Christ is the Mystery no 164
God's Heart and Travail of Soul
Brian Kocourek
This
morning I would like to continue with our study of Brother Branham's sermon,
Christ is the Mystery of God Revealed 268 "Notice.
Now, Lucifer comes in the cunningness and breaks the unity of God to man
just like he did in
Notice
what brother Branham is saying here. Satan gets the people thinking about self,
he said self-power, self exultation, in other words, look at me, me, me. and that is the day in which we
live, it's all about self. But eternal life is not about self, it is living for
others.
That's
why we read in Romans 8:5 where the
Apostle Paul says, For they that live for self
do mind the things of self;
but they that live by
the Spirit do mind the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be self minded is death;
but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the self focused mind
is enmity against God: (enmity comes from the root word enemy, self minded is an enemy to God)
for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. 8 So then they that live for self cannot please God. 9 But ye are not self focused, but Spirit focused,
if so be that the
Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not
the Spirit of Christ, he
is none of his.
So
there you are. and that is what brother Branham is
showing us here, that the devil's plan is to get you to be self focused and not
Christ focused. For if you are self focused you will be
focused on personal power and personal ambition, instead of yielding your
spirit and soul to God's will.
Now,
this has been the theme of my ministry for the past several years, but
sometimes I know my emotions get in the way, and I know that sometimes in
driving this home, I hit the nail pretty hard, and it might look like I'm
accusing the ministers, but what I'm trying to do is to get you to see how that
all these camps, no matter which ones they may be, they began with a Word based
thought, some scripture or some quote from God's prophet, but after a while
every one of the camps became a personality based camp.
Therefore,
I'm not digging at the ministers themselves when I hit these things, because
they are the ones that saw a certain point that perhaps others had not seen and
they dug in to the Message or Scriptures to try to prove their point what they
were seeing. And because they put their necks on the chopping block so to
speak, people got behind them, and pretty soon, what they were looking at
initially became blurred as the people got into it and to protect it they organized
around that certain doctrine, or that certain ministry.
They
organized on a doctrine to protect their minister. Now, I don't blame the minister, I blame the
people for lifting up the ministry above Christ and His vindicated Word.
Because even brother Branham was clear that he never wanted the people to lift
him up. He wanted Christ lifted up. Paul wanted Christ lifted up. Peter wanted
Christ lifted up. Apollos wanted Christ lifted up. And you can't blame Paul, Peter
or Apollos for the people lifting them up. It's the people who are to be blamed
who do it.
That is why we hear the
Apostle Paul say in, 1
Corinthians 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that ye all speak the same thing, and that there
be no divisions among you; but that ye be
perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
11 For it hath been declared unto me
of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house
of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. 12 Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I
of Apollos; and I am of Cephas; and I am of Christ.
13 Is
Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?
And then again he says
later on in this same letter to the Corinthians the following:
1 Corinthians 3:3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is
among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as
men? 4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and
another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
And then we can skip forward to
verse 18 and read, 1 Corinthians
So let's go back to what
brother Branham was telling us the strategy that Satan uses to try to break the
oneness between God and man, and between each other.
268 Notice.
Now, Lucifer comes in the cunningness and breaks the unity of God to man
just like he did in
269 Breaking
apart from the Word of God... See? He did the same at
Notice
what brother Branham is telling us is that what is personal appeals to the
natural man, but if you are spirit filled you don't care what you have
physically, all you want is the Word of God undiluted with creeds and man's
wisdom.
If
you could go with me overseas, you would see people, believers, who come long
distances, just to hear the Word of God.
In
the
Then
when they do come, they are not treated to air conditioning, and running water,
and soft cushioned chairs. No, their pews are long logs cut in half, and turned
upside down so they can sit on the flat side. No back. just
a flat chiseled off log. Dirt floors, no fans going, hot, humid, dusty, dim and
flickering light bulbs so you can hardly read your Bibles if you are privileged
to own a bible.
