A Prisoner
JEFF.IN V-2 N-8 WEDNESDAY_ 63-0717
1 Here again, in the Name of the Lord Jesus, and to hear of the great and mighty works that You have done, before. And now we stand with anticipation, raises our faith and anoints us, to believe that what has been asked for tonight will be granted. Thou knowest each and every one of them, all that they have requested. And we pray for them, especially, Lord, those who are so near death. Bring peace to their soul if it isn't already there. Bring healing to their body. Grant it, Lord.
2 Bless our coming together. We--we pray, Lord, on this Wednesday night prayer meeting, that, as we have assembled, knowing that wherever two or more are assembled together, You'll be with us. And we ask You, Lord, to give us Your Word tonight. Speak to us, Lord, and warm our hearts, strangely, that we would know how to discipline ourselves for the great time that lays ahead, as we believe that we're nearing the Coming of the Lord.
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3 We thank Thee for people now beginning to find faith dear to them, and knowing what faith means. And knowing, even thanking You for services yet ahead, believing that You're going to do something. Lord, we're waiting with anticipation, like the days of old, believing that the time is near when You're going to just raise up the windows of Heaven and pour out the promises that God has promised in this last day.
4 Now we ask You, Lord, to--to be with all, around the nations, as today we heard so many around, everywhere, that's in need. Grant them their requests, Lord. And we pray to see the great hand of God moving all over the world among those who are looking for this great thing.
5 Forgive us of our sin. Chasten us, Lord, with Thy Spirit and Thy Word, that we might discipline ourselves, obedient servants, obedient servants in the will of God. Let us remember, and try to think in our hearts, what the early Christians done. What type of people would we meet if we met those who had personally been in contact with You. How their faces must have lit up with faith and joy. How their lives must have been the living Word of God, just "written epistles read of all men," as they walked in and among people. God, grant it once more.
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6 May our lives be so submitted to Thee, that the Holy Spirit will live Itself through us, and speak through us, Lord. May we remember, in our minds, as we walk upon the street and rub arms with the world, we're not supposed to be like those. And we step aside and give them the place, Lord, and their rightful position here on earth. We'll take the back seat, knowing that we are delegates from another world. We have a Kingdom that's coming into power, Lord. And our great King will soon arrive and take over all the kingdoms that's in His domain. And He shall rule and reign; with Him here on earth, thousand years, and be with Him forever.
7 With this in mind, Lord, now we look forward to the answer of our prayer. We look to our confession. If we have did anything, said anything, or thought anything, that was contrary to Your great will, let the Blood of Jesus Christ cleanse us.
8 Lead us, Lord, as the sister said tonight, about she and her husband on the road to Chicago. Lead them, Lord God, to the place that You can use, that they might be beams of light to others who are groping in darkness, that knows not our Lord Jesus. Now we commit the service to You, and listening for Your Word of correction, that we might know how to prepare for this great hour, in Jesus' Name we ask it. Amen.
[Blank.spot.on.tape. Brother Neville comments--Ed.]
Lord bless you. Thank you, brother.
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9 I was little bit unexpected of this. I, being here at home, I felt like if I wasn't really had to go somewhere, emergency, I'd feel very bad, me setting at home and not come to prayer meeting. And I kind of dropped in, unexpected, to myself, even to my family. I just got in, and took right off. And so I said, "I'm going down to prayer meeting." And she didn't even have time to get ready to come, so she didn't know I was coming.
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10 So I'm happy to hear the sister's testimony there, the brother, about that Light up at South Carolina or North Carolina, somewhere. Greenville, was it? [A sister says, "No. Southern Pines."--Ed] Southern Pines. Yes.
11 Brother Lee Vayle was just here today. I baptized him, today, in the baptismal service here today. Brother Lee Vayle you know, and the ministers there, Brother Parker Thomas. There's...
12 I remember of--of the time, a sister being shadowed. It was a great confirmation, sister, to what the... The Holy Spirit sometimes will let us go ahead and test our faith, to see what, and tests others' faith. When you're looking directly at something, and see something, and say it; others look and don't see it, they say it's not there. See? But it is there.
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13 Now, there was no one could see that Light was hanging over Paul, but It was there. No one seen that dove coming down out of Heaven, in that Light, in a form, and hung over Jesus, but John himself. But It was there. See?
14 And so, then, later when I was telling the people about this Light being like a Pillar of Fire, no one wanted to believe it. But now the mechanical eye of the camera identified That, how It come.
And the evil spirit is dark.
15 It's just like our lives, we're shadows. And we are... If we're a light, where if our lives cope with the Light of the day, we're walking in Light.
16 It's just like you look out and say, "I see the sun," in the daytime. You--you see the shadow of the sun. It's a reflection of the sun. It isn't the sun, itself, but it proves that there is a sun. It proves there is a sun.
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17 And now when I see, like you setting out there, using fans, talking, that means you're living, but it's only a shadow of life.
18 Because, anything has got to have darkness in it, to make a shadow. See? Because, a shadow has to possess so much darkness and so much light, to make a shadow. And it can't be altogether dark, and it can't be altogether light. If it's dark, it's real dark. If it's light, there's no shadow, nothing to make a shadow. But if it's mixed with dark and light, it makes a shadow.
19 So we are really shadows of light. Now you're reflecting a life from somewhere. If you are, and Christian, this being a shadow, it only proves that there is a Life where you can't die, because this life has death in it. See? But it's a shadow, because you're living, moving creature with abilities to see, think, move, and talk, and the five senses of the body. But yet you know, they, they're dying. And there's so much trouble. You know, it can only be the... It's a reflection, see, that there's life and death mixed together.
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20 The physical has to die. But if you are reflecting, by your mortal life, the Light of Heaven, then you're reflecting the Eternal Life, God. Then when you die, you can no more than go to that Light, because That's what you've reflected.
21 If you are of the dark world, you reflect that, and you can do, go no other way but to darkness. See? So we are in a reflection. So, we see that. And sure as the Holy Spirit reflects Light and Life, so does death reflect darkness.
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22 And here they both are. Tomorr-... By end of the week, maybe by Sunday, we're getting the small photograph blowed up to a large size, so it can be put on the billboard.
23 Where, your picture hangs out there on the billboard. I don't know whether you noticed it, or not. And then...
And about a week ago, in--in Jamaica, where I was missionary-ing. We send tapes all over the world. And The Seven Seals has got back into... way back into the inlands of Jamaica, way in the interior. And it's very primitive back in there, behind Blue Mountain. And the natives, sometimes, they have a--a tape recorder we get for them, that you have to--to, like the old Victrola, crank it, and then let--let it play like that. Then, every few minutes, somebody has to crank it.
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24 This group had a--a little battery, six-volt battery, or something another, playing the tape recorder. And they--they was all setting together, about what is here tonight, listening to those Seals, I believe it was. And while I was speaking, they noticed, coming in the room, came that same Pillar of Fire, moved over where the tape recorder was and settled down over the top of it. And they went and got a camera and took the picture of It. And just the same One, there It is, hanging right there over it. Now we're getting it blowed up, so we can put it on the--the billboard out there, that you can see it.
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25 We are so grateful for the grace of God that's been brought into our... us into His Presence in this day. Now we are grateful for many things.
26 Now I think I'll look in here and see if I can find some, some notes or some, something another that I spoke on. Or, get us some kind of a--a... I got some text wrote out, anyway, back in here in a book. If I can find one, maybe the Lord will give me something to say on something, while we pray.
