What the Holy Ghost was Given
for no 32
Bound by Fear set free by Love
Brian Kocourek,
Romans 8:8. So then they that live for self cannot
please God. 9. But ye are not into self, but in
the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.
Now, that statement ought to shake
everyone of us to the core, because Paul is making a clear cut statement here,
that if you are living for self, it shows the spirit that is in the control
tower of your life, is not the eternal spirit of God, but your own spirit you
were born into in sin, shaped into you by iniquity, and came to this world
telling and manifesting lies.
Then the Apostle Paul clinches the nail in
your coffin by adding,...
Now if any man have
not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
First he lets you know that if you have
not died to self, and if you are still living for self, then you are not born
again by the Spirit of God. And then he tells you, and if you are not born
again and filled with His Spirit, then you are none of his.
Now, after all these studies we've had
concerning the Sixth Seal and what is coming to those who will go through the
tribulation period, you ought to know by now whether you are filled with the
Holy Ghost or not. Too many are playing Russian roulette with their souls and
they are not certain of that filling, and so they are in a very precarious
position in this hour, because to him who know etch to do what is right and he
doesn't do it, to him it is imputed for iniquity.
This may be your last warning to die to
self and let God fill you, and if you refuse His call to your soul, there
remains nothing but judgment.
10. And if
Christ be in you, the body may still dead because of unbelief; but the
Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11. But
if the Spirit of him
that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from
the dead shall also
quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
12. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to self, to live after self.
13. For if ye live after self, ye shall die: but
if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
14. For as many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Now, here is where I want to get to this morning.
15. For ye have not
received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have
received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
You know the Spirit of adoption is a liberating
Spirit because it makes you alive in Christ. You can do whatever you
want to do, because all you want to do is to please your father. But the spirit
of bondage is another spirit altogether. It is a religious spirit, and it
doesn't come from God, it comes from hell. It is Satan that wishes to bind the
people to himself and his organizational system. Love liberates, and hate
binds.
So we're going to examine these two spirits this
morning, to see which spirit controls you. Have you been made alive in Christ
Jesus or are you enslaved to a doctrine or a creed? Do your belief's set you
free or do they bind you. You see, love binds and fear binds, but love binds
two together in a way that sets you free from everything else, while fear also
binds but brings you in subjection to reprisal or punishment.
And depending on which Spirit you have received, your
life will reflect it openly and outwardly to others. For the Apostle Paul after making this
statement on having not received the spirit of fear, but of adoption, he then
says in verse 16.
16. The Spirit (which we know is God's Spirit because their is only
One The Spirit. So God's Spirit) itself
bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
And we know that God's Spirit bears witness because it works in us to will and to do. so it becomes very obvious to outsiders by viewing your life
if you are bound by love or you are bound by fear. Being bound by love is
refreshing, it is invigorating, its is alive, but
being bound by fear is uncomfortable and very depressing. It leaves a heaviness
and despair to them that are bound by fear. And creeds, and doctrines, and
organization, and denomination, and nicolaitianism will do that to you.
So brother Branham asks us the question. How do you
get into Christ? And in paragraph 86 he says, How do we get
in Christ, folks? By one creed we are all joined in? No.
You know what a creed is? It is a belief
system. In other words it is a doctrine. What you believe is what you teach. So
in essence brother Branham is saying, How do we get in Christ, folks? By one
doctrine we are all joined in? No.
But it seems to me that many believe that.
They believe you've got to have the right doctrine to be joined with Christ,
and they have misplaced the evidence of being born again which brother Branham
said in Christ is the mystery 63-0728 P:120 “Look, Christ in you makes Him the center of Life of the
revelation. See? Christ's Life in you makes Him
the center of the revelation. Christ in the Bible,
makes the Bible a complete revelation of Christ. Christ in you makes you the complete revelation of
the whole thing. See, what God's trying to do? What is the new birth
then? You say, "Well,
Brother Branham, what is the new birth?" It is the revelation of Jesus
Christ personally to you. Amen. See? Not you joined a church, you shook a
hand; you done something different; you said a
creed; (which is a doctrine) you promised to live by a code of rules; but
Christ, the Bible... He is the
Word that was revealed to you. And
no matter what anybody says, what takes place, it's Christ. Pastor, priest,
whatever it might be... It's
Christ in you.
