Spoken Word #22
“You
people listening to this tape”
Brian Kocourek
May 18th, 2008
2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:17 That
the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
1
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.
Hebrews
4: 12 For the word of God is
quick, and powerful, and sharper
than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and
spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is
a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Hebrews
13: 7 Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God:
whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.
Romans
10: 17 So then faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Luke 11:
28 But he said, Yea rather,
blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.
Let us pray, Dear
Father, we thank you for your Word, which you have come down with in this hour
to reveal that Word which you set forth in the Alpha and which was to be
revealed in the Omega. And now father we come into Thy presence this morning
knowing that if we walk in the Light as You are in the Light, that we will have
fellowship with Thee and with one another. Be with us dear Father, and fill us
with the joy of our salvation, and help us to focus ourselves upon You and Your
Word which you would have brought to us and revealed to us in this hour, for we
ask it in Jesus Christ’s name.
Now, this
morning we will continue with our study of Br. Branham’s sermon “The Spoken Word is
the Original Seed”, and we will read from paragraph 16. Now, as of the next few paragraphs brother Branham has
not yet began to speak his text, so he is still giving his greetings and
warming up the people to his Message the Spoken Word is the original Seed. But
these words, though not into his text yet, are still full of meaning to us. So
let us begin reading at paragraph no. 16 “I was astonished one time (not just merely for a sense of humor at
this time), (notice this statement tells us that what he is
about to say is not for the humor of it, but there is a point that he wishes to
make here.) but
there was a
17
But he said one thing that's always
stuck with me. He said, "I'm interested in this, Brother Branham.
I'm”... told me what he was interested in his church and these things. He said,
"I's interested in one race";
he said, "that's the human race."
I said, "There we'll shake hands." The human race to everybody, to every creed, to every color, and to
every person that Christ died for,
that's my interest this morning. And I've
tried to always make it my interest--interest.
18
Now, I want to read and then just... I'm not aiming to preach, because what
I've got here to say, will probably take me four or five hours; so after about
two hours now then we'll dismiss and go to dinner, then come back at two
o'clock. Be here before two because I want to start right at two. Be here about
one-thirty if you can. Then we'll be out in time for tonight. I have to leave
this afternoon yet for
Now, brother Branham is
not just saying this to build up interest in this sermon. He’s saying this
because this sermon is packed with so much depth concerning the relationship
between God and His children, that once we finish this study, we should without
any doubt, understand our position in His family. And I think that we have a
pretty good understanding, especially after our sermon of “The difference between God and
His Son”, and “The Spirit of Adoption” which helps
us to know and to understand our relationship to God as his Obedient children.
But this sermon of
brother Branham’s takes us plumb back before the foundations of the world and places
us in Christ before God set forth His great plan into motion.
Now, in this next
paragraph brother Branham instructs us as to how we should be listening to his
tapes. 19 And then,
if there be any questions that you don't understand, I ask you to bring your books, and then you who have tape recorders can get the
tapes, and put them in your home,
and set down with an open heart, just
an open heart. Just lay it out and say, "Lord, I've just relaxed now; I'm going to listen"; and then when you catch something, turn the recorder
off and go get the Scripture. And the Bible said, Jesus said, "They are they that testify of Me." See? And let's look through the Scripture and see if
it's all right.
Now, I want you to notice that that brother Branham is telling us to
search the Word and take all that he says back to the Word. He said when you
are listening to my sermons, just be relaxed, and listen… and then when you
catch something, stop the tape and get out your Bible and search that thought
through your Bibles, and that is exactly
what Jesus told us to do in John 5: 39 He
said, Search the scriptures; for in
them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
And so this morning I
would like to focus our thoughts on these last few words here where Brother
Branham instructs us as to how we should study the tapes and take them to the
Scriptures. And I want you to notice that
he said that we should listen to the tape, and we should have our Bibles ready
so that when he makes a statement of interest.
Then while
hearing, we should pause the tape and
then take that thought and trace it through the scriptures. And I believe that
is exactly what we have been doing for the past 26 years here in this Church.
That is exactly what
the apostle Paul said in 2 Timothy 2: 15 Study to show thyself
approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing
the word of truth.
Notice he said,“Study to
show thyself approved unto God”… Too
many people claim to believe Brother Branham’s message and yet have no clue
from this Bible what he said because they have not done what he said they must
do. He said study to show thyself approved unto God.
