Token no 40
Making ready
December
6, 2015
Brian Kocourek, Pastor
This morning we will pick up at paragraph 151 of The
Token. "That's what they did in
In other words, you have to show God that you have heard and recognized
and now you are acting upon the Word of God. God wants to see that not only
have you seen the vision, His Word, but
that you have recognized it, and now you have stepped into the vision, and you are
actively acting out what you saw the action that was taken in the vision.
Then he said, show God that you mean
business, and "Get all the
short skirts, and the shorts, and the cards, and the cigarettes, and
televisions, and what evermore, and kick them out the door. You're going to
apply the Token, won't stand still for it. Yes, sir. Take it all out. All the
dances and the parties, and rock-and-roll, and old vulgar newspapers, and the
stuff that's of the world, kick it out the door. Say, "We're cleaning out
this place around here."
Ok, so the sanctification we spoke of last night, that's
your proving that you have died to self. God wants to see
you mean business.
Brother
Branham also said in his sermon, God hiding Himself
in simplicity 63-0412E P:124 Now, if you'll believe with all your heart, it'll be settled
from right now. This'll be a memorial night. They probably won't close these
doors tonight. You'll stay all night in here. But if you do like this, say,
"Lord, I'm standing on my feet. Until You fill me according to Your
promise I'll never move from where I'm standing." You mean business with God,
He'll get to business with you. But until you do, you're hammering, "Lord,
will You give me the Holy Ghost tonight? I don't feel nothing. Well, maybe I'll
try tomorrow night." You're not going to get anything from God like
that. You've got to come desperate, dying. Then you get it. That's right. He
promised it. If it isn't, what are you using your time for? If them promises is
not true...
To whom would we go 60-0606
P:78 Now, you're in the stage of glorification the moment you accept Jesus
Christ as your Saviour. Then go in the room there where they'll be seeking the
Holy Ghost, and God will pour out the Holy Spirit upon you. And then you'll be
filled with the Spirit. That'll
give you power to live, live as Christians until the time of the
restoration of all things when Jesus comes. Then you'll be taken up into glory
with Him for that three and a half years, and then return to earth for a
millennium and then live with Him forever. Now, let us pray for these people.
And you now that's going to want to receive the Holy Ghost, remember, "Blessed are ye
that do hunger and thirst for righteousness, for you shall be filled."Now,
don't go in just to say, "Well, I'll go try it again." This is a
convention. We got six more nights in here. This is the hour to receive it.
Go in there and stay there until you have received the Holy Ghost. You mean business with God,
you that wants the Holy Ghost tonight? Raise up your hand if you're ready
to die right now or receive the Holy Ghost. That's it.
Now, let's
continue with The Token and read from 152 Like
Jacob did. He told his wife and all of them, said, "Wash
your clothes and everything. Put away them gods."
Amen. You know what Joshua said 'fore crossing over? He said, "Wash
your clothes, come not at your wives, and so forth, and get ready. For within
three days we'll cross Jordan." Amen. He was getting ready. They was applying the token. Amen. That's it. Get ready. Apply it. Believe it. Clean up. Let your children, let your family, let your loved ones
see it in you. That's right. It'll take effect.
Yes, sir. Then apply the Token in prayer
with consideration, with believing.
Apply it with such love and so forth, you know it's going
to take place. That's all. Apply it in confidence,
believing it's going to help. When you talk to that child, when you talk to your husband, talk to your
wife, talk to this
loved one,
believe that it's going to help, and stand there and say, "Lord, I've claimed them; they're mine. I'm getting them
for You, Lord."
Oneness 62-0211 P:110 Here we are in
the end time, coming from the east and west, north and south. What are we
doing? Getting ready
for that rapture, getting ready, holding ourselves steady for a few
minutes till every
fiber is filled with the Holy Ghost. Then she'll go up. Oh, my. Calling His
people together to Himself in the true oneness with Himself, because
it's His one Holy Spirit. "By one Spirit are we all individually baptized into
one body, collectively, the Body of Jesus Christ." And
Jesus Christ living with His Spirit in our flesh is serving the church and
doing the same things He did as a sign, as an ensign to the world, that we're
in the last days, getting ready for the rapture. Oh, I love Him, don't you?
