The Mystery Of The Open Book

A sealed scroll sits in the right hand of God and the whole universe goes searching for someone worthy to open it. That single scene in Revelation 5 becomes our roadmap for the mystery of God, because we argue the scroll is not just symbolism. It is an inheritance, a title deed, and a claim meant to end up back in the hands of a Man, Jesus Christ, the last Adam, who alone can redeem what Adam lost. 

We walk verse by verse through the worthiness question, John’s tears, and the shock of the Lion becoming a slain Lamb. Then we make a crucial distinction that reframes the gospel: the blood is the purchase price, but redemption also requires the Lamb to take the book and open the seven seals. From there we connect the opened seals to Revelation 10, the mighty angel descending with the little book open, and the call for the Bride of Christ to “take” the book, “eat” the Word, and speak it as a living reality. If you care about Revelation 10:7, the seventh seal, the seven thunders, and rapturing faith, this teaching ties those threads together with plain language and lots of Scripture. 

The conversation also gets practical. We talk about spiritual dominion, “Elohim” as God’s representatives, the days of the Son of Man in Matthew 24 and Luke 17, and why Ephesians 4 makes the fivefold ministry essential for maturity, unity of faith, and “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” We also challenge tape-only Christianity and the temptation to live on quotations instead of obedience, because a sign is meant to point you somewhere. If this episode provokes you, share it with a friend, subscribe for more, and leave a review. What part most challenged the way you think about the open book?

Transcript

Faith For Every Need

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Praise the Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Amen. Let's all stand together. So glad to be with you all this weekend and this evening. We trust the Lord will come and meet every need. Amen. It's totally impossible for any human being to meet every need in a place in a building with this many people. But with Jesus Christ, all things are possible. Amen. You just hold your need in your heart before the Lord. Amen. And he will meet that need. You just believe that the only condition you need to meet is faith. Amen. Only believe all things are possible. Praise the

The Sealed Book In God’s Hand

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Lord. We want to turn in the scriptures to uh Revelation chapter 5. And we want to speak upon the mystery of God. And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the back side, sealed with seven seals. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, we're so thankful. Lord, we know that your grace is sufficient for us. So we're coming, Lord. We are just wanting to lay ourselves aside. Lord, not that we don't want a man to speak, Lord, we want the Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts, Father. So I pray, Father, that you'd come anoint the believers. Anoint your word, Lord. May it speak into the depths of our hearts, Lord. May continued spiritual revelation come, Lord. May something be spoken in such a way that would bring strength, Lord, and that would increase our faith, Father. We know we're living in the hour, Lord, where we're to we need to have enough faith to take a rapture. Lord, so we're in that hour of maturing faith. We asked, Lord, that you would work and move to the end, Lord, that your people would grow spiritually from this service tonight and from this weekend as a whole, Father. We thank you for that. We commit ourselves to you in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. God bless you all. Be seated. Amen. Amen. How many loves the word of God? Amen. We look we look here and we see that there's one sitting upon the throne. And we're just gonna keep your Bibles open there to Revelation 5. We're going to go verse by verse and maybe back and forth through the scriptures. Sure, that's fine. Yes. Amen. So Revelation five. We'll continue from there. So in in the the right hand of him sitting upon the throne, we need another microphone. Amen. We'll just give a moment here. So there was on the the in the right hand a little book. Amen. And we know, of course, in in this time it was a scroll. As a cylinder, and on it were seven different seals. Amen. And so it was in the hand of Almighty God. Amen. And so this books from this time period were books that were carrying specific purposes with them. On the other hand, many times scrolls like this were protected with seals, they were like a title to a property. Or it could be an inheritance that's sealed up. Amen. And so generally speaking, we see this could speak be speaking of an inheritance. And even a title to an inheritance. And so they're in type. And so then verse 2.

Who Is Worthy To Open It

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He says, I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice. Who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof? And so who is worthy to open it? So you have to be worthy to open it. Not just anyone can come and claim this book out of the right hand of him that sat on the throne. So there's someone that has to open it. So it has to be taken out of the hand. It has to be broken open. And this also tells us that the contents of what's in it has to be revealed. So whatever this book is, somebody has to be worthy to take it.

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So a search is made.

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And no man in heaven nor in earth under the earth was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. So they even though there was men that were in heaven, Moses, Moïse, Elijah, Eli, Jeremiah, Isaiah. None of them were worthy to open the book. Or even to look on it. Then they looked down on earth. And they looked through the men that were there on earth. Then they looked under the earth. And for sure no one was worthy there. So we find then this book is pertaining to man. The purpose of the book is to be in the hands of a man. God doesn't want this book to remain in his hand. This is key, this is critical. This is a man's book. But you have to be worthy to take it. So the book was, even the book itself as a whole was sealed away from man. Why

Why John Weeps Over The Book

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was John weeping? Brother Branham tells us that because all everything would be lost. Everything would have to be destroyed. If no man could come and take the book, the seven seals thereof. The book itself has to be redeemed. So in the plan of salvation, we have two very significant events. If you don't have a revelation of the second event, you're not preaching the gospel. There's good news today. Amen. To open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof. Amen. So he says, the king. This is a kingly nature, kingly attributes. He says, The lion has overcome. The root of David. He is overcome. And behold, and lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts. And in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as it had been slain. So he told there was a lion a lion, and he turned and looked, and there was a lamb. Amen. A bloody sacrifice. The lamb of God that had already taken away the sins of the world. Amen. It was the intercessor. The one who was there interceding. Upon the ignorance of the people. And so the lamb was the one that overcame. Amen. He shed his blood. He was slain.

