Christ
is the Mystery no. 8
“What
is a normal Christian Life?”
June 20, 2012
Brian
Kocourek
Christ is the Mystery of God
Revealed pp. 43 Love one another
above everything. Love one another. Don't... No matter what the devil tries to
say... Now, you're all one great, big,
sweet group now, but remember my warning. See? Satan won't let that stay that way. No, sir. He'll shoot everything, if
he has to bring somebody in to make his target. He'll bring some critic or
unbeliever in, set him down, and cause him to fellowship with you under the
quietness and things. Then he will shoot that guy with some kind of poison
stuff, and he'll start through the church with it. Don't you take sides
with it. Don't you have nothing to do
with anything else.”
Now, notice that we
are warned by God’s prophet to stick with what he taught us, because there will
be men who are ordained to come into this message with poison, and brother
Branham called these men “critics”
and “unbeliever”.
The Apostle Peter also warned us this would happen. In
2 Peter 2:1
we read, But
there were false prophets also among the people, even so there shall be (That's
future tense)
false teachers among you, who privily (that means not openly but in
a subtle manner, they) shall bring in damnable heresies, (so the question
is bring into where?) even denying the Lord
that bought them,
and bring upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways;
by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. (Now, this word pernicious, brother Vayle told us
years ago this word “pernicious”
means “bloodless”. So they will turn
down the blood in turning down the one that bought them. Notice that what these
men do is bring the way of Truth into disrepute. In other words they become a
stain on the true revelation of Jesus Christ which is the doctrine of Christ, and
they bring a reproach against those who stand for the Truth and are identified
with the Messenger of Truth, but because they have come in along side of the
truth and preach their heresy, they bring the rest of us who are doing all we
can do to stand for the truth, but by association, the entire Message is looked
down upon and the reputation of God's Servant William Branham is brought into
question.)
3 And
through covetousness shall they with feigned (or made up) words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long
time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
Now, I like the Wuest Translation which puts it this way, 2 Peter 2:1 But as there arose
false prophets also among the people, even as also among you there shall be
false teachers who will be of such a nature as to bring alongside of true doctrine destructive heresies, even denying the
Lord who purchased them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. So
there will be men right in the Message who are going to deny the son of God,
because it was his blood that paid your debt. 2 And many shall follow their licentious conduct to its consumation; (Now,
this word licentious means Having no regard for accepted rules or standards. In
other words there is no normal to these guys, every thing to them is extreme.
And you see it everywhere today. It began in the 60’s with X rated movies. X
for extreme filth. And today it has gone to sport in X-sport. Everything has to
be extreme. Can’t the people see that those things are driven by spirits? And
then in religion, through Pentecostalism you see extremes everywhere.) 2 And many shall
follow their EXTREME conduct to its
consumation; on account of whom the way
of truth will be reviled. Well what is the way of Truth? It’s
this Message, and what is considered a normal Christian walk. Peter is warning
us that these men will come into the Message and give a wrong understanding of
the Word of God and the people will be caught up into what these men say as
evil interpreters of the Word of Truth.
3
And in the sphere of covetousness with fabricated words they will exploit you,
from whom: for whom from ancient times their judgment has not been idle.
So they are here
brothers and sisters, and they are in this Message to poison as many as will
drink their cup.
Now, in his sermon The Masterpiece 64-0705 168 brother Branham said, “At the harvest time the Seed is back to its original condition, and must have all of the Word in order
to be the Seed. Now, you can't have a half of seed; it won't grow. See?
It's got to be the whole Seed. It's
got to not manifest, say, "I believe in baptism of the Holy Ghost.
Hallelujah. I believe speaking in tongues." That's just part of the Seed. Uh-huh. But now, there's added to that (Hallelujah. See?) the Life, not the gifts, the Life of the gifts. See? See what I
mean? We're at the end time, brethren. Stalk,
tassel, husk is dead and dried now. There's only one thing that has to
happen to that, it's to be gathered in the World Council of Churches for its
burning.
