Perfect Faith #04

Knowing You Are Believers, Standing And State
#5087 /

#5087
Brother Lee Vayle

Gracious Heavenly Father, again we want to commend ourselves unto You in the Spirit of God, the Spirit of righteousness, knowing Lord, with that in mind, we will have a true revelation, understanding of Your Word, and by Your grace Lord, we will also have the power to carry out a life lived in the Word Lord.

We know we cannot of ourselves release the power that lies in the Word, but You can Lord, and You can release it unto us Father, in such a way that whatever part we have in this last hour can be fulfilled the way You’d like it fulfilled in our very hearts, minds and lives.

Help us to be Lord, a dynamic church, a church without spot, without blemish, one Lord, that is founded in You, that worships in You, O God, that knows their places, understands the things of the Lord, and then is yielded Father, to You that that Word may have the preeminence.

In all things Lord, may You have Your way. We want that Lord, and I know You desire it of us, and I know You’ve made a way for it. Help us to follow that way Lord, whatever it may be, whatever the cost; we’ll give You the praise.

In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

You may be seated.

01

Now, before I start on the message, this is for those going out on the tapes, because I receive phone calls and we do not actually advertise any meetings, because we just figure those that are meant to come will come and also keep it very low key, I think that’s perhaps the most valid reason.

So the Thanksgiving meeting, if I recall my calendar just right, is November 27 on a Thursday, and the meeting will be at the Sheraton Motel, which I believe is Exit 41 on 275, and Sheraton Lane is something it’s called.

It’s the only Sheraton in Cincinnati, and they will be preparing a dinner if you care to attend on Thursday, the first night of the meeting, and then from then on, they’ll be taking care of the meals, and the rooms of course are $36 for one, or for five or for six… how many you can crowd in there.

And I don’t think they’ll worry how many you put in there. Now you can just take it from there. So that’s pretty well what we have in mind.

Also, I’d like to say to ministers who might get the tape and anybody else, that on the following Monday, Roger Watson, our accountant, who is exceptionally adept and trained in taking care of ministers and churches, will have a seminar at that time.

It will not be very expensive, a room will be provided free for us, that’s to meet, and the meal will be served, which is one of the regular meals at a very nominal cost.

So we hate to put that on a tape but that’s the way it has to be sometimes.

All right, we’re looking at the Message that Brother Branham brought us on Perfect Faith, and this is number 4.

And this message of course, was preached by Brother Branham in order to help the people use their faith to receive healing as they entered the prayer line.

Of course that presupposes and definitely says that we do have the faith to be used.

Of course, it was also expected that they would learn from him certain principles that would help them receive any and all promises found in the Bible whenever they experienced a need for an answer from God.

In other words, it wasn’t just for that night; it was for every time.

Foremost, was the principle that faith is substantially realer than any evidence that is, you might say, somehow against faith or it’s so great that it can overcome anything, something or anything that is there, that you need help in.

Its presence and power, though invisible, is effective and superior to anything that man can invent, or the devil can use, or the devil use it, as a determining factor in his life.

So it’s against everything that man or the devil may put in our way; you or I doing it to ourselves, or the enemy, or anything else.

02

Therefore faith is a reality; it’s very, very real. It’s a substance. It is definitely the assurance, or in other words, the undeniable and never failing right to the intervention of God on our behalf.

Faith is the ticket, or guarantees our inalienable right to God at any time He is needed, and He is needed a lot.

It is a substance that we have, especially if we’re filled with the Holy Ghost, or the Spirit of God, and by it, by this substance, we are capable of passing beyond the realm of simply wanting and asking for something, but we can know in ourselves, and in spite of every so-called evidence to the contrary that we are positively going to receive the promise that we desired.

It’s as John says over here in 1 John 5, and we’ll just read a couple verses there that I want at this time. Verses 14 and 15.

1 John 5:14-15

(14) And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:

(15) And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

How do you know? We have got what it takes to get them. Now let’s understand that tonight.

Now I know we can feel pretty bushed, we can feel pretty exhausted, we can feel pretty low, incompetent, unworthy, everything under God’s high heaven, and the devil’s lowest hell, you can feel it, but you’re wrong if you say you don’t have it, when you do, and you make God a liar.

And you should begin to, and I agree, we all should begin to put the positive to accentuate the positive.

03

Do you remember there was an old song, “Accentuate the Positive”? Yeah, and they danced to it. Well, I think that’s good for the Christian.

I’m not against dancing in the Spirit, as long as it’s not your infernal spirit, or your carnal spirit, or a ‘Spirit of God’. Brother Branham danced in the Spirit.

He said he sat there, and pretty soon his toe was a tappin’ and he joined in the dance. Did you know he even danced and called upon God while the bush-beaters that called upon their gods in Africa?

I’m going to really floor you on this one. Oh, you poor legal-minded people that are so soft and so scared. Whoo man! Do you hear what I’m saying, child?

William Branham actually danced while the bush-beaters that wanted the lion, and hoped to get one, and he called upon his God, the same as Naaman did when he stood beside the king.

While the old king called upon the fish-faced, useless god Dagon, that servant, Naaman, would turn to the Lord. He said, “You go to it, boss; we’re both worshipping God. While you’re doing this one, I’m praising That One.”

Lots of strange things in life… lots of strange things… lots of strange things. Do you know the apostle Paul… forget this, I might get on this. Brother Branham later mentions that the mystics in the Gospel, the mystics.

He must have been a terrible threat and nuisance and an awful pain in the neck, and thorn in the eye to that bunch of mealy-mouthed, down-in-the-mouth hypocrites that called themselves the servants of God.

He must have been a real trial to them. All right, Brother Branham was the same way; Christ was the same way. All the servants of God, the great ones, were a problem to the problem makers. Ha! Ha! Ha!

There was God’s solution in the form of a man, you know, the messenger, the carrier, and they didn’t like it. Well, so much for that.

04

Okay. On page 11, paragraph 58-60, Brother Branham admits, in discussing the faith of Joshua, wherein Joshua by faith and even without prayer, commanded the sun to stand still because he had a need to be met while in God’s service, he admitted that he, himself, Brother Branham, did not understand the mechanics of the Holy Spirit in the outworking of faith, but he knew only too well the power and effect of it.

So let’s read a bit. 61:

[61]  I don’t know the mechanics of the Holy Ghost, even though I know it fell on me. I still can’t tell the mechanics of It, but I know positively the blessings of It.

That’s all that I care to know about, is the blessings of the Holy Ghost. And the mechanics, He works that, that’s His secret.

Now, none know how God answers prayer. We just know that He does it, but there is a little tip here that Brother Branham was telling us without giving us the Scripture and it is in,

Romans 10:6-7

(06) But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh… [Remember, we have to confess or say the same things with Christ according to Hebrews. Right?] But the righteousness which is of faith… [Okay. Faith righteousness, faith healing, faith provision, faith everything, has one voice and it’s a speaking voice; it’s an audible voice; it’s a good voice; and it speaketh on] this wise, [and first it’s an admonition from God saying.] Say not in thine heart, [Question! Question not in thine heart; question not in thy mouth; do not pose a question mark;] Who shall ascend into heaven? [that is, to bring Christ down from above:]

(07) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? [That is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.]

