The Doctrine of Christ no 36
“Fellowship”
Brian Kocourek, Pastor
December 4th, 2011
Last Sunday as we sat at the
table with brother Vayle, he commented on something brother Branham said, and I
found it in the sermon, WHO IS THIS
MELCHISEDEC 65-0221E 44 God came down and become flesh and died the
death in Christ so that He could clean the church in order to get into it for fellowship. God loves
fellowship. That's what He made the man at the first time for, was for
fellowship.
Now, this morning I would like to take our thoughts
from this statement Brother Branham made, because after all the devil was made
to worship, and we see all religions of the world know how to worship, But God
wants fellowship and in order to have fellowship with God we must “walk in the light
as he is in the Light, because that brings us into fellowship with Him.”
That’s 1 John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the
light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his
Son cleanseth us from all sin.
And notice in Br. Branham’s
statement he said, God cleanses the Church for the purpose of
having fellowship. Now, that’s a good
statement, a clean church is needed for fellowship. When we’re going to have
company we clean our houses, and when we are going to have fellowship at church
we clean the church. That’s a good thought. But, I think what he is saying here
is not referring to the house or building we live in. Rather, he is referring
that a Holy and Righteous God could never inhabit an unclean thing. And He is
not speaking of the building, because God gave birth to Himself a Son in a
stinking cow stall. But He is talking about cleansing the people that He might
inhabit their presence. To think of God's Presence coming into the presence of His
people. That is a beautiful thought.
Secondly, He says, God loves fellowship.
Thirdly, he says, "that's
why He made man, was for fellowship."
So we see that God loves fellowship so much that He
made man and cleansed him in order for fellowship to exist between God and
man.
Now, let's go to the Word of God this morning and look
at the importance of fellowship to the believer.
ACTS 2:42 ¶ And they
continued stedfastly in the apostles'
doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking
of bread, and in prayers. 43 And
fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the
apostles. 44 And all that believed were together, and had all things
common; 45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all
[men], as every man had need. 46 And they continued daily with one accord
in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their
meat with gladness and singleness of heart, 47 Praising God, and
having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such
as should be saved.
Now, let's look closer at
these verses of Scripture that speaks of the early church, because after all,
we know that Alpha must repeat in Omega.
Verse 42 tells us there were 4 important elements in the
early church. ACTS 2:42 ¶ And they continued
stedfastly in the apostles' #1) doctrine and #2)
fellowship, and #3) in breaking of bread,
and #4) in prayers.
Now, notice these 4 elements were of such importance
that by doing them and being faithful to them, it created an atmosphere among
the people of expectation.
ACTS 2:42 ¶ And they
continued steadfastly in the apostles'
doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking
of bread, and in prayers. 43 And
fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the
apostles.
Notice how the scripture
lays out the order for building faith among the people. Doctrine is listed here
as number one, but not only. Secondly there must be fellowship, then
there must be a breaking of bread together, and finally prayer.
Let's look at this order again,
#1) They continued steadfastly
in the Apostles Doctrine. This is listed here as the
first or principle thing. Notice the words used to describe the condition of
the people. They continued steadfastly in the Doctrine of
the Apostles. Now we know the doctrine is the teaching, that is
what the word doctrine means, the teaching. But I want you to notice the
intensity of their devotion to the teaching. They continued steadfastly, the Greek word is Proskartereo
and it means to adhere to and be steadfastly
attentive, and to persevere and not faint. These
people were in a condition of constant readiness to hear and study. There was
an earnest expectation and anticipation for the word of God to be taught to
them.
Contrast that with the church today. You are fortunate
if people will show up on Sunday, much less midweek services. And why is that? Because the people just do
not expect the Word to produce anything in them. They say they do, but your
actions are heard louder in heaven than your words.
Now, what was the Apostles Doctrine that they so
eagerly yearned for the Apostles to teach them?
First of all let me say this. These men were not
teaching for doctrine something that they made up. What they taught the people
is what Jesus taught them. And Jesus said, in
John 7:16 "My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. 17
If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of
God, or [whether] I speak of myself. 18 He that speaketh of himself seeketh his
own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and
no unrighteousness is in him".
Therefore we can reasonably see that what these men
were teaching the people was what they had been taught by Jesus and Jesus had
been taught by God first..
