Desperation no. 1
Conditions
February 28, 2016
Brian Kocourek, pastor
This morning we will begin
a study of brother Branham's sermon "Desperation" which he preached as his
very next sermon after the "Token". In fact he preached the "Token
in the morning and desperation that same evening.
In our study of "Desperation",
you will find out why this sermon had to be the one to follow the Token
Message.
You see, brother Branham
taught us that "first we must hear the Word,
then we must recognize what we hear, and then once we have recognized what we
have heard, then we must act upon that Word of God". And Desperation,
is the recognizing that places you into the correct atmosphere in order to act
upon what you have heard concerning the Token Message.
You will never come to the
place where you receive and apply the Token without having the right approach
to it, which creates the right atmosphere for the Token to become applied. And Desperation creates an atmosphere
where you place your full trust in God to do what He promised to do, or you are
going to be lost and left behind for the judgments.
As we begin reading we will
see the first few paragraphs are more or less just a preliminary for the local congregation
to let them know he has been quite busy and will be leaving them for a little
while. But with that in mind, I would like to begin to read from brother
Branham's sermon called "Desperation" which he preached Sep 01, 1963 at the evening service, which
followed his morning service concerning "The Token".
1 "Let us remain standing now as we bow our heads. Lord Jesus, we are just only believing.
You've told us just to believe, and we believe now. And we give Thee thanks and praise for what we
have already heard and seen that anchors our faith. Now, we thank Thee
for another opportunity to come to minister to those who are needy. And I pray
Thee, God, to meet our needs tonight according to Thy promise. In Jesus' Name
we ask it. Amen."
2 We are very happy tonight for this privilege of coming back to the
Tabernacle again with the Gospel of the
risen Lord Jesus. And I was just a little late. I had a special rush-in
case from Michigan just now. And the Lord done a marvelous thing just then for
us. My, how He knows everything and lays it just... Don't have to tell Him; He knows (See?) He knows just what to do.
And so, we're very grateful. The people drove all day to get here. And then,
we're so thankful for that. Now, don't forget the services this coming week,
Wednesday night, and next Sunday morning, and Sunday night. If you're around in
the neighborhood, I know they'd sure be glad to have you here. And now, pray
for me as I go on my road elsewhere, and I hope to be back again soon.
3 I want to thank you all for your
kindness and memories of what you've done for me. A brother just sent me a new
suit of clothes from down in a little church in Georgia. And them people, It's
just marvelous. And I want to thank those people from down in Kentucky that I
was with last week on the vacation, and all that the Lord did for us there, great,
mighty hand that we seen Him, what He did.
4 Now, we're trusting to see you again
pretty soon, as soon as I can get back this way going to New York for the meeting. That's at the Stone church with
Brother Vick, beginning, I believe it's November the 12th. We'll be by here a
few days before the time. Then we pass
back through again going down to Shreveport, Louisiana, with Brother Jack
Moore. That's at Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving week, to be there at Shreveport.
It's on the bulletin board, I think, back there in the announcements.
5 And then, we hope
to be with some of the southern friends
after Christmas. And we'll be in
Phoenix in January. And then waiting
for the overseas call, so we can get the meetings ready for overseas. They're working on them now, this last
month, Brother Borders, corresponding back and forth, from a complete world
tour to begin just as soon as we can get
it ready; but we have to wait for
conditions.
Now, before
we continue I would like to comment on what he just said here because this
could almost be a sermon in itself. He is speaking of meetings they are
organizing for other countries but the meetings are all dependent on one thing,
for the conditions to be right
for having those meetings.
Now, many times we see people in Christian churches
have the wrong idea about mission work. They use Scriptures like we see in Luke chapter 10 where Jesus
says, Luke 10:2 Therefore said he unto them, The harvest
truly is great, but the laborers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the
harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest.
And so they recruit
everyone they can in their church that will go. They get brick layers, and skilled
and unskilled workers, electricians, Sheet metal workers, carpenters, and by the
shear number of volunteers, they now have enough people from their own church
or affiliated churches to start what they call "a revival"
somewhere. And the people excited to travel to some exotic place in the world,
are attracted to go not because God has called them, but because the preacher
invited them.
So the preacher spins
the world globe that's setting on his desk, he closes his eyes, spins the world
globe around and around and around, and then as it's spinning, he places his
finger down on the spinning globe and when it stops, he opens his eyes and looks
where his finger has fallen on the globe, and he now has his answer from God
where to go for his next mission work.
