Spoken
Word no. 60
Faith
is knowing the will of God
Brian Kocourek
This
morning we will again take our study from The Spoken Word is the Original Seed 42 where
brother Branham is speaking about God’s Word, and the will of God is found only
in His Word.
It's there, the Truth, all the Truth, and nothing but the Truth, and our faith rests right there, right there
on what God said. Don't try to interpret It; just say it the way It says it. Don't put any private
interpretation, ...
Now, this morning I would
like to speak on Faith. Because we are told in Hebrews 11: 6 that without faith it is impossible to please God:
for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of
them that diligently seek him.
So having faith is
essential to the Christian if he is going to please God. Not only that but we
are told that “without
faith we can not please God.” Therefore if we are to receive anything from
God we must first have faith and believe God for what we seek.
But the reason people do
not have faith concerning receiving from God is that they are not sure if what
they are asking is the will of God to begin with. The reason they are not sure
what the will of God is, is because they do not know what the will of God is.
In order to have faith then, we must first have knowledge of what God’s will is
concerning the matter that we are wishing to have faith for. Before one can
have faith for any circumstance in our life we must first know what God’s will
for us is in that area that we are seeking faith for, whether it be for healing
or finances, or for other more specific blessings. “So then, Faith cometh by hearing and hearing
the Word of God” Rom 10: 17.
Therefore this morning we are going to examine what we
can do in our life to increase our Faith. We need to understand that God has
placed more than 800 promises in His Word for our benefit and all it takes to
receive those blessings is for us to know that they are there and that God
wants us to have them.
You see, we must have the mind of Christ in us, and we
must know the mind of our Father and His mind must be in us as sons in order
for us as sons to be ready for the adoption.
Our minds must be brought into harmony with the mind of God if we are to
receive what God has in His mind for us to receive.
Now, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:11 For what man knows
the things of a man, except the spirit of man is in him? even so the things of
God knows no man, but the Spirit of God knows. So unless you have
the Spirit of God in You it is impossible to understand the things of God.
Now, concerning Faith
in God’s word, in Romans 10:17 Paul tells us how to appropriate our
faith. He said, “Faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of
God.” Br. Branham took this one
step further and preached a sermon entitled, hearing,
recognizing and acting upon the word of God.
So you see, faith comes by hearing the word of God, what God
says about it. Then if you hear and recognize it to be God’s Word, then you
appropriate that by acting upon what you hear.
The Word of God must first come to the Mind, before it
settles down into the Soul. So we see that first we have a mental faith or
recognition of the word of God. Then when God anoints His Word in our Mind by His
Holy Spirit, it moves down into our Soul and becomes a Spiritual or dynamic Faith.
In fact Brother Branham said in the Message Blasphemous Names
, pg. 23, Coming to your mental faith, right here, comes the Holy
Spirit, coming down into your mental faith making it a Spiritual Faith. Then
the Spiritual Faith only recognizes the Word."
Now, this morning I want to talk to you about how to
appropriate Faith in God’s Word, because many people say they believe but when
it comes to Faith it is more than just believing. You must step into it or it
is not yours.
You must hear it, and faith comes by Hearing, then you
must recognize it because many who hear do not recognize nor do they perceive
what it is that they are hearing. So you must hear which means to understand
it, then you must recognize it, and the word recognize means To
know to be something that has been perceived before: recognize a face. 2. To
know or identify from past experience or knowledge:
So then we must ask, if to recognize has to do with
knowing because of an experience of the past, then we must ask “Whose past”?
Because Faith is the Substance of things hoped for,
and yet Hope that is seen is not hope. That is what the Apostle Paul said in Romans 8: 24 For we are saved by
hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet
hope for?
But let’s look at this thought from Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. So
Faith is a substance. Now, in order to understand this we must ask our selves
what is this substance that Faith is? Is it matter like in science and physics?
Is that what the words substance means? The English Dictionary defines substance
as 1. a. That which has mass and occupies space; matter. b. A
material of a particular kind or constitution. But this is not what it means, so let’s
look at what else the dictionary defines Substance as being. 2. a. Essential
nature; essence. Now, that is more like it. Therefore if Faith is the nature of
something or shall we say someone, or
the essential nature, then it is the essentiality and intrinsicality of God.
And I can prove it by God’s own Word. The Greek word
for Substance in which Faith is The Substance is the Greek Word “hupostasis”
which literally means essence confidence assurance and person. In other
words, this word “hupostassis” is translated here as the word substance
and is the same word that is translated as the word “person” in reference to
God.
