Faith
no 43
Perfect Faith by
a Perfect Word
November 5, 2017
Brian Kocourek, Pastor
Let us remain
standing as we go to the Word of God this morning for our text. But before we
read from the Word this morning, I would first like to read a short testimony
from an email I received on November 2nd, just a few days ago from Pastor
Charlie Mouanga from Nantes France where I had preached last year from August 9
through the 11th and also had prayer for the sick and those with needs. Br.
Charlie traveled over to France this year when I spoke at the dedication of Br.
Servantie's Church.
Charlie MOUANGA <mbembaaimable@yahoo.fr>
To: Brian
Kocourek
Nov 2 at 2:57 PM
Br.
Brian
Do
you remember the couple who came to church and had a problem conceiving a
child, you prayed for them? I see that
the sister has just given birth to a baby boy today. That's very good news. We
bless the Lord.
Br.
Charlie
I would just
like to add that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever".
And God is still answering our prayers as Jesus promised He would do when He
said in John15:7
"If ye
abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall
be done unto you."
Now, this morning
I would like to speak on the subject, "Perfect Faith by a Perfect Word" and we will take
for our text from the following three Scriptures.
Psalms 18:30 As for
God, his way is perfect: the
Word of the LORD is tried: He is a buckler (a shield or defense)
to all those that
trust in him
Again we see
the same promise of God proclaimed in 2 Samuel 22:31
As for God, his way is perfect; the Word of the LORD is tried: He
is a buckler (a
shield or defense) to all those that trust in him
And then let's
turn in the New testament to 1 John 2:5 and
read what God wants for us to come to in this hour. "But whoso keepeth His word, (God's Word) in him verily is the
love of God perfected: hereby know we, that we are in him. 6 He that saith he abides
in Him ought himself also so to walk,
even as He (Christ)
walked."
Let's bow our
heads and also our hearts in a word of prayer.
Gracious and Loving Father, we have read in your
Word that "we are perfected by the blood of your
Son Jesus" and our perfection and completion as sons and daughters
of God, the perfection of our Character can only come by abiding in your
perfect Word, as Jesus himself was perfected in his character through his
obedience to Your Word. "Though he were a son yet
learned he obedience" your Bible tells us, "And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation
unto all them that obey him;"
Father, your Son Jesus commanded us "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your
Father which is in heaven is perfect." And
we know that you are the Word, for "in the beginning was the Word and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God" and your son Jesus said in
his prayer to you in John 17 that it is through your Word and Doxa, which is
Your Opinions, Values, and Judgments that we are to become one with you and therefore, if we are to become perfected
in our character and made ready for the rapture it can only come by our abiding in your perfect Word, For
Jesus said, "If ye abide in me, and my words
abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you."
Help
us Father this morning to take another step towards that perfect you seek in us
by receiving your perfect word, for we ask it in Jesus Christ name, we pray.
You may be
seated,
Now this
morning we are going to examine this thought that perfect Faith can only come
through a perfect Word, God's Perfect Word.
And we find
brother Branham saying just those words as we read from his sermon Perfect Faith 63-0825E P:56 where brother Branham
said, "When
Satan tempts us, we are to resist him in a perfect faith in a perfect Word, like
Jesus did. The Word
of God is perfect. We're to have perfect faith in this
perfect Word and resist Satan. Now, we'll hurry, just as quick as we
can. By His faith in
His Word we, He conquer, we can conquer anything, both death, hell, and the grave.
We know that God is God, that perfect faith in God's perfect Word, He conquered
everything that He come in contact with. Death could not even stand
in His Presence. Sickness could not stand in His Presence.
Flowing from Him was like rivers of virtue, going out constantly, virtue going
from His garment. These people, laid in the shadows, just put their
finger on His garment and was healed. When that woman done that, then
everybody wanted to touch His garment, 'cause they seen that there was virtue
going from Him constantly, flowed like rivers. There He was, walking, walking in a world of perfect
faith, because He was the Word. And now, "If ye abide in Me
(Through Him, He brought the Word to you.), and
My Words abide in you," then
walk in the same kind of a way: virtues flowing from you,
the rivers of God's fountains of blessing just flowing out to the people.
See what I mean? And you're not bluffing it; you're not imagining it.
