The Power Of Illumination

I don't like to say talk about the Bible. I love to say talk about the Word of God, because really that's what it is. Let's turn and read just a little bit in Saint John, the sixteenth chapter and the seventeenth chapter. 

John 16:1-16: “These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you. But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you. A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.”

John 17:1-26: “These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

If you will notice Jesus tells us in this twenty-second verse of the seventeenth chapter. "And the glory thou has given me I have given them that they may be one ever as we are one." A lot of times the question arises, you know, concerning God not giving His glory to another. Whereas, we've tried hard here at Little Bethlehem in tutoring you to make an expose of all kind of little sayings and habitual practices, and we've tried to bring to your mind the real genuine word of the living God that you may hear and know, see and believe, and know the truth. And it is so often said that His glory He will not give to another. Whereas, that is Bible that His glory He will not give to another. In the Old Testament He said I'm Lord. I'm Lord alone. My glory I will not give to another, but then we come to the place to where we are taught in the Scriptures that in the coming of the new covenant we are made one with Him, thus making us bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh in that we are not another. I stress this point so often, we are not then another. Paul said, It is not I that liveth but Christ that liveth within me, and the life I now live I live by the Son of God who gave Himself for me. So then, we find under the new covenant, we find this Scripture and we hear Him saying these Words. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them. Therefore, it is altogether a different thing. In the Old Testament, My glory I will not give to another in that there was no resurrection of the dead through the eternal Spirit. But in the New Testament the members of mankind, which are sanctified by the grace of God, they have become the body of Almighty God, and are due the very glory of the Son of God Himself. Therefore, they are not another, but rather members of His own body. And he says here, Father, they are one even as You and I are one. Therefore, I give them My glory. And He said, Father, glorify these with the same glory that I had with Thee before the world ever was. So we see what a beautiful, beautiful picture that God has painted here before us. How lovely, and how wonderful it is to see that God hath given us the very eternal presence of Him Ownself. Therefore, I say again, one of the greatest, most beautiful things I know of is to be illuminated with the Eternal Spirit. If you've not been illuminated with the Eternal Spirit then you've missed the greatest thing that's ever happened to mankind. To be illuminated with God's presence is life. And when we are not illuminated with God's presence then we don't have any life. Therefore, to be illuminated with God's presence is to have life. And this is the very thing that happened to Adam and Eve, is the loss of God's presence. The loss of God's presence in that Adam and Eve lost the abiding, continual abiding presence of God, or of Jehovah, then they lost eternal life. This is why God said to them, said, The day that thou eatest of the Tree of Knowledge, the very day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die, because the day that you eat of the Tree of Knowledge that's the day that you separate yourself from Me. The day that you let your own reasoning begin to control your body, and your own mental faculties begin to engineer your life that's the very day, God said, that you and I will be separated and I, as the great Eternal Spirit of life and illumination will no longer activate your innermost being to the thrill and joy of living. I then no longer will be present with you. And I then no longer will illuminate you with My presence to where you can have abiding life, eternal life. So then, we know that man departed from God, and thus departing he went off with the substance of life. But the one thing that he did not have was the illumination, the abiding illumination, which sustains life, that which continually sustains life. He separated himself from the power of sustaining life. He separated himself from that great power of illumination. Whereas, the Bible uses the terms, the sun shineth within His strength. And thus it was lost of from life, and in so doing God said, You are dead. You are dead. You are good as a dead man, because a man may be filled with water, as I've said a number of times. He may be filled up with water, his thirst may be quenched, he may be in good shape, but as quick as he hits the dessert, or the dry places, that water that he has on the inside, though it's his substance, yet he will soon use up that substance. It says concerning Moses that Moses was abut eighty years old; yet the natural sources of Moses body wasn't abated. He was still like a young man. His eye sight was still strong, had not waxed dim. His natural sources in his body was just like any man twenty-five or thirty years old. The reason for that is because Moses continually walked in the presence of God. And Moses being on the mountain top was so greatly illuminated with the presence of God that it refertiled his body, and his body being refertilized he begin to reproduce life all over again. And thus his age was, it was not an obstacle in the sense of death. The same thing happened with Abraham. The same thing happened with Sarah. God's continual abiding illumination through the act of faith and confidence that Abraham had in God caused him to be yet a young man, and Sarah to be yet a young woman. And Sarah being way up in age when a young man saw her he was so fascinated that he stole her from Abraham. Thus she was taken away from Abraham, but Abraham was of the same body, the same strength, and when both of these were far past the age of human reproduction, yet to them was born a son. Yet to them life was given, and yet to them the greatest thing that could ever happen happened, that could happen to the human family, outside of Jesus, it happened to them. So then, we see the value of being illuminated with God's presence. It is little wonder then that people who are sick are suddenly healed when the illumination of God comes. It is little wonder then that people who are crippled, and in the condition that Chuck is in, once illuminated everything changes. The bodily reaction, the bones are knitted together, sickness leaves. All of these things are taken away, and suddenly there is health, and there is happiness, there is strength, there is new life, all because of one thing. And