In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of following Jesus wholeheartedly. He highlights how the disciples left everything behind to follow Jesus and how they watched his every move. The preacher then discusses Jesus' departure and his instructions to the disciples about their purpose and expectations. He mentions the story of Elijah and Elisha, where Elisha asks for a double portion of Elijah's anointing, symbolizing his desire for a greater spiritual experience. The preacher concludes by emphasizing the need for Christians to make Christ the center of their lives and to study and accept the teachings of the Bible.

You know, I learned along this way, you have to, if you learn some things, maybe you're like me, not too quick to learn, but what I learned, I tried to learn well, and I don't know a lot, but what I've learned, I've learned well, and I've learned much of it by experience, that's the only thing that really stays with you. You know, there's two words for know in the New Testament, one of them is to know by information, and the other is to know by experience, that's the kind of a knowledge that never leaves you, you know, once you have come to experience God, and to know Him, there was that moment in time, when I met God, like Isaiah, I saw the Lord. Now, you know, in the Bible, to see is to know, it is, and the Bible said, no man has seen God at any time, now the body of Christ become a prism, that broke up the infinite light and holiness of God, that we could look upon Him, but otherwise, men never saw God, but to see is to know, the Bible said that the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know. You know, and as you walk with God, about believing, you know, I've watched faith become everything from a nervous tape, to a positive confession, but I've learned that faith is just willing to do the will of God, living every day of my life, in whatever God wants me to do, it's not a matter of positive confession, or any of that, it's a matter that I just will to do the will of God. And I woke up one morning, with a thought that God called me a believer, He called me a believer, you know, whoever wired this hotel, or whatever we're in here, somewhere in this country, there's a school, that a man goes to, he becomes an electrician, they give him a diploma, and he declares, whatever his name is, he is an electrician, and you know what that means, he can do this, that means he can do this, when he come here, and presented his credentials, then the people building this building saw, that he was an electrician, that means he can do the work, well God called me a believer, that means I can believe God, I can, that may not be easy, may take a long time, in the year that Uzziah died, Isaiah prayed his way through to God, and believed God, now we've been taught that you pray twice for the same thing, that is the second time is unbelief, hell told that lie, Jesus himself prayed the same prayer in Gethsemane, even the same prayer three times, Elijah prayed seven times, he would have prayed 21 if he had to, because he knew it was time for it to rain, he knew it was time, so he's gonna be there till he sees that cloud, that's all the way, so it is just a matter of knowing, I am a believer, I can believe God, have to go through a lot of things, a lot of things in that life, you know there's a lot said about praying in the will of God, you know, and so they say, well just find your scripture, I'm the Lord that healeth thee, now you know it's the will of God to heal you, so that's all you need, no, no, that's not it at all, you yourself have to be the will of God, clean hands and a pure heart is the only thing that can approach that throne, if I regard iniquity in my heart, no matter how much I quote a Bible, God said I'm not gonna listen to you, I myself must be the will of God, then I can pray in the will of God, always will I get an answer, hallelujah. Oh my, it's good to be here tonight, I'm just so blessed of God, I wanna talk to you about assuming the ministry of Christ, we've talked about brother Kirby, my good friend, done a marvelous job this morning, bringing that wonderful message that he brought to us, you know, we deal with what we must be, but you know, once we know what we must be, we have to know what we must do, and there's not any trick to ministry, there's not any laying awake at night dreaming of some scheme or some program, the Bible said Christ left us an example for everything, what he was, his method, his mission, his everything must be mine, that is the calling of the church, just look, study his life, then we understand what ministry is, there is no other ministry that will please God, but the ministry of Christ, now we're gonna go to 1st Kings chapter 19, 1st Kings chapter 19, and we're gonna read verse 16 of that verse, and then we're gonna go to 2nd Kings chapter 2, and we're gonna read verses 1 through 14, Fathers, we turn to read the word of God tonight, anoint the reading, preaching, hearing, open up our hearts to hear what I do believe you want us to hear tonight, I believe if you were here, you'd say it much better, but this is what you would say to us tonight, God bless you, open us up to hearing, and above everything, not to be a foolish virgin that we hear and not do, in the name of Jesus, verse 16 of 1st Kings 19, Now to 2nd Kings chapter 2, 2nd Kings chapter 2, that's just a little ways there, we're gonna read the first 14 verses of this wonderful message from God, I will not leave thee, so they went down to Bethel, and the sons of the prophet that were at Bethel came forth to Elisha, and said unto him, knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thine head today, and he said, yea, I know, hold your peace, and Elisha said unto him, Elisha, tarry here, I pray thee, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho, and he said, as the Lord liveth and as my soul liveth, I will not leave thee, so they came to Jericho, and the sons of the prophet that were at Jericho came to Elisha, and said unto him, knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy master from thy head today, and he answered, yes, I know, hold your peace, and Elisha said unto him, tarry, I pray thee, for the Lord has sent me to Jordan, and he said, as the Lord liveth and as my soul liveth, I will not leave thee, and they too went together, and fifty men of the sons of the prophet went and stood a view of far off, and they too stood by Jordan, and Elijah took his mantle, wrapped it together, smoked the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so they too went over on dry ground, and it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elijah, ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee, and Elijah said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me, and he said, thou hast asked a hard thing, nevertheless, if thou see me, when I am taken away from thee, it shall be so unto thee, but if not, it shall not be so, and it came to pass, as they too went on, and taught, that behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder, and Elijah went up by whirlwind into heaven, and Elijah saw it, and he cried, my father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof, and he saw him no