In this sermon, the preacher encourages the audience to recognize the power of a small seed of faith. He emphasizes the importance of allowing the blood of Jesus to speak confidence and truth into their hearts, leading to a bold testimony of God's righteousness. The preacher also highlights the need for believers to gather together as the church, but not to be controlled by man, but rather to be scattered like seeds to bring forth fruit for the kingdom of God. The sermon concludes with a reminder of Jesus' goals and the rest that comes from aligning our goals with His, as stated in the Bible.

And the first principle that Jesus gives, this is the beginning of his ministry, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. There's a lot of kingdom doctrines being broadcast far and wide. They call it the kingdom message. Oh, do you believe in the kingdom message? I don't answer. I don't want to answer questions because what is the kingdom message? You've got a thousand different versions of the kingdom message. Do you believe in the sonship message? What do you mean by that? Do you believe in the manifestation of the sons of God? What do you mean by that? And so we want to pigeonhole all these things. And I'm not going to say yes or no. Depends what you mean when you ask it. But there's a lot of doctrines that are peddled called the kingdom message. And you don't hear much about this at all. Blessed are the poor in spirit. You don't read much about that. God's people are supposed to be high and mighty and great and powerful, you know. And they're supposed to get wealthy and prosperous and successful. And that's supposed to be kingdom truth. Jesus said, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. God's looking for a people who are poor in spirit. I'm not saying a man can't have riches and not be poor in spirit. I am saying it will be very difficult. And I am saying that if he's truly going to become poverty-stricken in spirit, it's very, very likely that the Lord will lay his hand upon that wealth and take it from him. And so they tell us, you know, God wants us to have wealth. Job had wealth and Abraham had wealth. I know, but God took it from them to make them poor in spirit. They weren't poor in spirit as long as they had it. God took it from them. They became poor in spirit. You say God didn't take Abraham's wealth. Yes, he took everything he had. Or you say he had camels and asses and servants and men. I know he had all that. And God didn't ask for that. He asked for Isaac. And as far as Abraham was concerned, everything that Abraham had was wrapped up in Isaac. And God says, give me Isaac. Abraham would have gladly given him thousands of camels and sheep and goats and bullocks. God just took that thing which was the pride, the idol of his heart, Isaac. The one in whom God had promised great things. God says, give me that. So God is after a people who are going to be givers. Well, that's a good message for the church. But I don't mean giving to the church and I don't mean giving to the pastor and I don't mean giving to the apostles and prophets. I mean giving yourself to God. God's after that kind of a people. When you do that, you become poor. Because when you do that, you're not going to be able to claim your rights. We can always claim our rights as long as we have a certain amount of wealth. It's my right to do this. It's my right to be successful. It's my right to prosper. As a minister, it's my right to have authority in my ministry, to give forth the word, to teach, to evangelize, to do the work of a prophet, to lay foundational principles in the church, to establish. You've got rights and you've got authority. You've got power from God to do those things. I know all that. But if you're going to be a participant in the kingdom of heaven, you've got to lay all that down. You've got to give it all back to God. You've got to become poor. And I don't care what wealth you got, whether it's in the natural or in the spiritual. When you give it all away, you're poor. God says, blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And I'm not saying if you're a rich man, give it all away and you'll be rich spiritually. I'm not saying that. But if the Lord says it to you, then you must do it or you'll remain bankrupt in spirit. If the Lord doesn't say it, consider yourself to be a steward of what God has given you. And a steward, even a steward, doesn't claim anything for himself. He's just there to be faithful in the house of God. What God has given him, he no longer considers it his own. God gave it to me and I'm a steward of it. God helped me to use wisdom and understanding and to hear your voice as to how I shall dispose of anything you have given me. And so we're living in the Laodicean age, when the theme of Laodicea is riches, prosperity, wealth, success, whether it be in the natural or in the spiritual realm. That's the message. And yet it's difficult for such a people to look into the word of God and to identify themselves with Laodicea for some reason. It's difficult to identify themselves. But here we are in the Laodicean age and we hear it in every hand over radio, TV, from the pulpit, we are rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing except your money. And Jesus looks down and he says, you say you're rich, you're poor. You say you've got wisdom and revelation and knowledge, but you don't. You're blind. You say you're clothed with garments of success and prosperity and righteousness. And God says, you're naked. When I look upon you, I see you as naked. But God says, I've got the provision for you. And that's something I never always recognized, that God had ample provision for every need in the church of Laodicea. And we used to read the, you know, the book of Revelation. We'd understand that the Laodicean church was the last day church and therefore there is no hope for the last day church because it is Laodicean. But I discover in reading the letter to the church of Laodicea that God had tremendous things for the church of Laodicea as he has for the church in this day and hour. But it's only those who are going to have ears to hear and eyes to see and who become poverty-stricken in spirit who are going to partake of the riches that God has for this day and hour. And so he said, I counsel thee to buy of me gold, trident of fire that you might be rich, and eyesalve to anoint your eyes that you might see, and white raiment to clothe yourself that the shame of thy nakedness doth not appear. It doesn't appear to man, but it appears to God. God looks down upon this bankrupt church and says, you're blind. He says, you're naked. He says, you're poverty-stricken. I counsel thee, buy of me gold, trident of fire. Eyesalve to anoint your eyes that you might see, and white raiment to clothe yourself because God has it for the Laodicean church. But there's only a few here and there who are hearing what God is saying and who are coming into that poverty-stricken condition where they're able to receive what God has for them. God's looking for a people who will declare bankruptcy, spiritual bankruptcy. We don't have it, Lord. I give up, Lord. Take it back. If you're bankrupt, what happens? The banks take it back. Everything you've got. And God's looking for a people who will declare spiritual bankruptcy. God, I've nothing. Take it all back. I want you to have it all. Now if you will, Lord, just give me what I need. Just