LOOK #15
Be Careful what you are looking for
Brian Kocourek
ISAIAH 53:1-6. <read> Why did every one turn to His own way? Because we esteemed Him not. We valued our own thoughts
above His thoughts. Our own opinion above His opinion.
We did not give to Him the proper assessment, the proper value. He is The Tree
of Life and yet He appeared as a withered root out of dry ground, all shriveled
up and not worth eating from, so we took our eyes from Him and turned every man
to his own way.
PP. 99 - 102 <read> Notice
here in pp. 102, he says, " THE PEOPLE TODAY, NO
MATTER WHAT OTHERS SAY ABOUT IT, THE PEOPLE GO RIGHT AHEAD BELIEVING IT. THEY
CAN'T EXPLAIN IT. THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS. THEY KNOW THEY GOT AN IDEA OF
WHAT IT IS." Then he gives us an illustration using Benjamin Franklin when
he had captured electricity using the kite and a key in a jar. He shouted I got
it! I got it! HE KNEW HE HAD SOMETHING, BUT HE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT IT WAS THAT HE
HAD
Now I believe that this is exactly
where the people are at in this Message. You can go across this country and
even into the four corners of the earth and you will find amongst the believers
no matter where you go,
Good, Godly, God fearing people. The cream of
the crop. And the thing that holds us all together is that we have an
absolute. We are like no other people on earth for we know we have "THUS
SAITH THE LORD." Others might think that they have it, but we know that we
have it.
And yet we are exactly in the
condition that brother Branham is speaking of in this message entitled Look,
when he says, "THEY DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS...YET WE KNOW WE HAVE
SOMETHING!" But what is it that we have? This is why you find the cry going
out throughout this Message, where people are still longing for something else.
They do not know what to do with what they already have. They know that they
got something, but because they do not know what that something is, they do not
know what to do with it
The greatest danger we have is not knowing what it is that we already have. Without
knowing what IT IS THAT WE ALREADY HAVE, we are in danger of looking for
something else. That is exactly what happened in the garden.
They could have eaten from the tree
of Life, but because it did not appeal to them and they were not sure of what
it was, or if it was even ready to eat yet, because remember, it appeared as a
root out of dry ground, so they begin to wonder, and as brother Branham so
aptly put it, when you wonder you will begin to wander. And where can we
wander from if we are in the Truth, but from the Truth.
Now, last week we noted a particular
statement brother Branham made concerning the Pentecostals who were looking for
something big to happen like the emptying out of hospitals or something. He said, Don't be looking for it to happen that way because it
never did happen that way before.
Now that thought is an extremely
important one to us because we are all looking for something. It's in the air,
we can feel it. To be looking for something is not wrong, but as brother
Branham said, we need to be careful what we are looking for. It must be
scriptural. It must have happened in the Alpha ministry of Jesus Christ in the
first church age in order for it to happen again in this hour. Of course,
people could be looking for something to happen that has already happened. And
in many cases that is no doubt true. That in itself means that you have missed
what God has done altogether.
But the thing of it is, as brother
Branham pointed out, what would tell these people to be looking for something
so super duper. He called it a LIE. And that is exactly what II THES says will
come.
II THES
Because they had
PLEASURE in UN-RIGHT-WISE-NESS. Pleasure: <EUDOKEO> to think well of, ie. to approve; or to be willing.
Because they approved un right wise ness, because they approved of incorrect
revelation. because they thought well of wrong
understanding. Isn't this exactly what Paul was chastising the saint at
II COR 11: 1-5. <read>
NIV: YOU PUT UP WITH IT SO EASILY ENOUGH
II THES
They took pleasure. They not only
approved of it but they entered into it and thought well of it. Remember, Eve
was not raped, she was not forced against her will.
She was seduced into it. Seduction has to do with the ability to get you to go
along with something that you previously opposed. Now what is it that we are
dealing with here.