The apostle Paul said,
Study to show
thyself approved unto God,…, and the word study was translated from
the Greek word spoudazo which means more than a mere mental exercise. It means:
to
use speed, to make an effort, to be prompt and to be earnest, to give diligence
to what you are doing, and it means to labor or study.
So God’s not looking
for a bunch of lazy Laodicean people, he wants us to be earnest and diligent in
our approach of His Word. And if your
family is far removed from the local church, it means that you are to actually
study the message as you sit together, and stop the tape and take the thoughts
he said back to the Bible.
You know, that is exactly what my father in law used to do. He was not
called to the ministry but he would gather his family and friends and other
relations together on Sunday mornings to listen to Brother Branham’s tapes, and
every so often when that Word would strike a chord he would stop that tape and
say, “did you here that”, and play it
back again. Now, he was criticized for doing it that way, But I would like to
know, how can you claim to believe the prophet and then criticize someone for
doing what the prophet said we should do, the way he said we should do it?
Look, it matters not if you can preach a whirlwind sermon, or if you do
it this way. But what matters is that you study this word. That you be diligent
in searching out these truths, to know them to live in them, and to be absorbed
by them.
Peter said in 1 Peter 1:13 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;
Notice,
gird up the loins of your mind. That means get ready to move out, for at the
revelation of Jesus Christ things will come fast and furious and at such a pace
that if you do not have the loins of your mind girded up, you will not be able
to keep up in the race. And that is exactly what we have seen the past 20 some
years, and that is why so many of the so called Message followers are so
clueless as to what God is doing right now. There minds are in the clouds, and
they are being left behind in the dust.
Paul said in Hebrews 4: 11 Let
us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same
example of unbelief. Let us labor to enter into rest? What does
that mean? Sound like an oxymoron to me, but it’s not. He is says let us
spoudazo to enter into this rest, and that is exactly what brother Branham was
telling us how to study the Message, He said get relaxed and then be ready to
bolt. Just like a sprinter. He does not get down in the blocks all tensed up
like a race horse ready to bust out of the blocks. He gets as relaxed as he
can, and as he sets his feet into the starting blocks, he shakes each leg to
get it all relaxed.
Then he readies
himself and just settles into that block with his feet, but in his mind, he is
ready for the sound of the gun to begin the race, and when he hears that sound,
he is able to explode out of that relaxed position. You see if he is so tensed up in those blocks, he may cramp up, or his
mind may not hear that sound the first instant possible because he is so tense,
and by missing that sound, he may loose the race.
The apostle Paul said, 1 Corinthians 9: 24 Know
ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So
run, that ye may obtain.
And again in his letter to the Hebrews 12: 1 the Apostle Paul likened our
race with running a distance race where patience and strategy is so important… Wherefore seeing we also are
compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily
beset us, and let us run with patience
the race that is set before us,
Peter
also instructed us to be diligent in our study in 2
Peter 1: 10 where he said,
Wherefore the rather, brethren, give
diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these
things, ye shall never fall: and the word diligent means: Marked by persevering, painstaking effort. In
other words, not just effort, but a painstaking effort. A persevering effort.
You want it and you want it bad enough to go to great lengths to get it.
And that is why Peter and Paul went to great efforts to make sure the
people understood. 2 Peter 1: 15 Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be
able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. And the word endeavor means: A conscientious or concerted effort toward an end; an earnest attempt. 2.
Purposeful or industrious activity;
And
again we find in 2 Peter 3: 14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing
that ye look for such things, be
diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
Notice, he said be diligent to be
found in peace. Work hard to be at peace. What a statement.
So we see that Brother
Branham was saying is how to study his message. And that goes for even those
who do not believe in the five fold ministry, or those who will only listen to
tapes. They do not listen to those tapes like he said they should be listened
to. They do not stop the tape to reflect upon what is being said, and that is
the reason why brother Branham could make the following statement and yet it
goes right over there heads.
The Godhead
Explained 61-0119A P:74 brother Branham said, Many
of you people listening to this would say, "Brother Branham is a
Oneness." I am not. I think you're both wrong, both oneness and trinity.
