Ern Baxter sermon
New Covenant Fellowship
Wednesday,
March 12, 1969
As transcribed by Geneva
Sanders
Well I think you are quite a bunch, - - I think
youÕre quite a bunch. IÕve
preached under unusual circumstances in my life, but this is a new one to add
to my collection. A square
dance upstairs; an archery class on the same floor and - well that takes the
cake. IÕll tell you one thing
about it, if you can survive as a unit under these circumstances, youÕve got a
great future.
I
lived on the Pacific coast for 25 years, and I did a great deal of
traveling. I used to travel up and
down the coast, and in the city of Seattle I had a dear couple – Mom and
Dad Ernst. Mom Ernst was a real
Dresden Doll. She was full of
years, she was delicately made, her hands were the hands of a genius, and her
face looked like it had been sculpted, and she had the sweetest spirit –
such a dear person she was and I loved her. Old Dad Ernst was a gruff old guy, he was just the opposite,
but he loved the ground Mom walked on.
They had a beautiful cottage right up over Puget Sound, and they had a
ProphetÕs Chamber. When I would be
going up and down the coast, I would phone from Portland, probably after a
meeting, and say ÒMom, IÕm on my way home, would it be all right if I stop off
at your place and sleep a bit before I go on home?Ó She would say, ÒYou come on dear, but come quietly because
Gus is sleeping and I donÕt want him to awaken because he doesnÕt appreciate
all you young preachers coming by this wayÓ – because all the young
preachers knew Mother Ernst. So IÕd
arrive about two in the morning and she would have lamb chops and fried eggs
ready, and we would sit in the breakfast nook and talk and then IÕd go to
sleep. In the morning, Gus would
get up and say, ÒHumph, another one of those young preachers is here.Ó
Now,
anyway, I said all that to say this – looking out from Mother ErnstÕs
beautiful red brick home up on Puget Sound; you look down over the side of the
cliff. There are about three trees
on the side of that cliff. IÕve
been there many times in the winter when the wind would blast, and you would
see these trees bend way over. I
said to her one day, I said, ÒMom – how in the world do those trees ever
stay there?Ó She said, ÒThatÕs the
most interesting thing.Ó She said
that the whole cliff was one time covered with trees, but with the constant
wind and the battering of the sea, etc.; many of them succumbed and couldnÕt
exist. But she said they had to
remove one or two trees for various reasons, and they found that those trees
had sent their roots down and they literally had tied their roots around great
boulders, subterranean boulders and hung on. And when the winds would come they would bend all right, but
they had gotten their roots down and wound them around those boulders. She said itÕs almost miraculous the way
those trees protected themselves against the wind.
Now, IÕm saying that to tell you that in putting
your roots down in these early years of your fellowship, itÕs going to be much
easier to stand the wind later on.
To be able to insulate yourself against these circumstances and to move
in God, this is a tremendous thing, a tremendous thing – you see IÕm not
used to this – it disturbs me.
I want to go upstairs and rebuke them and take a small whipcord and kick
them out – you see, but I donÕt have to live here – Thank God! You see – well, all right.
Now,
you call this a fellowship, and thatÕs what I want to talk about tonight for a
little bit, and let us read in the word of God; 1st John, Chapter 1,
verses 1 – 7.
1.
That which was from
the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we
have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the Word of Life;
2.
(For the life was
manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness and show unto you that
eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us);
3.
That which we have
seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us;
and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his son Jesus Christ;
4.
And these things
write we unto you, that your joy may be full;
5.
This then is the
message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light,
and in him is no darkness at all.
6.
If we say that we
have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not know the
truth;
7.
But if we walk in
the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the
blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin.
Now as you know, God has chosen to speak to us by
means of words. Words are
marvelous things. They are the
means by which you can communicate your thoughts to somebody else. When God wanted to communicate his
thought, he communicated it by means of words. And in choosing those words, he chose them with great
concern, IÕm sure, and with great care.
