If Thou Canst Say And Believe

I'll try not to hold you tonight, but I would like to comment just a little bit on this. Saint Matthew chapter twenty-one, it says in the seventeenth verse, "And He left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and He lodged there. Now in the morning, as He returned into the city, He hungered. And when He saw a fig tree in the way, He came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away. And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away! Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive."

Now, let's turn over to the book of Mark. This is reading out of Matthew. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Let's turn over to Mark 11:22. In Mark 11:22 we find it says, "And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that hose things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive then, and ye shall have them. And when ye stand praying, forgive if ye have aught against any; that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses."

Now, that's reading Mark. I want you to notice this. This is the same thing. This is the same instance apparently. I said to you on occasion, when I was talking to you about this, that history says that at the very time that Jesus cursed this fig tree that the Sanhedrin was in conference planning how that they might kill Jesus, or do away with Jesus. At the very same time they said this happened. So, Jesus being hungry, He looked upon the tree. Whereas, the Bible uses the terms in the parabolic speak, as to the proverbial, it says, And the good man came to his vineyard looking for fruit and found none. And he said, Year after year I come and I find no fruit on this tree. And he said, Why cumbereth it the ground? Cut it down. And the man that was in charge of it said, Don't cut it down. Let me dung around it a little longer and then come again. If there then be no fruit then we'll cut it down.

See, so Jesus here  history could be right  Jesus here comes to your tree and to my tree and He looks for fruit. And the Bible said He's looking for perfect fruit. Said, And these bring no fruit to perfection. Some people bring forth fruit, but they are not diligent to the extent that they are really consecrated in the Spirit of holiness and they never bring forth perfect fruit. We speak of the full reward. So then, when we think of these things we have a great comparison here.

I'd like to say I'm glad to see my little granddaughter. She got burned but she was courageous, and here she is in church, and she's feeling all right. We prayed for her and they've done everything they could for her, and God undertook and with their aid and with prayer she's all right. It's like I was telling somebody just before this occurred. I said, "You know, I'm the kind of preacher that I believes that you ought to do everything you can for yourself, whether medical-wise, or whether, you know, for your health, or your finance, or whatever." I said, "I can't see sitting down and asking the Lord to wash my feet, or help me wash my feet, or help me brush my teeth." I said, "I'm afraid He might answer, and say, Well, I gave you hands to, you know, I did help you. And I gave you some understand to get a little soap and whatever is needed." So, I believe we ought to do all we can. When the wound is there, pour in the oil and the wine. The Bible said a merry heart doeth good like a medicine, or that is medicines do good, whereas the Bible said in that day there will be no healing medicines, which makes us to know that the healing is of God, and when grace is taken away (the blood off of the seat of atonement), there won't be any healing in the day of the administration of the antichrist. See? So I believe that we ought to do all that we can, and then what we can't do, then we ought to believe God for. That's His opportunity. And that's what we try to do. But anyway, I'm glad that she here and she's feeling all right. I want you to pray for her. I told her I'd ask you to pray for her.

All right, folks, so we see that this is one and the same thing. It's Mark, and it's Matthew, and in every case where these four men wrote the gospel concerning Christ, in being acquainted with His ministry, they wrote it in a little different way, a little bit different. They say the same things, but they approach it in just a little different way. Like you might see two people standing up speaking in tongues, now, and they might be saying the same thing, and there might be an interpreter. He might interpret both times, and he might give it in a different vocabulary expression, but he might be saying the same thing. You can listen real close, see, because if they are saying the same thing, the Spirit will interpret it the same way. If a person gets up to prophecy, they might prophecy and say something, another man might get up to prophecy and say something and say the same thing, and yet they might use a different approach as to their vocabulary utterance. So then, here these men speak of the same thing, even the life of Christ. And where He is headed in from Bethany, have you ever been to Bethany? Having been in Jerusalem about seven times, we've been to Bethany a number of times where Lazarus and Mary and Martha lived. And this was a place not too far out of Jerusalem that Jesus resorted to. Now if I hack a little bit just bear with me, because I don't have a cold. I have just a little bit of irritation in my throat, just enough to aggravate. But anyway, I want you to try to take hold of this. I'm not going to try to get into revelation. Unless the Lord speaks to us, I'm not going to try to get into a long message, or into revelation. I hardly can open my mouth, if people are hungry and start drawing, but what I don't get into revelation. That's just routine, you know. When you are hungry and thirsty the Spirit automatically speaks to you. But nevertheless, sometimes I try not to do that unless I feel it's the Lord, because if I don't feel the hunger and thirst, I don't like to get into it, because I don't have the time to really bring it out as to a mystery. I need to bring it out as a mystery to get it on tape. We record these things and when it goes out to people, I don't like for it to be all fuddled up, as to an interruption.

