Spoken Word no. 214
“Not Negative, it’s Positive”
Brian Kocourek, Pastor
January 2nd, 2011 a.m.
This morning I would like to pick up at paragraph 109
of The Spoken Word is the original Seed
where we left off last Sunday. But before I begin, I had laid awake over the
past few days thinking in my own mind, how can I bring this Word which is so
positive to the people in way that can bye-pass the negative aspects which seem
to be so predominant in this series. It seems the more and more we get into
this study of Brother Branham sermon, we are hearing more and more what would
appear at firth thought to be kind of negative, but then as I resolved to
continue to preach it exactly as William Branham preached it, I found that you
can not do away with the negative aspect because this sermon deals in TWINS and
the suffering that the Word must go through in order to take the stand that we
must take in order to produce Christ-Life in us as it was produced in Himself.
No suffering no glory, that’s it because there is no
way of getting around it. We are
commanded to say what is on those tapes, and let me tell you something, what is
on those tapes is what is in this bible. It may sound negative to you if you
Christ is not living out His Life in you, but if Christ is Living out His Life
in you then these sermons that I have been preaching which brother Branham
preached and we have shown you by Scripture that everything he taught is from
Scripture, then you who are Living the Christ Centered Life are finding
yourself under heavy persecution. Therefore, what we hear is not negative, but
positive assurance that the Word is indeed alive in us, and we are Living out
the Life of Christ again, and the same rejection he was faced with we are faced
with, and the suffering wherewith he suffered so must we. Why? Because it takes the suffering to understand the Glory, and thus shape
the Glory in us. Therefore it is not a negative message we teach
but rather a positive one because your soul is identifying with the suffering
of Christ.
Peter said in 1 Peter 5: 10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, (That means complete and fully mature) stablish, strengthen, settle you.
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; He that
hath suffered in the flesh ceases from disbelief, because that is what sin is,
it’s unbelief.
Notice he said, Arm yourselves with the same mindset as Christ.
But do we? Is that what we are teaching our children in this country? No way.
Our society is way too anti-Christ to teach that without suffering you can not
be made complete. But that is what the Bible teaches. You know satan tried to get Jesus to take the kingdom
without suffering, but he would not do it, because it was not God’s plan for
him to take the kingdom that way. And neither is it God’s way for you to
either.
But what do we teach our children? Certainly in this country they do not
teach the child that if he patiently endures his suffering he shall receive a
crown that will not perish.
The average American students, who
continuously score the lowest among children in industrialized nations in
science, math and language skills, seem to score the highest when it comes to
self-esteem. Picture that. They have
the worst test scores among the industrialized nations, and yet feel the best
about their miserable performance than those children with the highest
performances in the world.
Who would have thought that countries such as
We don’t teach our kids to work out their equations, nor do we push our
children to study hard in order to be able to face the world of competition,
but we pander to our children and we get upset if someone makes our kids have
to work things out for themselves.
Let me tell you something, that is totally contrary to Biblical teaching.
Even in nature, we know that if you break the egg to free the chick so he
doesn’t have to work so hard to break free, that chick is not going to make it,
and it will die.
My great grandfather who was
from the old country, used to say all the time, “children should be seen and not heard”. Why? Because if you are
doing the talking how are you ever going to learn anything. That is why to be
faithfully taught, you have to have one who is faithful to teach and others who
are faithful to just shut up and listen. But you can’t even expel a child from
the classroom for acting up any more. And in many schools that are being driven
by progressivism the children are not even scored on percentage correct. They
spell the word wrong and they are give a “nice try sally, that was very imaginative”. So what have we got as a result? A dumbed
down society that doesn’t even know how to balance a check book. No wonder the
average American is so much indebt. The Average credit card debt per household in
the
Proverbs
22:7 The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to
the lender.
Studies have shown if
you took the wealth of the top 5% and redistributed it, within a few years it
would be back in the hands of the same 5% again. Why? They don’t blow their
money, they know how to save it and make it work for them. They understand
sowing and reaping. But the majority of people today would rather someone else
do their sowing for them, so they can just sit back and reap what others have
sown. But it doesn’t work that way unless you have a government that are
nothing short of thieves, who steal your money and buy votes with it.
1 Peter
4: 13 But rejoice, inasmuch
as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding
joy.
In 2 Corinthians 1: 5 The Apostle
Paul said, For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation
also abounds by Christ.
