The Word

And of course I suppose you feel like that what I mean is that we need to contribute some finance. That's usually the theme, you know. And it is wonderful to know that some people do feel the need for the financial end of it, because truly it is great. It always is. But the need I'm speaking of is great in the sense of people going into all the world and preaching the gospel to every creature. You need to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. And you might say, Well, I'm not a preacher. Well there is something you can do on the home front. There is something that you can do in some way to aide the gospel or to help carry the gospel. And even though there's always a pressure; yet I praise the Lord, He always meets the needs. Not only does He meet the needs, but the Bible said, He'd give you the desires of your heart, if you'll delight yourself in Him. And He said, That if you would confess your sins, and if you would forsake your sins, then all that you do would prosper. And yesterday morning, I was just telling my wife, I said, Well, Satan's always trying the faith. He never stops. You know a lot of people say, Well, Brother Pike, God, He just tries my faith. He tries my faith. I try to be faithful; and He tries my faith. He's just always trying my faith. Well, I don't hardly know how to relate to that kind of preaching. The devil's always trying my faith. The Lord, He doesn't bother my faith. The Bible teaches, He doesn't resist a man in his cause. And He doesn't bother my faith.

As a matter of fact, He works with me to have faith. And He does everything He can to strengthen my faith; but the devil is always challenging me to the extent of trying my faith. Always, he is doing everything he can to confront me, and to break me down, and to try to keep me from believing; but always we rest in sure confidence that God will take care of everything; and He always does, one way or another. Today He may take care of it one way. Tomorrow He may take care of it another way. And then the next day He may take care of it a different way altogether. But the thing is, it doesn't matter how He takes care of it, He does take care of it. He promises and He does. And I have found out down through the years, that He always does and always will. And yesterday morning, I told Betty, I said, Well, he's been aggravating and aggravating, and now he sees he can't move our faith; and today something must be done today. So it's not a matter of faith. It's a matter of He will do it. And I needed about ten thousand dollars and by time the night come, last night, He gave me ten thousand dollars. So He took care of it as always. And I know, someone said, Well, He can't do that. But He did and made about another eight thousand dollars available if I wanted it. So He can do that, you know. He can fill up the cup and make it overrun. I didn't want it, but it was available.

So what we're speaking of is the need for me and the need for you to go into all the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And that's what I need to do, and that's what you to do, and that's what I want to do, and that's what you should want to do. I trust that you do. I know that you're zealous for God. And I know that I'm zealous for God. So I know we're zealous for God. But, and I know that a lot of us we have a desire to do something, you know. And we say, Well, we have a will to do something; but the Bible said, Where you're willing or that ye have a will, that there should be a performance. And the thing that I question in my life is as to whether or not I have the performance to carry on the wonderful things of God. They must be carried on. And of course God carries them on. And whether it's in the wilderness or whether it's not in the wilderness, whether it's in Canaan or in the wilderness, God meets the needs. God meets the spiritual needs. He meets the financial needs. He gives us joy unspeakable and full of glory. And it is said, Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? And that was the thing that upset God. When Moses said, The Lord will meet your needs. They said, Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? And sure enough He prepared a table in the wilderness. So when they said, We need some meat, can God give us meat? We want meat. We loath this manna from heaven. We want some meat. You know it's bad when people get tired of the blessings of God, and the goodness of God, and doing something for Christ; and they loath that. And they just want to get to the ball games, and get to the frolics, and get to the things of the world you know, and whatever.

But how many of you know that God can give you the ball games and the things of the world. And so they said, We want some meat. Said, All right. It upset Him. So He just sent a wind or something and sent quail in. He just blew coveys of quails in, until they could just about wade in birds and meat. And He told them He said, Just eat until you're full. And they did. And then He just backed off and said, Now I'm going to slay the fattest among you. And He began to slay them. And that's the way He's doing, you know. You can want the world and He'll just fill you up to the top. He'll give you everything that you want, and He'll feed you to the full and give you the finest. And then when He gets you just fat like, I use to say when I was a boy, when we'd get ready to kill a hog, we always put him on a floored pen, and we'd give him something extra. And we'd just feed him until he was so fat, he couldn't hardly walk around. And of course that wasn't too good for the pig. But nevertheless, you know, Jesus speaks of the swine and he speaks of the dogs. And he'll feed you to the full. And then just about the time you get everything that you want, you know, you get your good business; and you retire, and you get you some money. And the Bible said, Woe unto them that are at ease in Zion. And you get everything you want, then He slays the fattest of you. It might be cancer. It might be heart problems. It might be one thing or another, but He slays them. And that means that rather than being at ease in Zion, having the things that we want, we should take everything that we've got as to our strength, and lay it on the altars for God, to feed the hungry, the poor, to provide for the widow and the orphan, to go into all the world, hating the garment that's spotted with iniquity, pulling them out of the fire. That's what we should do. That's what the early church did. And when you do that, you get rid of your burden; you get rid of your problem.

