Story Board of William Marrion Branham

Then Jesus said, "The queen of the south shall stand in the Day of Judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the utmost parts of the known earth at that day to hear the Wisdom of Solomon." Now, were speaking of the time of Solomon, which was almost the millennium for the Jews. It was when Israel prospered, and great wonders were done and great signs and so forth had taken place. And they built the temple in the reign of Solomon, which was the son of David, a type of the Lord Jesus. David had fought down the nations, till they all feared Israel. And to make their golden age for them, God sent a mighty gift amongst the people. And all the people, with one accord, rallied around that great gift that God gave Solomon. Everybody believed it. What if we all believe it today? What if all the churches would believe the Holy Spirit and rally around the Holy Spirit the way they rallied around Solomon. And which is the greater: Solomon or the Holy Spirit? A greater than Solomon is here. And the people don't want to believe it. All the strangers passing through Israel, going up to Jerusalem, they'd hear about the great gift of God being in operation. So they'd come and look. And there's nobody that has got anything at all concerning God in them that can ever see God's gifts in operation but what it thrills them. So, these strangers passing through Israel from abroad had scattered worldwide on their journeys. Everybody began to hear across the world about God's gift of wisdom operating with His people in Solomon, a great gift He had sent. Finally the word traveled all over to the utmost parts of the earth and down to the queen in Sheba - that up in Israel there was a great gift of God and it was in operation. God had showed a great sign to that generation. You see - faith cometh by hearing. That's how you know. It's when you hear. And everybody was talking about what was going on and it made a hunger come in the little queen's heart. Everybody would come by and say, "Oh, you should stand up there in the courts while Solomon, the servant of the Lord God of Israel, stands up there. And you've never seen such discernment. It's beyond anything." You know if they've got any inkling of God in you, well, that begins to give you a hunger. And finally she made up her mind that she'd go and see for herself. She just wouldn't take everybody's word; she'd go and see for herself. That's a good thing to do. Come, see.

So I'd imagine, she'd bought up all the Hebrew Bibles that she could find, and she read in them what Jehovah God was like, because she was a pagan. Now, in order to go to visit and see whether this sign of God was right, she had to get permission from her church. So I can imagine her going over to the church and she said to her pagan priest, "Father, I've heard that there is a God in Israel that's alive, and He's took one of His servants that's manifesting Himself through that church." Oh, I can hear the pagan priest say, "Now, wait a minute, daughter. If there was anything supernatural to be done, it would come through our temple. It would be through us. Don't believe those kinds of things." But you know - when you start to meet God, the devil's going to throw everything in your way that he can throw in your way. That's his duty to do it. And he's going to hinder you in every way. But if you are determined, God will make a way. Let's break in on their conversation, her and the priest. I suppose the priest said, "Now, don't get mixed up in some fanaticism now. Youd better be careful what you're doing, because I've heard about them Israelites screaming and hollering around an ark up there. So you don't want to get mixed up in that, my child because you have big prestige. You are a queen." She said, "But, father, there's something in my heart, burning. I must go." "Oh," he said, "maybe you had better come and take confession of your wrong or something. You mustn't go and see this Solomon. Because remember, we've got the history of our god in our own sacred book there is nothing this Solomon could tell you! The Queen of Sheba answered something like this: "Yes, my grandmother heard that. My mother heard that. I've heard that since I was a little child. You've got words; you've got writings. But up there, they've got a living God. I want to see something that's real, something that's alive. We got all kinds of writing but I want to see One that can write and then come fulfill it." I don't want to serve a God that just wrote something, went off and died. I'll gladly serve a God that can have His Word written unto men and then fulfill what He said He would do.

And then she turned her back on the priest and walked out. If you're determined to find Jesus, to get to God, God will make a way for you. Now, she sets down and thinks it over, "It's a long ways up there. So now, what if I go up there and it is right and everything about that God that I've been told is true - then their God is God. He not only has written Word but He gives confirmation of that Word. He makes His promises true. That would have to be the Spirit of God working. If it is, I owe all that I have to that Spirit." That's exactly right. If God is God, we owe our life to Him. We owe our all to Him. We owe everything to Him. So she said, "If it is so, I will support it." Just in case it was the Spirit of God in operation Sheba ladened camels with gold, with spices, perfumes, and many riches so that she would have something to offer! She thought this: "If it is of God, I will support it. If it isn't of God, I can bring my gifts back. (And that's good, sound sense.) So I will make ready whether it is or not, I'll be prepared." Now, she had to travel with all this gold from Sheba down to Jerusalem. It took three months to make the trip on the back of a camel. No wonder Jesus said she'll stand in the Day of Judgment and condemn this generation. Some won't come across the street to hear or see a gift of God. They'll turn their nose up at it and walk away. But she was determined. No wonder Jesus said, "No man can come unless My Father draws him. And all the Father has given Me will come to Me." And another thing, because she had all those riches she would have been an easy prey to the children of Ishmael - they were robbers in the desert in those days! They had fleet-footed horses that could fall in on her little caravan there and murder her and her escort. They'd take everything she had, all the gold and things. But you know, there's something about it when you want to meet God, that there's nothing will stand in your way. You're going on anyhow; you're blind to the dangers. You're blind to the criticisms. You're blind to anything else. God is your only motive. And you're going to find Him. She was determined. She never thought of dangers. The only thing she thought of was getting to God. So she ladened her camels and she got her princes, her bodyguards, hero-guards to walk with her. And they must have traveled by night, for three months, to see a gift of God. I wonder if there's that much sincerity in the world today. And Jesus said, "She's going to stand with us in the day of the judgment."