God's opinion vs satan's opinion. It is not because they did not think
highly of God's opinion, but it is that they thought even more highly about satan's opinion. They took
pleasure in un-right-wise-ness.
We see this same word pleasure used
in a positive sense in Eph 1.
EPH 1:5 - 9] WUEST: ACCORDING TO
THAT WHICH SEEMED GOOD IN HIS HEARTS DESIRE. Notice how this scripture shows a
one sided pouring out.
EPH 1:5] It is He who finds pleasure in
predestinating us to be adopted.
EPH 1:6] It is He who pours upon us His Grace
and Glory upon us and who makes us accepted in Him.
EPH 1:7] In Him we have redemption. In Him we
are forgiven.
EPH 1:8] It is He that hath abounded toward us
in all wisdom and PRUDENCE. By the way, do you know what this word PRUDENCE
means? It comes from a root word which means to exercise the mind; to be
mentally disposed in a certain direction or opinion.
EPH 1:9] It is He who has made known unto us the
Mystery of His own Will which He had desired in Himself. He has let us in on
the very desires of His own Heart. It has been Him and Him only who has poured
out of Himself toward us. We haven't had anything to do with any of it. Yet why
would we look to something else.
The Pentecostals keep looking for
power and yet brother Branham has told us that power apart from character is
satanic.
PHIL 2: 13 WUEST: FOR GOD IS THE ONE
WHO IS CONSTANTLY PUTTING FORTH HIS ENERGY IN YOU, BOTH IN THE FORM OF YOUR
BEING DESIROUS OF, AND OF YOUR DOING HIS GOOD PLEASURE. < It is God's own
energies in us that desire His will and want to do His will.> So why would
we want to take any preeminent position in our own minds to think that we are
somebody because of what God has shown to us.
I COR
ROM
II THES 1:7 The
word here is relaxation or relief. Relief from what.
Or shall we say rather, what brings this relief? Well it tells us WHEN THE LORD
JESUS SHALL BE REVEALED FROM HEAVEN WITH HIS MIGHTY ANGELS...RELIEF means an
easing, as of pain, discomfort or anxiety. anything
that lessons tension or strain or offers a pleasing change to the mind or eyes.
So, as you can see there is coming a
rest and relaxation from that which brings discomfort and pain and anxiety.
Now, why are the people everywhere still looking for something.
And if you will notice, the preachers that are making the greatest rounds are
those who are preaching a message that is just tearing up the young people and
causing them to come to the altar in fear. But My
bible says, that PERFECT LOVE CASTS OUT FEAR. So why all this
anxiety? Why all this fear? I tell you it is because of the great
uncertainty that the people are under. They just are not certain.
But let's look further into this
relaxation that is to relieve us of all doubt and fear.
II THES
II THES 1: 11, 12 Now
this is the very thing that the people are looking for. We all want The Life of
Christ to manifest in our own personal lives. Yet, we are not looking in the
right place. This scripture tells us that It is in Him
and He wants to place It in us. Notice the wording here: THAT OUR GOD WOULD
COUNT YOU WORTHY OF THIS CALLING. AND FULFILL ALL THAT HE IS WILLING TO DO OF
HIS VIRTUE, AND THE WORK OF REVELATION WITH MIRACLE WORKING POWER. Now this
word fulfiller here actually means : to furnish or
imbue: <that is to saturate> or make complete or replete. In other words:
God wants not only to give us His Doxa or His
opinion, His mind-set. But he wants to saturate our minds. To
cram fully His Word into every fiber of our being.
ACTS 17:28A FOR IN HIM WE LIVE, AND
MOVE, AND HAVE OUR BEING; FOR AS CERTAIN ALSO OF YOUR OWN POETS HAVE SAID, 'FOR
WE ARE ALSO HIS OFFSPRING.'
HEB 2:10-11
JOHN
This is what we are longing for.
This is what the people are looking for. O won't they come home to the Father. To just look into the mirror of His Word. Then The transformation will begin. Then the peace that surpasses
all understanding will come in.
JOHN
PRAYER