heal the little baby? Why do we get so warped up in our mind? Why do we question God? Why do we blame God with all of our problems? Why do we blame God? Because there is a power of evil, Satan, accusing God, all the time to your minds. He's the accuser of the brethren. He accuses the husband through the wife, and he accuses the wife through the husband, the children through the parents, and the parents through the children. Always he's doing that. He accuses. All the time he's accusing. He accuses through the law the people, and the people accuses the law. The president accuses the people, and they accuse the president. Always it's that way. Why? Because of the power of perversion and Satan. The sheep accuse the minister. The minister accuse the sheep. Always. But one of these days, Satan is going to be bound and cast out. And the accuser of the brethren is going to be cast out, and then the Bible said and nothing shall harm in all of My holy mountain, saith the Lord. See, if God is responsible, why is it that when Satan is bound, why is it that sorrows and heartaches and woes and problems and homes being broke apart, why doesn't this continue if God's to blame for it? But the Bible said when Satan is bound, then for one thousand years he remains bound, and nothing shall harm in all of My holy mountain, saith the Lord.

See, it would be that way today. Somebody said, "Well, that's a special time, Brother Pike." Then that means that Jesus Christ isn't the same yesterday, today, and forever. With God there is no changes. With God there is no alterations, not toward any person. What I say to one, I say to all. If I give something to one, I give it to all, even pouring out the rain on the unjust, come to take away the sins of the world, and not because you did good and they did bad, or you're different. The Bible said this was given to you while you were yet in your sins. So then, He poured it out upon all people while they were yet in their sin. Gave them all the same opportunity, but you're the ones that came to it. You're the ones that accepted it. You're the ones that believed it. Without faith it's impossible to please God, because he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and believe that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. So then, draw nigh to God, and then God will draw nigh to you. How can I draw nigh to God? By praying, surrendering, offering my life to God, turning away from evil. That is a conviction of faith. That means faith made me do all of that. Believing in God made me do that. Desire made me do that. I had a desire to do the right thing.

So then, is God then responsible for anything that's wrong? In the days of Job when Job was suffering and in the way that he was suffering, was God responsible for Job's suffering? No. He wasn't responsible for the sufferings of Job. Did God afflict Job? No. God did not afflict Job. Even though the Bible said evil cannot come to a city lest I have sent it, saith the Lord. And the Bible said God works all things after the counsel of His own will, yet it's still as to a servitude thing, it is you that serve yourself. If you go down where all the trays and the food is when you're in the cafe, don't you get what you want to get? And what you don't want to get, don't you leave it there? If you pick up something over here, it might be hot pepper, but you're going to chance it. You pick up something that's onion that will burn like fire, and you're going to chance it. And after a while, when you got the tummy-ache and you got all kind of problems, wasn't you the one that stuck it in there? The man in the cafe didn't put it in there. You did it yourself. Like I told Brother Taylor, I said, "Brother Taylor, get me some more onion." I went by and I got me a nice little piece. It tasted real good. It wasn't too harsh. And they didn't have the kind of onions I like, sweet onions, you know. And I was just fine. I said, "Brother Taylor, you go back, you get me another piece, you're going on up to the bar." So he goes up and he gets me a piece and I tell you what, it's some of the hottest stuff I ever got, because I couldn't hardly get it down. Like Brother Al, he use to sit and he'd eat pepper. He'd just pour the pepper in and eat it, and just grin at me because I would take one bit and I'd go'uh'. I'd take the hiccups right there and I couldn't stand it. Well Brother Al, he would just pour it down. You understand what I'm saying?

