Rising of the Son no 61
Dying Grace and Living Grace
April 29th, 2017
Brian
Kocourek, pastor
This evening we will examine paragraph 125 of brother Branham's sermon
Rising of the Son, and this will be number 61 in our series. As we read this
paragraph I want you to notice several things he says that we could take a
sermon on any one of them, but tonight I would like to focus on one thought in
particular, and that is something you most likely have never hear any minister
say, and we will point that out in just a moment as we begin reading.
125 May it
then, Father, may, if they're sick, may they walk out well. May, if they are
crippled, may they walk out under the power of the Holy Spirit. If they've been
sinners, may they walk out washed and clean. And the
mechanics by going in, the Dynamics come from above, the Holy Spirit
and catch them away, Lord. Quicken their mortal body; then we shall hear
genuine new tongues, powers of God, love untold, dying grace and living grace,
and a resurrected Christ, a Body, a Bride
representing Him on earth. Father, they are Yours. They raised their
hands; I have preached the Word. Now, Father, receive them, I pray; in Jesus
Christ's Name I ask it. Amen.
Therefore this evening, seeing this is a communion
service, I would like to take our thoughts on the statement, dying grace and living grace, because this grace brother Branham is
speaking of here is both a grace to handle for the dying, and at the same it is
a grace to handle our Living as well.
Now, we all know that Grace means "unmerited favor". But here
we see the word grace used in a way that shows it is for those who are dying
and for those who become alive due to this grace. There isn't a lot to go by
when we examine these words alone because God's prophet only used the words "dying grace" one time, and he
only used the words "living grace" one time as well and that one
time is what we have read for our text from paragraph 125 of this sermon "Rising of the
Son".
So let's begin first tonight by looking at this thought concerning grace by
going to the Scriptures to see what we can glean from the Scriptures concerning
"grace for dying and grace for living".
From his
sermon The Invisible union of the bride 65-1125
P:20 brother Branham speaks of Grace when he quotes Dwight Moody. He
said "one of the books I read on Mr. Dwight Moody,
in Chicago. (We have a great listening church in Chicago also tonight.) That
Mr. Moody after reading Romans 7, ran into the
street, and the first man he met, he said to him, "Do you know grace?"And
the man replied, "Grace who? "Mr. Moody said, "The grace of God."
So it so thrilled him when he seen that how grace had separated us from the
law, and what part grace played. Anything that I want to do is when, I Always told the people when I crossed the
line on the other side, I'd like to stand up and sing: "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, That saved a wretch like
me!" Grace, precious grace, more of grace to know. For it is by grace we are saved; not by what we can do, what we can... Whatever we do is
not counted to us; grace
is what saves us. "By
grace are ye saved through faith;"
So here we see
brother Branham quoting the Apostle Paul saying, "By grace are ye saved through faith;"
In fact we
find the Apostle Paul saying this in a couple places in the Book of Ephesians.
And the first
time the Apostle Paul speaks of being "saved by Grace" he speaks
of our having been dead in our sins and trespasses. So this first
time we are looking at the thought of "grace for dying" which is
the same as the statement that Brother Branham said himself.
We see this in
Ephesians 2:5 "Even when
we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us together with Christ,
(by grace ye are saved;)
Notice here we
see the apostle Paul speak concerning our being dead in our sins, and then being
quickened
or made a-live
"together
with Christ", which is an enjoined life with Christ, and then he says, "By Grace are ye
saved."
Notice the words together
with Christ, the word "together"
was translated from the Greek word, "suzoopoieo" and
it means "to reanimate conjointly with (figuratively):--quicken together with."
Therefore we are not looking at a
quickening that is in any way apart from or separate from the quickening of
Christ himself as though you are separately quickened or made alive, but rather
this quickening is conjointly with His Quickening.
In other words, the same Spirit that quickened Him quickens you. And it is not
a separate quickening from His quickening, but it is a conjoint
quickening.
Now to make
things easier to understand the word "conjoint"
means as an adjective:
1. joined together; united; combined; associated.
2. pertaining to or formed by two or more in combination; joint.
And as a noun:
3. conjoints, marriage partners, especially as joint owners of property.
So you cannot
be "conjoined
together" unless both parties are simultaneously joined
together.
Now, let's look further into this quickening as we turn in our Bibles to Ephesians 2:1 ¶ And you hath He
quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2 Wherein in time past
ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience: 3
Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature
the children of wrath, even as others. 4 ¶
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us together with Christ,
(by grace ye are saved;)
Notice in all these verses of Scripture, they speaks not just of our
being quickened or made alive, but it says we are quickened together with Him.
