Faith no 26

What is the Focus of Your Faith?

August 20, 2017

Brian Kocourek, Pastor

This morning I would like to focus our sermon on "where are you focusing your Faith".

Br. Branham said in his sermon, The Masterpiece  in paragraph 10 Now, we got to place our faith somewhere. Now, he goes on to say, we could place our faith in making a million dollars but then what are we going to do with it. We can’t take it with us so what good does it really do.

He says,  And if I, or any of us in life tried to make a success in life and become many times a multimillionaire... But what are we going to do with that? We got to come down at the end of the road and what good is it to us then? See? And money is a scrip; it's an exchange; but you can't exchange it for Life. Only God has Life.

Now, that is the real question we are here to ask ourselves this morning. He said, “we got to place our faith somewhere.” So the question I ask you this morning is "where are you placing your Faith". we are promised in God's Word that "all things will work together for those who love God, for them who are the called according to His purpose. 

And we miss God so many times by missing what He is doing in the little things in our lives. We seem to focus so much on the large things, the grand things, the super things, but we know that God hides Himself in simplicity, and we even testify to that and yet when it comes to our own lives we seem to have our thoughts elsewhere than the little things.

But the Scripture tells us it is the little foxes that spoil the vine, and it is the little things that if left undone will undo us. And it is the little things that God makes Himself known in.

God's only provided place of worship 65-1128M P:46 That every little jot, everything, you must be faithful in. It's always the little foxes spoils the vine. Sometimes you leave... It's not the big things you do; it's the little things you leave undone. Remember, a chain is only its strongest at its weakest link. "Blessed are they that do all the commandments of God, that they might have a right to enter in." Do all God said, if it said for women to have long hair, you say...A man told me not long ago, said, "I don't preach a clothes-line religion." I said, "Then you're not preaching the Gospel." That's right.

Well, what about them that refuse to preach John 14:12 as Jesus said it. And in every language it is translated "whosoever believeth", Now you have the Kings James version that says "he" but brother Branham prophet of God told us who that "He " is. He taught us it is "every believer". Those are not my words those are his words.

Brother Branham makes it clear that John 14:12 is for every believer as we see in 59-0628E - "Questions And Answers" 172  88b. Notice, he is reading a question someone has on John 14:12 and then he answers the question. "Brother Branham,... Can any man do the works of Christ unless he was Christ? That's what it is, "Unless he was Christ?" Sure. Let's take Saint John, just a minute. Saint John the 14th chapter and I want you to look at this, now, if you can catch it right quick, Saint John 14:12, I believe it is. We'll get it right quick, and look what Jesus said about this. All right, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He," "whoever it is", "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also." Any man, The man himself can't be Christ, but the works of Christ will follow every believer. See? He'll do the works of Christ in any man. "He that believeth in Me, the works that I do, he shall do." Not, "I shall do," "he shall do, he shall," not, "I." "But he believes in Me and has confessed his faith in Me and died out to himself and My Spirit dwells in him and he becomes a part of Me." Now that don't make him Christ. It makes him part of Christ with the rest of the Church. All right. He is not Christ, because that would be anti-Christ, you see. He would be taking away from Christ. But he can be, do the works of Christ, any believer. All right.

That's what he said about John 14:12. Then if that is truth, and we know it is because it was taught by a vindicated prophet, then why is that being overlooked?

Why is the Spirit of Adoption, the manifestation of the sons of God, and the conforming to the image of the first born son being overlooked?

It was King Solomon, that said in The Song of Solomon 2:15 Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.

Let me continue reading brother Branham's quote from God's only provided place of worship 65-1128M P:46 "God laid it out there; He said what to do. And you either do it... That's your natural, reasonable thing. What little thing... what... the little insignificant. Jesus said, "Blessed are they that would take all the little things, do the little thing." And a woman to let her hair grow, that's just a, why, it's just something she can do, and she won't even do that. She won't even do that."Oh, teach us the great things."How can you teach the great things, when you won't do the simple, common things? Because, you see, your motive and your objective is wrong.

What? It is the little things that proves your motives and objectives. As brother Vayle told me a few weeks before he died, "Brian, we know the doctrine, but the people have to have the life if they are going to make it, you must preach the life."