Lion Of Judah Revealed As Lamb

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Therefore, he's worthy to take the book and to lose the seven seeds. So you have to the blood had to be shed at Calvary. But the the lamb also had to take the book. So that he was worthy to take the book. So he shed his blood. And this was the purchase price of redemption. But it wasn't the redemption. So in order for him to redeem, he has to take the title deed. He has to take the book. So 1963, Brother Branham tells us that the Lamb came and took that book. And broke the seven seals. It wasn't with Brother Branham. The Lamb was the only one worthy to take the book. Now it's back to a place where it was meant to be. In the hands of a man. There's one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. It was supposed to be in the hands of a man. The man Christ Jesus Christ is also called the second Adam. Amen. The last Adam. The first Adam fell. But the last Adam brings redemption. So then we can begin to understand the first Adam had the book in his hand. Amen. He had the book. It didn't belong to the angelic order. It belonged to the man made in the image and likeness of God. And Satan went back to the hands of God waiting till a time to another man who was worthy. The sinless son of God could take the book after he offered himself as a sacrifice. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb. Having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints. And the immediate reaction was worship. They were in awe. They were amazed. Anytime you see in the Bible where they sing a new song, it means there's a there's a change. There's a change even in dispensations. So they're singing a new song.

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Because God is doing a new thing.

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Saying you are worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof for thou wast slain and is redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. Amen. That word where it says hast redeemed us it's the word purchased. When you look at the word in the New Testament redemption, they they translate it two different words one way. One means the purchase price. In Genesis chapter 1. What was Adam told? He says, multiply and subdue it and take dominion thing. So God man was made in the image and likeness of God to express the nature of God in the form of taking dominion and multiplying. So here we have this dominion was perverted.

Dominion Lost And Redemption Restored

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But now we have the Lamb coming and taking the book. And immediately everyone in heaven falls down and worships and says, You purchased us for God. And you have made us kings and priests upon the earth. And we shall reign. So this is the the the taking of the book is to restore something to man. It's restoring spiritual dominion first. Just like salvation is first on the inside. So first, by the opening of the seven seals, we are receiving spiritual dominion restored to us. Then of course we look in Genesis 6 Revelation 6 and Revelation 8 The Lamb takes and breaks the seals one by one. Amen. And each of the first six seals is giving us information. It's giving us revelation about what's happening through the age. In fact, it's telling us what had already happened through the age and the first four seals it's exposing how the devil is working. Through the four four horse riders and how God is combating that through the spirits of the four beasts. Then it's showing the tribulation period. And then the last seal, it's their silence in heaven for the space of a half an hour. And that portion of it when the seventh seal is open, that's where we get Revelation 10 coming in. And so we're watching, let's track the position of this little book. In the hand of God. Then we see in Revelation 10. This is the seventh seal. Amen. I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire.

Seals Open And The Book Descends

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And he had in his hand a little book open. So now we see this is this is every every piece of that. And is showing forth the presence of Almighty God. A cloud, a rainbow upon his head, face shining with the glory of God. Of fire. Every attribute that's being described there describing God is coming down. He's coming down with an open book. In Christ is the mystery of God revealed. Brother Branham tells us that the seventh seal is the coming of the Lord. Amen. That it has three parts to it. And he says there's silence in heaven. The reason there's silence in heaven is because the angels in heaven don't know the hour. He said, So it's speaking of the coming of the Lord. He says, and the next part of it we read here is a cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth. And when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write, and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered and write them not. So that one up to that time was unknown. And I couldn't make it out. Amen. And he connected it, of course, to the third pole of his ministry. And so we look at this. Then we forward to Christ as the mystery of God revealed. And he says, There were three things that God was longing to do. God revealing himself in fullness in Christ. Christ revealing himself in fullness in the bride. And then restoring back to Eden. And when we hear that, many times even I myself would think of that. But restoring back to Eden,

Seventh Seal And The Hidden Thunders

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don't get it mixed up. Christ, the mystery of God revealed. That's speaking of Revelation 10:7. In the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished. As he's declared to his servants the prophets.

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Threefold mystery.

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God revealed in Christ. God revealed in fullness in the bride to gain preeminence. Restoration back to Eden. Those three parts. The purpose is for for the transferring of the book. And the restoring of dominion. And so when you can you can see that big picture is restoration back to Eden first happens on the inside of us. What? An amateur God. And so God, when God gives birth, what does God give birth to? Amen. Gods. Now don't think of this in the terms of the English word

Elohim And Spoken Word Authority

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God. Because God means an object of worship. Not one of us is an object of worship.

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There's only one God who's an object of worship.

