Spoken Word no. 252
“Correctly dedicated to the
Word”
Brian Kocourek, Pastor
May 22nd, 2011
In Paragraph 192 of the Spoken Word is the Original
Seed afternoon message, brother Branham speaks of the dedication of the prophet
that is to come in this last days.But he speaks of more than mere dedication,
he says this one will be correctly dedicated to the Word of God.
Let’s read it as we turn to paragraph 192 He will be correctly dedicated to the Word as they have always been; indicated by God's Word--and a-vindicated.
God will vindicate what he preaches to be the Truth as He did Elijah; for it is
Elijah coming, making ready for the
Now, I would like to take our thoughts this morning
to this thought he said here, He will be correctly dedicated to the Word as they have always been; indicated by
God's Word--and a-vindicated.
Notice
in speaking of this prophet he said he will not only be indicated, which means
that the Scriptures will plainly speak of this ministry, but he says, he will
also be vindicated which means God will back up this ministry by His very
presence.
Now,
that would be a very nice study to take on that subject alone, but for this
morning, let’s focus our thoughts on the fact of this one being dedicated
correctly to the Word of God.
Now,
for us to understand this first let’s look at the definition of he word
dedicated as in dedicate or dedication.
ded·i·cat·ed
( dµd“¹-k³”t¹d) adj. 1. Wholly committed
(that means committed 100%, or as jesus said, with your whole heart soul, and strength) to a
particular course of thought or action; devoted:
Now, compare this to the word con·se·crate, v. tr. con·se·crat·ed
con·se·crat·ing con·se·crates 1. To declare or
set apart as sacred:
We find brother Branham speaking on this in his
sermon, The Hour And Message Of Preparation P:4 5-6
29 Now, in the old Tabernacle, there might not be one person
present this morning that was there the day of the dedication, when Major
Ulrich played the music, and I stood behind three crosses here to dedicate the
place. I would not permit anybody... The
ushers stood at the door to see that nobody talked. When you done your talking
outside, you come in. If you desired to, silently you come to the altar and prayed silently. You walked back
to your seat, opened up the Bible. What your neighbor done, that was up to him.
You had nothing to say. If you want to talk to him, say, "I'll see him outside. I'm in here to
worship the Lord." You read His Word or set quietly.6-1 30 And then the music--Sister Gertie, I don't
know whether she's here this morning or not, Sister Gibbs. The old piano, I
believe, set back in this corner the best of my remembrance. And she would play softly, "Down at the
cross where my Savior died," some real sweet soft music, and then until it come time for the service,
and the song leader got up and led a
couple of congregational songs, and then if they had some outstanding solo,
they sang it, but never just a bunch of carrying on. And then the music
continually played, and then when I heard that, I knowed it was my time to come
out. When a minister walks into a
congregation of people praying in the anointing of the Spirit, you're bound to
hear from heaven. That's just all. There's
no way to keep from it. But if you walk into confusion, then you're so confused, the Spirit's grieved. We don't want
that, no. We want to come here to
worship. We have lovely homes that I'm going to speak about just in a
minute and so forth at home, where we visit our friends and take them. This is the house of the Lord.
Again from his sermon, Love Is The Life Expressed P:13 Now,
there is nothing wrong in boasting about Christ. Or what God has done for you.
Or even boasting about others. That is a good thing. The apostle Paul said, in 2
Corinthians 9: 2 For I know the forwardness of
your mind, for which I boast of you to them of Macedonia, that Achaia was ready
a year ago; and your zeal hath provoked very many. And again the Apostle Paul said, 2 Corinthians 8: 24 Wherefore shew ye to
them, and before the churches, the proof of your love, and of our boasting on
your behalf. So the Apostle Paul did boast about his converts to
Christ and their lives and dedication to the Message. But of himself, never.
And in fact the opposite is true. He abased Himself. 2
Corinthians 11: 7 Have I committed an offence
in abasing myself that ye might be exalted, because I have preached to you the
gospel of God freely? And again in Philippians 4: 12 I know both how to
be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am
instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
Now,
the reason I chose to study this thought of Brother Branham’s concerning what
he said in our text this morning, “He will be correctly dedicated to the Word as they have always been; indicated by God's Word--and a-vindicated” is
because just being dedicated and consecrated is not what he was talking about.
He said correctly being dedicated, so if there is a correct dedication to the
Word of God, then there must be an incorrect dedication to the Word of God.
