SUFFERING FOR CHRIST
Pastor Charles Holmes
04-08-18
PHILIPPIANS 1:29
29For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake;
30Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me.
65-0117 A.PARADOX
165Lord Jesus, now we realize that we can read the Word, with our best of our knowledge, explain It. But, Lord, You're the only One can confirm It. You're the only One can say that It's right or wrong. And, Father, I pray today that You will let the eyes of the people be opened. May we see a paradox this afternoon, just, Lord, enough to let the people see that You are present, that You are not--not out of existence, that Your Word is the same yesterday, today, and forever. For, You are that Word. For the sake of the sick, Lord, for the sake of those who are suffering; many probably are here from different parts of the country, parts of the nation, they must... they're suffering so, they couldn't enjoy the meetings, otherwise, if they wasn't healed. I pray that You'll heal them. Grant it, Lord. And now we are only physical human beings, and can only preach the Word and say what You said to be the Truth, now Thou art the One to make it real. I pray that You'll grant it, in Jesus' Name. Amen.
59-1217 WHAT.WAS.THE.HOLY.GHOST.GIVEN.FOR
24When men makes fun of you, they're not making fun of you; they're making fun of Him that sent you. So Jesus said, "Blessed are ye when men shall say all manner of evil against you, falsely, for My Name sake. Blessed are you." And again, "All that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." For when God made Hisself known in Christ, they hated Him. Who hated Him worse? The church. The church hated Him worse. They hated Him worse than the--the drunkard. They hated Him worse than all the other people. It was the church that hated Him. So therefore, when you see Kosmos, the world order... "The world knowed Him not" means the "church (so-called) knew Him not." "He came to His own and His own received Him not. But as many as did receive Him, to them gave He the power to become sons of God, to them that believed on His Name." Oh, how we should love Him and worship Him. The purpose of God, wanting to become in fellowship... Like...
25'Fore we leave that text, let's use this. In the days of Ruth, in the law of redemption when Naomi had left the country because of trial, hard times, she went into the Moabite land, which were just lukewarm, nominal Christians, because the Moabites come from the daughter of Lot. And they were so-called believers and mixed up. And then, her husband died and her two sons died. And on the road home Naomi--Ruth and Naomi on their road home, her--one of her daughter-in-laws, Orpah, she said that she would return back to her country, to her gods, and to her church, and to her people. And Naomi tried to get Ruth to go back, but she said, "Your people are my people; your God is my God. Where you die, there I'll die; where you're buried, there I'll be buried. And I'll not turn back." That's when a person's caught a vision. Don't make any difference what her people said. "You're going over there and become a holy-roller or something." That didn't make any difference to Ruth. There was a purpose of God to be fulfilled.
64-0119 SHALOM
173The others say, "Well, but the church says..." That has got nothing to do with It. You're not born to do that.
174 You're born into the Word, for you're born into Christ. Christ is the Word, yes, sir, each one in its age.
175 You say, "Well, I'll just tell you, Brother Branham, I can't look ahead."
176 Then look up. God promised, if you'd look up, see Him; shalom, peace, God's peace rest you.
177 You say, "Then why does others make fun of me, Brother Branham? You know, others make fun of me, and saying I--I got 'long hair,' I'm 'old fashion,'" to the women. The man, "Because I believe the Bible, 'You don't have fellowship with us no more. We can't accept you because that--that you believe such-and-such.'"
178 And you know it's exactly the way the Word is written. God is duty bound to you, to back That up then. He certainly is. Don't matter about that, why they say to make fun of. God is a jealous God. Remember, suffering for His Word's sake is growing pains of His grace. When you suffer for His Word's sake, it's just growing pains.
179 You know how a little kid, ten, twelve years old, gets pains. Come in, say, "Mama, my arms hurt and my legs are hurting," so forth. It's growing pains. It shows he has got some good vitamins. He is growing up.
180And when somebody begins to make fun of you, say, "She is old fashion. Look at him, he's... Oh, I'll tell you, he used to be..."All right, just remember, it's growing pains. That's that persecution is good for you. It's growing pains.
181 Oh, yes, He permits crosses and crossroads and junctions. He always does that, in order to perfect us for His service. He permits those things to happen. Can't you understand that? [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] He does that so He can perfect you for the calling He has called you for. That's your growing pains. He did Daniel that way, you know.
182 He did the Hebrew children, in the fiery furnace. What did the fiery furnace do? The fiery furnace only broke the bands that had them bound. That's all the furnace did, just burnt loose the bands.
