Spoken Word no. 234
“Predestined in the body”
Brian Kocourek, Pastor
March 20th, 2011
Let us stand for the reading of the Word. If you would
open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 28.
Matthew 28:1 In the end of the sabbath, as
it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the
other Mary to see the sepulchre. 2 And, behold,
there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven,
and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon
it. 3 His countenance was
like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: 4 And
for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. 5 And
the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. 6 He is not here: for
he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 7 And
go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold,
he goeth before you into
Now, skip ahead to
verse 16 Then
the eleven disciples went away into
Let us pray…
Dear Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ, we as sons and
daughters come to you this morning with a desire to know Thee better, and to
know of your Son Jesus, our eldest brother and how it is that all Power had
been given unto Him. For we know that you alone hold all the power in both
heaven and in earth. Therefore, this mystery spoken from the Lips of your son
Jesus moves us to want to learn, because we know that He was the Spoken Word
given unto Mary, and that Spoken Word was the original Seed, and in that seed
laid all the Life for all the other sons of God. So help us this morning Father
to know these things, so that we might conduct ourselves as Sons and daughters
of the Living God, for we ask it in Jesus Christ’s name, your eldest son in a
vast family of brothers. Amen… You may be seated.
Now, in studying to better understand what Jesus meant
when he said, “all power is given unto me,” let us go to brother Branham’s
sermon on the Spoken Word is the Original Seed, for our answer.
This morning we will begin our reading from paragraph
162 where brother Branham says, 162 “Now, the power of the believing church: Christ has all power in heavens and earth.
You believe that? Then what if He's in
you? Has Christ got all power? Matthew 28:18.
All
right. He is the Seed Word in His
Body, and He in us becomes the Seed Word in us. What, “all that God was, He poured into Christ,
and all Christ was, was poured into the
church; that's the power.
Now, there are two statements that we have read this
morning that have puzzled many iwho have read them or heard them. And being a
puzzle, we will not line them up right, or as Paul said, We will not rightly
divide them, if we do not place them where they out to be placed. Therefore, we
must understand where they are to be rightly placed or else “we will have the cow eating grass up in the
tree” when we see this puzzle.
Now, the first statement concerns what Jesus said,
that “all power was given unto him”. This
statement is where the Trinitarian and Oneness have both used to prove their
theologies concerning the Godhead, and we know that William Branham vindicated
prophet of God said they are both wrong.
There are only two places in Scripture where the
phrase “all power” is used and we can see them in the following Scriptures.
Matthew
28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven
and in earth.
2
Thessalonians 2: 9 Even him, whose coming is after the working
of Satan with all power and signs
and lying wonders,
Now, in the first scripture we see that Jesus Himself
is making the statement about what God has done for him after his resurrection.
He says, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in
earth.” Now, this word power that he is using here was
translated from the Greek word “exousia” which does not mean power
in terms of miracle working power, but in the sense of ability it means
privilege, authority, or token of control. Now, we all know what a token is, a “token”
is “something that represents something
else. When you have a token for the bus it means you have paid for the ticket.
A token is Something serving as an
indication, a proof, or an expression of something else; a sign: “2. Something that signifies
or evidences authority, validity, or identity:”
So no matter what way you slice it, Jesus was not
speaking of power in the sense of the word as we would speak of power in the
English language. But he was totally speaks of authority that was given to him.
And if it was given to him, then it is a gift from another who holds the
control of that power.
Now, the Oneness use this Scripture to say, that if
Jesus was given all power, then he has to be God because there is no more power
if it was all given to him. But that is pure nonsense from the understanding of
the word “exousia”. If someone is given authority, that only means they
are given this representation by one who is greater than they.
The word authority means: The power to enforce laws, exact obedience, command, determine, or
judge. b. One that is invested with this power, especially by a
government or government officials: And if this person was invested it
means that they were endowed by another.
Now, on the other hand the other scripture we read
that speaks of all power speaks of the antichrist who comes with all “dunamis” which is miracle working power.
