<TITLE>05. Par 23-27</TITLE>L-23 Now, this morning we want to talk on faith. Now, my subject this morning is: "Perseverance." "Perseverance" means "to--to be persistent, to make a goal." Now, "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
We have our body, and our being here is like a seed. And a seed on the outside has a shell; inside the shell has a crust, or a pulp, pardon me; and inside the pulp has a germ. That's the way we are: body, soul, spirit. Now, to the body there's five senses: see, taste, feel, smell, and hear. To the soul there's conscience, and so forth: five avenues to it.
The inside is one, one avenue. And that avenue is the same place that God set every man from Adam and Eve: self-will. You will to live or you will to die, either one you want to. It's, you're based on free moral agency, and whatever spirit that you let dominate you will bring forth the fruits, your life will be dominated by the inside. And faith...
So many people rely upon these five senses on the outside. They're fine, nothing against them, if they agree with this sixth sense. This soul... This spirit only can be of two kinds, one of them is the Spirit of God, the other is the spirit of the devil. You can't serve two masters at the same time. You're wholly given to one or wholly given to the other. And if you got the Spirit of God in you, you've got faith, and you'll believe every Word that God wrote. And if you haven't, you might be...

L-26 Now, the devil is not like some people think; he's mean and everything, but he's deceitful. The devil makes you think that you're right. But when you disagree with the Word, that shows that it isn't the Spirit of God, 'cause the Holy Spirit wrote the Bible. And then it's got to be agreeable with the Word. And remember last Sunday, just one little disbelief in God's Word... Eve, Satan told her the truth, and he never denied the Word being true, but that one little part of the Word caused all this trouble. The woman disbelieved It because she was hunting for wisdom instead of staying with the Word. When God says anything, heavens and earth will pass, but His Word shall never pass away. God's Word must be fulfilled to the dot. Just to the very tittle and jot, It must be fulfilled.

L-27 Now, perseverance, to be persistent, to try to make a goal, trying to... You've got your mind set on something, and you're--you're persistent in it, because you believe it's the thing that you want, and you believe you can get it. Now, pardon me. To be persistent, you've got your mind made up now that what you're going to do. Now, you cannot have faith in God without knowing the Word of God or knowing something about God.
Now, someone told you, "If you go touch that post, you'll get well. You're sick." Now, I wouldn't believe that. You might do it. But that's just a little too strong for my faith. I--I don't believe there's any virtue in that post, no more than I believe there's virtue in a statue, or a monument, or a crucifix, or something like that.
I believe the virtue is in Christ, and Christ is the Word. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made flesh and dwelled among us." Now, the Word Itself comes back in the form of the Holy Spirit, into us, and It's Word in you: God in you. So many wants to point God to some mystical something way away, or so far away they overreach it. God is in you. The hope of Glory, Christ, the mind that was in Christ in you. You're reaching plumb away from it, trying to get what's been given to you. God, in the human being. All, God...


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