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But there's another word that you'll see all through the Old Testament in the Hebrew language. This is the word Elohim. And Elohim, if you study this through, Elohim speaks of the term God with a plural. In fact, many times the translators are have a difficult time translating it. Because sometimes it means the plural of majesty. Alors parfaitere le plural de la majesty. And sometimes it means the plural. Sometimes it means God. In other words, there's no other Elohim like unto you. But then it also says, I said you're Elohim. And then it means Gods. If you look this term up in strongest concordance, you can find the word Elohim is means this. The Supreme God, the prophets, the Prophet, Judges, Angels. So you'll see it's it's translated very different ways. If somebody wants my notes, I can give it to you. But even it will speak about the host of angels. And it will call them the Elohim. So it that's in the under the Old Testament. And so this is a term of for God's representatives. When God wants to represent himself on earth, that's Elohim. And so that's why you'll find God spe Elohim speaking to Moses. And he says, You be Elohim. And let Aaron be your prophet. And so when we see Brother Branham saying, Sons of God that are born of the Spirit of God, they are gods. Small G-O-D-S. You might think that's a strange thing of saying, but it's completely scriptural. Amen. And so Adam in the beginning was God's Elohim on the earth. And so he could speak parler and he could tell the tree to move from one place to another. In other words, Adam didn't have to pick up a shovel to do landscaping. Amen. He didn't have to pick up a shovel or a hoe to do to farming work. He could just speak. And it had to obey him. Amen, and that's the purpose that God has to restore us back to Eden is He wants to restore that spoken word back to His children. I said your Gods. And you're all children of the Most High. So we have to begin to understand not the way theology speaks about God. But the way the revealed word speaks about God. Three parts. In bride form. How is he revealing himself in fullness and bride form?

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If we don't have the fullness of the word among us.

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The voice of the archangel and the trump of God. And Brother Branham says, The shout. What is the shout? It's the message. Going forth first. The living bread of life bringing forth the bride. And Brother Fael said, Brother Branham, I've heard you say weird things. This is just in his heart. Then another voice came behind that. But when was he ever wrong? He said so. Amen. The shout is the message.

The Shout Message And Bride Union

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The Lord has already descended. He's here in fullness in his bride. There's an invisible union taking place. That's why the little book has come down. Amen. He's claiming his bride. Amen. So we find. Oh my. I'm wanting to go in every direction. Let's hold our fingers there in Revelation 10. And we'll go back to Matthew 24. Remember, Brother Branham said the seventh seal was the coming of the Lord, or we could say the coming of the Son of Man. And so he's referring back to this verse in Matthew 24. Verse 36 and 37. And so, and if you remember, I think it was in the sixth seal, Brother Branham

Days Of The Son Of Man

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relates. How each one of the seals is there present in Matthew 24. But the details of the seventh seal are left out. But not all the details.

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But most of the details.

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He says, But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my father only. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. But Christ in what form? Christ in what form? Christ in bride form. The first elected one was Christ. Isaiah 42, he says, Behold mine elect whom I have chosen. Christ is the original elect. Chose him. Because God chose him. That means you're chosen too. Because he placed you in Christ before the foundation of the world. So we have the coming of the Son of Man, or as Luke chapter 17. Luke chapter 17, we'll just turn there. Luke 17 refers to it and uses a slightly different terminology. Verse 22. And he said unto his disciples, the disciples the days will come when you shall desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you shall not see it. It won't be just in one corner, one little spot, and hidden out from everybody. Amen. But first you must suffer many things and be rejected of this generation. And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it also be in the days of the Son of Man. Amen. So we find it cannot be speaking of an instantaneous event. But it's speaking of a period of time. Amen. Before the destruction. Before the judgment. The days of the Son of Man. Matthew 24 calls it the coming of the Son of Man.

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Matthew 24 nous donne la venue du Fils de l'homme.

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Luke 17 calls it the days of the Son of Man. And also we go forward. Likewise, also as it was in the days of Lot. They did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded. And they pull it off. That's the unveiling. So it's it's the days of the Son of Man is the time wherein the Son of Man is revealed. So we see these things beginning to pile up and come together. So we have the revealing of the Son of Man. Fulfilling the coming of the Lord for his bride. He is here. Amen. He's here in spirit form. Brother Branham says he doesn't come with a nail print. He comes in spirit form to reveal himself the same way he did when he was on earth. Amen. And he's already done that. He's already revealed that. And what did he tell us? There's an invisible union. He has it left, he's still here in his bride. Amen. By the fullness of the revelation of the word. His spirit is here. And he comes, and when he reveals himself, it's with an open book. Amen. We're still wanting to speak about the position of that little book. John wasn't worthy to take the book. To look at it, or to loose the seven seals. But now look at verse 8. The voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again. Now there's another there's a voice speaking. And he's giving a commandment. John, go take that little book. Which is an open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth. How do we get from here to here? One minute John couldn't even look at it. Let alone touch it. Now he's told, Go and take it. Praise the Lord.

Take The Book And Eat It

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The Lamb has redeemed it. Amen. The Lamb took it. And the Lamb loosed the seven seals thereof. Amen. He did that back in 1963. Amen. Brother Branham was speaking about the picture of the cloud. And the Lord turned him, said turn it to the right. And he says, That's our Lord up there. Amen. That's him descending with an open book. Clothed with a cloud. Amen. So he has that book. And he's coming down to deliver it. Amen. John being a type of the bride of Jesus Christ. John the beloved. Amen. The one that was beloved to the Lord Jesus. Amen. He's a type of the bride. So the purpose of God was not to keep the book just seven seals open but in heaven. Neither was God's purpose for it to just bring it down to earth and reveal it to us through a seventh angel messenger. Amen. And this book contains the mystery of God. And that mystery of God is to be brought to completion. And it can never be brought to completion until we go and take that little book which is open in the hand of the angel. Amen. So he went to the angel, said give it to me. The angel said, Don't learn Take it and eat it up. And it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. And he took the little book out of the angel's hand and ate it up, and it was in my mouth sweet as honey, and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. When it gets down inside of us, we realize we have some problems. Amen. That we need we need the power of transformation into the image of Jesus Christ. It's going to make our belly bitter. But it's going to bring transformation. And he said, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples and nations and tongues and kings. So what is he saying? What is he said in Revelation 5? He made us kings and priests unto God. And the reign on the earth. And here he says, prophesy again. We're to take what's already been prophesied. And through the ministry of the seventh angel messenger, we're to take that and speak that word. But it says the bride under their messenger. Amen. And then we'll be the final voice to the final age. So the position of the book in the hands of God redeemed by the Lamb, seven seals broken. Once that seventh seal is broken, the mighty angel comes down with that open book. There has to be a transition, saints. If our message is only God sent a prophet, we've never made a transition. It's a good start. Praise the Lord, God sent a prophet. Some people around the world they still need to hear that. Amen. But we're actually living under the fruits of Revelation 10 7. Which you can stay under Revelation 10-7 and never enter into the next part. You never

