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ABOUT "CHARACTER"
117-1 SMYRNAEAN.CHURCH.AGE - CHURCH.AGE.BOOK CPT.4 Unless we suffer with Him we cannot reign with Him. You have to suffer to reign. The reason for this is that character simply is never made without suffering. Character is a VICTORY, not a gift. A man without character can't reign because power apart from character is Satanic. But power with character is fit to rule. And since He wants us to share even His throne on the same basis that He overcame and is set down in His Father's throne, then we have to overcome to sit with Him. And the little temporary suffering we go through now is not worthy to be compared to the tremendous glory that will be revealed in us when He comes. Oh, what treasures are laid up for those who are willing to enter into His kingdom through much tribulation. TRANSPARENT CHRISTIAN CHARACTER 199-1 PERGAMEAN.CHURCH.AGE - CHURCH.AGE.BOOK CPT.5 Now it is a well known historical fact that when this error crept into the church, men began to vie for the office of bishop with the result that this position was being given to the more educated and materially-progressive and politically-minded men. Human knowledge and program began to take over Divine wisdom's place and the Holy Spirit no longer controlled. This was indeed a tragic evil, for the bishops began to maintain that it no longer required a transparent Christian character to minister either the Word or the rites in the church for it was the elements and the ceremony that counted. This allowed evil men (seducers) to rend the flock. CHRIST LIKE CHARACTER 117-2 SMYRNAEAN.CHURCH.AGE - CHURCH.AGE.BOOK CPT.4 "Think it not strange concerning the fiery trials that are to try you." That is what Peter said. Is it strange that God wants us to develop a Christ-like character that comes through suffering? No sir. And we all have trials. We are all tried and chastened as sons. Not one but goes through that. The church that is not suffering, and is not being tried, hasn't got it--it isn't of God. Heb. 12:6, "For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons." 351-1 LAODICEAN.CHURCH.AGE - CHURCH.AGE.BOOK CPT.9 But, there is a gold of God. I Peter 1:7. "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth." The gold of God is a Christ-like character produced in the fiery furnace of affliction. That is the right kind of gold. 351-3 LAODICEAN.CHURCH.AGE - CHURCH.AGE.BOOK CPT.9 So we had better be real careful now to see that we take something that will make us right before God. So, then, what will we take with us? We will take our CHARACTER, brother, that is what we will take with us. Now what kind of character will you take with you? Will it be like HIS Whose character was molded by suffering in the fiery furnace of affliction, or will it be the softness of this character-less Laodicean people? It is up to each one of us, for in that day every man will bear his own burden. CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT 224-1 THYATIREAN.CHURCH.AGE - CHURCH.AGE.BOOK CPT.6 "I know your faith." Now he does not say here as He did to the church in Pergamos, "you hold MY faith". He is not talking about His faith now, but He is commending them for their faithfulness. And as He does He also mentions their 'patience.' Now faithfulness and patience go together. In fact patience is the outcome of faithfulness, for it says in James 1:3, "The trying of your faith worketh patience." There is absolutely no other way in which to gain patience. It has to come by the trial of our faith. Romans 5:3, "Tribulation worketh patience." How highly God regards this outworking of our patience is seen in James 1:4, "But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire lacking nothing." God's will for us is Perfection. And that perfection is patience--waiting on God and waiting for God. This is the process of character development. How highly God has commended these saints of the Dark Ages. Patient as lambs led to the slaughter, lovingly, faithfully they served God. That is all they wanted out of life, just service to their Lord. How great was to be their reward. TWISTED HUMAN CHARACTER 350-1 LAODICEAN.CHURCH.AGE - CHURCH.AGE.BOOK CPT.9 "Buy of Me, gold tried in the fire, that you may be rich." Now these people had plenty of gold, but it was the wrong kind. It was that gold that bought men's lives and destroyed them. It was the gold that warped and twisted human character, for its love was the root of all evil. WE ARE THE VERY RIGHTOUSNESS OF GOD 31-1 REVELATION.OF.JESUS.CHRIST - CHURCH.AGE.BOOK CPT.1, No man knows the things of God save the Spirit of God and he to whom the Spirit of God reveals them. We need to call on God for revelation more than anything