Spoken
Word no 38
Be
Careful How You Hear
Brian Kocourek
Deut 6:
4-9 4 Hear,
O
I’d like to read verse 7 from the NIV Impress them on your children. Talk of them
when you sit in your home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down
and when you get up.
And again verse 7 from the Amplified And these words which I am commanding you
this day shall be first in your mind heart; then you shall whet and sharpen them, so to make them penetrate, and teach and impress them diligently upon the
minds and hearts of your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in
your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you
rise up.”
And so we see that to
do so they were to place pictures and Scriptures and all sorts of things that
the children will actually see with their eyes and when they see with their
eyes it will have an influence in their minds and in their hearts.
Let us pray… Dear
Father, we come to you as your children and we also have children, and we know
that the way you have trained up us as your children is that you have implanted
in us, an ability to know and to understand. Help us father to do with our own
children for we ask it in Jesus Christ’s name. Amen.
Now, the Scripture
teaches us in Proverbs 22: 6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old,
he will not depart from it.
Brother Branham
preached a Message "Christ Revealed in HIS Own Word." Now that is an
absolute. If Christ is Revealed in HIS OWN Word, then the Word of Christ
is the only way in which He is or will be Revealed. So then if we are to
get to know Christ, if He is to become revealed to us, it must come only one
way and that is through His Own Word. So then His Word is the Absolute or
ultimate if we are to get to know Him.
And he also said, We
should never pray to change God's mind; we should pray to change our mind.
God's mind don't need any changing.
The problem we have though is that although the Bible is written in many
languages, yet it is understood in none. For it can not be understood by the
written Word, but by the Mind of Christ. For although the Word is presented to
just about every civilization that has a written language, yet it is not in
that language that it is understood, but through Revelation.
1 Corinthians 2:9 But
as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into
the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
10 But God hath revealed them
unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep
things of God. 11 For what man knoweth the things of a
man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth
no man, but the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have
received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we
might know the things that are freely given to us of God. 13 Which
things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which
the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of
God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself
is judged of no man. 16 For
who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the
mind of Christ.
Now, this scripture
tells us that we can in no way understand the things of God unless the spirit
of God is in us. So above all pray for God to give you His Spirit.
Now, in 1 Peter 1:10 he
speaks of an end time Grace that is to bring us to the place of the revelation
of Jesus Christ. 10 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently,
who prophesied of the grace that should come unto
you:
11 Searching
what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did
signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory
that should follow. 12 Unto whom it was revealed,
that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are
now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the
Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into. 13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be
sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the
revelation of Jesus Christ;
And we see Paul speak of this end-time Grace that is
to bring us into the very mind of Christ in the book of Corinthians.
1 Corinthians 1:4 I thank my God always on your
behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ;5 That
in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge;6 Even as
the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you:7 So
that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ: 8 Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.9 God is faithful,
by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. 10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind
and in the same judgment.
Now, In [Proverbs 23:7] we are told, "as a man thinketh in His
Heart, so is he." This body is
not you, nor any part of it. Brother Branham said it is like an old coat that
we wear. Well, my coat is not me. So what you are is what your thoughts are.
Matt
12:34 & Luke 6:25 that Jesus
tells us, "For out of the abundance, or overflow of the heart, the mouth will speak."
So then there is no getting away from the fact that you are not only what you
think, but what you are will be expressed through your lips in the form of
words. You will speak what you are.
Therefore in John 1: 1 that tells us "In the beginning was the Word and the Word
was with God and the Word was God." Then to get to know
God, it must come through His Word, and since He can not change, then we can
establish the point that Christ is Revealed
in His Own Word, because after
all, Christ and the Word is the same. Now if You are revealed by your own words, then
Christ is Revealed in the same manner. Therefore, to get to know Christ we must
get to know His Word. And that is why God has given us His Word. Could you
imagine God wanting for us to know Him and not telling us anything about
Himself? Then our knowledge of Him would be left up to our own imagination.
