THE LONG WAY-3

 

 I don't have time, but one of the great teachers of Moses, I forgot this guy's name now, at that time, was counted as the greatest authority on Law at that time was one of Moses' teachers when he went to school in Egypt and Moses understood Law and and he's bringing the Law back down, he's bringing a Constitution to take a.....What, what would you.....People that's not disciplined and having no Laws and SETTING UP a nation, and forming a people. He couldn't do that out there with the Philistines, He put them off to Hisself and He sent down a Constitution to bring a nation into being, to learn them how to be men and not be children, to learn how them how to fight, learn how to wait on God, and let Him fight their battles. He couldn't do that out there with the crowds. And, sometime God pulls you off by yourself and you know the loneliest place you can be sometime is in the midst of a crowd. But, He wanted them to become a nation. Are you still with me? Yes sir.

 I was numbering these and I go ahead of myself, but the fifth thing that they might be humble and tried. We can read this in Deuteronomy and let's read it real quickly and we'll hurry along. Deuteronomy 8;2 and 3, this is the reason God said He brought them by here, ok? This is the second verse of the 8th Chapter of the book of Deuteronomy. I'll give you time to find it. You know sometime all that we think about God is just dance in the Spirit, beat the Tambourine, and speak in tongues. Ain't nothing wrong with that friends, I'm not against that, but there's a lot to God. The second verse, "And thou shalt remember all the way the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness." This is the reason God led them. Now listen to a reason, "to humble thee and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep His Commandments, or no. And He humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with Manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by Bread only, but by EVERY WORD that proceedeth out of the Mouth of God, doth man live." Listen now, this is on the closing awhile ago that I was talking about. "Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee." Boy, women would have a fit today if their dresses never wore out. Hey, I didn't make this up friend. "neither did thy foot swell, these forty years. Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chastise his son, so the Lord thy God chastise thee." But He led them through there to humble them. Listen to me now. First of all, He waned them to KNOW who He was and His provision, how He could take care of them. And, the second thing He wanted them to know was this, He wanted them to now THEIRSELF. He wanted them to know, can I live by this Law? Can I follow this Pillar of Fire? Can I depend upon God in the rough times? Can I depend upon God when things are not going right? He wanted them to know Him, then He wanted to know theirselves, what was in them. Now here's what the Prophet of God said. Just hold on now, I'm not making this up. He said, "Sometime God will will just stand you over there to and let things happen to you to see what you'll do about it or see how you'll react to it." Because God wants us to know what's in us. He wants us to know whether we gonna take tail and run if it gets hard. He wants us to know whether we got the goods or not, that we can trust Him in any situation, at any given time, regardless of any situation, we can just stand still and know that He's God. You know something? We can all say we know God. He's the giver of Life, He's the Great Creator, He's the Great Savior, He's the Great Redeemer. But, can we say we know ourselves? Can we know and say within our heart, I know what I'll do? Do you? He wanted them to know Him and He wanted them to Know theirselves. Can I trust Him? Are you still with me? You say,aw, now Brother Carroll. And, when they had become completely and wholly dependment upon Him, let me say again, men can hardly find God in the days of prosperity. Shall we go on? And so, they might be humble and tried, and they might know God that they might know also theirselves. Let me say again, I believe that God shields His children until they become adults, I believe that. That's the Truth.

 I got a Computer and it's got a DVD on it and I don't know whether any of you have ever seen these l-Maxen or not, but anyway, Johnny gave me a little old film last night on where they found the Titanic and they went down; it's not this old Titanic film that's made out here for filth and world, don't misunderstand me. But, it's where they went down to the bottom of the ocean, and around this big old ship. He said, "You might enjoy watching it." I said, "I'll carry it home and play it. I couldn't. When it come up, it said count on goddness or something on here, said you cannot watch this film. I said, "what kind of film did Johnny give me? I said, "My Lord.", and you know it just wouldn't play it. It had a built-in thing that it wouldn't play it. And I want to show you how people are, ok? That didn't satisfy me. I said, "There's got to be a way to override that somewhere." "There's got to be a way to override it, I ain't no kid." So, I kept on punching these buttons, you know, and the thing said parental guidance. I said, "ah." I went over there and it had kids wrote on it, so I just put adults, adult rather, not adults, just put adult and pushed it and it come right on, you now. So you can override God's things sometimes if you want to, and there wasn't nothing filthy, but I don't know how come it wouldn't show it. But, there is stops and sometimes God's got them. Don't go no further. So I wonder sometimes if we know what really is in us. Now don't you go home and say Brother Johnny gave Brother Carroll a film was wasn't fit to watch. It wasn't no movie about the Titanic, it was just about where they went down there and looked around this crazy sunken ship. Are you still with me?