When he wanted to talk about his people and use a word that would
describe this group here tonight, he chose a Greek word called, ÒKoinoniaÓ. And in choosing that word, he chose a
word that had a rich background of meaning.
Now I want us to look at the background of its
meaning for a minute. It is a very
interesting and beautiful word. If
we were going to try to get a modern equivalent to the Greek word ÒKoinoniaÓ,
we would probably use the word ÒtogethernessÓ. But in looking at the word ÒKoinoniaÓ as it is used in
classical Greek, it is used of the marriage relationship. It is a word of great intimacy. Aristotle called marriage a Koinonia,
in which, of course, there is a sharing of life – a most intimate sharing
of life. So that when the Lord
chose the word Koinonia to describe our being together, he chose a word that
the Greeks understood as a word that denoted marriage. He was saying that in our being
together, there is to be a spiritual intimacy and a spiritual oneness that is
described by the holy arrangement of marriage itself. This is one of the meanings.
Now another meaning was that it was a business relationship. When two men would come together, they
would decide to go into business, and they would pool their resources and go
into business together. It was a
sink or swim proposition. They had
discussed the business and decided what to do and they had taken their savings
and their resources and had pooled them together and said this is it, we are in
it, we are in this thing together and how it goes is going to affect both of
us. This giving of ourselves in a
holy partnership, so that the success of the fellowship is not a one-sided
thing. There is no such thing as a
Christian who is alone. God never
saved us to be alone. Peter said, ÒWe
are elect together.Ó Even the
doctrine of election isnÕt singular; God chose us in a group. Two are better than one. The Bible says, when one falls down the
other picks him up. Two are better
than one, the Bible says, for when one gets cold the other keeps him warm. God never sent men out alone; he sent
them out two by two. Paul went out
always with a Silas, a Barnabas, a John Mark, or Luke. The Bible speaks about PaulÕs
company. If you are in this
fellowship, then you are in it just like Greeks in the days when this word was
brought by God into the sacred vocabulary. They were in a business arrangement together, and they
pooled their resources.
Now another meaning. In the social life of the community it was used. Plato refers to the dealings between
citizens, the community life. The
life of a community where whatever happens in a community depends on the
pooling of its resources and our energy and our concern. There is no individualism when it comes
to the corporate success of the community. There must be everyone pooling their resources, their
particular gifts and interests.
Now I was pleased to see the way you ran your
meeting here tonight. This is
it! This is beautiful and this is
how God intends it. This is the way
Koinonia was, this is what Paul means when he said, ÒHow is it then brethren
when you come together, one hatha, one hatha -- --, but how are we going to get
this over to multiplied thousands of religionists who have bogged down in a rut
of ritual and form; who have never known what it was to spontaneously respond
to God, but who have always been told what to do next. This is what God wants, because when
you come into a meeting where you understand the meaning of Koinonia, it may be
your particular ministry that is needed tonight. It may be your particular word that is the word that is going
to open up the entire meeting. You
may be the one, and this is the meaning of fellowship. This is the meaning of Koinonia. ItÕs a community, itÕs a redeemed
community that contributes everything that they have for the common good.
Now, it has another meaning. ItÕs a political word and it stands for
all the laws that govern a political union. Now we have laws that govern our land (they are rather
poorly taken care of at the present time; thatÕs one of our political issues),
but when we are thinking ideally of a political community, we realize that no
man can live unto himself. We all
must live in relation with one another if we are to have a successful
community. So you see it is out of
this rich background that the Holy Spirit chose the word ÒfellowshipÓ to
describe the body of redeemed men and women.
Now for a long time, as you probably realize, the
idea of salvation has been to get saved so that you wonÕt go to hell and you
will be sure and go to heaven. ItÕs
amazing how little the Bible says about going to heaven. In fact there is very little in the New
Testament about us going to heaven.
