Sons of God with Power

…of God's love, setting forth the truths of the overcoming life. Tonight we're going to speak about sons of God with power. But first I want to carry you to two scriptures before I turn over to Romans, first chapter. He says in the 25th chapter of Proverbs, It's the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the honor of kings is to search out a matter. Now we need to search the scriptures daily to see if what I say is so, like they did with Paul and Silas in the 17th chapter of Acts in the 11th verse. It says there that they were more noble in Berea than in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily whether those things were so.

So they were ready and prepared to receive the engrafted word with meekness, which was able to deliver them from everything that's not of God. They were prepared. They had been praying. Surely they had been prepared because they were ready. Their minds was ready. Their hearts were ready to receive. And so they was going to check it out, the word, you see, see if what they were saying was so by the Holy Spirit. You see, if we'll trust the Holy Spirit, then we won't have to be concerned about making a mistake, because the Spirit bears witness with the truth.

Jesus said it's the Spirit that quickeneth in the sixth chapter and the sixty-third verse of— Saint John. The words that I speak unto you, he said, they're spirit, and they're life. They're not flesh. They're not coming from my own ideas. They're coming from the Holy Spirit. So we need to trust the Holy Spirit, trust Jesus to teach us through the Holy Spirit. So we need to trust the Holy Spirit for all of our information that we get from the Word, the things that's hidden in the letter, because there's things hidden in the letter. Now, if you go to the 24th chapter and 45th verse of Luke, the disciples had already come back. I mean, Jesus had already been raised from the dead and come back, and he called them together. And this was after he had died and was raised from the dead, and he opened up the scriptures that they may understand the scriptures there.

So we pray right now for God, if you're listening to this tape, just pray that God would open up your understanding so you could understand the things that's hidden in the letter, because the things are hidden in the letter from those that are prudent and wise, but they're revealed unto babes, he says in Matthew 11:25. So we must be ready and prepared and prayed up to receive the Word of God, which is able to deliver us from everything that's not of God.

So if you have your Bibles, turn over to Romans, the first chapter. We're going to talk about the sons of God with power. Amen. Let's look at chapter 1, verse 1 through 4. It says, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures, concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. Now we're the seed of Abraham, and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.

Now if you really understand Scripture, God put us in Christ, 1 Corinthians 1:30, and he raised us up. You see, he put us in Christ. If we believe, we died whenever he died. If you put a dollar bill in a book and you burn that book, where'd the dollar bill go? It went the same way as the book. When Jesus died, we died with him. When he was raised, the Word says we was raised in newness of life in the sixth chapter of Romans. So we was raised in the newness of life to walk in the Spirit. Verse 5, by whom we receive grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name, among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ to be sons of God with power. And to all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints.

So we're called to be saints. We're called to be overcomers. We need to learn to overcome everything that comes in our path. We're going to be tested. We're going to be tried, but we can overcome everything. All things are possible to them that believeth. Jesus said, And I believe I can do all things through Christ who gives me the strength and the leadership of the Holy Spirit to do these things, to obey and do the things that God has called me to do. And I believe He's called you to do things too. You just need to know what your calling is. We've all been called to love one another, to pray for one another, to pray for those that we see that has sinned a sin not unto death. We're to pray for them, our brothers. We're to pray for the lost. We're to pray for the sick. We're to let our light shine before men that they may see His good works, that the glory of God may be seen in us and be glorified.

Hallelujah. So we're sons of God with power. Now, if you read over in St. John 1:12, it says, He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, to grow up into sonship. Now, according to the Word, we're really sons of God. I mean, but we're still babes, and we're to grow up into sonship because He said, As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name. Are you a believer? Then He's given you power. He gave you power to become the sons of God.

Now, we're to receive that power every day. So the ones that was, you know, their names was already written in the Lamb's Book of Life, I believe it's in the 10th chapter of Luke, 20th verse, and He told them to go to the upper room and receive the power. I mean, St. John, I think it's 13, verse 20, is the Godhead. When you receive Christ, you receive the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But they have different offices. God sent Jesus. Jesus come, died on the cross, went back and sent the power in Acts 1:8, power to become the sons of God. And that's what we need to do. We need to be filled with His love every day, to be filled with His Spirit. That's a commandment of God in Ephesians 5, verse 18. He commands us to be filled with the power, with the Spirit.

