Masterpiece 43
The Four
Foundations on which the Masterpiece will Rest
January 15th, 2006
Pastor, Brian Kocourek
1. This morning we will continue with our study of Brother Branham’s
sermon called THE MASTERPIECE 64-0705 and we will
pick up at paragraph 61 Now, watch. Every masterpiece is put on a foundation of
sculpture. Angelo's
Now, this morning I would like to focus on these four corners of our
Christian Foundation.
He said The
foundation of faith was Abraham. And we know that Faith is the evidence of things not seen. And Faith is a
Revelation, that is what we were taught by William Branham. He said
in the Rapture Tape, Faith is a Revelation, something that is revealed to you.”
And we know by Scripture that the Foundation is built upon the Faith of
the Apostles and Prophets. Ephesians 2:20 And
are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ
himself being the chief corner stone;
And Branham told us what that Foundation of the Apostles and Prophets is
in the sermon called, Why? 63-0626 P:41
he said, You've
got to be laid on the foundation. And the foundation is the Bible, doctrine of apostles and prophets, and
so forth, of the Bible.
So you see Doctrine is
the first Foundation and that is Faith. Faith is a Revelation and of course as
we teach that revelation it is called Doctrine because Doctrine means teaching.
Then we our Christian building must have four foundations. We begin with coming
into the right doctrine, the same Doctrine the Apostles had.
The Apostle John said, 2 John 1: 9 Whosoever goes beyond the limits, and does
not remain in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the
doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. 10 If there come any unto you, and bring not
this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:
So you see the Apostle
John believed so strongly in the doctrine of Christ that He said if you don’t
have it then you don’t even have God. And if you start out your building
without a right foundation, your building is doomed to begin with.
That’s what Mikal and
Elisabeth found out when they bought this house to rebuild. The very first
thing they had to do was fix the foundation, because whoever added to this
house did it without a foundation, and the job had begun to fall and lean, and
the way a tree leans that is the way it shall fall. And this building was
leaning because of a poor foundation.
And our foundation
must first of all be the Doctrine of Christ. That is why satan comes out of the
bottomless pit, because it has no foundation, it’s bottomless. There is not
doctrine, no sound Bible teaching.
Brother Branham said in the message, Why are
we not a denomination? 58-0927 P:46 Now, watch. And the beast
that was, and is not, even... is the eighth, and is of the seventh... (the
nature of the seventh),... and goeth into perdition. Anyone knows what
"perdition" means, is "hell." And watch where he ascended
out of: hell. What is it? The bottomless
pit. There's no foundation for a Catholic doctrine. There's no Bible for Catholic doctrine.
There's no such a thing as any Bible for any Catholic doctrine, not at all.
They don't claim to be.
So you see how Brother
Branham shows how that the foundation is their doctrine, and he tells us the
reason the beast comes out of the bottomless pit is because it has no
foundation, which is no Bible doctrine.
Now, brother Branham said God is again building Himself a Masterpiece,
and then he said, Every masterpiece is put on a foundation of
sculpture. And he said, So God in preparing
this masterpiece, He put it on a foundation of the patriarchs. And
then he said that there are four foundations of the patriarchs. Now, we have seen
that the first Patriarch was Abraham and his foundation was Faith which we know
to the be the Faith of Jesus Christ, the Doctrine of Christ. But we must not
stop there, for there are three other foundations for this Masterpiece that God
is building for Himself.
So then brother Branham tells us the second Foundation upon which God is
resting His Masterpiece is Love. First
Faith and then Love. That is the rule always. It must begin with Faith, and
then the faith becomes expressed through Love.
The Apostle Paul said in, 1 Corinthians : 13 And
now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is Love.
Notice it begins with
Faith which is a revelation and once it is truly revealed then it moves in to
hope which is an earnest expectation. You see if you truly have a revelation
then you expect something from that revelation.
