Ordination
E-1 He's God, that's all. He's omnipresent (See?); He's everywhere. I just thought I'd leave it hanging, see how it took a hold, you know. He's omnipresent. He... That makes Him God, 'cause it's... God alone can be omnipresent. So He said, "The Son of man which now is in heaven..." See? "No man has ascended up but He that come down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." There He was standing on top of a house, yet in heaven. See? He's omnipresent. That makes Him God. That's only thing that can be omnipresent is God.
E-2 Now, tonight I just got the
very heel of Brother Neville's wonderful message to the church. The
Lord blessed it and add to it. And as he left you hanging there on
meditation, that's good. Keep that in your heart all the time.
And now, we're going to have communion tonight, and that's the time
that we all enjoy, I'm sure. I think it's the delight of the
Christian's heart is to know that he is coming to keep a commandment
that Jesus left us.
There's two commandments that Jesus left us, two material things: one
of them is the communion service, and the other is water baptism.
Otherwise there's no touch, handle, nothing else left in it. See?
Just... No penance, and dragging on your knees, and all these other
kind of things, it's--it's just water baptism and communion. So we're
always happy to come to this.
And I believe the Bible said, "Blessed is he that does His
commandments. You have a right to enter into the Tree of Life, or into
the city, the holy city. For without are dogs, whoremongers, and so
forth, which is to be cast away."
And then, the communion service is always a real strict one, because it
brings us to a showdown (See?), as we'll read in a little while in the
Scripture.
E-3 We have a Brother Brown
setting here tonight, Brother Dauch, Brother Brown, and Brother
McKinney. I can't think of the other brethren's name setting over
there, but we're glad to have them from up in Ohio. I see Brother Pat
Tyler here, and Brother Stricker back there, the ministers of the
Gospel which is behind me; Brother Collins also, and Brother Hickerson.
Now, Brother Stricker, how is the wife's finger? Doing all right.
Uh-huh. She had an accident and called me the other night. And time I
got in from other calls, it was around twelve or one o'clock, and I
didn't call her at that time. The next morning...
She'd been sewing, and somehow another rammed the needle down through
her hands, and cupped around the bone, or something another. She tried
to pull it out like this, out of the sewing machine (power machine),
and trying to pull it out, broke it off this way, and tried to get it
with her teeth. The little lady tried to pull it with her, broke it off
the other place in her hand.
And she said, "Just pray, and it'll be all right."
I like that real faith to hold there to that spot. I like that. Sister
Stricker's a lovely little Christian. And I don't see her here tonight,
so I can just talk about her. Is... Oh, well, I better keep still as
she is here too. All right. Well, we think you are, anyhow, Sister
Stricker.
E-4 Now, Brother McKinney has requested, I believe, here some time ago (that we are sorry, Billy Paul just reminded me of it), that of ordination, or otherwise Scriptural ordination from the Tabernacle. Is that right, Brother McKinney? Did I understand it right? Now, it's... license is given... Now, this morning I didn't know I was going to be here to speak, but after coming here (and our brother here is full of grace and love asked me to come and to speak), and we brought out what church was, and what the baptism of the Holy Ghost was, and who has it, and who does not have it, and how do you know when you got it. See? So if you didn't get the message, then the boys, they got the tapes there. They can go to our church, 'cause it's strictly doctrine, all the way through.
E-5 And then I made this
statement: that there is no such things as church denominations. There
is no such a thing. It's lodge denominations. You're only borned into
the church. And when somebody says, "I am a Presbyterian," you belong
to the Presbyterian lodge (See?), because you're born... "I am
Baptist," you belong to the Baptist lodge, not the Baptist church.
There is no such a thing.
And we turned it right back and found in the Bible that to even say
such a thing is blasphemy. That's right. Read it right out of the
original manuscript from the "Emphatic Diaglott," that the Bible said
that the--that this power called the church is full of blasphemous
names (See?), calling themselves Christians, and setting themselves as
Christians, and just living any kind of a life. See? And it certainly
compared with a dream that a sister here in the church had, that we
explained here this morning.
