Spoken Word no. 224
“Galatians 5”
“Entangled in the yoke of bondage”
Brian Kocourek, Pastor
February 5th, 2011
Instead of our reading the Scripture first, I would
that we bow our heads and pray first because I have a lot of Scripture to read,
and it would be better for you to follow in your bibles while sitting, instead
of standing through it. So let’s bow our heads in prayer before we eat this
heavenly manna which God has given for us this evening. …
Dear Father,
we wish to thank you for this heavenly manna which you sent down from Heaven,
this spiritual meat in due season, and we know that you came not to be seen but
rather to be revealed to us through your Spoken Word. And thus Faith cometh by
hearing and thus we come to hear. That is why we have come tonight Precious
Father, and we ask that you open our ears that we might hear what will help us
this evening to draw us closer to you and which will help us to be more
conformed to the Image of Your dear son than we were before coming tonight.
Grant this desire in Jesus Christ’s name we ask it, amen.
You may be seated…
Now, if you will open you Bibles
to the book of Galatians chapter 5:1 beginning
at verse one for our reading. “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ
hath made us free, and be not entangled
again with the yoke of bondage”. Now, why would the Apostle Paul be speaking
these words in a letter of instruction concerning the adoption of sons. Because
that is what this letter to the Galatians is all about. Instructing them as to
the way of adoption, the right, the passage, the nature of adopted sons. And he
is telling them that the spirit of adoption is not of fear but of a sound mind.
Now Romans chapter 8 and Galatians the entire book speaks of the adoption
of sons as well as the letter to the Ephesians. So in Romans 8: 15 Paul told us, For ye have not received the spirit of
bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we
cry, Abba, Father.
Now, back to Galatians 5:2 Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit
you nothing. 3 For I testify again to every man that is
circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. 4 Christ is become of no effect unto you,
whosoever of you are justified by the
law; ye are fallen from grace. 5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
(In other words, we wait for the earnest expectation of
right-wise-ness which will come by revelation. That is also what he taught us
in Ephesians 1:
17-20 concerning The spirit of Wisdom
and Revelation in the knowledge of God)
Now in moving forward with our text in Galatians 5:6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor
uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.
Now, we know that circumcision is a cutting off of
excess flesh, and if cutting off excess flesh doesn’t matter nor does it matter
if you do not cut it off, then what he is telling us is that it matters not how
great you can manifest in this body a certain obedience to the Law, what does matter
is that you have a true understanding or revelation concerning Your father and
your relationship to him, and this can only come in understanding the principle
of love, God’s Love and your Love for him, and not the principle of obedience in
itself because you can have an obedience which comes through fear or any other
pressure but that is not what God wants from us. God wants a love relationship
that compels you, and drives you on.
That is why Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5 that the Love of God constraineth us or compels us.
Not the law constraining or compelling us to obedience, but the love of God constraining and compelling us.
That is what the
Apostle Paul is trying to get across to us also in Romans 8:28-39 And
we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God, to
them who are the called according to his purpose. 29 For 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. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them
he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he
justified, them he also glorified. 31 What shall we
then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us
all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? 33 Who
shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.
34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also
maketh intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate
us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or
famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it
is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as
sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these
things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For
I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor
height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
So in getting back to Galatians 5:7 the Apostle Paul continued by
saying, Ye did
run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? 8 This persuasion cometh not of
him that calleth you. 9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
Now, This evening we will focus our thoughts and bring
together what Brother Branham said in The Spoken Word is The Original Seed and we will
pick up at paragraph 133 with what Paul is telling us in the book of Galatians
chapter 5. In
paragraph 133 brother Branham says, 133
Now, that's why we got all the things that we've got. Now, all these things I've said, if they don't jibe with the Bible, or
dovetail with God's Word, they're wrong. They're wrong.
