In this sermon, the speaker shares his experience at a convention where he felt a crisis was faced and he was called to take a stand. Despite the challenges, he remained faithful and witnessed God's mighty work in saving souls and bringing glory to His name. The speaker emphasizes the importance of understanding the principle of supply before the need, stating that when we have a need, it is God calling and saying He has the supply to meet it. He draws parallels between the first Adam and the last Adam, highlighting the redemptive nature of God throughout Christian history.

It's certainly a joy and a privilege to be able to come back to you this month with something on my heart, I pray, that will encourage you and also enlighten you. You know, it's such a joy and privilege to be a Christian and to have so many Christian friends around the country that love you and pray for you, and I feel when I come to making this tape that I'm addressing friends and Christians that really love me and really pray for me. This is such a unique part of our ministry. There's no way to tell you just how much a part you play in our ministry here, with all that's going on, and there's certainly a lot going on right now. I have so much to tell you, and I hope I won't forget all that I do have to tell you since I last talked to you. You know, when I last talked to you, I was very ill, and we even sent you old tape that had been made years ago, and somehow, some way, the bad tape got through, not the best one. We had two good tapes, and somehow, some way, the bad tape got through. And it's amazing because we checked these tapes three times, and we know that the tape got through to everyone before we had a chance to stop it. And so if you have a tape that you can't handle, and you want one in its place, you please send it back. It won't cost you one thing to send it back, and it really won't cost us too much for you to send it back. And basically, it costs us the labor, and it's no problem to us. So we really want you to have a good tape, and I would really like for you to have a good tape on love. That was a tape that God mightily, mightily used in the revival that took place at the First Baptist Church, Castle Hills, in San Antonio, Texas, back in about 1972. God was mightily, mightily moving in that church, saving souls, and the glory of God was all around, and that tape was a tape that was made, or message that was preached, and a tape that was made back during that time. And you know, I think we will look back on that tape in years to come, and just play it, just not only to get the content of the message, but get the atmosphere that God gave us back there in those days. And so I wanted you to have that tape. So I'm so disappointed, in fact, that it's not a quality tape. Now we do not try to make our tapes, radio, or studio quality. This is just a matter of a ministry, where my main objective is to get across to you what's going on in my life, and teach you the Word of God that I believe the Holy Spirit leads me to give to you at any particular given time. So we want the material to be as good as possible, but we're not trying to produce radio material here, or a professional quality. But I do trust that you will get a tape that you can hear and understand, because we want you to be ministered to, as you minister to us. Well, let me say praise the Lord for His good, perfect gifts. I have just got back from California with Martha. Martha and myself went out to the convention and spent some time there, which I feel was very, very good. And now, as far as the convention, you know, as conventions go, but this was a year when a crisis was faced, and I felt like many years ago the Lord told me that crises would be faced, and that I needed to take a stand. And I was not to leave the convention at this point, but that I was to minister in it, and God would do a great and mighty work. And ever since God told me that, and I have been faithful to Him, God has been doing a great and mighty work. That's right. And I mean really establishing people on the Word of God and how to walk with God. And it's been a very beautiful thing, and some of the strong men that stood in this convention, and God used them mightily, have been greatly influenced by my ministry and other people's ministries like mine. And so I know God is doing a great and mighty thing among us, and we're seeing it expressed in conventions and on convention floors. We're seeing the hand of God. God is not only blessing in that way, but God is blessing across this world. Yes, across this world, God is blessing. I cannot say to you what I really want to say. My feelings are deep at this subject, but I have talked with people, and I am in the process of dealing with people, men and women of God, that represent what God is doing across the world. And God is mightily, mightily, mightily working. More people are hearing the gospel now, and responding to the gospel, than has ever responded to the gospel in the history of the world. I would love to see more intensified manifestations of God in a more restricted area, but somehow, someway, God has scattered His grace throughout the world, and I mean God is mightily, mightily, mightily blessing. So I trust that you will pray for a mighty move of God across the world. I have just gone into a new phase of praying because of some little old something that happened. I'll share it with you. I was in West Memphis, Tennessee, West