S3E1. The Image of God in You – 1

Speaker A 00:00:02 Let's look at the first chapter of Ephesians. Speaker A 00:00:08 You know, the apostle Paul was praying for the church at Ephesus and he related the prayer that he was praying. Speaker A 00:00:16 And he said in verse 16, I cease not to give thanks for you making mention of you in my prayers. Speaker A 00:00:21 And here's what he prayed. Speaker A 00:00:23 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him, and that the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches, the riches of the glory of his inheritance is in the saints. Speaker A 00:00:47 Praise God. Speaker A 00:00:49 So we're going to believe for that right now. Speaker A 00:00:52 You see, this is a Holy Spirit prayer. Speaker A 00:00:57 God led Paul to pray this for those people. Speaker A 00:01:00 Well, if he led him to pray it for him, it was for only one reason, because he wanted to answer it for them. Speaker A 00:01:06 That's the reason he wanted them to pray it, see? Speaker A 00:01:08 All right, we're going to pray that the Lord give us a spirit of wisdom and a spirit of revelation in the knowledge of him and at the eyes of our understanding, being enlightened, so that we'll know what is the hope of God in our own calling toward him and what his riches are in the glory and what we've inherited from God. Speaker A 00:01:31 Amen. Speaker A 00:01:32 And then God will show it to us in these meetings. Speaker A 00:01:34 Praise the Lord, Father, in the precious name of Jesus of Nazareth, we praise you tonight. Speaker A 00:01:41 We ask you according to your word in this first chapter of Ephesians, Father, that you give unto us a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus, that the eyes of our understanding being enlightened, that we may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance is in the saints. Speaker A 00:02:01 And what is the exceeding greatness of your power to us, Ward, who believe? Speaker A 00:02:06 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 00:02:07 We thank you for it. Speaker A 00:02:08 We believe that we receive it. Speaker A 00:02:10 Open our spirit, man. Speaker A 00:02:12 Open us up and pour us full of the word of God and full of blossoming, blooming, powerful revelation of Jesus inside us so that it will produce on the outside of us. Speaker A 00:02:27 In the name of Jesus. Speaker A 00:02:29 We pray it. Speaker A 00:02:30 We thank you for it. Speaker A 00:02:32 We lay it on the throne of grace with our faith. Speaker A 00:02:35 And because of Jesus name, we consider it done. Speaker A 00:02:39 Amen. Speaker A 00:02:40 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 00:02:41 You agree with that? Speaker A 00:02:43 Praise God. Speaker A 00:02:44 Well, it will come fast then if you agree with it. Speaker A 00:02:47 All right, open your Bibles now to the Gospel of John, chapter one. Speaker A 00:02:57 John, chapter one. Speaker A 00:02:59 We'll read the first five Verses in the beginning was the Word, The Word was with God. Speaker A 00:03:12 The Word was God. Speaker A 00:03:15 The same was in the beginning with God. Speaker A 00:03:19 All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. Speaker A 00:03:27 In him was life. Speaker A 00:03:29 And the life was the light of men. Speaker A 00:03:32 And the light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. Speaker A 00:03:38 Now, I'm going to remind you of a couple of scriptures here that you can kind of cross reference some of these with if you want to. Speaker A 00:03:45 This has said all things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made. Speaker A 00:03:52 In him was life. Speaker A 00:03:54 Now do you remember that Jesus said, my words are spirit and they are life. Speaker A 00:03:59 Do you remember that? Speaker A 00:04:01 Proverbs 4, 20, 21 and 22 says, My son, attend to my words. Speaker A 00:04:06 Incline thine ear unto my sayings. Speaker A 00:04:10 Keep them before thine eyes and in the midst of thine heart, for they are life to those that find them, and their health to their flesh. Speaker A 00:04:17 My words are life. Speaker A 00:04:19 In him was life. Speaker A 00:04:22 In the beginning was the Word, The Word was with God. Speaker A 00:04:25 The Word was God. Speaker A 00:04:27 The Word is life. Speaker A 00:04:29 I want you to see right there before we go any further, how totally and completely God and the Word agree. Speaker A 00:04:36 In God there was life. Speaker A 00:04:37 In the Word, there's life. Speaker A 00:04:39 In the beginning was the Word. Speaker A 00:04:41 In the beginning was God. Speaker A 00:04:42 In the beginning was God. Speaker A 00:04:44 In the beginning was the Word. Speaker A 00:04:45 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 00:04:47 And then it goes ahead and makes a statement that is absolutely filled with spiritual nerve. Speaker A 00:04:57 Goes far enough to say the Word was God. Speaker A 00:05:00 Well, if it was God, it is God. Speaker A 00:05:03 Amen. Speaker A 00:05:05 Now notice, all things were made by Him. Speaker A 00:05:11 Now, do we have the right, if we say, are we correctly interpreting the Word of God? Speaker A 00:05:19 If we say here, in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God. Speaker A 00:05:26 And then we slip down to the third verse and say, all things were made by Him. Speaker A 00:05:30 Can we say, all things were made by the Word? Speaker A 00:05:34 Well, it must be able to. Speaker A 00:05:35 If, if. Speaker A 00:05:36 If the Word was God. Speaker A 00:05:38 If God so totally agrees with the Word. Speaker A 00:05:41 If. Speaker A 00:05:41 If you can't say Word without saying God, and you can't say God without saying the Word, then you're going to have to do that. Speaker A 00:05:47 Now, before we take our license to do that, go to the book of Hebrews, don't lose your place there in John. Speaker A 00:05:56 We might come back that way in a little bit. Speaker A 00:06:00 Like one fellow said, I'm going to preach from this text and won't come back by it again, but we might come back by that in a minute. Speaker A 00:06:13 In the fourth chapter of Hebrews One of the most startling things I saw in my life when I first began to realize how sovereign God's Word is. Speaker A 00:06:25 See, God's Word is as sovereign as he is. Speaker A 00:06:28 If he ever said anything, bless God, it's still so. Speaker A 00:06:32 See, it's as sovereign as he is. Speaker A 00:06:34 A man and his Word are inseparable. Speaker A 00:06:36 And this is what the Spirit of God's trying to teach us from His Word. Speaker A 00:06:43 An honest man and his Word are inseparable. Speaker A 00:06:47 Isn't that right? Speaker A 00:06:48 You can't have a dishonest man, that his Word's good and an honest man's Word's not bad. Speaker A 00:06:58 You don't have a good man and his Word's not good. Speaker A 00:07:00 They run one and the same. Speaker A 00:07:02 You see, whichever way the man is, that's the way his Word is. Speaker A 00:07:04 He and his Word are inseparable. Speaker A 00:07:07 Now notice this from the fourth chapter of Hebrews in the 12th verse. Speaker A 00:07:13 For the Word of God is quick. Speaker A 00:07:16 Now, the cross reference here says it is a living thing. Speaker A 00:07:20 The Word is a living thing. Speaker A 00:07:23 In fact, you ought to take your pencil and write that up above the top of your Bible there. Speaker A 00:07:27 If you could read Greek. Speaker A 00:07:29 I can't read it either, but I can read a concordance and I've heard Greek scholars talk about this, that that word there, in fact it's, if I'm not mistaken, is the word Logos. Speaker A 00:07:43 That word actually says to the Greek's ear. Speaker A 00:07:51 When he hears that word Logos, it literally paints the picture in his mind that this thing is. Speaker A 00:07:59 Is a never dying thing, that it's alive forever. Speaker A 00:08:02 Everything around it could die, but that won't. Speaker A 00:08:05 It's so alive. Speaker A 00:08:07 For the Word of God is alive and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, of the joints and marrow, and as a discerner of the thought and the intent of the heart. Speaker A 00:08:24 Now, now the word itself has the power to move in its own power. Speaker A 00:08:30 In other words, the Word is not void of power to cause itself to come to pass. Speaker A 00:08:38 No word from God is void of the power that it takes to cause what he said to happen. Speaker A 00:08:45 That power is in that Word itself. Speaker A 00:08:47 I'm going to explain that to you. Speaker A 00:08:49 Explain that to you? Speaker A 00:08:50 That's good Oklahoma talk. Speaker A 00:08:52 Explain that to you in a minute. Speaker A 00:08:54 Yeah, you understand that, don't you? Speaker A 00:08:58 Okay, I'm going to explain to you in a moment how that word can be that way, how it can literally be alive, but the