Questions and Answers #40
How
should we React?
Brian Kocourek
December 29th, 2007
This
evening I want to bring a balance to how our conduct should be concerning those
who would rise up against what we stand for. It seems that over the past year
as I have traveled to ten countries this year and several places in the
Let
us stand as we open our Bibles to Mark Chapter 10.
This
evening I would like to take our text from St. Mark, 10: 13 And they brought
young children to him, that he should touch them: and his
disciples rebuked those that brought them. 14 But when Jesus saw it,
he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the
little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom
of God.
Let us bow our heads in
prayer. Dear Gracious Father we reverently and humbly approach Your throne of
Mercy tonight knowing there is still a blood for us to walk in for you said “if
we walk in the light ass you are in the light, the blood of Jesus Christ Your
son cleanses us from all our sin.” And we know sin is unbelief, so we know
there is still blood on the throne of mercy and we know that until your Son
Jesus comes to meet us in the air, until that last child is in and child
trained there is still mercy. For it is at that time, when he steps forth from
Glory that Your mercy seat will turn to a seat of Judgment. And I know Father
that there are many still confused about this, but if they would only look at
the mercy you have shown them and Your pardoning Grace. If they would look at
the Living word which has been interpreted by Your bringing it to pass, then
they would have to get their eyes off of their false doctrine and onto the
Doctrine of Christ which is why You came in this hour that we also might
understand our own Son-ship and relation that we have with Thee, and with Your
Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Grant us this same mind that we see in Your son
Jesus tonight as we see his attitude towards the little ones, and help us to
have the mind that was in Christ, that it might be in us also, for we ask this
in Jesus Christ’s name. Amen.
You may be seated.
Notice that when they brought
the children to Jesus the disciples rebuked them, and then Jesus had to set
them straight. St.
Mark, 10:
13 And they brought young children to him, that he should touch
them: and his disciples rebuked those that
brought them. 14 But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not:
for of such is the kingdom of God.
Notice that Jesus was much
displeased. Not only was he MUCH displeased, but the literal translation of
this says that Jesus became indignant towards them. That means he became angry
because of the behavior of his
disciples.
Now, we know that there were
very few times that Jesus became angry in Scripture. When he went into the
temple and began to beat the money changers and turn over their tables, and he
run them, well, run them out is hardly descriptive of what he did. He beat them
out is what he did.
He completely did a house
cleaning and through out everything that had to do with business out of the
vestibule or entrance of the temple. Jesus
was not just angry, he was seething with anger.
And the Disciples remembered what the Scriptures said, “The Zeal of the Lord hath eaten me up.” Now, to be eaten up with anger means there was
no small display of that anger.
That is exactly what Jesus
did here. And we know that “what
Christ's attitude was, was God's attitude, 'cause the two work together, the
Spirit and flesh united together. That’s what brother Branham
said from We would see Jesus
57-0226 P:21 And was that attitude towards the
merchandisers of the Message of that Hour? He beat them, and He whipped them, and He turned
over their tables, and He spilled out all their money, mixing it together so
they would really show their colors when they went back to claim what was
theirs.
Hah!! I can just see it.
These were men greedy men inwardly, but outwardly they displayed themselves as
lovers of the temple and lovers of God. They were doing this “FOR THE PEOPLE’S
SAKE”. Yeah!!! These men were doing a service for God and for the people, so
the people could do what God required of them. And brother Branham spoke of
this.
From his sermon
There is a man here that can Turn on the light 64-0125 P:60 "And here Jehovah requires a lamb for
a sacrifice for sin. The businessmen, they live in cities here and they sell
their goods, and so forth, their products and produce, and whatever they're
going to sell. They don't raise lambs. And what did the priests do? Made a
little stand up there for them to sell lambs, so this man could go in and clear
his soul with Jehovah. "What did this fellow, Jesus of
See that is what they were all saying back then. Jesus
was not this sissified girly man that
Look, they still do it
today. They sell tapes and CD’s and MP’3 in some churches, and I don’t believe
in that stuff. I don’t believe in selling the Word of God period, much less in
God’s House which is a place where we come to Worship God. You’ve never seen us
here selling Message things and charging people for them and making change an
all that kind of nonsense. What we do here is give the people the materials
free of charge. We do it God’s provided way.
But too many are still using
the House of God to make merchandise of the people. That is their marketplace. Oh, they say, we don’t sell in the church we
do it in the annex of the church. Well, it was in the annex of the temple that
Jesus beat them out from.
