Christ Revealed In His Own Word #23

Perilous Times

Wednesday Evening, June 25, 1996

Brian Kocourek, Pastor Grace Fellowship Tabernacle

Saturday evening we read from PP. 7 through 14 where we emphasized brother Branham's concern for our getting ready for the Coming of the Lord. Now remember, Appearing and Coming are two different words. To Appear and then to Come. I'd like to read a few quotes from Brother Branham on this subject to refresh your minds. As Peter Said, "We stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance."

E-31 CONVINCED.AND.THEN.CONCERNED CHICAGO.IL 62-0521

Now, John was so sure that he was going to see the Messiah, till he said, "He's in our midst now." Now, watch. Notice. There's a great big difference in the sign of Jesus appearing, and then Jesus coming. There's two different words, means two different things: the appearing of the Lord, and the coming of the Lord. Now, the appearing of the Lord is now, when He's appearing in His people, His Spirit working among them, proving that it's Him with them, getting them ready for the rapture, for the coming of the Lord to catch away His--the Bride (See?): the appearing and the coming. All right. Now, the thing we have to do if we can believe it, and be concerned about it, first we've got to be convinced that it is God. Then when we're convinced, then we are concerned. I like that. All right.

50 END.TIME.EVANGELISM JEFF.IN V-10 N-5 62-0603

Same thing today, when you see His work. Now, we have already seen and are witnessing the appearing of the Lord. Now remember, appearing and coming is two different words: to appear and then to come. Now is the appearing; He's already appeared in these last days, right here with us in the last few years. Now, it's a sign of His coming. He's appearing in His Church in the form of the Holy Spirit, showing that it's Him, 'cause people cannot do these things that you see the Holy Spirit doing; so that's the appearing of the Lord. Now, you remember, it spoke both places, "appearing" and "coming."

E-58 LETTING.OFF.THE.PRESSURE S.PINES.NC 62-0609E

I believe (as we preached last night), that the appearing of the Lord comes before the coming of the Lord," for it's just two different words altogether. See? Now's the appearing, as He promised in the last days that He'd be with us. And what a Refuge, and what a consolation it is, Christians, that we can stand here tonight in the Presence of God in the face of His Word, and the impossibilities that He's promised in here, we can see manifested right before us. What a wonderful thing. If that isn't a Refuge, if that isn't a haven of rest, I don't know what would be, to see Jesus,...

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You know, there's a difference between the appearing of Christ and the coming of Christ. That's two different words altogether. He's appearing now in His church. We see Him; we know it's Him. It's the Holy Spirit. See? We know it is. Now. We believe that the Holy Spirit is God.

E-66 BE.NOT.AFRAID SOUTH.GATE.CA 62-0620

There's a different word used. The appearing of Christ and the coming of Christ (See?), it's two different words altogether. See? Now, Christ is appearing in these last days in His church, bringing His church together in unity, and faith, and power in the Word, all together; that when He returns He will find the same church.

E-102 FROM.THAT.TIME SPOKANE.WA 62-0713

How many knows there's a difference between the appearing of Christ and the coming of Christ? It's two different words. Now's the appearing, the coming will soon be. He's appearing in the midst of us, doing the works that He once did, in His church. Now, you're a part of that church, and by grace you believe. I am a member of that church. Now, I'm not a preacher. You know I'm not. I have not the education to do it. Sometimes I feel reluctant standing here by men of God, who's called to that office. There are apostles, prophets, teachers, pastors, and evangelists. Not all are apostles, not all are prophets, not all are teachers, not all evangelists. I'm standing here... But my ministry is a different ministry from a pastor or teacher. I'm--I'm not. And if I say things wrong, brethren, forgive me. I don't mean it. But this is my ministry (See?) to declare Him, that He's here.

E-76 WE.WOULD.SEE.JESUS SANTA.MARIA.CA 62-0627

Remember, appearing and coming is two different words. See? He's appearing now in the church, showing Himself alive after two thousand years. "Sirs, we would see Jesus."

E-81 GOD.HAS.A.PROVIDED.WAY VICTORIA.BC 62-0728

Even the disciples said, "Why does the scribes say Elias must first come?" Said, "Elias has already come and you didn't know it." Goes over your head and you don't know it. Don't miss it. The Holy Spirit, Christ is here. Now, remember these two words before I leave you: the appearing of Christ and the coming of Christ is two different things. Christ is now appearing in the fullness of His power. His coming will be afterwards: His appearing before His coming. God be merciful.