And that expectation is hope, and once it goes to hope or earnestly
expecting, then it must produce an action and that action is Love. For God so
Loved the world that he gave. The Love expresses itself by doing. No greater love can a man have than to lay down his life for
a friend. It’s no longer just something revealed, but that something
revealed moved into an expectation, and that expectation moved into a doing
something about it.
A young man gets a
revelation about a certain girl. If that is a true revelation, then it will
bring about an expectation. He expects something to come of it, and that
expectation builds up energy and that energy needs to find release and it does
so through doing. Therefore the expression of the Revelation is Love.
And so we see that God has another foundation for resting His
Masterpiece, and that is Love. It begins by understanding the doctrine and then
moves those in the doctrine onto the next foundation which is love. Now, you
can not have love and be self centered, for Love is the expression of the
revelation, and the Revelation is Christ.
Brother Branham said in his sermon called That day on
So God is preparing His Masterpiece and we are that Masterpiece, Sons
coming into the Image of the firstborn Son, and in coming into that Image God
has begun our journey by Faith in the doctrine of Christ, and then takes us to
the place of Love, true genuine Holy Ghost Love. Not a pretentious, Lord Bless
you sort of Love. But a Genuine Love that you can pray for those who have
despitefully used you. And eternal Life is living for others. When you have an
attitude that you don’t want to be bothered, then your not reflecting Eternal
Life. Eternal Life is Living for others.
And there is only one form of eternal Life and that is God’s Own Life and God
is Love. And Love
covers a multitude of sins.
The Apostle Paul told us that no matter what we had from God, if we did not
have Love, then it was all useless. He let us know that Love is the essential
element in our Christian experience that ties everything together and brings us
into maturity.
I
CORINTHIANS 13:1 ¶ Though I speak with the tongues of men and of
angels, and have not charity, I am become [as] sounding brass, or a tinkling
cymbal. What
does that mean? It means though you can preach like no other man can preach ,
if you don’t have love in your heart, you haven’t got a thing. 2 And though I have
the gift of prophecy, (Now, isn’t that what every Pentecostal person
desires? ) and
though I understand all mysteries, and have all knowledge; and though I have
all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am
nothing. (so you can have the doctrine and still it means nothing
until you first have love. That is why brother Branham could say, Godhead explained
61-0425B P:40 I would rather be wrong in my doctrine and
right in my heart, than to be right in my doctrine and wrong in my heart."
See? I said, "After all, it's your heart's condition." And I made
that a practice to know this, that if a man, no matter what he does and how
much he differs, and what he says about me, if in my heart, not from just a
duty, but from my heart I can't love that man as well as I love anyone else,
then I know there's something wrong in here. See?
And from the sermon Way to have fellowship
55-1009 P:18 Brother Branham said, I'd rather have a church...
Listen, just a moment. I would rather have a church that knows nothing about
any spiritual gift, and just be so in love with each other and with Christ, I'd
rather have that than every spiritual gift operating in the church. Now, that
might sound hard in a Pentecostal group, but I would rather have it. Where
there is gifts, they'll fail. Where there is gifts, they'll bring confusion.
Where there is gifts, they can be questioned. But where there is love, it is
perfect. That's right. And if you had perfect love you'd have perfect gifts.
That's right. So work first with love. That brings fellowship, and fellowship
brings gifts.
And again from Questions and answers COD
54-0103M P:67 Brother Branham
said, "I'd rather have a church that had such a burden on their heart
for prayer that they just stayed at this altar and would be here day and night,
and everything else; and in their house, was constantly in prayer, and humble,
and trying to get people to come to God, and making calls at the hospital, and
visiting the sick, and trying to get people to come to church and do right. I'd
rather have that than all the other put together; although the other is right,
it belongs in the church."