else in the world. We have accepted the Bible, we have accepted the great truths of it, but it still is not real to most people because the revelation by the Spirit is not there. The Word has not been quickened. The Bible says in II Corinthians 5:21 that we have become the righteousness of God by our union with Jesus Christ. Did you get it? It says that WE ARE THE VERY RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD HIMSELF by being IN CHRIST. It says that He (Jesus) became SIN for us. It does not say He became sinful, but became SIN for us that by our union with Him we might become the RIGHTEOUSNESS of God. If we accept the fact (and we must) that He literally became SIN for us by His substitution for us, then we must also accept the fact that we by our union with Him have become the VERY RIGHTEOUSNESS of God. To reject one is to reject the other. To accept the one is to accept the other. Now we know the Bible says that. It can't be denied. But the revelation of it is missing. It is not real to the majority of God's children. It is just a good verse in the Bible. But we need to have it made ALIVE to us. That will take revelation. OUR SPIRIT IS CLEAN 45-1 PATMOS.VISION - CHURCH.AGE.BOOK CPT.2 Our spirit is clean. It is fresh. It is real. It is sober and serious but nonetheless, full of the joy of the Lord. The Christian ought to be just as exuberant and full of his pleasure in the Lord as the world is when it savors and delights in its pleasures. Both Christians and the world are human; both have emotions. The difference is the Christians' hearts and emotions are purely on the Lord of Glory and His love, while the world satisfies the flesh. BY THEIR FRUITS SHALL YE KNOW THEM WHY.SO.HARD.TO.LIVE.CHRISTIAN.LIFE_ PHX.AZ SUNDAY_ 57-0303A, E-60 Now, if that Life doesn't accompany you, it... No matter, I speak in Christ's Name. You say, "Brother Branham, I've had some wonderful experiences." That doesn't do it, brother. Jesus never said, "By their experience ye shall know them," but, "By their fruits shall ye know them." What is the fruit of the Spirit? Joy, longsuffering, meekness, love, patience, kindness, gentleness, faith. Does that accompany your life? Don't be deceived; were at the end of the road, friends? CHANGE THEIR MANNER 88-2 EPHESIAN.CHURCH.AGE - CHURCH.AGE.BOOK CPT.3 The fervent desire to please God, the passion to know His Word, the cry for reaching out in the Spirit, all begins to fade and instead of that church being on fire with the fire of God it has cooled off and become a bit formal. That is what was happening back there to the Ephesians. They were getting a bit formal. The abandonment to God was dying out and the people weren't too careful about what God thought of them as they began to be careful about what the world thought of them. That second generation coming on was just like Israel. They demanded a king to be like the other nations. When they did that, they rejected God. But they did it anyway. That is the history of the church. When it thinks more of conforming to the world instead of conforming to God, it isn't long until you see them stop doing things they used to do, and start doing things they wouldn't do initially. They change their manner of dress, their attitudes and their behaviour. They get lax. That is what "Ephesus" means: relaxed--drifting.
IT MAKES YOUR CHARACTER DIFFERENT WHY_ PHOENIX.AZ SATURDAY_ 61-0128, E-59, Those things are all right, but, brother, it ain't the--it ain't the toxin. God's Holy Spirit is the toxin. Yes, sir. And it makes a new creature out of you. It makes a new person out of you. It straightens you up, and makes you what you ought to be. It makes your character different. What's the matter with our churches today? NEVER A GREATER CHARACTER THAN JESUS CHRIST WE.WOULD.SEE.JESUS_ LONG.BEACH.CA WEDNESDAY_ 61-0208 E-15 You never judge a man by how big his hands is, and how wide his shoulders is. I've heard them say, "Oh, isn't he a man." I've seen men that weighed two hundred pounds, didn't have an ounce of man in him. That's right. You don't measure a man by his size. That's brute. You measure him by his character. There never was a greater character Man than Jesus Christ. A big body... A mule's stouter than any man, so he... or elephant. So that'd be brute. But a man's not how big a muscle he's got. I don't measure him by that, but how the bags is in the knees of his trousers, where he's been praying. That's the man that's to be measured: character. OUR CHARACTER EXPRESSES WHAT WE ARE JEHOVAH.JIREH_ TULARE.CA SUNDAY_ 61-0226 E-25 Now, let's background it just a little bit. Now, the... We're going to start at Genesis 12 and build up to this Genesis 22:14. Now, notice that... How many now can understand that we