give me what I need. Just that word to give to your people. Just that priestly heart to go and minister to someone in need. Just that class of a few people there who want to come and hear the word that you've given me. Whatever, Lord. Just what I need. And I'll leave it up to the Lord to decide even that, what I need. And so the Lord said, when you pray, say, give us this day our daily bread. Speaking to a poor people, we just need what God has provided for today, physically or spiritually. Give me today, Lord, what I need for today. The bread that I need for today. Just the manna that I need for today. I don't need to store it up, whether it be in the natural or the spiritual realm. I don't have to store it up because there's a fresh supply every day. I know that it's difficult for us living in this Laodicean age, in this end time age. It's very difficult for us to try to appropriate these principles of the kingdom. Jesus says later on, I think it is in the end of the Sermon on the Mount, I consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you that Solomon and all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Consider the fowl of the air. They don't sow or gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. I know we read those things and we say, well, I know that Jesus was living back there 2,000 years ago when life was more simple. But today those things wouldn't work. But do you know that when Jesus went away, he sent the Holy Spirit that there might arise in the earth a people who will be able to live and move in the earth as Jesus did when he was here? A people who will be able to live in the earth as Jesus would if he was here today? And I believe that God is preparing that kind of a people, that we will be able to live in the earth as Jesus would. I'm not just saying as he did way back there in a different age, and we say we just can't relate to that age. God is going to raise up a people who will be able to walk in this earth and live as Jesus would if he came down and lives here and worked at Summit Limeworks. He's going to have that kind of a people. Different circumstances, a different age, different pressures. I know all that. But that life of Jesus is going to be manifest in the body and the earth so that they will be able to live and move in the earth as Jesus would if he came down and walked in your shoes today. I know we haven't come to it, but we're not going to come to anything until we embrace the Word of God and allow the Lord to work it out and embrace it and cherish it and long for it, hope for it, expect it, teach it, preach it, believe for it, hope for it. And it comes to pass. God cannot deny his people that which he has declared. And I can't just say, God, you've got to do it now or you've got to do it tomorrow either. But I say, Lord, you must do it. You've declared it. You've uttered your Word. You've said you will not take your Word back when you've uttered it. God, you've said you will not take your Word back from the earth when you've uttered it until it has accomplished the thing for which you sent it forth, until it has prospered in the thing to which you sent it. And I read scriptures like that Consider the lilies of the field. Consider the fowls of the air. We cast it off. Oh, yes, all right enough for him to talk in his day. It's there in the book. It's there for you and I. And God is going to manifest his Spirit in a people who have come to spiritual bankruptcy. They're going to know what it is to live the life of the lily, to live the life of the fowl of the air. Because as fowls of the air, they're going to be in tune with the heavenly dove. As lilies of the field, they're going to have the same spirit of life in them that was in Jesus. What causes the lily of the field? Not only to thrive and to grow, but to bring forth his beauty. What causes it? Nothing less than the life that God put there. Nothing less than the life. Robert mentioned the life. The life in a blade of grass that will break open a stone. Saw a picture in a magazine many years ago where a man set up his cameras. He saw his asphalt pavement cracking and he set up his camera. He knew there was something growing there. And then the next morning, there the pavement had broken open and there was a mushroom. It wasn't the mushroom that did it, it was the life. It was the life. And so, yes, we have this treasure in earthen vessels and we look at this flimsy thing that we are, but it's not that. It's the treasure. It's the life. And there's a life in the lily of the field that causes it to survive the winters and to spring forth in the time of spring and to bring forth the beauty that Jesus says the temple of Solomon and all its glory can't even compare to it, because it's in the life. God's bringing forth a temple in the earth greater than the glory that rests upon Solomon's temple. And it's going to abide in the earth and his people because of the life of Jesus and the beauty of the lilies. Christ was born beyond the sea. The glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me. God has manifested that life in the earth. We strive to enter into it. We reach up for it. We try to attain to it. We get frustrated in seeing it and not being able to become clothed upon with it. We get frustrated and disappointed and discouraged and depressed and we get under condemnation because we see it. We see it in the word. We see it in the word that's spoken. We see it in the Bible. We see it in utterances of the Spirit as he comes forth in our midst and we try to attain to it and we find ourselves frustrated so many times, because that's not the way to attain to it. The way to attain to it is to be still and know that I am God. To be content to just grow up there in the earth is that little twig that comes forth, that blade that comes forth. Is it striving to become the full corn in the ear? Not really, but the life is. But that little blade can't do anything. You step on it and it's crushed. It's not striving to do anything. I wonder if a lot of our striving to attain is rather not a selfish desire to amount to something? Does it not proceed from the pride of our heart, that striving to attain to something? Is it really because God says, I want you to be great and so we strive to be great? Because God didn't say that. God said, I want you to be little. I want you to be small. You say, I want to be great. I think a lot of that frustration comes from our desire to be great rather than from a contentment that the Lord gives to be what God wants me to be. You say, I know, but I'm not content that God wants me to be this way. True. And so he's given you a spirit that cries out after him because you want to be like Jesus. But even as he shows you that he wants you to be like Jesus, he declares unto you that the Lord Jesus is not only the life he wants you to attain to, he declares unto you that he is the way in which he wants you to walk. And so Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Lord, I want that life. I want that beautiful life, that holy life, that pure life, that abundant life. And God has it for us. But Jesus said more. He said, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. Thomas says, we don't know, Lord, where you're going. How can we know the way? Jesus said, sure you know. Listen to me. I am the way. In any period of doubt as to the way in which you're walking, consider what Jesus said. I am the way. I am the