1966-FAITH#1-LV The Importance of Faith

But Lord, not only is that so, but we are a decided liability. We know, my God, that without thee nothing can be done, for except the Lord build a house, they labor in vain. Who would build it? This morning, O God, we admit our complete reliance upon you, and it is a good reliance, Lord. For now, O God, our weakness can be turned into strength, and our inability, O God, can be capstone with your capabilities. And thereby, Lord, we can become more than conquerors through Jesus Christ who loved us. Grant unto us, O God, this morning that your Spirit bring every thought into captivity, every spirit under control to the Holy Ghost. Lord, I pray that not one word shall be uttered except it be your word. For you have said, If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. Lord, I pray, therefore, also that every ear shall be anointed. so that none shall hear what they want to hear, and none shall hear except what is said exactly, and then by the Holy Spirit be able to understand it. Lord God, I pray that not only should every word be of you, but also the very intonation of the Spirit shall not be of man, but truly by the Spirit of God. Lord, this morning we know that the only measure of success we shall have is if, in fact, if God be dealing in us and with us. And so, Lord, we humbly beseech you this morning to have full control, to have right away that your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, that you who rule in the armies of heaven now rule in these armies of the earth. We give ourselves unreservedly, O Lord, knowing that thou art our sufficiency, and we claim it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

In the 11th chapter of the book of Hebrews, in chapter 1, We have a verse which we will use as our text. Depart from it and use scores of other scriptures which dovetail with it. Paul, in speaking concerning faith, says that faith is the assurance of things hoped for. It's the conviction of things not seen. Now, I do not use the word substance, although that is a good word, but its meaning has changed over a period of years.

We use the more scriptural term that faith is the assurance of things hoped for and not evidence but the conviction of things unseen. Now, concerning this subject, I may say that there is hardly a more important subject in the whole Bible than a faith toward God because the Scripture declares in the same chapter, But in verse 6, that without faith it is impossible to please God. Now, if I were to ask you a question this morning, and I am more or less convinced that we're all born -again believers here, I would ask you and say, what do you feel is the most important thing in this life as a Christian? Now, you would have to say, to please God. Because to please God is the one and important thing that... We as Christians ought to entertain as our heart's desire. And it is the one important thing that God entertains as his heart's desire that his people please him. But the scripture says this morning that without faith you cannot please God. Now this makes it then of the utmost importance to us. Because if the scripture says without faith you cannot please God, then you are not pleasing to God without faith. It is just that simple. Now this would be negative if I were to leave it there. And I could cause you great confusion and perhaps great anxiety if I were to just leave it there and say, now look, if you are not in faith, if you are not walking in faith, then you are absolutely unpleasing to God. You must be in the faith. You must be walking in faith. But let us read the sixth verse the way it is written. But without faith it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe. that God is, and that he is a rewarder of them who diligently seek him. Now, a little exegesis here, or a little analysis, will help us. Now, the thought is that God wants a people to please him. They cannot please him without faith. Now, to what end is the faith reposed in God? To the end that God may reward him. Now, why does God want your faith? Because God wants to do something for you. So this puts an entirely new light upon a relationship of faith and God than perhaps we have previously seen. It is no longer mankind attempting to persuade God to do something for him, but it is God being displeased if man will not let God do something for him. You follow me? Now, that this is a scriptural revelation based upon God's revelation of himself to the faithful is found in Genesis, where the Lord appeared to Abraham and said, Abraham, I am thy shield and exceeding great reward. Now, what does a shield and reward mean? A shield is a weapon of defense. or protection, and a reward is a provision. So God said to Abraham, who is the father of the faithful, and the first dynamic revelation that God gives to Abraham is, Abraham, I am your protector and your provider. Now let me ask you a question. If you had a protector and a provider, what more would you want?

Sure is enough. That's exactly why a woman is supposed to marry a man. Strange enough, it's working opposite these days. But a woman marries a man because he is her protector, and that's the important one, and provider. Most people think women marry a man because then she will be provided for. That's where you women went haywire.

You wanted provision, not protection. See? That's strange. I don't mean you as a people here this morning, women. I mean women in general all throughout the world. God said, I am your protector and your provider. Now, the reason protection comes before provision is that supposing you're provided for but not protected, somebody can take away your provision. You notice God never makes a mistake the way he does things or says things. And God is our protector and our provider. And if you've got that, I say, what more do you want? See, we lack a revelation of what faith is all about. Faith is God's assurance whereby you can receive from God so that God makes sure that you can get. Whereas we're all the time hoping maybe God will do something for us. We cross our fingers right or hold our mouth as right or say Jesus, Jesus, Jesus 50 times in a row and jump a little higher than the next fellow. Work ourselves up. We may get something. That's wrong.

The furthest thing from the truth is that God is withholding anything from you. He says, I am not pleased with you. Unless or until I am doing something for you by way of protection and provision. So I say this morning, when do you have the last prayer answered? When did God protect you the last time? When did God provide you the last time? You see, the evidence of God's good pleasure is, is God God to his people? Now, if God's not God to his people, then he's not God at all.

