Stewardship
#8
Great Position of Trust
How to Have Romans 12:3-8
[Need
to insert opening words preceding these:] That He is here and that He has
already revealed His Word through the prophet. And now we pray for
understanding especially in meekness of spirit and soul. And receiving not only
Your understanding, Lord, but the strength to walk in that understanding and
not give ourselves any leeway anymore but bring ourselves under the complete
governance of Almighty God, the Holy Spirit indwelling this Word, making it
live within vessels, thereby being living Word.
Father
we know that this is not beyond us, we look at… back… history, we see various
people and they are actually living that Word out and many people are living it
out and don’t even recognize it because so much of it is so very simple.
So
help us, our Lord, today to receive from You, receive that life, that light,
and walk in it and we be then the living vessels of the living God. We put our
trust in You this morning for that strength. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen.
You
may be seated.
1. Now
we’re into “Stewardship” again. [Bro. Vayle gives some announcements.] And, as
I broach this subject this morning, which is part of “Stewardship”, I don’t
want anybody to think I’m preaching from a goody-goody aspect, or someone who
has lived up to all the requirements that devolve upon us in this particular
area of stewardship. The tragic thing is that very few, almost none, have ever
taken the Word of God at it’s true meaning and have followed in the light, very
fearful of course, that they’ll miss something.
The
fear of missing something is very good, if we are fearful of missing what the
Lord has for us. The Bible mentions that in Hebrews 4, there is to be that
fear. But then, the fear of coming against the Word of God is not the kind of
fear that too many of us have; and it started with Satan.
2. And
you remember, Bro. Branham talked about Satan wanted a more beautiful kingdom,
a more glamorous kingdom, than Michael. And now, if you look at the word
‘kingdom’, which we did, oh, months and months ago, you can’t have a kingdom
without a king. And so, Satan wanted to be king. And when you’re king, then you
call the shots. And, when you get to be king, you’re like Nebuchadnezzar, the
head of gold. And we’re going back to the head of gold again very shortly.
Remember, it came from the head down, and now we’re building the feet up, which
is the way that God has built His Church.
And,
at the same time, as you come back to headship of Christ, you’re going to find
the headship of gold in there, and he demanded worship. And that’s what you
find at the end time, back in the days of
And,
when you realize it’s the same thing as Jesus said, “If you had known this John
the Baptist was Elijah to come, look what you would have had.” See? They knew
Elijah was to come preceding Messiah, but they turned it down. “If you had only
known what belonged to your day.” And again, “If you’d only known what belongs
to this day. If you’d only taken heed to the Word of God.”
Well
thank God there’s grace in the Blood to help us. But think, [just] think what
it would be with people, under sovereignty, the sovereign God, listening to
God, and fulfilling the offices of their stewardship, wherever they’re placed.
And we’ll try to make that very simple this morning to you, as we go into this
one phase of stewardship.
3. But
it brings us the good things of God, and they are difficult. There’s a price to
pay in the flesh in obeying God, and there’s a price to pay in the flesh by
disobeying God. And the price that we pay in disobedience is so vastly negative
that it’s compared to what we get in paying a price in obedience, because when
you pay a price you demand something for your money.
Well
the Scripture tells us there’s coming a day when we realize that the price we
pay in suffering is not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be
revealed in us. So see, stewardship is very, very important. [It’s the] same as
sowing and reaping.
And
remember, then, that we can no longer treat the vindicated Word of this hour as
anything but being stewards of it. And also remember that we can no longer
treat any violation of God’s sacred trust of stewardship and not have some
harmful effect that comes from having perpetrated that which is against the
Word of Almighty God.
4. So,
going into this morning’s message… And I usually read quite a bit, because I
like to have my thoughts in order and as well as I can present them, especially
for your good and also for my good, because it certainly helps me. Now, as we
have already read many Scriptures concerning stewardship, we did, we went into
many Scriptures, especially those in the Gospel and we found that the position
of a steward was not only one of honor, but one that involved great
responsibility. The steward was not required to provide any part of the wealth
he administered for his employer. The employer gave it all to him. But he was
bound to be responsible for it.
In
other words it was a great position of trust where the owner of the assets
simply said, “Look, I’ve got confidence in you. I see in you the capabilities;
I see in you that which will be a fine administrator. Now I’m turning it over
to you. So, therefore, I’m requiring of you now to administer this trust. And
you will not do it in your self-interest. You will do it in my interest and for
my family, and in doing that, you will make me a profit. And in making that
profit, you will set my stature higher than what it has been. I’m trusting you
for all of this. This is a great trust, so do not let me down.”
5. Now,
in a case of neglect or wrong judgment, wherein he lost his employer’s assets,
he could be dismissed and even [have to] pay for the loss by restoring what he
had lost or squandered or be punished by imprisonment, which length of
imprisonment would depend on how much he lost.
Now
in the law of the Old Testament, if a man borrowed, and he ran up a great big
debt, and he couldn’t pay it, actually then, he could sell himself into bondage
to pay that debt. Or he, could sell his children into bondage. And, of course,
there was every fifty years a jubilee where the debts were written off.
6. That
would be a great thing right now in the light of what’s happening in
Look,
I want you to know what I’m dealing with this morning. We have never been
sincere. I have to admit, I’m not preaching to you now as a lily-white guy.
Don’t think I am. And I’m not preaching to you as a goody-goody. I’m looking at
the Word of God this morning as the Word of God is. If it strikes home, it
strikes me; it strikes everybody. But we just deal with the Word of God, and
we’ll see what we’re going to do about it, because that’s all we can do.
