The Rejected Word
April 11, 2001
Brian Kocourek
The week before last Sunday
we spoke from paragraph 45 of brother Branham's sermon, "Who is this Melchisedec," and we focused our
attention on brother Branham's comments about fellowship and Worship. Our
Thoughts focused upon the Principle that True Worship bringing True Fellowship,
and the only way you can truly have genuine fellowship is by entering into true
worship.
John tells us also that in
order to come into this fellowship there is a certain way we must walk.
I JOHN 1:5 ¶ This then is the message which we have heard
of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at
all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we
lie, and do not the truth: 7 But if we
walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another,
and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 8 ¶ If
we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins, and
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make
him a liar, and his word is not in us.
You can not walk in just any
way you want. You can not come into the light just any way you wish to
come, and not just any light will do.
The light of Luther or Wesley will not work today. John said we must walk in
the Light of His Presence. If you walk in the Light as He is IN the Light. Then
we have fellowship and the Blood is efficacious.
ISAIAH 50:10 ¶ Who [is] among you that feareth the LORD,
that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh [in] darkness, and hath no
light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God. 11 Behold,
all ye that kindle a fire, that compass [yourselves] about with sparks: walk in
the light of your fire, and in the sparks [that] ye have kindled. This
shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.
God gives you the challenge
here. Try to walk in your own light and see what it will bring you. You'll end
up in sorrow. That's your outcome.
In Matthew
22 we hear Jesus tell us the
parable of the wedding supper.
MATTHEW 22:1 ¶ And Jesus answered and spake unto them again
by parables, and said, 2 The kingdom
of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, 3 And
sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they
would not come. 4 Again, he sent
forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have
prepared my dinner: my oxen and [my] fatlings [are] killed, and all things
[are] ready: come unto the marriage. 5
But they made light of [it], and went their ways, one to his farm, another to
his merchandise: 6 And the remnant took his servants, and entreated [them]
spitefully, and slew [them]. 7 But when the king heard [thereof], he was wroth:
and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up
their city. 8 Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they
which were bidden were not worthy. 9 Go
ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the
marriage. 10 So those servants went out
into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad
and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. 11 And when the king came
in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:
12 And he saith unto him, Friend, how
camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. 13
Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away,
and cast [him] into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of
teeth.
In the Message
Cruelty of Sin brother Branham speaks of this parable and let's us know that
this man entered not in through the door which means he came in but not through
the Word for Christ is the Word and He is the Door.
And in Q & A 1170-Q-411
(August 30, 1964) we read, Dear
Brother Branham, please explain St. Matthew chapter 22, How did
this guest get in at the wedding supper, who had on a garment, but didn't have
on one of the wedding garment? Remember, I said... I kinda pulled a little
joke; I said, "A denominational brother who came by the window and not by
the Door." The Door is the Word.
Therefore this man did not
come by way of the Word, but he did get in some other way. And we know the Door is Christ and He is the
Word. Therefore this man did not come by way of the Word. Neither was He dressed by the Holy Spirit in
the garment of the Word. And notice, although somehow he got a glimpse of that
wedding supper, he was thrown back out into darkness where there was weeping
and wailing and gnashing of teeth. That's the tribulation period. This guy some how made it into the place,
that dimensional place where the wedding supper was to take place and then was
thrown back out because he was not dressed in the Holy Spirit. He did not come
by the way of the Word. He knew about the wedding supper, he knew all about it,
but he did not receive a new birth by the Word.
If Alpha is repeated in
Omega, I just wonder how many witnesses of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ,
are people who fit this parable. Remember when Jesus was raised from the dead,
Abraham and Sara and many of the dead saints that arose walked the streets and
were seen of many.
MATTHEW 27:50 ¶ Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud
voice, yielded up the ghost. 51 And,
behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom;
and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; 52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which
slept arose, 53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went
into the holy city, and appeared unto many. The word many is polus
pronounced {pol-oos'} --and means
many -- much -- great or large in number. Therefore
it was not a small number that saw them, and what effect did it have on them?
Remember, the parable that Jesus tells about the Rich man who lifted up his
eyes from hell? He asked Abraham to speak to his family that they might avoid
hell, and Abraham said, If they do not believe the Prophets, though one were
raised from the dead they still would not believe. Could this young man be like that man in the parable Jesus told?
