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START OF FILE: 2012-07-29 - The Present Truth Pt. 3 - Barry Coffey.txt
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SERMON DETAILS
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Date:     2012-07-29
Title:    The Present Truth Pt. 3
Speaker:  Barry Coffey
Church:   Hickory Bible Tabernacle
Type:     Sunday Morning
Duration: 2h 10m
Language: English
URL:      https://web.archive.org/web/20130926202729/http://hickorybibletabernacle.org/thepresenttruth/
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TRANSCRIPT
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I could not just aren't you glad for that this morning. Hallelujah. I shall be like the great so I sing it one more time now, and I shall be praise you this morning, Lord. Where Jesus died the praise my soul I can serve me, Lord I the spirit and make me take my life. Do you want to be concerned this morning? Hallelujah. With a fire spirit God sure and break me and singelujah. Praise his name this morning. God bless you this morning. Good to see each one of you day today. Come together with thanksgiving and praise to our great creator this morning for all that he's done in his love for us. This morning. Amen. Praise the Lord. Let's sing that song. Speed up a little bit this morning. Some glad morning. We're gonna fly away. Amen. Payday's coming soon. I believe it's gonna be soon that we can go to that land that we long for Abraham search for it. Someday we're gonna meet that meet him there. Amen. And all the saints of old let's sing it. I'll fly away. Some glad morning when this life is over. Hallelujah by way when the shadow of bird from prison bars and floor by way by way of me by morning I'll not die hallelujah by way just for weary days a day fly away to a light where George everyway hallelujah fly away how not dieah by way singing again with the shadow of this life before and like a bird from prison bars and flow by way hallelujah by way oh glory why the morning I'll not die hallelujah by way away. Give him a good hand clap of praise this morning. Hallelujah. Praise his name today. Amen. Hallelujah. Amen. Again, we want to welcome everybody this morning. If you're a visitor, we're certainly glad to have you with us this morning. Good to see each one of you here today. Good to have Brother Stephen back. Amen. Good to see Brother Stephen this morning. Amen. We're going to take our prayer request at this time. And I'm going to ask Brother Andy Arsh if he'd come this morning and lead us. We have several requests. Please pray for Brother Ed Watkins. That's Brother Jason Watkins' dad's having some health problems. And says, and for Nathan also, and that's from Sister Connie. Let's remember this request this morning. Brother Eddie Watkins and Nathan Watkins also. Please pray for my little Rebecca. She has an appointment with the gastroentronologist tomorrow. And Charlotte. That's from Brother Andy and family. So we want to remember his little daughter this morning as we pray, Rebecca. Also, we have a request for Ellen Gunter. Gabriel has bronchitis. So we want to remember them today in prayer. And this note says, a precious brother Elmo James from Florida was sent home this week from hospice. They found a mess on his spine and scan, uh C scan showed the cancer in his fourth stage and is already spread to his bones. Please pray. And that's from Brother Bill and Sister Cindy. So let's remember this man in Florida, Elmo James, that God would uh touch him in this need. Also it says uh our son Jonathan has been having severe headaches. Now he is experiencing blurred vision and dizziness. Please pray with us. And that's also from Brother Bill and Sister Cindy. So let's remember that request this morning. Amen. Also, we want to remember Brother Frank McComas in Arkansas, and he's having some back problems. And we also want to remember Brother Matt Cross, who's in Kentucky this morning. So let's remember these this morning. And uh his brother Andy comes, let's just sing only believe as he comes this morning. Just reach out this morning, faith believing forever need. I'm sure in our midst we have many other unspoken requests this morning that God can just meet this morning. By an uplifted hand, maybe you have an unspoken request. All day sure. Also, the McCafferty's will be traveling to uh Edmonton, Canada this week. We want to remember them in prayer as they travel. God would just be with them. Amen. Brother Andy, Lord Jesus. Father as we sang that song. The angel's favorite song. They gather around my faith, Father. You are all in our spiritual eyes this morning. We would be surrounded by a whole encampment of your angels, Father. And Lord, we bow our heads in the holy fear. Because Lord, you took us and you washed us from our own sins in your own blood. And you mean as kings and priests. Lord, when we deserve death, you gave your life, and Father, we are eternally grateful for that act of love that you poured out on Mount Calvary. And Father, we confess our faults, our mistakes, our failures, everything we've done in your sight, Father, that wasn't pleasing. May you forgive us, Lord. And Father, you heard the requests. And we pray now, Lord, that the great physician would come and minister to every need. Those that were spoken across the pulpit, Father. May you come and bring healing. Lord, may you come and bring faith. And Lord, we would rebuke every demon of doubt, every demon of worry, every demon of fear, and nothing but pure faith in your word, Lord, would take its place. But it would be your mind, Father. And that you would take those words, Lord, and you would anoint them, Father. And you would open the eyes of our hearts, Lord, and give us understanding, Father. Give us revelation, Lord, of the hour and the day that we live in. And Father, that we could walk out of here like on the two on the road to we mayus. That we would say, did not our hearts burn within us, because you spoke with us along the way. From every little child to every older person, Father. May we receive something from the throne room today that will cause us to walk closer and more in love with you, and we'll give you all the praise, the glory, and the honor. In your most holy and precious name of Jesus Christ, we ask these things. Amen. Hallelujah. You can be said this morning. Let's sing that song, just a closer walk with thee this morning. Have anyone a closer walk with him? Amen. Coming this morning with that desire in our heart that he would just feel that innermost being inside. Amen. I threw this world upon and I want to get me burned, not in Lord, not but the hallelujah and close to Jesus I believe walking to me let it be. Brother Luther's coming to sing for us this morning. Go ahead and sing it again as he comes but goes through all with thee walking close to thee. Let it be Lord Let it be praise the Lord, Amen. Brother Luther Joy and honor it is to walk close to God. Amen. I tell you I appreciate the word for our day, and I don't know where we've been without it. Brother Steve, you know, praise God, it brought to life the word of God y'all pray for that song yes no one. You promised in our day, Lord the ministry to reveal to sing the light you the prophet your word you fulfill to turn our hearts, Lord back to the region of work to your glory with an awful cur. See you Lord in me every day that I live and they take note, Lord that I have been with you may every step I take Lord bring me close to you all the proit are of joy and peace long and gentleness all goodness and faith and temperance a good such there is no law. And if we live in the spirit, we will walk in the same I'm one step closer to that statue of the perfect man, and may the world see you, Lord in me every day that I live and they take note, Lord that I have been with you. May every step I take load bring on her to you. Oh, if we live in a spirit, we are not the law for over the works of the flesh. God's spirit is us power over them all so be not weary in well doing for in season he shall reap if he faint and oh I'm one step closer to that statue of the perfect man, and may the world see you, Lord in me every day that I live and they take note that I have been with you. May every step I take Lord bring to you Amen. Praise the Lord, thank you, Brother Luther. Have two announcements to make, or maybe one announcement. Sister Laura's Sunday school class will meet at four PM today in the classroom. So remember that if you're in her Sunday school class, they will be meeting today at four PM. Amen. Let's stand as our ushers come this morning. Let's sing this song. We haven't sung in a very long time. I don't think they come from the east and the west. And you know God has stirred our hearts that we come in and partake of this great message. Amen. Brother Luther said thankful for it this morning. Brother Mike, if you would lead us in prayer they come from the east and west they come from the lands of peace with the key to die bless it from the holding a glow with the light blessed as him is crowd to shine since Jesus I said be free I'm happy as I can be no longer I dare the burden of care his yoke is so sweet. My soul was as black as thy darkness for Jesus has said I look on the gray white draw it substance no longer our tears no sorrow is known nor death in that good I savior as call me all preparing the way for me soon will meet the whole time of eager since Jesus has said I'm happy as I can be no longer I beg the burden of care his yoke is so sweet my soul was as black as I but darkness has made a life now I shall be for Jesus has said let's sing a little chorus I have a maker he knows my name let's sing it this morning together as we open our hearts and open our minds to what God has for us today it's good to be in God's house isn't it good to be with God's people let's sing it this morning I have and he form and before even time I life was in his hand and he knows my name He knows my thought He sees each tear that falls Hears me when I call I have He calls me his own He'll be bringing out now and he knows my name He knows my thought He sees each tear and He hears me Oh sing it again now He knows my name Yes He knows my name And he knows I fall He sees each tear that fall and he hears me when I call Lord Jesus move among us today we Pray. We know, Lord, that you are a God who is above all, and you're greater than all. You're one Lord that controls the heavens, all that is in it. Lord, you also can know the very secret and innermost thoughts of our heart. And I pray today, Lord, you would come and just anoint our hearts, anoint our thinking. Oh God, I pray. Challenge us that Lord, we might be better servants, better soldiers of the cross today. We commit our every need to you, Lord, and we pray in the name of Jesus Christ that you administer, Lord, to us in a personal way. But Father, you make the word real to our hearts. We know, Lord Jesus, we live in a world full of skeptics. And Lord, there's all kinds of people, Lord, that don't even want to hear about you at all. But God, we just love to hear your name. We love to see you, Lord Jesus. We love to be in your presence. And Lord, it's just exciting whenever you come on the scene. Do it again, Lord, today. We commit this day into your hands now. Praying that every need would be met, every sick person to be healed, Lord. That God, you'd answer questions and that you would relieve doubts that we have. Father, you'd calm our anxious hearts. I commit the people and their needs into your hands, Lord, both here and those that are listening. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. And amen. Praise the Lord. You may be seated this morning. God bless you just for a few moments. And I wanted to make a very few very brief announcements. Thank you, musicians. That'll be just fine. We want to remember those folks that are not here that have been mentioned. I think Brother Wayne's taking care of most of them here. Brother Joel Franklin is away, and we want to remember Brother Joel. And uh I didn't know this uh last week, and I wish I had known this until after service. But Caleb uh who was here last Sunday. What's Caleb's last name? Gray? Greg. That's right. Caleb Gragg, who is here. He's the young man who is a Marine. And uh he was uh with us last Sunday here. And he was the guy I picked on over here because he sits in the front row. Brother Philip, you weren't here, so I had to pick on uh Caleb here. And after service, he came and told me that he was on his way out to be posted and gonna be gone for three years, right? Three years, and I didn't know that, and I just uh regretted not uh having prayer for him, and I told him that we sure would remember him and be praying for him. And uh also didn't know that he left his engaged girl behind, right? And he and Paige are engaged, and so we sure want to be remembering him. He's gonna be on uh uh duty in three three or f uh several different countries. He's going to be an embassy guard, and uh which is a good job for Marine, and he could be in a whole lot worse places. Uh but he's gonna be training up in Virginia and then taking off from there. So uh we sure want to remember Caleb and we'll give you updates as we uh as we get them. It's good to have uh the foxes here uh today. God bless you, brother and sister Fox. Great to see you. We miss you when you're not here, and uh certainly good to have you today. Uh it's good to have the Goddersads back also, and uh each and every one of you. We uh Sister Carol and uh Sister April, two Sundays in a row. God bless you. Great to have you today. And uh forgive me if I missed you, but we are just honored to have all of you here today, and uh trust that the Lord will bless you. We have a couple of uh a birthday and an anniversary. Sister Judy Dilling is her birthday. Sorry, Sister Judy, but happens to the best of us. That's the way we look at it. And uh let's go back to the first screen there, and uh, if you will. And um the other anniversary that we have is Brother Philip Carswell's, right? Yeah. Not today. But you have an anniversary on the first. Right. How many years? Nineteen years. God bless you. And uh trust that you folks have a special day. Now, we um I wanted to mention too, just one quick thing, and I'm gonna give you some details later on about it. But this year, uh, Lord willing, between Christmas and New Year, we are going to have the winter youth retreat, but we're going to have it in the south. And this is the first year ever we're going to do that. Brother Paul and I are going to meet this week, and we're going to be planning some details about the uh uh winter youth retreat. And we had talked about this for a number of years, having one in the north and then one in the south, one in the north, one to the south. A lot of kids from the south are rejoicing over that. A lot of the kids in the north are lamenting about it. But I like to tell them for 22 years I've driven to the north for the winter youth retreat, so now tough luck. And we are glad to be having the retreat here. I'm going to give you some more details. The sign-up is not available yet, so you're not missing anything. Uh, we are going to be, though, uh letting you know some details. About things that are going to be happening, and for you kids that are 17 and over, it'll be a wonderful time. And it'll be a right maybe about an hour or so from here over near Asheville and right on Interstate 40. So it won't be hard for us to find over there. We've been looking for a facility where we could do this kind of thing. We also are going to be needing some help to do this to do this retreat. So we'll be letting you know a little bit more about that. We're going to ask you if you don't mind to stand to your feet this morning, and we're going to look again at this subject, the present truth. And if you'd like to take your Bible, we're going to go to 2 Peter chapter 1. So that we can get this phrase that Peter uses here. And I'm going kind of I'm going to go a little bit quickly here because I want to cover some ground here this morning just to see how far we can get. Now, this subject has been one that I've received a great deal of commentary on people not only here in the church but from people from outside. I had a text from a minister a couple of days ago, and he said he quoted me. This is the way he said it in these texts. He said, Oh no, Brother Barry, I found something in the message that I couldn't find on Google. What am I going to do? And I said, That's all right, just believe with all your heart. Because God's not responsible for Google. And he had listened to the couple of services that I'd done on this, and so he was just making a joke of it. But he said that he really had gleaned a lot from this little thought that I had done in relation to responding to controversies that uh exist around the message of the hour with biblical truth. And that's how we always had to respond to anything that comes up, any question that comes up, is to respond with biblical truth. The only way you can do that is if you know your Bible. The only way you can do that best is if you know the author of the Bible. And so it's imperative that we do that. All revelation, just because we say it's a revelation, really doesn't mean very much unless you can prove it scripturally. And so it's important for us not to just make assumptions that we all know and believe that these things are true because you come to church and hear them. That doesn't make them true. It makes them true because God says them. And we need to know that. We need to study that. Second Peter chapter 1. Wherefore, I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things. Always. Peter said this is a continual thing, though ye know them and be established in the present truth. May the Lord add his blessing, you may be seated. Well, let's just jump right in, if that's all right, and uh see how far we can get here this morning. We know that, as I've uh mentioned to you before, and here's a couple of screens that will refresh your memory. Uh Paul said that uh he was set as a uh an apostle and as a minister in defense and confirmation of the gospel. Uh, whenever the gospel is preached, there there are those that are sent out uh to bring the gospel, and the people who believe it are called upon to defend it. And that is the what I refer to as the horizontal aspect of our witness. The other side of the coin, though, is that we have a personal uh relationship with Christ, and that's our vertical relationship. That's between you and God. You have to settle things between you and him. If you're not right, you need to get right. If you've done something wrong, you need to make that right. If you've never been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, you never repented before God and surrendered your life to him. That's a starting place. And then from that point on, the Holy Spirit will lead you and guide you into all truth. Do you believe that? And that's not between you and anybody else. That's between you and God. That's your vertical relationship. All of us, every single one of us, have to reconcile that between ourselves and God. It's no good for you just to sit in church here and say, Well, I belong to the message. And if you believe that, you ought to come tonight. We're gonna talk a little bit about something different tonight. But uh we we know that we have to have this uh vertical, personal, intimate relationship with God. But then as we walk on, especially in the world we live in, a world full of darkness, where gross darkness covers the people, we know that we're going to have to give answers for the things that we believe. And Paul said that he was set in defense of the gospel. Peter also says that we should have an answer for a reason for the hope that lies within us. And we have to therefore be able to say, well, we believe certain things and we act a certain way because our conduct is regulated by our beliefs, right? Our conduct is regulated by our beliefs. I said our conduct is regulated by our beliefs. And if that's true, then we have to be able to say, well, this is why we conduct ourselves a certain way. This is why we don't wear uh tattoos and earrings. This is why we dress modestly. This is why uh, you know, our women don't have splits in their skirt or something else. We have a reason for that because there should Scriptural valid reason why those things are so. It's not just a bunch of legalism, and it's not just rules and regulations that separate us from somebody else. Should be a reason for that. You girls that are in school, I know it's difficult for you to dress the way you do in light of all the other ways that people dress. But I think it's important for you to understand why that we say that that's important and how you can defend yourself against questions that come up, especially with your teachers. So therefore, this whole study of uh defending the gospel is from where we get our word uh like Paul uses the word here, defense. He said as a defense of the gospel is the word apologia, uh which is a verbal defense, a reasoned statement or argument as to why uh we believe the things that we do, and that's what we're attempting to do this morning. But remember now, it's not enough that we establish a truth uh just based on what we think. Here's what Brother Bram said in 1965. It must be according to his word that has been spoken. It must. 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. That H there is a capital H. It's not Brother Barry's word, and neither is it your word. It's his word. It's God's word, and according to his time and his season. So it's very important that we learn that you really don't have a say in this thing, folks. You really don't. And as much as offensive as that is, uh you have to realize that you know, a pastor can say that to sheep because sheep, they don't have any defense. They're not animals that raise up and become aggressive. They don't have it in them. They've laid down their rights, and I've laid down my rights, and I trust you have at Calvary's cross. That's where we surrendered our lives and said, Lord, now you be the shepherd, you be the guide, you be our head. And so it matters what he says, not what I say, and not what you say. Because if I'm not concerned about what I think, I'm certainly not concerned about what you think. Now, let's just let's just drop in a couple of statements here to see this morning. Jesus sounded his trumpet. He showed them by signs and wonder that he was the Messiah. The Christian soldier is trained to hear the word sound of the gospel. A Christian is trained to hear the word sound of the gospel. The real Christian soldier is trained to that. And Jesus said, My sheep know my voice. And what is that voice? Jesus is the word. In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God. Let me say it again. The Christian soldiers trained to hear the word sound of the gospel. And Jesus said, My sheep know my voice. And what is the voice? Jesus is the word. In the beginning was the word, the word was with God, and the word was God. Then a real sheep of God hears the voice of the word. The real sheep of God hears the voice of the word. My sheep hear my voice. Get it? Creeds and dogmas and so forth is injected into it. They won't follow that. They've got to hear the unadulterated word and see it manifested. That's what we're after, isn't it? That an unadulterated word, and we want to see it manifested as well. Now, Jesus promised us as we go out into the world, and he said this for all ages, that uh, you know, there will come a time, he said, and let me quote it for you whosoever shall speak a word against the son of man, it shall be forgiven him. But unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven. And when they bring you into synagogues and into magistrates and powers, take ye no thought for what things you shall answer or what ye shall say, for the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye need to say. Wow, that's wonderful, isn't it? So you're not alone when you're in front of the authorities, or you're in front of the magistrates, or you're in front of the critics, or you're in front of anybody that might question what it is that you believe. Remember now, if you're standing for God, God will stand for you. And he'll give you what you have need of to say in that hour. You're never without an answer. You're