THESE WEAKENING CONDITIONS AND AFFLICTIONS, AND THINGS OF THE WORLD THAT'S PUT UPON US SOMETIME, TO PERFECT US…
3 Give
to us the desires of our heart, for we truly have these desires to serve You.
In these weakening conditions and afflictions, and things of the world that's
put upon us sometime, to perfect us; we've been told that.Then He said,
"Think it not strange that these trials come." They're only working out for our good and to perfect us, and
bring us into that place.These great deserts of experience, where
righteous man are molded into saints, we--we thank Thee for these experiences,
Lord.We would no mean, no wise want to do anything contrary to Your will.
But we pray, Father, that in this we'll be brought closer to You.
HE PROMISED THAT. IT'S
JUST GOT TO BE THAT WAY.
9 We're
here in service of the Lord, this morning, knowing that--that--that we believe
God, that we believe that He'll make everything just exactly right. Regardless of what it is, and how it works
out, we know it's got to "work for good."He
promised that.It's just got to be that way.Sometimes we can't
understand that, gets very complicated at times, but yet we know that it's the
Truth, 'cause the Bible says it's the Truth. And the Bible, to us, is God in letter form.
WE'VE GOT TO PLACE OUR FAITH SOMEWHERE
10 Now,
we've got to place our faith somewhere. And if--if I or any of us, in life,
tried to make a success in life and become, many times, a multimillionaire, but
what are we going to do with that? We got to
come down to the end of the road, and what--what good is it to us then? See? And money is a--a scrip, it's an exchange,
but you can't exchange it for Life. Only God has
Life.
HE WAS A GREAT MAN, AND IT COST A BIG PART OF HIS LIFE, BECAUSE HE WAS MANY, MANY YEARS IN CARVING OUT
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But, this, and the masterpiece that Michelangelo had--had made,
it--it cost him something to do that--that. He was a great man, and it cost a big part of his life, because
he was many, many years in carving out. Just take a rock and of--of
marble, and keep carving it. And,
see, only the man, the sculptor himself, has in his mind what he's trying to do.
He, he is the one. You might walk up and say to him,"What are you pecking on that rock for?"To the
outsider, who doesn't know what's in his heart, it's nonsense. But to the man, the sculptor himself,
he--he's got a--a vision in his mind, what he's trying to make, and he's trying
to reproduce what he has on his mind in the form of a--of a monument. That's
the reason he's digging it out of the rocks.
AND THIS, TO DO, YOU HAVE TO START OFF RIGHT, AT THE BEGINNING, AND YOU HAVE TO FOLLOW THE PATTERN
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN
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And this, to do, you have to
start off right, at the beginning, and you have to follow the pattern.
See? You can't get a little piece, to start off, "We'll make it this way;
no, I believe..." No, he's got to have a exact pattern. And in his mind
he's got that pattern. And he cannot vary from that pattern. Now, in order to
do this, he had to draw in his mind, because we have no real pictures of Moses,
but he had to get a mental picture in his mind, of exactly what Moses was.
ALL REAL HAS TO COME BY INSPIRATION.
THE.MASTERPIECE_ JEFF.IN
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35 Now, a
genuine sculptor is inspired, like a genuine poet, or any genuine singer,
musician, whatever it might be.All real has to come by inspiration.Michelangelo must have had the inspiration
of what Moses really looked like. And he caught it in his
mind, what Moses must have been. So he set forth on this great piece
of marble, the cutting to the pattern,
and bringing down, and honing down, until he got to the real picture of what it
must have been in his mind.
HE CAUGHT THE VISION FIRST, AND HOW HE HAD TO WORK TO
THAT VISION, CUTTING OFF AND MAKING DOWN!
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And then
when he got it all so perfect, every corner off, and every place rubbed, and
the eyes just right, every hair, and beard, all just the way it was, he stood
off and looked at it.I--I think of--of many, many hard years of
labor, and how he had to hold that same vision all the time, in his mind, of
what he was going to do.And just think, that vision on his mind for
so many years, to make it look just exactly to what it was! He caught the vision first, and how he
had to work to that vision, cutting off and making down! And when he got it to
where he perfected it, till it really got perfect; he stood and looked at it
when he finished up that morning, with a hammer in his hand.
AND TOILS, AND HOURS OF SORROW AND DISTRESS, AND
CRITICS, AND EVERYTHING ELSE, BUT YET HE STAYED RIGHT WITH THE VISION UNTIL IT
WAS COMPLETED.
And he was so inspired when he looked at it,
because the vision of his mind was standing before him, in reality.What
he had seen, and the... his conception of what Moses was, there it was figured
before him, what he had had in his heart all these years. And toils, and
hours of sorrow and distress, and critics, and everything else, but yet he
stayed right with the vision until it was completed.
THE INSPIRATION STRUCK HIM TILL HE GOT BESIDE HISSELF, AND STRUCK IT ACROSS THE KNEE, AND SAID, "SPEAK!"
37 And
then when it was completed, he stood back with the hammer, or sculptor's
hammer, in his hand, and he looked at that monument.And the inspiration of the
vision that he had seen, of how to do it, inspired him so much till he...The
inspiration struck him till he got beside hisself, and struck it across the
knee, and said, "Speak!"
38 Now
there's a flaw on that great image, on the knee, on the right knee. Just above
the knee, about six inches, is a place (I've put my hand on it) about that
deep.
THE INFLUENCE OF SEEING FULFILLED WHAT HE HAD SEEN IN HIS HEART AND IN HIS VISION, AND DESIRED TO SEE, IT WAS COMPLETED.
39
After he had spent all that time, for years and years, to make this;
then under the--the
influence of seeing fulfilled what he had seen in his heart and in his vision,
and desired to see, it was completed.And when it was completed, he
was so inspired by it till he thought his own masterpiece should speak back to
him.And he struck it across the leg, and holler, "Speak!" And it
made a flaw on it. It put a flaw on the image.
THE FLAW WAS WHAT MADE IT THE MASTERPIECE
40 To me, the flaw was what made it the masterpiece. Now,
maybe to the--the mind that might think different, you think that spoiled it.
No, to me, it--it made it what it was. It--it... Because of after so many years of careful work and toils, and
inspiration, and so forth, of making it, his toil had proved not in vain.It
was perfect, and that's why he cried out, "Speak!" Because, he had
seen before him that he (was) had been able to achieve, to bring to pass the
vision that was in his mind. And therefore, under inspiration, he done
something out of the reason, out of the ordinary. He struck it, and
hollered, "Speak!" See, he wouldn't have done that if he had thought.
But he didn't think. It was inspiration of seeing what he had in his mind
setting there perfectly before him.
IT WAS A REFLECTION. IT WAS--IT WAS A COMPLIMENT TO HIS WORK, THAT HIS OWN WORK SO INSPIRED HIM
41
His toils, and wearies, and long nights, and housed away from the
world for days, and maybe eat a sandwich. And--and rub on it, and get
back, and, "No, that's just not the way it was. Now it's got to
come down to this," and rubbing it. Then when he saw it, just perfect, then he saw in reality. The negative of the what was in his mind had become real, it
become positive, therefore it sprung into him. And it was so real that he must
cry out, "Speak!"
42 To
me, it was a reflection. It was--it was a compliment to his work, that his own
work so inspired him, that he would become beside himself to smite it and to
say, "Speak!"
