The
Doctrine of Christ no 67
He the Believeth no 21
The Life of Christ Part 7
“Try the Spirit”
Brian Kocourek
This morning I would like to
continue with our mini series on the Life of Christ and this will be no 7. What
I wish to do this morning is to take you through the Scriptures and quotes from
Br. Branham showing you that the Life you live here is a reflection of what
spirit is living in you.
The Apostle John said in 1 John 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try
the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out
into the world.
Now, what do you think he
meant when he said “try the spirits”?
The word “try”
was translated from the Greek word “dokimazo” and it means “to put to the test,
to examine or to discern”. So he is telling us to discern every
spirit, to examine them and put to the test. Then, how do we test or discern
the spirits? We were taught by a Word prophet in this day to test every spirit
by the Word.
In his sermon The Spoken word original seed 62-0318E P:189 brother
Branham said, “Jesus
had warned us of such things at the end time. As I've said, in Matthew
24, two spirits very close alike, deceive the
very elected if possible.
How can you tell them? Give them the
Word test. How can you know it? Speak
the Word; see what they say about it. If they don't believe the Word,
they have no Seed-germ in them.
In other places we hear Br.
Branham warn us of two spirits at the end-time that are supposed to be so close
that they would deceive the very elect if it was possible. Now, what do you
suppose he identified as those two spirit?
And brother Branham
warned us that the two spirits would be so close that it would deceive the very
elected if it was possible. Jesus gave us the same warning, but brother Branham
pinned down what those two spirits were.
He said one is the Holy Spirit and the other is the
church spirit. From his sermon, Seed not heir with
shuck 65-0218 P:42 Notice, see how close it looks. Matthew 24:24, said that the two spirits
in the last days, the church spirit of the church people and the Bride Spirit of the
Bride people, would be so close together
till it would deceive the very elected if it was possible. That's how close. Look how it's come through the stalk.
Now, notice, we're going to type something here. Luther in the church age
a-bringing forth the Bride Seed was the same in spirit. Just one little grain of seed Luther stood out on; that was
justification by faith.
Now, I hope you catch what
he said here. He said, Just one little grain of seed Luther stood
out on; that was justification by faith. And remember, “just one word off is
Satan’s kingdom.”
And from God identifying Himself
64-0320 P:9 The Spirit of God
can be identified by Its characteristic. See the Spirit of God, and the
spirit of the church... There's
a church spirit. And the Spirit of
God that's absolutely not like the church spirit at all.
But notice they can both be identified by their
characteristics. That is Genesis 1:11 “every seed after its own kind, after it’s own nature.”
Again from his sermon, Mark of the beast
54-0513 P:74 brother
Branham said, “Now,
you see what the mark of the beast is? It's
the mark of apostasy. It's a person who just thinks that, "Well, I belong to church, and I'm just as good as the next fellow. Am not I belonging to this church?”
So if your trust is in a church, you are lost. Your
trust must be in God and He is the Word.
From God of this evil age
65-0801M P:31 brother
Branham said, “The two spirits, one of them God's Holy
Spirit, the other one the devil's spirit working in deception. The people of the earth are now making
their choice. The Holy Spirit is here calling out a Bride for Christ. … and then he adds ….The devil's unholy spirit is here calling
his church by the error, as usual, by perversion of the Word of God like he
did at the beginning.”
And again from We would see Jesus
61-0409 P:40 brother
Branham said, “There's only two spirits; one believes and
the other does not believe.”
So now, we’re getting somewhere. We see that there are
two spirits at the end-time, one believes and thee other doesn’t believe. And
yet how can the two be so close if one believes and the other doesn’t believe?
Because it is only one Word that separates them. One Word off caused all the
death and destruction this world has ever known.
From God of this evil age
65-0801M P:56 brother Branham said, “you'll
die the day you disbelieve one word of God's Word to be the Truth when It's
vindicated and proved to you. That's the day you
separate yourself from God. Not just the whole sentence: one word. Whosoever shall add one word
or take one away, that's the day you die.”
So all it takes is to
disbelieve just one word, that ‘s all.
