Christ is the Mystery no. 102

You can not be right and think your own thoughts

July 21, 2013

Brian Kocourek

Isaiah 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: 11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper [in the thing] whereto I sent it."

Questions and answers COD - 54-0103E You've got to repent and die daily to live in Jesus Christ. So every day, every day, you've got to die, every day to live in Christ Jesus. (And don't ever forget that to repent is to change the mind). You'll never make it with your mind.

Jeremiah 4:14 O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?

Sirs we would see Jesus 61-1224 P:39 So if we ourselves then in our ministry, and in our thoughts, and in our life, if we abide as we are, we can do no good. We've got to also die at the altar, or we'll live alone; we'll live to some denomination or some creed; we'll live to some organization. But if we die to ourselves, then the Holy Spirit will be spread forth everywhere by our lips. We've got to die. We must realize that we've got to die in order to bring forth new life. So He said so much in this, "If you want to see Me, you must die, die to yourself, and then you'll bring forth a new life."

Proverbs 16:3 Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.

And if our thoughts are established right, they will be rightly wise.

Proverbs 12:5 The thoughts of the righteous are right: but the counsels of the wicked are deceit.

And so what distinguishes a righteous man from a wicked man? His thoughts first and then his actions.

Psalms 10:4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.

Brother Branham has taught us the simple principle that before you can actually do the sinful act in your flesh, you must first have to think of it in your mind. Therefore the Greatest battle ever fought is in the mind, where the seeds of righteousness and unrighteousness are sown. Now since we know that God created man in his own image, then we must also consider that just as God brings forth into manifestation His thoughts and desires of His heart, so does man do the same.

Water of separation - 55-0121 It's an individual affair, not of groups of people. But it's to you as an individual, that you yourself, as a sole human being might, notice, might forsake your own thoughts. As long as you have your own thoughts, your own ways, your ways are contrary to God's ways. And you cannot be right and think your own thoughts, for you've got to die to your own thoughts

Notice two things there, you can't be right and that's the heart and mind, and then do right, and that is the action that comes forth from your thinking.

Jeremiah 6:19 Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it.

Sirs we would see Jesus - 61-1224 A real disciples says, "you've got to die." "How do I know when I'm dead?" When you recognize all this Word to be the Truth, then the Word begins to live in you." Well," you say, "but our church teaches..." I don't care what your church teaches; it's what the Bible says.

So it is not just being able to recognize, but to actually do what you recognize, as brother Branham said in his sermon, "Hearing, Recognizing and Acting upon the Word of God." and let's face it, unless you hear, you can not recognize, and unless you recognize you can not act upon the Word of God. And Faith comes by hearing.

And it is not just the hearing with your ears we are talking about, because Jesus said in Matthew 13:10-17 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? 11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. 13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. 14  And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: 15  For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. 16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. 17  For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

Letting off the pressure - 62-0518 The Name of the Lord is a mighty tower: the righteous run into it and are safe." Now, you can't come through some creed or something like that. you've got to die and come to it. You got to walk into it, and die to yourself, and raise anew. And then every word of God becomes a reality...Could you imagine a man having the baptism of the Holy Spirit, that wrote the Bible, and then say, "The days of miracles is past"? Could you imagine a man, no matter how deep he is in theology, or what-more, deny the very Word of the Bible, that the Holy Ghost wrote, and say the Holy Ghost is in him?

Psalms 33:11 The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.

Why - 62-0622E 40Now, we know that any birth is a mess. I don't care if it's in a pigpen or if it's in a pink decorated hospital room. Any birth is a mess, and the new birth is nothing less. It's a mess. That's right. It'll make you boo-hoo, and cry, and carry on, like you was in the awfull-est mess you was ever in. But it'll do you good. Jesus said, "Except a corn of wheat falls in the ground and dies, it abides alone." And the people don't want to die. You want to be alive in the world. And still you want to be religious. So you accept an intellectual conception of it. And then, when you do that, you're still dead in sin and trespasses. And that's what makes people act and do the way they do, because the spirit that's in them dominates their life.  41. Say, "Well, other people do this." Well, you're not like the other people. You are dead, and your life is hid in God through Christ and sealed by the Holy Spirit. See, you didn't try the toxin. It's just because the people don't want to try it. Now, you've got to die. You've got to rot. That's the trouble of people, instead going up to the altar and get some kind of sensation, jump up, and shake hands with the preacher, go out and get some kind of a dogma or creed and recite it, and say, "I belong to So-and-so. I belong to So-and-so." "Are you a Christian?" "I'm So-and-so." A Christian is to be Christ-like. Christ-like is to believe the Word. If you don't believe the Word, then he can't be Christ-like. How can you say you're a Christian and deny half of the Word? If the Holy Spirit wrote the Word, the Holy Spirit confirms the Word. And the Holy Spirit is the Word. And the Word abiding in you brings God's promises to every believer. Amen, the word means "so be it." I believe it with all my heart. It's the Word of the living God. Amen.  42. Notice. Yes, the new birth... They don't want to die. Now, they've substituted something for new birth.