Wonder what she'll do to the United States in that day? How will her testimony weigh out against the Americans, after we've had thousands of years of testimony of God and a greater than Solomon is here. The Holy Spirit is here. Yet finally she made her way all across the desert, not thinking of the troubles and she arrived at the palace yard. I can see her unladen the tent off her camels, and put up her tents and so forth. So, they were camped in the courts of the palace and the next day she wanted to go and attend one of the meetings to see what it would be all about. She'd, finally, after three months of travel, after, maybe, a year or more of hearing about it, she finally arrived. The next morning, when they brought Solomon out, the servant of the Lord, and the elders gathered, she said, "Now, I'm not coming to criticize. I'm just going to set down and look for my-self and just compare it with the Scriptures and with the testimonies I've heard." And then the hymns were sung, the service started and then they brought someone up to Solomon. He looked just like an ordinary man; that's all he was. Yet there was something about him, like he wasn't himself that morning. God came down. And they'd never seen such discernment in every case he was perfect. She said, "A man can't be that perfect, just can't be. There has to be something to it that is more than just a man." Out to the tent she goes. And I imagine all night long she read those Hebrew scrolls again. The next morning she goes back. Now, she never came there thinking, "Well, I'll go in and set down for five minutes and if I don't like what he says, I'll get up and go out." That's the American attitude. She came to stay until she was convinced one way or the other. She wanted to examine it and stay with it. She came prepared for that. So the next day, and perhaps the next day, and for many days she watched and thought upon those things that she saw and heard. Finally it came her time to come before Solomon and since she'd watched so many others go before her she said to her-self, "I believe it's going to be all right." And when she got before the gift of God whatever was in Solomon, why, Solomon told her everything the Bible said. Said their God never withheld one thing and told everything to that woman of what she had a desire of in her heart to know. And when she seen it done on her, she turned and she said to the audience, a pagan; she said, "All that I've heard was right and more

than I heard." She said, "Truly God is with you. Blessed is the man whose face which can see these things daily. Blessed are the people and blessed is the God that you serve, who has given these great things as a witness." She believed it. She had an awful time getting to it in her age. That's all God had in her age for her. She believed it. Elijah and the Meal Offering 60-0310 I Kings 14:17 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth. And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah. It must have been almost daylight when she was awakened. She turned her weary head on the pillow when she heard a mournful, little cry across the room. And she had not been able to sleep all night; she was tossed about because of this great tragedy. The little boy had wakened again, not being asleep over twenty or thirty minutes, and I can hear his little voice say, "Mama, won't you go out and look in the pantry again and see if there isn't just one little piece of bread? I'm so hungry. I just can't sleep." And as she looked in his little face with the--his little sinking cheeks, and his little eyes turning yellow, his long hair hanging down from failing to be cut, his little ragged nightshirt; the big tears from her eyes spat upon his little face, as she patted him on the cheek and said, "Darling, try to go to sleep and understand." There had been three years there had been no rain on the earth. She knelt down on the floor; I can see her as she cried out to God; she said, "O Lord God Jehovah, Thou art the God of our fathers, Who has fed Thy children and cared for them through the years. And I've tried to live true and upright to Thee, and now I am here seeing my little boy crying for something to eat, and nothing to give him. For many weeks now we've been allowancing ourselves up to a place of one meal every three or four days, and now it's all gone but one little handful of meal and just a spoonful of oil. And I'm trying to hold it off until daylight so that we'll not have to die while it is in the night. What have I done, O God? I, your hands-maid have lived true. My husband was lost in battle, the battle for the Lord, and I've been a widow for several years

now, and I've tried to live right and keep Your commandments. And if it's my time to go, I don't mind; but my little boy, it just tears my heart to pieces to hear him beg for something to eat, with nothing to give him." When she'd got finished praying, she raised up. He'd gone back to sleep again for a few moments. And she had her arms up, and the ragged nightgown that she was wearing was just about gone. She goes to the window and looks out, and it's just about to break day. Oh, it was so hot. The hot winds of judgment were blowing upon a nation that had forgotten God. That was during the reign of Ahab, Israel's most cruel and wicked king. And he'd married a sinner, Jezebel, which was an idolater. And a mixed wedding like that never is successful; it just can't be; either the woman will come the man's way or the man will go the woman's way. And she was a very attractive little woman, and Ahab, just kind of a lukewarm believer, had give in to her ideas and said, "Oh, well, religion is nothing for me; I'm a king." And long had they tore down the altars of God and put up the altars of Baal. And the cry had been so much against the true religion till the ministers under the great strain had given away. And so long had the ministers fell under the impact of the king, because sin was permitted; there were no limits. They thought, "As long as the nation said so, it was all right." That's the way they say today, "As long as the nation says it's all right to sell beer, then it's all right to drink it. If the nation permits our women to half dress on the street, and the law won't run them in, why, it's all right to do it." That might be all right to the nation, but in God's great books you're responsible and will have to answer before God. But they'd fallen and they had to give away under the load. And the nation was prospering, and they thought that prosperity was a sign that God was with them. That's not altogether the truth. But the nation had thought, as long as they were eating well and were well clothed, that everything would be all right. But there was one who still was old fashioned, that believed that there was a God that was old fashion, believed that there was a God that kept His Word, believed that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, was holy and required complete surrender to His holiness. But Jezebel

