ONENESS # 8

He’s Here to Confirm His Promise

    SEPTEMBER 27, 1992

Brian Kocourek

 

Last  week we touched upon something brother Branham  said,  that

bears more attention. we examined pp. # 30 where brother  Branham

said, the following:

 

          pp. 30 ONENESS -- JEFF.IN -- V-10 N-2 -- 62-0211

" But the true believer won't compromise on any Word. It'll  hold

the Sword of the Faith with... in faith, rather, the Sword of the

Word, and claim every [1]Divine promise God made[1]."

 

Now there is something here about this PROMISE that really struck

home to me.

 

That's what we want. To claim every Divine promise of God as  our

own  possession. But first we must know what a promise  is.  Does

anyone  remember  what a promise is? And now we are  not  dealing

with  just  a  promise,  but a  Divine  promise.  There's  a  big       

difference. Men make promises they can not keep. Just look at all

the promises that the politicians make daily and yet how many are

held to their own words. But with God it is impossible for Him to

lie.

 

Now a PROMISE is: "an oral or written vow of performance. To give

a basis for expectation. To engage or pledge."

 

That's  it!  To give a basis for expectation. How  can  you  even

expect without something to base your expectation on?

 

In  our  studies  of  the scripture  both  on  Sundays  and  more       

intimately  on Wednesdays, we have studied many scriptural  words

which refer to the things that God by His presence is doing among

us and for us in this hour. And we have seen that He has come not

only  to declare Himself as if that declaration in itself is  the

end  of it. But we have seen that this declaration of Himself  is

actually the very beginning, for us, so to speak. Because we have

been drawn into His marvelous presence and as we begin to see Him

in all His Glory, we begin to understand more fully His Love  and

Grace toward us in contrast to His wrath and judgment upon  those

who are not His.

 

   1 PRESENCE.GOD.UNRECOGNIZED -- TPK.KS -- V-20 N-2 -- 64-0618

... working  for  this  one  purpose, for  you  to  recognize the 

Presence  of  Jesus  Christ. See? If He is  present,  then,  why,

everything  is settled. He made the Word. He is here  to  confirm

It.  He  proves  that He will confirm It. "He is  just  the  same

yesterday,  today,  and forever." We see Him do  it  last  night,

infallibly; we see Him, night after night, and day after day, and

year  after  year.  Never one time  has  He  predicted  anything,      

regardless  of  what  it was, when it would happen,  out  of  the      

thousands  of times, of what was perfectly on the dot,  on  time,

and  right.  How  can  it? How many knows  that,  and  knows  the       

ministry,  and  knows that that's true? [The  congregation  says,

"Amen."--Ed.]  There you are. Not one time, regardless, how  even

impossible,  happened just the same. He is God! And if  we  would

just recognize that, take a hold of it!
p73

 

Now  I  want to say this one thing to you this  morning.  I  just

quoted  something to you that ought to let you know that  God  is

not  here  on a vacation. He is here on serious business.  He  is

here  to  confirm every divine promise that He has  made  to  His

Elect Children. Therefore as he says in the message:

 

      E-32 WE.WOULD.SEE.JESUS -- PHOENIX.AZ -- 57-0226

... " we  should be the happiest people on all the earth. Because 

that He Who gave us the promise of Eternal Life is alive and with

us tonight to confirm that promise. What a wonderful thing."

 

Then again in the message :

 

         E-66 ALL.THINGS -- SHREVEPORT.LA -- 62-1124.2E

" It's over. It's finished. The God that made the promise is here

to confirm the promise."

 

And again in the message :

 

 4 GOD'S.PROVIDED.WAY -- BAKF.CA -- V-22 N-6 -- 64-0206.2E

  " Remember, we believe that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday,

today,  and forever. He is not dead; but alive  forevermore.  And

He's here tonight. We are in his presence tonight. And He's  here

to confirm, and make [1]good any promise that He made for this day."

 

Now, look! We know that the major promise spoken of in the  bible

pertaining  to this hour is that God Himself would come down  and

have a ministry through a prophet thus fulfilling The Son of  Man

role to the gentiles that the scripture and even Jesus Himself in

the  scriptures spoke of. But where our problem lies is  that  we

see  what God has done in this hour through His prophet,  and  we

believe  that it was God doing it and we say, that was great.  We

have  seen  God manifested in the flesh in this  hour,  so  Jesus

Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.

 

But that was nearly 30 years ago, and we must ask this  question.

If that same Jesus Christ in the form of the Holy Spirit is still

here, what is He doing today, this 27th day of September, 1992?

