Meeting The Challenge

You can be seated. You might not be quite as comfortable, so far as being warm, you know, quite as comfortable as we'd like for it to be, but it's pretty cold outside. Kind of icy out there. And the weather, it's been kind of up and down. It's not real bad in here. Everything seems to be pretty good. Somebody has brought some oil up here. Several bottles of oil. Okay. Sister Chris Hughes, Sister Dale Wade and Sister Patricia Wade. Maybe this is their oil. Let's everybody just kind of stand together, and let's pray over the oil, and while we're praying ask the Lord this morning to undertake if there is anybody that's needy. Just stretch your hands out in this direction, and by that let me know that you are standing with me as I pray. Father, wonderful Father of Heaven, I'm grateful for your wonderful presence. I realize, Heavenly Father, I'm unworthy; yet by the blood of Jesus I beg Your mercy, and I ask You everyday, kind Heavenly Father, to wash me in Your blood, O Lord, to keep me holy and keep me pure. Save me to the uttermost for Your service, for Your glory, for Your kindness. My Father, be with me. Father, anoint this oil with Your lovely presence. Father, may we have a good testimony as it is taken out that the sick might be anointed with it. Father, wherever the sick is and wherever this oil goes, in the behalf of the needy, I pray that You will grant healing, and grant deliverance. Father, if there be sick people here today heal and save, Father. In the world over today, forgive and heal and save in Jesus name. Amen. Praise God! Take our blue hymnals and turn to one hundred and five. (Singing left out) You can be seated. I love the man from Galilee. He's forgiven me all of my sins, placed that Holy Ghost within. Oh, I love the man from Galilee. It's wonderful to be here and to enjoy the wonderful presence of God and feel His love, His concern, His kindness. It's always a thrill. A real genuine thrill to me to be able to come to the house of God. I feel so little, and I feel, as someone used to say, so unnecessary in the sense of Christ meeting me. But I'm so grateful to God that He considered me and that He has tried to stand by me. I don't know how He has stood by me. I really don't, but I'm so glad to God that He has stood by me. So thankful that Jesus has considered me. It's wonderful to be a Christian. It's a great privilege to be a Christian, and when a person really understands and knows how unworthy that they are, they really do appreciate being a Christian. I think maybe we'll sing one more song. Let's sing a hundred and sixteen in the little blue hymnal, can we? (Singing left out) I want to remind you again that we are preparing to go into India and as far as I know it's next Monday. Is it? Not tomorrow but next Monday, right? Next Monday, the Lord's will and nothing happens, we'll be going and we want you to pray for us. Pray that God will bless us and help us to win souls for Jesus. We got another call the other day from Brother Bradley and everything is set up now and ready to go. And the if the Lord is willing we'll be there to do what we can for the Lord. We'll be flying all night over to Amsterdam in Holland, and all night again from Amsterdam to Delhi. And then for two, four, about four to six hours. I guess it's maybe four hours from Delhi to Bombay. Then it looks like from there there is a good possibility we'll be going into Israel. We've had invitations to come into Israel. It's been a good while since we were there. We've also got invitations to go into London, England, and we might go into London, England; I don't know. It just depends on how the Lord leads. But thus far, we haven't decided just which way we'll go. We're going, if the Lord's willing, into Bombay, India to preach the gospel of Christ Jesus. We're going to read just a little bit from over in the book of Hebrews, chapter four, and if you've got your Bibles you can read with us. We've been up all night. We didn't get to go to bed last night because we had some things that we had to do, and I thought we'd get through, maybe, by two o'clock in the morning but it didn't work out that way. At seven o'clock this morning we were still trying to get things finished and we just had to run up home long enough to make a change in getting dressed for service and then go right straight back within just a few minutes to try to finish up and we stayed down there until about ten minutes after ten, or a little longer, hoping that we'd get finished, but we still didn't get finished. So that means that after service there's still something that has to be done before we're finished with what we're doing. But, nevertheless, the Lord is still good. The Lord is blessing and God is still guiding us, teaching us, telling us what we need to do. Helping us in all that we set our hands unto. So it's good to be here. It's good to talk about Jesus. Chapter four, if you've got your Bibles, you can read with me. "Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. (2) For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: But the Word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. (3) For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. (4) For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. (5) And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. (6) Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: (7) Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, Today, after so long a time; as it is said, Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. (8) For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. (9) There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. (10) For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. (11) Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. (12) For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thought and intents of the heart. (13) Neither is there any creature that is not manifested in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. (14) Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. (15) For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. (16) Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we many obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." Chapter five, verse one, "For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins: (2) Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity. (3) And by reason hereof he ought, as for the people, so also for himself to offer for sins. (4) And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. (5) So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, today have I begotten thee. (6) As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec. (7) Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; (8) Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; (9) And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; (10) Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec. (11) Of whom we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. (12) For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. (13) For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. (14) But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." Chapter six, verse one, "Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, (2) Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. (3) And this will we do, if God permit. (4) For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, (5) And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, (6) If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. (7) For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: (8) But that which beareth thorns and briars is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. (9) But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. (10) For God is not unrighteous to forget you work and labour of love, which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to saints, and do minister. (11) And we desire that every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end: (12) That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. (13) For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, (14) Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. (15) And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. (16) For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. (17) Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: (18) That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: (19) Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; (20) Whither the forerunner if for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec." You know, Paul uses the terms here, said, We have many things to say, but it's hard for us to utter them. We have many things to say to you but, he said, it is hard for us to say them. It is hard for the preacher to say them. It is hard for the preacher to utter them. He said, and the reason is because you are dull of hearing. Many things to say, but in that you are dull of hearing, he said, I have a hard time telling you these things. And a lot of times you hear me preaching and I say, Folks, I've got a lot of things that I'd like to say, but it is so hard to get them over to you. It's so hard to tell you, because, see? I find that you are carnal. Paul said, Are you not yet carnal? I find that you are carnal, and because you are carnal then it's hard for me to say these things to you. Or, someone would say, Well, Brother Pike, I don't believe it's hard for you to say them to me. But it's hard to say these things to you knowing that you are carnal. You say, Why would that be hard in that you want to say something to me, Brother Pike, and I'm carnal? Why would that be hard? It would be hard because the Bible teaches that the carnal mind is at enmity with God. And so then if you are carnal__ Paul said, Are you not yet carnal? So then, if you are carnal then that means that it is a hard thing for the preacher to say spiritual things to you, because every time he goes to say something spiritual you acknowledge it in a carnal way. Every time he goes to reprove in a spiritual way you fly up in your carnal reasoning. Every time he goes to say something in a spiritual manner you accept it in a carnal way. And because of that you are always fighting with the preacher. You are always at enmity with the preacher. You are always wrestling against God, because your fight is not against the preacher, but it's against God. And so then it is a continual battle, a continual wrestling against the evil spirits as the minister goes to preach, because your carnal mind is at enmity with God. It cannot please God. They that are in the flesh are carnal and they cannot please God. There is no way they can please God. A person that has resentment. A person that has jealousy. A person that's of a doubtful mind. A person that has the distorted thinking. A person that is always finding fault. The person that sits in the seat of the scornful. The person that stands in the way of the sinners. These people are carnal. These people are at enmity with God. And these people cause a lot of problems. And it makes it utterly impossible for the preacher to be able to get spiritual things over to you. You must be spiritual. If you are to have spiritual strength, if