Christ is the
Mystery no 145
Christian
Life no 25
Confirmation
of the commission
Brian Kocourek, Pastor
Before we go to the Word of God for our text this evening, i would like to read a couple emails I received from
brethren recently. The first is from br. Don Hoffman
who travelled with me to
Br. Brian, I
was just communicating with brother Matias ( the song
leader ) in Cordoba,
And another email sent from
Brother, Yesterday I was talking to my wife about a certain woman whom I
prayed for, was healed from cancer, she is not a believer of this message of
the hour, her leg was completely black, swollen up and dry, eaten up by cancer,
the doctors recommended it to be amputated but she refused, she dint want to
have one leg. Last Sunday I went to preach at Kaphikamtama,
one of our churches, after the service as I was passing by the house where this
woman was staying, I heard a calling “pastor” then I stopped and turned around, it was the woman whom I had prayed for. She said
pastor I am healed, can you see my leg, its clean, I am putting on shoes. She
went for tests, the doctor confirmed that she had no
cancer. She said, I wanted to come to your home to tell you but I did not know
where you were staying. I just told her to thank God who is the healer of all
our diseases and make her life right with God and fulfill all righteousness.
Indeed Jesus Christ is the same Yesterday, Today and Forever.
Br. Enock.
This evening we will
continue in our study of Christ is the Mystery of
God Revealed, and this will be no. 145 in our series, and number 25
in our minis series on the Christian Life. I would like to entitle this
Confirmation of the Commission.
But before we go to brother
Branham's Message, let's open our Bibles to Mark 16 and John
Mark
Look how skeptical
and guarded the brethren were of each other. even to
the point of denying anyone's testimony
who had any experience that they themselves did not have. But it's always been
that way. The brother rejected Joseph because God showed him things he didn't
show his brothers. But is that righteous grounds for skepticism? I think not. he actually calls it unbelief and hardness of heart as we
see in the next verse.
14 Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at
meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart,
because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. 15 And he said unto them, Go
ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every
creature.16 He that believeth and is baptized shall
be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 17 And these signs
shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils;
they shall speak with new tongues; 18 They shall
take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them;
they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Notice after he commissions
them he tells them that there will be a confirmation of their commission, and that confirmation are supernatural signs that will take
place in their lives. so what he is saying here is
that there will be an identifiable confirmation that they have been sent by
Him, and that identifiable confirmation or seal that they have the goods to
preach , is that He will back up there calling with supernatural exploits.
And now let's turn in our
Bibles to John 14 and we will begin reading at verse 12.
John
18 I will not leave you
comfortless: (that word is orphanos, or in English
Orphans. he says I will not leave you orphans. So when is an orphan no longer
an orphan? And the answers is when he is adopted.) I will come to you.
19 Yet a little while, and
the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I
live, ye shall live also. 20 At that day ye shall
know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in
you. 21 He that hath my
commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth
me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will
love him, and will manifest myself to him.
Now, the question is, how
will He manifest Himself to you? By manifesting Himself in
you and through you.
Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up
Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall
also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth
in you. 12 Therefore,
brethren, we are debtors, not to self, to live after self. 13 For if ye
live after self, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the
deeds of the body, ye shall live. 14 For as many as are led by
the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 15 For ye
have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the
Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16 The
Spirit Itself will bear witness with your spirit, that you are the children
of God:
So how then will The
Spirit which is God's Spirit bear witness with your spirit that you are indeed
His Children? because His Spirit will bring your
spirit into subjection and you will do what He shows you to do.
The very word bear
witness means that God will be in you and His Spirit in you will identify or
confirm in you that he is working in you to will and to do.
Philippians 2:13 For it is God which works in you both
to will and to do of his good pleasure.
Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a
good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus
Christ:
2 Thessalonians 2:16 Now our
Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and
hath given us everlasting consolation and good
hope through grace, 17 Comfort your hearts, and stablish (confirm) you in
every good word and work.
Notice we have the promise that it will be the very God himself Who will confirm these things in you. And How
does he confirm these things in you? By doing them Himself just as He did with
his own son. It is God which works in you both to
will and to do
Hebrews 13:20 Now the God of peace, that brought again
from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the
blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 Make you perfect (He will make you mature and a finished
product) in every good work to do his will,
working in you that which is well pleasing
in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Whose working in you? God Himself promised to work in you. Oh, brothers and
sisters, what a
beautiful promise we have of His glorious presence, His glorious
Life living itself out in us to first will and then to do. And it's Him that is
willing in us and it is Him that is doing the work which he promised we would
do.
Romans
Glorified together. Endoxazo, In doxa
zoe, in you the doxa which
is the values, and opinions of God expressing or manifesting themselves in your
zoe, in your life.
