Perseverance

Let us bow our heads just a moment. Our heavenly Father, we are happy today to be alive and be here, with the opportunity once again to preach the gospel, the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ. And we pray that as we present Him to the people today in the form of the written Word, may the Holy Spirit quicken the Word to all of us, that we might prepare ourselves for his coming. We ask it in his name. Amen. You may be seated.

There's just something special about Chicago. Every time when I come to Chicago it just seems good to me. From the very first time that I ever was here to minister, I always ... seemed like there's just something special that draws me to Chicago. And I come so much till I guess you get tired looking at me. But you're such a great city and so many here—about five million people, I suppose, or something close to that—that maybe.... I'd like to get around to all of them, see if they're all like these that comes to the meetings. If they are, it's a wonderful place to be. For your presence always creates such a wonderful atmosphere of Christian faith and fellowship. It's always a privilege to be here.

Our first time coming was on the invitation of our little brother, Joseph Boze. And now since, the Christian Businessmen has this wonderful chapter here, and I have been invited many times by them, and by this fine ministerial group of the full gospel people throughout Chicago. So I deem this a grand privilege to be here today and to see Brother Sonnmore. And we met them last evening after the services, and asked them if they were coming down, and they wasn't too sure. But I see the Holy Spirit must have led them here anyhow. We were grateful.

Last night when we were talking, my son and I were sitting together having.... I hadn't eaten yesterday, and so I was having a little sandwich last night. And we were talking what great persons that Brother and Sister Sonnmore were, and why we deemed it such a privilege to have fellowship and to know them. And here he is down here at Chicago with us today. The Lord bless you.

I guess your sweetheart came too. I know you feel that way about her—she's still your sweetheart. And that's the way we ... I know we, all of us Christians, feel that way about our wives. And they're still our sweethearts. I hope it never changes in my family, and it never changes in your family, that we always feel that way about our wives. After all, they stand side by side with us to help us fight these battles, and we need them. Although I've said many scorching things to them, but it wasn't in such a way to make them feel bad; it was such a way to keep them in line with the gospel.

And, see, that's Satan's tool, where he works the hardest. That was his first instrument. He's never changed. He stays right there to.... And he's ... we just have to pray for our sisters constantly. Of course, they pray for us too. And together with one unit we can march forward like an undefeated army, with our great chief captain Christ Jesus and his Word going before us, making a way for us.

Now ... and to be here with Brother Carlson, who is.... I just couldn't speak words for how much I appreciate Brother Carlson. Many times that I've been.... He's seen me to a place where I'd be beaten down, and stand with me. And still he proves out to be a real brother. I appreciate Brother Carlson. I appreciate all of you. The Lord bless you good.

Now, I know you're going to have service at your church after awhile. And I appreciate your pastors, who's nice to say that there's going to be service here. And I see two of them sitting on the platform, perhaps ... I suppose—and many of them out in the meeting, out here in the congregation. We're very grateful. Want you to remember that tomorrow night is this missionary rally, as I call it, for our Brother Joseph. And we're going to be right here. I guess they've already announced it, the places and so forth.

And thank you for your prayers. A few days ago when I come almost not being with you any longer here on earth, when a gun exploded in my hand, down to the shooting range.... Someone had given me a gun that wasn't.... It had been a re-bored gun, and it wasn't the type of shell that really should've been shot in it, only the factory said that it was perfectly safe—which if it'd been bored right, it would have been.

But there was a head space made the shell blow back in my face instead of go out the barrel. And about six tons of pressure hit me right in the face, and ... which disintegrated the gun, and blowed the barrel out on the fifty yard range. And the bolt went one way, and the gun melted in my hand. And here I stand this afternoon still living. Thanks be to God. Amen.

They wanted to examine my eyes to see.... There was so much shrapnel over my face, looked like they took a piece of hamburger, a handful of it, and just placed it over my face. There's only one little spot, or two, right there (the frown that you could see), that's left. Just in a few days it was all ... in about three days it was all cleared up.

There's a specialist doctor.... They run me over to have a look, and see if any of it went in the side of my eye. And he shook his head, and wrote back and said, “The only thing that I know, that the good Lord of heaven must have been sitting there with his servant, 'cause the man that found him should not have found nothing but just the lower part of his body. Anything would burst a gun at that pressure, one inch from my eye, should have blowed head and shoulders both off.”

So, see, God's still good. Satan tries to kill us, but he cannot take us until He says “Ready.” That's right. That's right. He just can't take us. And so we're thankful for that.

And I'm grateful to God that He gives me the opportunity to still remain here on earth to bring the same message to his people that I did—amazing grace, how sweet the sound. Someday expect to spend eternity with you. And many of the groups when they heard about it.... We didn't say nothing, just kind of kept quiet. But, phones ringing, people calling in, prayer groups gathered everywhere around, making groups, and saying, “Well, we don't know whether He hear us or not, but we're sure praying.” That's the kind He hears (that's right)—them humble little groups. And I'm grateful to you.

And last evening before we left the convention grounds Brother Carlson had the whole group to stand and said ... and pray for me that ... for God to help me. And that just does me so much good, because I depend on those prayers. And I'm knowing, though, that one day, if Jesus tarries, I'll have to go. And then I want the partings ... leave behind me footprints by the gospel—the gospel, the power of God by his Word. I want to sow seeds, that when the rain does fall (the Holy Spirit), that'll bring up to life the kind of seed that I've sown—Bible seed—that'll bring a Bible church, that'll bring a Bible-believing Christian that'll believe, bring a Bible Holy Spirit into action because the Word was written by the Holy Spirit. And when He comes He picks up his own Word. And I just like to stay with that. He can do things that's not wrote in here, but I just hope that I can live long enough to see Him perform everything He's promised in here. That'll just be fine for me.

Now, it's so good to be here, and looking forward for tomorrow night. I would like to call your attention to just a little text here I would like to use for about thirty or forty minutes, the Lord willing. And Brother ... had said that ... announced praying for the sick, and I forgot to tell him to give out prayer cards. But God will surely make a way for us some way. We'll keep the line straight or something or another, until we get them prayed for. All right. So we're sorry, but just didn't think.

Now let's turn to St. Mark's gospel, if you will. I've got a few scriptures here written out, and if you would ... got your pencil and would like to mark them as I refer to them this afternoon, we'd be very happy. St. Mark, we want to begin with the 7th verse, or the 7th chapter, and begin with the 24th verse. St. Mark 7:24.

My right eye, where the fifteen pieces of shrapnel went just below my eye.... And that shrapnel was so powerful till it tore the bark off the trees, nearly thirty yards away from me. And fine shrapnel blowed into my eye. And the doctor said, “I never seen anything....”

The big shrapnel stuck in my skull and around my cheekbone like that, and went around my eye. One piece flew through here, and knocked the top of that tooth off. And fifteen pieces went just below the sight and made a half-moon circle below the sight—never touched the sight—and went plumb back in the eye and bedded. One piece would have hit it, this eye would've been gone. And so, it's ... the drawing of the eye makes it a teeny bit weak, but it'll be all right. It'll be fine and dandy after awhile. I praise the Lord for it.

Even the physician himself said, “I don't understand it.” But said, “When that gets....” See, that's just happened a little over two weeks ago, so it's still a little weak. But he said it would be all right, and I'm sure that's the Lord's sanction. It'll be all right.

Now let's begin with the third ... the 24th verse of the 7th chapter:

And from thence he arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered into a house ... but he could not be hid.

For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet:

And the woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would come and cast forth the devil out of her daughter.

But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs.

And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.

And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter.

And when she was come to her house, she found the devil gone out, and her daughter lay upon the bed.

If I would want to title this for a text, I would call it “Perseverance.” And may the Lord add his blessings to the reading of his Word.

Perseverance: According to Webster's dictionary, I was just looking, it means to be persistent, to ... in making a goal. You must be fully persuaded and be persistent. Then you're perseverant. And it's a good word, I like it. I'm very fond of that fine word: perseverance. And I think that's the attitude that all Christians should be in at all times. Be perseverant.

And men through all ages that has faith in what they are trying to achieve, has always been perseverant. All down through the history of time, men that's ever done anything has been men trying to achieve something. And they have to have faith in what they are trying to achieve, and when they do, then they are perseverant.

I was thinking a few moments ago, sitting in the motel room and saying, “Lord, what should I say this afternoon to thy children? for I hold the purchase of your blood for forty-five minutes or an hour maybe, this afternoon. The elect, the children of God in this ... that's sojourning here in this great city, and its round abouts—pilgrims and strangers to this world.... No place here that they could really call home. But their home is beyond, and they're pilgrims. And I cannot just lightly enter in to say something to these people that might offend them. And I must say something that would help them.”

I don't come to the church just to be seen or heard. I come to try to help that people, try to do something for them, that they might leave the church not saying, “Well, I sat there this afternoon in vain. I learned nothing. I had no visit of the Spirit.” Therefore, I like to stay in the Word—because the Spirit travels with the Word—and read his Word, and talk of his Word.

Then I got to thinking on perseverance. And I thought, “Yes, many men is perseverant.” Before you can be perseverant, you have to have faith in what you're trying to achieve. You've got to first have faith before you can be perseverant. So faith and perseverance works hand in hand together. They are brothers. You must believe, or you'll have no ... you'll have no confidence. You won't know whether you're right or wrong. But when you have reached that place that you have faith in what you're trying to do, then you can be perseverant.