E-6 Now, the Bible times, the
way that they ordained a minister was by recognizing a gift of God in
this minister--ministry. That's where that I think that our Latter Day
Saint (or not Latter Day Saint, I beg your pardon), Latter Rain
brethren made such a terrible mistake by laying on hands and saying,
"We give you the gift of healing. We give you the gift of prophecy."
There is no such thing. "Gifts and callings are without repentance."
God gives. "God has set in the church apostles, prophets," and so
forth. See? There is no such a thing as one man giving another one a
gift. Gifts comes from God and God alone. And to come in the church,
you're born into it. There's no other way of getting into it. Then
you're a member of the family of God, being a son and daughter of God:
not an organization, but a member of the family.
E-7 Now, in the Bible times,
like it says... They take the Scripture over there when Paul said to
Timothy that he had the gift ministered to him. Why, he said it come
from his grandmother, Lois. See? This gift that come from his
grandmother, Lois, was handed down to him. They noticed in him, being a
staunch Christian, also a gift of speaking, and they laid hands upon
him as a recognition. The elders of the church laid hands upon him,
recognizing this man, and placing the apostolic ministry of laying
hands on him, that he would go preach the Gospel; sent out by a witness
of these brethren, that they believed that the gift of God was working
in him.
That's the way they did also to the ministers by laying on hands and
giving the right hand of fellowship that--to work together, as an
agreement before God, that they seen the gift working in this brother;
that he was called for something, and we believed it. And they laid
hands on him that God would bless him. And it was a sanction. Just
like, I could not be...
E-8 Someone has always accused
me by being Jesus Only. Jesus Only in the baptism, using the Name of
Jesus Christ, I certainly agree with that. But when you're baptized
unto regeneration, I cannot believe that, that water forgives sins. No.
I believe the Blood of Jesus Christ atones for sin. So not baptism unto
regeneration, but baptism unto confession... Your baptism is your
confession that you believe that this inward world of grace has been
done. Therefore, I go with the Baptist people when they say, coming
into the Baptist church you make your confession, baptized into
the--into their church. That would be all right as far as you're
baptized into that church or that Baptist belief.
But now, to come into Christ, you're baptized by the Holy Spirit,
borned again. Then when you come to the church, only thing that baptism
does, is just a--is a testimony that you believe that--that Christ died
and rose again the third day, and you've accepted Him as your personal
Saviour; and you are dead anymore to the things of the world, showing
to the world that you die with Him, and are raised with Him in the
resurrection. It's an outward expression that a inward work of grace
has been done. It has nothing to do with giving you salvation, 'cause
the Blood of Jesus Christ...
E-9 Only thing you had to do is
just say, go ahead and be baptized, and Jesus wouldn't have had to die.
It taken death to bring life, always, because we only live by death.
Anything can only live by death. Dead substance is what we live by when
we eat. Every day you eat, something has to die for you to live
physically.
"Well," you say, "I don't eat meat."
Well, I don't care what you eat you; something died. That's right. You
eat a potato; it died. You eat kale; it died. You eat bread, wheat
died, corn died. Whatever it was, some form of life dies, 'cause you
only live by dead substance. And then, if you have to live natural by
dead substance, how much more does it take in Something that died that
you might live eternally? Christ died that man could live again. And
that only has Life, is in Christ.
E-10 Now, these outward
expressions... And we see Brother McKinney, who is an ordained
Methodist minister, who has seen the Light of full Gospel. We believe
him. A lovely brother, got a nice family, and he's come to us. And he's
trying to hold a little group together there in--in Ohio, with Brother
and Sister Dauch, and the rest of the brethren there. And we love him
here, and we believe him to be a man called of God.