So just speaking in the simplicity of the gospel this evening, and that of course, is still a tremendous, wonderful thing, and especially if you talk about faith, for what is greater than faith, the very thing that brings us salvation? Faith is so powerful. I've used it so many hundreds of times, thousands of times. I've lived by faith. The Bible said the just shall live by faith. I live by faith. I always look to God for faith. See, I don't try to figure out how much finance I'm going to get out of this man, or that man, or another man. I don't count tithe money to say how much did we get this week, and that kind of thing. I don't carry money with me. I don't handle money. I go by faith, and faith always works. All over the world faith works. I don't have to have any money with me. I go by faith. I don't have to do any special thing. I go by faith. I don't have to look in any special direction, to any special person. I go to God by faith, and I say, "Lord, You promised to supply all of my needs according to Your riches in glory, and men give into my bosom. You said so shall men give unto my bosom, good measure pressed down, heaped together, running over, for the preparation of a man's heart is from God. And You give to man and You prepare man's heart to do what You will. You rule in the affairs of men. You work all things after the council of Your own will. You have Your way in the good and evil. Can evil come to a city and You've not sent it saith the Lord?" Or that is, as the Scripture reads. So I say, "Lord, I'm looking to You." And sure enough, all things beautifully work together for good to them that love the Lord and those that are the called according to His purpose. So the Lord meets all of our needs according to His riches in glory. Hundreds of thousands of dollars. He always takes care of it. Whether it's TV, whether it's radio, whether it's tent meetings, crusades, overseas crusades, whatever it might be, He abundantly blesses and helps us. Now. So then, I trust in God. The Bible said prove all things. Hold fast to that which is good. And I've proven faith and God has kept me healthy. God has kept me well. He's taken care of my family. He has taken care of all my needs, physically, financially, spiritually, naturally, whatever it might be. And we rejoice in the Lord.

So then, here Jesus, He was that kind of person. Jesus was the kind of person that He trusted in the heavenly Father for everything. He looked to God for everything. His heavenly Father met all of His needs. And here He didn't have any money, He didn't have any script, and now it was time for breakfast and He didn't have any breakfast. So as He comes along, He looks for some figs on the tree and He wants some breakfast and there's no figs there, for it's not the time of figs. And yet, can you say it's not the time of figs? You know, when the Master came along and He'd planted the fig tree and He gave it its season, can you say it's not the right season? I say again, if God is present, it's the time and the season. We're to be instant in season when it's out of season. We're to be instant, to do whatever needs to be done, when it's out of season. So the Bible said to be instant in season, out of season. So then, here is an out of season and that tree should have been instant and it should have given to God. Somebody would say, "Brother Pike, a tree? You know, and a man comes by, how could a tree do that?" Well, this was no ordinary man. And besides that, in the vision I saw, when I saw the vision of Him and He came down the little dusty road and all of these trees were in a row, in my vision all those trees did obeisance. They bent over, bowed before Him. So this tree should have taken a bow.

So here is God, and yet the Lord suffered it to be like that, that He might curse that tree, maybe as history said, to show us the condition of the Jews and what was about to happen to the Sanhedrin, in that He didn't find any fruit in the time of His hunger. And this is My will, the Lord said, that ye should bear much fruit. So then, we see this, and here is this man that always lived by faith. And He comes along and He says to the tree, From henceforth and forever, no more fruit will grow on you. Then when they came back by, after Jesus perhaps had finished preaching, coming back by and maybe over in the evening, was tired and Peter, a man that was real observing, he said, Lord, look at this tree. He probably called some of the disciples. He was all excited, and he said, This tree is dead. Said, Why, I remember, you know, like as in the morning, or the next day, whenever, you know, I remember that He said to this tree that you're never going to bear anymore fruit. And said, It's dead, and the strange thing is that it has died from its roots up. Folks, trees don't die from the roots up. They don't do that. They just don't do that. They die as the sap goes down, but this one, something had smote it in the root, right in the root and it died.

A strange thing happen here a number of years ago. We had a tree down back of the building down here, the big house that we've got. We'd planted the tree and the tree was in the way. Something happened. I don't remember what it was, but I thought, "Well, this tree will just have to be moved," and I said, "Lord, now I've got to move this tree. I don't want it here." Well, immediately something happened to that tree. And would you believe that that tree died from the roots up? And as it broke off, it was dead here, and up in the upper part it was just as green and alive as could be. But anyway, I thought, I come by and I thought, "My! That is something. The Bible said it will come to pass that You'll hear before we ever call." Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever. Here I have a desire. The Bible said decree a thing in your heart and it will come to pass, and said when you pray, whatever you desire, you know, just believe and you'll have it. Be careful what you say, because if you say, believe in your heart and don't doubt, you'll have whatever you say.

And so then, Jesus is telling them this right here. He is saying, And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. But verily I say unto you that whosoever (they had a little song, you know, whosoever surely meaneth me), that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith. You know, now right there you kind of get a hang up, but it says if he saith to the mountain, Be thou removed, be thou cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart. The Bible said the heart is desperately wicked, deceitfully above all things, and who can know it. And the Bible said casting down imagination and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ, letting this mind be in you. What kind of mind? That mind that could say to the mountain and not doubt.