I was thinking: at the beginning of the history of our nation, when a handful of soldiers on a cold winter day, and the odds all against them, them was American soldiers. When I read the history of our nation it makes me cry in my heart. But their leader was a Christian. The Delaware was froze over, ice gorges in it. And I understand about half of the American soldiers didn't even have shoes on their feet. With stuff wrapped around their feet, them was American soldiers. And the obstacle was great, the odds was against them.

But yet, after all night prayer until he was wet up to his hips in snow where he had knelt and prayed, their great leader become perseverant, for he had assurance from God that he could cross that Delaware anyhow. He was perseverant, although three bullet holes was placed through his clothes. He had heard from God. And no matter what the odds was, he was still.... He could be perseverant because he heard from God and believed that the God that was leading him to a victory for this great nation was with him. So therefore, the Delaware froze over meant nothing to him. No matter how much ice there was, or what the obstacles was, still he could be perseverant, because he felt he had God on his side.

How great that is, when we can hear from God and be rest assured that we're right in his fellowship. Then there's nothing too great. There's nothing great enough that can stop that person. Men that's ever amounted to anything, at any time, through any age, has been men who believed in God and had faith in God, and stood against the enemy on every side, and was perseverant because they believed in God. I believe every Christian, therefore, should be very perseverant.

I'm thinking back in the beginning, as we can think of the great prophet Noah. He came from the family of Seth—righteousness, which was in humility. If you ever trace the genealogies of these lineages we find out that Ham's children ... or not Ham, I mean Cain's children, all become smart, educated, scientists, great business figures of the world. But Seth's children were humble servants of the earth. They were sheepherders, and they were farmers, and men of humble character.

And let's think of Noah, just a common farmer out in the field with his crude tools, trying to make a living for his children. And he was not an architect by no means—just a good man, God's blessings upon him. Every day when he'd come into the house he'd gather his family around when he come in for his noontime meal, and they'd perhaps all kneel down and pray to God.

One day when he was out there in the field, probably all disturbed.... And his soul was vexed because sin was great upon the earth, because the sins of the people had come up before God in such a way that it even grieved Him that He'd ever created a man.

So it must have been something like the modern times—great, high-towering buildings, great things. You know, they did things back there in science that we can't do today. They built pyramids and sphinx, and many things that they did that we could not reproduce today. They had a dye in that they could put a coloring in anything that stayed permanently, still to this day. After thousands of years we don't have it. They had an art of embalming that we don't have today. Many things they were further advanced than we are today. What a smart world!

And then their churches must have been greater than our churches today. But in all of it, they become a bunch of corruption, because the world was completely covered with people multiplying upon the earth. And then violence set in. You people here in Chicago has a harder time living your Christian faith than the man would out on the prairie, somewhere in the western plains, where he doesn't see the things, and the corruption, and violence that you have to look at each day. Therefore, it takes great grace and power to keep you from the things of the world.

He has one little church sitting out somewhere, him and his family drive for many miles to go to, on a Sunday morning. He probably doesn't see anybody else until the circuit-rider comes by, when they meet again. Here every day you're meeting with conflict on every hand, and the devil trying to persuade you this way and that way. It's a battle every hour of your life.... [Someone says, “It's a good one, though. Hallelujah!] 'Cause we've got a great victory (amen), and a great victor.

Now, Noah one day while out on the plains, perhaps digging around, fixing his crop, God came down and began to speak to him. And He said to Noah, maybe something like this, “I can see your heart, and I know the sins of this world vex you. Therefore.... They're all great cultured people, and they've gotten completely away from me, and they're smart, highly educated, polished men. But I want you, for the saving of your household and all that will come in, go over and start preparing a great boat, because I'm going to send rain down and destroy the whole world.”

Now, there had never been any rain before, and so science would have said to him, “Where's the rain coming from?”, and so forth. But after Noah had caught the voice of God and seen God's program.... There's ... great thing that so many miss seeing, is God's program. Now there's nothing running out of line. It's just exactly right, just exactly on time. He's never behind. The coming of the Lord will be just perfect. The church will be just exactly in order when He comes. I love that.

One day.... In Matthew 11:6 we read a little sermon. I might have preached it around here one time, on the forgotten beatitude, when John the Baptist, in prison, sent over to see if Jesus really was that One. And John was a great man, and he paid Jesus a very poor compliment, but Jesus told him, “Just stay....” 'Cause John was worried. His ministry had been saying, “There's coming one whose fan is in his hand. He'll thoroughly purge his floors. He'll take the wheat to the garner, and He'll burn the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Oh, my, what a Messiah coming!

But when He come on the scene, it was different—a little humble man with no cooperation from any of the sects around there. And they.... The sect was different, and they ... his preaching was different, and He was pushed around from place to place, and running here and running there. So that seemed kind of strange. Couldn't understand it. “Why? Why? Surely I preached it, and they ought to all believed it. And here when He comes, my, looks like I'm let down.”

Jesus didn't tell them, “Now I'm going to give you a book on how to behave yourself in prison. I want you to give it to John.” He said, “Just stay till the service is over. Just wait till the afternoon service is finished.” And when.... There was ... the lame walked, the blind seen, great miracles was taking place. He said, “Go show John these things. Tell him I'm right on time—there's nothing wrong. I'm right exactly on time.”

And that's the way God is today. He's just exactly on time. All of our stewing and worrying will do nothing. Just be perseverant with the Word of God, and move on. God's right on time ... be perfectly, just exactly, like all things. The sun, the moon, and every thing that's God's has to work on time.

Now, Noah, after he heard this, though not being a scholar, though perhaps laughed at.... As the Bible said, they were mockers, made fun of him. He knew all that laid ahead of him in a great scientific world. He was sure that nobody was going to believe him, hardly. But for 120 years he was perseverant.

And as he put up the ark, laid the timbers in it, and poured the pitch into it and fixed it up, the people laughed and made fun of him; but he stood right in the door and preached the coming judgments of God. Didn't stop him a bit. Why? He had faith in what he had heard. “For faith cometh by hearing, hearing the Word of God.”

So no matter what goes on, as long as you're staying with the Word of God, be perseverant, no matter what sickness you got, and what the doctor said. The good man is probably doing all he knows, but he's in a scientific world. We're in a spiritual world, where we are risen with Christ. New life, passed from death unto life, we are a new creature in Christ.

So Noah was very perseverant with his message. He was fearless! No matter what any of them said—they might have called him anything—that didn't stop it a bit. He had faith in the word of God that was said to him, went right on building the ark. No matter how scientifically they could prove that his message was wrong, contrary, God's able to bring rain in the skies, if his Word said so.

How could God heal a man dying with cancer when the doctor give him up? or the woman? How could He make the cripple walk? and so forth. How can He do it when there's nothing in the medical realms that can touch it? But that's that world. That's the other world, like it was in Noah's time. They made fun of the world that Noah lived in. But Noah went right on with his message. No matter how much scientific they could prove it wasn't there, to Noah it was there because God said so.

That's the way it is with the true believer today. No matter how much they say, “That's not the Holy Spirit; it's psychology. It's some kind of an illusion, it's a telepathy”—whatever it is, that don't stop God's people a bit. They know God made the promise that this day would be here, so they are perseverant and press on with the message.

Jesus said, “As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of man.” See, perseverant. He could be, because he knowed what he was going to achieve. And he knowed what God had promised, and he knew that God laid it in his hands. And he didn't have to take “no” or “yes,” or whatever anybody else said. He wasn't looking to what they said; he was looking to what God said. And so, no matter what the rest of them said....

Maybe the religious of that day surely disagreed with him. They surely did, because none of them was saved. Every one of them perished. But Noah had the word of the Lord. And it didn't make any difference what they said, he was perseverant. They might have called him crazy, holy roller, and some of those names that they give the believers today. That didn't stop him one bit, because he had a deaf ear to that. He had one achievement: build that ark! Anybody wanting to come in, they had a welcome to come in, but it was God's business to bring them in. He just preached the Word. That's all we got to do today—stay with the Word and be perseverant.

Moses, another man that was perseverant. He had all the training he could get in Egypt, a military man, a great man. And in his military strength, or in his own strength of his own knowledge, he went out to deliver Israel because he knew it was time for it to happen. But he imagined in his heart that the people were trained enough to understand that the hour was there and he was the person that had come to help them. But they didn't. So you see the wheels didn't click together. Something was wrong.

And when God can speak in a meeting, and if the wheels ain't together, it won't do you no good! You've got to line yourself with his promise. You've got to line your way of thinking. Not what somebody else said, or somebody over here said, or some organization said, or some doctor said—you've got to line yourself with God's promise! Then you hear his voice speaking, say, “It's you!” Then you're perseverant, brother. Nothing's going to stop it then. It's true. Anything can happen, but it'll never take you.

You can be perseverant, because.... We can't die; we're already dead. We have the earnest of our salvation right now because we're risen with Him, raised with Him, and sitting in heavenly places right now with the assurance.

I was speaking the other night, said, “As Israel....” They didn't know where they were going. They just had a promised land. But before they got to this promised land a great warrior named Joshua (which means “Jehovah saviour”) went over into the promised land and brought back the evidence that the land was there, just the way God promised it. They had the evidence with them. Then he could be perseverant! That's the reason he hushed Israel in their argument. They said, “We can't take it. Oh, we must go back. We must do this....”

He said, “We're more than able to take it!” Why? He was looking at what God said. And he had the evidence.

When Jesus come on the scene, He promised us a land. “In my Father's house are many mansions.” And there's life beyond death. And He crossed Jordan—what we call Jordan, death. He crossed over into the other land and brought back the evidence. On the third day He rose again. He eat, drank, and He said, “Feel me, I'm not a spirit; I'm flesh and bones.” And He said, “I'm going to give you a earnest of this, but wait up there for ten days.”

