Stewardship #1

Servitude; Bondslaves of God

January 4, 1997

		Shall we pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Presence. We
know that You are here. We cannot see You, but You have been thoroughly
declared to us again, led forth by words, even as Jesus himself led
forth by words—manifesting, showing, and proving Your great existence
and his fellowship with You, being the Only-begotten Son of God. 

	And again, Lord, today we’ve had that same Pillar of Fire that
appeared to Paul bringing the Word, now revealing it, declaring again
the fellowship we have in Christ at this time—Your Fatherhood and our
sonship with You, the born-ones of God.

	And we pray, Lord, that indeed Your Word, which cannot return unto You
void but must return unto You fulfilled, has its fulfillment in us,
tonight—each and every one of us being children of the Rapture, of the
Resurrection, children of You by children of the Word, coming right to
the very end and going home to be with You, to the great Wedding Supper
of the Lamb.

	We pray therefore, tonight, Lord, in faith that You will help us to
understand Your Word better than ever. And help us not to make anything
… judgment, or any statement concerning Your Word that is not exactly
true. But we know, Lord, that is difficult. Yet, You will help us,
because You promised to do so, and the elect shall not be deceived.

	So, in our studies tonight may Your Name be glorified; may we be
edified. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen. 

	You may be seated.

	

1.	Now, just before we go into the little message tonight, (And [it’s]
quite possible I won’t be able to finish it.) I want to make a little
statement to go on the tape and on the video cassette, concerning the
ministry here.

	You know, as well as I do, that I have not been able to take as many
services as formerly, (just a few shorter this year than last year) but
even at the rate of twenty-two messages, that’s forty-two hours of
preaching, and better. And then, roughly, twelve Communions which would
be about twenty minutes a-piece at least, you would have 240 [minutes]
which is another four hours in there. So, we’d have about forty-six
hours at least [of] preaching. And you put that over a period of time
where any sensible preacher never goes beyond an hour because it’s
very debilitating (usually it’s very difficult), you’d actually
have, then, about forty-two sermons. Well, that would make me feel a
little better to know that I had been able to take that many services,
although that’s kind of stretching the point, isn’t it? 

	But, with that also, the people have been very good at supporting our
ministry to the extent that a goodly portion or sum of money has come in
over the years. And that money, of course, we try to send out, to give
away—not all of it, but a great portion of it. And it may be that as
people realize that I’m going off the scene here, (and I don’t know
how long my time is on earth) that they may decide to support some other
minister. That’s perfectly fine by me. Or some other
ministry—receive tapes from somebody else. That’s certainly fine. 

2.	But there is one thing that I would request, at this time, is that if
anybody is getting tapes, and they are now attending another church, I
would wish that you would notify your pastor and ask him are you able to
get these tapes. Because I don’t want anybody to receive tapes in
another man’s ministry and that pastor not being fully in agreement
with that person getting the tapes, because it will engender questions.
And I speak out very strongly against those things that I know to be
wrong, where I don’t care where the chips fly. If I’m wrong, I’ve
got to stand in judgment. I’m not there to judge any preacher, but
when I find that there are things that are not according to Bro.
Branham, I say those things as warning to people that listen to me and
have any confidence in the ministry.

	So, I don’t like anyone to receive a tape… I don’t want to cut
anybody off, but if anybody is receiving a tape—and I know there are
some—and you’re attending some place else, please feel free to tithe
there, to listen to that person. And do not get my tapes any longer,
unless you know that that person, that pastor, is willing to allow them.
And you’re going to find that very very difficult. There are very few
who allow that privilege in their church. It’s a dangerous thing,
anyway, because the pastor is the supreme authority in whatever area he
has been called to minister.

3.	However, for those who have sent in money, along with some help (not
a great deal) from Grace Gospel Church—these are some of the amounts
that have been sent out: $24,000, 24,000, 15,000, 12,000, 16,000,
10,000, 8,000, 7,800, 5,000, 5,000, 5,000, 3,000, 2,000, 500’s, and so
on, which [is] well up over $130,000. So, you can see we’re not trying
to put money aside. Those who send money in support of this ministry, I
want you to know that I’m trying to support others and do everything
we can to the extent that widows and orphans… And sometimes we have
sent out as much as $5,000 at one time for widows and orphans and
helping people who don’t have care.

	And so, this is what we’ve been trying to do. And I’m taking a
little time in explaining this before the message because I don’t wish
to go into this again. So, everything we try to make above board as
possible. I haven’t mentioned names where money is sent. If you wish
to come down sometime and see the checks, there’s no problem at all.
You can see them all there. They’re all there—money deposited, and
money sent out. 

4.	And at this point I’ve been desperately trying to find out where
there are orphans that I know that I can really support. And I believe
that I’m on the track of being able to do something which will amount
to several thousand dollars from my own side of the ledger, which I have
put it in over the last year or two, which is a sizeable amount of
money.

	So, we’re just explaining these things to you. And the strange thing
is, I’m going to be talking on “Stewardship” tonight. So that may
be a little corner of it. But the idea is, we try to be faithful with
the people who tithe (send their money in here). We try to do right. And
as I say, I know that no one is critical, and no one is going to say,
“Well, show us the checks.” Well, I’m glad to show you bank
statements and everything else. There’s no problem at all with it. But
I feel good about being able to do something for people. I don’t know
how you feel about it. I’m sure you feel just as happy as I do. But I
feel very very happy, almost to the point of being emotional, over what
we’re able to do just to help people, because it’s so wonderful to
know that you can help people; and God blesses you for it.

5.	Now we’re going to talk about “Stewardship” tonight, and I
don’t expect to get finished. I don’t expect to cover it even as I
have it in my heart to do so. But, as we go into this subject, I want
you to start to realize that the Bible is a great deal like a pie.
It’s completely round—round signifying God and infinity,
eternity—and in there you have various doctrines that are set forth in
the Word, principles. And [if] you just even follow one, you will notice
that there’s no such thing as one over here, two over here, three over
here, four over here, so that if you could cut the pie and take out a
wedge and put it over here and nicely divide it, you can’t do it. The
Word of God is a whole; it’s an entity. It’s like a life. And though
there may be sections to it, you cannot ever take one section from
another. They all blend; they overlap; they’re all congruent;
they’re all part of a whole.

	And so [when] we talk about “Stewardship” tonight, you’re going
to find that the same thing obtains. There’s a similarity you’ll
see. There’s something in here that shows there’s a unity with other
branches and other thoughts. So that ‘dividing the Word’ is not
throwing it into segments; it’s learning how it all comes together in
its divine purpose.

6.	So now, in our study, then, tonight, on “Stewardship”, my thought
is to bring out the responsibility that man has towards God to use those
physical properties with which God has endowed him by reason of him
being a human being, made a little lower than the angels, and also,
because God has entrusted to him spiritual gifts of offices and
ministries for which he is responsible, not only as to their
safe-keeping, but even more so as to their use. We are, therefore,
dealing with accountability toward God, even as stated in 1 Cor 3:9-15,
Rom 14:10-12, and 2 Cor 5:9-11.

7.	So, we’ll just start now, then, with 1 Cor 3:9-15, and in there,
Paul is saying:

(9)	For we are laborers together with God: (We are in a partnership with
God, and we are God’s field. We are God’s husbandry; we were God’s
farm, His field of sowing, and) ye are God’s building.

	So, Paul is in a partnership with God in order to sow such material as
to bring forth a building, which is God’s building, because Paul, in
partnership with God, is sowing that material. So it’s going to be
God’s building. Now that’s quite a statement Paul has made, here, as
to, not only his partnership with God, but his great responsibility.

	Now he says:

(10)	According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise
master builder …

	Now notice, Paul, here, is talking of an actual gift by the grace of
God that is given to him. It is a ministry. He is the repository … a
man is a repository for that which God has for this building—this
people, this Bride, this church. And now he says, “I am a wise master
builder”. Now, he’s not claiming that in himself; he’s claiming
the wisdom of God which he claims already in 1 Corinthians, the first
two chapters. And he also claims in Galatians, “I never learned this
from man. I never got it by myself. I’m giving you the wisdom of
Almighty God” (which James also describes, which we won’t mention at
this time. We could turn to it, but we won’t mention it). Now, he has
this wisdom, making him a wise master builder. 

7.	Now there was a master builder way back in the time of Moses. And
when they were making the accouterments and the actual tabernacle
itself, Bezalel was suddenly given a gift of God. He was now the
repository of fabulous skill from God—how to actually mold with his
hands gold, and silver, iron, and brass. He was, as it were, a divine
engineer stepped into him, and he was able to produce this. 

	Do you see what I’m saying now? These men were stewards. These men
were receivers of the abundance of Almighty God. And Paul, here, not
elevating himself, but simply telling the truth… It’s marvelous that
a man can come back from God fully vindicated and lay something out like
this, and the people with an ear to hear (the sheep will hear) and they
say, “That’s wonderful! That’s great!” And the world says,
“Oh, boy. That guy thinks he’s somebody. Well, we’ve got to admit
that he’s got the goods, but we should kill him to get him out of our
hair.” Now Paul, of course, was killed, just like Peter was. 

9.	Now he said:

(10)	I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon.

	Now this master builder had everything that was necessary to make this
wonderful building (which would be people). And he had the instruments
whereby he could lay out the foundation—sextants, and all those things
so necessary—divine instruments from God. He would know instantly if
the foundation was a bit out. And it wouldn’t be a billionth of a
billionth of a billionth of an inch out. Couldn’t be; couldn’t be.
Infinitesimal. You couldn’t even begin to figure. You know, it
wasn’t long ago until was it Bill Gates’ outfit that turned out a
chip that had a little error in it. And they knew the error was there,
and they said, “Well, it’s such an infinitesimal thing. Hardly
anybody would ever use the chip to this extent; so we’ll just let the
error sit there.” Man! He was caught just like that, wasn’t he? He
had to call it in; he had to apologize. I’m going to tell you:
there’s a God Who knows those computer chip errors. He doesn’t have
any errors in His computer chips. Nope! And Paul didn’t have any
error. He laid the foundation. 

	I’m never going to get to this sermon, but it’s okay anyway. You
just hand me a Bible, and I can just start feeling so good. All right.

10.	(10)	…and another buildeth thereon. (“And another buildeth…”
He said, “There’s going to be people around me, and people follow
me. And they’re going to keep this in perfect Divine Order. It’s
going to a hundred percent building,” he said, “You following
me.”)

	Now, let’s just keep watching now, though:

(11)	For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid (and I’ve
laid it with wisdom, grace of God), which is Jesus Christ.

	Now:

(12)	If any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious
stones, wood, hay, stubble:

(13)	Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall
declare it, (absolutely declare it—that is, to prove what it is)
because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every
man’s work of what sort it is.

(14)	If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall
receive a reward.

(15)	If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he
himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

(16)	Know ye not (and so on, down the road there.)