So as we did to Brother Jim Sink, to Brother Graham Snelling, to
Brother Junior Jackson, to Brother Willard Krase, to every one that we
send out from here, we bring them before this congregation, giving this
testimony as like manner as you've heard. Laying hands upon them that
we believe that they're called of God, and give our sanction to it, and
ask God's blessings to go with them. You find something different in...
out of the Bible. If you do, it'll be out of the Bible.
That's exactly the way they did it in the Bible times, was lay hands
upon them in ordination. They laid hands upon the deacons and put them
in the church. Everything was by laying on of hands; not signing up a
bunch of papers, and joining a certain creed, or something like that.
They laid hands on and turned him loose in the Holy Spirit, and let him
go. Amen. God lead him the way He wants to. That's all. That--that's
the way we believe in doing it.
E-11 Brother McKinney, we're
happy tonight to see you come the way you have come; and the thing that
you are trying to do, to accomplish something for Christ. And we do not
disfellowship any church, any member of any church: Methodist, Baptist,
Presbyterian, Catholic, whatever it might be. We believe that the
Spirit of God deals with individual.
And in every church there is Christians, throughout the whole church
world, as so-called today. I believe there's Methodists, Baptists,
Presbyterian, Lutherans who love God. And the only thing that they know
about Him... They live as close as they can, as close as they know how,
or are taught to live.
Some people thinks all they have to do is just put their name on the
book and join the church. That's all they need to do. Mother belonged
to a certain church. Daddy belonged to a certain church. Well, that...
See, that's all they know to do.
E-12 But Jesus told this ruler
of the Jews this morning, "Except a man be borned again he cannot even
see the Kingdom of God," no matter what church you belong to. And he
said... Talked about the new birth, he said, "Me, an old man, to enter
the mother's womb?" and so forth, be reborn?
He said, "You're a master in Israel, and don't know these things?"
See how the church world gets it so organized and twisted, till it's
just a bunch of creeds. That's manmade theories set into spiritual
things. And spiritual things will separate itself from it every time.
You... As the old saying is, you can't mix oil and water. It just won't
mix. That's all. There's--there's no ingredients there will mix. And
that's the way it is now.
E-13 We believe that the Holy
Spirit calls men. The Holy Spirit ordains men. No matter we could lay
hands on Brother McKinney, or any other minister hour after hour, all
day long, and give him long sheets of paper he could sign, vows to
creeds; it'll never do a thing to him. But let the Holy Ghost strike
him once. That's it. That does it. Nobody has to tell him anything
else. He's gone. See? That's all. And then, the only thing we can do is
a fellowship, that we recognize our brother is in that position. God
bless you, Brother McKinney. If you'll come up here forward, just a
moment...
Brother Neville, Brother Collins, ministers, if you'd like to stand by,
we would be glad for you to come up here just a minute. If you'll come
this way and turn to the audience, Brother McKinney, right like this
here.
How many knows Brother McKinney, has met him around here? How many
believes him to be a godly man? Raise your hand. Certainly.
E-14 We're happy tonight,
Brother McKinney, as we stand on the sides of you here, by your side
and with this congregation, to know that you've accepted the--the
fellowship of full Gospel preaching; that you're determined by the
grace of God to hold up the standard of the Bible. Regardless of what
anything's said or not, you take your stand upon God's eternal Word in
there. No matter what organization tries to kick it sideways, you stand
just exactly the way it's wrote, you stay right with it. That's the way.
That's the way we believe here, isn't it? We all believe it that way.
May the grace of God ever be with you. Now, you pray your own prayer in
the way that God will take our brother, for the evening Lights are
shining, and the sun is swiftly going down. The coming of Christ is at
hand. Our sincere prayer is that God will alarm this boy so with such a
baptism of the Spirit, an unction will go out yonder and save tens of
thousands of souls, before the coming of the Lord. God knows we need
him in the ministry.
We want you to know, Brother McKinney, that this church and this group
of people here... A church is a group of people that's gathered
together without an organization. That don't make one person here to
not be because you come here, or any other church, to make you a
member. There's only one way to be a member of the Body of Christ;
that's you're born into it by the Holy Ghost.