word itself has the power in it to transcend the mind, the intellect and go down into the heart of a man. Speaker A 00:09:17 Not only that, the Bible here says that it can go into the bones of a man. Speaker A 00:09:22 It can go inside of his bones, you say? Speaker A 00:09:24 Well now I don't understand how something, how words could get in your bones. Speaker A 00:09:29 Well, praise God, I don't know all about it either, but I know that there was a prophet by the name of Elisha that still had so much of it in his bones when they threw a dead man in their own. Speaker A 00:09:41 And no boy couldn't stay dead, threw him in there on his own bones, praise God. Speaker A 00:09:46 And there was still enough of it in his old bones, knocked the guy back to life. Speaker A 00:09:52 I don't understand all that either. Speaker A 00:09:53 But the guy was walking around. Speaker A 00:09:55 What are you going to argue with? Speaker A 00:09:57 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 00:09:59 Alright, now watch this verse 13. Speaker A 00:10:02 Neither is there any creature that's not manifest in his sight. Speaker A 00:10:06 Now what is the subject of the sentence? Speaker A 00:10:12 For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword. Speaker A 00:10:17 The word of God, that's the subject of that sentence. Speaker A 00:10:21 All right, now if you know anything about grammar, the startling thing here is that this has said the word of God. Speaker A 00:10:31 He now seeing that 13th verse said neither is there anything that's not manifest in his sight. Speaker A 00:10:40 Now if it was just sticking strictly to talking just about the Word, just simply as a physical thing, it would have said the Word of God is a living thing, it's powerful sharpen any two edged sword. Speaker A 00:10:54 Neither is there anything that's not manifest in its sight. Speaker A 00:11:00 But didn't say that said neither is there anything that's not manifest in his sight. Speaker A 00:11:05 Well now actually that's what John has said over here in the Gospel of John. Speaker A 00:11:10 He said in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God and all things were made by him. Speaker A 00:11:20 Now see, he said the same thing actually. Speaker A 00:11:23 He said the Word and God. Speaker A 00:11:24 Totally agree. Speaker A 00:11:27 All right, now in the first chapter of Hebrews, you're there in the fourth chapter. Speaker A 00:11:31 Flip back over there and look at the first chapter. Speaker A 00:11:38 In the very first four verses, look at the third verse. Speaker A 00:11:47 Who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, or upholding all things by the power in his Word. Speaker A 00:12:05 Everything, everything that is and everything that ever has been and everything that praise God ever will be was brought about directly or indirectly by the Word of God. Speaker A 00:12:26 I tell you what, this book of Hebrews is written on what I'm going to teach you about. Speaker A 00:12:30 Anyway, look over there at the 11th chapter we can find out right here what the power is in his word that's upholding all things. Speaker A 00:12:43 Now, he said in this third verse, through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. Speaker A 00:13:02 Everything that is seen was made out of something that you cannot see. Speaker A 00:13:11 It wasn't made out of nothing. Speaker A 00:13:13 Some people say God made the world out of nothing. Speaker A 00:13:16 No, he didn't say that. Speaker A 00:13:17 It just said he made it out of something you couldn't see. Speaker A 00:13:19 Made it out of something that does not appear, see. Speaker A 00:13:23 A force that you cannot see, an energy that you can't see with the physical eye. Speaker A 00:13:30 Now, that energy, he says, was faith. Speaker A 00:13:33 The worlds were framed by faith, by the word of God. Speaker A 00:13:39 Now, he has said something here in this verse that I want to get off into the meat of this thing right now with that third verse, through faith. Speaker A 00:13:50 Now, that's the force in the word that causes it to be a living thing, the force of faith. Speaker A 00:14:00 Faith is a spiritual force. Speaker A 00:14:02 Somebody said, is faith an attitude? Speaker A 00:14:04 No, faith causes an attitude. Speaker A 00:14:06 Faith is a force. Speaker A 00:14:08 It is the name of a spiritual force. Speaker A 00:14:12 And the force of faith was the parent force of everything that you can see with these physical eyes. Speaker A 00:14:25 God said, let there be light. Speaker A 00:14:27 And there was light. Speaker A 00:14:29 You see, in the beginning, God created the heavens, the earth, and he did it this way by saying, let there be light. Speaker A 00:14:37 There was light. Speaker A 00:14:40 Now, the force of faith released in those words was the substance of the thing that God hoped for. Speaker A 00:14:56 And it was the evidence of what he not yet did see with his own physical eyes. Speaker A 00:15:07 Everything that you can feel, everything that you can see, was either directly or indirectly fathered by a force called faith. Speaker A 00:15:19 Now, words were the containers that got that force out from the inside of God and got it out in the and into the outside where it could be put to work. Speaker A 00:15:34 Somebody said, I got all kinds of faith. Speaker A 00:15:37 Well, that's the reason of not working. Speaker A 00:15:38 You haven't got any of it out. Speaker A 00:15:40 You still got it all hanging on to it. Speaker A 00:15:42 Release some of it, you see. Speaker A 00:15:44 Now, through faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God. Speaker A 00:15:54 Let's talk about this for a minute. Speaker A 00:16:00 This tape box, this is a cassette tape box. Speaker A 00:16:07 Got a tape in it. Speaker A 00:16:13 Now, that little box, or the tape that's in it originally was an image, the inside of somebody before it could ever become a physical reality. Speaker A 00:16:34 You know, I mean, it didn't. Speaker A 00:16:36 This little box didn't just happen. Speaker A 00:16:37 And somebody said, hmm, a little box. Speaker A 00:16:42 It didn't work that way. Speaker A 00:16:46 That was a. Speaker A 00:16:47 See that thing that, that was a picture on the inside of somebody. Speaker A 00:16:52 Now probably a necessity caused that person. Speaker A 00:16:58 There was a problem or a need that caused that person to begin to think. Speaker A 00:17:03 And a picture grew on the inside of the guy. Speaker A 00:17:07 And then it went from the inside of him to a piece of paper. Speaker A 00:17:12 It came from a picture inside him to a picture on a piece of paper. Speaker A 00:17:17 And then you see the guy that could manufacture that took the picture and the raw substance and got the picture and the substance together and came out with a product. Speaker A 00:17:35 But the product didn't happen. Speaker A 00:17:37 And then you get the image on the inside of the guy. Speaker A 00:17:40 No, you had to have the image on the inside of the man before you could ever get the product. Speaker A 00:17:45 And then the raw material had to be put into the hands of somebody that could make the thing and then you got a product. Speaker A 00:17:52 Well, that's exactly what happened when the world was created. Speaker A 00:17:55 That's what happened when the heavens was created. Speaker A 00:17:57 I don't know what all the fuss is all about about the big mystery. Speaker A 00:18:01 You know, God didn't just stand there and say, look at that, wow, that looks like a world to me. Speaker A 00:18:09 No, you know, it didn't happen that way. Speaker A 00:18:12 It says right here, through faith we understand the worlds reframed by the word of God. Speaker A 00:18:17 This thing was an image on the inside of God first and then that image was framed by words. Speaker A 00:18:34 Now you don't think in words, you think in pictures. Speaker A 00:18:39 If I said dog, you don't think dog. Speaker A 00:18:44 Dog doesn't go across your consciousness. Speaker A 00:18:48 If all I said was dog, what you thought of, what that word framed. Speaker A 00:18:52 See, that word framed a picture. Speaker A 00:18:55 It created a picture in your mind. Speaker A 00:18:57 And if there's nothing else, you just thought of your old dog. Speaker A 00:18:59 But now if I'd have said big dog. Speaker A 00:19:02 Now that changes the picture in your mind if your dog isn't big. Speaker A 00:19:06 If I said big, black dog. Speaker A 00:19:09 Now I've got three words working around the same subject. Speaker A 00:19:12 I've painted another picture. Speaker A 00:19:13 If your dog ain't big and he ain't black and you think about somebody else's dog, if I said your dog. Speaker A 00:19:20 Now we know exactly that you've got a perfect picture on the inside of you. Speaker A 00:19:23 But you know what? Speaker A 00:19:24 Every picture in the room