Grace, Part 2€¦ · Bro. Jackson is not here anymore. Bro. Branham is not here anymore, but the Spirit of God is. It is the same Spirit that was in our brothers to teach us the

1 Copyright 2018 Faith Assembly Church

Vol. 44 No. 6 Printed Voice of Faith Assembly August, 2012

Grace, Part 2

Rev. James C. Allen

I know I have said some things that

may seem hard to some, but as I

said, I am not trying to make

anybody feel uncomfortable, I just

want us to be right in the sight of

God. We are not just playing

church: we are learning from the

Word of God, by the anointing of

His Spirit. This is real. We are

coming down to the most real of all

of it. Jesus said to Nicodemus, you

must, you must be born again.

There is no wiggle room in that,

there is no getting out of it. Not

everyone will have the same

experience as others have had, but

the essential thing, is that we

everyone get the genuine

experience of God’s grace that He

has made available to all who will

submit to His calling. You don’t

have to have the same exact

experience that others have had.

Just do all you know to do, to get in

the presence of God and stay there

until you are satisfied. I am talking

about something that will last,

something that will set us free, free

from guilt, free from sin. I am not

following you home to see how you

live, but I do know what it takes. It

takes a complete surrender and a

dedication unto a living God. This

is the best life anyone can live. I am

not talking about something that is

going to make you an old fogey, I

Grace, Part 2 August, 2012


am talking about something that

will make you a new creature. It

will not make you a better farmer.

It could. At different times we have

been in places in other countries,

and Bro. Steve would say, I have

always noticed the ones that are

living for God are doing better than

the rest. David said, I have never

seen the righteous forsaken, neither

their seed begging bread. We are

here this morning and we are at a

point in time that is different than

we have ever been, and we are

getting ready for something we

have never seen, and the world has

never seen. The world saw a flood,

but they did not see a rapture. Only

two people have ever had that

experience, and it was not shown to

the world, Enoch and Elijah. It was

said of Enoch, and he was not. In

other words he could not be found.

They looked. He had family

members, but they were not

walking with God. He had a family

tree that reached all the way back to

Adam. So did others. Young

people, your schooling is

important, but quit trying to be that

little teeny bopper, seeing how

tight your skirts can be. Sometimes

you cannot even make a long step.

We are at the end. Bro. Jackson

used to tell about a man down in

Virginia, I believe it was. He said

his mind was always on the Lord.

He was looking for something one

day, and a man met him as he was

riding his horse drawn wagon,

looking down. The man asked him,

what are you looking for? He said,

I am looking for a city that has a

foundation. This is something Bro.

Branham preached. This is

something Bro. Jackson preached

and emphasized. It may seem like

it, and it may be, that I am going to

hound you until I see something

happen in Faith Assembly to make

us to be what the Bible tells us to

be. I once was lost, but now I am

found. I once was blind, but now I

see. God has pulled off the scales.

Bro. Jackson is not here anymore.

Bro. Branham is not here anymore,

but the Spirit of God is. It is the

same Spirit that was in our brothers

to teach us the word, to teach us

what was right, that is here this

morning to tell us to get things

right. It made me move out of the

Methodist Church, when I read

there in Revelation 18 where it

said, Come out of her my people, I

had to make a move, there was no

other choice. My mama did not like

it, my daddy did not like it, my

family and my preacher brothers

did not like it. I was unknown,



nobody knew me in the Methodist

Church until I made up my mind

that I was going to follow God, then

everybody knew me. That is that

little preacher, that is now selling

donuts. I would rather sell donuts

than to sell out spiritually.

Sometimes in our lives we get to a

place that we cannot go any further

because of a roadblock. Then God

sets us there and lets us figure out a

way around this roadblock. He

said, I will never leave you, I will

never forsake you. I am proof of it.

Sometimes we have to get up, and

get to moving because we are

nearer than we have ever been.

Why are you preaching like this,

Bro. Allen? I am concerned. Am I

just going to let it go? Are we just

going to keep on this hum-drum

way, and I speak of myself also. It

needs to go from the pulpit to the

back of Faith Assembly. The Bible

says, awake and shine, the time is

at hand. This is January 8th, 2012.

Is this the year that we are going to

see something happen in this

world? I believe we are. This is the

year the politicians are cutting each

other’s throats. I am talking about

the Republican party. The way they

are going, they will not have to

worry about an election, they will

have already cut each other down

too much to expect anyone to vote

for them. Let us read from Romans

3, starting in verse 19. “Now we

know that what things soever the

law saith, it saith to them who are

under the law: that every mouth

may be stopped, and all the world

may become guilty before God.”

You can keep every law in this

Bible but it will not make you

righteous. I am not mixing Law

with Grace today, I will not do that,

because Law is not Grace and

Grace is not Law. When I came

before God, I came before him

guilty. I could not say, well I have

done this, I have done that. I have

not murdered anybody. I have not

taken other peoples’ property. I

have not committed adultery. Well,

you have a lot going for you. I had

nothing going for me. I was guilty.

You see that guilt all over my

forehead. That did not make me

any better than that other person,

because the Law could not make

anything perfect. That every mouth

must be stopped, Paul said. He

never sugar coated anything. He

said if I raise up again that thing

that I have destroyed, then I make

myself a transgressor. Some have

said, oh they will change, they will

come back. If I went back on the

third day, I would be a transgressor.



“Therefore by the deeds of the law

there shall no flesh be justified in

His sight: for by the law is the

knowledge of sin.” It only made

you see that you were guilty, then

you did your best, the Jews did their

best, some of them did, tried do do

the things that were under the Law.

I remember Bro. Jackson saying,

they would keep the Law, but some

of them would be so mad they

would want to kill. But then the

Law kept them from killing, but the

want to was already there. The

Jews will get together and they will

get so angry with one another that

they will curse and call each other

every kind of name, but they will

not strike one another. Then in a

few minutes they are off some

place speaking to one another. All

the Law was to them was a referee

to keep them apart. “But now the

righteousness (You are not

righteous on your own.) of God

without the law is manifested,

being witnessed by the law and the

prophets; Even the righteousness of

God which is by faith of Jesus

Christ unto all and upon all them

that believe: for there is no

difference.” It is talking about Jews

and Gentiles now. The Law and the

people that went overboard with it,

they cleaned everything, every pot,

every kettle, their walls were

cleaned and washed. But inside

them, they were ravening wolves. I

want to go over to John, chapter 4,

starting with verse 1. “When

therefore the Lord knew how the

Pharisees had heard that Jesus

made and baptized more disciples

than John, Though Jesus Himself

baptized not, but His disciples, He

left Judaea, and departed again into

Galilee. (In other words He left the

Jerusalem area and went back into

Galilee. When Jesus was here the

country was made up into three

different parts, Samaria, Judaea,

and Galilee.) And He must needs

go through Samaria. Then cometh

He to a city of Samaria, which is

called Sychar, near to the parcel of

ground that Jacob gave to his son

Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was

there, Jesus therefore, being

wearied with His journey, (He got

tired, that shows the humanity part

of Him. We were all able to see that

well because it is a dug well. It has

an entrance which is kind of

protected.) sat thus on the well: and

it was about the sixth hour. (About

dinner time. I am not talking about

supper, I am talking about dinner,

what used to be called dinner. The

only thing ever mentioned now

about supper is for communion,



and they have that all wrong

because the Church of Christ has it

in the morning. They have the

Lord’s Supper in the morning.)

There cometh a woman of Samaria

to draw water: Jesus saith unto her,

Give me to drink. (He was going to

catch her spirit, just like Bro.