Let me put it to you
this way. When a young man sees a young girl and he likes what he sees, what
doe he do? He tries to get to know her. But what if he never talks to her? Can
he get to know her? Not really. He may say that he has fallen in love with her
without ever talking to her, but how does he know that it is her that he is in
love with? It might just be his own imagination that he is in love with. He
imagines what she is like and so he thinks on these thoughts and then he falls
in love with his ideals of what she should be like. But what happens if he
dates her and they never talk? He will go on thinking she is what his mind
imagines her to be. And what if they get married and they have never really
talked and communicated to each other. Then he will be in for the shock of his
life when he marries her and then finds out later that she is not what he
thought she was.
So you see, we
express ourselves by what we say and what we do. That is the real person in us doing those things and
saying those things. This shell of a body is only a housing in which the real
person in us lives. You do not no me by what I look like but by what I say and
do. My expression reveals to you the real me. And how often people marry
thinking that they will be able to change the one they are married to. It does
not work that way.
And so we see that not only is God revealed by His own Word, but we
are also revealed by our own words. But
what if those words are not true? Or what if we were told words that were not
true? Or what if we only hear what we want to hear? Then the description of the
One being revealed will be wrong. Then that one will not be truly revealed will
he? Ex: Man looking for wife, given wrong picture and wrong description. Eve
was seduced. By what? A lie! Early church left the One who bough them for
another. How? By deception.
Galatians
1: 6-9 ¶ I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him
that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: 7 Which is not
another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of
Christ. 8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto
you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 9 As we
said before, so say I now again, If any [man] preach any other gospel unto you
than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
2 Cor 11: 1-4, ¶ Would to God ye
could bear with me a little in [my] folly: and indeed bear with me. 2 For I am
jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband,
that I may present [you as] a chaste virgin to Christ. 3 But I fear, lest by
any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds
should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For if he that
cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or [if] ye receive
another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have
not accepted, ye might well bear with [him]. (you put up with it so easily).
5 ¶ For I suppose I was not a whit behind the
very chiefest apostles. And
now, let’s read 13-15 For such [are] false
apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of
Christ. 14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of
light. 15 Therefore [it is] no great thing if his ministers also be transformed
as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
Now, what I want to bring to your attention tonight is from Mark 4: 24 And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with what
measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall more
be given.
Notice he said, take
heed, be careful how you hear. How you hear? Don’t we hear with our ears? I’d
like to ask this question myself. How do you hear? with your ears? Take Heed:
Blepo = Beware of, be careful, to discern, to observe and
contemplate, to weigh carefully, examine. What = Tis : What, who,
whom, why, that which Hear = Akou: To understand, comprehend or
perceive, to sense what was being said, to give an ear to a teaching or teacher
with a view toward understanding.
Matt 13:
10 – 17 And the disciples
came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? 11 He answered and said unto them, Because it
is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them
it is not given. 12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall
have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even
that he hath. 13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see
not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. 14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of
Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and
seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: 15 For this people's heart is
waxed gross, and [their] ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have
closed; lest at any time they should see with [their] eyes, and hear with
[their] ears, and should understand with [their] heart, and should be
converted, and I should heal them. 16 But blessed [are] your eyes, for they
see: and your ears, for they hear. 17 For verily I say unto you, That many
prophets and righteous [men] have desired to see [those things] which ye see,
and have not seen [them]; and to hear [those things] which ye hear, and have
not heard [them].
Notice he said we do
not hear with our ears nor do we see with our eyes. These are only outer senses
that send stimulus to our mind. But what we hear with and what we see only
brings a stimulus that enter into our mind or spirit where we have five other
senses.
Remember, we are told how to create an influence upon our children so
they will never depart from the Word in Deut 6: 6-9 7 NIV Impress them on
your children. Talk of them when you sit in your home and when you walk along
the road, when you lie down and when you get up. {7} Amplified And these words which I am commanding you this day shall be
first in your mind heart; then you shall whet and sharpen them, so to make them
penetrate, and teach and impress them diligently upon the minds and hearts of
your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you
walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up."
To do so they were to
place visual stimuli (Scriptures) and things that the children would actually
see with their eyes, and when they see with their eyes it will have an
influence in their minds and in their hearts. So here we see a positive picture
of using and controlling the five senses in a way which will control and guide
the minds of the children and actually bring about an inner desire in them for
the things of God. We see how then that sight can control the inner senses...
