In this sermon, the speaker discusses the importance of having a strong foundation in the word of God for a successful life. He shares his experience of visiting troubled churches and questions the source of their inspiration. He then presents three steps to identify a man of faith and achieve financial freedom, emphasizing that these principles are applicable in any culture. The speaker also mentions the progress of a building project in Texas and how God is working miraculously through it. He concludes by sharing his personal journey of encountering Jesus and surrendering to the ministry.

I believe the Lord wants me to send this out because it's so practical in your daily life or for your daily life. In fact, I think it will really meet a need in each of our lives. It will deal with this matter of financial freedom. It will deal with this matter of freedom in the family life. I believe it will just lay down three basic principles that will really enable you to carry on in the life in a way that you'll be free as a child of God if you practice these three basic principles. Many of you have been following with interest the progress of the ministry and especially the part that relate to a building to be built in Texas, Euless, Texas or around that surrounding area. I might say that the Lord is continuing to develop that project. The Lord is raising up so much, in a miraculous way, His work through that building. The Lord is working on some men's hearts. People are having a part in the building in relationship to carpet to be put in the building, in relationship to paving the parking lot and so on. Brother Wendell Goodman from Oklahoma City is coming to be the administrator over the building and work to coordinate the work in my ministry as well as a couple other fellows' ministry. By the time you receive this tape, it's very possible that I will have been able to go up and see our grandson. Up to this point, I haven't allowed myself to get too excited about this whole matter, but it seems that it is getting to be an exciting possibility. I trust that the Lord will continue to speak to all of our hearts as we move with His glory. This is Fred Barr, Minister of Music of the West Vron Baptist Church. Brother W.A. Smith, Pastor. We welcome you to the Florida County Baptist Association Bible Conference. This message is recorded on Friday at 7 p.m. June 23, 1978. Our conference speaker is Dr. Manley Beasley. I believe that kind of singing would make a back-slidden Fiskepalian child. I tell you, that sort of categorizes us Baptists, too. Anyway, that's good. That's wonderful. I appreciate the music and I've enjoyed it. In fact, a couple of brothers picked me up yesterday in Atlanta, and they had a tape of the services and had a tape of the messages in song, and it was a real blessing. I couldn't believe I was coming to church with that kind of singing. So I'm glad that you're blessing us. Your wife has picked all this out. This is your wife. You keep picking them. You do a good job. No, he just said this morning his wife picked that solo out, and I thought it was so good, so I just wondered if she'd pick that out tonight. But I really appreciate this choir coming. When you come to a conference like this, a lot of times it's everybody's responsibility. It's no one's responsibility, and very little gets done. And if you haven't done the groundwork before a meeting like this starts, you don't have time after it starts, because you don't have time to grow a crowd, I would think. That wouldn't be a good way of putting it. But this choir has been right here on the ball every time, last night and tonight. And I praise the Lord for it, because they've added a great deal to the ministry of these night services. And I praise the Lord for it. If you allow me the liberty tonight, I would like to preach what the Holy Spirit would like for me to preach. Oh, you wouldn't allow me that liberty. All right. Amen. I mean, I could have gone ahead and just preached and not shared it with you, but I've had difficulty all afternoon just discovering what the Lord wanted me to preach. And for a number of reasons, but one reason I slept almost all afternoon. And the second reason is one time I wasn't sleeping, I was on the telephone or eating. And I say that because I have to get a lot of rest because of my physical history. Back in 1917-71, I was down with seven diseases, mixed connective tissue disease specifically, that includes lupus, scleroderma, polymyositis. And the rest, you know, if those three won't shock you, you wouldn't know what the other four were anyway. So it's just very rare that I'm alive and the Lord has been so good, but I have to rest right. And I really do. And the Lord knows that. So I usually, well, usually the sermons I preach anyway are about 30 years old. I started preparing them 30 years ago. Amen. That's when I got saved and I've been, and since you're an evangelist, see, you can do that. Amen. You see, you don't have, you know, you're not having to get a new sermon every week. So you can just build on. And that's what I've done for all these years. And so I haven't been without preparation for this tonight. But what I'm really saying when I say to you, I want to bring what's on my, the Holy Spirit's putting on my heart is that when I got here tonight, I had some plans. But after I got here, I believe the Lord spoke