TAKING ONLY WHAT BELONGS TO US

AND LEAVING THE REST ALONE

Singapore

Thought for the book taken from the

Message delivered on September 14, 1997

©1997 by Ben Howard

All rights reserved. This book cannot be sold, nor in any way be used

for the soliciting of funds.

All scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version Bible

Published by the Sound Of Liberty

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TAKING ONLY WHAT BELONGS TO US

AND LEAVING THE REST ALONE

Let's start in the Old Testament in the Book of Deuteronomy. Now we haven't come to bring you a new message or a new revelation, we just come to put our shoulder to the wheel with your pastor, Brother Gan. We are all trying to go the same direction, and if there is a little place here and there that we might not be eye to eye on, God will lead us on how to take care of those things that need taken care of. We are the bride, and are to speak the same thing concerning God's Word. He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ask or even think. He is a great God, and I am glad to serve Him in this position of leadership, to bring the bride together in this last day.

All right, in the Book of Deuteronomy we will start in Chapter One. I want to take a little thought and title it, Taking Only What Belongs to Us and Leaving the Rest Alone, - to know what to take and know what to leave alone. God has given us some things, and there are some solid promises behind those things that He has given us. Then there are some things that are not promised to us specifically and we are not going to try to take those things, but we do want to take what God has given to us. Now He has given us a New Testament ministry, a New Testament church, a New Testament gospel, and He gives (us) the bride a message; He gives the bride a five fold ministry, with apostolic leadership to lead her to perfection. Before reading, let's just bow our heads in prayer. Heavenly Father, we just thank you for your goodness and mercy upon us. We thank you for this opportunity to bear witness of your Word once again, and God, we just thank you for giving us a safe journey over, and blessing us, and giving us rest, and for helping us to be able to stand here. Now, God, we pray as you anoint us to minister your Word that you will also anoint the people to receive. Give each one ears to hear, Father, and we will be careful to praise you, in Jesus Christ’s wonderful name. Amen.

Again, I want to thank your pastor, Brother Richard Gan, and the saints of Singapore for asking me to visit and speak with you here in this great country.

Now in Deuteronomy 1:21, what Moses is referring to is where God sent the children of Israel up to possess the land, but they didn't possess it the first time they tried. So he is telling them what happened there and why, and we will pick the story up in Verse 21. Deuteronomy 1:21-25, “Behold, the Lord thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged. (He's telling them of a promise that God gave them originally.) And ye came near unto me every one of you, and said, We will send men before us, and they shall search us out the land, and bring us word again by what way we must go up, and into what cities we shall come. And the saying pleased me well: and I took twelve men of you, one of a tribe: (Moses is telling them what he said, and they agreed with it, but this is forty years later and they're about to go take it again.) And they turned and went up into the mountain, and came unto the valley of Eshcol, and searched it out. And they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us, and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which the Lord our God doth give us.” I want you to notice, there's no disagreement on that. “It is a good land that the Lord our God giveth us.” And I think there's no disagreement with that among any of us. God has given us some good promises, hasn't He? He promised to wash us by the water of the Word. He promised to build us up into the perfect stature of the man Christ Jesus. He promised to do exceedingly abundantly above anything we could ask or even think according to His riches in glory. He gives us so many good promises. So, Moses is telling there what the children of Israel said. They admitted that it was a good land, and when the twelve spies went up, they brought back fruit. Then there was a hindrance, and the children of Israel didn't go up. We will read about that, and we'll see how God dwelt with them.

Verse 26-40, “Notwithstanding ye would not go up, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God: And ye murmured in your tents, and said, Because the Lord hated us, he that brought us forth out of the land of Egypt, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. Whither shall we go up? Our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people is greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven; and moreover we have seen the sons of the Anakims there. Then I said unto you, Dread not, neither be afraid of them. The Lord your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes; And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the Lord thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place. Yet in this thing ye did not believe the Lord your God, Who went in the way before you, to search you out a place to pitch your tents in, in fire by night, to shew you by what way ye should go, and in a cloud by day. (God led them by a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. His presence was ever with them.) And the Lord heard the voice of your words, and was wroth, and sware, saying, Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers, Save Caleb the son of Jephunneth; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the Lord. Also the Lord was angry with me (Moses) for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither. But Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it. But as for you, turn you, and take your journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea.”

