Token no 56
"It comes by Love"
February 6, 2016
Brian Kocourek, Pastor
Let us remain standing in honor of His Word, and
open our Bibles to the Book of Romans and we will take our text this evening
from Romans 5:5 And
hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts
by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
Let us pray, ...
Now, this evening we will
be examining just two paragraphs from Brother Branham's sermon The Token
preached on September 1, 1963.
We will begin our reading
from paragraph 180 And I don't
want you to miss it.
Now, he is closing down his
sermon here, and he is making a plea to the people, that he doesn't want them
to miss it. Now, you might say this is just a nice thing to say, but it is more
than that. Because he was talking earlier about having been caught up to the
other side, and how that changed his life. And he saw all those people over
there that were counting on the fact that he had preached right with what Paul
preached. And he said that changed his life forever seeing all those people,
and the beauty of the place, and the atmosphere of genuine love.
From his sermon, God's
only provided place of worship 65-1128M P:16 he said, "And heaven...
or this place, wherever it was, I don't know what to call it. He
referred to it there as "souls that are under the altar." But when it
was, I have never; there's no way to explain how great that is. There
is... Now, you just have to take my word; I'm just a man. See? But these
visions that's always come to pass just as I've told you, and you know they every
one has been true; that is true also. Whatever you do, if you miss
everything else (health, strength, your eyesight, whatever it is), don't
miss That. There's nothing can compare with it. It's... There's no--there's
no word in the English language that I know that could express it. If you'd say
"perfect," it's beyond that; "superb," it's beyond that;
"sublime,"... There's no words that I know that could express it,
because it was so... And then, to think, that isn't the end of it yet. I
thought, "Me be afraid to come to this?"I said, "Do you
eat?"Said, "Not here. We don't eat here, but when we go
back to earth we'll receive a body we eat in."
And again he said in his sermon, Convinced then Concerned 62-0610E P:17 "When I had the
little vision, or, I don't want to call it translation. I never had a
vision like that. I was standing up there looking at it, looking back at
myself, here recently. Many of you read it in the magazines and things.
Friends, you can't afford to miss that. Just don't do it. Now, there's
somewhere there. I was there just as I am here, looking back at myself.
And I've had visions; I know what visions are. If that was a vision, it was
the strangest one I ever had. And I seen the people, the ones that's
gone on. I seen them there. The old was young, and they were
standing there, human beings just like I am, only without sin. It
was beyond perfection: sublime. You just couldn't mention what it was. And
when I knew that I had to return back... There's only one thing that I would
return, to try to persuade people; whatever you do, don't miss it. Don't
miss it. Don't miss it. You can't afford to miss it. Everything else, let
everything else go, but make ready for that (See?) whatever you do.
So how do we make ready for that?
Well, from his sermon, God's only provided place of worship
65-1128M P:20 He said, "I believe the church has begun to hear the message,
and beginning to understand. But, friends, listen, we've got to lay
in the Presence of the Son; we've got to be ripened. Our faith isn't ripe. Intellectually we're hearing the
message that God has give us, and seeing the signs that He showed
us, and proving it
by the Bible as that; but, oh, how the church needs to lay in His Presence till it
tenders up, you know, and gets sweet in the Spirit so that it can bathe down.
Sometimes in speaking the message, you get harsh, have to break it in like
that, because you've got to clinch a nail to make it hold. But when the church once gets it,
the Elected is called out and separated then in the Presence of God,
I know it'll be
something like the people was there when it takes its rapture.
So we are being drawn to that condition here that
they are in over there. It's an atmosphere, where all our motives and
objectives are governed by love. We have died to our emotions, and self. And we
are coming to the place where we hate no one. where we look down on no one.
Where we are not moved by anyone, but our love for God our Father and his
eldest son, and each other.
I wondered years ago when I heard brother Branham
explain a certain passage of Scripture
while preaching on the seals, and he said that was the Jews. And I
wondered why. And then he told us, he said that must be the Jews because they
are asking for God to avenge them. But a Christian would never ask God to do
that, he would ask God to forgive them.
