23-0421A_THE CHOOSING OF A BRIDE
Gen 24:12 And he said, O LORD God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, send me good speed this day, and shew kindness unto my master Abraham.
Gen 24:13 Behold, I stand here by the well of water; and the daughters of the men of the city come out to draw water:
Gen 24:14 And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels drink also: let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast shewed kindness unto my master.
Gen 24:15 And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder.
Gen 24:16 And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up.
Gen 24:17 And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher.
Gen 24:18 And she said, Drink, my lord: and she hasted, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink.
Rev 21:9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.
Pro 8:30 Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him;
Pro 8:31 Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men.
Pro 8:32 Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed are they that keep my ways.
Pro 8:33 Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.
Pro 8:34 Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.
Pro 8:35 For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD.
*CHOICE
IS A GREAT THING.
THE.CHOOSING.OF.A.BRIDE_ LA.CA
V-2 N-28 THURSDAY_ 65-0429E
31
In many things of life we are given a choice. The way of
life, itself, is a choice. We have a right to make our own way, choose our own
way that we want to live.
32 Education is a choice. We can
choose whether we're going to be educated, or whether we are not going to be
educated. That's a choice that we have.
33 Right and wrong is a choice.
Every man, every woman, boy and girl, has to choose whether they are going to
try to live right or not live right. It's a choice.
Choice is a great thing.
*YOUR ETERNAL DESTINATION IS A CHOICE.
34 Your Eternal
destination is a choice. And maybe, tonight, some of you will make that--that choice, of where
you'll spend Eternity, before this service ends tonight. There'll be one
time, that, if you turned God down many time, there'll be one time you'll turn
Him down the last time. There is a line between
mercy and judgment. And it's a dangerous thing for a man or a woman, boy
or girl, to step across that line, for there's no
return when you step across that deadline. So, tonight, it might be the time
that many will make their--their decision, where they will spend the endless
Eternity.
***THERE'S ANOTHER CHOICE THAT WE HAVE IN LIFE, THAT'S, A LIFE'S COMPANION. ALSO, YOU HAVE A CHOICE, AS A
CHRISTIAN.
THE.CHOOSING.OF.A.BRIDE_ LA.CA
V-2 N-28 THURSDAY_ 65-0429E
35
There's another choice that we have in
life, that's, a life's companion. A young man or young woman, stepping out on life,
has--has been given a right to make a choice. The young man chooses. The young
woman has a right to accept or reject it. But it's still a choice, on both
sides. Both man and woman, they have a right to choice.
Also, you have a choice, as a Christian.
***AND THEN THERE IS THE WORD OF GOD, YOU
HAVE CHOICE OF. YOU HAVE TO MAKE THE CHOICE.
THE.CHOOSING.OF.A.BRIDE_ LA.CA
V-2 N-28 THURSDAY_ 65-0429E
37
You have also a choice. Whether... When you choose this church, you can choose whether you, in
this church, whether you will choose a church that will guide you to your
Eternal destination. You can choose a church that has a certain creed,
that you might think that creed is just what you want. Or, the other church has
their creed.
38 And then there is the
Word of God, you have choice of. You have to make the choice.
There's
an unwritten law among us, of choosing.
39 I believe it was Elijah, one
time, up on Mount Carmel, after the showdown, in a great hour of the crisis
that we're just about to come to right now. Perhaps, it may be to you or I,
tonight, that we make this choice, like the Mount Carmel experience. Frankly, I
think it's going on, worldwide, now. But there will soon be a time where
that you'll have to make a choice.
*WHEN GOD SPEAKS TO YOUR HEART, YOU ACT
RIGHT THEN.
THE.CHOOSING.OF.A.BRIDE_ LA.CA
V-2 N-28 THURSDAY_ 65-0429E
42
Remember, when the
jubilee year come, and the--the priest rode with his trumpet sounding, that
every slave could go free. But if they
refused to accept their freedom, then he had to be taken to the temple, to a
post, and an awl bore him through the ear, and then he served his master alway.
It was put on his ear as a type, of
hearing. "Faith cometh by hearing." He heard that trumpet, but he
didn't want to listen to it.