that is the divine illumination of the Almighty God. This is why the prophets of old they would take their timbrels, or call for some woman to take a timbrel, like Miriam, and play that they might create a beautiful, harmonious illumination around in the presence of God and the people that their spirit might become activated with the Spirit of God. You know, God is a spirit, and the Bible teaches God is above you, God is through you, God is in you, God is ever present. God is everywhere, and because of this all we have to do is contact God through faith as we become illuminated. You see a preacher, a preacher gets up to talk about the Word of God and it isn't long before his mind begins to get into those channels of glory, and begins to get into the presence of God, and then the body becomes activated with the glory of God. You know, we're like a light bulb. We've got the proper filaments on the inside. We are made to receive light and to project light. But as I said earlier in my conversation this evening in talking to some of the Brethren, unless we can throw the little switch of faith then there is a break, or a barrier. We are disconnected, that is, from the real power of God that's being sent out through the transformer, Jesus Christ, to our personage. We are cut off from that, but the very minute that our faith goes up to God then comes the great activation of God into the filaments, and we are illuminated with the presence of God, and we become the light of the world. All of the darkness goes back. All of the devils and demons are driven away, because our faith is activated, and our faith is beginning to work, and we're beginning to be illuminated, and beginning to cast, or put forth, or project that great light. Demons don't like light. Evil spirits don't like light. Brother you start talking about the Word of God, you know, light means understanding. You start coming into the understanding of God, and being illuminated with the understanding of God, the more you understand the more you believe, and the more you believe the more you understand. And after awhile you begin to run over with the presence, and spirit, and feeling of God, and sickness, and poverty, and everything begins to leave, because God begins to work from your innermost being, out of your innermost being, as the Bible has said, flows rivers of living water. So then, it is a great, wonderful, thrilling experience to know that we are subjects of God. Adam, separating himself, Eve, separating herself, the day that they did that they had to die. From that time on man died. Continually he died. He has been dying in his body ever since. He was dying in his spirit, but did you know that when Jesus came at Calvary it reversed the entire course of nature. I remember the great spiritual revelation that God gave us a long time ago, and I remember how that I said, Lord, if you would just give us an earthquake it would make the revelation just perfect for this hour. And all of a sudden the earthquake came. Began to shake things. And Olive Branch was shaken. And they said that the earthquake that reached all the way up to Chicago, and all the way across the nation there, that it change the course of the Mississippi River. It reversed it. And I spoke of what it had to do with; how that that had to do with Jordan, had to do with death, and how the reversal of it had to do with life. How wonderful it is that God has reversed the course of death. And he's changed that thing completely to where we can have spiritual life and strength, bringing immortality to light, having abolished within His body death in doing away with the powers of evil. God completely manifested. For this purpose the Son of God came into the world to destroy death, to abolish within His body death, and to bring to light immortality. The thing that we're speaking of today is understanding, light, knowledge. To abolish death and then to bring the knowledge of immortality, or eternal life to you. That's what it was all about. God, in blessing the days of old, there when he took the hands of one of his servants and patriots, as he was dying, and there as he place his hand upon one of his sons, there placing his hands upon another son it looked like that God was fixing to give forth a great blessing, especially concerning the natural, concerning the Jewish nation, concerning the Gentile nation, and here they were Manasseh and Ephraim. Here they were being blessed of God. There Joseph, there was the great blessings of God coming. Jacob, the great blessings of God, here was the two sons that were ready. All of a sudden God just crossed his hands like that so to speak, and the man said, No! No! as Joseph protested. No! This is the first born. But the Bible said, As it is written, the elder shall serve the younger. Therefore, the blessing that would have gone to Israel came over to the spiritual one, which was the spiritual Jew. By the way of the cross it came, changing the course, changing the flow of Jordan and thus that which had been life, that would have been life all of a sudden it became death. And that that would have been death all of a sudden it became life, and the natural born, which is the first to come was done away with, and here comes the spiritual which was the second born which got the blessing through Calvary. Today it is the spiritual sons and daughters of God that are alive forever more, and those that are out yonder in the natural have found the flow of death which is Jordan taking them down stream to the Dead Sea, or the deep dark pits of despair. God through His greatness, and God through His knowledge, and God through His wisdom seeing way back there what he was going to do brought to pass the thing that he said at Calvary, For I have abolished death. I have done away with death. Behold I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. I saw him fall from heaven as lightning that came down from heaven. Then he said, Now you watch. Now you beware. Now you look, for as the lightning flashes from the east unto the west so shall the Son of Man be. Look at the fall of Satan. Look at the quickening of the spirit, and look at God as He begins to make His great and mighty move. And all of a sudden we see these things happening we say, in heaven. And there it is as lightning that striketh from the east unto the west, He said, and so shall the coming of the Son of Man be. I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven, because I have abolished within my body death. I have abolished within my personage death. I have brought to light immortality, that which was hid from the foundation of the world, that the prophets long to see, and the wise men longed to see, but were not able to see it. But to you I give my very glory. My glory I would not give to them, because they were another, but I've given to you