So He says here now, You have the privilege of allowing this mind to be in you as your tutor. Paul said, We wish this, even the perfecting of your faith by the hearing of the Word. All right. So then, He is saying, Have faith, not in yourself, not in your fast, not in your prayer, not in your overcoming life, as you call it, not as to your holiness, your righteousness, or anything else. But He said, Have faith in the Spirit, have faith in the Word, for it said, In the beginning was God. God was the Word. The Word was made flesh. My Words are Spirit and life. Have faith in the Word of Spirit that has spoken unto you saying, I've given unto you all things that pertain unto life. And the Word of Spirit that said this unto you, that whosoever, to decree a thing in your heart, to say and not doubt, to believe, ask what you will, don't doubt in your heart, you'll have what you ask for when you pray. So then, Jesus says, Don't doubt, don't doubt. So often when He would come to visit with someone, or someone would come to Him for prayer and they would ask of Him, He would say, Don't doubt. They'd say, Well, don't trouble the Master. The individual is dead. Don't doubt, He said. Don't doubt. Death has nothing to do with it. He raised the dead. His people raised the dead. We have power over death. So then, He said, Don't doubt, only believe. Don't doubt. And He says here, Don't doubt in your heart.

You know, you can't stop thoughts from coming to your mind up here. Isn't that right? You can't stop that. But He said, Don't doubt in your heart. Do thy diligence to keep thine heart, for out of thine heart comes forth the issues of life. Don't doubt. Don't doubt. What a simplicity. Don't doubt. And He said, And verily I say unto you Peter, unto you that are with Me, I'm Jesus. I did this, but I'm a man. And I say unto you that are walking with Me, If thou canst believe in thine heart, ye not only can do what you just saw Me do, said, For if I go away, I send a comforter back, and these things that I've done ye shall do. Greater things, because I go unto the Father. But not only shall you do these things, as to this tree, He said, But I say unto you that whatever you say, if you don't doubt, He said, I say unto you that whatever you say, if you say it, if you say it, you don't have to ask it. He said, I say unto you that whatever you say, if you don't doubt in your heart, and here is the secret, but if thou canst believe, if thou canst actually believe in thine heart. Not in your head now. There are a lot of believers in the world that believes in their head, but they don't have salvation. They are believers, but they don't have the Spirit of God, and they don't have salvation. They are believers, which means reflectors, and they are with you just as Judas was, as a believer, and they are with you as reflectors, as those wandering stars that reflect your light, and they are very religious, but they don't have the Spirit of holiness on the inside, and their desire is for their belly and for fame and popularity and the things of the world. And as the Bible said they have the love of the world in them, and the child is know by his doings, trying to mix religion with the world, or trying to mix darkness with the light, or the spiritual things with their fleshly desire, having the gullible desires of the love of the world in them. The Bible said if the love of the world is in them the love of the Father isn't there.

But I'm speaking of a reality. If thou canst believe in thine heart, He said, If you do believe in your heart. Now then, the thought arises like this. Now Jesus, You said to believe in my heart. What are You talking about? What do You mean believe in my heart? What do You mean I've got to believe in my heart? You know, somebody said, "Well, you've got to believe in the Word." That's true. But when I believe what He said right here, I'm believing in the Word. You understand? I'm believing in the Word when I believe what He said right here. He said, Whosoever that saith something and don't doubt. I'm believing in the Word right there, because that's what the Word said. But this is what Jesus said. He said if thou canst believe in thine heart, that whatever you have said. What do I believe in? I say to the mountain, "Be thou removed," and what must I believe? I must actually be convinced down in my heart that because I told that mountain to get out of my way that it's just going to jump up and move. That's where the close quarters is.

That's where the people cannot get God to answer their prayers. That's where they rave and holler over people and jump and say he's been healed, and all these things have been done, they go away the same, and in a few days they die, or whatever it might be. See? Because they say you're healed in the name of Jesus, and they put on a commotion and they push people down, and they dance and they go around, people just do all kind of things, and they just make a great big commotion, and whip it up on the organ, you know, and everybody hollers hallelujah, and that person goes home and dies. I've known this to happen many, many times. Even as great and mighty as Brother Oral Roberts is, I've seen them flash back years from the time that he prayer for somebody, and this person that he prayed for died immediately. They had it recorded, where they had recorded it, they flashed it back on the TV it showed that this person was now dead. People have gimmicks, not saying that that was a gimmick, because those things happen with many people. But the thing is, I'm just trying to bring you something. People have gimmicks. Like a friend of mine, a minister in the Assemblies of God, he came to me. He was very upset. He said there was a letter that came in from an evangelist to his mother, and said this letter said, "And God has revealed you to me, and told me about you and your condition and all these things, and this is thus saith the Lord. You are to send me an offering. You're to do this and all these kind of things," and you know their gimmicks, you know. I'm setting here on TV and somebody says, "I feel something. I feel something. A million people out there and I feel something," you know. But anyway, those ministers are soon overthrown, and that foolishness soon goes down the drain. But this minister was upset, because he said, "Brother Pike, this man has sent for an offering and went through this gimmick, or whatever he does to people." Said, "I know it's a gimmick, because my mother is dead, and has been dead for years and he talks about what God told him about it."