Now we're under anticipation for Sunday.
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27 I have been speaking in the Messages. And, Sunday, kept you here a long time, on, "Why criest thou unto me? Speak to the people and go forward."
28 Now, Sunday is the healing service where the sick is to be prayed for. Now, you get around to the sick, and there's got to be some reason that the sick, when we pray for them, if they're not healed. And I want to, if the Lord willing, for just a short sermon on Sunday morning, too. So, I'm going to have a healing service, and pray for all the people. And Billy Paul or some of them will be here Sunday morning, about eight o'clock, when the church opens, to give the people cards as they come in the door, or whenever they get in.
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29 And now, then, I want to try, I believe the Lord has somehow give me a little insight on the reasons why there is some people are not healed. And I--I believe it's lack of understanding. And I--I believe, maybe, we'll speak on that, Sunday morning, the Lord willing.
30 Now, Wednesday night prayer meeting is just a short meeting where we get together and pray, as we have, and associate together.
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31 Sometimes, I--I believe one of the great things that I find in this day, is the lack of sincerity of what we believe. See? See? If God, in the days of John Wesley, would have done in that day what He has done today, what would it have done; in the days of Martin Luther, or whatmore? As what we see Him doing, both proven by the Church, by the Spirit; and by science, and every move, its--its emulsion has to recognize. And God's Word here declaring It and telling It before It comes to pass. And then moving upon, and prophesying, and showing the very thing that He said. It'll come to pass perfectly, exactly what He said. And still we sit kind of slothful, as if we wonder. "Well, wonder if that could mean me? Wonder if it could mean just the--the church, in whole. Or--or, wonder if I'm really included in This?" I think, Sunday morning, I'll try to talk on some of those principles that might enlighten us a little.
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32 Now, tonight, I found something, just turn to it here, 'for I come down. I thought, "What if Brother Neville, if I'd get down there, he happen to say, 'Get up and speak,' and just sit down"? See? I thought, "I better write down a couple Scriptures." Because, I know, he, he's such a lovely brother, and we--we appreciate him.
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33 Before we pray over the Word, I want to recognize a--a brother. I can't even call his name at this time, two of them. They are here, friends of mine. The... They're ministers and evangelists, in the field, going out. They heard these Messages by tape. And they're out of different denominational churches, two young fellows. And the boy is so, one of them so interested, till he flew down, Tucson, just recently, in closing out a meeting. I believe I was in the Business Men's Breakfast. And the young fellow, fine young fellow, come down. And he's...
34 They're from Kansas. And they come all the way here for me to marry them. I appreciate that. To think that people that believe in your prayers, enough, believe that God would hear and answer; young people starting out in life, like this. And when they got here for me to marry them, yesterday, to find out the state law of Indiana requires, and even though with their blood tests, to wait here in the state, three days, before they can be married. So, they cannot be married until Friday morning.
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35 And I'll ask our brother there on the end, if he'll just stand up and tell us who he is, and his lovely little lady there, and the next brother.
36 [The brother says, "Thank you, Brother Branham. Privileged to be here. And I'm... Brother Roger and me live in Kansas, travel on the field, as an evangelist, telling, 'Jesus saves, heals, by faith in Jesus...?... ' I've always packing...?... This is my fiancee, Patricia Brown. We're going to be married, Friday. My co-evangelist and co-worker, Brother Ronnie...?... on the end. And Mr. Peetree on the same...?..."--Ed.]
37 Thank you, very much. We certainly wish these young ambassadors, for the work of the Lord Jesus, God's blessings, to speed them on the way. And as I wondering, waiting for the Coming of the Lord, and see young men and young women with a purpose in heart, to serve Christ, that thrills me, see, to see them raise up like this. The Lord bless you, richly, my brother, sister.
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38 Now let us turn over to a little Book that I never spoke out of before, in my life. And it's a very... Just one chapter, the Book of Philemon. And it's a...
39 I'm just a little bit Irish, and I--and I do have a wire around my bottom teeth, to hold a couple in the back in place. Sometimes I don't pronounce these names right, when I do know what they are. And sometimes I can't pronounce them right, for the lack of education. So, "Philemon," someone said back there, which I think is really the correct pronunciation of it.
40 Now, the 1st verse, I want to take just a word or two from it.
Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ,...
41 And that's what I want to use tonight, as a text, the Lord willing, is: A Prisoner.
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42 Now, you could hardly imagine Paul regarding himself a prisoner. A born-free man, filled with the Holy Spirit, but yet he calls himself "a prisoner."
43 And now we find out, when he's addressing the Corinthians, "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ." Another time, "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ by the will of God," when he's speaking to Timothy, different ones. Now when he's writing here to Philemon, he said, "Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ." "Paul, an apostle," I'd like to preach one night on that. "Paul, a--a servant," preach on that. And then, "Paul, a prisoner."
44 But, tonight, being it'd take hours to duly consider one of the subjects, I'd like to take, tonight, "Paul, the prisoner," and take the subject of: A Prisoner.
Now let us bow our heads just a moment.
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45 Lord Jesus, any man, that's physically able, can pull back the pages of this Bible, but only the Holy Spirit can interpret It in the light that it's been meant to. We ask Him to come now and help us to understand what this was, addressed, this great, mighty prophet, Paul, and yet call himself "a prisoner." May the Holy Spirit reveal this to us as we wait on Him, in Jesus Christ's Name. Amen.
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46 Now I can imagine, Paul, when he wrote this letter to Philemon, how he was sitting in jail, down there in the dungeon of this city, a--a--a prisoner. And he could well know, by his position what the word meant. He was surrounded by--by--by bars. He--he could only be let free as someone would let him go free. And he knew what it was to be a prisoner. And then, again, I believe that the--the apostle meant just a little... not exactly addressing it to his present condition, as being a prisoner of his--his physical being sitting here in this--in this jail. But I believe he was referring to his--his being, his--his--his spirit, his will, being a prisoner to Jesus Christ.
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47 Now, we're all born, a free moral agent, to make any decision that we wish to. God justly does that. Because, He must put every man on the same basis, or He put the wrong man on... He put the first man on the wrong basis, that He put on free moral agency. See? We're just exactly, tonight, like Adam and Eve. There's no different. Right and wrong sets before either one of us. Life and death, we can make our choice; up to you, to make it. See?
48 That's the way Adam and Eve did, and, see, and--and they made the wrong choice. And now, by that, put the whole race, of human race, under death, the penalty of death.
49 And then God came down in the form of man and took that death, and paid the penalty of death, that the... His subjects that desired to--to be free could go free.
50 Now, if He took us, without the same way that He did Adam and Eve, just pulled us through something, said, "I'll save you whether you want saved or not," then He put Adam and Eve on--on the wrong basis, you see. But each one of us has to choose, this day, between death and life. We can do it.
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51 As I just expressed, if your light will prove, your life will prove exactly what side you're on. I don't care what side you say you're on. What you do, every day, proves what you are. You've heard the old saying, "Your life is so loud, I can't hear your testimony." See? Your--your actions is so loud.
52 I've always believed in shouting and jumping. But I've always said, "Don't jump no higher than you live, 'cause the world is going to watch that." See? You must just jump as high as you live, so, because somebody is watching you. And now when...
