The Parables of Christ no.
27
The Importune Request
Rev. Brian Kocourek
Dear father we have come this morning to honor your
name and the sacrifice of your dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. As we approach
your Word this morning Father, we would ask your guidance and help in our study
of Your word. We know that your Prophet under the
Inspiration of Your Holy Spirit, told us that “the entire New
Testament speaks of this Hour.”
He also told us that “Alpha has become Omega” and with that in
mind, we ask You Father to help us in our study this morning to see this
parable in the light of this hour, for we ask it in the Name of Jesus Christ,
Your beloved and obedient Son, Amen.
If you will open your Bibles this morning to LUKE 11:1 we will read for our text. LUKE 11:1 ¶ And it came to pass,
that, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, one of His
disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his
disciples. 2 And He said unto them, When ye pray, say, “Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Now, may the Lord add His blessing to this, His Word. Amen. You May be seated.
This Morning we will take our parable from the
Gospel of Luke the eleventh chapter. In this parable we find Jesus having just
been asked to teach the disciples how to pray, and after he tells them how they
should pray, he then tells a parable to illustrate how our prayer should be
done. And then after he has illustrated this parable to them, he prays for the
sick, showing us how it works. Now, as
you know, all of the parables we have studied in this series so far, have dealt
with the time of the setting up of the Kingdom of God, and therefore the
Kingdom of God has been the main thread that seems to have
been weaved throughout each and every parable that Jesus spoke to the people. Therefore, keep this in mind as we begin our
study this morning concerning the parable found in Luke chapter 11.
LUKE 11:1 ¶ And
it came to pass, that, as He was praying in a certain place, when He
ceased, one of His disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John
also taught his disciples. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.
3 Give us day by day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins; for we also
forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but
deliver us from evil.” 5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a
friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me
three loaves; 6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have
nothing to set before him? 7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble
me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise
and give thee. 8 I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because
he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. 9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given
you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. 10 Give
us day by day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive
every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver
us from evil.” For every one that asketh
receiveth; and he that seeketh
findeth; and to him that knocketh
it shall be opened
Now, I would like to stop here before we go too far
and ask the question, “Who was He, Jesus, praying too?” For those of you that are still Oneness or
Jesus only in your thinking, I ask you this question plainly. Who was Jesus
praying too? Because you claim that He and His Father were one, like your
finger is one, which is contrary to what Br. Branham taught us. But since you
are smarter than the God’s vindicated prophet, let me ask you the question
again. Who was Jesus praying too?
In John 20:17
He said, go tell my brothers that I must ascend to my Father and Your Father,
My God and Your God. Now, if Jesus was God then how could say he has a God.
There aren’t two Gods. But you oneness will say Jesus was praying to Himself. Then
why does Jesus tell them to pray to the God that is in Heaven if He is standing
there on earth?
2 And He said unto them, when ye pray, say, “Our
Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Now,
I am saying this only because there are some things we just do not have answers
for. Even brother Branham did not lay out all the answers. From the sermon CALLING JESUS ON THE SCENE 63-0804E 48 he said, Now, Jesus being man, physically, was tired,
weary. Now, laying there tired, virtue had gone from Him. And then Him being
God, He could only do what... Now, you say, "How could He be God and be
man?" See, there's the mystery. See, in body He was man; in Spirit He was
God. See? Someone asked me, said, "Then how did, who did He pray to in the
Now, here we have just seen Jesus had been praying,
and when he finished one of the disciples came to Him and said, would you teach
us how to pray? John taught his disciples how to pray, would you teach us how
to pray? And the first thing Jesus says is “When ye pray, say, “Our Father which art in heaven.”
Then how can it be that Jesus is praying to the God
which is in Heaven and yet we believe that God was in Him? Paul said, God was
in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. God in
His fullness, was in Christ. Therefore, I ask you the
question. Can God be in two places at one time?
Now, I am asking this question because I still do not believe we fully
understand how God was in Christ? We are so finite in our thinking that the
Oneness among us can not imagine a God that had a Son that was not God, and yet
we could worship Him as God, because they do not understand the relationship
between the Father and the Son.
