Rising of the Son no 43
That we might become Him
February 15, 2017
Brian Kocourek, Pastor
Let us continue standing as we open our Bibles to the Book of Colossians for
the reading of our text.
Colossians
1:14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the
forgiveness of sins:
Hebrews
9:28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them
that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.
Galatians
1:4 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us
from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:
Let us pray, ...
Now, this morning we will continue with our study of
brother Branham's sermon, the Rising of the Son, and this will be number 43 in our
study. We will pick up at paragraph number 88.
88 Now, notice this Quickening Power, "Zoe," bringing the Word, the mind that was in Christ was in you then. I'm trying to show you, that you, when God raised Jesus from the
dead, He raised up you also, and also quickened to Life with Him (You
are now quickened to Life.), although then you were but an attribute in His
thoughts, but God had saw all in Him at the finish. See? When God looked down upon the
body... (The Spirit left Him in the Garden of Gethsemane; He
had to die a man.) Remember friends, He didn't have to do that. That was
God. God anointed that flesh, which was human flesh, and He didn't
have... If He'd went up there as God, He'd have never died that kind of
death; can't kill God. But... He didn't have to do it, but remember, He went there with you in Him.
See? God had never separated the Bride from the Groom yet. So when God
looked down upon the Body of Christ, He saw both male and female. It was all redeemed in that one
Body. See? They are one, the same, same Word. the same Word
spoke of the Groom speaks of the Bride.
John 17:14 I have given them thy word; and the world
hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the
world.
John
17:20 Neither pray I for
these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; 21 That
they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may
be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 22 And
the glory (The
Doxa, the opinions, values, and judgment) which thou gavest me
I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
89 Well, how can the Bride come and fail to manifest
everything was promised of Him, and the Groom come, and He wouldn't be the
Bride? But when He did everything, even to proving it by raising Himself up
from the dead afterwards, then don't the Bride have to do the same thing,
have to be exactly what the Word said She'd be in these last day? Don't She
have to return through Malachi 4? Don't She have to be manifested like
it was in the days of Sodom? Don't the world and every--have to be just
exactly like it is? Isn't these things a perfect identification of the Word
of God made known to us? Well, friends, I know I'm keeping you a long time,
fifteen minutes yet till dinner, but maybe I'll get through by then. But
notice. Looky here. What a perfect thing it is. (I don't know when I'll see you
again. See?)
90 Look. Notice this. But God foresaw the Bride in the Groom.
Hallelujah. See? To save His Wife, like Adam, He had to go with Her. Adam
knowed what he was doing. Eve didn't know what she was doing, but Adam walked
out with his wife. See? And Jesus took His Wife's place and became sin for
Her.
That's Revelations 13:8 "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the
world" and Ephesian 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the
world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
Let's continue reading, "Remember, He became you; He stood
your punishment that you might stand in His place. He stood in your place that you
might stand in His place. What a love. What a fellowship. How
can we deny it? How can we do anything but love Him, friend. I could stay on it
hours, but let's move on a little farther."
Now, let me just read some Scriptures so you will understand perfectly
that this statement by Br. Branham is very scriptural.
The Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin
for us, who knew no sin; that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him.
And the Apostle John said in 1 John 3:5 And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.
And again The Apostle John said, 1 John 2:2 And he
is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the
sins of the whole world.
Again in 1 John 2:1 My little children, these things write I
unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
And again in 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
And even the Apostle Peter taught the same doctrine in 1 Peter 2:24 Who his own self bare our sins
in his own body on
the tree, that we, being dead to
sins, should live unto righteousness:
by whose stripes ye were healed.
Romans
8:3 For what the law could
not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
1 John
4:10 Herein is love, not
that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation
for our sins.
1 John
3:8 He that committeth sin
is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the
Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
1 John
2:12 I write unto you,
little children, because your sins are
forgiven you for his name's sake.
Brother Branham said in his sermon, His
wonders to perform 58-0112A P:42 God hates sin, but he loves the sinner. He loves you so much that He
gave His only begotten Son, that He might drink the bitter cup for you.
Remember, He became
you, that you might become Him. He become a sinner, a separated
from the Father, when He screamed, "My
God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" He was separated from God in His
death, that you in your death might have God's Presence. He
become a child of sin, your sins, not His own, yours, that you might become
a child of obedience. He took your place as a creature of time, that you might
take His place as an eternal son and daughter of God."