They got perseverant after that, too, because they had the power, the evidence of the resurrection in them. That's the reason they loved not their lives unto death, because they could be perseverant, they had the evidence. They had achieved something through Jesus Christ's death.

Does He mean that to you this afternoon? Can you be perseverant in saying, “I believe it. No matter what happens, it's still mine because I'm risen with Him already in resurrection. I look back, and see the life that I once lived I don't live no more.” What's the matter? That shows you died with Him and you're risen with Him. And you have the earnest, the first payment, on your eternal resurrection.

Yes, Moses failed. But one day.... You know, Moses had never heard the voice of God. He'd just been told by his mama and the teachers of that day, such-and-such was coming, God was going to send a deliverer. His mother said, “Son, I believe you're that person.” Moses didn't know for sure. He couldn't understand. Therefore, the first little mistake come up, the first little flaw, the little threat, he ran to the wilderness.

But one day, while he was herding sheep, he found the burning bush. And from that burning bush came a voice, and it said, “Surely, I'll be with you.” He was perseverant. Why? He had faith! “I'll be with you.”

“I'm a man of slow speech.”

He said, “Who makes man deaf, or dumb, or to speak?

“Uh, they won't believe me.”

“I'll be with you.”

Then he was perseverant.

When he went in there before Pharaoh and he seen some of them people trying to.... (Im...? I'm doing something wrong here, I guess. I walk too much. Thank you. Sorry, brother. I guess I deafen you, too. If you'd run that down a little bit, I ... it'd be better, perhaps.)

Down there in Egypt, Moses come into conflict. And so.... A man has to know what he's talking about if you're going to be perseverant. So he run into conflict. He run into some impersonators that was trying to do the same thing he did. And they did it, in a measure. But that didn't stop him. He was perseverant. Because he seen mockers of the right thing.... He just continued right on, because that he knew that God sent him. And what the outcome is, that's up to God.

When Israel cried, he was perseverant. “We're pressing on.” When they wanted to go back, he said, “We're pressing on!” He was perseverant. Yes, he was persistent. Persistent—my, what that means to us today. Men of all ages who's got faith in God is persistent.

Look at David. Little David, no doubt raised in a lovely, believing home. His father, Jesse, a great man of God, no doubt gathered all those boys around at night and had family prayer before they went to bed. Probably read the scrolls, and talked about great Jehovah that had opened up the Red Sea; and a great prophet, Moses, had brought them out, following the pillar of fire—all these things. That created faith. “Faith cometh by hearing, hearing of the word of God.” Little David got to thinking of that.

Oh, of course, he was kind of the smallest one of the family, so they put him out to watch a few sheep, and he was responsible for those sheep. And one day a lion come in and got one. And he thought, “Now, what am I going to say to my father about this sheep being missing?” And he happened to remember that “My father read from the scrolls, and told me that God was a great God to deliver his people. And He would bless Israel, and He was with Israel. And I'm one of them. And all that's circumcised and in that covenant, God's blessing is upon them. And I'm one of them. I'm circumcised, and God's blessing's upon me. I have a right. One of my father's sheep's gone, so I'm going after that sheep.”

And he grabbed up his little slingshot, and went and brought that sheep back by killing the lion. Why? He was perseverant. What was God doing? Training him. A bear come in and got one. He went and got the sheep from the bear.

One day when he took his brothers up something to eat, when the armies were one across the ditch from the other—a little valley where a little brook run between them.... And there was a big Goliath out there, boasting. Perhaps David looked at him, come by and looked around awhile. He looked up to see who the biggest one was, and the largest man, in the army. And it was Saul, the leader—head and shoulders above all.

“Well, why don't he go out there?” he thought, walked on. I imagine he was thinking, “God, my Father, I know if You care that much for one of them lambs out there, how much do You care for the people that's called by your name? Now they're in conflict. They're all afraid.” And he got very perseverant. He took right out after Goliath with that same slingshot and won the victory. Why? He believed in what he was trying to achieve. His achievement was right. It was in the will of God, in the word of God, in the plan of God.

And if you can find out what your place is in the plan of God, even though you be sick, and nearly dead.... You say, “I'm a Christian. How could that be in the plan of God?” It might be in God's plan to heal you and give you a testimony that will shake souls to the kingdom of God. Certainly. He lets those things happen. Maybe you had your ups and downs and the enemy scorching you from side to side. It might have been that way. That's all in the plan of God. Look at Job, when he was afflicted, sores all over him. It was all in the plan of God. But Job, too, was perseverant because he knowed that he was keeping God's word. Nothing was going to bother him.

I could think today of Samson. He was perseverant, too. He was perseverant as long as he could see that the promise of God was with him. Every time that the Philistines would make a brag, or get him into the corner.... Probably little bitty old skinny arms, and a little sissy-like fellow with seven little locks of hair hanging down, that they all called sissy, and.... But he'd feel around to see if them locks was all right. He just let the lions roar, let the Philistines lock him up, do anything they wanted to. He'd take the whole city gates and pack them up to the top of the hill. Why? He was perseverant! Why? He seen and felt and knowed that the promise of God hung upon him. Amen.

What ought you Pentecostal people to do when you see the Holy Spirit moving among us? You see Him performing signs and wonders, taking sinners and making them saints, taking the sick and healing them, making the blind to see, the deaf to hear—and even raising up the dead, doing all kinds of signs and wonders! And then we sit back like a bunch of whipped pups. What we ought to be is perseverant. Stand up there and take God.... Feel his Spirit sweep over our souls in the power of his resurrection!

And then back up on his Word, say, “Would you pray for me again?” Pray for me again? God made the promise and Jesus died—once! That settles it. That's all of it. Then be perseverant. Yes, sir. Be like real soldiers. Oh, how great He is.

As long as Samson knowed that his gift was with him, he could feel those seven locks, he could face any Philistine. Why, he took the jawbone of a mule and beat down a thousand Philistines. Could you imagine that? Now that's one for the scientists today, science. An old jawbone. Did you ever see a bone after it gets ... lays on the ... bleached out like that? Why, it's as rotten as it can be. Just hit it and it'll fly to pieces. And them helmets is somewhat a inch and a half thick, over the top of their heads with a big coat of mail over the top of them, which is probably another inch—great big fellows, big spears in their hand. And here this little bitty curly-headed shrimp stood out there with a jawbone, and beat them skulls right in, and killed a thousand of them single-handed! Why, he didn't scare. Why? He felt, he seen them locks was still hanging there. He was very perseverant.

As long as a Christian can know that he's living above sin, that the Holy Spirit is blessing him and standing with him ... be perseverant and press towards the mark of the high calling. Christians should be that way, very persistent in their claims to God. Stay with it.

I spoke a few moments ago about John the Baptist. I'd like to say something else before leaving that. You know, John was kind of an odd child. We don't have too much history about his life. We know his father was a priest out of a school of learning, Zechariah. His mother was Elizabeth, just a common housewife. They were old, and God appeared to him one day by the angel Gabriel and give him a promise of the child. And that must have been kind of sad to the old couple's hearts, because they knowed that that boy was going to be God's leader. He was going to be the man of the hour. They knowed that he'd go through all kinds of trials and tribulations, and people against him, and everything, 'cause they're always that way. If they're not, there's something wrong with the time. That's right.

So then, we find out that it must have been kind of heartbreaking to the old couple, knowing that they was going to have to die and leave this boy, before they seen this son of theirs come into his full anointing, to be the fore ... the leader, or rather, the forerunner of the coming Messiah. They believed that, and they perhaps told him that. Now when John was yet in his youth, his father and mother died.

And it was strange. This young man that God had called, isn't it very strange that he didn't go over to the same order of religion that his father belonged to? Correctly, it was a custom of that day, that the people.... The priesthood had to come from Levi, of course. So he had.... The Levis were priests, and they went to their temple and learned all the orders.

But you know, John didn't do that. We're told that John went out into the wilderness. He didn't want to get mixed up in their traditions. He had an important job. And men had it all twisted up. So he ... if he was going to be positive, he had to be the one to introduce the Messiah. And he had to be sure of who it was.

So, perhaps if he had went to the clergy and said, “I'm Zacharias' son....”

“Come in and register and pay your tuition [They sold the home up there.], and we'll train you around here, and you can serve tables,” and so forth. Oh, my! Went to his seminary and got all indocumated, and all educated up, and so forth like that.

They'd have said, “Now, if you're to introduce the Messiah, what about our grand high priest today? Don't you think he's a lovely man? Look how he can stand, and how he can bow. Don't you think that looks like a Messiah? Perhaps that's him.”

Oh, the other priest would have said, “Oh, no, no, no. You're wrong. It wouldn't be an old man like that. It would be this young man here, this young evangelist, just setting the country a-fire. You know that that would've been him. Why, look. Why, he can quote all of our creeds and so forth. He knows all the traditions of the elders better than anybody else. And he's such a great man. Even the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Herodians, and all of them cooperate with him. He's got the greatest ministry in the field today. That's the guy, John.”

John didn't want to get mixed up with such nonsense as that. He had an important job. What'd he do? He stayed there until he heard from God! God said, “I'll tell you who he is. You just go on out there. But who you see the Spirit coming down on, that's the one. That'll be the sign of the Messiah. You just go ahead and preach. And you preach repentance, and baptize them unto repentance, and tell them that I'm a-coming. But don't let them bring you somebody and say, 'Ordain him now and make him the chief bishop, or make him the Messiah, or whatever it is.' You wait until you see this sign. When you see this sign, then that's the one. You tell Israel that's the one. You say, 'That's Him,' when you see the sign that I tell you to see.”