 

You see, too many people are still looking back upon a historical

occurrence  that took place nearly 3 decades ago. But He  is  not

dead. The Holy Spirit is still here among us.

 

Now many people miss quote what the Voice said in 1933. The Voice

of  God did not say "as John the Baptist foreran my first  coming

so shall you forerun my second coming." Nor did it say, "as  John

the  Baptist  foreran  my first coming  so  shall  your  ministry      

forerun my second coming." But what it did say was, " as John the

Baptist foreran my first coming so shall your [1]message forerun my

second  coming. That is what has come and that is what  is  still

here forerunning. That Message is Christ. Brother Branham said in

the  Anointed  Ones at the End- time pg. 63  "The Son of  Man  is

Christ.  He's  the one your feeding on. You're not feeding  on  a

man.  A man, his words will fail, but you're feeding on  the  un­

failing body word of the Son of Man."

 

 

So you see, the vessel God used to bring the message is the  only

thing  that has gone off the scene for now, and that  is  because

the  Message has entered another vessel and has brought  to  Life

this  other vessel. Would you like to know who that is?  You  and

me. His Bride.

 

 167 GOD.OF.THIS.EVIL.AGE -- JEFF.IN -- V-4 N-9 -- 65-0801.1M

  But in obedience this little faith Woman, that lives by  faith,

the Bride, the person here, there, here, off somewhere else, some

other church, ...?... believes the Word of God, obedient, waiting

in  love  for  the  promise of the age  to  be  confirmed.  She's       

watching for it. She is part of that Word, and she's watching for

Her  life to manifest that Word. Brethren, can't you see that?  I

hope  that didn't go over you. The Body is waiting for, which  is

the  Word, waiting for the Life, which is the Spirit, to  confirm

or  make It alive. That's what she's waiting for. No  other  life

will  work in her. She can't come to life any other way, yet  she

feels it out there, and she knows it's going to happen; then here

it happens, then she wakes up. God said, "Let there be," and  She

came forth like the first one come forth.

 

Now, before you get any grandiose ideas about  your part in  this

let  me  just say this. We just read a quote here  where  brother

Branham  let's you know that the only way the Life will  come  to

life  in  you is for you to receive the promised  Word  for  your

hour. Now we know the promise for this hour is the Son of Man  to

appear and manifest Himself in the office of a prophet and Judge.

When  you  see that, something happens to you and  you  that  are

Elect come alive or are quickened to receive every promise of the

Word for the hour in which you live.

 

Now that might be a mouthful or shall we say a mindful. So let me

bring this out in another way.

 

The  promise  of the Hour is for Christ to Appear in  this  Hour.

Right? Then, as we have studied so diligently over the past year,

this is called the Parousia of our Lord, His Presence. But as  we

have  seen,  what good is His presence doing those  who  are  not

aware  of  it. So we must be made aware that He is  Here,  right?

Then  we  see that the scripture speaks of an  Epiphanaea,  or  a

shining forth. Something is done to attract the attention of  the

world so that those of His Elect that are in the world might take

notice. Kind of like the shout of the mother eagle attracting the

attention of her little eaglet in the chicken yard.

 

Now, even the Catholic church has come this far. They say  openly

that   God's  presence  is  here  because  they  see   too   many         

supernatural things taking place and they say that it can only be

Him.  So then there must be something beyond a mere presence  and

epiphanaea. There must be something beyond that which catches the

people  attention.  For if God only wanted to  catch  the  people

attention  and then once He had their attention, He did  nothing,

what  sense  would that make. So there is a purpose  behind  This

epiphanaea.  He  has attracted the attention of His elect  for  a

purpose. And what is that purpose. That's what we want to know

 

So,  we  see that we start with a parousia which in order  to  be

known  there must also be an Epiphanaea or shining forth,  right?

Then once the attention has been focussed, we begin to see Christ

openly  declare Himself. He Apocalypses or reveals Himself.  How?

By  manifesting  Himself  in His true  character,  which  is  His     

Phaneroo. This phaneroo does something to the Elect.

 

We see in Col 3:4 it says,

                        

                         COLOSSIANS.3:4

"  When  Christ, [who is] our life, shall appear, then  shall  ye

also appear with him in glory. "

 

So  when Christ manifests Himself in His true Character, it  does

something to His Elect that allows them to manifest themselves in

their  True character. And what is our character? Well, if He  is

our Life, then we will manifest what He manifests.

 

                         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; [1]for we shall see him as he is.[1] "

 

So then the seeing Him as He is does something to us that  causes

us  to  be like Him. Thus allowing us to truly  manifest  who  we

really are for the first time in these lives of ours. It  changes

our opinion to His opinion, our thoughts become His thoughts. Our

Doxa becomes His Doxa.

