When we get to heaven, we're going to
go to meeting too.
Now maybe this is something you don't know.
This is an advance notice to you that
people in heaven meet also.
They also have meetings, like we have here.
Undoubtedly, they're having meetings right now.
The difference there, I suppose, is this, that
while we feel the presence of Jesus, they
see him.
We don't see him yet, but the same
Jesus who meets with us, meets with them
there.
And it's, there's going to be a very
great difference.
Here, we live by faith, if we do.
And there, we live by sight.
To be absent from the body is to
be present with the Lord.
We've got something to look forward to, thank
God.
My, what a wonderful hope, that we shall
see him as he is, that we shall
be forever with the Lord.
Suppose a hydrogen bomb fell right on top
of this church right now.
Well, it might, you know, can't tell.
How'd you like it?
How would you like it?
Well, there would be a great change.
There would.
But it's happened, you know, one time, Sunday
morning, one of our sisters, while we were
singing, went to heaven.
I saw her putting up her arms like
this, and she was gone.
Well, the change must have been very wonderful,
to come out of the fogs into the
clear sunlight of his presence.
We ought to remember these things.
We ought to think of them.
The hope of our salvation is the hope
of seeing Jesus face to face.
But it's far more than that.
Oh, it's far beyond that.
If that's the only hope we have, then
we're pretty bad off.
But our hope is way beyond that.
We're going to be like him.
Now, when I look at you, I don't
see how that can possibly be.
And when you look at me, you don't
see how that can possibly be.
But you know, this earthly house of this
tabernacle is made only for a little while.
That's only a shell.
It's just an eggshell, that's all.
And when the eaglet has come forth to
reign in the sky, why, the eggshell is
forgotten.
You don't think of it anymore.
It's gone.
It becomes refuse.
And so it will be with this body
of ours.
God has given us this body for a
purpose.
It's like the bulb of a peony.
You know what a bulb is like?
Looks like onions.
Somebody cooked them because they thought they were
onions.
Well, they never turn into peonies.
But a peony bulb doesn't look very nice
at all, especially if it's covered with earth.
But let it die.
And oh, what beauty comes forth.
What beauty.
It's so unlike the bulb, it's so different,
that you wouldn't believe that that beautiful flower
had come out of that bulb.
And especially after the bulb has been put
into the earth and has died, has been
corrupted as it were, has gone out of
existence.
And now all at once this wonderful bush,
full of fiery flowers, fiery blossoms.
Well, it is sown in weakness.
It is raised in power.
It is sown a natural body, it's raised
the spiritual body.
It is sown in corruption, it is raised
in incorruption.
My, what will it be?
But today it's a good thing we're in
meeting, because what we're going to be depends
on what we are now.
Depends on what God can do for us
now.
And the lesson we received this morning is
valuable.
Rejoice evermore.
What will happen to me if I don't
rejoice evermore?
Well, that peony is not going to be
as fragrant or as beautiful in that day
as it would be if I rejoiced evermore.
There's a great difference in flowers.
I've noticed coming to the home of certain
ladies, their plants are beautiful.
I know why.
They love them.
The plants respond to their loving treatment.
And then there are others that never grow.
They, they're withered before they start, or they
begin to die before they get a good
start.
But oh, this morning the Lord Jesus Christ
is here with a very definite job.
What is he doing?
Why, out of his fullness have all we
received.
Grace upon grace.
And I was so thankful for the things
that were spoken of this morning concerning joy.
The joy of the Lord is the life
of the Lord.
It isn't something you manufacture.
It isn't because you make up your mind
now you're going to be happy.
But it's because you draw out of his
fullness.
The joy of the Lord.
You say Jesus instead of self.
You say Jesus instead of weakness.
Do you know why we are not always
happy?
Well, you might give a thousand reasons, but
the only real reason is that we think
too much of ourselves.
That's the reason.
And once you see the reason, you're not
going to fool yourself by getting up all
kinds of excuses for being in a dump.
You won't anymore.
You'll say, like I said, I talked to
myself in German.
I said, was bin ich für ein Esel
gewesen?