never without a reasoned argument about what it is that you believe. That is your defense, and my defense now is not my intellect. My defense is the Christ who said he'd be with you when you're in front of the magistrate. Right? So that's what our confidence rests in now. It's not resting in our ability or your ability to assimilate or hear and retain everything I'm saying to you this morning. No way you can do that. Some of you are already drifting. And I will tell you that it'll take more than just your natural ability to answer some of the very smart and intelligent people that are out there. You're gonna need him to show up right at that time of need when you're standing there and you're questioned and you're on the grill, and you're being you're being uh you know asked why you believe a certain thing, and why do you why why can't you conform like everybody else? You're gonna need more than just your intellect then and a gifted tongue. You're gonna need the Holy Ghost in you to be able to teach you what you need to say right at that hour. How many have experienced that in your own life, in your own defense of the gospel? Sure. 1957, Brother Bram says, and I just love the word. Word is truth. And I like to read it before my congregation because I know that in the judgment, I'll stand with them. And I've got to give an account. So if I bring it from the word, then I'll not be guilty. If I see, see if I if I uh sorry. If I bring it from the word, then I'll not be guilty because it's the word, and God is responsible for what's in Google. God's responsible for being not at all. God's responsible for what's in his word. God's responsible for what's prophesied, isn't he? God's responsible for what he said, and I don't want them to have my spirit on my actions, but I want them to have God's spirit by God's word, that produces truth. Glory to God. I don't want them to have my spirit on my actions, but I want them to have God's spirit by God's word. That's what I want them to have. I don't want them to have a memorial to me. I don't want them to have a statue of me. I don't want them to have a university in my name. I want them to have God's spirit by God's word on them. And he said, that will produce truth. That'll produce true Christians in the hour that we're living in. How many believe that? All right, now remember now, whenever now, whenever we do this, uh we're waging war, right? We're we're battling. Now, 1962, again, a couple of statements here now, and then I want to give you some examples of uh things in relation to our absolute that we should have in the day that we're living in, because the only way that we can reasonably argue with anybody is that we have a basis for that argument, which is the Bible, right? The week amen. If you're gonna conduct a conversation with anybody, you've got to have a basis for the argument, right? In other words, people come to you and they challenge you about Brother Branham, you can't go back, come back and say, Well, Brother Braham said this or Brother Bram said that. You gotta you gotta be able to come back into Scripture and be able to say, well, here's where uh here's where the scripture promises certain things, and here's where that's fulfilled in the ministry of this particular person or that particular person, and we want to be able to come back to some standard. And that standard is what we refer to as an absolute. It always has to be an absolute, right? Got to be a way, there's gotta be a way that we can argue. And if somebody doesn't want to have uh an absolute in a conversation, you might as well quit. Might as well talk about the heat. Uh, you might as well talk about uh whatever, you know, fly fishing or something else, because it'll be much more enjoyable. There's nothing worse than trying to talk to somebody who won't hold to some sort of a standard. They're always trying to avoid the truth of the matter. Anyway, greater than Solomon is here. Do you believe that uh he would have anything to do with a hypocrite? Jesus? You believe that he would have anything to do with the hypocrite? No, sir. He said, Do you believe he is associated himself in lies? Not our God. But our God is responsible for his word. He's responsible for his word. He's not responsible for what you think should happen. He's responsible for 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 keeps his promise. That's what he does. So God is responsible for his word. If his word promised a certain thing, God's gonna do it. He's not gonna forget it, he's not gonna bypass it, he's not gonna skip over it, he's going to fulfill it because that's what God said. And when we know that God does that, then we know that God will never forget any of his promises in relation to you. God will never leave his his bride, for instance, on the earth during the tribulation. They never forget about her. If God said he's gonna change that last day's bride and take change her body and take her off the face of the earth, it's gonna happen. Because God is consistent, God is faithful to his word. Now, we know that. Uh again, now two more quick statements here. He says, Many of you uh understand why that sometimes had to pack me off this platform. There's a great deal of misunderstanding about uh a prophet, really, and and about some of the things that he did and said, and some of the things that he didn't do, didn't say. There's a lot of misunderstanding about that. And sometimes you have to understand a little bit about the nature of God and why God does things. God doesn't show his prophets everything. God doesn't tell his prophets to tell us everything that he tells the prophet. And that's just God's way. If we had enough time, we could go through all of those statements there. But he said, that's just one case of a demon leaving the man that uh just then, and he said, it got me reeling and staggering. And how many remembers when this woman touched Jesus' garment and he got real weak? Remember the prophet Daniel when he saw one vision and he said I was troubled at my head for many days. He said, Do you understand what I mean? Well, we really don't. We really don't, because we don't live in that sphere. We've never, we us as human beings and even as a minister like I am. I've never been in that kind of a realm or had visions and uh, you know, the that kind of warfare in the spiritual realm. I've never had that. So he's saying, Do you understand what I mean? Well, we agree, but we really don't know what it means. He said, see, you've got to break into a sphere that people know nothing about. And there's no need to try to explain it. You don't know. He says you don't know it, and it won't be known. So there's some things that happen, and some things that are even said that we might not be able to explain. Doesn't mean that all of this is false, right? Doesn't mean that the message is false. Doesn't mean that the Bible is false. It just means that for now I don't have an explanation. And you know what? God's not obligated to make sure that I understand everything, and I'm comfortable intellectually with everything that goes on. God's not responsible for that. I've read to you already. God is responsible for his word. Are you with me? Hey, this is all introduction, folks. And so I want you to stay with me now. Nice thing about the word of God, though, is what he says and what he declared right from the beginning. He said the great thing about the word, he said it all fits together. If it doesn't fit together, it's not God's word that's misfit. It's your thought is misfitting to the word. But it all fits together. It all goes together. We may not fully understand how it does. And you might not even understand how your life fits together with God's program. But I'll tell you something. If you're a child of God, the footsteps of a good man are ordered of the Lord. And God has a way of bringing it all around so that all things work together. All things work together for good to them that love God. Even your mistakes and your failures and your weaknesses and your character flaws and all the other things that you continually do wrong. Somehow or another, God is able to make all those things work together for good to them that love God. I'll guarantee you there's some of you that are struggling with things that God does not take away from you, even though you've asked him to, because he knows it keeps you on your knees. It keeps you coming to him over and over again. And if God took all those problems and trials away from you, some of you would never go to God at all. All you'd ever do is thank God when you got a raise, and thank God when you got a blessing, and so forth. But you never really become desperate with God and cry out to him. There's nothing like crying out to God and asking him for things that you have a need of. There's something good about that, and there's something that's very uh very healthy spiritually about that. Alright, so let's talk about an absolute then. And uh we we want to define this and then we want to look at it, especially in our in in the times that we live in. An absolute is something that is regarded as the ultimate basis of all thought and being free from qualification, condition, exception, or restriction. That's what an absolute is. It is the final and not liable to modification. It is not liable to modification. Something that does not depend on anything else and is beyond human control. So we would say, for example, that the Bible is an absolute, isn't it? God's word is an absolute. And I would say this that in its purest translation, I think God's word is a is a true absolute because uh it really is an adequate or uh uh an appropriate expression of the mind of God. And and uh we we know that when it was written, when the when the authors wrote it, all those uh different Bible writers wrote it over those years. They were moved on by God, and God deposited their thoughts and their his thoughts in their heart, and they wrote that and put it together. And there's no other book in the world where you can take an author two thousand years ago and have him say something that blends with an author that wrote something else away up the road here, and and have it exactly dovetailed together. The Bible is an absolute, isn't it? It's an absolute absolute. And we're so thankful that we have it today and we have it restored to us, and we're so we're so glad that it is free from all human thought, it is free from qualification, it's free from condition, and a conditional statement is something like well, if something, then something else. You computer programmers know that when you write conditional statements in a computer, uh, you know, it it's always an if-then statement. If the person answers this, or if this is the entry that's given, then this should be the answer. This pops up on your screen. Uh but God's word is not conditional at all. Uh it's not if I agree with God's word, then I will obey it. That's not the way we treat it at all. It's not conditional in any way. God said it, God means it. We're so grateful that he's clear about it. But now everybody doesn't accept the absolute, do they? So our beliefs then are formed from a couple of different things. Number one, from facts and things that we know to be true. Uh there are things that we can verify, and that's how we we form a belief system. And the natural, uh, you kids spend a lot of time in school learning facts. I'll tell you a fact. Uh, it's a verifiable true fact that my wife is a cousin of Daniel Boone. Eight times removed. And we can prove that to you. We just found that out absolutely matter-of-factly this week. And you know what that means? That means that I should be able to fish in Kentucky anytime I want to and hunt in Kentucky anytime I want to. That's a fact. Just like the sun is 93 million miles away from the earth, it's a fact. Nobody's ever measured it. But nonetheless, we believe that it's a fact. I'm still lamenting over the fact that they took Pluto away from me. I like I grew up believing that Pluto. It was a planet. Anyway, we also have personal experiences. So we know things and we also experience things. And that's how our beliefs are formed. We are obviously all of you came from