And we find this condition of getting ready spoken of in Luke 1:17 And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
From his sermon,
Knoweth it
not 65-0815 36-6 Brother
Branham said, "Clean your lives up; pay your
debts; owe no man. Jesus said, "Now... Now, I don't mean things like your
house rent and stuff. You got to do it. Get all your things off your hands. Get
everything right. Make ready. Get ready. Remember in the Name of the
Lord, something's fixing to happen."
Now, this
brings us to James 1:2-8 because this
getting ready or making ready is not an easy thing to do. Dying to self is not
an easy thing to do. But it is a necessary thing to do. Dying to self and
getting ready or making ready is in itself a great trial of our Faith, and so I
would like to speak on this subject of the trial of our faith for the rest of
our sermon this morning.
We read in James 1:2-8 My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into divers
trials and testings. 3.
Knowing this, that the trying of your faith works
patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire,
wanting nothing.
Notice we are to count it
all Joy when going through our trials. And this morning we will see how this is
made possible because we know the "trials will work into us a patience"
that has an end result that we will be perfect, complete, finished off and wanting
nothing of this world but to please the Father.
We see in Romans
5:3 where Paul said, “we
glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation (trials and testing) worketh patience; 4 And patience, experience;(which is character) and experience,(character produces) hope:(which is an earnest expectation) 5 And hope (or our earnest expecting) maketh us not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
So we see that there is a
purpose behind our trials, and that is to produce in us a character that we
could never develop without the trials and testing. And since the only thing we
will bring with us when we leave this world is our character, then I would like
to focus on this process this morning, because ultimately this is the making
ready of the Bride of Christ, This is the making ready a people who have been
prepared since before the foundations of the world to receive the change of the
body which is culminated at the time of Adoption.
By Scripture we are told
that Abraham was not tried until after he had received the promise. And so it
is with all sons. God doesn’t try you or put you to the test and then give you
the promise. He makes the promise first and then placed the trials to see how
we are going to do with them.
In Hebrews 11:17-19, we read, “By
faith, when Abraham faith was tried when he was
told to offer up Isaac: 18 and he knew the promise Of
whom it was said, That in Isaac shall
thy seed be called: 19 Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from
whence also he received him in a figure.
And in Hebrews 6:15 concerning Abraham we read: And
so, after he had patiently endured, Then (and
only then) he obtained the promise.
Again we find
in Hebrews 10:35 Cast not away therefore your confidence (Confidence
in Who? Or In what? In God’s Word, that’s what.) which
hath great recompense of reward.”(So we see that the Word of
God, God’s Promises have a great recompense of reward. There is reward in
believing what God promises!!!) 36 For ye have need of
patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might
receive the promise. When do you get the promise? After you are tried and endure.
It says in Hebrews 5:7-9
concerning Jesus: 7 Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and
supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from
death, and was heard in that he feared (He was not
heard because he cried and sobbed and fasted—He was heard because he feared); 8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the
things which he suffered; 9 And being made perfect, (How? By
suffering…to get patience…to get character…and only then) he became the author of eternal salvation…
Even Jesus Christ had to suffer to develop character. Now, this
morning I will speak on the
Subject “The
Trial of Your Faith" which we find in 1 Peter chapter 1.
What most people do not understand is that God has ordained a
Faith for us and that faith is to bring us into the very mind of God to think
like God thinks. And therefore when God gives us this Faith, (and we know Faith
is a revelation) we know that most assuredly as He has given us this
revelation, he will also test us in this Revelation. Therefore the Revelation
and thus the trial of that Revelation are for the purpose of bringing about the
very mind of God in us. We speak what God speaks and we do what God shows us to
do, and we have no doctrine but His doctrine and we have no will but His will.