That shows the preexistence of Christ. Right? Well, how are you going to bring Him down if He’s not there to bring down. He came down in this age, Elohim, and they still don’t believe it.

Who brought Him down? Did William Branham bring Him down? No, God brought Himself down. I don’t understand… I don’t understand.

All the time looking back, always looking forward, never putting the emphasis where it belongs.

05

Let’s face it: we teach it here; we believe it here. We have a certain amount of reality, but none of us really understand that He is here. I think we’re growing; I think we lose ground at time; I think we fluctuate. Who’s going to bring Him down?

“All right,” they said, “let’s say He came down and they killed Him. Who’s going to bring Him up?”

Now if God, in the form of Christ, died, or God in Christ died, or God died… then if God’s dead, who takes care of God? Aw, come on. Let’s be honest: there are things that you and I cannot answer, nor ever will answer, so let’s watch:

06

But faith righteousness, all of these things, does not question, does not say, “Who shall ascend in heaven and persuade Him to come on down, bring Him down, or who shall descend to the deep,” that is, go down and bring Him up again:

Romans 10:8

(08) But what [does it say?] The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth,…

Now you can’t get anything much closer to you than something in your mouth. Now if you don’t think that’s true, how many of you have ever bitten into the proverbial hot potato and scalded your tongue? Boy, you knew what was in your mouth. Right? What about this? It’s in your mouth. God put it there.

Romans 10:8-11

(08) …and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; [You’ve got it. You’ve got it so that you can say it.]

(09) That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

(10) For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

(11) For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. [On provision you go this way.]

Faith healing is the same way: you don’t question the mechanics of God; you simply say with your mouth what’s in your heart concerning healing, concerning the jobs you need. Look I know what it is to stand there with my back to the wall, kids.

Let me tell you something: you’re looking for jobs. You don’t know what it is to have tough luck yet. You’ve had it easy, the ninety-nine percent of you. You don’t know what it is to stand there with your back to the wall.

It can be done; it can be done. You think you had a little trouble, Gene, because you had tough luck in the depression? Phhtt! You’re not even born yet, kid. None of us may be born yet with what’s coming up on the world.

It’s time to get our strength, this Message is for strength. God fortifies us, and He’s given us the fortification through the prophet, brother/sister, that nobody ever had since the time of the apostle Paul.

In fact, if you want to combine the apostle Paul and Jesus Christ into one, and bring it to this hour, you are getting somewhere in your assessment, and it should be assessed.

07

Now, I’m not trying to be rough on anybody, I’m just telling you: it can be done, honey, it can be done if you want to do it.

You say, “Now Brother Vayle, why aren’t you doing it all the time?”

That’s a very good question but I am not a whirling dervish, I am not a jack of all trades, I am not a master with every gift, I am not a pastor and a prophet and a teacher, an evangelist, right down the line, the whole bit… apostle.

Have I got them all there? There’s five of them… All in one body. There is a blended ministry, yes, a little bit of maybe a little something in each one.

And everybody doesn’t pray for the sick; everybody doesn’t make a ministry, any more than you all make ministries that compete with each other, because you’re all the same and you’re trying to climb above each other’s head. That’s not the body.

My body functions according to the spirit and the life within me, hoping that I will coordinate their effort by my spirit, under the Spirit of God, to bring me to a place. And that’s where you are.

08

So we’re looking at this thing here, that there’s not one of us needs to fall short of the grace of God; there’s not one of us needs to fall short of any promise of God unless God intervenes as He did with the apostle Paul and says, “I can’t heal you because you’ve got to suffer, because I’ve given you too much.”

Now, of course, concerning any other age, we have gotten into too much bracket, but let’s not try to weasel out. Let’s begin to understand we can face any exigency that comes upon us and we can be well, and to encourage us in that particular way.

09

So what am I saying here? Faith doesn’t ask questions. You know something? Between the male and the female, the female asks the questions. A woman can drive a man crazy asking questions, and I won’t look at anybody.

I’ll keep my eyes closed while I talk. This even used to bug me, even bug me. I’m putting the emphasis in the way to make a little joke out of it, till I read an article on the psychology of the woman against the psychology of the male.

Now why am I saying what I am saying? Because the woman represents the church and the true Bride does not ask questions. Once She is shown, She knows what it is all about and she says it, because She believes it.

And this is the positive confession of the Bride.

10

Now let’s be honest: as I told you last time, I think it was, I preached a whole series of hours and hours on this subject, ‘Confession: Negative, Positive,’ ‘Attitudes,’ ‘Trial of Faith’, some of those are in book form, some aren’t, and I’m not going to preach them all over again, although I’m tempted to throw a lot of material in there, but you can mostly get the tapes even today and study them yourself.

We don’t know how, we just know that he does.” It’s Brother Branham talking about Joshua.

There’s nobody knows the answer, but I want to tell you something: the sun did stand still, and the earth did stand still, and I don’t care if NASA or the astronomers, or the un-NASA or the un-astronomers…

Do you get what I’m saying? I’m not interested in what they say. The Bible said it.

You say, “Well, you’re a fool.”

Thank you. That’s very nice. If I can be a fool for Christ, as the bunch in California said, said, “Whose fool are you?” All right.

[61]  I don’t know the mechanics.

11

Now, going back to the healing of the boy in chapter 17 of Matthew:

[62]  This boy could not be healed. Remember now the disciples had power; Jesus had given them power to heal all manner of sickness, to cast out devils, to cleanse the lepers, to raise the dead.

[We saw that in Luke 10, right? Beg your pardon, Matthew 10: 1 and 6-7.] He gave them power, but they didn’t have faith to operate the power they had. And then they questioned Jesus and said, “Well, now, why couldn’t we do it?”

Furthermore, remember, not only did they have the power and couldn’t do it, then asked the question, ‘why they couldn’t do it’,

[63]  …remember, they had the Word. [And how did they have the Word?] The Word was flesh then, [and he’s talking now of Logos, not Rhema, a literal verbal Word, but the literal manifested Logos.] And the Word told them, “I give you power,” Amen! “I give you power.”

I’ve got power; I’m going to give you some power. Remember, It said, “Moses had the Holy Ghost; he needed some help.” So God took some of the Holy Ghost off of Moses and gave it to seventy, and Moses had more than the seventy combined.

Now, he said, “I’m going to do the same thing… I have done the same thing.”

[63]  “I give you power.” And they had the power, but they didn’t have the faith to operate the Word that was in them.

12

Now remember, what Word was in them, given by The Word that gave them the Word. In other words, the Logos gave them the Rhema or the command. The command was, “I give you power.

Don’t go now to the Samaritans, or go to the Gentiles, but go, rather, only to the cities that I indicate, and there you will heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the leper, and whatsoever, and I give you power over all the power of the enemy to cast out devils,” or whatever was needed.

Now, the Word of command was in them; the power to do it was in them, and, remember, Jesus said to everyone of us, “When the Holy Ghost is come upon us, we will receive ‘dunamis’, which is not ‘exousia’, authority, but is the literal power that we’re supposed to have to do these things.

