MASTERPIECE No.
16
Understanding Oneness with God and Communion
Wednesday evening, August 3,
2005
Rev. Brian Kocourek
GENESIS
14:18 And Melchizedek king of
GENESIS
18:1 ¶
And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the
tent door in the heat of the day; 2 And
he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he
saw [them], he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward
the ground, 3 And said, My Lord, if now I have found favor in thy sight, pass
not away, I pray thee, from thy servant:
Brother Branham in the
sermon Who is This Melchisedec spoke of Moses desire to see God, and he said, The Word came to the prophet. See, there was God in a
theophany, and the Bible said the Word comes to the prophet. And here was
the Word in the theophany...
Now, I want you to notice
how Brother Branham refers to God being in a that Theophany that Appeared to
Abraham and then he refers to the ONE who was in that Theophany as being The
Word, and He calls Him, "God", The Word, and Elohim. Brother Branham
refers to this same One Who was back in the beginning, the same one Who created
the heavens and the earth and He was called by the name Elohim, meaning, the
self existent ONE. So we are not speaking of the Son of God, but
God Himself in this Theophany form that appeared to Abraham. Now, he did not
say God was a Theophany, nor did He say that this Theophany was God, but he did
say God, the Word, was IN this Theophany. Now, let's continue…
Now, you say,
"Was that God?" Abraham said it was. He said His name
was, He called Him Elohim. Now, in Genesis 1 you find out, "In the
beginning Elohim created the heavens and the earth." In Genesis 18 we find
out that Abraham called this Person that set there and talked to him, and could
tell him the secrets of his heart, tell him what Sarah was thinking behind Him,
Abraham said, "It is Elohim." He was in a theophany form.
You get it?
Notice, He is telling us
the same ONE who was way back in the beginning is the same ONE who appeared in
Genesis 18 with Abraham. And Brother Branham describes this ONE as Elohim, or
God the Word.
Now, in the next paragraph
he speaks concerning this ONE. Here we find our key to understanding the
Godhead, and to understanding how all of God's Prophets were able to keep their
focus correct concerning the Godhead of God.
Brother Branham lays out
the key in this next paragraph. He says, "Now,
we find out that He was then in the theophany form. He called Him, "Lord
God, Elohim." Now, in Genesis 18 we find that that is true.
Now, notice, Abraham... There was three of them together, but when
Abraham met the three, he said, "My Lord." But when Lot down
in
Now, I hope that you caught
what brother Branham said here. He said, but no
matter how many Abraham saw, it was still, "One Lord".
Now the Scripture tells us
plainly in EPHESIANS
4:4
There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your
calling; 5 One Lord, one faith,
one baptism, 6 One God and Father of all, who [is] above all, and through all,
and in you all.
So
no matter how many Abraham saw, it was still,
"One Lord".
Now, I know there are some
that have used PSALMS
110:1 to teach what they call a two lords doctrine Let’s just read
it. ¶ A Psalm of David. The LORD said unto my Lord,
Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. 2 The LORD
shall send the rod of thy strength out of
We see Jesus Himself make
reference to this scripture in MATTHEW 22:42 When he was asking them who the Christ would be.
First he says, Saying,
What think ye of Christ? Now,
that is a very good question, what think ye of Christ? And then he asked the=m
another question, and said, whose son is he? So He is letting us know that the
Christ is to be the Son of the Most High God. Watch what he says next…They say unto him,
The Son of David. 43 He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him
Lord, saying, 44 The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I
make thine enemies thy footstool? 45 If David then call him Lord, how is he his
son? 46 And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from
that day forth ask him any more questions.
