Trust (Couples Banquet)
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3 What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.
Introduction
Introduction
There’s a long list of things you can’t trust.
You can’t trust a snake. It may seem ever so charming and beautiful, but it will strike at you, when you least expect it.
You can’t trust a wild dog, or any cat, or a used car salesman, network marketing, or lawyers.
You can’t trust politics, or politicians, at all, or anyone on tv. You can’t trust the internet.
7 The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in him, and I am helped: Therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; And with my song will I praise him.
What is Trust?
Lexham Theological Wordbook בָּטַח
(baṭaḥ). vb. to trust; to believe. Primarily expresses trusting in another person or thing.
This is the most frequent Hebrew verb for the idea of trusting or believing
The Root of Batah is a place of refuge, where you can be careless or carefree. A place of refuge.
It is to put confidence in something.
Our marriages should be a place of refuge in troubled times.
Christian marriage is not based on simple attraction, or lust, nor on mere partnership. Our marriages have foundation, things we can trust.
The Bible
The Bible
35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
The Bible should be the foundation of our marriage. The institution of marriage is found in the Bible, and you can trust the Bible.
That’s all I know to tell you. That, this Bible, I believe with all my heart (if I know my heart), to be the perfect unadulterated Word of God. By This I live. By This I stand. And if I had ten thousand lives, I’d like to give every bit of it for this Word, for it’s the Word of Jesus Christ.
And I don’t care how much they can try to disprove It, how much science tries to say It isn’t trustworthy, and so forth, to me, It’s the only thing in the world I can trust, is this Word. 65-0829 - "Satan's Eden"
18 And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
What did Adam need help with? It wasn’t doing dishes. He needed someone to communicate with, to fellowship with. (koinōnia)
Lots of folks think they are good at communicating.
(Illustrate: Couple who majored in communications and acting)
(Illustrate: Couple who wouldn’t speak)
16 But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
The Bible tells us this fellowship was so close that it could not be separated. Not even the fall could separate Adam and Eve, they were one.
3 The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?
4 And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,
5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
The Holy Ghost
The Holy Ghost
You can trust the Holy Ghost that led you to one another.
13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
If you keep a lamb nature, the dove of the Holy Spirit will guide you.
30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
(Pizza story)
He will not speak of Himself, He will take you back to the Word. A lot of stuff gets blamed on the Holy Ghost that isn’t Him at all.
A young fellow come to me, not long ago. He was a Pentecostal. He had seen too many of these meetings. And he goes in, his wife was a staunch Lutheran, she said, “Well, I guess you all went down and shouted last night.” Said, “I guess you was all speaking in tongues and doing all this last night.”
He got on the floor, said, “God, cast…I cast the devil out of her! I cast the devil out of her!” Almost a divorce case.
Man, a fine man; he come to me, and he said, “Brother Branham, we’re going to have a divorce, I guess.” Said, “I just can’t get that devil to move out of her.”
I said, “Brother, you’re going at it the wrong way.” I said, “When she starts like that, say, ‘All right, dear. Bless your heart, honey,’ and be real kind to her. Just see how much you can do for her.”
Said, “Brother Branham, well, how will I ever get the devil out?” I said, “You do as I say, and just keep praying in your heart, see.” I said, “God will take care of the rest of it.”
He called me up, about two or three weeks later, he said, “My home is revolutionized.” He said, “My wife is a different person.”
I said, “Which is the most powerful? screaming and kicking and stomping? or putting your arms around her, in love?” God is love. That God so loved the world! 56-0101 - "Why Are People So Tossed About?"
People without the Token should never get married.
14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?
15 And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Until the sanctuary has been cleansed, the idols removed, and the Holy Spirit in residence, the temple will continue to be pagan.
We will be the product of the nature and nurture of our genes until the Holy Spirit begins to rule in our life. When He is in residence, He overrides those parts of our nature that would destroy communion with our spouse.
Bro. Branham deals with the miracle of the new birth in “Paradox” and illustrates it with the story of a young man in his family who stood up a girl he was going with.
He did something wrong to the little girl, and much as promised her to do a certain thing and then didn’t do it. And instead of coming to the girl and apologizing, like a gentleman should do, he, it just wasn’t in him to do it.
