Look 30 we give up too quickly

LOOK # 30

We give up to quickly

JULY 12, 1992

Brian Kocourek

PP. 150 - 155 <read>

I would like to bring out just one point here this morning and
that is this: brother Branham said, "We give up too quickly.
Elijah stayed there and he prayed, and he prayed, and he prayed
until something happened."

We haven't learned yet what it is to wait upon the Lord. But I
believe before it is all over, we shall learn what it means to be
able to wait upon God for the proper answer. You see, that is
where man fell short right from the very beginning. He did not
know how to wait. There is something about being able to wait
upon God to fulfill His promises that man has never been able to
do. That is why Abraham was such a blessed man of God, because he
possessed the attribute to be able to wait upon God to answer His
promises. He was able to wait upon God for God to come through on
His promises.

As I said, man from the beginning has not shown the attribute to
be able to wait upon God. The very first promise God made to man,
he failed to wait for God to perform what He had promised.

Can anyone tell me what was the first promise God made to man?
Was it not, "to go forth and multiply and replenish the earth.
Yet He never told them how it would be done.

GENESIS.1:27 - 28

So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God
created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed
them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and
replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the
fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every
living thing that moveth upon the earth.

But what did they do? They didn't wait for God to tell them how
to multiply. So, What was Satan's first point of attack upon man?
He robbed man by interloping upon and perverting the very first
promise God had made to man.

GENESIS.3:13

And the LORD God said unto the woman, What [is] this [that] thou
hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did
eat.

HEBREW LEXICON D STRONG'S NUMBER 5377

5377 nasha' {naw-shaw'} a primitive root;

1) to lead astray, ie.(mentally to delude) or morally to seduce,

- beguile, deceive,

Now watch what God does here.

GENESIS.3:14

And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done
this, thou [art] cursed above all cattle, and above every beast
of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou
eat all the days of thy life:

GENESIS.3:15

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy
seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt
bruise his heel.

Why would God put enmity between her seed and his seed if it
wasn't sex?

GENESIS.3:16

Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and
thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and
thy desire [shall be] to thy husband, and he shall rule over
thee.

Why would God's punishment to the woman be a curse in conception
if it wasn't sex?

He didn't curse the man in conception. But now because the man
knew better but did it to save his wife, we see God curse the
second blessing He had given man.

GENESIS.3:17 - 20

And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice
of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded
thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed [is] the ground
for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat [of] it all the days of
thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee;
and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy
face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for
out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou [art], and unto dust
shalt thou return. And Adam called his wife's name Eve; because
she was the mother of all living.

She was the mother of all living, but nowhere does it say he was
the father of all living. So we see here that man from the very
beginning was not comfortable with waiting upon God to fulfill
His blessings to man, and went about trying to produce the bless
ings of God on his own.

There is something about waiting upon God that is so very
important to us that God actually allows the trials and testing
to come to see if we have the character to sit back and watch and
wait upon Him.

PSALMS.27:14

Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen
thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

PSALMS.37:7

Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself
because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who
bringeth wicked devices to pass.

COLOSSIANS.1:11

Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power,
unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;

It is actually considered a blessing when we are of such a nature
as to be able to wait for God to move.

ISAIAH.30:18

And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto
you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy
upon you: for the LORD [is] a God of judgment: blessed [are] all
they that wait for him.

He wants to be gracious to us, therefore He waits and then He
blesses all that wait upon Him.

LAMENTATIONS.3:25

The LORD [is] good unto them that wait for him, to the soul
[that] seeketh him. [It is] good that [a man] should both hope
and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.

Why is it good to wait. What is there about waiting that is good?

What is there about waiting that is profitable? What does it do
for us?

ISAIAH.40:31

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew [their] strength;
they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not
be weary; [and] they shall walk, and not faint.

PSALMS.27:14

Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen
thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

Now, remember from last week, the heart is the center of under
standing. So the strengthening of our heart has to do with the
making strong our understanding.

We see that there is something about it that allows us to renew
our strength. Point # 1) then, is that it renews our strength.

