Preparation #14 (Laying in the Presence to Ripen)

Sunday, April 25th, 1999

Brian Kocourek

 

 

This morning we shall examine paragraph 15 of the Message Preparation.   015   And now, mother, you here in the stretcher, and this dear loving person, mother here, and here, and all around over in the building now, I want to do tonight, by God's help if He will let me, is to speak His Word to you, that'll prepare your heart for the healing service. Now, I want you to listen close. Now, "Preparation..." God, before He does anything, He always prepares for it. How could we... As it's spoke in the Bible, if we... Before we go over to fight a war, first we have to prepare for that war. If you're going to get married, why, you prepare for that time. And you have preparations. And before you come to church you made preparations, the ambulance to bring you, or your loved one to bring you, or you had to get a certain amount of money ready before you could come; it's preparations. And God  always prepares the people for the events that's just about to happen.

 

Now, thus far we have looked at this preparation from various aspects.  We have examined this thought of preparing in advance for that which is coming upon the earth. In fact brother Branham said in the very next paragraph,

 

016   And may I stop right here just a minute and say: I believe that the people are in the preparation of the last great destruction this world will ever know. I believe we're at the end. You can speak to people; you could put a Billy Graham in every city in the United States; they'd drink whiskey and smoke cigarettes and laugh at you and everything else just the same. They are in the spirit of the last days. And God cannot send destruction before the people are in the spirit for destruction. God never did--never did destroy anything. Man always destroys himself.

 

We have also examined this thought of preparing in advance for a wedding. We actually took six messages on this subject back in January.  Brother Branham said,

 

Now, I want you to listen close. Now, "Preparation..." God, before He does anything, He always prepares for it. How could we... As it's spoke in the Bible, if we... Before we go over to fight a war, first we have to prepare for that war. If you're going to get married, why, you prepare for that time. And you have preparations. And before you come to church you made preparations,

 

Therefore, we have looked at this thought that Brother Branham laid out here in the light of Marriage, in the light of  the oncoming storm of Judgment, etc.

 

This morning I would like to look at this thought of preparation in the light of this Message.  What is the Shout supposed to preparing us for? If we say the Spiritual Union of the bride to the Groom, we have already looked at that in the natural when we studied those messages on building relationships. Now, I suppose we could go further into the role of the Wife and the Role of the Husband, but we have done that in the past when we took our mini series on “Home and the House of God”.

 

But this morning, I would like to approach this thought that brother Branham is bringing to us in another way.  I would like to bring out this preparation from the stand point, not so much what we are preparing for, as much as what we must do to prepare.

 

Now, I suppose, if I were preparing for war, I would be stock piling up weapons, and ammunition, and first aid supplies, and water and all sorts of items that I will need for this battle.  But I would also need to be doing something else if I am preparing to war.

It does not matter much if I have all the ammunition and weapons that money can buy, it won’t mean a thing to me if I do not have a plan as to how to defeat the enemy. Therefore, a very important part of any preparation  is having a plan. What Must I do to defeat the enemy.

 

And if I am preparing for marriage, I must not only prepare for the ceremony and all the things involved with the ceremony, but I must also prepare for the marriage itself. As the husband, I must prepare for our housing, and for our transportation, and for our nourishment, and for our health protection, and for our entertainment, and for our sleep, and for our clothing, etc. etc. etc… There is more to a marriage than just a ceremony. There is a whole life together where two people come together from two different households, and they come together to build one household.  There are physical needs, there will be emotional and spiritual needs as well.  

 

And therefore, this morning I want to look at the plan that God has for His Bride.  I want to look at the advice that God has given His bride. We know the people of this world are preparing for their destruction. But what are the people of God, those who will miss this destruction, what are we to be doing to get ready for the going home. What has brother Branham told us that we must be doing to prepare ourselves for this next step in our homeward journey.

 

Just Before brother Branham went off the seen, he left us with instructions of just what we must do. He told us that we were to be like the people he saw across the curtain of time, and he told us how we would become like those people.