And so He declared for me and you to be sons of God with power. Hallelujah. Why? Because, you see, for God had not given you a spirit of fear, 2 Timothy 1:7 says, but He gave you a spirit of power to become the sons of God. He gave you the spirit of power to tread over serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. He gave you the spirit of love to never fail. You see, love never fails. He gave you a sound mind there, but He gave you the mind of Christ. You have the mind of Christ. You have the anointing of the Holy One, and you know all things. 1 Corinthians 2:16 says, you have the mind of Christ. 1 John 2:20 says, you have the unction of the Holy One, and you know all things. And He said in Philippians chapter 2, verse 5, He said, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

Let this mind lead you and guide you into all the truth and show you things to come. Let this mind teach through you, witness through you, love through you, pray through you, praise through you. In the first verse he said, You fulfill my joy to be like-minded, having one mind, one love, in being in one accord, lifting your brothers up. You read that. Philippians 2, verse 1 through 5. So we need to always let this mind, the Holy Spirit, lead us. Let the Holy Spirit teach us. Let Him teach us all things and bring all things to our remembrance whatsoever God has said unto us. Let us meditate upon the Word day and night and observe to do the things that's written therein.

He said, I'll make you prosperous and you'll have good success. Joshua 1:8. He said in Isaiah 26:3, He tells us that we have the power. He tells us that we can do the things that God has given us. Hallelujah. He tells us the same thing. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Oh, hallelujah. We need to let this mind be in us, which was also in Christ Jesus. Amen. Let it lead us. Let it guide us. And he says there in 26th chapter of Isaiah and the third verse, Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee. He'll give you peace that passes all understanding. Peace comes in the morning.

You see, in the morning you can pray through, and the power of God and the Spirit of God will touch you. The love will be shed abroad in your heart, and you see God wants to love you. He wants to lead you. He wants to guide you. He wants you to keep His Word. He wants you to be holy. He said, Follow peace and holiness, without which no man shall see God. We need to see God today. Amen. I want to see Him, don't you? I want to see God every day. Lord, take out the envy. Take out the jealousy and pride out of my heart and covetousness. If there be any in my heart, I pray every day, Lord, take it out.

You see, you have not because you ask not. Show me, Lord, if there's something in my heart that's not right. That's what you need to do. If there's something in your heart that's not right, praise God, ask God to take it out and place the Word of God and the love of God in your heart. Tell Him to shed His love in your heart by the Holy Ghost. I'll tell you what, you start praising God and you'll beat back the powers of darkness, because praise beats back the powers of darkness. It takes the chains off of you that have you bound, just like it did Paul whenever they were in the inner cell in jail there, and all the bonds. They had leg irons and arms on their legs and arms both, but they fell off of them when they started praising God.

Well, who had them bound? Satan had them bound through men. There's so many people bound by different things in their life that's Christians, and many of them don't know how, never been taught how to be loosed from them. You have to take the Word, my friend, and use it against Satan. That's the reason you need to know the Word and everything. There's a scripture for everything. Everything that's come against you in different ways, there's a scripture that you speak back to Satan. You see where Satan is? He's under my feet right now. Oh, hallelujah, under my feet. I tell you, God gave me power. He put me far above all principalities and powers and rulers of darkness, world spiritual wickedness in high places. Ephesians 2, verse 6, and read the first chapter. Hallelujah.

You see, he's the prince of the power of the air, but God has placed me above him, see. He's the one that throws winds of other doctrines and error in the Word of God that rides in on the back of truth. Many pastors are deceived about many things. Many times they are never blessed like they should be, or the people are never blessed because they don't preach the full gospel. But that's up to each individual person. So you see, what'll happen to them, Satan will rob them of their rewards after we're caught up. He'll rob them of the things of being a king, or being over a city, or over a nation, or go whithersoever the Lamb goeth, or to sit on the throne with Him. It's all in Revelations 1, 2, and 3. You can be a king, but you can't go out no more. You're going to have to be a pillar in the house of God.