You know that getting saved with the view of going to heaven isnÕt the
thing. Paul didnÕt say Òlet us go
on to heavenÓ, he said, Òlet us go on to maturity.Ó What the Lord wants – you see it would have been the
easiest thing in the world for the Lord to save us and take us right home. And of course there are some legalists
who are so afraid that a man wonÕt stay saved – in fact IÕve had one man
say quite somberly and soberly, ÒI think that to ensure a manÕs getting to
heaven after heÕs made his repentance, it would be a good thing if somebody
shot him.Ó
ÒWell now,Ó I said, ÒI have a much nicer
arrangement, and itÕs not so messy.Ó
I said, ÒI suggest we do it with a little religious touch.Ó I said, Òwhy not drown him in the
baptistery; at least that would be clean, you know, you just hold him under,Ó –
OH! Well, we speak as a fool, Paul said.
Now when God saved us, he saved us to perfect us
in this life. To change us from
Glory to Glory and into the image of Christ. In the process of changing us, not
to bring ME into individual maturity.
(IÕve been perfect for a long time – Eh, eh, thereÕs nothing wrong
with me – the only time I doubt my perfection is when I get with
you.) God wants to create a redeemed
community right here and now in this life, because this is what we are; we are
a Koinonia, we are a fellowship.
We are a body of men and women who are bound together in the holy
community of the Holy Spirit. We
are possessed of one spirit; and in our being bound together in this holy
community, we are not only to go on in individual perfection, we are to go on
in corporate perfection. And brother, this is where the perfecting comes. See, I can be very perfect when I am
alone. I can read a nice book on
the devotional theme in the quiet of my room. When I pray I can get tickles up and down my spine, and I
feel so warmly spiritual and so holy and so sanctified; then I come to church
and suddenly all kinds of worlds are running in.
You see, each of us is a world, each of us is a
cosmos. Every one of you is an
entire universe. You are filled
with all kinds of strange indefinable mysterious currents and cross-currents
and subterranean movements, and you are a marvelous thing. You are a reproduction of God in each
of you – you see. The only
hope of us getting together and getting along together is if each of us can
relate to Christ. Then we can
relate to one another. But if we
try to relate to one another first, then itÕs worlds in collision, BROTHER, itÕs
worlds in collision. ItÕs
catastrophe all over the place, itÕs – you know – convulsion and
volcano and eruption, bang, boom!
The whole secret is to keep your eyes on the
Lord. For instance, let me
illustrate. People say, ÒNow
brother, if you want to walk with God, you have to watch your walk, keep your
eyes on your walk.Ó WELL, you go
out here and start to run as fast as you can down that parking lot; and when
you have got up good steam, look at your feet. You know what will happen, you will come up with a bloody
nose and a bump on your head. You
donÕt look at your feet. It has
been a long time since I did any track work, and my chest has fallen since
then, but we were taught that you didnÕt look at your feet, you looked at where
you were going.
Now, if we are constantly watching our walk, and
we are all finicky and all taken up with this and that, we are bound to
fall. You see, Peter walked
fine. As long as he didnÕt look at
his feet, he was doing fine. They
had seen the Lord coming on the water, and he said, ÒLord is that you, if so
bid me come and IÕll come.Ó Jesus
said, ÒCOME.Ó Peter bailed out
over the side of the boat – now he didnÕt walk on the water, he would
have sunk right away if he didnÕt have something better to walk on than water. Every time he put his foot down he put
it down on COME. ThatÕs what Jesus
said, he said, ÒCOME.Ó Peter
walked on COME, and every step he took he stepped. AND of course the other disciples were all in the boat
watching – and kinda half hoping he wouldnÕt make it. So when Peter began to sink you can
just hear them saying, ÒHE SANK, I TOLD you he wouldnÕt make it. HE SANK.Ó
Now what happened? The Lord Jesus spoke to him about his faith. He had suddenly become aware that he
wasnÕt where he was supposed to be.
