God’s Only Provided Place of Worship 44

Brian Kocourek April 30, 1995

Shrinking Back

This morning we shall continue with Paragraph 153 that we spoke from on Wednesday night.

PP. 153 There's where some of you seminary boys, no doubt a call in your life, but you run off to some Bible school to have this doctrine injected in you, and there's where you die. Stay with God and His Word. They won't let you; or, you can't even belong to their congregation, won't accept you on the platform. So let them have it, let the dead bury the dead, let's follow Christ the Word.

We find this same thing take place even way back at His first coming... Remember Jesus told a parable in Matthew 21 about how there was a land owner Who had much land and so he rented out many of his fields to men who would till it and harvest from it. They were supposed to pay this land owner a certain amount of their harvest in return for the use of the land. But every time he sent his servants to collect what was due, they beat them and the servants returned empty handed. Then the Land owner said, "I will send my own Son for surely they will honor and respect Him. So when they saw His Son coming they said among themselves, this is the heir; come let us kill Him, and let us seize on His inheritance. And they caught Him and cast Him out of the vineyard, and slew Him.". Notice their motives: They had entered into a covenant with the Land owner but had no intentions of keeping it. And they even sought out how they could take the lands for themselves.

Acts 20: 26 - 34 (read) perverse things = mouthing distortions : to draw away, Wuest = with the purpose

Now notice what brother Branham said here,... . Stay with God and His Word. They won't let you; or, you can't even belong to their congregation, won't accept you on the platform. So let them have it, let the dead bury the dead, let's follow Christ the Word.

Matthew 23: 13 suffer = to permit or allow Here we find men, actually these are false shepherds, because they are keepers of the door, the Word. And these won't enter into the Word themselves and they won't allow others who want to enter to go in either. Now why won't they enter?

Romans 1: 18 Suppress it, to restrain or hold it back. So this shows that they are fully aware but are willfully ignorant.

Romans 1: 18 => For God’s Holy wrath and indignation are revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who in their wickedness repress and hinder the Truth and make it inoperative

( Remember, Jesus could not do many mighty works because of the people’s own unbelief. So it is their own unbelief that suppresses the Truth and Keeps it back from others.) and we will address how they do this a little later on in this Message this morning.

Romans 10: 2 - 3 (read) notice here what ignorance produces. They go about to establish their own righteousness, right - wise -ness

John 5: 38 - 44 (read) they come in their own name.

Now this morning I would like to examine this thought on Motives and End -Time Evangelism. Actually I want to speak on True End -Time Evangelism. Now if God sends you forth with True End-Time Evangelism then you will not produce crowds. True End -Time Evangelism will only produce The True Word, but "since many more are the children of the Desolate than She that has a husband," then it is evident that Large numbers are not a sign of God's gathering, but of shuck being bound together. I believe many ministers judge their worth today by how many churches they are invited to and how many people they "perform" before. That is totally carnal. A musician or actor or football star might use this criteria for endorsement ratings but not so a True Five Fold Minister of God. In Fact there are many scriptures that will show just the opposite.

Galatians 4: 27 many more children

2 Peter 2: 1 - 3 and Many shall follow their pernicious way's

Brother Neville said, A vote doesn't necessarily mean that God is in it, it simply means that you have just influenced more people to your way of thinking. Look at Matthias. He was chosen by the 12 Apostles to take Judas's place, but God chose Paul. You never even here of Matthias after he was voted in.

John 10: 22 => 39 (read) Notice here that it was not for what Jesus did, but what He said that caused such a ruckus among them. As I have been telling you for the past few weeks the Word of God is Confrontational. It will look you in the face, face to face. True End -Time Evangelism therefore will therefore bring forth an action for or against it. It will cause a response. There's no in between. You must either choose to believe it, or you will oppose it.