And of course whatever it is that he is going to say
has to be right from this Bible. And this is where you will find me blasting
out many times against these pastors that act as thought they are a different
class from the people, and think that they are over the people as though they
are vindicated themselves and whatever they come up with the people have to
just swallow and go on with life. But that is complete hogwash in my books. It
is true this is the hour of
Now, these are two extremes, and the balance is that
the Word of God is our Absolute, and unless you can find what the preacher is
saying by this Word, then you had be very careful how you proceed with what was
said. Jesus Himself said, “you don’t have to believe me because I said it, but
the works that I do which no man can do, these bear witness of me, that God is
with me.” So unless you are vindicated by the very presence of God Himself with
Thus Saith the Lord, then your opinion is no better than the next guys opinion.
As brother Branham said here in paragraph 133 Now, all these things I've said, if they don't
jibe with the Bible, or dovetail with God's Word, they're wrong. They're wrong. And the
problem is that man y will even take a part of a thought that William Branham has said, and
they will run with it, instead of searching where to find it in the Bible so
they can line up the sites.
I like what Br. Billy Paul uses for his example, he
says, a gun has two sites, the front and back and if you try to shoot just
using one of them you will miss the target every time. And we have two sites to
use to validate what we are to believe is from God, we have the Message and we
have the Bible, and if we look at one of them without the other we will be
certain to miss the target.
We know the Godhead is the greatest example of this,
because we have Trinitarians using a few verses of Scripture to declare a false
worship of three God’s and the Unitarians who do the same thing. Yet the Truth
of God’s Revelation to us, the Doctrine of Christ must be seen from genesis to
Revelations or we do not have the Doctrine correct, and thus if we do not have
the Doctrine of Christ as John said, then we do not even have God and thus we
are not saying what he said.
I came across a quote the other night that the Oneness
in this Message use as there grounds for believing that Jesus is his own
Father. And Paul said in Galatians 5:1“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath
made us free, and be not entangled again
with the yoke of bondage”. And verse 7 Ye did run well;
who did hinder you (that means who did cut in on you) that ye should not
obey the truth? 8 This persuasion
cometh not of him that calleth you. It doesn’t come from God who
is the Word, therefore, You can’t find this which they use to hinder you in the
Word of God, and if you can not find it in Scripture then it doesn’t come from
God. 9 A
little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
So in getting back to our text from brother Branham’s
sermon, let’s look at it again and take it to the Scriptures. 133 Now, all these things I've said, if they don't
jibe with the Bible, or dovetail with God's Word, they're wrong. They're wrong. Now, this is
the same problem that the Apostle Paul had with the early church or at least
those imposters who called themselves brethren. Let’s pick up where we left off
in his letter to the Galatians and begin reading from
He begins in chapter
one teaching them that there are two seeds and thus two sons. Then in Chapter 2
he shows how that even among the church, the people who confess Jesus Christ
having come in the flesh, there still persisted those whose motives were wrong
and these men wished to control the others by a means of focusing on the flesh
and the perfection of the flesh as the route to son-ship. This Paul confirmed
to be contrary to Scripture.
These men were
religious imposters and in no way reflected the spirit of adoption. He
explained to them that they must crucify the flesh and the lusts thereof. And
that which we left behind when we accepted the sacrifice of the only begotten
of the Father, they wish to further entangle the believers into, namely the law
and legalism. .
In chapter three we
see where Paul began to show them that there inheritance is not a matter of
satisfying law, but rather it is a passage of sons, a right of birth by
obedience to the Father. In essence it is a nature and life in love with their
father and at liberty to be a son.
Then in chapter 4 we
see he distinguishes between different kind of sons, though having the same
father Isaac and Ishmael were under different covenants with there Father.
One was born out of an
act of the flesh, legal, and thus bound to the flesh, where as the other was
under a covenant that was by promise from God, and thus eternal.
Then understanding
that within these two covenants there are attributes and characteristics that
control the covenants, we see that one covenant gendered to bondage whereas the
other to a promise and thus is free.