Brother Branham also said in 2 Peter, concerning the virtues, he said, “Virtue was… [when virtue went out of Christ,” and that word in the Greek is ‘dunamis’], a little power, an actual force went out of him, and the woman was healed.

13

So therefore, they had the Word of command, which was in them, and they had the power to enforce it. What was wrong? Unbelief.

[63]  …they had the power, they didn’t have the faith to operate the Word that was in them. See what I mean? But Jesus had it, He was the Word, [He was the logos], and he had the faith that what he said, [Rhema, it came out of Him as Word,] would happen. He said, “Oh, bring him here. How long will I suffer you?”

Now, this word ‘suffer’, which is Matthew 17:7, is ‘bear with you’. In other words, “How long will I bear with you and your messing around? How long will I put up with it? Allow you to lean on me, and not demand responsibility from you?”

14

Okay. Let’s read a little bit here in Luke, the 19th chapter, and we’ll do some reading tonight.

Luke 19:11

(11) And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.

Now the kingdom of God could not immediately appear, watch this, and this is after Luke 17, until after the Appearance of the One Who said, “The kingdom of God is in your midst,” and that kingdom comes without observation, bringing in observation, because if you believe it, concerning William Branham, this is that forerunner of the very kingdom you’re looking for, because the King is here in the Person of the Holy Spirit, in the form of the Pillar of Fire.

Okay. It’s end time, end time, end time.

15

And he said,

Luke 19:12-27

(12) He said therefore, [because of this thinking] A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.

(13) And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.

(14) But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.

(15) And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.

(16) Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds.

(17) And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.

(18) And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds.

(19) And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities.

(20) And another came, saying, Lord, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin:

(21) For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow.

(22) And he said, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow:

(23) Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury? [Some interest, you see, a payment on it.]

(24) And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give to him that hath ten pounds.

(25) And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds [already. Why are you going to give him more?]

(26) For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him.

(27) But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.

16

Now what I’m trying to bring out here is the thought where Jesus said each time, “Good and faithful; poor and faithless,” and He requires therefore people to be responsible with what He has given them, and there is not one of us who has not been given the measure of faith and the proportion of faith for every single ministry that we have; man, woman, and child that’s responsible to God.

And none of these things will operate without faith… not one. We’ve been given the faith for it; faith to live the life; faith to receive.

There is no lacking, and on top of that, the love of God shed abroad in our hearts, helps us to make faith work at a proper peak.

And at the end time now abideth faith, earnest expectation, and love and the greatest, of course, is love. But remember, it says nothing about faith and earnest expectation disappearing.

It says tongues and all the gifts can be put on the shelf, but nowhere can you find that faith is put on the shelf. Just wanted to bring that to your attention there. Okay.

17

Another Scripture, I think I’ve written down here… oh, it doesn’t matter, I think I might have a miss here. All right.

“How long will I suffer you? How long will I put up with you? How long will I bear with you?” See? In other words, at that time, and speaking the parable on this, puts it to the end time.

How much more time have we got before we begin to launch out in the faith that Caleb and Joshua had in the crossing over because it was in the Exodus that people really were shown up and lost out with God.

Now, applying that to this, we’ll be looking at some rules tonight, or some things that Brother Branham is saying that hopefully we’ll run into them before we close off the service.

18

Now, paragraph 64:

[64]  Jesus had faith with his power. [And we’re going to get something that sounds ambiguous here so just hold with me.] How did he? [He had faith with his power. How did he? How did he come by it?] He said, “I can do nothing in myself.” Why? He relied upon God what he was; [or what God was.]

Now he had to rely upon what God was because he said, “In myself I can do nothing.” As Paul said, “In my flesh there dwelleth no good thing.” So when Jesus came in the flesh, He did not come to do one thing in the flesh because that’s where Adam went haywire.

He came to operate in the Spirit, and the flesh was a vehicle of the Spirit in order for the Spirit to operate. “So of myself,” and his birth was fantastic. I’ve explained it different times from what Brother Branham said.

Now:

[64]  …He relied upon what He was, [God was, see?] He relied in knowing that He was the Word.

Now, how was he the Word? He was God manifested, and he relied upon what he was, not in the flesh, but by God Himself in that flesh. Then would come forth a true manifestation of God.

Now:

And He had faith in God, who had made Him the Word. [So he had faith in God, which caused Jesus to be the Logos.] He was God, the Word, and they were in him; [the Words of God in him,] and that gave Him faith because He understood his position.

19

Now what was his position? In himself, as the physical being: nothing.

But God’s Word in him, and he being the temple of the Holy Ghost, understanding his position as the Only-begotten Son of God, knowing exactly what he was, which was now the Logos, that gave him what he needed: the understanding of his position. So he could use that faith and use what he had.

[64]  He knew what He was, because the Scripture had said He was this.

Now he was relying upon the fact that there was something strange and wonderful going on, and the Bible indicated what it was.

So you had indication and vindication, and here every Scripture tied in to prove that he was exactly what the Scripture said he would be, and he knew what he was.

“I know Who I’ve come from, where I’m going.” He said, “You bunch, don’t know a thing about it.” He said, “I’m of God; you’re of the devil.” He knew. See?

20

Sixty-five. Now again Brother Branham is referring of course in paragraph 64, he’s referring to himself and predestination in an oblique manner, because remember: Hebrews 13:8, and God working in and through a prophet. Sixty-five… now that lines up with 64:

[65]  Therefore, He relied upon what God had made Him. [Now watch that.] He relied upon… Jesus relied upon what God had made Him. And if He did that, then can’t we rely upon what God made us…? [Now we’re not Jesus Christ; we’re not William Branhams.] He relied upon what God made Him.

21

We are to rely upon, in the same way, what God made us. There’s got to be a link up here. There is a link up here. It’s in Hebrews, and you know where I’m going… it’s the 2nd chapter. Anybody knows that by now.

If I know it, I’m sure you know it, or you could guess it pretty easily. Beginning at verse 5.

Hebrews 2:5-14

(05) For unto the angels hath he not put into subjection the world to come whereof we speak. [Now that’s going on now in 1 Corinthians 15. Now follow along because I would tell you something but I’m not going to bother. Just follow along.]

(05) For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. [Once speaking out of heaven now, from heaven, indicating and vindicating.]

(06) But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visits him? [Now that’s speaking correctly of Jesus Christ and also of us.]

(07) Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: [Remember He did that to Adam, too.]

(08) Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. [That’s going on now with Jesus, God doing it.] For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. [But we’re seeing it accelerated right now because the Bride’s the last one coming in under it.]

(09) But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every [son. And we can’t do for ourselves; He did it for us.]

(10) For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, [Now that’s God Himself, Elohim] to make the captain [That’s Jesus Christ] of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

(11) For both he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified [Jesus and the Bride] are all of one [source;] [They all come from God. He is the fullness of the attributes; we’re little tiny attributes each]: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,

(12) Saying, I will declare thy name [O Jehovah, Elohim] unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. [The song leader and the Bride.]

(13) And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me. [Or God has allowed the birth through Jesus Christ.]

(14) Forasmuch then as children of flesh and blood, he likewise took a part [and so on.]