I want you to notice here, when they failed to go up he said, “Turn ye, and take your journey into the wilderness.” And they wandered for forty years in the wilderness, until that generation passed away, but there is a generation that is to possess the land.

Now the same thing has happened in the church ages. They've gone through the wilderness for seven church ages, but here in the last days the promise of God, the promise that was made to the fathers, is confirmed and made real to the children. The children of Israel said, “We brought our children out here and they will die in the wilderness.” But God said, “The children you said would fall in the wilderness and be a prey, will go in and possess the land.” See, after the wilderness journey they possessed the land, and God has a land for us to possess. Now let's do it again and right this time, as the wife of Christ.

Verses 41-46, “Then ye answered and said unto me, We have sinned against the Lord, we will go up and fight, according to all that the Lord our God commanded us. And when ye had girded on every man his weapons of war, ye were ready to go up into the hill. And the Lord said unto me, Say unto them, Go not up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest ye be smitten before your enemies. So I spake unto you; and ye would not hear, but rebelled against the commandment of the Lord, and went presumptuously up into the hill. And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah. And ye returned and wept before the Lord; but the Lord would not hearken to your voice, nor give ear unto you. So ye abode in Kadesh many days, according unto the days that ye abode there.”

I want to compare this happening with the church ages a little bit. God promised, even in the days of Paul, that there would be a rapture. In 1 Corinthians, Chapter 7, Paul spoke, “The coming of the Lord is at hand.” Peter, also spoke, “The coming of the Lord is at hand.” They were expecting it. And Paul, when he spoke of the translation, said, “We which are alive and remain till the coming of the Lord shall not hinder those that are asleep, but they shall be raised first, and we will be changed.” See, the promise laid right there; they were ready to go into the land, but something happened, and the plan did not go in effect at that time and here's why?

We find the answer in 2 Corinthians, Chapter 11, where Paul spoke (paraphrasing), “As the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, I fear lest you be removed from the simplicity of the gospel.” And we find that God promised to take them into the land, but when they rebelled, God let the promise go to the children, as He did in Moses' day.

The early church was promised that they would go into the land; they would reach translation. God promised them a five fold ministry, but it didn't happen as was expected, because they failed to believe God, they failed to go on with God. So God sent them on a wilderness journey which lasted for seven church ages, but in the Book of the Song of Solomon we find him saying, “Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness leaning on her beloved?” So we are coming out of the wilderness. We are now to possess the promise that God promised unto the first church. What happened was – the thing that God promised in the Word of God – that the church would be of one mind, one accord, all speaking the same thing, having no division among them, washed by the water of the Word, and reach the full stature of the man Christ Jesus, we find that this didn't happen, and the promise was taken from them and given to the children here at the end time, because God is going to have a perfect church.

We find in the Book of Revelation, Chapter 2, when God spoke of the Church of Ephesus He said, “Thou art fallen from thy first love.” And He told them to repent. We find that when they failed, then the promise was made of none effect to them. Just like the children of Israel, once they realized what they done, they said, “Maybe we ought to go up and take the land.” When they saw that they really messed up, they tried to do it on their own, and they failed. The church has tried to do it on their own all the way through, and they've failed. But we find in the Word of God that He has come back in the last days in a great spiritual angelical form to fulfill the Word and make it live! (Revelation 10:1) And the promises that were left for the early church will be fulfilled. The church will come to perfection. There will be a rapture. We have been coming out of the wilderness.

Notice, to the children of Israel, God would not fulfill His promise. Did you know that when Christ left here, He put the church under the same law He was under? He said, “These works that I do and greater works shall you do, because I go to the Father. These things you see me do, you go do the same things.” He brought all those great promises and told them how they would speak the same thing, He put the nine gifts in the church, and He set a ministry in there that would have led the church to perfection, but we find in the Book of Matthew, Chapter 13, why it didn't happen. It is related there of seven parables, and those parables correspond with the seven church ages.

