In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the need for people to respond to God's challenges and to trust in His provision. He uses the story of Andrew mentioning the presence of a young boy with five barley loaves and two fish to illustrate how God can work miracles with even the smallest offerings. The preacher also references the story of the potter and the clay to highlight how God can reshape and mold His people according to His will. He encourages believers to stay in the body of Christ and listen to God's voice, reminding them that the world is in need of the bread of life and the light of Jesus.

...ship and her son, Mr. Elliot, and Mr. Elliot, much work in the kitchen and looking after so well in every way. We appreciate it very much and pray the Lord will continue to bind our hearts together. Bill, I don't know if you can hear, there's a seat right here if you... Yeah. But, I mean, if you're more comfortable there... I can't hear back there. You can get a front row seat. Yeah, that's good. But we have appreciated it very much and I've asked the Lord in the last year or so if and when we were to go out that the Lord would cause an importation to be made. Otherwise, I don't see much value in going. Right. And Paul said that when he went to Rome, he desired to go to Rome. But he said he believed and trusted that when he went that, he said, I desire to be with you that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, some spiritual benefit, some spiritual grace. That was his desire in coming. But then he went on, he said, that is, that together with you we might be comforted together by the mutual faith, both of you and me. And so it's not just an importation, but it's also a receiving. And as you give, that's how you receive. And when Jesus sat there by the well and the woman of Samaria came along, God had ordained that meeting. And I like to see, I like to notice in the Scripture, once I saw the truth of that interaction that God causes with his saints, how beautifully it works. Jesus had to go through Samaria. He didn't tell them why, but he had to go. He sat there in the well. The disciples went to buy bread. And while they were away buying bread, he was ministering to the devastated woman from Samaria. And because he was ministering to her, he was being fed. And when they came back, they said, Master, we've brought some food for you. He said, I have meat to eat you know nothing about. And they whispered around, I wonder if somebody was here feeding him. He said, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me. And he finished his work. So that was his food. That was his food, to minister words of life to others. And we discover that. We should more and more discover that. I'm not just speaking of a clergy-laity arrangement. I believe God is going to take away that nickel-latent thing of the clergy and laity. And make one loaf of his people. And we anticipate that as God continues to bind our hearts together. Also writing to Philemon, Paul said that he prayed that the communication of Philemon's faith might be effectual in the acknowledging of every good thing that is in you or in us by Christ Jesus. In the acknowledging of what God gives us is a communication of that faith. I don't think we know too much about this communication of faith, this impartation one to another. At least I should say there's much, much yet to know in this realm. Where the body of Christ literally edifies itself. Until we come to that place where we are truly that bread of God that he has for the church about us and for the world about us. God wants us to be that bread. I know Jesus is the bread of life. And I know as we partake of the elements which he has ordained, which we call the Lord's Supper, we're remembering the Lord's death till we come. We're remembering him as the bread of God. But Paul said writing to the Corinthians, the cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ or participation in the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? 1 Corinthians 10, 15. The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body, is it not participation in the body of Christ? And the reason is not that there's anything miraculous in the bread or in the cup. For we being many are one bread, one body. So that's why there's participation in the blood of Christ and in the body of Christ because we are one bread, one body. And because we're one body and we're joined unto the head, then as together we partake of communion with him, there's a mutual work being accomplished in our heart. For we being many are one bread and one body. Notice that. We are one bread. Christ is the bread, I know. But as we participate of him, we become that bread. In this world where there's so much need, God is preparing a body that will be bread for the hungry. For we are all partakers of that one bread because we partake of him. That's the only way we can be the bread of life for others. He is the bread of life as we partake of him. God's purpose is that we become one bread, one body. And so this work that God is doing by way of forming the body of Christ, I think in too many instances it's assumed that, well, we're the body of Christ and things are going along pretty good and we've got the gifts of the Spirit functioning and so we just carry on this way until the Lord Jesus comes. But God is really just beginning this work by way of making us one in Christ Jesus. And he will continue that good work until he has accomplished the desire of his heart, the desire of God's heart. And we know what that is. For Jesus said, Father, I have given unto them the glory which thou hast given me that they may be one as thou, Father, art in me and I envy that they may be one in us. So that's the unity that God is after. I know you go to these conventions and they have these big signs that they all may be one. And it looks so impressive. And a thousand people there and singing the songs of the unity of the body of Christ. We're all one because we're all washed in the blood. And I know that's right in God's purpose. In the provision that he's made at the cross and in the resurrection that we all be one. And so God declares his purpose and his intention before it actually is worked out. I wish we could understand that. Because of things which be not as though they were. And so that's the way it was with Abraham's faith. He believed in the Lord and the Lord countered unto him for righteousness. And he hadn't yet become, he hadn't yet appropriated that thing that God promised. But God countered his faith for righteousness because it says that Abraham believed in the God who calleth the things that be not as though they were. And so, because it's going to be. And so he calls the things that are not as though they were. And like we mentioned this morning, I think, that God chooses the base things, the things that are despised, the things that are weak, things that are foolish. And he goes on down the list. Yea, the things that are not. To bring to naught the things that are. Well, how can he use nothing to bring to naught the mighty things and the great things on the earth that must be brought down? Because in these people whom he calls nothing, he's going to bring forth a new creation, making them to be a vessel for his honor and glory. So he sins that, but in the meantime, he has to reduce it to nothing, that he might have all the glory. God said to Jeremiah, go down to the potter's house. Some of these prophets did some strange things. They didn't know why they were doing it, but they could hear that voice so clearly that they were willing to obey. Went down to the potter's house and went in. Oh, just