A person that always buys and heaps up and piles up, and always getting things you know; if they get a reputation, then they got to spend the rest of their life trying to protect it. And if they get a name in the world, they've got to spend the rest of their life trying to protect it. And if they get a lot of money, they got to spend the rest of their life trying to protect it from every leach and every kind of parasite. And whatever you get in the world, if you get something like fine automobiles, you spend the rest of your life protecting it. Rusts out, something happens to it. Houses, the rest of your life trying to keep it up you know, to keep it from rottening down on you, and the repairing it; and then besides that you have to fight all of the weasels of the world to keep them away, in that IRS and every other kind of a parasite is there. You know you've got to buy a tag for your car, and you've got to have license to drive it; and you've got to pay taxes on it and on the house and on the land, and whatever you got, you know. So you spend the rest of your life down in Egypt making brick, as we say. So you spend all your life, you know, for nothing. If you think you got a pretty face, you spend the rest of your life trying to keep it pretty. And every time you go to the mirror, day after day, you know, it's changing, changing. And after about thirty-five or forty years, you just can't get enough powder and paint and lipstick to make it look right. And the same way with your body you know. You might pump the muscles and do whatever; but after awhile it's like Brother Branham said one time, when he went to the doctor and said, Doctor, said, Explain something to me. He was getting older of course. And he said, What's happening to me? He said, I eat like I always eat. And I eat the same things I always eat. And said, Instead of getting bigger and stronger said, I'm shrinking up and said, Something's happening. Said, What's happening to me? You know. It's that thing, whereas the Bible speaks of the sentence of death. And the Bible teaches from your first birth, you have the sentence of death in you. And death is working in you. And death will bring you down to the grave side. And death will put you in a little box, and put you down in a hole where the worms can eat you.

So it sounds like that all of the things of life are frivolous and really unneeded. So then that's why the Bible said, Having food and raiment, be therewith content, for you brought nothing into the world, and it's for sure that you'll take nothing out of the world. But folks, Jesus asked the question, and I've reminded you of this many times when He saw the Pharisees and the Scribes and the hunger and the thirst for the gullible things of the world, seeing people burdened down with those things, laden with those things. He ask the question, Is not your body more than raiment? Jesus said. Or that is, isn't the body that you're daily losing, that's growing frail on you day after day, isn't it worth more, that is to find a way to redeem it and a way to preserve it eternally, isn't it worth more than the raiment that you wear, or the raiment that you struggle to obtain, to put on your body, while you use up your body? Isn't your body worth more than the raiment, in that you're using your body up to get the raiment; you're laboring and working to get all these things? Isn't your body worth more than all these things you're laboring for? And He said, Isn't your life worth more than meat? You use your life up to obtain all these things and to get meat for the belly. And the Bible said, All of your labor is for your mouth and for your belly, because your belly craves it of you. And He said, Isn't your life that you are squandering and using up, even as the prodigal son did, isn't it worth more than all of those things that you obtain in the struggle, when you use up your life? Or that is to say, when you go to depart this world, and you've used up your youth, and you've used up your life, and you've used up your strength, and you've just got heaps and heaps of whatever you wanted; and then the Bible said, You're getting ready to leave it to a fool, while they throw you into the grounds where the worms can eat you, said, Can't you understand that your life is worth more than all those things? Well, you may not, but you will. If you're dull of understanding as the Bible said, You'll come to understand better. The songwriter said, And we'll understand it better by and by.

All right, chapter 15 Saint Luke, let's read just a little bit if you will. We're glad to have you here with us tonight. Every night to me with the Lord Jesus and services are a special night. And every day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before. I'm glad to have Brother Philip and his family with us tonight. We got to visit a little bit today. We're certainly glad to have him here with us. We always appreciate him coming over from Pope, Mississippi and visiting with us. And also glad to have Scot and family from out in Colorado. They're here with us. And they come to make this their home. And I think that's wonderful. We're glad to have you, if I happen to overlook you, if this is your first time here, or if you're here with us, just having been here a few times, we want you to know that we're glad to have you with us. Want to compliment my workers that are helping me. Some are still struggling, even if it's cold or whatever, they're still helping. And I notice when I come in that the wind had changed. it's warming up a little bit. Kind of a warm wind. It was kind of cool today.