22

So there you are looking at identification in Christ, and the beautiful thought is: whether we want to think it or not, and if we think opposite, we make Him a liar, and we are liars: “Let every man’s word be a lie, but God’s be true,” we are brethren of the Lord Jesus Christ and of the same Source.

And you can look at yourself all you want, and deny it, and you make God a liar, because you are a liar, and so am I. All the jackass can do is bray: “Wonk, wonk, wonk, wonk, wonk!” So all he can do is bray. They don’t sing the praise unto God, it’s not in them. Jackasses.

Too bad to be hybrids. Brother Branham is telling us something: we have got to come to this place of recognition. Is there anybody here that’s not related somehow to a dope? A jerk? Or a profligate?

Shake your family tree, you might find not only a few horse thieves, but a couple of murderers up there. I shake my tree and I can find crooks by the abundance, all falling over each other on their heads.

And my crooked uncle crooked my mother… everybody else. Shake your family tree. All right. Just deny that they’re relatives.

Now you can ignore them, and you can be like some very foolish parents who disown their children. Well, bully for you, you idiot. Are they going to crawl back in the sperm again, through the womb to the sperm?

23

Nicodemus thought Jesus said something kind of stupid. “You must be born again.”

He said, “Can I go back in my mother’s womb?”

Nobody’s a nut. How are you going to undo that which has been done? How are you going to be able to deny that which is factual? That’s what we’re looking at here: the factuality of our Blood-Holy Ghost relationship through the same paternal office is ours.

Brother Branham watered it down so… well, he didn’t water it, he put it very plainly so you and I could understand ‘Messiah’ in contradistinction to ‘Messiah-ettes’ or ‘Messiah-ettes’ in contradiction to ‘Messiah’, or “little branches,” as Jesus said, in contradistinction to “the vine.”

24

Remember the little foxes spoil the tender vines. The little squeaky doubts of Satan of unbelief come in and try to destroy your faith in Jesus Christ.

[65]  He relied upon what God had made Him. And if He did that, can’t we rely upon what God made us as believers? [Then Brother Branham said,] “These signs shall follow the believers.”

Mark 16, not John 14:12. That’s ‘a single’ believer; these are the believers of Mark 16. “These signs shall follow them that believe.” ‘Them’ are who? Who are they? The Children of God, the joint-heirs with Jesus Christ, and Jesus is not ashamed of us because we are brothers.

And I’ve said before that a sheep can do any rotten thing, and even rottener than a goat can do.

When you can get so confused in your thinking as a real Child of God by predestination, election, and foreknowledge in the beginning with Him, as the apostle Paul, and murder the Bride, thinking you’re doing God a favor, you are long gone in some direction you shouldn’t be gone in.

And Paul said he was the chief sinner, and he wasn’t saying, “I’m the chief sinner, but, of course, you guys are worse then me… you know… some little thing.” Makes sound to indicate ‘just a small thing’. No, he meant it.

He said, “I’m the chief sinner.” He said, “If you want to look at somebody that’s sinner,” he said, “you look at me, but” he said, “grace was there.”

25

[65]  …He had faith in what He was. And if you are a believer, you have faith in what you are: you are a believer!

[That’s who you are.] And if you have faith in God, the Bible says over here, “If our hearts condemn us, then we can’t have faith; but if our hearts don’t condemn us, then we do have faith, and we have confidence toward God.”

If you want to read it, that’s found in St. John 3:21. I got the Scripture written down here.

He may want 1 John… I think he does. He wants 1 John… yeah, he corrects his error there. But also John is very good because It says you aren’t even born again unless you’re in light. Okay.

[66]  [1 John 3:21:] Beloved, if our hearts condemn us not, then we have confidence toward God.

“Whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, we receive of him because we keep his commandments.” Well, we’ll get into that a little later on, but the words he mentioned here.

“For if our hearts condemn us not, then we have confidence.” Now he’s taking up where he left off on page 419A, where he mentions right away that faith is contingent to forgiveness.

[67]  But as long as you are doing things that are wrong, you can’t have confidence towards God. [Right?] You’ll automatically know that you’re wrong. You automatically put yourself back there as a sinner, by knowing that you’re wrong.

26

Now what’s he saying? When you know you’re wrong as a sinner, you come to God and repent. So when you’re doing wrong, whatever it is that’s wrong according to the Scripture, you put yourself right back where you were.

Not that you’re not a born-again person, not that you’re a great miscreant, you’ve lost God, and God’s lost you. It’s you put yourself back where you have to come to God for repentance and clean the record to get things right.

And it may mean me making things right with your fellow man. Now it says here, as sinners are to repent and be converted, so we’re condemned when we know wrong, and we are to repent before God and get as many things right as we possibly can get the thing right. All right.

[67]  …But when your heart doesn’t condemn you, and you know you are a believer, and there’s nothing between you and God, you can ask what you will and that’ll be given, because it’s the Word that’s given to you just like it was to those disciples.

27

Now, let’s understand this, to get our bearings exactly right on this what Brother Branham is talking about.

He is saying concerning Jesus, and concerning us: We’ve got to know who and what we are in Almighty God, and what He’s given to us as our possession and we have to know how to use it.

And one of the basic principles is this: you have to know that something can come against your faith like nothing else can come against it, and that’s not the devil, and that’s not outside conditions; it’s the condition of the heart.

So therefore we’ve got to get our heart condition right before God. As sinners, we knew how to do it: repent and get the record clear. That’s what we’ve got to do today. Now on top of that, we understand that too many people still have guilt complexes.

They cannot understand the justification of God whereby as the prophet brought in the end time, “You are the true, virtuous Bride of the Lord Jesus Christ, and you didn’t even do it at all.”

Justification means it cannot be imputed unto you under any circumstances whatsoever.

28

So let’s begin to look now in 1 John. Let’s go back to 1 John again now, the 5th chapter, and beginning this time with verse 14-15, let’s read it:

1 John 5:14-15

(14) And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:

(15) And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

Now let’s read it in the context, beginning at verse 13:

1 John 5:13

(13) These things have I written unto you, that believe on the name of the Son of God; that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God.

He said, “You people that tell and say you believe on the Name of the Son of God, I admit you do, but I am telling you these things because I know that you don’t believe the way that you should believe. It’s not as real to you as it should be real to you, as it’s real to me.” He said, “I know something that I’m trying to get across to you.”

29

Now let me read it to you, over here in,

1 John 1:1-4

(01) That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the [Logos] of life, [God becoming Zoe, because it was in Him to be that.]

(02) For the [Zoe] was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness and show unto you that eternal [Zoe], which was with the Father [was in him and was made absolutely according to its character a hundred percent right.]

(03) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that you also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

(04) And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

So he says, “I’m going to tell you all about it.” Now, he said, “Look, you are positioned according to what I have said, but you’re out of fellowship many times.

You are in a position that is untenable with the reality that God has given, that I am witnessing to.” And William Branham says the same thing to us today, and he’s trying to get us on the right track. All right.

30

“These things are written unto you, that… you that believe, know you’re believers, “that you may know that you have eternal life, that you might know it, that you might pass from your faith to knowledge, so you cannot be bugged, you can’t be bugged, you can’t be thrown off.

You’ve got to have something that doesn’t rely in you, and that doesn’t depend upon you as of itself. You’ve got to have something from God, that God absolutely gave you, and assures you, and you depend on God because salvation is of the Lord.”

