In this sermon, the preacher shares about a powerful experience of God's presence in a church service. He describes how the power of God hit the congregation, leading to intense prayer and spiritual manifestations. The preacher emphasizes the importance of faith and the Holy Spirit in the Christian walk, highlighting their connection to the will and word of God. He also references the story of a man who remained steadfast in his faith despite being imprisoned and mistreated, showing the unwavering nature of true faith. The sermon concludes with a reminder that faith is not solely based on witnessing miracles, but on a deep relationship with God and a commitment to His Word.

I want you to turn with me this morning to the book of Hebrews, chapter 11, in the ongoing series, The Vessel of Recovery, and we've carried you along for five days. In this vessel, what it is, why it must be, that the revival that God is going to send demands a vessel for it to come through. We've used the example of Samuel, Benjamin. All through the Bible has been a remnant that were a harbinger. Now, a remnant in the Bible means those that have survived a crisis, survivors of a crisis. Joshua and Caleb survived that wilderness, desert experience, and survived to be the vessel that God would use in the promised land to bring about His testimony. Every age has had those. The survivors today of a religious hodgepodge that have held true to the principles of the gospel and all the gimmickry of religion is going to be that vessel that God uses in the recovery of His testimony. Now, the vessel we've dealt with and showed that there is going to be such a vessel. God said what has been will be. There will be a repeat of the revival of the book of Acts. As this age ends, Jesus, as we pointed out yesterday, in the vessel of glory, is not coming after a wore-out religious machine. He will not come after anything less than He started with. Look at that church on the day of Pentecost. All of the glory and the power and the gifts of God in operation, startling the world with the presence of God. That church that He'll return for will once more demonstrate the power of the living God. In that vessel of recovery, there will be the recovery of real faith, which is our message today. In Hebrews chapter 11 and verse 6, But without faith it is impossible to please Him, that's God, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Without faith it is impossible to please God. Again, the Bible says in the book of James, Whatsoever is not of faith is sin. Those two scriptures have been used in this day and have kind of thrown the church off of balance. They put the church into a struggle for faith. But that isn't what God's got her at all. It isn't a struggle of faith, it is a struggle to walk in the Spirit. Faith will be a product of that. The struggle is to get rid of me, get rid of this carnal natural reasoning, to walk in the Holy Ghost. This is the struggle. It isn't a struggle to have faith. If I'm born again, I have faith. The Bible says that you and I, that we are born again by the word of the living God and that by grace are we saved through faith and that faith is not of ourselves. You couldn't be born again unless God gave you the faith to believe. You have faith. And so the struggle isn't to have faith, but the struggle is to walk in the Spirit of God. Those things, I'll demonstrate to you, become synonymous terms. Now, that first century church knew the awesome power of the faith of God. They knew that. There was no guesswork with them. They knew the awesome power of the faith of God. The first ten chapters of the book of Acts, all through the book of Acts, but those first ten chapters, as you come right out of that upper room into the world of Jesus sitting at the right hand of God, the Holy Ghost outpoured, those that are the vessel of the Lord, that hundred and twenty, moving out of that upper room to startle a world with the power of God, the awesome power of faith. You know, I try to read ten chapters out of this book at least every day. When at home, I go down to the church early in the morning. We have a prayer meeting. The church doors open up at five o'clock. I'm there to talk to God before that telephone begins to ring and let Him talk to me through the Word of God. One morning I was there, I began to read, and my reading that day began with the second chapter of the book of Acts, and I read on through the eleventh chapter of the book of Acts. And it's just like God made my mind a computer, taking note of all the happenings of those first ten chapters of the book of Acts. In the second chapter of the book of Acts, a hundred and twenty people were filled with the Holy Ghost, and three thousand people in the street are begging them to tell them how to get into the kingdom of God. Amen. Isn't that right? In the second chapter of the book of Acts. In the third chapter of the book of Acts, a crippled man is healed. Five thousand more are saved. The apostles are thrown in jail, released. They went in the fourth chapter of the book of Acts, had a prayer meeting. The house was shaken where they were preaching, and more and more the miracles began to take place. In the fifth chapter, two hypocrites fell dead at the altar, and fear came on the entire community. Peter walks down the street. His shadow heals the people as he walks down the street. One of the deacons, Philip, is called to Samaria, has a citywide revival. The whole city turns to God. The Holy Ghost calls him from that down to a desert to talk to one man in a wagon. God saves that man. When the evangelist pulls him up out of the water, the Holy Ghost picks the evangelist up, carries him thirty-five miles down the road. Peter raises Dorcas from the dead, heals a man of palsy of twelve years. Paul struck off with his horse, saved, filled with the Holy Ghost, on and on and on. The awesome power of faith that's demonstrated in just the first ten chapters of the book of