Spoken Word #011
United
Under the Holy Godhead
Brian Kocourek
March 16th, 2008
Matthew 24: 31 And he shall send his angels
with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from
the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.
Mark 13: 27 And then shall he send his
angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the
uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.
Luke 3: 17 Whose fan is
in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and will gather the wheat
into his garner; but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.
Let’s bow our heads
in Prayer. Dear father we come reverently once again to worship You in Spirit
and in truth, knowing that to worship you outside or truth will not be acceptable
in your sight. Therefore, Father we come this morning to examine the vindicated
Message you have come down with in this hour. And we ask your divine Presence
to guide us as we humbly and reverently approach Thy Word this morning, for you
have said in Your Word, “If we be any otherwise minded you would reveal it to
us.” Therefore, Father we ask in Jesus Christ’s Name, Your only begotten son,
to have mercy on us and show us Your great Light , for we ask it in that
wonderful name you gave your son by inheritance, In Jesus Name we pray. Amen!
Now, this morning I
would like to talk about this gathering together in One that we see in the
Scriptures and also what Brother Branham is referring to in The Spoken Word
is the Original Seed as we pick up at paragraph number 7 the
last part where he says, That's why we are gathered today, Lord, is to
express our feeling about these things. 8 We're so glad to know that
this is just not bringing the people together for something in vain; that it
has been proven the greatest reality the world has ever known, that the Son of God is not dead, Who made
the promises, but is alive among us
forevermore.
Many
in this day believe that there should be some sort of oneness among the
brethren but they have tried to bring about this oneness via some man made
effort, or creed. But what they do not realize is that God will not accept
Oneness based upon anything outside His Own Revealed Word. God has a plan to
bring forth oneness between men, and between Himself and Man. He said in 1 John 1:7 “if we walk in the
light as He is in the same Light,, we will have fellowship one with another,”
so that settles it right there. You must walk in the light as He is walking in
it, so His presence is vital to your coming together in Oneness one with
another. At least the Oneness God will accept. You come any other way than by
His Revealed light or Word for the season that his Presence is here to
vindicate and it is not acceptable to God.
Now,
Jesus told us how this Oneness with one another and with him and His Father
would come to be in His prayer to His Father in St, John chapter 17, and this
morning I would like to show you what God is doing in this hour and how He is
bringing us together by One Spirit and by One Word into a Unity that can not be
produced by any other way than to be united by His great Godhead.
Brother Branham said in United
under one head 58-0326 P:38 My loving friends, may I say this to you
tonight? God wants us one, but He wants us one, not under the foolishness of man-head,
but He wants us one united under the
holy Godhead. United as one person, one man, one woman, one church, one
people, one view, one purpose, one motive, one objective,
that's Jesus Christ.
To
truly understand the Godhead, one must also understand that God is Sovereign.
Now, to be sovereign one must be omnipotent which means all powerful and he
must also be omniscient which means all knowing. That means that one that is
sovereign answers to know one, is above all, and submits himself to none. He is
it, period; end of story. His Word is final. His Word is the absolute, for He
is the First and the Last. He is the all of it.
Now,
man has tried for centuries to bring about a oneness in man through various man
made efforts, but they have all fallen short.
Many
Kings have risen up and have gone forth conquering in order to establish a
oneness in the earth. But their efforts have fallen short time and again, because
their efforts were based on what man can do, and not on God’s purpose and plan
for Oneness with man.
In
the days of Nimrod he had a plan to bring all men together and he thought he
could do it by preaching an a-pousia doctrine. The word a-pousia means absence.
And they preached an absence from God. So man thought he could prove god was
way far away by building himself a tower which was nothing less than a monument
to himself and he thought that by making this monument to man, they could rally
around this oneness of mankind, and so he built this monument that would reach
up to the heavens. It was so high that it is said to have elevated the heavens
away from the earth. We find this story in GENESIS 10:8 And
10 And the beginning of his
kingdom was
GENESIS 11:1 And the whole earth was of one
language, and of one speech.
2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain
in the
They said, let us make us a name for ourselves,
lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. 5 And the LORD
came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built (or established for
themselves). 6
And the LORD said, Behold, the people is
one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now
nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
Now, why would God
say, that in building this tower, the peoples attitude will be such that they
will no longer have restraint?, that would tell us that this thing which they did,
was to put off restraint. Now, why would they have restraint in the first
place? Because they were still aware of God's Presence among them at this time,
and this thing which they did was to do away with that Presence which so
restrained the people.
