Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 453 -- taken from Closed Captioning Text

--Brother Thomas: I feel like it would be a good thing in this message. We had this... these people come to the church at the old Tabernacle, old Brother McLean, his wife, Nan, and his youngest daughter. Her name was Beulah. And so they came pretty regular. I can sort of tell people's spiritual temperature, just by observing them and she was under conviction. And so they came out one night. They had come down to the front door and I was standing there to greet them. And ah, I said something to Beulah and she was just about in tears. She knew she needed God.

I said, "Beulah," I said, "God's putting His finger on that boyfriend in your life. You will never be saved until you give him up." Now God is not against you not having a boyfriend, but He's against you having a boyfriend you put ahead of God. He's against you having a girlfriend. He's against you having anything put ahead of Him.

I remember distinctly when I was seeking God, I wanted God more than anything in the world. I wanted Him more than anything. I walked and prayed. Before every meeting I'd pray. In revivals I wouldn't go into the service until the last minute. I'd go out to the woods and walk back and forth about two blocks in the woods back of the church asking God to be with me, to help me, give me His spirit, quicken His word to me. It makes a difference.

One of the last things God put His finger on was my family. I said, "Lord, I want you ahead of my family, my wife, my children." I meant it. He's more important than they are. He's life. He's everything that you need. Hallelujah! Most men never will know the gift of God, because they ain't going to give up their life. And so with me, when I was saved, God didn't put His...as many things He'd have to put His hands on, He'd have to have about four or five hands. He just put His hand on me and said, "I want you." That's all I did was just give my life.

But He did, one by one, put His finger on things later. Making money...I like to make money. So you like to make money? Don't let it become your God. Don't let anything become your God. He's God alone. Hallelujah! Praise God! That rich young ruler went away sad because he didn't want to give up what he had. He wanted that more than he did the Lord. Hallelujah! "One thing thou lackest."

Now when Jesus said to her, go call your husband. And He told her...He said, "No, you don't have no husband. You've been shacked up with five different men and the one you're living with now is not your husband." You know a strange thing, she didn't take any offense at that. But she did know that He was an unusual man.

She said, "Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet." Now that meant she believed that He could tell her something. You know today, people don't know who's called of God and who isn't. They have no more respect for one man that's called a preacher than another. We need to have somebody that can tell us something. God esteems His servants very highly, regardless of whether we do or not. And not everybody that's called a preacher is a servant. Some are just hirelings. They wouldn't preach anything but a certain church. They believe certain doctrines.

I remember one time I was asked to preach on Easter at the Church of God in this little old town. You know, they...they...quite an unusual thing there, a lot of people came to listen to me. I was a new preacher and they'll come to listen to you to see what he's like. And ah, so those people had a measure of respect because they knew I was raising hell down at this church. What I mean by that I was preaching them in or out. I finally preached myself out.

( laughter ).

But anyway, they invited me to preach. And, now that was something now, I know what they believed. They believed in being saved, then being sanctified, and then receiving the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. And there I was a Baptist preacher. They don't have much respect for Baptist preachers, especially a Pentecostal.

And so I said, "Lord..." that's another thing now, you see? Some preachers might say, boy I'm going to lower the boom on them people, but I didn't. I said, "Lord, I would like to preach something that they'll have to agree with and yet be true and honor your word." And you know God gave me a message and I preached that message and God anointed it. They were saying amen, almost shouting. When I got through they said, he ain't nothing but a Holiness.

(laughter)

-- Brother Felton Wall: They said wade out a little deeper.

-- Brother Thomas: No that was another place. I was preaching in a tent there and they came to hear me preach. They'd shake their head and say he's too deep for the Baptists, just needs to wade a little further out for us. Oh Praise God! I'll tell you one thing, if you get right with God, you'll be in deep water. You'll be in water that you can swim in. Hallelujah!

As a prophet, you know she felt He could tell her something now. Being a prophet and so this shows you how full of religion she was. She said, "Now our fathers worshipped in this mountain." You could probably see the mountain from where they were at. But she said, "You Jews say that Jerusalem is the place to worship." They're saying that today too. And He said, "Woman, believe me the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father." They ought to tell these fellows that's getting these Holy Land tours up. Yeah, they ought to. Read that to them right there, Because they are getting rich off of your money. They work those tours up, get you a lodging place, a certain motel, eating places. You give so much money. I'm thinking about getting me one up.

