1966-FAITH#4-LV Your Proportion of Faith

and blessed us abundantly. We've had so many, many material things, but, O God, tonight we hunger in our heart and soul to stand after reality in the Spirit of God. We pray for, Lord, Thou shalt teach us from Thy Word. Make Thy Word, O God, life to us, even as food is transformed into energy. God, energize us tonight by Your Word. Make us daring. Make us dynamic. Compel us literally, O God. that it might be burning within us. And we cannot refrain ourselves from speaking, but above all from doing, and above all doing thy good and gracious word. Now, Father, let every word be every word from thee, that only thy word shall be altogether in our tongues. And then, Lord, help us to hear exactly as the word go forth, not our own ideas, our own understanding on it, but exactly what you'd have us to know, bringing every thought into captivity, every spirit. into obedience to Jesus Christ. Our very nature is, O God, softened and changed so it might be truly in the Spirit. All one together in love by the Holy Ghost. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Now, up to this point, we know most assuredly that God had dealt to every single born -again child the measure of faith. We know that the world in general does not have that faith. Because Paul said wicked and unreasonable men have not faith. This is not to suggest that they do not have human faith, because they do. But they do not have the faith which was spoken of in Romans the 12th chapter, wherein the scripture says, Brethren, God had dealt to every one of you, brethren, the measure of faith. We discovered by the witness of the scripture, in the mouths of four witnesses, beginning with James, that this measure of faith was the faith of Jesus Christ. For he said, Have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect to persons. He never said have faith in Jesus Christ. He said have faith of Jesus Christ. Paul said in the book of Galatians, the second chapter, and in verse 20, he said, I live by the faith of the Son of God. And in Acts, the third chapter, verse 16, Peter said, Yea, the faith which is by or from Jesus Christ. Now, also John said in Revelation 2 .13, I believe it is, where Jesus is speaking and said, Thou hast not denied my faith. Now, this lets us know that every single one has been given a measure of the faith of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. that everyone has a measure of this perfect gift. I did not say they have the faith of God. I said they had the measure of the faith of God. They had a portion of it. This faith we discovered was predicted or prophesied by Jesus in the 11th chapter of the book of Mark when he deliberately cursed the fig tree. He knew there was no fruit upon it actually, but he wanted to curse the fig tree that it die. in order to give the disciples a particular object lesson which would send forth a precept. Most of the time we teach by precept and example, and then we give the precept and then we give the example. But in this case, Jesus gave the example before he gave the precept. And he said to the tree, Let no man eat fruit of you henceforth forever. And the tree died. And when they saw the tree on the morrow, they were amazed and said, Isn't this peculiar? Why, the tree is dead just like you said it would be. And, of course, their hearts were saying, What happened? How was it done? And Jesus said, Have the faith of God. Now, the translators, because I think they kind of got scared, they said, Have faith in God. But the book does not say that. It is not in the original. It is, Have the faith of God. And then he said, For truly I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed and cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe those things which he saith, shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith. Now you will notice there that he connected the face of God to the disciples, showing that the face of God was available to the disciples. Then he connected the face of God to prayer. Because he said, Therefore I say unto you, whatsoever things you desire, when you pray, believe that you have them, and you shall receive them. Now you know tonight that nobody of himself has the power to say a thing and know that it will most surely come to pass. But there is a position in God whereby men may use the faith of God and say a thing in prayer, and it is as good as done. And the very fact that God uses the word mountain makes you to know that God expects you to receive tremendous, literally fantastically tremendous things from Almighty God. Now, this measure of faith, of course, was given to the disciples and to every single Christian prior to their rebirth. Because the Bible says, by grace are you saved through faith. And that faith is not of yourself. That faith is a gift of God. And that's exactly what it is. There's no argument. There's nothing you can say about it. There's nothing you can add to it. It stands as thus saith the Lord. So everybody tonight say with me, I have the measure of the faith of God. Say it. I have the measure of the faith of God. That's fine because that's exactly true. You have that measure of the faith. or the measure of the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now Abraham had that faith because he is the father of the faithful and we are told to follow in the steps of faithful Abraham. The Bible says that Abraham believed God. What kind of a God did he believe in? What was there about God that gave him the right to believe or the prerequisites which would be in God in order to make God the object of his faith? Well, the Bible says that Abraham believed God. Who raises the dead and calleth those things which be not as though they were. Now these two verses or phrases describing God actually in plain English denote or show us that God is both omnipotent and that he is immutable. The reason we know that God is omnipotent is because the scripture says God raises the dead. Now that's the one thing that nobody in this world can do. As I said the other night, everybody's talking about science trying to produce life. Well, that's the stupidest thing in the world because life is here. You don't need to produce life. It's being produced. We've got it. But you try to raise somebody from the dead. It hasn't been done. In fact, everybody was staggered and Agrippa was staggered and Paul said to King Agrippa, why thinkest thou it a thing incredible that God should raise the dead? And that's the most incredible thing that God should raise the dead. That is the utmost of God's power because the scripture says with the finger of God he cast out devils. With a strong arm he took them up out of Egypt. But it was the utmost of God's power that raised Jesus from the dead and set him in heavenly places far above all principality and power. To raise the dead means utmost or omnipotent. However, that faith, My brother, my sister has to do with you. Because it has to do with you, you have to know how it did with Abraham. Well, Abraham had a son. That son's name was Isaac. And God said to him, Take now thy son, thine only son, go up to Mount Moriah, and there I want you to sacrifice him unto me. And Abraham took that son of his up upon Mount Moriah, and he bound him upon the altar upon the wood, preparatory to plunging a knife into his heart, releasing the blood, and then burning him to a handful of ashes because he knew that God was going to raise him up out of the handful of ashes. And the boy would once more stand before him, and he'd say, Hallelujah! I knew you could do it all along. Now that's the kind of corner that God put Abraham in. And Abraham was willing to go all the way with God.

Do you think that fellow was a nut or something? Do you think he was so crazy? I heard a voice. He said, Kill your son. Burn him up. Oh, I knew it!

That's the attitude and the voice of a lunatic. I knew a man who heard a voice telling him to kill his two children. He did. They put an institution for several years. They got over. Did

Abraham do this?

Because he had something. He

had something that worked. He had the measure of the faith of God. And he felt no qualms and no distress to go blindly marching up that hill. The same faith. that he had when he left the Ur of the Chaldees, not knowing where he was going, but that God was with him. That same measure of faith now takes on the proportion, not making only a journey, but going to the jaws of death, into the gates of hell. Let's

see it done, bless God, because I got something that works. As I told you, that's what Daddy Bosworth said. He said, if you must doubt, doubt your doubts. They're unreliable. But never doubt your faith. Why?

Because it's God's faith. Not human faith. Human faith couldn't do that. But he knew what he had. And he took his son. And the scripture said he received him back from the dead. And he did. Because he was willing to kill him. And he would have killed him. And he would have burned him. And he would have said, God said so. And that ends it. Paul,

in using that phrase, said, I want you to know, brethren, about our trouble in Asia. We were pressed out of measure. We despaired even of life. But he said we did not trust in ourselves because we had the sentence of death in us. But we trusted in God who raises the dead. We trusted to deliver us. And he did deliver us and he will yet deliver us. In other words, Paul was saying there is no position. There is no commandment. There is no request. There is no directive. There is no ordinance. There is nothing that God will commit you to, but you are able to do it by the faith that God gave you. And God will put obstacles in front of you. He'll put mountains in front of you. He'll put deserts in front of you. Red seas in front of you. He'll take your family down. He'll take your finances down. He'll make you go home. But you can do it because

you've got what it takes.