2
Thessalonians 2: 9 Even him, whose coming is after the working
of Satan with all power (all dunamis) and signs and lying wonders,…
So to use the argument that Jesus was given all power
so there is no power left is totally none scriptural. Because Jesus never did
claim to have power, he claimed to be obedient to His Father who Had all power.
And so the deception is that one will come showing signs of having this great
power when in respect to the Word will be totally off the Word.
Now, the other statement that they seem to run off
with, with a wrong understanding in this Message is where brother Branham said,
“all that God was, He poured into Christ, and all Christ was, was poured into the church;
that's the power.”
Now
that is the statement we just read a few minutes ago. And if a person is not
careful, he will find himself running with that statement and building up a
heresy that will place them as equal with God, just like satan tried to do in
the beginning.
But if we read his statement in it’s entirety, we will
see that he was not pointing to power but to that which comes through the seed,
which is the very life itself.
Let’s read it again in it’s entirety…paragraph 162 “Now, the
power of the believing church: Christ
has all power in heavens and earth. You believe that? Then what if He's in you? Has Christ got all power? Matthew 28:18. All right. He is the
Seed Word in His Body, and He
in us becomes the Seed Word in us.
What, “all that God was, He poured into
Christ, and all Christ was, was
poured into the church; that's the power.
You see that is exactly
Now, when John said, For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he
given to the Son to have life in himself; 27 And hath given him authority (that’s
exousia) to
execute judgment... The Greek word that was translated here as “execute” was translated from the word “Poieo”,
which means first abide in and to agree
with, and then to appoint execute, exercise or fulfill or perform.
So we see by the very words that Jesus used Himself
that this “exousia” that God gave Him, this “authority”
God gave him, came to Him when God gave him God-Life. Because being a Son of
The Judge, He became one with The Judge and thus one with the judgments of the
supreme Judge.
Then when that God-Life lived itself out in the son,
it showed that he abode or lived in the very judgments of the Judge, and thus was given
authority to exercise the judgments that God gave Him or to express through his
Life the very judgments of God.
And that is what the 5th chapter of John is all about. Notice in John 5: 22For
the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed
all judgment unto the Son: John 5: 24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that
heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and
shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. John 5: 27 And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is
the Son of man. John 5:
30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will
of the Father which hath sent me.
In other words, he was dependent upon the Doxa of God.
That is what the Doxa of God is all about. It is His Values, His Opinions and
His judgments. In other words having the very mind that is in God and
expressing that mind to the world. To examine this further let’s turn in our
Bibles to
John
17:1 These
words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour
is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: Notice what Jesus is saying here. He is saying, Father, the hour is
come; Doxazo thy son that Thy Son may doxazo Thee. Now, the Greek
suffix “azo” that was added to the Greek word Doxa is used here to
augment the word “doxa.” That means Jesus was saying, Father let your “Doxa” (Let your opinion, your values,
and your judgments) manifest themself in me in a way that will increase
itself in the sight of men. In grammar
the suffix “azo” indicates an increase or magnification in the size, force, or
intensity of the meaning of an adjacent word.
So what we see by this is that Jesus wanted so much to
reflect the Father in every way, whether it be through his thoughts, actions or
speech, and he wanted it to be done in a way that was very visible for everyone
see the Father through Him. So we see that the root word doxa means the opinion
values and judgment, and they speak of the fathers opinions, values, and
judgments. And so when Jesus added the suffix “azo” to the word doxa,
in asking the father to endoxazo him, he was asking the father to magnify the
opinions and values and judgments of the Father through him. To be God’s
magnifying glass for the world to look through to see very closely the image of
God Himself. To magnify which means to put the light upon in a way, that when
closely examined it will bear the exact image of the Father.