The same thing that happened with Israel, is the same as what happened with the church, because when the parable was spoken, it was spoken of a man that went forth to sow seed, and he only sowed good seed to begin with, no evil seed. It was good seed, and good seed will bring forth a good harvest without exception. It will bring forth perfection. It will bring forth all that it is supposed to bring forth. Now when the seed was sown, the enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and he went his way, then the tares began to grow, and the total promise of God was taken off them. They couldn't fulfill the promise of God to go in and possess the land, to go into that perfection, because in the kingdom of heaven, which is the church ages, there began to grow wheat and tares.

The church is to be clean, be one, be a body, all speaking the same thing, all seeing the same thing, but then, I want you to watch, when the servants saw in the parable those tares growing in the wheat, they asked, “Shall we go and remove the tares from among the wheat?” Now watch the law of God. God wouldn't let them do it. (They have grown together for 2,000 years) God said, “Let them grow together until harvest.” Just like God told the children of Israel through Moses, “Don't go up now; you've already messed up. You can't go up and take the land.” They said, “We're going to do it anyway.” So they went up, and they ran from the enemy like running from bees. When they messed up, they broke the promise of God, so they couldn't go in, but they ultimately did take the land, with a great victory. They did come out of the wilderness that they went into. All the promises of God were fulfilled. God did take them into the land, and the children did inherit the promise that was made to the fathers. I believe the children of this end time that have been restored back to the faith of the fathers will possess the promises that were made to the fathers, where the fathers failed to believe God and go in. (I'm beginning to feel the wheel in the middle of the wheel here.) I'm speaking of the anointing of the Holy Ghost!

So there are certain things that God has promised us that we can have, and certain other things He tells us we can't have, and we want to know what we can have and what we cannot have. We find a lot in the religious world today, for instance, in the realm of deliverance evangelists and religion as a whole out here where the big meetings are taking place, and they have some things. Now what they've got is theirs, and we don't try to take what they've got. But I will tell you one thing, we've got some promises of God that they don't have. The land is ours! The promise of God is ours! He has promised to wash us by the water of the Word, and He has promised that all the spots will be taken out of our garments. He promised that all the wrinkles would be gone, being united to Him. He spoke of it as a husband and wife being united together, that they become one flesh. He said, “This is a great mystery, but I speak of Christ and the church.” So, we become the wife of Christ.

In a wedding you have a lot of people involved, but only the bride goes home with the bridegroom. All the rest of them are important; they have their part. I just finished a very formal wedding with a lot of people in it. There were many people involved with it, but then after the reception and all, the bride and bridegroom left together! Everybody else had their place, see? And that is what we are looking at in the Word of God.

Some people have their place in the Word, and I want to show you here that God gave Israel, Canaan Land. He said, “Now, I gave Esau some land here, and I'm not going to give you a foot of Esau's land. If your cattle eats any grass or drinks any water, you pay Esau for it. If you eat any meat, pay him for it, because I gave that land to him and I will not give you a foot of it.” See, that's the thing. God gave us something; and what God gave us we can claim; lay hold of it and He will grant it – but let's not start asking for something that He gave somebody else. There are some big deliverance revivals going on, and some of the people are getting blessed. No doubt some are being born again and miracles are happening among them, but if you get up and say, “Repent and be baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,” they will lose that anointing real quickly, because God hasn't given them that.

We read in the Word of God, that there is a great number that is to come out of great tribulation. They are people who have failed to come into this, and they can't. Esau couldn't have taken Canaan Land, because God didn't give it to Esau. The Moabites couldn't have went in and taken Canaan Land, because God didn't give it to them, but He did give them something. Now God told Israel not to touch the land that He gave to the Moabites. “That's theirs; I gave it to them. I've given you this. You get your mind on this, and this other land, let them worry about it.” That's what we need to do about a lot of these things going on in the religious world today. We get troubled about many things; how we ought to do this, and what we should do about that. I'll tell you what we ought to do about it; we ought to just praise God that the name of Jesus Christ is preached whether it is concerning us directly or not, because God gave some land to other people besides Israel and when He gave it to them, He wouldn't let Israel take it. Israel could have tried to take Esau's land, but Israel would have been defeated, and that's what happens with us sometimes; we're being defeated, because we're trying to take something God hasn't given us.

If we only hold to the promise of God, take the land God gives us, and stay with the promise of God, He will fight our battles for us. Then that scripture will be fulfilled within us, “We are more than conquerors!” So, my thought today is, “taking what is ours” (what is given to us); and what is not ours, don't try to take that. Don't try to rob those people of their blessings and the things that God has given them, because that belongs to them. Israel, don't you try to rob Esau, because the blessings of God was on Esau.