is different, isn't it? Speaker A 00:19:30 If we're going to all think the same thing, then we've got to have words that will paint exactly the same picture. Speaker A 00:19:39 Alright, now watch this because this is something else. Speaker A 00:19:44 The Bible says that God did all these things. Speaker A 00:19:48 All these things were in his heart and in his mind. Speaker A 00:19:51 Even before the foundations of the world, now there was an image inside God. Speaker A 00:20:00 And the Bible says that Jesus is the express image of God. Speaker A 00:20:05 He is the perfect expression of the image that was on the inside of God. Speaker A 00:20:09 Now let's find out. Speaker A 00:20:10 How God created the heavens and the earth is a very simple thing. Speaker A 00:20:13 The Bible said he did it through wisdom and understanding. Speaker A 00:20:16 He knew how to use the force of faith. Speaker A 00:20:21 Now if I talked about the force of electricity and everybody in here automatically has some form, depending on how much you know about electricity and the laws that govern it, you have some idea of what produces electricity. Speaker A 00:20:38 You know, it's got to come from a dynamo. Speaker A 00:20:41 And here recently we've been hearing a lot about, you know, fuel crisis and all that. Speaker A 00:20:44 You, you've been, you've been learning more and more about what produces electrical power and so forth. Speaker A 00:20:50 And it's not hard for you to think about a dynamo producing electrical power that that big generator could run. Speaker A 00:21:00 And the more you know about it, the more detailed of a picture you have on the inside of you, you see on how the thing works. Speaker A 00:21:07 But it's still not hard for you to understand. Speaker A 00:21:09 I mean, even if you don't know how the thing works technically it isn't hard for you to accept the fact that a dynamo and a central source of power produces that, that power that's labeled electricity. Speaker A 00:21:23 But now, you know, what if somebody to come up here and stood before you 200 years ago and said electricity, you'd have said what? Speaker A 00:21:32 You would have had no inner consciousness or any inner picture of what I talking about than a man in a moon. Speaker A 00:21:39 But do you know all electricity was still here then. Speaker A 00:21:43 And did you know a dynamo would have worked just as good in 1640 as it does in 1940 or 2040. Speaker A 00:21:50 The principles and the sources were all there, they just didn't anybody know how to put it together. Speaker A 00:21:56 Isn't that true? Speaker A 00:21:58 Alright, the force of faith is not a physical force, it's a spiritual force. Speaker A 00:22:06 And God is not only a spirit, he is the spirit. Speaker A 00:22:11 And Jesus said, you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. Speaker A 00:22:17 And it's amazing. Speaker A 00:22:18 The word that he used, power, Dunamos the word. Speaker A 00:22:23 We get dynamo from the producer of power, the dynamo of faith, the central figure, the central power station, the place where it's produced. Speaker A 00:22:40 Praise God is in the heart of God. Speaker A 00:22:43 It's a little bit hard for the human mind to conceive but, but you begin to think about it a little bit and you know that's not far fetched at all that God is the power plant of the spiritual force of faith. Speaker A 00:23:00 Now inside God was an image of the heavens and the earth. Speaker A 00:23:10 Also inside God was the spiritual substance to cause it to come to pass. Speaker A 00:23:18 He took the words that perfectly framed that picture. Speaker A 00:23:25 Now God in his infinite wisdom could do it with one word. Speaker A 00:23:30 We've written billions of words and millions of volumes trying to figure it out and we hadn't got it framed yet. Speaker A 00:23:37 But he was smart enough to frame it with one word, the word light. Speaker A 00:23:44 Now knowing his business, knowing what he's doing, he takes the word that perfectly frames that picture on the inside of him. Speaker A 00:23:53 The picture of this universe, what he had built up on the inside of him that he's going to bring to pass. Speaker A 00:24:01 And Genesis 1:1 said in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and the Spirit of God moved on the face of the deep. Speaker A 00:24:07 Now the spirit of God moving on the face of the deep. Speaker A 00:24:11 God said in the Hebrew text says God said light be and light was. Speaker A 00:24:21 Now he took the word you see that framed that on the inside of him. Speaker A 00:24:29 Also on the inside of God was the faith force, the substance of things hoped for. Speaker A 00:24:38 Hallelujah. Speaker A 00:24:39 The very force that would bring it to pass. Speaker A 00:24:44 He spoke it light be and the universe manufacturer was already out there in place. Speaker A 00:24:53 And when he said it, he took the substance and slung this universe into existence. Speaker A 00:24:59 Now what he did, you see, he took the image, the raw material, got it into the hands of the maker and there you had a finished product. Speaker A 00:25:10 Are you following me? Speaker A 00:25:11 Do you see what I'm saying to you? Speaker A 00:25:13 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 00:25:15 Thank God. Speaker A 00:25:17 Faith filled words dominated the law of darkness. Speaker A 00:25:29 And it still will. Speaker A 00:25:31 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 00:25:32 It'll still dominate it. Speaker A 00:25:36 Jesus, every single molecule, every atom of his physical body was at one time an image in the heart of God. Speaker A 00:25:57 And without any understanding, and this is a reason it's hard for anybody to see the triune being of God. Speaker A 00:26:04 But when you begin to see these things, you begin to understand how it can work and how it came to pass. Speaker A 00:26:10 The Bible said he's the express image of his person. Speaker A 00:26:14 God had a perfect image on the inside of exactly what Jesus was to look like. Speaker A 00:26:20 And then he began to release his word in the earth. Speaker A 00:26:24 Beginning at the Garden of Eden, he read the first riot act and the articles of war to Satan. Speaker A 00:26:30 And right then he didn't say we're going to fight, he said I'm going to win. Speaker A 00:26:36 The war was over right then and that dummy hadn't figured it out yet. Speaker A 00:26:42 He Knows it's so. Speaker A 00:26:45 He just can't see how it'll happen. Speaker A 00:26:47 He can't see. Speaker A 00:26:48 He can't see. Speaker A 00:26:50 He can't see. Speaker A 00:26:52 He doesn't have any image of that in him. Speaker A 00:26:54 He's blind. Speaker A 00:26:56 And when God talks about blindness. Speaker A 00:26:58 He's not talking about the blindness of the natural eye. Speaker A 00:27:01 He's talking about the blindness of the inner man. Speaker A 00:27:04 No inner image, no picture that matches God's picture. Speaker A 00:27:09 You know, I had a guy say something to me last week. Speaker A 00:27:12 I was preaching over at Christ for the Nations Institute in Dallas. Speaker A 00:27:16 And John Garlock is administrator of the school over there. Speaker A 00:27:19 And one of the finest men I ever talked to in my life. Speaker A 00:27:21 And he. Speaker A 00:27:21 He said something to me the other day that. Speaker A 00:27:24 That really challenged me in my thinking. Speaker A 00:27:27 And yet it's as simple. Speaker A 00:27:29 Anybody ought to be able to understand it. Speaker A 00:27:30 But I began to see how Satan has destroyed so many of the things that God provided for us. Speaker A 00:27:39 By destroying our inner image of God. Speaker A 00:27:46 Now, if you want to know the truth, that's what religion does. Speaker A 00:27:51 Religion destroys man's inner image of God. Speaker A 00:27:56 And what God wants. Speaker A 00:27:57 What God wants him to do, what he looks like and everything else about him. Speaker A 00:28:01 And he said this to me. Speaker A 00:28:03 He said, you know, Brother Copeland, he said, I believe this is true. Speaker A 00:28:07 He said, a child very young begins to grow up. Speaker A 00:28:11 Said he has an immature image of his own dad. Speaker A 00:28:14 And he has an immaterial image of his mother. Speaker A 00:28:17 He has an immature image of life. Speaker A 00:28:20 He has an immature image of his life's calling. Speaker A 00:28:24 You know, I mean, he's going to be something different every day. Speaker A 00:28:28 I remember when I was a little boy, I lived in abilene, Texas. Speaker A 00:28:31 And MacMurray College was there. Speaker A 00:28:34 Methodist school there. Speaker A 00:28:35 And they were the MacMurray Indians. Speaker A 00:28:38 And out there on the campus, they had a great big old Indian chief's head out there in full war dress, you know. Speaker A 00:28:44 And you could see that