Verse 2 As
thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God,
and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
4 I have glorified thee on the earth: (I have manifested and thus magnified Your Opinions, Your values, and Your
judgments on earth.) I have finished the work which thou gavest me
to do. 5 And now, O Father, glorify
(doxazo) thou me (magnify in me) with thine own self with the glory (opinion, values, and
judgment) which I
had with thee before the world was. 6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which
thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word. 7 Now
they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are
of thee. 8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me;
and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou
didst send me.9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for
them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
10 And
all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified (doxazo) in them. (The
opinions, the values, the judgments that you gave me to manifest and magnify on
earth I have given to them and they have also manifested and magnified your
Doxa in them.)
11 And now I am no more in the
world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep
through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they
may be one, as we are. 12 While I was with them in the world, I kept
them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is
lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. 13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak
in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in
themselves.
14 I
have given them thy word; (Jesus did not give us His own Word, He gave us God’s
Word.) and the
world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as
I am not of the world. 15 I pray not that thou should take them
out of the world, but that thou should keep them from the evil. 16 They
are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify
them through thy truth: thy word is truth. 18 As
thou hast sent me into the world, even
so have I also sent them into
the world. 19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they
also might be sanctified through the truth. 20 Neither
pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on
me through their word; 21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father,
art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
Now, here is the key
to understand all of this and how that we become One with God even as or in the
same manner that Jesus became One with the Father. He says in verse 22 And
the “glory”(the opinions, the values, the judgments) which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one;
and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved
them, as thou hast loved me. (Notice that the very word God gave to Jesus, the
very opinions, values, and judgments God gave to His first born son, The first
born son has given to us so that we might also be one with the Father in the
same way He was one with the Father. That is one of the most beautiful things I
have ever heard. He could have held it to himself, but Eternal Life could never
do that. Eternal life is living for others, not for self.)
That is why we see him say in St. John 5:19 and 5:30 the son can of Himself do nothing, whatsoever the
Father doeth, that the son doeth likewise. And in John 12: 49 Jesus said, For I have not spoken
of myself; but the Father which
sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.
And he did exactly what his
father wanted him to do and say to show he loved his father. That was his
motive for complete obedience to his Father. That’s what he said in John 14: 31 But that
the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me
commandment, even so I do.
And so the doxa God gave Him he manifested and
magnified showing his Love for the Father, and thus when we do and say what He
has commanded us to do and say, it also will who our love for him and for the
Father as well. And so the great Love that the Father had for him, he will also
have for us.
That is what Jesus said in John 14: 21 He that hath my commandments, (he that echoes my
commandments) and
keepeth them, he it is that loveth me:
and he that loveth me shall be loved of
my Father, and I will love him,
and will manifest myself to him.
And then we know that for
God to so love us that He would openly declare Himself to us, this is our
greatest expectation we could have in this life. To so love our Father and
eldest Brother that all we do act or think is for one purpose and that is to
manifest and magnify the opinion, the values, and the judgments of our Father
as our eldest brother did before us.
John 12: 50 And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I
speak.
Wouldn’t you love to have that testimony? To do as
your father shows you, to speak as He tells you what to say. To let go of your
own will and receive His Will?
And yet God did not force it
upon His son to be this way, no more than he has forced it upon you or I to be
like Him. The Father left it entirely up to His son how he was going to handle
the responsibility of the role that he had given him to do. Jesus said in
So God left it up to
him. He gave him the role to play in the family, but did not force that role on
his son. And God will never force you to do His will either. Either you have
the heart to want to do his will or you do not. The problem we have is that our
focus is not on what would please our Father but what would please ourselves.
And that is why we flounder and struggle and have our ups and downs.
Jesus continued in
his prayer to His father, 24 Father, I will that they also,
whom thou hast given me, be with me
where I am; that they may behold my
glory, (that they may behold my
opinion, my values, my judgments and notice) which thou hast given me: (not mine alone, but my
opinion and my values, and my judgments that I received from you Father.
Therefore, that they may see you father in Me. That is what Jesus wanted most
of all.) for thou
lovedst me before the foundation of the world. 25 O
righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and
these have known that thou hast sent me. 26 And I
have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in
them.