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53 People won't come to church. They--they, many of them, just won't do it. And some of them, not coming, is sincere people. They seen so much corruption in the church, until they don't want to have anything to do with it. And many times, we're speaking on a flat thought of that, you can hardly blame them, see, because of--of the way the people act. They call themselves Christian. They're the greatest stumbling block that the world has got, is the man and women who professes to be a Christian, and lives something different from their profession. Exactly right.
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54 Now, for the disappointments will be coming at the Judgment. Now, the sinner, the bootlegger, the gambler, the adulterous, he--he won't be disappointed to hear his sentence read, "To depart into everlasting fire." He won't be disappointed. But that fellow who is trying to hide himself behind some kind of a church profession, that's the boy is going to be disappointed at the Day of Judgment. See? That professes to be a Christian, and lives some other way. It'd be better for him that he never did even make any kind of profession, started off, than to start and live something different. Because, he's the greatest stumbling block we got, is for that professor that says that he--he--he is a Christian, and lives something different.
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55 Always, don't judge your life by how much power you have to perform miracles. And we don't judge ourself by how much knowledge you have of the Word. But always judge yourself, look back and taking inventory of what kind of a fruit that the life you presently live now is bearing. See?
56 As I preached sometime ago, at a businessmen's meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, of the reflection of Jesus, reflecting Christian Life. I said I was born up here in Kentucky, where it's very primitive, especially back when I was a kid. And this certain little boy never had a--a--a--a home like we have here, where we had so many pretty ladies that have to look through mirrors, all through the house, to keep their hair just in place, and so forth. But he had one little mirror, just a little piece tacked on a tree on the outside, where the wash bench was, where his mother and father washed, and they combed their hair, and so forth, from this little piece of an old mirror tacked on a tree.
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57 Frankly, that's the type of home that we have. Anybody want to see a mirror, we kids, we had to get a box and get up on the wash bench, and look in this piece of a--of a mirror that I picked up, myself, in a dump. That wasn't down in Kentucky. That's here in Indiana, up on Utica Pike here.
58 Now, this little kid had never exactly seen himself like that. So, he come to the city, to visit his grandma. And at the... It's on the tour of room, the grandma had a house that had a complete mirror on the door. And so, little boy, running through the--the room, seen another little boy in front of him. And the little boy was running, also. So he thought he should stop a few minutes and see what the little lad was going to do. And when he stopped, the little boy stopped. When he turned his head, the little boy turned his head. He scratched his head, the little boy scratched his. Finally, walked closer, to investigate. And he turned around. And his mother watching him, and his grandmother, with amazement. Said, "Why, mother, that's me."
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59 So I said, that, "We, too, are reflecting something." See? Our life is reflected.
60 And now, if we lived in the days of Noah, who's side would we take? What side would we took in that great day that Noah lived? What side would we took in the days of Moses? What side in the days of Elijah, the prophet, when all the world was gulfed up in a--a great mass of--of modernism, like the modern Jezebel, and had rid all the servants of the Lord out into a worldly way? And the church and the priests was all bowing to her. Would you have took the side of popularity, or would you have stood with Elijah?
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61 Now, and in the days of the Lord Jesus, when we would think of this unpopular Person, uneducated by the world, no schools they could ever find that He went to, and no--no seminary experience. And--and then raise up with a name of "illegitimate birth." And then come out, preaching a Gospel that was contrary to anything that they had been taught. Very... And condemning the ministers and their organizations, and so forth.
62 And the organizations had made a--a--a statement, "If anybody even went to hear this so-called prophet, would be put out of the synagogue," which was a--a mortal sin. They had to be accounted. Only way they could worship was under the blood of the lamb. They had to come to this sacrifice. And--and then they were outcasts, and what a great thing it was.
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63 And this Man ignored such as that. And yet He was perfectly with the Scripture, but not in the way they knew It. What side would you have took? See? Now, don't... Your life that you live now, reflects now just what you would have done then, because you still are possessed with the same spirit. See? If you take that side now, with them, you'd have done it then. Because, the same spirit that's in you now was in people then. See?
64 The Devil never takes his spirit; he just goes off of one man onto another.
65 God never takes His Spirit, neither; It goes from one to the other. See?
66 So, the very Spirit was upon Elijah come upon Elisha, same one on John the Baptist, and so forth.
67 The Holy Spirit, was upon Christ, come upon the disciples, all down, and still upon the people. You see? God never takes His Spirit.
So there we are left, to make a choice.
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68 And I--I can't see here where Paul was regretting anything, and saying he was sorry he was a prisoner. But he was addressing hisself... I believe that Paul, as he wrote this letter with that pen, that it was the Holy Spirit causing him to write that. That, maybe, even to this night, that we might pull out the context of our text, to show why Paul did this. Because, it's Scriptural, and Scriptural is Eternal. I believe, that, setting in this dingy old jail, that Paul wrote to his colleague here, that, his brother, that he was "a prisoner of Jesus Christ." So, he could express it by seeing what was around him. Now, he was in jail, but that wasn't what he was speaking to, this--this servant of Christ, a minister with him. He was speaking that he was a prisoner to the Word of Jesus Christ, 'cause Christ is the Word.
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69 And Paul had been a great scholar in his day. He had great ambition. He was a--he was a--a--a man that had been trained with, by people, a fellow by the name of Gamaliel, which was a great teacher of his day, one of the greatest schools that he could have went to. For instance, like we say, Wheaton, or Bob Jones, or some great fundamental school. He had been taught as--as--as a minister of the Word. And he was well educated, and smart, and an intelligent boy with a great ambition of maybe someday becoming a priest or a high priest to his people.
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70 He had an ambition. And then to find, that, this great ambition he had been trained for, and had spent all of his life, from maybe the age of about eight or ten years old, up to about thirty or thirty-five, when he finished college and graduated; and had all of his diplomas and everything, and stood in good with all the--the clergy, even to the high priest at Jerusalem. He had orders from him, personal orders, written, and trusted with this great Saul, "To go down to Damascus and to find all those down there that worshipped God contrary to what he said, and to bind them and put them in jail. If necessary, he had orders to put them to death, if he wanted to." He was... He had great ambition.
71 And now, all that he had trained for, God had took it all out of him. See? And what his objective was, and what his father had spent his money for, and the ambitions of his father and mother, was all had been taken away from him because that--that God had something else. Therefore, he was a prisoner from his objective that he had in life, and he had become a prisoner to Jesus Christ, Who was the Word.
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72 That road to Damascus changed Paul. Going down, about eleven o'clock, perhaps, in a day, that he was stricken down. And he heard a Voice, saying, "Saul, why persecutest thou Me?" And he looked up. And looking up, being a Jew, and knowed that Pillar of Fire was the Lord that led the children of Israel, because he knew that's what It was.
73 Remember, this Hebrew would have never called anything "Lord," capital L-o-r-d, Elohim, unless he had been satisfied that that's what It was, because he was trained scholar. And when he looked up, and he seen This, a Light, a Pillar of Fire that had led his people through the wilderness. And he said, "Lord," Elohim, capital L-o-r-... "Lord, Who are You?"
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74 And what a surprise it must have been to this theologian, to say, "I'm Jesus," the very One that he was so against. What a--what a turnaround! Oh! Oh! It must have been something terrific for this man, that all of his ambitions that he had, to find out, all at once, he had been persecuting. His ambitions had drove him to--to farther away from the main thing that he meant to do. And what a--a great shock it must have been, for this apostle, when He said, "I am Jesus," the very One that he was persecuting. "Why persecutest thou Me?"
