Faith no 12
Faith and Confession
June
23, 2017
Brian Kocourek
Isaiah 30:15 In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength.:...”
And in 1
Thessalonians. 4:11
The Apostle Paul tells
us we should Study to be quiet.
The most important thing
in this world is to get your mind under the control of God, because your
actions come out of your mind.
In other words the Bible
teaches that we must never go by our feelings.
Just look at the example
that Daniel has set forth, or the three Hebrew children in the fiery furnace.
They were not even prophets of God, they were just believers, sons of God like
you and me. But their minds were stayed on God, focused on God, and nothing
then could make their opinions change. They possessed the DOXA of God, His
opinions, and His values and were willing to walk into a fiery furnace for that
DOXA.
If the mind is not under control the actions will be
erratic, because you can only do what your mind indicates. Therefore we need to
put on the mind of Christ if we are going to walk and act like Jesus Christ.
That means if we have His mind governing our actions, and our speech then we
are going to think like He thought concerning every circumstance we go through,
and then because we are thinking as he thinks, we will act as He would have us
act.
Therefore our minds must
not never be overcome by circumstances and emotions.
Another thing we must
understand is that the Word of God says just as much about our “talking” as It says about our “thinking,”
In Hebrews 6:16-18 we are going to study for a few moments where we read, "For men verily swear by the greater and an oath
for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.
Now, let’s just talk a
minute about that. Did you ever stop to think about the implication of that
little verse where It says here that “For men verily swear by the greater and an oath for confirmation is
to them an end of all strife.”?
Now, if you just walked
up and gave your word to somebody, do you think he’d take it? Why, he’d laugh
in your face. In society today, the fact is that you can’t even trust a
contract until you read the fine print very carefully. And even if you read the
fine print we still have trouble trusting a written contract because we hear
how contracts are broken and walked away from every single day. That is the so called civilization we live in
today.
Therefore
as we read in Hebrews 6:16 "For men verily swear by the greater and an oath for confirmation is
to them an end of all strife.
Notice that the Scripture
is very plain that all men used to do was give their word and that was it. Now
can you feature the 21st century accepting that in today's litigious world?
But that is the way God
meant it to be. God gave us His Word and he expects us to hold to it. But men
don’t accept each other’s word, Well, first of all, why should they?
Just look at Jewish law
for example. At least once a year they have an “oath revocation day.” in other words, they
revoke their oath. So they know that for one day, for the next 24 hours, they
can revoke every single oath they ever made. So he uses that law to skin you
and skin you good, and he rejoices in his ability to defraud because he is very
religious in doing it, “Hallelujah! Glory to God!’ And so likewise men use their
religion to manipulate others. Just look at all the priests that have used
their positions to manipulate children into unwanted sexual affairs.
You see, that is why
people have a hard time believing God’s Word, because they just can’t believe
anybody’s word; because, generally, it’s not worth believing. In fact we can’t
even believe our own word, because even we may renege or sneak out the back
door on something we promised to do.
So we find this happens
so many times that it’s not easy to have too much confidence in the words of
men anymore. And that is what destroys faith in God’s Word, because how can you
say you love God when you hate man, made
in the image of God?
Therefore, nobody puts
much faith in God’s Word on the ground that he sees all that’s going on in the
lives of men and his atmosphere is so tainted it carries over to his approach
to God's Word.. In other words, men have a tendency to place God on their own
level.
But God told us " Isaiah 55: 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are
your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
Now, we are looking at
the subject this evening of "Faith and Confession" and therefore we
must understand what the word Faith even means.
In the dictionary we read
that the word Faith means: “To
accept on the grounds of personal testimony, without further proof, the
word of a man, or to give credit to the word without any proof.” And that’s the same with God. God doesn’t
have to prove anything to you. He said it and that’s it, You say, “God, give me a sign." But God
doesn’t have to give you a sign, He said it and that’s all there is to it!
Let's go
to the next verse Paul tells us in Hebrews 6:17: Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto
the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: 18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong
consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: ….
God is immutable and that means God is not Not subject or susceptible to change and His
Word stands fast.
Man is God’s only
earthly creation that can both reason and speak and God says in his word that
there are basically two types of men, the righteous and the wicked.