Matthew 12: 30 => 32 (read) he that is not with Me is against Me. Even Brother Branham said concerning the taking of communion, that if you don't take it, it shows that you have no part with Him. From a Message he preached called, WHAT IS THE HOLY GHOST "If he don't live the life he should keep away from it or he will be drinking damnation to himself, but if he doesn't take it, it shows that your own conscience is guilty, ' He that eateth not has no part with Me,' Jesus said."

1 Corinthians 11: 26 - 31 (read)

Hebrews 4: 12 (read) It brings confrontation. The Word is a Two edged Sword. It is made to cut coming and going. It is a discerner of the very thought and intents of the heart. And the word discern means to Judge. Brother Branham told us that the last attribute God displayed in Abraham's time was Judge. Abraham said, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" And we know that He stands at the door today in this Laodicean age as the Word of God knocking trying to gain entrance. We see the same seen in the book of James as well.

Revelation 3: 14 - 20 confrontation

James 5: 7 - 9 JUDGE.

True End - Time Evangelism will preach the same Message that carried throughout the ages and will not hold back.

Acts 20: 26 - 27 (read) shunned = hupostello. To keep back or draw back. Or shrink back as a timid person who hesitates to avow what they believe and are afraid to utter what they believe so they shrink back from declaring and conceal their belief.

Hebrews 10 : 38 (read)

In the Church Age book page 74 & 75 brother Branham said, Paul was the pattern not only for every Messenger to come but also for every True Minister of God. And thus His ministry had a three-fold purpose of God.

1) First and foremost he was True to the Word of God. He never deviated from it no matter what the Cost

Galatians 1: 8 - 9 Galatians 2: 11, 14 1 Corinthians 14: 36 - 37

Paul was unorganized but Spirit led as when God moved upon Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt.

The Jerusalem's council never sent Paul out, nor did it have any power or jurisdiction over him. God,

and God alone did the leading. Paul was not of men, but of God and answered only to God. Galatians

1: 1 Galatians 2: 3 - 5

2) Secondly, His ministry was in the power of the Spirit, thereby demonstrating the spoken Word.

3) He had the evident fruit of His God Given ministry. 1 Corinthians 9: 1 - 2, 2 Corinthians 3: 1 - 2

If you follow through with this thought, and examine True Evangelism you will see this Pattern set forth in every age. Since God changes not and Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever, then you will see that those that serve Him must also have the same nature.

Look at Jesus, Stephen the first Martyr, and Paul :

Acts 13: 40 => 52

I have articles that Iraenaeus wrote, being the second Messenger and you find that his whole Life was fraught with confrontation with those who were false brethren, who would take the Word of God and mix it with fables and stories that actually put a perverted twist to the Word. (Read Iranaeus against heresies)

Next you found Justin Martin who it is said didn't mess around with carnal impersonations and we all know the story about the young man who had a robe. Explain. Also

CHRISTIANITY.VS.IDOLATRY JEFF.IN V-8 N-2 61-1217

I was reading in The Life of Saint Martin sometime ago, that where a boy--he was actually a monk. And he said that God had called him to be one of the old prophets, "You listen to me, I am one of the old prophets." And the school... Martin, of course, wouldn't listen to such a thing as that. So they didn't believe it because the boy's life didn't pattern up to it. Finally, he said, "I'm going to prove to you that I'm called to be an old prophet. Just a young fellow," said, "but I'm called." See, "Gifts and callings are without repentance." See, they get off the Word. And when you get off the Word you get into anything. And this boy said, "Tonight, around midnight, God is going to give me a white robe to set among you all with, to show that I'm an old prophet." So they... That night, they all listened, and whispering, "come in," and people traveling. And the boy received a white robe. When the visitor left, they went and looked at the robe; it was genuine, a real, white robe, looked very good. But the old bishop, he just couldn't get that. It didn't seem right, because, it just wasn't Scriptural--a white robe. And when he did, they said, "Take this robe and go stand before Saint Martin, that man of God." And he wouldn't do it. He wouldn't stand before that genuine prophet. He wouldn't stand; and they forced him to do it. And when they started to take him, the robe vanished and went somewhere; they didn't know where it went. See, when it's brought to a showdown!