What I'm talking about, go out in the world. You're going to have to stay in prayer. You're going to have to do God's will. You can be married, but you're going to have to be—if God calls you, you've got to go wherever God calls you. If you're not called to go out and preach in the highways and hedges, you're called to go out in the streets, in your neighbors, and in the city you live in, and to witness, praise God. Maybe you're not called to the fivefold ministry, but we've all been called to let our light shine before men, that they may see the good works, the works of God within us, because it is God that worketh in us both to will and do of His good pleasure. What's God's good pleasure? He wants to form the life of His Son within us.

So we're gonna have to die daily, aren't we? We're gonna have to die daily that the life of Christ may be manifested in us. Second Corinthians, chapter 4, I think it's 10, 11, 12, and 13. Yes. We must die daily that the life of Christ. Jesus said, If any man come after me, let him deny self and take up his cross daily and follow me. What did He tell Peter? Peter said, Lord, he was talking about having to go and die on the cross, and Peter said, Oh no, you don't have to do that, Lord.

Now here's Peter trying to tell the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords what to do. What did Jesus say? He said, Get behind me, Satan. Thou knowest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of man. He's talking to him in the ninth chapter there, around the 20th verse through 23. And then he says, and then after he tells Peter that, he said, If any man come after me, let him deny self, deny your own opinions. Oh, there's a lot of people has opinions of the Word of God. But Jesus said, Deny those opinions. He told Peter, said, Get behind me, Satan, because opinions don't come from God. The truth comes from God, and you can prove it in the Word of God and by the Spirit of God bearing witness to that Word, and He can take it off the printed page and write it on your heart if you want Him to.

Praise God, hallelujah. Sons of God with power. You want the power? Grow up into sonship. Walk in the Spirit. Learn to lay aside every weight and sin that doth beset you, as God shows you, as He leads you and shows you. What is an overcomer? An overcomer is overcoming. I started overcoming when I received Christ in my heart. That's all I knew. Then I'd look, I'd read the Word, and here it was. Praise God, I just obeyed. I didn't have no problem with it. I obeyed it. I told God on that deathbed before I died, both ways. I received Christ in my heart, and then I died. I died physically too. I died physically, and I promised Him on that deathbed before I did that I'd live for Him every day the rest of my life. And my friends, I have.

But I stumbled as I learned, see. But as I seen it in the Word, is this what I'm supposed to do, Father? And I would go to the Word. I just obeyed. I was taught by the Holy Spirit. Now, there's some men that's walking in the Spirit that the Holy Spirit's teaching through, but there's not a lot of them. I mean, they're bound by different things. So God has given us power to tread over serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt us. Luke 10:19. His call is that we grow up in all things unto Him who is the head, even Christ. Ephesians.

Let's turn there, chapter 4, verse 14 and 15. He said that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine. Now, if you look at the third chapter there, you'll find out who's the wind of doctrine. The third chapter, I believe it is, or second chapter, I'm sorry. It talks about the prince of the power of the air there. And so the winds of doctrine is the prince of the power of the air, other things that come in with the truth that ride in on the back of truth, see.

So he can keep you from ever overcoming him. Satan wants to keep you from ever overcoming him. And many Christians are sick. Many of them go through things, but yet you can always come through, through the Word of God and learn. You can learn through those trials and tests. Yea, all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But there's a place where we can walk healthy too. You can come into that place. And I hope you come into it soon. I hope you're in it right now, to trust Him. And so this happens as you daily walk with God, and it comes through prayer and praise and staying with Him, staying in His protection.

So, verse 15, But speaking, he said, that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of who? The winds of doctrine come through men. Error comes through men. And I've been persecuted all over England, all over Alabama, and all over many other places. But that's all right. Jesus said, They hated me, and they'll hate you. They persecuted me, and they'll persecute you. Paul said, Yea, all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. So I accept that. And what do I do? I pray for them. I don't let that stop me. I don't cause it to keep me from sleeping and resting, because I rest good.