In Proverbs 15:28 we read, “The heart of
the righteous” (the mind of the righteous) “studieth to
answer, but the mouth of the wicked poureth out evil things.”
Therefore a true believer will stop and
think before he talks. But a wicked man is characterized by the
fact that he doesn’t even think for any length of time before he just spits out
whatever comes to his mind. He just let's it roll out of his mouth without
giving much thought to what he says. That’s what the Bible teaches, so just
accept that fact learn to live with it.
And with this in mind I
would like to study tonight faith in
relation to our confession of our thoughts, or the speaking out of our
thoughts.
Now, let’s get back to
our text. Notice, For men verily sware by
the greater:: And an oath of confirmation is an end to all strife.” That’s the initiative. Wherein, God, willing more abundantly to show
forth unto heirs of promise the immutability of his Counsel, confirmed it by an oath.”
With whom did God take
counsel? With man? No, sir! With the angels? No, Sir! God took counsel with
himself. Then what is the counsel of God? The counsel of God are the thoughts of God.
Now, notice, It says, “God
confirmed His counsel with an Oath.”
Listen to me carefully.
Were the counsels of God confirmed, or the thoughts of God confirmed, until He
spoke them to man? No, sir! Until
God spoke His thoughts to man and made them known by speech, He could have had other
thoughts. That is right. He could have thought other thoughts; He could have
changed His mind. Of course, we know that God doesn’t do that, but He could
have done that and man would not have even known one thing about it. But the minute God revealed His thoughts to man by speaking them, He
couldn’t take it back, they were confirmed. God has identified
Himself.
And, when you and I
speak, you confirm your own words. Do you get it? Speaking has something
tremendously important to do with your thinking. What you say is an expression
of what you think And when you say what you are thinking you are thus
confirming your thoughts. You have put your stamp of approval upon it whether
you wish to admit it or not. That Is It. When you speak you have identified yourself.
2 Corinthians 4:3 “We having the same spirit of faith,
according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also
believe therefore speak.”
Then according to the
Word of God, Faith talks; Faith
thinks, and then Faith speaks.
Now if Faith thinks in a
certain way, then Faith must talk in a certain way.
So how does Faith talk?
The Word of God tells us how Faith talks; but in order to stress it and to make
it clear, It first of all tells us how Faith does not talk.
Let's study this in Romans 10:6-11: and begin reading.
“But
the righteousness which is of faith speaketh,” It “Speaketh on this wise,...”It’s going to tell you how faith talks.
But before he tells us
how Faith speaks, he tells us how Faith does not speak so we can make the
comparison ourselves. “Say not in
thine heart, (don't
even begin to think in your heart) who shall ascend
up to heaven? (That is to bring
Christ down from above:) Or, who shall descend into
the deep? (That is, to bring Christ up again from the dead.) But what saith it?”
In other words, he tells
us it begins in the heart, in the mind and understanding. And he tells us that
we cannot have faith if we have a bunch of questions first. So get rid of the
questions and then Faith can speak.
So how doesn't Faith talk? It never, never, never asks questions.
Brother
Branham said in his sermon, Fellowship by
redemption 55-0403 P:26 But when once that faith comes down into that compartment
down here, it'll
never question this up here, at all. It's absolutely a fact, and
it'll agree with every Divine Word of God. There's the reason people doesn't
get where they should be. It becomes a mental conception of God. But when that
mental conception, you believe Him by an intellectual faith, but that won't do
it. It's got to be a born again experience, where your faith is brought down
into this compartment here. And no matter what it looks like, faith says it's so anyhow.
See?
Faith
cometh by hearing 54-0320 P:39 The Word of God settles it. Abraham believed God by
faith, because God's Word said so. He never reasoned; he
never questioned; he just believed God's Word. Is that right? Well,
that's the same way we get faith tonight, is believing God's Word. That's it.
Oh, when you show me men and women who'll base their faith like that... Now,
not got their hopes there... See? If you just got hope, you say, "Oh I--I
believe God will do it. Yes, sir. I believe it." You're still hoping. But
when faith really takes a hold, it's already did. There's nothing can shake
that. It's a positive; there's just... You just say, "Well, I
believe God said so. I base my faith there. I believe that."