You know there's so many wonderful subjects in the Bible, until it's very difficult to know which way to start. I never will forget when I had to preach my first sermon. I thought, Dear Lord, what am I going to find to say? My, there's so much time to talk, and I have so little to say. And now I think, my Lord, how am I going to find enough time to say what I want to say. I got so much to say and such little time to talk. So it is real exciting to me to talk about the Lord. I talk about Him to you until I get out. And I talk about Him to my wife until morning comes. And then I talk about Him to somebody else until night comes. Chapter 17, (Saint Luke Chapter 17:1-37) Now he said, Remember Lot's wife. Of course you know how she turned to a pillar of salt and many, many things we could say right there. First of all I'd like to say that we want you to pray for us, because we're trying to do what little we can for the Lord. And I think perhaps that Saturday night is it, that Brother Ben Howard wants us to come up and minister for him? Is that right? He was wondering if we could come and preach four or five days for him or whatever we would? Or I think maybe he wanted us to preach at one place a night or two, and then at another place somewhere a night or two. Is that right? Have we got that right? All right. Sunday morning in South Carolina. Okay. He wanted us to come to Dawsonville and preach, and then go to South Carolina. Okay, maybe I can get the information right on that. That's on Saturday night in South Carolina. And he had asked if we would do it. And I had sent back word that I'd be glad to do it, if it was the will of the Lord, if he'd set some kind of a date and let us know. I believe he set the date Saturday night, and Sunday morning in Gainesville. Okay, maybe we can find out a little more about that. We have Friday nights service between now and then. We also received another letter from Abraham. And always receiving mail from all around the different parts of the world. But we received a magazine from over in Africa. I think David Paul made mention of it the other night at the men's meeting. And they gave us a write up in the Pentecostal publication. That was a real nice magazine. It's a real broad coverage from what I understand. The Pentecostal fellowship have quite a lot of coverage of different meetings and things. And they gave us a real good write up. They spoke of our meeting and spoke of it very well, and how that the people received it. And they called it the Miracle Crusade. And they did not call it the Miracle Crusade because of healing, even though they emphasized the fact that God had given us good results as to praying for the sick and the sick was healed. People came to God; and many things were enlightened. But they said that the reason they termed it as a miracle crusade was because, it had never been in the history of Nigeria, perhaps Africa, the way they talked, but in Nigeria, Africa, that they had ever had the denominational powers to come together for a meeting the way they did in our meeting. And they spoke of the Anglicans and a number of different ones that some of the other brethren, I've heard them speak of, that came together in the meeting. And they received it real well. And they called that a miracle. And I thought that was wonderful. It really thrilled my heart to this extent, that I know that Brother Oral Roberts has been in there. And I know that Brother Bonkhe has been in there. I know that Brother Osborne has been in there; and I know that numbers of them have been in there, numbers of the outstanding evangelists. There's one or two that went in there just before we did, and just after we did. Brother Angeli and some of the others. But they said it had never happened before. So I thought that was the hand of God. God blessing our meeting and standing with us. And it kind of reminded me of what someone said. We was talking to Junior over the telephone. Junior being in prison at this time and he gets out next Friday. We'd been praying sincerely that he would get out; and he gets out next Friday. But anyway I was talking to a prisoner there and Junior. I talked to Junior a little bit and I talked to this prisoner. This prisoner was telling me what a tremendous impact the message has had on the prisoners. And what a tremendous impact the literature has had. And somehow or another, they've got about fifty tapes I believe into this one prison. Whereas Junior has been sent several and left a tremendous testimony with them for Christ. But God somehow had given them favor with the woman that was in the post office; and she would work with them to get these tapes in. And at this time the warden is upset, and the prisoners are being blest, and different ones are blest, and different ones are upset. But anyway, God's really doing something there in the prison. I thought it was really wonderful.

You know, the Bible speaks of the souls in prison, and the power of God going down to deliver them. And what Junior has to do with at this time, I thought it was really phenomenal. But this boy as I was talking to him, and we were discussing different things, he was telling me what a tremendous impact that it had there with the prisoners, and what it had done. And he said, Brother Pike, that's what the truth does. Said, It's brought us prisoners together in our differences. Said, We're beginning to see God. So it was so wonderful. And I thought of the same thing you know. That's the way it is in Africa or any place around the world. Wherever the truth is preached, God honors the truth. And the problem here in the United States and across the world in many places is, as the Bible has stated, that they've taken the Word of God, and they've changed it into a lie. The Bible said, They've changed the truth of God into a lie. That is they've taken the Word of truth, Jesus said, My Words are Spirit and My Words are truth. It's life. And they that find these Words find life. And He said, They have taken these words and they've perverted them; even as Satan when Satan tried to use the Word of God against the Word Himself and pervert it. And he said, It is written, to cast yourself down from here, you know, so that he could kill Jesus. In that Jesus was a human body. And the Word just answered back and said, It is also written.

So it's so wonderful to have the write up up there. And Brother Curly also wrote from California, and he wanted to know if we had received his newsletter, where he had published part of the letter that Sister Betty had written, concerning the property over in Jerusalem; was still enthused about that. And he wanted to know if we'd got one of his newsletters. All right, let's talk about the Word of God just a little bit. I love to talk about the Word of God. I hardly know where to start when I come up here, because it's so dear to me. The whole book is so wonderful. But I love to talk about the Word of God, because it is a great challenge to my faith, to be able to reach out and to do great things for God, or to reach out around the world, and testify in the behalf of Christ, and to carry on our strenuous task here on the home front, as to those things that we are engaged in in the behalf of the Lord. And it's a real task to be able to tutor people on the home front, keep them coordinated to where they won't fuss like children and pout you know, and of course run off and leave you. Whereas it's good to see some of them that has gone off, because of problems coming back. I still consider it a great privilege to have God to challenge my faith, as He looks down and says to me: son, if thou canst believe. If thou canst believe. All things are possible to them that believe. And so then I find myself as the writer said, Contending for the faith that was once delivered unto the saints, contending for that faith.

