Romans 124

With one mind and one mouth expressing the Father

June 22, 2003

Brian Kocourek

 

This morning I would like to continue in our study in the Book or Romans and this will be number 122 in our series. I would like to entitle this Father’s Day and the Role of Fatherhood, as taught by God our Father Himself. And now, for our text let us now turn in our Bibles to Romans 15 and we will read from verse 5 through 6 for our text.

 

ROMANS 15:5  Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: 6 That ye may with one mind [and] one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 ¶  Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.

 

This morning I would like to take for our text verse 7. Let me read it again.

 

7 ¶  Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.

 

Now, this verse speaks of a relationship between two people that involves more than those two people. Notice, the apostle Paul tells us, Wherefore, or therefore, receive ye (that’s you he is speaking to, receive you, or you should receive) one another (that’ you, and you and you and you, etc. Those that are with you in this same mindset, because notice in verse 5-6 he said,   Now the God of patience and consolation grant you (Now, this word grant comes from the Greek Word    “didomi” and it means to give, to give something to someone, of one's own accord to give one something, to his advantage; to bestow a gift … And what is this gift that God has granted us?) to be likeminded (and the Greek word for likeminded is   “phroneo” which means “to be of the same mind” It also means “to have understanding, be wise”.

 

The word also means, to feel, to think: to have an opinion of one's self, think of one's self, to be modest, not let one's opinion (though just) of himself exceed the bounds of modesty; to think or judge what one's opinion is; to be of the same mind i.e. agreed together, cherish the same views, be harmonious  3) to direct one's mind to a thing, to seek, to strive for; to seek one's interest or advantage; to be of one's party, side with him (in public affairs)).

 

Therefore let me read this again. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus.

 

Notice The apostle Paul is telling us that God has given us a gift, and that gift is to be of one mind. And in being of this one mind, we will not become lofty in our thinking, but will consider that our place is with those whom God has also called to receive the same mind. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another, and now we find the key is in the next few words he says, according to Christ Jesus.

 

Now what does Paul mean,  According to Christ Jesus? The word according comes from the root word, ac·cord which is a verb, and means 1. To cause to conform or agree; bring into harmony. 2. To grant, especially as being due or appropriate: 3. To bestow upon: To be in agreement, unity, or harmony.

 

So we see that this thing, this likeminded-ness that God is wanting to Grant or give us is a gift from God,  and only those who receive this gift from God can have this likeminded-ness.  And notice he said it is to be done in accordance with the way He did so with His Son Jesus.

 

PHILIPPIANS 2:5  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: And the word mind here has the same Greek word Phroneo that is used for the word likeminded. Let this mind that was in Christ be in you. That’s the key that Paul is bringing to us here, and it is a gift from God that only those whom God chooses can receive that gift.

 

Notice Paul says, Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: (And notice then that it is according to Christ Jesus , the Anointed Jesus. So we see that God has given us a gift to be likeminded, and not only to be likeminded, but likeminded towards one another and notice he tells us, ACCORDING to Christ Jesus. Now, the only way we can be likeminded is if we have the same mind. So he is telling us here the same thing he is telling us in PHILIPPIANS 2:5  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

 

And we know this can only come as God has ordained it to come.

 

JOHN 1:12 But as many as received him,(Now the word received here is the Greek word Lambano which means to take to one's self, lay hold upon, take possession of, i.e. to appropriate to one's self

     3e) catch at, reach after, strive to obtain)  to them gave he power (Now this word power is not the Greek word Dunamis that we associate so often with miraculous power, but it is the Greek word exousia which means 1) power of choice, So we see God gives us a gift, and that gift is the power to make a right decision. And that decision is to become a son, or act like a son ought to act.) )  to them gave he power  to become the sons of God,(now this word becomes comes from the Greek word    ginomai, and it does not mean that you were a hog, and now you have power to become a lamb. It does not mean that you were a seed of the devil and now you have been given power to become a or a seed of God. No, it means to  become fulfilled. In other words, God gives you the power to make the right decision to become what you already are.

 

The Apostle John said in 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. And how do you purify yourself? You get yourself out of the way, and let the Word of God abide in your heart.

 

PSALMS 119:9 ¶ Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed [thereto] according to thy word. 10 ¶  With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments. 11    Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. 12 ¶  Blessed [art] thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes. 13 ¶  With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth. 14 I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as [much as] in all riches. 15 I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways. 16 I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.

 

There are 150 verse in this Psalm that show us how to cleanse our own selves, and get out of the way and every verse tells us to let the Word of God abide richly in our hearts. That is how we become sons. That is how we become fulfilled in our role as sons. By getting out of the way as Jesus Himself got Himself out of the way,  to where he said, in John 5:19  Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.  And in John 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. And again in St. John 14:10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. And in  St. JOHN 12:49  Jesus said,   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 in JOHN 7:16  Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. 17    If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or [whether] I speak of myself. 18 He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.

 

JOHN 4:34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat (that which I live by and that which I live for) is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.

 

In JOHN 6:38  we hear Jesus again say,  For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 39    And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. 40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.