being dead in Christ are Abraham's seed and are heirs with him according to the promise? Raise your hand. All right. We being dead in Christ, that's dead to the things of the world. Now, what kind of a character should we have? I wonder. What should--kind of a person should we be, if we are Abraham's seed and are heirs with Christ, with Him up in the promise. Our character and the way we act expresses what we got inside of us. WHEN IT'S CHARACTER GOES JEHOVAH.JIREH_ TULARE.CA SUNDAY_ 61-0226 E-26 Long years ago, talking about character... They're usually getting after me about how I'm beat down the--the character of the church to be revolutionized and brought up again. Because I know when the church begins to lose it's characteristic, it's character's gone with it's characteristic. It goes down. When it's character goes, the characteristics goes with it, because when they begin to act like the world. and look like the world. and associate with the world, Christ goes out and the world comes in. PERSONAL.EXPERIENCE.WITH.GOD_ CHICAGO.IL SATURDAY_ 54-0724, E-5 Now, I trust that the Lord will bless each one of you. I just have a few moments left, for a few words. And now, I am trying, if the Lord willing, upon return, so that the ears of Chicago, that is here tonight, might know a surely, that it has been said in my ministry, that, "The only flaw that anyone seems to find, that I can't minister to enough people at a time." Well, I just certainly wish that I could. I--If I could, I'd be more than happy to do it. But in the manner that I minister, I can't do it. The ministry wasn't given for that purpose. It has been said that Mister Roberts, our brother, would pray for five hundred people while I was getting two prayed for. Well, that's true, but Brother Roberts does what God tells him to do, and I have to do what the Lord tells me to do. So that's what--that's difference. There's different ministering works of the Holy Spirit for the church. And Brother Roberts is certainly a fine man of faith, a wonderful character, loving brother, and there's many of them out on the field today. Frankly, I want to think that every one is just on the top. You see? Just wonderful. I pray for them all the time. SO MUCH LOVE AND KINDNESS HOW.THE.ANGEL.CAME.TO.ME_ CHICAGO.IL FOOTPRINT.BOOK MONDAY_ 55-0117, 60-8, There's not an artist in the world could paint His picture, the character of His face. The best I've ever seen was that Hofmann's Head of Christ at Thirty-three, I've got it on all literature and everything I use. That's it, 'cause that looks just like it, and so then--or pretty near, as close as it could be. He looked like a Man, if He'd speak the world would come to an end, and yet with so much love and kindness till you'd--you... I just pitched over. And at daylight I found myself just in the break of day, pajama shirt soaking wet with tears, when I come to myself, walking back through the broom sage field, home. A MAN OF GOD ELIJAH_ PHOENIX.AZ TUESDAY_ 55-0301, E-9, And if we can only find something in the Old Testament here, which was an example of what believers done in that day when in distress, why, perhaps, maybe we can take them as an example and find our position then and what to do. In the days of Elijah the prophet... After last night we seen that he was a type of the church. After Elijah, being the type of Christ taken away, and the double coming up on the prophet... We find that he made his way up to a Gentile country, Shunem. And there was a noble woman up there. And she was not an Israelite; she was a Shunammite. And Elijah passing through this country, she taken notice to him that he was a holy man, a man of God. What a lesson we could get out of that, that we--our walk and our associations with people, that people would recognize that we were children of the King. God help us to be that way. I believe the Scripture says that, "We are written epistles read of all men." And Elisha so conducted hisself around in that Gentile country there, that this Shunammite woman realized that he was truly a servant of God. His character, his conduct, and the things that God did by him, that she recognized him to be a servant of the Lord. So she wanted to show some kindness to him. So she had him come over for dinner, or whatmore, give him a little offering, help him pay for something. Treated him kind, not because she wanted any reward. A WONDERFUL CHARACTER REDEMPTION_ SAN.FERNANDO.CA SATURDAY_ 55-1119, E-5 That's where my old brother that's just went upstairs, Congressman Upshaw. Willy Upshaw was healed at the church, which is now the World Church when Brother Kopp was there, after being an invalid on crutches, and wheelchairs, and cots for sixty-six years, I believe it was. And his widow, a