25-0825P_INVESTMENTS
Mar 10:17 And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?
Mar 10:18 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.
Mar 10:19 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.
Mar 10:20 And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.
Mar 10:21 Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
*…ANY BUSINESSMAN IS ALWAYS,
IF HE'S A GOOD BUSINESSMAN, IS INTERESTED IN GOOD INVESTMENTS…
INVESTMENTS_ SHREVEPORT.LA SATURDAY_ 62-1124B
And I thought this might be appropriate for a few minutes speaking to
businessmen of the city on investments, because that any businessman is always, if he's a good businessman, is
interested in good investments. That seems to be what they love to do, is to
make a--a good investment, sound investment, because it pays off always.
INVESTMENTS_ SHREVEPORT.LA SATURDAY_ 62-1124B
E-9 A fellow that's got money wants to put it to a good
investment, of course. A man that has as much as, say, ten thousand dollars, he
would like to put it to some investment. Don't keep it in your pocket, 'cause
you know thieves will steal it. And so, you don't want to do that.
So you want, if you're
a good sound businessman, you want to put it to something that'll--it'll draw dividends.
You want to put it to something to usury. You know about the talents in the
Bible. So you must put it to some use that'll draw dividends out of it, some
good sound business.
* BEFORE WE MAKE OUR
INVESTMENT, WE SHOULD FIND OUT ABOUT THE--ABOUT THE COMPANY, OR ABOUT THE THING
THAT WE'RE TRYING TO BUY.
E-18 Now, this great assurance policy that I'm asking each to
invest in today, let us look back. And all things should be like any other
business. Before we make our investment, we should
find out about the--about the company, or about the thing that we're trying to
buy. And I think it would be good this morning, in these next few
minutes, if we investigated some of the holders of this policy to find out just
what taken place. That's the only way to do when you're going to make a
business investment.
You'll usually go over
and say to your fellow man, "Have... what about this Such-and-such-a
company? What about this Such-and-such-a business?"
"Well, it did
this for So-and-so. It did this for So-and-so. And it paid off with this. And
this bonds, these coupons, government bank coupons, and they paid off at
twenty-five percent," and so forth.
That... It's good to invest it--investigate it, and find out before
you make your investments.
*NOT BOTHERED ABOUT GETTING IN THERE, IT'S GETTING OUT.
INVESTMENTS_ SHREVEPORT.LA SATURDAY_ 62-1124B
E-8 Some time ago, a friend that I went to school with, he's an insurance agent, and he's a nice man. I got a brother that's an insurance agent, but it just happens to be that I never carried insurance. And so I... Nothing against it, but I... The boy come up one time. His name was Snyder. His brother is a Baptist minister. Wilmer said to me; he said, "Billy, I'd like to talk over some insurance with you."
And I said,
"Wilmer, thank you." I said, "I--I'll talk about anything
else," but I said, "I already have insurance."
And he said, "Oh,
I'm sorry." He said, "You have what?"
I said, "I have
assurance."
And he... And my wife
looked at me as if I was a liar. She stopped, and she looked across at me,
'cause I don't have any insurance.
And he said,
"Billy, what insurance do you carry?"
I said, "I said
assurance: 'Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory
Divine. I'm an heir of salvation, purchased of God, borned of His Spirit,
washed in His Blood.' "
He said, "That's
very good, Billy. But it won't put you up here in the graveyard."
I said, "It'll take me out. I'm am not worried about getting in; I want out. So... Not bothered about getting in there, it's getting out. So that's what I want to talk about."
*AND GAMBLING IS NOT A GOOD
SOUND BUSINESS. IT'S A... IT'S GOT A CHANCE TO IT.
INVESTMENTS_ SHREVEPORT.LA SATURDAY_ 62-1124B
E-10 And then, in doing this, you don't want to put it in
something that isn't sound. No man would want to do that. A good smart
businessman wouldn't think of such a thing. You men wouldn't do that, put it in
something that--one of these here "get rich overnights and don't know
where it come from." Better be careful about that. You'll lose all you
got, 'cause it's a gamble. And gambling is not a
good sound business. It's a... It's got a chance to it. And you don't want to
take them kind of chances.