All right. Now how many of you know dead folks don't give offerings? But nevertheless, this is the way the world is. You know, I write it out, "You're going to die pretty soon, and you're and old woman, you're an old man, and make your will out and do something for God and all these kind of things." That's fine if somebody wants to make their will out, but I'm talking about these show-boys and fly-by-nights and all this kind of corruption. See? And with this, you cannot be more than a believer. The only way you can be a believer is because the blood is on the seat of atonement, and while you are in the presence, as Judas was in the presence of the Lord Jesus, and you're protected by the blood covering. And somebody said, "Well, the blood had never been shed then." The Bible said the blood was shed from the foundation of the world; the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world. Your name is written down in the Lamb's book of life from the foundation of the world, given to us in Christ before the world ever was, as to the predestinated of God, and brought to light at Calvary, as to the foreknowledge of God. So then are ye elect.

All right. So then, getting back to the major theme of our thought, here we are, and we find that the thing that we've got to believe is what we have said. Now, folks, that's the test right there. You know why a man don't get healed as a rule? Now there are exceptions to things and I know that. But as a rule, you know why a man don't get healed when you pray for him, or a woman don't get healed? Somebody said, "Well, because the evangelist is rotten." No, not necessarily. There can be a telephone post out here, there can be a power plant hanging on that thing that's got 440 in it, or more, and it can be coming right down to the building and can be run right down to the receptacle, but the receptacle can be dead and it doesn't get anything; yet the power is there. You throw the switch of faith, but they don't get any connection. See? Faith can be moving. God can be moving. Like Peter spoke to them, and the Bible says that while he spake to them the Holy Ghost fell upon them. The Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit fell upon them.

I've been preaching many times and all of a sudden I'd feel the Holy Ghost settling down over the audience, because people would start believing. Where there is faith God begins to move. Two or three in His name, God begins to move. Any two of you agreeing as touching anything in the earth, God will do it for you. Somebody said, "Well, we agreed. Both of us said,'Lord, that devil is gone. We cast him out in the name of Jesus,' or'Lord, this man is healed'." Folks, that don't mean you are agreeing. You know, two fellows walking together, they might drink coke together, they might eat hamburgers together, they might have conversation together, but that don't mean that they are in agreement. One of them over here might be drinking coke with him to try to figure out how to poison him so he can get his million dollars that this other fellow's got. You don't know what's behind the scene, but if you find two people that actually are holy, godly people, then they do agree in Spirit, and they have the same motive, for the Bible said on the day of Pentecost they were all in one mind, all in one accord. They get in one mind and these two do agree. They are trying to be about their Father's business. Then, when this thing takes place, and then you come together, and that person that you are praying for has faith in God, and you pray sincerely, folks, just like that, something happens.

I said the other day, you know, I don't go along with this thing where we sit around and we set around and we say, "We prayed for that man fifteen years ago," and we say, "Brother, be patient." He says, "Well, I didn't get healed." "Well, that's all right. We'll pray for you again." They pray for him fifty times. So, he didn't get healed, and they say, "Well, the problem is, you have to have patience." And soon they put him in a coffin, so he had patience and now everything is okay. I don't believe in that kind of healing. See, though that does happen. See, I don't believe that you lay hands on people and pray for people, and then people sit around for two years, three years, and sometimes dies, you know, and you just tell them to be patient that that's the way it is. You know, you say, "Brother, don't lose your faith." How can you say brother don't lose your faith when he ain't got no faith? "Oh," somebody says, "he's definitely got faith." Well, how does he have faith? If he has faith why wasn't he healed? "Oh," somebody says, "well, you can have faith and not be healed." Have faith in what? "Oh," somebody says, "well, you can have faith in God." Have faith in God for what? His healing? Oh, no. There's no days like that. Now he might have faith in God for salvation, and he might have salvation, for it's according to your faith, but he doesn't have faith in God for healing or he'd have been healed. "Oh," somebody says, "you've got to be patient. You've got to understand."

Could I ask you a question? How long did you have to be patient when you ask God to save you? How long did it take Him to save you? "Oh," somebody said, "well, I'm still patient. The Bible said he that endureth until the end the same shall be saved. Don't you understand the Scripture?" I certainly do understand the Scripture. The Bible was simply saying that nobody could endure until the end except he that was saved and filled with the Holy Ghost. There ain't nobody else that can overcome the devil. So you can mark them that endure until the end, because they had the Holy Ghost all the time. They were elect before the foundation of the world, and it was said that when Paul preached to them that were before of old ordained unto life, these believed and the others did not, because they were ungodly men before of old ordained unto condemnation, ungodly men turning the grace of God into lasciviousness. Or that is, taking advantage as to being religious and not living right. (Begin tape one, side one.)... the blood is on the seat of atonement. As I say again, Esau have I hated, Jacob have I loved. The children not yet being born that it might stand by him that calleth, and not of works as to say, you know, the gifts of God or not given through repentance, but they are given by foreknowledge. How many of you understand what I'm saying?

