Christ
is the Mystery no. 94
Until Christ be Formed
in you
June 23, 2013
Brian Kocourek
Romans 8:18-19
where the Apostle Paul said, Romans 8:18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time
are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. (So
we see here that there are two things mentioned, the Sufferings we presently
must endure, and the Glory which is to be revealed in us.
Now,
this "Glory" or this "Doxa"
which is God’s values, opinions and judgments we are told will be revealed in
us. And He did not say here revealed to us, as though they are seen in someone
else but they will be revealed in us. So the DOXA of God must become a part of
us, and “as a man thinketh in his heart so is he, and
out of the abundance of the heart the mouth doth speak”.
Therefore that which will enters us and become not
only a part of us, but actually takes over who we are, reflecting in itself the
change of the inner man, the change that begins within us from human life to
God-Life, from the nature of man to the very nature of God, our inner being
reflecting who we are, sons and daughters of Almighty God.
In verse 19 that we see that these
values, opinions and judgments which are to be revealed in us in verse
18 must also come to a visible expression in a way which will be
manifested in our flesh, and thus the very life of Christ must come to
manifestation openly in a people, in an Elect Lady who then will be ready for
the change of the body.
Romans 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. 20 For
the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who
hath subjected the same in hope, 21 Because the creature itself also shall be
delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the
children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groaneth
and travaileth in pain together until now.
Look,
it’s groaning and travailing because it is not in the condition it was meant to
be in. 23 And not only they, but ourselves also,
which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within
ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
So
he tells us all creation is groaning, and we ourselves are groaning. Now we
must logically ask the question, “why does all
creation groan and travail waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God”.
And we find our answer in Galatians 4:19
Where the Apostle Paul said “My little children, of
whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,”
From his sermon, Divine Healing 54-1219M P:59 Brother Branham said, “Now,
you notice those people who set and say, "Well, I accept the Lord."
You take their word for it. I would too. I can't judge. God does. But in ten
years from now, they've never progressed a bit, just staying right in the same
old place. See? We grow daily. Each day our heart hungers, keeps moving on.
There's something growing inside of you. Amen. You get bigger, spread out, can
take more, …Paul told the Corinthians church, said,
"You're maturing growing. But when you ought to be teachers, you're still
babes needing teaching (Is that right?) when you ought to be teachers,"
something in there growing out, pushing out, making bigger, the Holy Spirit,
growing. The new birth... If a birth is born from the inside out, the child, it
grows if it lives. If it doesn't, it remains. Is that right? Well, when a birth
is on the inside, shouldn't it grow? The Christ in your heart ought to be
growing daily, getting bigger, more powerful, understanding things better,
forgiving, walking on as God would, till Christ be formed in you, the
hope of glory."
So
let’s take a look at these last two statements he says here. The Christ in
your heart ought to be growing daily, getting bigger, more powerful,
understanding things better, forgiving, walking on as God would, till Christ be
formed in you, the hope of glory.
Now,
in order to understand why the Apostle Paul was travailing himself you will
have to read the entire 4th chapter of the book of Galatians to understand why
he said those words.
In
this chapter we read that the church is not really focused as an adult but like
children seemed to fall under the spell of certain ministers who they allowed
to rule over them and bring them back into the bondage of a system. Placing men
over men, and really acting like a bunch of little children. That is why he
calls them, “little children”, not Bride, not elect, not elect lady, but little
children. Because they were acting like little children.
Now, if we get nothing more accomplished this morning than to read the entire
letter to the Galatians and then I feel we will have accomplished much.
Because
like Paul, I like to look out at the conduct of the believers professing the
Message, and feel they vacillate back and forth between law and Grace and to be
in this condition shows they are yet children, and as we saw Wednesday night
Paul agonized over this childish condition praying that Christ would be formed
in them. Now this word formed was translated from Greek word which means “To
arrange the parts to bring into alignment”. In other words, we, each
of us, is a part of the body of Christ, but we are not
aligned with Christ as we ought to be. We all, every man are not thinking in
terms of the family or the body of Christ, but are thinking every man on his
own things.
Philippians 2: 4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the
things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6
Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7
But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and
was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he
humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 9
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above
every name:
Notice,
His thoughts were not for himself but for his brethren, and he humbled himself.
And the Bride of Christ is not there yet. There needs to be a humbling. Paul
saw it, William Branham saw it, and they both tried to teach us that this is
the condition we need to come to but would the people listen? No, but there is
ordained a people who will listen and who will humble herself. And there is no
way there will come a rapture until this condition is
met. Because the Scripture tells us that is we “humble ourselves, God will lift
you up in due season”. There’s your rapture.