So no matter what a man
teaches, if the life is not there, then I would be very careful, my brothers
and sisters, who and what you are listening to. You’ve got people saying, the
word, the word, the word, and yet just look at their lives and you have to ask
yourself, what Word do they believe? The reason Brother Branham was so
believable is because he lived what he preached. When your life doesn’t reflect
what you preach everyone has a right to disbelieve what you are preaching.
Hebrews
Chapter 7 part 1 57-0915E P:89 Your nature proves what you are. Your life
shows, reflects what you are.”
From his Message Influence 63-1130B P:13 brother
Branham said, “And then we never know just what we're
doing, or what influence and what we're doing is having upon others. The Bible
said, "We are written epistles, read of all men."
That is, your life reads so loud to the
public, until your testimony, if it's contrary to your life, is without any
effect. It's what you are inside of
you that people read: not so much what you say, but what you are. See? You
can pin something on somebody, say, "This is bad, and so forth," but
your life being different from what they say, your testimony of your life is
louder than the testimony that someone could say something about you. See? So
just keep that on mind, that we're bringing influences every day, and the life that you live proves what's on the
inside of you. You cannot change that. It reflects. Every person reflects, outside, what he is inside. And if we take
the testimony of being Christians, I think that that is one of the most solemn
things that a man or a woman, boy or girl, could do, would... When he takes on
the Name of Christ, that he's going to be a representative of Christ, you should watch every move you make,
because somebody's watching you. And, in this, it reflects what's God has done
for you, inside of you.
Influence
63-0112 P:13 You know, there's so many of us, and most all of us influence somebody by the
things that we do, and the way we live, and the things we say. We influence
somebody. Somebody is watching your life. And then, when we profess to be
Christians, what type of life should we
live if somebody is watching us? And your life that you live will reflect
an influence on somebody that might be their
eternal destination will rest upon the way that you live and the things that
you do, for they watch you.
So what I have been trying to get across to the brethren around the world
for the past seven years is that it is not just what you claim that you believe
that proves you are son of God seed, but it is the very Life that is reflecting
from you that proves whose seed you are. And when brothers treat others with
total lack of respect, you have to wonder what kind of seed would do that.
Because The apostle Paul taught us in Galatians 4:29 But
as then he that was born after the flesh
persecuted him that was born after the Spirit,
even so it is
now. Now, he that is born after
the flesh is the carnal believer. The believer that is living for self. They
are the ones who would persecute Thos who live for Christ.
Now, if you are born of the spirit, then you are also
led of the spirit. And if you are led of The Spirit, then the one who is doing
the leading is The Spirit, God Himself. The Apostle Paul told us what sets sons
of God different from others. He said in Romans 8:14 For as
many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. So
who leads you? Because whoever is leading you, shows whose son you are? Son of
the flesh or son of God.
Brother Branham said in his sermon, Seed of
discrepancy 65-0118 P:29 “And if
Jesus predicted this age to end up in the greatest discrepancy that ever was,
the Laodicea church age, lukewarm, that put Him out of the church, how
can it be anything else but that discrepancy”. And for a person to say, “if you come here preaching that garbage I will throw you out that door
without opening it” that shows that they have put Christ out of the Church,
and not in too friendly of a manner. So brother Branham continues saying,
Now, this is where I am trying to get us to, right here. From his sermon,
It becometh us to fulfill 61-1001M P:36 And
did you notice the phrase before that said:... “thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness”. In
other words, "It must be
fulfilled. All the Word that
God has spoken, It must be fulfilled." God cannot say anything without having it fulfilled. When He has
spoken It, it is a finished work. It's already finished when God speaks It.
God never speaks until He's ready for it
to be; and, when He speaks, it's just as well as already happened. Now, if that wouldn't give us a basis to put our
faith on this morning. When God
speaks a Word, it's already finished. And what about His promises that He's given to us? Everything that He has said, it's already a finished work. So
therefore, when we receive His Word into
our heart, it's already done, it's completed.
Now, notice, he is telling us that if there is a Word that God spoken,
then that Word must be manifested. And if You are that Word spoken, then you
will not be able to do anything but manifest that Spoken Word. So if God
promised us in Ephesians 1:3-5 “According as he hath chosen us in him
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame in
His Presence,: 5 And then in love He has
predestinated us unto the adoption of
children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his
will, then
if he promised it, he must manifest it, and has began the process to finish
what he began. And if He promised us in Romans 8:29-30 For
whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them
he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he
justified, them he also glorified.
