WEBVTT 00:00:00.170 --> 00:00:04.209 I have to make a confession to you today. I have 00:00:04.209 --> 00:00:13.369 a very decided dislike for negative people. A 00:00:13.369 --> 00:00:19.190 dislike for negative preaching and negative writing. 00:00:19.449 --> 00:00:24.429 I just dislike anything that's negative. And 00:00:24.429 --> 00:00:27.070 it's just like that. Now, I've confessed it. 00:00:27.719 --> 00:00:30.120 And you probably have known it a long time ago 00:00:30.120 --> 00:00:32.399 because that's one thing that I've never been 00:00:32.399 --> 00:00:35.979 accused of, and that is of being a negative person. 00:00:36.960 --> 00:00:41.359 Oh, I'll tell you, no matter how black the clouds 00:00:41.359 --> 00:00:44.740 are, I'm always dead sure that the sun's going 00:00:44.740 --> 00:00:47.060 to break through. It's going to shine. That's 00:00:47.060 --> 00:00:48.820 one of the things that have brought me through 00:00:48.820 --> 00:00:53.920 to where I am today. Oh, sure, they can predict 00:00:53.920 --> 00:00:57.020 a hurricane, but... Mentally, I'll think, well, 00:00:57.079 --> 00:01:01.460 maybe it won't be, you know. Maybe the subtle 00:01:01.460 --> 00:01:03.659 breakthrough or maybe it'll go in another direction. 00:01:04.200 --> 00:01:07.900 And when it comes to preachers who are always 00:01:07.900 --> 00:01:11.459 negative in their preaching. Now, you analyze 00:01:11.459 --> 00:01:15.140 your own pastor for a minute. Let me ask you, 00:01:15.159 --> 00:01:18.760 every time he gets up, it's always, don't do 00:01:18.760 --> 00:01:25.549 this and don't do that. It's a negative thing. 00:01:26.030 --> 00:01:29.150 You know, you can't do this and you can't do 00:01:29.150 --> 00:01:33.689 that. Until before long, he drives more people 00:01:33.689 --> 00:01:39.310 away from the church than he can get into the 00:01:39.310 --> 00:01:42.769 sanctuary. It's like that. Now, it's not sufficient 00:01:42.769 --> 00:01:48.049 for a speaker or an author to discuss the disease. 00:01:48.840 --> 00:01:52.120 But to satisfy my soul and to satisfy my mind, 00:01:52.260 --> 00:01:57.099 he must give me a cure. I don't want somebody 00:01:57.099 --> 00:02:03.879 to tell me my bad point unless he can tell me 00:02:03.879 --> 00:02:09.639 how to overcome it. What can I do? You say, Catherine 00:02:09.639 --> 00:02:12.840 Kuhlman, you're a very selfish person. All right. 00:02:13.479 --> 00:02:17.349 I... will admit my selfishness, but I want that 00:02:17.349 --> 00:02:21.229 same person to tell me how I can overcome my 00:02:21.229 --> 00:02:26.490 selfishness. Somebody may tell me that I have 00:02:26.490 --> 00:02:30.189 a temper. All right, I will admit to the temper, 00:02:30.289 --> 00:02:33.349 but I want that same person, don't tell me my 00:02:33.349 --> 00:02:36.009 sin unless you can tell me how to overcome it. 00:02:36.889 --> 00:02:39.650 Anybody doesn't take a brain to go around condemning 00:02:39.650 --> 00:02:43.810 everybody. It doesn't take... an intellectual 00:02:43.810 --> 00:02:47.210 person to go around and find fault with people. 00:02:48.409 --> 00:02:53.729 A wife can find fault with her husband. But the 00:02:53.729 --> 00:02:57.289 thing to do, my friend, don't tell him his faults 00:02:57.289 --> 00:03:02.050 until you can give him a remedy and tell him 00:03:02.050 --> 00:03:07.409 how to overcome his faults. Sometimes I think 00:03:07.409 --> 00:03:11.310 everybody in the whole world can tell us what's 00:03:11.310 --> 00:03:15.150 wrong with the world, what's wrong with the government, 00:03:15.430 --> 00:03:18.349 what's wrong with the president, what's wrong 00:03:18.349 --> 00:03:21.889 with the nation, what's wrong with Congress. 