Follow Me #6
(What Lackest thou?)
Sunday morning
Rev Brian Kocourek
Now, for the past few messages we
have spoken on the Spirit of
destruction and how it comes into the people. We have found that
God has made people like sheep. People were created to follow a leader, just
like sheep were created to follow a shepherd. But where you end up all depends
on who you are following. In the book of
Matthew, chapter 15, right
after Jesus puts the Pharisees in their place, He asks the question, “If
the blind follow the blind won’t they all fall in a ditch?” And if God
can not destroy the people until they are in the spirit for destruction, then
someone has to get them into that spirit for destruction. Then it only suffices
to reason that there will have to be a ministry to get the people into the
spirit for destruction. And we found in our study that Paul warned the early
church that men would arise among them who would speak perverse things. And
these perverse things would be a gospel that had been perverted. Now the word
perverted that Paul spoke of is one which means, {perverted = metastepho} to turn around or turn back again. A change
of the mind going backwards from what one has come out from.
Now, last night we examined this
going backwards and read several dozen quotes from Brother Branham that spoke
of this spirit where the people could not seem to focus on what God is doing
now, but rather seem to focus upon a historical aspect instead. He said the
natural man looks back,
while the spiritual man moves forward. Now, this morning, I want to change the
pace and begin to look at the next few paragraphs of this message and we can
see that it shifts into a more pastoral type of a message. So with that let’s
first go back to Matthew before Jesus says, , “If
the blind follow the blind won’t they all fall in a ditch?” Because we
want to see what prompted this response from Jesus. [Matthew
15: 1-3] Notice how they wanted to put Jesus on the spot and He turned it
right around and put them on the hot seat. [Matthew 15:4-6] Notice the debate going on back and forth between
Jesus and these men. But actually Jesus is the one who is debating for them,
because He is telling them exactly how they are, and what motivates them. And
He tell them that they reason contrary to Gods Word,
and yet because they actually know better, He calls them hypocrites. [7-9].
[Matthew 15:10-20] Now, let’s pick up at paragraph 27 of the Message Follow Me where we find Brother Branham explaining the different
stages that the human spirit must go in it’s stages of
following.
27 Follow me The first
is the mother's kindness, then the father's word. After the mother gives you your first step, then you look to your daddy, all of us, for
wisdom, because he's the head of the house. And he usually... Not that he's
any smarter, but he's just made a leader of his family, so we follow what our
daddy says do. When he says, "Now, son, I would like for you to do a
certain-certain thing," then we listen to him because it's wisdom that we
listen (See?); he's learned a whole lot and we've got to ask him and see what
he learned, and then we can profit by what he's learned. He tells us, "Now, don't go and do this, because I did
that. My father told me not to do it, but I did it, and it caused this to
happen to me, something bad." So, see, Then he, daddy, tells us how to do,
and what to do right.
Now, it doesn’t take intelligence to
re-invent the wheel, it takes stupidity. If I have a wheel available to me, I
would have to be stupid not to use it. And if you kids have a father who has
tried to help you by telling you his mistakes in life, then don't be ignorant
and do the same things. be smart, show how intelligent
you can be by not making the same mistakes. That’s what He’s saying here. Use
the wisdom that your dad has obtained. You can save yourself a life of sorrow
and trouble if you just listen to his advise. Look! since I was a child I always have liked to talk to older
people and get advise from them. We never get too old and too knowledgeable
that we have an answer for everything. And Even today
I will ask advise from those who are older than me because if someone has
already traversed a place that I know I must also walk, then I want to know
where the land mines are waiting. I want to know where the pitfalls are at. I
don’t like walking blindly through life and I know that there is nothing new
under the sun, so therefore, if I want to avoid pain and sorrow in my life,
then I need to ask advise from those who have walked there before me.
Look, this is nothing new I’m
telling you. Many schools offer this sort of on the job training where you work
as an apprentice under the master so to speak. You can only get so much
training through books and class room study. But your best training comes when
you have to apply those skills under the tutelage of a master, or some one who
has already been there and done that, so to speak.
Follow Me #6 (What Lackest thou?)
28 Then after mother leads us, for
a time we have to get a little wisdom to understand from daddy, then we get
another. We get another leader, and that's a teacher, a good school teacher.
She tries to teach you and give you an education to fit you better in life, for
a place, a position that you can read your Bible, and you can read the songs,
and you can learn of God, and read yourself. You see? And then, another thing,
maybe you'd have business, and somebody write you a letter, mama, daddy,
somebody write you a letter, you couldn't read. See? So the teacher, she has
you then, and she leads you to learn to write and to read. And it's a good
thing, a good teacher, to teach you right. But now, after you leave that, after
you leave the teacher, one teacher after the other one, from a little primer, a
little first grade, on till you get out of high school or go to college... Then
when you leave college, and then the teacher is through leading you. See?