you are to receive spiritual things then you've got to be spiritual. There is no way the preacher can preach spiritual things to you if you are carnal. So then, Paul said, I have a lot of things to say to you, but seeing that you are dull of hearing I can't say them to you. It's hard for me. They are hard to be uttered, Paul said, because I don't have the right atmosphere. I don't have the right receptacle. I don't have the right reception in the audience. I want to say them to you, but I can't do that. They are hard to be uttered seeing that you are dull of hearing. So then, realizing that your carnal mind is at enmity with God you ought to do everything you can to get away from your carnal way of life. You ought to do everything that you can to come into the house of God with a heart of thanksgiving, and come into the house God with praise. Enter into My courts with thanksgiving. Enter into My gates with praise. Or, that is, come into the house of God with praise and thanksgiving, the Bible tells us. See? But if you are carnal then it makes it hard for the preacher to utter spiritual things. It makes it hard. Paul said, Are ye not yet carnal. Whereas there is among you envying and strife and malice. He said, you envy one another, you strive with one another. He said, there is malice among you. Then He said, Is this not those that are carnal. He said, Are ye not carnal? In other words, if your mind is on eating and drinking and buying and selling and going to frolic, and going to the things of the world and having clothes and parties and money and comforts and conveniences, and prestige and all of these kinds of things, are ye not yet carnal? If you're the kind of person that never has spiritual desires, spiritual thirst, spiritual hunger, then you are carnal. The Bible said he that hungers and thirsts after the things of God, after spiritual things, the Bible said, he shall be filled. But, see? If you don't have any hunger and you don't have any thirst after the things of God then you are carnal. If all day long you think about, as a woman, sewing and washing the dishes, and going somewhere and riding and talking and visiting, and being with your relatives, and buying and going to the store, and some kind of thing that's natural all the time, you are a carnal minded woman. I remind you a lot of times, as Mary set at the feet of Jesus Martha kept saying, I want to do this and I want to do that, and she needs to help me. And Jesus finally just rebuked Martha by saying, Martha, Martha, said, you are busy, and you are cumbered with the cares of life and all these things you want to do, said, but I want you to know that that is not the right thing to do. Said, Mary has chosen the better part. She's spiritual minded. She wants to know about God, and she wants to know about the things of Christ. And she's interested in Me telling her about the wonderful things of the Heavenly Father. Said, You have your mind on a lot of things, Martha, but there is one thing that's needful and that's the very thing that you are not paying any attention to. See? You want to go here, Martha, and you want to go there, Martha, and you want to buy, and you want to sell, and you want to get gain, and you want to do something in the house to keep your mind occupied with the natural things of this life. Martha, all of those things are fine, all of those things are good, but did you know that there is but one thing that God requires and that's the one thing that you are leaving off. There is but one thing necessary. It's not necessary to do all of these things. You say, Oh, Brother Pike, it's necessary for me to have a car and it's necessary for me to have a home, and it's necessary for me to have money. Jesus said, There's just one thing that is needful. Just one thing. And said, Mary has chosen that. All that you are doing is not even needful, Martha. Somebody would say, Well, Brother Pike, don't you know that I know? No, I'm afraid that you don't know. You think that you know. Somebody would say, It's needful, Brother Pike, for me to have a home. It's needful for me to have an automobile. It's needful for me to have a job and to have an income. It's needful for me to do all of these things, Brother Pike. But the Bible doesn't teach that. When God called them out of Egypt it wasn't needful for them to do but one thing and that was to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and God would take care of them. And God would set up a commonwealth in the wilderness, and God would provide their bread if He had to rain it down from Heaven. God would provide their transportation, and God would provide all that they needed because there was just one thing needful. That was to seek ye first God. To follow God. To do what God tells you to do. That's the only thing that is needful, Martha. So then, He said, Mary hath chosen the better part. You say, Well, Brother Pike, it sounds to me like you are condoning lethargy and unconcern and laziness. No, I'm not condoning anything that's wrong. I'm just telling you that there is one thing needful and, Martha, that's the very thing you've left off. Mary has chosen the better part. I'm just telling you that when you seek God and God's welfare, and when you look to God, and you go to God that God will take care of all the rest. Somebody would say, Well, Brother Pike, I know quite a number of them that's running around here and there and God ain't meeting their needs. I don't doubt that a bit, but you don't know not one person, you can't show me one person that's seeking the Kingdom of God and His righteousness but what God is meeting all of his needs. All of his needs. I challenge you, or anybody in the world, to show me one person that is seeking Christ Jesus and His Kingdom, show me one person that God is not meeting his needs. There is no such person. Every living human being, man or woman, that is on the face of the earth today that is really, truthfully seeking Christ and going after God, God is not only meeting their needs, but God is supplying all of their needs according to His riches in glory. So then, you say, What kind of need is that, Brother Pike? A need to have an income, a need to have a place to stay, a need to have transportation. A need to have something that you can give to God. That's the need. And if you're not having your needs met it is because you are not seeking God. You know, I don't think there is anything that is more repulsive to me, and repulsive in the sight of God than for somebody to come around and say, Well, I gave all that I have to God and now I don't have anything and we're just having it rough. Because if there ever was a hypocrite that is a hypocrite. There has never been such a person. never in the history of the world has there ever been such a person. Even Elijah that had no income, Elijah that had nothing. During the time of the great famine when he had nobody to help him Elijah's needs were met. God made the ravens come down by the brook and bring him food with a regularity. See? And even when God sent Elijah over to the little widow, God didn't send Elijah over there, as I say so often, He didn't send Elijah over there so that the widow could sustain Elijah, but the famine was in the land and everybody was going to starve to death. And God saw the little widow and she found favor in the sight of God, and God sent Elijah over there so that He could spare the widow. Elijah already had his income. The ravens were already taking care of Elijah. See? God looks after his people. He saw faith in the heart of that little widow. And when He saw faith in the heart of that little widow He sent the great prophet of God over there that He might stir up that faith that her faith might go to work for her and that the faith that she had in her heart might bring her the things that she desired. That during the great famine that her faith might make provisions for her that she might not be in need in the time of the famine. And so it was God said to the prophet, said, go over to this widows house and challenge her faith. And the prophet went over there and said in his words, Widow, I challenge your faith. Take the last thing you've got an give it to a prophet of God. Said, I challenge your faith. And the little widow met the challenge. She said, I have but just this little bit and, said, I was going to prepare it and give it to my son. We were going to eat it together and then just accept the famine as it is and just die knowing that there is no more. He said, But I challenge your faith to give it to the man of God. ( Begin tape one, side two.) She said, Here it is and she met the challenge. And the Bible said that it so aroused her faith, it so stirred her faith up in God until the cruse of oil never gave out. The meal barrel never again was without. Never again the Bible says. When she met the challenge of the man of God, put her faith forward then God took care of her from then on. And, you know what? This is something I try to get over to you a lot of times. Where we make our mistake, we take the outlook like this, you know, God you're going to meet my needs. I know that you're going to meet my needs. Like Brother Jim Kirk told me today. He said, Brother Pike, said, when a man has got plenty of money, said, it's easy for these Brethren, or somebody to jump up and say, I'll give a thousand dollars, and say that I've got faith. He said, But my idea of faith is when you don't have anything and then when you try to do something for God, he said, to me that's faith. And you know, that's exactly right. That's exactly right. We say, God, You're going to meet my needs; I've got faith. I know that you're going to do something for me. I'm going to__ I know that you're going to do something for me. And so then, everything is fine. Everything is going along real good. You've got a job, you've got an income. Everything is just rosy and you've got a lot of faith. But, see? All of a sudden when things began to get turned around and the famine sets in and nobody seems to have work and everything is going wrong, you say, Oh, Lord, oh, Lord, what am I going to do? Lord, what am I going to do? Now where is your faith? Where is your faith? See? You say, Well, I don't know that to do, Brother Pike. But God said He'd meet your needs. Isn't that right? Somebody said, But, Brother Pike. There are no buts about it. God didn't say I'll meet your needs, you know, if everything is rosy, and everything is just right, and you've got a five hundred dollar a week income. God didn't say that. God didn't say I'll meet your needs if everything is just right. It doesn't matter if there is a famine. It doesn't matter if there is a panic. It doesn't matter what there is, God said I will meet your needs. Is that what God said? And so then, the man of God challenged her faith and she met it. She met the challenge. The little widow met the challenge. And the Bible said that God met her needs. Folks, when we have our faith in circumstances we're in bad trouble. Did you know that? Peter made a great mistake. He started off real well. Paul said one time, you've run well, now who's hindered you? Now, who hath bewitched you. And so then, Peter, jumping overboard, when Jesus called him he started off real