  Paul knew the same thing. Romans 7;18,"For I know that in me(that is my flesh) dwelleth no good thing." So God wants them to know. Are you still with me? Alright, let's go a little bit more. So God shields His children sometimes as they can come adults, He won't let them see some things. He puts a stop there. Alright, let's go on, now everyone of yall will hate me, ok.

Look at Abraham, there were three, four great surrenders of Abraham. You know, all the time we think about Abraham "Oh my God," God told him to offer his son, offer his son. Who could have done that? But, He tempered him, before He done that. Watch this now, stay with me a minute now. Let's look at these four things. If we, if you get tired, we'll go home in awhile. But let's look at these four things. First of all, he was called to surrender his life. That's the first thing God calls you to do. To seperate from his own people, from his own land. That's what God asks you to do. That's one. Then, he had to surrender his rights by letting Lot make the final choice with the valley or the mountains. Whatever you want Lot, you just pick it. Number three, he surrendered the opportunity to become rich when the King of Sodom offered him all of that wealth because he had went and overtook those Kings and brought back the booty from them. You know what I'm talking, sure you read the Bible. He said, "Nah, I don't want it." And so he surrendered his right to be rich by a King from Sodom. Oh God, that's the hard part, ain't it? Surrender our right from letting the world and the filth make us rich.

I never will forget Belind's brother used to come here old Brother (Al Lee-?) this and this, he told me one time, he said, "Man, you pray for me, said " I think I'm gonna win the lottery, said, "Just think of all them tithes." I said, "Al, you ought not have told me that, I'll pray you don't win it." "My God,why?" He said "Couldn't you use the money?" I said, "I don't want the temptation, I don't want your gambling money." You know and he just laughed. He said, "We'll find out whether you will take or not." So God put a stop, he didn't win it. Are you still with me?

But then when he turned them down,, then come the supreme sacrifice, He said, "Now go offer your son." But see, God tempered him. First he surrendered his life, he left his land, he left his family, he turned down the right to be rich, he turned down his choice of the land, then God could trust him to offer his son. God leads His children. How's the old song, "Some through the water", huh? Some through the Blood", some through te Blood, huh? Some through great sorrow, but all through the flood. You can read this if you want to, 1 Corinthians 10;13, how that God will never let anything come upon you that you're not able to bear, whatever temptation by the way that you might be able to bear it. It didn't say He'd take you out of it, He said He'd just give you the strength to overcome it to bear it. Read that if you want to. Are still with me? Let's hurry, I know it's getting late.

So, when Israel left Egypt, once more they won this one, they had to be TRAINED, and the WILDERNESS was a training school. Israel could never know God on MAN'S highway. That didn't catch. So many didn't catch, I'm gonna say it again. Remember, they could have went by the way of the Philistines. Hello, can you say Amen? Gone by the way of the Mediterranean Sea, where all these little villages, all these little towns, all the marked out highways, that was man's highway. But Israel could never come to know God travelling on MAN'S highway. Never could come to know God, neither canyou. You can never know God travelling ON the things of the world. I told some of them the other day, we was talking about when Brother Griffie was here, Amen, some of them wanted his daughter to go to the movies with them on Sunday evening and he looked at me and said, "My God, are you teaching your young people thay can go to the movies on Sunday evening?" I said, "I'm not even teaching thay can go to the movies on no evening." I don't believe in it. Now, there's some of you probably goes. But, that's still the HIGHWAYof the world and you'll never come to know God on the highway of the world. You come to know God off by yourself, seperated from the world. OK. You can't. How can you know God on the highways of the world? Huh? I think Paul cried out in Philippians 3;10 said, Oh to know Him in the final Resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering. And, sometimes God must lead His children through dark valleys to teach them the blessings of Divine Fellowship. What did Psalms 23 say, "Yeah though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou are with me, Thy Rod and Thy Staff comfort me." Let's go on.