But now, if you're... You can't bluff it. God's not a bluff. And neither is
Satan a bluff. He won't take your bluff. But when you really got faith, Satan
will know it. That's right. He knows what's right and what's wrong. He knows
where faith stands.
Notice
what the Apostle Paul says next in Romans 10:8-9 But what saith it? The word
is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 9 That if thou
shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe
in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou
shalt be saved.
Therefore, we see that
Faith says what God has already said about the condition. Do you see?
Notice Romans 10:10 For with the heart man believeth
unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation.
With the heart man
believeth but with the mouth the belief comes into materialization. So as long
as you believe but say nothing the Faith can not be made material. It can not
come into actualization or reality.
Notice there again the heart
and mouth, working together, the mind and mouth. Remember in the Hebrew and in the Greek "the heart" signifies "the
mind" or the
understanding in almost in every single instance, and I've looked through over 500
places where the word heart is used and traced them down. There are actually
877 times in Scripture where the word heart is used, but I got to 500 and
figured that is enough.
Now, " For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness;_" And what is the heart in this case? The
whole moral being of man. But it doesn't get down into here (the heart) until it gets up here (the mind)
first. It's got to come by way of the Mind; and as the moral intelligence of
man accepts it, it then becomes a part of him, and It says: "... with the mouth confession is
made unto salvation."
Blasphemous
names 62-1104M P:53 Patience, and so
forth, there's a mockery of it, a pretending to be, a nature given faith, a nature
given virtue. There's a nature given temperance. And all these things are
nature given. And the
biggest part of our faith is mental faith. By hearing the Word it brings us to a mental
recognition of God. But if this coming from above, oh, brother, if it
ever strikes this, there
is a godly, spiritual faith. Then what does that faith do? That faith recognizes only
the Word.
And
again he said from his sermon, Inter veil 56-0121
P:37 There
is an intellectual faith. And there's a faith that comes from the heart.
The old unbeliever said years ago, "When the Bible said, 'As a man
thinketh in his heart...'" Said, "That's crazy. There's no mental
facilities in the heart." Said, "You think with your mind. There's no
mental facilities in the heart." But last year they found that's wrong. God
was right. Right down in the heart, in the center of the heart, there's
a little compartment where there's not even a blood cell in it. It's not in the
animal heart, only in the human heart. And they say, it's the occupation, or
the occupant of the soul. The soul lives in the heart. Then after all,
God was right, when He said, "As a man thinketh in his heart."
Now notice, It says, if
you will believe in your heart and then confess it, you will get what you
confessed. That's what people have to believe about healing to get healed.
You've got to confess it to get it. You can't teach people that. They want to
believe in their feelings.
From
his sermon Glorified Jesus 55-0225 P:17 brother
Branham said, "...you cannot be healed by mental faith. You've got to be healed by a
real living faith from your heart. No matter how much you're
worked up, up here, and no matter how much you disbelieve up here, if something
down here tells you it's over, it's over; that's all. That settles it. There's
no more fear at all. Nobody could tell you any different. You don't know why
you believe it. It's
not reason; it is faith. You just believe it and that's the way
it takes place. You believe it and go on, no matter what you're sense knowledge
would say, be all out of reason...It was out of reason for Abraham and Sarah
to have the baby, but they believed it anyhow. It's all out of reason for a
man to stay alive in the belly of a whale, but he did anyhow. It's all out of
reason for a man to raise one from the dead, but He did it anyhow. See? Yes, it
is true. It's not
reason, it's faith.
Listen, if you have your
mind made up, please never come to me for advice, because you’re going to do
what you are going to do anyway. But if you are sincerely wanting help to make
up your mind, then please come, because all I’m going to give you is the Word
of God as best I know to do.
So God doesn’t care what
you feel, and you shouldn’t care what you feel. Faith does not come by
feelings, Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. And y9u don't have to hear it
from a preacher, all you have to do is "believe it in your heart and then say it yourself", Confess it and then it will become a
reality.