Now, in chapter 5
we see there is a liberty in which we are to take our stand. 5:1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith
Christ hath made us free, and be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage. 2 Behold, I
Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. 3 For I testify again to every man that is
circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. 4 Christ is become of no effect unto you,
whosoever of you are justified by the
law; ye are fallen from grace. 5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of
righteousness by faith. 6 For
in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision;
but faith which worketh by love. 7 Ye did run well; who
did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? 8 This persuasion cometh not of him that
calleth you. 9 A little leaven
leaveneth the whole lump.
And if it doesn’t come from the God who does the
calling, then it can not be found in His Word either. Or at least it can not be
rightly divided in His Word. Therefore, this spirit that wishes to control and
influence you away from the Grace of God, comes down like some authority figure
and they use words like heresy, and damnable heresy and words of intimidation,
and that is what the even tried to do with Christ Jesus and Paul, but both
withstood them to their faces. We even find this same spirit controlling people
by fear even way back in the days when Jesus walked the
John
9:1 And
as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind
from his birth. 2 And
his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents,
that he was born blind? 3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the
works of God should be made manifest in him. 4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is
day: the night cometh, when no man can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the
world. 6 When he had thus spoken, he spat on
the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind
man with the clay,
7 And said unto him, Go, wash in the
pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way
therefore, and washed, and came seeing. 8 The neighbors
therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not
this he that sat and begged? 9 Some said, This is
he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he. 10 Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened? 11 He answered and said, A man that is called
Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of
Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight.
12 Then said they unto him, Where is he? He said, I know not. 13 They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was
blind. 14 And it was the sabbath day when Jesus
made the clay, and opened his eyes. 15 Then again the
Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said unto them, He
put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see. 16 Therefore
said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the
sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And
there was a division among them. 17 They say unto
the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes?
He said, He is a prophet. 18 But the Jews did not
believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and received his sight, until
they called the parents of him that had received his sight. 19 And
they asked them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? how then
doth he now see? 20 His parents answered them and
said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind:
21 But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath
opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself. 22 These
words spake his parents, because they feared the
Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was
Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore
said his parents, He is of age; ask him.
Now, let’s stop here for a moment and look at what has
just taken place. Here we see two parents that were not even permitted to enjoy
the miracle that God had just performed on their son who had been blind his
entire life, and suddenly can see for the first time. What caused this fear
that was placed upon these parents? Stupid Jealousy by those religious leaders
that were jealous of what Jesus was doing and saying. And what did they do s a
result of this jealousy? They used the power of the pulpit to hold down the
people, and keep them from seeking further light. They held down the people by causing them to fear being expelled
from the church for seeking out greater truth than what they wanted them to
know and understanding.
And isn’t that same devil still controlling the
churches today? Claiming to believe the Prophet of the hour and yet forbidding
the people they shepherd to examine the Doctrine that William Branham taught
concerning the Presence of Christ and the relationship between the Father and
His Son because it isn’t endorsed in their camp.
Now, I like the guts that this young man showed to
these Christ Rejecting Pharisees. He wasn’t going to down play what had just
taken place in his life for nothing. Let’s read it.
24. Then
again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this
man is a sinner. 25 He answered and said, Whether he be a
sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that,
whereas I was blind, now I see. 26 Then said they to him
again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes? 27 He
answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye
hear it again? will ye also be his disciples?
28 Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are
Moses' disciples. 29 We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we
know not from whence he is. 30 The man answered and
said unto them, Why herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence
he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes.
31Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper
of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. 32 Since
the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was
born blind. 33 If this man were not of God, he could do
nothing. 34 They answered and said unto him, Thou
wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him
out.
Oh, how that devil doesn’t like to be given back
scripture. He hates to be taught. He hates to be shown up by he Word of God.
But I love this man’s attitude. He saw what had just happened to his parents
and how they were coward into avoiding talking about this great thing that had
happened to their son. And I will bet that his righteous indignation flared up
at watching his parents being put on the spot and watching them in a way deny
this greatest thing that had happened in their family since he was born. So he
spoke up to these religious leaders and let them know that he wasn’t going to
be coward by their sharp tongues like his parents had just been treated. And he
took out the Sword of the Word and let them have it to the point that they
gnashed their teeth and kicked him out of the church. They excommunicated him
for disagreeing with the pastor, so to speak.
