Desperation
no 37
Desperation
means Urgent
July 10, 2016
Brian
Kocourek, Pastor
This morning we will examine brother Branham's sermon on Desperation
as he gives us another example of someone who like the Shunammite woman in
Scripture, showed the right kind of desperation
in his meetings down in Mexico.
95 In
closing I might say this: Not long ago down in Mexico I seen something
desperate. I just got to the platform there in the big arena, and the people
had been in there since nine o'clock that morning, and it was nearly ten
o'clock that night. An old blind man, the night before, totally blind for about
thirty years, received his sight, and was going around the city that day
testifying. An old rick of clothes, laying for maybe thirty, forty yards, that
high, of just old shawls. There's maybe forty, fifty thousand people there. And
old hats and shawls... Who they belonged to, I guess they'd have to decide that
among them. It pouring down rain...
96 And they let me
down a rope over a wall, and I got on the platform. The minister... The man
that's setting here, they brought his... Him and his daughter come down from
Michigan a few minutes ago, talked about Brother Arment. We remember him here.
He's on the streets of glory tonight. Brother Arment was there, and took his
overcoat off, and stood in the rain, and give it to Brother Jack Moore to put
on, 'cause Jack was shivering. The southerner was about to freeze in that cold
rain there in Mexico. And there he was standing there. And Billy Paul come to
me, my son, and said, "Daddy, you'll have to do something. There's a
little Mexican woman down there with a dead baby that died this morning. I
ain't got enough ushers to hold her out of the line." If laying hands on
that blind man give him his sight, laying hands on her dead baby would give it
its life. She was a Catholic, and she... They couldn't hold her back.
97 And Brother Espinosa and them
had told her that, "We have no more prayer cards; you'll have to wait to
another night."She said, "My baby's dead. It's been dead since this
morning. I must get in there." And she was coming, prayer card or not. And
they lined up about three hundred ushers there. And she'd go right under their
legs, and jump right up on top of their backs, and run with this dead baby, and
fall down among them. Didn't make any difference to her, she was trying to get
there. She was desperate. God had spoke to her heart that the God could give
sight, could give life. Oh, my. She was desperate. Something was burning in
her.
98 Oh, sick people, if
you'd let that burn in you for a few minutes, watch what happens, that kind of
a desperation... The God that could heal this little boy the other night, could
heal that lady with cancer, heal this man, and do this, Miss Florence
Nightingale, oh, the tens of thousands... He that... Undisputable evidence...
Raising the dead, and healing the sick, and everything else, if He's God can do
that, He's God yesterday, He's God today. Get desperate, then you'll get
something done.
99 Then
in that desperation she kept rushing. I said to Brother Jack Moore; I said,
"She don't know me. She's never seen me. She don't know who it is up here
on the platform." That little Catholic woman couldn't speak a word of
English then, how does she know who it is. I said, "Go on down, pray for
the baby, and that'll satisfy her, and she'll go on." Said, "And it
won't cause..." There's just constant roar down there. She'd jump up, and
everybody'd be screaming. She'd run right over the top of their shoulders and
fall right down among them. She'd gain a few feet, and then they'd try to put
her back out; and here she'd come right between their legs, holding this baby,
upsetting the ushers and everything else. Didn't make any difference; she was
getting up there. She had to get there; it don't make any difference what it
was; she was going to get there, have the minister...
100 Now, isn't that just a
story like the Shunammite woman. Only that wasn't thirty-five hundred years
ago; that was about three years ago, or four. See? They can be the same thing
tonight. When the same desperation rises will throw love and faith up there to
the battlefront to claim what you want, because it's a promise of God that you
can have it. That's exactly right.