Now, this next quote Br. Branham makes
it very evident that there is a difference between having the experience of
receiving the Holy Ghost and the actual evidence that your experience is
genuine. You see experience
and evidence are two different words and they mean two different things.
The word experience means an: Active
participation in events or activities, leading to the accumulation of
knowledge. An event or a series of events participated in or lived through. Whereas the word evidence
means:
A thing or things helpful in forming a
conclusion or judgment: To indicate clearly; exemplify or prove.
So in getting back to paragraph 86 of What
the Holy Ghost was Given for brother Branham says, "By one handshake we are all pulled in? No. By one water
we are all baptized in? No. Or by one denomination we are all
denominated in? No. "But by (I Corinthians
Now, listen, brother Branham went through
that recital of what it is not to let us know that all our doctrines and isms
is not what the Holy Ghost birth is all about. It never been about what you
know, it's always been about who you know, because to know Him is Life.
That is Life, that's the reality about
Life. Some of the best educated people are the poorest and dumbest I know. And
many of
Now let's read paragraph 87 You cannot go to judgment. "He that heareth My
words and believeth (No man can
believe until he's got the Holy Ghost.) and believeth on Him that sent Me (when the Holy Ghost has testified of His resurrection) hath Eternal Life, and shall never come into judgment, but
has passed from death unto Life." What? You've passed your judgment when you've passed and
say, "I'm no good, and my learning is no good. Lord,
come into me, and take me, and lead me, Lord. I don't care what this
crazy world says. Lead me, Lord, by Your Spirit."You've
judged then. Judge yourself as a
fool for Christ. And in His
righteousness that day we'll stand immortal in His likeness.
88 Only one way, how? "By one Spirit we are all baptized into one Body." And when you're in that Body, judgment has
already judged that Body; andyou've accepted Him as the propitiation of your sins.
You say, "I've done that, Brother Branham." Then if the Holy Ghost has come back
and give you a seal as a sign, that Spirit brings you
into the Body of Christ. You turn back the other way, and you're a new creature
in Christ Jesus. You've passed from death unto Life. Old things have gone, and you are new in Christ. Amen. Oh.
Please let me persuade you, my Christian brother or
sister, don't let this revival pass you. You
must receive the Holy Ghost. What is It? The Spirit of God.
What was It for? To
lead you, guide you, fill you, sanctify you, call you
out into the church. What is a church? What does the word "church"
mean? "Called out, separated (oh,
how I could take a sermon from that right now.),called
out, separated," aliens,
away from the world, pilgrim and
stranger, professing that we have here no earthly city that we desire to live
in. Oh, my. Romans
Now, notice Paul is talking about sons
of God. Not children here, sons. We know that the apostle Paul told us that
when we are born again, or born into the family we are children of God. Then
after the new birth or the baptism of the holy spirit,
we receive the earnest of our inheritance, which is the baptism of the Holy
Ghost. It is then that we are endued with what Paul calls “the Spirit of Adoption” as we will see in the next verse. And
he speaks of them that have received this spirit of adoption “sons” and he speaks
of sons as having not received a spirit of fear, but a spirit that will
identify with their heavenly Father.
Now, there is a series or events in the
lives of the believer where he begins as a child of God, then grows into a son,
and finally into an heir, or joint heir with Christ.
Now, as a child he still has fear; he
cries when he’s hungry because he doesn’t understand the hunger pains. He cries
when he’s thirsty, because he doesn’t understand thirst, and how to get a drink
for himself. He cries when his diapers are dirty, because he doesn’t know how
to change himself. You see he is still at the place of lacking understanding
and therefore has no confidence in his own leading abilities to eat and drink
and clean his diaper. He is strictly a dependent child, dependent upon others
to feed him and give him drink, and change his diapers, and shelter him,
etc. But when that child begins to grow he enters into a condition where he
takes on knowledge of how to get food, how to get drink, how to use a toilet,
and as he grows in wisdom, he also realized there are others in the family
beside himself. That is when he begins to go from a
child and enter into son-hood.
