Relationship Advancement by Communication
PROVERBS 4:18
18 But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. (We know that the perfect day is when the fullness of the word is restored back to man again; so as time has gone on, the word must continue to shine more and more unto that perfect day when the fullness of the word is restored, and so that is also the pathway of the just, we are all called to walk in the shining light as the revelation of the word unfolds greater and greater into our hearts)
JOHN 15:14-15
14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. (In other words “I have communicated the things of what has been revealed to me from the Father to you”. But notice - that as Jesus was revealing to them the word for that hour under the ministry of the Son of Man, there was a relationship change that took place between Jesus and his disciples from “Servants” to “Friends”.
***So we can see a principle in the word that when the revelation of the word shines more in strength and brightness, then there is also a relationship level advancement that parallels the advancement of the word)
Relationship Advancement by Communication
Little bible lesson…
Communication and Relationships always go hand in hand together. We all know that when there is a communication breakdown between two people, then there is almost always a relationship breakdown connected with that communication breakdown because relationships are based almost completely on communion and communication.
EPHESIANS 4:29a
29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth,
We would all have to agree that we are living in an age where the mouths of many people are corrupt and full of vile communication.
GENESIS 6:5
5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
MATTHEW 12:34
34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
And so we know that we are certainly living in an age of evil communication, and unbeknown to most, that is what is also causing an epidemic of relationship breakdowns in our societies – people just can’t get on together anymore.
*This age may be rich in goods, but it is poor in relationships, because when you talk cheap to one other, then you become cheap in your relationships with one another.
*As human beings, it is our ability to communicate with each other at a higher level that makes us so much more advanced than the animal kingdom.
DANIEL 12:4
4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
For knowledge to be increased, you have to have the ability to communicate at a faster and more advanced level.
- And so today we are living in a world where the advancement of science has given us access to many forms of communication that no other age has ever had before.
***And so by this we see that the ability to communicate is directly connected to advancement and progress, whether it be good or bad, and so this also applies to the revelation of the word being communicated to us in this age.
PSALM 119:105
105 ¶ Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
So God’s communication of the word to us enables us to advance along the pathway of our relationship with him that shineth more and more, and greater and greater unto the perfect day.
*Light for the believer is the revelation of the word that God sends for the age that you live in, so it is this constant communication of the word to the believer that advances him along this pathway toward the end goal, and this pathway that we are on has a destination at the end of it, and that destination is a relationship destination of God and Man becoming one again as in a marriage relationship, because a husband and his wife relationship is the highest form of relationship – it is greater than a servant or a friend relationship.
JOHN 15:14-15
14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you (Obedience to the word makes you a friend of Christ, and that is when he can begin to reveal more of himself to you.
*Remember that obedience is an attitude first; it is not that you never make a mistake. That is why people with an underlying disobedient attitude, even though they often know the will of God, their own self-will will stop them from actually doing it.
*When Moses smote the rock the second time instead of speaking to the rock, the bible said that he dishonoured, rebelled, and he transgressed against the Lord, sure he brought water from the rock, he could still perform miracles, but because he went about it the wrong way by his own frustration and anger and self-will, that is what kept him out of the promised inheritance, because his self-will kept him from fulfilling the will of God in the right way.
- Sure the people where still blessed by Moses ministry, and God did not hold the blessings back from his people, because God is a good God, and that is why many times people will still be blessed by God even when they have a rebellious spirit against the way God tells them to do things, but it is not the blessings of God that we are judged by, it is our humility and obedience to the word).
15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
Remember that this is at the end of the Old Testament, and Jesus is speaking these things exclusively to his disciples on the evening of the last supper, and this is directly after Judas had left them to carry out his plan to betray the Lord.
***So Jesus is telling them that at this time there is now going to be a relationship change between him and his disciples, their relationship was going to advance to a higher level from servants to friends by the advancement of the word that he was now going to communicate to them.
**He was going to lead them into a greater shining light of the revelation of himself because he was now going to tell them secrets that he had kept to himself up until that time – so we can see that with a greater revealing comes a greater relationship level.
***So when God makes known to you a greater portion of his revealed word for this hour, then that is what causes your level of relationship with him to advance.
REVELATION 4:1
1 ¶ After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. Johns relationship was about to advance with the Lord because of what he was about to be shown of future events – the greater the communication level, the greater the relationship level.
*This is also very true in natural relationships. Relationships advance the more that people are revealed to each other.
**As husbands, when we first met our wives we didn’t even know them, they weren’t even our friends, maybe they helped served us lunch at a church function somewhere, but then as time went on and your knowledge of each other grew, your relationship changed together from her being just a servant, to a friend, and then from a friend to an engagement, and then to bride and wife.
**That is why you must make sure that you are best friends first before you think of getting married.
Hope was first brother Branham’s friend before he married her
Meda was first brother Branham’s friend before he married her.
GENESIS 4:25
25 ¶ And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: This word “Knew” in the Hebrew means - to make oneself known, to reveal oneself
THE.FIRST.SEAL_ JEFF.IN MONDAY_ 63-0318
139-4 {150} … Do you understand it, church? It comes forth in a--a symbol of a church that they know there is a Seal, but just what it is yet, they don't know, because it's a white horse rider. (Notice, it requires a greater relationship advancement in order to reveal what this hidden secret was)
And it only is to be revealed at the last day when this actual Seal is broken. Broken to who? Not to Christ, but to the Church. Notice, now. Oh, my, that just makes me tremble. I--I--I hope that the Church truly understands it (See what I mean?), you people. I'm going to call you Bride. (See?) That you'll understand it. (Notice - the prophet is pointing out that there has to be relationship advancement before you are able to understanding these things, not just from servant to friend, but now from church to bride)
*When Eve first received knowledge from the serpent, her relationship with the serpent didn’t stop there, it advanced on to a greater knowing. And then because of that knowledge, her relationship changed with Adam and with God.
