Faith
no 59
The
Gift of Faith is the ability to yield yourself to God,
The
Ability to get self out of the way
January 10,
2018
Rev. Brian Kocourek
God promised us that we would be given power through the gift of Faith
to yield ourselves to the revelation of Jesus Christ and surrender
our own will to the will of the Father just as Jesus laid down his own life to
the Fathers will.
Now, what do I mean by this? I mean that God has given every son of God
by way of the Holy Spirit in you, to use a very special gift he has given to
all sons to be able to get yourself out of the way. That’s what Jesus as the
first born son and thus the patter for all sons was able to do. And learning
that from the first born Son of God, and knowing we are ordained to come into
Hi image, then we must also become like Him and thus in order to do so God has
given each of us that same gift to get ourselves out of the way.
Now, maybe you don't think so, but that is because you don't know what
that gift is. The gift to get yourself out of the way is the gift of God's Holy
Spirit living in you. And the more you become aware of the God-Life in you, the
easier it is to stand aside and let God be God, and let HIs Spirit have the
preeminence in your thoughts, in your speech, and in your Life and actions that
stem forth from yielding to His Spirit that lives in you.
From His sermon, Spoken word original seed
62-0318M P:101 brother Branham said, "The Bible's got to be in you. The Word
is a Seed, and as long as It's laying here it won't do nothing. But when
It comes in here, when It
comes in the heart, then
It begins to manifest by the Holy Spirit, the works of God. Then visions
come, power comes, humility comes. All of your know-it-all is
gone. You become nothing; Christ becomes alive. You die; He lives.
There it is. 'Cause He died, I live. When I die, He, He lives again.
And when I die, He promised me Life. And I died out to myself, so in
order I can have His Life; and how do I do it? By taking His
Word, His Seed, put His Seed in here by faith and believe it,
and then it produces
exactly what the Bible said.
Notice the beautiful wording brother Branham uses here. He says when the
Word of God becomes so preeminent in your heart, and when you have died out so
much of yourself that you have become nothing in your own eyes, then humility
comes, then power comes, then visions come. So don't expect them until you have
first died to self.
You cannot expect even humility until you come to the place where in your
own eyes you are nothing. Any humility you have before you have died to self is
a false humility. A put on and a sham.
So the entire key of living the Life of Christ is first you have to die
to self totally, and become nothing in your own eyes. Not nothing in the eyes
of others. Not dead to self in the eyes of others, but dead to self in your own
eyes.
The Pharisees were play actors and they could fool almost everyone into
thinking they were righteous and totally yielded to God, but they did not fool
Jesus, nor John the Baptist.
And let's face it, they will not fool the bride of Christ either.
Let’s examine this true form of humility as seen in the first born Son of
God, Jesus as he speaks to us in St. John 5:19
where He said, "Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself,
but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he (the Father) doeth, these also
doeth the Son likewise (which means in the same way or
manner).
So Jesus told the
people, he needed to see a vision of God His Father performing what He then
stepped into that vision to do only what he seen the father do first.
Now, William Branham
like Jesus showed this in his ministry. He told us how the visions would show a
scene, but how he had to be real careful to make sure all the elements that
were in the vision would also be there in real life.
Like when he told us
the hat had to be on the chair, and the woman had to be in a certain, certain
chair, and the man whose hat was on the chair had to be in a certain chair as
well. He told us he waiting many hours for that hat to be on the chair before
he could have the assurance the vision was now unfolding, and then of course
the laying hands on the person he then could pronounce with certainty
"Thus Saith the Lord" for the healing.
Again we see Jesus in St. John 5:30 tell
us the same thing as he says, " I can of mine own
self do nothing: (now
listen, that is making himself nothing, that must come first, then comes the
vision, and after the vision, then comes the power.) as I
hear, (hear what? Faith comes by hearing the Word of God,
right?) Therefore he says, "as I hears, I judge:
(and what is he using as his standard to judge what he hears? The
Word of God. John told us to try every spirit to see if it is from God and we
are commanded to try all things by the word of God. There is your standard for
judging.) as I hear, I judge: (and then he tells us how he knows his
judgment will be right on for he says,) and my judgment is
just; (my judgment is right) because I seek not
mine own will, (because I am totally in neutral, I have died
to myself, I seek not mine own will and thus I have no stake in the game, I have
no profit in the outcome, whatever God wills to do I am totally open to the
outcome according to his will, and not what I hope the outcome will be. And
that is exactly what he is saying when he says) because I
seek not mine own will, but the
will of the Father which hath sent me.
