Faith no 58
Faith for a Five fold ministry part 5 Humility
January 10, 2017
Brian
Kocourek, Pastor
Galatians 1:6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of
Christ unto another gospel: 7 Which is not another; but
there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
8 But though we, or an
angel from heaven, preach
any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any man
preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be
accursed.
Notice
the warning that comes from the apostle Paul here. He says he marvels that
someone has been able to come along and sway you, or lead you away from Christ
by preaching to you a different Message than what he preached to you.
Now,
we've been looking at the Ministry of the Five offices that God has placed in
the church and it is for one specific purpose, and that is to bring
us into a unity of the revelation of Jesus Christ through the knowledge of the
son of God. And once unified by the revelation of Jesus Christ
it will bring us to a maturity of sons,
getting us ready for the return of Jesus Christ, and our adoption as sons. The
whole world is groaning and waiting for this to happen as Paul tells us in
Romans 8.
Now,
Satan knows the best way to keep you from drinking the transforming water of
Life is by muddying that water. So Satan sends in along side of the truth his
false five-fold ministry to preach destructive heresies which is how the water
of life becomes muddied. Knowing full well, that only a hunted animal will stop
to drink from a muddy water, because he has no other choice. We see this
warning not only in Galatians 1 which we have already read to you, but also in
...
2 Corinthians 11:1 Would to God ye could bear with me a
little in my folly: and indeed bear with me. 2 For I am
jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you (I have engaged
you) to one
husband, (Christ the Word) that I may present you as a
chaste virgin to Christ. (Not just a virgin untouched
by man, but a chaste virgin, One who has been tried and tested) 3 But I fear, lest by
any means, as the serpent beguiled
Eve through his subtilty,
so your minds should be corrupted from
the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For if he that cometh preacheth
another Jesus, (a
totally different Jesus) whom we have not preached, or if
ye receive another spirit, (a
spirit of a different nature) which ye have not received, or another gospel, (a Gospel with a different
nature) which ye
have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. (why
do you put up with it so easily.)
In
other words Paul was so frustrated that the people were content to hear anything
as long as they claimed to be bring you the truth. Paul was frustrated with the
people, because they were content with so little understanding of the Word.
So how is this
to be done if a minister refuses to preach doctrine? You can preach until you
are blue in the face and they will never get it just because you say so. You
have to take them into the Scripture and show them doctrinally where they
stand, and their relationship to God as a son, and then point them to Jesus
Christ the first born son as our example and then perhaps if they are ordained
to be a son, they will understand and line up with the Word. And not only was
the apostle Paul frustrated but anyone who is a true minister of the Word of
Truth also gets frustrated when the people just don't seem to respond to all
the hard work of teaching them the truth as br. Branham makes so clear in the
following quote.
From
his sermon Position in Christ 60-0522M P:46 br. Branham said, "I'm going to rub this really hard (See?),
because I don't mean it to be rude. I, ... Please don't really. See?
Don't really think that I'm mean. I don't want to be. What worries me is to
take people and preach to them this God-sent Truth, and they'll turn
right back around and just keep on doing the same thing, and say
they got the Holy Ghost. That just nearly ruins you. See? What's the matter? They
come right back to the same thing, just like the children of Israel, they
wanted a king so this king could rule over them and make them act like the
Amorites and the Amalekites and the
Philistines."
And again from
his sermon, 61-1224 - Sirs, We Would See
Jesus 42 I, today, this morning, I wanted to
come down real bad, and hear Brother Neville’s message. But after making that promise,
then I didn’t want to break it. 43 So then I tried to listen to radios, and so
forth, and all I could hear was, “Immediately after this service, we’ll all
meet out in the lunch room and have coffee together. And we’ll…” What has
the church come to?
Notice those words of rebuke...What has the church come to? That
is exactly what the apostle Paul was saying,
"I
marvel that ye are so soon removed
from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another
gospel:" (a
gospel of a different nature).
Then brother Branham says, It’s a lodge. Why don’t you say “lodge”
instead of church. Church are not supposed to do that. Church is
not a meeting of coffee, or dinners, or suppers, and things like that. 44 We have communion with the Lord. The
church, that’s where we commune with Him. 45 I said to the wife,
“Honey, I am getting so critical,
I hate to go down at the tabernacle, or either enter the pulpit.” Oh, older I
get, look like, worse I get. And I
don’t want to be that, like that. But there’s Something inside me
drives me, to be like that. 46 Then I said, “Am I losing my mind? Why
can’t I go with the rest of the crowd? Why can’t I go like the other
brethren? Why can’t I get me an organization, build around it
like they do? Or, why can’t I go out and quit hammering at people and things like that?