29 Now,
mama has taught you to walk. See? Papa has taught you how to be brilliant and a
nice young man, and how to take care of yourself and behave yourself. The teacher
has taught you an education, how to read and write right. But now you're
leaving papa, you're leaving mama, and you're leaving the teacher, now somebody
has to take you from here on. Now, who do you want to take you from here on? [A
child says, "Jesus."--Ed.] That's right. Jesus to take you from there on. Now, that's a very good
answer, very fine. Jesus takes you from there on.
30 Now, you see, this young fellow that we're
talking about, he is called the rich young ruler. Now, this fellow, he had been
guided pretty well. Now, his mother had taught him to walk. And, you see, he was yet a young man, maybe just out of
high school, and a very popular young man. And by being well trained, maybe
walked correct, and so forth, how his mother had taught him... And he had been a successful young man too,
because look, he was already rich. And he was just a young man, maybe eighteen
years old, just out of high school, and he was rich. Now, you see, he had the
right kind of a teacher to teach him to walk right. And he had a right kind of
a teacher, his father; till even at yet a young man and he was rich in money;
he had made him a lot of money. He might've been a real... He was a ruler even
at that age, very successful. See? And now, he had a teacher that had taught
him, taught him the right thing, how he would. He had his education. And then another teacher this young man had,
which that depends on how you're raised up, but this young man had a religious
teaching in his home.
33 Now, some children, did you know there's a lot of little children that don't have any
religious teaching at home? Now, I
would like to stop right here just for a moment and ask this question. “Just
because you come to this church and say you believe the message doesn’t place
you in or out. I know a girl who was a deacon’s daughter in this message, and
she said that her parents never taught her anything about the Word of God or
this Message. She said everything she ever learned she had learned in church.
Now do we have any of those children in here today? Are there any of you
parents that don’t instruct your children in the doctrine of Christ? Are you
children asking questions from your mom and dad to try to find out the Truth of
the Word? Let’s listen to the rebuke that brother Branham is telling the people
here.
33 Now, some children, did you know there's a lot of little children that don't have any
religious teaching at home? Their father and mother don't believe in God. And
their father and mother, drink, smoke, fight, and run out at one another at
nights, and things, and don't cook their
little boy's and girl's suppers, and things. Aren't you glad you got a real
good Christian father and mother? Now, when you have children, don't you want
to be the same kind of a father and mother as your father and mother is? See?
Now, but that's all good.
34 Now, this young man had
had... And he had a religious teaching. See, that was far beyond what some of
them had, 'cause they don't have religious teaching. But this young man had had
religious teaching, because (See?) because he said he kept the commandments
since he was a boy. Now, you all got
good religious teachers too, each one of you. And you little teenage girls and
boys, you all had good teachers, your father and
mother here in this camp got everything that you... Every potential that you
know, that's possible, for you to make a real good man and woman, a servant to
God. Because remember, you're going to
die someday, or either be translated into heaven. And if you die before His
coming, you'll be raptured first. Did you know that? Did you know those who are
dead...
Follow Me #6 (What Lackest thou?)
If mama and papa dies before you do,
and Jesus doesn't come in our generation, do you know these, papa and mama,
will come forth first, glorified, before you? See? The trumpet of
God shall sound, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are
alive and remain shall be caught up with them. We'll be changed in it like
that. We've got to remember, that's the main thing in life. You understand now?
That's the main thing in life we got to do, is to get ready to meet God.
37A Now,
just religion won't work. See? This one young ruler here, he said,
"Good Master..." Now, remember, before I say it. He had been taught
to walk right. He had a good education. He'd been taught business, and was
rich, and was a ruler, and had religion. But he was confronted with another
problem, and it confronts all of us: Eternal
Life. Religion doesn't give us Eternal Life. Religious is a covering, but it don't give
us Eternal Life. And yet, him taught with the best teachers there was, he was yet lacking something. And the young
man knew it, because he said, "Good Master, what can I do to inherit
Eternal Life?"
[Mark
37B Now, you, you believe Jesus is God, don't
you? So He knew the thoughts of the young man, so He said, "Keep the
commandments." He went right back to his religion, to see what he'd say
about his religion. He said now, in other words, "Keep your
religion." He said, "I have
did this since a boy," little boys like you. "My mama and papa, and
my priest, taught me religion. But I know, in my religion, that I still don't
have Eternal Life." See?
40 You can be good. Don't steal. Don't smoke.
Don't lie. Don't lie to papa and mama. Don't tell that first lie,
'cause, you tell one, then it becomes easier to tell another one. See? But you
mustn't do that. Don't tell the first one.
