Qualifications of the Followers of Jesus - Part 3 — Loran Helm

Cassette number seven, the continuation of the message, The Qualifications of the Followers of Jesus by Reverend Loren Helm.

Trusting God’s Provision Instead of Self-Will

Whirl this way. So he just backed the wrong way and just took my new car and you know, you can imagine what a truck will do to a new car fender. And I was rejoicing, tell him how God had just been so wonderful, how he provided and made a way, how he took care of everything.

And I said to this man, I said, you know when he did that, I came out and my heart was quiet. My heart was still. I just said, well, praise God, the door opened. Look at that, it's still open. Yeah, I said that door will open.

There wasn't anything to complain about. Not self-will, you see. It all went back to that. See, all of this was on that. Here I am preaching to the man that brought the floors because of a prayer meeting I was in in 1945 when God said my daddy was to go to Kimmel Circuit where daddy didn't want to go.

But God said he was to go there and he never could get the district superintendent on that day before. So he had to go on and we went up there and I was in your home that very day and sat there, you went on a picnic with us.

That very day, June of 1945. Did you know that's 30 years in your home? That's where that, and my daddy and mama stayed there four years and we found the fella that got the flooring that brought me to the man I didn't know on May the 6th and I'm in a meeting with him.

He had heard of Jesus all of his life and while I was under such anointing out in front of that Polaris blue car, we're just a little to the north of our walk and I was telling him about the kingdom of God and the way called straight.

I said, my precious brother, is the father of eternity, almighty God? Is he calling you to Jesus? Is your heart throbbing? I'm talking about not self-will. He said, he said, yes. I said, that's the love call of the father speaking to thee.

Remember the flooring, not self-will because there was a soul waiting up here. I didn't know it but his baby, later after that got his head in the bed and killed himself. See, that was weeks ahead but I didn't know that was coming.

God got me to him. So God was calling him, not self-willed, not to do what self wants. Here we are in a meeting and he follows me to the cross. There he stood before me and he said, you know, I've had people talk to me but he said, I never, he said, I never had this.

And I said, that throbbing, that pounding is the love call of God saying, give me thy heart. I said, he's calling you. This is the greatest important time of your life. Greatest decision. I said, he's waiting.

Will you follow me to the cross? He looked at the street. He looked up at me and he said, I'm ready. So he took me by the hand and we started for the cross and he made his way to Jesus Christ and asked Jesus, God, for Jesus' sake to forgive him of his sin and gave his heart to Jesus on May the sixth right out in front of the home built by faith because the Holy Ghost said the middle of January don't order the flooring in any place, you wait.

Not self-willed, not to do what we want to do what anybody else wants. Oh, he wants to steer us. He says not self-willed, self-denying. Jesus said, if he's going to follow me he must deny himself and take up his cross.

Joy, Peace, and Grace in the Midst of Pain

Are you tired? I've been speaking now for, I've been praying and speaking now for almost two hours. Did you know it? That's right. You keep praying for me because the pain hasn't let up too much. But I tell you, the joy hadn't subsided.

The peace, by God's grace, through the blood of Jesus the joy of the Lord is still present and the peace of Jesus and the assurance. He said assurance and joy. It's by God's grace it could be on and on.

Praise the Lord for Jesus' sake and glory. He says not self-willed. One time you and I came out of seeing Dr. George Washington Carver and we were so happy and we were so thrilled, you know, and God spoke to us, you know, in Marietta, Georgia and told me a marvelous thing.

Learning Self-Denial Through Obedience

As soon as he told me and God spoke to me you had to witness. Then the next day when we come to Atlanta, Georgia you and I had a precious friend there and we wanted to see him, the Holy Ghost. What did he say?

He said, don't see. Is that right? Was it easy? And it's not working. Is it not? Yeah, praise the Lord. And the Lord, this good friend, you know, one time he wrote me in 1952 and he said, I'm looking for you, the people here lack holiness, sanctification out here in this little church.

We're looking for you anytime. A year later I went down and preached, you know, and God had me on Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. But back in the 40s, you see, when this took place, the Holy Ghost, you see, he said to you and me, when you talk to me and I talk to you about seeing this precious minister of the gospel, the Holy Ghost told me you wanted to see him worse than this people had any idea.

You wanted to see him so much, Homer, I believe you wanted to see him as if he had been Lloyd, nearly. Lloyd is his brother, his own earthly brother. But I think you wanted to see him because you and he were so dear to each other.

