The Masterpiece 90
Love is the Life Expressed
October
14th, 2006
Let us read for our text
from Brother Branham’s sermon on The
Masterpiece 64-0705 168 At the harvest
time the Seed is back to its original condition, and must have all of the Word in order to be the Seed. Now, you can't
have a half of seed; it won't grow. See? It's got to be the whole Seed. It's
got to not manifest, say, "I believe in baptism of the Holy Ghost.
Hallelujah. I believe speaking in tongues." That's just part of the Seed.
Uh-huh. But now, there's added to that
(Hallelujah. See?) the Life, not the
gifts, the Life of the gifts. See?
See what I mean? We're at the end time, brethren. Stalk, tassel, husk is dead
and dried now. There's only one thing that has to happen to that, it's to be
gathered in the World Council of Churches for its burning.
This morning I would like to look at this thought
where brother Branham has spoken to us about the essentiality of having all the
word, and then he hones in on the life.
Now, the first thing he said was that we have to be
able to stand alone like Jesus had to stand alone. And that I believe we are
willing to do, but then what about the Life because it comes right down to the
Life. Do you have the New Birth or do you not. Have you been born again by the
Word of God which lives and abides forever, or have you not.
Anyone can quote brother Branham and say they believe,
but you could say you believe everything that brother Branham said, and that
means nothing if the Life is not there.
Token
the 63-0901M P:103 Don't
just come this far, say, "I believe the message." You obey the
message. Come into Christ. You say, "Oh, I believe every word you said,
Brother Branham. "That's good. but that's just--that is just being able to
read. Take the Message; take it into your heart, that you must have the Token,
the very Life that was in Christ, be in you. "When I see that, I will pass
over you."
Listen, if there is a church in this world that should understand the
doctrine it is brother Vayle’s church and those churches who have aligned
themselves with his teaching. But Brother Vayle has told me on more than one
occasion, “there are people here who have
it but don’t have it”. And that is
true for just about everywhere. They have it up here (mentally), but they don’t
have it in there heart. And brother
Branham said in his sermon, Getting in the spirit 61-0428 P:47 I
don't care if the man's wrong. If he's wrong and sincere in his heart and
you're right in your belief and you're wrong in acting the way you're acting.
I'd rather be in his place than be in yours. That's right. I'd rather be wrong
in my doctrine and right in my heart. God will respect it more. So if a man is
wrong, what of it? Help him. He needs help. Love him. If you can't love your
enemy the same as you love those who love you, you're no better off than the
publicans. That's right. That's what the Church has failed to get. I hope you
get it tonight. I hope you see what I'm talking about.
And again in the
sermon, Godhead
explained 61-0425B P:40 I said, "now, I
do not take either sides with you brethren, and I know, as long as you fuss,
you're both wrong (See?), because 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?
Now, God is Love and so
if we have His Spirit living and abiding in us, then we ought to possess God’s
own Love in our vessels as well. And the Apostle Paul said, 2 Corinthians 5:14 For the love of Christ constraineth us, and
if Love constrains us then we must know
what it means to be constrained by Love.
The word constrain means 1. To compel 2.
confine: 3. inhibit or restrain; hold back: In other words, the word
constrain speaks of a force that governs our behavior in a forceful way, for
some purpose greater than ourselves. And if we are talking about the Love of
God, then it is this Love that constrains us. Paul said, the
love of Christ constraineth us. Not
just any love, but the Love of Christ is what constrains us. This love of
Christ is what causes us to do what we normally would not do. In fact that is
what brother Branham told brother Vayle when he went to brother Branham and
asked him to seek God for a vision or word from God as to why he did not have
this love. And Brother Branham told him he did have the Love of God within Him.
Then brother Branham explained to him, that the Love of God constrains you to
do what you would not normally do, but you do it because of your Love for God.
That is why Paul explains to us what Love is and gives us the attributes
of what makes up this Love of God as he explains in 1
Corinthians 13:4 Love
suffereth long, In other words, Love is patient. So what does that mean, “love is patient”?
it means that Love is willing to Bear or endure pain, difficulty,
provocation, or annoyance with calmness. You are not patient if you are an
angry person. But patience is marked by a calm demeanor. A relaxed demeanor. In
other words, if you really truly understood that God is working all things
together for the Good of those that Love Him and are thee called according to
His Purpose, nor our purpose but His purpose, then you will trust that whatever
happens is going to work together for your good. Then you don’t get angry and
loose your temper when things don’t go your way. You don’t get angry and shoot
off your mouth when things don’t seem to be going the way you had hoped for
them to go. But rather you are patient because you are trusting in God to be in
control even though you are not.