thing for six blocks driving down the road. Speaker A 00:28:47 And I was just a little old boy. Speaker A 00:28:49 And that thing hit me so hard. Speaker A 00:28:51 See, that sign created an image on the inside of me. Speaker A 00:28:54 And for a long time, Mother Nim somebody'd asked me, you know, say, what you gonna be when you grow up? Speaker A 00:28:59 I said, well, I'm gonna be a Mac Murray Indian. Speaker A 00:29:03 I didn't know what Mack Murray was. Speaker A 00:29:05 I had a very immature idea of the whole thing. Speaker A 00:29:08 But that Indian sure looked good to me. Speaker A 00:29:11 Well, you know, then you want to be a fireman. Speaker A 00:29:14 You want to be an airplane pilot and all that. Speaker A 00:29:19 But, you know, as a guy grows up, his image of his own dad and mother matures. Speaker A 00:29:28 His image of life matures. Speaker A 00:29:31 His inner picture of life, his image is on the inside mature. Speaker A 00:29:38 All except his image of God. Speaker A 00:29:41 And here the guy goes along, maybe live all of his life and still have that little child boyhood image of God in him. Speaker A 00:29:50 And you know, and you can understand it when the fellow comes up, you know, full grown man come up and say, do you suppose we'll know one another in heaven? Speaker A 00:30:01 That's a three year old question if there ever was one. Speaker A 00:30:05 A man that has an immature image of the things of God and heavenly things, you see, has an idea that angels are little skinny cats and they're all blond headed and they're all women and all of them wear sheets and they just kind of bounce around from one cloud to the other. Speaker A 00:30:24 That's not immaterial, that's stupid. Speaker A 00:30:29 It really is. Speaker A 00:30:30 You get right down to that. Speaker A 00:30:32 You know, little kids wouldn't know better than that if they'd stop and think, I never would lie to my kids about Santa Claus. Speaker A 00:30:40 I never would lie to them about the dumb Easter bunny. Speaker A 00:30:44 Now I remember my little girl wasn't. Speaker A 00:30:48 But I don't know, she's three or four, you know, something like that. Speaker A 00:30:54 Somebody said with that, oh, I have to repent every time I think about some of this stuff. Speaker A 00:31:05 What's Sandy gonna bring? Speaker A 00:31:10 You ought to stand off and listen to that sometime. Speaker A 00:31:14 And then a few years later you wonder how come your kid won't have anything to do with you. Speaker A 00:31:19 You told him about the Easter bunny and you told him about Santa Claus and you told him about Jesus. Speaker A 00:31:23 And two out of three of them turned out to be phony. Speaker A 00:31:25 And the inside picture he's got of Jesus worse than the other two. Speaker A 00:31:29 The other two at least did something for him. Speaker A 00:31:31 And you told him Jesus wouldn't do no more of that because that's all passed away. Speaker A 00:31:37 Yeah, no wonder. Speaker A 00:31:38 And this person says, what's Santa Claus gonna bring you? Speaker A 00:31:41 And my little daughter looked up to my wife like you poor thing and looked, looked up at my wife and said, you suppose she don't know? Speaker A 00:31:59 Do you suppose she really doesn't know? Speaker A 00:32:04 And you know, I've had more people get mad at me for mentioning this where some little kid might hear it. Speaker A 00:32:11 Why you ought to get told on, you lying thing that don't mind me a bit. Speaker A 00:32:18 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 00:32:18 And do you know, I say, well, they won't get anything out of Christmas. Speaker A 00:32:21 They will. Speaker A 00:32:22 If you will teach them something. Speaker A 00:32:24 They begin to get some reality out of it. Speaker A 00:32:27 Christmas is Kind of a slow time at our house because we give all year long. Speaker A 00:32:32 Kind of makes Christmas look kind of silly, you know, everybody running around out there to get to give. Speaker A 00:32:37 Once we give all year, we just kind of add it to the curriculum, you know, and just keep going, just have more fun. Speaker A 00:32:45 We got Christmas around the clock. Speaker A 00:32:47 We stay ahead of what most people only get to once all year. Speaker A 00:32:54 They believe God. Speaker A 00:32:55 They know how. Speaker A 00:32:55 They know how to use their faith. Speaker A 00:32:57 But you see, my children, because of the fact that they've been taught the word of God, and because they are believers, they have an inner consciousness of God. Speaker A 00:33:05 That's correct. Speaker A 00:33:09 There's something working on the inside of it. Speaker A 00:33:11 It isn't hard for them to believe God, it's hard for them not to believe God. Speaker A 00:33:15 Raise a child in a nurture and admonition of the Lord. Speaker A 00:33:19 When he gets older, he won't turn from it. Speaker A 00:33:20 That's what the Word said. Speaker A 00:33:22 You paint a picture of God in there that's real and it'll stay with him. Speaker A 00:33:26 You can paint that phony one in there and it won't hold up. Speaker A 00:33:30 Are you following what I'm saying to you now? Speaker A 00:33:32 How in the world are we going to get hold of the one that's real? Speaker A 00:33:35 How does this work? Speaker A 00:33:36 That's the reason God sent His word. Speaker A 00:33:41 See, these words frame God. Speaker A 00:33:44 God and his word are one. Speaker A 00:33:46 And the Holy Spirit is the artist of the anointing of God. Speaker A 00:33:51 Well, God just said something to me. Speaker A 00:33:55 Mmm, that knocked me down. Speaker A 00:34:03 If you will allow me, saith the Lord, to use these words to frame up on the inside of you. Speaker A 00:34:09 My word is called the oil, and I'm the artist, and I'll place it on the canvas of your heart. Speaker A 00:34:14 I said in my word that I would do it, that I would place my law and my words and my nature on your heart and on your mind. Speaker A 00:34:21 And you then, saith, the Lord, will have a picture of me and I'll share it with you, and it'll become even more real than some of the foolishness you've seen on physical canvases and pictures in your own church houses. Speaker A 00:34:34 Praise God. Speaker A 00:34:36 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 00:34:37 I never thought about the oil of the Spirit being the painting oil, did you? Speaker A 00:34:42 But the spirit of God is the artist of God, and he'll paint his picture on your heart with His Word. Speaker A 00:34:54 Praise God is right. Speaker A 00:34:59 Now then, Holy God. Speaker A 00:35:06 First Corinthians. Speaker A 00:35:11 Well, I got so many things at one time. Speaker A 00:35:13 I'm going to have to stop here a minute, kind of unravel some of this, because I missed Some of it. Speaker A 00:35:16 I don't. Speaker A 00:35:21 Hallelujah to Jesus. Speaker A 00:35:24 Glory be to God. Speaker A 00:35:28 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 00:35:31 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 00:35:34 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 00:35:36 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 00:35:38 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 00:35:40 Just stay there. Speaker A 00:35:40 In first Corinthians, I'm going to read a verse of Scripture. Speaker A 00:35:43 Here in the fifth chapter, Second Corinthians, the seventh verse said, we walk by faith, not by sight. Speaker A 00:35:52 And then he goes ahead and say, we're confident. Speaker A 00:35:54 That's the next thing he said. Speaker A 00:35:56 We're confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Speaker A 00:36:05 In other words, he said, we're walking by faith and not beside, and we're confident. Speaker A 00:36:09 Now, how could you say that? Speaker A 00:36:10 How could you be confident in something you can't see? Speaker A 00:36:13 How could you be walking in for something you can't see and yet turn right around and say, well, we're confident of it, convinced of it. Speaker A 00:36:19 How could you be convinced of that? Speaker A 00:36:21 Well, now, in the fourth chapter of First Corinthians, I think it's about the 18th verse. Speaker A 00:36:35 Let's see if it ends. Speaker A 00:36:39 No, wait a minute. Speaker A 00:36:40 Here's what the Spirit of God is saying. Speaker A 00:36:44 My people that will allow my word to be the. Speaker A 00:36:52 The thing that creates their inner images, then my people will all be in one accord. Speaker A 00:37:09 And when my people in the earth are of one accord, saith God, then they're in accord with me. Speaker A 00:37:16 And if I be for you, nobody can succeed as your enemy. Speaker A 00:37:22 The only reason that the image of God in the inner man has not matured is because it takes the word of God to cause it to mature in the first place. Speaker A 00:37:34 For no man has seen God with his physical