and her modernistic crew hated him. He was their pastor, but they didn't believe it. So he had to hide for his life. And God had sent him up on the mountain, and said--give him a message, and said, "Go down and tell that old wicked king, 'THUS SAITH THE LORD.' It's not going to rain, or even the dew will fall, until you call for it." Give it into Elisha's mouth to call for the rain when it was time for it; but he had the keys of heaven; he could close it or open it. And He said, "I want you to go up into the wilderness out of this chaos. Get out from among them. You've preached to them, and they won't listen to you, and they're continually getting worse. Go on up into the wilderness, and there set down by the brook, Cherith, and Ive already commanded the ravens to take care of you. Oh, if the people won't, God's got crows that can do it. God can do what He wants to. He said, "I've commanded the ravens, and they're going to feed you." And they brought him flesh and bread. It came from the creative hand of God Almighty." They brought him fish and bread, the crows, set down and hand it over to Elijah, and he ate it, and stooped down and drank from the fountain. God was resting His prophet. Oh, I'm so glad that God has a way of escape. And when they thought he was crazy, "That old prophet, an old killjoy," always trying to take the joy out of their little happy parties they were having, telling them that it was sin. And Him following God's commission went up into the mountains and set down on the high place, the driest place in the country. But God kept the brook running. And they were down there gnawing their tongue for water. You know, God has a way of answering prayer. This little woman had lived true. She had not remarried again; she was staying single to meet her husband in glory. She was an honourable woman. And for weeks the barrel had been going down, down, and her continually praying, and still looked like there was no hope in sight nowhere. And she had met every requirement. She'd lived clean; she'd lived decent; she'd lived honourable, and she had met all of God's requirements. But it looked like He was silent. God does that sometime to test you to see what kind of a reaction you'll have. Don't forget it. Now, this little woman knew that she had met all these requirements and still God was silent, it seemed like He didn't even care for her, He didn't care whether she lived or died. But all the time God was working. She didn't know about it, but God told Elijah. He dried up the

brook, reached out His hand, and stopped the brook from running. And Elijah said, "Lord, why did it stop?" He said, "I've commanded a widow woman to feed you." He'd already commanded her; she didn't know it. Now, it's a very strange thing that God would send His prophet to a widow woman's house. What a place. But she must've been a real virtuous woman, or He'd have never sent His prophet there. Oh, if a person was worthy, would've had to be a worthy person to entertain a man like Elijah. The little woman was down praying - not knowing that walking down the mountain come the prophet. He'd had a vision where to go to. God doesn't lead His people blindly; He tells them where they're going. He was looking into the city. Oh, it was terrible. People were starving to death, and screaming for water, and hungry people everywhere. It's a reflection of immorality. It's a reflection of sin. Now, notice this poor little woman, after she'd looked out the window and saw that it was about to break day, little did she know what was waiting for her. She was thinking it was death for her and her little boy. So now, while she's asleep, let's just look at her for a few minutes. She goes, after she prays, and she strokes his little hair back out of his eyes, and said, "Darling little fellow, you look so much like your precious, sainted daddy. How he trusted God. How he gave his life for the cause of Israel out on the battlefield, and you look so much like him. And, honey, I don't know why the innocent suffer with the guilty, but they do." Now I can see her go in and say, "I'll fix a little cake now. I've got just enough for one little cake of bread left, and after we eat it, then we'll die." So she goes into the room, and takes the meal out of the meal barrel. I can see her just dusting it with that little bony hand, as she strikes across the little keg that it was in: beating it out, every bit of dust, and she finally got just enough for one cake, goes over to the little cruse and holds it up and drains every bit of the oil out of it, about a spoonful. Now, the meal, all those things has a meaning. The Meal represented Christ. Christ was the meal-offering. When they ground the meal for the wave-offering, for Christ, which was Christ in the wave- offering in the Old Testament, they ground it with a certain type of burr, that every little piece of meal must be cut just the same, because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Now, she got the meal, which represented Christ. And Christ is the Word - Christ the Meal-offering. Then she went and got the oil. And the oil represents the Spirit. So she put the Word and the Spirit together and began to mix It up. The meal, look what she did, she mixed the Word and the Spirit together. Many people have the Spirit without the Word; some has the Word without the Spirit. But you take and put them both correctly in their places, there's a cake on the road. There's something in the making. Poor little widow didn't know what she was doing, but God said to Elijah, "I have commanded her." And Elijah's on his road over the cobblestones, coming down to see his vision fulfilled somewhere. And here she is standing there, tears she's wiping with her old ragged sleeve, and saying, "O Jehovah God, my faith has never failed, and it won't fail. Somehow or another, I don't know how all this is, but we're taught that all things work together for the good." She's mixing this little meal up; she got the little cake all fixed out and patted up. She said, "Now it's time for me to go out and get some wood." She goes back and opens the door, and said, "O Lord, that poor little hungry belly lying there, and I haven't eaten for two or three weeks. I've give him my piece of cake." That's a mother, a mother's love for her baby. There's nothing like it, only God's love. "A mother may forget her suckling babe, but never can I forget you. Your names are engraved on the palms of My hand." There she looks at her baby; maybe she slipped back and kissed his little forehead, whether if she fainted and died on the outside. She goes out. The sun is just beginning to rise over the Judaean hills. And she looks at the sun begin to peep up. Way down the street she hears cursing and going on. And she goes out in the yard, and notice, she picked up two sticks, not an arm load, two sticks. What is it? The Cross! Now what's she going to do? Light these two sticks. And the Word and the Spirit is brought the self-sacrifice on the cross, ready for duty, ready for life. Putting the Word and the Spirit, that's her faith in the Word of God by the Holy Ghost, leading herself to sacrifice anything else to the cross. And when she got the stick under her arm, two of them, and started back, she started back, and there was a voice came from the gate, "Lady." Just before that, an old, maybe bald-headed, and gray hanging over his whiskers, and his hair hanging down, a little stick in his hand, an old sheepskin or something wrapped around him, walking down the street,