101 I turned, me, the
minister, the evangelist at the place; I turned. I felt sorry for the woman,
but there's no desperation. See? I turned and thought, "Well, Brother Jack
will pray for her and that--that settles it." I turned, and I said,
"As I was speaking, now, faith..." I looked out there, and there was
a vision. I seen a little baby setting there, a little black-faced Mexican baby
with no teeth. It was laughing at me, setting out there. I said, "Wait a
minute. Wait a minute." Her desperation drove the Holy Spirit to change my
subject, change my heart, and show me her baby setting there. That sent the
Spirit back. I said, "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Bring me the
baby." Here she come with a little, wet, soaking, blue and white blanket,
a little dead form about that long. She fell with a crucifix in her hand and
her rosary to say these hail Marys. I told her, "Put it up; that's not
necessary."And she come up close to where I was, and she begin to holler,
"Padre," which means "father." I said, "Don't say
that. Don't say that. Do you believe?" And he said it in Spanish to her,
did she believe? "Yes," she believed. He asked her how would she
believe. She said, "If God can give
that old man his sight, He can give my baby the life." Amen. Desperation drove her to it. Not a thing
on my part; I just saw the vision. I said, "Lord Jesus, I saw a vision of
a little baby. It might be this one." About that time he kicked its feet,
went, "Wha, wha, wha!" I said, "Follow her to the doctor; get a
written statement from the doctor, that baby died. And the doctor wrote the
statement, "That baby's respiration, heart stopped this morning in my
office at nine o'clock, died with double pneumonia." Oh, the baby is a
living in Mexico tonight as far as I know. Why? The desperation set in on a little mother's heart, crying for her
child, that had seen God do, heal a man's blind eyes, and know He could raise a
dead baby.
102 Desperation. "When thou seekest Me with all
thine heart, then I'll hear you." See? The Kingdom... The
law and the prophets were until John. Since then, the Kingdom of heaven's been
preached, and men press into It. You
don't just stand around and say, "Pick me up by the collar, Lord, push me
in." You press into it. You get desperate, between life and death.
The hour is getting very late, and many have
decided they will wait to get desperate when they see the world council of
churches begin to tighten up in a Squeeze, but I tell you it will be too late
then, you've got to get desperate now. The Time is urgent and this morning I am
going to show you why.
In pp. 119 of brother Branham’s
sermon, The
Masterpiece 64-0705 119 he said, "When we
see St. Paul, Peter, James, John, all those who wrote the Word, and the Word they wrote become alive and lived.
And It lived. And when we find after
it begin to get ripe, John begin to write in epistles. He was thrown
on the Isle of Patmos after being burnt in oil for twenty-four hours.
But the Word must come forth. It's
got to be wrote. They couldn't boil the Holy Ghost out of him with oil, so he
come forth. His work wasn't finished. He died a natural death. Polycarp, which was a disciple of John, carried the Word on. And
from Polycarp came Irenaeus. And Irenaeus, the great man of God who believed
the very same Gospel that we believe, "The Word is right," the
church trying to squeeze It out.
Now, notice this last statement he says here
because it is worthy of our examining it. especially since he uses the same
word concerning this end time about that Squeeze that is to come and through it
the third pull will go into effect.
But notice here that he is speaking of a
financial squeeze but rather a squeeze upon the Word of God in the lives of the
believers. Because after all, the Word of God must live itself out, for the
Word of God is Spirit and it is life. That’s what Jesus said in St. John 6:63, “The words which I speak
unto you, they are Spirit and they are Life”.
And the Word is Life, and the Word of Life became
manifested to us in the body of the Son of God. And it must also become
manifested in sons of God.
I John 1:1 ¶ That which was from the beginning,
which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked
upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; 2 For the life
was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness,
and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;
We also see in the parable of “The Sower” according to Mark 4:1¶
And he began again to teach by the sea side: and there was gathered unto him a
great multitude, so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea; and the
whole multitude was by the sea on the land. 2 And he taught them many things by
parables, and said unto them in his doctrine, 3 Hearken;(in other words, "listen attentively; and give heed to",
Notice, Jesus trying to get their attention to
tell them something of an utmost importance to them. And then he says, "Behold", which means "look
intently at what I am about to tell you because I want yuo to understand and
comprehend, and then once he has
established that he wants their full undivided attention, and focus, then he
begins to tell the parable.
"there went out a sower to sow: 4 And it came
to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came
and devoured it up.5 And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much
earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth: 6 But
when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered
away. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the
thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. 8 And other fell on
good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth,
some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred. 9 And he said unto them, He
that hath ears to hear, let him hear."
Now, we know that when Jesus speaks of having
ears to hear, he is using a metaphor, because everyone knows that we hear with
our ears. But when he says he that has ears to hear, he is letting you know
that there are those who do not have ears to hear. Now, to hear means to
understand. That is what he said in Mathew 13.
Matthew 13: 13 Therefore speak I to them in parables:
because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not,
neither do they understand.
So we see that there are people who hear but are
not really paying any attention to what they are hearing and because they do
not pay attention to what they are hearing they actually miss what was being
said. The world is full of people that way.
