The Simplicity Of Faith

Serving God is joy. And a person that serves God they have peace. Joy unspeakable and full of glory, peace that passeth all human understanding. All the paths of God are peace. And he that keepeth his mind stayed upon Christ Jesus shall have perfect peace. So then we're glad tonight to come to the house of the Lord. David said, I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God than to dwell in the tents of the wicked. And I praise God because we have the opportunity to be here. And you have the opportunity to be here. If we were laying out in a grave somewhere we couldn't come, could we? You couldn't come and I couldn't come either. But the thing is we are in the land of the living. Not only alive for today and as to yesterday and tomorrow but alive eternally, alive forevermore. That's what coming to church is all about is eternal life. A lot of times we get mis-put in our doings. We get so tied up in the things of the world, and we become so religious until we actually get beside ourselves as to remembering what we come to church for. But we come to church because of eternal life. People will say, you know well, I've been going to church for a long time. I think I'll do something else for a while. But truthfully right at that moment what they forgot was that they came to church so they could have eternal life. And then when they stop, they don't have anything. The Bible said if you do righteously and then you turn and you do wickedly, all of your righteousness shall not be remembered, but in your sins that ye shall die. And if you do wickedly it's not God's will that even the wicked should perish, but all should come to repentance and have everlasting life. And if you do wickedly and you repent and you turn away from your wickedness, all of your wickedness shall not be remembered. In your righteousness ye shall live. Okay let's read from the book of Hebrews. I don't know just what we'll say. I got so many things to say to you. The other night I had some things on my mind I wanted to say. I wanted to bring out, but I didn't get a chance to do it. And I don't know just what we'll say tonight. But let's read chapter 9 is it, the book of Hebrews? (Hebrews 9:1-28; 10:1-39; 11:1) All right let's talk about this just for a few minutes. Read quite a bit of Scripture. The reason I did that is because Paul was covering a subject that I want to take the latter part of it and read it to you, that when we preach that your minds may go back to the Word of God and find a foundation. Now we're glad that you're here as I said a little bit ago. And we're glad our brother is here with us from Germany. He's been through two or three times, and he is going down into Orlando and I believe up into Philadelphia. And he came back and he decided that he was going to stay a day or two with us and maybe translate some tracts for us. Been wanting to translate some but he just hasn't had the time. He's been on the road continually. And but let's just talk about this just for a few minutes. The Bible said, that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Now, I want to dwell on that just for a few minutes, and I want you to think on it. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Okay, now what is Paul saying? He is saying that where there is faith you have what you ask for. Where there is faith, that's the positive proof. So then if you are in need of an automobile, then you claim the automobile by faith and you've automatically got it. You might have never seen it. You might not know anything about it. You don't know how it's going to come, the money to buy it with, whatever. I'm just using an automobile because that comes across my mind and then I hear the Lord saying something, so I can tell why that it came across my mind, why He brought it to my mind. I remember of, I related this to you a few times. Betty and I were on the field, living in our little trailer and at this particular time parked not too far from a two story Assembly of God. And we was to run a revival there. But anyway, I needed a car. We didn't have a car. We didn't have anybody to support us. We didn't have anything except Christ; and of course that's enough, you know. And I told Betty, I said, Well we need a car, Betty. I said, I tell you what I'm going to do. I'm going to go in the back room and I'm going to pray and God's going to give me a car. So I went into the back room and I prayed, and I prayed until I got satisfied. And then when I got satisfied, I said, Lord, I thank you. I knew You would give it me. And I went on my way and I told Betty that He had given us a car. So then the pastor he came along. And I was talking to him and we was testifying. I was telling him how the Lord had given me a car. Of course he just looked at me with a kind of a hollow expression because believe it or not, folks, preaching and pastoring whatever still when it comes to the reality of faith, they don't know anything about reality of faith. All they know to do is take an offering. And, but nevertheless, a day or two went by and then there came a man from the other side of town. He was a retired builder. And I had met him before, but never thought about anything as to a car being connected with him, but he came in and he talked with me a little while; and I greeted him, hadn't seen him in a good while. And he said, Don't you need a car? I said, Oh yes, I need one and the Lord's already give me one. They said, He has? I said, Yes. Well naturally as the pastor he didn't see it you know. But nevertheless, he said that's what I'm here for. Said that God had spoke to Him that he was to come and buy me a car. He didn't belong to that church, and I don't know if he was ever at that church. He might have been or in that neighborhood, but he came all the way over to where I was, and he said that the Lord had spoke to him to buy me a car; and he said I want to take you; and he took me down to another town, to another state across the line there. And he took me to a place where they had beautiful cars. He said, Now you pick out what you want. And of course I did. And he paid for it and that was it. Let's give the Lord a hand. That's just the way He done it. He paid cash for it right there. Of course he could afford to do that you know. But anyway, I only said that to say this that faith is the substance of things that you're hoping for. That is to say the thing is the substance. But faith is so that it is the substance. You don't have to have the substance. Because when you got faith that is the substance. And the substance will come. So then faith is the substance that you hoped for. If your substance is a car, if your substance is a home, if whatever it might be, just be sure that you ask right. The Bible said you have not because you don't ask. And most of the time you don't ask because you really don't believe in supernatural things. And that's why you don't ask. Somebody said, Oh I believe in that, Brother Pike. If you did believe in it you'd be asking all the time. People have so many wants and desires they'd be asking all the time. Somebody said, Well, what about you, Brother Pike? I'm asking all the time. Let's give the Lord a hand. Somebody say, Hallelujah! All right so then when the Bible said if you being an earthly father know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Heavenly Father give good things to them that ask Him? If you ask him for fish, he's not going to give you a serpent, bread, not going to give you a stone. He loves you. He gave you the best He had which was the blood out of His very veins, as to His Son He gave that. There's nothing that is as great as that. So if He gave you the best from the beginning, it's very obvious that He isn't going to hold anything less than that back from you. So in Christ we have all things. (Thank you.) In Christ we have all things. We are partakers of all things. For the Bible said that God hath given us all things that pertain unto life through the knowledge of His Son. But see we have to know that. If it is given to us through the knowledge we have to know that. If education is given unto you through knowledge then that means that you got to get or rather the knowledge through education, you've got to go and get one or the other. You've got to get the education to get the knowledge if it comes through education. And you've got to find somebody that is able to educate you, that's standing head and shoulders above you as we say as to know. It wouldn't do any good to go to somebody that doesn't know. So we find then that whatever we want we can have. We can have anything that we want. Jesus said, Whatever you desire, when you pray, believe that ye receive it, and ye shall receive it. And He said, Whatever you ask in my name I will do it that the Father may be glorified. And He said, Herein ye ask nothing as He spoke to the disciples. He said, Ask that your joy might be full. For He knows in receiving the things from the Heavenly Father that gives us joy. And the joy of the Lord is our strength. When we feel real close to God and we feel like God's satisfied with us and we feel like God is going to bless us, then we feel jubilant. And that jubilant is our strength as to the joy of the Lord. When we feel distant from God, or we feel we've grieved God, or we feel like things ain't right, we don't have that inspiration of joy. Therefore we don't have any strength, our faith gets weak, and then the devil comes in like a flood. So the Bible said, Be not weak in your faith and be not weary in well doing, for in due season ye shall reap if you faint not. So then Jesus said, Just ask what you will. Now I'd like to just dwell on this for just a little bit tonight as to faith in the Word. See faith is the substance. As I said the other night most of the time we have problems. We ask amiss that we might consume it on our lust, and not really living for God a lot of times. Not really doing what we're suppose to do for God. So we just ask amiss and consume it on our own lust. That is we want a car for this reason and a house for this reason and money for this reason and on and on. But not too often do we want anything to work for God with or to share with God's people or to do anything. We'd rather have fame and popularity and money and prestige and convenience. And we'd rather have everybody look at us and we'd rather be the chief you know. Jesus said one