Spoken
Word no. 146
Using
the antidote to overcome
Brian Kocourek, Pastor
February
21, 2010
Now, this morning I would like to read from brother
Branham’s sermon The Spoken Word is the Original Seed and we will read from paragraph 154 What if God
said, "Take off your shoes, Moses"? He said, "You know I tied them a little tight this
morning, Lord. I'll show more respect; I'll take off my hat." That
wouldn't have worked. He never said hat; He said shoes. And that's the devil that tries to whitewash
that like he did with mother Eve. It's
every Word the Truth just the way God's got it wrote there. That's the way
I believe it. Now, you can go ahead; you
say, "Well, we got the truth."
Well you go ahead then. That's all right. If you're that blind, you go right
ahead, staggering in darkness. This is the Word that's going to judge you,
brother, not your creed. Oh, it looks good, yes, sir, looks good.
And then for our text let’s just read from Mark 7:17 And
when he was entered into the house from the people, his disciples asked him
concerning the parable. 18 And he saith unto them,
Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing
from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; 19 Because
it entereth not into his heart, but into the belly, and goeth out into the
draught, purging all meats? 20 And he said, That which cometh out of the man, that
defileth the man. 21 For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts,
adulteries, fornications, murders, 22 Thefts,
covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy,
pride, foolishness: 23 All these evil things
come from within, and defile the man. 24 And from thence he arose, and
went into the borders of
Notice Jesus said, for
this saying, for this what you have said, so we see the response that she gave
to Jesus was not that of a typical person who felt insulted, but rather, She
had Faith in Jesus and didn’t care how he personally felt about her, but she
had a real need for her daughter and she knew this was the one man who could do
something about her daughters condition, so she said the right thing to Jesus
when he rebuked her for who she was. The
story is also told in Matthew 15 where we are given a little further
detail as to what Jesus saw in this woman, as he answers her in verse 28 where
it says: 28 Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O
woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And
her daughter was made whole from that very hour.
So you see our approach makes all the difference in what we will receive.
And look how Jesus treated the woman. Most people would have walked away from
that insult and said something to him, but she didn’t. She knew that this was
her only hope for her daughter so she was going to take whatever abuse it took
to get the job done, and that is faith. God tests our faith as we spoke on not
so long ago, and he will certainly put you to the test to make sure what your
Faith is seeking is what you really want.
From his sermon, Elijah and meal offering
60-0310 P:24 You know, God has a way of
answering prayer. This little woman had lived true. She had not remarried
again; she was staying single to meet her husband in glory. She was an
honorable woman. And for weeks the barrel had been going down, down, and her
continually praying, and still looked like there was no hope in sight nowhere. You
know, there we could get a lesson from that, that if you have prayed and met
all the requirements that God requires you to meet, and still He's silent, He
doesn't say anything, and yet you've met the requirements, now what happens
then? If you know that you have met His requirements and you've done all that
you know to do, then faith doesn't waver; it just sets still and thinks
positive. Faith takes its everlasting grip around the Rock of Ages, and doesn't
move. That great fellow called faith... I've often said, "Faith's got hair
on the chest." When he speaks, everything else shuts up. When faith says,
"Shut up," then everything stops, 'cause he's the boss.
25
And she had met every requirement. She'd lived clean; she'd lived decent; she'd
lived honorable, and she had met all of God's requirements. But, looked like He
was silent. God does that sometime to test you to see what kind of a reaction
you'll have. Don't forget it.If you pass over the platform, you're prayed for,
and hands laid on you, and it seems like nothing happens, that doesn't stop
faith one bit; you have met God's requirements. Now, if you have met them...
Now, if you're holding back on God, you know your heart condemns you. And we
know, "If our heart condemns us not, then we have..." Now, but if our
heart condemns us, there's no need of coming across the platform; there's no
need of asking God for anything, because you don't have faith to receive it.
But when you have met every requirement that God requires, then faith steps out
there and said, "God is God. I've met the requirements."