75 Another little quotation we might drop in here. You see, as they make fun of the Church, they're not really making fun of the Church, they are making fun of Jesus. "Why persecutest thou Me?" How could Paul then, with all his intellect, believe that This was... that this Group that he was persecuting was the very God that he claimed to be serving? I think that's, without going into details, I think we're all well trained enough to know what I mean here. The same thing is happening today.
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76 Paul, through ignorance, was yet intelligent and smart, much smarter than those uneducated Galileans that he was persecuting, that had already in their humility accepted this Man as Lord. But, Paul, in his great teaching and his intellectuals, could not accept That. And what a turnaround it must be to him, on this road. And he was stricken blind, so he would not carry out his commission, but was led down to a place in a street called Straight, and the house of one.
77 And then come the prophet down there, by the name of Ananias, who saw in a vision, him coming down, saw where he was at, went down to where he was, and went in. And said, "Brother Saul, the Lord appeared to you on the road down; sent me, that I might lay my hands upon you, and you receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost."
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78 See where he was. What a--what a thing it must have been for Paul! See? All that he had been trained to do was vice versa. So now, with--with all the education he had, it--it was just become naught to him.
79 Now, he knew that he had an experience. So here is another good lesson for us, that, experience alone isn't enough. It's got to be experience according to the Word of the Lord. So, him seeing this, and know that It was a great Something, then, that somebody else had received It before him, he took three years and six months down in the--the desert in Arabia; taking the--the Bible, as It was then, the Old Testament, and going down there, to--to compare this experience that he had had, and see if It was Scriptural.
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80 Now what if he said, "Well, I guess that was just a little blowover," and went on? "I'm going to follow my intellect"?
81 Now, he had to become imprisoned to something, a prison. So after comparing it, and seeing, no wonder he could write the Book of Hebrews, in a type. See? Three years and a half down there, laying in the Word, and finding out that the very God that called him was taking him back, and changing all of his intellects, changing all that he ever thought, all that he trained to be. All his ambition, just wiped it away from him, and he became a prisoner. The love of God had been so tremendous, and such a--a revelation, that he could not get away from It.
82 That's the true experience of every real believer who meets God. You--you come in contact with Something that's so great, that you... that--that you become a--a prisoner, to everything else. See? You--you get away from everything, to imprison yourself to This.
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83 It's expressed one time where Jesus said, "The Kingdom of Heaven is something like a man buying pearls. Then when he finds that great Pearl, he sells all that he's got, to get that One."
84 And that's the way here. You--you have an intellectual conception, you have a--a--a--a theological experience; but when it comes to a time that when you--you--you really find the real Thing, you--you just sell out everything else, and you close yourself in to This.
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85 Paul knew what it was. He--he found out that he was harnessed to Something. Like we put a--a--a horse in a harness, it's to--it's to pull something. And Paul knew, after this experience, and three years and a half of typing the--the experience he had, with the Bible, he realized that God had chosen him and had harnessed him by the Holy Spirit, the experience that he had, to pull the Gospel in the presence of the Gentiles. The Spirit, Itself, harnessed him.
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86 And, today, as servants of Christ, we become harnessed, hooked up. We can't go. We're logged in with It, harnessed to the Word. No matter what anyone else says, you're harnessed to It. There is something about It, that you just can't get away from It. You been yoked up with It, by the Holy Ghost, has yoked you to the Word. No matter what anyone else says, It's the Word. That's always harnessed up with It, put in the yoke with It. To the Word, by the Spirit, he was harnessed.
87 He had learned on the--the back side of the Arabian desert there. When, all his former things, and experiences, and ambition, that, he had been stripped of those things.
88 Now, that's where we find, today, that we must be stripped, first. And people don't want to be stripped. The Methodist brother wants to hold to a little bit of his Methodist teaching. Uh-huh. The Baptist brother wants to hold to a little bit of his Baptist teaching. See? But you've got to absolutely be stripped of everything, and just born again, afresh. And take up from there, let the Holy Spirit lead. You can't say, "Well, now, my--my daddy said, when he got in, went in the church, he shook hands with the pastor. He, he's a good loyal member." That might have been all right for his race, but we're another race. See? Now we must come back to the Bible times for this day.
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89 The priests was harnessed, too. But, you see, they had come over into another dispensation, and they--they fail to strip off their old harness and put on a new harness.
90 And the same thing we find today. We did come through a denominational age, as we proved through the church ages, the Bible, and so forth, but we come now to a free age, where the Holy Spirit Himself comes down and vindicates Himself, and makes Himself known, makes every promise that He promised, come to pass. Oh, my! What a great time!
91 And he knew that, another thing, he knew he could not go to places. That, being harnessed to This, that he would not. That he did, but he--he wanted to go. He knew that his ambition drawed him amongst brethren where he was invited to come, and yet he was pressed in the Spirit to do something else. He wasn't his own.
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92 Maybe somebody could say, "Brother Saul, Brother Paul, we want you to come over here, because we got the biggest church. We got the biggest congregation. Your offerings will be great, and so forth."
93 But being pressed in the Spirit, he thought, "I got a brother over there. I'd like to go over and save this brother, get him to the Lord." But, yet, the Spirit pressed him to go somewhere else. He was a prisoner. Correctly.
94 O God, make us prisoners like that, from our own selfish ambition, and from our own judgments and our better way of thinking, to be a prisoner of Jesus Christ. I think that was a great statement, that, "I'm a prisoner to Jesus Christ."
95 And remember, He is the Word. See? No matter what anyone else thinks, it's the Word. See? If you're a prisoner to the Word, no denomination can sway you from It. It's--it's the Word. You're just... You're a prisoner to It, that's all. You must act the way It acts.
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96 Now, he could not go to certain places that he wanted, because (why?) the Spirit forbade him. Remember, many time, that Paul was trying to go some place, thinking, "There is where I could have a great meeting," but the Spirit would forbid him. Now, does that clearly state and prove that Paul was a prisoner? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] A prisoner to Jesus Christ, harnessed to His Word, by the Spirit! Oh! I like that. Uh-huh.
97 He was bound. He was bound by a chain, and by fetters of love, to do the will of God, and that only. He was a prisoner. He was in a fetters of love. He was in the yoke with Christ. He could yoke up with nothing else. He was yoked with Him. And where the Lead went, that's where he had to go. Regardless of how green the pasture was, here on this side or that side, he had to go the way the Leader and the yoke went.
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98 Oh, tonight, if we, as the Branham Tabernacle, could only become prisoners; to our own selfish being, to our own ambition, that we could completely surrender ourself and be yoked to Him, no matter what the rest the world thinks, what the rest the world does. We're yoked with fetters of love. We are prisoners. "My feet is so yoked to Christ, it won't dance. My eyes is so yoked to Christ, till I, when I see these modern striptease on the street, It turns my head. My--my heart is so yoked in love to Him, till I can't have love for this world, anymore. My will is so yoked to Him, till I don't even know now what my ambitions are. Just, 'Wherever You lead, I'll follow, Lord.' I'll be a prisoner." See?
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99 Paul was correctly a prisoner. He wasn't making any wrong statement. He was trained by the Holy Ghost, again, to wait on the Word. Now, he had been trained one way, but--but God had trained him another way now. He was trained by the Holy Spirit to wait upon the Lord, no matter what his ambitions was.