I said, all right, now let's quit.
That's the end of it.
That's positively the end of it.
Hallelujah.
Praise the Lord.
Why should I walk around with torn trousers
when there's a dozen brand new custom-made
suits hanging in the closet?
Well, that's what we do when we're not
happy.
But when I say Jesus, I delight myself
also in the Lord.
Why, that life begins flowing.
It comes to me.
Jesus comes to me.
Jesus takes the place of self.
Jesus Christ, the resurrected Son of God, becomes
my portion.
Didn't he say, if you keep my commandments,
you shall abide in my love, even as
I've kept my Father's commandments and abide in
his love?
And that's what we're here on this earth
for, to make manifest the savor of his
knowledge in every place, to let Jesus Christ
shine in a dark place.
Today we ought to rejoice if God allows
us to be in a dark place, because
we have a light that overpowers all the
darkness.
Hallelujah.
How very wonderful.
I've got within me a fountain of victory.
Jesus always wins if I let him, and
that's what's the matter.
If I think too much of myself, then
I want sympathy, and then I want consideration,
and then I'll say self, and I'll have
a thousand excuses for living in the flesh,
and that's corruption, and that is damnation.
My call is to let Jesus live out
his own life within me, and that's why
the Bible says, whatsoever is not of faith
is sin.
Thank God I don't have to live my
own life anymore.
I don't.
If I do, I shall die, but thank
God I draw from the fountain of living
waters.
God worketh in me to will and to
do of his good pleasure, and he that
began a good work will finish it.
He knows how.
That's why the first principle is to delight
myself in the Lord, to rejoice in the
Lord always.
When I don't do that, I take myself
out of his masterful hand, and I say,
let me do this.
I met a sister some time ago who
was in a great trial.
I said, how are you?
Well, she said to me smilingly, if I
were to complain, I would be finding fault
with God.
That's done.
Whenever you and I complain, we find fault
with God, and we, we prolong the agony.
Oh, you can remain in your trial indefinitely
if you keep finding fault with God.
The Bible says, neither murmur ye as they
also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
Oh, do you realize what a sin it
is to murmur?
You're finding fault with God, and God said,
how long before these people will believe me?
And the destroyer destroyed them, and these things
are written for our learning.
We've got a lesson to learn.
We've got a fight to fight, a victory
to win, and that victory is that we
shall be like him.
Oh my father, is it possible, is that
my hope?
He tells us to put on the helmet
of salvation, which is the hope of salvation.
That's my helmet.
You know, good fireman needs a helmet on
his head, because the sparks come from above,
and they're liable to kill him.
And so he has a strong helmet, and
you and I need a strong helmet.
Hallelujah!
We're going to be like him, and we're
only going to be like him if we
allow him to make us like himself.
And the Bible tells us how.
The sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory that
shall be revealed in us.
For our light affliction, which is but for
a moment worse.
Oh, that's why God allows it.
It works for us.
It's necessary.
It belongs to the great master plan that
God has over my life.
And once I get that hope into my
soul, I will banish all fear.
I will trust my God to the very
end, and I will rejoice in the midst
of trials.
Look at those three Hebrew children, Shadrach, Meshach,
and Abednego.
And maybe you ought to change your name
to Abednego.
When the king threatened them, the king was
in a dump, I tell you.
His visage was changed.
And he couldn't understand why those three Jews
weren't in a dump, too.
When he threatened to heat that furnace seven
times more.
Now how does God allow that?
I thought we had the victory.
Why we were anointed and prayed over, and
now seven times hotter.
One sister said to me, you know, since
you prayed for me, it's been much worse.
Please pray for me again.
I said, boy, are you courageous.
Why the God whom we serve is still
the same.
Hallelujah.
He's still on the throne.
He is still on the job.
Thank God.
Praise the Lord.
The God whom we serve makes all the
difference in the world.
I've had to learn some lessons in trials
that were very prolonged and very severe.
And to find out that faith grows in
conflict.
That's where you find out that it's the
faith of the Son of God that makes
you laugh at all your foes and rejoice
in the midst of your trials.