I've heard you preach revival in his church. You were so close and he was so precious to you and to me. And he was near to you because you were with him longer than I was. But I loved him like you. But when we wanted to go and God told me no, you remember how you cried?

You were faithful though. I was learning self-denial. It's not self-will. That's right, it's one of the first lessons. You see, a lot of us, a lot of us, you see the self of us, see the self of Homer and me, the self was pulling to see this man.

He was so dear. In fact, he needed, we thought he might need fellowship. But you see, God said, no, it is not my will. You get right on to the, to the natural tendency. That's right. Praise the Lord. And we had to cry out to God, didn't we?

But Jesus helped us. Amen, brother. And you were, you were able by God's grace to rejoice. Amen, praise the Lord. I got over it in a few minutes. You got over it, just, oh yeah. In 10 seconds, you were over it.

Praise the Lord. Hallelujah. The time of battle and trial was over. Hallelujah, glory. The self got back there. We had to get over it. Yes, sir. I only use this to illustrate that most of you people maybe have more self in you than he had then.

Jesus helped me. Jesus helped me. Did anybody get any check on that? Did you get a check on that? I didn't either. No, Jesus helped me, Lord. And you could tell it also. Oh, you see the self of us wanted to see him, Ray, this minister of the gospel.

The Lord said, don't see him, not self-willed. When I prayed that Ronnie could go to Brother Roundtree, I prayed over and over and over with him and Brother Ryan, because here was a man of God and he was so precious, waiting year after year to get in the ministry.

And God, I cried, I said, Jesus, and there was no word from heaven and water at all, not one bit. And I'd say, Brother Roundtree, I said, there's no word from God that Ronnie can come. And next year we'd pray and Ronnie still couldn't, we still couldn't get him there.

But about a year or two years ago, I said, say, here's a little pilgrim over here. Here's a pilgrim over here. And you and Blanche were so sweet to me, as always. I said, oh, and you were delighted. I said, there's a pilgrim, I believe I found, a little pilgrim that God might use him to help you.

Comes across in front of my eyes, he said. Oh, I did. He said, I said, while I was there, he comes right across the horizon of my eyes, right here. Here he comes. I said, I believe that he can help you.

But God's great. So I started telling him, he said, have you ever heard him preach? And I said, no. Now what do you think about a servant telling another preacher he can have somebody to help him and he's never heard him preach?

Not self-will. You see, we couldn't get this precious brother there, who is just as precious as anyone else, but we had to wait. What did you think, Brother Carl? I never had discussed this with you when I told you that I'd found a pilgrim, that I believe it helped him.

And when you asked me if he could preach, and I said, no, I've never heard him preach. What was the first reaction, do you suppose? I don't remember really very much reaction, except to wonder. Just to wonder, because it's a wonder.

It is a wonder. What, were you at all? Everyone always said wonder, unless Jesus would just say, now wonder, you go, because I'm in this. You can't see it and you've never heard him preach, but you believe me anyhow.

But they believed me in spite of the fact I'd never heard him preach. And the next thing I had to tell him was, he was not a Church of God boy, so far as a certain organized group was concerned. I know what the devil tried sometime later to tell me.

What did he try to say? He tried to tell me sometime later, well, he's just a friend of Dick and Mary Moore, and he's trying to get a place for their son. That was sometime later. Yeah, well, see, that's natural.

That's a natural thing that would come to every one of us. See, it's a natural thing, it comes to all of us. We couldn't help it. If we're honest, we couldn't help that. It'd just fly right in there. But see, I had prayed over this church, this place, this place, this place, this place, because when he got saved on the 24th, the day of January, and got back to God in our prayer room in the night at midnight, from then on, we said to him, God will have a place someday.

You just hold steady. And right then, he was in struggle. He really, the self of him didn't want to do this at all. Is that right, James? That's true. The self said, the self was telling him, you're not able to do anything, and wanted him to run, be frightened.

Just like all of us. See, we're all that way. Unless God helps us, we've got to have help through Jesus. It's through the strength of Jesus we can do this. We can't do it ourself. Not self-will. And so we told Sister Blatch and Brother Carl, this precious young man, we'd been praying, and when I come to you, I believe that Jesus would help him to help you.

Oh, you have the wit, you can tell it there. Praise the Lord. Oh, let's just thank Jesus. We're talking about not being self-will blameless, not self-will. Praise the Lord. I trust you're not getting tired with me.