a church background, for instance. So you're all imprinted by the church environment you came out of. And trusting that by God's grace you're being imprinted by the one you're in now. Experiences of others that we trust is also a way that we form beliefs. So we and I've gone through this before. We trust certain people and we believe that if they say certain things and they say them very matter of factly, that also imprints us, and it also shapes our belief system, and that is very good. The important thing, though, is that we don't rely entirely on those uh on those three things, because you can experience wrong things. You can experience things, and you can also be told a lie by somebody, even if you trust them. So we don't want to base our absolutes on things that are found in the first three, but we want to have also this added supernatural part, which is a revelation, and a revelation is something that God would communicate to us, but remember, how do we know that our revelation is true? Because there's all kinds of people that believe that they have revelations from God and dreams and visions and apparitions and everything else. And hey, they're not from God at all. How would we know that? How would we qualify that our revelation is okay and someone else's is not? Again, you've got to bring it back to the Word of God. It's got to fit, it's got to dovetail with the Word of God. And it doesn't depend on what you think and how you feel about it. It depends on what God said. Hey, listen, I've been to Lord's France, and that's where uh they believe that the Virgin Mary appeared, and those three nuns saw those uh saw saw the apparition of Mary, and they gave the the nun that that that vision in that vision, you know, the nuns received a message from the Virgin Mary, and I mean, listen, a lot of money, a lot of attention, a lot of churches were built on the on the uh the the the uh the whole experience of those nuns seeing the Virgin Mary. Very sincere, very sincere. I think the last one of them just died very recently here, and the popes have gone to visit those nuns, and they wanted to know what the Virgin Mary told them and all the rest of it. Hey, I don't doubt that they had some religious experience, but it doesn't dovetail with the word of God. So you know what? It really doesn't bother me too much. Here's what Brother Bram said you don't know God by intellectual conception, you know God by faith, is the only way you know how to believe God. And just you you can't explain, no one can. It's not for you too. And nobody can explain God, God is without finding out by explanation, it's not by intellect. He said, You gotta believe him. It wouldn't be faith anymore. So it's important for us to understand that that is true. Now, let me give you one more little statement here. Brother Bram said in the Seven Church Age book, he said, uh sorry, this is the sermon on the seven church ages that he preached in 1954. He said, That's the way it is when you used to go to dances. He said, I don't believe that you'd go now. Surely not. But if you used to go, they'd play up the hoop-up music and things and get in the spirit to dance. You get in the spirit of it. It's the spirit of the devil. Glad you said amen, because it's the truth. I'll prove it to you by the Bible. Say, well, I don't believe it, brother. Well, it ain't what you say, or it ain't what I think. It's what God's word says. That's what settles it. That's the final word. Based on this, is it all right to go ahead then? Is it all right to go ahead? Because I, you know, I'm not picking on dancing. I don't think dancing's a problem, and it shouldn't be, even if it's conducted in a message wedding. Hello. You don't need to tell me or try to tell me or try to convince me, it doesn't happen. It happens. I just don't see how you can reconcile the two. I just don't see how you can reconcile the two. Brother Brandon refers to dancing this way. I think that's pretty clear myself. And you know what? I would say this either you believe it or you don't. And I'd say if we believe it, we ought to practice it. Because your belief system, your absolute, will affect your conduct. Right? I remember one time, and if you don't mind me saying this, my wife won't mind me saying this. I've told them many times that I remember that uh we were sitting at the table before I was married. My sister was there, my sister's not a believer, my two brothers were there, my sister is there, and she's not a believer, but uh we were taught. I was talking about getting married, and somehow or another the conversation rolled around to the fact that when when Sister Becky and I came to the altar on July 8th, 1984, right? Uh, that that would be the first time I would ever kiss her. And I just uh somehow or another the conversation got around to that. And uh I was telling my brothers and my sister, when she heard that, she kind of dropped her fork and she stopped for a minute. She said, Hold on, did I hear you? Did I hear you right? She said, You've never kissed Becky? I said, No, I've never kissed her. And she said, You've never kissed her, and you're going to marry her? And I said, Yes. She said, What if you don't like the way she kisses? You'd be stuck with her for life. What kind of nonsense is this? She said, What do you mean you're not gonna you're not gonna kiss her before you're married? I said, hey, the reason I'm not gonna kiss her is not because I don't want to, but because a prophet taught us, the message teaches us that you shouldn't kiss her before you get married. At the altar is the first time. And she said, No. I said, Yeah, that's what it says. That's what that's what we believe, and we practice that and we preach that. And she said, get real. And I said, that's what she, you know, we used to say back then. And she's uh I I told her, I said, no, that that's the way it is. And I said, I I have no problem with that. And I believe this that if we're meant to be together, the kissing part will take care of itself. We'll learn. You know, we'll be all right. I said, I think we'll we'll we'll do fine. Not having done that before. I think God will take care of that part, and he did. But I will say this to you that I I added this part to her, and I said, Listen, what we believe is is what we refer to is a truth. And if it's true, then we ought to live it. And if it's not true, get out. Get out of the boat. I mean, it's a it's gotta be a terrible tug of war when you say that you believe it, but you don't practice it. You know, you're live you're you're professing one way and living another way. It's time for us, folks, all of us, to get in or get out. We ought to believe it or we don't. The Bible requires certain things. We ought to do it or not. Get in or get out. Be hot or be cold. That's what the Bible says. But that in-between place is a terrible thing. And Brother Braham says, remember now, it is not what you say or what I think or what what we argue about. It's what God's word says. That's what settles it. That's the final word. Are you all right if we let God's word be the final word? You alright? You don't know what your amen invokes. You don't know what your amen in. All right. Now, just as an example now, I don't know if any of you here today have ever heard of Yoism. Anybody here ever heard of Yoism? Yoism is a religion that began in 1994 from the internet, and it is based on the concept or the principle of Wikipedia. And Wikipedia says Wikipedia is a reference site whereby uh lots of contributors have added information, and that information is constantly being updated. There's a lot of good things on Wikipedia. There's a lot of junk on Wikipedia, and there's a lot of opinions on Wikipedia. Your job is to kind of sort through that and figure out what is real, uh, which is quite a daunting task because it is an absolutely gargantuan place. The people who invented or came up with Wikipedia also started a religion. And this religion is called Yoism, and that's a symbol of it right there, and it doesn't really matter what the definition says, except I put it a little part in bold. And these people who who developed it developed a systems of bel uh systems of beliefs through a continuous process of refinement and a dialogue among the believers themselves. How convenient. How convenient to have a religion whereby uh whenever you needed to update the religion or something doesn't really fit, you just add another piece to it and modify it so that you're adapting your faith all the time. You're adapting your belief system all the time. Wow. I mean, that's convenient, isn't it? If if if something uh comes up and uh, you know, maybe you don't have an answer for it, uh, you just get somebody to write an article about it, and and and that becomes your religion then. And that's what uh that's what Yoism is all about. The thing is that Yoism has a huge number of followers on the internet. I took this right from the Yoism site. This is what the opening line says. It's a community of individuals united by a shared vision of human possibility, and together we can create heaven on earth. Now, their belief is that uh religion is absolutely one of the highest and most devastating forms of child abuse that ever exists on the earth. Religion is absolutely child abuse and nothing short of it. You should be able to believe whatever you want to believe, and if you don't find your beliefs there, you just add a portion of it, and just like Wikipedia, it becomes a part of your faith. Can you imagine now? Can you imagine what it would be like if we treated the Bible that way? If we didn't find what we liked or we didn't like what we found in the Bible, and we'd be able to add a piece to it and take away a little bit here and add another little bit and bring in a consultant here and add another piece to it. You know what? This would be absolutely useless, wouldn't it? I'm glad we don't have that. And I'm glad we haven't solicited the authors like those who contribute to Yoism uh as well. And these are just some of the authors that are found contributing pieces to the uh religion of Yoism. I'm I'm kind of glad we got something a little more serious and a little more uh a little more sound uh than these authors right here. That's only a few. Well, let's take a break. Rather than sing a silly song, let me just say this to you that there are all kinds of absolutes in the world. And I found this to be very interesting because a little while ago, NBC decided that they wanted to put veggie tails on television. And it's on a regular Saturday morning slot. They signed a contract with the two authors, Larry and Bob, the guys who do the voices of Larry and Bob. And they uh they they agreed to take veggie tales and put it on NBC, which is absolutely huge market. And this Saturday morning slot where all the cartoons are, uh, they were trying to draw from the audience of Christian kids and bring them over to Saturday morning television and let them uh you know be a part of the NBC thing. It was all a marketing ploy. Well, when uh when uh uh the two guys who are Larry and Bob, it's not the real names, but when those two guys signed a contract with NBC, they didn't realize that NBC was going to change the parameters of veggie tales when it got on the television. And this is what happened. This is what's ongoing now. When the show aired in 2006, the Veggie Tales episodes were edited to remove most of the references to God. Now, how do you do that with Veggie Tales, right? But they did it. And they did it to fit into a 22-minute slot because that's how long half hour programming is. And at the request of the NBC's Network Standards and Practice Department, the notable was a removal of the program signature sign-off message which says, Remember, kids, God made you special and he loves you very much. And despite this, Bob and Larry would always say goodbye at the end. And NBC's wish was to remain religiously neutral and said, Veggie Tales is religious, NBC is not. And I want to focus more on isn't a cool and Bob and Larry are on television. That's what the president of NBC said. And they said, We want to have veggie tales because we want to draw that audience that is not watching the carnal cartoons