Like
a man phoned me one day, he said, “Bro. Vayle, there’s so much of the young
people in our church fornicating and all.” He said, “What can I do?”
I
said, “There’s nothing you can do but preach the Word. There’s nothing you can
do but preach the Word. If it has a place in their hearts, they’re going to
follow that Word. If they want to follow their lusts, they’re going to do it.
You can’t go in their homes and look in their refrigerator and under their beds
and in their beds. What are you trying to do?” See?
7. Kept
by the power of God through faith, and the power lies in the Word. Let a man
take that Word seriously and honestly and sow it in his heart, and then, look
at it and watch his life. Something’s going to happen. No, there’s no way you
can change this living Word, brother/sister. We’re at the end time now where there’s
going to be a Bride, and I mean she’s going to be a beauty: all glorious within
and without, neither spot nor wrinkle in her garment, completely washed in the
waters of separation, completely undefiled. Yes, and they’re all going to have
the mind of Christ, because it’s already been delivered to us.
8. We’re
past the eye age; we’re in the mind age right now. And what mind do we set our
minds to? What set of mind do we have? Doctrinally, we have the mindset of the
Word, but when it comes to conduct, we are lacking very, very greatly. Thank
God the Blood is there. Thank God the intercessor’s there, or we would be wiped
out. In this age, there’s no two ways about it. But remember, this Bride will
not go into losing her virginity of that particular Word. All right.
9. So
therefore, he could be imprisoned [referring back to paragraph 5], and [the
length of time served] would depend, on how much he lost. And the same thing
holds good today. As Bro. Branham said, “There’ll be a resurrection body for those that are of
the serpent seed.” And they will be in that
10. Now
remember, we know that God created Satan. We know that God raised up Pharaoh,
and we know what kind of a man he was. But let’s face it; nobody made Pharaoh
do what he did. Nobody made Satan do what he did. They had a free moral agency,
and they had within them that capability to do it, and they did it. And we have
within us the capability of going one way or the other. You simply cannot get
away from responsibility, brother/sister. See? So there’s a walk. All right.
He
was a trusted person, and it was expected of him to do his best. And remember,
this man in the Scripture… And we, in Scripture, are with this man. We are
capable; we are capable. Remember, a man is not judged by what he has not, he
is judged by what he has. See? What’s expected of us in this end time is more
than what has been expected before, but that is beside the point, because more
has been given us.
If
I’m a brawny person, able to lift two hundred pounds, I would have no trouble
standing at the dikes and taking those sandbags of forty apiece and going
“phoom, phoom, phoom.” [Bro. Vayle illustrates throwing of the sandbags onto
the dike with ease]. But if I don’t have the strength to lift ten pounds, I
can’t handle those sandbags of forty pounds. See?
But
God’s given us strength, the strength of God in the measure of our necessity.
And our necessity devolves by what position God has given us.
11. Now
don’t get frightened. We’ll see a lot of good things in scripture this morning,
I’m taking my time to understand. The food is going to be cooked very slowly,
very deliciously. So turn the tape over and put another one in, if we have to,
and I hope not. All right.
12. Now
in the majority, if not all, of the Gospel narratives, we find that each
parable is addressing us all as stewards of the grace of God--as stewards of
the gift of God and the gifts of God. These parables go back to Gen 1:26-31.
And here’s where we find the germ or the seed of stewardship, the actual
stewardship that God wanted above every single thing. So, [Gen] 26-31:
(26) And
God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have
dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air, over the cattle
and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the
earth.
(27) So
God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and
female created he them.
Now
you notice in there, there’s a great deal of talk about creation. And there’s
no doubt that it is an actual creation. But you will find when God began to put
man in a human body, something else happened: he breathed into him the breath
of lives and man became a living soul. God actually breathed the Holy Ghost
into him in order that, by human instrumentality, He may have many manifested
sons and each one a seed of God by that soul. And it was handed down from God
to Adam and comes down by the human race and people don’t believe it.
13. I
wonder if you believe it this morning that you’re really convinced that Bro.
Branham told us the truth, that positively, we are a part of God concerning our
soul as he said, “My eyes, my ears, who’s me?” See? They don’t understand the
stream of life and God is life. And they don’t understand that life is spirit
and God is spirit. See?
That’s
why they talk about, “Oh, we’re looking at Mars now. I think for sure there was
water up there. Oh my, it may be, then, all these comets came down and
sprinkled everything upon earth, and, because all those things were right there
propitious in order for life to come, life came.” Hogwash! They forget that
Bro. Branham put it distinctly years ago: “Before God ever made a fish with a fin to swim, He
made the waters to swim in.” I don’t care if comets brought it all
down here; they got this and that on Mars. These guys are complete kooks. They
are insane. They are insane! The scientists are insane.
We’ve
got a bunch of Frankensteins and Draculas a God knows what. Not bat men; the
bat’s smarter than that. He can emit a sound that comes back and deters him
from being hurt. But these scientists open their stupid mouths and emit sounds
that are condemning them, and the idiots that listen will be condemned with
them, because by your words you’re justified or by your words you’re condemned.
See? So we’re very careful about our words this morning.
14. (28) And
God blessed them, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish
the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, the fowl
of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the face of the earth,
and so on.
Now
here we find, in the light of this stewardship, the stewardship is defined,
they are to bring forth seed unto God, they are to be in control of the earth.
And remember, it started there in the Garden of Eden. And that’s very important
to know that the Garden of Eden is a very special place--the
15. Now,
here we find a total disregard for the Creator, Who was their master employer.