my glory, for even though John was great, yet the Bible said the law and the prophets until John, since that time he that is least in the Kingdom is due to receive the glory of God Himself. Therefore, can we rejoice today? Yes, we can rejoice. In what way can we rejoice. Because God has given unto us His very own glory. Why could He not give to them of the Old Testament? Why could He not give it to them that have gone in the days past? Because they were not Gods. They were not Gods. God's glory belongs to Gods. The glory of God belongs to God. He cannot give it to men, it must go to God. Therefore, it said ye are not men. Have not I called ye Gods? Therefore, have not I give unto you My own glory, My very own glory? Father, glorify these with the same glory that I had with You before the world ever was. And what was that glory? The glory of the stars is one, the glory of the sun is another, the glory of the moon is another. Each star differeth in glory. The woman's hair is her glory. The young man's strength is his glory. But God, what kind of glory is this that you're going to glorify me with? Oh, what kind of glory are you going to give the Son of God?. All of this great glory throughout the universe you have manifested, but God, what about my glory?. What kind of glory is this going to be?. And I say unto Thee, oh thou Son of God, or I say unto Thee, O God, He said. Not Thou Son of God, but Thou, O God, He said, speaking to Jesus. He said, Thou shall be from everlasting even until everlasting. Hallelujah! Thou shalt wax great and mighty and strong. And Thou shall be the illumination of the universe and eternity for in that city, there shall be no light in that city for it hath need of no light for the Lamb shall be the light thereof in that city. The brilliance and the understanding and the revelation, the mind of Jesus Christ it shall be the light of that city. And all nations shall walk in the light of that city, for I shall glorify thee with My own glory that I had with Thee before the world ever was. What is this great glory? Ye shall fold them up lay them away like a garment, and all of them shall wax old. But I say unto Thee, O God, thy Kingdom is established forever, form eternity to eternity. Before the world ever was I Am, Jesus said. I AM. Before the world ever was I AM. And even to the consummation of the world, and the world has passed away, I shall continue to be the I AM. I AM. God could never be the I was. He could never be the I shall be. He will always be the I AM. He's the great God of the present. He said Moses go down into the land of Egypt and tell them I AM has sent you down there. So then, when Moses walked down there, Moses said, I am sent by God. I am sent by God. And who is this great I AM? When Satan came in the New Testament, and there when they came he said. Who do you seek? Jesus of Nazareth. I am He. I am the life. I am the way. I am the truth. I am He whom He sent. I AM. There is no one that can be the I AM but Him. Do you know today if we are bone of His bone, and we're flesh of His flesh we are illuminated with the same glory. Today we can stand and say we are the I am of God. Paul said, I am what I am by the grace of God. We can say I am what I am by the grace of God. We can claim the glory of the eternal God. You say, What does that mean, Brother Pike? That means that we shall never die, for what Adam and Eve lost in the Garden when the illumination of God left them and separated Itself from them, when Calvary came it restored every bit of it. And today the great Spirit of God is with me, and it's with you, and we are again illuminated with God's presence and God's Spirit. And today we are in that same wonderful Shechinah glory that we were in before they ever made the error. And so today we are eternal, Brother, Sister. Not only are we over shadowed with it, but today we are illuminated with from within. We have that great life again, and that which was life that was taken away has come all the way over to Calvary and has returned unto the subject that God made for His glory. What kind of glory is this? The Shechinah of God that man lost in the Garden. Glorify me, O God! Glorify me with the same glory that you had with Me before the world ever was. Hallelujah! Before the world ever was when you illuminated me there. Hallelujah! I know it was lost. I know it was taken away. I know it went away with the tree of knowledge, and I know that the tree of reasoning and the human characteristics and when you lean to your own understanding I know that that repels you. I know that is enmity with you, and I know it puts you off in the distance. And I know as long as I reason, as long as I gossip, as long as I back bite, as long as I plan my own thing, as long as I've got my own powers of ingenuity, as long as I have intellectual thoughts of reasoning, and lust, and covetousness, and all of these things, God, you're going to be off in the distance. I know that Lord. (Begin tape one, side two.)...judge anybody else God isn't going to judge you. If you go around always with that old mind of yours, I think Brother So and So is so and so, and Sister So and So is this because, and all the time you are judging somebody. All the time you are judging somebody. You can be sure that God has got his pad in Heaven writing it all down, and He is judging you. And the Bible said condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned. And if you go around condemning somebody all the time because of this, and because of their shortcomings, and because of those different things that happen you can be sure God has his pencil and pad, as we say, writing it all down in Heaven. Ye also are brought into condemnation. But Oh, how beautiful it is to know that God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that through Him the world might be saved. Why did God not send His Son into the world to condemn the world? Because the world was condemned already. It was condemned already. Though there is a condemnation that has come into the world, in that men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. Jesus said, This is the condemnation that is in the world, not that the Son of God came to condemn the world, but rather because the Son of God came condemnation has come into the world in that Jesus was the light of the world. He left the Church as the light of the world. This is the condemnation of the world, that I have left the Church in the world, and they are a spiritual light of truth. But the world doesn't want to come to the light, because they have their own programs and plans, they have their own great outreaches and making money and being lustful, power to engineer their own life. And this is the condemnation that is in the world. The Church is in the world today as a light. And brings light, which means understanding, knowledge