22-0822P_PERFECT STRENGTH BY PERFECT WEAKNESS PT.9_(WHERE HAS THY STRENGTH GONE SAMSON)

2Co 12:7  And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. 

2Co 12:8  For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. 

2Co 12:9  And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Jdg 16:7  And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with seven green withs that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man. 

Jdg 16:8  Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withs which had not been dried, and she bound him with them. 

Jdg 16:9  Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber. And she said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he brake the withs, as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire. So his strength was not known. 

WHAT WE NEED IS SOMEBODY WHO'S BORNED AGAIN OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD, WHO KNOWS GOD AS THEIR SAVIOUR AND KNOWS HOW TO GIVE A WAY TO THE HOLY SPIRIT.

WHERE.HAS.THY.STRENGTH.GONE.SAMSON_  LA.CA  THURSDAY_  59-0702

  E-12    Now I have nothing against these things, but just as soon as the--we notice that the tobacco companies and the cigarettes, and said--Coca-Cola's and the other companies, beer, they took the television programs, and they just spread out. Well, quickly we try to capture that too. Now, that... I'm not saying nothing against that, but we're not here to compete with the world. We are here to preach the Gospel. What good does it do to have a bunch of intellectual people setting around that knows no more about God than a Hottentot knows about an Egyptian knight? What we need is somebody who's borned again of the Spirit of God, who knows God as their Saviour and knows how to give a way to the Holy Spirit.

*GOD IS ONLY KNOWN, BY FAITH YOU BELIEVE GOD.

WHERE.HAS.THY.STRENGTH.GONE.SAMSON_  LA.CA  THURSDAY_  59-0702

  E-13    We are in a--a very critical shape, the church in all today. And they take our ministers and send them away if they have a call of God on their life, and send them away somewhere to some embalming place and pump them full of some kind of an embalmer's fluid to go out in the stead of preaching the Word and bringing people to a faith in the Holy Bible and in the Holy Ghost, teach them a bunch of creeds and psychology, to teach to the people; and taking them farther away from God than they was to begin with. That's exactly what our educational programs has brought us to...?... God is not known by education. Neither is He known by science. Neither is He knowed by any world thing. And is--though... God is only known, by faith you believe God.

WE IN THE CHURCH NEED HUMBLE BORNED AGAIN CHRISTIANS.

WHERE.HAS.THY.STRENGTH.GONE.SAMSON_  LA.CA  THURSDAY_  59-0702

  E-14    In the garden of Eden there was a tree of knowledge, and man has completely hanging on to that tree of knowledge. Remember, as long as you're living at the base of the tree of knowledge, eating the fruit that falls off of it, you're away from the Tree of Life. You can't be at both the same time. You make intellectual giants (That is true.), and great philosophers, but we don't need them kind of philosophers. We in the church need humble borned again Christians.

WE DON'T CARE WHAT THE REST OF THEM'S DOING; LIVE RIGHT BEFORE GOD; THAT'S THE MAIN THING.

It reminds me of each denomination trying to educate their ministers to a little higher stand, to get a little better intellectual bunch into the church. They build the finest of buildings now, the Pentecostal people, some of them in millions of dollars and preaching that the Lord's coming right away. But it doesn't make sense to me. See? But they do it because the world's a doing it, because the rest of them is doing it. We don't care what the rest of them's doing; live right before God; that's the main thing.

*BUT IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN, THE DEVIL CHOSE THE MAN'S HEAD. GOD HIS HEART.

WHERE.HAS.THY.STRENGTH.GONE.SAMSON_  LA.CA  THURSDAY_  59-0702

  E-15    But in the garden of Eden, the devil chose the man's head. God his heart. And now the devil comes into the intellectuals and has brought his religion to intellectual. You'll know--never know God intellectually; you've got to know Him by a new birth, being borned again which comes from the heart.

The pride of life, the lust of the flesh, what the eye can see... But when God comes in, He goes into a man's heart and makes him believe things by faith that his eyes cannot see, "for faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." The devil just switched it around. And he's doing it to the Pentecostal church.

I see them year by year, falling right off into that same condition that's downed the other churches and bound them. It's exactly the truth. Knowledge, knowledge, wisdom's all we'll ask for. And more knowledge they get, they think they could speak better, use better education, talk psychology. And when they're doing that, they're taking people away from God's Holy Bible. They're taking them away from life and faith.