So this morning, if God is not protecting you and providing for you, then there's something wrong.

You see? God's people must be the center of the abundance of the Lord, not the periphery. Some are out there getting a few drops as the ball spins around. This is no what they call that cotton taffy situation with God. You are in the center, the vortex, the very center of God's blessing. Because, you see, you are a child of Abraham. And the promise in the revelation to Abraham was, I am your protector and your provider. And God cannot be pleased with the people. And here's where we're going to get it right now. And here's where Lee Dale gets it all the time. God is not pleased with the people who fight their own battle.

That's the number one trouble with every last one of us, the whole kit and caboodle. It's the one thing that nobody understood about Brother Branham. See, I bring it all in. Don't worry.

They never could figure why William Branham let any man come in and do what he wanted. Just come in and take over. Shove out somebody else.

Take his love offering. Hug him around the neck and say, Oh, I love you, Brother Branham. Give me a meeting. And all the time putting a sword into his bowels. And he knew they hated him. But he said, God bless you, Brother. Sometime I'll be glad to come and love them all. He was the only man who could walk through the cesspool of iniquitous mankind and come out smelling like the lily of the valley. Why? Because he let God fight his battles.

That's the truth. I lived with that man. I was with him more than any other man in the public eye. And that's the truth. I know what I'm talking about. It's every son of Billy Paul. And it's a high testimony when a young man like Billy Paul can say, Lee, I knew that he had a great ministry. But when you lived with him and I lived with him and knew him as the man that I knew him. That's something different. That's exactly true. There are a lot of men today in ministry, brother, sister. Oh, they lengthen legs by the power of God. They get rid of tumors. They do. They save thousands of lives, and they're rotten to the core. They live in sin, and they fight like a bunch of tomcats with their tails tied together, hung over clotheslines.

That's not God, brother, sister. You know, Paul let them know about that when he preached in history. He said, now, he said, look, I'm not Jupiter. For we're not Jupiter and Mercury. Why, he said, we're just men. Why, he said, you don't understand. He said, you heathen. He said, there's a good God who gives good rain and gives you fruit and does good things for you. He heals your sick and blesses your body and takes care of your city. He does a million things for you, but that doesn't mean you've got God.

Fighting your battles, that's the one thing that God wants above anything else. And that's the one thing he instructed Israel in. When thou goest to battle, Can you see horses and chariots and soldiers mighty you? Do not fear because I am going to fight your battle. And God is not pleased with the people who fight their own battles. The last word of exhortation Brother Branham gave to the churches was this. He said, if people of yourselves do not rise up to cause the people to be hurt or confused or destroyed, the devil will send somebody in pretending he is accepting the word of truth. And when he's been there long enough to gain confidence, then he will rise up. But he said, remember this. Do not be drawn away with any type of infighting. Do not be drawn away with any altercations. Treat everybody sweetly and with love and let God handle it. You see, it's too late now. There's no use going out in the grain field today to chop the tares out. They're ripening. The farmer doesn't go out and pull up the ripened tares. He kills the green tares. Let them alone to a harvest. God said, I'll take care of the binding. We must learn to let God fight our battles. And God is not pleased with anybody who's got enough strength to fight his own battles.

God wants you weak. That's what Paul said. In weakness, my strength is made perfect because of his strength. Not only does God want to fight your battles, but God wants to provide for it. I could never understand why people don't believe in divine healing because if it weren't in the atonement, so what? It's in the Word. I don't care if it's not in the atonement. I believe it is, but I wouldn't care if it wasn't. It's in the Word. And He's been doing it. God wants to heal people. He wants to provide for them. He wants to give them necessities of life. Many people don't realize that. They think, well, now, let's see. I work 40 hours a week. I get a darn half an hour. That's $60 a week, and there it is. No, it isn't there at all. What are you cutting God out for? Say, yeah, but I don't see where it'll come from. What do you care? I'll bet there's not one of this morning. Sitting in this congregation, if you knew the sum in your pocket would be 500 legitimate dollars all yours, you wouldn't give a rat where it came from. But hallelujah, you'd sure spend it, wouldn't you?

Huh? Well,

that's the same I'm talking about. 40 hours a week. I don't care about your 40 -hour week. I don't have anybody behind me but God, and that's been plenty. Oh, I'm so glad I learned that. Because I can actually get more of my life's goods provided for me and a better living just trusting Him than ever trusting the church or anybody. Here's the goal. They say, Brother Vail, I'm going to help you. I believe when I see it. I'm like old Luke Rader. A fellow came to him one day and said, Brother Luke, he said, I've got a gold mine. And then when I make that and I'm making money, he said, I'm going to give you a million dollars. He said, because I believe it's there. And Luke said, have you got a nickel? He said, yeah. He said, give me. He said, thank you. I know I got this much. Forget the rest.

Listen, the thing is that God wants to provide. You think I don't know what that is? Listen, I preached in Canada with only no food in the house and patches on my patches. I don't have patches on my patches now. There's lots of food in the house. But there was a time when I had patches on patches and hungry 30s and no food in the house. And we simply got down, and we had a baby daughter, and we had a friend staying with us, and he used to kind of sing a few songs or something. He wasn't reading the ministry, but he's a nice fellow, and we kind of took care of his food problems, too. And we'd get down on our face before God and pray, and God would bring the food in. We never had a failure.

