Masterpiece 35
Holding to the Vision
December 3, 2005
Pastor, Brian
Kocourek
This evening for our
communion service which will be our last in
This evening I would like
to take a dedicational sermon on this thought that brother Branham emphasizes
several times in this paragraph in which he speaks of “holding
to the vision.”
And notice how he says that
Michelangelo stayed right with the vision until it was completed, until it
stood before him in reality. Now, remember, brother Branham has emphasized several
times how that Michelangelo had to work to the Vision, and he emphasized how
that he held to the Vision and kept working to the Vision for many, many years.
Therefore,
let’s top and think about this for a moment. Here we have a man, Michelangelo who
had a vision in his mind of what Moses looked like. Then he found the material
in which to make this image come forth into reality.
They
say that Michelangelo turned down many, many blocks of Marble until he found
the block that he could see this vision of Moses in that huge block of marble. Michelangelo had to plan beforehand, just
where to begin his work on that image, and he had to plan out where each stroke
of his chisel would hit that piece of marble, to fashion it, and shape it
without destroying it altogether.
Now, God
promised us in 1 Corinthians 10: 13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is
common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be put to the
test above that which you are able to bear; but will with the being put to the
test, also He will make a way for you to escape, that you may be able to bear
it.
Chip
by chip God chisels away at this hardened clay of ours until the image of His
vision becomes a reality in it. Just as Michelangelo had to control the amount
of power he used each time he struck that great block of Marble, so too God has
promised that he would not put us to the test any more than we are able to
bear.
Why?
Because, if Michelangelo hit that Marble with too much power, it could ruin the
entire piece of Marble and thus destroy any prospects of the image he had in
his mind from becoming a reality in that stone.
Thus
we find that God too, must not place upon His elect any burden greater than
what that person is able to bear. Otherwise it might destroy the material in
which He is sculpturing out his own Masterpiece.
Identified masterpiece of God
64-1205 P:84 He's making a bride. Yes, sir. He's hewing the chips now, chopping
off the world. Oh, church joining, and creeds, and denominations, and dogmas
all has to be cut away from the church, their formal ideas, their indifference,
their doctrines and things. Come back and let the Master pick up the bow. Let
the Master pick you up in His hands, strike the Word, say, "Jesus Christ
is the same yesterday, today, and forever." Say, "Amen, Lord. Make
me, mold me, make me, Lord, what I should be." Then there'll be a
different thing. Then, "If I be lifted up from the earth, I'll draw all
men unto Me." Yes, sir. He's cutting you out now, cutting you down to His
Word only, cutting all the creeds and dogmas and everything away from you,
trying to get back to a bride for the Son, another masterpiece part of the
Word.
Now,
let’s look at those chips that come off that old block of Stone. Each chip is
made from the same material, but it was not seen in the Vision as being a part
of the finished work.
Resurrection the 53-1205 P:35 Now, that is
truth. And that's where our world is--our churches are failing today. We're
trying to get into our pulpit... You people who are electing your pastors,
you're trying to get the very smartest, newest, freshest thing out of the
seminary, that you can find; and sometimes that's the worst thing you could
have. Right. What we need today is a man with an experience of God who'll lay
the axe to the root of the tree and let the chips fall where away and preach
the unadulterated Gospel if the church turns him out.
Faith once delivered to saints
53-1129A P:86 He preached the Gospel uncompromised. He throwed, like John, the
axe to the root of the tree, let the chips fall where they wanted to. What we
need today is an old preacher like John the Baptist. (Amen.), that'll lay the
ax to the root of the tree, and lay it on the line. Line up with God's Word or
line out. Amen.
I
like the way brother Branham is using this illustration of Michelangelo and all
his hard work keeping in his mind all the time the vision, and all his efforts
going into bringing forth the reality to the Vision. And if the Five Fold ministry would keep in
mind the Vision that was given to us by God through His Prophet, we would use
the sharp two edged Sword to chip here and chip there until we see the image of
the Bride of Jesus Christ in the local assembly.
Influences 64-0215 P:10 Many times
then, they got a board there. If that pastor would happen to hit a little wire
that was kind of little contrary, or say something about it, that board would
have him up. His name would go up to headquarters, and he'd be excommunicated.
So, you see, it's become a meal ticket, and instead of anointed servant to
preach the Gospel. See? That's right. It becomes a thing that they want a... it's
a meal ticket. They got to stay there, get good pay. Listen, brother. God have
mercy upon a man that would sell his birthright for that...?...We need men
that'll handle the Gospel barehanded, not with any kind of a denominational
glove on. Just lay it out there the way it's wrote, and let the chips fall
wherever they want. "If the shoe fits," Mama used to say, "wear
it. If it don't trim your corn." Now, so we have those things that we
ought to be listening to.