Acts. They were acquainted with the awesome power of the faith of God. All that Jesus did, that early church repeated. Can you say amen? Every miracle he did, they repeated. They raised the dead. They opened the eyes of the blind. They healed the palsies. They made the lame to walk again. Everything that Jesus did, that early church repeated. They did the works that he did. They had witnessed it all before the day of Pentecost. They were with him. They witnessed all these miracles before the day of Pentecost. But Jesus, and listen to me, never allowed them to believe that real faith is born out of merely witnessing a miracle. Your faith is sustained as you see the work of God. But the real faith of God is in the product of seeing a miracle. I've saw people in preaching this gospel, moving around this country, that have got terribly excited over a miracle, but yet were dead. Amen. I have in my lifetime dealt with people that have been healed of the most awesome diseases, yet backslid and went to hell. Amen. Faith is not a product of just witnessing a miracle. Amen. It isn't a product of witnessing a miracle. Jesus never allowed those apostles to believe that. In spite of all they had seen, his last command was, Carry until. Carry until you've been endued with power from on high. What was he saying? I'll tell you. He was saying, Don't leave until the Holy Ghost has introduced me to you in a spiritual way. Paul wrote and said, No man will know him after the flesh. No more. Henceforth, no, no man Christ after the flesh. He said, Don't you leave me here with just your physical knowledge of me. Don't leave Jerusalem until you have had a spiritual encounter with myself, that you know me after the Spirit. Listen, folks. All things written aforetime was written. The Bible said, For our learning and admonition on whom the ends of this world is come. Everything that's in this Bible, everything wrote in this Bible, the apostle Paul said in the book of Romans was, Wrote that you and I may learn something. And if we learn anything, it is that faith doesn't come to the human heart by just witnessing miracles. Israel had saw all the judgment miracles of God in Egypt. They had witnessed the lice, the frogs, the blood, the heel. They had witnessed the death of the firstborn. They witnessed the ten miracle judgments of God. They had been led out of Egypt by the hand of God. They had watched Him part the Red Sea. They walked across on dry land. They witnessed Him sweep the waters of Meribah. They watched Him for all of those days. Listen, They had watched Him as He dropped that manna every day at the right place. They witnessed that rock that followed them belching out 27 million gallons of water every day. They had been led by cloud in the daytime, by fire at night. They had watched Him part the waters of Jordan, kick down the walls of Jericho, make an axe head to swim. They had saw all of that, yet Moses wasn't gone 40 days, until Aaron had Him naked, dancing around the golden calf. With all of their seeing the miracles, they really didn't have any faith. Moses has gone less than 40 days, and Aaron's got Him naked. You hear me? What Jesus is saying to you and I, everything was written before time was to tell you that your faith is not a product of just seeing a miracle somewhere. Oh no, your faith is not a product. Listen, real faith is born out of a personal, intimate reunion, or union rather, with Jesus Christ. Hallelujah. I said hallelujah. Faith is born out of a personal, intimate union with the Lord Jesus Christ. We must believe that God is. Amen. I said we must believe that God is, and that He is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him. That is the place of faith. Real faith is born out of that knowledge of God. Amen. Out of that knowledge of God. If you can grasp the first statement of the Bible, in the beginning God, then the rest of it will fall in line. If I can take a hold to the first statement of the Bible, if I allow God, I'll never have any trouble with that quail story of the book of Exodus, or with Jonah being swallowed by a whale, because if I allow God, then all things become possible. I must have an encounter with God. If I know God, I will believe God. Oh, let me tell you something. We have tried to build our faith on the sensational, but it must be founded upon a personal encounter with God. To believe that God is, one must meet God. I said you must meet God. It must not be a little hocus-pocus religion, just being baptized or joining a church. I must be intimately acquainted with Almighty God. I must know Him as my friend, my Lord, my Savior. I must wake up with that knowledge, go to bed with that knowledge. I have met God. I was born again 35 years ago, and all that I've seen in this religious world, I thank God. I didn't know anything. I went into that church a drunk going to hell. I come out sober going to heaven. I wasn't sent to a farm. I was born again. I met God. I set free. And it is a faith born out of that experience that's kept me through it all. Kept me through it all. I hadn't been saved very long. Had a meeting about 200 miles away from me. Hearing the advertisement on the radio, the blind see, deaf hear, lame walk. Oh, I said to Mark, we're going to go see that. When I got my days off, we headed out. Always sit on the front seat. I like these folks. I don't want nobody between me and what's going on on the platform. Amen. You get back there in the back, they feed them kids crackers, water them 25 times. Amen. I get up front. I don't want to miss anything. We got there early. I sit down on the front seat. Ain't nobody there but me and two or three others. I asked one man, I said, how long you been here? He said, man, I helped put this tent up. I said, let me tell you. The first time one of them blind folks whose eyes have been healed comes in here, I want you to show them to me. I never saw anybody with blind eyes. Just been saved at that time. Hadn't seen anybody