25-0516A_THE STATURE OF A PERFECT MAN PT-8 (PARTAKERS OF CHRIST'S DIVINE NATURE)

2Pe 1:1  Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ: 

2Pe 1:2  Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, 

2Pe 1:3  According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 

2Pe 1:4  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 

2Pe 1:5  And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; 

2Pe 1:6  And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; 

2Pe 1:7  And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. 

2Pe 1:8  For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

2Pe 1:9  But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins. 

2Pe 1:10  Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall: 

Mat 5:48  Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. 

Eph 4:11  And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 

Eph 4:12  For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 

*"NOW, WE'LL GIVE CAESAR'S WHAT'S CAESAR'S, BUT WHEN IT COMES TO CAESAR INTERFERING WITH GOD, GOD'S FIRST.

THE.STATURE.OF.A.PERFECT.MAN_  JEFF.IN  V-2 N-18  SUNDAY_  62-1014M

  41-1    All right, the Hebrew children had patience. Sure they did. God had promised them, told them, "Don't you bow down to any image."

But they had patience, said, "Our God is able. But nevertheless, we're not going to bow to your image." See? Patience, knowing this, that God would raise him up in the last days. This life don't mean so much after all. See? "God will raise it up again in the last days. But when it comes to bowing to an image, we won't do it."

"Now, we'll give Caesar's what's Caesar's, but when it comes to Caesar interfering with God, God's first. God said, 'Don't you bow to that image,' and I won't do it. Our God's able to deliver us, and if He don't, I'll not bow to the image."

Said, "All right, there's the furnace."

"Well," he said, "Oh, I guess, rain hard tonight and put it all out," but didn't do it. Still patient.

*THEY HAD PATIENCE; BUT HE WAS THERE. SEE, JUST ENOUGH FIRE HIT THEM TO BURN THEIR LATCHES OFF THEIR HANDS AND FEET.

THE.STATURE.OF.A.PERFECT.MAN_  JEFF.IN  V-2 N-18  SUNDAY_  62-1014M

  41-4    Next morning when it was brought up before the courts, why there set the--Nebuchadnezzar; he said, "All right, boys, are you ready to remember me as your king?"

"Certainly, live forever, oh king."

"Now, bow down to my image."

"Oh, no."

"Well, you're going to burn up. You're wise men; you're smart. You've been a great help to us. You've been a blessing to our kingdom. Can't you understand I don't want to do this, but I've--I've made a proclamation here, and it's got to be done. I don't want to throw you in there. Oh, men, what's the matter with you?"

"I know that sounds all right, but our God's able to deliver us. But nevertheless..." had patience. Started walking up the ramp, one looked to the other one, "It's all right? It's all right. We got patience." Went one step, God wasn't there. Two steps, He wasn't there. Three steps, four steps, five steps, just kept on going; still He wasn't there; and he stepped right off into the fiery furnace. They had patience; but He was there. See, just enough fire hit them to burn their latches off their hands and feet. And then when they hit the bottom of the pit, He was there. See, they had patience.

*DANIEL, THE SAME WAY, DANIEL HAD PATIENCE… HE WAITED ON GOD, KNOWING GOD WAS ABLE TO KEEP HIS WORD.

THE.STATURE.OF.A.PERFECT.MAN_  JEFF.IN  V-2 N-18  SUNDAY_  62-1014M

  42-1    Daniel, the same way, Daniel had patience. Sure. He wasn't going to give up. No, sir. What did he do? He opened them windows and prayed anyhow; it was a requirement of God. He had patience. He waited on God, knowing God was able to keep His Word. They throwed him in the lions' den; said, "We'll let the lions eat you up."

He said, "That's all right." He had patience. Why? "Well, I've waited all this time on God. If I have to wait a few more thousand years, I'll raise up again in the last days, so got patience; just wait."

Paul had patience. Certainly did. Look what Paul had to do.

THE.STATURE.OF.A.PERFECT.MAN_  JEFF.IN  V-2 N-18  SUNDAY_  62-1014M

  42-7    Now, if you've got that kind of patience after God gives you a promise, and you see it in the Bible, "It's mine," then wait. Then if you've got that kind of patience, add it to your faith. You see how high you're getting now? You're getting way up here now. All right. (The clock hand's getting way around too, isn't it?)

*… IT WAS GOD MADE THE PROMISE. AND GOD'S ABLE TO KEEP EVERYTHING HE PROMISED.

THE.STATURE.OF.A.PERFECT.MAN_  JEFF.IN  V-2 N-18  SUNDAY_  62-1014M

  43-1    All right. All right, add this to your faith, always putting Him before you, remembering, it was He that promised. Wasn't me promised; wasn't the pastor promised (our Brother Neville); it wasn't some other minister promised; it wasn't some priest or pope, wasn't no man of the earth; it was God made the promise. And God's able to keep everything He promised.

All right. If you've got that kind of faith to know that God promised it... Say, "Brother Branham, I'm sick. I need healing awful bad." Accept it. It's a gift given to you. Yes, sir. If thou canst believe, "Well," you say, "I do believe." Then forget it. That's all. It's all over. See? Have patience.

If you've got patience... If you're not, you're crumbling off this building here. See? It'll knock all the rest of it down, that one thing. You've got to have that. Don't add it, because it'll wreck your building. If you haven't got patience, if you haven't got virtue to add to your faith that you say you've got, and if you haven't got any faith, and try to put virtue on it, it'll break your faith down. So you say, "Well now, wait a minute. Maybe this is all a mistake anyhow. Maybe God isn't God. Maybe there is no God." See, it'll break the thing right in two. See?

*STAY RIGHT THERE UNTIL HE DOES ACCEPT YOU.

GOD'S.PROVIDED.WAY_  WEST.PALM.BEACH.FL  TUESDAY_  53-1201

   E-19    And then, just by accepting it won't only do, God's got to vindicate back that He has accepted you. That's the thing. You can accept Him, but then if He accepts you. Stay right there until He does accept you. And then when He does, He seals you into His Kingdom by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Then you have, you're secure until the day of redemption. That's right.

"Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you're sealed (until the next revival, no, huh-uh,) until the day of redemption." Is that right? There's no ups-and-downs, ins-and-outs; you really get into God. If you're really in Him, not just impersonating something, but you're really in Christ, you're one alternative, your whole heart's sold out; every bridge is burnt behind you; and you got your affections set on things which are above; and you run the race with patience that's set before you. Amen.

*…THEN WHEN YOU GET THAT MAINSPRING WORKING WITHIN YOU, CHRIST, THE LOVE OF GOD, IN YOUR HEART, WORKING WITHIN YOU… 

WHY.SOME.PEOPLE.CAN'T.KEEP.THE.VICTORY_OAKLAND.CA  SUNDAY_  57-0324

E-61    Now, notice. A new heart, a new spirit, and then I'll put My Spirit within you. Now, and you'll keep all my statutes and all my judgments. When that mainspring begins to tick, when the Stone that's rejected, when the love of God is brought back amongst the people of God, then you're going to see the church of God all fellowshipping with one another without any friction at all.

Now, you remember when the servants in the Bible, they said, "Our Lord delays his coming." They begin to devour one another and bite and fuss and stew. And the Lord come and caught them that way. They had lamps but no oil in them. See? And when they did, they were cast out into outer darkness.

Brother, why take a substitute, when the genuine's here at hand? Why would you take something different when the real thing is here at hand?

Then when you get that Mainspring working within you, Christ, the love of God, in your heart, working within you, then it will begin to express these kind of a tick: Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, goodness, gentleness, patience, faith, mercy. Oh, my. It'll just tick right with those.