Word become flesh India trip 54-1003M P:80 Now, you can express it by mental conception, but if it becomes a real revelation of God, that you see it before it happened, and express it in word form, that word takes a hold and becomes material: a thought expressed. Oh, my, how God could... See? If your heart and your mind is so, and infilled with God's Spirit, until your thoughts become His thoughts... Amen. There you are. When your mind, and your leading, and your guiding, becomes a direct place, or a direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit that's moving your mortal being... Oh, my. What kind of people should we be? If the very Holy Spirit has you so embodied or empowered, that you don't use your own thoughts, you don't use your own mind, you don't use your own opinion; but the Holy Spirit has you so built, until your thoughts and your being is God's Spirit expressing Itself through you, what kind of a church would we be? What kind of a people would it be, this morning, if this Branham Tabernacle, this morning, was so filled with the Presence of God, why, when you didn't even use your own mind, didn't even use your own thoughts, didn't even have no alternative of your own, but just to be led by the Spirit...?

Wisdom :s faith 62-0401 P:72vIn the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. See? The Word was in God; It was God. It was His thoughts that was with Him always. There... God's thoughts is as eternal as God is. Amen! That ain't skim milk, brother. See? Here it comes! God's thoughts was His Word. In the beginning... (That's in eternity now, when beginning first started, time)... In the beginning was the Word,... (God's thoughts)... and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. See? His thoughts is what He was. That's you too. What's your thoughts are is what you are. No matter what you try to live by something else, your thoughts is what you are. You might go along and act like a nice fellow, but in your heart you're an adulteress, and whatever it is, that's what you are, your thoughts. And God's thoughts was His Word, that was with Him and in Him, and It was God. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And that Word was made flesh. God's thoughts was expressed in a human body, made flesh and dwelled among us. There you are.

Spiritual adoption 56-0923 P:26 In order to stay with God, stay gentle. God is gentle. In order to stay with God, stay with love. God is love. Stay meek; stay self... Don't never be self-sufficient. Always rely upon Him. Never use your own mind. Take His thoughts. Let His thoughts be your thoughts. And take them into your carnal mind and repeat them over, say, "O God, take all my doubt away and let my thoughts be Your thoughts." And you sick people do that as we're speaking. Just take away, cast away the thought of sickness. Take God's healing thought. Let them become your thoughts. Think upon these things, the Bible said, if there be any praise, if there be any virtue.

Word become flesh India trip 54-1003M P:95 It's got to be a change (Here it is.), a change of the heart, not of this physical thing, but the heart of your soul. In something anchors, till your thoughts that way is dull; you don't see that no more. You just see the Lord Jesus. You see righteousness, and holiness, and purity, and love, and grace. That's when you've been changed. What is a convert? "Convert" means "to change something over." And your thoughts, your habits, your being, has been changed from a sinner to a Christian. First thing, you know it in your heart; then you express it with your lips; and then it materializes, and that's what you are. Now, if you think that you think it (what a word!), but you imagine you think it, and you express it, and it doesn't materialize, then you're on the wrong road. You get it? Maybe I better talk a little slower. Look, if you imagine you're a Christian, and you speak it out with your lips, but you find out that you're not, you better get your thoughts changed, get your heart changed (See?), because it doesn't bear the record, it doesn't bear fruit of it. "But the fruit of the Spirit is gentleness, peace, long-suffering, goodness, mercy, faith." If every little thing comes along, and you fly up at it, better be careful. There's something hasn't happened. You're expressing something here, that's not here.