So then I'm telling you this: that God is good. God is love. God is kindness. There is no unrighteousness with God. God has never done anything wrong, never in the history of mankind, and God will never throughout eternity do anything wrong. And the Bible said God will not pervert a man in his cause. God will not work against you. God will not try to hinder you in what you want. That's why He lets you go on in the world. You dope up and do what you want to out there. God doesn't bother you. As a matter of fact, He put blood on the seat of atonement to allow you to do that. But you're going to pay for it somewhere. You're going to pay for it. He put blood there to allow you to be a sovereignty, to do what you want to, neglect, throw away your life, and then you'll look back. You look back in remorse and you'll think, my, one time young and strong and healthy and I could have done anything, and I could have utilized my life and my ability and laid up treasures in heaven, and here I am. I'm looking back, my life is gone now. Oh my God, my God! What a fool I was! See, use your potentials for God. A man works all week long. He travails. At the end of the week he picks up the money. He buys his little wife a new dress. They've got a new car. He's got a new home. He's got food. He's got the things that he needs. The other man, he lounges around. He's lazy. He's shiftless. He won't work. He cons. He does everything he can. He's a nuisance. He's a pest, a parasite. And then at the end of the week, he longs and looks, but he doesn't have, because he didn't apply himself. The weeks gone. The time is gone.

See folks, we're down to the time of the end. It's getting later and later. And I'm going to close in just a few minutes. I just want to make a point here, and then we're going to close. So then, what does he mean when he says it is impossible to please God? He is saying that I cannot reach you. I cannot get to you. The Bible said and many mighty works He could not do. He could not do. It didn't say that He would not do them. It said He could not do them because of their unbelief. And in the wilderness, it said and they limited the Holy One. Was then God then limited, when He covered the ground with quail, when He done all that they needed? But they limited, even then they limited Him as to what He could have done and would have done for them because of their unbelief. And He swore in His wrath that they should not enter into His rest. When they went in there and discouraged the hearts of those people, and came back talking about the giants and the ability of the giants, putting God down to the extent that God couldn't handle that and take care of them, after He had done all that He had done for them in the wilderness, the Bible said it highly displeased God, and God swore in His wrath that they should not enter into Canaan. See, and the Bible said because of your unbelief, God swore that you'll not enter into His rest. Or that is to say, the Bible says they were cut off because of their unbelief, being an example unto you and I, which should come afterwards that we should learn to utilize our ability in God by using our faith, for without faith it's impossible to please God. They that come to God must believe that God is, and believe that God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek God. Without faith, you won't get anything. The double minded man is unstable in all of his ways. Even in the world, he'll never be stable and have anything, and the Bible said let not that man think that he shall receive anything of God. All right, so then we must believe without wavering. We must ask without doubting. Faith is so sensitive that just as faith moves, a man walks on the water. Immediately as he begins to doubt, the man begins to sink beneath the water. It works just like that.

You're setting here this morning. You're looking. You're listening. You start using your faith, and immediately God starts working. Because you start drawing as the babe does the milk. And the very minute that you stop, the milk stops. The very minute that you stop, then God stops working. Because it is impossible for God to do anything without faith, because here you are as an individual. Now why is it impossible? You are here as an individual. God is up here. So high is He above you than the heavens, the earth. So then, here is God up here, and here you are. Now God wants to get to you, but He cannot get to you. So what does He do? He comes down in a human body. He gives His blood freely. He takes away your sins. While you're yet in your sins, He takes away your sins by the blood of Jesus. And He says, Now, I've taken away your sins. Here is an atonement for righteousness. Here is a propitiation for sin. Now here is the blood atonement, and the life is in the blood. Now your life is gone. Because of Adam, because of the wickedness, because of that which was wrong as to the mind of carnality and death. Now it's gone. But now I give you a new life. I place your life within the blood cells of the Lord Jesus as a new life to come to bodily form.