He said, ÒWhat in the world am I doing out here, men donÕt walk on
water.Ó In fact, Peter said, ÒI
donÕt recall anyone ever having done it before,Ó but, he said, Òwhat am I
doing, I ought not to be here.Ó
You see, he began to relate what he was doing to the realm of sense and
sound. As long as he kept his eyes
on the Lord, he walked supernaturally.
The minute he began to consider his circumstances, he got involved and
he began to sink. But the
beautiful thing is he said, ÒLord, help me!Ó and the Lord did. This is what a lot of people forget, he
walked back! He walked back, you
see.
Now these fellows in the boat, the ones who said,
ÒAw, Peter sank, Peter SANK,Ó never had the joy of knowing what it was to walk,
even if you do sink. IÕd rather
walk and sink than never walk at all.
IÕve done a lot of walking and sinking, but IÕve done some WALKING –
HALLELUJAH! IÕve had a lot of
people say, ÒDid you see him sink,Ó – but they also saw me WALK. You know, I get so sick of seeing
pictures with Peter up to his waist in water. Every painting you ever see, Peter is up to his waist in
water. You know, we put these
Sunday School pictures up, and there is poor old Peter up to his waist in
water.
So
one time I was talking about this, and I had an artist in my audience. I didnÕt know it, but a very fine
capable artist. So six to eight
months went by and it was Christmas, and I got a beautiful painting, a large
life-size oil painting of Peter, and his feet were on top of the water. This was the first time IÕd ever seen
that, you see – even when we want to reproduce Bible things we reproduce
the negative. Nobody ever thought
to paint Peter walking, they painted him sinking. Because you see, sinking is the common experience, not the
walking. We are water
walkers, we are mountain movers, and sycamore tree puller-uppers, and we
must walk in faith in those terms.
Now as we keep our eyes on God, and walk in
relation to him, we will relate to one another. But the minute we stop looking at the Lord and start to look
at one another, we violate the first rule of Koinonia. I only walk successfully with you
as I know you in Christ; not after the flesh, but in Christ. As we walk together with our eyes on
God, we will get along fine. The
minute we drop our gaze and start to relate to one another directly, weÕre in
bad, bad trouble.
Now God has called us to be a fellowship, and you
are just getting started. (Now, if
I may look down from the sagacity of years, you know, if I may patronizingly
advise you from my high place, a place I always hated years ago and I start to
do it myself.) Let me just say
this to you – your future is going to be bright and hopeful as you walk
together in this holy fellowship, keeping your eyes on Jesus Christ. Never relating to one another
horizontally first – but vertically first, then horizontal. Always first the Lord, then one
another, because to some people it becomes terribly disturbing to find out
everybody isnÕt perfect. One of my
earliest experiences, unhappy experiences, in Christianity was when I
came up against a denominational situation and I believed certain things and I
stood for them. I never wanted to
go into the denomination in the first place, I had gone in because I had been
urged to. When I went in I said, I
believe certain things, and they said, ÒWell, come anyway,Ó so I went in and I
became a success in God. It would
have been all right if I had never become a success. But I became a success in God, and the church I had grew,
and they made an issue of the very thing they said wouldnÕt matter. So as I was walking, the very first
convention I went to, I thought, ÒOH!, this is going to be heaven,Ó and –
it WASNÕT QUITE. Anyway, the result was that I walked out of that convention a
very disillusioned, disturbed young man.
And I, as I walked out of that convention I said, ÒOh God, what will I
do, where will I turn?Ó
The Lord brought the word to my heart out of the
prophet Zechariah, and I feel led to give it to you. He said, ÒIf you will walk in my ways, I will give you ways
to walk in among these that stand by.Ó
As I walked out of that convention, I could feel the burning gaze of
other preachers looking at me as much as to say, ÒThere he goes, the young
heretic. There he goes.Ó And I thought, ÒLord, here I am,Ó but
this is the promise he put in my heart, ÒIf you will walk in my waysÓ.