Jacob was scared when he was coming back in the land one time, he said, “Let's send Esau a lot of cattle and things, maybe he'll let us pass through his land, but Esau said, “Keep it, I don't need it. I've got all I need. The Lord has blessed me.” A lot of times these people out here have all they need; they're blessed in what they're doing and the way they're going, and we can't help it if someone is predestinated to do a certain thing and someone else is not. God didn't call everybody to be preachers, but those He did call He will anoint and send forth, and give them a message and an anointing, and make a way for the ministering of the Word to go forth, because God called them, and God gave them that, and God blesses them in doing it. Remember, there's foolish virgins and tribulation saints.

Now there maybe someone else that might say, “Well, I can do as good as he can. I think I'll go preach.” Well, did God send you? That is the question. If God sends you, He will go with you. If God gives you a gift, He will back that gift up. If God gives you a place in His kingdom you are secure in that place. Oh, He gives us that peace like a river and joy like a fountain. A lot of times the reason we get troubled and frustrated about what is going on is because we haven't got a good hold on what God has promised us, because He has, and will, and is fulfilling every promise that He has made to us.

You might say, “Brother Howard, I see this one being blessed here, and I'm not being blessed.” Well, He didn't give you that. When Paul preached the gospel one time, he came to the church and was telling them about a lot of tribulation; he said, “Don't faint at my tribulation.” See, things happened to him that didn't happen to other ministers, it was because of his calling, and he was called to “sufferings.” (Colossians 1:24) He said, “It's appointed to us unto death; but it is appointed to you life.” In other words, he had to battle with some things the church didn't even need to get all tore up and concerned about. Because he said, “Faint not at the tribulations that have come upon me.”

So we are looking at something today, a great promise of God, and we are definitely at the end time. I know many men have looked at the year 2000, or a few years after, as the coming of the Lord, and I'm not being in dispute with them on that, but I don't know. I don't know what year, what day, what hour, but if I'm building a house, I am going to keep on building. A few years ago some people were thinking of sending their children to college, but they said, “There's no use to since we're so close to the coming of the Lord.” I said, “You don't know that.” If sending your children to college is in your plans, do it, and if the Lord comes they will be all right in college. Being in college isn't going to stop Him. A young man asked me if you can live right in the army. I answered that we should live right where ever you are at. God has some promises for us, and He will give us victory.

All right, the children of Israel didn't go in; the fathers didn't, and over in the Book of Acts the Word of God speaks that the promise that has been made to the fathers is fulfilled in the children. The same thing here – God sent us a message to turn our hearts back to the original teaching of the Word of God, and when we are turned back to the original teaching of the Word of God, we're turned back to the original power of the Word of God. We're turned back to the original promise of the Word of God. The children of Israel, they did go in, but they had to go through a wilderness period first.

So let's read here in Deuteronomy where they refused to go in. I'll pick up a little bit more here. In Deuteronomy 2:1, Moses is telling about what happened here. He's refreshing the memory of the church of his day, and that is what I am doing. Now remember, this is forty years later and they are getting ready to go into the land, but before they went in Moses reminded them of all these things.

Now we are ready to go in, and I am reminding you of these things – what happened in the early church, but they did possess the land here, and I'll read it. Moses saying, “Then we turned, and took our journey into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea, as the Lord spake unto me: and we compassed mount Seir many days.” I want you to notice that, “Then we turned.” Notice what they did. They turned and took their journey in the wilderness. That is the only thing they could do. Now during this journey of wandering, which was forty years, they could not take the land. There was no way they could take the land. They had to wander, until all that old generation died off, but God promised them the land, and it didn't annul the promise; it just caused the promise not to be fulfilled in them. Only Joshua and Caleb, and those that were above twenty years old went in the land. God let them wander forty years, until that generation of the old group passed away, because He was going to fulfill the Word in their children, which they had said would die in the wilderness.