good, didn't he? You know, because he had his faith in Christ he met the challenge. When Jesus stood on the sea and He said, Peter. Peter said, Master, if that's you tell me to come to You. Bid me to come, Master. And the Lord said, Come, Peter. And the Bible said overboard Peter went and he began to walk on the water because he met the challenge of the Word of God. He met the challenge of the man of God, even Jesus, as Jesus stood there. But did you know? As Paul said, he did do well. He was going along real good and all of a sudden he began to think about the circumstances. He began to consider the environment. He began to look around him and he began to think, My! this is impossible! People can't walk on water! And all of a sudden down he went. Down he went. See? This is where the problem is. God didn't give faith according to that. God didn't give faith according to circumstances. God didn't give faith according to your ability. God didn't give faith whether you are male or female. God said, You believe and I'll do it. I give you a promise, God said, and all you've got to do is believe and I'll do it. It's like I was talking, like I was talking to somebody yesterday, I believe it was. I was talking to somebody about faith in God. I said, Well. They said, You're going to India? I said, I'm going to India. You don't have no tickets. I don't have no tickets. You don't have no money. I don't have no money. And you're going to India? I'm going to India. Somebody said, But you can't do that. But I'm going anyway. Whether I can do it, or not, I'm still going to India. Now, somebody would say, Brother Pike, how are you going to India? I'm going by faith. I'm going by faith. Like a Brother I talked to last night. He said, Brother Pike, he said, I'm trying to do something to help you get to India. I said, Well, Brother, I sure appreciate it. And you'd better believe I do. I said, I thank God for that but, I said, I feel like God wants you to do something. And I feel like what you are trying to get together for me He wants you to use it for yourself. I said, This is what I understand of God. But, he said, I want to help you, Brother Pike, and I've been working on something to help you. I said, Well, that's good and well, but I still believe, you know, what I told you. And I told him this. I said, Now, Brother, look at it like this. I said, I'm going to India and I'm going to India to preach faith to those people. I'm going to India to preach that God will provide their needs and here I am standing over here in America and I can't believe God could meet my needs. Why should I go to India if I can't believe God is going to meet my needs? How can I preach to them that God will meet their needs? If I don't have miracle faith, and miraculous faith to believe that God is going to take care of me and meet my needs I don't have any business in India. I can't help those people over there. Those are poor people. Those are needy people. If my faith isn't of such a caliber that it can take care of me, and work a miracle for me, it's for sure I can't go over there and get God to work a miracle for them. See? I don't have any business in India if I don't have enough faith to believe that God will take care of my needs. That's why I'm going to India, is to encourage them to believe that God will meet their needs the way God meets my needs. God meets my needs. God meets all of my needs. God makes my cup run over. So then, I'm going to India by faith, and God is going to meet my needs to go to India. And I'm going to tell the people of India about the wonderfulness of God and how he supplies all of your needs according to His riches in glory. Whether they have a drought, or whether they don't have a drought, whether it's dry or whether it isn't dry, it doesn't make any difference; God will meet their needs. God will meet their needs. You say, Well, Brother Pike, you've never seen that before. I've seen it many times before. I've been into South America, and I've been into Europe, and I've been in the desert, and I've been in the mountains, and I've been in the snow, and I've been everywhere under all kind of conditions and God has never failed one time. Not one time. Every time God has always come to my rescue. When there wasn't anybody to help God always done it. You know why? Because I met the challenge of the Master. He said, If thou canst believe. If thou canst believe. All things are possible to them that can believe. If thou canst believe. Lord, I believe. I believe, Lord. If thou canst believe. Somebody said, What if you believe and it doesn't happen? What if I believe and it does happen? And besides, who are you to tell me it's not going to happen when God said it would happen? Who are you to be of a doubtful mind thinking in might not happen when God said it would happen? Who are you? Who are you? So then, I say that if God said it it will happen. The song said, And it happened just like He said. It happened just like He said. And it happened. All of my life it has happened just exactly like God said. And the rest of my life it's going to happen just the way that God said it's going to happen, because I believe. Somebody said, Brother Pike, you don't really believe. Yes, I do; I believe. I believe, not in my head; I believe in my heart. I believe with all of my heart that it will happen, and it will happen. So then, I thank God because we can meet the challenge of the Word of God. We can be skeptical. We can come to church. We can be hard in our hearts. We can be non-spiritual and make it hard for the man of God to get across the Word of God, or we can come and believe in God with all of our heart and let our faith rest in the Word of God and encourage the man of God, and encourage faith in our area, encourage faith in the church. We can do that and be blessed of God, or we can come stubborn, contrary, backbiting, evil surmising, finding fault, doubtful minds and hinder the man of God and the work of Christ Jesus. So then, I believe God. I thank God for His wonderful blessings. I thank God because here in the Scripture Paul speaks of a rest. He said, You that believe. You that trust in God, you that believe, he said, You can quit struggling. He said, there is a way for you to quit struggling. If you'll do what I tell you, Paul said, there is a way for you to get away from all of this anxiety and fear and frustration. And there is a way for you to quit struggling. He said, you can enter into the rest of the Lord. Said, seeing that those back there in the wilderness did not enter into the rest because of their unbelief, he said, therefore there remaineth a rest for people that will believe. There remaineth a rest for God's people who are believers. He said, seeing that they did not enter in because of their unbelief, he said, therefore there remaineth a rest for them that will believe. And, he said, them that believe they do enter into the rest of God, and they do cease from their struggling. They do cease from their doubtful minds. They do cease from their wondering. They do cease from their bewilderment, and they do cease from their fears. And they do cease from their frustration. They are not in trouble. They are not struggling. They are not wrestling. They are not fearful, because they trust in the living God. They don't just trust in God, that God is going to be their friend. They trust in God that God is going to heal them. They trust in God that God is going to save them. They trust in God that God is going to keep them. They trust in God that God is going to supply all of their needs according to His riches in glory. They trust in God, believing that what God said He will do. The Bible said, Abraham being strong in faith that he was fully persuaded that what God had promised He was able also to perform. The Bible said he went about daily giving glory to God. Can't you see Abraham. You know, Day after day Abraham singing the songs of Zion saying, Oh, hallelujah! Glory to God, it's going to happen. Oh, hallelujah! Sarah, glory to God, it's going to happen. Amen. Sarah might have looked at him and said, Well, Abraham, how can you be so sure. He probably said, Honey, it's going to happen. There ain't no way in the world it can fail. No way! God said it, Sarah, there ain't no way it can fail. He was strong in faith, not of a doubtful mind, but just taking the promises of God and the Word of God and just going forth and singing the songs of Zion and reassuring his heart. And as David said, stirring up his pure mind, encouraging himself in God. Going about singing the songs of Zion and praising God and believing the promises of Jesus. Do you ever do that? Do you ever do that? You know, you find yourself saying, Oh, it'll happen. I know it will happen. Oh, I don't know; I sure hope it will. I know it will happen. Don't do like that. Just rejoice in the Lord. Rest in the Lord. Relax in the Lord and say, Lord, therefore there remaineth a rest and I am entering into Your rest by having complete confidence in what you say. Folks, when you have a complete confidence in what God said you'll be at rest. You people that are trouble, and you people that are struggling, and you people that can't get yourselves together, it's because you've not entered into his rest. The Bible said he that has entered into the rest of God he has ceased from his own struggling. He has ceased from trying to figure it out. He's ceased from trying to work it out. He's entered into the rest of God, and he's like Abraham, he's singing, glory to God, it happened at Calvary. Glory to God it happened at Calvary. It's finished, Jesus said. It's finished. He done a good job. How many believe Jesus did a good job? It's finished. How many of you really believe that it is finished? Well, why is it you keep trying to add something to it if you believe it's finished. Why is it you try to figure it out if you believe it's finished? Why is it that we're not rejoicing with God, saying, glory to God, Lord, there is no way that it can fail. Look, folks, this should be our attitude. This should be our attitude. Our attitude shouldn't be, Lord, I sure hope__ I hope it works. Oh, Lord, help me. God I'm trusting in you. Lord, make it come to pass. That shouldn't be our attitude. But we should be of this kind attitude. God who created heaven and earth. God who scooped out the ocean bed, God, He flung the stars out into space from His fingertips, God who runs the universe. God. The great God of heaven. The great God of heaven said to me, it will happen. And He said, George Pike, Gary Armstrong, Frank Taylor, I swear unto you it will happen cause I said it. My! Can't you see something like that? My! The God of Heaven. God who created everything. Now, you know, if I went up to Brother Taylor and I said, I swear unto you it will happen, Frank. Why, he said, I don't know about that. There's a lot of things you can't do. But, see? If God comes up to Brother Taylor and says, Brother Taylor, I'm going to give you a promise. And He says, Brother Taylor, I will supply all of your needs according to My riches in glory. I swear unto you it will happen. My! My! My! And then the Bible said, not only this great immutable thing that He swear by Himself because He could swear by no greater. But then