76 CHRISTIANITY.VS.IDOLATRY JEFF.IN V-8 N-2 61-1217

If you've got genuine gold, you don't have to worry about whether it's good or not, it'll stand the trial anywhere. And the real Spirit of God will stand the trial because it's tried on the Word of God. "Upon this rock I'll build My Church." I've seen people get into hysterics, good people. (Now you can see why I don't want this--this tape sold.) I have seen good people, and Pentecostal people--pastors who didn't understand, the people get into hysterics, and fall into trances, and everything like that; and--and do things, and finally run them into the insane institution. It was opening up their heart--innocent people, and devils came in and taken place. There is a real Devil!.... I was reading here where satan came to... I believe it was Iranaeus or Martin, one. (Some of the Bible students that's better versed in this than I... ) Had a gold crown on his head, white robe on, shoes inlaid with gold, and said, "I'm the Christ, confess Me!" That saint wouldn't do it. That real prophet of God stood there, waited. And they said two or three times to him, "I'm the Christ, confess Me!" He said, "Our Christ don't come like that." That's right. You've got to know the Word! Stay on the Word! See, the great battle is at hand. Now, we've played church for years and years, but the hour has come now that when Jambres and Jannes will withstand Moses as the Bible said they would. And it's going to be spiritual battle--conflict. There will be some just continue on.

PERGAMEAN.CHURCH.AGE JEFF.IN ROJC 229-285 60-1207

But he was destroying a pagan grove one day, and a-tearing down a pagan altar, and there was a sacred tree standing by the pagan altar. And he was cutting this tree down, and many standing by was resenting it. He said, "If I be a man of God, tie me the way that tree's leaning and let the tree fall on me. If I be a man of God... If I'm not a man of God, the tree will kill me. If I am a man of God, my God can twist that tree somewhere else." Quite a challenge... So they started chopping on the tree; and when the tree started to fall, it switched around and killed a bunch of the spectators. God twisted it back up the hill: A miracle. Oh, all the time there was miracles in his meetings.

18 THYATIREAN.CHURCH.AGE JEFF.IN ROJC 287-327 60-1208

Now, this great saint here was Columba. He was a great man of God. Now, I've got his history kind of written down here. First, the fourth church age, "Thyatira," it means to be "laxed, loose, or hazy." See, it was just a illegitimate time from 606 to 1500. The star was Columba, from Ireland and Scotland, which was a nephew to Saint Martin; and lived about sixty years after Saint Patrick, and so his ministry begin about sixty years after Saint Patrick. His... He never did accept the Roman doctrine. He was a great man of faith. He rejected the Roman teaching, never did go to Rome, and rejected it altogether. As I couldn't see where they'd ever canonized him. Like they did Saint Martin and them; they didn't canonize him and Irenaeus because they were still in that church that had signs and wonders of Pentecost, but believed. He never took the Roman teaching, on their teachings. He took the Bible for the teaching after his godly mother, the sister of Saint Martin, and never took the Roman teachings at any time. He taught that signs of Mark 16 should follow every believer. Amen. I... That's the kind of guy I like, believers. Yes, sir.

He--he heard God's audible voice calling. That's another good sign too. See? Then nothing could stop him after that; he was gone (See?), he was on the road when he heard the audible voice of God.

E-114 CONFIRMATION.OF.THE.COMMISSION TEMPE.AZ 62-0122

Polycarp, Ignatius, Martin, Irenaeus, Columba (oh, my), Justin, how many more of real godly ones that wouldn't tolerate that other church at all, the Roman side of it. They stayed catholic. We're catholic too, apostolic catholic. Now, "catholic" means universal. But the Roman Catholic took into crucifix and dogmas, and so forth, like that; and said (not the Bible), they... "God was in His church." God is in His Word. The Bible said, "If any man shall take away or add anything to It, the same will be taken, his part out of the Book of life." We believe just what God said, and that's all. Now. So we still believe that message. Martin Luther, Wesley Read pages 103 & 104 of Wesley's biography