Words like that just
knocked the high minded-ness right out of them. Notice then that we ought to
understand by what Jesus was saying that it does not matter what vessel God chooses
to show forth Himself, whether it be the Pillar of Fire, the Burning Bush, the
Pillar of Cloud, the Rock in the Wilderness or Even His Son Jesus. What
matters, is that God was in that vessel doing the works. The vessel could not
do the works, but the Father in that vessel. JOHN
14:10 the words that I speak unto you I
speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
Then in Ephesians the
Apostle Paul gives us His Key to understanding how God was in Christ, bringing
the Two beings into a new Creation, a new man. Now, notice this same Apostle
that said there is One Lord, is also the same one who told us how that God made
an anointed man Christ from two persons joining themselves together.
EPHESIANS 2:14 ¶ For he is
our peace, who hath made both one, (That
means He has made God and man one) and hath
broken down the middle wall of partition between us; (That
means by God becoming one with His Son by indwelling His Son it broke down the
wall that separated man and God forever.) 15 Having
abolished in His flesh the enmity,
even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make IN Himself
of twain (that means TWO) one new man, so making peace;
Now, here is the key to our
understanding the Father and the Son. Here is the key to all we desire in our
relationship to the Father and his Son. It all lays right here in these few
words. for to make in himself of twain
(TWO) one new man, [so] making peace; Paul says of Jesus,
" for to make in himself of twain
(that means for to make of Himself out of TWO)
one new man, and the word of is an acronym meaning out from. Therefore, if we read this correctly, we will read
it as “for to make in himself out from two,
ONE new man”,
and in the making of this One man, Jesus Christ, is what brought
peace between God and
Then it is the One God Who
dwelt in His Son, and the Oneness between that Father and His Son, Dwelling in
Him which is what brought Peace between God and His other children. Then if the
Godhood of God, or even a portion of that Godhood, or God-life is in us, it is
a coming together of Two beings, God and us, His Children, that brings us into
this beautiful relationship with our Father.
Remember, throughout all
the Scriptures the focus of the prophets and writers of Scripture, was a single
focus upon the One true God. Remember as we read last week where Jesus said,
"if our light be single, then the whole Body will be filled with
light."
Now, this being one brings
us to communion because that is what communion is all about. Becoming One with
God, through communing with Him.
From the sermon Who is This Melchisedec, Paragraph 101 brother Branham said, Notice, after the battle was over, Melchisedec served His
victorious child Communion (Think of that.), part of Himself. Now, we want to
see here, in type here is in view the Communion. After the battle He
gave of Himself, because the Communion is part of Christ. And after the
struggle is over, after you've done got yourself whipped out, then is when you
partake of Christ, become part of this Being. You get it?
Let's just turn in our
Bibles to GENESIS 14:18 and read it for
ourselves. "And Melchizedek king of
Now, I want you to
understand the significance of what God's Prophet Moses and now William Branham
are telling us here. Moses tells us of a peculiar thing happening here, The
very God of heaven, coming down to commune with man. And now in this hour
another Vindicated Prophet of God speaks of this Communion as being more than
just the taking of an bread and wine, but he says, "it is a part of
Christ", and it is a sharing of Him.
Notice here he says, "Melchisedec served His victorious child Communion (Think of
that.), part of Himself. Now, we want to see here, in type here is in view the
Communion. After the battle He gave of Himself, because the Communion is part
of Christ. And after the struggle is over, after you've done got yourself
whipped out, then's when you partake of Christ, become part of this
Being."
"when you
partake of Christ, you become part of this Being". That's the same key the
Apostle Paul was speaking of when he said, "for
to make in himself of twain (TWO) one new man, [so]
making peace; "
In order for there, to be a
coming together of the Two, there must be a Communion take place. At least One
of the Two must come to the other and Give of Himself to the Other, for that is
what Communion is all about. And then the other must receive what has been
given.
The word Communion comes
from the Greek word koinonia, and is pronounced like: koy-nohn-ee'-ah} It means
fellowship, - communion - communication or to communicate, - distribution or
contribution. It has to do with fellowship, association, community, and
joint participation together. It means to share what one has in anything.