But why? Because I know I'm right. I don't go and push anything on people, but whenever I'm challenged, then I have to have the Word of God. I put on the full armor of God, the whole Word of God. And I speak the Word back to people. But yet if they don't want to receive it, that's up to them. I still love them, and I'll pray for them every day, hoping that they will come to the knowledge of the truth. It says, By the sleight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive you. See, people want you to go their way. Their opinions of the Word of God, see? That means they can't see. They're looking through a mirror darkly, as the Corinthians. There were schisms and divisions in the Corinthian church. There's only one church that was right, and that was the Philadelphia church. Out of the seven churches in Revelations, the Smyrna church had never come to the place of receiving the crown.

But only one come to that place. The Ephesians left their first love. Pergamos, Satan was sitting in a seat. Then Satan got behind the pulpit in church of Thyatira, and Sardis was almost ready to die, and the Laodicean church, Jesus was just about ready to spew them out of his mouth and leave them here. And he's still ready to leave them here if they don't straighten up and come back to the first love. And only the church of Philadelphia that he was pleased with, the only one that he was pleased with, and that was the overcomers.

Now, some of those overcomers is in different churches. There's a lot of fishes in those churches, but when the net, when he draws the net up, you see, I just got through teaching on the seven parables in the thirteenth chapter of Matthew, and the net is the last one. He's going to bring all the fishes together. He's going to take the bad fishes and throw them out and take the good fishes and carry them on home in time. Now, so we have to speak, verse fifteen, speak, but speak the truth. Speak in the truth in love, the truth, see? Love is good. I've heard people say, Well...

You know, love, love, love. But you got to preach truth with it. Because if you love me, keep my words. If you love me, you will keep my words, Jesus said. So love and truth go together. But speaking the truth in love. Now, I spoke the truth in love to those people, strong but in love. May grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. Now, when you grow up into the head, that means he is leading you, right? He's the head of you. He has preeminence over all things. And when you grow up into the head, that's the time that you allow Jesus to lead you and to guide you. You become a son of God with power because you're over Satan. Your life is hid with him in Christ in God. Colossians 3:3.

So you have power. Don't let him take you and bring you back down by the flesh and earthly. If you do, then he's got power over you. Quickly repent and get back in the heavenly place where God's put you. You see, you have power over Satan as long as you stay in your position. And when you pray for petitions, you pray from the earth up. But whenever you take authority over Satan, you take authority from your position because God gave you spirit of power over him. He gave you the Word. It's written, Satan, three times Jesus said, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Well, the Word's proceeding now. Hallelujah. And you know, when I'm asleep, the Word will be proceeding somewhere in this world because of the time. Always somebody's preaching. In England right now, they're sleeping. Here I am preaching, eight o'clock Alabama time in the United States. Praise God. All over. Sometimes when I'm sleeping, somebody's preaching in England, or in Pakistan, or all over. But we're to speak the truth in love. We're to put on the whole armor of God that we may be able to stand against all the wiles of the devil. You hear what I'm saying? All the wiles of the devil. Only under the control of the head can each member truly function in his Spirit-appointed place for the building up of the body spiritually.

Let's see what Jesus did when He laid His deity aside and took upon Himself the form of man and become the Son of Man. Let's look at Acts, the 10th chapter and the 38th verse, if you'll turn there. Tenth chapter and the 38th verse. It says, How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with Him. Did you know God is with you if you're a Christian? I mean, I hope He hadn't left you. He said, I'll never leave you nor forsake you, but a lot of Christians have left Him. They left Him out of their life. And you're backslidden.

But God'll heal their backsliding, He'll love them freely, and His anger'll turn away from them, that they'll turn their whole heart over to Him. Hosea 14:4 tells you that. But He anointed Jesus. Well, He's anointed me. Let me tell you something about touching an anointed man. He said, Touch not my prophets, my anointed, neither my prophets. When you touch an anointed man, I'm going to tell you something: you're in trouble with God, because God is living through that man. Don't touch that anointing. A man that's anointed is walking in the Spirit. I'll not touch him. I'll pray, and I'll stand against any man that's a Christian that's being filled with the Spirit if he's speaking untruths of the Word of God. I'll stand on the Word of God against anybody that's wrong.