He brought another thing and He said, Brother Taylor, I cannot lie. The immutability that I cannot lie, said, I'm giving you two immutable things, Paul said. Brother Taylor, I cannot lie. If I said it, it can't be changed, altered. There is no way it can be changed in Heaven. My Word, Brother Taylor. I'm giving you a promise, children of God. I'm giving you a promise, children of God, and did you know that this promise cannot be altered. It cannot be changed. It cannot be changed. And by one more immutable thing I want you to know that I not only give you the promise that cannot be altered, but I swear unto you that it will happen. So then, what should we say? Why should we be of a doubtful mind? See? We should be like this. Well, glory to God. You know, it can't fail. It can't fail. You say, My God! God said that. Frank, did you know that can't fail? Do you know that can't be changed? Did you know that's going to happen? There ain't no way. There ain't no way. See, our thoughts ought to be, there ain't no way it can fail. If you don't have thoughts like that you don't have faith. You don't have faith. I feel good just talking about it, thinking about it. It makes me fell good all over. Hallelujah! It does. It makes me feel good all over. You say, Why comes you feel so good? Because I've so many needs. If you had all the needs I've got you'd feel good to know all of them are going to be taken care of. You say, Well, I don't know about that. Well, I do. See? It can't fail. There ain't no way it can fail. Somebody said, Well, Brother Pike, if you don't. It don't have nothing to do with whether I do, or don't. See? He didn't say, I'll do this, Brother Pike, if. He said, I give you a promise, and I swear unto you I won't change it. Somebody says, Well, why is it then, Brother Pike, a lot of people don't get it if that's the way it is? A lot of people don't get it because they don't believe it. That's why they don't get it. And I'm trying to tell you to believe it so you can get it. It's like it was said years ago when Abe Lincoln granted a pardon unto a man and the man was in prison and fixing to be executed and he granted the man a pardon. They went down and they opened the door and they told him, said, Come out, you're free; the President said it. Said, You're not going to make a joke out of me. Or, that is, he thought they were joking with him. You're not going to make fun of me. So he just stayed in there and they locked the door, and the next day they shot him, or whatever. And then there was a great stir about it, and it went before the courts and whatever, and they had to make some kind of ruling. So they didn't know what to do. They said the President freed the man, and they killed him. My! what a horrible situation. But then they made the ruling that a pardon is not a pardon unless it is accepted. It is not a pardon unless it is accepted. Therefore, what did the man do? He just didn't believe. Why is it that you don't have all of your needs met? It's because you don't believe. It is because you don't believe. It is because you don't believe. Somebody said, Well, the trouble with me, Brother Pike, is I ruined my name and I don't have good credit. That's why I can't get my needs met. And that's the reason. You know, that's the reason. You got a bad name and you got bad credit and you can't get your needs met, because God is not able to take care of people with bad names and bad credit. Now, isn't that right? Isn't that right? Well, I don't have a job, Brother Pike, and I don't have a good income like this fellow, and I don't know a trade like he does, and I don't know a skill like he does? And so then, God can't meet your needs, you know. Isn't that right? He can't meet your needs because you don't have any skill. You're not skilled in anything, you know. You don't have a good income. You don't know a certain person like somebody else knows, you know, and you're not in the inner click. So then, God, He can't meet your needs. But he can't meet the fellow's that's in the inner click, can't He? He can meet the fellow that's got, you know, the good name up here, and the man that's got plenty of credit, and the man that can go borrow the money, He can meet his needs, can't He? Why you know, and I know He don't have to meet his needs. What does that man need with God? What does that man need with God? He's meeting his own needs. He's got a good name. He's got good credit. He and the banker are friends. He takes care of it when he gets ready. Those people don't have faith. Do you understand what I'm saying? Why did God let you be poor? Why did God let you have a bad name? Why did God let you be poor and not have the things of the world and have all of these other things? Wasn't it for the purpose to teach you faith? Isn't that the way God develops your faith when He puts you to the test? Couldn't God have made you the president? Couldn't God have made you the senator. Couldn't God have raised you up and made you a millionaire and made the other man a pauper? The Bible says God works all things after the council of His own will. God has His way in the god and evil. God rules in the affairs of men. Couldn't God have done that? Couldn't God have thrown the king into the fiery furnace instead of the Hebrew children? Couldn't He have done that? Couldn't He have thrown the king into the lion's den instead of Daniel? You know why he didn't? Somebody said, Well, why didn't he do that? Because the king didn't have that kind of faith. God is not a murderer. He knew it wasn't going to hurt Daniel. Wasn't going to hurt the Hebrew children. All they were going to do was just believe God's promises, and glorify God, and God was going to be magnified throughout the land. And somebody was going to say, Glory to God, did you see what Daniel did? Did you see what the Hebrew children did? Naw, there was a bunch of lions down there that wasn't hungry. But, see? God didn't take no chance like that. He threw the others in there, or that is, he had them to throw them in there, and when they threw them in there the Bible said, as soon as those people hit the bottom of that pit the lions break their bones. Those people said, Did you see what Daniel did? Stayed in there all night long with those lions and not one of those lions bothered him. Somebody said, Man, I wonder what kind of God he's got. Let's go over there and talk to Daniel and see if Daniel will tell us what kind of God he's got. You know, somebody knocking at the door saying, Daniel, Daniel, will you tell us about this thing? You know? How did you stay down there, Daniel? And Daniel became a preacher throughout Babylon. And the Hebrew children became preachers throughout Babylon. And they are preaching the great wonderful faith of God. And they said, It's got to happen because He said it. He told them it would happen. And it happened just exactly that way. It happened. It happened just like He said. It happened. And you know what? If you'll quit putting your faith in the wrong things, if you'll quit misplacing your faith, and quit putting your faith and your thoughts and your ideas and your abilities and your skill and your righteousness and all of these other things; if you'll start putting your faith in just exactly what God said, let the Word of God be the foundation of your faith and of your conviction, God will straighten your home out. God will straighten your life out. God will straighten your children out. God will straighten your finance out. God will cause your enemies to come and bow down at your feet and know that He has loved you, but you've got to believe what He says. Somebody says, Well, Brother Pike, what must I believe? Now, there is a great problems right there. The reason some of you can't believe you've never even taken time to find out whether there is any promises or not. The Bible said, God has given to us great, exceedingly great promises. Great and precious promises. See? Don't let your faith waver. Don't let your faith waver. So then, the great wonderful promises of God, faith in God. God is telling us to believe. God is saying, children, believe. I said to you thus and thus and thus. All I want you to do it believe. If you'll believe I'll take care of the rest of it, for when you believe you enter into my rest. You give me a little peace, too. You know, entering into God's rest it gives God a chance to have a little rest, too. Did you know that? Man troubles God so much. You know, not that God can be troubled in the sense worry, but God is so concerned about mankind. He can feel the infirmities of mankind and it disturbs Him so bad because man isn't taken care of man, and man's needs aren't met. It just bothers Him so much He doesn't know what to do about it in that way. See? He let them nail nails in His hands. He became a human being, let them put a crown of thorns on His head. Let them nail nails in His feet. Let them pierce His side. He lived in a cave. He wondered about; did any old way. Did without His food, everything, just so all of my needs could be taken care of, so that I wouldn't have to die and go down into the burning pit He went there for me. See? And now He's up there in glory. He's resurrected from the dead to suffer no more. He can feel my feelings of infirmity, and then He sets back up there and He looks and He thinks, George, why do you do like that? Why don't you believe? I've done all I know to help you, children of God. I've spilled my blood for you. What else can I do to prove to you that I want you to be happy? What can I do to you to prove to you that I want you to be happy? What kind of people are you? What does somebody have to do to show their love to you, and show their concern to you? And prove to you that they want you to have your needs met, and want you to be healthy and wants you to be well? What do you require of me? I died for you. My hands were bruised for you. My feet were bruised for you. My head was bruised for you. I went down into the very belly of hell for you. What do I have to do to prove to you that I want you healthy and well? and want you happy? With all of this you still listen to the evil spirits of devils and fallen angels that keep saying, Well, that's for Him and not for me, and I don't know because I don't feel like I'm good enough you know, and I just don't understand it, and all these kind of things. What does God have to do to us, folks? What does God have to__ What does God have to do for us for us to get our minds straightened out to the extent that we can accept what He said about it? You know, we've got more confidence in our neighbor than we have in God. We've got more confidence in our husband than we have in God. We've got more confidence in our wives than we have in God. We've got more confidence in our children than we have in God. More in our mother and our daddy, our brothers and our sisters than we have in God. Did you know today if you went up town and you bought a new stove for your house and you gave the man the money for it and the man said, All right, I'll deliver this stove; you can count on it. Did you know you'll go away with full confidence he was going to do it? You wouldn't question it at all. You've got more confidence in him because of a little money exchange than