1 John
1:7 But if we walk in the
light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us
from all sin.
1
Peter 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins,
the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God,
being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:
Hebrews
10:12 But this man, after he had offered one
sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God;
Colossians
2:13 And you, being dead in
your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he
quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
Ephesians
2:5 Even when we were dead
in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ,
(by grace ye are saved;)
Ephesians
2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in
trespasses and sins;
Galatians
3:22 But the scripture hath
concluded all under sin, that the promise
by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
we can see in all these Scriptures that Christ who
was righteous took on our sin that he might take on our punishment as well.
Thus He became us that we might become Him. There are 35 sermons where brother
Branham taught us that he became us that we might become him. This
is not just a trivial pursuit, my brothers and sisters, this is a reality what Jesus
has done for us. let me read just a few of them.
Earnestly
contending for the faith 55-0123E P:12 Look what He was for us. He in His
riches became poor, that in His poverty we might become rich. In His immortality He became
flesh that He might take our sickness, that in His sickness we might have
health. And all of my sins He became; He was sinless, and
taking my sins, that I might be sinless. He became me that I might become Him in heaven.
He stands as mine and your Representative. Then God don't look to us; He looks
to our Representative. Oh, isn't that marvelous, Christ standing in our stead, representing us
before the Father? You ever in a court trial? The Representative, He
stands as our Attorney, standing to plead.
Queen
of the south 57-0614 P:27 It is a great
hour that we're living, a great day that we're living. And God has sent His Son as a propitiation for
our sins. He died in our stead. He was the
innocent One that became guilty, that we guilty might be innocent. The
story is this. Think of it as you measure your own corruptible life in His
Presence. Jesus became you that you through His grace might become Him.
You who were going
to hell, He took your place, that you might set in heaven with Him at His place.
You who were a son of the devil by nature, He took the nature or the sin of
your nature that you might become a son of God and set in the heavenlies with
Him. That's the story. And He did not leave us without witness.
In the following quote brother Branham gives us several eamples of how he
became us that we might become him.
Hebrews 2 part 2 57-0825E P:16 Men give Him the lowest seat, give Him the worst
place, the lowest name. God raised Him up and give Him the highest seat, and
the highest Name. That's the difference what man done with the Son of God,
and what God done with the Son of God. (1) He stooped that we might be
lifted. He
become us, that we through His grace, might become Him. (2) He come to the homeless,
and became homeless Hisself, that we might have a home. (3) He came to the sick
and was made sick Hisself that we might be healed. (4) He came to the
sinner, and made sin Himself, that we might be saved. No wonder He
was exalted. No wonder He is Who He is tonight. God has exalted Him. And all
the powers in heavens and earth is give to Him.
Brother Branham said in his sermon What it
takes to overcome all unbelief 60-0729 P:52
Right
after that, or before that, previous to that, He gave the great 11th of Hebrews which give a heroes of faith, "By faith Moses, by faith Abraham, by faith Enoch, by faith
Noah." All the great heroes of faith,
then saying, "Seeing that we are
compassed about with such a great cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every
weight and the sin (the unbelief) that does so easily besets us." Here we are tonight right in the shadows of the
coming of the Son of God, and yet, we find the church in anemic condition. We
ought to be great, strong, mighty warriors of faith, that would shake a nation.
God gives it to us. We would just receive it. So there's little things upon us that holds us
back from running. Let's lay
aside all those little weights now, because we're looking to the Author and
Finisher of our faith, Jesus Christ, Who
was made man on earth, and dwelt among us, and was made sin, that through His
righteousness we might be forgiven of our sins. He became us, sinners, that we might become His
righteousness. In other wise, like this, He become me that I might become
Him. He
was the Son of God; I was a sinner. He taken my place, become a sinner, that I
might be Son of God. And when we see that, it ought to attract
the attention of every man and woman, to lay aside every little skeptic talk.
Oh, I love that. Lay aside every weight, and the little unbelief that does so
easily beset us. Some little something come up, and we say, "Well, I never
heard of that before." Search it out in the Scripture, if it's the
Bible, stay with it.