more, and he took hold of his own clothes, and ripped them into pieces, he took up also the mantle of Elijah, that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of the Jordan, and took the mantle of Elijah, that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, where is the Lord God of Elijah? And when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither, and Elijah went over, and when the sons of the prophets, which were to view at Jericho, saw him, they said, the spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elijah, and they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him. What a story! You know, the Old Testament is a strict picture story of spiritual reality. It is God's way of teaching us the reality of spiritual truth. This great truth, Elijah, is appointed by God to be the successor of the great, maybe the greatest prophet of all time, Elijah. One of the most rugged men of all time. Never have there been such a human. There are very few, if ever, one like him has ever passed. But the young man, Elijah, has been appointed to be him. You know how the call was. He came behind him. He's plowing with twelve yoke of oxen. The old man passed by, passed that mantle upon him, and kept walking. Well, he dropped his plow lines and ran after them. He said, let me kiss my mother and dad goodbye. The old man said, what have I got to do with you? In other words, if he can be discouraged, he's going to be. What have I got to do with you? Well, he went back and he slaughtered those oxen, barbecued them with the plows, burned every bridge, and for eight years followed that old man. Eight years he was his shadow. Edgar Bethany, the historian, says for eight years he followed him all the way, never allowing the old man to get out of his sight. There was something that happened to him in that cotton patch. Something. Reality touched his life. And now he'll never be satisfied until that becomes his. Now, there's to be no change of ministry here. None whatsoever. The change is only in person. Do you understand? The ministry that begun by Elijah is to continue. No change in ministry. Only a change in person. This man, this young man is called to absolutely assume the ministry of Elijah. He carried it further. He did twice as many miracles as the man that he succeeded. That's what's meant by Christ. When he said, greater works should you do because I go to my Father. See, that's not quality, that's quantity. Now Christ has multiplied himself a billion times over in the believers. We are to assume that ministry. This is what the whole message was about. Now, Elijah knew that the ministry left him by Elijah was far beyond his capability. He knew that he was not capable of walking in the footsteps of this great man. He knew that beyond. Now, there's no question about Elijah's relationship with God. There's no question about his call. It has been a personal thing. God has called him and he never would have called him if there had been question marks about his character. Yet, in spite of the fact that he's God's man, called to assume the ministry, before he begins he must be specially endued with a power for that ministry. He understands that well. He knows he's called, but yet he's absolutely sure of this one truth that in himself he cannot walk in those footprints. That's an impossibility. He cannot walk. Amen. He served and followed Elijah very carefully so that he would not fail to obtain every possible understanding. He's not going to miss any. If I'm going to assume the ministry of this man, then I'm going to know the particulars about this ministry. They're not going to be in a committee working out how I'm going to follow God. I'm going to walk as he walks without a plan, without a blueprint. I'm simply going to do what I'm told. That's what I've learned from this ministry. He never had a plan. No more. When Moses went to Egypt, he had no plan. There's no blueprint. He's not to go hide behind the pyramids and pray for some kind of an answer. He now is to go to Egypt and do what he's told. That's all. God will work every miracle if you and I will learn this one, one, one great truth that this is what we're called to do. This is him. Now he served and followed him very carefully. Now when the time of that departure drew near, they got across to Jordan. He tried to dismiss him all along the way. I'm going to Bethel. You stay here, not on your life. The sons of the prophets, the Bible school boys said you stay here, not on your life. You hold your peace. I'm not letting this man get out of my sight. I'm following this man. I'm going to assume that ministry. This is the call of my life and nothing is going to turn this back. Nothing. This was the whole calling. Elijah's response was when he got across the river. Now there's no boat back. The old man has crossed the river. There's no ferry to get back across. And when they got over on the far side of death, that's what Jordan is, then the old man said, boy, you've been my shadow for eight years. What do you want out of me? He said, a double portion of what I felt eight years ago. My God, oh, that we feel something in this place that will drive us to the ends of this earth. He said, I want a double portion of what I felt in that cotton patch. You passed something on me, mister. I felt something that day and I'll never rest day and night. I want a double portion. But listen to the old man. The old man's response was, you've asked a hard thing, son. You've asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I'm taken from thee, it will be so. You will get it. Now this is serious business that requires the utmost diligence of Elijah and the utmost diligence of you. You want to be baptized in the Holy Ghost? There's got to be such a desire that nothing else matters. Give me children lest I die was the cry of Jacob's wife. That must come the cry of the heart. If you don't fill me, I will perish. There has to come that kind of a hunger for God. All of this little seeking when you want to, tear around an altar thirty minutes, then decide it's not for you. It's not for you. No, no, it's not for you. It's for the hungry. It's for those that see him when he goes. It's the people that heard from heaven have a reality. They fell to touch of this anointing and I'll not stop till it's mine. This is serious business. First, he must believe not only that the power is for him, but also that it's the will of God. Not just it's something I need, but it's something I must have. You see, this salvation is an ongoing thing. I'm saved, but I'm being saved. I was justified by the death of Christ, but for fifty-nine wonderful years, I have been being redeemed by his life. That life of God has been redeeming me, conforming me to the image of this great Christ. That is the work. It's progressive all along this great line. He must believe that this is the will of God. Not only must he believe it's for him, but he has to come to believe this is the will of God. There's nothing, absolutely nothing optional about being filled with the Holy Spirit. You cannot live this Christian life except you walk in the Spirit of God. If you're born again here tonight and fall over dead in this building, you'll come up in that first resurrection. But if you have to face that world, then the Bible said it's only as you walk in the Spirit of God that you overcome this flesh. Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lusts and desires of this flesh. Now what the Bible doesn't say is as powerful as what it does say. That says if you don't walk in the Spirit, you will fulfill the lusts of this flesh. And this book, not me, says if you do such things, you shall not inherit the kingdom of God. I'm just a news boy. I didn't write it. I'm just telling you that it is a walk in the Spirit of God. The Christian life isn't hard. It's impossible for a man to live apart from the Holy Spirit. This is a supernatural life. He knew that. He must be convinced that the ministry that he's about to assume is impossible apart from this powerful woman. If Christ had to be baptized in the Holy Ghost, why do you think you can make it without Him? If He wouldn't allow those first apostles to leave Jerusalem without this Holy Spirit, then why are we so presumptuous that we believe we can make it without God's life in us willing and doing the purpose of God? Under no circumstance must he allow, Elijah allow, the fundamentalists to convince him that the new birth and the enumerate power are the same thing. He must under no circumstance. This is a second Sanskrit word of the grace of God that is a heritage of every believer, every single believer. Faith cannot function in an atmosphere of a double mind. You must know this is the will of God. You must know this is the only way that we're going to reach this generation for Christ. They reached Him after Pentecost, full of the Spirit of God. That first generation is the only generation ever to reach their generation for Christ. But the end is always contained in the beginning and always returns there. You let a man die naturally, he'll pull his knees up to a fetal position and go home. Every time. Right back to how he came from his mother's womb, he'll leave this world. And the law of physics is that the end is contained in the beginning, it returns there. I can tell you this final generation is going to reach its generation. Whether you're a part of it or not is up to you, but somebody is going to wake the world. Somebody is going to carry it to the ends of the earth. This is going to be a reality. Faith cannot function where there's a double mind. Elijah stayed very near. He obeyed the commandment to the detail. Everything. He never let that old man out of his sight. I don't know whether it's that day he went or tomorrow, but he never let a tree get between him and the old prophet. If they lay down to sleep, he held on to his foot. The old man moved. Where are you going? What's happening? There was that diligence of life, that careless life that can go to church Sunday morning, live like the devil on a Monday, has nothing to do, knows nothing about this. This is an ascending life, and if you're not being raptured tonight, sir, you're never going to be raptured. If this life isn't moving upward, the Bible said, Enoch, walk with God. That's an upward walk. He's going. One day he wasn't because God took him, and if that's not true of your life, if you're the same place tonight that you was a year ago, then you're not raptured material. You're never going to go anywhere. This is an ascending life. It is always up. Abraham hadn't been in that country 10 minutes when he got to that point that he knew this is not the answer. Nothing on this earth will satisfy what God put in. He's looking for a city now whose builder and whose maker is God. See, faith always deals with the invisible. Amen. I'm not by faith believing I've got the Holy Ghost. I know he's in me. Amen. I received him by faith, but God moved into me. This is not a thing of I'm taking it by faith. It's a reality. I said it's a reality. This is what it has to be, a change of life that's totally, totally different. Elijah stayed very near. The gift is to the obedient. To the obedient. Amen. It's always. He stayed very, very close. God gives the Holy Ghost, the Bible says, to them that obey him. Now, when Elijah was taken up, the mantle came down. Jesus said, it's expedient for you that I go away, or the Comforter cannot come. There's the Old Testament parable. As the man of God went up, the mantle came down. When Jesus sent out the right hand to the Father, the Holy Ghost came down on those waiting beside him. When Elijah picked that mantle up, that is, when he accepted it for himself, that's obedient. When he picked it up, he said, this is mine. Eight years I've followed this man. Eight years. This is mine. When he picked it up, he accepted it. He accepted it for himself. This is then that the power of God came upon the man of God. From that moment onward, he was mightily used of the Holy Ghost to carry on the prophetic ministry of his master. No change whatsoever, except a change of person. The same ministry that was birthed by Elijah is carried on through his predecessor, Elijah. Now, this is a story of the church. That's a parable of the church who must assume the ministry of Christ. We're not called here to invent ministries. I've saw so much of that. You know, David Wilkerson once wrote, he said, I've never, in searching history, I've never saw a man survive that put his name on a Bible column. I've never seen that. I don't think you'll survive with the Clinton and ministry. I don't believe that name belongs on ministry. I don't believe any of our names. It is the ministry of Christ. Servants we be. Amen. When they can see us, then we obscure the vision. It has to be Christ. And this man, assuming, it's a type, a parable. See, for three years, the disciples followed Christ. They followed Christ, watching his every move, hearing his every word, witnessing his every miracle. They never lost sight of it. This man has captivated them. Their boats are gone. The doctor's office is locked. Everything, the tax collectors left his office. All of them to follow this Nazarene. Everything is forsaken. They watched every single move of his life. At the time of his departure, drew near, he began to talk to them about the future. Why he called them and what he was expecting out of them. He began to deal with them along that line. Why? What is the purpose? Why I've called you? What I'm expecting out of your life? He said them and us. The works that I do, shall you do also. And greater works. That just means more because I'm going to multiply myself in you by this Holy Spirit. Now, if you don't let him come and possess you, then you're not a part of that. As my father sent me, so send I you. Exactly the same purpose. We're not to die for the sins of the people, but we're to die that the gospel he bought with his death is to live. You know, Jesus said, I have the authority to die. That's what he meant when he said, no man taketh my life. I have the authority to lay my life down. He said, I have the authority to die, but I leave the resurrection with my father. That was the key. Now to us, he has given us the authority to die. To everything that we are, but we must leave the resurrection to him. But there can be no resurrection without a death. It's only as we die that he can live. So there must be a constant living of this cross