So I started to walk in his ways in utter
dependence in him. I lived to see
the day when the leader of that denomination invited me out to lunch full of
apologies. Of course he was full
of apology now, because I had founded a large church and I had a big
congregation and half a million in physical assets in my church and influence,
etc. But he invited me to lunch
and he said, ÒIt was a great mistake, we ought never to have done it, it would
be fine if you would return.Ó I
said, ÒDear brother, it was no mistake, and I have no intention of returning.Ó I said, ÒHad I stayed I would no doubt
have become a time serving part of an organization and would have never known
the things I know. It was the
grace of God that you did what you did, because the day I walked out of that
convention, God dropped something in my heart. He said, ÒIf you will walk in my ways, I will give you ways
to walk in among these that stand by,Ó and after 35 years I have never been
without a place to walk in. ItÕs
been a matter of figuring out which place I will go out of all the ones that
are available.
Now I say to you as a fellowship tonight, and I
think I have the spirit of God for this, that if you will not allow those that
stand by, those that are hanging around, they donÕt want to go any place
themselves, they donÕt want to be disturbed in what they are doing, and they
want to call you aside. They say, ÒStep
over here, weÕd like to talk to you;Ó you say, ÒNo sir, IÕm going to keep on
walking and as I walk, God is going to give me ways to walk in among these that
stand by,Ó and you just keep right on moving.
You see, thatÕs what God does with the
eagle. When God made the eagle, he
made the eagle to be a type of Christian, and the eagle flies clean out of
sight. He wonÕt stop for
anybody. When that old eagle
decided to take off – heÕs sitting there on a rock, you know, batting his
old eyelids and firming up the muscles of those big old wings. He bats those eyelids – heÕs
waiting for something. He knows
what heÕs waiting for. All of a
sudden he feels that current of wind come, thatÕs what heÕs waiting for. All of a sudden he feels that current
of wind and he lets out a scream and he puts those big old wings out and he
leaps up and he catches that wind.
An eagle doesnÕt fly, did you know that?
ThatÕs why the Holy Ghost is so accurate in the
book of Isaiah when he said, ÒWe shall mount up with wings of eagles.Ó Eagles donÕt fly. They know a secret, you see. ItÕs only birds that donÕt know, they
are the ones who do all the flapping.
Two hymns and a prayer, we have got to work at it brother – we got
to -- NOT the eagle. He waits for that breeze to come along,
and when he feels that current he goes whooooooooooo and he grabs that wind and
rides the air. Do you know
why? ItÕs because his bones are
cylindrical. His bones are made
for buoyancy. God made his bones
so that heÕs buoyant in the wind, but he also has a built-in knowledge of air
currents. So he just rides the
winds, just rides them.
An eagle loves the storm. All the other birds, when a storm
comes, they run for cover. But not
the old eagle, he just says – ÒHALLELUJAHÓ – this is good and he
says ÒIÕm really going to go places on this one – GLORY TO GOD!Ó Now heÕll go clean out of sight, and on
his way up heÕll go by the telephone poles, and there will be some old crows
there. And they will say
CAW-CAAAAAW-CAAAW – you stop by here and weÕll tell you some juicy stuff
about some – CAAAW CAAAAAW.
And he says, ÒYou old black devils, you can sit there the rest of your
lives; IÕm going higher – HALLELUJAH! HALLELUJAH!Ó
They say that an eagle can go clean out of sight,
clean out of the vision of the naked eye.
And he has an extra set of eyelids, and when he gets up to where the sun
is, he pulls down that extra set of eyelids so that he can look into the
sun. You and I are made for the
higher areas. And I say to you as
a fellowship tonight, GodÕs got great things for you, but you are going to have
to insulate yourself against the crows and the other birds that want to keep
you down where they are. You know
misery loves company. They havenÕt
had a flow of God for so long, they donÕt know what it is, they donÕt want you
to flow in God. They want you to
stay – DONÕT DO IT, just keep right on going. HeÕll give you ways to walk in among those that stand
by. Catch that air current,
brother! Learn to know the air
currents, and donÕt simulate it, donÕt try to work it up. It will flow through every meeting, and
as it comes blowing through, catch it.
