Be Ye Spiritual

Reading over in I Corinthians, chapter fifteen, if you've got your Bibles you can read with me. 

I Corinthians 15:20-58 "But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all. Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead? And why stand we in jeopardy every hour? I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die. Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners. Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame. But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord."

It says here in the twenty-sixth, verse, "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." At that time, the fifty-fifth verse tells us, we will cry, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" It says here that the Son shall reign until He has put all things under His feet, and then after He hath put all things under His feet then it is known that the Heavenly Father will be all in all, All in all. That is to say the flesh. The fleshly side of life shall reign. The fleshly side of life shall reign; that in Jesus as the Son of God, as a human being. As a Son of God, Jesus, the human being shall reign until He hath completely conquered everything including death. And then, when Jesus, as a human being hath reigned until He hath put everything under His feet, then after that it means that the spirit has swallowed up the natural, and the spirit shall be all in all. It shall be a spiritual world, shall be a spiritual God, even the Heavenly Father, and the natural shall not have preeminence as to the spirit but all things will be subjected to the spirit, and whatever there is that pertaineth to the natural as to that which sufficeth us as in the change shall be under subjection and the dominion of the Eternal Spirit. So then, as a man Jesus shall reign in the millennium until He has put all things under His feet. There is a natural side of life and there is a spiritual side of life, and the natural side of life is that side which you and I are, as of now, laying aside. We're laying aside death. We're laying aside problems. We're laying aside heartaches, and we are coming forth in the likeness of God. See, this is not a game that the preacher's playing This is not some game that Brother Pike, and the other preachers are playing. We didn't come to Bethlehem as an individual, that is, I did not, to build a church and to start a campground and to see how many followers we could get and how much money we could collect, and all of these other things. We didn't come here for that purpose. See? We come here out of the leadership of God. Sister Betty and I was going to and fro in the world, all over the nation, and all over the different parts of the nation, or the joining nations. And then God sent us here. So when we come here we built a place called Bethlehem. We didn't just come to be Christians just because it was popular in our community to join the church. You know this is a sad affair of a lot of people. They join the church because in their community it's popular to be a Christian. You know, it's popular to belong to the church. You're just not in society. You just don't fit right. You don't belong to the little clique unless you join the church, and everybody can say they belong to our church. But see, Betty and I did not do that. See? We come to God because, I came because God struck me down and turned me around, and started me in a new way, and that's why I came to God. I came to God to serve God because of that. See? God did that. God struck me down, and God turned me around and God gave me a new life, and He let me know that I was going to die, and there was nothing that I could do about it, that I was going to die, and the only thing that was lift was to turn to God and He could do something about it. And so then, I turned to God, and God did something about it. And so today I can't die. No possible way anymore for me to die. Until that I could die. I was headed for death, but since that time it's not possible for me to die. See? And God is not playing a game. I'm not playing a game. The real true ministry of Christ is not playing a game. There is a reality in serving God. That's why I say that there is a joy in Christianity. There is a reality in serving the Lord Jesus and there is reward in serving God, but for people that are religious and people that continue on just to do a religious thing in life, there is no Eternal Life for those people. People that just join the church because it's popular to be some kind of a church member, those people don't have Eternal Life. Though they may talk about religion with you, you'll find as a rule, that they will never talk about religion unless you bring it up. You'll find that those people will talk about anything that you want to talk about as a rule, and they'll talk about everything but God, and everything but religion until you bring it up, and then they're just as religious as Cain is. But, folks, let me tell you. When you've got God in your heart you don't have to bring up the subject when you got God in your heart you are God's subject. Every day of your life you are God's subject. Every day of your life you're thinking about Jesus. Every moment of your life you've got God on your mind. Do you know, I do not know of a moment on my life since I've come to know Jesus but what I didn't have Him on my mind. Always God is in my heart. Day and night, twenty-four hours around the clock, Jesus is on my mind. God is always on my mind. My purpose in life is for God, what I do is for God. The thoughts that I think is for God. All of my plans are for God. the Bible teaches that every thoughts comes under subjection to the Lord Jesus Christ. People who do not have God in their heart, to think of God all the time do not have God at all. When you have God in your heart you will think of God all the time. There'll never be a time in your life but what you'll think of God, because God is the preeminence. You are God's subject. You are God's body You are the flesh and bone of God. You're His very thoughts. You're His very expression. You're God's very desire. All the time God is on your mind. So then I thank God tonight because