But he, he was given the power, the Holy Ghost with power to go about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him. What did he say to us? He said in Saint John 14:12, Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto the Father, and I'll send back the Holy Ghost, and He'll teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I've said unto you, and He'll also show you things to come.

Oh, hallelujah, glory be the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, hallelujah, glory be His name. Hallelujah. Thank you for that precious anointing, Lord. Hallelujah, glory be His name. It's so wonderful for the power of God to come upon you and preach through you.

There's a great difference in our being placed in the position of a son and our fulfilling that position. For as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, I said before. We're brought into God's family experimentally as infants. You have your Bibles, turn to Galatians, the fourth chapter. Amen. The fourth chapter of Galatians, one through seven. Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.

Now he has to grow up into sonship. Although he is a son of God, he still has to grow up. Even so, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law. He was already grown up into sonship to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. He sent forth the Holy Spirit into your hearts so that you could grow up into sonship. You remember what he said there in John 1:12? As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to those who believe on his name, to become the sons of God.

Positionally, God immediately accepts us as potential adult sons through union with his Son so that we are counted heirs. We see the same thing in a human family. The baby of a family is counted as an heir of the family inheritance. But until he comes into the maturity of sonship, he's under a guardian, and is not entrusted with the personal handling of that which is legally his. It's already his, but he has to wait. But until he comes into that maturity of sonship, he has to wait. In the same manner, it's no disgrace to be a healthy, normal infant in God's family. The church is greatly blessed with the birth of new spiritual babes into its family.

But as soon as babes in the Lord are born, they should begin to grow and develop spiritually. First Peter 2:2 says, Desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby. So, you know, you have to ask God to put that desire in your heart. You know, you have to get up and break through in the mornings. You see, you can go to bed—I stay in the Word, I stay in prayer in the Word all day, just about every day now. I go to bed praying, I go to bed speaking, I go to get up praising, go to bed praising.

But sometimes when I wake up, I don't feel good. So I have to get up and start praising God and break through. See? For joy comes in the morning, the Bible says over in Psalms. Joy comes in the morning, hallelujah. The manna comes down in the morning, daily. And this manna that it comes down to us is spiritual Word, hallelujah, the love. The manna that comes down to the overcomers. Praise the Lord of Jesus, name of Jesus, hallelujah. So, as newborn babes, they should continue to develop and grow up in all things in union with Christ until each one comes into the development of a mature son of God. A manifest son of God begins to partake of both the privileges and the responsibilities of sonship. There's no place to stop in this development.

My friend, listen, I'm still growing. I'm still laying aside as God shows me. If He shows me something, I'll just lay it aside, see. He tells us to keep our eyes on Jesus in Hebrews there, the twelfth chapter. Lay aside every weight and sin that does so easily beset us, and run the race with patience. There it is. The key is patience. In your patience possess ye your souls, Jesus said. Paul said in the sixth chapter of Hebrews and the twelfth verse, he said, Let patience have its perfect work, and entire, wanting nothing. I'm telling you, if God has promised you something, hallelujah, and He is bore witness with you, if it hadn't come to pass instantly, praise the Lord, it'll come if you'll stand on that Word and keep saying, Lord, I know that You bore witness to that truth. I know that You're going to heal me, and you don't doubt in your mind, I'll tell you, you'll receive what you have prayed for.

It might not be overnight. It might not be like I waited two years for a healing, but I confessed the Word. I just, I didn't even know anything much about the Word, but I was learning. And then during that time, you see, I said, Lord, I know You're going to heal me. Dr. Slappy in East End Hospital told me, told me I would never walk without a plastic in my ankle. I said, No, I'm going to trust God. He's going to heal me. And praise God, He did one day, two years later. I persevered like the woman with the judge in the 18th chapter, 1 through 8 in Luke. Go over there and read it. Don't give up. Persevere. Keep going on. Keep believing God. Hallelujah.

So there's no place to stop in this development. For not until we see Him shall we be fully like Him. 1 John 3:2, 3. He said, We know that when we shall—He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Hallelujah. We'll have our glorified bodies. Let us understand that the number of years one has called himself a Christian does not indicate what the spiritual growth has been. Neither does the intellectual knowledge of the Word of God necessarily indicate spiritual growth. Your spiritual development and mine are determined by the measure of our conformity to the image of Christ in actual life and godliness.

