################################################################################
START OF FILE: 2012-06-20 - The Present Truth Pt. 1 - Barry Coffey.txt
################################################################################

SERMON DETAILS
========================================
Date:     2012-06-20
Title:    The Present Truth Pt. 1
Speaker:  Barry Coffey
Church:   Hickory Bible Tabernacle
Type:     Wednesday Evening
Duration: 1h 45m
Language: English
URL:      https://web.archive.org/web/20130926202729/http://hickorybibletabernacle.org/thepresenttruth/
========================================

TRANSCRIPT
========================================
I call my voice soul He look my call and so my hallelujah Let's sing that course again I shall find eyes to God where Jesus die for me soul be all I fall in soul I aren't you glad tonight he looked belong beyond our faults all our need we needed a savior amen that song Lord you are more precious precious than silver Amen He is more precious than silver or gold tonight Let's sing it Amen There we go Lord more precious than silver and Lord and go and diamond and desire compared hallelujah and you are more than silver and L you are called String and go and Lord you are desire Amen you feel that way tonight more precious than gold or silver more costly than diamonds Amen Let's sing that song I'm in the glory land way if I guess I'm in the way the bright shot I'm in the glory land way telling the world that Jesus saves I'm in the glory land I in the glory land I'm in the glory land way for I mean the glory lands if we can find the words to it Amen I'm in the glory land way It might be the Glory Land way. How's it in there, Peter? You know? Okay. Praise the Lord. I bl I know it's in there somewhere, but try the Glory Lamb way. Okay. Let's sing it again. We'll sing what we know of it while they're hunting. I'm in the way of right and shining way. I am in glory that way. Tell me the world that Jesus said to me. I need the glory. I did the glory. And I mean the glory that way. I need the glory. And listen to the call of gospel call today. And get it. And one verse come on always to away. Get it for light away. I need to. Oh, I mean the glory that way. Heaven's been right away. I need the Lord. So would I go rejoice? I need the glory land way. I mean the glory landway. I mean the glory landway. Heaven is deep right away. I be the glory. Oh, yes, that I be the glory like. I mean the glory that way. Heaven is near the way. I mean the glory light way. Keep him a good hand clap of praise tonight. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Aren't you glad to be in that way tonight? Amen. I wouldn't want to be any other way, would you? Amen. We're going to go with the Lord in prayer. I don't have any prayer requests tonight. So that's good, isn't it? We do want to remember Sister Molly recovering from her surgery. I want to remember her. Those that are not here tonight. Looks like we have several out. We won't remember them. Good to have some back. It's been away. Amen. Good to see you. Brother Joe, if you would come tonight as we pray. Maybe you have an unspoken request tonight by an uplifting hand. Amen. God knows every need this evening for the things that we need. Let us pray. Our precious and dear Heavenly Father. We praise you, Lord. We're thankful, Lord, for the revealed word of the hour of what you've done for us, Lord. Lord, we can be blinded and not just uh turning a deaf ear to the true word, but Lord Jesus, we believe that you've given us a true word in this end time. Praise God. There's many that's uh either on vacation or away, Lord, and some are sick, Lord Jesus, and healing Lord from surgery. We pray, Lord, that you just go and be with them, Lord. Lord, those that are out on the internet that's streaming, Lord Jesus, now that couldn't make it. Lord, we pray that you give them a blessing tonight today, tonight and this evening, Lord Jesus. We pray for our pastor, Lord Jesus. As he's prepared, Lord, tonight. We've looked forward. Lord, I've said I just would love to have a good Bible study tonight and just dive into that word. And Lord, that's our heart's desire. It's just to get closer and closer to thee. Lord, we ask you to bless the ones that are singing the musicians this evening, and we'll give you all the honor and all the praise and all the glory for it all in Jesus' holy name. Amen. It's good to be here, isn't it? Like Brother Joe, just expecting to dive into the word and just be fed by his word tonight. It's always just good midweek service to come together, expecting his presence in the midst. Brother Matt's gonna sing for us tonight at this time. I have one announcement says, please sign up in the library tonight. If you're planning on going to the youth event at the Fulkerson's, we need an official count tonight, so it will be June the twenty-third at five o'clock, which will be this Saturday night, I believe. So make sure if you plan on going that you sign up tonight. Amen. Praise the Lord. I know you all know this, so just sing along to Jesus. I surrender all to him I freely love and trust him in his presence daily blessed. Take me surrender. Oh to thee, my blessed I surrender. Oh all to Jesus. I surrender to thee bless it. I surrender. To Jesus I surrender I feel the same claim the joy of salvation to his name I surrender Lord help us that we surrender all tonight let's stand as our ushers come sing the chorus take up your cross and follow Jesus Amen Praise the Lord are you glad to carry that cross tonight Amen it's an honor Amen praise the Lord Brother Tom P would lead us in prayer Yes thank you Lord Jesus Amen Take up your crow and follow Jesus take a new world every day only asham to say that you know Cal the nose take up your walls and follow him take up your world and follow Jesus take up your road every day no way to say that follow and follow Jesus take up your cross every day don't be ashamed to say that you know count the cost take up your cross and fall praise the Lord God bless you this evening let's sing one more little chorus before we read in the scripture tonight God still moves in the hearts of his people God still move God still God still move God still move in the heart of his People God still move. He does not sleep. Nor does he slow. God still move. God still loses. Once again now let's sing him. Yes, God still move. God still move. God lose. He does not sleep. Nor does he sleep. God still move. Heavenly Father, we pray and ask that you would bless this service tonight for your glory. And Lord, you would take every request, those that are spoken and unspoken. Those, Lord, that pertain to us personally and intimately. Pray that you'd take each one, Lord, and minister to us as only you can. You are the great provider. You're the healer. You're the supernatural physician. You are the guide and our comforter. You're our teacher. You're our hope and stay. We ask now that you would just come and anoint the word to our hearts. And may your Holy Spirit be welcome here despite of us, Lord. Despite us and our mistakes and failures. May your Holy Spirit be welcome among us to minister and to touch us and to help us, Lord. Bring encouragement and to bring your rich knowledge that is found in your word. Help us now, we pray. We commit those that are especially hurting tonight. We commit them into your hands. We ask it all in Jesus Christ's name and for your glory. Amen. Praise the Lord. Let's take your Bibles tonight if you don't mind. Psalm 43. Like to read there this evening. Help the Lord. Psalm 43 and verse 3. Good to have all of you here tonight. Good to have the Folkersons back. And have David and Karen back and uh family. Good to have all of you here tonight. May God bless you. Psalm 43, verse 3. Oh, send out thy light and thy truth, and let them lead me. Let them bring me into the thy holy hill and to thy tabernacles. May God at his blessing you may be seated. Now, just as we begin this evening, let me just give you a little update on a few things, a few folks, uh just so that you're aware of things that are happening here. Sister Judy Dilling made it back from California. And uh she is back in town and certainly certainly tired. Brother Billy Ivey and his family made it to France. They're gonna be there for a couple of weeks. Brother Keith Buchanan is quite sick tonight, and uh they don't know what's taking place. I don't know what's wrong with him. Uh but he's really uh he has some um symptoms that are keeping him very weak, and uh he's not here tonight. So we just I told him that we would uh be praying for him. Sister Molly is not here, sister Molly's doing really well after her back surgery, uh she is not here. Brother Luther and Sister Mary Ann are looking after her, and uh so they're not here tonight. Also, Brother Joel Franklin is not here tonight, so we want to remember him. Brother Alan Gunter uh is not here tonight, right? He is there he is. Brother Alan had an accident at his work, and uh in that uh in that accident, a co-worker of his uh lost a finger, almost lost a hand, but did lose a finger, and uh they had to do extensive work and surgery and so forth to get him uh sewed back up and uh functioning again. This man just seems to be a wonderful man and uh very gracious about it