Branham did so many times as

people would come before him, he

would stand and talk about this and

talk about that, because he was

waiting on the Spirit of God to

speak to him. Then he would turn

around and say, Hi Sister, do I

know you? He did not have to

know her. Jesus did not know this

woman. He had never been made

acquainted with her before, I don’t

know, He may have seen a vision

of her that morning.) For His

disciples were gone away unto the

city to buy meat. (To buy food)

Then saith the woman of Samaria

unto Him, How is it that thou, being

a Jew, askest drink of me, which

am a woman of Samaria? for the

Jews have no dealings with the

Samaritans. Jesus answered and

said unto her, If thou knewest the

gift of God, (The reason I go into

this message first, there is no use of

me going into the Law and all that,

without getting down to where we

are living. I am not saying today

that you have not been born again,

but has your experience grown a

little stale? Does it not mean what

it did fifteen or twenty years ago?

We need to get our thinking and our

desires up to date in the Lord, that

He may be able to speak to us on a

daily basis, and we may be able to

speak to Him in the night, that He

might be able to give us a dream or

a vision to show us what we need

to do. Or that He may show us in

His word, something that is

relevant for our own lives. You say,

well you are sounding awful

serious. I hope so. You know I am

not mad, I have not spoken in

anger. I have not spoken like this to

try and make somebody feel guilty,

but I am trying to say, let us get this

thing together and move on with

God. Like I said about the man that

was riding down the road in his

wagon, that Bro. Jackson talked

about, the thing about it was, he had

his experience up to date. Paul said,

I die daily, nevertheless I live, not

me, but Christ in me. Christ in me

is life. He was not talking about

yesterday, he was talking about

right now. I die daily. We need

something that is water proof, fire

proof, because there is a fire

coming. Noah had something that

was water proof. We need



something that is rapture-ready.

Jesus answered and said unto her, if

thou knewest the gift of God, He

was talking about grace, if thou

knewest the gift of God.) and who

it is that saith to thee, Give me to

drink; thou wouldest have asked of

Him, and He would have given thee

living water.” A well that you

cannot use a pump to get what we

need, a well that cannot be run to

your faucet. Why was it water He

talked about? Because without

water, you die. Without living

water, we die. In the 2nd chapter of

the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah

said to Israel, you have hewn

yourselves cisterns, broken

cisterns, cisterns that can hold no

water. Come, buy of me water and

bread, without money or without

price. She did not know who she

was talking with. He did not look

different. That was at a time when

they were not wearing pajamas to

Wal-Mart. A few days ago I was in

the emergency room with Mary

Lou and here came in a man with

pajamas on and two women

wearing pajamas. Why did they not

stay home and go to bed? What a

time we are living in. People do not

even know where they are

anymore, they are so doped up and

so duped and so drunk, that they

don’t even know where they are.

Young people have lost their way,

but Faith Assembly young people,

you don’t have to lose your way. I

am talking of something better,

something that is going to last. This

world is not going to last. If thou

knewest the gift of God and who it

is that saith to thee, give me to

drink, thou wouldest have ask of

Him and He would have given thee

living water. Living water, not

from some stagnant pond that has

no outlet. The only time it ever has

an outlet is when it rains and runs

over. At other times it has tadpoles

and all kinds of junk in it, frogs,

lizards, snakes. That living water is

eternal life “The woman saith unto

Him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw

with, and the well is deep: from

whence then hast thou that living

water? Art thou greater than our

father Jacob, which gave us the

well, and drank thereof himself,

and his children, and his cattle?

Jesus answered and said unto her,

Whosoever drinketh of this water

shall thirst again.” In other words

He was saying, whoever drinks of

the water from this well will thirst

again, but I am going to give you

something that will quench that

thirst. Let us now go back to the 4th

chapter of the book of John. Let me



say this, These great men of the

Bible, as I think about them, the

ones you read about there in

Hebrews chapter 11, great men and

great women that gave their all for

an opportunity to be able to know

more about God, and to be

acquainted with what He was doing

in that hour of time. Paul did not

come to condemn the Law, but he

came to say that Jesus was the

fulfilling of the Law. As it was said,

the Law and the prophets were until

John, but from that time the

kingdom of heaven is preached,

and men press into it. It lets me

know that there is something that

goes with being a child of God. It

lets me know that it is not a loose

life that we can live, and think that

we can have everything our way.

No, it is His way. I remember

growing up, and and how it was in

the community where I lived on a

dirt road. In the summer time cars

would come along and all you

could see was a cloud of dust.

Women of that hour had to hang

their clothes out on the line. They

gathered a lot of dust while hanging

there. I remember when we did not

have electricity; and women had to

use a wash board to scrub their

clothes. Now you see those old

wash boards hanging on the wall at

Cracker Barrel, along with a lot of

the things I remember from my

childhood, things of another time,

which are antiques now. I guess

that makes me an antique. I was

somewhere the other day where I

had to give my age, that fellow

said, you didn’t miss the flood by

much, did you? I said, no, I was

driftwood that came in after the

flood. I am talking about the Ohio

River Flood of 1937, not Noah’s

flood. Things have really changed

since then. It went from a time

when people had hope. Young men

where I grew up, traveled a lot of

miles to be able to find a job. A lot

of them worked in tobacco patches.

After they cut their dad’s crop, they

went up north around

Lawrenceburg or Versailes to get a

job cutting tobacco for someone

else. Some of them ventured on

into the cities. I remember some of

the boys, when things began to

open up a little bit, went to Indiana.

They did not have an education, but

people there needed workers. They

went to a plant that built mufflers

and heaters for cars. I remember

when they used to list what was on

a car. I remember that you had to

order a heater as an extra to get it in

a car, it was one of the options

available. Then I remember when



they used to abbreviate, P.S. and

P.B. I did not know what it was. I

found out later, it was power

steering and power brakes. There

used to be no such thing as that.

The thing about it is, as I mention

those things, young people were

different back then. I went to work

at Ford Motor Company in 1963.

There were many men there then

that could not sign their check, but

they were good workers. They

knew how to do a job, even though

they did not know how to sign their

check. In 1973, they hired a bunch

of people because they were going

to make two different automobiles

over there. Then they started

building the pickup truck in 1973,

they thought they would hire a

bunch of eighteen year olds.

Eighteen and nineteen years old

were what most of them were. They

brought those boys in there, they

were too high on dope to work. I

saw the line break down and I saw

these young boys gather in a circle.

They smoked pot and blew it in

each other’s mouth, from one to

another. Because there was a

generation gap, they called it.

These were children of that

generation gap, that bunch of

hippies and yippies, things of that

nature. They began to lose their

way. Now young men that should

have a life, do not have one any

more. They are breaking into

houses and taking the property of

other people, in order to support

their drug habits. They have fried

their minds. You know somebody

that has done the same thing. That

is why Bro. Jackson could preach

the message he preached, that there

will not be too many that will go

into the Millennium to repopulate

the earth, because they have

destroyed their mind’s. Instead,

there is going to be a few. Why?

