Spoken Word no. 264

“Waiting on the Lordr”

Brian Kocourek, Pastor

July 10th, 2011 p.m.

 

LUKE 21:19 In your patience possess ye your souls.


ROMANS 2:6 Who will render to every man according to his deeds: 7 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: 8 But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,

 

Psalms 37:34 Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.

 

Psalms 27:14 Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

 

Isaiah 40:31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

 

James 5:7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the Parousia of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

 

This morning as we approach the end of brother Branham’s six hour sermon which has taken us 264 sermons so far since we began to study it on January 13th, 2008 I can with confidence say it has taken us to a depth of the Word that we have never known before. Not in the order of theology but of understanding the nature and character of our Lord Jesus Christ, and his relationship with His Father. In spending this much time we have come to the place where we are learning patience, and of course when God is teaching you patience then there must come a testing of that patience.

 

So this morning we will read from paragraph 202 and 203 of this great sermon of William Branham’s as we begin to close down our series that we’ve been studying for the past 3 and a half years. And you know it seems to me that we have spent as much time studying this one sermon of Br. Branham’s as Jesus had spent in his entire earthly ministry, 3-1/2 years. Maybe there’s something significant here concerning the amount of time this has taken, because we do not believe in coincidences, so there must be some significance concerning the amount of time we’ve spent examining this sermon of Br. Branham’s. But before I get myself into more trouble with certain  brothers, let’s go ahead and begin reading from paragraph 202.

 

Now, brother Branham is getting ready to leave for a little more than a week, and he is speaking to the people here and says, The Spoken Word is the Original Seed pp.202   I love you. I appreciate you. Maybe I'll be back about Sunday a week. I'm going down to Florida now, the Lord willing, down in Georgia for tomorrow night. I got a few little meetings scattered around. If the Lord leads, I've got a book full of them that Brother Roberson--or Borders sent me the other day. I guess there's--was places where there's thirty and forty churches are willing to cooperate, but the Spirit seems to hold me. I don't know why. I don't know why. So you pray for me; I'll pray for you, that together may we stand. May God help us. May there not be a one of you here that'll ever fail and will miss that great time coming.


203   Now, I've been accused of a lot of things, friends, and a lot of things I'm guilty of. I'm neglectful; that's true. I don't know why it is. Somebody has to push me in a corner and make me fight. I don't know; that's a nature. I've done things that I should not have done, not willfully, but I plundered in it. And that's, of course, what makes me so afraid, in seeing in this day, the day that we're living at... And you see now what I believe. I want to hear from God if all possible before I make a move (See?), 'cause I don't want to fail Him. I want to be with Him everywhere. And I want you to pray for me.

 

Now, I really feel these two paragraphs are very personal to me, because I have been going through the same thing myself for the past year. Last year we made plans for big meetings in Congo where the brothers there had rented a soccer stadium that would seat 30,000 people, and we were expecting some 300 to 400 ministers in Eastern Congo for our ministers meetings there because the interest is so great, but something is holding me back. And then we got news that they are to hold elections there this year and because of that there are already a lot of violence in places over there. And knowing that the Holy Spirit would not permit Paul to go to Macedonia because of treachery awaiting him, and knowing the Holy spirit would not permit br. Branham to go to Congo and had to cancel his meetings because of the uprising over there, I feel like I am being drawn into the same vortex that both Paul and William Branham had to go through. But the brothers want me to go to Uganda, and Berundi, and Rwanda, and Kenya, and many other countries, some of which I have not been to before, but something is holding me back, and until I know what that is, I can not go.

 

Now, I am not trying to compare my ministry to the Apostle Paul or William Branham as though I have some great ministry. I have nothing to offer except a yielded vessel, willing to go where my Father sends me and willing to say what He wants for me to say. And that is all I have to offer Him. So I am not trying to compare myself with no body, because there is no comparison, as far as I am concerned, except for the fact that Paul set the pattern, and William Branham filled that pattern, and I have tried to stay true to that pattern as any true five fold minister would do. But the comparisons stop there. 

 

But what I am catching here is that brother Branham has been talking about the need to wait on The Holy spirit in order to know exactly what next he was to do. It was important for him to hear from God first before he did anything.