saying, "Lord, it's a certain little white fence. There'll be a lovelylooking young woman (She must have been young; the boy was young.) out in the yard. You told me that was the widow that was to feed me. Now, where is she at? I'll keep walking." The Spirit leads him this a-way, and then turns him. Oh, it's so wonderful. Sons of God are led by the Spirit of God. No matter how silly it sounds, they are led. He goes down one street and up another, down one street and up another. After while, the Spirit said, "Look to your right." And he looks it around like that, just like He does here at the platform, night after night. Oh, God's still the same. "Look to your right, to your left, there's someone praying who needs it." And he looked to his right. "Say, there's the little white fence. That's just right. I just won't move from here, because there's the old tree standing there. There's everything just the way I saw in the vision. The door opens up and a little thin woman comes out. Now, remember, she's just going to pick up two sticks. She couldn't have picked up three, takes two to make the cross. She picked up two sticks and put it on her arm and she started back, thinking, "I'll have the little cake done when Sonny wakes up. And then I'll feed it to him, I won't eat any myself. And I'll put my little boy in my arms, and there we'll set and die." And she started into the house. She heard a strange voice across the gate, said, "Woman, would you fetch me a little drink of water in a vessel?" And she turned, and she thought, "There stands a kind old man at the gate." She looked at him real close, and maybe wiped the tears from her eyes; it was quite early yet. You know, God does things so strange. She was willing to sacrifice. Water was a scarce thing; it hadn't rained for three years and six months. "Would you fetch me some water." Maybe God told him to say that, to see what she'd do, trying her reaction. "Would you fetch me just a little drink of water in a vessel?" And she looked at him. "He sounds different. There's something about the old man that I feel sorry for." And so this woman, she said, "I'll just share my water. We're going to die, so I'll sacrifice my drink of water, and give it to the kind old gentleman standing there, 'cause he looks thirsty and tired." She said, "I will bring it." And she started walking on.

And again she heard a voice, said, "And in your other hand, would you fetch me a little morsel of bread?" Oh, my, now, now what? Her last hope of the life of her child, the last hope that they had, and the bread would be gone, the oil gone, everything would be gone now. But she looked back, and she wondered; she said, "I just have a little bit of meal left in a barrel. I've got just enough oil that I've dampened it, and I've already mixed it. (I've got the Word and the Spirit mixed together in there. I've got the cross here to lay it upon, to make it into a cake to give Life.)" And that's when the Spirit and the Word gets together on the cross; it makes a Life loaf for you. That's right. "And I've got it together, and I'm going in now to bake it, and give my little dying boy in there, that's cried all night for something to eat, I've got to give it to him. I'm going to sacrifice mine, and I'm going to give it to him. And then I'll take him up in my arms, and we'll both wait for death." He said, "But you make me a little one first." Isn't that strange that a man would ask a widow woman, dying, for the last bit of meal she had in the house, with a dying child? God does things so strange. Said, "Make me a little one first." She studied, "You know, the Bible says that we have entertained strangers. We've entertained strangers; they were angels, not knowing what we were doing. Well," she said, "I'll do it." And as she turned, he said, oh, my, there it was, the greatest consolation that any believer can ever listen to, "For, THUS SAITH THE LORD..." That's the Word she was waiting for. "THUS SAITH THE LORD, the barrel will not go empty; neither will the cruse go dry, until the day that God sends rain on the earth.'" She knew then that was the prophet of God speaking to her. Oh, how her heart must've jumped. She ran in and made that little cake and brought it to him with the water, trembling hand over that old sunk-in cheeks; she knew that God had come to the rescue, over a little piece of bread.

Mary's Belief 60-0311 Luke 35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee:

therefore also that holy thing which is born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she has also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible. And Mary answered and said, Behold, the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her. I believe that the sun had already come up and was bathing across the Galilean skies, drawing up the fragrance of the roses, for the night had been quiet, and sweetness came on the air. And she was making her way down along the side of the street to the city well, where the people came to gather their supply of water. And as she made her way along with a little crock under her arm, she was studying, thinking about the day before and the great mighty message that the rabbi had preached. And it was about this message that she and Joseph, her engaged husband, had spoke on their front porch after the midday meal. As they set there, looking across the little hill to where finally the little house would be erected where they were to spend their life in this little building (as far as they knew). Joseph was a carpenter; and he loved his job, and he loved to do things just right. And being a believer in God and he knew that there was someone who watched over him, he wanted all of his work to be just exactly right. But oh, this little house was a special one; the doors had to be just perfect, and the closets in it set just right, because he was bringing the sweetest woman in the entire world there to be his bride. And they, as the customs were, would set out there and look at the little house, and plan just how the roses would be at this little spot, and at the gate must be a little heart, because they were so in love. And then perhaps just behind the house, there was going to be the carpenter's shop, where he would do all of his cabinet work, to make his doors, and the little odds and ends that was brought to him. And in that, they would have their livelihood. And this Sabbath, as soon as they had come out and set on the front porch after the midday meal, it must've been Joseph that said, "That was a striking message this morning, Mary. I'm so thrilled when I hear our rabbi speak of the greatness of Jehovah. And oh, how he told us of that great, mighty God that came down into Egypt and took our people out, how He opened up the Red Sea when it got in His way. And how He rained bread out of the heaven and blew the quails in out of the field, leading them by a Pillar of Fire by night and a Cloud by day. And how the children of Israel camped under this great Light as they