Not to be different, but it's always the middle of the road. Like Isaiah said,
Isaiah 35 said, "There shall be a highway." And you Nazarene
brothers, and so forth, you say." The grand old highway of holiness."
I beg your pardon. it doesn't say the highway of holiness. It says, "There
shall be a highway and ("and" is a conjunction) and a way, and it shall
be called the way of holiness." Not the highway of holiness. The way is in
the middle of the read. Each side is where the off-falls is found. That's where
you Oneness brethren went to on one side, Trinitarian went on the other side,
but the true message lays in the center of the road.
From his sermon, Anointed ones at end time 65-0725M P:135 brother Branham said, “What is iniquity?
Ask somebody. It's something that you know you ought to do and you won't do it.
They know that Word; they hear it. You're
listening to this tape; you're
listening to this message. You see the Lord God say so; you see Him confirm
it, make it true. And you know this just as plain as the sun shining outside.
But you that'll hold on to your denomination, hold on to those false things,
you worker of iniquity..."Oh, yes, I had great campaigns. I done this; I
done that." Said, "You depart from me, you worker of iniquity, I
never knew you." "Well, the Holy Ghost fell on me." I don't
doubt that a bit. "I spoke in tongues. I sang in the Spirit. I
done..." I don't doubt that a bit. No question to that. Oh, brother,
sister, what kind of a condition? This is a trembling time. Where we at? This Word is coming to Life now.
Well, you say he was
speaking to the denominations? Was he? He was speaking to the tape listeners
with a denominational spirit on them who will not take to heart what he was
teaching.
Again from his sermon Three kinds of
believers 63-1124E P:92 Look,
you're one of these classes. And your present state right now, the present
state of mind that you here in this visible audience, and you that'll be in the invisible audience of this tape, your present
state of mind, after listening to this tape proves to you what class you're in.
It tells you exactly where you are: whether you are a believer in the Word and
will stay with It; whether you'd walked out, or shut that tape off. See? That
tells what you done. You don't want to listen to it and shut it off and say,
"I don't want to listen to that." That's that unbeliever. See? You
won't stop to test it and see if it's the Truth or not. See? Or just hanging
around and trying to find some fault with it. Then you know where you are too.
It tells you. God help us to believe it and stand on it, and be loyal to it,
and obey the Word for He is the Word.
Then what about those who have decided that certain quotes of brother
Branham’s concerning the Godhead they just will not use or speak of. Is that
not the same as shutting off the tape? When you can show them literally
hundreds of Quotes where brother Branham teaches the Godhead a certain way, and
they will toss them all out, and then try to take a few quotes out of context
and claim those are the absolute teaching on the Godhead. And they distort the
quotes that they do use. Chopping off the context which is nothing short of
splicing his tapes.
And from his sermon What shall I do with
Jesus 63-1124M P:143 he said, If
we disbelieve It willfully after the Truth has been presented to us, there will
be no more mercy. No more mercy will be granted. Pastor, listening to this tape, what about it? Member of the church, listening to this tape, what about it? What are you going to do, if we disbelieve
it willfully? Can't wash it off your hands. You can't pass it on to the
headquarters; it's going to backfire right back to you. You've heard it. What
about you? How are you going to stand in that day? He is either on your hands
or in your heart, one or the other. God help us.
So what about those
men who would rather stand with a few five-fold ministers than with a
vindicated prophet? What about those people who would sit under such ministries
that would try to get you to see them instead of the One brother Branham
pointed too? What about them? Workers of iniquity is what they are. They know
better and yet they will not say what he said.
Three
kinds of believers 63-1124E P:80 And a
man saying that a man be a prophet and then saying his teaching's wrong, now,
if that ain't a money working scheme, what is? The hour's close at hand when
that thing will be pulled out on their scene. Yes. But that's the kind that
(that make-believer) pat you on the back, call you "brother," just as
Judas. But remember, He knowed from the beginning; He still knows. Yes, sir.
Remember, all these listening to this tape too. That's right. You're in one of
them classes. That's exactly right. Now, we're going to close. Every person
that's here present, every person that
listens to this tape, and even though
someday I have to leave this world, these tapes will still live. And that's
right. See? And you're in one of these classes. You've got to be in one of
them. It's exactly. You can't escape it; you're in one of these classes.