183Sometimes it takes trials to break the bands of the world off of us, take you out of the world. Might be, have to take you out of your creed, first. Like the man drowning in the river, you have to take him out of the river before you get the river out of the man. That's about the way God has to do sometime. Let them throw you out, one time, then they get the world out of you. Got to--got to get you out of the world, first. Sometimes these growing pains is what does that. Oh, yes.
184 God stands on the promised Word for each new year. He stands on It, this year, to fulfill what He has got promised for this year. Whatever it is, I want to be right in the center of His will in the future, like they did.
60-0417M GO.TELL
223Now, Lord, I go forward this morning in my church to stand here upon this Easter morning, praying that You'll raise me to a new gift, more powerful, for the people's sake: more powerful, not because of my salvation; because You have saved me, Lord, already; not for self; I've rejected all great things to know You. As You said to me out there at that great temple the other day, "I am your Portion." Now, Lord, let me be Your portion, if I can find favor with You, that Your Spirit will come in me. And when I lay my hands upon these precious, suffering people, may Your Spirit, Lord, do the rest of the work. That's all I know to do, Lord. I remember my commission, I was born to pray for sick people. Get them to believe, and be sincere when you pray. Lord, I'm just... I don't know how to be any more sincere. I--I... They're suffering, Lord. And I--I've suffered, myself. Please, dear God, grant that they'll be healed, each one. I go forward now, Lord, by faith, as Moses stepped towards the Red Sea. I step from this sacred pulpit down to this prayer line. In the Name of Jesus Christ, may the God Who gave me those squirrels, the God Who gave Sister Hattie those words, the God Who had me to speak them, may He go with me. I go in the Name of Jesus Christ.
60-0729 WHAT.IT.TAKES.TO.OVERCOME.ALL.UNBELIEF.OUR.FAITH
E-64 "All that live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Blessed are you, when a men shall revile you and make all matters of fun to you, and call you all manners of names, for My sake. (See?) Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, 'cause they persecuted the prophets preaching before you." It's always been there. When you get the spirit of the nation here on you, you really become an American. That's the good national spirit to have. But sometimes from the way things are going now, it's getting pretty bad.
63-0728 CHRIST.IS.THE.MYSTERY.OF.GOD.REVEALED
356Same when He reveals Himself to Paul, another predestinated Seed.
357 There was Paul going around, he might have said, "If I get a hold of that bunch, I'll tear them to pieces, because I'm Doctor Saul. I come up under Gamaliel. I come from the Moody Bible..." or some other one, see. "I, I'm a scholar. I know what I'm talking about. I'll tear that bunch of holy rollers to pieces. And I tell you, great holy father, you just give me the permission to go down there, and I'll arrest every one of them noisemakers down there. All this Divine healing stuff, we'll stop it." Put it in his pocket, said, "I'm on my road down."
358 And that day, my, about eleven o'clock in the day, a--a Light shone in his face, and he fell to the earth.
359Why? He was a predestinated Seed. God said, "I have chose him. Yeah. And I'm going to show him what great things he'll suffer for My Name's sake. I'll send him to the Gentiles, and disgrace him in every way that they can be--be disgraced, but yet he'll bare My Name."
360 Paul went down, then, till he got all of his ecclesiastical stuff cut off of him, down at the backside of the desert, for three years and a half. Down there in Arabia, until he learned the Word, and the Word become he. And he become a prisoner; here he come back in chains of love! "All my seminary experience is gone! I'm a prisoner to Jesus Christ. Amen! Philemon, my brother, I'm a prisoner of Jesus Christ. I only can speak and say what He tells me."
361God needs prisoners today that will prison yourself to His will, to His Word.
362 That's what Paul was. No matter how much intellectual he had learned, he had knowed God by revelation. Yes, sir. The intellectual went all the way out of the business then, when the revelation come; which, upon the rock the Church is built. Yes, sir. Notice, he was a predestinated Seed.
363 The Holy Ghost, alone, shows you Who He is. There is no man; they'll make you "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost," and everything else, out of it. See? But the Holy Ghost will reveal Him as the Lord God of Heaven made manifest, that that is, oh, Him!
