Faith no 54
Faith in God's Five Fold Ministry part 2
The real Gift is getting yourself out of the way
December 20, 2017
Brian Kocourek, Pastor
This evening we will continue in our study of the Faith for
Receiving a Five Fold Ministry, and as you may recall on Sunday we showed the
comparison between a True Five Fold minister and a true Translator.
Because some would say it is ok for people to translate the
message into other languages, but they oppose a true Five-fold minister
breaking down the message, I showed you how that thought is totally
hypocritical in nature because to truly translate the message you must first
have an understanding of the Message and a full understanding of the English
Language plus the native tongue into which you are translating.
Bothe the Five-fold minister and the translator will have to
take the words of the prophet and place them into their own words in order to
bring the thought from the prophet to the people they are addressing through
their ministry.
As I said, some feel it is ok to translate but they totally
oppose true Five Fold ministers doing what they are called to do which is to
break down the message and feed it to the people.
Both the five-fold minister and the translator must take
words which William Branham spoke, and then present those words into thoughts and
then bring them from the thought back into other words that the people will
understand.
For every word spoken begins with a thought, and if you are
not capable of thinking like the person who spoke, then you are not capable of
translating what he said into other words and coming out with the same thought.
For the process of communication begins with a thought, then
when that thought is formulated into Words, it is then spoken by the lips and
then from there it is heard by the ear, and those words then are translated
into thoughts to complete the cycle of communication.
The number one problem then is having the same mind. And it
is impossible to understand the mind of God unless you have the spirit of God.
That is 1
Corinthians 2 as we went into last Sunday. The Apostle Paul taught
us that "no
man can understand the things of Go unless the Spirit of God be in him."
And since the prophet does not come with his own words, and thus his own
thoughts, and can only say what God tells him to say, then unless the people
have the same Spirit of God living in them as is in the prophet they in no way
can understand the things that the prophet is telling us that God told him.
So this evening we want to go back to Ephesians 4 again and resume in our
study we began on Sunday morning concerning the Faith to receive the true
Five-Fold ministry.
But before we go to Ephesians 4 let me read again what
brother Branham said concerning how the light of the hour travels from the
Prophet Messenger to the people.
From Brother
Branham's book entitled The Seven Church Ages Chapter 4 - The Smyrnaean Church Age P:140 Brother
Branham said, "In
every age we have exactly the same pattern. That is why the light comes
through some God-given messenger in a certain area, and then
from that messenger there spreads the light through the ministry
of others who have been faithfully taught.
And from this
same study in the Seven church ages 54-0512 P:79 brother
Branham said, "Watch, it's the Church speaking to Him now.
"Waters..." Revelations 17:15, said, "Waters means thickness and multitudes of people." Now, "His
voice," or this Being that was
standing there looking like this, Christ in His Church, as the Bride and
Christ being one, like husband and wife is one; the Church and Christ being
molded together with one Person, the same Holy Spirit. And the things that Christ did, the Church does also. Do you see it? That beautiful Church there in holiness, in
power, in majesty, with seeing visions, signs, wonders, everything just like He
did, here it is on earth; giving all praise to God, saying, "I can do nothing except the Father shows Me; but He showed
Me, and here it is." And they come see
these things go to taking place. Now, Christ molded into one.... and the
voice... of many waters...Many people, not just the
one; it was the whole Church, the Seven Churches molded together
as one great ransomed Body of the Lord. The Methodists, the Baptists,
the Presbyterian, all that's born again with the Holy Ghost, speaking with the
power of God, that's the Body. That's the Body."
Therefore God ordained a ministry for the Church that will
bring the Church to a full spiritual maturity through the instrument of what he
called a Five-Fold ministry that He has gifted to the church. Now, the word
five-fold ministry appears nowhere in the bible, yet the Apostle Paul speaks
concerning these five gifts to the church which are offices in Ephesians
chapter 4.
Therefore, for the next few minutes I would like to read
from Ephesians chapter 4 and
go into a detail study of the exact wording the Apostle Paul speaks concerning
this five Fold gift of Apostles,
and Prophets, and Teachers,
and Evangelists and Pastors.
and actually what a pastor is, he is actually a teacher pastor, because he is one
who must be able to teach the Word that Paul brought in order to produce in the
people who their hearing God's Word, an experiential relationship with the
Father by understanding of the role of the first born son of God and then recognizing
your own role in the family of brethren.
