SKILL OF HIS LOVING HANDS

(TESTIMONY CONTINUED)

New York, September 24, 1967

BRO. COLEMAN'S INTRODUCTION

Now, I would like to introduce to some and just acquaint some, many of you have met him before. This is brother Lawrie, he was in America. Seven years ago, he came here, he landed in America with fifty cents in his pocket and taught the entire country and went back to India with ten cents in his pocket. But while here, he received, not that he just needed - just to receive the word of God, because, he came looking for support to help to support the dying and needy in India. But he came and received a higher call from God. He was directed by the Spirit of the Almighty God to God's prophet William Branham and in so doing, he has come back after seven years have expired. So, without any further due, I would like to bring forth to you our precious Brother, Paul Lawrie. We went down yesterday to the Ceylon house of India and we had some Indian food and everything and we toured New York city. And he has given up on New York. He said, 'It is really rough.' So I would like him to tell you in his own words. Brother Lawrie…

(Introduction ends)

Bro. Lawrie speaks:

Psalm Twenty three, we all know it by heart, I would ask you to look into the Bible and read it yourself. Psalms 23;

1. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5. Thou prepares a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

6. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for every.

Praise be to the name of Jesus Christ. When Jesus Christ in this world, he was not taking any book, or reading, or anything like that, to the people. He was preaching from the things of the nature. He said: 'Behold the fowls of the air.' If you can only learn - study these animals and birds, it would have been very easy to come to God. But these days, we are in a civilized state and God that is why takes His people to the wilderness because in the wilderness you learn so many things. Even in the Proverbs, you know, God asks us to study about four beings: Ants, locusts, because they teach great truths from God's land. You know we always use our brain and our brain is so much that we keep on thinking and thinking and go on wool gathering and we come to no end.

At the last, thinking has done man to prepare all kinds of destructive weapons and he does not know what to do with it. Everything is ready. One mad man pushes a button, the whole world is in flames. And today it is in such a tense state that if you can just think and say, Which is the safest place.' There is no safe place in any part of the world. Jungle is dangerous, city is dangerous, and I remember a man asked me. 'Brother, is there any place in this world where we can get away from all this trouble?' - Scared about bombs, and you do not know what kind of bombs they have. The first bomb that fell on Heroshima was… If you can only know what happened then, you can know this time, what will happen to America and all the countries. Because a war means such a destruction you cannot imagine.

Just like we cannot imagine the things of the Spiritual life, at the present moment, we can only realize the destructive power of man which he has invented these days, when the war really comes. Till then we only think: Things are going on very nicely. My dear friends, here is a king, a great king who had lot of things to do. He suffered. God took him the hard way. Saul was there, king David was there. Saul was strong, he had the world's wealth, he had the armies, he had men and material, but one man was roaming about. But God was with this one man and not with the other man. He had everything of this world but this David had everything of God. And God took him really through a hard way. If you as Christians think that life is going to be easy, that the truth is going to make you take the easy way, you are wrong. The moment you come to the truth of God, you are in trouble. The moment you say, 'Come back to the word of God.' You are standing against the whole world. And God wants a man who will be got only true to His word, who will have the courage to stand for His word. You may be true to God's word but you may not have the courage. Today, God wants such people.

And I never knew the way God trained us because I thought that I am in a wrong path because he treated us so badly. We had such a lot of trouble in India and I even thought that we are out of the way. If you are on the word of God, one day you will feel sometime that you are out of the way because the whole world will have to reject you. It not only rejected Christ; everyone who is Christ's, will have to be rejected. And God first of all tells about four beings: If you will turn to Proverbs, you will find here. There are four wise things. If you turn to Proverbs thirty: Twenty four, twenty five, twenty six and twenty seven. Prov. 30:24-28;

24. There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise: Now listen: Little things, but exceeding wise.

25. The ants are a people not strong. God does not call ants as an insect or anything like that. He calls it 'a people.'

25. The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer;

26. The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks;

27. The locusts have no king, yet go they forth all of them by hands;

28. The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings' palaces.

Now, the four things which are little, we take it lightly. But God said, 'Behold the fowls of the air, study these small insects.' And He always says, 'The sheep.' He did not say, 'You are my people.' But, 'You are my sheep.' The sheep hears the voice of God. And this great king, with all the duties of this world, he was able to think not only about the sheep, but also about his early days. You know, we always think about early days, how the Lord brought up from all kinds of things. This king David, even though he was a king, he never forgot his early job - how he was a shepherd.

I remember a man in Ceylon, he was such a rich man, but he was selling dried fish in the beginning. So, when he became a very big man, he had a room in his shop and in that room he had a bag full of dried fish. Every morning he goes down and says, 'From this dry fish I became such a big man. You know, man always thinks about his present place. How God lifted us because of the name of Jesus Christ! Not of any other name. Today, if you turn to the whole world, sometimes I used to think. I was a patriot, you know. I was a nationalist one day. I had studied politics. I studied mostly all kinds of a minority. India has five hundred and fifty million people. China, seven hundred million. Millions means such a great crowd - fifty five crores. And this wealth of the whole world is only in certain people's hands. And God lifted the people for the name of Jesus Christ.