100 Now I'm going to, help by the Holy Spirit, show you something. See? Now let's just take an instance.
101 One day, Paul and Silas, coming down the street in a certain city where they was holding a revival. And a little, demon-possessed girl kept following him, crying out after him. And no doubt but what Paul knowed that he had the authority, as an apostle, to rebuke that evil spirit out of that woman. But did you notice? He waited, day after day, until, all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit spoke to him, said, "This is the hour."
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102 Then he said, "Thou spirit, come out of her." See? He knowed to wait on the Lord.
103 And there is where so many people today bring a reproach upon the Word. They go out with an ambition. How many revivals has been left flat because of a thing like that, because the evangelist don't wait to see what the Lord has got to say! Some of them say, "Come over here," and they--they go right now because the--the association said, "Go." And the Holy Spirit would say something different. Yet, the ambition of the man to become the state presbyter, or--or something another, or some elder, or some bishop, or something would pull him, "You must go." And, yet, he knows better. The Holy Spirit saying, "Go here." See? He's yoked to his organization. He's a prisoner to the organization.
104 But if he's yoked to Christ, he's led by the Holy Ghost. He...?... See? He, he's yoked, a prisoner. Don't make any different what anything else says; it's--it's a--it's a--a sounding brass and a tinkling symbol. He hears only the Voice of God, and he speaks only when It comes out. He says nothing.
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105 Somebody say, "Oh, oh, Brother Jones!" Brother Roberts, or some, these great men in our land today, like Tommy Hicks, or--or--or Oral Roberts, or--or Brother Tommy Osborn, some of those great evangelists. If somebody would say, "Say, come over here, Tommy. You're a great man of God," or Oral. And I--I got a--a uncle that's laying over here, that's--that's all bound. And he's--he's sick. I want you come over. I believe you have the strength to heal him." See?
And maybe the Holy Spirit would say to him, "Not now."
106 But, yet, to the friendship of that man, he's duty bound to go with him. If he don't, he becomes an enemy to that man. That man say, "Well, he went to so-and-so, heal that child or that boy. I know he did. And I been his friend, for years, see, and he wouldn't come to my place."
107 But if he's constrained by the Holy Spirit not to go, he better not go, if he's yoked to God. His friend, he love. But he better be led of the Holy Spirit to go there, because it won't do any good, anyhow. I experience that so many time.
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108 But Paul just waited for the Spirit to tell him what to do. "Wait on the Spirit," said. He stood one night, preaching. And he walked out of there. He seen a crippled man. And all at once, the Spirit spoke to him, and he said, "I perceive." How? The same way he perceived they was going to be wrecked, upon an island. See? "I perceive that you have faith to be healed. Stand up on your feet. Jesus Christ made you well." See? There you are. He--he was... He was yoked. He might have held a week's revival there and nothing had happened, but yet he waited for the Holy Spirit to say. See? He was yoked to that appeal.
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109 Now you say, "Brother Branham, you're condemning what you said Sunday, about you been waiting all this time."
110 And, but, you remember, it was the Holy Spirit that spoke to me up there on the road, and said, "I'm sending you back amongst the sick and afflicted." See? It's obedient to the Holy Spirit. I didn't go until He told me to do it. I was waiting for THUS SAITH THE LORD, till I got THUS SAITH THE LORD. Now, that's different. See? Now, It, That makes a difference. Yes.
111 He waited for the Word of the Lord. He was pressed in the Spirit, to do only God's bidding, then he become a prisoner of Jesus Christ. Friends, if we could only become prisoners!
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112 I know it's hot. But I--I'd like to name a couple more characters, if you would. I got about six or eight wrote down here. But I--I'd like to name just another character or two.
113 Let's take the character of Moses. He was born a deliverer. And he--he--he knew that, that he was born a deliverer.
114 But before I say about Moses, I'd like to make this statement, that, God always has to take any man, that will serve Him truly, to be His prisoner. A man has to surrender every ambition he's got, everything that he is, every--every thing, his life, soul, body, will, ambitions, and everything else, and become a complete, a prisoner to Christ, Who is the Word, to serve God.
115 You might have to walk contrary, in your better judgment. Maybe, in a certain organization, you might think that they could lift you up and give you something great, that you might flash. But what do you find yourself? You find yourself defeated, after while, until God can get a man that's willing to become a prisoner to Him.
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116 God is looking for prisoners. He's always done it. You might search it through the Scripture. A man has to be a prisoner to Christ, against anything. Therefore, you cannot be connected with anything but Christ; even your father, your mother, your brother, your sister, your husband, your wife, anybody. You're only connected with Christ, and Him only, then God can use you. Until then, you can't.
117 Going out, sometimes speaks rough to people. See? I--I am trying to get you to cut loose. You've got to have a starting place, like sometime calls out the women bobbing their hair and wearing these clothes, and hold and maintain their Christian profession. Say, "That's a little thing." Well, you've got to start somewhere. So begin right there, in your ABC's. See? And cut loose the worldly looks, anyhow, and become a prisoner to Christ. And then just keep on, cut loose everything, till finally the last line is cut loose. Then you're--you're... You are a prisoner then. You become in His grip. He, He's got you in His grip.
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118 Now, Moses knowed that he was born the deliverer. He knew that. And did you notice, with the ambition that Moses had; knowing his mother had told him over there, as she was his nursemaid.
119 No doubt, when Moses the little baby was born, that his mother said, "You know, Moses, when... Your dad, Amram, and I prayed constantly. We knowed, and seen in the Word, it was time for the coming of a deliverer. And we prayed, 'Lord God, we want to see that deliverer.' One night, the Lord told us, in a vision, that you would be born, and you would be the deliverer. We wasn't afraid of the king's commandment. We didn't care what the king said. Then, we knowed that you were born a deliverer. Now, Moses, we knowed that we couldn't bring you up right."
120 Now remember, they had been down there, four hundred years in Egypt. See?
121 "And we--we wanted to get you the--the right thing, the right education, the right training. So, I took you and put you in a little ark, and set you out into the Nile. And how strange, that the currents taken that little ark down through the reeds and rushes, and brought it right down, miles away, and turned it right into Pharaoh's palace, where his... Pharaoh's daughter was, where her bathing pool was. And how that--that I knowed that she'd need a woman to raise you."
122 And in them days, of course, they didn't have these bottles to raise the babies on, so she'd have to have a--a wet nurse. So...
123 "And, Miriam, I sent her down. And she stood there, and she said, 'I know where I can find a wet nurse,' and come and got me. And, Moses, the doors are all shut. Honey, you're sixteen years old now, and you're going to be Pharaoh's son. And someday you're going to be the deliverer that's going to take the people out of here."
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124 Moses' ambition begin to grow. "I'll study, mother. I'll study everything I can. You know what I'll do? I'll study how to be a military man, and I'll know how to take these people out of here. I'll be a great general, bishop, so I'll know how it's done. And I'll--I'll take it out. I'll get my Ph.D or LL. I'll do it."
125 Like "Father Chiniquy," if you ever read his books. All right. He's "going to deliver all the Protestants," you know, and he become one, himself. So, this great priest, years ago, "Father Chiniquy," you ought to get his book and read it. They call him, "father." He's just Brother Chiniquy, what it was. We don't call no man "father," like that. So we find that--that we... He was going to read the Bible, so he could get out there and disprove the Protestant religion and make it all Catholic. And when he went to read the Bible, the Holy Spirit come upon him, and he got the Holy Ghost, and then--then he become one of them.