You know when you think about wrestlers, you think about boxers, they contend. They contend. And people that are in sports, they contend with one another. They contend for the preeminence. Or they contend as in political powers that is for preeminence; and they contend for the place of power and authority in the world for the admiration, that they can receive in the monetary values. They contend for that. Fight with one another, struggle with one another, wrestle with one another. Or they contend to the extent that they have great confrontations. We are contending with the devil. We are contending. And the Bible said, We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, spiritual wickedness in high places. So if I have a contention with an individual, or you have a contention with an individual, when you are doing something for God, you're not wrestling with that individual, nor with flesh and blood. It is a devil within that person. And you're wrestling with powers of evil and wicked forces, fallen angels. And you're contending with powers that are greater and mightier than you; and there's no way that you can win out. For the Bible teaches that man is made a little lower than the angels. And I remind you, that means that he has less strength as to ability than the angels. But when we have Christ in our heart, and when we are born again, then with that we automatically know that we are the stronger source. We automatically know that we are the stronger source. So then we know that Christ is greater than any fallen angel. Therefore He gives us the power. He is so great that He gives us the power, that one of us can put a thousand fallen angels to flight. Now we're weaker than one angel, but He is strong. So exceedingly strong, that we have the power to master a thousand angels at one time. So you can see how great His strength is. And two of us can put ten thousand to flight, because the more that we coordinate together, the greater and mightier we are as to our strength. One candle power and two candle powers and light shines brighter, and the darkness hath no power to prevail. Now is that camera going out there brother? Okay. I just want to be sure because it get's distorting to me. The cameras never bother me until something happens, and then it happens right in the middle of my sermon, and it bothers me so. If I get it clear to start with, I have no problem.

All right so we see here in chapter 17, they ask the question, they said, Lord, can you increase our faith? Or they made the statement, it is, Lord, increase our faith. Now that's really something, isn't it? Lord, increase our faith. We say, Lord, increase my faith. We go to God and I say, Lord, increase my faith. And then the Lord looks back at me and He says, son, if you had any faith, that would be something. You love the Lord? I say, Lord, increase my faith. He said, son, if you had any faith, that would be something. I say, My God, I thought I had all kind of faith. Here is the disciples you know. They say, Lord, increase our faith. Jesus said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could move a sycamore tree, pluck it up by the roots, move a mountain. See if you had any kind of faith. You understand what I'm saying? Have you ever seen a mustard seed? It is so tiny. It is so very tiny. See, and He said, If you had just that much faith. Now stop and think what I'm saying. They said, Lord, here we are with the disciples. We want you to increase our faith. And Jesus just as if to say, if you had any faith at all, you'd be doing great, mighty things. Someone would say, Well, how do you look at it like that, Brother Pike? Because what He said was, if you have faith as the grain of mustard seed? That's true. But if you've ever seen a grain of mustard seed, if you've looked at it, then you'll know that if they didn't have faith not even as big as a grain of mustard seed, they must have not had nothing. Because to have anything, it would have been as big as a mustard seed. So then He was simply saying that you don't understand faith. That's what He was telling them. He was saying that you don't understand faith. And of course we find out that what He said was true, because when they were on the boat and the waves began to dash against the boat, and the winds began to shake the little boat about on the sea of Galilee, here He being asleep, they went and woke Him up. And they said, Master, master, carest thou not if we perish? And Jesus arose and said, Oh thou of little faith. Thou of little faith. Because here He stands on the boat. He just stands. He commands the waves and the wind and He says, Peace be still. And everything was calm, and yet He was a man. And they marvelled and they just backed off; and they looked at Him and they would say, Is not this a man? Isn't this the son of Joseph? And they would say, What manner of man is this? Why, we never met a man like this. What kind of man is this? This man speaks to the waves of the sea, and He speaks to the winds, and they do obey Him. See, and so they marvelled.

And so it was with Elijah, when they spoke about Elijah, the great and mighty Elijah, they would say. And before the coming of the Lord, there shall be the great and mighty prophet Elijah. And the great man, Abraham, and the great Moses; and they would speak of those men as being the great and the mighty men. And of course they were great and mighty men. But the thing is, there was such great, wonderful admiration for these men. As to say, Elijah the great. The great, mighty Elijah; and yet when the writer of the New Testament spoke of Elijah, or when Jesus spoke about Elijah, he wanted them to understand that it had nothing to do with Elijah. That it had nothing to do with the flesh. Jesus said of Myself, I can do nothing. Even Peter made the statement said, Don't look on us, as though we had done something great. Said, It's not that you should look on us. He said, But this man that is sitting here by the faith of Jesus Christ, or by the faith of this man he's made whole. Whereas Jesus continually said, I can do nothing of Myself. And it was for sure that that statement was true, because when He just backed off from the heavenly Father, when He quite doing the great things that the Spirit had Him to do, they took Him into captivity as any other man. They bruised His hands. They bruised His feet. They bruised His head; and they turned Him into a bloody mess. And the Bible said, No man's countenance had ever been bruised like His countenance. His countenance was marred more than any man. And there He was, just a man. See. He was just a man. And so then when He refused to put up His strength as to the power of God, He died like a man. He went to Calvary. That was the end of Him as a man. He died there. God gave His Son. He died. And the Bible said, We have known Him after the flesh; but from henceforth we know Him no more after the flesh. As to say as to a weakness unto death, of being made in the likeness of sinful man, but now we know Him as a new creature. The Bible said, That is to say, He arose in a new form, to where they did not recognize Him, or that is to say, not as a different Jesus; but as we would say, this car is one way over here as to being unglorified, and over here when it's finished to a tee as to the perfection, it is glorified.