Get your wings out and catch it and then rise, and rise, rise and mount –
HALLELUJAH! Rise and soar into the
sunlight rays, using both your wings of prayer and praise. Mount like eagles, higher in the sky,
and things will look so different when you fly. HALLELUJAH!
Now there are one or two things I want to say
quickly about the beginnings of your fellowship. Turn to Acts chapter two, verses 41 and 42: ÒThen they that gladly received his
word were baptized and the same day there were added unto them about three
thousand souls. And they continued
steadfastly in the apostlesÕ doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread,
and in prayers.Ó
Now notice that which consisted, that which made
up the fellowship. The first
members were those who gladly received the Word. The Word must be supreme. Do not make the mistake of accepting an exciting revelation
or a novel theory over against the Word.
Be a people of the Word of God.
Remember, the basis of the Koinonia is the authority of the Word. No prophesy uttered is supreme or equal
to the prophesy of scripture. The
Word of God must be supreme. If
you want a guarantee to go astray, neglect the Word of God. The Word of God must be basic to the
Koinonia. Not only did they gladly
receive the Word, but they were obedient, they were baptized. Obedience to the Word is absolutely
basic. Not only is that basic, but
they continued steadfastly in the apostlesÕ doctrine and in the fellowship, or
in the Koinonia. It is something
you work at. No, it is not always
going to be easy. There are going
to be times when God deliberately tests you as a fellowship as he tests you as
an individual. ItÕs not going to
be one grand picnic. There are tests
of you as an individual, and times when God deliberately tests you as a
fellowship as he tests the trial of your corporate faith. The trial of your corporate faith is
coming and undoubtedly has already come, but if you know this, then you are not
surprised. Have you ever heard
yourself saying, ÒYou know, the strangest thing happened to me the other day.Ó We donÕt realize that we are fulfilling
scripture. Peter said, Òthink it
not strange,Ó and we turn right around and say, ÒitÕs the strangest thing.Ó ThatÕs exactly what the Word –
you see the Word of God warns you.
The strangest thing is going to happen to you.
You say, ÒWell, why happen to me?Ó Because you are a special people. In the 11th chapter of
Hebrews he said, ÒWhom the Father loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every
son whom he receives.Ó Now you
have neighbors around you that are blasphemous, nasty, mean, cantankerous,
dirty, smutty people and they get off with murder. They just do everything they like. YOU, you donÕt get off with nothing nohow, not me, for the
Lord is right on heels all the time.
You deviate a little bit, and BOOM! You say, ÒLord, I donÕt understand
it. Joe Doe next door there - he just gets off with everything.Ó The Lord says, ÒheÕs not my boy. I am looking after mine, he belongs to
the other fellow.Ó
When I was a kid, after school I used to like to
play football over in the vacant lot, and every night about 6 oÕclock my mother
used to come out – she would always call me John, my second name is John,
and she would call me – JOHN – for supper you see. And every night about 6 oÕclock I had a
sudden attack of deafness. I just
couldnÕt hear, strangest thing, couldnÕt hear at all. I could hear other kids being called, too, but none of them
seemed to be able to hear. Then
all of a sudden some kid would say, ÒBaxter, you had better scram, here comes
your old man.Ó My Dad would come
walking across that football field, and he would pass all the other kids by,
and heÕd walk over and get me by my ear and take me home. Now, why didnÕt he get after those
other kids? They werenÕt his kids.
See, now God is dealing with you. Other groups will seem to get off with
murder. Other groups will be able
to do things you canÕt do. The
more God loves you, and the more you are owned of God, the more particular God
is about you. Did you ever notice,
you that are parents, you with children; you are all so young you probably wonÕt
appreciate what I am going to say.