all, but uh Alan is uh uh certainly wanting to remember him in prayer as uh Situation that certainly was bad, but but uh certainly could have been a lot worse. And so we uh we want to remember him in prayer, and uh sometimes the devil will really work a person over when they uh when they have an accident like that, and uh, even though it's an accident, it's not his fault. Uh yet uh you know, you feel like uh sometimes that you know maybe you could have done something different, would have caused a different outcome. Uh but then nonetheless we want to hold him up in prayer uh if you don't mind. I was just listening to uh Steve, my Steve. Uh he's ministering up in Newfoundland tonight, and uh they gave me a little password and they were uh from up there, so I was watching him minister, and uh uh it was nice, nice to see him doing that. Now, uh having said all of that, uh let me apologize first of all for uh the portion of the uh my title that's not there. Sometimes our titles make it, sometimes they don't. Sometimes they make it in part. Uh but what we want to talk about tonight is the present truth, and I'm not really sure why it's not all there. Um maybe they feel like I use up too much screen space or something, I really don't know. But nonetheless, uh we're going to be talking a little bit about how to respond to controversies with biblical truth. And we're going to be dealing with that subject for a little bit here tonight. We'll just see how far uh we can get. I want you to keep your Bible handy, because we're going to look at some things here tonight. And Brother Joel, uh you were you were praying with the right kind of an understanding tonight and the right kind of a sensitivity because we want to just do a simple Bible study. Uh that's what we want to get into here this evening. And uh look at some things that are that are I I trust will be helpful to you in relation to responding to things that can be said about the present truth that we believe. Uh we know, some of you know, some of you mentioned to me that the message, the message per se, the message that Brother Branham brought, and the messenger are both under attack. Uh they always have been, but that attack seems to have intensified. And uh there are reasons for that, and there are therefore uh warnings that go out whenever that that kind of activity increases. There are warnings that go out to let us know that if that is true, if the attack of the enemy is increasing, and the controversies are abounding and so forth, the accusations are being made about us and about the message and about Brother Branham, uh, then it it behooves us to make sure that we do know where we're standing in relation to the present truth. There's never a time for the Gentiles, there's never been a time on earth at all where there has not been a truth that God's people can hang on to. There's always been an absolute by which we can anchor ourselves in the storms that come against us, right? There always is an anchor. And so you need to know, and I need to know uh how it is that we should respond to uh accusations or statements that are made, and uh it should be our determination uh in every in every heart, should be our determination to say that no matter what happens, and no matter who goes where, no matter what happens to the church or anybody else I know or love, I believe God. I believe what God has said, I believe what God has given to us, I believe the present truth. But I will tell you something, I will assure you it's a lot easier for you to say that than to do that. Because when it comes your way, when it comes knocking on your door, it's in your family, it's in your own church, uh, it becomes a very unsettling process. But Brother Branham said one time, he said, I like it when people contest me. I like when people challenge me because he said it drives me back into the word so I can study and make sure of what I believe. And I think that's a good thing. So even though we don't invite controversy and we don't love controversy, controversy serves a purpose. And sometimes the contest that we are involved in, uh we can always disassociate ourselves with it and say it's out there, you know, people are wrestling with it, or people are struggling with it, or people are blogging about it, or whatever else. But there are times when uh, you know, it comes very close to home. And so we want to look at a few things tonight that I I trust will help you maybe get your thinking in motion here, and uh we'll just carry on and see how uh see how far we can get. Now, it it's a little bit uh inappropriate for someone to defend something by using the argument you're trying to defend with. But I'm gonna give go ahead and give you a couple of quotes here anyway. So uh hang on with hang on just with me here as we look at a couple of statements of Brother Branham made because I think they're very good. In 1965, Brother Bram said, uh, it must be according to his word that has been spoken. If something you claim to be true. He said it must be according to his word. And Brother Bram said there was five musts that had to happen. Uh he said, I don't care how well you say this ought to be, or that ought to be, or this ought to be, it's got to be according to his word, according to his time and his season. So there are things that people really want to be true because they really want them to be true. True. But it doesn't matter how much we want them to be true, it's got to be according to his word. Right? But now when we say this and we open the door to this, there's a lot of people who could come right in and say, Well, I believe the Trinity. And I believe the Trinity is true. I believe the Trinity, Trinitarian conception of God is true. And you could say, well, oh no, I believe the Bible. I don't believe it's true. And yet they can turn around, they can find many, many statements in here that would lead them to believe that the Trinity is true. There's lots of things in here where the scripture talks about the Father and the Son and the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. We believe that God did operate in three offices. We make a minor distinction, really, between three persons and three offices. Brother Branham taught us that. But there's a lot of people that can hold to that and say, but I believe that that's the way it is. I could also show you scriptures where I believe that God is female. You know that? Scripture talks about God as the mother of us all. I don't know if your Bible readers ever read your Bible, but if you're going to be a Bible reader, then you would have had to some point read your Bible. But there are statements in there that suggest that God might be female. But you know what? Just because I I feel that, or just because I project that and I preach that doesn't make it right. And just because you hang on to somebody doesn't make it right either. There's a whole lot of people who believe that Eve ate an apple or some sort of fruit in the Garden of Eden, and that's what caused the fall. And they take that from biblical words. That doesn't mean that it's so. So Brother Braham's letting us know that no matter how much we want something to be true, it is only true when the word declares it to be true. And we're going to use that as our absolute tonight. Okay, that's why we had the picture of the pendulum there. Now, there are two responsibilities that every Christian has on the earth. Alright? And I'm going to summarize them in just two screens here. Number one, the first thing that I have a responsibility to do is to make sure that my relationship vertically with God is correct. Okay? Peter says, forget the word horizontal there, that's incorrect. Wherefore, the rather brethren, Peter says, give diligence to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, uh you shall never fall. For so an entrance shall be ministered abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of things, though you know them and be established in the present truth. Responsibility of every Christian, number one, is to make sure that the channel between themselves and God is clear, and that we develop that real that relationship we have with God to the point where we actually step into the kingdom of God. So we have a high priority to the vertical relationship in our lives, which is between us and God. It is not enough that you know about God. It is not enough that you know people who know God. It is not enough that you hold know a whole lot of facts about God, but rather it is important that you know God yourself. And that is your first and primary responsibility, is that vertical relationship between you and God. The second thing is the horizontal relationship you have with mankind around you, to be able to relate to the body, but also to do this. Paul said, being confident of this very thing, that he which has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Even as it is meet or appropriate for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart, insomuch as both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you are all partakers of my grace. In other words, Paul is saying that uh we have a horizontal relationship with the people around us. And that relationship includes people in the church and people I know and my family. I deal with my family. That's not vertical, that's horizontal, right? I have a relationship with people who are who are near to me and coexist with me. But I also have a relationship with people who are out there in the world beyond the body, who live in this world, and I'm required to defend the gospel that I believe. Just like Paul says right here. We find it again in the gospel in the epistle of Peter, where he writes, But in if he but and if he suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye, and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and he and be always. Why don't I read it just like it's on the screen? Just, you know, just because it's good to read it right. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and be ready always to give an answer to every man, not just believers, but to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. So Paul is Peter's letting us know, and Paul's letting us know that we are set as defenders of the gospel. And we are set as defenders of the truth and defenders of the absolute, even within the body and without the body. Amen. Horizontal, right? We have a vertical relationship, we have a horizontal relationship with people around us as well, right? So you understand now. Those are two things that every Christian has to do. We have to, you know, get up in the morning and we have to put our head on the pillow at night and say, Lord, it is well with my soul. But then we also have to deal with the people around us. We got to deal with one another, and we have to deal with those outside. Now, sorry. Hitting too many buttons here. So what we need to do then is to make sure that in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, we understand what we're talking about. You had to be ready for the challenges that'll come your way. Because they will come that you they will come our way. Good to have Ben and Rachel and Anderson back. Cohen. God bless you. So this word defense here is the word that I'm focusing on tonight, and we find it over here in this in the Greek, in the original Greek language, and it is the word apologia, and it means the verbal defense. It means a reasons, reasons, statement, or argument. And again, this is what Peter says that we have to have when somebody asks us for the about the reason for the hope that we have within us. Why is it that you hold to the beliefs that you do? Why is it that you reject the common beliefs that so many other people hold? And so we want to have a reasoned argument as to why that we hold to what we do, and uh we want to make sure that uh, you know, we we we give a credible and a responsible answer to somebody. And it's important, and let me just drop this in here without I didn't put a lot of screens here on this, but I think it's important for us to make sure that we maintain an attitude of love and respect all the while we're doing that. Because let me tell you something. You know what you know, not because you're smarter or better than anybody else. You know what you know, and you have what you have by God's grace. And therefore, it's really important for you to never look down on people because they don't believe what you believe, or never to look down on people because you're smarter than them. You're not. Everything you know, God has given to you by grace and by revelation, and because you are foreordained and elected of God uh to to be where you are today and to be where you are eternally. And so it's really important for us to keep that attitude all the time. Brother Banham said one thing about the Word of God and the and the Bible. He said the great thing, all the word of God fits right together. It f and now you can take that word right either way. It fits correctly together. It doesn't fit together, sorry, if it doesn't fit together, it's not God's word that's misfit, it's your thought is misfitting to the word. It all fits together. It fits together right, it fits together correctly. It fits together in an appropriate, proper way. And if we don't understand it or we can't make it come together, it's because your understanding hasn't matured to the place where you can successfully put it together. But I will tell you this, I will assure you this, uh, that there always is an answer for the scripture, and uh sometimes it depends on revelation for us to be able to grasp that. Again, in 1962, let me give you another statement here. Brother Ma'am said, Do you believe that he would have uh anything to do with the hypocrite? You believe that Jesus would have anything to do with a hypocrite. And uh Jesus, he said, no, sir. Do you believe he'd associate himself and lies? He said, not our God, but our God is responsible for his word. Our God is responsible only for his word. God is responsible. God is liable for his word. God holds himself to his word. And humbly, he's permitting this to be done, not because he has to, but to show the people that he is God and that he keeps his promise. It was really important. God could have done a lot of things outside of his word, but he doesn't do that because he wants us to know that if he says something, he's going to do it exactly that way. Right? He's going to do it exactly that way. Now, this is going to become important for us now, this screen right here, because God is only responsible for his word. God is only responsible to back up his word, to prove his word, to stand by his word. He's really not that interested in what other people think should happen. He's not really interested in what people project or predict what might happen. God's responsible only to his word. And that's going to become important for us now. That's going to become a basis for us by which we can argue. Now, not argue, but we can discuss truth. Now, let me just say this about our belief system, and I think it's important that uh in order for us to become grounded in any kind of a true or solid belief, uh, we have to accumulate evidence to make sure uh that that there is a case for what we believe. Uh, whenever there's a criminal trial, whenever there's a uh, you know, any kind of uh crime that's committed or allegedly having been committed, uh Then it's important for the uh for the attorneys on both sides of that uh in that courtroom on both sides to be able to present evidence to uh you know show that uh there's there is definitely something that's happened beyond a reasonable doubt. Many times they don't have a uh, you know, a whodunit. They don't have a definite answer for that because there might only have been one person present when this other person was killed, say for instance. We had some killers here in the service the other morning, Friday morning, some murderers and killers, but I don't think they're here tonight. Nonetheless, let's just say that in a court of law, they were trying a case whereby one person was killed and another person was caught at the scene. And, you know, we we really don't have any any kind of a um definite answer as to what actually happened. So the prosecutor, his responsibility would be uh to gather and accumulate evidence to make the jury believe that beyond a reasonable doubt that this is actually what happened. That would be their responsibility. So when it comes to believing something, there are two things that we automatically consider, and that is the facts of the case. We want to understand and know uh what it is that's factually true. So uh we want to go back to the Bible, and we want to be able to uh accumulate information, all the information we possibly can about uh about uh the things of God, and this is what we're trying to defend, and we certainly need to know our Bible. We should read our Bible anyway, uh, because it helps us to draw closer to God. And so that's a self-evident thing. The second thing that uh is important to us is our own personal experience, so that we can tell somebody from our own beliefs and our own experiences uh what we know to be true. Let me give you a let me give me just a little example here. I I've come to believe that uh there is no such thing, there is no such thing as a sasquatch. Bigfoot. I've I've come to believe that. And uh, you know, despite the fact that there might be documentaries on discovery or something else that claim that there is a sasquatch. I I spend a lot of time in the woods. I've talked to a lot of people who've spent a lot of time in the woods, and all this I mean, it would seem like logically that if there was such an animal, they would come up with some evidence or facts that he exists, a skeleton uh or something or other that would that would uh convince me of that. But I I find that there are very few facts in relation to this, and I've never experienced anything like that in the woods. I've seen lots of strange things in the woods, but I've never seen a sasquatch, and I personally do not believe that there is one there. But let's just say that, you know, Brother Mike down here and Brother Mark, they're they're great hikers, and and they were off in the woods and they were, you know, up there near Mount Mitchell somewhere and hiking around, and and and they saw uh what they believe would be a sasquatch. And they came to me and they they said to me, My goodness, Brother Barry, this uh we saw it. And and uh, you know, these are two very credible, trustworthy