26
The Scripture says, "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their
strength; they shall mount up with wings as an eagle; they shall run and not be
weary, walk and not faint." As the song says, "Teach me, Lord. Oh,
teach me, Lord, how to wait." Get my soul washed in the Blood of
27
God tries you. Every son that cometh to God must first be tried, chastened, to
see if he can stand chastisement. If we walk up and say, "I believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God, that He died for my sins and rose again the
third day. He was wounded for my transgressions, bruised for my iniquities. The
chastisement of my peace was upon Him, and with His stripes I am healed."
When you say that with a confessed--all your sins and your iniquities, and your
abilities, and all that you have, lay on the altar... Then there with nothing
in your arm, Satan's going to shoot every dart at you he can. But then if you
turn aside from that and say, "Well, maybe I didn't get saved; maybe I
didn't get healed," then turn away from that, the Bible said you are
illegitimate children and not the children of God.
28 God tests every son of Abraham like He did Abraham, for we are Abraham's seed. By being dead in Christ, we are Abraham's seed and are heirs according to the promise. Abraham's seed, that's the spirit that Abraham had. He had the promise given. And if our father trusted God and took a promise, an impossibility, and held on to it for twenty-five years before it was ever manifested, getting stronger all the time, his seed's just like the father. No matter what happens, when we're prayed for, it's settled. When we get everything out of the way, met all requirements, get everything out of the way, then ask God, and stand there knowing you're going to receive it.
29 God tested Job like that.
When Job asked for mercy, offered a sacrifice for his children, the only thing
that that prophet had was a burnt-offering, but that was all God required. God
doesn't require an education and a lot of nonsense; He requires a surrendered heart to His will. He doesn't ask you to
dress in a certain way, or go to certain things, or out of certain colleges, or
degrees. He asks for a humble, contrite,
broken spirit, and a willing heart to receive Him. He tried Job, and see what kind of a reaction He would find in him.
But when He took his sheep and took his ox, and took his camels, and took his
children, "I'll see what Job says now."
And he said, “The
Lord gave and the Lord taken away, blessed be the Name of the Lord.” He
found what He had told Satan He had in Job: “None like him, on the earth.” Then the thunders begin to
roar, the lightnings begin to flash. The Spirit come upon the prophet, and he
screamed, “I
know my Redeemer liveth, and at the last days He’ll stand on the earth. Though
the skin worms destroys this body, yet in my flesh I shall see God; Whom I
shall see for myself, mine eyes shall behold, and not another.”
And from his sermon, Be certain of God 59-0125 P:21 You
know, He loves to test us. He loves to
see the reaction of your faith. Did you know that? God likes to see how you'll react. When you say, "Oh, Lord, I
believe You; Thou art my Saviour. I believe that You are the Healer; I believe
that You are the One Who gives the Holy Spirit; and the things that I am
requiring, You are the God Who gives that." And then when you confess all
your sins and promise God what you'll do if He'll let you get well, and then because it don't happen, you run off
like a coward somewhere, God can't use that. There's no way for Him to use you. There's no way for Him to answer
you, because He only answers by faith. Then all of a sudden you go away and
He can't answer. But real true faith
stands there, being sure that God is. Be certain that He is. And if God
asks this thing to be done, to confess your sins and so forth, and you've done
it, faith says that He is; it's certain
that it's going to happen. Your request has to be granted. Oh, I hope you
don't miss that. If you're sure of God, God's sure of His Word. He's only
waiting to test you.
From another sermon he preached with the same title, Be certain of God 59-0412A P:20, brother Branham
said, One
morning there was some Hebrew children was going to be burnt up. And they knew that they had done God's will.
And they said, "We're not afraid of the king's commandments.
Our God is able to deliver us from this fiery furnace. Nevertheless, we'll not
bow to his image.” Now, God
was going to give them a test to see what their reaction to their action would
be. And He let them walk right
straight to the fiery furnace before He ever moved. But when all of God's
requirements has been met, and you're certain of God, that God will do it,
stand still then, and God will do it. If you set in these meetings, and you
seen the Lord God move out over the audience, healing the sick and afflicted,
and yet, you seem to still have your disease... And when I ask for them to put
hands on each other, and you've made your wrongs right before Him; you've
accepted Him, and you've been baptized in Christian faith, and your heart's
clean before Him, then sometime when God
delays His answer He's only wanting to see what you'll react by. Just be
sure that you believe that it's God and then hold on to it. Don't you move.