	Now Paul, here, is looking at that which starts out completely
infallible. And it completely is infallible; it’s a hundred percent
from God. Right off, here, he begins to warn you that there is a danger
of people who will intrusively come into a place where the architect of
God alone should be. And that person, of course, is presuming—not
called. Then, there are those who also become carnal. And they could
have a call that is genuine, but they are not willing to listen a
hundred percent to the Spirit of God as He reveals that Word. They will
be a little bit convenient with themselves and with others. Now these
people, then … you’ll see the building, then, would not be perfect,
but there is a little seed in there that keeps the building perfect even
though the acts of the people themselves aren’t perfect. But now
you’re seeing a building come up; and you’re seeing individuals,
now, that are working within that building.

11.	Now that’s why people have to understand that Bro. Branham said,
“A five-fold ministry will bring the Bride to perfection.” The Blood
does the perfecting work in a passive faith. But there is a faith that
comes by way of a five-fold ministry. And that part is passive; it is
also active. And therein you will find that those people who do not work
within the complete framework of the Scripture—we’re going to show
you more and more of this—they will find themselves, actually,
disapproved as to their works.

	Now all this starts here, as it starts in the beginning with
‘lamb-life’. Lamb-life started in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve
were absolutely lamb-life because God breathed into Adam the breath of
lives which was the Holy Ghost. The souls were in there to come down in
a physical manifestation from a natural election, right on down from the
supernatural, foreordination, natural election, right on down to
predestination. It was there. But there was an intrusion. See? There was
an intrusion. And that intrusion threw it out. 

12.	So there’s Lamb-Life and Book of Life. Now, in the Book of Life,
you can have your name taken out. But Lamb-Life, you could never have
your name taken out, because that’s the Life of God. (See?) There’s
an intrusion in there. So, there can be an intrusion, here, where the
Bible warns us that, as Paul laid this place to perfection, he also knew
in the 20th chapter of the Book of Acts, when the elders were called
together, that there were already sitting there people who would attempt
to build upon this foundation—not with gold and silver and precious
stones—the Word of the Living God. That’s like the ephod, you know,
the priesthood coming on down, priesthood transferred to Jesus Christ;
no longer Aaronic but Melchisedec. This thing here, then, there could be
that which would be burnt out. And, thank God, everything that’s in
the true church that’s wrong, it’ll be burnt out. It’s corrected
by the Word—completely taken care of.

	Right today, the church is a purified church by the Pillar of Fire. And
our God is a ‘consuming fire’, and everything which has not been of
Paul, everything which has been of man—anything in there,
contrary—has been burnt out as it was in the very beginning. We are
specifically an Ephesian Church right here. Nobody can do a thing about
it, because it’s all something practiced by grace.

	The thought we wanted to bring out, here, is that there is a
responsibility devolving upon the people to whom God has given, by
grace, ministries or gifts or whatever. There is a responsibility, and
Paul is mentioning this. He's very, very careful.

13.	Now, with that we’re going to go to 2 Corinthians and see the very
same thing here … 

	[2 Cor] 5:9-11, and It says:

(9)	Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be
accepted of him.

(10)	For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that
every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he
hath done, whether it be good or bad.

(11)	Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we
are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your
consciences.

	Paul is now calling upon his vindication, that he is telling them the
truth. See? In other words there must have been a bunch of wrong
‘eternal security’ believers there. They must have been believing
they could do anything at all, and it didn’t matter. Well, it does
matter! You cannot be given something from God and not be held
accountable. You cannot even be born in this, the human race, and be a
seed of God, and not be held accountable. It has to be there, and it is
there.

14.	So, we read a little further. Now:

(12)	For we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion
to glory on our behalf…

	Look at what he is saying: These people can glory on behalf of Paul’s
vindication. They can glory in the fact that he can come right there and
lay it all on the line, even telling them, “Look, there’s a
responsibility here that you’ve got to face up to. As Bro. Branham
said, “You say you believe me, then why don’t you obey me?” Nobody
could pin anything on Bro. Branham. The man was just like the apostle
Paul with the greatest ministry in the last two thousand years,
distinctly the same ministry that Jesus Christ had, but even greater,
because this was to the Gentiles.

	And in the skies there are two dippers, there are two folds—the
little dipper and the big dipper. They’re the two folds. And the
handle of the big dipper points to the North Star. And the big dipper is
the Gentile fold, and the little dipper is the Israelic fold. So, here
we are at the end time. The Gentile church is now receiving the answers,
and the same thing they had back there. And what is it? It’s
vindication.

15.	Now:

(12)	…that ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory in
appearance, and not in heart.

(13)	For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we be
sober, it is for your cause.

	See? You can have a church meeting, where they’re very sober; and you
can have where the people are beside themselves. But what good is it to
be sober sitting there—a bunch of sober people, drunk with the wisdom
of this world, or a bunch of raucous people drunk with the philosophy
and the foolishness and the emotions of this world? There’s a time to
be extremely serious and sober. There’s a time to be extremely happy.
And it’s going to be the same Gospel that brings it. 

	So, Paul is saying, here now, “Look”, he said, as he told the
people, “I’m literally whipping you people,” he said. “But,”
he said, “I’m not trying to do it because I’m trying to exercise
some authority over you to make you sad and show you I’m in
control.” He said, “No! I’m trying to get you to see the truth.”
There is a responsibility that the people of God have. (See?) The Word
of God is wide open with promises: “My sheep hear my voice; I will
lose none of them. The Word of God cannot return unto Him
void”—right down the line. 

	You can go all the way to extreme Calvinism and go all the way to
extreme Armenianism. And Bro. Branham said, “There is a true
Calvinism. There is a true Armenianism. There is a true
middle-of-the-road.” And the fact of the matter is, neither one of
those bunch were ever born-again. But, you see, the true born-again,
they walk in the light. (See?) They’re in there. There is a
responsibility.

16.	Now, let’s go to Rom 14:7-12. Now, here he is saying:

(7)	For (no man) liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.

(8)	For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we
die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the
Lord’s.

(9)	For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he
might be Lord both of the dead and living.

(10)	But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought
thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

(11)	(As) it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow
to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

	Now It tells you, right here, that every single person born into this
world has a moral obligation to fulfill the will of God. Now Paul
himself brings out the fact that many heathen fulfill the law of God
from their hearts, not even knowing the Word of God. Like the
centurion… “Why,” he said, “Look, I see you’re a man of
authority. I’m a man of authority. You don’t have to come and pray
for my servant.” He said, “I just speak a word, and I’ve got a
hundred men running, right now, doing anything I want done. Even if it
means suicide, they would kill themselves. If I tell them to kill
themselves, they’ve got to kill themselves. There’s nothing that my
word won’t do over those men.” He said, “Just send your Word.”
And Jesus said, “I’ve never seen such faith. Never! Not amongst the
sheep.” Here’s a Gentile… And then Paul says, “They do by nature
the things that God told you to do. You don’t even do them when God
told you to do them.” Where are you standing, then, before God?
Responsibility is a keynote of the Scripture. You cannot get away from
it.

17.	Now, as we desire to approach the thought of “Stewardship”, we
have no choice whatsoever than to link stewards with servants. You
can’t help it. If you’re going to teach on stewards, you’re going
to have to teach on servants. You can’t get away from it. I can prove
it to you, shortly. So that our subject is literally “Stewardship and
Servitude”. Now the word ‘servitude’ … (Did you get what I
said?) How many know what servitude is? Servitude is slavery. Did you
know that? Doesn’t mean just to be a servant. Servitude doesn’t mean
‘kowtow’—“Oh yes, oh yes, thank you. Oh yes, thank you, I’ll
do it; oh yes, thank you.” No, you’re not some little brow-beaten
person that can’t say no. Stewardship and servitude are set forth in
the Bible. 

	Now the word ‘servant’, in the Scripture, actually means ‘slave
or bond-servant’. Now, a bond-servant was one whereby he was bonded
over because he had been bought or he had gotten in debt, and now he had
to pay it off. (See?) It’s … actually is slave, then, a
bond-servant. So when we speak of servants we are actually talking of
bond-servants or slaves of God, men who are not free to do as they
please or take orders from those other than God but live at the desire
and pleasure of God and for God and by God’s Spirit. This is the
ultimate, as is noted by Paul in 1 Cor 7:32-34. 

18.	Now, this is just a little quickie thrown in here to give you an
illustration, but we’re going to put it  [1 Cor 7 ]:32-34. And he says
here:

(32)	But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried
careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the
Lord:

(33)	But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world,
how he may please his wife.

(34)	There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried
woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in
body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the
world, how she may please her husband.

(35)	And this I speak for your own profit; not that I may cast a snare
upon you, but for that which is comely, and that ye may attend upon the
Lord without distraction.

	Now, from this verse you could get the Roman Catholic church with their
nuns. Forget it! Any church order that wants people to act against their
own conscience and their own physicalness, which they know they have,
and they desire to have. And it’s perfectly legitimate, because sexual
intercourse is a righteous act, (and don’t think that it’s not) and
marriage is not prohibited. It’s simply telling you, here, that there
are people who are freer than other people, because they have desired to
be free purely and simply and a hundred percent to serve God. But
they’re not a bunch of absent-minded kooks, like idiots I’ve known
of or heard of (where my brother-in-law told me of one) where one fellow
pretended he was so enthralled with God, he didn’t even lace up his
shoes. Now, listen: we’re not talking about a stupid God; we’re not
talking about idiocy. We’re not talking about Roman Catholicism or the
Greek Catholics—if they have their conference, or whatever they have.
I don’t know what all junk they’ve got along with the Protestants
and the rest of the goofies. We’re not talking about that. Because you
could take this Scripture, and then you could compel anybody’s
conscience or their mind—weak people—to follow some stupid
foolishness which is not in the Bible.

	And Paul said, “This is not for a snare.” But it can become a
snare. Then, whoever is in that church, in whatever ministry, he must
explain this and show it perfectly so this Scripture does not become a
snare. Do you follow me? Responsibility…responsibility. And you
don’t dare carry a responsibility that you don’t have to some place
where you can’t put it, because it’s a lie of the devil. It’s a
complete perversion of the Scripture. Most people are the marrying kind.


	As Paul said, “Some have a gift and some don’t.” He said, “Some
are made eunuchs of men, and others are made eunuchs for God.” He
said, “They’re the ones that simply refrain from those things of
matrimonial bonds, and so on.” And he said, “They do it because they
are well able to do it.” And Jesus himself said that all men cannot
take this saying; they’re not qualified for it. And Paul brings it up,
the same thing there, now. 

