Romans 137
The
Attitude of Christ no. 4
Effects
of our Attitude
Brian Kocourek
This Morning we will continue with our study of the
Book of Romans, and our study on the Attitude of Christ. This will be number
four in that mini series.
This morning I want to focus our attention on point number four of the
five points concerning the attitude of Christ. Thus far as we have examined the
attitude of Christ, or we have seen that an attitude is not a mental conception,. Or something that just resides in the
mind. The actual definition of the word attitude strongly suggests to us
that it has to do with the body and an outward expression of your thoughts,
feelings, etc. which are displayed using the body or body language.
Spiritual amnesia 64-0411 P:29 So we find out when this spiritual amnesia
get a-hold of the people, then they're in a bad condition. Now, we find the
same now. Now, You must be identified. Somewhere you must show, your life shows, tonight, where you are identified. You are identified
either in Christ or out of Christ. You are not halfway. There's no such a thing
as a drunk sober man. There's no black white bird.
You're either a saved, or you're not saved. You're a saint or a sinner, one or
the other. And your spiritual attitude towards
God's Word identifies you, exactly where you're standing. God's Word
vindicated, proved, that the baptism of the Holy Ghost is just the same as it
ever was on the day of Pentecost, or any other time. And Jesus Christ is the
same yesterday, today, and forever. And your attitude towards that identifies
whether you have spiritual amnesia or not. That's right. No matter whether
you're a deacon, or even if you're a preacher; it doesn't make... They get it
too. So we find out it's contagious, and hits the
whole thing.
Palmerworm cankerworm caterpillar locust
53-0612 P:26 The way I treat you, that's
my attitude towards God.
Demonology 1 Physical 53-0608A P:23
I take it myself, and before God as my
Judge, I put it in the Gospel work yonder, so I know that on that day that
I'll--when I will have to give an account for my stewardship, it's given
correctly. That's exactly right, 'cause I realize as I treat the people I'm
treating God. Just my attitude towards you is my attitude towards Christ. And
your attitude towards me is the same thing (That's right.), towards Christ.
Thus far we have examined three points concerning the Attitude of Christ,
or perhaps I should say, the attitude of Christ that we should have, and in
doing so we have seen, what an attitude is and what the right mental attitude
is. We found that there is only one right attitude and that is what God thinks
about it, and His actions toward the object of the attitude. We found that
Jesus Christ came to earth to display to the world God’s attitude towards the
world, the sinner and the Seed of God.
We found that the right mental attitude will produce what it is meant to
produce.
We examined the Scriptures, and took a handful of people in the
Scriptures and examined there reaction to the Word of God. Their reaction to
the promises of God was their attitude towards God and His Word, for He is the
Word. We showed by many infallible
Scriptural proofs that the right mental attitude towards any divine promise of
God will bring it to pass.
We also examined Hebrews 11: and we read of many examples of men and women who displayed
the right mental attitude towards God’s word and we saw how they received the
thing God had promised them.
Painted face Jezebel 56-1005 P:12 The
Bible says that they were examples in Hebrews 11. And on over in 12 it says, in
Hebrews,... seeing that we're compassed about with such a great cloud of
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin that doeth so easily
beset us,... that we might run with patience the race that's set before us,
Looking to the author and finisher of our faith;... (the
Lord Jesus Christ.) Now, if we see what God did back there to those people,
upon certain attitudes that they taken towards God, and then if we find out if
we'll take the same attitude that they did, we will receive the same reward
that they did. You can just expect, 'cause God never changes. He's just the
same. His blessings is the same, and His penalties is
the same. And Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Last week we also showed you why we must have a right attitude? Because the attitude is what brings the results. If you do not come with the right attitude
you will never get anything from God except a rebuke, and hardship. And that is
the way it is with anyone in life. You all know that raising children. That is
one of the first things you teach your children, is to have a right attitude
towards others and to have respect for Mom and Dad, and authority. And that is
the way it is with God.