blind healed who wouldn't talk to him. He said, oh, there hadn't been any blind folks healed yet. Oh, yes, there is. I heard it on the radio. He said, the blind are seeing and the lame are walking. I said, I heard it on the radio. Well, he said, that didn't happen. I said, any of them folks, them lame folks, you show them to me. I'll talk to them. Well, he said, any of that happened yet either. I said, oh, yeah, I hear it on the radio every day. That's the reason I'm here. I come out here to be in this meeting. Well, he said, hasn't any of that happened yet. I said, well, the man said it on the radio. He said, no, that's faith. I said, no, that's lying. I packed up and went home. Let me tell you something, folks. I was born again. That didn't shake me. That didn't change one thought about God because my faith was based upon one thing. I had a personal encounter with God. I met God. He changed my life. David wrote in Psalms 9 and 10, They that know thy name will put their trust in thee. I'm talking about real faith. They that know thy name will put their trust in thee. You know what name means in the Bible? Name denotes character. When you read name in the Bible, you look it up, you'll find it's character. Jacob meant he's a surplanner. He's a cheat. He's a crooked. That'd screw him in the ground when they buried him. That's what his name meant. To know the name of God is to know the character of God. When I met God, I met God. And to know God is to trust God. Hallelujah. If you become intimately acquainted with God, there is no trouble trusting God. Faith, faith. Based, based upon a knowledge of God, I met God. Oh, that's it. Born again. I had an experience, an encounter with God. And he that comes to God must believe that God is. And to believe that God is demands that you have a personal encounter with God. Faith founded upon the fact that God is, can, and will overcome every situation of life. Faith founded upon this fact, that God is, can, and will overcome. You won't knock that out. But if your faith is founded just upon the excitement of a religious service, I can promise you, ladies and gentlemen, there's going to be a time when it isn't that exciting. When you're just going to have to get up and walk on. Oh, listen. When I got to be about 23 years old, I met a beautiful little old farm girl in Texas. She was the prettiest thing I ever seen in my life. I never wanted anything so bad in my life. I wooed her and won her and took her home with me. Amen. Yes sir. She's still, after this, about 38 years, still about the prettiest thing I've ever seen. But to wake up one morning and her in rollers, amen, and nothing but just her. Amen. You know, I still loved her just the same. Amen. She can make herself prettier than she was at that point. But it had nothing to do with it. I said nothing to do with it. Amen. It was founded upon a relationship. Thank God, listen, for the excitement of the service. Thank God for the moving of the Holy Ghost. Thank God for the cripples of walking. But thank God when all of it's gone, it's still a matter of faith. I tell you, it's still a matter of faith. Paul can shout when the whole city of Antioch comes to hear him preach. Amen. Or anybody can jump. I believe God. Here's a whole city that's come out here to hear me preach. But what about it, Paul, when it's Philippi and it's after midnight and you're in the bottom hole of a jail and don't nobody know where you are and a thousand devils said you're going to rot here. Your back is laid open. Infection is set in. Fevers 105. The heads are busting. Have at now. He's shot anyway. Amen. You know why? His faith wasn't on the fact that a city come to hear him preach. His faith was in the fact that he knew Jesus. I said he knew Jesus. And Jesus is just as real in the bottom of that jail as he was in a citywide meeting in Antioch. Glory to God forever. John Bunyan, the author of the Pilgrim's Progress, spent 12 years in a Bedford jail. They had put him in this... Sometime when they locked him up they put him in a little cell that the man of God couldn't even sit down. When he tried to sit down, his knees had hit the front of the cell and his back had hit the back of it. Fed him hog slop like an animal. They'd feed him that slop every day they'd come in. For days they wouldn't even remove the human refuse from that cell where he was. But every day when they shoved that slop to him, they said to him, we'll let you out of here if you'll deny what you believe. And every day he gave the same answer. Why'd I want out of here, sir? Anywhere that Christ is is a kingdom now for me. Oh, glory to God. I'm talking about a faith built upon knowing God. Met God. Oh, yes, sir. Whether I'm talking in tongues or not, I love God and believe God. Whether I'm prophesying or not, I love God, believe God. Whether I'm in the excitement of a great revival like this or I'm wrestling with the problems of a local church, I still know God and my faith is exactly the same. If I've got a pocket full of money, wonderful. If I don't have any money, that never changed God at all. Whether I drive a Rolls-Royce or a Volkswagen doesn't mean nothing to God. We've tried to make faith in those things. We've tried to make faith things. Oh, brothers and sisters, if you've got enough money to buy your Rolls-Royce, I haven't got any quarrels with that. If you're still enough to go in debt for it, that's your business. But faith doesn't have anything to do with it because God doesn't care whether you ride a buggy, bicycle, Volkswagen, or automobile, or airplane. It is your acquaintance with God. It is your knowledge of God Almighty. Amen. I can do all things through Christ is a testimony of a man personally acquainted with Christ. And when he says, none of these things move me because my faith is not built upon things. It's built upon a relationship with a person. Hallelujah. I said hallelujah. Built upon a relationship with a person. Now, for faith to progress