So then, when you ask God to save you, He saves you if you were sincere. Now you might play around with Him, not believe, go to the altar, go through the ritualistics, go through a dozen services, go ten years, but that's exactly what I'm talking about, about healing. You didn't get saved no more than you got healed, but from the very moment you get down on your face and you mean business, the Scriptures can't be altered. It can't be changed. The Bible said God will not alter the thing that's gone out of His mouth, neither will He change it, but He will hasten to perform His Word, and it will accomplish that that He please. And He'll have His pleasure in it. It won't return unto Him void. Now, what does the Bible say? And it shall come to pass that whosoever calleth on the name of the Lord shall be saved, without change, without alteration. And folks, that's exactly the way faith works. The very minute that Jesus said, Peter, come to Me, Peter stepped on the water. He believed God. He kept his eyes on God, and he walked on the water. No man had ever done it except Jesus. And the very minute that Peter begin to doubt, down he went. And the very minute he begin to have just enough faith to believe God would give him a merciful hand, the merciful hand came down.

So then, how does faith work? Faith works instantaneously. Can faith work any other way? Sure it can work another way. If you have a faith as to gradualness, the Bible said that if you call on the Lord and believe, then they shall recover, or if you lay hands on them they shall recover. This could be a process of days, as to the recovery. Someone would say, "There you are, see? The man had faith to be healed." He certainly did. He had faith accordingly as to X amount of days of recovering. His faith was not strong enough for instantaneous healing, or strong enough for the miraculous of God, or he'd have got it like that. See? But it was according to their believing.

All right. So then, we look at this and we understand what the problem is in the church today, and why the discrepancies, and why God is continually reproached. Is it then on God's part? It's on our part, because we failed to go with God. We failed to do what God told us. He said, Come out from the world, be a separate people, be virtuous. If anything has any virtue in them think on these, He said, and lift up the feeble hands that hang down. Make a straight path for yourself. He said, Don't be the old serpent that's on your belly, all the time eating and drinking. But He said, Make a straight path for yourself that the lame be not turned aside, but rather let him be healed. See? Then the Bible tells us, when Jesus was there, the man brought the little boy to these people, that is the disciples, tried to get the devil cast out of him. He couldn't. Couldn't do it. So then, Jesus said, Bring him hither to Me. So when they brought him to Jesus, Jesus wanted to know how long this thing was upon him. The dad, he wept, you know, and he said, Long time. Oft it cast him into the fire, and tries to take his life, and into the waters and these kind of things. And Jesus, He spoke, commanded the unclean spirit and it was gone. Remember now, the Bible said behold, I give unto you, without respect of person, what I say unto one I say unto all, and He said, I give unto you power over all the powers of the enemy, even death, which is the enemy of God. You have passed from death unto life and can never come into condemnation. He said, I give unto you power, and greater is He, that is Christ within you, than he, Lucifer, the god of this world that is in this world.

All right. So then, we see that the detriment is of the church, not the Lord, for the Lord is ready. He said, Thine iniquities have separated between thee and thy God, and they have kept thee back from good things, for My arm is not short that it cannot reach you. Like the vision that I had the other day, when this great arm came out of heaven down to me, I didn't tell you at that time, but sometimes, people are a little resentful, but when this arm came down out of heaven to me, I was on the bed. I had come up from that great fall that I had told you. I still had my faith, because when I went down I went down like this in the great ravine, like a death, burial and resurrection. I was holding my faith fast, and I come up like that and found myself on the bed like that, and I was just trembling in the vision like this, shaking with the anointing of God when that hand came down out of heaven. For to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? The Words have gone unto all of the earth, and to the ends of the earth, but who hath believed our report? So then, faith by hearing as to believe. And he that God sendeth will speak God's Word. He won't give you heresy. He'll speak God's Word. That way you can tell the difference between them.

All right. So the child is known by his doings. To have a clean heart, to have a pure heart, to make straight paths for ourselves, to have virtue, to have our minds in subjection to God, to cast down the imagination, every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, to bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of the Lord Jesus. And this, of course, that is that we all together love Him with all of our heart, all of our might, all of our strength, and we lose our life in His behalf that we may gain eternal life. For if we seek to save life, as to our own doings, then we lose our life. So then, we see the greatness of God in man. Here is the Spirit of the Lord. See? That is to say, Jesus said, I say unto you that if thou canst believe what you have said. That's a hard thing. You know, you walk over to a dead man and you say, "Get out of there!" You know, you scream and you holler, and you dance and you shout, do all kind of things, but he don't get out of there. You know, and you're ever so religious and been religious twenty years. They said, Jesus, why could we not cast this devil out? Jesus simply said, Because of your unbelief. Because of your unbelief. Somebody said, "Well, God wants us to be holy and in spirit." The Bible said be holy in body and spirit. I seek to present you before God blameless, body, soul and spirit. So then, they said, Why could we not do it? Jesus said, Because of your unbelief. Then He gave the secret. He said, Howbeit, this kind goeth forth by nothing but by prayer and by fasting. Or that is, your faith is going to have to have some works. For your faith without works is dead.