eye that was able to relate it in such a way that would cause a correct physical impression of me in the first place, saith the Lord, it takes my word to build an image of me in your spirit, man. Speaker A 00:37:53 And when you're in one accord with me, then those things that are in your heart, put there by my word will be established, and then they'll come to pass. Speaker A 00:38:07 For we look on things which do not appear, those things which appear are temporal, but those things which do not appear, the ones that don't appear, you see, they are eternal. Speaker A 00:38:21 But if you will begin to look not on the physical eye, but through the eye of faith, the eye in the heart, the spiritual eye. Speaker A 00:38:31 For Jesus himself said, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Speaker A 00:38:35 He's talking about the ears of the spirit man. Speaker A 00:38:38 If your heart will hear my word, and your eye will see through the eye of faith and look at the image that my word creates on the inside of you instead of the image that the circumstantial world creates. Speaker A 00:38:53 Then the inner image will become more real than the outer image and you will release the force of faith within you and my spirit will change the outer image to match the inner one. Speaker A 00:39:05 Now, God quoted the scripture that was in my heart. Speaker A 00:39:10 Things that we're looking at through these physical eyes are temporal. Speaker A 00:39:14 They're temporary. Speaker A 00:39:15 Praise God. Speaker A 00:39:16 Well, if they're temporary, hallelujah. Speaker A 00:39:18 Here's what I was after. Speaker A 00:39:19 If they're temporary, then they can be changed. Speaker A 00:39:24 Praise God. Speaker A 00:39:25 I knew that was in there. Speaker A 00:39:27 Kind of had a knot on it. Speaker A 00:39:28 Took a little bit to drag it out, but I got it. Speaker A 00:39:30 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 00:39:31 If it's temporary, it can be changed, isn't that right? Speaker A 00:39:34 Well, what do you want to wait 10 more years to change it for? Speaker A 00:39:37 Won't you change it now? Speaker A 00:39:40 See, let God go ahead and do a miracle on and change the thing. Speaker A 00:39:42 If it's temporary, that means it's changeable. Speaker A 00:39:45 If it's temporary, that means it isn't eternal. Speaker A 00:39:47 It'll change. Speaker A 00:39:48 Well, if the thing needs changing, why do you want to wait till someday after the world passes away or something for? Speaker A 00:39:56 Why don't you just take the word of God and allow the things that are non changing to be more real and let God go ahead and step in there and change the thing. Speaker A 00:40:05 Now the way we get things crossed up with God, you see, is by operating in a different way from him. Speaker A 00:40:12 If we get in line with the way he's going, there's no difficulty to operate with God. Speaker A 00:40:17 God said to me the other day, he said, your little old cares and woes don't tax my faith anymore. Speaker A 00:40:23 He said, everything, every problem you've got is no problem to my faith. Speaker A 00:40:28 He said that that doesn't present any problem to me. Speaker A 00:40:31 He said, it's just no problem to my faith at all. Speaker A 00:40:34 Said it doesn't tax my power one bit. Speaker A 00:40:36 In fact, he said I could fix every problem of every human that was ever born on the face of the earth all at the same time and never really be any problem to me. Speaker A 00:40:45 He said, now why don't you roll that care over on me? Speaker A 00:40:48 You're not equipped to handle it anyhow. Speaker A 00:40:53 Well then, you see, I began to see what he was saying in his word. Speaker A 00:40:56 Cast your care over on him. Speaker A 00:41:00 The Bible said that's the way a man humbles himself under the hand of God in 1st Peter, 5, 6 and 7. Speaker A 00:41:04 Humble yourself therefore, under the mighty hand of God. Speaker A 00:41:07 That he may exalt you in due time, casting the whole of your care over on him. Speaker A 00:41:11 For he careth for you. Speaker A 00:41:14 See, that's the way you do it says, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God. Speaker A 00:41:17 And the way you do it is by casting your care over on him. Speaker A 00:41:20 I began to get a picture of the fact that my God can handle the deal. Speaker A 00:41:25 So I just rolled all the care over on him. Speaker A 00:41:29 I tell you what, I was praying for the government when I first saw it. Speaker A 00:41:37 I was praying for government officials and our problem, so forth in the government when I first saw it. Speaker A 00:41:43 And I began to see on the inside of me see, I couldn't see it with my natural eye. Speaker A 00:41:47 Everything I can see with my natural eye, Satan has distorted it to. Speaker A 00:41:51 To warp my opinion of my political government. Speaker A 00:41:54 Anyway, I. Speaker A 00:41:55 I do hope you got sense enough not to let the television set and the newspapers form your opinions of your leaders. Speaker A 00:42:04 Boy, I'll tell you, if there was anything that's absolutely stupid to do, that's it. Speaker A 00:42:08 I really got startled right out of my pride one day. Speaker A 00:42:16 People kept coming up to me right after A.A. Speaker A 00:42:18 allen died and said, what do you think about that? Speaker A 00:42:22 Well, you know, I going to be a big authority and come up with some kind of a cute answer, I guess. Speaker A 00:42:30 And I wasn't getting too far with it. Speaker A 00:42:33 At least you know, you can be honest before God enough to discipline your own tongue your own life. Speaker A 00:42:40 And I said, well, maybe I better pray about this before I bring up anything about it. Speaker A 00:42:45 I went before the Lord and I was praying about it. Speaker A 00:42:47 I said, lord, how am I going to answer these people? Speaker A 00:42:49 He said, I want to ask you something. Speaker A 00:42:50 Well, when he comes up with that, I know I've had it. Speaker A 00:42:53 You might, you know, just go ahead and relax because you're fixing to get fixed. Speaker A 00:42:59 And I said, yeah, go ahead. Speaker A 00:43:03 He said, how well do you know A. Speaker A 00:43:04 A. Speaker A 00:43:04 Allen? Speaker A 00:43:05 I said I didn't know him at all. Speaker A 00:43:07 He said, did you know the man that wrote the article in the paper? Speaker A 00:43:10 I said, no. Speaker A 00:43:13 He said, did you know the man that was in the room with him there when he died? Speaker A 00:43:16 I said, no. Speaker A 00:43:18 He said, did you know the coroner that made the report? Speaker A 00:43:20 I said, no. Speaker A 00:43:21 He said, don't sound me like you know too much. Speaker A 00:43:25 I said, no, I don't. Speaker A 00:43:26 He said, then keep your big blab mouth shut. Speaker A 00:43:32 And then he said, he's with me, and that's all you need to know. Speaker A 00:43:38 Boy, I tell you, I'd put you on your knees few conversations like that. Speaker A 00:43:42 And so I began to realize I Didn't know much. Speaker A 00:43:45 And just because I believed what other people said didn't mean I knew anything, see? Speaker A 00:43:50 Are you following what I'm saying to you? Speaker A 00:43:52 Because even you see, even if you tell me what you saw, if Satan is your authority in life and listen, frankly, you can be born again and filled with the Holy Ghost and Satan leading you around by the nose. Speaker A 00:44:09 And if you're not smart enough to realize that, then you're dumber than I thought. Speaker A 00:44:14 If your mind is controlled by fear, it's not controlled by God. Speaker A 00:44:18 If your mind is controlled by doubt and unbelief, our guarantee is not controlled by God. Speaker A 00:44:23 Well, then who else is it? Speaker A 00:44:28 Don't blame it on the Democrats. Speaker A 00:44:32 Well, in the midst of all this, you see, praying about it and seeking God about it, I began to realize, even if you come tell me something you saw with your own two eyes, if you don't know anything about the word of God and your inner picture of God and the things around you are distorted by fear, you know good and well it won't be any better than gossip if you stood there and looked at it, because you'll distort it by the time it gets to me. Speaker A 00:45:03 Now, the only thing that we can absolutely depend on to build our opinions is the Holy Spirit, because he is not hampered with an inability to communicate. Speaker A 00:45:16 And he does not gossip. Speaker A 00:45:18 He tells it just exactly the way it is. Speaker A 00:45:20 And the only way you're ever going to be able to have the Holy Spirit to paint a picture to you is put his word first. Speaker A 00:45:25 Because that is the paintbrush he uses to do it. Speaker A 00:45:30 The word of God. Speaker A 00:45:32 You see, it changed my inner opinion of the whole day