Masterpiece 80
Restoration by the Word to the Word
August 20th, 2006
Pastor, Brian
Kocourek
Last
week we spoke concerning the spirit of organization that brother Branham said
took over every message that God brought to man. We took our thoughts from THE MASTERPIECE 64-0705
paragraph 153 where brother Branham said, “Remember,
the Church begin at Pentecost, and It fell at Nicaea. It sprouted, not like the
real grain, no; it was some of the Life in there, but it sprouted in order to make an organization. And it pulled through that organization.
And then what did it do? Then it went,
from that organization it went into another organization” …
And then he said from Christ is the mystery 63-0728 P:260 Wesley was a man of
God, but what followed him? Fallen angels
got into it. What was the angels first? Created beings of God that fell for Lucifer's wisdom, fell
for Lucifer's wisdom. And you see what
they become? Fallen angels. And organizations from man of God who's
went forth to establish truths in the earth, before that truth could go along
and proclamate and get on to the real
revelation of Christ, fallen angels
come in and took it over and made denominations out of it. That's the
reason the revelation of the Seven Seal mystery had to be unfolded. Now, you see
it? What they left off... If Luther
would've went on, it'd been here. If Wesley would've went on, if Pentecost
would've went on, what would they'd done?
We
also showed evidence of this from the first church age where the Apostle Paul
spoke of this in the Book of acts chapter 15, in Galatians chapter 2, in 2nd
Corinthians chapter 11, and again we see this also in the Book of Jude chapter
1, and 2nd Peter chapter 2 and 3, as well as in Acts chapter 20, And as I said
last week, “sometime back, brother Vayle told me that the make-believers have
taken over this message too”. So it comes as no surprise that the make-believer
take over every message that God has brought to man, because let’s face it,
God’s seed are likened unto sheep which are passive and do not look to be a
great somebody.
Notice
how brother Branham warned us by saying, after Luther went off the scene, men
organized what Luther had taught in order to control those people who followed
his message. Then along come John Wesley who was put out by the organizational
churches of His day, and those that followed his message were kicked out or
left organization as well. But when that generation died off, those in the
Wesley Movement organized themselves just like they did in after Luther died.
And they do it to “PROTECT” the message, or so that is their Motive. But do you
think God’s Word needs our protection?
When we get to that way of thinking we no longer believe in a Sovereign God.
Notice
that the very thing they left is what they went right back into. “As a dog to its
vomit and a hog to it wallowing in the mud”, they went back into what
they came out of, “ORGANIZATION”. Then
God rose up another group of people who didn’t fit in with the organized bunch
and could not stand that organizational spirit.
These
people knew God had more for them than just the portion of the Word that they
were getting in there organizational institutions, so they left the Methodist
movement, and God restored to them the gifts of “The Spirit”. That was the restoration of the Pentecostal experience. And once that
generation died off a next generation of less secure individuals arose trying
to control that move of God too, by organizing it, and the people in it, and so
the Pentecostal movement initiated by God, was organized by man and when they
did that, it died right there.
Now,
I call each generation a less secure generation because God doesn’t have grand
children, and when children are raised up in a “Church” environment, they are
in a protective environment which is good on the one hand, but if they are not
shown by the Word of God where to stand, then they are nothing more than church
people, going through the actions because others are going through the same
actions. God’s children are all born of the same spirit. BY ONE SPIRIT we are all baptized into one body,
and the problem we have is that we do not expect our own children to come into
a birth like we had to, because every birth is a messy thing, and we do not
want for our children to suffer. But they must suffer if they are to be born
again.
The
little bird that does not peck itself out of its shell will never make it. The
pecking builds up determination, and strength, and without those qualities the
children will not make it through the hard road set before them that is to
instruct them in character. Because “Character is never a gift, it is a victory.”
That is what brother Branham taught us in the Church Age Book.
Brother
Branham taught us that every birth is a mess. And if our children are born into
the “Message” and do not have their own personal experience with God, then we
as parents ought to talk to them about the necessity of an individual walk, and
not just following the group.
The
Scripture tells us that “All that live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
persecution.” 2 Timothy 3:12
Now,
in getting back to our contrast with walking in the light verses just following
the group think organizational mindset, we need to look at the Pentecostal
Movement itself for an example of how men always try to organize the movements
of God.