It's actually taking place, and you see it. If you're just imagining it,
that don't do any good; but if it's really there, it really happened.
And that email
I just read to you is not just somebody's imagination, brothers and sisters. It
is real. The Holy Spirit is real, and He is the same yesterday, today and
forever.
Again brother
Branham said in his sermon Perfect Faith 63-0825E
P:65 Now,
let's see. Has He done all things well? Has He ever told us
anything, but what happened just exactly the way He said it?
Hasn't He performed, and hasn't the great Pillar of Fire been
among us and done just exactly like He promised to do? Haven't we
seen It? Hasn't science taken It, having been predicted what would
happened; go right there and happen even in the papers and magazines pack it
right back and show it, when it's told you months before it happened? Hasn't
He done just exactly the way He did in the Old Testament, in the New Testament,
and It's just exactly the same One? The same Holy Spirit comes as a
Discerner; and the Word of God, which is quicker and sharper than a two-edged
sword, a Discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart... Isn't that
right? Isn't that the same God? And that same One, it's not a
stranger off somewhere else; He's here. He's here, does this to create a perfect faith. I
feel Him. I know He's here now. I know that His Spirit is here. I
know that He knows all things. Amen. And I know He wants to do something. He's
been doing something to
create this perfection of faith in the people.
And do we now limit God to 50 or 60 years ago? And
say God can not show us that He is still here now, because His prophet has gone
off the scene? Are we so limiting our God that he must only work His signs and wonders
through His prophets? Or do we believe that He is still the same yesterday, today and forever?
Brother Branham said in his sermon Perfect Faith - 63-0825E 45. "And so when a man lives by faith and walks by faith, I
mean substance faith, he
is isolated from the entire world and becomes a new creature in
Christ. There, now
you're getting into Bride material. You see, see? You're getting into Rapturing
condition now. That means for each one of us, not just the
pastor, deacons, trustees; that means for the laity, every individual walks in a world
with God alone. You're baptized into this Kingdom, and there's nobody in there but you
and God. See? He gives the orders, and you pack them out.
Whatever He says, there's not a shadow of doubt nowhere; you walk right on. If
the Lord says this, there's nobody in the world can talk you out of it; you
go right on just the same. Now, you're coming into perfect faith, perfect
perfection that cannot fail. That faith never fails. Yes,
He was a mystic to them with His perfect faith; and so is
it now with those who have perfect faith are a mystic to others.
It seems today when a man of God talks about the
working of the Holy Ghost and has signs and wonders following his ministry,
people want to say he's talking about himself. And to me that is just petty
jealousy and shows those who would say that have no clue what we just read
concerning perfect faith that the prophet of God just said. He said when you
have perfect Faith it is because you have trust in God's perfect Word, and when
God speaks to you, you step into it and do what he tells you because you have
perfect faith in His Perfect Word. Then you see the Word become flesh because
you are that flesh of His Flesh and bone of His Bone and He is the Word..
When people just look back and say we had a prophet
and that is all there is to it, they are really missing out on the fulfillment
of God in their own life. If they haven't learned to die to self and let Christ
live in them until they live like Christ and talk like Christ and act like
Christ and do the same works that Christ did, then they haven't got Christ
Life, they just have a historical God and a historical Message and a historical
prophet and not a living God they claim to be following.
Again from his sermon, Perfect
Faith - 63-0825E 30. brother Branham said, "Now, the
identification of a Scripture
Christian, these Words said Jesus: "These signs shall follow them that believe." Now, how can you call yourself a believer, a people, and deny
those Words? How can you call yourself a believer and deny
any of this Word? See? You can't do it. You're not a believer; therefore signs can't follow you,
because you just accept what you want to believe and let the rest of It
that you don't believe It. But you've got to take the whole thing and believe It.
And when you truly believe (not make believe, but really
believe), then "these signs
follow them that believe." Oh, Could
you compare a Christian today with them Christians of long ago? How them
disciples walked in the power of the Spirit, moved by the Holy Ghost
to go, just a prisoner, as I preached on the other night, a prisoner to the
Word and will of God; he couldn't even move until God moved him.
Wouldn't you like to
see a church rise like that? It's going to; going back. Yes, it's got to come.