Why can’t I do it?” I said then, I think, “Have I lost my mind?”
47 Then I come back to the Word, and there it is. I must stay with that
Word. 48 I said, “I, if it wasn’t for the Word of God, and I knowed there
was a God, I’d build me a little cabin somewhere, so far back in British
Columbia, way back up in Canada, in the mountains where I wouldn’t see a human
being, once a year. And there I’d hear the Voice of God in the rippling
streams, and hear Him when He screamed out, in the wolf on top of the mountain.
I’d hear Him as He whispered through the great big pine trees, and look at His
lovely face in the mirror of the lake, when it reflected the big snow-capped
mountains. Why, I’d worship God every day of my life, back in there. I know I’d
get more real about God, back there, than I can listening to coffee suppers and
tea parties, and all this kind of stuff that we have today, so-called church;
creeds, and fictions, and fables, and everything else, to take the place of the
Gospel.”
So then we heard the apostle Paul tell us in 2 Corinthians 11
as we continue on at verse 5 For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest
apostles. 6 But
though I be rude in speech, (that means though
I might sound ignorant and unlearned) yet I am not in knowledge; but we have been thoroughly made
manifest among you in all things. 7 Have I
committed an offence in abasing
myself (humbling myself) that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the
gospel of God freely?
8 I robbed other churches, taking wages of them, to do you service.
9 And when I was present with you, and wanted, (being
needy myself) I
was chargeable to no man: for that which was lacking to me the brethren which
came from Macedonia supplied: (In other words that which would meet
my needs had to be supplied by others not here locally) and in all things
I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so
will I keep myself.
Brother
Branham did the same thing, and so did brother Vayle. I never once have asked
you people to help with the costs of this building to build it and to keep it
going. That is what he is saying. Brother Branham used his own moneys to build
that Tabernacle, and So did brother Vayle, and So have I. That's your pattern, it was Paul.
Now, let's jump forward to verse 13, because he was talking about how others have
come along and have brought into the true church a Gospel or Message of a
different nature from the Gospel that he brought and now in verse 13 he tells
us
" For
such are false
apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the
apostles of Christ. 14 And no marvel; for
Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
15 Therefore it is no great thing
if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of
righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
Again
we hear the Apostle Peter warn us also of the same thing that will take place
at the end time.
2 Peter 2:1 But there were false prophets also among
the people, even as there shall be
false teachers among you, who privily (stealthily) shall bring in (bring into where?
Bring in alongside of the truth) damnable heresies, even denying
(saying no to) the Lord that bought them, (and the one who bought
them God, and he paid for them by the purchase blood of his own son) and bring upon
themselves swift destruction. 2 And many (not a just a
few here and there, but the word actually says Mostly.) many (most) shall follow their pernicious ways; (ruinous ways,) by reason of whom
the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. (In other
words they will use their own words to draw you to their own understanding and
to gain many followers, and to do so they will cast aspersions on the true
doctrine, they will defame, they will make light of the true doctrine in order
to gain the greatest market share of the souls of men. That is the same
Catholic Spirit we see in Revelation 18 where they make merchandise of the
souls of men. and here we go again, it's all about the money...) 3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words (Made
up words,) make merchandise of you: whose
judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their
damnation slumbereth not.
So
the problem exists of there not only
being a true Five-fold ministry but a false five-fold ministry as well.
There is a true ministry that will say only what God has already spoken through
Paul, and then there is a false who want to add to what Paul taught. That's
your demarcation line right there, What Paul taught. That is what makes the
difference. And anyone who teaches contrary to what Paul taught is a false
five-fold minister, not because I say so, but because the apostle Paul said so.
The
problem lies in the fact that for 2,000 years we've had so many false five-fold
ministers claiming to that they are true five-fold ministers that the people
have become leery of them all. Thus another doctrine was born in the 1970's
that said "listen to the tapes only" in reference to William
Branham". But brother Branham never preached that, he said preach what
Paul preached. and He himself said he only taught what Paul taught. William
Branham said his absolute was the Word of God, not himself. and he said he only
taught what Paul taught.
So
today we have two extremes. First you have those ministers who claim to be true
five-fold ministers but they taken the people away from what God taught through
the apostle Paul in the Alpha ministry of Christ to the first church age
taught, and then what God Himself by His very presence vindicated through His
own ministry to the end time believers in His End-Time Omega ministry that he
spoke through his prophet His end time prophet William Branham. God vindicated
the written word of Paul and the Spoken word of William Branham showing he had
not changed his doctrine, but was the same yesterday, today and forever.