of Christ, where there's a constant death and resurrection. I must increase. I must decrease if he's going to increase. For Christ to increase in our lives, something in you and I must become that burnt offering. It cannot be otherwise. So as we live that cross, from the moment Christ came to die, and every step for those 33 years was for Calvary. He came to die. He lived that cross. Dead to everything. Tempted in every way, but without sin. The devil offered him this world. He didn't want that as a man. Then there's no temptation to it whatsoever. But there were things more important than anything else. That's the key to this life. Amen. The church, listen. As my father said, in my name you shall cast out the devil. Now in his name simply means that they are to take his place, assume his ministry. You do what you saw me say and do. As you go, you do what I've told you and what you've seen me do. Assuming the ministry of Christ. We've got committees laying awake at night, dreaming up dreams of how to reach the world. I can tell you how they reached them. They reached them, they went everywhere preaching Christ. They went everywhere preaching Christ. Making this Christ alive. We moved into that world of Islam. I had a man that had been through all the mission schools, and he said, you know, I've learned how to reach the Muslims, and I'd like to help you if you need. I said, well, we've learned how to reach them. He said, what school did you go to? I said, the Bible. He said, what is your plan? I said, they went everywhere preaching Christ. They never preached something to Islam and something to somebody else. You know, we've become very transient. In America, they're moving all the time. New family moved into the city back there before I left. Now it's worse. They'd be in the church a couple of weeks, and I knew they were going to come. They'd come to me and say, Pastor, we love to see you. We love you preaching. But, I knew that goat's coming out someday. What do you got for fat people? What do you got for skinny people? What do you got for married people? What do you got for divorced people? What do you got for single people? I said, we got the same thing for everybody. We got the Lord Jesus Christ. If you don't satisfy your heart, you're in the wrong place. Move on down the road. There's somebody got something in. We have no gymnasium. There's no place to eat and drink and rise up to play. Amen. We're here to preach the gospel. We got no other program, no other plan. This is the answer. They reached their world because they knew how to reach it. They made Christ a reality. You know, since faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God, and the just shall live by faith, we must remember that the basis of every Christian life is a constant mediation upon the simple and acceptance of everything that this Bible says. That is the Christian life. We must also remember that as Christ's work of redemption in the flesh was only preparatory to his future indwelling in us by the Spirit, so the written doctrines of the Bible are the only means to all that inward teaching and powerful working of Christ within us. The Bible can only lead us there. Amen. That's what the Bible's about. Amen. The word itself must lead us to the reality of Christ living in us by the Spirit of God. And we must beware of neglecting the word of God, so also we must beware of resting in the mere letter of the word, thinking because we know a thing, we possess a thing. The man that found that pearl of great price did not make it his. No, no. It cost him everything to own that pearl. He got happy about finding it. I've watched the church. A preacher finds a new pearl every Sunday. Comes to church, he gets excited about it. People get excited about him with it. But there's no change in them Monday morning, so none of them bought the pearl. You know that. It's just every Sunday, a new pearl. Everybody gets happy about something that they never buy. There's a change in this thing that if we buy that pearl, it becomes ours. Then the effectiveness is seen everywhere. Everywhere. But it cost everything to buy that pearl. Everything. Amen. As we must beware of neglecting the word, we must beware of resting in the letter without expecting the indwelling Holy Spirit, a real living experience, to produce a real living experience of everything that Christ taught. That must be a reality. If we don't make Christ alive, we're no different than Buddha. We're dealing with a dead God. Ours is to present him as a resurrected Christ. He's the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. He lives in his church. We're his body. The same Christ lives within us. Those who imagine that these virtues of Christ can be acquired in the greater works of God by merely studying the letters of the gospel and epistles are under the same deception as the Jews who thought eternal life was in the Old Testament Word. But Jesus said, you search the scriptures because in them you think you have eternal life, but they are those that testify me. If you don't find me in this Bible, you have not found life. I am the life. I didn't come to tell you about life. I am the life. I am the truth. I am the resurrection. Amen. This is what he said to us everywhere all the time. Up to this time, Jesus had said very little about the Holy Ghost, but now he speaks very frankly about the Spirit. The disciple's heart was saddened with the thought, of course, of his going away, but to console him, listen, he said, it's expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send him unto you. That's John 16 and 17. Then John 16 and 17 says, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, but you know him, for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you. Now Jesus made several things very clear with that statement. Number one, he said the world cannot receive him. Now don't talk about this being the same thing as being born again. He said the world cannot receive this Holy Spirit. But he said because the world can't see him. But the second thing, the believer must receive it. It's expedient for you that I go away. The world can't get him, but you must have him. It's expedient for I go away. For if I don't go away, he cannot come, because he has been with you. Who's been with him? Christ has been with him. Now he's going to be in him by the Holy Spirit. That's what ministry's all about. Christ living in and through our lives. Know you not that you're the temple of God? You know what that means? That what that Old Testament temple was, what Moses' tabernacle was, what Jesus as a man was, we have become. We are the holy of holies. We are where God lives. Your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost, and if this nation sees God, they'll have to see him in us. There is no other place. There's no other. That's why we are the body. The body is an instrument of expression. That's how spirit demands a body. Christ walked this earth in a body like this one, but he put that body aside at Calvary. And on the day of Pentecost, he received another body, the church of the living God, same Christ living through that church, making himself real. Amen. Now, the key to being and doing all that he commanded was, he that is