In Deuteronomy 8:3 Moses said to the people, And He (God) humbled thee, and
suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not,
neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not
live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the
LORD doth man live.”
And in Luke 4:4 notice
that Jesus quotes Moses, And
Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread
alone, but by every word of God.
And in the Book of
Revelations we are commanded not to add one word to or take one word away. Revelations 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And
let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever
will, let him take the water of life freely. 18 For
I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book,
If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that
are written in this book: 19 And if any man shall
take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his
part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
Therefore it behooves us not
to bypass the Word of God whether it comes from this Bible or from a vindicated
prophet of God. Because remember, it was one Biblical point that Martin Luther
received and the rest of the Church could not receive, “The Just shall live by Faith”.
That’s all that separated the Bride from the church in his day. Just one word.
Justification.
Oneness 62-0211 P:35 "Brother
Branham, repeat it again. What is Satan's kingdom?" Anything contrary to the Word of God. Now, that's cutting, but it's
time for cutting. See? The branch, the tree, if it's going to bear, must be
pruned. It's time. Anything contrary to the precepts of God, the Word of God,
is not God. What is it? What is sin? Righteousness perverted. What is death?
Life perverted. What is the
If God be with us 61-1231E P:49 Many person has been deceived in receiving
the Holy Ghost; as I said, they've got
doctrines today like Elijah's garments, and all these other things,
manifested Sons of God, and all these different isms, and so forth, in the
world today. People fall blindly on there, and go through some kind of a
sensation, raise back up with a arrogant
spirit, indifferent, fussy, high-tempered. That's not the Spirit of God.
Still continue right on out of order,
don't know what church order is, don't know how to behave themselves in the
house of God, no manners, no, just
no audacity at all, no feelings towards
God, all they think about is "my
church."
It shows they received a church spirit, and not the Spirit of God, 'cause It (God’s Spirit) knocks all that out of you, burns it up.
I’ve seen it for years, we
have two extreme in this Message, we have the intellectual group who think it
all lays in your ability to know and understand, and then we have the other
extreme that believes it all lays in manifestations, and supernatural
phenomena. As brother Branham said it so plain in, Jehovah Jireh 55-0222
P:28 One of the greatest curses on the full
gospel church, is not positionally knowing what they are in Christ Jesus. I've
always said, "I meet two classes of
people. And one of them is the full
gospel, and the other is the fundamental." Fundamental knows where he's standing positionally, only he's never
been born again, just the
fundamental teaching alone, so he doesn't have any faith. And the full gospel has been born again but
don't know where he stands. So it's just, if I could ever get full gospel
pentecostal faith and fundamental believers, or either fundamental believer, fundamental
doctrine in the pentecostal faith, we'd have it made. It's like a man that can
write a check, but he hasn't have any money in the bank. The other one can
write--can't write it, and when they can write a check, hasn't got no money in
the bank. The man that can't write a check has money, but he don't know how to
write the check. That's the way it is. What's he going to do? One's got money
in the bank, but he can't write a check. The other one can write a check, and
ain't got no money in the bank. Then what can he do? You got to get those two
together.
Now, that is what I’ve been trying to do out there
around the world. Get the doctrine to those who’ve been born again, God’s elect
Seed, Those who would give their lives for this Word, but just hadn’t gotten
the understanding that would take them to the next level in their relationship
with the Father as eldest brother had. But brother they’ve a real birth,
because when the Word came they accepted it right quick.
Then we got the other group that have the doctrine but
haven’t the new birth because they think having the doctrine is the new birth.
And as a result they haven’t any faith to take that relationship to the Father
and live it. Those are the hardest to deal with because they think they got it
all, and they have no need of what I am trying to bring, and yet they haven’t
got the faith to make that life in the seed to sprout and bring forth God-Life
in manifestation. They seem to be afraid to take God at His Word because they
have the doctrine, just not what the doctrine is supposed to bring forth, -
which is Life.
Br. Branham said in his sermon, You
must be born again 61-1231M P:83 People of today take all kinds of spirits.
They go up and take a church spirit;
they even take spirits that call themselves God's spirits, born again, and deny the Word of God being true.