time, he that would be your chief let him be your servant. Said, That's what I think of him. Just make him a servant. But if a man's willing to be your servant, said, I'll make him the chief. Jesus said, I come to minister to and not to be ministered unto, or that is to say, I come to do something for you. Not have you to do something for me. Even to the washing of the feet, He gave us an example as to humility. Saying that if I your Lord and Master do these things, then what should you do? And like the woman that came to Jesus asking for the healing for her daughter, out of humility when Jesus said, I can't give the children's bread to the dogs, or He said that's not right for me to do that is the way He said it. She said, I know Lord, but the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from the children's table. Now you and I you know, we would say that too. You go to the Lord and you say, Now she got what she wanted, so we just go to the Lord and we humble our heart and we say, Now Lord, we're not worthy. We're just, the dogs eat of the crumbs, Lord. He don't even look at us. That's as hypocritical as could be. Somebody said, Well a woman used it and it worked, Brother Pike. I know it did, but see, you forget that they were called dogs. And when the Master that did all of those mighty things walked on the earth and looked at a human being and referred to them in that sense as a dog, then they really knew that in God's sight they were dogs. See, and that's the humility of it. She accepted the charge. To know that according to all of the sayings of the Jews and whatever, that she was nothing more than a dog, that she needed help. And in that she said the dogs eat of the crumbs, Lord. That is I know you're here for the children's sake. And as the Bible said, We could say, you're not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And I know that we're just dogs, but I've got a problem. I need help. I love my daughter. And Lord if you'll just give me the crumbs, that's what the dogs come for. See, and when she did that, that as if broke Jesus' heart. That's to go straight down into His heart as to say, she is willing, willing to accept what she's called, you know, and he said, Woman, great is thy faith. That kind of humility, said, great is thy faith. Said, You just say whatever you will, and it will be done to you. And then on the occasion I remember where the man did not think himself worthy to come to Jesus. Though the Scripture records that one place he came to Jesus, the other place it makes it clear that he did not come, but what he did he sent his servant. And said, Lord, I thought it that I'm not worthy to come to you. And you know I'm just sending there a servant. And all you have to do Lord is just speak the Word, because I'm not worthy for you to come under my roof. You just speak the Word because I'm a man. And you know I'm a man with authority. I'm under authority, and I say to this one to go and he goes. And I say to this one to come and he comes. And all you got to do Lord, is you can speak that way, too. And that will take care of it. And Jesus marvelled again. See, the humility. He said, I've not found so great faith no not in Israel. Humility goes before honor. The thing that sets faith aflame is humility. Not as the devil, the Bible said, The devil humbles himself. The devil, he'll be just as hypocritically humble. He'll come to you. He'll do anything if you catch him, and you're about to cast him out or whatever, he'll humble himself like those demons did to Jesus and say, Don't torment us before our time. You know and he'll do anything. But the thing is, I'm speaking of real, genuine humility. When you think a little less of yourself and a whole lot more of others. When you esteem others to be better than yourself, and you look on the things of others rather than the things of yourself, and you seek the welfare of another as to help someone else, instead of always gullibly preparing to pay your bills and to have a good name, and preparing to have your home and the comforts and convenience of life. Whereas the writer said, It's no time to build houses and plant vineyards anyway. In the early church they did just the reverse. They took all of it and gave it to God. So anyway I'm just saying faith, what is this thing called faith that's so mighty that anyone of us in here could use? You can use it. I can use it. Brother Taylor can use it. Our wives can use it. Our children can use it. See, this wonderful thing called faith. It is so simple. How does this thing work? What is it? Well, it's so powerful that it is the substance that you want. I've wanted many things in my life for Jesus. I found out that I didn't care that much for things for myself. I thought at first I did. But as I've said so often after the Giver gives to you and you see how wonderful He is, how loving He is, how kind and tender He is, and you learn about Him; He said, Come and learn of me. Take my yoke upon you and learn of Me for I'm meek and lowly in heart. This will give you rest to your soul. And when you learn how much He loves you, then you learn to love the Giver better than the gift. And you'd rather have the Giver than to have the gift. But how does this thing work? Faith is very simple, very simple. It is so simple that many people stumble over it trying to believe. They find themselves trying to believe, and because they're trying to believe, the trying gets in the way of the believer. So it really is a bad situation, and the simplicity of faith is lost in your efforts in trying to believe. You cannot believe by trying to believe. Faith doesn't come by trying to believe. The Bible doesn't teach that faith comes by trying to believe. Faith doesn't come by trying to believe. The Bible said, Faith cometh by the hearing of the Word. You hear the Word as to God's promises to you and to me; and when we hear this then we accept that. We don't wrestle with it. We accept it. But one of the things we've got to remember is that the carnal mind is enmity with God. Your natural human reasoning is contrary to God. It's not subjected to God. It never was subjected to God. It was subjected to the vanities of this world. Solomon said, All is vanity and vexation of my spirit. So then your carnal mind was made to be subject... that through your human senses that make up your carnal mind as to the taste, smell, feel and whatever, hearing and seeing, that this makes you a bondchild. The Bible said, And God subjected the creature to vanity in hope, or Christ is that hope of glory within you. Or the creature is that outer man and the war is between Christ and Satan over the body, because the thing that the devil done was He stole Adam's body. He stole away Adam's body. And Adam was the son of God. So that means the body of the son of God has been lost. In that God is a Spirit He made this body so that He could live in it, so He could dwell in it, so He could fill it up, that it be filled up and overflowing. David said, My cup runneth over. Filled up and overflowing with Himself, because He is life and He's the inspiration of life. And all things emanate from God. All right so we see then that faith is a simple thing, but it is so great and it's so mighty that it can bring you salvation. Why does faith bring you salvation? Why does it bring you salvation? It brings you salvation, why? Because God is a spirit of holiness. And God cannot fellowship you and He cannot fellowship me in our condition of first birth. He can't do that. The reason is is because we are formed in iniquity. In iniquity did my mother conceive me. And there's no good thing within the flesh. For to will is present, but how to perform that which is good, I find not. And I find a law that when I would do good evil is present. And the good on the inside that I want to do, I can't do it because this evil is always taking me into bondage as to my human senses. And then I find myself doing that that I would not, and not doing that that I inwardly would do. So old wretched man that I am, Paul said. He said if I do that which I would not do, then it's no more I but sin that dwelleth within me. If I do that that I would not do, then you can't charge it to me. Because he said, in my inner man I delight in the things of God. I delight in the things of God. But in my outer man there is an interwoven infiltration that is warring against the law of liberty, which is the law of my mind, my inner law, which gives me liberty and freedom from sin in Christ Jesus. And I find that in the members of my body there is a law of accusation. And that law of accusation it tells me that I have violated the ways of God. I have violated the laws of God. And because of this I'm cast down and I have no fellowship with God and God does not care for me. He said, And this thing constantly is an accuser of the brethren. But he spoke of a time of this accuser being cast out. This accuser is what keeps you from reaping the benefits. Because the Bible said, If you're children of God, then are ye heirs and partakers of the benefit. And God has given us all things that pertain unto life through the knowledge of his Son, and we are heirs to the benefits that comes through the channel of that knowledge by faith which sanctifies our heart. Because God cannot get near you nor me unless we're sanctified. Therefore the Bible said, For God has sanctified us once and for all by the offering up of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary, thus we're sanctified. But we do not partake of the benefits of that sanctification unless we believe in that sanctification, as to believe in His righteousness. As the two men that went up into the temple: one was talking about fasting and praying and whatever, which was a self-righteousness. And the other said, Lord, I don't have anything to offer. Just have mercy on me. I'm a sinner. The Bible said, And this man went down to his house justified rather than the other that had done all of these things. Why? Because he said, Unless your righteousness exceeds or excels that of the Pharisees which was self-righteousness, that is unless your righteousness be God righteousness, that is to say the righteousness of Jesus Christ by faith in His works, then you cannot be saved. So then it's not anything you do, if you fast that's great. If you pray that's great. Like I said a hungry dog, don't give him anything for ten days, when