As
an example, the Pharisees were men whose lives were dedicated to knowing and understanding
the scriptures. But they were also very legalistic. They took their religion
very seriously, and didn’t make time for the pleasures of life. They believed
in the resurrection of the dead, they believed that Messiah was to come, and
they were even looking for Him to come in their day. And most importantly,
these were a group that took the Scriptures so seriously, that they studied
every jot and tittle of the Scriptures, and claimed to believe every word the
prophets had spoken or written. Yet when the Very Messiah they claimed to be
looking for did come, they missed Him because they had so engrained their
thinking to believe he would come in a certain way that they thought he was to
come, and so when he did not come that way they missed it altogether.
You
see, they studied the Scriptures, but Paul calls it the hidden wisdom of God
and so it is. It takes the Holy Spirit to reveal it to man. It doesn’t come by
just memorizing it, and studying it. It must come by God personally revealing
it to you.
God in simplicity 63-0317M P:65 God will hide Himself in
something so simple that'll cause the wise to miss it a million miles and then
turn right back around in that, some simple thing in the simplicity of His way
of working and reveal Hisself right out again. I thought it made a text that we
might study this before we go into the great teachings of the Seven Seals. Many miss Him by the way He reveals
Himself. Now, man has their own
ideas of what God ought to be and what God is going to do; and as I have made
the old statement many times that man still remains man. Man is always giving
God praise for what He did do, and always looking forward to what He will do,
and ignoring what He's doing. See, see?
So
you see the Pharisses were dedicated but not correctly dedicated to the Word of
God for although they claimed to believe every jot and tittle, yet they showed
that they believed it their own way when Jesus Actually came according to the
way the Scriptures said he would come.
But
they were so sure of how He was to come, that when He did come, they did not
recognize Him. But they were sure, but there being so sure found them at war
with God when He came in His Son.
Yet
He came right according to the very Scriptures they claimed to believe, yet
they missed Him because he did not come the way they had been taught that He
would come, for he did not come according to their understanding and He did not
come according to the way their traditions had spoken of how He was to come. And
let’s face it, because He did not come to them, to their group, they couldn’t
accept it the way He did come.
And
that is what it really boils down to. They were so sure they had it all right,
that anything contrary to their understanding they had to refuse, because if
they didn’t, then it called them into question on their entire understanding.
Now,
these traditions were not just the current thinking for the times but they had
evolved over the centuries, and they had been handed down from generation to
generation until, and through the process of time they began to read into
Scripture what was not there, and bypass in their minds what was there, until
they had a different Gospel than what was actually written. And we have seen
the same thing in this day.
Jesus Christ the same 61-0519 P:34 But the strange thing, when
He arrived, they were so stooped in other things, till they failed to recognize
Him to be the Messiah. They was so
organized, so tight amongst that... disassociating themselves from one another,
Pharisees and Sadducees and so forth, just as it is today. So the very sign
that that Messiah was supposed to show that He was the God-sent Messiah, they
failed to see it, because of their their association with their denomination.
May I say this with reverence and brotherly love? It's about the same today.
Water from the rock 55-0224
P:24 When Martin Luther built the first camp, he
organized it so tight he just couldn't be nothing else but a Lutheran. God come
right along, moved the Pillar of Fire out, the children followed it. Wesley
brought the message. And the first thing you know, Wesley organized so tight,
till he couldn't move. Then the first thing, the Pillar of Fire moved out, and
here come the Pentecostals going right on with it. The Pentecostals organized
so tight till they're fussing whether they're oneness, twoness, threeness, or
one hump camel, two hump camel, three hump camel, this way, that way, that way,
God's moving right on out, leaving them. That's right. The Holy Spirit's moving
on, children's a following It.
We would see Jesus 58-0612
P:34 Martin Luther found It. He said, "The
just shall live by faith." But what did he do? Built an organization under it. God isn't in organizations, so He just
moved out. And when He did, left Luther with his organization. And then
John Wesley saw it, and away he went: sanctification, second definite work of
grace. And the first thing, he organized
hisself: made the Methodists. God just moved right on out. The Pentecostals
saw it in the baptism of the Holy Ghost, but now you're organized so tight, God's just moving right on out and
leaving you. That's right. God is not
bound to any denomination or any barriers. He's only duty bound to His Word. That's all. And He does
it, and He keeps His Word. He must do it. Now, you say, "Brother Branham, you fight organization." Who thinks that is not reading my
thoughts. I do not. I think there's grand and glorious men in every
organization. But when you think that
you're the only pebble on the beach, you're wrong. That's right. You
Methodists, Baptist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Pentecostals, Assemblies of God,
Church of God, whatever you are, you
got great men in every one of them. You got great people in them. But don't you never get the idea that
you're not going to fellowship with the other one, and remain that way.