from that beginning, when you meet God, you're saved by faith that's not of yourself. That encounter with God, that faith built upon the person of Christ, you met him, you know him. He's yours, you're his. And faith begins. But for faith to progress from that beginning of a knowledge of God, then there must be an absolute belief in the infallibility of the Word of God. There must be. No question marks. I must believe this book that it doesn't contain the Word of God. It is the Word of God. And my faith to progress, to move on, to be effective, to produce what God intends for it to produce, must have an absolute belief in the infallibility of the Word of God. Real faith knows that no experience, no personal advantage, no circumstance, no situation can alter one word of God. When I sat down in a couple of months from now to figure out that 1984 income and how much I owe Uncle Sam, no matter whether I believe he uses it right or not, faith demands that I know I can't alter what God says, that he's looking over my shoulder. And when I get through with that return, it's exactly what I believe it to be. To gain a few hundred dollars by lying on that, the Word of God doesn't allow that. I must know, I must believe in the infallibility of this book and recognize beyond any a shot of a doubt that there is no circumstance that can alter that. Nothing. I don't care what your circumstance are. I don't care what excuse you use for sinning. Amen. There is no circumstance. There is nothing that gives you the right, amen, to alter this book of God. The true believer cannot be an existentialist. Amen. It don't work, brother. He cannot be that. He is not governed by situation ethics. His world is black and white. His yes is yes. His no is no. It's not yea and nay. It isn't shaking the head both ways. I read what this book says. I live by it. It doesn't matter what it calls me. I must believe that this Bible is infallible. I have no right to change any of it. I'm not governed by what people are governed by. By the world. They had an old song years ago, everybody's doing it. Everybody's doing it. That pretty well become the motto of a generation. If everybody else is doing it, that makes it right. Well, I can tell you right now, most everybody is on a broad road going to hell. It's a narrow road and few people finding it simply because they're trying to change something about this book. God said what he meant. God meant what he said. And the faith of God in a believer enables that believer to stand on, be true to the word of God regardless of the cost of that individual. You can be sure, ladies and gentlemen, it's going to cost you. When John stood on the banks of that Jordan, he made the rocky banks of the Jordan River the front street of the world. They came from everywhere. The king, the religious, all of them came to hear him. And the man of God, his diet was locust and wild honey. You'd have a hard time getting this tuxedo crowd today to carry on that kind of a campaign. But his garments was a camel hair. And he stood there in the waters of the Jordan and preached the truth. Amen. The soldier says, what does repentant mean to us? He said it means being kind. Turn from your cruelty. Treat every man right. Be content with your wages. Oh my, every soldier that walked into that water saying I've made a change, I'm going to treat other folks right. The tax collector, what about us, John? Quit stealing the state's money. Take no more than what belongs to you. Treat everybody right. Now that's the mafia of the first century, folks. Amen. They're stealing and every one of those tax collectors that went into the waters of the Jordan was saying I'm not going to steal anymore. And the others that didn't go in the water said we've got to kill him because he's going to tell everybody else what we're doing. All I'm telling you it costs something to be true to the Word of God. And religious bunch, what about us? He said the ax is laid at your tree. Right there. You bring forth fruit that proves to me you repented. You're not bringing that religious in here. You're not bringing Mary in here, holy water in here. You're not bringing Mohammed in here. You're not bringing a mixture in here. You start over here. There's nothing you ever knew before now that's brought you into any recognition of this. You start over. You must be born again. Way out there in the crowd in that gold bottom chariot where the finest horses is Mr. Herod, the king. Hey John, what about your king? He loaded that rapid firing gospel gun with the seventh commandment and said it ain't lawful for you to have that woman. I don't have any right to change anything. It may cost me your offering. It may cost me my head. It may cost you the fellowship with your church but you have no right to change it and real faith believes in the infallibility of God's word. Hallelujah. Real faith. Our evangelist said it the other night. I stood straight up. He said it the other night. He says always I can't doubt God because what's God let him see but what he's saying too is he said the other night the faith in him that can't doubt God didn't come. He said by seeing a miracle he said it came because I was preaching on the woman and the people said we believe now not because what you said in his second hand no more. We believe because we met him and that faith founded upon a personal experience with God almighty must be sustained by faith in the infallible oh unalterable word of the living God. This land's been destroyed by judges sitting on courts ruling in law and they'll interpret that law differently to every case. They have no right to that. That law was written by the congress and that law was written to apply to every human being. If you break this is what's supposed to happen. That isn't the way it is. They interpret that according to how much money you got how much influence you got and the nation has been destroyed and the church has been watered down by preachers that