with you shall be in you. And learning to so live that like the apostle Paul, we say, for me to live is for Christ to live. Now, that he would listen to thee, that he would grant thee according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that you being rooted, grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all sense what is the breath, length, depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ that passeth knowledge that you might be filled with all of the fullness of God. Now, unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that you ask of thee according to the power that works within you. Christ living in us by the Holy Ghost. That's the gospel of Christ. That's what it's all about. Living, throbbing, divine life. Flowing through believers that have become dead to things, but those things of the world and alive unto God. Now, he was Christ to be in them by the Holy Ghost. On what basis did he come? They receive him on the same basis as Elijah received that manna from Elijah. In the exact same way. Only the basis of willingness to obey his command will believers experience the miracles of that indwelling. Obey. You know, I saw parents, I saw children, if you'll be good I'll buy you an ice cream. That's not what he's talking about. He knows. He said, I'm going to give you the treasure of heaven. I'm going to give you myself, but I'm going to know what you're going to do when I tell you before I put such a treasure in a nursing vessel. If you, I'll give it to them that obey me. Those that let it be the Lord of their lives are the ones that he'll give this wonderful thing to. He says that in spite of all they could, you know, Jesus said to those disciples who had heard every word, witnessed every miracle, men who said were his, carry you in the city of Jerusalem until you be endued with power from on high. Now he said, if you love me, you will keep my command. Love is not an obsequious thing, something you say. Love is what you do. Love is what you are. If you love me, then you'll do what I tell you to do. Then he said, faith works by love. That just simply says I will to do what he tells me. Then I'm moving in faith. Doesn't matter what I feel like. The darkest moment of my life when I was 70 years old and God told me to resign the church I'd pastored, built, pastored for 35 years and moved to Russia. I like 15 cents having a quarter. Amen. I had no money, never been to Bible school, never run one. I'm old enough to be dead. Now he tells me, you resign the church, move to Russia and begin this school. Well, I had a dark, dark moment. How am I going to do this? I don't have no money. It's going to cost a lot of money. I don't have the experience of this. But I said, if you use nothing, here I am. I will to do the will of God and heaven opened up. 16 years later, 26 million dollars later and 145 countries, maybe more. But I'm just saying, that's the key. I never felt no big surge of nothing except to do what he told me to do. And now the thing is work will work every time if we wait long enough to hear and are willing to obey. Now Jesus said to those disciples and heard tarry in the city of Jerusalem. This says that in spite of their credentials, in spite of the fact that Jesus had their mind, they were not equipped to assume the ministry of Christ. They're not equipped. They've been with him. They saw all miracles. You know, faith doesn't come by seeing miracles. They just simply make you know there's another presence here. Faith is a relationship. It's totally a relationship. The Bible said, they that know my name will trust me. Name in the Bible is Calvary. And as more and more as we come to know this Christ, then we'll trust this Christ. As we come intimately knowing him, knowing him. You know, I married my wife at 18 years old. You know, I thought I knew her. I'm telling you 62 years later, I know her. I'll call her tonight after church and when she says hello, I can tell you exactly what she feels like, what she's thinking. Amen. I can tell you because we have come to know each other. You know, we've come to know. We've shared the heartbreaks of losing children. We've shared a life together that's broadened to where we're one human being. There's a vibration of life. That's what faith is when we know this Christ intimately, walking with him in this course of things. The word tarry used here means to be seated. Tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you be endued with powerful monastic. Now listen to me, it means to be seated. And what that means is to find your place. You know, Christ, the Bible said, is seated at the right hand of the father. I can tell you folks, he hasn't been sitting down for 2,000 years. No, no, that just means that's his place. You know, in a great university, there's a seat for that chancellor. That just means that's what he occupied, that place. And that's what it means to be seated, find your place. It pairs with it the same thought that if you see me go. You know what that says, if you see me go, what he said to him, if you're in the right place, son, you'll get this. But if you're out there watching Lucy, you're watching some soccer game, you probably won't make this. If you got your attention caught up in there, you probably won't be. But if you're in the right place, if you see me when I go, that simply means you got to be in the right place. You're not going to be running around playing games with God. You don't have time for an altar, he don't have no time for you. If you're more interested in the world, you can get more excited about a soccer game, you can a prayer meeting, you're not a part of this in the first place. This is a life, and that life is with God. It don't take anything but a sermon to make a preacher, that's all. A man can get a sermon anywhere, but it takes an altar to make a man of God. It takes an altar for a man to become that man of God, to become that child of God that God can use and will use if we'll allow him to have this life as he desires. This, this, that's what, that's the meaning. To see Elijah go, Elijah had to be in the right place, he cannot be occupied with things, nothing must be allowed between him and that departing prophet. There must be nothing, if there's anything in your life more important than being a part of that bridal company, you'll never be a part of it. If that isn't, if you love houses, lambs, wives, and children more than you love this Christ, you're not worthy of this Christ. No, I've learned the great truth. If I will love that Christ more than I love that woman of mine, I'll love her more than I could ever love her before. Hallelujah. If I'll put him first, then the ability to love that lady will be much, much greater. Basically, the word tarim means all of that and more. You must hunger and thirst after righteousness. You must know that it's for you, that it's the command of God to receive it. You must seek it with all of your heart. The half-hearted are dreadful. You can go where they'll give you what they call a prayer lane, that's a facade. Tongues don't give anybody the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost gives the tongue. There's nothing, that's a facade, it's a joke, it's deceived millions into believing