to my heart and said, I want you to share this. And so I want to share a message. If I get into a church that is having some misgivings about finances, I would call this message a message on financial freedom. If I would get in a church that was having some trouble about not knowing what the life of victory really is, I would say this is a definition of the life of victory. If I get in a church like I was in the earlier part of this week, where the pastor would ask me, what is a man of faith? Because a number of years ago, God promised him to get, if he gets seven men of faith, he'd get seven men of faith that the Lord would do some supernatural things among them within his ministry. And so he asked me this question. Could you give me a definition of a man of faith? Now, he said, I want you to know, I've talked to Carl Bates. I've talked to Herschel Hobbs. In time, he got through listing all the people that he had talked to. I looked at him and I said, well, friend, I can only tell you what the Lord's shown me. And this message defines what is a man of faith like, or what is a man of faith. And actually, what I'm giving you here, I believe, is three steps. And boy, it's almost a sin for me to say that. I mean, it's very difficult for me to give anyone any steps, because my gift just doesn't allow me to give steps. But there's three steps in relationship to identifying the life of victory, the man of faith, or having financial freedom. And the amazing thing about these three different steps that I'm going to deal with, this will work in China under Communism, as well as in Russia under Communism, as well as in America that's not under Communism, that's totally living under a totally different culture. And so, not only will this work in the different cultures, but these three different steps will bring you back to the person of Jesus. And we are getting very conscious of principles in our day. And these principles are taking the place for the person of Jesus Christ. Because people said, if you do this, and you do this, and you do this, and you do this, you exercise these principles, put them into operation, you will have this. And that is not so. That's right. Beloved principles are to be the means by which we are brought back to Jesus, are the expressions of walking with Jesus, are the standard by which we can discover, actually discover ourselves, and be brought back to Jesus, which would relate to what I just got through saying. Principles are never to take the place of Jesus. Never. So, you pray tonight as we deal with this area. And the first, I believe the first step to the life of victory, in relationship to being a successful Christian, or having financial freedom, or having victory wherever you are in whatever you are doing, is this. God having initiated your involvement. If we'd settle that once and for all, beloved, we could see that we could have the glory of God, and the power of God, and the expression of God in every place in our lives, and that's all you need. I like what James Robinson said to me two years ago. God began to deal in his life, and he said, Preacher, I have prayed that God will take everything out of my life that he did not originate. I never will forget. I laughed, but I guess I laughed to keep from crying. I just said, well, brother, you're in for some unusual days. But I said, when God gets through with you, you can be assured that he'll stand by you, because everything you are involved in, he started. Now, you say, well, give me the scriptural basis for this. Jesus said, and Brother Jack made reference to this this morning, and I want you to know this is so important. Jesus said, I do nothing except what I see my Father do. I say nothing except what I hear my Father say. Jesus Christ had been given all power in heaven and in earth, and from himself alone he could have done anything. But, beloved, he never did a thing except that which was initiated by the Father. And you can say what you like. Jesus is our example, even though a lot of people like to set him aside because of the fact that he was the Son of God and say that he's not a perfect example. But, beloved, by his choices, he is a perfect example for every one of us. And Jesus Christ never did a thing except what the Father initiated in him. And when he talks about, as the Father has sent me, so send I you, it's in the context of him walking by the Father. And walking by the Father means that he walked in such a relationship with the Father that as the Father did things, he did them. As the Father said things, he said them. And out of that context, he says now, as the Father has sent me, so send I you. He did not say go out and do this without first saying, I will do it in you. Another outstanding example of this principle that I want to share with you is Paul in Colossians 1.29. Paul said, I labor and I strive. What's the rest of that verse? I labor and I strive. According to his workings, what? Which worketh in me my belief. It's obvious, beloved, that God initiated the laboring and striving in Paul's life. Now, I may be wrong, but at best I understand this particular verse of scripture. It came out of the setting of Paul being in jail. And he wasn't running up and down the streets preaching. At this time. Really. And I really do not know the laboring and the striving he was going through specifically, but it's my opinion