Ewald Frank

1984-08-04 19:30, Krefeld, Germany

broadcasted on 2024-11-10

Mt 17:14-21: O you of little faith, how long shall I put up with you! No. 2

We are grateful for the privilege that we can be here again to worship and to give our Lord the thanks due to Him from the bottom of our heart.

Nothing is better and more beautiful than when you can do this without effort.

To thank the Lord according to the scripture, "For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." (Mt 12,34)

If in our hearts the thanksgiving to God arises in such a way that it becomes full and runs over, then it is all right.

Brother Branham once said, "If you only sing for as long as the music plays, and when the music stops, then your thanking stops, and then everything stops, and so forth." Then he says, "Then still something is not all right."

Sing and make melody in your heart to the Lord with spiritual songs and hymns.

I know it's not easy, but in the heart one can do it. Although one cannot always do it with the mouth, in the heart one can do it. Nobody can and should take that away from you. And for this we are very grateful.

We already had a very busy afternoon today, all who were here from 14 to 17 hours, but it was a blessed time, was very good.

And we hope that these teenagers, around 20, I didn't count them, we hope that you took something with you.

And all who were here, them I would like to ask, can we still put ourselves into the shoes of these people, into their way of asking questions, into the way of their argumentation, and only if we can do this, we will reach them.

If we just flatter these people and so forth, then it doesn't work.

You have to be able to respond to people from the heart, never placing oneself over the other, but always under him, only then you can lift him up, right?

"We shall bear one another's burdens," but this doesn't work if we place ourselves over the other, it only works under him, right?

In the early days on a farm, if someone wanted to carry a sack, he had to take it upon himself, he couldn't sit on it. And thus, if we want to carry one another, then we must first bend down so that we nicely can receive the other.

And I was very happy about this fellowship.

And the first time it was so good, the second time it will be better. And if it still goes on, then it most certainly will be very good. We are grateful that you have come. We welcome you very warmly and we hope that the Lord will bless us together.

And you notice in the conversation with others where you yourself are lacking something. When we are so completely among ourselves, then we probably think to have everything in abundance. And if then certain questions are asked to us, then you notice how things are not yet complete.

But thanks be to God for every person who still can understand that he is not yet there where God wants him to be. And the Lord has done so great and wonderful things on us. He has taken us into his school. We could sit down at his feet and have heard words which millions didn't hear.

It's something great, but it humbles us into the dust and into the ashes.

When we think about that people had not yet the opportunity and have never heard of that what God is doing now. And one knows they are on the wrong track. The Lord is not there because where the Lord is, there is his Word. There is revelation of his will.

Then to remain humble in the heart, to have a deep compassion, this is a gift of God.

And this the Lord gives us now, time and again.

And we may say with Paul, "What I am, I am by his grace." (1Kor 15,10)

And the grace of God was not in vain given to us.

I am not prepared for anything, just that God will bless us. And this is actually enough. This is actually enough. We are prepared that the Lord will bless us together.

And as he has taught us in the scripture, so he wants to teach us to believe.

And the Lord taught his disciples, and for this we are grateful, he didn't teach them in theory, but always in the practice.

Of our Lord it is written, "He began both to do and to teach." We begin to teach and the doing is missing. He began to do and then he continued to teach and thus all were taught by God. They saw the divine actions, the confirmation and they received the teaching on top of it.

I would like to follow up with the word which we just read and you will be astonished what our Lord himself said.

Here we have, was it in Psalms 115? There we read it:

Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory.

It is written in the Gospel of John in chapter 5 verse 41.

I receive not honour from men…

I receive not honour from men, but I know you that ye have not the love of God in you.

I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not.

If another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.

How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?

Here we are dealing with mighty statements.

Our Lord, while he walked this earth, he refused any honour, but he found out how the spiritual leaders have drawn honour unto themselves – in a long robe, walking on the market, all were greeting them, the feasts took place, they were taking the seats of honour, but for the honour, which comes from God, to be placed into the programme of God, for with this it starts, to receive the word, but for this they had no longing.

And he had to say already then, that "If another shall come in his own name, him he will receive."

How often did we emphasize this?

Whoever in these last days does not hearken to Jesus Christ, he will automatically hearken to the Antichrist. In between is only disobedience, nothing else.