In other words, you’ve got to understand the difference between state and standing. Your standing with God is perfect; your state may be pretty muddled. Your state can be contemptible.

As the young man who had his father’s young wife… it was contemptible, and yet he was full of the Holy Ghost. And Paul said, “You better knock him down, set him down, and let him know what’s going on.”

And they did, and they got so happy, they got too tough on the kid. And Paul said, “Now, hold it, you went too far.”

Oh God, that’s the way it is… that’s what I said, “Always looking back or always looking forward.” Who can get in the middle? Always like the cow’s tail behind, or you’re going the dog up front.

I guess nobody wants to stick around and milk the cow and get the cream, I guess… I don’t know. Well, take it for what you want. All right.

31

1 John 5:

1 John 5:14-16

(14) And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing [concerning his will or] according to his will, he heareth us:

(15) And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

(16) If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, [Well, that follows this. Because of this and verse 16, you got this, you’ll mess up the other two verses. If you see a person sin a sin not unto death which is blaspheming the Holy Ghost] he shall ask him life for them that sin not unto death. [In other words, he’s going to be working on this guy to get him straightened out.] There is a sin unto death: I do not say that you shall pray for it.

If anybody blasphemes the Holy Ghost in this hour, forget it. Don’t stick your nose in as though you’re some great person above God, or above John. Now:

1 John 5:17-18

(17) All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.

(18) We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not;

Yet it tells you right in here there’s such a thing as sinning, and Brother Branham hit it: unbelief. Unbelief from the revealed Word of the hour.

You’ve got to have an ultimate; you’ve got to have an absolute; you’ve got to have that and know where you stand or you cannot begin to exercise the faith that is requisite, that you have in your life, that God demands of you.

Without faith, you can’t please Him.

32

All right. With that, we want to read,

1 John 1:9

(09) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Remember: faith cometh by hearing; hearing by the Word of God. By grace you’re saved through faith, and that not of yourself. It’s a gift of God. We’re still dealing with faith.

1 John 1:10

(10) If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

1 John 2:1-2

(01) My little children, these things write I unto you, that you sin not. And if any man sin, [Not ‘he’ has, but ‘we’ have an advocate, the Church does, the Bride.] with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous: [That’s the Body, the Lamb. It’s on the throne right now.]

(02) And he is the propitiation…

The turning away of the wrath of the offended One from the offender, so God can’t get mad at you.

33

People think God gets angry. God cannot get angry with the born-again, it tells you right here. He gets angry with the sinner. Everybody has got this all backward; everybody’s a legalist, even the Baptist, the whole shamozzle.

They want to put as though God loves the sinner and He’s happy with the sinner somehow. He’s angry with the sinner all the day long! And He’s going to bring the world into judgment, not because of you and me, but because of them.

We are the ones that have the tender, mercy of God, and we don’t exploit it as though it were an unclean thing. We exploit it as the clean thing that it is by walking in the light and being careful.

1 John 2:2

(02) …he is the propitiation: not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

Now remember: there are two worlds. There’s the world within the world the same as there’s a Bride within the church, and in Peter you find the world of the ungodly, and there is no difference in the outside of the two worlds, it’s in the inside.

If there’s Seed in there, you’ll come on out. And no Seed of Adam that came from God will die. “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive,” everyone that Adam lost.

They’ll be there in the Bride or the great circle outside. Just keep that in mind.

34

Now:

1 John 2:3

(03) And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

Now what’s he talking about? This! Confessing your sin and keeping up to date with God, admitting where you’re wrong, because God can read your heart anyway.

1 John 2:4

(04) He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

A man that says he knows God and doesn’t bring to light before God his sins in his life… Where did the Nazarenes end up? As liars! They said, “We’re holy, sanctified, we can’t sin.”

And a bunch of Pentecosts, especially wild-eyed women, fell for that one; your Hattie Crawfords, your Reba Crawfords, your whole bunch of them.

How’re you going to sanctify them by the Holy Ghost in the light of God’s Word when they’re against the Word of Almighty God? I want them to answer to that tonight.

And how are you going to de-justify and de-sanctify yourself if you’re a Child of God? You make Him a liar.

35

Oh, God, this is pitiful but this is where the church is, and it stinks. They don’t know the Word of God. Didn’t need Brother Branham to come along and tell us this. We’ve been told this for a long time by men like Kenyon… the old Puritans.

1 John 2:5-6

(05) But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby we know that we are in him. [Hereby we know because we keep our hearts tender, admitting to guilt.]

(06) And he that abides in him ought to walk as he walked.

Now he that sticks with the Word, and we’ll talk about that in another verse of Scripture, John 15. Now Christ couldn’t confess sins but he confessed his Father. We confess our Father, see, and so on, down the line.

36

Okay. With this, let’s go to Matthew 6 and hit that right on the head so we don’t have any fooling with it… that’s the Lord’s prayer.

Matthew 6:7,9-15

(07) But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. [So get rid of that, the thing you just talk yourself into it, or talk God out of it.]

(09) After this manner therefore pray you: [This is not the Lord’s prayer; this is the apostles’ prayer he taught them how to pray.] Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

(10) Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

(11) Give us this day our daily bread. [Now watch, they want these two things: the kingdom to come; number two, thy will be done; now they want daily bread. Now:]

(12) …forgive us our [sins, as we forget those who sin against us], Forgive us our debts, even as we forgive [others.] [Now there’s a contingency right there contingency clause. We’ve got to be magnanimous in grace.]

(13) …lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

(14) [Now watch:] For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:

(15) But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

That is not talking to the sinners. That’s talking to the Elect. It doesn’t amount to a hoot in a hollow if you forgive everybody when you’re a sinner. That’s not going to get you there. Oh, it’s nice, fine, God bless you to a degree.

You got it right with God yourself. This is for the apostles; this is for the believer. So we’re looking at it tonight.

Why, Brother Branham said that the operation of our faith was contingent to forgiveness, forgiving others, and there’s a big thing here to forgive yourself also.

37

Now, I want to go over here to 2 Corinthians 5, and I want us to look at something which you’ve looked at many, many times, and I’ve spoken of it many, many times to us in this church. All right, speaking of Christ and us:

2 Corinthians 5:21

(21) For he hath made him [That’s the Lord Jesus Christ] to be sin for us, [Or a sin offering to the end: he] who knew no sin; [could now confer upon us… what?] that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

This statement, never denied by Brother Branham, and indeed cannot be, for He, Himself said He became us that we might become Him, categorically states whether the human mind wants to receive it or not, but can by faith, which means to count the thing yours by a promise of God, given by grace, that we have become, and are, the very righteousness of God.

38

Now the question comes up: “Let’s look at ourselves.” Go ahead! Look at yourselves and go to hell in doing it. Blaspheme the Word of God.

Prove to yourself and the world you didn’t have a thing in the first place, because right now you and I will be back to the place where we take Brother Branham, quoting God’s Word, as a prophet in this hour, or we back away from it.

“Let every man’s word be a lie, but let Mine be the truth.” In other words, learn this: no matter what it looks like, no matter what it sounds like, no matter how imponderable, how far away, whatever God says is the truth, and anything we say, unless we say what He says, is a lie.