I wish we had time to elaborate on that. Maybe one night we will. But anyway here is the blood. Now, you cannot get to God except your iniquities are gone. You are in a bastard child image. I don't care how much you think of your face and your body and whatever, you're still a bastard image in the sight of God, despised of God and rejected of God, and the only way that you can get to God is to pass through this death process of Calvary, as to the bodily image of this death, to put that thing away, and to resurrect in the newness of life on the other side. Whereas, the Bible said as we're planted together with Christ in the likeness of Christ, that is the burial and baptism, having been baptized into Christ, the Bible said we've put on Christ, as to put on this wedding garment, not to come into God's presence, that is on this side of Calvary as to faith. Don't come into this great light unless you have on the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Put ye on the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Make no provisions for the flesh to fulfill the desire thereof. So then, planted with Him in the likeness of baptism, we're resurrected with Him in the likeness of life. Having put on the Lord Jesus Christ, then it's not you living, but Christ living within you. The life that you have is gone because of sin, and now you have the life of Christ, and this is eternal life. Your body of death is gone because of the bastard child image. Now you have the real image of God. Having bore the image of the earthly, the Bible said, thus we bear the image of the heavenly, which is the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. If this tabernacle be dissolved that we have in the earth, as to the body of this image, then we have another one eternal in the heavens, not made with hands, which is the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. Put ye on this tabernacle. Put ye on this body. It is a temple with the mind of Christ, as the old body was a tabernacle with the intellectual mind of your wilderness wandering: doubt, confusion, fears, frustration, anxieties, evil thoughts of all kind.

Now then, you're in a mansion within the mind of Christ, as to hope and as to health, as to love, as to strength, as to beauty, as to radiance, as to the greatness of God. So then are ye the temples of God, and God dwells on the inside of you, and God walks on the inside of you, and now are ye His temples. So then, without faith, without faith God cannot heal me. Without faith God cannot help me. Without faith God cannot feed me. Without faith, God cannot help my children. Without faith God cannot get to me because my iniquities must be eradicated, because God cannot even look upon iniquity, and the only way that I can get my iniquities eradicated is by the blood of Jesus. If I believe in the righteousness of God, if I believe in the blood of Jesus, if I come to God to believe in Christ or in the Spirit of God, through this blood atonement, then ever what I believe myself to be in Christ, so is my reward as to my potentials, when God rewards me according to my faith. This is why Jesus always said, According to your faith. According to your faith.

The woman came to Jesus. The Bible says that virtue went out of Jesus' body, healing all. Now when it says healing all, that doesn't mean that everybody that came got healed, but healing all that would draw nigh to God. If everybody got healed, why is it the Bible said many mighty works He could not do because of their unbelief? But whosoever believed on Him should not be ashamed. Whosoever believes in Him gets healed. Whatever you believe Him to be, He is your healing. He is your salvation. He is your life. He is whatever you believe Him to be. Whatever you believe Him to be, that's what He is to you. If you can place yourself in His place, and place Him in your place, that He hath completely taken your place, eradicated all of your impurities, and your unlikenesses, or your unbecomingness in the sight of God, and put yourself in His place, that now you're becoming in God's sight. You're without spot, you're without wrinkle, you're without blemish. God wants to do this for you. Not because of you, but because of Christ Jesus. He hath already wrought healing for you in the body of Jesus. He's already given you all things that pertain unto life in Christ Jesus, and all He's looking for in you is to believe, to believe. If thou canst believe. Jesus said, All things are possible to them that believe.

So then it doesn't mean all things are possible to the extent of a hit and a miss or a sporadic thing, as to saying, perhaps this will happen if you believe. That's not what He's saying, that there is a possibility that you might strike it lucky. He isn't talking about that. But when it says all things are possible to them that believe, it means that they are now in Christ as to the possibilities. They are now in the world to where nothing can fail to come to them. All things possible means there's nothing impossible. For all things possible means that they have all of these things already. It's come into the realm of possibility, and impossibility is completely gone, and now they have all things that pertain unto life. So all they've got to do is utilize their faith and enjoy these things. All right, so then we can see that without faith it is impossible to please God, because without faith God has no relation with you. Your desire is to that which is relative to you. That is to say, God desire as to that which is life, as to the potentials of life, if you can believe, all things are possible to you. And if you can say it and not doubt in your heart, you have whatsoever you say, and if you ask anything in My name believing and not doubting, then I will give it to you. So then that means that without faith, the little baby can't be healed. The mother's got to believe for that little baby.