And then there is a growing number of people in this
Message who are now beginning to believe and understand there is One God and He
had a Son and this Son was an individual being from God, and yet the fullness
of God dwelt in that Son. And yet many still do not fully understand how God could
be in His Son on earth, and yet a voice will speak out from heaven, as we see
at the River Jordan and at the Mount transfiguration. But God can place His
voice anywhere and in any thing he chooses. All I can say is that if we stay
with the principles that William Branham laid out for us, you will be fine, but
if you try to go beyond the limits of true doctrine, you will indeed go crazy
trying to wrestle the Word of God until it destroys your mentally.
Luke Chapter 20
Verse 18 Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; (That
mean’s the Word will humble you) but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
That mean’s it will destroy you altogether, leaving you neither root
nor branch. Now,
we have to be careful in our spirit not to let a great revelation like the
Godhead, puff you up. On the contrary, knowing the Godhead, and our position in
Christ, it ought to humble us all the more.
Now, I am not here to talk in circles this morning,
but we all have a desire to know our position in Christ, and none of us wants
to be wrong in the way we worship God. So let’s take a little time here this
morning and look at this scene we have just read from the Scriptures, and Lord
willing we will come to find the answer to this question this morning.
The Apostle Paul said, “For by One Spirit we are all baptized into One
Body.” And the Apostle John told us, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was
God.” And the Son of God, Jesus Himself told us, “The Words I speak
that the Father gave me to say, they are spirit and they are Life.
LUKE 11:1 ¶ And
it came to pass, that, as He was praying in a certain place, when He
ceased, one of His disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John
also taught his disciples. 2 And He said
unto them, When ye pray, say, “Our Father which art
in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Now,
how could Jesus be God, and yet He prayed to God? Better yet, in John chapter
Well,
the answer is quite simple. John said, “In the beginning was the Word and the
Word was God. Therefore God is the Word.
And Brother Branham gave us the Answer
He
said, in the sermon WE WOULD SEE JESUS SIRS 60-0109 E-36 Jesus had to give witness of His Messiahship. So He... No doubt the Father had told Him. So
He said in Saint John 5:19:
"Verily, verily I say unto you, the Son (the man, the
flesh, the baby, the boy, the man, Christ Jesus),
the Son can do nothing in Himself, but what He sees the Father doing;
that doeth the Son likewise." In other words, "The Father
shows Me by a vision what to do, and I do just that
and nothing else." See? Now, the words of... We all know that's inspired.
Now, Jesus did anything outside of that,
that Scripture's wrong. "Verily,
verily (that's absolutely, absolutely), I say unto thee, the Son (that's Jesus,
the body, the man, the son of Mary), the Son can do
nothing in Himself; but what He
sees (not hears) sees the Father doing, that doeth the Son
likewise." Sign of the Messiah... "I always do that which is pleasing
to the Father." See?
87 THE HARVEST TIME 64-1212 Jesus said, "That they might be one,
Father, as You and I are one." Not
for some man to be over something, it never will work;
one denomination wants to take over the other, and one man over the other one. But that you might be one with God, like
Christ and God was one, that's what the prayer is. That, He was the Word, and Jesus prayed that we
might be the Word, reflecting Him. That's His prayer to be answered.
JOHN.17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall
believe on me through their word; that they all may be one; as thou, Father,
[art] in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may
believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest
me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and
thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know
that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
SHOW
US THE FATHER IT'LL SATISFY 56-0422 E-36 Now, it's many times it's been said that no man can see God at
anytime, the Bible said so. But the only begotten of the Father has declared
Him. Philip, here was very inquisitive; he wanted to see the Father. Says here
He said, "I've been so long with you, Philip, and you don't know Me?" Said, "When you see Me
you see My Father." In other words, you see the Father express Himself
through the Son. Him and the Father were one in the
sense that His Father was dwelling in Him, not Him doing the works; He was a
Son, Himself, the immortal, virgin born, Son of God. And then in Him was
dwelling the God the Father, expressing Himself to the world, His attitude towards
the people. See? Well, that's how Christ and God were one. God was in Christ
reconciling the world to Himself. Now, He said,
"When you see Me, you see the Father, and why do
you say, 'Show us the Father?'