Let's see what Titus teaches us over here. In the second chapter of Titus, we'll read 11 through, I believe it's 11 through 14 or 15. He said, For the grace of God bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, now teaching us. Now listen. What will those be doing who are kept from the hour of trial? Let's look at what they'd be doing. They'd be denying ungodliness and worldly lust, and they'd be living soberly and righteously and godly in this present world. They'd be looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. These things he tells to speak and exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise you. Don't let no man stop you from preaching the word of the living God, but preach it in the power of the Spirit.

Preach it in the power of love, because love will never fail. You're sowing seeds, my friend. They will remember this if they don't obey it. Praise God, and they stand before God, they'll remember it then because God will bring it to pass. He'll say, You remember when Brother Ray spoke this word to you? You remember when he stood on the Word and told you this was wrong, and you hadn't repented? Yes, He'll bring it. He'll open the book. If your name's written in that book, everybody's name's written in there, those that's going to be cast into the lake of fire and those that's going to be going with Him.

But there's different places that they're going to be able to be there with Him, different levels of authority. Every man that has this hope purifies himself, even as He is pure. To be sure, we are all sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ. Galatians 3:26 tells us that. For every child of God has within him the potentialities of the maturity of sonship. Yet the Spirit indicates that there will be a distinctive mark upon those who are manifestly sons of God, and it is this in Romans 8:14 and 16. He says, For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. They've grown into sonship. See? They walk every day in the Spirit. Verse 16: The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and it beareth witness with the truth.

So you've gone up into... you've come to the place where the Spirit is bearing witness with the truth. So this scripture is not speaking of an occasional being led by the Spirit, but being led by the Spirit as a course of life. Let's look at 12 through 14. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not to the flesh, to live after the flesh: for if we live after the flesh, you shall die: but if you through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

Now, in the Spirit you're putting to death the practices of the flesh. You shall attain life. The reason why the Holy Spirit does not bear witness with some of God's sons is because they are not putting the practices of the flesh to death. Paul said, I die daily, that the life of Christ may be manifested in me. So, I die daily, that the life of Christ may be manifested in me. As I die daily, Jesus lives more in me. The Word is replaced from the place that I've died from. You know, he'll give you the mind of Christ. I can preach now. God has sealed His name upon my forehead in the 14th chapter, in the first verse of Revelations. He told me that two or three months ago. And His name is the Word of God in the 19th chapter, in the 13th verse of Revelation.

So He has sealed His name upon my forehead. He has sealed the Word. It just comes to me, the scriptures, and it's just wonderful. But I have to, you see, I can't quit praying. I got to keep growing. You know, if I don't pray today, then you know I'm not going to have the power that I need. I'm not going to have that strength, because you have to get that strength daily. The manna comes down daily, my friend. And if you go without it that day, you're not going to be able to do what God tells you to do. And you'll know that you need that power, and the Spirit won't be there because you've been doing something that wasn't right. You hadn't prayed that day. You hadn't prepared yourself for that day.

So let's read 15, 16, and 17. For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption, whereby you cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. Now all that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, Paul says in the third chapter, and I believe it's the twelfth verse of Second Timothy.

But he says in the second chapter and the twelfth verse, he said, If we suffer, we shall also reign with him. So we're going to suffer persecution. You don't have to suffer sickness, but if you do, you can get healed. Praise God, you can call the elders of the church if you call one that's walking in the Spirit, you see. I mean, you know, man's got to be walking in the Spirit. Man's got to be walking as a son of God every day. It doesn't make any difference whether he's been in the Word ten years or twenty years or two years. If he's living in the light that he has, he's a son of God. If he's been baptized with water and filled with the Holy Ghost, praise God, he's a son of God, and he can lay hands on you and pray for you. If he's obedient up to the light he has, praise God, he's got the power. He can use the power.

It doesn't make any difference if he's been in it a year, praise God, he can do it, because God heals somebody through me, and I wasn't even in it a year. But I was walking in what I knew to be right, and there was so much more, and I've been in it twenty-five years, praise God, and there's so much more I still don't know. But God's teaching me, the Holy Spirit teaching me to do these things, praise God. So, as heirs of God and all that is, you see, as heirs of God, all that is God is ours.