the ten days is over, check him out and you'll find he's still a dog. So fasting isn't going to do anything at all for you in making you anything but what you are. But faith in the Word of God will actually change you. It will translate your spirit into the spirit of Christ as into the kingdom of God. For the Bible said, By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death. See, and faith in the Word in that the Word is spirit and life, that faith in the Word will actually transformate your mind from glory to glory and understanding to understanding. And the ultimatum of that, that faith in God will actually transfigure your body until your body is like Jesus' body was on the Mt. of Transfiguration standing between Moses and Elijah, when it glistened so; and it was as though the sun shined within it's strength, when John saw him in the midst of the candlesticks. All right, what are we talking about? Talking about faith. Now, faith the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Or that is if you've got faith, folks, you've got it. Got what? Everything. For I've given you all things. If you've got faith, if you're elect, then do you have faith? All men have not faith. Paul said, I speak these things to your shame. See, but he that hath faith all things are possible unto Him. Somebody would say, you mean that's probable that it could happen. It didn't say, probable. A lot of times people interpret that Scripture as all things possible that that means by a hit and a miss you just may luck up on anything. That isn't what it says at all. What it is saying is as the other Scripture as line upon line and precept upon precept, where the following Scripture follows up and says, if you believe in your heart and doubt not, ye shall have whatsoever ye say and nothing shall be impossible unto you. That makes it a little plain. All right so then what is our problem? What is our problem? First we must be sanctified. And when our heart is sanctified by faith, the faith which is within me, Jesus said. Contend for that faith. We offer our believing as to do whatever we can in our natural to convince our heart, so that our heart will believe in what He's done for us, as to the works finished from the foundation of the world. Thus it sanctifies our heart and then the Holy Spirit comes in. Like the Bible said, As to the casting out of devils, and when the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, it wondereth through dry places seeking rest and can't find it; so it said, I will go back to the place that I left. And then when it comes back it finds it sanctified. Finds it clean, swept and garnished, and it cannot go in because here is a clean place of dwelling and he is unclean. So then he doesn't have the strength to prevail. The Holy Spirit isn't in there. But the work of the Holy Spirit is there as to sanctification, because you out of your heart believed in Christ Jesus. So then he goes, he gets seven other spirits. Then we've got eight spirits that come and they are warring against your mind. And one maybe a lust devil. One may be a gossiping devil and one may be a thieving devil and on and on and on you know. Like some people they can't get along with their wives. They'll kick them, knock them around, bite them, hit them, do anything and the wife will do the same thing. I mean they'll do it. They'll slam the door. They'll throw a vase. I saw my uncle and son-in-law, the wife had a little problem and got upset. My uncle grabbed the gun and when he did the daughter grabbed a, I don't know what it was, I think it was a big glass lamp and over his head she come and it broke. So you know all of these things, spirits, but God will drive these things out. But they will come back if you don't get the Holy Ghost and you don't get full of the spirit, they'll come back, and then whereas one aggravated you, you'll have seven or eight like Mary Magadeline, seven devils in that one woman. And as the man in the tomb legions, see, and here they'll harass your mind. And they'll talk to you. See they present themselves in the form of thought. And if somebody goes by, sometimes a person can go by, man or woman, and they maybe dressed neat. They maybe what the world calls a fine looking person, they go by, no effects whatsoever. He doesn't bother you, might be a hundred of them go by. And then here comes one by, he or she may not look that good as you would term it, but there's something that draws you to them. You know what it is, it's the unclean spirit of lust. Sin is in the world because of lust. Eve looked, saw those things with her eyes. She lusted. And the Bible said, We're enticed by what we see as to the things of the world. And then after that we're drawn away from our steadfastness in God, and when we're drawn away, then all of a sudden it becomes lust. And then the lust by that we conceive within our heart. And when we conceive it brings forth sin. And when sin is inbred within us, and we give birth to sin or Satan, then end of that the Bible said is death. All right so let's just analyze faith for a few minutes. What are we asking for? Do we really believe? Have we been born again? Are we sanctified? See. Where are we? Are we filled with Christ's Spirit? Do we know the Word? Now according to the Bible, He gives us the desires of our heart if we love Him. Isn't that right? The desires of our heart if we love him. Now do we have the desires of our heart? I see so many of you that don't because I talk with you and I know that you don't. So let's analyze it just for a few minutes. What causes the problems with faith if we do have faith? What causes the problems with faith? Faith doesn't have any problem. But what causes the problem with faith that hinders faith, that causes problems to faith? How would we use faith? How can we use faith? I use faith all my life to bless me and my children, my wife, to bring in hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars with a regularity. And to give me the things that we want wherever, and even more if I ask for it. Now, see, what, how do you use faith? How do you use faith? Okay here is something right here. We'll just take one or two steps at a time here. Now Jesus said, one of the writers said, Decree a thing in your heart. Decree it in your heart and then it will come to pass. Just decree it in your heart. If you desire something Jesus said, when you pray, believe that you receive it and ye shall have it. Whatever you ask in My name, I will do it. I know a lot of people feel like that that's not right. They say, I've ask many things, but he didn't, God just didn't answer me. But He did. He answered you according to your believing. If you remember Jesus always said according to your believing. He answered you. Somebody said, Well I didn't get it. That was according to your believing. Somebody said, Well I just felt like it wasn't time for it, or I felt like you know that I. No. It doesn't have anything to do with that. The devil is so cunning. He'll say, Now, don't worry about it you know. It's all right. Don't worry. It's okay. You know. And he'll just frolic right on with you. He'll say, you don't need to come to God right now. You got a certain time. You know it ain't your time yet. But yet the Bible said, Today is the day of salvation. Now is the accepted time. And the Bible says, Take no thought for tomorrow, for tomorrow will take thought for the things of itself. You don't know whether you'll be alive or not tomorrow. He's calling you now. The Bride says come. The Bridegroom says come. Let whosoever will come. So see the devil plays around with your mind and with your believing. That's that part of the creature. The old carnal mind that's enmity to God. That part is contrary to supernatural things. It will not believe in supernatural things. It will not accept supernatural things. It doesn't matter what you do, it isn't going to accept it. It goes by human definement, science, knowledge falsely so called. It goes by the human senses that's relative to the natural, tangible sources of life. You're inspired by that. Will worship, to will yourself to do this and will yourself to do that. And the Spirit hasn't give you an unction to do nothing until you're born again. If you have not His Spirit you're none of His. There's just one Spirit. But anyway, see there is the carnal mind right there. It's enmity with God. It denys supernatural things. But the Bible says that we walk by faith, not by sight. I don't walk by sight. If I walk by sight, then am I not carnal because of the lust of the eyes. To abstain from fleshly lust that warreth against the soul. Make no provisions for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. Having food and raiment, make it be content therewith. For you didn't bring anything in the world. You're not going to take anything out for sure, the Bible said. Now, let's look at it again. So then we know that we can't mess with the carnal mind. That that is a composition, a composition of human thoughts that is gendered upon the brain and can get to the heart, gendered by the human senses of the five senses like an octopus with it's tenacles out and relaying it back to the head. You understand what I'm saying? First of all, what is a mind? What is a mind anyway? Let's define what a mind is. What is a mind? A mind, these things will help you to understand faith better. What is a mind? A mind is something you can't see. You don't see it. It's invisible. What is the mind? It is a spiritual thing. It is an invisible thing. What is a mind? Someone would say, Well, I just don't thing a mind is a spiritual thing, Brother Pike. I think it's just my brain and my energy and whatever. Well that's true to some extent. But if the mind isn't a spiritual thing, why is it you don't do any thinking when your spirit leaves your body? The Bible said, the body without the spirit is dead. Why don't the brain go on and do some thinking? And if, I've said this in the past, if the brain is what's doing it, why worry about the spirit if the brain is the main thing? And if the brain's doing all of this, giving you all of this understanding, and everything is working because of the brain, why doesn't the brain just keep on when the spirit leaves? See, folks, this is where we make our mistake as I said to some brethren today. And this is where we strain at a knat and swallow a camel. Leaders of today, preachers, whatever