Now, in getting back to the parable this morning, Jesus
said, Thy
kingdom come. There’s you Kingdom of
God again coming out in this parable. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. 3
Give us day by day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins; for we also
forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but
deliver us from evil.”
Now, the intention this morning is not to analyze
the prayer so much as to examine the parable that he spoke immediately after
his prayer. Because the prayer itself is not what showed them
how to pray. The prayer showed them what sort of things to pray. But the
parable showed them how to pray.
5
And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him
at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 For a friend of
mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? 7 And
he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut,
and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. 8 I say
unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend,
yet because of his (1) importunity ) he will rise and
give him as many as he needeth.
1.
Importunity means: to beset with
insistent or repeated requests; entreat pressingly. 2. Archaic To ask for urgently or repeatedly. 3. To annoy; vex.
To plead or urge irksomely, often persistently.
So what we see Jesus saying here is that if you ask
it will be given. And don’t expect anything different that what you ask for.
Now, remember they had asked him how to pray, and he not only told them what to
pray but he is telling them how to pray. And he says, 9 And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you;
seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
10
Now, catch what Jesus is doing here. He showed them
what sort of things to ask for in the prayer he demonstrated for them which we
call the Lord’s Prayer. Such things as Give us day by day our
daily bread. That’s not just the bread you eat, but the income
to sustain you and your family. So he tells us that we should ask for the
things we have need of. And hen he adds, 4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that
is indebted to us. Now, this is important because these words
are establishing our Father as our Lord and Savior as well. And it also
instructs us into what sort of reverent attitude we ought to have when we
approach our Loving Father in Prayer. Remember, he taught us to not be like the
Pharisee that beats his chest and says, “I am thankful that I am not like other
men.” But here we are taught that the way we approach God is very important and
special if we are to get anything from Him. And then He continues by saying, And lead us not into
temptation; but deliver us from evil.” Lead us not into temptation, but be our
deliverer. Keep us from evil, watch over us and keep us in the palm of your
hand. Be not only the
provider of our earthly needs, but protect us and the things you
provide for us. For what good is it if He answers your prayer for those things
you have need of only to loose them to someone more powerful than yourself. So
you see, He is not only our provider, but our shield
and protector as well.
Now, listen as Jesus explains why we are to pray in
such a way. Notice his next words tell us that the parable was for our benefit
to help us to know and to understand how we are to approach our God in prayer.
He says, For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to
him that knocketh it shall be opened.
GOD COMMISSIONING MOSES THE PROPHET 53-0508 E-37
Don't be scared to ask. Ask abundantly. "You have not, because you
ask not. You ask not, because you believe not." That's right. Ask, ask a
whole lot. God will give you a whole lot. Have a lot of faith.
AT THY WORD
53-0608E E-19 Don't be afraid; ask a whole lot. You have
not because you ask not. You ask not because you believe not. That's right.
"Ask, and you shall receive; seek, you shall find; knock, it'll be
opened." That's God's Word.
FAITH IN ACTION 55-1003 E-13 Why did Jesus stand here one time
look out upon the harvest... How many believes He was the Lord of the harvest?
Sure, we all do. And He looked out upon the harvest; He said, "Pray ye, the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into His
harvest." Now, in other words, "You ask Me, to do just what I know
that's got to be done; but yet, you got to ask Me for it." Said, "You
have not because you ask not." Is that right? "You ask not because
you believe not." E-14 A prophet one time
had a stick in his hand or a arrow, and he told the king, "Strike the
ground," you know. And you know, he only struck it two or three times.
Said, "Why didn't you strike it more?" See? And there's
certain things that we have to do. And I believe that if I
really could get some more people, and pray for them, lay hands on them, and
especially in
WHERE I THINK PENTECOST FAILED 55-1111 E-14
And God will never... You can never exhaust God's love and mercy to you.
You say, "Well, I hate to bother You so much,
Father." He wants to be bothered that way.