How? "By one Spirit we are all baptized
into one body." When you are quickened and made alive by His
Word, you are now a dual being in the
same manner that Jesus was a dual being. Because you now are a temple of the Holy Spirit,
you are the house in which God's Spirit has chosen to dwell in. And it is by
His Spirit living in us that we are awakened from our sleep and we have become joint heir with
Christ, bound together by the same Life that dwelled in Him now
dwelling in you.
This word quickened was translated from the Greek Word suzoopoieo {sood-zo-op-oy-eh'-o} and it means -- quicken together with or -- quicken together 1) to
make one alive together
- with
Christ.
Then what we see
here is that one cannot be alive without the other. Because The One Christ,
makes the other live. It is by His Spirit
that we live and move and have our being. That
makes us children of God and joint heirs with Christ.
We read in Acts 17:28 For in him we live,
and move, and have our being;" as certain also
of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Notice, "For in him we live," So you are not alive outside of
Him. Outside of Him you are dead while you live.
Now, don't just read this and pass by it
without dwelling on what he is saying here...
"For "in him" we live
(And not only are we alive in Him but he also said) "For in him we move,"
So our actions are also dependent upon our being in Him, and
then he says not only are our being alive dependent upon being in Christ, and
not only are our actions dependent upon being in Christ, but then he adds, "For in him we have our being;"
as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
For in Him we
have our being. Then outside of Him we do not have our being,
outside of Him we are not what we ought
to be. In fact that is what the Apostle Paul tells us in...
Colossians 3:3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. And
then he tells us when our life will become manifested as he says in the next
verse...4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with
him in glory. Notice then it
is in the same Doxa, the same opinions and values and judgments that we appear
or manifest in our true character as he also manifests in this same doxa, this
same opinions, values, and judgments. And notice we do this together, because
it is the same Word, the same Doxa, the same opinions, the same values, the
same judgments that we are doing this together in.
That is why the apostle Paul could say in Galatians
2:20 I am crucified with
Christ: (Notice, not along with as though you are Christ
are two beings yet you are crucified alongside each other like Christ was
alongside the thief, but rather you and Christ are one personality and one
Spirit living in the two of you making one body, and that one body is crucified
together. When the hands were nailed your hands were nailed, when his feet were
nailed your feet were nailed. Together, not separately going through the same
thing, together because it is the same Spirit alive in His vessel that is alive
in yours. When Christ was raised you were raised.
Paul continues, nevertheless I live; yet not I,
but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I
now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and
gave himself for me.
Now Paul tells us the same thing in Ephesians
2:5
Even when we
were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and the word quickened he uses here is made up of two words, sun + dzo-op-oy-eh-
The word sun {soon} means -- with --
beside -- to accompany. In
other words, the egg can never be made alive without the sperm. The Life germ is
in the sperm, and yet the egg is the seed. And so you were in the mind of God
as an egg-germ-seed, so to speak but it takes the quickening spirit of Christ
the Word to enter into you to make you come alive. The Mechanics in your body
must have the dynamics to make you come alive and become manifested Word.
2227 zoo-poieo {dzo-op-oy-eh'-o} -- quicken
-- give life
to -- make alive
1) to produce
alive, begat or bear living young 2) to cause to live, make alive, give life; by
spiritual power to arouse and invigorate; to restore to life; to give increase of
life: thus of physical life; of the spirit,
quickening as respects the spirit, endued with new and greater powers of life;
metaphorically, of seeds quickened into life, i.e. germinating, springing up,
growing.
In Ephesians 2:5 The Apostle Paul tells us, "Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with
Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together,
and made us sit together in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward
us through Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of
God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them.
Again we see in Colossians 2:9 The
Apostle Paul telling us "For in
him dwelleth all the fulness
of the Godhead bodily. 10 And ye are complete in him,
which is the head of all principality and power: 11 In whom also ye are
circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body
of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: 12 Buried with him in baptism,
wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who
hath raised him from the dead. 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;
Notice all these Scriptures read the same thing concerning our being
quickened, and made alive and they all do not deal with us as a lone
individual, but notice they all say you are quickened together with Him. "You are buried with him",
"you are risen with
him", "you are made alive with him", "you are joint heirs with him", "you
are quickened together with
him".