 

This  phaneroo  of Him or the manifesting in His  true  character

brings  us  to  a  wisdom and a knowledge of  Him  as  stated  in      

Ephesians chapter one:

 

                         EPHESIANS.1:17

That  the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,  may

give  unto  you  the  spirit of  wisdom  and  revelation  in  the        

knowledge  of  him:  18  The eyes  of  your  understanding  being        

enlightened;  that ye may know what is the hope of  his  calling,

and  what  the  riches of the glory of  his  inheritance  in  the

saints,

 

This enlightening brings us into a relationship as sons in  which

we develop a GINOSKO or an intimate relationship with our Father.

A  relationship which we do not remember having with  Him  before

the  foundations  of  the  world because  we  have  bypassed  our       

theophanies, which is our spirit body or our celestial body.  But

as this GINOSKO develops into full maturity, it brings us into an

assurance or a confidence which gives us great boldness of  faith

which is called parrhesia.

 

This parrhesia is a state of condition in which we know our place

in Him and are not afraid to express it outwardly. We hold to His

Word  regardless, because we understand the immutability  of  His

Word.

 

It  is impossible for Him not to fulfill His Word. The very  pur­

pose of there even being a Word is that in the beginning God  was

Eternal  Thought. But He wanted to fulfill Himself and give  Him­

self reason of being. So He began to express Himself in order  to

fulfill     Himself.

 

This  then was the Word forming and coming forth into  view.  God

fulfilling  Himself. But it did not stop just in the  Word  form.

That  Word that was spoken was not ever meant to remain  as  Word

alone.  It  was meant to come into a form  of  manifestation.  It

would  not be complete and God could not be fulfilled unless  His

Word  were to come into a completed state which is manifested  in

Flesh or material substance.

 

That  is what we are focusing on today. If God gave  a  promise,

then that Word is still evolving or coming forth and can not stop

until  it  has come into realization or manifestation.  In  other

words, God's Word with skin on it.

 

In the beginning God said, Let there be light. It may have  taken

a  million billion years, but one day that Word became  flesh  or

manifested and there was light.

 

So  too,  we see in this Hour that God said He  would  return  to

earth  as  the Son of Man. we have seen the fulfillment  of  that

Word.  If God said it, it's got to happen. That's what I want  us

to see this morning.

 

There are other promises that are meant for this hour and one  of

them is that He has come down to gather a Bride. Well, if you can

see  that  He has come down, then is not this  scripture  in  the

processing of being completed. Is it not in the process of becom­

ing  Word or promise manifested. Is it not becoming the  Word  of

God made flesh?

 

Do  you  see  Him manifested in His Word in this  Hour?  Did  you

recognize that Word when it was tabernacling in a body of  flesh?

His  prophet? Are you being gathered to it? To the  same  message

that  attracted  the  prophet? Is it  changing  your  DOXA,  your     

opinion? Is your opinion becoming His opinion?

 

Then  brother,  sister, your becoming. You're in the  process  of

fulfillment. The Word made flesh.

 

                           HEBREWS.6:10

For  God [is] not unrighteous to forget your work and  labour  of

love,  which  ye  have shewed toward his name, in  that  ye  have

ministered to the saints, and do minister. 11 And we desire  that

every one of you do shew the same diligence to the full assurance

of  hope unto the end: 12 That ye be not slothful, but  followers

of  them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.  13

For  when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear  by

no  greater,  he sware by himself, 14 Saying, Surely  blessing  I

will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. 15 And so,

after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise

 

God is just waiting for His seed to come into His exact  likeness

or His exact image, and He is the Word. He had so much confidence

in His own Word That the scripture says, by faith He created  the

world.

 

Even Abraham knew his own position with His heavenly Father.  God

had  given Him a promise of having his own seed and Abraham  went

back to God and finally asked God to anti up. If God promised Him

he wanted to see the fulfillment of that promise.

 

                         GENESIS.13:14

And  the LORD said unto Abram, after that Lot was separated  from

him,  Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where  thou

art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: 15  For

all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy

seed  for  ever. 16 And I will make thy seed as the dust  of  the

earth: so that if a man can number the dust of the earth,  [then]

shall thy seed also be numbered.

 

Here  we  see the Promise that God made to Abraham. 5  years  had

passed by and now let's read where he became bold in his approach

to God about this promise.