So we have become the righteousness of God. E. W. Kenyon said, concerning this, “I always had a terrible time praying for the sick because I looked at myself and I knew the very fact that the devil knew everything about me, and all he had to do was tell me, ‘You’re not this; you’re not that. How therefore can you ever believe God; there is no way you can get through’.”

“But,” he said, “when I saw this verse of Scripture, and I took my stand and believed that regardless of any circumstance or condition within or without me, [you know,] springing from me, or devolving upon me from some other source, I blotted it all out and I said, ‘I am the righteousness of God’.”

“And when,” he said, “I did that, and laid hands upon the sick, there was nothing that could stand before me. No devil in hell, no cancer. Nothing, no cripple case, nothing that God denied me.”

39

William Branham had an experience different from that, but the same. Remember in Tulsa, Oklahoma… Topeka, Kansas, I beg your pardon, Topeka, Kansas… I was there, many people have heard it on the tape.

They were building a church. A young man that invited him there, a Trinitarian preacher, who said that he was so Trinitarian he even anointed with 3 in 1 oil… you know where he stood. Yip. Good joke… that’s where he stood…

Where he still stands, unless God has changed him. Where is he going to stand in the judgment? Where is he going to stand in the judgment after this? The wall they were building gave way and fell on him.

They rushed him to the hospital; for sure his organs were completely smashed to smithereens, perhaps the spleen, liver, and so on. And there he lay in a dying condition. Brother Branham was called from the restaurant to come and pray for him.

Well, he said, “I will go.”

And he began thinking, he said, “Wouldn’t it be wonderful if I could go like Jesus of old and just lay hands upon the man, like Jesus did, even raise the dead?

He said, “I looked at my hands, and I said, ‘Well, these hands, they’re vile hands; they’re not the hands of Jesus. How could they do it?’”

And the Voice said to him, “Whose hands are laid upon the believers when you have a vision, and you know it’s going to come to pass?”

He said, “The same hands, Lord.”

He said, “Go, lay hands on him.”

And he learned this way what Kenyon learned simply through Scripture.

Now we have, therefore, the voice of two of the greatest authorities of the twentieth century, for E. W. Kenyon, one of the greatest teachers ever lived or will live; he could say in one sentence what most people cannot say in a whole page.

So there’s a great teacher, and here is a great prophet, and they say the same thing the Scripture says.

40

You have to start with the premise of your faith to have any victory in any sphere whatsoever, that you must believe what God said about you, and Brother Branham said.

When the Bride believes about Her, knows Her position, She’ll be taken away.” Then has the Bride even come to the place where She realizes She is Bride and Jesus Christ does not marry a prostitute?

He does not marry some second-hand cast-off. I’ve said many a time, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me I should be like all other men, I suppose but I imagine there are some men just like me sitting here, and maybe even worse than I am now, but to think that I would have something secondhand is more than I could bear.”

And I am not Jesus Christ; I am simply a prude with a lot of pride. And to think that Jesus Christ would marry some prostitute, or some hand-me-down, or some second-hand rag or piece of tripe.

You’ve got to be kidding. She’d have to be just like Him, and that’s what She is.

She’s of one Source, and God doesn’t see one sin He doesn’t even see us He just hears our voices through the Blood, and listens to our representation, which we always had. If we didn’t have it back there, we don’t have it now.

41

So therefore, “The Bride is the spotless, virtuous, sinless Bride of the Lord Jesus Christ. She didn’t even do it.” In other words, the White Throne is here right now, because God throws back on Satan all of the sin and the guilt, and said, “You’re the one that did it.”

“The judgment is past; the long, long night is past; the morning breaks at last, and huts the dreadful noise and fear; the blast is over the distant hill. The dawn approaches fast… ”

The day approaches fast the eighth day, the first day of the week. “The Comforter has come… ” Not the baptism with the Holy Ghost, but the Token Himself.

42

All right. So we’re looking at the two things: a true Child of God will understand the sin question, will understand how to deal with it, will understand confession, will understand in spite of himself, but only for the grace of God, know what he is in Jesus Christ.

[68]  Now, the only thing you have to do then, is have faith in what you are.

How shall we do the works of God? “Believe on Him that sent me.” The key is always believing what God is doing at the hour. I don’t have a first-age faith, I don’t have a second, or a third, or a fourth, or a fifth-age, or a sixth-age faith.

I have a seventh-age faith. “That Which is Perfect has come.” We have a perfect revelation, and I’m looking at it. And I’m not looking down the road. What I’m looking at now will take me to the end of the road.

[68]  Now, the only thing you have to do then, is to have faith in what you are. Have faith in what the Word says you are! And Jesus had faith in the Word of God, that said what He was, “It is written of Me.”

Well, what’s written of us? It’s full of it.

Didn’t David in the Psalms, and the prophets, all of them speak of Him? “I am the bread of life that came from God out of heaven.” Amen! “I am that tree of life from the garden of Eden. I am all of these things.”

43

All right. “All you have to do is have faith in what you are.” Very true. That is the major principle, then, one of the major principles of faith.

Have faith in what the Word says you are, and that’s what you are it’s what the Word says, so that’s what you’ve got faith in.

So what does it mean? I’ve got faith in what the Word said about me, because I am not qualified to pass judgment on myself.

I am only qualified to know this: that I am under bondage of guilt when I know I’m sinning, and the Word tells me when I’m doing it.

So all I’ve got to do is go to Him and do whatever I should do to make the thing right apologize, or whatever and I’m right back perfect. Not that you aren’t perfect in your standing, but that state has been rectified.

Now isn’t it true that you already were perfect in God back there? That little germ? Then isn’t it true it was your state that was messy, not your standing.

Brother Branham said “There comes a time when you will realize if you’re full of the Holy Ghost, you always were eternal.” You just didn’t get it then.

44

Now try to understand these things… this is where your faith is. I know it can be ‘ho-hum, ho-hum,’ you can fall asleep or anything else you want, but I’m telling you I will meet you at the White Throne like I’ll meet Brother Branham, having preached this sermon.

I’m not saying I’ve got it made; I’m just saying I’m going to be there, too, with you. We better start renewing our minds. That’s the process of the whole thing.

You know, brother/sister, the world is talking about eating… like Lloyd mentioned the other day “soul food,” what have you. What is there in all the papers today?

Denatured food, lifeless food, pap, and real living food. And there is the preserved food and the irradiated food… every kind of junk to kill you.

But there is the Word that has been loosed by the Holy Ghost and filled with the Holy Ghost, and if we’re living on It, It’s going to give us life.

I’m going to tell you: It’s going to give us Zoe, bless God! And I’ll tell you: when we get that eternal Zoe immortalized, there’d better be an Eden, or we’ll make one.

That’s the truth. Well, God is not going to just stand back and let us make an Eden. He’s going to set the whole picture… then He says, “Now go to work on it.”

45

You think, brother/sister, that you put a jewel in a swine’s snout? Bleah! I was thinking of buying my wife a nice little pendant, a diamond thing, because they were so cheap right now, if you know where to get them.