Then he must also manifest this Promise as well. He said, All the Word that God has spoken, It must
be fulfilled." God cannot say anything without having it fulfilled.
So if sons of God are led by the Spirit of God, then what is God leading
us to? To the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, to be conformed
to the image of the first born son. Then if these are promises to the
believers, why are we not looking for their fulfillment? Either God is in you working to will and to do or he is not.
If we have the promise. He which began the good work in you will fulfill it, then
either God is working in you to fulfill His promise or he is not in you at all.
And if you have the genuine Holy Spirit in you, then he is bringing to
pass His Word in you, or He is not the genuine Holy Spirit in you. Brother
Branham said from his sermon, Seed of Discrepancy
65-0118 P:29 The
genuine Holy Spirit only brings to Life the Word that It is. It
won't bring a creed to Life; It can't, because It's nothing of the creed. It is the Life of the Word of God, for
It is God. See? And It quicken that Body.
So what do we believe God’s Presence is here for? To put on a show? Or to
bring His Word, His promises to pass. Brother Branham said in his sermon,
We would
see Jesus 57-0226 P:32 We should be the happiest people on all the
earth. Because that He Who gave us the
promise of Eternal Life is alive and with us tonight to confirm that promise.
What a wonderful thing.
Presence
of God unrecognized 64-0618 P:1 If He is present, then, why, everything is
settled. He made the Word. He is here to
confirm It. He proves that He'll confirm It. "He is just the same yesterday,
today, and forever."
Influence
64-0315 P:98 Lord Jesus, the man that could say that your Presence isn't here there would be
something mentally wrong, just like a man who would refuse to accept the
sunlight. Somebody tell him the sun's shining, and he'd run down in the
basement, and shut the door and say, "I just refuse to believe it. I
refuse to believe it." For we'd know, Lord, that something mentally was
wrong with the man. And so does a man
that would shut up his bowels of compassion, and the life of the Word of Jesus
Christ being made manifest, would say, "I don't believe it." There's something spiritually wrong with
the man. So we know that You're here, Father. Without a doubt we believe
it. We see Your footprints; we see Your marks; we see Your Word.
Now, we have read some
very remarkable quotes from God’s prophet this morning, and he’s telling us
that in order for there to be a seed that can come to Life, it must be a
complete seed. You can not have half a seed and expect that seed to produce
anything. And you can not expect half a seed to live and manifest what it is,
because it is not a whole seed, it is only half a seed, therefore, when we
think of the promises of God, they are complete promises to us as they are
complete Word.
Jesus said in John 6:63 It
is The Spirit that quickens (that means to make alive); the flesh profits nothing: the Words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
So
we see Jesus tells us His Word is Life, and the apostle Paul called it the Word of Life in his epistle to the
Philippians, and John called it the Word of Life
in 1 John 1,
Perseverance
62-0218 P:86 You've got to get the living Word in you to
have the living God in you, because the Word here is God when It's made flesh
in you, made Spirit and Life in you. When It goes into your flesh and your
faith, and becomes Life, then you are a living example. You're an
epistle of God, read of all men.
Confirmation
of the commission 62-0122 P:37 35 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..." "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.
Thyatirean
church age 60-1208 P:13 So He was the Word; He's the living Word; and the living Word comes into us and then It
does the same effect on us. See, same... 'Cause It's the same Word. See?
It's the same thing among us. That's the way.
And we read where brother Branham said if it is spoken
by God, then that seed must manifest or it wasn’t spoken by God.
Now, that brings us to
the real focus of our thinking today and that is this. If you are the seed of
God that was predestined to be in this hour, then what kind of a life will you
have. You see, this is the hour that there are many extremes. And in this
Message it is filled with extremes. But what it boils down to is not your
theology, or your creeds and dogma, but what is your life reflecting?
Br. Branham said if we
have the same Life that was in Jesus it will live itself out in us the same as
it lived in him, doing the same things, saying the same things, or it isn’t the
same life.
