<TITLE>08. Par 25-28</TITLE>L-25 I've never desired to be rich. I've... I--I believe Solomon, I believe, had the most level prayer to God that I ever heard. He prayed that God wouldn't make him so rich that he would forget God, and yet, not to make him so poor that he would have to steal. So just the comforts of life is what we desire. Is that right? And that's about where the most of us stand, I guess, and very fortunate and thankful to have that.
Jesus dwelt amongst the poor and the humble. If you'll notice Him in calling His ministry, He--He never--He never called the--the rich; He--He called the poor. When He was born, why, they never--the angels never went down and sang in the temple, about--to Caiphasis and the high priest and those, and told them about, "There's born tonight, in the city of David, Christ the Saviour." But there, the angels came down and give this salutation, or the visitation, rather, to the shepherds and peasants, the poor people.

L-26 When He called His disciples, He never went and got the educated priest out of the seminaries. He went down on the river and got fishermen, peasants, poor people that they would have nothing. That the--the world could say, "Why, yes, they become great men because they had a great background. They had this...." They had no backgrounds at all, and He just picked them up like jewels out of the dirt and made their names immortal among men today: Peter, James, John, and so forth, fishermen of lowly peasant-type people.
And I'm so glad that God still deals with poor people and common people, for we don't have much of this world's goods. We don't desire this world's goods. If there's anything that we ought to--not to desire is too much of these things: just enough to live by, that's all.

L-27 If I'd probably taken the money that had been offered me, I'd be an independent rich man. But today, as far as I know, I own this old backslidden Chevrolet truck, out here, about six years old, and a Pontiac about three years old, that I take my wife along in when I take her. And the clothes that we have on and what we have at home, that's all we own (That's right.), everything that we have. But I'd rather live like that and have favor with God, than have the best movie star home there is setting on Hollywood hill over here. That's right. That's right. I'd rather feel in my heart the Presence of Christ that I feel now, than to have the riches of this world. That's right. I love Him and He's Wonderful.

L-28 And He came to this world as my example. And He came as your example to be--to just be content with such as we have.
And when He was borned in the world, He had a--a hard start. When He was born, He was borned in a manger in a barn. Could you imagine a birth of that type? No lower birth could be, I don't expect, than to be born in a manger. And before He even got here, it was tacked onto Him of being a illegitimate child, that He was absolutely a--an illegitimate child; that Joseph was his father and he was going to be born out of holy wedlock, and that was not nothing but just Joseph's boy.
Now, that... And you know, that old curse hasn't left today. Many people actually believe that.


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