19.	Now, some Scripture relative to stewardship and servitude will help
us to see what we have in mind. Now a steward as a servant is a
bond-slave, completely under the domination of his owner (or should be,
if he’s a good one). A steward is a manager, but he is not a manager
of his own personal possessions, but what is someone else’s
possessions. And the word actually describes that man to be a ‘house
or a state manager’. [He is] a house or a state manager. Well, isn’t
it true that Paul said, “I’m a steward of a house; I’m building a
house. It’s not my house; it’s God’s house.” The Bible also
mentioned Moses was faithful as a steward, as a servant. Now he’s an
overseer, an administrator of the economy or the well-being of an entire
family. His decisions concerning what he is entrusted with and for which
he is responsible is not only an alarming prospect—he is sort of given
‘carte blanche’ to make sure this man’s fortune is secure, the
family is secure, the future is secure, everything is on time,
everything is in harmony. He’s supposed to do it. He’s got to do it.
It’s his job. That’s an alarming prospect, but it is a compliment of
the highest order, for the owner of the house has judged him competent
in administrations and unimpeachable. As to his character and motive,
it’s impeccable. Success or failure lies in his hands—an
entrustment.

20.	Here it is: stewardship. And we’re talking about God and what He
has entrusted by gifts and ministries, attributes, various… You just
have to call them gifts because that’s all you can call them, because
that’s all Paul could call them in 1 Corinthians 12 and Romans 12:
“Some have this gift; some have that gift. They differ.” One has a
gift of being forgiving with cheerfulness (which is wonderful). One has
a gift of giving. As Iraneaus said, “There are hundreds of gifts in
the body of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Not just like the Pentecostals who
try to put nine of them, and the only one they come up with, really, is
the gift of tongues. And nobody knows if that’s a gift of tongues.
What a tragic, tragic thing to say the church here has gifts. Yet Bro.
Branham said, “The churches (And I understand he referred to it
locally, by the context of what he was saying.) have a right to all nine
gifts.” Well, man-oh-man, I give up on that one. Personally, I
wouldn’t know what to do with them, even if I had them. But do you
know something? If I had them, I’d have to know what to do with them
and do it. And Bro. Branham said, “[If] you’ve got a gift of
tongues, here, and interpretation, a bit of prophecy, you go in that
room, there, and there’s where you operate those gifts, and you write
it down, and you bring it into the church, complementing the pastor’s
ministry, you’ve got a vital church in those areas.” They turned it
down flat. He wanted me to help him get a church established that way.
We never could do it.

21.	Now I tell you: the other day I mentioned positively—not as though
everybody’s got to do it—but I said, “Bro. Branham tried for
seventeen years, he said, to have the church people just believe in the
Word of God and get healed in their seats, maybe hold hands (whatever it
was) when the prayer is prayed. And they just take the Word as they sit
there and walk out healed and all. He couldn’t get them to do it.
Well, I’m not, by backing Bro. Branham up, trying to do what Bro.
Branham couldn’t do. But then again, who’s to say that we
shouldn’t try to believe as never before? But [it] doesn’t mean
every church has got to do it, and doesn’t mean anybody’s in sin if
hands are laid on them. The Bible said, “Call the elders. They’re
anointed with oil.” That’s ‘hands laid on them’. Bro. Branham
never did stop laying on of hands. He never stopped letting people, if
they wanted to, speak in tongues, if they thought they ought to speak in
tongues to have a little more assurance. In fact, he prayed to God for a
woman who needed that kind of assurance to speak in tongues.

	But, here, we’re looking at the fact that God has placed men and
everybody in the body of Christ as responsible members
(See?)—responsible to themselves, and God and each other. Now success
or failure lies in his hands. But, alas, though all stewards should
measure up to this standard, there are many who take on the
responsibility only to fail, and usually because of selfish or
unconsidered ends.

22.	Now, let’s read over here, first of all, in Lk 12:36-48. We want
to see these stewards and these servants—what we’re after. Lk 12:36
he said:

(35)	Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning;

(36)	And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he
will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may
open unto him immediately.

	Now that’s a little picture there of the return, and the house is
supposed to be ready—everything ready. It’s not like you’ve got
today, “I never knew you.”

(37)	Blessed are those servants (notice: there you are … servants),
whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you,
that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will
come forth and serve them.

(38)	And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third
watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants.

(39)	And this know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour
the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his
house to be broken (into)…(Now, see, there you’ve got stewardship
again—very watchful, very careful).

(40)	Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour
when ye think not.

(41)	Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us,
or even to all?

(42)	And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward.

	Now, you see ‘steward’ and ‘servant’ is the same thing.
There’s no difference, because he says servant in one place, and then
he says steward. So, the bond-slave and the steward is the same thing.
So, steward is a bond-slave, and a bond-slave is a steward. So, no
matter how low a person thinks he is in the stature of the structure…
“Oh, I’m only a bond-slave; I’m not a steward,” he is entirely
wrong; he is a steward. And, if the steward thinks he is above it
all—and he is in a class by himself, in a sense of the word—his
obligation is just the same as though he were a bond-slave. A hundred
percent at the disposal of the master, the master’s materiality, and
he must be accountable; and he is accountable to the master.

23.	Now he said here:

(42)	…whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them
their portion of meat in due season.

(43)	Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so
doing.

(44)	Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all
that he (has).

	Now, you notice in here, along with the responsibility, the performance
of the duty correctly, will elevate that person in the ages to come.
Because this has to do, really, after the Wedding Supper, as far as I
can understand this, because it’s after the Marriage. So, this could
well apply to the Millennium.

(45)	But, if that servant say in his heart, my lord delayeth his coming;
and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and
drink, and to be drunken,

(46)	The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for
him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder,
and will appoint him his portion with the (hypocrites).

	Well, that’s very true, but do you notice when that happens? That
happens after the Great Tribulation. You’ve got a picture here.
You’ve got left-hand, right-hand. You’ve got parallelism; you’ve
got two vines. See? Very very strange.

24.	Now:

(47)	And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not
himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many
stripes.

(48)	But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes,
shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of
him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him
they will ask the more.

	So, here you are, right now, and you understand, then, if we’re back
to the first age which has the full commission and the full authority
and Word of Almighty God, how much more are we required, or is required
of us than of others? And you will notice that God puts Himself in the
same position because, “Greater works than this shall he do, because I
go to my Father” (Jn 14:12). And so God Himself is leading in this
illustration. And Bro. Branham said, “He had more success in my
ministry on earth than he had in his own back there.” And he is
referring, of course, to Jesus Christ. But Jesus, the man, never did
claim any ministry. It was God’s ministry there. So, all right.

25.	We go to Luke 16. And I suppose we’ll just have time to read
Scripture and not much more.  Lk 16:1-13:

(1)	And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man,
which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had
wasted his goods.

(2)	And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of
thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer
steward.

(3)	Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord
taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed.

(4)	I am resolved what (I must) do.

	Then, of course, this is the picture of the story of the steward that
learned how to make great use of materiality. Then God says, here,
“You can learn to use materiality for you instead of against you.”
Now materiality almost always is against us. But there can be a way that
the materiality of this world, even though against us, can be used for
us. In other words a wise steward can always turn the tables. He can
always make things come up, because he is a steward. Now you’re not
commended for doing things wrong. And you’re not commended for turning
aside the principles of Christ. Remember, Jesus himself said, “You
[pay] tithe of mint, anise and cummin. These things you ought to have
done and not let the others undone.”[Mt 23:23] He didn’t say,
“Look. You’re so spiritual-minded that you don’t have to deal with
these financial things, these physical things.” That’s not true. 

26.	In life you have to deal with life as it’s dealt with you. And at
the same time, remember, we have a ‘vocation’ which is a calling of
God, and we have an ‘avocation’ which is a calling of life. And as a
minister, or as a teacher, or as a plumber, or electrician—doesn’t
matter what you are—you can live for Christ. And you can also use the
means that God has given you physically in such a way that it will,
actually, amount to something even though, figuratively speaking, it
doesn’t really amount to anything, because we brought nothing into the
world, nothing do we take out, and whatever we have, here, will be
burned. [End of side one of the first audio tape.]

27.	Now, over here in Titus 1:

(7)	For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God… (So,
therefore, when you’re talking about ministry—five-fold, elders and
deacons, or anyone in any position of trust in the church—he must be
blameless as the steward of God because he’s not serving man, he’s
serving God.) …not selfwilled, not soon angry, not given to wine, no
striker, not given to filthy lucre;

(8)	But a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy,
temperate;

(9)	Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught.

	Now, notice in there, he’s not a divisive person who sits around and
says, “Well, I believe my pastor’s teaching wrong, so I’ll just go
to all the congregation, and I’ll teach them what I want to teach.”
Get your own church. Be man enough to get out and get your own church.
There’s always someone who wants to do something like that. A true
elder will not do that. If there’s something that’s wrong, he’ll
go to the pastor, because the pastor is the authority. He will go to
that man and talk about it. You see?

(9)	Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may
be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.

	In other words, how in the world can a man be of any use to the world
out here, to the sinners, if he can’t even serve God amongst the
saints. And he claims to be server of God and servant of God and serve
the saints, and all the time he’s trying to pull down the very
ministry upon which the church is built. The guy is a liar and a
hypocrite. But you’re going to find him there. Hey! For every true
elder there’s a false one; for every true deacon there’s a false
one. For every true pastor there are a million false ones … I don’t
know how many prophets there are. (See?)

(10)	For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially
they of the circumcision:

(11)	Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching
things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake.

	Now, notice what you’ve got right there. You say, “Why would these
guys do that?” Well, there’s your answer, right there: money, money,
money, money, money. We’ll talk about that later. (See?) But there it
is.

28.	Now, we’ll go to 1 Cor 4:1-2. We’re looking at these people,
stewards and servants of God, written down, here, in the Bible. And Paul
said:

(1)	Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and
stewards of the mysteries of God.

	In other words what’s this man, as a minister of Christ, going to do?
He’s going to be faithful, containing and diffusing, disseminating the
Word that God has given him, and that’s all he’s interested in.
He’s not interested in anything else.

(2)	Moreover, it is required in stewards, (That’s plural.) that a man
be found faithful.

	In other words this is something that’s going to last a life-time.
It’s not something you pick up and lay down. It’s not something
whereby you say, “Well, I’m called of God to minister, but I don’t
think I can stand the hard times. I don’t think I can stand the
pressures.” Then you weren’t called of God. 

	You know, Bro. Branham said truly, “If God calls you, He’ll supply
your needs.” 

	I learned that the hard way. I didn’t want to go through it the first
time. I had to go through it the second time. But I went through it the
second time, and I found, “Hey! This is wonderful!” A lot of people
have an idea God is just trying to grab you and squeeze you like a
lemon, get all the juice out of you, and then throw the rest in the
garbage tin. Don’t be ridiculous. [He is] trying to get the honey out
of you. (See?) Trying to get the attar—the beautiful aromas that lie
within our souls, if we only allow the hand of God to move upon us. You
see?

29.	Now, look at 1 Pet 4:10. We’re getting over here. And there again,
I want you to notice we’re talking about these stewards. And Peter
says the same thing as Paul says. And over here, then: 

(10)	As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one
to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

	In other words people that have gifts—and we all have something—are
to be faithful to what God has given us, and not fail in that particular
area where we have been designated to stand.