I was browsing the internet the other night just
looking at other ministries in this Message, or at least who claim to be in
this message and when I listened to one of them, after about ten minutes, I
felt a real spirit of confusion, a real spirit of insanity, and I had to shut
it off, because I thought if I listen to this kind of speculating preaching, I
am going to loose my own sanity.
The man was preaching things that are so bizarre and
non-normal to Scripture, that I could only shake my head and feel pity for
those people who think they are getting some kind of special Word from God when
it is so off the Word that I felt very uncomfortable listening to it.
The man was talking about the new name that is written
in the little white stone in the book of Revelations. And he claims the new
name is his name. And of course this man claims that an angel came to him, and
told him many things our Prophet never taught. And he also claims that William
Branham appeared to him and gave him his commission to take the people to the
Third coming. Yes, this man believes the second coming has already taken place
and we are waiting for the third coming now.
Now, a vindicated
prophet taught us in many sermons, but I will just name one. Spoken word
original seed 62-0318E P:15 There's three comings of Christ. He came once to redeem His
Bride. He comes the next in the rapture to catch away His Bride. He comes again
in the millennium with His Bride. Everything is in three. Threes is a perfect
number.
And this same prophet of God told us to say only what’s on those tapes.
From his sermon, Trying to do God a service
65-0718M P:94 This
was Moses speaking to Israel after he had been a-vindicated by God by a Pillar
of Fire and knowed he was proven to be God's servant to lead them out. And
before they went into the land, before they entered, Moses said, "Now,
the words that I have spoken to you, I call heaven and earth to witness against
you. If you add one thing to it or take one word from it, you'll not stay in
the land where the Lord God gives you." So say I in the Name of Jesus Christ. Don't you add one thing. Don't take--put your own ideas in. You
just say what is said on those tapes. You just do exactly what the Lord God has
commanded to do. Don't add to It.
But will they listen? No
they won’t.
Brother Branham said in Church Age Book Chapter 4 - The Smyrnaean Church Age P:140 In
every age we have exactly the same pattern. That is why the light comes through
some God-given messenger in a certain
area, and then from that messenger
there spreads the light through the ministry of others who have been faithfully
taught. But of course all those who go out don't always learn how necessary
it is to speak ONLY what the
messenger has spoken. (Remember, Paul warned the people to say only what he
said, I Corinthians 14:37, "If
any man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that
the things that I write unto you are the COMMANDMENTS OF THE LORD. What? came
the Word of God out from you? or came it unto you only?"
They
add here, or take away there, and soon the message is no longer pure, and the
revival dies down. How careful we must be to hear ONE voice,
for the Spirit has but one voice which is the voice of God. Paul warned them to say what he said,
even as Peter did likewise. He warned
them that EVEN HE (PAUL) could not change one word of what he had given by
revelation. Oh, how important it is to
hear the voice of God by way of His messengers, and then say what has been
given them to say to the churches.
A brother in
Brazil who translates Br. Branham’s and Br. Vayle’s sermons and some of my own,
wrote to me last week and mentioned a discussion he had with a certain brother
after he wrote something I preached on this certain website. What happened is
this brother quoted something I said in my Doctrine of Christ series. What he
wrote on this website from my sermon was… “So what Life are you
echoing today? What words are you echoing today? Because what you echo today
will be played back at the white throne judgment. Then if all our words are the
Words of our Father, God, then won't it be a wonderful experience at the White
throne judgment? Won't it be wonderful for our Father God, and all the saints,
and all the angels to hear our Father's words being repeated back at that time
as our Life is reviewed before all to see? Then what will your echo be? Will it
be His own Words being spoken from your mouth? Or will it be worldly echoes, worldly
songs of lust and sin? Will we all hear songs of praises at that day? Or will
we hear country song lyrics when your life is played back for everyone to hear?
1 John 5:12
tells us, He that
echoes the Son echoes life; and he that echoes not the Son of God echoes not life.
In other words our life in Christ becomes an echo of the
Father's Words for everyone to hear. For the Son of God echoes forth the Words
of the Father and when we echo His Words we are echoing the Words of Life. And
did you know that the Son of God was so single focused that He shut out
everything that was not from the Father?