Now, why would Brother Branham say this and why did Paul and John say the
same thing about having Love? Brother
Branham explains it from the sermon, Door to the heart 58-0302 P:58 He
said, What
is God? God is love. He that loveth is of God. Now that isn't what we call free
love; that's Agapao love. There's two different kinds of love. One of them is
the Greek word is phileo. "Phileo" means "friendship, the kind
you have for your wife, love, that kind of love." That kind of love is not
a true love. Oh, I know you little teen-agers want to believe that, but it's wrong.
That kind of love will make you jealous of your wife; you'll take a pistol and
blow a man's brains out because of her. That ain't real love. That's phileo
love. But Agapao love will make you get down and pray for that man's lost soul.
That's Agapao love. That's the kind of love the church needs, what we all need
is that kind of love. God, give me that love. I'd rather have that experience
of love than have all the gifts that God's got in His heaven. For you can have
every gift God's got and still be lost. How many knows that? That's exactly
right. It's love, the love of God. "Where there's tongues, they shall
cease. Whether it's prophecy, it'll fail. Where there's knowledge, it'll
vanish; but when that which is perfect shall come, it endureth forever"
Love, love one another, that's a great saying.
Hear ye
Him 58-0209A P:45 I'd rather have His love than every gift
He's got in His Kingdom. Give me His love. That's what the world is looking for
today, is to see a display of real love. It'll win souls when you got love.
They can tell it when you got love. We got to much make believe love. We got
too much, phileo love, trying to make it agapao love. We need real godly love.
Now, in getting back to 1 Corinthians 13:
and picking up at : 3 Paul said, And
though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, (Look you can be a
giving person but if it is not done because of the Love of God, Paul said it’s
nothing,) and
though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing.
4 ¶ Love suffereth long, [and] is kind; Love
envieth not; Love vaunts not itself, is not puffed up, 5 Love
Does not behave itself unseemly, and it seeks not its own, and is not
easily provoked, Love thinks no evil; 6
Love Rejoices not in iniquity, but
Love rejoices in the truth; 7 Love Beareth
all things, Love believes all things, Love hopes all things, and Love endures
all things. 8 ¶ Love never fails: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be
tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. 9
For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect
is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. 11 When I was a child,
I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I
became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see through a glass,
darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even
as also I am known. 13 And now abideth faith, hope, Love, these three; but the
greatest of these is Love.
Why
61-0413 P:17 If you don't love people, you might as well
get out of the ministry; that's all.
Personal
experience with God 54-0724 P:48 Now, I'm going to give you a little secret.
If you love people, people will know it. …P:48 Was you ever around someone,
that you just love to be around? You've had those people. What is it? It's
because of their atmosphere, that they create around them. You've been with
nice people, but yet, you couldn't stand to be around them. It's their
atmosphere.
Expectations
and what love is 54-0228A P:46 If I want to contribute anything to my
success in the ministry amongst people, is this: … P46
if there's one thing, is because that I have loved people. And people knows
that.
Now, God does not bring His Masterpiece that he is building to rest there
on the Foundation of Love, for there is another foundation which will try that
Love, and put that Love to the test to see if it is a Genuine Agapao Love, or if that love that you have is just a
Phileo love. Therefore next foundation
that God has for His Masterpiece is Grace.
Now, It seems that most Christians are all willing to accept the Grace of
God for their own lives, but Love precedes Grace, and rightfully it should, for
without Love the only Grace that we would have is Grace for our own selves. But
Love preceding Grace makes the heart right before God and allows the Grace of
God that is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost to reach out and share
this Grace that God gave to us with others.
Notice, God showed Grace to Jacob, and Jacob showed Grace to Esau his
brother who was a renegade before God.
The Apostle Peter said in 1 Peter 5: 5 Likewise, ye younger, submit
yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility for God resisteth
the proud, and giveth grace to the
humble.
So the ability to receive Grace has to do with whether or not we are
humble. He gives Grace to the Humble.
And Grace is not given to you so that you can hold onto it selfishly.