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No wonder then Paul could say,... "I fought a good fight; I finished the course; I've kept the faith: henceforth, there's laid up for me a crown of righteousness, the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me at that day: not only me, but all that love His appearing." When you're sick and tired of this whole life, and you love the appearing of the Lord Jesus better than you love your food at the table, or your wife, or your children, then there's a crown laid up for you, not a gold crown they put upon your head, but a body free from pain ... crowned in the glory of God, crowned in the immortality of Jesus Christ. That's what's laid up for you, that the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give you it that day. That's the day we look forward to. God has made a way of escape for every one of us, certainly He has.

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His appearing here tonight has brought us the assurance that He's a living, and He's anointed us. And His Presence is here now,

Now in getting ourselves ready we focused on the thought where brother Branham said, When Jesus said in the Bible to "Owe no man nothing. "He was speaking of lingering debts that you could pay. Pay them. That's owing no man nothing. It doesn't mean... My, we owe our rent, our telephone bill, and what more. We owe those things, and we pay them. But an old lingering debt that you could be paying on, pay it off. See? Now, don't go with anything hanging on you like that.

We find here that he tells us that this is part of the getting ourselves ready for the Second Coming. He then used an illustration of how a person brings a reproach not only on himself but on the Church and Message as well if they do not do this. Brother Branham told us that if we can't pay our debts that we should at least be manly enough to tell our debtor that we can't, but we will make a good faith effort to do so as much as we can afford to pay each month. And then he said, " And you remember, it's on God's books too, ... So, I'm trying to for myself and for all of us together, try to be ready, for we know we're getting near something, very near of something's going to take place. So we want to be ready. When the coming of the Lord is drawing so nigh now, we want to be ready for that great hour.

And so we see that part of our getting ourselves ready is the creating an atmosphere of trust and honesty. And with this as our review, I would like to move on today into this wonderful Message of Christ Revealed in His Own Word, this being number 23 in our series.

15 CHRIST.REVEALED.IN.HIS.OWN.WORD JEFF.IN V-4 N-10 65-0822M

Now, we want to get ready and speak now on a little subject here that I chose for this morning by the help of the Lord. And we'll speak just as briefly as we can, because of the hookup of the people. I hope you all got a--all across the nation, got a fine morning like we have here in Indiana: nice, cool, fine weather, we're having now since the rain, and it's very fine. 16 Now, I want to read from the Book of Hebrews the 1st chapter and from the Book of St. John the 1st chapter. Hebrews 1:1-3 and St. John 1:1 for a text. My subject this morning is a study in the Scriptures. Now, let's read

[Hebrews 1:1-3]:God, who at sundry times... divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, But in these last days spoke unto us by his Son, who he has appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the world; Who being in the brightness of his glory, and... expressed image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, set down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;........ What a beautiful reading.

Now, [St. John 1:1:] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

17 CHRIST.REVEALED.IN.HIS.OWN.WORD JEFF.IN V-4 N-10 65-0822M

Now, and my text this morning is: "Christ Is Revealed In His Own Word." Now, where I come to the conclusion to talk on this was, because that... Knowing that what we say we mustn't just say because we're gathered together to just haphazardly speak on anything, but it's something that will help stabilize the people, for we are going to pass through dangerous, treacherous waters. We're already sailing through them. And sometimes, I guess it's with you like it is with me, that seems like that so much of it, it's such a scary. 18 I was just talking to a young minister and his wife in the room just a few moments ago. And both of them are nervous just like the rest of the world, rest of the human beings on earth. I said, "Remember, Satan's got a punch coming at you." I don't care who you are, God... He's got a right to that one punch. Which had you rather be, that punch, be blind, or be an arthritic setting in a chair, or be nervous? See? He's got somewhere he could punch you. He's got a right to that open place. Now, that's the spot you got to keep covered all the time.

Now I want you to think very soberly and seriously about what God's Prophet is telling us here. Because after all, he is trying to get us ready for the Rapture and the going home of the Bride. So what he has to tell us will help us become ready if we take it to heart. And also I want you to remember the quote we read in the beginning of the review this evening. Brother Branham told us that the Appearing is where our refuge should be because as long as we are in Christ we are safe from these dangerous waters that we are moving through. And what are these dangerous waters? Before I read them to you from the Word of God, I want you to focus on this one thought tonight. And that is this, " As we move forward through these perilous times, we will be constantly buffeted by our weakness in this flesh. Now Brother Branham told us here that the Devil has a right to punch you in your one place of weakness, and so we must keep that open place covered. You see, as long as we keep our weakness covered up, then the devil has no place to punch. And that is the key. As long as it is not covered he has a right because you give him that right, but if you keep it covered up he can not get to that weakness.