E-15 And we believe that our
brother's born into this Body, got a call on his life to preach the
Gospel; we're a witness to this tonight, that we're behind you with our
prayers. God guide you, my brother. Let's bow our heads.
Our heavenly Father, it just strengthens my soul when I see a--a
minister walk up, recognizing the full Gospel, that Christ said that,
"Heavens and earth would pass away, but His Word would never fail."
Then we see You also said, when He got through writing the Book,
"Whosoever shall add one word to this Book or take anything out of it,
the same will be taken out of his part of the Book of Life."
Our Brother McKinney has seen this. And in the group of brethren to
where he was fellowshipping, he brought a truth that he saw in the
Scripture. No one could withstand it, but yet, the organization could
not tolerate that. So he takes his choice: either follow what man has
said or what God has said.
God, I--I thank You for giving him courage to take what God said. For
the Bible said let every man's word be a lie, and God's be the truth.
And he's determined to hold that up. And to show our fellowship with
him, or to stand with him in his trials, to rejoice with him in his
victory, we are here as soldiers together.
The pastor of this Tabernacle and I lay hands upon him in the Name of
Jesus Christ, that You will bless our brother, and make him alive in
the Spirit; fill him with power to preach the Gospel; give him signs
and wonders to follow his ministry. And may he be an instrument in Your
hand, consecrated to You in this last days, to save thousands of lost
souls that's wandering in darkness today. Grant it, Lord. This is our
prayer and our faith in our brother, and our confidence and faith in
You that You'll answer our prayer for this great needy hour in our
brother's ministry. In Jesus' Name, we send him. Amen.
E-16 God bless you, Brother
McKinney, And may the grace of God ever abide with you and give you the
sincere desire of your heart. God be with you.
That's the ordination that I know of the Bible, the right hand of
fellowship. All that gives Brother McKinney the right hand of
fellowship in this church, raise up your hand. Our prayers are support
to help you to stand on the thing that's God's eternal Word, which...
All heavens and earth will pass away, but It'll still be standing;
because, "in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh and dwelled among us."
The Word said, "I am the Vine; ye are the branches." And the same life
that was in the branch--in the vine, pulsates up into the vine, and
brings forth the same life, with the same fruits, with the same works
with the same thing. I know it's the truth, because I've seen it
fulfilled. Amen and amen. I love that good old Gospel way. Yes, sir.
E-17 Now, it's may be getting a
little late, towards nine thirty. But now we're going to have the
communion service. Now, we call it communion, but it isn't communion.
Communion is to talk, to commune. Commune is when we stop and talk to
the Lord, communicate.
But now this is called, the Lord's supper. I wonder how some of these
modernists that don't say "supper" anymore and calls it "dinner," how
they're going to work that around. See? Yes, sir. It's the Lord's
supper. We just believe the Bible the way It says it. And we want you
to know that Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterian, Lutheran, whatever you
may be, you're invited, and a brother with us if you're born of the
Spirit of God, to stand here and take communion with us.
We believe that these represent the broken body of Jesus Christ, and we
believe that a Christian is duty bound to take it. We believe that a
man that's not living right, that comes and takes it without being
living right, eats and drinks damnation to himself, not discerning the
Lord's body. That's why those churches calling themselves Christians
was found in the Bible full of blasphemous names. You see? Because,
taking the communion, and going out, and living any kind of a life
brings a bigger stumbling block than all the bootleg joints that there
is throughout the country.
E-18 You see a prostitute on the
street, you know what she is. Look at the way she acts and dresses. You
know her. But a Christian shouldn't do that--that. If you see a place
down here that says, "Package Store," wines, whiskey, and so forth, you
know what that is. That--that's that place. That's all right. Dancing,
ball, and so forth, you know what that is. But... You expect the people
in there to be drinking, gambling, lying, stealing, everything else.
That's the--that's a cage of unclean spirits.
