THE LONG WAY

 

BY Bro. Howard Carroll

 

  This Sermon was taken off a cassette tape by Sister Bernie Goodman of Ocala, Florida, the Wife of Roy P. Goodman, and is a work well done. If there are any errors, it probably will be mine as I re-type it for my web page..

This is a very important Revelation for people who desire to please God in this age. Bro. Nathan Miller.

 Amen, Isn't He wonderful?

If you've got your Bible and would like to go with me, just a little while, to the Book of Exodus, I'd like to go to

the 13th Chapter, Amen, and read a couple verses and we'll try to use that as a spring-board, Amen, to go to

other places, but that's what I want to read while you're standing. You pray for me, Amen, that we  might be

able to say something that will help you, Amen, in your walk of Life. I certainly, Amen, enjoyed last Sunday morning. Amen, I thought the Lord was just real, real, real. Amen, but that was last week and this is this week.

Amen, so we still got battles to fight, a Life to live, Amen, that we're not gone.

 The 13th Chapter of the Book of Exodus and I'd like to read the 17th and 18th verse, Amen, then take a thought from it. "And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although, that was near; for God said, let's preadventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt."

 "But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red Sea: and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt."

 "And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones and hence with you."

 Father, thank you, Dear God, for Thy Word tonight Lord and we just pray God that, as the Prophet said so many times; he had a Gift he learned to get Himself out of the way. And God I know that I pray this way all the time, but God, that's what I pray for; that you will help me to get myself out of the way God, and not be my thoughts, but your thoughts, not my Word, but Your Word. And God we give you all the honor and the glory for in Jesus Name, Dear God, we'd ask it. Amen, You may be seated.

 Amen, I like that part down there. This is not what I want to preach about, Amen, but I made a statement the other day about this, I guess. I said, Amen, Joseph, Amen made him made them swear when they left Egypt, they went back to the land of Promise. Amen, that they would carry his bones with him, Amen, because Brother Branham said he knew that there was gonna be a resurrection in Jerusalem; and I thought of all the great things that God had showed Joseph, Amen, He showed him all the dreams, how his family would bow and all the great things he done; but the main thing he remembered was, that God told him there was gonna be a resurrection in Jerusalem. Amen, and you know a lot of times, that's what we need to realize, that all these other things can happen; but one day there is gonna be a resurrection to those that, Amen, are died in Christ. Amen, but just a little while this morning, I would like you to stay with me. Maybe I don't know how you are, and maybe I don't know how you think altogether, but I guess we're all just human; we're all kinda throwed into the same situation at times. Amen, I realize one might differ from the other, but, Amen, did you ever wonder why God lets you go through some of the things you're going through and didn't deliver you out of them speedily when, Amen, when you wanted too. And, why do I have to suffer this way and why do I have to go through all of those things for and different things. Amen, but your God has His way. Now the Book of Corinthians said all of these things that happened to Israel in the Old Testament, happens in examples; that we might look at them and profit from them. Can you say Amen to that? Amen, se we begin to look in the Bible. It said when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them, not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although it was near. Brother Branham said and History says also, Amen, that they could have left Egypt and went through the land of the Philistines and they could have made it into the land of Canaan in EIGHT days. In eight days, that's all it would have took them. I like that number 8. Amen, but anyway, it would have took eight days, Amen, to make it into the land of Canaan. Amen, but you know God didn't do that and I guess Israel had many surprises during that forty years of that wilderness journey. Amen, but I don't believe none of them was more stranger, Amen, than the direction God has led them after they departed out of the land of Egypt. Amen. Certainly, Amen, it was not a geographically necessity, as we might say; for taking the more LONGER ROUTE through the wilderness by the way of Sinai. But, two million people without any visable means of support, and here they got good roads to travel on, them marked out; and if their supplies run out, there was different places they could replenish their  resources on that way and it wouldn't have took BUT eight days. And, here God is leading them down by the way of the Red Sea, through Sinai, and down that way where there is no marked trails. There's no highways. In other words, they're having to make their own way. Of course, we know they're being led by a Pillar of Fire; but there's no highways, no sign posts and there's no Wal-Mart's along the way that they can stop and replenish their supplies as they run out. And yet He's carrying two million people with no visable means of support down this way. And you wonder sometimes, man, am I following the right guy? You know what I'm talking about, right then out there, man, this don't even seem right. You know I've been along the same trail and I guess you have too. God's took me places and brought me through things that I wondered, man, I don't understand all of these things. But you see, God's got a reason for doing everything that He does; and remember now, Israel is just a type of the Church of the wilderness as the type of you and I. Amen, and the things they go through, you and ARE gonna through them. Can you say Amen to that? Amen and so, no doubt Israel being released from bondage where they'd been peons and Amen, and slaves and didn't own anything and here they are all at once by the Mighty Hand of God He broke the back of Egypt. And Pharaoh had set them free and all at once they said, hey man, this is what Grandpa told me about. This is what great granny always sat down and told me when she was rocking me to sleep, that one day we'd go out of this and we wouldn't be slaves anymore. And we'd go into the land where we owned the land, where we owned the houses, where we owned the crops. I've talked to other people. Do you realize, by this time next week, we'd be in that land? It don't take but eight days. And, man, you know they was wanting to possess that thing, they was wanting what was theirs by Covenant Promise