men and uh men I hold in high esteem. I consider them friends and and and fellow members of the body of Christ. They're on their way to heaven, and they would have no reason to lie to me. And uh and and there are men who are familiar with the woods and they're not easily persuaded, they're not easily misguided, and they came back to me and they said, Brother Barry, we saw it, been there, seen it. And and they came back and you know what? That would have an effect on me because that's someone I trust, right? So now we got facts, or in this case, in my case now, we've got a lack of facts. I've never seen anything credible that would prove the existence of one. And I've never ex, I never run into one myself, so I don't have any relationship to this idea of a sasquatch. But now all of a sudden I'm influenced because somebody that I trust comes along and tells me something that was contrary to what I believe. So this becomes important to us now because, again, now what we're doing is we're trying to figure out how do we formulate a belief. So let's just say it, let's just put it in a biblical context. We know there are many things that are said in the scripture that are true about God. They're true about the world that we live in. And they are they are absolute things that happen. How uh we believe how uh, you know, the human body is created and how you know human nature is the way that it is. There's a lot of things in the Bible that declare things about God. And then we also have this personal experience that we have with God as well. We're not just taking the Bible's word for it, but if we've met the God of the Bible, that's a very powerful experience, isn't it? We also trust, we also trust. For you people here, I trust that you trust your pastor. And I trust that we all trust in a prophet and all the prophets that have came through the ages, right? But no one was there when Brother Bram spoke those squirrels into existence. Nobody was there when Brother Branham had many of those visions that he had. I mean, there was lots of things that happened. Brother Bram was by himself, right? But yes. Yet we tend to believe those things because we trust him. We trust him because we've seen and heard testimonies of how God used him. And we just read to you how God would not use a hypocrite. Right? God's not going to back a lie. So if Brother Bram had come out and told us a pack of lies about those squirrels, because none of us were there when it happened, then would God honor that? Well, no, right? At least according to Brotherham's word, no. But I will tell you something else. That we need to have, as Christians, we are unique because we're not just subject to these three things. We also have this element working for us, which is faith, and faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. And faith is a revelation to us, isn't it? Because Brother Braham says this you don't know God by intellectual conception. You know God by faith, is the only way you know how to believe God. You can't explain it. No one can. It's not for you to. Nobody can explain God. God is without finding out by explanation. You've got to believe him. It wouldn't be, it wouldn't be faith no more. If we could explain God, and we could materialize everything about God. It wouldn't be faith anymore. It's just like I believe that you, you, uh you don't need any more proof that I've got a Bible in my hand tonight. I got it. You can see it. Your senses declare that it's so. If you want to come up and feel it, you can feel it. It's a Bible. I mean, there's no no, there's no faith involved at all. You're not sitting there saying, oh, God, I believe Brother Barry's got a Bible in his hand. You don't need to do that. You can look and see, I've got one in my hand. Right? But for a believer now, we've got the facts that are given to us. We have our own experience of meeting and knowing God. We have the experience of others that we trust, but we also have this revelation which seats in us a confidence that what is said about God and what we experience is truly God. And it's something, if we have a revelation, it's something that nobody can ever take away from us. And that's something that's unique to the believers in any uh in in the faith for sure. Now, again, if you don't mind, just another statement here by Brother Bram, another two statements, and then we want to give an example here. Brother Bram said, see, that was so great till even the people said that when they seen Jehovah come down in this pillar of fire and begin to shake the earth and the things that he did and the mountain on fire is when God came down on Mount Sinai. He said, And even if even if anybody tried to go to that mountain, they perished. It was so great till Moses feared the quake. And then if that time he shook the mountain, this time he'll shake heavens and earth. So God came down to the people. You remember the people said, No, Moses, we don't want this to go on. We want you to go up in the mountain and get it from God and bring it down to us. And God agreed to that. And he said, What about this glory? If that was veiled by a natural veil, and when Moses went up into the mountain and came down, he put a veil over his face because he had the word. And he said, if that was veiled by a natural veil, veiled by a he said, this is very veiled by a spiritual veil. So don't try to look at the natural, break into the spirit and see where you're at and see the hour that we're living in. Now I would say this to people that will get on the uh, maybe they'll get on the internet and they'll start looking for things and they'll look for natural reasons to believe God. I will tell you, they will run out of ammunition after a while. They'll run out of information after a while. They'll run out of answers after a while. But that's not the way to pursue God. The way to pursue God is to break out of the natural into the spirit, and then you'll see where you're at. You'll never really know where you are in a timeline. You'll never really know where you are in the sequence of things unless you break into the spirit and see where you're at, see what hour you're living in. You'll never really be able to do that. And the people had to, they had to, in a sense, they had to get what was behind the veil in the day when Moses came down off the mountain there. Moses came down with the word of the Lord, and what was behind that veil was what the people needed. And they had to break into beyond that veil in order to get anything from God. In the same way today, that was natural. This is spiritual. You've got to break in beyond the natural veil to really get anything from God in this day. And you will not get that on the computer screen. And there's lots of people who will steer you away from truth today, based on what they think is right. I remind I'm reminded of a story that was told back in the communist era when there was a there was a lot of communist propaganda. Communists were very good at propaganda, and uh they like to make the people believe that communism was working, even though it really wasn't for many, many years. But they'd like to make the people believe that it was. And uh, there was a little village out uh in in uh the far east of Russia, and every year a communist official would show up, and he would say, and this was in the wheat belt of Russia, and uh he would show up and he'd say, Comrades, this year. He said, wheat production is up by 10%. There's more wheat than ever before. And this man named Minsky got up, and he said, he said, Comrade, he said, My name is Minsky. He said, I'd like to know then, where's all the wheat? Because he didn't have that much wheat. It was a lie. And so they didn't appreciate this fellow Minsky. But anyway, they went on. Next year, this official shows up again. And he says to the people, he says, folks, we need you to know, comrades, wheat production is up 20% this year. There's more wheat than ever. Minsky jumps up on his feet and he says, Hey, my name is Minsky. If that's true, and where is all the wheat? Third year comes by. Official comes out and he says, Hey, folks, he says, This year, comrades, there's 30% more wheat this year. He said, We all should be rejoicing. And this fellow jumps up in the back, and the official says, Hey, I know you're Minsky. He says, No, no. He said, My name is Pulaski. He says, I got a question. I want to know where's Minsky. There are people who will attempt to hide truth because they don't believe it themselves. They've run out of run out of natural answers in the natural. Now let me give you an example here for a moment here. If you don't mind, take your Bible. Let's go to the book of Matthew. We want to talk about the birth of Jesus and John the Baptist for a moment. And I want you, if you will, to go back and project yourself back into the Bible, into Bible times, if you like, if you were living in the days of John the Baptist, or you're living in the days of the birth of Jesus. So let's just go back and take a look at it here. In Matthew chapter 1 and verse 18, the Bible says this. Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise. Now I believe, Saints of God, before we go much farther here, I believe this. That Matthew was an intelligent person. Even though Matthew never had all the science that we have today about birth in vitrio and ex vitrio and all the other different types of ways that life is conceived, all the knowledge that we have about it today, I believe that Matthew understood the basic premise that all life comes because male and female joined together. And that is a premise that has been true ever since the dawn of mankind on the face of the earth. Everybody knows that in order to have mammals in order to have life and offspring, they have to have male and female that come together, seed and egg, and that's how offspring are produced. But I want you to understand something. That in this case, God is not bound by his own law of science. God breaks out of that in this supernatural event. And Matthew wants you to know clearly that the birth of Jesus Christ was this way. In other words, categorically, I'm telling you, this is the way it was. This is not the way everyone comes, but this is the way that Jesus Christ came. And that's what his statement is declaring in verse 18 here. The birth of Jesus Christ was this way. Listen up. Watch this, because this is not ordinary. He says, when as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Jesus' birth was this way, and this is not like any other birth. This is a supernatural event, and God crossed over out of the natural realm because, listen now, God is not bound by science. God is not bound by nature. God is bound only by one thing, or God is obligated only to one thing, and that is his word. Hey, if you were living back then and you didn't know what you know now, and somebody told you that this Jesus who's going around from village to village, was born this way. Reasonably, without a revelation, reasonably you'd have an objection to this, because this is not the way nature operates. But God is not bound by nature. God is bound only by prophecy, his word, right? Then, and it describes this birth. And Joseph, her husband, being a just man, not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privately privileged, privately. And so Joseph himself, who was espoused to Mary, hey, I know, and living in that time, in that era, you remember how they treated that adulterous woman in John chapter 8? That's how adultery was thought of in that society. When somebody was found in adultery and they were a Hebrew, they were stoned. They were They were put to death when they were found in adultery. And Joseph, in that culture, he knows what a shame and reproach it is for somebody to be born out of wedlock. And Joseph's supposed to be engaged to this girl. And now she's found with child. And Joseph says, I know I didn't cause that. But he still feels for Mary, and he's going to put her away privately instead of publicly, so there's not a public shame for her and for him also. And Joseph's going to do this, and we know Joseph was going to do this because God had to intercede in this situation or this circumstance to prevent Joseph from doing this. Twenty. But while he thought on these things, in other words, this was his intent. How can I do this? How can I, how can I accomplish this? He thought on these things. Behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary, thy wife, for that which is conceived of her is of the Holy Ghost. Joseph, don't do this. I know you're thinking about it, but don't do this, because God is doing something here. And you've got to understand, Joseph, that God is not bound by nature or what you think ought to happen in a birth. God is not bound by that. God is bound only by prophecy and by his word. Now, if you don't mind, if you have your Bible open there, I don't have all these on the screen here. In verse 21 of Matthew chapter 1. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done. 22. All this was done and found on Google. No. You're not going to find this on Google. When I say Google, I hope you understand what I'm meaning. That these days, if we want to know anything, should I buy a Westinghouse or frigidere washer? Well, naturally, you go to the internet and you do a product review. If you want to know, is this camera the best deal? You know, if I go to Best Buy, which is a showroom for Amazon, if I go to Best Buy, my boys know how to do this. They'll take my phone and they'll take a picture of the product and they'll do a price review on the internet and say, No, I can get that for $50 cheaper somewhere else. And so immediately we're in contact with what's happening on the internet, and we can we can review things, we can get the right answer. Who's got the product review? I'm just assuming that we assume that the person who writes a review is writing a good review on the washing machine. But my point is this is that if we want to know anything these days, we'd go to the internet. If you went to the internet in the days of Jesus, you wouldn't find a logical explanation for his birth, because it was not happening according to any natural standard by which children come into the world. It happened that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child. God is not obligated to nature. God is not obligated to how you think it should be. God is obligated only to his word. Come on, folks. Behold, I send you a line to the prophet. It doesn't matter that you can justify his every step and every breath and every word. He's here, not because you got it figured out. He's here because a prophet said he would be here in the last day. You understand? God is still not subject to your searches. I'm not saying you, because I don't think you're doing this. But behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. And then Joseph raised from sleep and did as the angel uh had bidden him and took unto him his wife. Now let's go to chapter two, if you don't mind here. So Jesus is born, the three wise men come. The uh Herod is upset because he realizes this all happens without his knowledge. Uh he never got a text, nobody twittered him, nobody let him know that this was going on, and that's what he depended on to know what was what in the kingdom. Verse 13. And when they departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph when they the three wise men departed to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. And when he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night and departed into Egypt. Why? Why does this happen? And was there, verse 15, until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son. Why did God do it? Not always because it makes sense, not always because it's the way we expect, but God did it because he put that. Word in the mouth of a prophet thousands of years ago, and they spoke it, and God is operating by that word, because God's word came to the prophet, and God was directing things that were going to happen in the life of Jesus. Not by people's expectation, but by the word of the Lord that came to those prophets. Right? Now, we find in verse 16, Herod that he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men. And then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet in Jeremiah chapter 31, verse 15. Behold, a weeping, and you can read the prophecies right there. So why did that why did Herod do that? Even the unbelievers are guided by the prophecies that are made about a specific time and season and place, and they don't even realize it. And this is not something that Herod wakes up in the morning and says, Who can I kill today? How many young children can I destroy? He's not doing that. He is moved because the word of those prophets is far more powerful than any other force on the earth. Are you with me? So Jesus, Mary, and Joseph go to go to Egypt. They're down there until they're informed that now it's time to go back. Verse 23, and he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth. That it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the prophets, he shall be called a Nazarene. Are you getting the point? The guidebook for things is the word of God. So it doesn't matter how much we want it to be, and how much we desire it to be, and how much we think it ought to be. It doesn't really matter how much you want to cut your hair. If you're a woman, it doesn't really matter how much you know you might want to make changes to. Hey, it matters what God's word says. And we've been trained that way. And that's okay. That's a good thing. Can I go a little bit further? Now, we find then over in the next chapter, chapter three, we find the advent of John the Baptist here. And in those days came John the Baptist preaching the wilderness of preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet. You getting the point? All of this is happening now because anyone expected it or anybody timed it this way, or anybody figured it out. And it's not because God decided he was going to do a new thing. This has all been spoken by the prophets. Saying the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord and make his path straight. And the same John had his raiment of camels here and so forth, and it describes him here. And in verse 5, and they went out to Jerusalem and all Judea and all the regions round about John, and they were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. How many would say, Amen, that that was true? Does that make sense? Oh, yeah? Makes sense. Show me anyone in the Bible