Therefore there are three
things we must understand and about The trial of our Faith or Revelation. Number
One: The Trial of your Faith is predestined for your glory. In other words
where God has predestined “The Faith”
because there is but One Faith, and that is the Faith of the “One Lord,”
then that Faith is the Doctrine of Christ which God had ordained for our Glory.
Therefore God has
predestined the Trial of your Faith, in which He has selected
out specific trials that are ordained to go through as a test
your Faith in Him.
Number Two: You are ordained to pass the test.
Therefore Number Three: You are tested for the purpose of
approval.
Now, let’s see if these
statements are not exactly correct from the Word of God and the Message of the
Hour. Now, let’s open our Bibles to 1 Peter 1 and I want you to notice who Peter
is addressing here. He is addressing the Elect of God.
I Peter 1:2 Elect
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the
Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto
you, and peace, be multiplied. 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a
lively hope (that’s a living hope, or a hope that has been made alive. And How
has that hope been made alive?) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
the dead, (and where is that hope to lead
us? ) 4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth
not away, reserved in heaven for you,
So we see that this hope,
this earnestly expecting keeps us alive and in a living anticipation of the
inheritance. The we see that this hope is not for just anybody, but only for
those who are to receive the inheritance, namely sons and daughters of God who
have the mind of God. That is what we learned about the spirit of Wisdom and
Revelation in the knowledge of Him.
That is Ephesians
1:17-18. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of
glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom
and revelation in the knowledge of him: 18 The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and
what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the
saints,
Notice Paul said the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the
Knowledge of Him, God, is to
come to get us ready and to make know the earnest expectation we
have in the inheritance
of the saints. So we see this spirit in our midst is to get us
ready to receive our inheritance.
Now there is the promise of God to us, and last week we established
that when God gives
us a promise he will also give us trials or test us whether we
believe that promise or not.
Br. Branham said in his
sermon, Seventy weeks of Daniel 61-0806 P:36 You
remember in Daniel 12 He said, "The wise shall understand in this last
days"? It's been given to him. The Spirit of wisdom comes into the
church to make known to the church by the revelation of the Holy
Ghost--bringing the church in and revealing what day that we're living
in. Just the same as Gabriel come to Daniel, the Holy Spirit comes to the
church in the last days to reveal these great, deep, secret things. Do
you understand now?
So we see that The Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the
knowledge of Him is to get us
ready for the adoption, because you don’t receive inheritance
unless you are adopted first.
And the adoption is for
those who are sons as John said in 1 John 3:2, “Beloved
you are already sons, but it does not yet appear what you shall be, but when He
shall Appear, When He shall phaneroo, When He shall manifest in His true
character, then you will also manifest in your true character because you will
see Him as He really is, and in seeing Him as He really is you will become like
Him, and manifest the same charaterter that He manifests.”
Now, notice then what this hope does.
Now. Let’s continue reading
in 1 Peter 1:5 And you who are kept by the power of God and
what is the power of God, it is the Message of Christ according to Romans
1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of
God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to
the Greek. 17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
Now, again in reading from 1
Peter 1:5 And you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto
salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (So
we see that there is an end-time salvation that will
be revealed in the last time, or the end-time.) 6
Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in
heaviness through manifold temptations: 7 That the trial of your faith,
being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with
fire, might be found unto praise and
honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
Notice he is speaking of trials that we are ordained to receive
and these trials are associated
with our faith, to test our faith to see where we stand in that
faith, or that revelation. And
not only are we ordained to these test, but we are also ordained
to pass them.
