24-0819P_ACCEPTING GOD'S PROVIDED WAY AT THE END-TIME PT-5 (THE LORD IS THY KEEPER)

Gen 22:6  And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. 

Gen 22:7  And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? 

Gen 22:8  And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. 

Gen 22:9  And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. 

Gen 22:10  And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. 

Gen 22:11  And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. 

Gen 22:12  And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. 

Gen 22:13  And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. 

Joh 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. 

Joh 12:25  He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. 

Joh 12:26  If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour. 

Joh 12:27  Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. 

Phm 1:1  Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ,

 

*…EXPERIENCE ALONE ISN'T ENOUGH. IT'S GOT TO BE EXPERIENCE ACCORDING TO THE WORD OF THE LORD.

A.PRISONER_  JEFF.IN  V-2 N-8  WEDNESDAY_  63-0717

  78      See where he was. What a--what a thing it must have been for Paul! See? All that he had been trained to do was vice versa. So now, with--with all the education he had, it--it was just become naught to him.

79    Now, he knew that he had an experience. So here is another good lesson for us, that, experience alone isn't enough. It's got to be experience according to the Word of the Lord. So, him seeing this, and know that It was a great Something, then, that somebody else had received It before him, he took three years and six months down in the--the desert in Arabia; taking the--the Bible, as It was then, the Old Testament, and going down there, to--to compare this experience that he had had, and see if It was Scriptural.
 
*THE LOVE OF GOD HAD BEEN SO TREMENDOUS, AND SUCH A--A REVELATION, THAT HE COULD NOT GET AWAY FROM IT.

A.PRISONER_  JEFF.IN  V-2 N-8  WEDNESDAY_  63-0717

  80      Now what if he said, "Well, I guess that was just a little blowover," and went on? "I'm going to follow my intellect"?

81    Now, he had to become imprisoned to something, a prison. So after comparing it, and seeing, no wonder he could write the Book of Hebrews, in a type. See? Three years and a half down there, laying in the Word, and finding out that the very God that called him was taking him back, and changing all of his intellects, changing all that he ever thought, all that he trained to be. All his ambition, just wiped it away from him, and he became a prisoner. The love of God had been so tremendous, and such a--a revelation, that he could not get away from It.
 
82    That's the true experience of every real believer who meets God. You--you come in contact with Something that's so great, that you... that--that you become a--a prisoner, to everything else. See? You--you get away from everything, to imprison yourself to This.
 
*…BUT WHEN IT COMES TO A TIME THAT WHEN YOU--YOU--YOU REALLY FIND THE REAL THING, YOU--YOU JUST SELL OUT EVERYTHING ELSE, AND YOU CLOSE YOURSELF IN TO THIS.

A.PRISONER_  JEFF.IN  V-2 N-8  WEDNESDAY_  63-0717

  83      It's expressed one time where Jesus said, "The Kingdom of Heaven is something like a man buying pearls. Then when he finds that great Pearl, he sells all that he's got, to get that One."

84    And that's the way here. You--you have an intellectual conception, you have a--a--a--a theological experience; but when it comes to a time that when you--you--you really find the real Thing, you--you just sell out everything else, and you close yourself in to This.
 
 
*HE--HE FOUND OUT THAT HE WAS HARNESSED TO SOMETHING. THE SPIRIT, ITSELF, HARNESSED HIM.

A.PRISONER_  JEFF.IN  V-2 N-8  WEDNESDAY_  63-0717

  85      Paul knew what it was. He--he found out that he was harnessed to Something. Like we put a--a--a horse in a harness, it's to--it's to pull something. And Paul knew, after this experience, and three years and a half of typing the--the experience he had, with the Bible, he realized that God had chosen him and had harnessed him by the Holy Spirit, the experience that he had, to pull the Gospel in the presence of the Gentiles. The Spirit, Itself, harnessed him.
 
 
*YOU BEEN YOKED UP WITH IT, BY THE HOLY GHOST, HAS YOKED YOU TO THE WORD. NO MATTER WHAT ANYONE ELSE SAYS, IT'S THE WORD.

A.PRISONER_  JEFF.IN  V-2 N-8  WEDNESDAY_  63-0717

  86      And, today, as servants of Christ, we become harnessed, hooked up. We can't go. We're logged in with It, harnessed to the Word. No matter what anyone else says, you're harnessed to It. There is something about It, that you just can't get away from It. You been yoked up with It, by the Holy Ghost, has yoked you to the Word. No matter what anyone else says, It's the Word. That's always harnessed up with It, put in the yoke with It. To the Word, by the Spirit, he was harnessed.
 