Now, not everyone comes to church
to hear in order to go away with a better understanding. Many hear but they do
not hear because they do not understand what it is they are hearing.
347-3 Laodicean Church
Age - Church Age Book Cpt 9 "You are blind and naked." Now this is really
desperate. How can anyone be blind and naked and not know it? Yet it says
that they are blind and naked and can't perceive it. The answer is, they are spiritually blind, and spiritually
naked. Do you remember when Elisha and Gehazi were surrounded by the army
of the Syrians? You recall that Elisha smote them blind by the power of God.
Yet their eyes were wide open and they could see where they were going. The blindness was peculiar in that they
could see certain things, but other certain things such as Elisha and the
servant and the camp of Israel they could not see. What this army
could see did not avail for them. What they did not see brought on their
captivity. Now what does this mean to us? It means exactly what it meant back
there in the earthly ministry of Jesus. He tried to teach them truth, but they
would not listen.
John 9:40-41. "And some of the Pharisees which were with Him
heard these words, and said unto Him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin:
but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin (unbelief) remaineth."
"The attitude of this age is exactly
what it was then. People have it all. They know it all. They cannot be
taught. If a point of truth from the Word comes up and a man tries to
explain his view to one with an opposing view, the listener is not at all
listening that he might learn, but is listening only to refute what is being said.
Now I want to ask a fair question. Can Scripture fight Scripture?
Does the Bible contradict the Bible? Can there be two
doctrines of truth in the Word that say the opposite or oppose the other? NO.
IT CANNOT BE SO. Yet how many of God's people have their eyes open to that
truth? Not even one percent, as far as I
know, have learned that ALL Scripture is given by God and ALL is
profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, etc. If all Scripture is
thusly given, then every verse will dovetail if given a chance. But how many
believe in predestination unto election and reprobation unto destruction? Those who don't, will they listen? No,
they will not. Yet both are in the Word, and nothing will change it. But
to learn about it and
reconcile the truth of those doctrines with other truths that seem to oppose,
they will not take the time. But they stop their ears, and gnash
with their teeth, and they lose out. At the end of this age a
prophet will come, but they will be blind to all that he is doing and saying.
They are so sure they are right, and in their blindness they will lose it all.
So a prophet has come, but did they stop to listen in order
to learn? I do not think so.
60-1 PATMOS VISION 2 John 1:48, "Nathanael
saith unto Him, Whence knowest Thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him,
Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw
thee." There it is. When
He comes, that Word will come against
all nations and all men. And none
will be able to stand against it. It will reveal what was in every
heart as He did with Nathanael. The Word of God
will show who did the will of God and who didn't. It will make known
the secret works of every man and why he did them. It will divide asunder. That
is what it says in Romans 2:3 "And thinkest thou this, O man,
that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt
escape the judgment of God?" Then it goes on to say how God is going to judge men. Here it is in
verses 5 to 17.
The hard impenitent heart
will be judged. The works will be judged. The motives will be judged. There won't be any respect before God; but all
will be judged by that Word, no one escaping it. Those who heard and wouldn't
listen will be judged by what they heard. Those that rested in it saying
they believed it, but didn't live it, will be judged. Every
secret will come out in the open and be shouted from the housetops. Oh, we will
really understand history then. There won't be a mystery left from all the
ages.
Again from Mathew chapter 13: and in verse 14 we read, “And
in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye
shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and
shall not perceive: 15 For this people's heart is waxed
gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed;
lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears,
and should
understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should
heal them.”
Now, in getting back to Mark chapter 4 we'll pick up at verse 10 "And when he was alone, they that were
about him with the twelve asked of him the parable. 11 And he said unto
them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of
the kingdom of God:"
Notice he said "unto you it is given", so it is "a
gift" that you can
understand. And what is that Gift that would cause them to understand?
John said we know and understand because we have
been given an anointing of god’s Spirit that we might know and understand.
Notice what he says in I John 2:20¶ " But
ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. 21 I have not
written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and
that no lie is of the truth."
So John is telling us here that the Holy Ghost anointing upon the believer will
cause them to understand. Because no man can know the things of God except the Spirit of
God be in Him, that is what Paul said in the book of Corinthians.
I Corinthians 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even
the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: So what he is saying here is that even
though it has been hidden by God through the ages, yet God purposed for it to
be revealed to us and to bring us into the same mindset, the same Glory as His.
