MASTERPIECE No. 15
He Careth do You?
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Rev. Brian Kocourek
As we go to the
Word this morning I would like for you to mark these verse of Scripture in your
Bible or write them down so you can go back to them and make comparisons
between them. Now we are going to read three different renderings of the same
parable that Jesus tells us in Matthew Mark and Luke. Therefore to begin, let’s
open our Bibles to …
MATTHEW 13:18 Hear ye therefore the
parable of the sower. 19 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. So we see that these are basically those who have
received the Seed which is the Word, and because they have no understanding of
what it was all about, they soon fall away from the message. They just don’t
last very long at all.
20 But he that received the seed into
stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth
it; 21 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. Now, this is
the guy who comes to hear that God sent a prophet and comes to hear the message
and believes it and actually sets out to walk in it, but when obstacles are set
before them causing them to have to take a stand for the Truth of the Message,
they can’t seem to hold up under that sort of pressure, and they fall
away. He said because they had no root.
And we know to have roots speaks of lineage. Because they are not seed they can
not last within this Message, and so under trials and duress because of the
Message, they can’t take the pressure and walk away from the truth..
22 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 he becometh unfruitful. Now, what we have seen so far are three kinds of
unbelievers who respond to the word in three different kinds of ways. But
notice I said unbelievers for if they truly believed their would be nothing to
keep them from the Word. But in each of these kinds of unbelievers there is
something that takes them out of from
following the word. Now, I want you to
notice that this last group is where Brother Branham was most concerned with.
He feared that the cares of this world would be too strong for many and would
end up keeping them out of the Rapture.
23 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, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some
thirty. Now, what makes
this one different from the other three is that when he hears the word he
understands it, and thus can’t help but to produce fruit. The others did not
understand, but this one understands and that is the only difference between
them, and in him of course the understanding produces fruit.
Now, in the
third group of people we see that the Son of Man went forth sowing seeds, and
then something happened. The Seed was sown but something prevented that seed
from taking root and bringing forth fruit. He did not say this group had no
roots so they did have ties as sons of god. But something happened to this
group that took them out of the way.
Notice it was
the Cares of this life along with the deceitfulness of riches that choked off
the Word in them. Now, let’s examine this parable again as told by Mark.
MARK 4:13 And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye
know all parables? 14 The sower soweth the word. 15 And these are they by the
way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately,
and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.
Now, these are
those people who you might have managed to get them to a meeting to hear about
the word but because there was no understanding immediately they fall away.
Why? Because there was nothing there to begin with.
16 And these are they likewise which are
sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive
it with gladness; 17 And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a
time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake,
immediately they are offended. Now, these are those people who because they came to a church where
the pastor might have preached a bit
tough, or they might have met with trials in their life and got angry with God,
or they might have met some unfriendly people in the church and decided they
would not hang around and allow themselves to be uncomfortable, so they left,
they walked out on God because of some trial, and so they fall away.
Then we have
again this third group who also fall away, but their falling away is different.
It is not that they intend to reject the Truth, but something happens that
comes upon them and they do not even know that the Life in the Word is being
squeezed out from the word in their life.
MARK 4:18 And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,
19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts
of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.
So we see in
this group there is something else that takes them out and causes them to fall
away, before they could manifest fruit as a result of the Word in their Life.
MARK 4:20 And these are they which are sown
on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive [it], and bring forth fruit,
some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.
Now, I would
like to read this parable from one more source for three is a witness. So we
see in the Book of LUKE 8:11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word
of God. 12 Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and
taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be
saved. 13 They on the rock [are they],
which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which
for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.
14 And that which fell among thorns are
they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and
riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. 15 But that on the good ground are they,
which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring
forth fruit with patience.
Now, in all
three renditions of this parable we see that there was some that just had no
clue and so the Word went over their head like the water off the back of a
duck. Then there were those who really did enjoy what they heard from the Word,
but when it came time to take a stand for what they knew to be true, they
didn’t have the backbone to stand alone.
So they took
the easy way out and left. And then we found this third group that seemed to
have nothing said against them as far as understanding, and as far as trials
goes. They were a people who understood the word and fought through the trial,
but then something else was added to the testing and they fell away do to the
cares of this life and the deceitfulness of riches.
Now, it was not
the cares of this life that caused them to fall but the deceitfulness of riches
in combination with the cares of this life that drew them away from Christ. For
every man must cope with the cares of this life. The word cares there was
translated from a Greek word “merimna” which means “cares or solicitude” which
in plain English means anxieties of Life.
The second definition of this Greek word “merimna” means “a distraction”.
