FAITH, MORE PRECIOUS THAN GOLD
Rev. William Soto Santiago. Sunday, August 4th, 2013. Villahermosa, Tabasco, Mexico
Very good morning, kind and beloved brethren present, and also those in other places and in other nations, in their congregations, ministers and fellow believers in Christ. May the blessings of Christ, the Angel of the Covenant, be upon you and me too, and may He open the Scriptures and may He edify us, and may teach us the Scriptures, and open our minds to understand. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
We read the Scripture which says in Mark, chapter 11, as follows, and we will see what Christ says to us … This was after (the day before) spoken to the barren fig tree, the fig tree did not bear fruit, and the fig tree withered. Christ wants us to bear fruit at all times. Mark Chapter 11, verse 19 onwards, says:
“And when even was come, he went out of the city.
And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.
And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.
And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”
May God bless our souls with His Word and allow us to understand It. Our theme for this occasion is:
“FAITH, MORE PRECIOUS THAN GOLD.”
The Lord Jesus Christ tells us to have faith in God, and that whosoever shall say unto this mountain: “ Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea”, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
Faith comes by hearing the Word, that’s how faith is born in the soul of the person, and faith grows as we hear the Word of God, and reaches the level where you can say to this mountain, ‘Be thou removed and cast into the sea, “and it will be done.
We all want to get to that level, we all want our faith to reach that level, and therefore, we have to know what to do for it to reach the same level as it was in Jesus Christ. It is not an impossible thing but He said it will be possible.
Faith is more precious than gold, St. Peter tells us in First Peter, chapter 1, verses 3 to 8, therefore, all those who believe, they have something more precious than gold: faith.
With gold you can achieve a lot because it has a lot of value, but with faith, of which the Bible speaks, you can get all that God has promised to His children, but without faith, it is written that it is impossible to please God. A person without faith cannot even please God.
Therefore, faith, being more precious than gold, we all need it in order to serve God, to believe what God says in His Word. We all want to please God, but without faith it is impossible to please God.
We obtain it by hearing His Word, and there comes the divine revelation; as it came in the days of Jesus and the apostles when Christ, after having taught them on the subject of the Coming of the Son of Man saying that was being fulfilled among them, in the person of Jesus, on one occasion He asked them, in the 16th chapter of St. Matthew [verse 13]:
“Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”
They all began to say what people thought of Him: “Some say that Thou art John the Baptist who had risen, others say that you are Jeremiah or one of the prophets that was risen,” that was the opinion of many people.
And now He asks them what their opinion is, what they could say of Jesus Christ: “Who do you say that I am?” Who was Christ to His disciples; that was what Jesus asked them:
“And who do you say that I am?”
It was important that they knew who Jesus was, for some said He was a prophet, some said He was Jeremiah, some said He was John the Baptist who had risen; and the opinion of people pointed Him out as a prophet. Although others said He was Beelzebub, others said He was insane, that He was crazy, a crazy man, and so on.
Every time God carries out a great promise, there are many opinions among the people, some in favor and some against.
When God does something, not everyone agrees with what God is doing, and not all people believe. Although sometimes people say or think that if something is of God everyone will believe, but only those who are ordained to eternal Life will believe.
And to believe, the divine revelation comes to the person from heaven; and that divine revelation is the divine revelation of the promised Word for that time, which is given to people, that mystery is opened to them, that promise is opened to them, and the person catches that promise. A miracle is what happens in the person.
It was so in the days of Jesus when Christ Jesus asks His disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” And Peter said:
“Thou are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Jesus answered him (Peter): Blessed are thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee … “
In other words, the revelation that Peter had, that knowledge Peter had, that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, he did not get it by the teaching of a rabbi, he did not get that from anyone else, but Christ says to him:
“… for flesh and blood hath not revealed unto you, but by my Father which is in heaven.”