Let me
just read that for a moment. Fifth seal the 63-0322 P:110
Notice now, though they
had tried to get rid of Joseph, his grace reached to them. Though they
tried to get rid of Jesus, He still comes right back around, 'cause they
was blind, and gives them each one a white robe. He's going to take them
right on in home anyhow. It doesn't make a bit of difference 'cause He done
said, "I'll save them all anyhow." See? Now, verse 10. Notice, they asked for revenge. See?
Now, if that had been the Bride, it'd been like Stephen: "Father,
forgive them,"
you know. See? But these are Jews that just come in. See? They asked
for revenge. Notice, again... See? Again He said... Notice, it's not... He
said, "It's thy brethren," the Jews, the hundred... Now, they
wanted revenge. They said, "Oh,
we're going to... We want you to revenge us down there. "He said, "Just a little while now, just a little while, for..." (Notice, let me read it here. It's in
the 10th verse.) All right. "And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long,
O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that
dwell on the earth?And white robes were given to every one of them; and it was
said unto them, that they should rest yet... a little season,... (See? Watch)... a little season, until their fellow servants... (See? Now, what is it? The prophets now are
preaching to Israel. See?)... till
thy fellowservants and also thy brethren, that should be killed... (See, the ones predestinated to be done, so
you see, should be killed)... as
they were, should be fulfilled. 111 See, in other words, it's
predestinated to them. It's the Scriptures that they have to do it.
And just rest for a little while. Now, you got your robes; you're going home.
And just set there a little while. See, wait just awhile. Now, notice.
Now, notice. Thy brethren, thy brethren had to yet be
killed, which
means the hundred and forty-four thousand yet to be called in the tribulation,
the hundred and forty-four thousand is called...Wish we had time. We might get
it tomorrow night, if the Lord willing, we, but just before we get in on
another Seal. See? Also... Now, watch. They have to be martyred by the antichrist;
we just come through, and notice in his last ride, where he breaks that
covenant with them Jews down there, and there she goes. See? These Jews, a
hundred and forty-four thousand, is to be called out by the two witnesses
of Revelations 11.
Ok, so
notice the nature is different, because we as Bride have the Spirit that was in
Christ, and they have not yet received
His Spirit.
From his
sermon, From
that time 60-0716 P:112 brother Branham said, "And whatever you do, whatever you do, friends... Let
me ask you. If you believe me to be a servant of God, let me tell you
something: Don't you miss that wonderful place. Don't miss it.
The Apostle Paul also speaks of this place in 1 Corinthians 2:9 But as
it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
In fact Paul again in his second Epistle 2 Corinthians 12:2 tells us, "I knew a man in Christ above
fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot
tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.
4 How
that he was caught up into paradise,
and heard unspeakable words, which
it is not lawful for a man to utter.
So Paul experienced what brother Branham did, and
yet Paul could hardly describe what he saw, as brother Branham said, words
cannot express it. But he admonished us t lay aside everything and focus on
just one thing and that is being there. And he told us how we are to get there.
He said, we have to lay in the presence of the sun to ripen, and get sweet in
our spirit, just like those people were who he saw over there.
Now, from his
sermon, Adoption or placing 60-0522E P:53 Brother
Branham said, "THUS SAITH THE LORD, it'll take perfect love to put you in that place,
for that's all there
was there. No matter how many, how much religious demonstrations,
how many good deeds you done, or whatever you done, that won't count
nothing on that day. It'll
take perfect love. So whatever you do, you lay aside everything else, until you are just so filled
with the love of God, till you can love those who hate you. I'm
just, as I said this morning, I was made... My whole makeup is grace. A lot of
people say, "Now, you scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours. Yeah, you
do something for me, and I'll do something for you." That's not grace.