that are on TV on Saturday morning. So we want to put veggie tales and draw this Christian audience of kids in there, so we'll have a bigger audience on Saturday morning. But here's what we're going to do. Because we're sensitive about what kids hear, we're going to make sure we take away any reference to God. Now we leave all the uh lesbianism and all the gay stuff and all the violence and all the war things and all the all the other four-letter words that are in there, but my goodness, you can't corrupt children and have the three-letter word there. You can't have God on TV, so we're gonna take the audience and we're gonna take what they like, but we're gonna strip out everything that relates to God because we do not want to have ourselves identified with anything to do with God. Some of you folks have a TV and bring NBC in your house. I wouldn't. I'm just telling you that I just dropped that in. Sorry. I probably shouldn't have said that, but you know what? I did anyway. I will tell you this, say to God, that that is an absolute. That is their standard whereby, and it came out of the NBC Standards and Practices Department. They have a department that actually enforces the standard and they're unbending. No sense for Bob and Larry to go in and argue and say, we want to have Jonah and the big fish, we want to have it just like we made it in the beginning. Sorry, you signed a contract, and our absolute says, our guidelines and our department of standards and practices says we're not going to budge at all because that's the way we run our network. And the two fellows who own Veggie Tales, they were incensed that this actually happened, but they couldn't do anything about it because they'd already signed the contract. So there are all kinds of debates that rage in our world, all kinds of things that rage in our time. Here's another one. And I just throw it right in. I'm wading in this morning into all kinds of controversies here because I think it's important for us to understand you're confronted with such things as this as well. Now, we find that uh Bill Gates, who's a person who's put billions of dollars behind the whole vaccination program and done a lot of great work in Africa and different places where vaccines and medicines are not available, uh, he made this statement here because no matter what, uh, no matter what is done, and no matter what research proves, there are some people that will take the contrary side of that and say, no, vaccines are more dangerous than uh the the good that they supposedly do. Now, we we're faced with that because we have children and grandchildren, and I'm asked that question many times about vaccines, and I will say this that I would go back to what a prophet said and refer to the fact that he ref he regarded it as an answer to prayer. He referred to vaccines as an answer to prayer. Now, um, you may disagree with me on that, and I sense that there might be a little bit of disagreement here, but I will tell you this that if we told our children not to be vaccinated, and I was traveling over in third world countries and came in contact with people who had, say, polio or yellow fever or hooping cough or something, and came back from a trip and handle one of my kids or my grandkids and communicated that disease to them, it'd be a terrible thing, wouldn't it? In a scenario like that, it would be important for me to make sure that my faith is able to. Hold them against any diseases whatsoever. Would you want to take that risk? Anyway, I'll say this: that there are controversies that exist in our world. You ought to have an answer for things that happen like that. Here's another one. Brother Branham often referred to our Supreme Court as an absolute when it comes to the laws of the land. But there was an awful lot of people who rose up against John Edwards when he made the deciding vote about the law relating to the health care plan that the Obama administration had put through. Now, this may not be, this may not be really relevant this morning, but I'm going to just drop it in because I'm on a soapbox, and by the end of this, you're going to be shaking your heads anyway. And Sandra Day O'Connor, who was a chief justice, but resigned from the court to look after her ailing husband who had Alzheimer's disease and who died three years later, and we had the privilege of hearing Sandra Day O'Connor in Roanoke a couple of years ago, and it was just really fascinating to listen to her. She's very strong on the judiciary. And she was commenting on the people, and this is from the Los Angeles Times July 25th, a few days ago, she was commenting about the people who really don't know what they're talking about when they criticize Justice, Chief Justice John Roberts and his decision saying that it was perhaps political. That's why he sided with the outcome of the majority in the decision about Obamacare. And she said in the second paragraph here that judges were not beholden to the presidents who appoint them, but rather to the Constitution, and that's something that she promotes very strongly. Now, I will tell you something for you advocates out here who feel like there's a conspiracy going on. Many of many times people don't even realize what those decisions in the Supreme Court really really mean. And I will say to this to you, and I'm just going to drop it and run, that sometimes by giving a victory like this, and whether this was politically planned or not, I don't know, but I will just say this: that sometimes by giving the president in this case what looks like a victory could really become a defeat for him in the upcoming election. As opposed to giving him a defeat in this decision and letting him fight against that ruling and let it become a victory in the next election. And I'm not suggesting that this was a political decision at all, but I will tell you this: that if you come along and say, well, you know, uh, John Roberts was somehow bought off or influenced by President Obama and what he said and the discussions that he had prior to the outcome of the Supreme Court decision and so forth. I will tell you that you probably really don't know what you're talking about. Because Mr. Roberts really based things more on a decision by Thomas Jefferson much more than he did by President Obama. And I'll move on with that point. We can defend that later on, just any time. Just come on. 1953. Brother Bram said, now here's where you need to put on your seatbelt, all right? All of that was introduction here. Now remember now, we have to have an absolute right. It's not important what I say, it's not important what you think. And I'm not being disrespectful and I'm not being sarcastic at all. But folks, we're going to have more, we're going to have to have better arguments than just I really strongly believe this. And when people ask you, and I will say this, that in the broadening context of the message community. Because to me, saying that I'm in the message means less and less all the time. I'm telling you personally what I feel. It means less and less to me all the time when people say to me, Oh, I'm in the message. That's that's not really all that meaningful to me anymore. I would rather hear somebody say that I'm a part of the bride. Because to me, that is closer to where we are rather than the broad community that identifies with William Branham. There are people that believe that William Branham is God. And they're using the message to justify that, and I will tell you that they're wrong, and I'll also tell you they're governed by an evil spirit. Even to use message quotes. So it doesn't impress me to say that you're a part of the message at all. But in the broadening context of the community of people that follow the message of the hour, we need to have a little bit more of a definitive understanding about what we believe and why we believe it. So now let's go on and say this. And these are things that you can go back and ponder over again. And if any time, Brother Bram said it, anything I ever say or do that's unscriptural, you owe it to me to come to me about it. Because it has to be right here first. This is God's word. Now, from here on out is when you really need to listen to me this morning, folks. It has to be right here first. Because this is God's word. And if it isn't right here first, you're gonna run into trouble. I will assure you, Mitch, I got a little echo up here. If you could just turn that down just a shade. I will assure you that practically every false doctrine that has ever plagued this message. Has come from something that was not found here first. It was founded on a quotation or a statement or something that was said, and it was not based on God's Bible. And Brother Branham said, if you ever find that I say anything that is unscriptural, you owe it to me to come to me. Because it has to be right here first. And if everything we do or isn't found right here in God's word, now it might not be according to your theology, but if it's in God's word and God has promised it, it's alright. But it must be found in God's word, because that is the infallible truth. God's word is the infallible truth. You say, Well, uh, Brother Barry, I don't feel a need to be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. I was christened when I was young, and I feel like that's okay. Well, you might be very sincere in believing that, but that's not according to God's word. Right? It's just not. And so therefore, you're challenged now to make a decision about, well, what does God's word actually say? And you need to begin to act on that. And a real sheep will hear God's voice. Isn't that right? Paul said, if an angel from heaven would come and preach any other gospel, he said, then let him be accursed. He said, So we know, we know that this is the truth. Now, we find that uh we find that in many cases here, and if you don't mind, I'm just gonna skip over this for a moment here, and uh just for just for the cause of time here, and I want you to, I'll come back to that in a moment here. But I thought this was very interesting here. And Brother Branham makes this tells us story here in 1958. He's on a platform, a bunch of ministers there, and while I was there on the platform, you've got to watch now. He's giving us an example. So watch now. And while I was sitting there on the platform and just having prayer, I thought that a plane was coming over. And I looked around at Dr. Vale, and he thought the woman had reversed the air through the pipe organ or something. It sounded like a thundering coming somewhere. This is not in the service, this is pre-service. And he's just sitting there, and all of a sudden coming right down through the building like a wind. Only it wasn't a wind. It was a rumble like a wind, shook down and went out over the audience, and you see them turning white as it was, as it just waved over the audience like a repeat Pentecost, like a mighty rushing wind. But it wasn't a wind, it was just like an influence that went out like that. Anyone ever read that quote? I never saw that quote before this week. And Brother Bram sitting there now, he's reading his Bible, he's kind of sitting there and waiting for the service to start, and this all of a sudden happened. You know what would happen in most churches if that happened? Everybody right up and say, Oh, it's God, it's God, God. But you know what he did? Here's the example. Here's what he did. And I noticed the Bible said there came from heaven a sound as a rushing mighty wind, and I begin to check because I know the Holy Spirit never misbehaves himself. It's always right. So I begin to check it with the word. How many can say amen? I just want you to amen that because you understand what he's doing here. When something happens, it's not necessarily always of God. It's got to line up with the word, and what you got a responsibility to do is check it with the word. And here's a prophet who's probably able to identify what this is and has seen and heard that wind, that rushing wind come many times. But he says, I turned over in John 12, where a Lord was praying one time, and while he was praying around, some of his critics, well, the God of heaven spoke back to his son, and the people