And
the overflow is so great that hundreds have to sit outside to hear the word,
and some pier through the windows just to get a glimpse, and do they complain? Never. They are thankful to get a chance to hear even a few
words, and to get a small glance at the man of God who is delivering the Word
to their hungry souls.
I
remember years ago when we first moved to Ohio, and we attended Grace Gospel
every Wednesday night because our own church at that time rented our building
and we could not get Wednesday night so we settled for Sunday afternoon
worship. And my family would drive up to
hear brother Vayle every Wednesday night and there would be only a dozen people
in that church, and my wife and the two older girls together we made up 1/3 of
that number. And Br. Don, Cindy and the two boys made up another third of that
number. But that Word was Life to us, and we never counted the cost. We just
wanted to be closer to the Lord and fill our souls with the bread of Life.
But most
of us Americans can't even take a couple hours out of our self important
schedules to come on a Wednesday night to hear from God. And you get what you
come for, I hope you know that. Some say, I haven't gotten anything out of
church for the past year. Others say I've drawn closer to Christ this past year
than anytime in my life. What's the difference? You get what you come
expecting. You expect to hear from God you will. You expect to hear from just a
man, you most certainly will. You get what you are looking for, and the Bible
says in Hebrews
Jesus said in,
" Matthew
Questions and Answers COD 54-0103M P:66 But it's accepting the Person Christ Jesus, and these other things
come right on in and they fit together. Let every member in this body this
morning, let this little group of people, if we could pull the curtains down
along on each side and every person in here receive the Person Christ Jesus,
there wouldn't never be a fuss; there would never be no argument.
There'd just be a perfect love. Yet you'd still believe this and believe that,
but it'd just be so full of love, you'd just... See? That's it. Now, Jesus
said, "By their
fruit you shall know them." And
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness,
meekness, gentleness.
Now, I'm going to... I'll give you my estimation of what I think that the
closest thing to an evidence that a man is a Christian, than anything I know
of. You know what it is? It's travail of soul, a person that's
always so hungering and thirsting for God. They just simply... Day and
night they just can't stand it. They got to do something for God. They're
full of love and they're just a soul-travail, just travailing all the time.
The Bible said, "He that goeth forth sowing in tears will
doubtless return again, rejoicing, bringing with him precious sheaves." Is that right? All those things...
67b"I'd rather have a church that had such a burden on
their heart for prayer that they just stayed at this altar and would be here
day and night, and everything else; and in their house, was constantly
in prayer, and humble, and trying to get people to come to God, and making
calls at the hospital, and visiting the sick, and trying to get people to come
to church and do right. I'd rather have that than all the other put
together; although the other is right, it belongs in the church."
68 But if I had to have it, I'd put that
first. 'Cause if you've got that, the other will take
place. Uh-huh. See? If you've got that, if you'll just get so hungry
for God, shouting will take place. If you got so hungry for God, speaking in
tongues will take place. If you got so hungry for God, you'll just keep on
hungering, keep yourself. Now, you go to seeing yourself getting
indifferent, just remember, look out, there's another spirit trying to work
itself in there. Stay right before God, humble, with travail of soul. Just
be all that good old fashion...
69 I can prove by the Bible that the first time the Angel of
God went over the lands to seal with the Holy Ghost; He only sealed those
who cried and sighed for the abominations done in the city: Ezekiel the 9th chapter. Is that right? Set a seal upon the forehead of those who
sigh and cry for the abominations that's done in the city. Now, I want to ask you a question. I'll
ask you this question. (Now, we'll close just as quick
as I can.) What would take place today if the Holy Ghost went through
Jeffersonville, New Albany, and Louisville, to seal those this afternoon who
would be at home, "God, send a revival, just so hungry for a meeting. O
God, look at the sins of the city. Oh, isn't it terrible, God? Oh, won't You please send a revival, God. Send some good preacher,
send someone. O Lord, let the Holy Ghost just... "Where--where would He
seal? Think of that?