way. And consider that the Son of God himself, the Lord of glory, who came down from earth and dwelt in mortal flesh, did not, because he was God Almighty clothed in mortal flesh, exalt himself or insist on him having the preeminence, or go about doing things that seemed good in his eyes to do it, because he was God manifest in the flesh. But he took the position of a servant because God had planned that he would be a pattern for a multitude of people who would follow after. And if he just came down as the Lord of glory, as God walking in a man, and living as God in the earth, he'd be no pattern for you and I. Whenever he was a maid, he could do what the devil said, take their stone and turn it into bread. He could just do what he wanted because he was God. But no, he laid aside all that insignia of majesty and clothed himself with flesh and became a man in every respect that as a man walking in the earth, he would know the same suffering, the same sorrow, the same trial, the same weakness, the same frailty as the sons of men whom he came to redeem. And in that way, law and obedience by the things which he suffered. And so, what were the sights that the Lord Jesus set for himself when he came into the earth? What were the goals that he set for himself? If we can learn to set those same goals for ourselves, we'll be saved a lot of frustration and we'll know the rest of the Son of God who declared unto his disciples, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. You read the four Gospels, well, you come away and say, Jesus had it easy. You'd never say that. But Jesus said it. Jesus said it. My yoke is easy and my burden is light. Why was his yoke easy and his burden light? For no other reason. That he was just a vessel in whom God might have his full right of way and authority. He came not to do his own will. He didn't set before him something that he had to attain to. And I can't attain to it, Heavenly Father, I can't attain to it, so I get all frustrated. Because I can't attain to that high thing, that high messianic call that you set before me. He didn't get frustrated because he didn't come to try to attain to a messianic call. Are you getting frustrated because you're trying to attain to a prophetic call, an apostolic call, some kind of a ministerial call, teaching call? Are you getting frustrated because of it? Forget it. Let the vision before you be as it was with Jesus. Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. But you say, God's will is for me to do that. Well, maybe it is out there. I'm talking about here and now today. But you say, God called me to that. I know. But you see, the call comes early in life. The sending comes later. You say, God called me, so I got to go. No. God calls you, don't go. Till he sends. So we're told that he called 12 disciples whom he would send forth to preach. But that was second. First reason for which he called them was that they might be with him and that he might send them forth to preach. And he did send them forth to preach. But first he wanted them with him. And God wants the people who will be with him. But you say, I got to call. Well, forget that. Abide in your calling. Don't start trying to abide in the sending. Abide in the calling. But you say, he's going to. All right, if he's going to send you forth, let him do that. But you just stay doing what God has put in your hands to do. Get them out of work. Out of work, seek God. And we need to remember, God's people in this hour, when there's a lot of upheavals in our society, and many of God's people are finding themselves in difficult circumstances, out of work, having to go off hundreds of miles to try and find work. I think God has the answer for us if we wait before him. I think he has the answer. I don't think he wants us to get frustrated even in that. God must have the answer. There must be in that life that he wants us to enter into, that provision also. There's provision in the life. The provision is in the life, you see. It's in the life. Jesus said, labor not for that meat that perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life. What is that meat? Doing the will of the Heavenly Father. Jesus said, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. Jesus said, is not the life more than the food? Isn't it true that the whole social fabric, especially in this western world where there's so much of everything, people are more fearful here than they are over in some of those third world countries where they're happy to get their daily bread. They're just happy to go out and get bread for the day. And there's more frustration in the society in our land where we've got a job, but we want work because we're going to lay off work for two months to be sure we've got security so we'll know there's work for us permanently. So we won't work for two months and we'll put pressure on them because we want security. God's going to judge a thing like that. He's going to judge it. God's provided you work, go to work. I'd get in wrong with the unions, wouldn't I? And we will when we start living the life of Christ and come to this mighty prophet in Israel. Jesus said there wasn't a greater prophet in Israel. I want to go to that great prophet and get a word from the prophet John the Baptist. John says to them, remember the word? If you've got two coats, give one away. Oh, so you go home, you get away from the prophet? Yeah. What'd he say? Thus says the Lord, you know, my son, thou art going to be a great man, thou art going to be a... No, he said if I had two coats to give one away to someone who needed it. Soldiers came. What do we do? They came to him into the wilderness of Judea. John says the word for you, be content with your wages. Do violence to no man. So he goes back to the barracks. You get a word from the prophet? Yes. What'd he say? We're not supposed to grumble anymore about our wages. We're not supposed to do violence to anybody. Well, goodness, I'm trained to do violence. You see, John the Baptist, the mighty prophet, had some very, very simple words for the people to prepare their hearts for the coming of Messiah. Because when Messiah came, his word was going to be so different. So difficult that few would be able to hear it if their hearts weren't prepared. But if these people who came to John and got some of these simple words from John went away and took it to heart and said, I know he's a prophet of God and I'm going to act upon what he said, they'd lose their covetousness. They'd lose that selfish interest that they had for themselves. And they'd be ready for the word of the Messiah who came on earth and would begin to enunciate principles of the kingdom such as we're talking about here. Blessed are the poor in spirit. They'd be ready for that message. I don't get excited about the swelling words of the prophets of this day and hour. I don't get excited about it. But God's prophets, if they're truly God's prophets, are going to give words that are going to convict God's people and draw them to repentance. They're not going to pat them on the back and tell them what wonderful and great and mighty ministries they got. They're going to be prophets who are going to give forth words from the mouth of God that will cause people to become humble and contrite and broken before him. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are they that mourn. This message doesn't fit into the church in this hour. It's a day and hour when the church is trying their best to get the people so excited, so happy, so joyful, you know, that they'll forget everything else. God does have joy for the people of God, but it comes out of mourning, comes out of desolation, comes out of brokenness, comes out of a poverty-stricken spirit. There's no joy like that. The joy that comes out of the weeping, that endures all night long, but joy comes in the morning. God's going to have joy in the house of God, such as you've never dreamt of or anticipated. It's going to be the joy of the Lord. It's not going to be the songs of Babylon. We're living in a day, as far as I'm concerned, it's far more critical, it's far more desolating. There's far more desolation on the on the church of Jesus Christ in this hour than there was upon the people of God in the days of Jeremiah. It's a far greater desolation when the temple of God has been desecrated There's all manner of carnality and wailing or some satanic principles have been incorporated into the structures of our churches. The churches of God lie desolate before the Lord, naked before Him, and we go on our way trying to make the people joyful and happy. When Jeremiah saw the desolations taking place in Jerusalem, he had warned them about it. And God's true prophets today are warning the people of God of the terrible calamities that are coming upon this nation and the nation south of us. How God is going to bring down the high and the mighty and the lofty and stain the pride of all glory in the day of the Lord. And they're considered to be extremists and alarmists. But we're facing situations like that. Just as Jeremiah faced it and he warned the people and warned them and they heard not and it happened. And then Jeremiah, a true priest of the Lord, not only a prophet, Lord willing we get into a little more of that later, but not aspiring to be a prophet, but to aspire unto a priestly ministry in the Lord. And when it happened, Jeremiah didn't fold his arm and say, see I told you it was going to happen, I'm a prophet, ain't I? Jeremiah suffered with the rest of them. He suffered with the rest of them. When they came to take the people into captivity, they even recognized the word of the Lord that was in Jeremiah's mouth because Jeremiah had prophesied the very thing that they were doing. The things they were doing were as great as anything you've read about in the annals of war. And he recounts it there in the book of Lamentations of what they did when they came and ransacked Jerusalem. Some things you hate even to read in public. And yet Jeremiah said God was going to do it. And the generals of the army that saw these things happening, they recognized the word of the Lord in the mouth of Jeremiah. They said if you want, you can come down with us to Babylon and you can have it easy there because we know you're not responsible for all this. Or if you want, you can go back home. He chose to remain with his people, still having an easy life of retirement in Babylon or Assyria, whichever one it was, I forget. But when all this happened, we're told that Jeremiah went out and sat on a hill outside Jerusalem, tradition goes, and sat down and wrote the book of Lamentations. How does the city sit solitary if it was full of people? How does she become as a widow, she that was great among the nations and princess among the provinces? How does she become tributary? Tributary? Church of Jesus Christ that once had power and authority in the earth. What are we going to do with these men, they said? We know a notable miracle has happened. We can't deny that, but we've got to do something to stop this work that's going on in the earth. They put her in prison. God brings them out. The church of the Lord went forth totally triumphant amidst all the opposition that came against her. Now she's become tributary to the nations. What does it mean? We just do what the nations want. We're just there as a tool in the hands of the nations. And the church loves to have it so. They think it's great, you know, that someone will call on the church to pray in our hour of distress. God's prophets might pray for drought. God's prophets, when they want to see God's people repent, and they listen to the voice of God, they'll say, God, don't send any more rain on the land. Perhaps that'll bring your people to repentance. But we've become a tool in the hands of the world. God's going to change all that. She weepeth sore in the night and her tears are on her cheeks. Among all her lovers, she has none to comfort her. All her friends have dealt treacherously with her. They've become her enemies. Judah is going into captivity because of affliction and because of great servitude. She dwells among the heathen. She findeth no rest. All her persecutors overtook her between the straits. The ways of Zion do mourn because none come to the solemn feasts. All her gates are desolate. Her priests sigh. Her virgins are afflicted. And she is in bitterness. You don't hear messages in the book of Lamentation. But it's very applicable in this day and hour. And it's going to be more applicable in the days that lie ahead when God lays desolate the works of man and brings to naught the system that has become established in the church of Jesus Christ in the name of establishing some kind of a New Testament church order. God's going to bring it to naught, but he's going to have in the midst of it a people who are the church of the living God, the body of Christ in the earth. The ways of Zion do mourn. We don't find that now. Oh, you see, when they come to Zion, they come with singing and everlasting joy upon their heads. Yes, because those who were a people who knew the desolations of Zion. Until you know the desolations of Zion, you're not going to return to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon your head. Jeremiah is not only a prophet. He was a true priest, and he was praying for his people who refused to heed to the word of the Lord that might have spared them from all this trouble. But even though they refused to obey, he still had a priestly heart, and he prayed for them in their distress. And he said, Remember, O Lord, what has come upon us. Consider and behold our reproach. Our inheritance is turned to strangers, our houses to aliens. We are orphans and fatherless. Our mothers are as widows. We have drunken our water for money. Our wood is sold unto us. Our necks are under persecution. We labor and have no rest. Jesus says, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. The people of God are laboring, and they're in distress, and they have no rest. They're pouring in their money to build churches and tabernacles and temples to the glory of God, and they're in distress. They have no rest, because God's not interested in that. He's interested in you becoming a living stone in the house of God. And they're laboring and laboring to try to find rest in the works of their hands, and they find none. We have given the hand to the Egyptians and to the Assyrians to be satisfied with bread. Our fathers have sinned and are not. We have borne their iniquity. Servants have ruled over us. There is none that deliver us out of their hand. We gather our bread with the peril of our lives because of the sword of the wilderness. Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine. They ravished the women in Zion and the maids in the cities of Judah. Princes are hanged up by their hand. The faces of elders were not honored. They took the young men to grind, and the children fell under the wood. The elders have ceased from the gate, the young men from their music. The joy of our heart has ceased. Our dance has turned into mourning. I know God wants to change all that, but blessed are they that mourn. They're the ones that's going to enter into the true joy of the Lord, the ones who are able to mourn with Jeremiah over the desolations of Jerusalem. They're going to know the joy of the Lord. What we have now, by and large, is the songs of Babylon. And they're singing the songs, you know, from the Bible, I know, but by and large, it's the songs in Babylon. When the children of Israel went into Babylon, they hung up their harps on the willow tree, and they mourned because of the desolation of Zion. But they had a reputation of being great musicians. And I don't think there's been any greater musicians than have arisen in the church of Jesus Christ, because the true song of the Lord is inspired of him. And God's people, of all people, have been true musicians. But when they landed in Babylon, they hung up their harps, and they come to them. We've heard about your music, you know. We here in Babylon, we've heard about it. Sing us one of those songs, one of those old songs of Zion. And they said, how shall we sing the song of the Lord in a strange land? We wept when we remembered Zion. Now, I'm not saying, you know, I'm not saying that all this joy and the joy that we hear of in the church is entirely false. I know in many cases, there's aspects of the joy of the Lord in it, and I'm not despising it. But there's so much of it. They're singing the beautiful songs of Zion with the music of Babylon, and to the people of Babylon. Trying to make them happy as if, being happy and joyful and, you know, smiling and laughing as if that's the ultimate in Christianity. God raised up a people to be able to mourn over the desolation of Zion. We'll be able to weep because of the inroads that the enemy has made into the church of Jesus Christ. When God finds that kind of a people, he won't be long turning their captivity. He won't be long turning their mourning into dancing. But if we don't have mourning, you're not going to have the dance of the Lord. They don't call it the dance in the spirit anymore. Early Pentecost was the dance in the spirit. People would stand and dance before the Lord in the spirit, with eyes closed and hands raised, and people lying prostrate under the power of God on the floor, and they'd dance in and out standing over them. One woman, I was told of, up there in Amber Valley, there was a church of colored people. So near the anointing of the Lord, with hands raised and praising God, she runs over and she puts her arms around a red-hot stovepipe. And this young lad sitting there in the audience looked to see how the burn she'd get in her hand, and she just went on praising the Lord, and didn't have the smell of smoke or any burn mark. That brought them to Christ. They used to dance in the spirit, and now they just dance because it's the thing to do. Because we're supposed to be joyful, we're supposed to dance. And so they're out there dancing in the aisles of almost every service. It's not the dance of the Lord. It's not the turning of the morning into dancing. If God turns your morning into dancing, get up and dance before the Lord. But don't go to a ballet teacher to teach you how to do ballet and put on ballet slippers and come to the house of the Lord and call it the dance of God and the dance of the Lord. It's not. It's just the dance of Babylon brought into the church. God's going to turn that kind of dancing into mourning. But there's a people who've been mourning because of the desolation of Zion. When they start to rejoice in the Lord and dance before the Lord, I'm telling you it's going to be the joy of the Lord, not the joy of Babylon. Like, you know, right in the middle of a nice beautiful sidewalk is split in half. Little blade of grass. You know, I can reach down and take that blade of grass and crumple it up and throw it away. But that little blade of grass can do more than a hundred men can do. Split that cement sidewalk right in half. The power of life, you know. And I just, I couldn't link the verse up. It just come to me. Jesus was made a priest, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life. You know, and the law of a carnal commandment can't split anybody's heart, you know. It just makes us harder and harder and harder. It just, it just makes the stone a stone. But Jesus came along and through the power of endless life, entering into our hearts, he can split that stony heart. And I thought of the verse, there is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. And it's my prayer. I know it's all of our prayer. Oh that God would just bring that chapter alive like it's never been alive before. That's our hope. And so let's not despair at all the discouragement. There's nothing wrong with being discouraged. I don't believe there is. It says the children of Israel, as God would have led them around the land of Edom. Edom speaks of the flesh. It says that the soul of the children of Israel grew weary. That's all it is. God's trying to lead us around the land of the flesh to deliver us from our own ways and our own thoughts. And the soul of the children of Israel grew weary. The problem was in their weariness, they murmured and complained against God. You know, but God's faithful. The Lord's faithful. And He's just in His love leading us around our own ways. As mentioned last night, the wisdom of this world cometh to naught. And that's all we see in the church. The wisdom of the world forever coming to naught. They try this and try that and try this and it's always coming to naught. But the Lord's leading us around the land of Edom to the land of fruitfulness. But we've got to go, we can't go through Edom. We got to go around. And that's Romans 8, the law of the spirit of life. And so we see perplexed on every side, perhaps, every side, front, beside, behind, you know. And we get a little discouraged. There's tremendous confusion in the land nowadays. Somebody mentioned to me that somebody else said to somebody else that it's a very peculiar time we're in. Very peculiar. We don't see clearly perhaps what's going on. And a lot of despair and a lot of discouragement. And never has there been greater reason to rejoice in hope of the glory of God. I agree that God is bringing down all glory in my life and in everybody's life. That verse, I believe George quoted in the book there, the Lord of hosts hath purposed it to stain the pride of all glory. That's all it is, you know. There's no problem with His glory. And so as we see all our glory fading away and rejoice in hope, we're just being prepared for the day of the glory of God. And so we need not, in our discouragement, in our discouragement, keep a steadfast heart with the Lord, you know. And just remember that illustration. Maybe you think you've just got a little, little blade of grass or something, a little seed, but boy, that could do more than all the sermon preaching in the world. Just a little impartation of life can do more than, you know, than everything. Break the stone of the heart. So if you feel a little nudge, I know it's hard because you've been embarrassed or something. We're not eloquent people. But you know, share it. That's all we