In this verse we find
out why the Son of God could of Himself
do nothing, Because he tells us that he
does not seek his own will but the will of the Father that sent him. And so if we could just let our own will go
and come to know the will of the father, and learn to do his will, we could
then easily get ourselves out of the way, so that God could use us as he used
his own son Jesus.
Now, the definition of this word "will" means "the mental faculty by which one deliberately
chooses or decides upon a course of action; volition." Your
will is what you desire, it is your purpose, your determination, and it is your
deliberate intention or what you
wish:
So you can see that if you can die to self, it is because you are able to
die to your own ambition. You are able to die to your own purpose and your own
wishes.
And when you can do that you have slipped into neutral and your will is
not your own any longer, but you have become completely dependent upon God to
move and guide you in whatever turn your life will take.
We have seen how this worked in the life of William Branham as like in no
other person in the history of mankind outside of Jesus Christ. There were more
healings done in one of his services than in the entire lifetime of most men
who claimed a healing ministry.
In fact one historian of the healing revival said that you could place
William Branham on one side and all the others combined together on the other
side, and William Branham’s ministry would outweigh them all. And so we should
ask ourselves why is that? And the answer is simple, because William Branham
had a gift from God to get himself out of the way, just as the Son of God,
Jesus Christ had the gift to get himself out of the way.
In Fact William Branham taught us that the real gift he had from God was not
the ability to pray, because we can all pray. He said the real gift was to be
able to get William Branham out of the way, so that God could use him for
whatever purpose God chose to use him.
He said, "a gift is to get yourself out of the way so
God can come in and use your body."
From the message God is his own interpreter
64-0205 P: 52 brother
Branham said, "What is a gift? Not something you take and
chop and turn. No, no. It's knowing
how to get yourself out of the way that God can use you. A gift is only getting yourself out,
then God uses it.
A gift is knowing how to get yourself out
of the way, and let God do what He
wants to do. See? Brother Branham said in his sermon "A
Paradox"
65-0117 P:65 "A gift of faith is not something
you take and do something with. A
gift of faith is you just get yourself out of the way. The gift is getting your own self out of the way.
So the gift of Faith is having a revelation that
God will do it. And then if God will do it, it is not you doing then God doing,
but on the contrary it is God doing it first then you just step into what God
has just done, and watch the vision unfold from vision to manifested Word.
It's knowing how to relax yourself in such a way that God can use
your body in the way that He wants to use your body. Just get yourself out of
the way and watch.
I wish I could explain
it better, but there isn’t any way to make you understand it unless you have
been there and actually seen it happen in your own life.
The best explanation I
can give you is that It’s just like
shifting your car and getting it into a gear. See? And just like the gift God
gives you through His Holy Spirit, that gift is just a gift to know how to
shift yourself out, and let Him do the talking. See? Shift yourself into
neutral, and that way if God wants you to move, your breaks are not on and he
can just give you a little push in the right direction. If a car is in neutral
then you can push it forward or backward, and it matters not to the car, for
the car is just open, and in neutral to be pushed or pulled in either direction.
But if the breaks are
on, then the car cannot be moves forward nor can it move backwards.
That is why brother
Branham told us that the five-fold gifts to the church are just the gift to get
out of the way so God can use the body to preach, or teach, according to the
measure of the gift predestined within.
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.
Listen, I haven't had
much success as a pastor, although I've tried for 36 years to be as good a
pastor as I know how to be. But my temperament is perhaps too hard, too
cutting, too critical, and it has caused some hurt along the way.
But when I yielded
myself to the Holy Spirit and went overseas to teach the ministers this
wonderful revelation of Jesus Christ, doing the work of an Apostle, the
ministry flourished everywhere and the fruits of the ministry can be seen all
over the world in the lives of ministers
who've taken this Revelation of Jesus Christ and they stepped into this
revelation and have become living epistles of Christ to their
congregations.