Let me assure you tonight we are not fooling with this subject. Too long you've heard us. The gospel, not the way Paul preached it, not the way Christ preached it, but the way men preached it. Too long you've heard about this easy believism. Escape from hell and go to heaven. My brother, my sister, if you can show me one place in the Bible where Jesus Christ died upon the cross and rose again so that you can escape from hell and go to heaven, I'll eat this Bible page by page until it kills me. You can't find it! Jesus

Christ died in order that propitiation may be made for your sins. so you, by the grace of God, could receive the measure, the faith, that God be baptized with the Holy Ghost, and then act like Jesus Christ, and finally, enter the bridal suite of Almighty God, New Jerusalem. That's what the Bible says. And you teach anything else, you're a liar, and you make God a liar, and you don't know your Bible.

There's a warfare. And for God to raise the dead, and connect that with faith, means that the faith that he gave you is mountain -moving faith, and you've got it. And all we've developed today is a bunch of psychophants and cowards. Why? Because Christianity failed. Third failed. Not real Christianity. Normal Christianity failed. Because too many Christians wanted the easy way out. I'm not here to preach politics, but I'm going to tell you this, that I've met in my way across the country that people that call themselves full of the Holy Ghost are glad they voted for a man like Roosevelt because they said, at least he put clothes upon our back and food in our belly. And I got so tired of hearing that, I said, but my Bible says, The life is more than meat and the body is more than raiment.

Clothes you much more. God feeds the sparrows, they'll clothe you and he'll feed you much more. I want to get this across and I've been preaching it now hard and heavy. Be prepared for disaster because God is the God of disaster. What

is the first revelation you have of God in the Old Testament? Which is the place to look for it. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form and void. It tells me that the first creation was expendable and God crushed it. Then he took that mass of potsum and jetsum, that chaotic condition, and he brought life and beauty out of it. Showing tonight that God Almighty is a God of deliverance, of the extremities to the most extreme. He saves from the uttermost to the uttermost. And yet people stand back quailing. And they don't know that the way of God is to take you right through the valley of the shadow of death with faith and you coming out victorious in Jesus' name because you knew you could do all along because you had what it takes. But

kids go to school and they're afraid of their examinations. Why? Because they don't know the subject matter. If they knew the subject matter, they wouldn't give a hoot about an examination. Then they start praying and they say, Oh Lord, please make the capital of North Carolina. What would it be? Oh, this town, not this town, but Ruth. That's a nice little dead place. There wouldn't be anything. Or Hickory or someplace. Or Mount Airy. Or Paducah. I don't even know what the capital is. But I'm sure not going to pray about it because God's not going to change it if I miss it. That's the way people pray, though. God, get me out. God, get me out. God doesn't get you out. He takes you through. Right through the valley of the shadow of death. Just like he did Abraham. I say if God is omnipotent, then God has got to have some way to make himself known as omnipotent. If God raises the dead, somebody's got to die. And he called the things which are not as though they were. And that's what Abraham did. He said, I'm Abraham. They said, what's your name? Abraham. Oh, is that so? Father of many children? Nope, haven't got any. Well, why don't you change your name? Just did. Then call himself Abraham for 20 years. We're called Abraham. Well, that means, hi, father. Were you a father then? Nope, wasn't a father then. So you must be a little bit silly. No, I'm not. God said, I'm going to be a father of multitudes and I will be. You married a pretty young woman. No, sir, she's 20 years younger than I am and her womb's dead too, just like I'm dead. Well, I don't understand you. I didn't ask you to understand me.

Christians expect the world to understand them because they begin to try to act rational. Don't be ridiculous.

They'll never understand you. They'll never understand faith. They can't understand a man giving up a big paying job and going down the road trusting God.

They can't understand the sacrifice that people go through dying for the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't expect them to. Abraham didn't expect anybody to understand him. He just said, I'm Abraham, I'm a father of multitudes. He put it in the past tense. He said, I am what God said I am. And he became what God said he was. Too many people are scared to say they are what God said they are. And they never become what God said they are. You've got to say what God said you are and you'll become what God said you are. It's just a simple law of psychology. Never mind the Bible. Let

me just teach you something here right now. That's why I like this series on faith. I can just do anything I want with it. I can just make it go clean around the world and back again. Listen, Dr. Crane, whose paper I call him, used to read a lot. He said when marriages start to fail, it's because the wife or the husband failed to remember the honeymoon. You've been married so long you get too used to each other. And the way to rekindle the spark is to act as if you were in love. That's what Brother Branham said to a fellow one day. He said, my wife has a devil. I wish you'd cast the devil out of her. Why? He said, Ernie, I'll tell you how you can do it. Oh, he said, praise the Lord. I'm glad to know about it. Bill said, yes, here's all you need. Tomorrow night, before you go home from work, you just go down to the store and buy her a nice box of candy. Have it all wrapped up. And you buy her a nice bouquet of roses. And when she opens the door, you give her the candy and the roses and you sweep her in your arms and kiss her. And he said, you'll sure drive the devil right out of her.

Dr. Crane says, go through the motions and the corresponding emotions will come. You say, where is that in scripture? I'll tell you where it is. Took me quite a while to find it, but he never fails. He finally gets it down to here.

Lay not up for yourself treasure on earth where moths and rust do corrupt and thieves break through and steal, but rather lay up for yourself treasure in heaven where neither moths nor rust corrupt nor thieves break through and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will start to go pitter -pitter, pat and pop. You go through the motions, the emotions will come. You say, explain it further, it's simple. People say, Well, I really don't feel like giving. I don't feel too much. You start giving and do what God said, laying up those treasures, and you'll soon begin to feel like it's really, really lovely. Abraham said, I am Abraham when he was not Abraham because God said he was Abraham and God can't lie. And he became it. You say, Brother Vail, what about the dear souls that said they were healed and they died? Well, now that's a nice little sick question, but I'll answer it for you. You know something? Have you ever read the book of Revelation? Have you really read it? It says in the paradise of God, the leaves of the tree of life are for the healing of the nations. That means people. And if you don't get it here, you'll get it then because you'll have a new body which will never get sick. You'll be healed, honey. Perfectly healed.

God never let anybody down. Let not the half of the land say, I am sick.

Even Hindu philosophers know that. It's hard

for Christians to realize you've got to say what God said about them, put in the past tense. There's something about God you've got to learn that has to do with faith. He called us things which are not as though they were. The Scripture said, What received ye the Spirit of God? By the works of the Lord, by the hearing of faith. By the hearing of faith. You believe God and what for? The Holy Ghost. And what did you get? The Holy Ghost is what you got. Scripture said if man asked God for a fish, would he give him a serpent? If he asked God for an egg, would he give him a scorpion? If he asked God for bread, would he give him a stone? No, sir. If you ask God for the Holy Ghost, you get the Holy Ghost. On what ground? You believe you got it. That's how you get him.

Because the Scripture said, Abraham believed God. In other words, he imputed to God that God was true. that what God said was right, and so therefore he was Abraham, and God imputed to him the very thing he wanted, said, you are Abraham, and he became Abraham. He and his wife became so lovely and young that a certain fellow down in Egypt got eyeing little Sarah up and down, and he said, she's so cute and so pretty, I want her for my wife. Now, can you imagine this young fellow going after some old grandma, he's 90 years old, all tinkered. Don't walk so fast, honey. I can hardly make it down the road. And he said, Wow, look at her. I want her. He said, Who's that old bag?

God have pity on her. Abraham

is good enough for you. Patriarch going on 100 years old. That old beard hasn't turned black yet. All bowed over with age. And he was a dry stick and her womb was dead. And he said, I'm Abraham, a father in nations. I'm going to have a son because God said so. And when hope was gone, there was no use hoping anymore. He said, I'm Abraham because God said so. And he became it.

When you say, does that thing work? You bet it works. People just don't have enough backbone to try and believe God. You see, they don't believe the first part. If God's going to raise the dead, somebody's going to die. I told you about that lady I ministered to in Ohio. I like repeating these things because I want you to get it plump and plain in your mind. She came for eye trouble. She was going blind. And she said, the doctor said, I will be blind. And the word of the Lord to her was, is when you believe God that you're going to get well. As thoroughly as you have believed the doctor you're going to be blind, you will be healed. You know what she said? She said to herself, doctor says I'm going to be blind. And when I'm blind, it's all over. God healed blind eyes.

