Faith no 60

Faith Knows no Fear

January 17, 2018

Brian Kocourek, Pastor

Mark 4:35 And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side. 36  And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships. 37  And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. 38  And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? 39  And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great 0 And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith? calm. 41  And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

We see the same story told to us in Matthew 8:23 And when he was entered into a ship, his disciples followed him. 24  And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. 25  And his disciples came to him, and awoke him, saying, Lord, save us: we perish. 26  Matthew 8:26 And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. 27  But the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him!

Let us pray... Father we are thankful that we have your Word to teach us and that you Yourself came down in this hour with a Shout which is the Message to further teach us the doctrine of Christ and to better understand Faith because we saw it in action in the life of your servant William Branham. Help us tonight Father as we examine your word to see how that an absence of Faith brings fear among the people, and through Faith we may enter into an absence of fear. We know Father that this is the hour "when men's hearts are failing them for fear", and yet this is also the same hour that your Son said, "when the son of man cometh will he find faith?"

This evening I would like to take a short message concerning faith and fear, or faith shows no fear, because fear actually is an attribute that expresses a lack of faith. In other words fear comes about because of a lack of understanding, a lack of knowing what is going to happen. But faith is just the opposite of that, Faith knows, and therefore has no fear.

Greater than Solomon is here 62-0725 P:77 But you see, if you're determined to know God, you don't know no fear. Faith knows no fear. That right?

Be not afraid it is I 62-0629 P:40 Faith knows no fear. So just be real reverent.

Revelation 21:6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. 7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. 8 But the fearful and unbelieving, (fearful and unbelieving, these are the faithless, those without faith.) and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

Now, the reason there will be many fearful, because these are the days that perilous times are to come as we see in... Luke 21:11 we read And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. and again in Luke 21:26 we read Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

So we see that we are living in the hour where many things are supposed to happen that will bring much fear upon the people if they are not in the Faith. Luke 12:32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. And again we read in Luke 12:7 But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.

And in Luke 1:74 That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear,

So God does not wish for us to serve him as a fearful people, but as a faithful people, and fear and faith are two opposites. Faith has no fear and fear has no faith.

Paul warned us of things coming at the end-time that would hard to deal with as we see in

2 Timothy 3:1 Amplified version But understand this, that in the last days there will set in perilous times of great stress and trouble - hard to deal with and hard to bear

Therefore, tonight we will deal with this thought of Faith or Fear as we read from brother Branham's sermon, "Christ Revealed In His Own Word" where Brother Branham said, (20) Men now and people today are in such a neurotic condition, the whole world...  (21) The whole human race is rotten. Well, if them physical beings of our body is tearing down like that from eating hybrid foods, tensions, that rotten it, does not that also rot the brain cell? It's come to a place where the whole nation, the whole world, not only this nation, but everywhere, mentally gone.

Anxiety is a condition that is manifested through worry. It is spoken of in the scriptures mostly as the cares of this life. Worrying about what may happen in the future.  Worry is an expression of fear, you worry because you fear, and this is in contrast to faith, which does not worry, because faith believes.  

Now if worrying were only a mental condition then we could just brush it off and say, well, the strong minded will overcome it, but this is not the case. Worry is just the manifested symptom of a much larger problem of fear which is a lack of Faith altogether. And a Lack of faith results from a lack of understanding, a lack of trusting God and a focus that is out of perspective with the reality of God’s Divine plans for us.

Hebrews 11:27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. Moses was not stupid, he understood full well what he was up against, but he also knew that God had called him to lead Israel out of Egypt so He was not afraid to confront Pharaoh concerning this promise of God.

We read in Revelation 2:10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

And in reading this we are told that our Faith is greater than any fear of suffering because we know that if we must suffer that won't be the end of it, we will come forth in victory and we will receive a victors crown after its over.

Romans 8:29-31 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. 31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32  He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? 33  Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. 34  Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Now if we take this scripture to heart then we should never fret nor worry.

In fact from Q & A  COD  64-0823M] Brother Branham said, “If you worry, it'll break your health down, and that's what Satan wants to do."

Now, not only does worry  which is an expression of fear causes health problems, but it also shows evidence of a deeper rooted problem. And that is unbelief and lack of trust in God. In Hebrews chapter 4 we are told that the Children of Israel did not enter into their rest because they did not believe. Rest and worry are at two extreme poles from one another. Rest shows a great deal of confidence and therefore trust and relaxation while worry or fear shows a lack of confidence and therefore a lack of faith.