James 1:2 My
brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers testings; 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire,
wanting nothing. 5 If any of you lack wisdom, let
him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally,
and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 6 But
let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of
the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7 For let
not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
8 A double minded man is unstable
in all his ways.
And
the Apostle Paul said, in Romans 5:1 Therefore
being justified by Revelation, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 By whom also we have access by Revelation
into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only so,
but we glory in testings also: knowing that testings works within us patience; 4 And patience produces experience; and
experience produces hope: 5 And hope which is an
earnest expectation maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
So
we see that Patience works into us experience which shapes our character and
produces in us an earnest expectation that is never ashamed because of the Love
of God which the Holy Ghost has placed within us.
Now,
we are looking at the attributes of this Christ given Love that Paul is talking
to us about. And he said first of all it suffers long. It is patient and that
means it remains calm even under trials and testing.
And
next he says, and is
Love is kind; Now, that is one
attribute of love that I wish there was more of in this message. Now, the word
Kind means: a friendly, generous, or
warm-hearted nature. 2. Showing sympathy or understanding; charitable: 3.Humane; considerate: 4.
Forbearing; tolerant.
I only wish there were
more people expressing this Love of Christ because the whole world is in need
of this kindness. Now, this does not mean that you become a patsy or let people
walk all over you. No, it does not mean that you don’t hold to your principles,
but you can do it in a right way, and that is to be friendly, and warm-hearted,
and you show sympathy, and understanding. This idea of people talking to one another
in an abusive way is just not right. And really there is no reason for it. And
why people do it I really don’t know.
Now, the next
attribute of the Love of Christ Paul tells us is Love does not envy. Now, this is
important because
envy is defined as: A feeling
of discontent and resentment aroused by and in conjunction with desire for the
possessions or qualities of another. And the Scripture commands that we
shall not covet thy neighbors and you can fill in the blank.
You see Love does not
look at others for what they have. That is why The Love of Christ is color
blind. When I was in
So love does not envy.
Love is not discontent and love shows no resentment to others. It just
doesn’t. Now, that is not to say that
love will not show disappointment when someone pulls a deal or lies to you.
Those are evils that Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for. But Love does not envy.
And love does not boast, Love is never proud. You
see self pride which is what boasting is all about, is not a good thing. We
used to have an expression when I played sports, and that is this: “You never have to boast if you are good at
what you do, for others will do your boasting for you”. And that is true.
But those that are not really sure of themselves are the ones who do the most
boasting. And He that exalts Himself
shall be brought down. That is a promise of God.
Luke 18: 14 I
tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for
every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself
shall be exalted.
Luke 14: 11 For
whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall
be exalted.
Matthew 23: 12 And
whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself
shall be exalted.
Because what do we have that we have not received from God anyway? Paul
said in, I
Corinthians 14:36 What?
came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only?
And in Romans 3: 27 Where
is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of
faith. Because if Faith is a
Revelation, then where does revelation come from? If something is revealed that
means it was hidden and by Grace it has been unveiled or revealed to you. Then
who has ownership of that which is Revealed? God has. So where is boasting
then. What are you going to boast about? If God doesn’t do it, it won’t get
done, so where then is your boasting. And Paul said The Love of Christ never
boasts in self.
Now, there is nothing
wrong in boasting about Christ. Or what God has done for you. Or even boasting
about others. That is a good thing. The apostle Paul said, in 2 Corinthians 9: 2 For I know the forwardness of your mind, for
which I boast of you to them of
Macedonia, that Achaia was ready a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very
many.
And again the Apostle
Paul said, 2 Corinthians 8: 24 Wherefore shew ye to
them, and before the churches, the proof
of your love, and of our boasting on your behalf.
So the Apostle Paul did boast about his converts to Christ and their
lives and dedication to the Message. But of
himself, never. And in fact the opposite is true. He abased
Himself. 2 Corinthians 11: 7 Have I committed an offence in
abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the
gospel of God freely?
And again in Philippians 4: 12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound:
every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry,
both to abound and to suffer need.
Furthermore,
Paul told us, 5 Love
doth not behave itself unseemly,…
Now, that means Love
is not rude. Now, I have met some pretty rude people in this message. And that
just tells me those people are carnal and not born again, because you can’t be
rude and be filled with the spirit of God that never rude.