Once
the Pentecostal movement organized to control the experience with God, and thus
control by their doctrine who had it and who did not, they used this in the
churches to control the people. I will never forget when I was a Junior in
College, I visited the United Pentecostal seminary where a neighbor of mine was
going to school. He told me they had church meetings on Friday nights, and so I
went and the first time I entered the door I was met by a couple men who asked
me if I had the Holy Ghost, and I said no, but I am seeking the baptism of the
Spirit. They asked me if I ever spoke in tongues and I said yes, because in my heart I new that I
could speak several words in several languages, and I was fairly good in French
so therefore these are other tongues or languages , and so I said yes, I have.
They said, then you got it. And I thought how can that be any evidence when
Balaam’s Donkey spoke in Human language. He certainly did not have the Holy
Ghost.
I
knew enough from reading my Bible that just because you can be anointed to do a
certain thing does not mean you are filled with the Spirit of God. Because I saw where Peter had followed Jesus
for three years and Jesus said to him, “When you are converted, strengthen the brethren.”
So
young people, “no matter how many years you have been following Jesus, as Peter
did, and of course Jesus today is the same Jesus that met Paul on the road to
Damascus, The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and he is hear in the form of
the Pillar of Fire. And no matter how long you have been following that Pillar
of Fire, I ask you just one thing. “when you are converted, strengthen the brethren.”
Make
sure you are converted, and we all now that a conversion speaks of a change.
When Christ has come into you life and you can’t get away from His Presence
because you so hunger and thirst to be like him, then you can know for certain
that you are converted, or are in the process of it, for Jesus told us that all
that hunger and thirst for righteousness which is right-wise-ness shall be
filled.”
Then
don’t just settle for a group mentality, be an individual who follows the
leading of the Holy Ghost. “Sons of God are led by the Spirit of God.”
And
so we see that in each move of God, the people who are sons and daughters come
out of organization because they see how it stifles the Word of God, and how by their traditions
they make the Word of God on no effect.
And
in this hour it was no different. God rose up a simple man who saw through all
that organizational institutional mentality, and he left it all behind, and God
manifested His very Presence in that man’s ministry. That was William Branham
prophet of God. And people came out of the Pentecostal organizations and left
them to die in there own organizational systems. But the Word of God moved on.
And
now we have come to that time when that generation that stood in the Presence
of the Pillar of Fire, and defied organization, and came out of it, have almost
all died off, and now this next generation must make its choice. Will it
continue to move on with the Word of God as it comes to pass, or will they
succumb to what all other generations have come to? Will the people who follow
the Message today fall into the same organizational trap as their forefathers?
Or will they walk
in the Light as He is still in the Light?
That
is the question we must ask ourselves today and everyday, and every time we
gather together. What are we here for? Are we here today to establish ourselves?
Or are we here to establish the Word of God in our own hearts, and the hearts
of the people.
From his sermon, Satan's
56 There you are. Man mustn't establish their self.
We find it amongst... Let God do something for a person, send him out, you find
every man trying to impersonate it. See, they're trying to establish
themselves. Every man, "I did this, me, I, mine, my denomination, me
this," establish themselves. What
are we preaching about, ourselves, or the
In
another sermon Questions and answers COD 59-0628E
P:42, brother Branham said, And isn't that just the way
that people get today? Let God just bless a fellow and put a little confidence
in him, and he gets to be a know-it-all. He gets to be... He's got to start an organization, or he's got to do something
that's different. "Why art thou
fallen from heaven, O Lucifer. God
has a hard time trying to get somebody that He can deal with, that'll stay
humble, and meek, and stay in the place until God calls him to do something (you
believe that? See?), a man that God can
bless and he'll still keep himself a man, not be an angel or a god. As soon as man gets blessed and has a
little something given to him, he wants to become a god; he wants to become
a angel. He wants to become some great person. "What I do, what... Me and
me and mine..." all that. That's
the wrong attitude. God's hunting
for somebody who He could bless and pour out the blessings, and more He
blessed, the littler the man will become. And you'll never get more of God until you become nothing. You've got to
belittle yourself. He that will
exalt himself, God will bring abase. He that will humble himself, God will
exalt. You've got to get little before you can get big. And you'll never be
big in your own self; you'll only be as
big as God will be big in you. See?