Evening
messenger 63-0116 P:11 Our heavenly
Father, we are laying aside now every other thought, cleansing our minds, and we're coming
in Thy Presence for the
cleansing of our soul. And we bring before us the Blood of the Lord
Jesus. We're confessing that we're not worthy of any blessing that You would
give us, but because that He died that we might obtain these blessings, and
have told us to come boldly before the throne, that we have access to these blessings through the
grace of our Lord Jesus, Who came to the earth, Emmanuel, and taken
the place of the sinner. He became we, oh, that we might become He. What an exchange, Lord.
A sinful, hell bound life that we had, and to know that One came and taken that
life upon Himself, and purged our sins by the shed Blood of His Own Life.
It's more than our hearts could even think about, Lord. And then, besides all
of that, He made a way to take away our iniquity and to heal us by His
stripes. We're so thankful that He promised that He would keep us well
while we served Him.
Time
tested memorials of God 57-0818 P:56 When the Angels
question Him one day, "Why did you go to earth," He will come back and present
that church without fault, without spot, without wrinkle. There's
the material. There's the thing, His reputation. He must do it. That bridge
builder had to build the bridge. He must do it or loses his reputation. Christ
will have a Church. And He must do it because He came to the earth and become
flesh and dwelled among us and became sin that we might become righteous. He become us, that we, by His
grace, might become Him. He came to take our place as a sinner, to let us have His
place as sons and daughters of God in the presence of His majesty.
What a grace of God. How could we say them words are not right. "Heavens and earth shall pass away, but
them words will never pass."
Notice the same theme in so many sermons he preached, "He became sin
that we might become the very righteousness of God. he became us that we might
become Him.
The Apostle Paul said this very same thing in Ephesians
4:15 But
speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all
things, which is the head, even Christ:
Notice he never said we are to grow up unto him, but we are to grow up
into him, we must become him, for He has
already become us that we might become him, grow up into him. The very
righteousness of God.
Again the Apostle Paul says this very same thing in Galatians 3:27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Again if we turn to Romans 8:29-30 For whom he did foreknow, (That’s also Ephesians 1:3-4 we were in Him
before the foundations of the world) For whom He did foreknow,
He also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of His Son, that he might
be the firstborn among many brethren. Now, if Jesus Christ is
the firstborn amongst many brethren, then He is the Eldest Son in a very large
family of brothers.
Romans
8:30 Moreover whom he did predestinate beforehand, them he also
called beforehand: and those whom he called beforehand, them he also justified
beforehand: and whom He has already
justified beforehand, them he also has glorified already in His thoughts
before the foundations of the world.
That
is why the same Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 1:3-5 Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
4 According as he hath
chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy
(consecrated
and set apart for Him) and without blame before him (or in His
Presence). Then 5: in love He
Has predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself,
according to the good pleasure of his will,
So
not only did He choose us or select us while we were yet in Him before the
foundations of the world, but He that selected us also for-ordained our end to
be adoptable sons, and to be conformed to the Image of His Uniquely born, first
born son Jesus. So he pre-destined our path to that very conforming to the
Image of the first born son. And if we are ordained to be conformed to the
image of the first born son, then we are ordained to be him. He became us that
we might become him.
Now,
in the Message Spoken
Word is the Original Seed, in paragraph 83 we hear brother Branham
say… All of God's sons must be the same. Yes,
sir. To be born of the Word and Spirit
brings us back to the spoken Word again like in John 3.
See? To be born of the Water and the Spirit, what does it do? Then it brings you right back again unto the
place of where you should've been at the beginning…
And
I would like to add, where were we at the beginning? The way God saw us in
Himself before the foundations of the world. He saw us as, and ordained us to, the adoption
of sons.
Then
brother Branham says, …See? That's the reason of Christ's death: brings us right
back again to where? Sons of God.
Now,
then let’s jump forward to paragraph 85 where he says,
85 Now, now, this
brings you right back to the spoken Word. Then we are God's Word made manifest. See? Jesus said the same
thing. "He
that believeth on Me, the things that--Who I am, what I come for and the purpose I do, to bring a man back to believe the Word of
God and take nothing else with it, the works that I do, He will do also." There you are.
That
is why John
14:12 is such an integral part of who we are and our being conformed
to the image of the first born son. Because if there is no John 14:12 there is no
conforming to his image.
Now,
you cannot be conformed to His image if you do different than he does. You cannot
be conformed to his image if you say different than he does and you cannot be
conformed to his image if you think different than he does. In fact you cannot
be conformed to his image if you live different than he does or do works that
are different than what he does.