You see it was all about the Love of God that Jesus
had so much of that he wanted for us to have it as well. Why do you think he
went to the cross for you and me? It was love that led him there. Why do you
think William Branham traveled so much and sacrificed his own life and family
to serve the children of God? It was because he had so much love for his Father
that as Paul said, “The love of God constraineth us.”
Now, this is the hour for our coming of age. This is the hour to see what
Love we have for God in our hearts. This is the hour to see how much we love
the brethren.
Please turn with me to 2 Thessalonians 1:7 and
we will see this for ourselves, that this is the hour that we are to be endoxazo with Christ in the same
Glory, the same Opinion, the same values, the same judgment as he manifested
and magnified to the world.
7 And
to you who are troubled rest with us,
when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
Now,
is this not the hour that he came down with a Shout, with seven angels forming
a white wig as the supreme judge? 8 In
flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the
gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from
the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; 10 When he shall come to be glorified in
his saints, and to be admired in
all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in
that day. 11 Wherefore also we pray always for you,
that our God would count you worthy
of this calling, and fulfill all the
good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: 12 That
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be
glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the
Lord Jesus Christ.
That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may
be en-doxazo in you, and ye in him.
There you are, Christ
in you, the Hope of Glory, the hope of the values, the opinions, and the judgments
of God in you. And this is the hour that God has set forth to see Himself in
His children.
From his sermon, Communion 57-0418 P:14 Brother Branham said, “Now,
if God did not spare His Own Son from the cruel testing, then He will not spare
you or I from the cruel testing. And Jesus was here confronting the greatest
test that He had ever had. Gethsemane laid just before Him, where that once and
final all-sufficient test must come, when the burdens of the entire world laid
upon His blessed shoulder. There was no one in all heavens or earth could ever
stood it but Him. And to know that all of the sins, of past sins, and present
sins, and future sins, rested upon this decision. And it was one of the most
greatest victories that Christ ever won or proved His great Messiahship, as
when He said to God, "Not
My will; Thine be done." That was the greatest victory He
had ever won. All the demons of torment was around to tempt Him and try Him. And
when we get right with God, when our hearts become pure and the Holy Spirit has
taken Its place in our heart, it's the most glorious thing to have testing. The
Bible tells us that our testings and trials are more precious to us than silver
and gold of this world. So we are--should be thankful.”
Paradox: 61-1210 253 Jesus
did the works of His Father because the
Father was in Him. That's why the works was done, because that the Father was in the Son. Do you
believe that? That in Him, He was the incarnate God. Do you
believe that? That God the Father, which
is the Father of Jesus Christ, the Great Spirit dwelt in the fullness
of His power in Jesus Christ, which was the Tabernacle of God, made
flesh and dwelt on earth, representing the Word.
Paradox:
61-1210 315 I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God,
born of a virgin, conceived, God in
a womb, a Tabernacle in which He
would dwell in.
I believe that, in Christ, He is
the incarnate God. He is God made
flesh. When the Father God came into Jesus Christ, He was the Fullness
of the Godhead bodily; in
Him dwells all the Fullness. God the Father spoke the Words. Jesus said,
"It's not Me that speaks, but My
Father that dwells in Me. He does the speaking."
Conference
60-1125 43 Now, Moses cried to the Lord and the Lord
said, "Rise up and go forward." And when Moses went right straight
and stepped his foot into the water, when that taken place, the Red Sea opened
back, and Israel crossed over to a great victory. They had a conference. That's
the way we always have to do, is have conferences. Now, I want to speak of
another one right quick. There was a conference. There's many of them we could
speak of, but let's just not pass this one by. There was a
Now, not understanding how all that was in the father
he poured into the son, and aal that was in the son was poured into the church has
caused some great heresies to be taught by some preachers in this Message. They
say that “all
that was in God was poured into Christ, and all that was in Christ was poured
into the church, and what they conclude or at least those listening
to them so conclude is that there is no more God and there is no more Jesus Christ
The Son of God, and now there remains only what God there is in the church. And
that is heresy, total heresy.