Now, I would like to know where in the Bible a man can
be put out of the church for disagreeing with the Pastor or the church elders.
There is a certain thing called church order and there is a way of dealing with
someone that is sows doubt. But for a person to say I disagree, then he ought
to be given an opportunity via the Word of God to show the pastor where he is
wrong.
Even brother Branham said, “You are obligated to come
to me if you know where I am teaching something that is not right according to
the Word.”
Jesus
Christ same 61-0516A P:73 Remember, search the
Scriptures. Bring your papers and take down the Scriptures that I quote. If they're not right, you're solemnly
obligated to come to me and show... I don't want to be wrong. But I'm not wrong as long as the Scripture says
it's so and God confirms it. A man can say anything he wants to; that's a
man. But when God speaks, dare anybody
to doubt it? It's eternal separation from His Presence forever.
So if a man comes in a right spirit to the pastor to
talk to the pastor on something the pastor said, and where he can show the
pastor by the Word where he disagrees with the pastor, or believes that the
pastor may have said something not exactly right according to the Scriptures,
if that pastor has the Holy Spirit he will take what is said to him, and check
it out himself by the Word. Then if the Lord gives him insight to where he was
wrong, then God receives the Glory. Now, if the Spirit of God can show the
Pastor other Scriptures which show he had it right, and where the man might be
off, then if the pastor has the right spirit he will in a spirit of meekness
set the brother straight by the Word of God and then God receives the Glory.
But if a man comes to a pastor believing the pastor
may have strayed from the Word, and can show him so, and the pastor tries to
use his title as a means of lording over that man, that shows that pastor has
slipped from Grace.
If a man comes humbly to the pastor and the pastor
gets all riled up and threatens to excommunicate that person, then that shows
the pastor is off the Word Himself and has fallen from Grace.
And so, for all of you believers out there that have
been threatened with being excommunicated from your church, don’t you worry, as
soon as Jesus heard that this man was excommunicated from the church for
identifying with Him, he came to that man, and He will come to you too, for
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.
Notice in verse 35 we read, Jesus
heard that they had cast him out;
and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?
36 He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?
37 And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both
seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. 38 And
he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him. 39 And
Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that
they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
40 And some of the
Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we
blind also? 41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye
should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.
Jesus said in Matthew 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye
shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves,
neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
In other words
they stand in the way of those entering to go in.
The Apostle Paul said the same thin in Romans 1:18 For the wrath of
God is revealed from heaven against all un-godlike-ness and un-right-wise-ness
of men, who hold down the truth in unrighteousness; Now that word
hold down comes from the Greek word katecho which means to hold down or to with
hold the truth from.
And let’s face it, the seed of the serpent do not want
the truth to be taught. Because in John 8:37 Jesus told the Christ Rejecting
religious leaders, “The reason you can not hear the truth of the Word is
because there is no place for the Word of God in them.”
And then in verse 43 Jesus said, 43 Why do ye not
understand my speech? even
because ye cannot hear my word. 44 Ye
are of your father
the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the
beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When
he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of
it. 45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. 46 Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the
truth, why do ye not believe me? 47 He
that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of
God.
Now that reminds me of a story I read in a book years
ago. The story was in a book entitled, “THE
DEVIL IN THE CHURCH AND HS SNARES LAID TO DESTROY OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS
copyright 1902. The article was called “Enough
Scripture to Poison a Parish”. And the story goes like this. A little girl, being asked by a priest to
attend his religious instruction, refused, saying it was against her father’s
wishes. The priest said she should obey him, not her father. “Oh, sir, we are
taught in the Bible, ‘honor Thy Father and thy Mother.’” “You have no business
to read the Bible,” said the priest. “But sir, our Savior said, ‘Search the
Scriptures’ ” (John 5:39) “That was only to the Jews, and not to
children, and you don’t understand it,” said the priest in reply. “But, sir, Paul said to Timothy, ‘From a
child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures,’ ” Tim 3:15)
“Oh’” Said the priest, “Timothy was
being trained to be a bishop and taught by the authorities of the church.” “oh, no, sir,” said the child, “he was taught
by his mother and grandmother.” On this the priest turned her away, saying she
“knew enough of the Bible to poison a parish.”