(Strain in the family, couldn’t say “I’m sorry”)
(Father says his son has been baptized)
I said, “That may be all right, all the outward motions. He might be identified as a believer with the believers. But until he is regenerated, born again, I’d advise that young man to never marry a woman.
He’ll make Hell on earth for her, until that gentle, sweet, forgiving Spirit of Christ comes in. Then that will be a paradox in itself, to take the very nature of a boy that’s bred between father and mother.
And yet, in his intellectuals, he is trying his best to overcome it. He can’t do it. He’ll never overcome it. Christ will have to overcome it. When he lets Christ in, then he’s already overcome then. It’ll be a perfect paradox, when a man is born of the Spirit of God.
The Message of the Hour
The Message of the Hour
You can trust God’s prophet.
6 And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.
7 My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house.
8 With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?
This is God’s man, with God’s Message.
20 The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
You might say, “I’ve heard all that kind of fanaticism.” I don’t know what; I can’t judge any other man.
I only have to answer to God for what I…for myself. But has there ever been one time I ever told you anything in the Name of the Lord, that wasn’t right, in all these years? [Congregation says, “No.”—Ed.] Nobody else can say so, because I always told it just the way He told it. 63-0324E - "The Seventh Seal"
God Called Men
God Called Men
7 Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.
Trust is earned
The first thing I had to do with that Divine gift, was win the hearts of the people. If I haven’t got their heart, they wouldn’t listen.
Now God has confirmed it, and now they believe me. They’ve seen the things that’s been said come to pass, word by word. They seen the power of God move and do just exactly. Now what you say, they’ll believe it. 54-1003E - "Jubilee Year"
37 If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.
38 But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.
The people need to see a pastor do the works of a God called pastor, then they begin to trust. (deacon, etc.)
I believe one of the hardest things that God has ever had to do, was to get one mortal to believe another mortal. We won’t believe one another. And we are God’s agency. We know that. 50-0300 - "Gifts And Callings Are Without Repentance"
And tonight, so many people can believe God. Sure. You believe Christ, you believe the Holy Ghost, and so forth. But when a man comes to you and tells something, that’s hard to believe. “I don’t know whether I can believe you or not, friend.” That’s where it’s at. See there?
That’s the reason God can’t…That’s the reason your pastor sometimes, when your pastor comes to you. The reason he can’t help you, you’ve got to have faith in your pastor. You’ve got to believe that he’s a man of God, sent of God to do these things for Him. 50-0110 - "Moses"
Sometimes a pastor has to make a decision or preach a sermon that hurts us. Thats when trust comes in.
People who love God
People who love God
According to the Scripture, how will all men know that we are His disciples? So they can trust us to be who we say we are?
34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
How will your wife know that you love God? How will your husband know?
Now, in Saint John…You say, “Brother Branham, you sure read a lot out of Saint John.” It’s one of my favorites. John is a Book of love. And I tell you, when you…When I see a person who loves God, I can sure trust him anywhere, any time.
You know, when I leave home, I don’t set down a whole big bunch of rules that Mrs. Branham should do while I’m gone. I just kiss her good-bye and say, “God bless you, honey.”
I don’t say, “Don’t have any other husbands. Don’t do this or that.” I know she’s doesn’t anyhow, ’cause she loves me.
She don’t tell me, “Now, don’t you have dates with some other girl and go out.” She don’t have to do that. She don’t…I love her; I wouldn’t do it anyhow. See? So that’s it. We just love one another and trust one another.
And if we have love for one another, then we have trust in one another. And if you love God you’re bound to have faith in God and have trust in God. Now, that’s the reason I read so much of John. 53-1206E - "Do You Now Believe?"
Conclusion
Conclusion
Trust can get broken.
When Bro. Branham married the couple who ended up living in the boxcar:
There’s a little bowl in a human heart that is full of golden oil called love. If it is ever broke it can be healed up, but there’ll be a scar there as long as you live.” 51-1003 - "Believest Thou This?"
Trust can be broken by unkept promises, bad attitudes, unhealthy atmospheres, and even unkept vows.
(Illustrate: Broken Cup)
How do you restore trust that has been broken?
Japanese Kintsugi (Golden Joinery)
Gold represents Deity. When Deity is heated by the Spirit and poured into a broken heart, the broken places become the highlights of your life, and the golden oil of love can once again remain in the heart.