From Prophet Focus To Maturity

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enter into eating the word becoming that word and speaking that word. It's not coming by pressing play on the tape. We love to press play and listen to the message every day. Go up the mighty angel Give me that book. And they will eat it. And they will become it. And they will speak that word. And that word will have supernatural power behind it. Not a supernatural element to speak people out of existence. But ultimately to produce what the word is supposed to be produced today. The seven seals have been opened. I know there's people that are saying in the future there's seven men coming, that's seven thunders.

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He says it in the Church Ages book.

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And some I know I don't reject the Church Ages book. Some people do, but okay, if you do, Brother Branham also says it in questions and answers in 1964. He says, Brother Branham, was the seven thunders already revealed, or is that something in the future? He said, No, no, no, no. That's what the seals was all about. He says, But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of the seven thunders would be revealed. Amen. And he says, The messenger of Malachi in the Church Ages bookenger of Malachi 4 will read. And he'll reveal the seven thunder mysteries. That's what the seals is all about. Seven angels came and met Brother Branham. And it was the sound of a thunder. And he said, one by one, these angels who holds the seven seals met him in the room. Even he said, I was taking my own notes and doing my best on my own. And he said, I would have made a terrible mistake. He said, But that angel came and met me and corrected me. He said the white horse rider wasn't Christ. And each horse rider is the antichrist spirit taking a different form.

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The Bible became a new book to Brother Branham.

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So we look at that changing of positions. We had the restoration message. We've heard the voices of the seven thunders ring forth. Because remember the order of it. There was one time when I first came to the message. I had a difficult time understanding the seventh seal. And I heard what many people were saying. And I asked many ministers.

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It was in my early 20s.

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But it was just study, it was never revealed to my heart. And I was in I was in the city of Sivas, Turkey. And I was in a taxi cab and I was praying, Lord, this is an important subject. I can't make it out, I need your help. The seven thunders utter their voices. And the seventh angel finishes the mystery. And the Lord said, okay. That's how it, that's the order that it happens. People are trying to put the seven thunders after the seventh angel's message. The seventh angel and the fivefold ministry, and then the seventh thunders after that. It's not even scriptural. The seventh angel is revealing the mystery of the seven thunders. And the seventh angel thunders is to bring rapturing faith to the people. So I keep trying to make this point and I'm going back and forth here. We've been restored to the original faith. But now we have to take that original faith and bring it into the next stage. Amen. I'm going to explain that. I promise. So when we look at the book of Acts, the day of Pentecost, Brother Branham tells us that always that the church, the original church, at the day of Pentecost is the pattern. So God works supernaturally. Gifts of the Spirit and the power of God and the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Through his people. And that's always the

Church Ages And Restored Original Faith

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pattern. And the pattern of true ministry is the Apostle Paul. When we look back at that, we see and understand God was working with his people in an early age. And he was calling the people out. And they were to be in preparation for the rapture. And so we look and see if you remember. Does anybody remember when the first church age started? Was it 33? No. No, it wasn't until I think 63 AD that the first church age started. So we have a beginning of the church period. From the day of Pentecost. And then God is beginning to turn from the Jews unto the Gentiles. So we have that process taking place. Amen. But then you have the process where the church begins to fall away from its first love. So then from there, God sends seven church age messengers. The first one is the standard. And from there, God's purpose is to try to restore the church back, slowly back to the original faith. So the church ages are coming in for the purpose of restoring back. All through the church ages, they're actually walking in ignorance. They don't know the full word. They don't have the fullness of the word.

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They only have a part of the word.