So
you see how contrary organization is to God himself? Organization uses the
power of its numbers to control men, instead of allowing the anointing of the
Holy Spirit upon God’s Word to control the lives of men. And one way they
control men is with their Deacon Boards? And why do they do that? Because they
do not trust the Holy Spirit to control men by His Own Word. They think that
they can do it better than the way God said for it to be done.
Brother
Branham told us in Church order that if someone gets out of hand or disturbs
the church service, he said for a deacon, that’s one deacon, to go over to that
person and speak to them gently and ask them to quiet down. Or if someone’s
children are acting up, he said you are to go to that person and talk to that
person one on one. Then, he said if they will not listen to you, if they don’t
make the necessary changes then you bring another with you, and then if that
doesn’t work, then you bring them to the deacon board to play the tape where
church order was set forth and let them listen so they will understand how to
conduct themselves in church.
But
he never said they were to conduct meetings to gossip about the people. He said
they were to go to them in a spirit of meekness considering themselves that
they could be the one that is being talked to.
And
Jesus Himself said in Matthew 18:15 Moreover
if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall
hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. 16 But if
he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or
three witnesses every word may be established. 17 And
if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he
neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a
publican.
But
you see, the reason why they try to bully you into saying what they want you to
say is because that spirit of organization wants to control your mind so they
can control you too. That same old
spirit was in the church even back in the Old Testament days.
You
all remember the story of when King Ahab tried to convince King Jehoshaphat to
go with him to battle at Ramothgilead against the Syrians. He sent for all his
preachers 400 of them to enquire after the Lord whether they should go to
battle. Well, let’s read that story for a moment to see just how those
organizational prophets all speak in one accord even though they are completely
off the Word of God. It’s that same group-think mentality that God so hates,
and I hate too.
2 Chronicles 18:1 Now Jehoshaphat had riches and honour in
abundance, and joined affinity with Ahab. 2 And
after certain years he went down to Ahab to
6 But Jehoshaphat said, Is
there not here a prophet of the LORD besides, that we might enquire of him? 7 And
the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is
yet one man, by whom we may enquire of the LORD: but I hate him; for he never
prophesied good unto me, but always evil: the same is
Micaiah the son of Imla. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say
so. 8 And the king of
18 Again he said, Therefore hear the word of the
LORD; I saw the LORD sitting upon his throne, and all the host of heaven
standing on his right hand and on his left.
19 And the LORD said, Who shall entice Ahab king
of
Listen
to how brother Branham tells this same story we just read.
Perseverant 62-0623 P:91 91
It was Micaiah down there when Jehoshaphat and Ahab... What would a man of God want to make an alliance with a hypocrite like
that? He got in wrong company, just
like a lot of people do: get out in amongst unbelievers, social Gospel,
such stuff as that, and you get yourself messed up. Jehoshaphat said, "We
should go up to Ramoth-gilead. Why, sure. Naturally." All... They went up
and got four hundred well-fed
trained prophets. They come up there, and they said, "Go up. The Lord's
with you. "Hezekiah went and got him some great big horns and said,
"By this you'll push them out. (Because why?) Joshua divided the land, and
Ramoth-gilead belongs to us." It sounded fine. See, it sounded all
logical, fundamental. Said, "You'll just push them plumb back out of the
land."
92
You know, but there's something in a church, a man's heart, that's a man of
God. Jehoshaphat said... Look at there. There's four hundred of them, and all
with one accord, giving one voice. He said, "Now, I know
that...""That's got to be right," Ahab said. "Now, we're
Jews," Jezebel on the throne with him. See? Said, "Now, look at
there, four hundred Jewish prophets saying, 'Go up, THUS SAITH THE LORD.'"
But that didn't ring a bell. Jehoshaphat said, "Haven't you got one
more?"
"One more? What do I need with one more, when we got the whole seminary
here, the bishop and all. What do we need with any more?" "Well,"
he said, "isn't there one more?" Said "Yes, there is one more.