The same apostle also said in 2 Timothy 2: 12 If we suffer, we shall also reign
with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: So unless you suffer you will not reign. You’ve got to
sow, and that sowing is through suffering.
And he
Notice that Paul said as God’s sons, we must come the way of suffering in
order to be fit to rule and reign. That is how we come to understand the Glory
which is God’s opinion, and God’s Values, and God’s judgments. In Romans 8: 17 he said, And if children, then heirs;
heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if
so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
If anyone understood the suffering of Jesus Peter should have, because he
sat there during that ordeal and watched as they interrogated Jesus. We find
him say in 1 Peter 3: 18 For
Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might
bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: So his suffering was for the purpose of bring us to
God it says.
Then Peter tells us in 1 Peter 2: 21 For
even hereunto were ye called: because Christ
also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
So do not think that
you can be conformed to the image of the first born son without learning to
take your suffering patiently as he also set the example for us to follow:
Paul also learned that suffering is the way to Glory. And in 2 Timothy 3: 12 he warned us that “all that will live godly in Christ Jesus
shall suffer persecution.”
And again in 1 Corinthians 4: 12 he
taught us not to be slothful, and he also taught us how to suffer correctly
according to the Word of God. “labor
working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it:”
So when you do for your children instead of them doing for themselves you
are actually destroying their opportunity to develop the character of Christ.
That is what Paul told the Colossians in
1: 24 where he said, now
rejoice in my sufferings for you,
and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for
his body's sake, which is the church: In other words, when we suffer for one another
the ones who receive the benefit should be rejoicing that someone cared enough
for them that they suffered for them. And that is the same mind that was in
Christ.
That is what Peter told us in 1 Peter 5: 1 The
elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and
also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: That is also what Brother Branham taught us in the Church
Age Book Chapter 4 - The Smyrnaean
Church Age P:18 Why does He stand by? The reason is in Romans 8:17-18, "And
if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that
we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that
the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed in us."
Unless
we suffer with Him we cannot reign with Him. You have to suffer to reign. The reason for this is that character simply is never made without
suffering. Character is a VICTORY,
not a gift. A man without character
can't reign because power apart from character is Satanic. But power with character is fit to rule.
And since He wants us to share even His throne on the same basis that He
overcame and is set down in His Father's throne, then we have to overcome to sit with Him. And the little temporary suffering we go through now is not worthy to be
compared to the tremendous glory that will be revealed in us when He comes.
Oh, what treasures are laid up for those who are willing to enter into His
kingdom through much tribulation.
The scriptural prophecies of Jesus contained much about his sufferings as
peter says in 1 Peter 1: 11 Searching
what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did
signify, when it testified beforehand
the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
In fact we also see this several places in the book of Acts.
Acts 26:
23 That Christ should
suffer,…
Acts 17:
3 that Christ must needs have
suffered,…
Acts 3:
18 those things, which God before had shewn by the mouth of all
his prophets, that Christ should suffer,
he hath so fulfilled.
And in Luke 24: 46 Thus
it is written, and thus it behooved
Christ to suffer, …
And again in Luke 24: 26 Ought not Christ to have suffered these
things, and to enter into his glory?
Therefore, as we continue
in our study of the Spoken Word is the original Seed, let us not look at the
things brother Branham is telling us, nor at the things, I may make comment
upon as though it is being something negative, but rather let us see that our
suffering is a must for us to receive the character of Christ, for if we do not
suffer with Him, we shall not reign with him.
Now, with that in mind let’s begin to read from
paragraph 109
My, Christ is now taking Himself a Bride to be impregnated with His own Seed Word in Her womb (spirit womb) and
in Her mind, and won't mix any denominational trash with it. (Now,
this is not trash talk here but simply a statement of truth. What the world
calls foolish God calls wisdom but what God calls truth the world calls trash
talk.. Now, he continues…) She is a virgin to
Him. Oh, I remember setting there in a room, three days in there praying and
waiting on the Lord and fasting. When that struck me I thought, "Oh, God
what is it? Here I am at a picture, here I am. If I bring up this much to the
church, where will I be? I'll have them on a limb; what can I do? I've done seen the church as every type and
shadow and everything else, shows she's
gone. What will You do?" And then, I thought of that Word, "I will restore,
saith the Lord; (Uh-huh.) “I will restore."
