Spoken
Word no. 153
Limited
and Restricted
Brian Kocourek, Pastor
April 18,
2010
Genesis 1:11 And God said, Let the earth
bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit
after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it
was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding
seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself,
after his kind: and God saw that it was good.13 And
the evening and the morning were the third day.
Let us pray, Dear Father we come humbly before you knowing
our limitations, and our restrictions that we have in these vessels of clay.
Yet we are less restricted in our spirit and our soul, except by the fact that
being your children we are limited to thy Word. For that is our make up, Word
upon Word, and Spirit upon Spirit. For in Thy word is Life, and even your Son
Jesus taught that His Words which we know He did not say any word but what you
told Him to say, and therefore, then His Word is Your Word, and he said that
His Word was spirit and Life.
So Father we ask that the law of Life
that You laid down for us in Genesis 1:11 might take over these vessels that
have been sown of Thy Word, and fill us Father with the God-Life that is only
available through Thy Word, for we ask it in Jesus Christ’s wonderful name,
amen.
Now, this morning we are looking again at this law of
Life that is spoken of here in Genesis 1:11 and in which Brother Branham
addressed in paragraphs 165 and on.
165 All right. In
Genesis 1,
remember, every seed after its kind. It must forever be that way. There's all
those types. A man who would say, could believe, that the church will go
through a tribulation period, I wonder where you'd ever get a seed for that?
When even... "Well," you say, "I believe it says this that
they'll do..." That's all right. Did you notice back yonder where the
rains fell on the other time? Where did it fall? Noah was in the ark before the
judgment struck.
166 All right.
Every seed must come after its kind. God made man in His image after His kind
to be His Word on earth. He expressed it in Jesus Christ. What was? God was in
Christ. That's a Man after His kind. See? When God, which is the Word... How
many knows He's the Word? When the Word was in Christ, a man, human man,
expressing Itself through Him, that was God, the Word, in Christ expressing
Himself. And God in the beginning made man in His Own image, and that's the
kind of man that God makes today. The seminary and the incubator hatchery turns
out a bunch of hybrids (See?), the schools. But when God calls a man, he's in His Own image: the Word made alive in him.
Now, let’s stop here for just a moment. Brother
Branham just made this tremendous statement here and unless you have your
thinking caps on it just went over your heads. Notice he said, when God calls a man, he's in His Own image:
Can anyone tell me where you can find that in
Scripture? How about Romans 8 and
Ephesians 1.
He says when God calls a
man, And the Apostle Paul told us in Romans 8: 29 For whom he did foreknow, And we
know that all He foreknew were in Him as part of Him before the foundations of
the World. We were seed in the Womb of God’s mind. Jesus happened to be the
original seed, but we were also seed in Him as well. And Those whom he did
foreknow, he also did
predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the
firstborn among many brethren. And now what about this calling, for brother Branham
said, when God calls a man, he's in His Own image: Then in the next verse Paul tells us that those
He foreknew, those that were in Him, 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, those
that He predestinated to the adoption of sons, them he
also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified,
them he also glorified.
And we showed you in the mini series on the Path to
Adoption that this calling is the first part of our journey towards adoption. Then
those that hear, recognize, and act upon the Call, Them He justifies, and we
know that the Just shall live by Faith, and Faith is a Revelation. So the Call,
then more revelation concerning that call, then those that step further into
that Revelation, those He glorifies, Those Who become the outward expression of
the doxa, the opinions, values and judgments of God.
And Brother Branham continues, That's right. There he is; that's God's man,
man in His Own image, in His very likeness. And Jesus said, that he will do the
works that I do. So God made man in His Own image after His kind.
167 His kind, what is His kind? the
Word. He is the Word. Then if a man denies God's Word, how can he be in God's
image? Just ask the question. Ask yourself. "How can he be in God's image
and deny God's Word, when the Word's expressed image of Himself?" "Oh,"
he says, "it doesn't mean that." Expressed image of God saying,
"Oh, I said it, but I didn't really mean it. I was wrong there. I back up.
That was for some other time. I didn't mean it." Oh mercy, trash, slop of
the Devil that he fed to Eve. Don't let him try to poke it down the elected's
neck though. No, sir. They won't believe that. "Just come and join with
our gang." Join nothing; you got to be born; not join; a new creature.