Ephesians
4:11 And he gave some, (an unspecified number) to be apostles; and some, to be prophets; and
some, to be evangelists; and some, to be pastors and teachers;
Now,
this is important to understand what each of these gifts is by definition for brother
Branham spoke to us concerning these five gifts to the church that God
predestined to be there for a specific purpose as he said in his sermon Speak to
this Mountain 57-1215 E-31 brother Branham said, "The Bible said there's five offices in
the Church that is ordained of God and
put in the Church--office holders. First is apostles, prophet, teachers, evangelists, pastors. They're
God's foreordination. By predestination, by foreknowledge He saw it, placed it in the Church
for every age. In the local
Church there's nine spiritual gifts that operate in the entire body: speaking
with tongues, interpretation of tongues, and all the different works of the
Lord; the gift of prophecy. Now,
there's a difference between a prophet and a gift of prophecy. Gift of
prophecy can be on one, then the other; then it has to be judged before three
judges before the Church can receive it. But not the prophet of the Old
Testament, he was born a prophet. He
always was a prophet. He had
the Word of God. And after he's dead, he's still a prophet. Did that
bother you?
As God said in
his Word to the prophet as seen in Jeremiah 1:5 Before I formed thee
in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I
sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
Again
brother Branham tells us in his sermon, E-61 As the Eagle Stirreth Her Nest 59-0815 "Now,
God is a good... He sends His
Word. Now, we know
God sent His Word in this hour through a vindicated prophet, for God himself
came down with a shout which is a message, and according to Amos 3:7 "The Lord God
will do nothing until he first reveals it to his servants the prophets."
Now,
let's continue with what brother Branham was telling us here. Notice he continues
saying, "If you won't believe
His Word, then (When? After He has sent His Word He does
something to ensure you will understand it. Like a follow-up action to ensure
you understand what His Word is telling you that He sent down through His
prophet Messenger who came on the scene with His Word.)
Notice
again "If you won't believe
His Word, then He puts in the Church (Notice these gifts or offices are
placed in the church by God Himself, He foreordained them and he predestinated them to come at the
right time,)
Now,
foreordain and predestinate are two different words and they mean two different
things. First God foreordains them. That means first of all God chooses, then
after he has chosen he predestines. Now, God chose us when we were still in his
thoughts before the foundations of the Word. Then back there God predestined us
to come forth and reflect what he wanted reflected through each ministry of the
five-fold ministry.
Let's
continue with what he said here. Notice he says, "five different offices: First, apostle,
prophets, teachers, pastors,
evangelists. They are for
the perfecting of the Church. And in each local body, He
put nine spiritual gifts in the local body. That's gifts
that goes from one to the other.
But these (the five
ordained offices he says) are ordained and predestinated of God.
Gifts and callings are without repentance. You know that? Sure they are. Now, then God sets them in the Church.
Ok,
so these five offices that God has foreordained he has also predestined them to
bring about a perfecting or maturing of the church. Now, we will go into that
in more detail in another sermon but it simply means that the five-fold
ministry will equip the church in such a way as to bring them forth to a full
maturity. So that's the outcome God expects from his Five-fold gift to the
church. And that is what the true five-fold ministry are to be working towards
with the body of Christ.
Notice
that brother Branham differentiates between the nine spiritual gifts in each assembly
and the five-fold ministry itself. Notice he says, "Now, then God sets them in the Church."
And we know as the Apostle Paul tells us in verse 12 what
these Five-Fold gifts to the church are for.
Ephesians
4:12 For the
perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, And
if they are sent by God for the perfecting or maturing of the church, and for
the work of the ministry, then you can not expect a maturing of the church
without them, for they are the means by which the church is to come to
maturity.
Let's
just read another quote from brother Branham and this one from his sermon, E-12 Jesus
Christ the Same 61-0205.2E "Then besides that, He's got five ministerial offices. First
is apostles or missionaries. The word apostle means
"one sent." A missionary means "one sent." Secondarily,
prophets, evangelists,
pastors, and so forth. Those are God-given gifts that's
set into
the Church. They're
predestinated of God, and set to the
Church. You can't make yourself a minister. God's got to call you to be a minister."
Notice
he says, "Those are God-given gifts that's
set into
the Church. They're
predestinated of God, and set to the
Church. You can't make yourself a minister. God's got to call you to be a minister."