**So we can see that in this hour that our relationship with Christ has to change greater from Church to bride because of the advance level of what Christ is communicating to us in this hour under this Son of Man ministry.
*Relationships advance with a greater revealing of the person, and it is a person’s word that reveals the person
THINGS.THAT.ARE.TO.BE_ RIALTO.CA V-4 N-6 SUNDAY_ 65-1205
83 Therefore, if you've, tonight, just come, say, "I offer Jesus Christ my life," and you've never received the Holy Ghost; come into It. You must do it. You must grow into It. Ask God to pile Word on top of Word, like that, until you become the full stature of a son of God, or a daughter of God.
The word of this hour is what is revealing Christ to us, and so God is expecting our relationship with him to advance into bride level of relationship, because this is the hour when He has fully disclosed himself by the fullness of the word.
He is “The Mighty God Unveiled before Us” - “Who is THIS Melchisedec” “Christ IS the Mystery of God REVEALED” “There is a man here NOW, that can turn on the Light” all these sermons is God trying to communicate and reveal to us that we have full access in this hour to the fulness of the word so that we can come into a marriage union with Christ.
That is why the new birth in this hour is not a sensation like what the Pentecostal age thought it was, but the new birth is the revelation of the word of this hour when it is revealed to you personally.
CHRIST.IS.THE.MYSTERY.OF.GOD.REVEALED_ JEFF.IN V-3 N-7 SUNDAY_ 63-0728
234 What is the new Birth then? You'd 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--a code of rules. But Christ, the Bible, He is the Word that was revealed to you.
II CORINTHIANS 11:2
2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
**We want to look at the relationship stages that we go through on our journey toward that perfect day - the perfect day is Christ, the fullness of the light of the word.
There are first 3 Judgment Relationships that God deals with us, and that is Sinner, Son, and Servant.
Our first relationship with God is that of a sinner, and then from sinner to sons and daughters of God, and then we are also called to be his servants.
So Christ took our judgement as sinners at Calvary, but we take our own judgment in this life as sons of God because if ye are sons then you must stand the chastisement of the Father, so when we transgress, then we will pay for our mistakes.
And then the last judgement is that we are judged for our service.
In the Prodigal son parable, the story of the two sons in their relationship to their father reveals these three relationships of sinner, son and servant most clearly – the wasteful son suffered for his wrong but was forgiven of the father, but he lost the reward of his inheritance, while the obedient son didn’t suffer like the other son, and also kept his reward.
Read a little of this parable…
LUKE 15:20-32
20 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
21 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry:
24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.
25 Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing.
26 And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.
27 And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.
28 And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him.
29 And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:
30 But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
31 And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. (Because this son was obedient to the father’s will, he never lost his inheritance, showing that you cannot lose your salvation, but you can lose your reward for service)
32 It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.
***We know that God wants an even greater relationship level with us than that of just being servants, so we then advance from Servants to Friends as with Jesus and his disciples at the end of the Old Testament, and then from “friends” to “Church” (church means “the called out ones”) as in the seven church ages - they were the called out elect of each age.
Then from Church to espoused Bride under the restoration of the word of Malachi 4, and then from espoused bride to Wife where the two become one by a union of the fullness of the word.
It is words that marry people – The invisible union of the Bride to Christ by the word.
In your life you will go though many ups and downs and troubles just like all the other people in past ages have gone through, but if we understand the purpose of our lives and that we on this path of the word being revealed to us greater and greater, and that we are only passing through this portion of our eternal life development, then we would know that every trial that comes across our pathway is perfectly ordained by God in order for him to reveal a greater aspect of himself to us to bring us into a greater relationship with him.
The struggles of life are designed to bring couples closer together and not further apart.
God uses these struggles and situations in our lives to reveal to us his redemptive character.
Look quickly at Ruth and her relationship journey and advancement with Boaz
RUTH 1:4-5
4 And they took them wives of the women of Moab; the name of the one was Orpah, and the name of the other Ruth: and they dwelled there about ten years.
5 And Mahlon and Chilion died also both of them; and the woman was left of her two sons and her husband.
Ruth found herself thrown into a fairly bleak and desperate situation, but as time went on and we follow her pathway in life we find that Ruth went from a sinner in Moab to becoming a believer in Israel’s God; then she became a servant in the field of Boaz, then she was introduced to Boaz by the head reaper, and then Boaz began to communicate his secret of redemption to her at the threshing floor – then she became his friend because a friend reveals his secrets, and because of that she then went on in her relationship with him to becoming his espoused bride, and then they were married and she became his wife – Relationship Advancement by Communication.
We know that this is a prophecy of this age.
At each stage of their relationship there was a greater knowing and a greater revelation. From the beginning of Barley harvest as the natural light of the season became brighter and stronger, so we can see that her relationship with Boaz advanced with the advancement of the light.
We must also walk through these relationship stages on our journey in our relationship with the Lord, our relationship with Christ grows by a greater strength of light and a greater communion with the word.
PROVERBS 4:18
18 But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
**From Sinner to Son to Servant, then from servant to friend to church, then from Church to espoused bride, then from espoused bride to Wife - then back to Eden.
***Adam and Eve in Eden again - Christ and his bride in the Millennium - God’s three fold purpose - to be expressed in Christ, to have the preeminence in his Bride, and to restore the fallen kingdom.
Relationship Advancement by Communication