I keep saying and I mean it. People say, well, what about what if my family breaks up? That's tragic. It's all over. No, sir. Your family breaks up. It's not over. God can bring them back together again and do a better job than ever. I see the life of Job. God took away his family. God took away his money. God took away everything. Even his wife didn't understand. God even sent in a bunch of guys that ran the poor fellow down. But he stood his ground and God raised him up.

It was all done by faith. And we're living in the last day. As the scripture said, if we had the faith of Abraham and Job and Daniel, it still wouldn't do. We've got to have greater faith because we're going into rapture. We've got the faith of God himself. But it's got to increase. How's it going to increase? It's going to increase the understanding and usage.

Now, we've learned that tonight. We understand this is true. God's

measure of faith. The measure, the gift of the measure of faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. I know you might say, well, I don't seem to feel it. Well, that's fine. You don't feel the faith of God. That's all right. Do you feel your feet? Wonderful. Nobody's got any feet because nobody feels them. I can see it for a fact. There's nobody got a foot. Nobody got any feet. That's wonderful. Just call the ambulance and we'll take them home in trucks.

Do you feel your hair tonight? That's the prettiest bunch of bald -headed gals I've seen in my life. Nobody got me here. Do you feel your kidneys? Nobody got me kidneys. You'll be dead within four hours.

Do you see how asinine it can be when you go against the word of God?

Doesn't go by feeling.

How many tonight are really born? Let me see your hands. Do you really believe you're born again? Come on, put them up. Don't fool with me because I'm not fooling with you. If we're fooling, I'm going home. You can forget the whole thing. Now put them down. Listen to me. Every one of you that put your hand up have testified that you've got nothing less than the life of Almighty God in you. But how much have you shown for it? Not very much, have you? Then you haven't got the life of God. In fact, you didn't show much. Is that correct? You say, no, sir, because if I deny his life, I'm going to hell. That's right. You'll go to hell and burn.

All right. Apply the same thing to the measure of faith. You've got it. You might not feel it. You might not have used it. But I'm going to tell you one thing. If you don't have the measure of faith, you don't have Jesus Christ. You're a liar. You claim you have, but you're a liar because you can't get him without the measure of faith because receives you the Spirit by the works of the law or by faith. And by grace are you saved through faith in that knowledge of yourself that's a gift to God. Make up your mind.

Okay, that said, I'm a liar. God's true. Say it. I'm a liar. God's true. Say it again. I'm a liar. God's true. Now we're getting someplace. A little humility won't hurt you any.

They came to John the Baptist. For John the Baptist confessed and denied not, but said, I am not the Christ. We ought to confess and deny not that we have the measure of the gift of God, the gift of the measure of faith. They said to Jesus Christ, look, if you can't be the Son of God, why don't you deny it and we'll love you? And he said, if I deny I'm the Son of God, I'm a liar just like you.

Yet people deny that they've got a measure of the faith of Almighty God, and they think by denying it, it excuses them.

Well, if you think a good, healthy excuse is better... It's fine, which gets you into the lake of fire. Well, that's fine by me. I think that's a pretty miserable way to get healed by cutting your leg off. You say, well, this leg over here hurts. I'll get rid of the trouble by cutting my leg over here off. Well, you go ahead. You follow what I'm driving at? I'm being sarcastic for one reason. I happen to know a little bit of the secret of retention in the memory. If a man wants to retain something, he's either got to be hit awful hard so he'll never forget it, or it's got to be kind of funny so he won't forget it. If you just give a man a normal dose, he'll forget it. And I'm trying to hit you so hard with such sarcasm that I'm going to joke you so that you won't forget you've got a measure of the face of God. And it's mountain -moving faith. And it's such tremendous proportion that God himself reserves to himself the right. To put you in the place of death and take you right through. You won't die. It's like one fellow said, God will pull you through if you can stand the pull.

You talk about getting out of a headlock and getting cauliflower ears. You may end up with worse than cauliflower ears. No ears at all. But God will get you through.

God never gave you this faith that flowery beds of east and just sit around and fan your brow and say, Hallelujah, I got faith now. So therefore, clouds, you disappear. And floods, you disappear. And trouble, you disappear. And poverty, you disappear. Now that's the Johnson administration. That's not God.

No. It's going to come in the cupboards there. Our

cupboard there and I first were beginning to preach. And I tell you, God never failed me. Even got so bad one time, the car stopped. You can call it a car. That's a beautiful expression for such a contraption. I flatter it. Anyway, the battery went dead. I took it in town and put the acid in it. You know, in those days, you didn't fill it up with distilled water. It was running with acid. Sulfuric acid, I think it is. Is that what it is? Sulfuric acid? My Lord, that's powerful stuff. Brought the battery all charged up and I didn't realize the tipping all over my clothes. And I suddenly realized the only clothes I had was full of acid. And I said, oh, God. And the fellow, he was really, really like me. He just laughed and said he fell sick. And I could just see those great big holes. And I said, oh, God. I can't afford it because I haven't got any pants anymore, clothes. And you know what? There wasn't one hole or one stain on those things. There was no more stain or smell or holes in those pants than the smell of smoke was on the three Hebrew children where Daniel had one of his thighs missing with a lion bite.

You see, this is what faith is all about. You

can't read anything in Scripture about faith except you see giants falling, mountains tumbling, death getting way to resurrection, sickness getting way to healing.

I'm going to tell you one thing, brother, sister. There was a time in my life I didn't dare pray for anybody. I never believed God to heal anything unless he did it supernaturally. I almost had to have a sign from heaven, then I'd do some praying. That's right, I had no faith to pray the sick. A lady one day brought a little baby, a hand scalded. And she said, do you think Brother Vail would pray for us if we asked him? And I thought, well, that's fine. You better ask me, honey. And she didn't ask me, so I didn't pray. No, I wasn't hard -hearted. I just didn't have the faith. That is active faith. I had the faith and didn't know I had it. I didn't understand.

When I realized that God would and could do things, I went with some friends one day who were praying for sick and they could tell what was wrong. And I said to the McCleary, they live in Canada, I said, look, you and I are going to go to this house where this woman is and you're going to stand back and watch me while I talk to her and talk to God and I'm going to pray for her. And they said, well, we never did that. Well, I said, you're going to do it now. Well, they said, but Brother Bill, if we don't lay hands on her, How are we going to tell what's wrong? I said, you show me one scripture where you've got to lay on hands for a word of knowledge. They said, you've got us over a barrel. Let's go. That woman had diabetes. Her legs were all swollen up with edema or something, whatever you call it. And I laid hands on her, and I said, you've got diabetes. She said, that's right. I said, you've got this blood condition. Your legs are all swollen up. She said, that's right. I said, okay, let's look at these legs now and get them healed in the name of Jesus Christ. And I'm going to tell you, I had more bones than faith. I don't know what it was. I said, in the name of Jesus Christ, I command a swelling to go down. It bled, bled, and I almost fainted. It went down.

I'm not kidding you.

The thing to do is to do something.

The first thing Abraham did with the measure of faith was God said, walk and start walking. I don't know where I'm going. That doesn't matter. Just keep going. When I first went into ministry and I was 22 years of age, I didn't know where I was going and I didn't have any money to get there. That's a fact. But I knew I had to go preaching. I fought it. I wrote it out in a wristwatch box. I put it in there. You know, wristwatch boxes are kind of cute. They make them up pretty. And I wrote a little article and I hid it under this little velvet. And I rode out like Jacob. I'd read where Jacob had paid tithes and God blessed him. And I said, Lord, if you'll just let me be an elder in the church and I'll pay tithes and I'll serve your God, but I won't go preaching. Well, do you think God listened? Oh, he was very happy to listen, but he sure turned it down. He said, you're going preaching. And I said, I'm not going preaching. And he cut my underpinnings away, took everything away. And finally I said, God, I'll do what you say. And the funniest thing was in the midst of my turmoil, I had peace. You walk in faith, you got to have peace.

