Christ Revealed in His Own Word #77

“The Maturing of the Bride”

Wednesday, February 12, 1997

Brian Kocourek, Pastor Grace Fellowship

 

 

[1 Cor 13: 11] When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, : but when I became a man, I put away childish things...               Prayer

 

This evening I would like to continue from “Christ Revealed in His Own Word” and this is number 77. For the past few weeks we have been studying about this Complete Seed that was sown in the first age  which has come up to a complete body in this last age. We focused our thoughts on what a seed is and how that seed, when planted, will bring forth a crop that is in the same likeness as the seed. We called our little mini series, “The Garden of your Mind”, of which we focused on the mind as it pertains to a garden, because our minds are full of many seeds which are thoughts, of which some are good or righteous, and others are bad, or evil. And we found that as a seed is a carrier of life, our thoughts too are carriers of actions which create an atmosphere, and from this atmosphere reaction occur.

 

We showed how that as with any garden, we must have a plan if we are to harvest or reap the desired outcome of our garden. For you can not just let anything else grow in your garden than what you desire for harvest, or the other seeds will sprout forth as well,  and they will compete with your planted seeds for life. As you know in any garden, if the weeds crop up, they compete with the good crops, not only for room, but for nutrients from the soil as well. The weeds, if not kept in check and under control will many times crowd out and suffocate the good crops, or the crops in which we desire a harvest, because many more are the children of the desolate than she which has a husband.And you should know by experience, that weeds are more plentiful and grow faster  than a harvest crop.

 

So then in order to eliminate the bad seeds, or at least the effects of the bad seeds, we must learn to cultivate the “gardens of our mind”, in order to prepare for a better harvest of the desired planting. Now we all know that the Lord calls us, His planting, and the type of plant that He likens us to are, trees of righteousness” as we see in [Psalm 61:3] and as we also sing the song, that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be Glorified.”

 

And just like any other garden, our garden  is planted according to the purposes of the one who plants it, and for the glory or betterment of the planter. If a person wants to harvest certain types of foods, they must plant the seeds of what they want to harvest. You do not plant a fully developed plant. No, that is called transplanting. But what we plant in the ground is seeds, that when they mature, they will reproduce the plant in every detail seeing that the seed contains the life of the plant, then it also carries the genetic code to reproduce that plant in every detail. So you see, the garden is planted with a desired harvest in mind, and it is up to the one who plants it to watch over it until harvest time. And so besides cultivating out the bad seeds, we are also to make sure that we water and fertilize the garden. And since we are the planting of the Lord, He will do His part in the watering and fertilizing of His garden as well.  And this is what I would like to speak on today. This garden, the garden of our minds, the planting of the Lord, the trees of righteousness, or whatever metaphor we can use to type the Bride of Christ and this Complete Body that Brother Branham spoke about as coming forth. We want to look at the maturing process or the getting ready for harvest process this evening. So with this introduction in mind, let’s begin to read from PP. [88-89] of Christ Revealed in His Own Word”.

 

[88]  A family of friends of mine down in Kentucky just had a little baby born the other day, and the mother was up when they was cooking our dinner. And she was helping the other sister cook dinner for a bunch of us men that'd been out hunting. And so the baby got to crying. I was talking. I think the mother felt a little embarrassed, so she runs and gets the baby, and starts to feed the little fellow. I said, "You know, that's just nature." See? Now, you can't... They have never found any better way for a baby to get what it wants then to cry for it. Now, you might give it a book of ethics, and set down here, and say, "I want to teach you theology, son. Now, don't you go to squalling around here like other kids; you're different. Now, when you want to be fed, you ring this little bell over here." Just don't work. No, it just don't work. So when you watch nature...

 

[89]  Now, we see where every age, and it was directly designed it out that we're in the last age. The shuck has pulled away, and we've had fifteen years, nearly twenty now, years of the message sweeping across from nation to nation, and this morning hooked up across this nation (See?), and no organization. It can't organize. There's nothing ever been like it or will be hereafter. See? The thing that's the matter with the message today is, those who obtain it in their hearts must lay in the presence of the Son to get ripened. See? You can pick up the message, and then let the Son bake all the greenness out of you (See?), make you matured Christians. You see what I mean? God's coming soon to receive His church, and we must have that type of Christians for Him to receive. The wheat's got to get ripe. All right.

 

Now in getting back to the Scripture that we read for our text, let’s open our Bibles again to[1 Cor 13: 11] When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child, : but when I became a man, I put away childish things...             

 

Now, here we see Paul speaking of a certain time in life when we are at a certain level in our maturity. He begins by saying, “When I was a child,” and in using the word “When” we can see that Paul was looking back at a specific period or time frame that was part of his growth cycle or growth process. “When I was a child,” see? And then we are not only looking at this period of time, but now that we are focused on this period he wants to further elucidate to us certain attributes that were associated with that period of time in his life. And therefore he continues by say, “during this time when I was a child,  there were certain attributes that predominated my life, “I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child.”

