Questions and Answers #42
Born
to be led
Brian Kocourek
January 6th, 2008
Luke 4: 1
And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from
Notice
The Son of God, as soon as He received the infilling of the Spirit He was led
by the Spirit. So what does it mean to
be led of the Spirit?
Paul also said of other sons of God in Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of
God. Then it is important who is leading you. God or man!
Well, I asked myself that question and
when I looked in the dictionary what the word “led” means, it said; 1. To be shown the way to one who is going in advance. 2. To be guided
or directed in a course: To be a channeled; To be guided in your behavior or
opinion of;
So you see, this subject speaks of a
manner or course of life. A path in which you take, and it is very apparent
that Who ever is leading you must have gone there before you, in order to show
you the way. If you recall last week we read
from Mark 10:13 And
we spoke on how that Jesus was not very happy with the Apostles because they
showed a very poor attitude towards the children that were being led to Jesus.
Notice verse 13: And
they brought young children to him, (so
you see, it wasn’t just a bunch of kids running up and climbing all over Jesus
that took place here. Notice the children were not coming on their own, they
were being led to him.) that he should touch them: and his
disciples rebuked those that brought them. Notice they rebuked
those that were leading the children to Christ. 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. 15 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the
Now, notice the stern rebuke that Jesus
gave the disciples. He said don’t cut the children off from coming to me? And
don’t get upset with these people who are leading others to Christ? In fact, if
you don’t come to me as they are coming to me, you won’t even enter in
yourself.
17 And when he was gone forth into the way,
there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that
I may inherit eternal life? 18 And Jesus said
unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.
19 Thou knowest
the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not
bear false witness, Defraud not, Honor thy father and mother. 20 And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these
have I observed from my youth. 21 Then Jesus beholding
him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest:
go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt
have treasure in heaven: and come, take
up the cross, and follow me. 22 And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved:
for he had great possessions. 23 And Jesus looked round
about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they
that have riches enter into the
Now,
I would like to stop here because this is where most people in reading this
stop and in their minds catch a totally wrong perception than what Jesus is
trying to teach them here. And that is exactly what the disciples did as well. Jesus
is not saying that we must take a vow of poverty if we are enter into His
Kingdom. He is not even saying we must be poor. What He is telling them is that
we must be willing to follow him, regardless of what that means to us
financially. He’s wasn’t telling them they couldn’t have money, or any wealth.
The disciples totally misunderstood what he was alluding to and so they asked
him how can this be? And “Jesus answering again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that TRUST in riches to enter into the
Notice they were astonished “out
of measure”. The words “out of measure” was translated from
the Greek word perissos, which actually means “exceedingly out of measure”. So they not only missed the point but He
was trying to make, but they exceedingly missed the point, because this word “perissos”
speaks of proximity to the point, or missing the point of origin by a very
large margin.
Notice Jesus was trying to make an
example of how that when we place our trust in riches, we have to lay aside our
trusting in God. He is not saying riches in themselves will keep you out of the
kingdom. No not at all. He did not even come close to that, but notice he had
to further delineate what he meant because they had really missed the point of
what he was trying to teach them. But Jesus answering again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the
And of course they thought that it would
then be totally impossible for a man to have any wealth and make it, and Jesus
corrected that notion as well. 27 And
Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with
God: for with God all things are possible. 28 Then
Peter began to say unto him, Lo, “we
have left all, and have followed thee”. 29 And Jesus answered and said,
Verily I say unto
you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father,
or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, 30 But he shall receive an
hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers,
and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal
life.
So
by willing to forsake all, Jesus is telling us this is an investment in Him,
and He will guarantee you 100 times greater return on your investment in Him
than your initial investment. Therefore, whatever you forsook to follow Him, then
how much wealthier will you be? I’ll tell you. You will be 100 times wealthier
than you were before you forsook all to follow him. So you see how they missed
what he was talking about? What he was showing them is that “to
follow Him, you had to be willing to forsake everything else”. You
can’t be burdened down by the cares of this life, but rather come trusting Him
for your needs, and get focused on following Him, and He will take care of the
rest. That is the only way. And in so doing, he will make sure that you are out
nothing. God doesn’t want anyone to come to him and say, “Look what a great sacrifice we made to follow you. I gave up everything”.