In Ephesians 2:5 The Apostle Paul tells us, "Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus
12 Buried
with him in
baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of
God, who hath raised him from the dead. 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;
What we are looking at here is an inter-dependence between God and His
sons. Jesus was dependent upon God to show him what to do, and God was
dependent upon Jesus to do. Brother Branham told us in his sermon, "New Ministry"
that he was in California holding meetings, and he got a call to come to the
hospital to pray for a baby that was dying. The child was born and had cancer
in such a bad condition that its tongue was dried and shriveled, and the child
couldn't swallow anything. He saw that child about the same age as his little
ones and became desperate before God. He waited and waited for a vision, and
when none came he asked God, "what would you have your servant to
do?" He said I was so dependent upon visions that I was waiting on God to
show me what to do, so when I asked God "what would you have your servant
to do", He said, Father I am waiting for you to show me what to do, and
the Holy Spirit spoke to him and said, "I am waiting on you to show me what you are
going to do."
There you are, "why Cry Speak" Move and go forward.
Moses had to put his staff into the water and walk into the water for it to
part. Elijah had to take his mantle and wad it up like a staff and hit the
water like Moses had before him, in order for the water to part. Elisha saw
what Elijah had done and so he had to do the same thing when he got to the
water and then when he did this he said "where is the God of Elijah?"
When you have been made alive by the Spirit of God, the same Spirit that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you and you are now quickened together with
Christ, as Paul said, " I am crucified with Christ,
nevertheless I am living, yet it is not I, Paul that am Living, but it is Christ
that is living in me, and the life I am now living in this flesh I am living by
the revelation of Jesus Christ who Died and gave his life for me."
There has got to come a time when the bride of Christ will realize that
she is no longer herself, but she has become him. She will realize she is a dual
being, just as there was a dual being in Christ, for God united with His son,
and now, "Christ in us has become our hope of Glory" or our hope of attaining
his glory", his doxa, his opinions, his values, and his
judgments.
As the bride receives the very same Spirit that lived in Jesus Christ and
raised him from the grave, She becomes joined to the head which is Christ
Himself, and we become a dual being, just like Christ was a dual being.
And even in the first book of Peter we read, I
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:
Rising of the sun 65-0418M
P:47 "He was not only the Mechanics (God's Word), He was
the Dynamics to prove It. And if He, being the Groom, the Bride has to come
forth, 'cause It's part of Him. And It can only be the manifestation of
the fulfilling of all of revelations and the others that spoke of the Bride.
And It can only manifest... And if it does something different from the
Groom, it isn't the Bride, because She's flesh of His flesh, bone of His
bone, Life of His Life, power of His power.
Notice now,
how can you say John 14:12 was only for
one person when the prophet of God just said, "And if it does something different from the
Groom, it isn't the Bride, because She's flesh of His flesh, bone of His
bone, Life of His Life, power of His power."
You would have
to say that William Branham alone is the bride, for he alone did the same
things as the Groom.
Remember a few
weeks ago we shared with you what brother Branham said in the 2nd Seal?
Second seal the - 63-0319 82 When Jesus incarnates Himself in His people, the very Life that was in Christ
is in this person. What would it do if you took the life out of
a grapevine and put it in a pumpkin vine? It wouldn't bear pumpkins no more;
it'd bear grapes. See? What if you took the life out of a peach tree and put it
in a pear tree? Would it bear pears? No, bear peaches. The life tells what it is.
See? When you say--hear people say they got the Holy Ghost and deny this Word,
there's something wrong. The Holy Ghost wrote that Word. And Jesus
said this: "If a
man has My Spirit in him, he will do My works." You want
to read that? If you want to put it down, it's Saint John 14:12. Yeah.
All right. "He
that believeth in Me, the works that I do shall he do also, even more than this
shall he do, for I go to the Father." See? Then He sanctifies and
cleans him so he can stand before God.
Notice how brother
Branham literally identified John 14:12 with having the same Life that was in Christ. "If a man has My Spirit in him, he will do
My works." You want to read that? If you want to put it
down, it's
Saint John 14:12.
And then brother Branham says if Satan incarnates
his people they will do the works he did. Because it is all about the life. Second seal the - 63-0319 83. Now, watch. Satan, when he incarnates himself
in his subjects, they do the work that he did. Don't you see? What did he do?
Come right to that innocent woman to deceive her.