you have in God who actually exchanged places with you, and exchanged lives with you and gave you the sureness by those immutable things that God cannot lie. And you still question God, and you still don't have confidence in God. And you still wrestle, say, Oh, help me to believe. If I could just believe. Oh, God, help me to believe. Don't you know that's foolish in the sight of God? Don't you know that's disturbing in the sight of God? My wife come up to me and she's say, you know, I'd like for you to come home. I've got a nice meal prepared for you. Got a nice birthday cake for you, and you come on over. I've got everything ready. And I's say, Ooh, I wish I could believe that. I say, Frank, just think, what if she really did have a cake? That's just too good to be true; my wife would never do nothing like that. How would she feel toward me? See? Wouldn't that dishonor her? Wouldn't that be disgraceful? Even to a human being that would be disgraceful. And yet God, God, said, you're my children. I love you. If you ask of me bread, children of God, do you think I'm going to give you a stone? Do you feel like I'd give you a stone? If you come over and say, Lord, I'm hungry, give you a fish. Do you think I'd give you a serpent? Somebody said, Well, I think He's cut me off. I feel like I can't get there. You know, I'm praying and I'm begging and I'm pleading. I'm saying, Oh, Lord, help me, but I know You don't love me. You've cut me off, I can't make it. Now, is that the way to feel. Has God actually cut you off and you can't make it? You know, you're begging, you're pleading to God and you're saying, just give me a crumb. He says, Away with you. Give her a serpent. Give him a serpent. Give him a stone. Now does that sound right? How is it that we can insult God? How is it that we can take the attitude that we take? How is it that we can wrestle with ourselves trying to get ourselves to believe in something that we should be convinced in, that it can't fail to happen. Abraham was strong in faith. You know, strong in faith. And you know with all this preaching I can feel some of you going out like a candle. That's unbelievable but I can. You know, where the problem is? You live so much in the flesh, and you walk so much in the flesh that it is impossible for you to please God. Did you know that the Bible said, He that cometh to God must believe that God is? That is, believe that there is a God, and believe that God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. (Begin tape two, side one.) ..to reward you, that He is a rewarder, He is a giver, He is a blesser. He is saying, here it is. Here it is heap upon heap. You've got to believe that He is a rewarder or you will never get anything from Him. Did you know that you've got to get your mind straightened out to this extent, that you've got to go around expecting something good from God instead of going around expecting God to beat you over the head with a stick and to cast you into the fire, and to turn the devils a loose on you? Don't you know that you've got to believe that there is a God first of all? And that you've got to believe that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek God? You say, Well, that's where the problem comes in, Brother Pike. I don't diligently seek Him. Well, don't be a hypocrite get down to business with Him. If you're a child of God you'll diligently seek Him. And if you don't diligently seek Him then you are not a child of God. You need to get born again. That's what the preacher is for, but I'm talking to those that are Christians, those that believe God. Those that love God. Why do we want something to harass our minds? Why do we do these things. Here's the problem. We walk so much in the flesh that it's impossible to please God, because when you are carnal minded and you walk in the flesh you don't have faith in God and without faith in God it's impossible to please God. You say, Brother Pike, how about detailing that to me and make me to understand what you're saying? I'm just simply saying that unless you believe that God is a rewarder of them that love Him and that God is wanting to pour out Heaven on them, and that God is wanting to do something good for you all the time, unless you believe that you displease God. It's impossible for you to please God, because you don't believe in God. Why is God turning the multitudes into hell out yonder? Somebody said, because they're so horrible, that's why. Why, I dare say, there is some of them out there living a better life than you that are professing Christianity. I know people that are moral that live better lives than some of you people. God isn't turning them into hell for that. Somebody said, Well, I quit my smoking. So did they. I know numbers of doctors, I read where hundreds of doctors quit smoking because they said it would give you cancer. That don't prove no virtue. Somebody said, Well, I don't chew. I know that. A lot of people don't chew because they don't want to be like a billy goat. They don't care for the filth. Say, Well, I don't go dancing. A lot of people don't go dancing because they don't like to dance. And some men don't go dancing because they don't like for other men to hug their wives. And some women don't like for the husbands to hug other women. Their husbands to hug other women. See? That don't prove no virtue. That don't prove no godliness. That don't prove you have anything. Somebody says, Well, I stay away from the frolics of the world. I know people that don't go to the races and don't go to six-flags, and whatever. They don't want to go to them. Those things are annoying to them. Somebody said, Well, I know that I'm a Christian, because I go to church. I know hundreds and thousands of people, know of them, they go to church with a regularity, but they don't have God. Are you listening to me? Somebody said, But, I give in the offering, I know that I'm a Christian. Why, I know. I've read books where rich men, they're not Christians at all, and they learned that giving to God would make them rich and they give to God with a regularity. So then, what have you got? See? That's positive proof that God has not saved you because you're good folks. He told Israel, said, I've not saved you because you're good people. He said, You're some of the most contrary people in the world. God told them that. Said, You're a backsliding heifer. Every time I look around you're backsliding. You won't do what I tell you. Said, I've not chosen you because you are a good people, and not because you're a great people, not because you are more in number than somebody else. He said, you are just a handful, so to speak. You're just a few. He said, I chose you for one reason, I want to make myself a name. That's why I hardened Pharoah's heart, and that's why I brought you out here and rained down manna from heaven so that I could make myself a name. That's why I made the mountain burn with fire, so that I could make myself a name. You say, But, God, why would You take Israel so that You could make Yourself a name? What good is that? He could have said, Well, there's going to be about four million people in the world come Brother Pike's day, and from Brother Pike's day back over here to your day there's going to be hundred of thousands and millions of people that are going to die and go to hell if I don't make myself a name so that they can have a God that they can call on, and so that they can esteem this name as being the name of deliverance, and this name as being a name of salvation. I've got to chose a group somewhere and show my love and affection and power and demonstrate my greatness to where they'll know that I am God and they can trust in my name. And the Bible said, And the prophetical utterance shall come to pass that the Gentiles in His name shall they trust. So then, the day that it shall come to pass that whosoever calls upon the great name of the Lord Jesus shall be saved. You say, Then why am I saved, Brother Pike? Because you called on the name of the Lord, that's all. If thou canst believe in thine heart that God has, for Christ sake, raised Him up, or given salvation to us by His name, you can be saved. If thou canst believe in thine heart and then make a confession with your mouth you can be saved. That is, if I can believe unto righteousness, in that He is my righteousness, I believe in what He did in my behalf, and if I confess that with my mouth then He is the High Priest of my confession; I can be saved. He said, Say what you will and it will be done unto you. You say that you are a Christian because you believe in Him, and you say that I have saved you because you believe in me and see if it isn't effective. And see if the Holy Spirit doesn't come into your heart and seal your spirit. Even though your body might not be redeemed at the moment there'll come a day when I'll change it from this wretched image that it's in. See? You call on Me. You believe on me and see if I don't do it. And by the same token, if you're sick you call on me and believe that you are healed the same way that you believe that you are saved: because that I said it. Somebody would say, Well, Brother Pike, I can believe that I'm saved. You know, I can believe that I'm saved. No, you can't. You people that can't believe in the other things, there's no need of fooling yourself. You don't have salvation. You just make yourself think that you're believing. You know? But you don't really believe. See? Because to be saved you have to believe in His righteousness. You have to confess that you are a Christian because of what He did, the life He lived and the sacrifice He made. And you've got to confess that without wavering. That's got to be a conviction of the heart if you are a Christian. And that brings God's Spirit into your heart to seal your spirit by His Spirit that you are a Christian. Therefore, the same thing applies if you are sick. You've got to confess that you are healed by His stripes and by what He done. You've to confess that you are healed because He lived a healthy, well, overcoming life, and yet He was bruised for your iniquity. The chastisement of your peace was upon Him, if you're ever going to have peace you've got to believe that He paid the price for your peace. And all of the paths of God are peace. You've got to believe it. Somebody says, Well, I'm praying and I'm hoping. I'm believing someday. That has nothing to do with it, to pray, hope and believe someday; you'll always be in the hog pens of life. You've got to believe God. You say, But, I praying, Brother Pike. But that doesn't do it. Praying has nothing to do with it. The Bible says when you pray believe. Believing is what has to do with it. So then, you pray and you believe. You believe. You believe that you're going to be healed. No, you believe that you've already been healed. You say, I believe I'm going to be healed. I believe God is going to bless me. No, that's not right. The Bible doesn't teach that. It teaches that God has already healed us by His stripes, and God has already blessed us. And that God has already, in Christ, given us all blessings in heavenly places. He's already given them to us. As long as I'm praying, God, give me, if I can I'm going to get to it, I'll always be in the hog