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And it's not until the end. But you have a full restoration back to the original faith. And remember that doesn't come until 1963. And thereafter when the opening of the seven seals. Because Brother Branham says, always says, until that book was opened, we were just probing at it. In the age of the reformers, we were probing at it trying to make out what it was. But when the opening of the word, seven seals comes, finishes the mystery that takes all those different truths that God's restored presents them back to the bride of Jesus Christ as a full restoration back to the original faith. Now we've been brought back to the place that they were there before the Apostle Paul. Back to that position in that place. God has a purpose and a plan and a vision for the church. And it was always that vision from the very beginning. That purpose has never changed. It's not just for the purpose of saving the lost. The whole denominational world, Catholic, Protestant, they're just looking at it as God's trying to save lost souls. But this is not the picture in the Bible. That's a part of it. It goes so far vastly far beyond that. Amen. He's trying to redeem his predestinated seed. They were his attributes a part of his thoughts and a part of his life for all of eternity. So if you have eternal life, you always was, as Brother Branham said. Because your life was a part of God's life. So when God gives birth, birth births forward from himself. And so in Brother Branham talks about how that after the opening of the word that there's a part of us a gene that came from God that's down in your soul. You're born here on this earth with that, the genetics of God inside of your soul. And so redemption is coming to buy back that which God had lost. God is taking and redeeming back those attributes that belong to him. Not only that, he has a purpose far beyond that. It is his attribute, which means it's expressing something that he had inside of himself. So he's he's bringing redemption to manifest himself in a many membered body. But not only that, taking this even further, is he's trying to bring that many membered body into maturity. If we can understand what salvation is, that's what salvation is. It's not just saving lost sales. It is that, but it's far beyond that. It's God bringing forth a beautiful plan with himself on display in the form of redeemed souls. Amen. Jesus said in his high priestly prayer in John 17. He said, Glorify thou me with thine own self-lore with the glory that I had with thee before the foundation of the world. So God, what you purposed for me before the foundation of the world, bring it to pass here and now. And then later in that same prayer, He says, Father, the glory that you have given me, I have given them. So the same glory that Jesus received before the foundation of the world, He also received that same glory. And we're talking about glory, we're talking about manifestation. We're talking about coming to full maturity. So God in the very beginning, and again, this is the gospel. Don't tell me that the gospel is just Jesus dying on the cross. He must die on the cross and he must take that book and loose the seven seals thereof. Amen, and bring it down to us. That's the good news of this day. That's the message of this hour. And so God in his in his purpose and his vision for the for his people. You could say after a way of speaking before the church ages began, they were in a preparation for a bride age. They were in preparation for a bride age. And so when Paul is speaking in Ephesians chapter 4, this is a prophetic word from the apostle to tell us that this is where God is aiming for. So it's amazing. Because you look at this and this is this is what this is why Christ has sent a ministry. So he ascended up on high, led captivity captive, gave gifts to men.

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And what gifts did he give?

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Apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, evangelists, some pastors, and pastors. Amen. So that's the fivefold ministry.

Fivefold Ministry Equips The Saints

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So it Christ ascended and sent these gifts into Monte a donated. So this is a part of the atonement of Christ. This is part of bringing the church to oneness. And so you see. Oh my! I'm just enjoying this. I don't know if you're enjoying this. Revelation chapter, hold your fingers in Ephesians 4, and we'll go to Revelation 8. We usually read the seventh seal and we just read one verse. But there's also a transition between the seventh seal, the revealing of the seventh seal and the revealing of the trumpets. And so you can begin to see that it's when we see the revelation of the seven seals that's revealed at the end of the church ages to God to the Gentile bride. But the revealing of the seven trumpets happened throughout the age. But the revealing of them. It happens through the two witnesses ministry. Just like the seals is for us, the seven trumpets is for the Jews, the 144,000 so that they can see what God was doing all along. And so when we there's a transition between the two says when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And I saw the seven angels which stood before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. And another angel came out and stood at the altar having a golden censor. And there was given unto him much incense that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. So the Lamb has taken the book, he's loosed the seals thereof. Now we see another angel appearing almost like he's the position of high priest because it was only those in the position of that could qualify to be a high priest from the family of Aaron that could come and offer the incense before the golden altar just outside of the Holy of Holies. So you have the mercy seat on the inside of the Holy of Holieskin, and then you have a golden altar where the incense was offered offered. And so that is like a high priestly position. And he takes the incense, the smoke of the incense, and it says it comes with the prayers of the saints. So the offering of the high priest, the smoke of the offering of the high priest and the smoke of the prayers of the saints becomes one.

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Amen.

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It comes to a oneness. So the work of the bride of Jesus Christ comes and becomes one with the work of the high priest. And so in you even find in the days of Aaron when the wrath broke out upon the people on the earth. Moses said, Take the incense and go among the people and it shall be an atonement unto them. We always think only blood can be an atonement. But here the incense becomes an atonement. And it isn't the fruit of our lives in the Bible to be a sweet smelling savour unto the Lord, a sweet smelling incense unto the Lord. So we see that there's going to come a time that the works of Christ and the works of the bride become one again. And this becomes how the mercy is manifested upon the earth. Mercy comes through Christ being in his bride.

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Upon the earth.

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And so let's go back then to Ephesians chapter 4. So Christ ascends. And the purpose of his ascension is so that he could work through a ministry. Ultimately we see that it's his work. Which makes our works worth anything. It's his offering, it's his take, it's his taking the book. We can never accomplish the work without Christ doing it. It's Christ in you the hope of glory. It's Christ in you ministering to word. Amen. And so what is the purpose of that fivefold ministry? For the perfecting of the saints. Amen. This word we understand. If you look in your strongest concordance, the word perfecting is different than the word that you find in the next verse. Verse 13 it says unto a perfect man. But here in verse 12 it says perfecting. It's a totally different Greek word. Alors say two more Greek different. The first word perfecting is for the perfecting of the saints. The word equipping.

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And their training in preparation for war.

