Spoken Word #01
Hearken
and observe to do
Brian Kocourek
January 13th, 2008
This morning I am feeling
led to begin a new series from one of Brother Branham’ sermons again, and as
you well know when we begin one of His sermons, it usually takes us a couple
years to complete it. Well, this particular sermon is so packed with wonderful
thoughts concerning our relationship with the Father, that it could take us a
very long time to take each of his thoughts and run them from Genesis through
Revelations. And since brother Branham took both a morning and evening to
preach this sermon, it could take us until the going home of the bride to
completely comb through this sermon of His which I believe is more than 6 hours
long.
So to begin with let
us read from his opening statement in the sermon, Spoken
Word Original Seed 62-0318M P:1 Thank you, Brother Neville. You going to have baptismal
service between time? Good morning, friends. So happy to be here. And, this
morning we're starting a little early. And always sorry to see not enough
adequate room to seat the people, and I know it's hard for you to stand. And I
have give out this morning that this would be the time that when I wanted to
have plenty time. And I think it would be real nice along, as the service goes
on, that if some would set down, others stand, and kind of rest one another,
and if you want to get outside and walk around just a moment, remember, being a
long service that it'll be perfectly all right. Then we can swap around.
2
And now, they're... We know they're in a building program here at the
Tabernacle for a larger and bigger church that can have adequate seating room.
And I think the church here will only seat around two-fifty, three hundred
people, and there's probably a hundred more than that in here now. So it'll...
and I come in and seen the people driving back and forth--couldn't find a place
to park around, and 'course when they come there at the door and seen the halls
jammed up and the walls jammed up, and so forth, with people then all over the
platform and so forth, then they go away. And we want everyone to hear the message of the Lord as we try to bring it.
Now, although we have
not yet reached the opening prayer and the message itself, there are some
thoughts here that I would like to look at this morning.
Now, I want to look at
this thought here that brother Branham said, “we want
everyone to hear the message of the Lord as we try to bring it.”
Now, there are two
things that make up this statement.
1st he
said, “we want everyone to hear the message of the
Lord.” That is number
one.
2nd he
said, “as we try to bring it.”…
Notice then, that
brother Branham’s desire was to give the Message as He taught it to everyone. Now,
in order to do this we must teach it as he taught it. I think that there are
more than two million people in the world today that claim to believe the
Message, but if you ask those two million people what the Message is, hardly a
handful could tell you what the message is. Why? Because the Message is not
being taught in the churches as it ought to be.
This condition was prophesied to come to pass in this day by the prophet
Amos. So let’s turn in our Bibles to Amos 8:11 and read.
Amos 8:
11 Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord GOD, that I will send a
famine in the land, not a famine of
bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: 12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the
north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD,
and shall not find it.
13 In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for
thirst.
Now, here we see that
it is God that does this. And why would God send a famine in the land? because
the people will not hearken to the Voice of God in this hour.
God did this to humble his people, but those who turned down the voice of
the Lord, god does this as part of the cursing that is to come upon them.
Deuteronomy
8: 3 And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with
manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee know that man doth not
live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the
LORD doth man live.
Now, in the book of
Deuteronomy, we are told that there are two laws that are inevitable. The law
of blessing and the law of cursing, and we see that the hunger and thirst are
part of the curse as seen in verse 45. 45 Moreover all these curses shall come upon thee,
and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because thou
hearkenedst not unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his commandments
and his statutes which he commanded thee: 46 And they shall be upon
thee for a sign and for a wonder, and upon thy seed for ever.
47 Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and
with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;
48 Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall
send against thee, in hunger, and in
thirst, and in nakedness, (notice, this is that Laodicean spirit
of the age.) and
in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of
iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.
Revelations 3:17 Because
thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and
knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and
naked:
You see, that is part
of the curse that was spoken of in Deuteronomy 28.
We are told in Deuteronomy
chapter 28:
the following: 1 And it shall come
to pass, if thou shalt hearken
diligently unto the voice of the
LORD thy God, to observe and to do
all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will
set thee on high above all nations of the earth: 2 And
all these blessings shall come on thee,
and overtake thee, if thou shalt
hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.
Now, in the book of
Malachi God promised us that He would send us the Spirit of Elijah to restore
our hearts, (that is our understanding) back to the hearts (or the
understanding) of the Church Fathers, the Apostles themselves, and those who
are not restored He will smite the earth and all that remain behind with The
Curse.
Malachi 4:1 For,
behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and
all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them
up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. 2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun
of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and
grow up as calves of the stall. 3 And ye shall tread
down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the
day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts. 4 Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which
I commanded unto him in Horeb for all
Now, what this promise
means is that by paying close attention to the Voice of the Lord, and doing all
that he commands us to do, then that releases all the blessings of God upon us.