New
ministry 59-1115 P:25 Why didn't He use His power on the lepers at the
gate instead of the little fig tree? What is it to do? God wants to show that
He's concerned. He knows all things. He's God over the fig tree. He's God over
the fish. He's God over creation. He's God over all things. And there's nothing
too little or too insignificant but what He's interested in. So that would give
us to know, though we be little and insignificant, God's interested in us doing
something for Him. He likes to display His glory. And that stuck with me so
hard that I could hardly rest day and night. That's been two years ago. And
constantly, it has haunted at me. And I'd say, "Oh, I just can't say
nothing about it, for I can't place it in the atonement.""Whatsoever
you say, it shall come to pass. You can have what you say."And I've stood
here at this same pulpit and tried, and run on the Scripture, and refrain from
it, and go back, because I was afraid to use it. You cannot have faith unless
you know what you are doing.
Speak
to this mountain 59-1123 P:17 So I got the Lexicons, the commentaries, the
different versions and even to the Douay version, everything that I could find.
And every Scripture, the Greek, the Hebrew, all said the same thing: Jesus said
it. There's no dispute, even through the--through the--the Douay version, which
is the--the Rome, or the Catholic Bible, Douay version. And none of them
dispute it, but Jesus said it Himself. "Whatsoever you say, you can have
what you've said, if you don't doubt in your heart." He said,
"Therefore when you stand praying, when you pray, believe that you receive
what you ask for, and it shall be given unto you, if you can believe it."
Well, I see it base back to a faith then. So I don't want you to lose any of
these words now in this testimony. I want you to hold the Scripture with the
testimony. Always examine anybody's testimony, or their preaching, by the Word.
It's got to come from God's Word.
Explaining
healing and Jairus 54-0216 P:41 You to talk to those things. See? "Whatsoever you say, believe that you
receive it." See? It's the power; it's anointing,
all fear drops down, drops away. He walked by a tree one time, He said, "No man will eat
off of you from henceforth."
They
passed on by and the next day when they came back passed that tree it was
wilted, and dead so no man could ever eat from it again. And when Peter asked
him about it Jesus said, Mark 11:23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be
thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt
in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
And from
his sermon, New ministry 59-1115 P:13 And then, this
Scripture stumped me even more, because it was outstanding: such a promise being made by
none other than Jesus Christ. And when He said to His disciples,
"What things soever you say, you can
have. If thou shall say to this mountain, 'Be plucked up and removed into the
sea,' and will not doubt in your heart, but shall believe that what you have
said will come to pass, you can have what you said."...Oh, if we could weigh those words: "You can have what you
say,"
not what I say,
but what you have said. "You can have what you said."...For years, I lingered over that. I went to every
lexicon, commentary, every translation, even to the Douay version. And every
translator translates it the same: "You can have what you say." So I know that if it's written in the Scripture... To
me, all Scripture is Truth. And if I can't rightly divide It, It's still the
Truth.
The fact is did Jesus
Christ say it or did He not say it. That is what you should focus on. And
therefore, you're shouldn’t waste your time on what you think – and you
shouldn’t waste your time on what you say. If you are to think what God has
thought, and talk what God has said, then you can say what You will and it will
be done.
Now listen. God said don't question or you'll never use your Faith. In this next
Scripture I want to show you how the people worked against faith in Christ by
asking so many questions, until Jesus Himself, with the fullness of the Godhead
embodied in Him could not do any miracles among them because they had tainted
the atmosphere with so much unbelief by their questions.
In Matthew, 13:53-58 And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, he
departed thence. 54 And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their
synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Q1) Whence hath this man this wisdom, Q2) and whereby hath this man these mighty works? 55 Q3) Is not this the carpenter's son? Q 4) is not his mother called Mary? Q
5) are not his brothers,
James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? 56 Q
6) Are not his sisters, are they not
all with us? Q 7) then whence hath this man all these things? 57 And they were offended in him.
But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his
own country, and in his own house. 58 And he did
not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
Seven questions they asked
instead of thanking God for what He was doing. Seven, questions showing the
complete folly of man; and He didn't do one mighty act. He walked off from
them. They poisoned themselves by their questions, and brought on a negative
atmosphere, so Jesus just walked away and left them in their own unbelief.
You start questioning
God and how He's going to do things, He'll just walk right off !
Preacher says, "God
gave me a revelation. We're going to have some great missionary outreach, we're
going to build a church or do something; and then he asks, "but where is
all the money coming from?" Right there he lost it! right there he cut his
throat.