John said the same thing in 1 John 3: 1-3“now you are sons, but
it doesn’t look like what you ought to be as sons, but there is coming a time
when He shall Appear, and the time of this Appearing you will be like him for
you shall see him as he truly is, and seeing Him as he truly is, you will begin
to recognize what you truly are”.
That is why Paul also said, “when
I was a child I spoke like and child because I thought as a child, but when I
became a man I put away childish thinking” And we know that which
is perfect is the perfect revealed Word, and we have by God’s grace the perfect
revealed word for us in this day. Because God Himself came
down with the SHOUT which is the Message.
So here is my conclusion on this matter. The Bride is
yet not mature. We have been commanded by God’s prophet to lay
in the presence of the son to ripen. We are not ripened in our spirit, we are not yet sweet in our spirit. We are still too
touchy about our own position in the body and not concerned about the body
itself.
There is too much jesting for power, and for
importance in the body and not enough Humility, and dying to self. Too much self, and not enough focus on the entire body itself. So
with that in mind, I wish to simply read to you this morning Paul’s letter to
the Galatians, from the translation called “The Message”
which you can read from Biblegateway.com.
My hope in this reading is the you
can see the atmosphere Paul dealt with in the Alpha ministry so that you can
recognize the same scene taking place in the omega ministry of Christ. Because
the Bride must come to maturity, that is the duty of the five-fold ministry to
bring her to maturity. But it seems the five-fold ministry itself needs a good
dose of maturity itself, and you can’t expect the people to live above those
who teach them.
What is a vision 56-0408A P:39
Now, most people, they think that someone who sees visions ought to be
Divine. No, sir, not by any means. No,
sir. There's no one Divine but God. That's all. And there's no one. There's
no difference in none of us. We're all sinners saved by grace. And one's
not above the other one: just one's given something, and he will have to
answer for what he done with what talent was give him. That's right. Every
person has to answer for that.
Thirsting for life 57-0613 P:70
And we're no more, we're not greater than one another. We're all the same.
We're just... If a person isn't no more than a little
housewife, she's just as much in the Kingdom of God as the apostle or prophet
or whatever he is. She's God's child. And there's no difference in us. God put
some to do one thing, and some another. That don't make us above anyone. That just God chose us.
Where I think Pentecost failed 55-1111 P:57
And then when he become of age, at a certain age, he set a great day. And
he called witnesses out into the street, and he took this boy and put a special
robe on him, a beautiful robe, and set him out in the street, and had a ceremony
of adoption. And the father, the very father of this boy, adopted the boy into
his own family (Now, you know that by the Scripture, the placing of the son.),
and adopted him into his own family. And therefore, from that day on that boy
had a legal right to write his daddy's checks, or whatever the father had, he
was heir to it. He was adopted. He was just equal, had the authority over all
of his father's goods. He was no longer a tutor, but he was... or cared by a
tutor, he was absolutely in possession. And that's where the church has gone
now. When you got back there and was born again, you
think that settles it. You went off at ease. Now, you're finding yourself with
cramps, not enough manna, backsliding from one meeting to another. What it is, is God has watched the conduct of His Church.
From his sermon, Divine Healing 54-1219M P:59 Brother Branham said, “Now, you notice those people who set
and say, "Well, I accept the Lord." You take their word for it. I
would too. I can't judge. God does. But in ten years from now, they've never
progressed a bit, just staying right in the same old place. See? We grow daily.
Each day our heart hungers, keeps moving on. There's something growing inside
of you. Amen. You get bigger, spread out, can take more,
…Paul told the Corinthians church, said, "You're maturing growing.
But when you ought to be teachers, you're still babes needing teaching (Is that
right?) when you ought to be teachers," something in there growing out,
pushing out, making bigger, the Holy Spirit, growing. The new birth... If a
birth is born from the inside out, the child, it grows if it lives. If it
doesn't, it remains. Is that right? Well, when a birth is on the inside,
shouldn't it grow? The Christ in your heart ought to be growing daily, getting
bigger, more powerful, understanding things better, forgiving, walking on as
God would, till Christ be formed in you, the hope of glory.
So
let’s take a look at these last two statements he says here. The Christ in your
heart ought to be growing daily, getting bigger, more powerful, understanding
things better, forgiving, walking on as God would, till Christ be formed in
you, the hope of glory.
