Preparation #5 (The Opening
Prayer, Sincerity)
Saturday February 27h, 1999
Tonight I would like to
speak to you again from the Message Preparation
which brother Branham spoke to us in 1953.
Thus far in our study we have seen that God will never bring forth a judgment until He first sends forth
a warning. In our study thus far, we
have examined the need for such a warning, and the need for the one bearing
this warning message to be backed up or vindicated by God. For God Himself has
also warned us that there will arise false prophets and false teachers who will
lead the people after other Gods, and away from the Truth. God Also warned us
that He will allow this to happen in order to test whether we will stand with
His Word, or whether we will go after the word of another, and hold their word
above His Own. Now, let’s begin tonight by continuing our study at paragraph
11.
E-11 Now, let's read His Word, have a word of prayer, and get down to
the sincere part of it. Now, just before we do that, let's close our eyes and
bow our heads. Now, our heavenly Father, we thank You for this nice group of
people that You sent out here tonight. Many of them are sick, maybe some
unbelievers, some are in sin yet. We don't know them, You know them all. And I just come tonight to present myself to
You, Lord, as a living sacrifice. And I pray that You'll use this, Thy
servant, to pray for the sick, to speak the Word out of the Bible, or whatever
You have need of, grant it tonight. I just pray that the Holy Spirit will do
this. Now, I pray that He will
circumcise my lips, that I'll only speak that which is Your Divine will.
And if I should try to say anything
different, close my mouth like You did the lions' mouth with Daniel. And I pray that You'll circumcise every ear and
heart here to hear the Word and receive it. And may, when the service is
over, may the sick be well, may the sinners be saved, the backsliders reclaimed; and may
the glory of God be upon every person, that when we go from here tonight
we'll go to our cars and around different places, rejoicing and happy and weeping because the Presence of the Lord is upon us. Grant it, Lord. Forgive us of our short comings. Forgive us
of all of our sins, which we know that many, many we have did. And we pray
that You forgive us, and use us now for whatever You have need in this building
tonight. In Jesus Christ Name I ask it. Amen.
Tonight I would like to
study this opening prayer of Brother Branham’s because there is so much that
was said here that to bye-pass it we certainly would miss much of what this
Wonderful Message is about. Many have said, and I concur that Brother Branham
often said more in his opening prayer than most ministers will say in their
entire sermon.
Now, in the spirit of
sincerity as brother Branham began, we find him saying… Now, let's read His Word, have a word of prayer, and get down to the
sincere part of it.
I like that because he is speaking about some very important things, some very important aspects in the study of the Word. Namely, reading of the word, prayer and sincerity. These are three aspects of Christianity in which I think we sometimes overlook their connection.
We all focus so often on the
reading of the word because we know that Doctrine is the most important
element. Doctrine is the most important aspect in our walk. We know that prayer
is a very important element in our Christian walk as well, but we could pray
all day and night and if we are not walking in the Light, our prayer means
nothing. But I want you to notice that Brother Branham has chosen to use the
title Preparation as his subject to speak on in this message. And in doing so,
after his usual introduction to the audience, he begins by saying, Now, let's read His Word, have a word of
prayer, and get down to the sincere part of it.
The sincere part of it.
After reading God’s Word, and then entering into prayer, we will then get down to the sincere part of it. Let’s
look tonight at this Christian element of sincerity that Brother Branham is
speaking to us here.
What does it mean to be
Sincere? What is this sincerity that Brother Branham speaks of.
Five Junctions of Time 56-0122
E-68 Cain worshipped the Lord: sincere. If sincerity is all God required,
He'd have to justify Cain. But there is a way that seemeth right unto a man.
Oh, let me sink this deep in your heart. Don't forget it. Spiritual revelation,
there was no Bible in that day. That was the only creatures there were. But by
revelation, Abel brought a lamb, faith... Cain brought works and church
membership and the other things and built a church, said, "Surely Jehovah
likes beauty." Jehovah...?... with the big lilies and things laying over
the altar, like you do on Easter. About the last time they see you till Easter
again. What is it? God don't want the Easter lily on the altar. He wants you on the altar. Certainly.
Now, what we are looking at here tonight is sincerity, and yet when you here Brother Branham make comments like this, you tend to lean away from sincerity. But there is a balance to what he is telling us. He is telling us that sincerity alone, although it is a very good thing, it can not stand alone. But sincerity with revelation of the Word is a wonderful thing, because it means that you have gone beyond just a form and have entered into the Word with a genuine interest. Then your faith is real, it is genuine, it is you. Who you are, what you stand for, Your sincerity reveals whether you truly believe or not. By your life, you know whether you really believe or not.
The Word Sincerity as defined by Webster, is the quality or state of being sincere, honest and genuine. It means to be without deceit or pretense, or hypocrisy, Truthful, and straightforward. Being the same in actual character as in outward appearance, genuine and real. In other words, “what you see is what you get.”
PHILIPPIANS 1:9 ¶ And this I pray, that your
love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and [in] all judgment; 10
That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of
Christ; 11 Being filled with the fruits
of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
I PETER 2:1 ¶ Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and
hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, 2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye
may grow thereby:
ROMANS 12:9 [Let] love be without dissimulation.
Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. 10 [Be] kindly affectioned one to another
with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; 11
Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; 12
Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in
prayer; 13 Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to
hospitality. 14 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and
curse not. 15 Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that
weep. 16 [Be] of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things,
but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. 17
Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight
of all men. 18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in
you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but
[rather] give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance [is] mine; I will
repay, saith the Lord. 20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him;
if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on
his head.
21
Be not overcome of evil, but
overcome evil with good.
JAMES 3:13 Who is a wise man and endued with Knowledge among you? Let him
shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. 14 But if ye have bitter envying and strife
in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. 15 This wisdom descendeth not from above, but
[is] earthly, sensual, devilish.
16 For where envying and
strife [is], there [is] confusion and every evil work. 17 But the wisdom that is from above is first
pure, then peaceable, gentle, [and] easy to be intreated, full of mercy and
good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. 18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of
them that make peace.
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: Being
born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God,
which liveth and abideth for ever.
PHILIPPIANS 1:15 Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of
good will: 16 The one preach Christ
of contention, not sincerely,
supposing to add affliction to my bonds: 17
But the other of love, knowing that I am set for the defence of the
gospel. What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth,
Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.
II CORINTHIANS 2:14 Now thanks [be] unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ,
and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. 15 For we are unto God a sweet savour of
Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish: 16
To the one [we are] the savour of death unto death; and to the other the
savour of life unto life. And who [is] sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not as many, which corrupt the
word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we
in Christ.
JOSHUA 24:14 Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in
truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the
flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD. ¶
And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom
ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that [were] on the other
side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as
for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
I CORINTHIANS 5:6 Your glorying [is] not good. Know ye not that a little leaven
leaveneth the whole lump? 7 ¶ Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye
may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is
sacrificed for us: 8 Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven,
neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened
[bread] of sincerity and truth.
EPHESIANS 6:
22 Grace [be]
with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ insincerity. Amen.
TITUS 2:6 Young men likewise exhort to be sober minded. 7
In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine
[shewing] uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, 8 Sound speech, that cannot be
condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil
thing to say of you.
E-34 Now, today, our tradition is taking the power out of our
worship by our own traditions. And we say, "That means Methodists and
Baptists." That's Pentecostals. That's all of us together. Your tradition
has lost its power--not because you didn't do it. Yeah. They say, "Jesus
said he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." That's right. But
we made a tradition out of it. They stink before Him. You see the reason? The
worshipper coming, doing it, he did it only as a form.
And we are guilty of doing the same thing. We make a form out of it,
yet it's the commandment of God.
E-35 Like, just recently when our movements got
started, and God begin to adding something to them, and we went off with it,
made a tradition out of it, and it lost its power. Instead of bringing
brotherhood together, it separated brotherhood. You do it sometimes just for a
tradition, without the sincerity of it. You've got to enter the feast of God
with sincerity. No real sincerity, no real sorrow for sin...
E-42 042 We don't find that sincerity no more. It seems like it's all gone.
What's the matter? What's the matter? Let's go back to the first love we have,
and: Just be like Jesus, to be like
Jesus, On earth I long to be like
Him; All through life's journey from earth to glory I only ask to be like Him. Would you really? Let's sing it with
our hands up. Just to be like Jesus, to
be like Jesus (Conformed to His image),
On (love one another) to be like (We're members of His Body. We must be
like Him.) All through life's journey
from earth to glory I only ask to be
like Him. Do you really mean that? Say,
"Amen." Why, isn't that a
sweet Spirit? I'd rather have it than anything I know in the world. I...
You can take all the rest of the world and its fancies, all your intellectuals,
all your doctors, rabbis, bishops, holy fathers; give me Jesus. That's right.
Just let me have Him that old fashion way. I feel Him way down in my heart. And
watching my lives and sees my desires is to serve Him, humble, meek, and lowly.
That's what we need, friends, is a re... That's Jesus. That's the Jesus of the
Bible, not a Jesus of the intellect, but a Jesus of the soul. He's here
tonight.
If you will notice, this
Sincerity He is speaking of can not come of itself. It is not an attribute that
stands alone on display, or can be displayed all by itself. Notice that He
speaks of reading the Word of God and
prayer, then he speaks of sincerity. Therefore, you can not have this sincerity
without first having the Word of God, and then it, the Word of God in your life
must be sweetened by prayer.
Q & A COD 64-0830E 1165-Q-405
062 405. “Brother Branham, when some of--someone gets on me or "steps on
my toes (This might be a good one.)--steps on my toes," as the old saying
is, my temper rises; how can I overcome this thing? I know the Lord will have
to do it, but what can I do in my heart? I don't want this thing”. “Sweeten
your temper with prayer; then make up your mind.” There... I don't guess
there is too many people in this building ever had any more temper than I did
to begin with. Oh, I--I had a mouth mashed all the time. And I--I--I'd taken a
lot of my meals out of a straw.