	Now, let’s go back to Matthew 20, and we’re going to read a few
verses, beginning at verse 1, and he says here:

(1)	For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder,
which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.

(2)	And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent
them into his vineyard.

(3)	And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle
in the marketplace.

(4)	And said unto them: Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is
right I will give you. and they went their way.

(5)	Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise.

(6)	And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing
idle, and saith unto them, why stand ye here all the day idle?

(7)	They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them,
Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye
receive.

(8)	So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his
steward …

		And that word ‘steward’, there, means ‘the one with all
authority and power’. In other words this man was over the steward,
but the steward was over everything else. And the steward was going to
get instructions from the boss. And whatever the boss said to do with
what the boss had given him, that’s what this steward had to do.
That’s why Bro. Branham would never let anybody trick him. 

	Remember the little Evan’s girl? She came, and she said, “Bro.
Branham, will you interpret this dream?” 

	And he said, “Honey, I can’t unless God shows me.” He said,
“What good would it do, now, if I tried to interpret this dream, and
the interpretation was wrong (because, I can’t interpret dreams by
myself, anyway) and then later on you had a real need, how could you
come to me in any faith?” 

	See? In other words, you can’t fool around. I never could figure why
God told Bro. Branham, “You made a side-show of this ministry.” I
thought it was dynamite, and just right. Of course, you can see how
stupid I am—carnal, thinking I’m spiritual. I’m not. But, listen:
that man, he was so perfect and his ways were so upright, and yet God
said, “You made a spectacle of this.” 

30.	See, there’s no way that anybody can use anything that God gives
him except God himself operates through the individual. That’s over
here in Eph 3:20:

(20)	Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that
we ask or think, according to the (exercise of his) power… (And He’s
doing the exercising within us.)

	In other words, if there is something God has given an individual, how
great will the operation, the manifestation, the enormity of that gift
be, if that person can learn to get out of the way? And Bro. Branham
said, “I’ve got a little gift; it’s to get out of the way.”
We’re talking about true stewardship. I find, myself, that I can get
imbued with my own verbosity. If I feel at times that I’m hitting on
all fours… it’s usually I’m hitting on two instead of four, but I
think I’m doing great. But I’ve realized over the years that it
doesn’t matter how I feel about anything. The point is: am I telling
the truth? It doesn’t matter how you respond. The point is: are you
receiving the truth? It doesn’t matter what a manifestation is,
because I’m not in the manifestation business; I’m in the declaring
business, the teaching business. 

	And many times you can’t tell a thing about the person sitting there,
whether he’s getting it or not. You can’t do it. What if I was
teaching poetry in your class, and you closed your eyes so you could
drift with the poetry, you could sense it, literally open up like a
sweet aroma coming. And I look down and say, “Hey! Wake up!” Why,
I’d be ruining everything. Because the person is not sleeping at all;
the person is reaching out a little further. Now, I don’t suggest you
do that in class, but I’m just saying, “Hey! What if it happened?”
[Laughter] Now, that has to do with your stewards, and they’re the
same as servants. 

31.	So, let’s go over here to Mt 18:23, and we’ll get a little
closer.

(23)	Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king,
which would take account of his servants. (Bond-servants, sold out to
him; he had control of them.)

(24)	And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which
owed him ten thousand talents.

(25)	But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be
sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be
made.

(26)	The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord,
have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.

(27)	Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed
him, and forgave him the debt.

(28)	But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellow
servants, which owed him an hundred pense: and he laid hands on him and
took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.

(29)	And his fellow servant fell down at his feet, and besought him,
saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.

(30)	And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should
pay the debt. (Now, that’s a double burden. How are you going to pay a
debt when you’re in prison, see? Or the court says you’ve got to
spend so many years for doing that.)

(31)	So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were very
sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.

(32)	Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou
wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:

(33)	Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant,
even as I had pity on thee?

(34)	And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till
he should pay all that was due unto him.

(35)	So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from
your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

	You know, that’s a great thing right there, because already the Bible
has told us; (Let me go for it, will you?) let me go here in Rom 12:8.

(8)	He that sheweth mercy (That’s one of the gifts.) with
cheerfulness.

	Now there you are. What if you have that in your heart, and you’re
supposed to be a very merciful, forgiving person, because that’s your
gift? What if you don’t do that? What if you’re a person that
actually has been given a gift of generosity—you give to people, and
you begin clamming up; you don’t do it? Do you know what? You’re
going to pay for it. You’re going to pay for it, because stewardship
and servitude is the same thing. It’s a great responsibility. It’s a
great privilege. First of all, it’s a tremendous privilege that God
should have that kind of faith in us. You talk about, not misplaced
trust, but great trust. And He expects us to be responsible.

32.	Now, over here, in Mt 24:44 (beginning):

(44)	Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the
Son of man cometh.

(45)	Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made
ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?

	Now this, evidently, has to do with those people that have real
outstanding ministries—we call them that; five-fold, I think is what
they would be in there—of God. And they’re supposed to be faithful.

(45)	Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made
ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?

	Now, since Bro. Branham used this and referred to himself, it would be
very difficult for me to put a five-fold ministry in here, except under
the prophet. So, once we have a vindicated ministry, like Paul—and
Jesus said, “This faithful man gives the household meat in due
season”. Bro. Branham says, “Spiritual food in due season,”
speaking of himself and his ministry. Now he said, “… that man who
is charged.” And remember, many men took upon themselves the charge
that weren’t called to do it. They’re the ones that stood up against
Jesus. They stood against Paul. They stood against Bro. Branham.
They’ll stand against any true five-fold minister or ministry. They
can’t help it. And those that are called can’t help it. They’re
going to stand up. There should be no reason for them to run away. They
just stand there and give it.

33.	Now he said:

(46)	Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find do
doing.

(47)	Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his
goods.

(48)	But if that evil servant (Now, that’s not that servant, but
there’s an evil servant.) shall say in his heart, my lord delayeth his
coming;

	Now, who’s an evil servant? Well, the evil that Cain did was
perpetrating an act of worship based upon the Bible according to his own
leanings and tendencies and understanding. That was an evil act. And you
get these evil preachers out there, and they’re worshipping God and
everything looks great. They’re giving alms and tithing. They’re
just doing great things. Oh, the people are getting healed left and
right. There can be some valid prophecies and some various things in
there. But you know, the evil servant began to say, “My lord delayeth
his coming”.

(49)	And shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink
with the drunken.

(50)	The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not
… , and in an hour that he is not aware of.

(51)	And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the
hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth (that’s the
Great Tribulation; so, that’s in this hour. Right in this hour, this
is coming to pass.)

	Now Bro. Branham was that faithful steward who gave us the meat in due
season. And anybody who attempts to supercede it or in any way attempts
to destroy it, or any way tries to put himself above that man, or in any
way denigrates—take from any way at all—that man is a wicked drunken
individual, and he will go to the Great Tribulation. He will be cut
asunder.

34.	Now, look at Mt 25:14-30; and he says here:

(14)	For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far
country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.

(15)	And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another
one; (Well, that’s sure not very much money, is it?) to every man
according to his several ability (That’s individual ability.) and
straightway took his journey. (Now, he knew what each one of those
people could do, so he entrusted them with so much.)

(16)	Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the
same, and made them other five talents.

(17)	And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.

(18)	But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid
his lord’s money.

(19)	After a long time the lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth
with them.

(20)	And so he that had received five talents came and brought other
five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents:
behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.

(21)	His Lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant:
thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over
many things: enter thou into the joy of the lord.

(22)	He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou
deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents
beside them.

(23)	His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou
hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many
things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

(24)	Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I
knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown,
and gathering where thou hast not strawed:

(25)	And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo,
there thou hast (what) is thine.

(26)	His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful (Now,
he called him ‘slothful’—lazy bird.) servant, thou knewest that I
reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:

(27)	Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and
then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.

(28)	Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath
ten talents.

(29)	For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have
abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that
which he hath.

(30)	And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there
shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Great Tribulation, right at
this very time. See?)

	Now it has to be a total misunderstanding of sovereignty, a total
misunderstanding of grace, a total misunderstanding of this Message.
They simply can’t receive It. 

	Now this last fellow must have been a down and outright legalist:
“You’re a tough God; You’re demanding; You’re a rough character.
You gave me this and You gave me that, and I know that You’re just
brutalizing me. I can’t stand Your ways. I don’t have confidence in
You.” 

	Whereas these other two people were not of that ilk. They were
different. They knew He was a sovereign God, but they knew that they had
the ability given from God to go ahead and enhance by multiplication
what they had. In other words, whatever they had in ministries would
become greater because that’s what they had from God, and they knew
they could use it. They came to the place of submission, recognition,
strength, fortitude, and went ahead. 

	I’m going to tell you something: Not many people like that. They
don’t like that. So, you’ve got, here again, we see the utmost
demanded in responsibility.

35.	Mt 21:34-36. Now this is to our day, [ ] people that are shunning
responsibility. They don’t realize that that goes with the sovereign
grace of Almighty God. That’s that little area in there that is so
hard to understand when it comes to predestination. “Well, if it’s
predestination, God knew everything so I must be forced to do
everything.” No, there’s a leeway in here where real predestination
comes in, where you and I realize that we’ve been entrusted with
something from Almighty God, and we are responsible to use whatever He
has given us. (And we’ll go into a lot of that before we’re over
it.) [Mt] 21:[33]-36:

(33)	Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which
planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a wine press
in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a
far country.

(34)	And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to
the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.

(35)	And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed
another, and stoned another.

(36)	Again, he sent other servants, more than the first: and they did
unto them likewise.

(37)	But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will
reverence my son.

(38)	But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves,
This is the heir; come, let us kill him and let us seize on his
inheritance.

(39)	And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew
him.

(40)	When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do
unto those husbandmen?

(41)	They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and
will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him
the fruits in their seasons.

(42)	Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, the
stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the
corner. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?

(43)	Therefore say I unto you, The Kingdom of God shall be taken from
you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.

(44)	And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on
whomsoever is shall fall, it will grind him to powder. (Left-hand,
right-hand, right? Right today. Let’s keep reading.)

(45)	And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables,
they perceived that he spake of them.

(46)	(And) when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the
multitude, because they took him for a prophet.

	You’ve got the same thing right today, again. (See?) God gave out…
Look, you read Ephesians 4, and you cannot help but understand (And Bro.
Branham declared it so.) that a five-fold ministry will bring a Bride to
perfection. These are the ones—the ministries are the ones that have
been entitled by God to serve, given gifts. And amongst them are true
and amongst them are false, you know. I know Bro. Branham preached
“Anointed Ones at the End Time.” 

	He asked Billy Paul, “Did you understand what I preached?” 

	He said, “Daddy, I believe I understood.” 

	He said, “Not that many understood it.” 

	I know I understood it, because we discussed it. It was a thing that
really turned me around and made me know that this was the answer to the
great dilemma: What about it?