7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound
their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. 8 So the
LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they
left off to build the city. 9 Therefore is the name of it called
From Hislops Two Babylons, page 53-55, we read, Now, what could more graphically describe
the position of mankind soon after the flood, and the proceedings of Nimrod as
"The Emancipator,". While the awful catastrophe by which God had
showed His avenging justice on the sinners of the old world was yet fresh in
the minds of men, and so long as Noah, and the upright among his descendants,
sought with all earnestness to impress upon all under their control the lessons
which that solemn event was so well fitted to teach, "heaven," that
is, God, must have seemed very near to
earth. To maintain the union between heaven and earth, and to keep it as
close as possible, must have been the grand aim of all who loved God and the
best interests of the human race. But this implied the restraining and
discountenancing of all vice and all those "pleasures of sin," after
which the natural mind, un-renewed and unsanctified, continually pants.
This must have been secretly felt by
every unholy mind as a state of insufferable bondage. "The carnal mind is enmity against God, and is not subject to His law,
neither indeed is able to be so”. It says to the Almighty, "Depart from us,
for we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways."
In the book of job we
read, JOB 21:7 Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea,
are mighty in power? 8 Their seed is established in their sight with them, and
their offspring before their eyes. 9 Their houses are safe from fear, neither is
the rod of God upon them. 10 Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow
calveth, and casteth not her calf. 11 They send forth their little ones like a
flock, and their children dance. 12 They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice
at the sound of the organ. 13 They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment
go down to the grave. 14 Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways. 15
What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have,
if we pray unto him?
In
Hislops Two Babylons, Page 7 we read, “We know, from the statements in Job, that among patriarchal tribes
that had nothing whatever to do with Mosaic institutions, but which adhered to
the pure faith of the patriarchs, idolatry in any shape was held to be a crime,
to be visited with signal and summary punishment on the heads of those who
practised it.
Job said in Job 31: 26-28"If I beheld
the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in
brightness; and my heart hath been secretly enticed, and my mouth hath kissed my hand; this also were an iniquity to
be punished by The Judge; for I should have denied the God that is above"
In Hislops Two Babylons, page 54, we continue, So long as the influence of the great father of the new world was in
the ascendant, (which means the
dominating or controlling opinion),
while his maxims (which are a
concisely expressed principle or rule of conduct , or statement of truth) were regarded, and a holy atmosphere
surrounded the world, no wonder that those who were alienated from God and
godliness, felt heaven and its influence and authority to be intolerably near,
and that in such circumstances they "could not walk," but only
"crawl,"--that is, that they had no freedom to "walk after the
sight of their own eyes and the imaginations of their own hearts." From
this bondage Nimrod emancipated them. By the apostasy he introduced, by the
free life he developed among those who rallied around him, and by separating
them from the holy influences that had previously less or more controlled them,
he helped them to put God and the strict spirituality of His law at a distance,
and thus he became the "Elevator of the heavens," making men feel and
act as if heaven were afar off from earth, and as if either the God of heaven
"could not see through the dark cloud," or did not regard with
displeasure the breakers of His laws.
Then all such would feel that they could
breathe freely, and that now they could walk at liberty. For this, such men
could not but regard Nimrod as a high benefactor.
13 We see the same story in
mythology, as with the story of Atlas,, bearing the heavens on his shoulders,
who blessed the world by heaving up the superincumbent heavens that pressed so
heavily upon it. Who does not see that the one story bears a relation to the
other? * Thus, then, it appears that Atlas, with the heavens resting on his
broad shoulders, refers to that great apostacy in which the Giants rebelled
against Heaven, and in which apostacy Nimrod, "the mighty one," as
the acknowledged ringleader, occupied a pre-eminent place. According to the
system which Nimrod was the grand instrument in introducing, men were led to
believe that a real spiritual change of heart was unnecessary, and that so far
as change was needful, they could be regenerated by mere external means.
Looking at the subject in the light of the Bacchanalian orgies, which, as the
reader has seen, commemorated the history of Nimrod, it is evident that he led
mankind to seek their chief good in sensual enjoyment, and showed them how they
might enjoy the pleasures of sin, without any fear of the wrath of a holy God.
In his various expeditions he was always accompanied by troops of women; and by
music and song, and games and revelries, and everything that could please the
natural heart, he commended himself to the good graces of mankind.
Sounds like
Again from his sermon United under one
head 58-0326 P:38 Brother Branham said, God wants us one, but He wants us one, not
under the foolishness of man-head, but He
wants us one united under the holy Godhead. United as one person, one man,
one woman, one church, one people, one
view, one purpose, one motive, one
objective, that's Jesus Christ.