So you see the importance of our attitude and the atmosphere that it
creates. We set an atmosphere by the attitude we express by our body language,
and the tone of our voice, and the way we look and the way we posture our body.
Body language means something to people, and it means something to God. It
expresses our attitude.
This morning I wish to speak on point number 4) and that is how our
attitude affects those around us.
Hebrews Chapter 7 part 1 57-0915E P:86 Your attitude towards Christ will make a great
impression on what your children will be. Your life that you
live before your family will make an impression on what your children will be.
'Cause the Bible said that He'd visit the iniquity of the parents upon the
children to the third and fourth generation. Now, just a few
moments before closing. And therefore if perfection... (There's your
perfection again.)... were by the Levitical
priesthood, (for under it the people received the law,) what further need that
there come another priest should rise after the order of Melchisedec, and not
be called after the order of Aaron?
Look at the attitude of
GENESIS
19:14 And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in
law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for
the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto
his sons in law. (the word mocked here speaks of jesting or play
acting. It was the way he said it to them that they doubted his sincerity, they
thought he was only kidding, and it cost them their lives.)15 ¶ And
when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy
wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the
iniquity of the city. 16 And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of
his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him
forth, and set him without the city.
Discernment of spirit 60-0308 P:1 Our
heavenly Father, I want to express if I can this morning, how in my heart I
feel towards One, the holiest of Holy coming down to the earth and to redeem a
sinner like myself. And I'm sure that these ministers that's
present now can feel the same way, that it was by Your grace that we have been
made the ministers of this covenant that Thou has given with Adam's fallen
race. And we are here this morning, Father, gathered for no other purpose but
to know and to--to study to know, rather, the will of God and what we must do
to make Christ real to the people of this generation. Knowing
surely that in the day of the judgment we will be brought face to face with
this generation. And, being ministers, we will be judges. And the people
to which we have spoken to, and their attitude towards the Word that we bring
them, will determine their eternal destination. Therefore, Lord, in that day we
would be a judge for or against the generation that we preached to.
Demonology 1 Physical 53-0608A P:23 I
take it myself, and before God as my Judge, I put it in the Gospel work yonder,
so I know that on that day when I will have to give an account for my stewardship,
it's given correctly. That's exactly right, 'cause I realize as I treat the
people I'm treating God. Just my attitude towards you is my attitude towards
Christ. And your attitude towards me is the same thing (That's right.), towards
Christ.
Angel and three pulls 51-0414 P:8 Now, the people's attitude... Some people
make up their mind, that when they come to the meeting, that they're coming to
find something to criticize. Well now, Satan will be sure to show you that. If
you come determined, you're going to find something good,
God will show it to you. Now, it's your attitude, dear Christian. And notice.
Now, when Nathanael,
he kind a made up his mind that when he come, he wanted to see what good could
come out of
God in His people 50-0227 P:3 And then, as I bring Christ to you, He
will be on your hand. And you'll have to answer for what attitude you took
towards it: if you turned it down, or if you accepted it. God will have you to
answer for your attitude of this meeting, so you must realize it's a very
sacred thing.
Jesus keeps all of his appointments
64-0418E P:97 Would you let Jesus set in this
day? You say, "If I'd have been back there, if
I'd have seen Him like that, I wouldn't have done that." What about it
right now? Your own present attitude
identifies what you'd have done then. See? The attitude you take now, you
feel like that you're well enough? All right. That's
between you and God. I'm not no judge. I'm just
responsible for the Word. See? He's here in the meeting. They come out of
churches too. But they're going in to settle it right now. That's all of it.
They're ready. Why do you want to live a halfway Christian life for? Either be for God, or be against Him, so
the world will know your colors and know where you stand. God bless them as
they go. They're going in just like to die out to themselves. They're going to
give their life. They're going to
You see how your
attitude identifies who you are, and what you stand for?