But when you see a place, that professes to be sons and daughters of
God, walk in there, and the first thing see them deny the very
Scripture to fit a--because it don't fit their creed... See them come
in there, and talk about the work of God doing something, and laugh at
it; there's that hypocrite. That's--that's that thing that's evil. And
see them people come and taking communion, and go right out there in
the street and live just like the rest of them? That's the biggest
stumbling block that there...
E-19 I preached here not long ago, the disappointments at the judgment. That bootlegger ain't going to be disappointed when he hears his sentence to go to hell. He ain't going to be disappointed; neither is the liar, or the thief. But the disappointed one is going to be that one who thought he was right. That's the one. There'll sure be plenty of it. We know that. And God have mercy on our souls. This is something that can't be played with.
E-20 A few weeks ago, there was one setting here among us, alive, a fine brother, Brother Taylor. He's in glory tonight, went in just a moment's time. And now, we know that someday we're going. So now's the time to live right. Now's the time.
E-21 And remember this morning's
lesson? These virtues has to be in there before the capstone will even
come on it. Oh, you might shout, you might sing, you might speak with
tongues, and dance--that has nothing at all to do with it, until these
things Scripturally proven is sealed into you... The Holy Spirit seals
you in as an individual. Then you're a son and daughter.
We've heard people speak with tongues that didn't have the Holy Ghost.
You know that. I've heard witches speak with tongues; witch doctors
speak in tongues, and drink blood out of a human skull, and call on the
devil. Yes, sir. So you... That's not... I've seen witches, wizards...
Seen the time that a pencil laid down, and run up and down the stove
pipe, and played that "Shave and a Haircut," and write in unknown
tongues. And the guy standing there just scribbled up and down and
write and tell exactly what it was saying. Now, you know that ain't
God, and you know all those things.
So speaking in tongues don't mean you're--you're of God. Working of
miracles don't prove you're of God. It's the things, the fruits of the
Spirit that proves that you're in God, when you see that life sealed
away by the Holy Ghost. God, let it be... Let that be us. If we've done
sin, may the great heavenly Father forgive us for it.
E-22 I'm going to read some of
the Scripture, what Jesus has spoke to us through the Spirit. Now, I'm
going to read it from the 11th chapter of I Corinthians, and I'm going
to start at the 23rd verse.
For I have received
of the Lord... (I
speak now as Paul is speaking.)... I have received of the Lord
that which I also delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same
night... which he was betrayed took bread:
And when he... gave
thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, and eat: this is my body, which is
broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
After the same
manner also he took the cup, and when he had supped, saying, This... is
the cup of the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as you
drink it, in remembrance of me.
For as oft as you
eat this bread, and drink this cup, you do shew forth the Lord's death
till he come.
Wherefore whosoever
shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall
be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.
So let a man examine
himself, and so let him eat... the bread, and drink... the cup.
For he that eateth
and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not
discerning the Lord's body.
For this cause many
are weak and sickly among you,... many sleep.
For if we would
judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
But when we are
judged, we're chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned
with the world.
Wherefore, my
brethren, when you come together to eat, tarry one for the other.
... if any man
hunger, let him eat at home, so that you come not together unto
condemnation. And the rest I will set in order when I come.
E-23 I would like to say this on
communion. Now, that is the great stumble between... The reason today
that the Catholic church and the Protestant church can't merge together
is on this very subject. The Catholic takes it as a mass, and he's
hoping by some merit, legalistic, that he has done, and by keeping this
order, that he will be forgiven of his sins. The Protestant takes it
with thanksgiving that his sins is forgiven, because he has obeyed a
commandment.
Now, the bread, the Catholic says that it is the literal body and this
is the Scripture that they use from Corinthians here, I Corinthians 11,
said... Jesus said, "Take and eat: this is my body." The Protestant
says it represents the body; the Catholic says it is the body, and that
the--the priest has been given power of God to turn the wafer into the
literal body of Christ.
