Christ is the Mystery no. 66
The Second Fold
Purpose of God no. 2
Brian Kocourek
Acts 17: 28 For
in him we live, and move, and have our being; For we
are his offspring.
Let us
pray: Dear Father, we come to you first as our God and then as our Father
because you are the God and Father of our Eldest brother the Lord Jesus Christ.
And Father we would ask that this Scripture that we have read for our text this
morning, that you would put skin on it, our skin, Lord, that truly from the
depth or our heart and our soul we could express these words in our very flesh
that we live in for we ask it in Jesus Christ's name, knowing that you already
manifested This Scripture to be alive in Him, and now qwe
ask that it would come alive in us as well. Amen.
Now,
this morning by the grace of God I hope to progress through eleven paragraphs
from brother Branham's sermon, Christ is the
Mystery of God Revealed beginning from Paragraph 159 and reading through paragraph 170 to get the continuity of the thought what
Brother Branham is telling us concerning you must be born again, in order for
you to even be able to understand the things of God.
And
you know I hate to say this from week to week as if I am a broken record, but I
am very concerned for the people who claim to believe this Message, because I
do not see the Life that William Branham lived being lived by too many in this
Message.
And
why do you suppose that is? I am not saying we all have to have the gifts he
had, and the ability to see visions he had and those things. But what I am
talking about is the honesty, and the integrity, and the desire to help out all
who are in need. The desire to be a helping hand to others, the nature to weep
in your soul and cry out to God when you hear a little child is sick, and when
God answers your prayer, and the child get's better
the ability to worship and praise God for His loving care.
I am
looking for that kind of life in me, I desire it, I pray for it, and I am believing for it to just take over every fiber of my
mortal body and bring it into obedience to every Word of God.
And
I am looking for that kind of life in you, And I am
beginning to see changes in you, changes that show your life is becoming
surrendered to Christ to the place that you aren't living for yourself, You
have this desire to live for others.
Yes,
I believe we all want that Life that William Branham lived before us. That life that was always about his Fathers business. So conformed
to the Image of the first born son, that many people thought he was
Christ.
That
life that did not look on the sinful nature of his backslidden brethren with
disgust but with sorrow and empathy, and with mercy and grace in his heart
until his prayers became the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man, and
we saw how God honored his life, and his requests, and his prayers with amazing
miracles, which only God could do.
To know that your own life is so in Love with God your Father, and with
His eldest son, that you only want to be like Him. he
has the preeminence in your soul, in your strength and in every breath you
take. And you so love to walk with him and to talk with him, until the natural
next step will be a change come over you mortal body bringing you into
immortality, that you may walk with him and talk with him as a son with his
Father.
And
I am believing that one of these days as you become
more sincere in your walk that you will begin to see the same power and
presence of God in your life as William Branham saw in his life. Walking with
God in fellowship as he did in those
Then
you will see victor and never defeat. Then you will see the blessings coming
upon you and over taking your life.
But
what we have today in this Message is politics instead of Love, men vying for
position in the camps instead of vying to become more like Christ.
And I know people want to
blame it on the preachers, and much of the blame can be placed there, but every
person will have to answer for themselves.
You can not blame your own behavior on the behavior you see in your
pastor when you've seen the correct behavior in a vindicated prophet of God.
Brother Branham said in Rising
of the sun 65-0418M P:61 "Well, now, let
me tell you something; my pastor..." I don't care what your pastor says; it's
what the Word says. If you want to be a chicken, go on with him. But
if the pastor speaks different from this Word, then he's not a feeder of the
eagles (Uh-huh.); he's a feeder of the hens (See?), not of the eagles.
See?
Now
listen, you name the sin and I've seen preachers who claim to be pastors right in this message do it.
And
I will tell you this, I have met a whole lot of Catholic people in my life time
that live a more decent and honest life than many who claim to believe this
Message.
Preachers
more interested in making a buck than helping out the sheep they have been
given to help. Preachers who would pull a deal on a helpless sheep, then pulling
their wool over their eyes, and covering up their own shame by accusing the
poor deceived sheep of not having a right attitude when they finally realize
they have been taken for a ride where they didn't want to go.
