God’s
Only Provided Place of Worship # 124
Brian Kocourek,
Arming
Yourselves with the Same Mind
Tonight, I would like to continue where we left off on
Sunday. We discussed [PP.
291-292 of God's Only
Provided Place of Worship] where
Brother Branham said, "May we be found in Him, the only provided place. And He is the sacrifice. We bring Him, what we've heard about, Jesus
Christ, into the house of God by the
baptism of the Holy Ghost, through the Name of Jesus Christ. And there our sacrifice is accepted and we're
brought into the family; because, yet straying out in the world, we were ordained sons and daughters of
God before the foundation of the world.
Thank You for that, Father. Oh, how
could anyone ever turn back on something like that (when they found the
Truth, that God has selected them out of the world)? There were millions lost,
the day that I was saved. O dying Lamb, how can I ever thank You?
How can my heart ever be reverent enough
before You? Help me, dear God, to
live true. Help my people to live
true. I pray for them, Lord, every one, that You
will... God, somehow, I don't... I--I wouldn't know how... I don't know how,
just how to ask, Lord; and I may of not even asking that in the right manner.
But You forgive
my ignorance, Lord, and just look at my heart. I pray that not one of them
will be lost, not one of them, Father. I claim them, every one, for You. In the Name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Now, this evening I would like to approach the Word of God in light of this
statement we shall finish our thoughts that we began to expound on Sunday
Morning. Now, remember we were dealing with having the same attitude or
mind-set that Jesus has as we read in ...
[I Peter 4:1 ] Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for
us in the flesh, arm yourselves
likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath
ceased from sin;
Now, then, if we are to arm ourselves with the same
mind that Jesus armed Himself with, then we will also do what Jesus did. You see, God deals first with the mind then with the rest of our
being. Body, Soul and Spirit. When God sanctifies us
it is not just in our thinking, but it must move from our thinking into our
actions, thus throughout our entire body, soul and spirit.
We took our study to the book of [Romans] beginning with chapter [12:1-2]
and viewing the progression of the change from the mind first and
then into the body bringing even our actions into submission to the Word of
God. I believe it is necessary that we
see the importance of passive Faith coming first before we can have an active
Faith, and I also want you to understand that passive Faith kept isolated and
alone is not a fulfillment of the Principles of God either. Now, we know that
for the past few weeks we have been studying Brother Branham's Message
pertaining to our understanding in the mind must come first, and then once we
have something in the mind to deal with, God will anoint this understanding in
our minds and it then will drop down into our Soul and become a Spiritual
Revelation. Then as a Spiritual Revelation it will guide us and keep us in the
way. It will direct our being, our whole or complete being, Body, Soul and
Spirit. Thus taking over the control of our triune being.
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Now, remember
Brother Branham taught us from [PP 37
Inter veil 56-0121] that "There is an intellectual faith.
And there's a faith that comes from the heart.
And we
read in Ezekiel that God gives us a new heart which is a new understanding
first, then He gives us a new spirit which is a new desire and finally when we
are ready He gives us His Spirit. Now let's just read this for ourselves...
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[Ezekiel
36:26-28]A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit
will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh,
and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and
cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do
[them]. And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye
shall be my people, and I will be your God.
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And now, from the
Message, IMPERSONATION.OF.CHRISTIANITY JEFF.IN
57-Brother Branham said, " God had to give you a new heart, not a patched up one, a new heart. That's your intellects that you think with,
a new way of thinking. Then He give you a new way of
thinking, "Yes, that's right Then He said after that, "Then I'll
give you a new spirit." What's
that? A new desire, ... After you get a new heart and
a new spirit, He said, "Then I'll put My Spirit..." His Spirit, part of the Logos in you controlling
your emotions"
So we see then that this new heart is a new way of
thinking or a new mind-set. Then it brings with it a new desire in your heart.
He that hungers and thirsts for righteousness shall be filled. Then this new
desire opens the door of your heart to let in the Holy Spirit in to take
complete control by His Word which is the Logos. So with God's Word taking it's place in your heart, His Word then becomes your
tie-post in your soul. And your soul has only one thing it can do and that is
to receive or reject the Word of God. And this is done before you receive the
Holy Spirit. Once you receive the Word of God into your Soul you are sealed in
by the Spirit of the Word, and anything contrary to the Word won't ring a bell
with you as Brother Branham liked to put it. Then what happens is that you
begin to discern all
things by the Word. You compare spiritual things with spiritual things and
measure everything that comes into your mind by the Word of God. Then until a
person has received the Word of God into their Soul they can not tell the
difference between any word and God's Word. Because the Word, when it comes
into your soul become the Absolute of your Life and everything you think, do or
say is brought back to the Word of God to see if it fulfills the Word or not.
[I Corinthians 2:10-14] But
God hath revealed [them] unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the
deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things
of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even
so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit
of God. Now we have received, not the
spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the
things that are freely given to us of God.
Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth;
comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
But the natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know
[them], because they are spiritually discerned.
Now what I am trying to address to you this evening is
this: namely, we are to receive an understanding first, (
that is the part the True Five Fold Ministry play in this great
drama) They bring the True Understanding
of the scripture to our minds. Next, this New
understanding creates a desire in our heart for God's Word. Finally, God sends
forth His Word into our hearts by the Holy Ghost who is the Teacher and He
anoints the understanding in our heart thus becoming a Spiritual Revelation.