want. So Lord Jesus, we just lift up our hearts with our hands this morning, Lord. Lord, we lift up our hearts with our hands, Lord, unto God in the heavens. Lord Jesus, we are your people and the sheep of your pasture, Lord Jesus. We just look to you, Lord, to take us in hand, mark us, Lord. Let's stand and sing that song. Let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands, our hearts with our hands unto God in the heavens and turn again to the Lord. Let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands. Let us lift up our hearts with our hands unto God in the heavens and turn again to the Lord. It is out of the Lord's mercy that we're not consumed because his compassion still lasts. May I do every morning, do every morning, for faith is thy faithfulness. May I do every morning, do every morning, for faith is thy faithfulness. Lord, we come to know merits of our own, saving the grace that your Son freely bestows. And as we gather, may your Spirit freely flow, filling in our hearts with your love. Lord, we come to know merits of our own, saving the blood that your Son shed for his own. And as we gather, may your Spirit freely move, filling our hearts with your love. Lord, we come to know merits of our own, saving the grace that your Son freely bestows. And as we gather, may your Spirit freely flow, filling our hearts with your love. Lord, we come to know merits of our own, saving the blood that your Son shed for his own. And as we gather, may your Spirit freely flow, filling our hearts with your love. May your Spirit freely flow, filling our hearts with your love. And as we gather, may your Spirit freely move, filling our hearts with your love. Amen. The Lord has been laying something on our hearts, and I feel like Paul that we see through a glass darkly. But with whatever measure we see, as we're faithful to seek the Lord, to enlarge upon it, the shadows begin to grow sharper and clearer, and begin to see the reality of God coming forth, not only to us in our inner life, but as it comes to us in that manner, we begin to express Him. For as we see Him, we reveal Him. So the purpose of any gathering is for the Holy Spirit to come and to reveal the One that purchased us. And in so doing, we might be living epistles of Him as He writes His law upon our hearts. And a thought struck me several months ago that the psalm declares, Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary. And we know the layout of the tabernacle, and we've all had good teaching concerning what the tabernacle means to us. And one thing that really struck me is that as we near the place where God dwells, that Holy of Holies, and we begin to approach the awesome living God, there must needs be a revelation of the blood of Christ in a way that we've never known. And I believe as we draw near unto the Lord, there's going to be an unfolding of not only of what the blood has accomplished in purchasing us unto the Lord, but that blood becomes a new and a living way, Paul says, whereby we can enter within the veil to where He is. And I've been thinking a lot of that scripture that says, The blood which speaketh better things than that of Abel. The blood is going to begin to speak in the congregation of the people of God. It's going to begin to speak better things than that of Abel. It's going to speak life and forgiveness and encouragement to the people of God. And I think it's in Leviticus or one of the books, God says the life is in the blood. And the life of God is in the blood of Christ. And that blood is come. And as we begin to gather and become sensitive unto the moving of the Holy Spirit, that blood is going to begin to speak into the congregation of the people of God. And I just wanted to start off with a few verses out of Hebrews 10, I guess, verses 16. This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them. And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. And I thought of the first martyr in the scriptures where Cain slew Abel. And God testified of Abel's blood that it cried out for vengeance. It cried out for, I think the Lord said, I hear the blood of Abel crying out. And I thought of the first martyr in the New Covenant, Stephen. And there was a better speaking. Father forgive them for they know not what they do. The blood of Christ began to find record in the earth. It began to testify of better things than that of Abel. We all know in our life of the tremendous accusings that the accuser of their brethren has wrought in our lives, and the hindering of member flowing to member, and bitternesses and strivings within the household of faith. And so oftentimes there's been a speaking of the blood of Abel in our midst, crying out for vengeance or righteousness or vindication in our midst. But the blood of Christ speaketh of better things. And that's the thing that we want to bear testimony to in the earth. John says there's three that bear record in the earth, and one of them is the blood of the Lamb. And I had an experience the other night. I was just sleeping and there was this verse come to me, they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto death. And it sort of birthed a new thought in my heart. It's a progression. It's sort of like three steps. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. First of all, the blood of the Lamb begins to speak into our hearts of the confidence that there is in Christ, of the purchased possession that we become. And that blood is bringing us into the very presence of God by a new and a living way, as it says here. And as that blood begins to flow and speak confidence and truth and life into our hearts, it establishes a word of testimony in the people of God. They begin to declare with boldness the beauty and the reality and the righteousness of God. The blood speaks of the righteousness of God. Jesus crucified is the righteousness of God. The holy demands of a holy God, and that blood will speak holiness into the congregation of God's people. And as God's people begin to partake and hear what that blood is speaking about the holiness of God, there begins to echo in the earth through the people that have heard that word, a revelation of the holiness of God in the earth. And that blood begins to bear record and an expression of life in the people of God. So they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. And as that blood would speak forth of the riches and the beauty and the love of Christ for his people, and it begins to speak to us that while we were yet sinners, he gave himself for us, it bursts within the people of God an ability to not love their own lives unto death, because they recognize that there was one that has gone on before us that loved not his own life unto death, but gave himself for us. And so there's a progression and an unfolding of that speaking blood that would speak to the people of God of better things than that of evil. And in our gatherings together, God would have that blood speak to his people, encourage his people, and to lift them up into the realities of the life of God. And something that George said in his book that I see through a glass very darkly, about when they slew the turtle dove and the water was pouring out and the blood was absorbed into the spirit. As that holy spirit finds lordship in our midst, the people of God become sensitive to that. I'll just read that out of 1 John. I think it's 1 John 1.9. I'll start at verse 7, that's the verse I'm after. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from sin. And where the people of God can begin to flow in harmony under the lordship of the spirit, there's a releasing of the efficacy of the blood of Christ, and there's a flowing forth and a cleansing of the sin and the corruption of God's people, and a releasing of the manifestation of the Son of God in our midst. And God is going to begin to raise up a people, like our temper together in the body of Christ, where there's true fellowship and the flowing of the blood of Christ in our midst, that as we gather together we're no more conscious of sin and degradation, but we're conscious of the love and the holiness of God in our midst. And no man dares speak from himself, but everyone in his temple does speak of his glory. And God is going to begin to unveil to us and give us ears to hear the speaking blood, that we might catch new glimpses and become a revelation of that blood that's going to find and bear record in the earth of the one that has gone on before us. Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. And the word boldness isn't brashness, it means openness. We come before the Lord as we are sinners, unworthy in ourselves, but as we come and draw nigh unto the throne of grace, the blood is speaking better things. The blood is speaking an entrance into the very holy presence of God. By a new and a living way which he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering. And in the Greek that says, let us hold fast the profession of our hope. What is our hope? That when we see him, we shall be as him. John says, whoever hath this hope within himself purifies himself even as he is pure. So that blood speaks into our lives of a new hope, that as we see him, and as we approach that throne of grace and behold him, there's a hope that we shall be like him. Because of a new and a living way that has been opened up through the blood of the lamb. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. And when that love is flowing and there's fellowship in the household of faith, there's an edification that takes place. There's a building up of the faith and of beauty and the pursuit of God within our hearts. And it says, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of the Lord. As that blood finds expression, that blood that speaks to us of a new confidence that's found in Christ, it causes a faith to rise up in our hearts and to pursue him. And something that's been really made real to us in our little house gatherings, faith without works is dead. If it's true faith that's being spoken into your heart, it produces a cry and a longing for the Lord to bring it to pass. And faith is the thing that cries out unto the Lord. Don't look to a cry within your own heart apart from faith. For Paul says in Hebrews, I can't quote it very good, but it says something to the effect that for they that come to the Lord must first believe that he is. So whenever we're coming before the Lord with a cry upon our heart, it's an expression of faith unto the Father. And that blood is speaking faith and life to his people. That as we gather together in the days ahead, the blood of Christ will begin to flow in such reality in the midst of the people of God where they are gathered. That there's a new cleansing that we've never known of, a new purging that we've never known in the midst of God's people by the blood being released in the household of faith. And so let the blood of the Lamb speak better things to us than that of Abel in our relationships with one another and in our attitude unto the Father. I think of that verse where Peter, Jesus was in the boat and he said to Peter, lay put your net on the one side of the boat. And Peter, they fished all night and Peter put his net on the other side and the boats couldn't contain all the fish. And Peter fell on his knees and said, Lord, depart from me for I'm a sinful man. And the Lord looked beyond that and he said, Peter, I'm going to make you a fisher of men. So don't let our uncomeliness, don't let what we are shout louder in our relationship to the Lord than the blood of Christ. But let us draw near with full assurance of faith that God is going to release in his people a fountain of cleansing that will cause us to be true expressions of Christ in the earth. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. Let that first become real in our lives and God will establish a word of testimony in his people and he'll have a people that love not their lives unto death. Because we see in him the great love that he's had for us. Just reading yesterday the words of that beautiful hymn. I see the new creation rise, I hear the speaking blood. It speaks, the livid nature dies, sinks neath the cleansing flood. The cleansing stream I see, I see, I plunge and oh, it cleanseth me, oh praise the Lord, it cleanseth me. It cleanseth me, yes, cleanseth me. And I do believe that as the Lord releases, as we so walk before him, perhaps I should always put the responsibility upon us. The responsibility upon us as far as obedience goes but the responsibility is his as far as the divine power and enablement is concerned. As we begin to walk in greater obedience before him, the Lord is going to release a mighty portion of his spirit in the midst of his people. And in that releasing of his spirit, we're going to find the efficacy of the blood of Christ revealed in our midst. So we thank the Lord for that precious promise. Let's turn to Matthew chapter 5. I'm not sure if I'll go through all of the Beatitudes here this morning or not, but I want to speak upon what has been called the Beatitudes, the blessed sayings of the Lord here in Matthew 5. Because I believe here we have the principles of the kingdom of God. And we must come to know those principles if we're truly going to be partakers of the kingdom, power and glory and beauty of the Lord. When truth becomes doctrine, it becomes ineffectual. And I'm referring to doctrines like formulated doctrines that we formulate from the scriptures. For there is a true doctrine of the Lord. And Paul exhorts Timothy to be sure to give forth sound doctrine. But sound doctrine is that living word from the mouth of God. That living word from God. So that you might say, well this is true and this is true because it's there in the Bible. We know that. But truth is really Christ, Christ revealed. Christ spoken forth. For Jesus himself is the word of God. Jesus is the Logos. He is the expression of the heart and mind of God and is therefore called the word of God. The word which became flesh and dwelt among us. And God wants his word to become flesh and dwell in our midst. Until the word becomes flesh and dwells in our midst, we might have all kinds of doctrines but it won't be living truth. So we thank the Lord for his word, for his Bible which he has given us. For therein we have everything that we need by way of instructing us in the ways of truth and righteousness. But the Bible is not an end in itself. The Bible points to one. It points to Christ. So that in the Bible we have a blueprint but in Christ we have reality. And I've often illustrated it this way. An architect might spend a couple of years on some massive project and he might have blueprints a foot high containing in detail the substance of this structure that is to be built. And it's right. It's accurate. But it's not reality. The reality is when that