1 Peter 5: 6-10 tells us "Casting all your anxieties upon Him for He careth for you." 6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: 7  Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. 8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. 10  But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

Philipplians 4:6-7 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Not only this, but as we have already seen in our study, anxiety or worry brings on further complications. We see according to Webster that the next manifestation of neurosis is compulsion which is a disorder that stems from pressure. Either peer pressure, political pressure, religious pressures or internal pressures. And the result of these pressures is that you begin to act in an irrational manner. Then after a while these irrational actions become habits or traditions. Now to those who are pressuring you these actions may not be irrational. But they are to you at first and then after a while when you get used to them they seem to be very much in the order of the things in which you have surrendered yourself over too.

Luke 21:31-36 So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand. 32  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled. 33  Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. 34  And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. 35  For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36  Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

Now in this scripture we are told that the cares of this life or anxiety is actually et as a trap or snare for all who live on the face of this earth. Why? Because just as a trap it doesn’t end there. If our focus is on the things of this world, then we will be caught up into these anxieties which are a snare to us. So you see the snare is set for those who do not have their focus on the path. And that is exactly what has been set for  mankind in this hour.  A trap has been set for those whose focus is not upon Christ and His Promises for this end-time.  Those who are lazily walking though life without paying attention to the conditions of the hour. Didn’t Jesus warn us "if the man of the house had know what hour the thief was coming, he would have prepared his home and he would not have suffered the thief to break in." 

Our focus should be on standing in the presence of the Son of Man as Jesus tells us here. We should not be concerned with the cares of this life, because they are considered a snare to the real things that God has in store for us.  And remember people, every time we see people caught in a trap in the scriptures, they were destroyed.

In the Alpha ministry of the Pillar of Fire in Paul’s day. We saw in Acts 26: 9-11 and in

Galatians 2: 1-14 where we found out that there were men who had come in and professed to be believers but they  could not get away from some really bad habits which we call traditions. They felt a need to be circumcised in order to somehow show outwardly that they believed. Yet Paul called them false brethren because they were teaching a lie as truth and holding others to it as well. And another thing, they were beginning to hold down the truth, to suppress it. And it was their lie that was used to hold back the Truth from the People.

Romans 1:18 As I said, they used their lies to suppress the Truth. They hold back righteousness by using unrighteousness.

From brother Branham's sermon 118  Lean Not Unto Thy Own Understanding    65-0120 brother Branham said, "You know, the Bible said you can believe a lie and be damned by it. See? That's exactly the truth. They form, no matter what the Word of God says, they lean to their own understanding. They lean on it; they believe it; they think it's the Truth. You can keep believing a lie over and over and over till it's the truth to you. That's right.  But how do we know whether it's Truth or not? God proved it's Truth, 'cause it's in His Word and He a-vindicates It. He does His own interpretation of It.  How do they do, get to this? They do it by their culture, their education, of their understandings of their--the degree of doctor's degree, and so forth, that they have come from some certain seminary and learned these things."

And that brings us to the third manifestation of this mental condition we call neurosis and that is Obsession in which Webster defines as: the act of an evil spirit in possessing or ruling a person.  Having such a persistent idea, desire or emotion that one can not get rid of it. Brother Branham said, you can feed a habit or keep nurturing a habit and after a while it will take on a life of it's own becoming a spirit possession. Then it is demon possession. I don't care if it has to do with women or sports or even food. A demon is a demon. And if it is not natural, it's demonic. Remember, we just read where he said, “You can keep believing a lie over and over and over till it's the truth to you”

1 Tim 4:1 Seducing Spirit's and Doctrines of Devil's.  The People being seduced into believing The Lie and then they are damned by it. Why, Because you can't turn them away from it. They love a lie and will be damned by the thing they love.

2 Thess 2:10-12 Wuest speaks of the gullibility of those who are perishing.   

2 Timothy 3:7 They can't come to the understanding of the Truth because they will not give up their own thinking.

Proverbs 14:12 which says, "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" They will not let their own thinking go. The think because they thought of it that it must be right. They are possessed by what their own minds want to tell them and they are not willing to let go of their own thinking and receive a correct thinking based upon vindication.

This way of thinking was epitomized in this day by Hillary Clinton who said "you've got to fake it until you make it." And how many Pseudo Christians do we have today that are trying to fake it until they make it. Apparently they do not understand that every seed will bring forth after its kind, and that a good tree can not bring forth evil fruit, and neither can a bad tree bring forth good fruit. Because the fruit is the teaching for the season.

Now I hope and trust that you are all following this progression here. First of all we see that the devil has set a snare to capture the minds of the people in hopes of controlling them. He uses the economy and the cares of this life and the anxieties that result. Once he has the mind of the people focused upon these earthly things then he has got them leaning. And whichever way the tree leans is the way it will fall. And so we see the snare is the lure to bring forth captivity to the minds of man. He lures them into an uneasy feeling of what might happen. he uses his mix of misinformation and the careless living of others to reinforce this upon even those who are trying to live right.