The word rude is
defined as Ill-mannered and discourteous: So we must never be that way. Jesus
said, “do unto
others as you would have them do unto you” and we call that the
golden rule. And when asked which of the commandments of God were the greatest
Jesus said in, Mark 12:28 And one of the scribes came, and having heard
them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked
him, Which is the first commandment of all? 29 And
Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our
God is one Lord: 30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and
with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. 31 And
the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
So Love is neither
rude nor is it self centered. For Paul continues by saying,
And love is not self seeking… No, if God is love, and the Love of God constrains us,
then the Love of God is not self seeking. So when you find yourself having a
pity party or saying things that are totally about self, you had better know
one thing, that is not inspired by God but the devil. Love is other directed,
always, it is other directed. Love is what you do for others, not for self.
And He continued by
saying, Love is
not easily provoked, in other words, Love is not easily angered. Now, I am not saying you can not be angry at
times. The same apostle that is teaching us of Love also said in, Ephesians 4: 26 that
it is ok to Be
ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: 27 Neither
give place to the devil.
And in Colossians 3: 8 we read, But
now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, and in Ephesians 4: 31 Let all bitterness,
and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you,
with all malice:
Nahum 1: 3 The LORD is slow to anger, and
great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in
the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
Reaction
to an action 59-0810 P:21 Isn't it strange how God does things? He
will let us get right down to the last, the last mile away. You know, He likes
to do that. He did it with the Hebrew children. He knew who He could trust, so
He let that them boys walk right up to the fiery furnace, till they could almost
smell the fire, and He never moved. But when it comes time, He will move. He
will move, but He waits till His own time. He wanted to see what kind of a
reaction they'd have. He knew they'd made their stand. And when He knows that
you make your stand... He will let Satan take you to the last mile of the way.
But just remember, He's still there. He wants to see if you really mean what
you're talking about. "Oh, I believe God's a Healer. Yes, I sure believe
it." And the next day, you still got your pain. "Well, maybe I never
got it." Sure you got it, He just wanting to see how you're going to react
on what you said. You say, "Oh, praise God, I believe in the baptism of
the Holy Spirit." The first little temptation that comes along, you fly off
like a buzz saw. He's trying to see your
reaction on your action. He's trying
to test you. "Every son that cometh to God must first be chastened,
tested." Every child that comes to Him, He puts him through a test to see
how he will act.
And remember, wit is
ok to be angry because we have disagreements, but we must learn how to control
our anger so that it will never control us. Anger is ok to use as a tool as
long as you are controlling it. I have used it in many cases to make a point,
but once that point has been made, I quickly turn it off. I used to do it with
the children and I have done it in the ministry but if you do not use it as a
tool of expression, and then turn it off, it can have a crippling effect on you
and how you come off to others.
Now, if Love is not easily angered, then Love has a
long fuse. And Paul adds to this, and love keeps no record of wrong; That is one of
the greatest attributes about the Love of Christ is that it holds no grudges.
It does not keep a record of wrongs Love has a capacity to forget.
Now, we have an
expression in our country that says, “Dog
bite me once shame on dog, dog bite me twice, shame on me.” But that is not
what the Bible teaches. The Bible says, “ love keeps no record of wrong”
And why is that
important? Because until you are willing
to forgive and forget, you will always be controlled by your record of wrongs,
and then if you keep a record of wrongs, then your motive is not right. Because
why would you keep a record of wrongs? It is because you either wish to get even,
or else you wish to control the person you are keeping record of.
Now, that is an
attribute of the devil, keeping a list of wrongs. God is willing to throw all
your sins into the sea of forgetfulness if you will let him. And one of the
first principles of a new beginning is forgiveness and unless you are willing
to forgive and forget you will never have rest for your own soul. It is
important for people to learn that when you forgive and forget you are doing
more for yourself than you are for the other person. Because in order to have a
peace in your soul, you must not carry in it the baggage and sins of others.
Brother Branham had a
principle he lived by and that was this: If you can not say
something good about a person, then say nothing at all. and he said,
we are little Messiahettes, and we create around us an atmosphere and that
atmosphere is a reflection of our own little universe within us, and it is a
reflection of our own spiritual condition.
It
wasn't so from the beginning 60-1127M P:8 Did you ever meet people that
you just loved to be with? You've had that, and why, they create that
atmosphere by their life, the way they live, and the things they think about,
and the love they have for you. …. You create an atmosphere, and that's the atmosphere
you have to be in to pray for the sick. See? It's the same thing. It's love
that casts out evil spirits.
Explaining healing and Jairus 54-0216 P:37 What
you are here is a reflection of what you are somewhere else. "Those who He
called, He justifies." Is that right? "Those who He justified, He has
glorified." Already in the Presence of the Father, we have a glorified
body. Whew! Wasn't that deep? All right. We'll find out whether it's right or
not. "If this earthly tabernacle be dissolved, we have one already
waiting." Is that right? That's right. So right now, and what we are here,
is a reflection of what we are somewhere else. So if your deeds are evil, you
know where it comes from. You know where your other body's a waiting.