"One cannot serve two masters," and one can also not reach two destinations, and one cannot walk on two different ways, or serve two masters at the same time. (Mt 6,24)

And God wants to make such people out of us, who walk in his ways, who serve him with all their hearts. Here it is about, as the Lord says it, "But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you."

People, religious, from head to toe, they knew the Bible inside out, but have not the love of God in them.

The love to be praised, the love to receive honor, love for many things, but not to God.

And then he says:

(43) "I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not. If another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive."

What a prophetic statement for all of the time of grace! Don't you ever think that the Antichrist spirit just came a day before yesterday into existence. No, John writes, "The Antichrist shall come, and even now are there many Antichrists." (1Joh 2,18)

These two lines have always existed: Cain and Abel, Moses and Balaam, Christ and Judas, The Antichrist and Christ at the end – always these two lines. The difference is clearly visible.

God is then on our side if we have placed ourselves on his side. And this is manifested therein that we love him. If we love him, then we love his Word above all. And then we receive it into our hearts.

It's even being questioned and it says:

(44) "How can ye believe who receive honor one of another?"

Not the talk of "reverend" and "majesty" and this and that or dignitaries, but simply acknowledging God and the revelation of God in Christ.

We as humans are all equal and there is no one who can claim honor for himself.

And the Lord says here, "And seek not the honor that cometh from God only." (Joh 5,44)

Just imagine, seeking honor from men and bypassing the honor which God gives. Wanting to please men without even thinking about how one could please God.

These two lineages exist until this very day. And we see it. It's getting clearer and clearer. It comes to light on which side the people stand.

And thanks be to the Lord that there is a remnant who cannot and will not bow their knees before Baal. But people who have bowed their knees before God and who have entrusted their lives to God, they will not bow before any man although he thinks to be God.

But we see it: All are seeking honor with men, they go down on their knee and acknowledge somebody who comes in his own name, because they seek honor with men.

But there is a divine seed which is ordained for the glorification of God here on earth and then to be in glory.

As Paul says, "Being predestinated to the praise of the glory of his grace." (Eph 2,8-10)

And if we are, then by grace and not by works.

And if it is by grace, then for the reason that "no man may glory before God. But whoever wants to glory, let him glory in the Lord. (2Kor 10,17) And may he give glory to him that he is faithful and merciful to him who seek refuge with him. (Ecc 30,5)

In verse 46 it says:

For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me.

But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. (Rm 10,17)

And also this we recognized. And maybe we emphasize it because of those who think that we put Brother Branham into the foreground.

I say it in the way as I think it in the bottom of my heart, and I know that it is right: We don't exalt any man, and we also don't honor any man. We have only not overlooked or rejected what God has done, but received with all our heart him whom God sent, through whom God spoke.

According to the scripture, "He that receives a prophet whom I sent, he shall receive a prophet's reward." (Mt 10,41)

By this we don't honor a man, but we give God alone the glory.

In Psalms 115 it says, "Wherefore should the heathen say, 'Where is now their God?' But our God is in the heavens; he has done whatsoever he has pleased."

God is not only in heaven.

God has taken dwelling in your and in my heart, so that he can carry out on earth what he purposed in heaven.

And also this we emphasized many times: The Lord prepared for himself a body, a church, through which he wants to speak and work.

And when it says here:

Their idols are silver and gold, the work of man's hands.

They have mouths, but they cannot speak. They have eyes, they cannot see.

They have ears, they cannot hear. Noses, but they cannot smell.

They have hands, but cannot handle. Feet, but cannot walk.

Our God can all that. He can speak, he can hear, he can walk, he can see. Our God can do all things.

And now we could give examples: In the Garden of Eden he walked.

The Ten Commandments he wrote – God can even write. God was the first who wrote. Before even somebody knew what writing means, God the Lord wrote on the tablets the Ten Commandments.

God can read. God can speak. God can manifest himself.

Beloved, we must count more with the presence of God.

We must not transfer God back into the past, but transfer from the past into the present time.

To know what God was yesterday, he is today and will be it tomorrow and what he did yesterday, he can do today and tomorrow. This is our God, not something which we make ourselves, attaching two ears and a nose, creating it with our hands.

But the nice thing is that we don't create God, but we believe that he has created us.