8 "Which none of the princes of
this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord
of glory. 9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither
have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them
that love him. 10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his
Spirit",
So we see here that God alone reveals them to
us, and He does so by His Own Spirit.
"forThe Spirit" (not a spirit, but The Spirit,
God’s Own Spirit) searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man
which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the
Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of
the world, but The Spirit which is of God; that (for the very purpose that) we might know the things that are freely
given to us of God.
13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth,
but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with
spiritual.
So the Apostle Paul is saying here, that unless
you have received the Holy Ghost, you will not know
nor will you understand the things of
God which are hidden from
man and revealed to us by God’s Spirit.
We read where John told us the same thing
in 1 John 2, when he told us that the reason we know all
things is because God has anointed
us by His Own Spirit in order for us to know all things.
But in saying this he is telling us that not everyone
has received this anointing. Others have not been given this anointing and therefore they cannot possibly know or understand what God
wants for us to know and understand. And so they go out from our midst because they
do not know what is actually going on.
I John 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they
had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but
they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of
us.
And then he let’s us know why they went out when
he said in verse 20 and 21, But ye have an anointing from the Holy One, and ye know all
things.
You know what’s going on but those that left don’t
or they would have stayed. And since they are those who do not know, it is apparent that
they are also those who have not the anointing of the Holy One) 21 I have not written unto you because ye
know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is
of the truth.
So they are all together because they have been
anointed by the Holy Ghost to know and to understand. The others just did not
understand so they left because the Word that was being spoken was just too
hard for them to take. But notice what he says next in getting back to our
Parable in Mark chapter 4, Jesus is now speaking about those who are not with
us, but are on the outside looking in, and he says, but unto them that are without, (without means those on the outside) all these things are done in parables.
Now, notice there is a purpose for the parables,
they are for the purpose of keeping the truth hidden from those it is not meant
for to receive it.
12 That seeing they may see, and not
perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest
at any time they should be converted, (therefore unless you see and perceive and hear and
understand you will never be converted. And if you are not converted then your
sins remain.) and their sins
should be forgiven them. 13 And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable?
and how then will ye know all parables?
Now, he is going to tell us the meaning of the
parable. 14 “The sower soweth the word.”
Now, we know the one who sows the Seed is the
Son of Man, or in other words, a prophet, teaching or casting forth
His Word.
15 “And these are they by the way side, where the Word is
sown;”
Now, never forget what is being sown is the Word
of God. “but when they have
heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in
their hearts.”
Now, we have all seen these kind of people. They
stop long enough to listen, but immediately they reject what they
heard. God allows something to happen that they get their focus on
instead of the Word, and bingo, they are gone just like that.
Then Jesus tells us about another group of believers
in the next verse.
16. And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground;
who, when they have heard the Word, immediately receive it with
gladness; 17 And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time:
afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the Word's sake,
immediately they are offended.
Now, these are they who cannot stand the trials
that God brings along with His Word. They come for the Word but when things get
a little tough in their life, they want to run away from it all. That is
because they have no roots in the Word. And the Apostle Paul told us that those
that cannot stand the trials and testing associated with the Word of God are
bastard born and not children of God.
Look, when things are going easy and seem to be
too good, just know for certain they won’t last long that way if you're a child
of God. Because God wants nothing more than to mold you and make you into the
Image of His first Born Son, and to do that you must learn obedience by the
things you suffer just like he did.
Too many times God allows us to suffer because
of something we did stupidly in our own life and we suffer until we get that
thing fixed. But the problem is that when we try o fix it ourselves God is left
to sit back and just watch. What we need to learn is to ask Him to who us how
to fix our problems.
And that leads us to the next group which is the
Laodicean believer. 18 And these
are they which are sown among thorns;
Notice he said among thorns. These are not
thorns but the Word was sewn to a people who are among thorns. And these are they "such as hear the Word,"
These have heard the Word, they understood what
they heard, but they allow their focus to drift to other things and they do not
keep focus on the word, and they end up getting strangled by the cares of this
life and they lose their focus of why we are here and end up refocusing
themselves on what the thorns present to them.
Now notice what Jesus describes as the thorns:
Number one) 19 The cares of this
world,
Number two) the deceitfulness of
riches,
Number three) the lusts
of other things entering in,
(So, notice what these three things do to the
believer. Jesus says, they) choke the word, and It becomes unfruitful.
Notice he said “IT” becomes unfruitful.