But you want to put it
in something, in some good sound firm that pays
great dividends, something that's stable, reliable, something that you know
that has paid off, and been proven that it will pay off.
When you have
something like that to make your investment, why then you feel assured that
you're--you got something coming. You can rest assure when you put your money
in that. But if the business is not too good, well, you wouldn't want to try
it. Some good reliable plan, something that would pay you off well...
*AND THIS RICH YOUNG
RULER, AS WE'D CALL IT IN THE BIBLE, HE PASSED UP A GREAT OPPORTUNITY.
INVESTMENTS_ SHREVEPORT.LA SATURDAY_ 62-1124B
E-11 And this rich young ruler, as we'd call it in the
Bible, he passed up a great opportunity. He had the opportunity to put his richness of this world
into a guaranteed plan, but failed it. He didn't do it. He was given the
opportunity that he could draw interest on it, and make a great investment. But he--he failed to accept that opportunity--so much...
as many of us do today. And we find out that it's too bad, but we do it.
Now, although this plan that he was offered was perfectly vindicated that it
was sound...
When Jesus came to the earth, He proved that He was what He said He was: that He was God, manifested in flesh, for He brought it to a--a showdown and said, "If I do not the works of My Father, then believe Me not."
*NOW, GOD IS IN HIS CHURCH,
HIS LIFE DIVIDED AMONG HIS PEOPLE, GOD LIVING AMONG THEM, TRYING TO UNITE THEM
TOGETHER IN A MYSTICAL BODY OF CHRIST,…
INVESTMENTS_ SHREVEPORT.LA SATURDAY_ 62-1124B
E-16 With His Divine Presence, as it was when He was on earth,
God was in one Person. Now, God is in His church,
His life divided among His people, God living among them, trying to unite them
together in a mystical body of Christ, which is called His Bride. And
when He's trying to do that... And He will do it, for as the prophet said... It
come forth, His forerunner for His first advent, said, "God is able of
these stones to rise children."
And today, when the
blessings fell upon the Pentecostals years ago, and they separated themselves,
seemingly not having the faith, God is able of the Methodists, and orthodox,
and so forth, of these stones to rise children unto Abraham.
And did you ever think, my brethren, did it ever come to you in the Scripture, that the very day that the sleeping virgin come to buy oil, that was the day that He come? When you see Greek Orthodox, Episcopalians, Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, coming in, hungering for this, "Where can we get this oil?" Remember it was that hour that the Bridegroom came. Let's watch our investments, where they pay off at.
*ANYTHING THAT GOD EVER DONE
ON EARTH NEVER WAS POPULAR FROM THE BEGINNING. VERY MUCH UNPOPULAR, IT'S
PURPOSED TO BE THAT WAY.
INVESTMENTS_ SHREVEPORT.LA SATURDAY_ 62-1124B
E-17 Now. They put Him out of their denominations. They didn't
want Him. The rich young ruler went away sad,
although you notice that it says here in the Scripture, "Jesus holding him
loved him. And He loved these people in these organizations. They're
God's people. He loved them, and He's offered, and has offered for the last
fifty years, the opportunity to make another investment in Him, not in a
building of a church, but in the power and the resurrection of Christ, and
receiving the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
It's not
popular. Certainly not. It's never been popular. Anything that God ever done on
earth never was popular from the beginning. Very much unpopular, it's purposed
to be that way. Did not Jesus call the Pharisees the
whited walls? Said, "Which of your fathers has not persecuted the
prophets? You whiten their tombs now, but you was the one that put them in
there."
They build it upon some great thing, the Methodist upon John Wesley, a great man; the Lutheran upon Martin Luther, and so forth. And now, the Pentecostals is trying to build a tomb to something was fifty years ago, that brought them out of this kind of a chaos. And now, they're taking it right back in again, polishing the--the tomb of the ones that we actually put in. That's right.
*HIS NAME WAS NOAH. HE WAS A
RICH FARMER.
INVESTMENTS_ SHREVEPORT.LA SATURDAY_ 62-1124B
E-20 Let's start back with an old holder I could think of a
long years ago. His name was Noah. He was a rich
farmer. And we find out that while he had good possessions upon the earth, one
day God spoke to him. And usually when God speaks, it's so contrary to
the earthly thoughts of the thing, it's so different from the modern trend of
the day, until the person that receives the policy... The
other people that don't have the policy, or know nothing about it, has never
talked it over, think the man's crazy by accepting it. It's always been that
way.