Grace is, if your back is itching, I'll scratch it anyhow, whether you
scratch mine or not; you slap me on the face, and say, "my back
needs itching, needs scratching," I'll scratch it. See? That's it; do
something. I don't believe in works; I believe that works is love. Works is, works
is the manifestation that grace has taken place. I don't live true to my
wife because I believe she'd divorce me if I didn't; I live true to her because
I love her.
And from his sermon, The
rejected king 60-0515M P:63 Brother Branham said, "All fear of
death... I say this with my Bible before me this morning. I've got a little boy
there four years old, to be raised. I've got a nine year old girl and a
teen-ager that I'm thankful for, that's turned the way of the Lord. God, let me
live to bring them up in the admonition of God. Above that, the whole world
seems to scream to me. Ninety year old women and men and all kinds,
"If you hadn't have
went, we wouldn't been here." And, God, let me press the
battle. But if it comes to dying, I am no more... It would be a joy; it
would be a pleasure to enter from this corruption and disgrace. If I could
make up yonder, one hundred billion miles high, a square block, and that's
perfect love. Each step this way, it narrows until we get down to where we are
now. It would be just merely a shadow of corruption. That little something that
we can sense and feel that there's something somewhere, we don't know what it
is. Oh, my precious friend, my beloved, my darlings of the Gospel, my begotten
children unto God, listen to me, your pastor. I wish there was some way I could
explain it to you. There's no words. I couldn't find it. It's not found
anywhere. But just beyond this last breath is the most glorious thing that
you ever... There is no way to explain it. There's no way; I just can't do
it. But whatever you do, friends, lay aside everything else till you get perfect love.
Get to a spot that you can love everybody, every enemy, everything else. That one visit there to me has
made me a different man. I can never, never, never be the same Brother Branham
that I was.
From his sermon,
Beyond the Curtain of Time 61-0305 25 brother
Branham said, "As
I began to move from that beautiful, joyful place, as far as my eyes
could see, people were coming towards me to embrace me crying, "My
precious brother." Suddenly I was back on the bed again. I said, "O
God, help me. Never let me compromise with the Word. Let me stay straight on
the Word. I don't care what anyone else does, Lord. Let me press on to that
beautiful, joyful place." I am more convinced than ever in my life,
that it will take perfect love to enter that place. There was no jealousy, no tiredness, no sickness, no old age, no death, only
supreme beauty and joy.] (Hallelujah!) [Whatever you do, lay aside
everything else until you get perfect love. Get to where you can love
everybody, even every
enemy. No matter if the plane is rocking, the lightning is
flashing, or the guns of the enemy are upon you, these things do not matter;
get perfect love. If you're not saved, accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour,
now. If you have not been baptized in water, be baptized now. If you
have not received the baptism in the Holy Spirit, receive It now. Press
on in that perfect love, which will take you to that beautiful and joyful place
beyond the curtain of time. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Amen.
So that is where we are
heading, and that should be our compass, our focus every single day. "Am
I heading into perfect love today, Lord," "Am I laying in the
presence of the son and becoming ripe in my spirit and in my soul." Is
my spirit becoming sweet and tender as your prophet told us the people over
their were.
Now, back to our reading
from the Token, in paragraph 180 where brother Branham says, "You can't, you
mustn't do that. Now, just sweetly and humbly with all
that's in your heart, way down deep, just accept it. Say, "Lord
Jesus, right now, just take all that's in me, that is unlike You, and let me move all my pride, all
that's in me, out. All the trash, all the unbelief that's in me, I'll
discard it now, Lord. I just kick it out. And let the sweet Holy
Spirit of God, like a dove, move down in me. I want to live
eternally, Lord, and I want You to help me at this time. Grant it,
God."
181 While you pray, and we're going to
hum this song, or sing it low and together, "I Love Him." And you remember, it comes by love,
for He is love. While I'm holding my
hands over these handkerchiefs, 'cause the people might get them before the
night. I love Him, I love Him, Because
He first loved me; And purchased my salvation On Calvary's tree. I love Him, I love Him, Because He first
loved me; (Now, just surrender your life.)