You see, in 2 Corinthians 1:20 said, All his promises are yea and amen in Christ, to glorify God through us. He said in Psalm 103:2-3, he said, Bless the Lord, bless the Lord, O my soul, and don't forget his benefits, who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases. Bless him, praise him, and glorify him. This living in the flesh, walking after the manner of men, is referred to in 1 Corinthians 3:1 as the characteristics of the babes in Christ, subject to the manifestations of jealousy and strife and human partiality, and it can include all the marks of the human out from under the control of the Spirit of the living God.

Let's turn over to Hebrews. The fifth chapter, 12 through 13. He says, For when the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskillful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. You know, a person that's a baby that hadn't grown up, he don't even know the difference between good and evil. That's sad, isn't it? The Corinthians were the same way. They were fussing and had out of order, and everything they'd done was out of order. I can prove it in the Word of God.

Spiritual maturity, manifest sonship, does not indicate that the mature Christian had become something in himself, but rather he has become nothing in himself, or is approaching this place of nothingness. I preached a sermon once on the knowledge of helplessness. Without Christ you can do nothing, and I'm going to tell you something: without Christ you are nothing. I am nothing without Christ. I can do nothing without His leadership. But all things are possible to them that believeth, He said. He has consistently given his self-life over to crucifixion through faith in his union with Christ in His death, and the resurrection life of the Son of God has clothed him, making him manifestly a son of God. This means that he is being led by the Spirit of God. You remember what He told Paul?

He said, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. When I'm weak, then I am strong, Paul said. So, praise the Lord. Let me take me a little swaller of water. Excuse me. Praise the Lord. All such in their place will truly be anointed with the Holy Spirit and power as Jesus was in His place. All through union with Him in death and resurrection, experienced in daily living, will be sons of God with power. Because, three things here: because they'll be sons of God with power because they are lost in the will of God, number one; they are led by the Spirit of God, number two; and desiring only the glory of God. This is all I want. I want Him to be glorified.

You see, my better half is gone on, you know, and I'm going to meet her again. …the Lord. Hallelujah. God is so good, isn't He? He is so wonderful. And I'll start over here. Because they are lost in the will of God, led by the Spirit of God, and desiring only the glory of God. There's no doubt that God is working to mature His redeemed, to get His sons ready for the days just ahead for the coming of the Lord. And that's the reason we're going into the highways and hedges. We have this tent, and we have everything we need to go with it. God has given us some money. It's come in, praise God, because this is the way God wants us to go.

We're going into the truck stops. We're going into Walmarts. But our primary place is in the truck stops. We already got places to go. We're going to Cullman, Alabama, my old hometown, praise God. We're going to go up there just as soon as the weather breaks, and in the winter we're going to go to Florida. And if anybody wants me to come to England, sometimes, you know, they might want me to come, then I'll let my grandson take it, and he's a minister, and he is a fine speaker, and he's walking with God because he lives next door to me, and I know he is, and he knows I am.

So praise God. So Jesus said, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and again, behold, I give unto you power to tread over serpents and scorpions, meaning the powers of darkness, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you. That's in Luke 10, verse 19. Now, it takes maturity as a son for that son to manifest his likeness to his Father. How we're changed into His likeness. Well, if you read 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 18, and the bottom of chapter 4, verse 6, we're changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord, in the face of Jesus Christ. In the face of Jesus Christ.

You see, that's where we're changed. Praise God, hallelujah. Changed into the same image. Now, Isaiah 60, verse 13 says, I'll make the place of my feet glorious, which is my sanctuary. And in Habakkuk 3, in the Amplified version, in verse 4 and 5, I believe it is, he said, Cleansing powers go forth from His feet. Hallelujah. Cleansing powers. You see, that's where we have to be cleansed. That's where we have to meet. Yeah, that's where Mary was. She was sitting at the feet of Jesus, and there's always someone trying to get us up from the feet of Jesus.