*BUT YOU'VE GOT TO ABSOLUTELY BE STRIPPED OF EVERYTHING, AND JUST BORN AGAIN, AFRESH. AND TAKE UP FROM THERE, LET THE HOLY SPIRIT LEAD.

87    He had learned on the--the back side of the Arabian desert there. When, all his former things, and experiences, and ambition, that, he had been stripped of those things.

88    Now, that's where we find, today, that we must be stripped, first. And people don't want to be stripped. The Methodist brother wants to hold to a little bit of his Methodist teaching. Uh-huh. The Baptist brother wants to hold to a little bit of his Baptist teaching. See? But you've got to absolutely be stripped of everything, and just born again, afresh. And take up from there, let the Holy Spirit lead. You can't say, "Well, now, my--my daddy said, when he got in, went in the church, he shook hands with the pastor. He, he's a good loyal member." That might have been all right for his race, but we're another race. See? Now we must come back to the Bible times for this day.
 
*AND REMEMBER, HE IS THE WORD. SEE? NO MATTER WHAT ANYONE ELSE THINKS, IT'S THE WORD.

A.PRISONER_  JEFF.IN  V-2 N-8  WEDNESDAY_  63-0717

  92      Maybe somebody could say, "Brother Saul, Brother Paul, we want you to come over here, because we got the biggest church. We got the biggest congregation. Your offerings will be great, and so forth."

93    But being pressed in the Spirit, he thought, "I got a brother over there. I'd like to go over and save this brother, get him to the Lord." But, yet, the Spirit pressed him to go somewhere else. He was a prisoner. Correctly.

94    O God, make us prisoners like that, from our own selfish ambition, and from our own judgments and our better way of thinking, to be a prisoner of Jesus Christ. I think that was a great statement, that, "I'm a prisoner to Jesus Christ."

95    And remember, He is the Word. See? No matter what anyone else thinks, it's the Word. See? If you're a prisoner to the Word, no denomination can sway you from It. It's--it's the Word. You're just... You're a prisoner to It, that's all. You must act the way It acts.
 
*…THAT WE COULD COMPLETELY SURRENDER OURSELF AND BE YOKED TO HIM, NO MATTER WHAT THE REST THE WORLD THINKS, WHAT THE REST THE WORLD DOES.

A.PRISONER_  JEFF.IN  V-2 N-8  WEDNESDAY_  63-0717

  98      Oh, tonight, if we, as the Branham Tabernacle, could only become prisoners; to our own selfish being, to our own ambition, that we could completely surrender ourself and be yoked to Him, no matter what the rest the world thinks, what the rest the world does. We're yoked with fetters of love. We are prisoners. "My feet is so yoked to Christ, it won't dance. My eyes is so yoked to Christ, till I, when I see these modern striptease on the street, It turns my head. My--my heart is so yoked in love to Him, till I can't have love for this world, anymore. My will is so yoked to Him, till I don't even know now what my ambitions are. Just, 'Wherever You lead, I'll follow, Lord.' I'll be a prisoner." See?
 
*HE WAS TRAINED BY THE HOLY GHOST, AGAIN, TO WAIT ON THE WORD.

A.PRISONER_  JEFF.IN  V-2 N-8  WEDNESDAY_  63-0717

  99      Paul was correctly a prisoner. He wasn't making any wrong statement. He was trained by the Holy Ghost, again, to wait on the Word. Now, he had been trained one way, but--but God had trained him another way now. He was trained by the Holy Spirit to wait upon the Lord, no matter what his ambitions was.

100    Now I'm going to, help by the Holy Spirit, show you something. See? Now let's just take an instance.

101    One day, Paul and Silas, coming down the street in a certain city where they was holding a revival. And a little, demon-possessed girl kept following him, crying out after him. And no doubt but what Paul knowed that he had the authority, as an apostle, to rebuke that evil spirit out of that woman. But did you notice? He waited, day after day, until, all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit spoke to him, said, "This is the hour."

102      Then he said, "Thou spirit, come out of her." See? He knowed to wait on the Lord.
 
*YOU FIND YOURSELF DEFEATED, AFTER WHILE, UNTIL GOD CAN GET A MAN THAT'S WILLING TO BECOME A PRISONER TO HIM.