and laity, they're so interested in the human side of life as to the carnal reasoning, and having the natural things as to preeminence and prestige and pride, being movie stars and everything else, they're so interested in that, that they've got clear away from the Spirit. Sensually, the Bible said, using the terms sensually, having separated themselves from the Spirit. Or that is the human senses has actually separated them from the Spirit when we're commanded to be filled with the Spirit. We're told that the Word is Spirit. We're told that if you have not My Spirit, you're none of Mine. We're told that without the Spirit we can't do anything. Jesus said, Without the Spirit which is God on the inside, I can't do anything. It's not me the flesh He said, as to the creature part as to be our example. It's not me doing the work. It's my Father within me. It's the Spirit. And My words are spirit and they are life. See, and Paul said, I would that you were spiritual. I'd like to speak unto you as unto spirituals. Pray that God will grant unto you the spirit of revelation, because there's one spirit, many operations. Maybe an operation of healing, an operation of miracles, whatever it might be. My, I wish we had time to preach. Always when we get started, and you know, I like to, I wish we could really preach. But anyway, a mind, what is a mind? What is a mind? What is a mind? A mind is a condition as to a state of awareness. That's what it is. It is a condition as to a state of awareness of life, of life. You are aware, you are aware of life because of your mind. See, your mind. Somebody said, Well, what do you do when you go to the insane asylum and lose your mind? Let's don't be funny. You don't lose your mind. You just, it just got perverted. It's still just as much of a mind there as it is anywhere else. And it's going just as much. And when you go to sleep you don't lose your mind. Your mind does all kind of things. See, it is an awareness of life. It is an awareness of life. People can mentally become encompassitated. They could break down to the point of being as the world would term it eccentric. See, but they can just be feeble minded. And the Bible said, Comfort the feeble minded. Or it can be a demon possession. And that's a different thing altogether. Cast the devil out. The mind's right again. As Jesus restored legion in his right mind; clothed him in his right mind. All right so then we're looking at it now as to see if there is a mind that is a state of awareness of life, then what promps that mind to operate? Desire. Solomon said, When desire fails, then comes the long day appointed. Desire, there is a thing called desire. And that desire it has as you would say appetites as to this and that and numbers of things. And because of this it prompts the mind to think in a certain way that creates what we call a nature. And that nature will create a conformity. It will govern the very genes of your body. It will govern it; and if your dad reproduces as to you your brothers and sisters, then the nature of the life of that seed that came out of the loins, that's what it will be. For instance let's just take one or two little things here. Take a chick for instance. Take an egg. Take an egg. There is a shell. There is the yellow of the egg. The yoke as we would say, there in the egg. And it's every bit an egg. Take another egg, the same way. Not a speck of difference as far as we can tell. Put them both in the nest, one hatches off, the other one doesn't. Why? Why is that? The mother hen sets on them, both of them. But why doesn't it hatch off? Because there's one tiny, little thing in that egg that's suppose to be there and in one of those eggs it isn't there and the other one it is. And that's that tiny little blood cell. That is the seed that goes in there to make the little chick. And so then when you work with that, you get the little chick. You throw the shell away. Because in there is a life as to a seed, as to reproduce. But the thing is once you get the little chick, you got another shell like embombers, they call this body a shell. See, the carrier of life is then in a form that is agile and can do anything; and that's the body of the little chick. See, and the same way with reproduction as to within my heart it is Christ as in the spirit. See, Christ is on the inside of me. Paul said, and the seed of God remaineth in you, because my conception is as to divinity. Because in God's sight I am a virgin; therefore in His sight, I am a virgin. Because I'm a virgin, then I have conceived of life in it's purity. And because of that Christ is being formed within my life. And now since Christ is being formed within my life, as Paul said, I travail until Christ be formed within you, that means that this concept here, my conception, my concept as to God, that that I conceive of as to the way He thinks and the way He talks and with what He is. I have received a concept, a divine concept of the wonderful seed as to the blood of Jesus Christ. And now I have royal blood flowing through my veins. That little blood cell is in there. I am now a carrier of life. Just like a woman is a carrier of life as to reproduce as to her companion for God's sake, then now I am as that because the woman is symbolic of humanity. She's symbolic of humanity; and this was the error of Eve. See as to Adam when he put his approval upon it, or allowed for it, he put his approval upon it to that extent, thus the woman was showing humanity, and humanity as a mass, that is the feminine part, and the spirit is the masculine part. So then we conceive of the spirit and we carry the child, because as we get the type, the woman is the glory of the man, because she reproduces the image, and he brings forth his children. But we as a man the Bible says we are the glory of God. Because we're made to reproduce His image. And of course in the man, the man's not without the woman, the woman not without the man because they're one in God. So really it's speaking of humanity, humanity, whether man or woman they're carrying Christ on the inside of their heart. The other is just typical. So we carry this life on the inside. The life is inside. And if there's life inside, there's bound to be a birth. There's got to come forth a birth with water, blood and spirit. As in the spirit so in the natural, it's got to come forth. And we could say a whole lot about that tonight. But I want to stay with thought faith. All right so then we are the carrier of life. I wish we really could get into life. I've been wanting too. Let's look at faith again now. As to this carrier of life, I say, we get beside ourself; and the church is wanting the things of the world instead of going after the Spirit. Instead of having the Spirit of Christ, not by power or might he said, but by My Spirit. Someone would say, Well I believe it's just by believing. Well, a lot of folks believe and nothing didn't happen. Somebody said, Well, they believed but they didn't fast. I know some people that fast, I believe eighty and ninety days and believed and it didn't happen. It goes back to the hungry dog. Somebody said, Brother Pike, you mean to tell me that. I know people that have read the Bible through, that can quote it, like a photostatic mind, still didn't do the job. So then what's wrong? If we got our fasting, we got our praying, people that pray all night, still don't get the job done. Now we've got the Word of God, we've got fasting, we've got prayer, we've got all these things. Why in the name of reasoning don't it happen? Because Paul said, I say I to keep from saying you, we as humanity considering the fact that we fail to be born again or follow Christ, it is that we are without Christ and nothing's going to happen. All those things had nothing to do with it. What does those things have to do with it? See, you study all of your life. You go to school all of your life and you study, and then you go to college and then you study, and you forget all about the books and go on your way. Why? Because the books had nothing to do with it. All the schooling had nothing to do with it. It took that wilderness wandering to get around to develop an understanding. And once you get the understanding you don't need the books. Once in a great while you might go back to the book for a refresher's course. That's a requirement of some teachers. See, I'm simply saying this, what you are God has already made you. And all you do is develop those potentialities. I've said this so many times. Somebody said, And the man discovered electricity. He didn't discover nothing. You know, God put the electricity there, and when the time come to give it, he just took some fellow out playing with a kite, put some thoughts in his mind, and that's all it was to it. See, what I'm saying is this. There is typical things down through the years, and God works everything after the counsel of His own will. He rules in the affairs of men. Can evil come to a city and I've not sent it? saith the Lord. I raise up one. I put down another. Kings rule by me. So I'm just saying this: why do we try to live a Christian life without Christ? What Christianity is is being like Christ? I say again, if they put a dog nature in me, I'd bark like a dog. I might not do as good a job as my sounds you know. If they put a cat nature in me, I would want to scratch your eyes out if you got me upset. You understand? Somebody said, Well, I'll tell you one thing. That sounds eccentric to me. Well, I don't know. There must have been a fox spirit in Herod. He said, Tell that fox. And I know some women that will scratch your eyes out. I've known of them. They said, That old cat. So there's something going on. Somebody said, But I'm not a beast. But that's where you're wrong. If you're not elect, you definitely are a beast. All are beast. Science isn't wrong about that. Tracing your origin back to the beast. Somebody said, Well tell me where it started? In the Garden with the beast. It goes all the way back. John laid the axe to the root of the tree to cut that whole tree down because it is beast, nothing but beast. Some of them brute beast made to be taken and burned. Jesus referred to them as foxes. He referred to them as swine. He referred to them as dogs and these kind of things, because that's what they are. You know, the wallowing in the mire. The lapping of their vomit, the things that they do. That's mire in the