You see England. God had to rise up England go bring the whole world into the knowledge of English and prepare the way. But Britain started singing: Britannia rules the waves. So instead of ruling the waves, the waves have started to rule them. In the same way, America, when trouble comes in England, people came to the promised land. It was just like going to Canaan. You know, early days, if you see the story, people were burnt. The Catholics were so bad that they destroyed. You can see the places in England and other places. So the people trusted God and came here.

And when they came here, suddenly the Lord raised them up - the early forefathers. And in everything they had God. In the money they had God, in their lives they had God. In the naming of the places they had God. You can see, they read the Bible very well because, everywhere they have the Bible names. And today, they are gone! There is no hope for that! Because seven years ago when I… If you see the 'Pisgah' paper, there, the Lord spoke to me at the time of the forty day fast. I came and gave the message in 'Pisgah' paper, and they put that in the paper - that America will be destroyed. It was spoken on the fortieth day when the Spirit cried through me.

So my friends, the doom is there but there is a hope for the people of God. Now, first of all ant: Ant knows there is a summer coming, there is a winter coming. So, it is very busy, it never keeps quiet. If you see the working of the ant, they work in unison. There is an army. Because you must cut the land and see, because in my wilderness, if you cut the earth, you can find all kinds of ants - many varieties. And really, there are some ants which can kill you. If you get hold of some ants, you know, you are gone. So big and so small. But these ants are busy, you keep some coconut here, they will know it. Any place they know what is there. You cannot hide it from the ants.

And these ants go in such a unison and what they do? They prepare the food, roll it and roll it - a small thing! Now, we have all kinds of things, lorries and everything, but these ants will take such a lot of food into the hole. And when the winter and rainy season comes, it is not worried. It has got the store. And this is the time which is like summer for us. We have got everything! The message has come! Everything has come! And this is the time when you keep everything ready so that the time may come, you cannot have the Bible in the hands. I am telling you, a time is going to come when even to have a Bible in the home will be a sin. And where are you going to have the Bible my friends? In the heart! They might even cut and eat the heart thinking whether the Bible is there.

So my friends, such a difficult time comes, this is the time to keep the whole Bible in your heart because this is the Bride age, this is the word age, and in this age, Holy Ghost is our leader, and whoever takes power from God, he will be a mighty man in this coming age, no matter who he is! You know, the world is so big. Do not always think only about America. You know, sometimes, I used to think, American people always think about America. They think, the whole world, every place is dead, no people living and only in America there are people. So they say, 'We America.' But, my dear friends: People in plenty; they know the Lord!

And sometimes I used to think: I thank God for India. You know why? There is no corruption there. You can take Jesus simply. The Hindus come, non-Christians come, they will come to the meeting, their eyes are opened. - 'Tell Jesus, ask Him to come into your heart.' 'Jesus come into our hearts!' The power falls. Just the very word 'Jesus Christ,' and when they say, come in,' you can see their face change, you can see the power fills.

And here you have to say, 'Come on! Repent, repent!' But those people, they are so bad, they do not know any thing, the Lord appears to them. They have seen Jesus walking in the crowd. They have seen Jesus standing in the platform. I remember one time, a Hindu person came running'. 'Brother Lawrie, where did you go?' I said, 'I was in the platform preaching.' 'No, it was not that, it was somebody else!' I said, 'How did he appear?' He had the beard and all, you do not have a beard.' This Hindu never knew anything about Christ! He is living today. So my friends, where there is no opportunity for tapes, Jesus is our tape. Where there is no tape recorder, Jesus is our tape recorder. Where there is no books, Jesus is our book. So, there are people in India, certain people, they do not know a word of the Bible.

I know a man: He does not know anything from the Bible, he is an illiterate. When the power of the Holy Ghost came, he will take the Bible - he cannot read: so he will tell the verse.' 'Turn to Isaiah!' 'Turn to the Psalms.' And he will take that thing and it will be the exact answer for your needs. And he starts and he is a good preacher. But the man cannot read! So he will say: 'Will you turn to Isaiah so and so?' And it is a mighty power! So today, you cannot always think intellectually. The Spiritual people must think spiritually. So have you food stored for the coming winter? Have you got food stored for the dangerous days?

Secondly the conies: They have houses in rock. Now, small animal, it goes on running about. When the dog comes to bite it, it just goes into the rock and comes and puts the nose in the front. The dog tries to catch it, all the hounds and every animal, it cannot go. It will come and just go in and turn the tail and come to the entrance and just watch. You can see the blood hounds and everything, they cannot catch. In these last days, there is a lion roaring - Satan roars like a lion. And if you do not get a house built in the rock, everything else is a sinking sand! Everything else! You may say, 'Where will you land on?' My friends: Which is the thing to support? Today you read the verse: Do not trust any man. Do not trust son of man - I mean a man. Why? He cannot do anything for you.

Those that have breath will pass away, but there is a rock, of Jesus Christ. And Jesus said: He that believeth me and my words and doeth what I say, he builds the house in the rock. Today you can hear the prophet's message. You can hear a thousand tapes and still be without doing it, while a man who would have never heard the tape, or heard on tape, and must be doing what the prophet said, unknowingly, because it is in the Bible. Who will go to Heaven today? Today, that is the situation. You can listen to the tapes and be without God, or you can listen to one or two tapes and be full of the power of God. So, what is needful? Be filled with the Holy Ghost.