Always
remember and never forget that William Branham said he only preached what Paul taught,
so the Omega must line up with the Alpha or you are not hearing the Omega
Ministry of Christ correctly.
I've
always loved what Br. Billy Paul says in his testimony in which I've heard 4 or
5 of them and he says these words in almost everyone, "You must have two sites on a gun to hit the
target, and if you do not line up the back site with the front site you will
never hit the target".
Therefore
let me just say this in reference to what he said, "If you have the end time Omega
Spoken Word brought through the vessel William Branham and line it up with what
the Alpha Written Word through the vessel Paul, then you will hit the target
every time. "
But
the problem is that the people are all of one or none at all. They either want
only the tapes or only the bible, and you cannot understand the Bible without
the tapes and you cannot understand what is on the tapes without taking it to
the Bible.
Now,
the Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 4:11 And He (God) gave some,
apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and
teachers;
12 For the
perfecting (the
maturing) of the
saints, for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body
of Christ: 13 until we all come
in the unity of the faith, (and
if it is The Faith then it is just one faith, which is the revelation of Jesus
Christ that we are to be unified around and (and is a conjunction unifying two thoughts) of the knowledge of the Son of God,
(so we see that the word and unifies
the unity of the Faith or revelation of Jesus Christ with the knowledge of the
son of God, because you truly can not come to a unity
of The revelation without an understanding of the son of God. And this brings
us to) unto a perfect man, (a
mature son of God, fully equipped to
become like the first born son) unto the measure of the stature
(which is the character) of the fulfilling (or fulfillment) of Christ: 14 (and When we are fully
mature sons and daughters of God in the very image of and witht
he very character of Christ, the first born son, then we will no longer be as
Paul says next) That
we henceforth be no more children, tossed
to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the
sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they
lie in wait to deceive; 15 But speaking
the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the
head, even Christ: So he is talking
about the body growing up to fit the head which is Christ. That means the body
has to be so honed to the head that the head will fit perfectly on it. And that
means the body will have to b so Christ Like, in the very image of Christ that
when the head fits together with the body, it will be a perfect fit. 16 From
whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every
joint supplieth, according to the effectual working
in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of
itself in love.
Notice
the five-fold ministry is to be in the church until
the bride is fully mature and ready for adoption. and this was not for just a
period of seven church ages, but it was until...Until the body comes into the
unity of the doctrine of Christ through the understanding of the son of God and
his relationship with the Father.
Brother
Branham said in his sermon, Super sign 62-0708 P:58
What
did Jesus say? "Go ye into all the world
and preach the Gospel to every creature."
How far? All the world. How many? Every creature, "He that believeth and
is baptized shall be saved; he that believeth not shall be damned, and (a
conjunction) these signs shall follow them that believe," in all the world, and
every creation, every creature. I can show you where God put
gifts and power in the church. I want somebody to put your finger on a Scripture
and show me where He took it out, where He took it back from the church.
It's a super sign to the believer, that we've passed from death unto Life,
because we feel the Holy Ghost, and see It working on our lives,
and changing us from what we were to what we are now. Amen. He arose from the
dead. Thanks be to God.
Therefore
the main purpose of God placing these five gifts in the church he tells us is
to correct the spirit of the people by preaching the revelation of Jesus Christ
and the knowledge of the son of God. . 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 in 2 Timothy 4:2 Notice the first thing he tells the minister
is to "Preach the word;" be
"instant in season," out of season; reprove, rebuke,
exhort with all longsuffering
and doctrine.
Notice
those words: "reprove", which
means to tell a fault and admonish or bring that fault under the light of the
Word. And then to "rebuke", which
means to admonish, forbid, or censure. Then he adds "exhort" with all longsuffering and doctrine. And
the word "exhort" means 'to
invite, invoke, implore, or entreat", and how are we to do this?
He says "with all longsuffering which
means with patience and with doctrine.
So we see that
is the reason why God set in the church a ministry with five different ways to
getting the job done that He wants done. Five different approaches to preaching
the same Word, the same Message.
And each of the
Five Fold ministry has a different way of bring the same word to life, using
the same Word. That is the marvelous thing, because you may not like to hear it
the way one happens to bring it, but you may just love the way another one
brings it, and they could be using the identical same Scriptures but with a
different affect on you. Some like preaching, they love the emotional way the
word is brought, while others can't get enough teaching. So God is a God of
variety and meets the needs of all his children by using five totally different
offices to administer His Word to the hearer.