Noah said, "It's
going to rain!" "Where's the rain going to come from Noah? We never
heard of, it. There's no rain around here!" And what happened? They all
died! They all died! Faith talks; but it never asks questions. It says what God
says.
The Bible says. "Noah Believed God." he never questioned, he never asked God
when it was going to rain, he just knew he was to begin preparing his family's
ark.
One thing you never do is to question
God. The minute you question God, you cut your life-line of
Faith. Forget it; you've lost the answer. Then you've got to
go down to the bottom of the ladder and start over again; because Faith does not question. It talks, but it doesn't ask questions. It
says what God has said. Faith NEVER Questions.
II Corinthians, 4: 8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9 Persecuted, but not
forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 10 Always
bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the
life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 11 For we which live are always
delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus
might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. 12 So then death worketh in us, but life in you. 13 We having the same spirit of faith,
according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I
spoken; we also believe, and therefore
speak;
So you see, you speak
what you believe.
Let’s look at this
Scripture again and read it one thought at a tie. Paul said, We are troubled on every side…That’s
what the eye sees. That’s what the flesh is facing. That is the
circumstance that are all around you, but what does Faith in the Soul profess? yet not
distressed. Huh? troubled on every side…that’s the circumstances we see, that's what is happening all
around you, yet you yourself are not distressed. Look at the next thought…The conditions say we are perplexed, but faith says, but not in
despair; The conditions say, you are cast down, But your faith declares, but not
destroyed;
The conditions say, 10 Always bearing about in the body the
dying of the Lord Jesus, but your answers back to
the conditions, that the life also of Jesus might be
made manifest in our body.
Oh, yeah!!! For every
negative thing the devil can point you to in this life, the Faith of God says,
there is something positive taking place here. 11 For we which live are always delivered unto
death for Jesus' sake, And the devil wants you
to look at that, but the Faith of God says the reason for that is, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest
in our mortal flesh.
Verse 12, the circumstances say, So then death worketh in us, But your faith comes right back and says, but life in you. In other words, we can see this death all around
us, but Faith raises the dead.
And so the Living Power of Christ
becomes manifest in us because we've tapped into His Faith,
and have thus confirmed our
Faith in His Faith by the things we say. We have confirmed it with our words.
And that is why we see
the Apostle Paul tell us in verse 13 We having the same spirit of faith,(the same as Who?) according as it is written,(well, who wrote it? God wrote the Word, So
according as God hath written in His Word,) I (God) believed, and
therefore (believing) have I (God) spoken; (now notice what Paul says,) we also believe, and therefore we speak; (In other words, just as God believed and then
spoke what he believed, so too we believe and therefore we speak what we
believe.) That makes us in His image. Little Creators, little Messiahettes.
Don’t you just think it
and say what you think, but think what God thought and say what God said and
you can have what you will. This is what the Word of God teaches us.
If you do not believe
me, just read Hebrews chapter 11 and see what Faith really is. Those people went
through battles. It says the women received their dead, and some were sawn
asunder. They met death with Faith. These
all died in Faith. And you say, that’s
just the point, they all died in Faith. They died!!! Yeah, that's what the
devil wants you to see, but what God wants you to understand is that they were
all raised in Christ.
Look, what hurt is there
to die if you have a promise to live again. The hurt can only be temporary then, but the promise is
eternal. You see the difference. God says, you give up a dime
and I will give you a silver dollar. Don’t worry, he is the author and finisher of your Faith.
Paul said in
Philippians 2:13 It is God that is working
in you both to will first of all and then to do or to act upon what you will. He’ll do it for he said He would. He said, Let not your hearts be troubled, so don’t let them be troubled.
He promised you in Romans
8:28 that "all things shall work out for the good of them
that love Him and those who are called according to HIS purpose.
So let Him fulfill His
purpose in you and all things are guaranteed to work out for your good.
In Psalm 138:3 we read, "In the
day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthened me with strength in my soul. And verse 7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt
revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine
enemies, and thy right hand shall save me. 8 The LORD will perfect that which concerns me: thy mercy, O LORD, endures for ever: forsake not the works of thine own
hands.
What is David saying?
David is saying to God, "It
is alright if I'm deluged by the forces of the enemy; You're with me, so that
takes care of it." Well, isn't that
what he said?