Hearing receiving and acting
60-0607 P:16 So we find out, that in every revival that's ever been born in the world, it produces twins. That's right.
Every revival has twins. They have a bunch in there that's carnal believers and
a bunch of spiritual believers. Every revival produces that: an Esau and Jacob.
And as they go along, first thing you know, the carnal begins to think,
"Well, these guys are getting off of the deep end. I better separate
myself from them." They go back to the intellectual part. They want a
pastor that'll speak to them of pleasant things. They don't want that
Spirit-filled pastor, that'll obey the Holy Spirit from the platform, just
preach the Word just like It is. As John said, "Lay the axe to the root of
the tree and let the chips fall where it will." Most of the churches today
will vote that out of their pulpit. That's right. It'll come a separation,
always does that. It did it in the Methodist age; it did it in the Baptist age;
it did it in the Pentecostal age; it'll do it in every age.
We
should keep in mind what the apostle Paul told us in Philippians 1: 6 “Being confident
of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it
until the day of Jesus Christ:”
Therefore when we hear the Apostle Paul
warn us that the evidence that we are at the end is that there shall be a
falling away, we should not be surprised, Because if there were no chips
leaving the block of marble, the statue of a perfect man would never come into
view.
Shalom 64-0112 P:98 And sometime it
takes hard trials to break the bands of the world off of us. Sometimes God lets
us have a little trial, you know, to see what we'll do, to take you out of the
world.
Therefore when the Apostle Paul tells us
In 2 Thessalonians 2: 3 Let no man deceive
you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away
first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
What I like
about what Brother Branham has said here is that the hard and determined work
of the sculptor is done so with the vision in mind, and therefore there must be
chips falling away because if they did not, then the statue would not be
progressing toward the reality of the vision, or completion. Therefore when the
True Five Fold ministry sees people leaving their churches for whatever reason
the people may claim, it does not matter what their excuse is, for that has
nothing to do with their leaving. John told us in 1 John 2 that, they went out from us because they were not of us, for had
they been of us they would no doubt have stayed with us, therefore they went
out to manifest that they were not of us.
In other words
those chips that leave the block were not meant to be there for the fulfillment
of the statue. That does not mean they were not good people. They just were not
in the vision of the end product to begin with. So it is necessary that those
chips be removed one by one until the statue of a perfect man can come into
manifestation.
Hebrews Chapter 1 57-0821 P:45
Now
look, Christ is the Head of all things. And He's the Head of the Church. And
did you ever see a big diamond? A great big diamond that is chipped right, it's
got little chips knocked off of it, chipped off of it. That makes a correct
diamond. What's the chips for? The real diamond way it comes out, it's been
bruised.
Believest thou this? 50-0115
P:41 God, give us men who'll stand for the truth (Amen.), regardless of
who's setting close or who it is. Let the chips fall where they want to, and
lay the Gospel to the hewing line. That's right. Call black black, and white's
white. Right's right and wrong's wrong. If you're not right, then get right.
It'll straighten you up, make you look different, act different, live
different, be different. The Holy Ghost is good for you. It'll straighten you
out.
Perseverant 62-0729 P:71 If we had
preachers in the pulpit would take them gloves off of the ecclesiastic, and
throw that Word out there, and tell them the truth, and cut the chips, and let
them fall where they want to... The thing of it is, we... That is right.
Now, that is
how I see it from what Brother Branham has illustrated here for us in this
sermon the Masterpiece.
Abraham's grace covenant
61-0317 P:56 Go back in Galatians the 4th chapter and pick it up there. Paul
talking there. He placed that son. What did He do. He had a ceremony of
adoption placing that son. And then after he seen that son was going to do it,
he's going to keep the promise, nobody's going to keep him from it, he's just
like his daddy, he going to stay right with it (Cut and let the chips fall
wherever they want to.), he pulls no punches... And he says, "I can put
trust in that boy." So he performs adoption. And what does he do? After he
performed the adoption, that child is a placed son then in the father's kingdom
and has full, equal rights to it. In otherwise, if he wrote a check, his name
is just as good on the check, as his daddy's was. Then he's adopted, or placed.
God did the same thing to Jesus upon
Therefore, as
we see the exodus from the local congregation in this late hour, we should
picture in our minds the chips coming off the block one by one until the block,
or the local church has become more defined in its representation of the vision
God had in His Mind. So it really does not matter what takes them out, the fact
that they are out means that they are not in the finished Statue.
