God’s Only Provided Place of
Worship # 10
Sunday Morning
Without
Faith
40 GOD'S.PROVIDED.PLACE.WORSHIP - SHP.LA - V-7 N-4 - 65-1128.1M
I believe the church is beginning to hear the Message, and beginning to understand. But friends, listen, we've got to lay in the Presence of the Son, we've got to be ripened.
Our--our faith isn't ripe. Intellectually we're hearing the Message
that God has give us, and seeing the
signs that He showed us, and proving
it by the Bible as that; but, oh, how the
church needs to lay in His Presence till it tenders up in the heart, gets sweet
in the Spirit so that it can bathe down. Sometimes in speaking the
Message, you get harsh, have to break it in like that, because you've got to
clinch a nail to make it hold. But when
the Church once gets It, the Elected is called out and separated (then in the
Presence of God), I know it'll be something like the people was there when it
takes its Rapture.
Now this morning we want to
continue in this Message
of Brother Branham’s and we want to further examine this thought
here that he is telling us that our faith isn’t ripe. Now as we brought out
last Sunday, the word ripe means to be fully mature. So if our faith isn’t
ripe, it hasn’t grown up to the place where it is useful to us. He isn’t
telling us that we don’t have faith, but that our faith isn’t ripe. It isn’t
complete. It isn’t to a place where it will produce what it is supposed to produce. And
this is the key here as we examine this thought here. Our faith isn’t ripe. We
have faith, but because it isn’t ripe we do not use it for what it is meant to
be used for. Because our faith is not mature and complete in us we are not
making use of it as we ought. Now with this in mind, let’s go to the scriptures
this morning for our lesson on Faith.
Now in approaching this
great subject of Faith I want to point out one thing. It is our knowledge that
gives us power... Oh, people say money gives you power, but If
you had a million dollars and I know how to get it from you, then you’d soon be
out of your million. So then what good would your million dollars do you. If I know just
one little bit more than you do about a subject , then
in a debate I will have the power because all I have to do is to say that one
thing that you know nothing about and you’ve lost your power. And so this is
what we are talking about this morning. If we know so little about faith, then
how can it be of any use to us. So knowledge is power.
Hebrews 11: 1 Assurance
“Faith is the Assurance of
things hoped for the conviction of things not seen. “
Hebrews 11: 6 Without Faith it is impossible to please God.
Our greatest desires as Christians is to please God. We all want to have
the testimony that Enoch had, that He pleased God. If you are born again the
scriptures tell us that we want to please God, you don’t want to please the
flesh. But here we see God’s own word tell us that to please Him we must have
faith, For without Faith we can not please Him. So Faith is of the utmost
importance for us if we are to please Him.
Now the problem is that we
have looked at this so wrong. When we see this scripture, instead of it
bringing hope to us it has brought only condemnation. But if we looked at it
correctly it would bring
great consolation. God is a rewarder it
tells us. And
therefore the end of faith is reward. So then we see that God is
pleased with a people in whom He can reward. In whom He can be constantly doing
things for.
If He isn’t fighting your
fights and healing you and caring for you, then He is not pleased with you.
Now most people do not
understand this. They are of the opinion that they do not want to bother God.
He has His own problems they say. Now tell me when ever God had a problem.
Nothing is too big or too little for God. To say I don’t want to bother God
with my problems is ridiculous. It is not a bother for Him. It is His nature
and His desire to help us. He wants to solve our problems. It’s His very nature
to want to provide and protect us. The scripture sets forth that God wants to
take care of His Children.
Now this may sound strange
but it is true. Most people think that to please God we must somehow do
something that is pleasing so that we can somehow win His favor or somehow be
looked upon in a more favorable way. And so we strive to do things that are
heroic or that are very painful to us in order to win God’s favor and be
pleasing to Him. But I tell you this morning that you can not be pleasing to
Him without faith.