No, you don’t give up everything. You just find the right-focus and everything
will multiply the way He promised it will.
Now, I am not talking about
how to accumulate wealth here. I am talking about how to follow Christ, and the
attitude it takes to follow him. You see he wants the focus to be real and
genuine, and then all the other things in life will fall into place. Jesus said
in Matthew 6:33
But seek ye first the
When
you no longer worry about how you will pay the next months rent, and decide to
follow him, it’ll get paid. You may not know where your next meal will come
from but it will be there. Jesus was talking about an attitude adjustment that
this young man was unwilling to make, and He knew it, so He put the man to the
test.
Look,
I’ve taught you before, that when you claim to Love God, He’s going to test
that love. Not for His sake, but for your sake. God doesn’t need you to do any
certain thing to know your heart. God the Word is a discerner of the heart. But
sometimes it is necessary for Him to test you, so you can know your own heart.
And notice how this rich young ruler got upset and left instead of asking Jesus
to help him with this thing he is being asked to do. He should have responded
like Mary responded, “Let it be done unto me according to Thy Word”. But
no, he reacted in a negative manner and just left.
You
see what Jesus was doing here, He was testing the man for reactions. I’m sure
he saw that this man was wealthy by the way he was dressed, and perhaps his
language showed him to be well educated and I am sure there were other signs
that you can discern that would show his economic condition. These things were
very apparent, but when the man said that he had obeyed all the commandments
from his youth, then he had better be ready for God to expose his unbelief.
Because that is exactly what He did. So Jesus tested the man’s attitude. He
appeared to Love the Lord with all his heart, His mind and Strength, but when
asked to put that love to the test to see what he loved more, he couldn’t do
it. You see it is not money that is the root of all evil, but the love of it.
What do you love most? That is the question.
Now,
brother Branham took this question Jesus presented to the rich young ruler and
preached a message called, “Follow Me”. And in
it he said in paragraph no. 10 Now, to the
children, and to the adults and all, I want to make this little Message just as
timely as I can, and as quick as I can. And I want to take for a text, "Follow Me," and I want to
take for a subject:
"Leadership." Follow, and someone to lead;
"Leadership," and "Follow Me." The young people, Remember
that the first step that any of us ever
made, somebody led us. You mothers remember the first steps that junior and
the little girl made, and they don't remember it no more. But somebody led you to your first step. I remember Billy Paul when
he made his first step, Joseph and all of them, when they made their first
step.
11 It's usually a mother that gets to lead a
child to its first step, 'cause she's home while the daddy's out working,
trying to make a living. But it's, they make their first step. And at nighttime
when they come in, the father, he's always saying. "Oh, dad," she
said, "Johnny and Mary," the little boy or girl, "can walk. Come
and look." And just one step, maybe had to hold mother's finger, 'cause
you was kind of weak, and kind of turned sideways, you know, and fall down a
little. So you had to hold to mama's hand to make your first step. Now, somebody helped you, when you made your
first step. And your last step you ever
make in life, somebody will be leading you. See, that's right. I want you to remember that. Your first
step, somebody led you. And your last step, somebody will be leading you.
12 We
have to be led. You know, God likened us unto sheep. And did you know a sheep can't lead itself? He'll
wander away and stray away, and he just can't lead himself. And he has to
have somebody to lead him. And sometime...
The shepherd's supposed to lead the sheep. Now, that was back in the days
of the Lord Jesus; He was the good Shepherd that led the sheep. But today (You
see?), we're living in another day; everything's changed and perverted. You
know what man has to lead sheep today? A goat. And you know where that goat
leads them? Right into the slaughter. The little sheep don't know where they're
going, so the goat goes up a pen, up at the slaughter, and the sheep don't know
no more than to follow a leader, so it leads them right up into this slaughter.
And then the goat jumps over the track, and the sheep goes in and gets killed.
See, the goat, a wrong leader... But Jesus, the Good Shepherd Who led the sheep, He led them
to Life and held their hand. See, but somebody
has to lead the sheep.
Now, this morning we
took our text from Romans 8:14 “For as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”
And from Luke 4: 1 And Jesus being full
of the Holy Ghost returned from
Now,
what we are looking at from the scripture and what brother Branham said here is
this. He is telling these children, and adults that are listening to him that
everyone is made in such a way that they must follow.