When He rightfully and authoritatively demanded their stewardship of the entire
earth and it’s furnishings, [to] be governed according to successful guidelines
that were amply explained and demonstrated, they disregarded those rules and
bankrupted God’s Kingdom on earth, and the devil took over. For these six
thousand years, Adam’s seed have been in bondage and can only come out of this
pest house prison at the First Resurrection.
In
other words the penalty, the warning, not so much penalty but the warning, of
what would happen when you perverted the Word of God, you threw it from the
positive to the negative. And man being (Now, listen) a receptacle of that Word
as long as it’s positive, he went straight back to God, blessed by God. The
minute he perverted it, he went negative. So therefore, if the word ‘positive’
said, “Thou shalt live,” the word, ‘negative’, absolutely meant ‘death’. If the
word ‘positive’ meant you would eat of that tree and the tree of life, and
you’d be blessed, you would have it. If you went negative, you would eat of the
tree of death and you’d not [be] blessed. Do you understand what I’m saying?
[All right.]
16. So,
this is what we’re looking at: sowing and reaping. And remember, God sowed that
Word, and that Word cannot come back to Him negative. It’ll come back positive.
But the man who turned it negative will pay the price until God turns it back
by redemption and according to the hour in which it is. Only that will bring
man back to a positive. In the mean time, for 4,000 years, they were dying.
Then there was the first half of the First Resurrection.
Where
they are and what they are doing don’t ask me. I only know they’re resurrected;
they’re somewhere. They’re doing something. I don’t know. When our turn comes,
we’ll find out.
17. But
now, for two thousand years people have been dying. Why? Because [they’re]
entirely off of that Word. And you know as well as I do, it started in the
garden. And then, what happened in the day of Paul? Death entered the same way;
it entered the same way. You tell me that there couldn’t be people living here
upon earth? Sure, there could’ve been, but they haven’t, because man has always
taken the Word and made it negative. He has perverted it. And therefore, now,
the Word of God cannot work unto life. It has to work unto death.
18. One
day, and this is our day of the perfect Word, there’ll be a perfect Bride.
She’ll go right into immortality. She will be here living and breathing and
eating and everything else; and suddenly, like a sweep comes over her, the
change is there, and she’s like the immortal ones raised from the dead in the
second part, the omega part, of the resurrection, First Resurrection, going to
be taken away. See? So we’re looking at a truth here.
19. Now
there is another parable besides that in the Gospel that is not so well known.
And that’s over here in Isaiah 5, and just a few verses, 1-7.
(1) Now
I will sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My
wellbeloved hath a vineyard and a very fruitful hill:
(2) And
he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the
choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress
therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth
wild grapes. (A perversion hit it.)
Now
you got sour grapes. You know you can’t make good wine without a lot of sugar.
That’s why only
But
the Bible said the Holy Ghost, when He comes, doesn’t give us a [check this word:
superior] to fear but of love and of courage and a sound mind. So there’s
something a little bit wrong today in the light of the gift of the Holy Ghost
Himself. [There are] wrong attitudes--wrong applications, because there’s a
fear in there. You’ve got it right in your kids; it’s called ‘peer fear’. When
are you going to be taught to rise above the herd? See? What a difference.
Okay.
20. (3) And
now, O inhabitants of
(4) What
could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done it? Wherefore,
when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?
(5) And
now go to; I will tell you what I’ll do to my vineyard: I will take away the
hedge thereof, it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it
shall be trodden down:
Isn’t
that exactly what happened to Eve? Yeah. Here everything in the Garden of Eden
is one hundred percent propitious. It wasn’t one thing out of disorder;
everything was flawless. What did she do? She wouldn’t listen to the Word of
the beloved. No, she would rise above it. She listened to Satan, the perverter.
So she perverted that Word with him. Now she’s no longer hedged in. Now she’s
no longer behind the Word. She’s one hundred percent open now to anything that
can happen in the realm of the negative--the Word of God gone sour, the Word of
God lost it’s power, the Word of God now not for you, the Word of God against
you. See?
Remember,
there is no such thing, in my books, as a God of judgment just coming down and
judging, no way, shape, and form. There has to be a misdemeanor, before there
can be a judgment; or there has to be a credit, before there can be a judge
giving a merit award. It’s always with the Word, brother/sister, turning it
down, turning it down, turning…
21. Why
do you think the great tribulation is going to hit right after us getting out
of here? Because they’ve turned down William Branham, prophet of God, God in
the prophet. They wouldn’t listen to that voice that spoke form heaven. They
wouldn’t listen to the One that came down and informed the prophet what to tell
us. They wouldn’t do it. So now they’re on their own, and they’re still saying,
“We’re rich, increased in goods, and don’t lack a thing.” They didn’t listen
the prophet said, “You’re blind.”
If
they’d a said they were blind, they wouldn’t have had sin. But the minute they
said, “We see, we don’t need you.”
What
about the guy, then, that said, “If we’d only prayed, we wouldn’t have to have
had Bro. Branham?” Supposed to be in this message. What message? Not in my
message that I believe. I couldn’t do without Bro. Branham.
What
voice spoke to me and said, “If you ever listen to any man, that’s the man
you’ll listen to.”
How
could I listen to that man, if God (or the devil—one of the two) hadn’t a sent
him? Well, you know, God never answers back to the devil’s plea. No way can you
pray in Jesus’ Name and come in the Name of the Lord, and God betray you.
That’s the secret that it is God. Oh, I get so burdened for this.
22. (6) And
I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned or digged; but there shall come up
briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon
it.