come to see what's going on. Fine, you know, just look around. And the potter was busy making a wheel. On the potter's wheel. He was making a vessel, I should say. I've seen pictures of them, how they do it. Turning the wheel and forming this vessel. And suddenly something happened and it cracked up and he just destroyed the whole thing. He just put it all together and crumbled it all up. And he started over. And he made a vessel as it seemed fit for the potter to make it. And so then the Lord said, I just brought you down here to show you that my people are just like clay. And if it doesn't turn out the way I want, I know how to reduce it back to a mere pile of clay. And can I not do this with my people? And that was the lesson he had to learn. It's the lesson we have to learn. We don't like it when you come down to zero. But that's God's plan. That he might make the vessel that he chooses to make. Why didn't you do it the first time, Lord? Well, I suppose he would if we were totally obedient. But somehow it seems that we have to go that route of being reduced to nothing that he might lift us up. The Lord killeth, the Lord maketh alive. The Lord bringeth down to the grave, he bringeth up again. Why does God do that? Well, it's just his way of devastating a people and bringing them down to death so that he might impart to them resurrection life. When we see that, of course, it gives us great courage because when things go to pieces, it looks, God, what in the world is wrong? I've been seeking you and I thought I was getting somewhere and suddenly everything collapses. But then you read something like that and, fine, Lord, start over. Start over again. Do a new work. Do a new thing. Not that the past is all a failure because the past and the remembrance of it is that which has humbled us and devastated us and brought us low so that we're ready to let God do what he wants. Ready to go God's way that he might be glorified. So God's intention is to make us one. Not just to make us one, but one with him. If we could once see that, we could change our whole concept of this matter of division and unity. When something comes in, you know, to a church and there's a split and they divide asunder and they're scattered and the man who is responsible for it, he's castigated, you know. He came in and he split our church. And it might be he did that. It might be God that did it. Jesus said, I came to send a sword into your midst. I didn't come to bring peace. I came to send a sword to divide. That doesn't sound right. What about uniting? Well, he has to divide before he can unite. He has to kill before he can give resurrection life. I came to divide. And I think of this. A.W. Tozer, I read a little article here a month ago. He said, what we need is that the Lord to separate, to begin separating these people in the church. And I just forget the phraseology. But what he meant was what I'm talking about. We need that thing to come down to separate and divide because there's so much mixture. And God is going to separate. That's the message of the unity of the body. He's going to separate, take away everything that's unclean, everything that's not of Him, everything that's flesh. And so, we say the devil did it. And in most cases, I think it's God that divides these great structures by way of purging and judging and scattering them that they might know that God is not interested in building a big system where everybody is one and they're all working together in some kind of machinery and the Holy Spirit is nowhere to be seen. I'm told one of these Chinese brethren that came over from Red China when he was departing, he told someone, I'm amazed how much the church in America can do without God. They've got so much money and wealth they can just do about anything they want without God at all. And God wants the people totally devastated as far as natural things are concerned that He might begin to bring forth the unity of the Spirit. Join Spirit with Spirit. Join us to the heart of Jesus and you to the heart of Jesus. This one to the heart of Jesus. And suddenly we're one because we're one with Him and for no other reason. I've quoted this Scripture before, but I'm going to emphasize it a little more. God has tempered the body together. Where is this here? 1 Corinthians 12. God has tempered the body together having given more abundant honor to that part which lacks that there be no schism in the body. So we're not going to eradicate schisms in the body by coming up with a structure that says you obey your leader and he obeys the leader over him and he obeys the one over him. And I mean the Roman Catholic Church of course is perhaps the classic example of that kind of unity where everything is under a headship here in the earth right on down the ladder. But we have the very same thing in Protestantism. And God wants to do away with all that as He tempers the body of Christ together making us one in Him. Joining us under Him. So if you go into a machine shop and you pick up a handful of steel filings that have come off the machine, or you can maybe moisten them a little and crumple them together in your hand and maybe have a ball of it. But just let someone hit it or let it fall on the floor and it's shattered. If you take a magnet and put it down there and lift it, it's all clinging one to another because each one is clinging to the magnet. And so that's the difference. That's the difference. If we're clinging to Him and every member in the body is clinging to Him you can't avoid being one. So God has a way of doing that and He's doing it. I'll read back a little further in 1 Corinthians 12. Paul had been emphasizing the necessity of recognizing the various members of the body. The eye cannot say to the hand I have no need of thee or give the head to the feet I have no need of you and so forth. May much more of those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary. God's going to demonstrate that. Right now we tolerate the feeble members. Well, He doesn't do much. They don't say anything. They don't seem to be. And not only that, but they themselves sit there sort of Lord, I feel so helpless. I can't do anything. I don't seem to have gifts that are in any way helpful to anybody. They're lacking. And I know there's people here tonight who'll say I don't have much. I'd like to. They love the Lord as much as any of us, but don't seem to have much to impart. God is looking down and considering that situation. He's concerned about that. Those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow much more abundant honor. And our uncommonly parts have more abundant commonness. For our commonly parts have no need. But God has tempered the body together having given more abundant honor than that part which lacks. Now God's doing that. And we're going to see in the days to come such a tempering of the body that you and I are going to be amazed at some of those members of the body which have lacked. Didn't feel that they had much to impart. Felt deprived. Ahana people who loved the Lord very much and God loved her very much. But somehow she didn't seem to be bearing fruit like her rivalry who had many children. But God did not give Ahana any children and God loved Ahana. And it seems to be something consistent in Scripture that when God would bring forth a certain vessel, a certain special vessel for his honor and glory, his mother was barren. Rachel was barren. Ahana was barren. Sarah was barren. Manoah's wife was barren. Elizabeth, wife of Zechariah, was barren. They're mentioned by name and it's specially mentioned that they were barren because God was going to bring forth something special in this