So you see the
cares of this life can become a great distraction from God’s Word only if we seek
to rid ourselves of them through the deceitfulness of riches. In other words,
the cares of this life can become a distraction away from God’s purpose and
plan in your life only if you allow the deceitfulness of riches to become your
focus. If you have these cares of life, or these distractions but keep your
focus upon God’s Presence here and what His purpose and plan is for you in this
hour, then you will not focus upon riches as your way out, for you don’t care
about getting wealth because you know that it is deceitful, and temporary.
As Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 2: 17-26 "So
I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me.
All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. I hated all the things I had
toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after
me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have
control over all the works which I have poured my effort and skill under the
sun. This too is meaningless. So my heart began to become anxious over
all my toilsome labor under the sun. For a man may do his work with wisdom,
knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not
worked for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. What does a man
get for all his toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the
sun? All his days his work is pain and grief; Even at night his mind does not
rest. This too is meaningless. A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink
and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see is from the hand of God, for
without him who can eat or find employment? To the man who pleases Him, God
gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of
gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God.
This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind".
So we see in
these three Scriptural renderings of this parable that it is not just
the anxieties of this life, the bills and the mortgage and the auto loans, and
the utilities etc. but it is the loosing focus during these trials of the cares
of this life, and turning our focus to how we can obtain enough wealth to
ensure we do not have to continue to strive with these trials.
But the fact is that everyone on earth has these
things to consider, but what set the last group apart from that third group is
the way they dealt with the cares of this life. They kept their focus on the
things of God and thus bore much fruit as a result. A man that serves God does
not have to focus on making enough income or wealth to help them with the cares
of this Life. He simply takes Jesus advice concerning how to deal with all the
stress that comes as a result of the Cares of this life.
Can anyone tell me what Jesus advice was? We find
the answer in MATTHEW 6:31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall
we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 For after all these things do the Gentiles
seek (In other words he is saying, hey this is common for all
man, and he further says) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all
these things. And that is exactly what Brother Branham tells us in
the next paragraph, paragraph 15 of the Masterpiece.
The
Masterpiece pp.15 When I come
here I keep you long. I pray to God when I felt like I wanted to come here
today... I've had so many interviews, and calls, and so forth; I had to meet
some of them this morning. And I said, "Well, Brother Neville will no
doubt ask me to speak." That was Friday. And I said, "Brother Neville
will probably ask me to speak. And when
I do, then I pray, God... It's so hot, been so hot. And He was good to send us a rain and break the real extreme heat and
give us a good morning this morning. I pray that His goodness will shower each one of you all that you'll ever remember
being here this morning. May His grace and blessings be upon you.
And so we see in Brother Branham’s example that he
knows when he preaches he takes a long time, yet he weather was so hot he did
not wish to compound the problem for the people so he went to God with his
problem and God changed the weather so the people would not have to suffer
unduly in the heat, because to do so would have been a distraction to the word
of God. And Jesus said, 33 But seek ye first the
I remember several years ago we had a record
setting temperature here in
God touched me in my heart to pray that morning and
in prayer as we began the service we simply and humbly asked God to change the
weather and drop it by at least thirty degrees. When we left the church, we
went down the street to eat, and when we come out I remember to this day seeing
that little black cloud about the size of a fist and I remember immediately
that Elijah had seen the same thing, and so I turned to the brethren standing
next to me and said, something is about to happen. Shortly thereafter we were
in a store when the lights all went off and then a backup system kicked in. I
turned to brother Michael and said, there’s something happening outside.
We went outside and a cloud that looked to be a
mile high and covered from east to west come down from the north and like a
huge bulldozer, swept across the skies bring cold from the north and dropping
the temperature from 102 to 70 degrees within minutes. There was not a person
that had attended service that morning but what called me within the next few
hours to remind me of that prayer. Everyone saw the loving hand of our
Father-God watching out for the sake of his children bringing the temperature
to a place of cool relief.
Now,
everyone in
So
you see the cares of this life are universal cares and needs, but Peter told us
in, 1 Peter 5: 7 Casting all your
care upon him; for he careth for you.
Lk 21: 29 ¶ And he spake to them a parable; Behold the
fig tree, and all the trees; Now, notice that he is
talking about the fig tree which is Israel and then he says and all the trees.
Now in Psalms one a righteous man is likened unto a tree that is planted by the
river and he produces his fruit in the right season. So Jesus is speaking here
about the time when
Now, the Shout is a
kalusma which is a military command and a military command is given for the
purpose of bringing all under that command into subjection to that
command. They say, “Attention! And all
fall into attention. And when the angel of the Lord was standing there with
Brother Branham the bride started to get out of line, and he yelled out, that
means he let go with a loud “Shout”, “stay
in Line”, which is a military command of subjection. Anyway, Jesus
continues, )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.