that he was praying and sharing the truth of God with the people that came by him. But yet he said, I do nothing except what I hear my Father do. See him do. Say nothing except what I hear him say. In other words, Paul said, I labor and I strive. But it's according to his workings, which what? Worketh in me. In fact, I was amazed the other day. You know, you really wonder how sound some people are. Especially some of the younger people that are coming up today. The older you get, the more you wonder about some of the kids. And you're trusting that God's really teaching them. And the other morning, there was this young man that is Olympic material for weightlifting. And he's the youth director in charge of the athletic division of this particular church. And just a young fellow, you know, just handsome. And he's got a lot on the ball. And I just really wondered. I said, now he's got this physical thing down to pat. But listen, I really wonder how he's doing spiritually. And he came up to me and he said, you know, Brother Manley, he said, really, what you're teaching us really applies to salvation, doesn't it? He said, if man initiates his approach to God, he said he doesn't get saved. But if God initiates man's approach to God, he says he gets saved. I didn't wonder about the depth of that boy any longer. Amen. Because he obviously knew a great deal more about salvation than a lot of people who have reduced themselves to teach that man has an ability to get to God without God initiating. Boy, that's so thrilling because this is the basic foundation for you and me being a successful life, or building a successful life. Some months ago, I was in a church. And of course, you may start speculating as to what church this is that I'm talking about. But don't let your minds wander too far. It wouldn't help you if you knew. But this church was in trouble. This church is still in trouble. And I can think of about five like that right now that I've been in. And I mean in real trouble. And as I talked with the pastor, I had one question. Who initiated what you're doing? Did you go off to some conference and get inspired by seeing some fantastic work? Or did in the closet at the foot of Calvary where you've come to the intersection, the Spirit of God take the truth of God and give you the revelation of God, initiate this whole thing that we see here in your heart. Where did it start from? You see, if what I was talking about had been initiated by God, I could say, friend, you can depend on the fact that God started it. But since I could not find whether or not God initiated this, or just plain inspiration, then, friend, I have nothing to say. That's right. People in this world need to realize that God is capable and able and available. He's available to initiate what He wants done in the hearts of the believers. And of course, a lot of people aren't aware, I guess, but one of the reasons that God is not creating and doing a lot of things in the lives of men and women across this country today is because the key to God initiating things in the heart of a man and woman is the experience of worship. That's where God speaks to people. You just go through the Old Testament and look to see where God spoke to people. And basically it was in the experiences of worship. Occasionally, God would just break in on the scene when men were not expecting Him and speak to them. He still does it that way. Right? Like Gideon, he did Abraham that way. But most of the time, like in the life of Abraham, when God spoke to Abraham, he just returned to the Lord and got right with God and worshiped God. Right? Now, I think one of the most thrilling, one of the most profound, and yet one of the deepest experiences of my life centers around the fact of my call to preach. You may not know. You have no reason to know, I guess. But when I started to school as a little boy, I could not learn to read and write. And I never understood why until we discovered this problem in our son about five years ago, I guess. Six years ago. And by the time I got to the seventh grade, I was so confused. There was just nothing left for me to do, and that was get out of school. You say, now, Brother Manley, that's wrong. Well, it may be that you're wrong. You know, we don't always have to know the facts before we know and make a proper judgment. I just, the only thing I could do was just observe. I could not learn to read or write. And, of course, everyone but my mother said, You're just stupid. You're just dumb. So I started traveling all over the world and just observing. But one day I met Jesus. And, you know, when you meet him, there's a lot of things taken care of. Now, he didn't heal me. But a year later, I surrendered to the ministry, and a man, the vice president of a college, a Baptist college, came by and asked the pastor if he had any prospects for college. The pastor said, No. Oh, he said, No. No, I don't. He said, There is one boy. He said, There is a boy in the church that surrendered to the ministry but said, I've never questioned whether God made, I just don't believe God makes a mistake. But I'll tell you, if this boy is right, I am beginning to wonder. And so he said, I just see no possibility. The vice president of that college said, Well, I'd like to meet him. He met me, and when he met me, he did not know that I could not read or write. Now, I could put words