Like when the child came to Jesus, He said, If thou canst believe. The man believed for the child, he was healed. See, he cried, I believe. Help my unbelief. And if the mother can believe, and usually a mother's frustrated and a father's frustrated at that very time that the little child needs faith and confidence the more in God as to be healed, they're all frustrated. They love it. The love overwhelms them so, the desire for the little baby overwhelms them so, that fear and frustration keeps them from standing in the gap by faith for the little one. So then, a lot of times a neighbor is better. But anyway, I'm saying that again to bring a point here, and that is, if thou canst believe. If thou canst believe, all things are possible to them that believe. Don't doubt. Jesus said, Believe. Don't cast away your faith which hath great recompense of reward. Take your shield of faith. Quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

So then, to believe, it is impossible for God to heal the little baby unless the mother believes. The little baby can't believe, and there has to be somebody that will believe. If a preacher can come by, if a neighbor can come by, if anybody can come by, God will heal that baby if they are a believer. If there is a person that's in need, if that person can believe, if they are a grown up, God will heal them. If not, if they can get with somebody as a minister that might strengthen their faith to believe, God will heal them. If any two or three as touching anything, God will heal them. Or if a man of God comes along as a prophet as a minister, whatever, if he has faith in God, if he can get them to believe as to the best of their ability, then God will heal them through that man. But unless there is somebody, then God can't do a thing.

The brains are blown out with guns. People drown. The little ones die. Crashes, horrible, hideous things of airplane crashes, as my wife related to me yesterday of these hideous things where people are in such a predicament, until I can hardly allow myself to think on it. See, all because of sin, all because of evil, and you're the instrument of the devil that allows this, because you love the wages of unrighteousness. You love the things of the world. You give place to Satan. You are an accessory after the fact. He dwells as to the dope peddler within your body, within your mind, within your house. And you know that he's doing all of these things. The whole world is guilty before God. And everybody's paranoid because they know that this evil is there, as it was when the giant faced David in that day. But one little Word of God in the sling of faith will do away with your adversaries, and do away with the opposition, and it will bring deliverance as to them that are standing over in the valley of fear and defeat.

There's a lot of things I'd like to say to you, but wisdom is justified of her children. I'm one of her children. I am here to justify wisdom, and these things that God said. So then, we know of a surety that you've got to believe. You've got to believe. If thou canst believe. Don't ever blame God with your problems, with your shortcomings, with your poverty, because something went wrong on your job, because something isn't right between you and your wife, and you say, "Well, bless God, I tried and it still didn't work. The preacher said it, but bless God, it didn't work." Don't ever be a fool and blame God. Don't ever be a fool and let the sight of your eyes, or that of your hearing, or that of your taste, or that of your ambition, or that of your zeal, that of your feeling override your understanding in God. Don't ever do it. Don't never let anything override your faith and confidence in God. God cannot do anything. As in the days of Job, He allowed it, but Satan did it. Satan did it. And when it happens to you, evil comes to a city, God allowed it. He had to allow it because it's a serve yourself way of life and you chose that, and in that you chose that, then you are the one that has to pay for it.

So then, the Bible says if you would see long life or good years and good days, refrain your tongue from speaking evil. Don't let it speak guile. If you want a good life, He said, I would that you would do right all the days of your life, that it might be well with you and your children all the days of your life, because He wants to bless you. He loves you. He's given Himself for you and to you, and He's done all these wonderful things, even to crying, sweating blood, so that you could have it. And then you listen to a lying spirit to blame God with all these hideous, hideous things.

