Faith
no 30
Faith
to be conformed to the Image of Christ
September 3,
2017 evening
Brian
Kocourek, pastor
KJV Romans 8:28-30 And we know
that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
the called according to his purpose. 29For whom he did foreknow, (That’s Ephesians 1:3-4 we were in Him before the
foundations of the world) 29For whom He did foreknow,
He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His
Son, that he might be the
firstborn among many brethren.
Now, if Jesus Christ is the firstborn amongst many
brethren, then He is the Eldest Son in a very large family of brothers.
30 Moreover whom he did predestinate beforehand,
them he also called beforehand:
and those whom he called beforehand, them he also justified beforehand: and whom He has already justified
beforehand, them he also has glorified
already in His thoughts before the foundations of the world.
So God has set in motion his
foreordained plan to have children in His presence who come into the image of
His eldest Son in a vast family of brethren.
From His sermon, Modern events
made clear by prophecy - 65-1206 47. brother Branham said, "Pentecost,
that's why Luther lost his message. That's how Wesley lost his message. See? If
the Wesleyan church would've went on, they'd been Pentecostals. If the
Lutherans went on, they'd been Methodists. See? And now, if the
Pentecostals go on, it'll be the Bride. If you
hang back and keep going back in the world like you're going now, you'll be
lost. It'll only be the shuck and the stalk, is to be burned. You know
that. He'll gather His wheat into the garner. But the husks He'll burn with
unquenchable fire, although it was a carrier. It certainly carried it, but the
Life left it as soon as it become a leaf, it went on out to make something else
until it come to its full statue. And so will the church come through
justification, sanctification, baptism of the Holy Ghost (restoration of
gifts), right on into the formed Image of Christ.
Christ is the Bridegroom; the Church is the Bride; and the Bride is a part of
the Bridegroom. It'll have to be a Word church,
not a denominational church. It'll be
the Word church, the Word that's made known by the vindicated Word of
God.
Notice what brother Branham just
said here. He lays out the transforming power and plan of the Father with the
first move of God to bring us into the image of Christ through Justification
under Luther, then the second wave through Sanctification under Wesley, and then
the third wave of His Spirit moving his children into the baptism of the Holy
Spirit under the Pentecostal restoration, but he does not end it there.
Now, we know that he was the prophet
of the Pentecostal Age was William Branham because the prophet messenger always
comes at the end of the age, not at the beginning.
From his
sermon, Identified Christ of all ages 64-0401 P:35 brother
Branham said, "Remember, you're identified by characteristics, and God
is identified by His great characteristics that He cannot change. He
said in Malachi 3:6, "I am God and I change not."
See? He absolutely doesn't change. His characteristics are the same. Each time
He appeared on the earth at the end of an age, He always sent a man and
anointed him with the Holy Ghost, Christ. The Holy Ghost is Christ, the
anointed, the Logos. And it went out, and it comes to identify the words
of that age. The Word of the Lord comes to the prophets (The Bible said
so.) and identifies that age. See? He does nothing outside
of man. Now, He can't do it in a group. You can't do it.
It just never has been done. He never did use a group, never
did. He uses one single person. You're not... Israel was saved as
a nation, but you're going to be saved as an individual. One person He
deals with. He had a... He didn't even have a Moses and Elijah the same
time. He couldn't have Elijah and Elisha the same time. He couldn't have John
and Jesus the same time. He's always got one, because He gets that one person
into His Divine will.
First seal the 63-0318 P:37 Then along come
the Pentecostal age with the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and they cabbaged down
on that. Now, there cannot be no more ages. That's all of it;
that's the Laodicea Age. But then the...
We found in the
studying of the Scripture that the messenger to the age come right at the end
of the age every time. Paul come at the end of the age.
We find out that Irenaeus come at the end of the age. Martin,
end of the age. Luther, the end of the Catholic age; and
what?--Wesley, at the end of the Lutheran age; and Pentecost, at
the end of the age of sanctification through the baptism of the Holy Ghost.
And at the end of the Pentecostal age we are supposed to receive, according
to the Word, as God help me tonight to show you through here, that we are
to receive a messenger that will take all those loose ends out there and reveal
the whole secret of God for the rapturing of the Church.
Laodicean church age 60-1211E
P:33 The angel of this Laodicean church, to end it up... Now, he will be
at the end of the age, like the rest of them, like the Bible. He'll be
at the end of the age. Not the first of it, at the end of
it, because the angel always comes to rebuke them for what they done.
"To the
angel of the church of Laodicea write these things."