36.	There were men, right here, with gifts and everything else, and men
over here. And over here it looks like they’re running a band and a
great circus and a great parade winning the world for God. What is this
anyway? False anointed ones. [They are] anointed to the gifts but not to
the Word. So therefore, they were never under subjection as a steward
and a servant are. They were going their own ways, taking their
master’s goods and spending it the way they wanted—eating, drinking,
were merry. See?

	Allan had a great ministry. I don’t want to cast-off on the dead, but
the man was a drunkard; he never got over it [as] far as I know,
positively. He fought Bro. Branham and those around him; [he] fought
Bro. Branham. People fought Bro. Branham. It’s all manifested. Where
are they today? They had these great ministries; there’s not one on
the scene left. I don’t know. Well, Benny Hinn, and they’re falling
over like ten pins. That’s an evil spirit. Hey! Bro. Branham said,
“Why settle for anything unreal when the heavens are full of the
real?” How full do you want it? 

37.	I remember one guy, years and years ago, I never saw a more puffed
up toad in my life, puffed up like a frog. He billed himself as the
world’s great youth evangelist. He got in an elevator with us there in
Indianapolis, (when Bro. Branham was there and I was there with him in
meetings in ’55) and he wouldn’t look at you—a puffed up …?… .
Who ever heard of …[Ewing]?.. , tell me? That’s his name,
…[Ewing]?… . Who ever heard of him? Who ever heard of me and heard
of you? Now, the point is: Who heard of Bro. Branham? Hardly nobody.
They’re getting rid of the name of Jesus. They can’t use BC—Before
Christ. It’s got to be Before ‘Christian era’. Well, put an
‘r’ and another ‘r’, you’ve got Christian ‘error’.
That’s what they’re trying to make it.

	Now you get these people that saw the great end time
ministry—spiritual food in due season—saw the vindication, saw it
all; and they become drunk with their own ideas, exhilarated with their
own thoughts. They’re out there not preaching this simple true Word of
God that binds us down to reality, as God wants it. His Great
Tribulation is coming up. So, there you see it.

38.	Now, let’s go to Rom 1:1. Here’s what Paul says:

(1)	Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated
unto the gospel of God…

	“I’m a bond-servant,” he said. “I’m completely locked out of
myself. Any plans, any purposes, any principles, everything I knew, all
I had, what I stood for, is all gone. It’s shot; it’s lost; it’s
finished. I’ve become a servant, a bond-slave.” In other words,
“I’ve been bought, paid for; now, I’ve got to produce what I’m
delivered for.” And he says, right there, “It’s an ear-full, and a
mind-full”.

(1)	…separated unto the gospel of God,

(2)	(Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy
scriptures,)

(3)	Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed
of David according to the flesh; (It was the tribe of Judah.)

(4)	… declared to be the Son of God with power (he certainly was—God
manifesting His power through him), according to the spirit of holiness
(that’s right), by the resurrection from the dead.

(5)	By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the
faith among all nations, for his name:

(6)	Among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ:

	He said it, right there—a specific purpose, specific gifts,
everything of God and from God and everything controlled by God. So it
is of God, and by God and for God. And that was his ministry. Everything
he had, even himself, it was not a pawn to God. No, it was not a pawn;
it’s a living oracle or a living Word that Bro. Branham called “a
living statue.”

	Now, we can compare this book with Phil 2:7 (talking of Jesus).

(7)	(He) made himself of no reputation, (but) took upon him the form of
a (bond-slave) and was made in the likeness of men:

	Now it doesn’t say he is made in the likeness of men and then became
a bond-slave; he was a bond-slave and became a man—“Lo, a body hast
thou prepared for me. I come to do Thy will, O God”—already
completely bought out, sold out, and shut out … bought out by God,
sold out to God, shut out by the world. Same thing; no difference
between the two.

39.	But in this we also go, then, to Hebrews 3, and in there we read:

(1)	Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling,
consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession (confession)
Jesus Christ;

(2)	Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was
faithful in all his house.

(3)	For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch
as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house.

(4)	For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things
is God. (Now, you see, here’s a man that talked in 1 Corinthians
saying this over here in Hebrews 3.) 

(5)	And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a
testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;

	Now, in here, this word ‘servant’ is a little different. It simply
means ‘a menial’ … a menial. That’s kind of like a housekeeper
that does chores, takes care of things. Not some manager, now. Not
somebody like that, but it means like ‘a nurse or one that
cherishes’.

	And you know that Moses admitted that he “bore them in his bosom.”
He took them on their journey; he was a nursemaid to them—nursed them
along. He did get sore a couple of times, all right. But you understand
that Moses had maybe no right, but I can understand why and how he got
provoked to doing it. He had a rough time out there with those people.
He was actually a nursemaid. The Bible speaks of God being a nursemaid.
We’re in His ‘bosom’ which, actually, means ‘a harbor, a place
of shelter, a comfort, and so on, a nourishment.’ All of these things
are in here.

	So, here is another form we’re looking at where the Bible said,
“the servants of God.” And that includes not just the bishops and
those things, but everybody should be meek, and we should be known
everywhere for our temperance and our mildness. It’s too bad that some
people are that way and they don’t have the spirit of God. it’s all
a human form. But that’s beside the point.

40.	Now, let’s go a little further and check this out, what these
servants are like—these bond-slaves. And that’s in Romans 6,
beginning at verse 14:

(14)	For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the
law, but under grace.

(15)	What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but
under grace? God forbid.

(16)	Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his
servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of
obedience unto righteousness?

	Now, “There’s a free moral choice in there,” as Bro. Branham
would say. God does not bind us and turn us into robots taking away our
wills. He gives us a free moral will. He gives us a new mind, a new
heart, cleansing our souls, setting our spirits in order. And He wants
us to serve Him, because we’ve been set free from sin.

41.	Now he said:

(17)	But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have
obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

	What is he talking about? He’s talking about the Gospel of Jesus
Christ which through faith delivers us into perfect justification, unto
sanctification, baptism with the Holy Ghost, right [into] the Body of
Jesus Christ. See?

(18)	Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of
righteousness. (In other words you’re in the Word, your worship is
according to truth —“in spirit and in truth”—obedience of the
faith.)

(19)	I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your
flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and
to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to
righteousness unto holiness.

(20)	For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from
righteousness.

(21)	What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed?
for the end of those things is death.

(22)	But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye
have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

(23)	For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

	Yet the church and the government are trying to legislate homosexuality
into the churches and ministers and everything else. You could no more
have the Holy Ghost—speak in tongues, and be healed and everything
else—claim this Message—and be a homosexual, and satisfy me that you
have anything at all. 

	Now, someone will say, “Well, just a minute.” 

	Don’t ‘just-a-minute’ me. My Bible tells me plain, right here,
how you yield your members is what counts. The woman was made for
man—not man for man, and not woman for woman. So, don’t try to talk
to me about anything you think you know, or you’ve got some sweet
spirit of ‘love’. You’ve got a spirit of hell, an erotic crud
within your heart, and nothing to do with the love of God.

	This will be a series like… I’ve got lots and lots of Scripture. I
want to show you, brother/sister: stewardship is bondsman, is servitude.
It all carries responsibility to Almighty God for what God has invested
in us for our good to bring forth praise and glory unto Him, to place us
in realms which we never knew of in the Kingdom to come—not just in
this life, but the life which is to follow. (Yeah …) See, I’m
preaching practical faith, now—active.

42.	Now we already took Romans 14, but let’s go over It again, for It
says, here, in verse 7:

(7)	For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.

(8)	For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we
die unto the Lord; whether we live therefore, or die, we are the
Lord’s.

(9)	For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he
might be Lord both of the dead and living.

	That’s not purgatory, or hell, the grave, and this and that. He’s
telling you, here, that Jesus died and bought every single soul, and He
can do whatever He wants with them, because He said, “All souls are
mine, and I bought every one of them.” Here’s the sovereignty of
God, manifested. We are the bond-slaves of God, and the world also [is]
a bond-slave of God. There isn’t anybody that’s not a bond-slave.
Even Satan will find out that he is a bond-slave, because he gets thrown
into the Lake of Fire and destroyed—annihilated with all the rest of
the fallen angels, and those who gave fallen angels a residence. Because
Bro. Branham did equate that.

43.	1 Corinthians 6, beginning at [verse] 13:

(13)	Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy
both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, (in other words,
the body’s not made for sex, period—although that’s part of it)
but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. (And part of that, in
there, is to raise children up to the Lord.)

(14)	And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by
his own power. 

	So therefore, God has raised up Jesus. He is a separate man from God,
and he isn’t God, because only God can raise the dead, and this man
was raised. So, he is not God. Right? My! I can’t understand these
people that think God is Jesus and Jesus is God. They can’t even talk.
They can’t even read. They can’t even hear. They can’t listen.
There’s nothing there. Well, tell me, is there something there? You be
the judge, tonight. It said right here, “And God hath both raised up
the Lord, and also raised us.” In other words, God is going to do both
to us.

44.	(15)	Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ? shall I
then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot?
God forbid. (That’s harlot church and harlot woman.) 

(16)	What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body?
for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.

	Adam said, “This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh”. But
Eve didn’t believe it. She thought she was bone and flesh of the
serpent. Oh, come on. Take a look at it. Didn’t the Bible say,
“These two shall be one flesh?” They were one spirit to begin with.
Of course, one was female part, one was male. God divided the male from
the female for the purpose of propagation. That’s all. The spirits
were created; the soul wasn’t created. Part of God. Just like that
light that came forth was a part of God. Lots of little parts came forth
from God. Maybe a million little parts came forth from God. Maybe
billions! How many foolish virgin are there out there surrounding the
Holy City? And the 144,000 Elect that attend the Bride, they were a part
of God. Oh, absolutely! They never would have got in otherwise. “For
all in Adam, that died, are made alive.” Anybody that was not in Adam,
he is not going to make it. Eve will make it. I don’t care [what]
David or anybody else did; they’re going to make it. No problem.

45.	(17)	But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

	So now, if the Spirit of God goes against fornication, adultery,
homosexuality and all this stuff, then don’t tell me that you and I
aren’t against it, if we’re children of God. See?

(18)	Flee fornication. (Now watch…) Every sin that a man doeth is
without the body; (Now watch this one…) but he that (commits)
fornication (sins) against his own body.

	Which tells you: if you do it, there’s where you get syphilis,
gonorrhea, clamydia, AIDS, and everything else. Your body will just
produce it. 

	And they’re going to keep looking at every mummy, five thousand years
old … “Where did syphilis come from? Where did it come from?” 

	I’m telling you, because I’m a student of the Word of God. I’m a
Bible teacher, and I’m telling you, “Here it is in the Bible.”
Because you’re sinning against your body. You can steal, you can lie,
you can drink and do smoke and every other thing, but that doesn’t
bring that sin. Fornication, illicit sex, vulgarity, filth—and the
body will produce it. Circuitry.

46.	(19)	What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy
Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
(Any man full of the Holy Ghost has no right to live for himself, nor
any woman live for herself.)

(20)	For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body,
and in your spirit, which are God’s.