The whole Christian world is out of focus tonight. They are talking about the next depression and the nation going broke and the new world order and such as this and they are completely missing the Lord Who has come down from heaven with a shout. It reminds me of a story I heard where a man had fallen over board in the Atlantic during a big storm and he was adrift on a small rubber craft that he tried to hold onto before falling over board, but the rubber boat wasn’t heavy enough to keep him from falling overboard, so as he toppled overboard, he continued to hold onto this boat.. Well, as the hours grew into days as he lay adrift, the man got desperate and began to cry out to God for mercy. Finally one day he  felt assured in his heart that God would deliver him from his plight.  The next day a big ship came by and the Captain of the ship cried out, can we help you?  He said, No, I’m waiting on God! another day went by and another ship came by. The Captain of this vessel asked the same question and got the same answer. Finally the man died of dehydration. When he came before God he said, I thought you had given me assurance that you would deliver me from my dilemma? And God said, I sent two ships by and you would not enter, what more do you want.”  

And so we see the world condition tonight, and the condition of the church. They are all looking at the “what if’s” out there and they are all looking for Tribulation, but they are all in the same boat because they are missing what God has sent down for our deliverance. And wasn’t it the same 2,000 years ago. God came down Himself and stepped into His Son to bring forth a deliverance and salvation to man but man missed Him when He came back then. And so is it today, He has once again come but the focus of the church and of man is set on the cares of this Life, the very trap that will cause them to miss Him once again as well. 

From his Message “A Deceived Church” Brother Branham said, But as Israel was bound by their kings that they could not follow the Real King, when He came, they didn’t recognize Him. So is it today, oh, Lord. The King of Glory has Appeared in the form of the Holy Ghost and Lord, they don’t know it. They don’t recognize It. They’re so organized, so tight, that they do not understand it, because it’s not in their organization. Lord this is the work of the devil that’s done this to the people. May the Samson of God, may the true in heart, those who are longing and crying and pleading and holding on, may they stay with it, Lord, until this new crop grows out. Until there comes forth a joy in Zion, and there comes forth a group that can recognize and understand. That can see the Messiah and the hidden power that’s hid from the world, that they will not understand now. Grant, Lord that they will see this, for wee ask it in Jesus name, a-man.”

So what we have seen so far is that by getting our focus off the real things which God has for us we have actually accepted a substitute in it’s place. And that is the Trap.  And ever time in scripture when the people fell for a trap they perished. Now, I hope you are following. First comes the cares of this life which chokes off the Life of the Word. Then comes the pressures, and the conforming to them. Then when you yield to them, you are living a lie. You are not being moved by the dictates of your heart or conscience any longer. And so the Lie takes on a life of it’s own, now in your body and the bodies of those who have also fallen.  Devil possession takes over which is the third manifestation of neurosis, called obsession.

E-18  Go Awake Jesus  63-1103 Because he is so fully surrendered to the evil one, it took possession of him, and he had not his own understanding. He only did what the evil spirit put in him to do.

 126 Lean Not Unto Thy Own Understanding 65-012065-0120 Now, in Luke 17:30, He said, "And as it was in the days of Lot, when the Angel of the Lord..." Now, He was reading the same Bible we are. And when He... Go back and find out what kind of day it was before Noah's rain. Go back and find out what kind of a day it was before the world was destroyed in the days of Lot. Find out what it was, and you see what Jesus was talking about.  "In the days of Noah, they was eating, drinking, marrying, and given in marriage; knew it not until Noah entered into the ark, and the flood come, taken them all away."  In the days of Lot just before the world was--the fire burned the Gentile world, the Sodomites, there were homosexuals, perversions, everything in the world. A great... It was a modern Los Angeles; not a modern only Los Angeles, but a United States; not only in United States, but a world. It sure was perversion. Men lost their natural source of life and their natural understandings of common sense, become perverted by an evil spirit that changed the whole course of their natural life, and they were possessed with demon spirits. If that ain't the picture of the days of Noah, I don't know it, and in the days of Lot, I mean. In days of Noah also, eating, drinking, marrying, given in marriage, divorce courts filling, and everything, just like it was.

Why do they halt between two opinions? Seducing Spirit’s!  And what are those two opinions? The Word of God verses the world opinion. You can not serve two masters.

Matt 6:24 & Luke 16:9-11 When you fall for surely you shall

Now tonight I want to examine this Fear vs Faith because fear is described as "an irrational, distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil,

pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid. concern or anxiety over what may happen thought real or not:"

In the book of Job we find out that the things you fear the most will come upon you.   