there is a knowledge of the spiritual, and a knowledge of the natural world. And I thank God that as there is a natural world, and a natural man for that world, that there is a spiritual world and a spiritual man for that world, and I, one time, was a natural man in the natural world, nut tonight I'm not a natural man in a natural world. I am a spiritual world. When I was born into this world I was born a natural man, and I loved the natural things of this world, and the only joy that I had was doing the natural things of this life, but when I was born again I become a spiritual man, and my joys today is doing the spiritual things that God brings to my heart and mind, and the things that God indoctrinates me with. So then, there is a natural world and there is a spiritual world. and as I have born the earthly image, the Bible says, I also shall bear the heavenly image. My being, on the inside, was one time as a spiritual being captivity to Satan, who is a fallen angel, who is a spirit, a spirit of corruption, a spirit that loveth the natural side of life, a spirit that savors the things that be of the world, the prince of these natural lying vanities. He is king of the bottomless pit, and he is king of pride, the Bible tells us. And Satan one time had my spirit. Was born into this world as a natural man, and Satan inhabited my body, and Satan had control of my innermost life, and Satan misused that life to his own desire, a parasite that had control of my life, and done what he wanted to with my life. But one day God revealed to me what he was doing to me, and God revealed to me the condition of my life, and showed me the inward bondage, and I called on the name of Jesus and when I did the Lord came in. The spirit of truth came in a God broke the bondage, and God made me free from it, and today I'm not desirous of the things of the world. Though I have everything that I could want in the world, everything that heart could wish for, though God has given me everything that I want in the world, because the Bible says if you seek the Lord that He'll add all of these things unto you. He has added them unto me until my cup runs over but in all of that I don't have a desire for the world. That's why that I don't practice taking money with me. People marvel at the money that we spend. We spend a lot of Money, but God gives the money. God gives the money so that we can spend it for His people, and for His glory, and in spending He gives us all that we want. Our cup runs over. We're never left at any time without the blessings of God. I've made the statement down through the years, I said you can call Brother Pike's house of plenty. I said, because my house is the house of plenty, and I said, my house will always be the house of plenty. Somebody said, Ah Ha! Brother Pike, You don't know that. Yes, I know that. I took Him at His word, and it'll always be that way. Won't be no failure in it. My house is the house of plenty. It will always be the house of plenty. You know why? Because Jesus lives down at my house. And you know why it will always be the house of plenty? Because by His grace I intend for Him to always live there, and He gave me a promise He'd never leave me, and I'm planning for Him to stay there. I'll never forsake you. When he came to me when the angel of God appeared to me in Florida, He put a ring on my finger, and He said, I'll never leave you, and I'll never forsake you, but Lo, I shall be with you always even in the time of trouble and in the time of need. So then, God is with us. Since we passed form death unto life God came into our house, and since we took on the things that are right, God came to live with us, and God lives at my house. It doesn't mean that I don't have any problems because when Jesus walked in this world he had problems, and it doesn't mean that I don't have any problems. It doesn't mean I don't have and sicknesses. It don't mean that poverty don't knock at my door. It doesn't mean that those things don't come down to my house. I have plenty of problems. I have plenty of sickness. The Bible says, Many are the afflictions of the righteous. It seems like the devil picks on the righteous more than anybody else, but the good part is that the Bible says that God delivers him out of them all. And the good part is; though the Bible says we're delivered as unto death, killed all the day long, accounted for as sheep to the slaughter, yea, in all of these things, the Bible says that we are more than conquerors through Christ that loved us and gave Himself for us. So then, Paul here is disputing. Somebody says, Paul, you speak about a resurrection, He said, What kind of resurrection? And Paul said, Thou fool. Paul said, thou fool. Isn't that something. Paul looked at those supposedly brilliant people, he said, you fool. You don't understand. You are a fool. You know the Bible says, the fool has said in his heart there is no God. And Paul said, Thou fool. And then he pointed out that the man was a fool, that he was unlearned in God, that he was ignorant in God, that he didn't understand. He said, Thou art a fool. You know a person is a fool that don't know nothing about God. A person is a fool that doesn't apply themselves to learn and understand about God. A person is a fool that doesn't understand the wonderful powers of Christ and the resurrection from the dead because they've not applied themselves to those things they are fools. Fools and unlearned. Fools and slow of heart, to believe Jesus said, all that the Prophets have spoken. I have spoken all these things to you through the Bible, He said, and thou art a fool. He said, Fools, and slow of heart to believe. You know when we are slow of heart to believe what the Bible says God says we are a fool. Did you know if a person comes to you, and that person tells you that you need to repent, and you don't believe that, or you don't do that, did you know the Bible says that you are a fool? And if somebody comes and tells you the Bible tells you to be baptized in the name of the Son of God for the remission of sin, and you don't believe that, do you know that you are a fool? If a person comes to you and tells you that you can pass from death