Or weary with me. And in the midst, thank you, and in the midst of that telephone call, while we're here, and I told our brother and his precious companion, we had found a precious pilgrim, that God could assist him.

And they listened, they listened with interest. Not with question. The Lord revealed to me that there were only just one couple in so many hundreds or thousands of ministers, couples, that would have believed me.

Because I'd never heard this young man preach. He was not of that denomination. He had never had theological training as such. He had studied the Bible all his life and been praying. His parents had taught him.

But he hadn't had any experience in the church work. But I had believed, because God told me he was called to preach from the time he was 10 to 11 years old, which I hadn't told him about for years, that I believed that since God had told me he was called to preach from the time he was 10 to 11, I told his parents when God revealed this to me about 10 years ago, nine or 10 years ago, I said, don't tell this precious boy because the enemy will cause him to resent it and we'll lose him.

Don't share it, just hold it to our hearts. But since God told me nine or 10 years ago he was called to preach when he was 10 to 11 years old, I believed that when God operated in my heart that he could help you, that when it became time, he would be able by God's grace through the Holy Spirit to do what ought to be done.

Amen. That's the only recommendation I had. And the one little thing, one little thing that helped me is you had a little testimony time and he stood up over here waiting here just before that. Yes. And you had mentioned something about in that testimony that God had revealed this to you.

And so I grabbed ahold of that since that God had revealed to you a long time ago. I thought, well, the Lord must have something here in his life. Yes. Praise the Lord. Not self-will, yes. Little testimony time.

And he didn't, you know, say hardly anything when you tried to get him to respond. I had a great deal of response. Just timid and shy and frightened. Right. Of course, self of you could have said, now looky here now, it doesn't seem a great deal of evidence yet.

Self could have said that. That's right. But you had to believe with me. That's right. That self-will that the Holy Ghost could take over and do what he had said years ago. Praise the Lord. Before I ever met you.

Well, that's what faith is. By God's grace, that is what faith. Substance of things hoped for, but the evidence of things not seen. Right. For by it, the elders obtained a good report. We're just beginning to see some evidence of the fruit of that call at this meeting.

Recognizing God’s Calling Beyond Human Qualifications

By God's grace, God's helped him to influence a good portion of 22 of our young people to be here. My brother, my brother, and this precious son that we felt could be your assistant. And Blanche told me the first time he was there, he flew in the last plane that came in that closed the airport because of snow.

He came down there to be with you and he didn't come to preach. No. And you thought he was gonna preach. Because whenever you call for someone as a trial, trial, you want him to preach a little so the congregation could say, I wonder if they can preach.

And this young man didn't hardly meet one requirement of a church. Is that right? True. Well, I tell you, we church people, we've got to start going by the things we think. We got to let the Holy Ghost lead us in the churches.

Oh, we've got to let the Holy Ghost. I tell you, if one church would let the Holy Ghost lead them, it'd shake the whole country for God. Amen. Just one church. If just one church would let the Holy Ghost lead them, continually, it would shake the whole country for I don't know how many miles.

In every direction. Yes, sir. I started, Lord, is it five miles, 10 miles, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100. Have I found the end of it yet? No, I haven't found the end of it yet. I mean a radius. It's just one church.

But just all the self of all the leadership get out and let the Holy Ghost lead. It wouldn't be anything like we had thought. So Brother and Sister Rowntree took a hold of that. This is a year or two ago when we suggested to them that this young man, James, could be his assistant and associate.

Then they held right on with me. Held right on. Because when he brought it up to the council, they wanted to know if it was a Church of God boy. He had to report no. That they wanted to know if he had heard him preach.

How do you know about him? And there was probably other requirements. Other questions. Especially if he'd worked with youth. And had he any experience? And of course he said no. And he said, well, have you ever been president of your youth group?

And he said, no, ours is a family church. We just sort of been together as a family. Right, right. Oh, if you knew the story to convince every skeptic in this place. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Oh, we could just write pamphlet after pamphlet of Jesus.

Help us to write an individual life and family after family, a miracle after miracle after miracle here or there. What Jesus has done, he convinced every skeptic in this whole area of the state of Indiana.

I believe it would if they'd be halfway honest and knew how to add two and two. If they did. I'm so grateful that God did a great work in his heart because all self sure had to be slain because he repeatedly told us, I don't think I'm the man for this place.