And so we see where that spirit comes from that would
try to control the people through fear rather than through teaching them the
truth of the Scriptures, and letting them make up their own minds concerning
the Scriptures.
The Apostle Paul said in 2
Corinthians 4:2 1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we
have received mercy, we faint not; 2 But have renounced the hidden things of
dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor
handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's
conscience in the sight of God.
3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the
minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of
Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. 5 For
we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants
for Jesus' sake. 6 For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that
the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
I like the way the
And the Wuest
translation says, “we
have renounced the hidden things of shame, not ordering the manner of our lives
in the sphere of craftiness, nor even adulterating the Word of God [by an
admixture of error], but by means of an open declaration of the truth
commending ourselves to every variety of the conscience on men in the sight of
God.”
The problem we have today, even among us in this
Message, is that the people in the
churches do not judge others by what kind of Life they are living before God,
but rather they are judged by whether or not they are loyal to the “powers that
be” in the church. Even brother Branham said this.
From his sermon, “Thinking Man's Filter” 65-0822E
P:32 Brother Branham
said, “No, she isn't a thinking woman. If she was
thinking she'd know the church isn't going to judge her at the last day. The church is judging her now by her
membership, her loyalty to the circles that she belongs to and the
societies. They're judging her now by that. But God's going to judge her at the
last day. So she isn't thinking.”
So stand firm with the Word of God, and don’t worry
about what the leadership in that church will say to you. What you should worry
about is what God is going to say to you if you do not stand for what He has
revealed to you.
Those poor parents that were afraid to take a stand
for what was right. I feel sorry for those poor people who were coward by those
religious leaders who held down the people and kept them back from entering in.
And I am sorry to say, but if they did not have enough manhood to stand up
against those religious leaders, that is
their problem.
From Proving His Word 64-0816 P:85 brother
Branham said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but
by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." What? How does he
live? "By, well, if you'll just take some of God's Word, he'll live?"
Now, that wasn't what He said. Did you notice "e-v-e-r-y- every
Word"? How does he live? "Oh, he eats in there?" No, he's dying
fast, that's flesh. "Well, he, oh, he belongs to church; he believes
everything but That?" He's still dead. Do you get it? "He can only
live by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the high priest? the
bishop? the cardinal? the pastor?" God. Every Word that proceedeth out of
the mouth of God. How do we know it's God's Word? He says so, then He proves
It. He proves His Word. Notice. Then if that be so, your confession will not
make you live. Your church membership will not make you live. Notice, by His
Word only, not just one Word misplaced. No one shall... One word killed the
human race. In the Bible in Revelation 22, one word will still kill the whole
thing; his name will be taken from the Book of Life. "Whosoever shall add
one word, or take one Word." Not one word, not... No, I mean, not--not two
words, just one word, not one sentence; one word, one word. Oh, people, do you
understand?
So when any religious leader tells you that “you’ve got to believe what they say just
because they say so, and after all they are a five fold minister so you’ve got
to believe them.” Let me tell you that, that is so childish and shallow
that it’s thinner than the broth made out of a chicken that starved to death.
You don’t have to believe so just because your pastor tells you to believe
something. You believe it because God’s Word says so.
And so any ministry that used fear to control you is
not of God. We are promised by God Himself that He has not given us a spirit of
fear but a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1: 7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear;
but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Therefore if you fear man more than you fear
God, then you haven’t got what God said he would give to you.
In 1 John 4:18 we read, There is no fear in love; but
perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath a penalty. He that feareth is
not made perfect in love. And the penalty of fear is that when you fear, you
begin to freeze, and you stop moving
forward with God, and what God is bringing you into.