And so He arose as the new, making in Himself a new man, the Bible says. And in this making in Himself twain, one old and one new. And He arose as a new man. So then as He walked this earth He said, It is not I that doeth the work, but it is by faith that it is done. And the Bible said, It is by faith that God spoke and said, Let there be and there was. That is to say, God spoke and He spoke the world into existence. He spoke and He spoke Brother Pike into existence. And He spoke and He brought all of the beautiful animals into existence, the beautiful birds, the beautiful trees, and He brought the beautiful ocean, and the stars in the heaven. All came into existence because He said, Let there be, and there was. And when He said, Let there be, there was no doubt as to whether or not it was going to happen. And then He turned to some of them as He walked this earth as a man, the same God that said, Let there be, walked this earth as a man. And as He walked this earth, that same God, that same God that walked this earth, the same God that spoke these things into existence, turned and said, Greater works than these that I do shall ye do. And this same God said, Say what you will and don't doubt in your heart, and it will come to pass. That same God said, Decree a thing in your heart, and ye shall have it. If ye doubt not, if you believe and doubt not, whatever you say.

Now that's a real challenge to me. That makes me want to contend for the faith that was once delivered unto the saints of God. Because here I hear from the very mouth of God Himself. I hear the very Word of God Himself saying, I will not alter the thing that's gone out of My mouth, neither will I change it; but I will hasten to perform My Word; and My Word shall not return unto me void; but it shall accomplish that that I please, and prosper in that whereunto I have sent it. So then we hear the gracious Words of God, the Words of life. And that's why that I become so thrilled when I read this Word. Because this is the Words of life. They said on one occasion, Where shall we go? Where shall we go? You alone have the Words of life. So then when I'm speaking, it's not me speaking; but it's the heavenly Father speaking from within His temple. And the Bible said, Let all the world keep silent, for they all shall be taught of God. So then it is God speaking. And God is putting forth a challenge to your faith, saying, I am the same yesterday, today and forever. And what I say unto one, I say unto all. I have no respect of person; that I will forgive your sins. I died to take away the sins of the world. My blood has taken away the sins of the world; and I called you while you were yet in your sins, and took away your sins, while you were yet out there in your sins. I gave the blood and took away your sins, before that you ever knew me. And the Bible says, This was given to us in Christ, before the world ever was, and then brought to light at Calvary. So then God has given us these things. And He's challenged our faith to believe what He has said. And so then being in our sins, we heard the gracious Words of life, and believed the Words of life, and thus was accepted by God. And today we are sealed in by the great, loving, Holy Spirit; in that when we believe the Bible said, He sent the Holy Spirit into our heart, and there He purified our hearts by faith. And today we're sealed in. Our innermost being, our inner man, our spiritual, angelic being that tabernacles in this little house of clay, has been sealed in by the Holy Spirit; and today we're without spot, without wrinkle, without blemish. Today we don't have any problems whatsoever. God has taken away all of our problems. Isn't that wonderful? God has taken away all of our problems. Someone would say, Well Brother Pike, you can't really prove that He's taken away all of our problems. But the Bible says, that God has taken away all of our problem. Because He said, All things work together for good to them that love the Lord, and those that are the called according to His purpose. So then if all things work together for our good, where then is our problem? And if there's no shortage in God, because the Bible said, God has given us all things that pertain unto life.

So then we have all things that pertain unto life. Where then is our problem? Where is our shortage of anything as to health, as to happiness, as to strength, as to protection, as to something that will take care of us during the time that we seem to have problems, where is the problem? Where is the problem? We have something to take care of us at all times. Even if it seems that we have problems. We don't have any problems, folks. We don't have any problems. We have Jesus. And Jesus is the answer to all things. So then I praise God. The Bible said, And you allow that these things should come upon you, because you are an observer of lying vanities. And because of observing lying vanities, then you forsake your own mercy. For God has given you all these things through the Word by faith in Jesus Christ as to what God did. God accounted that as for being to you. And made you in Christ His desire. So when He looks at you, He sees Christ. And when He sees Christ, He sees His desire. The heart desire of God, for Christ is the apple of His eye. So you see these wonderful things, and He sees Christ in you the hope of glory, and He never sees your problems. He never sees your sins. He never sees anything that would put a spot, wrinkle or blemish on you. And so he says that he that is born of God keepeth himself, and the evil one toucheth him not. He's thus without spot, without wrinkle and without blemish; because he is in the sight of the Father, the Son. He is the Son. We're bone of His bone. We're flesh of His flesh; and we are the very image of His Son. We're made in His image. Adam lost it, but we've recovered it through Christ. And so then today, God doesn't see the bastard child image of your first birth, as that old perverted face that you so admire, God doesn't see it. He's killed it. He's buried it and it's gone. And today He sees Jesus standing there. That beautiful, wonderful, lovely Jesus that stood on the mountainside there with Moses and Elijah, and glistened as would be when the noonday sun should strike a diamond. So then it was so beautiful as He stood there, and that's what I am today. I am today without spot, without wrinkle, without blemish. I am today what God made Christ Jesus to be. The Bible said, And God hath made us to be in Christ as to what He wanted us to be. So all I do, I obtain unto it by faith. If it be a matter of healing, I obtain unto it by faith. If it be a matter of strength, I obtain unto it by faith. If it be a matter of blessings as to anything that pertains unto life, whether it's financial, physical, spiritual, whatever it might be, I just obtain unto it by faith in God. I just put my faith in God, and then God does the rest. It's up to God to do that.