God wants to provide for his people. And I want to tell you that the sorriest, sickest mess in this world, in the eyes of God, is to find a bunch of people who say they believe God. love God, are born again, and then they don't have enough virility to have their prayers answered where God is doing something for them.

That's what you call some kind of a fundamentalism, and believe me, it's dead and it stinks. And it does, because we are to be a sweet incense or savor in the nostrils of God, not the apothecary's ointment, you know, full of flies. You see, the little flies spoil the apothecary's ointment. And God wants a people to use their faith because it gives him great pleasure to do things for them. Now, the first thing then this morning I want you to learn is God wants to do something for him. He wants to heal my body, and he does too. You may not believe that, but he does. Now, if you're in sin and therefore you're sick this morning because of your sin, he wants to not only heal your body, but get rid of your guilt complex. Because the Bible says the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord will raise him up. He doesn't need any sin, he'll be forgiven. See? God wants to do things for people. That's what he does. Not you begging and pleading, but God wanting to. That is the basis of your faith, that God wants to. And God is not pleased with the people that he cannot bless. The blessings of the Lord are myriad. The afflictions of the righteous are many, but the Lord delivers out of all. Healing all our diseases. See? Forgiving all our iniquities. As David said, I've been young and now I'm old, yet I've not seen the righteous forsaken nor received begging bread. I remember years ago, I was preaching in a town in Indiana, and there was a fellow there who hadn't had a job for a long time. I don't know why. I guess jobs were kind of scarce. He had a little bit of an eyes in Haralola at that time. Before we had a Kennedy come back. I used to blame it on the men anyway, because I don't think God was too worried about the situation. He couldn't have, couldn't get a job. And I got up one morning and I said, now look here. The word of God distinctly says that if a man doesn't take care of his family, he's worse than infidel. That's what the Bible teaches us. Man doesn't provide. Now, I said the Word of God also says that a man doesn't work, he can't eat. Now, the point is this. If you don't have a job, then you can't fulfill the Scripture that says that you've got to provide for your family and you've got to eat your own bread. So that means God is obligated to give you a job. Do you ever think of it that way? He said no. He went out and got a job. Then he quit that and got a better one. Last I heard, he's making money. Hand over a fist for a fellow like him because he never had many capabilities. But he saw the truth that God wanted to do something for that fellow. Now, can you see a God this morning who doesn't want to do something for you? I believe like Dr. Bosworth. You say, have you ever met old Doc Bosworth? Oh, he was priceless. I tell you, when he died, I wanted to bury my animal. That's what I thought of that town when Doc was gone. He was priceless. Ned knew Doc Bosworth. But Doc said this, and I thought it was so wonderful. He said, I would sooner have a God who would say, I'd like to do it for you if I could, than to have a God say that... I can do it for you, but I won't.

You see, God can and God wants to. But, folks, there's a condition laid down. And if you're going to give God credit for being God, then you've got to admit that He is omniscient. He is all wise. And in His wisdom, He said, I want to see your faith in me. And I want to do something for you. I don't care what your problem is this morning. You've got a problem. I've got a problem. Folks, it's just as sure as you and I are here today. that God can and will do something about that problem. You just give him a chance. You say, Brother Vail, there might be a condition to me. Who cares about condition? If you knew at the end of the road down there there was a pot of gold, don't you think you'd go to the end of that road? You'd say, man, I'd swim through a tire to get there. Well, all right. God's Word's bigger and better than a pot of gold at the end of the road down there. He won't lie. He can't lie. Do you know something that God can't do? He can't lie? Now, you and I can. That's pretty shady talk, but we can. We're sneaky, but God's not. See, God's God. You're dealing with the infinite. The can -do and the can't -do God. The can't -lie God, but do everything else but lie.

See? So God wants to do things for us, and we can have things done for us. Now, not only is God displeased when we won't let him do things. Now remember that. Let's say to ourselves, God is not pleased unless or until I let him fight my battles and provide for me.

See, we said without me you can do nothing. And we are very nothingness people to what we should be. That's why he says, Shall a son of man find faith in me coming? Good question. Well, he will, but not as much as we ought to. There'll be faith here. See, but God wants to be good to me. See? God wants to be good to me. He wants to do good things for me. Now, not only is this true, but let's turn to Ephesians, the fifth or sixth chapter, somewhere in there.

I suppose it's the sixth. It ought to be somewhere in that area. Yes, the sixth one. It says here, In verse 11 reading, put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wild devil. The word wild is the word we get our word method from.

Does that ring a bell with any Methodist? I don't mean to be vulgar or crass. I just bring another thought in the Greek. The wilds, the methods of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood. Well, it says that, doesn't it? That's true. But against principalities, against powers, against rulers of darkness, this world, against spiritual weakness in high places.