And then, whoever obtained the divine revelation from Heaven of who Jesus was, a great blessing is spoken upon him:
“And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church (that is, upon the revelation), and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
The gates of hell and death will not prevail against the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
“And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven…”
Peter had the revelation of who Jesus was, and therefore he had the keys of revelation to open the door to the Kingdom of Heaven, and the door is Christ, he had the keys to bring the revelation of who Jesus Christ is and the work of redemption carried out on the Cross of Calvary; so that the door to the Kingdom of Heaven, which is Christ, be opened for the people to enter through that door as Christ said, “I am the door, and whoever enters by me will be saved; and shall go in and find pasture.” John, chapter 10, verse 9.
“… And whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
Therefore, Peter by getting the revelation from Heaven received a great blessing, because in the revelation comes the divine blessing for the one who receives it; and that person pleases God; but without faith it is impossible to please God.
In Matthew, chapter 11, verses 25 and onwards, 25 to 27, says:
“At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.
Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.
All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the the Father save the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.”
And now, divine revelation to know who the Father is and who Jesus Christ is, comes from Heaven, from Christ, and to whoever the Son will reveal Him. That knowledge of who God is and who Jesus Christ is, comes from Heaven; and that produces the faith that the person requires to believe in Christ and receive Him as only and sufficient Savior; and thus to please God, and that faith has to continue increasing until it reaches perfect faith, the faith which was in Jesus Christ our Saviour, for whom nothing was impossible.
That is why Christ, whenever they came to him with a request, almost always it was for healing, He said: “Let it be according to your faith.” See how important faith is for the person, to be able to come to Christ and ask what he wants from the inwards of his heart, it will be done according to the faith of the person, therefore, he that cometh to God must be sure he has faith, that he believes and has the revelation of who Jesus Christ is, and everything he will ask of Christ will be granted; and will stand steadfast believing all the time; and it will be materialized, it will become a reality.
Remember also that faith is tried, it is tried as gold. It is important to be steadfast in faith, faith in Christ, and steadfast believing what He has promised, and firm believing that He will grant us the desires of our heart, the ones we ask Him.
Always being active in faith, receiving the Word, hearing and reading the Word, so that our faith will continue to grow and may nothing be impossible for us; so that our faith may reach the level that was in Jesus Christ our Savior. And so will it be, because we have the promise that our faith will grow to such an extent that we will be changed and taken with Christ to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb.
Faith comes by hearing the Word, the Word of God, and faith grows by hearing the Word of God for the time that the person has been allotted to live.
And for our faith to reach the level at which we can be changed and taken by Christ to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb, to that perfect faith, the Word which the Church of Jesus Christ will be hearing, all believers in Christ who will be changed and taken with Him to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb, it will be the revealed Word of the Seven Thunders of Revelation, chapter 10, which is the Voice of Christ speaking to us as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, as King of kings and Lord of lords in His Reclaiming Work; and will be revealing to us the mystery of His Second Coming.
With that divine revelation, our faith will rise to the extent that we can obtain our transformation; it will increase to such a level that we can obtain the promise of the transformation of our bodies, and the resurrection of the dead in Christ in glorified bodies.
Just as Christ in the Holy Spirit has been speaking to His Church from age to age, and that Word that has been revealed from age to age has been a revelation from Heaven, and millions of people have been blessed with the revelation of Heaven, and they will be able to say (if we ask them when we see them), they can say that flesh did not revealed it to them but God.
This is so for every believer in the age in which he lives: the revelation of Heaven comes from Christ through His Spirit, and opens the Scriptures as they hear or read the Word for the day they are living in. Remember: Christ spoke to them of the present day they were living and asked them about the instrument that God was using at the time, which was Himself, Jesus Christ.
The persons who obtained this revelation were believers in Christ, because that revelation came to them from Heaven, and it was based, founded on the Word of God, as God had promised for that time. So it has been from age to age, and dispensation to dispensation, and so it is in our time.
For our time, the promises God has made for the Last Day will become a reality, and there will be thousands of believers in Christ who by faith will conquer those promises. And they can say: the Lord’s promises are mine; and will work to fulfill those promises, carrying out the relevant work; because the promises belong to those who believe and work and make them a reality.
For example, the promises of the Coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ made them a reality two thousand years ago, and was therefore identified as the Messiah. So are all the promises of God.
By hearing them: faith is born in the soul, and the person works around that promise, until it becomes a reality for the person. It has always been that way.