very fine Christian woman... How many ever knowed Brother Upshaw? Let's see your hands. Well, bless your heart. A wonderful character, he's gone on. And I'd say the same thing if he was setting before me, or if he was in--somewhere in Los Angeles tonight: he was really a fine brother. And the Lord blessed him and used him in a great way with his testimony of healing, being a man of his caliber. That night at the Temple there, when the Holy Ghost gave a vision of him walking after being an invalid sixty-six years... MAN'S JUDGED BY CHARACTER ALONE MIGHTY.CONQUEROR_ JEFF.IN SUNDAY_ 56-0401 E-44 There was no beauty we should desire Him. He was marred above every man. He was probably a little skinny, spindly looking Fellow, didn't look like the King. Many times that people judge people by the way they dress or by their statue. Man is not judged by how big he is and how strong's his muscles; man's judged by character and character alone. I've seen men that weighed two hundred pounds and didn't have an ounce of man about them. Man is judged by character, what he is in his heart. And Christ was not judged by physical strength, but He was judged by character. And never a man ever lived like Him, or never a man could ever die like Him. Never a man could ascend up on high like Him, because He was God. "I am a no man." He made of Himself no reputation. A MAN'S CHARACTER IS SHOWN IN HIS WORKS INFALLIBLE.WORD.OF.GOD_ CHICAGO.IL FRIDAY_ 56-0406 E-19 And a man's character is shown in his works. Or a man shows his--his character by his works. We know that. Just like a contractor, a contractor shows what he is by his work. For instance, if we was going to have a great building built here in the city of Chicago, the first thing the officials of the city board would do, they would try to select a contractor. Just not any one that run in and said, "Well, I can do the job, all right," they're going to get a contractor that's got a reputation. And now, because if they didn't, maybe another contractor would underbid that contractor. But he would put in the building bad material, and perhaps he would build it thousands of dollars less. And then we come to find out that the building collapsed. The first storm hit it, it went down. What do you think the city would think about that contractor? It would ruin his reputation forever. That's right. CHARACTER ON THE INSIDE FAITH.IS.THE.SUBSTANCE_ OAKLAND.CA SATURDAY_ 47-0412 E-8 But there's something calls out to the sick and suffering. And friends, I can only help you if you believe me. That's the only way that I can ever do anything for you. And I would love to be there tonight. You don't know how I would like... Many of you know what it is to be away from home, don't you? But I... It's... I say it's just a little shack. But it doesn't take a big house to make a home. It's the character on the inside that makes a home. And I'm thankful for a home. So God bless you. And you pray for me, and I'll tell you more about it the day after tomorrow night. LOVELY LITTLE CHARACTER EXPERIENCES.3_ PHOENIX.AZ SUNDAY_ 47-1221 E-114 I talked to Brother Sharritt. There's another man I don't want to leave out. Listen. I think Phoenix is blessed with a man like John Sharritt. What do you all think about it? Amen. Is that right? Let's give him a hand too, 'cause he's been a brother to me. That's right. A very... And now... Yes, Brother Gibson, I couldn't forget his wife. That's right. She's a lovely little character that doesn't have nothing to say, but just, "Well, yes." She's a swell cook. And she's been to me like a sister, and like a brother, and I'm very thankful for them and their little children. LIFE.STORY_ LITTLE.ROCK.AR 50-0200 E-31 Now, now, I guess you wonder how I ever got married. Well, when I met my wife, she was a Christian girl, very lovely Christian girl. And I was then about twenty-three, twenty-four years old. She very sweet humble character. And I met her. And I--I'd take her to church, and she went to church. And she was a very fine lovely woman. All these people here, my friends from Jeffersonville setting here in front of me knows her, or knew her, and how a lovely woman she was. She's in her grave today. But that's her body. Her soul's in--with Christ. And she was a very lovely Christian character. BELIEVEST.THOU.THIS?