Now God wants us to trust Him in everything we do. Jesus tells
one of His parable's about why we should wait and how this wait
ing upon Him is actually an expression of our trusting Him:

LUKE.12:22 - 48a

And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Take no
thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body,
what ye shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body
[is more] than raiment.Consider the ravens: for they neither sow
nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth
them: how much more are ye better than the fowls? And which of
you with taking thought can add to his stature one cubit? If ye
then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye
thought for the rest? Consider the lilies how they grow: they
toil not, they spin not; and yet I say unto you, that Solomon in
all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field,
and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more [will he
clothe] you, O ye of little faith? And seek not ye what ye shall
eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For
all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your
Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But rather seek
ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto
you. Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleas
ure to give you the kingdom. Sell that ye have, and give alms;
provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the
heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither
moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your
heart be also. Let your loins be girded about, and [your] lights
burning; And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their
lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh
and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. Blessed [are]
those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching:
verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them
to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. And if
he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch,
and find [them] so, blessed are those servants. And this know,
that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief
would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his
house to be broken through. Be ye therefore ready also: for the
Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not. Then Peter said
unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to
all? And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise stew
ard, whom [his] lord shall make ruler over his household, to give
[them their] portion of meat in due season? Blessed [is] that
servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Of a
truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that
he hath. But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delay
eth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and
maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; The lord of
that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for [him],
and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder,
and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. And that
servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not [himself],
neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many
[stripes]. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of
stripes, shall be beaten with few [stripes]. For unto whomsoever
much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men
have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

We can see from this parable that the time of waiting is not to
be a time of just idle waiting but we are to be spending it
preparing ourselves for His return. To wait is not to be a slug
gard. It actually suggests a time of preparation and training
that is to be going on.

So point # 2) is this, waiting is a time of preparation for an
important meeting. How many have heard of a room called a waiting
room. It is not a room where we are to be sitting idle, but we
should be preparing ourselves for our meeting. If you are at a
doctors office and are sitting in his waiting room, don't just
sit there dumb and idle, get a pen out and write down the symp
toms and questions you would like answers to. Too many people go
to the doctor and walk in in a daze and go out the same way.
Every time you go you should learn more how to doctor yourself.

Waiting, then is a time to prepare and a time to learn.

What else is there about this waiting period that our Lord wants
us to know?

PROVERBS.27:18

Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof: so he
that waiteth on his master shall be honoured.

Now notice this scripture tells us two things. 1) Whoso keepeth
the fig tree shall eat the fruit of it. Or shall we say, he who
pays attention to and watches over the fig tree will be the first
one to get the fruit when it is ripe. The second point is that HE
that waiteth for His master shall receive honour. Now this word
here actually means riches. So we see that the waiting process is
designed to bring with it rewards.

ISAIAH.64:4

For since the beginning of the world [men] have not heard, nor
perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside
thee, [what] he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him

JAMES.5:7

Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord.
Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the
earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early
and latter rain.

Now the husbandman not only plants the seed but keeps it while it
is growing and he nurtures it along with one purpose in mind. He
will reap from it's fruits. This Husbandman is the Lord who shall
wait for the ripening fruit at the time of the PAROUSIA. This is
not a short period as if it were a twinkling of an eye.

Israel P. Warren D.D. of Portland Maine, wrote in His book "THE
PAROUSIA" 1879 in pp. 12-15 The word "PAROUSIA" connotes to us
"THAT OF BEING WITH US, WITHOUT REFERENCE AS TO HOW IT BEGAN. THE
FORCE OF COMING OR ADVENT ENDS WITH THE ARRIVAL; THAT OF PRESENCE
BEGINS WITH THE ARRIVAL. COMING AND ADVENT ARE WORDS OF MOTION
WHEREAS PRESENCE SHOWS REST. THE SPACE OF TIME COVERED BY THE
ACTION OF COMING OR ADVENT IS LIMITED, IT MAY BE MOMENTARY; THAT
OF PRESENCE IS UNLIMITED.

We see here then that time is not an important element with God.

The key is that He is here to gather into His garner those that
are His even if it takes a prolonged amount of time.

ROMANS.8:23

And not only [they], but ourselves also, which have the first
fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves,
waiting for the adoption, [to wit], the redemption of our body.

LUKE.8:15

But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good
heart, having heard the word, keep [it], and bring forth fruit
with patience.