Now, notice then that
Jesus switches gears here for a second and he begins to warn them about the
condition of that hour when the
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. Now,
I want you to notice the words of Jesus used a word surfeiting which comes from the root
to satiate which means to saturate or to overindulge, so the Lord is warning
them not to be of such a nature or lack of watchfulness that they get carried
away with the cares of this world, and thus the cares of this world saturates
them completely. Because when something is saturated, it becomes a very heavy
burden to carry. And then he adds, and drunkenness and the word drunkenness signifies
to us a loss of ability to rationally reason for ourselves that which is
stable, and when the mind becomes discombobulated form the body, it affects
your walk. That is why the Police when giving a sobriety test will have you
walk a straight line, and those that are drunken can not walk the straight and
narrow line. And don’t forget that brother Branham told us of his vision where
the little Bride was starting to step out of line, and he shouted “stay in
Line”.)
35
For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole
earth. Notice that these conditions will come to ensnare
mankind into them. I don’t care if you are in the deepest parts of the jungle
in
And then Jesus ads, and cares of this life, so that day come upon
you unawares. So we find Jesus warning us
that there is coming a great day when the Jews will be in their homeland and
the Elect will come face to face with the Presence of God having come down to
set up His Kingdom, and tat that time there will be a great distraction among
all peoples on earth with the cares of this life and a lack of reasoning in how
to handle those trials.
Notice, he said, 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. And that word before is a Greek word which means in the
presence, so he is talking about a time when those who will escape all
these things that are about to come upon all the earth shall do so by standing
in the presence of the son of man.
He said this condition is to come upon every one
who dwells upon the face of the earth. So it is a world wide condition, and
then if so, then it will affect us as well unless we are aware of it. Now, we
are not super humans that can not be affected by these things. We are merely
mortal in this flesh and we need to know what it is that is affecting us before
we can find the cure. If we think this doesn't pertain to us then why did Jesus
warn us that it was coming?
Now, I believe the thing that is causing this
condition in the earth is the focus we have in our lives. 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. But if our focus is upon Christ and His Promises for
us at this last-hour, then we will overcome this trap. Jesus said "if the man
of the house knew what hour the thief was coming, he would have prepared his
home and he would not have suffered the thief to break in."
And he told us in what hour the Son of Man would be
setting up His kingdom, it is in the same hour as the Fig Tree is putting forth
its leaves. The same hour
In Matt 7: 24-27
We are told That the same trials will come upon all who dwell on the face of
the earth. 24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of
mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house
upon a rock.
Now, remember the same man, Jesus that is telling
this parable is the same one that told Peter that the rock is revelation. So
this first man here built his home on revelation.) 25 And the rain descended, and the floods
came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was
founded upon a rock. So Jesus is letting them understand here that
no matter how the trials come, if they are standing by revelation, the trials
will not overcome there stance. But notice what happens to those who are not
standing on revelation.
26 And every one
that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a
foolish man, which built his house upon
the sand: 27 And the rain descended,
and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell:
and great was the fall of it.
Now, notice
that this house was built on the sand and therefore had no foundation to it.
And thus it could not stand up to the same sort of trials that came upon the
other group.
Brother Branham
said from his sermon, Be not afraid 63-0607 P:73 the cares of this world will soon knock all
the testimony out of you too.
Therefore, we see that it did not matter whether
they built there house on sand or a rock the same trials came to both, but how
they built their house did make a big difference as to whether it would
overcome those trials or not.
Most people who
strive their whole life to obtain wealth are very disappointed once they get
it, because on their way to obtaining wealth many of them loose family, and
friends, and find themselves surrounded by a bunch of people they do not like,
and that can not take the place of family, but usually they are so ensnared by
the lure of riches that they find out too late.
Therefore, we
should be able to see that there are two ways that we can deal with the cares
of life in which all those living on this planet must deal with. We can let
those cares overcome us and our thinking and our focus, or we can focus on
Christ, we can seek ye first he kingdom of god and then all those things will
be added unto us.
Separation from unbelief
55-0228 P:14 Our text tonight takes us back to a--a little thing to our minds,
not to mix with unbelievers. The Scripture says, "Don't yoke yourself up
among unbelievers. Do not be unequally yoked together." Many places of the
Scripture teaches us that we should separate ourselves. The first thing that
God required Abraham to do when He called him, was to separate himself from his
people, his kindred, and then He'd bless him. Now, it doesn't mean you have to
leave home; it means just separate yourself from your worldly associates. You
know, today, the people are looking, the pastors and so forth... When the
churches call their pastor, they want a great big six footer, wide shoulders,
dark wavy hair, attractive. That's what they want. That's right. And they want
somebody who'll mix, and go out, and tell a few jokes, and make a few
wisecracks, and so forth. But the Bible wants a separator. God calls
separators. That's right. The Holy
Spirit separates us from the things of the world, from the cares of this world,
and our whole affections set on Christ Jesus. Whether we live or die, we
serve Him and love Him, and go forward, doing all that we can to magnify Him
unto the people.
Let’s just bow our hearts in prayer.