The
Apostle Paul said in Galatians 4:19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again
until Christ be formed in you, Now, to understand what this means if you will
read the entire book to Galatians and especially the 4th chapter, But has been
teaching them how that Christ is to live out his life in each of us, and as we
grow in Christ His own Life is forming in us.
What this means if you will read the entire book to
Galatians and especially the 4th chapter, But has been teaching them how that
Christ is to live out his life in each of us, and as we grow in Christ His own
Life is forming in us.
In his sermon, Sardisean church age 60-1209 P:54 brother Branham said, "And the earth is groaning, waiting for the manifestations of
the sons of God" to be manifested, God's
sons. Because after all, this world was not given for God
to control. Let's notice. That's right. Who is the god of the earth?
Man. That's his domain. All, everything in the earth is subject to the man.
Through sin he fell; through Christ's redeeming power he comes back again
(That's right.), because the earth belongs to man, it was given to him, and he
was ruler over everything. And all nature's groaning, waiting for that time
that when the sons of God will be manifested again. Oh, my. Manifestations of
the sons of God..."
The
Apostle Paul said in the Book of ROMANS 12:3 For I say, through the
grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself
more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath
dealt to every man The Measure of Faith. Now, to think
soberly means you have got to have a right mind to do so.
What Paul is telling us here is that we should not
allow ourselves to get puffed up by the revelation or the Measure of Faith that
has been revealed to us, for after all, it is not of our own efforts or study
that gives us this Measure of Faith or revelation. We didn’t think of it first.
God sent it to us via a prophet of God. It is God’s doing, it is by God’s
Grace, that He has revealed Himself to us in this hour.
In
examining Scriptural Humility we find that true Scriptural humility is not so
much a mannerism, nor is it an action, but rather, True Scriptural humility is
a condition of the mind. For it is simply knowing your place in the Gospel, or
knowing your position in Christ.
In Colossians 3:12 we read, ¶ Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy
and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, and
longsuffering;
Notice
the apostle Paul used the phrase “Humbleness of the mind”. Then
humility is a condition of the mind. Therefore, Humility is not bowels of
mercies, humility is not kindness, humility is not meekness, nor is it
longsuffering. It is listed here as one amongst many different attributes, but
it is not those attributes. And yet if you are a True Christian you will
possess all of these attributes, plus humility.
From
the sermon Sirs we would see Jesus 62-0724 P:44 brother Branham
said concerning Jesus the Son of God, , He come to show what God was.
Anything that's high and haughty isn't God. God is low and humble. That's what
made Him God. See, something that comes low, not them that goes high... So God
doesn't dwell in hierarchies, and things. He dwells in humility. The way up is
down. Humble yourself and you'll be exalted; exalt yourself and you'll be
humble. That's right. See? God knows how to do it. So you have to remember;
humble yourself before God. Don't try to think your own thoughts; think His
thoughts. See?
Notice he said, humble
yourself before God. (well, how do we
humble ourselves before God? He says,) Don't try to
think your own thoughts; think His thoughts. Therefore, true
humility is a condition of the mind. It’s letting go of any thought that would
exalt itself against God.
2 Corinthians 10: 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing
into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
But
why is it that when God reveals a portion of Himself to man they get exalted
and puffed up. Why is it that men are always vying for position?
In
MATTHEW 18:1 we read ¶ At the same
time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom
of heaven?
Now, what kind of a question is that to ask? If these
men really understood sovereignty and the Solitary God they would not have even
asked that question. But that is man, and I believe that is why it was recorded
in the Scriptures. So we could see how carnal man can get. Just like those
people who could stand there and watch miracle after miracle take place in
Moses ministry. They saw one man with a stick speaking to the Sea and it
parted, and destroyed the most powerful military force on earth at that time.
And then a few days later they were ready to stone that same man. I just don’t
understand that kind of thinking.
Exodus 17:1 ¶ And
all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of
Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and
pitched in Rephidim: and [there was] no water for the
people to drink. 2 Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? (why are you
fussing so much with me?) wherefore do you put the
LORD to the test? 3 And the people thirsted there for water; and the people
murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us
up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? 4 And
Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do
unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me. 5
And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of
the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest
the river, take in thine hand, and go. 6 Behold, I
will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb;
and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come
water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses
did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the name of the
place Massah, and Meribah,
because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the
LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?
So we see here the apostles themselves were carnal and
vied with one another to see who should be the greatest in the Kingdom of God.
And before Jesus tells them this parable, he talks to them about humility.