Jesus condemned the Pharisees because they knew the doctrine but they left off on the simple things concerning the life.

From his sermon, Doors in door 65-0206 P:43 brother Branham said, "Oh, the least little thing we do, He sees it. And He knows the very things and thoughts that's in our hearts, whatever we do, what little it is. And how do we serve Him? As we serve each other. If I don't love you, how can I love Him? See? "Insomuch as you've done unto these My little ones, you have done it unto Me." See? It's the little things that we leave undone sometime, that breaks the whole chain (You see?), and lets us go free, just denominational-minded, and forget about these little things that really are the essential things. Everything, every Word of God is essential. None of It can be left out. We've got to take every Word of It, just the way It was wrote.

We proved in our study that John 14:12 that the original words in the Greek were "whosoever". And in every language it is written that way.

It is the arrogance of the English Speaking people that say, "the King James version is the only correct version", All other versions are in error". Then that throws salvation out the door for every child of God in every nation on earth that does speak English.

And then I've heard some say, You've got to know English to understand the Message. Oh, good grief, that is so far from the truth. There are millions of people who can read and write English and haven't as clue what the Message is about.

You've got to Have the Holy Ghost to understand this Message, because the Apostle Paul said, "no man can understand the things of God without the Holy Ghost." Jesus taught the same thing when he said, "Unless you are born again you cannot see (which means to understand) the kingdom of God."

In French the English Word “he” is translated “il”, but the statement “he that believeth on me” is translated in the French Bible as “celui qui croit en moi” and the word “il” is not even used here at all, but the words “celui qui” means “that which” and therefore it is not singular but means “whoever” meaning the promise is to individuals whether they be one or many, but does not speak of only one.

We see the same rule in the Spanish Bible. John 14:12 “el que cree en mi” which translates “whoever believes in me” literally translated, “that which” or “whoever” and is not singular but rather it may include one or many.

Luther’s Bible reads, “Wer an mich glaubt”, is translated “Whoever believes in Me.”

The Italian Bible: “chi crede in me” is translated “whoever believes in me.”

The Portuguese Bible: “Aquele que crê em mim,” translates “whoever believes in me.”

The 1917 Swedish Bible: “Den som tror på mig”, translates “whoever believes in me.”

The Hungarian Bible: “aki hisz bennem” translates “whoever believes in me.”

The Norwegian Bible: “Den som tror på meg” translates “whoever believes in me.”

The Polish Bible: “Kto wierzy w mię” translates “whoever believes in me.”

The Russian Bible: “кто верит в Меня” translates “who believes in me.”

The Ukraine Bible: “Хто вірує в Мене” translates whoever believes in me.”

The Swahili Bible: “mtu ye yote akiniamini” translates “anyone who believes in me.”

The Bulgarian Bible: “който вярва в мен” translates “who believes in me.”

The Danish Bible: “som tror på mig” translates “who believes in me.”

We could go on and on and give many more examples but you will find Bibles the entire world over all say the same thing except for the King James Version and a few versions that use the King James version for their basis which use the word "he" but even that does not make it singular.

Therefore, let’s view some other English Translations:

The Amplified Version: “if anyone steadfastly believes in Me”

The Common English Bible: “whoever believes in me”

The English Standard Version: “whoever believes in me”

The Wycliffe Translation: “if a man believeth in me” meaning “any man who believes”

The New Living Translation: “anyone who believes in me”

The The Message: “The person who trusts me” meaning “any person who believes”

The God’s Word Translation: “Those who believe in me”

The World-Wide English New Testament: “The person who believes in me”

William Branham was quite plain that when John 14:12 says "he" it means "anybody" who believe. In his sermon, Christ is the mystery 63-0728 P:68 ...St. John 14:12, He said, "He (he, anybody)--he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also." "Well, that was for another age." There you got your picture wrong again.

Brother Vayle quoted Michener who said, “when language looses it’s meaning, there is nothing left.” And when men twist words to safeguard their pet doctrine, that shows they have no real understanding of the doctrine they claim to hold.