70 Now, "Well, Brother Branham, what do you mean?" I
mean this, and I say this now reverent, walking on brittle threads. I
believe that day is about finished; them that's in is in. See? The doors
are closing together; you don't have that burden no more. Billy Graham's had meetings all across the country, and Oral
Roberts, and all the rest of us. We've cried, and
prayed, and prayed, and everything else. But you
see, the doors are closing. "Let him that's filthy" I'm quoting Scripture, "be filthy still. Let him that's righteous,
righteous still. Him that's holy, holy still." And I believe the doors of the Gentiles is closing together. See? The day,
the time, the season is just about over, just a few more to come in. The reason
you can't have no kind of a meeting like that, there's no travail of soul. You don't
get that burden.
71 I remember years ago. You always heard them
talk about the sawdust trails and things in the Tabernacle. That didn't make it
any more, not a bit more. But then it was fresh; God was calling His church.
I've seen them sob and cry and lay on the altar all night long. I've went to
their houses, and you could hear them when you come up, just in their
bedchamber, men and women, crying, "O God..."You'd see them
walk through the church, and I'd see the piano start playing, "Jesus Keep Me Near The Cross," and the tears flowing down there,
you know. [Brother Branham sniffles--Ed.] Walk into this church, then walk down
to another church, and hear them there, "There's a precious Fountain..." "O God, save my boy. Save my
daughter; she's lost, Lord. Please."
72 You don't find that no more. What's the matter? The Spirit of God
is withdrawn. Jesus said, predicted this, that the love... because the love
of many... the love would fail. "That because iniquity would abound, the love of many would
fail." See? See, grow cold, go
away... The love is dying away. And what they got into, just a form;
beat the piano up-and-down real hard, and holler "Glory to God.
Hallelujah. Praise the Lord." See, like that, it's just a form.
Don't fool yourself (See?), just to fool yourself. See, doesn't matter until
we... I go like this, I'm talk...Now, I'm not talking about our Tabernacle; I'm
talking about what I find around the
Concerning what brother Branham
said above, I would like to just ask you this question. Where is our passion for the Word of God.
Where is our anguish for being right with God. Where
is our concern for our own soul, and the soul of our loved ones.
And
to borrow some words from David Wilkerson, "As
I look at the whole religious scene today, and all I see are inventions and
ministries of man and flesh."
" it's mostly powerless".
"It has no impact on the world."
"And I see more of the world coming into the church and impacting
the church, rather than the church impacting the world."
"I see the music taking over the house of God".
"I see entertainment taking over the house of God".
"Obsessed with entertainment in the house of God",
"A hatred of correction and a hatred of
reproof".
"Nobody wants to hear it anymore".
"Whatever happened to anguish in the house of God?"
"Whatever happened to anguish in the ministry?
"
"It's a word you don't hear in this pampered age. You don't hear
it."
"The word anguish means extreme pain and distress."
"The emotions are so stirred that it becomes painful".
"Acute deeply felt inner pain, because of condition about you, in
you, or around you".
"ANGUISH"!
"Deep Pain"
"Deep Sorrow"
"Agony of God's heart".
"We've held onto our religious rhetoric, and our revival talk, and
we've become so passive".
"All true passion is born out of anguish".
"All true passion for Christ comes out of a baptism of
anguish".
"You search the Scriptures and you find that when God determined
to recover a ruined situation, He would share His own anguish, for what
God saw happening to His church and to His people", and he would find a
praying man, and he would take that man and literally baptize him in anguish".
"You find it in the book of Nehemiah,
How is God going to deal with this? How is God going to restore the
ruin?
"Nehemiah was not a preacher, he was a career man. This was
a praying man".
"God found a man who would not just have a flash of emotion, Not just some great sudden burst of concern and then it
die".
"He said, "No. I broke down and wept and I mourned and I
fasted, and then I began to pray night and day".
