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Sound of Liberty
7286 Hwy 53 West
Dawsonville,
GA
30534
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Getting
the Edge
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By Brother Ben Howard
Dawsonville, GA
Printed October 2004
I want to speak on a subject and title it,
“Getting the Edge.” That is what we need in this
hour. In business, every businessman is doing
something trying to get the edge so that they can be
victorious and be successful. Every racing team does
all they can do to the motors, the tires, and
everything trying to find that little something to
give them that edge, because competition is so great;
but in God we know that they who have a revelation
have the edge. When we get the edge in the revelation
of the Word of God that eliminates competition.
I’m going to read a scripture which does not
directly connect with what I want to minister on. I
was just putting down some scriptures some time back,
and this came. (This is in the Old Testament, Micah,
chapter seven.) This came in there, and I read it,
and I said, “What’s that scripture doing there?” I
read it and it didn’t have anything to do with what I
was going to say, but it kept popping up. So I feel
like maybe somewhere or another there’s something in
there. You may be the one to get it, or I may get it
later. It seemed like two or three times it just came
like that; so I want to read it prior to my regular
sermon scriptures. Listen carefully to the words.
Again, let me say, this got put down—the name of the
book, the chapter, and these verses. I did it. I
don’t know why. I don’t remember doing it. I was
looking on some notes I had on a sermon, and this was
in there. It was in my handwriting, but I still don’t
know what it relates to exactly as far as sermon
material. It was here so I’ll read it to you. It
reads like this-- Micah 7:7-9—“Therefore I will look
unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my
salvation: my God will hear me. Rejoice not against
me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I
sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me. I
will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have
sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and
execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the
light, and I shall behold his righteousness.” Amen.
Now those scriptures were lying in there and I
don’t know what they are for. At this point, I don’t
know why that scripture was in there. I’m not sure
I’ve ever done that before. The fact is, I don’t
think I ever have ---- to just write down something
and not remember writing it and putting it with my
writings, not even knowing what it says, but there it
is. Let’s just leave it like that and see. The
thought that kind of comes to me is this—when we get
out of the way a little bit and the Lord lays His
heavy hand upon us, don’t resist it. Just be patient
and wait upon the Lord knowing that the Lord is going
to bring us out, and bring us to His light. He says
that we shall see His righteousness. If we see His
righteousness we will know it is not our own, won’t
we? For my cleansing this I see—nothing but the blood
of Jesus. All the works that I have done, none of
these for sin can atone. Thou must save, and Thou
alone. God bless you.
I’m just going on from here and see how God will
lead. God just put that on me and I’ve put it out
there, because three times it came up like that. I
was going to leave it out again, but it just kept
coming, “read that, read that.” So there it is.
Let us bow our heads in prayer. Heavenly Father,
in the name of Jesus we come to You, praising You for
Your goodness and mercy upon us. Lord, I just thank
You for dying on the cross for us-- the Lovely dying
for the unlovely, the Worthy dying for the unworthy.
Lord, we just thank You for that. I pray, Heavenly
Father, that You will just come in and take my mind,
spirit, and my being and just use me for this little
while. Lord, this weekend has been hard, a lot of
miles and things going on. Lord, You know all about
it. My mind is a little tired, and we pray You will
take care of that. In the name of Jesus now anoint us
to minister the Word and anoint the people to receive,
and we will be careful to praise You in Jesus’ name.
Amen.
I want to minister on, “Getting the Edge,” as I
said. What I want you to notice is this—when
Malachi, chapter 4 was finished, in the Old Testament,
that ended the written Word for that day. I want you
to notice something else—this Bible here is the full
revelation of the Word as far as the written part.
There is no other book to be added to it; the sacred
writ. It is finished. All that’s left is the spoken
Word which is the interpretation of the written Word.
Now between Malachi, chapter 4 and the book of
Matthew there was about 400 years of dark ages for
Israel. There were many things written at this time
and I have read some of the books myself; but God
didn’t see fit to include them in His written Word.
So when Malachi finished his writing; that ended the
written Word for that day. That ended all the
writings of God concerning the old covenant. All
right—then when the New Testament was written,
Revelation 22 finishes up all the writings of the
written Word as it relates to the new covenant in New
Testament times.
Our sermons are not to be looked at in the same
light that you look at the written Word in. Do you
know why? Because sermon material is something like
Paul said, “This is good for the present distress.”
He began to give instruction; but years later as
conditions changed he had to make adjustments to those
instructions to the Church. Therefore, all writings
(no matter who it is written by) outside the written
Word of God, from time to time need updating, as we’re
in a time when we are moving and walking in the light
of God’s Word. All sermons—the sermon I preach this
year; I could title one next year as the same thing
and some of the material would have adjustments and
updates, but it would still be the Word of God and
what we need for the hour.
Now there is something that doesn’t change, it
hasn’t changed since the last word was pinned down in
96 A.D. by the Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos,
when he wrote the last chapter of the book of
Revelation and wrote verse 21 there of chapter 22.
That was the last of the written Word, and there
hasn’t been one scripture added since.
Click here for the full text
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