That
is the main problem we have within the Message today, is that God is supposed
to place within the church these five ordained office in order to bring the
bride to maturity. But the people have missed this fact, and have thought that
they can elect people to these office and it will be satisfactory with God, and
it is not.
The
Bible says that God elected and predestined these gifts to the church and yet
men think they can get in by a vote, and when that happens politics has entered
into the church right there.
There
are men out there who have a leadership Spirit and not the Holy Spirit and have
assumed leadership roles over flocks by the will of man and not by the will of
God.
And
the people think because they can vote a man into an office, that God is
responsible for equipping that man for the office, and it doesn't work that
way. And that is why so many ministers have ended up in the trash heap. Because
they followed the leading of men and not the leading of God.
We
just read where brother Branham said, "You can't make yourself a
minister. God's got to call you to be a minister."
God
alone has something to do with you either being called or not being called, and
no matter how much you might be able to speak in front of a crowd or how much
you can organize a group of men into doing some form of agenda, that has not
one thing to do with God. And that doesn't hold water with God. The Apostles themselves
even voted in Matthias to take the place of Judas, but God chose Paul.
Seems
to me that voting for an office is a political thing anyway. God set in the
church doesn't have one thing to do with the people voting at all. The Bible said that God set in the church
apostles, prophets, evangelists pastors and teachers. (period).
Let's just read it for ourselves. 1 Corinthians
12:28 And God hath set some in the church,
first apostles, secondarily
prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps,
governments, diversities of tongues.
Notice
it said, "God hath set in the church", and that means "God does it", so it can not
be the vote of men. And notice he says, First Apostle, but we have people who think it
is first teachers,
and that's totally incorrect.
I
remember years ago a certain fella told me, "The Word of the Lord comes
to brother Vayle because He's a teacher, and then it goes out to the
ministers." And I told the brother, "that's not what the Bible says,
the Bibles says 'the Word of the Lord comes to the prophet' and then from there it goes out by those who
have been faithfully taught."
But
most of those who fill these roles today are not placed in those roles by God
from birth, but are placed in those roles by being voted in by the people and that
is very evident because they do not preach a balanced message like a true God
called man would do. They take here and they add here, and then the people
instead of coming to maturity, they people become either bound and structured or
they become so loose that they bring forth a bad testimony.
Now,
this next quote is for those "tapes only" people, because
they believe they can come to this maturity on their own. But God' prophet said
in his sermon, E-52
Thirsting for Life 60-0304 People say,
"I can stay at home, be just as good a Christian as I
can at church." You can't. The Bible
said, "Not forsake our assemble ourselves together, and that much more as we see the
time coming." If you're a Christian, you long to go where other
Christians are, and fellowship with other Christians. So you cannot stay
away from church and live the same life. You can't do it, because it's like, "I'm hungry, but I
will never go to a table. I just... I will never eat. I just, I ain't going
to do." See? You've got to go and feed on the
Word of God, and fellowship one with
another. We
need one another more now than we ever did need each other
is now. When you get
yourself singled out from the rest of
them making yourself just a
little different, you don't want to
associate with them because they believe this, and don't
want to associate with that, you're getting on dangerous ground,
right then, keeping away from
church. Find the one of your choice, and remain
there, and be a Christian brother to all of
them. That's the
way to be a real Christian. Then we've got fellowship, protection; people love you and pray for you.
And
we have all seen people pull away from church and begin to pick here and then
pick there, and pretty soon they hop from one church to another and find fault
in everyone, everywhere. That is a very destructive thing to do and the prophet
said don't do that. Learn to have a little grace in your heart for others to be
different from what you are. And if the preacher says something you might not
like, first of all before even allowing any criticism to arise in your heart,
go to the Scriptures and see where he is coming from.
Then
once you are sure the scripture teaches it different, then go to the pastor and
talk about it. Many times people have thought the scripture says one thing and
when they have come to the pastor they learn the scripture or the prophet never
even said it the way you think you had heard it. And I've always said, "If
you do not understand this Message from the Bible then you do not understand
this Message."
Again
from his sermon Identification 64-0216 pp.3 brother Branham said, "If you don't have a church, you
must see you'll die spiritually. You'll
just dwindle away. If you don't have a
church, why
don't you go and talk to them? They'd be glad to help you. They're
brothers in Christ. And they'd be
glad to help you. Isn't that
right, brethren? Yes, very happy to help you, and help you
along, do anything that they can for you. Good,
faithful men, someone who'll
watch over your soul and care for you. Do that.