He does. Don't never think that you could ever ask too much of God. I believe
the Scripture said, "You have not, because you ask not. And you ask
not, because you believe not." He
wants us to ask and believe that our joys would be full. He wants you to ask
abundantly. Ask for big things; don't limit your faith to some little
mustard seed. Get on out here to some other kind of faith, and move out in big
things. Ask... Big things is just as
easy to receive as little things. You just have to believe; that's all. And
you got faith, just know exactly how to use it, and it'll be all right. You can
put it right to work and it'll just be fine.
E-15 Could you imagine, talking about exhausting
God's love, and power, and beneficiaries for you. Could you imagine a
little bitty fish, about that long, way out here in the middle of the ocean
say, "Now, wait a minute. I better consider this
thing. I better drink of this water sparingly, 'cause I might run out
someday." A little fish, about that big, in the middle of this ocean out
here... Well, that could easily be done, more easier
than you could ask too much of God. He's the inexhaustible Fountain of Life.
Whatever you have need of, ask Him and believe it. He provided it in the
redemptive blessings when He died at
E-16 Could you imagine a little mouse, about so
long, under the great garners of Egypt, saying, "Now, wait
a minute. I better not eat but just about two grains a day, 'cause I might run
out 'fore the winter's over." That's the way
people act as Christians. Get up of a morning say, "God bless my family
today and keep us close to You. Amen. Well, I done my religion for the day."
INFLUENCE OF ANOTHER 62-1013 41
Remember, we can have what we want if we will ask in faith believing.
Jesus said, "All things are possible to them that will believe. You
have not because you ask not, and you ask not because you believe not."
He said, "Ask abundance that your joy may be full." I like
that. Our teaching right: say the right
thing; do the right thing; think the right thing; always be thinking right. And
I have a little slogan: Do
right, that's your duty to God. Think
right, that's your duty to yourself; And you're bound to come out right.
Jesus said, ask abundantly and
Elisha that is a type of the church wasn’t
afraid to ask for great things. Here he was in the day of Elijah, and when he
was told to ask what he will, he asked for double what God had given to Elijah.
He asked for a double portion and got what he asked for.
Job got back a double portion of everything he had
lost. He wasn’t afraid to ask it from God. And He got back exactly what he
asked for, and he got his family back that had been lost and he got them back
because he asked for them.
ELIJAH AND ELISHA
54-0304 E-32 Now, when they got down to the
"So
what do you want?" He said, "That a double portion
of your spirit come upon me." That's the way to ask for it. Don't
be scared. Ask for the whole lot. Jesus said, "You have not because you
believe--ask not. You ask not because you believe not. Ask abundantly that your
joys may be full." Ask a whole lot. "God, just don't make me a little
bit better; make me all the way well." Don't just let me have enough
religion to make myself miserable; kill me out to sin that I can live in
Christ. That's right.
THOU SON OF DAVID HAVE MERCY ON ME 61-0215 E-38
We think we'll exhaust His bountiful blessings. We think, "Well, I
asked God to give me my daily bread. I shouldn't ask Him too many things."
Oh, my. Could you imagine a little fish about that long, way out in the middle
of this ocean, saying, "Wait, I'd better drink of this water sparingly. I
might run out someday." Could you imagine a little mouse about that big
under the great garners of
He's
trying to force His way into you, everything He can. Ask abundantly that your
joys might be full. He wants his people to be happy, asking great things,
believing for great things. You are a city sets on a hill, high ambitions,
expectations. Well, mercy, if we see the blind receive their sight tonight, I want
to see the dead raised tomorrow night. Yes, sir. And I want to... I just keep
on believing for greater things. When the church begin
to receive the Holy Ghost and speak in tongues, why did you settle down on
that? My, just keep moving on. Go on to the promised land.
We're on our way to the promised land. Sure, just
don't take just one thing. Say, "Well, we'll just... Have you spoke in
tongues? Well, you haven't got a great blessing till you got..." Well, you
ought to be a million miles up the road from that right now, sure, greater
things, high expectations. Certainly.