Because this nation rejected the

Word of God that was delivered to

them. God sent a prophet to this

age, a prophet that grew up in a

family of heavy drinkers, but he

kept his life apart from all that. God

told him, never drink or smoke or

defile your body in any way. That

was telling him not to mess around

in this sex-crazed world. We have a

generation now, and I guess the

first time I began to hear the things

I did, walking down the street

during the 1970's and heard boys

and girls go by saying words that at

one time people would have

blushed hearing them. You hardly

ever see a red face from blushing

anymore, because all of that has

become so common. It went from



the streets to the movie theaters. It

went from the movie theaters to the

television. Then it went from the

television to the internet. The

internet is a wonderful thing if it is

used right. Television can be a

place of information if it is used

right. Some of those old movies

that my mom and dad would not let

me go see, today are G-rated,

compared to what is shown in

theaters today. But those days are

gone. We live in a time now where

they have gory movies and gory

shows on television, what they

used to call cartoons. Now they are

demons for the little children to see.

Do not think you can sit your little

children in front of a television and

expect everything to be alright. Do

not think you can sit them in front

of a computer and everything will

be alright. I know some little boys,

no one here at Faith Assembly, I am

not talking about that, less than ten

years old, that were caught

watching pornography. They were

seven and eight years old. What can

become of a mind like that, they

have already seen more than a lot

of us would ever see in a lifetime,

and I am glad of that. Whatever our

minds dwell on, that is what we

become a part of. Jesus said, that

which you take into your mouth

does not defile you, but it is what

comes out of the mouth that defiles

a man. When Jesus said that, Peter

said unto him, “Declare unto us this

parable. And Jesus said, Are ye

also yet without understanding? Do

not ye yet understand, that

whatsoever entereth in at the mouth

goeth into the belly, and is cast out

into the draught? But those things

which proceed out of the mouth

come forth from the heart; and they

defile the man. For out of the heart

proceed evil thoughts, murders,

adulteries, fornications, thefts,

false witness, blasphemies: These

are the things which defile a man”

I know this is different. This is not

just a variety program that we are

talking about, this is life. God said,

Behold I set before you life and

death, choose life. It is a choice. Let

me say to a young sister or brother,

if you have done all that you know

to do to live for God, if you are

doing all you know to do, the time

is coming when you will be

satisfied, because God is not going

to leave you out here in limbo some

place to wonder, is all well with my

soul? His Word says, having done

all to stand, stand therefore. I read

this morning, and I want to go back

to that same scripture from the

book of Ephesians. I was in the



14th verse, because we need to lay

hold on this, which was spoken by

the apostle Paul. Let us read verse

13 and go on from there.

"Wherefore take unto you the

whole armour of God, that ye may

be able to withstand in the evil day,

and having done all, to stand. 14

Stand therefore, (How?) having

your loins girt about with truth, and

having on the breastplate of

righteousness; 15 And your feet

shod with the preparation of the

gospel of peace; 16 Above all,

taking the shield of faith, (Your

faith is your shield, your sure

protection.) wherewith ye shall be

able to quench all the fiery darts of

the wicked. 17 And take the helmet

of salvation, and the sword of the

Spirit, which is the word of God: 18

Praying always with all prayer and

supplication in the Spirit, and

watching thereunto with all

perseverance and supplication for

all saints. ” This is where it really

gets down to the nitty gritty of what

Jesus was talking about. There was

never a man that lived like Him on

this earth. There were some good

men, great men, prophets, seers,

but when John the Baptist was here,

he told about Solomon, Behold, a

greater than Solomon is here. John

himself said, I must decrease, He

must increase. The same words that

Bro. Branham said in the seals

book. He knew that there was

something coming down the road

that he did not quite see, because of

the fulfilling of the message,

Matthew 25, then in 1st

Thessalonians chapter 4, it said

Behold a cry went forth. Then in

Thessalonians 4, it was the shout.

Bro. Branham said, this is the

message of the hour. It cannot be

another generation, because God

will not let it linger into another

generation. When that shout went

out, and when that cry went out,

that was the call, because it was a

midnight call. I place Matthew

25:10 in there, because it tells you

that the Bride has made herself

ready and the door is closed. Here

in John the 14th verse we find this,

“But whosoever drinketh of the

water that I shall give him shall

never thirst.” These things that I am

talking about tonight, will take the

thirst of these things away. We do

not have to put on the dog, we do

not have to try and make somebody

believe what we are, or are not,

because there is something real that

is staring us in the face, more real

than anything this world offers. It

was so real that Jesus told

Nicodemus, you must be born



again. As I said, I am not trying to

make anybody doubt their

salvation, but I am saying this, let

us get our experience up to date.

Because today is the day of

salvation. I am not here trying to

scare anybody, saying you are

going to hell and all this, which is

the way a lot of preachers used to

do. Come on, surrender, or you are

going to hell, what if you die

tonight? All of this and that, in

order to scare somebody into

accepting, because they wanted to

see a number at the altar. I myself

have not preached for numbers.

Paul said, if I yet please men, I

become the enemy of Jesus Christ,

an enemy of the cross. But

whosoever drinketh of this water

that I shall give him, Jesus said,

shall never thirst again. He was not

talking about water you could draw

from an old well: that water He was

talking about is available to all that

believe the gospel. He does not

have a yardstick, holding it out

here, saying, you measure up to

this, or else. You do this and you do

this and you can have it. He said,

come, take the water of life freely,

it is a free gift. “But the water that I

shall give him shall be in him a well

of water springing up into

everlasting life.” A well of living

water in you is something that is

there every day. It is with you when

you are on the job. Young people,

it is with you when you are in

school. When you are before the

ones that might make fun, He is still

there with you. Those who make

fun do not have what you have, or

they would not make fun. They are

not your judge. How can anyone

judge someone else of something

that they know nothing about

themselves? A well of living water,

springing up into everlasting life,

or eternal life. Jesus said, if you

believe on me, you shall never die.

Of course this body gives up,

because it is temporal, but the

spirit, the life that is in you, is

something different, and especially

if it has been changed by you

trusting Jesus. We are going to live

somewhere. If we are wrong, we

are going to live somewhere for a

time, a time of regret, a time of no

promise of ever being loosed.

There is no purgatory as some

believe, regardless of how many

believe there is. That woman was

beginning to look at this, but she

was looking at it in the wrong way.

“The woman saith unto Him, Sir,

give me this water, that I thirst not,

neither come hither to draw. Jesus

saith unto her, Go, call thy



husband, and come hither. (Now

He is going to tell her something

that she has never heard before. He

simply said, Go call your husband.

She was not a righteous person. She

was not a holy person, but she was

of the elect. Go call your husband.

She tried to cover up her situation,

but she could not. She had already

committed herself. She had already

said too much. Notice though,

Jesus did not condemn her. He did

not say, you ornery woman, you

have had five husbands. Jesus

Christ is not mean with us, not even

in our worst failures. He stands as

an advocate. An advocate is the

same thing as that blood upon that

altar. Because He became the blood

on the altar that was taken before

the Father. They are always

looking for the blood of Jesus or

something of that nature. Why?

Because they think that they can

find something that is going to

appeal to their carnal ideas. The

shroud of Turin, I do not know of

anybody that was born again, that

ever saw that shroud of Turin. I do

know of people that have been born

again, that found their way to the

cross. That is what makes the

difference, because it changes

lives. Go call thy husband and

come hither, Jesus said. “The

woman answered and said, I have

no husband. Jesus saith unto her,

Thou hast well said, I have no

husband. For thou hast had five

husbands; and he whom thou now

hast (the one you are now living

with) is not thy husband: in that

saidst thou truly.” He had already

opened up her very life to her: Did

she deny it? Did she deny what she

had been in the past? She had

already said, I have no husband.

“The woman saith unto Him, Sir, I

perceive that thou art a prophet.”