So
you see, God wants all His children to be like the first born son. That is His
purpose in having many Sons. And we are ordained to be conformed to that Image.
And since that Image was the expressed Image of the Father according to Hebrews 1:3
God, who at
sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers through
the prophets, 2 Hath in these last days spoken unto
us in His Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all
things, by whom also he made the worlds; 3 Who being
the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by
the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the
right hand of the Majesty on high; 4 Being made so much better than
the angels, as he hath by inheritance
obtained a more excellent name than they. 5 For unto which of the
angels said he at any time, Thou art my
Son, this day have I begotten thee?
And again, I will be to him a Father,
and he shall be to me a Son?
Now,
in getting back to what brother Branham was saying, in the Rising of the Son paragraph
86 Why is it not being
done today? It's hybrid, bastard children, mixed up. It don't, it's a mule;
it don't know what it believes. A
mule don't know who his daddy is, who his mama is. He don't... He's no
pedigree; there's nothing to him. He's a illegitimate creature. That's the way any person that claims to
believe God and don't believe His Word will take a denominational creed and
breed it with the Word. See, you're not of God; you're dead.
You can't be dead and alive at the same time. So even the Word
of God don't even grow. You're just playing the part of a hypocrite.
Let that go for bishop, priest, cardinal or whoever it might be. That's right. It's got to be the Word or you're dead, just a illegitimate child. And God's Word... God part won't grow. You might grow in the
same field as we're getting to directly, but you're sure not in the fold. It won't grow.
That
is why we see in Matthew 13 the parable of the son of Man who sent forth sowing
the word, and it fell into several different types of people, and if you will
notice the Word did not produce any fruit but in only one type of believer. John 14:12 is that fruit that was produces in
one type of believer, those who are ordained to be conformed to the image of
the first born son.
So
you see, if we were in God before the foundations of the world, then as the
Apostle Paul said in Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet it is not I that is living, but Christ is living in me:
and the life which I am now living in the flesh, I am living by the faith of
the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Therefore,
it is not I that am living, but Christ, the anointed Life of the Father that
was in His firstborn Son, that is also living itself out in me. And
that is manifested in John 14:12
That is what Paul also said in Colossians 3:1 If ye
then be risen with
Christ, seek
those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth. 3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye
also appear with him in the same
glory, the
same doxa, the same opinions, values, and judgments. Thus John 14:12 what he is we are in this world.
And that is 1 John 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we
may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this
world.
That
means we must come to the place where we are willing to die out to self. We
must come like Jesus to the place where we are not trying to dodge the new
birth, but we are willing to surrender ourselves to it. So it is not what you
do, but what you just surrender yourself to.
Brother Branham said in , Hebrews 7 part 2 57-0922 P:43 God takes men and makes them different, not man taking God and becoming different.
God takes men and makes him different.
It's not what you do, what you will, what you think;
it's what God does.
Romans :16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that sheweth mercy.
To
whom is arm of Lord revealed? 50-0824 P:42 Now, the first thing you must do, is surrender yourself entirely to Christ, and surrender your mind to His Word.
"Lord, I won't act upon my own feelings, upon my own thoughts. I will only act upon Your Word. I'll
have no control of my own thoughts concerning it. I will act upon
Your Word." Now, get that straight.
How
can I overcome 63-0825M P:48 See,
if the little baby keeps trying, "Oh, I can do it; I can do it." And
he's just everywhere; He can't do it. Neither can you; neither can I. But if we just hold still and let Him do it, just yield to
Him, "Here, Lord, here I am. Just let me be nothing. And I
yield; You put my hand in the right place." That's the victory; that's
overcoming. The thing you have to overcome is yourself,
your ideas, your things,
and surrender yourself to Him. He overcome for
you. He knows the way; we don't.
Uncertain
sound 60-1218 P:61 …it's
God's love and mercy measured out to you to take It. Don't cost you one thing.
Only thing It costs you, is just to surrender your life to
Him, and receive It. How simple. Just forget all
you ever knew and just surrender yourself to Him. And that's how It comes, is just receive,
receiving It that way.
It
wasn't so from the beginning 60-0306 P:47 Every man's got to be born again, and this sinful nature killed in
him, and a new Man born in him, which is
Christ Jesus, the Son of God. Then you
surrender yourself completely to Christ, and Christ comes in, and writes a book
of acts through you. How I know that's the truth, my friend, how I know
it's the truth.