Wuest Translation ....In
which last season you are to be constantly rejoicing with a joy that expresses
itself in a triumphant exuberance, although for a little while at the present
time if perchance there is a need for it, you have been made sorrowful in the
midst of many different kinds of testings in order that the approval of your
faith, which faith was examined by testing for the purpose of being approved,
that your approval being much more precious than the approval of gold which
perishes, even though that gold be approved by fire-testing, may be discovered
after scrutiny to result in Praise, Honor and Glory at the time of the
Revelation of Jesus Christ;
So you see our trials and
tests come after we receive the promise from God, in order to see if we are
going to hold to the promise, and you know what? God doesn’t give the promise
to just anybody. Peter here tells us that He gives them to those who are
ordained to pass the tests.
Now, 1 Peter 1
speaks of the end-time trial of our Faith that is ordained to bring forth Glory,
which is the Opinions, values, and judgments of God or His very mind and
character into the believer. So the trial is made in such a way as to bring the
thoughts of God into our minds as we are going through them. Thus we are given
a test or tests because of that Word or that promise of God, but then when we
are given trials by the Word we are also Given specific Word to
pass the Trials. Let me repeat that. Our trials are because of the Word, and yet
God gives us Word to pass the trials. So it all goes right back to Him Who is
the Word.
As I preached to the
brethren in South Africa, we must come to the place where we see everything by
the Word. Brother Branham taught us that "Faith sees what God sees".
and brother Branham came to the place where he said, "all
my thoughts are God". Nor all my thoughts are about
God, but "all
my thoughts are God." In other words, his mind had been
taken over, and his heart reflected in every move he made God's Word. So we
must see what God sees. Then when we see a scene develop before us, and we have
seen that scene before in the Bible, then we begin to say to ourselves,
something is about to happen. Then as we see a need in that scene, we know that
God is about to do something.
When we have come to the
place where all our thoughts are God then we will hear, recognize and act upon
just as we saw the scene and need played out before us in the Bible. That is
our vision. We have seen the vision in here (our Bible) and we identify the
need that is accompanied in the scene, and then we step into the vision and the
vision, the Word of God becomes material before us and a reality to others.
When God spoke to Moses and
said, Speak and go forward, brother Branham told us if Moses had just spoken,
nothing would have happened. Moses had to step into the water and took his
staff and struck the water for the waters to part. Moses had to recognize the
vision taking place before him, and he had to hear it, recognize it and then
act upon it.
When Joshua came to the
River Jordan, He also had to step into the river and took the staff Moses had
left him, and struck the water for the river to part. When Elijah crossed the
river he had to step into the vision, step into the water and then he took off
his mantel and struck the water and it parted just like, Moses and Joshua
before him. When Elisha came to the river he took that same mantel that Elijah
had used, and he stepped into the river just like Elijah, just like Joshua, and
just like the patter they all saw in Moses and he stepped into the river, took
the mantel and struck the water and the waters parted.
The same way with raising up the boy. Elijah came into the room,
put everyone outside, because he wanted an atmosphere of complete faith, and he
laid his mouth on the young boys mouth, his hands on his hands, and breathed
into him the breath of lives just as God had set the pattern with Adam in the
garden.
Elisha came to a similar
scene, he saw the same need, a young man was dead. He stepped into the pattern
and placed his mouth on the boys mouth and his hands on the boys hands, and
breathed into him the breathe of lives, and the young man was raised from the
dead.
Then we see the same thin take place with Martin and Columba. Also
with Saint Patrick, and brother Branham
I remember in my early years
of pastoring that I heard brother Branham on tape talk about a man who had died
of Tuberculosis and he went into the room after clearing out the room and
placed his mouth on the mouth of the dead man whose body organs had come out of
his mouth, and brother Branham also placed his hands on the mans hands, and God
raised up that man from the dead.
So, God is here working in you both to will and to do, but first
he must teach you His Word so you will Not only hear it, but you will recognize
it and once you see the scene, and you see the need you will then act upon it,
and step into that scene and His Word in y ou tales over and brings that Word
to Life and to materialization.