Within a week or so, God spoke my heart and said, this is the day you're going. It was Wednesday. The only day in the week that they had service outside of Sunday. I didn't even know where I was going yet. But I'm talking about the place I went to. I felt I ought to go north. I went down to, I thought I'd look around. I didn't have a suitcase. I told a friend of mine, sort of a friend anyway, I said, God called me to preach. I'm going to preach and don't even have a suitcase. I thought I was going to really, I was going to puddle God up real good. Now, if I'd have been real sweet, God would have been real sweet, but he had to teach me lessons. So this old gal gave me a suitcase. You know what it was? It was one of those old, great, big, old black cases they sold aluminum from, wherever. I tell you, I hated the looks. I thought God at least gave me something pretty.

I wasn't very pretty to God, but he wasn't pretty to me. He said, if you're unsavory to me, I'll be unsavory with you. He got to teach his kids a lesson. And I was asking for it. And this miserable old suitcase, it contained everything I owned up to the toothbrush. And I was mad. I said, that miserable, stinking thing. If I'd just had two pretty ones, it would have been much nicer. Well, I needed some money. I had a buck or two, but that was all. I went down to the station, was going to find the train to get on. And sure enough, there was a train going around 6 o 'clock. I got down there about 4 o 'clock. And here was the latest station. And I knew. And I said, what are you doing down here? She said, I don't know. I just felt I ought to come down. She said, what are you doing? Well, I said, I'm going preaching. Well, I was drunk. I'm going preaching. I looked like the mule behind the barn, you know, that had religion.

I hated to go. I was scared to go. And she said, I'll give you some money. She gave me some money. I got on that train. I got off that train. God said, you go to Red Deer. I went to Red Deer. I got off of that train. I got off the very night. They had meeting the northern night in the week. And I asked the only guy in town I guess I knew where that building was. It was a little kid that the preacher had gone to pray for. And he knew where it was. It was upstairs. Kind of a dump. Well, it's better going up and down anyway. So I went there and I preached. And God Almighty gave us revival. Devils were cast out. People were healed. A couple of communists, God said.

But you see, the thing is this, you start marching and God will take you from there.

Sure, it may be a mountain. That's exactly what God said this faith will do is get rid of your mountain. But you've got to start moving with it. And stop getting the idea that your faith was meant to keep you from moving mountains. And remember, if you're going to move a mountain, you've got to have a mountain to move.

God's going to raise the dead. Somebody's got to die. And then that isn't the only thing. He turns around and compounds it by saying, now consider it done. Call it done. Act as if it were done. Go on.

You say, God expects me to be crazy. No, sir. He expects you to put His mind on. Listen to me. God doesn't think your way and God doesn't talk your way and God doesn't act your way. But He turned around and told us to think His way, act His way, and talk His way. You following what I'm driving at? I want to get you out of the idea once and for all. You're going to wake up in the morning and say, Hallelujah! Isn't this a wonderful day? Ain't nothing going to happen to me except everything this week. My husband's going to give me my tea or my coffee in bed. And the kids are going to say, Mama, God bless you, you're a sweet little girl. Get up and go to school. I want to tell you, you may get up in the morning and say, Get out of bed. What's the matter with you? Make my breakfast. Kids can't find one single solitary thing. The dog, you step on the dog and he bites you. Never did that in 20 years.

You say, Brother Dale, that's frustration. No, that's child. That's your mountain. You

know what you've got to learn to be like? Just like Jesus sleeping and snoring in the boat while the wind's going to try to wreck the thing and lash it. You've got to be just like Paul. When the boat is going to go down, the waves are going to rip it to pieces. And he said, the angel of the Lord stood by me and I believe God. Now take care of it. You've got to be like Dan. The three Hebrew children said, we don't know what God's going to do about the situation. We may even die. But there's one thing we know we're going to do. We're going to stand still and see the salvation of God. And that salvation can mean that we're taken out of it. or we're taken by being taken through it, or we'll die. Who cares? Sudden death, sudden glory.

We get so scared of being hurt. Paul of Cork was so full of God and faced the flames, couldn't even touch him. Every story I've read about the people of God suffering, the glory of God was so great, they didn't even know what was going on.

We're a bunch of Democrats. And I don't mean to cast any aspersions on the Democrats. I just mean that with all my heart, because they have been the party. that first of all said, we're going to do something for the, what did they do it for first? They did it for the businessman. Then they got a guilt complex. They put up tariff walls. Then they turned around and they said, now we're going to do something for the laborers. So they began to pat the unions on the back. And then they said, the only people left are the farmers. So they did something for them. They got everybody so soft today that kids go to school and they think it's okay to lie, cheat, or speak wrong. And then they said, what do you think of Charles Van Doren with the $124 ,000 question, whatever it was. And they said, well, it was already, if he'd got away with it.

Because of abounding iniquity, the love of the many, the many of the elect is waxed cold. Until Jesus said, shall he find faith when he comes? What's he driving at? He's saying to the Laodicean people who said, we're waxed. We are waxed rich. We're increased in good. And we lack nothing. And all the while, we're naked, wretched, miserable, blind. We don't even know it. Why? Because we said, with faith, bless God, there's no mountains. We keep the mountains away. With faith, there's no floods. Hallelujah. We keep the floods away. And with faith there are no clouds because we keep the clouds away. Oh, go ahead. And you got fooled 100%. Because the afflictions of the righteous are many. And

every child of God has to endure.

You've got a river to cross, brother, sister. If you've got the faith of Joshua, who represents the bride of the last day, you're going to be down there at the river Jordan when God tells you to move. You're going to say, hallelujah, God's going to do a big thing. We're going to go across.

God will take you right to old Jericho. And say, now you go in there and knock those walls down. God will take you to the land of the giants. And he'll say, you come up against them. God will take you to the impossible and say, now go ahead and do it with my strength. And Paul cried out and said, who is able for these things? And the answer came back, thank God through Jesus Christ.

See, faith. They said to Peter, how did this man get healed? And he said, it was the faith of Jesus Christ. It was the name of Jesus Christ. Put the two together, you've got omnipotence. God's people don't want that. Do we want it tonight? Are we prepared to really step out there in the dark and say, now God, let the lightning flash, let the storm descend, we'll still go through? Are we going to be like the Israelites who came out as a mixed crowd? And when they saw the mountains of the moon to their right, the Nubian mountains, they saw the desert to the left, the Red Sea in front, the armies of Pharaoh began screaming and murmuring and groaning and grunting and growling. That

was the first sign that God was going to be sick of them. Even Moses got upset and God said, Moses, cut it out. I can't stand it.

He said, stretch forth, you're wrong. And the wind began to blow, and the Red Sea opened up, and they went across. Then they got pretty happy. Miriam got up there. She was the first song leader. She was real penny -cost. She up and then she danced back and forth as wild, beat that old tambourine, sang the song of Miriam. Bless God, she was happy. But she didn't stay happy very long because she wanted to use certain modes of position. She got leprosy. Women still want to preach. They're leprous. They haven't given up. Old Eve, you'll never give up. Not until you die.

Then they went into the desert. Now God began to test and try them. What did they do? They began murmuring and complaining. They said, well, we didn't think it would be this way. We didn't think it would be this way. Well, we kind of figure what God's going to do. He's going to put a canopy overhead in the daytime and at night He's going to put a little fire up there to keep us warm and everything's going to be just rosy and jazzy and everything. And we don't expect trouble from now on. Bless God, we expect everything to be just sweet and nice and pretty.

God lowered the boom on them. What happened? They murmured and complained. Before it was over, God had to kill the whole kit and bootle of them except Joshua and Caleb. Out of 3 million people, 2 ,999 ,998 perished. Why?