18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this
present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory (the doxa) which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waits for the
manifestation (the apokolupsis, the
revealing) of the sons of God.
20 For the creature was made subject to vanity,
not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the
same in hope, 21 Because the creature itself
also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious
liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole
creation groaneth and travaileth
in pain together until now.
23 And not only they, but ourselves
also, which have the firstfruits of The Spirit,
even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
Now, this brings us to our
thoughts tonight that we will study from brother Branham's sermon, Christ is the Mystery pp. 224 Remember.
Think of it, that people borned of His Spirit in a day like this, in this great
denominational age that we live, and the living God takes His living Word
and vindicates It personally. This Life that's in the Word, the germ
that's in the Seed (and the Word is the Seed that a sower
went forth to sow), and the Life is Christ in the Word personally in you,
vindicating something that you cannot do, proving Hisself
that it's not you, but it's Him. And you become one, a love slave to Him to
be a Bride.
Now, notice his words here. He says when you have
received the confirmation within you of the very Life of Christ living itself
out from you, that is God vindicating in you that you have His Word abiding in
you. Now, that is what he's saying people.
I know there are people who have a hard time with this
but this is Scripture what brother Branham is saying here. Jesus said the same
thing.
John 15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide
in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
Now, just before He made this promise to the
believer, Jesus said, in John 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch
cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye,
except ye abide in me. So
there is your key to what he is saying right there. It's not you being
able of yourself as though you have some power in your own, but if you abide in
Him and His Living word abides in you then ask what you will and it will be
done. He then says,
5 I am the vine, ye are
the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Now, just as Jesus said, the son can of His own self
do nothing, so neither can you or I do anything except we abide in Him, then we
ask and he does it.
Now, in his sermon, Confirmation
of the Commission, preached
23 To
make hisself identified he has to have his papers
with the seal upon them, that to confirm his statement that he is a
United States marshal; or, he's nothing until he's confirmed to be that. He has
confirmed his commission, and he does it by a sealed statement, a declaration
to show that this man has been sworn in, and he's been... His commission has
been sealed with the seal of the
27 Now, we realize that Jesus said here in Mark the 16th chapter, that all that He sent out on
commission would bear the confirmation: These signs shall follow them
that believe. Now, He didn't say they maybe they will follow, or they
might follow. He said, "Go ye into all the
world..." Now, somebody wants to chop that commission off two thousand
years ago. But He said, "All the world, to every
creature..." These signs shall follow in all the
world and to every creature (See?), and that was the signs that was to
follow to approve the identification.
28 The
Bible said the Gospel came to us not in word only, but through the power,
manifestations of the Holy Ghost. In other words, it's the Holy Ghost taking the
Word of God and making It manifest. See? And otherwise the only way that the
signs of Mark 16 can follow the believer is that the Holy Spirit Himself takes
the Word of God and demonstrates it to the people. That's it.Now,
faith makes that Word live. See, the Word is God. "In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." And then Jesus
said, "If ye abide in Me and My Word in you, ask
what you will and it'll be done for you." See? That's staying with Christ
in the Word. Don't go right or left; stay right with it. See? And then it's
actually not your word then; it's His Word, and His Word has the power and
authority behind It.
29 Now,
and if the Holy Spirit, which is God's Word, or the power of God's Word, comes
in with God's Word, it'll make God's Word display Itself. "Go ye into all the
world and demonstrate the Gospel to every creature. (See?) He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved; he that believeth not shall be damned. And these signs shall
follow them that believe." What a beautiful setting that is. If we would just go deep
now and listen, that was the credentials that was
to hang onto every man that went forth preaching the Gospel. And no man
has a right to preach the Gospel without the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
Jesus would not let Peter, James, John, any of the rest of them, preach the
Gospel until they waited in the city of Jerusalem until the Holy Ghost had
filled them, because it's the Holy Ghost that makes the Word of God go into
action. See?
30 Now,
that same Word is just as alive tonight as it was the hour it was spoke. See?
All we need is... The Holy Spirit behind the Word puts it to action and
demonstrates the power that It promised. Every
blessing that God promised, everything that He said, can be brought to life if
the Holy Spirit is behind the Word, because that's the thing that quickens
the Word and gives It life. See? And now, we know that
that's right.
31
Jesus said, "These signs shall follow all that I send." Others
refuse; that's all. Certainly. Any unbeliever,
any critic of the Word, can come along with an identification of some
denomination, some manmade organization, or something; say, "I'm
Presbyterian, Lutheran, Baptist," whatever it might be. He could easily
identify himself into a fellowship of that same denominational church because
of his credentials. But his credentials only comes
from a organization that's been made up by a theory and not the Word of God.