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Amen. And so it's it's it's dressing and preparation. Amen. So this ministry of Christ that takes on five attributes is for the purpose of preparations. Equipping the saints for the work of the ministry. Amen. Because it's the Holy Spirit working through the body of Christ. Amen. Through the bride body. For what? Then for what purpose? For the edifying of the body of Christ. Amen. It isn't just the fivefold ministry that edifies the body and does ministry, but it's primarily for equipping so that the body can minister unto itself in love. And that equipping goes both ways. Even pastors and apostles and evangelists need to be listening and feeding on the word. By the other ministries in the body so that they can be built up and edify and minister to the body. And again, perfecting. This can be a word that locks people up, being perfect. Alors in the message and in the Bible, this word is used in two different ways. One way, it's referring to what the blood of Jesus Christ does for us. It makes us to be the perfect spotless bride of Jesus Christ. It takes our sins and throws them into the sea of forgetfulness. So when God looks at you, He looks at you as perfect in the senses there's no sin on you. So that's one way to think about the word perfect. Or it speaks of completion. Or even that word that you find in Revelation 10 7, the mystery of God should be finished. So the purpose of God in this day in the Word, He said there has to be that transition. There has to be a transition from saying God sent a prophet that's been given to us in the book and entering into that maturity. And so that's the purpose of God for today. We must become a mature people to be ready for the rapture. Let's keep reading. Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. Amen. So that then we'll have a true, we should have a true revelation and understanding of the Godhead.

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Amen. We should know that the fullness of the Godhead was manifested in the Son of God.

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Jesus Christ is the Son of God. That's the revelation that the church is built upon. God came down in the form of a dove, supernatural light. Or Brother Branham will say the Logos came down. Entered in to the Son of God at the river Jordan. Amen. And so we understand. How was he the Son of God? The Holy Ghost overshadowed and produced this human being, who is the Son of God for to come to the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. So that's the second part of the threefold mystery. In Christ is the mystery of God revealed. The bride has to go from being the church to the fullness of the stature of the fullness of Christ. So we go from being the body of Christ being the fullness of Christ.

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The body becomes the fullness.

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And then verse 14 says that we henceforth be no more children. Tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine. But speaking the truth in love, grow up into him in all things which is the head even Christ. So that open book came down for you to eat and you to speak so that you would grow up. Let it bake down and become mature sons and daughters of God. So if we can if we can step back again to what we were talking about before, the church in the beginning was in preparation for the bride age. But they fell away from the faith. During the Laodicean age, the seventh age, he rises in the midst of the throne. He claims the book from the hand of God. He breaks the seven seals thereof. So he's turning in from the intercessory work to the redeeming work. The mediatorial work there for the ignorance of the people is finished. That's over with. Because the fullness of the word is come. We can't claim ignorance anymore. So now he takes the book. He descends from heaven, he delivers that book to his bride. She eats it, they become one. The marriage of the Lamb is come. Invisible union of Christ and his bride. They become one if he's come down. And then he says, You gotta lay in the presence of the sun to ripen. We gotta come to a mature expression of Christ in our lives. That's the purpose of God, that's the place that we're at. It's the word becoming the word. It's entering into that place. That's why we would call it the bride age. We're called out of the Laodicean age. The process of the rapture is completed. And he turns back and starts to deal with the Jews. Then the Laodicean age is over. But as the bride were called out to enter into something different. To enter into an age of oneness with Christ. This is the completion of what was started on the day of Pentecost. Amen. That's why Brother Branham says we're beyond Pentecost. We have to be go beyond Pentecost. It's a part of the Word. The gifts of the Spirit are part of the Word. We believe in spiritual gifts. We believe in healing. We believe in prophetic. We believe in the word of knowledge and word of wisdom. These are all gifts in the body. Just because we shout and dance doesn't mean we have the Holy Ghost.

Beyond Pentecost Toward Full Stature

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Just as he does something different in every age. The Holy Ghost was revealing to them. The Bible is the absolute and the just shall live by faith. In Wesley's age, it was revealing another thing. The Holy Spirit was doing another thing. But now, what is the Holy Spirit doing? Amen. It's bringing a bride into maturity. And so, sure, we'll shout, we'll dance, we'll enjoy the presence of God. It's wonderful. But we understand that's just human beings coming in contact with God. They were doing that before the foundation of the world. They were doing that at the after the Red Sea. It doesn't mean they had the baptism of the Holy Ghost. It just means they were human. They were enjoying what God was doing. And we can still enjoy what God is doing. Amen. But that's not maturity. Amen. That could be babyhood. Amen. It even could be the tares. Yeah, the weed of the tares. It could be the tares. It could be false anointed ones. So keep rejoicing. Keep shouting. Rejoice and shout as high as your life is going. Because what the Lord is doing in this day by the fivefold ministry. He says, Brother Branham, he said, I'm just out, I'm laying a seed. He says they'll they'll take this and make more sense to it. Amen, and bring it to a place where it comes to life. Could you imagine Brother Branham was preaching things? And people were listening and even saying amen. And they had no idea what they said even for 30 or 40 years. So there's people, Amen. There's a five-fold ministry that takes what the prophet laid there as a scene. Amen, and we can take it back to the Word. One thing Brother Branham says, and he never did it personally, but he said every type that's in the Bible is revealing the coming of the Lord in this hour. Amen. And so what are we as men of God doing? We're searching out and we're seeing these seeds that the prophet laid there. And we're making more sense to it. Now he said he didn't say it making a different sense to it. It's more sense to it. I'm laying this, I'm laying this out. Sometimes Brother Branham could just say a few things. Like the evidence of the Holy Ghost. He just says, Well, I was speaking with Brother Vale. And I said, What do you think is the evidence of the Holy Ghost? He said, Well, I was always told it was tongues. Yeah, but I don't believe that. He says, Well, Brother Vail, I I always used to think it was love. That was the best sign of the Holy Ghost. But then the Holy Spirit, the angel of the Lord came to me. This was neither was it tongues. Neither was it love. But it was he who could receive the word. Amen. And even in the sermon, and he just this little nugget that he says. And you begin to search it by the Bible. And you say, of course. Amen. He that believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Amen. He that can receive the word. And so you I mean you can run it all the way through. And the Spirit of truth is come. He will guide you into all truth and show you things to come. Many of these things that the Lord dealt with Brother Branham. You know, we're from the genes of God. You can go on and on and on, and as we dig deeper, you see more and more how scriptural the Amen. But God had to take him off the scene. Otherwise, we're all looking at him. We need to be looking at him, we're to be looking at Christ. We take the revelation that the prophet brought. We bring it through the scriptures to make it live in the hearts of the people. And it's through that ministry that brings on the maturing of the bride of Jesus Christ. And hard to be uttered, seeing you are dull of hearing.