one who was barren. And I know that there is that people in the church who love the Lord. And yet, Lord, I'm not fruitful. And God hears their cry. He sees the cry of their heart. You and I are going to be amazed when we see that fruitful in poetry. It's not only caused them to rejoice with great rejoicing, but the people of God are going to say, God has done great things. So, we anticipate that. God is certainly going to do it. He's going to hear the cries of a praying ahana. When she comes to the place, like I think I mentioned the other night, where in such desperation because of her barrenness, she said, Lord, You give me a man child and I'll give him back to You all the days of his life. You give us this fruit that we ask for, Lord, and it will be Yours. It won't be mine. I give it back to You. And it's one thing to make that commitment. It's another thing to keep reminding yourself and reminding God, God, I made that commitment, but I need Your grace. That whatever You give me for the benefit of the body of Christ, the glory will go back to You. He's going to give abundant honor to those parts that lack. And that's why there's still a lot of division in the body. That's why there's schism in the body. Don't come up with a whole bunch of schemes how to eradicate the system. You'll come up with another structure of some kind that has been tried over and over again in my own lifetime. I could probably point out a dozen or more structures like that that were designed by men to keep a certain order and unity in the body of Christ. And they all dissipate. They all crumble. God's way is by putting His glory and honor upon the feeble members that have not been imparting to the body of Christ that which God intended, which Paul says are necessary. Those feeble members are necessary. Because of that, there's a schism in the body. But Paul says when he gives this honor, there will be no schism in the body because the members will have the same care one for another. As it is, there is a man with a great gift of healing. Well, he has a healing line and a hundred come through and we hope maybe there will be a dozen or so healed. I'm not saying that isn't God's purpose to have great gifts of healing in the church, but I anticipate the day when the healing will flow from the body of Christ. Right in the congregation there will be these feeble members to whom God will give a gift of healing. Right in the congregation. The trouble is now with the system we have, if they have that, they'll say, well, you've got to get up now and leave your home, leave your husband and get out there and show the world. I'm talking from things I've seen. This woman had a great gift of healing and deliverance and the church persuaded her. Leave your home now and go to Africa. We're going to Africa. You've got to come with us. We're going to minister there and you've got this gift. You can't sit around there washing dishes. Devastating her husband and coming back herself devastated because that's not God's intention. God bestows His glory upon you. Come to the assembly and share with one another or out on your job or whatever. Just be the vessel that God wants you to be for His honor and glory. Without being subjected to the persuasion of the ecclesiastical system that says if you've got something like that you've got to get out and show the world that you're God. Then the body of Christ will have that care one for another. It's a dynamic gift that up and running through the four corners of the earth. Stay in the body of Christ right where you are until God. He's fit to change it. He can lead you by His Spirit and you can hear His voice. If you're committed to Him, you'll hear His voice. You'll know what to do. But if you don't know what to do, well, just stay put is what I would say. Stay put and wait until you hear His voice and then obey His voice. He tempers the body together. The word means thoroughly mingling. Thoroughly mingling the body together. I talked a little this morning about harvest time, which is the time of bringing in the grain, bringing in the grain. The time of threshing. When the threshing machines come and there's a bringing in of the harvest, a time of great rejoicing. A young sister up our way had a dream recently about the possibility of harvest time. And she saw the people of God coming, ordinary people. Oh, some with a sickle. Some with something a little more sophisticated. Some with some bigger kind of machinery. But they were all coming with harvesting equipment. And she said the thing that she saw in the dream that was so outstanding to her was the joy on the people of God as they were harvesting. There was such joy. This is harvest. Why the joy? Because he that goes forth and weepeth bearing precious seeds shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. There's a joy of God's harvest that's coming in. And harvest time is here. It means the bringing in of the grain into the harvest floor to be stripped of the chaff that the pure grain might remain there in God's garner until he sees fit to do something else about it. And I want to talk about that for a little while. That the grain isn't just brought into the garner to store it there forever. It's brought there for another purpose. And you know what the purpose is. For as the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven and the water there, that it may cause the things that are sown in it to spring forth and bud that it might give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I believe and it shall prosper in the things whereunto I have sent it. Did you see the connection in those two verses? God says he sends forth his word into the earth as the rain and as the snow. That it might cause the things that are in the earth to spring forth and bud that there might be a harvest. God says my word will not return to me void. If I send forth that word to do that, that's what I'm going to have. If I send forth the rain and the snow to water the seed that was planted, then I'm going to reap a harvest. So the husbandman is waiting for the precious fruit of the earth. And has long patience for it till it received early in the latter rain. He went over that. The latter rain, the rain from heaven to cause the seed to spring up and grow that it might bring forth fruit for two purposes. Seed for sowing and bread for eating. Seed for sowing and bread for eating. And so this harvest that's coming forth, there's seed there for sowing. But you say it's harvest time, isn't that the end? I know. But when God gets this good seed, He's going to sow some of that too right in harvest time. Because the Prophet said He foresaw the day when the plowman would overtake the reaper. And the threader of grapes, he that sows seed, is going to do such a quick work that as they're reaping, the plowman will be behind sowing more seed. What are you doing there? This is harvest time, I know. But I've got to sow some of this good seed. Overtaking the reaper. You hurry up because I want some of that seed. God wants to plant it in the earth. And the threader of grapes, he that sows seed. Harvest time. Time of ingathering, yes. But He wants seed for sowing and He wants bread for eating. The world is famishing for the bread of life. And we try our best to tell them that the bread of life is up there in heaven. The world is in darkness for want of light. And we waste our efforts saying, well, the light is up there in heaven. Jesus is gone. He's the light of the world. As long as Jesus was here, He said, I'm the light of the world. But you're the light of the world. As long as He is here, He's the bread of life. And He's given us these elements of the