But brethren, Christ's faith, as to sanctification and salvation, don't need any works. For they said, What must we do to work the works of God? He said as concerning this faith, I am the works of God. This work was finished before the foundation of the world. And he said, We, therefore, conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law, or without works, for blessed is the man unto whom God imputed righteousness without works, or without anything that he does. So He imputeth unto them faith for righteousness by, that is, Christ's faith, by which you are sanctified. Let me say just a few more things and we're going to close. So what then am I saying? It's hard when you stand over a dead man to actually believe that he is going to get out of that coffin. It's hard when you stand and look at a blind man and actually believe when you say, "Receive thy sight," to really believe that his eyes are going to come open. Like Peter said to the man at the gate called Beautiful, he said, Gold and silver have I none, because the man looked on him and wanted an offering, expecting to receive something, so he was in a condition of believing, having been crippled from his mother's womb. And then when he said to Peter, you know, or looking to Peter for something, speaking as to an offering, Peter said, Gold and silver have I none, but such as I do have give I thee. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk, and he reached and got his hands and begin to pull on him and up came the man, for the Bible said immediately the Spirit of God struck this man and this man's ankle bones received strength and he begin to leap and run, shouting and brought all the people together because it was a great miracle. And like Paul said to the man. He perceived that the man had faith to be healed and he said, Stand upon your feet. Jesus Christ maketh thee whole. And the man came up like that.

I always remember when we were down in Mexico and we were having a meeting there in the bull arena. When they called us over to this little old shack, this little old way out of way place back in the hills there, and this woman, we went over there, and she was so little. I told you that I actually took my fingers like that, put them together and run up and down her arm. It was so small, even the muscular part. She was laying there on this little old seat that they had taken out of some kind of car. That had been her bed. I had sent word for them to bring her to the bull arena and we'd pray for her, because they wanted prayer and they said, "Well, she can't come. She's too weak, too nigh to death." So because of this I went over there. When I got over there I begin to talk with her and I prayed for her and I felt God heal her. And I turned to her to tell her God healed her and somebody so excited, one of her relatives, because they were standing there, my wife was standing there, they run over there and grabbed her and up she come from that seat. And when she come up from there relatives begin to cry and the power of God begin to move and the Lord healed the woman. And the woman, I turned and looked at her and I said, "She was too weak to come," but I said, "this evening she'll be in my meeting right over there in the bull arena out in the hot sun." I said, "She'll be over there." That evening she was over there sitting right there in my meeting. God had healed her. Let's give the Lord a hand.

So then, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and for ever. See? Or that is to say, faith works. Many times we've had healings, miracles and divine things that God has given us. Now, see, Jesus Christ heals. Jesus Christ saves. We've seen the same thing here where this epilepsy devil, we prayed and those devils had to depart. And people left medication and those things left and they were well after that. Seeing these wonderful things happen, see, because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and for ever. But I'm just saying this, we believe in His righteousness. Can you actually believe that when you look at blind eyes and you say, "Be thou healed in the name of Jesus Christ," can you actually believe in your heart that those eyes are going to come open? That's where the crossing is. Folks, I tell you in the name of the Lord Jesus, you just live a simple plain common life and you don't have to be nothing extra special. You just live for God as a saint of God and the Bible said and these signs shall follow them that believe. In My name they will cast out devils. They'll speak with new tongues. They'll take up serpents. If they drink any deadly thing it will not harm them. They'll lay hands on the sick they'll recover. Healing will come. The miraculous will come. Somebody said, "Well, then that means that will follow the people in the church." It didn't say it would follow the people in the church. Somebody said, "Why doesn't it follow the people in the church if God didn't lie about it, and if His Word is for us today, and if this is right?" Folks, why put God down in your mind and listen to the devil of your own intellectual reasoning, when you know you are born a bastard child to start with, and have to be born again and have to die out to it? You know, God is no liar. He has not altered His Word. He done exactly what He said. He never did say that these signs would follow them that were in the church. He said, These signs shall follow them that believe. It doesn't matter if whether they're in the church or wherever they are at. They are still part of God's church. He's talking about believers. Wherever there are believers there are signs. There might be millions of people that are churchy and no sign, but beloved friend, when you find believers you find signs and wonders. Let's give the Lord a hand. The Word of God is exactly to a T. No alterations and no changes.