And therefore, the works of this or these people and of the Lord’s Church as the Mystical Body of believers, are the expression of their faith in what God has promised, and become a reality for the Church and for every believer in Christ under the New Covenant; under the New Covenant which is established and it was promised that God would make a New Covenant, and they are covered with the Blood of the New Covenant, the Blood of Christ, all believers in Christ, which have the faith: faith which is born and increases until it becomes perfect faith, with which our transformation will become a reality.
You can enjoy all the promises of God according to the faith that is in you, because God’s promises are conquered with and by faith; that’s why you see that some people do not get it, it is not effective to them, the promise God has made or promises God has made, and to others indeed it is effective, because the faith of one person and the faith of another person is not the same.
Without faith it is impossible to please God, and consequently it is impossible for God’s blessing promised to the person to be materialized.
Therefore, stand firm in your faith in Christ, hearing His Word always and getting every day more and more revelation from Heaven; and thus to grow in faith, or faith to grow and grow in us in the knowledge of God the Father and of Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, as St. Paul tells us in Colossians, chapter 2, verse 2. I’ll give you the exact Biblical quotation: Chapter 2, verse 2 says:
“…That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;
In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
In that revelation of the mystery of God the Father, and of Christ, in there are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden. Christ said “I and the Father are one.” This mystery was opened to us all.
It is that the Angel of the Covenant, which is the Holy Spirit … because a spirit is a heavenly body from another dimension, is the image of the living God, is God’s heavenly body, the theophanic body of God. In plainer words: it is the Christ, it is Jesus Christ in His heavenly body, called the Angel of the Covenant in the Old Testament.
And the body of flesh called Jesus is the physical likeness of God, it is the physical body of God; which is why the Scripture says that in Him dwelleth the fullness of the Godhead, the fullness of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Before Jesus was born, God used human bodies, the body of every prophet, every messenger that He sent: of Moses, of Joshua, of the Judges, of the prophets, and the like; but when He created Himself the body of flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary, God was creating a body for Himself, which would be the physical body of God, the physical likeness of God. This is why Jesus said: “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” John, chapter 14, verse 6.
That’s why also … That was also in chapter 10, verse 30, where He said: “I and the Father are one.”
There we have, in Jesus, God in soul: the Father; in Spirit: the Angel of the Covenant, God’s heavenly body, theophanic body of God, and in flesh: the physical body of Jesus Christ. As simple as that.
Therefore, there we have the Word made flesh, there we have Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. And all believers in Christ receive the divine revelation to obtain their redemption, because the Redeemer is God, Whom, in His body of flesh – called Jesus –He offered it as a living Sacrifice, as the Sacrifice of Atonement for our sins, that’s why He took in His body of flesh our sins.
The faith of every believer in Christ must continually grow; and therefore, he keeps on pleasing God continually in everything He does for God, offering sacrifices of praise with songs, with expressions of praise to God, and so on.
We all want to please God, and we begin by hearing the Word of God for faith to be born, because faith comes by hearing the Word of God, and when faith is born in a person, he receives Christ as only and sufficient Savior and is baptized in water in His Name, and Christ baptizes the person with the Holy Spirit and Fire, and produces the new birth in the person; the person conquers that promise by faith. And so he carries on with his Christian life conquering the promises made to all believers in Christ. And the Church as the Mystical Body of believers, which gathers together all those who are of faith in Jesus Christ, keeps also growing, both in numbers and in knowledge and blessing of God.
We’re already at the end time or the Last Day, where we can see that the kingdom of the Gentiles has come to an end or end time, and that’s why there are so many environmental problems, also political problems, financial problems, problems of all kinds and everywhere.
But faith is kept alive in believers in Christ. There is a way of escape to all these problems: the way of escape is the rapture of believers in Christ, for which there will be a transformation for the believers in Christ which are alive, who will conquer that promise, they will conquer it by faith; and the dead in Christ will conquer the promise of resurrection in glorified bodies; and all this is very close.
The Tent Vision that the reverend William Branham had will be a great sign for the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, to all believers in Christ, and for the Jews, because in there, in the fulfillment of that promise, our faith will rise to the extent that we will conquer all the promises for this end time.