See?"To the
angel of the church of Smyrna write these things." See? Each
one is to the angel at the end of the age. Paul, the end of the
age. And on down, end of the age. The lap-over, end
of the age. End of the age, that's what makes it lap.
See, "To the angel," speaking what it was. This laps
over here, "To the angel," the end of that age. See, picking up right
here, made the lap like stair-steps going up, the seven church ages...
Notice the
angel or messenger is always at the end of the age, and his message rebukes the
people of the age before him and then there is a lap-over into the next age. In
other words, the rebuke brings a change or transformation in the people and
carries them into the next age. So the rebuke, covers the sins or short comings
of the previous age, where the people went wrong and brings them into an
ushering in period which takes them into the next age. But what is beyond
Laodicea? There is no Church age beyond Laodicea, but there is a bride age as
we covered a few weeks ago.
Seventy weeks of Daniel 61-0806 P:76 Along come
Wesley after that with his age. We see exactly what Wesley's age... What was it
called? Philadelphian, the greatest age of love we've ever had, the
Philadelphian age. Was right... In John Wesley's time... When he went out, in
come Pentecost, and that was lukewarm. Then we go back and find out what kind
of a Message would come to the Pentecostals at the end... And remember, each one's come at the end of
the age. Saint Paul come at the end; the rest of them come down
at the end, Saint Irenaeus and all the rest of them. The other one's age carried
over to the other one, lapped over, and he taken it up
and went on to the next age with it. See?
Countdown 64-0209 P:17 You say,
"I believe the church. I believe this..." To believe Him is Life. Justified by
faith, Luther preached it. That was typed by the horse and buggy days. Then He
got a man in England by the name of John Wesley under His control, to take out
all the "isms" away
from him. And He was able by John Wesley to bring into the church
sanctification. Sanctification raised the church to its feet and got it
able to walk. Now at the end of Wesley's age was the automobile; we
realize that when the end of the Wesley church, I mean, not...See, every
reformer comes at the end of the age. Now, we find out that Wesley in
last of his church age, it come in just before the Pentecostals, why, we see
that the church got strength enough through sanctification to walk away
from the things of the world. "Sanctify" means "separate for the glory of God." It's
too bad it lost that. But it got strength enough. Luther give it life,
back in the horse and buggy days. Wesley got it on its feet to walking:
sanctification, separating from the things of the world. Through that come the
little branches off, like the Pilgrim Holiness, and Nazarenes, and whatevermore
come from that, through sanctification.
We would see Jesus 62-0727
P:77 Then when Abraham's seed through Isaac, the natural seed, Jew, came to
the end of their life, here was that same God manifested in flesh, showing His
Messiahic sign, the same thing. Now, here comes the Gentiles, the royal seed of
Abraham through Christ, at the end of their age with two thousand years
of teachings. Now, the Pentecostals come on with speaking in tongues,
interpretations, and so forth, and had all kinds of miracles. But remember,
here we are. We're at the end of the age, receiving the same sign
that they did back there at the end of the age, just before the fire falls.
"Sirs, We Would See Jesus." He's the same yesterday, today, and
forever. What would you look? For that life that was in Christ would be in His church.
See? God... That man was God, represented Himself in human flesh, in human
form. Today God represents Himself in the human flesh of His church: God
the Holy Ghost in His church, moving through His church, speaking with
tongues, interpreting tongues, healing the sick, and then the last sign, the
Word so manifested till It's a discerner of the thoughts and the intents of the
heart. How many see that and believe that to be the truth? Let us pray.
So let's go back to review what I
was reading from His sermon, Modern events made clear by prophecy - 65-1206 47. brother
Branham said, "Pentecost, that's why Luther lost his message. That's how
Wesley lost his message. See? If the Wesleyan church would've went on, they'd
been Pentecostals. If the Lutherans went on, they'd been Methodists. See? And
now, if the Pentecostals go on, it'll be the Bride. If you hang back and keep going back in the world like you're going
now, you'll be lost. It'll only be the shuck and the stalk, is to be
burned. You know that. He'll gather His wheat into the garner. But the husks
He'll burn with unquenchable fire, although it was a carrier. It certainly
carried it, but the Life left it as soon as it become a leaf, it went on out to
make something else until it come to its full statue. And so will the church
come through justification, sanctification, baptism of the Holy Ghost
(restoration of gifts), right on into the formed Image
of Christ. Christ is the Bridegroom; the Church is the Bride;
and the Bride is a part of the Bridegroom. It'll have to be a Word church,
not a denominational church. It'll be
the Word church, the Word that's made known by the vindicated Word of God. But then
he adds, " right
on into the formed Image of Christ. Christ is the Bridegroom; the Church is
the Bride; and the Bride is a part of the Bridegroom. It'll have to be a Word church, not a
denominational church. It'll be the Word church,
the Word that's made known by the vindicated Word of God.