(7) For
the vineyard of our Lord of hosts is the house of
What
kind of judgment? To judge according to truth and institute it. We are now wise
unto righteousness to discern between good and evil. We know the answers. We’ve
been given them. We know the devil’s lie. We know the secrets of God. “But
behold oppression; for righteousness, behold a cry.” [Isa 5:7b]
In
other words there’s just constantly a cry going up, but there’s nothing coming
from it. Well, I’m going to tell you, at this end time, God will hear the cry
of the righteous and judge (And the result of this Word is settling in right
now.) all the negativity from that Word, by the disobedience and putting it to
one side, because there’s only life in it. So therefore, the world is full with
death at this particular time.
23. Now,
having read these verses, it is not difficult to detect that the same spirit
that was in Isaiah was in Jesus, when Jesus gave forth his parable on
stewardship. Now you tell me it wasn’t. [It’s the] same God--goes right back to
Genesis; goes right back to
What
kind of an appetite lies in us—and let’s face it, it is there—if our appetite
for wrong—for opposite the Word exceeds the appetite for what is in the Word?
And
remember, Bro. Branham talked to the old Indian up in
He
said, “Which
one is winning, chief?”
He
said, “The one I feed most.”
Like
Bro. Branham said, “Feed the Christ within you.” And there’s
only one way you can do that, and that’s through the Word.
24. Now,
so therefore, the same spirit in Isaiah was in Jesus when he gave forth his
parables on stewardship in the Gospels. The perfections of God’s gifts and
their importance to us were not rightly esteemed because of grace. And in most
cases there was not an instant response like there was in the Garden of Eden.
People think they’re getting away with it.
It’s
like Oral Roberts tells the time when there was a certain man came to him, and
he’d been committing adultery. And I guess it was on a Saturday night; the man
fell into sin. The next day he thought, “God will strike me dead in the
pulpit.” He said, “Certainly,” he said, “Some terrible thing can happen.” He
got up there nervous as all get out, but he was so anointed by the Holy Spirit,
in the office that he had of, course, that he preached with great freedom and
he thought, “Hey! I wasn’t struck dead. I didn’t lose any anointing. I guess
it’s all right.” Now you see, that’s what people are looking at.
25. The
mills of God’s Word in judgment grind slow. And God does not bring judgment in
twenty-four hours. He never has, except in the Garden of Eden. And I don’t
think He ever will again, on this grounds: that that judgment will come
whenever it is necessary for God to bring it.
In
other word, God simply pulls away His support, because He’s not in that Word
that the people have and therefore, the whole thing begins to go down. Because,
remember this brother/sister… Now I’ll show you why, all creation was made by
the Word of God and is now presently sustained by the same Word. Therefore, the
minute you pull that Word back, that which was created is not eternal, begins
to go down, down, down, down, down. So that’s what we’re looking at. All right.
26. Now,
my major thought on the subject that we are considering is this, so listen
carefully, and I’ll explain it: the indescribably munificent gift of God’s
grace, in whatever form that grace comes, cannot be contemned,
c-o-n-t-e-m-n-e-d, by man without the severity of God’s responding judgment.
Or, in other words, God pulling right back. Now it doesn’t say that you don’t
have the free gifts by grace.
Now
the word ‘contemn’, and you’ll find it in the Bible, you find a dictionary, it
means ‘to scorn and despise’. So I read it again. The indescribably munificent
gift, or gifts, of God’s grace--You can’t describe what God has given us. It’s
utterly beyond us. We have it--in whatever form that grace comes, cannot be
scorned or despised by man, without the severity of God’s response, which is:
He can’t respond any more to you than what He gave you, and you are adrift as a
star floating in the universe and has no mooring, orbits around nothing, orbits
around everything--wandering stars as the Bible proclaims it.
27. Now
grace is unmerited favor; as Paul says: “the free gift.” And the free gift, or
grace, is always unto life, never changing. It’s always unto life. It’s either
to bring you back from the dead, to get you out of the mess you [and I] are in,
to do those things that are vitally necessary for us, are free. Always to life,
never changing--never ceasing. It is as Paul says in Rom 5:12-21, with verses
12-14 setting the basis for what precedes as grace to you and me. So let’s go
to Romans 5. And he says:
(12) Wherefore,
as by one man sin entered the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon
all men, for all have sinned.
(13) (For
until the law, sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed where there is no
law.
(14) Nevertheless,
grace… death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned
after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is a figure of him that was
to come.
Now
that’s in the negative concerning Jesus. As we got a free gift of being
dislodged from God, all of us, slaves in the dominion of Satan, his kingdom.
Even so, as we did not ask for it, we did not ask for Jesus to come and pay a
price and get us back to God.
28. So,
you can understand now exactly what grace is. Grace is the free gift of
Almighty God to rescue you and me and to get us back in the divine orbit of
God, back to the oneness with God. Back, not only to
Now,
if
29. Now,
watch in verse 15; “But not as the offense, so is also the free gift.” Now here
again, is what we’re looking at. The stewardship, that Adam and Eve had, went
into disrepute, went into sin, went to the place where every child of God was
now born in sin, conceived in sin and shaped in iniquity, come into the world
speaking lies, as Bro. Branham said. That’s the condition they put us into. But
remember now, watch what It says here, “But not as the offence, so also is the
free gift.”
In
other words, the offence and the condition we are in cannot be compared to what
God does for us by grace. In other words, if we have one ton of guilt and filth
and immorality, and all of those things that are condemnatory, because we have
gone against the Word of God… Now, by free grace, we don’t only have one ton to
measure, we have a thousand tons to come against it. See? It tells you, you
can’t compare them. I am comparing them but you cannot do it, Paul says you
can’t compare.