walked in the Light; wherever It went, they went also. And brought them safely into the Promised Land..." And Mary might have said something like this, "Yes, darling. But I want to ask you something. What happened to that great God, that He isn't just as great today as He was then? Did you notice the rabbi after that wonderful message, and then alas, he said, 'Jehovah must've turned His back on us, because that He doesn't perform miracles any more.'" But Joseph quickly picked it up, and said, "But, Mary, I believe that God is just as great and powerful as He ever was." And upon that, Mary's mother, Anna, must have come to the door, and said, "Are you young folks waiting for the Scriptures?" and handed into the hand of Mary, which passed it on to Joseph, the book of Isaiah. Joseph opening up the scroll and began to read. And when he came to Isaiah 9:6, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given. And the government shall be upon his shoulders. His name shall be called Counsellor, Prince of Peace, Mighty God, and Everlasting Father. And of His peace and His kingdom there shall be no end." And it must've been that time that Mary's heart was strangely warned. Isn't it strange how God does things? Scripture's made manifest. She said, "Joseph." And he looked at her, and perhaps he always thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. But then there was a certain look in her face that charmed him more than ever. While her pretty eyes looked at him like that of the dove, soft, innocent, I think that's the way a woman should look, innocent, soft, and sweet. She said, "Joseph, what was the prophet speaking of when he said, 'Unto us a Child is born, and unto us a Son is given.' Who is this Son and this Child that he was speaking of?" Joseph looked back to her and said, "Well, my dear, the prophet was speaking of the coming Messiah, the hope of Israel. And you know, Mary, that all down through the ages since Moses, we've looked forward to that One coming. And when He comes, He will deliver us out of that bondage of these Romans, out of the bondage of our sins. And Israel will know their God, and He will keep His Word. And Mary, my dear, if we don't see Him in our generation, He will surely be here in the next. But we'll look for Him in our generation."

All night, she couldn't sleep over it. "Unto us a Child is born; unto us a Son is given." And the next morning, she'd slept late; so she was late getting to the well. That's why the sun was up. And as she made her way down the street it seemed like no one was around. And she was thinking of the Scriptures, that Scripture was being confirmed to her: "A Child is born, a Son is given." And about that time she saw something that flashed before her, and a Light--no doubt in my mind, like the Pillar of Fire--and standing there was a Angel, the mighty Gabriel. He's a messenger to the Jews. Remember, Gabriel announced the first coming of Christ; the Angel Gabriel will announce the second coming of Christ. The Bible said so. Now, there... It frightened the little lady. And she looked at Him and He said, "Hail, Mary. Blessed art thou among the women. Thou art highly favoured of God, for God is with thee." And He told what was going to happen: that she was going to bear a Child, and they should call His Name Jesus, for He'd save the people from the sins. Now she had a right to know that that was the right kind of a Messenger. First thing, He was an Angel standing there; the next thing, He told her who she was: Mary. She knew that was a sign of God down through the age. She looked at Him, and she said, "How can these things be, seeing that I don't know a man?" And he said, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the Most High shall overshadow thee. And that holy Thing which will be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. That's how He's coming. You don't need to know no man; God's going to do this. For with God, nothing is impossible. Oh, what that little lady had to believe. She had to believe something that was impossible; she had to believe something that had never happened before. Hannah, when she was told by the priest, "The Lord gave thee thy desire." why, she went home and in nine months brought the child. That was wonderful. As He said, "Thy cousin Elisabeth, who was called barren, is already six months to be mother." And he told her that with God, nothing was impossible. And she said, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it unto me according to Thy Word." God, when He says anything, it's impossible for it not to happen. Therefore when God says in the Book, "All things are possible to them that believe," it's got to happen! No way to explain it away. You can believe God will perform every promise that He made.

Now, she had to believe something that had never happened. But look at her little childish heart... I'm going to think her to be just a young woman about eighteen to twenty years old. She never took the second thought. As soon as she seen and knew that was the Angel of the Lord, that knew those things, and told her exactly according to the Scripture that she had been thinking on, and told her what her name was, she knew that Messenger came from God. And the Scripture that she had been thinking on was confirmed right there to her. "Mary, the Holy Ghost will come upon you, and the Almighty shall overshadow thee. And that Holy Thing that'll be born will not be of man, but He will be called the Son of God." She threw her little hands up, and the tears running out of those beautiful eyes, said, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it unto me according to Thy Word." She didn't wait till she was positive of this; she didn't wait till she felt life, or some kind of a sensation to prove that she was to be a mother. She just took His Word, and that was enough. "Behold the handmaid of the Lord." Why she was so happy about it, she just couldn't stand still, and nothing had shown up yet. But she knew it was going to, because God said so. Then she started on her way. She heard good news of her cousin, Elisabeth, an old woman, around sixty-five, seventy years old, her husband the same age, around seventy or seventy-five years old. And she'd conceived in her old age, because she had believed God would give her a child. So, little Mary takes out up into the hills of Judea, up over that rough path to meet her cousin, to enjoy fellowship together, because God had overshadowed both of them! Mary wanted fellowship. No need in going down to the synagogue, because they didn't believe it. She went to somebody that had an experience like she had, and she went there to fellowship. So on her way she went to somebody that believed God was still just as great as He ever was. Up over the hills--I can see her going--her little cheeks a blushing and those little eyes sparkling, as she thought, "I'll keep this a secret from Joseph. I just can't wait; I've got to go." And up into the hills she went, on up into Judea, up to the house of her cousin. Elisabeth, her cousin, had hid herself, because she was very