Hebrews 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, (hupostassis) and upholding all
things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat
down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
So Jesus being the express image of God’s very “person”,
is the express image of the very “substance” which is God, which is
what Faith is all about, expressing the very mind of God. That is why substance
which is what Faith is, is not substance as if it is matter, but it is the essence
of Who and what God is. Faith is the very out-raying or expression of the
Divine will of God.
The same word “hupostassis” is also translated as
the word “Confidence” as we
see in Hebrews 3: 14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we
hold the beginning of our confidence
steadfast unto the end; Notice, not
hold fast the beginning of confidence, but our confidence. And confidence has to do with trust. You
trust people not things. When you trust your breaks, you are not trusting the
metal or material, but you are trusting the people who designed them and put
them on. We do not place our trust and confidence in things, but in people.
And so we see that Faith is the substance. Faith is the Person
we hope for. And Christ is our Hope.
That’s what the Scripture teaches us.
1 Peter 1: 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto
a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
Titus 2: 13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the
glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
1 Thessalonians 2: 19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of
rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his
coming?
1 Thessalonians 1: 3 Remembering without ceasing your work of
faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in
the sight of God and our Father;
Colossians 1: 27 To whom God would make known what is the
riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you,
the hope of glory:
1 Corinthians 15: 19 If
in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
So Faith is the substance of Christ that we hope
for. So Faith has to do with Christ, and since this substance is also the person,
then Faith is the nature and essentiality of Who and What God is.
Now, let’s look at this a
little bit closer in. If Faith is the substance
or person of Christ, then faith, genuine Faith is based not on what we think,
but what God thinks.
Faith then, is knowing
what God said. Then to appropriate Faith we must first find out what God said concerning
any Divine promise, and then recognizing His will concerning that Divine
promise, and then we must plant them into our mind, and water them by His own Word,
by reciting them over and over gain until they settle down into our heart and then
when that happens, the nature of that Word Seed takes over and does what it was
intended to do. The nature of the seed, (God’s Word
Seed) takes over.
In Galatians 3:13 we read, “Christ hath (past
tense) redeemed
us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.”
Notice that the Word
of God speaks to us of the Divine Promises as though they are already done. God
places them in the past tense, not future tense. And our Faith comes into
manifestation when we do the same thing.
God wants us to
appropriate the past tense of His Word regarding any Divine promise. For what
God thought before the foundations of the world is already finished in His eyes
as if it had already materialized. When God puts a promise to us in the past
tense He expects us to do the same. You can not appropriate something that is
in the future, you can only appropriate that which is already given. The
word appropriate means To
take possession of or make use of exclusively for oneself, often without
permission:
Why do you have to ask
permission when He has already given it to you. Therefore the words, “if it be thy will o Lord” shows you
don’t believe what he has given to you by His Promised Word. If I give you something, you do not need my
permission to use what I have given you. And God does not expect us to counter
His promise with the words, “if it be thy will o Lord.” Those are not Faith appropriating words, those
are faith diffusing, faith negating words. God wants you to know His Word and
when you know it and know that it is His will for you to have it, then it is
already done. Then appropriate that promise. Take possession of it, claim it as
your own, make exclusive use of it. That is what Appropriating Faith is all
about. The
things hidden belong unto God but those things revealed belong unto us and to
our children for ever….
In Mark 11:24
Jesus taught us Therefore I say unto you, What things so ever ye desire, when
ye pray, believe that ye receive them,
and ye shall have them.
Believe they are
yours. First believe the promise and then believe that ye have received them,
and then appropriate them, make use of them for yourself.
We need then to only
begin praising Him and thanking Him for what He has already given to us. The farmer must get his seed into the ground,
and before he can receive his harvest he must have a past tense sowing of the
seed into good ground. But once that seed of the Word is planted into your mind
and heart, then you need only to look for the harvest to come, and it will come
in it’s proper timing. And not even that is a mystery. The timing of the sowing
and harvesting is not a mystery to any one who has studied and understands
sowing and reaping. The farmer knows that when he sows, he shall reap. So he
sows in a certain season knowing he shall reap in the proper time for the seed
to gestate and go through it’s cycle. Human seed takes 9 months, horses 11
months, and elephants 22 months. All seeds have a cycle time for sowing and
reaping…
In John 12:24 Jesus said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn
of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it
bringeth forth much fruit.