00:03:23.129 --> 00:03:26.150 Everybody's talking about it, but nobody seems 00:03:26.150 --> 00:03:31.069 to have the answer. It's just kind of like that. 00:03:32.150 --> 00:03:36.550 And it's so easy to point out what's wrong, but 00:03:36.550 --> 00:03:39.789 I want to know what's right. Sometimes that's 00:03:39.789 --> 00:03:43.150 a little more difficult than one would suppose. 00:03:43.770 --> 00:03:48.590 You and I are made in our innermost being for 00:03:48.590 --> 00:03:54.310 positive achievement, to be outgoing, to master 00:03:54.310 --> 00:04:00.909 our circumstances, to create. If we are not positively 00:04:00.909 --> 00:04:05.129 creating and producing, then the machinery of 00:04:05.129 --> 00:04:10.900 life will get out of gear. For we are geared 00:04:10.900 --> 00:04:16.399 to creation. The personality breaks down under 00:04:16.399 --> 00:04:20.180 negative attitudes. For we're not made for it. 00:04:20.360 --> 00:04:26.379 You were not made to be negative. I was not made 00:04:26.379 --> 00:04:31.860 to be a negative person. Know that. Understand 00:04:31.860 --> 00:04:34.980 that right now. If you are a negative person, 00:04:35.139 --> 00:04:37.920 you were not made for it. You were made to be 00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:41.579 outgoing, to be creative. Now for just a few 00:04:41.579 --> 00:04:44.839 minutes, I'm going to get right down to the positive 00:04:44.839 --> 00:04:49.759 of the thing. To faith. The thing above all else 00:04:49.759 --> 00:04:53.579 I want you to see is that you cannot generate 00:04:53.579 --> 00:04:56.920 faith. You cannot work it up. You cannot manufacture 00:04:56.920 --> 00:05:02.899 it. It's imparted and infused by God himself. 00:05:03.040 --> 00:05:05.339 You cannot sit in your homes and struggle to 00:05:05.339 --> 00:05:09.189 have faith. and struggle to be positive and affirm 00:05:09.189 --> 00:05:12.490 that something is. Nor can you turn your hope 00:05:12.490 --> 00:05:15.730 and desire into faith by your own power. The 00:05:15.730 --> 00:05:19.829 only place you can get it is from the Lord. For 00:05:19.829 --> 00:05:23.990 the Word clearly and distinctly states that faith 00:05:23.990 --> 00:05:28.290 is one of two things. It's either a gift of God 00:05:28.290 --> 00:05:32.649 or it's the fruit of the Spirit. Always remember 00:05:32.649 --> 00:05:39.870 that. You read the Word of God. Faith is either 00:05:39.870 --> 00:05:46.129 a gift of God or it's a fruit of the Spirit. 00:05:48.069 --> 00:05:52.449 We cannot generate it of ourselves. We're told 00:05:52.449 --> 00:05:56.230 in Paul's epistle to the Corinthians, Now abideth 00:05:56.230 --> 00:05:59.009 faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these 00:05:59.009 --> 00:06:04.319 is love. While love might be the greatest, It 00:06:04.319 --> 00:06:09.399 certainly is not the first. It must be preceded 00:06:09.399 --> 00:06:16.439 by faith. Look out of your window at that tree. 00:06:16.839 --> 00:06:19.779 Just stop whatever you're doing. I'll give you 00:06:19.779 --> 00:06:21.759 a moment. Just get up and look out of the window. 00:06:21.839 --> 00:06:25.740 Look at that tree. Oh, it's lovely. Maybe you 00:06:25.740 --> 00:06:28.060 hadn't noticed its beauty before sometimes, you 00:06:28.060 --> 00:06:29.540 know. That's the way life is. You have to be 00:06:29.540 --> 00:06:31.339 reminded of something. That tree's been there 00:06:31.339 --> 00:06:36.069 a long time. And you knew it was there, but you 00:06:36.069 --> 00:06:40.110 haven't really looked at it. Maybe if I were 00:06:40.110 --> 00:06:42.350 to have told you you had a tree out there, maybe 00:06:42.350 --> 00:06:47.209 you hadn't even noticed it. Oh, I tell you, people 00:06:47.209 --> 00:06:51.269 are funny. They really are. We have to be reminded 00:06:51.269 --> 00:06:55.910 of some things. So right now, look at that tree 00:06:55.910 --> 00:06:59.350 out of your window. It's beautiful. It's lovely. 