Christ is the Mystery no. 44
Earnestly
contending or being contentious?
December 1, 2012
Brian Kocourek
Jude
1:3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the
common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that
ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the
saints.
Romans
2:8 But unto them that are
contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation
and wrath,
Let us bow our heads in prayer.
Father we
come to you this evening knowing you are first our God
and then Father. Knowing you are the God of Moses, and of Braham, Isaac and
Joseph, You are the God of Isaiah and Ezekiel and Jeremiah. You are the God of
Elijah, Elisha and of David. You are the God of Malachi and all the prophets.
And you are the God
of Jesus your son, and of John, and Peter and Paul. And you are the God of
Irenaeus, Polycarp, Martin of
Now, last Sunday we read from paragraph 98 which
is paragraph 184 in the Spoken Word booklets, where he said, “Predestinated... There's the mystery. Before Christ or
anything else was ever on earth (You see His great mystery?) that He chose the Bride, knowing Eve would
fall from disbelieving the Word, knowing that she would fall, but He would choose a Bride that would not
fall, that would hold to that
Word regardless of what all the rest of the world had to say about It;
they would hold to that Word. They
are predestinated to stand there. The
adoption of children by Jesus Christ predestinated the Church to that great
glorious stand.
We spoke on the importance of being IN Christ, because most church goers
might be in Church, or in the circle within their church, or even in the
doctrine of their church, but are they “IN Christ” and Christ is the Word.
You see it really does matter that you are in the
right thing. And the right thing is not the doctrine of your church. The right
thing is are you in Christ, completely surrendered to Him, filled
with His Spirit. And how are you in Christ? By One Spirit we are baptized into
one body. Not two bodies, not three bodies, but one body which is the body of
Christ.
In Noah’s day it was most important to be IN
the ark which was the Message for that day. But in this Day the Message
is Christ
Himself, and you must be in Him or you are going
to perish one of these days.
Too many people have a carnal mentality when it comes
to this Message. Well, when it comes to being a Christian. They are comfortable
with the tenets of their church, but are not comfortable with being IN Christ.
I was talking to Br. Billy Paul Branham the other day
and I mentioned during the course of our discussion, I said, “Br. Billy, my
whole desire and what I feel God wants me to do is to get the people to see
that the God-Life that was in His son, is the very same God-Life that was in
your Father, and that same God-Life is supposed to be in us.” and he replied,
brother Brian, “That is the Message”, that is the Great Revelation. And as we
have studied the Spoken Word is the Original Seed, that
entire Message dealt with the Life in the Seed, and that same Life is to
be in us.
And for those of you who are knew to my ministry, I
want you to listen to everyone of those Messages if you can, but I know that
would be a whole lot to ask, so I will just ask you to get that sermon of
brother Branham’s and read it for yourself word by word thought by thought. And
please don’t read it like a book. We took three and a half years to get through
that sermon, because there are so many beautiful and very important statements
that br. Branham made in that sermon. Because when you go through it, you will
see that the whole reason for us knowing the doctrine of Christ is that we
might understand the relationship that God had with His first born Son, the
Original Seed, and that the very life of God that was in that Seed (Christ) is also
to be manifested in us just as it was manifested in Him. Because
if there is no manifestation that seed has not been quickened to life.
Back when we were studying that Message I mentioned it
to br. Billy Paul, and He said his Father had told him that if anyone wants to
hear one Message that brings out his entire Message in one sermon, it would
be “The Spoken Word is the original Seed.” He
said that one sermon was a compilation of all that he taught.”
Spoken
word original seed 62-0318E P:108 Oh,
people, God bless you. Hear me. I can't
believe nothing but God's Word, and I want It to be my
life, everything that I am. I want you to do the same. Let your walks, your
talks, your moves, everything you do, be in the Word of God. Let the mind of
Christ come into you, and that'll pregnate you with
the Word. If you let the mind of the denomination come in, you'll be
denominational pregnated. If you let the mind of
Christ come into you, He can't deny His own Word, 'cause He's God. You'll be pregnated with the Word and believe It.
I don't care if they put you out, kick you out, run you out, and every door is
closed, you'll go just the same. Amen.
Spoken
word original seed 62-0318M P:173 Now,
it's rough, friends. It's very rough. I don't mean to be that myself. Yeah, I
hope you understand that. See? But today I'm giving the expression of why I
have did the things that I have done. Now, for just a
little analysis before we dismiss for lunch is this: I want you to know that I
have... This has been my motive,
and my objective, is God's Word. My motive is to please Him. And
I can't listen to everything and believe God's Word; neither can I listen to
everything and please God. My motive is to know His Word and to please God by
serving Him by His Word.
And so I was thankful to hear that because so many in
this hour have gotten sidetracked by the explanation of the doctrine that they
have failed to realize that br. Branham taught us that “the doctrine is Christ”.
So it’s not to know about Him, but rather to Know Him is Life.