Let's go back to the
book of Genesis and again view this A-pousia Doctrine, and I want you to
carefully note that this doctrine of A-pousia which is preaching absence
instead of presence leads to a physical departure from the Presence of the
Lord, and to a departure from the True faith in Christ, and ll is left is
destruction.
GENESIS 4:4-7, & 17 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings
of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to
his offering:
5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth,
and his countenance fell. 6 And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth?
and why is thy countenance fallen? 7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be
accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee
shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him. And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the
II THESSALONIANS 1:7 And to you who are troubled
rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty
angels, 8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that
obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9 Who shall be punished with
everlasting destruction (out) from the presence of the Lord, and from the
glory of his power; 10 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to
be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was
believed ) in that day.
PSALMS 14:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The
fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done
abominable works, there is none that doeth good. 2 The LORD looked down from
heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand,
and seek God. 3 They are all gone aside,(they are all turned
away, or they have all removed themselves. And notice what happens when they
turn away.) they
are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 4
Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat
bread, and call not upon the LORD. 5 There were they in great fear: for God is
in the generation of the righteous.
In ISAIAH 43:10 we are told, Ye are my
witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know
and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed,
neither shall there be after me. 11 I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there
is no savior.
So
we come to the prayer of Jesus in John 17 where Jesus earnestly prays that you
and I might be One with Him and the Father, even as or in the same way that He
is One with his Father. Let’s pick up at verse 20. John 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall
believe on me through their word; 21 That
they all may be one; as thou,
Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that
the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
Now,
the big question is what will it take to make us One even as Jesus and His
Father were One. Well, Jesus answer this question in his next words as He prays
to His Father.
22. And the glory
which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are
one: Now, ,notice that it is this Glory that
God gave Him that made Him One with the Father, and by Giving us This same
Glory that God gave to Him, will cause us to be One with God in the same way
that He is One with God. So what is this Glory? It is the Greek Word Doxa,
which means the opinion, the values, and the judgments that God gave Him, He
has given to us, that we might have the mind of Christ in us. That is what the
Shout is all about. That is why God came down in this Hour to bring us a Message.
And that Message is Christ. Receiving the very Mind of the Father even as Jesus
received the mind of the Father.
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Jesus said, "That they might be one, Father, as You and I
are one." Not for some man to be over
something, it never will work; one denomination wants to take over the other,
and one man over the other. But that you might be one with God, like
Christ and God was one; that's what the prayer is. That... He was
the Word, and Jesus prayed that we might be the Word, reflecting Him.
That's His prayer to be answered. See how Satan scruples it up in the carnal
mind? But that wasn't Jesus' prayer, at all, that we might all congregate
together and all have a certain creed and so forth. Every time they do it, they
go further and further from God. He
wants us to be one with God, and God is the Word. Each individual in his heart must be that one with God.
Let’s
go back to Jesus prayer as He continues, 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect 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; that they may behold my
glory, which thou hast given me: You see he says MY Glory which you have given to me.
In Deuteronomy
29:29 we read, The secret things
belong unto the LORD our God: but those things
which are revealed belong unto us and to our
children for ever, that we may do all the words
of this law. So you see when God reveals it to you, it becomes
yours. So God came down with a Shout to declare Himself that He is here. Then
brother Branham said, “My ministry is to declare Him, that He is here!”
And now, our ministry is to decalare Him that He is here. Don’t you get it.
When God reveals how we are to be
One with Him, then we are to have the same Message. God and Christ are One, “I and my Father are
One”. And that is when they try to crucify the Word afresh living
and abiding in you.
And Jesus continues in
His prayer to His Father. for thou
lovedst me before the foundation of the world. And what about you?
Just read Ephesians 1. He planned out all this while you were yet a part of Him
before the foundations 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.
We find also that the Apostle Peter tells us that we should strive to be
One with one another, but it must come and only can come by having the same
mind. 1 Peter 3: 8 Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be
pitiful, be courteous: And how can we
possibly all have the same mind? Paul said in Philippians 2:5, “Let the mind that
was in Christ be in You.” That’s how.
And again in Romans 15: 5 Paul
said, 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.
And again in 2 Corinthians 13: 11 Paul said, Finally, brethren, farewell.
Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one
mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.
And we also see Peter speak of our arming ourselves with the same mind as
Christ in…
1 Peter 4: 1 Forasmuch
then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with
the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin;
And in fact he tells us in 1 Peter 1:13
that there will come a time, when we will have to be ready in our minds to move
out quickly concerning the Word of God. Wherefore gird up the loins of
your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought
unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; And notice when this time will
come? At the time of the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
In Fact Paul speaks of our coming to the place of having the same mind at
the time of the Unveiling of Jesus Christ as we see in 1 Corinthians 1: 7, So that ye come behind in no
gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and then verse 10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no
divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same
judgment.