weary. Because little John in the wombs of his mother, was six months and no life had shown yet. Now, that's altogether unnatural. It isn't just exactly the regular routine. Life appears in three or four months, and this is six months. And she was a little weary about it. I can see her setting back in a room, and there she set praying something like this, "God, I've waited all these years, and I believed in my heart that something was about to happen. There sets my husband out there, dumb. And he can't speak, and he keeps writing on a slate, and saying, 'I saw an Angel; I saw an Angel. An Angel spoke to me at the right hand of the altar; something great is going to happen.'" And she looked out the window, and she saw Mary coming, her teeth shining like pearls, and her eyes just a glistening with joy. And she said, "I ought to know that child." And she had her robe wrapped around her, running as hard as she could. Zacharias stood in the yard; he said, "Oh, hail. I know who you are. You're Anna's daughter; you're Anna's daughter." "Yes, that's who I am." And Elisabeth runs out; she had been setting in there making little booties for the baby. Somehow or another, she believed way down in her heart that God wouldn't let her down. No matter what it appeared to look like. And she laid the little booties down, and she ran out into the yard. And she grabbed Mary around the neck, and began to hug her and kiss her. You know - people then felt for one another different than they do now. You know, there's not much feeling amongst people no more, no fellowship. She said, "Oh, Mary, why the last time I seen you, you was a little freckle faced girl; and here you are, a beautiful woman. And now, I heard that you were going with that fine boy, Joseph." She said, "Yes, that is true, Elisabeth." "Well," she said, "I'm so glad to see you. Why, honey, why don't you come set down, why Zacharias has gone to fetch some water, so I can wash your feet. You must be tired; they're bleeding. Is there anything wrong? Are you in a hurry? You seem to be so happy, but yet you look like you've been hastening."

"Oh," she says, "Elisabeth, I just can't wait to tell you. Oh," she said, "you know, I'm going to have a Baby." "Oh, you and Joseph already married?" "No, we're not married yet." "Well, Mary, I'm shocked." "Oh, but Elisabeth, on the road to the well the day before yesterday morning, I was going along, thinking about the Scriptures that Joseph and I had been talking about the day before. And I saw a great big Pillar of Fire stand before me. Stepping out of It was Gabriel, the Angel of God, Who called me by my name, and told me that I'd found favour before God, that the Holy Ghost was going to overshadow me, and that the power of God would be upon me, and I'd have a Child, and He'd be called the Son of God." And said, "He told me that you were to be a mother also, old age like this, and said you were already six months." "Oh," she said, "Mary that is the truth. I'm to be a mother, but honey, I am so worried. I'm already six months to motherhood, and the baby has never moved; it hasn't had one bit of life yet. And I'm just so worried about it." Oh, I can hear Mary say, "Don't worry, because everything will be all right, that Angel knew you and called your name too, 'Your cousin, Elisabeth!' Oh, everything will be all right. And He told me... He even gave me my Baby's Name." "Oh, He did?" "Yes, He gave me my Baby's Name. He said I should call His Name Jesus." Just about the time she said, "Jesus" for the first time that that Name was ever spoke by human lips, little John received the Holy Ghost, and begin jumping and shouting in his mother's womb. Oh, my! Little John begin to leap in the mother's womb for joy. If the Name of Jesus Christ, the first time it was ever spoke through the human lips, brought a dead baby that had never had no life, brought him to life, what ought it to do in this church tonight, with a born again bunch of people that's filled with the Holy Spirit. Oh, there is power, power, and wonder working power in the precious

Blood of the Lamb. How that great, wonderful, immaculate, Name, that indescribable Name of the Lord Jesus... It made this little baby come to life in the womb of its mother, and leap for joy. And the Bible said that John was born from his mother's womb full of the Holy Ghost. Not only that, but while he was in the womb and the Holy Ghost upon him, his own mother received the Holy Ghost and gave a prophecy concerning him and concerning the Lord Jesus. Be Not Afraid, It Is I 60-0305 Matthew 14:22 And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship, and to go before him to the other side, while he sent the multitude away. And when he had sent the multitude away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when evening was come, he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tossed with the waves: and the winds were contrary. In the fourth watch of the night, Jesus came unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of a good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. It must have been close to sundown when the big fisherman began to move the boat back and forth to push it from the bank. I can see his great, brawny muscles, as he had the boat loaded with the rest of the apostles, as he pushed away from the bank, and shoved it free from the sands of the shore of Galilee. And it moved out into the water, the big rugged fellow climbed over some of their feet, and took his place by the side of Andrew, his brother, picked up the oar, and they started away from the shore. And as they moved steadily out to sea, the people who loved them were standing on the bank waving as the sun was going down; it must have been about twenty minutes before they disappeared out of the sight of the last one waving. I can see each one drop his oar, wave, and then pick up his oar, and start again with the little ship. Way back in the west it looked kindly red and low, as the sun sank over the Judaean hills. There must have been a long silence, then I believe it was the young John that must have let up on his oar, and said something like this, "I remember when I was just a little boy, how that my mother used to take me on her lap and read me the story of God. And how that she

used to read that story of God loving His people so well that He provided for them when they had no way to provide for themselves." And said, "That one day when God had called His people to take a journey from the land of bondage to the land of freedom, they run out of bread out in the wilderness, and there was no corn or flour for them to make bread." And he might have said this, "I remember when she told me that every night God rained bread down out of heaven. And of a morning as people would go out and get that bread." And I said to my mother, "Mother, dear, where did God get that bread to feed so many people, two million people or more, out in that wilderness? How did He send it down through the skies when they were asleep, and rained it upon the ground? Where did He get the flour, mother, to make the bread?" Well, she used to say something like this, "My dear son, God is the Creator. He is able to make bread or create whatever He wishes to. When some requirement that God requires, He is so great, John, till He just speaks and it's there, because He is the great Creator." And now he might say this, "My brethren, did you notice His face this afternoon when all those hungry people were standing there?" And one of the disciples might've said, "Yes, I noticed way down along the creek, there was a little boy playing truant from school, and had his lunch, and--and he had five little barley loaves, and two fishes. And when He took the bread into His hands, and broke that bread, handed it out, took those fishes that were fried, and broke them fishes, and handed them out, and when He reached back to get another piece of bread it had already grown on there, already cooked and ready. The fishes were already fried. And out of that little bitty lunch of five biscuits and two pieces of fish, He fed five thousand people. Did it remind you of the story of God feeding His people? So there must be some great connection between this One that we're walking with, and Jehovah God, because there is something about Him that He does the same thing God did. He takes care of His people." They were in a wilderness. "And I am persuaded, brethren," might have young John said, in his youthful way of about--he was about thirty years old, I suppose, maybe thirty-five. He was younger than the rest. He might've said this, "That it was strange when I watched His eyes. There was something godly about Him. He never had one doubt but what when He reached back for another biscuit it would be there. And He pulled one biscuit off of another. Now, brethren, tell me where He got it at? He must have some connection with that great Creator, that could make bread, and could make it already baked, and could make the fish already fried, and ready. Bringing it from five biscuits and two