immediately. Speaker A 00:45:36 When I got into prayer and began listening to the Holy Spirit, my whole attitude toward A.A. Speaker A 00:45:41 allen changed. Speaker A 00:45:43 I mean, the whole thing. Speaker A 00:45:45 And I began to think, well, you know, here. Speaker A 00:45:46 And I had made a lot of opinions about that guy. Speaker A 00:45:48 Never he met, you know, that's not right. Speaker A 00:45:52 Now you've got a lot of opinions about your president and you don't know anything about him. Speaker A 00:45:58 You don't know anything about the people around him, and you don't know anything about the people that reported him. Speaker A 00:46:04 I was amazed after that press conference the other day. Speaker A 00:46:07 The fellow on television after he got through said, well, now here are some things that the President said that were wrong. Speaker A 00:46:14 And when he got through telling what the president said that was wrong, he turned around to the guy and actually said this. Speaker A 00:46:18 Said, what else did you see that wasn't right? Speaker A 00:46:21 And the guy, you know, the guy, he's talking to told what he saw that wasn't right. Speaker A 00:46:25 And then he turned it back over to him. Speaker A 00:46:26 He said, well, now, here's something else that we saw that was a discrepancy. Speaker A 00:46:30 And finally one of the other newsmen caught him at it and said, you know, there was some things that the president said that was good. Speaker A 00:46:35 Why don't you say something about that right on television? Speaker A 00:46:42 Well, now, you see, that man's idea of the president and the other man's idea, the president, two different ideas. Speaker A 00:46:50 Somebody said, yes, but what about the facts? Speaker A 00:46:52 What facts? Speaker A 00:46:55 What facts? Speaker A 00:47:02 You hadn't got any. Speaker A 00:47:06 You want me to tell you what facts? Speaker A 00:47:09 I'll give you some facts. Speaker A 00:47:12 Something real. Speaker A 00:47:15 I exhort you therefore, brethren, first of all, that you pray, intercede, give forth supplication and thanksgiving in behalf of all men and kings and men that are in high authority. Speaker A 00:47:29 I'll give you another fact. Speaker A 00:47:30 The Bible says that all civil authority is ordained of God, and they are God's ministers for our good. Speaker A 00:47:37 Now, there's your fact. Speaker A 00:47:40 Now, you can take that fact which is eternal, allow it to paint a picture of power on the inside of you, and you can take some of these temporal facts and change them. Speaker A 00:47:53 They're temporary anyhow. Speaker A 00:47:55 Praise God. Speaker A 00:47:55 Why do I have to wait till they. Speaker A 00:47:57 Why do I have to wait till somebody votes to change an office when I can change it now with my faith? Speaker A 00:48:04 Amen. Speaker A 00:48:10 Are you beginning to see what God's talking about here? Speaker A 00:48:12 Well, I was praying, you see, over the government and some of the things that were in there. Speaker A 00:48:18 And I began to see some of these things. Speaker A 00:48:20 I began to understand some of the things that were involved. Speaker A 00:48:23 And I began to realize that I didn't know anything about the political government. Speaker A 00:48:27 I didn't know anything about what was going on. Speaker A 00:48:30 All the facts I had were all temporary things and. Speaker A 00:48:33 And what of them were reliable or not? Speaker A 00:48:36 I couldn't tell and could care less anyhow. Speaker A 00:48:39 That's. Speaker A 00:48:40 That's not our salvation in the first place. Speaker A 00:48:45 Now, Jesus said, don't let your heart be troubled. Speaker A 00:48:49 Don't let your heart be troubled. Speaker A 00:48:51 He said, don't just hope it won't be troubled. Speaker A 00:48:53 He said, don't let it be. Speaker A 00:48:56 Now, anytime something like this starts coming at you, you begin to think, what's all this government stuff coming to? Speaker A 00:49:02 Don't stop right then and say, oh, what am I going to do? Speaker A 00:49:06 Don't let your heart be troubled. Speaker A 00:49:08 If your heart is troubled because of political affairs, then you've got your confidence in the wrong spot. Speaker A 00:49:17 If you're Getting shook because your school systems are no good and they're not. Speaker A 00:49:25 But that doesn't mean anything to the man that in his heart the word of God paints a picture right quick in the face of that and said, yes, but great shall be the peace of thy children, for they shall be taught of the Lord. Speaker A 00:49:38 Glory to God. Speaker A 00:49:40 Well, you see, education's not the source of your salvation in the first place. Speaker A 00:49:46 Isn't that true? Speaker A 00:49:47 There's been enough drug education in the last 50 years to save every drug addict in the world. Speaker A 00:49:53 Education's not the answer because some of the most highly educated men in narcotics, which would be druggists and pharmacists, have got a needle in their arm. Speaker A 00:50:01 And anybody knows better, they do because they can squirt it in their arm and tell you the components of it as it goes in. Speaker A 00:50:07 And they're still doing it because there's more to it than just education. Speaker A 00:50:12 Is your heart trouble then you got your faith in the wrong spot. Speaker A 00:50:16 The inner image is being created by the wrong source, by the wrong information. Speaker A 00:50:22 If you'll match it up with God, it can't anybody startle you. Speaker A 00:50:25 And you know what you'll start doing? Speaker A 00:50:27 You'll start using your faith to change the school system. Speaker A 00:50:30 Start praying, praise God, say, well, that won't do any good. Speaker A 00:50:34 Well, I don't know why you'd say that. Speaker A 00:50:36 You say, well, I can't see how. Speaker A 00:50:38 Well that's your trouble. Speaker A 00:50:39 You can't see, you can't see, you can't see. Speaker A 00:50:46 We prayed and God gave us a place to send our children to school. Speaker A 00:50:52 It's a public school. Speaker A 00:50:53 The principal spirit filled every teacher there. Speaker A 00:50:56 Born again. Speaker A 00:50:58 And the principal and her sister, which was the first grade teacher, both attend the church that I went to and sat through every meeting I preached there. Speaker A 00:51:09 That don't tell me God can't do things like that. Speaker A 00:51:11 And so they built another school over there because they got so many kids in that school. Speaker A 00:51:16 Well, God wasn't through just cause. Speaker A 00:51:18 The school board divided it up. Speaker A 00:51:20 I met the principal over at that other school. Speaker A 00:51:22 The old boy studied for the ministry and God called him teach. Speaker A 00:51:26 He's principal of that school. Speaker A 00:51:28 So we're just going from one Christian oriented situation to another one. Speaker A 00:51:33 Now don't tell me that I'm not having some effect on that school system around there with my faith. Speaker A 00:51:38 I have watched some prisoners in prison get an inner image of freedom. Speaker A 00:51:45 And boy, when they get it, they get ahold of a picture of being free. Speaker A 00:51:48 And ain't no jail in the world can hold them. Speaker A 00:51:52 I get letters from men down there in Huntsville that just turned on to the word of God. Speaker A 00:51:55 One old boy wrote and he said, you know, he said, brother Copeland, I made up my mind to walk the faith. Speaker A 00:52:00 Walk like you're walking. Speaker A 00:52:01 And these other men had been preaching down here in this pen. Speaker A 00:52:04 And he said, I got my parole put back a year. Speaker A 00:52:08 But he said, it don't bother me any. Speaker A 00:52:10 He said, I got a lot of guys right here that I can get to make Jesus Lord. Speaker A 00:52:14 He said, brother Copeland, listen to this sentence. Speaker A 00:52:17 Now. Speaker A 00:52:17 This guy's got that old pen beat. Speaker A 00:52:19 You know why? Speaker A 00:52:20 Because he does not have an inner image of darkness and bondage. Speaker A 00:52:25 He had that when he was on the street. Speaker A 00:52:29 Those bars didn't give it to him. Speaker A 00:52:31 He's full of darkness before he ever got there. Speaker A 00:52:33 Praise God. Speaker A 00:52:34 That darkness is what got him behind those bars in the first place. Speaker A 00:52:38 He said, brother Copeland, I'm freer in here than I ever was on the street since I found Jesus. Speaker A 00:52:44 He freer in there than he was on the outside. Speaker A 00:52:48 And just for your information, is there over 400 men now that have accepted the Lord and been baptized in the spirit of God in the Huntsville State Penitentiary. Speaker A 00:52:55 And Huntsville, Texas, broke out in the maximum security unit. Speaker A 00:53:02 And the guy that the prison board, the prison