You know when you're driving a car, you don't make the car run. All you do is just put it in gear. And when you put it in gear, then off it goes. Off it goes. Because it is made to run on it's own. You might touch the accelerator a little you know, and you might let up off of the accelerator, and you might be at the control of the wheel as to the direction; but in all reality that motor is running, and when you put it in gear off it goes. Off it goes. As a matter of fact with the earlier cars, if you put it in gear, off you went, whether you put the accelerator down or not. But nevertheless, they got a little clutch deal there now you know, it will sit and idle if you don't have it idled too fast. Some folks are idled up too fast. You know you can't get them still. They're always running traffic lights; and they're always in violation of everything. They're like a worm on a hot rock. They can't sit still long enough to learn anything. But anyway it's like drivers they drive. They don't know where they're going; they don't know why they're going; they don't know where they've been. They could care let about it. Nevertheless, we are they that know where we've been, and who we are, and where we are, and where we're going. As we've got a motive and purpose in life for everything that we do, some people just get up in the morning and they just go. You know they get in the car and they go. You know they can, they don't know where they're going, but they're going to ride somewhere. If they can sit, while they're sitting and drinking a milk shake somewhere, they'll try to decide where they want to go. That's bad business you know. The Bible said, A wise man looketh well to his going. And people who just drift around in their mind, following the lust of the flesh and the desires, as to the appetites and the stimulation of whatever the mind might say, then those people are maneuvered and engineered by Satan, and they're headed for trouble. Because the devil knows that they're just wandering around, like a wandering star with no real goal in life. They buy and they spend and they buy and they spend and they get and they sell and they squander and give away. They don't know from one day to another what they're going to do. They don't have any plans in life. You know no certain direction in life. If you want to be a doctor, if you want to be a dentist, if you want to be a president, if you want to be something in the world, you're going to have to have some motive, some incentive in life toward one goal. And that is to apply yourself, if it takes ten years for diplomacy or fifteen years as to reach your goal, or some ten or fifteen years as to apply yourself to a practice as they say in the medical world. Whatever it might be as to training for boxing or training for wrestling or anything in the world, or having a moving on toward great management of industry. If you're going to be a celebrity, performer, whatever it might be, you know a dignitary in the world, you've got to have some kind of goal, some kind of system. You can't just be someone that just gets up in the morning, that don't know nothing about what you're going to do. You haven't thought anything over. You haven't studied about anything; you haven't programmed your mind. You just get up, and if you're mind says, Go hunting, hunting you go. If you're mind says, Go fishing, you go fishing. If the mind says let's go eat, you go eat. If it's to visit with the relatives, you visit with the relatives. If it's take a trip, if you've got the money, you go. If you can't, you borrow the money. You don't worry about paying it back. Whatever, you know. You don't have any goals in life. And that's the way it is with the world.

But when it comes to spiritual things, they just drift around. They might be oriented toward the thing that they want to do in natural life, and they might be a great success; but the thing is in spiritual life, they don't have any roots at all. They're like a maple tree that doesn't take deep roots, and when the wind blows, it just blows them right over. They look pretty and they glisten. Have you ever seen the leaves on a maple tree how pretty it looks, kind of silvery like when the wind blows? But it doesn't have any roots. And if you plant it near your house, the wind will just blow it right on top of you. But if you take an oak, an oak doesn't look all that good as far as being glistening you know, but the thing is the old oak has got deep roots, and the wind can blow and blow, and it might even pop off a few branches; but after a while the wound is healed, and its grew a new branch. And it's still just as nice as ever, a fine shade tree. You know, especially if it's a water oak; and that thing really has roots. Some trees in the world have roots. Some trees provide shade. Some trees have root. And some trees provide fruits of different kinds. And some trees are nothing but just a problem. And God doesn't want you to be a problem. God wants you to be a blessing. And the only way you can be a blessing is to have some motive and incentive toward some special goal in life, as to preparing yourself, rather than just laboring to feed your belly. The Bible said, God has put the old serpent on his belly. And it's a generation of vipers. And all of their labor is for their belly, because their belly craves it of them. And they don't have any goal in life other than to feed their belly. They get up in the morning wondering about what they're going to put in their belly. From morning until night they're in bondage to their appetite and to their mouth as to feed their belly. And all they wonder about is what's going to happen. The wife says, Honey, you're going to have to go make some money. You just got to get out of here. Said, Well, I don't know. Maybe I need to do something around the home front. No you can't do that. You got to get out from here. You just got to. She doesn't say, You got to just go out there and make some food. You got to feed my belly. Now she doesn't say that. And some men are that feminine. You know they're lazy and shiftless. And some women are not so feminine as to making a living. You know they have to get a little masculine. They should be feminine and stay home; but nevertheless, there is cause for them to go out and make a living. And they have to get kind of masculine. But nevertheless, these women you know, they'll talk to the husband, and sometimes the husband will talk to the wife. Say, Honey, why don't you wash the dishes or would you sweep the floor? My this place is such a mess. Its got such a bad odor. Don't you ever clean up any at all you know? You know you have a wife, and the wife you come home to the wife you know, and her hair stringy like a mop. How many of you know what I'm saying? Somebody says, Well, Brother Pike, do you believe in that beauty sort of a thing? No. I believe that God beautifies the meek with salvation like He said. But did you know that even God beautifying you, you know one of the ways He beautifies you? Is He'd give you enough sense to comb your hair. Let's give the Lord a hand. Somebody say, Hallelujah!