So we see there is beyond Pentecost,
beyond the Prophet Messenger to the last age, something that has to happen that is a
lap-over as he called it from his Message to the Pentecostals church Age which
was the last Age into the bride age. And what he is speaking of here is a
transformation into the very image of Christ that is to be formed into the
Bride of Christ. The image of Christ is being developed into the bride who has
already come through justification, sanctification and the baptism of the holy
ghost. yet beyond all of that, there is to be the conclusion of the building up
of the body of Christ into her being completely conformed to the image of
Christ and then we go.
God's chosen place worship
65-0220 P:46 And His promised Word, He will not, you won't have
to interpret It, He will interpret It through you, what you are doing, what
He promised to do. The
church that follows Him will be so much like Him until the people will know.
Look at Peter and John when they was questioned about healing a man at the gate
called Beautiful. They said they perceived, those priests did, that they were
both ignorant and unlearned men, but they take notice that they had been with
Jesus. Because what? They
were doing the things that He did. He must be about the Father's business.
And today it must be the same. Now, remember, He's the same
yesterday, today, and forever. For God meets you in Him, the only Place there
is, for that is where He has chosen to put His Name: in Jesus.
Jesus is the Name of God. Remember, Father, Son, Holy Ghost is titles to the
Name Jesus Christ.
From his message
the Spoken word original seed 62-0318E P:172 All right. Now, here
is what I'm trying to say to you: The law of reproduction bring forth
of its kind (Genesis 1:11). These last days, true church Bride comes to the
Headstone, will be the super church, a super race. As they near the
great Headstone they will be much like Him, even they will be in His very image in the
order to be united with Him. They will be One. They will be the very manifestation
of the Word of the living God.
And again in his message Images of
Christ - 59-0525 39. Branham said, Church membership is all right. I have
nothing against it, or any of those things. But, brother, to be a
Christian means to be conformed to the Image of Christ. We want
to be living images, not pack an image, but be an image of the Lord Jesus.
That is why the
same Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 1:3-5 Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
4 According as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy
(consecrated
and set apart for Him) and without blame before him (or in His
Presence). Then 5: in love He
Has predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself,
according to the good pleasure of his will,
So not only did
He choose us or select us out while we were yet in Him before the foundations
of the world, but He that selected us out also for-ordained our end to be
adoptable sons, conformed to the Image of His Uniquely born,
first born son Jesus. So he pre-destined our path to that very
conforming to the Image of the first born son. And it is to follow the growing
up of the church which began under Luther being justified, and then living like
a son ought to live under Wesley and being filled with the same Spirit under
William Branham, and finally being conformed to the image of the first born son
under the lap-over from the last church Age into the bride Age, which is where
we are currently at right now.
Remember a few weeks ago we read from br. Branham's Message A Pradox 64-0206B P:25 where he said, "The Bible said in
this Laodicea age that Christ was on the outside of the church, knocking,
trying to get back in. There never was an age like that: on the outside.' Cause
there's going to be no more church ages.
This is the end of it. The Laodicea was the last age, and Pentecost
is that Laodicea age, and we know that. There'll never be no more above
Pentecost. That's it
And from his
sermon, Modern events made clear by prophecy
65-1206 P:23 brother Branham said, "We're not living in a Pentecostal age; we're
living in another age. See? We're not living in a Methodist age; we're
living in another age. We're living on up here to the Bride age,
the calling out of the church and getting it together for the rapture. That's
the age that we're now living. To my honest opinion that's exactly the
truth.
Now, in the
Message Spoken
Word is the Original Seed, in paragraph 83 we hear brother Branham say… All of God's sons must be the same.
Yes, sir. To be born of the Word and
Spirit brings us back to the spoken Word again like in John 3. See? To be born of the Water and the Spirit, what does it
do? Then it brings you right back again
unto the place of where you should've been at the beginning…
And I would like
to add, where were we at the beginning? The way God saw us in Himself before
the foundations of the world. Ephesians 1:-54 Holy
and without blame in His presence.
4 According as he hath chosen
us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and
without blame before him in love: 5 Having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself,
according to the good pleasure of his will,
Then brother
Branham says, …See?