Now, because this is so, that this is a picture or a description given by God, it says, Wherefore, take unto you the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand an evil day. And having done all the stand, stand. That means that's going to be pretty rough. Stand, therefore. Number one, having your loins girt about truth. Having on the breastplate of righteousness. Your feet saw the preparation of God's feet. And above all, taking the shield of faith. For with you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Now, God gives us a picture of the armaments which we are equipped for our protection, both offensive and defensive, in our warfare, which is not against flesh and blood. Now, you see right away, the first part of the message comes out true. Don't ever fight your own battles. Let God do it. See, why? Because your battles are not Mrs. Smith with her big, fat, long tongue. No, sir.

And it's not Mr. Jones with his vitriolic, crude, rough spirit and his tight stinginess. You may think it is, but it's not. It's not flesh and blood. And that's why you need God to fight your battles. Because how would you like to tangle with... How can you fight with your wife if your wife goes downtown? Fight with her. Wait till she gets home. Wait till she gets home. Well, she may not get home. How can you fight with your husband? He goes out the door and goes to work. Oh, he gets home tonight. He might not get home tonight.

Now, you can't fight if somebody's not there to fight, can you?

Well, the Bible says you don't war against flesh and blood, so don't waste your time.

You need very special weapons to fight which is not flesh and blood. You fight. What do you fight? Principalities? Powers? That's governments and governmental institutions by the devil. Powers? Authorities? Rulers of darkness of this world? And spiritual wickedness. Whereabouts? In high places. Right up in the hierarchy. Ho, ho. You didn't catch that one. You didn't catch that one. You think Brother Brown is teaching against organization for us. That's what your spiritual wickedness is in your organized churches. Where men lay down their creeds and dogmas and said, you stick by or we'll take away your pensions. And the poor preachers grumble. I don't have any pensions. I may wish I had, but I haven't got enough. And I'm not losing any sleep either. I believe in the Ebenezer. Does Ebenezer get help as hither do? That's Ebenezer. Raise your Ebenezer high. Now, it says here that you wrestle in this particular arena against spiritual factors and therefore you take the whole armor of God. Now, what's the important part of your armor? Well, someone says, I'll tell you what's very important about that armor of God. I tell you, I believe in having my loins girt about truth because you can do nothing against the truth before it. Well, that's very good. Well, I appreciate that sentiment. Well, I think the breastplate of righteousness, because when you get identified as righteousness, then you lose all your guilt complexes and bless God. Then you stand in his righteousness complete. That does it. Well, that's very good thinking, too. I'm complimenting myself with your thoughts. Then the next thing it says here, have your feet shot at the preparation of the gospel peace. You say, now that preparation, get to know that word. That's really the thing to do. Go off to good Bible college and a few things like that, and that's got it. And somebody said, well, I'll tell you what I believe. I believe the helmet of salvation because you know you get that helmet on there and after all the top part of the man is the head and you get that covered with salvation, you're really going in the right direction. You've got the thing solved. I'll take that helmet of salvation any day. And somebody said, no, you missed the whole point because even Jesus Christ took the word of God to defeat Satan. I'll take the word. But you see, they're all missing it because it says above all, take the shield of faith.

The most important part of your whole armor is faith.

That's what the Bible says.

It says above. Now, if you put things above, it's superior to. I'm telling you a bit of a fifth, but hold on, because I'm not going to lead you astray with it. But normally speaking, what if I said to you, there are seven things I want you to go to the store for, but above all, don't you forget to bring back the half and half.

You'd say, well, Brother Dale must be wanting a cup of coffee.

So, that's what he really wants, but the other things, of course, they'll maybe use in the house later on. but he's going to miss that cup of coffee I have to have. So that means I've got to get it. But you see, the Bible, although it sounds it's saying that, and though that's good, that's good, that won't lead you astray, it's not really saying that.

Because you see, when I start dressing, I first of all put on, well, you put on undergarments, then I put on my socks, then I put my shoes, then I put my trousers on, I guess after my shoes, I think I dress that way, sort of sloppy, and then I put my coat on, and then at the last of over it all, over it all, I put my top coat. And that's what this is saying. It's saying over all the rest of your armament, over the helmet of salvation, over the blessed prayer to righteousness, over the girdle of truth, over the sword of the spirit, over the preparation, take faith or not one works.

You know that? That's Bible. That's what it says.

See, too many people have been majoring in the wrong field. Oh, bless God. I'm going to get to know this word. You can memorize it. What good is it going to do? It'll do you a certain amount of good, but it will not take the place of what the word mixed with faith does. Now, I'm going to prove this to you because it says in Hebrews, the fourth chapter, and

in verse two, unto

us was the gospel preached as well as unto Israel that fell in the desert. But the word preached to Israel who fell in the desert did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

Do you know the Bible is just about as dead as the Koran unless you put faith in it?

Do you know that's the truth? Let me show you. Do you realize that Noah had the message that could have and would have saved the world if anybody would have believed it?

You know, is that the truth or is it not the truth? Could it have saved the world? You know it would have saved the world, but they didn't believe it. But was it the Word of God? Was it the Word of God regardless if men listened or not? It was the Word of God, but it didn't amount to that.

except it condemned.