Smyrnaean church age 60-1206
P:41 The poor church has got so many societies that it can't even preach
the Gospel no more. Pastor can't have but twenty minutes, and he has to talk
about something else then. See? If it don't, the deacon board will meet him.
Yes, sir. O brother, what does a good pastor have to do today? Just do the best
he can to stand out and cut the limbs where they want to, and let the chips
fall in where they want to; and sling it out there. That's all. Yes, sir.
That's right. Don't spare nobody; just preach the Word and stay right with It,
just hammer right on away. They throw you in jail, preach it in jail. They put
you on out...?... Wherever you go, just keep on going, preaching. That's right.
Now, that's what's happened. See, they're smothering it out.
1 Timothy 4: 1 Now the Spirit
speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith,
giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
Therefore this falling away from The
Faith, that we have seen for the past dozen years or so should not be a
discouragement to us who have not fallen away, but rather it should be a sign
of encouragement to us because, we know in
our minds and we see the evidence that those pieces that are falling away from
the church are simply chips that were not ordained to be a part of the whole
stature of a perfect man that was seen in the vision to begin with, and have
come forth into full manifestation of the reality of the vision becoming alive.
Matthew 7: 21 Not every one
that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that
doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
And the Apostle Paul said in, Galatians 5: 7 Ye
did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? Now,
it is interesting to note that the word hinder was translated as such from the
Greek word anakopto and the word “ana” means a “apiece”, and the word kopto
means to chop or cut into. Therefore Paul is saying who has chopped into you,
or who has cut in on you, leaving you to fall behind or fall away from the
race.
Greatest news flash in history
61-0424 P:45 Lord Jesus, sometimes I wonder if I'm not beside myself, when I
think of seeing the horrible curse that's coming on this world, when I think of
the churches that's trying to be entertainers, trying to copy after the world.
Lord God, oh, You said, "Father, I pray that you take them out of the
world." Take the world out of them, keep them from the world. You prayed
that they might keep Your disciples from the world, and here they are going
right back to the world, trying to compare with the world. God, grant, help Lord; somebody will catch the message; surely, they'll
know. You're the same yesterday, today, and forever. You're not dead but
alive forevermore. We believe You, Lord. And how can a man believe unless You
call him? Jesus said, "No man can come to Me, except My Father calls him
first. And all My Father has called, will come." And we know that's right.
They will come. And it's just our duty to preach it and let the chips fall
wherever they wish to, and the sheep hear the voice.
Expectation 61-0205M P:32 So Simeon... of
a great reputation... Don't make any difference about reputation. That's
what... too much is getting to our churches today, even to our Pentecostal
churches. Too much fashions, too much rep... stuff, like we have great
reputations, you know, in the society, and things. What we need is an old
fashioned, back woods, sky blue, sin killing religion. What we need is
gun-barrel straight, something that'll preach the gospel without compromise,
and let the chips fall wherever they wish to, and chop into it. We need men of
God, stand with power, get the church back into the place where it ought to be.
Something's wrong. We realize that. We all know it. We're aware of it. Our
churches is falling away, getting weak. What we need is not a new organization
to spring up, what we need is not another latter rain; what we need is back to
faith in God's Word and God's Bible. A soul-shaking experience back in the
church, that's what we need. A cleanup, a straighten-up, all through our
churches and our organizations. Quit drawing those boundary lines, just this
and that.
Thirsting for life 58-0611
P:55 That's what's been the matter with the church: not on the guard.
Something's wrong. Oh, Brother Caddie used to sing a song: "We let down
the bars. We compromise with sin. We let down the bars. The sheep got out, but
how did the goats get in?" Let down the bars, that was all, begin to
compromise. The congregation, voting for their pastor, would take some little
slicker, in the stead of some man that was really an old fashion, hell-fire and
brimstone preacher, that'd handle the gospel with his bare hands instead of
Mark of Christ 55-0312 P:56 Here not long
ago a little old girl was going to sing in a choir for me. And she said she
wouldn't come because she couldn't get one of them kinky manicures for her
hair. And she had to sing in a choir. And when I heard that, I said, "You
couldn't sing if you wanted to now." That's right. Brother, I'm an old
fashion preacher that believes this: that a man's got to be proved before he
walks behind my pulpit. You take some of these guys our here in a roadhouse
playing their guitar tonight, and tomorrow night come to the altar, and the
next night preaching the Gospel; it's a disgrace to the Holy Spirit. Amen. John
said, "Bring forth fruit meet for repentance." We need some more
Baptist preachers like John, that'll lay the hewing line to the Gospel, let the
chips fall wherever it may be. Amen. We've got