All right. What did He say? Said, Have faith in God, and I say unto you and whatever I say unto one I say unto all. Now, if thou canst say unto this thing as to your desire and not doubt, but believe in your heart, as to what you say, you shall have whatsoever you say. Whooooo. Don't that sound good? Somebody said, "Well, I know it says that, but I ain't never seen nobody do it." Well, praise God, you're looking at one that done it. It's been my life. It's been my life! Home and abroad and everywhere I've ever been, I have called those things that are not as though they are. I've looked at them and said, "God, it's got to be like this, and it's going to be like this, because You said it would be like that if I said it and didn't doubt." And folks, it came to pass exactly. So I thank God and I've continued until this day around the different parts of the world, having preached around the world until this day and God has always provided all of my needs according to His riches in glory. I've never had to take money in my billfold. I've never had to have money on my person. I've never had to have money with me. Somebody said, "Well, you're fanatic and you're crazy. I take money with me." That's fine. I have nothing against that. I think that's great. Money will do you a lot of good if you can keep it with you. A lot of times you can get something cold to drink, or whatever, but I've never had to do that. He's always given me something to drink when I was thirsty, just sitting around, even before I ask of Him it would be somebody would come, or something would happen. Always provided for me to eat. I always eat good. I eat steak out in the places all around. As a matter of fact, somebody bought me a steak today. Let's give the Lord a hand. Somebody said, "Well, you just burden folks." I didn't burden him. He thought it was a privilege to do it.

All right. So in as much as you do it unto the least of these you did it unto Him, bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh. And you'll be judged accordingly. This man thought it not only good to buy me a steak, but on the way back he decided to buy me a watermelon and buy me some cantaloupes and buy me some plums, and I don't know what all kind of things he bought me. So shall men give unto your bosom. The preparation of man's heart is from God. So let me close with just a few saying here now. Can you actually believe that? That's where the problem is. What must I do, Brother Pike? Stay with God. Pray. Talk with God until you get convinced that what God said can't be changed or altered. And when you become thoroughly convinced, then you will say it and believe it's going to happen. You'll say it and believe it's going to happen. Because see, you've wrestled with your heart. John said, Do the things that please God, as to confident you heart, and then you convince your heart by these things and then that the heart has confidence in God that what you ask of Him, He heareth you, and we know that we have the petition we desire of Him, because He heareth us. It's that simple. It's that simple. Faith isn't complicated.

Folks, I believe that you should endure temptation, and if you are suffering and suffering and suffering, and you are willing to endure temptation, that's wonderful. And God doesn't get any glory out of your suffering only in the sense that you are willing to suffer that He gets glory out of it. God wants you healed. He's the divine healer. He went about going good, healing all that was oppressed of the devil, always, without respect of person. So see, if you want to suffer for Christ's sake, in that you are willing to do it, that's your business. See, but the miracle is great. It shows people the testimony of Christ. And if you patiently want to wait a year, then another year, as many people have do, beloved saints of God, because they didn't understand, and wasn't taught, they didn't press in that much, but God blessed their hearts and if you wait for a year, or ten years, or whatever, you be sure His Word is right. And if you ever do muster up faith accordingly, (pops hands together) like that God will hear you, and God will heal you, and God will do exactly to you, exactly to you what He said He would do. And that you've got all power over the power of the enemy. But remember this one thing in closing. He said, When you pray, if we're going to bring it to prayer, when you pray and you desire anything, and you're going to ask God for it, He said when you ask God for it, believe that you receive it. That is, not believe that you are going to receive it, but calling those things that are not as though they are say, "I thank You, Lord. You gave it to me," and believe it. When you believe it, faith is the substance of that thing that you are hoping for, Paul said. It's the evidence of that thing that you can't see, that it already belongs to you. Like they take it into the courts, that's the evidence of the thing that happened. Do you understand what I'm saying?

So then, if you read God's Word, and the Bible said by His stripes you were healed, if you ask, God will give it to you. Then confess your healing by saying, "I'm healed. I asked God for it, He done it." Go on until you convince your heart. If nothing don't happen, go on until you convince you heart, because the minute your faith hits your heart you'll be healed. You understand? Don't get into that rut saying, "Well, if I keep on trying, keep on trying, after awhile I'm going to believe." Don't do that, because you are ever putting it off. You are ever putting it off. But convince yourself that you've been healed. Somebody said, "But Brother Pike, you believe a lie and be damned." No. You were healed before the world ever was. It's in the atonement. He's already given to you in Christ all things that pertain unto life. And what I'm saying is the Bible said He sent His Word and healed me. And if He gave you His Word, David said, His Word have I hid in my heart. The very time that I hear His Word, or read His Word and it says I'm healed, or whatever, I hid that in my heart. What have I got in my heart? My healing. Let's give the Lord a hand. That's the healing Word. That's why we wrote the tract, the healing Word. So then, that's the healing Word. You do have your healing. You are not confessing a lie. His Word cast out the unclean spirit. His Word healed them. His Word is not altered or changed, don't return void. It's in my heart. It's Spirit and life and healing. So then, by it He created the world, by it He created me. So He gave me His Word. I say, "My God! I hid that in my heart, now I'm healed!" And you begin to think like that in your heart and the Bible said as a man thinketh in his heart, so he is. I don't mean, as I say so often, think in your head you're a millionaire when you are a pauper, because you ain't going to be a bit richer. You'll just be classified as being insane when you think that you are a doctor when you are a lawyer, or that you are a Chinese when you are a German. You understand what i'm saying? Folks, that's in your head. Thinking that you are something, it gets you in the insane asylum. Thinking more highly of yourself that you ought to.

