In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of getting rid of the fleshly desires and seeking God's word as a source of spiritual nourishment. He shares the story of Elder Brooks, a theologian who struggled with his own spiritual growth. The preacher highlights the need for ministers and believers to humble themselves and seek God's presence, even if it means going to meetings early and praising the Lord from the heart. The sermon also emphasizes the role of faith in overcoming trials and finding joy in the midst of difficulties, ultimately trusting in God's plan.

When we get to heaven, we're going to go to meeting too. Now maybe this is something you don't know. This is an advance notice to you that people in heaven meet also. They also have meetings, like we have here. Undoubtedly, they're having meetings right now. The difference there, I suppose, is this, that while we feel the presence of Jesus, they see him. We don't see him yet, but the same Jesus who meets with us, meets with them there. And it's, there's going to be a very great difference. Here, we live by faith, if we do. And there, we live by sight. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. We've got something to look forward to, thank God. My, what a wonderful hope, that we shall see him as he is, that we shall be forever with the Lord. Suppose a hydrogen bomb fell right on top of this church right now. Well, it might, you know, can't tell. How'd you like it? How would you like it? Well, there would be a great change. There would. But it's happened, you know, one time, Sunday morning, one of our sisters, while we were singing, went to heaven. I saw her putting up her arms like this, and she was gone. Well, the change must have been very wonderful, to come out of the fogs into the clear sunlight of his presence. We ought to remember these things. We ought to think of them. The hope of our salvation is the hope of seeing Jesus face to face. But it's far more than that. Oh, it's far beyond that. If that's the only hope we have, then we're pretty bad off. But our hope is way beyond that. We're going to be like him. Now, when I look at you, I don't see how that can possibly be. And when you look at me, you don't see how that can possibly be. But you know, this earthly house of this tabernacle is made only for a little while. That's only a shell. It's just an eggshell, that's all. And when the eaglet has come forth to reign in the sky, why, the eggshell is forgotten. You don't think of it anymore. It's gone. It becomes refuse. And so it will be with this body of ours. God has given us this body for a purpose. It's like the bulb of a peony. You know what a bulb is like? Looks like onions. Somebody cooked them because they thought they were onions. Well, they never turn into peonies. But a peony bulb doesn't look very nice at all, especially if it's covered with earth. But let it die. And oh, what beauty comes forth. What beauty. It's so unlike the bulb, it's so different, that you wouldn't believe that that beautiful flower had come out of that bulb. And especially after the bulb has been put into the earth and has died, has been corrupted as it were, has gone out of existence. And now all at once this wonderful bush, full of fiery flowers, fiery blossoms. Well, it is sown in weakness. It is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it's raised the spiritual body. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. My, what will it be? But today it's a good thing we're in meeting, because what we're going to be depends on what we are now. Depends on what God can do for us now. And the lesson we received this morning is valuable. Rejoice evermore. What will happen to me if I don't rejoice evermore? Well, that peony is not going to be as fragrant or as beautiful in that day as it would be if I rejoiced evermore. There's a great difference in flowers. I've noticed coming to the home of certain ladies, their plants are beautiful. I know why. They love them. The plants respond to their loving treatment. And then there are others that never grow. They, they're withered before they start, or they begin to die before they get a good start. But oh, this morning the Lord Jesus Christ is here with a very definite job. What is he doing? Why, out of his fullness have all we received. Grace upon grace. And I was so thankful for the things that were spoken of this morning concerning joy. The joy of the Lord is the life of the Lord. It isn't something you manufacture. It isn't because you make up your mind now you're going to be happy. But it's because you draw out of his fullness. The joy of the Lord. You say Jesus instead of self. You say Jesus instead of weakness. Do you know why we are not always happy? Well, you might give a thousand reasons, but the only real reason is that we think too much of ourselves. That's the reason. And once you see the reason, you're not going to fool yourself by getting up all kinds of excuses for being in a dump. You won't anymore. You'll say, like I said, I talked to myself in German. I said, was bin ich für ein Esel gewesen? I said, all right, now let's quit. That's the end of it. That's positively the end of it. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Why should I walk around with torn trousers when there's a dozen brand new custom-made suits hanging in the closet? Well, that's what we do when we're not happy. But when I say Jesus, I delight myself also in the Lord. Why, that life begins flowing. It comes to me. Jesus comes to me. Jesus takes the place of self. Jesus Christ, the resurrected Son of God, becomes my portion. Didn't he say, if you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love, even as I've kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love? And that's what we're here on this earth for, to make manifest the savor of his knowledge in every place, to let Jesus Christ shine in a dark place. Today we ought to rejoice if God allows us to be in a dark place, because we have a light that overpowers all the darkness. Hallelujah. How very wonderful. I've got within me a fountain of victory. Jesus always wins if I let him, and that's what's the matter. If I think too much of myself, then I want sympathy, and then