John 8:40 But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath
told you the truth, which I have heard of God (Notice,
Jesus says “what
I say to you I heard of God”.
We know the word of means out from, therefore Jesus is saying, the words
I speak, they came out from God Himself.) Then He goes on to say, you say
Abraham was your father but he never turned away from hearing God's Word. "this did not Abraham. 41 Ye do the deeds of your
father. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication; (notice
they are saying, we are not serpent
seed) 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 we know that sin is unbelief) 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.
Now, this is the tell all. The sign that you are God
seed is that you will hear, which means you will understand the word. Jesus
tells them the reason they don't understand and therefore they will not listen
is because they are not of God, they are not God seed.
Therefore the Apostle John, who was there with Jesus
Christ when he told off those religious hypocrites, tells us what this Doctrine
of Christ is.
II John 1:8 Look to yourselves, that we lose not
those things which we have wrought,(those things which you have
worked so hard to obtain) but
that we receive a full reward. 9 Whosoever transgresseth,(this means to go beyond the limits) and abideth not (or is not at rest) in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in, (he that remains in, and does not vacillate in) the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the
Father and the Son. 10 ¶ If there come any unto you, and bring not this
doctrine, receive him not into [your] house, neither bid him God speed: 11 For
he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.
Now that is quite an admonition. He says, stay away
from them. That is how important the doctrine of Christ is. And that was
the number one thing, but then right after mentioning the doctrine, Luke
mentions fellowship as being that all together important ingredient in
developing the faith and expectant atmosphere among the people.
ACTS 2:42 ¶ And they
continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in
breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43 And fear came upon every soul: and many
wonders and signs were done by the apostles.
Notice the doctrine is first,
and that makes a way into fellowship for us. In fact when we come to the light,
it brings us together for the purpose of fellowship.
I John 1:1 ¶
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have
seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of
the Word of life; 2 (For the life was
manifested, and we have seen [it], and bear witness, and shew unto you that
eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) 3 That
which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship
with us: and truly our fellowship [is] with the Father, and with
his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And these things write we unto you, that
your joy may be full. 5 ¶ This then is
the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is
light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship
with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7 But if we walk
in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and
the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.
Now, let's examine this fellowship.
#2) Brother
Branham quoting brother Bosworth said, “fellowship is two
fellows in one ship”. In other words, the people were together.
You can not have fellowship staying away from the people.
Now, remember, brother
Branham taught us that the Pillar of Fire appeared three times for three
exoduses. With Moses, Paul and William Branham.
Therefore what we are talking about, is that if it took place in the
first exodus, it must repeat in the other two exoduses.
From the message Ever Present
Water 61-0723M 87, Brother
Branham said, Now, we find out that, along this road,
after they got like this, they come to a place of Horeb. And H-o-r-e-b, Horeb,
then we find out... Let's break that name down. That's where the--the name
"Horeb" means, a "dry place" or a "desert." And
when we get out of fellowship with one another in the church, and out of
fellowship with the Holy Spirit, it brings us to a dry place, a desert, nothing
alive, everything got stickers on it. See, a--a desert, a little piece of
cactus with that sticker on it. Did you know what that is? That's a precious
little tender leaf that hasn't had no water; it's just wound itself up so tight
till it's a sticker. And when you see somebody like that, maybe it's a
precious soul that could been watered right, would've been a tender little leaf
or something. But instead of that, it's wound itself up till it's a sticker,
just punching at everything, you know, finding fault. Only thing it needs is
just water. That's all. It just--it just needs a--a revival, or a
breaking up, a refreshing from the Lord. It'll unfold its little self, if
you'll just put it to the water. 89 But that's where them who live in that place
has to suffer with the conditions of that place. And those who desire to live
in that kind of an atmosphere of where everything's just punching and fussing,
and quarreling and stewing like that, well, you'll just live under that
atmosphere; that's all. But we don't have to live there; it's not necessary for
us to stay there.
And I believe brothers and sisters, you don't have to
be that way, and you don't have to live under those conditions. There is
something you can do about it. You know the people who feel the sorriest for
themselves are the people who are the most self centered. Brother Branham
taught us the way up is down and the way down is up. He said if you have a
selfish heart then give what you have to others. That will cure your
selfishness. If you’re feeling low, then find some one to help.