But here is the reply this minister gave to this
brother. “as
we speak about the revelation of Jesus Christ our Lord and declare the Word to
a new generation, I do not read where we are to be an echo. I have not found
where God called anyone to be an echo. He has called us to be a voice. God, let
us be the Voice to this age is our sincere
desire.”
Then this Brother who quoted me replied “we have no word itself. Our voice has to
repeat the words of God as the Son of God did.”
And this minister replied, “The Voice is the resurrection. If that were true, if I had no word
itself, no resurrection, then I would be of
all men most miserable. I will be praying for you brother. I have the
word and I am the Word, the Voice by the grace of God.”
Well, it seems to me that the Apostle Paul said in the
book of Galatians that people were not holding to what he had taught and in Galatians
1:6 he said, “I marvel, (That means, I’m astonished, and not
only astonished, I’m beside myself) that you are so soon removed from him that called you into
the grace of Christ, and you are removed from His Gospel (His
Message) unto another Gospel (a
totally different Message): 7 Which is really not another; but there be some
that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But
though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that
which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 9 As
we said before, so say I now again, If any man
preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. 10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do
I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. 11 But I certify you, brethren, that the
gospel which was preached of me is not after man. 12 For
I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it,
but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Now, let me read this from The Message Translation 6-9 Here Paul
says, “I can't
believe your fickleness—I can’t believe how easily you have turned traitor to
him who called you by the grace of Christ by embracing a variant message! And
it’s not a minor variation, you know; it is completely other, an alien message,
a no-message, a lie about God. Those who are provoking this agitation among you
are turning the Message of Christ on its head. Let me be blunt: If one of
us—even if an angel from heaven!—were to preach something other than what we
preached originally, let him be cursed. I said it once; I'll say it again: If
anyone, regardless of reputation or credentials, preaches something other than
what you received originally, let him be cursed. 10-12 Do you think I speak this
strongly in order to manipulate crowds? Or curry favor with God? Or get popular
applause? If my goal was popularity, I wouldn't bother being Christ's slave.
Know this—I am most emphatic here, friends—this great Message I delivered to
you is not mere human optimism. I didn't receive it through the traditions, and
I wasn't taught it in some school. I got it straight from God, received the
Message directly from Jesus Christ.
Now, you might wonder
why I bring these things up, and it is because I want to get to a certain point
this morning about what is real and normal when it comes to the Message of the
hour vs what is not real and what is not normal.
Now, brothers and
sisters, just because I’ve been speaking a lot about the Love and the Life that
is in this Word, that doesn’t mean for one minute that we have deviated away
from the doctrine of Christ for one second.
No, not for one iota would I ever think of turning away from the
doctrine of Christ. “He that hath the doctrine of Christ hath God. It is my
life and it is my meat. It sustains me daily. But we must have a balance when
it comes to this Message, and outside the Doctrine of Christ you can not have a
balance. Outside the Doctrine of Christ there is nothing that is normal out
there.
In this Message, or among those churches that hang the
shingle of Malachi 4, there are ministers out there who do not even believe
that Jesus in his corporality, (that is in his body), is making intercession
for our confession. They actually teach that the body of Jesus went back to
gases after He ascended up on high and led captivity captive. Then you have
this other minister teaching that the Bride does not echo God’s Word because
the Bride is the Word.
Yet we have the words
of Jesus Himself telling us that he only repeated what God told him to say. John 12:49 For I have not spoken
of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.
Now, what this
minister was teaching certainly is not what Jesus was teaching. Jesus taught
that He only echoed what God said. And we are taught to do the same.
So when you have so many
different versions of the Message out there, it behooves us to say it like the
tapes say it, and not to add our own thoughts to it, but to say it as He said
it. That means we are to just echo what has already been said.
That is why I have a
problem with anyone who will not tell it like the prophet told it. When you
choose another voice above the voice of a vindicated prophet for this hour, you
had better be careful. There was only one vindicated in this hour, and that was
William Miriam Branham. Period. And the best we can do is show what he said by
taking what he said right to the Scriptures so you can have a good Bible
foundation for what the prophet of God taught us.