Now,
if we examine this thought closer we will find there are three main parts to it.
I. God Created man to follow.
II. We
follow because we have confidence and trust in the one who is leading.
III. We follow because we are asked to follow.
Now,
let’s begin our study this morning by focusing our thoughts on this first
point.
I. God Created man to follow. You must follow somebody. But where?
Where are you going? Where are you being led to? Because where you end up
depends on who you are following. And so the real question we have this morning
is what or whom are you following?
You
know I was talking to a brother out west that was a young boy when this Sermon
was preached to the church he attended. And that church was led by a man who
was not right with God. And the people often wondered why brother Branham
didn’t try to step in and stop the activities that went on in that church. But
if they had listened to the words of this sermon, they would have understood
that brother Branham was talking about them. He was trying to help them through
the Word to not follow man, but to open their Bibles and follow the Word. You
see, there is still too much of that going on in the name of the Message today.
There are still Pastor’s who are dictators, and not spirit led themselves. And
these men who are being led of the Spirit are trying to lead others when they
are not called to do so. We must not be led by man, but By God’s Spirit and He
is the word.
Jesus
said in John
6:63 My
words are spirit and they are life.
Paul
warned us in II
Timothy 3:6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead
captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, And
women always type the church in the bible. So these are churches led astray
that Paul is speaking of here.
Brother Branham said from his sermon Rising of the sun 65-0418M P:61 Well,
you say, "Well, now, let me tell you something; my pastor..." I don't
care what your pastor says; it's what the Word says. If you want to be a
chicken, go on with him. But if the pastor speaks different from this Word,
then he's not a feeder of the eagles (Uh-huh.); he's a feeder of the hens
(See?), not of the eagles. See? Eagle eats on eagle's food.
And in His sermon Expectation 61-0207 P:50 Brother Branham
said, "Sons
of God are led by the Spirit of God," not led by some other fanatics or some organizations or something or another, they're led by the Spirit of God. The
Holy Spirit was given to the church to be the Overseer, the Tutor that was to
raise the children of God, not our bishops, and cardinals, and so forth, but
the Holy Ghost. I'm expecting the Holy Ghost, not denomination, not a bishop,
not a Catholic priest, not a Baptist preacher, or a Pentecostal preacher; I'm expecting the Holy Ghost to come down
and set in order a church that'll go to meet Him, filled with the power and the
resurrection of Christ. I'm expecting that; I believe it. God promised it,
that there'd be a church there without spot or wrinkle on it. I'm expecting it
because God said it was so. Someone said to me, "Brother Branham, aren't
you afraid you'd make a mistake some night up there on that discernment?"
No, sir. He told me He'd stand by me; I'm expecting Him to do it. That's
exactly right. "Aren't you afraid some of them prophecies would be
wrong?" If I was afraid, I'd quit saying it. If I didn't had confidence in
the One was speaking to me, but I'm expecting it to be that way. He said He'd
do it, and it's never failed yet, and it never will, because I'm expecting Him
to keep His Word, revealed by the Holy Spirit. "Sons of God led by the
Spirit of God."
Now, let me read a few things brother Branham said on being led of the
Spirit. From Looking at the unseen 59-0410 P:7 he said, When
God made man, He made him thus; for He made this little certain compartment in
the man for His own throne, His control tower. God wants to lead man, but man
wants to lead himself. Therefore there is a war constantly. The man wants to go
after what he sees with his eyes. That's where he's deceived. That's where
Satan deceived Eve, by what she could see; the fruit was pleasant to the eye.
But it was death to the soul. So is it tonight. God wants to lead man, so He
made Himself a little control tower in the midst of his heart, so that man
would be led by the Spirit of God. Getting
off on his own leading is what separated him from His fellowship. Looking
what he could see with his eye...And that's where he stands yet tonight, all
those who are led by such things. But the Scripture says that, "Sons
and daughters of God are led by the Spirit of God."
Your emotions is your control. And you can notice, a man or a woman that tries to walk after the things of the world, they
never can please God. But a man or a woman that will not look at the things
of the world, but just go according to the leading of the Spirit, they're
usually in the will of God. That is the great fight tonight. Satan took the
eye, a man's head, to control him by his head. God took his heart.