II Corinthians 8:1 ¶
Moreover, brethren, I want you to understand the grace of God bestowed
on the churches of
These people
gave beyond their ability to give, and
they had to plead with Paul to take their offering of support for the people of
I heard a top executive of a very large corporation
one time say, when I am feeling depressed, I get up from my desk and go try to
help someone. I go out onto the street and find someone to help. Then when I
can see there are people in a worse condition than I am, and I can help them,
it takes my mind off of my own troubles and I see how insignificant my own
problems are. Try it sometime, I know it works. What you all need to cure your
blues is a good tour of
Or just go down to
Now the word for fellowship in the Greek is the
Word [koinonia {koy-nohn-ee'-ah}] and it
means 1) fellowship, association, community, communion, joint participation,
sharing what one has in anything, participation, intimacy:
Without it you will dry up in your Christian
experience. Without fellowship, you will begin to find fault, you will begin to
pick at and make fun of. I knew a person once who said, he liked to rent videos
just to sit around and make fun of the people in them. What a wonderful thing
to do.
Now, you don't have to live in an atmosphere like
that, you can change it. You can't have fellowship without first having
love. If you don’t believe me try it
some time. Go to some church where they despise what you stand for. Go to a
Pentecostal church and tell them you believe God sent a prophet William Branham
and tell them what you believe, and see what happens. Then try to fellowship
with them? You can't. How can two walk
together lest they be agreed. Try it in
this message. Go somewhere that doesn't believe like we do and tell them you
believe Brother Vayle is a man of God. You can feel the hatred. Try it on the
internet. Go to one of the chat rooms and tell them what you believe and one by
one they leave until you are left there alone. I know, I've experienced it
first hand.
So you must have love before you can fellowship.
In fact brother Branham said in His Message called FELLOWSHIP 60-0611B
E-18 Now, fellowship comes by love. And love
requires fellowship. If you love your wife, you've just got to get with her
and talk with her. If you love your friend, you've got to get with him and
talk to him. And if you love God, there's got to be a basis for fellowship.
You cannot have complete fellowship and livelihood without these agreements.
You cannot be married without an agreement. You cannot have a wife without some
kind of an agreement. And that agreement is based upon your vow. You cannot have
fellowship with God without coming to God's agreement. And there's a basic
thing for fellowship, and that's the Blood, the Blood only. It's been God's way
from the beginning, and it will be till the end. The only place of fellowship
is through the Blood.
And if you can not love your brother, then you do not
get together with him, it's just that simple. No love, no fellowship.
And that's the problem with so many people today. They
don't take the blood of Jesus into their fellowship. And then they hear
something they don't like and they get all puffed up and hurt feelings. And
pretty soon the devil has you out of fellowship and then watch your family go
down hill right then. Brother Branham said you need to carry the blood into
your fellowshipping. Instead of getting hurt, you cover it with the blood. When
someone says something personal, cover it with the blood. When someone gets a
bit nosey, or pries into something you might consider personal? Cover it with
the blood. Don’t get angry, don't get uppity, but cover it with the blood. And
you can't cover it with the blood if your own motives are wrong. Because Love
covers a multitude of sin.
Now, Solomon was not the wisest man for nothing. And
He said in
Proverbs 10:11 ¶ The
mouth of a righteous [man is] a well of life: but violence covereth the mouth
of the wicked. 12 ¶ Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth
all sins. 13 ¶ In the lips of him that
hath understanding wisdom is found: but a rod [is] for the back of him that is
void of understanding. 14 ¶ Wise [men] lay up knowledge: but the mouth of
the foolish [is] near destruction.
Philippians 2:1 ¶ If
[there be] therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love,
if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, 2 Fulfill ye my
joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, [being] of one accord, of
one mind. 3 [Let] nothing [be done] through strife or vainglory; but in
lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. 4 Look not every man on his own things, but
every man also on the things of others. 5 Let this mind (attitude) be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Jesus gave us a commandment when he said, JOHN 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I
have loved you, that ye also love one another.
JOHN 15:12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I
have loved you. 13 Greater love hath
no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
JOHN 15:17 These things I command you, that ye love one
another.
Paul taught this same principle when he said,
Romans 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one
another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. 9 For this, Thou
shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou
shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if [there be] any other
commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love
thy neighbour as thyself. 10 Love
worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love [is] the fulfilling of the law.