Now that day where he says, I don't believe I'm the man. He told you he didn't know whether he could preach. He says, I don't know what I've even called to preach. That's right. Is that right? Yes. He made a trip down there and he said, I don't know that I've even been called to preach.

True. He said, I don't know that I could preach. He said, I'm not. And you told me if you ever saw a man that really could demote himself and put himself to the bottom, you really got an example. That's right.

That's right. Not self-will. He said, I don't think I'm qualified for this. And he hadn't preached. He had worked with youth. He hadn't had any of those experiences, but God revealed to me nine to 10 years ago, he was called to the ministry.

And of all the places of peoples and persons I've tried to find with prayer for him, here he was right there. Little fella, bless God. There he was. Hallelujah. He didn't think he could preach or anything.

Stand up, Jane, so the people can see you. Here's the son that I'm talking about. Just turn around so they can see. This precious son didn't know he was called to preach, but God told me he was called to preach when he was a boy.

Thank you for standing, Jane. Because the Holy Spirit operated in my heart that God could help you. And Sister Blanche told me over the phone that she was excited and happy. She said, oh, Brother Helm, I want to tell you to Jesus' glory that when Carl preached this morning, and you didn't know you were going to have to preach, but he didn't have any preach with him.

All he had was a little testimony and a verse of scripture. That's all. But he said in the pulpit with Brother Roundtree, the pastor, and Blanche said, I want to tell you, Brother Helm, if I may, I don't know when I've ever seen anybody help my husband like God used this boy to help my husband while he preached.

Sister Blanche, do you remember telling me? I sure remember that. Would you like to say a word? This praise is handmade. One of God's, you know, one of God's handmaids right here. And whether we have been, you know, sometimes we'll get in hard places here at the waitings upon God.

And it doesn't always go the way a lot of people want, but I look down at her face. She's smiling, praising God.

The Holy Spirit’s Work Through an Unlikely Assistant

Thank you, Jesus. Yes. It was a real thrilling experience that morning. Oh, that touches me. When my husband was preaching, I think the Lord has given Jim a real, a gift to just kind of get in step with whoever is speaking.

And he got in step with that sermon that morning and his face just lit up, even though he was so timid when he was in the pulpit, you know, reading that little scripture and giving his testimony, he forgot all about us, it looked like, about all the rest of us.

And every now and then his hand would go up and his face was so, he was thrilled with the spirit of God. Now this is my heart. That's what my heart has longed for, for Carl to have a helper that could be with him and help him carry the spiritual load.

And we've, well, when you get God's man, whatever God's in, it keeps going up. And I'm sure thankful about it because that's been our experience this whole year, Brother Hal. It's wonderful what God has taught James and how he's helped carry the load, carry the burden.

Just so many ways he's gotten under Carl and helped him. And I'm just real grateful he's grown spiritually. We can never praise the Lord enough because I really believe that if any pastor cannot get the man that God has for him to help him, he better be a lot better off to not get anybody.

Cause you get more problems. Problem after problem. But when you get the man that God has for you.

And many times what God has for us, seemingly to most all leaders is the least likely and almost clear out of it. That's right.

So that was all the proof that I needed when I saw him there on the platform that morning, so excited about the spirit of God working in that message. I praise God for you being faithful, Brother Hal.

And I'm so thankful that you had already lived before me that when you mentioned his name, I never doubted, even though I'd never seen him, I knew I had seen him, but I didn't know it. Oh, yes. My heart told me that this is the man that we'd been waiting for.

And you know, the Lord had been pressuring Carl for quite a while to get a man. Yes, yes. But he couldn't get any leadings and he knew if he couldn't find the one God wanted, he didn't want him. So I'm thankful that the Lord just worked it all out.

And so I'm so indebted. We have reaped so much from your ministry. Many times I just weep in prayer when I start to pray for you, when I think about how much that our family has reaped from you, from your faithfulness to Jesus, and how much our church has reaped from you.

It just goes on and on and on. Oh, we're in debt to the Lord. So different times when I feel like that, you know, I'm weary and I can't, I don't know of any personal need that you have. You seem like such a giant, you know?

And I think, well, what can my little prayers do? And yet the Lord reminds me again and again that I've reaped so much that I better stay in prayer until we can get you up to the throne. Oh, we need it so much.

Because God's been telling me that. But I heard that, you had told us that much, you know, many times, but I really couldn't hear it in my heart till one day the Lord let me know that this was true. You really needed prayers.

So I'm thankful, grateful for your faithfulness to Jesus.