But I hate him." "Oh," Jehoshaphat said, "not the king say
that. Go get him." "He's Micaiah the son of Imlah," said,
"but I hate him. He's always prophesying wrong against me, always telling
me something."
93
Oh, yes. He's trimming the corns down, getting the warts off. See? Everybody
wants to be babied and petted. That's the reason it makes hotbed plants, have
to be sprayed with goody-goody this, and goody-goody that. Christianity's
rugged. The Gospel's to be handled bare-handed, not with ecclesiastical gloves
on. Right. Soft white gloves, that belongs to the women, not the preachers: no.
Listen, brother. The Word's got to be handed just the way It's there, not with
some seminary dogma in It, but just the way It's written here.
94
So they sent the deacon board over,
and told him, said, "Now, look, Micaiah. We'll take you back into the association if you'll just say the same
thing the bishop and all of them says. "He was talking to the wrong
man there. Micaiah knowed what it was to trust God. He said, "As the Lord God lives, I'll only say what
he puts in my mouth." Oh, brother...?... Seminary or no seminary, cooperation
or no cooperation, said, "I'll just say what God puts in my mouth."
He took that night and went back the next day. He said, "Go on up, but I
seen
You say, "Well, now, brother, how could a man tell whether he was
wrong?" Why? Micaiah's vision was according to the Word. The Word of God
had already been spoken by the prophet, and the Word of the Lord always comes
to the prophet. And if the prophet Elijah had cursed Ahab and told him that the
dogs would lick His Blood, how could he bless what God had cursed? So his
vision was according to the Word.
95
A man wrote me a letter the other day. Said he was in the deliverance ministry.
Said, "How can you tell whether it's God speaking through you, or the
devil? "Hmm, I said, "Examine
it by the Word. If it's not with the Word, then it's wrong; I don't care
how good it looks." In the Old Testament they had a way to find out when a
prophet was telling the truth, or a dreamer was dreaming right. They took him
down to the temple and put him before the Urim Thummim. And if that Urim
Thummim acted, and those conglomeration of lights like a rainbow flashing off
of that, God was recognizing that prophet to be truth, or the prophecy, or the
dreamer. But if it did not, no matter how real it seemed it was wrong. It
always answered; God give them supernatural.
96
I tell you that priesthood ended, and that Urim Thummim lifted; but we got a
new One today, and that's this Bible. If a preacher, or anybody else, preaches
any dogma or anything outside of that Bible, to me it's wrong. I won't believe
it. No, sir. It's got to be long... It's got to line up with that Bible. Don't
mix nothing with it. Just leave it the way it is. That's the way God has it,
and that's the way we must accept it and believe it. Yes.
97
The blind man, sure, he couldn't argue theology with them. But he was
persistent. He knew that once he was blind and then he could see. Sure. He
knowed that one thing; he was very persistent. They said his father and
mother... They said, "Anybody that confesses this prophet of
Therefore,
brother Branham was very concerned about this group-think, politically correct,
mentality that we see not only in the world today, but in the churches as well.
Disagree with the Pastor and you get hauled before the inquisition. Look, I
don’t care if you disagree with me, that’s ok, the people disagreed with Moses,
and I don’t even try to compare myself with him. I let my own children disagree
with me as long as they can back up their belief with Scriptures, and they are
respectful in doing so. Then that’s ok. I have taught them that they have to have a
personal experience themselves, and they need to know that they know that they
are right.
Brother
Branham said the reason God did not have two prophets on earth at the same time
is that although they would not disagree on the doctrine they might disagree on
how to do certain things, because they are individuals and individuals will do
things the way they think is best. When Elijah was prophet, Elisha was mentored
by that prophet. When John was the prophet, Jesus was no where to be seen, and
when it was time for Jesus to come into full ministry, John said he must decrease
that Christ might increase.