Why the God whom we serve has a
wonderful plan.
Thank God.
Let him have his way with me.
I'm not going to find fault with God.
I'm going to rejoice in the Lord.
That's all I have to do.
He does all the rest.
Praise God.
It's simple, isn't it?
Like the Irishman who moved to this country,
and when another one came and said, well,
how are you?
He says, um, fine.
It's a wonderful country.
He says, it's got nothing to do with
us, but to carry bricks up to the
13th floor, and the guy up there does
all the work.
There's the bricklayer.
All I have to do is to delight
myself also in the Lord.
God sees to it that the work is
done, thank God.
But I ought to trust him.
I ought to delight myself in the Lord.
Happy.
Oh, beloved, it's a wonderful lesson, a marvelous
lesson, out of his fullness.
I'm so thankful that God picked such a
happy way for me.
You can choose what you please, but for
me it's to been the most happy, because
I wasn't born that way.
Glory to God.
I was born with clubbed feet.
I couldn't walk.
I stumbled all over myself until Jesus came
and gave me hind feet.
Praise the Lord.
Amen.
Everybody happy?
We ought
to thank God for his persistence in keeping
these truths before us.
I used to say, well, it's really not,
not so easy to be a minister in
Pentecost, because you can't choose your own ministry.
God chooses it for you, and you have
to keep saying the same thing over and
over and over and over, over and over.
But I remember how my boss used to
do in my, in the jewelry business when
he taught me how to do things.
I came to him one time and said,
that's wrong.
That's not the way to do it, he
said.
Well, I said, I've always done it that
way.
He said, well, then you've always done it
wrong.
And I'm so thankful that we have a
master who doesn't give up until his job
is done.
He's got a plan.
He has a design.
But I remember the school that God put
us into in the faith home inside.
You've all heard us talk about that.
We had a teacher at that time who
lived always in the bosom of the Father.
She had an experience like no one else
in the whole world.
She had gifts like no one in the
whole world even approaches them today.
And people would come all over the world
to hear words of God out of her
mouth.
And many of them were surprised at the
great simplicity.
They came to hear something highfalutin, you know.
And the first thing the Lord would say,
are you doing what the Bible says?
Are you rejoicing evermore?
Elder Brooks came there, the colonel from the
south.
We always admired his attire because he was
always groomed to perfection.
And all the ladies in his church liked
him.
Oh, he was the boy.
He was a wonderfully popular preacher.
So popular that his church filled up in
no time.
He had a large congregation.
But when he came around there, he said
he didn't like these monosyllables of Mrs. Robinson.
He wanted to hear something interesting.
Well, like people are today.
Did you hear that lecture about the little
men that came out of a flying saucer?
Well, you can get all the dub saints
to come by the thousands and listen to
baloney like that.
But you can't get them to listen to
the Sermon on the Mount.
You can't.
And yet Jesus says, he that heareth these
sayings of mine and doeth them not is
like a man that built his house upon
the sand.
Elder Brooks came there, and you know, he
couldn't get the baptism in the Holy Ghost.
His wife received it.
His wife received wonderful gifts.
And poor elder had to sit at his
wife's feet and listen to her preach.
My, that was a bitter pill for him.
Up to that time, he didn't believe in
women ministers.
No, sirree.
That's what he was there for.
But now he saw his need.
And then he discovered something else.
He couldn't rejoice in the Lord.
He was a dumper.
He told me this himself, and I'm sure
he wouldn't mind to have me repeat it.
And the Lord told him that he had
a demon that was as big as himself.
The idea of a minister carrying around the
demon with him.
Now don't quote me, don't tell this to
anybody, especially Pentecost.
They wouldn't believe that, you know.
But the Lord got after him, saying, God,
he knows what's wrong with us.
He knows why we are like we are.
And God tells us what's the matter.
And if we have sense enough to believe
it, and we can find that out ourselves
by comparing our lives with his command.
Am I doing what Jesus says?
Today the subject was rejoicing evermore.
If I'm not, why then Jesus doesn't reign.
And if he doesn't reign, somebody else reigns.
Positively, there's another master that binds me.