Let
me read It again; [Rom
30. If
we have sensations now that have come to the place where those sensations are
paramount in the world today, and they’re mostly animal, rather than the
exotic, aesthetic sensual of the spirit, just wait till we find when the
breezes of God begin to blow upon us and the joy of Holy Communion--of brothers
and sisters. What we have here now, we’ll look at, if we could look at it, we’d
only look at it with disgust. And the finest of the finest couldn’t even begin
to come near the lowest of the low in the
Now
that’s just trying to give you an idea of what Paul is saying here. “And not as
it was by one man that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to
condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.” [Rom
31. And
let me tell you something, you know as well as I do, and the police in America
are so stinking and the law courts so rotten, you’ll never get this to happen;
but the policemen, the people today, they trick people into sin, and then they
pick them up. They have policemen standing on the corner and women policemen to
entice men like prostitutes. And the minute a man approaches them… And let me
tell you, when that woman does that before God she’s guilty of adultery, and
she’ll burn in hell, if she doesn’t repent. That’s your law today. Yeah! O God
have pity. I can’t wait to see
One
offense, but now many. One woman enticed brought all the sin on. But she did
that one thing. And, you know, just one thing. And out of that one thing came
the millions and billions of sins that’s in the world today. But righteousness,
which is exalted, and now through the Blood of Jesus Christ, gives us perfect
cleansing.
32. “For,
if by one man’s offense death reigned by one; much more they which receive
abundance of grace, and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by
one, Christ Jesus.” [Rom
“Therefore
as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by
the righteous of one free gift, came upon all men unto justification.” [Rom
“For
as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one
shall many be made righteous.” [Rom
33. Do
you realize right now if we put our faith to work there wouldn’t be one morsel
of food touch our lips that wouldn’t be good for us? Cleansed by the Word of
God and prayer, brought back to diamonds. I don’t mean for one minute that you
can eat a bowl of pasta day after day and say, “Well that’s got all the
vitamins in it.”
I’m
not talking about being some kind of a nut that you take a little bit of some
kind of a cereal or a grain or some foolish thing and say, “Now Lord,” like the
Catholics, you know, bless it with holy water, some rabbit’s foot. Forget it.
I’m talking about reality, where we know how to eat properly, our vegetables
and the food before us.
And
I can tell you one thing; it’s cleansed by the Word of God and prayer, because
Paul said so. That doesn’t mean only cleansed from the altars of sacrifice to
devils and things out there, I beliee. I go beyond that, because this goes
beyond it. It goes right to the crux of the thing.
But
it’s still the truth; nothing in the food. We sure need to pray over it. We
sure need to do everything we can. And in doing what we can, asking God to
bless it, I believe we can have better health than we ever had before. It’s
going to be pretty hard, but it can be done. [End of side one of the audio
tape.]
34. Now:
(20) Moreover
the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound:
(21) And
if sin has reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Now
let’s look at that. “Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound.”
In other words God is telling you right here, “Look, if you sow wrong, you’re
going to get a crop. If you sow one grain of wheat, you could get fifty back.”
So, if you sow one Word of God in the right spirit, the right attitude, with
the right understanding, and you really mean it—giving God the glory—you could
get multiplied back from God that you cannot believe.
Now,
let’s take a little further look. That, “As sin reigned in death, even so might
grace reign in righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ.” So, all right,
the Word of God perverted, the Word of God used--the same as Satan used it, and
the serpent used it to Eve, and Eve listened—brings on all of this, which is
death, because it is no longer the Word of God, but the Word of God standing
there in all creation, these things got to go down. Because, as I told you, all
things are made by Him, spoken Word, and all things maintained by Him, spoken
Word. You turn away from it; you’re going to see the thing go down.
That’s
why at the end time there’s going to be the complete dissolution of the heavens
and the earth and new ones come in, going to be there. You simply cannot take
away this Word. That is why Bro. Branham said, “He is His Word, God is the Word, and
this is God in print.” And the revelation of this Word in you and me
constitute the reigning of God in our lives, as we lay our bodies on the altar
of sacrifice. We’ll go into more and more of that.
35. Now,
the offense abounded, but where sin abounded… Now what’s sin? Unbelief. Now
let’s look at it. There never was a time of more unbelief than this hour. Not
even in the days of Jesus, because that was merely a small fraction of the
people, chosen Israelites. There was no relationship to the Romans or anybody
else; it was
Now,
where sin abounds—unbelief. And all of the attributes of sin: smoking,
drinking, adultery, lying, stealing, killing, raping, drug addiction,
destruction; you name it. Those are the symptoms.
36. Now,
with life abounding by grace, there won’t be one bit of that in a Bride. Her
attitudes will be incorruptible and uncorrupted. Oh, I’m looking for a Bride in
this earth, but I expect I’ll be dead. But I’m looking for a Bride that’s been
brought up in this Word, going to be nobody like her. And you know how she’s
going to be that way? Because you’re going to teach your children.
You’re
not going to look at yourselves and say, “Look, I wasn’t so good like these
guys out there.”
They
said, “What about pot?” to these mothers and fathers in the world. They said,
“No big deal.”
Sure,
because they smoked it. And the President [Clinton] of course, he didn’t
inhale, phhht! I could tell you a joke right now that’s a true joke, but I
won’t do it. It’s a little bit too filthy; we best leave it alone.