And to be of one mind takes an emptying of your own mind, and a
realization of the sovereignty of God, and an acknowledging that His Will be
done. Romans
12: 16 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend
to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.
Philippians 2: 2 Fulfill
ye my joy, that ye be likeminded,
having the same love, being of one
accord, of one mind.
Philippians
1: 27 Only let your conversation be as it becometh
the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may
hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind
striving together for the faith of the gospel;
Philippians
3: 15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and
if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
Now,
what is this being of One Mind? How can we come into this one mindedness?
Simply by receiving the same mind that Christ Jesus received.
In
Matthew we see that receiving the mind of Christ it is part of the great
gathering together into Christ at the end time right before we are caught up in
the rapture. Matthew 3: 11 - 12 I indeed baptize you with water unto
repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am
not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: 12 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor,
and gather his wheat into the garner;
but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
Again
we see in Matthew 13: 28 - 31 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said
unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? 29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root
up also the wheat with them. 30 Let
both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to
the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to
burn them: but gather the wheat into my
barn. 31 Another
parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of
heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his
field: 41 The Son of man shall send forth his
angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and
them which do iniquity;
And
we find out in Book of Ephesians that it is God’s purpose and plan to give us
His mind, and His very own Glory, which is His opinion, assessment and
judgment.
Ephesians 1: 9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his
will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
10 That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might
gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and
which are on earth; even in
him: 11 In whom also we
have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of
him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: 12 That
we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
2 Thessalonians 2: 1 1 Now
we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, and then we see Paul tell us in 2 Thessalonians 1:10 that we are to be filled with the very opinion, values, and judgment of
God in the hour of this great gathering. When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be
admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed)
in that day.
God and Christ became one. The Dove came down to dwell in the Lamb
and joined Himself to the Lamb. From his
sermon Love
56-0726 P:3 Brother Branham said, “all the Fullness of Godhead
bodily dwelt in Jesus Christ. We know that. He was all... He was God in
complete. The dove came down, as we preached the other night on "The Dove
and the Lamb." And the Dove abode in
the Lamb. He stayed there. He was Emmanuel. God was in His tabernacle. The Son of God, which was Jesus, was the
flesh of God, a tabernacle that God dwelt in here on the earth. And now, that
was Christ and God became united.
And that's the way God could be seen.
No man has seen the Father at any time, but the only begotten Son has declared
Him. See?
In other words, God was in Christ, showing His attitude
towards the people. See? What He was, what God was, He was expressing Himself through Jesus His Son. See? As
He dwelt in Him, making Jesus
and God... Jesus being the Tabernacle that God was dwelling in here on earth... "A body
has Thou prepared Me." See? And God
dwelt in Jesus Christ. And that made the Father and the Son united together, now, and become One. Now, notice, now, what was in Christ, was the Fullness of
the Spirit, the entire Fullness of God.
God gave Christ the Spirit without measure. But He's give It to us by measure.
Christ had all the measure, everything. He was Emmanuel. But you and I are
little cupfuls out of that Seed. But when the Spirit that's in us, is of the
same quality, not as much in quantity, but the same quality, 'cause it's part
of the same Spirit. See?
Yes, Jesus and God united to become One and so must
you. That is what the adoption of children is all about. You having the mind of
Your father so that His life might reflect out from you in all you think, do
and speak.
Total deliverance 59-0712 pp. 55-56 55
Jesus was completely, totally man. He could cry like a man, He could eat like a
man; He could become like a man. He was completely, totally man in His physical
being. And in His Spirit, He was completely, totally God, so He made His flesh submissive to the Spirit
that was IN Him. You see, He was tempted in all manners like we are.
He was man, not an Angel. He was a man. He had desires and temptations just
like we do. The Bible said He did. He was a man, not an Angel above temptation.
Hebrews 1 said that He was...
Hebrews 1:4 said He was made lower than the Angels. He was man, completely man, that God took a complete man to bring
total deliverance; and He filled Him
with His Spirit; the Holy Ghost was in Him without measure. And He was
tempted like we were. And He was
completely God. He proved it when He raised the dead, when He stopped
nature, the roaring seas and the mighty winds. When He spoke to the trees, and
so forth, they obeyed Him. He was God
inside. And He could've been man, for He
was Man, but He totally and completely delivered Himself as a Man into the
hands of God for the service of God. And He is our example.
56 We are men and women. We're also
Christians. If He's our example, let us
completely deliver ourselves into the hands of the Holy Ghost, that we might be
subjects of the
Let’s bow our heads in prayer…