Could you imagine the Spirit of God denying His Own Word? To you Catholic
people, Roman Catholic, I mean, could you actually say that you are born of the
Spirit of God, and take those dogmas which is contrary to the Bible, and deny
the Word of God, and say that you are--the Spirit of God's in you, the Spirit
that wrote this Bible would deny It? That would be me telling something and
standing up and lying against it: God saying something, then turn around and
lie about it, when the Bible said, "It's impossible for God to lie, 'cause
He's the very Fountain of all Truth."
That is why I have been
trying to get the people to see it is more than just doctrine, it is Life
itself. If we teach the doctrine as theology, it won’t do the people any good,
they have to Know Him in that relationship that Jesus knew Him in. We have to
know God in the power of His resurrection.
From brother Branham’s
sermon, the Queen of Sheba 58-0503 P:32 If
it's just theology, they can explain it away from you, but they can't when
you've had that experience of meeting God and your life has changed.
And as I have taught the
brothers, if you teach the doctrine as theology it is open for argument, then
nobody wins. But teach it as a relationship and they will focus on that
relationship and a life pleasing to God.
From Uncertain sound 62-0714
P:71 Judge
it with the Word, see if it's the right. Then you'll know. Intellectual, they don't want somebody to really stand up and pull
the Scripture out and show it. They want
somebody that's trained to bypass It.
And from his sermon, Faith 57-1229 P:8 brother
Branham said, “Some of them who are the best trained scholars
has the least faith in God sometime, has the Ph.D.'s and D.D.'s and try to
explain it, or try to get away from the very fact of faith in God's Word; they try to explain it away some other
way. And it's true. All of our scholarship, all of our training, never puts us
in position to meet the enemy. It takes faith in God to do that, and that
alone.”
And from the An Absolute 63-0127 P:24 But you personally have got to meet God, to
a place that no one can twist any Scriptures. You were there. You're the one
that met Him. You had the experience of
it. You know Him. See? I think every minister especially, and every
believer should take this place, this position: to first meet Christ personally. And it makes you do things that, as I
said, that you ordinarily would not do. It makes you say things that you
ordinarily would not say. Yet it is something that you're centered to or tied
to.
From The Absolute 62-1230M
P:66 Then
when we know that our actions is exactly with the Word, we know our teaching is
perfect with the Word, adding nothing or taking nothing, just the Word; and we see the same results that others
who anchored to the same Word living up in our life, then your anchor holds.
The Life of Christ being reproduced in almost
an incarnate way through you as it was in Christ, because it was God in Christ reconciling the world to
Himself. And you see God in yourself holding that
same keel on the Word, just exactly the way Jesus did, and you see His Life..."The works that I do shall you do also. He
that believeth...
Not him that maketh believe, he that thinks he believes, but he that believeth.
He that believeth on Me, the
works that I do shall he also."
Why? He's anchored to the same Rock.
Thirst 65-0919
P:28 You can go to read, and like
for instance, somebody say, and I go to read in Mark 16, and say, "And these signs shall follow them that believe: In My Name they
shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; or take up serpents,
or drink deadly things, it would not harm them; if they lay their hands on the
sick, they shall recover.” Now,
then, you find a person get up there and say, "Now, that was for the apostolic age.” Now, right quick, if you have received the Holy Spirit, you've been endowed with that sense. It sets it off.
There's something wrong there. See? They
try to explain it away, that it's for another day, that really you don't need those things today. But Jesus said, "These signs shall follow them that believe.” See, there's a little something sets off
in you, a little buzzer, in knowing that that's wrong and that's the way of
death.
Super sign 63-1129
P:86 If you haven't received the
Holy Ghost yet, you must have that Token sign on you or you won't go through
the gate. You must be the Life of
Christ in you.
Jesus Christ the same 56-0225
P:37 What is sin? Unbelief. No matter how polished you are, if you try to place the days of
miracles in the past, and there's no such a thing, and explain it away, there's
only one word for you brother, you're a unbeliever. Correct, that's God's Word,
just as plain as it could be. Now, I
expect to be persecuted on it. Jesus said, "If they call the Master of the house Beelzebub,
how much more will they call them of His disciples?” You can expect it. And if it didn't come,
we'd be very much disappointed; there's something wrong.