Why didn't these other men, why didn't they have an answer?
"Why didn't God use them in the restoration? Why didn't they
have a Word?"
"Because there was no sign of anguish".
"No weeping!"
"Not a word of prayer."
"It's all ruin."
"Does it matter to you today, Does it matter to you at all, that
God's Spiritual
"That there is such a coldness sweeping the
land?"
"Closer than that, Does it matter about
the
The sign of ruin that is slowly draining spiritual
power and passion."
"Blind to lukewarmness,
blind to the mixture that's creeping in?"
"That's all the devil wants to do is to get the fight out of you
and kill it."
"So you won't labor in prayer anymore. So you won't weep before
God anymore."
"You can sit and watch television and let your family go
straight to hell"
"Let me ask you,
is what I just said convicted you at all?"
"There is a great difference between anguish and concern."
"Concern is something that begins to interest you,
You take an interest in a project
or a cause or a concern or a need."
"I want to tell you something I've learned over all my years of
fifty years of preaching,"
"If it is not born on anguish, If it had not been born of the
Holy Spirit, Where what you saw and heard of the ruin, that drove you to
your knees, took you down into a baptism of anguish where you began to pray and
seek God, I know now, Oh, my God do I know it, until I am in agony, Until I have been anguished over it, And all
our projects, all our ministries, everything we do..."
"Where are the Sunday school teachers
that weep over kids they know are not hearing and are going to hell?"
"You see, a true prayer life begins at the place of anguish."
"You see, if you set your heart to
pray, God's going to come and start sharing His heart with you."
"Your heart begins to cry out- Oh my God your name is being blasphemed."
"Your Holy Spirit is being mocked."
"The enemy is out trying to destroy the testimony of the Lords
Faithfulness, and something has to be done."
"There is going to be no renewal, no revival, no awakening, until
we are willing to let Him once again break us."
"Folks, it is getting late, and it's getting serious. Please
don't tell me, don't tell me you're concerned, when
you are spending hours in front of the internet or television set",
"Come on,
Lord there are some that need to get to this altar and confess. I
am not what I was, I am not where I am supposed to be, God I don't have your heart or your
burden. I've wanted it easy, I just wanted to be
happy. But Lord true joy comes, true joy comes out of
anguish."
"There is nothing of the flesh that will give you joy. I don't
care how much money you make. I don't care what kind of house it is, there is
absolutely nothing physical that can give you joy".
"It is only what is accomplished by the Holy Spirit when
you obey Him and take on His heart."
"Build the walls around your family. Build the walls around your
own heart. Make you strong impregnable against the enemy."
"God, that's what we desire."
Yes,
Lord that is what we desire.
Desperation 63-0901E P:33
Usually it takes a
state of emergency to throw us into desperation. See? It's too bad it has to do
that. But human beings are so slothful in their mind, that it takes an
emergency, Something arises, and when they do,
then it throws them into that desperation. And really, in doing that, in
desperation it brings out that real thing that you are. It shows what
you're made out of in the time of desperation. It usually pulls out all the
good things that's in you.
You remember the Shunamite woman, it took desperation
to drive her to seek out God's prophet. Her little boy lay there dead.
That boy that she had prayed so earnestly for God to giver her,
and it lay there dead. Heat stroke or whatever it was that took it. And her
desperation drove her to God and it drove her to God's prophet.
Desperation 63-0901E P:79
desperation drove the
woman to the prophet, and desperation drove the prophet to the baby. And desperation
in both of them drew God on the scene. With love of God and love for his people
brought the love of God down and threw faith out on the battlefront, and the
work was done: case closed. Amen. That's it. Desperation does it. Certainly. She wasn't going to leave.
She wasn't going to leave until she got her answer
from God. And what about you? Do you want your
children saved? Do you want your siblings saved? Do you sigh and cry for the
abomination that is being done in the city? Does your heart cry to be ready for
the rapture with all your loved ones?
Let us pray.