Memphis, Arkansas, at West Memphis, across from Tennessee, a few months back. And while I was in there, I saw a map of the world, and I've always wanted to just sit in my desk, at my desk, with the world in view, and just pray all over the world, as the Spirit of the Lord would lead me. Well, for my birthday, which hasn't come yet, the Lord gave me a world globe, a globe of the world, one that lights up, and I'm being able to just spot places in the world where to pray. And God is beginning to open my eyes to the world's need. And He's not only doing that through prayer, but God is beginning to open my eyes to the world's need through my friends. I am beginning to meet people from all over the world that God is mightily, mightily using. Martha and I have just had the privilege of fellowshipping with some wonderful friends from Brazil, Perry and Robbie Ellis, and through them, the vision has been enlarged. And there's so many more missionaries that God has allowed me to come in contact with. One of our most precious friends is headed to Zimbabwe. Now, I may have mispronounced that a little bit, but they are headed out to be missionaries. And God is going to mightily, mightily use them. Brother Tom and his wife, Tom Ellis, Elif, not Ellis, Elif. Get Ellis and Elif mixed up here. But Tom is one of our dearest friends, and he's going to be a missionary with his family. And I'm so deeply moved by his decision, and affected, there's no way to tell you, but this is enlarging my burden. And just yesterday, I got a phone call from two men who just returned from Hong Kong. And I was sent a message from Hong Kong. This dear brother, begging me to come and spend a few days in Hong Kong. And oh my, it just blew my mind. I had a repeated message from South Korea, and it just blew my mind how these folk are hungry and thirsty for righteousness. And so my heart is in being enlarged. And with this, I have a real conflict. I don't know, you know, so many of you that follow me, and hear my messages, and stand by me. You've only seen me as I have been restored to my health, to the point of restoration where I am right now. And you know, you really do not know how it was when I, when I just had to stay in bed all the time. Had to relearn to walk, and talk, and all this. And how my physical condition is just a threat to this whole thing. Of travel. And so I really need your prayers. You know, I really do. I need them so bad, that I don't know how to tell you, I just need them so bad. So I pray that you will be praying for me. That the Spirit of the Lord will be upon me. And enable me to have wisdom, and courage, and strength in order to do this work. Would you do that for me? I really would appreciate it so much if you would pray along those lines. But if I don't get to the message, I'm not going to have room on this tape to preach the message. So I need to get to the message today. Well, we're talking about truth that has changed my life. Now, this is very interesting to me. I'm just reaching out and putting together some thoughts that make a message of this very, very dear to my heart. Very close to my heart. And I trust that it will bring some thoughts together for you. And rekindle the fire that God has placed in your heart. Truth that has changed my life. Well, one of the things that has changed my life. Well, then what am I talking about when I talk about changing your life? I'm talking about where you are morally different. I'm talking about a change in your life that's involved the total man. And that once you went in one direction, and now you're going in a totally different direction. A time when the Lord really does something that's eternal in you. So what are we talking about? Truth that has changed my own personal life. Here's one. The truth that has changed my life. Lord, recognizing the Lord as my Savior and Lord. That has literally, totally, entirely, completely changed my life. I tell you, I can go back and think about who I was and what I was doing before I got saved by the grace of God. And it just literally thrills my heart to think about what Jesus Christ did for my life. Now, here's the truth that changed my life. There are many verses that describe it, but this is the one. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 21. What a change. What a life. What an experience. What a Savior. You know, I was really looking for help, but I could not find it in the ways of the world, the ways of man. But I heard someone tell me about Jesus, who had taken my sins upon himself and bore those sins in his own body. And there I saw the light at that point. I saw the light. Many of you have heard my testimony about having gone all over the world looking for peace. And I went to church to hear a first cousin preach on Friday night. And boy, he preached. He literally told me that Jesus was the answer. His friend was with him also. He preached and told me that Jesus was the answer. The pastor of the church came to me and told me that Jesus was the answer. I tell you, it was something else. I went back to church on Saturday morning. And I saw in the life of some of those young people that they had something real and that I wanted what they had. I went back on Saturday night and again they told me that Jesus was the answer. And that night I saw Christ becoming sin for me. I realized that he died in my stead and that I could have his righteousness, which God accepted, instead of my self-righteousness, my sinfulness, my life. So