From his sermon He cares do you
care? 63-0721 P:39 Brother Branham said, “The churches has got into the same thing
out of social life. They brought it into the church, their social life and
their politics, and their other things, until they've got the church so
confused that it doesn't know what to do. They brought politics into church. They
brought also social life, their social life in the church, their social
activities, bingo, or bunco, or ever what they call it, and these suppers and
dances, and so forth, in the house of the Lord. Why, it's a pity. They say,
"Well, now, that isn't, that's on the annex. "Remember, it was the annex
also that Jesus beat the merchants out with their merchandise, and said,
"It's written, 'My Father's house is made a house of prayer,' and you have
made it a den of thieves." See? It's wrong, I don't care where it's at. As
long as the church... The church is not so much the building; it's the people
in the building. And if those people are participating in this, why, it's
wrong. And they've brought that practice.”
Listen now, a fellowship
hall isn’t for card games and social activities, a fellowship hall is for
fellowship. It’s supposed to be a place where you can come together to break
bread together and have a place where you can talk the Word with one another.
Keep the focus on Christ, not on worldly things. Yes, that’s what the
fellowship hall is supposed to be for.
In ACTS 2: 42 it says
And they continued steadfastly in the
apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. 3 And fear came upon every soul: and many
wonders and signs were done by the apostles. Notice the continued
steadfastly, that means continuously in the doctrine first and foremost, and
then fellowship which is two fella’s in a ship, and then in breaking of bread
and in prayer and it created such an atmosphere that many signs and wonders
took place among them. That is what fellowship is supposed to do. Create an
atmosphere by coming together, breaking bread and talking the Doctrine and
creating that atmosphere to live in. An atmosphere of expectation to see God move
in your midst. Fellowship is not for talking about the latest fashions,
sisters. And Brothers, it is not for talking about cars, or sports or hunting
and fishing. It’s for talking the doctrine while you eat.
Again brother Branham said
from his sermon, When their eyes were opened 64-0416 P:41 "And then, look. There's businessmen
here in our city. Jehovah requires a lamb. These businessmen are merchandise
men. They sell mercantile, and they
don't have graze lands. So the priest made a way that they could clear their
soul according to the Word of God. And he built little cages out there in the
courts, and he brought the men who sold the lambs in there, and let these men
who wants to offer a sin offering for their soul, a requirement of
Jehovah...""When they go up to buy this lamb, then what did this guy
do when he got up there? He turned over the money tables, and beat them out of
there, trying to keep a man from getting his soul right with God. And what did
He say about that godly old priest of yours? They were a bunch of snakes and of
the devil." Talk about fruit of the Spirit, they had Him beat by a long
ways.
So you see, Jesus was not
only angry at all the merchandising of the Word of God, and the merchandizing
of the items needed for man to properly make sacrifice to God. He was not only
angry, but He was so indignant that He actually made a whip to whip them or
drive them all out of the temple. So please do not expect that Christians are
so full of the fruits of the Spirit that we never get upset when we see wrong
motives being displayed, or when we see God’s Word being trampled over. No,
please there is a balance we must have.
From his sermon, Questions and
answers COD 64-0823E P:21 He said, “Now, that's no evidence of the Holy Ghost.
See? You can't rely upon that. You can't rely upon the fruit of the Spirit,
because the first fruit of the Spirit is love. And the Christian Science
exercise more love than anybody I know of, and they even deny Jesus Christ
being Divine. See? There's only one evidence of the Holy Spirit that I know of,
and that is a genuine faith in the promised Word of the hour. Now, those Jews
come; they had more religion than the disciples had. They were better trained
men in the Scriptures than the disciples was, because they were fishermen, tax
collectors, and so forth. And they had real faith and genuine faith in what
they were doing. Now, listen closely now; don't miss this. See? When it come to
being fruits of the Spirit, kind and gentle, I guess there wasn't a one of
those priest but what could outshine Jesus Christ in it. He went to the temple,
plaited ropes, looked upon them with
anger, and turned over their tables, and run them out of the place. Is that
right? The Bible said He looked upon
them with anger. The Bible said that. That's exactly right.
Let’s read that scene again
so we can picture it better in our minds. John chapter 2: 13 And the Jews' Passover was at hand, and
Jesus went up to Jerusalem, 14 And found in the
temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting: 15 And when he had made a scourge of small
cords, he drove them all out
of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers' money, and overthrew the tables; 16 And said unto them that sold
doves, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandise. 17 And his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.
Now, we have seen
one side of Jesus and how he stood up and was counted for concerning the House
of God. But let’s look at another side of Jesus tonight as we examine our own
selves before we come to the communion table.
We took for our text this evening, St. Mark, 10: 13 And
they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them.