114    ….. God always has to take any man, that will serve Him truly, to be His prisoner. A man has to surrender every ambition he's got, everything that he is, every--every thing, his life, soul, body, will, ambitions, and everything else, and become a complete, a prisoner to Christ, Who is the Word, to serve God.

115    You might have to walk contrary, in your better judgment. Maybe, in a certain organization, you might think that they could lift you up and give you something great, that you might flash. But what do you find yourself? You find yourself defeated, after while, until God can get a man that's willing to become a prisoner to Him.
 
*YOU'RE ONLY CONNECTED WITH CHRIST, AND HIM ONLY, THEN GOD CAN USE YOU.

A.PRISONER_  JEFF.IN  V-2 N-8  WEDNESDAY_  63-0717

  116      God is looking for prisoners. He's always done it. You might search it through the Scripture. A man has to be a prisoner to Christ, against anything. Therefore, you cannot be connected with anything but Christ; even your father, your mother, your brother, your sister, your husband, your wife, anybody. You're only connected with Christ, and Him only, then God can use you. Until then, you can't.
 
*AND CUT LOOSE THE WORLDLY LOOKS, ANYHOW, AND BECOME A PRISONER TO CHRIST.

117    Going out, sometimes speaks rough to people. See? I--I am trying to get you to cut loose. You've got to have a starting place, like sometime calls out the women bobbing their hair and wearing these clothes, and hold and maintain their Christian profession. Say, "That's a little thing." Well, you've got to start somewhere. So begin right there, in your ABC's. See? And cut loose the worldly looks, anyhow, and become a prisoner to Christ. And then just keep on, cut loose everything, till finally the last line is cut loose. Then you're--you're... You are a prisoner then. You become in His grip. He, He's got you in His grip.
 
 
*HE'S ALWAYS HAD TO TAKE A MAN AND MAKE HIM A PRISONER TO HIM, FORSAKE HIS OWN.

A.PRISONER_  JEFF.IN  V-2 N-8  WEDNESDAY_  63-0717

184      Remember, all other times, what He's done. He's always had to take a man and make him a prisoner to Him, forsake his own. He had to forsake everything that he knowed, forget all of his trainings, everything, in order to know the will of God, and to follow God.

185    He can't follow anything that man has got to do, and God, the same time. It's too contrary, one to another. You can't be going east and west at the same time. You can't be going right and left at the same time. You can't be doing right and wrong at the same time. You can't be following man and God at the same time. No, sir. You're either following God or following man.

186    Now, then, if you are following God and have submitted yourself to God, then you become a prisoner to that God, to that Word, to that will. No matter what anything else says, you become a--a prisoner to It.

A.PRISONER_  JEFF.IN  V-2 N-8  WEDNESDAY_  63-0717

  187      Listen. We're at the end time. And I would say this with reverence and respect, as the last couple minutes is floating by. Look. What God, to my opinion, will do and must do, and will do in this last day, is to find a tool for the harvest. He's got to find a tool, to thrash the floor. Any farmer, when he goes to his harvest, he has to have a tool to do it with; certainly, he's got to have a sharp sickle or something, some instrument, to thrash out the grain. And the harvest is ripe.

188    God, take us in Your hand. Make us bond-servants of Your love. Use us for tool, to bring the realization to this sinful, cursed earth that we're living in today, that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

189    For myself, God, let me be a prisoner. If all my brethren turn me down, if all my friends turn me down, I want to be a prisoner of Jesus Christ and His Word, that I might be harnessed to His Word, by the Holy Spirit, to see the Holy Spirit make the Word of God be confirmed by the same things that He said would be done. I want to be a prisoner of Jesus Christ.

Psa 140:4  Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from the violent man; who have purposed to overthrow my goings. 

Psa 140:5  The proud have hid a snare for me, and cords; they have spread a net by the wayside; they have set gins for me. Selah. 

Psa 140:6  I said unto the LORD, Thou art my God: hear the voice of my supplications, O LORD. 

Psa 140:7  O GOD the Lord, the strength of my salvation, thou hast covered my head in the day of battle. 

Psa 140:8  Grant not, O LORD, the desires of the wicked: further not his wicked device; lest they exalt themselves. Selah. 

Psa 140:9  As for the head of those that compass me about, let the mischief of their own lips cover them. 

Psa 140:10  Let burning coals fall upon them: let them be cast into the fire; into deep pits, that they rise not up again. 

Psa 140:11  Let not an evil speaker be established in the earth: evil shall hunt the violent man to overthrow him. 

Psa 140:12  I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor. 

Psa 140:13  Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name: the upright shall dwell in thy presence.