 

GOD'S ONLY PROVIDED PLACE OF WORSHIP 65-1128M 40   020   I believe the church is begin to hear the message, and beginning to understand. But, friends, listen, we've got to lay in the Presence of the Son; we've got to be ripened. Our--our faith isn't ripe. Intellectually we're hearing the message that God has give us, and seeing the signs that He showed us, and proving it by the Bible as that; but, oh, how the church needs to lay in His Presence till it tenders up, you know, and gets sweet in the Spirit so that it can bathe down. Sometimes in speaking the message, you get harsh, have to break it in like that, because you've got to clinch a nail to make it hold. But when the church once gets it, the Elected is called out and separated then in the Presence of God, I know it'll be something like the people was there when it takes its rapture.

 

Therefore, there is a process that we must go through in order for us to be ready for the rapture. Because he tells us here that we will be in a certain condition when we take our rapture, or our flight out of here. Now, the question is this. What condition is he talking about.  This is the key. And how do we get there?

 

First of all is we know what it is, then there must be a way to get there. After all, we just read this morning from the Message preparation, that before God does anything, He first prepares for it. God, before He does anything, He always prepares for it. Then brother Branham immediately adds, How could we... if we go to war we must prepare, if we get married we must prepare, if we are going to church we must prepare, or going to school, or to the grocery store, we first must prepare a list, and on and on and on…

 

So brother Branham lays out the principle of preparation, and that before anything of significance is to be done, we must prepare for it if we are to accomplish what we set out to accomplish.

 

Then what about the Rapture. What does the Scripture speak concerning our preparing for the Rapture? Brother branham said we must lay in the presence of the SON to ripen. 

 

He said, I believe the church is begin to hear the message, and beginning to understand.

 

Remember, to hear means to understand. But he says that’s not all we must do, there is something else…

 

 But, friends, listen, we've got to lay in the Presence of the Son; we've got to be ripened. Our--our faith isn't ripe.

 

Now what does it mean to be ripe?  When you use the word ripe what comes to your mind? Fruit, right? And why does the fruit need to be ripe? Because it is not ready to be ate until it is ripe. Then the word ripe suggests to us a being ready, or a making ready.

 

For what? He says, for the rapture. A making ready for the rapture.

 

Intellectually we're hearing the message that God has give us, and seeing the signs that He showed us, and proving it by the Bible as that;   In other words, he is telling us that we are grasping the message in our minds, and we see the signs and can take them back to the Bible and see that they were placed among us for a vindication by God of His Presence among us to vindicate the Message,

 

but, oh, how the church NEEDS to lay in His Presence till it tenders up, you know, and gets sweet in the Spirit

 

Oh, how there is such a need for the church to become tender and sweet in their Spirit. Why?

 

 so that it can bathe down. Now what does the word bathe down suggest to your mind?

According to Webster, it means to immerse oneself into, to soak oneself in some substance or influence. And I believe that is what Brother Branham was speaking of here. To immerse ourselves into a certain influence which alone comes from laying in the presence of the Lord. And in laying in that atmosphere, there is but one result that will take place, and that is a tenderness, and a sweetness that we alone can not produce in ourselves. It must come from the Presence of the SON and that alone will produce this result. 

 

Sometimes in speaking the message, you get harsh, have to break it in like that, because you've got to clinch a nail to make it hold.   Here he let’s us know that it won’t be an easy thing, this laying in the presence of the SON, or Word, because sometimes you have to hit it hard to knock off all the wrong influences, and stuff.

 

But when the church once gets it,

What about this thought here. When the church once they get it, what will begin to happen?  the Elected is called out and separated

 

 

 

 

So we see that this separation we have seen is a vital part of the rapture process that is going on.  When the Elected is called out and separated, then and only then we are freed up to lay in the presence to ripen, to become ready, … then in the Presence of God, I know it'll be something like the people was there when it takes its rapture.

 

What people where? He had just told how he had been translated to the 6th dimension and how lovely and sweet the people were there. And remember, the angel of God told him,

 

BEYOND THE CURTAIN OF TIME 61-0305 025   As I begin to move from that beautiful, joyful place, as far as my eyes could see, people were coming towards me to embrace me crying, "My precious brother." Suddenly I was back on the bed again. I said, "O God, help me. Never let me compromise with the Word. Let me stay straight on the Word. I don't care what anyone else does, Lord. Let me press on to that beautiful, joyful place." I am more convinced than ever in my life, that it will take perfect love to enter that place. There was no jealousy, no tiredness, no sickness, no old age, no death, only supreme beauty and joy.] (Hallelujah!) [Whatever you do, lay aside everything else until you get perfect love. Get to where you can love everybody, even every enemy. No matter if the plane is rocking, the lightning is flashing, or the guns of the enemy are upon you, these things do not matter; get perfect love. If you're not saved, accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour, now. If you have not been baptized in water, be baptized now. If you have not received the baptism in the Holy Spirit, receive It now. Press on in that perfect love, which will take you to that beautiful and joyful place beyond the curtain of time.] Hallelujah. Glory to God. Amen.