By faith they will become a reality for me, and for who else? For each one of you also. Therefore, we have to be up to date, listening to all that which God is revealing, speaking by His Holy Spirit; and thus our faith will continue to grow until it will reach perfection.
Remember, according to the amount of faith that the person has, it is the amount of divine power that can be manifested in the person and by the person, so it is important to pay attention to our faith.
And how strong is your faith? The force or power that our faith has is according to the food that you have given it.
If you feed your faith, you will be strong in faith. If you don’t feed it with the Word of God, “for man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”, if you do not feed your faith with the revealed Word: your faith will be weak, and you will be a person weak in faith. But you are strong, mighty in faith, because you are hearing the Word revealed for this end time. And we do not doubt what God has promised.
And if someone says what we believe and expect God to materialize is not possible, we can only say: “With God all things are possible.” What God has promised can be obtained by those who believe.
Therefore, our faith remains steadfast believing and expecting that which He has promised. And when one thinks and believes so, the person already has it, he has it potentially already, because the revealed Word is already within the heart, in the soul of the person, it is sealed there; what is lacking for that promise to be materialized in this material world.
First it becomes a reality within the soul and then in the spirit of the person, and then passes on to the physical part, onto the materialization. So is every divine promise.
Therefore, we will see the realization of the Tent Vision, and all the blessings that will be bestowed upon the people in the fulfillment of that Vision.
The Third Pull will be revealed in the fulfillment of the Tent Vision which the Rev. William Branham, saw, it’s fulfillment will be a great blessing for all the sons and daughters of God. And all the things that God will be speaking, revealing and doing, it will be worldwide, because there are equipments to broadcast to any country by satellites that connect their signals to TV stations and Internet, that is, that everything is prepared for what God has to do in this end time.
Everything is ready from behalf of God too; and from behalf of the people of God everything is being made ready for the greatest performance that God has ever carried out in the midst of Christianity. That manifestation will also be the greatest manifestation that God has ever carried out in the midst of the human family.
And after this manifestation we will depart from this Earth, to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb. Therefore, it will be a great sign for Christianity, for Judaism, for all religions and for all nations.
All this is linked to the Coming of the Son of Man with His Angels. Therefore, we must be prepared, watching for the Lord, for His Coming and for what He will be doing on this Earth in the midst of His Church.
Christ said: “When you see these things happen, lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.” Luke, chapter 21, verses 25 onwards.
We are now in the Last Day, we are in the time where the promises for the Last Day must be fulfilled, where those promises must be manifested. And if we do not watch, they will be fulfilled and we will not see them.
May God help us to be spiritually awake so that these great blessings, which Christ has made for all believers in Him, do not go over our heads.
Our Elder brother and Elder friend, Jesus Christ, has promised great blessings to all who believe in Him; and we do not want to miss not even one blessing that He has promised to me, and to who else? To each one of you also.
If there is someone who has not yet received Christ as Savior, you can do it right now so that you may have the faith that is more precious than gold, and to please God, because without faith it is impossible to please God.
If there is anyone that has not yet received Christ as Savior, you can do it right now, and we will be praying for Christ to receive you in His Kingdom, to forgive you and cleanse you with His Blood from all sin, and baptize you with the Holy Spirit and Fire and produce in you the new birth, for which you may come forward and we will be praying for you.
God has many people in Villahermosa, and throughout the State of Tabasco, and in all of Mexico and throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, and He is calling you in this end time.
Your name is written in Heaven, in the Book of Life, that’s why Christ said that He would call His sheep by name. The reason is that the name of all the people who would receive Him is written in Heaven, in the Book of Life; that’s why the faith of Christ was born in your soul, in your heart.
We did not know that our name was written in Heaven, in the Book of Life, but when we heard the preaching of the Gospel and It reached our soul and produced the faith in Christ, then we know that something great has happened in our hearts, and now we understand that our names are written in Heaven, in the Book of Life, and that’s why faith in Christ is born in our soul.
There is no other Savior, no other Redeemer, there is only One, and His Name is Jesus Christ, that’s why that Christ commanded His disciples to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, “and he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be damned. “
Nobody wants to be condemned by Christ, we all want to be saved, and therefore, we receive Him as our only and sufficient Savior.