communion to demonstrate it. That as we partake of it, we'll partake of Him who is the bread of life. We might become the bread of life. For we being many are one bread and one body. For we are all partakers of that one bread. If we truly partake of the bread of life, we become one loaf, one bread. So God is in the process of mingling us together because He's preparing a loaf for the hungry. Seed for sowing, yes, but a loaf of bread for the hungry. A few thoughts from Leviticus 2. Leviticus 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, I think, 5, 6 chapters talks about the various offerings that God ordained in Israel because no one offering could adequately portray all that Jesus was and all that He became when He died on the cross. And so we have all these different offerings. The first one is the burnt offering which we've touched on at times. The burnt offering, which is described as a voluntary offering where we present ourselves to Him a living sacrifice. And that's the first offering that God requires. That's the one that Hannah gave. Lord, whatever You give to me, I give back to You. That's the sacrifice that Jesus committed Himself to when He came into the world where He says, sacrifice and offering are whole burnt offerings. In whole burnt offerings, He says, you have had no pleasure. Then said I, lo, I come to do thy will, O God. And so God had no real pleasure in those whole burnt offerings because it signified, typified the offering that Jesus would become when He became that whole burnt offering. And so when He came, and in prophetic insight, the psalmist was saying, you haven't had delight in sacrifice and burnt offerings. But then I said, speaking prophetically, of Jesus, lo, I come to do thy will, O God. And so Jesus coming to do the will of God, the will of the Father, was the fulfillment of every burnt offering in Old Testament sacrifice. The fulfillment of them all who became the burnt offering that was well-pleasing in the Father's sight. I know you've all heard and we've heard of how when Jesus died on the cross in the last moment, hanging there on the cross before He expired, He cried out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? What a cry of desperation. The Father had always been with Him, whom He always obeyed, walking in total obedience with the Heavenly Father. And suddenly it seemed the Heavenly Father had turned His back. And in a sense He did, as the sin offering. The sin offering. He had to suffer the agony without even the manifest presence of God upon Him. But as the burnt offering, the Holy Spirit was there offering that burnt offering unto God as a sacrifice well-pleasing in the Father's sight. And nothing pleased the Father more than the fact that His Son obeyed Him all through His life and even unto death, even the death of the cross. He so satisfied the heart of God that God raised Him from the dead and exalted Him in His own right hand above every name. That's why God raised Him from the dead and exalted Him as King of kings and Lord of lords. It wasn't because He accomplished the work of redemption and so now you can come back. In a sense you might say that's true, but in the full meaning of it, it's simply this. Because He was obedient, because He humbled Himself, because He obeyed the Father even unto death, even the death of the cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted Him. And so as the burnt offering, He was totally acceptable, well-pleasing unto the Father. The next offering is here in Leviticus 2. When any man will offer a meat offering, which is not fleshly offering, but a meal offering. As you know, the word meat is often used in the Scriptures, not for flesh, but for food. And this was a grain offering. When any man will offer a grain offering, a meal offering unto the Lord, his offering shall be a fine flour, and he shall pour oil upon it and put frankincense thereof. And he shall bring it to Aaron's sons, the priests, and he shall take thereof his handful of the fine flour and of the oil thereof with all the frankincense thereof. And the priests shall burn the memorial of it upon the altar to be an offering made by fire of a sweet savor unto the Lord. And the remnant of the offering shall be Aaron's and his sons. It is the thing most holy of the offerings of the Lord made by fire. And if thou bring an oblation of a meal offering bacon in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil. And so they took this fine flour. And so what happens to the grain? Bread for the eater, seed for the sower. Bread corn must be bruised, Isaiah said. Bread corn has to be crushed. Seed corn has to be planted in the earth. Bread corn has to be crushed. And so this grain is crushed exceedingly fine until it's fine flour. Paul says you're one loaf, one bread. I don't understand, nor will we understand, I don't think, until it happens, what's involved in the crushing of the body of Christ to make us fine flour. I think they've known it in some countries of the world. I don't think we've known it. I just want, by His grace, the Holy Spirit will enable us to give us insight into the things of God. Like we read the other day, I believe it was, Paul having declared some tremendous truths, he had to pray that God would give unto the people the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of Him. The eyes of their understanding being enlightened that they might know what is the hope of God's calling. Because unless the Lord reveals truth to us, we might say, yes, I see it, but the Lord must make it vital to us. And only He can do it by His Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all things, Paul says, yea, the deep things of God. Because no man can receive anything from God unless God reveals it to him. And He's given us of His Spirit that with that Spirit within us, we have a voice within us by which we can hear what the Spirit of God is saying. And so He gives us His Spirit that we might receive the things and understand and partake of the things that are freely given to us of God. Not in words which man's wisdom teaches, as Paul says, but which the Holy Spirit teaches comparing or combining spirituals with spirituals, is what it says. The spirituals that are in the heavens, the spirituals that are in the heart of God combining it with those spiritual things that are in us which He has given us. And so that's the only way we can partake of those spiritual things in the heart of God is by the Spirit He's given us. And so having given us all a portion of His Spirit, He now wants to make us to be blended together, mingled together as fine flour. As the crushing begins to take place, we must not think that some strange thing has happened, but rather to understand God wants to make a loaf to feed the hungry. He wants to reveal Himself as the Bread of Life to the masses, but all we can say now is He's there in heaven somewhere. God wants to demonstrate in the earth that His bread is not far off. It's nigh us. It's here in the earth. It's in the people who are crushed to fine flour and then mingled with holy oil. God has tempered, mingled the body together, giving more abundant honor to those parts which lack. That tempers the body. It mingles it together. It causes each to have concern for the other because a gift of the Spirit imparted to an individual if he's truly walking with God will be upon him a stewardship that he has to impart to others. It's not ours to magnify ourselves. It's His gift that He puts upon a servant in the body of Christ to dispense that gift to others that they in turn might receive this grace, this honor, this glory, that they might have something to impart to somebody else. That