Brother Branham
said in 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.
From his sermon,
E-69 Jesus
Christ the Same 61-0118 Brother Branham taught us, " It's five offices God ordained and
put into
the Church. Do you believe that? All right. Then
if we believe
there's apostles, prophets, teachers, pastors, evangelists,... and then he
adds... In each
local church there's
twelve, or, nine
spiritual gifts--I Corinthians 12, nine spiritual gifts that operates through
the Body. See, God put every preparation
to
keep that Church just as clean as it can be, without spot or
wrinkle.
We're at the end-time, Gentile people. We're at the end-time.
Now,
let me just stop here for a moment to show the difference between each of the
five gifts God sets in the church.
From
his sermon, E-7 Balm in Gilead 59-0707 brother Branham
said, "Now, there's five
offices that God put in the Church;
there's nine spiritual gifts that
accompany that offices and all the members of the Body. The first is apostles, which is missionaries. The word
"apostle"
means "one that's
sent." The word "missionary" means "one that's sent," the same
word. Apostles,
prophets, teachers, pastors, evangelists, these offices God
sets in the Church. They're all in operation, or should be. We cannot bypass one and say there's teachers without saying evangelists.
We cannot say there's evangelists
without saying there is apostles. We
cannot say there's apostles without admitting there's prophets. All of them are for
the perfecting of the Body of Christ.
The Lord gives me visions.
Those things begin when I was a little baby. I do not believe that man can be called of
man and be a successful minister. I believe gifts and callings are
without repentance, that God by His
foreknowledge foreordained His ministers into the Gospel, and the gifts into the Church.
So
you cannot say I accept one but I don't accept the others. Those who set under
a teacher how often do they acknowledge the evangelist? And those who set under
a prophet, how often do you hear them say, br. so and so is a wonderful teacher
sent by God. Or brother so and so is doing the work of an Apostle. But the
thing of it is, It is the Same God set all five offices in the church for the
perfecting of the church. So the church cannot come to perfection without these
five offices doing what they were ordained to do. What is so hard to understand
that. Because that is God's provided way. We want to say God's provided way is
to send a prophet and that is true, but his provided way is to also send us the
five gifts Paul spoken of in Ephesians 4. Just like the Light coming to an
ordained Messenger in a certain place brother Branham said in the Church Age
Book, that it cannot make its way out without the aid of men who have been
faithfully taught. But it's all about what God is doing in the Church bringing
the people to the place of willing and doing.
But
as long as you say, I'm of Lee Vayle - Teacher, and have no need for an
apostle, or an evangelist it just shows you are yet carnal. And if you say, I
am of Joseph Branham - prophet and have no need of a teacher, are not you also
carnal?
Don't
get offended, brothers and sister, I am trying to bring a balance here with
what brother Braham and the Apostle Paul taught. This is not my opinion, this
is what God said through his prophets.
That
is what the apostle Paul said himself. I'm of this one and I'm not of this one,
and he said, are you not carnal?
1
Corinthians 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind
and in the same judgment.
11 For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren,
by them which are of the house of Chloe, that
there are contentions among you. 12 Now this I say,
that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas;
and I of Christ. 13 Is Christ divided? was Paul
crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?
We
see also in 1
Corinthians 3:1 The apostle Paul tell us "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. 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.
And
I think the biggest detriment to the Message that God has sent is the division
that has taken place between the churches who lift up one man above another or
one ministry over another. There are no big eyes and little you' s in the
family of Christ, there is only One God, Who is Father of all, and one brother
who is the oldest brother in a vast family of brothers. And that one eldest son
said in Mark 10:42 But Jesus called
them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles
exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them.
43 But so shall it not be among you:
but whosoever will be great among
you, shall be your minister:
44 And whosoever of you
will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all. 45 For
even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
And then in John 13:13 we
hear Jesus again tell to his disciples,
"Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Master, have
washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that ye
should do as I have done to you. 16 Verily, verily, I say
unto you, The servant is not greater
than his lord; neither he
that is sent greater than he that sent him. 17 If ye know these
things, happy are ye if ye do them.
Therefore,
the first requirement of a true five-fold minister is humility, for without
you do not know your place so how can you do the work of God, because it requires a humble heart to take the
lower seat, it takes true humility to be mocked at, and spat at, and still
move ahead with what God wants for you to do for others.