I'm so grateful to Jesus for your prayers. The Lord just revealed to me while you were talking that today I need 6 ,800 ,000 plus prayers today. That's what my responsibility in the earth and to God and to man, I need today, 6 ,800 ,000, 40 ,800 ,000, think of that.

Isn't that something? 6 ,800 ,000 plus. See, he could tell me the very number. See, if I write it down here, he could tell me each number if it's as well. Need that many prayers today.

You know, Brother Helm, the Lord, when I finally heard this message that you really needed prayer, the Lord has helped me when I really committed myself to this to know that there'd be great benefits that if we got under your ministry, that if we really carried a burden for you.

And so it's been, it'll be two years in December when I got this message. And it would take a long story to tell you how many wonderful prayers God's answered that we'd been waiting for for years. And I feel like James is one of them.

We'd waited for an assistant pastor for so long, but the doors were all closed. And within five months, it was, from the day I made that commitment, the Lord sent him along. We got three pieces of property from the church that we'd waited for for years.

Now, I know I'm not the only one that prayed, but I believe with all my heart, there's a benefit from getting under the burden of your ministry, not only financially, but in carrying the spiritual load.

And the Lord showed me one day that this was biblical. And he showed me the widow of Zarephath, when she took care of the prophet of God, her oil never run out and the meal never run dry. And when her son desperately needed help, God came in.

Yeah, the Lord said, this is biblical. You get behind what I'm behind. Get behind the man of God and you'll reap benefits from it. So I feel like that our whole family and our whole church, I tell you, just goes on and on and on because we're really trying to help you carry your load for the help.

It's been a real privilege. And while we're trying to help you, we're growing. The Lord just keeps slaying things out of our heart and showing us things in our heart. So we're really indebted to you. And we just want to praise Jesus for your faithfulness.

Faith, Humility, and the Evidence of God’s Calling

Oh, we're so indebted to you, Jesus. I'm so thankful that when the Holy Spirit revealed to me that James, this precious son, who had never had pastoral experience, that I was privileged through the Holy Spirit to share it with you, that God would use him to help you, that you both heard me and you did not drill back.

You just listened and you were ready to push forward. Praise the Lord. I was so thankful for that. Because that required faith, required faith in the beginning from the revelation, that it required faith in you to believe with me.

Well, we'd had several experiences to know that what God told you, it was just that way. Praise the Lord.

Oh, we're so thankful for this, that what he reveals, he is always in it and leads it on. If we're to keep lowly at his feet, giving God all the glory and all the praise in every area, why, it never ends.

If we're, everyone involved will trust and obey and not be sidetracked by self-will, not self-willed. So thank you so much. And so therefore, the Holy Ghost, I'm still preaching on this one word, not self-will.

Because you see, if self had any part of this, James would not be with you. But we had to tell the devil, he was a liar. Though we had never heard him preach, we believed he could preach just like any of you that are called to preach when God came upon him, even though he never had.

And you know, it wasn't long until God came through him. It wasn't long after he got with you that he gave a little message, you know, on a postage stamp, how we need to be like a postage stamp. And he preached it to little children.

What age were they? Five, six, seven, eight, or nine, something like that. And he preached a little sermon. What age were they, James? About six or eight, 10? Oh, between four and six, he gave a little sermon to them.

Then he went across to the other part of the alley where you had some other boys and girls in another building to preach over there to them. And when he left, when he left this first little group preaching how we need to be like a postage stamp for Jesus, two little fellas jumped up and said, we wanna find Jesus right now.

Startled the Sunday school teachers, they're just a little maybe. Cause the little ones, you know, on their very own said, we wanna find Jesus now. After he left there, he hadn't been there long, but a few months when that occurred.

And I want to tell you, not self-will. Do you know that James, by God's grace, his precious son, when I would see him, see, I've been with him now for over 10 years last fall. And each time that I would see James, he'd be with him.

I could tell and say, God did a miracle in his body. He healed him. One of the first times I was with him, I knew nothing of the heart trouble, but Dr. Brown had found this situation in his heart and how much medication were you taking, Mary?

How much medication was he taking? He took shofar every morning for 11 years for this trouble. And his heart, the doctor didn't want him to play ball or anything. And in the first meeting, Jesus helped and described his case.

And the Lord heard my prayer in heaven. And on the way home, Dick said, that's our James, he was healed tonight. She took him to the doctor. The doctor listened here and he listened there and he listened back here and he listened over here and he listened, he listened, he listened, he listened, and he listened, he listened until she got frightened.