 

So we see that Jesus did do anything unless the father showed him first, and he did not speak except what God gave him to speak, and he did not have doctrine except the Doctrine God gave him, and he came not to do his own will, but the will of the Father.

 

And that is what Paul is saying when he says let this mind  be in you that was in Christ Jesus, and that is what he is saying when he said that God has given us the gift to be like minded, or to have the same mind, and that is what John means when he said that God has given us a gift to be able to make the right decision, and the right decision is the become fulfilled as sons, and that means that we have been given grace to get ourselves out of the way, to let go of our own thoughts, and let go of our own actions, and let go of our own pet doctrines, and let go of our own will, and we have been given the POWER to get ourselves out of the way and do and say and think and speak as the Father so wills for us to do and say and think and speak.

 

How does a young man cleanse himself? By taking heed to  the Word thereof. By taking heed, by being careful to acknowledge God’s words have the preeminence. And how do we learn to get ourselves out of the way?

 

JOHN 6:45 It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. 46    Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father. 47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.

 

  JOHN 1:12 But as many as received him to them gave he power (The ability to make a right choice)  to become (fulfilled) as the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Now watch, how is this accomplished? He says, 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (You can’t do this, it comes only by God, because God gives you the ability to be likeminded. God has to do it, and when he does you just surrender your life to him, and live for him ,a and by him and through him. In ACTS 17:28 we read  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. 29  Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. It’s not the device of man, it’s not man’s thinking, it’s God’s thinking and God’s doing. And what does that lead to?) JOHN 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And let this mind be in you. That is the Message, that is what Paul is telling us.

 

WORD BECAME FLESH INDIA TRIP 54-1003M  175    When, Jesus, no wonder, when He come off of the hill that night, and looked around that tree, for food, there was no food on the tree. And He said, "No man eateth from thee." And He went on away. And the next day, coming back, the tree had withered. God's mind; the mind, that in the beginning, that was a thought before it was a Word, that expressed Jesus Christ, the same One was expressing that Word back again. See?

And every Word in the Bible is God's thoughts laid in seed form, that if received into the human being, and spoke by the same thought that materialized the Bible, brings the thing to pass. See what I mean? How powerful could the Church be? The Bible said, "Let this mind that was in Christ be in you.” “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." Now, your thoughts, if they become expression...

Like, God said, "Let there be a world." Before it could be a word, it had to be a thought. So God in the creation, created the world by His thought first, then spoke it, and the thought, expressed became material. See what I mean?

  178    Now, if that same Spirit that said, "Let there be Light," and there was Light, that said, "Let there be trees," and there was trees; and if that same mind that was in Christ be in you, how much could it say, "Let there be no cancer," and it would be gone; "Let the blind eyes be opened," and it would be so. See? It's your thought. Jesus said, "Verily..."

You said, "That was Jesus."

But wait a minute. He said, "Have faith in God. For verily, verily, I say unto you, if you shall say to this mountain, Be moved, plucked up and cast into the sea, and don't doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, you'll have whatever things thou sayest." Is that right? "You shall have it, not me, you shall have it." What power has been given to the Church, that...

  180    Now, you can express it by mental conception, but if it becomes a real revelation of God, that you see it before it happened, and express it in word form, that word takes a hold and becomes material: a thought expressed. Oh, my, how God could... See? If your heart and your mind is so, and infilled with God's Spirit, until your thoughts become His thoughts... Amen. There you are. When your mind, and your leading, and your guiding, becomes a direct place, or a direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit that's moving your mortal being... Oh, my.

What kind of people should we be? If the very Holy Spirit has you so embodied or empowered, that you don't use your own thoughts, you don't use your own mind, you don't use your own opinion; but the Holy Spirit has you so built, until your thoughts and your being is God's Spirit expressing Itself through you, what kind of a church would we be?

What kind of a people would it be, this morning, if this Branham Tabernacle, this morning, was so filled with the Presence of God, why, when you didn't even use your own mind, didn't even use your own thoughts, didn't even have no alternative of your own, but just to be led by the Spirit...?

  183    "And they that are sons of God are led by the Spirit of God." Then when the human element goes out, and the Spirit of God fills that vacancy, where you empty yourself (amen), then will be when the Church in Its power of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, will walk in His steps, in His Power, in His thoughts, in His Being, in His moving... You see what I mean? Then your thoughts will become words, and words will become material. That's when the Church in its power...

I believe it's on its road, that when the Church will be so wrapped in Christ, the Holy Spirit, mankind so away from theirselves, that they don't see themselves, they don't have no  thoughts but to serve God. And their thoughts move on. They refuse the things of the world. They just move in the Spirit, live in the Spirit, move in the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, so fulfill the law of Christ. Then the love of Christ in the human heart, moving in the Holy Ghost, that great wonderful Church will go forth with power and Deity; because Deity will be revealed in human beings by the Holy Spirit bringing to pass the thought of their mind.

  185    Our thoughts run different. A lot of times we walk up, say "How do you do, brother?" And you don't mean it in your heart. A lot of times we say, "I am this and that. I will do that." You don't mean it in your heart. See? I don't mean it in my heart.