43 And many time, men and women
hear God's Truth, and see It vindicated and proven, Truth, but yet they don't
want to hear It. There's some other reason. There's
some other choosing that they have, than to face up to Truth and fact,
therefore their ears can be closed to the Gospel. They'll never hear It
again. My advice to you, when God speaks to your heart,
you act right then.
44 Elijah gave them a choice which
they should. "Choose you this day whom you shall serve. If God be God,
serve Him. But if Baal be God, serve him."
***A MAN SHOULD THINK AND PRAY BEFORE HE CHOOSES A WIFE.
THE.CHOOSING.OF.A.BRIDE_ LA.CA
V-2 N-28 THURSDAY_ 65-0429E
45
Now, as we see that all of the natural thing is a type of
the spiritual things, as we went through in our lesson this morning, as the sun and his nature. That was my first Bible. Before I ever read a page in
the Bible, I knew God. Because, the
Bible is written everywhere in nature, and it just corresponds with the Word of
God: how the death, burial, resurrection of the nature; and the sun rising,
crossing, setting, dying, rising again. There's so many things that we
could type, God in nature, that we have to bypass, for this Message.
THE.CHOOSING.OF.A.BRIDE_ LA.CA
V-2 N-28 THURSDAY_ 65-0429E
46
Now, if the spiritual or... The natural is a type of the
spiritual. Then, the choosing of a bride, in the
natural, is a type of choosing a Bride, the Bride, in the spiritual.
47 Now, it's a serious thing when
we go to choose a wife, a man, for the vows here is until death do we part.
That's how we should keep it. And you take that vow before God, that only death
will separate you. And I think we should. A man in his
right mind, that's planning a future, that he should choose that wife very
careful. Be careful what you're doing. And a woman choosing a husband,
or accepting the choice of a husband, should be real careful what she's doing,
and especially in these days. A man should think and
pray before he chooses a wife.
*AND WE FIND, THAT, IF A MAN PRAYED AND A
WOMAN PRAYED OVER THE MATTER;… BUT WOULD LOOK FIRST TO GOD, AND SAY, "GOD,
IS THIS YOUR PLAN?"
THE.CHOOSING.OF.A.BRIDE_ LA.CA
V-2 N-28 THURSDAY_ 65-0429E
48
I think, today,
what's got so many divorce cases now, that we lead the world in America, in
divorce cases. We lead the rest of the world. There's more divorces here than
anywhere else, this nation, and supposed to be, and thought of, a Christian
nation. What a reproach,
our divorce court! I think, the reason of it, is because that men has got away
from God, and women has got away from God.
49 And we find, that, if
a man prayed and a woman prayed over the matter; not just look at a pretty set of eyes, or big strong
shoulders, or such as that, or some other worldly affection; but would look first to God, and say, "God, is this Your
plan?"
*…WHEN WE CHOOSE OUR WIFE, OUR HUSBAND,
IF WE'D STUDY IT OVER! A MAN SHOULD PRAY EARNESTLY, FOR HE COULD RUIN HIS
ENTIRE LIFE. THE.CHOOSING.OF.A.BRIDE_ LA.CA
V-2 N-28 THURSDAY_ 65-0429E
51
And if we would study what we're doing when we're going
to get married, when we choose our wife, our husband, if we'd study it over! A man should pray earnestly, for he could ruin his entire
life. Remember, the vow is "until death do
we part," and he could ruin his life by making the wrong choice. But
if he knows what, he making the wrong choice and is marrying a woman that isn't
fit to be his wife, and he does it anyhow, then it's his fault. If the woman
takes a husband and knows that he's not fit to be a husband to you, then that's
your own fault, after you know what's right and wrong. So,
you shouldn't do it until you thoroughly pray through.
* THE SAME APPLIES BY CHOOSING A CHURCH.
NOW, YOU MUST PRAY OVER THE CHURCH THAT YOU ARE FELLOWSHIPING IN… I'D CHOOSE A
GENUINE, FUNDAMENTAL, FULL GOSPEL, BIBLE CHURCH
THE.CHOOSING.OF.A.BRIDE_ LA.CA
V-2 N-28 THURSDAY_ 65-0429E
52
The same applies by choosing a church. Now, you must pray over the church that you are fellowshiping
in. Remember, churches carry spirit.