E-24 Now, if you notice, Jesus' body had not yet been offered when He said, "This is My body." He broke the bread and said, "Take and eat. This is My body." His body had not yet been broken. So their--their own Scripture, their own thing they're using, brings condemnation upon their own doctrine. See? Jesus took the bread, and broke it, and give it to them, said, "This is My body: take and eat." And here He was standing here in His body. It hadn't never been broken yet. Anyhow, the Scriptures won't lie. They'll keep themselves clear at all times. So we believe that.
E-25 And we believe that when we
come together... He said, "Tarry one for another." In other words,
"Wait on one another." The word "tarry" means "to wait." Wait on one
another. Now, as it's been a custom to us, we take that Scripture in
this way: that when we do this, that we just bow our heads, and the
congregation prays for we pastors; we pastors pray for our
congregation. That's how we wait on each other, by serving each other,
by praying.
You pray, "God, forgive my pastor. If there's anything in his life that
he--they have done, You forgive them for it. Forgive them. They didn't
mean to do it."
And we come right back, the pastors praying for our congregation, "God,
this is a little flock that You give us to watch over. If there's
anything wrong in their life, take it away, Father, they--so that we
can all stand together around the--fellowship around, knowing that
we're coming here keeping a order of God, and taking the communion." I
think it's a sweet time of fellowship.
E-26 Let us pray now as we bow
our heads. Silently you pray for us; we pray for you. [Brother
Branham and congregation take a few moments in silent prayer--Ed.]
Father, as we take this communion (as we call it communion), it is in
remembrance of You. And when this little beaten wafer touches our
tongues and goes into our mouth, may we recognize that He was bruised,
and mashed, torn for our sins. And that veil that hid Him from us...
Now, He's in us, the Holy Spirit. And when we receive the wine, may we
realize that it was by His stripes that we're healed, by His Blood we
are saved, the Life that was in the Blood.
Now, Father, gather us together for this solemn occasion, forgiving our
sins. In Jesus' Name, we ask it. Amen.
E-27 I believe now, that the
elders, one of them, will come forward here, that... I believe that
usually was Brother Taylor's job too, wasn't it, to come forward to
call to the communion? I wonder who would take that place. Brother
Tony, will you do that? Brother Zable here will come forward and direct
row by row as we come forward, taking the communion, returning to our
seats.
Do you know that communion has Divine healing in it? When the
Israelites, in the type took the communion and marched forty years...
And when they come out of the wilderness, there wasn't a feeble one
among them: two and a-half million people. There's power of healing in
the communion. Everybody's welcome now. And our sister, if she will
come to the piano, she plays this song:
There
is a fountain filled with blood,
Drawn
from Immanuel's veins,
Where
sinners plunge beneath the flood,
Lose
all their guilty stains.
May your sins be forgiven, children. May the grace of God ever be with
you while we're in this journey. May we all meet on the other side,
happy and young again. Amen. [The
pianist plays--Ed.]
E-28 As I hold tonight in this
little charger here... It's the bread that represents the flesh of our
Lord, as it's been made a kosher bread by Christian hands. And now it
comes to us as a token of the broken body of our Lord. Let us bow our
heads.
Heavenly Father, this precious atonement, this sacrifice that You made
for us, we see in this bread the suffering and tearing of Your body.
Oh, it bleeds our hearts, Lord, to tears and humility, when we think
that God would be made flesh in order to tear Himself to pieces, to
make an atonement to fulfill the justice that's required. And then, by
grace without anything at all, we're invited to come. How we thank
Thee, Father.
Sanctify this bread now to its intended purpose and cause. And
whosoever shall take it, may they have Eternal Life dwelling within
them. May they never perish, but live eternally with God. Give them
health and strength for the journey. We ask in Jesus' Name. Amen.
E-29 The Bible said, "In like
manner He took the cup, and when He had supped, saying, 'This is the
Blood of the New Testament.' As oft as you drink it, you show forth the
Lord's death till He come." I hold in my hand the--the fruit of the
vine that represents the Blood of the Lord Jesus.