What's the conditions? He's got trouble,
he's got a problem, he's got an emergency. What does he say
about it? Well, what I read: " Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt
revive me: "
Did he say, "Lord, when can I get away from this thing, and have a
good sleep, and nobody bother me, and I'll feel so good, I'll be revived?" No He didn’t!!… He said, "I'm in the midst of trouble; but God will be my
strength, "
But that’s the problem
with the people in this luke-warm Laodicean age that we live.
Revelation 3:17):
"because thou sayest "I
am rich, and increased with goods, so therefore I need nothing, but does it? (they think of their condition as
one thing while God sees it as another altogether different. He says, "Thou art poor, wretched, miserable, naked,
and blind”… Talk about not seeing what God sees? And so God
tells them to "anoint
their eyes with eye salve". Why? Because they can’t see what God sees.
Let's turn
to the book of Joshua to see a real man of faith...Joshua
1:1 Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it
came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua
the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, (Notice Moses minister, Not prophet Joshua, but a
minister of Moses...a type of the Holy Ghost leading a true five-fold minister.
And what Does God say to Him?)
2 Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this
people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.
Notice that Joshua was called a
"minister of Moses". Now he must go forth by the Word and under the
Word of Moses.', And we can see it right in this hour, because our vindicated
prophet, with the Elijah' ministry, placed Joshua and Caleb right at the
end-time as leader and true Bride. Notice what the Bride has to follow, because
She follows Joshua, and Joshua is motivated by the Word.
Now, here’s the promise 3 Every place that the sole of your
foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. 4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the
great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the
great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.
So God not only promises
them the land, but also that he will fight for them to protect the land.
5 There
shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life:
And then God adds another
promise as I was with Moses, so I will be
with thee: Now, how was God with Moses? He was Present in
the form of the Pillar of fire. To me this is the same as we heard in this
hour, “The Pillar of Fire will lead us into the Millennium"…
And then a second time
God promises that he will not fail them, I will not fail thee, and He also promises that His Presence will go
with them. nor forsake thee. 6 Be strong and of a good courage: So how can you possibly not be strong and of
Good courage with these promises, unless you don’t believe them. for unto this people shalt thou divide for
an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them. 7 Only be thou strong and very courageous, Now, why would God say once again Only be thou strong and very courageous? Because He is telling them that they will be
tested with His word to see if they will hold to His word. that thou mayest observe to do according to all
the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee:
Now, notice next what
God says to Joshua about the people… turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever
thou goest.
Notice what God is
telling them. He says, make sure you don’t deviate from what I am telling you,
because if you stay with it, you will prosper, but if you don’t then your
prosperity will end.
And then notice the
instruction God gives the people. He says I want you to read my Word and study
it, and meditate upon it day and night, so you will learn to observe how to
walk in my word. Look, you want to
prosper, it is very easy, just do what I say and you will prosper.
8 This book of the law shall not depart
out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate
therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written
therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then
thou shalt have good success.
Notice what It said? It
says what you think about, and what you talk about, you will
do, Now if you want to
live God's Word, you've got to think and talk it, then you'll do It. Huh? And then God commands them again to be strong
and of good courage for His presence will go with them. 9 Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the
LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
How, easy it is to know
that when the tests come God will be right there with you, so you won’t have to
go through it all alone. Did not He show up in
the Lion's Den with Daniel? Did not he show forth His presence with Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego?
Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)
Look, God said to Joshua, "as I was with Moses, so I will be
with thee:" As I was... That means in the same manner or the same way I was with Moses, I will
be with you.
So when God went with Joshua, and the
five-fold ministry carried the ark of the covenant which Moses had placed the
commandments of God in, essentially the Word for the hour, then they were
packing the same Word Moses brought down from the mountain, and they carried on
their shoulders showing they had responsibility to carry on with the same word
as Moses did, and therefore God was obligated to do for Joshua what he had done
for Moses.