unto life by calling on the name of Jesus, and you don't do it, did you know you are a fool? You are a fool. When someone tells you the Bible, or someone brings you the Word of God, and somebody points out to you the way of life, and you don't want that way of life, and you don't go that way of life, you might be a president, but you are a fool. You might be a queen, or a king, but you are a fool. You might be a great baseball player, but you are a fool. You might be a great celebrity in the world, You might be some great entertainer but you are fool. You may be a billionaire, or a millionaire, or whatever, but you are a fool. Whosoever, what kind of education you have, it doesn't matter, you might be a professor, but you are a fool. In the sight of God you are a fool. So, Jesus said, Fools, and slow of heart to believe what the preachers say to you. When the Preachers preach to you, and you don't listen at it, and you don't accept it, He said, and you are slow of heart to believer that, and you won't press right in and say, My God, that's the Word of God, Lord, let me receive that. The Kings matter requires haste. Let me receive that. Let me do that. If He tells me to be baptized, let me baptized, and that according to what the word of God says. And if he tells me to repent of my sins, let me repent of my sins, let me repent of my sins, and that according to what the Word of God says. If he tells me to call upon the name of the Lord Jesus for the remission of sin, then let me do it according to the Word of God, for otherwise I am a fool and slow of heart to believe all that the preacher has told me. So then, Paul said, Thou fool. That which is, is not quickened until it dies. It must be put in the ground, and then it must die. And it's not for me to try to figure out what kind of body it's going to have. He said God puts the grain into the ground and whatever body He wants it to have whenever it comes up he given it that whether it's grain unto wheat, or whether it is some kind of seed as to a tree, or whether it is some kind of seed as to mustard, whatever the grain is, He said, that's what the body will be. And he said, it's the same way with the body the body of the human being. When God puts it into the ground, said, it'll come forth in the body that he wants it to come forth in. Whether it is a terrestrial body, or whether it is a celestial body he said God hath power over it. So then, we are looking forward, not to a terrestrial body, but we are looking forward to celestial body. I'm not looking forward to a terrestrial body. I already have a terrestrial body, but I'm looking forward to a celestial body. I'm not looking forward to a corruptible body. I already have a corruption body, but I'm looking forward to an incorruption body. I'm looking forward to that which is not mortal, because I already I already have that which is mortal, but I'm looking forward to that which is immortal. I'm looking forward to change. You might not believe in a change, and you might not believe in eternal life, and you might not believe there is such a thing as living forever, but I do. I believe there is such a thing as living forever, so I'm living forever. Somebody says, I'm going to live forever. I am living forever. I've already passed from death unto life, and I'm living forever. I am alive forever more, Jesus said. I once was dead but I am alive forever more. So then, I am alive forever more. Jesus said, Ye have passed from death unto life. What kind of life? A life that is alive forevermore. So then, I've passed from death unto life, and I've got a life forevermore. I'm living forevermore. I don't have to die anymore. I took care of that. You know, the Bible says all of our lives we're subject to bondage because of the fear of death. But I don't fear death anymore. I don't have to fear death anymore. Why should I fear death anymore? If I'm not going to die why then should I fear death? Why should I go around fearing something that isn't going to happen? why should I fear that somebody is going to kill me if nobody is going to kill me? Why should I fear that I'm going to die of some dreadful disease if I'm not going to die of any dreadful disease? Why then should I fear that I'm going to die when I'm never going to die? so then, I've passed from death unto life, and I've come into that spiritual world, and I've passed away from that life of being a living soul. You know, when you're born into the world, you are called a living soul, which means you can die, but when you're born again you are not a living soul. After that you are a quickening spirit, and when you are a quickening spirit you cannot die, for the Bible says His angels are spirit, and He hath made us equal to angels, which means He hath made us a spirit, and spirits cannot die. As I said the other night, God has to destroy the spirits. Even angels, fallen angels, bad wretched angels cannot die. Men die, but angels cannot die, and God, to get rid of the evil angels, He has to destroy them, see, and it's not possible for God to destroy me, and it's not possible for God to destroy you that have become sons and daughters of God. It's not possible. It is possible for God to destroy fallen angels, but it is not possible for him to destroy you and me, because He hath given us His Word. He hath given us His promise, and He cannot alter His Word. He cannot change His Word, and because He could swear by no greater He swear by Himself saying that He would never hurt us, nor harm us. So then, that means that it is impossible even for God to destroy us. Isn't that wonderful? Somebody would say, Now, Brother Pike, wait a minute. Do you really believe it is impossible? You know, Paul said one time, he said, Because of this we can rest with a strong hope, and we can rest in a strong consolation. You know, if God had not given us this promise I wouldn't have known whether God would have destroyed me or not. You know God could let me live a hundred years and then kill me, destroy me. He could just say, Well, I'll give you life, and let me live ten thousand years, and then change His mind. He could let me live a million years, and then change His mind. See, I don't