It's been said by many that they wouldn't take wine, regular wine,
because that it was a--an alcoholic, that it was a beverage, and they
should not take the wine. They take grape juice. The reason we take
wine is because the Bible said, "wine." All translations gives it
"wine." Another reason: older wine gets, the better and stronger it
becomes. Grape juice sours within a few hours. The Blood of Jesus
Christ gets sweeter and better as the years go by. It never sours or
contaminates.
E-30 Our heavenly Father, I hold
in this charger tonight, the blood of the grapes that represents the
Blood of Jesus Christ. And now, in this--His stripes we were healed, in
His Blood we were saved. The poet said,
Ever
since by faith I saw the stream Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming
love has been my theme,
And
shall be till I die.
Father God, that is our theme tonight, the love of God that's shed
abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Sanctify this wine, Lord, for
its intended purpose. And as we drink it, remember, it represents that
suffering there at Calvary: when cruel, mocking thorns pressed His brow
until it broke through the skin and the Blood came out; when a
scourging whip--a cat-of-nine-tail with lead sinkers on the end of
leather--beat into His back until His ribs showed through. Roman nails
drove through His feet and His hands, and the spear went through His
heart. That was love for us unworthy ones.
Shamefully do we bow, Lord, that it cost the Son of God such a price to
redeem us. And then, high in our spirits, we lift up our adoration to
Thee, that You give us grace to come, and the assurance. You said,
"Whosoever eats My flesh and drinks My Blood has Everlasting Life, and
I'll raise him up again at the last day." How can it fail, when it come
from such lips. We shall rise again.
E-31 So Father, tonight, while
we're standing here, healthy as we know, and by Your grace are strong
and healthy and mentally right, we come to take this to show to You we
believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord. We accept
Him as our Saviour. We believe Him as our God and King.
Sanctify this wine now for its intended purpose. And every person that
takes it, may they receive Divine grace, the Holy Spirit, good health
and strength to serve God throughout their span of life, through Jesus
Christ's Name. Amen.
[Pianist
begins playing. Blank.spot.on.tape--Ed.]
Thou
Lamb of Calvary,
Saviour
Divine;
Now,
hear me while I pray,
Take
all my sin away,
O let
me from this day
Be
wholly thine!
E-32 In the Scripture reading,
in the book of Saint John the 13th chapter we read, beginning with the
2nd verse of the 13th chapter...
... supper being
ended, the devil now have put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's
son, to betray Him;
Jesus knowing... the
Father had given all things into his hands, and that he... come from
God, and he went to God;
He rises from the
supper,... laid aside his garments;... took a towel, and girded himself.
After... he poured
water into a bason, and begin to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe
them with the towel wherewith he was girded.
Then cometh he to
Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet?
Jesus answered and
said unto him, What I do now thou knowest not... ; but thou shall know
hereafter.
Peter said unto him,
Thou shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not,
thou has no part with me.
Simon Peter said
unto him, Lord, not only my feet, but all--but also my hands and my
head.
Jesus said to him,
He that is washed need... save to wash his feet,... you're clean every
whit:... ye are clean, but not all.
For he knew who
should betray him; therefore he said, You're not all clean.
So after he had
washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and had set down again,
he said unto them, Know ye what I've done to you?
You call me Master
and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.
If I then, your Lord
and Master, have washed your feet; you also ought to wash one another's
feet.
For I have given you
an example, that you should do as I have done unto you.
E-33 I think that is one of the
most beautiful verses: "I have given you an example, that you should do
as I have done unto you." We should do to each other in commemoration,
as it's been a practice of the church, of this group of people
gathering, ever since we began. And before this Tabernacle was ever
built, when we were yet in cottage prayer meetings, we practiced
feet-washing.
Our sisters go to the room in the back, our brethren go to the room to
the right, and we observe feet-washing. Strangers, if you're with us
tonight, we're only happy to have you to fellowship in these ordinances
of God.