Some think “if
you have the doctrine you have Christ”. No, That’s
not what the bible says, it says if you don’t have it then you can not echo
God, so you need the doctrine in order to echo God, but let’s face it, you can
echo the doctrine like a parrot and still not have Him who is the Doctrine. But I believe if you have Him, you will come
to know the doctrine, because he is the Doctrine. But to have the doctrine in
your head and not in your heart is no good. Believe Him, and He is the Word.
Just saying you believe this brother or that brother isn’t it at all. That’s
just being carnal.
The Apostle Paul when told by some in 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? 5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos,
but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
6 I
have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 7 So
then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither
he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. 8 Now
he that planteth and he that watereth
are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. 9 For we are labourers together with
God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. 10 According to the grace of
God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder,
I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. 11 For other
foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
So if you are not
preaching Jesus Christ, and if you are not presenting
Jesus Christ to the hearts and minds of the believers, then what have you got
but an ism.
Now we are to earnestly contend for “The Faith that was once delivered to the brethren,” not faith in
general, but he said “The Faith”, and we
know this Faith, The Faith, One Faith is
the revelation of Jesus Christ.
And brother Branham said from Anointed ones
at end time 65-0725M P:186 the faith, not a faith, the Faith. One
faith, one Lord, one... You can't have one faith without believing in one Lord. You can't have two
baptisms, not one for the Father, and Son, and Holy Ghost. There's one baptism,
Jesus Christ. That's right. See?
So we should be
contending for the Revelation of Jesus Christ and that alone.
From his sermon, Earnestly contending for
The Faith 55-0123E P:2
“There's only one faith: one faith, one hope, one
Lord, one baptism. You believe it? One faith, and that faith is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And if your life
doesn’t reflect that one Faith in that One Lord then you just don’t get it. And
if the people are looking to this minister or that minister then they are carnal?
The Apostle Paul spoke
to the believers 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.
Now, how do you suppose those contentions come into
the church?
From his sermon Contending for the faith 56-0200 P:9 Brother Branham tells us
that only in one place in Scripture are we commanded to earnestly contend for The
Faith. He said, “Jude, calls himself a servant and brother to Jesus Christ.
And He wrote this Book to the Church and told them that they should
earnestly contend, the only place in the sacred
Writings that's ever told us to contend, because
we're not supposed to have contentions among us, but to earnestly contend for a purpose of faith
that was once delivered unto the saints. And that's... We're not to contend,
and we're not trying to contend. But we're wanting to
face this.
Jude 1:3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write
unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend
for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
So we are not to contend for just anything but for The
Faith, which there is only One Faith, and that is the faith of one Lord, “The
Lord Jesus Christ”.
Now, there is a difference between contending and
being contentious. Contending: means
you are standing for something, You are endeavoring to make a stand over something that is
controversial or is disputed. And we are asked to contend
for The Faith. But being
contentious: means you are just argumentative
or belligerent. And the problem is that people do not know
what it means to contend for The Faith,
which is the revelation of Jesus Christ.
They think they are to contend for this brother or that brother’s
understanding of that revelation.
It’s not a person or personality that we are to
contend for, it is The Faith. But Brother Branham said in his sermon Sardisean Church Age 60-1209 P:46 Now, if you try to force in any other kind of a doctrine
than what Paul taught, it's wrong. The Bible is correct.
And brother Branham also
taught us that Paul himself only preached what Moses and the prophets preached
before him.
From his sermon, Greatest news flash in history
61-0424 P:20 he said, “When
Paul was brought up before Agrippa, he said, "I've only preached that which Moses and the prophets said.”
So contentions must come, but not being contentious.
If we are all preaching the cross of Christ then why are their contentions
among us? They don’t come if we are all saying what Paul said. They come when a
people are carnal and can not see past their own little ideologies. Paul tells
us that instead of looking to Christ who is the
author and finisher of our faith, they look to the man from
which they heard the Gospel. And that just shows they are carnal. Listen to
what he tells us in the next verse…
12 Now
this I say, that every one of you saith,
I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.
Now, just so you understand, let’s make this present
tense for this hour. Some in this Message say, I’m of
Well, Says who!!!!
The Apostle Paul said to speak like that shows you are
only one thing, you are still carnal, you are not born again.
To put it in 21st
century English the Message Translation says, “1 Corinthians 1:10 I have a serious concern to
bring up with you, my friends, using the authority of Jesus, our Master. I’ll
put it as urgently as I can: You must get along with each other. You
must learn to be considerate of one another, cultivating a life in common. I
bring this up because some from Chloe’s family brought a most disturbing report
to my attention—that you’re fighting among yourselves! I’ll tell you exactly
what I was told: You’re all picking
sides, going around saying, “I’m on Paul’s side,” or “I’m for Apollos,” or “Peter is my man,” or “I’m in the Messiah
group.”