And sometimes people say, as you know: What is the sign? The word of God is the sign. So, if a man believes the word of God, then, his jumping has got a meaning. But if a man does not believe the word of God and cuts here and there, and then he jumps even any amount, it has no meaning. So what we have to do is, we cannot decry the other things, but come to the word of God. Then everything what you do we can understand.

So friends, now third animal: The locust. There is a funny thing about the locust. The locust has no leader. Now, we want leaders sometimes you know, that is the instinct in man. 'Who is your leader? Who is your pastor?' But we have got a nice pastor which we cannot see. That is what the people said: We want to be like the people of the other nations. We want somebody who will go before us for battle. But they do not know that the unseen God protects our life and he sends His angels to guard us! You know, when we leave the home, we used to pray, 'Lord!...'

I was in a big military officer's house - one of our believers: And when he went, the guard mounting was there, the military came and just guarded his house. If anyone goes there, 'Who is there?...' So, when he went away, the wife and children were there but the military was guarding it. So I used to think, 'This man, the military is guarding, what about us?' When we go, He sends a guard. There is a guard always in front of your house! Otherwise,… A man says, 'If God does not protect His children, the devil will not leave this bones and flesh, you know, the devil will eat his flesh.' It is so powerful. But because God has His angels - and for every man who's house has a token of the blood, He is bound to give us an angel; He encampeth. So we must believe what the Bible says.

So not only that: The last animal, the locusts, there is no leader but they march in a line. They march: Thousands and millions of locusts they march in a line. And, if you see the locusts, that line will be perfect - one behind the other. And if it just marches into a place, the whole green will be eaten. So today, if all the Christian people just follow the Lord and obey what the word says, the whole world would have been shaken long ago. If they had only stuck on to God as their leader, and just followed the word, nothing could stand. But today what do the people do? They want to look here and there. And man - leader to leader will not agree and every leader wants to be superior to another leader and then the fight comes. So what happens is: God cannot do anything.

Today the Church of God must have only one head and every head must be cut off. And the trouble with the Christian Church is that it has got too many heads. You know, if a man has got twenty heads, what will happen to him? In India there is a god which has six heads. So what happens? Even if a cold comes it is in trouble! It cannot walk! It does not know which head it has to obey. So, we have got one head. Let every head be cut off and one head come to.

And this David was a man after God's own heart. So he said, 'The Lord is my Shepherd.' He did not say, 'The Lord is a shepherd.' That word 'my' - now see: This is my children, that is his children. This is my, country, that is his country. This word 'my' means: Already you belong to that. In the same way, when he said; he never told a lie. He did not want to tell a lie for this because he was a shepherd. To tell God is his shepherd, he behaved like a shepherd. That is why the shepherd was pleased with the sheep.

So if we are sheep, first of all, let us see the sheep; Sheep does not possess anything. You now, everything is useful of the sheep: You can eat it, you can take the wool, you can use the skin, and it does nothing in this world except to follow the shepherd. Where the shepherd goes, it has to go. So this sheep, what we talk about, is a sacrificial animal also. You know, God tells in Ephesians that He is a… Christ was a sweet smelling savour. So, if you take the study of the sacrifices, there is a great truth there. You know, first of all, the animal is caught from the jungle or from some place. The rope of love touches us. Suppose you take an ox, it is taken and brought in. And then, at that time it starts butting. Even the sheep you know, the young male one is very ferocious. It will come and attack you. I had a male sheep in my home you know, we were scared to go near, because it will go behind and charge on you.

So, first of all, sacrifice: The head is cut off. The Blood is taken out that it dies. That is why the first time of the sacrifice, it is washed, cut. And when the cutting takes place, it dies to all the old self. It dies to its life; the blood is taken out in a pot and then what happens is: That is the first time when a man accepts Christ… Accepting Christ means: Not just signing a card. Not just putting the hands up. In India many missionaries used to come and say, 'Put your hands up.' They will all put their hands up. So they will say: 'Five thousand got saved.' Accepting Jesus Christ means: You head must be cut off. When the head is cut off, you put the head of Christ. Then you obey God. Then you naturally love the word of God. So, when you do not love the word of God, you head is not cut. You are taking orders from something else.

So, when its head is cut off, then the skin is taken out. There are so many colours you know, black colour, red colour and white mixed, all speckled, all kinds of colour. So today, there are all kinds of people. If you travel around the world, I do not know, God will have a lot of problems with these people. Every man different, all kinds of people, different colour. You do not know, there are different colours of white, different colours of black, different colours of yellow, various shades. So, what really happens is, when a believer comes to Christ, first of all, his skin must be taken. Then his colour goes away. It has got only one colour - flesh colour - blood colour.

When Jesus comes into your heart, first of all you must take your skin away. If you go to the black people they will say: White people. If you go to the white people they will say: Black people. My dear friends, both people's skin should be taken off. Black people's skin should be taken off and the white people's skin also should be taken off. Because: Both blame each other. Both people have their criticisms, and both have to be blamed. You know sometimes we get such an inferiority complex and then we do so many things. It is a retaliation you know.