they, receiving this grace from the Lord, this anointing, this enablement, whatever, might have something to impart to somebody else so that there's a continual interchange, there's a continual pouring one to the other. As we walk with the Lord individually and as we come together and the Spirit of the Lord is there, let Him mingle us together by holy oil, not by any other means, but by the holy oil of God, the Holy Spirit. He knows how to mingle us together, giving more abundant honor to those which lack, taking out all the lumps, crushing up all the lumps so that there's no unevenness in the body of Christ. If a man took profit and there's the eye of the body, not one great eye bulging out there. Or if he has discernment to hear what the Lord is saying, not one big ear bulging out to one side, but tempering the body together that there isn't this schism or this grotesque appearance in the body of Christ, but it becomes that beautiful body that God has ordained. So the mingling goes on, the tempering goes on, which means a mixing and a mixing and a mixing and a mixing until you have dough. But God doesn't want a lump of dough. Nor do you and I. Then he puts it in the oven. Without bringing an ablation of a meal offering bacon in the oven, it's got to be mingled with oil. Don't think when the fires of God fall on this old world that he's out to burn you up. He's out to burn up all the works of man, all that carnal wisdom, all that might of man, all the power and the wisdom of man. Because you might just say, broadly speaking, the world is looking either for power or for wisdom. I think you could pretty well put it all in that category. The Jews look for a sign. The Greeks look after wisdom. Those who are looking for power, whether it's in the realm of finance or in the military or in the intellectual realm or whatever, then those who are looking for wisdom. I didn't know, as I said, when I came here that this is sort of a center of learning and a very high form of wisdom that is being searched out here in this city. I think it's significant that right here in this place, the intelligence of God is going to cause both the wise and the weak in this little city to come together in one body united by the fact that they're bowing at the cross, which means not just I receive you as my Savior, Lord, but I receive you as the way. I will walk in that way, bringing His people to a place of foolishness, weakness, baseness, despise of man, yea, the things that are not, that with that He will bring to naught all the might, all the armed might of the nations, all the political might of the nations, all the intelligent wisdom of the nations, bringing it to naught that the wisdom of God and the wisdom of the cross might be seen and shine forth in this world of darkness to heal it, to bring healing to this old world. Bacon in the oven, so when the heat comes, yes, He's going to burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire, but He's going to baptize His people with that same Holy Ghost and fire, that same fire that burns up the chaff. He's going to burn up the chaff in our lives. And as we are humbled together and mingled together, crushed together in the mortars of God and then mingled together with the oil of His anointing and put into the ovens of His fire, come forth is that bread that God wants by which He will reveal Himself, the bread of life, to the world about us. For if thy oblation be a meal offering baked in a pan, or if thy oblation be a meat offering baked in the frying pan, I don't know. God has... God has different kinds. Different kinds of fires. Different kinds of pans. Out of the frying pan, into the fire. Yeah, God's got that for the meal offering. And the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. When Jesus then lifted up His eyes and saw great company coming to Him, He said unto Philip, When shall we buy bread that these may eat? And this He said to prove Him, for He Himself knew what He would do. Let's understand that principle in God. Here you are and you're confronted with tremendous needs. And God says, What are you going to do about it? Oh, we'll vote and we'll organize a crusade and we'll, you know, we're quick with suggestions. But God isn't asking for our suggestions. He's got something to work on. He's asking us that to prove us, test us. Are we going to come up with the right answer? Are we going to say, Oh, I've got an idea. Well, 200 penny worth of bread, it's not much, but we can give everybody a little crumb. He had somewhat of an idea. But this He said to prove Him. People say, Oh, I was challenged. God challenged me with this. So I had to do it. He presents the need to you to see what your reaction is. There's only one solution. And it's there in their midst. There it was, right in their midst. Andrew gathered a little boldness. You know, I bet he hated to mention this. But he thought, Well, I feel I should say it. There's a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fishes. Of course, that doesn't amount to much. Pardon me for suggesting that, but I just happen to notice there is a lad here. And in one of the other Gospels, Jesus said, Bring them to me. Make the men sit down. We're running off to the villages to try and buy 200 pennies worth of bread. Just give a crumb, it won't solve the problem. I know the world is filled with tremendous needs. Think of India as perhaps one of the most needy places. And yet, every once in a while, like just last week, a tremendous storm or earthquake. And you wonder, Oh God, why? Why to India? They're so poor now. And because God is a just God, you just wonder, what will it be like here and in our country when God visits our nation? But they write, and I always mention this to them, not to excuse myself, because we have tried to send a little money from time to time, but you just know it's less than a drop in a bucket. And so, you know, you send them a few dollars. You know, it doesn't make any difference hardly. So I point out to the brethren there in other countries, Philippines, Nigeria. I get a lot of mail from Nigeria. There's a great hunger there. And I send them about 200 books a month. I send more books to Nigeria than any other country except the United States. To me, I don't know why. It's that way. I know God's preparing bread there for Africans. Preparing a loaf. For that, what used to be called a dark continent, but I doubt if it's any darker than America. Anyway, bring them to me what you've got. Five loaves, two fishes, bring it to me. And I'm sure that in any nation on earth, whether it's the church or Jesus Christ, and I'm sure there must be a church in every nation, if they seem to be in their own eyes but like five loaves and two fishes, if somehow God would be pleased to reveal to them the mystery of this parable. It actually happened, but in a sense it was a parable that God would be able to meet every need in every nation on earth with just a handful of people that are there. If they're willing to become that loaf that God wants them to be, I know God's going to do that. He's going to do that. He wants to do it with you and I. Because though there are large flourishing churches on this continent, there isn't much life going forth because it is, as Jeremiah said, my people have committed two evils. They've forsaken me, the fountain of living water. And they've hewn for themselves broken cisterns that can hold no water. Bringing in anything to try to replenish this little pool until the water becomes stagnant, stale, poisoned. Bring in another charismatic preacher to pour in a little fresh water. And they're rejoicing for a season in the benefits of God's Spirit being