But brothers and sisters, there is a life to be lived,
reflected and projected to the world, that Christ is risen
from the dead, and he lives on in His Seed. And that life and that reflection
will be reflected in someone who is willing to die to self.
Brother Branham said from his sermon, Rising of the sun 65-0418M P:31 Now, the very essence of the Message that was sent that,
"He is risen from the dead," we, His beneficiaries, we, who share the
resurrection with Him, draw benefits from this by proving to the world that He
is alive. We cannot do it by word only; we cannot do it by some
tradition of man; we only reflect exactly what we're pointing to. I'm afraid
today that too many of us are not getting people to Christ. We're getting them
to a church, to a theory, but we must get them to Christ. He is the only
One, and the only One that has Life. "He that has the Son, has Life." And if the life of a man that's dead be projected
in you, you will live the same life he lived. If the blood of a man was a
certain type, and you took the blood from one man and changed the blood of the
one man into another, he'd absolutely be that typed blood. And if your spirit
that's in you is reckoned dead, and you are anointed with the Life that was
in Christ is upon you... Romans 8:11 says, "If the Spirit
that raised Christ from the dead dwells in you, It'll also quickens your mortal
bodies," that same Life,
them same powers, them same beneficiaries that He
had here on earth from God. He redeemed you, a seed
that was foreknown by God, whose names was put on the Lamb's Book of Life
before the foundation of the world. And that Gospel Light of the resurrection,
the confirmation of the Word... How did we know He was the Christ? Because He proved what He talked about. How will I know the
Message of the hour? God proves what He promised and He talks about it.
Shalom 64-0112 P:5
God is in man. And He's identifying Himself today in His church. In the born
again Christian,
God identifies Himself, that He remains God. And the
outside world will only know God as they see God in you and I.
That's the only way that they'll know God, is when we are written epistles,
epistle of the Scripture, we are read of all men. And the
life that we live reflects what's on the inside of us. A man is
identified by the works that he does. So our works should be good (See?),
always good, because we are representing our Lord Jesus Christ. What a
wonderful thing that is, especially when an old man like me stand here and
think of the life that is fading away, that's gone in the past, and we're
facing a future of an eternity. And knowing if this life only is what I had
hopes in, I would be a most miserable person this morning. But knowing that
this life has only been a shadow of what we had to come. It's a reflection,
because it can not be the perfect thing that God made. God doesn't make
anything that perishes. See? God is Eternal. And therefore, this life that we
now live in, is only reflecting what is ahead of us, the real one that cannot
die, the body that cannot perish, the Life that cannot be taken. See? And
therefore the Scriptures is right when It says that we
have Everlasting Life; we have Eternal Life. We shall never die. See, because
you become... When you're born again, you become a part of God. See, you are
forever for eternity, never to fail. You are part of God, 'cause you're His
son.
His Life, reflected in us,
proves that He's not dead (See?) and His promises are still alive.
When you are born of the Spirit
of God, you are a part of God; that's all. You are identified with Him, that He
is your Father. Then your life should reflect Him, as your life reflects your
earthly father in the image that he was in. They might say you look a whole lot
like your earthly father, so then therefore, it's his image reflected in you.
And your father and mother are reflected in you, your attributes and
characteristics. And so, God our Father is reflected in us when we're born and
conformed to His image.
Sir we would see Jesus 63-1112 P:18 Now,
according to the Scriptures, we are supposed to be written epistles of Him.
The Bible says that we
are written epistles.
And if, tonight, we would hunger and thirst to see the Lord Jesus Christ, we
as Christian believers should reflect His Life, so much, till it would be His
entire representative. We should be that. Every Christian should
represent and reflect the Life of Jesus Christ. Do you believe that? And I
believe that every Christian should be reflecting the Life of Christ. He said
in
Church Age Book Chapter 3 - The Ephesian
Church Age P:37 "Who
walketh in the midst of the seven golden
candlesticks." How meaningful are those words when viewed in the light of
the Scripture, which describes Him as "Christ Who is our Life". For Christ, indeed, is the life
of the church. She has no other life. Without Him she is simply a religious
society, a club, a meaningless gathering of the people. As a corpse bejeweled
and dressed is still a corpse, so the church, no matter what her programs and
her gracious efforts might achieve, without Christ she is a corpse also. But with
Him in her midst, with Him motivating her, she becomes to the wonderment of all
"His body,
the fulness of Him that filleth
all in all."