Grace is given to you that you might pass it on to others. 1 Peter 4: 10 As
every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace
of God. So you see, we are given
Grace as a stewardship. And if we be good stewards of this grace we will give
it out to others. That is why Peter said, As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the
same one to another as good stewards of
the manifold grace of God.
In the Book of Hebrews 13: 9 The Apostle Paul said, For
it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace;
For it is with Grace that we may serve God as Paul said in . Hebrews 12: 28 let
us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly
fear:
And it is Grace that keeps our souls from developing bitterness the Apostle Paul so beautifully expresses in Hebrews 12: 15 Looking diligently lest any
man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble
you, and thereby many be defiled;
Now, if your heart is full of Grace then your conversation will manifest
it to others. The Apostle Paul said in
Ephesians 4: 29 Let
no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the
use of edifying, that it may minister
grace unto the hearers. So you
see, if you have Grace then you will minister Grace to others. Grace is the One
Gift of God that he desires for us to give away as quickly as we receive it. Colossians 4: 6 Let your speech be
alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer
every man.
When we minister Grace we cannot do it except we show kindness as well.
That is what being Gracious is all about. Ephesians 2: 7 That in the ages to come he
might shew the exceeding riches of
his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. So we see that He shows us His grace by showing us His
Kindness.
One thing I would like to see more of as the elect of God come more into
the image of the Son of God is that when we embrace the Truth of the Doctrine
of Christ and come more fully into the understanding of our roles as sons, I
desire that we come down from our high horse sand show more Grace to those who
just do not see nor understand what it is that so excites us from the doctrine.
The word gracious comes
from the root word Grace and it shows an attitude of kindness and warm courtesy
towards others. That is what Grace
is all about. That is the way brother
Branham was with everybody. He was a very gracious man because he gave away so
much grace to any and all who would receive it. And he did not despise those
who did not want it. He just prayed for them and loved them anyway.
Now, the more we know about God and His sovereignty, the more Grace we
receive have received, the more Grace we have for others. 2 Peter 3: 18 But
grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. So it is God’s will that we grow in Grace as we grow
in the knowledge of Him. IN fact in 2 Peter 1: 2 we se that grace is actually multiplied to us
through the knowledge of God. Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through
the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord. Therefore those who
will not show grace are those who have not truly received the grace of God.
And this Grace is one of the four foundations on which the Masterpiece of
God is built, and together with Faith and Love brings us to perfection.
1
Timothy 1: 14 And
the grace of our Lord was exceeding
abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.
1
Peter 5: 10 But
the God of all grace, who hath
called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a
while, make you perfect, stablish,
strengthen, settle you.
And that brings us to the last foundation where brother Branham said God
brings his Masterpiece to rest, and that is perfection. But in
Joseph was perfection. There's where He could set the monument, upon.
Not the first foundation, the second foundation, the third foundation, but on
the fourth foundation.
Hebrews
6: 1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection;
And how do we go on to perfection? By moving out from a passive Faith to an
active, from an imperfect Faith to a Perfect Faith. And from an imperfect Love
to a perfect Love. And then once the Love of God has been shed abroad in our
hearts by the Holy Ghost, we come to the place of Grace whereby we do not live
for ourselves but eternal Life is living for others.
James 2:
22 Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was
faith made perfect? So we see here in
James that there is a perfecting of our Faith.
1 John 4:
18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear:
because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
And notice here that
Love is what makes us perfect. He said we are made perfect in Love. So we see
there are three foundations that bring us to perfection and brother Branham
said those are first Faith, then Love and then Grace and finally perfection.
1
Corinthians 13: 10 But when that which is perfect is come, then
that which is in part shall be done away. And we Know God is the Only Perfect, but we receive our perfection through what He has doe for us,
and the we know the blood perfects the Sons and daughters of God.
Questions
and answers COD 54-0103E P:97 Get this in your mind now. I'm going to
close. But what you are here is a sign that you are something else somewhere.