And like a runner in a race they not only will come upon us, but before we know
what is hitting us, they will overtake us. Now to over take means to take over.
So we are promised that the blessings of God will take over and when they do
watch out, because they will come on so great that you will not know how to
even count them all. Because they are promised in every aspect of our life you
will be blessed.
In the next few
verses, we are told how and in many different ways to expect the blessings of
God to come. Now, as we read them, let’s count them if we can.
Deuteronomy 28:3 (1)Blessed shalt
thou be in the city, and
(2) blessed shalt thou be in the
field.
(3) 4
Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and
(4) the fruit of thy
ground, and
(5) the fruit of thy
cattle,
(6) the increase of thy
kine, and
(7)the flocks of thy
sheep.
(8) 5 Blessed shall be thy basket and
(9) thy store.
(10) 6 Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and
(11) blessed shalt thou be when thou
goest out.
(12) 7 The LORD shall cause thine
enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face:
(13) they shall come out
against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.
(14) 8 The
LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses,
(15) and in all that thou
settest thine hand unto;
(16) and he shall bless
thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
(17) 9 The
LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto
thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his
ways.
(18) 10 And
all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD;
(19) and they shall be
afraid of thee.
(20) 11 And
the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods,
(21) in the fruit of thy
body, and
(22) in the fruit of thy
cattle, and
(23) in the fruit of thy
ground,
(24) in the land which
the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee.
(25) 12 The
LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto
thy land in his season,
(26) and to bless all the
work of thine hand:
(27) and thou shalt lend
unto many nations,
(28) and thou shalt not
borrow.
(29) 13 And
the LORD shall make thee the head,
(30) and not the tail;
(31) and thou shalt be
above only,
(32) and thou shalt not
be beneath;
And so we see here 32
promises of God that we are promised will not only come upon us, but will
actually take over our life. But there is a catch. He said this will happen IF!
Notice, he said, if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the
LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them: 14 And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words
which I command thee this day, to the right hand,
or to the left, to go after other gods to serve
them.
Now, this is
important, because these are conditional promises, and the conditions are that
you hearken to his Voice and observe what he is telling you and then do what he
tells you. Now, let’s look at these
three things you are commanded to do concerning the voice of the Lord your
God.
He said, Hearken,
observe and do, these three things. So what do these things mean?
What does the word
hearken mean, and why is it so important to hearken to the voice of the Lord
you God?
The word hearken was
translated from the Hebrew word, shama’ and it means to hear intelligently or to understand by paying close attention to in
order to be obedient. It means to
carefully consider, or discern what is being said, The English word hearken means to 1. To listen attentively; give heed. 2. To listen in order to hear or understand. In other words, God did not come with a Shout, which
is Loud Voice just to hear Himself speaking. There was a purpose behind that
Voice of God, and it is up to us to pay attention to what he has for us to
know.
Now, then how is it
that a people can claim to follow a prophet and these same people can claim to
believe that prophet was the voice of God to this generation, and yet can not
tell you what that prophet’s Message was.
Now, in order to not
be able to tell you what that Message is after listening to 1200 sermons which
are all saying the same thing, is to not be listening or paying attention to
it. That’s all it can be is that they most definitely are not paying attention
to that voice, nor are they listening to that voice in order to learn and be
obedient to it. No sir!!!, Rather than listening like obedient children trying
to pick up each detail so they can be obedient to it, they are listening like
disobedient children listen, with half an ear, not paying attention to what is
being said, because their minds are not in it. They are listening without
paying attention to what is being said.
Now, the next thing we
are told is that we must observe the voice of God to us. So what does this word
observe mean anyway?
Observe: The
word observe was translated from the Hebrew word “shamar”, and it means to make a hedge about so as to guard and protect,
to attend to or take heed to, to be circumspect towards, to observe, preserve,
and reserve. To watch closely. Now, the English definition for the word
observe means: 1. To be or
become aware of, especially through careful and directed attention; to notice. 2. To watch attentively 3. To make a
systematic or scientific observation of
5. To adhere to or abide by: 6. To take
notice. 3. To watch or
be present without participating actively.
So you see, we have
been invited to a great play where God Himself came down and placed upon
Himself, a mask of humanity and acted out a role, and we are asked to watch
carefully, attentively, in order to learn and discern the things of God.
And after we have done
the first two we are commanded to simply Do what the word commands us to do.