You don’t see one word there

where He jumps on her to condemn

her. The woman that they brought

before Jesus, that had been caught

in adultery, they came bringing her,

and threw her down at His feet,

ready to stone her, standing there

with rocks in their hands. What do

you think? He could look upon that

greasy looking, religious gang of

people, that were just dying within

themselves to get Him to answer

them. In other words, We are going

to catch you here, because we know

what is written in the law. But He

gave them an answer that they

never thought they would hear.

You, you, you, and whoever among

you that is without sin, let him cast

the first stone. He then squatted

down and began to write in the dirt.



The words He wrote are not

recorded in the scripture, but no

doubt He began to reveal to them

what they each had done, even at

that time. He then stood up and

looked at the woman and said,

where are your accusers? Brothers

and Sisters; that does not sound like

just a religious man: That sounds

like a Saviour. We get all mixed up

sometimes in our life, thinking that

God is accusing us. Go call your

husband. You said you have no

husband, and you are right: you

have had five, and the one you are

living with now is not your

husband. I believe she was saying

with excitement, Sir, with respect,

instead of with a scowl, I perceive

that you are a prophet. “Our fathers

worshipped in this mountain; and

ye say, that in Jerusalem is the

place where men ought to worship.

Jesus saith unto her, Woman,

believe me, the hour cometh, when

ye shall neither in this mountain,

nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the

Father. Ye worship ye know not

what: we know what we worship:

for salvation is of the Jews. But the

hour cometh, (It is just ahead, a few

months later, the hour cometh,) and

now is, when the true worshippers

shall worship the Father in Spirit

and in truth: for the Father seeketh

such to worship Him. God is a

Spirit: and they that worship Him

must worship Him in Spirit and in

truth.” Jesus told His disciples,

before He went away, back there in

the 3rd chapter. I started reading

that, or quoting it. There was a man

of the Pharisees, a religious man

named Nicodemus, who came to

Jesus by night. As I said, he wanted

to hide himself from his friends and

that bunch of self righteous Jews.

Let us read that. “There came a man

of the Pharisees, named

Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews:

The same came to Jesus by night,

and said unto Him, Rabbi, we know

that thou art a teacher come from

God: for no man can do these

miracles that thou doest, except

God be with Him. (He recognized

that part, he recognized the

miraculous, but he wanted to come

in secret.) Jesus answered and said

unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto

thee, Except a man be born again,

he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Brothers and sisters, that is what

gives us that new birth, it gives us

insight into the Word of God. You

do not have to stand outside and

look, you can be inside. Oh I just

love to see the Spirit move. Do you

love for it to move in you? I quoted

those two scriptures from Matthew



25:10, then from the place where

the cry was made, then where the

shout was made. There cannot be

another generation. There cannot

be another hundred years, or even

ten years until God visits the

children of Israel. A brother gave

me a piece out of the Israeli news

where they had found oil, much of

it. This nation has an oil supply so

that we do not need to depend on

Iran. We do not need to depend on

another nation. We do not need to

depend upon Saudi Arabia, but we

have such foolish people running

this country and regulating

everything, that they leave us

vulnerable. The Spirit of God is not

regulated tonight. The oil still runs

freely. We can stand without

looking at what God is doing, or we

can come inside and be a part of it.

We cannot do both. We cannot

have one foot in the world and the

other foot in the kingdom of God,

and make it in the rapture. The

Bible says, and this is a hard word,

the Bible says, Be sure, your sins

will find you out. If I am going to

be a Christian, I want to be one just

as much at home when I am by

myself, as I am here before all of

you. I don’t want to miss that

visitation of God when He comes

knocking, I want to say, you are

welcome. I want Faith Assembly to

be a place that welcomes the Spirit

of God, and I certainly do not want

it to be only on a doormat, but be

on the side post and every post in

here, and in every pew and every

time someone steps up to this

pulpit. I now want to go to the next

statement Jesus made to

Nicodemus. Notice, “Nicodemus

saith unto Him, How can a man be

born when he is old? Can he enter

the second time into his mother’s

womb, and be born? Jesus

answered, Verily, verily, I say unto

thee, Except a man be born of water

and of the Spirit, he cannot enter

into the kingdom of God. That

which is born of the flesh is flesh;

and that which is born of the Spirit

is Spirit. Marvel not that I said unto

thee, Ye must be born again. The

wind bloweth where it listest, and

thou hearest the sound thereof, but

canst not tell whence it cometh, and

whither it goeth: so is every one

that is born of the Spirit.” When the

day of Pentecost came, Jesus told

His disciples ten days earlier, go

tarry at Jerusalem until you be

endued with power from on high.

He did not tell them how it was

going to come, He just told them

they were going to be endured with

power from on high. But when it



came, it came as a rushing mighty

wind. They could not tell where it

came from. I long for the day that

we can be sitting in Faith Assembly

and this building would shake from

the power of God. A little tremor

would come and shake the building

where we are. I would not want it

to scare the liver out of anyone.

Those disciples were expecting

something. They had been

persecuted, they had been

ridiculed, they had been called

names, but none of that can cancel

out the love of God. You have

something inside you that cannot

be shaken by that. The Holy Ghost

will be a witness to that. If that

comes tonight, it will be fine with

me. I am ready. Back there tonight,

I heard someone say that Sis. Elinor

was going home from the hospital,

and I thought they meant she was

going to rehab tomorrow, but no,

she was going home. Three nurses

got hold of her to assist her, and she

just walked off from them. The

doctors can cut, but God is the

healer. I never want to stand in the

way of anyone getting something

from God. I never want to stand in

the way of anyone being healed, or

of you testifying of what God has

done for you. Little children used to

sing a song, “Come into my heart,

Lord Jesus, come in today, come in

to stay.” As for the Holy Ghost,

Paul said He would walk with you,

because He would be in you.

Brothers and Sisters, We are not

going to give up on this until every

one says, I surrender. The way I

feel, I feel, we are in the final

windup. I do not mean to condemn

anyone, I am standing here to help

you, if I can. I want to help you see

that our lives need to be in

compliance with the Word of God.

There may be a hunger and thirst

from the little ones up to the older

ones. I hope you get more out of the

services here, than you do that tree

stand for deer this year. I am talking

about food for your soul. When is

the time going to come that we put

our mind more to things of God,

than we do to the things of the

world? If you do hunt, then make

sure somebody eats what you kill.

How much of this world does it

take to satisfy us? I am not talking

about a good job. I am not talking

about making money. I am not

talking about the necessary things

of the world. I will ask you though,

From where is our enjoyment

derived? The Bible says, Luke

12:34, “For where your treasure is,

there will your heart be also.”

There are treasures in serving God,



there are pleasures in serving God.

I am not looking at this thing as a

way you cannot please God. You

can please Him. He wants to be

pleased. Sometimes we have to

stop and say, Lord, I surrender.

Sometimes we have to go to Him

and say Lord, I was wrong. I

remember when Bro. Branham

used to pray, he would say, forgive

us our sins. That is the same thing

Daniel prayed, forgive me my sins

and the sins of Israel. That way,

you don’t leave anything out. Jesus

was telling us how to pray when He

told about the scribe or pharisee,

that stood praying and said, Father,

I am glad I am not like that publican

over there. I give my tithes every

week, and I say that is

commendable, but that will not get

you eternal life, because the price

has already been paid for that. It did

not cost us one dime, if it did, that

would be by debt, but it was not

there by debt. The debt has already

been paid at Calvary. It cost the Son

of God His life. I said this morning,

if you wanted more of this, come

back tonight, and I see you have

come back. You did not come here

to watch a show. Neither did you

come here to get something sugar

coated. I am looking back here at

some young people, and I see that

you are interested, God bless you. I

want everybody to get what they

want. We do not get what we

deserve, but we do get what we

want when we come to God the

right way. My life is worth more to

me than what another day can

bring, because I want my life to be

pleasing to my heavenly Father.