It is like this: When a dog comes to bit you, the man takes a stone; then after sometime it becomes a mad dog. Why? It does not know when you are going to take a stone and when you are going to hit it. So, before it sees you, it starts barking. Formerly it will bark only when you take a stone. But now, the moment it sees you, it starts barking because it is afraid whether you will take the stone and throw. So, what really happens is: To understand that, you must give food and tap it and say, 'Come on;' it understands.

So today, if you say you have got Christ in your heart, the first thing you have to break it is, your skin should be taken off; but you are not ready yet. Sacrifice is a deep thing. Sometimes, you know, the people say… God said: I will take you to the land of milk and honey. You know actually the people thought there is no need of working there: There will be a river of milk, there will be a river of honey, so, when they get tired they can pluck the fruit and eat and then a glass of milk and a glass of honey. When God said like that, they thought that is an easy life. But when the wars came and no water they said: My God! We thought milk and honey but milk and honey is not coming.

That is why when people said, 'Brother, I want to get saved. I want the power of the Holy Ghost,' then when the trouble starts they say, 'I do not know why I became a Christian at all! Otherwise I would have gone here, there, all over the place.' So when skin is taken off, that is the first step. Then what happens is: Your stomach should be turn off and all the intestines should be taken out. You know all the dirt is in the stomach. And inside the stomach there is the worms and all kinds of things come from inside only, not from outside.

Jealousy: You know, two preachers, if God uses one man, the other one gets jealous. And they say, 'Oh! Praise the Lord! We are in the message.' You know, nowadays the common word is: 'Are you in the message?' If you are in the message, you do not talk, you live. You do not talk the message, you live the message, my friends! And if you are silent, it is better today, because, people can see whether you have got life or not. The man who says, 'Are you in the message?' - you just see the life. Because in recent experiences, you know, I have travelled around and I have seen, and I am thoroughly disappointed with life, because the people who profess Christ, have no life. The people - you find Christ - where do you find Christ? On the roads, in the huts and all the places where you never thought God will be, there you find Christ. So today, if you want to live with Christ, you have to study the mind of Christ and find out where He lives today.

So, when the stomach is taken out, you take the whole thing and that is not ready yet. Blood is taken out, then it is cleansed, then what is…The priest takes the knife and cuts it into pieces. You know, now my hand is like this, I can beat anyone. But if it is cut into twenty pieces? It becomes like a rubber. So the thing is: The stiffness must go. Before the Holy Ghost falls, this is the work of grace going on. So what happens is: This hand is cut into pieces and put on the altar. But if the fire does not fall, it will stink. And listen, according to the word of God, the animal is cut. Today many people say, 'Wonderful, Brother Branham's message.' Yes it is wonderful; who can object to that? God has raised that man and given a message from the word and my heart was blessed, even before you could hear the tape.

In 1960 his gramophone records brought multitudes to the feet of Christ. Those records talked to me and I was blessed and the Lord brought thousands of people. The greatest revival ever happened in India which you never heard. You know, people used to talk about other things. But in eternity, when the children which God has given me, when they come in procession towards God, then you will know whom God has blessed. Now you can talk so many things. But on that day you will know, there are multitudes who will be walking towards God.

So friends, it is placed in the altar: Certain things will not burn. Nerves, bones, it will not burn easily. 'I', it will not burn easily. You can burn everything, but this 'I' will not burn. So what happens? When the fire burns, suddenly the face stands, you know. Actually when the bodies are burnt, sometimes, the dead bodies get up and sit down; so they think it is coming to life. The dead nerves, when the heat is applied, it becomes stiff and makes it straight. So, before the fire falls, it is placed in the altar. And if you see, Solomon built a temple, and when the sacrifice was placed in the altar, when the fire falls, the music goes. He has made the music ready. When the fire falls, music will start. Why? When you are placed on the altar of God, when the fire falls, the music in your life will start!

When the power of God came into my life, when I surrendered myself in the altar, my life was a music. I am not worried what happens, but it goes on. Seven years I could study what God did to my life, fourteen years, twenty four years, it was a music. Why God is not giving music to our lives? Why God is not giving music to our lives? Because the fire has not fallen, because the sacrifice has not been kept on the altar. So when the fire falls, music goes, and gradually, the skin and the bones get burnt. Then what do you see there on the altar? Nothing! All the ashes come down and fall down. And all the animal, is completely gone! Where has the animal gone? It has been burnt! So, it is the work of the fire of God to burn those things to ashes.

Have you been burnt to ashes my friends? Paul says: Not I but Christ. YOU can say it, but to live it? Now see, we have a desire to go to a certain place; but God may not have a desire to go to that place. Then we use our flesh; but if we allow God, He will lead us. So, for man to completely die to self, it is not an easy thing; it comes by years, it does not come in a day. First of all we must die to our selfish activities, die to our planning, die to our programme, die to all of our thoughts. A dead man will not be sick. Sometimes you know, dead man,…. Dead man will not get angry. 'Hmmmmm….' You are not dead. A dead man will not have ambition. 'I must be big, I must be a big man!' He is not dead. You kick on a dead man be will not retaliate.