LUKE 16:19 ¶ There was a certain rich man, which was
clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: 20 And there
was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,
21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table:
moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 And it came to pass, that the
beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man
also died, and was buried; 23 And in
hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and
Lazarus in his bosom. 24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on
me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool
my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. 25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime
receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is
comforted, and thou art tormented. 26 And beside all this, between us and you
there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you
cannot; neither can they pass to us, that [would come] from thence. 27 Then he
said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's
house: 28 For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they
also come into this place of torment. 29
Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear
them. 30 And he said, Nay, father
Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. 31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses
and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the
dead.
Remember also, on the day of
Pentecost nearly three thousand souls were said to have believed, and yet at
the end of the first church age, there were very few, and in fact we find the
admonition going forth in the Book of revelations telling us that many in that
first church age had left their first love.
Could these also be like that man who did not come in by the Word and
therefore was not dressed in the Holy Spirit.
ACTS 2:41 Then they that gladly received his word
were baptized: and the same day there were added [unto them] about three thousand
souls. Now, notice, it did not say they received THE Word
but his word. Just like the man who entered in, brother Branham said He was
invited, buyt he did not come the provided way which is the door. And that is
THE WORD.
Again we see in I CORINTHIANS 15:1 ¶ Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the
gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye
stand; 2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto
you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3 For I delivered unto you first of all
that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the
scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day
according to the scriptures: 5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of
the twelve: 6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren
at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are
fallen asleep. 7 After that, he was
seen of James; then of all the apostles. 8 And last of all he was seen of me
also, as of one born out of due time.
Now, Paul did not mention
the women who saw him, like Mary who saw him at the tomb, but I am sure she was
among those 500 who saw Him all at once.
ACTS 1:1 ¶ The former treatise have I made, O
Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2 Until the day in which he was taken up,
after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles
whom he had chosen: 3 To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by
many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the
things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
Now, there were many, many
people who saw Jesus after His resurrection. And yet we find the numbers became
fewer and fewer by the end of the first church age according to
REVELATION 2:1 ¶
Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he
that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the
seven golden candlesticks; 2 I know thy
works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which
are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not,
and hast found them liars: 3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my
name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. 4 Nevertheless I have [somewhat] against thee, because thou hast
left thy first love. 5 Remember
therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or
else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his
place, except thou repent. 6 But this
thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To
him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the
midst of the paradise of God.
Therefore this young man who
had some how gotten into the wedding supper was found out, rejected and thrown
back into the tribulation period. From the message, WHAT
SHALL WE DO WITH JESUS 64-0126 75 Brother Branham said, All's
written in the Book will escape it. Now, we find out the little flock is ready
for the Dynamics to move It up into the skies to escape all this tribulation.
Someone said the other day when I was talking, said, "Brother Branham, you
don't believe then the church will go through the tribulation?" I said,
"I believe the church will, but not the Bride." The church
will go through the tribulation (Yes, sir.), but the Bride's free from
it. She'll go in the rapture, in a moment in a twinkling of an eye she'll
be caught up to meet her Lord in the air for the Wedding Supper. She has
nothing to go through any tribulation about; her Lord has paid her price. We're
so thankful for that. Yes, sir.
78 After the rejection, of both church and
nation, there was only one cry come, the next move, was, "Get rid of
It." That's the next cry we have. The church has firmly turned down the
Holy Spirit. We know it has. Oh, members has come out of everything; that's
the great call, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Lutherans; but the church
itself, the denomination, it cannot move. No, sir. It's already denominated.
What's the thing of it is now? "Crucify It." "Crucify It."
What? Crucifying, afresh what? The a-vindicated Word to be the Truth. God's
Word, crucified afresh. Just as Eve corrupted the whole physical world, by
rejecting one little bit of God's Word, so has the church did the same thing.
80 You may say to me, "Brother Branham,
you've got the wrong interpretation of It." Well, that's to your opinion.
God don't need any interpreter. God's His Own Interpreter. That's what
the trouble of it is today; we got too many manmade interpreters. God can
interpret Himself. His Own vindication of His Word is the interpretation.
The Pharisees might've cried out too, "We got the interpretation."
The Sadducee says, "We got It." But Jesus was the interpretation.
Amen.
83 The manifestation of God's revealed
power, promised, is the vindication. Read the Scriptures and see what the
church is supposed to be today. Yes, sir. God don't need any interpreter.
That's what they done to Jesus. They found out back there that they thought He
didn't have the interpretation. He was the interpretation. God didn't
have to interpret It. Jesus' Life interpreted. He said, "Search the
Scriptures, for in Them you think you have Eternal Life; They are They that
testify of Me. And if I do not the works of My Father, then believe Me not. If
the works that was spoke of this day, don't manifest Itself in Me," He
said, "then don't believe it."