But having raised my four and gotten them married off - you know when
you have a child (you may have three or four, I have four girls), that the one
child will be very bright. Boy,
you will be on that kidÕs tail all the time, and I can hear that kid say, ÒI
just donÕt understand Daddy. I get
better marks than the others and I am the one he is after all the time.Ó
ItÕs a principle; God laid it down. To him that hath shall be given –
The closer you live to God, the more heÕs on your tail, the more he wants from
you, the more he exacts from you, the more perfection he wants, and the more
you give in obedience the more obedience he requires. The more you give, the more heÕll take, and the children who
move best in God are the ones God requires the most of. You say, ÒWell, God, IÕve given so muchÓ;
ah – thatÕs the point. He
sees that you are the kind that he can make a polished shaft of, and you are
the one he goes after because he is perfecting you. Of course, you will be blessed in the long run because you
are going to be the very finest production. But if you understand this; you
say, ÒI donÕt understand it, we are committed to God, we are living for the
Lord and yet we seem to be going through so much. Of course you are going through so much! That whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth. HeÕs giving you extra
homework, heÕs making you stay up burning the midnight oil, heÕs driving you
oftener to your knees, heÕs calling on you for more sacrifice, heÕs putting you
through more keyholds, heÕs working you over – WHY? – Because he
sees an obedient spirit in you, he sees a chance to produce the very finest
thing out of you.
Or you can be a sloth. How many know what I am talking about? Are you sure you do? Some of you looked at me as if you donÕt
know. Do you know what I am saying
to you? The more you move in God,
the more exacting he becomes because heÕs perfecting you. You can choose to be nothing, or you
can choose to be GodÕs best. You
can settle down and say, well, why should we press in? Why not be just a nice respectable
Prespeopian, or Baptisterial, or why all this business? Here we are sitting down here with
cigarette butts on the floor and why, why do we do this – why do we have
to go through all this? God is
preparing bodies of people all over the country, and heÕs getting them ready to
bring them into the manifestation of his purpose in these last days. HeÕs getting you ready. HeÕs letting that wind blow and you are
putting your roots down, you are wrapping them around the rock, and you are
getting ready so when that storm comes – LET HER BLOW – HALLELUJAH! Let her blow – GLORY – here
comes another one – GLORY; another storm is coming, GLORY to God.
When I started out in the work of the Lord, I
started out as a piano player and singer, and a trumpet player, and banjo
plucker. We had a group and there
was a young man in the group who was jealous of me; so he lied about me, he
told a lie about me. I was sooooo
tender in God, I was so terribly hurt and I went away to my room and I got down
and I cried and I said, ÒOH! God, itÕs terrible, you know heÕs told a lie about
me – OH!Ó Well the Lord
said, ÒItÕll be all right, son, everything will be fine,Ó and he comforted me
and he poured in the oil. I got up
and I said, ÒTHERE, IÕve had my baptism of fire, IÕve had my Gethsemane, IÕve
been through my Calvary. Now IÕm
ready, IÕm a full-fledged soldier.Ó
You know, BOY! Three days
later the same thing happened. I
went back to my room and cried, ÒHE DID IT AGAIN, LORD!Ó The Lord said, ÒIt will be all right,Ó
he poured in the oil. I said, ÒWell,
I guess some of us have to go through it twice, you know.Ó Welllll, I tell you my last count was
24 million, 384 thousand, 592.
And there is just one thing I havenÕt been able
to figure out; when the Lord is blessing, I donÕt know if he is compensating
for what IÕve been through, or getting me ready for what IÕm going into. You see, the Bible says be perfect,
that which concerns. You see, you
are not just a nice bunch of people coming together, you are a supernatural
Koinonia. You are a supernatural
body of redeemed men and women.
And the Heavenly Father has high hopes; he looks at you like a Mother
and Father look at their child in the crib. And as they look at that child, what do they see? As Eve looked in the cradle, what did
she see? As she looked at Abel,
she didnÕt know she was looking at a martyr. As she looked at Cain, she didnÕt
know she was looking at a murderer.