168 Yes, in His Own image of His kind to
be--to be His expressed Word on earth. Now, Jesus was God's expressed Word. Do
you believe that? Then what are we to be? Sons of God too, with the expressed
Word in the church, carrying on (That's the mystical Body of Christ.), carrying
on the same works that Jesus did when He was here on earth. See? That's the
kind after His kind. Now, you can have the Lutheran kind after the Lutheran;
the Methodist kind after the Methodist; the Catholic kind after the Catholic;
the Pentecostal kind after its kind; the Oneness after its; the Trinity after
its; but if you're God's kind, that's different. See, you're the expressed
image of the Word making Itself manifest. Oh, my. Why, it's got to. If the
water falls on it, it's got to do it.
Hebrews 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in
divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he
hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his
power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of
the Majesty on high; 4 Being made so much better
than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.5 For unto which of the angels said he at any time,
Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a
Father, and he shall be to me a Son?
Notice that Jesus was the
expressed Image of the Father. That’s Genesis 1:11, every seed must bring forth
after it’s kind. And yet every seed then has limits that are pre-programmed
into them by the fact that they are seed. That is why Brother Branham said from
this same sermon,
The
Spoken word original seed 62-0318M P:90 How can you plant wheat here and wheat here
and say, "I'm going to get cucumbers here and wheat here?" You can't
do it. The only way you're going to get cucumbers is plant cucumbers. If you
hybreed it, then it won't be a cucumber. It'll be a hypocrite. Is that right?
It'll be a hypocrite, friends. This... You've got to say it. It isn't neither
one. Isn't cucumber or what you bred it with. It's a crossbreed, and it is a
bad product, and it's dead in itself, and it can't breed itself back no more.
It's dead right there--back, won't go no farther. That finishes it; that's all.
But if you want a cucumber, start with a cucumber. If you want a church, start
with the Word of God. If you want a Life of God, start with the Word of God.
Accept the Word of God in Its fullness, every measure of It. And then that's...
And if that is the fullness of God in you, then the rain that's falling will
produce exactly what's in your garden. See?
So each seed is governed by the law of life, and can
only bring forth in a limited way, and with restrictions the life that is
within it. You plant wheat and they all grow to about the same height, and they
all come to harvest about the same time. Look out on a wheat field sometime,
and you don’t see some wheat 7 feet tall and other wheat 2 feet tall and then
some at 3 to 4 feet tall. It’s all about the same height because it all came
from an original seed.
Therefore we must understand
that when God predestines a seed for a season, that seed will be limited and
restricted to what seed life it contains.
Did not Jesus Himself say in
Luke 6: 44 For every tree is known by his own fruit.
For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes.
And again in Matthew 7: 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit,
neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
So there are limitations and restriction that are
placed upon all seeds and you don’t get grapes from bramble bushes, you get
grapes from the vine. Restrictions and limitations, predestined by the
foreknowledge of God.
Now a garden is a place or a
plot of ground that you specifically set aside for growing things that you
like, whether for food or for the beauty of just looking at it, such as flowers
and roses, etc. A garden is a place where you sow seeds, and you come to water
and cultivate those seeds, because you have a purpose in mind. And if we do not
cultivate our garden, then other seeds that fall into our garden will compete
with the specific thing we want to harvest. Therefore, we must cultivate the
seeds which we want and root out those things we do not wish to come to
harvest. Now we don’t go through all
that work in taking care of a garden just for the shear enjoyment turning over
soil & breaking rocks, if we did we, then prison would be fun. But we must
have a PURPOSE. A garden has to be
plotted, there must be a PLAN in your mind as to how you would like to see your
garden turn out. For if there is no plan, you will have an awful time trying to
harvest what you sowed. Could you image planting a garden where you go out and
grab a handful of carrot seeds and you just toss them up in the air, not really
caring where they land. Try grabbing a bag of corn seeds and toss them out onto
the ground. Then repeat the same process with watermelon seeds, radishes,
cucumbers, tomatoes, potatoes, beans, peas, and whatever else you would like to
harvest. I imagine the sowing might easy, but come harvest time, you’re going
to have a real mess trying to sort out just what you sowed. And yet this is the way many of us go about
our daily lives and especially our spiritual lives. Can you imagine someone
trying to store up earthly treasures without a plan. And yet that is exactly
what we do with storing up Heavenly treasure. Matt
6:19-20 therefore, Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth,
where moth and rust doth corrupt and where thieves break in and steal: 20 but
lay up treasure for yourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth
corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: Many of us struggle because we have not
learned this first principle of sowing and reaping.