stood by and said it thundered. And some of them said an angel spoke, and Jesus said, It didn't come because of me, but it came because of you. So he's always scripturally every time. God is always scriptural every time. So if God does something or God tells you something, or you have a dream or a vision or something else, and God hasn't told you, and how do I know? Because it doesn't line up with God's word, then you know it's coming from another source. But a lot of people now fail to do that. Let me tell you, there have been personalities that have raised up around this so-called message community and came out and preached all kinds of things. And I heard some of myself in person and heard him say all kinds of things, and they were ministering to God's people, God's bride, and they were off the mark, and they said God sent them and God told them, and God gave me a dream, and God directed me to do this, and it's not according to God's word, and people and people follow them and run after them. And after a year or two, because if you're not sure, you can always lay it on the shelf and watch what happens. Because it is not just what somebody says, it's what manifests because of what they say. And you wait a little while and see what happens. Let me tell you if it's of God, God is obligated to bring you into the light of the hour. I said, if it's God, he's obligated. To bring you into the light of the hour. Because if you're the elect of the hour, my sheep know my voice. And I'll somehow communicate to them that that is my voice. But you'll know it is his voice if it lines up with his word. And if it doesn't line up with his word, you have every right to lay it on the shelf, even if I say it. You don't want to think that. Hear ye him, 1956. Matthew 17 is what Brother Bram is speaking about here, and the story goes on about. And he said, after all, he's the voice of authority. Capital H. After all, he's the voice of authority. Who would you believe the he is that he's referring to? But God, right? God's word. That's the voice of authority. It's not Google. It's not Joseph Bram. It's not me. It's not you. He's the voice of authority. God himself witnessed so at this time. Hear ye him. And there are so many voices in the world today. There's many things going on, many doctrines, many isms, but hear ye him. He's the voice of final authority. He's the one that'll speak, and he's the one that said, heavens and earth will pass away. So hear ye, but my word shall never fail. So hear ye him, he's the one to listen to. And how the enemy, every way he can, will try to take you away from that absolute. How the enemy will try. Listen, folks, let's be honest and admit that's why around the ranks of the message community, there is confusion about standards, and there are people wandering away from correct standards because people have all of a sudden seem to adopt the right to interpret Brother Bram's standards and say, Well, that doesn't really mean that, and that doesn't mean that, and I think he meant this, and that was for that day, uh and so forth. Or they're even stuck in taking a literal interpretation of Brother Bram's words back there, and uh, they have missed the moving of the Holy Spirit. And there are people that took Brother Bram's literal words and said, uh, you know, based on different statements that he said, like for instance, in Future Home, where Brother Bram's talking about the future home, he's teaching about the future home, and he said, There'll be no communion up there, and people have taken that and said, Well, we don't need to have communion, and they've taken a literal statement that Brother Branham made, or Brother Branham would say, and he's teaching, talking about, and this is the marriage supper, and this is the millennium. He says, now we're in the millennium in our teaching, now we're in the millennium. And people have gone around teaching that we're in the millennium. No, we're not in the millennium. It's not a lack of words, folks, it's a lack of the application of the word. And I'll tell you what, it's a lack of the interpretation of the word. And your job, my job is not to interpret God's word. I believe that's the job of the Holy Spirit. He quickens it and makes it real to us. How many can say amen? We know what we know, not by intellect, but by the quickening power of the Holy Spirit. That's how we know what we know. Right? But no wonder then, young people walk away and they don't know why they're whether they're born again or not. They don't know whether the message is right or not. They have people saying this, and another one's saying this, another one's saying over here. I say this, God is raised up an absolute. I believe those ancient words are still in effect today. I believe we ought to preach that and hold that standard because that's what holds us. That's what keeps us, that's our staying power is God's word and the preaching of it and the living of it. I believe that that's important. Now, Paul, let's let's sorry, again, I'm skipping here just for a moment here. I want to get to a couple of statements here. Brother Bram said in the message called a greater witness, and this message, quote, is cut off here. And if there's anything that you've ever paid attention to, to what I've said, you listen to what I'm telling you now. God's put gifts in the church in different ways. And these gifts and everything, how do we know it's a true gift? If it's a true gift of God, it'll point to that one thing. Anyone want to do the dot dot dot? What will a true gift in the church point to? Will it point to William Branham? Will appoint the voice of God? And I'm not picking on them, but I'm saying, will it point to me? Or will it point to you? No, sir. But there's a lot of people now that will add different things into the end of that sentence there. But if it's a true gift of God, and here it is, it'll point to one thing, and that's Jesus Christ. Now that's what Brother Bram said, and he's a prophet, right? He's a vindicated prophet. He's not just by my opinion, but God vindicated him over and over and did it around the world and did it in many different forms. Uh he's a vindicated prophet, and that's what he says that if you got a true gift and it is a gift from God, it'll point to one thing and one thing only, and that's Jesus Christ. It will not point to the messenger that identified Christ. It'll not point to Revelation 10 7, it'll point to Revelation 10 1. It'll give you an understanding of Revelation 10 7, but it'll point to Christ. Let me tell you something, Saints of God. No wonder people might say, Well, you're just following a man. If there are people out there saying that we're the only thing we're pointing to is Brother Branham. We are not pointing to Brother Branham. We are pointing to Christ. We see who he saw. We see who he pointed to. And I do not believe in the building, uh building the gospel of Jesus Christ around an individual. I believe I don't believe in building it around denomination. I believe in building it around Jesus Christ. And all individuals and all men are the same, and we're all looking to one redeemer. That's Jesus Christ, and that's what we want. How many can say amen? You're doing all right. Let's keep going. He said, now in the Palmer Worm and locust, he said, now this is a this is kindly cutting at home tonight. He says you might not like me, but brother, at the day of judgment, you'll see I've told you the truth and been one man that's been on us with you. And now that's just as unscriptural as it can be. Brother Branham's ministry was featured in the voice of healing. And he said, I got your paper. And I said it was not my paper. And he said that he laid it down. He said, Look at this. What do you think of this? And he said, I have nothing against the voice of healing. But the trouble with the voice of healing, and here's what I got away from it. And this is why Brother Bram departed from the Voice of Healing Magazine. Because it glorifies the man instead of Christ. And Christ is what we want to get the glory. This man's got a tent, and they outseat this one. And this one outseeds that one. And who are these men? We're nothing but six feet of dust by the mercies of God. If we got what we all deserve, we'd be in hell. It's Jesus Christ we're trying to exalt and point to. And now whether we get a half dozen or ten thousand, what difference does that make? If you're looking for numbers, the Catholic Church has done got a snowed under. It's not numbers because God doesn't dwell in multitudes. He dwells in sincere hearts. It's not a prophet or his ministry or his works at all. It is Jesus Christ. He's the one we lift up. He is the one we worship today. He's the one that saved us, saints of God. And that is our absolute. Again now. Just exactly what Jesus said when he came to the earth. He said that God had sent them prophets down through the age, and every time their systems would fall apart, their religious system, God would send them a prophet. And said, What did you do with him? And God sent the prophet and put him in a tomb. God sent a prophet and you put him in a tomb. And then about another generation, you wake up and realize that was a prophet. And then what did you do? You garnish the tomb. And what did you do but make a tradition of his life? Bear with me, folks. It is not appropriate for us to make a tradition of our prophet's life. Of any prophet's life. Alright, let's put it this way. Let's just imagine if Brother Branham could for a moment open up the porthole in heaven and reach out and shout down to us a little word of instruction. What would Brother Branham say at this particular point in time? What do you think he would say? Do you think he would say, hey guys, when you build the university, make sure you get a basketball team that is in the NCAA? Guys, when you do the statue of me, when you do the bronze statue of me in front of the complex, make sure you have me in the gray suit because that always made me look good. Do you think Brother Branham would be pushing us to make memorials to his life and to make complexes in relation to his life and open up schools in relation to him and call it William Branham Memorial? I say no. Brother Branham would be saying, Hey, you're at the end. This is a time just before the tribulation here. Look to Christ. I was a son of man revealing the Son of Man. I had a place, I had a royal, but I'm not there now. Don't make a tradition out of my life. Don't waste your money glorifying me. Don't put your energy into promoting me. Promote him. I find that's what Brother Branham telling me here in these statements here, giving us the caution. And when you do that, he said, you garnish the tombs. And that's the way we do. Martin Luther, John Wesley, and we're always looking back. And you make a tradition of their life and garnish the tombs of them. And their message was for another day. And by the time you wake up, that day's done. Live by we're in another day. Come on. Is what Jesus warned the people about exactly the same way. And he said to the scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites, because you build the tombs of the prophets and you garnish the sepulchres. That word garnish it means this to give honor to it and to embellish it and the gain honor. Oh, you know this great too. It's a story of Joan of Ark, repeated over and over. It's a story of Patrick of Ireland that's repeated over and over again. They're while they're on earth and they're giving them the light of the hour in the word of the hour. They're rejected by the religious systems, but after they die, they bring them up then and make a tradition of his life. And they've missed the word. And now they're in darkness because the word always brings light. And you know what? God's moved on. Could do you think that could repeat in our time? I just read right here. That's what Brother Braham said that that's the way we do. Who do you think he's talking about? Is he talking about the people who lived in Martin Luther's time or John Wesley's time? No. He is referring to them, but he's not not, he's not got them as an audience. You know who he's got as an audience? Us. And we've got to be very careful that