And from the Rejected King 60-0610 P:60 he said, Now, we find out then, when a
man rejects the leading of the Holy Spirit... You know what God did for Saul?
He give him an evil spirit to lead him. Now, how about that? He give him an
evil spirit; God gave him an evil spirit to lead him. So when a man rejects the
leading of the Holy Spirit, or any
person rejects the leading of the Holy Spirit, you got a devil on you to lead
you. That's exactly the Bible. Oh, God, I wish we could have a revival. I
wished there could come a time that when the Holy Spirit could really get into
the hearts of the American people again, that they would see it's Him. They
want to look, say, "Well, now look. I can't cooperate in this meeting
because my church don't..." What difference does that make? What's that
got to do with it? "Well, I'll tell you; they believe in this, and we
don't believe that." As long as they're preaching the Bible, and the whole
Bible, and the full Gospel, and nothing but the truth, listen to it. Long as
they're led by the Spirit, believe in it. And God will make Himself known. If a
man is led by the Spirit of God, God will make Himself known to that person.
Yes, sir. God promised to. So in doing that, we know then that the Holy Spirit
leads the people and God takes care of it. Amen. You believe that with all your
heart? Certainly, we do. All right.
You know people are so afraid to step out and trust God. They say, How do
I know if I am in the Lord’s will. Let me tell you a little secret. His Word
is His Will, and if you find it in His Word, then you know what His Will
is. And He also promised “if you be any otherwise minded, he will reveal it to you.
That’s what He said in His Word.
That’s
Philippians 3:1
Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be
thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even
this unto you.
I remember when I first began to minister back in
Why? because I took God at His Word. And for you listening out there who
have a pastor who holds you bound to him, flee him my brother because that is
not the spirit of God. Paul said, God has not given you a spirit of fear, but a
spirit of adoption whereby you know your relationship with the Father, Amen!
Now from his sermon Manifested sons of God
60-0518 P:13 brother Branham said, But
the man outside of
Now,
we have often heard Romans 8:14 tell us “For as
many as are led by the spirit of God,
they are the sons of God.” But
just what does this mean? I have seen pathetic Pentecostal’s and Charismatic
believer’s quote this scripture and they know not what spirit they are
following.
The
Scripture is quite emphatic here when it tells us that Sons of God are led by
the Spirit of GOD! Not just what they feel in their spirit. I remember years
ago this sister in a group of Christian college students who gathered together
for a group I helped start at the
Another
sister who left this church years ago told me a week before she left that God
had told her to stay, but then a week later she said He told her to leave. I
asked her which one was God because God doesn’t change His mind, He’s the same
yesterday, today and forever. But what these two illustrations point out to you
is this one thing. The scripture plainly tells us that Sons of God are led by
the Spirit of GOD, not by their own spirit or any other spirit. Then how do we
know the Spirit of God? Because God is the Word. John 1:1. And Jesus also told us
that His Words are Spirit and they are Life. John 6:63.
We
find that even in this Message we have people who will say, how can your
doctrine be right when your spirit is wrong. They assume you have a wrong
spirit because you take a firm stand for the Word. Now when I read 1 John 4:1
It tells me that you are to “Try the Spirit by
the Word”, it does not
tell me to try the Word by the spirit. Brother Branham never told us to
give it the spirit test, He said, “give it the Word test”.
Now
the next question we must ask ourselves in following the Spirit of God is this.
The scripture plainly states that “Sons of God are led by the Spirit of God”. Then
we should ask ourselves, if Sons will be led by the Spirit
of GOD, then what about The Son of God. And in this
thought we have an example to live by. God sent us His only begotten Son to
show us how this is to be done. Jesus came into flesh to show us how to follow
the Spirit of God. Now if you are Oneness you will believe that Jesus was
following His own Spirit. But that would be like a dog following its own tail.
You would never get any where.
Now,
to show you this is so, God sent forth His only begotten Son into the world to
give us an example of what it means to be led by the spirit of God.