E-34 I might explain, as I said
a few moments ago, the thing that God left for us to do: water baptism
(one article), communion. And you remember, that's only two. God is
perfected in three. Feet-washing is the third. See?
And we remember that years later, even in the Bible... Some people try
to say it's not necessary. Certainly, I don't mean to say that people's
feet need washing. That isn't it. Maybe theirs did not either. But it
was an act of humility. It's an--it's an act of--of doing, just as
essential as water baptism, because He has said here that, "I've given
you an example that you should do to each other as I have done to you."
And we find out that a widow could not be brought in among the people
unless she had lodged strangers and had washed the feet of the saints,
showing ourselves humble. If anything that we want to be, is humble,
'cause that's... The secret to power is through humility. And you're
always happy when you come out of these things, of doing them. It's a
blessed order of fellowship that we observe here at the church.
E-35 And now, I wish to
announce, now, that next Sunday night will be services here. Just when
I come in, some calls come, some people coming to be prayed for way up
from Toronto, Canada, to be here next Sunday night. I've got a
dedication of a Brother L. G. Hoover's church. It's on the bulletin
board, next Sunday at eleven o'clock, at Elizabethtown, Kentucky. Then
to be back here for the following, this next coming Sunday night... And
then we go to Shreveport from there. And we're happy to have all of you
with us through the day. And the times when we--when... If you're
around here in the city anywhere near, come out. We want to assemble
and gather ourselves together.
We want to set under the teaching of our brother here, Brother Neville,
and--and partake of the things that's of God. As he finds them from
God, he gives them out. And--and we want to learn of God. And seeing
the day approaching, we must assemble ourselves more oft together.
E-36 We must love in our hearts
to come to church. If we don't love church, love God, coming
together... What we call "church" is coming together to worship. See?
If we love Christ, we worship together. Do you imagine a man saying he
loved his wife, and he hadn't seen her for a long time, pass right by
and say, "Well, I'll see her some other time." See? That isn't... Or
wife saying she loves her husband, or a parent saying they love their
child... Why, it--it shows. See?
And I think our expressions, that we should constantly long to be in
worship, anywhere to worship the Lord. When we come together to worship
Him, worship Him at home, worship Him while we're driving our cars,
wherever we are, worship the Lord. Just think, the Bible said, "Let
everything that has breath praise the Lord." And then He said, "Praise
ye the Lord." Even if you haven't got any breath, still praise the
Lord. See? Praise... "Everything that has breath praise the Lord, and
then praise ye the Lord." I think Psalm 100: 100th Psalm.
E-37 Now, the Lord bless you.
And as we sing now again, the brethren will go to this room and the
sisters to that room for feet-washing. As we stand now for dismissing,
and you that have to go, why, you--you are--be dismissed in a moment.
But then, we'll gladly invite you at any service that we got. Come and
we'll try to do the best for you that we know how, to guide your soul
to the foot of Jesus Christ.
Take
the Name of Jesus with you,
Child
of sorrow and of woe;
It
will joy and comfort give you,
Oh,
take it everywhere you go.
Precious... (Now, turn around and
shake hands with each one.) O
how sweet!
Hope
of earth and joy... [Brother
Branham speaks to someone--Ed.]
Precious
name! O how sweet!
Hope
of earth and joy of heaven.
Now, as we bow our heads we sing:
Take
the Name of Jesus with you,
As a
shield from every snare;
When
temptations 'round you gather,
Breathe
that holy name in prayer.
Precious... (Precious name)... (O how sweet!)
Hope
of earth and joy of heaven;
Precious
name, O how sweet!
Hope
of earth...
[Brother
Branham speaks to someone--Ed.] of heaven.
Now, as we bow our heads humbly, we're going to ask our Brother
McKinney here to dismiss us in a word of prayer. And immediately
afterwards, you that have to go, may leave. The rest will gather in the
rooms. God bless you, Brother McKinney.