25-0317P_PREPARATION

Luk 2:25  And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. 

Luk 2:26  And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ. 

Luk 2:27  And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, 

Luk 2:28  Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, 

Luk 2:29  Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: 

GOD ALWAYS MAKES A PREPARATION*

GOD'S.PREPARATION_  LOUISVILLE.KY  THURSDAY_  54-0401

  E-20    May the Lord bless His Word. I want to speak to you for a few moments on "God's Preparation."

God always makes a preparation. Before He does anything, He always gives ample time, much warning, and then those who spurn that love, of warning, there's nothing left but judgment. They must receive judgment.

HE SENT A VOICE OF WARNING AND WARNED THE PEOPLE TO FLEE FROM THE WRATH THAT WAS TO COME.

Before God destroyed the antediluvian world in the days of Noah, He sent a voice of warning and warned the people to flee from the wrath that was to come. And the warning, the voice of warning was so contrary to the church setup of that day, until the people laughed him to scorn and thought he was a crazy man; for he--he spoke of something that was impossible as far as man was concerned for it to happen. Lord said He was going to rain water down out of the skies, and it had never rained, not even dew fall, until that time. But yet he said He was going to do it.

And here's where he based his--his text, where he based his thought and his faith was in, because God said He was going to do it. That's a good reason. When God says He's going to do anything, just believe it; because He's going to do it.

AND WHEN GOD SAYS ANYTHING, HE'S GOING TO DO IT, AND YOU CAN JUST DEPEND...

GOD'S.PREPARATION_  LOUISVILLE.KY  THURSDAY_  54-0401

  E-21    If God come down in this building tonight and said, "It's going to rain tomorrow," well, if I went everywhere, I'd take my umbrella. It'd be easy for me to take umbrella if the sun was shining ever so bright, 'cause I know it was going to rain. And when God says anything, He's going to do it, and you can just depend...

If He says, "Don't plant any crops this year, there won't--there won't be anything raised," you'd never see me putting any seed in the ground; 'cause it'd be easy for me to believe that God said so. And what God says, it's easy for me to believe that He'll do it. That is today, on the ministry.

IF ANYTHING THAT ANYONE SAYS THAT ISN'T BACKED UP BY THE SCRIPTURE, THEN I--I COULDN'T GO WITH IT; ALTHOUGH I WOULDN'T SAY IT WASN'T GOD TILL I SEEN THE FRUITS OF IT.

GOD'S.PREPARATION_  LOUISVILLE.KY  THURSDAY_  54-0401

  E-22    Now, friends, there's many things that people do and say, perhaps maybe... I--I'm not the judge of people. But I think any ministry or any demonstration of the Spirit of God that can't be backed up in this Bible, I'd leave it alone. If anything that anyone says that isn't backed up by the Scripture, then I--I couldn't go with it; although I wouldn't say it wasn't God till I seen the fruits of it. Then I wouldn't say nothing about it; I'd just let it go like that.

I don't believe in talking about people. I don't believe that. I believe in rebuking sin and so forth; but talking about, "Well, this church is not right, and they are nothing but hypocrites, and this pastor's nothing." That's wrong. The Bible... God...

*SO DON'T--DON'T SAY NOTHING EVIL ABOUT CHRISTIANS.

GOD'S.PREPARATION_  LOUISVILLE.KY  THURSDAY_  54-0401

  E-23    One man one time by the name of David, who could've killed his enemy; God led him right up to the enemy, and the man that was searching for his life, and his--even his general said, "God has delivered him into your hands; take his life." And he cut the piece off of his coat, went back up, he said, "God forbid that I touch His anointed." That's right.

So don't--don't say nothing evil about Christians. Don't try to harm Christians, 'cause you'll reap what you sow every time. "Touch not My anointed; do My prophets no harm. For it was far better for you that your--that you'd have millstone tied at your neck and drowned in the depths of the sea, than to offend My anointed." Is that right?

So don't say nothing about Christians. Maybe some of them don't live just right, or do just right, but that--that's God's child. Let--let the Father take care of His own kiddies. You know? If we go to fighting one another, God give us both a whipping, maybe. So let's--let's just leave the other fellow alone and pray for him. Try to love him and correct him and maybe God will help him.

*AND SO GOD PREPARES AND SENDS VOICES OF WARNING.

GOD'S.PREPARATION_  LOUISVILLE.KY  THURSDAY_  54-0401

  E-24    And so God prepares and sends voices of warning. And He's always made a preparation. Just before He sent Elijah up on the Mount Carmel, there to prove that He was God and--and the nation had gone wrong, well, He sent Elijah out to give a warning and to make preparation for these things. And He always does that: God provides a way every time for the people. And then if the people reject His mercy, there's only one thing left to do and that is for His judgment.

*YOU THINK SOMETIMES YOU'RE GOING WRONG WHEN YOU'RE GOING THIS WAY, BUT AS LONG AS YOU'RE GOING RIGHT, YOU'LL COME OUT RIGHT

It's just like if you're going right, and that's right, and this is wrong going left, you can't expect to be going wrong and come out right. You've got to come out wrong. You may think you're going right, but you find out after awhile, it'll be wrong. And you can't go right and wrong at the same time. So just keep right all the time, and you're bound to come out. You think sometimes you're going wrong when you're going this way, but as long as you're going right, you'll come out right. You've got to.

*THINK RIGHT; DO RIGHT; YOU'VE GOT TO COME OUT RIGHT.

So think right. That's your obligation to yourself. Do right; that's your obligation to God. And you'll be right just as certain as I'm standing in this platform tonight. Think right; do right; you've got to come out right.