And purchased my salvation On
182 I raise up my hands with the
audience to the music, if I have sinned, if I've done anything wrong... I'm
praying for you now myself. If I've done anything wrong, my hand to You, Lord,
means I'm sorry. I... My hand to You, Lord, means that I don't, didn't want to
do it. And I know I'm dying, Lord. I've got to leave this world in physical
form. I want to meet You. My hand means, take it, Lord. Fill me with the
Spirit. Give me the Token of Your love upon me, the Holy Ghost,
that'll make me live sweetly, gently. Make me live the Life that was
in Christ, that my heart
will burn for others, that I'll just not rest hardly day and night, till I
can get everybody that I can.
Now, brother Branham is telling us here in his
closing remarks that the Token is the Love of God, it is the Holy Spirit which
gives us the Love of God. And that is exactly what the Apostle Paul said in Romans 5.
Romans
5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost
which is given unto us.
And I am finding myself
coming to the place, where I find myself praying for persons I used to count as
enemies, and I find myself asking my Father to give them His Holy Spirit.
Because I know that if they have His Spirit, then my Spirit and there Spirit
can not help but to love one another.
I do not ask God to avenge
me, I don't ask him to get them. I only have one prayer anymore and that is
Father forgive them, and fill them with Your Spirit so we can be agreeable to
each other. Fill them with your Spirit Father so that all the fusses will be
over. Because if everyone had His Spirit we would have the same mind, and thus
we would be at peace.
The Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 6:6 By
pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost,
by love unfeigned,
And the thing of it is, brothers and sisters, we
have been ordained by God since before the foundations of the world to come to
the place where we are without blame and where we are laying in His Presence in
Love.
Ephesians
1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
The Apostle John said in I John 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have
boldness (that we may have parrhesia) in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. Therefore,
perfect love comes from being "as He is," which means being conformed to His
image, and he said we would have it in this world. So this ios not something we
are to wait for in the Millennium. This is to be now in this world.
"because as he is, so are we" "in this world."
Then John tells us how we will know when we have come to this perfect
love. And there is a way of knowing. He says there is a way for us to know.
Now, I hear people tell me all the time, "brother Brian, it has taken me years and years but I have finally died
to myself."
And when I hear someone tell me that, I think within me, "when I
hear you say that brother, it tells me one thing for certain, you have died
yet. Because the minute you say it I know you are going to get hammered with a
trial to test your testimony. That is the way God works.
And I said to one brother, you will know when you have died to self when
you get hit with the same trials you've had again. Then we will see if you have
died. But as long as the trials are not their, you will never know. Because any
man can have peace when he lives like a hermit. Anyone who goes to the
wilderness and has no one available for God to use to rub the nubs off of you, anyone living unto himself like an island can
think they have died to self, but Jesus taught us to be observant and not
believe every spirit, and he said, "by their fruits you will know them"
John taught us how we will know whether we have reached perfect love,
for he said, 18
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. Fear has
a penalty. He that
feareth (he that has any fear) is not made perfect
in love.
And then he tells us it is all so simple, "We love him, because
he first loved us." 20 If a man
say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not
his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? 21And
this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother
also.
So brothers, and sisters, put your love to the test
to see whether it is perfect love or not. Jesus never taught us that we will
not be hated, in fact he taught us we will be hated, but how we handle that
hate shows what spirit is governing your life.
What John is telling us here is that if we truly
have perfect Love then we will not fear because perfect Love casts out all fear. It
is fear that causes men to war with one another, and it is uncertainty and fear
of the uncertainty that causes people to do things in a self defense mode of
thinking. And that is what causes strife and ill treatment toward one another
is fear. But perfect love casts all that away. And perfect love knows the
solution is that you pray for God to give your enemies His Spirit, because if
they have His Spirit they will love you and will no longer despitefully use
you.