O God, help us today. Not “A million more in '44,” and all these other kind of foolishness we get—blood, fire, smoke, and vapor, all kinds of things. Stay with the Word! All kinds of sensations, the devil can impersonate every one of them. Stay with the Word.

John waited. He'd baptize a few and he'd look all around. He'd baptize a few more. Priest would say, “Who is this you're talking about?”

He said, “There's one standing here somewhere.” That's what he said. “There's one standing in your midst now. You don't know Him; neither do I. But He'll be the one that'll baptize with the Holy Ghost and fire. I'm only baptizing with water.”

“Who is he? Say, I'll tell you, our brother, he just got his PhD the other day. That's him! Dress him up, put his robe on, his high priest hat, or whatever it is. Send him down there, let him show his credentials. He's got fine fellowship with everybody. Come down here. Is this him, John?”

“That's not him!” Amen.

Like old Samuel, another prophet before him, getting one out of David's sons—out of Jesse's sons, pardon me. Trying to find David.... Brought that little bitty, stooped-shouldered, ruddy-looking fellow, and he said, “That's him, that's him.”

So they got ... perhaps maybe brought all their theologians around, said, “Is this him? Is this him?”

John said, “No, none of them. God's refused them all. I don't know who He is. But He told me what I would find.”

“Well, looky here, what's wrong with this fellow?”

“I don't know. But I've got a certain sign that I've got to find.”

One day come walking down a little man with no reputation, only a black dirty name behind Him—born a illegitimate child, so the people thought. Yes, come walking down there with a man named Lazarus. John looked up (he was persistent all right), he said, “There He is, that's Him!”

“How do you know?”

“He that told me to go baptize with water, said, 'Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending upon and remaining on, he's the one that will baptize with the Holy Ghost and fire.'”

He watched for that sign of the Messiah. He was persistent. “How do you know it's Him?”

“I know it's Him!”

“Why? Now tell me. Find this ... and go to this ... school of learning. Where do you get this?”

“God told me so.” He heard the voice of God and he knowed that it was Him.

This poor Greek woman (We'll have to hurry and get to her right quick), talk about her a few minutes. I imagine she had some difficults too. The first place, we find out that she heard of Him. That's the first thing to do. You have to hear of Him. She heard of Him. She heard of what? His fame, who He was. No doubt some good person had scattered the news. And she had a child that was sick, and nothing could do it any good. It was possessed with, perhaps, epilepsy. It had a spirit that would ... probably going to kill her, be on her all of her life. She heard of others being healed.

Now maybe somebody'd said, “Now wait a minute. But first, you can't go to that group. He's a Jew. He belongs to another organization. You can't ... He's from another group. You can't go to Him.”

You know, somehow faith finds a source that others don't know nothing about. No matter how much they try to say, “Don't go,” they go anyhow, see, 'cause faith finds its source. Others don't see it. That's right. Now she knowed his Word. And the Bible said in Hebrews, the 4th chapter and the 12th verse, that “the Word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword, cutting even to the ... asunder of the soul, and a discerner of the thoughts of the heart.” That's what the Word of God does. It discerns even the thoughts that's in your heart.

Listen! Faith is the hand that can wield that sword. No other hand can do it—no ecclesiastical hand, no organizational hand, no group hands, no national hand. It takes the hand of faith to do it! It depends on how strong that hand is. You might cut enough away from you to see that you're free from sin. And if it's strong enough, you can cut into healing. You can cut into anything that God promises. It's all out there. As He told Joshua, “Everywhere the soles of your foot steps, that's possession.” It depends on how strong that hand of faith is that wields that sword of God's Word.

Oh, it's true. She had many hindrances, but her faith didn't have any hindrance. You might have some. I have plenty of them, lot of hindrances. But about your faith, that's the thing. If you can't be persistent, if you're going to let everything hinder you.... Now physically, you might feel bad. Physically you might not feel well. And otherwise, you might not feel like going to church. You might not feel like doing anything. But your faith don't have no hindrance. It moves on anyhow.

Maybe your pastor prayed for you, anointed you with oil. That's what he's supposed to do. And you go back and say, “Pastor, I don't feel any better.” Oh, my. You're not ... you oughtn't to have come up in the first place, see. See, you're going by your feelings. But your faith, if you've got faith....

Well, you'll say, “I'll just wait till Brother Roberts comes by, Brother Branham, or some of them others.”

Oh, my! That's not it. It's your faith in the Word of God! God said, “Call the elders and let them anoint you with oil and pray over you. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick.”

If you've got faith in God and faith in the prayer, then go on anyhow. There's nothing going to stop it, see. Why? You've got faith. You believe it. Faith don't have any hindrances.

Oh, but the woman had plenty of hindrances, and you have plenty of physical hindrances, and spiritual hindrances. But if your faith believes in God, there's no hindrances to your faith.

Somebody might have said, “Now wait a minute. Now you're a Greek going to a Jew.”

“You're a Baptist going to a Pentecostal.” You know, all of these things.

Some of them might have been saying, “Now just a minute, dear. You know good and well that the days of miracles is past. There's no such a thing as that. That's only emotion. Haven't we had that all down through the ages?

“We've heard that bunch of Jews that claim to believe in some supernatural God. Our God down there in the temple can do just as much for you—more than what he could do. There's nothing to that.

“You don't see our people all carried away with such illusions as that. We go down to our idol and we bow down to it, and we pay our tribute to it, and all this. And we go back and we live peaceful lives. We're not always tore up like that bunch of holy rollers. Always stewing, this, that, and the other, you know. That's just another one....”

But you see.... Another might have come up and said, “Now wait a minute. Do you know your husband's a businessman in this city? And your own son might have been a priest to the great goddess down there, the Grecian goddess. Do you know, it would be terrible. Your husband will turn you right away from home. Why, you shouldn't go down there. That's horrible.”

And others might stand and say, “You go down there with such a thing as that, you'll be the laughing stock of our nation. Everybody will just ha-ha and laugh at you,” the little woman standing listening to all that, you know.

You know ... and others might have walked up. The priest of her goddess might have walked up and said, “Now just a minute. You go down there and you take your membership from this church.”

Oh, she had plenty of hindrances, no doubt. But you know, that didn't stop her. She held on! All of them might have been right, but still there was something inside of her. She believed that she was on the right path. She believed that if He was God at all, He was God of every nation. If He was God at all, He was God of the whole creation. And if He could heal a Jew, He could heal a Gentile. So what difference did it make whether she was Jew or Gentile? She was going to get in the presence of God. Oh, my! That nailed it down.

Now. She fights through all of that.... Now look what she had to come through, and many other things. If I had time I could go through it, you know—but just say them things. And she had to fight against all that. Then she gets to Him, and now He's hid Himself in a room.

Now, the guard at the door said, “Nope, nobody coming in. He's in there, but He's tired, don't bother Him.”

Maybe Simon sat there with his disciples. “But now, if you get to Him, you'll have to pass over me.”

Another, here stood Andrew behind him, another behind him. Oh, my. But somehow ... I don't know how she done it, but she got to Him, you see.

And then when she got to Him, she explained her case, what she had in mind. Her daughter was sick. And now look at the disappointment. Even the very one she come to, the one she knew to be God.... And she ... He said, “I'm not sent to your race.” Whew! What a mark that was!

“I'm sent to the children of God, and you're nothing but a bunch of dogs.” Why, wouldn't that have blowed the Pentecostals sky-high! Oh, my. Hmmm. Oh! “I'm sent to a race of people who has believed in Me. I'm sent to the Jews—the children. And I've got to feed them, not you bunch of dogs.”—calling her a dog, said He wasn't sent to her.

But you know faith. She still held on. She was persistent, perseverant. Why? She had faith. She knowed that that was God! And she knowed that if He could heal a Jew.... He created a Gentile, the same as He created a Jew. There was somewhere she could touch Him. Oh, brother, I like that. Just keep punching. Amen.

Knock. Now the right translation to that is not “he that knocks”; it's “knocketh.” He that asks ... just not say, “Lord ...” or he that knocketh, just walk away. No, you just keep standing there knocking: “Lord, I'm wanting in! Open up to me!” That's it, that's it. Like the widow and the unjust judge, see. Just keep knocking constantly.

She was determined! Faith caught something, and she was persistent with it. She knowed that she had to get there, 'cause maybe one of her neighbors had the same kind of a situation—some Jewish woman that she knowed had a daughter the same way and was healed.

She had to get there, that's all there was to it. She must get there, she was persistent, no matter if He turned her down. All right, that's true.

Said, “You bunch of dogs are not even worthy of food. I've got to feed the children over here.”

She said, “That's true, Lord.”

See? What? Faith.... This is a scorcher, and I hope you get it. Faith always recognizes the Word to be true. That's right. Faith always sanctions the Word with a “Amen.” No matter what anything else is, the Word's always right. No matter if they say the days of miracles is past, and the Bible says “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever,” faith says, “That's the truth.” That's right. If they say the Holy Ghost is just for a group back there, 120 on the day of Pentecost, and the Bible said ... Peter said on Pentecost, “The promise is unto you, and to your children, and them that is far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call,” faith holds to that. Nobody can take it away from you. You got it!

“Oh, I don't know if.... Nobody ever did receive it.”

God promised it, and here I am after it.

“That's for another day.”