"And Jesus called a little child unto
him, and set him in the midst of them, (now, notice how Jesus
calls this little child. Probably no special little child to the apostles, but
that child was special to its mother and father. But to make an illustration, he
calls for this little child and then says to them, “You all think you're really
something, but let me tell you something, if you do not become like this little
child, you will not even have a place with m in the Kingdom of My Father.
Notice his words, 3 And said, Verily I say unto you,(now the word
verily means surely, or truly, or of a truth, I say unto you…) Except
ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the
kingdom of heaven.
Now,
those are pretty strong words coming from Jesus to these men who had given up
house and lands and peoples and family to follow him. And yet He did not ay
these things just to make a point. He said them because He meant them. And He
is the same yesterday, today and forever. And Heaven and earth will pass away
but not one jot or tittle of His word will fail.
Notice
He said, Except ye be converted and that word
converted means: to turn one's self from one's course of conduct, or to change
one's mind. So in other words, He was not happy with what was going on in their
ranks. And He let them know that unless they stop thinking like they were and
humble down and become like this child, they would in no way enter into the
Kingdom of God.
Now,
I ask you, isn’t it time that the people in this message begin to come to this
place where they can be kind to one another, and treat one another with
respect. Is it really necessary for the people in the churches to place a fence
around their ministers to protect them from others getting too close? Is that the
Christian way? Or is that the way of man, to put up fences to
keep others out.
What ever happened to what brother Branham taught us
to make the circle bigger? What ever happened to Christian Love and charity?
What ever happened to giving your second coat to the stranger in need? What
ever happened to feeding the poor, and helping the fatherless.
I
don’t say that we need to start a works program, but we need to humble down and
begin to show respect and appreciation for all the things God has given to us.
In
verse 4, Jesus says, 4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the
same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
So,
the way up is down, my brother and my sister! From a PRAYER LINE 53-1121 E-23 brother Branham
said, "And then those people looked to that
old fisherman, and you know what they did? If he'd have had some great degree
to go by, he'd have had something to glory in, but God took nothing and made
something out of it. That's the way God does: just takes the nothing to make
something. And when you can become nothing in your own sight, you're becoming
something in God's sight then. And always remember this, friends, the way up is
down. "He that exalts himself shall be abased, but he that humbled himself
shall be exalted." So just love Him with all your heart and forget all you
ever knowed about all other things but Jesus Christ.
Just go ahead and love Him and work for Him; serve Him. If He wants you to be
the doormat, well, you just be the doormat and that... It's whatever He wants
you to do, you do it. God bless you now."
Now, what do you suppose went through the minds of
those apostles when Jesus called for that little child to come forth? And what about those educated and religious separatists? But
when He began to speak He let them know that they had a wrong attitude and this
child had the right attitude.
Angel of the Covenant 54-0301 E-18 Don't expect to
know God by education or theology; you know God by being born again, new birth.
The Holy Spirit wrote the Word of God. And He so entangled it in there; He
said, "I've hid it from the eyes of the wise and prudent and will reveal
it to babes such as will learn." So if you want to know anything, get to
be a baby. Don't be too smart. The way up is down. "He that humbles himself
shall be exalted. He that exalts himself shall be brought abase." And I
think of writing the Scripture, how the Holy Spirit hid those mysteries in
there. And all the Bible schools and seminaries will never be able to pull it
out. God knows it alone and will reveal it to who He
will. Is that right?
And whoso shall receive one such little child in my
name receiveth me. Do you realize what he is saying
here? We should be of such a nature that it means just as much to us to speak
to the children as it means to speak to the adult. We should try just as hard
to teach the child as we try to teach the adult. God hides in simplicity, and
he does not manifest himself in great swelling words, but God has chosen the
simple things whereby to express himself to us.
I CORINTHIANS 1:25 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 nothing things that are: 29 That no flesh should glory in his
presence.
Therefore,
Humility is to know your place in the Word, to know your place in God’s plan.
And if you know that something is outside of God’s thinking, then it is not
worth even thinking about.
Brother
Branham said from the message, Be Not Afraid
It is I 61-0414 P 65 Some people
thinks humility is something that ought to wear a skirt. No, no. You
misunderstand that. Jesus, the humblest Man that ever lived, He could plait
ropes together, and look on them with anger, and run them out of the temple.
Yes, sir. Certainly.
And
in the same sermon paragraph 67 brother Branham was
talking about the man that was healed on the Sabbath Day when Jesus walked past
the multitude and healed the one laying on a cot. E-67
And the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin court (the church), questioned Him.