Some preachers are satisfied just to

please people, but I am not. Paul

said, if I do, I am no more a servant

of God. God is looking for young

people that will serve Him, and are

not ashamed to shed a tear every

once in awhile. I know God is

speaking to some hearts here

tonight, I know He is speaking to

some young people especially. We

are not on a picnic. We are not on a

fund raiser. Somebody asked me,

When you built on over here, what

kind of fund raiser did you have? I

said, We had no fund raider. We

have a hole in the wall back there,

and God provides, because true

Christians know what to do.

Nobody was asked for even one

dollar to build on. Nobody has

asked anyone for even a dollar for

this internet, nor for this Contender.

You are not asked, but you give.

Why? Because you see it in the

Word, and because you love God. I

remember when I was young, a lot



of them would say, let’s keep the

preachers poor to keep them

humble. They did that. Preachers

were paid with chickens and hams,

and things like that. We had a

preacher back in the late 1940's or

1950's, still driving an old Model T.

He turned the thing over, and still

drove it. That was not right. If that

is what it takes to keep, or make me

humble, give me bread and water. I

remember Bro. Branham said,

before I would compromise, I

would eat soda crackers and drink

branch water. He would have too. I

am not just preaching to two or

three people here tonight, there are

people on the internet also. There is

a woman from England, she said I

have been getting the Contender,

me and my two daughters, we want

to get on your internet to get the

live services. That makes me feel

little. I don’t feel puffed up because

people listen to me. It makes me

feel little. I felt little when I walked

out of that room yesterday after

visiting Sis. Elinor. They came in

to give her physical therapy, I said,

just give me two minutes to pray

with her before you take her. I

prayed with her, I did not just pray

for her, I prayed with her. We

prayed together. She already knew

how to pray. Do not ever think

because you dress different than

others, that you have to apologize.

don’t let anybody put that “old

foggy” thing on you. When you

live for God, you should dress

different than those of the world.

You be different, you dress

different, you live different and

thank God for it. Live holy for the

glory of God. The greatest

testimony that anybody can have is

by the way they live. I had not

planned to speak as I have today. I

just knew what I had in my heart,

and did not know exactly how to

get it out. I have not spoken out of

sarcasm. I have not spoken out of

anger. I have just spoken out of my

heart, because I love you. Young

people, I love you, I have seen you

grow up from babies. Now you are

reaching the age of accountability.

You know what is right and what is

wrong. I would say this to the

parents, be careful what you say

and how you live before your

children, because they are watching

and listening.

FROM HERE ONWARD, THIS

MESSAGE CHANGES TO

“THE GRACE OF GOD”

I had meant to get into Romans for

weeks now, and it seems as though



I keep being drawn to something

else, but it is still the same subject,

except I have added a couple words

to it. Today we are looking to the

Lord for His love and grace, and

being thankful for the kindness He

shows us. The Bible says to grow

in grace. How do you do that? I

thought grace was just grace. But

Peter said, grow in grace. He added

another word, and in the

knowledge of our Lord and Saviour

Jesus Christ. So if you do not grow,

then you are stagnant. If you are

stagnant, then you will surely die.

Of course this is a new scripture,

one that I did not have on the list.

They are scriptures that have been

gone over before, but the Lord

willing, sooner or later I will get to

all or most of them. I just had the

word grace when I started, thinking

you might be able to separate it all

out as you go, and be able to

identify certain settings. Now I

want to add these these other words

to it, and call it “The Grace Of

God,” and later go to,“Grow In

Grace.” If we do that, we are going

to be a different people. That is my

aim and purpose in this late hour of

time, to see growth, and only can

you grow as you grow in

knowledge and understanding.

Sometimes people will ask you

questions, which really speaks of

their growth in the Lord. For

instance, someone wants to know

what they should do about certain

situations. You don’t have to go

into a lot of details to tell them. I

am not a person of detail. I

remember my dad, that he was not

a person of details. He would tell

you to do something, then you

would do it. He did not explain, he

could not count, he only went to

about the third grade in school, so

he did not know fractions. If he

said, I have told you once, that

meant one time. He did not expect

us to frame the situation in another

way, could it be this way or could

it be that way. The scripture is not

written like that, could it be. It

either is, or to make things simple,

it is not. There is no in between.

Jesus said, let your yea’s be yea,

and your nay’s be nay. Paul said, in

Jesus Christ, it is yea and Amen. He

made that plain in his preaching. If

you ask me something one time,

then the answer is probably going

to be the same if you ask me again.

That is because a revelation is a

revelation. It is not a maybe. It is

not a hope so, nor could be, or

maybe this way or maybe that way.

As Paul said, it is yea and Amen in

Christ Jesus. There is no in between



with Him. The things I have

preached, the only thing that people

wanted to question about it, was to

get me to change my mind. If I had

changed my mind, or if Bro. Bud

had, Faith Assembly would be like

some of these off-shoots where you

would not really be given a direct

answer, but you were given a

maybe. I could say something here,

maybe I should not, God did not

call everybody to lead a church.

Really, He had a ministry to do

that, not somebody appointed by

man. As we look at the scripture,

you do not see that. I know I will

have some disagreement on that. A

man is not called to preach by

another preacher. Either you are

called of God, or you are not called

at all. I am not trying to use these

words loosely. But we have a lot of

self appointed people in many

places, preaching today. I know

years ago there were at least a

couple of men that left here, and I

remember one that had Bro.

Jackson, Bro. Bud and me, upstairs

with some others. He complained

because nobody had recognized

him as a preacher. Nobody knew it.

That was the first time I had ever

heard about it, it was the first time

Bro. Jackson ever heard about it.

But then there were some

complaints because he was not

recognized as a preacher. Well I

have other things to say, knowing

that this is not just a vocation to

have something to do. There are

times that it is a great blessing.

Well it always is, but let me put it

another way, because there are

other times you have to bow your

head. I guess, that what I am going

to tell, was the first time anything

like that had ever happened to me.

A couple weeks ago I was sitting

there at home, and there were not

really words that came out of my

mouth, but there was expressions

that came out of my mouth that I

did not know was going to be

coming. The Bible says there will

be groanings that you will utter,

without really knowing why. Those

are the times that you have

experienced things, that just goes

beyond human expression. God can

use those times to teach you

something, to tell you something. I

love Him for it. Whenever I get to

the place that I cannot tell God I

love Him, then I am in the wrong

place. I mean it, and I say, Thank

You Lord that you are so gracious

to me. I see the situations in the

Middle East that are grievous. I see

situations in America that I have no

control over. But I see something



coming in the Middle East,

throughout the weeks, I see

something coming that I know is

scriptural. I remember when

Netanyahu got to be prime

minister, there was a man that had

a lot of following in the Likud

Party. Since Netanyahu became

prime minister, he was supposed to

be in the Knesset. Netanyahu

moved him from number twenty all

the way to thirty six, so he would

not have any part, because

Netanyahu is afraid of him, and that

is because he does not want to give

any land away. There was about a

nine minute skit on him, talking,

right now there is no way

Netanyahu can do anything about it

because he has too much of a

following. When a man gets afraid

of people that are threatening their

leadership, then that is a scary

situation. Because God is wanting

to do something that man does not

see. Are you speaking of yourself?