Christianity
:s idolatry 61-1217 P:90 We, in His image, a living image of a living God. When you surrender yourself to God, and
God comes into you, what does it make
you? A living image of God.
So that is what we want to be by God’s Grace this morning, just a living
image of the living God, just Like his First born son was. But we must die to
self, and we must surrender our hearts and our minds to God and accept every
word that he says, as our guide, and as our instructions for how to Live and
how to Love.
Jesus said, "the things I speak are what my Father commanded me what to
say." There you are, that’s how to be the Son in the Image of
the first born.
Listen to what Jesus said of His relationship with the Father.
In John 12: 49-50 "For I have not spoken of myself;
but the Father which sent me, he gave me
a commandment, what I should say, and what
I should speak. And I know that his
commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever
I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak."
And He also said in John 5:19 "the Father works and
I work hitherto." Not, my own ideas of what I think my Father
might want me to do, or say. No, that’s not it at all. That would be our own
mental reasoning. But He said, "the Son can do nothing but what He sees the father do,
that doeth the son likewise."
From his sermon From that time 60-0302 P:21 Brother Branham said, "And she got down on her knees, and I
asked her to pray. And she prayed for a few moments; she looked over at me, and
she said, "Brother Branham, I now am going to make a new start." I
said, "Sis, it won't do one bit of
good. You're going just exactly the same road you've been over. It won't work. "And she said,
"I mean it in my heart." I said, "I know you do, but that devil's stronger than any mental powers
that you could put to him. That's the reason I don't believe in an
intellectual religion. I believe a man's got to be born
again of the Holy Spirit. It's got to be deeper than your
thinking, it’s got to be an experience."
And she said, "What must I do?" I said, "Just stay right there."
And we prayed and prayed. I went ahead and prayed with some people and come
back. She was praying. I come back to her again, and after while I come back,
and she was deeply in sincerity. In a few moments, she raised up, with tears
running down her cheek; she looked me in the face. She said, "Brother
Branham, something's happened." I said, "You don't have to turn no
new pages now." The woman's married and got a family, and a lovely, sweet,
born again Holy Spirit filled saint. 'Cause God could take her back to a place
where she started to do wrong. That's His goodness, and from that time, she was
a changed woman. From the time of a young girl, to at one time she was evil.
God taken her back, and from that time she was different.
You see, God is not coming for a people who think his Message is just a
new creed or something. And the Doctrine of Christ is not theology to be argued
over, no, not at all. The Doctrine of Christ is a reality of your position in
the family of God.
The Doctrine of Christ, to know it and understand it from your heart will
bring with it the same Life that was in the first born son, and you will see
your own life become a reflection of His Life. Because God wants to live out
your life for you, in your own set of circumstances.
Paul said in Ephesians 4:11 "And he gave some, apostles; and
some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;12 For
the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying"
(that’s
the building up) "of
the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come in the
unity of The Faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a
perfect man," (that’s a mature man) "unto the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ:"
You
see without the knowledge of the Son of God, without the Revelation of Jesus
Christ and our understanding of the relationship between the Father and His
First Born son, we would never know how to act as children of God. We will
never grow up.
Paul
said in verse 14 That we henceforth
be no more children, tossed to and
fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things,
which is the head, even Christ: 16 From whom the whole body
fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth,
according to the effectual working" (that is the energy of God) "in the
measure of every part,"
So it matters
not what measure you have been given, that same energy of God will work in you
in the same way, in the same nature and with the same results that it worked in
the whole, and it will) "maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of
itself in love."
The trials and tests God gives to each of you are very unique to your own
life circumstances, and God wants your vessel to reflect Himself through your
circumstances. And it matters not who
you are. My circumstances are different with my wife’s circumstances and hers
are different from our daughters. And each of my daughters have a set of
circumstances that are unique to themselves, but God wants to live out their
lives and show Himself the same yesterday, today and forever in each one of them,
and in all of his children's lives.
No matter who you are, if you are a son or daughter of God, he wants to
borrow your body, so just loan it to him, or give it to Him,
Just surrender yourself to Him that he might use your vessel to manifest His
life through it. That is what God-Life is all about. It’s not seeing what you
can do with this vessel, but allowing God to use it to see what He will do with
it.