A dead man, you can jump on his hand and body even, he will not move. 'Do you mean to say he can ride on my head?' Yes! Allow him! Then this ash is taken out, out of the camp, and people trample the ash you know, they ride on you; and the ash will not say, 'Why are you jumping on me? It is completely gone! So, this ash is taken out of the camp. So, Jesus was perfect sacrifice. You know, the high priest tears his garment. In the Bible, the high priest cannot tear his garment. So, when Jesus comes. He tears His garment to show there is no more high priest in this world. That is the end of the high priest of the world, because, Jesus the high priest has come. So, when he was taken out, you can see: A perfect sacrifice.

Jesus was washed, and suffered on the cross; that is the burning. All the temptations, all the persecutions…. It was burnt and it was put out the camp, so that the people can trample him and do anything they liked. And what happens? From that day, when he was burning as ashes, life was a music. It was pleasant in the sight of God! And today, that ash brings life to us. What does God want us to do? Follow Jesus Christ. Following Jesus Christ means, that same way, follow Him in the word. And you must be persecuted and rejected. If you are not rejected, you are not on the word. And when you are rejected, you will be burnt by the power of the Holy Ghost.

And power of the Holy Ghost is not just shouting. There is a deep work of the Holy Ghost. Dying to self, a crucified life. If Christ has died for you, you must die for Christ, then He will loosen you. And a man who is perfectly dead in Christ, he is the mightiest man; not an educated man, not a big man, not a man with a big voice. A man who has surrendered his whole life to God and dead with Christ, you will see Christ lives through him. So, this king David says,

The Lord is my Shepherd

There was a school where they had a oratorical contest, and a small boy came and said with gaiety; The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want,… and finished the whole Psalm. Then an old man came with a stick, he came to the crowd and said, cried and said with the tears in his eyes: The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want…. People cried, and they said: That old man, he knew the Shepherd; but this boy knew about the Shepherd. You can talk about the Shepherd but do you know the Shepherd? My dear friends, it is a wonderful Psalm. The Psalm is a wonderful Psalm, means, it is a real life.

Now, if you take a sheep, it just hears the voice. Now if we have got a lot of sheep there, we just see a sheep fold and there is a small boy, he will come there and talk to the sheep, it will simply come. We may do anything, it will not come near us. So, my friends, it hears the voice. It does not listen to any other's voice. So when the Lord speaks; When the Lord speaks, the sheep will hear that voice! He may talk through any man - God may talk through any man; but when the Lord speaks: Man can know it! So today, let us hear that voice. And another thing, the shepherd goes before not behind. You know, Jesus has gone before - our Shepherd. He said: I go to prepare a place for you. The shepherd goes all over and finds out the best pastures, best place, and then comes back and takes the sheep there. So, Jesus had found out a place: 'I go to prepare a place for you, then I will bring you up.'

He has got a good place for us. We cannot go there. We have no righteousness of our own. And Jesus takes us there. And this sheep does not talk to anyone but it takes the food and eats it; and grass, everyday grass you know, everyday grass. No we have got all kinds of food. God you know, for man, gave many things to eat; but ox, they eat only grass but they are satisfied. But God has given man varieties, still he is not satisfied. And these things, eating the grass, it is not worried. Like that, if you are a sheep, the food is this word of God. Sometimes it makes you dull, you know, because you have heard this from your childhood over and over again. 'I know the story of Esther, I know the story of Job, what is the use of reading it? But, every day, that is the food God has given, because that is the strength the sheep can get.

So let us - even though Bible is a dry book, let us go on day to day reading that and you will be a power for God. I have read three months Bible, every day fifty chapters. Closing my room, I never saw anyone. So, after the third month, when I was going on the road simply people started screaming - devils, on the road! And the devil knows the people of God. When I went to North India, I did not know the language. A woman possessed with a demon was standing there. So she started screaming when she saw me. And she told my name and talked in a language which I do not know, 'This man is a servant of God, he is coming to drive me.' So these two people who were with me, they were simply shocked and said: 'Brother Lawrie, did you understand that?' 'No, no. She is screaming something.' She was able to tell your name! And she was telling that you have come to destroy her!' So my dear friends, the demons know. They are not forced. They are not forced to live in a man's heart. They are clever. They know how to live in a man.

So these days, let us stick on close to God. So when king David said: The LORD is my Shepherd, he really meant it. He was his Shepherd and he was His sheep. So now let us come to the second verse:

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures, He leadeth me beside still waters. He does not lead us to muddy waters - muddy denominational waters. We have to come out of all that. You know, today, we want some guidance. Who is there to guide? Jesus will guide us, and His guidance is wonderful. But the thing is, you have to be patient. If He wants you to stop for two weeks, just stop and listen. The Lord will work. You know, sometimes they say 'Bride.' It is easy to say 'Bride of Christ.' Do you know how the Bride will be led? I do not know the situation in America, but the oriental bride, the bride does not work. Husband goes and brings the money and the wife serves the husband at home. Suppose they want to go out, the wife does not go and book a taxi; the husband does it. If you want to go to some shop and buy some stuff, the wife does not go, the husband brings it. So our God, He is our Bridegroom; He will do everything for us.