of right and wrong. And the world is under condemnation, because they do not love the right. They do not love the truth. And they see right divided from wrong, and they see the light dividing the darkness from the light. And they see the power of God and the separation, and they see the great light that God has set in the firmament to show them the way. But because they are creatures of darkness they do not like the light. Therefore they are contrary to the light and they will not come to the light, because they deeds are evil. Man will not accept the truth and the knowledge of right understanding because his passions, because of his human weakness because of his passions, and because of his human desire, and his human endeavor, his human ambitions he won't accept the great light of the living God. That is the condemnation that is going to send men to hell. Not because Jesus came into the world to condemn the world, but rather to condemn sin in the flesh by bringing the light that all men may see that flesh is very sinful, and that they should depart from it. And paul said, Who shall deliver me from this body of death, Oh wretched man that I am. By the body of Jesus thus I am made free. I can look at Calvary, happy is he that doth not condemn himself when he stumbleth, or over that thing which he alloweth. So then, I look at Calvary and I say, I believe, O Lord, I believe. I believe that today I am as Adam was in the Garden. Today I am back in the Shechinah. I am without condemnation. My life is restored. I am eternal from now on, O Heavenly Father, and though I've not been able to grasp and enjoy the wonderful benefits of all of your magnificence, and the finished work, yet I'm working on it, Lord. I'm pressing forward. I'm working, and I'm trying to develop my understanding. I'm trying to develop my faith. I'm trying to come to the place to where I see, I believe, I understand and I accept, by faith, the wonderful victory that God has given me through the spilt blood of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. Thus are ye gods, for ye shall live forever. And Thou, O God, Thy kingdom shall be forever, from eternity to eternity. Then when you look around you understand why that God said, if thou canst believe, O Children, if thou canst believe. Read the twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy. He told them in the twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy, He said, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse. If you will choose the blessing then do thus and thus. And He enumerated that if you delight yourself in the things of God, that if you withdraw your hands from evil, if you walk holy, and justly, and upright, and God enumerates there. He itemizes the different things that is displeasing to Him, and tells us what we should do. He said if you do all of this I will make you the head and not the tail. I will give you a healthy, sound body, and a healthy, sound mind. I will bless you in the field. I will bless you in the city. I will bless you in everything that you do. But He continues on in the twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy. He says if you fail to do these things I will smite Thee. Somebody said, Well, the Lord isn't going to give me any kind of sickness. He said, I will smite thee. The Lord will smite thee with the scab and the botch of Egypt. Why does the Lord say I will smite thee? Because He knows that He's the one that brought light into the world, and because of His light, or Him being light, or His act of bringing light into the world, it has caused men to recognize darkness. Therefore, it is the light that's bringing the judgment. So when they reject light it is the Lord smiting them by His act of righteousness in enlightening their eyes. I will smite thee, the Lord said, with the scab and with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods. I will smite thee with burning, and I will smite thee with all of the problems, all of the sicknesses. And I will smite thee with diseases that cannot be healed. And ye shall grope at the noonday, and thou shall be cursed in the field, and thou shall be cursed in the city, and everything that you go to do you will be cursed in. Want to get a dollar, you can't get it. Want to make a dollar, you can't make it. If you happen to get hold of one you put it into bags with holds in it, somebody will work around until they take it away from you. And thou shall be cursed, the Lord said, because ye gossip, and ye back bite, and ye find fault, and ye judge, and ye condemn when I ask you not to do it. And thou shall be cursed because you do not love righteousness. And then what was the summary of the entire thing? He said, Because thou serveth not the Lord thy God with joyfulness of heart. Hallelujah! Brother the Bible says when serving God becomes a joy to you. A lot of people say, Well, Brother Pike, I am joyful about this whole thing. And they look like they've been sucking on a lemon, somebody said. Brother, let me tell you something. There is something that has got to strike your heart before you can be joyful. You can't manufacture joy. You can't just say, I believe and I'm filled with joy. But when you begin to condition your heart, when you begin to take this thing as though it's not something to play with, when you begin to evaluate properly in your mind and think about the blood of Jesus, and the spilt blood of the martyrs, and the sufferings of the years of those that have paid the price so you can rejoice, when you begin to be about your Father's business, and you begin to get down here until you say, My God! My God! My God! My God, I've been a fool. Help me, my God. Oh, my God! Help me; I've been a fool, my God. You know, the old intellectual mind that thinks so much of itself. There is just something about that intellectual mind. I don't care how much it says, My God, my God, I'm this and my God, I'm wretched, when it gets through all the time it's saying I'm wretched, and my God, this it's thinking about, but boy, you've done pretty good. There is one thing about it. All this is to your credit. And when we get through with this we'll get on the other. Somebody say I love Jesus. But when you really realize down in your heart what a wretch you really are, how that you've really deceived, broke down, tore down, walked off from the things of God, and hindered, and you realize how wretched, how evil and undone you are without Him, and down in your heart you say, O God! O God! And something gets all broke up, and the tears begin to stream down your cheeks. Not like the world said, Esau, or crocodile, tears. But I mean for once and for all something strikes down in there, and you say, My God! Oh, my God, what a fool I've been! And then you become broke up, and then joy strikes. You feel His presence, He that be of a contrite