WHO IS THIS MELCHISEDEC #29
December 17, 2000
Brian Kocourek
Last Sunday we took our text
from paragraph 52 of Brother Branham's sermon, Who
is this Melchisedec, where brother Branham spoke of the Book of life
coming into view way back before the world was even framed.
Who is this
Melchisedec 52 Now, we find Him at the beginning, His
attributes. And now, you were with Him then. Then is when the Book of Life
comes into view. Now, we read over here in Revelations the 13th chapter, the
8th verse, that the beast that comes upon the earth in these last days will deceive
all those people on the earth whose names were not written in the Lamb's Book
of Life before the foundation of the world.
53 Think of it. Before Jesus was ever born,
four thousand years before He came on earth, and several thousand years before
you come on earth, Jesus in God's mind died for the sins of the world, and the
Book of Life was made; and your name was put on that Book of Life before the
foundation of the world. That's the Bible truth. See? Your name was ordained of
God and placed on the Book of Life before the foundation of the world.
54
You were there in His attributes. You don't remember it, no, because
you're just a part of His life. You are a part of God when you become a son or
a daughter of God, just as you are a part of your earthly father. That's right.
You are... The male carries the hemoglobin, the blood. And when that has gone
in--in the egg, then you become a part of your father, and your mother is a
part of your father also. So you're all a part of your father. Glory. That lets
the denomination out altogether. Certainly does. God in all, the only place...
PSALMS 119:50 ¶ This [is] my comfort in my affliction: for
thy word hath quickened me.
PSALMS 119:93 ¶ I will never forget thy precepts: for with
them thou hast quickened me.
I CORINTHIANS
15:34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge
of God: I speak [this] to your shame. 35 ¶
But some [man] will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body
do they come? 36 [Thou] fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except
it die: 37 And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be,
but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other [grain]: 38 But God
giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. 39 All
flesh [is] not the same flesh: but [there is] one [kind of] flesh of men,
another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, [and] another of birds. 40 [There
are] also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the
celestial [is] one, and the [glory] of the terrestrial [is] another. 41 [There is] one glory of the sun, and
another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for [one] star
differeth from [another] star in glory. 42 So also [is] the resurrection of the
dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 43 It is sown in
dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in
power: 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a
natural body, and there is a spiritual body. 45 And so it is written, The first
man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam [was made] a quickening spirit.
46 Howbeit that [was] not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural;
and afterward that which is spiritual. 47 The first man [is] of the earth,
earthy: the second man [is] the Lord from heaven. 48 As [is] the earthy, such
[are] they also that are earthy: and as [is] the heavenly, such [are] they also
that are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall
also bear the image of the heavenly. 50
Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the
kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 51 ¶ Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not
all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the
trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall
be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal
[must] put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on
incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be
brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where [is] thy sting? O grave, where [is] thy victory? 56 The sting of death [is] sin; and the
strength of sin [is] the law. 57 But thanks [be] to God, which giveth us the
victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 ¶ Therefore, my beloved brethren, be
ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as
ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
EPHESIANS 2:1 ¶ And you [hath he quickened], who were dead
in trespasses and sins; 2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the
course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3 Among whom also we
all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of
wrath, even as others. 4 ¶ But God, who
is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
suzoopoieo {sood-zo-op-oy-eh'-o} -- quicken together with or -- quicken together 1) to make one alive together - with
Christ Then what we see here is
that one can not be alive without the other. Because The One Christ, makes the
other, you and I alive.
GALATIANS 2:20 I am crucified
with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the
life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who
loved me, and gave himself for me.
Now in Paul says the same
thing in Ephesians 2:5 Even when
we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are
saved;) and the word quickened he uses here is made up of two words, Soon +
dzo-op-oy-eh-
The word sun {soon} means -- with
-- beside -- to accompany In other words, the egg can never be
made alive without the sperm. The Life is in the Sperm, and yet the egg is the
seed. And so you were in the mind of God as an egg seed, so to speak but it
takes the quickening spirit of Christ the Word to enter into you to make you
come alive.