what they didn't have. Amen. That's such a tragedy. You can't have God the God. You know, Paul said that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. You can't have him that's bigger than eternity move inside you not knowing there. A man called me up once from Houston, that's about an hour and a half drive away. He said, I watch you on television and I'd like to come and you to talk with me, counsel with me. I said, well, you've already got me on the phone, maybe I can help you. What do you want to talk about? He said, I want you to tell me if you believe I've got the Holy Ghost. I said, I know you don't. Oh, it's terrible silence by the by. My God, he said, what discernment. I said, it's not discernment, sir. I said, the God that created this universe can't live in you without you knowing it. If you don't know it, you need to be back in this altar and tear it there till he comes. Amen. This is a reality. This isn't something, a figment of the imagination. You have to believe to get it, but once he comes, it is a reality. You know, I was working the oil field. I moved from the drilling rig to the production. I sold that oil. It's $3 a barrel then, not a hundred. I sold it every morning to the Hummel. That was the Exxon at that time. I had 72 oil wells I had to look at, lived on 108,000 ranch, and there were 11 leases, 11 of us, they called lease foreman. Well, every morning, I'm the only born again believer in there. I wasn't filled with the Holy Ghost. They'd smoke, blow that tobacco. I just got delivered. It made me sick, but I had a family to feed. I had no alternative but to quit the job. Well, they'd tell their filthy jokes, and it was terrible. I tried to stop my ears to it, but that night when I was filled with the Holy Spirit, I went and sat down at that table, and a man started to light a cigarette and said, this is what you had done. They never smoked again. A man started to tell a filthy joke, and he said, I don't believe Bert wants to hear this, and they went outside. Somebody else came in that day, a reality. I said, God came in and sat down that day, and men recognized that truth. You know that Old Testament tabernacle? Stephen said it's the tabernacle of witness. It couldn't dance, it couldn't sing, it couldn't shout, but every heathen knew God's in the middle of that, every heathen. I'm telling you, if you're full of God, the heathen know it. I said the heathen know it. You walk in the Spirit, men know what's there. There's a testimony of life that cannot be denied. You live different, walk different, talk different, and smell different. Amen. You must hunger, you must know that it's for you, that's command. You must not allow anybody to confuse you that this is the same thing as being born again. You shall receive power after the Holy Ghost has come on. That says if the church is to do her work and assume the ministry of Christ, she must be baptized with the Holy Ghost. Jesus said, don't you leave here until you receive it. Don't you go out there tempted to represent me. There'd have been twelve different organizations if they'd left before the day of Pentecost. They would have all this mess we've got today if they'd have left without it. The work of Christ can only be done by Christ as he lives his life through the believer that's been filled with the Holy Spirit. To be baptized in the Holy Ghost is for God himself to live in this heart. That's for God himself to come to live within this human vessel. The temple of the living God. You do not receive an idea, you don't receive an influence but a person, a being with names, affections, and acts. That's what comes in there. And the whole education of life is to learn to be led by this wonderful Spirit of God that is with us. Christ says to that Laodicean church, behold I stand at the door knocked. Amen. If any man will open, I'll come, I'll sup with him and he with me. He's not talking to the world. He's addressing a lukewarm church. A church that's apostatized in a lot of ways. Lukewarm, indifferent to things. Amen. That's who he's talking to. He's addressing that Laodicean church. Now the word Laodicea means that the laity rules. It's become a flesh in control. It's a democratic something. We vote in, we vote out. This is not a democracy. No, no, in a democracy, you know, you can have a choice and still be right. But there's no such thing here. No, no, there's no choice. There's only one thing, obey the orders of that throne. Walk with God. Laodicea means the laity rule. Now in the King James Bible, and that's about the only one allowed in my house, it says all the way from Ephesus all the way down, it says the church of Ephesus, the church of Smyrna, the church of Pergamon, and all the way Philadelphia. But when it comes to Laodicea, it says the church of Laodicea, the church of the people, not the church of nothing. He's outside. I can tell you he's outside the most. They have their little committees. They ask them to bless. We can handle it from here on. And from then on, he's not a part of what they do. I've watched more Bibles built. God told me to build this hospital. They said 40 stories up. They got 20 up, then sold it to the Methodists. All of this. Well, God never told a man to do anything that God wouldn't do. There's all of these dreams. Let us make a name for ourselves. I've got the letters. God told me you'd give me $100. Well, he didn't tell me to give you $100, so I'm not going to send it. I don't need you to write me a letter to tell me where I'm sending my money. I hear what I believe. I support what I believe to be the gospel. I don't need those letters. I'm watching him prostitute himself, trying to raise money for something God wasn't interested in. Not at all. Amen. Now, that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory, amently strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your heart by faith, that you, being rooted, grounded in love, may be able to comprehend, that is to know with all saying, what is the breadth, length, depth, height, to know the love of Christ, that passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all of the fullness of God. Hallelujah. I want to read that again for you to know where we are. They were increased with goods and lay out to sea, but they were lost. They got rich, but they were lost. They had enough money to buy a jet airplane, but they were lost. That never got them anywhere. What vanity. I said, what vanity. While 2,000 million people live that never heard the name of Jesus once, men live lifestyles that would embarrass angels. God help us in this hour to understand what it is. There's only one answer to the deplorable situation. That is for Christ, by the Holy Ghost, to take up his abode in that venue. For Christ to live it. Christ does not leave us to follow principles or doctrines as good and necessary as they are. Paul said to Timothy, make sure there's sound and darkness. But if any man hear my voice, says Christ, opens that door, that is open his heart to me, I'll come in, I'll sup with him and he with me. The glorified Son of God promises as a creating spirit to enter into the believer and live his life through that being. Now, when that's so, and when we speak so, you know, the second revival