sight of God. It has a stench to it. The vomit. He said all my tables are filled with vomit as to their lukewarm, religious stride of life. Will you give me time to finish here? You're doing real good. I've got just a little further to go here. I didn't mean to get this extensive with it. But there's so many things I need to say. And time is getting shorter and shorter. All right we'll get back to faith in just a minute. I just want to complete something. All right so then swines, dogs, you understand. But we're not dogs. We're not swine. We are children of the living God. Why are we children of the living God? Because we have His Spirit on the inside of us. And the Bible said, If God has sent His Spirit, even the Spirit of His Son into our heart crying, Abba Father. If sons, then children, if children, then heirs, if heirs, then partakers of all the benefits of God. Because we have His Spirit. Now there's one Spirit. If you have not His Spirit, then you're none of His. You're none of His. Why do we try to live a Christian life without the Spirit of Christ? There's no way you can be a dog without His Spirit. You couldn't be a human being without the human being spirit. There is no way. Because there is a compelling thing as to desire that forms a nature. And that nature on the inside that is responsible for the appetites as to which way you will go in life as to what your image will be. And as to the seed from the loins of your father so are you in his image. Because that blood cell, the life is in that blood. And the life as to that spiritual quickening on the inside is a nature. And it will make a crab apple as in the fruit world, a crab apple. Another apple will grow and be sweet. It will make a lemon sour as in the world of citrus. And it will make another as orange sweet. And you can take as in the citrus family, you can't do it to any tree. It has to be of the nature. But you can take a citrus nature and graft it wild by nature into a citrus product and it will live. See, like you could put a lemon limb here, an orange limb here, a grapefruit limb here. And the same life will feed everyone of them. And on every limb it will have according to it's nature as to it's originality. Now you probably never seen a tree like that, but it work. All right now this is why we have to be so careful because of the devil. Because we are not of this world. We are from heaven. Jesus said, Ye are of the world. From the dust thou art, the Lord said to Adam, and to the dust thou shalt return, because he violated the principles of life, walked away from the Shekinah Glory, instead of eating in the tree of life and letting it become part of Him as an inward born again experience as to that life within, and he left it. Thus the veil of death was over him as to the intellectual mind. And see, we have to be careful because we are relative to angels in our spirit. And in heaven we are as the angels. When our spirit departs from our body, with Satan being an angel that gives him a chance to come in wild by nature if we're not careful. So we have to be careful as to what product we bring forth. All right okay a few more little things here, so many other things I need to say, but just a few more little things. All right as to this faith we understand then first of all we're going to have to have His Spirit. We're not going to work miracles, we're not going to bring healings, we're not going to have salvation, we're not going to have anything without the Spirit of God. Number one: the Spirit of God. Be filled with the Spirit. Why? So you can do the things of God. So you can overcome. So you're strength won't be small. So you'll be like the Lord. The Word is spirit and life. Or that is the Word is a carrier of life. That through the vibrations as to a verbal inspiration, as to a vocal utterance, sounding upon your ears, and to those vibrations that go down into your body, these things are quickening and life. And God has since the fall in the garden switched you over from the heavenly quickening of the inspiration as to that illumination of the image in which you were made, God has switched you over to the quickening as to the cosmic energy that comes down through your hypothalamus. So then through the human senses, you're inspired through a quickening. And the verbal inspiration as to appetite, hearing, or whatever it might be: as to musical disturbance in the atomic particles as to vibrate into your heart or whatever it might be. See, God has switched you over to that because you fell there from God. And that which is righteousness cannot even look upon you. So the quickening which is God as to the spirit, the spirit and the quickening. The Bible said, God is the judge of the spirit and quickening. That means that without quickening you die. Let a dog loose the quickening as to the vibrations that works within his body or to every organic part. And what does he do? There's not spirit because there's no quickening. And then he lays on the side of the road, because there is no quickening, it begins to decay. It begins to corrupt. Turn into what we call carne, and just completely turn back to the original elements as to what he was taken from. From the dust thou art as a beast, to the dust thou shalt return. And you are in the realm of the beast, because you fell to the realm of the beast, because you would not have the mind of God. You took a beast mind; and you would not have the mind of God. The beast listened to the devil as to the devil working through him, and he was turned into a serpent and put on his belly, because he become a shell for the angelic being of Lucifer, who is a reflector of God, who was called the son of the morning, even the brightness of it, that is to say, Adam made in the morningtime. All of his pipes made upright until iniquity was found in him, that is to say when he agreed with Eve, as to Satan going into the body. In Adam all die. In Christ Jesus all live. A tree of death and a tree of life. And Jesus said, Ye are the trees. So then in this he decomposes altogether. And that's what happens to you. But the Lord has turned you over to these vibrations of angelic beings and give grace, so as not to charge this against you, because you did that. You let death in, and it has shortened your days. And the further we go as to the more knowledge the more our days are shortened. We start with nine hundred years with Methuselah, nine hundred years as with Noah. We come on down the first news you know we got a hundred and twenty years as with Mosea. The next thing we have, it is said that a man's days shall be three score and ten because he's coming on down. Why? It is because the Bible says that my people perish from the lack of knowledge. Now what's going to make a difference between you and them people out yonder? Those people are going to continue to do that. They'll continue to die quicker and quicker with all of their medical aide, everything that they can do, still they're dying. Like over in Bangladesh, they say if they declare an international emergency, from what I've understood, that before they can get there and do anything as to any benefit to the people, there will be at least three hundred thousand that'll be dead. That they're eating leaves and bark and everything else. Now do you think that that's going to happen to Bangladesh and all those countries because they're heathens and they worship Mohammed and all these kind of things as to Islam, THe Islamic way of life, and Confucius and all these other? You think that God is going to allow that to happen to them and not happen to America, when you worship everything from your shoes to the dollar within your billfold and your automobile and home? Somebody said, Well, I don't do that. Yes you do. The child is known by his doings. Somebody said, But I work for God. No you don't. You work for your car. You work for your house. You work for your food. You work for your clothing. And the Bible said, All of your labor is for your belly because your belly craves it of you. In that the old serpent is on his belly and that from the dust. So then that's what you are, what you keep your mind on that's what you worship. The Bible said that you're to cast down imagination and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, bring into captivity to the obedience of Jesus Christ, every thought to meditate in His laws day and night. And whatever your mind is on that is what you serve. Paul said, God whom I serve with my mind, and that's your state of awareness as to this world and that environment as to whatever you give it to. All right anyway, I'm saying this: Jesus on one occasion said this, and you need to really thing about this because I'm going to close in a few minutes. Jesus said as to God we say, God said this. God said, that way you'll understand it better. God said, Command thou me concerning the works of my hand. Command thou me. Well when I first run across that years ago I thought, My God! Lord, this is something for sure that I don't understand. And you really got to talk to me because I can't understand that. I got enough sense that I ain't going to go around saying: God, you better do this or I command you to do this. You know, and I thought over it and I thought over it and I thought over it, and finally I didn't come up with nothing, not anything. And I said, God, now you tell me, explain to me. How will I know if you don't tell me? And how can I teach the people if I don't know? And the Lord explained it very carefully. He said, son, I am a Spirit. I am a Spirit. God is love. He said, I'm love all the time as you would say because we're in the realm of time. He said, With me there is no time. I'm just a perfect state of love. And said, I don't ever change. I don't ever alter to any generation in their little time element of life as to their stride of time, as to time beginning and time shall be no more. See, he said, Not even as to the judgments of things. I leave all the judgment to the Son. I have created a human body. I have put a mediator there. I have let Him be the go between, the inbetween. And He is there to take your place that I might smite that image that I hate, even the bastard child image that was born out of wedlock through that of Adam. In Adam all die. He said, And this is inbetween. See, God Who is love, He hates sin because it kills. He hates iniquity because it takes His loved ones from