We don't have a very
large fruit orchard here in Ohio but we have 122 I.P. addresses streaming our
services live over to 56 cities in 11 different countries, and that's just live
streaming. The sermons in written format have been translated into 11
languages, where brethren may not be able to stream because they do not
understand our English language, But others are taking these sermons and
preaching them in their own language and believers are watching their streaming
services and getting the same message, so the ministry is being echoed and
magnified in ways I never expected would
happen. These brethren are seeing results in their own countries, and that's
the fruits of the Apostle ministry. Yet the fruits of my pastoral ministry seems
to be very minimal, but not so unlike other apostle like John, and Paul whose
ministries went into the world but whom they as pastors had around a dozen or
so believers to minister to at home.
But although Brother
Branham's international ministry well exceeded his local ministry, yet the real
fruit of his ministry can be found all over the world. Br. Neville pastored the
local flock, and his sermons were very pastoral. Then brother Collins for 43
years and his sermons were very pastoral as well. In Br. Vayle ministry we saw
the same thing, his ministry had more effect around the world than it did in
St. Paris. But he had someone else to pastor as well. And Paul had Timothy to pastor for him, as
his ministry took him to other places as well. And although Paul's ministry was
accepted by many around the world, yet locally there were only 12 that could
set directly under him. Why? Could be because his preaching was to fiery, and
biting, but I would rather say there were only 12 who were ordained to be
there.
And although you
people have put up with my hard and critical preaching and teaching, yet I do
not believe it is me that you are hearing and putting up with, but Him who sent
me.
That is what Brother
Branham tells us in his sermon, Jesus Christ the
same 56-0426 P:49 It's
not the preacher that preaches; it's God preaching through him. It's
not the prophet that sees the vision; it's God speaking through him.
"I do nothing except the Father shows Me
first what to do."
Notice after he says, "It's not the preacher that preaches; it's God
preaching through him. It's not
the prophet that sees the vision; it's God speaking through him. Notice
that he then goes right to Scripture to show us the example is Jesus Christ
himself, quoting Jesus own words from John 5:19 "I do nothing except the Father shows Me first what to do."
If I were just doing the work of a pastor, I would never focus on
anything happening outside the walls of this church and its people. But that's
not what I was called to do. In 1983 the Holy Spirit spoke to me and told me to
write my sermons down word for word and one day they would be read all over the
world. I didn't understand what he meant by that but I did what he told me to
do, and I had no understanding how God would accomplish what He said, because that
was way before the internet was available.
Then in 1997 I began to post the doctrinal teachings to the internet
because I saw there was nothing on the internet that taught what brother
Branham taught. After about a year brothers from Africa began to request my
sermons as well. I didn't have the finances to send out my sermons so I figured
I could just post them on the internet and people could have them for free. That
was 1997, 20 years ago, and God has taken these sermons into 11 languages and into
189 countries since then. More than 1,358 of my sermons have been translated
into 11 languages.
So what I am trying to say here is what brother Branham was telling us in
his sermon, What is the works of God 59-0404 P:14 where
he 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.
And when I yielded myself to do the work of an Apostle God blessed that
in such a way I could never have done that on my own. But that is what he
called me to, and that is where I am most comfortable with.
So as brother Branham said in his sermon, Influence
63-0112 P:27 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.
And from Pergamean Church Age 60-1207 P:141 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.
Then it isn’t you
talking; it’s Him. That’s how the gifts of God work in the body of Christ. You first get yourself out of the way so
the Holy Spirit can operate within your body to use your body to do His will.
From his sermon, Lean not unto thy own
understanding 65-0120 P:76 Brother
Branham said, "A gift
of God is some way you have of getting yourself out of the way.
And gifts and callings are the predestination of God. "Gifts
and callings are even without repentance." You're born with it, a little gear that you pull yourself
over in, but you cannot step on the
pedal. See? God has to operate it.
You have to get yourself out of the
way."
Notice, God has to operate it. and that is what he said in the earlier
quote we read, where he said, "It's not the preacher that preaches;
it's God preaching through him. It's
not the prophet that sees the vision; it's God speaking through him."
Br. Branham said his worst enemy was himself. And he said God gave him a
gift to get himself out of the way so God could take over and use His body for the Glory of God, and to help God’s children. Now, I think we can all agree that Jesus
Christ had the greatest gift of all from God to get Himself out of the way.
Jesus said in John 12:49 For
I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a
commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. 50 And
I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore,
even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.
And he also said in John 14:31 But
that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me
commandment, even so I do. Arise, let us go hence.