But the only person that did any good was Noah and his seven, because he believed.

And today, this word here has been preached by William Branham, the prophet of God, more thoroughly vindicated than a Noah or an Enoch or Elijah or even the Apostle Paul for the existing records of which we have concerning his ministry or even multiplied men put together. And people still say, well, you really don't have to believe at all, you see, because, well, because, because what?

What have you got to show that you only know something? Your

vindication.

The Bible said the then known world perished because they didn't believe the prophet. He was prophet Noah. And only the hearts of the children will be turned back to the fallen. You say, Brother Vail, you base too much upon a man. No, I base it upon God because God sent the man. And he put his words in his tongue altogether.

You take your history books, as I have had pleasure in reading a few of them. Read your Antion Post Nicene Fathers and read all you can. And I challenge you that you will not find one book of 100 pages to tell all that is recorded in history concerning what God's men have done through the ages. And I will challenge you this morning that I can and will write a book, if necessary, of 300 pages of what's happened in Brother Branagh's ministry. which are 100 % phenomenal. The

word of God, my brother and my sister, has got to be believed.

No word is void of power. But unless that word is believed, it becomes an instrument of condemnation. It's

time we learn to use our faith, brother and sister. Jesus put the emphasis upon faith at the end time, not love. Strange,

but he did. The parables indicate the emphasis upon faith at the end time, not love. Because at the end time, he says, as many as I love, they're not loving him.

But as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. But when he comes back, my brother, my sister, upon his breast is written faithful and true witness.

We've got a very important subject here. Very important. I just want to start believing God like I've never believed him before.

I don't mean I'm going to have to tear down buildings, rip apart bricks, or do something else. I mean it's going to have to stand still and see the salvation of God. Stop fighting my battles.

I don't provide the way God's done then. He's done it liberally. I've learned one thing. Give tens, you get tens. Give twenties, you get twenties. Give hundreds, you get hundreds. Give thousands, you get thousands. It's just that simple. I wish I could translate all of my life in faith into just that simple rule of knowing how God provides.

I'd have a ministry that you'd love and I'd love and God would love. He'd adore it because it's all based on faith. But sometimes it's difficult, but it shouldn't be because we are children of faith. It's not difficult for the robin to sing like a robin because it is a robin. It's not hard for the little nightingale to sing like a nightingale because it is a nightingale. It would be hard for you and me because we're not robins and nightingales. But the Bible says we're believers, so it shouldn't be hard to believe.

Yeah. The Word teaches us, above all, none of these instruments that are given to you will work apart from faith. When you use that word, you've got to use it in faith. Let me tell you a story. I don't know if it's going to fit in later on or not, but I just feel led to tell you a story. Preparation of the gospel of peace. That's the word of God. Here's a young kid in around Portland, Oregon somewhere. I don't remember where it was exactly, but he got a revelation from God. And God said, I want you to go to a certain town and open up a work for my name. Well, as you know, that kid didn't even know that town existed. He shook his head and he said, that's funny. I never heard of that place. He looked on a map and there was a place on the map. Why? He said, hallelujah. This is phenomenal. It's super phenomenal. He called the people together and they said, praise God. And he went down there during the hungry 30s. Well, he looked around town and couldn't find a building. At least he thought he couldn't. And after sort of being around town, his funds got low. Well, he said, I guess it couldn't have been God after all. And he went back. He went back. But you know, and this won't call anybody here in the South, but we're a little bit too far South to make this too good a story. But the next good God talk was a little colored boy. The white boy missed him. And he talked to a little colored fella. And he said, you go to that town and open a work for my name. And the little colored boy went down there and perhaps being a little more humble or whatever it was, he looked around and he found an old garage building with grease on the floor and the doors waving in the wind. And he said, well, I'll just ask the fellow if I can use this building. He said, of course, I haven't got any money. But he said, it ain't worth no money. Ain't nobody in it anyway. So he went and knocked the fellow's door and he said, I wonder, sir, if you'd let me use your building. Well, he said, what for? Well, he said, for the gospel. He said I don't have any money, but he said you're building sitting I don't I could improve it for you And then when you we get a little money, we'll be glad to pay your rent and so on Well, the fella said I think it fires another story. It's pretty much like that the fella said well He said you go ahead take take it over. He said it's all right We'll work something out as you get you know, be the fix that you fix the building up enough So the kid got in there they got an old scraper He got some lines and hot water and he was in there scraping in a messing around was we know wintertime But up there's not too cold, you know, but they still women were still wear fur coats, which I don't blame them