I literally believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. When I believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, I received a change. So the truth of redemption changed my life. There is no way in this world to tell you how the truth of redemption changed my life. I saw a lady this past week. I've known this girl now for several years. And she had such a tough life for most of her life. But Jesus has so changed and made a new creation. And wherever she goes, just the life of Jesus is bubbling out of her. Bubbling over. She'll be listening to this particular tape that's being sent out. But the truth changed her life at the point of salvation when she believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. The truth changes our lives. I have seen people who made decisions and they'd stand up and say, I got saved. But there was no change in their life. No moral change in their life. You can be assured that they did not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. They did not get the right victory. They did not get the right message. Or if they did get the right message, they didn't accept it as Jesus invites us to accept it. So I trust today that you can understand that when people really get saved, they get saved. They get changed. Amen? Alright. That's one truth that changed my life. Let's look at another. The fact that God has a will for every life. That's another truth that changed my life. Does God have a will for every person? Well, I believe Ephesians 2.10 and many other verses teach that Jesus definitely has a will for every person's life. Let's look at it. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them. Isn't that something? Well, that's so beautiful that it looks like that God has a plan for every person. And he wants every person to walk in that plan. This is a truth that changed my life. Let me tell you about how it came about to mean so much to me. My mother reared us to believe in Jesus. And she didn't try to tell us that we were saved because we made this decision or that decision. She literally, I believe, expected us to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ ourself and get saved by ourselves. You know, in the sense that she didn't pull a push, but she was there telling us that Jesus was the answer. And there's something else she told us, my brother and myself, my sisters, and that was that God has a plan for every person. And to be successful in life, you had to discover what God was up to in your life. And if you would discover what God was up to in your life and yield to the Lord in that, that you would be a successful person. She used to tell me, she said, well, manly, if just God's plan for your life, if it's being a ditch digger, you'll be the Lord's ditch digger and you'll be successful. Be the Lord's and you'll be successful. Now, friend, let me tell you, I was born again with that in my heart. And when I first got saved, I said, Lord, whatever it takes to make me that person you have called me to be, I want to be that person. Brother, that thrilled me, that challenged me, that gave me direction. And the glory of the Lord filled my life almost from the day start. That very day, a year later, after I met Jesus and was so changed by meeting the Lord Jesus Christ and realizing he had become sin for me, believing on him, taking on his righteousness, I yielded further and I yielded to the ministry, to preach the gospel, to tell the gospel, wherever, however God wanted me to do it. And you know, there was peace, there was joy, there was power, there was success, there was victory. I mean, God just really moved in some more. So the truth of the will of God for every person's life, this truth changed my life. It really did change my life. Well, there's some more truth that changed my life, and that is this, my realizing my union with Christ. You say, realizing your union with Christ, what do you mean? Well, 1 Corinthians 6.17 says, he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Well, you see, when you get saved by the grace of God, you're washed in the blood, you become a child of God, but your spirit and God's spirit becomes one spirit. Now, that's a mystical union. You say, explain that. I don't know how to explain it. I just know that God's spirit and your spirit becomes one spirit. And when your spirit and God's spirit is one, now it's a union. And I know this, that we were placed in the Lord in his death, in his burial, in his resurrection, in his ascension, and in his enthronement. And as he is in this world now, the overcomer, so are we. 1 John 5.17 says that. And there's a mystical union that as Christ is, so are we. So when I saw in my life this union, when I saw the inseparable ability of man and God once they have been born of the spirit of God, my whole life, my whole life was changed. I sometimes had fear of starving to death. And all at once I saw this. Well, if I am starving, God is starving. If I'm defeated, I'm dragging God into defeat. I said, look at God, he's not starving. You know he's not, he's God. And he's not only not starving, but he's not defeated. So this really established me. So I, instead of dragging God into my confusion and defeat, I joined God in his victory. Amen. So this truth of union with Christ just literally, totally changed my life. It came about by reading a book titled, Bone of His Bone, by Dr. F.J. Hegel. Dr. Hegel showed in that book how a person and Christ, once saved, is