Word become flesh India trip 54-1003M P:82 Our thoughts run different. A lot of times we walk up, say "How do you do, brother?" And you don't mean it in your heart. A lot of times we say, "I am this and that. I will do that." You don't mean it in your heart. See? I don't mean it in my heart. But when you can become so dead to the things of the world, that Christ is first, Christ is all, then your entire makeup is of the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, He has full control. That's when your thoughts will be clean. Your thoughts will be pure. Your heart, your heart...

Balm in Gilead 59-1124 P:23 Now, we take a grain of corn, put it in the ground. It may be a pretty grain of corn, all polished up, looks real nice. But as long as it remains in that condition, that's all it'll ever be, a pretty grain of corn. Sometimes we join church, lot of pretty things in it, and so forth. Maybe we try to pretty ourself up to go to church, get a new something another to wear to church. Is that all church means to you? Then I'm persuaded you need a new birth. It's exactly right. That grain of corn will never produce any new life until the old grain rots away from it. And a person at the altar can't get down there, and kneel down, and get up, and say, "Well, I've got new birth." You have to stay there until all of your thoughts of your own self and all your worldly things has rottened away from you: dead, and rotten, and gone from you. Then new birth takes place. Oh, you might slobber and jabber, and slobber like a horse eating clover. But you'll come up from there in a new condition with a new birth, and something in you that's alive, and made you something different than what you was. When new birth comes in, it cannot come until there's a death first. And people don't want to die. They don't want the simple leadings of the Holy Spirit. They want to take their own thinking of it. You can't think your thoughts. You got to think His thoughts. "Let the mind that was in Christ be in you." Amen. He thinks God's thoughts, brings God's blessings, God's power to you. And it'll make a mess out of you, as far as the world is concerned, but it'll bring new life. It'll bring resurrecting life. It'll bring new thoughts. It'll bring a new person. It'll bring a new faith. It'll bring you from death unto life.

Jesus Christ the same 55-0806 P:19 Now, here's what happens. When a man starts out, he will go to reason. He will go to the schools of theology. And he will go from church to church and wonder if this one's got the truth, or if that one's got the truth. Or he will take his membership from one church to another. You should never do that. You should put your membership in heaven on the Book of Life. And there it'll be forever. Now, all churches, Christian churches, has good meanings, every one of them, and I believe every one of them has truth. And now, I don't mean to try to say now they don't have all the truth. Sure, I believe... If they believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that's the truth. Amen. Now, but what a man will do, he will hear a little something and keep moving his--his papers. Well now, you'll never find Christ moving your papers. You have to move your thoughts. You have to move your thinking, and get away from reason and move your thoughts from your own way of thinking to what God thinks. "Let the mind that was in Christ Jesus be in you." And then when you begin to think His thoughts, you'll begin to live His life and do the things that He did. See what I mean? Now, because it's not you; it's Christ.

Token the 63-1128E P:59 And if the Life of Jesus Christ lives in the person, they become identified with Him. It's Christ in you, not a church member, not a system, but a resurrected power. It's the Holy Ghost is a Token upon you, that your life says "amen" to every Scripture. The promise is written in there. And you're not yourself no more. You are Christ's. You don't think your thoughts. You don't think your thoughts. You say, "I think." You have no thought coming. The Life that was in Christ is in you. The mind that was in Christ is in you. The works that was in Christ is in you, and Christ Himself is in you. You are dead; your life is hid in God through Christ, sealed in there by the Holy Ghost. You're not your own.

Queen of Sheba 58-0208 P:11 Jesus had just been called Beelzebub. His ministry had been questioned, and He had discerned their thoughts and know what they were thinking. Isn't it wonderful and such a consolation to know tonight that He still knows our thoughts and what we're thinking? Your thoughts is louder in heaven than your voices on earth, for He is a discerner of the thoughts of the mind. His Word is sharper and quicker than a two-edged sword, piercing even to the thoughts of the mind.

Leadership 65-1207 P:104 What do you look like? What are you following? What have we done? You must choose your leader. Choose today. You choose Life or death. Your choice will determine your eternal destination, what you choose. Remember, Jesus said, "Follow Me." And you're invited tonight to do so. And to follow Him to Eternal Life you must come on His terms (That's right.), the Word, not upon the creed, not upon the public opinion, not upon what anybody else thinks about It, but on what God said about It. You say, "Well, Brother Branham, I know a woman just as good as she can be; she does this. I know a man that went through this." I can't help what they done. God's Word, and He said, "Let every man's word be a lie, and Mine be the Truth." You've got to come on His terms, come on His conditions, the Word. You cannot come through creed; you cannot come through denomination; you cannot mix It like that. There's only one thing you can do: accept It on His terms, that you're willing to die to yourself and all your thoughts, and follow Him. "Get rid of all the things of the world, and follow Me."