Many times we look at our life and some circumstances come up that put us
to the test, to see how we will stand or react as a Christian?, or as just a
mortal man? In his Questions and answers COD 59-1223 P:22 brother
Branham told us that we should not look on people that perhaps do not look like
we would like them to look, or those who do not act as we would have them to
act. And so he spoke of that man who was filled with demonic power up in
Now, I would like to
interject here that we need to look at this attitude that brother Branham had.
He did not see this man as a threat to his personal safety. He saw him as a
man, one who perhaps had a family, and ones that he loved, but he saw also that
his man, this mortal, was filled with a demon that was so troubling him that he
was willing to fight, and brawl, and overpower those who would oppose him. And
what I want you to see this morning, is that had brother Branham not had the
right mental attitude himself, the story may have had a quite different ending.
So brother Branham
continues telling us “And you never
cast a devil out by the wrong attitude. It takes love to do that. And love is the most powerful force that
there is in the world. Now, if you notice,
a devil is always hate. Hate is of
the devil. And when people hate
someone, remember it is a terrible devil to despise or dislike. You mustn't do
that.”
Now I’ll tell you first hand, that’s where I’ve fallen short myself.
That’s the test I keep flunking, over and over and over again. You’d think I
would smarten up, but I haven’t yet.
Someone says something belittling to me, or in a nasty sort of talking
down to me, and my mouth is too quick to give them back their own medicine, and
that is wrong for me to do that. We must never do that, for it only adds fuel
to the fire. Brother Branham said you never cast a devil out by the wrong
attitude, it takes love to do it.
James 5:8 Be
ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. 9 Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest
ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door. 10 Take, my brethren, the
prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering
affliction, and of patience. 11 Behold, we count
them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen
the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. 12 But
above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the
earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay;
lest ye fall into condemnation.
Brothers and sisters, we need to get more serious about what the
Scriptures tell us. I do not care how long you been a Christian or been
following the Message, God is not a respecter of persons, and you hold grudges
and you had better watch out, because you cut off the Word and you are cutting
off god, for He is the Word.
James 4:6 tells us, God resisteth the proud, (what does that mean preacher, God resists
the proud? It means He opposes those who get proud and puffed up. He opposes
the proud, so if you get proud don’t expect God to be on our side. In fact if
you are wise you will be humble enough to admit that God isn’t on your side,
you’ve got to be on His side. But on the other hand notice what James says
next…) but God
gives grace unto the humble. 7 Submit yourselves
therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw
nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. …
You see, when Brother Branham was given his commission, the angel said to
him, Who is this 59-1122 P:4 "Just keep humble; keep away from money and
all the things of the world. Don't never try to be big; just stay humble; and
there'd be something else greater." And he stayed true to that commission and God blessed him so much that
when this maniac tried to spit in his face and call him names he just let him
do it, but when that man came forward to break every bone in brother Branham’s
body, God stepped in and would not let it happen, and that man suddenly dropped
to the floor and slid like a snake, and was not able to lift a hand against
God’s servant. That’s the way we ought to be, not heady or high-minded in
return, but in humility, take the rebuke, and ask God to forgive the person and
deliver them from a life of insults and personal diatribe.
Remembering
the Lord 62-1209 P:55 If you dwell in love, you dwell in God, for
God is love. They that dwell in God dwell in love. See? And love has no hatred.
Love is not jealous. Love is not puffed up. Love doth not misbehave itself. Love is always gentle, sweet, forgiving,
kind. No matter how bitter the
others is, love remains itself. Love is the ultimate of grace. Love is God's
ultimatum for us.
Way of a true prophet 62-0513M P:59 If
a man's all puffed up and thinks he's something, then God can't use him,
because there's too much of his self. That's what's the matter with the
Christian church today. They're think they know something. The Bible says when
a man thinks he knows something, he knows nothing that he ought to know. The
trouble today, we got so much self, so much hypocrisy, so much education, so
much religion, and know nothing about the salvation of the Word of God. That's
the pitiful part of it.