That
statement that William Branham said in no way takes God off the scene nor does
it do away with the Son of God in any way, shape or form.
What it means is what brother Branham defines it to
mean in the very next words out of his mouth. Let’s read paragraph 162 AND 163
TOGETHER TO GET THE FULL MEANIN OF WHAT IS BEING SAID. 162 “Now, the power of the believing
church: Christ has all power in heavens
and earth. You believe that? Then
what if He's in you? Has Christ got
all power? Matthew 28:18. All right.
He is the Seed Word in His Body,
and He in us becomes the Seed Word in us. What, “all that God was, He poured into Christ,
and all Christ was, was poured into the
church; that's the power. 163 Now, watch. Remember God's law of reproduction. Now, remember, after its kind. Is that right? The
Seed of Christ, the Word, must come through His body.
Notice that he is telling us that all that was in God,
and he is speaking of God-Life here. All that was in God He poured into His
firstborn son, Jesus the Christ.
So now you have Two vessels with God-Life, the Father first
who is the author of God Life, and then the son. Then all that was in that
vessel called the Son of God, was poured into another vessel called the Church,
which is also called the body of Christ. So now you have three vessels with
God-Life. God Himself Who is the author of Life, then the First born son who
received all that was in the Father.
He received every attribute and characteristic that
was God, becoming the image of God as Paul said in Hebrews 1:3. The Body of Christ, the
church, however has the in each member a measure only. There is not in each
member the fullness any more than in each of my hands or feet would have the
entire attributes that make up me. Each member has a portion, so when you speak
of the body of Christ universally there is more in the entire body than there
is in any one member of it.
In me that is in my body I have all the attributes and
characteristics that is me. It defines who I am. But in my children one has certain
attribute and another has other attributes, but none of them has all my
attributes, so none of them could be me. But in a measure they express me, and in
certain ways that they speak or act they are reflecting me.
But notice right after brother Branham speaks of this
passing down from God to His Son to His church, he then let’s us know that he
is speaking of the life itself. For in the very next paragraph he says, 163 Now, watch. Remember God's law of reproduction.
Now, remember, after its kind. Is
that right? The Seed of Christ, the
Word, must come through His body. (Ah, are you getting tired? All
right, just a minute now. Let's just hold quiet and pray.) I want to get this
in real good. I want this to grind down. The Seed of Christ must (m-u-s-t),
must come through His Body, not
through a denomination, but through a
born again Seed of the Word: must come through. Now, remember, what is it? Christ's Seed... How does my seed
come? Through the body. How does the
apple tree seed come? Through the body.
Seed is through the body, and the church is the body of Christ (Is
that right?), the Bible church. This birth produces (That's the new birth.) Himself in body. His church is His Word, so that people can see the confirmation of Hebrews 13:8:
"Jesus
Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever." You believe it? These are not denominational hybrids
now. This is those that's in the orbit waiting for the countdown (you know what
I mean), fixing to take a rocket. Glory. These are not denominational hybrids;
not standing in here, they're not. No, sir, it's the Seed. And how does God’s Word come
through the body? In the way we speak, and act and think. For we are in the
hour when He is come to be endoxazo in his church.
2 Thessalonians 1:10 When he shall come to be glorified in
his saints, and to be admired in
all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in
that day. 11 Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, (what calling? The calling to manifest and magnify his
doxa in our body) and fulfill all the good pleasure of his
goodness, and the work of faith with
power: 12 That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in
him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us pray… Dear
father, I just have no other words to say this morning, but I thank you for
what you have given to us to understand, that as you left it up to Jesus
whether he was going to step into His calling, so you have left it up to us
whether we are going to step into ours. And this calling you have called us to
in to be conformed to the image of your first born son so that we might in our
bodies manifest and magnify thy name to this world. Grant this to us for we ask
it in Jesus Christ’s name, your beloved son who has already shown us how it is
to be done. Amen.