Because they didn't understand the use of faith and the Bible said they all perished because of unbelief. Trouble

comes to pinch us all and they throw their hands up. And

don't try to put on pink and rosy glasses and try to say everything is... It's the way I'm going to have it. It isn't the way you're going to have it. It's the way God wants to have it.

And God wants to move mountains by the faith that he placed in you so that he can say you moved it. Let me ask you a question. Who opened the Red Sea? Come on, somebody tell me. You're wrong.

You're guessing again. You're really right. But the Bible says that Moses did it. Literally, Moses did it. But God did it. But who got the credit? Moses got the credit. Right. That's right. Read the lemon chapter. By faith, Moses. By faith, Israel. By faith, Jacob. By faith, Isaac. By faith, Joseph. By faith, Noah. By faith, Enoch. By faith, Abel. They didn't do it at all. God did it, but God gave them the credit. Why? Because they buttoned their coats around and said, I've got to measure the faith. The storm began to descend. The lightning began to strike across heaven. Thunder began to roll. All hell seemed to break loose. Nature and catechism, they stopped. They said, now let God do it. Hallelujah! I

hope I know how to explain it, too. This drives me when I read it. By faith, Moses. You know what it says? Let me show you something. I could preach a whole hour on the faith of Moses. No, I've got to say that for another time. I'm too lazy. I

can't preach all night. I've got to let you go home tonight. I'm going to get behind schedule if I don't start preaching. Don't get down to business. Now, listen. In verse 23 of Hebrews 7, By faith Moses, when he was born. What did he have to do with his birth? It sounds like here God's giving credit for Moses to Moses for being born even. Sounds

like it, doesn't it? Really doesn't, but it sounds like it. By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing affliction. It's right down. By faith he first took Egypt, and through faith he kept the Passover. Just bring me a button. By faith they passed through the Red Sea. How? Because Moses opened the Red Sea. How? By faith in God.

The Bible says, heal the sick. That's what it says. You heal them. You say, I can't heal anybody. You're exactly right. But if you use your faith, God will do it. And God will say, you heal them. That's

what he said. He said, you cast out devil.

Oh, you say, I don't know if I can handle them. I can't even see them. But God can.

By faith, you can discern.

Jesus, the scripture said, went about doing good, healing all that were oppressed of the devil and so on because God was with him. And yet he himself said it was God working in him that did it.

Somebody once said to me, Brother Vail, do you heal the sick? And I said, no, honey, I don't. But I know a lot of folk could still be sick if I hadn't been there.

And that's true. You

think maybe in sovereignty God would have sent somebody anyway? I don't know about that.

Within the sovereignty of God, I'm convinced there's a latitude. What it is, I can't explain it. I'm not a fatalist, not by one minute. I believe tonight there are people here who could be positively healed by the exercise of their faith, but you may die without doing it. I

believe there are people all over this world who need men and women to come to them who know the power of God and know that the people will be delivered on the grounds of the faith that God gave them and move their mountains. I

could stand up here tonight if I was a mind too, and you'd think I had a great deliverance ministry because if I could... By the power of God, have the power. Recall, I could talk for the next, I believe, two solid hours and I don't know if I'd get through even then telling you what God has done through the laying on of hands in my life and that my ministry has been very poor as far as I'm concerned. I

have seen even women delivered and people delivered from insane institutions by simply standing in front of the pulpit and... and knowing by the Spirit of God what devils were in them, casting them out in Jesus' name, and they would be released by the power of God, nobody having done anything except God intervening by the prayer of faith.

And yet I was the fellow who wouldn't even dare pray for a little tiny baby. And that poor little thing needed help because I didn't know that I had a measure of God's faith.

Do you know what Starr Daly was in the prison? Of course, you've heard of Starr Daly. And the old wifer talked to him and he said, Daly, Starr, what is it you'd like to be when you get out of prison? And he said, I'd like to be one of three things. And he named two things. I forget what they were. He said, and also he wanted to be an author. And the old lifer said to him, well, star, what would be the hardest thing for you to become if you got out? And he said, the hardest thing would be to be an author. He said, be an author. The hardest

thing that's facing you right now tonight. What's the toughest problem that you've got in your life? If you were called upon, what's the one thing you wouldn't want to do? I'm telling you, that's the thing tonight you do in the name of Jesus Christ. That's the thing you do. Pull

up your stakes and

let your faith that God gave you be your foundation.

I got a friend up in Northwest Territories, the United States, up there around Washington. One day, he talked to a millionaire. The millionaire said to him, Freddie, he said, I don't need God. I've got a million dollars. He said, it's guys like you that need God because you don't have much.

Jesus said to a rich young man, give everything away you got and come follow me. You know why he said it? Because he said if he gave it all away, then he'd have to trust God.

What do you got your hopes built upon? What is it you're clinging to tonight?

Give it up. It

isn't so hard once you do it.

I've been doing it 10 years. A lot of guys have been doing it 30, 40 years. If I hadn't quit preaching for a while, I'd have been doing it for 30 -some years myself. Quit for a few years. I couldn't stay away from it. I

was right back to what I left. Right

back to where I had to trust God. I played the fool like a lot of young couples do. My wife worked, never should have done it.

No, you stay home. Say, brother, there we can't meet our debts. Then you just declare bankruptcy. I don't care what you do. But for God's sake, get out of the rat race.

I mean it. Get out of the rat race. You

say God won't supply. Listen to me. My mother was a widow with nine of us kids. And we never had any food. And she got down on her face. She wasn't even born again. And she said, God, I got to have food for the family because nobody will give me any food and I can't get any worse. And God said to her, hitch up the horse. It was in the fall. Hitch up the old horse and the old little old buggy you got, and you go follow the trashing machine. And she went out there, and now she was very tiny. There's no woman here tonight as small as my mother in height. But it's a good thing you're not as big as she was this way, because she was about as wide as she was tall. Only came to about here. And that little old, that little woman, not so old, took up a great big old scoop shovel or an old bucket, and she'd go up behind those trash machines and say, do you mind if I pick up after your trash machine? And those were the days when those old concaves, you know, didn't clean it all out too good. And the wheat and dirt and dust and everything fell down below. And she'd lift up all those old scoop shovels full and let the wind fan it out for her and keep fanning it out. And that ball she took in $1 ,200 worth of money that the wheat that was pure, perfectly wheat that she'd sell to the greenery and brought in food and all because God told her what to do.

You say, Brother Vail, my family needs things. That's the Laodicean cry. We're trying to give our kids things that God didn't want us to give them. Give them the beauty of a sunset, the magic touch of a kind word, the thought of love, and the idea that kids can love instead of hate. Your rotten, stinking Jewish -German psychiatrists from Freud and Jung and all down have taught you to let your kids sling mush across the table, give vent to angry outbursts of passion. But they never once said teach your child to love and teach your child to be sweet.

Filthy, rotten antichrist.

The life... is more than meat and the body is more than rain. You say, Brother Dale, sounds like you're repenting. I'm repenting. I'm repenting. What would I do again if I could raise a young family? I'd have apple boxes. We never had a nice little commode for our babies to sit on. I took apple boxes, took off the one end, cut the round hole, and cut the thing off and slant and they sat in it.

Our bathroom was ten acres, perhaps, with a little house on it. I'd gladly go back again.

Sure I would. What'd I do? I'd take my kitten by the hand and I'd teach him something real. Steady or rotten, filthy, commercial ideas we've got today. We've all been caught up in it till

iniquity abounds and our love is so cold. We're all icebox Christians. The only man that had reality is dead. They

believed in a dollar bill instead of God.

Because they wrote in the dollar bill, in God we trust. A dollar bill doesn't trust in God, my brother and my sister. And a nation doesn't trust in God. It trusts in the dollar bill.

But a Christian trusts in God. Sure, I thought it was too much. Too big a deal for us to try to compete with the word. My wife had to work, too. You think it didn't hurt the kids? That hurt the kids. What

for? For a lousy buck. Have a little better furniture, a little better car. Stuff

is going plumb to hell, and when you send your kids with it, you've done a pretty horrible thing.