Now look! What right did those disciples
have to interfere with what Jesus was doing there. The people wanted Jesus to
lay hands on their children, to bless them. That is a good thing. That is a
righteous thing. But look at the attitude of those disciples. They thought that
this was going to wear out Jesus. Well, there could have been other motives,
but let’s not look for the negative in it. Let’s just say, their motives were
right. But just because your motives might be right doesn’t mean that what you
are doing is right. So, I don’t say they had wrong motives in trying to stop
the onslaught of children coming to be blessed. But perhaps they felt they
wanted to protect Jesus. Perhaps their motive was right, but still the way they
handled it was wrong, and it displeased Jesus. Well, displeased is a rather
soft word for what really took place here. The Greek word means indignant.
Jesus became indignant. That means he was angry at what was taking place and he
let His Disciples know it too.
Verse 14 tells us, 14 But when Jesus saw it, he was much
displeased, (not just displeased, but MUCH DISPLEASED, He was indignant, and being indignant at what had
just taken place He) said unto them, Suffer the little children
to come unto me, (what does it mean to
suffer the little ones? It means let them alone so they can do as they are
doing) and forbid
them not: for of such is the
Now look, this is a very important thing
Jesus is telling them here, and he tells them in a heated manner. He said, “look, brethren, let those come who
want to come, and don’t you dare hold back those who would like to come.”
That’s what he is telling the brethren there.” Because he said the same thing
in Matthew 23:13 But woe unto you,
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against
men: for ye neither go in yourselves,
neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
And Paul said the same thing in Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God
is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who
hold the truth in unrighteousness;
Now, I can relate to this because last
summer when I went to
When I found out that our first ministers
meeting the brothers had excluded the other ministers in
I told the brethren in December that it
will never happen again. I will not allow that to happen. And that has to do
with the question I get from brothers around the world. They say, since we have
begun to teach the Godhead as Brother Branham taught it, and as Brother Vayle
and You are teaching it, we have really been attacked and we are cut off from
the other churches, and from fellowship with other ministers, and they have
come against us and say we are teaching “two gods” and all sorts of lies
against us. So what do we do. We feel hurt and want to strike back, so what do
we do?
And What I have been telling them is
this. Don’t do to them what they are doing to you. Jesus last words on the
cross were, “Father,
Forgive them for they know not what they do.” And the Apostle Paul
said, “Had they
known who he was, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory.”
So then should our attitude be any
different than Christ’s or Paul’s or William Branham’s? I don’t think so.
Brother Branham was never against the people, but against the system of
organization that controlled the people. He was not against the sinner but
against the sin that controlled the sinner. And we should be no different. If
they drew him out of their circle he drew them back in.
When I lash out against that system that
would control the people through organization, I am not lashing out at the
person who are doing it. They are just ignorant of what they are doing. They
think they are doing God a service, and the people who are being taken
advantage of, they don’t know any better. They think what they are doing is a
service to God, and that selling cookies and having bake sells, and those
things, are for the kingdom, but they don’t realize there is no scripture for
it. If the people would just pay their tithes and offerings like they are
supposed to do, then everything will fall into place. But when you feel you
need to start doing other things, like having bake sells, and peanut brittle
and garage sales to earn money for God’s kingdom, then that is when
organization has replaced God’s way of doing things. And that is what brother
Branham taught. He wasn’t against having a church supper. What he was against
is that they did so to pay their preacher instead of paying their tithes like
God’s Word tells them to do.
Sometimes, I think people feel that money
is the answer to everything, but that has never been God’s way at all. That may
be Western Man’s way, but that is not God’s way at all. He said “preach the Word, be
instant in season and out of season. Reprove, rebuke with all long suffering.”
That is the way that God chose for us to do it.
God has raised up brethren around the
world who are supporting our mission work and I am thankful to God for what He
has done through everyone who has helped. But for us to make merchandise of the
Message, Far be it.
When we began our outreach I simply asked
God for help. He gave us 82 laptops, and we made a trade for 50 sets of Brother
Branham’s sermons for some of those laptops. When others with large mission
works found out they asked how we could afford to give them away for free? I
said, God will make a way. And since that time God has done just that.
Now, my agreement with the Lord is the
same as brother Branham’s. I didn’t come up with that on my own you know. I
figured God is not a respecter of persons, and if it worked between Brother
Branham and God, then it would work for me as well. Therefore, if I ever have
to beg for help then it’s time to hang up the mission work, because if God
doesn’t make the way, then how do I know He wants me to go.
I apologize for getting off track here
but in getting back to our text, we see in verse 15 Jesus say, Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the
Now,
that is the ones that He is coming for. Don’t ever get to the place that you
think you are big stuff because then God can’t use you.
Redemption 55-1119 P:34 As
He said, "I've hid It from the eyes of the wise and prudent, and will
reveal It to babes." You don't have to be wise; you have... "He that humbles
himself shall be exalted; he that exalts himself shall be made abased (See? Be
brought down)." So just see how
little, and how simple you can live before God if you want to get anything.