When I go overseas and speak to brethren who live in such a different
world than we live in, yet I see that we have the same Father and God wants to
live out their lives no less the same as
he lived out His life through His son Jesus. And that is because God has
already ordained it as brother Branham said in the Spoken Word is the original
seed, "All of God's sons must be
the same."
And so It is God that sets the circumstances that surround your life. He
did it, not you. It was not good luck that placed you where you are? It was God
who set you where you are today. Psalms 37:23 “The footsteps
of the righteous are
ordered of the Lord, and he delights in his way.”
Proverbs 16:9 A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.
Proverbs 3:6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct
thy paths.
But where I see the problem with the church today is that the people want
to dodge what God has for them. We do not accept that our set of circumstances
means anything to God. But it does. And your unique sort of trial is there to
build His own character in you.
From his sermon, Turning Northward 61-0129
P:20 These twin revivals, one brings forth a
man that's supposed to be intellectual; most have been schooled. They're trying to dodge that issue of new
birth. The church is trying to dodge it. Today we take people in by water
baptisms, put them in the church by water baptism. You might put them in the
church by water baptism, but you'll never put them into Christ by water
baptism. You got to be born in there by the Spirit. That's right. As I've often
said, I say again. I don't care what kind of a birth it is, any birth is a
mess. If it's in a pig pen, or if it's in a corn shock, or if it's is a pink
decorated hospital room, it's a mess. And so is the new birth a mess. It'll make you do things that you never thought you'd do. It'll make you
weep, bawl, cry, and raise up your hands, and turn all kinds of shines, and
everything else. And you'll act disgraceful before a starchy, self-styled
group. But you don't care, as long as you get birth out of it.
Why 61-0128
P:46 Now the thing of it is, that they're trying to dodge that new
birth. They got too much prestige.
They got too much head knowledge.
(That is why
brother Vayle said to me, brian, the people that come int this message that
were either rank heathens of Catholics do best when it comes to understanding
this message, because the Baptists and pentecostal come in with too much knowledge
that they learned wrong, and have a lot more to purge in their minds than the
heathen or catholic)
brother Branham
continues, "Whenever
you get to a place that you feel you're just a little better than somebody
else, when you get to a place that you think that your stand in life is just a
little higher than the other one, you ain't going to get it anyhow. That's
right. But there's one thing about the new birth: it'll make a tuxedo suit and
a pair of overalls put their arms around one another, call each other "Brother."
It'll make a gingham dress and a silk dress put their arms around one another,
and call each other "Sister," whenever you really get down to
business with God. That's right".
Meanest
man in Santa Maria 62-0630E P:83 And the new birth is the same thing. It's
a mess. But it comes life out of that mess. Only way you can receive life, is
through a birth. It's messy, but it
makes life. People try to dodge it.
They don't want to wash the mascara off their face. You'd look a whole lot
prettier if you wouldn't wear it, Yes. If you'll try a little Acts 2
and 4,
it'll beat all that Max Factor ever could make. I'll tell you that. If you'll
just try a little of that, it'll be an eternal beauty, a
sweet, meek, quiet spirit.
That's what this woman had. 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.
Now, listen, All men try to dodge what God has for them. Even Jesus
Christ Himself tried to dodge the cross what God had for him, did you know
that? Jesus Christ, our eldest Brother. The
first born of God wanted to dodge the Cross, but after praying all night
he just surrendered Himself to God’s will for His Life. Now, that is not my
opinion, that was what a vindicated Prophet of God said.
From his sermon, Souls in prison now 63-1110M
P:94 Brother Branham said,
I've told you the Truth. I've hated to do it, not hating because I
don't want to do what God tells me to, but I love you. I don't want to hurt
you, so what am I going to do? But pure Divine love will drive you to do it. Jesus even prayed to dodge the cross.
"Is it possible that the cup should pass," said, "nevertheless, not My will, Thine."
And from his
sermon, God hiding Himself in simplicity 63-0412E
P:132 When you surrender fully, He'll come in fully.
But until you surrender, He can't come in fully. Surrender. Surrender your thoughts; surrender your thinking; surrender your life; surrender your all; surrender your prestige. Surrender everything to Him now, and
He'll come in and fill you with the Holy Ghost. That's what He's here to do.