I saw the scene in 1997 of
the people of God, his children hurting from the heat, and I saw the scene and
the need and stepped into it and asked God to change the weather and it became
material. We had just come outside the restaurant and I saw a very small black
cloud moving swiftly across the sky. I looked and saw myself in the scene where
Elijah said, "I hear the abundance of rain". I said to the brothers
who were looking at that little cloud with me, "Something is about to
happen." Within a very short time,
there came up a huge front and pushed the heat down 30 degrees just as we had
asked God to do.
Hearing, recognizing and
then acting upon the Word of God. The Word produces the scene and the need, and
when we see it, recognize it, we step into the vision of the Word and that word
becomes material all around us.
In 2012, we had a similar
scene unfolding in Argentina, I saw that scene, I recognized it was the same as
in 1997, I saw the need was the same as in 1997. The heat was about 110 degrees
Fahrenheit, and people of God were suffering, so the scene was there, the need
was there, and I asked the people to bow their heads, and I was so happy to see
the same scene take place, and I knew I could apply the same faith I had back
in 1997 and I would get the same results.
Hearing, recognizing and
then acting upon the word of God will bring the same results every time because
God is God and He changes not. He is the same yesterday, today and forever.
Solomon told us in Ecclesiastes
(the preacher) that "there is
nothing new under the son, that which is past is now, and that which will be has
already been". But we must see it, recognize it, and then act upon it, and
you will see the Glory of God in fulfillment right before your very eyes. what you
are here is a reflection of what you are somewhere else. But when you see it, recognize
it, and then act upon it you are hearing from your theophany, your celestail being.
Halelujah.
Now, Peter also says in 1
Peter 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to
try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
Here we see that it should
not surprise us when we face our trials, because these trials are made for the
purpose of testing us. 13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are
partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory (and
we know this Glory is His Doxa which is His very mind) shall
be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. And
why should we rejoice when God reveals
his Doxa to Us?
Because Deuteronomy
29:29 tells us, The secret things belong unto the LORD our
God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for
ever, that we may do all the words of this law. and
that means that as long as it remains
unrevealed it is still God’s but once it has been revealed to us then the title
deed is our. It is the earnest of our possession. but those things
revealed belong unto us and to our children
forever.
So we are talking about a
time when the very mind of God is to come into the Elect as Paul said in 2
Thessalonians 1:7-10 And to you who are troubled rest with us,
when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, And brother Branham taught us what that was. He said, "Now, we have already seen and are
witnessing the Appearing of the Lord. Now, remember, Appearing and coming are two
different words and they mean two different things."
And we have seen the revelation of the Son of Man coming from the Heavens in
the form a white wig which was to designate Him as the Supreme Judge, and
notice that the white wig was made up of angels. Exactly what Paul is speaking
of here.
Now, Paul continues in verse
8 In flaming fire (the Pillar of Fire) taking
vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ (and notice what happens
to those who do not believe or obey) 9 Who shall be punished with
everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of
his power; (So just like Cain they go out from the
presence of the Lord. But notice what happens to the Elect Saints of
God. And remember if they are saints it is because they are sanctified. So this
is not speaking of those who are borderline Christians. It speaks to
those who have been sanctified which means cleansed and set aside for service.) 10
When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, (Notice
he said, When He, Christ, shall come to be glorified, endoxa’d
in His Sanctified Ones. That means He comes at this time to place the very mind of
God in the sanctified ones.) and to be admired in all them
that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.(So
Paul is telling us that this is the hour that
His testimony, his Message will be believed. And did not Br. Branham say, He
was only preaching what Paul Preached?) 11
Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of
this calling,
So you see to receive the
very mind of God is your calling if God has ordained you to it) and
fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power:
12 That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in
him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, in getting back to 1
Peter 4:14 He is talking about the reproach for the Word that you are
ordained to be tested in. If ye be reproached for the name of
Christ, happy are ye; for The spirit of glory (that’s
God’s doxa again) and of God resteth upon you (So not only is the Spirit
of God to rest upon you, but his very mind will be in you) on
their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. (In
other words, in them will come cursing, but in you will come forth the very
mind of God, the doxa of God.) 15 Only let none of you suffer
as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other
men's matters. 16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be
ashamed; but let him glorify God on
this behalf. (Let him reflect the doxa of God during these trials),
1 Peter 4:17 For
the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first
begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? 18
And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner
appear? 19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit
the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.