So he’s talking to
those people that were either listening to his tapes back then or will be after
his departure. He says you are in one of these three classes. So there you are,
right down to the tape listeners. Three kinds of believers right in this
Message.
And from Shalom 64-0112 P:63 Brother Branham said, And
minister brethren, you know from the way I'm talking, you that's listening to this tape. I'm talking to you, not
only to the little congregation here, but men around the world. Many men go
out, impatient; but believing that the time is near, you try to do something
within yourself. Wait upon the Lord. Patience is virtue. If you can have
patience, it's virtue. It's virtue if you... "They that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength." Not they that try to get ahead of the Lord,
they that try to tell the Lord, "Lord, I know You want me to do this, and
glory to God I..." Don't do that. Wait upon the Lord. The Bible said,
"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength."
Thy seed
shall possess gate 62-0121M P:103 I haven't power to make any
of these women clean up, any of these men
that's listening to this tape or wherever. I have no way of making them
clean up. I'm powerless. But I do have the authority of God's Word, as a
servant, to preach It, and duty bound to that authority. Neither this policeman
out here has power to stop a car, but he has authority to do it.
So you see, it is not
his power, but God’s Word that counts. And if you hear it and receive it and
act upon it, then it is yours. If not, then you are the one who looses out.
And again he is talking to tape listeners when he speaks of that
organizational spirit and the loosening of morals. From his sermon, Why I’m against organized religion 62-1111E P:128 he
said, Now, some of you brethren
listening to this tape, some of you old men know that years ago, forty,
fifty years ago, if they'd talked to you about an organization, you'd have said
it was blasphemy. But today you belong
to the thing that you thought was blasphemy. You women that bob your hair
and paint your face, your mother was against that, that good old Pentecostal
saint. What happened to you? Paul said, "You did run well, what hindered
you?" See, see? Back there you was free from that stuff, but you wanted to
be like the rest of them.
Church order 58-1007 P:25 Now,
when the pastor comes to the platform,
let the pastor then lead, at least, one
or two songs, and go straight to the Word. Not no time for these long testimony meetings, and everybody get up,
and a word to say. That does not prosper in the Branham Tabernacle. If any
people, if you are listening to this
tape, and, you, it has prospered in your church, well, that's perfectly all
right. And we are very glad of that, that it does prosper in your church. But in ours here, it does not, it only causes
confusion. I've been pastoring here for twenty-some-odd years, and I have found that it only causes confusion.
Recognizing your day 64-0726M P:52 And
you preacher, listening to this tape,
you listen. If you'd only recognize
the hour that you're living, if you'd only recognize the sign of the time,
you'd see why all the people are running from them denominations. The Spirit of
the Lord calling... "No
man can come to Me," said Jesus, "except My Father draws him. And all that the
Father has in past times given Me, will come."
What shall we do with Jesus 64-0126 P:55 You natives in Africa, you in Australia,
Sweden, Switzerland, you listening to this tape,
how you going to answer in the day of judgment, when I've been in your nations
and you've seen the identification of
Jesus Christ rising among the people and proving Himself? Sweat, my, he
must've sweated out. Oh, how could he do it if he was in his right mind? What kind of a angry God do you think it'll
be to those who have trod under foot the Son of God and crucified Him afresh
again?
When brother Branham
took his board aside and taught them on the Godhead, he taught it exactly as we
have been teaching it, and for some smart-alecky young preachers to come along
and say William Branham was a Oneness and taught as the Oneness teach, and then
say you are a follower of His Message/ You most certainly are not. You are of
your Father the devil and the lusts of your father you will do, for he was a
murderer and he abode not in truth because there was no truth in Him, and you
are his offspring, ye vipers, ye generations of serpents, who has warned you to
flee from the wrath that is to come.
Let us pray, Dear
Father forgive me for the anger I feel towards them that know your truth and
will not teach it, but will rather deny it and make up all forms of isms to
follow rather than to subject themselves to your truth and live. Help us father
to get our eyes off of all that say they believe, but rather help us to be only
focused upon you and your Word for we are Your Seed and the flesh of Your flesh
and the bone of Your bone, because we are filled with Your spirit. Therefore,
Father, help us to have a willing heart to repent of isms that may come our
way, and help us to look only to Thus Saith the Lord. Prepare our hearts for
the change of the body for we ask it in Jesus Christ’s name, Amen!!