My mother, as you know, was
a half Indian, and my father was an Irishman, a Kentucky Irish at that. And
every one of--both of them had enough temper to fight a buzz saw. And all the
time my mouth was mashed; I was little to begin with. And they'd just pick me
up and knock me down. And I'd get up again; and they'd knock me down again till
I just got too able--unable to get up anymore. That's always. And then when I got
able to get up, I got up again; they knocked me down again. So that's just the
way I had it. I thought, "I can never be a Christian." But when the
Holy Spirit came into my life, that done it. No more... I had a woman one time;
I went to have to cut the lights off. And that day I had hair on top of my
head. She said, "You little, kinky-headed idiotic." I told her, I
said, "Woman, you oughtn't to curse like that. Oh, don't you fear
God?" She said, "You little, kinky-headed idiotic, if I wanted
somebody to talk to me about things like that, I wouldn't get a half-wit like
you." "Whoo." Then she called me a blankety, blankety name. Oh,
my, if that'd been a year farther. I always said, "A man that'd strike a
woman wasn't man enough to strike a man," but I might've broke that at
that time calling my mother a bad name like that. But you know what? It never
even fazed me. I said, "I will pray for you." Never bothered... I
knowed right then something had happened to me. Yes, sir. Oh, my. You know the
evils that I done when I was a kid fighting? Almost killed five men at one
time. Took a rifle loaded with sixteen shots, and when them boys beat me
because I was a Kentuckian, no other reason... I couldn't even hold my head up.
One would hold me by hands like this, and the other one'd stand there with a
rock in his hand and pound me in the face, till I just lifeless. Nothing in the
world...
They called me a "Kentucky squab," because my mother, when
she was young, she sure looked like an Indian (looking at her picture awhile
ago), and they knowed she was a half Indian. And because I was Kentucky and her
being a squaw, they called me a "squab, a Kentucky squab." And I had
nothing in the world to do into it; I couldn't help because I was born in
Kentucky. I went down there to school, and I didn't have no clothes to wear,
and my hair hanging down my neck. And pop--mom took pop's old coat that he was
married in, and cut it up and made me a pair of pants to wear to school my
first time. And I... And she dressed me with a pair of white stockings on and a
pair of tennis shoes. And they said, "If you don't look like a windy
Kentuckian." And--and all--and that--and then, that went on all my--all my
school days.
And a couple of boys, because
I walked down the road with some little girl and packed her books. They didn't
want me to do that, and they met me down there and beat me till I was simply
unconscious. I told them, if they'd just let me go, I promise that I would go
right straight home. And so they took--let me loose, kicked me four or five
times, knocked me down, and scrapped my face all over. And I went home, like
this, up through the broomsage field. I had a little .22 Winchester rifle
laying up over the door. Reached up and got that rifle full of bullets, went
right down through the locust thicket, and hid by the side of the road till
these five or six boys come along there. Just waited till they come, and when
they was coming there, talking, said, "That Kentuckian will realize where
he's at from this on," going on like that.
I stepped up
with the hammer pulled back on the rifle. I said, "Now, which one of you
wants to die first, so you won't watch the others?" They started
squealing; I said, "Don't squeal, 'cause you're all going to die one by
one." And I meant it. And just then they started squealing. And I pulled
up and snap. The gun snapped. I throwed another shell in. Snap, it snapped;
another shell, snap, it snapped. And I pumped sixteen shells on the ground.
Every one of them snapped. And them boys running, and screaming, and diving
over the hill, and everything. And after they left, I stood there. When I'd get
so angry, till I--I--I wouldn't cry; I would laugh like a idiot and tears run
out of my eyes. Now, that's a temper. If it hadn't been for God, I'd been a murderer.
And I picked up them shells and put them back in the rifle, and, "Pow,
pow"; they'd shoot just as good as ever. Talk about grace. Scriptural Signs of the Time
Scriptural Signs of the Times E-80 Our heavenly Father, we're bringing to You
tonight this audience of people, that stands here making confession, knowing
that they've been wrong. Their probably, motives and objectives too that's been
wrong. But tonight they have come believing, believing that You will forgive
every sin. Many of them's went to church for years. Many of them has done great
charitable deeds. But, Lord, tonight they are wanting the reality; they're
wanting that sweetness, that something that they're lacking in their lives,
that Holy Spirit of God that moves in the form of the Word. And Your servants,
the ministers, Your servants has their hands laid upon them. We're praying for
them this prayer, and asking, Lord, that this will be the time that not no
other way, but right down in their hearts, it'll one time forever, in Your
Presence, be settled right now. May the Holy Ghost come into their lives just
now, and make them sweetened, Lord, with the--with the great honey of heaven,
and give to them an experience that'll be an everlasting experience, that the
great Presence of the living God may come boldly into their lives, and will
give to them that what they need just now. Grant it, eternal God. They are
Yours. I present them to You as love gifts, and as a sacrifice as--as they're
making here. And may the Holy Ghost just make it real to them now. God, grant
it, in Jesus' Name.
Meanest Man in Santa Maria 62-0630E That's what Esther had when she come before
the king. That's the reason she overrun the other girls, because she come
adorning herself with a sweet spirit before him.