Absolutely not. Because I was not

appointed pastor here at Faith

Assembly to set around in fear that

I was going to lose my job, because

Bro. Bud knows any time that

anything happens that he can have

it. I back him a hundred percent. I

do not say that because of you

people. I am just saying that

because, if God has appointed us to

something, then we should not fear.

The church is going to move. It is

going to move in this hour we are

living in, and I see the movement

because there has been an

encouraging ministry here.

Sometimes it cuts, sometimes it

cuts me, that does not matter. But I

see growth because of it. You do

not have to guess where we stand.

Some might say, Maybe they will

compromise? No. Not in any wise.

I now want to go to 2nd Peter.

Never do I want to use arrogance,

to say I know everything and you

know nothing. Sometimes I am

surprised as to how God speaks to

us, because I know it is not in my

ability to know the things that God

has shown me. That is why I speak

here in fear, sometimes in

trembling, because God is doing

something. He is doing something

in Faith Assembly as well as He is

around this world where people are

hearing. I know that because of the

report that comes in. For every

negative report there are at least

five good ones. If you were a

baseball player and you got five

hits to every one strike out, you

would be batting 800. Nobody has

ever batted that. But I praise the

Lord this morning, I thank God for



His wonderful grace and the truth

of His word. I will start reading in

the 14th verse of the 3rd chapter.

He has spoken of the coming of the

Lord, of the heavens being on fire

and so forth, now in the 14th verse

he says, “Wherefore, beloved,

seeing that ye look for such things,

be diligent that ye may be found of

Him in peace, without spot, and

blameless.” There are so many

things in America today that are

being done by the government, if I

did not have hope in God, it would

be frightful. You just hear it every

week, nothing approved by

Congress, or Senate, it is just

simply a case of running over

people by the president and his

czars. I heard this morning, about

our telephone bill, why it is so high.

It is because we are paying for cell

phones and paying for all these

other things that they say are for the

poor. But what they are doing, one

person is getting several cell

phones and they are selling them. I

am talking about the minutes that

are on them. They sell the minutes

for profit. This has never been

approved by Senate or Congress. It

is just something that has been

done. Now they are going to take

that very same thing, which is over

a billion dollars a year, and they are

going to take that and increase it

until you will be buying computers

for them also. How many ways do

they have to take taxes from you? It

is that way with so many things

being forced through by a run-away

government that has no concern for

the people. They are trying to make

it, so if you work, you have less

privileges than the ones that do not

work. We are not being led, we are

being ruled, and in many cases

without the knowledge of it. Your

gas bills that you pay, there is

money being taken from it for other

people without your knowledge.

That is taxes. Whatever they want

to say it is, it is taxes, and they are

using that to wipe out peoples’

wealth that have earned it, and

many of them honestly. It has not

only happened under this president,

but you go on back to George H. W.

Bush, George W. Bush’s dad, he

was the one that started this one

world government thing. Of course

you have churches today, prophecy

preachers that are saying that this is

the mark of the beast, because they

do not know that the mark of the

beast comes through the Catholic

Church, because that scripture is

unseen by most right now: It was

not supposed to be seen by

everybody. Many scriptures are not



supposed to be seen by the natural

man: that is why Jesus took His

disciples off and told them, I speak

to these people in parables that they

may not see, that hearing they may

not hear, seeing they may not see.

You might say, that is not fair.

Then take that up with the Lord.

That is the way it is. That goes

along with the message which we

believe, there are things about it

that others do not believe, because

it is not given to unto them to

understand. The Bible says there

are few that will be saved. Bro.

Jackson said it will not be in the

thousands from America: it will be

in the hundreds. Brothers and

sisters, you have not been ruled

over, you have not been made to

stay here. But I thank God for every

one of you that have been willing

listeners. The Bible says, he that

hath an ear to hear, let him hear. It

is not he that has ears: we all have

ears, but there are some that have

ears that cannot hear good because

of a deficiency, but they still

understand the Word of God that is

taught. This reaches down further

than just our natural ears. Some of

you think it is a privilege to be able

to be here, and it is a privilege for

me also, to be able to be with a

group of believing people. I am

talking about from little children on

up to older brothers and sisters. As

I shake hands with people, little

children that are playing, will stop

their playing just to shake hands

with me. I hope no one ever thinks

I do not recognize that? They love

us because we have loved them.

We have made it plain enough that

the small children can understand

at least part of it. I want to read that

14th verse again. “Wherefore,

beloved, (See how he talks? He is

not talking to the world. Peter has

finally understood that this

message goes farther than to the

Jewish people. This was a hard

thing for him to understand because

this thing of Judaism had been

ground into him for so long, that it

took him years to get it out of his

mind, that it was not just as Paul

had said, a Jews religion. Paul was

able to take the message to the

Gentiles, because he said God had

broken down the middle wall of

partition. A partition is something

put up, that you may not be able to

see or go into the other side. But

God removed that partition. He

took that partition out, so that

Gentiles could be included in His

provision for believers. He wanted

us to be able to see what had been

spoken to the Jews through the



Law, and so that Paul could see

what God had done in the Law to

bring it unto Grace. Grace is God’s

unmerited favor to man.) seeing

that ye look for such things, be

diligent (Listen to him talk, be

diligent. This is a man speaking

from his heart of what God has

done for him.) that ye may be found

of Him in peace, (Be found of Him,

not of Peter, but of Him in peace.)

without spot.” I did not know you

could live like that. Well, the

Methodists tell you that you

cannot. The Baptists will tell you

that also, but when you remove the

spots and the blemishes, a lot of it

is religious ideas that we have

carried along through the years,

that we have to get rid of. When

church order came in at the

tabernacle, Bro. Jackson did not go

along with it in Faith Assembly.

But the ones that were in this thing,

they did not carry it out as it should

have been. They made a law out of

it. You abide by this or else, which

put a strict order on people, when

we know that the Bible is

something that brings freedom to

those who read it right. Their law

was, you can no longer speak in

tongues in here, you cannot testify,

and you cannot clap your hands. I

remember all those things. This

was not what Bro. Branham had in

mind when he made it, and it was

not carried out like that when he

was there. He would tell people to

shake hands. They would shake

hands. He would tell people to hold

hands with your neighbor while

they prayed, but when he was not

there, that was not carried out like

that. It was just that old strict,

dogmatic thing that never added

anything to anybody but to a bunch

of deacons that ran things as they

chose to. I am not talking about

Faith Assembly deacons. We have

wonderful deacon brothers here.

We have wonderful brothers that

are in other positions as well. Those

men at the tabernacle ruled. They

would listen to a tape, then they

would play a tape of Bro.

Branham’s and go to Jerry’s

restaurant while the tape was being

played, because they knew how

long it would last, then they would

come back just before it finished so

they could see that people marched

out in file. If you wanted to shake

hands with anybody, you get on the

sidewalk first, don’t do it in here,

because you are supposed to be still

and know that He is God, while you

are inside. I wonder how many

little children cried, and how many

laughed and played when they were



in the wilderness all that time? That

was an awesome presence of God

to even feel the mountain there, it

said if anybody, or anything even

any animal touched it, their lives

would be taken from them. But

there were little children down

there that were playing in the

presence of that mountain. But

what happened? I did not plan or

even know I was going to say these

things, but what happened? The

leadership there erred, got afraid,

told everybody to bring your

jewelry, bring your gold. When

Moses came back they had a calf

there that had been molded out of

the gold and they were all

worshiping it. Aaron made the

excuse, I just threw it in the fire and

that is what came out. That was not

true. He formed that thing. Many

times we realize we are inadequate

of doing what God has told us to

do, or that which we feel that we

should do in the presence of God,

so then we make excuses. I don’t

want to be like that. Bro. Bud does

not want to be like that. Never do I

want to make an excuse for what

God is doing. This is off my

subject, all this is off my subject,

but I am talking from my heart to

you. I am mostly talking of

leadership. God is going to have

His people in a right attitude and a

right place. All this thing of

traveling around in all these

different services and all these

things that used to be, is just about

over. God has narrowed it down

until there are not all these places

that you can go to. Really there are

very few, one or two in the country.

