The Benefits of the Son of God no. 43

Communion

Brian Kocourek

This evening I would like to take a couple of Scriptures, and before we do let’s just stand to our feet to pray, and if we would bow our heads and our hearts.

Dear gracious Father we thank you once again for the opportunity to come together in your remembrance, and to take of the communion, and to fellowship with you because that is what communion is all about. It is fellowship. Therefore, Father we would ask that you would bless us with your Word tonight, and truly bring forth in us Lord, a renewal of the mind, and a dedication to walk as your children, as obedient children. We ask your blessings upon this service, and those who came in Jesus name we pray, amen.

You may be seated.

I would like to read from John chapter 13 about the foot washing.

JOHN 13:1 ¶ Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. 2 And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's [son], to betray him; 3 Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; 4 He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. 5 After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe [them] with the towel wherewith he was girded. 6 Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? 7 Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. 8 Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. 9 Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also [my] hands and [my] head. 10 Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash [his] feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. 11 For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean. 12 So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? 13 Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for [so] I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. 16 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. 17 If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.

And then if we would turn in our Bibles to I CORINTHIANS 11:17 ¶ Now in this that I declare unto you I praise [you] not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse. 18 For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it. 19 For there must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. 20 When ye come together therefore into one place, [this] is not to eat the Lord's supper. 21 For in eating every one taketh before [other] his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. 22 What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise [you] not. 23 ¶ For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the [same] night in which he was betrayed took bread: 24 And when he had given thanks, he brake [it], and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. 25After the same manner also [he took] the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink [it], in remembrance of me. 26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come. 27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink [this] cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of [that] bread, and drink of [that] cup. 29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. 30 For this cause many [are] weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. 31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. 32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. 33 Wherefore, my brethren, when ye come together to eat, tarry one for another. 34 And if any man hunger, let him eat at home; that ye come not together unto condemnation. And the rest will I set in order when I come.

What I see in these two passages that we read tonight is that Jesus was about to give His body as a sacrifice, and he had huddled together with the twelve that were selected out by Him. His Apostle and one of them being a devil. At this time Jesus ministry had come to a crashing halt if you might call it that. Oh, I am sure if they had left Him alone He would have continued to preach from here to there and there would have continued to be healings and things, but brother Branham said, a ministry is crowned actually when it is rejected.

Blasphemous names 62-1104M P:110 But Paul, poor little Paul, what was it? God always lets a ministry get like that and then crowns it. …P111 It always gets that spot where it seems like it's real, real weak, just about gone, then God crowns it.

Now, that is kind of a strange thing to think about, because when we crown an athlete it is at the pinnacle of his athleticism. You know, he wins a gold medal or hits 700 home runs, or 800 home runs or whatever the number is today. Or he has so many goals in hockey or whatever. But it’s at the pinnacle of there athleticism. But not so in the ministry of the Lord.

Paul at the end of his ministry just sat there for about two or three years in prison, in Rome, and they thought perhaps if they gave him time he would just wither away, and the people would just kind of forget about him. But there was something about Paul that his teaching though rejected by the majority, yet was embraced by a few but those few were very strong and committed in their belief. Now a lot of people, just one here and one there but they had a strong commitment and it set their hearts ablaze.

Jesus had just come from riding into Jerusalem on a donkey and the people tossing palms in his path and singing “Hosanna to the King”, wanting to crown Him King, and then the next thing we find he is totally rejected.

That just goes to show that people are finicky, and that people are fickle. You know they can love you one minute and hate you the next. And so don’t be surprised in your Christian walk, if you make enemies. You won’t make enemies as long as you are singing the tune of everyone else. You’ll just be one of the good old boys. But when you begin to sing a tune that God gives you to sing, whether its brother to brother or sister top sister, or friend to friend, you will find that unless you are dealing with seed, You will become hated, you will become rejected. By association you will become hated, and you will become rejected, and that is the way of the cross.

The way of the cross. Even among those who were close to Jesus ran from him in the garden and denied knowing him. These were men like Peter who said, “I’ll die for you Lord.” And yet where was he when the Cock crowed three times. He had rejected His Savior. He had rejected the One that he said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God”. And Jesus had told him, “you didn’t get that from man, you got that from God”. Where was his revelation on that night?

I just ask these questions because I read here from these two Scriptures, because these were precious moments with the Lord Jesus and His Disciples, His friends. But they did not have a clue what was coming. They did not have a clue as to what tomorrow was going to bring, or in fact that very night would bring. And so all I can say is that if we truly believe that Alpha has become Omega, then as a Christian you will not be accepted, not in your community, not amongst the church people, it will be a lonely walk, but people will be blessed by who you are and the revelation that you have. Even the revelation of the doctrine of Christ.

What is interesting is that you can go and you can have great opposition, but there will still be those out there, who are really moved in their hearts by the things that you will say, the things you do, and they will see Jesus Christ manifested in flesh in this day through you.

But we can see great movements. Brother Branham had them, Jesus had them, brother Vayle at one time had them, but if you look at the end of their ministry, when their ministry was the most perfect that it could be, there wasn’t the crowds, there wasn’t the people, there wasn’t the support, there wasn’t the rah, rah! There wasn’t the big swelling moving masses. There was a handful. Just a handful. And Jesus died totally abandoned by God and man. There at the cross was his mother, another woman named Mary and a young teenager called John. And John was I believe 16 when he started following Christ and might have been around 19 at the time of the Cross. Just a young man. It didn’t seem like the start of a mighty move of God did it?

William Branham ministering before 500,000 at Durban South Africa, 300,000 in India. Actually there were more than that because that is how many were converted. But where were they a year later? On the day of Pentecost 3,000 people received a baptism in the Holy Ghost and yet brother Branham said you could be baptized every hour of your life and still go to hell. Where were those 3,000 at the end of the church age? The Apostle Paul had eight at Ephesus? John went to Ephesus with eight people?

I ask these questions because Hebrews 6 tells us that he would be crucified again in this hour. And I believe as Paul said, “ I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live”, therefore it is a daily thing. Its not just a once for all crucifixion. Yes there is a once for all enlightenment that leads to crucifixion. But when the Word comes forth in power and demonstration, and the light shines forth and captures the souls of some, it also manifests the nature of others, and thus the crucifixion.

So as you come forth tonight to take of the emblems I want you to be walking in the shoes that Jesus walked, I want you to be thinking in terms of your own life, your own dedication, your own consecration to the Word. and ask yourself, “Am I walking in His footsteps?”

Must Jesus bear the cross alone and all the world go free? No, there’s a cross for everyone and there’s a cross for me. Let us now bow our heads in a word of Prayer as the brothers return thanks for the elements before us now.