	Even your spirit belongs to God, now. Your soul is of God; your body
belongs; your spirit belongs. Then, what about your mind? Now, if all
those things belong to God, and the mind, now, can take the Word of God,
the spirit can bring it down to the soul, feed the soul, come back in
the body and say, “Yes, I admit that every one of those passions are
there. I admit those feelings can be there. I admit those desires can be
there. I admit I’d like to take an easier path. I admit all of these
things, but I’ve got a higher order. I can’t take the low road any
longer, because I’ve been bought. I’m a bond-slave, and my master,
the slave master, tells me, ‘Go here; go there. Do this; do
that’.”

	Oh, a lot of Pentecostals, a lot of people want to claim that. Hogwash!
They don’t even have the Word. “Oh,” I say, “I pray!” What
about when God said, “He that turneth his ear from hearing My Word,
even his prayer is an abomination.” It stinks. It’s idolatry. It’s
filth. “Oh, I pray.” Oh, I get so tired of that stupid miserable
excuse … “I pray”. I told a guy, one day, when he pulled a deal on
me. He said, “I pray”. I said, “Why didn’t you ask God to help
you rob a bank?” I said, “Ted, you don’t ask God to help you to
sin! You seek God so you don’t sin.” Pssht! He didn’t like it …
what do I care!

47.	Ephesians. (We’re going to close, for our time is gone anyway. And
we’ll go to the other things we’ve got written down here. I’ve got
pages I haven’t written down yet. But, don’t worry, I won’t get it
all to you.) Paul, here, is giving a bird’s-eye view, epitomization of
eternity-to-eternity. And he ends up with a phase on earth which inducts
us into what we already possess but now are insured of it in these words
[Ephesians 1]:

(12)	That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in
Christ.

(13)	In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were
sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.

(14)	Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the
purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

	[End of the second side of the first audio tape.] Right here he tells
you, your body has been bought by the Holy Ghost, guaranteed and sealed
to the day of redemption. You are not your own. You are God’s.
Therefore, glorify God in your members. There’s an obligation with
your stewardship. And stewardship is not simply, “I have something
that I can do what I want to do with it, and I should be really careful
that I do it.” It has nothing to do with that. It is servitude, which
means you and I are stuck. And if we concede—which we do—that
‘weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth’ is the Great Tribulation
(because Bro. Branham pinned it there every time, to my knowledge),
they’re a bunch of people that are faithless. When that which could be
known of God, proved and presented as in this hour , as was in Jesus’
day, they will enter into the Great Tribulation faithless,
…[although?]… they call themselves the stewards, the bond-slaves of
God. You and I are no more a bond-slave of God than nothing, if we turn
down the Word, and we refuse to go by the dictates which are within it.

48.	Now, let me tell you something: It is very true, that this is
against our own old nature, but by this time we should be smart enough
and wise enough in the concept of God to know that though this may be
bitter in our mouth, it will turn very sweet in our stomach. It will
sweeten our lives up. And remember, when we allow that Word of God to
come in here, and confess it not only by our mouths, but confess it by
our lives, it becomes multiplied and more and more wonderful. 

	As old Reynolds once told me, he said, “Bro. Vayle, a preacher gets
what he preaches for.” 

	And I want to tell you: you and I have the same opportunity. We don’t
have to be preachers. We just have to realize that there are things
which God has given us, and with that gift is a commission. And as we
enter into that commission and do those things that we know we can do,
let me tell you something: There will be, not only a remuneration—a
payment down the road—but there will be a multiplication, or an
aggrandizement, an increase of what we have. And it will be greater as
the day approaches, even as the light today is the greatest light of the
hour, we have within ourselves the gifts and the responsibility to be
exactly what we should be. And that obedience to the faith,
brother/sister, starts in a church.

49.	Mrs. Hillary Clinton can say, “It takes a village to raise a
child.” I’m going to tell you something: That’s a lot of hogwash,
in my books. It takes a little church, a little one, as it were a people
with the grace of God to practice the precepts of God amongst them to go
out and gain a village. She’s got the thing so backwards it is
pitiful. But that’s okay. She is a politician. 

	And no politician can give a correct assessment or make a correct
judgment or anything at all. We, on the other hand, have the true Word
of God and His true principles.

50.	So, I’ve covered, tonight, this portion of Scripture showing us
that stewardship is no more nor less than servitude, wherein we are the
bond-slaves of God, fully purchased by the Blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ, baptized into His Body showing and proving we are sons of God.
And, therefore, now we are obligated therein to act as sons of God,
which have a manuscript truly and fully revealed—a road-way, a
map—whereby we can abide in the Presence of Almighty God and each
other and go forth as a unified group of people. As Bro. Branham said,
“Oh, how you ought to love each other, you who love this Message!”

	In other words we are looking at that which God expects of us, God
demands of us, and we can get out of the way and give it back to Him.
And we can stand approved. And herein lies the rewards. And herein lies
that thing which we call ‘the active faith’. And I believe this, and
I have to believe it: If there is a true, true, true ‘passive’
faith, there has to be, somewhere, an increasing evidence of the
‘active’. Whereas Bro. Branham said, “At this end-time, it’s
going to be like people just living naturally.” There’ll be no
pushing; there’ll be no pulling; there’ll be no self-aggrandizement;
there’ll be no power-plays; there’ll be no wild visions, wild
assertations, vain fantastic dreams. They’ll be like Israel marching
into the Promised Land with the manna come down from Heaven—strength
for the day, spiritual food in due season—and we giving back to God
that which He gave us, and the spirit in which He gave us. And I believe
with all my heart, brother/sister, that’s what God wants. And, I
believe, that’s what God is going to get from a Bride. 

	And the sooner we make up our minds to it, the sooner we’ll have
peace. I’m not going to say there won’t be storms, but you know the
eye of the greatest storms in the world is a place of peace. That can
either be in the hurricane or the tornado. There’s movement there, but
it’s a different kind of a movement. That’s what we’re looking for
in this end time—this end hour. 

	Let’s bow our heads in prayer.

	Heavenly Father, we come to You, now, at this time, the Communion
service, the Foot-washing. May You get honor and glory from everything
that’s said and done. And may, above all, our spirits be lifted with
the understanding even as we take Communion—and we can do it. And we
can take it in the right frame of mind, clearing our hearts of
everything that shouldn’t be there.

	Even so, Lord, we can take everything You’ve given us in this hour,
which is a great hour, with multiplied blessings on every hand. And we
can show forth the praise of our God and be true stewards of the Word,
the mysteries, the grace and all of those things which You have put
within us in order to glorify Your Name, and yet at the same time to
send us on the journey, ever onward and upward to a place of exceeding
great reward where ‘eye hath not seen’, the mind hasn’t
imagined—they haven’t reasoned it out. There’s no way, Lord, that
has entered into our hearts, those things that lie ahead of us. We only
know something is there of great magnitude. What a time that will be
when we enter in and partake, even as we are partaking now of the Living
Word of the Living God, which had been vindicated and manifested to be
so. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen.

Communion Service

 

1.	I’m going to read tonight from John 6…the disciples went …
people went to follow Jesus and to find him; he got in a boat and [had]
gone across, and they finally found him on the other side of the sea.
and they said:

(25)	… Rabbi, when camest thou hither?

(26)	(And so) Jesus … said, (Truly, truly) I say unto you, Ye seek me,
not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves,
and were filled.

(27)	(And he said) Labour not for meat which perisheth, but for that
meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall
give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed. (And you know God
sealed him with Himself.)

(28)	Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the
works of God?

(29)	Jesus answered and said … This is the work of God, that ye
believe on him whom he hath sent.

	And that’s the work that God was doing, was sending forth the
manifested Christ, the manifested Prophet that was prophesied by Moses
and vindicated to be such. And he said, “This is the work now.” And
if you don’t think that’s work, I’ve got news for you. That’s
the kind of work that’s going to make you sweat. Because, if you’re
not a believer and you can’t see and know that something is there,
that’s of the real vitality of God, that God is moving and in there is
something that you must apprehend, because God is not doing it simply to
do it, because he had already done it and He doesn’t have to repeat
Himself. Then, you know, if that isn’t real work—and it is work—if
you don’t accept that as the work that God wants you to work, which is
‘repent’ … and that’s the thing man has got to do, repent,
change his mind. And it’s based on this very exercise that God brought
forth in the Son, and they couldn’t do it. And so, today, you’ve got
the same thing.

2.	Now, watch:

(30)	They said therefore (knowing that this is not a trick, but is
something he’s standing on. and they could think it’s trickery; it
doesn’t really matter. They said), What sign shewest thou then, that
we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work? (What work are you
going to do? … in other words)

	In other words, he said, “This is the work.” [They] said, “What
shall we do that we might work the work of God?” (See?) And he said,
“This is a work, that you believe on him.” Now, they’re turning
that right around. Their work was to believe. Now, they want him to
work. Do you know what people do? They throw everything back on God.
“Now, Lord, if You had done this, this would happen. If You had done
this … this, this, this … you would have done. Always putting God on
the spot. 

3.	Now, they said:

(31)	Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave
them bread from heaven to eat.

(32)	Then Jesus said unto them, Verily … I say unto you, Moses gave
you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread
from heaven.

(33)	For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and
giveth life unto the world.

	Now, it seems that this point here that they might have been
attributing to Moses a miracle ministry rather than realizing that Moses
was under the dominion of God and Moses could not do anything except
what God wanted him to do, or allowed him to do. Now, we know that in
smiting the rock the second time—he should have spoken—it broke a
type. But then again, that goes to the place, now, where they crucify to
themselves the Son of God. So, that was part of the great predestinated
plan of Almighty God, which is very true. And had they not crucified to
themselves the Son of God—this last day people—there would not have
been, then, the great out-pouring of God Himself upon the Bride, because
God Himself is here and He has become our Seal. We’ve been sealed by
the Sealer. Each one of us has a little seal of that
Light—Baptism—but we’ve been sealed by the Sealer, Himself. The
Baptizer Himself is here.

4.	Now, so, they’re looking … Moses had this ministry, here, and now
… “What do you have?” Of course, Moses came and he showed them his
signs and showed them various things. And now they go to the desert,
they eat the bread, and they said, “Well now, we want to know signs
because Moses did this, and Moses did that”.

	Now, what I’m looking at here, particularly, is the ‘bread from
heaven’ and they said, “Moses gave us bread from heaven.” (See?)
It’s written, he gave them bread from heaven. But God gave them bread
in the ministry of Moses.

	Now, Jesus himself is talking in terms that “I am the bread sent down
from heaven.” And he said, “Now, you are to eat my body … this is
my body broken … [unless you] eat my flesh, drink my blood, you have
no life in you.” And so, what I’m looking at, here, at the end-time
is that you and I have the same thing at our Communion Table. We have
the same Word of God, the same One. God Himself came down. God Himself
did the signs and the miracles and wonders. God Himself revealed the
Word to us. Now, it took a prophet—I have no doubt about that but that
was a necessity. And God, working according to His Own Word, He allowed
that prophet to stand there and there by that prophet was able to fully
manifest God to us, and reveal that Word.