Not all these places are in the

United States. There are people

living in areas, where one time it

was a thriving community for

people to go and worship. Now

there are brothers and sisters that

cannot go there any more. They sit

and watch these services on the

internet, and they are happy

because they feel they are being

fed; and that they are a part of it.

This may be a crude illustration,

Faith Assembly is a feeding station,

but some would say it is not. We

either come here to eat with the

eagles, or we just come here. Verse

15. “And account that the

longsuffering of our Lord is

salvation; (Our longsuffering.

Jesus Christ was crucified once. He

still has the scars, but He will never

be crucified again, except by

unbelieving people who have no

respect for the truth of God’s Word.

I remember Bro. Branham

preaching the message back in the



1960's where he said, I indict this

generation for the crucifixion of

Jesus Christ. I was there when he

preached it. That does not make me

any better than you, because there

are a lot of people that were there.)

even as our beloved brother Paul

also according to the wisdom given

unto him hath written unto you.”

Here we are in 66 A.D., things have

changed, things have changed with

Peter. Peter has grown in the grace

that he talks about, to the point that

now he is seeing things as he

should. That is the reason why he

could say, grow in grace, because it

is a process. I know that there are

preachers that are still preaching, or

people that are still preaching, let

me put it that way, that are saying

that if you are saved today, then

you will be in the rapture. That is

not scriptural. Where is the

growth? Growth brings spiritual

fruit. In a few weeks an apple tree,

or a peach tree will bloom. But

because it blooms does not mean

you have an apple crop or a peach

crop. I have been around growing

apples, I know that when a freeze

comes, you can look at that bloom

when it blooms, but when a freeze

comes, if it is down to 26 degrees

and stays there for a few days, you

will lose your apples. One night

will not affect it very much if the

temperature goes back up. But then

in June, regardless of what it is in

June, you are going to lose a lot of

those apples that were on that tree

back then, because they fall off.

But there are others there, that were

predestinated to go into your

mouth, and mine. I am glad for

those predestinated apples.

Because there is growth, because

we are coming, not just to June or

July, we are coming to the fall. We

are in the fall of our walk with God.

In the fall of the year is when you

pick those apples. “As also in all his

epistles, speaking in them of these

things; in which are some things

hard to be understood, which they

that are unlearned and unstable,

wrest (Unlearned, there are a lot of

children that have graduated from

school, but they are unlearned:

They went to school, but never

learned anything. The truth of the

gospel message is not for those that

drop out. God has no drop outs. We

are either in or we are out and

Unlearned. I remember all those

preachers that used to get their

picture made on the platform here.

I put myself in the back row

because I felt myself insignificant

among them. I do not say that

trying to be humble this morning. I



thought every preacher that came in

here that were privileged to preach,

had more than I had. But the

scripture says that some of them

were unlearned and unstable. The

Bible expresses in the Old

Testament about someone that was

unstable as water. Unlearned and

unstable they...) wrest, (That means

that they divide or pull apart, and

people are listening to unstable

people that are wresting the

scriptures, tearing them apart. I was

thinking this week, and I do not

mean to keep mentioning this, but

it just comes handy. I was a pretty

good person until it came down to

my message on the third day, but to

those that understand it, it is the

easiest thing they have come across

to understand.) as they do also the

other scriptures, (wrest them, tear

them apart. It is a funny thing,

when that message was printed,

then people that had dreams and

visions and everything else about

seeing my picture on that

Contender, I was not caring about

seeing my picture on that

Contender, I just wanted people to

be able to identify the fact that I

was the one that preached it, and

not put somebody else’s picture

there. I will identify with what I

preach. This is hard.) unto their

own destruction.” That is not

pretty, but it is what Peter said. I am

not out to destroy anybody. That

was not my aim or purpose in the

things I have preached, that have

been torn apart by some. That was

not my aim. I did not even know I

would have opposition. I thought, I

see this, this is going to make

somebody happy. It did. But it

made others get in the parking lot

and talk loud, to where young

people could hear them. Some went

among unbelievers and got loud, so

they could hear. I would rather

crawl under a rug than I would to

just be heard by a bunch of

unbelieving people that could not

care less. I am talking about

spiritual growth. I am talking about

what this is going to do with us

before this life is over: we are going

to be a grown up people. We are not

going to be ashamed of our growth.

“Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye

know these things before, (You are

beloved, you know these things.)

beware lest ye also, being led away

with the error of the wicked, fall

from your own stedfastness.” I

don’t want that, and I don’t want

that for you. “But grow in grace,

(To grow in grace means getting to

look more like Him. Paul said, I in

Christ’s stead. Jesus is not coming



back to preach the gospel, neither is

Bro. Branham. Shame on you,

saying that he will come back to

preach the other part. He will not

come back until the rapture, and he

is not coming back to preach.

Anybody that would make a

statement otherwise while trying to

preach, should sit down. You do

not belong in a pulpit. Bro.

Branham will not come back to

fulfill that other part they talk

about, because there is not going to

be arms and legs all added on to

people before the rapture. I got that

message when it was preached

back in 1963. I was just a poor,

ignorant country boy at that time.

When he said, when he preached

the seals, this is the third pull, I got

it. Everybody else was looking for

a great healing ministry that Bro.

Branham was going to have behind

a curtain, everybody that went in

there, they were going to walk out

with new arms and legs, new teeth.

I could do with some of those, and

new hair, I could do with some of

that. But that will take place later.

But grow in grace...) and in the

knowledge (or understanding) of

our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

(The knowledge of Him, that is

what He expects out of us. It is like,

when Bro. Bud and I had to stand

against that preacher seven years

ago, that had wrote his book,

saying that Bro. Jackson would be

here until the rapture, and he

refused to withdraw those

statements. Out here there was a

man that opposed him for saying

such a thing as he did, and he

cursed him, that little preacher

cursed him. He said, you will grow

no taller. He was already fifty some

years old. I curse you in the name

of Jesus Christ he said, you will not

grow any taller. It worked. What a

fool! You say, you should not call

your brother that. I did not call any

brother that.) To Him be glory both

now and for ever. Amen.” Now I

will go to 1st Corinthians, chapter

3, starting in the 9th verse. Who are

we laborers with? “For we are

labourers together with God: (If

you are a laborer, you are not just a

worker. If you are a laborer, you are

not a nine to five worker. I do not

hesitate to tell you that He is on my

mind all the time, whatever I am

doing. Brothers and sisters, this is

not ours, but God was good enough

to send His Son into this world to

give His life, that we may be able

to labor together with Him.) ye are

God’s husbandry, ye are God’s

building.” In 1967 we were on

strike for sixty seven days where I



worked. I went to work, I worked

there I think it was seven weeks of

that time, working on apartment

buildings. The foundation had

already been put there and we were

to add to that foundation, the rest of

the building. The walls were all

prefab, everything was already

there. It was the outside insulation,

that is what it was to the building,

they already had the insulation in

them. They already had the wires in

them. They were shipped to us for

us to put them together. Every part

of that building, every room was

marked where we should put each

wall. I was not responsible for what

went where: I was just responsible

for helping them put it together. We

put one wall up, and nobody

noticed it until we had got beyond

that, but the window was six inches

off from being in the middle of the

room. Days after that, we found out

we had put the wrong part in that

place. But we left it there, that

window was always six inches off

from being in the center of the wall.