You'll never do it.
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.
And in his sermon What does thou here 59-0301E P:54 brother
Branham is praying to God and he says, “I've crossed the nation and
around the world, preaching, and crying, and persuading. And You've been
faithful to throw out that sign of the Messiah to show that it's You, Lord,
that's a doing it and not a man. I'm thankful for that. But, Lord, I'm under
the juniper tree tonight. I'm wondering, why don't they repent? Why can't this
So you see, you can be dedicated to the Word, but
unless you are correctly dedicated to the Word you will miss what God has yet
to reveal to you. So true or correct dedication to God’s Word is to receive it
the way he gave it, and to stay humble and small in your own eyes, lest there
be something that you will miss.
Even the Apostle Paul said, Hebrews 12:1 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,
Philippians 2:16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may
rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in
vain.
Galatians 5:7 Ye did run well; who did hinder you that ye
should not obey the truth?
Hebrews 4:1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being
left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
MESSAGE OF GRACE 61-0827 65
It takes the simplicity of believing God to make His Word speak out to show
that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Takes a humble heart dedicated to God,
bring Jesus Christ unto present tense. Amen. If it taken theology, what would the Presbyterian, Methodist,
Baptist, Catholic, and so forth, we
wouldn't have a chance us poor unlearned people. But it doesn't take knowledge. "Not by power or by might, but by
My Spirit," saith God, "I'll unfold this mystery." And he'll cry
to it, "Grace, grace, with shoutings and cryings." That's what it is
today: God's amazing grace to His
people. How He takes the illiterate, the unlearned, shows that Jesus is the
same.
GOD IN SIMPLICITY 63-0317M
4-4 25 So now, now in the building I think that we ought to have
in this, if it's been dedicated (or going to be dedicated in a few minutes to
the worship of God), we should keep it that way. We should never buy or sell in
the building. We should never do any business in this auditorium here; it
should never be done in here. That is, such as permitting ministers to come in
and sell books and everything. No matter what it is, there's other places to do
that for... We shouldn't buy and sell in the house of our Lord. It should be a
place of--of worship, holy, consecrated for that purpose. See? Now, He's give
us a nice place; let's dedicate it to Him and dedicate ourselves with it to
Him.5-1 26 And now, this may seem a little rude, but it's not a place to visit;
it's a place of worship. We should never even murmur a word inside of here,
outside of worship, to one another unless it's absolutely necessary. See? We
should never rally around; we should never run through the building or let our
children run through the building. And so doing this, feeling not long ago
that, of doing this, we constructed it so we could take care of all of it. Now,
we have this set here... 'Course many people are strangers. The Tabernacle
folks know this, that the building is going to be dedicated to the service of
the Almighty.5-3 26 Therefore, dedicating ourselves, let's remember when we
enter that sanctuary, keep still to one another and worship God. If we want to
visit each other, there's places we may visit each other like that but never
walking around where you can't hear yourself think, and some person come in,
and they just don't know what to do. See? It's so much noise and things, it's
just humanly... And I've seen it in churches until it has made me feel real
bad, because we do not come into the sanctuary of the Lord to meet each other;
we come here to worship God, then go to our homes. This sanctuary's dedicated
to worship. When... Stand outside; talk anything you wish to as long as it's
right and holy; go to one another's homes; visit one another in places; but
when you enter that door, be quiet. You come here to talk to Him (See?) and let
Him talk back to you. The trouble of it is, we do too much talking and don't
listen enough. Then when we come in here, wait on Him.
THE TOKEN 63-1128E 170 Some
people said, "Well, I belong to church. Mother went up there, and I was
dedicated there as a baby." You must display the Token. Yes, sir. Move out
all the worldly trash, all the things of the world, 'cause you can't love the
things of the world. all your unbelief in God's Word... Remember, He promised
these things in the last days. Anything in your life that--that's against That,
move it out, and get ready, and bring the Token in. Then apply the Token, in
prayer with consecration, and be convinced and concerned about it. He said it
has to be displayed and the word display means To present or hold up to view.