It's for me too, because something in me tells me that He just loves as much today as He ever did. He's the same God. Then you can be persistent and stay right there, knocking, seeking, holding on until the Holy Ghost comes down upon you. Amen! Now I feel religious. Yes, sir. Amen. I know that's true. I've tested it. I know it's the truth.

All right. Her faith held on. My! Oh, I love that. “Yes,” she said, “That's true, Lord. I'm a dog. I'm a Gentile. I'm not worthy of any of these blessings. They actually belong to the Jews. You come to your own. I believe every bit of that.” But still, still down in her heart, she wasn't hurt. She didn't feel bad about it; she was recognizing the truth!

Now, if God'd come tell you in some of the cold formal conditions that you'll perish in your sins if you continue that way, well, you'd blow up. My, my, my! You wouldn't listen to it. You'd say, “That's a false prophet.” Yet the Word tells you that's the truth. But you won't listen to the Word. Oh, brother, I like it.

Well, she wasn't a hotbed plant. She wasn't a ... had to be sprayed, a hybrid like some of the crop that this generation has produced, had to be babied around. No. Have to take this.... Oh, she'd take it any way He'd give it. That's all. She was there for it. She wanted it. Not, “Lord, now You quit talking like that to me, and You come over to my house.” That wasn't ... He just ... He just wanted to hear.... She just want Him to say so. That's all. That's all she wanted to hear, just Him to say so.

She didn't have to be sprayed over and babied and petted and, “Oh, now, dear, you should come. You know, if you'll come tonight, I'll go with you sometime somewhere else.” Oh, mercy. “Oh, I tell you what, I'll have our pastor to get you a front seat, and I'll get a special interview with him after.” Oh, my. Babied ... such stuff as that. That's hybrid stuff.

“All the Father has given me will come to me,” said Jesus. And, “No man can come except my Father draws him.” Weigh that up in your scales one time, see where you are. Yes, sir. You find out it'll flash. Amen. Yes, sir. Put the Geiger on that and find out what happens. That's right. It'll flash. Why? It's the real genuine Word of God. Jesus said, “No man can come to me, except my Father draws him. And all the Father has given me will come.”

You don't have to baby and pet them, and promise they're going to have a fleet of Cadillacs if they'll receive the Holy Ghost. And they're going to ... business is going to prosper, and they're going to have bigger churches and higher steeples, and better educated preachers and.... Oh, nonsense! Get away from it! Faith that holds the Word of God yields the power of God! Right. And you're persistent.

“Why, I ain't got no fleet of Cadillacs yet, and I been over here with you all a year. All I got was a lot of persecution.” Oh, you hybrid donkey. Don't even know what papa and mama is. That's the way it is though. My, my. Yeah.

Oh, she admitted to the truth. “I'm not worthy of it, Lord.” That's right. But she said. What? “I'm here just for the crumbs. That's true, the children eat. You're right, Lord. Your Words are true, every one of them, and I'm not worthy to sit at that table with the children. Certainly not. But, Lord, let me call something to your attention. The dogs are willing to eat the crumbs that fall from the children's table.” Hallelujah! That got Him.

How different it is today. How different it is with we people who call ourselves Pentecostals. If we don't get the whole loaf, and it's smeared with butter, we don't want it. No, sir, not have nothing to do with it. Oh, my. Whole hog or none at all, you know how they say it.

Brother! She was after the crumbs. She said, “Lord, You're the ... that's the truth. What You said is the truth.” Faith always recognizes the truth. But she said, “I'm here just for the crumbs, if I could just only find some crumbs. I'm a dog, but the dogs are privileged to eat the crumbs.” Oh, brother.

Now remember, she was a Gentile. She'd never seen a miracle. No, sir, she'd never seen a miracle—she was a Gentile. But she didn't have to be shown. He didn't have to come, say, “Now look here, I want to show you something. I want you to watch. See that.... Watch here. I'm going to pray a minute. Watch the blood run down on my hands.” He could've done that. Sure He could.

He could've said, “Wait a minute. Let me show you one of my miracles. Bring me a little water. You know, Moses the prophet, that I'm the ... I'm succeeding him. But I tell you, he turned the sea into water down there, to blood. You believe that?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, get me a pan of water here and I'll show you I can do the same thing.”

Oh, that would've been nonsense. She didn't want to see that.

She was like Rahab the harlot, when the spies went over to spy out the land, and Rahab saw them. That was her first opportunity she had. She didn't say, “Say, bring Joshua over here and let me see him. Let me size him up. Is he a great big handsome fellow? Does he have curly hair? Well, you know, I might believe him to be the leader of God's band.”

She didn't want to see Joshua. She didn't want to see any of his miracles. She said, “I heard [amen] That God's with you, and I want to go with you, too!” Amen. She was persistent. “I don't care what the rest of my people do, how well they're dug in, how much they're fortified. God's give you this place, and I want to go with you.” Amen. She was persistent. Yes, sir. Like Rahab.

That's the way this Gentile woman was. She was persistent. She said, “The dogs can eat the crumbs.”

Jesus said, “For this saying....” Oh, my! What? She had approached the gift of God in the right way.

And if you approach the Holy Ghost, the gift of God, in the right way, you'll not only get crumbs, you'll get a plateful—if you'll just approach it in the right way. There's only one way to approach it: that's not take your letter from one church to another; that's not run from one denomination to another; that's not for, see ... repeating what's called the creed, or the apostles creed. It's not the apostle's creed.

And, if you'll repeat the right apostle's creed, it'll be all right. Acts tells you how to do it. Peter said, on the day of Pentecost, said “Repent!” There you are. “Repent, every one of you and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” That's the creed. That's the way to do it. Yes, sir.

She had it then. She had it right. She was approaching the gift in the correct way. And if you'll approach it in the same way, “Repent and be baptized,” then you're sure to get the Holy Ghost 'cause God promised it (exactly right), with an authoritative word.

You say, “Well, St. Christopher So-and-so said so-and-so, and great ... Dwight Moody, great men....” I don't say they wasn't, but they're unauthoritative! If they are.... There's only one authority, and that's this Bible.

Say, “Why, the Wesleyan church does this way, and they sprinkle instead of baptize,” and all these other things that they got all mixed up. Say, “Well, they were great people.”

I don't care. I believe they were, too. I believe they were great people, too. But they're ... they haven't got the authoritative right to do that. For the Bible said, “Whosoever shall take one word away from this, or add anything to it, the same of his part will be taken from the book of life.” This is the Word! This is the truth!

But, “I know, but you see, we're schooled, and our pastors have done so-and-so. They've got this education, and they study the Bible, and they've studied all history. And they claim that the days of miracles is past.”

But God said it isn't! Jesus said, “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works....”

Someone said, “Oh, sure. We do greater works because we've got a greater organization than He had. We got greater—we're all the way around the world.” Wait a minute. Before you do that, do the works He did first and then you can do the greater. He said you do his works first, and then go greater. You can take the translation of that from the original. It doesn't say greater; it said more. The same works and more all the way around the world, and then you got it right. Yeah. There it is, unauthoritative word.

Someone asked me the other day, said, “Well, Brother Branham, don't you believe in purgatory?”

I said, “Sure, I believe in purgatory.”

Said, “Well, fine.” Said, “That's good.” Said, “You know....”

I said, “But I don't believe that after you die some priest will pray you out of it, or some preacher.” I said, “I believe in purgatory, sure, purging your soul. But we do that now. When we do something wrong let's get down and have a purgatory, say, 'God, cleanse me. Take the thing out of me. Purge me, wash me, make me new.' I believe in purging my soul. Yes, sir. I do that daily. I'm in purgatory daily then, see—so, just purging my soul every day before God.”

“Well,” he said, “St. Andrew, and St. So-and-so, and St. Francis and all these others, they....”

I said, “That may be all right.”

“And you know St. So-and-so, St. Cecelia....”

I said, “That may be all right, too. I don't say that.” Well, you say.... I say, “That's the reason you got six hundred different books to go from. You don't know where you're standing. But that's unauthoritative word!” I told them I didn't believe in intercession of saints.

“But St. So-and-So said....”

But I said, “Peter said, 'There's no other mediator between God and man but that man Christ Jesus.' He had the authority! Those apostles had the authority!” Arguing about baptism.... I said, “What do they say about it? See what they said. The others is unauthoritative word. This is the Word.”

When you got God's Word ... if our ... if we've got God's Word and know that it's the truth, we can be so persistent, brother. Move right on in because God said so. That's the reason I have always depended on that. I don't go on myself; I go when He tells me. I stay right with his Word. I don't go right or left, I stay right with it. And that's the reason He blesses it. Stay with it!

No matter how the devil tries to throw everything in front of you, say, “You'll be put out of your church ... you'll do this....” Stay with it! God promised it! It's his Word! Amen. Stay with it. It's authoritative Word, God's authoritative Word. That's right. He did say to that church, “Whosoever's sins you can remit, is remitted; whosoever's sin you retain.” But what kind of church was it? Wish we could preach on that a while some time. All right, we won't now.

“For this saying (the crumbs), oh, you can go find your child now.” Now He never went to pray for it. He just said it, and that's all she wanted to know.

I can imagine her saying, “Thank you, my Lord. Blessed be your holy name.” ... go right back.

All them critics standing on the street, “Hey, what did you get?”

“My daughter's healed.”

“How do you know? She was having a fit when I left up there.”

“That don't make a bit of difference. I got it!”

“Why?”

“He said so.” Amen, amen.

She met the pastor of her ... goddess down there, and he said, “Why, you know what? I've got your letter wrote out.”