spirit and a broken heart. The thing that tore God up with the Jews was those Jews they felt so good. They felt God was with them. They felt they'd kept the ritualistics, they'd done this, and they'd done that, and God really smiled on them, and God said, I'll away with you. I'm a spirit. I want to get down in your heart. I want to get to your spirit. I want to have some spiritual relations with you. I say this so often, a man has got a wife, she may shine his shoes and polish his teeth, and comb his hair, and she may wash his clothes; that ain't worth the time she takes to do it. Now, some men are satisfied with that, and say, Go on, honey, and you do that. I've got to get me a beer. And they go on off with some other woman that wouldn't wash his feet, nor comb his hair, or nothing else, and she's out there cuddling him because he feels that affection, even though it's not godly affection, not realistic, but it at least pacifies his passions. And so she takes him away from the loyal woman. Thus is the case of Israel. Except with God it was a holy thing. With God those, he said, I will provoke you to jealousy with a people that's no jealousy. I'll turn to the Gentiles. I tried to fellowship you. I tried to win your love and affection, but you are so busy with ritualistics that you can't listen to me. You can't offer me any love and affection. You are so starchy, self-righteous, confident in you and your ways, and your securities and benefits until you don't have any time for God, thus I'll go them that you call the dogs. And they became broke up, and the wept, and they cried, and they said, Oh, Lord, Lord, Lord! Help me! Jesus said, But the bread is for the children. And the woman said, But the dogs, give the dogs the crumbs, Lord. Lord, here's a dog under your table; give me a crumb. And God's affection went out to that woman. And that woman touched the spirit of God, and God said, Great is thy faith, woman. You just tell me what you want and it will be done to you. Oh, beloved friend, let me tell you something. God is a spirit. Jesus stood there with the woman at the well, she said, Thus and thus and thus has Jacob done and this is where we worship. But He said, Woman, God is a spirit. God is seeking someone to worship Him in spirit. Paul said, The God whom I serve with my spirit. The day of Pentecost brought the spirit. The last man Adam was made a quickening spirit, thus it is the Spirit that quickeneth. If you have not His spirit you are none of His. God desires to dwell in the innermost parts of the heart, with the spirit. Not in an intellectual indoctrination, not with a Martha being about this, that, and the other. You say, Brother Pike, you mean to tell me I shouldn't do this for God, and I shouldn't do this for God, and all these great things? I certainly do not mean to tell you that. A woman that will wash clothes, and a woman that will sweep the floor, and a woman that will cook the meals is a great woman, but if that woman doesn't have her husband at heart, if her spirit is not with that man she is not doing it for him; it's just routine. If they were doing it out of routine they were not doing it for God. You say, How do you know that? Because when God came in human form and stood there before them they didn't even recognize Him. It was the tradition of the elders. It was with Moses. But my Brother, Sister, when you get God's spirit, when that woman gets her husband's spirit inside of her, and she's doing that because she loves her husband, and she wants that house to be just so because her heart's desire is to please him and love him, and thus they become one. What a great wonderful home that is. And it's so with God. When the Church gets that way with the spirit of God within their pastor, and they're all working together what a great house of God that is. When they all get the same vision, they all get the same drive, all of them are willing to go and do something for God. When a man begins to get in touch with God, a woman begins to get in touch with God, and they turn their face toward God, and God's spirit comes down, and they get broken up, and God's spirit become interwoven, and then the condemnation is lifted and they begin to chuckle with joy on the inside of their heart, and then they begin to do those things, and they say I want to print up a tract for God, I want to pound a typewriter for God, I want to write it, as John said in the book of Revelation, put it in a book and send it to the churches, but with joy. When you serve God with joy, beloved friend, when serving God becomes a joy, not a manufactured effort, but it just thrills you. You really get overjoyed. You think about Jesus, and your relation with Jesus, and doing something for Jesus, and you just get jubilant on the inside. You can just chuckle on the inside. When serving God becomes a joy, he said, then when it becomes a joy and a delight, I will make thee to ride upon the high places of the earth. I will feed thee with the heritage of Jacob. You know, I said this a number of times. I have always sought to find out when and why, and I noticed years ago there was an individual seemed like he always had his financial needs met. I've said this a number of times. I say it again for your benefit. Always. He didn't live half as good as I was trying to live, but there was one thing about it. He was like a PTL club. It was praise the Lord, praise the Lord. And always his needs were met. And I would serve the Lord with fasting, I would serve the Lord with prayer. I would serve the Lord with sincerity, all godliness and sincerity, and I couldn't hardly even scrape by. And I thought, Lord, what's the matter with me? I don't understand the Scriptures. I'm so confused about them. I read all of this and it's going right backwards, Lord. What's the matter with me? And the Lord spoke, Martha, Martha. And the Lord spoke and said, Israel, away with your fast and solemn feast. And then God spoke to me, and He said, Son, I'm a spirit. He said, Now if you had that same drive, that same diligence, that same concern of as David, even to the intent of your heart, and you wanted to serve me and be perfect in my sight how delighted I would be in you if you would delight yourself in me. And I realized I wasn't joyful, and I wasn't jubilant. In my spirit I wasn't joyful. I wasn't jubilant. I did those things out of service because I thought, this is my God; I must do this for His sake. I must do this because I love Him. I must be loyal. Oh, how mixed up you can get, folks. But then when I got the vision, and I thought, My God, my God, if I give my body a living sacrifice it would be a reasonable service. Why all I'm doing ain't a drop in the bucket. And I thought You smiled upon me, and You said You'd make me to ride upon the high places of the earth, You'd feed me with the heritage of