William Branham was very specific in his words concerning John 14:12. In his sermon, Christ is the mystery 63-0728 274 Jesus said, “These signs shall follow them that believe.”Now where is it at? Uh-huh. See? Yeah. “Works that I do shall you do also,” every creature, every person that believes in Him. Now where is it at? That’s His Words. “Heavens and earth will pass away, but My Word shall never fail.”

Now, it is the little things that are being left undone that will keep people out of the Rapture and change of the body.

From His sermon, We would see Jesus 57-0226 P:21 William Branham tells us the reason why John 14:12 is for all, and what purpose it is for. "But now, while He's here working with His Church in the form of the Spirit... Then if His Spirit is with us, He will act just exactly like He act when He was here on earth. It'll make you act the same way, because it's not your spirit anymore; it's His Spirit in you, Christ's Spirit in you. "The things that I do... He that believeth on Me (Saint John 14:12.), the works that I do, shall ye do also." See? We'll do the same works, think the same thoughts, live the same type of life. If the Spirit of God is in you, it makes you live like Christ, Christ-like. Then you become a written epistle, read of all men, Christ in you, reflecting His Light out of you, as God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, and reflecting God from His own body. No man has seen God at any time, but the only begotten of the Father has declared Him. God was in Christ. And what Christ's attitude was, was God's attitude, 'cause the two work together, the Spirit and flesh united together.

When Elijah wanted to hear from God He prayed earnestly to God for an answer and then the lightning came and God was not in the lightening. Then the thunder came and God was not in the thunder. Then the earth quaked and God was not in the earthquake, and then the wind whirled like a tornado, but God was not in the Wind. And in each of these great things he found not God, no not in any of those things. But when that still small voice came to Him, He knew instantly that God was speaking to Him and that He should be still himself to hear the voice of God.

From his sermon Hidden life 55-1006A P:44 brother Branham said, "What makes the seed grow? Did you ever get up of the morning and find the dew that fell down from heaven and refreshes the earth? How does it refresh it? When it's at peace. The dew don't fall in day time. The dew falls in the night time, when everything is at peace. The dew can never fall on you, my brother, as long as you're fussing, and arguing, and stewing about the things here on this earth. Get alone with God and let the dewdrops of mercy fall upon you in the stillness.

And he said in his sermon, Influence 64-0315 P:40  Always be conscious of your littleness, not your bigness. Today we Americans so much... That we try to think that we're a big somebody, we belong to something big, some big organization. Some great big something's got... All great big, big, big is all we see. And when... One time in the Bible we have an example of that. There was a prophet went back in the cave, and Elijah... And God was trying to attract his attention to come out. And there come the fire, and smoke, and blusterous winds across the mountain, and thunder, and earthquakes, and shakings and everything else. The prophet never even moved. God wasn't even in it. But when that still small voice spoke, he covered his face and come forward. When the still, small voice of God's Word speaks, not a racket, not our big denominations, not our big something, but that still, small voice of the Word that's looked over, that should call a man to repentance. God in His Word. Yet he covered his feet and become conscious of his... our littleness before God.

Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

That means you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, His good, His pleasing and His perfect will. And that is what Jesus said, “My Meat is to do the will of My Father that sent me. Oh, to have that attitude of son-ship that He had. Then Paul says,

3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

Look, we have each been given a measure of faith and we know faith is revelation, something that has been revealed to you. Then if it has been revealed to you, then how can these preachers and elders get so puffed up as though you came up with it on your own. You had no more to do with what took place in this hour than nothing. It was a gift of God to us. God came down, beat the snot out of William Branham, subdued him, and used him, and then you say, O, I sure wish I were like Him. No you don’t because you wouldn’t want to go through what he went through to get there. Just be thankful that God is the author and finisher of your faith. Place your trust in what he is doing and just get out of his way. Just learn to let go and let God.

And you know there is one thing that bothers me more than any other thing as I travel the world and teach the doctrine of Christ to the ministers here and abroad, and that is when I see men get puffed up in the ministry and think they are somebody because they have a little more knowledge on a subject than the next fellow. A friend of mine once told me that if you have “that much” (two fingers spread about an inch apart) more knowledge about a subject than the next guy, you have power over that guy, and that is absolutely correct if you are carnal. And that is what they have done in the churches today. And the whole mess is all puffed up. And God hasn’t come for puffed up kids. He has come for obedient sons and daughters.