Second seal the - 63-0319 86. And when a man turns down the Gospel
Truth, Satan marks him. Where? At his ear. He deafens him so he
can't hear the Truth no more. And he's finished. My. He stays with the
group that he's with, if he won't hear the truth. No. "You shall know the Truth and the Truth
shall make you free." The Truth makes free. God marks his when they
come. God marks His by vindicating His promised Word through them.
That's exactly. Saint
John 14:12, and another thing if you want to put down--down: Mark 16. Jesus
said, "These
signs shall follow them that believe." 87. Now, let us just take
that a minute. Was He joking? [Congregation replies "no"--Ed.]
Did He just mean, did He just mean the apostles as some would tell us? [Congregation
replies "no"--Ed.]
Watch, read the background of it. Go ye into (where?) all the world; preach this Gospel to (what?) every creature." It has
not even one-third of the way have met it yet. "These signs shall follow in all the world,
to every creature, wherever this Gospel's preached. "These
signs shall follow them that believe," not just to one little handful. Like
a fellow one time tell me: "God only gave the twelve apostles gifts of
healing, and..." Oh. Many of the brethren is setting here when he
raised up to say that. See? He got enough of it in a few minutes. So now,
notice, "All the world, to every creature, these signs shall follow."
88. Don't take Satan's unbelieving mark. Now, he will put
it on you tonight if he can do it. He will poke you up against the wall and
you'll walk out and say, "Aw, I don't know about that." You
go home and study it. And then be sincere and pray, 'cause
everything's too--is too perfectly Scriptural at this very hour, this sacred
hour of time. It's done been for years, proved. Come right up to it and this is
the hour. This is
the time. And now, don't let him poke that in your ear, his
unbelieving mark. See? 'Cause he was an unbeliever to begin with. He doubted
it. All right. Oh, don't even let him take the Scripture with his wisdom
and twist It and pervert It with his own wisdom into reasoning powers. You
just be humble and say, "God said so, and that's all there is to it."
(Now, oh, let's--we're going to get too late, so we'd better stop right here
and--and start on.)
Now, in
getting back to Rising of the Son paragraph 47 brother Branham was saying, "And if it does something different from the Groom, it
isn't the Bride, because She's flesh of His flesh, bone of His bone, Life
of His Life, power of His power. She is Him. As
man and woman are one, and woman taken from his side, She has taken His Spirit
(the feminish Spirit from Him), the flesh from His
side, made both mechanics and Dynamics, the Wife--the Spirit of Him and the flesh
of Him and put it together and made mechanics and Dynamics.
Now, notice
what he just said, he said the reason she will do the same things he did is
because She not only has the same life, the same Spirit and thus the same
nature, but as we have been studying he adds, She
is Him. And then he explains this unity as Husband and
wife.
And that is
why Paul taught us the five-fold ministry will bring us to the place where we
actually grow up into Christ and we put must on Christ.
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 of
the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come in the
unity of the faith, (which is The
Revelation of Jesus Christ, and you can not
understand the revelation of Christ until you understand) and of the
knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, (a
mature and fully equipped man) unto the measure of the stature of the fulness
of Christ: 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:
He did not say we must grow up unto him,
as though he is here and you are there, and you are standing alongside of him,
but he said that "we may grow up INTO Him."
And that means
what he said, just as Paul said in Galatians 3:27 For as many of you as have been baptized into
Christ have put on Christ.
There's your
duality right there.
From his
sermon, Pillar of fire 53-0509 P:15 And now, the Bible
teaches us that the Logos went out of God, or I might say, all of the
God becoming His first body form when the Logos went out of God. Let's
look what It looked like. No one has seen the Father at any time, no where, never did and never will. But then the Logos
that went out of Him become like a little halo of Light.
Now, that is
the same Logos, the same light that comes into the believer when he is born
again. Same Logos that went out of the father into the Son, and now into sons.
The same Spirit, the same Life, not a different life, the same life.
Uncertain sound 60-1218 P:20 As I
illustrated it, like a button. When a man's saved, that much of him is God.
That's the little Light that comes in to make him quit doing what's wrong. Now,
if you can take all the malice, and envy, and strife, and unbelief out, that
little button-like of the Light and power of God will keep growing, growing,
growing, growing, crowding out unbelief. And you don't do it by
exhortations of bodily exercise. You do it by a sanctified, consecrated Life,
that the Holy Spirit moves through you.
Identified masterpiece of God
64-1205 P:68 Now, we notice that God begins to make Him a
bride for Christ. So the bride must be identified with Him and in Him, because
it is part of Him.