Notice very carefully now, “we took our journey into the wilderness.” Now who is this that cometh out of the wilderness leaning on the shoulder of her beloved in the Book of Song of Solomon? Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness? See, the church went into the wilderness, but she came out. Israel went into the wilderness for forty years, but she came out. She came out and she possessed the land. In the Song of Solomon, which refers to the bride a lot, there was one seen coming out of the wilderness, and when she came out, she was leaning on the shoulder of her beloved! Her beloved is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ.

So God promised us some things and He is going to fulfill them. He would have fulfilled them in the early church, but they got off kilter – also, there was a commandment of God laying there saying, “Let the wheat and tares grow together.” Take note that God didn't give them the commandment to, “Go take the little book,” but the commandment was, “Let them grow together.” So they couldn't take the land, until God's timing was right. The time is now, and we are taking the spiritual land now. That is why I'm in Singapore, to assist in this task.

So, because the early church fell from the Word (just like He knew they would), He made provision for them by letting it go through seven periods called the seven church ages. And during the seven church ages the five fold ministry was not activated as is shown in Ephesians, Chapter 4. Through the church ages, they had a message for each age, you know, a messenger. There was a one man messenger for each age, and he had the leading message for that time period, and God blessed him. It was a survival message. It typed out perfectly here with Israel in the wilderness. Now while they were in the wilderness, they ate manna every day. On the Sabbath day, the manna didn't fall, and they had gathered up enough from the day before to last them for two days, but when they came back across Jordon, the manna ceased to fall and they ate the old corn of the land. Now, manna would only last one day and then it would breed worms, but the old corn will last for thousands of years and still be potent; it will still come up if it's put in the right soil; showing that we are to get back to the Book of Acts. It was said by the messenger to this age that if the church ever put forth another branch, there would be another Book of Acts written behind it. In other words, the same power, the same blessings, the same Christ.

So I want to read a little bit here showing that God would not give them something that He didn't promise. So they went into the wilderness, cutting the promise off. What happened when they tried to go in? They died. They were chased away by the bees; because God already said, “No. You can't go in. You missed it. You will have to wander for seven church ages,” speaking of the church here.

All right, Verses 2:5, “And the Lord spake unto me, saying, Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward. And command thou the people, saying, Ye are to pass through the coast of your brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you: take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore; (He's telling them what to do.) Meddle not with them;”

Okay, I'm talking about taking what God gives you, and leaving the rest alone. Don't meddle with those folks. A lot of people, and it so saddens me, being a minister, striving to do what I can for the perfecting of the saints, when I go into some of the meetings and basically what I see is someone getting up, and instead of giving us a message about going on with God (helping us to get perfected), they are just meddling and condemning what this one and that one is doing, and they're not moving us one inch further. God said, “Don't meddle with them.” See, God gave us something. What God gave us we can claim, we can possess, and God will grant it, but what God gave them – let them have that.

So, God would not give Israel something that He gave Esau to possess. Now Esau was a brother to Jacob, and he went and sold his birthright, and as far as the full blessing of God, he did not receive, but when Abraham blessed, he pronounced certain things for Esau. He was his son. Esau's seed was a kindred to the Israelites, and God gave them a place in the land of Israel and they still have it. Israel better keep their hands off of what God gave Esau, the Moabites, and some of them over there, because God is not going to give them their land. God gave them (Israel) Canaan Land, and they'll take every foot of it, but if Israel goes over there and starts messing with something God didn't give them, they'll run like bees, they'll be defeated, and if we start dabbling around in something God didn't give us, we're in for a defeat. The church is to be victorious. The church is to be more than conquerors. We're to possess the full power of Pentecost. We're to have Christ in us, and we're to be the body of Christ. We're to be baptized by one Spirit into one body, and this body is to have the mind of Christ. Now that doesn't necessarily mean that everybody that is attached to Christianity will have the mind of Christ. It doesn't mean that everybody attached to Christianity will be led by the Spirit of God, but God did give them some things.

There in the Book of Revelation, the seventh chapter, John saw a number which no man could number dressed in white robes and they were praising God, but as you read further about it, it says, “These are those that came out of great tribulation.” So don't meddle; God said, “Don't meddle with Esau. You're just going to get in trouble if you do, because I'm not going to give you Esau's land.” Don't you meddle with the Trinity Broadcast, because God is not going to give you their land. You say, “Do you think God gave the TV Stations? I don't know. A lot of times we watch something on there and it is not right on the line, so we want to get tore up and shook up about it. Leave them alone.