alter the word of God to fit some phony somebody that wants a place in the church. James said if he's covered up with gold and comes in and a poor man without shoes they both have a right to the front seat of the church in the presence of the living God and if you make it different you've changed this book. You've changed this book. Let me tell you ladies and gentlemen that faith to be sustained must begin with a personal encounter with God. He that comes to God must believe that God is and you can't believe that unless you met Him. You met Him. You come personally acquainted with God. I met God. Amen. Now listen. I met God. I know God. Hallelujah. Listen. Then having recovered the real faith we must from the word of God learn the laws that govern that faith. Oh listen. You just don't hocus pocus this. That's the reason I'm blessed traveling here. Amen. I see reality. I don't see no gimmicks and games and trying to force God into a corner. The message that's preached here deals whether it calls it or not deals with the laws that govern whether this thing works for you and I or not. You know and I know to know and to obey the laws govern anything in this world will cause that thing to work for you. Amen. If you know and obey diligently the laws that govern anything you're seeing churches explode in this country. They've learned principles that will make any organization on this earth grow. And because they obey those laws it's wonderful. I've got no kicks. I'm telling you it's wonderful when they're obeyed. Amen. It causes that physical growth but yet that don't mean necessarily that it's spiritual. It may or may not be. I know a church that's loved as the fastest growing church in America. Amen. And after a while it found up in all of that growth the pastor had been running a harm. Couldn't be nothing spiritual about that. Had five or six women on the strain. But yet the church is growing. I'm saying to know and obey the laws that govern anything on this earth will cause that thing to work for you. What's true in the natural world is true in the spiritual world. Amen. It is the same. Learn the laws. And when you know the laws it'll work for you. When we know and believe in these laws wonderful things take place in the life of those that have this faith. Now when the conditions are right when the laws and the principles are obeyed and applied you don't have to beg God to move. Isaiah 58 and 8 says Then your life shall break forth as the morning your health spring forth speedily. God said God's righteousness will be before you His glory will be behind you and when you pray God will say I'm right here. He said the Lord will guide you continually and even in a trial your soul will be satisfied if you walk in accord with the laws and the principles of faith. You don't have to struggle around wrestle with demons. Amen. You walk according to the laws that govern this that I'm calling real faith. There's a lot going on today hasn't got anything to do with faith. Amen. Hasn't got a thing in the world to do with faith and you can tell it because isn't anything taking place. But this faith I'm talking about works. Then shall your life break forth as the morning. You know what that means? That means life is life. Whose life? God's life. John 1 and 4 said in him was life. L-I-F-E and that life was the light of men. When you walk in accord with God you're born again you walk in the word of God obeying the principles and laws that govern the faith of God then the life of God will go before you. It is said in the book of Psalms that the life of God in Judah amen caused that red sea to run from him. I can tell you right now if you walk with God and God's life flows from you the devil will take his flight. Your health he said the supreme post speedily. Brother Schambach preached the other night he said I don't say it out here there's such a mixed crowd they don't understand what you're saying but he said in my church I preach health not healing. Amen. Health not healing. You know what he's saying? He said you walk according to this you live according to this your health will break forth speedily. Amen. This Holy Ghost flowing through them arteries flowing through them joints wash out arthritis thank God make pancreas come alive make cancers fall off blind eyes to see I'm telling you the river heals whatever it touches and if we're a vessel it flows through it'll heal internally as well as externally. Just obey these laws. Know them. Obey them. Walk in them. You'll discover this thing works just like he said it would work. Listen. We look at some of the laws here this morning and what time we got left to govern this thing called faith. Now I know when you go to talk about this people are looking for some mechanical something. Amen. They're always looking I was preaching a convention I was a main day speaker in a large convention in Houston, Texas Brother Schambach preaches it this year. He's a night speaker I was a day speaker always had one or two others along in the morning. You know, had them in the morning before the main speaker I took it at 10.30 and had the rest of the day if I needed it. But he allotted 40, 45 minutes to two others and the man that come on before me was a young man. Amen. He hadn't been around very long maybe 20 years old. You could have a look at him he hadn't fought many beasts of Ephesus. Amen. But he read his text and he said my message this morning is the technique of the word. Oh, I said, Lord I got to get a hold of this. And when he preached it was X minus Y times pi R squared equals a miracle. Only trouble is no miracle came. You know what I'm talking about. It's just all one, two, three, four. Here it is. But it wasn't there. I said it wasn't there. And when you talk about the laws of faith then people are kind of expecting you to come along that they can go home and rub their nose twice on this side sleep on their back be baptized face downward repeat this three times a day and