know. I don't know. So far as God's concerned, I don't know. I didn't know that much about God, but when God swear to Abraham that He wouldn't do anything like that, that we would be eternal, and everlasting, and He'd never change it. And said, Because I can swear by no greater, said, I swear by myself that I'll do it. Now, I know that He can't change His mind. I know that He can't destroy me now. I know that He can't do away with my life now. You say, How do you know that, Brother Pike? Because It's impossible for Him to do it. How do you know it's impossible for Him to do it. Because the Bible says it is impossible for God to lie, and God said it, and God cannot lie. So it is impossible for God to do anything else. That makes me happy, because I know from this point on that I'm eternal. I know from this point on I've passed from death unto life. I know from this point on I'll never have to worry about that again. All that's gone. You people that worry about things like that, you doubt God. You are unbelievers. Slow of heart to believe all that the Bible has said, all that the prophets have spoken. Jesus said the Prophets speaking of me, and prophesied of my coming, and your eternal life, Oh fools, He said, and slow of heart to believe all that I have told you, all of these things that I have said unto you, and so then I believe God. I believe God. Abraham believed God and he was called the friend of God. It pleased God because Abraham believed God. I believe God. What God said He is able also to perform. He will not alter the thing that's gone out of His mouth. He will not change it. He will hasten to perform His Word, and the Bible says God's Word will not return unto Him void, but it will accomplish that He pleases and prosper in that whereunto He sent it. So then, I rest in a strong consolation. I came to Jesus. God said, George Pike, it shall come to pass that if you call on the name of the Lord you shall be saved. So I called of the name of the Lord, and I have been saved, and it is impossible bow for me not to be saved. You say, How do you say that, Brother Pike? Because it's impossible for God to lie. And God cannot alter, and God cannot change His Word, and God said if I'd call on the name of Jesus I'd be saved. And I called on the name of Jesus so I was saved. And I've passed from death unto life and I don't have to have the fear of death anymore. All of my life until I come to know Jesus, I was subject to bondage because of fear of death, but see? I left that, and I'm not in that anymore. I'm walking in life. That's why a lot of you don't have the joy and jubilance of serving God is because you've never passed from death unto life, and you've never come to understand these things. You've never accepted these things. You've never believed these things. Do you know it's impossible for a person to really, genuinely believe that they are eternal alive and not bubble with joy? Knowing the threat of death, and the trouble and heartaches of death and knowing that it's the last enemy of humanity to conquer, somebody would say, Brother Pike, there you are. You know the last enemy to be conquered. You have got to wait for it. No. When God said the last enemy to be conquered that's to the world out there, not to me. Not to me. He said, blessed and holy art thou, Brother Pike, because you have part in the first resurrection. I am the resurrection, and you have me of the inside of you. See. I'm not worried about when death is going to be conquered, or the last enemy to be conquered. That belongs to the world out there. They're the ones that's facing death. I've already passed from death unto life. That's behind me. It's already been conquered. See. Death was conquered at Calvary, but them that are out there, the last enemy to be conquered is death, that's for them out there. See. The last enemy will be death. Not for me, God's already conquered death for me. So then, we've already passed from death unto life, and God will conquer death as to destroying humanity, but not until it has thoroughly done its job, then God will completely eradicate death, because He has already conquered death, and He said, I've destroyed him that hath power over death. That means that death can only work now by the allowance of God. It doesn't work by the powers of Satan as to kill. It works by the allowance of God, and the allowance of God is through unbelief. Those that will not believe in God are fools, and slow of heart to believe all that God said, and therefore death shall prey off of them because they are slow of heart of believe, but to you that will believe, we've passed from death unto life. Enoch was translated by believing. Enoch was translated by faith that he should not see death and he passed from his carnal world into the spiritual world. He passed from this level of life into another level of life. He passed from the natural side of life into the spiritual side of life, and he is now with the angels. Somebody said, Where is he, Brother Pile? He is with the angels. He is with the angels for God has made us equal to the angels, and the angels dwell in heaven, and the Bible teaches that because we are believers we have passed from death unto life and we are not alive in this world, but we are alive in that world, in the spiritual world. You say, Well, I don't feel too spiritual. I know you don't. I can tell in preaching to you, but there's one thing about it, whether you feel spiritual or not … (Begin tape 2 side 2.) … and I thank God for that. I feel just as spiritual when you don't feel spiritual as I do when you do feel spiritual. See, I don't have to feel spiritual because you feel spiritual or I don't have to feel anointed because you feel anointed. I'm always God's anointed and I'm always spiritual. Paul said, I would that you were spiritual. I'd like to speak unto you as unto spirituals. When you're born again, real genuinely, and you go into that other world you come into God and you walk and talk with God and you ate not in the flesh, but in the spirit you're always spiritual. You meditate in His laws day and night and it doesn't matter whether you're at church or whether you're out in the field, or whether