Remember, the old pine tree; when the fire hits her and burns her down, she
shakes off a seed though. That seed
brings forth a new one. That's right. The
old trees are burned up with organization and everything else, but there still remains a Seed of Word. And
if it’s God's Word, It'll come right back, reproduce
Itself just as sure as the world. Yes. Now, now, she won't miss it.
Now, I hope you are
noticing here that he is speaking of a real tragedy, a forest fire that kills many
trees, and just burns them up, but He is not focusing on the tragedy, but the
beauty of nature how that seed is spewed out into the soil that has been burnet
over, and with the warmth of the scorched earth, and all the fertilizer from
the ash, that seed brings forth them same life that was in that tree back into
the world again, new, young and green.
Look what Paul says in Romans chapter 9: and we will begin at verse 15. You
could take it wrong and say it is negative, but he didn’t consider it negative
at all. “ For
he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have
compassion on whom I will have compassion. 16 So
then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
sheweth mercy.
Now, that is not a bad thing, that is a wonderful
thing, for God knows how to show mercy, when man just doesn’t understand it at
all. But you say, well it takes it out of our hands so we can’t do it for our
selves. Now, you’re getting it. I am so glad that God takes it away from me,
and places it in His own Care, because He can do such a better job or showing
mercy and extending His grace to me than I ever could.
17 For
the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee
up, that I might shew my power in thee,
and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
18 Therefore hath he
mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom
he will he hardeneth. 19 Thou wilt say then
unto me, Why doth he yet find
fault? For who hath resisted his will?
And that is exactly the argument that people have
today. They want to do it all, yet when they can’t do it then they say, well,
who then can resist God’s will. So listen to The Apostle Paul’s response. He
says, …
20 Nay
but, O man, who art thou that repliest
against God? (In other words,
hey, man, who do you think you are? Who do you think you are talking about
here?) “Shall the
thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?” 21 Hath not the potter power
over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another
unto dishonour?
And then the Apostle Paul comes right down to helping
us understand that this is not a negative thing God does, it is a very positive
thing God is doing.
Notice in verse 22 he says, “What if God, willing to shew
his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the
vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: 23 And what if he did so in
order that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy,
which he had afore prepared unto glory,”
In other words, what
if God allows the darkness of night in order to show forth the brightness
and splendor of the day. What if he
allows bad people in order to show forth those that are good? What if God allows storms and rain in
order to bring forth freshness after the rain. You know how good the air smells
after the rain and lightning? Well, God doesn't do anything for no reason.
God is very exact in what He does, and He has a
purpose for everything under the sun. So what appears to be negative to one is
actually very positive to others.
Ecclesiastes
3:1 ¶ To every thing there is a season, and a time to every
purpose under the heaven: 2 A time to be born,
and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up [that which is] planted; 3 A
time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to
build up; 4 A time to weep, and
a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; 5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain
from embracing; 6 A time to get,
and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; 7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep
silence, and a time to speak; 8
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
But in each and every time mentioned, there is one
that seems negative, but there is also a positive to balance out the
negative. A man has the plus genes and
the women has the negative genes, but it takes the positive and the negative to
make life happen.
Notice what Brother Branham says next in paragraph 110
Notice, but Christ, We believe we're in the end time, do we? Do you believe that before you have a crop
now, you have to plant a seed? You
see why I've let churches turn me out, tell me everything, call me all kinds of
names and everything else, and just stay right with that Word? See? There's a planting; seed's been planted;
it's already been planted, friends. It's already done. I can say it now: it's over. That's right; she's done
been planted (oh, yeah); so has denominational seed, all the rest of them. Now,
don’t stop here, because to understand what he is saying you must read the next
paragraph.
111
Like as our great precious Brother Billy Graham said right here in Louisville,
said, "Paul could..." Took the Bible and said, "Now, Paul could
go into a city and hold a revival. He'd have one convert; go back the next year
and he's got sixty from that one." Said, "I can go and hold a six
weeks' revival have twenty thousand converts and come back in six months and
you can't find twenty." What is it?
They're not converts. They're
converts to denominationalism; that's all. Certainly, you got to plant... See, you plant denominational seed, that's what you get. "Come now, brother; join the church; and put
your name on the book." That's all they know. That's right.
Now, that is not
negative, in any way, shape or form. He is stating a fact from Scripture, from
the law of life, the law of reproduction, that every seed must bear its own
likeness.