He is looking for His fruit, but He will not harvest it before
the time. Meanwhile the time of waiting is actually becoming a
blessing to us as it is a time of training in which we are actu
ally gaining strength for the journey and the millennium.

LUKE.21:19

In your patience possess ye your souls.

II.PETER.3:15 - 18

And account [that] the longsuffering of our Lord [is] salvation;
even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom
given unto him hath written unto you; 16 As also in all [his]
epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some

things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and
unstable wrest, as [they do] also the other scriptures, unto
their own destruction. 17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know
[these things] before, beware lest ye also, being led away with
the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. 18 But
grow in grace, and [in] the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. To him [be] glory both now and for ever. Amen.

Notice the longsuffering which is that which accompanies our
Lords waiting, is to be considered salvation. In verse 18 Peter
tells us not to be frightened by this period of longsuffering
because it is a time that we are to grow in Grace and Knowledge
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

ISAIAH.30:18

I CORINTHIANS.1:3

Grace [be] unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and [from]
the Lord Jesus Christ. 4 I thank my God always on your behalf,
for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ; 5 That
in every thing ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and [in]
all knowledge; 6 Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in
you: 7 So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ:

Now, why does it say that this Grace is to come and establish us
and bring upon us an enrichment as though we were a plant and it
is a fertilizer to make us grow into a fully mature plant. And if
you will notice it is to happen in order that we come behind or
do not fail to receive the Gift which is a spiritual endowment. A
mindset that is to accompany the great Apokalupsis or unveiling
of our God and Saviour.

I CORINTHIANS 1:8

Who shall also confirm you unto the end, [that ye may be] blame
less in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God [is] faithful, by
whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ
our Lord. 10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and [that] there
be no divisions among you; but [that] ye be perfectly joined
together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

ROMANS.15:5

Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likemind
ed one toward another according to Christ Jesus:

GALATIANS.5:5

For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by
faith.

There you are. The time of waiting is a period in which we are
being child trained to receive the very mind of God. The amount
of time it takes all depends upon how much you are willing to let
your own thinking go and receive the mind of the Father. Just
like in school. If you are really endowed you may skip grades and
advance at a faster pace. But if you are not endowed you may take
even longer than normal and flunk a time or two, but eventually
your mental prowess may catch up to where it should be and then
your rate of growth in knowledge will increase as well.

Now during this time that we are to wait upon the Lord, we have
already established that this waiting is not an idle one. Yet
during this time we are not only developing more and more into
His mindset but we are also becoming more mature and with maturi
ty comes patience. You will also note that the less mature a
child is the less patience it has. They want a cookie, and they
want it now. We then go through a time of correction and we work
on our child's patience to help it to control itself and learn to
wait for the proper time. "Not now, jr. it will spoil your meal."

"Wait until you have finished your meal."

ROMANS.5:3 - 4

And not only [so], but we glory in tribulations also: knowing
that tribulation worketh patience; 4 And patience, experience;or
character and character, hope:

ROMANS.8:25

But if we hope for that we see not, [then] do we with patience
wait for [it].

In other words it isn't hope if you have it and if you don't have
it but you know that you will have it, then it is only a matter
of waiting for it.

ROMANS.15:4

For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our
learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures
might have hope.

II.THESSALONIANS.3:5

And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into
the patient waiting for Christ.

COLOSSIANS.1:11

Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power,
unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;

Are you aware that patience was considered to be one of the signs
of the apostles?

II.CORINTHIANS.12:12

Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you in all
patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds.

That should let you see how important it is to be patient and
wait for what God is about to do. Remember, those that could not
wait were taken into Satan's delusion and tried to bring upon
themselves by a work of the flesh the very promises of God that
were to be received by faith.

I.THESSALONIANS.1:3

Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labor of
love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight
of God and our Father;

I like how the NIV brings this out even better: "We continually
remember before our God and Father your work produced by your
faith, and your labor prompted by your love, and your endurance
that is inspired by your hope in our lord Jesus Christ."

II.THESSALONIANS.1:4

So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your
patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that
ye endure:

HEBREWS.6:12

That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith
and patience inherit the promises.

HEBREWS.12:1

Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a
cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin
which doth so easily beset [us], and let us run with patience the
race that is set before us,

HEBREWS.10:3

For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will
of God, ye might receive the promise.

JAMES.1:3 - 4

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.

PRAYER