He, speaking about this subject, said: “My sheep hear my Voice and follow me, and I know them, and I give them eternal Life, and they shall never perish. My Father which gave them me is greater than all and no one can pluck them out of my Father’s hand.” St. John, chapter 10, verses 27 to 30, and He says: “The Father and I are one.”
The greatest thing is eternal Life; that was what Adam and Eve lost there in the Garden of Eden when they sinned, and that is the eternal Life that Christ gives us all who receive Him as our only and sufficient Savior; and he places us, therefore, in His Kingdom with eternal Life, and this is how we become part of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In other countries you may also come to the Feet of Christ, all who have listened and faith of Christ was born in your soul.
Children ten years of age and older can also come to the Feet of Christ. Remember He said: “Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” [St. Matthew 19:14]
We will stand up to pray for the people who are receiving Christ as only and sufficient Savior.
There are still more people, so we’ll wait for a few seconds for them to arrive. It is that God has many children here in Villahermosa and around the State of Tabasco and throughout Mexico, and also in all countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, and He is calling them to be placed in His Mystical Body of believers and therefore, to be placed in His Kingdom, the Kingdom of Christ.
The Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Christ, is getting full with Latin Americans, with Mexicans, with citizens of different countries in Central America, the Caribbean and Latin America; and that is a great blessing to every believer in Christ and for the countries where all these people who are receiving Him as Savior are.
With our hands raised to Christ, to Heaven, in all countries as well, our eyes closed:
Heavenly Father, in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I come to You, bringing all these people who are receiving Christ as only and sufficient Savior. I pray You receive them in Your Kingdom and give them eternal Life. In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ I pray, oh heavenly Father.
Now repeat after me this prayer, those who have come to the Feet of Christ on this occasion:
Lord Jesus Christ, I heard the preaching of Your Gospel and Your faith was born in my heart.
I believe in You with all my heart. I believe, Lord, in Your Name as the only Name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. I believe in Your first Coming and believe in Your death on Calvary’s Cross as the Sacrifice of Atonement for our sins.
I acknowledge that I am a sinner and need a Savior, a Redeemer. I give public testimony of my faith in You and receive You as my only and sufficient Savior.
Lord, I beg You to forgive my sins and cleanse me with Your Blood from all sin, and baptize me with the Holy Spirit and Fire and produce in me the new birth. Make Your salvation a reality in my life. I beg You, Lord, in Your eternal and glorious Name, Lord Jesus Christ. Amen and amen.
THE BLOOD OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST HAS CLEANSED ME FROM ALL SIN! THE BLOOD OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST HAS CLEANSED ME FROM ALL SIN! THE BLOOD OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST HAS CLEANSED ME FROM ALL SIN! AMEN.
Christ has received you in His Kingdom, has forgiven your sins and with His Blood has cleansed you from all sin, for you have received Him as your only and sufficient Savior.
You will say to me: “I want to be baptized in water in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ as soon as possible, for He said: ‘He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved: but he that believeth not shall be damned.’ When can I be baptized? “It is the question from the depths of your heart.
Inasmuch as you have believed in Christ as your Savior, you can be baptized, and may Christ baptize you with the Holy Spirit and Fire and produce in you the new birth.
Water in baptism does not remove sin, it is the Blood of Christ that cleanses us from all sin. When a person receives Christ as Savior, he dies to the world, and when the minister immerses him in the baptismal waters, symbolically, typologically, is being buried, and when he is lifted from the waters of baptism, he is being resurrected to a new life: unto eternal Life with Christ in His eternal Kingdom. As simple as that.
That’s why in water baptism the person is identified with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection.
You may well be baptized, and may Christ baptize you with the Holy Spirit and Fire and produce in you the new birth, and we will continue to see each other forever in the Kingdom of Christ our Savior.
I leave the Rev. Andres Cruz Gallegos to let you know how to be baptized in water in the Name of Jesus Christ.
With you the Rev. Andres Cruz Gallegos. Spend all a happy evening, filled with the blessings of Christ our Savior.
“FAITH, MORE PRECIOUS THAN GOLD.”