you're over in town, whether you're on your job, whether you're in your home, whether you're in your bed asleep, you're spiritual. Even at night dreaming, or having visions all during the night, God talks to me all the time, I'll have one flash vision right after another. I have so many multiplied visions I never mention to my wife. I never mention to anybody, and sometimes they are concerning deaths of individuals, sometimes prosperity of individuals. All kind of things God is talking to me about with a regularity. God wants us to be spiritual. Paul said, I'd like to speak unto you as unto spirituals. I talk about this tonight, and I can tell tonight you're very carnal. The entire audience is extremely carnal tonight. So, I can tell you're very carnal but in spite of this you are good listeners. You are listening good. One of the things that bothers me about Bethlehem is that they are not spiritual. They used to be spiritual. And at times they will get spiritual, but it's real rare, and most of the time they are very carnal with thoughts of eating, drinking, and working, making money, paying their bills, talking about natural things, thinking on a natural things, fellowshipping on a natural level, and all their mind is on a natural level, but you know what? That's why you don't have any joy in serving God. You can't have any joy in serving God. You can't be a human being, and eat out of the slop bucket and be happy unless you're mental. Unless you're eccentric. See, you can't do that. If you are a human being then you want the right things to eat. Isn't that right? And the Bible says you can't eat at the table of devils and eat at the table of God. You can't go out here with the swine and eat in the slop bucket, and go into the hog pens and smell like the mire, and still have any joy. You can't do that. You can't do that. You know you take an eagle and put him down in the mire, and you slop him all around in the mire until his wings are coated, and his head is coated, he can't have any joy, you know, because he's stuck in the mud. He's stuck in the mire. He's covered with the mire. He doesn't have any happiness because he doesn't belong to that world. That's not his world, but if you take the hose and you wash him off real good, and you turn him loose and let him flap his wings a few times, and throw the water off, and let him sail up into the heavens and he's got joy. He's happy. He's got bird joy. he's way up in the heavens because that's his place. He loves to just soar around up there. He feels light. He feels buoyant. He's way up into the heavens. This is his place. You know, and that's the way it is with a Christian. The Bible says abide in your calling. If you'll get in your calling, and you'll do what God's called you to do, if you'll get into the way of the Lord, and you'll walk according to the way of the Lord, you'll be spiritual. It won't be natural. Your ears won't just hear natural things but there'll be something spiritual on the inside of you that's just bubbling like a fountain. And that fountain will be talking to you all the time, and the great revelation of Christ Jesus will flood your soul, and you'll have abundance of joy. Joy unspeakable and filled with glory. The same glory that I have in my heart. So then, it doesn't matter, you know, what you do, I as an individual still have my joy. This is the great thing about serving God. You know, I can be filled up and overflowing with the blessings of God. And I've learned this in my life time, that I can walk with God, I hear people speak about tongues, you know, being spiritual, speaking in tongues. Brother Pike, I can't speak in tongues, or should I speak in tongues to have the Holy Ghost? I had somebody to ask me this question the other day. But, you know, I've learned that you can be so spiritual in God that any time you want to you can speak in tongues. Doesn't matter when it is. Did you know that almost with a regularity I walk with the Lord to where I can turn my face to heaven and meditate for just a few thoughts and start speaking in tongues just like that. You know, Paul said, I speak in tongues more that you all. In the church, he said, I don't speak in tongues unless I have an interpreter. But, he said-. It must be when he's praying, he said, for because I speak in tongues more than you all. When you pray you can pray in tongues. A lot of times in praying I find myself praying in tongues. Why? Because I want to be spiritual. I want to be spiritual. Speaking in tongues in the church doesn't indicate that you are spiritual, but speaking in tongues in the church, sometimes it does denote that there is a spiritual moving of God in your heart, and speaking in tongues, sometimes it's God, because sometimes God has an interpreter, and God wants to give a message, and those are the gifts. But, let me tell you. We need to be spiritual. If you don't have a spiritual gift from God you need to covet a gift. If you don't have the gift of healing in your life, or the gift of miracles, or the gift of tongues, or the gift of interpretation, or the gift of discernment, or a gift of wisdom, or some kind of gift in your life you need to covet a gift, because you are the number of the body of the Lord Jesus, and Paul said you need to covet a gift that you might be profitable unto the church. See, you need a gift in your life. You need to be seeking God to get more faith, to become more spiritual so that you can have a gift in your life that your profiting may appear to all. If it isn't anything but a gift if wisdom as to where you have the gift of wisdom that speaks from time to time. When you tell somebody something the gift of wisdom will enlighten them, and the gift of wisdom will direct their heart, or a gift of prophecy. Maybe God will use you to foretell an event, or bring forth some prophetic utterance as to the understanding the revelation of it. Or pray that God will give you the spirit of revelation. You need to get something in your life. You need to do something in your life. If you've got the ministry in your life you need to give way to the ministry. You need to cultivate or develop that which is in your life. If it is the ministry