But
will they do that? No. and Why won't they do that? Because they don't want someone to watch over
their soul.
Again
brother Branham said from his sermon, E-12 Be Not Afraid
61-0414 "And another thing I want to say, before
I ask, or say again. Now, first, faith cometh by what? Hearing, and hearing the Word
of God. Now, That
ought to be sufficient. It would be
for me, it would be for you. If they don't believe your
word, let them
alone. But that isn't so with our Lord
Jesus. No, it isn't so. He sends
gifts in the church. There's
no one can deny
that gifts isn't in the Church of the living God. I Corinthians
12 says there is nine spiritual gifts in every body, and there's also five spiritual offices in the church; First, there's
apostles or missionaries. Both of them means... The
word means "one sent." Apostles, prophets, teachers, pastors, evangelists, they
are all God's
ordained gifts to the church. Pastors, evangelists, prophets,
and missionaries or apostles, into the
church. Those are sent there,
and then nine spiritual gifts put in every
local body.
And
what are these five spiritual offices placed in the church for? Ephesians 4:12 For the
perfecting of the saints, for
the work of the ministry, Then if they are sent by God for the
perfecting or maturing of the saints, then you tell me how the saints can be
perfected which means to be matured
without God's provided way of doing it. And God also sends these five
offices to do the work of the ministry, and if
that is so, and it is, then they will have to do just what Jesus did, for he
was our example seed.
From his sermon 54 Question
and Answers 64-0823.2E brother
Branham also said, "There is five offices elected of God.
"For
God has set in the
Church apostles,
prophets, teachers, pastors, evangelists." God did that. Man has deacons and
so forth, and everything else, but you
see, but God set in the Church for the perfecting
of the Church--can't
divide it.
As brother
Branham said in his sermon E-153 Take On The Whole Armor Of God 62-0701 John 14:12, Jesus said, "He that believeth in me, the
works that I do shall he do also." What is it? It's God in
the church in
these five predestinated offices, backing up every Word that
He said with the Holy Spirit, Himself in there, which is the Word made
manifest. Proving His resurrection,
proving that He lives.
So not only is John 14:12
something that was not just given for one man to do, but here we see the
prophet tell us that it should be evident in the five offices that God placed
in His Church. John 14:12, Jesus said, "He that believeth
in me, the works
that I do shall he do also." What is it? It's God in
the church in
these five predestinated offices, backing up every Word that He
said with the Holy Spirit, Himself in there, which is the Word made
manifest. Proving His resurrection,
proving that He lives.
And then Paul
goes on to give additional reasons for the five offices God sets in the church
by saying, "for
the edifying of the body of Christ: And that is exactly what the prophet William Branham
taught, and to edify means to build up.
Again
from his sermon E-3
God's Provided Way Of Healing 54-0719.1A "Gifts and
callings are without repentance. Those things
are first given of God. Them offices is set
in the church by God. And
in my opinion, there's where so many of this
day, has
made a mistake.
When we say, "Now, I will go over and seek for God to
make me this, that." You cannot do that. See? You are
what you are by grace, nothing that you can do within yourself. God gives.
God
has set in the church apostles, teachers,
and prophets. Is that
right? God has set in the church for the perfecting... So not
the bishop has them, or the elder has, or someone else, but God has. And
they are, ... Those offices has put in the
church.
Now,
listen friends, and those who are listening to this sermon via the internet.
Brother Branham is very clear who placed the five-fold ministry into the church for the perfecting or
maturing of the church. From his sermon E-84 Hear Ye Him 58-0301.2E
Now, friends, there's five offices in the church: prophets or evangelists,
pastors, teachers, and apostles or
missionaries, either one you want
to call it, both the same word. God set this in the church for
the perfecting of the church.
Now,
I have heard some people say "They say the five-fold ministry is for the
perfecting of the church." as if it is the ministers themselves who
are saying it, but the "they" that they should be
referring to is actually the Apostle Paul and God's prophet William Branham who
said it, and they both said "To add to what we say you will go into
tribulation period and to take away from what we say your name will be stricken
from the book of life."
So
those who wish to teach their false doctrine that you must listen to the tapes
only had better be careful because they cannot back that up by the tapes nor by
the scripture. It is pure and simple false doctrine to teach such.