5.	Now, that Word—the Bread that came down from Heaven—is what gave
them strength for the journey for the Promised Land. Now, you notice
that what happened in this journey, they got very tired of that manna.
They got very tired of it. And they wanted to go back to the leeks and
the garlic which is good spicy food. And today there’s a counter part
in America, and it’s called a … well it’s not called Tex-Mex;
it’s called Mexican food, of which you have salsa. Now, there’s
introduced also Indian food which is much spicier. But for years America
had a very bland food. Now they’re going to a very very spicy food.
Now, today then, therefore, if you are to talk in terms of ordinary food
there’s not too much ordinary food left in America. It’s all spiced
up and jazzed up. 

	And what I’m referring to is this in this Message: This Message is
getting pretty flat to people that want something spiced up. It really
is; it’s getting flat. A lot of them are going back to Pentecost. Some
are ditching what they believed. And the point is this: That manna,
though [it] wasn’t very tasty to the people, it was the food, called
‘angel food’. It was the food that God gave in order to sustain
them. And it wasn’t very exciting to them. And yet, to some people it
was very exciting on the grounds that they knew this was what was going
to nourish them and get them into the Promised Land.

	Now, you’ve got the same thing right today. The Word which has been
broken to us … because they’ve crucified Christ and he was the son
of God, he was the image of Almighty God. And now that same Spirit that
came to produce that, is come back here—which is Elohim Himself come
down here—they’ve crucified that to the … and remember, Bro.
Branham mentioned the son of God was in the Book of Romans, the son of
God with power. He said, “That was the Holy Spirit.” So when they
crucify to themselves the son of God, it’s literally taking the Holy
Spirit and either crediting to Satan what that Spirit is doing or
denying Him entirely.

6.	So, therefore, there is no life now, in the Word, except the broken
Word which you and I have. And that broken Word is the only way that you
and I are going to be sustained to get to the Millennium. There’s no
other way you’re going to get it. Because, as for anointing, the world
out there can be anointed left, right, inside-out and up-side down.
Manifest everything under high heaven—a beautiful love which is a
false love, because it’s not based on the Word of God. Many things out
there they can produce, but only this Message has life. And this it that
Life that God sent down from Heaven, because God Himself was with Israel
in a Pillar of Fire at night and a cloud by day. And the same God today
is here somewhere with a Bride—scattered though she is—He’s right
here having brought His Word to sustain her right to the Resurrection,
right to the Transformation, then right up to the Rapture, to the
Reincarnation.

	So, as we partake of the emblems tonight, remember Jesus said, “Take,
eat. This is emblematic, my body broken for you.” He said, “Search
the Scripture and see. In them you will see that Moses spake of me.”
And this same One was given.

7.	And so tonight we have the very same thing. This Message that Bro.
Branham brought us, this prophet that he was is right here in the Word
of God—all spoken out, all spelled out to us. And as we partake of
these emblems, let us remember above everything else, that we are
depending upon this Word that has been broken open to us—the Seal is
broken, the Life poured out upon us. We’re depending upon this to get
us here. And I’m going to tell you something, brother/sister: As time
goes on, you’re going to find my statement more and more accurate,
because you’re going to find you’re going to have less of this and
less of that and less of the other thing, and you’re going to find
yourself right face-to-face, “Is this the truth, or is it not? Is this
God or is …?… ? You’re going to find yourself, if the Holy Spirit
is not engaged in emotions, is not engaged in feelings, is not engaged
in reasoning. He’s engaged in one thing and that’s this.

	And if this has been thoroughly manifested, that’s all you and I need
to know, and all we need to have. Because faith is by grace, the free
gift of God. We had nothing to do with it; it’s just given to us
tonight. And that’s what we look at as we take the emblems—strength
for the journey, a shadow from the sun (the heat), heat from the cold of
the desert. Food … and the only place we can get it. There isn’t any
other place to get it. Strapped, with no hope of an exit because
there’s a hostile nation behind us; there’s a desert to the left,
and there are mountains to the right. There’s only one place to go and
that’s straight ahead to the Promised Land. There are no detours any
more. There are no little depots where you can stop off and find
something else you need. This is that Manna that came down from heaven.
This is Rev 10:1-7. This is Mal 4:5-6. This is 1 Th 4:16, Lk 17:30, Jn
15:23. Take it wherever you want to take it, this is that hour.

8.	So, may we partake tonight of these emblems with the understanding
that very soon we’ll be drinking it anew in the Kingdom. And it
won’t be a different God, you won’t be a different son, it won’t
be a different Word. Nope … it’ll be nothing different. The only
thing different will be you and I, that’s all, in a different place.
It won’t be any different.

	You see, if there is something different, then we’re not going to
make it. You can’t make it because ‘deep calleth to Deep’. If we
didn’t have representation there, we haven’t got it now. So, we’ve
got to have now for what’s over there. And it always was, so there
isn’t any difference … there isn’t any difference. So, I hope we
don’t try to make ourselves look like Christmas trees, and try to act
in any way outside of the Word of God. So, let’s rise at this time;
the brethren come forward to serve.

	

	Heavenly Father, [as] we partake of these emblems tonight we pray Your
hand of grace will be upon us, helping us to forgive, to forget, to
enter into [a] new relationship, Lord, of obedience to Your Word and
communication and fellowship with each other, resisting all temptation
to judge or to be in any way, Lord, out of sorts with anybody. But
rather, Lord, to be in sweet Communion with You and fellowship with each
other, the Life of the Word abounding and flowing through us, and our
testimony, Lord, our confession, one with Almighty God.

	We pray, Lord, at this time too, as we come forward that there will be
the healing of the sick and the remembrance also, Lord, of those who are
not well, who are not able to be with us tonight, and perhaps not even
tomorrow, Lord, because illness is in the land. But we know, Lord, even
as the death angel stalked across Egypt, there was no one within the
Promised Land—in Goshen where the light shone—where anyone was ill.
We’re asking You, Lord, to help us to be able to take this Message for
our healing, to make it ours, to make it real. To stand up and resist
everything with ‘Thus saith the Lord’ because this Message is THUS
SAITH THE LORD. Knowing, as Bro. Branham said, “You can’t heal us;
You’ve already healed us.” Now, to walk in that light of the
understanding of the finished work.

	So, all these things, Lord, we look at them and we thank You [that] we
can look at them. And we know, Lord, they’re there for us. Help us,
then, to receive those things which are truly ours. In Jesus’ Name we
pray. Amen.

	[Closing prayer follows:] 

	Again, Heavenly Father, we approach Thy throne of grace, thanking You
for Your love, mercy and goodness toward us at all times. We pray as we
go home You’ll give us journey mercies, Father. And we pray for a nice
rest to refresh …?… and a better day tomorrow, Lord, especially
within our spirits, our minds, and our souls and our bodies, Lord,
asking for Your divine Presence, hoping, Lord that always you might open
ourselves to see Your grace and mercy given to us.

	And so we commend ourselves here tonight, Father, and thank You for
Your kindness. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen. Take the Name of Jesus
with you.

			

[The Third Generation of Believers]

(Preamble to Baby Dedication: Amie White)

1.	Now, I want to present the little message this morning just previous
to dedication and I’m taking it from an historical aspect from what
was in the First Age wherein we now have a repeat in the Seventh Age,
where we’ve come full circle. And we’re going to go to 2 Tim 1 (take
our reading from there):1-7. Now it says:

(1)	Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God …

	Now, ‘by the will of God’ you have to realize is … embraces
foreknowledge, election and predestination, because the will of God can
never be flaunted. The Word of God can never return to Him void. And
this man was a part of the Living Word of God made manifest in human
flesh for this particular office.

(1)	(So) Paul, an apostle ( a called-one, a missionary sent forth) of
Jesus Christ, (only) by the will of God, according to the promise of
life which is in Christ Jesus, (that goes even deeper into
predestination, sovereignty)

(2)	To Timothy, my … beloved son: Grace, mercy, and peace, from God
the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. 

	See, there are two people there. And one is God, and one is the Son.
And God is the God of the Son, and God is also the Father of the Son,
but Paul never lets anybody forget that the Father of Jesus is still the
God of Jesus. Okay. (It’s strange how people can’t even read
anymore.)

(3)	I thank God (he’s talking about the Father, now), whom I serve
from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have
remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;

(4)	Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may
be filled with joy;

(5)	When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee,
which dwelt first in thy grandmother, Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I
am persuaded that in thee also.

(6)	Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of
God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands,

(7)	For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of
love, and of a sound mind.

	Now, the verse in particular, of course, is … 

(5)	When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee,
which dwelt first in thy grandmother, Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I
am persuaded that in thee also. 

2.	Now, Paul mentions, here, the ‘unfeigned faith’. Now, the word
‘unfeigned’ means ‘sincere and without hypocrisy’. And the word
‘faith’ comes from a word that means ‘convinced by argument as to
true or false’. Now, you’ll notice, in there, there are
two—there’s a choice of one or the other, negative or positive. But
there is not a third, as in Catholicism, which has a Heaven, a Hell, and
a Purgatory. And a Purgatory is very very very acceptable, very subtle,
very charming, and endearing so that you don’t have to really make a
choice. You’re in the middle, and if you should just sort of slither
on the wrong side, God just [Bro. Vale makes a noise to indicate being
reined in] whoops you back. And if you’re on the perfect side, well,
that’s wonderful; you really did make it. But there’s no chance
you’re really going to lose out. Unh? that’s right. Faith is the
conviction of an argument, which is always Word. And you say, “Yes”
or you say “No”, and there’s no middle ground.

3.	All right. Let’s keep moving … so that this is not like
Catholicism which has a Heaven, Hell, and Purgatory, so that there is
neither an agnostic or a gnostic. Now, a gnostic is one that says, “I
don’t know …so I’m free. If there is a God, so and so.” He
doesn’t know. The agnostic says, “There is no God.” The gnostic
says, “ I have a revelation superior to what this revelation that I
have been told is correct. I’m not going to argue”, says he, “with
the revelation; I’m going to just tell you: I have something that
supercedes it.” So now, you find, here, that in the light of the Word
of Faith, gnostic and agnostic is all right if you want to use it, but
you won’t get away with it because it boils down to seed which is true
or false —which is serpent seed or the seed of God.

4,	Now, let’s go back to Gen 2:16-17, and it says:

(16)	And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the
garden thou mayest freely eat:

(17)	But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not
eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely
die.

	And don’t make any mistake about it. You do this and you’re gone,
and that’s all there is to it. You do or you don’t. There’s no
slippy, no slidey.

	So, all right, we go to Gen 3:1-7:

(1)	Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which
the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said,
Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

(2)	And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the
trees of the garden:

(3)	But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden,
God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest
ye die.