Somebody just had to come in and

go from socket to socket to put the

wires together. On and on we went

building this, which was a big

apartment building. It was on

Ewing Lane in Jeffersonville

Indiana. Then we got to the roof,

started cutting plywood. The man

who was over the job site had to go

get plywood for the top part

because there was a little strip that

we did not have enough for. But

since it was already pre-made,

those strips were in there and we

did not know it. If it had been done

right, we would never have had to

cut a piece of plywood. It worked

out ok, but it was already there.

Brothers and sisters, it is already

pre-planned. They took our

dimensions that we had for this

building, and they pre-fabbed what

was needed, somewhere in a

factory, and if it had been done

right, it would have worked just

fine. So we had to make it work.

Well we talk about predestination,

our lives have been predestinated,

but the thing about predestination

is, there is a plan that was already

made for the Church of the living

God, and she will get it right. When

I began to think of that, I just

thought of this Friday night, I had

something else in mind, but when I

began to think of that, it did not

take long to put the picture

together. If we listen, if we do what

the word says, we are going to fit

into a plan that was made from

eternity. There is no reason to go

get new material, if we will just



look at the material that has been

given to us to work with, which is

the Word of God. It was not that

our lives were pre-planned, it was

just the fact that everything that

God has designed to go into the

Church of the living God, is already

pre-planned, so when we get into

the presence of God with our lives,

so that we get the right

understanding of His Word, this is

all going to work. I love His Word,

because it works out what it is

supposed to. I love His plan,

because He made it so we can fit

into it. He said, grow in grace. Go

on over into Ephesians, and it is

fitly framed. Fitly framed describes

it. I believe Paul was looking at this

hour of time, his spirit was, the

spirit that God put into his being,

was showing us the route that we

must take in order to find grace to

grow in the knowledge of our Lord

and Savior Jesus Christ and fit into

that building. I am happy this

morning, I am happy for what He

gives us, I am happy for what He

shows us, which is always truth.

The only thing I can do is get out of

the way and say, God help me. I

cannot just think of God’s word

and get it right: it has to be a

revelation to me. If it is ever going

to be a blessing to you, it has got to

be a revelation to me.

THE GRACE OF GOD

CONTINUED

I am going back to Abraham and

Lot. This was something that was

brought out to me after I preached

it last Sunday night. I want to

refresh your memory on this,

because there is a lesson in it.

Genesis 13:14-18. “And the Lord

said unto Abram, after that lot was

separated from him, Lift up now

thine eyes and look from the place

where thou art northward, and

southward, and eastward, and

westward.” Even though you don’t

like to say these things, sometimes

there has to be a separation before

God will really open up His plan to

His saints. I know we have got

much criticism from Matthew 13,

where the tares and wheat were

separated, and the tares were put

into bundles for the burning. But

never did we mention names.We

do not have to. Why would

anybody say, you are calling us

tares when we did not mention

names? That is a mystery. But in

order to fulfill scriptures, if you go

back into the first part of that 13th

chapter of Matthew, Jesus spoke



parables to the people. When He

got through speaking parables, the

disciples came to Him and said,

why do you speak to these people

in parables? He made a funny

statement there, when He said,

seeing, they may not see, and

hearing, they may not understand.

Somebody would judge Jesus on a

statement like that because the

world wants you to believe that

Jesus is out to save everybody. His

salvation is enough to save this

entire world, the blood that Jesus

spilled was enough to do so, but

then you defeat scripture because

Jesus said all that the Father hath

given me will come to me. So as we

have this picture of Abraham here,

Abraham had to wait. He had come

many years, some fifteen years or

so, Abraham had come to the point

of separation. Because he went

from Ur of the Chaldees, to Haran,

and he stayed there as the scripture

says, until his father died. When his

father died, then he moved on to

Canaan. When he gets there, he

finds a famine there and he goes on

down into Egypt. All the time he is

gathering much wealth. So is Lot.

It come to the point that there was

a problem. Lot’s herdsmen and

Abraham herdsmen were fussing.

There were probably a few punches

thrown. Abraham, whether it was

somebody that reported this to

Abraham, or Abram, whether this

was how it came to him, he did not

like that. He did not like problems.

Neither do I. Whenever saints of

God have problems you have to

deal with them. When people leave

and cause problems. We find that

there had to be a separation to

fulfill the Word of God. I read that

and I stopped, because I wanted

you to think about it. Because it

said, the Lord said to Abraham

after Lot was separated from him,

not before, because the promise is

not to Lot. Lot headed the way of

least resistance. He headed to

Sodom. There he got rid of all his

property and found him a house.

No doubt he went to Sodom a rich

person. He traded all his riches for

stuff. Brothers and sisters, we are

rich in grace. We can trade that in

for the least resistance. As I said

last Sunday, if there had not been a

stand made in times past, where

would we be? Bro. Jackson made a

stand when Bro. Branham put in

church order. He even got out from

behind the pulpit and stood in the

floor in front of the pulpit. He said,

I will not stand behind the pulpit

and say this, as long as I go to the

Tabernacle I will honor this, but we



will not put church order into Faith

Assembly. It would have been a lot

easier on him to go the way of the

crowd because that way he would

have had no problems out of them,

he would still have been a friend.

But the moment he did, then

problems came. I remember him

telling about going to Missouri. I

know the preachers he went to. I

would not know them now, but I

did at one time. He went to

Missouri, and standing beside his

car he got so dizzy that he had to

hold onto something. Finally he

said within himself, I will not go

along with this church order thing.

He said it was like a band had been

tied around him, and it was loosed

when he said that. After that

happened, he came back to this area

and went to a doctor. The doctor

said to him, you sound like you are

under a lot of stress. He just

shrugged it off for the doctor, but

he knew that was what had

happened, because it got to the

point that it was a health problem.

We can carry burdens, and

sometimes people will heap them

upon us until it becomes a health

problem. There are people that like

to see you go through things. I am

not talking about saints of God,

because they will stand with you.



The Contender is published 8 times a year (excluding the months of March, June, September and

December) by Faith Assembly Church, P.O. 2368, Clarksville, Indiana 47131-2368, a non-profit

corporation, and is mailed free to all who request it. Published at Corydon, Indiana.

© 2018 Faith Assembly Church. Only by special permission from the author, may any part of this

paper be reproduced.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to:

The Contender, P.O. 2368, Clarksville, IN 47131-2368.

This edition was put in this format in April, 2018

www.fachurch.org

OFFICERS

James Allen ...................................................................................... Author, Pastor

Raymond M. Jackson ..................................................................... Founder, Pastor

Louis B. Turner ................................................................................ Editor, Retired

Charles Paisley ............................................................................................... Editor

David Jackson ..................................................................................... Copy Layout

Ramona Barber .................................................................... Secretary – Contender

Naomi Elliss .......................................................................... Secretary – Treasurer

Documents

Grace, Part 2€¦ · Bro. Jackson is not here anymore. Bro. Branham is not here anymore, but the Spirit of God is. It is the same Spirit that was in our brothers to teach us the