2227 zoopoieo {dzo-op-oy-eh'-o} --
quicken -- give life -- make alive 1)
to produce alive, begat or bear living young
2) to cause to live, make alive, give life; by spiritual power to arouse
and invigorate; to restore to life; to give increase of life: thus of physical
life; of the spirit, quickening as respects the spirit, endued with new and
greater powers of life; metaphorically, of seeds quickened into life, i.e.
germinating, springing up, growing
Ephesians 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath
quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised
[us] up together, and made [us] sit together in heavenly [places] in Christ
Jesus: 7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace
in [his] kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace are ye saved
through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: 9 Not of
works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should
walk in them.
COLOSSIANS 2:9 For in him
dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 10 And ye are complete in
him, which is the head of all principality and power: 11 In whom also ye
are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the
body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: 12 Buried
with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with [him] through the
faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. 13 ¶
And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh,
hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
I PETER 3:18 ¶ For Christ also hath once suffered for sins,
the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in
the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
Now let's look at this
quickening process. We know the Word of God is the Seed.
MARK 4:1 ¶ And he began
again to teach by the sea side: and there was gathered unto him a great
multitude, so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea; and the whole
multitude was by the sea on the land. 2 And he taught them many things by
parables, and said unto them in his doctrine, 3 Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow: 4 And it came
to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came
and devoured it up. 5 And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much
earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth: 6 But
when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered
away. 7 And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and
it yielded no fruit. 8 And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that
sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and
some an hundred. 9 And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him
hear. 10 And when he was alone, they that were about him with the twelve asked
of him the parable. 11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the
mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all [these]
things are done in parables: 12 That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and
hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be
converted, and [their] sins should be forgiven them. 13 And he said unto them, Know ye not this
parable? and how then will ye know all parables? 14 The sower soweth the
word. 15 And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but
when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that
was sown in their hearts. 16 And
these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have
heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; 17 And have no root in
themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or
persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended. 18 And these are they which are sown among
thorns; such as hear the word, 19 And the cares of this world, and the
deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the
word, and it becometh unfruitful. 20 And these are they which are sown on good
ground; such as #1) hear the word, and #2) receive [the word], and #3) bring
forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.
#1) Must hear it, means to
understand it.
#2) Must receive it, the
word used is paradechomai and means to acknowledge as one's own. This
word is made up of two words, para meaning beside, with, or near, and the word
dechomai which means - receive --
accept -- take up as your own… 1) to
take with the hand 2) to take up, receive
2b) to receive or grant access to, a visitor, not to refuse
intercourse or friendship; to receive hospitality; to receive into one's family
to bring up or educate
2c) of the thing offered in speaking, teaching, instructing; to
receive favourably, give ear to, embrace, make one's own, approve, not to
reject
2d) to receive. i.e. to take upon one's self, sustain, bear, endure
3) to receive, get, to learn
Therefore, when we are
quickened by the Word of the Hour, and given Life, God Life, we are thus
quickened to the revelation of the hour, and it becomes our own
revelation of our own being as well. We do not look upon the Message as what
God did for others, but what He has come to do for me. It is not just brother
Branham's Message, it is not Lee Vayle's Message, but it is my Message now. It
belongs to me. And if you are quickened the Message belongs to you.
And You hath He quickened,
and You hath He made alive. The Word is
the Life giver. It brings Life into your mortal body. It quickens you to the
day and the Hour and the Message of your day. And unless
#1) Must hear it, that means to understand
it.
#2) Must receive it, -- take up as your own…
#3) And bring forth fruit. and what is the fruit? It
is the teaching of the season. Therefore, to bear fruit means to teach. The
Message becomes your message and you become a fruit giver, a life giver to the
word.
GOD'S POWER TO
TRANSFORM 65-0911 111 God, through
a Seed of His Word... And there's only one thing that can quicken the Word, and
that is the Spirit, for It is the Life-Giver to the Word. And when the Life
in the Word meets the Life of the Spirit, It produces whatever the seed is.