That's right. It's got... It's on its road now, I believe.
What is the
third pull all about? Speaking Life, right? The fish? It had died, and God's
Prophet spoke to it and it came alive again. And what about the squirrels. They
were there in his mind, and he spoken them and God created them and not only
that but gave them life. And what about Hattie Wright's boys. Snickering and
laughing behind the prophets back one minute and the next falling across her
lap. God gave those undeserving boys life, why? Because of a perfect Faith by a
perfect Word. Whose Faith? The prophets' faith, no it was sister Hattie Wrights
faith in a perfect Word given by God's prophet. Then what about those people in
France who could not have a child? Was it my Faith? Did I have power to give
them a child who could have no child? No, I don't have any power, He has the
power, but he said "ask what you will and I will do it." I'm just
their brother, but they had a perfect Faith in a perfect God that heard my
prayer, but it was their faith in a perfect word that conceived the child.
Never get your
eyes on the vessel, because vessels can fail, but get your eyes on the promise,
which is the perfect Word from a perfect God who came down in this hour.
And brother
Branham said concerning this perfect faith in his sermon called Perfect Faith 63-0825E P:78 "This is coming into that Third Pull!
I'm believing it. And I want to ask you a sincere question, you that passed
through the prayer line. Can you actually believe and feel now, that there is
something happened in you since you've had hands laid on you? Raise your hand.
There it is. This is what we've waited for. Now, this is not... This is
just starting to bloom now (See?), just started to bloom. I did this for
a purpose. I did this for a purpose. I'm working out something; it's taking
this charge of faith and going right back to begin and come in (See?) to
kinda raise faith in a bracket where you've never noticed it that way before.
Not a faith, but a perfect faith, built it up in here. And watch a
perfect God, with a perfect heart, keep a perfect
promise, by His perfect Word, which is sharper than a
two-edged sword and a Discerner of the thoughts of the heart. What? We're coming now to the perfection,
because the people
has to come to this in order for the rapture. That's what's holding it away
right now, is waiting for that church to come into that perfect raptured faith.
I'm looking for it. It means a lot of shaking down for me; it means a lot
for you; but together
we'll make it by the grace of God. Amen. The great Physician now
is near, The sympathizing Jesus. Lord Jesus, grant some of my...?... the
Presence, God. May Your Holy Ghost ever make this pastor well and keep him,
healthy and strong for the service that You've called him. In Jesus' Name. I'm
claiming it, Lord; I love him.
Another pastor wrote to me whom I had not heard from
for many years. He was from Africa, and he told me that there was a couple in
his church who tried for 8 years to have a child and could not, and after I
prayed for this couple, they now have 4 children. He then told me ...
"one brother was healed from Heart trouble, many
others were healed from different kinds of sickness. one sister was prayed
for when her little girl aged 3yrs old
got lost for 12 yrs without seeing her but after she was prayed in the prayer
line, her girl was found and is back home. and many other testimonies."
Who was it
that told Samuel where Saul's horses could be found, or who was it that told
brother Branham where br. Bud Southwick's brother in laws' horses could be
found. It is the same God who brought that lost child home to her parents. And
you don't believe God still answers prayer? As brother Branham said, God knows
how many fleas it takes to make a pound of tallow, and how many times those
fleas would bat there eyes. He's God.
And He
promised us John15:7 "If ye abide in me, and my words abide
in you, ye
shall ask what ye will, and it shall
be done unto you."
Remember, we
just read you where brother Branham had said, "That means for each one of us, not just the
pastor, deacons, trustees; that means for the laity, every individual walks in a world
with God alone. You're baptized into this Kingdom, and there's nobody in there but you
and God. See? He gives the orders, and you pack them out.
I'm just
waiting to hear from you brothers and sisters that you are also seeing Jesus Christ
alive in your lives as well, and that you're seeing His presence working the
works of Christ through you as he promised He would do.