And if we don’t listen carefully to do all what is said? Then what? Well, to
get our answer let’s go back to the Book of Two Laws, Deuteronomy to find our
answer where we left off reading.
Deuteronomy 28:15 But
it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy
God, to observe to do all his
commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these
curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
(1)16 Cursed
shalt thou be in
the city,
(2) and cursed shalt
thou be in the field.
(3) 17 Cursed
shall be thy basket
(4) and thy store.
(5)18 Cursed
shall be the fruit of thy body,
(6) and the fruit of thy land,
(7) the increase of thy kine,
(8) and the flocks of thy sheep.
(9) 19 Cursed
shalt thou be when
thou comest in,
(10) and cursed shalt
thou be when thou goest out.
(11) 20 The
LORD shall send upon thee cursing,
(12) vexation,
(13) and rebuke, in all that thou settest thine
hand unto for to do,
(14) until thou be destroyed,
(15) and until thou perish quickly; because of
the wickedness of thy doings, whereby thou hast forsaken me.
(16) 21 The
LORD shall make the pestilence cleave unto thee,
(17) until he have consumed thee from off the
land, whither thou goest to possess it.
(18) 22 The
LORD shall smite thee with a consumption,
(19) and with a fever,
(20) and with an inflammation,
(21) and with an extreme burning,
(22) and with the sword,
(23) and with blasting,
(24) and with mildew;
(25) and they shall pursue thee
(26) until thou perish.
(27) 23 And
thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass,
(28) and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.
(29) 24 The
LORD shall make the rain of thy land powder
(30) and dust:
(31) from heaven shall it come down upon thee,
(32) until thou be destroyed.
(33) 25 The
LORD shall cause thee to be smitten before thine enemies:
(34) thou shalt go out one way against them, and
flee seven ways before them:
(35) and shalt be removed into all the kingdoms
of the earth.
(36) 26 And
thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air,
(37) and unto the beasts of the earth,
(38) and no man shall fray them away.
(39) 27 The
LORD will smite thee with the botch of
(40) and with the emerods,
(41) and with the scab,
(42) and with the itch,
(43) whereof thou canst not be healed. (Aids)
(44) 28 The
LORD shall smite thee with madness,
(45) and blindness,
(46) and astonishment of heart:
(47) 29 And
thou shalt grope at noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness,
(48) and thou shalt not prosper in thy ways:
(49) and thou shalt be only oppressed
(50) and spoiled evermore,
(51) and no man shall save thee.
(52) 30 Thou
shalt betroth a wife, and another man shall lie with her:
(53) thou shalt build an house, and thou shalt
not dwell therein:
(54) thou shalt plant a vineyard, and shalt not
gather the grapes thereof.
(55) 31 Thine
ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou
shalt not eat thereof:
(56) thine ass shall be
violently taken away from before thy face,
(57) and shall not be restored to thee:
(58) thy sheep shall be
given unto thine enemies,
(59) and thou shalt have none to rescue them.
(60) 32 Thy
sons and thy daughters shall be given unto
another people,
(61) and thine eyes shall look,
(62) and fail with longing
for them all the day long:
(63) and there shall be
no might in thine hand.
(64) 33 The
fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not
eat up; (65) and thou shalt be only oppressed
(66) and crushed always:
(67) 34 So
that thou shalt be mad for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.
(68) 35 The
LORD shall smite thee in the knees,
(69) and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot
be healed,
(70) from the sole of thy foot
(71) unto the top of thy head.
(72) 36 The
LORD shall bring thee,
(73) and thy king which thou shalt set over thee,
unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known;
(74) and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood
and stone.
(75) 37 And
thou shalt become an astonishment,
(76) a proverb,
(77) and a byword, among all nations whither the
LORD shall lead thee.
(78) 38 Thou
shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in;
(79) for the locust shall consume it.
(80) 39 Thou
shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt
neither drink of the wine,
(81) nor gather the grapes;
for the worms shall eat them.
(82) 40 Thou
shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil;
(83) for thine olive shall cast his fruit.
(84) 41 Thou
shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them;
(85) for they shall go into captivity.
(86) 42 All
thy trees
(87) and fruit of thy land shall the locust
consume.
(88) 43 The
stranger that is within thee shall get up above
thee very high;
(89) and thou shalt come down very low.
(90) 44 He
shall lend to thee,
(91) and thou shalt not lend to him:
(92) he shall be the head,
(93) and thou shalt be the tail.