And therein is a twofold revelation which the Lord has given us. All who have an imagination about God and preparing God in a nice way, they in the end have not God, they have an idol.

It has ears and nose, it looks quite good, but no life, no hearing, no seeing, nothing. The same it is spiritually for everyone who has not received the revelation of Jesus Christ. He prepares himself a God.

I was really astonished when in the recent days I saw in the Catholic Catechism this Godhead. When one sees in this mirror image, on the right side sits the father with a scepter in his hand, on the left sits the son, he has the cross in one hand, he holds a book and the other one holds his hand on the book and the third sits so nicely as a dove in the midst of the two.

This is not our God.

"Our God is one God," a true God, of course not what people are imagining. No, I was really angry on my inside how quickly can people make God after their own imagination.

But all those who understood that God made us for the praise of his glory, they have no own imaginations, they don't let their fantasy get loose, but rather embark on the traces of the divine self-revelation.

God is in his nature spirit and then in the course of time he revealed himself: He walked in the garden of Eden, he was in the pillar of fire, Christ was the rock who accompanied Israel through the wilderness.

Who wants to explain all this?

God does not seek people who can explain this.

He seeks people who can believe it and who place themselves totally on his side.

Here: (Psalm 115)

Hear, hear not, see not, have hands and cannot handle.

Our God is in heaven. He can speak, he can work, he can save, he can heal, he can bless and we wait the longer the more.

Not in impatience but in a total trust that the Lord will have his right fulfilled with us also in that area of the divine confirmation of his Word. As certain as we received the teaching and have been brought back to the original word and faith so certain the Lord wants to manifest himself.

Time and again the Lord taught his disciples to believe and every time when they could not believe he was very sad.

In Matthew chapter 12 I will read from verse 15, Matthew 12 from verse 15.

But when Jesus knew it, he withdrew himself from thence, and great multitudes followed him, and he healed them all.

Let us stop at this one verse.

He healed them all.

He who really follows Jesus has a right to be saved, has a right to be healed, has a right to be delivered.

The Lord Jesus does not come to draw a some mixture after him, but people on whom he can glorify himself, after spirit, soul and body, in whichever way it is necessary.

He healed them all, all who followed him, as many as followed him, them he healed.

Can we believe this today?

If we follow the Lord and when we read this in the Word of God, "All who followed him, them he healed." – so, we as the followers of Jesus Christ have a divine right to be saved, to be healed and to be delivered.

This we really have to confirm with Amen and say, "Lord, although we cannot fully believe it yet, then please help our unbelief so that we can accept it."

Then it continues in verse 18:

18 Behold, my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased, I will put my Spirit upon him and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles.

19 He shall not strive nor cry, neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets.

20 A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth justice unto victory.

21 And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.

What a mighty word!

21 And in his name shall the Gentiles trust.

At first salvation was intended for the Jews and it is written "Salvation comes from the Jews" (Joh 4,22) and you all know it comes from God, but the Jews then rejected it and then it switched to the Gentiles.

On our Lord the Spirit of God rested, so that every promise which was written concerning him might be fulfilled through him.

On us the same Spirit of God must rest, then there is no bickering heard, no yelling, no bossiness, only a service by the power of God in the church of the Lord which must be carried out. There were still quarreling and strife…

There things are heard and one would think that people who have become believers should have their tongues cut off. Every person who cannot place it into the ministry of God should at least bridle it. You cannot imagine or oversee what kind of damage time and again is caused by it. That right the very pious ones are just too clumsy to serve God with all their hearts and this is very sad.

But there is hope for all of us.

But we want to reach one day this stand where all the clumsy things and all what causes sadness, everything that stands in the way of each other, that we don't let it come up anymore but that everybody finds their place.

No arguing anymore, no yelling anymore, nobody lets his voice sound forth in any way unless he has something to say which is a blessing for the others.

How often we have said it, "Lord, make us a blessing." and who has become a blessing for others?

God wants to bless us so that we can become a blessing for others.

20. A bruised reed shall he not break and smoking flax shall he not quench till he sent forth judgment unto victory.

Our Lord will finish his cause victoriously, not just by the skin of one's teeth, but with a great victory just as he has overcome death and hell and the devil and has risen on the third day from the dead and then after the forty days with all them who rose together with him entered glory, so he will at his return have manifested his total victory.