Did you know your body's not made to lie? Do you know, they got a device
now, it's works off of your nerves. They can put a
little band around your wrist here, and put one across your head, and then you
can say there, say, you say, "I lied about that, but I can say it so easy
that they'll believe that I'm telling it the truth." And you can
say... They would say, "Was you at
a certain place, like did you sit in that Brother Shantz's trailer, while
Brother Branham preached, Sunday afternoon on this day?" And you'd say, "No, sir. I didn't set
there. No, sir."
You know what that lie detector will say? "Yes, sir, you did. Yes,
sir, you did." You say, "I did
not." It'll say, "Yes, you
did." Why? Because
a lie is such a horrible thing. The body wasn't made to lie. And it's
such a horrible thing, till it upsets the whole nerve system, when you lie.
Whew. Upset like that, will give you ulcers, fungus growth; it'd kill you. And
then a lie is a bad thing, 'cause (See?) you're not supposed to lie, to steal,
to do any of these things.
45 Now, so this young man had probably been... He hadn't lied, he never stole, and he
was conscious that he needed ever Eternal Life. So he said, "What can
I do to have It?"
And Jesus is showing here now
that religion won't do it. So He sent right back to him, and said,
"Keep the commandments." And
he said, "Master, I've did this since I was a little boy, or a little,
when just a little bitty fellow I did this." But he knowed he didn't have
Eternal Life. So He said then, "If you would enter into Life, Eternal
Life, want to be perfect, then go sell
what..." See, now, it's all right
to have money. See, it's all right to have money, be rich. And be a ruler,
that's all right. But it's the way you
act after you become that. See?
And I would like to stop here and
tell you this. I know of several brothers who loved the Lord deeply when they
were poor people. But when they prayed and we prayed for them to get a better
job, what happened> They got carried away with
their material possessions and those possessions took them over. I’ll never
forget a brother that went to a church down south that I knew. A real nice brother, and he had a good wife too. But he struggled with
finances because he didn’t seem to have much success with finding a good job.
But what did he do? God blessed him with a good job, and when the money started
coming in, and the material things began to accumulate, the first thing they
stopped coming to church on Wednesday nights, and then communion night and
finally they quit coming to church all together. she
cut her hair and started sun bathing. Then finally they just began to lust
after other things until they ended up in divorce. There lives ruined. But did
they turn back to God? Absolutely not. How could they
with Heb 6 in effect.
Follow Me #6 (What Lackest thou?)
C.O.D. PG 658 "If you have been enlightened and
then turn away from your enlightenment, it is impossible for that person to
ever regain his place again. See?
"
HEBREWS CHPTR 7, PG. 342 If you deliberately see the Holy Spirit do
the things that it did right here this morning, and see that Christ is risen from the dead (and he's living in His
church and Among His people, and you
willfully turn it down, it's
impossible for you to ever come to God, 'cause you've blasphemed the Holy
ghost.
ANOINTED ONES PP. 233 "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. Now, what scripture
is he quoting?
He said, "Go sell what you've got, and give it to the poor, them
people that hasn't got anything; then come, follow Me, and you'll have
treasures in heaven." But the young man had so much money till he didn't
know what to do with it. Now, see, he was very popular, that young man was.
50 And he is well equipped for
life, the way his father and mother, and the priests and all of them, had
equipped him, but still he knowed he was
lacking something. Now, I'm talking to the adults. He knowed he was lacking
something, and he didn't have Eternal Life. He knew it. See? Religion won't produce Eternal Life. Forms,
sensation, you feel something; you could get scared and feel something. See?
Crying, that's good; shouting, that's good; but that still ain't It. See? You are
confronted with Eternal Life. You
say, "Well, I have been just a staunch Baptist, I a... Methodist,
or Presbyterian, or Pentecostal." That still isn't the question.
This young man was too; he was taught in the religion of the day, but he
still didn't have Eternal Life, so he wanted to know what to do. He had been
guided successful to This. But when he was confronted with It, he refused to
be guided to Eternal Life, or to be led. His other leaders had had such a
hold on him until he didn't want to turn it loose. See?
54
Now, that's something like what Brother
Branham is saying. It's going a little too deep for you. See? Education's fine; you should go to school and learn. See, that's good, but that won't save you. To have plenty of
money, that's good, you could raise your children, give them good clothes
and things, and like papa and mama has worked for you all, and things. That's good, but that still won't save you.
See? Or you could get in a laboratory and learn how to put different things
together, or split atoms, or whatever they do, and get in a rocket and go to
the moon, but that won't save you.
56 You've got to face one thing, Eternal Life, and there's only one Person Who
can give That to you. Mama can't give It to you.