 

                          GENESIS 15:1

"  After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram  in  a

vision,  saying,  Fear not, Abram: I [am] thy shield,  [and]  thy

exceeding  great  reward. 2 And Abram said, Lord GOD,  what  wilt

thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my  house

[is]  this Eliezer of Damascus? 3 And Abram said, Behold,  to  me

thou  hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house  is  mine

heir.  4 And, behold, the word of the LORD [came] unto him,  say­

ing,  This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come  forth

out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. 5 And he brought him

forth  abroad,  and said, Look now toward heaven,  and  tell  the

stars,  if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him,  So

shall thy seed be. 6 And he believed in the LORD; and he  counted

it to him for righteousness."

 

Brother Branham remarked about this event in his message:

 

       E-68 JEHOVAH.JIREH.1 -- LOUISVILLE.MS -- 64-0402

 "  Now.  We  find out then, that in the  15th  chapter  we  find      

something  very outstanding here. [1]I kind of like  this  extremely

well[1]. Seeing who Abraham was, now, and Abraham and his seed after

him,  we  find here that after Abraham had done all  these  great

things--believing   God,  holding  to  the  promise,   separating     

himself, and all along following out the way of carrying out  the

commandments of the Lord--we find out that God appeared to him at

the altar. And Abraham asked him the question, he said, "Now, who

is my heir but this Eleazar of Damascus? And now, You promised me

a  seed,  And I want You to do something. I want You  to  confirm

this promise to me."

 

He had parrhesia with God. He knew His position as a son and  was

not afraid to take God at His own word

 

He  didn't look at his own flesh and say, well I guess  I'm  just

not  fit to have this child. I guess I'm just unworthy. He  stag­

gered  not  at the promise of God. He held firm  to  the  promise

because  He wanted it more than anything. He made a mistake  with

listening to his wife and bringing forth Ishmael from Hagar.  But

that  didn't stop Him. He didn't look at his mistakes. he  looked

at  the  Promise.  Thus saith the Lord has  nothing  to  do  with      

whether  you  can  believe it or not. If God  said  it,  all  the      

unbelief  in the world will not stop it from happening.  And  the

Royal seed of Abraham will not look at their mistakes either.  In

fact the next PP. in this message ONENESS brother Branham says,..

 

         33 ONENESS -- JEFF.IN -- V-10 N-2 -- 62-0211

  We  know we make mistakes, but you mustn't look at  that.  It's

not your mistakes, because you're always going to have them. But,

you  see,  it's following His Rules, following what He  said  do.

Stumble and falling doesn't have one thing to do with It. A  real

true  servant,  if he will stumble, [1]he will get up again. If  he

wobbles, God pulls him right back in the path, as long as he's in

the path of duty. But if he's off of the path of duty, God's  not

obligated to him. But as long as he's in the path of duty,  God's

obligated  to him, knowing that he's just a man or a woman.  [1]He's

obligated to that person as long as they're in the path of duty.

 

Does  His Word say He will come with a shout to gather  a  bride?

Does it say they will hear and recognize and act upon that  Word?

Do  you  recognize that He is Here gathering His Bride?  Are  you

part  of  that  gathering to Christ the Word?  Are  you  hearing,

recognizing  and acting upon this Word? Then you are in the  path

of  Duty,  Right? Then God is obligated to hear your  desire  and

grant you your place in His Kingdom. He's here to do it and as  I

said  last  week, He wants to fellowship more with you  than  you

want  it from him. He wants to give you of His kingdom more  than

you  want  it yourself. He wants to give you the desire  of  your

heart. Won't you let Him come in and confirm His Word to you  and

in you and through you.

 

From his message UNRECOGNIZED PRESENCE  brother Branham said, "If

we could realize that He is Appearing to us in these meetings for

one purpose and that's to release our desires that we have in Him

to us. But we've got to recognize His presence."

 

Remember what the definition of a promise is?

 

A  PROMISE is: "an oral or written vow of performance. To give  a

basis for expectation. To engage or pledge."

 

He has not only given us a vow that He will perform but a vow  is

an engagement. It's His Word of Betrothal which means be truthful.

He's given you and me His Word that He shall perform it Himself.