But when you can become so dead to the things of the world, that Christ is first, Christ is all, then your entire makeup is of the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, He has full control. That's when your thoughts will be clean. Your thoughts will be pure. 1 John 3:3And every man that has this hope in himself, purifies himself even as He is Pure.

 

ROMANS 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 15    For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

 

Notice this is  not you saying, I bear witness to that, but this tells us that God is now bearing witness to your spirit. 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And what will happen if God bears witness that we are His children? We will be given power to become, to make a right decision, and that decision is to get ourselves out of the way, that we might become fulfilled as His Children should be fulfilled, and that is to do His Will. Jesus, our older brother said, My meat is to dot he will of the Father that sent me. He said, I did not come to do my own will but the will of My Father that sent me. That’s the image we are to be conformed to.  Paul said in , 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,(that’s those he knew beforehand, that means those that were in Him as children,) he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he (Who? Jesus the only Begotten Son) might be the firstborn among many brethren. And if He is the firstborn, that tells us there are others born ones.

 

And so we come back to where we began this morning, where the Apostle Paul said,  6 That ye may with one mind  and  one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that word glorify that Paul speaks of is to doxazo God, which is from the root word doxa which means to have the same opinion, judgment and estimation that God has. And how do we do that? We think His thoughts and we say His thoughts, and we express His thoughts and we manifest His thoughts, and in doing so, we are sons in the image of the eldest brother in a vast family of brethren.

 

UNVEILING OF GOD_  JEFF.IN  V-9 N-1  SUNDAY_  64-0614M  257    Jesus once said, "When you see Me, you see the Father." See? God and His Word is One. Now you understand? When the Word is manifested, what is It? Right. See?  260    Jesus said, "Search the Scriptures, you think you have... You believe in God, believe also in Me. If I do not the works of My Father, then don't believe Me. But if I do do the works, I and My Father are One. When you see Me, you have seen the Father." And when you see the Word made manifest, you see the Father God, because the Word is the Father; the Word is God. And the Word made manifest is God Himself taking His Own Word and manifesting It among believers.

 

SHOW US THE FATHER IT'LL SATISFY  56-0422  E-36 Now, it's many times it's been said that no man can see God at anytime, the Bible said so. But the only begotten of the Father has declared Him. Philip, here was very inquisitive; he wanted to see the Father. Says here He said, "I've been so long with you, Philip, and you don't know Me?" Said, "When you see Me you see My Father." In other words, you see the Father express Hisself through the Son. Him and the Father were one in the sense that His Father was dwelling in Him, not Him doing the works; He was a Son, Himself, the mortal, virgin born, Son of God. And then in Him was dwelling the God the Father, expressing Hisself to the world, His attitude towards the people. See? Well, that's how Christ and God were one. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. Now, He said, "When you see Me, you see the Father, and why do you say, 'Show us the Father?'

I would like to close in prayer, but may I pray as Jesus Prayed? Would you allow me to do that? Because I want you to notice His prayer, must become our prayer, because Paul said our like-mindedness was to be toward one another according to Christ Jesus. So let’s read this with you and me in mind here, not in my mind and your mind, but in Christ Jesus mind as He prays to the Father. Please bow your heads now for the next few minutes, as we pray his Prayer from John 17…

 

JOHN 17:1  These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: 2 As thou hast given him power (exousia, the ability to make the right decision) over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. 3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. 4 I have glorified thee on the earth(I have expressed your opinion, judgment, and estimation on earth, thus) I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.(And what was the word he came to do? To express the will of the Father to God’s other children.) 5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. 6    I have manifested thy name (not my name, but I have manifested THY Name) unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they (also) have kept thy word. 7  Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee. 8  For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me;(I did not give them my own words, I did not give them my own thoughts, nor my own doctrine, nor my own actions, but I gave them your words which you gave to me first to say unto them) and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. 9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. 10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. 11 ¶  And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. And if Jesus and God were one like your finger is one, then so am I, and so are you, because He prayed that we might be one even as He and the Father were one.  12  While I was with them in the world, I kept them (I preserved them) in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept (preserved), and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. 13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14    (You talk about unselfish motives. He wanted us to have what he had been given by the Father.) 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. 15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17 ¶  Sanctify them (purify them, by the same way you purified me, and that is to give them that gift to make the right decision to get themselves out of the way, even as I was able to get myself out of the way ) through thy truth: thy word is truth. 18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. 19    And for their sakes I sanctify myself, (Even for their sakes I have gotten myself out of the way,)  that they also might be sanctified (or get themselves out of the way) through the truth. 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;(that’s us) 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 (your opinion, judgment and estimation, your very thoughts and mind) which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 23  I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect(complete and fulfilled) in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. 24    Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am;(Father I would that those that you have given to me will always be in my presence even as I am always in your presence) that they may behold my glory (that they may behold how I have surrendered my mind to your mind, the mind ), which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world. 25  O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. 26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I  in them.

 

Amen,

 

May God bless you, keep you and fill you with His Will, and desire to do His will, in Jesus name. amen.