one. And how we are one in his death, burial, resurrection, ascension. And it just literally changed our entire life. So this to me was a life-changing truth to discover. And I see it today. I may have mentioned on the introduction about running into my wife's nephew. And he saw this, this past week. He saw that he and Christ were one. And I mean he is one turned on boy. I mean God is all over it. It's amazing to me how the Lord is all over this boy. Well, we're talking about truth that has changed my life. We've talked about three facets of truth. Recognizing the Lord as Savior and Lord. Recognizing that God has a will for every single solitary person. And then recognizing union life with Jesus. And there could be so much more said about union life with Jesus. But we'll go on to other truth that has changed my life. The truth that has changed my life possibly is more with me now than any other truth. And what I mean is that I'm conscious of, that I'm studying all the time, and that I'm preaching here and there is the next facet of truth that changed my life. And that's called faith. Now, remember that once the Lord saves you, you're saved. And you discover his will is the ultimate. And you want that all the time. And you realize that you're in Christ as one. There's no separation of you. And that's a beautiful truth. But how to believe, how to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and see truth converted from the pages of the Bible into reality in your life is another issue. So I feel that discovering the truth of faith. What do you mean by faith? Discovering the truth of the faith life has been revolutionary in my life. You might say, well, what do you mean the faith life? Well, I remember so much about it. Let me just try to break the faith life down into a couple of points. When I talk about the faith life, I'm talking about a person realizing that God initiates his involvement. And that God can, by faith, be released at your point of need where he will work supernaturally. And then another thing is that you learn to cooperate with God to accomplish his end. And so I believe that this learning this faith life truth has been revolutionary to me. You say, well, what do you mean by learning the faith life truth? Well, there's a technique in faith that you have to believe in order to receive. And Mark 11 24 puts it beautifully. Now watch this. Believe that you receive them and you shall have them. Now here's the technique. You have to believe a thing is so when it's not so in order for it to be so. Because with God it is so. Now, if you do not learn how to believe in order to receive, then you will sit around and you will want to receive so you can believe. And this is destructive. This is wrong. This is error. This is not God sitting around waiting to receive so you can believe. That is not real. You have to believe first. Well, in order for you to believe, you have to believe the Lord for things that's according to his will that he has initiated. So you go back to the word of God for all of this truth, right? You go back to the word of God and discover the truth about what you're praying over. So you pray in the will of God. You pray in the will of God believing. You pray in the will of God before you receive. And on the basis of your faith in God, you pray, wait, and receive. In faith now. You don't wait until the problem is solved. Now I realize if you try to say, well, I've received a lot of answers before I believed. Now that's not a person that's sincere. It walks with God. It couldn't say that. Same thing. But here's what I want you to see. The Lord treats a lot of us as babies. And he goes ahead and ministers and blesses us. Meets needs. Sometimes before we ask or while we ask. Sometimes after we ask. But I'm talking about walking in the faith life. You have to believe in order to receive. And this was a life revolutionizing experience to me. This truth changed my life. It really did. It changed my life. The whole course of my life. The very involvement of life. It changed the whole involvement. It changed the outlook of my life. I looked at things differently. Well, let's see something else that has changed my life. Oh, let's see, brother and sister. One of the other truth is a matter of seeing adversity as opportunities to enlarge me rather than truth being adversity to destroy me. Now, that's that was life changing. I always thought that God was the God of the mountain. Somehow, I figured he just wouldn't go some areas way and then you get yourself in trouble. And when you got yourself in trouble, you were just in trouble left alone. And that distress or that adversity would just kill you. And I think this verse helped me as much as anything. Psalms 4 1. Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness. Thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress. Now, that brought real life. That brought real life to me. I realized that a man is going to have constant adversity. So he needs to let God have his way in that adversity. And so if he could see God in that adversity, then he was getting up the road. And so I learned to say praise God at all adversity that came in my life. I learned to have myself corrected and allow myself to be enlarged. So I learned that adversity was a friend, not a foe. Now, that was life changing to me. Yes, sir. That was life changing to me, friend, when Jesus showed me this truth about adversity. I never have got over learning that. And you know, I'm still learning that. Life changing truth. That's what we're talking about. And you'll have to just pray for me as I continue to give you this truth here today. Life changing truth. Some of the other truth that literally changed my life was the truth of giving. You say, what do you mean? Well, I discovered one day that Luke 6.38 was in the Bible. You say, what do you mean Luke 6.38 was in the Bible? Well, I knew that Luke 6.38 was in the Bible. I'd read it. But I didn't know that a man could give and receive and give again and receive. And this would set up a principle in his life that would operate. And it's obvious that it even operates among the poor. Because when a person is stingy, his barns will not be filled. But when a person is liberal, he gives. God presses it down, shakes it together, running over. Men give to their bosom. Men turn around and give to us. Now, this blew my mind. And I saw this at a camp meeting in South Carolina. And I'd seen it this past week. I talked to a young man and his friend. In fact, two young men that just got back from an overseas trip. And that trip cost them $10,000 cash. Now, they were trusting Jesus for $10,000. And I'm telling you that is about as near perfect faith as you'll find. They were just trusting the Lord for that $10,000. Well, they received some and it wasn't $10,000. You know what they did? They gave away what they had. The next check came in, God just blessed. But that still was not enough to meet the demands of the hour. So you know what they did again? They gave that away. And for instance, they gave $500 away and the Lord pressed it down, shook it together, and I mean just caused a man to write him a check for $5,000. So they gave their way into riches. Now, you can't do this for selfish purposes. Like, for instance, if you give to get that you might have, it won't work. But if you give to get the give, then it will work. I mean, God will definitely, specifically bless you. And I'll tell you, He will take this whole thing and use it for His glory and His praise. Giving, learning to give on the basis of Luke 6.38 literally changed my life. I mean did. Literally changed my life. Now there's one other truth I'm going to discuss with you that's changed my life. One other truth. You say, well, I ain't just get that one truth. I am too. I don't know exactly how to give you scripture on this truth. But verse that really is the first that we use all the time is Hebrews 4.3. Hebrews 4.3 says, God's work was finished from the foundation of the world. Well, He just said, I'm finished. Everything's settled. Well, here's the truth that changed my life. The supply before the need. The principle of supply before the need. You might have heard me enough to know exactly what I'm talking about already. But it may be that you have not heard me enough to know exactly what I'm talking about. See, I say that when you and I have a need in our life, that need is God calling and saying, I have the supply to meet your need. And I say that because of the nature of God revealed throughout the whole Christian history. For instance, who came along first? The first Adam or the last Adam? Well, you say the last Adam because he was the God of atonement, of grace and redemption. That's right. So before the first Adam ever came and needed grace, salvation and redemption, there was a supply. And when he got in need, that need enabled him to get to the supply. So the supply was already there, right? Was already there before he had a need. Like for instance, which one came along first? Air or lungs? Air. Now what I'm trying to show you is when I discovered that my need was the evidence of supply, it literally shook me. It blessed me. It really moved in my heart. So I am actually saying to you, this was a truth that changed my life. Let's just sum this up. There are several. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Seven basic issues that's changed my life at this point. Now there's more, but these are all I can get to today. The Lord recognizing him as Savior and Lord. This changed my life. I was born again. Then I began to immediately to search for the will of God for my life because my mother taught me that God had a will and his will was for every person. And that led me to discover my union, my oneness, my completeness to Christ Jesus. And I started studying the Bible on the basis of that union with him. Then I continued to study at the Lord's direction and I learned about faith life. That you can believe and then receive. I just really was blessed by that faith life. And I'll tell you, if you haven't learned to believe in order to receive, there is so much in life you haven't seen yet. And then how to turn your adversities into meaningful blessings. And then learning to give out of revelation giving unto the Lord. Just give unto the Lord and unto the Lord you give. And then that supply before the need. Well these truths are the truths that literally changed my life. Now you might say brother man that you didn't tell us enough about this. I hope for one thing out of this tape that it disturbed you enough to make you want to know what's going on at each one of these points. And that you begin to pursue God and just really ask God to make this truth real to you in your heart. Could we pray? Dear Lamb of God take this truth, make it real to every one of my friends today. Lord Jesus we love you, we thank you and praise you as you do it. In Jesus name, Amen.