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Message transcribed and
edited from audio tape #73
Preached November 6, 1983
By Brother Ben Howard
Dawsonville, GA
The Lord dealt with my heart on a subject in 1978
when I was in West Virginia helping to build Brother
Sam Francis’ church. I was over in a motel room
meditating on the Lord, trying to think of something
to preach that night, because Brother Francis had
asked me to minister. As I was meditating it seemed
like I could hear a voice somewhere off in the
distance begin to talk about how the church had great
grace upon it, but they fell down to a level that God
couldn’t put great grace upon them, He just had to
have mercy on them and His grace provided that mercy
for them, so they survived on mercy for seven church
ages. But the same voice, I could hear it off
somewhere; said, “Notice in Acts chapter four—the
church had great grace upon them.” I went over to
Brother Francis church that night, and that is what I
ministered on, “The Mercy and Grace of God.”
There is a difference between mercy (saving grace)
and great grace. We certainly need mercy as long as
we are not pleasing God, but when we are pleasing God,
then He puts great grace upon us. When we are
well-pleasing in the eyes of the Lord, He smiles upon
us. His countenance shines forth upon us, but when we
are not pleasing God, His grace provides mercy for
us. That is why we hear about the mercy seat. There
has to be that blood between us and Him. He can’t see
our sins through the blood of Jesus Christ when we are
trying to do what is right, but many times in our walk
with God we are not measuring up to the standard that
God has ordained-- where we can stand spotless before
the Lord. So therefore, He has to have mercy upon
us. He has winked at our ignorance through seven
church ages. They believed in the Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost baptism, that is what the church believed,
but they were in the permissive will of God. He
blessed them because He foresaw what He was bringing
them to; not that He was pleased with that trinity
baptism, but He knew that He was going to bring them
to something, and that was to the full revelation of
the Word. I believe with all my heart that God is
restoring the church back to the place where He can
put His great grace upon us.
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for
your love, your goodness, and your mercy upon us, and
for your grace. Lord, as we approach the end time,
and as we see the day that we’re living in, we feel by
the happenings in the world that surely we are drawing
near to the time of your coming. When we look in the
Word of God we see what a church should be when you do
come, Lord. According to Ephesians the fifth chapter,
we are to be washed by the water of the Word. We are
to be spotless, Lord. There are to be no wrinkles, no
spots, nor any such thing. We are to be clean, and we
are to be holy. So, I pray, Heavenly Father, for this
little while, that you will put your anointing upon
us, and put your anointing upon the congregation. Put
words in our mouth, Lord, that we can speak that which
will help your people, and bless them, and enlighten
them to the time we are living in, and we’ll be
careful to praise you for it. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Ephesians 2:1-2—“And you hath he quickened, who
were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past
ye walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the
spirit that now worketh in the children of
disobedience:” That’s the kind of spirit we had.
Don’t try to deny it. We all did, but thank God that
we have a different spirit now. We have a different
outlook. We’re serving a different master, and we’re
eating from a different tree. You can’t eat from the
table of the Lord and the table of satan at the same
time. You can’t serve mammon and God at the same
time. You have to make a decision. As Joshua said,
“Choose you, this day, whom you will serve.” He said,
“…but as for me and my house, we will serve the
Lord.” Isn’t that beautiful?
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