Believing what God
said and giving back to God what He said is how we get the Seed of His Word
into the proper soil. And when we do that, all we need to do is wait on the law
of reproduction to bring into materialization the Word seed that we planted.
Remember, when Lazarus
was laying there rotting in that grave? What were the words of Jesus concerning
those circumstances? He said, John 11: 41-42 “Father, I thank thee
that thou hast heard me.” (notice that He is speaking of the
past tense. He has already prayed for the raising up of Lazarus. He already sowed the Word Seed
into good soil. Now,
he is only acknowledging what he has already sowed. Look at the next verse )
42 And I knew (past tense) that thou hearest me always: but because of the
people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
And John said in 1 John 5: 14 And
this is the confidence that we have in
him, that, if we ask any thing according
to his will, he hears us:
Notice what he said
here…And this is
the confidence that we have in him. There
you are. Our confidence is in Him… Faith is the substance…Faith
is the person… Faith is the confidence we have in Him….
What He already thought and What He has already spoken, is already a done deal.
Faith rejoices before
we see any change in circumstances. Faith does not look to circumstance, Faith
looks to the Word of God. If God said it then it is finished. It’s all over.
It’s done…
Faith refuses to even
look at anything that is contrary to the promise.
The Apostle
Paul in speaking of Abraham, said in Romans 4:16 Therefore
it is of faith, that it
might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed;
not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of
Abraham; who is the father of us all, 17 (As it is
written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he
believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and
calleth those things which be not as though they were. 18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father
of many nations, according to that which
was spoken, So shall thy seed be. 19 And
being not weak in faith, he considered
not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither
yet the deadness of Sara's womb:
20 He
staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith,
giving glory to God; 21 And
being fully persuaded that, what he had
promised, he was able also to perform. 22 And therefore it was imputed
to him for righteousness. 23 Now it was not written
for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; 24 But
for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up
Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25 Who was delivered
for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
Now, look, what I am trying to say is this. Faith looks at what is
already done in God’s Word which is God’s will. Therefore if God said it, it is
as good as already done. It is finished.
Faith is taking God at His Word. Faith is believing what God said before
you see it, taste it, feel it, smell it or even hear it. Faith is the sixth
sense and it does not need the other senses to appropriate the promise.
I do not need to see
you to know you are hear in this church. I do not need to hear you to know that
you are alive in your seat right now. I do not need to physically go out there
and touch you to know that you exist. I do not need to smell you to know you
are hear. And that is one sense that I would rather not have to use to know you
are here. And I do not need to taste either. So then why do we rely so heavily
upon our five senses when it comes to believing what God has said?
When God told Mary
that she was to become the mother of His Son, she didn’t say, I can’t believe
what I am hearing. She said, be it done unto me according to Thy Word. That’s
it, hearing, recognizing and acting upon the promise of God.
Look we are no
different in this hour. We had an angel from the Lord come down from heaven,
stand before groups of men, and tell us that we are the Elect Bride of Jesus
Christ. And we are the ones that will be conformed to the image of the first
born son. Now, my question is this? You have heard it, have you recognized it?
If so then are you acting upon it.
When Jesus went to
Brother Branham said
that the cross was not the victory, but the battle in
COMMUNION 57-0418 14 Now, if God did not spare
His Own Son from the cruel testing, then He will not spare you or I from the cruel
testing. And Jesus was here confronting the greatest test that He had ever had.
Gethsemane laid just before Him, where that once and final all-sufficient test
must come, when the burdens of the entire world laid upon His blessed shoulder.
There was no one in all heavens or earth could ever stood it but Him. And to
know that all of the sins, of past sins, and present sins, and future sins,
rested upon this decision. And it was one of the most greatest victories that
Christ ever won or proved His great Messiahship, as when He said to God,
"Not My will; Thine be done." That was the greatest victory He had
ever won. All the demons of torment was around to tempt Him and try Him. And
when we get right with God, when our hearts become pure and the Holy Spirit has
taken Its place in our heart, it's the most glorious thing to have testing. The
Bible tells us that our testings and trials are more precious to us than silver
and gold of this world. So we should be thankful.