Look at Balaam, and his attitude towards the children of
BLIND
BARTIMAEUS 56-0407 E-65 Now, brother, that's all right. Now, we love the Lord
Jesus. It happens to be tonight, a man is to start the prayer line off tonight.
And we're happy to have this man standing here. He comes to proclaim that he's
got faith in God. And he comes not for that, and then he comes this way,
knowing that he believes me, as His servant. For what if he would be standing
here as a hypocrite, or anything, and penned it. You know what would happen?
Perhaps what he come saying, he'd take. How many knows that those things
happen, that's been in my meeting? Oh, I've seen them stand in the prayer
lines; they'd have to pack them out. I've seen them drop on the platform where
they were standing. I've seen epileptics...?... and
run through screaming and jumping, throwing their hands and everything else.
I've seen them walk right there and drop there cold dead as could be. That's
right. We're not playing church.
E-66
You remember that night at that--over there in Toronto, Canada, when
that minister come to the platform, and he thought it was a mental telepathy.
So he said, "What it is, if the person writes what they got on the prayer
card," now imagine, writing their sin on...?... All
right. Said, "Then he transfers it to... The usher picks up the
prayer card, holds the prayer card, and meditates, and transfers it to
them." And he come in the prayer card--in there with a whole lot of stuff
on his prayer card, he had, TB, and a lot of things. He come
up there; I said, "There's nothing wrong with you." He said,
"Oh, look. Look at my prayer card." I said, "It's nothing to do
with it. You're here trying to find out something. You think it's
telepathy. Now, the disease that you put on that prayer card,
is on your body." That's right. And when he did, I got a letter here about
two years ago from him. He said, "Oh, Brother Branham, come to me." I
said, "You see that man setting up there in the balcony with the red tie
on, blue suit? You and him set together last night a table,
had a green cover over it. And a woman set over in the corner. And you said
that you'd come prove that it was mental telepathy." And that man said,
"That's the God Almighty truth. That's right. That's right." And the
man grabbed me by the pant's leg, he said, "Pray for me, Brother
Branham." I said, "That's between you and God now. It's out of my
hands. He's done spoke it. That's you now." And the man's laying bedfast to this day. How about up here in
Look how Pharaoh’s heart grew harder each time Moses came with a
demand to set the people free. Look at his arrogant attitude. Pharaoh is known
throughout all history for his attitude and the display outwardly of his lack
of respect for God.
And notice how that Easu is noted for
his attitude towards the birthright and how he despised the birthright, and
gave it away for a meal ticket.
CAN WE
SEE JESUS 58-0619E E- How many has
been in meetings and seen impersonators come to the platform,
fall right on the platform paralyzed and have to pack them out, and they're
still paralyzed. Some of them lose their mind, and go completely insane, put
them in the institution to die. See? Just depends on what the Holy Spirit says.
The curse that He puts on them, that stays forever. See? So just watch now and
find out whether it's right or not.
And what about the Pharisee that invited
Jesus to supper? What is that story written for in this Bible? It is to show us a
comparison between having the right attitude and the wrong attitude. The
Pharisee, had the wrong
attitude towards Christ but the prostitute that came in and
washed his feet expressed the right attitude.
And what about those 20 some students who would not bow their heads, and those demons entered into their bodies and they
had to be taken out because they all came down with epilepsy?
DISEASES AND AFFLICTIONS 50-0100
158 Might say, while he's getting the lines lined up,
every one in here knows the... We're trying to say this, that you must be reverent.
We will not be responsible... I have to say this by law every night. I am not
responsible for any critic in the meeting. These things go from one to the
other, especially epileptic and so forth like that. I've seen people come in
the meeting perfectly normal; see a spastic setting here, and this spastic go
out normal and the critic go out crippled. I've seen them come in as many as
twenty-eight at a time, fall with epilepsy, in the floor. These demon powers
will find a place to go. And, friends, that's the Bible. How many knows
that's Bible doctrine? Let's see your hand. This is just the New Testament
church in action, isn't it, friends? the power of
Almighty God to deliver.