	Now, you’ll notice she left out the Tree of Life in the midst of the
garden. And there was nothing said about the idea that you couldn’t
eat it. Now, the Tree of Life, you could eat it and you would live. She
doesn’t say a thing about that. Now she said, “ … neither shall ye
touch it, lest ye die.”

(4)	And the serpent said … Ye shall not surely die. (He said,
“There’s no way.”)

(5)	For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes
shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

(6)	And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it
was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she
took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband
with her; and he did eat.

(7)	And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were
naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

	Now, the beast was a gnostic. The beast was a gnostic … he said,
“Yes, I understand that you’ve been told even by God Himself that
you shouldn’t eat of that tree or you could die.” “Now”, he
said, “That revelation is just partly right. There’s a modicum of
truth in it, but it’s not really right because I’ve got a higher and
more definitive revelation. And I can point you to a place where the
revelation I give you will hold against the Revelation which God Himself
has given.” Do you follow what I am saying? (See?) This is where it
all started. He’s a gnostic. Now, at the same time, he is a hypocrite.
And he gave Eve a third choice. God said two choices, “Go here, go
there; do, don’t” “Ahh”, he [the beast] said, “I’ve got a
third way. I can show you something superior.” So he gave Eve a third
choice which was enticing because it held out a Purgatory, as it were.
“Choose you this day whom you will serve—Life or death?”

	Now, everything I’m saying is referring to the present hour and this
present Message. So you listen carefully, and you take heed to what I am
saying. Because, whether you know it or not, you’re on dangerous
grounds. And the higher up you are, the harder you fall. And the lower
down you are, the harder it is to scramble up. There’s one place of
safety.

5.	Now, let’s go reading then. Now we notice Gen 2:5:

(5)	And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every
herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to
rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till (that) ground.

	Now, Gen 2:25 … he says over here:

(25)	And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and (they) were not
ashamed. (So, he has them in the garden, there, to till the
ground—physical form, they’re naked; in the spiritual form they were
not naked. They were in the form, you know, of a spirit-being.)

	And then over here again, in Gen 3:7-11:

(7)	And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were
naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

(8)	And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in
the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the
presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.

(9)	And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art
thou? (He said, “Where are you, now?” Now, don’t you think
that’s a little like Rev 3:20 … “Behold, I stand at the door and
knock. And if any man open the door” … Unh? Okay.)

(10)	And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid,
because I was naked; and I hid myself.

(11)	And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of
the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

	Now, notice there in [Genesis] 3:7-b: “… and they sewed fig leaves
together and made themselves aprons.” Now, what they did was useless
because this was their third choice. (See?) Turned down ‘Yes, No’.
Something will prevail just the same. God is a good God. He wouldn’t
condemn anybody. Do you mean to tell me God would make man and then
condemn him? (See?) It’s like Bro. Branham said, “Do you mean to
tell me that God would lose a man just in order to find him?” It
wouldn’t make sense. So, they’ve got this false hope, here—this
fig-leaf situation. So they had a third choice, as it was, with Gen 3:4,
when he said, “God said you shall not surely die.” There’s a third
element in here that sounds very very good. So I can actually afford not
to be in complete compliance with as to my acceptation or denial. I can
just work one end against the middle and so on. I can make out, because
I have this third choice going, there, for me.

6.	So today, millions believe the Bible to be the incorruptible living
Word of the Living God, but they can’t see the true faith revealed in
Rom 15:18-19, [in] which Paul declared his revelation was vindicated by
God. They cannot see 1 Cor 14:36-37, that when a prophet, vindicated,
comes on the scene, his message superimposes itself upon every single
thing. So there’s nothing left of any previous Word or judgment or
declaration or anything that anybody ever had. That only lies there as a
superimposition—which you take or don’t take—because Paul said,
“Let a man acknowledge ( use the superimposition) that what I write
you are the commandments of the Lord.” Now, you make a choice: Is this
it, or is it not it? Now, it doesn’t matter, then, in between what you
think you do. You can make your fig leaves—you can have your women’s
society, your missionary society, you can have a lot of things going for
it. It’s all right by … nobody’s going to say those things are
wrong—building hospitals [and] everything else— but it won’t work
… it won’t work. You’ve got a choice: yes, no … live, die …
sink, swim. (See?) Right down the line. Okay.

7.	Now, here’s my point taken from 2 Tim 1:5: We find a third
generation, today, of believers—a third generation. This happens
because, as we see in 2 Tim 1:5, the grandmother, the mother and then,
finally, the child born, the child living, the child accepting that
particular Word—the same original Word—and it’s the third
generation. Now, we know God, Who is the Word, is perfect in three;
there is no doubt about it. So we have the three generations. The two
generations are women. The third generation is a male , but our type
still holds good for what we’re talking about this morning previous to
dedication, and getting our type.

	Luther and Wesley went into churches, having come out of churches and
taking with them everything but a little reformation, a little further
light. But then God—male—comes on the scene in the third generation.
God, perfect in threes, comes on the scene at the end-time. Now, we’re
not saying Luther and Wesley and what they had were unacceptable. They
were acceptable because they built on what light they had—a little
previous light going on to a higher light. As Bro. Branham said, “It
was glorious, but the glory we have today will never fade away.”

8.	So today, after two reformers, God Himself with His Prophet brings us
1 Thess 4:16, Rev 10:1-7, Mal 4:1-6 … and you all know those
Scripture. Now, as Bro. Branham said, “There could have been a rapture
before Ephesus fell, but the Body was incomplete;” and that is very
true. And this is seen in 2 Timothy, the first chapter (those seven
verses that we read). They had the once-for-all perfect faith
vindicated, where you made a choice between two things: the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, the Tree of Life. Now, one is the true and
living vindicated Word of God—God Himself manifesting Himself, proving
Himself, showing this to be true. Satan, on the other hand, says,
“We’re not going to cast doubt on that Word as though it is not a
word, but we have a revelation. We have something to add to it; we have
something to modify it. We have something that makes it more pleasant
for you to live by. Because, after all, you can have your cake and eat
it. You can do this and it is okay. Everything will work out, and you
will see this is so, but you don’t have to make the ultimate
decision.”

9.	Now, let’s watch my point: We had the grandmother, we had the
mother, and we had the child—three generations at one time under a
perfect marvelous vindicated Word of Almighty God. We took those two
women as churches and showed you the end-time. We have the grace of God
manifested in the perfect revealed Word under Bro. Branham who is here
under God, as you see the picture there. I bring it down to these
generations as what we’re looking at in this particular case.

	We have come full circle, therefore, in the Book of Ephesians. And the
full circle is the plan of God Almighty in this hour up to the point of
where there’s a return of God Himself to this earth according to
Matthew 12, and so on, and 1 Thessalonians 4. And we read in there that
the baptism with the Holy Ghost was given until the Baptizer Himself
came back, which He did come back, As it was, as Bro. Branham said,
“The same Pillar of Fire that brought the Word is here revealing
It.” So therefore, now, we have returned perfectly to Ephesus. And
that is my point. And when you come back to Ephesus, you can have a
Rapture … you can have a Rapture.

	We have sitting in this church today actually three generations under a
perfect living Word of God. How far, then, do we have to go? I cannot
see that we have to go very much further. Now, we have the perfect
picture before us of Ann Klaussen, Angela White, and Amie White.
Actually, they have four children. Each one is a third generation. You
start with the mother (which is what Paul did in this particular
instance). And we go through to that generation which is that third
generation where we see the perfection of God in the Word—third
generation.

10.	Now, Leah is age nine. How many years will it be before she can
marry and bear children? Well, girls marry young. Even if she marries at
nineteen and has a fourth child in the Message, it will be ten years to
go—eleven years to go, twelve years to go, thirteen years to go …
and why am I saying that? Because four is deliverance. And God said,
“You will go down to Israel … you will go down to Egypt and there
you’ll abide for four generations, and in the fourth generation I’ll
bring you forth into the land of plenty which I have designed and given
to you.” Even as He instituted the Garden of Eden ready for Adam and
Eve, He instituted the beautiful land of Palestine. We’ll never know
what it was really like unless it could be restored. [End of side one of
the second audio tape.]

11.	There are no pictures; there’s nothing we would know. I know there
were mountains; I know there were deserts. I know they were barren, but
there were oases. There were places in there, they were just like a
heaven … just like a paradise. The fruit was so great when they
overtook the land of Jericho (in through that whole place), the bunches
of grapes—think of it—they took one bunch of grapes and it took two
men to carry … just picking up part of a vine. What a fabulous place
it was! Fourth generation, God had prepared. How many years? Ten years
… see, I don’t believe it’s going to be ten years; but I want you
to notice something: That church was ready for Rapture in the third
generation. 

	I don’t believe we’re going to have to wait for a fourth under any
consideration whatsoever because, even as God is made perfect … [of]
Bro. Branham, they asked the question, “What does it mean in the Book
of 1 Corinthians 13, ‘that which is perfect is come?’” And he
said, “Who is perfect but God? And what is God, but His Word? And by
His grace we have the perfect Revelation of this hour.” Now, one place
you have a perfection, which means we’re looking at Almighty God
Himself. The other perfection means, it is a finished, complete product.
And in this hour we have a complete finish.

12.	And so, I wanted to show you this morning, here—and I like to
refer everything back to Biblical history, and I like to take it from
our own people—it is amazing to me that we have in this hour, we have
family, a third generation, coming up under the actual Living Word of
Almighty God as demonstrated. And I say, “How long?” I don’t know
how long, but I can tell you, it is not very long. Thirty years has gone
by like a flash in the sky. Ten more years will go the same way, even
faster. But I doubt very much it’s going to take ten years. (See?) 

	It’s going to take a crash—an economic crash—which is at the
door. If in 1987 when the market fell 800 points it caused a panic,
what’s going to happen? I’ll tell you what’s going to happen:
They’ve got the computer set so the people will not …[read]?…;
they will try to stop the people [from] knowing what’s going on. It
could drop 2000 points in one night, and the computers just stick right
there at 500. The next day it drops again. And I’m going to tell you
something: They say, New York, when the tickers showed the market was
gone, they were jumping out of the windows of skyscrapers—even two and
three stories (or four, I think it was)—you had to kind of be careful
unless someone fall on you and you might get killed. I’m going to tell
you: What’s it going to be like when a crash comes? I don’t know and
I don’t even want to know. But I can know, from being in this pulpit
and reading my Bible, we have come right back to a third generation.

	I was talking just the other day to Steve Applegate (he’s not here)
and he was telling me how it is. He said to his little girls … 

	He said, “Tell me, who came down?” 

	Right away they said, “Jehovah-Elohim came down.”

	“Where is Jesus, the son of God?”

	“He’s right on the Throne, sitting on his Father’s Throne.”

	… not even six years old. Third generation. Can’t be too long. I
don’t want it too long.

	It’s a pleasure, therefore, to dedicate little Amie White, daughter
of Chris and Angela White; and granddaughter of brother and sister
White, and brother and sister Klaussen.

	[Bro. Vayle proceeds with the dedication service.]