I ever preached. I preached in a park. Nobody invited me to be anywhere. And I preached in a little town of Luling, Texas. They let me use a tavern. And we had a wonderful meeting. And I got invited to Wichita Falls to a Pentecostal Church of God. Well, I got there that first night and they'd put out little four, about three or four inch, eight inch, put them on doors, my picture on it, the Bible. Well, the first night I got there, there was a little lady come. She was up nearly 80 years old. And she come right to me with that little thing and said, this is you, isn't it? I said, yes, ma'am. She said, well, God told me you're to heal my husband. Oh, my. This second revival I ever preached. Now, here she said, I'm the one to heal her husband. I said, well, is the husband here? She said, no. I said, where's he at? She said, he's in the insane asylum. Oh, my. I thought, I believe I could have gotten a little better start in this than this. In the insane asylum. I said, she said, we'll go out there tomorrow. I said, no, we'll pray. Well, after three days, she won't let me rest. So, me, my wife, and the pastor went out. Those days, insane asylums weren't near as sophisticated as they are now. When you walked in there, there was a circle of just wire cages, human beings in there, holding on, eyes sunk back in their head, hanging on to that wire. And as I sat there and looked, waiting for the man to come and bring the old gentleman out, I heard this voice say to me, these used to love and laugh like you, but a thief came to steal and to destroy. I knew what I'm dealing with. Hell has come. Well, they brought the old man, married to that woman for 56 years. Three years he's been there. They didn't know it then, but it was Alzheimer's. He didn't know her. They let him by. He knew nothing. He couldn't, didn't know enough how to sit down. They brought him to a chair and made him bend his legs. And when the man left, he said, when you're through, call me. Well, I didn't know anything, and that's wonderful, you know. Oh, my God. It's so good not to know how. And they set him down. They left. I laid hands on him, and I said, this works. Jesus, heal this man. And I said, tell him to come get me. She went crazy. Oh, my. She went to screaming. I thought she was going to do something. I said, well, you won't turn the chair over. What am I supposed to do? You know, she hollered all the way home. Never come to church that night. Next morning, we're sitting there eating breakfast. Those days, Jesus stayed in a Sunday school room in the Parsons. Wasn't no motel, put no evangelists in. We're staying in the house. I've got two kids. They've got five. There's one bathroom in the house, and one door of the bathroom opened into the dining room, the other into the bedroom, and there's no lock. You whistled and sang the whole time. Just the way it was. Amen. Well, we're all sitting there to eat breakfast, and that phone rang. The pastor picked it up, and I heard it. She's still hollering. Oh, my. She's still, that woman's still hollering. And he said, Pastor, Brother Clinton, she wants to talk to you. I said, I don't know what to say. I just don't know what to say to her. But she's not going to let go, son. She's hollering. I said, Ma'am, please. Will you slow down enough to tell me what you want? You know, I'm just going to tell her. I don't know what else to say to you. But she said, I said, What are you trying to tell me? She said, My oldest son lives in Fort Worth. That's about 70 miles from where we work. And he checked Papa into that hospital, and they won't let him out until my son checks him out. I said, What are you telling me? I'm telling you, when I went in there this morning, my husband sitting on the side of that bed wouldn't know where his wife was. Hallelujah. Oh, Hallelujah. He wouldn't know where his wife was. Amen. Three years in total, nothing. All of a sudden, he's back more than normal, with a better mind than he ever had. This is the gospel. If we let Jesus talk through us, just a simple word, Amen. Just a simple word, Amen. Jesus healed. I didn't say that. It must have been Him. Sometimes we learn how, and we lose it all. But we're just in simplicity. We know it's Christ. If I so live, I so live. Assume that ministry. He never wrestled with the sick or the devils. He just told them to come out. Our trouble is, we've got to pray through before we can heal the sick. But if we're where we belong, then we'll lay hands on them and they recover. That's the will of God. That's what He meant all the time. Amen. Now, the problem with the Laodicean church in the book of Revelation and the modern counterpart, the 21st century Pentecostal, knowledge of the same thing itself. The Pharisees rested so thoroughly in the law, they rejected a Savior to whom the law directed. The sound evangelical thinks that when he's mastered the letter of the gospel, then he knows it's power. He claims allegiance to Paul teaching, yet knows nothing of the experience for me to live is for Christ to live. The highest form of vanity is to engage in theological discussion about scripture interpretation that leaves men's lives unshaved. That's the highest. I've never heard anything worse than a man talk about the Holy Ghost and not feel it. That's the worst form of preaching ever heard in my life. Christ never once said by their doctrine you'll know them but by their fruit. Christ will live in that life. I'm not speaking against sound doctrine. You must be sound. And I believe I'm saying what James said, faith without works is dead. How can a preacher stand so firmly for sound doctrine while little of what he preaches is evidenced in his life? This is what's meant by handling the word of God to see. I must become what I preach. Amen. Don't preach what you think, preach what you know. I think a lot of things but I've got to come to know whether they're real or not before you preach them. How can preachers do this? Because they believe the power of God rests in literal words and not in the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. The so-called faith movement is a product of this thinking. All that is necessary is a mechanical knowledge of scripture and the ability to quote it. Well it works for them, they have jet airplanes. But it don't work for those that do the quoting. Amen. That isn't the way it is. As many as touch it remain whole. Amen. As many as touch it. Not those that talk about it. Why did the Jewish religion so furiously reject and hate Christ? They thought they crucified him because their learned ears, their worldly spirit, their carnal minds would not bear of a savior living in man by the Holy Spirit. They would not. And is Christ less blasphemed by Christian theology which denies the real life experience, the filling, empowerment of the Holy Spirit by which the life and works of Christ manifest themselves in members of the church which is his body. Take away from Christ everything of orthodox called emotionalism, fanaticism. Take away the belief that he's a baptizer in the Holy Ghost and fire. Take away the fact that he'd be the life of our life manifesting himself in and through us by his very words and works flowing to us as rivers of living water and you have as much a