He’s speaking of the Word of God that was sown into this person who allows
other things to come in and take away the focus of the Word and refocus our
mind on those three other things.
The Word of God was meant to be received into a
tilled up heart, a heart that is ready to bear fruit and to bring forth into
manifestation the divine nature that was birthed into it by the Holy Ghost
Baptism.
The Apostle Peter said in 2 Peter 1: 3 "According as His" (God’s) "divine power" (That’s His Word, which Paul said in Romans
1:16 "the
Word of God is the Power of God", and we know God framed the world by His Word which is His Power.
In other words, Peter is saying here,) According as(God’s) divine power (His Own Word) hath
given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the
knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
So you see the Word of God is meant to unleash in
us the Divine nature of God if we will just let go and let God. But we allow
things to come into the way and thus by altering our focus on things instead of
on God’s Word and His will, we allow that Word which we received to get choked
out. And if the Word get's choked out with a lot of distractions, then the Life
of the Word also gets choked out.
Years ago I was preaching at Grace Gospel and I
was trying to get across the understanding that although there's to be a
squeeze that brother Branham tied with the council of churches coming against
the Bride, yet I was trying to warn the people that there is something else
just as bad and in fact worse for the bride and that was "the Cares of
this Life and the deceitfulness of riches coming in and choking off the Word
from them. Because by accepting a substitute, we allow a distraction to take
the pre-eminence of the Word out of our
hearts and when we do that the Word cannot come alive in us because they had
lost their first love for this to other distractions. I said the word "choke"
signifies another type of squeeze and this squeeze is far worse than the
one coming that brother Branham warned us would begin the third pull in the
bride, because if we allow this choking off of the Word in our hearts by the
cares of this life, we have lost the Life of the Word and cannot produce any
fruit to bring on a third pull when the financial squeeze comes down.
Now, the word "choke"
means "To become blocked up or obstructed, Something that
constricts, To interfere with the respiration of by compression or
obstruction of the larynx or trachea". And also "To
check or slow down the movement, growth, or action of: like a garden that
was choked by weeds".
So you see the Word becomes choked from
producing fruit is a far worse squeeze spiritually than the shutting down or
persecution of the church. Because without the Life that is in the Word, there
will be no manifestation of that Life, and there will be no John
14:12 in the Bride and there
will be no conforming to the image of the first born son, etc.
Now, that does not mean there won’t be the
Squeeze that brother Branham talked about, but to have the Life of the Word
choked out so much to the point that it produces nothing is far worse than any
persecution for your faith.
In fact I believe the Bride in America and
Canada need the squeeze brother Branham talked about just to get them to wake
up, if it isn’t too late by then. They need something to shake them up.
You see when the devil wants to fight, we
are not commanded to get into the ring and duke it out.
The Bible says, resist
the devil and he will flee. And how do you resist him? You just let go and let God. That’s all. God will fight your fight if you
get yourself out of the way and let him do it. But if you don’t
think God will do it for you then you get yourself so entangled in the fight
yourself that you forget that God is Sovereign and nothing escapes His Seeing
or Hearing.
So you see the Word is meant to produce fruit in order
to show it is alive. If cells are not multiplying then they
are dead. And if a plant is not able to produce fruit it might as well be
plucked up and cast into the fire. That is what Jesus did. He cursed the fig
tree that was not producing fruit and it withered and died.
So we now get to what God has ordained for us
in Mark 4:20 And these are they which are sown on good
ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some
thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.
That is what God intends for his people, his
children. He wishes that we bear fruit.
John 15:4 Abide in me, and I
in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it
abide in the vine; no
more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches:
He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for
without me ye can do nothing. 6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a
branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and
they are burned. 7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask
what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. 8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye
be my
disciples.
Now, what does
Jesus mean by bearing much fruit? He's talking about coming to the place or
such maturity in your walk that you talk like Christ, you walk like Christ, and
you live like Christ. That is the fruit of the Spirit. That is the fruit we are
expected to mature into.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your
Father which is in heaven is perfect, and yet we know there is no
perfection this side of the resurrection.
Now,
this word perfect that Jesus used here is not a word which means we are completely
without sin because John also said, 1 John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive
ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
And the
apostle Paul told us in 2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who
knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
But rather when Jesus says to us, Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect, he is saying, Be ye therefore teleios, even as your
Father which is in heaven is teleios,
And this word teleios means; complete
(in your works and in your growth,
in other words complete in your mental and moral
character; in other words, completeness: meaning of full age, a mature man,
perfect.