who's been baptized before. Here's John baptizing. You all just said, Oh, yeah, that makes sense. No problem at all. Here's John baptizing in the river. Make sense. Based on what? Why in the world is John baptizing? Why is John doing this when nobody before him has done this prior? There's got to be some symbol in this, right? There's got to be some reason why John is doing this. You ever wondered why? You've always just assumed that it was right and appropriate for John to baptize. And here we come through 4,000 years, and no one's ever done it before. You all just said, Amen? Yes, sir, no problem. I believe it too. I don't have any problem with it at all. But it's interesting as to why he did it. Now, here's something interesting. Brother Branham said, is he was under a teaching under the former Baptist church that he was in. And remember the old Baptist preacher, he said that baptize me in the name of the Lord, in the name of Jesus Christ. And Brother Branham had to ask him to baptize him that way, even though he didn't do it himself. Even though this preacher didn't do it himself. But Brother Branham asked him, he says, I know that that is the right formula for baptism, so will you baptize me that way? And he did. And Brother Bram eventually left this Baptist church because this man ordained women preachers. And Brother Bram said, That's contrary to the word, I can't stay, so off he went. Now Brother Bram says, remember him. He said, he used to discuss this subject with me about John the Baptist. And he said, Brother Billy, when he said, Jesus said, suffer it to be so. When Jesus came and he said, John, I want you he came into the river to be baptized of John. And John said, Oh no, he says, I need to be baptized of thee. And Jesus said, Suffer it to be so. You're familiar with the scripture, right? And then he suffered him. Jesus baptized John. This is what Brother Bram's former preacher told him. That when Jesus said that, and Jesus baptized John, because we know John had never been baptized, and yet he was preaching baptism. Well, that always kind of stunted me a little. You understand the quote now. You understand the way it's read? Are you with me? Go like a fight and sleep, go on out, grab yourself a bit of water, put some water on your face. I know what that's like. I know what that feels like. I was in a funeral the other day and I fell asleep. I felt really bad. But I was really, really weary and uh and I wasn't, I wasn't trying to be disrespectful at all. But I know what it's like. And if you've worked all day and you're fighting there and fighting there, it's all right. Just slip out and refresh yourself and come on back in. That's okay. But now I want you to understand this quote here, because Brother Man's saying, that's what my former pastor taught me. He says, you folks remember him, and he said, This is what he said to me, Billy, when Jesus said, suffer, uh suffer it to be so, then he just turned around, baptized John because John was preaching this baptism, but nobody had ever baptized him, so the greater than John was there, so he baptized John, and Brother Bram said, that always stumbled me a little bit. But Brother Bram hung on to that because this is a trusted person who's telling Brother Bram that. Okay? He's the pastor. And he's telling Brother Branham that until, until, thank God for revelation. Then here not long ago, it was revealed to me. That's higher, isn't it? Higher method that a Christian has, that there they met in the, that there met in the pool, the two greatest messengers the world has ever seen. A man that was above all the prophets, which was John, and there was God himself manifested in a body of flesh. And remember, the Bible tells us that the word of the Lord comes to the prophet, and when the word was made flesh, here stood the prophet in the water. So the word of the Lord always comes to the prophet. And so Brother Braham teaches it this way now, all the days of his ministry, that the word of the Lord had to come to the prophet. But remember now, what did the prophet do? What did John do? John baptized Jesus or dipped Jesus in the Jordan there because he was a sacrifice for sin and had to be washed, like all the Old Testament sacrifices had to be washed in the setting of the temple, right? Now, why did a sacrifice, though? Let's ask the question. Why did a sacrifice have to be washed? Well, let's look at it. And I'll just add this in for you. I'm going to show you two things. Number one, whenever a person desired to be converted to Judaism, and this happened, we can show you in the Bible. Anyone think of anybody who was ever converted to Judaism and joined the faith, joined the nation of Israel? Anybody know? Sure, Ruth. Right? You were just going to say that, weren't you? Ruth was not, she was a Moabite. But she comes into Israel, and she's a part of the faith, part of the family. She comes into the lineage of Jesus and so forth. When a person was to uh made their profession and they wanted to become a Jew, a full Jew, they had to do three things. These are three things that they came up with in the law. Number one, he had to be over, you know, the age of 13 and so forth. But it had to be circumcised from men, and they had to be immersed, or they had to go through a mikveh, which is a ritual bath. And they were literally submerged under the water and brought up because it represented, listen now, it represented a death of their old life, the old Gentile way, and now they come up in, if you like, newness of life. They were not born again. That's not what they called it, but it was like a death, burial, and resurrection. It was like this is passed away, this is now new. That's what they did. And then the third thing was they had to come and they had to offer sacrifices in the temple. And that's what a person had to do. The other reason a person washed in the Old Testament was because of leprosy. Leprosy was a very important disease back in the Old Testament. How many know what leprosy stands for? It's a type of sin, right? And Brother Bram always taught us that, and you can find that in the scripture, and here it is. He is a leprous man. And the previous verses are descriptions of the leprosy. If a man's got this kind of a spot, you know, and so forth, and I didn't put that up there because I know we'd have five people at least who'd start scratching. But Moses said, and he's giving details now. And he says, He is a leprous man, he is unclean. The priest shall pronounce him utterly unclean. His plague is in his head. And he's describing the uh the actual condition of his skin. And the leper in whom the plague is, his clothes shall be rent, his head bare, shave his head, and he put a covering upon his upper lip, and he shall cry unclean, unclean. All the days wherewith the plague shall be in him, he shall be defiled. He's unclean, he shall dwell alone without the camp. Shall his habitation be? Just like a sinner, he dwells outside the camp. He's unclean. He's unfit for the kingdom, right? It's a type of sin. Are you with me? This is what they this is what they decreed in the Old Testament here. And the beginning of this chapter starts with, and God said to Moses. So this is what God wanted the people to know when a person had leprosy, just like a sinner is, they're outside of the camp. They're outside of the body. They're outside of the economy of God. They had no fellowship at all. They had to go around saying they were unclean. My goodness, can you imagine what it would be like today if all the sinners went around and just kept saying unclean all day long? You wouldn't get much done. Same, same uh same place now. We are here in the scripture. Leviticus chapter 13, Leviticus 14. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing. Aren't you glad God is a merciful God? So here's a problem. If somebody's got leprosy, here is the way a leper is cleansed. Okay? He's considered a leper or a sinner, if you like, as a type. But here's the way he's cleansed. He shall be brought unto the priest, and the priest shall go forth out of the camp. The priest shall look and behold, if the plague of leprosy be healing the leper, and he shall I'm reading now down to verse 7, and he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and he shall pronounce him clean and let the living bird loose in the open field. He had to bring two turtle doves. And then it describes in eight and nine the washing of that person. And he that is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, shave all his hair, wash himself in water, and be clean. He had to actually get in the water and he had to dip and he had to wash and so forth. Nine. But it shall be on the seventh day. He shall, after seven days, he washed himself, shaved himself, got rid of all of his garments, and he had to wait outside of his tent. And then after seven days, he shall shave all of his hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows and even all these hair, and he shall wash his clothes, and he shall wash his flesh in water, and then he shall be clean. So there's two reasons now. Why a man would be washed. So these scribes and Pharisees come out to John and they say, You're wanting us to be dipped. I only read in the Bible that the reason a person was washed totally was because