we don't say, Well, I bought a replica of a satchel just like Brother Branham had, because that's what they sold on the website. And I bought a Bible just like his, all wrinkled up just like his. And I got a piece of his floorboards, and I got, oh man. You know what? I'm so glad somebody's making a tradition out of his life. I will tell you this. I would rather have the God. I'd rather have the love for God. I'd rather have the communion with God that Brother Branham had with God than a piece of the satchel that Brother Branham carried his Bible in. Because you know what? There's no rapturing faith in a satchel. There's no rapturing faith in someone else's Bible. Hello? Folks, that's you know what that is? That's human infatuation. That's people who are who are glorifying something that's happened in the past, and we're easily able to look back and see what God did. But I'll tell you what, God has moved forward. I hope you don't mind me saying that. But I believe that God has moved forward. Now I'm gonna watch my time here. Gehazi and Elijah, Elijah, were involved in this story. You remember when the Shunammite woman who made a little house for Elijah and their property? Remember that story? And Elisha said, Let's do something for that woman. They said, Well, he doesn't have a son. Gehazi said, they don't have a son. And he prayed, and God gave the woman a child. And then the boy dropped dead in the field. You remember that? And this woman, she takes the little boy, lays it on the prophet's bed, and she makes a beeline for that prophet because she knows God's not an Indian giver. And she says, I'm gonna go find that prophet to find out what's going on here, because this is not God's way to give something and then rip it away like that. And his servant ran to meet her, and she said, All is well. And the baby did. Her husband frantic and said, All is well. Why? She knew God was in his servant, the prophet. She knew God was in him. She knew he wasn't God, but she knew that God spoke through him. Right? Is that okay? She knew she could hear from God, and she wanted to know why that her baby was taken. And she runs up close, and Elijah looks at her again and says, Her heart is full of gloom, and God has hid it from me. You mean prophets don't know everything? You mean everything that a prophet says is not, thus saith the Lord? Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. Everything he says is not thus, saith the Lord. I said, everything that a prophet says is not thus, saith the Lord. You know there's a wonderful thing. Brother Braham said, you know there's a wonderful thing. He stops. He said, God don't tell his prophets everything. He just tells them what he wants them to know, not everything. They can't do nothing in themselves, just what God, sorry, just what God shows them, that's what they do. Can you imagine Isaac setting blind and blessing Jacob instead of Esau? You realize that happened? Right? Here's Jacob, or sorry, here's Isaac, and he's blessing Jacob, thinking it's Esau. Could you imagine Jacob holding Joseph's coat for 40 years bloody and thinking that an animal killed Joseph and him being a prophet? Proves that God just reveals to his prophet that what he wants them to know, and nothing else. Are you okay now if I read the next line? Prophets are not infallible people. Prophets are not angels, they are men. You alright? Everybody alright? Well, you say it right away. You say right away. Well, Brother Barry, you're quoting out of the seals and the opening of the season we're going to the book of Revelation and everything else and going back and looking at things that Brother Bram said. How do we know then that what Brother Bram said was not just himself? I'll tell you how we know is how we always know, and that is we bring it back to the Word of God. And Brother Braham said, if I ever tell you anything unscriptural, he said, You bring your Bible and come and talk to me here. And if it's not scriptural, you have a right to lay it aside. But if it lines up with the word of God and it fits together and completes the picture, then you know what Brother Bram said? It's God appearing to you. Oh, Saints of God. I wish I had another hour. I told my wife this morning before I left the hotel, I wish I had another hour. And I'm saying it again. Now watch what he said. Alright? We're talking about standing in defense of the truth. And you need to know, you need to know your Bible, and you need to know things that have happened and things that have been said well enough to be able to deal with some of the controversies and things, questions that are being raised. Here's one of them. Did you prophesy, Brother Branham, that there'd be a million Negroes killed, or did you just announce that there would be this happening? Referring to Martin Luther King and the uprising in the 50s and 60s there and all the riot race riots that were happening down in the south. And he said, Now I've always asked you to be careful what you're listening to. There's so much of it that is just the human side. But always, if there's something that goes forth, it will speak it. It's thus saith the Lord, even the visions or anything. Stop. Do you believe that people who have had visions in times past that were not scriptural? Do you know? Hey, how about Joseph Smith? Head of a Mormon church. He believes he had a vision. The angel he saw even looked like the one that Brother Branham saw. You know that? If you've read anything about Joseph Smith's life, it was very similar to that and came and had tablets and gave it to Joseph Smith and so forth. It wasn't scriptural because they had to write the Book of Mormon because the Book of Mormon and the Bible don't go together. So they had to add a Book of Mormon. So when a Mormon comes to your door, you can tell him, give him my phone number. But if they come to your door, they'll have two books. One is the Bible and one is the Book of Mormon because the two don't go together. Well, you know right off the bat something's wrong. Because if it's of God, it's going to be found in the Word. And you remember they came to Brother Bram and said, Well, Brother Bram, you could write Revelation chapter 23 over that. And he said, No. He said, Because we're always commanded never to add to or take away from the Word of God. Now watch what he says now. He says, the visions on the platform in the audience. He says, You are doing that yourself. It isn't God, it's you. In other words, those people are praying and they're pulling on that gift. Like the woman touches garment. He didn't know who she was or what was wrong with her. But she did that herself. It was her faith that operated that gift. And Jesus turns around even and says, Who touched me? And Brother Bram said, Here's the people out here in the audience that are doing the same thing. And he says, by their faith and their need and their desperation, they're touching God. And Brother Bram says, now it's given to me. He says, and this is what your condition is and so forth. He says, you're the people that are doing that. Now, he said, that, speaking of Martin Luther King, that wasn't thus saith the Lord. It was thus saith the Lord when Jesus spoke back and told her, the woman who touched his garment, that her faith had saved her. But you have to watch. Now I was just, I was talking about Martin Luther King and this great disaster that they're having in the south with the colored people. And I said, if those people were slaves, I'd take my church and go south to help them people out of slavery. I sure would, because men make slaves, not God. And we're all of one blood, and we all come from one tree. And that was from Adam. And God by one blood made all nations and whatever all colors black, brown, and so forth, whatever they might be. We're all creatures of the Almighty. And there shouldn't be any difference in us. It's inspired of the wrong thing. The whole thing down there. The race rights. It's inspired of the wrong thing. You see, them people. And that's the reason I say that. Not that there's any prophecy concerning it. You understand? If there's no prophecy concerning it, I have nothing on it from the Lord. And you, and be you sure now, if I say anything from the Lord like that to tell you, it's always, I'm speaking now, but when he speaks, I say, it's not me, it's thus saith the Lord. And I can't say it until he tells me. I would be all. Altogether wrong in my thought about Martin Luther King, I don't know. I can say that's just my opinion. You know what he's got? He's got no prophecy on it. He's got no Bible on it. This is Brother Branham looking at that situation. It's inspired of the wrong thing. And he's correct in that. What the outcome is now, he doesn't have a word from the Lord to say how it's actually going to end up right here. But he says, that's just my opinion right here. What's he telling us? Even in his own statements, he's telling us the way to verify and be sure about what's right. You got to bring it back to the word of God. Folks, don't get weak on me now. Don't get hungry on me now. We will have lunch, all right? We will have it. We'll have lunch. We'll have supper after tonight after service here. So stay with me here. Don't get weak on me now. Here's Brother Branham letting us know that if God says something, it's going to be solidly backed up in his word. But he said, I'm telling you here about this. I don't know how this is going to come out down here. He said this thing is wrong. It's of the wrong spirit. It's wrongly motivated and everything else. I don't, he says, that's my opinion. I don't know how it's going to come out. It was a terrible thing back in this 50s and 60s there. It's a horrible thing what happened back there. And he said, if that was slavery, I'd take my uh, like Abraham Lincoln, I'd take my church down there, and we'd march against all of that and let them men go free. He said, because that's not right. But if God ever says anything, it's going to be lined up in his word, it's going to be verifiable by his word, and you don't ever have to worry. You alright with that? There's at least 15 or 20 people sitting here this morning. Was guilty of thinking that I was Jesus Christ. He said, How could they do that? I was right on to them until I found out that God told me that was a spirit. And all the men believe me, every word. And I said, How do you believe me then? How do you believe me then if I tell you? And then we got the we got to the word, and they begin to see and say, Well, we sure didn't believe you, or we'd have listened to what you said, and they actually thought they were right, sincerely. They thought they were right. It's what he says now. And one of those spirits gets on you, that's got it. You'll absolutely believe it. And I don't care. There's nobody can tell you any different. Anyone ever trying to argue with somebody who's got a spirit on them, a spirit of unbelief or a spirit of dissension, spirit of criticism, or whatever else, false doctrine. No matter how much the word says so, well, you just don't believe it anyway. Just go on. If you want to be that way, go ahead and I'll have and I'll have my own way. See, that shows you're anointed with the wrong spirit. You understand? Even in the ranks of the message, there are people that will take certain things there. But do you think the devil leaves us alone because we're in the message? Do you think he backs off because he's oh, they got they got the books and the tapes and they got it under MP3 players, so I really can't do anything for it. No. Here it is, creeping right in among them. And he said, a wrong spirit attached to that. Let me tell you, folks, I would say this to you this morning. I think that's why Peter says, I'm always reminding you, even though you know it, of the present truth. I'm always reminding you of this because you gotta make sure that you're not following cunningly devised fables, and you're not following stories, you're not following personalities around this message, and you're not following uh, you know what certain people say. Well, I knew Brother Branham and I rode on the horse with him, or I was in the cart with him, or I was up there when he was, you know, seeing the angels