As I have said before, the most self
centered people are little children, because when they are hungry it is all
about them, when they thirst it is all about them, when they mess their own
pants it is all about them, and they do not know what patience is, they want
what they want, and they want it now.
That’s the child in the family, and the
child of God. Very self centered, very me-first. But
as that child begins to grow, the little girl sees mother tending to baby and
they step in to help with baby, with preparing the family meals, helping in the
kitchen and in the laundry and in the house. The young boy goes outside with
dad and begins to work with him doing chores around the yard, cleaning outside,
fixing and repairing things that the family needs.
1 Corinthians 13:9 Paul said, For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that
which is in part shall be done away. 11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a
child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. 12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to
face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
Now, at this stage you are entering into
son-ship, and as brother Branham said, “where Pentecost went wrong is that they thought just being born
into the family was it, that was enough. But He said you must be the right kind of a son if you are to receive
inheritance.
From Hear ye Him 57-0807 P:14 Brother
Branham said, “Now, when a son was
born into the family, he was a son at birth. And there's where you
Pentecostal people jumped the fence. You thought that when you were born
again that settled it. That only was the beginning. That's right. You are a
son, surely, when you're born. But when this son was born, he wasn't heir of
all things yet. He had
to go through the testings and trials to find out if
he was the right type of son to fall heir to all things. And listen,
God's Word said, that every son that cometh to God
must first be tried and chastened, child-trained, before he could be adopted
into the family.”
And in his sermon Blasphemous names 62-1104M P:57 You've heard me preach "Hear Ye
Him," that sermon about a year ago, that become so popular, "Hear
Ye Him." The placing of a son in Ephesians 1:5 also: "God has predestinated us unto adoption of
sons." See, a family...
When a son is born into it, it's a son then. But that son had tutors to raise
it. And if that son never did come to be the right kind of a son, he never become heir. But if he was the right son, and the son that
would obey his father, then that son was adopted or placed positionally. He become heir of what the father had.
Hear ye Him 57-0322 P:43 We're children of God, but we're losing our inheritance by
our conduct,
the things that we do, and the things that we permit to be done, and the way
that we live and act and so forth. We're living millions of miles
below our privilege. And then someone can see
the work of God being done, and Dr. So-and-so, Dr. Jones says it's this, and
the other doctor says it's this; and we believe it instead of looking into the
Word. The Word verifies what's sheep-food. It comes
out of the Word.
And if that isn’t the way the churches
have become. Instead of looking at what God’s word says about it, they look at
what our church says about it, and right their they die.
Hear ye Him 57-0519A P:20 Some of we ministers, we should be ashamed
of ourselves, as we keep our congregation way below their privileges. The
whole Christian church today is living thousands of miles below their God-given
privilege, because of just so half asleep, dismal like... Take the promise;
believe it. God said so; that settles it forever. No matter how long it takes to
materialize, Time doesn't mean nothing to God. It's
His Word that we take and we believe. Abraham waited twenty-five
years for that child to come. But it arrived. Certainly.
We believe it, because God said so.
Now, as he said, we live so far below
our privilege as sons and daughters of God. When we ought to be the mighty
Thy house 61-0808 P:33 As I said the other day, when we're born of
the Spirit of God, God isn't weak in one place and strong in another. If you've
got a little shadow of God in you, just the littlest speck of God, then you've
got all power. You got
enough power in you to make a world and go out and live in it. But
of course, that power is controlled by faith. If it wasn't, we'd all have us a
world out there, living in it. But if you're a son of God or a daughter of
God, you've got the power of God in you. See?
And from his sermon, Ever present water 61-0723M P:70 brother Branham said, if you had enough of God in you, till It was just barely a
shadow, that's enough power to make a new earth. That's enough power
to make a new moon and a new system. It's God, and it's strong. And right now
in every believer in here has Life Eternal, which is God's Spirit in you;
enough power that'll raise up the dead, that'll heal
the sick, that'll set orbits in conditions. But It's
controlled by a law, that Spirit that's in you. You are sons and daughters of
God. That same Spirit that you've got in you, will raise yourself up at the day
of the resurrection.