Now, they might not do it
exactly that way, but I was just being a little bit dramatic to get the point
across. Most of the time God is not even in their mission work, and I know
because there is no real fruit to show for all their troubles. I knew a couple
that went on Caribbean cruises, and tried to find a local church at one of the
ports where they would land and spend a couple days. And if they could line up
a church to attend, they called it a mission trip. Now, they might have fooled their church members and maybe
even the Internal Revenue Service, but they haven't fooled God for one second.
And brother Branham preached a sermon about that, he called it, "Doing God a
service without it being His Will.
But notice that we just
read where brother Branham said they must wait upon the conditions, because the conditions have to be
right, or there is no use in going. And you shouldn't go because
you want to do mission work. You shouldn't go because you want to go. You Shouldn't
go because others want you to go. You should only go because God has told you
to go. So the conditions must be met for the meetings to be a success.
There must be an anticipation that God is going to do something in
those meetings in order for such meetings to take place, because if God is not
present in the meetings then most assuredly the meetings were only the efforts
of man.
So the conditions have to be met before you go, or the meetings will be
a bust. Because God said in Proverbs
16:25 "There
is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of
death." and he also said in Isaiah 55:8
"For
my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the
LORD."
Therefore the very
first condition that must be met is the condition of your own heart. Because
God requires the condition of your own heart to be right even before you pray
for anyone who is sick.
I will never forget when I first learned that lesson. I was traveling
home from meetings in the Black Hills of South Dakota, and we stopped by a
hospital in Sioux Falls South Dakota where the father of one of the brethren
that was traveling with us lay paralyzed in his hospital bed. He had two
degenerative disks in his lower back and was paralyzed on the left side of his
body.
We stopped at the hospital on our way past Sioux Falls and went into the
hospital to lay our hands upon him and pray for him.
Having heard brother Branham's sermons on "Demonology", I instructed the man
concerning how prayer for the sick works, and how the demon would go out, and
then there would come swelling in a few days and he would think it was back on
him, but how that was just the physical body getting rid of the toxins and
things built up in the body, and that he should not let his faith slip when
that happens. That was 1977, I was 24
years old, and I knew all about healing, because I heard a sermon or two on it.
You may remember what it was to be young and how we thought we knew everything
to know about everything. Some of you may be going through that state right
now. But by God's grace you'll grow out
of it, or you will get hammered in the process.
Well, anyway, I instructed the believers father as brother Branham had
instructed, and I told him we would take a few minutes of silence for him to go
through his conscience and clear up anything with God that he knew was not
right in his heart, that might hinder our prayer from being answered by God.
You know, the Scripture teaches us in the Psalms
66:18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord
will not hear me:
So we waited until he
had checked his conscience and then I laid my hands upon him as commanded in Mark 16,
and after laying my hands upon him I began to pray.
Immediately after
praying for him, I felt like I was dirty, as though I had just sinned in the
presence of the Lord. So I excused myself from the Hospital room, and walked
down the hallway looking for an empty room I could go in and get on my knees
before God to pray.
I found no room but a
bathroom, so I entered and locked the door and got down on my knees before God
and asked my Father what was wrong, why did I feel like I had just sinned such
a grievous sin?
His answer came back
and He said, "you asked him to confess his sins, but you didn't confess
yours." I knew immediately I had not met the conditions, and
immediately recalled how brother Branham had told his wife to tell the Lawyer
that he was not home, and then stepped outside to make his words appear to be correct,
but when he went to pray for the child, God would not hear his prayers. So he
had to go home, and call the Lawyer and tell him what had happened.
Realizing I was in the
same condition, I then asked God to forgive me, and then I spent some time in
silence searching my soul and found out that I had a certain attitude towards a
certain brother that was hindering my prayer to God. I promised God I would
make that thing right when I returned home to Minneapolis.
Now, you may not think
your having an attitude towards someone hurts that person so your natural thinking
says, "they deserve how I feel about
them so I can have this attitude because that is just what I think about that
person because they deserve to be thought of that way".
Therefore you think,
"I don't need to make anything right
to that person, they should make right to me".
But even though they
might not know about your attitude towards them, the thing of it is, your
having that attitude may not hurt that person, but it certainly does hurt you.
You are the one with the attitude, and so you are the one who needs to make it
right, not them.
I don't care what
excuse you give yourself for having any attitude, others are responsible for
their actions and attitudes, and you are responsible for yours. And other
persons attitudes towards you doesn't hurt you, but your attitude to them is
what hurts you. So I confessed to God
my attitude and promised Him that I would make that right when I returned home
from our trip.