But what you sow for is what
you will reap, and the reaping is limited and therefore restricted to the
sowing. So let’s look at the limitations that God set forth in the vessels that
he chose to use.
Now, the same thing goes for
the predestinated. God sets limits and boundaries to what we are able to do. These
vessels are made to form a certain sound, as Paul says, and every vessel that
God fashions is fashioned with all it’s complexes both good and bad for a
purpose and that is to reflect the Light of His Glorious Presence, His doxa
presence, His opinion, Values, judgments through that specific vessel so that
it rings that certain way. How many have ever heard a bell choir? There are
perhaps hundreds of bells and each gives a certain sound, and under the
conductorship of the master conductor, all the bells together makes beautiful
music. And not every bell can ring the same note, so each is given a role or
assignment in the score, to hit their note when called upon to do so.
In John 5:19 We see that Jesus, the first born son
could do nothing but what God showed Him to do.
Then answered Jesus and said
unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself,
but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also
doeth the Son likewise.
Brother Branham said in his
sermon Expectancy 53-0903 P:32 Jesus Christ was not a Healer. He did not
claim to be a Healer. He said, "It's not Me that doeth the work; it's My
Father that dwelleth in Me. He doeth the works." Is that right? No man can
glory. Now, what did Jesus do? He was the King of kings. But as Jesus Himself, He was limited to what His Father
would tell Him to do. Is that right? And how did the Father deal with
Jesus? By vision. Is that right? That's how He deals with all the prophets,
by vision.
So the vessel although
possessing the fullness of the Godhead indwelt in Him, was still limited by the
vessel, and the relationship of that vessel to the Father Who was indwelling
him.
Even God places limits upon
Himself. From His sermon, It wasn't so from the beginning 60-0306 P:10 Now, God is omnipotent, omnipresent. By
being omniscient, makes Him omnipresent; He knows all things. But God could not
be just like the air is, because God has a dwelling place. God is not a myth.
God is a Being:
So God’s omnipresence is
confined to his omniscience, his all knowing. And God limits and restricts
Himself by His own Word. The Scripture tells us He is not a liar that He could
speak one thing and change His mind. He is obligated or limited or restricted
to His own Word. You see a man’s name tells us of the man, but His Word is Who
He really is, for
as a man thinketh in his heart so is he and out of the abundance of the heart the
mouth speaketh. And we read in Psalms 138: 2 for thou hast magnified thy word above all
thy name.
Mary thought it nothing for
her body having known no man to receive seed by the Word of Promise as she said
in Luke 1:38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the
Lord; be it unto me according to thy
word. And the angel departed from her. What she said was that her condition was
restricted to and limited to what God’s Word had told her. So her body then had
to obey the Word of the Lord to her. Then God’s Word limited and restricted the
pregnancy in her body, to produce only that word seed that had been planted.
In Psalms 119: 58
And in Psalms 119: 41David
tells us God’s salvation is limited to and restricted by His Word. Let thy mercies come also unto me, O LORD,
even thy salvation, according to thy word.
And in Psalms 119: 25 David tells us our
quickening is also limited and restricted by the Word of God. My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou
me according to thy word.
And in Psalms 119: 9
David tells us that our cleansing is limited to and restricted to the Word
of God. Wherewithal
shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy
word.
173 Now, it's rough, friends. It's
very rough. I don't mean to be that myself. Yeah, I hope you understand that.
See? But today I'm giving the expression of why I have did the things that I
have done. Now, for just a little analysis before we dismiss for lunch is this:
I want you to know that I have... This
has been my motive, and my objective, is God's Word. My motive is to please
Him. And I can't listen to everything and believe God's Word; neither can I
listen to everything and please God. My motive is to know His Word and to
please God by serving Him by His Word.
So, it all comes down to the Word of God. Even Jesus
said, in three places in the Gospels, Luke 21: 33, Mark 13: 31, Matthew 24: 35 Heaven and earth
shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
I would like to speak on a subject that I was
discussing with Br. Vayle the other night. We were talking about seed and how
each seed has certain constraints, certain limitations, certain boundaries in
which it exists. He then pointed out also that God is constrained or limited only
by His Word, but he does set limits even upon Himself that way.