I said, “I’m not going to hang it around a pig’s neck, I can tell you that; it’s got to be a sheep neck.” All right.

The only thing you have to do is believe what you are, and have faith in what the Word says.

That’s your faith premise there. Everyone’s word has got to be a lie but God’s, so therefore His Word about you is not your word about you. It’s God’s Word about you, because you’re a liar!

Let’s be honest: doesn’t everybody usually lie more about themselves than anybody else?

“See? See? Look it, how I handled it! How I handled that! And, oh boy, was that…? Oh, me, me, me, me, my, my, my, me, me.”

What about you?

“Aw poof! I’m talking… me, me, me, me! You have your share later on!”

Do you understand the reason, then, we’ll lie about ourselves here? Now, you know what it is? It’s a mock humility. It’s making God a liar it’s worse than that.

I didn’t bring you Dr. Way’s words on Romans 8:33 but it reads something like that: “Who shall dare to lay a charge against God’s chosen ones? God says I’m righteous. Who dares condemn me to death?”

46

You know, brother/sister, you know, I tell you what: isn’t it true we could be just a little bit like the person who said, “Hey, take this umbrella, it kind of looks like rain out there,” but you decided you would risk it without the umbrella and you get nine inches of rain, like they got in Chicago.

They got the same thing in Saskatchewan, Brother Guenther told me today, in about four hours. Phhtttt! That’s a lake falling down. Shew!

That’s not rain. And let’s stop and think, “How did that water get all up there and congealed to the extent it could all come down like that? That’s enough to make you wonder, ever mind just thinking about the umbrella. See? That’s the truth.

47

And Jesus had faith in the Word of God, that said what He was.. That’s right. We’ve got to have the same faith. Now if we have this right, then we’re ready to embark on the road to the promise.

The Bible said, concerning Jesus, “I am the bread of life that came from God out of heaven.” Amen! “I am that tree of life from the garden of Eden. Sure He is, and He’s right here today.

[68]  I am all these things, I AM That I AM.” [What ‘AM’? The one in the Bible.] And He knew with that perfect faith [there’s your perfect faith right there: who you are, what you are, keeping away from that sin; going to the end.]

And He knew with that perfect faith, that He was the anointed Messiah, [we’re messiah-ettes,] that the Spirit of God was upon Him. And He said, “Now, I, in myself, do nothing; but it’s my faith in God.”

The faith in God moved the power of God in him. Now, an absolute… the absolute of Christ was, “I and my Father are one.” What’s our absolute? “I and My Lord are one.”

In other words, the Begetter and the Begotten were one not two, and today the Sanctifier and the Sanctified are one. Remember: the Great Sanctifier is here. The fact that we can do nothing of ourselves is of no importance, Brother Branham is saying, for we have faith in God and that does it.

It’s just the same you don’t have to carry cash if you’ve got a credit card. Same thing. In other words, you’re not depending on yourself, you’re depending on God, and you’re not depending on that one dollar bill, or what you’ve got in your wallet, if you’ve got the money in the bank. Well, God is our great bank.

48

All right.

[68]  “…In myself, I can do nothing; but it’s my faith in God.” And God was in Him, the Word made manifest.

Now Brother Branham is speaking of himself again in the trickle-down experience from God to Christ; the same trickle-down is from God to the prophet to us, as it was from God to Christ to the apostles. See?

Now that’s the trickle-down experience that you’ve got over here in Philippians… I think it’s the 2nd chapter

Philippians 2:5-8

(05) Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: [Now here’s the ‘mind in Christ’:]

(06) Who, being in the form of God, thought it not [a prize to be grasped and retained] to be equal with God, [to stay right there],

(07) But [emptied himself], made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

(08) And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Now, the mind in us is to accept that and reverse it… to reverse it. He came from the top down; we go from the down up. He became us… we might become him.

He died in order that his righteousness, which was of God, and he was as righteous as God Holy Ghost manifested in flesh. Now we have the same. Now, that’s good: you’re getting it. Right?

See, the heart settles down… you’ve got a slower heartbeat. Yeah.

49

Now:

[68]  …And when the Word of God comes in you, [or into you,] It’s made manifest, as you are a believer. And as a believer, it is the “faith of God that moves in you. And a believer,” [he says,] “is the faith of God that moves in you.”

All right. That lets us know this: what are we but believers? We are nothing else. Now some might say, “Well, I’m an ‘unbelieving believer’.”

Now, hold it! You are an inactivated believer, but you are not an unbelieving believer, because you admit to the fact of all of these promises, and you are not getting them.

That does not make you an unbeliever or a disbeliever; it makes you negligent somewhere down the line and lacking responsibility to do as we pointed out here already under the talents and the pounds.

You are obligated to assume your responsibility once you know what is presented to you, especially on a Logos or a Word basis of manifestation.

“How long am I going to put up with you?” said Jesus. “Something’s got to be done about this.”

The Angel of God said to Brother Branham, “Get the people to believe.” And he used his gift, discernment and otherwise, to build them to where “Hey, I can enter in, too.” Just poured it on the people.

50

Now:

[68]  …See? And a believer is “the faith of God that moves in you.”

That makes you a believer, the faith of God moving in you because it is the faith of God. Now he said,

[69]  Do you like that? I like teaching what faith really is.

Now he’s talking about paragraph 68, up above it. “I Am that I Am.” Paragraph 68, of course, right here:

[68]  Now, the only thing you have to then, is have faith in what you are. Have faith in what the Word of God says you are.

So you are what the Word of God says you are. So that’s it, that ends it, because that’s the Word of God. Anything you say, you’re just a liar, and God is still true.

And, remember, the faithfulness of God is all the more clearly seen by our faithlessness, but don’t put Him to a test because it means you’re going to get there, whether you really are working at it or not.

He may clean you up, He may whip you a bit, and clean you up, and just take you off the scene. But don’t try to sell God as though He’s not faithful because He is the Faithful God. All right.

51

Now he said, here, which I read it… I’ll read it again:

[68]  …have faith in what God’s Word says you are. And Jesus had faith in the Word of God, that said what He was, “It is written of Me.” And the same thing for you and me.

He knew with that perfect faith he could get through. Absolutely. In myself I can do nothing. No problem.

No way can you do anyway, so quit beefing about it; don’t worry about it; don’t grunt about it; don’t groan about it; don’t question.

Just say, “Well, that’s that.” Just get it out of the way. I can’t do it, but I’ll tell you what: God can do it, and I’m got the faith in here that moves God to do it. See?

Now Brother Branham was doing the same thing as Jesus was. Now, he said, “Do you like that,” he said, “to understand where you’re putting it back on God?

The teaching Brother Branham is giving is putting it back on God, and getting it off of our shoulders. Like I’ve often said many times, maybe not too often recently.

Look it, let’s say you and I committed some dastardly sin, something really, you know, either cheapskate, lousy thing, or something pretty raunchy, and here, you’re dying of cancer, or here, your family and its welfare depends on it.

52

You say, “Well, I won’t confess, no, I’m not going to do it. I won’t confess.”

Do you know the reason why you confess, or why I won’t confess, is because we are afraid when we do, it still won’t work? But how many people tonight would hold back from really baring their souls under necessity? Not some meeting…

“Everybody get up and confess your faults!” The only confessing fault could be like this: “Well, I’ve got a propensity to shoot my mouth off in the wrong places.”