Fear is a dangerous tool of the devil, because it has
a penalty. When a person is afraid they become bound by those fears. We read in
1 John 4.
That perfect or
mature Love will cast out fear because fear has a penalty, it has to
do with your freezing and crystallizing in your thinking. You see, in the Bible
we read of where Joseph was engaged to marry Mary, but when he found her to be
pregnant, even though she told him how it happened, that God Himself
overshadowed her, yet his fear stopped him, and he was privately mindful to put
her away. In other words the penalty of fear caused him to stop the plans that
he had to marry her. Joseph feared that Mary had not been faithful, and because
of that fear he made plans to stop the marriage.
So God sent His Angel to Joseph, and told him, “fear
not” to take Mary as His Wife. What had fear done to Joseph? It caused him to
doubt that God wanted him to marry Mary. And it caused him to stop moving
forward with the plan of God for his life.
Luke
21: 25-27 25 And
there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon
the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; 26 Men's hearts failing
them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the
earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. 27 And then shall they see the Son
of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 And when these things begin to
come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth
nigh.
Notice the Scriptures tells us that men will see
things that will bring on perplexity which is doubt and anxiety feeling they will have no way of
escape, and then what follows? Fear, then fear follows shortly thereafter.
In 1 Kings 18:21 Elijah said to the people, how halt ye between
two opinions? How long will you be lame and stopped in your forward
movement? AMPLIFIED VERSION: How long will you be halt and limp between two opinions? NIV: How long will you
waver between two opinions? NAS How long will you hesitate between these two opinions? So you see that fear will cause great damage
in your walk with God because it causes you to stop your moving forward with
him. And you know, according to 1 John 7: “if you walk in the Light and He is in the Light, you not only
have fellowship with one another but the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses you
from all your sin.
Therefore, as long as you are walking your sins are covered
and you are having fellowship with the One Who is in the Light. But what if you
stop walking with Him. And you will if you let your fears take control of you.
Therefore, any ministry that puts the people into a state of fear is not from
God.
Did you know there are 62
times in the Bible we are told “fear not”. And it
seemed every time the angel of the Lord comes on the scene he would say, “fear
not”. So I say again, that any ministry that tries to control you through fear,
or through the fear of excommunication is a spirit from hell.
From paragraph 233 Anointed Ones at the End-Time 65-0725M "For it is impossible for those which were once
enlightened and didn't move on with the Word as it come to pass..."
They're dead, gone. And if fear
causes you to stop, then it will also kill you spiritually.
Notice, that in Genesis 19:26
In paragraph 82 Israel in the
Home Land 53-0329 brother Branham said, And now, the first
thing you know, the Pillar of Fire has begin to move again. But Pentecost is so organized, it can't go.
It was so organized, crystallized until
it can't go. That's right. That's true. But the Pillar of Fire is moving out, brother, and there's people that's
going with It. Hallelujah. We're bound for the promised land. Yes, sir.
In paragraph 63 of
his Message You
Must Be Born Again 61-1231 brother Branham said, No life in the serpent, it was absolutely crystallized. That
was the penalty..
From Anointed Ones At
the End-Time 65-0725M brother Branham said, Notice! Come up to
the borderline and quit. Pp.195 Going to their
home, and when they come up to the place to cross over, they doubted the
Word!........What happened? They perished in the wilderness. They stayed right there and organized
themselves, and died, every one
of them,........ pp.198 "Where the carcass
is there will the eagles be gathered...... Where
the fresh meat is, the Word of the Season, there the eagles will gather."
But after it's rotten, then the vultures
will swarm to it. See, see? See what I mean? When a kill 's made here comes
the eagles, but after it lays there and rotten, then here come the vultures.
The eagles won't have nothing to do with it. Jesus said, "Where the carcass is, where the manna fell, the night
the manna falls fresh, there the eagles will gather for it." That's
the manna for the day. See? Pp.214 Notice! But after it gets rotten, maggots get in it, then here comes the vultures.