Second seal
the 63-0319 P:27 Just like, He could've chose the sun to
preach the Gospel. He could've put--chose the moon. He could chose the--the
wind, but He chose man. And He never did choose groups; individuals. See, And never two major prophets on the earth at the
same time. See, every man is different. He's got a different makeup. If God can
get one person (That's all He has to have.) right in His hand, He can do what
He wants to. He just has to have one. In the days of Noah, days of Elijah, days
of Moses... Many rose up in the time of Moses. You know how they did and wanted
to say, "Well, you're not the only holy one in the bunch," and Dathan
and Korah... And God said, "Just separate yourself; I'll just open up the
earth and swallow them away." You see? And so... And then the people got to
complaining. He said, "I'll just take the whole thing away. "And
there Moses took the place of Christ then to throw hisself in the breach and
say, "Don't do it, Lord." See? And 'course, He... After He'd ordained
Moses to do this, He didn't come over Moses, 'cause he was acting like Christ
in that time. It was Christ in Moses. Absolutely.
But
the main thing is to know as Paul said, “I know whom I have
believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed
unto Him against that day.”
Now,
this bring us to the next thing that brother Branham is telling us in the
Masterpiece, and that is that we are the Word, and if we are a part of Him and
were in Him before the foundations of the world then if He is the Word we are
the Word because we were in him making us a part of Him.
THE MASTERPIECE 64-0705 155
Notice. The Bride... If the Bride in the beginning was the Word, or the
Bridegroom; and then, if the Bride is
taken from the Bridegroom, It must
be the Word also. Notice. The Bride must be... Why? Why must the Bridegroom
be the Word manifested, made plain? Is because the Bride and the Bridegroom are
One; She's just a smitten piece off of
Him. There's the Masterpiece. It
was smitten. See it? Michelangelo could not
reproduce that again; he could not put it back. But God's going to do it. He's
going to bring this little Bride that's smitten right back to the side of the
original Word. And there It is; there's the Masterpiece, the family back again in garden of Eden.
Now,
contrast that with those having just a group think organizational mind. You see
how far below there privileges they are living?
In fact brother Branham
spoke about people living below their privileges in his sermon
As the eagle
stirs her nest 58-0316A P:21 And he was just talking about an Eagle he saw at the
Cincinnati Zoo who tried to fly away but they held him back with a great net
that prevented him from flying off to the heavens. And he said, 21
Sometime ago, I was at
And
again in his sermon Hear ye Him 57-0519A P:20 he said, Some
of we ministers, we should be ashamed of ourselves, as we keep our congregation
way below their privileges. The whole Christian church today is living
thousands of miles below their God-given privilege, because of just so half
asleep, dismal like... Take the promise; believe it. God said so; that settles
it forever. No matter how long it takes to materialize, Time doesn't mean
nothing to God. It's His Word that we take and we believe. Abraham waited
twenty-five years for that child to come. But it arrived. Certainly. We believe
it, because God said so.
Just think of it. John 1:1 “In
the beginning was the Word and the Word was God”. And if we were taken
out of Him, and he was the word, then we also had to be part of that word. And we
were in Him before the foundations of the world. That’s what we were told in Ephesians 1:4 According as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and
without blame before him in love: 5. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of
children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his
will,
And
if we were in Him, then we were a part of Him. That is what brother Branham is
trying to tell us. And if he said, Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by
Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, then
how will we ever become adoptable if we do not have His Will in our minds? That
is what Jesus taught us. He said, “Not my will but my Father’s that sent me.”
One in a million 65-0424 P:24 Let
me give you a shocking something. See, "Not all that says unto Me, 'Lord,
Lord,' will enter in; but the one that doeth the will of My Father." His will is His Word.
Christ is the mystery 63-0728 P:170 God
needs prisoners today that'll prison yourself to His will, to His Word. Now, next week we are going
to speak on this surrendering of our will to his will. Not to the will of a
group, but to His Will which is His word. And I am going to show you the
benefits of a surrendered will, because until you do, you are fighting the air.
But when you surrender to His will, it takes over your desires, and His desires
become your desire, and His Will becomes yours, and then ask what you will and
He said He would give it to you. Jesus
said, my meat is to do the will of My Father. My meat, my strength, My source of
energy. Let us pray.
Does God change His mind 65-0418E P:75 God
never changed His mind or His Word, but He will give you the desire of your
heart. He promised that. You know that? He promised to give you the desire of
your heart. And let your desire be the Word of God. Let your desire be His
will, never your own will, His will. If you ask Him for something, He don't
give it to you, say, "Thank You, Lord. You know what's good."