And it is first used in the
New Testament in the Book of Acts. ACTS 2:42 ¶ And they continued
stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread,
and in prayers. 43 And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs
were done by the apostles. 44 And all that believed were together, and had all
things common;
Now, the thing I want you
to notice is that 4 things took place here. #1) They continued stedfastly in
the Apostles Doctrine. That was first and foremost. And what doctrine was that?
The Apostle John tells us it is the doctrine of Christ. II JOHN 1:9 Whosoever
transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that
abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. And
to understand just how central this doctrine was to their worship and how
important it was to their fellowship, he continues in verse 10 by saying… 10 ¶ If there come any
unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into [your] house,
neither bid him God speed:
So we see the doctrine
is number 1. That gets you to first base. Then secondly, it says, they
partook of fellowship, which is this word koinonia that is also translated
as communion. This tells us that they not only stood for the doctrine but they
shared in the mystery of the doctrine of Christ together, and they built up one
another in that doctrine as we hear the Apostle Paul declare in EPHESIANS 3:7 Whereof I
was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by
the effectual working of his power. 8 Unto me, who am less than the least of
all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the
unsearchable riches of Christ; 9 And to make all [men] see what [is] the
fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been
hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: 10 To the intent that now
unto the principalities and powers in heavenly [places] might be known by the
church the manifold wisdom of God, 11 According to the eternal purpose which he
purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: 12 In whom we have boldness and access with
confidence by the faith of him.
PHILIPPIANS 2:1 ¶ If [there be]
therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any
fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, 2 Fulfill ye my joy,
that ye be likeminded, having the same love, [being] of one accord, of one
mind. 3 Let nothing [be done] through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of
mind let each esteem other better than themselves. 4 Look not every man on his
own things, but every man also on the things of others. 5 Let this mind be in
you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
PHILEMON 1:4 I thank my God,
making mention of thee always in my prayers, 5 Hearing of thy love and faith, which thou
hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints; 6 That the communication
of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing
which is in you in Christ Jesus. Notice the same word koinonia is used but
translated here as communication and it is speaking of the communication of The
Faith, which is the doctrine or Revelation of Jesus Christ.
HEBREWS 13:15 By him therefore
let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of
[our] lips giving thanks to his name. 16 But to do good and to communicate
forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. 17 Obey them that
have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls,
as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with
grief: for that [is] unprofitable for you.
Now, The author of the book
of Acts distinguishes between communion as fellowship, sharing and communing,
verses the mere breaking of Bread, as we see him also mention the breaking
of bread as #3. And finally #4) we find Prayer an integral part of
the early church activities which helped to create an atmosphere of
expectation as we see in verses 43 and 44. and
in prayers. 43 And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were
done by the apostles. 44 And all that believed were together, and had all
things common;
But I want you to notice
that this word koinonia is used as the word Fellowship, because communion
represents more than just the bread and wine. It speaks of fellowship, and to
fellowship means to have more than one fellow in the ship.
I CORINTHIANS 1:9 God [is]
faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son
Jesus Christ our Lord. 10 ¶ Now I
beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak
the same thing, and [that] there be no divisions among you; but [that] ye be
perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
And notice how the
fellowship is sharing in the same thing, and saying the same thing.
ONENESS 62-0211
2 Communion is not taking bread, "commune" means "talk
to, commune back, talk with someone."
I JOHN 1:1 ¶ That which was from the beginning, which we
have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and
our hands have handled, of the Word of life; 2 (For the life was manifested,
and we have seen [it], and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life,
which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) 3 That which we have
seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us:
and truly our fellowship [is] with the Father, and with his Son Jesus
Christ. 4 And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. 5 ¶
This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto
you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that
we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one
with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all
sin.
Notice he said, "we
cannot commune", or enter into this fellowship, if we are walking in
darkness. Light and darkness cannot co-exist together.