So then God does give us enough understanding to clean our teeth, and to comb our hair, and to wash our bodies you know, and to stay clean. And He gives us the water so that we can do these things. He gives us the things that's necessitated to life. He said, I've given you all things that pertain unto life. And that doesn't mean you know that we should just sit down and eat and eat; like I said about the man in the Carolinas until you fall through the floor. That's what he did. He ate until he fell through the floor. The floor wouldn't hold him. You know God doesn't want you to do that. God doesn't want you to do that. Somebody said, Well, I can't help it. Why can't you help it? Have you ever stopped to wonder why you can't help it? Like people that won't live for God, they say, Well, I just can't help it. They're all out of shape. All out of proportion, when it comes to the image of Christ. And they're just blown up as to the world you know, all out of proportion. They do all kind of things out in the world as pertaining to human desire. They do nothing for God. And say, Look, what's the problem? They said, Well, I just can't help it. I'm so use to going to the milk shake place you know; and I'm just so use to wandering around you know, buying and selling and riding and visiting my relatives. I just don't get any inspiration out of praying, they say. I just can't pen myself up in a room and study the Word of God. Say, Well, do you ever read your Bible? Say, Oh yeah, I can tell you; let me look; and they find their verse. You know, John 3:16. And then they quote that; and they tell you about that, because they're highly religious. But the thing is though, they don't know anything about the Bible. You start telling them something about the Bible, and they've got so many old wives' fables and things they've hatched up in their mind, that they can tell you right off that you are occult. Let's give the Lord a hand. Right of they know you're occult. They don't know nothing about occult. They don't know nothing about God; and they don't know that the occult is one that don't believe in the Word of God; that teaches something contrary to the Word of God. See so it is the devil, as we said, the devil perverting the word of God, and quoting the Word to the Word. And there the devil comes to you, you the sons and daughters of God, and he says to you, you are occult. Can't you imagine that? Couldn't you just imagine a dog coming up to you saying, You old dog? Couldn't you imagine that? That's just how foolish that would be. Let's give the Lord another hand. All right, so then we know that God does want to beautify us. He does want us to be decent; you know the wife to the husband, and the husband decent to the wife. And He wants us to be clean and decent in spirit; not only clean in body, but He wants us to be clean in spirit. Clean in our soul. He doesn't want us to do evil.

And folks, let me tell you something. If you ever have faith in God, you're going to have holiness. This is one thing that the world don't understand. There is no faith in God without holiness. I know that right now, the rain is on the just and on the unjust. I understand that. It's on the wheat and on the tare. I know that. And I know you may have a meeting here; and people may jump up and speak in tongues; and they may shout; and somebody might go off and say, Look, that wasn't God. But you don't need to do that. You don't need to do that. Somebody said, Well I say them shouting and dancing everywhere. It just wasn't God. No. See, you don't need to do that. Somebody would say, Well, I know that person. I know that they're no good. I know what they do. I know that they are a tare. That's true. But if you know that, you should also know that the rain comes on the tare. And you should also know that the tare lives from the same inspirational sunshine and rain that the wheat does. And that the tare, it makes a fuss over it just like the wheat; because when the rain comes, it has to live by that just like the wheat does. So then it might be God moving, and you might speak against the Spirit of God. It could be God. It could be an outpouring; where the Bible said, And God hath poured out His Spirit upon all flesh, that takes in the tare. That's the murderer, the liar, and everybody else. God has hid all of their sins and their wrongs from before His face by putting the blood there. And looking on them through the blood, the blood has taken away the sins of the world. Even through this dispensational period of time, as to God giving a dispensational grace. And folks, it's going to remain that way until the blood comes off of the mercy seat; and then only they that have the blood with the life of Jesus in it, they that have this blood on the inside of them, only then will there be a separation as to the tare and the wheat. And those people out there will be in the wrath of God. Only then will you retain this wonderful blessings, while they lose it. And you will retain all of the things of the world that are given to life, while they lose everything. For every talent that they have, every ability that they have, everything that God has given them in the natural, will be taken away from them. And then you will have it all. You will have it all.