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Isn't that fascinating?

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Brother Branham after the opening of the seals preaches a message on who is this Melchizedek. And it's not only revealing the Godhead in a deeper way to us. But it's even showing more clearly who we are in Christ. And Paul says we have to preach a message on Melchizedek. I should be writing a letter to the Hebrews about Melchizedek. Many things to say, and it's difficult to say them to you. For when the time you ought to be teachers, you are one teach you again, which be the first principles of the oracles of God, and are become such as have need of milk and not of strong meat. So you're not in you're not in a position of maturity to be able to receive this message that I'm going to preach to you. But strong meat belongs to them that are of full age.

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So when you see that word full age, that is the same word from Ephesians 4 13.

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Perfect. Strong meat belongs to them that are perfect. Amen. So he says the message who is this Melchizedek is going to be preached to those who are of full age. Not to babes that need milk, but to people that can eat a steak. And we had to have a prophet come and say, This is the seven church ages. Do you see how the church fell away? What is it doing? It's exercising our senses so that we can discern both good and evil. Even the opening of the seven seals, each seal. The first four seals is telling us the program of Satan. And so there he says, therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ of Christ. Let us go on to full age. Let us go on to maturity. Let us go on to laying in the presence of the Son to ripen. To break out all the greenness. Not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works. And of faith toward God. And this will we do if God permit. Amen. But he did not permit in that age. But he permits us in this age. Amen. So there has to be number one: a restoration back to the original faith. But then the Lord is going to take us further than that. Because they didn't have an open book. They didn't have a revealing of the Son of Man. They didn't have a mighty angel coming down saying, take the book and speak the word. They didn't have those portions of things. They hadn't come to the invisible union. They were supposed to come to that. But instead of coming to that, they fell away from that. So God sends a message of Malachi 4 to restore all things. And then he takes us a step further. And he begins to show us the things which are happening. And what's happening in 1963 is something new. Amen. He says you'll desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man. He says, but you'll not see it. So it's not a restoration. It is revealing what is the mysteries of the coming of the Lord. That were never known before. That were never known before. So if you can if you can think about it this way, in the first coming of Christ, what did everyone expect? They were expecting the Messiah to come and be a king and overthrow Rome. And to set on the throne of David and return the kingdom to Israel.

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Everyone believed that?

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Even the twelve disciples, twelve apostles at the very end. Jesus said 15 times the Son of Man is betrayed into the hand of sinners. And Peter said, Hey man, what's this false doctrine you're preaching, Jesus? May it never be. In other words, would you shut up with that, Jesus? You are going to overthrow the Romans. Stop teaching this. He said, He told them. 12, 13, over and over and over, I'm going to be killed. And they begin to say, Oh, he just said he'll be handed over. That will be the time that he will destroy all his enemies, and even some people have this idea that Judas in his mind was trying to hasten the coming of the kingdom.

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Jesus is not uniting the people. He's calling them snakes. And he's rebuking them.

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And I can't understand what he's doing. So if I hand him over to the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the priests, maybe he will reveal himself. I'll betray him. That's one idea about it. They were so convinced that they understood the coming of the Messiah. And they were totally blind. Even the ones that said, Hey, this is the Messiah. He said, I'm going to die and be a sacrifice. Nonsense. So when the second coming comes around, we have a whole church world. They all have their interpretations. Amen. They all say Jesus is coming in a sudden event. It'll be a big lightning across the world. And then airplanes will fall out of heaven. Billions of Christians will be raptured. Or they say there's no rapture. Christ will come with his saints at the end of the tribulation period and take over the world. And then God comes and fulfills his word by coming down from heaven. And Brother Branham says, When you see God come from the heavens and stand before groups of men, and stand there and reveal himself just as he ever did. And that's the truth with this Bible open. Amen. There he is discerning the thoughts and intents of the heart. The same one that met Abraham that discerned the heart of Sarah behind him. He came down with an open book. Amen. The rapture is already beginning. We are already in the start of the first phases of rapture. And we're entering into that maturity of the wordness of the rapture when these bodies will be changed. But the whole world has their interpretation. They're receiving the world's interpretation. And they think it's going to happen like the dispensationalists think. And they become totally blind. They're right next there. They're listening to tapes. They're listening to the coming of the Son of Man. He's right there telling them. I'm here revealing myself. I've come down with an open book. I'm here. I've come down to show you, I'm here in the form of a cloud. But we're waiting for the coming of the Lord. And he says, I'm already here. I'm already revealing myself to and through that bride. Amen. And so it always comes contrary to man's interpretation. Amen. It's not about interpretation. It's about spiritual revelation. And what is the interpretation of the word? Brother Branham says the interpretation of the word is God bringing it to pass.

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Ah, Frère is Dieu.