Luke 4:1
And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from
Matthew 4:1 Then
was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Now
what Spirit do you suppose He was following? If you check the verses just
before this you will see that The Spirit of God had just descended down and
abode upon Him. Then it’s God’s Own Spirit we are talking about.
Now
how did Jesus go about doing and saying what He said? Was He doing what He felt
he should do? No! we don’t go by feelings. He said “The Son
can of Himself do nothing, But what He seeth the Father do, that the Son doeth
Likewise!” that’s John 5:19 & John 5:30 He
said “the father
worketh and the son worketh hitherto”. In other words, just as I see
the father doing, that is what I am going to do.
Therefore
every Son of God must come forth in the same manner. And if in the same manner,
then the Pattern is already set. “Jesus learned obedience
by the things which he suffered.” He learned to obey the
Spirit’s voice.
Now,
how then can you follow the Spirit of God if you do not know what the Spirit of
God is? You say we must follow Jesus.
The denominational Christians sing, “I have decided to follow Jesus”, and
yet I ask you which Jesus are they following? And by what spirit are they being
led? And what Gospel do they believe?
LUKE 9:23 And
he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and
take up his cross daily, and follow
me. And what does He mean by Deny
Himself? Jesus said, “as a man thinketh in his heart so is her”. Then
to deny self is to deny your own thoughts.
And
that brings us to point number II which is this.
II. We follow because we have
confidence and trust in the one who is leading. You do not follow those who know less about
the way than you do. You follow because you are confident that the person knows
how to get there. Jesus said I have gone to prepare a place for you that where
I am you might be also. This means that we follow because we believe. And you
can not believe unless you are ordained to believe. Therefore, only Sons of God
are led by the Spirit of God and the Spirit of God is His Word.
Acts 13:48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they were
glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to
eternal life believed.
Matthew 13: 10-17 10 And
the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? 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. 12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have
more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that
he hath. 13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see
not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. 14 And
in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall
hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not
perceive: 15 For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing,
and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand
with their heart, and
should be converted, and I should heal them. 16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and
your ears, for they hear. 17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have
not seen them; and to
hear those things
which ye hear, and have not heard them.
1 Corinthians 2:7-16 7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery,
even the hidden wisdom,
which God ordained before the world unto our glory: 8 Which
none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor
ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God
hath prepared for them that love him. 10 But God
hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the
Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 11 For
what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?
even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. 12 Now
we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that
we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 13 Which
things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the
Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But
the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are
foolishness unto him: neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he that is
spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. 16 For who hath known the mind
of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
John 10:27 My
sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they
follow me:
John 12:26 If
any man serve me, let him follow me;
and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will
my Father honor.
John 21:20-22 Read .... Jesus
saith unto him, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? follow thou me.
akoloutheo {ak-ol-oo-theh'-o} Ä follow
reach 1) to follow one who
precedes, join him as his attendant, accompany him 2) to join one as a disciple, become his
disciple.
Then,
to follow Him is the all important call. Notice that Jesus went about selecting
out his own disciples. He called unto them and they came. They were obedient to
the call. Therefore the call is all important to us. We must take heed to hear
the call and come when He says come. My sheep hear my call. Be careful how you
hear. And we know that brother Branham taught us that to hear is to understand.
Therefore, when the call comes it is an understanding that comes and we must
take heed to that understanding.
And
what is the call to the Virgins at the end-time? Behold! And what does behold
mean? It means to come and look, and see for your self. And what was the next
thing said after behold the Bride Groom? Come out to Meet Him. In other words,
come out to where I’m at, that means follow me, and I will introduce Him to
you.
Now
Jesus is looking at what our attitude will be toward following Him. Some of the
people that heard the call said, “can you wait while I
go bury my father? And He replied, Let the dead bury the dead.” Others said, “Hay,. wait
a minute while we go make ready, we don’t have any oil in our lamps. We don’t
have any anointing to our understanding?” But what Did the Groom do?
He shut the door.
Now
why do we follow Him and drop everything that would hinder our following the
Spirit of God? Because we have confidence in His Word. He said, “All things shall work together for the Good of those who are
the Called according to His Purpose, His Plan.
Now,
this brings us to point number III. We
follow because we are asked to follow. He
said, My sheep hear my voice and they follow. We are not asked to wander by ourselves. We
are not asked to go forth and make our own way in life.