That is why king David says: 'My God who performeth all things for me.' So, what will you have to do? Just quietly sit down. That is the greatest difficult thing for a man - to sit down quietly. He cannot do it, because he wants to do something. He wants to do something for God. Then, when we shut up, then He opens His mouth. So, the most difficult thing for a man to do is to shut his mouth and keep quiet, and then, the Lord moves.

I had to shut my mouth and keep quiet for two years. You know, when a fool shuts his mouth, he will be considered as a wise man. That is what the Bible says. So, for two years, I was just keeping quiet; no ministry nothing. People use to come and say, 'Brother Lawrie, why do you not go and preach? 'No man, I do not have a push.' 'Do you mean to say, God will come and push you?' I was keeping, keeping quietly. Meetings were going on, everything was going on, read the word, sit down; read the word, sit down. At last my wife also said, 'Why do you not go and preach?' My mother also said, 'Why do you not preach? How are you going to live? We are not preaching to live. You know, many people make preaching to live. We live to preach the Gospel of God! Because God has opened our hearts; and all the other things will be added unto you. 'But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.' Everything shall be added unto you. Everything! You cannot omit anything in this life!

In India, if you buy something, at the end they put extras. I do not know if they do it here. I think they will not do it. But in India, if you buy one pound of potatoes they put two extras. That is called extras. So one man bought it and then he wanted to give it back. So he took the two extras and gave the other things back. So the shop keeper woman said, 'The weight is alright - one pound, but where are the extras?' Then she said, 'If you buy this one pound only, those two extras.' He said, 'You do not put it into that account! One pound is correct there.' In the same way, if you seek God and his righteousness, all the extras will be given unto you. But if you do not want God, these extras you do not get. But people want extras without God!

And also, God put an arithmetic: Two sparrows for one penny, then, for two pennies how many? Five sparrows? Now see according to two pennies, you must get only four sparrows. So, according to the account, two plus two; but God says: Five. But one has no account. But God cares for that one, which is not in that account of that man! So sometimes you know, we may say, 'Oh! I am insignificant, there is no account for me…' God cares for you! Every soul in this world, everybody is important in the sight of God! Whether it is any coloured man, or white man, or anyone. So let us not have that foolish idea. My dear friends, let the worldly people have that. But the people of God must want to be filled with the power of God.

Do not get out of the word. When we have the word, we will love everyone. If you do not love, God is not in you. The first thing is: If God is in you, you must love. Love your enemies, not love your friends. I can love my friends. You know, Jesus said, forgive them that are against you, bless them. I did not know the secret. You know, our hatred is like a wave. Hated begets hatred. Love begets love. So, suppose myself and this brother are angry, he will always think that he will be destroyed. I will also think, 'Let him be destroyed.' But by telling that, we destroy ourselves. It is like a wave.

You know, he sends a hatred wave and this wave comes. Both knock and then comes back again. So, my hatred comes back, his hatred goes to him. Waves strike at each other. But when that brother sends a hatred, I say, 'love him, Lord! Bless him, fill him with a mighty power, may God use him!' This love wave goes and hits him and it comes back to us. If he has a love wave, he gets it. So what happens is, when people are enemies, we bless them, that love comes, that blessing comes to us. So let us all be filled with the love. Do not think you prayers are going waste. When you bless an enemy, bless him with a mighty way. You know sometimes, we do not like to bless our enemies more. 'Oh, do not bless him much Lord, but little.' When you bless him mightily, the power of God comes to you! Because he will send this hatred wave to us. - Now come.

He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

You know, He leads us in the paths of righteousness not because we are good, not because we do some social work, not because we do missionary work but for the name of Jesus Christ. I love you all because of the name of Jesus Christ. You love me because of the name of Jesus Christ, whereas I am coming from ten thousand miles away. You never knew me before. But the mystery is, God has the people all over the world and they will come together. Birds of the same feather will flock together. God's people and God's eagles will come on together to fly. So, for the name of Jesus - we can unite under that name and nothing else. Now,

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. It is not death, it is shadow. Will any man be afraid of the shadow of a dog? Suppose an elephant comes there, will you be afraid of the shadow? We are afraid of death. Shadow - Jesus broke the teeth! It is like a big crocodile you now - death. Jesus went into the mouth of the crocodile and punched the stomach and came away. So, the crocodile is opening the mouth and waiting there. We are afraid of the crocodile but the stomach is punctured. So, it is a shadow, it is dead! So, when we walk through the shadow of death, we go to the other side, because death is no more death for us. If you believe on the word, death can not do anything to us. I believe, if a man follows the word fully, he will not die! Because, that is what Jesus said. Otherwise it is a lie.

If a man follows the word of God like Enoch, God is bound to take him perfectly, without death because it is Life. And He said: 'If he believeth in me and my words, he will never see death!' Then we spiritualize. My dear friends, certain words are spiritualized, which is very difficult. Easy things we do not spiritualize. But God wants us to obey the word of God, because word of God is so powerful. I never knew that the word of God says, 'Your heart shall live for ever,' when my heart attack was there. But when I opened the Psalms, it is said, 'Your heart shall live forever.' Then immediately the power of God came and the whole heart pain was gone. So, that verse is there; every need is there.