Remember, it's your unbelief. Don't blame God when a little baby's crushed by an automobile. Look at yourself in the mirror and say, say to yourself, "You are a hideous, horrible monster of a thing as I look at you because of your unbelief, when you could have believed. You could have went into all the world to the best of your ability." As a people, we all could go into all the world. You could have done something. You could have give. You could have denied yourself. You could have got your mind off of your face, and your character, and your body, and all of your desires, and had a desire for God, to have faith. You could have developed faith and perfected faith to the extent, that you could have brought deliverance, and perhaps saved that little life, maybe your own life, maybe your own children's life. Whatever it is, you know, the Bible tells us to even pray for the kings and leaders and rulers of our nation, that God would give them understanding and bring them into a place to where they can be great, mighty leaders, and God can speak through them and coordinate the people unto that which is right.

Preserving life. I admire anybody that tries to preserve life. Anybody that does anything as to a sacrifice to try to preserve life. Even though some they do it for monetary values, but this is still admirable for helping somebody. Like the song writer said, If I can help somebody, then my living won't be in vain. To build the buildings, as I told Brother Lamar yesterday, I said, "I build the buildings for people. I do these things for people, because if I can help somebody, Lamar, my living won't be in vain." So when we do this, we do all things as unto the Lord, not expecting a reward here, giving and not expecting anything in return, giving to the poor. He that giveth to the poor, lendeth unto the Lord, and the Lord said, I will repay him. All right, what a great, wonderful thing in God.

So then we see folks, that we have to believe. All these things that are happening, all these calamities that are befalling us, it's not because of God. What more can He do? What more can He do? If He was here to this very day, standing here and it wasn't me but Him speaking to you, if it was Christ, what more could He do than He's already done? If you gave the blood out of your veins, and they laid you down to rest, if you had have sweated blood, if you had denied yourself, if you had left the throne to step down to people in poverty, what more could you have done? If you had been beaten, mangled, and the Bible said and His countenance was bruised more than any man, what would you have done more? See, it's up to us. It's time that we began to realize that we need to be about our Father's business, stop our foolishness. The Bible said they that know their Lord or their master in the last days will do great and mighty exploits. It's time that we were up and about our Father's business, and stop this foolishness of ignorance. Paul said, I would not have you ignorant, and be about our Father's business, and do what we have to do to deliver the people. You can put a thousand to flight. Two can put ten thousand to flight, and the Bible teaches if you believe and say and don't doubt, it will happen. Whatever you say, it will be that way. Go and heal the sick. Cleanse the leper. Raise the dead. Freely ye have received. You go freely giving. You go freely giving. Don't wonder. Don't wonder what His will is. We've told you His will. I would above all things that you prosper and be in health, even as your soul prosper.

I wonder how many of you really want to be like Jesus? Sometimes we try to convince ourselves that we want to be like Jesus, but in all reality, when we face the issue, a lot of times we don't want to be like Jesus. To be like Jesus, the Bible said, if any man would come after Me, let him deny himself. Take up His cross and follow Me. Another thing the Bible said, equip yourselves with a mind to suffer. Like a man that left Bethlehem, he told someone, he said, "That's the one thing that I cannot do, is equip myself with a mind to suffer. That's too much for me." But folks, you can. Paul said, Through Christ that strengthens me I can do all things. You can if you want to. But you got to have that desire. You've got to have that desire. It's got to be rooted and grounded in Christ as to that desire. What is the root of your desire? Is it godliness? Is it as of Christ as to the root of the offspring of David, or is it of a perverted source? It's up to you. We can if we want to. Someday we'll be glad if we do. So then we sing the song, to be like Jesus, to be like Jesus. On earth I long to be like Him.

Sometimes you have a dark place to walk through, and because of that dark place you want to blame the Lord. But He isn't to blame. If you could do like the song writer, to thank Him for the valley, in the valley, He's the lily. The song writer said, I found Him with the lily that was blooming by the way. See, on the mountain top He's the rose of Sharon. Wherever He's at, it's always beautiful. Always lovely, wherever He's at, it's always the same. It's life. Life abundant, filled up and overflowing, always Jesus.

By Rev. George Leon Pike Sr.

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

Holiness Unto The Lord