But anyway, here he was working away, scraping away, and cleaning up this old garage, getting ready to move in. And a lady came by, and oh, she was dressed fit to kill. Mink coat and all, no less. And she was kind of nosy that day. And she looked in, and she said, look, what's going on here? Well, he said, ma 'am, I'm cleaning the building up, he said, and tend to move in. He said, because I'm going to start. And he said, what? And before he got finished, he said, oh, what are you going to do in the building? Well, he said, ma 'am, he said, I'm going to preach the gospel. Oh, she said, the gospel? Well. And what gospel do you preach? Why, he said, ma 'am, just the full gospel. And she said, he didn't know, but she said, well, hallelujah. I've been praying for years for someone to preach the full gospel to come in here. She said, son, could you use some money? Boy, of course he could use some money. So she reached in her purse and pulled out a hundred dollar bill. She said, you use this to start the work of God. Now, you see what I'm telling you? One kid was as prepared as the other in that it came to the fundamentals of the knowledge of the mind. But when it came to faith, there was only one who used his preparation with faith. And that's exactly what we got wrong today with our Bible schools, our seminaries, and everything else in life. They have robbed the pupils of faith. They've organized them. And today you can go any place in America and feed on the bushes with a stick and the Baptists and the Presbyterians and the Nazarenes and all come tumbling out like a bunch of little chipmunks or nuts falling off a tree. They're in there by the thousands. You can go anywhere and start a church as long as you've got an organization behind you to work. But God's not in it. Because it doesn't take an ounce of faith. All it takes is energy.

Preparation, my brother, my sister. You've got to put faith behind it. Just like Jesus Christ, he was prepared by God. Not only his body, but he was actually prepared in the crucibles of this life through faith. So, if you want to have the armaments of your warfare working, You must use your faith. Again, the scripture says in 1 John 5 and 4, and this is a victory to overcome with the world, even our faith. Why do people lack victory today? Because they won't use your faith. What is victory? You can't fight your own battles. God's got to fight them. You can't revive yourself. God will bring you down. So what is it? It's got to be faith. Why aren't people victorious? They live under complexes. There isn't any victory. There can't be. Why? There is no rest at my God to the wicked. And what's wicked about this? Because it's a walk of unbelief. And all sin has its origin in unbelief. There isn't any sin but unbelief. All the rest are merely what you call categorizations or departmentalizations of the one great sin, which is unbelief. And the scripture says this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. People today would be victorious if they let God come in on the grounds of faith. But God, if you won't let God fight your battles, you can't be victorious. The very thing that you and I scream the most for and cry the most for and fast the most for and look to God the most for is based upon this one thing. We just don't let God do it. Why? It shows we don't use faith because if we let God do it, it shows we believe God is going to do it. You know what I got to thinking the other day and I wondered why Brother Branham let God fight all these battles. I talked to Brother Branham and said, well, Bill, the Bible says turn over Satan. Well, he said, Lee, you better be prepared to do just that if you're going to do it. He said, because then don't you dare put your finger on it. The going gets rough because God's going to hold you to it. But he never would turn people over to Satan. And I couldn't figure it out after he died why he didn't do it. Then I thought suddenly one day, my God, what would be worse than to have God be your enemy?

See, I'm going to turn over to Satan. He'll do a good job. You turn him over to God, God will do a better job.

Do you ever think of it? Well, start thinking about it. What would you do if God became your enemy today? You're finished. You've had it. The devil, well, he's fine. He always was your enemy. That's good. Because God can handle it. Who can handle God?

See, this is the victory overcomes the world. You want to overcome the world?

You've got to start using faith. There's no other way to do it. It's a faith proposition. We don't get victory over the world, the flesh and the devil, except by the Spirit of God intervening on the grounds of faith. Again, it says in 2 Corinthians 5 and 7, we walk by faith and not by sight. Don't you know the Bible says men's hearts are going to fail with fear in this last day? Don't you recall our brother Brandon Priest, I know it did not, that because women cut their hair, they're going to see locusts as it were by hallucination with long hair upon their son, but hallucination. Already there's a girl up North Plains. She saw an ape -like animal come out of the forest and beat on the car and tried to turn the car over. Nothing but hallucination. What about those so -called bear tracks of the bomber snowman and all? Nothing but hallucination. It's already here. Go to your institutions. There's hallucination every hand. The world is full of hallucination, hallucination.

I don't think hell could be any more of a ravaging fire than hallucinations. When God turns the wicked into the lake of fire, to me that hallucination would be just about as terrible a stream of fire as anything could ever be produced. Maybe that's what it is. I don't know that God's going to burn us to the letter of fire. I don't know just what point there would be in that. Maybe there is. He says, fire, let it go, is fire. But there's lots of things that fire simply typifies.

And what today is that fire burning in people? It's that place where they are walking, as it were, by their senses. And everything today encourages us to walk by our senses and not walk by faith. We say a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Not if God didn't say so.

He said, I'm going to have one beefsteak in my fridge and hope to get three more later on. Not if God didn't say so.

See, we've got to stick with God. Why do you walk by faith and not by sight? You walk by that word. If the word says so, you do that word. If the word says a certain thing, then you stand on that. Not because I say it, not because you say it, but because God says it. And don't ask questions. I used to question God about many things. The smarter I am in the spirit, the more I find out that my smartness is just one thing. Don't question God. Just believe God. See? Again, it says, the just shall live by faith. Live by faith. How many are living? Most of us are about half dead, right?