Then the Holy Spirit said, "go and pray
for him again". And I didn't move. I thought, "Ok, I
made this attitude right with God, so now God will honor my having already
prayed for the man", but that's not what happened. He said, "Go pray for him again." And I became frozen
on my knees, I didn't understand what he had just told me. I thought I had
cleared up my mistake and I had promised to make the attitude right, but I
didn't understand that God had not even heard my prayer before, because I had
held iniquity in my heart.
But now my heart was
cleansed, and I thought that would retroactively make the situation ok, but
that not what God requires. The conditions
have to be correct. So as I sat
there frozen on my knees, I heard His voice from within me says again, and this
time a lot louder, "go and pray for him again."
I still didn't move, not
because I was disobedient or rebellious to what he said, but I was still frozen
by confusion, because I did not know how I was going to go about doing what God
just told me to do. And then that voice came back again, and this time it shook
my entire body and said, "Go and pray for him
again." Then I said, "but Lord what shall I tell him",
and the Holy Spirit Spoke to me and said, "tell
him the truth".
And that is always the best
and only way to be. Tell the truth. Always tell the truth, no matter what the
circumstances, tell the truth, because if you don't, one lie will lead to
another lie, and then another and another until your story becomes so stretched
that no one will believe it.
So I returned to the
hospital room, and told the man everything that had transpired since I prayed
for him. I told him how after praying for him I felt dirty, and how I got up
and left to find a place to pray, and how the Lord revealed to me I had
iniquity in my own heart so he would not hear my prayer. I told him everything,
and then after opening my heart and confessing my own faults to him, I asked
him if I could lay hands upon him again and pray for him. And he said, "yes", and so I prayed again
and then after praying I knew with certainty that God was going to heal him. I
had such great assurance of it because I came according to the way God told me
to come, and I knew the conditions had been met the way God wanted them met,
and now it being impossible for God to lie, I knew God would do His part as He
promised to do in His Word.
And do you know the next
day when they came to get him ready for surgery they took pre surgical x-rays
and found his two vertebrae were perfectly normal and healthy. They compared
his Friday x-rays with his Monday morning x-rays they had just taken, and could
not understand what had happened, so the man told the doctors what had taken
place the day before, and the doctors told him it could only have been a
miracle.
So they released him from
the hospital and when they drove him to his farm, he asked if they would just drop
him at the roadside so he could walk by himself down the long lane to his
house. One day a paralyzed man, the next completely healed.
"Conditions", brother Branham said they were waiting on
the conditions to be right. And don't you think with the
Resurrection ministry that has been promised, and the Third Pull ministry, and
the great meetings we're expecting sometime soon to happen, don't you think God
might be just waiting for the conditions to be right?
You see, we are promised in
Malachi 4
that the ministry of the end time Elijah is to get the people to the place that
their hearts will be restored and ready for the rapture.
Malachi
4:5 Behold,
I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful
day of the LORD: 6 And he shall turn the heart of
the fathers to the children, and the
heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth
with a curse.
And we read in 2
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.
So God has certain
conditions that must be met before he wil step on the scene and do what He has
promised to do.
The crowds are so tremendous there, we
can't put them in buildings, just have to set them out on the ground. And then,
sometimes they run up, it's almost unbelievable to the numbers, sometimes as
much as 500,000; that's a half a million
people in one single gathering, not how many attends the meeting in so many
days, but one gathering. You know, usually evangelists counts how many people
attended in six weeks. You see? Well, we count just how many is there that day,
that one time. And so, sometimes there's no place to seat will them; you know,
you just have to put them out on the ground. And we have to get the seasons
where it's not raining and pouring down rain. And those poor people set out
there... I seen women set out there with their hair just stringing down, fine
dressed people, and just set in that rain all day long, just set there, and it
just pouring, and thundering, and lightning, and storms blowing, them just
leaning back and forth against one another like that, setting right there, wait
till you come to pray for them. See? Now, you know, God honors faith like that.
He does.
6 You've got to do
something for God to honor. You see? You show Him... The people that's got
everything handed to them so easy, they don't usually, they don't do nothing
for it. You see? You've got to... The gift is free, that is true, but you've
got to...It seems like that, you know, like they say, if you was born with a
silver spoon (you've heard that), you don't appreciate. But when you have to work for it, you
appreciate the valuation of it.
Notice he said, you've got to do
something for God to honor. That's just like what Jesus said in John 14:12-13. He says you must be a believer first, and if
you believe God regardless of what He wants you to believe, then He will honor
that by giving you whatsoever you ask for in prayer.