In other words we begin to superimpose the Revealed Word upon everything we
see, taste feel smell and hear. We must learn how to identify our outer and
inner senses in order to learn how to control hem because Christianity is a
discipline and as a discipline it takes discipline to be a good Christian. So
we see that we have see, taste feel smell and hear as out senses to contact our
earthly home, and then in the spirit we have.
|
1) Memory = the ability to retain or revive in the
mind past thoughts, images, ideas, etc. |
|
2) Imagination = the power to form( conceive or picture )
mental images of what is not actually present. |
|
3) Reasoning = The ability to draw conclusions or
inference from assumed facts. |
|
4) Conscience = The moral sense. Knowledge from within.
Inner thoughts and feelings. |
|
5) Affection = The emotional state of being,
disposition. The prevailing aspects of our true nature. |
Now let’s look to the
scripture for some other illustrations of how sight will control these five
inner senses.
Numbers
15: 38-40 Speak unto the children of Israel, and bid them
that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their
generations, and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of
blue: 39 And it shall be unto you for
a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the
LORD, and do them; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes,
after which ye use to go a whoring: 40
That ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your
God.
Here we see that the
sight is used to control our memory so that we do not prostitute ourselves to
other things.
NIV "You will have the tassels to look at and so you will remember all
the commands of the Lord, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves
by going after the lusts of your own hearts and eyes. Then you will remember to
obey all my commands and will be consecrated to your God. "
Here we see God
employing the use of sight to control the heart and minds by charging our
memories with stimulus that in turn causes us to reflect within ourselves what
our journey is all about. Proverbs 17: 24
NIV A
discerning man keeps wisdom in view, but a fools eyes wander to the ends of the
earth
Now what I am trying
to establish here is that you see and hear with your mind, and we read in Mark 4: 24
that we must be careful, we must take heed how we hear because the measure we
use to hear is the only thing we will hear. As a
tree leaneth so shall it fall. If our minds are already made up
then what we hear will be filtered by what we want to hear.
If our minds are not
open then we will never come to the knowledge of the truth. ( ex: young
man leaning, try to stand up, can’t do it!)
Mark 4:24 For with what measure you use to
measure out, that is all you will receive back. As a tree leans so shall it fall. If our minds are
already made up then what we hear will be filtered by what we want to hear. If
our minds are not open then we will never come to the knowledge of the truth. Let
me illustrate with some of the young men in this church. Come here and stand
facing this wall. Place your forehead against the wall. Now, take three steps
one foot distance at a time away from the wall, and place your hands behind
your back. Now, try to stand up… You can’t why? Because as you are leaning that
is the way you shall fall. That is why brother Vayle always said when making a
decision before God, get in neutral so that he can help you to go in the right
direction. A man
chooses his path but the Lord directs his footsteps. Get in neutral
and God can pull you or push you but either way you will be able to move when
he moves you.
That is why I do not teach a return ministry, because if you don’t come
into the Shout which is the Message, there will be no second chance. The way
the tree leans it’s going to fall. And too many are leaning to the world hoping
that God will send his prophet back and they will get the message the second
time it is given. But it’s too late then.
From Investments 63-0803B P:33 I
trust that that's in the heart of every man and woman here this morning to find
something that's real. You remember, you can't come back and make the second
trial. You got to get it now. "The way the tree leans, that's
the way it falls." There is no Scripture for a
hereafter repentance. That's--that's your time now. No matter how it becomes
popular today, and a--a purgatory somewhere, there--there's no such, there's no
such thing in the Bible. It was wrote in one of the books of the Maccabees, or
something another, but that wasn't added to It. And, look, in that one book is
purgatory mentioned, yet in the rest of the Bible it's not mentioned nowhere.
And after all, Jesus speaking of this same young man when he died, He said
there's a gulf fixed that no man has ever crossed,
and never will after death. See? And that settles it, when Jesus said so.
Luke
8:18 Take
heed therefore how ye hear: How : Pos : By what means, after what manner, in
what way for
whosoever hath, Hath : echo : The word speaks of possession, but we also
understand the word echo means repetition through reflection. to him shall be
given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he
seemeth to have..
1 Timothy
4:15-16 Meditate upon these
things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all.
16Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; Doctrine : Didoskalia : Doctrine, teaching,
instruction...continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both
save thyself, and them that hear thee. Notice that we are told that it will save both
you and those who will hear you.