 

 

In fact from his sermon, Thyatirean Church Age in the Church Age Book Chapter 6  224-1 he quotes the Book of Revelations saying,  "I know your faith." Now he does not say here as He did to the church in Pergamos, "you hold MY faith". He is not talking about His faith now, but He is commending them for their faithfulness. And as He does He also mentions their 'patience.' Now faithfulness and patience go together. In fact patience is the outcome of faithfulness, for it says in James 1:3, "The trying of your faith worketh patience." There is absolutely no other way in which to gain patience. It has to come by the trial of our faith. Romans 5:3, "Tribulation worketh patience." How highly God regards this outworking of our patience is seen in James 1:4, "But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire lacking nothing." God's will for us is Perfection. And that perfection is patience, waiting on God and waiting for God. This is the process of character development. How highly God has commended these saints of the Dark Ages. Patient as lambs led to the slaughter, lovingly, faithfully they served God. That is all they wanted out of life, just service to their Lord. How great was to be their reward.

 

So we are looking at the need to be patient, and we are examining what patience is all about in our character development.

 

Proverbs 20:22B …but wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee.

 

James   5  : 7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

 

James   1  : 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

 

James 1:3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

 

From his sermon, Paul a prisoner of Christ 63-0717 P:47 brother Branham said,  See, he knew to wait on the Lord. And there's where so many people today bring a reproach upon the Word. They go out with an ambition. How many revivals have been left flat because of a thing like that, because the evangelist doesn't wait to see what the Lord's got to say? Some of them said, "Come over here," and they go right now, because the association says go. And the Holy Spirit would say something different, yet the ambition of the man to become the state presbyter or something another, or some elder, or some bishop, or something was pulling, "You must go," and yet he knows better. The Holy Spirit's saying, "Go here." See, he's yoked to his organization. He's a prisoner to the organization. But if he's yoked to Christ, he's led by the Holy Ghost. See, he's yoked, a prisoner. Don't make any difference what anything else says, it's a sounding brass and a tinkling symbol. He hears only the voice of God, and he speaks only when It comes out. He says nothing.

 

Now, if I could travel like a thought it would be nice to be able to drop in on my brothers in the Philippines, and all across Africa, but what would it accomplish if My Father doesn’t send me. So there is a reason why he is quiet at  this time.

And I must find myself in His will by doing nothing until he says do. And then going only to where he says go. For even Jesus went to heal just one man and had to walk by about 300 to do so. And if He had to wait for the right direction, then who am I to not wait?

 

From his sermon, Stature of a perfect man 62-1014M P:106 Brother Branham said,  When you've done exactly what He says do: seems like it went wrong, stand still. Be patient. Moses said, "You know when I was laid on that foundation there was patience laid on there, so I'll just wait and see what God will do. There the old serpents was, crawling around, blowing and hissing at one another. First thing you know Moses' serpent went, "Gulp, gulp, gulp," and gulped them all down. He had patience. They that wait upon the Lord, Shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like an eagle. (Is that right? See? That's...)They'll run and not be weary, Walk and not faint...See, just wait on the Lord. Have patience. See?

 

And from his sermon Hear ye Him 60-0712 P:22 he said,  If you ever take men that's so zealous that they want to always be doing something, God couldn't trust that person. If you'll notice in the Bible, the man that God used, was the man was trying to get away from all of it. That's the one that God used. Take, for instance, Paul, Moses, and so forth, trying to run from the very cause.”

But waiting for the go ahead is sometimes the hardest thing to do, because we have to be sure that God is sending us or we may find ourselves running without a message.

 

The scripture says in James   5:10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.

 

And Brother Branham said in his sermon, Events made clear by prophecy 65-0801E P:37 Look at the age of Noah at the climax before judgment. What happened? Noah, it was only his own family that believed the man. The rest of them criticized him. And He destroyed the whole world. In the days of Abraham, only Abraham's group that believed... When the angels went and preached to Sodom, only Lot and his wife and two daughters come out, and she turned back to a pillar of salt. In the days of Moses, only the elected of Israel come out. And Pharaoh hated him. In the days of Elijah, everything almost but seven thousand man, every one of them hated him, the whole nation. In the days of Jeremiah, why, they throwed unripe fruit at him and called him a fanatic, because he laid on his side for so many days, and the other side, and taken things and made symbols. They hated him. Isaiah the prophet, he condemned that race so much till they sawed him in two with a saw. Right.