they're going to have something work for them. I didn't come here to tell you that. I come here to tell you that the first law of faith is come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and I will be your God. If he is my God I can tell you right now my faith is a working good. The first law of faith come out from among them be ye separate saith the Lord. Hallelujah. I'm in the world I'm not off the world. We're here pilgrims and strangers. Thank God when our affections get on things below we've missed it. I praise God for everything that he's given me. I praise God. I've got a home to live in. I've got a car to drive. I've got food to eat. I've got money in my pocket. But I'll tell you one thing there's a time when me and the evangelist back here both we never had none of that. Amen. We'd like to have a hamburger to split five or six ways with the family and we were talking the other night about one o'clock if the car goes and the house goes and the money's gone I'll still walk on with God. I said I'll still walk on with God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. My affections are not on things on this earth. I'm not in love with an automobile. I'm not in love with a house. I'm not in love with a bank account. I'm in love with a man called Jesus. Hallelujah. Come out from among them. You're not a part of that. That isn't what your life is made of. It didn't consist of the abundance of what you have. It doesn't consist of the entertainment of this world. Amen. It doesn't consist with a rotten world that's an enemy of God. He's saying to me come out from among them and be ye separate. Faith and the Spirit become synonymous terms. Listen. If the Spirit is working faith is working. You believe that? If the Spirit is working faith is working. If we could get this over Amen. If we could get this over the other night the power of God broke out in here. Amen. People just exploded. It wasn't nothing planned. Nobody said come down here we're all going to dance together. I mean it exploded. The power of God hit this tent. I talked to a man doing the prayer service for the children moving around. He said Brother Clendon and out on the parking lot they were laying on the ground prevailing before God. We didn't know that we're in here. He was telling me about what he run across all over out there the things that were happening. If we could get this over to you that when that Spirit is working like that faith is working. You can be set free. Faith and the Spirit are synonymous terms. When I first got saved I read the Bible. I've always loved this book. And as I read the Bible I saw what looked like four ways in the Bible. Looked like the will of God the Word of God the Faith of God the Spirit of God. Amen. You could just see in the Bible those four paths. But then as I read and moved on in the economy of God I saw that those four are one. That out there in the economy of God they merge. Amen. Like blood and spirit they become one. The life of this flesh is the blood. But the life of the body of Christ is the Spirit of God. So when he said except you drink of my blood he wasn't talking about that blood he spilled at Calvary. He's talking about that fountain open up in the house of David. Thank God the Holy Ghost well opened up to drink of it. Amen. And as I began to see this I said if I walk in the Word of God I walk in the will of God. And if I walk in the will of God I walk in the Faith of God. And if I walk in the Faith of God then I walk in the Spirit of God. So I began to realize ladies and gentlemen that there's synonymous terms if I mortify the deeds of the flesh if I break loose with the world I walk in the Holy Ghost then having faith is as natural as breathing. Listen you're not going to have no faith all mixed up in that world. There's no way you're going to have faith. No, no. John said the evangelist read it last night John 7, 37, 38 He that believeth on me as the scripture said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Isn't that what he said? This John's comment on that back there was this spake he of the Spirit for the Holy Ghost was not yet given for Christ was not yet glorified. Follow that through in John 16 and 7 Jesus said it's expedient to you that I go away or that for if I go not away the Spirit won't come the river won't come. He went away. Ezekiel saw the throne the man in the throne and the river coming from the throne right down there on that believers Amen that river flowed and the Bible said in the book of Ezekiel that that river flowed out from the house first ankle deep, knee deep finally a river to swim in and he said all along the banks of that river were trees whose leaves were for the healing of the nation. You don't study the Bible without knowing that trees are representative of men and women they represent spiritual people. All he's saying is that river of the Holy Ghost produces spiritual people and the leaves of those people the fruit of those people is to heal the nation. You don't have to beg a river to flow and you don't have to beg the Holy Ghost to heal. All you gotta do is get it to touch to touch, you hear me? to touch but there'll be no flow and moving of life as long as sin and worldliness are openly tolerated. Now you mark that down I know that's got to be old fashioned talk today but we're grounded out on the world, folks. Amen. There's so much allowed in the church today that isn't God that has grounded it out. Come out from among them, saith God and I'll be your God and you will be my people. God says to his church in you is a river and the river is faith. Open, open the vessel unstop the passage and the river will flow it cannot do otherwise. You go to these big old dams you blow that dam up that water won't beg you to let it out you just blow that dam up it'll go it'll wash everything along the road too it'll take houses, trees, everything else you just open it up and let it go that's what's pinned up in the church of God