The Apostle Paul said “what do you have that was not given to you? And if it was given to you, then why do you boast as though you haven’t received it?”

And He also said in Romans 3: 27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what, the law? By works? Nay: but by faith. 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

And if you are "justified by Faith", and "Faith is revelation, something God has revealed to you," then you didn’t get it because you're smarter than the next guy, and you didn’t get it because you got more people following you than the next guy. You got it because God revealed it to you, so humble down because it is the little things we leave undone that will be your undoing.

The Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 14:36 What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only? 37 If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. 38 But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.

Now, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:11 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 knoweth. So unless God has given you of His Spirit you have nothing.

So whether you have or whether you do not have, it all goes back to what God has done. And then if you have anything it is because God gave it, so how can you be so proud that you could boast when you had nothing to do with it in the first place except you are just a vessel that God has chosen to place His Word in.

in his sermon, The Evening messenger 63-0116 P:93 brother Branham said, "Notice, big noises, but it didn't attract the prophet. The prophet didn't care about the big noises. But when he heard that still small Voice, he knew that was the Word; he veiled his face and come walking out. You know, the sun can draw more water in fifteen minutes, without any noise at all, than more than all... And we make more noise drawing a gallon of water than the sun does a million barrels. That's right. We're always looking for something that's got big and a lot of "hurrah," and a lot of racket to it. And when it comes down to the fact of taking the Word, then here comes the thing up. See? Come, and they say, "Well, bless God, I tell you..."

Now, as I said earlier in this message, brother Branham said, “we got to place our faith somewhere.” So the question is where are we placing our Faith. We know that Faith is a Revelation, because Brother Branham told us that in the several of his sermons in late 1965 beginning with the sermon, False anointed ones.

And from his sermon Anointed ones at end time 65-0725M P:38  Brother Branham said, "What is faith? Faith is something that's revealed to you, that is not yet, but you believe it will be. Faith is a revelation of the will of God. So by revelation...And the churches today don't even believe in spiritual revelation. They believe in a dogmatic teaching of some system. "By revelation Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than that of Cain, which God testified he was righteous." Amen. I hope you see that. See where we're living, see the hour?

Now, I want you to notice the example brother Branham gave to us. He quoted Hebrews 11:4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.

Now, notice that we are told that Abel’s sacrifice was a more excellent sacrifice than Cain’s sacrifice. So then Cain’s sacrifice had to be an excellent sacrifice is Abel’s sacrifice was a more excellent sacrifice than Cain’s. And in order to be more excellent the other must also be excellent. And Cain’s sacrifice was an excellent sacrifice because it was Deuteronomy 26 the “first fruit offering”. So Cain’s sacrifice was very bible based. Therefore, Cain was a fundamentalist believer.

Deuteronomy 26:1 And it shall be, when thou art come in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possess it, and dwell therein; 2 That thou shall take of the first of all the fruit of the earth, which thou shalt bring of thy land that the LORD thy God giveth thee, and shalt put it in a basket, and shalt go unto the place which the LORD thy God shall choose to place his name there.

Now, notice that Cain offered unto God a first fruit offering which is a harvest offering or resurrection offering, because the harvest represents the resurrection time when the reapers shall come and harvest the crop.

But notice that Cain's revelation was out of season, for without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins, and there will be no resurrection to life without the once for all blood sacrifice.

So Cain’s sacrifice although excellent because it was Biblical, yet because it was out of season it was not accepted by God. And when Cain had a son He called Him Enoch. But this Enoch was not the Enoch that was the seventh from Adam, The Enoch that was the seventh from Adam was ordained to be taken in the very first Rapture.  But Cain was a Fundamentalist and he believed the Scriptures which in those days the only Scriptures they had were written in the Heavens, but he could read them in the stars as could Adam and all those who lived back then were taught to do so.

But we are told in 1st John 3 that Cain killed his brother because his deeds were evil.

1 John 3:11 For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.  12 Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous.

Now notice it tells us that the slaying of his brother happened because Cain's works were evil. And what was his evil works?  The same Apostle who wrote this epistle wrote also the Gospel according to John, and said, John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because why? Because their deeds were evil.