director, gave the man the reputation of the meanest man that had ever been in the Texas, or the meanest man that's in the Texas penal system, was one of the first ones get saved and filled with the spirit. Speaker A 00:53:15 And brother, I'll tell you, when Reuben goes to preaching the Word and nobody give him any lips, praise God. Speaker A 00:53:29 Reuben's chaplain's ASSISTANT now, are you following what I'm saying to you? Speaker A 00:53:34 The very basic, the very basic fundamental fact of salvation. Speaker A 00:53:40 The Bible said we are born of the word of God. Speaker A 00:53:44 The very image, see, that God had of Jesus, his heart, he released, broke it into the earth, opened it there with his Word. Speaker A 00:53:55 And once his Word was in the earth, there wasn't any way you get it out. Speaker A 00:54:00 Men tried to kill it. Speaker A 00:54:01 The devil tried to cover it up. Speaker A 00:54:03 But it's still there, still full of power, still full of operative power. Speaker A 00:54:09 It's still in there. Speaker A 00:54:10 And once the finished picture of Jesus was in the earth by the mouth of the prophets, he was born of a virgin. Speaker A 00:54:20 The Word. Speaker A 00:54:22 The Word was born of flesh, the perfect image of the inside of God. Speaker A 00:54:31 Now I'm going to give you something that you can shout about in Romans, the eighth chapter says, we are predestinated to be conformed to the image of his son. Speaker A 00:54:46 Now, a man that has an immaterial image of God on the inside of him says, well, that couldn't be me. Speaker A 00:54:52 But the faith man says, that's got to be me. Speaker A 00:54:56 It has to be me. Speaker A 00:54:58 The very basic fundamental fact of salvation, the very thing that causes it to happen, you see, is exactly the same thing that caused this earth to come into existence. Speaker A 00:55:08 The image inside of God through the mouth of a believer, began to frame that image with words and shared it with you. Speaker A 00:55:16 And that picture got painted inside your heart, and it rose up on the inside of you, the same force that rose up on the inside of God, which was faith. Speaker A 00:55:24 For by faith ye were saved. Speaker A 00:55:27 Praise God. Speaker A 00:55:28 And it rose up on the inside of you. Speaker A 00:55:30 And you said, that's me. Speaker A 00:55:32 That's Jesus, and I'm in. Speaker A 00:55:36 And there was enough force, enough power there to cause the miracle of creation to happen on the inside of you. Speaker A 00:55:42 And you became his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works. Speaker A 00:55:48 Now, what the Spirit of God is endeavoring to do, you see, among us, he gave gifts unto men, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to take God's word and the revelation that is in it and allow the Holy Spirit to paint in your consciousness the image of Jesus. Speaker A 00:56:03 To a point, my friend, to where that predestination becomes a manifestation in your life. Speaker A 00:56:09 And you begin to walk in the likeness of the Son of the living God. Speaker A 00:56:12 And you begin to operate as the righteousness of God instead of just poor old you. Speaker A 00:56:17 Amen. Speaker A 00:56:18 That's what he's endeavoring to do into the earth. Speaker A 00:56:20 That's what he's endeavoring to put together. Speaker A 00:56:23 Hallelujah. Speaker A 00:56:24 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 00:56:26 Thank God. Speaker A 00:56:27 Can you say Amen to that? Speaker A 00:56:29 Well, let's stand up on our feet now. Speaker A 00:56:31 Let's pray here. Speaker A 00:56:32 Let's believe God for a few moments. Speaker A 00:56:37 Oh, hallelujah. Speaker A 00:56:39 Praise and blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus of Nazareth, who has taken away the sin of the world. Speaker A 00:56:46 The magnificent Jesus. Speaker A 00:56:48 Hallelujah. Speaker A 00:56:49 The Lamb of God, Father, we praise you and we bless you. Speaker A 00:56:55 We adore you and we magnify your name. Speaker A 00:56:57 Just lift your hands. Speaker A 00:56:58 Begin to praise the Lord. Speaker A 00:57:00 Begin to praise him and thank Him. Speaker A 00:57:04 The Word says to praise God. Speaker A 00:57:06 We show forth his magnificent works. Speaker A 00:57:09 If you don't know how to praise God, then you think of something magnificent that His Word says he's done and begin to praise him for that. Speaker A 00:57:16 I learned this by just saying this. Speaker A 00:57:18 My God is the God that parted the Red Sea. Speaker A 00:57:21 And I just began to meditate on that and think about that. Speaker A 00:57:24 And I just kept saying it, praise the Lord that split the Red Sea. Speaker A 00:57:28 And after a while, it became an image on the inside of me that this is the same God that was back in Moses. Speaker A 00:57:35 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 00:57:36 And I began to see, praise God. Speaker A 00:57:38 He's the same one. Speaker A 00:57:40 And it was easy then for me to praise him. Speaker A 00:57:42 You see, that's what praise is for, is to build these things on the inside of you. Speaker A 00:57:47 Build it there. Speaker A 00:57:48 Praise God. Speaker A 00:57:49 Build it there. Speaker A 00:57:50 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 00:57:50 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 00:57:51 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 00:57:52 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 00:57:53 Somebody. Speaker A 00:57:54 Somebody in this congregation is being healed right now of leukemia. Speaker A 00:58:00 I don't know who you are and where you are, but I know you're being healed. Speaker A 00:58:04 Now in the name of Jesus. Speaker A 00:58:07 Now, you see, if you want a full manifestation of God's healing power, Jesus is the picture of that healing. Speaker A 00:58:15 You go to his word. Speaker A 00:58:16 You allow the word that says, by his stripes ye were healed to be to begin to paint a picture on the inside of your spirit man, of you being whole spirit, soul and body. Speaker A 00:58:29 Now, if you want to believe God for financial things, then you go to the word that says, my God shall meet your needs according to his riches and glory. Speaker A 00:58:36 He didn't say according to the poor man of Galilee. Speaker A 00:58:39 He said, according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus, God ain't poor no more. Speaker A 00:58:43 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 00:58:44 That's what Oral Robert said. Speaker A 00:58:45 That still excites me. Speaker A 00:58:46 So I can understand that. Speaker A 00:58:48 Amen. Speaker A 00:58:49 God ain't poor anymore. Speaker A 00:58:51 He's no longer the poor man of Galilee. Speaker A 00:58:53 He's the resurrected Lord of glory. Speaker A 00:58:55 Hallelujah. Speaker A 00:58:56 You get an inner image of that fact in working inside you. Speaker A 00:59:00 And there's not any form or no personage nor no power on the face of this earth that can destroy that and keep you from accepting those things and keeping it from coming to pass. Speaker A 00:59:10 But, brother, when you got it on the inside, it'll go to happening on the outside. Speaker A 00:59:14 Amen. Speaker A 00:59:16 The Bible said Jesus was manifested in the flesh, but he was born in the spirit. Speaker A 00:59:22 It happened in the spirit. Speaker A 00:59:23 And then I found a place over there in the book of Acts, talking about the new birth, talking about people being born in a revival over there. Speaker A 00:59:29 Said in the word of God multiplied. Speaker A 00:59:34 I'm gonna throw something at you now, a little bit heavy because I'm about to quit anyway. Speaker A 00:59:41 I'll give you something to fuss about from now the time you get home. Speaker A 00:59:44 Think about, run it through your head. Speaker A 00:59:47 For years, we have correctly called Jesus the word of God. Speaker A 00:59:52 But the Bible says the word multiplied, that we are born not of corruptible but incorruptible seed by the Word of God. Speaker A 01:00:02 Well, if he's the word of God, so are you. Speaker A 01:00:08 I told you some of you would fuss a little. Speaker A 01:00:16 When you begin to allow the image of yourself to match the image of Jesus, then you begin to see what God was creating all the time. Speaker A 01:00:30 The express image of his person conformed to be predestinated to be conformed to the image of his Son. Speaker A 01:00:39 Let the picture of Jesus match the picture of you. Speaker A 01:00:43 Now somebody said, well, that means I got to pull Jesus down here on my level. Speaker A 01:00:47 No, he came down on your level of his own free will. Speaker A 01:00:50 That's the story of the gospel, brother. Speaker A 01:00:51 He got down here on this level so you could match up with him. Speaker A 01:00:55 He became sin