poured out. But it doesn't last because the pool is bound to become stagnant. God hastened the day when that river of life will so overflow the banks that these man-made pools will just vanish away in the river of life. The bread, the dough, goes into the oven. Then there's bread for the hungry. Jesus says, Bring the bread to Me. We never, no matter how far we go with the Lord, come to the place where we're anything apart from Him. Some people think in teaching about God's sons being manifested in the earth that we're making ourselves equal with Christ or trying to make ourselves equal with Christ. And there's no such thing. If it's the truth of God, it's simply this. God wants us to be so joined unto Him that it will be His life that goes forth, His words that go forth, His Spirit that is imparted, the bread of life that we become in union with Him, the water of life that we become as we are immersed in that river of life and flow in His purposes. Remember not the former things, God said, nor consider the things of old. I'm going to do a new thing in the earth. I will open up streams in the desert and a way in the wilderness. God's plan all proceeds from Him and only from you and I as we are in union with Him. Never apart from Him. Apart from Him, we are zero. Jesus said, Without me, you can do nothing. And that doesn't mean without my help you can't do anything. If I help you, you can do great things. The Word is apart from me. He's talking about the branch and the vine. And He says, If the branch doesn't abide in the vine, if it's severed from the vine, severed from the vine, you can do nothing. And I believe there are great religious programs functioning in the earth severed from the vine, doing great things in the eyes of men. God looks down and says, It is nothing. Somebody told me. I don't know who the man was and I wouldn't mention his name if I knew. But he was a very powerful evangelist, did great things. And God said to him, Set thy house in order. Everything that you have done is wood, hay and stubble. Because in the day of Christ, it doesn't matter how great the work is you do. If it's wood, hay and stubble, it's not going to be weighed. Our works are not going to be weighed on a pair of balances. Our works are going to be thrown in the fire. And the fire itself shall prove every man's work what sort it is, not how much. That's pretty awesome. It doesn't matter how much. It's not going to be weighed. It's going to be thrown in the fire and the fire itself shall prove every man's work of what sort it is. So the men sat down and numbered about 5,000. And Jesus took the loaves. And when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples and the disciples to them that were sat down. And likewise to the fishes as much as they would. Jesus took the loaves. See the process? Grain pulverized to flour, mingled with oil. You have a lump, put in the oven, comes out as bread. Brought to the Master again and broken in his hands. So we've got a long ways to go, haven't we? But it doesn't need to take long to get there if we go God's way. And it met every need for perhaps 15,000 people, 5,000 men besides women and children. Let not our hearts be hardened by the miracles that God will do When great things are accomplished in the name of Jesus, often our hearts are hardened like these people's hearts were hardened. They didn't understand the miracle of the loaves and fishes. They rejoiced that here was a miracle worker. And it so thrilled them that they immediately decided we're going to force them to be our king. And when Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force to make him king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone. The teaching goes forth that Jesus came and presented himself as the King of Israel and that Israel rejected him. And therefore, he set them aside. Israel wanted him as their king. They were going to force him to be their king. But Jesus didn't come to be that kind of a king to satisfy the carnal desires of that nation or any other nation. He came to be a redeemer. He came to redeem them from that carnality that was in their hearts that caused them to want to make a king out of a miracle worker rather than realizing that his mission was to become the bread of life and that he would lay down his life for them. Every need was met with five loaves and two fishes. Five, is that not the number of the fivefold ministry? Two is really a number of the body of Christ. Does that come to understand it? Because our human body is in twos. Left, inner, right. Left, inner, right. Left, inner, right arm. Left, inner, right leg, foot, lungs. It speaks of the corporateness of the body. Five loaves at least speaks of the ministry in the body. But together in the hands of Christ, mingled, broken together. I believe God is going to tear down the Nicolaitan system. Not to say that there won't be apostles and prophets, teachers and so forth, but there will be one with the body. They too will be mingled together in the body of Christ. We become one bread, one loaf. Still have a valid ministry. In fact, then and then only will that ministry be really valid when together we are mingled with the body of Christ. Become one with them as we are one with the Lord. And together becoming that one bread that God intended us to be. That's why we partake of the communion. That's why we partake of His blood and of His body. For we are one bread, one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread. After His resurrection, you remember the story how Jesus joined the two disciples who were walking to Emmaus. He walked together with them as a stranger, communing with them. He saw them sorrowful and dejected. He asked them what their trouble was. Haven't you heard? This one, Jesus of Nazareth, a prophet great and mighty before God. We thought He was going to be our Redeemer. We thought He was going to save Israel. He was turned over to Pilate and they crucified Him. That was three days ago. We heard some rumors that He was alive, but how do we know? We haven't seen Him. And the stranger said, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. And beginning in Moses and all the prophets, He began to unfold the Scriptures to them concerning Himself. And their hearts burned within them. And they heard those words so clearly, but they didn't really see Him. And as they came to a juncture in the way, and these two were going to Emmaus, the stranger took the other fork of the road, started to walk away from them. Oh, they said, Come, abide with us. That's what the stranger wanted to do. But he gave the impression that he was going in another direction. Always remember that. It appears that he wants to get away from us. He doesn't really. He's proving us. It's how anxious we are. Well, it was nice talking to you. Oh, they said they constrained him. God is totally sovereign in everything He does. He does in great sovereignty. We must always recognize that. But when His sovereign purposes are being fulfilled, He requires that response. He requires that response from our hearts. He comes very sovereignly, but He requires our response to welcome Him. He knocks at the door. He could open the door and walk in, but He won't do that. He knocks there at the door. He says, If you'll open the door, I'll come in. Well, can't you open it yourself? Yes. God could force His will upon us. Once in a while He might do it because He is the sovereign God. But even if He does it once or twice, the time will come when He'll require your response because He's dealing with us as with sons. I say He might do it sometime. Don't tell me that God didn't sovereignly choose the apostle Paul, going