The Parables of Christ no. 9
The
Mustard Seed
Rev. Brian Kocourek
Matthew 13:31-32 Another
parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a
grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: 32 Which
indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest
among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come
and lodge in the branches thereof.
Now, again in this parable,
we find Jesus again referring to the
Let’s read this parable
again from the Book of Mark.
Mark 4:30-32 30 And he said, Whereunto shall we liken the
And let’s read one more
time this parable from the Book of Luke.
Luke 13:18-19¶ Then said he, Unto what is the
Now, we know that He had already told them several
parables about the Son of Man sowing seed which is the Word of God. Hence we
can say then that He is speaking here of the Word of God again, and He is
illustrating in each of these parables that the Seed is not supposed to remain
in this Book, but it is to be scattered about to the field that it might grow
to a great plant, greatest among the herbs?
Now why would He type it with an herb and not some
other plant? Because in the Book of Genesis God gave us the herb for food. In
fact not just food but He gave us the herb for our meat. GENESIS 1:29
¶ And God said, Behold, I have given you
every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every
tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. 30 And to every
beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth
upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given] every green herb for meat:
and it was so.
Now, Jesus likens the grain of mustard seed also to
Faith for let’s face it without faith you have not an entrance into this
And again in the book of LUKE 17:6 we read, And the Lord said,
If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine
tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it
should obey you.
MATTHEW
MATTHEW
MATTHEW
13:11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven,
but to them it is not given.
MATTHEW
16:15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16 And Simon
Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 And
Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and
blood hath not revealed it unto
thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18 And I say also unto thee, That thou
art Peter, and upon this rock
(that’s the rock of revelation) I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it. 19 And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of
heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and
whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Therefore we see the keys to the kingdom is
revelation of the Word of God. And without Revelation of the word of God you
can not even see or perceive what the
YOU
MUST BE BORN AGAIN 61-1231M 207 Now remember, I believe that Jesus Christ
says this to every human being on His
first doctrine, "Except a man
be born of the water (That's the Word, washing of the water by the Word.) and
of the Spirit (which is the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit confirming the Word),
he cannot see the Kingdom of heaven." Do you believe that? See? Of the
water, washing of the water by the Word, Word and Truth, He is the Truth. Water and Spirit, the Spirit coming with the Word to confirm the Word, making God live in
me... See? We cannot understand the
Kingdom of heaven till that's happened. Then when that begins to happen,
that we see the Word in us, born of the Word and of the Spirit,
manifesting Itself, leading me not away from the Word; the Spirit leads me to the Word, and the Word living in me, making God manifest in your life, you'll never
understand the Kingdom of God and can no wise enter into it. God bless you.
Brother Neville.
YOU
MUST BE BORN AGAIN 61-1231M 30 So now, remember it didn't say, "You ought to be born again," but,
"you must." Now, we, as
English speaking people, understand what the word "must" means, that is, "it's absolutely, you've got to do it." See, it's a must. Not,
"you ought to; you'd be better off if you did, but "you must be borned again." Oh, if
we could just take that word this morning and break it down, what it means, how
that it's totally impossible... And then
if it's that essential and that great, that it's totally impossible to enter
the Kingdom of heaven, or even see It, until you're born again, and so many
different interpretations of that word "borned
again," we ought to seek it out with all of our heart to find out what
it means.
Notice he is talking about revelation of the Word of
God and without being born again you will never enter that kingdom. Now, when
we speak of a kingdom we are not speaking of a place as much as the King and
His domain or His people He has dominion over. Hence we are speaking of the
Presence of Christ, and being aware of that Presence. Now, many who rejected
the understanding of the presence claim to be preaching it now, after nearly 20
years of rejecting it. And why? Because they know that it is right. They have
taken their potshots at those who teach it as though we are some sort of vile
creatures, and because we have taken a strong stand for the doctrine we must
have some sort of a twisted mind, or some sort of a hard and bad spirit.
But they are now beginning to teach the presence
because they know it is right, and yet they will not preach the Judge is Here,
for that would then bring words of warning and judgment, and as they are trying
to build up their own little kingdoms, here on earth they do not want people to
know about the True kingdom of God. In the Alpha we saw the same thing, and therefore
we can know with assurance that it has to repeat in this hour. And so we saw it
in Matthew chapter 23.
Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees and scribes and
he said, MATTHEW
Now, how will they shut up the kingdom of heaven
against men? Well, if it takes a revelation to see it and perceive the presence
of the King Himself, and they teach contrary to that revelation, then they are
in essence preventing others that are dependent upon their ministry for Words
of life from entering, because they are not giving enough mental revelation for
the Spirit of God to anoint in order for it to become a dynamic
revelation. And thus they fill the
peoples minds with talk of printing books and making tapes and all this busy
work and the meanwhile the people are starving for meat which is the herb, and
the greatest is the mustard seed, which is faith, which is revelation of the
Word Itself.
INFLUENCE 64-0315
E-33
Fellow said to me, said, “I wouldn’t care how many cases you could show,
and how many cases the doctor could show of different healings,” said, “I do
not believe in healing. It’s not so.” I
said, “Certainly. It wasn’t sent to
unbelievers. It was only sent to those who believe. It’s only for believers.” He said, “He that believeth, all things are possible,” not him that unbelieveth. One speck of unbelief against the Word of God and you’ll stay out of
the Kingdom of heaven. It took Eve out. It caused all this trouble.