 

Do  you think you can become His Bride on your own merit? Do  you

think  you  can even make it through this exodus  much  less  the

squeeze on your own accord? Even in the first Exodus God let them

know that they were not able, that it was up to Him to perform it

 

                         DEUTERONOMY.9:5

Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart,

dost  thou  go to possess their land: but for the  wickedness  of

these  nations the LORD thy God doth drive them out  from  before

thee, and that he may perform the word which the LORD sware  unto

thy fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

 

                                ROMANS.4:16

Therefore  [it is] of faith, that [it might be] by grace; to  the

end  the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that  only

which  is of the law, but to that also which is of the  faith  of

Abraham; who is the father of us all, 17 As it is written, I have

made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed,

[even]  God,  who quickeneth the dead, and calleth  those  things

which be not as though they were. 18 Who against hope believed in

hope, that he might become the father of many nations,  according

to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. 19 And being  not

weak  in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when  he

was  about  an  hundred years old, neither yet  the  deadness  of

Sara's  womb: 20 He staggered not at the promise of  God  through

unbelief;  but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;  21  And

being  fully  persuaded that, [1]what he had promised, he  was  able

also  to  perform.[1]  22 And therefore it was imputed  to  him  for

righteousness. 23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that

it  was imputed to him; 24 But for us also, to whom it  shall  be

imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord  from

the dead;

 

                    PHILIPPIANS.1:3

I  thank my God upon every remembrance of you, 4 Always in  every

prayer  of mine for you all making request with joy, 5  For  your

fellowship  in the gospel from the first day until now;  6  [1]Being

confident  of  this very thing, that he which hath begun  a  good

work in you will perform [it][1] until the day of Jesus Christ:

 

           PP. 34 ONENESS -- JEFF.IN -- V-10 N-2 -- 62-0211

"Now, the Church now is engaged to Christ for the wedding. The

wedding  has never been performed yet, it will be at the Wedding

Supper of the Lamb. So, we see that the Church is now engaged,"

( She's vowed to, she's promised to ) "like a man engaged to  his

wife. What does he do while they're engaged? He's just  bestowing

all kinds of things, sending her presents, making her feel  good.

Well, that's what Christ is doing to His Church. He's sending  us

gifts  of  the Spirit. How can you be engaged  then  when  you're

denying these gifts exist? It's the very love [1]tokens[1]. It's  God's

[1]token[1]  to  the Church. Jesus said so, "These signs  shall  follow

them that believe."

 

35 ONENESS -- JEFF.IN -- V-10 N-2 -- 62-0211

  Now,  keep those things in mind. The Church must believe  every

Word, every promise, every iota, [1]and claim It for themselves, and

exercise themselves in It.[1] If I was engaged to a girl, and I  was

a single man, and I'd send her something, an engagement ring, and

she  wouldn't  wear it, then that shows she doesn't  believe  me.

She-she-she doesn't want to be my bride

 

And  if Christ sends His church the gifts that He  promised,  and

they refuse them and say "they're not so," they don't want to  be

the  Bride of Christ. They are espoused to some other lover,  and

not  to  Christ,  the Bridegroom. [1]So the real  Church  keeps  the

promise, and keeps all, and accepts the gifts that God sends. All

right.[1]

 

Oh brothers and sisters, if we could only realize that He is here

to release the desires that we have in Him to us. But you've  got

to recognize His presence.

 

Receive  the Promise of the Hour. The change of the mind and  the

change  of  the body. You've come this far. You've  received  the

messenger, receive then His message. Christ is the message.

 

To  many people have only received the messenger  bearing  gifts.

Remember,  Eliazar not only brought gifts to Isaac's  bride,  but

also to her relations which represented the church. They received

the  messenger  gladly until he proclaimed His message  and  then

they  weren't quite sure that's what they wanted. And so  too  in

this  hour many have received only the messenger, which that is  a

good start, but receive ye the message.

 

And  what is the message? The opening of the seals. Not just  six

of them but all seven. And what are the seals? They are non other

than Christ Himself.

 

 45-3 THE.RISING.OF THE.SUN -- JEFF.IN - V-3 N-12 - 65-0418.1M

  He  is the One Who opened those Seals; [1]He is those  Seals. For

the whole Word of God is Christ, and Christ is the Seals that was

open. What is the opening of those Seals then? Revealing  Christ.

And  the very seven Angels which represented the  Seven  Churches

was  all completed, and we couldn't even see It.  They  did--they

took the picture, not us. And there He is standing there, Supreme

Judge, showing that He is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and  the

end. What identification!

 

Are  we Identified with Alpha and Omega. Are we  Identified  with

the  Supreme judge. He's given you your pardon. You never did  do

it  in  the first place. That's what God's prophet  said  to  us.

we're  innocent. Completely justified as though we never did  sin

to  begin with. Then what can hamper your prayer,  your  request,

your petition. "Ask and ye shall receive. Seek and ye shall find.

Knock and it shall be opened."

 

                            LUKE.12:31

"  But  rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all  these  things

shall  be  added unto you. 32 Fear not, little flock; for  it  is

your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."

 

                           ROMANS.8:35 - 39

 

                             Let's pray