Images
of Christ 59-0525 P:35 I'm not interested in seminaries, and what
somebody's got to tell me. I don't care about kissing crucifix, or pulling
through your heart, or saying prayers to the dead. I'm interested in one thing;
that's more of the Holy Spirit to take over William Branham. I'm
not interested in joining a greater church than what I belong to. I belong to
the real Church of the living God, the Firstborn. I was born into it. And I want more of the Holy Ghost in
my life to reflect Christ, Who I love. I don't care what plane
or level I have to come onto to get it. I don't care if I have to go here, go
there, be called fanatic, holy-roller, or whatever it may be, I want more
of His life to be reflected. I'm not interested in the plane I have to
come on; I'm
interested in the Holy Ghost, so I can be more of a servant like He was.
He was the Lord's
Servant. Never come to be served, or ministered to; never
come for He to be ministered to, but to minister to. He took the
place of the servant. And if the King of heaven could do that, and
we're the members of His body, let's all be likewise. Not be
different, but humble
ourselves in His Presence. No matter what the world's got to say
or the intellectual people; think nothing about that. Just receive more
of the Holy Ghost and be like Jesus: humble, meekly, lowly. Take His place, and He will take
yours at the judgment.
Power
of transformation 65-1031M P:14 Now, I'm rather slow in speaking, because -I'm
not a trained minister. I know there's people here that's smart,
intelligent, intellectual, and have laid that aside to come over now and to
break themselves down to--in humility. Great Paul the apostle, I think of
his words when he said that, "I did not come to you with the enticing words of men, because there
you'd place your faith in that, but I come to you in the power of the Spirit." See? The
great things that he knew he had, he laid aside. And I feel this
morning, like men here, like Brother Hughy and
sister, teacher here from the mission fields, and many of you people who are
really intelligent and smart; and I feel very little to stand here with no more
education than I have, before you. But I... And then to see that you people,
like that, would humble yourselves to them things, and lay it aside, and set
down and listen to a person that hardly knows their abc's,
that makes great people out of you. It isn't he that can stick
his shoulders out, and walk out and... It's he that can humble himself.
I think, character,
as measured by man, not by the muscles on his arm or by the callouses
in his hands, but
the bag in the knees of his trousers where he's prayed. I think
that's what makes men.
Influence
63-0112 P:27 Now. So it... This king got along fine until he
found out that all the nations was fearing him. He'd become largely populated;
his kingdom got built up; and he got lifted up in his heart with pride.
You see, we're just... "I'm just a big man now," and that's the way
out. The way up is down. How do you know which is up or down?
'Cause if the world's standing in space, how do you know which is up or down?
So always, he
that humbles himself, God will exalt; he that exalts himself, God will bring to
abase. He'll bring him down. Always keep
humble, and be little in your own sight. No matter what God does for
you, just see how much more humbler you can be all the time. The more God blesses you, just
keep getting more humble all the time. He can continue to
bless. But when you get to a place that you think, "I've got
it," you
haven't got it, you're on your road out. That's right. See?
You lose your influence. You lose your strength of your testimony. When
you women begin to want to be like the rest of the women, there's something
wrong. When you men, you ministers, try to become like a pattern after
somebody else, when you businessmen try to do business on the scale
that somebody else would do it on, because they're prosperous... Prosperity don't always
represent success in Christ, sometimes very much to the contrary.
See?
Pergamean
church age 60-1207 P:141 See, that's the difference. Somebody wants their
name in some big something, but God's people wants to shun that kind of
stuff. They don't want great big things, and great big something; they
want to be humble, that humility. The e way up is down. "He that humbles himself shall be exalted;
he that exalts himself shall be abased." Humbled himself...
Don't try to be a big something; try to be a little something, but be
what you are. See? Be little in the sight of God; be little in your own sight; everybody
else is above you. "Lets him's the
greatest among you be minister to all."Who could be greater than Jesus
Christ Who girded Himself and washed the disciples' feet? A foot washing flunky
He become. The God of heaven, the Creator of heavens and earth, washing
dirty feet for fishermen (Oh.), with manure and stuff, and dust
off the roads, where their garments had swept it up, and washing it off; a foot
washing flunky, what He was. And then we think we're somebody.
We got to be Doctor, Ph.D. So-and-so. Oh, my. That ain't Christ. That don't display
the lovely Jesus Christ. He become servant to all. That's right. Taught us an
example that we should do to one another as He's did unto us. Oh, that's my
Lord. What makes Him
big, because He made Himself little. See, that's what made Him
be.