Now, the bride is part of Him. She is part of Him.
The Word for that day, the bride becomes part of that Word, for it's Christ. Now, you believe that? We have to be in Christ. In Christ, we
have to be of Christ, in
Christ, part of
Christ. What is a woman? When she takes a man, or a man takes a
woman, that woman has to be part of him. They're no longer two; they're one. And when
God in
Christ became one, they
were one, 'cause God was the Word, and the Word was made flesh. The
flesh and the Word became One. And when the church becomes Christ's bride, she and the
Gospels are the same. How can you say then the days of miracles is
past? (that's like those who say John 14:12 is over
because brother Branham is gone) How can you say that He's not the same yesterday, today, and forever? How can you say those things is for an apostle, or a disciple, or
somebody in another day, when
you're part of Him? (Notice brother Branham says they
try to make it foe one person only when it is not if the Life of Christ is in
you, then the works he did you will do if you have the same spirit living in
you.) When He
said, "Heavens and earth will pass away
but My Word shall never fail"? How
about Revelations 22, when He got through writing the Book, He said, "I testify that if any man shall add one word, or take one
word out of it, his part will be taken from the Book of Life"?
So what are
you going to do with that people listening to this broadcast, those of you who
have taken John 14:12 out of the Scriptures or have relegated it to one time
and one person. Don't you know God's Word is just as Eternal as He is. Don't
you know "Jesus
Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever." But if you
take John 14:12 and relegate it to 50
years ago, you are guilty of Revelations 22
by taking away from God's Word.
From his
sermon, Christ is the mystery 63-0728 P:288 brother
Branham said, "That's in Christ, the Word. He was the Word; He is the Word.
And the Church
becomes Word by Him making Her a part of Him, and that's the
Word again. Personally
identified by Him, His property alone, His property alone: She
is redeemed by
Him, through
Him, for
Him and for Him
alone. That's right.
From God's Only Provided Place Of Worship 65-1128M
225 brother Branham said, "Now, the Lutherans wanted to get in
one way, by joining the Lutheran church. The
Methodists wanted to get in by shouting. The
Pentecostals wanted to get in by speaking in
tongues. That still ain't it. See? No, that's gifts, so forth. But I
Corinthians 12 says, "By one Spirit..."
Spirit of God, which is the Life-giver to the Word, the Seed, to vindicate that
Seed for that season. See?
Notice, one
joined herself to a church, the next joined herself to a works program, and the
next joined herself to gifts. But they all got it wrong. You are to be joined together
with Christ, and He is the Word made alive.
Now, how is a
seed vindicated? By the manifestation of the Life within it. In other words, it
will bear the fruit of what it's true nature is. A fig tree bears figs, an apple tree bears
apples. And a Son of God will bear Son of God Life, and God is the Word.
Brother
Branham made this point very clear in his sermon, Spoken
word original seed 62-0318M P:91 where he said, "Then the works will
be manifested in Him are the same, for it is the same Seed Word of God. God's Son was His example Seed.
And what His Life was when the Spirit poured upon Him after His baptism and the
Holy Ghost come upon Him, the very Life that He produced will--that same watering
Spirit of the Holy Ghost will
bring forth the same kind of a Life, doing the same thing that He did; if it's the same Seed.
Son of God Seed will
bring forth a Son of God Seed.
The Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 4:21 If so
be that ye have heard him, and have been
taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22 That ye put off concerning the former life the
old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23 And be
renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24 And that ye put on the new
man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Colossians
3:9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with
his deeds; 10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge
after the image of him
that created him: Notice, after the image of Him.
Romans
8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love
God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
29 ¶ 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.
30 Moreover whom he did predestinate,
them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he
justified, them he also glorified.
I Corinthians
15:49 And as we have born the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the
heavenly.
II Corinthians
3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit:
and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with open
face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into
the same image from glory to glory, [even] as by the Spirit of
the Lord.
II Corinthians
4:3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 4 In
whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not,
lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God,
should shine unto them. 5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the
Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who commanded the
light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of
the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. 8 ¶
We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but
not in despair; 9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
10 Always bearing about in the body
the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be
made manifest in our body. 11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our
mortal flesh. 12 So then death worketh
in us, but life in you. 13 We having the same spirit of faith, according as it
is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and
therefore speak;
From his sermon An Ensign 62-0119 E-51 -
E-52 brother Branham said, "And a Christian that's dead, and buried, and raised with Him in His resurrection, in
heavenly places... See, if we are dead with Him,
then we're also raised with Him; for the body goes where the head is. And He is the Head, and this is the body.