Now,
as unbelief reigned unto death, and it’s reigning right now, so might grace
reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ. And
righteousness is what? The worship of God according to truth. There’s going to
be a Bride get out of here. Okay.
37. Now,
thus we see what even the gifts of grace given us end up in eternity. And to
see that, we go to 1 Corinthians 3. Now It says here, in verse 10. “According
to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have
laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed
how he builds thereon.” Paul was one hundred percent consecrated to the gift
and the use of the gift, which was not his to use on his own, but God using the
gift according to His Own knowledge and desires within the man who knew how to
get to one side.
“Get out of
the way,” as Bro. Branham said. That’s in Ephesians. I read it to
you many times.
(11) For
other foundations can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ.
(“Which,” he said, “I laid it,” and he is the Word.)
(12) Now,
if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay,
stubble.
You
can take the Word of God; I can take the Word of God. Now how we going to take
it? How we going to handle it? How we going to use it? What kind of stewards
are we? Well, it depends on how our stewardship… If we honor it, we’ll have
gold, silver, precious stones from that Word. If we do not honor it: wood, hay,
stubble—burned out.
38. We’re
talking about eternity now, because remember, this is the gold that doesn’t
perish, this is the gold spoken of by Peter.
“If
any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.”
[1 Cor
Now
he’s going to get multiplied status by being faithful. And faithfulness comes,
first of all, to the revelation, which is by faith, because, if you’re off that
revelation, it doesn’t matter what you do: give your body to be burned--no
problem. Give everything you have to the poor--no problem. Do what you want.
You still haven’t got it, because righteousness has to do solely and purely
with the seed and the attitude, which is the true revelation of that which God
has given to that seed. That’s in 1 Jn 3. [ ]
(15) If
any man’s work shall be burned, if any man’s work shall be burned, he shall
suffer loss: but he himself be saved; yet so as by fire.
(16) Know
ye not that you are temples of God, the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
He’s
talking of people here. You can waste everything God has given you, or you can
make good of it.
39. I
had the little stupid idea I wanted to be an evangelist, because I loved the
Lord and I wanted to, you know, this is where the glamour was. But I never
could be. It wouldn’t work out. Nothing did. I finally reconciled after the
prophet told me. He said, “You know, you’re no pastor. You’re a teacher.”
A little gift of teaching. And I’m very happy and very satisfied, and I hope by
the grace of God that I may get a reward, because I believe I’ve been faithful
to the Word.
Now,
of course, my attitude will have a lot to do with it too. But I’m sure I don’t
have an attitude where I just want to destroy people or something else, that’s
not the point, or be iconoclastic or put a little realm around myself and say,
“Look, I’ve got it and you’d better come to Lee Vayle to get it.” I never have
said that. [I] never will. Why should I be such an idiot? Because it isn’t
true. Nobody has to come to me for anything.
But,
whether anybody comes or anybody listens, that hasn’t got a thing to do with
it. I’m supposed to be faithful to the Word of God. If nobody listens, I’m
still supposed to blow, as it were, my voice in the wind. And God will not let
that Word come back void, if that is the Word of God in my mouth. And, if
nothing happens, it is still the Will of God, because there’s going to come a
time when all men’s ears are closed, because they got the little [ ] awl mark
in there, except the tiny, tiny minority, of Bro. Branham said, “One hundredth
of one percent will not listen.”
Tell
me, how many percent even heard in this seven million people—five and a half to
seven million people on earth? Tell me, how many? Have a million heard? Huh?
Huh-uh. Do a million know about Bro. Branham’s tapes and ministry? Well, let’s
say that they did. Only one hundredth of one percent would even listen. Kind of
few that travel the narrow way and get through the little narrow gate. All
right.
40. Now,
so, having read these verses and seeing a little of the grace of God, let us
see in the Scripture where grace was frustrated, even by fine people, exactly,
it was Peter. Let’s go to Galatians 2. This is where “let a man think that he
standeth take heed, lest he fall.” [1 Cor
(11) But
when Peter came to
(12) For
before there certain came from James—Before that certain people came from
James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and
separated himself, fearing them that were of the circumcision. (“Oh, I better
cozy up to them. I know I’m right, but I can just let down on this one.” Hey
Pete, something wrong old boy. Huh? Hey, even a guy like Peter hit the skids.)
(13) And
the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas was carried
away with their hypocrisy.
Don’t
use the word ‘dissimulation’ like a ‘little argument’.
“Oh,
they couldn’t quite make their minds up.”
They
were hypocrites! Because they knew better, but they catered to the crowd.
41. Like
Becky [Rebecca Branham Smith] tells in her last paper how that Carl Williams
and Sonmore were the only ones that voted against the Full Gospel Businessmen—[Demos]
Shakarian—the whole bunch of them, evidently didn’t want to hear Bro. Branham
anymore; and they said, “You reverse it, or we resign.” And [when] they saw two
of the most influential men were ready to pull out, they said, “Oh well, we’ll
let it go.” Until the only place Bro. Branham could ever go with that bunch of
hypocrites, Trinitarian idolaters, (who turned the grace of God into a lie) was
through Carl Williams.
I
don’t know that Sonmore did any more; he talks a lot about Bro. Branham talking
with him in
42. Let’s
keep reading.
(14) When
I saw they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said
unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of
Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as
do the Jews?
(15) Who
we know are Jews by nature, and are not sinners of the Gentiles,
(16) Knowing
that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus
Christ, (and I like that: it’s not your faith and mine even, it’s his, it’s his
contract.)