From Godhead
explained 61-0425B P:40 Brother Branham said, "I said, "now, I do not take either sides with you brethren, and I know, as long as you fuss, you're both wrong
(See?), because I would rather be wrong in my doctrine and right in my heart,
than to be right in my doctrine and wrong in my heart." See? I said,
"After all, it's your heart's
condition. "And I made that a
practice to know this, that if a
man, no matter what he does and how much he differs, and what he says about me,
if in my heart, not from just a duty, but from my heart I can't love that man
as well as I love anyone else, then
I know there's something wrong in here. See?
Now, God is Life and God is Love. These are the two
greatest attributes of God. And if we have His Spirit, His Life abiding in us,
then we ought to possess His own Love in our vessels as well. Because you
cannot separate the two. Each expresses the other. And the Apostle Paul said, 2 Corinthians 5:14 For
the love of Christ constrains us, and if His Love will constrain
us then we must know what it means to be constrained by Love.
The word "constrain"
means 1. To compel 2. confine: 3. inhibit or restrain; hold back: In other words, the word "constrain"
speaks of a force that governs our
behavior in a controlling sort of way, for some purpose greater than
ourselves. And if we are talking about the Love of God, then it is this Love
that constrains us. Paul said, the love of Christ
constrains us. Not just any love, but the Love of Christ is what constrains
us. This love of Christ is what causes us
to do what we normally would not do. In fact that is what brother Branham told
brother Vayle when he went to brother Branham and asked him to seek God for a
vision or word from God as to why he did not have this love that he could see
in Brother Branham. And Brother Branham told him he did have the Love of God
within Him. Then brother Branham explained to him, that the Love of God constrains you to do what you would not normally do, but you do
it because of your Love for God.
That is why Paul explains to us what Love is and
gives us the attributes of what makes up this Love of God as he explains in 1 Corinthians 13:4 Love suffers long, In other words, Love is patient. So what does that mean, “love is patient”? it means that Love
is willing to Bear or endure pain,
difficulty, provocation, or annoyance with calmness.
You are not patient if you are an angry person. But
patience is marked by a calm demeanor. A relaxed demeanor. In other words, if
you really truly understood that God is working all
things together for the Good of those that Love Him and are thee called
according to His Purpose. And He did not say "our purpose" but "His purpose",
then you will trust that whatever happens is going to work together for your
good. Then you don’t get angry and loose your temper when things don’t go your
way. But rather you are patient because you are trusting that God is in
control even though you are not.
James 1:2 My brethren, count
it all joy when ye fall into divers testings; 3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith
worketh patience. 4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire,
wanting nothing.
And the Apostle Paul said, in Romans 5:1 Therefore being
justified by Revelation, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2 By whom also we have access by Revelation into this
grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
3 And not only so, but we
glory in testings also: knowing that testings works within us patience; 4 And patience
produces experience; and experience produces hope: 5 And hope which is an earnest expectation maketh 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 Patience works in us experience which
shapes our character and produces in us an earnest expectation that is never
ashamed because of the Love of God which the Holy Ghost has placed within us.
Now, we are looking at the attributes
of Christ given Love that Paul tells to us of. And he said "it suffers long". It's patient, it remains calm
even under trials and testing.
And next he says, Love
is kind; Now, the word Kind means: a friendly, generous, or warm-hearted nature. 2. Showing sympathy or understanding; charitable: 3.Humane; considerate: 4. Forbearing; tolerant.
Now, this doesn't mean that you become a patsy and
let people walk all over you. No, it doesn't mean you don’t hold to your principles, but it
means there is a right way to do it. and that is to be friendly, warm-hearted, showing
sympathy, and understanding. People talking to others in abusive language
is not right. There's no reason for it.
Paul tells us the next attribute of Love. he says,
"Love does not envy". Now, this is important because envy is defined as: A feeling of discontent and resentment aroused by
and in conjunction with desire for the possessions or qualities of another. And the Scripture commands that we shall not covet thy neighbor's anything.
Love doesn't look to others for what they want.
Love doesn't envy. Love is not discontent and love shows no
resentment to others. It just
doesn’t. Now, that's not to say that love will
not show disappointment when someone pulls a deal or lies to you. Those are
evils that Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for. But Love
does not envy.
