We want to be a living Tabernacle for the living God to dwell in! The Perfect Man has the qualifications for us to come into that full stature of Christ. We hope you enjoy this clay light catcher of the Stature to help you remember these qualities.
- He compared it to building something, like the building of a house.
- He used a chalkboard to draw it out for the people to see while preaching the sermon.
- Jesus Christ wants to live in us! And in order for Him to live in us we must build Him the right kind of a house (tabernacle).
- Because Jesus is Holy and Perfect, He can’t live in just any old house. Everything has to be just right!
- Each layer has to be placed in order, because if you don’t follow the outline then the house will fall down!
- Each layer consists of the materials we need to build our house. - Each of these 7 layers are built upon each other to bring the Capping Stone.
- Staying in the Word will help us to build upon each layer into the Stature of a Perfect Man.
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:
2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
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:
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.
5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
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.
- Faith is our foundation, the very bottom level that has to hold everything else up!
- You can’t be born again without having faith, and without faith it’s impossible to please God.
- We have to believe everything the Bible and Brother Branham tells us!
“Now you’re going to build a house, and you pour the foundation, say, “Boy, I got her.” See? You got the foundation to build your house on. Now you got to build a house. Now there’s where the thing comes in, this morning, we’re going to talk about now. All right. A house, this foundation is first. What is the foundation of Christianity? Faith in the Word of God. That’s your foundation. Then you begin to grow. Then you start, you begin to add to this foundation. Now, building a house, you put your uprights and everything else. Brother Wood, and some of these carpenters and contractors here could tell us how you build your house. See? But I’m going to tell you how to build your spiritual house, where God can dwell. He wants to dwell in you. He wants to make you like Himself. He wants you to be reflected, reflecting, rather, His Being.”
- Virtue is strength. If we’re going to be like Jesus, we must have virtue.
- Having so much of the Lord Jesus in us that we can give strength (virtue) to others.
- We have to have virtue before we can give it out.
“Virtue, anyone knows what the word virtue means, see, and we must have it. If virtue went from Him, to heal the woman that was sick, He’s expecting the same virtue in His Church, because He was our example. And if He had virtue to give to the people, He expects us to have virtue to give to the people. And what is virtue? Virtue is strength, power. Some of them don’t even believe in power of God. They say, “That—that—that’s passed. Only thing you have to do is just put your name on the book, and be sprinkled, or poured, or baptized, or whatevermore. And that’s all you have to do.” But Peter said here, “Add virtue.” Now, Peter is talking about building the House of God, see, the Temple of God, fixing it to a place. And after you have virtue, you must have…After you have faith, you must have virtue with it. That’s right. Have virtue for the whole world.”
- Heavenly knowledge, not worldly knowledge.
- You are able to judge whether God’s Word is right or wrong.
- Knowledge to “believe” that God cannot lie.
“And then, thirdly, you add knowledge. Knowledge, now, that don’t mean worldly knowledge, ’cause that’s foolishness to God; but knowledge to judge, judge (what?) right from wrong. How do you judge it, then, if you’ve got Christian knowledge with your virtue and faith? You judge whether the Word is right or wrong. And if you can lay aside all your creeds, and all your unbelief, everything that you claim you have done, then you have knowledge to believe that God cannot lie. “Let every man’s word be a lie, but Mine be true.” See? Now you’re getting knowledge. That’s supreme knowledge. You don’t have to have four degrees in some college, or something like that, to have it, because all these virtues are given to you by God, to place upon the foundation of your faith, that you might come to the full stature of a real, living man of God. Yes, sir.”
- You know how to control your tongue. You don’t smart off to your parents when they tell you to do something.
- If something happens, you don’t jump to conclusions and get mad really fast.
- You’re not a tattler.
“Temperance doesn’t mean, “stop drinking alcohol,” here, either. No, no. Temperance doesn’t mean alcoholic cure, not in this case. This is Bible temperance, Holy Spirit temperance. That’s just one of the lusts of the flesh, but we’re talking about Holy Spirit temperance. That means, how to control your tongue, not be a tattler; how to control your temper, not fly off every time anybody speaks cross to you. Oh, my! Boy, a lot of us going to fall off before we get started, aren’t we? See? Then we wonder why God is not in His Church, doing miracles and things that they used to do. Yes, sir. See? Add these things. Add temperance to it. Oh, temperance, how to answer in kindness when wrath is spoke to you. Somebody say, “You bunch of holy-rollers down there!” Don’t jump out and roll up your sleeves now. See? Not that. But talk with godly love, temperance, kindness. Is that the way you want to be? [Congregation says, “Amen.”—Ed.] When you’re riled upon, rile not back. Let Him be your example.”