God hiding Himself in simplicity 63-0412E P:132 When you surrender fully, He'll come in fully. But until you surrender, He can't come in fully. Surrender. Surrender your thoughts; surrender your thinking; surrender your life; surrender your all; surrender your prestige. Surrender everything to Him now, and He'll come in and fill you with the Holy Ghost.

Guide a 62-1014E P:25 He doesn't want you to rely on your own understanding. God does not want you to rely on your understanding, or your thoughts, or any manmade thoughts.

Now, that brings us to our next point, and that is God knows your thoughts, so you will never fake it till you make it. He knows your thoughts, if you're a hypocrite or not. Proverbs 15:26 The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the LORD: but the words of the pure are pleasant words. Now, how could they be an abomination unless he could know the very thoughts of the heart?

Matthew 9:4 And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?

Psalms 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalms 94:11 The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.

Hebrews 4:12 For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Job 21:27 Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me.

So in getting back to our main thought which is you can not possibly be right if yoru thoughts are not right first. Because out of the abundance of the heart comes forth wehat is good and what is evil.

Luke 6:45 45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. 46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? 47  Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: 48  He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. 49 But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

Matthew 12:35 A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.

Matthew 15:19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:

Mark 7:21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders,

Notice that Jesus tells us that the words we speak come forth from the abundance of our heart. And the word heart as we know, means the understanding which is the compilation of all of our thoughts. Therefore our actions and speech are only the fruitage which comes forth to manifest the seed-life within.

In Genesis 1:11 we see the law of reproduction that every seed must bring forth after it's own kind or nature. Therefore, the life that is in the seed must become manifest. And therefore, whatsoever life is in the seed will come forth in an outward manifestation in due season. Our thoughts then are the seeds of our actions. And therefore if a man is righteous, it is because he has righteous thoughts.

In Proverbs 23:7 we read, "For as a man thinketh in his heart so is he." And so we see that a man is what he thinks in his heart. Therefore, man is literally what he thinks, and therefore his character is the sum of all of his thoughts. "As every plant springs forth from a seed that was hidden in the earth, and could not have began without a seed, so too every action that we do, springs forth from a seed that was planted in our minds as a thought." Therefore our actions manifest what thoughts lay in our heart.

Jeremiah 23:20 The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.

Your mind then is likened to a garden which will grow forth fruit, whether good or bad depending on what we do with it. In a natural garden we plant the seeds that we want to bring to harvest. We cultivate our garden so that no weeds will grow in it. It takes work, but if we sow we shall also reap. The problem is that there is another who also wishes to sow in our minds as well. Jesus tells the parable of the two sowers who went forth sowing seeds. The First was the Son of Man and the other one was the devil. The Son of Man sowed forth good seed which was the Word of God. But the devil sowed his own word seed which brought forth tares or weeds. Now we are likened as to husbandmen who are responsible for this garden. We are supposed to act a good stewards of the Good seed which is the Word of God. But if we are not really interested in what kind of harvest we shall reap, then we do not cultivate the good seed. We just let whatever grows to grow. And this will result in the weeds overtaking the seeds every time.

Weeds will always outgrow the True planting of the Lord because after all they are wild. And we know that "many more are the children of the harlot than she which has a husband." All you have to do is to look at our nations welfare rolls today and see that most of the welfare today is do to illegitimate births. 69% of the Blacks born today are illegitimate at birth and I imagine the welfare rolls reflect the same numbers. And so we see that every deed is first committed in the heart, or mind.

The Bible tells us, "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he." Therefore we are the product of our thoughts just as any fruit is product of the seed that was planted in the ground. That is why we are told to cast down any thought that would exalt itself against the Word of God.

2 Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Notice that we are told to bring every thought into obedience to the Word of God.

Matthew 12:33 Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.

Luke 3:8-9 Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, That God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. 9 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

If we are righteous it is because we think righteous thought. And if you have your source from God then you will not be able to help but to think God's thoughts. Remember the parable of the two sowers. They both sowed seed, but the Seed from the Son of Man was called he good seed. And we see that a good plant will only produce a good fruit.

Matthew 7:17-19 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.

Luke 6:43-45  A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.

Let us pray...