From his sermon, Man running from presence
65-0217 P:33 brother Branham said, And when you see then in this day now when the
Word of God has made these promises of things that we see happening now, then we've got the responsibility to
either face up to it or get away from it. You just can't stay
neutral; you've got to
do something about it. Some move's got to be made. You
can't come in that church door and go out the same person you come in.
You're either further away or closer to God every time you come in or go out
there. Oh, how easy it is for people to shirk these things. And I want us to
think of these when we start into the official services tomorrow night, that I
want you to notice when something is confronted, if there's a question about
it... If there's a question about it, there's got to be an answer.
And also from his sermon, Have not I sent
thee 62-0124 P:65 There's many sympathizers that say, "Oh, the Bible's
right. Yes, Brother Branham, I believe that the Bible's right. But you know, I just
don't know." There you are, "But I..."
See, there you are, just like an old goat butting his head, you know. Just...
See? "But it's all right, but you know, our pastor don't believe that. It's all
right, but I don't believe it can be done."
See, there you are again. You see? You'll never see it done. You've got to act.
You've got to do
something. And when
you will take God's promise, and know that it is God's promise, and act upon
it, you'll see the mighty miracles of God return back to the church of the
living God. That's right. You'll do it.
You can't claim to Love God and just stand there and do nothing about it.
Jesus said Himself, in John 14:15 If ye
love me, keep my commandments. And again in John 14:23 Jesus answered and
said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words:
and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with
him.
From his sermon, Unveiling of God 64-0614M
P:19 Brother Branham said, "There's several setting here, a number, that was with us the
other day when He came in a whirlwind, told us the day before, Brother Banks
Wood, them, when He said, "Take up this rock; throw it up in the air,
and say, 'THUS SAITH THE LORD. You will see it right away.'" And I
picked up the rock up on top of the mountain, threw it up in the air, and
the... 'Course, coming down, it started a whirlwind (See?), the suction of
it. You have to do
something to cause something to follow it. Jesus took a piece of bread and
broke it, then multiplied from that piece of bread. He took
water, poured it into a pitcher. Elijah took salt, put it in a cruse;
cut down a stick, throwed it on the water. It's something to symbolize.
And picking up this rock and throwing it into the air, and coming down
started the whirlwind.
Brother Branham said in his sermon, Conference
60-1125 P:43 "Now, Moses cried to the Lord and the Lord said, "Rise up and go forward."
And when Moses went right straight and stepped his foot into the water, when
that taken place, the Red Sea opened back, and Israel crossed over to a
great victory.
Now, the actual Scripture says it this way, Exodus
14:15 And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore
criest thou unto me? speak unto the
children of Israel, that they go forward:
So Moses was commanded
to speak and then the people were commanded to go forward, but if Moses had not
stepped into that water and the water opened up, the people would have never went
forward. So you have got to do something to show that the conditions have been met.
Influence
63-1114 P:48 You must remember that God is watching you every
hour. He watches
you when you're asleep. Now, I think the reason that people do those things
is because they're
not conscious of His Presence. See? But yet He's there, whether
you think He is or not. He sees every look that you make, and every
move that you make. He knows all about it. But we ought to realize
that.
Proving His word 65-0426 P:12 It's the attitude that always brings the results.
It's the attitude that you take towards God. Here's a woman touched His
garment; she was healed with a blood issue. A soldier spit in His face, and put
a crown of thorns on His head, and felt no virtue. It's your approach. The
attitude is what it takes. And that's what it is tonight, dear friend; it
takes the attitude. We are, and believe that we are in the Presence of Jesus
Christ, but it's your attitude that brings the results. The mechanics is
here and so is the dynamics. If
you can just get started, God will do the rest.
Jesus
Christ the same 54-0824 P:41 See? You just
have to get a little start. That's all you have to do. Just get your
faith moving one time. God will do the rest of it.
Hebrews
Chapter 4 57-0901E P:12 Now, we notice
over here then, that He said...For some, when
they had heard, did provoke:...Certainly.
They got weary every time they'd get to a place where a showdown come, then
what would they do? They would fly loose and get weary and want to turn back,
and "Why did this happen to me?" Strange thing, this morning after
preaching that just as hard as I could, there was many came to the altar and
questioned it, "Why does this happen to me?" You see how it goes? It
goes over the top of the people's head. It's just the same people. Jesus said,
"You have eyes but you can't see." He said that to the disciples. They said,
"Lo, now Thou speakest plainly; now
we believe. No man has to tell You anything, 'cause God shows it to You." He said, "Do you now believe after all this time?" See? You mustn't question anything to God.