Paul writes, "It does not yet appear that all enemies will be made his footstool," for the last enemy is death. (1Cor 15,25-26)

And until now we notice it at every funeral – death is still here. It takes believers and unbelievers alike.

But as we emphasized many times, especially in the sermon from the Gospel of John, chapter 10, when the Lord said about the prophets to whom the word came, he said, "Ye are gods, but ye will die as men." (Ps 82,6-7; Joh 10,34)

Earthly seen a paradox. On one hand, "Ye are gods, but ye shall die as men."

But dying is not the end.

The dying is the same. Coffins have the same price for the believers and unbelievers. It's the same cemetery, the same earth, same depth.

This is not the end. With this it doesn't end.

How grateful we can be that our faith is in the living God, which in Jesus Christ our Lord, has defeated death and has overcome hell.

A believer's body is just as laid in the coffin and just as buried, but the believing person is not in the coffin, only the tent in which he dwelt. A believer crosses over into paradise, into glory.

Our Lord will finish his course victoriously.

And then the wonderful statement:

21. "And in his name shall the Gentiles trust."

In his name remission of sins should be preached unto all nations, starting in Jerusalem. And this we are still doing today. We may pass on to mankind this great offer of grace of our God in the name of the Lord, who loved us so deeply and who redeemed us, who finishes his course victoriously.

Sometimes it doesn't look like it.

If we would look on the visible things, then we could say "Lord, how shall it end? How shall it be?"

But we do it as Moses and as Abraham and all were servants and children of God. We don't look on the visible things, but on "Him who is invisible, as we would see him." (Hebr 11,27)

And then we feel better. Then comes new strength to our faith, new confidence, new courage, and we are truly strengthened in our faith.

Here is another word which actually fits to that, what we read last Wednesday night.

In Matthew 13 it says, Matthew 13, from verse 41:

41 The Son of Man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity, 

42 and shall cast them into a furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father, who has ears to hear, let him hear.

If we go with this Word to that, what we read last Wednesday, from Matthew chapter 18, here it says, from verse 6:

But whoso shall offend one of these little ones who believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

We have read of the term "offense" and now the Lord refers to his own and says, "Whoso shall offend one of these little ones who believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged around his neck and that he were drowned in the sea."

Why the millstone?

Because there are too many swimmers who cause offenses to others.

Then they submerse, then they come up again, they can terrifically dive, they can terrifically swim after they kindled and caused all offenses.

And because the Lord looked through these people, he said, "To them a millstone shall be hanged around his neck, so that they don't come up again and swim."

And I mean this Word as seriously as God meant it. These are not frivolous things which we preach here. These are holy Words of our Lord.

For such people who bring offenses into the kingdom of God among the people of God and probably even boast afterwards that they caused something, they will not get away with it.

No.

And the hour is here, in the time in which the tares and everything is bundled, also all these offenses, all that, shall be taken away. After all, at the end must come forth a church of God which rightfully bears his name because he wants to manifest himself in their midst.

It continues… And this is the point which many don't understand: With every beguiling is a beguiling spirit at work. And every beguiling, every deviation, every interpretation of the word, every unbiblical doctrine and knowledge can be already an offense in the kingdom of God.

And Paul writes to the Galatians: (Gal 1,7-8)

Woe unto him who beguiles you, he will give account for it.

7 Woe unto the world because of offenses, for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh.

8 Wherefore, if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, take them off and cast them from thee. It is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.

9 And if thine eye offend thee…

… and so forth.

And then in verse 10:

Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones. For I say unto you, that in heaven there angels do always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven.

God has ordained us to be in his kingdom.

He has foreseen that offenses and deception will come.

Of Judas was foretold that he would be the one, and it's written, "It would be better for such a man if he would have never been born, but that the scripture might be fulfilled." (Mt 26,24)

How often we emphasized it from Matthew 24, 24, that the things will be so close to each other.

We don't have to go into the great denominations. We just have to learn from church history that the enemy did not stop at any movement and that he also now in the last round will not stop and he will be always aware of that wherever God starts to work, there he will also start to cause mischief. All the others he duped already and pulled them on his side.

These words are actually very, very serious and the Lord wants to teach us the lesson about faith.

At that time he was so dissatisfied with his disciples because they didn't put the divine authority into practice.

And he said, "How much longer must I endure you?"

This is Matthew 17. Matthew 17, from verse 16. There this man says:

16 I brought him to thy disciples and they could not cure him." 

17 Then Jesus answered and said, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him hither to me.

18 And Jesus rebuked the devil and he departed out of him and the child was cured from that very hour.

19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart and said, "Why could not we cast him out?" And Jesus said unto them, 

20 Because of your unbelief. For verily I say unto you, if ye have faith as a grain of a mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you."

You cannot read this Word without thinking on the matchless ministry of brother Branham. And I understand more and more why he always let the chorus sing, "Only believe, only believe, all things are possible for him who believes."

He placed himself by faith on the side of God, unto the promises of the word, and everything what was against the word, he called it a lie, and the promises of God he looked at being the truth, and thus honored God by faith and by deed.

Here the disciples could not heal a sick person, and the father then came to Jesus, and you see what he said to his own, "O faithless and perverse generation…"

If the Lord would make such a statement to you or to me, we would be peeved until the last day of our life.

But it is written, "Faith without works is dead in itself." (Jam 2,17) When a thing is dead, then we want to bury it. One of us then preaches the funeral message.

What do we want with a dead faith? We can let ourselves be buried with it. What we need is a living faith.

And I dare to say, the faith in the living God must be a living faith.

The faith in a dead idol, this is a dead faith. The idol cannot hear, not see, nothing at all.

But God is a living God. And because He is a living God, therefore our faith in Him is a living faith. And if it is a living faith, then there is a hearing, there is a seeing, there is a handling, walking. Then we are quickened by the faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord as it is written "by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." (1Pt 1,3)

O ye unbelievers!

This He says to His disciples, to His followers.

This He says today to us.

O ye believers! How long do you still want to hesitate and remain in unbelief and not believing as the scripture has said.

17 O faithless and perverse generation! How long shall I be with you? How long shall I endure you?

How would we feel if the Lord would speak with us in such a way?

"How long shall I be with you?

How long shall I make efforts with you?

How long shall I speak to you and teach you and make known to you the words of God?

How long shall this continue with you without that divine results can be seen and heard?"

Beloved, all of us are facing now this enormous task.

The Lord has spoken with us and so far He satisfied with us, we were good pupils, we listened nicely, we believed the things which He told us, but now He wants that we walk forward in faith.

The same Lord, before He left this earth, He spoke out this mighty sentence, "The works that I did shall ye do also, and greater works, because I go unto my Father." (Joh 14,12)

It must come to the point that our faith has two healthy feet, two healthy eyes, two healthy hands, that our faith gets mobile by looking up to the living God and that we take the heroes of faith as our example and say, "Lord, verily we are lacking, we didn't dare yet to take you at your word, but now we want to do it by faith."

The disciples asked Him, it says:

19. Then came the disciples to Jesus privately and said…

They were wise. They didn't ask when the whole multitude was still around them. They knew what they have to speak with Jesus, this they say unto Him when all the others are not around them.

Oh, we can learn many things and take it home as a mighty lesson if we read the words of God carefully, hearing them and taking them to heart.

They came to Jesus when the multitudes were no more around. It was a personal thing which they wanted to know.

Oh, that we could discern at all times what belongs into the public, what belongs into the closet, what can you say in the presence of others, what can you do, what can you not do, that we could just balance everything in the future and could make the right decisions.

And then he answers and said, "Because of your little faith."

It was not a great wickedness or a terrible sin, but "Because of your little faith…"

How tactful is our Lord. He doesn't make heavy accusations, he just says, "'Because of your little faith.'"

Whether all of us admit unbelief, this I doubt, but we are honest enough to say, 'Lord, our faith was too weak. We somehow hesitated. We didn't put our trust fully on you and we should have done it. And we dishonored you with our little faith. And therefore we have not seen the results which are promised to the believers.'

And this is valid until today and will be valid until the end.

So if we know that it's only because of our little faith, then the matter could actually be remedied.

As already said, the Lord has taken us into his school. He has pardoned us. Our sin is atoned. Our sin is forgiven. We have become the children of God. We have received the word into us and this Word shall of course not return void.

But now it has to become very personal: After all, to the believers the Lord gave a number of promises which shall be fulfilled through them.