Jacob, and You'd give me the desires of my heart if this thing was joyful, if this thing was delightful. And then I got the vision, and then something struck me. I thought, My God, what a privilege. What a privilege it is, a human being and the Almighty God that sits upon the throne the Throne of Heaven would request my service. And I thought, Oh, glory to God, what a joy, what a jubilance. Like a little boy over in the foreign fields somewhere, a little boy in poverty in his little ragged overalls, down with his little dirty feet, and all of a sudden the king of the country says, Send me that little boy. I delight in him. Oh, his little heart would bounce up and down. I want him to do me service. I said, My God, Lord, a little ole boy with dirty feet and ragged overalls. What a joy! What a jubilance! What a pleasure! What an experience that the king desires my service. Hallelujah! My cup begin to run over. And the Lord begin to pour in the oil and the wine, and God begin to pour in all that I needed. Oh, beloved friend, since that day how wonderful it has been. And the river, and the tide is getting higher all the time. All the time. It's getting more joyful all the time, and more jubilant all the time. Serving God is joy. Why are you sick today in your body? Why are you having problems in your body? The Bible said a merry heart doeth good like a medicine. When serving God becomes a joy to you, when you can take the hungry into your house. Somebody said, Well, I just can't afford it. That little boy that's hungry across the ocean over yonder, look at some of their little picture. They send them back, and they say, Thank God for you and your people, for feeding this little hungry boy. They say, You ought to be there. You ought to be there, said, when the little wagon comes around with a little food on it, and all of those (?) are there. And suddenly they'll hold up their little card back here, as one of the little starving ones saying, I'm entitled. I'm entitled. Said, You ought to be there and see the joy and jubilance of it. And Oh, my Brother, with all of the people of American why should any of them fail to have a card to hold up? All of them ought to be fed, but us bunch of gluttons in America feeding ourselves two or three times what we need to eat, and worrying about losing some piece bunch of junk called an automobile, or some piece of junk called a piece of furniture, afraid to lose it, afraid we might lose it if we feed a little hungry, starving tummy. God have mercy on this bunch of gluttons in America. And I speak for America because I'm an American. I'm glad that I'm an American. But, I tell you, we've become a bunch of gluttons and people that are unconcerned. Feeding those little ones, and Brother, how much more them that are spiritually starving to death with spiritual malnutrition. Oh, my Brother, when serving God becomes a joy you're not going to lose that little piece of junk you call an automobile. God will give you that one and another one besides. He'll give you a fine home. He'll make you to ride upon the high places of the earth. He'll feed you with the heritage of Jacob. Your cup will run over. The blessing of the Lord maketh rich and addeth on sorrow. That little widow gave Elijah the last cake and her meal barrel never did run out. He said, And when serving God becomes a joy to you, and when you take the naked into your home, and the hungry into your home, that is into your heart, when you reach out and you feed them and you stand beside them, then he said everything will work out all right. Then shall your health return unto you speedily. You that are always sick and griping, grumpy. You'll have a little health, and you won't be gripy and grumpy. You'll have a little happiness, because the Word of God cannot lie. But, Oh, my Brother, that merry heart that doeth good like a medicine will begin to heal you. It'll begin to heal you. And you know what makes the heart merry? Wine. Drink a lot of wine. If you want to have a merry heart drink a lot of wine. Hallelujah! That little brother that come here use to sing a song, The drinking of the wine, drinking of the wine. Ought to have been a Christian a long time ago. Drinking of the wine. Drink a lot of wine. Hallelujah. Now, Paul said, a little wine for the stomachs sake. He was talking about natural wine. I'm talking about a lot of wine. Hallelujah. Just get like on Pentecost. Get plumb drunk off of it. Your heart will get merry, and your body will get__ Your body will be young and healthy and strong, and you'll have health, and my! you cup will run over. And joy. Your heart will get merry. You know, you get a person good and drunk off of wine, and it's just a haw haw, and a hee hee. It don't make no difference if the ceiling is falling in if they can just step out of the way of it they can laugh while it's falling. It don't bother them. They can have a flat tire going down the road and run off in the ditch and get out and just stand there and laugh because that car is in the ditch and have the biggest kind of time. Walk down the road in the mud hole and just muddy, and sloppy. I remember when I was a boy, you've heard me tell about it, this fellow come down to get me. I went up to his house. I was just a little boy. I got up there he was going to cook chicken. And he did. He cooked chicken from the back room to the front room, and he had dough, and he had flour, and it was the messiest mess you ever saw in your life, and he was just have a whoopee, saying, when this chicken gets done, George, me and you are really going to eat. And I thought, My lands, if I can just figure a way to get out of here I don't want none of that chicken. But as far as he was concerned he was a king. Everything was fine. Brother, when your heart gets merry, oh, hallelujah! David, thou hast lost the joy of they salvation. Oh, my Father, oh, my Father, grant unto me the joy and the jubilance of my salvation. Let me be joyful again, oh, my Father. Let the joy of Christian living come again. How then can I have this? And I'm going to close in just a minute. There is one way, my Brother and Sister. When Adam and Eve departed from that wonderful Shechinah of God, or the knowledge of God, or the ways of God, all of a sudden condemnation hit them. God had not condemned them. God had not judged them. God came looking for them in the evening time of life. Somebody say I love Jesus. Oh, they said, I can go to church. How come? I'm hid over here. Do you love Jesus? Lord, don't come over here. Why, I'm afraid, Lord, I'm hid. What are you afraid for? Why come you're hid over there? Well, I've been doing the little things that I wanted to do. But what about God? What about this I told you to do? Adam has thou done the things I told you not to do? Is that the reason your hid and under condemnation? See, the faith was gone. That's what killed them. The faith was gone, Brother and Sister; the faith was gone. See? The condemnation had killed them. The life line, faith was cut off, and the Shechinah was over here trying to get to them, looking for them. And the voice was calling out, Oh, children, where art thou? Adam, where art thou, Adam? And Adam was saying, Oh, God. Oh, God. And God was saying, Adam, Oh, my precious one, thine iniquities have separated between the Shechinah and you. Oh, I want to get to you Adam. Thou shalt surely die. Thou shalt surely die, this thing thou hast done. And all down through the years God sought to find a remedy, and a way. And then at Calvary it came. And then it came and said, Oh, Adam, everything is all right. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Everything is all right, Adam. Look in this direction. Look upon the brazen serpent, Moses said, everything is all right. Let whosoever will come on to this fountain, you that don't have any money. Come on and buy anyway for there is a fountain open in the house of David. For this day I bring unto you glad tidings of great joy for unto you a Savior is born, a Son is given. The government shall be upon His shoulders. Let whosoever will come. Hallelujah! That is, no more condemnation, Adam. All of these things that I said you should have done you should have done, but in that man's heart is continually wicked and imagination wicked because of his fall I've made an atonement, a propitiation. Now don't condemn yourself over it; just repent and believe on me. And every time you stumble and make a mistake just keep believing on me. Peter, I've prayed for you, even of cursing. But I've prayed for you that you strength, or faith, don't fail. And, Peter, as soon as you can get your strength back go over there and strengthen them other little ones. Somebody say I love Jesus. Hallelujah! His works had already failed. All he had left was to believe. Your works have already failed. The world is already under condemnation. He didn't send Jesus here to condemn. It's already condemned and the works have already failed; the law showed it up. But all he said the law was for was to show it up, not to condemn us and kill us, but that we might acknowledge that we are wretched and reprobates, and turn our love and gratifying feelings toward Christ, and being great gratitude and praise toward whom who hath made a way for us. So then, we look to Him and our faith goes back up. And here comes that Shechinah glory again, over me and in me. Hallelujah. His above me, in me and through me. Glory to God, I can rejoice forever more for His blessing hath made me rich, and it's added no sorrow. And even give me heavenly treasure in earthen vessels. Today I stand here as that which is restored, and so it is at the end of the Church Ages that door was finally opened. And they that will recognize it, they that will see it, canst thou believe, Jesus said. All thing are possible to them that believe. (Begin tape two, side one.) Don't judge someone. Don't condemn someone. Don't back bite. Don't do evil. Don't do wretched. Don't neglect the hungry. Don't neglect the poor. Don't be selfish. Don't look on the things of your own; look on the things of another. Esteem others better than yourself. Seek the advantage of another. But in the mean time be holy, be glad, be pure, be godly, be perfect as your Father in Heaven. And rejoice. When you stumble don't let the devil get you down. Throw it aside and say, My God, you know my heart. You know I didn't mean to do that. I wouldn't have done that for nothing in the world. Don't go over there and spew and have a fit and stomp and act like an old bull, an old goat, pour out your fury and do everything, and kill and curse and tear down, and then go back and say, Oh, my Lord, you know I didn't mean to do that. You hypocrite! You lying hypocrite. You know you meant to do it. You done it because you are full of the devil. But when you are trying to do right, and you get angry, you are trying to do right and somebody gets you beside yourself start trying to get a hold of yourself, try to change the situation, try to do right. Don't set and lust after some woman, and lust after her and then turn around and say, Oh, Lord, you know I didn't mean to do it. You are a thief and a robber, and you know you are. Don't do that. Set and feed off of all the old thoughts that a vulture would use to feed off of dead carrion. Don't be a hypocrite. Jesus said, Thou hypocrite. Don't do that. But when you are doing your best and you stumble and you stagger, or something, dart falls across your pathway, something causes you problems shake that thing off. Keep on going. Pick yourself up and say, God, you said it. I believe it. Everything is all right. Devil, you're not going to get me down because of it. My Lord's blood took care of that. That's why He died, because he knew I'd stumble somewhere along the way. Somebody say I love Jesus. Brother, you are great. Sister, you are great. You are mighty people in God. You don't realize how great. The Shechinah is back. The life is back. Death is abolished. You've got your superior strength in God if you will get up and believe. If thou canst believe. As in heaven so in earth. One of these days I want to preach on that. Stand with me. Did you know that there is a way to completely eradicate from the face of the earth all poverty? And though the president doesn't know how, and the welfare doesn't know how, I know how. He showed me how to do it. It can be done. Every bit of the poverty in the world can be eradicated. Oh, Brother Pike, you think more highly of yourself than you ought to. No. I'm thinking highly of Him, and can't think as highly as I ought to. He told me how. And Brother, Sister, did you know that death can be eradicated, and sickness can be eradicated from the earth to where there is no more poverty? there is no more sickness? there is no more heartaches? there is no more death? Did you know it can be done? Man don't know how, but God knows how, and He told me how. And did you know with that, in doing that, did you know that's all we need to bring in the millennium? He hath brought to light immortality. Isn't that right? Abolished death in Him, and He hath brought to light immorality. Paul knew how, but he said, I can't speak it. It ain't time for it. But it's time for it now. God hath made it known. God hath made it known but it's going to take more than just saying hallelujah, glory to God. It's going to take more than that. You know those four beast around the Throne was Israel. Three tribes on either side. You know what they were there for? To praise God and say, Holy, holy, Lord God Almighty day and night. And over here in the spiritual perspective of it around the spiritual Christ, and around the Throne, over here there are people that will never