I want consideration, and then I'll say self, and I'll have a thousand excuses for living in the flesh, and that's corruption, and that is damnation. My call is to let Jesus live out his own life within me, and that's why the Bible says, whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Thank God I don't have to live my own life anymore. I don't. If I do, I shall die, but thank God I draw from the fountain of living waters. God worketh in me to will and to do of his good pleasure, and he that began a good work will finish it. He knows how. That's why the first principle is to delight myself in the Lord, to rejoice in the Lord always. When I don't do that, I take myself out of his masterful hand, and I say, let me do this. I met a sister some time ago who was in a great trial. I said, how are you? Well, she said to me smilingly, if I were to complain, I would be finding fault with God. That's done. Whenever you and I complain, we find fault with God, and we, we prolong the agony. Oh, you can remain in your trial indefinitely if you keep finding fault with God. The Bible says, neither murmur ye as they also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Oh, do you realize what a sin it is to murmur? You're finding fault with God, and God said, how long before these people will believe me? And the destroyer destroyed them, and these things are written for our learning. We've got a lesson to learn. We've got a fight to fight, a victory to win, and that victory is that we shall be like him. Oh my father, is it possible, is that my hope? He tells us to put on the helmet of salvation, which is the hope of salvation. That's my helmet. You know, good fireman needs a helmet on his head, because the sparks come from above, and they're liable to kill him. And so he has a strong helmet, and you and I need a strong helmet. Hallelujah! We're going to be like him, and we're only going to be like him if we allow him to make us like himself. And the Bible tells us how. The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment worse. Oh, that's why God allows it. It works for us. It's necessary. It belongs to the great master plan that God has over my life. And once I get that hope into my soul, I will banish all fear. I will trust my God to the very end, and I will rejoice in the midst of trials. Look at those three Hebrew children, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And maybe you ought to change your name to Abednego. When the king threatened them, the king was in a dump, I tell you. His visage was changed. And he couldn't understand why those three Jews weren't in a dump, too. When he threatened to heat that furnace seven times more. Now how does God allow that? I thought we had the victory. Why we were anointed and prayed over, and now seven times hotter. One sister said to me, you know, since you prayed for me, it's been much worse. Please pray for me again. I said, boy, are you courageous. Why the God whom we serve is still the same. Hallelujah. He's still on the throne. He is still on the job. Thank God. Praise the Lord. The God whom we serve makes all the difference in the world. I've had to learn some lessons in trials that were very prolonged and very severe. And to find out that faith grows in conflict. That's where you find out that it's the faith of the Son of God that makes you laugh at all your foes and rejoice in the midst of your trials. Why the God whom we serve has a wonderful plan. Thank God. Let him have his way with me. I'm not going to find fault with God. I'm going to rejoice in the Lord. That's all I have to do. He does all the rest. Praise God. It's simple, isn't it? Like the Irishman who moved to this country, and when another one came and said, well, how are you? He says, um, fine. It's a wonderful country. He says, it's got nothing to do with us, but to carry bricks up to the 13th floor, and the guy up there does all the work. There's the bricklayer. All I have to do is to delight myself also in the Lord. God sees to it that the work is done, thank God. But I ought to trust him. I ought to delight myself in the Lord. Happy. Oh, beloved, it's a wonderful lesson, a marvelous lesson, out of his fullness. I'm so thankful that God picked such a happy way for me. You can choose what you please, but for me it's to been the most happy, because I wasn't born that way. Glory to God. I was born with clubbed feet. I couldn't walk. I stumbled all over myself until Jesus came and gave me hind feet. Praise the Lord. Amen. Everybody happy? We ought to thank God for his persistence in keeping these truths before us. I used to say, well, it's really not, not so easy to be a minister in Pentecost, because you can't choose your own ministry. God chooses it for you, and you have to keep saying the same thing over and over and over and over, over and over. But I remember how my boss used to do in my, in the jewelry business when he taught me how to do things. I came to him one time and said, that's wrong. That's not the way to do it, he said. Well, I said, I've always done it that way. He said, well, then you've always done it wrong. And I'm so thankful that we have a master who doesn't give up until his job is done. He's got a plan. He has a design. But I remember the school that God put us into in the faith home inside. You've all heard us talk about that. We had a teacher at that time who lived always in the bosom of the Father. She had an experience like no one else in the whole world. She had gifts like no one in the whole world even approaches them today. And people would come all over the world to hear words of God out of her mouth. And many of them were surprised at the great simplicity. They came to hear something highfalutin, you know. And the first thing the Lord would say, are you doing what the Bible says? Are you rejoicing evermore? Elder Brooks came there, the colonel from the south. We always admired his attire because he was always groomed to perfection. And all the ladies in his church liked him. Oh, he was the boy. He was a wonderfully popular preacher. So popular that his church filled up in no time. He had a large congregation. But when he came around there, he said he didn't like these monosyllables of Mrs. Robinson. He