or whatever else. Hey, it's gotta go deeper than that, saints of God. It's gotta be a revelation between you and the God that he introduced to us. The Christ that he saw and the Holy Spirit that came that quickens that word makes it alive and helps you realize there are all kinds of people on the internet saying, Well, Brother Bram said a million people were gonna die, but they're afraid to take this right here. When a prophet is being that transparent and saying, if God says it to you, he's gonna be a prophecy or a word from the scripture there that backs it up. But he says, for me, I don't know. Is it all right? Is it alright? If a prophet says, I don't know. Is it all right? A lot of times we hide behind this infallible thing where Brother Bram says it's gotta be true. And here's Brother Bram saying himself in the pulpit in response to a question, he says, I don't know. He says, I can't say. You need to know how to answer those questions. We need to realize that God doesn't show his prophets everything, doesn't tell them everything. And God doesn't allow that prophet to say everything to us. He tells us, God tells us what we need to know. And many times God will move right on. Can't find it on Google, can't find it, you know, on the internet, can't find it anywhere else. Hey, it doesn't mean that it's false. It means that some way or another, if God says it, it's gonna come back to God's word somehow. And you know what? God is faithful. To his word. He's not faithful to all the inquirers out there, but God is faithful to his word. How many can say amen? One last statement here that I'll give you. One last statement here. Brother Bram says, in the unveiling of God. He said, Now, Moses, you understand the people understand now. I have showed you and I've vindicated you. God has veiled himself in his prophet to speak his word to the people. And Moses was a living God to them, the living word of God made manifest. God uses veils. How many can say amen? God will step into a veil and God will speak to the people. I thank God he stepped into a veil in this hour. I thank God he stepped into a vessel and used a microphone to speak to us in this hour. But you know what? Prophets are not infallible. Prophets are not angels, prophets are just men. But God can take a vessel like that, a special vessel, and lay them aside and train him from the very youth in his life and say, Don't smoke or drink and define your body because I got to work for you. God never said that to me, but he said it to him because God wanted to stand up in that prophet and say things to you and I that still reverberate all the way down. I'm glad we got something that's more solid than Yoism. I'm glad we got something that's more solid than word of mouth. I'm glad that we got something as solid as the rock of ages, Christ's word, and that's what we stand on, saints of God. That is our absolute. Be established in it, be firm in it, be ready to be challenged on it. Be ready to have some answers for the hope that lies within you. I'll tell you what, I'm glad we have a father who loves us so much. Aren't you glad for that? Oh, tell you what. It's just a blessing to know him. It's just a blessing to serve him. It's a blessing to be a part of the body of Christ. Aren't you glad? Hey, Paul says, you know, some people refer to the way I worship as a way of heresy. It isn't just the people in the end time now that run into this problem. Paul says, here it is. He said, you know, people refer to this what we are a part of. Paul's talking to the New Testament church. They think we're a bunch of heretics. We think we're a bunch of people following a cult and following a man, Jesus, and so forth. Paul didn't quit because they said that. Paul went teaching right on. Taking the old testament and bringing it out here and taking the old testament, bring it out here, taking the old testament, bringing it out. And he says, They call us heretics, you know what? But he kept on going because that was his commission. That's what God told him to do. You know what God told you to do in this last day? God told you to believe. God commissioned all of us to be believers in the last day. God called you to believe despite all of it. And we believe because God's word says so. Glory to God. Aren't you glad? Oh, I'll tell you what, He's good to us, isn't he? He's so good to us. And he never me. No matter where I go. He knows my name. He knows my thought. He sees each fall. And he hears me when I call. His own before. I go. He knows my name. Yes, he does. He knows I ever thought he sees each tear that falls, and he hears me when I call. We've been made more than conquerors. Overcomers in this life. We've been made to us. Through the blood of Jesus Christ. Sing it now. We can be for them. All us just worship him this morning now. Let's lift our hands and your voices to him today. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Thank you for your word, Lord. Thank you for that wonderful standard we have. Glory to God. Thank you, Jesus. Through the blood of Christ. Sing it again now. Oh we men. Overcomers in this life. Yes, we've been made victorious. Through the blood of Jesus Christ. Think about his love. Think about his goodness. So think about his grace that draws us for heaven. So great is the measure of our Father. Think about his goodness. Oh think about his grace that's brought us through as high as the heavens above. Thank you. So great is the measure of our fathers. Most of you got the update that I sent out where we were praying for a little Jackie Widlock, who had a fusing of her cranial area. And uh the doctor had told her that they were gonna have to separate that and had to go through surgery on her skull and so forth. And uh the woodlocks put out a request for prayer all over the place, and we prayed here, and they went to that finally they went to a neurosurgeon a couple of weeks later, and a neurosurgeon said, he said, She's as normal as normal can be. He said, And they asked him, he said, Well, what do we need to do? He said, Absolutely nothing. You need to do absolutely nothing. They're gonna come here in a week, and we're gonna meet her. Now do you mind if I tell what happened here? Rebecca playing with her toys, got her hands on little magnet, and she swallowed it. And uh that Magda, when they took her to the doctor and did an X-ray that magnets in her stomach, and the doctor said we're not gonna go after her because it's you know it's only so big, and we normally leave those things alone. And uh after so many days now, four or five days, it's still right where it was. So they have An appointment tomorrow to go see a specialist and I'm gonna check her out and see what's inside there. She's not worried at all. Kind of excited, actually. So I told Brother Andy and Sister Jenna, I said, you know, God's still in the business of answering prayer. And I said, that that little that little Whitlock girl, I said, that's just one example, but there's many examples of how God ministers to the hearts and the needs of people because he's still the same yesterday, today, and forever. I said, So if you feel inspired, I said, you come on. I said, we'll pray. And I said, Well, we'll we'll just anoint her with oil and with this prayer cloth. The reason I take this prayer cloth and Peter go get it is because we find this in Scripture. Find it in the book of Acts, where they took cloths from the Apostle Paul and they laid it on people, and diseases were healed, and spirits were exercised and so forth. So we believe that same thing today because it's scripture. We have no doubt at all. So now what I want you to do now is I want you to join together as if this was your girl. If this was your daughter or your granddaughter, and I want you to pray with us now as we anoint her with oil, because that's what the Bible says to do, and we really can do no other. This is the highest authority we can approach. Do you believe this morning? I want you to be believing this morning, and let's just pray together that God will take this matter under his control. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we come to you this morning. Perhaps, Lord, in a similar fashion when people had needs among them within their children, and they probably brought them to you and just wanted you to touch them and wanted you to say a prayer and wanted you, Lord, to minister to their needs. And you did that. Many times you took the children up in your hands and you blessed them and you prayed for them. Father, we are here today, and we're no different than the people that lived on the earth when you were here. Matter of fact, we're still very much the same as we believe you're with us, Lord, just without the human body part. We believe you're still right here among us. You said you'd never leave us nor forsake us. This little girl today now, she's got a complication here that we can't solve. We really can't do anything about it. But Lord, you made this little human body, and you gave it as a gift to these parents. And Satan would try to come and just disrupt this family and try to bring worry and fear into the situation. But we're standing here today with our faith joined together, and in the name of Jesus Christ. We anoint her with oil. We take this prayer cloth, and we pray that your Holy Spirit would move on the scene now and bring complete healing to this little girl. We believe, Lord, that you are the great physician. You are the doctor of all doctors. You're the one who cares about all we go through. And I pray now, in Jesus Christ's name, that this problem, Lord, it would be taken care of completely. Before even, Lord, it'd be our prayer, before even that doctor took a look or did any kind of procedure. We just prayed that it would take care of itself. Father, we commit her, Brother Andy and Sister Jen, naturally, Lord, as parents, they feel this kind of a thing, Lord, like nobody else. But Lord, you said that you would be touched by the feeling of our infirmities. And if we called upon you like a high priest, you would become our advocate. You'd become our counselor in our peace. You'd become our intercessor, Lord. And I pray now, in Jesus Christ's name, and nothing would hinder the healing of this little girl. I commit her to you, and I commit this situation to you. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. And amen. God bless you. God bless you, Rebecca. Hallelujah. You believe he's the same? I'm glad he's the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. I am a God. That healer. I said my word. Heal your Lord. Sing it again. I am God that he left thee. I am the Lord. I send my word. Lord Jesus, we bow in your presence this morning again and ask your blessing, Lord, upon this people. Knowing, Lord Jesus, that in a world that's tossed to and fro, without stability, Lord, with religions where they're taking away and adding to even your word. You gave us something more sure, Lord, like a pillar that is founded on good foundations. And Lord, you gave us something that is not just not just the words or the thoughts of a man. But Lord, you have given us the consolation of the revealing of your own word. I pray, dear God, that you would cement that in every heart, Lord Jesus. God, we would not in any way, Lord, be influenced. That we would be led by anything other than your Holy Spirit. And then, Lord Jesus, you would just give us a greater understanding and a greater insight. Open our eyes, Lord, I pray. And may your light, may your truth, may that be our guide to your tabernacle. Heavenly Father, we place the people now into your hands. In this atmosphere, Lord, we know you're speaking to many hearts, touching many lives, and I commit the people now into your hands. Bless your people abundantly, I pray. Amen. Thank you, Jesus. You send your word and you heal my disease. That healeth me. You are the Lord. You sent your and you heal my disease. We're going to let you go this morning. If you would like to stay and you want to have prayer, you want to just linger in his presence, you're certainly welcome to do that. We just are going to just trust that the Lord will minister to every heart. Five o'clock. Jesus, draw me close as you go this morning.