 

Now, how do we get this perfect love? By laying in the atmosphere that will produce it.

 

ISAIAH 61:10     I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh [himself] with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth [herself] with her jewels.

 

JEREMIAH 2:32   Can a maid forget her ornaments, [or] a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number.

 

REVELATION 21:2  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

 

REVELATION 19:7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.  8    And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. 9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed [are] they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

 

WHY IT HAD TO BE SHEPHERDS  64-1221 255   126   Now, watch Jesus, in Matthew 24:24, "In the last days, the two spirits will be so close together, till it will deceive the very elected, if it was possible." Now, when that grain of wheat come forth, any wheat raiser knows that that looked like perfect, the grain of wheat. But you set down and take it in your hand, open it up. There's no wheat in it; it's a shuck. But way back in the back, under microscope you can see a little bitty bud; there comes the grain. And then what is that shuck to do? It's to protect the grain; the hot sun would kill it; it protects the grain until the grain is matured. And then when the grain becomes matured, the shuck pulls away from it. But did you notice, that grain then that comes forth, has got to be the same kind of grain that went into the ground.   127   After Luther's revival come a organization. After Wesley's revival come an organization. After Alexander Smith, John--Alexander Campbell, John Smith, all the rest of them, come an organization. After Pentecost, right down like the real thing, but it come an organization. What did it do? Pulled away. We've had fifteen years of revival; it's never been known in all history. And watch, in this fifteen-years revival, it swept around the world, and not one organization's been built out of it. Where was it? (It started the latter rain; it died in its--instant, it died.) There's been no organization follow this. Why? It's the grain itself; there can be no more. And the shuck now is pulling away, no cooperation, nobody wants you. Why is it? It has to be that.  258   128   Why was that church set there? To support it. Where... Who would've cooperated? What Baptist, or Presbyterian, or Lutheran would have supported a Divine healing campaign? And now when Truth comes forth, what happens? Not the shuck; but the Life goes right out from the shuck, right into the grain, the real true Life. The organization stands there, dies, just like it has done in every age; it does the same. You come out of that fifty years ago, and went right back into it again. But real Life follows the grain, we're at the end time, brethren.    259   129   What did it pull away for? So that it would bring the grain in Presence of the Son to ripen the grain to a golden ripen for the Master. Why has it pulled away? So it causes heartaches, tears, that they don't lay before the s-u-n, but the S-o-n to be ripened to the true full Gospel, to manifest everything that Jesus Christ promised in the Bible, there is raising up a Body today among the people. And there will be no more organizations; it goes right out into rich Laodicea. What has the organization prospered by? Millions of dollars, and millions of souls.  And what was the shepherd come from? To deliver his brethren from bondage. I--I don't know; God, be with us, help us. Study the Word. Search the Scriptures. In them we think we have Eternal Life, and they are they that testify of Truth. See, God 'lotted His Words to each age. This age always...

 

MAN RUNNING FROM PRESENCE  1   001   Let's bow our heads. Dear God, we are happy this afternoon for this privilege that we have of assembling ourselves together once more. And You alone, Lord, knows how our hearts has yearned for this hour that when we could stand before Thy people again here and bring this message that we so vitally feel that it's so urgent in this hour. And Thou has 'lotted us these few days now, and we pray, dear God, that Your hand of mercy will be upon us to guide us and direct us. And give us those things which we have need of, Lord, for our hearts yearn to know You better. We see the great harvest field, white, ripe, and know the grain is ready now for the great threshing time. Dear God, we pray that You'll open back the shucks from around us; let us lay in the Presence of the Son now these next few days and ripen to the Kingdom of God.  38   021   I--I believe we have Truth. I'm satisfied with that. And I believe the wheat is absolutely, the shucks pulling away from it. You know? And to see... I may give a little prelude on that tomorrow night (See?), how the shuck's pulling away from the wheat. But the wheat has to lay in the presence of the sun to ripen. And that's what we're here for, friends. Stay in the Presence of the Son till our little group of people here, till it becomes so ripe to Christ, that it becomes bread on His table. That's what I want it to do.