To express, as by gestures or bodily posture: Let this attitude that was in
Christ be also in you. And remember, your body posture is the display of your
attitude. Therefore, that is what he is talking about when he says we must
apply it or display the token.
Leviticus 22 NIV 1 “The
LORD said to Moses, 2 "Tell Aaron and his sons to treat with respect the
sacred offerings the Israelites consecrate to me, so they will not profane my
holy name. I am the LORD. And what are the sacred offerings? It is those
things, which the people of God have set aside to the Lord. Such as this
Tabernacle. The place of Worship. 3 "Say to them: 'For the generations to
come, if any of your descendants is ceremonially unclean (or has been tainted
with sexual uncleanness), and yet comes near those sacred things that the Israelites
have consecrate to the LORD, that person must be cut off from my presence. I am
the LORD.” That
is pretty powerful words but I believe that if we do not honor those words, God
will not honor us. If it was so important for the High Priest to approach God
in such a way as to where he would be stricken dead if he didn't, do you think
God will just take you any old way you choose? I think this scripture speaks to
us of respect. It speaks of the lack of respect that some have for the house of
God and in doing so they are to be cut off from the presence of God. And don't
worry, if you don't do it, God surely will. I think we have seen the Word of
God manifest itself in a mighty way in this little church because we have
respected God and this sanctuary which has been dedicated to him and we have
set it aside a sacred place of refuge where we can come and worship him in
Spirit and in Truth. That is why we do not speak in here, and we do not pass
notes and draw pictures during service. We are here to worship God and
everything else must be kept outside those walls.
So
as you come forth tonight to take of the emblems I want you to be walking in
the shoes that Jesus walked, I want you to be thinking in terms of your own
life, your own dedication, your own consecration to the Word. and ask yourself,
"Am I walking in His footsteps?" Must Jesus bear the cross alone and
all the world go free? No, there's a cross for everyone and there's a cross for
me. Let us now bow our heads in a word of Prayer as the brothers return thanks
for the elements before us now.
Romans 5: 1-5 1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 By
whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice
in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only so, but
we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope: 5 And
hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts
by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
Without faith we could never be justified, and if never justified, then
how could we be sanctified, and if never sanctified, then how could it ever be
possible that God would place His Holy Spirit in an unholy vessel. In fact
Brother Branham told us that God will never place His Spirit in an unholy
vessel. So we see then this hope maketh us not ashamed. And the reason we
are not ashamed is because we have been justified which came by Faith which is
a revelation. This revelation opened up to us and gave access to us of the
Grace of God, which then brings us into a peaceful relationship with our Lord
Jesus Christ who is the Judge. This Peace with God then brings us into a
life which is dedicated and consecrated and is sanctified which then
opens the door for the indwelling of God's Spirit which is Holy.
1 Peter 1: 3-5 3 Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath
begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
the dead, 4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and
undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 Who
are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed
in the last time.
Now,
Martin Luther made a statement which I think bears repeating because it is so
very important for us to understand. "we wait for this priceless inheritance, he says,
'in the hope
which we have attained through faith', for this is their order of succession: From
the Word follows faith, and from faith the new birth, and from the new birth we
pass to hope, so that we certainly expect and are assured of the blessing."
Malachi 3: 16-18 Then
they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened,
and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that
feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name. 17 And
they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my
jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth
him. 18 Then shall ye
return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that
serveth God and him that serveth him not.
Here
we find that our talking the Word brings to our attention the things we are to
rightfully discern. If those people who stay home on Wednesday nights to watch
their TV shows would be talking the Word, then they would say to themselves,
what does the Word say about being in church? Then, they would know what the
Word says, and they would do what it says. But they put the Word aside for a
purpose, and that is to fulfill their own desires. “There is a way that seemeth right unto man,
but the ways thereof are the ways of death."
We are told in 2 Timothy 2:15 "Study to show thyself approved unto God,
a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of
Truth." And this word study is the Greek word Spoudazo which
means to make haste and exert oneself in the process, to be diligent, not
dilatory. And so we see that there is an effort that God looks at and if He
sees that effort in us He will be pleased. Now this is not the same as doing
works, because in doing this we actually manifest a certain attitude that
places the Word above all else in our lives. And that is what the rebuke by Brother
Branham is all about when he speaks about those who would stay home from church
for any reason other than a death bed situation.