That is Why John said in [ 1 John
Now in {Romans
7: 14] Paul tells us the law is
Spiritual, and not for the flesh, for if it were for the flesh then we could be
expected to fulfill the Law by our flesh, but since it is spiritual and not for
the flesh, then the flesh can in no way fulfill it. Therefore God does not look
upon the flesh but upon the desires in the heart, and thus although your
desires may be righteous and Holy yet your body may backslide a thousand times
daily due to the mixed nature because of Eve's transgression. Now notice how
this ties with what Brother Branham said, God will not come into your heart to
fill it with His Spirit which is His Word until the desires have been changed.
Now you must receive a new understanding first, then a new desire, which he
called a new spirit, and once you receive this new desire, then God will come
into you by His Word.
Now, God doesn't come into your heart the first minute
you have this new understanding. Oh, no! Uh, Uh! There is an order to His
coming. He is looking for the desires to be changed first, and then He will
come. Many people have heard the Gospel and seemed to receive it gladly for a
short space of time, but before the desires are changed they fall away and thus never come to this
new desire. And why is that? Because God
sends them a testing of this new understanding, and because they are not
predestined to pass the test, they come up short and are easily offended by the
Word. Some people come so far but when
the Word speaks of things that hit them in the pocket book or speaks of things that we should do or
a manner of living that makes them loose their popularity with the guys or
girls, then they lose what desire they did have and before they know it,
they fall away from the Truth.
Brother Branham said God will not place His Word in Just anybody. He will not place His Spirit in just anybody.
So we find in [ Hebrews 12: 6-7] Paul teaching us, that "Every
Son that cometh to God must first be tried and tested. And if you can't take
the testing then you are not a True Son but a bastard born, meaning you are
illegitimate to the Word."
[Matthew 13:18-23 ] Hear
ye therefore the parable of the sower. When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth [it] not, then cometh the wicked [one], and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is
he which received seed by the way side.
But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth
it; Yet hath he not root in himself, but
dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because
of the word, by and by he is offended. He also that received seed among the
thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the
deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and the Word becometh
unfruitful. But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth
[it]; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth fruit with patience, some an hundred-fold,
some sixty, some thirty.
Now you will notice that the first group
mentioned are those who hear the Word but because they do not understand
it the Devil is able to step in and take what understanding they did receive
away from them and thus they just simply fall away from the Truth. Then there
are those who hear the Word but when the trials begin they can't take it and
because they too do not really understand what it is all about they give up and
they too fall away from the Truth. Then we have the Laodicean
bunch who get caught up into the cares of the world
and the deceitfulness of riches, and these things choke off the word and it can
not bring forth in these people what it is meant to bring forth. These are the
foolish virgins who run but do not finish the race. They are caught in the trap
called the deceitfulness of riches. Money, money, money, the
root of all evil. And notice that these riches are called deceitful. And
since this group does not have a full understanding, they too fall short of
receiving the True Word of God, which is His Holy Spirit into their hearts and
thus they come up short. But notice the group that comes all the way into the
True Baptism of the Holy Spirit, they are the Ones who hear the Word and Understand it in their hearts, and because they understand
it they are not caught up by the deceitfulness of riches. They are focused and
ready and thus the Word brings forth Fruit in them some even a hundred fold.
So you can see how important understanding is to the
believer. And that is why Eve fell. Notice Eve had understanding. She knew
better than to partake with the Serpent, because she told the serpent we must
not eat of the Forbidden tree. It is cursed. And yet the Serpent pulled one
over on her and got her to eat anyway. Now, he didn't tell her that her
understanding was wrong entirely, but he told her that she just didn't quite
have the full understanding of the
picture. And so he explained it away from her.
And so she stepped out from behind the protection of the Word and she fell
for His interpretation or understanding of the Word of God. And that is exactly what we are warned of
will happen in [ 2 Peter 2: 1 - 3 ] ( Read) . These men
will come into the Message and give a wrong understanding of the Word of God
and the people will be caught up into what these men say as evil interpreters
of the Word of Truth.
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In [ Romans
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In [ 2 Tim
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In [ Ephesians
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In [ John
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In [ Matt
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[Ephesians 5: 13] Tells us that all
things are exposed by the light.
You see we are warned by Jesus and Paul and Peter and
Jude and James and John even William Branham that false anointed men will arise
and speak perverse things drawing away disciples after themselves. But we are
warned to flee from such. [ Acts 20: 27-32 ] (read)
, [ Matt
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[ 2 Thess 2: 10 -
13] (read) then show Wuest: every kind of wicked deception geared to the
gullibility of those who are perishing, this gullibility being caused by the
fact that they did not accept the love for the Truth to the end that they might
be saved, and for this cause God will send them a deluding influence resulting
in their believing the Lie, in order that they all might be judged who did not
believe the truth but took delight in wickedness.
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[
1 Timothy 4: 1] seducing Spirits and doctrines of devils. Satan's
messengers masquerading as angels of light. Which is [ 2 Cor 11: 13-15] (read) Paul calls them
those super fine apostles more righteous than God is righteous, but false to
the bone, and look what they did to the early church. Vs{1-4 & Gal 1: 6-9}
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[ Mark 7: 7-9] They reject the Word of
God in favor of their own teachings. And what does this do? It voids the power
of the Word in their lives. Thus they crucify the Word to themselves.
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[ Hebrews 6: 4] Notice they can't crucify
God who is a spirit but they can crucify the Word to themselves, and that is
exactly what they do, making it of no use to them by their own traditions and
creeds.
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[
2 Thess
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[Ephesians
In Closing let's turn to [ 2 John 1: 8-9] He is warning us not to place ourselves in a place
where we will lose what we have wrought, and then goes on to tell us how we
could do this. He that transgresseth, which means to
go beyond the limits of true doctrine, that's how you lose out, by having a
certain knowledge and then adding your own thoughts to what God's thoughts are.
Let's pray.