They can't smell it till it gets rotten. Pp.215 Said, "I AM sent me." I AM, not I was, or will
be, I AM, present tense, the Word now. Not the Word that was or Word that will
come, the Word that's now. pp. 219 Now, you go back and try to live again --go
back after that old shuck's dried up, ever go back and live in it again? It
never does. "For
it is impossible for those which were once enlightened and didn't move on with
the Word as it come to pass...
They're dead, gone”
The apostle Paul said in Romans 8: 15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage
again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry,
Abba, Father.
And in 2 Tim 1: 7 Paul
said, For God hath not given us the spirit of fear;
but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
True
sign that's overlooked 61-1112 P:130 What good does your membership do you? If you haven't got an
inheritance in heaven, forget about it.
Thinking
man's filter 65-0822E P: 36 The church filter gets the
membership and things like that when they let them get through with anything
and still belong to the church, they get more members. What if we went to the churches tonight and filtered everybody out
besides those who was genuine Word born Christians. There'd be a many a
blank sermon up against a wall tonight. True. 'Cause it went through the
Filter. And if I've got one desire in my heart, and I hope that everybody
listening to me has the same thing: God, take me through Your Filter. And as
David said, "Try me, and prove me, and see if there be any evil in me,
then take it out, Lord." See? I want God's Filter. Don't care what the
world does, what the church has, I want to be a thinking man, to think Who I'm
going to be standing by one of these days for judgment.
What
is the attraction? 65-0725E P:14 The people of that day, what
they called that day, "a better religious class of people," hated Him. The churches of that day hated Him and denounced Him, and denounced
all that listened to Him. And if they went and attended His campaigns, they were immediately excommunicated
from the fellowship of the church. No wonder the Scripture said, "He came
unto His Own, and His Own received Him not." The ones who ought to have
loved Him, the ones who ought to have been for Him, was His bitterest enemy.
This
day this scripture 65-0219 P:16 Now, how could those people ever fail to see
Who He was? How did they ever miss it? How could it be when it was so plainly
made known and showed? How could they ever miss seeing when He... What a Word.
Think of it. "This day is this Scripture fulfilled before your eyes."
Who said it? God Himself, Who is the Interpreter of His own Word. "This
day is this Scripture fulfilled." The
Messiah, Himself, standing in the presence of the congregation and reading a
word out of the Bible pertaining to Himself, and then saying, "Today this
Scripture is fulfilled," and they still failed to see It. What a
tragedy that that would be, but it's happened. It's happened many times. How
could it happen? Of course, like it did in other times, by believing man's
interpretation of the Word. That's what caused it. Those believers in them days
(so-called believers) was taking the
interpretation of what the priest had said about the Scripture. Therefore
Jesus, not belonging to any of their ranks or their societies, He was
excommunicated from their company. And therefore, they could not identify Him
with them, because He was different from them. The Person of Jesus Christ was
so unique that no one should've missed seeing that that was the Son of God,
because He was a perfect identification of the Scripture that was wrote of Him.
That's the way any Christian is known: when his life identifies the very things
that the Christian's supposed to do.
Recognizing
your day 64-0726M P:61 So did Nathanael, a great
Hebrew. When he saw that sign of the Messiah that was promised there, no matter
how many priests, how many anything else... What did it do? It disturbed the
priests to see them people leaving the churches and going. He said, "If any of you attend his meeting,
you'll be excommunicated. We'll put you right out of the denomination."
So is it today. "We'll put you out of our
organization if you attend his meeting." Remember the blind man?
The father and mother couldn't even answer. They was afraid because they said
anybody that went to see Jesus or attended His meetings, they would be
excommunicated. But that blind man could speak for himself. He that was once
blind could then see. I who was once blind can now see. I who didn't know these
things, it's been made known to me by the Holy Spirit. Turn loose denominations,
because they're coming anyhow.
7 Ye
did run well; who did hinder you that ye should not obey the truth? 8 This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you. 9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole
lump. And this leaven that leavens a whole lump we will look
further into tomorrow morning. Let us pray…