And as certain as God's Word is fulfilled on the people of Israel, on all the nations, on all peoples and tongues, and in general all of Bible prophecy becomes reality before our eyes, so certain also this Word which concerns the church may not make an exception.

Because every word which came forth from the mouth of God will not return void, but it will accomplish for what God has sent it for. (Jes 55,11)

When God spoke it was done, when he commanded it stood fast. (Ps 33,9)

If the word of the Lord has gone forth from his mouth for the church, then we ask ourselves tonight, can it return void unto him?

No, it must accomplish what his holy mouth has spoken. For this reason it was spoken out, that it doesn't return void unto him, but that through the church the word of promise finds fulfillment and can accomplish for what it was sent for.

Can we all believe it?

There is no other way which leads to the completion.

The mouth of God is a mouth of absolute truth. It doesn't have to take back one word and not one promise. And he said precisely what he means and means what he said.

Today he wants to let us know, "Because of your little faith" not more has happened yet."

But at that time he had patience and also with us until this day.

But one thing must happen: We must have a holy dissatisfaction and not become self-confident with what we have already received, but thanking God for everything wholeheartedly and say, "Lord, what was not yet fulfilled, you will still fulfill it and we will behold your glory."

It says here so nicely,

20 "If ye have faith as a grain of a mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible unto you."

We as believers, we always say to the Lord, "Nothing is impossible. The Lord never made a mistake." That is not up for discussion. Nobody said that.

Today is the question whether we understood that the Almighty God prepared everything and wants to glorify himself through the church and wants to accomplish his Word through her.

Unto you nothing shall be impossible.

He doesn't say, "To me nothing shall be impossible."

"Unto you," to you and to me.

Who are we actually? We are children of God. And as children of God, we are heirs of God and co-heirs of Jesus Christ. As children of God, we have been transferred back into the divine stand. We have rights and we have duties. We received promises and these must and will be fulfilled.

I am just very confident about that, because I find it in the Word of God.

I would have trouble believing if anyone would make any announcement off the cuff. Then I would take my time to believe.

But if it is written here in the Word of God, then we can rely on it.

And "nothing shall be impossible unto you," you, my followers, my disciples. You, who you believe in me, "unto you nothing shall be impossible."

Can we believe this? Can we grasp it without efforts? Simply believing.

But the faith, that's how we time and again have seen it in the ministry of Brother Branham. He stood on the platform and said, "I'm on my own, just as helpless as all of you."

And then he suddenly says, "Not I operate this gift, but you, who you have heard the word. You put this gift in operation."

Only there, where God can work the faith in the audience, there the gifts of the Spirit can operate.

There is no one who could come to the front and say, "Now we make this and now that and then something else." Such a man of God never existed.

Imitators, they know exactly what they have to do. They also say it to the people. 

But to them we will not belong until the end.

We want, after we heard and believed the original Word of God, we want to experience the original working of God.

And to it belongs a cooperation, a harmony between the preached word and all of us who have heard it, that the faith in us can become the power of God, that we get the conviction: "Yes Lord, you said it, all things will be possible for us." To use the formulation which is written here "And nothing shall be impossible unto you."

And you have seen what he refers to, one could read other things with a storm and so forth, time and again, also with the multiplying of the bread, with the four thousand and then seven thousand.

In any case, the Lord was interested in to build up the faith among his own, for unbelief is already enough in the world. Through his Words, through his deeds, through his ministry and through his working, through his teaching, whatever he did, it had the aim to increase the faith in his own and to re-establish the faith in God.

He said, "Ye believe in God, believe also in me." (Joh 14,1)

He wanted that the people believe him with all his heart and in that moment all things are possible. For thus he said, "All things are possible for him who believes," for unto him who believes the access to the Almighty God is given." Without faith we cannot approach God at all.

We insult God when we come before him in unbelief and in doubt.

Whoever wants to come to God must believe that he is and he rewards them who seek him and give them what they ask for. [Heb 11:6]

Is this not a wonderful word, one more precious than the other and each one the absolute truth?

We don't have to make a yelling about it and not demonstrate any power here in the front. No, the power of God is in his Word and if we received his Word in us, then the gospel of Jesus Christ, the crucified one, becomes the power of God to you and to me.

And what the power of God is, this we don't want to know in theory, this we want to experience.

Are we ready for it, to believe God?