Again from his
sermon Perfect Faith 63-0825E P:66 brother
Branham said, "Are we going to walk into eternity like it was in the days
of Noah, with eight souls saved? Are we going to come like Lot, with three out
of Sodom? Are we going to come, like in the days of John the Baptist with six
believers? Let us believe, for His works is perfect. They're manifested daily and perfectly before us,
showing that He is the Word: the Word. Hebrews, the 4th chapter,
says the word of God is sharper than any
two-edged sword, and even a Discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Think of that! The Word of God is That, a
Discerner of the intents of the heart. For
the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and of spirit, and of the
joints and of the marrow, and is a Discerner of the thoughts and intents of the
heart. The Word made flesh (Hallelujah.), the
Word operating in human flesh by physical signs, by material signs, by
Scriptural signs, perfectly, to bring to you a perfect faith for a perfect rapture.
So it is evident
that this perfect Gift given by a perfect God with a perfect promise by His
Perfect Word that we have seen and partaken of in this day will by the perfect
Word of God bring us to perfection and ready for the rapture. But it is not
just answered prayer that reflects our perfect Faith in His Perfect Word. It is
our very commitment to that Word that shows our perfect faith in that Perfect
Word.
Notice how
brother Branham makes this point in this next quote we see from his sermon, Perfect Faith 63-0825E P:54 Now, watch. Perfect faith is pure,
just as pure as love is. See? Now, when you love somebody, and
you got, you love your husband, or you love your wife... Now, there's no need
of anybody telling you, you don't do it, because you do do it, and you know you
do it. Now, if I'd ask you, "How can you prove you do it?""Oh, I
prove it by the way I live to him. (See?) I'm a true, honest wife. I'm a
loyal, honest husband, and that proves to me that I love my wife, or I
love my husband." See, your life proves what you are. It's the same thing Christianity
does. See? Your faith, you have confidence in one another; it's
pure. And there's something real, that you can't show it to somebody else, yet
you got it, and your actions prove it.
Again in Perfect faith 63-0825E P:49 brother Branham said,
"Notice.
Now, notice, perfect faith is a master of all circumstances.
Perfect faith masters all circumstances. No matter what it is, it masters it.
Now, just watch. When you believe anything, do anything, and you got faith
in what you're doing; no matter what the circumstance is, that don't have one
thing to do with it. See, it masters that circumstance. If it's in a room
of sickness, and the Lord's revealed that this certain thing's going to happen,
you just speak it and go on."Oh, does the..." Just don't ask any
questions. It's already over; just keep going. See? It masters
all circumstances. "Well, if you do this, So-and-so's going to do..."
See, it already got it mastered. See? Faith believes that God will work
it out. "I don't know how He's going to do it, but He will do
it anyhow." See? It masters all circumstances. And faith and love is relations,
because you can't
have faith unless you've got love, because your faith is in a
God Who is the very essence of love. Faith and love works together.
And if you
wish to study that out, we have already spoken on that in Faith no 37 in this series, "Perfect Faith by Perfect Love".
Again brother
Branham said in his sermon Perfect Faith 63-0825E
P:47 What
Satan says, "Well, now this can't..." That don't have nothing to...
"Well, if you teach that, the denomination will put..." That don't
have nothing to do with it; he goes right on just the same."He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the
churches." You know, in the Bible it's
always constantly saying that. "To him
that has faith, to he that has an ear to hear, let him hear." See? "He that
has wisdom, let him count the numbers of the beast." All these different things... "He that has, let him tell it to the rest of them, that they
might have."And that's by faith
we're talking about now, faith that you've got to have, that perfect
faith, that faith that says, "Yes." There's nothing can
say, "No," when God says, "Yes." See? When He says
"Yes," It's "Yes." Nothing else can ever take It from you.
I just can't
understand how anyone could read this Bible, God's precious Word, and listen to
the voice of God to our day and then have any doubts left in their mind. "God said it, I believe it and that settles
it for me."
And in Perfect faith 63-0825E Paragraph 44 brother Branham said, "But Jesus lived in
a world that no one knowed about; He was a odd Person. He lived in a world of perfect
faith in the perfect God, in which He was. If we lived in a
perfect faith of a Christian, to what we are, we'd be a mystic to the world;
the people wouldn't understand you. You'd walk in the Spirit. What
the Spirit said, you would do. What It forbid, you'd not do.
Then the people begin to say, And you'd be a mystic person to them. That's the
way it is to all believers; they're a mystics. The people don't understand,
because they live in a world to themselves. Jesus lived in a world that nobody
else could touch. The disciples couldn't understand Him. When He spoke to them,
they say this. And then they said, "Why,
You talk in riddles. We don't understand this. How can this be?" See, they wasn't in the world that He lived in. See,
they couldn't understand Him; nobody could understand Him.