Him. See, so I have put somebody there to take your chastisement, to be abused in your place. And that wrath can destroy that image and not ever touch you. Jesus willingly, God in a human body, see, willingly to stand between you and the wrath of God as to between you and the law. That would be that law of condemnation working in your flesh to bring you under condemnation, to kill you and destroy you, and to bring you into bondage to the beggarly elements of this world, as Paul said. Oh wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? So then he said it, final analysis, He said, I sum the thing up by saying, With my spirit, my inner mind I serve God. And with the flesh I serve the law of sin. Or that is to say, How can I get around it? I don't practice sin. I don't go do those things. But in spite of all I can do, I stumble and I stagger and I make mistakes, just like Paul a Pharisee of pharisees and yet he was out killing the church, throwing the people in prison. All of these kind of things and yet he was a scholar of scholars. All right so then he said, God has killed this thing. He's got it out of the way. It's buried, he's buried it, and as long as I don't do anything wrong, and I stumble into something when I'm trying to do my best not too, he said, there's no mark against me. For in my spirit I'm sealed with the Holy Spirit and I keep myself, and the evil one touch me not. Thus am I perfect by the body of Jesus Christ. I am sanctified once and for all. So perfected forever, and the body will come forth at the change as Jesus showed it in glory on the mountain. And it will be perfect without spot, without blemish, for I'm coming back after the church. The church is Christ's body whose body ye are, members in particular, bone of bone and flesh of flesh. He when the head appears, ye shall be like Him as to His righteousness, His perfection for He that's who you are. As He is so are you in Him. And it's not you living Paul said, but Him. Therefore you will not have a spot. You will not have a blemish. For this body will be brought forth. There is a natural body, a spiritual body, a terrestrial and a celestial. We've born the image of the earthly. As in Adam all die. We will bear the image of the heavenly. As in Christ all is made alive. Or that is to say if this tabernacle be dissolved, as in this intellectual wandering of a wilderness, then we will, we have another house, even the body of the Lord Jesus in the Spirit, one in the quickening Spirit; another house made that's in the heavens that's not made with hands. All right so then I said, Lord, what do I do? What is this? He said, Being a condition of love I never change nor alter My fashion. So He said the Son is there and I've committed all judgment to Him. That He is relative to the people. He suffers more than anybody else. He knows their pains. He knows their feelings. He knows their sufferings. He knows their poverty. He knows everything about them. And therefore feeling their infirmities, I can be touched through Him who is righteous as the image not of iniquity as to a bastard child or the fall, as in Adam all die, but in the original image as to the Son of God which Adam was before the fall, man being made in My image, and here He is: Jesus Christ, even Adam the second time or the first, the second man Adam, or that is to say, He come back now. He's a Quickening Spirit. The living soul realm is past and here He is a Quickening Spirit. See, and this is the image, and He is My body, and He will express Me and call on Me from the going forth of the sun to the going down thereof. For I God, the great state of love within Him, the fullness within Him, then He will be My expression. For the Bible said, He hath declared God Who is a great Spirit, the love that we speak of, the divine love. So He hath declared Him. And the Bible said, He is the express image of God. He was the image in which man was made to start with that was lost. He brought it back. Now God on the inside hath no iniquity to hinder Him, no carnality to hinder him. So in Jesus He's made, He has to die first for our sins, and then when He's resurrected, He stands there as bone and flesh. And the Spirit is made manifest in Him, or the Spirit expresses Himself. This is God expressed. He is the expression of God. All right folks, we could say a lot about that. But getting on with our thought of faith here, because we need faith. We have to use faith. Jesus said if you have the faith as a grain of mustard seed, you can say unto this mountain, be moved and it will be gone. But if a person don't know how to use faith, it's of no benefit to them. The Bible said the Jews had this book right here as to the Bible. And they had it, but it did not profit them because it was not mixed with faith. You got a knowledge of it. I've preached to you, but it don't profit you because you don't practice faith. You don't believe in it. See, be not faithless. Jesus said, Where is your faith? Why don't you use your faith? So I said, Lord, tell me how to command you. He said, The way you command me is by faith. When you believe my Word, I as a sovereignty of love, a glorious spiritual state of being, I have placed myself fully within the tabernacle of the body of Jesus Christ. Or that is to say, I work through Him and I work through the blood and that's the door to Me, and that's the outlet, and I won't look at anything except through Him. And He said, Because of this that means that He hath control of Me. I have given Him complete control of me. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God, or that is to say, when there is a beginning, that means something becomes existent. Somebody will say, when He's saying in the beginning was God. You know, wasn't that before as to an existence. Sometimes I speak of that which is before the beginning. Somebody wrote the other day and said, Please send me something on that sermon about before the beginning. Now, but what I'm trying to say to you is this, see, we say in the beginning, beginning Genesis means beginning. In the beginning that means the beginning of something, the beginning of you and me. Not the beginning of God. And in the beginning was the Word which was Jesus Christ. All things made by Him, for Him, without Him was nothing made that is made. So in the beginning was the Lord Jesus. And the great, eternal, invisible Spirit brought that to pass as in the beginning and made Adam and Eve in the image, when He said, the Spirit said to the body of Jesus as to the Son, the image: Come and let Us make man in Our own image, because Jesus was the express image of God, the very likeness. So then in this God having given Himself completely to the Word, it runs us all the way back to the time of Joseph when the stars done obeisance unto him, the moon done obeisance unto him, the sun done obeisance unto him. And when he told the dream to his father, his father quickly interpreted it. He said, Do you mean to tell me there will come a time when I and your mother shall bow down to you? But there came the time when they were in poverty and Joseph was raised up to the right hand of Pharoah, was over everything and everybody, like I saw one night in a vision where all the stars gathered to one side of the world where I was at. And I knew something was taking place then. See, and what I'm saying is this, is that the Father has given Himself to the Son, that whatever the Son says, that's the way it will be. See, so then in that He is under the control of the Son, if I command the Spirit as to my behalf, all I got to do is believe the Word. Because the Word controls, faith of the human heart controls the Word. The faith of a human being controls the Word which is the Lord Jesus Christ, the one that was made flesh. And then the Word controls God, because He said the Word is Spirit. That is to say in the beginning was the Word. When the Word said, Let there be and there was. Or that is to say that was the first time that God ever came into the realm of existence. That was the first time when the Word said, Let there be light and light came as the Word. See that was the first time. That was the beginning because God has no beginning nor ending of days. And we could say lots and lots, a lot about that. But there's one or two more things I need to say, and I'm trying to get it on tape, because as I say this goes out to people all around the world. So we know then that we can command God concerning the works of His hands. Whatever He has promised as to thirty-two thousand promises in this book, to believe that and not waver, now that's the thing I want to talk to you about just for a moment. How does faith get so conglomerated or have so many problems by trying to work in the human life? It is because it is so sensitive. The righteousness of faith depends on believing in Jesus Christ. And believing in Jesus Christ depends on a clear conscience. And John said to do the things that please God gives us confidence. Then do God, then do we believe that God hears us or we know that God hears us if have the confidence. And if we know that God hears us we know that we have the petition that we desire of Him because this is given to us in the knowledge. All things that pertain unto life, even from the foundation of the world and brought to light at Calvary as to make it known. So it's not a matter of us being good enough to get it. It's not a matter. It's righteousness by Him. You understand what I'm saying? It's not a matter of respect to person. God's no respect to person. Race, creed, color whatever. So what is it? The problem is you and I. You know we say, Oh God, if you would do this? Oh God, if you would do this? And we beg and we plead, whatever and we say, it's just left up to God. That's not right, folks. It's not left up to God. It's left up to you. God has done His part to give to giving the very blood out of His veins. He's done everything that He can do. He hath given it without repsect of person. He said, It's established forever. I won't alter. I won't change it. It's the same to a thousand generations. And said, Elijah was a man of like passion, the same as you, and yet he just prayed earnestly that it might not rain and for several years it rained not. He prayed again and the rain come. But yet he was a man of like passion, the same as you and I, had the same problem to cope with that you and I have to cope with. And didn't even