Notice what Brother Branham
says here, when the Life in the Word meets the
Life of the Spirit, It produces whatever the seed is.
There's your three points
just exactly.
#1) You will hear it, meaning you will
understand it.
#2) You will gladly receive
it, --
meaning you will take it up as your own…
#3) You will bring forth
fruit.
Meaning you will declare the teaching to others. The Message becomes your
message and you become a fruit giver, a life giver to the word.
GOD'S ONLY
PROVIDED PLACE OF WORSHIP 65-1128M 225 Now, the Lutherans wanted to get in one way, by joining the
Lutheran church. The Methodists wanted to get in by shouting. The Pentecostals
wanted to get in by speaking in tongues. That still ain't it. See? No, that's
gifts, so forth. But I Corinthians 12 says, "By one Spirit..." Spirit
of God, which is the Life-giver to the Word, the Seed, to vindicate that Seed
for that season. See?
Now, how is a seed
vindicated? By manifestation of the Life in it. In other words, it will bear
the fruit of what it's true nature is.
A fig tree bears figs, an apple tree bears apples. And a Son of God will
bear God Life, and God is the Word.
II CORINTHIANS
4:16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet
the inward [man] is renewed day by day.
PSALMS 103:2 Bless the LORD, O
my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
And what are some of His
benefits? PSALMS 103:3 Who forgiveth all
thine iniquities;
If you walk in the
light as He is in the Light you have fellowship with one another and the blood
of Jesus Cleanses you from all your sin.
What other benefits do we
receive? who
healeth all thy diseases;
PSALMS 103:4 Who
redeemeth thy life from destruction;
who crowneth thee
with lovingkindness and tender mercies;
PSALMS 103:5Who
satisfieth thy mouth with good [things; so that] thy youth is renewed like the
eagle's.
There you are. He satisfies
our mouth, our speech, so that, notice there is a purpose to his
satisfying our speech, our mouth is satisfied so that our youth is renewed. And
how do we renew ourselves? First we
must be taught, EPHESIANS 4:21 If so be
that ye have #1) heard him, and have been #2) taught by him, as
the truth is in Jesus: 22That ye put off concerning the former conversation the
old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23 And #3) be
renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24 And that ye put on the new man,
which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
COLOSSIANS 3:9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have
put off the old man with his deeds; 10
And have put on the new [man], which is renewed in knowledge after
the image of him that created him:
ROMANS 12:1 ¶ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the
mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy,
acceptable unto God, [which is] your reasonable service. 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.
ROMANS 8:28 And we know that
all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to [his] purpose. 29 ¶
For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate [to be] conformed to
the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
30 Moreover whom he did predestinate,
them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he
justified, them he also glorified.
I CORINTHIANS
15:49 And as we have borne the
image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
II CORINTHIANS
3:17 Now the Lord is that
Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord [is], there [is] liberty. 18
But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the
Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, [even] as by the
Spirit of the Lord.