Perfect faith 63-0825E P:38 Jesus had
perfect faith. He had it, and it come because He was the Word. And you
become the Word; you become the Word, as you receive the Word.
"If ye
abide in Me, and My Word's in you. My Words (which this Word) abides in you, then ask what you will, and
it'll be done for you." See? "And if ye say to this mountain, 'Be
moved,' and don't doubt, but believe in what you've said, then you shall have what
you said." "When you pray, believe that you receive what you ask for, and you
shall have it; it'll be given to you." Time, space, nothing else
will ever change it. You know it's done. It's already, it's already
over with.
Solomon wrote
in Ecclesiastes 3:15 That which hath been(past tense) is now;(present
tense) and that which is to be (future
tense)hath already been;(past
tense) and God
requires that which is past. Why?
Because that which is past is what was in the mind of God before the
foundations of the world, and he requires it to come to pass as he thought it
before the foundation of the world. Listen brothers and sisters, just tap into
the mind of God which is the Word and Will of God and you will also know what
is to be for it has already been shown you in His Word.
That is why
brother Branham said in Perfect faith 63-0825E P:35
Now, this
same Bible is the same God's Word. And when you can receive the
substance (That's
perfect faith.), substance that this promise that God made is yours..."How
do you feel, Brother Branham, when you stand there and you see people coming in
different languages and things? Are you afraid?" No, sir. No, sir. He said
so. I never been afraid yet, 'cause He told me so, and I believe that
it's Truth. If He told me tonight to go to the presidential graveyard
and raise up George Washington tomorrow morning, I'd invite the whole world,
"Come and see it done." I'd say, "Bring every... Get every
critic you can and stand them around; you're going to see the glory of God. Set
a chair over here where you can set down and rest a little while; he will be
here just in a moment, soon as I call."
Perfect faith 63-0825E P:33 If you had
cancer, and the doctor told you yesterday that you'd be dead before Monday
morning, all of your heart, your respiration's gone, the cancer's eat you up,
your bloodstream's become completely cancer, whatever it is, and Something
come with this substance of this genuine faith, perfect faith was made a
substance in you, you'd laugh in that doctor's face. You'd be like old
Elijah when he walked up and down before the idol and said, "Why don't you call a little louder? Maybe
he's pursuing." He knowed what he was going to do,
because God had told him what was going to happen. He said, "Let the god that answers by fire, be God."They
say, "We'll take that proposition." And they poured water upon the
altars. And they cut themselves, and they done everything, and called, "O
Baal, O Baal, answer."
Just start
reading your Bibles brothers and sisters and your faith will change because you
are hearing from the mind of God.
Perfect faith 63-0825E P:32 Now, see, He
knew Who He was; therefore He had faith. Faith could produce when He
knowed what He was. Now, "if ye abide in Me, and My Word in you," then
you know who you are. Amen. Ask what you will; It'll be given to you. Wouldn't that
be wonderful tonight if everybody come in that prayer line, say, "I am a
Christian. I have no condemnation. I know that my heart condemn me not.
Something tells me that tonight's the end of my suffering." That's...
You're going to...?... You're going away from here with something. No matter
how much you come in emotion, how much you do, it won't work until that
perfect faith has manifested and identified itself in you as a substance. When
It's there, then nothing's going to shake you from it.
Again we read
from Perfect faith 63-0825E P:28 "Now, the only thing
you have to do then, is have faith in what you are. Have faith in what the Word says
you are. And Jesus had faith in the Word of God that said what
He was, "It is written of Me." Didn't David in the Psalms, and the prophets, and
all of them speak of Him? "I am the
Bread of Life that come from God out of heaven." Amen. "I am
that Tree of Life from the garden of Eden. I am all these things; I AM THAT I
AM." And He knew with that, a
perfect faith, that He was the anointed Messiah, that the Spirit of God was
upon Him. He said, "Now, I,
Myself, do nothing; but it's My faith in God."
And God was in Him, the Word made manifest. And when the Word of God comes in you, It's made
manifest, for you are a believer. See? And a believer is the faith of
God that moves in you. You like that? I like when you... I like teaching of
what faith really is.