And this very hour He is walking in the midst of the last age's golden
candlestick. What He was as He walked in the first age He is even now in this
last age. Jesus Christ the SAME, YESTERDAY, and TODAY, and FOREVER.
Now, he said in 160 (335 in the books) That's the only way
you'll know Him today, only way you'll get the threefold revelation of God is
for the Holy Ghost... And the only way it can ever be, is you're
predestinated to see it. If it don't, you'll
never see it. If you're not predestinated to see it, you'll never see it,
'cause that Light can flash and you'll go away and make fun of it and
explain it away by some intellectual conception when the very God Himself
manifesting Himself and proving it. See? But if it ain't
upon you to see it, you won't see it.
Now, remember, we discussed this last week. we
looked at what those threefold purposes of God are, and we saw that the first
purpose of God was to reveal himself, or manifest His God-Life in His Son
Jesus. And he did just that.
And Jesus was predestined
to be that uniquely born son to manifest the fullness of the Godhood of God in
a bodily form. Right? And he did it because he was
predestined to do it.
And we found that the
second-fold purpose of God was for this same God-Life to be manifested in His
church, His body of believers at the end-time.
2 Thessalonians
John 17:1 These
words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven,
and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, (notice he says make thy son to
reflect your values, your opinions, and your judgments) that thy Son also may glorify thee: (that thy son might reflect thy values, thy opinions
and thy judgments)
In other word it is you in me
working to will and to do, that is what Jesus is saying here, that he might
become the very reflection of His father.
2 As thou hast given
him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou
hast given him. 3 And this is life eternal, that they might
know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. 4 I have glorified thee on the
earth: (I
have reflected thy doxa, thy values, thy opinions and
thy judgments on the earth.) I have finished the
work which thou gave me to do.
This word glorified was
translated from the Greek word doxazo the words doxa meaning the opinion, values, and judgments of God the
word zo or zoe
meaning the life of your values, the life of you opinions, the life of your
judgments being expressed manifested or magnified in me.
So we see here that Jesus says, I have
glorified thee on the earth, I
have magnified within me your opinions, your values, and your judgments Dear
father: and I have finished the work which thou gave me to do. 5 And now, O Father, glorify
thou me with thine own self with the
glory which I had with thee before the world was. 6 I have
manifested thy name unto the men which thou gave me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gave them me; and they have kept
thy word. 7 Now they have known that
all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. 8 For I have given unto them the words which thou
gave me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have
believed that thou didst send me. 9 I pray for them: I pray not
for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. 10 And all
mine are thine, and thine
are mine; and I am glorified in them.
Now, here is where Jesus begins
to change the order or direction of His prayer. Up to this point he was talking
to the father of how that he had reflected the very life of His Father, His
values, His opinions, and His judgments to the world. And now, he begins to pray for us, and he
changes the direction of his prayer from showing His Father that he had
reflected His God-Life in Himself, and now he was asking the Fatherin this same prayer to do the same through us that He
did through Him.
That God would also reflect in us
this same God-lie, these same God values, These same
God opinions, and these same God judgments in these whom God had given to His
Son as a steward of this God-Life. He now prays, 11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the
world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine
own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
12 While I was with them in
the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gave me I have kept,
and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be
fulfilled. 13 And now come I to thee;
and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled
in themselves.
Now, isn't that beautiful. He is asking His Father to
give us His joy, that we might have His joy in having
pleased the Father in doing all that the Father had asked him to do. And he
wants for us the same as the Father expressed through him that we might also
receive the same joy he has received for accomplishing what the Father asked
him to do.