to Abraham, their father. All at once they left, and instead of going down by the way of the Philistines, through the marked trails on the good highways, through the villages where they could have resources replinshed, they turned this way. No trails, no stores, and it took two years to make that journey down to Mt. Sinai, Amen, and by the Red Sea, and to Kadesh- Barnea took two years. I can probably think, as they thought a little bit, hey man, this ain't what it was cooked up to be. This ain't all I thought it was gonna be. I wonder how many people that got saved, that started to church and Amen, thought everything was gonna be hunky dorey, as the old saying goes, and it just didn't work that way; and you wondered, what's going on anyway? You wanted everything right then. Are you still listening to me? Let me say again, eight days, two years to Kadesh-Barnea, then of course we know there were turned around and wondered thirty-eight more years. But, can you imagine going through a land where there is no bridges, no resources, let me say again, to supply themselves with. And, all it would have took was eight days along a GOOD ROAD. It just didn't seem right. But you know something? God took full responsibility for the Redemption of His Covenant people; full responsibilities. I can hear Him, Amen, now as He speaks to them and we can read this in Numbers 21;22, and 23, where He is telling Israel when they was out there in that wilderness; say, now look, you gonna go through some of your cousin's land. You're gonna go through some of Moab's land, you gonna go through some of their land; and when you go through there, don't you beg for no bread and above all, don't steal it. He said, if you need any bread, if you need any water, buy it. He said, when you're travelling, don't even get off the highway. Don't get in their fields, don't get in their vineyards. He said, for I'm not gonna give you an inch or foot of their land. You begin to wonder in your mind, my Lord, where we gonna eat? What are we gonna do for water? What are we gonna do to replenish ourselves? What are we gonna do when our children begins to grow and we don't have nowhere to buy clothes? You can just hand them down so far. Probably a question going through their minds. But you know something? God took full responsibility. Brother Branham said God will never tell you to do nothing unless He equips you to do it. That's a Promise I like. He'll never tell you to do anything, unless He equips you to do it. Are you still with me? Then I begin to look at all these things. Well, you say what? It don't matter how many people, God takes full responsibility. We know how that He rained Manna down out of Heaven that He fed them. We know how that the flinty-rock following, they could drink from it. Amen, and we realize the Bible said the shoes never wore out.

 Amen, I like what old A. A. Allen used to say many, many years ago, some of you may have never heard of him, but I like what he said many,many years ago. He'd be preaching and Amen, of course he was building up to take up a big offering, I guess. Amen, but he'd make a statement like this; He said, "Can you remember those little old kids, some of them three years old, probably wore a number one shoe we'll say, and maybe a little old girl dress." He said, "but as they marched through that wilderness, they growed. They got to be young men and young women". He said, "but their shoes growed with them and their clothes growed with them." You say, I don't believe all that. Believe anything you want to, but that's the Truth. Amen, now I know some of you women would die if you had to wear the same pear of shoes, the same dress for forty years. I told my wife, I said you got enough shoes to last through the Millennium and never buy another pair, and that's the first thing she asks for when we go to the shopping mall. You know, right to the shoe store, you know. Of course, you know my wife's an oddball, they wouldn't none of yall other women do nothing like that, I know. No way in the world. Are you still with me? Amen, but what I'm trying to say is that God provided. They didn't have to worry about food, they didn't have to worry about clothes, they didn't have to worry about shoes, they didn't have to worry about water. Even though theye were travelling in the wilderness, God provided everything that they would ever need. Let me say this now; I don't know how many of you has been through things that you don't understand, But I guarantee you one thing that God has never carried you anywhere or led you anywhere that God wouldn't take care of you. Regardless of the situation. A lot of times we don't understand it.