Again brother
Branham said in Perfect faith 63-0825E P:22 Now, now, we see at
first the disciples didn't have this perfect faith. They didn't have
it, because they'd had Christ, walking with Him; but then afterwards,
Christ was in them. And so (You see?), it's hard then to have
this perfect faith without the Holy Spirit; It has to bring it; It
does. Now, you say, "The disciples didn't have perfect faith?" No;
for they had an epileptic child there that they were trying to cast this devil
out of him, and they couldn't do it. And the father seen Jesus coming, and he
said, "We have brought my son to Your
disciples, and they could not cure him."
See? And afterwards, the disciples asked Jesus, saying, "Why could not we cure him?"And
Jesus said, "Because, of the lack of
faith, of your unbelief." That's
right. "Because of your unbelief that..."
Perfect faith 63-0825E P:20 Now, faith is the substance, and by it, we
understand all of those things are done. It's not a imagination; it is a
substance, especially perfect faith. That's what I'm talking on
tonight, getting to perfect faith. It is not an imagination. Now, others
have... People come, say, "Oh, I got all faith; oh, I sure have."
Well, what are you standing here for then? See? See? See, your very actions
prove that you haven't got what you're talking about for. See? If you
had faith, then what you stand in the prayer line for? See? What do you do
these things for? See, if you had perfect faith, you'd look right
straight to God, and believe it, and walk away. You would have no need
of coming into a prayer line. You'd have no need of these things, because
your faith has done made it so. See? What would be the use for me
saying, "I got to put a shirt on"? I got a shirt on."How do you
know you got a shirt on?""Well, I see it, feel it, and I know it's
there." Well, that's just how real that when perfect faith takes a hold.
There's no... You don't need no more. It's already done; you know
it." How do you know it?""Faith tells me so." That's
it. See? Do you get it now, what I mean? That's perfect faith.
And again in Perfect faith 63-0825E P:17 brother Branham said,
"Now, if
you see somebody else do something by a word, act of God, or promise of
God... And many of them say, "I can do that too." It's an
imagination. And when they do, you find them wrecked up out there somewhere. It's
got to be a substance. Now, that is potentially a faith. That is something
that would bring you to a faith. It's potentially, like if you'd asked me for
an oak tree, and I give you an acorn. Potentially you have an oak tree, but it
hasn't produced itself yet; but when it really brings itself out, it is an oak
tree. And when you imagine that God does this... But when it's revealed to
you, it's a faith then, a perfect faith that cannot fail. That's the reason
those visions are so tremendous to me, because it's been proved right every
time. See? And I know that He promised that. And He promised it in
His Word, and here He comes and promised it for this day. Therefore,
you know where you're standing when He says so. See? That gives me a faith,
because He never does nothing contrary to His written Word. See? And if
it was contrary to the Word, I couldn't have faith in it. Brings it right back again to
the Word (See?), faith in
hearing the Word of God. You must hear
the Word. God's Word is that all-sufficient Word. It's all you have
need of, is this Word.
And that is
what the apostle Paul said in Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
And again in Galatians 3: 2 This only would I learn of you, Received
ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are ye so foolish? having begun in the
Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? 4 Have
ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet
in vain. 5 He therefore that ministereth to you the
Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or
by the hearing of faith?
Then it is not
what you can do, but just what you have surrendered yourself to. In fact Br.
Branham said in his message Anointed ones at end
time 65-0725M P:193 Now, I want you to know this is sure. And you that listen to
this tape, you might have thought today that I was trying to say that about
myself, being that I was packing this Message. I have no more to do
with it than nothing, no more than just a voice. And my voice,
even against my better judgment... I wanted to be a trapper. But it's
the will of my Father that I declare to do, and determined to do. I
wasn't the One that appeared down on the river; I was only standing there
when He appeared. I'm not the One that performs these things and
foretells these things that happens as perfect as they are; I'm only one
that's near when He does it. I was only a voice that He used to say it.