I Thessalonians 4:9
¶ But as touching brotherly love
ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love
one another.
Peter taught it, I Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the
Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a
pure heart fervently:
And John the Apostle of Love brings this to our
attention when he said, I John 3:11 ¶ For
this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one
another. 12 Not as Cain, who was of that
wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own
works were evil, and his brother's righteous.
Now, notice, the slaying was
not the evil thing, his wrong doctrine was and because of wrong doctrine he
slew his brother. That's why John
continues by saying, 13 Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate
you. 14 ¶ We know that we have passed
from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth
not [his] brother abideth in death.
From the message The Token
63-1128E 100 brother Branham said, "As we see the great end-time signs in
the earth, warning us the time is at hand, we should love one another more
than we ever did in all of our lives. There should be such a hunger to get to
church. There should be such a hunger for us to get to one another. It should
be a love affair. I can't hardly wait to get to
And he said if you love one anther, love requires
fellowship. It's a part of love. How can we say we love the brethren and
won’t fellowship with them. I've had brethren who have left this church come to
me and apologize for the way they left and tell me they love me. I just said,
if you really love me, why don’t you come back. Will they do it? They will if
they really mean what they say. And they won't if they don't. How can people say to one another, I love you
brother and then won't visit with you. That's not love. Love demands
fellowship. That's thus saith God's Prophet.
He said, Now, fellowship comes by love.
And love requires fellowship. If you love your wife, you've just got to
get with her and talk with her. If you love your friend, you've got to get
with him and talk to him.
None of us are perfect, but that is what the blood is
for. If you walk in the light as He is in the light, it brings you into
fellowship and then the blood takes over.
EPHESIANS 1:5 In love He has predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 To the praise
of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. 7 In
whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according
to the riches of his grace;
His love not only predestinates us, and covers us by
His blood.
I Corinthians 1:8 Who shall also establish 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.
Philippians 1:3 ¶ I
thank my God upon every remembrance of you, 4 Always in every prayer of mine
for you all making request with joy, 5
For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now; 6 Being
confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will
perform [it] until the day of Jesus Christ:
Now, the opposite of fellowship is being cut off from
fellowship, and the scriptural principles brother Branham laid out for us concerning
the world becoming neurotics is before neurosis is complete the person has cut
themselves off from all fellowship.
Remember how we showed you the first attribute of
neurosis is anxiety, worrying about what might happen. Then that leads to
compulsion, trying to fix the problem, and then that leads to obsession which
takes place when you get so focused on fixing that problem that it possesses
you, and that leads to phobia, and fear has a penalty, it causes you to stop
doing what you used to do and that lead's to depression and your depression and
dissatisfaction leads to disassociation, which is cutting yourself off from
fellowship. Then what happens, step seven you become a total neurotic. And you
are converted, you are changed, and you are gone. And we've seen that Word come
to pass exactly like I've preached it right here in this congregation.
EPHESIANS 4:17 ¶
This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk
not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, 18 Having the understanding darkened, being
alienated (that means cut off
from fellowship) from
the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness
of their heart:
In closing let me read a
couple of quotes from Brother Branham. From his Book the Seven Church Ages he
said in page 88-2 EPHESIAN CHURCH.AGE -
CHURCH AGE BOOK CPT.3 The fervent desire to please God, the passion to know His Word, the cry for reaching out in the
Spirit, all begins to fade and instead of that church being on fire with the
fire of God it has cooled off and become a bit formal. That is what was
happening back there to the Ephesians. They were getting a bit formal. The abandonment to God was dying out and
the people weren't too careful about what God thought of them as they began to
be careful about what the world thought of them. That second generation coming on was just like
89-1 That cycle of revival and death has never failed. All you have to
do is recall this last move of God in the Spirit when men and women dressed like Christians, went to church, prayed all
night, took to street corners and
weren't ashamed of the manifestations of the Spirit. They left their old
dead churches and worshipped in homes or old store buildings. They had reality. But it wasn't too
long a time until they began to get enough money to build fine new churches.