you need to cultivate it. You need to develop it, because I tell you something. You're not going to heaven unless you do. If you are a ministry and you do not preach, and do not cultivate the ministry in your life you will die and go to hell. You must abide in your calling. You must do what God tells you to do, or you will die and go to hell. There is no way for a minister to get to heaven and not carry the gospel. Paul said, I must preach the gospel as much as lieth within me, and said if I don't preach it then a part of it is committed unto me as to the judgments of God, and I'll be cut off. So then, you've got to preach the gospel. I don't mean somebody that thinks they're called. You know, there's hundreds and millions of people in the world today that they feel that they're something special in the church when they're really nothing, some of them. And they think they're called to preach when God hasn't called them to preach. But then there are those that God has called to preach. People that go to the seminary are not people that are called to preach. It's true that once in a while a real genuine preacher that God's called to preach may get mixed up with some kind of educational system, and may go to seminary, and that's true. And it is true that God does have schools. Paul taught at a school. According to the Bible in the New Testament, Paul taught at a school for a long time. And God had people coming to it. But then, on the other hand, in most cases colleges and schools do not produce preachers. You do not go to college to become a preacher, nor to get spiritual. You don't do that. God calls you as a preacher. Did you read where Peter ever went to college to preach, where James and John ever went to college to preach. That was the foundation of the church. If anybody would have gone to school they would have been those that had been required to go to school. Do you read where the Lord Jesus ever went to college, or to school to become the head of the church? How is it that people that go to college and schools call the church of the Loving God ignorant because they are not educated? What kind of fellowship do you think that God Almighty, in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ finds with a college student when the Lord Jesus never did go to school? They said, How so you know letters never having learned? What kind of fellowship do you think that God finds with them? That's why that the Bible says there's not many that's called. God doesn't find any fellowship with them. See. God couldn't even find fellowship with the Scribes and the Pharisees who had so thoroughly indoctrinated themselves with what they thought was right. He couldn't even find fellowship with them, and yet He knew about the Bible, or it wasn't the Bible in that day. It was the scroll. He knew more about the Books of God than they did. You know a lot of times we get carried away with the Bible. The Bible only indicates a collection of books put together. That don't mean nothing. Somebody said, That's Bible. That don't mean nothing. It could be a bible of rock and roll. It could be a Bible of anything. But you need to refer to this as the Holy Bible, unless when you say Bible that's what you mean and people understand what you mean. So then, to be spiritual is the answer. If you're spiritual then you've got a spiritual body. I f you're not spiritual you don't have a spiritual body. If you've never been born again then you don't have a spiritual body. But if you're born again you have a spiritual body. Somebody would say, well, Brother Pike, you mean to tell me that flesh of yours that I'm looking at is spiritual? No, I don't mean that. Jesus said that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Because the kingdom of God is the spirit of Christ, and flesh and blood is corruptible, and it's sinful flesh, and it cannot inherit spirit. Flesh cannot inherit spirit, but my spirit on the inside hath inherited the spirit of God, which is the kingdom of God, and the Kingdom of God is within my spirit. And my fleshly body is not anymore mine. It's dead. Its buried and it's gone in the sight of God. It is dead, and it is buried and it is gone in the sight to God. It's buried in the Name of Jesus Christ. It died by the blood that was spilt of Jesus' body. You esteem me smitten of God. I esteem you smitten of God. The Bible says we esteem Him smitten of God. Every human body that has accepted the Lord Jesus Christ has been smitten of God, for the Bible says that God chastens everyone that He loves. And if you are without the chastisement then are ye bastards whereof all Christians are partakers. So then, my body is body of Him, and bone of Him, therefore that body has been smitten of God by Calvary, and that body has been put to death because of sin, and Paul said, It is not I that liveth but Christ that liveth within me, and the life I now live I live by the Son of God, Because I am bone of His bone, and flesh of His flesh, and we esteem Him smitten of God. So then, I've been smitten of God. I've been put away. I've been buried, and when you look to see my flesh you're only seeing a lying vanity because I'm not a living soul. I'm a quickening spirit. I've passed from death unto life. As long as I'm a living soul I can die, for the Bible says the soul that sinneth shall surely die. As long as I'm a living soul I can die, but when I become a quickening spirit I've passed from the realms of the living soul, for the Bible says the first man Adam was made a living soul, but the second man Adam was made a quickening spirit. And so then, when I was born again left the world of the living soul, and my soul did not die. My soul did not die in that I was innocent in God, and God did not charge my sins against me, so my soul made it over through the change to the quickening spirit. But my soul died to this extent that I was charged with sin, and every person that's charged with sin must die. Therefore, through the Lord Jesus Christ I died and today I am a quickening spirit. I am bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh, the Word made flesh for in the beginning was God, the Word, and that Word was made the Lord