 

TRYING TO DO GOD A SERVICE  65-1127B 257   111   I heard a guy say one time, said, "I believe that man prays for the sick; I believe it's fine. But as being a prophet," said, "I believe he's God's prophet; but as a teacher, why, he's a Jesus only." What a... What kind of a person would you call that? A man doesn't know what he's talking about.

The very word "prophet" means that "he is a revealer of the Word of God"; the interpretation only comes to that. And that's why today we're in such a need of this great person that's supposed to be sent to us in the form of the prophet Elijah, because it'll be the revelation of God made known to us by vindication, showing that it's the day and the hour and the season that God promised it to be in. And remember, he'll be spoken against; always has been, always will be. Rejected, just like the shuck will pull... First he'll be accepted, because the shuck only holds the wheat until it's able to get forth to the sun. Pentecost will only sheltered the message, giving it an open door until it gets scattered, and then the shuck will pull away, and the wheat will lay in the Presence of the Son (See?), to ripen.

    259   112   There won't be any denomination; you just remember. Brother Jack here's a historian; many of you here are. There's never been a revival but about three years after the revival they start a denomination on it. Is that right? And this last great miracle move of God in this last days, it's went twenty years; and it's a million miles from a denomination, going further away all the time; the shuck's pulling away, no cooperation, no nothing with it. See? Always it pulls away from it. There can't be no more, it's a wheat now. But we're plenty green. Uh-huh. That's right. Have to lay in the Presence of the Son to be mellowed up; that's all of it. Plenty green; we haven't got the sincerity, the sacredness, the thing we ought to have in our midst to know that the Spirit of the living God, moving in His Word and showing us the things yet.

    260   113   We have false impersonators rise up. What's that to do? To deceive. The Bible said they would. "As Jambres and Jannes withstood Moses, so will these in the last days." See? They're  the same thing, come right along impersonating it, just exactly. See? Be careful. Watch the doctrine of the Bible. Watch the message that follows them signs. Still the same old school of message? Forget it. God sent the miracles and signs to attract attention of His people. When Jesus come just healing the sick and so forth, so did the prophets. They thought, "Oh, glory, He's a-coming; He's going to be a Pharisee. He's going to be a Sadducee." But He said, "You generation of serpents and vipers." Said, "You're of your father the Devil; his works you do." Said, "Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His Blood, there's no Life in you." He didn't explain It. He didn't have to explain It (Hallelujah.); that was for another season. (uh-huh) He just said what He had to say, "I always do that what's pleasing to the Father," and that's keeping His Word. "If I don't, My life and My works don't compare with His Word I'm supposed to do, then don't believe Me, I'm not Him; but if it does, then believe the works if you can't believe Me," He said. Notice now these musts that must be done.

   264   114   Now, see, God had not revealed the thing to them by His provided way; He had revealed it by inspiration, but it was in the wrong channel. See, inspiration will go fine, but if it's in the wrong channel, it'll be channeled wrong. Like you take a bullet and shoot it directly to a target, it's making its way right to the target, but a puff of wind can blow it out. Now, in your automobile, you go down the road sixty, seventy miles an hour and a puff of wind blows you, you can straighten your wheels back up, throw it back on the road again, but you can't a bullet; ain't nothing there to straighten its wheels up; it misses the target. See, it must travel in its original channel.

    265   115   So must the Word of God travel in Its original channel. No little puff of wind's going to blow It off; no little denomination or nothing's going to blow It off; no little persecution's going to blow It off; It's directed to the point. It's going to hit there too. And then God... When It hits that point, God will vindicate It, "Bull's-eye." Uh-huh, exactly what He said He'd do. Here it is in the Scriptures, this, "THUS SAITH THE LORD, 'It shall come to pass.'" Here it is. See? There you are.