with your sin, sick with your sickness, evil with your evil, your substitute. Speaker A 01:01:03 He matched the image of you that Satan made out of you. Speaker A 01:01:07 He matched that thing. Speaker A 01:01:09 He came and matched it perfectly and then destroyed it. Speaker A 01:01:13 He became that image of sin and sickness and demons and fear and damnation in hell. Speaker A 01:01:20 Bore it. Speaker A 01:01:21 Praise God, he became your substitute. Speaker A 01:01:23 He became that image on it. Speaker A 01:01:25 Let him become that. Speaker A 01:01:28 But then, praise God, don't leave him hanging there. Speaker A 01:01:31 Allow the Holy Spirit to create the image on the inside of you of him blasting through hell's doors and kicking their gates in. Speaker A 01:01:38 Praise God. Speaker A 01:01:39 And leaving Satan stripped and absolutely helpless, toothless in the face of his enemy. Speaker A 01:01:47 Brother. Speaker A 01:01:47 Then you begin to realize that this Jesus was born out of the very pit of hell. Speaker A 01:01:51 The firstborn from the dead, the first begotten of many, many brethren. Speaker A 01:01:54 The Bible said, and it says he's not ashamed to call us his brethren. Speaker A 01:01:59 The Bible said this. Speaker A 01:02:00 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who thought it not robbery to be called equal with God. Speaker A 01:02:06 I don't call it robbery to be called a joint heir with Jesus Christ. Speaker A 01:02:10 God calls him your joint heir. Speaker A 01:02:12 Let that image merge. Speaker A 01:02:14 Let the reborn man inside your body merge with the resurrected Lord, O glory. Speaker A 01:02:20 Because he's the image in which God created that on inside of you. Speaker A 01:02:24 What Jesus was raised from the dead as is what God had on the inside of him before the foundation of the world. Speaker A 01:02:30 And that's his picture of you now. Speaker A 01:02:32 Agree with it. Speaker A 01:02:34 Agree with it. Speaker A 01:02:37 Are you following what I'm saying to you? Speaker A 01:02:40 It's a basic, fundamental foundation of faith. Speaker A 01:02:43 And I don't know how we bundle along all this time without really dealing with. Speaker A 01:02:47 Well, I do too. Speaker A 01:02:48 We're changing ages. Speaker A 01:02:49 We're going into the millennium, folks. Speaker A 01:02:51 And we're learning some things that there's something. Speaker A 01:02:57 You see, the millennial reign of Jesus Christ was an image in the heart of God. Speaker A 01:03:03 And we're beginning to get some pictures of it. Speaker A 01:03:06 Amen. Speaker A 01:03:07 Oh, praise God. Speaker A 01:03:09 Well, I'll cut it off here. Speaker A 01:03:11 We'll take up here tomorrow afternoon, deal with this some more. Speaker A 01:03:16 There are ways to control this on the inside of you. Speaker A 01:03:19 The Bible is very clear on ways to do it. Speaker A 01:03:21 The Bible says you have the mind of Christ. Speaker A 01:03:24 It's in there, Father. Speaker A 01:03:30 God's still dealing with a person in an area of blood disease. Speaker A 01:03:36 Oh, hallelujah. Speaker A 01:03:39 See, you've been standing there having difficulty seeing yourself healed instead of seeing yourself sick. Speaker A 01:03:44 You've been dealing with that long enough be to have an inner consciousness of you being sick. Speaker A 01:03:49 Let the word change that on the inside of you. Speaker A 01:03:52 See, this is not just a mental picture. Speaker A 01:03:54 This is not just mental meditation. Speaker A 01:03:58 This is a spiritual picture. Speaker A 01:03:59 There's a difference. Speaker A 01:04:01 You can have one picture in your spirit and another picture in your head. Speaker A 01:04:05 If you're not careful. Speaker A 01:04:05 You let the one in your head dominate the one in your spirit and you'll lose. Speaker A 01:04:10 This is not mental power. Speaker A 01:04:11 It isn't willpower. Speaker A 01:04:12 It's not mind power. Speaker A 01:04:14 That mind power junk gets you in trouble if you want to know truth. Speaker A 01:04:19 Because Satan operates in the field of the mind. Speaker A 01:04:22 The Bible said casting down. Speaker A 01:04:25 Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God or against the image the word of God paints. Speaker A 01:04:35 Cast them down. Speaker A 01:04:37 Line up with your heart. Speaker A 01:04:39 Line your head up with your heart. Speaker A 01:04:41 Go to looking through the eye of faith. Speaker A 01:04:44 The eye of faith. Speaker A 01:04:45 Look that look beyond the natural. Speaker A 01:04:49 Look on the other side of it and see the reality of the healing. Speaker A 01:04:52 Look beyond your busted pocketbook. Speaker A 01:04:55 Praise God with the eye of your faith and allow that image of abundance and power financially in every other way and success to be on to take the place of that old empty thing you got in your thinking. Speaker A 01:05:08 You see? Speaker A 01:05:09 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 01:05:10 I want you to lift your hand to God and let's make this confession together. Speaker A 01:05:14 Lift it up there like this. Speaker A 01:05:16 In the name of Jesus. Speaker A 01:05:19 I'm a believer. Speaker A 01:05:21 I have the victory. Speaker A 01:05:24 I can see it through the eye of faith. Speaker A 01:05:29 It's mine now. Speaker A 01:05:31 I have it. Speaker A 01:05:32 The battle is the Lord's. Speaker A 01:05:35 The victory is mine. Speaker A 01:05:38 The victory is mine. Speaker A 01:05:40 I have it now. Speaker A 01:05:42 I can see it through the eye of my faith. Speaker A 01:05:46 The battle is the Lord's. Speaker A 01:05:48 The victory is mine. Speaker A 01:05:50 I have it now. Speaker A 01:05:52 I can see it through the eye of my faith. Speaker A 01:05:56 It's mine. Speaker A 01:05:57 In the name of Jesus, now begin to praise and thank God for it. Speaker A 01:06:04 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 01:06:05 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 01:06:06 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 01:06:08 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 01:06:09 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 01:06:11 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 01:06:12 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 01:06:13 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 01:06:15 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 01:06:16 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 01:06:17 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 01:06:19 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 01:06:20 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 01:06:22 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 01:06:22 The word of the Lord came to me again. Speaker A 01:06:25 Saying, this worry is an expression of the inner image of your heart. Speaker A 01:06:33 And most of the things you've been worrying about never did come to pass anyway. Speaker A 01:06:38 But you see the shrewdness of your enemy in this. Speaker A 01:06:42 Because if he can get you to spend your time consciously dodging something that's not going to happen, then you are a total waste. Speaker A 01:06:55 Change the inner image with my word, saith the Lord. Speaker A 01:07:00 From a worrier to a believer. Speaker A 01:07:04 You're the believer. Speaker A 01:07:06 I'm the healer, saith the Lord. Speaker A 01:07:09 You're the believer. Speaker A 01:07:10 I'm the savior. Speaker A 01:07:12 You're the believer. Speaker A 01:07:13 I'm the baptizer. Speaker A 01:07:15 You're the believer. Speaker A 01:07:17 I'm the power. Speaker A 01:07:18 You're the believer. Speaker A 01:07:19 I'm the resurrection. Speaker A 01:07:21 You are the believer. Speaker A 01:07:22 I am the Lord. Speaker A 01:07:23 Hallelujah. Speaker A 01:07:25 Glory to God. Speaker A 01:07:26 I can see that, can't you? Speaker A 01:07:27 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 01:07:29 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 01:07:30 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 01:07:31 Did you get anything out of this service tonight? Speaker A 01:07:36 You haven't seen anything yet. Speaker A 01:07:41 Because I tell you what I have already have in me. Speaker A 01:07:45 I know. Speaker A 01:07:46 I know. Speaker A 01:07:47 I know what's headed our way. Speaker A 01:07:49 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 01:07:49 I know what's coming. Speaker A 01:07:51 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 01:07:52 Thank the Lord. Speaker A 01:07:54 Let's praise the Lord. Speaker A 01:07:56 Glory to God. Speaker A 01:07:58 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 01:08:00 Praise God. Speaker A 01:08:00 Hallelujah. Speaker A 01:08:02 Praise the Lord. Speaker A 01:08:03 Glory to Jesus. Speaker A 01:08:04 Glory to Jesus.