We find the Apostle Paul using this word in Philippians 3:15 Let us therefore, as many as
be perfect, (teleios: fully
mature mentally and morally) be thus minded: and if in any
thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
In 1 Corinthians 14:20 Paul
said, Brethren, be not children in
understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men. (teleios: fully mature mentally and morally)
And actually that is what all the trials are to
produce in us. And that is what the Five Fold ministry are being used by God to
do is to help the church grow up into Christ.
Ephesians 4:13 Till
we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
unto a perfect man, (a mentally and
morally mature and fully grown man) unto the measure of
the stature of the fulness of Christ:
Again in Colossians 1:28 Paul says, "Whom we preach, warning every man, and
teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect (a mentally and
morally mature and fully grown man) in Christ Jesus:"
And in the
Book of Hebrews 5:14 The Apostle Paul
says, "But
strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, (a mentally and
morally mature and fully grown man) even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to
discern both good and evil.
And we even
find the Apostle James mentioning this in James 3:2 For in many things we offend all. If any
man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, (a mentally and
morally mature and fully grown man) and able also to bridle the whole body.
And we find the Apostle John as well in 1 John 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect (mature fully
grown) love
casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made
perfect in love.
Now, in all these examples of
desperation from Scripture and from brother Branham's own experience with
people wanting healing, we see one core attribute that stands out most with all
these people, and that is that they considered their own situation to be in
urgent need of change. So we see they were urgent, and they had to do something
quickly.
From his
sermon We
would see Jesus 60-0708 P:42 Brother Branham said, "Watch quickly. He
said, "Come, see Who we have found, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of
Joseph."Not "How do you do?" or "How's everything getting
along? Is the fig trees bearing good this year?" No sir. The message was urgent.
And if it was urgent then, what about now? If it was urgent then
when we had two thousand years yet for the Gospel to be preached, and this
is the end time. How
much more is it urgent today? Too many social affairs, too many
parties, too many other things besides the real Message of the Lord Jesus
straight to the core, "Come, see what I found. Come, get this
experience of the precious Holy Spirit that's come into my life, that's
changed me, that converted me from what I was to what I am now." Oh, how
thankful we are for this.
We would see Jesus 59-0422
P:27 Now, they didn't have time to talk over a lot of things like we do.
But the message was
urgent. And if it was urgent then, how much more is it urgent now? Not,
"How's your farm getting along," or so forth, but quickly to the
point. "Come, see Who we have found, Jesus of Nazareth, the
Son of Joseph."Quickly, this staunch man rode out,
straightened out his robe, and said, "Now, wait just a minute, Philip. I
know you to be a just man. I know that you're a good man, and it would be...
It's so strange and hard for me to see that you've gone off on the deep end. Do
you mean to tell me that you've fallen for some something like that? that this
Jesus that you're speaking of, this Galilean prophet is the Messiah that we're
looking for? Why, if the Messiah would come, the high priest would know about
it. All the churches would know about it. Everybody would know."But it...
I think Philip give him the best answer that anyone could give. He said,
"Come, see for yourself." That's the best way, friends. Come, take
your Scriptures, take the Bible and look it over. Compare Scripture to
Scripture and see if it's right.
Blind Bartimaeus 59-1127 P:16
"But
she said to the servant, 'Saddle me up a little mule, and you get on one too.
And let's go straight to Mount Carmel where the prophet's hid off yonder in a
den somewhere, praying. And don't you stop unless I tell you to.'"That's
the way. The message
is urgent. Don't stop, keep going. Just keep moving. We
haven't got time for socials, and picnics, and card parties, and things. The message is urgent.
Let's get to God with it, quickly. The world's a dying.
Time of decision 59-0611 P:17
Now,
Eliezer was confronted with a great problem like ministers are today. There was
a whole lots of women that he could choose from. And the choice had to be urgent. We don't have time to set around
and think it over or wonder. We've got to make the decision quickly.
The time is at hand. This may be people setting here tonight, this'll be
your last time to make your decision. It's urgent. Don't gamble on tomorrow.
Tomorrow may never come for you. Like the woman one time. She had two men
that she was--thought she was in love with. And she did not know which one to
marry. And she'd think awhile she would marry one, and then she thought she'd
marry the other. And she put her decision off too long and lost both of them.
We'd better watch. The decision must be quickly.
Let
us pray...