_ LA.CA SUNDAY_ 51-0506A, E-14 One word I want to say about... Someone asked us about if I would speak the time that our--our baby was born. Mrs. Copp just told me she'd just received a letter from my dear little wife at home. If there's anybody at the Branham family that deserves credit it's the--the--my wife, Mrs. Branham; she's a lovely little character. I wished I could've brought her with me, but I can't because the baby was too young. I went for her to bring her here. I want you to meet her. Sometime on my return I hope to be able to bring her. She's only... (Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that.) And she's thirty years old and almost white-gray. And five years ago, her hair was as black as it could be. But you set at the phone where sometimes sixty long distant calls an hour, day and night, and at the door where this, that, and (Oh, my.), it won't take it long till things will change. THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST DOES THE WORKS OF CHRIST MINISTRY.EXPLAINED_ MINNEAPOLIS.MN TUESDAY_ 50-0711 E-12 Now, Christian friends, we're all an Eternity bound people. Every one of us here has got to meet God and face God someday. And we're going to give an account for the deeds that's done in our lives. Now, if I told you I was a gangster, and had the spirit of--of John Dillinger was upon me, well, you'd expect me to have guns and be that kind of a character, because his spirit was on me. If I told you I had the spirit of an artist, some great famous artist, you'd expect me to be able to catch the scene of the waves when it was tipping of the sunset, and almost bring it out in life's color. If I had the spirit of an artist in me, I would do the work of an artist. And if we had the Spirit of Christ, then we do the works of Christ. And the Spirit that was upon Him, He said, "A little while and the world seeth Me no more; yet, you'll see Me, for I'll be with you, even in you to the end of the age." SYMPATHETIC, KIND HEARTED GOD.REVEALING.HIMSELF.TO.HIS.PEOPLE_ CLEVELAND.OH SUNDAY_ 50-0813E, E-26 And He walked, and He looked up to me with kind... He looked pathetic to look at Him. And He looked like He was a man of... Well, I just could not picture His characteristics of His--of His character in His face. He looked like a Man that was sympathetic, kind-hearted. But yet He looked like a Man, if He'd speak, it would be that way. So I looked at Him, and He looked at me. I was so scared that I--I was biting my thumbnail till it was almost bleeding. Listen, friend. You'd be too. Don't think you wouldn't. And I was right and...?... like that. He said, "Fear not." JESUS JUDGED BY CHARACTER ATTITUDE.AND.WHO.IS.GOD?_ CLEVELAND.OH TUESDAY_ 50-0815 E-23 Now, the believer today. Most people, say he's a good man, he pays tithings to the church; he's a good member. That's very fine. That's a moral life. Now, no one could speak evil of that. But that's not what I'm talking about. Jesus judged a man a believer, a different type of a character. Jesus, the last Words that He said when He left the world, "Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature." Is that right? "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be damned." Is that right? Now, every church will come that far, but what about the rest of it? He said, "These signs shall follow them that believe." Do you believe it? "These signs shall follow them that believe: In My Name shall they cast out devils; speak with new tongues; take up serpents, or drink deadly things shall not harm them; if they lay their hands on the sick they shall recover." And He was taken up from the midst of them, and the disciples returned with great joy, and preached the Word, everywhere, the Lord working with them, confirming the Word with signs and wonders. Is that right? WONDERFUL CHARACTER ANGEL.OF.THE.LORD_ TOLEDO.OH WEDNESDAY_ 51-0718 E-27 And I was staying at the Rice Hotel. Doctor Bosworth... how many knows the Reverend Mr. Bosworth? Nearly all of you do. Wonderful character, I thought he'd be known up around in here. And he came to the room, and he's seventy-three years old. He said, "Brother Branham, look at this paper today." A great big column in there. Oh, he just... the minister ripped me. He said, "Let's challen... let's take that challenge." HE WAS A GREAT CHARACTER TO CUT UP RESURRECTION.OF.LAZARUS_ ERIE.PA SUNDAY_ 51-0729A E-2 Christians do not die. There's no Scripture in the Bible that says Christians--Christians die. A man that... A person that lives in pleasure is dead while they're living. Death means separation, separation from God. And sinners are not se... Sinners are separated from God, but Christians never separate from God. They just leave the body here to be with the Lord. And Paul.. I like it so well when he went away. He was a great character to cut up. Do you remember how he used to carry on, any of you know him? He was always cutting up. There was... He'd always pulling some kind of a little joke to someone. And he said when he was... They had the little Moody Bible Institute, they had a choir there singing. And they had the shades pulled down in the room, and they were singing "Nearer My God To