Look at Moses. His first test to see what he was going to do to help save
his people, and he took it into his own hands. He saw one of his brethren being
beaten, and he stepped in with his anger and killed the man. That was not the
response God wanted in His Messenger. So Moses got puffed up and God couldn’t
use him then because he needed more discipline in his person, so God just took
him to the back side of the dessert to un-train all that training he got in
Egypt and re-train him in humility and the fear of God.
And that’s what the bride of Christ needs today, my brothers and sisters,
we need to be trained in humility and the fear of God. There is not enough fear
of God in our lives, for if there was we wouldn’t talk to one another the way
we do.
Exodus 2:11 And
it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his
brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an
Hebrew, one of his brethren. 12 And he looked this way and
that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid
him in the sand. 13 And when he went out the second
day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that
did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow? 14 And
he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me,
as thou killedst the Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is
known. 15 Now
when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from the
face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the
God doesn’t want his children to fight fire with fire! He doesn’t wish
for us to take things into our own hands and do unto our neighbor as they are
doing unto us! That’s not what our child training is all about! God wants us to
stay humble and obedient, and not get riled up when we are stricken. He doesn’t
want our big mouths to revile back when we are reviled upon. He wants us to
stay humble and be at peace.
And another thing about the fear of God, I want you to understand one
thing. Mirriam got puffed up with her brother Moses, and because he was her
brother she thought she could talk to him just anyway she wanted, and God
struck her down with leprosy. Touch not mine anointed and do my prophets no
harm,…Not that any man is better than another, but be careful how you handle
yourself with those God has anointed. Because that anointing is God’s own
presence and Spirit in their life, and to disrespect that body God is using is
to disrespect God Himself.
Now,
when you are reviled the Bible teaches us to revile not back. When they slap
you on the cheek, we are taught that we give them the other cheek. In fact our
blessing come from being able to take it and not hand it back where it came
from.
Matthew 5:11
Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and
shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12 Rejoice,
and be exceeding glad: for great is your
reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before
you.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:38 Ye
have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: 39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not against evil: but whosoever
shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take
away thy coat, let him have thy cloke
also. 41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go
a mile, go with him twain. 42 Give to him that
asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. 43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt
love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. 44 But I
say unto you, Love your enemies, bless
them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you,
and persecute you; 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven:
for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on
the just and on the unjust. 46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward
have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47 And
if ye salute your brethren only, what do
ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?48 Be
ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
So God our father wants us to be like Him, and not like man. And if he is
going to use you, he will not take you if you are puffed up in our own conceit.
From his sermon, Questions and answers COD
59-0628E P:42 And
isn't that just the way that people get today? Let God just bless a fellow and
put a little confidence in him, and he
gets to be a know-it-all. He's got to start an organization, or he's got to
do something that's different. "Why art thou fallen from heaven, O
Lucifer." God has a hard time
trying to get somebody that He can deal with, that'll stay humble, and meek, and
stay in the place until God calls him to do something (you believe that?
See?), a man that God can bless and
he'll still keep himself a man, not be an angel or a god. As soon as man
gets blessed and has a little something given to him, he wants to become a god;
he wants to become a angel. He wants to become some great person. "What I
do, what Me, and me and mine..." all that. That's the wrong attitude. God's hunting for somebody who He could
bless and pour out the blessings, and the more He blessed, the littler the man will become. And you'll never get more of God until you
become nothing. You've got to belittle yourself. He that will exalt himself, God will bring
abase. He that will humble himself, God will exalt.
You've got to get little before you can get big. And you'll never be big in your own self; you'll only be as big as God will
be big in you. See?
Questions
and answers COD 64-0830E P:43 389. When a person realizes he has an
inferior complex, or some sort of complex, how may he overcome this? … Take
exactly the opposite. If you're always wanting your way, and that one little
brat that wants to always have everything your way, turn right back around and
give everything you got the other way. If you're selfish and you want to hold
everything, then start giving away what you got. See? Do whatever, just go the
vice versa. That's the way to overcome
anything is an antidote.