Huh? We

wonder why we've got youth delinquency.

We wonder why kids are so sadistic they try to find someone and they kill them on the street for kicks. Why not? Because their parents were sadistic.

You say, Brother Dale, I think these things have to come. My brother and my sister, God's word said, when a man sows, he's going to reap. And he said, if you do this in the green tree, what will happen in the dry?

He talks about seed time and harvest. Oh,

we don't like to face up to hard times, do we? Well,

if I could roll the clock back, I'd go back to those days when I waited for the creak of the wagon to bring the food that we didn't have. It tastes better that way. You know how to make life happy? I'll tell you how. During depression, we used to have to buy brisket at four cents a pound. Now, down here in the States, you guys had such poor government, you had to pay through the nose even for brisket. We got brisket at four cents a pound. You likely had to pay ten or fifteen for it. We had sirloin steak for two pounds per quarter. We just didn't have the four cents for brisket or the two bits for the two pounds of sirloin steak.

Listen, before depression hit in 29, I was used to going downtown. We'd buy canned lobster and canned shrimp. We used to eat like kings and queens. All we ever had was food, and that's what we ate. We sure ate good. We ate a couple hundred chickens, several head of beef, several pigs. Great, big, lovely garden. We ate like kings. Depression time came. We got whittled down to old fat brisket instead of those lovely steaks. And I found myself, many nights I'd go up to bed and I'd begin to be grouchy and I'd think to myself, man alive, here I am, eating old fat brisket and things and food I didn't like so well. And I'd be grouching about it and then I'd say, oh, isn't that awful? A lot of people don't have what I have. And I'd get so happy thinking about the good old fat brisket I had. I'd begin to praise God for how good it was. And I'd get so hungry, I'd want to run downstairs and get some more fat brisket. And

this will go a long way. The

life is more than meat. The body is more than raiment. You

give up the Jones. Trying to get away from problems. Forget it. You're going to have problems the day you die. And if you start shrugging the problems that God gives you, he'll send you a nervous disorder and you'll pay a price. Then you go for healing. You'll say, oh God, heal my ulcers. and God will heal your ulcers by faith. But you didn't heal the thing that caused the ulcer, and it'll go someplace else and you'll be twice as sick. You

say, Brother Dave, you're not preaching a God of love. I am too, but I've got enough love tonight to tell you the truth to help you. I

don't talk from 15 minutes of experience. I talk from over 33.

And I've done my best to find the shortcut because I'm lazy as any man ever was lazy. When

my feet get cold, I want to warm them right away. I'm like old Matilda, the maid of old Andy Gump. She said, I never get hungry, never get tired. They said, that's wonderful. And then they found out she wasn't so hot. They said, I thought you said you never get hungry, never get tired. She said, that's right before I get hungry, eat before I get tired, I rest. Huh?

You're just like me, aren't you? Time to change. Time

to change.

Time to face up. There aren't any flowery beds of ease. This is no fire escape religion. This is a vigorous, rigorous life. And God gave you a gift of mountain moving, light death, raising faith. In order that you could have mountains come across your pathway. And death could face you. And you could stand up and sing, I'm going through Jesus. I'm going through. I'll pay the price. No matter what others do, I'll pay the price. No matter what others do, I'll take the way with the Lord's anointed view. Because I'm going through Jesus.

Say, can I do that? You sure can. Jesus, I said, was in that boat fast asleep. He didn't mind. Waves were ready to capsize that boat. That didn't bother him. Why? He said, I've got the measure of the faith of God. Rather, I've got God's faith. I can do it. Huh?

Despise not the inheritance that God would have you, brother, sister, by faith lay up in him.

Well, I thought I'd let you go home early, but I'm not going to let you get home too early because I want to talk to you.

Not only has God given each one of you the measure of faith, but he has given you a proportion of faith. This is getting better all the time. It's also getting rougher because

you see, if you don't have it, you can't be responsible. But if you've got it, something better be done about it. The 12th chapter of the book of Romans, and in verse 4 it says, For as we have many members in our body, one body, and all members have not the same office, so we being many are one body in Christ, and every one members of one another, having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith. Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering according to the proportion of faith. Or he that teacheth on teaching according to the proportion of faith. Or he that exhorteth on exhortation and giving, let him do with simplicity and so on, according to the proportion of faith.

The proportion of faith is not the measure of faith.

You live by the measure of faith, but you conduct your own God -given ministry according to your proportion of faith. Let me illustrate.

What are the nine gifts of the Spirit? By name, first of all. Tongue, interpretation, prophecy. Word of wisdom, word of knowledge, learning of the Spirit, faith, healing, miracles. Right? But what are these nine gifts of the Spirit so -called? They are manifestations. What are they manifestations of? They are manifestations of one Spirit called the Holy Ghost. There are lights up here. You see them? Do you hear that humming back here? Huh? Do you hear my voice amplified? You do? They are all manifestations of electricity. Right? That simple. Every single so -called gift is nothing but a manifestation of the same Holy Ghost. But the Holy Spirit does not manifest in these nine different ways. On the basis of the same faith.

Proportion of faith. It takes little or no faith to talk in tongues. It

does take little or no faith. I don't mean little or no faith. I mean it takes very little above no faith to do it. Anybody can talk in tongues if they've got the gift. Everybody doesn't have the gift. Contrary to Pentecostal teaching, everybody does not speak in tongues. Contrary to Joe Stiles and Mrs. Joe Stiles and... God knows who else. Everybody doesn't because everybody isn't supposed to. The word of God says, do all speak with tongues? No. So that ends it. Is that right? Boy, I tell you, some people can't even see that. And then they say they're full of the Holy Ghost. I don't understand. They're blind as the bag there.

And yet I'm going to believe God. When I open my mouth to talk, I am going to speak in English what was said in Russian. Now listen, that takes a lot of faith, much more than talking in tongues. The proportion of faith to interpret, is greater by far than the proportion of faith to speak in tongues. But to prophesy, oh, brother, to say, thus saith the Lord, Red China is going to move with an army into Vietnam. Red China might decide to move into Japan with a peace corps, not an army. And where you be sitting now?

That takes a greater proportion of faith. What about miracles? That takes the biggest proportion of faith. Because miracles is the biggest gift of all.

Now, what is a gift? He

said, manifestation of one Holy Ghost. If I've got the gift of tongues, it means that I have the measure of faith necessary to repeatedly cause the Holy Ghost to speak or to bring forth in tongues. You see, I thought the Holy Ghost caused you to do it. It's a combination. You've got a desire. You've got to be yielded. And then when he knocks, That's the time you open.

It takes a certain measure of faith so that the Holy Ghost will move in healing repeatedly or repetitively. Because that's what a gift is. A gift of prophecy is simply that proportion of faith that puts the receptacle in a position whereby he believes and thereby the Holy Ghost pours through him in prediction.

Repetitively.

what a proportion of faith Brother Branham had to stand up and say, I challenge you to bring anybody in my presence and I can heal them by the power of God. And he could. To the day he died, he could do it. But he wouldn't do it because God said, no, the people themselves must believe.

Now, listen.

Contrary to what many people teach, everybody doesn't need to either speak in tongues, prophesy, interpret, have a word of knowledge, discerning of spirits, word of wisdom, faith, healing, or miracles. Because it says in the 12th chapter there are other ministries. And those ministries are teaching, exhorting, and giving, and ruling, and showing mercy with cheerfulness. I'd like that one myself because I need it. And if you're on it, you might have to come right in the same queue with me.

They're ministries. But you can't perform them without the proportion of faith. Now, every single person tonight That's a member of the body of Jesus Christ has a ministry.

And you've been given the measure of faith to satisfy your own life in Christ according to the precepts. And you've been given the proportion of faith in order to satisfy the other believers to be a ministering believer in the body of Christ. And there's not one of you tonight that hasn't got some kind of a ministry.

But don't step into a ministry that you haven't been called to.