That's the reason of Christ's death: brings us right back again to where? Sons of God.
Now, then let’s
jump forward to paragraph 85 where he says,
85 Now, now, this brings you right back to
the spoken Word. Then we are God's Word made manifest. See? Jesus said the
same thing. "He
that believeth on Me, the things that--Who I am, what I come for and the purpose I do, to bring a man back to believe the Word of
God and take nothing else with it, the works that I do, He will
do also." There you are.
So you see, God
wants all His children to be like the first born son. "Conformed to the image of the first born son."
And it is not only His will but He has predestined us to it. That is His
purpose in having many Sons. And we are ordained to
be conformed to that Image.
And since that
Image was the expressed Image of the Father according to Hebrews 1:3 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners
spake in time past unto the fathers through the prophets,
2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us in His Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by
whom also he made the worlds; 3 Who being the brightness of his glory,
and the express image of his person,
and upholding all things by the word of
his power, when he had by
himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
4 Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
5 For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day
have I begotten thee? And again, I
will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?
Now,
remember the Message to pentecost was Look, the process of transformation has
already began in Luther we were justified and through Wesley we come to realize
there is a life that is to be Holy and without blame, and now God has given us
the very life than produce that and the next phase in the evolution from man to
son of God is for us to be conformed to the image of the first born son. But
the Pentecostals got side tracked into thinking the power given into the church
was for something personal, and a way for them to show off with the gifts and
make use of the power of God for personal use.
And so brother
Branham was saying in his Message Spoken Word is the Original Seed 86 Why is it not being done today? It's hybrid, bastard children, mixed up.
It don't, it's a mule; it don't know
what it believes. A mule don't know who his daddy is, who his mama is.
He don't... He's no pedigree; there's nothing to him. He's a illegitimate
creature. That's the way any person that
claims to believe God and don't believe His Word will take a denominational
creed and breed it with the Word. See, you're
not of God; you're dead. You
can't be dead and alive at the same time. So even the Word of God don't even grow. You're just playing the
part of a hypocrite. Let that go for bishop, priest, cardinal or whoever it
might be. That's right. It's got to be
the Word or you're dead, just a
illegitimate child. And God's Word... God
part won't grow. You might grow in the same field as we're getting to
directly, but you're sure not in the fold. It
won't grow.
Notice then in
Spoken word original seed 62-0318M P:89 brother
Branham says, "The
works that Jesus did, (now he's
referring to John 14;12 here) "if a man has the Seed of God in him with the Spirit of God
watering that Seed, the same works that was manifested in Jesus, Him
being the original Seed of God, (and the brother
Branham's choice of the words "the original Seed"
shows us he is thinking of other similar seed of God) His death brings you back to the original
Seed of God, and if the same Spirit that was within Him is in you, then
the
same works will be manifested. You
don't believe that? All right, let's turn over to Saint John 14:12.You say,
"I'm a believer, Brother Branham. I sure am a believer." All right, I'm
going to see if Jesus would call you one, see if the Word of God calls you
one... Verily, verily,... (absolutely, absolutely)... I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do
shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the
Father."
90 What is it? Same seed.
How can you plant wheat here and wheat here and say, "I'm going to get
cucumbers here and wheat here?" You can't do it. The only way you're
going to get cucumbers is plant cucumbers. If you hybreed it, then it
won't be a cucumber. It'll be a hypocrite. Is that right? It'll be a
hypocrite, friends. You've got to say it. It isn't neither one. Isn't cucumber
or what you bred it with. It's a crossbreed, and it is a bad product, and it's
dead in itself, and it can't breed itself back no more. It's dead right there, back,
won't go no farther. That finishes it; that's all. But if you
want a cucumber, start with a cucumber. If you want a church, start with
the Word of God. If you want a Life of God, start with the Word
of God. Accept
the Word of God in Its fullness, every measure of It. And if
that is the fullness of God in you, then the rain that's falling will produce
exactly what's in your garden. See? ...
91 Then the works will be manifested
in Him are the same, for it
is the same Seed Word of God. God's Son was His example Seed. And
what His Life was when the Spirit poured upon Him after His baptism and the
Holy Ghost come upon Him, the very Life that He produced will, that
same watering Spirit of the Holy Ghost will bring forth the same kind of a Life, doing the same
thing that He did; if it's the same Seed.
Son of God Seed will
bring forth a Son of God Seed.
So you see, if
we were in God before the foundations of the world a son of God seeds, then as the
apostle Paul said in, we were predestined to be conformed to the image of the
first born son. And the only way we can dp that is to die to self as the first
born son ddied to himself.