They won’t come to the light because they think they have a better understanding of the Word.

So he offered unto God an excellent sacrifice, and yet it was called evil by the Apostle John because it was a Word for another season.  It was out of season. And this same John said the Message of God is Love and Cain therefore was not a follower of God's Message because he killed his brother. In fact if you look at the spirit upon him, you would see that because God did not accept his sacrifice he got angry and killed his brother.

You see, your sacrifice is a result of what is revealed to you. And you become your revelation. Abel offered up to God a bleeding dying lamb, and he became just that.

From the Invisible union of the bride 65-1125 P:68 brother Branham said,  What is a revelation? Jesus said, "Upon this Rock I'll build My church, and the gates of hell can't prevail against it." Faith is a revelation, because faith has been revealed to you. Abel, by faith offered by revelation (faith) offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than that of Cain. Cain thought they eat apples. They still got that idea, but it wasn't. It was adultery: serpent's seed. And there, when the Seven Seals opened, it declared it and proved it. (My book's just out on it. I think we have got a thousand here now. See?) Notice, that's Scripturally from Genesis to Revelations. At the end-time both trees are coming to the seed and proving themselves.

Paul said, “Though I give my body to be burned and I do not have Love, what does it profit me?” And notice that Cain’s works were not an expression of Love, for when given an opportunity to do right he rejected it and killed his brother to get him out of the competition for God’s  attention. And how many preachers have done the same thing in this hour. When they know they don’t have the full truth they attack the man who does and try to kill his influence. Now, that will never get you closer to God!, So why would you do something like that?

Brother Branham said in his sermon Works is faith expressed 65-1126 P:50 In a audience of people, where a prayer line comes through, you'll find some... And they were all good people, we'll say. There's some that's trying hard to believe it, trying to work themselves into it. Some just can't do it at all. And others, it's just by grace; it's just given to them. Now, there is the difference. See? That does it. That's the real revelation, because faith is a revelation from God. It must be revealed first.

And from The Rapture 65-1204 P:40 Brother Branham said, But to the church, the Bride, the rapture is a revelation to her. It's revealed to her, that the revelation, the true Bride of Christ will be waiting for that revelation of the rapture. Now, it is a revelation, for the revelation is faith. You cannot have a revelation without it being faith. Faith is a revelation, because it's something that's revealed to you. Faith is a revelation. Faith is something that has been revealed to you like it was to Abraham, that could call anything contrary to what had been revealed to him as though it wasn't so. Now, faith... That's what faith is, is the revelation of God. The church is built upon a revelation, the whole entire body.

Therefore as we took for our text this morning where brother Branham said in his sermon “the Masterpiece” “we got to place our faith somewhere.” So the question I want you to consider this morning is where are you placing your Faith. What do you  place your faith in? Because that will tell you where you are going to.

You see, if you have a faith, then there must be an earnest expectation, and if so then what are you earnestly expecting? What is your hope? And if there is a hope then that hope will manifest itself I what you do.

The Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

So you see by Grace that we are saved, because it is not what we have done but what He has done for us. And that is why this Same Apostle could say in  Romans 8: 24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?  25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Martin Luther taught us, “Hope denotes an expectation that is most intense. Hope that grows out of the ardent longing for that which is greatly desired, makes love ever greater by the very distance that separates it. Through such high tensioned hope there is created so to speak, a unity between the one who hopes and that which he hopes for.”  

So it is hope that unites us with what we see by Faith, and not by sight.

And Paul said if you see it then you no longer hope for it. If you see it you no longer are earnestly expecting it as though it is not there. That is why hope unites us with our Faith in the unseen. That which is not seen, and yet through hope we are earnestly expecting for that which is not yet visible or manifested. And as Brother Branham said, your faith has to have a place where it is focused in on. He said, “we got to place our faith somewhere.”  For where you place your faith is where you are earnestly expecting from.