have the Holy Ghost as to the baptism, indwelling but was in the presence of it as the the Spirit of God led them. All right so then how sensitive is this faith? First of all it's up to us. If you say something and don't doubt, if you say it as to your faith in the Word, that commands Me. I'm right there to carry it out. If you say it, you decree the thing in your heart, you ask in my name, you say it's going to be done, and don't doubt and nothing shall be impossible. You understand what I'm saying? There's not anything that will be impossible unto you. So then how sensitive is it? Let's take a little thing right quick. Here's Peter. Saying now if that's the Lord, which is the Word, then bid me come. The Word says, I'm the Lord God that healeth thee. I heal all of your diseases. I forgive all of your iniquities. I've given you all things that pertain unto life. And on and on and on it goes. And so the Word goes says, Peter, come. So Peter he started walking in command because He believed the Word of God and he walked safely on the water. And no record where anyone done that before except Jesus. But he walked on the water. He got into that sanctifying faith of Jesus, that faith that made Jesus walk on the water for a few minutes Peter got into it, because the Word is spirit and faith, that faith of Christ comes by that Word as to the hearing of that Word. So that is to say the sanctifying faith. To hear it, believe what it says, that brings in the righteousness of God which is a sanctification by the perfecting of the works of Christ. We are God's workmanship in Christ unto good works. So then he walked, but all of a sudden he looked at his surrounding environment. He looked at the waves, the winds were boisterous; and all of a sudden he went down, down, down, down, down. Now why did you have to say that, Brother Pike? I had to say that to make you to understand the working of faith. See, faith. Somebody said, Well, I tried it and it didn't work. That's when it stopped working is right there. It might have been working all the time until you took that outlook. See, faith is like this: the moment you believe, the moment it works. The moment you stop believing as Peter went down that's the moment it stops. Every moment that you believe, though you don't see it, we're walking by faith, not by sight. But it's happening. Don't cast away thy faith which hath great recompense of reward. Or thy faith that is a shield against the fiery darts of the wicked. The very second you believe that's the second it works. The very second you stop, that's the second it stops. And Peter when he quit believing, taking his eyes off of the Word, we'll say as in your case, eyes of understanding, put them as frontlets before your eyes, the Word, He said to Israel. So down he went, but he retained enough integrity of heart and believing that he looked at Jesus the Word again in his state of despair. You know a lot of times we're healthy, we're well, we're strong. We don't look at the Lord enough. We look at Him just kind of casual like, and we're kind of at broken intervals as to not a complete ultimatum toward Christ. And so then the first news you know we lose our health. And then as we start to sink, we get more conscientious and we start calling. We do have a little more faith then as to the extent enough to get holt of what the Word can do. So then here is Peter, he mustered up enough faith to look in the direction of the Word long enough to where Christ could take his hands and take him out of the raging waters. So then by this you see the way that faith works. And many, many other things I wish that we could relate to you tonight concerning things of faith. But I've gotten in enough as to what you got to have, who you are, your rights and what you're going to have to do as to what God is expecting of you. And drop in just a little bit tonight of the way that faith works and the way that faith functions. And folks, Jesus said, In this last illustration here when the man came and said, My daughter's dying as to Jairus the ruler, will you come? Jesus told them he would come. And he said to him he said now, don't doubt. Just believe. Don't doubt. Just believe. And so it was that he began to believe; and they began to walk along together, and the Word was coming over to his house. For the Bible said, God sent His Word and healed them. Whether it's today through faith as to me preaching it, Brother Taylor preaching it, or you just merely believing it in your heart. See, the Word, and there was the Word, and the Word was going home with him. And on the way they met some servants from his house and said, Trouble not the Master, said, the maiden's already dead. Jesus, He never flinched. I'm sure that must have shocked the man. It must have shocked him. Here I have the Master. If I could have got Him over there. Jesus said, Has nothing to do with it. He didn't use those terms. Said that has nothing to do with it. Don't doubt. Just believe. What's death got to do with it? You know he could have said, I'm God. I made you. I put you together. I was the one that put breathe in the nostrils of that little maiden. Don't worry about that. He said, Just don't doubt. Don't doubt. Because see if he had have doubted, it would have broke the continuity between him and the Word. Don't doubt. Settle in on it. Don't waver. The doubleminded man is unstable in all of his ways. Let not that man think that he shall receive anything of God. For you must ask in faith, nothing wavering. You must do the things that confident the heart, that you can have that non-wavering confidence. For when you have that confidence in God, we know that He hears us. See, then we know that we have the petition. See, God is always hearing us to this extent. The Bible said, His ears are ever attentive toward the cry of the righteous. But to hear us it becomes an individual affair. Like He said to Israel, you fast and prayed, but you didn't fast as to this day as to making your voice to be heard on high. That is do the things to make your voice to be heard. He's looking in your direction. He's listening with His ear. But you do whatever is needful that it might become a personification to you, or a gift to you, or the benefits as to you from heaven as to the heavenly treasure in these earthen vessel. All right, so then Jesus went over and when He got over there, they laughed Him to scorn. He said, Well, the maid's not dead. She's sleeping. And they made a joke out of that and they laughed Him to scorn. But folks, let me tell you, when a Christian is placed down in the grave or a child, a young child as to the maiden, see, they are not dead. Death is when your spirit separates from the Spirit of God. Sleep is when your spirit departs from your body. We use the term the body dead without the spirit, but it's asleep. And He said, the maidens not dead. I'll just go and wake her up. And they thought that was a joke. But nevertheless when He went in He called to her: Tal-i-tha-cu-mi, maiden arise. She arose. Said, Give her something to eat. No doubt she's weak you know. Haven't had proper meals. Give her something to eat. And that was it. Then all of them wondered after Jesus and mighty works that He did. And oh how beautiful it was. And the beauty of it is Jesus said, And these things that I do shall ye do. And greater things because I go to the Father. My, what a sermon! But anyway, that's about the size of what I was wanting to say. See, don't doubt. One doubt and you got problems. Peter let doubt come in one time and down he went. With faith he erased eradicated it out started working again. So you need to believe the Word. If you believe that you're born again, believe it every day. Believe it every minute. Believe it every second. Settle it in your heart, in your mind, see, because it's fastened to the Word. And by the same token, in that you've done that, remember that healing is the same way. Settle it in your mind. If God can't heal you, He can't save you. And if it isn't the same, then the Word isn't the same yesterday, today and forever. And he said, what I say to one I say unto all. My Word will not return unto Me void, he said. I will not alter the thing that's gone out of my mouth. Forever it's settled in heaven. I'll supply all of your needs according to my riches in glory. He said, I will hasten to perform My Word. My Word shall accomplish that that I please. Not return unto me void. And said, I will make you to ride upon the high places of the earth. I have given you all things that pertain unto life in Christ which means in the Word. The Word tells you of those thirty-two thousand promises. All things that pertain unto life whether it's wealth or whatever, the Lord gives you the power to get wealth. It is the Lord that maketh rich and addeth no sorrow. Delight yourself in Me. When serving the Lord becomes a joy, I'll make you to ride upon the high places of the earth and give you desires of your heart. If your enemies come out against you, I'll make them flee seven ways before you. And no man shall stand before thee all the days of thy life. And the Bible said, No weapon formed against thee shall prosper. It doesn't matter what it is. That's why America has been like she's been because she's been a religious nation. She's losing out fast. When the church is gone it won't be that way at all. All right let's stand together. Jesus said, Don't doubt. Don't doubt. For he that doubteth is like a ship that's tossed about by the waves of the sea. Don't doubt. I remember when we bought our jet, I thumbed through the pages. I was asking the Lord to guide me as to what I should have, and it's worked out real good as to testimonies reaching people by the ships and jet that I've never reached, many people. But I thumbed through and I thought, I saw this one; and I said, I feel like this is what the Lord wants us to have David. So we're going to do like we always do. I'm going to pray and God's going to give it to us. So we prayed. I said, Well He gave it to us. That takes care of it. I said, Now what we got to do is make arrangements to go up there and let the man know that it belongs to us. We made arrangements. We bought the plane. We went up there, we informed him and there it was. No money exchanged hands but we own the jet. Let's give the Lord a hand. And the jet's paid for all by faith. Many, many hundreds of times Betty and I have done that. I