 

Now, what we may conclude from Paul’s statement here is that the reason we speak as a child is because our understanding is only that of a child, and this is because the way in which we think is only at the stage of that  which is only  a  child. And therefore, our speaking is only a reflection of our thinking, which is an outward manifestation of the condition of our mind. Notice how brother Branham made reference to this when he said that a baby gets what it wants by crying. You can’t expect a baby to ring a bell, or something of that nature. It hasn’t got the functional attributes to do that yet. It is not that the baby doesn’t possess the mental genetics, but those attributes and characteristics have not as yet been exercised to the place of strength and maturity. And so we find Brother Branham pointing to us the simplicity of growth which he types also with our spiritual maturity.

 

And Jesus told us the same thing  in [Luke 6:45]  (read) Notice that he is telling us that out of the abundance or overflow of the heart, which is the understanding, the mouth does speak. So what things you say is dependent upon what you know. I could not in any way expect any of the children in here to stand up here and speak to us concerning Einstein’s theory of relativity. No more than I could expect them to get up here and teach us about the Godhead. They may be able to tell us that there is only one God, and this One God had a Son, and that’s all I  would expect from them at this stage or process in their spiritual growth. But if Brother Branham  were to stand up and that was all he could tell us, then we would not have any higher aspiration to attain unto. Now this is not saying that it would be OK to just stop where we are at. Because the minute you stop, that is the minute you begin to die. God does not expect us to exceed his Prophet either, but as brother Branham has said, I’ll paraphrase, “You are now here and I am up here. One day you too will be up here as far as your understanding is concerned.”  Jesus told us the same thing in [Luke 6:40].

 

And so we are looking at the fact that our words are only a reflector or  reflection of what stage of  growth  we are at.  Now the way for any child to grow up, is that they begin to speak the words which they hear their parents speaking. Sometimes, it may come as a shock to some parents when they hear bad or vulgar words come from the babies mouth as their first words. But the baby can only say words which it has heard. A baby, like any person is limited to words which it hears from others. That is why we need to listen to the Voice  of God on a regular basis.  And just as a baby begins to formulate their little minds to the place where they begin to speak intelligible words, based upon what they hear, so too our minds, spiritually speaking, in order to grow up into the full stature or reflections of our Heavenly Father, must begin to formulate our thoughts into the same Words which He spoke to us. 

 

 [John 5:19, 30] Now, I want you to notice  that Jesus, just like any child, did not have words of his own. We all began our talking by emulating the words which we heard our fathers of mothers speak, and Jesus was no different. [John 7:16-18]  And to tell what kind of words parents speak around the house one has only to listen to their little children.

 

If the children talk about Jesus and the things of God then you will know what goes on in that home. But if the child cusses and uses vulgar  words, then you will also know what kind of atmosphere is in that home. “By their fruits you shall know them.” And we know that the fruits is what they have been taught. It is the teaching for the season they live. And so we see that Jesus as our example, said, I can of mine own self do nothing, What I say, What I do, I have been taught this by my Father. Even the Doctrine I speak is not mine, but His that sent me”.   

 

Jesus told the Pharisees  in [John 8:38] “I speak  that which I have seen with my Father: and you do that which you have seen with your Father.”  And so if we are to grow up into the Image of our Father, we must fist see Him, and then we must recognize what it is that He is doing, that we might conform to this image. [1 Jn 3:1-3] [1 Cor 13:12] Now this knowing comes as  a result of  seeing and experiencing the power and Presence of God. And what Paul is speaking of here is in reference to what he said in verse 9. So let’s read verses 9-12. (read)

 

Now, I think we would all agree, that Jesus was our elder brother, and he set the example for what we should follow after in our growing into the stature of  Sons and Daughters of God.  He was our role model and our absolute for the Life that we desire. [Romans 8:29-30] Now the Weymouth translates it like this: “For those whom He has known beforehand He has also predestined to bear the likeness of His Son, that He might be the Eldest in a vast family of brothers,”  

 

Therefore, we can see that Jesus was the role model that God, our Father, set before us. And Paul tells us himself that we are not to be like children in our thinking forever. He went on to say, [1 Cor 13: 11] But when I became a man, I put away childish things...

 

Now, I would like to ask some of you younger folks in here this question.  Why would a person put away childish things when they become a man? Because the condition of their mind no longer regards those things as important to them.  And we have already seen the answer that Paul gave us. Because when we are a child we think and understand as a child and therefore we hold to childish things as well. But when we grow up in our thinking and understanding, then those things that we held to as children don’t have the same impact on us any longer. Therefore we have passed from that stage of life into another as we see in... [Malachi 3: 16-18]

 

Peter was a pretty practical man and he tells us that when a person has suffered in their body, they no longer have a desire to sin, because their desires are changing with the growth of the spirit. [1 Peter 4:1] And this is true. The suffering in the body is but a process that helps us to turn our real affections in the right direction. And we are looking at the process of maturing here tonight.

 

[John 6:44-45]

 

[John 14:26]

 

[2 Tim 2:2]

 

[Hebrews 5:12]

 

[1 John 2:7]