Let's look at God dealing with some of the children that never age and we're gonna wind this thing down, and I know you're getting tired. Let's look at Joseph. We like to think of Joseph being on the right hand of Pharaoh and everytime somebody, everytime Joseph came by, they'd have to bow the knee and bow the knee, Joseph, Joseph. We like to think about that, but we don't like to think about the LONG ROAD he come to that place. The LONG ROAD, his brothers hated him and from a pit in Dothan, they throwed him in to a caravan that led him to Egypt to potter's house as a servant, a slave. Then from potter's house to a dungeon, then from the dungeon to next to zero. He didn't come the short way. He came the LONG WAY. I'm gonna tell you something friend,when he got to the place that he was ready to be a leader, he'd benn tried, trained, everything, and he's ready now to ascend. It wasn't a short route, it was a LONG ROUTE.

I looked at Daniel. I looked at Daniel, here was a man that was took out of Jerusalem when he was a young man and brought into Babylon and how that he prayed three times a day, how that they hated them, how that the throwed him into a den of lions, but how that he wound up a ruler. And how that he prayed for the return of his people to Jerusalem and the only thing that he ever saw was in a vision of them going back, but he hisself never got to go back.

I look at Paul. I read in the Epistles and his writing to the church at Rome and he said, "my heart's desire is just to come up to Rome also and depart some gift to you. I'd love to preach to you," he said, but you know how he arrived in Rome? Tied up, a prisoner and throwed in jail. A LONG ROAD. But you know what? From the blessed pen of a prisoner in Rome cazme some of the greatest literature that's ever graced the face of this earth. We call it the Epistles of Paul. It was no shortcut friends. It was a LONG ROAD.

I think about coming on more and down in the modern days, I think about John Bunyun, I believe it was. We think about Pilgrim Progress, we think about different great books that he wrote, but you know where he came by? The Bedford jail. Pilgrim Progress was wrote, I think while he was in their jail cell.

We think about Livingston, what a great man he was and the great things that he did, but he had a LONG ROAD to Africa and sufferings, and giving up, and doing without. I think about a man called Hudson, a missionary to China. They say he never really made a whole big impact in his lifetime, but he's counted as the greatest missionary that ever went to China because the seeds that he sewed brought forth untold thousands of people to God.

I think about a man called William Branham, born in a cabin, to a bootleggin daddy, a whiskey making guy, from poverty. I hear him tell his life story, and he said, "when I'd go out to go to revival, my shirts, my collar was wore out." In other words, frayed at the back and holes in them. And he said Media took collars and turned them around, put the, you know what I'm talking about, where you couldn't see the thing, and said he had a spot on one of his pockets on his coat, like that, and said he stood there and preached all day Brother with his hand like that where they couldn't see the spot. That's his words, them ain't mine. From a nobody, to I personally believe to one of the greatest men that's ever lived, but he come a LONG ROAD. It wasn't no shortcut, and I look at me and I look at you, God has brought us a LONG WAY friends. I heard Brother Branham the other day, then he kinda tickled me the way he said it, he was talking about back when he was little, about candy and things you know and buying two or three cents worth of candy and things like that, and he said, "why, what now?" He said, "I could buy enough of snicker bars or milky ways, Amen, to give everybody in this congregation one, "you know". And I thought that was a great thing to him because he never had nothing. And I thought, Yeah.

I read a lot. My mind goes back to people who really know God, there wasn't a SHORT ROAD. Read the diary of Annie Franks. Corrie T. Boone, read some of her books. Madam Gonyan, or ever how you say her name, as an Aristocrat and throwed in jail and spent her life in jail for being a Christian. I know you probably don't even think some of these people are Christians I'm calling the name out. You think what you want to, I think that they were Christians. Who was it? Elizabeth Elliott, in their time, to the Missionaries in South America, her husband and all them with them was killed, and this very woman went right back to that same tribe that killed her husband and taught them about Jesus Christ. I was listening to her on the Radio coming home one day and I told Jean, I said, "This lady is a lady" and I said, "She's not an illiterate lady, you can tell the way she talks." She probably come from the right families, the right education cause she's willing to go the LONG ROAD to know God.