In
paragraph 87 of the spoken Word is
the original Seed brother Branham said, "All right. All right, we notice then. See, the
spoken Word... Then we are God's Word made manifest. That's how God wants His church: is to manifest Himself.
How can He manifest Himself unless His Own Seed is in
that person? How can you
use your own thoughts and God manifest Himself through you? How can you
take your own belief and say, "Well, my pastor teaches... My creed says
that this... days of miracles..." How you going to do that and
then be a manifested son of God? How you going to do it? The
death of Jesus wasn't nothing to you. "Oh, I accept Him as my
Saviour." You don't. You say you do, but you don't. Your works
proves what you are. Jesus said the same thing. "If you
think I am illegitimately born..."They said, "We're Abraham's son and
need nobody to teach us." Said, "If you was Abraham's children, you'd know Me." See? Said, "Which
one of you condemns Me of sin (unbelief)? Show Me one thing
that God promised of Me that ain't fulfilled.
Show Me one thing that the Father
promised that I haven't fulfilled. (Sin is
unbelief.) Let's see you produce it then." That de-horned them. See?
Certainly. Said, "Who's accusing Me? Who
can condemn Me with sin (unbelief)?" See?
"If I don't believe, then why is the Father doing through Me like
He's doing, every Word that He promised? Now,
let Me see where you got it in yours."
What
brother Branham told us is that we are ordained to reflect the image of the
original seed. And that could not be possible unless we have the life that was
in the first born seed. For if we have the life, then we have the nature,
for the two are one in the sense the nature of the life is the reflected
attributes and manifested characteristics of the life in the seed. Look, if we
are so absorbed by our own daily life we cannot let Christ live our life for
us.
Paul said in Romans 13:8-10 MESSAGE Version "Don't run up debts, except for the huge debt
of love you owe each other. When you love others, you complete what the law has
been after all along. The law says don't sleep with another person's spouse,
don't take someone's life, don't take what isn't yours, don't always be wanting
what you don't have, and any other "don't" you can think of finally
adds up to this: Love other people as well as you do yourself. You can't go
wrong when you love others. When you add up everything in the law, the sum
total is love. 11 But make sure that you don't get
so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-to-day obligations
that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The
night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the
finishing touches
on the work he began when we first believed. We can't afford to waste a
minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and
indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing
everything in sight. Get out of bed and get
dressed! Don't loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about!
So in order to put on Christ you must first put off self. And let the
mind that was in Christ will be in you. That is what He wants.
Jesus
Christ the same 55-0806 P:19 You have to move your thoughts. You have
to move your thinking, and get away from reason and move your thoughts from
your own way of thinking to what God thinks. "Let the mind that was in Christ Jesus be
in you." And then when you begin to think His thoughts, you'll begin to live His life and do the
things that He did. See what I mean? Now, because it's not you; it's
Christ.
Look, This is not positive thinking. The devil has positive thinking, but
we don't want that. We want the Mind of Christ to be in us. That is what
we want. That is what God wants. He wants us to be conformed to the image of His first born
Son who as the first born son came in the very image of His
Father.
Why
it had to be shepherds 64-1221 P:40 You hear so much today about positive
thinking: you just put your mind on anything, and think positive on it. The
Devil can do that. There's only one thing that rules over all, and that's God's
Word. If you're thinking contrary to the Word; forget your thinking. Think on the Word."
Future
home 64-0802 P:76 Now,
many of you wonder how that discernment comes? I'm going to tell you. See, it's
a word that I say, and it isn't my thinking,
'cause I don't know. I don't know of the thinking of it. How can I tell you who
you are and where you come from, when I don't know you? How can I tell you what
you done ten years ago, when I never seen you in my life? How can I tell you
where you do and what you'll do ten years from now? How do I know the future?
But it is Somebody Else's thought." Let
the mind that was in Christ be in you. Let
the mind that was in Christ be in you." See, then it isn't your
thinking; it's His thinking through you, and you're not expressing your own words; you're expressing His Words.
God's
gifts always find place 63-1222 P:44 God works through human beings to redeem
human beings. He can take you, work through you to redeem humanity, if you'll completely dedicate everything you are .If
you're a young woman, dedicate your morals. You're a young man, dedicate your morals, dedicate your mind, dedicate your thinking,
dedicate your heart, dedicate your soul, dedicate all you are and let Christ
work through that. What a glorious thing.