pen. But when I realize that Calvary was the finishing of it, that it gave me my health and it gave me my happiness, and it gave me my strength and it gave me all the securities of life, and it gave me all of my needs, and I rise up and go on my way rejoicing saying, hallelujah, like Abraham, hallelujah, Lord, I thank You for supplying all of my needs. Hallelujah, Lord, I thank You for keeping me safe everyday. Lord, I thank you because you give me the desires of heart. Hallelujah. Lord, I thank You because everything is going to be all right. That's the attitude. That's the attitude. Are you entering into His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise? You say, Well, what have I got to be thankful for? He said, Give thanks for all things. You say, Well, if I could get to them. You already have them. Why would God ask you to give thanks for all things when you don't have nothing? Somebody said, Well, I'm so weak, Brother Pike. He said, Well, then be strong in the power of my might. Confess my strength. I've given it to you; why be weak? Why? You say, But, I'm so sick, Brother Pike. He said, Well, confess My health. By my stripes you are healed. Enjoy health. Go on your way rejoicing. Somebody said, Brother Pike, that's some kind of fairy tale. This is the truth. The profound truth of the everlasting God that cannot be altered one jot, nor one tittle; that cannot be changed. I swear it unto you, Jesus said. It's the truth. Nobody is going to change it, not even Lucifer. So then, you say, Brother Pike, I'm in poverty. I'm in poverty. Well, little widow, go on and enjoy the cruise of oil. It ain't never going to give out. Go ahead and enjoy the meal barrel. Thank God for it. Rejoice over it. It ain't never going to give out. You know, here's a little thought here. We could go on and on, but I'm going to close. But here's a little thought here. You know, ever since I was a boy I've heard people talking about the weather. They still do it. Oh, I don't know whether we're going to have enough rain. And I don't know whether we're going to have enough, you know, this. Or I don't know if we're going to have enough of that. I just don't know. And, you know, years ago I came to one conviction in my heart. I said, God, now you took care of this thing for many years and it's always worked all right. Why should I worry about the weather. The Bible said if you want to sow your seed, go sow your seed. Said, he that regardeth the weather he might as well sow to the wind. He isn't going to reap anything anyway. Said, put the seed in the ground and trust God for it. He's the one that gives the harvest. I said, My God, why does these people talk about he weather all the time. They wonder if there's going to be enough water, going to be enough this, and enough that. I said, Well, You've taken care of it all these years, why should I worry about it. That's not my business anyway. And, you know, I've been around more than several days, and it's been doing all right ever since I've been around. And all of those people that have worried about it, that died before I came along, it still worked out all right then. And I've got a feeling if I go out of here, if it works out that way, that all of them that comes after me, that it's still going to work out all right, because He's the one that looks after it. You say, Well, why do you use that illustration, Brother Pike? I use this illustration because that's the way it is with a Christian. Why do you worry? The Bible said, which one of you could add just one cubic to your stature. And which one of you can make one hair white, or black? Said, If you can't do these little things why do you worry about the other things? See? Why do you worry? He said, consider the sparrow. Consider the birds. He said, they don't sow in a field. Mary, there is just one needful thing. You don't have to sow in a field. He said, Martha, you don't have to sow in a field. He said, consider those sparrows; they don't sow in a field. He said, But your Heavenly Father feeds them. Now, I want you to stop for just a minute now and think. He said, consider the lily. Why, that lily out there, who takes care of the lily? The lily of the valley, who takes care of that? Said, you remember Solomon with his glory, all of his wealth and his splendor? Said, have you ever closely examined the lily? Said, if you do you'll realize that all of his splendor didn't hold the magnificence of that lily. Said, who gave that? Now, listen. I want you to think for a few minutes before I close. Think, now. God__ Now if I'm lying somebody ought to have the backbone and the boldness to stand up and say, Preacher, you're lying; you need to shut up. Now, God has to feed not only the sparrow that He spoke of, but he has to feed all of the sparrows. Somebody said, Well, that's a lot of sparrows, because around my house there's a lot of them. Brothers and Sisters, I'm talking about all of the sparrows throughout all of world. I'm talking about billions, and billions, and billions, and billions of birds. And He has to feed them everyday. Maybe two, or three times a day. Or all day long. Just think, that's God. And we worry about God feeding us. We think, Well, how can He do it? And then while God is feeding the birds, just on the side lines He feeds everything in the ocean. Everything in all of the oceans, everything in all of the seas, everything in all of the rivers, everything in all of the creeks, and everything, and all of the branches, and even the wiggle tails that get in your wells. He has to feed them. God feeds them. The big fat lazy whales that weights tons, many tons, multiplied tons, God feeds the whole crew. The whole lot of them. And then while he does that God has to feed all of the lions throughout the world. Mountain lions in Mexico, and Africa and wherever. God has to feed all of the Giraffes. God has to feed all of the hippopotamus, and God has to feed all of the crocodiles. Are you listening? And God has to feed every wild animal. Millions and billions of species, God has to feed them. Everyday, so many times a day, God does that. And then while God does that he has to feed all the butterflies, and all the little honey bees, and all the little insects, down to the very chigger. God has to do that. Throughout all the world, God has to do that. You know, we could go on and go on and go on, but just stop for a minute. Now, besides that, God in our very day that we're living in has to feed four billion people two, or three times a day. God has to feed them. And then besides that while He's doing that He has to feed all of the angels. Millions and millions of angels; He has to feed them. Somebody says, Well, angels don't eat. The Bible said in the wilderness those people ate angel's bread. He has to feed the angles. All of the multiplied millions of angels and millions and millions. Folks, I wonder if He could take care of me? Do you reckon He could? I wonder if He could take care of you? There's just a good possibility that He might have the ability to take care of you if you'd just stop and look in His direction and say, You know what, Brother Pike? I believe. That's all it would take; I believe. Do you believe? I believe. Jesus said, don't doubt; just believe. That's all. Don't doubt, just believe. Decree a thing in your heart, it'll come to pass. I'll give you the desires of your heart. Say what you will and you can have it. Are you contending for the faith? Somebody said, Well, I don't know, Brother Pike. You know what? I don't think some of you are even contending for the faith. I don't think you make an effort to be any better than you were yesterday. I don't think you make any special effort to try to believe anymore. You know, you're never going to believe anymore if you don't make an effort to believe some. If you go on in that same rut of your intellectual reasoning you've always been in, you're always going to be in that same condition. It might be good if you'd contend for the faith a little bit, and you'd make some effort to get a little closer to God and to believe a little more. Why does God want you to live better? Why does God want you to be more like him? why does God want you to conform more to Him? Because Christ is the everything. And the more you're like Him the more you have everything. The closer you draw to Him the closer He is to you, and the more you have all your needs met. The more you get like Him the more virtue you have, the more your faith goes out to believe in His righteousness and in His blessings. That's why God does it. Why does the law want you to obey the law? To keep from having to put you in jail. Keep you from getting your neck broke. Somebody says, Well, they've just got a billy stick, you know. Now, that's not what it is. The law is made to help you, but if you ain't got enough sense to use your reasoning, to honor the law, then they use a billy stick on you, to help the other folks. Did you know that the law will put one man into jail and one man in the electric chair, and right down below you that he'll come down, the law will come down and be a protection and a security to those others. So then, what you need to do, folks, is to think things over, and quit playing games and get down to business. If you believe God believe God. If you're going to trust God trust God, and if you ain't going to trust God, the Bible said, get out there in the world and make yourself some friends of the unrighteous mammon that they may receive you into everlasting habitation when the Lord rejects you. I'm going to say this and close. It's like Brother Jerry Lambert said about going to India. And when I mentioned something to Brother Jerry about it, Brother Jerry he didn't doubt because he had just come back where God had met his needs in a miraculous way. But Jerry he mentioned one or two things, and I said, Now, look, Brother Jerry, I said, let's look at it like this. I said, If God wants you to go to India, really genuinely wants you to go to India, I said, is there anything that can stop you from going to India? Is there anything that can stop you? He said, No. I said, Well, don't worry about it. That takes care of it, it's just that simple. Somebody said, Well, but, but. There is no buts about it. That's where you get in trouble. Why kind of buts are you talking about. There is no buts about it. There is nothing that can keep Jerry from going to India but Jerry. And that is unbelief because he doesn't believe. That's the only thing in the world that could keep him from going. If he truly believes that God wants him in India there is nothing that can stop him from going to India. I'm going to India. If God wants me in India I'm going to India. I don't have no way to go to India, and I don't have any money, and I've got to have thousands, multiplied thousands of dollars to go to India, but I'm going to India because God wants me in India. And I'm going to India. Somebody says, Well, it's easy for you because you knows God wants you to go. Oh, I'm a human being just like you're a human being. I talk to God. I believe in God. I take God's promises. God said to me, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. That takes in India. And the time has come around for me to go into that part