fish, enough to feed five thousand, and take up five baskets full of fragments left over... There must be something about Him that we yet have not understood, but I know that He's some connection with God, because no man could do that unless God would be with Him." Jesus had said, "If I do not the works of My Father, then believe Me not. But if I do the works, then you believe the works." And young John must've dropped his head, and took back his oar, and it must've been Simon then, the big fisherman, that said, "Yes, that was enough to convince anybody that God was in that man, because no one could've done it. That Man could've not have done it Himself, but God was in Him." And then he said, "When I was convinced, I was rather a rugged, little fisherman on the sea. Brethren, you know I had better training than to what I was doing first, because I had a godly old father. He was a Pharisee, but he was a great man. And I can remember down on the sea shore when he would pick me up in his lap, and set me down, and would say, 'Simon, my son, you're just a lad, but maybe in your generation, if your father doesn't see it, there will come someday a Deliver, which we know as to be the Messiah. And Simon, many people will misunderstand Him. Our churches will misunderstand Him. And He will be a Man that will be a strange sort of a Man. But Simon, my son, I never want you to forget this: You'll have to know the Messiah by the Scriptures that wrote of Him. Don't ever leave the Scriptures, my son. And Moses, our leader, has told us what the Messiah would be. For it is written in the Scriptures that, 'The Lord, our God, shall rise up a prophet among us.' And when this Messiah comes, He will be a God Prophet. He will be different from other prophets. He will be a God Prophet. But you'll know Him, Simon, because He will be that Prophet, and He will do the sign of a prophet.' And when I heard of this Galilean Man, this Jesus of Nazareth, I thought it was just another quack, just another pass overnight. But one day, when He borrowed my boat, been talking to me, as soon as I come into His Presence, He called my by name. The first time I ever saw Him, He told me who I was. And not only that, but He knew that godly old father of mine. He said, 'Simon, you are the son of Jonas.' And when He said that, I knew that was the One my daddy had spoke about, that the Scripture said would come, because He was a God Prophet. I knew His signs were beyond a prophet, so He was a God Prophet. And I knew that would be Him. That's the reason that I fell on my face. When Andrew told me about it, I didn't believe him, my brother setting here." Young John brushed his hair back, few tears with it, and then smiled and said, "When I seen Him break that bread, I knew He was God." But Peter said, "When He told me who I was, and who my father was, I knew Who that was."

Well then, it must have been Philip, who shoved his shoulders a little bit, and looked around, and said, "But, brethren, you should have seen the face of Brother Nathanael here, when I found Him. And I knew beyond a shadow of doubt when He told Simon that day whom he was and who his father was; I knew that was the Messiah. And when I heard Him say that, there was something burned within me, that I knew our generation had a visit. And I was going to be determined that every friend that I knew, that I was going to get him to Him just as quick as I could. So I thought of Nathanael, my bosom friend. And when I went around the mountains about fifteen miles, running that day, and over the cobble stones, and the sun was hot... And I heard much talk about it, pro and con, as I went along the sea shore of Galilee to see my friend. I came up and knocked on the door, and his wife came to the door, and I said, "Where is Nathanael?" Said, 'Why, Philip, he had just went out into the olive grove. I think he's gone out to see about the irrigation or something.' Quickly, I run out into the grove, and I found him on his knees as usual." That's a good way to find a man. "I found him on his knees, and I--the message was burning in my heart till I could hardly wait to tell him, but yet, I let him finish his prayer. And when he got up, not knowing I was there, usually I would go to him and said, 'How is the grove getting along, Nathanael? How is everything up at the market? Have you done any trading with the caravans that's coming through?' That is what he usually did, because he was rather a business man. But I had something to tell him." That's what we need today, brethren: A message that's so burning that nothing else takes its place. Quickly, he didn't say, "How do you do, Nathanael?" He said, "Come, see Who we found." There's something about when you find Jesus, that it's the--it's your subject day and night. You can't talk about nothing else. "Come, see whom we have found. Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph." And Nathanael being a just man, and a level thinking man, he said, "Now, wait just a minute. Now, you know that there could be nothing good come from Nazareth. And if there was such a thing as the Messiah that was coming, He would come to the high priest first, and make Him self known. He would come to our church." And then when, I told him that if he was going to be critical, the best thing to do was just come, see for him self..."