along with nothing else in his heart but to wipe out the church of Christ and God smote him down. He says, Why are you persecuting me? He smote him down as one did on the road to Damascus. No wonder Paul talked much of election. He knew God chose him. But he was responsive to that call. He says, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. God was so gracious and sovereignly dealing with him that it brought forth a response from that day forward that at the slightest beck and call of God upon his heart, he was willing and obedient to go God's way. So rejoice in God's election and His electing purposes without making a doctrinal issue out of it. And be quick to respond every time you hear His voice or feel the impulse of His heart. And so he gladly went with them and sat down at the table and they began to eat. And suddenly, their eyes were opened and they saw Him because of the breaking of the bread. As they break bread, they saw Him anticipate this happening. We know He's with us. We know He talks to us. As a stranger, He tells you these things have to happen. The Son of Man must suffer. God's people must suffer with Him. But when we're going through the suffering, it's hard to see His face. But He says, don't you know it's written? It's written. Didn't Jesus say, if any man will be My disciple, he must take up his cross and follow Me? Yeah, I know. I know. And we hear that voice, but we don't see Him. But when He's completed the work and there's the breaking of the bread, He will be revealed and we will see Him. I believe there's coming a revelation of the Christ where we'll see Him as clearly as the disciples saw Him after He rose from the dead. Just as real as what Paul saw Him when he saw Him on the road to Damascus. I believe he's got that for his people. But it's going to await the day when you and I are mingled together, baked in the oven, become that bread, and committed into His hands to be broken as bread for the hungry. We're going to see the living Christ revealed in our midst. I used to think Joseph was a little bit... What's the word? Potty? And his poor brethren came down starving and wanted bread. He gave them bread, but instead of running up to them and saying, oh, listen, I recognize you. You don't recognize me, do you? You don't know me, do you? I'm your brother Joseph. God had to break them first. God had to break them. So Joseph devastated them. Kept one of his brothers as a hostage. Put him in prison. They had to go back to their old father in Canaan and tell him, what did you do with Simeon? I had to leave him there. Why did you tell him you had another brother? That was concerning Benjamin, wasn't it? I got a little ahead there. So they told the story. And they said, we've got to take Benjamin with us before we can go back. Why did you tell him you had another brother? Well, we couldn't get away from him. They said, do you have any other brothers at home? I don't know if he actually said that, but that's what they told their father. And so time went on. He said, you better go back to Egypt. We can't. He said, you won't let Benjamin go. And he told us, you won't see my face till you bring Benjamin. We're not going. Then Benjamin will go. Oh, you sons of mine, me have ye bereaved of my children. Joseph is not and Simeon is not. Now you'll take Benjamin away. All these things are against me. Everything's against me. And in actual fact, everything was working out for him. And that's true of you and I. Only it doesn't appear that way. But we have to come to that place no matter how devastating. And it's easy enough to say, and I have and you have, when a person is devastated, you quote that Scripture, all things work together for good to them that love God. But when you're going through it, you don't quote that Scripture to yourself. But that's why it's good to have a body walking in unity. That when one is down, the other can comfort him. And Paul said to, I forget which one of the churches, he comforted us that we might be able to comfort those that are in any affliction by the comfort where we ourselves are comforted. Comfort of us in our trials so that when you're in trial, then we can comfort you with that same comfort that we received when we were going through a situation. And God does that. So that in the tempering of the body, it isn't that the whole body is suddenly devastated, but you'll notice one, two, three, four. It goes around the circle until the time comes when we know Him better and we're mingled with oil and God puts us together in the oven. But we're one, and that oneness is something that will be a strength to God's people. And the fathers of God, though they will burn hot, will recognize that God is preparing a loaf to bring the bread of life to His people. And so they came back with Benjamin and Joseph made a great feast for them and set them down at the table in the order of their birth. He brought out Simeon and he joined them. We won't go through all that, but you know what happened after that. He sent them away again and brought them back because they found the silver cup in Benjamin's sack of all things. So now Benjamin was in trouble. Just as his father said, you're going to take Benjamin now and now Benjamin's in trouble. Joseph scolded them and he said, I'm going to keep Benjamin here as a bond slave and the rest of you go on home. Here was your opportunity now, boys, how much love you've got for one another. God was breaking them to bring forth this love, this love in the family of God which was superficial, filled with a lot of conceit, a lot of lying, a lot of deceitfulness. There's much of that in the body of Christ. God was breaking them until they had come to a place where they had hearts of compassion. And Judah steps forward. Please, he says, bows down before him as Joseph saw in his dream. Please, for my father's sake. He'd be devastated. I promised. I swore I'd bring Benjamin back home. And let me take his place. And God brings that into His people who are willing to lay down their lives for the brethren. Christ is going to reveal Himself. Joseph couldn't hold himself anymore. He couldn't hold himself anymore. He says, I am Joseph. And God brings about this brokenness in the body of Christ and this willingness for God's people to die one for the other. Christ will be revealed. And the one whom we've heard and yet couldn't see Him, He will declare, I am Jesus in your midst. We say, Lord, we've heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now when I see of Thee, therefore we abhor ourselves and repent in dust and ashes. And Joseph at that time has a storehouse full of grain enough for every need in Egypt and in the land of Canaan because he became that broken vessel in God's hand who went on before to prepare bread for the people of Egypt and for the people of Canaan for his own brothers. God bless this word, dear heart. Lord, we thank You for this time together. We thank You for the fellowship of Your people. We thank You for their kindness and love toward us, for their care for us, for the life that we have received, Lord, by being able to minister life to them. Lord, I'm aware that I spoke words from Your heart, and I thank You, Lord, that You sent us here because in giving forth words of life, we ourselves have been strengthened and blessed and received from them in the communication of our faith one to the other. I thank You for bringing together these people, Lord, for Your namesake. We do not know what is coming in any specific sense of the word, but we do know, Lord, that You will not be satisfied till there will be a people even here in this city, as in every place that calls upon Your