And not only that, but Paul said, Romans 8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up
Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall
also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
And quicken means to make alive. Alive
to what? Alive to the Word of God for the hour in which you live. Alive to the power of God to make His word a reality to you and in
you.
So if He that raised up Jesus lives in You then whose living in You? It is the same spirit that raised up Jesus from the dead. Right?
And that means He is living in you and you are already raised from death unto
life. But you have to die first or you can’t be raised up.
As brother Branham said, said in Christ is the mystery 63-0728 P:120 “Look, Christ in you makes Him the center of Life of the
revelation. See? Christ's Life in you makes Him the center of the
revelation. Christ in the Bible, makes the Bible a
complete revelation of Christ. Christ in you makes you the complete revelation of
the whole thing. See, what God's trying to do? What is the new birth then?
You say, "Well, Brother Branham, what is
the new birth?" It is the revelation of Jesus Christ personally to you.
Amen. See? Not you joined a church, you shook a hand; you done something
different; you said a creed; you promised to live by a code of rules;
but Christ, the Bible... He is the Word that was revealed to you. And no matter
what anybody says, what takes place, it's Christ. Pastor, priest, whatever it
might be... It's Christ in you.
Broken Cisterns 65-0123 P:33 What it is, it's got to be a fellowship,
and not a fellowship of some creed. But a fellowship in Christ by the power of His
resurrection, that's the thing that brings Life. It brings birth.
And before birth can come, we realize there has to be death before birth. And a
birth is a mess; I don't care what kind of a birth it is. If it's in a pig pen,
or wherever it is, it's a mess. And so is the new birth, it makes you do
things that ordinarily you wouldn't think you would do. But when you're ready to die to
yourself, then you're born again, a new creature in Christ
Jesus, then things open up and life becomes a new sight to you, because you've
accepted the Person of Jesus Christ, and not some theory or some creed.
Or even to the written Word, It's got to be quickened by the Holy Spirit.
No matter how much theology you've got, it's laying there dead. I could have a
handful of wheat; until it gets into the process to where it can be quickened,
the wheat will never live. And you can have a doctor's degree, Ph., LL.,
whatever you wish to; but until
the Holy Spirit comes upon that and quickens it to you, as a personal
experience with God, then the wheat does no good. Your
learning is in vain.
From his sermon, Water of separation 55-0121 P:10 brother Branham said, You've got to absolutely accept the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And not only that, but you've got to die yourself.
You've got to die to
every thought of the flesh so that you can receive the mind of Christ and walk
from henceforth, not of your own, but of His mind: the mind of Christ in you. That's the only way you can stay alive.
That's the only way I can stay alive. That's all I live by, is by the Holy
Spirit.
The Way back 62-1123 P:41 It takes death to produce life. You've got to die to your own
thinking. You've
got to die to your own theology. You've got to die to your own self, to your
own human ways. You've got to be regenerated, a new creature, a new creation.
Before you can be that... You
can't be two at the same time; you got to die to one in order to be born in the
other. It brings a mess, and it causes a mess too. But you're got
new life. What difference does it make? You got to do it.
You must be born again 61-1231M P:51 Now, the approach to this birth, there
is approach to it. And to approach this birth, you have to go through a process,
just like anything that lives. Anything that lives again has got to die first. And you
cannot keep your same spirit. You cannot keep your same habits. You
cannot keep your same thoughts. You got to die. You've got to die like He died.
You got to die on His altar, like Abel did with his lamb. You got to die with
your Lamb. You got to die, die to your own thinking to be born to His thinking.
Let the mind that was in Christ be in you. You got to think His thoughts. And
now, brother, sister, let me say this as intelligent as I know how to say it.
How can you think His thoughts and deny His Word, and yet claim you're born
again? Just ask yourself that question. How can you do it? You can't. If you're
born again, you got His thoughts. If the mind of Christ is in you, then you are
a new creature.
That means you are a new
creation in Christ, old things are past all things are new.