53 Now, I don't want to be critical. But I realize that I'm an old man,
and I got to leave here, one of these days. I've got to answer at the Day of
the Judgment for what I say tonight or any other time. And I, therefore, I got
to be dead earnest and truly convicted.
54 But, you go into a church, and
if you'll watch the behavior of that church, you just watch the pastor awhile,
and you'll usually find that the church acts like the pastor. Sometime, I wonder if we just don't get one another's spirit in the
stead of the Holy Spirit. You get to a place where a pastor is real
radical and carrying on, you'll find out the congregation is the same way. I'll
bring you to a church where I see the pastor stand, jerk their heads back and
forth. You watch the congregation, they do the same thing. You take a pastor,
just gulp down anything, usually the church will do the same thing. So, if I was choosing a church, I'd choose a genuine,
fundamental, Full Gospel, Bible church, I was choosing one to put my family in.
Choose. I looked...
*THE KIND OF WOMAN THAT A MAN WOULD
CHOOSE, WILL REFLECT HIS AMBITION AND HIS CHARACTER.
THE.CHOOSING.OF.A.BRIDE_ LA.CA
V-2 N-28 THURSDAY_ 65-0429E
58
Again, the kind of woman that a man
would choose, will reflect his ambition and his character. If a man chooses the wrong
woman, it reflects his character. And what he ties
himself to, shows truly what's in him. A woman reflects what's in the
man when he chooses her for wife. It shows what's down in him. No matter what he says outside, watch what he married.
*HE'LL LOOK FOR CHRISTIAN CHARACTER.
59 I go to a man's office, and he
says he's a Christian; pin-ups all around on the walls, that old boogie-woogie
music going on. I don't care what he says. I don't believe his testimony,
because his spirit is feeding on them things of the world. What, say, if he
would marry a chorus girl, or what if he would marry a sex queen, or just a
pretty, modern ricketta? It reflects. It shows what he has in his mind, of what
his future home is going to be, because he's took her to raise his children by.
And whatever she is, that's the way she'll raise those children. So, it
reflects what's in the man. A man that takes a woman
like that, shows just what he's thinking of the future.
60 Could you imagine a Christian
doing a thing like that? No, sir. I could not. A true Christian will not look
for such beauty queens, and chorus girls, and sex queens. He'll look for Christian character.
*YOU BETTER LOOK AT HER CHARACTER…
THE.CHOOSING.OF.A.BRIDE_ LA.CA
V-2 N-28 THURSDAY_ 65-0429E
61
Now, you can't have all things. There might be one girl
that's real pretty. And the other girl, maybe she's a... her statue looks
better than this one. And you might have to sacrifice one for the other, but,
if she's not the statue of a lady, of a woman. And, she, I didn't care whether
she's pretty or not. You better look at her character,
whether she's pretty or not pretty.
62 Now, for, it is
becoming, if a Christian would choose a wife, he ought to choose a genuine,
born-again woman, regardless of what she looks like. It's what she is, what makes
her. And then, again, that reflects his own godly character, and reflects
what's in his mind and what's going to be in the future, for his family will be
raised by such a woman, for the future plans for his home.
*NOW, WE HERE SEE PLAINLY THE SPIRITUAL PLAN, OF GOD'S PLANNING FOR HIS
FUTURE HOME WITH HIS FUTURE BRIDE, COMES INTO VIEW NOW.
65 When God gave a man a
wife, He gave him the best thing He could give him, outside of salvation. But when one goes to trying to
take a man's place, then she's about the worse thing that he could get a hold
of. Now, that's right. See?
Now
we can see the spiritual application.
66 I--I know that's bad, you think
it's bad, but it's the Truth. We don't care how bad it is, we got to face up to
the fact. That's what the Bible teaches. See?
THE.CHOOSING.OF.A.BRIDE_ LA.CA
V-2 N-28 THURSDAY_ 65-0429E
No comments:
Post a Comment