together, and I could do a little bit. I got up and gave a 200-word part in training union one night, and I actually spoke 28 words, and there was not one coherent statement in the whole thing. That's right. Now, you know, it was all that ridiculous. The devil said, You'll never make it. Well, this man said, Family, if you'll come to school and maintain a certain average, he said, you can make it. I prayed my way to school, prayed my way through school. Boy, four years later, came out with a bachelor of science degree. And boy, I just could not read or write anything before I surrendered to preach. So since I was so ignorant, foolish, you know, God just really dealt with me, and I don't tell people about my call to preach because every kid in the country will be called to preach like I'm called to preach. And I never tell about it, and I'm not going to tell you now. But I'll tell you what. Friend, God will move in such a way that it takes to meet your need. And for one solid year, God dealt with me, and I said, I can't preach. I can't preach. And after one year, I surrendered to preach. And after all through these years, at death's door, at the door of despair, at the door of discouragement, you know what I've discovered? I can take the Father back to that call to preach. And I've told them this several times. I said, now listen. I said, I didn't start this business. You did. And if you're ready to stop, I'm ready, right? Amen. And the moment I get back there to the fact that God started this business, God initiated what I'm doing, God said, do this, then be like me. And the encouragement, the strength, the wisdom, the courage, everything I need, God started it. And if you want to be a man of faith, have financial freedom, have the right kind of marriage, be the right kind of Christian, do those things that God initiates in your life, first and foremost. Then, if you do those things He initiates, the second step is that you must live in such a way to release God. Now, we Baptists might be afraid of that word release, so we'll use a little more simple phrase, let God miraculously work in your situation. In other words, live in such a way that God will miraculously work in your situation. Actually, what this does is bring us to the place of faith. In other words, you keep adjusting your life, getting right with the Lord, keep correcting your life, until the Lord Jesus is miraculously, supernaturally working in your life. Keep yielding. There's two things you can do. You can keep yielding, and you can keep trusting. But we should never, never stop this side of God supernaturally working in our lives. Well, I say, you take what we're going through right here tonight, this is what we have settled for here tonight. If, beloved, if this is all God wants to do in the world tonight, then, my dear friends, something is wrong. You say, well, why isn't it then He's doing all He wants to do? Because, beloved, He's left Abrus, He's left man to take dominion. And man is not even inquisitive enough to find out what God wants to do, and then tell Him to do it. Jesus said He did not many mighty works because of what? Unbelief. So if you want financial freedom, you want a successful family, marriage, successful work, be a man of faith, then you must surrender so completely to the Lord, and then trust Him in such a way that He can supernaturally work in your church. If Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is not supernaturally working in our lives, and supernaturally working in our church Sunday after Sunday after Sunday after Sunday, my dear friends, the children that's reared in your church have no right in this world but to... an unbeliever and a hypocrite. And if they grow up to be anything other than an unbeliever, deny that it's the mercy of God, it's not us. That's right. We have a son that's 13 years old, and of course he's getting the benefit of all that we learn out of the others. And he's not perfect, he's just like yours. But he's... But I'll tell you, we've been careful to do one thing with this boy. We've never let this boy live in doubt. Come on. And I want you to know something, friend. This kid can trust Jesus while I'm sitting around wondering what's going on. Because he's never been taught to doubt. Now, he is a baby, just a 13-year-old kid that's growing up. Pretty big baby, almost 6 foot. But anyway, he is just growing up. But the first step or two in the life of faith, it's things. But finally when you get your degree, it's him. And so right now he's still on faith. You know, he's still trusting the Lord for things. But I know that he's going to trust Him. And so the other day he had a birthday. And he came to me and I said... I tried to find out what he wanted. I don't believe people ought to do anything in this world but what they want to do. Come on. You're not sure. But I think your want-tos ought to be his. So what you want is right. Some of you were here last night. You knew where I was headed, didn't you? And see, I wanted to know what this boy wanted. Because if I could look at what he wanted, I could check and see whether he was right with Jesus or not. If his want-tos was the Lord's want-tos, I knew we could get our want-tos. Amen? Boy, I tell you. So I said, son, what do you want? He said, a camera. I thought just immediately, well, you can get one for about 30 bucks. That'll be all