Why 62-0622E P:41 You Say, "Well, other people do
this." Well, you're not like the other people. You are dead, and
your life is hid
in God through Christ and sealed by the Holy Spirit. See, you didn't try the toxin. It's just because the people
don't want to try it. Now, you've got to die. You've got to rot. That's the trouble of
people, instead going up to the altar and get some kind of sensation, jump up,
and shake hands with the preacher, go out and get some kind of a dogma or creed
and recite it, and say, "I belong to So-and-so. I belong to
So-and-so." "Are you a Christian?" "I'm So-and-so." A Christian is to be
Christ-like. Christ-like is to believe the Word. If you don't
believe the Word, then he can't be Christ-like. How can you say you're a
Christian and deny half of the Word? If the Holy Spirit wrote the Word, the
Holy Spirit confirms the Word. And the Holy Spirit is the Word. And the Word
abiding in you brings God's promises to every believer.
Sirs we would see Jesus 61-1224 P:83 A real disciples says, "You've got
to die." "How do I know when I'm dead?" When you recognize all this Word
to be the Truth, then the Word begins to live in you.
"Well," you say, "but our church teaches..." I don't care
what your church teaches; it's what the Bible says.
Questions and answers COD 54-0103E P:71 You've
got to repent and die daily to live in Jesus Christ. So every day, every day, you've got to
die every day to live in Christ Jesus.
Greater than Solomon is here 62-0628 P:21 If you want to be a Christian, you be born
again. Die to yourself, and start from the bottom and come forth. ...
... I believe that
you've got to die so dead till you're no more yourself. That's all.
And then, be borned again new, a new creature in Christ, built from the very
bottom of your soul all the way through, a real born again Christian. Then the
Holy Spirit knows what kind of load to put in you.
Uncertain sound 61-0315 P:39 The word "church," means
"the called out,
the separated."
And two people can't live in you the same time. You've got to die out
to the things of the world to serve God. You can't love God and mammon at
the same time. And as long as the love of the world is in the believer's heart,
he crowds out and deprives himself from the privileges that God's give him. God
don't want you to be underprivileged. He wants you to have every privilege that
He died for. Every privilege He gave the church, He wants you to enjoy it; it's
yours.
Questions and answers COD 59-1223 P:83 you've got to die and be born. And you cannot have birth without
crucifixion. You can't have resurrection; you must be crucified to the
things of the world in order to be resurrected in Christ.
Water of separation 55-0121 P:27 As long as you have your own thoughts, your
own ways, your ways are contrary to God's ways. And you cannot be right and think
your own thoughts, for you've got to die to
your own thoughts. Do you know that? Your thoughts, as long as you
look at it, you look at it materially; you say, "Oh, well, that can't
happen. It's just not reasonable. It's not sensible to even think such a
thing." As long as you do that, then you'll stay in your same condition. [Blank spot on tape. Ed.] You get to a place where you
cannot think your ways, but come into Christ and think His way of thinking.
Take His words. Then things begin to shape different. For you are dead and your
life is hid in God through Christ and sealed by the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation to
them that are in Christ Jesus, that walk not after the flesh (what the flesh says), but walk after the Spirit.
Romans
Now, Paul said this spirit of fear is
not from God. He said the spirit God gives us is one which identifies with the
Father.
But Fear is a four letter word and God
hates it. There is far too much fear among the people in this Message and it
ought not to be even numbered among us.
Because we also read in
Therefore”know that all things are working together for
our good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his
purpose. 29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did
predestinate...
Now, we serve a mighty big God brothers
and sisters, and for little men to try and use fear as a tool to control
people, to get people to fear them, I just don’t get it. God Himself doesn’t
even use fear to force you to love Him, and obey Him? The Bible says, “We love him, because He first loved us!!”
That’s 1 John 4:19. That’s what my Bible teaches. And I hope
when you read your Bible you read the same thing. But the problem we have is
that too many people do not know how to read their Bibles. Brothers this Bible is God’s Words in print.
And I don’t care what any man will tell you, My Bible, God’s Word says, God
said, 'Let every man's word be a lie and Mine be true.' Paul said, 'Though an Angel from heaven come with anything else but what's here, let it be accursed.'
John 14:12-13, Jesus said of the believer, "Whosoever believes in Me, the things I do shall you do
also because I go to my father, and listen to how he said those
things would get done in verse 13 and whatsoever you
ask the father in my name that I will do".