Thee." And Paul looked around and he said, "Say, who's dying? Me or you?" He said. Said, "Raise them curtains there, those shades, and sing some real good fiery Gospel songs." And so they begin to sing "Down at the Cross." And he said, "That sounds better." WONDERFUL OLD CHARACTER RESURRECTION.OF.LAZARUS_ ERIE.PA SUNDAY_ 51-0729A E-41 Notice. Then they had it all figured out just how it was to be. But God has never had Hisself, left Hisself without a testimony. Now, before the coming of Jesus... Let's take God sent Gabriel down from glory. Now, you can hear of minor Angels coming. But when Gabriel comes, something major's on the road. When Gabriel comes... He's the Archangel. And there's something great fixing to happen. Listen. Gabriel announced the first coming of Christ, and Gabriel will announce the second coming of Christ. There you are. For He will sound the trumpet of God. All right. The first coming... Let's take--go back a little bit in some drama. I can see an old priest by the name of Zacharias, wonderful old character. Him and his wife Elisabeth, good people, served the Lord with all their heart. And he--mission at the temple was to burn incense over the altar while the people were praying. And they were keeping all the laws and the statues of God, walking before God, blameless. THAT'S WHAT MOLDED THAT CHARACTER LIFE.STORY_ HAMMOND.IN. SUNDAY_ 52-0720A E-3 And I think down through the age, I think of the father of our nation, George Washington, how he trusted God. I think of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln, of course, I don't... I'm not a politician, but Lincoln was my favorite amongst all the presidents we've ever had. He had to come up the hard way, maybe because I had to come that way is the reason I sympathize with Lincoln: splitting rails, and writing in the dirt, and--and so forth. And the only books that we believe that Lincoln ever had until he was twenty-one years old, was the Bible and the Foxe "Book of Martyrs." That's what molded that character. JESUS ACTING OUT IN EVERY CHARACTER ISRAEL.IN.EGYPT_ JEFF.IN IC 1-34 WEDNESDAY_ 53-0325 154 Now watch, when everything heaped up in Joseph. What? A perfect man, the one who was born of his father, loved of his father, hated of his brother... Now, look quickly now, 'cause I got to hurry; and give me your undivided attention. Loved of His Father, hated of His brother: the Lord Jesus... Watch Jesus acting out in every character in there. Look at Joseph, the perfect one. Oh, we could spend weeks on him. Look, hated of his brother, loved of his father. Why? He was a spiritual man. He saw visions, could interpret dreams. He was spiritual. His little old... His brothers said, "Nonsense. Get away." Now, look at the churches today. Watch the spiritual side. The Lord Jesus in His church today, He's hated by all the offsprings. See, just exactly. Made fun of, call them fanatics everywhere. Well, it has to be. Here's the antetype; here's the shadow of it. You say, "Well, Brother Branham, if I receive the Holy Spirit, they'd all laugh at me." Well, if you didn't, you didn't receive It. You have to be hated of the world. Jesus said, "They call the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call His disciples (See?), they of the household." Now, He was. And watch. BUT GOD CHOSE JACOB CRUELTY.OF.SIN_ JEFF.IN V-25 N-4 FRIDAY_ 53-0403 140 Watch what it cost our heavenly Father. Look what He did now. And there come Cain, and he made his offering. He worshipped. He went to church. He's just as good as the next fellow. Esau was the same. Esau, in his character, was a better man than Jacob, more of a gentleman. He loved his father; and the things that he done. But God chose Jacob. CHARACTER, WHAT TYPE OF PERSON WOULD JESUS BE? EXPECTATIONS_ JONESBORO.AR THURSDAY_ 53-0507 E-2 Last night, we were teaching a little about the character, and what type of a person... If you were looking for the Lord Jesus, what type of a Person you'd be looking for, what He would look like, what His Spirit would be. And we typed it through the Scripture, to see just what He was, and what His ministry was, how it acted, and how He acted. And then if He's the same yesterday, today, and forever, It acts the same today. And we find out that It does, doesn't it? Just the same Lord Jesus. He didn't claim to be any great Person. He said, He did nothing but what the Father showed Him. And when the Father showed Him anything, why, He did it. Though He knowed the people's thoughts, what they were thinking, what they were doing, what was wrong with them, but He don't His miracles as God permitted. And if you notice, everywhere, it was always what the Father told Him. Now, there was some fellows, two blind men, one time, come through the