have seen my wife Betty use faith and we'd be out on the field in our real early... knew very little about faith, but enough that we believed. And I've seen her need milk for my little ones, and by faith she's very confident, and find cans of milk laying out on the sidewalk, just walk out of the house. Need money to get a little bite of food with and she'd step over maybe with a dime, put it in a telephone to call and out come a whole lot of money. And in every way continually without fail it happened. And you've heard her tell riding down the road, my children in the car following a big load of cantaloupes, and the little ones wanted one so bad. We didn't have the money to buy one. Said, Well the Lord will take care of that. Road on a little while and the truck was gone. We road on, there God had just what we needed laying on the side of the road. Some of the cargo He dropped as a handful on purpose, not bruised, not hurt and the kids got the desire of their heart. And that's the way it is children of God. You are His children. If children then you're heirs and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. Everything that makes for life. So you can have life filled up and abundant. I am the Prince of Life. I have come to dwell within your body. And the dispute is over the body. I want to eradicate death. And in that body is death, no good thing. I want to resurrect it because they that live in trespasses and sin are dead while they live. I want to resurrect it. I want to live in your body as an abundant, filled up and overflowing life to give you the desires of your heart. Let's sing a little chorus together. Once again let's sing: I Love Him. (Sings: I Love Him) The altars are open if you'd like to come to the altar you may. I just took my time tonight, talked with you a little bit to exhort you a little bit, to tell you about the wonderful love of God. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever. He never changes. God is love. He said, Peace on earth. Peace on earth, not war. From whence cometh wars, is it not from the lust that warreth in your members, you desire to have and cannot obtain unto. Because you ask amiss to consume it on your own lust. (Sings: I Love Him) So then what we're saying to you is that God is love, peace on earth; and He said, good will toward man from God. Not a bad will of beating your brains out, of making you sick, of chastising you with scorpions, not a bad attitude from God looking forward to your death. It's not even God's will that the wicked should perish, but even that the wicked of the world should repent and come to God and have everlasting life. For He is love. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. And this life is within the Son, the Bible said. And if you have the Son, then ye have life. And if ye have not the Son, then you don't have any life because life is spirit, and Jesus was made a quickening Spirit that lives within your heart. And if the Spirit of that Son is in there, then it cries Abba Father, as to you being sons. And He wants this mind to be in you that was also in Christ Jesus, who being made in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Didn't try to make of Himself any kind of reputation. He just became humble, even unto death on the cross. So then you are special to God. This is what you need to remember. You are special to God. Don't look on someone else as though they're special to God. Peter said, When he healed the man at the gate called Beautiful, don't look on us, he said, as though we did this. He said, Faith, and that faith we could say which is by Him as to Christ Jesus, and we know that, but the faith which is by Him, the man that is setting there that's been crippled from his mother's womb, this has made whole; and he went leaping and praising God in the temple. See. Expecting to receive something in God. He really expected to receive some money. But he did have a believing. He did have an expectation. And Peter said, I do have something I'm going to give you. All right so then you are the special one. You've got to remember that. God is no respect of person. You are the special one. Whether you're man or woman you're still the special one. It doesn't matter. You're the special one. And God wants to especially work in you. His eyes are throughout the earth beholding the good and the evil, going to and fro in the earth, looking for the upright in heart, so that He can show Himself strong in their behalf. Folks, you can't gossip. You can't backbite. You can't have temper and all of these kind of things, you know, and get what you want from God. You can't do that. Though we're people of like passion as Elijah, which means that we're subject to all the vanities of the world as we stumble and stagger, but anything that you allow for as to a practice that is an ill motivation; and we don't condemn ourselves over that thing which we allow as to that we stumble. But we certainly cannot practice sin. If you willfully sin, there is no more sacrifice for sin. But if you be the born of God, if you be the elect of God, you won't do that. I speak to you as unto men, but really as unto Gods. It won't be that way at all. You're not going to willfully sin. So you're the main player of the whole show as we say. Somebody said, Show, what do you mean show? Said, Go show yourself to the priest. Show yourself to God. Show yourself to the world. Let them see Jesus in your life. Said, we would see Jesus. So the life of Christ as to the dying, delivered as sheep for the slaughter, acquaint yourself with a mind to suffer. As to have the right kind of attitude. And having the right kind of attitude, then God will fill you with His Spirit and with His love and with His understanding, and you'll be more than a conqueror. When the devil comes around, you just draw nigh to God, resist the devil. You got power over all the powers of the enemy, over all the devils, over Satan himself, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. It's just as to your allowance. If you're willing to allow, Satan to kick you around, then He'll kick you around. All right you're the main player. You're the body of the Lord Jesus. Somebody said, Well I don't believe I am. How could you be the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, members in particualr, bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh and not be the main player, because He's the main player? He's the super-star of all the show if you want to use intellectual terms. So what you need to do is find out what your measure is, and you can increase that measure. You can go on to the full measure of the full stature of the perfect man Christ Jesus. You can go on to the full reward, but you can't be double-minded. You can't be in this mind as to worldly attire and all of the love of the world. The Bible said, Having the love of the world in you, the love of the Father's not there. If you're in that, and then tomorrow you're going to try to be in the mind of Christ, you're double-minded, unstable in all of your ways. The better thing for you to do is to go on with the world. Be a glamour boy or girl and get all you can out of the world, and make yourself friends of the unrighteous mammon as to money, so that when God rejects you that your friends can receive you into everlasting habitation. See, but if you're going to be for God, the same yesterday, today and forever. Swear to your own hurt, as to the mortifying of the deeds of the body, as putting this body down and exalting Christ in your life, walking by faith in the Word as to His satisfaction and not by sight. All right, can we sing that again? I'm not going to hold you but a few minutes and then we'll let you go. (Sings: I Love Him) While they're playing on the organ, we're going to pray. If you'll just lift your hands up, look in our direction, stretch your hands out to heaven. The Bible said, Look up! For thy redemption draweth nigh. And I'm going to pray for you. I want to pray for your body if your body is sick. I want to pray for your finance. If you've got problems financially I'm going to pray for you. Everyway, I'm going to pray for you. And I'm going to pray that God will heal you, that God will bless you, that God will help you. We preach a lot of times the threefold blessing of God: naturally, physically, and spiritually. Naturally of those things that you need as houses, lands, and cars. Physically as health to enjoy all of that. Spiritually as an eternal bond to secure all of that, that the devil will never take it away from you, that you can have it eternally, even to eternal life that you may continue forever to enjoy it. Just lift your hands up, close your eyes while I pray. Precious wonderful Heavenly Father, we're thankful tonight for your blessings and for your love and for your concern and for your understanding. And dear God, we ask of you to bless these people, Heavenly Father, bless these people. Oh God, look down from heaven and hear the thoughts of their heart and of my heart, and see the sincerity of our hearts toward your Son, the precious Holy Ghost, Father. Let Him as the Holy Spirit envelope the people and penetrate the harden hearts. To go inside, Father, to tenderize those spirits, that they may be healed, Oh God, that you might heal them. Father, heal them in the name of Jesus, heal them and make them well. Oh God, heal those people in Jesus name. Father, breaking every yoke and every bondage and taking away everything, Heavenly Father, that might hinder them. I speak this in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, as a member of your body. Heal these people. You said, if I bless them they'd be blessed. I bless these people Father, that will believe. I bless these people in the person of Jesus Christ and in the name of Jesus Christ, that they may have healing for their body, that they may have the blessings as to their finance, that they may have the natural needs supplied, filled up, abundantly and running over, in Jesus name, Father, as they believe tonight, let them enjoy this wonderful, abundant life of Jesus Christ. Let's close our eyes, lift our hands and let's sing this. (Sing: I Will Praise Him) I'm going to ask Brother Eugene to come up and dismiss us if he will. (Sings) Can you sing one more time with me? (Sings)

By Rev. George Leon Pike Sr.

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

Holiness Unto The Lord