God’s Word
Lives
I’m real grateful
for this opportunity tonight again as I have the opportunity almost every
Sunday night across the nation to teach the Word of God. But since this is a very special occasion
that I should say something about the background of the Way Ministry and what
it represents and to share with you perhaps, some of you people are here in the
auditorium for the first time. The significance of the ministry that the Way represents around the
world.
I perhaps got into
this ministry more by providence then the average person would say more by
accident than any other way. It was the
first year in my ministry when certain situations and problems arose in the
congregation that I was serving that I discovered that with all the education I
had, all the colleges and universities and theological seminaries that I
graduated from. Somehow or other the one
thing that I did not know or did I understand was the inexorable greatness of
God’s Word, it’s inherent accuracy, as well as its inherent accuracy. And to be able to
communicate the greatness of this Word of God. Of course, at that time I had no particular
interest in the greatness of God’s Word.
I was trained as most ministers are in theological school where we read
a verse of Scripture and then somehow or other, we take off on that verse of
Scripture and say some wonderful things about it. Document it with perhaps some current
illustrations from Life, Look, Readers Digest, Time and currently Playboy and a
few other little things along this line.
And then we terminate with the same verse of Scripture, pronounce the
benediction and we all go home.
In that church of
mine as well as the churches across the nation where I’ve ministered, I’ve
discovered there’s times when people have been active in that particular church
for some 30 or 40 years and in all that period of time, they still have not
learned the books of the Bible. So, we
became very hungry because we were in the ministry to help people and we needed
the answers. I began in biblical
research some 25 years ago. And down
through the years, God has mightily blessed this ministry and we in the Way
International Headquarters here as well as in the centers around the nation and
in other foreign countries, we sincerely believe what it says back here on this
backdrop behind me. “The Word of God is
the Will of God.” There are many people
who do not believe this and they are certainly welcome to the Way Headquarters
as well as to the classes on Power for Abundant Living which I teach and others
of our teachers teach. Because we feel
that in our day and in our time, we have a right to be heard for what we
believe is the integrity of God’s Word.
There are very,
very few people today who know anything about God’s Word, accurately. And secondly, there are very, very few people
who believe that the Bible is still God’s Word.
Now I didn’t believe this either a number of years ago. I believe it contained, the Bible contained
the Word. I believe that segments of it
were relevant to us, but other segments were not relevant. But through the years of our Biblical
research, and this has been some 25 years now you all know that I am at least
29 by now.
Some lovely lady
came in early this afternoon and she said she had an impression of what I looked
like. She never met me before and she
said I was so much younger looking than she had anticipated. I don’t know why you’re always looking for an
old man who’s worked the Word. Perhaps
it’s due to my lovely wife keeping me so young.
But anyways you all know I’m 25 anyway.
When we got started into this field, and the more I worked the Word of
God, the more all of us worked together on it in research and the accuracy of
it, the more we stand in amazement at how little people really know about God’s
Word. Simple little things that all of
us have been brought up on in the so-called organized system of our day and of
our time just does not fit the relevancy of God’s Word. For instance, I believe that all of us were
taught when Jesus Christ died, there were two thieves crucified with him,
right? Every picture you see, but we see
the pictures every passion week, every Easter season
Jesus on the center cross and one on each side.
Well, the Bible says there were 4 crucified with Jesus. The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ died on
Wednesday instead of Good Friday. How in
the world can you get 3 days and 3 nights out of Good Friday afternoon to early
Easter Sunday morning? I want to tell
you something. One of the reasons the
young people across our nation today do not believe in God’s Word because we’ve
been endeavoring to teach them just silly little things like that, the 3 days
and 3 nights the Word of God talks about you get in from good Friday afternoon
to Easter Sunday morning. And I tell you
you gotta be more than a shekel
and a hide to get 3 days and 3 nights from Friday afternoon to early Easter
Sunday morning. You can’t do it unless
you have real, real modern math and I haven’t seen
that yet.
One of the
greatest Scriptures in God’s Word that turned us upside down is found in John
chapter 10. Rev. Cummins read it this
evening in the Scripture lesson. One of
the reasons we had him read that Scripture lesson is because as everybody knows
that this is the one verse that really started me into biblical research. Because in John 10, in verse 10, the latter
part of that verse it says where Jesus speaks when he says:
I am
come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. --
John 10: 10b
In my years inside of the church, I had not seen the Christians
manifest an abundant life. I would see
people out in the communities, many of them who never went to church and those
people manifested more of an abundant life that many times the people within
the pale and the confined of the local church.
This confused me. Because here it
was in the Word of God that Jesus Christ came that we might have life and have
it more abundantly and yet somehow or other, the sickest people I ever knew
were inside of the church. People were
way out in left field were inside the church.