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Amen. If the twelve apostles could have understood that, they would have just listened to the Lord Jesus Christ and said, Amen. You'll be crucified. And you'll rise the third day. Instead, they said, No, no, no, no, no. No, you're going to conquer the Romans. And when the coming of the Lord has already taken place in our day. But it's a spiritual revelation. Brother Branham said this. The same pillar of fire that came upon those men that wrote the Bible. Is the same pillar of fire that's here interpreting the Bible. Amen. So it's it's the Bible that's our basis. The message comes to reveal the Bible. And the Bible is our absolute. That's our final authority. Amen. That's the Urim and Thummim. When a man speaks and the Urim and Thummim lights up, Amen. The Bible is our absolute. The revelation of the seventh sealation is because they're too stuck on a quotation. I believe the quotation. I receive the quotation. I say amen to the quotation. But it's pointing me to the revelation of the word. It's not pointing me to itself. God sends a message to us. And we think about it this way. He writes a big sign.

Stop Living On Quotations Alone

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This way to Lusaka. And there's a there's a beautiful sign, we love it. And it says this way to Lusaka. Oh, look at the beautiful sign. You see how they wrote it so perfectly? It's lovely. And then some brother comes along and says Hey, stupid. The sign says Lusaka is that way. Do what the sign said to do. And go to Lusaka. Praise the Lord, thank you. We must take what the message told us to do and do it. Pretend we are. I love the message, I love the message. I listen to the tapes. Amen. We listen to the tapes every Sunday. Press play and obey. I say amen to that. That's why I'm doing what I'm doing. That's why I'm preaching the word. That's why I've taken the book in my hand and I'm eating it and prophesying again. Amen. He didn't say just to sit and listen to the tapes. Even if you can understand it correctly, the symbols are not the message. The message is the living bread of life. Amen. Where is the message? Amen. The message is in me. I am the message. Amen. Because it's Christ. Living in the body of the believers. Amen. The tapes tell us what the message is. Amen, but it goes so far beyond the magnetic tape. It's a living God manifesting himself amongst his people. Revealing more and more and more scriptures through the lens of Malachi 4. Amen. And people will say it's it's the message 37 37 33 to 65. But also remember when the seals were open, it became a new book. There were things that Brother Brandon preached that he corrected himself on. Amen. The message is a progressive revelation of the word. So we have to have we have to understand, we have to see it through that lens. But we see all of it in the light of what God has done. All the message books and the search engines to be able to search it. And become students of that. But not so that we just become quoters. I can say amen to that. Like he said it. I believe we stay with the doctrine that the prophet taught. Remember, even after the opening of the word, he had a limited time. And he said he's laying in the seed. The fivefold ministry has to take that and run it back and forth by the scriptures. You can see what God is doing through every story in the Bible, every type that's in the Bible. And it becomes incredible. But you'll never do that by saying, You must just say what Brother Branham said. We're taking this mindset and we say, Brother Branham. The absolute. And I believe when you do that, you're stopping the Spirit of God working through the bride. And you begin to see many people leaving the message. They're not leaving the message. They're leaving a false interpretation, a false representation of what the message is. The message has opened the word. It is the opening of the word. It is the coming of the Lord. It is Christ and the bride becoming one. And you can see that everywhere.

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I just opened it up. Ruth.

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You can run the whole book of Ruth and see what God has done, is doing, and is going to do. Queen Esther is the same. The stories of the every king. All of it are revealing Christ in the bride. And we were in this place, in this position. We can line ourselves up with the message that the prophet brought. Through this book. This is what has been opened to us. This is what has become a new book to us. Amen. And we're so grateful, Lord. We're so grateful that we see that this open book has to become the living word in us. Lord, what an hour of rejoicing, what an hour of joy, what an hour of glory to see our Lord put on full display through the body of his bride. Oh Lord, we're so thankful. Lord of all people, we don't know why you chose us, Lord, but we were a part of you. We were a part of your life. And

Closing Prayer And Healing Faith

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you called us to witness what we've witnessed in this day and to see what you're doing in this day, Lord. And we're so thankful for that. Lord, we pray that you'd take this word and write it upon our hearts, Lord. Bring to pass what you have purposed for us. Lord, we want to enter into that maturity. We pray, Lord, you search in every part of our lives. Lord, if there's places where we're we're we're hindering you, if there's places, Lord, where we're not walking in maturity, Lord, open that word up to us. Lord, make our bellies bitter as we feed on that word so that we could be changed, Lord. Lord, we thank you, Lord. We thank you for these people. We thank you, Lord, for how you moved, Lord, through your word today. Lord, we pray, Father, now that you'd go through the audience. Lord, these are your people. Lord, you see their needs. I pray, Father, that you'd sweep through. Lord, this mature faith will stand there even just in the audience and take your promises. You're the Lord that heals all our diseases. Amen. You're you're the Lord that parted the Red Sea. You're the Lord that by our spoken word we can speak to the mountain and it can be removed, Lord. We're removing mountains, Lord, in these people's lives in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, if there's someone in here that's under a demon spirit that's bothering them, that's speaking to their minds and twisting that up, Lord. We rebuke that spirit in the name of Jesus Christ. Lord, as as the prophet said, we love to see you just work sovereignly. Lord, even now we pray that you come as we Lord turn to uh worship, Lord. May through that worship, may the word be watered. Lord, we thank you so much for your goodness, Lord. We commit ourselves to you, Lord, for your glory in Jesus' name. Amen.