I was asking you something this morning, are you willing to go the LONG ROAD to know Him and the fellowship of His suffering to be made conformable unto His death, to know Him, and the Power to His Resurrection? If you are, it's not gonna be an easy road. it hasn't been so far and it won't be.

I like what Mike Canada said one time years ago. He's got a church in Gainesville, Georgia. Brother Bean nows him. He and I were talking one time, we were eating dinner, me and him, Brother Tate, Sister Tate and Jean, with a man that lived down the road here awhile that used to live in Gainesville then, and they moved here for awhile then they moved back. But he said, in telling us, he said when he first started listening to Brother Branham, he said look like when he met them Pentecostal people that used to go to church with, he said it looked like they'd get on the other side of the street to keep from talking to him. But he said, "Now I can walk in a cafe and they'll say, how you doing Brother Mike, it's good to see you. Boy, it's good to see you with us." He said, "I asked myself the other day, I said, My God, Have I backslid? It makes you wonder, don't it? But it's a lonely Road at times. How did Jesus come? The LONG ROAD friends. Yeah. Didn't have it too good, but He's able to redeem you and take care of you, and when He gets through with you, you're gonna look at yourself one day and you're gonna be like that little old teacup; and you're gonna day, "My God, He made me like this?" He took a hunk of clay, a hunk of filthy, dirty clay that came out of the earth and made something like this? Thank you Lord. Would you stand with me?

I talk to a lot of people, brother Don Coulter, I don't see him this morning, But I talk to him, and he and I talk about what God and things like that. But, you know, me and Don is always saying this to one another, "but we want it right now." It's hard to walk the LONG ROAD friends.

I want to read you one Scripture and while Steve comes to guitar and Belinda to the Piano. This is in St John 17, if you'd like to turn there and I'm closing, not gonna hold you any longer. I just....The LONG ROAD. St. John 17, I'll read it to you, you don't have to turn if you don't want to. "I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but Thou shouldest keep them from the evil." Jesus didn't even pray that God would take us out of all this, He just prayed that God would keep us from the evil in it.

Brother Johnson told a story about this woman, I think it was Brother Johnson, and he said that this woman always prayed for him to go to church, prayed for him to be saved, for years and years and years and years and he never made a choice to go to church. And said at her funeral, he came to give himself to God at her funeral. That's something isn't it? She never saw it, or did she? I wonder sometimes about me. I wonder. Do you ever just think about what you could have been? I'm not talking about famous, I'm talking about you could have been a drunk, some of you women could have been prostitutes, But God kept us. We must go through the school of experience to learn, to have no confidence in the flesh and to be a witness to the world that God can keep me. When all hell is against me and the wilderness winds are howling, and the desert would like to swallow me, He's gonna keep me. He's gonna keep me. Let's sing a song.

Song: You gotta walk that lonesome valley. You gotta walk it by yourself. There's no one here gonna walk it for you. You gotta walk it by yourself. Well, you gotta walk that lonesome valley. You gotta walk it by yourself. There's no one here that'll walk it for you. Well. you gotta walk it by yourself. Well, you must go and stand your trials. You have to stand it by yourself. There's no one else can stand it for you. You have to walk it by yourself. You've gotta walk that lonesome valley. You gotta walk it by yourself. There's no one else can walk it for you. You gotta walk it by yourself.

You know what? I was talking about this potter's field awhile ago, I'm wondering how many of us has cried God, get me off of this wheel, get me out of the furnace, get me out of my trials, and not even realizing the Bible said there are the very things that purify you, the trials and temptations that comes our way.

Prayer:

Amen, you love Him? Amen, I really don't know how to end this service, but I want to tell you something friends. I don't know about you, I guess we're all the same. We've all been through valley's, we've all been through dark places, and I'm not gonna try to tell you they're over with, they're not. We've still got a battle to fight. Irregardless of the situation, He'll take care of you. He'll never let nothing come upon you that can overtake you. Whatever temptation, He'll provide a way that you might be able to bear it. Paul said, "I am persuaded that He is able to keep that I've commited unto Him," and I've committed my life unto Him and I'm persuaded that He's able to keep it. Amen, so we want to pray toward that end. Amen.

The end of the Sermon.

PS. Here is his name and address

as well as his Phone number.

Howard Carroll

921 Bob Meadows Road

Manchester, Tn.37355

Ph.931-728-0931.