And he said, "Come see for your self." Then he looked back over his shoulder to find Nathanael setting there weeping for joy. And he said, "Brother, do you remember our conversation along the road? I told you that the Scripture said that the Messiah would be a Prophet, a God Prophet that Moses said, 'The Lord your God shall raise up.' And all of our people questioned him, 'Are you that prophet?' And he left them kindly in a daze not telling them exactly what he was." And he told, said, "You remember the old fisherman by the name of Simon?" "Yes," said Nathanael, "I remember him." "You remember when we bought that fish from him that day, and you wanted him to sign a receipt, and he didn't even have enough education to sign his own name. But that same illiterate man came before this One that we know to be the Messiah, and as soon as he came, He told him who he was, and what his father was." And Nathanael said, "I'll come see for myself. He will never tell me anything. My mind's stronger than His. He will never read my mind. He's no mind reader." "And when we come up into the Presence, and then I can hear him say, 'Just a moment.'" Philip said, "Nathanael, I'm getting filled up. You tell the rest of it." And Nathanael said, "When I came up in to look at Him, He--I knew by His looks that He was a different from other man." And brother, sister, when a man once gets a vision of Jesus Christ, he can never be the same after that. He's different from others. And he said, "When I looked at Him, and He looked back to me, and He looked me right in the face, and He said, 'Behold, an Israelite in whom there is no guile.'" Well I thought, "Wonder if Philip could have told Him that He was going after me. Wonder if that could have been the case. So I turned around and said to Him, 'Rabbi, when did You ever know me. We are strangers to each other, and when did You know me?' He said, 'Before Philip called you. When you were under the tree, I saw you.'" Said, "That was enough. That settled it. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, the King of Israel. Then that look that He gave me and said, 'Oh, you believe Me to be such, because I told you where you was, and told you these things? Then thou shall see greater things.' And truly today, I have seen greater things, when He taken the bread, and broke it, and created bread behind it, and fish. He told me

the truth. Therefore, I am persuaded above any measure that that is the Son of God. That Prophet was to come into the world at the ending up of our dispensation." And they sat quiet for a few minutes, then Andrew setting across from Peter pulled his oar in, said, "Let's rest for a few minutes, brethren. Let us all share this, because it's well dark, and we're floating along pretty lively. And we've got all night to cross this little Galilean sea. So we all well remember the day that we'd walked with Him so long, and His feet were so tired. Remember, when we went down to the spring and got some water and poured on His feet, and they were blistered from walking? Yet He said, 'I have a need to go by Samaria.' It was really on His road to Jericho around about way. We wondered why He would go around about way." Say, "You remember how His precious feet were hurting him? And He made His way to Samaria, and it was noon time, and we'd been out bigger part of the night. He'd prayed for so many sick, and He was weary, and walking along the road. And He sat down so tired that He couldn't make His way hardly in the city. And He sent us away to get some food. And the Samaritans wouldn't let us have it. So on our way coming back, we were astonished to see Him, our Master, talking with a woman marked with ill-fame. But when we seen that we were astonished, and did not we all slip up in the bush and stand still to see what He would say? And He said, 'Woman, bring Me a drink.' Do you remember what she said brethren?" "She said, 'It's not customary for you Jews to ask Samaritans such. We have no dealings with each other.' But now listen brethren," They-Andrew might have said. "Listen what He told her." "He said, 'Woman, if you knew Who you were talking to, you would ask Me for a drink. And I'd give you waters that you don't come here to draw.'" "And the woman all excited said, 'Well, where--where can You get this water? The well's deep and You have nothing to draw with.'" "And do you remember, brethren, what He said, 'The water that I give is Life Eternal bubbling up.' And the woman wanted that water. And He said to her, 'Go get your husband first and come here.'" "And do you remember we thought He must be trapped or something, when the woman looked Him boldly in the face and said, 'I have no husband.' Thought, how could that be our Lord to make such a mistake as that, when Messiah is perfect? How could it be? This woman is denying that she has a husband."

"But then, did you notice the expression in His face, calmly, quietly, said, 'Woman, thou has said true. You've had five husbands, and the one you're now living with is not yours.'" "How it melted that woman. She thought she could lie out of it. But the expression on her face, and the tears in her eyes, she said, 'Sir, I perceive that You are a Prophet.' Now, brethren, listen to what He said. She said, 'You must be a prophet. We know that when the Messiah cometh, He will tell us these things. But Who are You?'" "And He said to her, 'I am He that speaks to you.'" "Brethren, when we know that our teaching is that this Prophet would be a God Prophet, and when that Samaritan woman testified against our priest that she knew that when the Messiah came He'd be a--give the Messianic sign, He'd be a God Prophet. And even our priest called Him, 'Beelzebub,' a fortune-teller." "But this ill-famed woman seemed to have a better understanding of the Scriptures than our priest did. Said--she said, 'You must be a Prophet, but we know when the Messiah cometh, He will tell us all these things. But Who are You?'" "He said, 'I'm He that speaks to you.'" "And on that--when she found out that she'd had a contact with the real Messiah, she run into the city and screamed to the men, 'Come, see a Man Who told me the things that I have done. Isn't this the Messiah? Isn't this the sign of the Messiah?'" "And how many more things," Peter must have spoke of and said, "could we say about Him that has proved that He is the Messiah of God." About that time, Satan looked up over the rim, and he saw the little boat out on the sea without Jesus. He thought, "Here's my opportunity." Said, "I'll rid the whole bunch now. I've got them right where I want them. Now, I'll drown the whole bunch of them." So he begin to breathe in and blow out from his nostrils, great powerful winds, that--and his poison breath hit the sea, it had a nervous prostration. And then, the little boat began to pitch back and forth, and it looked like the time had come. I could think the first thing when the winds begin to blow, Simon being a great fisherman, he said, "Hoist the sail."

And Satan said, "I'll rip it off." And a lot times, we hoist up some things. Satan just rips it down for us. And then he reached down, and grabbed his oar, and bent his back to it, and broke the oar. Then the great waves begin to fill up the ship. They thought that maybe they'd made a mistake, that they were forsaken. But you know what happened? Jesus was mindful of them. After He sent them away, He climbed the highest mountain He could find. And no matter how far out they were from the top of the mountain where He was at, He was watching them.