She thought something's terrible wrong. And he kept listening and listening and listening and listening. He turned and he said, Mrs. Moore, most everyone, most everyone has a little murmur, just a slight murmur in heart, and I can't find any.

And he'd had it all these years. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. So this boy, he'd just turn him loose and he can play ball if he wants to. And that was a lot for Dr. Brown to say because he don't like for boys to play ball.

He thinks it's a little hard on the heart. Is that right, Mary? Am I accurate about it? But you see, Jesus revealed when he was younger, that he was called to preach. So we had to believe. And when I would look at James' face, I could tell he was unhappy.

See, James is a fellow, he's like my brother, Edward, can't be still very long unless God helps him. He's got to move, he's on the go. He's got to move, he's got to do something. Paul Hill's the same way.

My dad was the same way. Got to move a little. But see here, he just sat there for two hours and 35 minutes with me this morning. He's relaxed with his arms folded. Jesus only could take a man, a young fellow and do that with him.

Really. And when I would see James and I look at his eyes, I could see he was not happy. He was dissatisfied. I could see he was dissatisfied here. I could see he was dissatisfied over there. He hadn't found home yet.

He hadn't found what he was lying for yet. Are you with me? Not self-willed. But we had to believe, not what self would say, but what God said. And then help all the ones around you. Just carry them along by God's grace.

Just encourage them. Don't scold them, just carry them along by prayer and gentleness and sweetness and compassion. All around you, everywhere, just carry them along. If they'll stay on the palm of your care, tenderness, just carry them along.

Don't scold them, just love them. God, the master's ahead of us. They'll look at him, they'll become like him after a while. All of us. Just carry them along. Do you get the picture? That helps us, doesn't it?

Yeah, he wants us to help each other. Love each other. Love is Jesus love. And when I'd look at our precious James, I could see he was unhappy. Well, he didn't tell me, and his dad and mother didn't tell me, but anything he went at, he just wasn't too happy.

Is that right? Is that true, James? He was looking, his heart was hungry. His heart was hungry for the kingdom of God. That's what he was hungry for. But you see, if I were to tell him that, do you think he'd have stayed with me?

He'd look at me and he'd say, I'll see you sometime. But most young people, you can't tell them what to do. You can't infer. You have to be cautious to just love them, not press them at all. A lot of older people say, I think they ought to be informed now.

This is the time now. No, no, no, no. Just let God work this out. It may take another 10 years. See, we waited a long time for this. We waited for years for this. Of all the dear ones I'd pray about, I couldn't find the man for him.

Just like I prayed and cried out and God revealed to me that Robert's wife was in the state of Virginia in Parisburg. It's like he told me hymn 320 last night. It's like he said here, when I went through this, I said, Jesus, see how I'd like to have heard you testify if it'd been God's will or singing.

He said, no, he said preaching. So I've been on my feet here for two hours and 30 minutes with an open sore that's in my stomach. I'm having a good time. Not wanting sympathy, just telling you God's given me the strength to do it.

So you won't get discouraged if you've got some aches and pains and hurts and things is wrong. You say, what am I going to do? Just keep on going. Stand for God and rejoice. But everything's hard. Just keep rejoicing.

Just don't worry. Just keep on going. Don't go by any circumstance. Why God wants to refine out of us all these weaknesses. And he tells me now, I will guide you directly and tell you what to do. Oh yeah.

He just wants us to rejoice. Yes, sir. Hallelujah. The midst of pain, rejoice. In the midst of heartaches, rejoice. In the midst of confusion, rejoice. In the midst of all kinds of situations and disappointments, rejoice.

When things look like it's not going to work, rejoice. Rejoice evermore. Rejoice always. And again, I say rejoice. Jesus wants us to rejoice and self has to die. Self-will will not do that. It must be self-crucified in order to maintain a spirit of praise.

Following God’s Lead Through Pain and Uncertainty

But when I'd look at precious James, oh, he was so dear. Oh, I felt in this precious, precious soul that if he'd only trust and obey that God would just be so precious and so wonderful working through him.

And I believed and see more helps coming. God tells me, Carl and James. I believe that God worked. And you see, he went down there and told him he didn't think he could do anything. He didn't think he could preach.

He didn't think he could do anything. I don't believe I'm hardly capable of this. But you see, he was humble. He was very lowly. And so the church said, well, we'll just call him. And they got a room, they got a home for him.