Is your life worthy
63-0630E P:120 And
remember, he still wanted to hold his profession in hell. He seen Lazarus in
the bosoms of Abraham, and he said, "Father Abraham, send Lazarus down
here," (See?) still calling him his father. See? He took his knowledge and went to an intellectual church. When the Light struck him, he turned It
down. If that isn't the modern trend of the church today, I don't know it.
No matter what God flashes across their path, the Pillar of Fire or whatever it might be, they still with their knowledge, they can explain It away and go to the
intellectual group for the social standing. But Paul was already in the
social standing, with great knowledge, a great scholar under Gamaliel, a
right-hand to the high priest insomuch till he went to the priest and got
orders to put all them holy-rollers in jail. But when the Light struck his
path, and he seen that that same Pillar of Fire that led
Who is this
59-0510E P:40 One revelation on that sacred sand, one
time upon that place, man can never be the same. A man, before he should call himself a Christian, before he can identify
himself, he should first have that backside of the desert experience where he
met God face to face. For today, you can have any kind of an answer. You
can see the Lord perform just exactly what He said do, and smart theologians will explain It away. They'll say, "That was for another day. It was for
this, or It's for another age, or It's wrong.” Like they said of Jesus, "He's
Beelzebub, the devil. He's a fortuneteller," and all those things. They have an answer.
The Supernatural56-0129
P:40 Notice, this Naaman was a
great fellow, but he was a leper. There's so many people today, even I'm sad to
say, that even in the pulpit, that's
great men, but listens to man's theology instead of staying in the Presence of
God, and still a leper, "Having a form of godliness,
but denying the power thereof.” Influential speakers,
forceful, but still never knows what it is to be born again or to believe in the supernatural, and cannot
understand it, except they come into the
Uncertain sound 62-0714
P:86 Let's see them with the
dogmas make the Word live again. They
bypass the Word by their dogmas, their creeds today, because they're afraid to
meet the issue. And they bypass it and base the people upon intellectual
education in the stead of the power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and
the manifestation of His Being.
Will church go before tribulation
58-0309E P:48 If
it's a cantaloupe vine, it'll bear cantaloupes. If it's a grapevine, it'll bear
grapes. If it's a Christian vine, it'll
bear Christ, the life of Christ, the works of Christ. See? Then our spirits has to be energized by
something. I'm so glad to be in Him, tonight.
Presuming 62-0408
P:63 There's so many different
denominations, till it causes a confusion, people, just presuming that it's all
right, go right ahead. We don't know where--which is right then, which is
right? Give them the Word test.
That's the One tells whether it's right or not. You see? Deuteronomy 22:18, you know, said, "If there be one among you who's spiritual or
a prophet, I, the Lord, will speak to him. Then if he's with the Scripture,
it'll come to pass just what he says. It'll be all right." See? Mark
16 said, "These signs shall follow them that believe." John 14:12, Jesus said, "He that believeth in Me, the works that I do
shall he do also."
There we are. Now, we're getting all right.
So that brings us to the Two
spirits? How do we identify which spirit is which? Well, from his sermon, Explaining the ministry
62-0129 P:13 Brother Branham said, Hebrews 13:8 said, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today,
and forever."
Then if this Spirit doesn't produce the
Life of Christ, then it isn't the Spirit of God.
Notice every seed will bring forth after its own nature. Not how much do you know, but what life do people see in you? Jesus said, “by their fruits you will know them.”
From
his sermon, Get
the people to believe 52-0717
P:8 brother Branham said, Now, we all believe here that there is a true God, and that
there is a true Christian. Don't you believe that? We all believe that. Well
then, we know that there is some that doesn't live like Christians. We know
that they claim to be Christians, but they are not Christians. You know them by
their fruit. They say they are, but they can't produce what they're talking about.
Is that right? And Jesus said, "By their
fruits, you shall know them.” Now, when you see one that claims to be, and
isn't, and God isn't with the person to show that He's living in their life,
then you know that the Father is testifying to you that by their fruits
you'll know that he isn't a Christian from
the... You can't judge him. You've no right to judge him. Just know him by his
fruits. Is that right?