Brother Branham said in his sermon, The Unity Of One God In The One Church 58- 1221E God sets on the throne of your heart in His control room,
controlling your emotions, and controlling your powers, controlling your
conceptions, and making you one with Him in fellowship and in love. And God
fills you with love. He fills you with power. He fills you with the Spirit.
He fills you with His own Divine Nature, and He changes your carnal
nature into His Nature. Then, in this, you become a new creation in Christ.
Now, too many men think they are a new
creation in Christ because they can quote the Message, or because they claim to
believe the Message. Listen, Brother Branham, vindicated prophet of God said, you’ve got to die to yourself in order to be born again.
Questions and Answers COD 64-0830M P:120 354. Do your children have to have an experience to have the Holy
Spirit? If they see the end-time Message, do they have the Holy Spirit? Every
one must have an experience. Your children cannot go in on no
other way but the same way you do. See? They've got to be born again. There's
no grandchildren in the
Be not afraid 63-0607 P:72 Brother, that ain't Bible doctrine. Paul
found a bunch of good thoroughbred Baptists up there, and he said, "Have
you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?" Not when you believed,
but after you believed have you received the Holy Ghost. It's a personal
experience that comes. And when that great unchangeable God
sent His message down, it never changes. Amen.
From that time 62-0713 P:44 You see them wonders of God. Some people
would do that. And just because of theology, some church creed or something,
you'll walk away and shun God to
keep from receiving the Holy Ghost.
Letting off the pressure 62-0518 P:67 Now, you can't come through some creed or
something like that. You've got to die and come to it. You got to walk
into it, and die to yourself, and raise anew.
And then every word of
God becomes a reality...Could you imagine a man having the baptism
of the Holy Spirit, that wrote the Bible, and then
say, "The days of miracles is past"? Could you imagine a man, no
matter how deep he is in theology, or what-more, deny the very Word of the
Bible, that the Holy Ghost wrote, and say the Holy Ghost is in him?
Luke 24:49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father
upon you: but tarry ye in the city of
Is that not what Jesus told them to do?
He told them to tarry, that means to wait until... wait until when? NO! Wait
until What!!! Wait until ye are endued with power from on
high. Could you image them saying, well, we’ve
waited long enough, we’ve waited nine whole days, certainly we must have it by
now... I guess we got it? But He said until!!! And that is the problem with the
people today, they are not willing to wait until....
Until what? Until you are endued
with power from on high. So where is that being preached in our pulpits?
I am asking the question because it deserves to be asked. Most churches teach the evidence of
being Holy Spirit born is that you believe the doctrine of that church. But that is not what our prophet taught, He taught us if you have the spirit of
If Christ is living in you, you will live like
Christ, talk like Christ, act like Christ and do the works of Christ, because
you have the mind of Christ.
And brother Branham said, ...
Hear ye Him 62-0711 P:25 And now, before you can be filled with
the Holy Spirit, you've got to die to yourself first, in order to be born again.
Having conferences 60-0608 P:33 you can no more clean yourself from sin by
joining churches and taking creeds, then a leopard could lick his own spots of
him. No, sir. The more he licks them, the brighter
they get. You've got to die to yourself, your own thoughts. Give up, and let the
Holy Spirit cover you with His Presence and His power.
Great warrior David 55-0118 P:39 When God can ever get the Church together
again in one accord so He can endue it with power from on high... Power what? To believe His Word, to make it come to pass.
Go tell my disciples 53-0405S P:75 And till a man is equipped by the Holy
Spirit, not by education, not by theology, not by church membership... Amen. been to
Oneness of unity 58-0128 P:45 A witness has to know something. A
witness has to have an experience. And you cannot be a witness of Christ
until the Holy Ghost has baptized you.
Faith 58-0315 P:25 In the days of our Lord, before He left the
earth, in Luke 24:49 He said, "Tarry ye in the city of
Now, this word endue
means to put on like you would put on a garment. But this says you will put on
power, dunamis, miracle
working power. You will put it on, like a garment, because it is an anointing
upon you.
Acts 1:8 says, "You shall receive power after the Holy Ghost
has come upon you."