Who
is this 59-1004M P:34 God
will never come to your level; you'll
have to come to His. God will not come to your requirement; you have to come to God's. And then when that requirement is met upon a
promise that God made to redeem the people. If that requirement has
met, your entire being changes; your thinking changes. Your habits change. Everything
about you changes. Your desires change. Your living changes. Your habits
change. You change. Everything about you changes, 'cause there's a new life in you.
Can
we see Jesus 58-0619E P:14 You have to have God on the inside
before you can see Him on the outside. And there's many people that doesn't seem to understand what God
is. But He has to come in, and look through your eyes, use your
eyes, and your mind, your thinking, and your sight, your emotion, all has to be
fully controlled by God.
Door
to the heart 58-0316E P:42 He
wants to be your Ruler, not just your Saviour only. You want Him as a Saviour,
but what about being your Lord, that'll
control you, control your
emotions, control your thinking, control your every fiber of you,
that you could say like the man years ago who let Him in, "For me
to live is Christ and to die is gain." Let Him in, in that way to be Ruler and Lord over you.
Door
inside door 58-0209E P:31 You
must let Him be the supreme Ruler. That is, He's over all. He's over your
opinions. He's over everything that you have. He's over your emotions. He's over your ideas. He's controls
every fiber of your thinking. Everything that you are you should
turn it over to Him, if He's going to be your Saviour and your Lord.
God's
provided way 64-0206E P:16 You
have to die. You have to die before you can be reborn.
Any seed has to die before it's regenerated again. Unless it dies, it abides
alone. A man's got to die to his own
thinking. He's got to die to the thinking of anything but God's Word, and come
His way. That's God's ground. We
don't meet Him on our thoughts. We meet Him on what He said do. That's God's provided way for us. People dodge it; they don't want it.
But it's true just the same. It produces death, and you have to die, die to your thinking." Well, I know the Bible says it,
but I can't understand it." Then stay there till God reveals
it. That's right. It's got... That's the new
birth.
Spirit
of truth 63-0118 P:13 Now,
it's such a marvelous thing, and yet it's
so simple if we would just stop and think. We press, we quiver, we fear, we
get in flusterations and doubts just thinking. "Well, must I press in?" It
isn't that. It's just yielding (See?) realizing
that you're nothing, and just let Him completely take you over, take over your
thinking, take over...Now, I don't mean to walk up to Christ with just a
blank mind. I don't mean that. You come
to Him in your right mind, and in a penitent mind, and humble. And then
say, "Lord Jesus, here am I.
Oneness
62-0211 P:102 What
is it? You've got to get with the Word,
get yourself killed out. I'm
persuaded that many of us, friends, have received the Holy Ghost, but we just receive enough Holy Ghost in us to
make us to a place where we don't want to lie, we don't want to steal, we don't
want to do anything. But God wants to fill every fiber of
His church; He wants to fill your thinking; He wants to fill your mind. He wants
to fill every bit of you, just make you completely, totally dead to yourself or
to your thinking, just so surrendered in God till His Word's just living right
through you. You don't know nothing else but God's Word; just stay right with His Word; It is Life. "My Words are Life," said Jesus.
Conferences
63-0608 P:68 You
must be born again. Everything has to
die away. All your theology, all
your thinking, all you ever was
or ever expect to be, your life and
everything else dies away. And then the
Holy Spirit comes in. That's when you take off hats, shoes, stand before
God. "Nothing in my arms I bring,
simply to thy cross I cling." That's where Moses had to come, where he
could obey what God said do: the Burning Bush Conference. Then God said, "I'll
show you My glory now,"
after he was willing to go. And he went down in
He
that is in you 63-1110E P:80 If we
only could receive this truth. Now, just a moment. If we only could realize
what this Scripture means, "He that is in you is greater
than he that's in the world."
We can't understand that, yet we say we believe it. And we know it's true, but
we really don't understand it. "Greater is He that's in you,
than he that's in the world."
What is in you that's greater? It's
Christ, the anointed; God that was in Christ is in you.
"Greater is He that's in you, than he that's in the world." Then if He is in you,
it's not you any more living; it's Him living in you.
See? It's not your thinking and what you
would think about this; it's what He said about this.
See? Then if He is in you, He absolutely would not deny what He
said. He couldn't do it. But He would keep what He has said, and
He's trying to find that person that He can vindicate Himself through.
Let us pray...