WHERE.HAS.THY.STRENGTH.GONE.SAMSON_  LA.CA  THURSDAY_  59-0702

  E-16    Now, just reminds me of a little book I was reading here in Los Angeles some time ago. You... Don't mean this to be sacrilegious, but it's just has struck me. It had some--some good human sense in it. And it--rather sense of humor, but it was something like this: that there was a certain chicken pen. And there was a--a little bright eyed rooster, one morning, jumped up on a--a box, and pecked his little bill against the box four or five times, and said, "Ladies and gentlemen of this coop, I would like to make a lecture to you this morning to tell you I have--I have obtained lots of knowledge," said, "just how we should run this thing for the best. I know all how we should do to make pretty feathers."

And all the little pullets with their little combs hanging over, cackled out and said, "Isn't he cute?" Well, that reminds me of some of these little seminary preachers.

Then the first thing you know is, he went ahead to say, "I know just the right kind of vitamins we should use to grow pretty feathers. And then just the right kind of a living that we should make our place a--a better place to live in, here."

And while the little fellow was right in the middle of his speech, a little rooster come running from the outside of the pen, not many feathers on him. And he said, "Just a minute, son." He said, "I just heard the last, latest news report: chickens went up four cents on the pound, and tomorrow we're all going to the slaughter." So what good does your knowledge do. You better be right with God, is the main thing.

WHERE.HAS.THY.STRENGTH.GONE.SAMSON_  LA.CA  THURSDAY_  59-0702

  E-17    A little canary once set upon his perch and he said, "In this little denomination of ours, I am one of the smartest of the canaries. I've obtained so much knowledge until I know all about the human being. They're superior to us, they say, but I know all about it." And just about that time, a professor of Purdue stepped up, and said, "You little insignificant thing..." and begin to speak some great words. And the little canary started batting his eyes and looking. Of course he didn't know what he was talking about. And he begin to speak to the little canary. Now, it wasn't that the little canary couldn't see. He had eyes. It wasn't that he could not hear, because he had ears. But the reason that he could not understand, he had a canary brain and he couldn't understand human beings.

Now, I think that's just the way of a lot of our seminary teaching and knowledge that's too much of a canary brain. We can't understand the mysteries of God by knowledge, because it's only revealed by the Holy Ghost as It will reveal. There's too much canary brain preaching today: all about what they know about it, and come to find out you know nothing. Because how can our little finite minds ever understand the infinite mind of the Almighty God? I can't understand it, how we so group ourselves down like that. The reason people do these things and organize people, and have these let out early so that we can go see a certain television program, there's only one thing that spells to me: they don't know God, and they're trying to substitute something for the new birth. That's what they're bypassing.

***IT'S GOT TO BE AN EXPERIENCE, A BORNED AGAIN… IT'S THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST, AND THAT'S THE SECRET OF THE REAL BELIEVING CHURCH: BORNED AGAIN.

WHERE.HAS.THY.STRENGTH.GONE.SAMSON_  LA.CA  THURSDAY_  59-0702

  E-18    We all know that the Bible teaches the new birth. And they substituted handshakes and everything else for the new birth, but it'll never take the place of the new birth. It's got to be an experience, a borned again.

We all know that any kind of a birth is a mess. When a baby's borned, if it's on the floor, if it's in a shuck pile, or in a pink decorated hospital room, it's a mess. But it brings life. That's what the new birth is; it's a mess, but it brings life. It ain't a style, or a put on, or declaration of creeds; it's the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and that's the secret of the real believing church: borned again.

*ALL NIGHT PRAYER MEETINGS AND THE POWER OF THE HOLY GHOST GET BACK INTO THE CHURCH AGAIN, THAT'S WHAT WE NEED TODAY …..

Oh, I know you get up from the altar, crying , and boo-hoo, and squealing, and slobbering, but it brings life. It takes the starch out of you. It makes you something that you ought to be. It takes all the world and the stiff-neck out of you. And today, we just walk up and say, "I take Jesus for my personal Saviour." That'll never take the place of the new birth, when men and women come to the altar and forget where they are and who's around them, until they really die out and are borned again. All night prayer meetings and the power of the Holy Ghost get back into the church again, that's what we need today is a good old time Saint Paul's revival, and the Bible Holy Ghost preached back in the power, yet in the simplicity of preaching that's in the power of the resurrection.