street. They were trying for to get Him to heal them. So He said, just passed on through, went into the house, and they brought the blind man in the house. And He turned to them and touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith, be it unto you." Your faith. He had had no vision. For He said, that He only did just what the Father showed Him. Saint John 5:19 said, "What the Father shows Me, that I do. I do nothing except He shows Me." Said, "The Father worketh and I worketh hitherto." LOOK AT HIS CHARACTER SEEKING.AFTER.JESUS_ CONNERSVILLE.IN SUNDAY_ 53-0531 E-11 Let's watch the type of person He was. Let's look at His character; watch His ministry. And as He worked then, He works now. As He was then, He is now, and will be forever. And just what He did in them days, He'll do it today, He'll be just the same forever. He's the same Jesus, yesterday, today, and forever, the same type of character. A man that professes to be a Christian, must have a Christ-like nature. If it isn't, there's another nature there which it isn't Christ-like. SEEKING.AFTER.JESUS_ CONNERSVILLE.IN SUNDAY_ 53-0531 E-17 But when He was here on earth, He didn't have much education but He was--He had the power of God till when He was only twelve years old, He confounded the--the wisdom of the priests. God was with Him. That's what makes the difference: God being with you. And I see Him in the beginning of His ministry; Satan tempted Him. But after His temptation of forty days, He came out. Now, let's watch this character now; that's Who we're looking for. Got a picture of what He is now? Look at Him, what He is now. Just in your mind, draw a mental picture of what He is. And what He was then, that's what He is tonight and what He always will be. EXPECTANCY_ OWENSBORO.KY SUNDAY_ 53-1108E E-7 I just have a moment or two to speak to you, but I have such a love in my heart for Him, till it just seems as I would just have to speak a word or two for Him. I'm thinking of the text that I just read, of this aged old man by the name of Simeon. He was a priest at the temple, of a great age, about eighty years old, and a--a great, a name of honor among all the people around the place. And what a--a person he was, what a--a character, renown, man of honor. And it was revealed to him by the Holy Spirit, that he wasn't to see death until he seen the Christ. A MAN'S JUDGED BY CHARACTER EXPECTANCY_ OWENSBORO.KY SUNDAY_ 53-1108E E-19 Here it is. If I'm getting this right, so is it today. A man or a woman who really tries to live a Christian life, and abstain from the things of the world, the world backs off and says they're a fanatic. Every man that tries to trust God, his fellow man will call him, "Goody-goody," or, "a sissy," or something like that. Sissy? I don't judge man by the callous in his hands, it's by the bag of the knee in his pants, whether he bows and prays or not. Men's not judged by statue, he's judged by character. I seen men that weighed two hundred pounds, and didn't have an ounce of man in him: ravish a mother with a baby in her arm. A man's judged by character, what he is inside. EXPECTANCY_ OWENSBORO.KY SUNDAY_ 53-1108E E-29 And now, you just draw in your mind what character, what kind of a person Jesus Christ was. And then see if He will come to us tonight, and will manifest Hisself to the Church. SPEAK.TO.THIS.ROCK_ OWENSBORO.KY SUNDAY_ 53-1115 E-57 Every priest coming in, could get--go back there in these omers and get a handful of it, and get him a big mouthful. And he'd chew it. Oh, how good it was. What a privileged character he was, to eat of some the original manna. Well, that's exactly the type of the Holy Ghost. When the Church started its journey, two thousand years ago, on our journey to the Millennium (Hallelujah.), God promised He'd supply our needs. WHAT.THINK.YE.OF.CHRIST_ CHICAGO.IL SUNDAY_ 54-0321 E-27 Let's ask some of His friends. Let's call Adam back today, from out of the land of the blessed of where he is. Adam, what do you think about this Man? What think ye of Christ? Whose Son is He? Adam would say, "It's the Seed of the woman that was to crush the serpent's head," if Adam could testify. Let's call another man by the name of Moses, a very outstanding character of the Bible: the greatest of all the prophets. He was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Priest, and the King, and the law Giver; a very perfect type. Never a man talked to God, outside of Christ Himself, like Moses. No prophet, no time... Let's see what Moses would say if he could stand today. He'd say, "The Lord Your God shall rise up a Prophet liken unto me; and it shall come to pass that any who will not hear Him should be cut off from among the people." That's Who Moses thought He was. |