You see
it all comes down to Genesis 1:11 every seed will bring forth after it’s kind.
No matter what seed is in you, it will manifest that seed’s life in you.
I stand at the
door and knock
57-1208 P:56 If the spirit of anything was in you, it'll
make it act like the person. If the Spirit of Christ is in you, it'll
act like Christ. It'll do the works of Christ. "He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he also." There
you are.
Hear ye Him 58-0209A P:37 And if the new
life that you think you've received doesn't pattern with God's Word, you've
got the wrong life in you. The life of Christ will produce the works
of Christ, will produce the faith of Christ, will make you
act as Christ, make you love Him. He will be first in
your life. Your objectives, your motives, and
everything will be all-together different. It'll be for the glory of God.
Door to the heart 58-0316E P:92 If it's a sinful vine you're hooked into, it'll bear sin. If it's a church vine, it'll bear churchianity. If it's Christ, it'll bear the works of Christ: got to. "I am the Vine; ye are the branches." And now, He only has hands, mine and yours, eyes, mine and yours. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Hear ye Him 60-0712 P:94 “Jesus beats it with the Holy Ghost until He sees His
own reflection in it. Then you can see the works of Christ being performed in
the Church; then she's ready for the rapture. Pure gold... Do you believe that, all of you?”
What is the Holy
Ghost
59-1216 P:45 They
knew the church was to receive power that would work in the church the same
works of Christ, because as a shadow becomes deeper and deeper and reflects more...
What shall I do with Jesus 63-1124M
P:95 As I said, if the life of
Beethoven was in you, you'd live like Beethoven. If the life of Hitler was in
you, you'd live like Hitler. And when
the Life of Christ is in you, you'll live like Christ. And the works of Christ you do.
Greater than Solomon is here 62-0628
P:131 Search yourself back, and see if the Life of Christ is reflecting
Itself in your daily walk. Find out.
Adoption or
placing
60-0522E P:23 The
church has got to be so perfectly like Christ, until Christ and the church can
unite together, the same Spirit. And if the Spirit of Christ is in you, It makes
you live the life of Christ, act the life of Christ, do the works of Christ. "He that believeth on Me, the works
that I do shall he do also."
Jesus said that. See?
Identified masterpiece of God 64-1205
P:86 Are you really sure that your life is so reflecting for Christ? No
matter what the world says. They say you lost your mind, you gone crazy, you
went and joined that bunch of holy-rollers. Don't you pay no attention to that.
If you're not really truly saved and in that body, and the Word of God in you and reflecting itself, and the Life of Christ
reflecting out of you, brother, sister, don't you take that chance. I don't
care what you are, what kind of an experiences you have, let that Word reflect through you each day, because God in this last
days is taking a bride for His Son Jesus Christ.
Queen of
Investments
63-0803B P:42 it reproduces
the Life of Christ. See? If you take the Gospel, then you become part of
the Gospel. And if you become a part of it, like Peter, James, and John, and
them, did on Pentecost, your life is
another living Book of Acts. There's no way out of it. Jesus said, in Mark
16, "These signs shall follow them that believe." But the people are
learning, and go through seminaries and schools to learn it, but don't want
none of it themselves, yet they think that they got it. See? They think that they got it, but the
actions speaks louder than all the words. See, your life proves it, whatever
you are.
Abraham and his seed after him 61-0423
P:11 How do we become Christians?
When we are filled with the Spirit of Christ, then our life is governed by the Life of Christ, which is in us.
Revelation chapter one
60-1204M P:42 Your very action, the very motives, the very objectives of
the people, why, it proves that the Scripture is inspired.
From that time 60-0716
P:111 Now, if Jesus Christ is the
Vine, and His life... Now remember, His... The vine does not bear fruit; the
branch bears fruit, but it's energized
by the vine. Is that right? Well, then if
the Life of Christ be in us, it'll bring His Spirit and His works.