So what is the normal
Christian life? Most people would say, well it would have to be the Sermon on
the Mount but has such a life as that ever been lived upon the earth? Well we
can say it was lived, but only in the
Son of God Himself. But we
do have a Bible teaching on what a normal Christian life is, and it was given
to us by the Apostle Paul in
Galatians
2:20 I am crucified with
Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the
life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who
loved me, and gave himself for me.
Here we are told the
normal Christian life replies, It is “no longer I,
but Christ that is living in me”.
Here Paul is not stating something special or peculiar, this is not an extreme
statement, But rather Paul is presenting God’s promise to us for what He has
given to us as His standard for a normal Christian life. And the normal
Christian Life can be summarized in these words. “I am crucified
with Christ: nevertheless I am living; yet it is no longer me that is living,
but Christ is now living my life for me: and the life which I am now living in
this flesh, I am living by the Revelation
of the Son of God,”
And let’s face it, God has
made it quite clear throughout His Word that He has given us only one answer to
every human need that we have, and that answer is His Son, Jesus Christ. In every
dealings that we have with God, He promised to work all things together for our good by
taking us out of the way and substituting
Christ in our place.
1) So the two emblems we
must consider is first of all the Cross of Christ. The Son of God died instead
of us for our forgiveness:
2) And two the Blood of
Christ, because the Life is in the Blood. Therefore, Christ lives our lives for
us instead of us trying to live a life of victory ourselves. For He is our
victory.
John 6:53
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye
eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink
his blood, ye have no life in you.
Deuteronomy
12:23 for the blood is the life;
Leviticus
17:14 the blood of it is for the
life thereof: …for the life of all flesh is the blood
thereof:
Leviticus
17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given
it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the
blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.
And it is interesting
that we were commanded by God not to eat the blood itself for it would be
eating the life of the flesh. So that tells us the blood is not for us, but
what is in the blood is for us. But the blood being our atonement was for God.
Notice God commanded the children of
So we can see there are two
substitutions in the normal Christian Life. The Cross and the Blood.
1) Jesus was our substitute
on the Cross and it was he who secured our forgiveness.
2) And His Life through
His blood substitutes for our Life within us, thus securing for us our victory.
Understanding these two
substitutions will help us tremendously in our normal Christian walk and will save
us from much confusion if we keep constantly before us the fact that God answers
all our questions with only one answer, namely, by showing us more of His Son. In fact that is what the entire ministry of
the Five Fold is supposed to be all about. And that is what the Spirit of
Adoption is all about, Knowing Christ in the power of His resurrection.
The Apostle Paul
taught us in Ephesians
4:11 And
he (God) gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some,
evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For
the perfecting (maturing) of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying
(building up) of the body of Christ: 13 Till we
all come in the unity of The faith,
and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
unto a perfect man, (unto a mature man) unto the portion of the character of the fulfilling
of Christ: 14 That
we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and
fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which
is the head, even Christ:
Therefore it is the knowledge of the son of God that brings us this
maturity and stability in our character. Knowing the power of the cross helps us to know how to die to self.
Colossians
3:3 For ye are dead, and
your life is hid with Christ in God.
Colossians
2:20 Wherefore if ye be
dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in
the world, are ye subject to ordinances,
Galatians
5:24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Romans 6:6
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that
henceforth we should not serve sin.
And if we shared in
His crucifixion and died with him, then we also share in His resurrection. And
so the Power of the cross allows us to die to self, and the power of His blood
releases back His Life in us to live a life of victory.
Colossians 2:12
Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him
through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.
Then
knowing our resurrection has already begun by His Life coming into our being
and living our lives for us, His quickening power in our mortal being, we can
have confidence and live a victorious life.
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.
Colossians
3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are
above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
Therefore in his
sermon, Countdown 62-0909M P:9 brother Branham said, So I, in these thirty--going on thirty-two years of
ministry, I have tried to stay true to the Word. I don't know of one thing I've
ever had to alter on, because I just read it out of the Bible, said just what
the Bible said, and let it go like that. And so I haven't had to take back or rearrange, because I just said it the
way that the Bible says it. And I find out, if God has spoken anything, then we must go with that Word in order
to make It be fulfilled. …and then he said, So we want to
remember; you've got to stay on the
Word, just stay right with the Word. And where the Word leads, you go right
with the Word, then It'll bring you out all right. I'm sure.