And not will be, but now we are seated together
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, with every power of the devil conquered and
under His feet. Authority, authority, there's the ensign. That's the hand that
lifts up that counts E-53 Moses went
down into Egypt. There was the great seas out there. Lifted up the ensign, and
what happened? They turned to blood. Lifted over the lands: frogs, lice, fleas,
the sun refused to shine, death struck the land. Why? He lifted up the ensign
of God's judgment. And when we lift up the ensign of God's judgment as a
believer in Christ, with a crucified life to
yourself and your own ideas, and raised, and His Word made alive among you, every
devil's got to squeak at it (That's right), 'cause it represents
Christ. See? He died. He's the one lifted up the ensign. And
Moses, with his stick, it looked like a little bitty thing, but it was a stick.
And it was God's ensign to Egypt, his judgment rod. And it brought judgment. God always gives something that you can
look at, something you can put your hand on, something you can prove, something
that's right, after you have accepted Him
And from "The Spoken Word is the Original
Seed 62-0318M 56-3 brother Branham said, "All right. Every seed must come after its kind. God made man in His image after His kind to be His Word on earth. He expressed it in Jesus Christ. What was? God was in Christ. That's a Man after His kind. See? When
God, which is the Word... How many knows He's the Word? When the Word
was in Christ, a man, human man, expressing Itself through Him, that was God,
the Word, in Christ expressing Himself. And God in the beginning
made man in His Own image, and that's the kind of man that God makes today. The
seminary and the incubator hatchery turns out a bunch of hybrids (See?), the
schools. But when God calls a man, he's
in His Own image: the Word made alive in
him. That's right. There he is; that's God's man, man in His Own image, in His very
likeness. And Jesus said, that he will do the works that I do. So God made man in His Own
image after His kind. 57-1
His kind, what is His kind? the Word. He is the Word. Then if a man
denies God's Word, how can he be in God's image? Just ask the question.
Ask yourself. "How can he be in God's image and deny God's Word, when the Word's expressed image of Himself?"
And from You Must Be Born Again 61-1231M 79brother Branham said, "You are conceived anew. You was first
conceived in iniquity. Now, you're conceived in something new. What is it? The living Word. Oh, that changes it now,
doesn't it? Now, we're through the struggle, after seeing what you got to do.
Now, what happens? You're conceived anew
in the living Word. What is it? The Word becomes alive in you.
You begin to see things different. Where once you couldn't see that, now you do
see it. There's something different now: makes all the Scriptures come
together, makes everything dovetail just right. Then, now
something's begin to happen. Now, you die to your own thinking;
now you're conceived, because we are washed by the water of the Word. Is that
right?"
And from his sermon, Have Not I Sent Thee
62-0124 E-88 And when
God plants His promise in
you and it becomes a living reality,
then something is different. You just don't go and say, "Yes, I believe
it." Now, that's all right. The devil believes it like that. But it's confirmed to you, and the Word becomes alive in you. Then you
begin to see what it is. Yes.
And what does that do for you? You see what God sees, and you think what
God thinks.
From Why cry speak 63-0714M P:65 brother Branham said, " Now, notice, faith sees what God wants you to see.
See? Faith sees what
God sees, and reasoning and senses see what the world wants you to
see.
And again from his sermon called Seed of Discrepancy
65-0118 127 The Word becomes alive
in our own flesh, that shows the Presence
of God.
And from Souls In Prison Now 63-1110M 50-2 he said, " Not by
speaking in tongues, not by dancing in the Spirit, not by joining the church,
not by fruit of the Spirit (Christian Science can out smother any of you on
that, see, and deny even Jesus Christ was Divine.); not that, but it's the Word living. There it is. If they
would've looked, He was Messiah. He was the living Word made
manifest. And a man that's got the Spirit of
God in him, or woman, that Word lives right out in them. That's
the heart beat, the predestinated. For the Word of the Lord comes to them, and
they are the Word to the people: written Epistles read of all men. Is that
right? Could the Third Pull be on?
Colossians
3:3 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 glory. 5
¶ Mortify therefore your members which
are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil
concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 6 For which things' sake
the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
I John
3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what
we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be
like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3 And every man that
hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he
is pure.
Let us pray...