Proverbs
22:6 ¶ Train up a child in the way he should go: and
when he is old, he will not depart from it. And so a child will
always revert back to the way he or she was trained. The filter we have, the
measuring stick we have is based upon what information we filter it through.
And so we see that every thing we know we were taught by someone. Every fact we
use to make our decisions with is based upon what we were told. And the world
is under such delusions today that people take what is only theory and believe
it for Gospel. Ex:
I used this
illustration in a church who had sat under false teaching for so many years
that the people did not know what truth was. I hid a Lamb under a blanket and
told them that The Gentiles worship what they know not, as Jesus has said. I
told them to guess what was under the blanket because that is what most people
do concerning faith. It is only a guess to them. I then read to them 7
attributes which described what I had hid under the blanket. Before I did,
though, I told one group that what was under the blanket was a Bunny Rabbit.
Another Group I told
it was a Collie dog. Both Groups then thinking they knew what I had under the
blanket, were actually blinding themselves to the attributes which were
expressed because they read into them what they wanted to hear. That attributes
were: 1) Four legs 2)
beautiful outer coat 3) Gentle nature 4) it’s nature is to follow 5)
It can jump small fences 6) it is sacrificial in
it’s nature 7) A Shepherd boys best friend .
When each attribute was read each group reinforced their error with the hearing
of the attribute. Finally a group that I had told to be completely open until
they heard all the attributes, said it was a Lamb and they alone were right.
You should have seen the faces of those others. They were mad when they found
out they had been duped. But I told them I purposely duped them in this
illustration that they may never be duped again.
John 8:
37 – 47 I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek
to kill me, because my word hath no place in you. 38 ¶ I speak that which I have seen with my
Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father. 39 They answered and said unto him, Abraham is
our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do
the works of Abraham. 40 But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you
the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. 41 Ye do the deeds
of your father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; we have
one Father, [even] God. 42 Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye
would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of
myself, but he sent me. 43 Why do ye
not understand my speech? [even] because ye cannot hear my word. 44 Ye are of
[your] father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a
murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no
truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar,
and the father of it. 45 And because I tell [you] the truth, ye believe me not.
46 ¶
Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not
believe me? 47 He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear [them]
not, because ye are not of God.
Matt
23:32 Fill ye up the measure of your fathers.
Jesus told them to fill up the measure of their fathers. In other words, every
seed will bring forth after their own kind, or their own nature. Then can you
expect them to believe? There is no way they can believe. They are ordained not
to believe. That reminds me of a man who was mental and thought he was dead. So
the doctor trying to help him, asked him if dead men can bleed, and the man
answered, of course not, dead men don’t bleed because they have no blood.
So the doctor trying
to shock the man into his senses poked him with a needle and immediately the
man began to bleed. Upon seeing the blood come he he shouted, I was wrong, dead
men do bleed!
Now, if God were to
come in this day and walk down the street, there is no way that you would know
it was Him unless he began to open his mouth and talk to you and by words He
would declare Himself to you. Because, you can only know someone by their mind
- what they think and what they say. Even the things they do are a
manifestation of what they are thinking. Brother Branham said, Eve had to first
think adultery before she could perform it. You must first think of lying
before you do it.
If you hear a false
description you will be looking for a false person. That is why Paul told us in
2 Corinthians 11:1-4 that the people had
become seduced to believe another Jesus, because they received so openly
another Gospel.
And yet it was not an
altogether different Gospel, only one that had become perverted.
Galatians
1: 6-9 ¶ I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him
that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: 7 Which is not
another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of
Christ. And a perverted Gospel is one of a different nature 8 But though we, or
an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have
preached unto you, let him be accursed. 9 As we said before, so say I now
again, If any [man] preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have
received, let him be accursed.
3). Therefore how do we know what is the Correct Word of
God? VINDICATION is the only way. And how does
God VINDICATE His Word? God interprets His Own Word by bringing it to pass.
Brother Branham spoke of vindication well over 2,270 times and the word comes
from a Latin word vindicatius. This word comes from two Latin words, vim or vin
which means to use force and the word discrere’ which comes from the root word
diction which means to express by words. The words together form the word as we
know it vindicate which means to clear from criticism or suspicion, in other
words, to prove and back up. Therefore we see that the very presence of God on
the seen is to back up the message that He gave His Prophet.