 

Luke 21:19 In your patience possess ye your souls.

 

Sign of this time 63-1113 P:43 One time, a prophet had to marry a prostitute, have children by her. One laid on his side for three hundred and forty days, then turned over on the other side. One stripped his clothes. And just everything did for signs. See? And Jonah had to do it for sign. Remember, Abraham had to marry Hagar against his own will, when Sarah give the handmaid, but he refused it. But God appeared to him, said, "Listen to Sarah, because the freewoman will not be heir with the bondswoman." She had to have the child be cast out. What was it? A sign. All of it is signs. God does things for signs,

 

Hebrews 10:6 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

 

Hebrews 6:12 That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

 

2 Corinthians 6:4 But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,

 

Uniting time and sign 63-0818 P:23 That's what they always referred to the prophets about, they said, "And he had understanding by visions from the Lord. And the Word of the Lord came to the prophets of old." See, they had understanding through the Word of the Lord, by the prophets. And then the prophets give a sign. Like one man laid on his side for so long, then turned over and laid on the other side. One man had to strip his clothes. And oh, there's many things that they did to show the sign that they were living in. And now we know that the God that made the heavens and earth, and so laid out His work that He would describe His time by signs, that same God lives today. So we must be, something... As we see the--the time that we're living in, there must be something that somebody's overlooking somewhere. See? Because God would never let these things happen without giving us a definite sign, that where that--that we'd understand.

 

Romans 15:4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

 

That is the problem we have with the people today. They are not able to wait on God for the moving of the waters, and so they try and work up something. That’s never been God’s plan, He wants us to learn how to wait on Him so that we might be led by His Spirit.

 

This sermon of Brother Branham’s is filled with examples of people who could not wait, and so they went out from God’s perfect plan.

 

In paragraph  27  brother Branham said,  Now, Adam's bride could not wait. God had told Adam and Eve, "Multiply and replenish the earth." It was an oncoming thing, a promise. She was not his wife as yet, because he had never lived with her. The Bride of Christ is not His Wife yet; the wedding supper is to take place. Get it? Notice, oh this is rich. She got in a hurry, and what did she do? She crossed her seed.

 

  28b That's exactly what Adam found. That's what Christ has found. Couldn't wait: that's what's the matter with the people today. They can't wait for the real Holy Spirit to take the church in position. They've got to manufacture something, work up something: initial evidence, speaking in tongues to get more members in the church, all these kind of tommyrot instead of waiting upon the Lord for the real manifestation of the resurrection of Christ making Himself known among the people. She can't wait.

 

Then again in paragraph 30, and again in paragraph 32 and 34, 35 and 46, and paragraph 50 he says, All right, what's she trying to do? Oh, she manufactures a little jumping on the platform, not making fun of it; it's all right. She manufactures something else. Why? To get members in the church. What's the matter? She just can't wait. See? She can't wait for God to do it. They got to get members in there somewhere. So they tell them, "You have to do that," and away they go.

 

And again in paragraph  53   he said, That's what's the matter with Pentecostals today. They're manufacturing something. They can't wait. Oh, God, they just can't wait, so they commit adultery. Amen. Tries to manufacture something, and what does it bring forth? Like it did the first time, the first bride. They couldn't wait. She brought death through a bastard born child, which we all are children of.

 

And also in paragraph 54, and then on up to   And again in Paragraph  177   Notice how God did not move Israel until His own appointed time. (Now, listen. This is going to mean something.) Joshua waited for that time. No matter how much people might've said, "God gave us the land, the promise; let us go now and take it." They might've said, "Joshua, you lost your commission. You're all washed up. Why are you not doing something? You used to do--know THUS SAITH THE LORD in a moment and what was the will of God." But this wise God-sent prophet knew the promise of God, but also knew to wait for that promise, a clear-cut decision from God for his time. (These parables, now, watch.) And when the time come, God gave it to Joshua, who had stayed with Him by the Word, for He could not trust others; He could trust him. So will it repeat.

  178   Like the mighty anointed prophet Moses knew God would use him, for He had proved Moses to be His servant by his peculiar birth. At the right time that if--deliverance for Abraham's seed was at time. (Are you getting it?) Moses never stayed in Egypt and argued his Scriptural points with them. He never fussed with the priests, but he went to the wilderness and waited on the Lord until the people was ready to receive him. He had come to testify of them, but they would not receive him. God called His prophet to the wilderness. God had testified He had chose him, but the waiting was not by Moses, but for the people to get ready to receive Moses. Moses thought the children would understand that he was sent. (I never wrote it; He did.) So is it now.

 

And in paragraph 189   Remember Moses, born for the work, had to wait on God for the extra gift for the job. (He had to go back and wait.) And for the time appointed by God a certain Pharaoh had to be on the throne. And the people had to be wanting the Bread of Life before God would send him back. Now, with thousands of sign-workers in this last day has created a generation of sign-seekers that knows no more, nothing about the true move of God in His Word in these last days.  

 

And paragraph  200   I don't know where He's going to lead me. I don't know; I'm waiting. I been waiting for a year. I may wait for two years; I may wait for three; I don't know. I don't know the next move. I'm waiting for it. But I think according to the Scripture, the Word's been sowed. The next thing is the coming forth of the Spirit.

 

Rejected king 60-0610 P:51 But then when Saul wouldn't wait on the Lord no more, Samuel turned right away from him. Remember, and the first time, not the second time, but the first time that Saul took upon himself to take over the service of the Lord, Samuel turned his back on him and walked away from him. And the first time that the church lets their leaders take over to lead the people, the Holy Spirit gets right away from them. And the very first time that you go being led by man instead of God, the Holy Spirit will get away from you too. Let the Holy Spirit lead. That's what we need is leadership. And God gave us a Leader, and we don't hear It.

 

Time of decision 59-0611 P:5 Brother Tommy Hicks, I hear, is in a heart attack, overworked. Oh, as I said the other night? God's people needs a juniper tree--rest. Let's just wait on the Lord, then we renew our strength as we wait on Him. Don't try to do it all. I remember staying in the prayer line for seven days and nights, and eating my meal at the pulpit, determined I would pray for every one that come before I set down. They was ten times more on the last night than there was when I started. Then I almost died. I couldn't sleep, didn't know where I was at hardly, I was so tired and weary. Doesn't pay to do that. Jesus doesn't want us to do that. Wants to take care of ourselves...

 

What hearest thou Elijah 59-0609 P:38 That's what the churches try to do, try to pattern and mock, join something, run after this, that, or the other. Wait on the Lord. He will provide for you. What do you hear? Can you hear the Voice? That bear hears the Voice of God. He don't grow any snowshoes. But what does he do? Just go out and lay down, and lay there and sleep it off, all winter. Let the rest of them run around if they want to, he just takes a good winter snooze. Why? God makes a way for him. He listens. Nature speaks.

 

Hear His voice 58-1005M P:34 See, we got too many things ahead of the Lord. You can't have the prayer meeting because Mr. Godfrey's on tonight. You can't have the prayer meeting because "We Love Sucy" is on tonight, or some kind of a foolish nonsense like that, that takes up the time. And we don't have time to hear the voice of the Lord. And those who do claim to be Christians, just kneel down of the little prayer like this, kinda homemade. "Lord bless me, and my family, and take care of us. Good night." And the next morning rise and say, "Just guide us through the day. Good day."... We should wait on the Lord. You see, we do all the talking. We don't give Him a chance to talk back to us. That if we would pray and pray until our soul comes into the Presence of God, and then just relax and listen to His voice...

 

By faith Moses 58-0720M P:3 And my ministry, fixing to make the change, now... And I have no meetings scheduled, and that's the reason that I just kinda come aside and thought... And now, for the next few weeks I would just take a rest, complete rest, and wait on the Lord.

 

Door to the heart 58-0316E P:12 I just held a revival in a place that held twenty people. That's right. But you see, I'm not out much expense. Now, the way I do it, I just wait on the Lord, and if He tells me to go to a place that's got twenty people, I'm not under no obligations to the world, or to the radio, or anything, so I couldn't go; and so I just go hold a revival.

 

Romans 8:25 But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

 

Romans 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, character; and character, 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. dokime means tried character

 

Let us pray…