is a river that can heal everything in Greensboro everything in America if God could get us to open it up the arteries are stocked up with spiritual cholesterol there's so much envy, strife, jealousy we're so afraid somebody else is going to get the credit God is saying open up. The second law that I want to tell you of faith is Psalms 1 and 2 live in the word he said of this man of the spirit he said in his law doth he meditate both day and night that's a law of faith you can't have any faith and ignore the word of God amen your faith must be founded as I said in the fact in the experience and the infallibility of the word of God and you must know that book you must know that book one of the best friends I've got is a missionary in Zaire what a man of God amen his name is Verno he was born in Africa in Gabon he's Swiss by race come from Switzerland his father did but he was born in Africa raised in a mission compound in Cameroon a big part of his life in Gabon Africa he said I was the only man there at 12 years old many times on that mission station and said my father would be gone and people would come there and have to have an answer on something but he said I could answer them I knew my father I lived close to my father I knew what my father thought I knew how my father would act in situations therefore when a situation arose I acted like my father amen I'm telling you if you're going to know how your father will act you're going to have to read the book that he wrote to you you're going to have to live in the word of God there is no way that you can have faith in God unless you become more and more acquainted with God you met him personally I met that girl of mine 38 years ago and married her but I knew nothing about her 38 years ago that I know tonight amen no no I knew nothing about her now but then that I do now after 38 years we've come to know I go to that house tonight I get home when I turn the key in that door she'll be in bed that I promise you I can tell you the mood of that woman when I open that door she's the best friend of God we might be close we think alike you know you think alike you get to looking like I hope I look like her when we get moving in that direction amen this this listen live in the word live in the word in his law doth he meditate both day and night to walk in faith is to be led by the spirit and the leadership of the spirit is obedience to the word of God and I used to use if you read the word and don't obey it don't come trying to prophesy to me that's plumb sickness have some folks at home never show up on a Wednesday night or Sunday night wouldn't pay the tithe but come tripping in there on a Sunday morning won't talk in tongues oh I said that's like dry peas hitting a buckeye ain't nothing to that I said God ain't talking to you you won't even obey what he wrote in his book amen come in here and sit on pews you won't help buy sing out of song books you wouldn't pay for enjoy air conditions you wouldn't give a nickel to keep lights on and then want to prophesy to me sit down that flesh pot will destroy everything I'm talking about the leadership of the Holy Spirit is obedience to the word of God I put into practice what I learned yes sir I sit on that platform listen you ain't going to get me shifting around here I had to go pray for somebody the other night amen I said Lord let me pray the prayer of faith for the man that God reads his text I come here to hear he's going to talk to me I want to hear it amen and I want to put into practice in my life what I hear that's what he's talking about if you want faith hear what God has to say put into practice don't listen to that nonsense of legalism amen if you're born again amen you know you're not saved because you don't drink liquor amen but if you don't drink liquor because you're saved that's walking in the spirit amen oh hallelujah I said put into practice if you want this faith to work for you then you put into practice what you learned the law of faith is that we live in the word of God the word of God tells us what God is what God wills and what God desires man after God's own heart is a man that wills the will of God desires the desire of God and thinks the thoughts of God that's a man that's a woman after God's own heart amen that's the reason he said he'll give you the desire of your heart 37 sons but he took it for granted that you're a man after his heart amen he wasn't talking about no Rolls Royce he wasn't talking about no mansion he was talking about what he wants in your life if you really walk with God in obedience to the word of God then you want one thing and that's what he wants and that desire of your heart he will give you every time I said he'll give you every time I run across some poor little old widows living off of social security give 20% of that $200 check to the work of God that's more than most of us ever thought about giving in our lives they never got rich and one of them said I don't believe God loves me I said you listen to the wrong voice I said dear lady anybody can live off $180 a month and give 20% of it to God has got a miracle working every day I heard brother Allen say years ago I don't care what end of the barrel I get it off of off the bottom, off the top just as long as it don't go dry the miracle of supply listen live by that book live by that book listen to it hear what the almighty has to say the great transgression I won't hang around here but I want to say it again because I want to register in your mind is to presume something about God's character and will that is not so for you to presume that God is something and act like it's true is the great transgression David said deliver me from presumptions of sin thus will I be delivered from the great transgression that's sitting around dreaming what you think God is like amen all these pictures you know I before I saved I didn't want to go to heaven all I ever saw was some little old naked baby floating around