… I will fear no evil: for thou art with me. We must feel the presence of God today, because Jesus said, 'I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.' Sometimes we fall. That is why sometimes people give testimonies like this: I fall, I get up. I fall, I get up. Some of the evengelicals and all you know, 'I fall, but I get up.' So, the Hindu was telling. 'If you fall like this, how many times are you going to fall?' 'I fall and I get up. I fall and I get up.' Then he said, 'I also fall, I get up. I fall, I get up.' The thing is, if a child catches the head of the father, it will fall; but if the father catches the head of the child, it will not fall. Ask God to catch your life, you will not fall my friends! But if you try to catch Him and see, surely you will fall when the pit comes. Out speed goes very fast. God takes people sometimes very fast, sometimes very slow. So if you catch God, when He takes you fast, you will fall! But if God catches you, He will drag you on to victory. So, let God catch us.

Sometimes we have problems in our life and we carry the problems you know. In the worldly ways we do not do that. We get into the bus or take a taxi and we take the suitcase and do not keep it on our heads while we are sitting in the taxi. We take the suitcase and put it in the dickey, and then get into the car. So, Jesus is able to take you and your luggage and all your family, - every problem. He can do that for you. So that we are free people; He will take care of you. All your problems, all your daily needs, if you love God. He will do that for you. But what do we do? 'I am worried brother.' If you are worried, you are not the sheep. The sheep never gets worried. Only worldly people get worried: 'What will happen to me?' Do not worry! Nothing will happen to you; He will guide you until death.

So, sometimes we are like a hired cycle or a hired taxi. You know, ordinary taxi drivers, when they go, they will go at a terrific rate; he will never go slow. He does not care on whom he dashes, because, it is a hiring taxi. And we also, when we get into the taxi, we do not take the paper away and the dirt away and clean the taxi: 'Oh, it is dirty; shall I clean it driver?' You do not clean the taxi. It is the hired one! But if somebody gives you a gift of a nice car and says, 'Sister, brother, this is for you,' then you will say, 'Oh, it is very dirty, it is getting dirty, I must go to the car wash.' You take care of it. In the same way, if you come on a Sunday and say 'Lord I come to thee,' like a hiring taxi, when it gets into repair, God will not worry. You will have to take it to your own hospital and get it repaired. But when you give your body, soul and spirit to God, 'Lord I give it to you as a gift, this is yours!' Then Jesus says, 'It is mine.' Then He cleans it, He takes away all your troubles, everything!

You know, I was so busy in India, I had no time to even to talk to my wife. So my wife used to get very angry and say, 'You are a big man, you will not talk to me even.' Because I will come home, rush the next day, and will not come for a month. I knew, from the time of the marriage, we had no opportunity to talk to each other. So she will go on with her way and I will go on with my way. So God was so careful you know, he brought us to Germany where the people talk only German. And they preach in German, they talk in German, and my wife and I were there; and we were going for meetings in the thirty cities. In every place they book a room in a hotel - double room and put both of us there. And when you go to the meetings, you cannot talk to them except to Mr. Frank and other people. So I had to talk to my wife. I never stay with her, but now they put me in a room. So we both sit together and talk, talk, talk, talk and say,… Then she said, 'At least God is good for me, He made you sit with me and talk to me and understand me.' So, we are able to understand so many things.

So, my friends, God is so careful about your lives. And what you need He will give you, and give you everything what you need. And He guides you in such a way that at the end you will say, 'Oh! How I love Jesus!' It is easy to sing, 'Oh! How I live Jesus.' You know that song. 'Jesus Never Fails,' it is a thrill in our hearts. In the whole of India, wherever you go, you will find that one verse, 'Jesus Never Fails!' Because that has a message in that. 'Jesus never fails, Jesus never fails, heaven and earth will pass away:

Jesus never vails.

Jesus never fails. Jesus never fails,

Heaven and earth will pass away:

Jesus never fails.

(The congregation sing along with brother Lawrie.)

Thy rod and thy stuff they comfort me.

You know, when the sheep does not obey, the shepherd takes the stick, breaks the leg. Then it is very pitiable, he puts it on the shoulders, takes it home and he gives it special grass for that, special treatment. And the sheep understands now: Even though he beat me so hard, he is giving me special feed, and calls me by a special name. And taps it and says, 'My darling, my little sheep.' Then the sheep says, 'Why did you beat me then?' He beat you to make you a pet - to give you a special name. And then the staff comforts you. You know, staff is for a blind man. When you are dead in Christ, you are really blind. The word is a staff. You walk with Him. So this sheep is given a special - that is why when God touches us, when He punishes us for something, He gives us a special extra grace, and special treatment, special grass, and some blessing; and when you newly get out, you understand God. You will never understand God unless God touches your life, unless God punishes you know and then.

I would have never understood God when,… You know, last December, God told me not to leave my place till thirty first. But I as impatient. I told my son, 'Sonny, tomorrow God has permitted us to go. Why can we not leave today and just go out?' 'Alright daddy, if you say, I will come.' So, he went to take petrol out of the car, then the servant boy brought the kerosene light, the whole jeep was in flames - the whole thing. And my son caught fire and he rolled down, and I screamed, and within five minutes he would have been in flames and perished. And he started crying, 'Jesus, save me!' And rolled and the whole shirt and everything was burnt, and when we prayed he was alright. Then I said, 'Because of disobedience you punished me and lot of expenses done,' and the jeep was not repaired for nearly six months. Then it make us scared.