And that is the key to
studying the Message and the day and hour of God's Visitation here in this
hour. Time and time again I hear
brother Branham tell us that the manifestation of God's Word is His
Interpretation. As we move forward in Brother
Branham's sermon "Who is This Melchisedec", we see him say the
same thin in paragraph 45 And notice now, He made man, and man fell.
So He came down and redeemed man, because God loves to be worshipped.
The very word "god" means "object of worship." And this
that comes among us as a Pillar of Fire, as something that changes
our hearts, that is the same God that said, "Let there be light,"
and there was light. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Notice here there are two
statements being made. One Speaks of the Pillar of Fire which brother Branham
taught us is the anointing upon the presence of God showing us His Presence
here with us, and the other statement speaks of God speaking forth His Word and
then bringing it to pass, and then He says, He is the Same yesterday, today and
forever. Then if this is true, then we must find what part of that Word was for
this hour and then we must see the manifestation of that Word, being brought to
pass. And that is what we are talking about.
Jesus said, if you don't
believe me, believe the works (The vindication). As brother Branham said, they didn't want to turn down their own
interpretation when Jesus was the Interpretation. And I think I can be so bold as to say so was brother Branham the
interpretation to many, many scriptures spoken by God and written in His Word
and manifested in these last days.
And the manifestation of
God's Word is the interpretation of it. And God doesn't manifest His Word to
just put on a show. I've been saying for years now that we are headed for a
judgment like we've never seen before because if God would strike the earth
with plagues for a rejection of an incomplete word, then how much more when the
fullness of the Word has come. If 1/4 of the worlds population died from
Tuberculosis after turning down Martin Luther's Message, and one billion
people, or about one third of the worlds population were struck down with the
Spanish influenza because they turned down the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, then
what about turning down the Baptizer Himself?
What about their turning down the Shout? What about their turning down
the Rapture Message? And the change that it will bring on? What has the world got to look forward to?
ANGEL AND HIS
COMMISSION 47-1102 E-23 If I come here to Phoenix in the name of a prophet, and I do not
the things that a prophet does, then don't believe me. But if I come in the
Name of the Lord Jesus, in the name of prophecy, and as His servant, and I do
the things that is written of His servant, then you believe me. Will you do
that? If the deaf don't hear, the dumb don't speak, the blind don't see, the
cripples don't walk, if prophecies of sin isn't foretold the people and your
sins from the time you was a child foretold, then believe that this Angel that come
to me is false and I'm false with It. But if It manifests Itself here on the
platform before you, you believe it and repent of your sins and disbelief, for
the hour of His visitation is drawing near. That's right. For He only does
those things to confirm His Word. Look, anyway before any judgment's ever sent
to the earth, God sends forth and warns the people. That's right. And friends,
you listen to my word, if it's in touch with God. One of the greatest judgments
that's ever hit all the world is on its road. Now, remember that. Someday I'll
be gone, but you--you remember. Many of you younger people, and some of you
older, will see that I have told you the truth. That's right.
MELCHISEDEC THE
GREAT PRINCE 27 55-0109M Healing
of the body doesn't become a fiction, it becomes a reality. The baptism of the
Holy Spirit doesn't become any emotional, worked-up substance. It becomes a
reality of the indwelling Presence of the Lord Jesus Christ to change the life.
PROOF OF HIS
RESURRECTION 55-0410M They didn't
understand what that meant. It blinded their eyes. His miracles and things
blinded their eyes. And so is it today. The same things will blind the eyes of
the carnal mind, because it can't understand the things of God. It's against
God. It's a enemy of God's. The human mind is a enemy to God. You've got to get
out of your own human mind and be born anew by the Holy Spirit, and get the
mind of God in you. Then you can believe those things. Then it becomes a
reality. Amen.
WATERS OF
SEPARATION 55-0606 E-29 That's
what's the matter with people today. You come to the church, the water of
separation (That's all right.), hear the Word (That's very good.); you get
separated from your sin; but you go out with an intellectual faith. That's the
reason you can't believe. That's the reason you go back out and sin the way you
do, the reason you can't hold up from one revival to another. If you'd let that
intellectual faith move down through your brains into your heart, then it
becomes a reality with a new birth. Then it'll stay there, anchored forever.
God sealed you in by the Holy Spirit, and it settles it forever.
E-30 Get away... Intellectual faith's
all right; that's as far as the nominal Christian goes. He hears the Word. He
believes It. He has a mental conception of It. That's fine. We believe that.