To whom is arm of Lord
revealed? 50-0824 P:42 Now, the first thing you must do, is surrender
yourself entirely to Christ, and surrender
your mind to His Word. "Lord, I won't act upon my own feelings, upon
my own thoughts. I will only act upon Your Word."
That is why the
apostle Paul said in Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet it is not I that is living, but Christ is living in me:
and the life which I am now living in the flesh, I am living by the faith of
the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. So it is not
I that am living, but Christ, the anointed Life of the Father that was in His
firstborn Son, that is also living itself out in me.
That
is what Paul also said in Colossians 3:1 If ye then be risen with
Christ, seek those things which are above,
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set
your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For ye are dead, and your
life is hid with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also
appear with him in glory.
That means you
must come to the place where you are willing to die out to self. We must come
like Jesus to the place where we are not trying to dodge the new birth, but we
are willing to surrender ourselves to it. So it is not what you do, but what
you just surrender yourself to.
From his
message How can I overcome 63-0825M P:48
brother Branham said, "See, if the little baby keeps trying, "Oh, I can do it; I can
do it." And he's just everywhere; He can't do it. Neither can you; neither
can I. But if we just hold still and let
Him do it, just yield to Him, "Here, Lord, here I am. Just let me be
nothing. And I yield; You put my hand in the right place." That's the victory; that's overcoming. The thing you have to overcome is yourself, your ideas,
your things, and surrender yourself to Him. He overcome for you.
He knows the way; we don't.
And again he
said in his message Uncertain sound 60-1218 P:61 …"it's God's love and mercy measured out to
you to take It. Don't cost you one thing. Only
thing It costs you, is just to surrender your life to Him, and receive
It. How simple. Just forget all you
ever knew and just surrender yourself to Him. And that's how It comes,
is just receive, receiving It that way."
And again from
It wasn't so from the beginning 60-0306 P:47 brother
Branham said, "Every
man's got to be born again, and this sinful nature killed in him, and a new Man born in him, which is Christ Jesus, the Son of God. Then you surrender yourself completely to
Christ, and Christ comes in, and writes a book of acts through you.
How I know that's the truth, my friend, how
I know it's the truth.
Look, God's
Prophet who had perhaps the greatest ministry ever on earth outside of God's
first born son is telling us that is how it was with him. He says, "How I know that's the truth, my friend,"
and
for emphasis he repeats himself again,
"how I
know it's the truth".
And the message here is to die to self and let Christ come in and live your
life for you.
In his sermon,
Christianity verses idolatry 61-1217 P:90 brother
Branham said, "We,
in His image, a living image of a living God. When you surrender yourself to
God, and God comes into you, what does it make you? A living image of God."
Jesus said, the things I speak
are what my Father commanded me what to say. There you are, that’s
how to be a son of God in the Image of the first born Son of God.
Listen to what
Jesus said of His relationship with the father.
In John 12: 49-50 For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should
say, and what I should speak. And I know that his commandment is life
everlasting: whatsoever I speak
therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.
And He also
said in John 5:19 the Father works and I work hitherto.
Not, my own ideas of what I think my Father might want me to do, or say. No,
that’s not it at all. That would be our own mental reasoning. But He said, the Son can do
nothing but what He sees the father do, that doeth the son likewise.
You see, The
Doctrine of Christ is a reality of your position in the family of God. The Doctrine of Christ, to know it and
understand it from your heart will bring with it the same Life that was in the
first born son, and you will see your own life become a reflection of His Life.
Because God wants to live out your life for you, in your own set of
circumstances.
Paul said in Ephesians 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some,
prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;12 For
the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying (that’s the
building up) of
the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come in the
unity of The Faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a
perfect man,(that’s a mature man) unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: (You see without the knowledge of the Son of God,
without the Revelation of Jesus Christ and our understanding of the
relationship between the Father and His First Born son, we would never know how
to act as children of God. We will never grow up.)
That is why I do
not believe in only listening to tapes. God set in the church for the maturing
of the church, and if you could get it from the tapes only then God would not have
set in the church a five-fold ministry.
Blind
Bartimaeus 56-0414 P:49 And God set in
the Church first, what? Missionaries, or apostles; apostle and
missionary, as I told you, taught you, is the same thing, "one sent."
Apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelist, pastors, God set in the Church for
the perfecting of the Church. That's Divine gifts that God foreordained
and set into the Church. See? Those are for the perfecting of the
Church. Jesus
speaks through His pastor, speaks through His teacher, speaks through His seer,
His prophet, speaks through His missionary to the countries, and so forth.