00:07:01.389 --> 00:07:05.730 Only God can make a tree. We think we're so smart 00:07:05.730 --> 00:07:08.550 we've been to the moon. Oh, we've come so far 00:07:08.550 --> 00:07:13.410 in science. And yet, just consider one thing. 00:07:13.870 --> 00:07:21.629 Only God can make a tree. There is beauty in 00:07:21.629 --> 00:07:24.889 its twisted branches. There's loveliness in its 00:07:24.889 --> 00:07:30.829 trembling leaves. Every leaf is a little world 00:07:30.829 --> 00:07:35.790 unto itself. You grumble and complain when the 00:07:35.790 --> 00:07:38.470 leaves begin to fall, and you have to rake the 00:07:38.470 --> 00:07:43.670 leaves all you know. That person who is negative, 00:07:43.810 --> 00:07:47.050 all that he can see about that tree is that when 00:07:47.050 --> 00:07:50.750 fall comes, he's going to have to rake the leaves 00:07:50.750 --> 00:07:54.949 and carry them away or burn them. He has seen 00:07:54.949 --> 00:07:59.670 no beauty in that tree all summer. And yet every 00:07:59.670 --> 00:08:03.490 leaf of that tree is a little world unto itself, 00:08:03.589 --> 00:08:07.089 with its tiny veins carrying the life that God 00:08:07.089 --> 00:08:12.269 supplies, which gives us all it possesses in 00:08:12.269 --> 00:08:15.750 native realm. Yet there is something back of 00:08:15.750 --> 00:08:20.170 the tree. Beneath the surface of the ground, 00:08:20.329 --> 00:08:24.129 there's a great system of roots hidden away. 00:08:24.910 --> 00:08:29.220 You never behold them. Yet without them, the 00:08:29.220 --> 00:08:32.659 tree would die. It would have no life at all. 00:08:32.720 --> 00:08:38.179 None. The roots are ugly. The hardy comparison 00:08:38.179 --> 00:08:41.779 to the beautiful greenery above the ground. Yet, 00:08:41.940 --> 00:08:48.620 the greenery is there partly because of those 00:08:48.620 --> 00:08:52.620 ugly roots. Now let us call the top of the tree 00:08:52.620 --> 00:08:58.289 love. You can see it. Oh, sure. You can contact 00:08:58.289 --> 00:09:01.610 it. You can enjoy its fragrance. You behold its 00:09:01.610 --> 00:09:04.429 beauty. It's there because of something which 00:09:04.429 --> 00:09:07.149 is back of it. Something hidden away that causes 00:09:07.149 --> 00:09:11.370 it. And that something is the roots. Now you 00:09:11.370 --> 00:09:13.809 expect me to say that those roots are roots of 00:09:13.809 --> 00:09:17.929 faith. No, indeed not. Faith is the light that 00:09:17.929 --> 00:09:24.009 blows into the roots. It is that mystical quality 00:09:24.009 --> 00:09:29.399 that only... God can produce and give. There 00:09:29.399 --> 00:09:34.700 are roots that you could plant which will never, 00:09:34.740 --> 00:09:38.220 never grow. You yourself, your inner nature, 00:09:38.279 --> 00:09:49.460 are those roots. Know that. You, your inner nature, 00:09:49.580 --> 00:09:56.649 are those roots. Your senses, your avenues of 00:09:56.649 --> 00:10:00.370 approach to the expressions of life itself are 00:10:00.370 --> 00:10:02.889 buried below the surface where people cannot 00:10:02.889 --> 00:10:10.669 see them. All the world beholds is what you produce 00:10:10.669 --> 00:10:15.309 and not you yourself. What Jesus meant when he 00:10:15.309 --> 00:10:22.049 said, By their fruits ye shall know them. Ye 00:10:22.049 --> 00:10:27.690 shall know that person. The fruit produced is 00:10:27.690 --> 00:10:35.769 an index to what the tree really is. The only 00:10:35.769 --> 00:10:39.970 way that you can see Catherine Kuhlman, the real 00:10:39.970 --> 00:10:43.889 Catherine Kuhlman, is by the fruits that I produce. 