But in 2 Timothy 1:7  God promised us that we could live a life that i free from fear. "For God has not given us a Spirit of fear, but of Power and  of Love, and of a sound mind. " So then we can see by this that to have fear shows you don't have a sound mind. It also tells us that fear is brought on by a spirit, and he tells us For God has not given us a Spirit of fear, then he tells us how God eliminates fear from his Children. Because he tells us God is not the author of fear, He says it is not of God to fear. And he tells us that God has given us a sound mind so that me might not fear. Every time the Angel of the Lord came to man, the first words out of His mouth would be  "Fear not! For I have come from the Presence of the Lord."

We find also in 1 John 4: 18 that perfect or mature love casts out fear because fear has to do with punishment. 

Well, when we realize that the punishment question has already been taken care of by the sacrifice of the first born son of God, then why should we live in fear of punishment.

Notice as I said earlier, the first thing that sets the trap is anxiety which concerns the cares of this life. Being caught up into them and not having our focus on Christ in this Word, having come down with a shout for our deliverance.. The next thing happens is we get caught into the pressure and so compulsion results where we find ourselves doing things not because common sense would dictate so, and not because we really want to, but we do things under compulsion because we have given into the pressure. These irrational sorts of behavior then force us into living a lie and thus once we hit this stage we enter into obsession which is devil possession, and by this time our minds are completely gone. No longer are we able to focus on the things of god but only on the irrational behaviors which have overwhelmed us. Whether it is preparing for the next depression, or the next election. Men become obsessed with trying to save this nation when they should be worried about saving their own soul and the souls of  their loved ones. And so we see this devil possession take over because they’re believing the Lie, and thus they enter into fear.

And Fear does much damage, because when a person is afraid they become bound by their fears.

We read in 1 John 4 Perfect or mature Love will cast out fear because Fear has a penalty, and that penalty has to do with you freezing and crystallizing in your thinking.

The Bible tells us that when Mary told Joseph she had conceive by the holy Ghost he feared to take Mary to be his wife. He thought she had not been faithful and so he froze his commitment to her. God had to send His Angel to tell him fear not to take Mary as His Wife. What did fear do here? It caused Joseph to doubt and it caused him to stop moving forward with the plan of God for his life. How did God end the fear? He gave Joseph a revelation which is faith, and understanding, he gave him knowledge of God's great plan for Messiah, and what God was doing right now... And how God's Word was in the process of coming to fulfillment.

Luke 21:25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring;
26 Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. 27  And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

Notice that men it is the things we observe without understanding that brings spirit of fear upon men. They see the things that are bringing on perplexing and anxiety and then fear follows shortly thereafter. And notice that perplexity and anxiety are both a mental condition. So as we see the insanity coming upon the earth as prophesied by the bible, we will see more of this spirit of fear among men.

Let me read you a few Scriptures that show the result of fear and how it stops the people from moving forward with God.

1 Kings 18:21 how halt ye between two opinions? How long will you be lame and stopped in your forward movement?

AMP How long will you be halt and limp between two opinions? 

NIV How long will you waver between two opinions?

NAS How long will you hesitate between these two opinions?

So we see how fear when it comes in actually stops and stifles your faith, because fear is a spirit of unbelief, and God himself called is the spirit of fear.

2 Timothy 1:7 "For God has not given us a Spirit of fear, but of Power and  of Love, and of a sound mind. " So if it did not come from God then it came from the devil.

And the penalty of fear stops you from moving on with God.

In his sermon, 233  Anointed Ones at the End Time 65-0725M brother Branham said, "For it is impossible for those which were once enlightened and didn't move on with the Word as it come to pass..." They're dead, gone

Genesis 19:26 Lot's wife crystallized when she quit moving on with the Word of God. What happened? First her mind stopped then her body did. First her mind crystallized then her body became transformed into her revelation.

Romans 8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

2 Tim 1:7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

And I believe that at the end time it is predicted that men's hearts will fail for fear, and so there will be two very opposing forces at work. Faith and Fear. Faith will be expressed in the bride of Christ's resting on God's Word and what he said thus showing faith, and the rest of the world will be caught up in fear of what they do not know, and this fear will result in many men's hearts stopping as the scripture warns.

Thus fear is a lack of faith that actually cripples the persons functionality as a human being. If the person is a wife and mother, it cripples her ability to function in those roles. If the person is a minister it cripples their ability to minister the Word of God. If the person is a Deacon, it cripples their ability to keep order and to help as needed in the assembly. Whatever the persons function, Father, Mother, Sister or brother, it cripples those functions in the home. No wonder there is so much talk today of the dysfunctional homes. If the world is under a fearful condition, then the homes have got to be or become dysfunctional.   A home filled with Faith will be a home where the Word of God is a surety to all within it. And one that listens daily to the voice of God for Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing the Word of God.

Let us pray...