But God... If he's sent from God, "These signs
shall follow them that believe." See? Jesus said so. See?
32
See, it's either whether you take what some organization said, some manmade
theory said... They'll preach the doctrine of that theory. And
then, that is their credentials to the deacon board or whatever it is, that
they stand in good fellowship with that organization. I have nothing
against that, understand, but I'm only defending what Jesus said. See? He said,
"These signs
shall follow them that believe." And Jesus said in
33
How can a man say there's no such a thing as the baptism of the Holy Ghost? How
can a man say there's no such a thing as healing of the sick? How can a man say
there's no such a thing as speaking in tongues, casting out devils? when that was the very credentials that Jesus pinned onto
every believer that He sent out. That's the authority. Now, you might go to
school and get a Ph.D., and a LL.D., and what ever more you want to do. And
that's all right. That's your identifications to that organization. And them's all right. I have nothing
against them: wished I had them. But the identification that Jesus, when He
sends a man is, "These signs shall follow them that believe." That's the identifications that
he's sent by God. "These signs shall follow them that believe."
34
Now, as I said, any phony man can pick up a uniform or a badge, but that
really isn't a credential. It's the credentials that counts, not the
uniform or badge. And there's many people (and it's too bad I have to say this,
but it's truth; we must be honest), there's too many of our Pentecostal
people that's wearing just the badge and uniform (See?), because that
they live so different than what really a Pentecostal should be, until
there's nothing to it. That's all. And it only brings a reproach upon the
cause. That's right. It makes people suspicious.
35
But Jesus gave the verification that it would be all right, because these
signs would follow the believers. That's one thing. The Holy Spirit looked
down through the stream of time and seen that man would pervert His Word and
cause this, that, and the other. So He made it so clear and so positive that
there's no way at all of getting around it. He said, "These signs shall follow them that believe." Now, we know that to be true.
36 A unbeliever can carry these
denominational credentials, but that isn't what makes him a sent man from God.
They walk around here with all kinds of books under their arms around through
the country, and this Jehovah's this, and So-and-so, and all this, the other,
but that doesn't make it so. No, sir. Jesus
said, "You test them by the Word." That's right. The Word:
"These signs shall follow..." "Do you believe in power of
God?" "Oh, our church teaches that the..."
37
"Our church," that has nothing to do with it. It's what
God's Word says. See?...?... "Heavens and
earth will pass away but My Word shall not pass away." The
living Word spoke by a living God must be in a living being. And how can a
man or a woman that claims that they have the baptism of the Holy Spirit deny what
God said in His Word? Because it's the very Holy Spirit that wrote the Word is
the very Holy Spirit that's speaking through the person. That's right. It's got
to be. He cannot do it. Yes, sir.
38
Now, but that... A man might come and say, "I have a fellowship card. I
belong to this church or that church." That still doesn't make it right.
He might have a Ph.D., LL.D., and what ever more from some great school. That's
fine, nothing against that. That still may be all right. I have nothing against
that. But if God sent him... And if he
denies this commission here... If he's got that plus this,
wonderful. But if he's got that without this, then it's no good.
See? That's right. It's okay if a man wears a uniform and a badge with the
credentials. All right. But he could wear the uniform
and badge without the credentials. That's right. So it's the confirmation of
the commission that must stand. It must do, undoubtedly.
in closing let's read from the next
paragraph of Christ is the Mystery pp. 226 His
Presence in the individual with a personal a-vindication of Himself
expressing Himself--the living Word that's promised for the day, expressing
Itself through you, a vindication of the great revelation of God...
Look, only in an individual, never in a group: an individual, not in a group, His
identification is with an individual. You get that? Not with the
Methodists, not with the Baptists, not the Presbyterian, not the Lutheran, not
the Pentecostal, but as an individual. "I'll take one and leave
one. I'll separate them."
So he is not just talking
about himself here, he's talking about individuals filled with His Spirit.
That's
right. "There'll be two in the field; I'll take one and leave one.
There'll be two in bed, and I'll take one and leave one." It's not a
group. It is a personal vindication of a pregnated child of God filled with
the Holy Ghost, so surrendered to God that he don't care about
anything else, and the Holy Spirit living Its Life, pulsating
through him, showing the personal, personal vindication of the Word
Itself expressing Itself to the people and to the world.
59-0628E - "Questions And Answers" 172 88b.
Brother Branham, can any man do the works of Christ unless he is Christ?
No. Now, you, do you mean, dear person, that…? Let me read that again. Can
any man do the works of Christ unless he was Christ? That's what it is,
"Unless he was Christ?" Sure. Let's take
Let us pray.