"And love never boasts, Love is never proud." Pride in self is what boasting is all about. Boasting
is just the fruit showing the person is not dead to self. Now, there is a remedy
for boasting. God said, "He that exalts Himself shall be brought down." That is a promise of God.
Luke 14: 11 For whosoever exalts himself shall be abased; and
he that humbles himself shall be exalted.
Matthew 23: 12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased;
and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
Because what do we have that we have not received
from God anyway? Paul said in, I
Corinthians 14:36 What? came the word of God out from you? or came it
unto you only?
And in Romans
3: 27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what
law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
Furthermore, Paul told us, 5 Love doth not behave itself unseemly,…
Now, that means Love
is not rude. Now, I've met some
pretty rude people in this message. But that just tells us those people are
carnal and not born again, because you can’t be rude and be filled with the
spirit of God that is never rude.
The word "rude"
is defined as "Ill-mannered and discourteous". Jesus said, “do unto others as
you would have them do unto you” which is the golden rule.
When asked which of the commandments of God were
the greatest Jesus said in, Mark 12:28 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them
reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him,
Which is the first commandment of all? 29 And
Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The
Lord our God is one Lord: 30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy
strength: this is the first commandment. 31 And
the second is like, namely this,
Thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself. There is none other
commandment greater than these.
So Love is rude nor is Love self centered. For Paul continues by
saying,
And love is not self seeking… No, if God is love, and the Love of God constrains us, then the Love of
God is not self seeking. So when you see people having pity parties about themselves,
you see the focus is on self and not on God. Because Love is never self directed,
it is always other directed. Love is what you do for others, not for self.
And He continued by saying, Love is not easily provoked, in other words, Love is not easily angered. Now, I'm not saying you never be angry. The same apostle that is
teaching us of Love also said in, Ephesians 4: 26 "Be
ye angry, and sin not:
let not the sun go down upon your wrath: 27 Neither give place to the devil.
And in Colossians
3: 8 we read, But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, and in Ephesians 4: 31 Let all bitterness,
and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you,
with all malice:
Nahum 1: 3 The
LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the
wicked:
in his sermon, Reaction
to an action 59-0810 P:21 Brother Branham said, "Isn't it strange how God does things? He will let
us get right down to the last mile away. You know, He likes to do that. He did
it with the Hebrew children. He knew who He could trust, so He let them boys
walk right up to the fiery furnace, till they could almost smell the fire, and
He never moved. But when it comes time,
He will move. He will move, but He
waits till His own time. He wanted
to see what kind of a reaction they'd have. He knew they'd made their
stand. And when He knows that you make
your stand... He will let Satan take you to the last mile of the way. But just remember, He's still there. He wants to see if you really mean what you're talking about.
"Oh, I believe God's a Healer. Yes, I sure believe it." And the next
day, you still got your pain. "Well, maybe I never got it." Sure you
got it, He just wanting to see how you're going to react on what
you said. You say, "Oh, praise God, I believe in the baptism of
the Holy Spirit." The first
little temptation that comes along, you fly off like a buzz saw. He's trying
to see your reaction on your action. He's trying to test you. "Every son that cometh to God must first
be chastened, tested." Every child that comes to Him, He puts him through
a test to see how he will act.
Always remember, Anger is an emotion God equipped us
with, but we must know how to control it, or it will control you. Anger is ok
to use as a tool as long as you are controlling it. I have used it in many
cases to make a point, but once that point has been made, I quickly turn it
off. I used to do it with the children and I've done it in the ministry but if
you do not use it as a tool of expression, and then turn it off, it can have a
crippling effect in your life and how others perceive you.
Paul adds to this, and "love keeps no
record of wrong;" That is one of the greatest attributes of the Love
of Christ, that it doesn't hold any grudges. It
does not keep a record of wrongs Love has a capacity to forget.
Until you are willing to forgive and forget, you
will always be controlled by your record of wrongs, and then if you keep a
record of wrongs, then your motive is not right. Because why would you keep a
record of wrongs? It is because you either wish to get even, or else you wish
to control the person you are keeping record of.