Just one little word injected and look at al the
death and dying that has taken place in the world.
Now, we know that Faith is what Jesus types the
mustard seed with. And Faith represents to us a living reality of the Living
God Living in our Midst. And Brother Branham told us that Faith is a
Revelation. The whole process into the kingdom, what we call our kingdom
journey all begins with Faith. We are justified by faith which means we are
cleanly and clearly forgiven, and we understand that through the Blood of Jesus
Christ we are forgiven for all our sins past, present and future. But it is
this faith in the Work of the Cross and our Faith in the Word of God that draws
us into the kingdom Presence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Concerning Faith, Martin Luther Defined said: “Faith is not what
some people think it is. Their human dream
is a delusion. Because they observe that faith is not followed by good
works or a better life, they fall into error, even though they speak and hear
much about faith. ``Faith is not enough,'' they say, ``You must do good works,
you must be pious to be saved.'' They think that, when you hear the gospel, you
start working, creating by your own strength a thankful heart which says,
``I believe.'' That is what they think
true faith is. But, because this is a human idea, a dream, the heart never
learns anything from it, so it does nothing and reform doesn't come from this
`faith,' either. Instead, faith is God's
work in us, that changes us and gives new birth from God. (John 1:13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh,
nor of the will of man, but of God.). Faith
kills the Old Adam and makes us completely different people. It changes our hearts, our spirits, our
thoughts and all our powers. It brings the Holy Spirit with it.
Notice Martin Luther said that Faith brings the Holy
Spirit with it. It opens the door to receiving the new birth and allowing The Spirit
of God to have entrance and to live within our hearts.
In fact that is the same thing Brother Branham said.
From the Message entitled, QA IMAGE OF THE
BEAST 54-0515 187-239 Brother Branham said, Now, watch now the next, He says, "And
thou art Simon, and I give unto thee..." because he had the spiritual, revealed truth. That's the reason he
knowed the difference between Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and the Name of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He had a
spiritual revelation. (and Remember that is what John said, when
he said, He that has not the doctrine of Christ does not even have God, and he
that hath the doctrine of Christ has BOTH the Father and the Son.) Now in
continuing with brother Branham’s thought on this, he continues, …That's what you're
understanding tonight, where the Holy Spirit's opening it up to us. He said, "Thou art Simon, and I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of
heaven. And whatever you bind on this earth, I'll bind it in heaven.
Whatever you loose on this earth, I'll loose it in heaven." Did He say it?
St. Matthew the 16th chapter, "Whatever you bind on earth, I'll bind in
heaven. Whatever you loose on earth, I'll loose in heaven. And I will give you the keys to (What?) the
Kingdom of heaven." What is the Kingdom of heaven? The Holy Spirit.
Notice then, how brother Branham said that the keys
to the kingdom of heaven is revelation of the Word of God. And he calls this revelation
of the Word of God having the keys to access the Holy Spirit. We know that the
Father is the Word, and that His Son Jesus Christ the anointed One, was the
Word made flesh, which means He is the Word of God manifested or openly
expressed. Now, Jesus typed Himself with being “The Door”. He said, no man can
come in or out except it be through me. Therefore, it is the manifested Word
which is the entrance, and that is what Revelation is all about. You can not
even perceive what the
Now, a door is an entrance into something, and since
that Door if the Word of God manifested, if you do not have the key to that
door, or the key to the Word it will remain for ever locked to you and
therefore your entrance into the kingdom is shut off from you.
Martin Luther knew what he was talking about
concerning this Faith which is alive in the believer. For he said, “Yes, it is a living, creative, active and powerful thing, this faith. Faith cannot help
doing good works constantly. It doesn't stop to ask if good works ought to be
done, but before anyone asks, it already has done them and continues to do them
without ceasing. Anyone who does not do
good works in this manner is an unbeliever.
He stumbles around and looks for faith and good works, even though he
does not know what faith or good works are. Yet he gossips and chatters about
faith and good works with many words.
Faith is a living,
bold trust in God's grace, so certain of God's favor that it would
risk death a thousand times trusting in it. Such confidence and knowledge of God's grace makes you happy, joyful
and bold in your relationship to God and all creatures.
Remember, brother Branham preached a Message called,
“Faith is the Victory”. And that is exactly what happens to those with faith. Faith
makes the Word of God come alive to you and without Faith you are men most
miserable. Show me a person with Faith and I will show you a life filled with
victory.
Martin Luther continued by saying, The
Holy Spirit makes this happen through faith. Because of it, you freely, willingly and joyfully do good to
everyone, serve everyone, suffer all kinds of things, love and praise the God who has shown
you such grace.
And I would like to add, show me a person who does
not enjoy serving others willingly, and who do not have joy in their life, even
while in the midst of trials, and I will show you a person who does not have
faith and thus they are lacking what it
takes to enter the Kingdom of God, and in fact are not walking in the light,
and are not seeing the Word revealed and made alive in their life.
Martin Luther again said, Thus, it is just as impossible to separate
faith and works as it is to separate heat and light from fire! Therefore, watch
out for your own false ideas and guard against good-for-nothing gossips, who
think they're smart enough to define faith and works, but really are the
greatest of fools. Ask God to work faith in you, or you will remain forever
without faith, no matter what you wish, say or can do.
Let us bow our heads and hearts in prayer.