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126 So then notice this, that Moses got all the training. Because, he--he knew. He was so smart, so educated, so intellectual! Till, there's nobody... He could even teach the Egyptians. Till, he could teach their psychologists. He could teach their--their generals what military might was. He was a great man. And people feared Moses, because of his greatness. Oh, such a scholarship! My! He was an archbishop, or maybe like a pope. He was a great fellow. And he was a--a--a mighty man. And he knowed that he was born to do this, and had trained, with great ambition, to do it.
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127 Just like today. I don't say that men, training in these schools, I don't say that... Like they're out here in the West now, they're going to build a hundred-and-fifty-million-dollar school of theology, see, Pentecostal, a--a hundred-and-fifty-million-dollar school. To me, that should be missionaries in the field. See? See? See? But, whatever, what do they do when they come out of there? What are they? Bunch of rickies. Just exactly. And then that's how they come out. It always has, the rest of them, and that's the same line. See?
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128 Now we find out, that, when, Moses, in all his training. And today, with all the training, making big bishops and so forth, the great, high ambition, what will we do? Our ambitions become just about like what Moses' was. See?
129 God, before He could get the man in His hand, He had to strip him of his ambition. He had to strip him of all of his training.
130 He did go out, and he delivered; he killed one Egyptian. And he, and when he did, he found out that he was in the wrong. He couldn't do that. It wasn't that way. And God had to take him out into the wilderness, into the desert, a desert place.
131 You notice, kind of strange, how these fellows, that God got a message for them. He takes them into a desert.
132 He took Paul to the desert, to train, to tell him what all this great vision was, out into the desert. "Go out to a certain desert." And he stayed there until God fully made known what to do.
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133 And Moses' time, He took him out in the desert. Kept him out there for forty years, and stripped him of all of his theology and all his ambition. Oh, what a time, that he could look back and see his failure. And how we, tonight, ought to do the same thing, when we see our ambition.
134 Look at the healing campaign, and see if the Lord did something a few years ago, to start restoring healing to the sick, and so forth.
135 Everybody, every organization, is because It didn't come into their organization, they had to get them a healer. And what have we done? Let's look at it just a moment. We have done the same thing that Moses did. We've went out and tried so hard to manufacture some kind of a miracle. "I smelt a disease. I--I--I got blood in my hand," and manufacture a miracle. See? And what have we got? Some of the men in such hard strains, that's broke up and become regular drunkards, neurotic, and got their minds. And they switched all the way back, the order from the pentecostal objective, back to making organizations and things again. See?
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136 What have we done? Slew about one Egyptian. That's right. And we've tried. We've strained. We've paid. We've labored, go all night long in prayer meetings, till we had no voice. And--and try to manufacture something, and soup-up something, and all these type of things, and find it to be a total failure. We need a going-back to the desert. Right. Yes, sir. Camp meetings, and struggles. Why not just give up? That's what you ought to do, see, go back and give up. Why, we done the same thing they did, same thing Moses did. It doesn't do any good. After forty years, he found himself a prisoner to the Word of God. What do we try to do?
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137 When, the great Blessing come out, and the manifestation of all these great things that God has told us about: how that we must be born again; how we receive the Holy Ghost; the baptism in the Name of Jesus Christ; and all these things here.
138 You see, people, instead of staying to that Word, harnessed to It, what do they do? They started with their own denominational theory, which had already failed, and try to manufacture something to look like the Truth.
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139 I better cut off right there. See? I'm sure you're wise enough to know what I mean. See? But, why, look what it's done. Think of it.
140 What have we got, tonight, but a--a--a nation full of organized people who deny the Scriptures of God; who would call the--the--the Life of the Holy Spirit, that, "It was a--a mental telepathy," who would refuse such to come into their church. And they wouldn't permit you to mention one Word of serpent's seed, Eternal security, and the things that the Holy Spirit has revealed and proved to be the Word. I made challenge after challenge, to come and prove it to me wrong.
141 What have they got? The same thing that Luther had, the rest of them, see, slew an Egyptian. What must... What was it? Maybe he made some man start... stop stealing, or maybe live true to his wife. But what did you make him out of that? A church member. "Come and join our group." See?
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142 That stinking dead man was only thing he'll point his finger to, of his success, of forty years of training; a stinking Egyptian laying there, rotten and dead.
143 That's about the way it is tonight. The only thing we can point to, this revival has crossed over, so called, is a stinking bunch of church members that knows no more about God than a Hottentot would know about Egyptian night. Right. That, would tell them about the Word of God, they say, "I don't believe That." Say, "I don't care what they say. I don't believe It." See? See? That's an awful thing to have to point back to, for all the strains and struggles and everything we got.
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144 Maybe we could point to a big school, but it's dead. We could point to an organization, but it's dead. It's stinking. It's just like the first thing that we pulled out of. "Like a hog going to its wallow, and a dog to its vomit," when we return back. One dead Egyptian.
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145 No doubt but somebody said, "Moses, well, haven't you got no more feeling for the people? You was called for this." Somebody that knowed Moses, knowed he was called for that. "And don't... You lost the feeling of the people?"
"No, sir."
146 "Well, why ain't you out, over, doing this? And why ain't you out here, trying this? And why don't you go on with the rest of them?"
147 Moses was out there getting stripped, until he had an experience at the burning bush, that declared the Word. "I AM the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And I remember My promises. And I've come down to deliver them. I'm sending you to do it." That was it.
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148 He seen the Word, not the ambition of the people or the desires of the people. Then what did he become? He did not want to face the Egyptians any more. He didn't want to face this thing any more. But he become a prisoner. Amen. Forty years of running, stripping down, but then he become a prisoner, at the burning bush, the mighty Moses with all of his intellect. The Bible saying that Moses was a mighty man in word or in deed, down in Egypt.
149 But watch what the mighty theologian did in the Presence of the burning bush. He only confessed his inability. When he seen the genuine purpose of God, he confessed that he was inability to do it. Yet, he was trained in all the theology that they could give him, trained in their best school. But, yet, would he do when he... that Pillar of Fire hanging there in the bush? Said, "I can't even talk to Him. Lord, who am I, that I should go?" See?
150 "Get your shoes off, Moses. I want to talk to you. Strip yourself down, even your shoes. You're--you're flat on the ground again. I want to talk to you."
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151 Couldn't even talk. Finally, a elected prisoner, a elected prophet, just like that Paul was elected. Moses was elected, deliverer. And then, finally, God had His elected subject a prisoner to Him. Oh, hallelujah! He could only move as the Word of God moved him. "Who shall I say sent me?"
"I AM."
"How will I do?"
"I'll be with you."
152 "Yes, Lord, just as You say. Here I am." Oh, my! That, he's a prisoner.
153 He goes against his better thinking. Now, he had been trained to command an army. "Swords, up! About-face!" Trained to go, "Chariots, all in order! Spears, forward! Charge!" That's how he's going to take it over. That was his training.
But he said, "What am I going to use?"
Said, "What you got in your hand?"
154 "A stick." God does things so ridiculous sometimes, to the human mind. See? Got a stick in his hand. Whiskers hanging down. Eighty years old. His wife on a mule; kid setting on her hip. Little, old flabby arms hanging down; a stick. Just his head stood up, for he had THUS SAITH THE LORD. Why? He had finally got anchored.