The most important ministry women have. It's to teach their children and their daughters to love their husbands. Now, I wonder tonight how many daughters, honestly, were taught by your mothers how to be married and to love your husband. Let me see for fun. Did any woman here have a mother who taught her how to love her husband? Well, sit on your hands, girl, because that's the way it is. No wonder you're a mess if you're a mess.

On the same thing, I could say how many husbands love their wives as Christ loved the church. Well, we men are a mess, let's face it. Now, we're not here to accuse each other. Or to scratch each other's back. We're here to learn and do something about it. Every

one of you has got something to do for God. And some of those things, as we said here, you've got the grace and you've got the ability. And you can do it by exhorting, by giving.

Well, you give. How do you give? Well, you do it by blowing a trumpet and say, I give, I give. Look at me. No, it says do it with simplicity. Ruling with diligence. Showing mercy cheerfully. Irenaeus said there are literally hundreds of gifts of the Spirit. And he was right. Because there are thousands of members. And everyone's got a ministry. Some say, well, I'm just a mother in the house. What ministry have I got? You minister your children. Minister your husband. I was saved and independent at any cost. And I know it's got to be the grace of God and divine wisdom. Because if I was like every other preacher at that time, except for one thing, I never went around looking for a wife who could preach. I looked for a wife who couldn't preach. And I defied her and I said, listen, if you and I get married, I want you to know one thing. You are not going to preach. You are not going to pray in church. Now, maybe I shouldn't have said that. But I said, you don't need to pray in church either. You won't teach Sunday school. You can't play the piano because you don't know how. You won't lead the song service. There's only one thing you do, and it's a full -time job. And if you can take care of me, you've got more on your hands than you ask for. And you ask her, she'll tell you that's the truth.

And you and I found out since when these preachers marry women that can preach, they fight over who's got the anointing. Ha, ha, ha. What anointing?

Now, I'm telling you the truth. I know what I'm talking about. They

neglect their kids. One woman tells a story on herself how that when she was preaching and her husband was away, her two little twin girls sat on the front bench like this one, and there to her horror she saw each child was beginning to undress the other one. And finally when they became stark nude naked, They tipped the bench over. And she fled the pulpit in tears. And if she'd had an ounce of spirituality, she'd have stayed free from the pulpit and never come back. But she had the gall to come back. You talk about unmitigated gall. What was her ministry?

Stay home with her husband or raise the kids. That's

her ministry.

Everybody's got a ministry.

Some might even write letters. Not poison pens, but living pens. So

what can women do in the church? They can teach little kids and do things like that. That's perfectly legitimate. They can pray in church. They can prophesy in church. They can speak in tongues in church. They can serve in church if they do it in order. But the men must do the same thing in order. Nobody's taking anything away from women. Nobody's taking anything away from men. Nobody's taking from men giving to women. Nobody's taking women and giving to men.

What's all this jazz about equality?

I never could see this crazy talk about equality. What about equality? I've got a fork, but I don't try to eat soup with it. I

think I'll eat soup with my fork.

The fork. and the spoon are equal as long as the spoon does the spoon's job and the fork does the fork's job. And

the minute you stop doing it, you become perverted. Let

women cut their hair because they get perverted. Men have short hair. Or cut hair, not women. People say, well, Brother Vail, I believe that that's a matter of long hair. It's a matter of women having their hair a little longer than men. Well, when Paul wrote this, the hair of the men was to the shoulders. If that's short hair, what's long hair? No,

I don't even need to read the scripture. I just ask you that one question. Why

can't women wear men's clothes? It's perversion. Listen, you aren't babies tonight. I'll tell you. I'll take you back to when I was just a kid. The first woman in our town to wear men's clothes was a rotten type of a hussy. She left her husband in the cold habit of every dog that came down the street.

And from that, they went to slacks and then to sharks. Then they took off so many clothes. You know what? We're not babies here tonight, so I'll just tell you something. What does a woman's naked body do for a man? It excites him. It's supposed to.

I'm not naive in a kid. I'm just telling you God's truth. The Bible distinctly says the Scripture to a man saying to live joyfully with a wife without youth and be constantly ravaged by her breath. It names the erotic parts of her body. You know what happens? You go to Africa where the women are naked. And men are not aroused in the channels that God gave them to be aroused. And they get into sex orgies and perversion. And women took their clothes off in America so there's nothing left to see. It's in the streets day by day. And we're full of homosexuals. Men and women were perverted. We're perverted. You put on a man's clothes. You cut your hair. And men act like women. And women act like men. You become perverted. And that's the word of God. I'm not giving you my ideas. I'm telling you God's truth.

Oh, I can bring in so many things when I talk about faith. Oh, I love it. Just go right down the line, the thousand paths. What were they talking about? Ministries. And I was talking about women trying to take a man's ministry or a man trying to take a woman's. It doesn't work.

Be feminine.

You women don't believe that a long hair is what God gave you and your glory is your hair and you are the glory of man. I'll go to any group of men under high heaven and I'll say any man in the world. And I'll say, men, do you believe a woman is feminine with long hair or short hair? And 99 % of the men will say, I believe a woman is feminine with long hair. And you go down here and all the teenage kids, the little girls got hair down their back because their little simper and fat -headed boyfriends say they look pretty and sexy with long hair.

I know a little girl, met her right there in Dayton, Ohio, in front of Reich's department store as we're all waiting to get in for the early morning bargains on White Cloud Day or what do I wear? Flag Day. I was trying to get a nice bargain. I got it all right. I got up nice and early and got there. And we talked to this little girl and she said, I hate my hair long, but my boyfriend likes it. And I thought, honey, that kid's got something that God gave him. He doesn't know where he got it, but he's right. Your hair is your glory and you're the glory of the man. And any man that doesn't know his wife's glory, he's a fat -headed flaw.

You know that tonight, men, that your wife is your glory? I look at my wife and I chuckle. She's a lovely girl. I get happy and proud about her. The older she gets, she doesn't look so pretty anymore. And I look at her and I think, she's pretty never. Of course, my eyesight fails.

But I kind of sing that song like the kids sing. Mother, I put the gray in your hair, the silver thread's there. I did, sure. She's had a rough life, mostly because of me. I'm a hard guy to live with. But my wife's my glory. But for many years, she didn't know her glory was a long hair. And I'd say, I'm going to tell you one thing, kid. Let that hair grow, because that looks beautiful. When people can't see long hair as beautiful, there's something wrong with them. Why? Because God says it. I'm

not trying to hurt anybody and build a doctrine. I'm just teaching you the Word of God. And if God says so, that's got to be it.

I didn't write the book.

I preach it. And I preach the way it's written. The proportion of faith. The measure of faith. Now, well, I can't go home yet, Hillary. I feel wide awake.

I feel wide awake. Let me show you something here. I want you to turn. I told myself a lie. I was going to go home early because I thought I was tired. But I got over it. That cheese sandwich we had today sure pepped me up. I think it was a cup of coffee I drank afterwards. You won't

know what I'm talking about if you hear the tape again. But we went down to Brevard College and we went to the cafeteria. And this was the day I think the food was just about the furthest out. It was grilled cheese sandwiches. It's all right if you like grilled cheese sandwiches.