Papa can't give It to you. Your pastor can't give It to you. Your leader here can't give It
to you. Everybody that gets Eternal Life
has got to come to Jesus Christ. He is the only One Who
can give that part. Your teacher can
give you an education; she can teach you; you have to learn it. Your mother can
teach you to walk; you have to learn to walk. Your father can teach you how to
be a businessman, or what; you have to learn that. But only Jesus can give you Eternal Life. See? Your priest, your leader, or so forth, can
teach you your religion, you can learn
the Message that we're trying to teach, but still that won't give you Eternal
Life. You've got to accept the
Person, Jesus Christ. You understand that, all of you? Got
to accept the Person, Jesus Christ, to have Eternal Life now. But sometimes other leadership gets so much
influence on us till we don't know what to do then when that time comes.
59 Now,
what a fatal thing it is to reject the leadership to Eternal Life, because
(See?) that's Life that never can end. Now, the education, that's fine, that'll
help us here. Business, that's fine. Money, that's fine. Be a good boy and
girl, that's fine. But, you see, when life is finished
here, that's all. You understand? You adults understand? See, that's all. But
then we've got to accept Jesus Christ for Eternal Life. Jesus alone can lead
you to that. And though (See?) this
young man had achieved all these things in school, and by his parents and everything, he lost the greatest thing that he
could've had, the leadership of the Holy Spirit, for Jesus said,
"Come, follow Me."
61 And you girls that's just getting out of school, you graduate probably,
some of you, pretty soon, and you young boys; the greatest leadership there is
is Jesus Christ, 'cause that's the leadership to Eternal Life. Now, this
leadership confronts every human being; they are given the opportunity to
choose. And that's one great thing we have in life, is to chose.
Follow Me #6 (What Lackest thou?)
And I would like to ask you all a
question this morning, “What are you living for?” ”Just to survive,
or do we have a purpose in life?” “Then what is the goal of your life?” “And does Christ fit into your plans?” You know one day your life will end in this
body? Then where do you want to spend your eternity? I remember
years ago a young man in this congregation said, “when I
grow up I want to be like Brother Brian” and I felt honored until I heard
why. He said he wanted to work in an office instead of a factory. And where is
he today? Kids think that just because I am now an adult and go to college, that I can put God on hold until I get old and
crusty and then I’ll turn back to God when I need Him. It’ll be too late then.
Hebrews 6 never applied until this hour. Those people who have been once for all
enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made companions
of the Holy Spirit, to turn away from this, they will never come to a change of
the mind again. For them it’s over. some of these people I
do not expect to ever see them darken these door s again. They have walked out
on God and this is the hour that you just can not do that because Jesus said to
do so when the Holy spirit comes will never be
forgiven. Does that mean that some of these kids who have strayed off will
never come back? I don’t say all, but
that is what God said, and I can only say what He said.
But, oh preacher, how can you say
that about my Johnny. Well, I can say that because God said that. Does Hebrews
6 take place in this hour? How many people do you know that left this message
that ever came back? Well, you say, Oh, I
know a brother that left this church and came back. But that’s not what I said,
I said, who do you know that left this Message? You leave this Word and God
leaves you period.
Look, kids, I have walked the walk,
and have given up more opportunities
to be wealthy than any of you will ever have. Not just once, not just twice nor
even three times, but I have repeatedly been given opportunity to turn away
from my calling and be rewarded with job offers that would give my family all
the things they could dream of. I have
turned down nearly half a dozen job opportunities where I could be making six and even
seven figure income, because I knew this Message is greater than any momentary
wealth. And had I chosen to pursue professional sports, I would be a
millionaire today. Had I chosen business over the ministry, I would be
very well off today, because it runs in my family. Even in my numerology,
brother Vayle told me years ago that wealth would come very easily for me,
and would be a trap if I let it. But I never let it. I can honestly go before My heavenly Father and have the same testimony as a few of
my other Brothers in the Lord. What keeps me going is that I’m in good company
with Moses and Daniel and Paul and others in the Election of God, who forsook
the wealth of
Remember always that what you sow is
what you will reap. Remember the two laws of Blessings and cursings. Deuteronomy 28.
Believe and receive God’s vindicated Word and all these blessings will not only
come upon you, but they will actually take over you. If any of you young people have aspirations of
College, my advise is this. Go to college but live at
home while you do. More young people have lost their direction in life because
they left home to go somewhere to get a better education. Oh, they got educated
all right. But not the right kind. You can get an
education in many ways. getting ripped off by worldly
wise con men is also an education, but I don’t thing you really want that kind
of an education. I have yet to see young people raised up right who go off to
college and come back untainted. You can’t go into Satan’s kingdom and expect
to come out unscathed and more than you can expect to go into a hogpen and
expect to come out clean.
He said, “come out from among them and
touch not any unclean thing, and I will be a father to you, And
I will be your God and ye shall be my people.”
Let’s pray...