And again in John 15:10 If
ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my
Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
A few weeks ago I showed you the Scripture that spoke of the Son of God
as being God’s great servant and that he was blind and deaf to all but God’s
Word.
We find in Isaiah 42:19
the Scriptures teaches us that the Son of God was blind to everything except
God’s Word. And he was deaf to everything but God.
KJV Isaiah
42:19 Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I
sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the LORD'S servant?
The Rotherham
Translation puts it this way, "Who is blind
if not My servant? Or deaf like my
messenger that I send? Who is blind
like an intimate friend is blind, or blind like the servant of
Yahweh?
The Jerusalem Bible says,
"Who is so
blind as My servant? Who is So deaf
as the Messenger that I send?"
In other words, it
should read "Who in all the world
is as blind as my Servant ? Who is designed to be my Messenger of Truth. Who is
so blind as My dedicated one, the
“servant of the Lord”?
So we see here that
Jesus Christ was absolutely blind concerning anything that was contrary to God’s
Word, God’s Will and God’s purpose.
And how do you get there? By focusing only on him. when I played football
I would kicj field goals and the opposing fans would throw snowballs or oranges
to try to distract my attention so I learned in that to focus only on the
placement of the ball when the center would snap the ball back to the
quarterback and he would place the ball down for me to kick.
The golfer in the natural learns to so focus on that putt that he becomes
blind to the audience and deaf to all the noise that would otherwise distract
him.
The best hitters in baseball are those who are so focused that they can
tell you how many rotations the ball takes from the time it leaves the pitchers
hand until he swings his bat to hit it.
Now, if that can be done in the natural, how much more should it be in
the spiritual.
KJV
Isaiah 42:19 Who is blind, (so focused unto me that he is focused out of
everything else) but
my servant? or deaf, (so tuned into me that he is tuned out to
everything and everyone else) as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is
perfect, and blind as the LORD'S servant?
Looking
unto Jesus 64-0122 P:65 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."
Notice, Jesus walked right through the midst of 300 people who were setting
there waiting for the stirring of the waters. But He was looking for only one
man, and so he focused only on that one man that he had seen in the vision.
Blind to everyone else, and deaf to all the cries for help except that one
whose voice he heard in the vision.
Perhaps I can make this simpler for the mothers to understand. when you
are out shopping and one of your little ones runs off, what do you do? You
frantically begin to look for that child filtering out everyone else in your
mind but the image of your child.
From his sermon God's provided way 64-0206E
P:53 Brother Branham said, "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, it's... 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.
That is why you people can be listening to tapes during the week and come
to church and find the preacher saying the same thing you heard on those
tapers. Because it is not the preacher, it is God confirming what you heard on
the tape, and in the mouth or two or three witnesses he established his word.
Perseverant
64-0305 P:93 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?
Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:1 And
you hath he quickened, (that means to
make alive, you)
who were dead in trespasses and sins; And we know that sin is
unbelief. The bible tells us they sinned because they believed not. Drinking,
smoking, gambling and chasing is not sin, those are just attributes of unbelief.
People do those things because they don’t believe God’s Word. If they believed God’s Word they wouldn't do
those things.
Notice what the apostle Paul said in Colossians
2:13 And you, being dead in your sins and the
uncircumcision of your flesh, hath He quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
When you become born again by the Word of God you die out to the
world and the cares of the world, and you become a new creation in
Christ Jesus. Old
things are passed away and all things have become new.
Let’s turn in our
Bibles to see how the Apostle Paul describes this process to us. Romans 6:1 ¶ What
shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to
sin, live any longer therein? 3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were
baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized
into his death? 4 Therefore we are
buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up
from the dead by the glory of the Father, even
so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been
planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness
of his resurrection: 6 Knowing this, that our
old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,
that henceforth we should not serve sin. 7 For he that is dead
is freed from sin. 8 Now if
we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: 9 Knowing that Christ being
raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. 11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be
dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto
God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in
your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. 13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments
of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God,
as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 14 For sin shall
not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. 15
What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God
forbid. 16 Know ye not, that to whom
ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey;
whether of sin unto death, or of obedience
unto righteousness? 17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of
sin, but ye have obeyed from the
heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. 18 Being then made
free from sin, ye became the servants
of righteousness. 19 I speak after the manner of men because of the
infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to
uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. 21
What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end
of those things is death. 22 But now being made free from sin, and become
servants to God, ye have your fruit
unto holiness, and the end everlasting
life. 23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God
is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
And when we are born again we talk another language altogether. We don’t
talk like the world, because we don’t think like the world. Paul said in Ephesians 4:22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the
old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23 And be renewed
in the spirit of your mind;
And if we are born again, that means we have died out to self
and the way we treat others is different than the world will treat them. Paul
said in Colossians 3:9 Lie not one to
another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; 10 And have
put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the
image of him that created him: Notice that the new man is
renewed by knowledge of Him.