Spoken word original seed 62-0318E P:175 Notice,
what harmony. Jesus never did anything until seen of the Father or the Father
showed Him first: (Harmony between God and Christ. See? John 5:19) So will the Bride, and He
shows Her His Word of Life (He shows Her), and she receives It. She never
doubts it. Nothing can harm Her, not even death; for if the Seed be planted,
the water will raise it up again. Amen. (Now, I got a great big
"Hallelujah.") Here is the secret: the Word is in the Bride and the mind of Christ to know what He wants
done with the Word, and She does it in His Name. She has THUS SAITH THE
LORD. Then it is germitized; so the Holy Spirit waters it until it is grown
and serves its purpose. They do only
His will. (Amen. I'll believe that.) No one can persuade them different. They have THUS SAITH THE LORD, or they keep
still. Then they will do the works of God. For it is Himself in them, continuing His Word to fulfill as He did
complete in His day. All things when He was here, He did not complete all when
He was here, for it was not time yet.
Token the 64-0208 P:79 How
many in here is sick? Raise up your hands. Just say, "I'm sick. I'm
needy," or... Now, you don't have to be sick, just, "I have a need of
God. Brother Branham, I have need of God for something. I believe Jesus is
here. "Now, hold your Token right over that desire. Now, let me tell you
by His Word, and He cannot go contrary to that Word: He has already purchased
your desire, if it's according to His will. And His will is to heal. His will
is to give you your desire. He withhold no good thing from them that walk
upright before Him, presenting that Token.
Only one way provided by God 63-0731 P:40 His
Word is always the Truth, always the Truth. His believing children believe for
it, and cry for it, until His Word is vindicated. And His Word is always His Will. If
you want to know what the will of God is, find it in the Bible. It's God's
Word. Anything contrary to It, is perverted. And don't get into that hybrid
condition. What God said, that's the Truth.
Spiritual inspiration 56-0128 P:2 The
Lord has give us this promise, "Ask the Father anything in My Name, I'll
do it." Yeah. That's our promise. It isn't our faith in our prayer then.
It's just our faith in doing what He said do. "Ask the Father in My Name, you
shall have it; it'll be given. Whatever you ask the Father in My Name, you
shall have." Isn't that a wonderful promise? Just makes us feel wonderful
to think that, that our kind heavenly Father in His kindness has give us this
privilege of having what we would want or desire, as long as it's in His will,
of course. And we know when it's His will, if it's according to His Word. Then
we know it's His will.
Fellowship
60-0611B P:23 Now, God begin to restore back to Job. He
restored his stock, his animals (livestock), and everything, double. But did
you notice about his children: God restored back Job's children. Didn't say He
doubled them, but He restored them to him. Wonder where they were at? Did you
ever take a thought of that and read the book of Job? They were in glory,
waiting for him, because he had offered a sacrifice under the shed blood, and
he knowed where they were waiting for him at, under the shed blood... Now, He
never said He give him back another bunch of children, but He--He restored
God--Job's children to him, because they were waiting for him under the shed
blood of the sacrifice.
Thy House
61-0808 P:22 Now,
I know we all think our kids is renegades and things like that. But we must
stop that. I believe that we must remember that these kids are the best kids in
the world, because they're our children, and we claim them for God. Now, your salvation will not save that
child. But now, Paul said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thy
and thy house shall be saved." Now, what did he mean by that? He didn't
mean that because they were saved, that their house would be saved with it. He
meant this: that If he had enough faith to be saved himself, his same amount of
faith that he had for himself would work for his children. See what I mean?
Thy House
61-0808 P:25 Job
said, when he seen everything was just in good order, like your homes are now;
he said, "You know, my children is married and gone off." But said,
"Maybe, Peradventure one of them might've sinned. "Now, there's one
requirement God had: That was a burnt offering. He said, "Now, I
don't..." He didn't believe his children sinned. "But" said,
"peradventure they might sin. Because they're visiting one another, and
going to the parties at one another's homes, and so forth, and mixing up, I
guess, and so forth." He said, "If one of them has sinned... So,
Lord, I will bring a burnt offering and offer this burnt offering for my
child." See? And that's all he knowed to do. That's all God required, a
burnt offering. That's all He required. Well, then when the great midnight hour
come and struck and poor old Job was in the condition he was, You know, he'd
lost all of his cattle, all of sheep, and the storms come and killed his
children. And fire burnt up his servants. And His own health failed. And he set
in the backyard on a ash heap. And his own body broke out with boils, till he
took a piece of crock and scraped his boils. And even his wife got discouraged
with him….