Just like somebody said the other day, trying to get a little thing going with me, they said, “I was just baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Brother Howard.” I said, “Well, that is wonderful. I'm really glad. That's the way I baptize. I always baptize all converts in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. God bless you. That is wonderful.” But I baptize in the name, not titles. The name is the Lord Jesus Christ. But see, God said, “Don't meddle with them.” So I said, “That is wonderful.” And if they were baptized in the name that would be wonderful. Of course I knew they were baptized in the titles, but I didn't want to argue with them about it; knowing that if they got a revelation of the name, they would know that Father, Son and Holy Ghost are only titles, and that the name is the Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes Satan will try to gouge you around and get a little argument started, a little controversy. That is when you leave it alone. You know where to draw the line and you know where to stand firm, because you know what God has promised you. If you don't know what God has promised you, you could get shook up, tore up, and all out of shape, because of what this one is doing, or what that one said here, or what that church is doing, but if you'll just leave them alone, you'll be all right. Is that not what Jesus said? Every plant that the heavenly Father didn't plant is going to be plucked up anyway. What we do is we feed the sheep, and sometimes us ministers spend so much time fighting with goats that we forget to feed the sheep. God didn't say, “Fight goats,” He said, “Feed sheep.” Meddle not with them. Meddle not with Esau. Esau is not going to get your land, and one thing for sure, you're not going to get his.

The Charismatic and everything else that is out there, is not going to get your land, but neither are you going to get theirs. Because in the first place, you see what's over the hill and know what's beyond the emotional experiences they have, that there is a real promise – that you are to be built up by the Word of God.

So as Israel went into the land here. Allow me to read this one again. Verse 5, “Meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot breadth; because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession.” Does that tell us something? If God didn't give it to us, let's don't claim it. There is a saying that says, “Name it and claim it.” Well, that's all right as long as you know what to name and what to claim, but Moses did not claim Esau's land, neither did Joshua. They would not have gotten it, because God did not give it to them, but when they crossed over Jordon and marched around that wall of Jericho seven times blowing the trumpets, the wall just fell of its own accord, and God gave them the land with a great victory.

There is where the secret of this thing lays. It is not what we figure out and what we don't figure out; it is knowing what God has given us and that is secure unto us. So the things that God did not give us, let's not keep reaching for them. Some people are reaching so much for these other things that they miss the things that are in front of them that are promised for them. But that is the nature of us humans, and it is good in one sense to be reaching forth, so we don't get complacent. Before I came over here (Singapore) I preached a message that hit me pretty hard. I preached a message titled, Expanding Our Spiritual Comfort Zone. See, we get a comfort zone and we're comfortable in that zone, and if we get out of that comfort zone we have to start praying a little more, we have to start doing a little more, and so on. So sometimes we have to expand our comfort zone and realize where our comfort zone is – it's in Christ only.

So here, the promise of God is: “Israel, you can have Canaan, every foot of it. Where Abraham put his foot, the promise is yours; you can have it, but don't you dare mess with Esau, don't meddle with them; don't argue with them.” And that is where we are at today, Folks. We are coming out of the wilderness, and there are going to be religious things out here that you don't agree with. There's going to be religious things going on that you can see where they are missing the Word; especially water baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. If somebody takes you to the pool and says, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost and don't say the name, they are missing it. But should we fuss with them? It takes a revelation. We study to show ourselves approved. We're workmen needing not to be ashamed, rightfully dividing the Word of truth, but we have to know where it is coming from. If I say something that helps you and it is a revelation revealed; it is God doing the revealing and I am just a pipeline He is using to pour the water through. Amen?

So, knowing what God has given us, knowing what to claim, and knowing what not to claim – knowing when to stand up, and when to let it go; see, that is wisdom. When Jesus was here many times He went about and they would come to Him and try to ask Him some tricky questions that no doubt He could answer with great wisdom, but do you know what the Bible says He did? Many times He answered them not a word. Then there were times, instead of answering their questions, He would turn around and ask them a question. He didn't fuss and argue with them. He just knew His place.