That's His gifts that's He's put in the Church.
Influence
63-0112 P:35 And now, God
has set in the church... God, not the organization, not the achievement of man
to make bishops and so forth, presbyters, but God set in the church, first, apostles (That's missionaries.), secondarily prophets,
teachers, pastors, evangelists. God set them in the church, and
every bugle will blow the same, the same Gospel. See? If he's a
prophet, he blows the bugle of a prophet. He foretells the things that is to
come and hits every time.
Then if the trumpet gives an uncertain sound it wasn't sent
there by God.
Because God set in the church for the perfecting of the church,
and whoa to him that will try to do away with what God has sent.
The Apostle Paul
said if you teach contrary to what I have taught you are cursed with a curse.
Way
back the 62-1123 P:96 Now, to me, I'm
a man, I'm nothing. I'm just your brother. There's nothing to me.
But the Holy Spirit in predestination foreordained gifts; God
has set in the church, not what some
elder laid his hands on. God set in the church first apostles, then prophets, and so forth. God set them in there. They're Divine gifts
foreordained of God. Before Jeremiah the prophet was ever born, God
said, "I knowed you
'fore you was even in your mother's belly, and ordained you a--a prophet to the
nations before you ever come out of the womb." Is that right? He had nothing to do
with it. God does that. He's still God.
Blind
Bartimaeus 59-0408 P:31 That's the
office of the Church. And these offices should be alive with the Holy
Spirit, not set in by man, but set in by the Holy Spirit in each
church. Apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, pastors--these are
offices that God set in the Church. Man has nothing to do with it.
God puts them in the Church.
Witnesses
56-1004 P:49 Now, the Bible
said that "God set in the church apostles, prophets,
teachers, evangelists and pastors".
He never did say
where He set out of the church apostles and prophets. They say,
"Oh, He has still got teachers, and evangelists and pastors." But
what about prophets and so forth. It's still just the same. God
doesn't change.
And the Apostle
Paul said the five-fold ministry of God, those gifts to the church were to
bring the church to maturity, 14 That we henceforth be no more children,...
Psalms 37:23 “The
footsteps of the righteous are ordered of the Lord, and he delights in his
way.” Proverbs 16:9 A man's heart deviseth his way: but the
LORD directeth his steps. Proverbs 3: In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
You see, people
are trying to figure things out for themselves, and it only takes two people to
form a denomination, and when you do you die right there. So always look at the
persons motives, and their objectives and see what they are pointing you to. If
they are pointing you to themselves and not to Christ then their doctrine will
show that. Every seed is known by its characteristics, its nature.
From his sermon, God hiding Himself in simplicity 63-0412E P:132 Brother Branham said, "When you surrender fully, He'll come in fully. But
until you surrender, He can't come in fully. Surrender. Surrender your thoughts; surrender
your thinking; surrender your life;
surrender your all; surrender your prestige. Surrender everything to Him now, and
He'll come in and fill you with the Holy Ghost. That's what He's here to do.
In paragraph 87 of the spoken Word is the original Seed brother
Branham said, All
right. All right, we notice then. See, the spoken Word... Then we are God's Word made manifest. That's how God wants His church: is to manifest Himself. How can He manifest Himself unless His Own
Seed is in that person? How can you
use your own thoughts and God manifest Himself through you? How can you
take your own belief and say, "Well, my pastor teaches... My creed says
that this... days of miracles..." How
you going to do that and then be a manifested son of God? How you going to
do it? The death of Jesus wasn't nothing to you. "Oh, I accept Him as my
Saviour." You don't. You say you do, but you don't. Your works proves what you are. Jesus said the same thing. "If
you think I am illegitimately born..."They said, "We're Abraham's son
and need nobody to teach us." Said, "If you was Abraham's children, you'd know Me." See? Said,
"Which one of you condemns Me of sin (unbelief)? Show Me one thing that God promised of Me that ain't fulfilled. Show Me one thing that the Father promised
that I haven't fulfilled. (Sin is unbelief.) Let's see you produce it
then." That de-horned them. See? Certainly. Said, "Who's accusing Me?
Who can condemn Me with sin (unbelief)?" See? "If I don't believe,
then why is the Father doing through Me
like He's doing, every Word that He promised? Now, let Me see where you got
it in yours."