Well, I ought to be scared if I
don't obey the fundamentals of the Bible, of
the Sermon on the Mount, or another wonderful
fundamental.
In nothing be anxious.
But how many hearts are troubled all the
time by anxiety.
Or our sister talked about criticizing.
Isaiah said, Lord, I dwell among a people
of unclean lips.
Woe is me.
Oh, it would be such a good thing
if we would spend some time meditating upon
these words and searching our own hearts by
them.
If you don't go beyond the Beatitudes, you'll
have a wonderful mirror placed before you.
Blessed are the poor in spirit.
Well, do you know what poverty of the
spirit is?
Well, it's for me, thank God.
Blessed are the pure in heart.
But if I have criticism in my heart,
some people didn't like the praises this morning.
I could see it on your faces.
Well, the thing to do is to praise
louder than the others, so you don't hear
the others.
But why is it that there is that
feeling in your heart?
Where does it come from?
When I was a little boy, I always
wanted to know what bedbugs were like.
I heard about them.
I'd never seen any.
And I was always interested in everything the
Lord made.
And so, one day I got up in
the morning and my, my, the next morning
the same, I thought it was mosquitoes.
But finally I showed it to my mother.
She got pale.
She came and she turned my bed upside
down, took everything apart, nothing.
But she knew it was there someplace.
My father found them.
You'll find them.
He took a candle, lit it, and he
went to the wall.
There were cracks in the wall.
He just heated those cracks and out came
the whole battalion of the bottomless pit of
pollen leading the van.
I saw them then for the first time
in my life.
You see, they hide.
They're not rejoiced always.
And when you have criticism in your heart,
oh, when the heart is pure, those things
don't come to you.
Those thoughts don't bother you.
They don't come to you.
They don't afflict you anymore.
I remember a time when I couldn't be
happy in some Pentecostal meetings because some people
always got in the flesh.
Well, it was none of my business at
all.
God allowed them to be part there for,
just to show me what was in my
heart, what flesh that was here.
That's where the flesh was.
Oh, are you doing what he says?
And constantly the Lord harps on this one
thing.
And do you know that everything depends on
what I do with his word.
He says, turn you at my reproof.
Behold, I will pour out my spirit unto
you.
Those that have taken it to heart have
been transformed, transformed into his image.
They've received from him grace upon grace.
Like Sister Wally said, you find out that
you can't get it any other place but
from him.
But thank God he has gold tried in
the fire that you may be rich.
And he offers it to us.
And when Elder Brooks found that out, he
wanted to know what to do.
What do you think an educated, civilized, sophisticated
theologian should do?
A man that could take any text in
the Bible and preach an hour and a
half on it.
Any of them.
He could tell you anything from revelation to
revolution.
Anything.
He, he was a wonderful preacher.
What should he do?
The Lord told him what to do to
get rid of his dumb.
Go to every meeting 15 minutes ahead of
time and spend the 15 minutes shouting, hallelujah,
praise the Lord from the heart.
You wouldn't find many ministers that would do
that.
And you wouldn't find many men that would
do that.
If you offered them a dollar a minute,
yes, they would.
They would.
Ananias and Sapphira fills our churches.
You try it once.
You see what they'll do for a coffee
class.
Or a little honor, a little place of
distinction.
Some people won't play unless they can sing
solos.
Unless they're the whole chief.
Why we've seen it here.
People, ministers want members.
Well, they get them to pass the hat
if they can't do anything else.
Now they're big shots.
Oh, the flesh stinks, beloved.
To high heaven.
And God wants us to be rid of
it and he gives us his word as
a sharp, two-edged sword.
And Elder Brooks did it.
He told me for three months.
He did that three times a day.
Three times a day, he said he felt
like dying sometimes.
But he'd get down and he'd praise the
Lord.
Forty-five minutes every day.
And he said after three months he had
dug a hole through that.
He had really come out on top and
his enemy was gone.
The Lord came to him and those who
have known him know.
When we think of Elder Brooks, we think
of Jesus because the savor of his knowledge.
Oh, what a man.
What a man, one in ten thousand because
God was with him.