Not dog bite me I’ll bite dog back, no, not at all. Dog bite me once,
shame on dog, but dog bite me twice, shame on me. Why?, Because I should know
better than to get myself into a situation where I let a dog bite me twice. That’s
not learning from your trials. So how do we avoid that situation? Simple, just
stay away from the dog, or get the dog to love you. One of the other. From brother Branham’s sermon, Blind Bartimaeus 57-0809 P:22 I can think of the story when the Shunammite woman had been kind to that
man of God. She didn't do it to
receive anything, but you just can't not help from receiving a reward when
you're good to God's children. "Verily, verily, I say unto
you, if you shall give one of these little ones as much as a cup of water, you
will in no wise lose your reward." So be kind to one another. If the meal barrel's empty over to that
house, take them something over there. Be
kind. If the widow needs some coal, buy her some. God will bless you for
it.
From Spiritual inspiration 56-0128 P:38 brother
Branham said, “The
woman, she realized that Elijah was a servant of God. And when they would come
by that way she'd always trying to do him a little favor, try to be kind to
him. And if there's anything that we
ought to be, is kind to one another. When you see a brother or sister in
fault, don't never breathe it to nobody.
Keep it to yourself and pray for that
person. Be kind to them. And if the
Spirit of God is in you, then you will be kind to one another. Jesus said,
"I come to do Thy will, Father." And we are about the
Master's business as He was about the Father's business. And the same Spirit
that He had to begin the works of the Father and to finish the atonement, to
make a way that we could carry the message, if that Spirit's in you, you'll have that same attitude towards people:
trying to do what you can to help them, no matter who they are or where they
are. You'll try to help people. Amen. That's kind a strong, but that's
truth. That's right. It... Rather, friends,
it's the time has come where we're nearing the end. And something's got to be
done.
And from his sermon, Seal of the antichrist
55-0311 P:54 Brother Branham
said, “God's going to hold me responsible if I don't tell the
truth. You ought to go home, everybody, get down around the bed tonight, or
else bring the mother and kiddies, all of them get around the bed, say, "Mother, let's pray right here, till God really
makes things different around here." Pastors, you ought to call your
congregations together on Sunday morning now, and say, "Let's start anew." You'll be kind to one another. Pentecostal
preachers, sometimes, and men, will go downtown. You see them on the street
sometime, will just jump into traffic, and consider your friends. If you see him fixing to get a ticket; I
don't care who he is, put a nickel in the, don't let him be fined. Even in everything, it will grow on you.
Try to be good to one another. Try
to shake hands and be friendly and nice. Tear down all the walls of partition
around you, that's malice, and different, ungodly, tear it down. Keep doing
good to one another. Every time you meet one another, make yourself be good to
one another. And the first thing you know, it'll grow around you, till a bundle
of love will wrap you up. Hallelujah. That's the marking of God.
Questions
and answers COD 61-1015M P:121 Now, we are all going to make mistakes.
Just remember. And when you're looking
at one another, don't look at the other person's mistake. See, don't do that,
because, remember, you make mistakes too. But look to Christ Who is guiding
this person. And if they need some help,
then you pray for them. That's the
way we get along (See?), pray.
And remember, when you are praying for
somebody else in that kind of a fix, God will honor and heal you when
you're praying for somebody else. That's right. That's what Christianity is based upon, to help one another, do for one
another, be kind to one another, understanding to one another. Now, if you see your neighbor's mistake, you see
where they've went wrong, don't go wrong with them, but just pray for them.
Just keep praying, and God will understand that. He'll make everything right.
The Apostle John said, “1 John 4:20 If
a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth
not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
Seed not
heir with shuck 65-0218 P:82 How will you know, how will the world know that you love Jesus? When we love one another.
That's how the world... See, God sees
your faith; the world sees your actions. Love one another now; be kind to one
another. Talk with one another. Be patient with one another.
Word
become flesh
Let us pray…