What brother
Branham is telling us here is that we are ordained to reflect the image of the
original seed. And that could not be possible unless we have the life that was
in the first born seed. For if we have the life, then we have the nature, for
the two are one in the sense the nature of the life is the reflected attributes
and manifested characteristics of the life in the seed. Look, if we are so
absorbed by our own daily life we cannot let Christ live it for us.
Jesus Christ the same 55-0806
P:19 Now, here's what happens. When a man starts out, he will go to
reason. He will go to the schools of theology. And he will go from church to
church and wonder if this one's got the truth, or if that one's got the truth.
Or he will take his membership from one church to another. You should never do that. You should put your membership in heaven
on the Book of Life. And there it'll be forever. Now, all churches, Christian
churches, has good meanings, every one of them, and I believe every one of them
has truth. And now, I don't mean to try to say now they don't have all the
truth. Sure, I believe... If they
believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that's the truth. Amen. Now, but what a man will do, he will hear a
little something and keep moving his papers. Well now, you'll never find Christ moving your
papers. You have to move your
thoughts. You have to move your
thinking, and get away from reason and move your thoughts from your own way of
thinking to what God thinks. "Let the mind that was in
Christ Jesus be in you."
And then when you begin to think His thoughts, you'll begin
to live His life and do the things that He did. See what I mean?
Now, because it's not you; it's Christ.
We want the
Mind of Christ to be in us. That is what we want. That is what God wants. He
wants us to be conformed to the image of His first born Son who came forth in
His Own image.
Why it had to be shepherds
64-1221 P:40 There's only one thing that rules over
all, and that's God's Word. If you're thinking contrary to the Word; forget your thinking. Think on the Word."
Future home 64-0802 P:76 Let
the mind that was in Christ be in you." See, then it isn't
your thinking; it's His thinking through you, and you're not expressing your own words;
you're expressing His Words.
God's gifts always find place
63-1222 P:44 God works through human beings to redeem
human beings. He can take you, work through you to redeem humanity, if you'll completely dedicate everything you are
.If you're a young woman, dedicate your morals. You're a young man, dedicate your morals, dedicate your mind, dedicate your thinking, dedicate your heart, dedicate your soul, dedicate
all you are and let Christ work through that. What a glorious thing.
Who is this 59-1004M P:34 …a
supernatural God cannot change His nature to fit people's nature. People
has to change their nature to fit God's supernatural plan. And that's
why people cry, "Who is this?" It's God in the midst of His people.
They don't understand it. God will never come to your level; you'll have to come to His. God will
not come to your requirement; you
have to come to God's. And then when that requirement is met upon a
promise that God made to redeem the people. If that requirement has met, your entire being changes; your thinking
changes. Your habits change. Everything about you changes. Your desires change.
Your living changes. Your habits change. You change. Everything about you changes, 'cause there's a new life in
you.
Can we see Jesus 58-0619E
P:14 You have to have God on the
inside before you can see Him on the outside. And there's many people that doesn't
seem to understand what God is. But He has to come in, and look through your eyes, use your eyes, and your mind, your thinking,
and your sight, your emotion, all has to be fully controlled by God.
God's provided way 64-0206E
P:16 You have to die. You have to die before
you can be reborn. Any seed has to die before it's regenerated again.
Unless it dies, it abides alone. A man's got to die to his own thinking. He's
got to die to the thinking of anything but God's Word, and come His
way. That's God's ground. We don't meet Him on our thoughts. We meet Him on
what He said do. That's God's
provided way for us. People dodge it; they don't want it. But it's true
just the same. It'll... It produces death, and you have to die, die to your thinking."
Well, I know the Bible says it, but I can't understand it." Then stay
there till God reveals it. That's right. It's got... That's the new birth.
Oneness 62-0211 P:102 What is it? You've got to get with the
Word, get yourself killed out. I'm persuaded that many of us, friends, have
received the Holy Ghost, but we just
receive enough Holy Ghost in us to make us to a place where we don't want to
lie, we don't want to steal, we don't want to do anything. But God wants to fill every fiber of His
church; He wants to fill your
thinking; He wants to fill your
mind. He wants to fill every bit of you, just make you
completely, totally dead to yourself or to your thinking, just so surrendered
in God till His Word's just living right through you. You don't
know nothing else but God's Word; just stay right with His Word; It is Life.
"My Words are Life," said Jesus.
Investments - 63-0803B 48.
Laodicea... We find, all the other church ages, Jesus was still in the church.
