Finding Your Fit
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19 So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him.
20 And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go back again: for what have I done to thee?
21 And he returned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen, and slew them, and boiled their flesh with the instruments of the oxen, and gave unto the people, and they did eat. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him.
Introduction
39 Now notice, in Elijah, then, after he threw his robe on him, and tried it on him. In other words, Elijah the prophet, who had the mantle of God on his shoulders, he came down and laid it across Elisha, the farmer, to see if it would fit him. And it taken about ten years to get altered, to fit that mantle.
40 You know, God usually puts us in the shop and trims us up. Now, He didn’t alter his robe to fit Elisha; He ordered Elisha to fit the robe. And that’s what He does today. He alters us to fit the robe, not the robe to fit us. 56-1125M — A Secondhanded Robe
Keep that in your mind as we go along.
Each one of us have a place we fit right now.
108 Now notice, there, in following God. Now I want you to kind of jot this in your mind. To keep God’s commandments, to do anything right for God, to do God a service correctly, there is five musts, to do God’s service correctly. 65-0718M — Trying To Do God A Service Without Being The Will Of God
First, it must be His time to do it.
And it must be according to His Word that has been spoken.
And it must be by the person He has chose to give it and to do it.
And it must come, first, to His prophets.
And the prophet must be vindicated by the Word of God.
65-0718M — Trying To Do God A Service Without Being The Will Of God
In other words, in order for the fit to be correct, it must be:
God’s Word
God’s Time
God’s Man
According to a Prophet
That Prophet must be Vindicated by the Word (Prophet to the Age)
God’s Word
Example: Pastor
He must meet the qualifications of the scripture.
1 This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work.
Bishop = Overseer. This would be a local pastor.
There is nothing wrong with wanting to do what God called you to do. However, the right man for the job usually tries to get of it.
2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach;
3 Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous;
4 One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity;
5 (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?)
6 Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil.
7 Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
He MUST:
Live a life above reproach. Not double-married. Be vigilant against the enemy. Behave himself modestly. Hospitable. Skillful in teaching. Not a drunk. Not a bully or quarelsome. Not in it for greed. Longsuffering. Peaceable. Not a lover of money. Have his house in order. Have experience. Have a good reputation.
When you find a man who fits all of that, that’s only the first step.
God’s Time.
Elisha was not ready when he was called. He had to slim down to fit Elijah’s mantle.
1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
Being called to do something is not enough.
6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith;
7 Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching;
8 Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.
There is something we can do while we wait.
194 Today you have to have about four degrees in college, or, two degrees before they even ordain you to preach the Gospel. Takes you ten years for some kind of a degree. God done more in ten days than they can do, today, in ten years. That’s right. Men who couldn’t even write their own name! He never told them to go to school. He…
195 When (I believe it was Hudson Taylor, the great missionary in China.), there was a Chinese boy got saved, and come up, said, “Mr. Taylor, where shall I get my Bachelor of Art? How many years will it take this? How many years will it take, get my doctor’s degree?”
Mr. Taylor said, “Go now, don’t wait till the candle’s half burned.”
196 That’s what I say today. What we need today is men with experience that knows what God means, and takes God’s experience by God’s Bible, and preaches God’s Word, has God’s signs, and God’s a vindication.
197 If you don’t know beans from…split beans from coffee, preach anyhow. There’s one thing you know: If your candle got lit, go tell somebody how it got lit, maybe theirs will get lit too, light off of yours. That’s what we need today. Certainly it is. 62-0714 — The Uncertain Sound
Let me be a witness, tell them how the candle got lit.
God’s man.
If you are qualified, and the time is right, there is still a question. Are you the one God wants to do it?
In other words: Do you fit the office? You can’t make the office fit you.
This is important.
Let’s take it down to where we go to church. Do we fit?
All of us belong in a local church body.
Jesus went to church in His hometown.
16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.
Immediately after the Holy Ghost fell local churches began to be formed, with pastors and deacons.
If you can’t go…If you can’t come here at the tabernacle, get some church somewhere; go to it.
64-0823M — Questions And Answers #1
Every man ought to have a church home. You ought to have a place, not just to float about from pillar to post, but have somewhere that you go to church and you call it your church, somewhere you pay your tithes, and somewhere that you help support the Cause.
60-0308 — Discernment Of Spirit
52 So is it. I’ve watched many times, the wolf after the—the deer. And if he can catch a little deer out to itself, that’s the one they work on. There’s a lesson. If he can catch a deer away from the herd, then he—that that’s what the devil wants to do. So to you, young ladies, he wants you to go out with a boy that’s not a Christian. To you, young men, he wants you to go out with some little painted Jezebel that’s—that’s not a Christian. That’s where he wants to break you up. That’s where he wants to—he wants to sock his teeth into you.