So we see in Joshua 3:11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of the
Lord of all the earth passeth over before you into
Jordan. 12 Now therefore take you twelve men out of
the tribes of Israel, out of every tribe a man. 13 And
it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that
bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that
the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the
waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon an heap. 14 And it came to pass, when the people removed from
their tents, to pass over Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark of the
covenant before the people; 15 And as they that bare the ark were come unto
Jordan, and the feet of the priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim
of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest,) 16 That the waters which came down from
above stood and rose up upon an heap very far
from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan: and
those that came down toward the sea of the plain, even
the salt sea, failed, and were cut off: and the
people passed over right against Jericho. 17 And
the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry
ground in the midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry
ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan.
So just like Moses, God had told
Moses to Speak and go forward and brother Branham said, "If Moses had only
spoken nothing would have happened, but Moses had to step into the water for
the water to open up. And when Elijah came to the same river Jordan he also
stepped into the same patter and as he stepped into the water the waters opened
up and then Elisha saw the pattern and he did the same and the Same God of
Moses and of Joshua, and of Elijah did the same for him.
The pattern was set by God and the
Apostle Peter taught us in 1 Peter 4:11 If any
man speak, let him speak as the
oracles of God; If any man talk , let him say what God said or
shut up. If any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in
all things may be glorified (doxazo, His opinion, values and
judgments mangnified in the zoe the life) through
Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
12 Beloved, think it not
strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some
strange thing happened unto you: 13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings;
that, when his glory shall be
revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. 14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory
and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your
part he is glorified. The doxa is magnified in your Life
Again in Hebrews 11:13 "These all died in faith, not having received
the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were
persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. So what they believed in, were persuaded in,
they embraced it, and then confessed it. And what they confessed is what you are
confessing. We are seeking a city whose builder and maker is God. 14 For they that say such things
declare plainly that they seek a country.
So you see their focus was
on the things that God had promised them, but what if they lost that focus?
15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 16 But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not
ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
So you see, if you are focused on where you are going
you will be talking about where you are going. And then you will get there.
But we are warned that if
they had been mindful, of where they left, they might have made themselves some
excuses to go back. And
if you go back, you back slide.
Now, how do you get
mindful of anything? You think about it,
and you talk about it. And that is the key to faith, to think God’s
thoughts and then talk God’s thoughts. Don’t think your own thoughts because your thoughts are not God’s
thoughts. They are your thoughts period.
And when you think your
thoughts and not God’s thoughts that is the moment you stop right there. God
has already thought It. And yet their confession is not what God said, but what
they think about what God said. And that is what Eve did. She tried to reason
the circumstances with the Word of God. That’s a compromise and God hates compromisers.
That’s why he hates politics.
They say what they have
thought in their own minds. And then they go right back. They lose the Promise.
Do you want God to give you something? You want to be healed? Then you better think
what God said about you, and show plainly that you really do want it, and
you'll get A. You say, "Don’t even think about failure. Thomas Edison
never stopped to think “well, I’ve already tried to make this light bulb 9,999
times. He said, if this time doesn’t work then maybe the next time. Be
persistent with God’s Word. He promised it, and He is here to deliver on that
promise.
God promised David as a
boy he would be king. So what happened, he first faced a lion stalking his
sheep. Then being victorious over the sheep God gave him another trial of a
bear, much bigger than a lion. And his faith gave him victory over the bear.
But by those experiences God got him ready to face a giant. He faced Goliath
and won. Then what happened, he had to face an angry and jealous King Saul who
hunted him down to kill him. Do you think for one minute David said in his
heart, maybe Saul is going to get me? No chance, he had a promise that God had
anointed Him to be king.
We are to confirm our thoughts with words even as God confirmed
His thoughts toward us.
We are to think Faith thoughts, and we are to confirm them by confessing those same thoughts. As
we see in 2 Corinthians 4:13): "We
also believe and therefore we speak."
So what do you believe?
I believe that God is my Healer (then say it). I believe that God is my
redeemer (then say it). I believe God is my Provider (then say it). I believe
God is my protection, my deliverance (then say it). I believe God is my
Righteousness (then say it). I believe that if I have His Spirit living in me,
then I will speak like him and act like him and live like him and do the works
that he did. See? Then say it, confess it. And if you confess it before men He
will confess you to His father which is in Heaven.
You've got to say what
He said. Think what He thought. "Yes, it may not appear outwardly
that I am not very righteous; that I'm
not doing so good, but praise God he said “I am the sinless unadulterated bride of Jesus Christ, so that’s
what I am.” He said, he no longer
calls us church but Bride, so that is what I am.