But on the Laodicea age, He was on the outside, knocking, trying to get in. And
this is the age that when the manifestation of Christ
come so perfect in the Image of Christ, in His church, until the
churches, as the brother said awhile ago, is closing the door. And yet He
stands with love, knocking, "If any man hunger or thirst...." Do you
understand? We, you expect a closed
door; it's the Laodicea age. The Bible said it would be that way.
What shall I do with Jesus - 63-1124M 152.
Now, with your heads bowed... You that believed that, that raised your hands a
few moments ago... And by faith you
see the Image of Christ standing there, which you
should be in. You're
walking now by faith, believe that your sins are pardoned. And from
this day on, you're ready for Christian baptism, and you're ready now to walk in Christ."
Identified Christ of all ages - 64-0401 19.
And now, in that, it's appointment that God has made with man. This body must,
because it is yet negative; it's subject to death. So He gets a eternal Spirit,
His attribute displayed in that body, then like any picture in its negative
form, it goes into the darkroom. There it's developed to come down to the
perfect picture. And we go into the darkroom, but to come out after the
negative's in a perfect picture, in the Image of Christ.
We go into the dark grave, into the darkroom for developing. It takes death to
develop it, just like it takes death to yourself to develop the
picture of the Image of Christ, the life of
Christ in you. You
have to dump your own out so that Christ can come in. You have to die to yourself. So does your physical being die to be
formed and mold into the image of Him. But you're still that attribute that
cannot be destroyed. It can never be destroyed. It's God in the beginning. It's
God above us, God with us, God in us.
And it's all the attributes of God: Eternal Life to the sons of men. Now, let
us pray.
Paradox a - 65-0117 40.
So is it with an individual. As long
as there's any human injections, human ideas, then God's germ of Life, the Holy
Spirit, cannot work. You cannot be healed as long as there's just a
fraction somewhere, that it's not rotten
yet; it's got all the human elements, all the scientific ideas, all the
days of miracles is passed, so-called. All that has to, all, not only die, but rot, then from there grows the germ of Life unto a new life.
That's the only way it can grow.
That's the reason we don't get what we ask for. We try to take with us so much of our own ideas. That's the reason
the Lutheran church couldn't advance no farther than it did, the Pentecostals
and the rest; 'cause they inject by a bunch of theologians, "This oughtn't
to be this way. This is for another day. And this was for that." There it
stays. It cannot grow to that perfect Image of Christ until
every Word of God is received into you, and then you become
that Word, like the seed that went in the ground.
God's only provided place of worship -
65-1128M 111. He died for us, and we die to
ourselves and are buried in His Name, that we would no more be
of the world, but in Him, of which both the
family in heaven is named after Jesus Christ. That's Ephesians 1:21. For
both the family in heaven... What's the family in heaven named? Jesus.
What's the family on earth named? Well, that's the house of God where the
Blood's at. Is that right? That's the Door, that's the Gate, that's the place
He put His Name, and the Word was made flesh and dwelled among us. It's the
Word reflecting and sparking off the age that you're living in. That's what He
was; that's what Moses was; that's what Jacob was; that's what the rest of them
was: sparking off that Word of God, the reflector that God was reflecting
Himself. And come to that perfect Image of God, Jesus
Christ, God's Masterpiece; was struck that He might take the rest of them for a
Bride that's been a reflector of Him.
Rapture the - 65-1204 110.
Wonder, could it be already passed? Could
the Bride already be called? Is that what we're going through today? She's has to be molded and made into the Image of Christ,
and Christ is the Word. That's
the only thing. See, it's in there, in the Word, it's just... See,
there cannot be one thing added. It can't be a woman with one hand like a man
and the other hand with a paw like a dog; it's
got to be exactly the Word of the Lord, like He is the Word. The Bride is a
part of the Bridegroom. The woman is a part of her husband, 'cause she's taken
out of the husband. Eve was a part of Adam from his side. And so is the Bride,
not taken from a denomination, but taken from the bosom of the Word of God for
this day.
Pergamean church age 60-1207
P:42 And this beggar come back to the door. And Saint Martin took off his own
good garment, and give it to the beggar, and had the chief deacon to go and get
another one and bring it to him. So he had to get a garment anyhow, and put it
on Saint Martin. And he wore the lesser garment out before the people instead
of his good garment. See it just goes to show: give the best that you have
(See?); give your
life; give
your time; give everything to Christ. And that same Spirit that lived in Christ lives in
you, and your influence in your neighborhood and upon the people
that you deal with, will be so much like Christ till it'll work the same
thing Christ did.
Now, let us pray as our Deacons go to prepare
the elements for communion service.