In II CORINTHIANS 6:14 The Apostle Paul tells us,
"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers:
(What is an unbeliever? Besides being someone who does not believe,
it also means: unfaithful, faithless, not to be trusted, perfidious,
unbelieving, incredulous, without trust) for what
fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion
hath light with darkness? 15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial
(the worthless and wicked Satan)? or what part hath he that believeth
with an infidel? 16 And what agreement hath the
The very name church means
called out ones. The very purpose of sanctification is to separate ourselves
from the world and the things of the world. You know, right in this message we
have people who do not even understand what it means to be justified and then
sanctified. They al talk about being filled with the holy Ghost, but then they
want to argue the word with you, and they can not accept what the Message
really is. To be justified can only come through Faith which is a revelation.
You are justified by Faith. And there is only One revelation, and that is of
that One Lord, therefore the Revelation of Jesus Christ. Understanding how that
by Two He could make One man. And then
that Revelation calls for a total separation from unbelief and unbelievers.
This separation is called sanctification. Thus we have Justification leading to
separation or sanctification, which then gets you ready for the infilling of
the Word which is the Spirit of the living God.
But as long as you will rub elbows with the unbelievers, you keep
yourself open to believing what they believe, and therefore, you are not yet
sanctified. It is that simple.
He said, 17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate,
saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith
the Lord Almighty.
POSSESSING ALL
THINGS 62-0506 142 The
communion is not the bread, not the wine; the communion is talking back and
forth with God. This is a symbol that we take, that we believe in His
death, broken body, His burial and resurrection; we believe in the Presence of
the Holy Spirit. And we believe that He has give us Eternal Life; and we cannot
die; we have passed from death unto Life.
Therefore, it does not
require the sharing to be bread, or meat, or water or wine. But sharing is the
main thought involved in communion, "Sharing and communicating".
REMEMBERING THE
LORD 62-1209 40 The table of the Lord, as I have
explained it here before, is not... We believe what we call the communion is
the taking of the bread. We place the wrong - We place the right thing in the
wrong place. It isn't the bread that matters; it isn't the wine that
matters; that's the kosher bread and the wine. But the thing that is, is
"communion" means "to talk to," and in talking to
Him, remembering Him. I think it's the most blessed time of the services.
See? Every hour of our life ought to be a communion. 41 A communion
with the Lord is like an oasis in a desert. It's like the spring underneath the
pond, that where the traveler coming by, stops and drinks the water till he
quenches his thirst. That's remembering the Lord.
And what brother Branham is telling us in Who is this Melchisedec, is that the thing
that God wants to share with us is Himself, His-Life, His God-Life.
II CORINTHIANS
13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the
communion of the Holy Ghost, [be] with you all. Amen. Notice Paul is speaking here of Communicating with
the Holy Spirit, talking with Him and he talking back.
Brother Branham said,
"Melchisedec served His victorious child
Communion (Think of that.), part of Himself. Now, we want to see here, in
type here is in view the Communion. After the battle He gave of Himself,
because the Communion is part of Christ. And after the struggle is over, after
you've done got yourself whipped out, then is when you partake of Christ,
become part of this Being."
Now, I know that Catholic
believes in transubstantiations, where the Communion bread becomes the actual
body of Jesus Christ, but that is just superstition.
When Jesus said,
"unless you eat my flesh and drink my Blood, you have no life in
you", he was not speaking of His Physical Body, but the word of God which
is the bread of Heaven. Jesus said, when you do this, do it in remembrance of
Me. And the Apostle Paul said that the elements we take in the Communion are
only a type of the body being broken and the blood being spilt, but it is to be
done in remembrance of that great sacrifice by the Son of God.
I CORINTHIANS
10:16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the
blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body
of Christ? 17 For we [being] many are one bread, [and] one body:
for we are all partakers of that one bread. 18 Behold
PHILIPPIANS 3:9 ¶ And be found in him, not having mine own
righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: 10 That I may know him, and
the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings,
being made conformable unto his death; The fellowship of His
sufferings. The sharing and communicating of the sufferings He went through.