(94)45 Moreover all these curses shall come upon
thee, and shall pursue thee, and overtake thee, till thou be destroyed; because
thou hearkenedst not unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep his
commandments and his statutes which he commanded thee:
46 And they shall be upon thee for a sign and for a wonder, and
upon thy seed for ever. 47 Because thou servedst
not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the
abundance of all things; (95) 48 Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies
which the LORD shall send against thee,
(96) in hunger,
(97) and in thirst,
(98) and in nakedness,
(99) and in want of all things:
(100) and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy
neck, until he have destroyed thee.
(101) 49 The
LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth;
(102) a nation whose tongue thou shalt not
understand;
(103) 50 A
nation of fierce countenance,
(104) which shall not regard the person of the
old,
(105) nor shew favor to the young:
(106)51 And
he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle,
(107) and the fruit of thy land,
(108) until thou be destroyed:
(109) which also
shall not leave thee either corn,
(110) nor wine,
(111) nor oil,
(112) or
the increase of thy kine,
(113) or flocks of thy sheep,
(114) until he have destroyed thee.
(115) 52 And
he shall besiege thee in all thy gates,
(116) until thy high and fenced walls come down,
wherein thou trustedst,
(117) throughout all thy land:
(118) and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates
throughout all thy land, which the LORD thy God hath given thee.
(119) 53 And
thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy
daughters, which the LORD thy God hath given thee, in the siege,
(120) and in the straitness, wherewith thine
enemies shall distress thee:
(121) 54 So that the man that is
tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother,
(122) and toward the wife of his bosom,
(123) and toward the remnant of his children which
he shall leave:
(124) 55 So
that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall
eat: (125) because he hath nothing left him in the
siege,
(126) and in the straitness, wherewith thine
enemies shall distress thee in all thy gates.
(127) 56 The
tender and delicate woman among you, which would not adventure to set the sole
of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be
evil toward the husband of her bosom,
(128) and toward her son,
(129) and toward her daughter,
(130)57 And
toward her young one that cometh out from between her feet,
(131) and toward her children which she shall
bear:
(132) for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly in the siege and straitness, wherewith
thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.
(133) 58 If
thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this
book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, THE LORD THY GOD; 59 Then the LORD will make thy plagues
wonderful,
(134) and the plagues of thy seed,
(135) even
great plagues,
(136) and of long continuance,
(137) and sore sicknesses,
(138) and of long continuance.
(139) 60 Moreover
he will bring upon thee all the diseases of
(141) 61 Also
every sickness,
(142) and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the
LORD bring upon thee,
(143) until thou be destroyed.
(144) 62 And
ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for
multitude; because thou wouldest not obey the voice of the LORD thy God.
(145) 63 And
it shall come to pass, that as the LORD rejoiced
over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you
to destroy you,
(146) and to bring you to nought;
(147) and ye shall be plucked from off the land
whither thou goest to possess it.
(148) 64 And
the LORD shall scatter thee among all people,
(149) from the one end of the earth even unto the
other;
(150) and there thou shalt serve other gods, which
neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even
wood and stone.
(151) 65 And
among these nations shalt thou find no ease,
(152) neither shall the sole of thy foot have
rest:
(153) but the LORD shall give thee there a
trembling heart,
(154) and failing of eyes,
(155) and sorrow of mind:
(156) 66 And
thy life shall hang in doubt before thee;
(157) and thou shalt fear day
(158) and night,
(159) and shalt have none assurance of thy life:
(160) 67 In
the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even!
(161) and at even thou shalt say, Would God it
were morning!
(162) for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou
shalt fear,
(163) and for the sight of thine eyes which thou
shalt see.
(164) 68 And
the LORD shall bring thee into
(165) and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies
for bondmen and bondwomen,
(166) and no man shall buy you.
In other words, no one will want you. For you are cursed with a curse.
So you see in getting back to our text from brother Branham’s message Spoken Word Original Seed he said, And
we want everyone to hear the
message of the Lord as we try to bring it.
So there you are. If
we do not hear The Message which is the Voice of God to us, the Shout which
scripture tells us that it is God himself that descends with a Shout. Then it
is the Voice of God they have turned down all the while claiming to believe it.
Yet they have not hearkened and they have not observed to do it. And unless
they do, there is nothing for them to look forward to except the curse and
tribulation as the world has never seen it.
then we are turning our back on God and we have only one thing to look
forward to and that is the curse which I believe all those 166 curses will come
at one time in the great tribulation, and even more than this will come, because
the people have in this hour turned their eyes and ears away from “Thus Saith the Lord”
Galatians
3: 10 For as many as are of the works of the law
are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not
in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
Revelation 22: 3 And
there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in
it; and his servants shall serve him:
Galatians 3: 13 Christ
hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it
is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: