Spoken Word no. 253
“True Five-Fold Minister or
Faker”
Brian Kocourek, Pastor
June 5th, 2011
Let us remain standing as we open our Bibles to the Book of Jeremiah for
our text and we will read from Jeremiah 3: 15 And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and
understanding.
Let us bow our heads and our hearts in a word of
Prayer to Our Loving Father.
Dear Gracious
and Loving Father, we are so thankful that you have promised that you would
give us pastors
according to Your own heart, Men who
love you and who Love Your Word above self, and who are willing Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the
oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but
of a ready mind; 3 Neither as being lords over God's heritage,
but being examples to the flock. 4 And
when the chief Shepherd shall appear, they shall receive a crown of glory that
fades not away. Thank you for your promise o God, and may we see the
fulfillment with our own eyes, for we ask this in Jesus Christ’s name. Amen…. You may be seated.
This morning I would like to show how our text ties in
with the thoughts of Br. Branham in Paragraph 192 of The
Spoken Word is the Original Seed brother Branham where he said, 192 Because
so much has been called God's Truth, many will misunderstand this true
messenger. (I've got wrote here p-r-o-p-h-e-c-y, prophecy.) Because so much has
been called God's Truth by fakers,
many true ministers will misunderstand
that messenger.
Now, for a better understanding of what brother
Branham is speaking of here concerning what he calls Fakers, which the word
means imposters, so let’s turn to the Word of God to see what God says about
these imposters.
Jeremiah 23:1 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my
pasture! saith the LORD. 2 Therefore
thus saith the LORD God of Israel
against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not
visited them: behold, I will visit
upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD. 3 And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither
I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. 4 And I will
set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor
be dismayed, neither shall they be
lacking, saith the LORD.
So we see the fruits of the ministry whether it be a
true Pastor or a faker. The fakers destroy the sheep and cause them to be
dismayed, and full of fear. But the True Pastor that God sends will not only
feed them, but they will fear no more sitting under that ministry, and they
will no more be dismayed, and they shall never be lacking for they shall be
fruitful and increase.
So we see there are fruits of the ministry and when you look at the
people in any church or under any ministry the people will produce a fruit that
will reveal what the ministry is all about.
2
Corinthians 3:1 Do
we begin again to commend ourselves? or need we, as some others, epistles of
commendation to you, or letters of commendation from you? 2 Ye
are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: 3 Forasmuch
as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us,
written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of
stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. 4 And such
trust have we through Christ to God-ward: 5 Not that
we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our
sufficiency is of God; 6 Who also hath made us able
ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the
letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. 7 But if the ministration of
death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of
Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his
countenance; which glory was to be done away: 8 How
shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
Jeremiah 12:10 Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard,
they have trodden my portion under
foot, they have made my pleasant portion
a desolate wilderness. 11 They have made it desolate, and being desolate it mourns unto me;
the whole land is made desolate, because no
man lays it to heart. Because no man
considers the heart of the matter.
Jeremiah 10: 19 Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous:
but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it. 20 My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my
cords are broken: my children are gone forth of me, and they are not: there is
none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains. 21 For the pastors are become brutish, (That means they have become Rough; and uncivilized) and have not sought
the LORD therefore they shall not
prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered. (Now, if they knew
the word of God they would know that the Scripture plainly tells us, Seek Ye first the
You
see, we must never forget what Jesus said to Peter. He said, If you love me you
will feed my Sheep. He said that three times to Peter.
Now,
the problem that I see today in this Message today is that there are many
elders but not so many true five-fold ministers. There are many Fakers but very
few True ministers of the Word. The Apostle Paul taught us in Ephesians 4
beginning with verse, 8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led
captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. And then in verse 11 he
tells us what those gifts are. 11 And he gave some, and the word some means Being an unspecified number or quantity: but then he says, Apostles;
and some, Prophets; and some,
Evangelists; and some, Pastors and Teachers; So we see that in each case we see that the gifts
given to the church are plural, as in more than one, and of some unspecified
number or quantity. So the gifts are not just one Teacher, one Apostle, one
Evangelist, one Prophet and one Pastor. Each has an “S” after it making it
plural. But where are they? And if there be any, what is the fruit of their
ministry? Because the Apostle Paul goes on to tell us that these gifts that are
given to the church are for the following reason or to bring the following
results or fruits in the people they minister to.
He said, 12 “For the perfecting of the
saints, (that means for the maturing
of the saints, the finishing off or bringing to completion of the saints. And
this is to produce in the people maturity that will lend itself for the work of the
ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: (In other
words, the church should be coming to maturity and to the place that each
member is working together for the good of the body of Christ, and all striving
for the glory of their Father. Building up one another in Faith and in Love for
God’s Word and for each other. Notice he continues,) 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
And this unity of THE Faith,
and Knowledge of the Son of God will bring the body unto a perfect
man, (a completed body, an equipped body, one that is fully
finished off) unto the
measure of the stature
of the fulness of Christ: (Notice the fruits of the true five fold, it
is to bring us to a True oneness of The Faith, and remember there is only one
Lord and One Faith, and since Faith is a revelation, then that revelation is of
that One Lord. And you can not receive this without a correct and proper
knowledge of the Son of God. And so we see this measure is not just a measure,
but it is to produce in us THE Measure of THE Stature of THE Fullness of
Christ. And that is so that…)
14 That
we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with
every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby
they lie in wait to deceive; 15 But speaking the
truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even
Christ:
Now, The Amplified Version
says it this way. “11 And His gifts were varied; He Himself appointed and gave men to us, some to be apostles which are
special messengers (or as brother Branham said they are setters in
order, they set the church in order), some
prophets who are inspired preachers and
expounders, some evangelists which are preachers of the Gospel, traveling witnesses
of the fire of God, and some pastors who ate shepherds of His flock and some
teachers. 12 His intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the
saints who are His consecrated people, that they should do the work of
ministering toward building up Christ's body which is his church, 13 That
it might develop until we all attain oneness in the faith and in the
comprehension of the full and accurate knowledge of the Son of God, that we
might arrive at really mature manhood, the completeness of personality which is
nothing less than the standard height of Christ's own perfection, the measure
of the stature of the fullness of the Christ and the completeness found in Him.
14 So then, we may no longer be
children, tossed like ships to and fro between chance gusts of teaching and
wavering with every changing wind of doctrine, the prey of the cunning and
cleverness of unscrupulous men, gamblers engaged in every shifting form of
trickery in inventing errors to mislead.
E-7 BALM.IN.GILEAD CLEVELAND.TN
59-0707 Now, there's five offices that God put in the
Church; there's nine spiritual gifts that accompany that offices and all
the members of the Body. The first is apostles, which is missionaries. The word
"apostle" means "one
that's sent." The word "missionary" means "one that's
sent," the same word. Apostles, prophets, teachers, pastors, evangelists, these offices God sets in the Church. They're all in operation, or should be.
We cannot bypass one and say there's teachers without saying evangelists. We cannot say there's evangelists without
saying there is apostles. We cannot say there's apostles without admitting
there's prophets. All of them are for the perfecting of the Body of
Christ. The Lord gives me visions. Those
things begin when I was a little baby. I
do not believe that man can be called of man and be a successful minister.
I believe gifts and callings are without repentance, that God by His foreknowledge foreordained His ministers into the Gospel,
and the gifts into the Church.
Darkest hour Jesus comes 55-1114 P:17 Now,
gifts and callings are placed in the Church by God, God alone. No seminary
never made a preacher. God had to call His preacher. Don't you believe that?
Why, sure. He might learn... Oh, he might get a--a Bachelor of Art, or he might
be a Doctor of Divinity, but that don't make him any more of a preacher than
when God spoke to his heart. That's right. That's true. And so I believe that. But
God sets in the Church, first apostles, and then prophets, and so forth. God
places in the Church... Now, those
Divine gifts in the Church are for the Church and the perfecting of the Church,
to call the Church to one big Body. And
any true minister will never draw lines: "Just because you don't believe with me, you're not in it."
We will all recognize one another as brothers because Jesus died for all of us.
And God loves us all.
Invisible union of the bride 65-1125 P:110 Whatever
you are, you're servants of God. Whatever God wants you to do, where your place
is... God placed in the church some
apostles, prophets, teachers, pastors. He placed that by virtue of His own
predestination. And you were that to
begin with.
Show
me one man of God today, who has the fruits of an Evangelist? Whose ministry is
on fire and who travels the road and who is producing fruits for God? People who
are on fire for God, people with hearts burning for the Word of God. Show me
the man whose ministry is producing a mature and Word ready Bride for Christ? I
do not know if you could show me even one Evangelist today who hits the
doctrine right while convicting the slothful and sinner to repentance. Show me
one, and yet the Book of Ephesians chapter 4 tells us that God set
in the Church Evangelists, which is plural.
Show
me one teacher today outside of Brother Vayle who laid in the Word of God day
and night, endeavoring to bring the Word of God to the depth that will produce
change in the people’s lives, producing a people who are holy, blameless and
without fear in God’s presence. Show me one teacher today still preaching who
is correcting the errors in doctrine that has stopped the forward progress of
the mighty army of God? Our brother Vayle hasn’t taught but 4 times in 11 years
now. So where are these teachers today? And show me the fruit of their
ministries?
Show
me Apostles who travel the world and go only where God sends them and who teach
the Doctrine to the people and ministry in a way that corrects the errors and
sets the churches in order as brother Branham said a true Apostle will do.
Where are they? Show me the fruit of their ministry if you can.
It
seems today that everyone believes there are Pastors, but where are the
teachers, where are the Evangelists and where are the Apostles and where are
the Prophets?
Where
are the pastors that feed the people before they feed their selves. Where are
the pastors who lead the people into a mature relationship with The Father and
fuller understanding of the Son of God? I know there are some because I have
met them, but show me if you can, and show me the fruit of their ministries?
But
where the problem is today, is not with the true Five Fold ministry because God
foreordained those five ministries to bring His church to perfection, to
maturity, to a place where they will enter into The Unity of THE Faith and together
they will build up the body and not tear it down.
But
where men have gotten away from their position in the family and have tried to
take on a role that is not theirs is where they cause a mess, and division and
divisiveness enters in among the people and causes problems in the family.
Brother Vayle said in his
sermon, Godhead #8 P:5 “And we saw the life going out of the Word in the first
Church Age where problems crept in. And the problems crept in not
through a five-fold ministry but through the elders. And the elders and deacons
are-they're good people, not saying for one minute they're a problem, but problems arise in that
particular area where they desire an office.”
And
Peter, what did he say to the Elders? 1 Peter 5: 1 The
elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of
the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: 2 Feed the flock of God which is among you,
taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy
lucre, but of a ready mind; 3 Neither as being lords over God's heritage,
but being ensamples to the flock. 4 And when the
chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. 5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto
the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with
humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that
he may exalt you in due time: 7 Casting all your
care upon him; for he careth for you.
Early spiritual experiences 52-0713A P:11 Now,
gifts and callings, now, let's get back to what they are. God sets them aside.
God places them in the church as He will. God gives severally as He will (Is
that right?), not as I will, but as He will. Now, if God wanted me to be a lay member of the church, I'd be better off a
lay member, than I would to be a preacher. See? Because I will only bring reproach somewhere along
the line, and it'll be something that'll bring reproach. If He called me to be deacon, it's better
for me to be deacon, than it would be to be a minister. But if He called me
to be a minister, I'd be better off a minister, than I would be a lay member.
It's wherever God has called us, and set us in the Church for His servants.
Then we fit better.
And
it was the elders that Peter was addressing when he said Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking
the oversight thereof, not by constraint, and the word constraint
means “The threat or use of force to prevent,
restrict, or dictate the action or thought of others.” but
willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; 3 Neither as being lords over God's heritage,
but being ensamples to the flock.
And
it saddens me to see churches in this Message whose people live in fear and
whose people are stifled and prevented from becoming the sons and daughters of
God that they were ordained to be. But notice it is the elders that produce the
ship wrecks, and that is exactly what brother Branham said would happen if a
deacon decides for himself that he is going to take an office he was not
ordained to take. “Now, if God wanted me
to be a lay member of the church, I'd be better off a lay member, than I would
to be a preacher. See? Because I
will only bring reproach somewhere along the line, and it'll be something
that'll bring reproach. If He called
me to be deacon, it's better for me to be deacon, than it would be to be a
minister.”
And
we see this has become a universal problem in this Message because the first
Mistake is to become what you are not ordained to become. So they take on the
role that God has not called them to take on and it brings a reproach to the
Message as brother Branham said it would. We see this also in Jeremiah 10: 21 as
I will read it from the Amplified version verse 21 For the shepherds of the people have become like brutes, irrational and stupid, and have not sought the Lord or inquired of Him or required Him by necessity and by right of
His word. Therefore they have not
dealt prudently and have not prospered, and all their flocks are scattered.
And that is the difference between one that God has
placed in the church and one who took the role for himself for other motives
than what God ordained. John 10:1 Verily, verily, I say unto
you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some
other way, the same is a thief and a robber. 2 But
he that entereth in by the door is the
shepherd of the sheep. Now, this is
significant because Jesus taught us that the Door is the Word of God. So we see
that the
True Shepherd will go straight to the Word of God every time, while the
hirelings will bye-pass the Word every time, and say you must do what I tell
you to do, because I am the pastor.
3 To
him the porter openeth; and the sheep
hear his voice: and he calleth his
own sheep by name, and leads them out. Notice we see here
that the
True pastor will lead the sheep. As peter said, he is to lead by
example. He is to be shepherd of God’s sheep. He is not a herdsman who has to
drive the cattle to the food and make them wear a yoke to control them. These
are sheep, they are not dumb driven cattle who are harnessed to a yoke to force
them to do what the herdsman wants them to do. These are Lambs with a lamb’s
nature. And lamb nature is to follow the leading of the shepherd who leads by
example.
From his sermon, Looking unto Jesus 64-0122 P:61 Are
we going to set in this day, dull, and see our great High Priest make Himself
known among us, and then set like dumb
driven cattle? No, sir. Let us be up and doing, with a heart for any
strife. Be not like dumb driven cattle. Be a hero.
And again from his sermon, Serpent's seed 58-0928E P:41 Now, don't the Bible say all things work
together for good to them that love God? So what are you scared about? Let us
be up and doing with a heart for any strife. Be not like dumb driven cattle, had to be begged and persuaded. Be a hero. I like that. Stand up.
And from br. Branham’s
sermon, Have faith in God 58-0105 P:51 "Be not like dumb driven cattle,"
have to be herded into their own food,
and have a neck yoke put on them to hold them long enough, till they could
eat the food. But may they rise in the faith and in the power of the
resurrection and be healed and saved just now, as I cast away the doubting
spirit, that holds this building tonight. In the Name of Jesus Christ, may it
go, for the glory of God. And let the people raise their hands now, and rejoice in the Lord, be saved, and
filled with the Holy Ghost, and healed for God's glory.
Then Jesus continues in John 10:4 And
when he putteth forth his own sheep, he
goeth before them, He doesn’t
force them to do what he himself will not do. He does it and they do it as they
watch what he does. As Brother Branham said, Don’t
preach me a sermon, live me a sermon.
“and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. 5 And a stranger will they not
follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers. So
you see they might get into the sheep pen through the window but not through
the door, and when they do they will have to beet the sheep to do what they
want because the sheep know not their voice. But the Voice of the true Shepherd
they will follow.
6. This parable spake Jesus
unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them. 7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, I am the door of
the sheep. 8 All that ever came before me are
thieves and robbers: but the sheep did
not hear them. 9 I am the door: by me if any
man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture. 10 The
thief cometh not, but for to steal,
and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it
more abundantly. 11 I am the good shepherd: the
good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. 12 But he that is an hireling, and not the
shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth
the wolf coming, and leaveth the
sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf
catcheth them, and scattereth the
sheep. 13 The
hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep. 14 I am the
good shepherd, and know my sheep,
and am known of mine. 15 As
the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 And
other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and
they shall hear my voice; and there
shall be one fold, and one shepherd. 17 Therefore
doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
And
so we see that there shall be one fold and one shepherd, and he is the good
shepherd.
Ezekiel 34:1 And
the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 2 Son of
man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them,
Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the
shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds
of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? 3 Ye
eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. 4 The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither
have ye bound up that which was broken,
neither have ye brought again that
which was driven away, neither have ye sought
that which was lost; but with
force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. 5 And they were scattered,
because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the
field, when they were scattered.
6 My sheep wandered
through all the mountains, and upon every high hill: yea, my flock was scattered upon all
the face of the earth, (in other
words, this is not the conditions of one church, but throughout the entire
world, he said upon all the face of the earth.) and none did search or seek after them.
7 Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of
the LORD; 8 As
I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely because my
flock became a prey, and my flock
became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my
flock, but the shepherds fed themselves,
and fed not my flock; 9 Therefore,
O ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD; 10 Thus
saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against
the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to
cease from feeding the flock; neither
shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them.
11 For
thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I,
will both search my sheep, and seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his
sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them
out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. 13 And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the
countries, (again we see that
this is a universal problem as he says countries which is plural or many) and will bring them to their own land, and
feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. 14 I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of
In closing I
would like to speak to you of our recent travel to the UK, Poland and Norway
where we did follow-up concerning the Work of the Lord which we have been doing
over seas in Europe for the past couple years. Let me say that the fellowship
around God’s Word was wonderful, and I am so thankful for the growth and
certainty that in their relationship with the Father that was so apparent to
our eyes and ears.
The first place
we traveled where we saw this maturity and the great joy in the Holy Ghost and a
real genuine Love for the saints was in the
But it did
not dawn on me what was happening until we went to
So it was in
But the
miracle did not stop there. When we travelled to
To see these
brethren become so strong, so happy and so free, and also to see their
knowledge of the Son of God grow so deeply, and to see them experience such a
wonderful relationship with their Father
and Eldest brother. A relationship that has resulted in such sureness, and such
certainty they now have, and to see those same fruits in all three countries
was such a wonderful experience for me, that it gives me renewed energy to keep
pressing toward the mark of the high calling in Jesus Christ. It was so good
and encouraging to my soul that I can not help but to shed tears for joy each
time I think of it.
As The
Apostle Paul said, "You are the fruits of my
ministry" and to see how the same Word will bring
the same results no matter what country the light shines into, and no matter
how long “the Son of God seed”
has been held back or held down, yet in the presence of Divine Light to see it
come to maturity and getting ready for the Adoption of Sons, it
is so wonderful to see first hand what this Word has done for them all, that My
heart wants to burst with Family pride when I see their progress, especially
when the devil had done so much to hold them back from coming into their maturity
and thus their adoptable state of being.
My prayer is
“May God bless each and every one of them who have heard, and
who recognized and have acted upon this
Word of Truth” we preach.
And may God
bless you all and as we are moving on and upward to a higher calling in Christ
Jesus as "we walk in the light, as He is
in the light, bringing us into fellowship with one another, and knowing as we
are in His light that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all our sin."
In closing let me read from Revelation 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say,
Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And
whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
Let us pray,