CONFERENCE
60-1125 43
Now, Moses cried to the Lord and the Lord said, "Rise up and go
forward." And when Moses went right
straight and stepped his foot into the water, when that taken place, the
Red Sea opened back, and Israel crossed over to a great victory. They had a
conference. That's the way we always
have to do, is have conferences. Now, I want to speak of another one right
quick. There was a conference. There's many of them we could speak of, but
let's just not pass this one by. There was a
So you see when Jesus looked at the promise of God
that God had this lamb that was slain in God’s eyes before the foundations of
the world, and when he stepped into that role, then he could say at the cross, “it is finished.”
Why are we not a denomination? 58-0927
P:145 Now, the Bible said that Jesus Christ was
the Lamb of God. Now, listen real close, so if some of you won't be in tomorrow
to hear it finish up. The Bible said that Jesus Christ was the Lamb of God
slain from the foundation of the world. Is that right? When was He slain? From the
foundation. That's the world, if it's made out of a bunch of broken up
atoms, pulled off the sun yonder, before it was that. Then before there was an
atom ever first broke in the sun, if this was a meteor off the sun, which would
be a hundred billion trillion trillion trillions of years back before there was
even one light meteor, Christ was slain.
When God's great mind settles on one
thing, it's a finished product. When God said, "Let there be,"
it's already finished if it taken a hundred billion years to run out, it's
already finished as soon as He said it. And when the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world, the same
Bible, the same Spirit wrote and said, our names were put in the Lamb's Book of
Life before the foundation of the world. So the man that wrote the song,
"There's A New Name Written Down In Glory," he had good meanings, but
he was unscriptural. See? That name was wrote down in glory when before the
world ever begin. When the Lamb was slain, our names were put on the Lamb's
Book of Life.
Then you say, well
what about me brother Brian? All I can say my brother and sisters, is let’s
read Ephesians 1:
in closing… It’s all there and it is as much
finished in God’s own mind and it ever will be. The question is. Do you believe
it? Can you see your self there? Do you
believe this is personally about you? I can tell you, I do…
Ephesians 1: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4 According
as he hath (he’s already done it, so it is finished in God’s
eyes…) According
as he hath chosen us in him (there’s your eternal
life) before the
foundation of the world, that we should
be (that means that he has already set it in motion. He has
ordained it to be that you are) holy and without blame
in His Presence. Then in love He has (past tense) predestinated
us
unto the adoption of children by
Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, (So you don’t have to ask Him if it is His Will, you
know it is the Good pleasure of His will, o hallelujah!!!) 6 To the praise of the
glory of his grace,(that means now, even before we see it with skin
on it we should be praising God for what he has already done…) wherein he hath (past tense) made us accepted in the beloved.
(It’s not you making yourself
acceptable. He made you acceptable while you were still in Him before there was
even one atom to fashion the world into existence. He already has done it, so
start planting that seed. Start praising Him for what He has already done. So
don’t look at the circumstance…Look at His promise… ) 7 In whom we have
redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches
of his grace; 8 Wherein
he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; 9 Having (past tense) made known unto us the mystery of his will,(so you know His will, and it is no longer a
mystery…)
according to his good pleasure which he
hath purposed in himself: (and He is so happy to have made known His Will to us
by His Shout, by His Message to us…) 10 That in the
dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things
in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: 11 In whom
also we have obtained an inheritance,(notice
we have already obtained an inheritance…How? By) being predestinated according to the purpose
of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: (Notice again he is telling you that this is all His
own Will and He is so glad to let us in on what His will for us is. And the
response we should have is to praise Him…) 12 That we should be to the praise of his glory,
who first trusted in Christ.
Then he tells us in
verse 13 how this is all to come about, but we do not have time to get into
that this morning, but we know that He gives us the earnest of our inheritance
when we receive the baptism of His Holy Spirit, and then in verse 17 – 20 he
tells us that when God Himself comes down with a shout, it is to give us the
very mind of God which gets us ready for the placing of sons, for we can not be
adopted and placed as sons and receive the inheritance itself until we have the
mind of our father. So He comes down with the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation
in the Knowledge of Himself so we as sons can receive our Father’s mind that we
might know His mind and know His Word and His will and thus do only what His
will desires. Because
we are sons, He has given us the spirit in our hearts that we might cry
abba Father, and Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet
appear what we shall be: but we know that, (that’s His Great
Appearing among us in this hour)when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see
him as he is. and by seeing Him as he truly is, we come into His
image and are like Him,. That’s His plan…That’s His will. Do you see yourself
in it? Then can you step into it?
Let us pray…