So then, you're going to have to be holy. You're going to have to be clean. You're going to have to have holiness. You can't differentiate right now. You can't say that those people are not getting blest, because they are getting blest in many, many ways: in all kind of prosperity as to medical healing. When the Bible said, In the day when God takes the blood off the seat of atonement, there won't be any healing medicines. Right now they're in the rain. And you can't accuse them. And you're not to judge anything, the Bible said, before the time. And then besides that, the Bible said, You're not to judge another man's servant. But what we do know is, that when the rain comes down upon the tare, that they may shout it off; they may dance it off; they may do all kind of things; and then go right out to the ball games and the things of the world. But when it comes to you and I, we may not shout, we may not jump so high; but like Jesus who broke down in Spirit, and worshipped God in Spirit, and sighed in His Spirit, this same Jesus; whereas the Bible said, Mark them that sigh, so this same Jesus being our example. You might do it that way. You might dance as David did before the ark of the covenant. You might shout and praise God. You may do some things like they did on the day of Pentecost in speaking in tongues. You may demonstrate by laying hands on the sick. You may prophesy. The gifts may work in you, whatever. But there's one thing about it: when this Spirit comes upon you, it's going to bring a different reaction. Because it's going to effect your inside person. The inner man, the Bible speaks of. And with this, wisdom and understanding and power and faith is going to come forth from you, or emanate from your person, as you grow in this mighty power, as to the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. So then you can't say that they're not being blessed. But I'm speaking of faith. As to this hidden mystery, as to the kingdom of God within you. Jesus said, And the kingdom of God cometh not by observation, but it is within you. And this is the thing that we're interested in. Because in every kingdom there is power. And if there's a kingdom on the inside of you, that means there's a king on the throne somewhere. And if that kings on the inside of you, as Christ in you the hope of glory, then there's got to be power. There's got to be authority. Because if there's no power and authority, then there's no kingdom. Because a kingdom is something that is constituted up or composed of powers and authorities. And so then, if the kingdom of God is within you, there's a king on the inside of you. And if there is a king on the inside of you, that means that if you and Christ, if you're one, as Jesus said, My Father and I are one; if you are one with that great spiritual Father, then you have power. You have power. And this is what the Bible means when it said, Being caught up to the throne, the child shall rule with a rod of iron. Though you be a little child as to know what to do; yet if you're one with Him, He will give you all the understanding that you need. And as it was in the Old Testament, when they'd take a child eight years old, set him on the throne, and make him a great king, He'll do the same thing with you and I. Jesus Christ: the same yesterday, today, and forever.

So then we contend for the faith that was once delivered unto the saints of God. Can we have that wonderful faith? We can have that faith. I want you to stand with me. We can have that wonderful faith, because God has given it unto us. But you'll never have faith without holiness. I say that those people have faith as to a dispensational grace. I'm simply saying that the mercy of God is there to stir them as to their conviction; but as to having God faith, they don't have faith. They believe; but as to having faith, the Bible said, God hath dealt unto every man a measure of faith. And that is to say as to a believing. But as to having faith, the Bible said, All men have not faith as to the faith of Jesus Christ: the great and mighty faith that transformates the mind, translates the spirit, and transfigures the body into the oneness of God.

All right let's sing a little chorus together, can we? (They sing) Can you sing that with me? (They sing) Can you sing that with me? (They sing) One more time. (They sing) How many of you feel like you've got too much to gain to lose? There's too much to gain to lose. You know I've been over the mountains. I've been down through the valley. And I've been across the desert, been stranded in the desert, the hot, burning desert. Been out on the sea; and wherever I've been, the Lord Jesus has always been with me. He's always been a blessing to me. He's always helped me. No matter what I'm tried to do, He's always stood with me. Always, always He stood with me. You love the Lord? One more time let's sing together. (They sing) All right let's sing another little chorus together can we? Can you sing that with me? (They sing) Let's sing this little chorus. (They sing) The altars are open. (They sing) Sing it one more time. (They sing) Can you sing it with me now? (They sing) Can you sing that? (They sing)

Do you really love Jesus? You know the Bible said that we should equip ourselves with a mind to suffer. And one of the things that we don't like to do is to deny ourself as to the suffering. But the Bible said, If we suffer with Christ, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He shall also deny us. But if we confess Him before men, He will also confess us before our Father which is in heaven. So then it's up to us as to what we do. God loves you. He loves me. And He wants us to fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life. And He wants us to make a good confession in this world, to run our race and to finish our course. And then can say with Paul, that there is from henceforth a crown of life laid up for me, and not only me, but He said, for everyone that loves His appearing that will do His will. There is also a crown of life. When you say, a crown of life, I know in our human understanding you know, we think about a crown that's set on our head. Well there's a crown that's set on our head, in that Jesus is our head, and He's crowned with the crown of life. But we have a crown of the soul. Our soul is a crown with eternal living, with eternal life. The crown of our soul is that it never dies. God gives us eternal life and that's our crown, our crown of beauty. Because we say a crown, a crown of jewels, a crown of living, if I'm going to shine forth as the brightness of the noon day, and I'm going to own everything in heaven and in earth, and all the wealth and power and splendor and majesty, glory and beauty that there is to be had, as to radiance, my, what other crown would I want? So all things belong to you. All things belong to me. Let's sing this little chorus, Sister Dale. Can we? Give me another key. Can you sing that? (They sing) Sing it with me. (They sing) One more time. (They sing) Can we give the Lord a hand? (They sing) Let's sing this little chorus together as we close. (They sing) Can you sing it again? (They sing) Let's just lift our hands up and close our eyes and sing this little chorus that we sing so often. (They sing) One more time together. (They sing) While we're singing, I'd like to ask Chris to come up and dismiss us. (They sing) Just one more time together. (They sing)

By Rev. George Leon Pike Sr.

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

Holiness Unto The Lord