serve God, so far as being sons and daughters. Some are Bride, the friends of the Bridegroom, some are children of the bride chamber, but some of them are beasts. But they are walking in the light of the city. They have gotten into the light, into the grace, into the blessing of God. Did you know that? Did you know they are beasts. And did you know they are saying, Holy, holy, Lord God Almighty day and night? And as Sister Betty said the other day, the PTL Club, and the Seven Hundred Club, those folks are not going to live right, but they are beast that's gotten into the light that keeps saying, Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord. That's all they can do. They're in that light. If you ever come into that light you're going to praise the Lord, too. Did you know that? And if that beastly part of you, that bodily part of you ever becomes activated, or illuminated with the glory of the Shechinah you're going to find yourself saying, Hallelujah, praise the Lord. I'll guarantee you you'll do it. It will come out of you. And you say, Well, I don't think I will, but you just let it strike you and I'll tell you what, it'll come out. A prophet back in the Old Testament said, I decided I wasn't going to prophesy any more; I'm through. I'm not going to preach any more, he said. And about that time the anointing of God hit him, and he said, Glory to God here we go. Thus saith the Lord. Said, It's like fire shut up in my bones. I can't keep it back. Like the song we wrote, it gets like fire in your bosom. Ain't no way you can help it. When something says prophesy, my Brother, you'll prophesy. Ole Brother Saul said, I think I'll go up to Ramoth and I'll kill David. And he got up there and he got ready to commit a nice clean murder, as he thought, to hide it from the people, and about that time the anointing of the Lord hit him and he said, Thus saith the Lord! Balaam got over there in the valley, he said, I'll got over there and I'll curse them people, and me and Balak we'll hook up together here, and he's done told me he'll give me a house full of gold, so to speak, and I'll get rich. And Balak got him over there in a good place and said, There them reprobates are. He climbed up there and he took a good look and got to thinking about that gold and about that time the power of God hit him. Thus saith the Lord! he said. I want my end to be like Jacob. You can't do nothing else but what God says. Hallelujah! Glory to God. Let's sing a little chorus together. (Singing.) Can you lift your hands up and love Him for a just a minute? (Speaks in tongues.) Hallelujah. Glory to God, Hallelujah. (Speaks in tongues.) Yea, and I say unto thee, is thou canst believe thou canst see the glory of God. Have I not said unto thee that if thou wouldst believe I would show unto thee the glory of God. Yea, and all that cometh unto me I shall receive them. I shall in no wise cast them out, for he that believeth on me, yea, though he was dead yet shall he live. Yea, and he shall have eternal life. Yea, and he shall outshine the noonday sun in the morning, for all that have looked unto God, all that have believed, all that have trusted in me, yea, saith the Lord, I shall bless them. Yea, and the shadows of the tomb shall not cover them, nay shall the grave hold them, for they shall come forth, yea, even unto everlasting life for I the Lord hath spoken it. Am I not able to do that which I speak, yea, and who shall hinder me? And what shall stop me from the goal wherein I have taken to myself to attain? Hallelujah! (Speaks in tongues.) Hallelujah! Hallelujah! When serving the Lord shall become a joyful and a delightful thing to you, when joy and jubilance spring up within your heart like fountains of living water, the Bible said ye shall draw water out of the wells of salvation with joy. With joy, for serving God is joy. My Brother, when you serve the Word, when you honor the Word, when you obey the Word, when you conform to the Word, when you hunger and thirst after the Word, when you search to see everything that the Word has ever said, or ever desired, when you seek to honor the Word, to become a servant of the Word in your spirit to make it conform to the Word joy will flood your soul, for that Word will turn into Spirit, and those words are life. And life will spring forth within your spirit. Hallelujah! For the seed of life is sown within your heart. What a joy, what a jubilance, what a glory, what a blessing. Through the long sufferings of Jesus He waits patiently for the harvest and the fruit of the earth. And Solomon said, When you shall see the little flowers blooming all across the earth they shall lift up their little heads and they shall bloom and blossom forth, and in the time of the blooming of the flowers, the breaking forth of the poppies of the land. he said, and ye shall hear the voice of the turtle in the land and it shall begin to call and coo to it's mate, (Speaks in tongues.) Hallelujah! Glory to God. Hallelujah! (Speaks in tongues.) Hallelujah! (Speaks in tongues.) Hallelujah! For with stammering lips and other tongues shall I speak unto this people. Hallelujah! And when the voice of the turtle is heard in the land calling to it's mate. You see this you know that summer is nigh. The spring time of the resurrection. God is calling you forth from those bodily tombs, and He's calling to that inner man, to that inner spirit, and that inner soul, and that inner life. He's calling it out of that bodily tomb of long suffering, and the shadows of the tomb. Calling you forth from the shadows of that entombment. Hallelujah! Oh, can you love Him tonight? (Speaks in tongues) The resurrection is drawing closer and the rapture is getting closer and closer. Hallelujah! That great wonderful hour of His presence. Oh, Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Oh, Hallelujah! Can you love Him tonight? Can you brush off the condemnation tonight? Can you say, Lord, I didn't mean to do it. Oh, my God, forgive me. I won't never do it no more. God, I won't never do it no more. I'm going to push it aside this time. I'm not going to let condemnation hang over me this time, and I'm not going to let Satan kill my faith this time. Oh, Lord, I'm going to believe one more time. I'm going to look toward the temple of God one more time, and I'm going to look toward the house of God one more time. And Lord God, I'm going to believe one more time. Oh, have mercy on me, Jesus. And Lord, when you touch me this time, Dear God, I won't never do it no more. Won't do it no more, Jesus. Hallelujah! Don't you love Him tonight? Can you love Him for just a minute? (Singing.) Can you sing it with me and love Him now? (Singing.) One more time. (Singing.)

By Rev. George Leon Pike Sr.

Founder and first President of Jesus Christ’s Eternal Kingdom of Abundant Life, Inc.

Holiness Unto The Lord