II CORINTHIANS 4:3 But if our gospel
be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 4 In whom the god of this world hath
blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. 5 For we
preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants
for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
hath shined in our hearts, to [give] the light of the knowledge of the glory of
God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in earthen
vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. 8
¶ [We are] troubled on every side, yet
not distressed; [we are] perplexed, but not in despair; 9 Persecuted, but not
forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 10 Always bearing about in the body the
dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in
our body. 11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake,
that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. 12 So
then death worketh in us, but life in you. 13 We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written,
I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;
AN ENSIGN 62-0119
E-51 E-52 And a Christian
that's dead, and buried, and raised with Him in His resurrection, in heavenly
places... See, if we are dead with Him, then we're also raised with Him; for
the body goes where the head is. And He is the Head, and this is the body. And
not will be, but now we are seated together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
with every power of the devil conquered and under His feet. Authority,
authority, there's the ensign. That's the hand that lifts up that counts E-53
Moses went down into Egypt. There was the great seas out there. Lifted
up the ensign, and what happened? They turned to blood. Lifted over the lands:
frogs, lice, fleas, the sun refused to shine, death struck the land. Why? He
lifted up the ensign of God's judgment. And when we lift up the ensign of God's
judgment as a believer in Christ, with a crucified life to yourself and your
own ideas, and raised, and His Word made alive among you, every devil's got to
squeak at it (That's right), 'cause it represents Christ. See? He died. He's
the one lifted up the ensign. And Moses, with his stick, it looked like a
little bitty thing, but it was a stick. And it was God's ensign to Egypt, his
judgment rod. And it brought judgment. God always gives something that you can
look at, something you can put your hand on, something you can prove, something
that's right, after you have accepted Him
SPOKEN WORD ORIGINAL SEED 62-0318M 56-3 All right. Every seed must come after its kind. God made man in
His image after His kind to be His Word on earth. He expressed it in Jesus
Christ. What was? God was in Christ. That's a Man after His kind. See? When
God, which is the Word... How many knows He's the Word? When the Word was in
Christ, a man, human man, expressing Itself through Him, that was God, the
Word, in Christ expressing Himself. And God in the beginning made man in His
Own image, and that's the kind of man that God makes today. The seminary and
the incubator hatchery turns out a bunch of hybrids (See?), the schools. But
when God calls a man, he's in His Own image: the Word made alive in him. That's
right. There he is; that's God's man, man in His Own image, in His very
likeness. And Jesus said, that he will do the works that I do. So God made man
in His Own image after His kind.
57-1 His kind, what is His
kind? the Word. He is the Word. Then if a man denies God's Word, how can he be
in God's image? Just ask the question. Ask yourself. "How can he be in
God's image and deny God's Word, when the Word's expressed image of
Himself?"
YOU MUST BE BORN
AGAIN 61-1231M 79 You are
conceived anew. You was first conceived in iniquity. Now, you're conceived in
something new. What is it? The living Word. Oh, that changes it now, doesn't
it? Now, we're through the struggle, after seeing what you got to do. Now, what
happens? You're conceived anew in the living Word. What is it? The Word becomes
alive in you. You begin to see things different. Where once you couldn't see
that, now you do see it. There's something different now: makes all the
Scriptures come together, makes everything dovetail just right. Then now--now
something's begin to happen. Now, you die to your own thinking; now you're
conceived, because we are washed by the water of the Word. Is that right?
HAVE NOT I SENT
THEE 62-0124 E-88 And when God plants
His promise in you and it becomes a living reality, then something is
different. You just don't go and say, "Yes, I believe it." Now,
that's all right. The devil believes it like that. But it's confirmed to you,
and the--the Word becomes alive in you. Then you begin to see what it is. Yes.
SEED OF
DISCREPANCY 65-0118 127 How many in the audience will believe it?
Here we both stand right here before the Lights, that we've never met in this
life, have no more idea who that woman is, what she is, where she come from,
what she wants. I've never seen her in my life, no more than I ever seen that
woman down there in my life. But, see, here's what I'm trying to get to do: get
that discrepancy away from you now and believe the Word when the Word is made
flesh right here among us. The Word becomes alive in our own flesh, that shows
the Presence of God.
SOULS IN PRISON
NOW 63-1110M 50-2 Not by speaking in tongues, not by dancing
in the Spirit, not by joining the church, not by fruit of the Spirit (Christian
Science can out smother any of you on that, see, and deny even Jesus Christ was
Divine.); not that, but it's the Word living. There it is. If they would've
looked, He was Messiah. He was the living Word made manifest. And a man that's
got the Spirit of God in him, or woman, lives--that Word lives right out in
them. That's the heart beat, the predestinated. For the Word of the Lord comes
to them, and they are the Word to the people: written Epistles read of all men.
Is that right? Could the Third Pull be on?
COLOSSIANS 3:3 For ye are dead,
and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, [who is] our life,
shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. 5 ¶ Mortify therefore your members which are
upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil
concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 6 For which things' sake
the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
I JOHN 3:2 Beloved, now are
we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know
that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he
is. 3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is
pure.