Are
we down here now to tell that the Father and the Son had a contract, but we’re
changing the terms? We’re changing how it’s administered? We’re now putting a
hand in the pot? That’s your organization; that’s your preachers and your
teachers; your five-fold ministry that’s corrupt. [That’s] not a true five-fold
ministry. And your deacons and your elders that want to rise up like we had
them here, (They weren’t even that.) and tried to tell me what to preach.
A
lot of people thought I was mean. A little old gal in front here said, “Oh,
you’re mean Bro. Vayle, you’re mean.”
I
said, “Well I’m mean. Fine.”
She’s
a hypocrite. She said, “I don’t care what Bro. Branham said.”
Well
I do care. I do care. And my care is, “Am I believing right? Have I got the
right attitude concerning it? Am I doing right by it?”
These
were a bunch of… Peter was a hypocrite--the whole bunch of them. They knew
better.
43. Hey,
we’re talking about men full of the Holy Ghost. We’re talking about Peter
saying, “Let’s choose men full of Holy Ghost and faith to do these things.
We’re not called to serve tables, bless God. We’re here for the bigger things.”
Now
the big thing came. He opens the door to the Gentiles. Now he slams the door in
their faces. Hey! Stewardship! And you’re responsible, even if you are Peter,
or you’re Paul or James or John, or you’re Jesus Christ. You’re responsible,
because God Himself is a steward. He said He stands behind His Word to perform
It.
Now
I feel like shouting and screaming, but the Pentecostals wouldn’t go with me.
They wouldn’t grab the chandeliers and start swinging. I think Ralph [Mills]
might. He’s a good old boy. But, if the rest didn’t follow us, I’d know
something’s wrong. I know something is very wrong, because this is the faith of
Jesus Christ. This is His contract. This is His life. This is His security.
This is His Church. This is His Word. And we dare to finangle; and we know
better. And Bro. Branham said, “They know better.”
And
I preached that sermon in
44. He
said, [Gal
Now
the Church, having been set in order, shall we put the pew full of tongues and
interpretations, so-called, and women prophesying and all that jazz, because it
is jazz, it’s a strident sound, it’s off-beat with the Word of God. They’re
marching to the tune of a different drummer. I can tell you that. [It’s] the
beat of a different drummer.
Now
listen to what Paul said:
(17b) God
forbid.
(18) For
if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a sinner.
Peter
finally woke up, and he calls it: “turning back the dog to its vomit and the
sow to the wallow.” And he was saying, “I was washed. I’m born of the Word. I
blew it for a while. But not anymore.” And they took him to crucify him, and he
said, “I’m not worthy, turn me upside down.” He learned his lesson.
It
took Paul, who wasn’t with Jesus, who received everything by revelation, to set
those other apostles right.
45. So
you see, if we put our faith in anything we think we are, or anything we’ve
got, either Paul or William Branham, and you begin to make one little move,
Paul said let an angel from heaven come down, even purported an angel of God,
change one word, “Let him be accursed.” [Gal 1:8] If I change one word, let me
be accursed.
Hey!
He didn’t need to say that, he would be. Now he wouldn’t be lost, but he’d be
disapproved, and everything he stood for, everything he proclaimed, everything
he saw, would go down the drain. Be careful, lest any man take thy crown; be
careful, lest any man take your place.
How
many preachers had ministries and lost them by adultery? Right today we’ve got
preachers whose wives have left them. They’ve had to step down. Why?
Because
Bro. Branham said, “If my wife left me, I’d have to leave the ministry.”
I
don’t know if there’s Bible for it, because the gifts from God are without
repentance. But the thing is, there’s common sense for it. Who’d want a man
whose wife left him? But it’s right today all over the place. Something is
radically wrong.
46. Now,
did I get to [verse] 21? No, let’s keep reading. “For I through the law am dead
to the law, that I might live unto God.” [Gal 2:19] What did the law do? The
law merely came and showed them where they were wrong. And, if they persisted
in it, it meant—hey, they’ll lose everything but their eternal life providing
they had this eternal life, because you can’t [lose eternal life]. God can’t
lose a part of Himself. Now watch:
(20) I am
crucified with Christ: (it’s not so)… I have been crucified with Christ:
nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life that I
now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God (his own faith),
who loved me and gave himself for me. (Now watch.)
(21) I do
not frustrate the grace of God: (Look what he says he has. Look what he says is
operating in him. Look at this man. And he says, “I won’t frustrate what God is
doing in my life. I won’t call a halt to it. I won’t destroy it.”) for if
righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
He
said, “Forget it Peter. Forget it you guys. Stick with reality. This is
reality. Stick with it.”
47. Now
just a minute. What does the word ‘frustrate’ mean? It means to ‘set aside’, to
‘disesteem’, to ‘neutralize’, to ‘violate’, to ‘cast off’, to ‘despise’, to
‘reject’, to ‘bring to nothing’. [ ] Bro. Branham kept saying, “One word off,
there goes your grace. There goes everything.” We’re talking now in
terms of revelation.
Paul
was only standing up for the revelation. He never stood against those men, as
though they were filthy, as though they were rotten. They were hypocritical,
because they knew better. Oh yes, they knew better. But Paul stood with the
Word, the defense of the Gospel, which was brilliantly—what?—Word, Spirit,
Jesus. And Bro. Branham, at the end time, brought them all back; the true and
the living God; the beautiful Son of God; the Word today; the Son on the Father’s
throne. God, down here, bringing all things into subjection; and the Word of
God, powerful, bringing to life a Bride; and to the full fruitage of what God
saw for this end time.