At the end, you know, it changed the life of my son. He came and told me. 'Daddy, if God is punishing us like this, He seems to be a very dangerous God!' And he was so scared! He said, 'Daddy, can I go there?' 'You better go and find out, man.' So, he became so. Do you know why we lost the power of God? What was the statutes? It was statutes given with the fear of God. But the people said: 'Lord! Do not talk to us that way.' So God said, 'Alright, I will raise a prophet for you.' Then Jesus came. In the same way, children need Jesus. We need Jesus Christ. And God has to make us grow like fathers. In what? Fear of God. Go back to God! Be afraid of God! Be afraid of His dealings! Be afraid of His punishments! Be afraid of His Love!

Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. Thou prepares a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.

We are in the enemy country. You may call this America, but this is an enemy country for us. We are ambassadors of another country. Now, sometimes we used to think, 'What is the use of being in this world?' Actually, an Indian ambassador here, I will have to go to him to get permission. I have to get permission, from the American embassy, otherwise they will not allow me to come to America. So, the American ambassador has got the right of the Government of America to let the man into his country. In the same way, the Indian ambassador, has got the permission to let a man out of his country. And that man - ambassador's pay, furniture, everything, comes from America.

In the same way, God put us here in this world as ambassadors. He trains us and then puts us to lead other people into His Kingdom. So, you cannot just take man and say, 'Oh, who is that man? I will go direct to God.' You cannot go that way. You have to go to the man! God has kept it in such a way that even though we depend on God, He sends those people who depend on God to us. That is why, God works through a man not in a denomination. God chooses a man who will obey God! In the coming days, mighty things are going to happen; people who obey the word of God, God is going to do mighty things in a short while!

And mind you, you do not know who and who are going to be powerful. Because, days are coming - because the work has to be done in a mighty way. And man cannot do it, unless God pours. His blessings in a supernatural way. Why? Manna came from heaven. Jesus said; 'I am the bread of Life.' But this manna, before the Sabbath day, it had to be taken double. So, double portion comes at the last portion on the Sabbath day. Before the Millennium, the double portion comes for the Bride, not for all. So, let us look to God, spend more time looking to God. Wait for Him and seek His mind and be ready for the great day. Now,

Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

If you are in the word, your cup should run over. You got a perfect peace. If you have no peace, there is something wrong with you. If you go out of the word of God, you may fast and pray, but nothing happens. That is why, a man who is on the word of God, he may not fast, but he must be a mighty man of God. But a man who may fast, fast, and pray on his knees hours together, being out of the word of God, he cannot do anything much. So, do not try to go to God with our righteousness. Let us go to God's righteousness first and when He leads us, let us be led of God. Now come to this:

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life:

These are like two dogs. Behind the sheep, there are two dogs. When one sheep goes out of the way, the other dog goes and jumps there, catches the ear and brings it back to the fold. When this sheep goes to another field, this dog goes and catches the sheep and brings it back. So, this goodness and mercy of the Lord follows us all the days of our life. If we go out of the way, or sin, the mercy of God comes. When you try to be ungrateful to God, the goodness of God comes and brings us back to God. So my dear friends, these two things follow us all the days of my life. So what should a sheep do? Should it plan its life? Should it do anything else? What does he say?

And I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever

I will dwell in Canaan forever! I will live in the word of God forever? Word of God: Living there, is the safest place for a Christian. My dear friends, let us come back to the word and not only come back to the word, live and feed on the word, because that is the place where God is coming to dwell. So, let us ask God to take us to that place. Ask God to open the understanding. Because, without His opening, you will never understand. When the disciples were going to Emmaus, God had to open their eyes to see Jesus. Let God take away all our veil; let Him open our eyes.

So, in these last days, are we a real sheep? The sheep has got everything. It has got skin, it has got wool, everything; but nothing belongs to it. You know, it is valuable at the time of the death even, everything is useful. They eat the bones, they eat the flesh - everything! And they use the skin, they use the fur, everything! So, sheep is a very useful animal. It is useful in this life and it is a sacrificial animal, everything.

So, my friends, in these last days, let us seek God. Even though we have plenty, let us live as if we have nothing. Let our hearts be in another country. Now, when an American coming to India, he will not think about India; in his heart he will think about America. A missionary coming to India, will always say: 'My home,…' So, which is our home? Where Jesus dwells is our home. The LORD is my Shepherd. I shall not want! You do not want guidance, if he is your Shepherd. You need not want anything. You need not want popularity. You do not want influence, because He is popular. He will make you popular. He is everything. He is God. So, if you follow Him, He will take the sheep and keep you with Him. And it is wonderful to know God, as a sheep. God bless us.

Closing word by Brother Coleman:

…but I am sending you a man from the East to talk about God. We have been blessed. For a simple reason, the illustration is so simple, just the way Jesus Christ taught Himself; in simple parable that each and everyone can understand. These things you grabbed, you heard preached probably before, but they have never been unfolded in such a way that only God could do it. For a simple reason, he had to have a experience. The life, that these things happened in, for him to be able to tell it to you in that manner. Let us say, Amen.