     266   116   Now, God had not revealed it in His provided way. So they went about to do it apart from His Word, and apart from the season, just the same as they have now. When man, no matter how sincere, trying to do Him a service outside of His provided way, they always mess it up. Like Balaam, Balaam thought he was doing God a service.

You think God lies? Does God ever change His mind? Well, people act today like He did. When He said for women not to cut their hair; they say, "We can cut it; Dr. So-and-so said we could. Brother So-and-so said you're just too narrow-minded." Uh-huh, uh-huh. See? "Well, can this happen, this happen?" "Yeah, uh-huh, So-and-so said so." God don't change His mind.

 

MODERN EVENTS MADE CLEAR BY PROPHECY 65-1206  37   018   Now, remember, this message started first with Divine healing, performing miracles. Now, if God let that go through a ordinary church just like we already had, then it wasn't God. God don't have to show off; He don't--He don't have to do these things to entertain us, like we Americans are used to (entertainment), but He does it to attract the attention of the people, that He's fixing to do something. Look at Him Hisself when He come, the wonderful little prophet, the Rabbi, the Prophet of Galilee." Why, His ministry was wonderful; He was welcome in every church. But one day He set down and said, "I and My Father are One." "Oh, my." That was out. "Away with such a fellow." "Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His Blood, you have no Life in you." "Why, he's a vampire. Get away from such a person." See? See, there was something had to follow that sign. See? Something followed. The shuck held it, but now the shuck pulls away; it has to. And remember, twenty years has passed by and no more denominations has come out of it, and it won't. We're at the end of denominations; the wheat's taking shape. But what's the matter with the wheat now, you can't... It must lay in the Presence of the Son to ripen before the combine picks it up.

    45   019   Now, the events that we see taking place, it's absolutely showed in the Bible of every age. We think we're all out of cater, but we're not; everything's moving just exactly with God's Word. Now, the Bible is a different book from any other sacred book. There's no book like the Bible, because the Bible is God in Word form. See? It's... A "word" is "a thought expressed." God's thinking expressed It, His Words through the prophets; and they wrote the Bible, which is in word form. And Jesus called It a Seed. And any seed will bring forth of its kind if it's in the right condition, or right atmosphere. Now, this Book of--is a... This Book of prophecy, It--It is foretelling future events. Now, the book contains the entire revelation of Jesus Christ. You don't add to It or take from It, and every revelation must come by It. See, it must be the Word.

 

47   020   So people say, "I had a revelation." Yes, we know Joseph Smith and many had revelations and things, but was contrary to the Word. It's got to come according to the Word if it comes from God, because it's to vindicate or to prove God's Presence. And He foreknew all these things, being... By His foreknowledge He ordained, foreordained (it's called in the Bible) predestinated every age to its place, and every man to its place, and every messenger to its place. He is God; the Devil ain't pulling nothing over on Him. And He's God, and He has ordained everything to take place, and it falls just exactly in line with His Word. So if we can see, by His Word, what age and what time we're living, you'll see it right here in the Bible, of this age, what we're supposed--what's supposed to take place at this time.

 

MAN RUNNING FROM PRESENCE  65-0217  We see the great harvest field, white, ripe, and know the grain is ready now for the great threshing time. Dear God, we pray that You'll open back the shucks from around us; let us lay in the Presence of the Son now these next few days and ripen to the Kingdom of God.

 

CHRIST REVEALED IN HIS OWN WORD 65-0822M  89   064   Now, we see where every age, and it was directly designed it out that we're in the last age. The shuck has pulled away, and we've had fifteen years, nearly twenty now, years of the message sweeping across from nation to nation, and this morning hooked up across this nation (See?), and no organization. It can't organize. There's nothing ever been like it or will be hereafter. See? The--the thing that's the matter with the message today is, those who obtain it in their hearts must lay in the presence of the Son to get ripened. See? You can pick up the message, and then let the Son bake all the greenness out of you (See?), make you matured Christians. You see what I mean? God's coming soon to receive His church, and we must have that type of Christians for Him to receive. The--the wheat's got to get ripe. All right.    90   065   These three musts, must be: Must not misinterpret or mishandle It, misinterpret or dislocate It. It must be kept just exactly the way God said It was. To the world It's a Book of mystery. The people believe It's just a mysterious Book.