Way back
the 62-1123 P:38 That's the way to return back to normal
Christian health. The church is sick. It's puny; it's anemia. It's got
malignancy, and there's no earthly cure for it. Education won't do it. We've
tried it. Denomination won't do it. We've tried it. You'll only make it worse.
There's only one way back, and that's through
the Blood of Jesus Christ, inoculation. Come back to Christ. Come back to
the Holy Spirit. Come back to Life Eternal again. That's the way we would get
back.
And if the church ever really understood the importance of the blood of
Christ, and the cross of Christ they would recognize themselves dead and their
lives hid in Christ Jesus.
Reconciliation
through fellowship 56-0120 P:49 Recognizing yourself dead, recognizing
you're an alien, only, "Not my church, or what I've done, or what I will
do, or what a good fellow I've been, what I am in my community," but
"what I am, I am a sinner, and no good. And I recognize God's Son to be my
propitiation for my sin, and I've accepted it." Then God, by the Holy
Ghost, takes you into fellowship with Him, and then you talk with the Father
again, like father Adam did in the beginning.
Fellowship
through reconciliation 55-0605 P:49 But
when a man correctly one time comes in and lays his hands upon the head, by
faith of the Lord Jesus Christ, and confesses
his sins, then the Blood of Jesus Christ... The Life that was in that was God Himself. And that man, the life that returns to that man after he
has confessed his sins and accepted Christ, he's brought into a relationship
with Christ by the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and there's no more desire in his
heart to sin. Amen. That's the reason Hebrews 10 said, "For
the worshipper once purged has no more conscience of sin."
There you have fellowship. The things of the world is dead. You don't recognize it no more. You reckon
yourself dead, and your life is hid in God through Christ,
sealed by the Holy Spirit. And then you're looking to the heavenly things. Used
to be, you couldn't hardly set in church ten minutes. But when you really got
the Holy Spirit, you can set in church day and night, for there's something in
you feeding. The trouble today people has worldly spirits. They go to church.
Fellowship
through reconciliation 55-0605 P:25 What we need today is some
good strict Bible preaching, teaching, back to the old hewing lines the shed blood. God laid out the world
the map for the human family to come home, and it was through reconciliation of the Blood. He's never
changed from that day to this. Some say, "I belong to the Methodists. I
belong to the Pentecostal. I belong to this." That doesn't mean a that
much to God. You got to be born again. You
got to come and recognize the Blood of Jesus Christ was shed for you, and
you're dead to yourself and to the things of the world, and born anew in Christ
Jesus, by the washing and renewing by the blood. Amen. Pretty straight, but
brother, it's the truth.
Letting
off the pressure 62-0518 P:57 When we recognizeHe was our substitutionary
death. When we realize it's not our righteousness but His, and when we accept
Him as a personal Saviour, then we go to
the grave with Him in baptism, and we
die with Him. If you don't, you shouldn't be buried. So when you're dead and
confess your sins, and call yourself a sinner, and ask for mercy, and are
buried with Christ in baptism, we are also risen with Him in the resurrection. And
now being raised from sin, being raised from the dead in the likeness of his
resurrection, we are raised up from the
life of sin, and setting with Him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
filled with the Holy Ghost, with the evidence of Eternal Life that we are
already raised up from the dead. Our souls are alive tonight with Christ,
because sin is beneath us and we've raised from there, which is the earnest of
our resurrection. Amen.
Lamb and
the dove 57-0325 P:10 Don't try to be nothing that you are not.
Just be yourself. And then, if you want to be a Christian, just ask Christ. He will take your old nature out, put a new
nature in; then you don't have to impersonate anything; it's just your
normal life that you're living. And as long as you got malice, envy,
strife, all these things of the world, then you know Christ isn't in there. The Bible said, "If you love the
world, or the things of the world, the love of God's not even in you."
See, 'cause the Life of God isn't in you.
The Life is in there, it just produces
itself; it just lives its way out.
Let us pray…