*AND WHEN WE SUBSTITUTE OTHER THINGS AND GET CLASSY, AND STARCHY, AND STIFF, WE'RE LOSING THE VERY SECRET, AND OUR LOCKS ARE BEING SHAVED OFF.

The great apostle Paul said, "I come to you, not with words of wisdom that your--your faith would be built up in the wisdom of men, but I come preaching the power of the Holy Ghost, that your faith would be built upon the Holy Spirit. The church needs that today. And when we substitute other things and get classy, and starchy, and stiff, we're losing the very secret, and our locks are being shaved off. It's exactly right.

WHERE.HAS.THY.STRENGTH.GONE.SAMSON_  LA.CA  THURSDAY_  59-0702

  E-19    Oh, Delilah knowed how to do it. She knowed just what to do. The other day, last Saturday, the wife and I were going over to the grocery store to get some food. I don't mean to be harping on this. I know I got a horrible name for this, but if it's wrong, it's wrong. How can you hold your peace when things are wrong? What's the matter with the church today, it's become so sissified. God's not a sissy. God's God.

On our road over in our little city, I guess we passed at least two hundred women and found one with a skirt on. The rest of them was them little old immoral clothes that women wear. And my wife said to me; she said, "Billy, do you mean to tell me that woman don't know that she's naked?" Said, "If she doesn't, then she's out of her right mind; she's insane." That's right.

And I said... I said, "Honey, no, she's just an American. She's just following the American custom."

She said, "But look. You mean to tell me that lady don't know that what she's doing..."

I said, "No, she doesn't know. She's just got the American spirit on her." And I said, "When I was in Finland, they taken me down to one of those..." If there's a Finn sitting here, I may not say this word right: Saunda. It's a bath, a Finnish bath. When I got down to the place, the Holy Spirit told me not to go in there. And when it was, I found out they had women in there to scrub the men. So I said to Dr. Munion, and I said, "Do you think that's right?"

He said, "Just as right as it is for your American doctors to lay the women on the table and strip them down and examine them." So you see, "Sauce for the goose, is sauce for the gander." See? Pot cannot call kettle black.

And then when you go into France, there--all women and men use the same rest room. When you go into Africa, into dark parts of the jungles, they don't use--wear any clothes at all. But here's what: it's a custom of the nation. She said, "Then aren't we Americans?"

I said, "No, for we are from another land. We are pilgrims and strangers here. We're seeking a city to come." I said, "Because we have been born from... Our spirit comes from another land which is heaven, where holiness, and God, and righteousness rules and reigns. And we confess that we are pilgrims and strangers. We're seeking a city to come whose builder and Maker is God."

***WHAT WE NEED IS THE HOLY GHOST IN THE HUMAN BEING, IN THE HEART.

WHERE.HAS.THY.STRENGTH.GONE.SAMSON_  LA.CA  THURSDAY_  59-0702

  E-20    We are not looking for these things of the world. And when the Spirit of God comes into a person, it changes them. It motivates you... The life that's in you motivates you. And what's the matter with the church today, it's become too worldly. What we need is the Holy Ghost in the human being, in the heart. It'll take the new birth to do that: change that person, making him or her a new creature.

 

Psa 118:1  O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever. 

Psa 118:2  Let Israel now say, that his mercy endureth for ever. 

Psa 118:3  Let the house of Aaron now say, that his mercy endureth for ever. 

Psa 118:4  Let them now that fear the LORD say, that his mercy endureth for ever. 

Psa 118:5  I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place. 

Psa 118:6  The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me? 

Psa 118:7  The LORD taketh my part with them that help me: therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me. 

Psa 118:8  It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. 

Psa 118:9  It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes. 

Psa 118:10  All nations compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD will I destroy them. 

Psa 118:11  They compassed me about; yea, they compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. 

Psa 118:12  They compassed me about like bees; they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. 

Psa 118:13  Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall: but the LORD helped me. 

Psa 118:14  The LORD is my strength and song, and is become my salvation. 

Psa 118:15  The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly. 

Psa 118:16  The right hand of the LORD is exalted: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly. 

Psa 118:17  I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD. 

Psa 118:18  The LORD hath chastened me sore: but he hath not given me over unto death. 

Psa 118:19  Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD: 

Psa 118:20  This gate of the LORD, into which the righteous shall enter. 

Psa 118:21  I will praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation. 

Psa 118:22  The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.