48. Now
we ought to read Romans 2. You girls better turn down the heat on the dishes
out there, I’ve got three pages out of twelve here. Now:
(1) Therefore
thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou
judge another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same
thing.
(2) But
we are (now watch)… But we are sure the judgments of God is according to truth
Now
here is a fellow saying something and putting a stamp of approval or
disapproval on it, and he’s doing it out of his own head of his own heart, his
own mind. But this is something different. What Paul is doing, now, is
different. Watch what it is:
(2) We
are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which
commit such things. (In other words, God has spoken and given us the truth of
the entire matter.)
(3) And
thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them that do such things, and doest the
same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?
(4) Or
despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering;
not knowing the goodness of God leads to repentance?
(5) But
after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasures up unto thyself wrath against
the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; (and that’s
today)
(6) Who
will render unto every man according to his deeds:
You
see, look, how you esteem that Word and how you hold it is really going to
influence your life, whether you believe it or not, because that Word has a
certain life in it, and life has to manifest according to the Word. A dog does
not mew and cat does not bark. Neither does salty, impure waters come out of a
pure fountain. Double mindedness and double-tongueness is not in the Word for
any Christian. The minute you take a stand, that’s the minute something happens
to you. That’s the minute you’re going to manifest something that didn’t
manifest before.
These
guys are looking at works. They’re pronouncing a judgment. They’re saying, “How
can you people that believe Reverend Branham, all these things you say, why
you’re no different from us—in fact, you’re not as good.”
[That
doesn’t have] a thing to do with it. And yet it has a lot to do with it in a
certain way.
49. Now:
(6) Who
will render to every man according to his deeds:
(7) To
them that by patient continuance and well doing seek for glory and honor and
immortality, eternal life:
(8) But
unto them that are contentious, who do not obey the truth, but obey
unrighteousness…
See,
there’s the whole thing, they’re off the Word of God in their worship and
service. I’m sorry, but that’s exactly what it is. A misinterpretation of the
Word of God brings unrighteousness, because your sin boils down to unbelief,
which boils down to unrighteousness, because faith brings the perfection of God
through the Blood and through the Word of a five-fold ministry.
(10) But
glory, honor, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, also
the Gentile:
(11) For
there is no respect of person with God, (and right on down the line.)
50. So
all right. As we have already seen, stewardship is exactly worked out, good or
evil, on the premise of sowing and reaping. See? That’s what you’re looking at.
So Gal 6:7-10… I’m trying to show you here there are certain things that we do
according to the light and the life. Bringing our bodies under subjection, now
begin to sow. And sowing the Word is sowing righteousness because nothing
outside of this Word is right. Nothing outside the Word [is right], because the
Word sets the standard. See? There’s nothing you can do about it. So all right,
Gal 6:7-10.
(7) Be
not deceived; God is not mocked: whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also
reap.
(8) For
he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption (that’s what Eve
did); but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap everlasting
life.
We
read that in the book of 1 Corinthians. You sow to a spirit. In other words you
open your life for the Spirit of God to come in: repent, be baptized, you’ll be
full of the Holy Ghost. From that time on, the Word takes precedence, because
now the Holy Spirit lives in the Word. And [as] you begin to plant that Word,
there is no way you will not reap that Word. It may take you a long time. It
may take you as though you’ll even leave this life and are barren, but you
watch what happens up there at the judgment seat when God places you with great
honor and calls your name and bestowed upon you garlands and wreaths and crowns
and introduces you.
Bro.
Branham saw the scene. And a man prophesied, “Because you have obeyed the Word
of God, you’ve made the correct decision, a great portion of the kingdom awaits
you, great privilege, great power.” There’s a kingdom; and when you’ve got
kingdom, you’ve got rulers under you. Oh yeah, there’s a real kingdom there.
51. Now:
(9) Let
us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint
not. (In other words, don’t turn on it.)
(10) As we
have therefore opportunity, (now listen)… As we have therefore opportunity, to
do good unto all, especially them of the household of faith.
Now,
right there it shows you there’s a tremendous stewardship in people in the
Church honoring and loving each other, not covering up sin, not lording over
people, not being high minded as though they can’t fall; but being honest in
real integrity of the Scripture and the Holy Ghost to help the people advance
in Christ. It’s the same with our kids.
Now,
even oral gifts in the Church are based on Paul’s God-ordained commandment,
which is in Gal 6:10, “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good to all
men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.”
52. Now,
let’s go back to Corinthians, to the Pentecostal Church of Paul’s day, who
based everything upon the day of Pentecost and the utterance gifts. Let’s find
what Paul says about them, and to them, concerning stewardship. Are you ready?
We go first of all, then, to 1 Corinthians 14. Now all this I’m teaching I feel
is necessary, because we have to know the truth of everything we possibly can.
1 Cor 14:18-19, and I’m condensing this.
(18) I
thank my God, I speak with tongues more than you all:
(19) Yet
in the church (he’s not going to talk in tongues) I had rather speak five words
of my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten
thousand words in an unknown tongue.
(32) And
the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.
Then, how dare anybody get up and speak in tongues in a church and take up that time, when they have believers meeting, coming together—and there’s where it could be, and even cause chaos there—because they all want to talk in tongues at one time, different people want to take the floor, false prophecies going forth, everything without control, nobody at the door discerning spirits, the whole thing just a camouflage? And yet they are using legitimate gifts to which they are stewards, or of which they are stewards, and they will reap the disapproval of God. Why? Because they turned the Word negative, and they used it to a wrong end. Now, watch it go up in flames. That’s why at