“I'll save you the trouble. Don't even bring it to me. Just throw it in the fire anyhow.”

“Why?”

“I'm on my road! I've got my request! My daughter's healed!” Amen. Remember, she was the first Gentile that a miracle was ever performed on by Jesus Christ. Yeah. Faith admits the Word is right.

Now we've got to hurry 'cause it's going to get late, and we don't want to stay here too long. Oh, it's just getting good now. Amen.

Martha in the presence of Jesus, with a dead brother. She'd read the Word, how the Shunammite woman went to Elisha. That was God's word. You believe that? You believe Elijah was his word? The Bible said, “The word of the Lord came to the prophet.” That was God's word. So as soon as she got to the word, she found comfort, that's right.

And Martha, she knowed that Jesus was that Word. And she got to the Word to find comfort. She was persistent. Maybe when she went down the street, someone said, “Uh-huh, now he's slipped back in town since your brother died, that one that you believed in.” But she was persistent. She walked right on down.

When she got to Him she never upbraided Him. She said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother had not died. But even now [oh, brother], even now, whatever you ask God, God will give it to you.” That's persistent, brother.

He said, “Oh, sure. Your brother will rise again.”

She said, “Yes, Lord, I believe that. He was a good boy. He'll rise in the general resurrection the last day.”

Jesus said, “But I am the resurrection and life.” Amen. “He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” He seen she was persistent.

Like Elisha saw the Shunammite woman. She said, “As your soul never dies and I'm not going to leave you, I'm going to stay here till I find out what the will of God is.”

Oh, brother, if you'll just take Bible and sit down and see if your creed's right, if you'll just see if the Holy Ghost is right, just read through the Bible. And be persistent, and hold on to that promise when you get it. You believe in healing, hold on to that promise. Be persistent. Be a real Christian. Yes, sir. Sure. Be persistent.

When Peter had been taught of his father.... I'm going to leave my regular run of scripture here. I'm just going to say something again 'cause it's getting late. When Peter had heard of his father, Simon.... No doubt him and Andrew out on the ship there many times with his father.... The old gray-headed man was dying. Said, “Son, I've always believed I'd live to see the Messiah. But there'll be a big grumble about it, you know, just like there always is when God does something. There'll be this, that, the other. But I'm going to tell you, don't you take any other evidence but our scriptural evidence. For the Bible said that the Lord our God would raise up a prophet unto us liken unto Moses, and that prophet we should hear. And we know what that Messiah is going to be.”

And when Peter walked up there, kind of a little doubting, 'cause Andrew had to go get him.... And so, when he went and got him, said, “Come ... come over here tonight and listen to Him a few minutes.”

And when Peter walked up into his presence He said, “Your name is Simon; and you're the son of Jonas.” Talk about persistent. He was so persistent that Jesus said, “You're a rock.” Yes, sir. “You're really going to stay in the path. I'll give you the keys to the kingdom: and whatever you bind on earth will be bound; what you loose in heaven will be loosed. Whatever you loose or bind in heaven and earth, I'll do it in heaven as you do it on earth.” Persistent. I'll say he was persistent. Yes, sir. He had perseverance. Yes, sir. All right.

Philip was standing there and he saw that. He was very perseverant—so much that he crowded in one of his denominational friends, and said ... persuaded him to come see for himself. Very persistent, sure.

The woman at the well—she was out there, and ill-famed, in a bad condition. And one day when Jesus come up to the well and saw her standing there, and asked for a drink, she scolded him. Said, “Why, you're a Jew, and you ask me such a thing as that?” Said, “Well, you know good and well you, a young Jewish man, ain't got no business asking me, a Samaritan woman, such a thing as that. We don't have any dealings with one another. Don't you know there's segregation? Where you from anyhow? Don't ask me such a thing as that.”

He looked her in her face and said, “But if you knew who you were speaking with, you'd ask me for a drink.”

Oh, persistent. He knowed where He was standing, too, didn't He? The Father had sent Him up there, you know. He had need to go by Samaria when He come to Sychar. And then when He stood there, and we see Him standing there, very persistent. He didn't take her insult. And she looked at Him, and He begin that....

She said, “Why, we worship in this mountain, and you say in Jerusalem.” And the conversation went on.

And He said, “Go get your husband.”

She said, “Well, I don't have any. What are you asking me such a thing as that for?”

He said, “You said ... you told the truth. You've had five and the one you're living with now is not yours.”

Oh, brother, that changed things. She stopped! She said, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Now we haven't had one of them for many hundreds of years. But we're taught that we're going to get a Messiah. And when that Messiah comes, he'll be a prophet.”

He said, “I am he that speaks with you.” Oh, did she get persistent! She got perseverant.

Now remember, if anyone knows the oriental customs, a woman of that fame has no business telling men nothing. That's right. No, sir. They won't even listen to her. A woman of ill-fame, coming down the street marked with ill-fame, the men won't have nothing to do with her. That's right. Her voice is nothing.

But, brother, she got awful persistent. She got the priest and she got all of them. She was determined they was going to know. She said, “Look.” In other words, “Search your scriptures. The man told me the things that I've done. Isn't this the very Messiah!” Quieten her voice if you could. You couldn't do it. She was persistent. “That is the Messiah. There's our chance. That's who we've waited on, and there He stands.”

And with that woman's tremendous persistency, even the people in the city believed on it. Didn't say, “Now you come tell me what.... Who am I? Where did I come from?” They didn't believe that. The persistence of that woman proved that He was Messiah. And the Bible said, “And the people of that city believed on him because of the testimony of the woman.” She had struck fire. Oh, my.

I can see a little old woman out on the street, and she's done wrong. She's done everything in the calendar that's wrong. And the first thing you know, she staggers in a little old mission somewhere, the paint and manicure all over her face—and sitting up there looking, and saying, “I ain't fit to be in this place.”

And the first thing you know the Holy Ghost said, “I've chosen you.” Stop her testimony once! Oh, brother, she's so persistent ... she might not.... The insurance man come to the door, she keeps her head down in shame to go to the door. The next day she can give a testimony that'll shake the shingles right off the top of the house. She's persistent, brother. She knows she's struck the right thing. That's it. Be persistent. Don't give up.

John the Baptist was persistent. He knew. It reminds me of Tommy Nichols. I don't guess he's here with us, is he? He's a dandy little old brother. I can just brag about him plenty now. And he was with us the other night. I had a vision of being in glory, and come back. And Tommy never pulled any punches, even in that national ... international magazine. He put it in there just the way it was. Many of you read it. And the little insert at the bottom of the pages, did you read that? Talked about the ministry of the bygone days, and said that God had even used me many times, and evidently proven that He's raised the dead. And what ... they had the testimony (we have it) of down in Mexico one night not long ago.

I was having a meeting in Mexico City. And we was in that great arena out there, and thousands of people were standing. And I just had about three or four nights. And one ... the second night there.... The first night, I just talked to people. They were all standing there, poor, no seats to sit down, just standing out in the middle of the arena—and ... somewhere about twenty, thirty thousand of them. And I begin to speak to them about the Lord Jesus, and about his great grace, and his mercies to the people, and give them testimony what He'd done.

And the second night we went down to pray for them. Across the altar come an old Mexican man, blind, had no shoes on, his old rusty feet and everything, the way he looked. I thought of him, and I thought....

Here not long ago when this rifle blowed up on me.... What it was, was a converted Winchester to a Weatherby Magnum. I think the man that give it to me is sitting right here now. And he....

I always wanted a Weatherby Magnum. I don't never play golf, and get out with that bunch of women and things out there. God give me a sport, to hunt and to fish. And I always loved the Weatherby Magnum. They're pretty, and I wanted it, but they cost too much. I've got friends would have bought them for me. As I said the other night, “How could I let a man buy a Weatherby Magnum for me for hundreds of dollars, when I got missionary friends that ain't even got shoes on their feet?” No, sir. Them poor old Mexicans down there got them old rusty feet.

... and old coat on, and all ragged, and maybe never had a good decent meal in his life, and four or five kids at home—and then besides that was blind. I would've give him my coat, I would've give him my shoes, anything—he was a much bigger man. But I give him my love. Put my arm around him and prayed for him, and God opened his eyes right there on the platform. He run up and down through there screaming.

A little old Mexican woman.... That went into Mexico, all throughout the city. The next day there was a rack of clothes much wider than this here, piled that high, of just old shawls and hats—people trying to get healed.

A little Mexican woman that morning took her little baby to a doctor, just barely breathing. Pneumonia choked into its lungs. While she was in the office the little baby ceased to breathe. The doctor put the pulmotor on him, and he couldn't bring it back. It was dead, nine o'clock that morning. Told the mother, said, “We'd take it back....”

She said, “No, I'm going to keep the baby.” And she put it in her arms and run home. She went to her neighbor and said, “Did not you say that one of our people received his sight last night over there?” She was a Catholic. Said, “Did not ... say one of our men received his sight on that platform?” She said, “I'm taking my baby.”

There she went with that baby, through the rain. She went nine-thirty, ten o'clock that morning, and stood there till half past ten that night, before I ever come in. It raining, them poor Mexicans standing there; them women, their hair down in their face, standing there in that rain, falling in their face. Brother Jack Moore, and many of the brethren, we come down. There was so many around that arena they had to take me over, and climb up a ladder on the outside, and put a rope around my arms and let me down, to get to the platform in the back of it—so many people around.

I got up there and begin to speaking. I'd just begin to speak, and I heard the awfullest commotion to my right. I thought, “What is that?” And I tried to preach, and there was an awful commotion again.