It wasn't what I knew; it's what I just surrendered myself to,
that He spoke through. It isn't me. It wasn't the seventh angel,
oh, no; it was a manifestation of the Son of man. It wasn't the angel, his
Message; it was the mystery that God unfolded. It's not a man;
it's God. The angel was not the Son of man; he was a messenger from the
Son of man. The Son of man is Christ. He's the One that you're
feeding on. You're not feeding on a man. A man, his words will
fail, but you're feeding on the unfailing Body-Word of the Son of man.
And if you have surrendered yourself to
this Message that God brought down when He came down with a Shout, then you are
no different. It's not what you know, it's what you have surrendered yourself
to. You are not the one who descended with a Shout, you like brother Branham
are only standing there as He appears.
Understanding
Faith, and Perfect Faith is really so simple as we hear brother Branham tell us
in his sermon Perfect faith 63-0825E P:13 Now, we want to
speak now upon faith, and a different type of faith: "Perfect Faith."
That's a great thing. Now, faith, we're told in the Bible, "Faith cometh by hearing."
Now, you cannot be saved without faith. And faith is something
that you have to believe it's there, that really nothing else will declare it's
there but faith. Now, I'm trying to bring faith to you, so that you can be
ready for this prayer line in the next few minutes. Now, faith... "He that cometh to God must believe that He is." And it's
impossible to please God without faith; you
cannot please Him. And if you say you believe God... You have never seen
Him (See?), so then you've got to believe it by faith. And if you could
see Him, it would be no more faith. See? Anything that the senses declares is
no more faith; it's a scientific fact (See?); it's not no more faith. But you
have to accept Him by faith.
Wisdom verses faith 62-0401
P:83 A Levite was... Nothing but a Levite was supposed to touch that Ark, and
here the Ark was coming right back for a revival, and one outside of that tried
to handle the Word. That goes to show that only the anointed of God is to touch
that Word. These creeds and denominations got no business tampering with It. Just
the Holy Spirit is got a right to that Word; and it's death for any
other to touch It.
And that is
why it takes having the Holy Spirit for you to understand the Word, and to
believe it and receive it. That's why the Apostle Paul told us in 1 Corinthians
2 that unless you have the Holy Spirit you will never understand the things of
God. It will be foolishness to you. And that is why we have so many false
doctrines floating around us among those who claim to believe this Message,
because they don't have the Holy Spirit, for if they did have the Holy Spirit
they would understand the things of God and they wouldn't chase off after false
teachings.
As brother
Branham continues, he says, "For to disbelieve any of It or teach It, the same will
be taken, his part, out of the Book of Life. See? Don't put your hands on It;
stay away from It. Listen; believe just what It said. Don't
take nobody else's word; take what It says. Stay right with the Word.
It's death to do anything else to It. Now, 'cause that... What does faith do? It
believes It just the way It is. That's the way God has preserved It
down through the age, and here It is. It's the Word of God for me, God
honors that. It gives a perfect faith in Its trueness.
In other
words, when you revert to your own understanding concerning what the Word of
God says, then you have bypassed the Holy Spirit and you are now without the
Holy Spirit trying to understand the things of God. And Paul said, "The natural man cannot understand the things of
GOd, it is impossible for him to know them."
From his
sermon, Jesus Christ same 61-0516A P:30 brother
Branham said, "When the disciples was given power to heal the sick, ten
days later we find them defeated on a epileptic case. And I'd imagine Peter
saying, "Wait, I'll show you how I done it down at Capernaum."And the
other one saying, "I'll show you how I did it."And none of them could
make this demon leave the child. But when Jesus came, and the father went to
see Jesus, and he said, "I've brought him to Your disciples and they could
do nothing for him, and I've brought him to You." He said, "I can, if you believe; for all things are possible to them
that believe." And the child went into
the hardest fit it ever had, 'cause that devil knew that he'd met faith on a
different level than what the apostles had. He'd met a perfect faith.
That's what we must have: perfect faith to make the perfect
Word of God perform perfectly. That's it. We must believe it without a
shadow of doubt.
Jehovah Jireh 2 60-0802 P:93 Now, lay your
hands over on one another. Come ye saints, of faith proclaim, Jesus, the Light
of the world. You're commissioned, friends, as a believer, to lay hands
on the sick. God's commission to see that God's promise, is to see that
they recover. "These
signs shall follow them that believe: If they lay their hands on the sick, they
shall recover."