Oh, Martha, she was anxious about many things, Jesus said. But Mary is doing what I desire of her. She's sitting here listening to the Word, Martha. You know, many people are worried about many things. They're anxious about many things. But they don't have to be. Listen to me now. We don't have to worry. We don't have to fear. Why? Because perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love, I believe it's 1 John 4:18. If you fear, you're lacking something. You're lacking. You see, love casteth out fear. Perfect love casteth out fear.

Jesus casts fear out. I remember one time we was over at this place, this church, Chapel of Love, years ago. And I had to go over there early, and early in the morning it was cold to turn the heat on down in the basement. And I mean it was before we had a light on the front out there. I mean it was dark. And I opened the door, and this actually happened. And I entered in, and the power of God, the love of God come upon me, and it cast all the fear. I went down in the basement, turned the lights on, come back up there and preached for 20, 30 minutes, preached the Word of God.

You see, so that love casteth out the fear. Just think about walking into a dark room you've never been, you don't know what you— I mean it was dark, and the Spirit of God come upon me. The love, and it cast out the fear, because I've experienced that it will. That's the first time it ever happened. That's been years ago, but it happened to me, so I can tell you that it will if you walk with God. He loves you. So we're changed if we walk with God. Revelation 3:19 says, As many as I love... I point out their faults and correct, be zealous therefore and repent.

Now, if anybody hears this tape and hadn't come to know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, I challenge you today, tonight, to say this with me. Say, Father, forgive me of all my sins. Jesus, come into my heart and be Lord of my life. And if you say that in a minute, because if you confess with the mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Not maybe, but shalt. All you have to do is believe very simply. And then if you want to be filled, just cry out to God to be filled. He'll fill you. Go every day and ask God to fill you. I mean, you have the Father, you have the Son, the Holy Spirit is all one, but you need the power.

So pray for the power. Pray to be filled with the power. The power is the love of God too. So He loves you. He loves you with an everlasting love, He tells you in Jeremiah. So you must love Him back.

If there's any sick that ever listen to this tape, I want you to just listen very carefully. I'm going to send the Word. You see, in Psalms 105, verse 20, it says He sent the Word and delivered them, healed them and delivered them from all destruction. If you need healing when you listen to this tape, or any of your family, just gather around. I'm going to ask God. All God wants you to do is turn your whole heart over to Him. Turn your whole heart over and start studying His Word. Start praising Him. Start glorifying Him.

You see, praise is healing too. You can read that in, I believe it's Proverbs 17. Let's look over there and see. I want to be sure. I'm pretty sure that's it, 17. Yeah, it says, A merry heart doeth good like a medicine. I believe that's it. I want to turn over there and see. A merry heart doeth—yeah, that's it, 17:22. A merry heart doeth good like a medicine, but a broken spirit drieth the bones. See? So singing, you see, there's healing in singing. I mean, if you get up in the morning and start singing and praising God, that flesh, it gets out of the way. Pretty soon you break through. And then, I believe it's Proverbs, if you read back over in Proverbs there, he said, The word is life unto those that find it, and health to all their flesh. How about that? The word is life to those that find it and health to all their flesh. Chapter 4, verse 22 through 23.

Let them not—don't let, you see, he tells you to—he said, My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health, which means medicine, to all their flesh. So the Word is medicine. The Word is healing. Praising is healing. So you see, they both go together. You know, a lot of times they don't praise God enough. You know, they sing a lot of song, but just stop and let everybody praise for about 30 minutes. Just praise Him. Just glorify Him.

You know, everybody just like they want, just praise Him from their hearts. I'll tell you, God will move. God will move, my friend. Yeah, it's good to sing praises unto Him, but it's better just to praise Him from your heart. Just praise Him. Tell Him you love Him. Tell Him how much you love Him tonight, or today, whenever you hear this tape. Tell Him you love Him. Ask Him to touch your family. Ask Him to save your family, and stand upon that Word and believe that. The husband sanctify the wife, and also the wife, if walking right, sanctify the husband. And whoever it may be, I pray that you'll just praise Him and glorify Him.

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth, God said, it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereunto I send it. God has sent His Word, and I hope that you've enjoyed it. God bless you, and good night from Birmingham, Alabama.