And Billy come over to me, my boy, and he said, “Daddy, I give Brother Espinoza them prayer cards, and he give them over....” I don't know, I called him “Mañana,” he was so slow. And said, “He give them.... He give out the prayer cards, and that little woman over there wants a prayer card for her dead baby.” Said, “Daddy, she's been standing here all day in that rain.” Said, “We just can't hold her.”

Said, “We got around 150, 200 ushers standing there, and she just tears right on through them.” He said, “We've throwed her off the platform three or four times.” And said, “We just can't do nothing with her.”

I said, “Brother Moore, go over and pray for her. She don't know who's who. Just go on....” Little old Mexican woman, I ... she was a nice, pretty little woman about ... little fellow, and looked to be about twenty-five years old, probably her first baby. And so Brother Jack started off over there.

I said, “I was speaking about our Lord....” And I looked out, and I seen a little dark-faced Mexican baby standing before me, no teeth, just “gooing” and laughing. I looked again. I said, “Wait a minute, Brother Moore. Tell her to bring the baby here.”

And they opened up the line when the Brother Espinoza.... Many of you brethren know him, you Assembly of God brethren. He was ... that's where he's from. And they made ... opened up the line. Here this little woman come running up there, and fell down on her knees, saying, “Padre, Padre.”

I said, “Get up. Stand up.” And she had beads in her hand. And I said, “Just put them away.” I said, “What's the matter?”

Brother Espinoza interpreted. Her baby was dead, and she was standing there crying, tears, her little eyes swelled up, little mother. She had it laying.... Under a little blanket, little blue-looking blanket hanging down. There was the little dead baby. It was stiff, you could see the way its little arms and things laying. It'd been dead since that morning.

I said, “Now, Brother Espinoza, don't interpret this.” I said, “It's a vision I just saw.”

He said, “What?”

I said, “It's a vision. Don't say nothing. Let me pray.”

I said, “Heavenly Father, I don't know what this means. But I was looking out there, and before my eyes come a little baby looked to be about this size.” And I said, “I'm going to lay my hands upon this little dead form.” And about that time it started kicking and screaming, as hard as it could, like that. I said, “Brother Espinoza, go to her doctor and get a written statement.” He did.

Why? She was persistent. Why? She didn't care what the church said, whether she was excommunicated, what it was. If a blind man could receive his sight, her baby... ! No man could restore sight to the blind. Anybody knows that! Like, even the Pharisees said, “Who could restore sight to the blind except God only?” No man could do that, and she knowed that. And she knowed if God was here on earth in power enough to give a blind man his sight, He was the same God that could raise the dead yet! She was persistent. She stayed all day. The undertakers calling for her baby, she stayed all day anyhow. The ushers trying to keep her out of line, and she stayed anyhow—turned down every way! But she stayed. Why? She had perseverance. Why? Faith caught a hold! Faith said, “It's so.” Faith knows no difficult! Faith knows no defeat! When you got faith, you have perseverance.

Let's pray a minute. How many wants perseverance? Our heavenly Father, I believe, Lord, with all my heart, that if the people could only realize.... I believe they're good people. I believe they're your people. I know they are. They love You. They've passed from death to life. But right in their minds is Satan all the time trying to misquote something to them, trying to take away from God's Word. I pray, Father, that You will rebuke him. Grant it, God. Let your Holy Spirit come upon this audience just now.

They have ... no doubt the bigger part of this people in here today has felt your presence. They believe. But let them realize that they have a hinderer also, and that's the enemy. He might speak through precious friends. But yet your Word is the same. You ... how could You raise that dead baby for that Mexican woman because she had faith, and wouldn't raise somebody else's baby? How could You heal a blind man that couldn't see, unless You would heal some other blind man? But what it is, many of them are stopped.

Some of them has perseverance. They just move on anyhow, no matter what it is, like the little Syrophenician woman that we spoke of this afternoon, that stood before You. You just told her, “Go thy way. The devil's left her.” That's all she wanted to know.

Now, You don't have to come in our midst to say that now, Father, because You've already said it. “Whatsoever things you desire, when you pray, just believe you receive them, and you shall have them.” We know that's your Word. Now if we ask anything, then we should be perseverant after that. We should know that it's ours. You give it to us. You can't lie; You're God. If You give it to others, why don't You give it to us?

When we ask, we shall receive. You said so. “Knock, and it will be opened; seek, ye shall find; ask, and it'll be given.” Well, God, promise after promise, You've given us. “If anywhere two or more are gathered in my name, and shall ask anything, it shall be given to them.” Now You promised that. “Wherever two or three are gathered [no matter how small the meeting is], I'll be in the midst of them.” Now You promised it, Lord. That's your own promise, that's your own Word. I believe it.

I believe that just as well as You was standing right here before us today, come down the corridors of heaven and walked here and said, “I'm in your midst because you have gathered together.”

Well, my faith tells me You're here anyhow. So You're here just the same as You would be if we heard your audible voice. Here's your voice on paper, your promise, and it's ours. You've protected this blessed Word down through bloodshed, through the ages, but still it remains, 'cause You said heavens and earth will pass away, but your Word would not.

I pray, Father, now, that the people will understand that your Word is what it is! It's God, and it's in our midst. It's here now—the living God with the living Word to make known to every person by the lips of a preacher, by the lips of a prophet, by the lips of a teacher, by the lips of a missionary.... Why, You're here, God, and we hear it and we know it's so.

Then we feel You. We looked back and see where once we was hewed out of a hard lump of sin; and now we've been lifted up. Where the blessings cannot come to us there; now we have it. Once we were blind; now we can see. Once we were numb; now we have feelings. Once we were dead; now we're alive.

The earnest of anything that we desire; all things are ours. We are told that in the Bible that we now possess all things, and all things belong to us. Bless your people this afternoon, Father.

If there's a sinner here, Father, I pray that You'll save him just now. May they come ... in their heart, may that heart be the altar of where their soul rests. And may they lay their unbelief upon the altar of their heart and say, “God, from this day on, I'll believe You.”

And while we have our heads bowed, and in prayer, I wonder just how many in here feels that way. “Lord, take the unbelief out of my heart.” You may be a church member. You may be loyal. But still there's some of the Word you say “I doubt it being so,” you're still a sinner.

If one little misconstruing of God's word to Eve caused all this death, sorrow, graveyards, sickness, old age.... That's just because.... Not.... Whole lot of it was the truth, but just right ... just one little thing wasn't right, and Eve believed that. You might believe ninety-nine and ninety-nine millionths of the Bible, and that one millionth disbelief, you're still a sinner. That one taken people from Eden; that one millionth won't let you back in again. You know if one millionth drove you out, one millionth won't let you back after such a penalty in suffering has been paid.

Won't you believe now with all your heart? Raise up your hand and say, “God, be merciful to me,” if you want to believe like that. God bless you. God bless you. He sees ... be sincere now.

You don't have to come up here around an altar. Jesus said, “He that heareth my words and believeth on him that sent me, hath eternal life.” That settles it. You either believe or don't. If you believe that with all your heart, you've passed from death to life. Now you're in growing procession. You're in the right field now. You can keep raising up from justification, to sanctification, to the baptism of the Holy Ghost, on into glorification. “For no man could raise his hand except my Father called him.” And “All that the Father has give me will come.” And “Those who he foreknew he has called: and those who he has called he has justified: and those who he has justified, he has glorified.” I'm quoting Scripture, his Word. That is right. Believe it now. Have eternal life. Believe and live; doubt, die. So have eternal life and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Wherever you raised your hand ...

[prophecy is given from audience]. Be reverent, everybody, now. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Believe Him with all your heart. While you're making your decisions in your heart after that, believe with all your heart now. Confess all your wrongs. Then you can be persistent. Many here might say, “I don't understand that.” Why? She interpreted it in plain English. Surely you believe the Bible.

He promised that, that He would pour out his Spirit. “Precept would be upon precept; and line upon line; here a little and there a little: hold fast to that what's good. For with stammering lips and other tongues will I speak to this people. And this is the Sabbath.” But for all that they would not hear and turned away deaf ears. Believe on Him. Be persistent, accept Him now. Have faith in God.

Go from here to your church. Go tell your pastor that you've accepted Christ. The church, the full gospel church in your neighborhood, wherever it is, go tell them you've accepted Christ. Ask for your pastor to help you, guide you further into the kingdom. Many of you.... How many believes that Christ forgives you your sins? Raise up your hands. (That's your unbelief.) God bless you. Thank you.

Now. Instead of calling a prayer line, I'm going to stand here and ask the Holy Spirit to call people out of that audience. Now be real reverent will you, for the next few moments as you...? Just be seated and be real reverent. I do not see one person in this building at this time that I know. There's no one that I know that I can see. But I have just spoken to you. This is not Mr. Sims from Zion looking at me right here? No, it isn't. I see it isn't. I just want to be truthful and find out if there was. There's no one here that I know.

Do you believe that the church is shaping into condition? How Luther had a wide, broad way—just to accept Christ. In the minority come the Methodist measure. The Pentecostal come more in the minority, the church becoming more like Christ, more like Christ and the powers to live. And now the Pentecostals have to shape theirself in condition to receive the headstone, have to be so honed that there won't be a sound of a hammer or a buzz of a denomination. It's already cut out. It's God's program. The Holy spirit hones it into that condition. You believe.