- Being able to wait. Having patience with others and with God.
- Give example of Noah waiting 120 years for it to rain. He had patience with God.
- Give example of having patience with a brother or a sister.
“Then, after that, fourthly, you want to add patience to your faith. If you got faith, “it worketh patience,” the Bible said. See? So, this is patience. Now, that’s the next thing is going to build this stature. You know, God has got real material in His Building. See how short we are, brother, sister? See? See why, where we’re at? Yes, sir. See? We have glory, have shouts and things, because we got faith. But when we come down to these things here, God can’t build us into that stature. See? He can’t. He can’t make us up to that kind of a place. We got all these other things. We fall, slide off with it. See? He can’t build His Church. Patience with what? What kind of patience? First thing, is have patience with God. If you’ve got real, genuine faith, you’ll have real genuine patience, because faith worketh patience. When God says anything, you believe it. That’s all. You got patience.”
- To be like God! He is Perfect.
“Fifthly, add godliness. Oh, my! Godliness to be added. What does godliness mean? I looked in four or five dictionaries and couldn’t even find what it meant. Finally, I was down at Brother Jeffries’ there, we found it in a—in a dictionary. Godliness means “to be like God.” Oh, my! After you got faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, then be like God. Whew! You say, “I can’t do that, Brother Branham.” Oh, yes, you can. Let me just read you a few Scriptures here, just a minute. Matthew 5:48. We’ll take this one and see what it sounds like, Matthew 5:48, and see if you’re supposed to be like God. You know the Bible says, “Ye are gods.” Jesus said so. Why? All the virtue, all the things that’s in God, is in you. Matthew 5:48, “Be ye…” Jesus speaking, in the beatitude. Be ye therefore p-e-r-f-e-c-t, (What’s that?) perfect, even as your Father…in heaven is perfect.”
- You can put yourself in your brother's place; you can be patient with him. (Give example here)
“Brotherly kindness. Now, you see, if a brother is all out of tune, don’t be impatient with him. See? No. See? Be kind to him. Go, anyhow. Somebody said, not long ago, said, “How can you believe these things the way you do, and still go to the Assemblies of God, and the Oneness, all the rest?” Then put, see, brotherly kindness. See? See? Hoping, someday, see; patient with him, see; temperant, enduring with him; knowledge, to understand what he believes, remember, it’s in his heart, that’s what is; virtue, in yourself, to let it go out with kindness, meekness, to him; having faith that someday God will bring him in. See? Brotherly kindness, the seventh thing. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. [Brother Branham taps on the chalkboard seven times—Ed.] See, seventh thing. Then, now, you’re coming.”
- Charity is Love, the Love of God, which is the Holy Spirit.
- Love is the Capping Stone that caps off our pyramid, the top of our house.
- It holds all of these other levels together, kind of like glue.
“It never was put on top of the pyramid. They couldn’t understand why. The capping Stone was rejected, the Head, Christ. But It will come, someday. Now, in building, the virtue…Building this monument, building this stature, see, it starts off with the foundation stone; faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness. Now what does it do? Then they’re waiting for the Headstone, which is love, for God is love. And He controls, and He is the strength of every one of these things. That’s right. Yes, sir. Right in here, right in here, you see I got, in between, all these works in here, and here these little waves come. What is that? The Holy Ghost coming down, through Christ, see. Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit is above all this, welding this together, building (a what?) a perfect Church, for the Capstone to cap It off.”
“Here, our nation, saying the things they are, and making fun of these things, and their own money, their currency, testifies that the seal of the whole universe is God. See that eye standing up there above that, on that dollar bill? That’s the great seal. It never was put on top of the pyramid. They couldn’t understand why. The capping Stone was rejected, the Head, Christ. But It will come, someday.”
First, pour your foundation, FAITH
Then add VIRTUE, it's power and strength
KNOWLEDGE to judge right from wrong
TEMPERANCE to control your tongue
Fifth, add PATIENCE to your faith
GODLINESS means to be like God
BROTHERLY KINDNESS, put yourself in his place
Then the Headstone which is LOVE
God is Love
Chorus (repeat x2)
HOLY SPIRIT, welding this together
Building a perfect Church
For the Capstone to cap It off
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