112
Pentecost has done the same thing. "Speak in tongues and so forth. That's
all you have to do; that's got it. Come
on; join the church." All right, get your false baptism and so forth
and go on, and that's all you have to do. See? But when Christ comes, He's
coming for a virgin, a church without
even one spot or one wrinkle of denomination or any other dogmas, mixed with
it. It's going to be Word and that alone.
Now, you see, the Two Vines? That’s not negative,
that’s positive, it explains why things are as they are. Look at the Life, what
are they bearing and then you will know what life they are bearing will produce
exactly what life is in them. Denominational Organization characteristics, or
Word, upon Word, upon word. That’s not negative, that’s positive.
It shows the light is doing what the light is supposed
to do. The Scripture says, “that which makes manifest is light.” So don’t be surprised when you speak the
Truth and some will receive it while others will try to kill your influence.
The Light is what does it. The Light is what manifests.
113
Now. Oh, man, here we are. Blessed be the Lord. Now, we come to the Body to be the Bride of Christ. Now, to be His flesh of His flesh, and bone of
His bone. Now, we'll hurry up now. Flesh
of His flesh and bone of His bone...Why didn't... (Ask you a question.) Why didn't all your rains back yonder bring
the Bride to Christ? I want you to answer me that. If it's oncoming, it's overdue; we believe it. Like it
was in the days of Noah, long-suffering.
He's getting His Bride ready. Why
didn't these rains... Why didn't you
Pentecostals back yonder a few years ago (when you started forty or fifty
years ago)--why didn't you bring Christ,
the Bridegroom, to the Bride? I'm going to let that soak a minute. Why? Because you impregnated her yourself with
your denomination; that's exactly what you done. He won't marry a whore. He
will marry a virgin. It's flat, but that's the Truth. You know it in a
flat way. You don't have to wonder. I don't stumble around about it; tell you
the Truth.
114
Why didn't you bring her? Why didn't you bring Christ to her? Because she's not fit. He found her in adultery: exactly the reason
children don't live forever when they're born. Adam found his wife impregnated.
That's the reason Jehovah had to take a Gentile bride: found her impregnated.
That's exactly the way Christ has to get Him a Bride now. He's found this so-called group impregnated. He's going to sow His Seed; somebody's going to get it, because
they're predestinated to be a church at the end of the road.
115
Like Adam and Jehovah's, He found them impregnated
with manmade doctrines of denominations. Like God's Truth in Genesis 1, every seed has brought forth
after its kind. So when the Spirit fell on her, man had been there to her
womb and filled it with denominational seeds of his own thinking; so that's why she got to be the way she is,
and Christ could not come to her. Umm, that's hard, isn't it?
Now listen in closing… He's
found this so-called group impregnated.
(What so called Group is he talking about? The Pentecostal peoples he came to
begin with. But notice what he says next) He's going to sow
His Seed; somebody's going to get it, because they're predestinated to be a
church at the end of the road.
So he is telling us that the Message went to the Pentecostals
but they turned it down because they had already received the denominational
organization seed of man in them and since they had already conceived another
life contrary to the Word of God in them, God had to put that Pentecostal bunch
away in divorcement before the Union could take place. But then he tell us that
God will produce another Church, another bride to receive it because He said he
would have one at the end-time. So that might sound negative to you, but that
sounds like a promise to me. And since that’s me he’s talking about, that
somebody who will receive it, then I do not see anything negative about Him
dumping this Pentecostal bride for me.
And let’s face it, what woman ever cared about the
dumped woman when she gets the groom herself. Each one must work out their own
salvation and so each bride must work out their on relationship with their
groom.
Deceived
church by the world 59-0628M P:50 But as Israel was bound by
their kings, that they could not follow the real King, and the real King, when He came, they didn't recognize Him, so is it today,
O Lord, the King of glory has appeared in the form of the Holy Ghost, and,
Lord, they don't know it. They don't
recognize it. They're so
organized so tight, that they do not understand it, because it's not in their organization. Lord,
this is a work of the Devil that's done this to the people. May the Samson of
God, may the true in heart, those who are longing and crying, and pleading and
holding on, may they stay with it, Lord,
until this new crop grows out, until there comes forth again a joy in Zion, and there comes forth a group that can recognize and understand,
that can see the Messiah and the hidden
power that's hid from the world, that they will not understand now. Grant,
Lord, that they'll see this. For we ask it in Jesus' Name. Amen.
Let’s bow our heads and our
hearts in a word of prayer.