building, that project is completed. And so people say this book is final. Well no it's not. It's the blueprint. And it's from the hand of God. But the finality of it is in the Lord Jesus Christ. The word made flesh. And when I say the finality of it is in the Lord Jesus Christ, I must include the body of Christ. Because is the head complete without the body? And so a mystery of all mysteries. What a revelation it was when Jesus spoke of the time when he was going away and their hearts were troubled like we mentioned last night. And disturbed because they knew that he was the Messiah. The ultimate of Israel's hope. But he said I'm going away and it took a long time. But little by little the Spirit of God as he came down upon his own began to form a body in the earth. And then God raised up the Apostle Paul to give the revelation concerning this body. That this body was to be the extension of Christ in the earth. That this body was to be the fullness of him that filleth all and in all. And that's not detracting from the glory of the Lord. It's giving greater glory to him. For if when the Lord Jesus Christ came to earth and God poured upon him the fullness of his own glory so that in the Lord Jesus dwelled all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Was that in any way a detraction from the glory of God? The God who said I am God that is my name and my glory will I not give to another? And he bestowed all glory upon his Son. Was the Son detracting from the glory of the Father? No. Because it was the glory of the Father in the Son. And because the Son walked in obedience and walked in union with the Heavenly Father and spoke only the words of the Heavenly Father and did only the works of the Heavenly Father and walked only in the footsteps of the Heavenly Father. It was nothing less than the expression of God the Father himself walking in the earth. And to God the Father went all the glory. And therefore Jesus was able to say glorify thy Son that thy Son also might glorify thee. But Jesus said something more. He said I want you to give that same glory you have given to me to these people whom you have given me that they may be one with me as I am one with you that we might come and make our habitation in them. And so it's not detracting from the glory of God or from the glory of Christ to say that we are to be the people in the earth whom God has designed to manifest and express the glory of God in the earth. Nor is it detracting from the Bible. It's the fulfillment of it. It's the completion of it. This is the blueprint. Hearing the word and we thank the Lord for the blueprint. But the divine architect will not rest nor will he allow his people to rest until God has established in the earth the extension of his body. For he who is the body of God here on the earth in whom throughout all the fullness of God his body is now seated at God's right hand and has taken on to himself and the earth and other people to extend the glory of God in the earth through this people which is called the body of Christ. The body of the living Christ. And they when God has completed his work in them they will take no glory for themselves but they will give all glory to the Son as the Son gives it to the Father so that God retains all the glory but he gets more glory out of it. He got more glory by manifesting himself in the Son and he'll receive still more glory when the Son has taken on his extension in the earth. And there's a people in the earth who as Jesus was walks in union with the Son as the Son is in union with the Father so that God is able to bestow upon them his glory that God himself might be glorified. And so Paul says that we the body of Christ that Christ is ascended into the heavens to be head over all things to the church which is his body the fullness the completion of him that filleth all and in all. That just as Jesus was the fullness of God when he was in us so the church is the fullness of Christ who is now exalted at God's right hand. So this is a tremendous revelation. Many aspects of truth coming forth in this day and hour. This is one aspect. And as surely as God begins to reveal truth man is there to begin formulating doctrines. So we have doctrines of sonship, doctrines of the body, doctrines of the kingdom, doctrines of the priesthood. Not to say that they're necessarily wrong in themselves but doctrines when you make doctrines out of anything it loses its vitality because God wants truth to flow. And as long as truth is flowing you can't put it into a mold. You can't put it into a mold as long as it's flowing. You put it into a mold and freeze it. You take the mold away and there's a block of ice. But as long as truth is flowing you can't really put it into a mold. You say this is what we believe and if you don't believe that well then you're out of it. And we know what we believe and we're not saying that we're not supposed to know what we believe. But we also know that what we know and what we believe is only in part. For we know in part. It's still partial. So God help us to come to a greater fullness and we can only come to that greater fullness as we remain in that flowing stream. That's why it's so utterly essential. The church of the living God is going to go on with him in this hour. It's so utterly essential that we give the spirit of God his lordship in our midst. As long as we do things ourselves and then when we get everything nicely organized and set up say now Lord Jesus come and take control. Come Holy Spirit we've got the machinery for you now. Come and take over. We're not going to find that clear flowing of truth that God wants to bring forth in the midst of his people. Invariably that's the way man does it. Get everything set up. You've got your building program. You've got your elders, your deacons, your apostles, your prophets, your choirs, your orchestras, your TV outreaches. You've got everything else in. Now God come and everything's ready now Lord. Just move in. And God wants to be Lord from the very beginning. He wants to be Lord from the very beginning. If he's Lord from the very beginning he's going to emphasize over and over again that he dwelleth not in temples made with hands. That he's not really concerned about your building program. That he wants you to be the building of God in the earth. That he wants you to be the church that he's building. And all the thrill and the excitement when they can get that thermometer up at the front of the church. They need three million for this big temple that they're going to erect to the glory of God. And the thrill in people's hearts when they see the temperature rising and rising until they reach that goal. And God isn't the least excited about it. God says, where's the temple that you will build unto me and where is the place of my rest? But to this man will I look even to him who is poor and of a contrite spirit and that trembleth at my word. God wants a people who are to be the church of the living God in the earth. But you say they've got to gather. Oh, I know they've got to gather, but man wants to get them all in one building so he can control them. And God wants to scatter them like seed. That that good seed planted wherever they are will bring forth fruit for the kingdom of God. Chapter 5, And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain. And when he was set, his disciples came unto him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.