In 2 John 1: 9 we read, Whosoever transgresseth, (and that
word transgress means to go beyond the limits). So our reading of that verse
should be, Whosoever
goes beyond the limits and abideth not in
the doctrine of Christ, (that means that you do not remain within
the limits of the doctrine of Christ) hath not God. (or echoes not what God is saying,
for God has set forth limits for the doctrine of Christ. Then he adds,) He that abideth in
the doctrine of Christ, he (echoes) both the Father and the Son.
Now, we are talking about limits and restrictions that
God places on His Word, and thus on Himself, and on each of the Seed in which
have come forth by the Spoken Word of God.
Every seed must have limits that constrain the seed so
that it conforms to the image and nature of the original seed. That is the law
of Life, as we see in Genesis One. Then if God came down in this Hour and spoke
Through His prophet William Branham and sounded like a man of high education
and high vocabulary, it would have gone beyond the limits of the vessel that
God chose to use.
Let me explain. Since every seed must bring forth according
to the image of the original seed, then for God to Use a man that had certain
limitations in his speech, God never did in the History of speaking through the
prophets step outside the limitations of the vessel He was using except in the
light of the supernatural wisdom or omniscience that He spoke through their
limited minds.
Moses complained of being poor in speech and God said,
Who made your mouth? Exodus 4:10 And
Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor
since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow
tongue. 11 And the LORD said unto him, Who hath
made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind?
have not I the LORD? 12 Now therefore go, and I
will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.
That same God who made the mouth of Moses and chose to
speak through those lips with limited ability, also made the lips of Paul, who
also spoke with a lack of polish and eloquence as well.
2 Corinthians 11:1 I hope you will put up with a little of my
foolishness; but you are already doing that. 2I am jealous
for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so
that I might present you as a pure virgin to him. 3But I am afraid
that just as Eve was deceived by the serpent's cunning, your minds may somehow
be led astray from your sincere and pure devotion to Christ. 4For
if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached,
or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or a different
gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough. 5But
I do not think I am in the least inferior to those "super-apostles." 6I
may not be a trained speaker, but I do have knowledge. We have made this
perfectly clear to you in every way.
Amplified Translation 6But
even if [I am] unskilled in speaking, yet [I am] not [unskilled] in knowledge
[I know what I am talking about]; we have made this evident to you in all
things.
Translation called The Message
But if you put up with these big-shot
"apostles," why can't you put up with simple me? I'm as good as they
are. It's true that I don't have their voice, haven't mastered that smooth
eloquence that impresses you so much. But when I do open my mouth, I at least
know what I'm talking about. We haven't kept anything back. We let you in on
everything.
So we see that Moses and Paul didn’t have that
polished touch, and it appears that God avoids that kind of preacher, because
Jesus was not that way either.
Mark 6: 2 And
when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many
hearing him were astonished, (That means they had no small amazement, they were
utterly amazed)
saying, From whence hath this man these things? (Where did this man
acquire all this?) and
what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are
wrought by his hands? 3 Is not this the carpenter,
the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and
are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. Those who knew him
from his youth on up, couldn’t explain how this young man received such great
wisdom, and power to do miracles. They knew him as a carpenter not a scholar.
But Jesus said himself these most notable words, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and
earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast
revealed them unto babes.
Therefore we need to
understand that God will not work outside His own Laws that He has established.
If
he chooses a man from the
It is no different with electricity. We call that
power, and yet the electricity in the fan does one thing while the same
electricity running through the same wires will produce something else
altogether in the light bulb, and sound out of the speakers.
The same energy but manifested through different
Vessels. And when that vessel is filled with the electricity it doesn’t change
the vessel, but the electricity is limited in it’s manifestation by the vessel
that it is in.
We talked about the energeo of God and how that energy
or life force can only work in each vessel in the manner that the vessel can
work.
EPHESIANS 3:20 Now unto him that is able to do exceeding
abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh
in us, energeo {en-erg-eh'-o} to display one's activity, --
effectually work (1) -- effectual fervent (1) -- work effectually in (1)
I CORINTHIANS 12:6 And there are diversities of operations,
but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
EPHESIANS 1:11 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:
EPHESIANS 1:20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised
him from the dead, and set [him] at his own right hand in the heavenly
[places],
PHILIPPIANS 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to
will and to do of [his] good pleasure.
I THESSALONIANS 2:13 For this cause also thank we God without
ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye
received [it] not [as] the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God,
which effectually worketh also in you
that believe