they were considered a leper or a sinner, if you like. Are you implying that we look, John? I can take you down at a temple and show you the lineage of my family all the way to Father Abraham. And are you suggesting? Are you implying at all? That I in some way might be unclean or unfit for the kingdom. And I know the scrolls, and I I've dedicated my life to the law and the adherence of the law and paid my tithes and even all the herbs and spices that everybody's given me. And I pay, I look after the poor, and I've never missed a day of church, and I performed my ministry, and you're telling me that I'm somehow or another unclean. And you want me to dip in the water here and repent when I'm a Jew. You understand why they were upset at John, right? So they go home from listening to John on the riverbank. They go home and they're mattered and wet hands, and they get on the internet and they look it up and they Google and they say, baptizing. And the only thing they come up with is leprosy. They look on their folio views, they look on their message search. They look under eagle's view, they go to do everything they can, and they look it up and they're saying, Leprosy. It's the only thing that we come up with. John is implying that we're unclean. John is implying that we need to be washed. He's saying that we need to come to a kind of like a new birth, if you like, something that old is passed away and new is coming. And you know what? They were resisting the truth. Weren't they? Are you with me? They were resisting the truth because God sent John. The prophets had said John would come and say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And John was doing what God truly had bidden them. And now we were coming out of the old testament and out of the old law and out of the old customs here. And now we were coming into grace. This was new. That was old. And John was the forerunner or the herald of that. But it didn't make any sense. John did it pretty faithfully. He even lost his head for it. But he hung on to it anyway. Well. Look. Look in your Bible, if you want with me. Oh, you can read it on the screen here, too. I think I've got it. And they were in the same country, shepherds, abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them. And they were so afraid. These were shepherds now. They're doing the thing they do every night. This is night shift. And this angel breaks in to this scene. All of a sudden there's a light. And this angel breaks in upon them. And the glory of the Lord shone around about them, and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not. For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all the people. From to you this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you. You'll find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest. And on earth, peace, good will towards men. And it came to pass as the angels were gone away from them into heaven. Does it say anywhere that these angels set foot on the earth? Does it say anywhere that the angels set foot on the earth? No. But tell me what we're witnessing. We're witnessing eternity breaking into time. We're witnessing the heavenly host here, the angel, and then the angels, they break into time and they make an announcement. They do something, and then all of a sudden they're gone. Right? Wow. And they kind of these shepherds are there, and they're kind of looking like this, and her knees are knocking, and they're I've never seen this before. Who's gonna believe us? But I'll tell you what we'll do. Let's do what they said. Let's go to them, this stable over where they pointed to us, and let's go see if this is true. They walk in and they see a babe lying in a manger and they see the gifts there, and Mary and Joseph, and unto you this day in the city of David. Because the prophets had spoken that, right? It's Christ the Lord, the Messiah. Oh, I mean, you're talking about Twitter. You talk about postings on Facebook. Whoa! They're just there as soon as they can, they got out their smartphones and there, they're just announcing this. But you know what? People get up there and they say, Okay, angels breaking out of heaven and making this kind of an announcement. They look at that. We don't find that. Got your sheet? Got your sheet. God sure wouldn't do that again, would he? No. No, that couldn't happen again. It was about eight o'clock in the morning, and I had folded my legs and picking up some goat heads, burrs that were on his jeans. And I said, You know, look at here. Isn't this strange? And I said, This exactly, I'm perfectly in position, northeast of Tucson, flagstaff, east of Flagstaff, northeast of Tucson. Here is these goat heads that I said by picking off my trouser. That's strange. And I just threw it down like that. You know what he's doing? He's recollecting what God told him in the vision. Location. Genes, mountains. East of northeast of Tucson. 24. And I look up on the side across a great chasm, and there was a whole herd up there. I was almost in shooting distance, so I wouldn't shoot them myself, as I didn't want them. If I can just get Brother Fred and them now, he's got his mind on the hogs. And I run over a little ravine along a ledge, and I was running along there, and all of a sudden it sounded like the whole country came apart with a blast. And it scared me until I thought, I thought somebody had shot me, just when I thought, what's this all about? I seen the rocks tumbling off the side of the hill rolling down. Do you think this is a figment of his imagination? And I looked up and there was that white circle above me, circling around. Here come seven angels moving down out of the air and picked me right up and said, Go back home, go to the east right away and bring those seven seals, for there's seven mysteries for the complete word is now revealed in those seven mysteries. Let me ask you this. Do you think he's making it up? Who was there? Who was there when this happened? Nobody was there, right? Just him and these angels, these supernatural beings here. Is it possible that supernatural beings can break out of eternity and affect or influence somebody on the earth? And then go away. Just like that. And nobody else on the earth really know or have seen anything about it. Do you think it's possible? If you've ever believed I ever said anything in a sermon inspired, you take them tapes of the seven seals. I'm not a tape salesman. He describes that. And if you ever heard Anything that's really, as I can say, it's thus saith the Lord. Get those. And you know it's interesting, Brother Bram doesn't say, if you listen, if you want to see the supernatural, you get those tapes of the meetings in Durban, South Africa, and look at the great miracles that were done, the healings that occurred and all the supernatural phenomena. And no, he doesn't say that. Because you know what? He's moving higher in the word of the Lord. And he's wanting to take the bride higher in the word of the Lord. He's not pointing to himself, he's pointing to, thus saith the Lord, which is found in the opening of the word. Are we okay? And he says, 27. And you know, not in that time. I didn't know it, but cameras from all over the country was taking the picture of that as that white cloud settled down and went on the associated press. And I think your Chicago paper packed it around, Life magazine packed it, and that was it right there, just exactly the way it said it, standing right under it when it came down and formed, and they said it's way beyond, and it's hunted the country, and there's no airplanes or nothing in there, and it was too high, 26 miles high, no vapor and nothing. You couldn't, they couldn't make vapor anyhow, 30 miles across it, and here it comes, settling down. Watch on the right side of that constellation. Listen to the tape, sirs. What time is it? About three, four months before it happened. There it is. God even told them prior to the event that this is going to happen. He doesn't have a clear understanding of it because this has never happened to him before. But he says, even science has to recognize it is to be true. They're studying it. They say it's a mystery they can't understand, and science down there in Tucson are trying to understand it. What is it? I thought first I'd go talk to them, and I thought, no, it'd just be like the picture of the angel of the Lord on the picture. They wouldn't believe it. There's no need to tell them. That's the 1957 photo of the pillar of fire over him that was shot in the meetings, right? In the meetings in Houston, Texas, the one that hangs in the in the uh this that uh in the hall of congress there in the in the archives. He said there's no need to tell them. Well, you see, in the face of it all, they have to know that it's the truth anyhow. It's the truth no matter. Look, folks, no matter what anybody else says, it's the truth. How do we know it's a truth? Because we can look back in the word and see the things that have come from the word since the opening of the seals. Could God could supernatural beings break out of the heavenly dimension and just all of a sudden appear in this realm and then be gone in a moment to affect the people that are on earth at such a pivotal point. John the Baptist was sent to forerun the first coming, so