People who tell you one thing with their mouth
and do something else, were inside of the church. It just didn’t fit. I used to tell my people, I still do in the
classes, that I teach, Power for Abundant Living. I many times demonstrate to them how, the
people many times look to me at least when I saw them coming out of a
service. They were all weather beaten
and worn.
Go down to the corner, some man coming out of the corner saloon. He hasn’t got a nickel left in his pocket, he
puts both hands in his pocket , throws his shoulders
back and he walks down the street and says I’m the best man in town
tonight. But it seems like somehow or
other, the Christians were always emaciated and yet here I read in the Word of
God that Jesus said that he came that we might have life and have it more
abundantly. And I got to thinking. Wouldn’t it be tremendous if we even
manifested an abundant life? But that’s
not what he said. He didn’t say that he
came that we might have an abundant life.
No. And I thought wouldn’t that
be tremendous. But that’s not what he
said. He said he came that we might have
life and that we might have it more than abundant. And ladies and gentlemen, that turned me on. And I came to a simple conclusion. Either Jesus was an outright liar or he told
the truth. It’s as simple as that. Either he lied or he told the truth. If he lied, then we ought to chuck the whole
thing. Throw it away. But if he told the truth, if he told the
truth, then I knew that somewhere, someplace, somehow, there had to be some
clearly set signposts. Some very concrete lines of demarcation that you had to be stupider
than stupid to miss. And that
started us into a quest for about 12 years in my life. By God’s mercy and by God’s grace, I had the
privilege of doing almost nothing day after day, week after week and month
after month for 12 years. To do nothing
but research on text and the accuracy of God’s Word from Genesis to Revelation. And out of that grew this ministry of
research. We are not a church, we are
not a denomination. We are men and women
who come from many different denominations and I would say that almost a third
of our people do not belong to any denominations nor have they ever belonged to
any. We never ask a person what caste he
belongs to. We don’t care what pale he
has moved in. We are only concerned
about helping people from where they are.
Start right where they are with what they believe and enabling them to
walk into a greater abundance of the power of God if this is what they desire. And if they don’t desire this, we love them
anyway. We just bless them real good.
In John chapter 14, there is another Scripture that really became most
meaningful unto us. When Jesus said to
Thomas, in verse 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life: and no man cometh
unto the Father, but by me.
Jesus saith unto him, I am the
way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. -- John 14: 6
I had been taught that Jesus Christ was just one of the ways among all
the other ways. I had been taught in my
classes on comparative religions that Christianity was just one religion among
all the other 11 or 12 great religions of the world. This is what I was taught. And that Jesus Christ was not the way, he was
only a way. John 14: 6 says, I am the
way. He is not a way,
he is the one and only way. He either
lied or he told the truth. If he lied
let’s chuck the whole thing. If he told
the truth, let’s find out exactly what he meant and how we can tap into those
resources to manifest a life which is more than abundant. I believe that Jesus Christ is the way and
the only way and that no man can come unto the Father but by him. I do not believe that Christianity is a
religion. I believe there’s a lot of
religion in so-called Christianity today, but that Christianity is not a
religion. Religion is what man does,
what man makes. Christianity is what God
wrought in Christ Jesus. It is a Father
with His family. God is our Father, we
are His children and this is what made Christianity so tremendous. That it turned the world of the first century
upside down which means it turns it right side up because it was already upside
down when it started.
The reason I’m sharing some of these things with you is because we have
words and music to some of the great truths that are taught in the Foundational
Class on Power for Abundant Living. Also songs from John
The greatest law in the entire world is the law of believing. For we are what we are
tonight because of what we believe.
We will be tomorrow what we believe.
Nobody ever rises any higher who goes any further than what he
believes. We are conditioned by what we
believe. This truth is singularly
significant because time and time again.
I have heard it said in the last few months, about believing. I heard it yesterday by the coach of
And that law of believing is the greatest law in the world. Because all receiving
equals believing. And without
believing there is never any receiving.
So we make up our minds exactly what do we want to do in life. Where do we want to go, how far do we want to
go? And as I’ve often
said, if you want to travel fast and far you’ve got to travel light. You can’t travel with a lot of resentment,
bitterness. anxiety, frustrations, fears, and
everything else. You’ve got to travel
light if you want to travel fast and far.
And you still will not travel fast and far except you believe.
Jesus Christ taught this greatest law in the entire world in two verses
of scripture. In verse 23 of Mark
11:
For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this mountain
– and he was pointing to a literal mountain – Be thou removed, and be thou cast
into the sea; and shall not doubt – shall not doubt – in his heart, but shall
believe that those things which he saith shall come
to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto
this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not
doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. – Mark
Isn’t that tremendous? Whosoever. Had I
written it I wouldn’t have put it that way.
I would have said whosoever believes in the Way Ministry and my
ministry. Ha. I suppose if you had wrote it you’d put your
denomination in or somebody else’s. Huh? But he didn’t put any, he said whosoever, and
you know whosoever means? Whosoever. It’s as
simple as all that. That’s right. When he said whosoever who do you think he
meant? He meant whosoever. Did he mean the Christian? Definitely. But what about person
outside of the pale of Christianity?