Abraham's seed 59-0423 P:10 See, God made
him an eagle, and He give him two wings to get away from danger. And he
had perfect faith in those two God given wings. And I thought, "What
if the Church had that much faith in the two wings that God gave them, the New
and Old Testament, how he could fly away from trouble, fly away from
sickness, fly away from sorrow, get away with it.
Hear ye Him 56-0930 P:17 Look at Peter;
down there he said... They said, "Who does men say I, the Son of man, am?" "And some said
You're John the Baptist. Others said Thou art Elias. And some said You're the
prophet Jeremiah. And others, they say You're the prophet was to come."But Jesus
answered, said, "Who do
you say that I am?" See, salvation is not based upon what
someone else thinks. It's what you think of Him. Divine
healing isn't based on what the critic says, or what the church says; it's
based on your perfect faith in the inspired Word of God, and how
you're inspired to believe that. That's what brings the results
(see?), is your inspiration by the Word. What does It do for
you?"Who does men say I, the Son of man, am?"And he
said, "Some Jeremias, and some the prophets." Said,
"But
Who do you say that I am?"
And that about
says it all. It's not what someone else has told you about this message, its
what you believe God has said about it. You won't receive rapturing Faith based
on what br. Vayle or what brother Branham said about the message, you will
receive rapturing Faith based on what you say about it. either it is God's Word
or is it not. Either God himself came down with a Shout, which is the Message
or he didn't.
Abraham 55-0624 P:15 When He went
out to the pool of Bethesda, there laid thousands of people, lame, twisted, and
halt, and blind. He walked among them, till He found a man laying on a pallet.
He made him well and left the rest of them. That's Saint John
5.
And in the 19th verse, He is
being questioned. He said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing in Himself.
But what He sees the Father doing, that doeth the Son likewise." Christ
had perfect faith in God. For Jesus is just the body, and God was in
Him. The Bible says that God
was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself.
Expectancy 53-1108E P:9 Faith knows no
defeat. Faith is perfect. Faith brings things when there is no
things to be brought. Faith creates. Faith takes doubt away, takes
negative and makes positive. How beautiful. ... Faith is not
mythical, something mentally worked up, it's an absolutely, fundamental result that
happens in a persons heart. When faith is appropriated, then it is something in
the person's heart. But it can't be based on, say, "Well, go touch a tree
and you'll get well," or--or, "Pray to the--the post." It's got
to have a foundation.
And that foundation
is the Word of God for heavens and earth will pass away but not one Word will
fail. and perfect Faith can only come by a Perfect Word,
For the
apostle Paul said, 1 Corinthians 13:10 But when
that which is perfect
is come, then that which is in part
shall be done away.
And God's Prophet told us what that
Perfect thing is that Paul said was to come in his Questions
and answers COD 64-0823E P:27 I Corinthians 13 says this: "When that which is perfect
is come, that which is in part shall be done away with." So all these little things
of jumping up-and-down like a kid, trying to talk in tongues, and all these
other things, when that which is perfect... And we do have today, by
God's help, the perfect interpretation of the Word with Divine vindication.
Then that which is in part is done away with.
"When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a
child; but when I become a man, I put away childish things."
And then in
paragraph 82 of the same Questions and answers COD 64-0823E P:82 302. someone
asked brother Branham the question, "Please explain I
Corinthians 13:8-12. Now that the perfect
Word is restored to the church are these verses fulfilled?" and
then brother Branham answers "Now, I think I
just went through that, didn't I? "And
when that which is perfect has come, that which is in part shall be done away
with." Paul said, "Though I speak with tongue of men and angels, and I do all
these things here... But when that which is perfect is come..." Now, is there anything perfect but God? No,
sir. Is God the perfect? In the beginning was
the [Congregation replies, "Word."--Ed.] and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word's still God. See? All right. When that which is perfect is come, that which is in part is
done away with.
Therefore as
we began by showing you that brother Branham taught us that we will receive a
perfect faith by a perfect Word, And we have that Perfect Word
brethren, For a God Who is Perfect came down in perfection and has Given
us Perfect Shout which is a Perfect Word
and that is all we need to bring us to the Voice of the Resurrection. Therefore
we must enter into this perfect Word and receive our perfect Faith.
Let us bow our
heads in prayer...