They put in a choir instead of singing unto God for themselves. They put gowns
on the choir. They organized a movement
and ran it by man. They soon began to read books that weren't fit to read. (And since this was written
before the advent of videos, I would like to add they soon began to watch
movies that weren’t fit to watch.) They let down
the bars and goats came in and took over. The cry of joy was gone. The freedom of the Spirit was gone. Oh,
they kept on with a form; but the
fire had died down and the blackness of ashes is about all that is left.
89-2 A few moments ago I
mentioned that John understood what it was to love God. That great apostle of
love would certainly see it when the church began to lose that first love of
God. In I John 5:3, he says, "For this is the love of God, that we keep
His commandments (His
Word)." One little deviation from
that Word was a step away from Christ. People say they love God, they go to
church, they even shout and rejoice and sing and have a great emotional time.
But when it is all over, watch and see if they are in that WORD, walking in it, living in it.
(Notice, he didn’t
say talking about it, anyone can talk, but to live it, to walk in the Light is
what brings fellowship with God. he continues,)
If they go through all the
other and then don't walk in
that Word, they can say they love God but their
lives tell another story. I wonder if John didn't see a lot of that before
he died; people saying they loved God but not
obeying His Word. Oh,
89-3 But as usual people
don't heed God's warning. That revival fire built upon the sacred Word is so
wonderful, and the manifestation of the Spirit so blessed, that a little fear
creeps in and a whisper in the heart says, "How can we protect this truth we have?
What can we do to see this revival goes on?" That is when the "antichrist spirit" comes in and
whispers, "Look, you have the truth
now, see that it doesn't get lost. Organize and set up your creed of what you
believe. Put it all in a church manual." And they do it. They organize. They add to the
Word. And they die just like Eve did for taking One wrong word. It's God's Word
that brings life. And it's not what we
say about the Word that counts, but it's what God said.
Now, those are very strong
words from our Prophet yet we see coming to pass exactly what he said would
because he saw the seed already forming, and as he said this is what happened
in Alpha so it must repeat in the Omega.
One more quote of warning
and we will close. From his sermon, Invasion of the
USA 54-0509 213 brother
Branham said, You take a little bitty girl,
little bitty boy, put them out here, let them live with somebody... You take a
man... I can take my boy, let him be out for a day with somebody; let me come
in, I can almost tell you who he's been with. Certainly. Watch, that environment, that spirit catches him. You go into a
church, where the people all... You go into Holy Ghost churches, or Pentecostal
churches, they call it. Look everybody be... Oh, they run and jerk their head
back and forth, the pastor does; watch the whole church begin to do the same
thing. Let the men, the people, get up and just carry on terrible, or something
another; watch the whole thing do that.
Get into a place where the pastor's real starchy and cold; watch the whole
group do it. You come into that environment. You take a man that's a good
moral man, and let him marry a little old woman that ain't worth a dime; it
isn't long till he ain't worth a dime either. That's what happened to Ahab.
Take the same, vice versa, let a nice
little woman marry an old man that ain't worth a dime; the first thing you
know, she's doing the same thing he is. How could I go, this morning, and
point my hands on little broken up homes and things like that, where lovely
little mothers come into a drinking dad, and things like that, and thought they
could do something with them, and now the whole mother and all of them is a
drinking and going on. It's environment.
217
What is it? It's the Devil. It's the Devil, the invasion. He swept into
this nation like a roaring lion. He set himself down here in the best place
they had, in
220 You couldn't sell old fashion button shoes
here in town today, at all. Women don't want them. They want the toes out of them. The rest of the women's a doing it.
That's right. When you go to church, you
can't sell them old-time religion, 'cause the other woman, she don't want
nothing to do with that. No, sir. "And no need me going down there. I just believe; that's all there is to it." Oh, brother, the Devil believes
too. That's right. You'll repent or perish.
And from his sermon, Reconciliation through Fellowship 56-0120 E-21
So we find out that man must come back to his Maker. Then when Adam
realized that sin had separated him, he became an alien, a wanderer away from God,
without hope, wandering around in the garden, knowing that he was separated
from God, knew that he didn't have fellowship no more; it made him a wanderer.
And man to this day, when the sin problem, he still becomes a wanderer. He will
go to one church awhile; he longs to have fellowship. He will join the
Methodists, or the Baptists, or the Pentecostal, or some church. He will go in there, and he will find
imperfection in the church among the people; he will leave this church and take
his letter and go to another church. He will go from church to church; he's
a wanderer yet, away from God.