wanted to hear something interesting. Well, like people are today. Did you hear that lecture about the little men that came out of a flying saucer? Well, you can get all the dub saints to come by the thousands and listen to baloney like that. But you can't get them to listen to the Sermon on the Mount. You can't. And yet Jesus says, he that heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not is like a man that built his house upon the sand. Elder Brooks came there, and you know, he couldn't get the baptism in the Holy Ghost. His wife received it. His wife received wonderful gifts. And poor elder had to sit at his wife's feet and listen to her preach. My, that was a bitter pill for him. Up to that time, he didn't believe in women ministers. No, sirree. That's what he was there for. But now he saw his need. And then he discovered something else. He couldn't rejoice in the Lord. He was a dumper. He told me this himself, and I'm sure he wouldn't mind to have me repeat it. And the Lord told him that he had a demon that was as big as himself. The idea of a minister carrying around the demon with him. Now don't quote me, don't tell this to anybody, especially Pentecost. They wouldn't believe that, you know. But the Lord got after him, saying, God, he knows what's wrong with us. He knows why we are like we are. And God tells us what's the matter. And if we have sense enough to believe it, and we can find that out ourselves by comparing our lives with his command. Am I doing what Jesus says? Today the subject was rejoicing evermore. If I'm not, why then Jesus doesn't reign. And if he doesn't reign, somebody else reigns. Positively, there's another master that binds me. Well, I ought to be scared if I don't obey the fundamentals of the Bible, of the Sermon on the Mount, or another wonderful fundamental. In nothing be anxious. In nothing be anxious. But how many hearts are troubled all the time by anxiety. Or our sister talked about criticizing. Isaiah said, Lord, I dwell among a people of unclean lips. Woe is me. Oh, it would be such a good thing if we would spend some time meditating upon these words and searching our own hearts by them. If you don't go beyond the Beatitudes, you'll have a wonderful mirror placed before you. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Well, do you know what poverty of the spirit is? Well, it's for me, thank God. Blessed are the pure in heart. But if I have criticism in my heart, some people didn't like the praises this morning. I could see it on your faces. Well, the thing to do is to praise louder than the others, so you don't hear the others. But why is it that there is that feeling in your heart? Where does it come from? When I was a little boy, I always wanted to know what bedbugs were like. I heard about them. I'd never seen any. And I was always interested in everything the Lord made. And so, one day I got up in the morning and my, my, the next morning the same, I thought it was mosquitoes. But finally I showed it to my mother. She got pale. She came and she turned my bed upside down, took everything apart, nothing. But she knew it was there someplace. My father found them. You'll find them. He took a candle, lit it, and he went to the wall. There were cracks in the wall. He just heated those cracks and out came the whole battalion of the bottomless pit of pollen leading the van. I saw them then for the first time in my life. You see, they hide. They're not rejoiced always. And when you have criticism in your heart, oh, when the heart is pure, those things don't come to you. Those thoughts don't bother you. They don't come to you. They don't afflict you anymore. I remember a time when I couldn't be happy in some Pentecostal meetings because some people always got in the flesh. Well, it was none of my business at all. God allowed them to be part there for, just to show me what was in my heart, what flesh that was here. That's where the flesh was. Oh, are you doing what he says? And constantly the Lord harps on this one thing. And do you know that everything depends on what I do with his word. He says, turn you at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you. Those that have taken it to heart have been transformed, transformed into his image. They've received from him grace upon grace. Like Sister Wally said, you find out that you can't get it any other place but from him. But thank God he has gold tried in the fire that you may be rich. And he offers it to us. And when Elder Brooks found that out, he wanted to know what to do. What do you think an educated, civilized, sophisticated theologian should do? A man that could take any text in the Bible and preach an hour and a half on it. Any of them. He could tell you anything from revelation to revolution. Anything. He, he was a wonderful preacher. What should he do? The Lord told him what to do to get rid of his dumb. Go to every meeting 15 minutes ahead of time and spend the 15 minutes shouting, hallelujah, praise the Lord from the heart. You wouldn't find many ministers that would do that. And you wouldn't find many men that would do that. If you offered them a dollar a minute, yes, they would. They would. Ananias and Sapphira fills our churches. You try it once. You see what they'll do for a coffee class. Or a little honor, a little place of distinction. Some people won't play unless they can sing solos. Unless they're the whole chief. Why we've seen it here. People, ministers want members. Well, they get them to pass the hat if they can't do anything else. Now they're big shots. Oh, the flesh stinks, beloved. To high heaven. And God wants us to be rid of it and he gives us his word as a sharp, two-edged sword. And Elder Brooks did it. He told me for three months. He did that three times a day. Three times a day, he said he felt like dying sometimes. But he'd get down and he'd praise the Lord. Forty-five minutes every day. And he said after three months he had dug a hole through that. He had really come out on top and his enemy was gone. The Lord came to him and those who have known him know. When we think of Elder Brooks, we think of Jesus because the savor of his knowledge. Oh, what a man. What a man, one in ten thousand because God was with him.