And let's notice. There was a bunch of little cowardly
people, one hundred and twenty in a upper room, and
they had the doors locked because they were afraid of the threats of the
Jews. And then all of a sudden, there came a sound from heaven like as a
mighty rushing wind and filled all the house where
they were setting. Oh, they were afraid a few minutes before that, but here
they walked out fearless. Out into the street magnifying and glorifying God
they went. They'd had an experience that had set them a-fire that could burn
the whole world in that day. They had an experience. That's what we need. Experience
accompanies faith.
29 For whom he did
foreknow, he also did predestinate... to be conformed to the image of his Son,
that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did
predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified:
and whom he justified, them he also glorified. 31 What shall we then say to
these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32 He that spared not
his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? 33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's
elect? It is God that justifieth. 34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also
maketh intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine,
or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For
thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the
slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him
that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels,
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor
height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from
the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Ephesians 1 tells us that after we receive the
spirit of adoption, God wants to make known to us our inheritance and the power
that comes with it.
God testifying of His gifts 52-0713E P:49 So don't fear; fear is of the devil.
Everything Jesus would say, "Fear not, fear not," constantly,
"fear not, fear not." Is that right? Always, "Fear not."
Now, God don't want you to fear; He wants you to believe.
Remember the story in John 9 where the parents saw their son 's
blind eyes opened and because for fear of the Jews they would not testify to
who did it?
And isn't that same devil still
controlling the churches today? Claiming to believe the Prophet of the hour and
yet forbidding the people they shepherd to examine the Doctrine that William
Branham taught concerning the Presence of Christ and the relationship between
the Father and His Son because it isn't endorsed in their camp.
Now, I like the guts that this young man
showed to these Christ Rejecting Pharisees. He wasn't going to down play what
had just taken place in his life for nothing. Let's read it.
Oh, how that devil doesn't like to be
given back scripture. He hates to be taught. He hates to be shown up by he Word of God. But I love this man's attitude. He saw what
had just happened to his parents and how they were coward into avoiding talking
about this great thing that had happened to their son. And I will bet that his
righteous indignation flared up at watching his parents being put on the spot
and watching them in a way deny this greatest thing that had happened in their
family since he was born. So he spoke up to these religious leaders and let
them know that he wasn't going to be coward by their sharp tongues like his
parents had just been treated. And he took out the Sword of the Word and let
them have it to the point that they gnashed their teeth and kicked him out of
the church. They excommunicated him for disagreeing with the pastor, so to
speak.
Now, I would like to know where in the
Bible a man can be put out of the church for disagreeing with the Pastor or the
church elders. There is a certain thing called church order and there is a way
of dealing with someone that sows doubt. But for a person to say I disagree,
then he ought to be given an opportunity via the Word of God to show the pastor
where he is wrong.
58-0927 Why we are not a Denomination V-11 N-7 16 People come here to the church, and this
becomes their home church, if they wish to come as long as they live. 17 And they
can come here and disagree with everything that we preach. That's perfectly all
right. You still, as long as you are a Christian, you've got fellowship and a
hand out just the same as the rest of them. See? If I said I believe in
baptizing by immersing by water, and you believed in sprinkling, and stayed right
on it, we'd still be just the same as we was if we both agreed. We might not be
able to see eye to eye alike, but as long as you are a Christian brother or
sister, you're perfectly welcome (See?), everybody.
So if brother Branham was open enough to
accept people in his church who disagreed with everything he taught, then who
are we to do others wise? I am not saying that we should invite a bunch of
unbelievers to the church to fill it. That would be ridiculous, but any person
that would come and sit is either eventually going to have their eyes open or
they will not stay for very long, because what they are hearing will eventually
either cause them to come in or go out. But he is not even talking about the
other person here, he’s talking about our own attitude
being in check with the Holy Spirit’s nature of a dove.
Jesus Christ same 61-0516A P:73 Remember, search the Scriptures. Bring your
papers and take down the Scriptures that I quote. If they're not right, you're
solemnly obligated to come to me and show... I
don't want to be wrong. But I'm not wrong as long as the Scripture says it's so
and God confirms it. A man can say anything he wants to; that's a man. But when
God speaks, dare anybody to doubt it? It's eternal separation from His Presence
forever. So we just leave it up to God, not ourselves to determine who is who.