You've always wanted to be in perfection, you Christians. There is a
perfection, and that perfection is not in this life. But every man and woman
here that is a Christian, every person that is a Christian here now is already
glorified in the Presence of Jesus Christ. And you've got another body. You
won't have some other time; you have right now. Right now there's another body
waiting for you if this one should perish. Could you think of that. Study that
just a minute.
QA
Hebrews part 2 COD 57-1002 P:34 And God was this great Spirit. We pictured
Him like the seven colors of the rainbow that covers... The bow would actually
cover the earth if it didn't strike the earth. It's just a water in a circle of
the curvature of the earth, what makes it. But now, as God is eternal, and He
was the perfect: perfect love, perfect peace, perfect joy, perfect
satisfaction... All those seven spirits (as we get in Revelations), they come
out, was, made up God, was perfection. Everything else outside of that has been
something that's been perverted from that. Now, the only way that we can come back to perfection, is to come back with
that perfection, which is God. Then
we come to perfection, then we have Eternal Life: without end, or without
anything; it's just forever, Eternal Life.
Resurrection
of Jairus daughter 54-0302 P:4 "For those that He has called, He has
chosen. And those who He called, He justified. And those who He justified, He
hath glorified (already). And when this earthly tabernacle be dissolved, we
have one already waiting." Amen. Right in the presence of His being
tonight, in His sight we are already glorified: "Those who He justified,
He hath (past tense) glorified." And what makes you a Christian, and long
for that perfection, is because the
perfection's laying right out there, that other glorified body. When this
one is moved out of, you move into that one. Isn't that marvelous? What are we
scared about then? We just believe, and then the Master of all it said,
"All things work together for good to them that love God." Nothing
can harm us. Just as peaceful as little children playing around. Just... We got
a heavenly Father Who watches over us. And whatever He sees that we have need
of, He just presents it to us.
End time
evangelism 62-0603 P:18 The Perfection of perfection is God.
1 John 4:
17 Herein is our love
made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as
he is, so are we in this world. Notice
that our Love is made perfect because as He is so are we. When we have come
into the image of God’s uniquely born Son, our perfection only awaits a body
commensurate with that spirit we receive.
And Jesus Christ the Son of God only desired to do only the will of His
Father. He said,
“My meat is to do the will of my Father.”
Hebrews
13: 21 Make you perfect in
every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing
in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Hebrews
2: 10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are
all things, in bringing many sons unto
glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through
sufferings. Notice this glory is the doxa of God which is the very
opinion, judgment and assessment of God. In other words what God values we
value. This then is the very mind of God and it was made possible by the Son of
God showing us the example of how to be sons.
Now, our perfection comes through God’s word. 2
Timothy 3:16 All
scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: 17 That the man of God may be perfect,
throughly furnished unto all good works.
Then our receiving the mind of God brings us into perfection. Philippians 3: 15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye
be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
And this is made possible because we come to an understanding of the Son
of God and how He became perfect through suffering. Ephesians
4: 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith,
and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of
the stature of the fulness of Christ:
Hebrews
2: 10 For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are
all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through sufferings. And
Romans 12: 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
You see the transformation we go through comes about by the renewing of
our mind to the mind that was in Christ Jesus. And this renewing of the mind is
for the purpose of reflecting the perfect will of God. Therefore our perfection
can not come outside the perfect will of God. And we were commanded by Jesus to
be perfect even as God is perfect. Matthew 5: 48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is
in heaven is perfect. Now the only
way that would be possible is for God to give us His mind, and thus reveal to
us His will that we might do His will. That is why Jesus prayed that we might
be made perfect in One, and that One is God Himself. That is the only way then
our perfection will come is through the very mind of the Father revealed to us
and in us and through us. John 17: 23 I in them, and thou
in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that
thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Thus
we will come into the image of the firstborn Son of God.
Luke 6: 40 The disciple is not above his
master: but every one that is perfect
shall be as his master. And the
word “as” means in the same way or manner. Let us pray…