flying around or some old man walking around in the cloud I'm not interested in that amen that's religious presumption that's nonsense amen that's going to be a more real world you got here brother I'm going to have a body that won't get tired I'm going to have a body go anywhere and I'm going to live in a real world thank God forever amen all of that religious fantasy people sitting around dreaming about angels then act like what they're saying is so of course it's angels but their presumption that's the great transgression you don't have any right to think anything about God but what you see in this bible and what you see in the Lord Jesus Christ and the essence of idolatry is to presume something about God that isn't so then act like it's so amen as I learn from God what God is like what God desires what God loves what God hates and begin to walk accordingly faith becomes second nature do you hear me faith becomes second nature as I know what He wants know what He expects know what He loves know what He desires know what He hates I begin to walk according to that then faith ain't no problem there brother faith is a second nature thing amen He give me this faith I didn't conjure it up amen then listen another law of faith is that faith is an unconscious operation hmm the lack of faith in this generation is demonstrated by the fact that's all they can talk about I'm not talking about preaching about faith I'm talking about they always this is the constant conversation you don't hear anything about holiness out of a lot of it you don't hear anything about Jesus you don't hear anything about walking with God and the aspects of prayer it's always just faith now faith is a vital part you can't please God without it we must preach that but just the fact that that's all they can talk about demonstrates you see you talk about what you're uneasy about you're not sure of amen but faith is an unconscious thing the bible said I am kept by the power of God through faith do you have any notion on this earth how much the devil tried to kill you this week what he's through against you to try to make you leave God do you have any of course you don't know you've overcome the most frightening demons and devils and hell and the bible said you overcome by faith that you wasn't even aware of thank God I just get up in the morning in that motel room I talk to God I read the bible and I don't walk down the street oh no I'm not a spiritual neurotic thank God I'm kept by a power through faith that I'm not aware of and the greatest miracles of my life have been born out of unconsciousness oh listen Abraham was a father of faithful people wasn't he he never one time said he had faith but when God wrote him up he said he had faith when God wrote him up he mocked him he's a man of faith you know we become expert I gotta get out of here we become expert in preaching sermons on what that early church did but if we become what they were we'll do what they did and if we do what they did we won't have to preach sermons on it if I have authority I won't have to preach on it I promise you one thing Jesus walked under this tent this morning if there's a devil under this tent he'd cry out what are you doing he'd bother me he didn't have to tell him he had any authority didn't have to preach any sermon on it hell knew he had authority oh yes I said hell knew he had authority that thought is born out of a faith that's unconscious thank God the faith that just obeys God it isn't struggling around here hope I can believe God when I meet the crisis it just says I'm gonna walk with God I heard what the man of God said I'm gonna put that into my life I'm gonna walk like God wants me to walk and when my nose butts up against the devil he's the one gonna move not me I said not me thank God listen ladies and gentlemen the faith of God is as real as the air you breathe finally though listen finally and I only got 2 minutes and 40 seconds that tape's gonna run out we must confess with our mouth what we believe in our heart now you reverse that and you're in trouble if you think that just confessing what's wrote in this book will put real faith in your heart you're wrong but if you believe in your heart then confess that with your mouth it'll work just confessing won't bring faith but a faith that's there you have the audacity to confess it if I will confess with my mouth what I believe in my heart not trying to put something in my heart but just repeating scripture amen there's never been no spiritual results by just quoting scripture in scripture but when that is believed in the heart by a heart that's born and knows God and then when Joshua says son you're gonna stop where you are world quit moving just saying that don't produce that you go out there and say that till we get through praying with the folks and we'll come back and lead you back in here it ain't gonna stop just because you said it I'll tell you one thing if you believe that that's born out of this book and you believe that in your heart you believe God is you believe what he says and God lays it in you listen a living faith will confess what it believes to believe is to obey not repeat phrases I said to believe is to obey not just to repeat phrases the faith to verbalize what the heart truly believes will always bring results I always knew that confession was a vital part of this but when you make a half truth a whole truth you wind up with something less than truth and it won't work and if you think you can produce a real faith in your heart by just quoting scriptures you missed it a mile but if you know God through an encounter with God and know that this book is infallible unamendable cannot change it and when he talks to you and you confess what you believe then God will produce the results stand with me and let's worship God hallelujah come on folks love God here this morning love God here this morning oh worship the Lord worship the Lord oh Lord we love you Lord we love you