And let's face it,
the seed of the serpent do not want the truth to be taught. Because in John
We see where that spirit comes from that
would try to control the people through fear rather than through teaching them
the truth of the Scriptures, and letting them make up
their own minds concerning the Scriptures
The Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:1
And the Wuest translation says, "we have renounced the hidden things of
shame, not ordering the manner of our lives in the sphere of craftiness, nor even
adulterating the Word of God by an admixture of error, but by means of an open
declaration of the truth commending ourselves to every variety of the
conscience on men in the sight of God."
The problem we have today, even among us
in this Message, is that the people in the churches do not judge others by what
kind of Life they are living before God, but rather they are judged by whether
or not they are loyal to the "powers that be" in their church.
From his sermon, "Thinking Man's Filter" 65-0822E P:32 Brother Branham said, "No, she isn't a thinking woman. If
she was thinking she'd know the church isn't going to judge her at the last
day. The church is judging her now by her membership, her loyalty to the
circles that she belongs to and the societies. They're judging her now by that.
But God's going to judge her at the last day. So she isn't thinking."
From Proving His Word 64-0816 P:85 brother Branham said, "Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." What? How does
he live? "By, well, if you'll just take some of God's Word, he'll
live?" Now, that wasn't what He said. Did you notice "e-v-e-r-y-
every Word"? How does he live?... "Well, he, belongs to church; he believes everything but
That?" He's still dead. Do you get it? "He can only live by every
Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the high
priest? the bishop? the
cardinal? the pastor?" God! Every
Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
How do we know it's God's Word? He says so, then He
proves It. He proves His Word. Notice. Then if that be
so, your confession will not make you live. Your church membership will not
make you live.
So when any religious leader tells you
that "you've got to believe what they say just because they say so, and
after all they are a five fold minister so you've got to believe them."
Let me tell you that, that is so childish and shallow that it's thinner than
the broth made out of a chicken that starved to
death. You don't have to believe so just because your pastor tells you to
believe something. You believe it because God's Word says so.
And so any ministry that used fear to
control you is not of God. We are promised by God Himself that He has not given
us a spirit of fear but a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1: 7 For God hath not given us the spirit of
fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Therefore if you fear man more than you fear God, then
you haven't got what God said he would give you.
In 1 John
Fear is a dangerous tool of the devil, because it has a penalty. When a
person is afraid they become bound by those fear.
We read in 1 John 4. That
perfect or mature Love will cast out fear because fear has a penalty, it has to do with your freezing and
crystallizing in your thinking. You see, in the Bible we read where Joseph was
engaged to marry Mary, but when he found her to be pregnant, even though she
told him how it happened, that God Himself overshadowed her, yet his fear
stopped him, and he was privately mindful to put her away. In other words the
penalty of fear caused him to stop the plans that he had to marry her. Joseph
feared that Mary had not been faithful, and because of that fear he made plans
to stop the marriage.
So God sent His Angel to Joseph, and
told him, "fear not" to take Mary as His Wife. What had fear done to
Joseph? It caused him to doubt that God wanted him to marry Mary. And it caused
him to stop moving forward with the plan of God for his life.
Luke 21: 25-27 25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in
the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with
perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; 26 Men's hearts failing them for
fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the
powers of heaven shall be shaken.
Notice the Scriptures tells us that men
will see things that will bring on perplexity which is doubt and anxiety
feeling they will have no way of escape, and then what follows? Fear, then fear
follows shortly thereafter.
In 1 Kings
NIV: How long will you waver between two
opinions? NAS How long will you hesitate between
these two opinions?
So you see that fear will cause great
damage in your walk with God because it causes you to stop your moving forward
with him. And you know, according to
1 John 7: "if you walk in the Light and He is in the Light,
you not only have fellowship with one another but the blood of Jesus Christ
cleanses you from all your sin”.
As long as you are walking in the light,
your sins are covered and you are having fellowship with the One
Who's in the Light because he is the Light. And if you let your
fears take control of you your focus will be upon those fears and not on the
One in the Light. Therefore, any ministry that puts the people into a state of fear
is not from God.