Meant him.
Whosoever means whosoever. Christian or non-Christian
alike. Whosoever shall say unto
this mountain “go jump in the lake” and shall not doubt, but believe, that those things which he
says shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he says. It’s a law.
You say it and you believe it, and do not doubt,
what you believe you receive. And the
remarkable thing is that this doubt is the law of believing on the negative
side, while faith is the believing on the positive side. And both of those laws, the law of fear, the
law of doubt, while the law of faith on the other side – both of those – are in
the category of believing, its either positive or negative. And we produce either negative results or
positive results, depending on what we believe.
He turns right around in verse 24 and reiterates that through what he
says, “Therefore I say unto you, What
things soever you desire, when you pray, believe –
when you pray, believe that you have received them – future tense – ye shall
have them. “
Therefore I say unto you, What
things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that
ye receive them, and ye shall have them. – Mark
Believe you got them now, and in the future you’ll have it. Ladies and gentlemen, that’s the greatest law
in the world. Nothing equals that
law. And that law works with a
mathematical exactness and a scientific precision. Never fails.
Those of us in Biblical research, those of us who have been concerned
about the outreach of the accuracy of God’s Word around the nations of the
world, are convinced, that unless people come back to the greatness of this
Word and apply this great law of believing in their life, then we’re in serious
danger and difficulties in our country as well as in our world. You know, if in business, in a secular
business as people refer to it, if you keep going in the red, only the smart
businessman looks at the cause behind it.
Why is he retrogressing? Why is
he going backward? And he has to rectify
that, he has to change it, he has plug that loophole
or he knows he’s going to go broke. Some
of us have belonged to the Christian church for years and years. 150 years it’s been here in the
I know what somebody’s going to say.
You’re going to say Well, isn’t that what the fundamentalists
believe? Never met
one who believed it in his life.
That’s right. Never met a
conservative biblical fundamentalist who ever believed that God’s Word was
God’s Will and that it meant what it said and said what it meant. He only believes to the end that it fits with
his theology or his current thinking and that’s not honest and that’s not
accurate from God’s Word. Ladies and
gentlemen, it’s either God’s Word or it isn’t.
It’s either all the way or none of the way, we either go or we don’t. One or the other.
It’s simple as all that.
Of course, another great and wonderful truth in light of this, found in
the book of Romans. And this particular
law in the book of Romans is the key to power.
You may be a Christian. You’ll
never manifest any power until you apply this truth. This great truth here in the book of Romans
in chapter 12 is the great key to power.
It’s the key, or the law, to successful positive believing. In Romans chapter 12 and in verse 1:
I BESEECH you therefore brethren by the mercies of God,
that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your
reasonable [religious] service. And be
not conformed to this world: but be ye
transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and
perfect, will of God. – Romans
12: 1,2
The renewed mind is the key to power.
You renew the mind on the integrity and the accuracy of God’s Word. Ladies and gentlemen, down through the years
in our research ministry we have learned that this Word of God will fit like a
hand in a glove. It will work with a
mathematical exactness and scientific precision. We challenge men all over the world to come
and take this Word of God apart and they can’t touch it. Sure they ridicule it and make fun of it
because they’ve never touched the whole Word.
But if anybody can touch the accuracy of God’s Word and it’s usage, we’d like to see it.
This is the Ministry of the Way Biblical
I have people
coming in the classes, sometimes. I have
to look at them and say all right, I don’t care what you believe. It doesn’t bother me any. You are responsible for what you believe, I’m responsible for what I believe. And sometimes they think about the logical
position that the Way Ministry represents.
If it isn’t God’s Word, let’s chuck it.
That’s why it’s a tremendous ministry.
It’s this kind of Word of God that changes a life. That’s before anyone
got under the influence of the accuracy and power of God’s Word.
I have
deliberately chosen tonight those four basic truths from God’s Word. Because these are the great foundational
truths taught in all of our research classes which I teach and others of our
people teach. And by the way, we have
today on 16mm sound colored film and David Anderson takes these films around
the country. We have it on tape. Anybody who really wants to learn the
accuracy of God’s Word and to see for himself or herself whether it’s really
true, whether they could apply the principles, they have the freedom to learn.
These are the
Scriptures in the foundational class that turns people’s lives upside down,
inside out, and just makes them blossom forth with the greatness of the power
of God. It has done this to many of us that are here in the auditorium
tonight. It has done it in my life. I believe our God can do it anywhere. Anyplace. It might be of interest to you to know that
one of our young men just returned from
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NOTE: From the original
webmaster of Section 1. To help you try to understand this teaching, it was put
together in 1968. The Ministry was
originally formed from many people that were from