rejection of Christ as any Jewish rabbi that ever lived. This gospel is a reality. Christ is the same yesterday, today, tomorrow and if we allow him to live in our life he'll manifest himself. That will stop all church growth. Wherever Christ was they had to take the roof off once to get people to it because they crowded the place. Because wherever Christ is real this is the gospel. Give ourselves again to God's office as men and women of God. We're separated under this gospel. God made this so real to me. You know in the first years of my life I went through experiences I didn't understand why but he was preparing. You know I had three massive heart attacks, the third one they pronounced me dead. Amen. Then God healed me. But he had let me know that I didn't have to go anywhere. He is the same as he ever was. He'll heal you if you trust him. You want the doctor you can have him or you can have Christ. You're a believer. But he taught me number one I'm your soul. We went to Beaumont to build that church. All I had was a wore out car, a wife and two children and the will of God. No money, no sponsors. Never been in that city before in my life. But God told me to go there and build this church. I went there and began all the struggle. Even the church didn't want us there. It's the assembly of God. They said we got all the churches we want here. Amen. Well after about a month all bills come due and I had the sum total of $25. It looked hopeless you know. Looked absolutely hopeless. Well God helped us through. But a man come in had means, money and he loved his daughter become my organ player. But he loved what he heard, loved what was going on. So he took my wife and I and my babies out to lunch or dinner. We were eating. He told me, he said I built a shopping center in the town of Winnie, a town of a few thousand people. And he said I know what I'm doing. I've built them everywhere. This will be a great success. And on the end of it there's a cleaning plant where they dry clean clothes and what we call a washateria where you wash clothes. You can wash them, dry them, this kind of a thing. I don't know what you call it here but that's what we call it. He said I'm giving that to you. It's paid for. It's yours. You'll never worry about your retirement. Well 50 years later I drove by. Cars totally surrounded me. Well you know we're very happy. Everything seemed settled and we went home. Me and her talking about why we didn't deserve such good things. Well at 2 o'clock I woke up and he said why the weeks I've ever been in my life. And he said you'll not take that. Well it took a minute for that to reach him. He said no sir, you'll not take that. I didn't call you here for that. You'll be running down there three or four times a week saying how much money that's making. I didn't call you for that. Besides he said you're a Levi and I'm your only inheritance. You don't own anything on this earth. I'm your only inheritance. Amen. Other people get the portion of the land but I'm your inheritance. He said now you can have the washateria or me. Oh I said God I'll make the choice. I got to deal with that woman too. That's another thing. Well she's cooking them eggs and I'm drinking that cup of coffee. And I said honey I got something to tell you. She never even looked up. She said I know we can't take that. I said oh thank you. He said I'll be your source. I'll do that all along. You won't find me, you won't get a letter from me, tell you God told me, tell you he'd give you anything. Can you believe what you're doing, what we're doing? We're sporting, we love that. Amen. I've come to a point, you're just back and I'm closing now. I always close three times and then it's over. I've come to a point just a little over a year ago, a little over a year ago. Not that the finances weren't coming for what we were doing but the world is opening and the men around the world are saying that, Josh in India, Nepal is open, Tibet is open, Bhutan is open. Around the world, all of Africa we're moving and they're saying pastor we gotta move faster. I said look I know what you're saying. And I said with the finances we have it'll take two years now for us to be able to do this. They said well it won't be open, it won't be there two years from now. Well I just, you know, I have a business friend of mine, a very brilliant man. He knows about money and he's telling me you know what we can do to make this money. Brother White, he's telling me if we do this, we do this. Well you know the devil is saying to me, how do you know it isn't God talking? Well I knew see, I knew that he's a source but yet with that pressure, you know that pressure, you know the enemy is working. Well about that same time this lovely family on this front seat here called my daughter and said I want to talk to Pastor Clinton personally, I want to talk to him. She said well he's not here now. Well let me know when he is. I come, they come. We come into that office and sit down and I just met him one time before. God made it possible for them to have some land. They didn't know how they were going to use it so what they said, if you believe we should give it to the school of Christ, that's what we'll do. And I said oh no, God's got to be a reason for it. You know I mean it's two hundred and something thousand dollars worth of land but I wanted nothing. I knew what, that God had told him what they told me. Well he said well I'll tell you, I'll come, I have to tell you something. He said, very hesitant to tell me but said God told me to tell you that he is your source. Well he didn't know I'm in this battle. He had no idea whatsoever that I'm in this awful warfare. Well I began to weep you know because in this war God sent him all the way. If that's all he'd come for, that's worth everything. He'll just come and tell me because he don't know what I'm going through. And then after he got all composed again, he gave me an envelope, one million, one hundred thousand dollars. We've done in six months what would take three years. God has helped me. Amen. I never would have told him, never would have told him. He gave that testimony, powerful testimony. But now that's a church of a hundred people. Listen, they don't have no money. I preach at one of the great churches of all time. I'm just telling you that kind of wealth isn't there. But he got a phone call, he told his wife, you don't mind me telling you, he told his dear wife, he said God told me to pray for a million, one hundred thousand dollars. She said well let's believe him. She never argued with him, let's pray. Well the banker called and said somebody put a million, one hundred thousand dollars in your account. He thought well I'll give that school of Christ a hundred thousand. And I said no, he said he gave it all, every last penny of it. And we've done, we've went, we've been. See, God has said so. That's all I'm telling you. Pastor, it doesn't matter if Wall Street comes apart. He never said I'll supply you need according to Wall Street, but according to my riches. This has been the worst year financially for many. It's been the best the school of Christ ever had. Let's stand together. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Lord God Almighty. Lord God Almighty.