is your message in ministry sent to forerun the second coming of Christ. John was on the earth. Angels break forth into this dimension, let the shepherds know that this is going on on the earth here. Got another Elijah because the prophet said so in Malachi 4, another Elijah. I'm saying this. Look at the look at the look at the scripture. People say to you, Oh no, we don't need the message, we just need the Bible. I say, bring it on. Bring it on. Come on. If you want to talk Bible, I'm talking Bible here. Right? I'm talking, we're we're we're we're talking the scripture here. We put a lot of scripture up here on the board. I'm only beginning. I'm only getting this going here for you. Because we are supposed to be defenders of the truth. And if it is true, we're gonna find it in God's word. Because God's not gonna back a story or a fable or a lie or a parable or a blog or a website, and just because it's on the internet doesn't make it true. Hello, right? So what's true then? What's true is what God said. What's going to happen is what God prophesied, not what people think ought to happen. And God is not responsible for what's on the end of a search engine. God is responsible for what the prophet said would happen in this hour, and that's the way it's going to happen. So Brother Bram said, Don't look in the natural, break into the spirit and see what's going on. Let's stand to our feet. Paul says, I thank God you're grounded in the present truth. He says, I thank God for that. Now I'll tell you what, one of the best ways that you can strengthen a tree is for the storms to come. The best way that you can see a tree really grow is when the wind rocks that thing back and forth, and the ground loosens up, and those roots, they all of a sudden begin to take off. And you got a stronger tree at the end of the storm. You just got to pray that your roots are down deep enough that the storm doesn't overtake you. But I will tell you this if you're a son of God or you're a daughter of God, you got greater is he that's in you than he that's in this world. And there will no storm take you down. There will be no wind take you down, but that doesn't The devil doesn't blow. I would encourage you to encourage people if they were looking for some reasons as to why these things happen the way they did and why they don't add up the way we research them. I'd say to them, break into the spirit and find out what God said. Because if you're if you want to take your energy and prove the message wrong, then you come and tell me what's right. Tell me what's right. Show me the way. And I said, hey, hey, let me tell you something. If there's a flaw in this message, you're obligated to tell me. I've told you all the truth I know over all these years. Now you tell me what you know to be true. Every now and then, every couple of days I still write to that person, and I say, I'm still waiting. I'm still waiting for you to tell me what's truer than what I've got. You seem to have found something that indicates that this message is booked down here, and you're up here. If you're up here, I don't find anywhere in the Bible where God hides things, uh, you know, hide and seek for believers. I told this person, I said, hey, I want to know. Tell me. Every couple of days I write back and say, I'm still waiting. Still waiting. And I said, the reason you're not writing me back is because you don't have anything greater. All you've got is doubts. You got doubts about what is true. And I always encourage this person to examine the truth, examine the Bible, go back. If you've got any Bible questions, I'll be glad to answer questions for you. Best of my ability. But you know what? It takes a spirit to quicken the word of God. It takes a spirit to reveal the word of God. It isn't because Brother Barry says so, the trusted other, because there are facts, there are experiences, there are trusted people you believe, but you've got to have a revelation of it yourself. You gotta have an experience of meeting God yourself, don't you? Because what if, what if Brother Barry's wrong? God forbid. God forbid for my sake, but not only my sake, right? Anyone here ever know a minister to go astray? Can't say it doesn't happen. It does happen. Let me tell you something, folks. It's gotta be stronger than just well, you know, me and Brother Barry, we're like that. Or I got a handful of dirt from Brother Bram's grave. Better have more than a handful of dirt before this is over. Tell you that. That's why Paul said, I thank God you're grounded in the present truth. He said, He said, I'm set for a defense of the gospel. My obligation, I have a horizontal obligation to have a reason for the hope that lies within me. To communicate with one another. We have a responsibility to encourage one another in the faith. I have this too. These two things I have to deal with every day in my life. May God help us. According to your promises, I can stand secure. Carve upon my heart. The truth that sets me free. According to your word, O Lord. Be it unto me. Be unto me. According to your word. According to your promises. I can stand secure. Carve upon my heart. The truth that sets men free. And according to your word, O Lord. Oh, sing it again now. Make it your prayer tonight. Oh, be it unto me. According to your word. According to your promises. I can stand secure. Carve upon my heart. Truth that sets me free according to your promises unto me. Think about his love. And think about his goodness. Think about his grace. Brought me through. Hallelujah. And high as the heavens above. Soul great is the measure of our Father's love. Of our father's love. Just think about his love. And think about his goodness. So think about his grace that's brought us for as high as the heavens above. So great is the measure of our Father's. So if you've got a need tonight, go ahead. Just ask him. Reach out to him even now. As our musicians just softly play. Lord Jesus, we come before you tonight. And Lord, there are many needs. There are hands that are raised all over the building here tonight. We think of Brother Keith, Lord, tonight, and laying on that sick bed, and we know his desire, Lord, would be to be here tonight. We think of Sister Molly, Lord, and this friend, the co-worker, Brother Alan, and Father, so many others, Lord, that need a touch from you tonight. I pray that you would come on the scene, Lord, and minister at each and every heart, each and every soul. Father, you have chosen us, you have stayed us, you have supported us, you have led us, Lord, to where we are today. And God, we know you care about everything we go through. In the name of Jesus Christ, I commit the needs of the people to you now, Lord. And not just saying that lightly, but Lord God, I believe that you are our comforter and our provider, and we cast all of our cares upon you. There is nothing, Lord, even collectively. There's nothing too great that we could all place at your feet tonight. But Lord, you are an inexhaustible fountain of life, and you are a supplier, Lord, in an abundant way. And I pray that you would just minister to each and every heart and every each and every soul, Lord, that asks you. We thank you, Lord, for the offering for sin that was made, and we are no longer considered unclean, but Lord, we have come and we've been washed by the water of the word. We stand forgiven and justified as though we never did it in the first place. Minister now to the hearts of your people, we pray, and we'll give you thanks and praise for it in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. Thank you, Jesus. How many of you believe tonight? Believe that God is, He's a rewarder of them that diligently seek you, Brother Joel. Is that okay for a Bible study? And I lift my voice to be oh my soul joy. And touch the Lord. I've been meaning to give you an update, and it just things have been so uh full. But I was going to inform you that Brother Anwar landed in Seattle last night. He is in the States. They're back there, but they're out of Pakistan for a season. And Brother Anwar is in the States here. And he's here at the invitation of some churches that have asked him to come and speak. So he is going to come by and visit us. We're just working out the dates as to when he can do that. So if you don't mind, just keep him in prayer, and we'll just trust that the Lord will work out his itinerary so he can be here tonight. Things have happened so quickly. So I apologize for that. But if you don't mind, keep him in prayer. Heavenly Father, we bow in your presence tonight. How we thank you for your word. How we thank you, Lord, for the witness of truth. Help us, Lord, I pray to be faithful witnesses. And may your Holy Spirit come on the scene now and anoint us, no matter what questions are asked to us and what things are presented to us. So we want to handle these situations gently. Give us wisdom, I pray. And Lord bless this congregation and the many needs that are represented among us. Bring us back at the appointed time in Jesus Christ's name. Amen. Don't forget to sign up for coming to the Fulkerson's on the weekend. God bless you tonight as you go. Praise the Lord. Keep your mind stayed on me if you don't mind. Let's sing that tonight. Let's see. Sing it as you go tonight. Stay on me. Stay on me.