EXPECTATION THE 58-0508 E-13
Sometimes people are critical.
It's because they don't know. If they don't know any better, then we feel sorry
for those people, that they do not know any better. And it would be a horrible
thing to think, friend... What if you were one of those people who were
critical of Christ and did not believe? If you would've followed the meeting
and noticed what would happen, of the people that's gone insane, died with
cancer, set paralyzed, after the meetings were over... That is not just my
word; that's authentic, on record, signed statements and documents. E-14 I've
seen people in the meeting be paralyzed and have to be packed from the meeting,
who come in laughing, cutting up. I've seen people who
lost their mind, and two days later, found on the streets, officials of the
city at Phoenix, Arizona, entirely insane, died the same way, calling for mercy
and asking for someone to come pray for them. We do not play church. That day
is over. We live in the church of the living God. So let us be reverent and
have respects for God Who we worship.
Jesus keeps all of his appointments
64-0418E P:52 If He could pull some kind
of a gimmick, or--or--or do some kind of a--a miracle... Like He did before
Pilate... Pilate, his only opportunity he ever had, and he asked Him, wanted to
see something done, wanted to... "Let's see some sign." He ought to
have repented. That's what this cruel, hell-bound world ought to do tonight, is
repent of their sins. That's what these church members ought to do; repent of
their unbelief, stand up for Him. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.
And He identifies Himself just like He
did then. And the people today take the same attitude as that Pharisee took,
same kind of an attitude: let Him set, after inviting Him. Yet, they don't
want Him; they just do it, like, for manners. He knows it. We've done to Him
today, just like they did then, instead of washing Him, washing His--the
reproach away, instead of trying to stand up, saying, "You're mistaken.
It's the Word of God made manifest. It's what He promised. He said He'd pour
out His Spirit in the last days. We're living in the last days." Instead of that, we just kind of set back like they did.
We're afraid to take a stand.
Abraham is noted as the Father of
our Faith , and yet it was his attitude that no matter
what the circumstances might be, He was going to believe God despite what the
flesh, and the circumstances might say otherwise.
And what about Job? Job is noted for having
the right attitude. He said, though the
skin worms destroy my flesh, yet in my flesh I shall see the Lord. When his
wife told him to curse God and die the death, he told her she spoke like a
foolish woman, and said, “though He slay me, yet I will trust Him.”
And what of David? He wasn’t noted for being
a righteous man. Neither was he noted for being a peace loving man. But he had
the right attitude towards God and His Promises. And when he was wrong he
admitted it and confessed his sin, and God forgave him. And God said, He is a man after my own heart. Look at his attitude when some of his men
because of their great love and admiration for David cut their way through
miles of flesh, just to get him a drink because he thirsted. And when they
brought it back, he could not drink it because it was too precious for the
reason that these men risked their own lives for it, so he poured it out to the
Lord as a drink offering, sacrificing his own thirst for respect to God.
And what of Joseph? He never performed any
miracles? He never healed the sick? He never preached a great sermon. Nor did
he perform any feat of great strength. He never conquered the enemy through
military genius, nor did he fight off the enemy with sticks, or stones, or even
a sword. He never displayed the miraculous in any way, but what God showed us
in so many verses of Scripture, is that Joseph was a man that had the right
attitude towards God no matter what his lot happened to be. He was no different
in His opinion and attitude towards God when he was in prison or when he was
second only to Pharaoh. What an attitude, when he certainly could have made the
fool of his brothers and if he had wanted he could have taken their lives. But
he had the right attitude, and he displayed it towards his brethren, and his
attitude was a fore shadow of God’s attitude towards us. He not only willingly
forgave his brothers for selling him into slavery, but he knew that God had
allowed it to bring him to
And why do you suppose the story of the Shunamite
woman was written in the Bible? Because one little woman had the right attitude
towards God’s anointed.