Don’t tell me how you shot your mouth off, and what you did. Just tell it. In other words, to confess your fault means like an earthquake fault. Where does your trouble lie?

I’ve heard many a man say, “My trouble lies in looking at women too much, and my mind’s on women. I would like to commit adultery.”

Well, you wouldn’t be the first one; in fact, you’d be kind of unusual if you weren’t in part of the ninety-nine percent. You say, “Women don’t look at men like men look at women.”

You got to be nuts. What’s the story of, “She chased him, she chased him, she chased him, she chased him.” How many times do you read, “He chased her”? Not very often.

Well, maybe you’ve got a weakness some place else. “I don’t like to work; I’d sooner steal. I’ve got a little bit of kleptomania in me.”

“I don’t do it, but I feel that way.”

See what I’m trying to tell you? A fault is where you’ve got problems, but don’t tell your problem. Tell the person you’ve wronged… your wife, or whoever it is, or your husband, or your children, or whatever it is. Confession.

See, there’s what it is, we’re looking at that. See? All right.

53

Now, where are we here… Okay.

[69]  You like that?…

[70]  Knowing who He was, without a shadow of doubt, He knew He was the Son of God. He knew it, for the Word identified Him.

Now, look, you and I haven’t got that privilege. This is far beyond us; this is in Brother Branham; this is in God, Paul, Moses, William Branham, the great prophets. We don’t have to produce something like this here. See?

[69]  …The Word of God identified who He was. He said, “If I do not the works of my Father, then don’t believe Me; [Now, remember, our works are to believe. Repeat:] “If I don’t do the works, don’t believe Me; but if I do, then believe the works, for they are the manifested Word promised.” Oh, if you could just wake up to that!

How many people understood that? William Branham was the living Word of God for this hour that portion of the Word that was to live in a human vessel, and be the human vessel, because William Branham wasn’t you and I; he was William Branham.

And he wasn’t Jesus Christ; he was the vehicle that God used; he was the conduit. Get it?

[70]  You see, the Word itself identified Him, who He was. [That’s William Branham, Jesus Christ.] And He said, “Who can condemn Me of sin?”

In other words, “Who can show Me that my life and my works don’t fulfill exactly what Messiah should do?” Nobody could say anything; for He was. [See? Exactly that.] Then He had faith to believe, then whatever He said happened.

54

In other words, he had to take what the Scripture said, identify with It, believe It fully, commit himself to the Holy Ghost, and the Holy Ghost moved.

Now, consider this while you’re talking about this up here. He refused by the same Bible to prove himself to Satan. Was he any less the Son of God?

No, he was the same Son of God, and even more so, because he refused to go outside the Word.

Now there’s where you and I start: we refuse to go outside the Word in our faith, which is believing in the revealed Word of the prophet and what he said, to understand the literal presence of Almighty God with the prophet, and to understand ‘That’ [Brother Vayle is pointing to drawing in this section] and don’t make this man ‘That’.

Now ‘That’ can come into him, and He can come into a body, which is representative the body of Christ. It doesn’t make William Branham Jesus Christ. He was ‘God to the people’.

It’s not hard to understand that. I make my statement, and I make it without fear and unequivocally. If God wanted to which He doesn’t want to take the form of a doorknob, that to all intentions of God, is God appearing physically to people.

That is the form, that is the appearance.

55

Now God doesn’t do that, but He went into the Pillar of Fire, and He went in a whirlwind, causing a… oh, you couldn’t see the wind but you could see what it was doing. He got into a man, typified Himself in water, hid in a cloud. God can do what He wants. Certainly, He’ll do what He wants, too you better believe that. See? All right.

In other words, “Who can show me that my life and my works don’t exactly fulfill what Messiah said?

Now, what this is all about is that we can rise above the disciples who were powerless as ministers, and also act like the lady with the issue of blood. He’s letting us know.

He’s letting us know that once the disciples were full of the Holy Ghost, when it comes to ordinary faith, consistent living, the needs and desires that are consistent with the Word, in the Word, we are no different from the apostles, and no different from the little lady who touched the hem of the garment.

What did she touch?

[71]  And He turned around and He said, “The works that I do shall you do also. A little while, the world sees Me no more; yet you shall, because I’ll be with you, even in you.

Take no thought what you’ll say, for it’s not you that speaks, it’s the Father dwelling in you; He’s the one that does the speaking, and not I, it’s the Father that dwells in Me. He does the works.” See what I mean?

Now in there you can see right now that Brother Branham is mixing us all together in That One because there’s an office of Brother Branham in there, and there’s an office of us in there, too, that we can have, we will be called the ‘trickle down’.

56

2 Timothy 1:

2 Timothy 1:7

(07) For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, [that’s dunamis] and of love, and of a sound mind.

And He’s given us also a sheep-like attitude to follow and to want to follow. Identification once more. As I said, we’re not Messiahs, we’re Messiah-etts.

[72]  Now, as to the identification of a scriptural Christian, these Words said Jesus: “These signs shall follow them that believe.” Now, how can you call yourself a believer, a people, and deny those Words?

57

Now, that’s the first thing right there: don’t take it out of your Bible. Say, “I believe it. I might not produce it, but God knows it is there.” I go Rolf Barnard… that old boy, he was an atheist.

He got wonderfully saved in college, and so he came to a meeting with us to see Brother Branham. And he sat there grinning like a Cheshire cat, and he said, “Man,” he said, “I enjoy it.”

He said, “I don’t know really what it’s all about, and I can’t do it, but,” he said, “I sure like it.”

To person running taping machine: Is that the end of it? No, you can’t turn nothing over, I’m finishing. An hour and a half is enough for everybody.

That’s a good place to stop, isn’t it? Okay, so that’s what old Rolf said. He said, “I love it,” and I hope that we love it, too, that we saw enough in Brother Branham to know, “Hey! It’s real, bless God, I want what this stands for.”

Okay. Now we go along, and we trust everything will work better and better.

Let’s rise and be dismissed. You know my promises are no good, don’t you? I promised myself I’ll be out of here before an hour and a half… can’t believe anybody, not even yourself. Every man’s a liar… proves it right now.

Let’s be dismissed.

Heavenly Father, we’re appreciative again the fact we could come together and look at Your Word, O God, and study what the prophet said, and know that this is absolutely THUS SAITH THE LORD, and we know it is true.

God, help us to not drag our feet any longer, and help us to enter in, Lord, where He wanted us, which is a perfect faith in this Word, and then a perfect faith in a result out here in life, where we can really believe as never before, and see that great, sweet Spirit come in and just to move amongst us Lord, where people get healed.

Father God, build us up in the most holy faith, the faith that was once and for all delivered to the Saints and has now become the present truth.

Father, we know that these words are true, we’re quoting right out of Your Bible, and we believe and we know as much as we can know that we’re right in harmony with what this Word is all about as we’re praying It.

So, Father God in heaven, we just ask You now to help us now to stir up our minds, and our souls, and our spirits, as never before, that they might truly be sanctified unto You, in the measure of the Word of this hour which…

[End of tape.]

Skip to toolbar