Jesus Christ, and I'm the Members in particular. So then, we are the Word of God made flesh. We are God's Word made flesh. Someone would say, You mean to tell me, Brother Pike, that you are the Word made flesh. I am the Word made flesh? I am the Word made flesh. Isn't that wonderful? Not to wonderful to you, because you don't believe it, but it's wonderful to me because I know it. So then, being the Word made flesh I stand here and I rejoice tonight, and I have eternal life, because heaven and earth will pass away, but being the Word I cannot pass away. There is no possible way I can pass away. The Heavens over my head shall melt, and the earth under my feet shall become a blaze of fire, but I shall never pass away. It's not possible for me to pass away. It's impossible for me to pass away. You say, How do you know that, Brother Pike? Because it's impossible for God to lie, and God said heaven and earth would pass away, but my Word shall never pass away. And the Bible teaches that we're born of the Word. And we're born of the Word, and we're born of His bone and His flesh, and He was the Word made flesh. And that was Word flesh, so tonight, here we stand as the word of God. He had the vesture dipped in blood that's called the Word of God. Bow then, for the sake of those that do believe that you might understand even better, is there a difference between us as mortals and Jesus? No difference at all if we are born again. We're just as much Jesus as He's Jesus. My son is just as much me as I am me. He is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh, and according to God my wife is just as much me as I am me. We are no longer twain. There's no difference. She is my bone, and she is my flesh. Adam, this is bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh, and you are no longer twain. This is the great mystery of Christ and the Church, the head and the members even the man and the wife. So then, I stand here, but the thing is though I be the Word of God, and though you be the Word of God; yet we are the Word of God according to our measure as to whatever measure he hath dealt to us, To whatever measure we have obtained unto. Whereas, He is God, The Word without measure, and we are part of Him. We are a part of Him, so in Him we are the fullness of the Word, ordained to the full measures of the full stature collectively speaking as His wife, as His children, as the Church under the Head, we are one with the full strength, and the full power, and the full measure of the Son of God. So then, tonight I'm here to tell you about Jesus, exhort you just a little bit in the word of God, and tell you that as you've born the image of the earthy, so shall ye bear the image of the Heavenly. There is a natural body. and there is a spiritual body,. There is a Heavenly body and you can have that heavenly body providing that you've been born again. If you've not been born again then you'll never be eternal. You might belong to a church, you might have belonged to it ten years, you might join another church, you might join fifty churches before your death, but you're still going to die and go to hell unless you're born of the spirit. Born again. Born, not of the flesh. Born again. Born the first time of the flesh. Born again, Born the next time of the spirit. So then, having been born of the spirit, they that are born of the spirit, they are spirit. And they that are born of the flesh, Jesus said that is flesh. Nicodemus, lest ye be born again, He said, You'll never see the kingdom of God, Because in this World you don't see the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is not here. Like the Russian man said when he went up as the astronaut, He said there is no kingdom of God up there. I can't find God up there. Certainly not. God is nowhere to be found by sight. Nowhere in the universe. Though you went a billion miles in that direction, this direction, or that direction there wouldn't be no God. See? Because God is an invisible spirit. And the way that you see God is through the eyes of your understanding. The pure in heart shall see God. And as a man understands and thinks in his heart so he is, so the kingdom of God is within you. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom, neither is the kingdom of God ever coming into this world. It'll never come into this world, because the kingdom of God is Spirit. It is invisible. So then, you cannot see God in this world. You can join all the churches. You can be ever so brilliant. You can have all the money. You can be ever so religious, even as Cain was, but until you become spiritual, you don't have anything. Not anything at all. There is one thing that is to your credit, and that is to believe as a starter. You know, when you are raising animals, they got, in our nation, they've got what they call 'startina', you know, and you do get a little 'startina'. When you start in the right direction, you start calling on the name of Jesus, you start believing, you are getting a little 'startina'. You know, you're starting in the right direction. And then, if you walk on then God will receive you into His kingdom. So then, not to call on the Lord as unto salvation, not to call unto the Lord as unto salvation, in that not everyone that saith Lord, Lord, shall inherit the kingdom of God, but to call the Lord as unto salvation, as to call upon the name of the Lord as to conformity, to a surrender, to an obedience as a manifested faith of your inward desire and action off spirit. All right? Let's stand together. Real thirsty tonight. Sometimes I'm real thirsty. I think a lot of times, all my life I've been like that. I remember back when eighteen or nineteen years old, twenty or twenty-five, be out on my job, or be going somewhere, and all day long I'd just love to drink water. Many people would drink cokes, and whatever, but I always wanted water. And I still really enjoy drinking water, and I've thought many times because of my thirst and delight in water how sad it would be for a person to miss Heaven. In this world you drink a lot of liquids, and you have that desire for water, you know liquids, any kind of sweets you have to go back and make it out of