Now, if you have the opportunity to witness to somebody, the Holy Spirit bearing witness on both sides, and someone is hungry, and they're interested and say, “Could you come over sometime and talk to me?” Yes; if it is being received. But my mama used to say, “Trying to talk to some people is like pouring water on a duck's back.” It just runs right off. It never gets through the feathers. That's the way it is trying to teach this Godhead to some people, this message, it's like pouring water on a duck's back; it never gets in them. Why? Because God has to be on the other end. You take when Peter went up to Cornelius house; the Lord was working on both ends, and when they came together there were some fireworks. The Holy Ghost filled the place and they began to speak with tongues and rejoice.

God spoke to Phillip when he was having that meeting there in Samaria, Acts, Chapter 8, a eunuch was going down through the desert reading in Isaiah about, “As the Lamb was led to the slaughter, He opened not His mouth.” He was wanting to understand that so badly, but it didn't seem like he could get it. So the Spirit of God spoke to Phillip and said, “Go down and join yourself unto the chariot.” And he went down and began to talk, and everything began to click in place, one two, one two. And he got so excited, and suddenly they were coming by an oasis in the desert, and the eunuch said, “Here is water; what does hinder me from being baptized?” Phillip said, “If thou believeth…” He said, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.” Phillip said, “Stop the chariot.” And off in the water they went and the eunuch was baptized and went on his way rejoicing.

It was given to him; there was the response. There was something drawing. You just be salty. If there is anything in the other person that thirsts, they will drink. I heard Brother Branham say once, about visiting a steel mill. They would grind those steel and aluminum shavings off, but every so often, they'd have a big magnet they would bring down, and every little piece of steel would jump off the floor and hook to that magnet; but it went right over the pieces of aluminum and didn't pick up a single shaving, because the aluminum wasn't magnetized to the magnet (message).

This message that we are preaching, sometimes doesn't do one thing for a lot of people, but don't worry about it, because we're not the one that calls. We're not the one that predestinates, but every one that is called is going to see it. Now back in the church ages it used to be – “whosoever will,” because we were gathering in wheat and tares. We were gathering in all kinds of fish, tadpoles and everything else in the basket. We cast the net out and pulled it in, but when we got it on the shore the fishermen sat down and began to separate the fish from the tadpoles, and all of that. See, the tadpoles are whosoever will, but the fish are the predestinated. The fish went into the basket. The tadpoles went back.

So we are coming into an hour when we don't meddle; He said, “Don't you meddle with them.” God says, “Now, after your forty years, after your wilderness journey, I'm going to give you the land, but there are some people over there you are going to have to pass by, you're going to have to deal with them; they're going to be there and they're not going to go away, and when you start passing by them, don't you fuss with them. Don't get your spirit all disturbed, and your mind all upset and troubled, and wanting to pull your hair out, because you tried to be a witness for Jesus and nobody wants it.” Sometimes we've got no business meddling to begin with. Is there a reception? Is there something on the other end? If there is something on the other end drawing, then just pour it on as God would lead. But if not, just, “God bless you,” like I did on the one who said they got baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. (See, they were in a service where I preached water baptism in the name of Jesus.) And if he had gotten baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost like he said, he would have gotten baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ; because Father is not a name, Son is not a name, and Holy Ghost is not a name. Meddle not; don't you meddle with Esau. I have given him some land.

Verse 6, “Ye shall buy meat of them for money, that ye may eat, and ye shall also buy water of them for money, that ye may drink. For the Lord thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness (He knows we just came out of seven church ages.): these forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee; thou hast lacked nothing. And when we passed by from our brethren the children of Esau,” (Watch; He is calling Esau ‘brethren.’) How about it, Folks? Esau wasn't part of the group. Esau wasn't even going to get in the land of Canaan. But God called them brethren. Some of those folks are our brethren. Because in the Book of Revelation they are praising God; they are before the throne of God; they're serving God day and night, and they are our brethren. They are just not enlightened, and it is not their fault many times; it is what God has ordained them to do and what God has ordained you to do.