William
Branham said, "say what the tapes say".
And the Apostle Paul said, "if anyone preaches
any other Gospel than what I have preached let him be cursed."
And
if people say they don't need a five-fold ministry to reach the perfection Paul
is speaking of then they are denying God's provided way, and are not saying
what he said nor what brother Branham said, because I have read you half a
dozen quotes so far that says "the five-fold
ministry is placed in the church By God himself for the perfecting the church."
Now,
listen, not only a vindicated prophet of God and the vindicated Apostle Paul both
said "the five-fold ministry is for the perfecting of the saints", so
I ask you then how do you plan to be perfected without the means by which God
has set in the church for the saints to be perfected?
Now
if we are to say what is on the tapes and only what is on the tapes, then there
is no place where you can deny what this vindicated prophet of God has said.
And the Apostle Paul said "if you do not teach the
same doctrine that I am teaching you will be cursed".
So
my brothers and sisters let's get beyond the little camps and things which use
the message to isolate their group from other groups and let me say that the "tapes
only" doctrine is just as much an organized camp as any other false doctrine
camp is. False doctrine is false doctrine. And when any camp does away with or
at tries to minimize the true role of
the five-fold ministry, they are preaching false doctrine. And that doctrine is
contrary to God and His Word which we have both in writing through the apostle
Paul and through the Spoken word of the end time prophet William Branham.
From
his sermon, E-10
Faithful Abraham 59-0415.2E brother Branham said, "By His stripes
you were healed." Now, first
the Word says so. That should
be sufficient. But, if you
don't believe it in the Word, then
there's gifts in the church such as man who are inspired
to know how
to teach that. That'll
make it
so plain to
you.
That's... And faith to
believe. Prayer for the
sick. Just like
for the sinner. And then there's
other gifts in the church like prophesy and different gifts Now, there's five offices of the church:
Missionaries or apostles (both the same),
prophets, teachers, pastors and evangelists.
God puts those in the church and they're all to
edify the church.
Now,
notice again brother Branham is very clear that God not only gives us His Word
but then because people may have a hard time to understand His Word, he gives
us five gifts to break that word down and to simplify His instruction in that Word
to make it so plain in order to build up your faith.
And from his sermon What is the works of God
59-0404 P:14 brother Branham said, "Now there is the thing, knowing how to yield yourself.
And some people is set in the Church; some can yield themselves to preaching. Some
can yield themselves easily
to teaching. Some can yield themselves to prophesying. Some can yield themselves
to other gifts. So all
the gifts won't be alike. They wasn't alike then; Paul said they
wasn't. But each man
is called and placed into the Church for a purpose. And if you'll find out what God can
use him best at, and yield hisself to that place, he will be a success.
My finger could never take the place of my ear, no matter how much it tried.
Neither could my mouth take the place of my eye. But each member knows what it
can do, and all of them coordinating together makes the body move. If this
church can only see that. If you can only see that it takes coordination. It
takes cooperation with all the body of Christ.
And when you can see that, you are becoming mature
in the ways of God. But the immature person says,
"my prophet or my teacher
never used those words to say it, so what you are saying is false" But when we understand like we taught you
last Sunday, it matter not if you use the same words as long as you are getting
across the same thoughts.
From his sermon Proving His Word 64-0816 133
brother Branham said, "What is a gift,
Brother Branham, " It's something you know how to get yourself out of the
way. See? As long as you're there, it'll never work. William Branham is the
greatest enemy I got. See? But when I get him out of the way (See?), then Jesus
Christ can use the body. See?
And from Looking unto
Jesus 64-0122 P:65 brother Branham said, "Many people have the wrong impression about a
gift. A gift is not something that God gives you to go out and say,
"Here, I'll go over here and pick out this, and I'll take that and I'll
do this." That's not gifts. So many people think that, but
they're wrongly impressed. A gift of God is just to know how to get yourself out of the way so God
can use you; that's all a gift is. See? As long as you're in
yourself...Didn't Jesus say, Himself "The
Son can do..." Saint John 5:19, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing in
himself." He passed by that pool where
all them cripples was, and healed one man with prostate trouble, or something
(disease) retarded. He said, "The Son can
do nothing in Himself; but what He sees the Father doing, that doeth the Son
likewise. It's not me," He said, "that doeth the works; it's My Father that dwelleth in Me; He
doeth the works."