water. Even milk. It comes from water. And I've thought, you know, the one thing that man is going to be deprived of is water, and that's the thing that God has made in abundance so that man can have plenty of water. And though there are places like Africa and different places like that don't have water; yet God has given that as a symbol. God has given that as a symbol, given us that as a type to show that spirits wonder through dry places seeking rest and cannot find it. You know, we were talking today about people getting so mixed up. I had a black man to come to my door the other day and he was just a raging, and I said a few things to him, and then Brother Hollis came up and begin to talk with him, and he went with Brother Hollis. Brother Hollis talked with him a little while, and then Brother Hollis came back and said, Brother Pike, you know what that was? I said, What was it? He said, It was a radical thing. And Brother Hollis and I was discussing it. You know, people are so mixed up In our day. All kind of things. They've got the craziest notions, and they don't understand, you know, even about that. Me and Brother Hollis was talking and I said, Brother Hollis, he don't understand. Brother Hollis said, I know that. Said. I do understand. Said, There was a time in my life, Brother Pike, when I didn't understand. But, you know, I think about how mixed up people get. They get mixed up in religion. You know, they get mixed up in religion, and they get mixed up in their daily living. They get mixed up in everything. It seems like we are living in a Babylonian world. Everybody is mixed up. Even the law don't even know how to conduct themselves any more. Nobody knows what to do anymore. And, of course, the racial thing. You know, I've made mention of this. Did you know that the black people that are caught in that because they've got a revenge in their heart. They want to get even with the white man. They feel like the white man put them under hard bondage, and killed their people. And those people that do that are ignorant. They don't understand. See, if they really understood they'd know that the black man was the first that put people under bondage, not the white man. The white man wasn't the first to put people under bondage. It was the black man that did that. And if it would have been anything it would have been a reaping. You know, you have to reap what you sow But if you'll go back and check down in Africa, go back and check down when the children of Israel came out of their land. Go back and check how the Egyptians put them under bondage. You know, Egypt is Africa. You go back and check it out, and you'll find out they put God's people under bondage, and they are the ones that killed them and slaughtered them, and mistreated them, so the white man wasn't the first to do that. See, what it is; people are ignorant. They get mixed up. And they get these things in their mind, and they think, My God, look what they done to us. And a lot of times they don't realize it, but like I tell people a lot of times in preaching. You're trying to find fault with people when the fault is with you. You know, you're wanting to blame somebody with something when you're the one to blame. Nobody gives you any trouble but self. Nobody. It doesn't matter whether you're black or white, red or yellow. You go back and check the trouble out you'll find out it's your own tribe. You'll find out it's you that's doing it. You'll find out that it's you that's causing your own problems. So then, this revenge. This thing of revenge. you know, what if Israel took the outlook of revenge and they pounced on Egypt, and they pounced on the black man, and said, You put us under bondage, and you mistreated out people? What if they took the outlook that some of the black people are taking toward the white people. Or in the other countries. In the other countries where all the trouble is, and all the perplexities of life, and the bewilderment of life. What if they took that outlook? See, it would be bad, because there is China, and Japan, and they are against each other. Old rivals. Because they've had problems. There is Germany and Russia. I can remember when they were bitter enemies. You know, life has a way of changing around. Russia one time was our ally, one of our most favorite allies that fought with us against the Germans, and today the Germans are our allies and Russia is our bitter enemy. See, it's the Spanish and the Texan. It's the Chinese and the Japanese. It's the German and the Russian. It's the North and it's the South, and on and on and on it goes, you know. 

Why is that? Because people are ignorant. Paul said, I would not have you ignorant. They are ignorant. And you know what makes it bad? It wouldn't be so bad if they didn't love that ignorance. The Bible says they are willfully ignorant. They want to be ignorant. There is a feeling on the inside of them they want to pacify. Like, you know when somebody mistreats you. You've just got a feeling, I want to gouge his eyes out. I want to rip his throat. I want to stomp him. I'd like to spit on him. I've heard people talk like that. See, it's a devil, is what it is, It's a devil whether it's on the black man, or on the white man, or on the Jews, or whatever, it's a devil. It a devil. It's a devil of revenge, and it's evil and wretched. See, it's a devil that's wanting revenge. That's what it is. He's wanting revenge. You know why? Because God's got him froze out and he knows he's out in darkness, and he know he can't get back, and his revenge is against God and anything that stands for right his revenge is there. So then, let's be children of God, and let's not be ignorant. Let's not be evil. Let's not be wretched. Let's stand up for the right thing and let's get our minds straightened out, and lets love the Lord before we reap what we sow, folks. Don't you know we'll reap what we sow? Everything we sow we'll reap it, whether it's as a tribe, whether it's as a race, whether it's as a nation, whether it's as a people, whether it's as an individual we'll still reap it. 

By Rev. George Leon Pike Sr.

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

Holiness Unto The Lord