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155 He was a prisoner. "I'll only move when the Word moves me. I'll only speak where the Word speaks."
"Where you going?"
156 "I got one commission: stand before Pharaoh and show him, by this stick, that God sent me." Amen.
"What you going to do after that?"
"He'll provide the next thing, after I do this."
157 There you are. You've only got one thing to do, the first step, tonight: surrender, become a prisoner. Don't think of yourself or something else. Become a prisoner.
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158 Moses become a prisoner, confessed he couldn't even talk. Finally, when God got him in His hand, where he could only move where God moved him. Where, He told him the Word. He knowed it was the Word, then he submitted hisself to the Word. And the Holy Spirit there, God, harnessed Moses to the will of God.
159 That's the same thing He done to Paul. That right? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] He harnessed Paul; little, crooked-nose, sarcastic Jew, oh, with Ph.D. and LL.D.'s wrote all over him. But He said, "I'm going to show him what he's going to suffer for the Word's sake." See? And he...
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160 And then Paul sitting there and seeing the Word, and seeing that that was Jesus, then he raised up his hands and become harnessed to Him. The love of God harnessed him to the Word. "He's going to bear My Name before the Gentiles." There he went.
161 "Moses, I AM the God of your fathers. I AM the God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Jacob. I remember I promised them, and the time of the promise is near. And I see the afflictions of My people. I remember My promise. And I have come down to harness you. You know what the Word said. I've harnessed you to go down there, harnessed you with power, to go down there and deliver My people. And take that stick in your hand, as a witness, 'cause you seen a miracle done by it." Just like David, with the slingshot. See?
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162 Harnessed, himself, and he went down. Finally, God had a man that was subject to Him, harnessed to Him, and could not move until the Word of God moved him. If people would just do that, today! Then, he was His prisoner, a prisoner of love, yoked up in the bond of love, with--with God, as Paul was yoked up in the bond of love to God.
163 Just like Paul, both of them trained the same way. Moses trained, you know, to deliver the children of Israel by military might. Paul trained to take them out of the hands of the Romans and put them free, by his great ecclesiastical force in the world that day. Great schools of training, come up under Gamaliel.
164 And both of them went to the desert; come back different men. Both of them saw the Pillar of Fire. And both of them were prophets. That right? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] Both of them, prophets. And they both was talked to by the Pillar of Fire, exactly right, coming for a deliverer. There they was; went to a desert. Left their homes and went to the desert, to find out. Left their people and everything, to find the will of God. See?
165 They were trained in one way; God changed them to another. And they had to become a complete prisoner, to not act in the way that they wanted to act, but act in the way that God wanted them to act. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.
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166 Have we got another ten minutes there, to make these? [Brother Neville says, "Amen."--Ed.]
167 I'll real quickly get to another character. I see one before me now. His name is Joseph. He was an elected son. He was a perfect type of Jesus Christ. He was born a prophet. He was a prophet, also. See? And now he could see vision. And when he's yet a little boy, he saw a vision of himself sitting on a throne, and his brothers bowing to him. See? But watch. He become... He felt like he was a great guy. See? All of them...
168 But what did God have to do? He done the same thing that He did to the rest of them. Because, Moses was a deliverer, Paul was a deliverer, and now Joseph was a deliverer. He saved his people from the famine.
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169 What did God have to do to him? Put him in prison, put him right straight to the prison. Yes, sir. Remember, he was sold by his brethren, to an Egyptian. And they sold him to Potiphar. And Potiphar give him a little bit of liberty, and, first thing you know, that was taken from him. And there he sit in the prison, crying, crying. God had to strip it.
170 Now notice. But, all the time, I believe, he, in that prison, he could remember that the vision said that he was going to set on a throne, and his brothers was going to bow to him, because he knew that his gift come from God. And he knew that it had to come to pass.
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171 If we could only keep that in our mind, and according to the Word of God, that in these last days He's going to have a Church, He's going to have a people. And these things that He promised, He's going to do them. He said He would, and we're living in the time. We're there. He's just trying to get us to be real prisoners now, locked in with Him.
172 You heard that old song you sing, "And then I'm a shut-in with God"? I want to be shut in with God. Now, it's where I thought about this. Being shut in with God, nothing else, and you only move when God says move. You only do as God says do, see, then you're shut in with God.
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173 Now remember, he was thinking. He also became a total failure, to himself. All that he knew, all that he understood, and everything, he become a total failure. It didn't work. He was put under a situation to where that nobody would listen to him. He was a prisoner. See? He was put into a situation, that unbelievers would not believe. Do you see what I mean? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] His ministry was of noneffect. The people turned their head. They wouldn't pay no attention to him in prison. What good would his ministry do? He might stand to the prison bars and preach to them; they'd walk on down the street. See? But he become a prisoner. And God kept him, a prisoner, until the wheel got rolled up right. Said, "Here is My man." Glory! Total failure!
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174 Finally, God came to him in his prison. Like Paul, like all the rest of them, He came to him. And He used the gift that He had give him, to get him out of there. That's right. He brought him from his prison. What did he do? As soon as He brought him from his prison, he was given power by the king, his king, that he set on the side of, that he was under. He was brought from the prison house and given power; till, whatever he said, had to happen. Amen.
175 In his prison, he constantly remembered, he was born for a purpose. He was going to sit by a king. All the rest of them was going to bow a knee to him. His vision told him so. Amen. But before his vision could be completely fulfilled, he had become a prisoner. Amen. And then he become a ruler. And when he come from his prison house, and become a prisoner of the Word of God, that he could only say what God put in his mouth to say, then God moved through him.
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176 Notice, that Moses had power to bind Pharaoh's princes, at his own will. "If you say to this mountian, 'Be moved.'" He had power to bind Pharaoh's princes. Whether they were deacons, or presbyters, or they're the state representatives or whatever they was. He said, "I bind you," and they were bound. That was it. He could do it at his own word, at his own pleasure. Amen. Glory to God!
Oh, I just got about three more minutes. I keep my word.
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177 Now we find out, that he--he become a prisoner to God, from a prisoner to the world. From... Paul, the same way. And Moses, the same way, from a prisoner to his own thinking, to a prisoner to God. And when he come out, he had the power of God. And when he become Paul... When the old thinking, of Moses, he surrendered it and stripped of it, he become a prisoner to Christ's Word. Could only move wherever...
"You say, 'Christ'?"
178 "He esteemed the reproach of Christ greater treasures than that of Egypt." So he was a prisoner to Christ, just like Paul was.
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179 Remember, all three of them were prophets. See? And they had to be stripped of their own thinking, in order to become a prisoner to the will and the ways of God.
180 Then we remember, now, that he had power to bind, at his own word. He had power to loose, at his own word. He could say, "I loose you, in the name of my king." Amen. Pharaoh made Joseph his son.
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181 Christ makes His, prisoners of love, His sons. And He gives them power, the same thing He had. Saint John 14:12, "He that believeth on Me, see, the works that I do shall he do also. Even more than this shall he do." Now the prisoner of the love of Christ becomes empowered by his King, Who is Christ. Amen. "And verily I say unto you, if you say to this mountain, 'Be moved,' and don't doubt in your heart, but believe that what you've said will come to pass, you'll have what you said. If ye abide in Me, and My Word in you; if you're yoked to Me," because Him and His Word is the same. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. Same yesterday, today, and forever! If ye abide in Me," not in here and there. "Abide in Me, and My Word in you; ask what you will, or say what you will, it'll be done for you." He had power.