The next
attribute of Love is that 6 Love does not rejoice in evil, but
rejoices in Truth. You
see Love does not wish ill towards anyone. Love is not vindictive. Love does
not wish to get even, those are carnal thoughts. Because Love is protective.
And 7 Love always protects.
Yes, Love does
protect. Just look at how Love is protective in a mother of any sort for her
children. It does not matter what specie it is. A real mother will protect her
young because she loves her young. And if you truly have the Love of Christ in
your heart, you will do what you can to protect those you love.
Now, I know families
that think you should never have any arguments in the home, and those are the
appeasement people who will let their children stay home from church because
they just don’t want an argument. Well, let me tell you something. Those people
don’t have the Love of Christ either. Because, if something is not worth dying
for, then it surely isn’t worth living for either. And Jesus said, “no greater love can you have than to lay down
your life for a friend”. Well, how much more to love your own
children that you will lay down or put aside your peace and quiet house in
order to save their little soul.
And another thing he
told us about Love is that Love is always trusting,…
Now, a man or woman
that is always interrogating their spouse or their children doers not have too
much love for that spouse or child, because Paul says, that Love is always
trusting. And when you interrogate
someone it is because you do not trust that person. And trust works two ways.
Some people do not trust others because they do not trust themselves. But if we
truly Trust God then we will believe God and if we trust our children then we
will believe our children. And we should trust until that trust has been
broken, and we have evidence that the person can not be trusted.
Now, I can say that I
have tried to always trust the men I am working with overseas, and I do trust
them until I am presented with strong evidence that shows me they have lied to
me. Then I can no longer place my trust in them. And we get people all the time
that want to live just any old life and yet receive the bountiful blessings of
God, but God does not bless and curse a person. You either bring the blessing on
or the curse on by your own free will. God told us that our blessings and
cursings depend on our own attitude towards the Voice of God. And the Bible tells us that if a man claims
that he has repented, then he must show fruits meet for repentance. And you do
not have to trust those who are not trustworthy. But to begin with we must
believe all things, and we know that God’s seed are all things in Christ.
Love always has hope, In other words, Love always has an
earnest expectation. It is always expecting the best, not the worst, but the
best. And Love
always perseveres, Love always remains constant to a purpose or
ideal. And if it always remains constant then Love 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. So you see there is but one constant in life and that
should be the Love of Christ that is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost.
Is your
life worthy 63-0630E P:71 When this takes place, the thing you'll do
then, you'll find out that the Spirit that comes in you from the new birth, you will believe and do everything that God
says in His Word for you to do. And everything that the Bible quotes for
you to do, you'll punctuate it with a "Amen." And you'll not stop day
and night until you receive it. That's right. That's right. And in all this
time, you'll certainly above everything bear the fruit of the Spirit. You say
"Will I speak with tongues?" You might do that, and you might not.
"Will I shout?" You might do that; you might not. But there's one
sure thing you will do. You will bear the fruit of the Spirit; and the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy,
peace, faith, long-suffering, meekness, gentleness, patience. Your temper
will not be. Just remember, when you got
that, that poisons the Holy Spirit away from you. See? When you get to a place that you want to fuss with everybody you come
along to, there's something wrong. When you get a place where the minister
will read from the Bible that it's wrong to do a certain thing, and you,… just remember, there's no Christianity there
at all. Now, "By their fruits you shall know them," it's what Jesus
said. See?
John
13: 34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye
love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
2 John 1:
5 And now I beseech thee, lady,
not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from
the beginning, that we love one another.
1 John
3: 23 And this is his commandment, That we should
believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave
us commandment.
John
15: 12 This is my commandment, That ye love one
another, as I have loved you.
Let us bow our hearts
in Prayer. Dear Father, we have spoken from our heart this morning to a people
here locally and those who will be hearing this around the world, and we ask
Father that those who are struggling with holding grudges and those who are
guilty of keeping a record of others sin, we ask that you might help them to do
to others as they would want others to do to them. We pray Father that you
might touch their hearts to and heal them of this affliction and help them to
live in peace and find rest for their souls. For we are a thankful people and
appreciate so much that you Father who could destroy us in an instant for our
sins and transgressions whereby we have offended Thee, and yet we know by Your
own Word that you have placed our sin under the shed blood of the innocent one
and have cast them into the sea of forgetfulness. Please Father as your Son
Jesus cried out on the cross, “Father forgive them for they know not what they
do” And so may we cry the same prayer Father, “Forgive them for they know not
what they do”, in Jesus name we pray. Amen.