And this little deer will get out to itself, away from the herd. That’s the one the wolf works on. And to you, old man or woman, when you separate yourself from believers…People say, “I can stay at home, be just as good a Christian as I can at church.” You can’t.
The Bible said, “Not forsake our assemble ourselves together, and that much more as we see the time coming.”
If you’re a Christian, you long to go where other Christians are, and fellowship with other Christians. So you cannot stay away from church and live the same life. You—you can’t do it, because it’s like, “I—I—I—I’m hungry, but I’ll never go to a table. I just…I’ll never eat. I just—I ain’t going to do it.” See? You’ve got to go and feed on the Word of God, and fellowship one with another.
We need one amother—another more now than we ever did need each other, is now. When you get yourself singled out from the rest of them making yourself just a little different, you don’t want to associate with them because they believe this, and don’t want to associate with that, you’re getting on dangerous ground, right then, keeping away from church. Find the one of your choice, and remain there, and be a Christian brother to all of them. That’s the way to be a real Christian. Then we’ve got fellowship, protection; people love you and pray for you. 60-0304 — Thirsting For Life
199 The Bible said, “If he won’t hear the church, then let him be unto you as a heathen and a publican.” You see, as long as a brother is under that protection of the church, the Blood of Christ is protecting him.
58-0927 — Why Are We Not A Denomination?
13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.
14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
210 Now, I know they put a pressure on you and want you to join, but you don’t have to join; but put them kids in Sunday school somewhere! And you go to church; don’t set at home, go fishing, and hunting, and things like that on Sunday.
You say, “Well, I’m not a legalist.”
Well, you’d better be in that manner for a while, dishonoring the resurrection of Christ. You go to church somewhere!
64-0823M — Questions And Answers #1
255 Now, a lot of times I speak of Calvinistic belief. Now, don’t think that that lets you loose to do anything you want to. A fellow the other day…I said, “Did you go to church?”
He said, “I went hunting.”
The man’s wife come to me, and she was coming from the laundrymat on Sunday. And I said, “Why didn’t you go to church?”
She said, “I done my washing.”
I said, “You shouldn’t have done that.”
“Well,” she said, “I’m not an old legalist.”
I said, “But I thought you were a Christian.” See? I said, “Did you know you’re putting a stumbling block in somebody’s way?” See? I said, “It…”
“Well, awh, I—I believe this. I don’t have to do those things. I’m not a legalist.”
256 Well, look my Brother, Sister, look here. Paul said, “If eating meat puts a stumbling block in my brother’s way, I’ll eat no more meat as long as the world stands.” And I think it’d be a whole lot better…
257 Now, say, “Brother Branham, you hunt. Didn’t you ever hunt on Sunday?” Let me tell you something. Not…I’m not patting myself to the back of this, but I’m…I’m not a Sabbatarian now, I believe the Holy Spirit is our Sabbath. I believe that, but I believe we should honor that resurrection as a memorial. That’s a memorial that I…If you honor any day, honor that resurrection.
64-0823E — Questions And Answers #2
If there is only one church that you could possibly attend on Sunday, go to that church.
If you could go somewhere else, you have a choice.
51 And if we would study what we’re doing when we’re going to get married, when we choose our wife, our husband, if we’d study it over! A man should pray earnestly, for he could ruin his entire life. Remember, the vow is “until death do we part,” and he could ruin his life by making the wrong choice. But if he knows what, he making the wrong choice and is marrying a woman that isn’t fit to be his wife, and he does it anyhow, then it’s his fault. If the woman takes a husband and knows that he’s not fit to be a husband to you, then that’s your own fault, after you know what’s right and wrong. So, you shouldn’t do it until you thoroughly pray through.
52 The same applies by choosing a church. Now, you must pray over the church that you are fellowshipping in. Remember, churches carry a spirit.
53 Now, I don’t want to be critical. But I realize that I’m an old man, and I got to leave here, one of these days. And I’ve got to answer at the Day of the Judgment for what I say tonight or any other time. And I, therefore, I’ve got to be dead earnest and truly convicted.
54 But, you go into a church, and if you’ll watch the behavior of that church, you just watch the pastor awhile, and you’ll usually find that the church acts like the pastor. Sometimes, I wonder if we just don’t get one another’s spirit in the stead of the Holy Spirit. You get to a place where a pastor is real radical and carrying on, you’ll find out the congregation is the same way. I’ll bring you to a church where I see the pastor stand, jerk their heads back and forth. You watch the congregation, they do the same thing. You take a pastor, just gulp down anything, usually the church will do the same thing. So, if I was choosing a church, I’d choose a genuine, fundamental, Full Gospel, Bible church, if I was choosing one to put my family in. Choose. I looked… 65-0429E — The Choosing Of A Bride
You fit somewhere! Find where you fit.