00:10:45.470 --> 00:10:51.909 You cannot look on the inside of me. only way 00:10:51.909 --> 00:10:56.690 that you can really, really look on the inside 00:10:56.690 --> 00:11:01.210 of Kathryn Kuhlman, and if you really want to 00:11:01.210 --> 00:11:07.330 know what Kathryn Kuhlman is really like, you'll 00:11:07.330 --> 00:11:12.309 know me by the fruits that I produce. You know? 00:11:13.850 --> 00:11:20.899 Because a bad tree will not bear Good fruit. 00:11:23.100 --> 00:11:26.500 Somebody says, now, what is so -and -so really 00:11:26.500 --> 00:11:29.940 like? You think there's something hidden. You 00:11:29.940 --> 00:11:33.059 think there's something, you know, locked behind 00:11:33.059 --> 00:11:36.100 the door. Watch a person long enough. I don't 00:11:36.100 --> 00:11:40.799 care who that person is. And you'll see the full 00:11:40.799 --> 00:11:45.039 meaning of what Jesus said when he said, by their 00:11:45.039 --> 00:11:53.139 fruits, ye shall know them. Oh, you can cover 00:11:53.139 --> 00:11:58.159 up for a while. Sure. Yeah, if you're a real 00:11:58.159 --> 00:12:04.019 operator, if you really are cunning enough, you 00:12:04.019 --> 00:12:09.159 can cover up for a while. Uh -huh. Maybe during 00:12:09.159 --> 00:12:13.659 that time of the engagement, you know. That's 00:12:13.659 --> 00:12:16.419 the reason I'm old -fashioned enough to believe 00:12:16.419 --> 00:12:23.299 in long engagements. Because sooner or later, 00:12:23.500 --> 00:12:31.139 you'll expose yourself. Because what is really 00:12:31.139 --> 00:12:37.679 on the inside will come out. That's what Jesus 00:12:37.679 --> 00:12:43.960 meant. By their fruit, ye shall know them. The 00:12:43.960 --> 00:12:48.879 fruit produced is an index to what the tree really 00:12:48.879 --> 00:12:52.809 is. Now let me repeat something. The roots of 00:12:52.809 --> 00:12:56.090 the tree are not faith. The roots do not produce 00:12:56.090 --> 00:13:01.549 the life, but the life produces the roots. It 00:13:01.549 --> 00:13:05.389 is the life that is faith. It is that wonderful, 00:13:05.409 --> 00:13:08.809 that glorious quality, which is a gift of the 00:13:08.809 --> 00:13:13.429 divine heart, which sustains us. This life of 00:13:13.429 --> 00:13:18.370 faith will be manifested to the world by the 00:13:18.370 --> 00:13:23.320 fruit we bear, Arms of love outstretched by the 00:13:23.320 --> 00:13:26.899 things of grace and beauty which through God 00:13:26.899 --> 00:13:32.539 are manifested day by day on the tree of our 00:13:32.539 --> 00:13:36.580 lives. I wish I had the vocabulary. I wish I 00:13:36.580 --> 00:13:41.259 had the ability to make it so simple that you'll 00:13:41.259 --> 00:13:48.220 understand what I really am trying to say. How 00:13:48.220 --> 00:13:50.759 foolish it would be for that tree to struggle 00:13:50.759 --> 00:13:53.240 in an attempt to create the life which flows 00:13:53.240 --> 00:13:57.740 into it. Leave that struggle. All it needs to 00:13:57.740 --> 00:14:04.059 do is to function in obedience to the laws divine. 00:14:05.419 --> 00:14:10.460 As the life is there, it simply manifests that 00:14:10.460 --> 00:14:14.860 life in the fruit that it bears and the beauty 00:14:14.860 --> 00:14:21.159 with which... It endows the earth. So it is with 00:14:21.159 --> 00:14:23.980 faith. Love may be the greatest thing in the 00:14:23.980 --> 00:14:28.419 world, but faith must of necessity be the first. 