Therefore, when you see a true gift of God in
operation it is because the vessel God has given the gift to has died to self,
and has just yielded itself to the Holy Ghost for God to express Himself
through. But as long as you are personally stuck on this vessel or that vessel,
it shows you have not yet come to maturity, but are like little children.
That is what the Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you
as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as
unto babes in Christ. 2 I have fed you with milk, and not with
meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither
yet now are ye able. 3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions,
are ye not carnal, and walk as men? 4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and
another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal? 5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as
the Lord gave to every man? 6 I have
planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 7 So
then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God
that giveth the increase.8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth
are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own
labour. 9 For we are labourers together with God: ye
are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. 10 According
to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have
laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed
how he buildeth thereupon. 11 For
other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if any man build upon this foundation
gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13 Every
man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it
shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort
it is. 14 If any
man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 15 If any man's work shall be burned, he
shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire. 16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? 17 If any man defile the temple of God, him
shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple
ye are. 18 Let no
man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let
him become a fool, that he may be wise. 19 For
the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh
the wise in their own craftiness. 20 And
again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. 21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all
things are yours; 22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or
the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are
yours; 23 And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's.
Again in his sermon God's
provided way 64-0206E P:53 brother Branham explains what a true gift
from God is when he says, "What is a
gift anyhow? Not to take something and use something,
say, "I got a gift of healing. I go out and heal this one, heal that
one." If I could, I'd certainly do it. Now, But a gift... You misinterpret
a gift. A gift is
just get yourself out of the way, and let the Holy Spirit use you.
See? That's a gift. That's
what a minister is. He don't preach what he wants to preach. He just
gets his self out of the way. It's a gift. An inspiration comes, and he speaks
through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Any other gift is the same
way. Now, ministerial gifts, and so forth, has been. There's first of God-given gifts
is first, apostles,
prophets, teachers, pastors, and evangelists. That's
the offices. That's their gifts.
So the gift is
not the person, it is the gift of God in the person that if that person can get
themselves out of the way, then that gift will manifest to the people, and therefore
the teacher doesn't have to say, "I've
got a gift of teaching", no and he should not have to tell that to
the people.
The Bible says in Proverbs
18:16 A
man's gift maketh room for him, and brings him before great men. In
other words when a man yields to the Giver, the gift will open doors before men
to receive it. Then it isn't the one who has the gift but the one who is
yielded to the giver because you can have a gift to be an apostle, but until
you yield to the Spirit of the great apostle of our Faith, you will never
manifest that gift you are born with by foreknowledge and predestination.
From his sermon Harvest time 64-1212 P:87 brother
Branham said, "Now, Satan's third scheme. We'll get to it quickly 'cause we
don't want to take more time than possible, maybe another fifteen, twenty
minutes, if you want to go that far. Notice his third scheme then, or
his third temptation. If the others had failed, this one won't.
See? He now offers you a position in the church, like he did Jesus.
"I'll give you the world. You be the king.
I'll make you. They all belong to me, so I give it to you."Who can make a man a minister? Who
can give a man a gift by laying hands on him? "God has set in the church..." See? See how they twist the Word. Like
Eve now, with her new knowing, knowledge, she had Adam at her sway. She
could do what she wanted to (See?) as soon as she got Adam to accept it.
Let me stop here and go back a paragraph and read what brother Branham
said about Eve when she opened herself up to that lying devil..
86
But notice Eve at this same stage, carried away by her supernatural
understanding, she had a theological experience. Her education was supreme to
any theologian in the country at that time. See, she was so carried away, she
didn't know it. She knew she had something that Adam never had. Perhaps she'd
be able to rule over him right now, because she knowed more about it, her Adam.
Watch what their Adams are doing today. She knew good from evil, fine education
of the truth. That's right. She had a fine education of the truth, that she
didn't know before, and it was God's Truth. But she was dead by breaking the
Word. See? She got her education, all right. So does the seminary give
you a theological experience, that you can quote every character of the
Old Testament or New. But be careful what you're doing, if it
don't break that Word right there, if you do. Just say, "Well, it's for them." No, it's for you, whosoever
will. See, see? Be careful. "Oh, that was for the church long ago." He's
the same yesterday, today, and forever. She had a fine education, but she was also dead in
sin and trespasses.