( laughter )

I won't take them there. I'll take them out in the woods where I use to pray and say this is my Holy Land right here. Praise God! And that is your Holy Land, wherever God meets with you. That's sacred ground. When God appeared to Moses in that burning bush, He said, "Take off your shoes. The place you're standing on is holy ground." And I'm going to tell you, anybody that preaches this gospel, he's standing on holy ground. I'm not talking about somebody preaching somebody's doctrine, cut and dried. I'm talking about the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm talking about preaching the truth that will set men free. Hallelujah! Praise God!

Yes she was full of tradition. Jesus said, "Neither in this mountain nor at Jerusalem. But God is seeking those that'll worship Him in spirit and in truth." People are full of religious tradition. That's the greatest hindrance today to helping people. They've got their traditions. If they'll come and sit long enough and listen and prayerfully say, "God, I want to know the truth," will to do His will, they'll know whether this is the truth or not.

Take your Bible and check up on me with that. Examine what I say by what that Word teaches. Not by what I say but again what I say by this word. Not by your traditions, and every one of them have got them. You've got over two thousand different ones and they've all got their traditions. But that woman wanted something that I believe is a little better than what she had, because she kept talking to Him.

And you know, tradition is what's made the Word of God of none effect today. I'm talking about...let's go over here. In Matthew's gospel, fifteenth chapter, last part of verse six says, they have made the commandment of God of none effect by their tradition. Then in verse seven through nine, Jesus said, "Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men."

That's what they're doing. A preacher wouldn't dare say, God, I'll preach what you give me. You've got to be brought to a place where you surrender yourself to do that. Hallelujah! We don't want no tradition, we want revelation. Hallelujah! You know, tradition is just a substitute. That's all. I'm telling you right now. But I believe God is giving us some truth. Now what, how then are people going to know? Where, where are they going to go?

Most places, there ain't no use to go anywhere. What you need to do...first of all, this is a heart matter. It's not something that you learn with your head. There's no specific thing that God dealt with me about to begin with. What He wanted was me. And when I surrendered to Him, I didn't surrender because of some doctrinal explanation or something I knew in my mind. I surrendered my life.

That's what Jeremiah means. Jeremiah chapter 29, verse 13, "And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart." That's it. You ain't going to fool God. Joining the church is not going to help you. We've got millions of church members today that don't know Christ. They're empty. Head may be full of tradition.

Like the little girl that Carl invited down here to church two or three years ago. She came a time...she came about three times and I was genuinely concerned about her. She had a little baby in her arms. She wanted to get baptized. Being baptized as a baby ain't going to help none. That ain't going to help him. He's going to have to believe the gospel, going to have to get old enough to know what that is. Believe, being told. Hallelujah!

Where does religious people go to? I'm going to tell you where the church is at today. Turn with me to Revelation, chapter three. This is a picture of it right here. This is a picture of the modern church. Verse fourteen, "And unto the angel [messenger] of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God." That's a good point right there that would knock some tradition in the head. But they don't...they've got their blinders on when they read such as that. They ain't never took them off.

I remember a Baptist preacher up there. Let's see what was? Godfrey was his name. He's dead now. He had heard so much about the Tabernacle, he decided he'd go and see. He went to our services. We had good lively services--people worshipping God. And he come again and again. He quit going to the Baptist Church. And finally he talked to me. He said, you know, said, "I knew these things were in the Bible but I never heard anybody preach them." You know why? They've got their glasses on. They can't see them. There's a veil upon their heart when the Word is read.

They are in the same condition the Jews were in. Jesus said, "Search the Scriptures" in John chapter five, "for in them ye think ye have eternal life and they are they which testify of me." If the Word that's used does not result in people being brought to the Lord, what good is it? Not a bit of good.

And I'm going to tell you another thing, being brought to the Lord is not the Lord in the sky either. It's brought to Christ in His body. Hallelujah! That's the tie that binds. Christ is in His body and in the ministry and in His people. Praise God! Hallelujah! We sell all, don't we? for this field because a pearl of great price is in it. Praise God!