Thy house
61-0808 P:29 God restored back to Job what? He restored
back to him his... Where he had ten thousand cattle, He give him twenty
thousand cattle. Where he had forty-thousand sheep, He give him eighty-thousand
sheep. See? And He restored everything back to him that he ever had. And you
notice, it said, "And He restored his seven children." See? He gave
Job his seven children. Not, didn't give him seven other children, but He gave
Job his seven children. Now, what was it? His house, "Thy and thy
house." Because he was righteous, because he was standing on everything that
God gave us to be righteous, or gave him, was to offer that burnt offering. And
he knowed that that was God's Word, and it could not fail. So, did you ever
think where them children was? They was in heaven waiting for him. See? He's
with them today. And God saved Job's children. They were in heaven waiting for
him. See?
Thy house 61-0808 P:39 Friends,
a conversion, outside of the same thing, won't last either. It won't. When you
go to church, and you say, "Well, I'm going to join church, and I'm going
to be baptized." If that isn't
coming from a heart of love to God yonder, it'll never go no where. You'll
just... All you'll do is join church and be baptized. But when you're converted
to Christ, a love to Christ, then you
accumulate a faith in Christ, like you would to your wife, or to your husband.
You accumulate a faith that you walk in that faith. I don't know, something
about you, you just got something that anchors you there. You see? Well, that's
the same way it is about Christ. And what Christ says, you believe it. And you
just stay right with it. And that's the way... It just raises you right up
above it, and God brings it to pass and fulfills His promise, "If thou
will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, thy and thy house shall be saved.
Thy house 61-0808 P:44 But
you understand what I mean now to believe? "Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and thy and thy house shall be saved." Believe for yourself, and believe for your house, and you shall have it.
Say, "Well, the doctor said I can't get well." Well, if thou can
believe on the Lord, you can get well. "Well, I'm out of work." But
if you'll believe on the Lord (See?), and you shall have work. "And I
don't know what to do about this situation." Believe on the Lord.
TOKEN pp. 171 But
the True Token of the blood, speaking out, speaks of a living, resurrected
Presence, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever; right, living
right among us. Amen. "It speaks better." Not from dead forms and creeds, but a living token of
a living Christ that lives in us. No, they deny there is such a thing, but we
know it's true. But we who believe the Word, know that God promised it and He
keeps His promise, know it is His living presence, for He does as He did.
Presence of
God unrecognized 64-0618 P:31 If we could only realize that He's
appearing to us in these meetings for one purpose, that's to release our
desires that we have in Him, to us. But we've got to recognize His Presence.
And now, how you recognize His Presence, is when the promised Word for this age
is made manifest, not the promised Word of Moses' age or any other ages, the
promise of the Word for this age.
Token the
63-0901M P:113 Notice, they were not just yet come
together to talk about the message. They come together to apply the blood, to
apply the token. That's what you must do. Pastor Neville, and to this
congregation, trustees, deacons, to you brethren, it's time that we laid aside
all the foolishness of the world, time we laid aside everything else. We've
seen enough now, that we're positive, sure, and the Token must be applied. Without
it, you're going to perish; you must perish. That is the only thing. Oh, don't
come together, say, "I believe it." Get beneath it. Get into it. How
to do it? By one Spirit we're baptized into the Body of Jesus Christ. Everybody
believe with all your heart. See? He was not responsible for any out from
beneath it.
Token the
64-0208 P:9 That's what He was requiring that night to
separate the believers from the unbelievers. The believer worshipper was
identified with his sacrifice. He must apply the blood. It wasn't take and kill
the lamb, set the blood out there somewhere, or keep it in a charger, take it
down to the neighbors. He had to apply the blood. That's the way it is tonight.
We could come and sympathize with everything God does, that isn't what He
requires. You've got to apply it. It's not sufficient until you apply it. The
blood must be applied. That shows that you are identified. The worshipper laid
his hand upon the lamb and then killed it, identify himself with the sacrifice.