right. He said, well, daddy, I want one. And when he got through, he was talking about $300. And I said, well... I said, well, I'll tell you what, son. Why don't you just trust Jesus for one? And I thought I'd have a little argument, you know. I thought he'd say, well, this is my birthday, and you and mother usually give me something. But when I said, why don't you trust Jesus for something, he said, okay. And never said a word. And I want you to know, my dear friend, to my amazement. I came in about two weeks later, and he brought a bag out that looked like a small suitcase. And he opened that bag up, and there was $1,000 worth of equipment in that bag. And I said, where did that come from? He said, the Lord gave it to him. And friend, that boy literally, literally claimed that by faith. Some months ago, we ordained in Alaska. In fact, almost a year ago, we ordained in Alaska, Anchorage, Alaska, with our son that's 22 years old. And he preached. And then I sat there, and I wondered what that fellow was going to say. This kid's never done anything. I mean, he's been a perfect, you know, type child. He's better by nature than a lot of people are by grace. And, you know, you see people like that. Don't you envy them? Don't you get full of sin and want to be like they are? Amen? I like people like that, but they get me upset. But anyway, this boy has just been a beautiful person all his life. And he said, you know, he started talking about his mother and myself, and I just wondered what he was going to say. And he said, you know, he said my mother and daddy did not live perfect lives. But he said, I'll tell you one thing, they did do. They lived in such a relationship with Jesus that Jesus was supernaturally working in our family. And I knew that Jesus was alive. Boy, I tell you, I want you to know something. God can initiate something in you, but until you claim Him and all of Him by faith to release Him to supernaturally work in that, I'll guarantee you, you'll not get off the ground. And the third step is once you release the Lord to supernaturally work in your situation, then, beloved, you must be sensitive to cooperate with God in that situation. You do not just leave things to God. Philippians 2.13 tells us that it's God that works His will in us. He says it's God that worked the will in us to do on His good pleasure. And I want you to know, I stumbled over that verse of Scripture a long time until I saw that there are two promises in this verse. One is that God will work His will in us. And the second is that God will work His will through us. But, beloved, God does not work His will in us and through us without the cooperation of the will of the believer. And a child of God has two promises here. One is that the Lord will let us know what the will of the Father is. And when we agree with Him, when we agree with Him by surrender and trust, then that releases the Lord to work His will through us. So the Bible calls us colaborous. Amen? Colaborous. In other words, my dear friends, we as believers in Christ Jesus must not only allow God to initiate what we do in our lives and so trust Him that He's released to miraculously work, but we must stay on our tiptoes waiting on the Lord. And when I say waiting on the Lord, I'm talking about not sitting down waiting passively. I'm talking about as a waiter stands beside the table with a towel over the arm waiting just to see His desire and move out with it. Amen? And this past January, my wife and I flew to Germany to a conference in Germany, a European Baptist convention conference. This is the first conference they ever had on evangelism. It was actually an evangelistic conference like we have in our state. It's the first one. And so we were going to be in Switzerland for a few days, so they invited me over since I was going to be over there anyway, you know, drop by and preach. So Martha and I got on the airplane. And by the way, my wife's name is Martha. M-A-R-T-H-E. You know, I say that and people look at me and say, that poor nut doesn't even know how to pronounce his wife's name. But I do. Martha's brother was reading a French novel when she was born and found that name, Martha, and liked it and named her daughter Martha. And I've had to explain it ever since. But anyway, we got on the plane and my secretary had gotten us a first-class ticket. And sometimes, most of the time, if I'm riding over about 30 or 40 minutes, I have to either have a lot of room in a seat or either have to ride in first class because calcium deposits in my knees to where I just can't sit well at all. If I'm going to be in a position for a long time. But this particular trip, I felt like I could handle something less. But my secretary got a first-class ticket. And I'll tell you, I stayed mad about halfway from Dallas to New York. But about halfway to New York, I began to get right with the Lord and realized God wasn't broke and, you know, that He could pay the bills. And so I just let Him have it and got to New York and got checked in. And they moved us. They told us since we had first-class tickets that we'd go up to a lounge up there. And so we went up, got a Coke, got a sandwich, just relaxed and watched the beautiful snow. And while we were seated there, just really realizing, you know, that we were by ourselves for a while and going to be by ourselves for about a week, it was a very strange