14 I have
given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they
are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I pray
not that thou should take them out of the world, but that thou should keep them
from the evil. 16 They are
not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify
them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
In other words, he asks God to sanctify us through
God's own Word. and aren't we washed by the washing of
water by the Word? And how does a young man cleanse himself? By taking heed to
the Word of God, that is what David told us in the Psalms.
18 As thou
hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. 19 And for
their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the
truth. 20 Neither
pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through
their word; And that is you and me brothers and sisters. He is praying right there
for you and me.
21 That they all
may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee,
that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou
hast sent me.
So Jesus is praying here that the very life of the
Father that manifested in Him would also enter us to do the same thing through
us that he did in Him.
22 And the glory
(the
values, the opinions and the judgments) which thou
gave to me I have given to them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
Now, this word even means in the
same manner as. So Jesus is asking the Father to be in us to quicken us to the
same values that were expressing themselves out from him will also express
themselves out from us. That the same opinions and judgments
of His Father that expressed themselves in Him might also express themselves in
us.
Now, brother Branham quotes this
Scripture in his sermon, Harvest time 64-1212 P:34 Jesus
said, "That they might be one, Father, as
You and I are one." Not for some man to be
over something, it never will work; one denomination
wants to take over the other, and one man over the other. But that you might be
one with God, like Christ and God was one; that's what the prayer is. That... He was the Word, and Jesus prayed that we might
be the Word, reflecting Him. That's His prayer to be answered. See how
Satan scruples it up in the carnal mind? But that wasn't Jesus' prayer, at all,
that we might all congregate together and all have a certain creed and
so forth. Every time they do it, they go further and further from God. He
wants us to be one with God, and God is the Word. Each individual in his
heart must be that one with God.
And we also see in his sermon, Show us the Father 56-0422 E-36 "Philip, here was very inquisitive; he wanted to see the Father. Says here He said, "I've been so long with you, Philip, and you don't know Me?" Said, "When you see Me you see My Father." In other words, you see the Father express Himself through the Son. Him and the Father were one in the sense that His Father was dwelling in Him, not Him doing the works; He was a Son, Himself, the immortal, virgin born, Son of God. And then in Him was dwelling the God the Father, expressing Himself to the world, His attitude towards the people. See? Well, that's how Christ and God were one. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. Now, He said, "When you see Me, you see the Father, and why do you say, 'Show us the Father?'
So we see here in this prayer that Jesus was praying
that the very same attributes of God-Life that was in Him and expressed through
him would also be in us and expressed through us.
23 I in them, and thou
in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know
that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast
given me, be with me where I am; (now isn't that a wonderful thought, he is asking for
you to be with him) that they may behold my glory,
which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before
the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, the
world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that
thou hast sent me. 26 And I
have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou
hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
And Jesus says in John
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.
Notice he said, At that day ye
shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. At what day? At the time of adoption we will know that as
God was in His Son, he will also be in us. Oh, Hallelujah, can't you see how
this all ties together.
Now, listen we are talking about the second fold
purpose of God, that God will be in His Children manifesting His God-Life to
the world just as he was in His Son doing the same thing. And listen if we jump
way ahead in our books to paragraph 448 you will hear brother Branham tells us
about this second fold purpose of God. he says, ...
Christ is the mystery 63-0728 P:208 Now,
notice, God making Himself known. Not... We're not suppose
to make converts to Christianity by a government, but by the revelation of Christ in you as God
was in Christ. As God was in Christ, Christ in you. What God did
in Christ, Christ does in you. What signs did God in Christ, Christ
does in you. Oh, isn't that beautiful? Oh, my. I like that. Jesus said at
that day (that's this day), at that day (when this
revelation's made known) you will know that I am in the Father, and
the Father in Me, I in you, and you in Me. (When the revelation's
made manifest,) at that day, you shall know that I and the
Father are One. I'm in the Father, and the Father's in Me.
Then when the revelation comes forth, then it's I in you and you in Me." There you are. See the manifold threefold... What for? To
bring it back. We've got to be...