"For the footsteps of the righteous
is ordered of the Lord." And every trial is put upon you to
prove you. And the Bible said they're more precious to you than gold. So if God let a few light afflictions happen to
you, remember, it's for the correction of you. "Every son that cometh to God must first be chastened
of God and tried,"
child-trained. There's no exceptions, "Every son that cometh..."
And these afflictions are done or brought about to see what attitude you'll
take. See, it's God on this proving ground. That's all earth is, is
a proving ground, and where He's trying to prove you.
Time Tested
Memorials of God 57-0818 P:47 Every time a wind
hits a tree and shoves it back and forth and back and forth, it only loosens
the roots, so it can go deeper and get a better hold. Every time sickness
strikes your home, every time trials strikes your home, every time the
neighbors say something bad about you, it's only shaking you, loosing you up,
so you can get down and get a better hold on the eternal Rock of God's
unmovable Word. That's how God does it; He sends those trials to test you, to prove you, to shake
you up, and to give you a new hold.
In closing, brother Branham said in his sermon, Desperation, "And then waiting
for the overseas call, so we can get the meetings ready for overseas. They're working on them now,
this last month, Brother Borders, corresponding back and forth, from a complete
world tour to begin just as soon as we
can get it ready; but we have to wait for conditions.
I Peter 1:6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice,
though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold
temptations: 7 That the trial of your
faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried
with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of
Jesus Christ:
Notice Peter speaks to us of the Trial of
your faith or the testing of your faith. That is how God develops the picture
in us! Through the trials and testing, and those trials and testing are for the
purpose of approving us. You don't do all that work with the negative just to
wash it clean. You do all that washing and follow the process to develop that
image that is in the negative with the purpose of bringing it into a positive.
So we see that the
trial of your Faith is exactly that. Your faith is put to the test. God
places you in situations because of your faith to see how you will utilize your
Faith. Remember Daniel in the Lion den and the three Hebrew children in
the fiery furnace. They all possessed the revelation of their hour and so God
tested them by it. The Revelation you possess is your Faith. And thus in order
to get you to use it, and to apply it, God allows affliction and suffering to
come your way because of your stand for your faith. Thus the suffering is a
result of your already possessing Faith and puts you into the place of having
to rely only upon your Faith to see you through. That is exactly what Shadrach,
Meshach and Abednego went through. And Daniel & Moses, Abraham and all
God's prophets Each had to go through a trial of His Faith, A trial of His
Revelation. The trial came because of the Revelation and thus he learned to
wait upon God and in due course when God brought forth His Faith for testing
again, it caused the Revelation to energize his own faith.
You Faith is given you to be used. But
you can't just use it for any purpose. It must be of God's choosing and according
to His timing. But believe me when I tell you this, If God has given
you this measure of Faith, then He will just as surely test you in it and cause
it to be of use to you. So when you enter into the trials of your faith, just
Let go and let God.
Therefore, God uses
these trials if we have a need for them. Where we have a problem with testing and
tribulations is when we do not understand why we are undergoing them? When we
lack understanding concerning the outcome of our trials, we develop
misperceptions of what is taking place, and when we do not see the good in it,
we will no doubt see the bad. Our misunderstanding these trials is not the
fault of the actual trial or tribulation which God has chosen for us to endure,
but rather the misperception comes from our weakness during the tribulation to
understand God is in it.
In such a case we fail
to understand the nature, power and operation or (purpose) of the tribulation
and therefore we judge it only according to its outward appearance and our own
perception of what is happening. When this occurs, we think wrongly about what
is happening, when we should be rejoicing in the trial for it is working
something in us that God deems necessary for us to have.
James
1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers testings; 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith
worketh patience 4 But let patience have
her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
Victory Day 63-0421 When
it looks like everything's gone wrong, God's
giving you a trial. He's got
confidence in you. He don't have to baby you around. You're not a hotbed
plant, a hybrid. You're a real Christian.
God's giving you a test, see what you'll
do about it. Amen. No wonder Peter said, "These
fiery trials, why, count it a joy. It's--it's more precious to you than gold."
And many times we hum and haw, "Oh, well. If I just..." Well, that's
something God give you to overcome. He knows you'll do it. He's put his trust
in you.
And that is what the Wuest Translation tells us as well.
"In which
last season you are to be constantly rejoicing with a joy that expresses itself
in a triumphant exuberance, although for a while at the present time if perchance
there is a need for it, you have been made sorrowful in the midst of many
different kinds of testings in order that the approval of your faith, which
faith was examined by testing for the purpose of being approved, that the
approval being much more precious than the approval of gold which perishes,…
Let's bow our head in prayer.