Barely creeping through. You know what we're coming to? We are fast approaching the day when we say, would God it were morning, at night, and at night we say, would God it were, or in the morning we say, would God it were evening. We get up in the morning and say, my, I have a day ahead of me. I wish it were night. I go back to bed. And then night time come, oh my, I wish it were already morning because I just can't, just don't know what's going to go on. I don't know if I can stand it. People go to bed and they say, you know, it's funny, I woke up this morning like I've been dragged through an awful hole. I feel worse than when I went there.

Now, is that the way that God's people should feel? That's not living. That's dying. That's sick.

God said for you and me, the true Christians shall not say I am sick. God wants something else for his people. And what's the trouble? They are not walking in faith. They're

not using their faith.

What is more... Listen, let me show you something. What book thrills you? The book written by Dr. Robertson, and let's pretend that he is the head of the... He's a great bishop in the Methodist Church. I don't know if he is or not in Kerala. I'm just making up names about people. Now, Dr. Robertson said, I was raised in a very lovely home. My father was a fine man. He owned a distillery, but he was still a fine man. And my mother was very sweet, and she saw that he paid 20 % of his net income into missions and into orphanage and all. She had a sort of a guilt complex, but she was very sweet. And they reared me up to be a very nice child. And I was a very nice child. And I went through childhood not too happy that my dad made liquor, but it sure was nice the way the prophets came in. And we did our best to give them out in a nice way to help people, you see. And then I went to college, and my mind was stirred that I ought to serve God. So I went through college, and I got my Ph .D. and my Ph .D., and I was very happy with it. And now I have been promoted to the head of the organization, and I go around the nation, and I go to Methodist, and I build churches, and I have these wonderful stories. Do you call a wonderful story and clap your hands? No! You read the story about a man like Dr. Lake who quit a $50 ,000 a year job, gave it all away, gave every cent away he had. Then said, now, God, if I'm to go to Africa, take me and my wife and 13 kids there. And next morning, a telegram comes with money from California saying, God woke me up last night at 12 o 'clock and said, send Dr. Lake $1 ,500. He was thrilled with the missionary. There was nobody behind him. And saw converts by the acres. He was thrilled with the man who had nothing but God. And saw him do the works of God. That's what thrills you. That's what's wrong with us today. We've got so much of everything, but God, we stink. And we think a dollar bill in the program will do it. Let me tell you, I don't care how sincere you are. You're wrong. Because except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain. Anything you've done apart from faith this morning, and I mean strict, absolute faith in God, is a bastard kind of faith. And it'll never stand before God. It must be pure and unadulterated.

Huh? Are you loving this morning? He's quite a taskmaster, but I love him because he's a good one. I'll tell you one thing. He's a whole lot easier than the devil. He's a whole lot easier than a lot of people I know.

Very understanding, too. And I'll tell you one thing, he must have been very wise to figure this thing out. And if he's as wise as I think he is, he did the best job possible. And he says here, the just shall live by faith. If you're a child of God this morning, you're going to demand of yourself that you live by faith. You're going to take things out of your way that you will live by faith, not put things in the way of your faith. I've seen many a preacher destroy himself because he said, when I get enough money, I'm going to go preaching. I believe if God puts a call in your heart, you better go. But if God didn't put that call in your heart, you better shut up and stay out of the pulpit. I remember a couple people back home, this is a true story, where I was a kid raised up in this town in Canada. They were going to a certain undenominational church. They were the best of my knowledge Christians. They were supposed to have the Holy Ghost. I don't know that they really did. I can't say because God is their judge, not mine, but I'm telling you the story. This brother said, I am going to go preaching. And so he said, why don't you go preaching? He said, because I haven't decided to leave the farm yet, and I don't think I've got quite enough money. When I get a certain amount of money, I'm going preaching. In other words, he didn't want to just lay it all aside and go and trust God. Now, I can't see that. Not because that's what I did. Because I didn't really do it. I had nothing to lay aside in the first place. I just went out trusting God with nothing to get there and not knowing where I was going. And I got there. And I've been doing it. And it works. See? But this poor fellow, he said, when I get enough money, and he had to use quite a wealthy farmer, he said, I'm going to go preaching. And he kept on saying that. But one night he went to bed, he and his wife. And the peculiar thing was that nobody knew that the flu in that, the chimney, the flu, you see, was clogged up. and they turned the gas on, they woke up on the other side, whatever the other side was.

You see, if you're going to live by faith and serve God by faith, you better make sure that it is faith. Don't get your emotions mixed. Don't get your ideas mixed. If it takes faith, then let it be faith. Because God wants us to live by faith, and the just shall live by faith. And the last day into which we're entering, we're going to wish we had used our faith. And maybe that's why I'm here is to try to inspire you to begin to use that faith because it is usable. I wondered many a time why it was that certain things never came my way that I learned later on. It was because God wanted me to trust Him. May I learn that I didn't fight all my battles. That's the most important thing I believe all of us just to think. And in Romans, the 14th chapter, verse 23, it says very distinctly, whatsoever is not of faith, to him it is sin.