209 As Jesus was the Word of God, He vindicated the
same. If He wasn't the Word, He wouldn't have made manifest the Word. He'd have
been some great theologian. That would've been the real Messiah the world was
looking for. See? Yes, sir. That would've been Him. That's what they're looking
for today: some somebody can exceed Billy Graham, or somebody can smother down
with their organization, come up and show them Baptists they know where they're
standing. Sure. They're looking for that. But the Church is looking for the
humility and the signs of the living God, Christ.
210
Jesus wasn't a great theologian. He was a common peasant, a carpenter's Son
(so-called). See? He walked around, but God... He said, "Some of you show Me what the Bible says that I will do that I haven't
manifest." So the Church can do the same thing today. What
Christ did, so does the Church do now. "That day you'll know that I am
in the Father and the Father's in Me, I in you and you
in Me." See? There you go. Marching on to
211
And watch here. Here's the beautiful... I don't want
you to miss this. Now, everybody, and you people on tape, out in the jungles
and wherever you hear it, now listen. "And as the Father has sent Me, so send I you," Jesus said. See? Now, watch, the
Father that sent Him went in Him to vindicate Himself right, for He was the
Word. And the same Jesus that sends you, goes with
you and in you to vindicate the same God. "As the Father has sent Me (and I live by the Father), so I'll send you, and you
live by Me." What is He? He's the Word. You live by the Word. Oh, how
I would like to take a text on that and preach about a couple of hours on it
(See?), on that, how that, on that.
212
Notice, notice. And the "Father that sent Me"
went with Him. The Father that sends--the Jesus that sends us goes in...
"A little while and the world won't see Me no more, yet ye shall see Me, for I
(personal pronoun, 'I 'the Person, Jesus) will
be with you, even in you to the end of the world. The works that I do shall you
do also." Now, go back and see what He
done; then see what you do, and then compare yourself.
Oh brothers and sisters,
this excites me because He said as the father sent me and went in me, So I will send you and go in you. Listen we are closer than
you think. That's exactly what has taken place overseas. The same God that
stilled the storm when Jesus was at Sea is the same God that stilled the storm
in Colorado, is the same God that stilled the storm in Western Uganda. he's the same yesterday today and forever. I've seen the
lame walk, the deaf hear, the blind eyes open, and time and time again He has
changed the weather to answer our prayers for his children in need.
The same God that created
eye balls in that little child is the same God that grew back a heel that had
been cut off. We've seen that He is the same yesterday today and forever. I
just want to know him in the power of His resurrection, and one of these days
soon we are going to literally see him face to face, and then we will know as
we are known. We will know him firsthand in the power of His resurrection
because we have already witnessed the power of his resurrection.
Oh, brothers and sisters,
let's not look down the road too far, because you'll miss him if you do. He is
here. I've seen Him display his power over nature many times, and you have seen
it when we were in Kentucky, and in Uganda, and when we prayed for the brethren
in drought in Malawi, we saw God come and bring them rain, abundant rain to
stop the famine.
In James 1:5 we
read, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask
of God, that gives to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 6 But
let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth
is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7 For let
not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8 A double
minded man is unstable in all his ways.
James
14 Is
any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them
pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord
shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
16 Confess
your faults one to another, and pray one for
another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man
availeth much. 17 Elias was a man subject to
like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it
rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and
the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
19 Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one
convert him; 20 Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save
a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.
And in closing let's turn to 2 John 6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he
walked.
And then 1 John 1:7 tells
us if we walk in
the light as He is in that light, we have fellowship with the Father
and that is the third of the threefold purpose, to walk with us
85 Now, that's when He can express the preeminences. You see? He's
got the man or the person so that he knows nothing but Christ. You
get what I mean? All right. That's secondly. First, to
express Hisself completely: God in Christ.
Second, to have the preeminences by this in His
Church (which is His Body, Bride) to...
He could have the preeminence to express Himself through them. All right. And thirdly, to restore the Kingdom to its rightly position ... back to where He walked in
the cool of the evening with His people, talked with them, fellowshipped with them.
let us pray...