And we have seen that same kind of talk where people say John 14:12 is only for the prophet, but that is
not what Jesus taught, that is not what God's prophet taught, so stick with the
word my brothers and sisters, and don't get some super duper revelation from
the devil that lifts you up in pride to think you have a great revelation and
anyone who doesn't see what you see is going to hell. Because when you get like
that you are not a yielded vessel of God but you are yielded to a spirit.
Now, in getting back to verse 87
brother BRanham said. "but when he come to Jesus, He didn't accept it. He
said, "Get behind me, Satan." In other words, let me not misquote it, but just add
this to it. "It's written, every man shall
live by every Word of God, not by your proposition, 'I'll make you the general overseer, a presbyter, or
deacon, or I'll let you play the piano, sister.' See, all these propositions,
'You're a very popular person, and we need your talent in our church.'"
See, come to the Word. She could rule him or teach him, (he's
talking about Eve here, she ruled Adam by teaching him the new false doctrine
and he entered into that sin with her, but she led him and that is why he fell.)
same as today's
crop. That's the way they do it today, to become a D.D., a state presbyter,
overseer, district manager, or something another like that.
Again we see in the next quote from brother Branham
sermon Perseverant 64-0305 P:93 where
brother Branham says, "A gift is
getting yourself out of the way, so God can come in, see what He shows, what He does. A gift
is not, "I got power to do this; I got power." Your power of a
gift is get yourself out
of the way. And the gift that God has give you, operates through
that then (See?) after
you're out of the way. See?
So
that is what you can expect from a true five-fold minister is to
make the Word so plain that you catch the message and it builds up your faith.
Now, if you are sitting in a church where that is not happening, then you may
be setting in a church where there is no true five-fold minister ordained by
God to be there. It is not my job to point out who is and who is not. My job is
to point you to Christ and His Word and to make it as simple as can be done so
you won't have any excuse to disbelieve any more.
So
we see that the true Five-Fold ministry will break down the word so that it is
easy for the people to understand. and not only that but brother Branham said
in doing so it will build you up in your faith.
Infallible
Proof of Resurrection 57-0114 101 It's yielding yourself to the Holy Spirit, and He
anoints. Just like any minister comes to the platform, he's got his subject on
his mind, he yields himself to the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit preaches through
him. That's a pastor, or teacher, or evangelist. An apostle operates in the
same way
Now,
this next quote from God's prophet tells us another purpose of God sending
these five gifts or offices into the church and that is to set the church in
order.
And
he tells us these offices in his sermon E-40
Prophet Like Unto Moses 59-112 "aren't called by the
church, or so forth, they are chosen
by God. Apostles; second, prophets;
third, (I may not
have these lined just right,) third I think is teachers and evangelists
and pastors. Five spiritual offices in
the church to set the
church in order. Apostles, prophets,
teachers, evangelists, pastors. Those are
called offices by God.
Then in the
local congregation, there's nine spiritual gifts that
work among the people. Now, in these offices and places, in
the offices you hear from the apostle, his ministry. You hear
from the prophet, his ministry, from
the evangelists, from the teacher, from
the pastor. Each has a separate ministry.
And their ministries
is of God, God has set them in the
church for this purpose.
Another
purpose of God placing these five gifts in the church he tells us is to correct
the spirit of the people. 19
Smyrnaean Church Age 60-1206 God never intended the Church to be run by man. God runs
His Church, and He
runs it through gifts of the Spirit. The gifts of the
Spirit is in the Church to correct the spirit. He's got five
ministerial offices in His Church.
And
that is what the Apostle Paul said
Notice the apostle Paul's admonition in 2 Timothy 4:2 Preach the word; That
is the number one thing a five-fold minister is to do is to preach the word.
Then
after the primary purpose if to preach or teach the word, he says. "be instant in season, out of season; That
simply means to be present, be available to the people in
season and out of season.
In
other words the five-fold ministry can never retire, nor just walk away from
their duties even though sometimes they wish they could run from them. That
also means they don't just close down church services for any old reason, but
they are to be there all the time unless called by God to travel elsewhere to
preach the Gospel or the weather may be too dangerous for the people to travel
the roads.
Now,
Let's just close at this time, and we will resume another time. Sunday is
Christmas Eve so we will focus our thoughts for that day on what the birth of Jesus
meant for Mary and for Joseph in that day.
Let
us pray...