And why do you think Hattie Wright’s name is so well known to the
message believers in this day? Because her attitude was right
towards God and His Servant. And
look at the effect that, that woman had on Elijah, God’s prophet for that hour.
If it hadn’t have been for her determination, and her positive attitude towards
the promise of God, Elijah would never be known for praying for the young lad
to come back from the dead.
And what about that big colored woman down in
And what if Jesus? What a great attitude he
had. He was willing to let go of his own thinking and receive the mind of the
Father. He said, not my will but thy will be done. He let go of his own desires, and thoughts,
and speech and actions, and let God direct him in all things, even to his own
death.
Investments the 64-0314 P:20 The Bible said here that they were rich,
said they had need of nothing. This young boy was rich, had need of nothing.
"We're a fine denomination. We've got great orders built. We've got the
brotherhood. We've got all this, that, or the other. We've had our creeds for
the hundreds of years. We set... We have need of nothing. Don't tell us
anything about it." Now, that's more of an arrogant attitude than this
young fellow took. He didn't take that type of a
attitude. The Bible said that Jesus looked upon him and loved him .I wonder
today, if in the midst of all of our confusion and our worldliness, and yet
trying to hold our Christian profession, if it isn't the love of God that constrains the ministry to stay on the field.
I wonder if it isn't the same thing as here we find Him knocking at the door,
trying to get in. Now, we find these things, they... All through the ages it's
been this way.
Testimony 53-0902 P:9
And I told her what I'd just seen. I said, "I stood here
and condemned you, and thought God ought to come in and tear the place up, with
such as this going on. But I've changed my mind. God forgave me. And I want Him
to forgive you." And right there at that seat, I led her to Jesus Christ.
Amen. See? It's your attitude towards
things. Don't condemn others. If they do wrong, be good to them anyhow. Just
look over those things. Because God's had to look over a
whole lot for you and I. That's right. God help us to have that
attitude always in our hearts. You pray for me that I'll never look upon people
like that no more. No matter what they're doing. That I'll always look up on
them, that they're creatures of God. That God sent His Son to take their place.
And me as a minister, I'm grateful that He forgive me.
And I want Him to forgive them also. That's the way we should do it.
SPEAK TO THIS MOUNTAIN 59-1123 E-30 The Spirit of the Lord came upon me and I
begin to shake. And it said, the Spirit of the Lord said, "There is a trap
set for you, and be thou careful what you say."
… And when we got to the meeting that
night I said to the audience, "Remember, THUS SAITH THE LORD, there is a
trap set for me. And all of you pray that I'll know to do the right thing when
this comes to pass."
E-31
And the next night it happened. The devil sent
in two people, a young boy and girl to break up the meeting. And that was
in--it was in, not
I went right ahead speaking just the same. And oh, he got so immoral
with her, till I had to stop again. I said, "Don't do that, sir,
please." I said, "If you want to make love to the young lady, then
you leave the building, but this is a--a religious meeting." I said,
"You shouldn't do that. Don't--please don't do that while I'm
preaching." I started again and he just made it worse.
E-32
And then when I was turn--I said, "Don't..." And Something said to me, "Say what you will, and it'll be
done." I stood there. Mr. Mercier, the tape boy, and all of them standing,
Brother Fred, and many of them standing present, the perspiration was just
running from me. Something said, "Say, 'Blindness,' it'll be blind. Say,
'Death,' and they'll pack them out. Say what you will." I couldn't speak.
I couldn't move. And it just left. I thought, "God, what--what must I
do?" And I turned, and he stood there, and his face white, looking at me.
I thought, "What must I say?" Then I turned, and looked like, before
I knew what I'd said, I said, "I forgive you of your act." And it
must have been just the right thing to say. It was God trying a--a reaction on
an action. That night it was revealed to me that I'd said the right thing. I
knew it was all leading to something, but what was it? What to do?
You know you have to watch what with a Divine gift what you do with it.
Remember what Moses did? So I must've said the right thing. "I forgive
you." For you know John, young John, wanted to burn up