What brother Branham is telling you is nothing knew here. He was a professional boxer and was trained to fight. And the first thing you learn in boxing is to cover your face and front with your hands and arms. Because if you get hit directly in the face or the chest or stomach, you will be winded and weakened, losing what strength you have left. And so we see the natural typing the spiritual. He is talking about a fight here. Now in any good fighting strategy you want to catch the enemy off guard. And so what do you do to catch them off guard? You sometimes use whatever means of distraction that you can. During WW2 the Germans used misinformation to keep the enemy away from their real plans. A false front they called it. In chess you do the same thing. You get your opponent to thinking that you are after a certain piece of his on the board and actually you are setting him up for a larger kill. You might sacrifice a few of the smaller pieces to do it but the objective is to distract and capture.

And so we see that the devil has set our minds on the great deception in order to distract our attention from the real thing that is our refuge and our strength in times of trouble.

[ Psalm 9: 7 - 10] Notice here we see that at the time that the White throne Judgment is to be set up, there will be times of trouble. But we are not to fear, because The Lord will be here and He is our Refuge in times of trouble.

[ Psalm 46: 1 - 11] Here we see that throughout the times of trouble God will be here and He will be our refuge. Although the world look to be in chaos, yet He is preparing a city for us. And if you have ever watched construction take place, it is a mess. Dirt bulldozed into piles and large holes opened up into the earth and trees cut and rock moved. What you have is an interruption in the peace of the earth, but what is coming forth is a place of dwelling where our peace and tranquillity come. In this case the earth must be changed to endure forever and must make way for the mountain of God to come forth and take it's place.

[ Psalm 27: 1-5] Now brother Branham used this scripture to take His text for the Rapture Message. And I want you to notice how David speaks of a time of trouble. And yet notice how we are told that during this time of trouble we are to keep our focus on Him Who is our Refuge. Now David also said, In this time of trouble He would hide us in His Secret place. And where is that Place? [ Psalm 31: 19-20]

[ 2 Timothy 3: 1 - 17] But thou continue in the things you have learned. That means you must stay focused.

AMPLIFIED: But understand this, that in the last days there will set in perilous times of great stress and trouble - hard to deal with and hard to bear. For people will be lovers of self and utterly self-centered, lovers of money and aroused by inordinate and greedy desire for wealth, proud and arrogant and contemptuous boasters. They will be abusive, blasphemous and scoffers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane. They will be without natural human affection, in fact callous and inhuman, relentless-admitting of no truce or appeasement. They will be slanderers-false accusers, trouble makers; intemperate and loose in morals and conduct, uncontrolled and fierce, haters of good. They will be treacherous betrayers, rash and inflated with self-conceit. They will be lovers of sensual pleasures and vain amusements more than and rather than lovers of God. For although they hold a form of devotion and sanctity, they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it - their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession. Avoid all such people-turn away from them. For among them are those who worm their way into churches and captivate silly and weak-natured and spiritually dwarfed church members, loaded down with the burdens of their sins, and easily swayed and led away by various evil desires and seductive impulses, These weak women will listen to anybody who will teach them; they are forever inquiring and getting information, but are never able to arrive at a recognition and knowledge of The Truth. Now just as Jannes and Jambres were hostile to and resisted Moses, so these men also are hostile to and oppose The Truth. They have depraved and distorted minds, and are reprobate and counterfeit and to be rejected as far as The Faith is concerned. But they will not get very far, for their rash folly will become obvious to everybody, as was those men mentioned. Now you have closely observed and diligently followed my teaching, conduct, purpose in Life, patience, Love, Steadfastness. Persecutions, sufferings, such as occurred to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra, persecutions I endured, but out of them all the Lord delivered me. Indeed all who delight in Holiness and are determined to living a devoted and Godly life in Christ Jesus will meet with persecution-that is, will be made to suffer because of their religious stand. But wicked men and imposters will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and leading astray others and being deceived and led astray themselves. But as for you, continue to hold to the things that you have learned and of which you are convinced, knowing from whom you learned them. ... 16 Every Scripture is God-breathed, given by His Inspiration - and profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience, and for training in righteousness which is holy living in conformity to God's will, in your thoughts, purpose and actions. So that the man of God may be complete and proficient, well-fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work.

So we see then that there is coming a time of trouble, and Brother Branham said we are now sailing through the sea of troubles. But notice the Message we see here in the Psalms and 2 Timothy 3. During these times we are to stay focused and tucked into the cleft of the Rock. In other words, we are to keep our weak spot covered from the darts of the enemy. Now how do we do this? By staying focused on Christ Who is Here. And He is the Word. And then we are covered by His Blood. [ 1 John 1: 7]