From Questions and answers COD 54-0103M P:32 brother Branham said, "Now, notice then when they were captured and carried away into Babylon because they tried to impersonate the nations of the world... What a beautiful picture today of the church trying to impersonate the world out yonder, and carried away, carried away with their living. The church lives just the same as the world does, carries on, acts just like it, and everything else, and claiming to be the church. You can't do that. No, sir. Your very life proves what you are. What you are... As I said in the beginning, what you are somewhere else is what you reflect here. What you are, what your celestial or terrestrial body is up yonder, what your celestial body is somewhere else is what you're reflecting back here. In the spirit land, what you are, is what you are here. If you're still vulgar minded and so forth in the spirit land, you're vulgar minded here. If you still got malice, envy, and strife, you're in the spirit land with that, it reflects back here. But if your whole innermost being has become cleansed and purged, it shows that you've got a body out yonder waiting, that's been cleansed and purged, and it's reacting back in the flesh. Don't you see? See, there it is. "If this earthly tabernacle be dissolved, we have one already waiting." See?

And from Explaining healing and Jairus 54-0216 P:37 brother Branham said,  "The devil's just trying to scare you out of something. He's trying to put something off somewhere else, say, "Some of these days you'll be this." You are now. Now, we're sons of God. Now, we're seated together in heavenly places. Now, we have all powers in heavens and the earth. See? Now, we have it. Not in the millennium, we won't need it then. We got it now. We're... Right now we are the sons of God. "It does not appear what we shall be, but we know we'll be like Him." What you are here is a reflection of what you are somewhere else. "Those who He called, He justifies." Is that right? "Those who He justified, He has glorified." Already in the Presence of the Father, we have a glorified body. Whew! Wasn't that deep? All right. We'll find out whether it's right or not. "If this earthly tabernacle be dissolved, we have one already waiting." Is that right? That's right. So right now, and what we are there, is a reflection. Here, what we are here, is a reflection of what we are somewhere else. So if your deeds are evil, you know where it comes from. You know where your other body's a waiting.

Questions and answers COD 54-0103E P:97 What you are here... Get this in your mind now. I'm going to close. But what you are here is a sign that you are something else somewhere. You've always wanted to be in perfection, you Christians. There is a perfection, and that perfection is not in this life. But every man and woman here that is a Christian, every person that is a Christian here now is already glorified in the Presence of Jesus Christ. And you've got another body. You won't have some other time; you have right now. Right now there's another body waiting for you if this one should perish. Could you think of that. Study that just a minute. Do you know every one of us may be in eternity before sun rises tomorrow morning? Now, if you're not a Christian, my friend, there's only one thing left for you. You've got to go that way. If you're on that road, you have to go that road. If you're a grain of corn, you'll produce corn. If you're a cocklebur, you produce cocklebur life. Now, if you've been belonging to a church somewhere that doesn't know and doesn't teach, and just lets you come to church and be a member of the church... You say, "Well, Brother Branham, my church teaches that we must accept Jesus Christ as our personal Saviour. If we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ we are saved." If your life doesn't compare with that, you haven't made it yet.

Therefore if you are earnestly expecting from what your faith (your revelation) has told you, then your life will reflect it, and your focus will be on that and your expectation will be focused on that one thing. And thus your life will be given over to that which has been revealed to you. And that is the sacrifice. For no greater love has a man than he lay down his life for a friend. That is the ultimate sacrifice and expression of Love.

In closing let's turn to Romans 12 and read beginning with verse 1.

Romans 12:1  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. The Niv says, "which is your spiritual act of worship."

And why is that? Because your sacrifice is what you offer back to God what He has revealed to you. Therefore, if he has revealed to you that you are sons, and you will receive your transformation by the renewing of your mind, then you begin to act in accordance with the change of your mind. If you say your mind has changed but your actions have not, then you are only fooling yourself because you are not fooling anyone else.

Paul goes on to say, 2  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. So you see when the mind is renewed, it brings with it an outward conformance as well as an inner change of the desires.

Then in verse 3 he says, 3  For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

So let me close this morning by asking you this question. Where is your faith today? Is it in storing up treasures on earth where the moth doth devour and the rust does corrupt? Or are you storing up your treasure in Heaven where neither moth nor rust can destroy. Where is your Faith today, where is your revelation? you need to know because it reflects in the life you live.

Let us bow our heads and our hearts in prayer.