Jesus promised in the last days the works that He did would it be also. I quoted Hebrews 4:12 a while ago. “The word of God [that was Christ] is a discerner of the thoughts of the heart.” When He was here on earth He discerned their thoughts and what was wrong with them in their hearts, and proved it. Surely, if He would do that for you this afternoon you couldn't go away from here an unbeliever. Would you be persistent if He'd call you?

How many sick is in the room? Raise up your hands, with your heads bowed, say, “I want God to remember me in prayer.” All around, everywhere. How many knows that I'm a stranger to you? Raise up your hands that know I don't know you. Sure, it's just everywhere. Now be reverent, pray just a moment.

I'm now believing in what? As Samson did, reach around there and feel those locks. When I was standing here fixing to say, “Let the people just pass by, and get these ministers down here to lay hands on them,” something struck me. I saw a vision move over the audience. Then I know them locks are still there. His promise is still here. Now you pray and see if He isn't the same God. Then if He's here in our midst this afternoon, can't you be persistent with your faith to believe in God? Amen.

Now just pray, ask God to bless you. Do like that woman that touched the hem of his garment. Look how persistent she was. She thought, “If I can only touch his garment, I'll be made well. I believe. I believe that that man is the truth. No matter what the priests are saying, I believe that He's that Galilean prophet, and I believe it.” And she said, “If I can touch his garment, I'll be made well.”

Now He's still that same high priest—the Bible says so—that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities. If you're real, real sick now, why don't you just by faith break beyond them sound barriers of the world—them sound barriers that say, “There's no such a thing. The days of miracles is past. There's no such a thing.” Won't you break beyond that where you can be free, and touch his garment? And if He promised in the Bible that we would do the same thing He did, and I've brought the right message to you that He is the same, then let Him work it. He promised it.

Just like the Syrophenician woman, I'm standing here this afternoon because He promised it. And you sit there ... He promised it! And don't let no devil, or no doubt stand in your way. And He'll grant it. He'll break right through those barriers and pick you up. You believe it.

If the Lord should speak to me and tell me upon a bunch of strangers something that you know, it'll be a vital evidence, a proof of the Bible that He's here with you. Then could you go home and be persistent, saying, “Praise God.”? Could you do like that little Syrophenician woman? She knowed she was going back to find that baby all right. Yes, sir. She knew it would be so. You just have faith. Believe now.

I wasn't aiming to do this. I preached on something else, you see. I was going to make an altar call. And when I made the short altar call, then something moved to this. Let's start across ... I can't find the one place in the building, I got to start from one side. I'll start from my right and go across to the left. Now, have you got time? Say, “Amen.” All right, then sit quiet just a minute, everyone. Don't move around, just be reverent, see. It ... it disturbs, see, when....

Now, somebody up and down in these rows in here somewhere, you just believe with all your heart, and say, “Lord, I truly believe with all that's in me. I believe that Jesus Christ, the son of God, is here. I believe that God made the promise, and God will do just exactly what He promised.”

The man sitting here looking right at me, sitting about second person, wearing a brown suit, he's troubled with an eye trouble. I don't know you. You're a stranger to me. You might know me; I don't know you. That's true, isn't it? Someone might say, “The man's wearing glasses.” That's not his trouble. It's trouble all right, but he's a man old enough to wear glasses. It's a growth on his eye. That is right. It's on your right eye. That is right. You're a member of the Philadelphian church. That's true. You believe, and that growth will leave your eye. Now if that's true, what was said, raise up your hand. What did he touch? That same one that makes you cry and praise God and shout, see. That's it, the same one.

Right straight back behind him, that blinding spirit was there. Right back behind him is a woman looking at me. Let's see, about 1, 2, 3, 4, sitting in there, she's got eye trouble too. If she'll believe with all of her heart, the thing will leave her. That's right.

The lady sitting right back behind there, also with that bladder trouble. Will you believe that God will heal you with the bladder trouble? She's wearing glasses. She's got a pink-looking dress on. That's it. I'm a stranger to you, is that right, lady? If them things are true, raise up your hand. It has left you. Your faith has made you whole. Have faith in God.

What about somebody in this aisle, in here? Do you believe? Just have faith, that's all you have to do.

This lady sitting right here with flowers on her hat, sitting right back there with arthritis, you believe with all your heart? Yes. You, lady, yes. Kind of graying hair, with a white dress on. All right, you. Pointed your finger down. It's left you. I'm a stranger to you. I don't know you. But Christ does know you.

That was right, wasn't it? All right. Have faith in God. You believe Him now? That man sitting way back there, don't you see that light over him? He's praying for someone. It isn't him. He's praying for some woman. It's his wife. She's got low blood pressure. His name is Mr. Mark. Have faith, sir. I don't know the man. I've never seen him in my life. God knows that's right. If that's so, sir, raise up your hand. Believe with all your heart, it'll be done.

You believe? What about over in this a-way? What about some of you all? Have faith. I see a colored lady sitting right down here. It really isn't her. Yes, she's praying for somebody she brought here. She went to a hospital and got somebody. It's the man sitting on the end. The man really doesn't know what's wrong with him. But if God doesn't heal him he's got to die. You brought him from the hospital here. That's right. Kind of even hurt his mind. That is right. True.

And you, that you believe me to be God's prophet. I'm a stranger to you. Is that right? You're just a stranger come in here. All right. If you believe with all your heart, you've got something you want prayed for too. That's a growth. And that growth is on your right leg. If that's right, raise up your hand. Now believe.

That colored lady sitting second from her, there with the hat on. That lady's suffering with a nervous condition. As soon as I said that about her, she knowed about it and it raised her faith. If that's right raise up your hand, lady. You believe it?

That white man sitting right behind the colored man there, that's got his hands up. He's praying for a friend of his that's got cancer, dying, and the man's not here. And you're praying for him. You started praying as soon as I made that mention. If that's right wave your hand like this. Believe, and you shall have what you've asked for.

Can you be persistent! The Holy Spirit's across the whole building showing you that He loves you! Do you believe? Are you persistent? Perseverant? How many believes for your healing now while is present here? That's Him! You've broke in now. We've got Him in our presence. Raise up your hands.

Lady, you sitting there with them crutches laying under there, what are you using them for? Throw the things away, or let them lay there, and go on and go home. Jesus Christ makes you well. Do you believe it? I'm just watching things happen to you.

Are you believing? Put your hands over on one another. Just put your hands on one another now, every one of you. Now when you get ready to leave, get out of there. Get out of your chairs, everything else. Just believe.

Can't you break through that barrier of unbelief? How dense can we get to be, friends? Can't you see that Jesus Christ is right here now? Has done more for us in this meeting than He recorded in the Bible that He ever done? Do you believe?

Lord, I believe, Lord, I believe,

All things are possible, Lord, I believe;

Lord, I believe, O Lord, I believe,

All things are possible, Lord, I believe.

Whether she's here or not, I don't know. There's a woman praying. It's a pastor's wife. She's got a kidney condition. Her name is Mrs. Miguel. Believe with all your heart and you can go home and be made well.

Lord, I believe...............

Don't worry about that church condition. It's going to clear up also.

.......... Lord, I believe, (Oh, people!)

All things are possible,

Do you believe now? Are you persistent? Stand up!

............... I believe.

Lord, I believe, O Lord, I believe,

All things are possible, O Lord, I believe.

I love Him, I...........

How many claim your healing now? Raise up your hands, saying, “The thing's going to leave me. I've got the faith right now. It's left me. I believe it!”

.... He first loved me

And purchased my salvation

On Calvary's tree.

Truly, from the bottom of your heart, do you believe just like that little Greek woman did? “Lord, I'm in your presence. I receive your Word of promise into my heart. And just as that woman believed that her daughter would be well, I believe that I am well, and every request that I have made, it's mine now.” Do you believe it? Raise your hand, say, “God, I give you my hand of promise, I believe it with all my heart. And from this hour on, I'm going to be persistent as I can be. I'm healed! By his stripes and his promise, my faith takes a hold of God's Word and I am healed.” Do you believe it?

My faith looks up to Thee,

Thou Lamb of Calvary,

O Saviour, divine;

Now hear me while I pray,

Take all my sin away,

Oh, let me from this day

Be wholly thine!

Let's bow our heads. From the depths of your heart, from the innermost being that you know anything about, the very soul that controls you.... You who raised your hand a while ago, when I asked for that altar call and you wanted Christ to come into you, to make you a real persistent know-so Christian, do you now believe that you possess what you asked for? If you do, raise up your hand to God. All over the building look at the hands. My!

Every one that was sick, and without any hesitation (like the Ethiopian, or not the Ethiopian woman but the Syrophenician woman, that believed with all of her heart that she'd find her daughter well, and she did), believe that the disease, or the trouble, whatever was wrong with you, that in the presence of Christ this afternoon—as He's blessed us by coming in here with us—you believe that you have faith in his promised Word of his being together with us; and “ask what you will it shall be given”; and you've asked, and you see his sign; you truly believe that it's not some creed, some hoax, some denominational, some soothsayer, or some fortune-teller; but you believe it's your Saviour Jesus Christ, working in you and giving you faith to believe it, raise your hand and say, “I accept it, and I believe it with all my heart.”

Blest be the tie that binds

Our hearts in Christian love;

The fellowship of kindred minds

Is like to that above.

Before our Father's throne,

We pour our ardent prayers;

Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one,

Our comforts and our cares.

When we asunder part,

It gives us inward pain;

But we shall still be joined in heart,

And hope to meet again.

Until I see you, God make you persistent. Take his Word as a torch, and the sword in your hand, and let faith wield out yonder, and cut every darkness away from you until you see Jesus in the fullness of his blessing. God bless you.