And the more we know of him the more we bring our own selves and our will
under the control of His will for His glory, his doxa. II Corinthians 5:14 For the love of Christ constraineth us; (that
means the love of Christ is the motivating factor that restrains you and
inhibits you from doing what you want to do) because we thus judge, that if one died for
all, then were all dead (in other words, if it were not for Him,
then I might as well be dead, and there is no hope for me, but since he died
for me, then I owe him my life and my being, and my very mind, my soul and my heart.
And because he first Loved me I am able to love Him in return.) 15 And that he died
for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves,
but unto him which died for them, and rose again. (and
then because of this we do not live for self any longer, in fact he died to
save us from our own self.) 16 ¶ Wherefore henceforth know we no man after His
flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after His flesh, yet now henceforth
know we him so no more.
Then how do we know Christ? By His spirit that lives in us.
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he
is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become
new. 18 And all things are of God, who
hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the
ministry of reconciliation;
Now, what is this ministry of reconciliation? It is the doctrine of
Christ, teaching others the revelation of Jesus Christ that they might also
receive His Spirit thus reconciling them also to God through Christ. Now, in the next verse Paul is
going to explain how that God gave Jesus the ministry of reconciliation, and
how we also receive this same ministry of reconciliation. He says,
19 To wit, (that means to this end or for this purpose, or
accordingly) that
God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their
trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of
reconciliation.
Therefore, if Jesus has committed unto us "the Word of reconciliation",
then that Word is to be in us as it was in Christ. Right?
Then another point Paul makes here which I just caught last night for the
first time is, in order to reconcile, he has to not focus on the sin but on the
revelation of sons. Paul said, "not imputing
their trespasses unto them".
I just caught this and I admit that I've come up short here, so I need to
begin doing this.
How do we enter into the ministry of reconciliation? First we have to
come to the place where we do not focus on the persons faults or mistakes, but
focus only on Christ, not on the sins of the person, and then in pointing the
people to Christ and the cross, and the Revelation of Jesus Christ as first
born son in a vast family of brothers, then if they are predestinated to it,
they will leave behind the old and become new creations in Christ.
20 Now, then we are ambassadors (representatives) for Christ, as though God did
beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled
to God. 21 For He hath made him to be
sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him.
So you see, when we are willing to step aside of self and die to self,
God is more than willing to come in and live in us. Now, if God comes in and
lives His Life out through your mortal body, then it is no more you that is
living but Christ is living in you. Then you could no more die, then God can
die. Then you have a great assurance of Life eternally with Him, and with those
that are in Christ.
Colossians
2:12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein
also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God,
(now, that
word operation
is the Greek word energeia
which speaks of the energy
of God working in you.
Therefore he says, Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with
him through the revealing of the energy of God) who hath raised him
from the dead. 13 ¶ And you, being dead
in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened (that
means to be made alive) together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; (and
look at the benefit we receive by dying out to self)
14 Blotting out
the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
(then all
your sin, all your unbelief, every bad deed you ever did and ever will do has
been nailed to his cross
and is buried under the blood of the lamb.)
I Corinthians 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even
so in Christ shall all be made alive.
Then only through
Christ can we be made alive. Here we are told that all who lived through Adam,
in other words through mere flesh and blood reproduction, since we were born
after the flesh we must all die as well. But through Christ we are all made
alive, which means that only by Christ is it possible to live forever. Because
there is only one form of Eternal life and that is God’s Life. God is the only
one that is eternal, and therefore, for us to become eternal beings, it is
essential that the very life of God enter into us and take over our mortal
being bringing on immortality to us.