KEY TO THE
DOOR 62-1007 113
"Communion" means "thanksgiving." That the Protestant...
The Catholic is taking a mass, in the mass hoping that God forgives them of
their evil doing. The Protestant takes it with thanksgiving for what's already
done with the communion with God: communing with Him, that it's already done.
The Catholic is hoping it's done; the Protestant says it's already done. The
Catholic is wondering if his sins is forgiven; the Protestant is confessing
that they are forgiven, that he is free. And a communion is communing with God.
And these articles that we take, not in hopes that our sins are forgiven, but
they are forgiven, because it's...
One is hope; and
the other one is faith. One's hoping he's right; and the other one knows he's
right. See? The other one, one's hoping, because he don't know where he stands;
the other one knows he's right, because he knows what God said. That's it. That's
the difference. So when you're just hoping, be careful; but when you know, then
go on. See, then you're in communion with God. Protestant is, he says he's
forgiven and he knows it; the Catholic has mass, hopes that it'll be forgiven.
Communion
57-0418 19 And, in the taking of the communion, was the difference between
life and death. Those who were on the inside under the shed blood took the
communion. No one could take the communion outside being under the shed
blood. The blood of the lamb was shed first, and then was put on the lintel
and the doorpost. The lintel is the cross timber. And on the doorpost... And
then the lamb was roasted, and was eaten with bitter herbs. And they girded
themselves. After the blood was shed, and they had passed under the shed blood,
they were girded and ready for the march. And now, it's a very beautiful type
tonight of people who take communion is not to be associated or affiliated with
things of the world anymore. They must come under the Blood first and be
cleansed from all sin (which is unbelief), and then be shod with the
preparation of the Gospel, having on the whole armor of God, ready for the
summons at anytime.
COMMUNION
62-0204 58 "Commune" is
"to talk to, commune with, something that you can speak to and it'll
speak back to you." That's communing. A wafer cannot speak back. So,
really, the real communion is the Holy Spirit speaking back. When you ask Him,
then He speaks back; that is correct communion.
COMMUNION
62-0204 60 "Communion" is "to talk, and it talks back,
something that you talk to." The very word "commune" means
"to talk to, or be associated with something that's talking back to
you." And God talks back to you: communion.
COMMUNION
62-0204 47 But to what we come into communion, is for each of us as individuals
to commune with Christ. That is communing. Then communing is not
altogether one doing the talking, us doing all the talking, but waiting and
seeing what He says back to us. 49 Now, there's where, many times that we
make our great mistakes is we do all the talking and don't wait and give Him a
chance to answer back. We go sometimes, say, "Lord, I would that You would
do so-and-so and so-and-so. Amen," and get up and leave. Now, that really
isn't communing. That's going and asking a favor. But when you stay long enough
until He answers back, that's when you're getting communion, communing with the
Lord. Now, and a great way to commune is to be agreed; you must agree upon
certain things. Now, and it's strange that sometimes when we get those
things... Eating is associated with it. Now, you take business people, when
they want to make a business deal, they'll invite somebody out to dinner, and
after they are set down and eat, and then talk with one another. A good
salesman, usually he cannot talk to a person on an empty stomach. It's best to
wait till he is feeling good, and then after he has his breakfast. Don't get up
there and get him out of bed and tell him about something you got to sell him,
but wait till he has his breakfast and is set all right in condition.
COMMUNION 65-1212
3a Now, there's one thing that I'd want to say just before we start
the communion, is this; that I believe that we have seen enough in our day
that we live in, that we ought to really give every--all of our being to God. We
should really serve God. I believe that He has blessed us with the direct
answer to Scripture… 3b We're not
blind; we see that we're here; we've arrived. And we also can look around and
see that the way that the human mind is leaving the people. That we can't stay
too much longer, we'd be in a complete insane institution; the whole world
would be. See? So we're at the end time.