But notice, when the man come to the waters of separation, which was Word,
"Faith cometh by hearing, hearing of the Word." We believe that. God
wants us to believe it. That's part of It. But that's as far as he ever gets.
He never gets into the fellowship yonder. He just comes through the water of
separation. And when he comes to that part, he finds a mental conception.
"Yes, I believe it," thinks it in his mind, raises up his hand,
accepts it, and twenty days from there, he's back in the same rut he was in the
first place. Because it's never went any farther than his head. Right.
INFALLIBILITY OF
GOD'S WORD 56-0404 E-19 And every time God makes a thought, it's
a creation; and when He speaks it, it becomes a reality. So every Word of this
Bible is God's spoken creative thought. And every time It's taken into the
right ground, It'll be made manifest. Amen. Then all the spooks drop away,
every shadow moves, and we stand anchored; nothing can shake you then. See? All
the superstitions and ups-and-downs is passed away then; we're right on the
Word. God can't do nothing but honor that Word. He has to keep it; it's Him.
The Word is God.
BELIEVE FROM THE
HEART 57-0623 E-67 until it drops down
into here, from your head to your heart till--till it becomes a reality. Then
it'll work. Only can it work when it comes to the heart.
GREATEST BATTLE
EVER FOUGHT 62-0311 17-2 It must be accepted in the mind; then it's
believed with the heart; then the Word of God becomes a reality; then every
senses of soul and body is just scoured out with the Holy Spirit. Then you're
sense of God; you're conscience of God; everything that's godly flows through
you. There's not a doubt anywhere. There's nothing can rise up.
LAW OR GRACE 54-1006
100 The first man went
away under the law, under animal's blood; it couldn't change his heart,
[Matthew 13:18-23 ] Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. When any one heareth the
word of the kingdom, and understandeth
[it] not, then cometh the wicked
[one], and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which
received seed by the way side. But he
that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word,
and anon with joy receiveth it; Yet
hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because
of the word, by and by he is offended. He also that received seed among the
thorns is he that heareth the word; and the
care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and the
Word becometh unfruitful. But he that received seed into the good ground is
he that heareth the word, and understandeth [it]; which also beareth fruit, and
bringeth forth fruit with patience, some an hundred-fold, some sixty, some
thirty.
Now you will notice that the
first group mentioned are those who hear the Word but because they do not
understand it the Devil is able to step in and take what understanding they did
receive away from them and thus they just simply fall away from the Truth. Then
there are those who hear the Word but when the trials begin they can't take it
and because they too do not really understand what it is all about they give up
and they too fall away from the Truth. Then we have the Laodicean bunch who get
caught up into the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches, and
these things choke off the word and it can not bring forth in these people what
it is meant to bring forth. These are the foolish virgins who run but do not
finish the race. They are caught in the trap called the deceitfulness of
riches. Money, money, money, the root of all evil. And notice that these riches
are called deceitful. And since this group does not have a full understanding,
they too fall short of receiving the True Word of God, which is His Holy Spirit
into their hearts and thus they come up short. But notice the group that comes
all the way into the True Baptism of the Holy Spirit, they are the Ones who
hear the Word and Understand it in their hearts, and because they understand it
they are not caught up by the deceitfulness of riches. They are focused and
ready and thus the Word brings forth Fruit in them some even a hundred fold.
So you can see how important
understanding is to the believer. And that is why Eve fell. Notice Eve had
understanding. She knew better than to partake with the Serpent, because she
told the serpent we must not eat of the Forbidden tree. It is cursed. And yet
the Serpent pulled one over on her and got her to eat anyway. Now, he didn't
tell her that her understanding was wrong entirely, but he told her that she
just didn't quite have the full
understanding of the picture. And so he explained it away from her. And so she stepped out from behind the
protection of the Word and she fell for His interpretation or understanding of
the Word of God. And that is exactly
what we are warned of will happen in [ 2 Peter 2: 1 - 3 ] ( Read) . These men will come
into the Message and give a wrong understanding of the Word of God and the
people will be caught up into what these men say as evil interpreters of the
Word of Truth.
MALACHI 4:5 Behold, I will
send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of
the LORD: 6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and
the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth
with a curse.
HEBREWS 10:22 Let us draw near with a true heart in
full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience,
and our bodies washed with pure water. 23
Let us hold fast the profession of [our] faith without wavering; (for he
[is] faithful that promised;)
I PETER 1:22 Seeing ye have
purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love
of the brethren, [see that ye] love one another with a pure heart fervently:
I JOHN 3:20 ¶
For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth
all things. 21 Beloved, if our heart condemn us not,
[then] have we confidence toward God.