Galatians 2:19 For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto
God. 20 I am (I am is present
tense, I am)
crucified with Christ: (If I am is a present tense thing, then I am 24/7 crucified with
Christ...) nevertheless I live; yet it is not I that is living, but (now
it is) Christ that
is living in me: and the life which I now live in this flesh I am living by the
faith (the revelation) of the Son of God, (not my faith in the Son of
God, but the Faith OF the Son of God,
His Faith that He had in God I now am living by that same faith) who loved me, and
gave himself for me. 21I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law,
then Christ is dead in vain.
God has got to do
something with you before He could place His Holy Spirit in you. And if we now live by the same faith Jesus had, then
it is not what you can do nor is it what you cannot do, but rather it is what He has already done for you. Then you learn to
rest in His promise to you, and this rest makes you so relaxed in Him, and let’s face it, how could you rest if you
don’t have trust in His promise. So as you trust His word, you learn to rest
and relax in it, until you just die out to your old way of thinking, and you
just become dead to self. Because if you are not willing to die out to self, He
will never place His Spirit in your vessel.
Life comes from
living on dead substance, and out of death comes life. Every fall the earth
dies out, the life in the plant go down into the burial chamber of the roots of
the plant, but in the Spring, out of that burial chamber of the roots comes up
the life into the plant again, and the life begins to manifest itself again.
And out of the death of Christ came forth a resurrection out from among the
dead, the Resurrection of Life. And the only way that you can become
alive in God, is to die out to
yourself and your symptoms, and everything around you, and become alive in Christ the Word: You’ve
got to die out to self, you’ve got to die out to your symptoms, you’ve got to
die out to circumstances, you’ve got to die out to everything else and become
alive in Christ.
From his sermon You Must Be Born
Again 61-1231M 107 William Branham said, If you're borne of
God, you're washed in the waters of the Word, separated from the things of the
world, and believe God. You're dead.
You're dead to your own thinking,
dead to your own ideas, dead to everything else but God's Word;
It lives in you, working back through you, proving that it is God's Word.
You say, "I'm dead to the world. I'm dead to the world, Brother
Branham." And deny God's Word?
And from the
sermon Investments
63-0803B 241 he said, “Using not our own
mind, but just letting His mind,
we're prisoners, as Paul, as Moses. No matter what anyone else says, you're imprisoned to that Word. The
Holy Spirit leads; He forbids to go places; He forbids to come here; He sends
you to places you would not go and keeps you away from places that you would
go. Do you want a policy? Do you want to make an investment?
From his sermon Forsaking All
62-0123 E-34 brother Branham said, "The Scripture says, "He that loves the
world or the things of the world, the love of God is not even in him." That's right. It takes forsaking all. There
when you were willing to forsake all and follow Him, then "If ye abide in Me
and My word in you, you can ask what you will, and it will be done for you." But you cannot,
knowing that those things are wrong. You know they're wrong. The Bible's against
them: card playing, cigarette smoking, drinking, wearing immoral clothes, and
then claiming to be a Christian. If
that spirit in you does not condemn that, then there's something wrong with the
spirit that's in you. Because the God Who wrote the Word is the Word,
and the Word is in you, and It condemns you. It's got to. And if It doesn't,
you're being deceived. How can the
Holy Spirit write something, and you turn around and do contrary to it, and say
the Holy Spirit is leading you? You can't do it. E-36 You
must forsake your own ideas. You must cope with His Word. And never will
the Holy Ghost ever deny any Word It ever spoke, and the Bible is wrote by the
Holy Spirit. The Bible said so. And if the Bible Words is God... "In the beginning
was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was
made flesh and dwelt among us." Now,
the Word is made Spirit dwelling in us, for "I will be with you, even in
you to the end of the world," the consummation. E-37 Now, if that same God that wrote the Bible is in you, you're not your
own. You're dead to the things of the world. You're dead to your own thoughts. And the mind that was in
Christ be in you, there then you're forsaking all to follow Him. Not your own thoughts; what He
says. "Not my will; thine, Lord."
Then you begin to line up with God's
Word.
Hebrews 10:19 ¶ Having therefore,
brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, 20 By a new and living way, which he hath
consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; 21 And having
an high priest over the house of God; 22 Let us draw near with a true
heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled
from an evil conscience, and our
bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; for he is faithful that promised; 24
And let us consider one another to
provoke unto love and to good works: 25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner
of some is; but exhorting one another:
and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. 26 For if we sin willfully (if we disbelieve
willfully) after that we have received the knowledge of
the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
Let
us pray...