Yes, they made of none effect the Word of God by their tradition. People are full of religious traditions. It's hard to help them too when they are. They know too much. You know in Psalm 105, the scripture says they wandered from nation to nation, kingdom to kingdom saying, "Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm." God esteems very highly His people. I'm talking about the least member to the greatest. Of course, God sees us as one.

Let's go on down here. "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou were cold or hot." Verse 15, Revelations three. "So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee...."

That's their true condition in contrast to what they thought. I go some place and they show me what all they got in their church. They've got it all fixed up pretty. The old church I use to go to when I was a boy had old wooden benches, unpainted building. The old saints loved God. They praised God and they'd meet together, God would meet with them. You don't have to have but two or three if you've got God and He meets with you. He's with us here today. He's here in Spirit form.

"... knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire," that's true faith, "that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see." That's the anointing.

Notice what He said about the raiment, white raiment, "that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear." You see the only righteousness we really have is the righteousness of Christ. We're no better than anybody else. Don't think, for one second, you earn your salvation. Don't think, for one second, you're doing good because you don't do this or you do something else. You are because you have Christ. Christ in you is the hope of glory. Hallelujah! Praise God! "Thou shalt seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart."

Now I want to give you an example of a man that I believe would be a good example. That's in Acts chapter 10. I'm talking about finding Christ. "There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band." Now he was a Gentile. He was over a hundred men, a soldier at that. "A devout man, and one that feared God with all his house, which gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always." He feared God. Remember this, "The fear of the Lord is" what? "beginning of knowledge but fools despise wisdom and instruction."

And the secret of the Lord is with who? Them that fear Him. And He will, what? "Show them His covenant." That means if you don't give up--you keep looking to God--God will reveal Himself to you. Don't run away from the only thing in the world that you have that's worth more than the world, that's Christ. Hallelujah!

But this man, he feared God. And I'm going to tell you something. If people would seek God with all their heart, I'm talking about you seek God, you want God, you will to do His will, you want Him more than you want anything else. You're not going to get Him if you don't. He's not going to be one among many. He's going to be your beloved. He's God's beloved. He's my beloved. He's our beloved.

We need Him more than we need life. This life is uncertain. You don't know how long you're going to have it. It's like a vapor that appears for a short while, then vanishes away. The most uncertain thing I know of is your life. Since we've been sitting here now as long as we have been here today, no telling how many have done passed over to the other side. They could tell you right now if they could talk, you listen to the Gospel. You believe the Gospel. It's the power of God unto salvation. Hallelujah!

"Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." But you're sure not going to hear it in some Laodicean Church. Now where you going to hear the Word of God? So does delusion come by hearing, not the Word of God, by hearing delusion, tradition. People are full of whatever they've been listening to. Hallelujah! Not by hearing two thousand or more versions of the Gospel, by hearing that one man that God has called and given the Gospel to.

You say, where am I going to find him? Seek God with all your heart. He'll lead you. If you want Him enough, He'll certainly lead you. God'll come to you. He'll move heaven and earth to reach you. Hallelujah! When God sets out to do a thing, He's going to do it.

Did you know, Paul said to the Thessalonicans that we are chosen to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. If the two are not working together, you've got nothing. Now you may have a lot of wildfire and say it's the Holy Ghost. That's not necessarily the Holy Ghost. You may have a lot of the Word, just dead word, that's nothing. Jesus said, "the words that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life," in John chapter 6. That's what we need, is that life.

These two thousand versions of the Gospel preached by men that's graduates of some of their schools, that don't mean a thing. How many of those preachers do you think would listen to a recommendation to go out and seek God until you get something? They'd say, why you're crazy. I just graduated. Here's my diploma. You can't expect people to have faith. They don't hear anything to believe. Hallelujah!

But I believe and I believe this--that God's going to be faithful to everyone that does look to Him. He's not going to leave a one of us out. Don't trust in anything but Him, His righteousness, His blood. Not what you've done or doing or will do but what He's done. When He died on that cross, He paid your sin debt in full. You don't have to add a single thing to it. It's yours. Just give Him praise for it. Ought to praise Him anyway. Praise Him because He's worthy. Hallelujah! Praise God! That's all. God bless you.

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