Therefore, if God has ordained you to see further and more, don't let that knowledge you have cause you to be haughty, or high minded, or puffed up. When some people get a little knowledge they get puffed up and say, “Hallelujah, I can explain the Godhead. Hallelujah, I know about the five fold ministry. Hallelujah, I know God sent a prophet.” So if we get puffed up and start trying to convert the world, and arguing with this church and that church, God might let one of them come that has enough knowledge to put you to shame and cause you to drop your head and say, “I don't understand.” You had no business doing what you did to start with. Be a Christian. Be salty, and what God has given you, just rejoice in it. Now if someone wants to share in those things that God gave you, then be more than happy to share with them. But if they say, “What you've got I don't want.” Then don't try to cast your pearls where they don't need to be.

Now, he's saying here, “Now, Esau is your brethren, and God gave some land to Esau.” Verse 9, “And the Lord, said unto me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle:” A lot of people like to battle. They like to get into a good fight or argument. Well, God said, “Don't distress the Moabites and don't fight with them.” Amen? God gave some land to the Moabites, because of Lot. Israel keep your hands off! It doesn't matter how many jet planes Israel has, how much war material they've got, and how good their fighters are. They do miracles (almost) with planes and so forth, but let them keep their hands off what God didn't give them. It doesn’t matter how good the planes, rockets, or fighting men they've got. They'll get defeated if they try to take something God didn't give them.

Continuing Verse 9, “for I will not give thee of their land for a possession; because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession.” Now, brothers and sisters that should tell us something. Claim what God gave us, and what He didn't give us don't claim. God didn't give us the Trinity station. We're not going to try to take it over, leave them alone - let them do their work. Let them hoe their garden. God has promised you perfection. He has promised to give you the mind of Christ, but He has given them many manifestations, many miracles, and a gospel, although it doesn't come as far as what you've got does. He has given them miracles, because He wants to attract a certain element of people to use later. Many times miracles are not prevalent among us like it is them, but we don't fuss and fight with them. We just praise God that He is in control, and I praise God that He has given us a message. I believe with all my heart that we have a five fold ministry fulfilling just exactly the Book of Ephesians, Chapter 4, and it's going to lead a group of people to perfection. It's going to cause a group of people to be in one mind and one accord. Now, God gave us a spot of land in the Word of God; nobody will get it but us. They can't get it. They can quote scriptures, but they can't get it by revelation. He gave us an apostle, a Gentile man named Paul; that laid the foundation for us to build the building on.

Let me say this first, so you won't misunderstand what I am saying here. I believe every bit of this is the Word of God (Bible). It's just like a big road map, we've got a lot of different states in there, and if I was going to West Virginia, I wouldn't go to the road map for the state of Washington. I would turn to the place on my map where it says, “West Virginia,” and I'd study that map, and when I got through I'd know exactly where I was going. I would never learn how to get to West Virginia studying the map of the state of Washington or somewhere like that. I have to study the map that deals with the state that I am going to.

Now, if we will read in Chapter 15 of the Book of Romans, Paul kept telling us there how God would deal with the Gentiles, [how] the Gentiles would hear His Voice, and Paul spoke and said, “I am the apostle to the Gentiles. I magnify my office.” And in Galatians, Chapter 2, Paul said, “As the gospel to the uncircumcision was given to me, the gospel of the circumcision was given to Peter.” Peter was the main one in the Jewish realm, and they rallied to him, but the Jews wanted to kill Paul every time he came around – but there was a bunch of Gentiles that rallied to Paul. He is the one who brought these great truths about having one mind and one accord. He's the one who brought the great truth about the translation. He's the one who brought the great truth about having the mind of Christ. He's the one who brought the great truth about being baptized into the body. So, there's a special portion of the Word of God that has many great nuggets for the Gentile bride here at the end time, as we are possessing the land. In fact, there are fourteen letters or books that Paul wrote, and that's the home base for the Gentile bride. We gleam from all of the Bible, but we know the apostle that God gave to be the apostle to the Gentile bride, and where the home base is and how to get back to it. Regardless of where we read in the Bible, these writings of Paul hold a special place in the revelational heart of the Gentile bride. That's our land… let's take it!

God bless you, Amen.

AUDIO/VIDEO SERMONS AND BOOKS

All sermons by Brother Ben Howard are recorded on Cassette tape, CD's, DVD's, and Mp3 formats. Also, there is a collection of published books that are available for download or by request as well. Please feel free to visit us at our website often as new materials are constantly being added, or write to our postal address below.

Sound Of Liberty

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