But folks, when you believe in your heart to the extent that your heart-thoughts think according to a medical doctor, as to his mind, the diplomacy, or the pilot according to his mind of diplomacy, and you have the thoughts as to that diplomacy, as to whatever that might be, then you've got the mind of that builder. I've got the mind of Christ, that means I'm a son of God, because He was a Son of God. Somebody said, "Well, you don't look like it." That don't have anything to do with it. The flesh profiteth nothing. He said it, I believe it, so I am. Have we got any more sons of God? For the Bible said now, beloved, are ye the sons of God. All right. So there you are. Don't confess a lie and be damned. Somebody said, "Well, I believe I am a son of God. I think as a son of God. I've got the mind of a son of God." Sure, if you think it's holiness. If you don't think holy and virtuous you're believing a lie and it's strong delusions. You're not a son of God. You are just a believer all right. You're a reflector. You understand what I'm saying? How can you then say that you are a son of God? How that you can say to me that you have salvation when I don't see anything? I don't see no eternal life. I don't see nothing. And then you say that you can't say that by His stripes I'm healed, or that I hid His Word and I'm healed. How is it that you do that as to strain at a gnat and swallow a camel? Let's give the Lord a hand. All right.

Let's stand together, praise the Lord for His wonderful, wonderful blessings. I didn't mean to take so long. I really didn't, but these things go out on TV, go out into homes and schools, on the radio. And some of out people they get these things and take them in their homes. They study these things that they might have faith. When you pray, believe that then and there it's yours. It's all sealed up. It's done. You asked. As it was said when Jesus prayed, it was said, And what hour was it? The man inquired as to when the healing came. They told him. He said, the very selfsame hour the Lord said he's made whole. Oh, hallelujah! I feel the Holy Ghost! You know, how great is a man? A man and a woman ain't nothing. Scum, dirt, vomit, that that's rotten. Throw it away, unless they have God. But folks, when they have God they are gods. Jesus said, Ye are gods. You live forever. A god is something that can't die. Generations die, but gods don't die. See, and you live forever. We say this so many times to the enlightening of the minds, as to say somebody says, "Ye say that ye are gods, they stoned Jesus for that, saying that He was the Son of God." And then again we say so often, your ears have recorded it so many times, doesn't, when a dog brings forth dogs, they're dogs. Just pups, but they are dogs. When a bird hatches off their little chicks like, as we say, biddies, but they are birds. And when an elephant brings forth, it's an elephant, and a lion, it's a lion, and a beast as to a beast, a human being brings forth, it's a human being. We all right readily agree to that, because we are born of that. That's what we are. But folks, when we say that when someone is born of God, a god just came into existence, we can't digest that. But what makes you think that a human being begets human beings and a God don't beget gods? You love the Lord?

So then, Jesus said you are gods. And in the Old Testament it's recorded in the book of Psalms, Ye are gods, but ye shall die like men from the lack of knowledge, or knowing that ye are gods as to believing right on into heaven as Jesus stood there on the mount, having finished the course, not to die, but be translated, some not seeing death, going on to finish their course, bringing the dead out of the grave.

All right. Let's sing this chorus, can we? (Sings I Will Praise Him.) Can you sing that with me? The altars are open. (Continues singing.) Do you love the Lord? (Sings I Love Him and Every Promise In The Book.) Can you believe it? (Begin tape two, side one.) All right. Let's sing this little simple song. (Sings Sweep Over My Soul.) Can you sing it with me? (Sings Haven Of Rest, I Need Thee, Don't Turn Him Away, I Thank Thee For The Valley and Where Will You Be.) Sing it one more time. (Continues singing.) Do you love the Lord? Can you give Him a hand? Let's sing another chorus or two and close. (Sings He Was Here All The Time.) One more time together now. (Continues singing and sings After All.) Sing that with me. (Continues singing.) Can you sing it one more time? (Continues singing.) Can you give Him a hand. (Sings Time Shall Be No More.) Do you love the Lord? (Sings Across The Bridge.) Can you sing it one more time with me? (Continues singing.) Let's give the Lord a hand. (Sings I Will Praise Him.) I'm going to ask Brother Pasdon if he will to come and dismiss us. (Continues sing.) He was slain for sinners. (Continues singing.) Once again now together. (Continues singing.)

By Rev. George Leon Pike Sr.

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

Holiness Unto The Lord