God told Noah by
promise, "I'm going to destroy the world, and I want you to build an ark.
Take the wood off your farm, and--and don't make shade trees any more, but I
want you to build an ark. It's for the saving of your life."
And Noah obedient to that... It did not cope with their modern scientific thoughts. You know, we're taught that we had a greater civilization then than we have now. Jesus said, "As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be at the coming of the Son of man," a modern civilization.
INVESTMENTS_ SHREVEPORT.LA SATURDAY_ 62-1124B
E-21 And we're told by Genesis that they had never had rain down from the heavens. God watered by irrigation. The world stood up straight. It did not lean back. And we had no rainfall.
And here comes a man
coming forth upon a policy that he'd been given of God, that judgment was
coming, and the only way to escape it, that there was coming a phenomenon such
us rain. Water was going to fall from the skies. Perhaps some of their modern
scientific men could put their instruments up and say, "We can shoot the
moon by radar, and there's no such a thing as water in the sky. The man is
totally insane. Let him alone; he will bring disgrace upon himself."
If that
ain't a picture of the modern day believer today, he's considered totally
insane. He's emotional. He's crazy. I thank the brother
at the end here for his compliment, "I was
just foolish enough to believe the Word." That's all right. I--I want to
stay foolish.
I seen a little sign one time. I'm told about a man out in California, had a big plate on the front of him here. It said, "I'm a fool for Christ." And on his back was a question mark, said, "Whose fool are you?"
*BUT HE HAD A POLICY THAT WAS
GOING TO DRAW DIVIDENDS, GOING TO PAY OFF IN THE SAVING OF HIS LIFE.
INVESTMENTS_ SHREVEPORT.LA SATURDAY_ 62-1124B
E-22 So Noah was a fool in the eyes of the world in that day,
for the God's sake, and for the Word's sake. But he
had a policy that was going to draw dividends, going to pay off in the saving
of his life.
As I've said before,
it might not cope with all the scientific movement. They might try today to say
this is purely emotion. As one brother testified, I believe here, he wanted no
emotion. And that's good. I think there's a lot of radical stuff goes with it
that moves...
I was reading the life
of Martin Luther, or the history. And it said it wasn't such a phenomena that
Luther could protest the Catholic church, and get by with it. But the phenomena
was, the man could hold his head above all the fanaticism that followed his
revival.
That's the same it is
today. It isn't so much a--of a--of a phenomena to see people come out of
organizations and things. But a man that can stay with the Word, and hold his
head above all the fanaticism that tries to follow such a move: sensations, and
so forth, that base faith upon which is absolutely fleshly, as our precious
brother quoted to us about the Greek. See, they go out the same thing: flesh,
flesh, denomination, so forth.
But somebody can hold their head above that, and stay with THUS SAITH THE LORD... It's true.
INVESTMENTS_ SHREVEPORT.LA SATURDAY_ 62-1124B
E-23 We find that Noah... That after you have received this policy that I am speaking of this morning, the assurance, the assurance of salvation, you're always tried. And there's always... The Kingdom of God doesn't come by observation, and we know that you're tried. Every son that cometh to God must be child-trained.
INVESTMENTS_ SHREVEPORT.LA SATURDAY_ 62-1124B
E-24 Now. But you're tried, put to
the test to be proven. And Noah, after the days of his preaching when he stood
in the ark of his door, and gave--the--the door of his ark, rather, and gave
the very last call... And God told him, "I'm through with them. Get
into the safety that's been provided."
I think that's where
we stand. Get into that spot of safety zone. The traffic of sin is getting
terrific, but God give us a safety zone, as I was speaking of last night, the
inoculation. Stay in there. Don't go to wandering. As the brother said, you can
totter out of it. Better stay put. Now, don't go to wandering off on isms and
dogmas. Stay with the Word. Stay with Christ. To
know Him is Life. Not to know His creed, not to know His book, not to
know nothing; but to know Him is Life.
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