"What about all the rest of these?" He said, "Verily, verily, I
say unto you: " The Son does nothing in Himself; but what He sees the Father
doing, that doeth the Son likewise." That's compassion. Compassion is to
follow the will of God, not human sympathy, but compassion. Oh, it's two
different words altogether: sympathy, and compassion. See? If it wasn't, Jesus
sure made a rude mistake when He did that. See?
Too
many people have the wrong understanding of what humility is all about. They
think the guy who walks around like a dishrag is the one who is humble. They
think if they can just say, “Lord bless you my precious brother”, just the
right way, then that is being humble. But that’s not humble. Brother Branham
sets the record straight when he said Jesus Christ was the most humble man that
ever lived, and he took a rope and made a whip from it. Then he speaks of
compassion and says, compassion is not human sympathy,
but doing the will of God. And that is exactly what humility is, to know your
place and to walk in the order for which you were called. Humility is not some
feminine or sissified mannerism, but true humility is knowing your place in the
Gospel, and standing firm, for when you have done all you can do to stand, then
just stand.
In the Book of Deuteronomy
chapter 8, we are told that the reason the children of Israel
had to wander in the wilderness for forty years is because they were too proud,
and were not humble before God, so God made them to wander in the wilderness in
order to humble them in their thinking. Now, it’s better to humble yourself
before God than have God do it.
And if you do humble yourself you have a blessing and
promise of God according to II Chronicles 7:14
"If my people, which are
called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and
turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive
their sin, and will heal their land".
God said he will not share His Glory with any man.
Therefore, He will only use those men who are humble enough to give Him all the
praise, Honor and Glory. Every ministry under the Pillar of Fire that had great
success with man and God walked in true humility. Moses,
Paul, Jesus and William Branham. Each of these men knew their place and
did exactly what God showed them to do. They did nothing more, nor did they do
anything less than what God told them to do. That is true humility. Knowing your place in the Word.
And from Letting off
the pressure 62-0622B P:14 he said, Humility is a way to success. That's right.
From
his sermon, It is I be not afraid 62-0726 P:45 Brother Branham
said, “That's what makes Him God to me, because He humbled Himself. God is
humility. Don't never forget that. Humility is God.
Never boastful, it's always humility."
In PHILIPPIANS 2:3
The Apostle Paul said, Let nothing be done through
strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than
themselves. And the word lowliness is the same Greek word used for humble
yourselves.
Roman nobleman 55-0621 P:3 I want you to notice his attitude. He
didn't approach feeling that he had it coming to him; he approached, said he
was unworthy. I want you to take that attitude also, that you cannot come with
a predominating attitude and get anything from God. You must come reverent,
humble, and then God will deal with you. And then you will get what you ask
for.
Angel of God 48-0304 P:20 The Spanish people: you're humble,
you're willing to receive. They're just take the
crumbs, whatever you... You come in that attitude, and that's the reason you
get healed. That's the reason you're healed, because you come humble. Anyone
who comes stiff-necked will never receive nothing from
God.
Questions and answers COD 59-0628E P:42
And isn't that just the way that people get today? Let God just bless a
fellow and put a little confidence in him, and he gets to be a know it all. He
gets to be... He's got to start an organization, or he's got to do something
that's different. "Why art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer."
God has a hard time trying to get somebody that He can deal with, that'll stay
humble, and meek, and stay in the place until God calls him to do something
(you believe that? See?), a man that God can bless and he'll still keep hisself a man, not be an angel or a god. As soon as man
gets blessed and has a little something given to him, he wants to become a god;
he wants to become a angel. He wants to become some
great person. "What I do, what... Me and me and
mine..." all that. That's the wrong attitude. God's hunting for
somebody who He could bless and pour out the blessings,
and more He blessed, the littler the man will become. And you'll never get more
of God until you become nothing. You've got to belittle yourself. (Now,
that means you’ve got to make yourself little.) He that will exalt himself,
God will bring abase. He that will humble himself, God will exalt. You've got
to get little before you can get big. And you'll never be big in your own self;
you'll only be as big as God will be big in you. See?
Matthew 23: 12 And
whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself
shall be exalted. Then you might ask, to what degree would
we humble ourselves? Jesus said in Matthew 18: 4 Whosoever therefore shall
humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of
heaven.