God is willing to throw all your sins into the sea
of forgetfulness if you will let him. And one of the first principles of a new
beginning is forgiveness and unless you are willing to forgive and forget you
will never have rest for your own soul. It is important for people to learn
that when you forgive and forget you are doing more for yourself than you are
for the other person. Because in order to have a peace in your soul, you must
not carry the baggage and sins of others.
Brother Branham had a principle he lived by and
that was this: If you can't say something good about a person,
then say nothing at all. He also said, "we are little
Messiahettes, and we create around us an atmosphere and that atmosphere is a
reflection of our own little universe within us, and it is a reflection of our
own spiritual condition."
From It wasn't so
from the beginning 60-1127M P:8 Brother Branham said, "Did you ever meet people that you just loved
to be with? You've had that, and why, they create that atmosphere by their
life, the way they live, and the things they think about, and the love they
have for you. …. You create an atmosphere, and that's the atmosphere you have
to be in to pray for the sick. See? It's the same thing. It's love that casts
out evil spirits."
And in his sermon, Explaining healing and Jairus 54-0216 P:37 He
said, "What you are here is a
reflection of what you are somewhere else. "Those who He called, He
justifies." Is that right? "Those who He justified, He has
glorified." Already in the Presence of the Father, we have a glorified
body. Whew! Wasn't that deep? All right. We'll find out whether it's right or
not. "If this earthly tabernacle be dissolved, we have one already
waiting." Is that right? That's right. So right now, and what we are here,
is a reflection of what we are somewhere else. So if your deeds are evil, you
know where it comes from. You know where your other body's a waiting."
Paul also said, "Love does not rejoice in
evil, but rejoices in Truth." You see Love doesn't wish ill towards anyone. Love is not vindictive. Love doesn't wish to get even, because Love is
protective.
Paul said, Love
always protects. Just look at how Love is protective in a mother of
any sort for her children. It does not matter what specie it is. A real mother
will protect her young because she loves her young. And if you truly have the
Love of Christ in your heart, you will do what you can to protect those you
love.
And another thing he told us is Love is always trusting,…
Now, a man or woman that is always interrogating
their spouse or their children doers not have too much love for that spouse or
child, because Paul says, that Love is always trusting. And when you interrogate someone it's because you don't trust that
person. And trust works two ways. Some people don't trust others because they
don't trust themselves. But if we truly Trust God then we believe God and if we
trust our children then we'll believe our children. And we should trust until
that trust has been broken, and we have evidence that the person can't be
trusted.
Love always has hope, In other words, Love is always earnestly expecting.
It is always expecting the best, not the worst, the best. And
Love always perseveres, Love always remains constant, it never vacillates. And if it remains constant then "Love
never fails".
Now, Paul tells us everything else can and will
fail, but love can not fail. He said, "whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away."
From Is your life
worthy 63-0630E P:71 brother Branham said, " you'll find out that the Spirit that comes in you
from the new birth, you will believe and
do everything that God says in His Word for you to do. And everything that the Bible quotes
for you to do, you'll punctuate it with a "Amen." And you'll not stop
day and night until you receive it. That's right. That's right. And in all this
time, you'll certainly above everything bear the fruit of the Spirit. You say "Will I speak with tongues?" You
might do that, and you might not. "Will I shout?" You might do that;
you might not. But there's one sure
thing you will do. You will bear the fruit
of the Spirit; and the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, faith,
long-suffering, meekness, gentleness, patience. Your temper will not be. Just remember, when you got that, that poisons the
Holy Spirit away from you. See? When you get to a place that
you want to fuss with everybody you come along to, there's something wrong. When you get a place where the minister will read
from the Bible that it's wrong to do a certain thing, and you,…fuss? just remember, there's no Christianity there at
all. Now, "By their fruits you
shall know them," it's what Jesus
said. See?
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.
2 John 1: 5 And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote
a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.
let us pray