 I remember years ago, I preached a message called "A Teacup" here, and Amen, I guess I preached it around the country; but I made a statement like this, I said, "one day I said this man and his wife were in England." Bear with me will you? And I said, "they finally took a vacation from the states and went to England and was walking down the street in London," and they were antique nuts, you know what I mean?"They walked and they saw a little old teacup in a window of an antique shop" and said they went in and asked this man, "could we see that cup?" He handed it to them and they were standing and admiring the way the cup was made, the color. It was just beautiful and all at once the little teacup spoke to them and said, "I  have not always been a beautiful teacup." it said, "could you believe, at one time, all I was, was a hunk of clay laying on the side of a bank of a gully;?" and said,"one day this man came walking by and he had a wheelbarrow with him" and said,"all at once I felt something moving me and said the shovel was reaching down beside of me and then before I knowed it, I was dislodged from everything that I ever knew." It said, "that crazy man picked me up in that shovel and put me in that wheelbarrow and carried me home with him;" and said "that wasn't the end of it, said he took and he bagan to work me, and work me, and work me and I cried to stop, you're hurting me. And said "he just grinned and said, not yet" It said,"the next thing you know, he put on an old wheel and began to turn me with that wheel and mold me." And said, "I got dizzy and said, "stop it, I'm dizzy, let me off." It said, "He just grinned and said, not yet."After he took me off the wheel, I said, "whew, I couldn't have took this much longer." It said, "you know what that man did? He put me in an old hot oven and he baked me; and I said, "get me outta here, I'm dying." Said, "he just grinned and said not yet"; but then he finally took me out and took some paint and begin to take that paint and I said, "stop it, it's getting in my eyes, it's burning me." He said, "not yet." And said "when he was finally through with me, he handed me a mirror and I looked into that mirror and I saw my, I'm not a hunk of clay, I'm a beautiful teacup." Said I looked at the man and said, "why, why did you bother with me?" Said "I was satisfied being that hunk of clay on that bank in that field that you found me in. I didn't ask you to bring me here. Why did you fool with me for? It's not that I'm not appreciative. I would rather be this beautiful cup than I had that hunk of clay, but why did you do it? I wasn't the only clay that was in the bank." Said he looked at me and kinda grinned and said, "but yeah, I'm a Master-Potter." He said, "I make vessells as a living." And he said, "I can look and look at the clay and I can tell which one of the clay can stand the pressure. I can look and tell which one can take the spinning of the wheel and not fly apart. I can tell the one who can take the heat of the oven and not crack. I can tell the clay that I can take and it will come out beautiful; and I saw all of those things in you, but you NEVER could become this beautiful cup until you went through the process of being "DISLODGED."

 You know when I think about all of my troubles and the things that I go through, and what God's allowed to happen in my life, I wonder, why God, me? I don't have an education; finished the ninth grade. All I know, I've learned from reading. I like what Van said one time he helped me. he said but there's two things that you could do, you could read and you could comprehend what you read. And he said there's a lot of people finishes school and college can't do that. Are you still listening to me? But, there was something in every individual setting in this congregation this morning that God saw something in you that He didn't see in the world. That's the reason you're here this morning. That's the reason God DISLODGED you from all the people that surrounds you. That's the reason God chose you because He knew that you could take the pressure. He knew that you could be a vessell in His Hands. You know, everybody can't go through the process.

 You take Judas as an example. he was chosen and he went through a lot of the spinning processes, but he came out a vessell that was marred. And you know what happens to vessells that are marred? There's a place called, the potter's field. Now, we think a potter's field, we think of where the poor are buried and things like that and I guess so, but it was also a field where they took the cracked pottery and the vessells that were bursted, and was no good anymore and they throwed them in this field.

That's where Judas wound up at. A vessell that couldn't take the pressure, couldn't take the molding. Brother Branham said he went all the way to Pentecost, but couldn't take Pentecost. He said. "In our days, said they couldn't take the speaking squirrels

into existence, and they walked away." Are you still with me? And, so a lot of times we see all these long processes, this is the way Israel was, "Why in the Name of God am I here in this burning desert, on the way to a land that should have took eight days and we done been walking two years?" I wonder sometime, have you ever got to the place that, what's the matter with me, how long is it gonna be before I have Faith, before I can speak and this will happen, before I can pray and the sick will be healed, before I can come out of my tribulation? Why Lord? He has His Reasons. But, there's one thing that God will never do. He'll never suffer you to be tempted above that which you can bear, and with every temptation, He'll provide a way that you might be able to bear it. He took care of them in the wilderness. He'll take care of me in every situation that I have. Are you still with me? Would you bear on with me just a little while this morning? Amen, and they turned and they went this way, and they didn't understand it. And, so they understand the Divine purpose in choosing for Israel, the "LONG ROAD". Amen, we will, excuse me, I can't even talk. We need to remember Israel was nothing more than slaves. They were not prepared. Two Million people. Can you imagine two million people? That's not counting women and children, that's just counting warriors. Can you imagine two million people marching up on a country, or a city,or a tribe? That Tribe, they thought, man, this is an invasion, this is war.And they went out to meet them with their soldiers and Israel wasn't soldiers. They was farmer's, mud -daubers, whatever you want to call them. And God knew and that's what He said in the Book of Exodus I read to you. They knew that they would not be able to meet the men of war and when they seen the soldiers coming, the Bible said they would get afraid they would become a coward and they would turn and they would run. And so God kept them from that and He'll keep you from a great temptation that you're not able to bear. Can you say Amen? He wouldn't let them go there because He knew that they would take tail and run. That's not good language it is? But, they would take tail and they'd run and Amen, it would be over and He knew that; so they were, God had to carry them to the wilderness where He could prepare them, where He could discipline, where He could make a nation out of them. So, we got to look AT THE PRINCIPLE of that. First of all, we're just talking.

The End of Part 1.