Pardoned 63-1028
P:40 They have got to a place that
they're using these experiences, and so forth, as a tradition instead of being
godly sorrowful, and letting the Holy Spirit do the work of His office within
you, and creating in you a new life,
and making you so hungry to go to church
that you can't stay away from church. Then that's what it is. Not to sign
tickets and join and have--so forth. It's
to be have the life of Christ in you, that He just longs to go. There's
something within you pushing you.
Just one more time Lord 63-0120E
P:91 And you put the Life of
Christ in a man that's a mortal being, he'll
bear the fruit of the Spirit. He'll bear the fruits of the resurrection.
Just one more time Lord
63-0120E P:55 Jesus
said, when He was here on earth, the... John 14:12, "He that believeth on Me, the works that I do
shall he do also."
Jesus said, or the Bible said in Hebrews 13:8,
that was quoted awhile ago, "Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and forever." And we call this denominational life
in us the Life of Christ, and do the things that we do? "Why call ye Me
'Lord,' and keep not My commandments?"
It wasn't so from the beginning 61-0411
P:45 And if the Life of Christ is in you, It'll do the same thing. That was God's example church, was Pentecost. If we claim to begin from there, then
what's happened? What along the road taken place?
We would see Jesus 58-0523
P:23 Everything's known in itself.
Then the Spirit of God in His church,
will reproduce the Life of Christ, if He is the Vine, and we are the
branches. Certainly, you see?
He that is in you 63-1110E P:99 And if Christ is in you, the
works of Christ you'll do, if Christ lives in you. He said so,
Adoption or
placing
60-0522E P:23 The
church has got to be so perfectly like Christ, until Christ and the church can
unite together, the same Spirit. And if the Spirit of Christ is in you, It makes
you live the life of Christ, act the life of Christ, do the works of Christ. "He that believeth on Me, the works
that I do shall he do also."
Jesus said that. See?
God's gifts
always find place
63-1222 P:36 The
works that He did identified that He was Deity, showed that He was. For He
said, "If I do not the works of My Father, then don't believe Me." And
could not the Christian say today,
"If I do not the works of my Saviour, believe me not"?
See?" As the Father sent Me, so send I you." And if you did the
works, creation works of the Father that sent Him, then it's a creation... The Christ the Creator that sends us, does
the works of Christ the Creator. See? "As the Father sent Me, so
send I you. And if I do not the works of My Father, believe me not." Then the Christian today has got to do the
Life that Christ did or we have a right to say, "It's not so."
Go wake Jesus 63-1103 P:70 If Christ lives in me the works of Christ will
be done through me.
Certainly. If Beethoven lives in you, the works of Beethoven will be made
known. If Christ lives in you, the works of Christ will be made known, for
He is the same: same. He can't change. Remember what I said? He's eternal.
He can't change He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. Oh, then call Him
on the scene. Are you afraid to? Is men of this hour, is men of this day
afraid to call Jesus on the scene, to say, "Lord, You promised it. Now do
it."
Stature of a
perfect man
62-1014M P:60 And now,
we're supposed to do His work. He said, "He that believeth on
Me..." (
Queen of
Faith once
delivered to the saints 57-0610 P:27 When Elijah's spirit come upon Elisha, Elisha was just like Elijah. And
when that same spirit come on John the Baptist at nine years old, it even drove
him into the wilderness. The spirit that was in you, controls you. And if the Spirit of Christ is in us,
the body of Christ will be Christ-like in it's feelings in it's actions.
Whatever it is, it'll be Christ-like. It'll do the works of
Christ. God wants to work in the body of Christ as He did in the
physical corporal body of the Lord Jesus. He wants to work in
this body of Christ, if He can only get
them to a place where they'll stand still long enough, that He can place them
on the foundation of His Word so He can work. God cannot work contrary
to His Word.
How much plainer can you get. After all is not the “Law of Life”, the “law of nature”,
“natural Law”, define that every seed must bring forth after it’s kind
or nature, and after all is not that how we define or identify what life is in
a plant by the attributes it displays? Well, if it doesn’t display anything, it
is dead. Why do you think Jesus cursed that fig tree that didn’t produce
fruit. It had leaves, but no fruit, so he cursed it and said it was fit
only for burning. Therefore no fruits no life.
Let us pray