Images
of Christ 59-0525 P:20 What a difference of the so-called reflecting
Christian today. What a difference. Why, the so-called Christian today wants
to be served. Oh, he begins to think that he's somebody. What a
difference from it was with His... reflecting Him. He never come to be
ministered to, but He come to minister. "Let
he that's greatest among you, be the servant of them all."And we
have seen today, that our modern trend of Christianity is, "I'm
somebody, and you're nothing." Oh, it's a... It's wrong.
It should not be that way. We are trying to reflect Christianity in the wrong
way. God doesn't want us to do it that way. He... We sing the song, "To Be Like Jesus."
But when it comes to humble our pride, and to get down like He did, then
we draw a line. And in doing so, man has formed denominations that they can separate themselves,
seemingly not having the Spirit, as the Scripture says. They separate themselves, "We
belong to a certain-certain church. It's a bigger church. It's a better church.
Our denomination is a greater denomination." That doesn't act like
Jesus. That doesn't reflect His love and His personality.
He came to the lowest, to the street harlot, to the beggar, to the bum,
and got right down in the dust with them. That's the Christian life. That's the
way it should be, to reflect Him in that way.
Influence
63-0803E P:56 Notice these Angels now. And John the Baptist, Paul,
different ones, when they saw that Glory of God and that Light, they
bowed to It. They... Yes, they honored It; they respected It;
because that they humbled themself. And these
Angels, even, that minister in His Presence, cover up their feet and cover up
their face. Oh, my. Now, notice, quickly now, He had two more wings,
and by this He could put Hisself in action.
Jesus
at the door 58-0529 P:4 And now, my expenses is not much. They run about a
hundred dollars a day at my office, and home, and so forth. Now, that might
seem like a whole lot to some. But what do you think Oral Roberts runs a day?
It's around ten thousand a day. And Billy Graham sometimes runs twenty-five
thousand a minute on his broadcast and thing. So see, this is very little. But I've
kept my work little, and smooth, humble, so that I could come to
small groups like this, and minister. See, if it went up to where I had to
have a lot of radio time, and television, great offices, and things (which
could've been), then I couldn't have been led just like I am now to go to five
or six or whatever. And I've preach before five hundred thousand at one
time. See?
Proving
His Word 64-0816 P:129 You think about the rapture. If the rapture come
this morning, I say this in humility, there's no doubt that half
of this congregation, if we went according to degrees, according to where we
should be, half of you'd go before me. That's right. I'm not...
Look at the responsibility I got, and how loosely I carry it. I'm an
unprofitable servant to Christ to know what I know about Him and then live the
way I do: not immoral, not unclean, nothing like that, God knows that's
true. See? I try to live right, but I just look like I can't get the
thing to go over. Maybe it'd been somebody else, maybe highly educated or
something, they could've got it to the people. But then some's
to think, it's not all the people's going to get it anyhow. See, see? He
knows what He's going to do. So I just commit myself to Him and say, "Lord, I'm in Your hands, do with
me as You see fit." Now, if Jesus Christ is the same
yesterday and forever...
Influence
63-1114 P:59 We haven't got the
humility. We don't want to... And people don't... You go
sometime to a real well-dressed people in church, they'll come in; and if
you're not dressed just right, they'll look at you and talk, you know. And
it makes... Its... They shouldn't do that, and professing
Christianity. I think it's just a profession and not a possession.
Because I believe that a real old-time experience with God will make a
tuxedo coat put his arms around a pair of overalls, and say,
"Brother." I really believe it. It's a true: a calico dress with a
silk one will call, "Sister." Yes, sir. Because it isn't the clothes;
it isn't the person. It's Christ, what's on the inside, and we should humble
ourselves.
Life
62-0719B P:59 May He ever remain, and may we ever remain faithful
and true to the calling, that we might go out, not in the power of money, in
the power of great things of the earth; but in the power of humility, in
sweetness and humbleness of the Spirit, as He will make us and mold
us into images of sons and daughters of God, that we might win others to Him.
In Jesus' Name, we ask this blessing to honor God.
Hear
ye Him 58-0328 P:33 When we receive the Holy Ghost, it just isn't to
jump-and-down and shout with. It isn't just to speak with tongues or run over the
floor. It isn't to organize a group and say, "We got it, and the rest
of you haven't." It's to work with love and humility as Christ
come to do with. "This will all men know you are My disciples, when you have love one
for another."
Let us
pray