Sure.
The Apostle Paul said “what do you have that was not given to you?
And if it was
given to you, then why do you boast as though you haven’t received it?”
And He also said in Romans 3: 27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what,
the law? By works? Nay: but by faith. 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by
faith without the deeds of the law. And
if you are justified by Faith and Faith is revelation, something God has
revealed to you, then you didn’t get it because you are smarter than the next
guy, and you didn’t get it because you got more people following you than the
next guy. You got it because God
revealed it to you, so you need to humble down or God can not use you.
1
Corinthians 14:36 What?
came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only? 37 If
any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that
the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. 38 But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.
And notice why Jesus got upset with the disciples. They thought, hey,
these are just kids, they don’t really matter much. It’s the guys who can sit
and talk theology, those are the guys we are interested in. And Jesus got upset
and said, look guys, it’s time you humble down, and become like one of these
kids here. It’s time you realize that we
are all God’s kids, and there are no big ones among us. God don’t look upon you
any more because you preach his word, or you have believed the message longer
than someone else. In fact brother Branham said from his sermon, QA on Genesis COD 53-0729 P:49 You
know, we sometimes think, 'cause we're a preachers... (Not you and I, I don't
say, brother) But preachers think because they're preachers that they're
somebody bigger than one of the lay members of the church. You're no bigger, and you're no more in the sight of God than that
drunkard that was converted a hour ago.
So we should look at how Jesus treated those who did not understand, and
we should look at William Branham to see how he treated those who just did not
understand to see how we should treat those who do not understand. And you know
the brothers say, “then what should we do
when they try to destroy us, should we fight back?” And the answer is “NO!”
Don’t do that or you are no better than they are. Show yourself to be a Son of
God. Forgive them, for that is what Christ did. He bore His cross and you have
yours to bear. That is what You must do, if you are to be conformed to the
image of the Son of God.
Jubilee year 54-1003E P:74 You
notice Paul here. Those Corinthians, they didn't get it. They went up there and
even get drunk at the Lord's table. And they eat and drink, done everything
wrong. Paul said, "When you come together, if a man's hungry, let him eat
at home. But when you come together, tarry one for another." In other
words, "Wait on one another." He said, "Now, here's a brother
that I don't think ought to take the communion, but don't run up there and jerk
him out. Have patience with him.
After the service is over, and a time when he... come over to his house some
night and sit down, say, "Brother, now, forgive me if I'm wrong. But I
seen you down, the other day on the street, drunk," whatever he was doing,
"out with some other lady that wasn't your wife, and you're taking communion.
I love you, brother. Let’s you and I pray over this thing and straighten it
up." See? Wait on one another.
Do service for one another. Don't be
bigger than somebody else. Try and see how little you can be. I've often
heard, say, "Don't never be big in
your own sight." If you're big,
let it be in God's sight. Be little in your own sight. Every man that humbles
himself, God will exalt. But those who exalts themself, God will bring abase.
See? Be little.
Influences 64-0215 P:55 Humble
yourself. See how little you can be. Not what you know, what you don't know.
Let yourself get humble before God.
Influence 63-1114 P:72 Just
be nothing; just see how little you are, and that's what God wants us to do.
And that's real humility. That's the way these Seraphims are in His Presence
(You see?), with their face in reverence, covered; their feet, in humility.
In His presence 62-0909E P:8 We
find that, in the Presence of God, men recognize themselves to be sinners. We
may feel pretty good when we're out different places, and feel like that we're
pretty good people, but when we ever
come into the Presence of God, then we see how little we are.
Hear ye Him 57-0125 P:33 And
men today is constrained by the Holy Spirit to come and love Him and serve Him,
for He's seeking such to do that. God is
looking for somebody who'll stand out on the front line with love, not with no
education. I'm not trying to support my ignorance, but I am trying to say
that it doesn't take scholarships. It takes a surrendered heart that God can
make love. You don't know the Bible half as good as the devil does. So what
good would it do you to...?...Someone said not long ago, said, "Brother
Branham, you are mixed up. You ought to teach it this way." I said,
"Sir, I may not know the Word very well, but I know the Author real
well." Not to know His Word is Life, but to know Him is Life. To know Christ is Life, know Him in a personal
experience. The Word opens up to a new look to you.
Paul a prisoner of Christ 63-0717 P:52 God
is looking for prisoners. He's always done it. You might search it through the
Scripture. A man has to be a prisoner to
Christ against anything... Therefore, you cannot be connected with anything but
Christ. Even your father, your mother, your brother, your sister, your husband,
your wife, anybody, you're only connected with Christ and Him only. Then
God can use you. Until then, you can't.