of the world to preach to those creatures, so I'm going to India. I'm just going by His Word, that's all. That's all. That's all, just by faith in God. I want you to (blank place on tape)....If thou canst believe Jesus said. If thou canst believe. Believe what? Believe what I said. What did you say? I said, Whatever you want you can have it. Even to the desires of your heart. Just delight yourself in Me. Somebody said, How do you delight yourself in God? I'll tell you what. If you believe just what I said about God loving you and giving you everything how could you be anything but delightful in your heart? That's what delightfulness is, is believing in Him. It bring a delight that causes your cup to run over. Let's sing this little chorus, I love Jesus. (Singing) Sing it again with me, can you? (Singing) Can you lift your hands? (Singing) Can you just lift your hands up and close your eyes now? Oh, Brother, Sister, my heart is enlarged toward you. Why not fall prostrate at Jesus' feet? Why not let your faith and heart and love, compassion, sincerity go out to God? Why not once and for all be a fool for Christ in that you feel the world is going to look at you and you're going to be a spectacle to man? Why not trust Him for one time with all of your heart? You say, But I'll die, Brother Pike. Well, glory to God, if we do we'll be with Him sooner. Ain't that what we want to do anyway, is get with Him? Why not trust Him? Why not lean upon Him? Why not put your whole life, your whole heart, let your faith go our to God? Why don't you turn a loose of your believing and your faith, and quit keeping in under a bondage? Quit holding it back with your old doubtful thoughts. Let it soar up to heaven. Just let it go like a kite on a string. Like a balloon with gas in it. Clip the string and watch it rise. Clip the gravitational powers of that old doubtful reasoning of yours. My wife Betty the other night was sick, real sick, choking, couldn't breath. I said, Well, Betty, go to the doctor. Doctor's do good. Medicines do good. You know, you need to get your life straightened out. Don't be like Asa. Don't go running after the physicians. Talk with God; get the sin out of your life. See? Be sure you do that first or there won't be any healing medicines. Somebody said, Well, if I go to the doctor they'll heal me. I'll get me some medicine. They'll heal me. No, if the medicine can do it why does the Bible said, in that day there will be no healing medicines. See? It's God in the medicine healing. And when God quits healing the medicine won't do nothing. God created the earth, and God created everything they make the medicine out of. God created the mind and show them how to put it together. You know? She said, No, if God don't heal me I won't be healed. Now that's what faith is. Now you can say that and be foolish, but if you say that and you throw yourself upon Him saying, My God! I trust You with all of my life, all of my heart, all of my soul, Jesus, I'm trusting You. I'm trusting You. You love me. You promised. I'm trusting You, Jesus. You're going to heal me, Jesus. You're going to save me, Jesus. You're going to forgive me, Jesus. You're going to meet all of my needs. You're going to fight all of my battles for me, Jesus. Hallelujah! I feel somebody getting healed right now. I feel somebody getting healed right now. I really do. I feel somebody right now in the audience that is actually resolved to a confidence to say, Glory to God, I'm going to trust you, Jesus. That's right. That's right. I feel it. I feel faith. I feel faith coming from Sister Harper over here right now. I remember a woman setting up in the balcony. I remember. They told her she had cancer and she was dying with it. But one night when I was preaching I felt her throw herself upon God. She threw herself upon God and God has been taking care of her ever since. Ever since. Say, Well, I'm young, Brother Pike, nothing is wrong with me. I don't know. I got word the other day that a young woman just took a headache, and all of a sudden, she became paralyzed all down her right side. (Begin tape two, side two) Somebody said, But, I don't believe you, Brother Pike. That don't have anything to do with it. I didn't tell you to believe in me. I didn't tell you to believe in any preacher. We are they that don't have no confidence in preachers, or whatever. We don't have any confidence in the flesh. I didn't tell you that. I told you to believe in God's promise, in God's Word. That God gave you a promise that can't be altered, and swore before the angels of heaven that He'd never change His Word and promises, too. If you can fall prostrate upon God__ Somebody said, I don't have any work. Like Brother Jim Kirk. I never will forget. When he came out here and I started to building this place. Jim said, What in the world are you doing? I said, I'm going to build a building. How are you going to do it? I said, I'm going to build it by faith, Jim. Said, You are? I said, yes. And a few days later Jim going away, came back. You know, I'd dug it bigger. He said, What are you doing? I said, I'm increasing the size of it, Jim, I'm going to build it bigger. I'd never got the first one up and I was starting on the second one. You know. And I said, I'll tell you what__ Jim told me a little later, said, you know, I'm out of work. I said, I challenge you to come out here and help me. I said, If you'll some out here and help me, Jim, I said, you won't even have to look for a job. I said, It will come right here to you. Did it come to you, Jimmy? Right here? It came right here to him while he was helping me. Somebody said, I'm out of work. I challenge you to help me. Give me a helping hand and you won't have to look for no job, it'll come out here to you. It'll come out here to you. Somebody said, I don't believe you. I know, that's what you don't have it. But Jim did believe it. This is a convenient Gospel, isn't it? See? I can always just put it right back on you, see? because you don't believe it. Praise God! Isn't that wonderful? I got the upper hand. God gave it to me. But, you know, the great thing about is that it's real. It's real. Folks, I've put it to the test and it's real. It works. If you don't have a job, you don't have a job because you don't believe. If you don't have work, you don't have work because you don't believe. Somebody said, Now, wait a minute, Brother Pike. No, that's just the way it is. You say, You mean I'm out of a job and I don't have a job because I don't believe? That's exactly right. There is no other reason that I know of. God said He'd give you the desires of your heart. You undoubtedly evidently don't desire anything. You don't desire a job. You're not desiring to work. You don't have a mind to work. He said He'd give you the desires of your heart. You start to desiring to do something and see if somebody don't give you a job. I know that don't sound too good. I know that don't because that turned the rock over and showed the bug; he was hiding under the rock. See where you're standing? You don't even know your own heart, do you? You don't know your own heart. The Bible said it's desperately wicked, deceitful above all things; you can know it? See? You don't even know your own heart. Here you are thinking all the time you wanted a job when you didn't want it after all. God is good. God is good. Call Him up, call Him up, tell Him what you want. God is on the mainline now. Folks, let me tell you this in trying to find a place to close here. You are a daughter of God. Has it ever occurred to you that you are a daughter, not of a king, but of the King of all kings? Has it ever occured to you that you're His daughter? Somebody says, Well, I can't believe that way. You ought to bet born again because it's something to be His daughter. Has it ever occurred to you gentlemen standing here that you are a son of God. Has it ever dawned on you that you are a son of the great King of Heaven, glory? Has it ever dawned on you? Oh, if it ever does you're going to be happy. You're going to be happy if it ever does dawn on you. Somebody says, Well, I know I am. No, you don't know it, because you wouldn't say it like that and think it like that and act like that. No siree. If you were a son of a King today you know what you'd do? Why you'd go to Hawaii and you'd go here and you'd go there, and you'd go everywhere you wanted to go and you'd buy everything that you wanted to buy because you'd be a son of a king. You could have what you wanted. That's why I buy what I want to buy, and I go where I want to go, and I do what I want to do, because I'm the son of a King. Hallelujah! My Father is rich in houses and lands; He holds the wealth of the world in His hand. I just say, Father, I'm planning to go to India. Says, When are you planning to go? I'm planning to go next week, Father. Let's see now, do I want to ride on Eastern? Do I want to ride on Delta? Well, that's immaterial, you know, which ever one is going that's what I'll ride on, but I'll be going next week, Father. All right, son. I'll take care of it. Thank You, Father. Somebody says, Brother Pike, you're making a joke out of it. I'm not making a joke out of it. That's exactly the way I talk to Him. I say, Father, I'm going to India. Says, Well, when do you want to go? I say, Well, I'm getting the date together now. I'll get the thing together. I'll say, Betty, this is the date we're going to go on. Unless the Lord tells me different you go ahead and pack the bags; we're going to go. And here comes somebody along. Maybe it's a thousand dollars. Maybe it's two thousand dollars, or it might be as it was one time, ten thousand dollars in a cashier's check. Somebody comes along, you know, and here it is. Why do they do that? Because I've got to take a trip. My Heavenly Father sent it to me. The Bible says, So shall men give unto your bosom, good measure, pressed down, heaped together. God could rain it down out of heaven, but he works through men. He built the boat by a man that saved the people. He works through men. He took a man and nailed him to Calvary to save the people. He works through men. He sent prophets to speak to the people. Do you love the Lord? Don't get in a hurry to go cause I've got something else to do. You know, we get in a hurry to go, say, My, it's lunch time. We've got to get out of here. That's why you ain't got no faith now. It's not time to go yet because I've got something else in my mind I'm going to do. I'm not closing out. If you think I'm closing out here, I ain't closing out. You might as well get over that, you know. He's getting closer and closer; he's going to say amen in a few minutes. No, I've got something else to do, you might as well get over that. If you've got to hurry along, you hurry along. Otherwise you just stay here with us. Do you understand what I'm saying, folks? It's really something. I am the son of a King. I thank God for His blessings. I heard a little story about some slaves one time. They had this one slave and they said, he's so different from the other slaves. Said, the way he carries himself, a proud kind of a person. He's got an air about him that the others don't have. And they ask him one day, said, why do you act like you act? Said, you don't act