We
are not given this life to make the best of it for ourselves. But we are asked
to follow. “Seek ye first the
By
following Gods Spirit which is His Word, we are showing that we are subject to
Him in all things. Therefore we are asked to follow to show our obedience to
Him that we are willing to be subject to Him in all things.
In John 14 Jesus said, “The
Holy Ghost will lead you into all Truth.” Brother Branham told us in
the Third exodus, “The Pillar of Fire is here to lead us into the millennium.
So we are talking about being led by God Himself.
John 6:45 Jesus taught us the Evidence that you are sons of god is that you will be taught of God. And in Galatians 5:18 The
Apostle Paul told us “If ye be led of the Spirit, ye
are not under the law.” So we are talking about being led by the
Spirit of God, not just conforming to a set of laws.
But
we also find out that just to follow is not what God is asking for either.
Because many like sheep have gone astray, or have been led by a wrong thing. In
II Timothy 3:6 we read, For of
this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden
with sins, led away with divers lusts,
And in fact we
have followed the wrong thing all our lives, until God got a hold of us
as we see in I Corinthians
12:2 Ye
know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were
led.
And
again as we see in II Peter 3:17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before,
beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from
your own steadfastness.
GALATIANS.5:14-6:7
For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and
devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. This
I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye
shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
For the flesh lusteth against the
Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the
other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if
ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest,
which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry,
witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings,
murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you
before, as I have also told [you] in time past, that they which do such things
shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no
law. And they that are Christ's have
crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we
live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory,
provoking one another, envying one another.
Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual,
restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou
also be tempted. Bear ye one another's
burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be
something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth only himself. But let every man
prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not
in another. For every man shall bear his own burden.
Let him that is taught in the
word communicate unto him that teaches in all good things. Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for
whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Look
the way you lead your children is the life they will live. Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and
when he is old, he will not depart from it. I think you are all
aware that God visits the sins of the parents upon their own children.
Therefore if you are sowing evil, you will harvest evil in your children as
well as in your own life.
Because
after all, Jesus said, Mathew15:14 …if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
Now,
Go wants to lead you if you will just get out of the way and let Him lead. Hebrews8:9 Not according to
the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them
out of the
And
again we see in the book of Revelations 7:17 For the Lamb which
is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe
away all tears from their eyes.
And
notice the false anointed are here to try to lead people away but we have a
choice not to follow them. LUKE.21:8 And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many
shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them.
Now,
I would like to read some quotes how brother Branham described how God would
lead him. From the sermon E-40 Expectations 51-0714 he
said, On down the street I went. Just a little while
longer. (And you people from
E-43 In a few moments she turned around, and said,
"Oh," she said, "Brother Branham..." And she come back. She
said, "I don't... I'm beside myself."
I said, "I don't think so, sister. What's the matter?" She said, "I'm from
And
again from E-19 Led
by the Spirit of God 56-0723 brother Branham said, Now, that won't work. Now, that's flesh. I
don't condemn the person, but I condemn the way they're using the gifts of God.
If they're used correctly, they're the most marvelous things there is, but if
you don't use them right, it'll bring a disgrace to the Church. So we must be led of the Spirit, and when
we're led of the Spirit, then God makes everything work just exactly in
harmony.
E-69 Led
by the spirit of God 56-0723 I think that's a good way to feel today. And
while she was thinking on those things, the Holy Spirit got a hold of her and
led her right out to Him. She was led by the Holy Ghost, and she said,
"Lord, if Thou would have been here, my brother would not have died, but
even now whatever You ask God, God will do it." Amen. Said, "Thy brother shall rise
again." How could He say anything else? Excuse me. Said, "Do you
believe I'm able to do this?" "Yea, Lord, I believe. In my heart
Something tells me; I'm led of the Spirit to say this, 'Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God.'" Said, "Where have you buried him?" "Come and see." He went out to the
grave weeping. When He got out to the grave, He was always led by the Spirit of
God, 'cause God was in Him without measure. He was, God was on the inside of
Him.