Are we ready to be rebuked and say "Lord, if we look at it carefully, then the same rebuke applies to us. Today you say to us in love, O faithless and perverse generation," 

We are always right and are always in the right. And the Lord says, "O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I endure you?"

How long?

I would say, Lord, have patience with me, have patience with us, until you have all that what you promised, until you could work it, that the word and the deed line up.

And with God it's always like that – words and deeds always agree precisely.

O could the Lord succeed to remove all hindrances, every offences, everything what has to do with deceptions, everything, taking it out of the way.

And as I sometimes say to the Lord in my childlike way, "Lord, prepare me the way, so that I can prepare it in return to you." You all know, many times one speaks with the Lord and pours out his heart before him. This we may do.

May today from this service to all of us from God's side forever be served that we would have understood that we can honour God only through faith.

Amen.

Let us stand up and pray.

Just as I am Without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me.

And that thou bidst me, come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Heavenly Father, we have heard your word, on one hand we got afraid, on the other hand we were comforted and we have full confidence because we know that you made too much on us to forsake us on half of the way.

You will walk your way with us until the end and you will finish your work which you started unto the day of your coming.

Faithful Lord, through unbelief and little faith we were bound and could not deliver those who were bound.

Lord, give us spiritual liberty, free moving space within the limits of your word and everything what wants to take us captive, may it be blown up in your name through your power, o Lord.

For only then, if we received the total liberty of the children of God, then we are able to deliver others who need deliverance.

Faithful Lord, make out of us redeemed, delivered, consecrated people with whom you can count, on whom you can rely.

O Faithful Lord, our unfaithfulness is known to you, the voidness which is attached to us, but we look up to you.

Hallelujah. Praise, honor and glory be to your name.

Faithful Lord, you have spoken in such a wonderful way with us.

We understood you. Our hearts many times they burned because you have spoken to us in such a clear way.

Now we want to face the task and the full restoration of all that, what got lost to the church. This we want to see, Lord. We have spoken of it. We preached about it.

May the Spirit of the Lord God rest on us so that we can preach to the captives: Ye are free.

Hallelujah. Praise, honor and glory and worship be unto the name of the Lord.

That we can say to the sick: Ye are healed.

Hallelujah. Faithful Lord, you are our God. You have delivered the captives. You have set them free. You accomplished everything. Hallelujah. Praise, honor and glory be unto your wonderful name.

Lord, it's not a presumption when we honor you by faith.

Savior, take away all false diffidence and all little faith and unbelief and transfer us into the higher dimension so that we believe and trust you.

Dear Lord, that we can say to the lost: The Lord has saved you!

That we can say to the captives: The Lord has set you free!

That we can say to the sick and we can do it, Hallelujah, because it's true: The Lord has healed you.

Hallelujah. Praise, honor and glory be to our God.

This we say based upon the word of the Lord: It is finished.

Hallelujah. Praise, honor and glory.

If you can believe it, you can still tonight see the glory of God, which is therein that his Word is confirmed as the truth in you.

Hallelujah. Praise, honor, glory and worship be unto our God from eternity to eternity. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise God. Praise God.

Oh Lord, let the sown seed spring up. Let the rain and the sun fall on it, faithful Lord, so that you are glorified.

We are not seeking honor. No, no my God. We come outside of the camp to bear your reproach.

You shall be honored and praised, so that the heathen no longer say: Where is your God who has done great deeds? Where is the Lord? 

Oh faithful God, thank you, thank you, thank you.

You have a wonderful way with your church. You walk it with her until the end. Hallelujah. And the end will be more glorious than the beginning was.

Oh God, thank you so much for all the effort which you have made with us.

Thank you that we can believe.

Thank you for the free access to the throne of grace.

Thank you for the shed blood of the Lamb.

Thank you for your word.

Thank you for your Spirit who leads us into all truth.

Oh thank you for your mighty working.

We believe that your word does not return void.

The word for Israel will accomplish on Israel what it contains.

The word addressed to your church will accomplish in her what you have said.

Hallelujah. Praise, honor and glory be to your wonderful name.

Here we are, faithful master. Take us. Make us able to come to you by faith. Make us able to understand the leading of your spirit. Lord, work in a way that we all experience and feel it.

To you, oh God, be the thanks throughout all eternity.

Amen.