like a slave. He said, I'm a son of a king. My father is a king. My father is a king. I might be in slavery to you, but I'm a son of a king. You might be enslaved by the world today, you might be in the bondage of Egypt but, my beloved Brother, or Sister, you are sons and daughters of the King. You need to hold your head up high like the slave did. Son of a king. Joseph, come up here just a minute. If we get our minds, as a preacher said preaching in a great meeting one time, thousands of people, said, if you get your mind out of the supper room and get your minds in the upper room, said, everything would be all right. Get your minds off of lunch and off of dinner, off of tummies, and get your mind on God, and take a little more time for God, you'd have a whole lot more faith. But you're eating yourself to death. The Bible said let their table become a snare to them. It really has become a snare to a lot of people. You are snared by it. That's all you do is eat and think of what else you can find to eat. Joe hand me that over there if you don't mind. (Blank place on tape) ..happened to come up this way, brought this up here. Some of you weren't here the other night when we preached concerning some things and spoke of sending a flag to Mr. Reagan. And it took a lot of hard work. They made this flag. It's a beautiful thing. It's made just beautiful in every way. It's not thrown together like some of ours have been thrown together. It's made fit for a president. And some of the boys have been working hard. It still yet has to have some plastic enclosures. You can't see it here but it says, the honorable Ronald Reagan in gold letters, and right up under it it says, United States President, Washington DC in multiple colored letters. And down here, you can't see this either, but it has a return address of Little Bethlehem down here. Inside is the flag, packed very neatly with the little plastic type peanuts, or styrofoam type peanuts. And of course, as far as I know, when we finish the service we'll go back down, seal the package. A little more to do there. If we can we'll seal the package, and we've already written Mr. President a letter. We haven't addressed the envelop yet. We've already written the letter and we'll be sending it to Washington DC. Before we take it out today I want you to pray with me again. Some of you were not here the other night when we had this flag, and we preached concerning some things and explained concerning this flag. And you remember the real unique manner in which we gathered here. Perhaps tonight, or one night, I'll make mention of the significance of that night and what happened, the way it happened. But, you know, this has a significance that you could never have fathomed had God not revealed it, or that you will never fathom unless God reveals it. It has such great significance. And I hope by the goodness of the Lord and His blessings that we'll have it in the mail by tomorrow, or the first thing monday morning. I trust that we'll have it in the mail. And I'm going to set it right out here, right there, and I want you to pray with me. I want you to stretch out your hand up here toward it, and I want you to pray with me over the flag. Just stretch your hands out, and I'm going to stretch mine out over it and we're going to pray once again that God would bless this effort. I don't know whether or not there are any cameras here. I wish there had been because I'd like to have got some close up shots of it, because once it's gone we won't have this, so far as the packet. There's a significance in it. But if there are no cameras, then there are no cameras. Brother Jerry said he'll get one. Okay. No, Sister Nancy has her camera. Okay. She's going to take a picture, or two, of it, and some of this labor, whether you believe it or not, some of this it consists of many hours of hard labor and work. And even last night some men that stayed up all night long, that hasn't gone to sleep yet, in the preparation. You know, there might be another way, I don't know. There could be another way to do things. Like I told Brother Jimmy Kirk. I said, Jim, there could be another way. I know there could be another way to get things done, I said, but I don't know of another way. The only way I know is pressing in, perseverance, and having a mind to work and taking the cross; that's the only way I know. So if there is another way I've not been fortunate enough, if we would call it that, I've not been fortunate enough to discovery it. So the only way I know to do, if it takes all night long, then stay all night long. If it takes all night long and all day long, as it has in time past then take all night long and take all day long. And if it takes weeks and months and years, as it has with me and Betty, on the field carrying the gospel, sacrificing, doing without, or whatever it called for, if it takes that to do the job for God then we need to do that and get the job done for God. Do you agree to that? That's the way I see it. Lin was out there in that mud hole yesterday digging and splattering mud, and covered up with mud and Matthew was out there. He looked like he'd been down in the pig pen, but they were digging. They were digging. A lot of people won't dig, you know, but they were digging. And we got a bad place down there where the water is seeping up out of the ground. It's been there for a number of years, and they were up there digging and trying to do something for God. You know, and I told Brother Floyd, I believe. He was standing there with a camera. We used our camera yesterday. We used the sixteen millimeter camera yesterday; did some filming. And I pointed at Mack when Mack came in covered with mud, just wrapped up with mud. I said, Brother, there's the people I want to see on video. There's the people I want to film. I'm not interested in people running around with bow ties and looking sleek and nice, don't want to get their hands muddy. Don't want to carpenter, don't want to dig, don't want to do else. I could care, as the world says, less about those folks. I want that man that's down in the mud hole, that man that's willing to get out there and make a little cement, and the man that's willing to dig, the man that's willing to work, the man that's willing to do something. That's the man I'm interested in and having in the movies, having on the video, and having in the magazine. I know a lot of the others get in there, but it ain't my desire. It's because people are partial and they desire to do things there way so they do what the want to a lot of times in the Harvester's Herald. But that ain't my way to do it. I want men and women to be projected and to be lifted up that are worthy of a cause. People that are willing to do something. That's the way I see it. All right. Can we pray? My Father in Heaven, I know that I'm nothing, Father, and my heart is crushed, my heart is broken. It has been for many years and it will continue to be, my Father, Lord, because of the things that were so dear to me in this world that I've found, O, dear God, the weakness of the flesh in. And those that I cared for, Lord, that broke my heart, that continues to do it, because of the discernment of the spirit of the different things, dear Father, that I see. And, dear Heavenly Father, in this I thank you because you suffered a broken heart, because you're nigh unto them that be of a contrite spirit and a broken heart. And, Heavenly Father, knowing this You did it that I might turn away from everything in this world and look to You that You might become my everything, that You might become my joy, and you might become my jubilance. And when I go down these trails of heartaches, and heart breaks, Father, that I can look to You and every mountain, oh, God, I can rise up to the top of it, cross every valley, successful because of You. And, oh, God of Heaven, as I look unto you, even today, I feel the mighty anointing of God. And I feel the mighty surge of the great wonderful dove of glory. As I feel the faith of God, and the righteousness of God, and the wonderful eternal Spirit, Oh, God, as I feel it hovering over my body, going in and out the windows of my soul, and as I feel it over the audience, Father, I pray that they will share this enthusiasm of God that I share, Lord, the jubilance that I share, the peace that I share, the wonderfulness of Your presence, oh, and your eternal promises. Bless my people, Father. Bless them and forgive them of their sins and help them in Jesus name. And, mighty Father of Heaven, touch this flag. Touch it. Lord, it is the testimony of Christ, Father, upon this flag that declares the kingdoms of this world are Your Kingdoms, and the Kingdoms of Your Christ. It puts you at the head. It raises you above every fellow, Father, every person, dear God, that exalts You about all. And oh, God of Heaven, bless it, anoint it, be concerned about it, and let it be oh, Father, as we have said and understood. Let it go to Mr. Reagan, dear God, and let it be accepted and let it be favorable in his sight. Stop those and remove those that would stop this flag and would hinder it. May it rise to the highest place to declare the testimony of Your glory, and of Your wonders in this time, and in this age. Oh, Father, I ask You to bless it. Oh, Lord, and anoint it even as the aprons and the handkerchiefs that went out from Paul's body, those things by which You did great and mighty miracles, special miracles. Father, take this flag as the anointed. I anointed it, my Father. Take it as the anointed and work a special miracle in Mr. Reagan's heart. Work a special miracle at the White House. Work a special miracle in Washington. Work a special miracle in the hearts of the people. Work a special miracle throughout the world, through all generations, now and those that are to come. Even worlds without end. In Jesus' name we ask it. Amen. Hallelujah! Praise God! Let's sing this little chorus together. While we're singing this song together then I'll call somebody to dismiss us. So let's sing it together, can we? (Singing) I'm going to ask Freddie to come up here, if he will. Freddie has been up with us all night. Freddie hasn't had a chance to go home and sleep any. Everyone of them left except Stevie, Freddie and myself. And at the last Freddie was ask to come up here and watch after the heaters and had left me and stevie until time for church. And I came on up to the church and Brother Jim, he was cutting lights out, closing the doors, but Freddie hasn't been home that I know of unless it's been after he left from down there, which was way over in the morning, which was just about time for church. I know he's tired. I saw him yawning this morning and I could tell he was sleepy. But I really appreciate Freddie. I'm glad to have Freddie back home. And Freddie was telling me just the other day that it was kind of like he went off into a sleep. He didn't understand what happened to him, took him a way out there and he began to come back to himself. So while Freddie comes and prays let's love Jesus. Let's really praise Jesus and let's believe in Jesus. Can we do that? God will bless you if you do that.

By Rev. George Leon Pike Sr.

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

Holiness Unto The Lord