00:14:28.480 --> 00:14:30.860 For without faith, it is absolutely impossible 00:14:30.860 --> 00:14:33.879 to please God. But you tell me that you have 00:14:33.879 --> 00:14:38.259 faith. I ask you, where did you get it? I pick 00:14:38.259 --> 00:14:42.159 up a rosy apple from the tree. I hear it testify 00:14:42.159 --> 00:14:46.460 from the core. of this little apple heart. It 00:14:46.460 --> 00:14:49.860 tells me it has rosy cheeks. It whispers in my 00:14:49.860 --> 00:14:56.960 ear that it's very, very good to the taste. It 00:14:56.960 --> 00:14:59.980 invites me to taste its flavor. It testifies 00:14:59.980 --> 00:15:03.139 that it has so many noble and beautiful qualities. 00:15:03.779 --> 00:15:09.220 Then I ask it where it got them all. From the 00:15:09.220 --> 00:15:14.990 branch? The shelter of the trees? The rain, the 00:15:14.990 --> 00:15:20.789 sun, oh sure, all of these are true. But I knew 00:15:20.789 --> 00:15:25.350 that way down in the hidden system, which you 00:15:25.350 --> 00:15:32.110 cannot see, which I cannot see, the roots were 00:15:32.110 --> 00:15:37.370 receiving something from God that no tree on 00:15:37.370 --> 00:15:40.309 the face of the earth has ever seen. ever been 00:15:40.309 --> 00:15:48.769 able to produce of itself. Know that. If I have 00:15:48.769 --> 00:15:53.409 any fruit whatsoever, if I have any goodness 00:15:53.409 --> 00:15:58.690 whatsoever, all of my goodness, all of my righteousness 00:15:58.690 --> 00:16:03.450 must come from the root within, and God himself 00:16:03.450 --> 00:16:07.269 is the source of that goodness. It's within. 00:16:10.669 --> 00:16:12.269 You want to be a righteous person? You want to 00:16:12.269 --> 00:16:16.110 be a good person? You don't start from without. 00:16:17.210 --> 00:16:24.429 It has got to be within. It's so simple, and 00:16:24.429 --> 00:16:26.309 yet sometimes it's the hardest thing to make 00:16:26.309 --> 00:16:30.590 people understand what we're trying to say. And 00:16:30.590 --> 00:16:35.110 yet something so thrilling. Never think that 00:16:35.110 --> 00:16:38.090 it was your faith that received Christ as your 00:16:38.090 --> 00:16:41.000 Savior. Never say that any act of yours was the 00:16:41.000 --> 00:16:43.919 basis of your redemption. It's Jesus Christ who 00:16:43.919 --> 00:16:46.860 imparts the water of which he spoke to the woman 00:16:46.860 --> 00:16:50.100 at the well. It's Jesus who puts his arms of 00:16:50.100 --> 00:16:52.220 love beneath the burden on your back and lifts 00:16:52.220 --> 00:16:55.279 it from your tired, weary body. It's Jesus who 00:16:55.279 --> 00:17:00.399 pours life and faith and hope into that broken 00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:05.390 heart. oil of heaven's joy. It's Jesus who smooths 00:17:05.390 --> 00:17:07.190 the wrinkles of care with the gentle touch of 00:17:07.190 --> 00:17:10.029 a mother's hand. It's Jesus who brings you out 00:17:10.029 --> 00:17:12.630 of the darkest night into the light of his own 00:17:12.630 --> 00:17:15.529 glorious and wonderful day. If I have any goodness 00:17:15.529 --> 00:17:19.950 whatsoever, it is not on myself. It's Jesus within 00:17:19.950 --> 00:17:27.720 me. It's Jesus. If you see any... root, good 00:17:27.720 --> 00:17:30.799 fruit from this life of mine. It's because inside 00:17:30.799 --> 00:17:37.480 of me, I love Jesus. And Jesus has put that goodness 00:17:37.480 --> 00:17:47.319 there. He is the root of my life. It's so simple. 00:17:49.240 --> 00:17:54.420 Remember, it must come from him. He must impart 00:17:54.420 --> 00:18:05.880 it, and he will. He will. I promise you. He will. 00:18:07.039 --> 00:18:12.460 You and I are made in our innermost being for 00:18:12.460 --> 00:18:16.519 positive achievement. For outgoing love. And 00:18:16.519 --> 00:18:21.559 he is the one who put it there. But we have to 00:18:21.559 --> 00:18:26.240 want it. Want it more than anything else in the 00:18:26.240 --> 00:18:28.160 world. God bless you.