From his sermon Angel
of God 48-0304 P:36 Brother Branham
said, "Now, notice
here now, in the 48th verse. Then said Jesus unto him, Except
you see signs and wonders, you will not believe. In other words, give him a
rebuke to see if He was able to stand it. Now, you know what would happen in
Phoenix tonight, if the Master was here and say something or other like that?
Why, my, they'd blow up and walk away. Why, you don't have to come. But that
fellow wasn't that kind of a fellow. He was a humble man. The main thing was to
get Christ to his boy. But you see, a people... who take the attitude, saying, "Well, they feel like they'd be preferred before
somebody else." They don't get nothing from God.
Those who's willing to set back, those who's willing
to give, prefer one another. That's the one who gets something from God".
1 Peter 5: 5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea,
all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth
grace to the humble. 6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of
God, that he may exalt you in due time:
In
James 4: 6 we read, But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he
saith, God resisteth the
proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
And
in James 4: 10 we read, Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift
you up.
Testimony on the sea 64-0307 P:50 You know, the trouble of it is, you're
trying to get Hollywood in the church. The thing you ought to be trying to do
is get Hollywood out of the church. See? You're trying to make your building so
pretty; you're trying to make your denomination so big, till it'll attract the
attention of the people. We can't go over on their side. We got to have them on
our side. Everything's shiny, remember, Hollywood glitters with worldliness,
while the Gospel glows in humility. There's quite a difference between shining
and glowing. The Gospel glows in humility, and meekness, and humbleness, and
power. While, Hollywood shines, and everybody hurrahing and
hollering, and going to it. See? We don't need that.
Why 62-0622E P:54 The Holy Ghost don't shine; the Holy
Ghost glows. There's a difference between glowing and shining. The church
shines with its big programs; but the Holy Ghost glows in humility, humbleness,
reconciling to the Word, believing the Word.
Hidden life 55-1006A P:13 God doesn't dwell so much in theology. He
dwells in love and humbleness, where you can really, everybody can get
acquainted with Him and know Him.
Hebrews Chapter 4 57-0901E P:73 God don't dwell in glamour; God dwells in
humility.
Do you now believe 53-1106 P:40 God lives in humility and simplicity.
Queen of the south 58-0620 P:22 Say, "Lord, make me humble so I
will understand." Come with that kind of an attitude; don't just go away
with the crowd and pass your own opinion. Search it through the Scriptures; watch
the working of it, the nature of it, and see if it is of God or not. If it is
of God, stay with it. If it isn't of God, get away from it. If it isn't
Scriptural, then it isn't of God.
Be certain of God 59-0125 P:10 What we need today is not a lot of material
things; we have that. We don't need greater churches; we don't need greater
congregations. We don't need more on radio and on television. We don't need so
many more of these things. But what we need today to be spiritual, is a person
that will humble themselves before God if they haven't got a penny, and will
pray till that spirit within them is satisfied with the goodness of God, and a
revival take place on the inside of their heart that changes their attitudes
and atmosphere that they live in.
And
to be humble you are not born that way. Paul said in Philippians
2: 8 And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross.
So
we see that true humility is a condition of your mind, and true humility is
something you do as a result of understanding your position in Christ. You see
your place in the Scriptures, and then you do what God says to do, and you say
only what God says to say. You have no will of your own, but you have surrendered
what will you did have to receive His will. As Jesus said, “My meat is to do
the will of the Father that sent me.”
Now,
in getting back to our text from paragraph
71 of The Masterpiece, brother Branham
said, So perfected, a Redeemer of man, so perfect,
so godly (Yet there was no beauty we should desire Him.),
when this virgin-born, Son of the living God, become
so perfect,… 72 You say, "Is that so?" St. Mark 9:7, we find upon the Mount
Transfiguration, when there stood Moses, the law, there stood Elijah, the
prophets. All the way back from the patriarchs, the fathers, the law, the
prophets, and all of them standing there, we hear a Voice coming down from the
cloud and said, "This is My beloved Son,
hear ye Him." And if they 're going to
hear, He's got to speak. It was just a few days before He was smitten.
"This is My Son, Who I'm pleased to dwell in. I have molded Him.
God
took Him up on that Mountain and before the witnesses said, Hear Ye Him…, this
is the One Who has humbled Himself to the place where he has placed my Words
above His own, and this is the One who has placed My Will above His own will,
Therefore, this is the One I am pleased to Dwell in,. and
this is the One I have chosen to place My Words in, So Hear Ye Him. Why because
what He has to say is “Thus Saith the Lord. For they are My Own Words. Therefore, Hear Ye Him”…
Let
us pray