E-43 The Expectation 58-0508 If God can lead a blind woman... It's a lot
worse to be spiritual blind than it is physical blind. If I have to lose either
sight, let it be my physical sight; let me keep in touch with God,
spiritually. And the God that led them
that day has not changed. He is the same God tonight. But the trouble of it is,
that people are looking to what someone else is going to say, what John is
going to say. What if King George, when
I prayed for him, with those multiple sclerosis, what if he would've a went
down and ask one of the Anglican ministers, what would've taken place? He
wouldn't have believe it. What if
173 Unfailing
reality of God 60-0626 And if people want to act like they do on the
earth, and then go on and say they're going to heaven, but what a
disappointment that's going to be. Jesus said, "There'll be many come to
Me in that day. They'll stand by the tens of millions and say, 'I've belonged
to this, and I've did this.'" He
said, "Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity. You served creeds." If you was led of the Spirit... All sons and
daughters of God are led by the Spirit of God. They move by the Spirit, odd,
strange. They stay right, and every action is with the Bible. They stay, all their doctrine stays right with the
Bible. They won't vary on one thing. Where the Bible says it, they'll move
right on into it. If they stop for a minute, they're trying to study and see
which way to make; and then the Holy Spirit reveals it, and he moves right on.
And he does the same thing, follows the same rules, lays the same foundation,
the same God comes upon him, and the same wonders, the same miracles, the same
sign follows him, that followed Him. 175 He said, "If
you can't believe Me, being a Man, believe the works that I do. Believe Me. If
I do not the works of My Father, then don't believe Me."
See, there's works goes with this faith.
"Show me your works without your faith, and I'll show you my works by my
faith," said Paul. See?
E-41 Queen
of Sheba 60-0710 And
Jesus had surely proved to them that He'd give them the sign of the Messiah,
that the end time was there for them; and they did not believe it. And He was
upbraiding them and telling them. And He referred back then, back in the verse
preceding this one, in the 41st verse; He preferred there--referred (rather) to
Jonah: "In the days of Jonah..." I always felt sorry for Jonah; so many people
condemn Jonah. Why, Jonah was a prophet; he was a great man of God. You hear
them say, "Well, he's a Jonah." I believe that Jonah did just exactly
what God told him to do. I don't believe that any servant of God, led
of the Spirit, can get out of the will of God. Because as long as he's led by
the Spirit, that's God's will. Sometimes he does things that he don't even what
he's doing hisself and don't realize why he does do it, but it's God working it
around for the good. "Everything works together for good to them that love
God." said the Scripture.
E-32 Abraham
Restored 61-0211 He
said, "Then when the persecution come on, they didn't have any home to go
to. I guess you think that was a mistake."
I said, "Shame on you. Not know no more, had been in Pentecost as
long as you have, know no more about God than that. That's exactly what God had
to do. They had nothing to go back to; they went everywhere scattering the
message throughout the country. God knows what He's a doing." Let them be
led, sure. God don't make no mistakes. It's you and I that makes the mistakes.
God doesn't make it. When you feel led
of the Spirit, move on, move on, just keep going on.
E-26 Why
61-0413 And they sent for
Him. Did He go back? "Your friend Lazarus is sick, ready to die." He
knew what the Father had told Him, so He just went on. They sent again,
"Lazarus is sick. Come, see him right quick, he's going to die." He
just went on. If you'd sent for your pastor and he didn't
come, you would have went and joined the next church. See? That's the reason
you don't get nowhere. You've got to believe the servant God sends you. See? If
He's led of the Spirit, let him alone. Then after four days, Jesus turned around,
'cause that's what the Father, no doubt had told Him, 'cause He said He did
nothing till the Father showed Him. He turned around and said to His
disciples... He knew the time was fulfilled, He said, "Our friend Lazarus
is asleep." "Oh," they
said, "he's doing well." He said...
Then He told them in their own language, "He is dead. And for your
sake, I'm glad I wasn't there." So He said, "But I'll go wake
him." And when He got to the grave, listen what He
said, "I thank Thee, Father, Thou has already (See?) heard Me. But I just
say this for those who stand by. I said if for their sake," See? Then He
said, "Lazarus, come forth." Lazarus came forth.
E-57 Greater
than Solomon is here 62-0725 Now, Moses, Moses was God's servant. Now,
Jesus speaking here, He said, "The men of