ACCEPTING GOD'S PROVIDED WAY 63-0115 E-68
Well, that's the way we're supposed to do. If I see a promise in the
Bible that's God's Word, then I just stay there and cry out till God gives it
to me. And He'd do that to get you off His hands. You see? That would be in the
natural. But He's wanting you to do it. He likes
for you to ask. "Ask abundantly that your joys might be full."
Yeah,. Cry until His Word is a-vindicated. Now,
friend, let's watch just a minute now. Cry until the Word is a-vindicated. The trouble of it is, we get a cookie
and think that's all there is. There's a whole table full. We get so we can
speak in tongues; we say "Oh, brother, that's it." Oh, no. That ain't it. That's just some of it. That's right. "Oh, I
got happy enough to shout." That's some more of it. But there's a whole
lot more of it. Just keep on crying out until... That's God's provided way for
His people. God's provided way always is to take His Word and hold onto It until It's a-vindicated to you. Now, do you follow
me? God--a provided way... Hold on to the promise until it's made manifest to
you.
How the Christian today seems to live under what
they have been privileged to live. Why are you content with little when you
have been promised
whatsoever you ask? Now, you are sons, and yet as John said, it
just doesn’t seem like it to you. I JOHN 3:2 Beloved,
now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be:
but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see
him as he is. 3 And every man that
hath this hope begins doing something about it.
Look, if you really
believe, then you have this
hope, and if you hope then you truly are earnestly expecting, and if you are
truly expecting, then you will begin to move out towards that thing that you
expect. And shame on you if you think that you have not because God does not
want it for you, as though you are some exception to God’s Word. Jesus said
right after speaking this parable, 11 If a son shall ask bread of any
of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or
if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? 12 Or if he shall ask
an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If ye then, being evil, know how to
give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall [your] heavenly Father
give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? 14 ¶ And he was casting out a devil, and it
was dumb. And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out, the dumb spake; and the people wondered. 15 But some of them said, He casteth out devils through
Beelzebub the chief of the devils.
HAVE NOT I SENT THEE 62-0124 E-65
" There's
many sympathizers say, "Oh, the Bible's right. Yes, Brother Branham, I
believe that the Bible's right. But you know, I don't know." There you
are, "But I..." See, there you are, just like an old goat butting his
head, you know. Just... See? "But it's all right,
but you know, our pastor don't believe that. It's all
right, but I don't believe it can be done." See, there you are again. You
see? You'll never see it done. You've got to act. You've got to do
something. And when you will take God's promise, and know that it is
God's promise, and act upon it, you'll see the mighty miracles of God return back to the church of the living God.
That's right. You'll do it.
DESPERATION 63-0901E 7 You've
got to do something for God to honor. You see? You show Him... The people that's got everything handed to them so easy,
they don't usually---they don't do nothing for it. You see? You've got to...
The gift is free, that is true, but you've--you've got to... It seems
like that, you know, like they say, if you was born with a silver spoon (you've
heard that), you don't appreciate. But when you have to work for it, you
appreciate the valuation of it.
JESUS CHRIST THE SAME 54-0824
E-41
See? You just have to get a little start. That's all you have to do.
Just get your faith moving one time. God will do the rest of it.
Unless faith has a corresponding action for God's Promise it is as dead as a body
without a spirit. James
Even in the
Old Testament times Jonah sacrificed with a voice of thanksgiving, calling his
prison walls "lying vanities," not after, but before, he got out.
Naaman was required to dip in
the
PROVING HIS WORD
65-0426 28
Before we pray for the sick, we've got to get the people in that attitude. It's
the attitude that always brings the results. It's the attitude that you take
towards God. Here's a woman touched His garment;
she was healed with a blood issue. A soldier spit in His face, and put a crown
of thorns on His head, and felt no virtue. It's your approach. The attitude
is what it takes. And that's what it is tonight, dear friend; it takes the
attitude. We are, and believe that we are in the Presence of Jesus Christ,
but it's your attitude that brings the results. The mechanics is here and so is
the dynamics. If you can just get started, God will do the rest.
So what has His presence brought you?
Let’s bow our heads in prayer.