Peter tells us that we
should not think it is strange when we are tried and tested. But rather he
tells us to make sure that our trials are because of our stand for God’s Word
and not for doing things that are not right. For if we suffer for those things
we have brought upon ourselves because we have not sowed right, then just bear
it because you deserve it. But when you suffer for taking a stand on God’s then
that is when you should be extremely happy. It’s like those people who get
under a false ministry and they suffer for it. Those false ministries take
advantage of them, and bleed them of all they have, and shear them like sheep.
Now, that suffering is not because of God’s Glory. That suffering is do to
sheer stupidity and not knowing wherein ye now stand. Job tells us that when
God rebukes us we should be happy. Not when men tell you which is up and down,
and call you down, but when God set’s you in your place because when God does it,
it shows He is actively participating in your way of Life.
Let us turn to Job
5:17-27. Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not
thou the chastening of the Almighty. 18 For God maketh sore, and God bindeth
up: God woundeth, and God’s hands make whole. 19 He shall deliver thee in six
troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee. 20 In famine shall
redeem thee from death: and in war from the power of the sword. 21 Thou shalt
be hid from the scourge of the tongue: (But it’s going to be there.) neither
shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh. 22 At destruction and
famine thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the
earth. 23 For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field: and the
beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee. 24 And thou shalt know that
thy tabernacle shall be in peace; and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and
shalt not sin. 25 Thou shalt know also that thy seed [shall be] great, and
thine offspring as the grass of the earth. 26 Thou shalt come to thy grave in a
full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in his season.
So, when does a shock “come
into season?” When it’s mature. When it has dried out and ready for harvest;
it’s not green any longer; it’s ripe, and it has character. The Life is fully
ripe, and ready for harvest. It is fully grown. It has no more growing that is
necessary.
God develops character in
you by suffering.
Psalms 84:4-7,
and It says: Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be still
praising thee. Selah. 5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose
heart are the ways of them. 6 Who passing through the valley of Baca (the
valley of tears, the valley of sorrow, the valley
of testings, the valley of trials)…What
does It say? make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools.
Now, Psalm
94:12-13: Blessed [is] the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him
out of thy law; (13) That thou mayest give him rest…(How
do you get rest? Through your faith in God…the
trial of faith. How? By the trial of your faith.) That
thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged
for the wicked.
Let’s turn to 1 Pet
5:6-11, and It says: 6 Humble yourselves thyself therefore
under the mighty hand of God. What does It say? 6
Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due
time. In other words God is going to bring you down by His Own Hand and,
then, lift you up. 7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. See
what we are talking about? 8 Be sober, be vigilant;
because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking
whom he may devour.
How does he devour them? By
the people thinking that their sorrow is too much for them, and they get
swallowed up. Now: 9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions
are (being) accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. (Not
one misses it.) (10) But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal
glory by Christ Jesus, after that
ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. You
say, “I want that, patience, without suffering, so I won’t mind suffering
then.” I’m sorry, but you get it by suffering. You don’t get it to enable you
to suffer; you suffer in order to get it.
You don’t get money in order
to go to work; you go to work in order to get money. Huh?
Now, don’t try to change
God’s order of scriptures. God has never changed His way, or He Himself would
be changed. The way of God is suffering. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I’ve got to tell
you. I wish I could be like the modern preachers and say, “You don’t want to go
to hell.” Well, who does? I told you I wouldn’t want to get my little finger
burnt, let alone my whole body cast into hell. So, you don’t want to go to
hell; you want to go by easy make-believers ‘escapism’. You’re not escaping
anything. You never were meant for hell if you’re in the Bride of Christ.