name, living bread for the starving multitudes around us. Cause us to know, Lord, that the trials You lead us into are intended merely to make us to be a humble and a contrite people that tremble at Your word, that as we go through the fires of testing and trial, Your intention is to bring forth bread for those who are hungry. Cause us always, Lord, to submit ourselves into Your hands for the breaking, knowing that in the breaking of the bread that we shall see Your face. We long to see You and look upon You. Lord, we thank You. We've heard Your voice many times, Lord. We cannot be satisfied till we look upon You and see You revealed as the Lord in our midst, the Lord of the church, the Lord of our hearts. Bless these people, Lord, brother and sister Carlton, and those who work with them here in this place. That Your name might be glorified in whatever You intend to do, far be it from us to say, whether it's enlargement or decrease, for what is the difference? As long as it is You that do it. And even if it is increase, it must come to the place where we will decrease that Christ might have the increase. So in whatever way, Lord, You would lead this assembly, we pray, Lord, that they will be quick to give You the glory, the honor and the leadership, that Your name might be exalted and Your name uplifted, that in the outworking of Your purposes they will indeed be broken bread in Your hands to feed the multitudes, Lord, who are starving and know it not, who will come in that day of famine looking for bread and will find it in the house of Joseph. We ask it in Your name. Amen. Praise Your Father. Amen. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Amen. Hallelujah. Amen. Praise the Lord. Amen. Praise His name. Thank you. I'm so glad to hear Brother Warnock say those things. Not all of what he said, but those closing statements, I know, mean so much to my heart. Because as we read this book, Brother's books over the years, one thing we wanted to do was just hug him. We just wanted to hug him. Did you get that sensation? It's not worshiping man. It's not. God has taught us we cannot worship man, can we? It will fail. Oh, it's deadly. But we knew by reading the man's books that I just knew his life measured up. That this word was born in the furnace of God's fires and God's dealings in his life. Amen. God had worked it in the very fabric of his being. And, you know, we all want to be examples to the flock, but I believe this man is an example to the flock. Especially young guys. Oh, it will save you a lot of wear and tear. Oh, God. It really will. God can overcome anything. But dear Lord, there's no such thing as an easy way or a shortcut, but I believe the way of God is the shortest way. Amen. It may be he's leading us for 40 years, but that is the shortest way. But you can increase the length of that journey. Amen. By disobedience, rebellion, going out ahead of time, or just dragging your feet, or just being passive. Amen. So we pray that this has fed you and blessed you. I believe this has been a feast of tabernacles. A foretaste of that which is yet to come. And we thank the Lord for that. But we look for the things our brother has spoken. You know, this is good, but I don't know about you, this has satisfied me, but I'm just as hungry or hungrier than I've ever been. Amen. And that's not being unthankful. Dear God, if it's the Word of God, it makes you want more. It's like we're to taste and see that the Lord is good. And if we taste and see that the Lord is good, what do you want? More! There's more. That's our great battle cry here in this church, there's more. Amen. Thank God. I love you guys, and I thank you. And one thing that was in my heart, before I forget what I started to say, was that in my heart, and I talk with all the brothers, it was in our heart, that we wanted this brother to be blessed too. And ministered back too. And that he would see the fruit of the Word he spoken. And I know that brothers like him started to speak this Word back in 51, and like he gives credit to the brothers before him, the thread that he brought all the way down to the centuries. Well, that began to create something. You say, maybe some of you weren't even born in 51. You know, what's that got to do with me? That Word going forth in the earth created us. Amen. Those faithful men and women throughout the centuries, they've prayed for us, they've laid their life down. And it's building. That building is being built up. And we can't be made perfect without what? Without them. It was them. All the saints that's gone before from Abraham on. Amen. So we praise God for this. And we just bless our brother. We bless this dear wife. Amen. Where's Ruth at? We bless her. So we honor them and we just thank God. Well, we've had a good time. The Lord has just put it in my heart to cancel service for Friday night. I think it would be good that we had time to rest up a little bit and just chew on this. I just don't want to get into anything else and just chew on this. I encourage you to get the tapes. They're free. Okay? We've got to get our tape duplicator fixed again. Once we do that. So we're going to have some fellowship afterwards. There will be some snacks. By the way, John Elrod left his Bible down here. So make sure you get that. Are there any comments or anything that anyone would like to ask? We thank God for our brother John Oku that's here. I was just thinking that I just sort of believe that God brought this word for all of us, but I believe there are certain ones here that God gave this word to really specially. Amen? And I believe people heard. And I believe it's going to help them make great gains in the Lord. Anybody got anything that you'd like to keep? I think the same thing that you said, brother. I know that this has made me, of course, hungry like it has us all. All of us. That's me. But this seems to, to me, the thing where I find myself having this soul lacking. Not that I wasn't before, but I feel more so now. It's like I want even more of this word and even more of it now. I also want to thank Brother and Sister Warnock because I'm sure she's been just as much of a support to him as anybody. And just this word, just like you said, this word that has come forward from this vessel, it's helped quite a bit. It's been such a revelation. What I would hope and pray is that if there would be other vessels just like this one here that God would use in even more of a mighty way. And that maybe, well perhaps soon, maybe way later, but that God would use some here not just in this place, but in other places where people call His name. He would use them vitally, whether it be in writing something or in history in some way. And we would see other powerful men and women of God come forth. Just like we see His brothers come forth and others that come forth. So I just want to thank Him too. I just want to thank Brother and Sister Warnock for being a blessing to me. I didn't use a God enough to be a blessing to everybody. I know it really blessed me. I guess being so young in the Lord, I said it just made me kind of sad. It gave me something to enhance to kind of grow up in. Amen. Bless the Lord. Well, we just trust that the Lord will lead according to His will Brother Warnock back here. I just know the Lord was telling me, it's obvious he's a teacher. It's obvious he's a teacher. Amen. The Lord told me that he was a teacher among teachers. And we just blessed that. I just know God's going to really lead this man more than... And I know He's going to open doors, but I think God's going to quit wasting His valuable resources on people that's not hungry. God's not going to have to beg people anymore.