You know, that ought to really do something to us this morning. You say, is this thing done in faith? Paul said, don't even eat it without faith. If you can't eat in faith, then don't eat. If you can't drink in faith, don't drink. If you can't do a thing in faith, then don't do it. but it must be done in faith. In other words, you must have that clear conscience. You must know that this thing is right. And when you know the thing is right because it's based upon the Word, and you step in faith, then don't worry about the dark corners. Just keep pressing on. We'll talk about that later on. But this is just an introduction this morning is why your faith is important. Why is faith important? Because without faith, you're not pleased with God. And that's the one thing you'd better do. You don't please your children. You don't please your family. You don't please the business world. You don't please the devil. You don't please anybody. You please God. That's what they said to Peter. They said, just a minute now. You just better knuckle down. They said, look here, we're called to please God, not to please men. They said, we just may kill you. He said, then you just may go ahead and do it.

We don't know what you're going to do or what God's going to let you do because that's the thing. What God lets you do, that's okay. But there's one thing we know we're going to do. We're going to please God. That took faith. They had faith. That's what he could say to that crippled man. He said, in the name of Jesus, rise up and walk. He said, what we have, we give unto you. What did they have? He had the name of Jesus in faith. That man was healed by the power of God because of that. Without faith, you can't please him. There's no weapon to your warfare, Prosperous, without faith. None will work. Your best efforts will fail without faith. The word of God itself won't work without faith. That word can be preached and preached and preached and preached and memorized. Listen to me. Don't you know the Jewish children write today, memorize whole books of the Bible? Don't you know there's a fellow in Canada, I forget his name now, he's one of the biggest, crooks in history. He's a Jew. He can quote you all of Isaiah, all of the Psalms, all of the Proverbs, and other minor prophets.

And he's so far from God, it's pitiful. I know of a man in Denver, Colorado. You name the verse, and he'll tell you what it is. And you quote the verse, he'll tell you where it is. And he believes that the North Pole, there's a hole in the ground, little brown men live inside the earth. And believes in reincarnation.

I'm telling you the truth. I know these things for a fact. See, I've read the fellow's books. I know what I'm talking about.

Yeah, that's not it. It's faith. That word is faith. I believe it. God said so. See? You overcome by faith. Defeat it. Don't fight it. Let God do it. Let God make you an overcomer. Why? How did Paul say you're an overcomer? Because of your union with him. You can't overcome. I can't overcome. We're like the old colored maid. She used to like her bottle. She liked it a little bit too well. She was mostly tipsy rather than topsy. And she wasn't tip -top either. She was tipsy. Tipsy -topsy is what she was, and she got to the place where she staggered home most day and night. Finally, one day, she heard of the Lord, and she got saved. But that liquor craving hadn't all gone out. So one day, the devil presented himself at the door with a bottle. But she was covered. She said, Lord, I can't handle this fellow, but I think you can. You come over and help. And he came and took over. Like the fellow who used to be a drunkard, an alcoholic. He said, Jimmy, you can go buy those beer parlors now. He said, Jesus and I go buy those beer parlors every day, no trouble at all.

God never said we could do it. In fact, he said we couldn't do it. It's that faith. Turn your faith loose. You say, Brother Vail, I might work. Look, don't you understand that you've already got all these weapons here with faith? The devil can't get you long as you hold that shield up. Stand behind it. Stand behind it. That's what God said. Walk by faith, not by sight. Live by faith. Whatever is not a faith is sin. That's what it is. Well, that's all we've got time for this morning.

Chapter 12. But that's just the thought of the importance of faith. We haven't even touched the subject yet. That's just to let you know that we've got a hold of something. See? Now we want to explore it and see what can happen. And believe me, things do happen. I don't know what God might do. But I know one thing. I've seen them. Well, that's one reason I don't pray for sick like I used to and try to exercise the gift, although I think that's all right. I'm for it. It was done right. This is why I teach the Word, because I feel if you can get this Word, You've got what it takes. You've got it. Because faith comes by hearing. Does faith really come by hearing? The direction of your faith. In other words, you direct your faith according to words. Today you've got a million dollars. You say, well, Brother Vail, that's a lot of money, I know. But supposing I don't invest it wisely? If I could lose it, that's exactly right. So what do you do? You go to a man who knows. You say, but nobody really knows. That's right. But you see, the author of this book really does. So when he tells you, you can direct your faith. See what I mean? How could it be otherwise? You've got to garner.

You've got to garner. You've got to harvest. Follow me? All right. God bless you. Let's rise. Be dismissed. We'll start early tonight and be a little longer service. Father, we thank you for the privilege we've had of ministering to this people. We believe, Lord God, that exactly as we prayed has come to pass, that every word, Lord, was the word which should have been spoken, and every thought, Lord, was your thought, and every ear to receive it. Now, Lord, because the ear received it and the mind has received it, now let the Spirit do the work which He was given to do, take over, and that is to retain in each mind that same Word until the Word becomes a part of them. God granted that that Spirit now will cause Satan so that he cannot touch it, that conditions in life cannot touch it. Spirit of God, make it now that the Word cannot be touched but become a part of each believer this morning. until we become word bride in order to be united to him who loved us and is our bridegroom. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray this. And unto the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be all power and honor and glory through Christ living out his life in ours. Amen. God bless you.