Now, that might be blunt, but it’s the truth. So let’s
read on what Paul says next.
Verse 13 Is Christ
divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized
in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that
I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius;
15 Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name. 16 And
I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides,
I know not whether I baptized any other.
17 For Christ sent me
not to baptize, but to preach the gospel:
not with wisdom of words, lest the cross
of Christ should be made of none effect.
Oh, I hope you caught that. Listen carefully to what
he just said… For Christ sent me to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of
none effect. What does he mean of none effect.
It means that the words are such that they just don’t bring an effect in the
person hearing. They either go over their head or they have no life in them. Because the Word of God is the power of God unto Salvation.
So if the Word is Power, it is also Life and if the hearing of that Word does
not change the life of those hearing, then either they are not hearing, or the
words are without Life and thus not a true echo of what he said. Because he
said, “My Words
are spirit and they are life.”
Notice Paul said, God didn’t send me
out to collect a following for myself, that’s not what this Message is all
about. He sent me to preach the Message of what Christ Jesus did for you, to collect a following for him. And he didn’t send me to do it with a lot of
fancy rhetoric of my own, lest the real Message of Christ’s death and resurrection become trivialized into mere words
and no God-Life comes out of it and is passed along to others.
To whom would we go 60-0606 P:15 Now
there is a way that people think that they just live a good life and can get to
heaven. But that's an error. You do not get to heaven by living a good life.
The people under the Mosaic law lived a good life. And
then there is a way of church, that we try to go to
heaven by the way of the church. But the church, as good as it is... And I think
that every person ought to belong to some church. But in the church, and as
good as it is, it still is not the way. The
church can only point you to the Way. But Jesus is that Way. Some has preferred it that way, to change it
into learning your catechism, or saying creeds, or going by a book of rules.
All of that may be ever so
good, but that's not the way. Jesus is
the Way. He's the only Way. "No man can come to the Father except by Me," said Jesus. The only way to get to heaven is
through Jesus Christ.
As the eagle stirs her nest 61-0122 P:8 We
can be church members, try to live a good life, but, brother, God's Life is what counts. Two men
look just alike. Go... Both of them go to church, both of them deacons, both of
them pastors: one have
a germ of Life, and the other one does not have the germ of Life. So the
difference is that where you find that nature, new birth; that something that's in there that takes away all the
doubt out of it, and gives you an
assurance in here that you know you've passed from death unto Life. Because your spirit and His Spirit is the
same; they bear record one with the other. Oh, how wonderful it is to know
the grace and the glory of God that's come to us and been shed abroad in our
hearts by the Holy Spirit: nothing like it.
18 For the preaching of the cross is to them that
perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. (It is the dynamics of God). 19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of
the wise, and will bring to nothing the
understanding of the prudent. 20 Where
is the wise? where is the scribe? where
is the disputer of this world? hath not God made
foolish the wisdom of this world? 21 For after that in the
wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. 22 For the
Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: 23 But
we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock,
and unto the Greeks foolishness; 24 But unto them
which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom
of God. 25 Because
the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger
than men. 26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how
that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are
called: 27 But God hath chosen the foolish things
of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the
world to confound the things which are mighty; 28 And
base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea,
and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 29 That
no flesh should glory in his presence.30 But of him
are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness,
and sanctification, and redemption: 31 That,
according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him
glory in the Lord.
99
Now, you see His secret? What to? To restore fallen Eve, as
she was a free figure of the church.
Restore to what? To the fellowship
that she and Adam had with God. And it comes only by the Word living
itself preeminently in you as it was in Christ. And it’s not your life, your life is hid in God through Christ Jesus. And we
know that our fellowship is complete in him, and the way into fellowship is
through His Blood by walking, not specifically talking but by walking in the light as He is in the light
that’s what makes the blood truly efficacious to you.
God's
provided way fellowship 60-0709 P:78 Now,
you may be a loyal member of a church; you may have lived a good life, sister,
brother. But a good life won't do it.
If it would, you could have lived it by the law. The law saved no one; the Blood of Christ saves. You could've been
a good man, good woman, good neighbor, good church
member. But yet, if you haven't come by
the way of the Blood, you have never approached real fellowship, real kindred
fellowship and relationship, until you come by the Blood.
99.
And now notice, as God opened up the side of Adam and took out Eve by his own
flesh and blood, and divided his spirit from masculine and feminish,
to feminish and put it in Eve, took the rib from
under his side and made Eve out of it; so God did the same thing, taking out of
the side of Christ the Blood and the water (and Christ is the Word), and
taking the Word and making up His Church, Eve (See?), back to Himself again
redeemed by the Blood that was come from His Body. You see it now? God's
great mystery being unfolded that's been hid since the foundation of the world,
but prefigured it all the way down through. Now, watch. We find that He did
that. And here in Ephesians and many other places... But that'll give you
enough to...
Let us pray.