Think what He thought
and say what He said. God warns you in Romans 12:3: Not to think more highly of yourself than you
ought to think.
Again in 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;
In other words, don't
you dare say, "I'm an independent thinker.” There's too much of that today;
that's anarchy. Because what you think, you will say, and you will confirm what
you think, and if it's against God, you'll destroy yourself.
Nebuchadnezzar tried it.
God brought him so low; and when he snapped out of it, he said, "Let there be known this: He doeth what He will in
the armies of the Heavens and earth; He setteth up whom He will; He bringeth
down whom He will.
And even Moses began
looking around at circumstances, and he went back to God crying. And he said,
"Oh, God, not only did you not do it, but things are even worse than
before." And God said,
"Be quiet. I told you what
would happen. I AM the LORD; this is how I do things, so just get in
line."
Proverbs 18:20 A man's belly shall
be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase
of his lips shall he be filled. 21 Death and life are in the
power of the tongue: and they
that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
Look, your mind is like
a garden full of thoughts. Those thoughts are seeds, and when you say what
thoughts are in your mind, you are watering them, and giving life to them. It’s
like watering a seed. You water it to grow, so if you don’t want it to grow and
take over, then don’t water it. If you hear gossip and don’t say it, it’ll die
right there. But the minute you say it, just once ...you’ve watered it, and
watch it grow like a weed and take over your thoughts.
That's the way people
are when they talk about their problems. You start talking about your problems and
the trouble is you hear what you say, and that problem grows bigger in your own
ears. That confirms it and then it gets bigger, and pretty soon that’s all you can talk about is
your problems. And the fumy thing is, you're happy and satisfied in a morbid
sadistic manner. And that's pure psychology. So, if you will, dare to say what
God has said, which is LIFE. Remember: any other word but God's is DEATH.
His Words alone are LIFE GIVING. Jesus said in John 6:63 My words are spirit and they are life. "
Let me just close with a
thought from Brother Branham’s sermon called, Word Became Flesh India Trip 54-1003M paragraph 175 Every Word
in the Bible is God's thoughts laid in seed form, that if received
into the human being, and spoke by the
same thought that materialized the Bible, brings the thing
to pass. See what I mean? How powerful could the Church be? The
Bible said, "Let this mind that was in
Christ be in you. As
a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." Now, your thoughts, if they become expression... Like, God said, "Let there be a world."
Before it could be a word,
it had to be a thought. So God in the creation, created the world by
His thought first, then spoke it, and the thought, expressed became material. See what I mean? 180 Now, you can express it by mental conception, but
if it becomes a real revelation of God,
that you see it before it happened, and express it in word form, that word takes a hold and becomes material: a thought expressed. Oh, my, how God could... See? If your heart and your mind is so, and infilled
with God's Spirit, until your thoughts become His thoughts... Amen. There you are. When your mind, and your leading,
and your guiding,
becomes a direct place, or a direct
inspiration of the Holy Spirit that's moving your mortal being... Oh, my.
What kind of people should we be? If the very Holy Spirit has you so embodied or
empowered, that you
don't use your own thoughts, you don't use your own mind, you don't use your own opinion;
but the Holy Spirit has you so built, until your thoughts and your being is God's Spirit
expressing Itself through you, what kind of a church would we be? What kind of a people would it be, this morning,
if this Branham Tabernacle, this morning, was so filled with the Presence of
God, why, when you didn't even use your own mind, didn't even use your own
thoughts, didn't even have no alternative of your own, but just to be led by
the Spirit...? 212 "As a man thinketh..."It has to
become a thought before it can become a word. And a word expressed,
materializes. I believe in my heart that I am a Christian, because I have
accepted the Lord Jesus Christ; if I don't cry, if I don't move, if I don't do
a thing. In
my heart first, I believe that Christ died for me in my stead. Amen. I accept it as a
Christian; I believe it as a Christian; then it's in my heart. Then I express it in a
word, "I am a
Christian." Hallelujah. Then I start walking as a Christian, talking as a Christian, living as a Christian, being as a Christian. And by my fruits I'm recognized by the world as a Christian.
Hallelujah.\
Let us
pray...