Pre-Service - Welcoming to Mtgs

Well, good morning. It's nice to see you all. And I see there's some seats up front. They're not reserved for anybody, are they? No? Okay. There's some seats up front here for those who are at the back or in the fellowship hall or yonder. I see maybe one or two other seats. No. As I say, it's very, very good to see you all, and I wish I could take time to greet everyone. I see, ha, ha, ha, Rhoda, is that you back there with Junior? Johnny, you're my spy with my little eye. If I use both of them, I can see fairly well.

You know, that's true. And see others also come in. See some from Brother Miller's church. And we're certainly glad to have you all. And trust the Lord will richly bless you and make your coming here worthwhile. If it isn't worthwhile to you, it's certainly worthwhile to us. And we certainly are. I take great pleasure in your presence. We love having you. And it's really a great honor to see people come to a little old church like this, especially to hear a guy like me. But maybe you just need the vacation. This gives you an excuse to get down here. So that's great. No matter how it is, it's good. Like Paul the Apostle said, he said, some preach Christ out of a contention and others preach him out of love. But he said, hey, he's being preached anyway. So glad you're here. I know you came because you love the word and you love me the same as I love you, but I just throw those little things in at times. Now, I was thinking of Sister Graham singing this morning. I really enjoyed the little part, you know. I think she composed herself because she's here, you know, for the reason to bring us the word. And, you know, if the word hadn't been brought to us restored, then it wouldn't be the true word of God and the promise would not be ours today. It would not be. In other words, the word of God cannot be fulfilled except it is the word of God because God only stands behind his word to perform it. And he doesn't perform his word, what we think about it. Cain found that out. He only performs his word how he thinks about it. So we must know what are the thoughts of God behind his own word. And that's where the prophet came in. That's where the prophets always come in. And then the same thought goes on. Because he lives, you know, we don't fear tomorrow. The actual fact of the matter is, if you go back to history, you will find that in the very presence of God, Israel was afraid. And they're afraid they couldn't go in, and they didn't go in. So we're not even looking to tomorrow. We're looking for this word today in his presence, which he is enlivening. As Brother Branham said, the showbread, he said that the light upon the showbread was the glory of God upon the... the Shekinah glory upon it in the Holy of Holies. And then the little song that the three little friends sang, said beautifully, the Riven Veil. Brother Brand said, is death not to go into that veil now? And you know when that veil was open, again open, was open when the seals opened and taking you right to the Tree of Life. So we're in a very marvelous time at this particular time. It gives us great cause for rejoicing and it doesn't mean we get... tremendously emotional, you know, so we're going to thrive on emotions. But the point of the matter is that the more strength you have and the more direction you have, the more you are able to actually enter into and see accomplish what is set before you. And so we have a love that isn't emotional in the sense that it is a hip -or -aw type of love. Everybody loves everybody. It's just what Brother Bran has said, and I've been preaching for years, and only the last... a year roughly, is when it absolutely consolidated in the fact, knowing that there is no love that doesn't come by the Holy Spirit living in this Word that lives in you and me. As Brother Brand said, how can we not help love each other when we all love this Word? And that's why we love each other this morning. It's such a thrill to have people come from a distance and to be around us that are with this Word. So we certainly do appreciate you and love you. And trust the message this morning won't go over time. I'm beginning trembling in my boots ever since I read my notes this morning because I didn't even know what I wrote really until it sat there with you people. And now it means that if the lid comes off, Merry Christmas, or

at least Memorial Day.

Which reminds me, foot washing communion is going to be the, we got food on that, you know, the Eucharist by always. You know, I've been in the States since 1953.

1952. I should have almost told myself short. And I can't remember, and I know it's my memory, because we're going, I think, in a seven -year cycle, because seven days in a week. But this is the first time I really remember that Memorial Day does not come at the actual end of the month.

Who can remember when

it wasn't the end of the month? It's the 24th this time, I think. Right? Now, if you Canadians are 24th of May is the Queen's birthday. If we don't get a holiday, we'll all run away. And you're Eucharist. Where's your 18th? Is it something like that? Yeah. So anyway, it would be nice if we both could get together. We could go up there. You could come down here, one of the two. But anyway, Put Washing Communion is going to be in May, that proximate date, you know, the Sunday before the last Sunday. So don't forget that. And then this Wednesday, of course, there's a Wednesday night service. And how many from Toronto are here? When you hold your hands right up, good. I don't see your sister, but I'll count you two. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. They said it's going to be close to 50. I had to have that for a reason because at the end of this service, I want you to notice and know that we are going to continue his singing. And as we close, before we sing, all those that are used to helping out there to serve the meals, the ladies and the gentlemen, Steve Carving and Bill and different ones. And if you don't come, we'll call your name. You go up there and those that are in the hall seated there can come on in here. And what we're going to do is to have you leave this building by the geographical area, which means everyone from. A Toronto area will please leave the building first, and you will be shown where you will take your position or sit down on chairs or stand behind them. And then those from Buffalo and Erie, such as that, that group there, they will be the ones to go next in the group, and then we'll go from those in, say, North Carolina and so on and the others. So because we have to have order, because there's going to be feeding people well over 200. As far as I know, they said there's about 300 last Friday. I don't think there's actually 300, and it's going to be difficult to serve everybody. So you'll be taken care of, but we must have a little different law and order, and we'll help you. So I think that pretty well takes everything to say, except to say again, we love you very, very much, appreciate you being with us, and I trust that surely something will be said that is a great moment to you, to help you, to help all of us. As we journey this last little leg of the journey, I think we're near Jordan. We must be, we're at least 25 years closer. How long can it be? I don't know. But it can't be too long.