59-1227M A.SUPER.SIGN
134And we most graciously, Lord, accept Your Christmas Present, the Son of God to dwell in our flesh, our dust, to live with us, sanctifying His way by His Own Blood, and giving us the assurance of Eternal Life. We thank You. I thank You, Lord, for this great wonderful Present from God, for It is a gift, a gift of the Holy Spirit, all packaged up in the Name of the Lord Jesus. We're glad to receive it. We thank You because our church stands for that sign, because the sign stands for the Church's Teaching. We stand for it; it stands for us. And it's known among the Christians throughout the world today, of a poor, ignorant bunch of people at 8th and Penn Street, at Jeffersonville; that Immanuel, the Pillar of Fire from the wilderness, the Jesus of Galilee, the Holy Spirit of Pentecost, made manifested by all Immanuel's signs in the evening Light. We're so thankful, Lord. And many others see it and receive it. For we ask it in Jesus' Name, and for His sake and the church's sake. Amen.
65-0801M THE.GOD.OF.THIS.EVIL.AGE
31Now, notice closely now as we study the Word. The God Of This Evil Age, that we're now living. May seem strange, a very strange thing, in this age of grace, when, "God is taking a people for His Name's sake," that is His Bride, in this evil age that should be called the age of evil. The very age that "God is calling a people for His Name's sake," by grace, out, and is called an evil age. Now, we'll prove by the Bible that this is the age that He was speaking of. Very strange thing to think that, that in a evil age like this, that God then would be calling His Bride.
32 You notice, He said, "a people," not "a church." Why? Yet, It's called the Church, but He would call "a people." Now, a church is a gathering of many people of all different makeups. But God is calling one here... He didn't say, "I'll call the Methodist, Baptist, Pentecostal." He said He would call a people. What for? His Name. See, a people; one from the Methodist, one from the Baptist, one from the Lutheran, one from the Catholic. See? But He is calling, not a church group, but "a people for His Name," that receives His Name, engaged in His Name, going to a wedding to be married to Him, to become part of Him, see, by a predestination. Just as a man that chooses a right wife in life, was ordained to be part of his body. So, that is, the Bride of Christ will be, and is now, from old, ordained by God to be a part of that Body. See? Oh, the Scriptures are so rich, full of honey!
33Notice, not what someone has said, what someone called; but what God chose before the foundation of the world, and is calling these people in the last days; not an organization. "A people for His Name." And this evil age is when He's doing it, this very age of deception.
34 Last week, in Matthew 24, it was the most deceiving age of all ages. All the ages of deceit, from the garden of Eden, all the way down, there's never been an age so deceptive as this age. "False prophets will rise and show signs and wonders, if possible to deceive the very Elected." See? Now, just a cold, formal, starchy churches, and so forth, of man-made theology, that wouldn't; the Elect would never pay no attention to that. But it's up there almost like the real thing. Just leaving out one Word is all you have to do. Promised of the age; very great time! Christians, everywhere, take heed to the hour we're living! Mark down, and read, and listen close.
35What would God call a people out of this evil age for, His Name? The reason it is, is to try Her, His Bride. It's to... When She is made manifest, been tried, been proven, proved to Satan. Like it was at the beginning, so shall it be at the end.
36 As a seed starts in the ground, it comes up through carriers, the life of it, but it ends up the same seed that it was when it went in the ground. And the same way the seed of deceit fell in the ground, in Eden, is the same way it ends up in the last days. Just as the Gospel was when it fell to a denomination at Nicaea, Rome, it ends up in a super organization. Just as the Seed of the Church fell back there, with the signs, wonders, and the living Christ among them, it ends up in the last days under the ministry of Malachi 4, and restores back again the original Faith that was once given.
37We find now, this evil age is to prove, to Satan, She is not like Eve, that She is not that type of a woman. And She will be tried by His Word, the Bride, as Adam's bride was tried by the Word. And Adam's bride believed every bit of the Word, all, but confused on one promise, that, "He's the same yesterday, today, and forever," today, see; but failed on one promise, under the temptation of the enemy, face to face. And now, the people that's called for His Name, of course, is His Bride. She is to come in contact again by the same thing; not by just denominational truth or something, but every Word!
38 For, in the beginning of the Bible, man was given the Word of God to live by. One Word, misinterpreted by a--a man called Satan, in a person of an animal called the serpent. Satan, in this person, could talk to Eve, and misinterpreted the Word to her, and was lost. See, It must be every Word.
39In the middle of the Bible, Jesus come and said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word," when He was tempted by Satan. Now, God telling us here in the last days, that, "The god of this world will rise up in the last days." "And whosoever shall add one word to It, or take one Word from It, his part will be taken from the Book of Life." God be merciful to us! And let us not walk as stiff shirts, chests stuck out, head up, know it all, for we too one time were in disobedience. Let us with grace, and mercy, and feeling in our heart towards God, humbly come to the Throne of grace.