You’re getting ready for heaven, honey. Don’t bat your eyes; just read your
Bible. If I’m wrong, when I’m finished, you come up here and take over. We’ll
go word for word. I’m ready for any man; I don’t care who he is. Let’s find out.
Don’t twist It, just read It the way it is. He said, “…After ye have suffered a
while, make you perfect…”When do you get perfect? After you have suffered. “Oh,
if I could get perfect, then I could take it.” No, no, no! I’m sorry! Huh?
Revelation 3:19. “As
many as I love…” This is said to your day and mine. In no place in the
Laodicean age does it say
that we love God. The last book of the Bible in the Old Testament,
Malachi 1:1 The
burden of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi. 2 I have loved you, saith
the Lord, yet ye say, wherein hast thou loved us? God
loved Israel; but they did not love Him. God does
not say we love Him, but He says He loves us, and the only way we are capable
of loving Him is that he first loved us. And to the Laodicean church He
warns us. Why? Because He says, I’m going to have to
rebuke you, and I’m going to chasten you: “Be zealous, therefore, and
repent--because you haven’t seen it.”
Finally, in closing let’s
turn to Hebrews 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed
about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, (let
us lay aside all those things that are holding you down, or holding you back) and
the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race
that is set before us,...
Now, how can you run the
race if you are encumbered which means you are strapped down with so
much weight. Herb Brooks the coach of the winning 1980
Olympic Gold medal hockey team knew this. So what he did was
to strap ankle weights on his player during practice and then when the time for
the real game came, he took off the weights and o brother could those guys
fly on the ice.
So it’s time to lay aside
everything that can weigh you down and hold you back from receiving the crown
of Glory, and look to the author and finisher of your faith and get
ready because you are going to have
to fly one of these days. Just don’t be weighted down when that time comes.)
Now, verse 2
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that
was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at
the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider him (in
other words, consider him means to set your focus on him
and what he did) that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye
be wearied and faint in your minds. 4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood,
striving against sin. 5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh
unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the
Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 6 For whom the Lord loveth
he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
So if God really
loves you and has received you, then you will get rebuked and chastened, so
when it comes, be happy, and don’t shrink back from him. It means He truly
Loves you and wants to see His own Glory, His own Mind in you.
7 If ye endure
chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the
father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all
are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 9 Furthermore we have
had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall
we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 10
For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own
pleasure; but he for our
profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. 11 Now no chastening for
the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth
the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
Now, what’s that telling us?
He is saying although you might not like what is happening or the way it is
happening get your minds off the circumstances and look at the promise of what
those trials are to do in your because they are to produce the very nature and
character and mind of the Father in you.
Verse 12
Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; 13 And make
straight paths for your feet,
lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which
no man shall see the Lord...
Look, he’s telling us here
that without holiness no man shall see the Lord, so those people who claim to
believe God sent a promise but refuse to believe the message and Live it, will never
see the Lord. They just saw a man that saw the Lord that’s all, and what good
did it do to all those people who saw the man Jesus but did not see that God
was in Him? They died in their sins.
Therefore we should be 15
Looking diligently (not dilatory, but diligently looking. We should be looking with a
pain staking effort. That is what he is saying. ) lest
any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of
bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; 16
Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of
meat sold his birthright. 17 For ye know how that afterward, when he would
have inherited the blessing, he was
rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully
with tears. 18 For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and
that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness,
and tempest, 19 And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words;
which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to
them any more: 20 (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if
so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a
dart: 21 And so terrible was the
sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:) 22 But ye are come unto
mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
and to an innumerable company of angels, 23 To the general assembly and church of the
firstborn, which are written in
heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made
perfect, 24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of
sprinkling, that speaketh better things
than that of Abel. 25 See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they
escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape,
if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: 26 Whose voice then shook the earth:
but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also
heaven. 27 And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the
removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made,
that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Wherefore we receiving
a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may
serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: 29 For our God is a consuming fire.
Let us pray...