As MosesÕ mother looked down into the little ark that was built, she
didnÕt know she was looking at IsraelÕs deliverer. DavidÕs mother and father didnÕt know they were looking at
IsraelÕs choice King. Every mother
and father that looks at that little bundle of life sees a president of the
United States, a Paderewski, a Rembrandt – you know.
Do you think the Heavenly Father that transmitted
those sentiments to the human potential heard doesnÕt have them himself? He looks down at the New Testament
Fellowship here in St. Louis, in this room here tonight, down here in this
cradle as you are being born and he says, ÒWhat have I got, what have I got,
what have I given birth to, what is it going to be, how is it going to respond,
is it going to be a great New Testament Church that will stay true to the
principles, that will walk in the communion of the Holy Ghost, that will be
true to the Word of God, that will keep itself clean, that will keep itself
free of pride, that wonÕt reach the point where it says – ÒWe want a
king?Ó
My God, what might Israel have been if they hadnÕt
been – if they hadnÕt said, ÒGive us a king?Ó Dear old Samuel came to God and he said, ÒGod, they turned
me down.Ó God said, Òthey didnÕt
turn you down, Samuel, they turned me down, they donÕt want to be ruled by my
direct voice, they looked around and they saw the denominations, and they want
a head office, and they want a printing plant, and they want a district
superintendent, and they want this and that. You give it to them, but when you give it to them, tell them
IÕm going to send leanness into their souls.Ó Israel said, ÒweÕre tired of this manna, we want some meat.Ó God said, ÒIÕll give you meat,Ó and
BOY, he sent a flock of quails and they flew so low that those Israelites
reached up and wrung their necks and piled them at their feet. Man, they had enough meat to do them
for days, but while the meat was yet between their teeth the plague of God
smote them.
I donÕt know why IÕm talking to you like this
tonight, but I do feel that IÕm in God.
IÕm saying to you that you are – youÕre a baby in a crib. The Heavenly Father is looking at you
with all the pride and parental desire that his great heart can muster, and he
sees in you the possibility. IÕm
sure he has been disappointed many times as he has looked at similar groups
that started out so hopefully, but somewhere along the line got in with wrong
companions and finished up doing a jail term. GodÕs looking at you tonight, and the Word of God comes to
me that as he looks at you, his hope for you is that you will grow patiently
and you will grow strong and you will not turn to the left nor the right, and
you will not lust after a king.
Nor will you hunger after that which others have, but you will be
content with God your redeemer and be a community of life and redemption, and
that you will love one another out of a pure heart perfectly and donÕt endanger
the life of the fellowship because you personally have taken your eyes off the
Lord. Walk in relation to one
another as you keep your eyes on Christ.
EAGLE SONG
CHORUS: Rise and soar into the sunlight rays,
Using
both your wings of prayer and praise,
Mount
like eagles,
Higher
in the sky,
And
youÕll find things so different when you fly.
VERSE 1: When
you pray but cannot get your answer through,
When
you get discouraged, know not what to do,
Cease
to beg and plead, but Hallelujahs raise,
Your
petition will ascend on wings of praise.
VERSE 2 Many
baffled birds in vain will raise one wing,
Drooping
prayers they pray, but rarely shout and sing,
Round
and round these earthbound birds go in amaze,
For
they fail to stretch the other wing in praise.
VERSE 3 Some
neglect to pray and only shout around,
Like
the beaten brass or cymbals, so they sound,
They
too tread a circle and will never share,
The
much larger life on wings of praise and prayer.
VERSE 4 On
the ground if youÕre restricted in the way,
Stand
a hundred hindrances that will dismay,
There
you fret and fuss and flurry, go up high,
God
will soon enlarge your vision when you fly.
Exercise
your wings oh Christians pray and praise,
We
shall have the best revival these last days,
Glide
aloft and spread the message glad and strong,
See
ten thousand angels swarm and swell the song.
Brother Baxter
Wednesday, March 12, 1969