event after all. And so we were just enjoying everything that was going on. And so a big man started walking. He'd walk up by me, and he'd turn around and walk back. And I looked at him. He was about 6'6", and he got my attention. But I didn't think he had anything. You know, I wasn't waiting on the Lord. I was sitting there letting the world go to hell. And so that fellow got a little more personal. He sat down by me, and I said to myself, Who in the world is this fellow? And you know what? He started talking to me. And he said, Where are you headed? I said, Frankfurt. He said, Well, I'm headed to Frankfurt. He said, Do you like opera? I said, Something like this, yes, sir. He said, Well, would you like to go to opera tonight in Frankfurt? I said, Well, I don't have time. He said, Well, I'm singing there tonight. He said, I can get you tickets. You know, he was just real personal. He wasn't too pushy. I just happened to move over. I'd get run over. And I said, You know, I've got everything in this world that a man would want. And then it began to get personal. And he said, Man, but I'm the most miserable man in the world. And I thought to myself, You know, this fellow's nuts. Here he is, you know, just laying it out. And he said, You know, I've really been miserable for about six or seven years. He said, About six or seven years ago, a man by the name of Bill White led me to a decision. And he said, You know, I've been so miserable. I need some help. He said, No. He said, By the way, what do you do? I'm just happy. Let me tell you something, friend. The Holy Spirit for 15 minutes, right, was wanting me to have that man. But I'll tell you what. God almost had to run over me to even get me sensitive enough to respond to that fellow. Now I want you to know that's not the way it's supposed to be done. I'll tell you, we as God's children, if we're going to see, be men and women of faith, if we're going to see the victory, we're going to see the glory of God, we're going to have to learn to allow God to initiate what we do. We're going to have to learn how to trust Him to supernaturally work in that situation. And we're going to have to learn how to be sensitive and obedient to God in that situation. And you know what? It's just like here in a few minutes. An offering will be taken. And you know what we'll do? We'll not allow God to tell us what to do. And you know when I go to a church for revival, and they do not seek the face of God about a thing like that, do you know I'll never go back? That's right. You know why? Because, my dear friend, listen, until God's people learn how to discover and allow God to initiate what they do, they'll never go as Christians. That's right. They'll never go. You'll not go. I won't go. I noticed that I mentioned about that offering. It got a few little talks and whispers. But, friend, I'll tell you what. I got news for you. I never ask any man, any woman, any person, anyone in the world to do anything but accept what God wants you to do. And if that's wrong, then you can talk all you want. Amen? Is there anything wrong with that? Come on. That's all I've preached tonight. If you want to be a man of faith, you want to be a successful Christian, you just like people say you shouldn't borrow money or you should borrow money, you should be debt free. Listen. If God initiates something within you to borrow a million dollars, and you can trust God to release him supernaturally in that, and you can cooperate to move with God, I've got news for you. That is financial freedom. Amen? And I trust that some way, somehow, the Lord will let you see tonight that what God initiates, he stands by. And he stands by with all the supernatural power there is to miraculously work in that situation. And he stands by to make himself known to enable you to accomplish exactly what he's designed for you. Well, this helped me. So I started praying, Lord, take everything out of my life that you didn't start. And Lord, not only take everything out of my life you didn't start, but everything you started that I'm not sure of, help me to know that you started. Amen. And give me the grace to trust you so you can supernaturally work in the things you started. And make me sensitive, Lord, so you just whisper, and I'm available to do whatever you want me to do. To go and say whatever you want me to go and say. And I trust tonight that the Lord will deal with you about this. I think one of the things that really got my heart about this was that I have had to work with a number of pastors that have called and said, we're in trouble. Where do we go from here? And they could not say that God told them what to do. No wonder they couldn't have any faith. No wonder they could not trust the Lord. No wonder they were in trouble. Right? Would you bow your heads with me, please? Lord Jesus, and Lord, I believe with all my heart that many of us have got into involvements, into situations that we do not know whether you started it or not. And it's confusing. So, Lord, we ask in you to make yourself known, powerfully known. Powerfully known. Powerfully known. Lord, to each of us that we might obey you. Lord, we're not interested in man doing anything in this world but what you want done. And Lord, you know that's hard for even this crowd to believe that tonight. But Lord Jesus, I pray you'll help them know that. In Jesus' name. Amen.