So, Brother Jeffries and I and Brother Woodward, we didn't eat as well as what we should have eaten. They kind of beat us that day. Now, listen. In Luke, the 19th chapter. We're reading in Luke 19. And verses 15 to 27. Read it should be at verse 11. And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable because it was night at Jerusalem and because they thought the kingdom of God should immediately appear. And he said, therefore, a certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom in return. Now, this is a parable about Jesus. Now, I'm talking past to read it for yourself. And he called his ten servants and delivered them ten pounds and said, Occupied will I come. But his citizens hated him. Then they crucified him. And they sent a message after him saying, We'll not have this man to reign over us. And it came to pass that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded those servants to be called unto him to whom he had given money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trade. Then came the first thing, Lord, thy pound. Notice, thy pound hath gained what? Ten pounds. And he said unto him, Well done, good servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few things. Be it have thou authority over ten cities. The second one came saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. And he said, Likewise, good servant, thou hast been faithful over a few things. Be thou ruler over five cities. Another one came saying, Lord, thy pound, which I have laid up in a napkin, for I feared, because thou art a mysterious man, wouldst take us up what thou lay not down, reap what thou didst not sow. And he said unto him, Out of thine own mouth I will judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up what I laid not down, reaping what I didn't sow. Wherefore then gavest thou not my money to bank, that at my coming I might have received mine own with usury? And he said unto them that stood by, take from him and hast a pound, and give to him that hath ten pounds. And they said unto him, But Lord, he's already got ten pounds. For I say unto you that unto every one that hath to be given, and for him that hath not, even that which he hath to be taken away. But those thine enemies, that would not that I reign over them, bring them hither and slay them before me. Now listen to me. What one thing, what one thing, T -H -I -N -G, does everybody have from God in equal proportion? Faith. And

notice what he says. Thou hast been what? Faithful. What's he talking about? He's talking about the measure of faith. Notice, he doesn't destroy the wicked servant. He just takes away. what could have been laid up for him. You follow? Now, here's the warning tonight. And I'm cutting this part short. God commands you to use your faith. This fits in with Hebrews 11 .6. But without faith, it's impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must not only believe that God's a creator, see, but must believe that God is his what? defender and supplier, protector and provider. And not only believe it, but let him do it.

Now, listen to what James said. He said, you show me your faith without works and I will show you my faith by my works because faith without works is dead.

Now, you can see it. God says, put your faith to work. Put

it to work.

Don't fight your enemies. Put your faith to work.

As I said the other day, as I pondered, why did Brother Branham not judge the people in sin? He said, let God deal with them. And I thought, why till God showed me? What would you sooner have as your enemy, the God or the devil? I'd sooner have the devil as my enemy instead of God. For if God becomes the enemy of a man, then he's in real trouble. Then leave your enemies to God. The Bible says to do good to those that hate you. Pray for those that spitefully use you. Do good to them. A man once said facetiously. He said, you know the Bible's got a point when it says to do your enemies good? He said, you try it. The next time somebody does you dirt, you turn around and do them good. And keep on doing them good. And they'll lie awake all night trying to figure it out and you'll drive them crazy. You'll get even with them. That's

not what God had in mind.

If you want to know the truth, isn't there just a possibility that by doing them good, they'll be destroyed and put out of your way?

The Bible says put to silence the unbeliever and the criticizer by doing good. If you want to give a man a lock job, say something nice about him. He says something bad about you and do something good. That's faith. That's putting your faith to work.

That's letting God fight your back.

See what I mean? And God demands it. He said, I am not pleased with those. who do not let me do something for them. Oh, isn't it precious to know that? We've got a God who wants to do something for us. We've been praying for you. Oh, Lord, won't you please do something? Now, Lord, we've got a kitty now. I have read in your word that thou art good to the just and to the unjust, and thou causest the rain and the sun to come upon the bad and to the good. Now, Lord, look at it this way. I've seen in your word something nice. Would you do something nice to me? Oh, I would like to do. Could I persuade you?

Now that's not it. You

don't have to want God to do something for you when he already wants to do something for you.

You know what happened not long ago? As I say, I have to trust the Lord for various things that I mean to commit. And I'm not criticized. I'm not carping about it. I think it's tremendous that we can trust God and get things from God. It's marvelous. But anyway, when we were publishing the books and I was solely responsible for 20th century prophets, it ran into a hole. We gave the books away about two for a quarter when those things cost way more than that. The printing alone was about that. And we made nothing at all on the fact of taking time off and spending money to write it. I never made a nickel, which is true. And I didn't have to. But people subsidized the book at $100 a piece or churches. You see? Well, we gave away so much, we didn't have any money left to republish. So I knew some people who said, well, Brother Bailey, if you need money, let us know. So I wrote some brothers in New York, and I said, now, look, you don't have to do anything about this, and please don't unless God lays it upon your heart. But the fact of the matter is we are several hundred dollars short from being able to reprint 10 ,000 more books. We just gave away so much, we bankrupted ourselves, which is a nice way to bankrupt yourself. Give it away. If you've got to give it to your creditors and mess around and drive yourself crazy, well, bankruptcy is a terrible thing. But if you should bankrupt yourself giving away, which you won't, really. Because I knew that the good people had promised. They honestly said, Lee, when you need money, let us know. Well, it was the thing to do, so I let the church know. And so I let them know, and they said, all right, we'll send the money to Beaumont, and that'll help out the books. I didn't say how much. It was up to them. Well, they sent $500. I didn't present my own needs because I wasn't concerned about my own needs at that time. And they wrote a letter. And they said, we thank God for knowing of your needs. We praise him for the ability afforded us to help and be a blessing in a problem. And they said, we are so glad to help you. And they sent me $200. I wish I had the letter here to read to you. I laid my head on the desk and I wept because I saw God in that letter.

They were so happy with the Spirit of Christ to find somebody who had a need that they could do something for. That's the way God is. His eye is running to and fro throughout the world looking for just somebody, anybody, on whose behalf His mighty arm can come down and be a blessing. Isn't it nice to know tonight that God does want to heal? That He does want to help your family? That's right. That He does want to bless your home. That He does want to make you effective. That God wants to do it. You don't have to beg Him. You don't have to persuade Him. You don't have to cajole Him. All you've got to know tonight is that God wants to do it and then put yourself in a position by faith by that great big mountain. By that raging torrent, by the cemetery, put yourself right there in a position so that bad things will do.

Huh? Well, that's my message. Now, listen to me. I don't know if you've enjoyed this or not. That's beside the point. But if you want to learn something and really learn something, come back tomorrow night and bring your friends. Because tomorrow night I'm going to show you the number one reason why this measure of God -given faith that can move mountains, that can raise the dead does not work. And it has to do with a misunderstanding of the nature of God. That's all I'm going to tell you. But tomorrow night, believe me, you're going to hear something that's going to strike home to your heart. And you're going to know why it is that this faith that can move mountains can be locked into a vault and stay there. And then God will say, why didn't you give my faith to the usury? Why didn't you use it? You've lost all that was laid up waiting for you. Take it and give it to the man who used his faith with the most liberty. Don't you admire people who use their faith? Well, then listen. Look in the mirror tonight when you go home and say, I'm going to admire the fellow I'm looking at like I've never done before because by the grace of God, I'm going to use this faith again. And then challenge yourself and start doing it. Well, do you love him? Well, I feel pretty good even if you don't. I'm glad you were here because it helped me to preach. And then I like to hear my preaching because I know it's the truth and it does me good and it bats me around and wakes me up. So I'm glad you came so I could preach to me. Let's rise and be dismissed.

Gracious Father, we bless thy holy name tonight because everything that we have brought from thy word is true. How true it is. Lord, lest we be like Israel over whom you wept. For you said, O Jerusalem, if you only knew what belonged to your peace, you don't know what's yours. And now you're going to lose everything. Lord, that's been on my heart for so long because I know it's so true. But Lord, tonight we know not only in whom we have believed, but we know what he gave us. Not only of himself, but even before then, the measure of faith that moves mountains. And oh, how true it is. For if this measure of faith could bring Jesus Christ into my heart and theirs, then there isn't any mountain that can't be taken away. If this measure of faith could give me the righteousness of God, remove every sin, bring in the Holy Ghost, which is the greatest of all, then there is no mountain that will stand before this faith. How I praise thee, O Lord, for this truth. By the grace of God, I shall not forget it. But in every time, in every condition, every moment, remember it by the Holy Ghost and then know that I and they are more than conquerors and able for every ministry. Unto the King eternal and immortal, invisible the only one, God.

Unto him be all honor and a special kind of glory as these lives through him and his faith live out the word. and become those living epistles for his sake. Amen. God bless you.