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182 Notice, before he come out, he had to be taken out and shaved. A few things had to be shaved off before he could meet his king. See?
183 Oh, God sometimes takes His people out like that, and shaves a few of their own wills off, shows them that they can't do just what they wanted to do. You know what I mean. They're not--they're not in liberty to do what they want to do. Before they could come into full power and be a love-slave to Christ, they have to be shaved off and then presented. Sometimes He takes them to the desert, to do that, to shave them off. And then bring them out, the anointed one, to fulfill the purpose that He's ordained them to be. See what I mean?
Brethren, we're at the end time.
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184 Remember, all other times, what He's done. He's always had to take a man and make him a prisoner to Him, forsake his own. He had to forsake everything that he knowed, forget all of his trainings, everything, in order to know the will of God, and to follow God.
185 He can't follow anything that man has got to do, and God, the same time. It's too contrary, one to another. You can't be going east and west at the same time. You can't be going right and left at the same time. You can't be doing right and wrong at the same time. You can't be following man and God at the same time. No, sir. You're either following God or following man.
186 Now, then, if you are following God and have submitted yourself to God, then you become a prisoner to that God, to that Word, to that will. No matter what anything else says, you become a--a prisoner to It.
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187 Listen. We're at the end time. And I would say this with reverence and respect, as the last couple minutes is floating by. Look. What God, to my opinion, will do and must do, and will do in this last day, is to find a tool for the harvest. He's got to find a tool, to thrash the floor. Any farmer, when he goes to his harvest, he has to have a tool to do it with; certainly, he's got to have a sharp sickle or something, some instrument, to thrash out the grain. And the harvest is ripe.
188 God, take us in Your hand. Make us bond-servants of Your love. Use us for tool, to bring the realization to this sinful, cursed earth that we're living in today, that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
189 For myself, God, let me be a prisoner. If all my brethren turn me down, if all my friends turn me down, I want to be a prisoner of Jesus Christ and His Word, that I might be harnessed to His Word, by the Holy Spirit, to see the Holy Spirit make the Word of God be confirmed by the same things that He said would be done. I want to be a prisoner of Jesus Christ.
Let us pray.
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190 I wonder, tonight, with our heads bowed, if that ambition that we have, of being something else, or maybe of something that we might think, be a selfish thing, wonder if we couldn't just kind of lay that aside.
191 I wonder if some young boy here, tonight, look around, say, "I'm going to be, when I get big, I'm going to be a certain-certain thing." Wonder if you could feel the will of God move in your life, and say, "No, no. Uh-huh. I--I... My ambitions are lost now. For the last few days, the Holy Spirit has been speaking to me. I--I--I--I want to yield myself to God, to be a thrashing instrument of this last day."
192 Some young girl that might have ambitions of a fine lady character, or--or maybe be a pretty little misses, or maybe someday make Hollywood your career, I--I wonder if you're not willing now to submit your ambition in the Presence of God and His Word, hear the call of God in your own life. God knows who you are.
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193 I wonder if there'd be a minister close, or a servant, a worker somewhere in church. I just get in here, once in a while. I--I don't know one-third of the people sitting here, tonight, but I... this little handful that's here. I wonder if there'd be such a person, that you'd be willing to say, "I don't care what anyone says. I'm God's slave now. I--I--I'm going to preach His Word, regardless. I don't care what, my--my organization turns me out, I'm still going to stay with that Word. I--I'm going to do it. My will is God's will. God's will is my will. I'm going to be a prisoner to Jesus Christ. By His grace and help, I'll do it."
194 Think of it, while we have our heads bowed. How many has got that ambition, tonight? Would you raise your hand. That's mine, too. I surrender all. With our heads bowed now, slowly now, as you think it over now, as you pray.
I surrender all,
I surrender all,
All to Thee, my blessed Saviour,
I surrender all.
I surren-...
195 Do you really mean it? "I want to be a prisoner. I... Take me, Lord. Take me down to the Potter's house, tonight. Break me all up, and mold me over again, down here."
To Thee, my blessed Saviour,
I surrender all.
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196 Heavenly Father, as the song continues to play, I thought it most profitable at this time, that I--I'd break in on the song and talk to You just a moment. As the people are thinking, "I surrender all," Father, may we do this, with like that this is our last opportunity to do it. Let us come with sincerity, come unto the table of the Lord, as it was, with washed garments, washed souls, washed wills, washed ambitions, to surrender ourselves.
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197 And let God take His Word, yoking us up together with It, God's Word. And may the Holy Spirit take us now, as we hear the yoke click around our hearts, "From tonight on, I take you at your word. Now don't think your own thinking. Think My thoughts. Think My will. I will lead you." God, grant that it'll be an experience to every one of us.
198 These young people sitting here; husband and wife; and some coming to be husband and wife. There's older men sitting here, that's ministers, been along the road. And, Lord, here is Brother Neville, I, is getting way up on the ladder. Our days are being numbered now. Our steps are made more careful than what we did make them. We watch where we step. We're not as sure-footed, physically speaking, as we once were. But, Lord, as we see that mortal life is fading out, and none of our footsteps are sure without You got our hand.
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199 Now, God, take us, will You? Take our hearts and our will in Your Own hand, and let us become prisoners, tonight, to the Word, to Christ. May we live godly lives here. May these women, these young women, these young men, boys and girls, surrender their life, Lord. And may their ambition become the ambition to serve Jesus Christ. And let us become a prisoner of His Divine grace and will. Grant it, Lord.
200 It's all I know to do, Lord. These little broke-up words, and I--I trust that You will put them together, rightly. Cause, it's hot in here, and people want to listen, but it's real warm. And many have to go home and go to work early. But may those seeds just lay into their heart, "a prisoner."
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201 Go home and say to the wife, as they... 'fore they get ready to get down and pray, this afternoon, or this evening, by the bedside, look across to one another, say, "Dear, what about that, tonight? Have we really become prisoners to Christ and His will, or--or do we work through our own will?"
202 May young men and young women, everywhere, especially those who has heard the Message, tonight, ask themselves that same question, "Am I willing to become a prisoner, forsaking my own life?"
203 "He that saves his life shall lose it, but he that will lose His life for My sake shall find it." Father, we know, that is: become a prisoner of You, lose our own ambitions and our own desires, to find Yours, then we have Eternal Life. Grant it, Lord.
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204 Only thing I know, is to commit it now into Your hand. And may it become fruitful and bring forth great--great tools for the last-day harvest, men and women, boys and girls, surrender to the complete will of God, and become prisoners of Jesus Christ, to His love, shackled with fetters of Divine love to Christ. We ask it in His Name.
I surrender all,
Let's stand.
I surrender all,
All to Thee, my...?...
205 Let's just say that again, with our eyes closed and our hands up.
I surrender all,
I surrender all,
All to Thee, my blessed Saviour,
I surrender all.
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206 Now, if we'll bow our heads, and before the dismissing song is sung, of Take The Name Of Jesus With You. I'm going to ask that--that this brother here... I forget his name. The sister that testified about the vision of darkness coming over, which was healed. And remember, looking back, the veil was gone. Her faith did that. You dismiss us in prayer, will you, brother? And ask God's blessings upon us.