Ewald Frank

1985-05-05 15:00, Krefeld, Germany

broadcasted on 2025-01-12

Subject: “Scripture had to be fulfilled in everything!”

We are so grateful to God for His faithfulness.

Who can express it in words? Who can describe what has been granted to us?

Unless God really shows us by revelation what has happened, otherwise we will not have faith for what is yet to happen. If the first is not there, the second will be lacking.

Let me give you an example.

When we see in the new testament the traces of the divine fulfillment of all promises, then we realize that God did not speak past the matter and that His people did not pass by the matter either, but that God spoke and His word was fulfilled then to His people, for He addressed us, we are meant.

He may speak in general, but only those who are of God will hear.

This is what scripture says in the gospel of John in chapter 8, "Whoever is not of God does not hear God's Word, and all who are of God hear it." [Joh 8:47]

As I said, I have not had time to look into the Bible and I am grateful for that. It is full of living testimonies of what God has done and it will not be difficult for us, with God's help, to name just a few examples.

There were also people in the New Testament through whom God made history in the plan of salvation. As noted, it was announced in the Old Testament and suddenly the fulfillment came.

How long was Isaiah 40, verse 3 written? Perhaps 810 years. How long was Malachi 3, verse 1 written? Most certainly over 400 years. Suddenly the fulfillment came.

The voice of Him that cries in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way for the Lord, make straight a highway for our God.

For so long it was promise, then it was fulfillment.

Fulfillment, but not in a vacuum. Fulfillment on earth through a message, through a proclamation addressed to the people of God at that time.

And that is why John could say, "The friend of the bridegroom hears the rejoicing of the bride." [Joh 3:29]

His ministry was the fulfillment of the Word of God and consequently an integral part of God's plan of salvation that is taking its course here on earth.

What about the ministry of our Lord, Isaiah 35?

You can read about it: when he shall come, the blind shall see, the lame shall walk, and the crippled shall be healed, so that what is written may be fulfilled. [Jes 35:5-6]

Everything in the New Testament is the fulfillment of what God announced in the Old.

And perhaps we will come to this later – it continues into our time.

In the Gospel of John, in chapter 1, John was asked, and I read this only to strengthen our faith. Not just to make us realize that God did something a long time ago, but to give us the faith to believe that God fulfills his Word of promise today just as he did then.

And if we are on earth today as his people, then we must have part in this fulfillment.

The word this morning has also greatly strengthened me, and I know that it will not return void, but will accomplish what God has sent it to do. [Isaiah 55:11]

In the Gospel of John, chapter 1, verse 20 it says:

And he confessed and denied not, but confessed, 'I am not the Christ.'

And they asked him, 'What then? Art thou Elijahs?' And he saith, 'I am not.' 'Art thou that prophet?' And he answered, 'No.'

Then said they unto him, 'Who art thou, that we may give an answer to them that send us? What sayest thou of thyself?'

He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah.

What a marvellous event!

When the time comes, God remembers his Word.

And those who have a ministry to fulfil know what it is all about. John was not Christ. He was not the prophet of whom Moses said, "God will raise up a prophet like unto me from among your brethren, him ye shall hear." [5Mo 18:15] But he was the forerunner, "the voice of the one who cried in the wilderness, 'Prepare ye the way of the Lord,'" so that the scripture might be fulfilled.

Everything happened so that God's Word might be fulfilled here on earth – so it was, so it is and so it remains.

Matthew chapter 1. These are all well-known scriptures, yet they are intended to strengthen us. Matthew 1 verse 22:

Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying…

Then the connection to Isaiah 7 verse 14.

We read on in chapter 2, chapter 2 verse 5.

And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet.

We could read, read, and read again and everywhere we would find that God had the right place at the right time, had the right circumstances, had the right people through whom he could fulfill his Word of promise. Not only, as we have seen today, in the Old Testament, but also in the New, because the Old would be quite far away and we would be standing there, wondering, what does it look like in the New.

Let me say: In the New it looks even better, even more powerful, because there we all have a share. In the Old Testament it was individuals, then it was the people of Israel. In the New Testament it is the church of the living God, from all peoples, tongues, and nations, because thus it is written, "Indeed, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed;" [1Mo 12:3] not just one people, but all peoples shall be blessed.

In Matthew 2, verse 15 it says:

"And was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, 'Out of Egypt have I called my Son.'"

Anyone who reads this in Hosea 11, verse 1, will be 100% under the impression that it was about the people of Israel, because this is how it is written for the first time, "Go, say to Pharaoh, 'Let my Son go.’" [2Mo 5:1]

This phrase had been spoken. A prophetic word can have a double meaning, as we have already seen from Elijah, without going into it.

John came in the spirit and power of Elijah, but he was not the Elijah who would come before the great and terrible day. For the day of the Lord will burn like an oven. [Malachi 4:1] Almost two thousand years have passed, and the world is today as it was then.

So John said according to the truth, "I am not Elijah." He knew that Elijah would come directly before the great and terrible day of the Lord dawns. [Malachi 4:5]

By the way, there is a word in the New Testament, in the Gospel of Matthew, in chapter 17, long, long after the ministry of Elijah, it is written here, in verse 11, Matthew 17, verse 11:

And Jesus said unto them, "Elijah truly shall first come and restore all things."

Malachi 4, verse 5.

And with reference to the ministry of John the Baptist, the same Lord can say in the next verse, "Elijah is come already," because the first part was fulfilled, and the hearts of the fathers have been turned to the children. [Malachi 4:6]

Now the hearts of God's children are turned back to the apostolic fathers.

One verse, two promises. The fulfillment is about 2000 years apart.

God had a messenger and a message then. God has a messenger and a message now.

He had a people then. He has a people now.

He has a people today who recognize it. He had people back then who recognized it.

And the beautiful thing is that God always gives clarity.

Always.

The marvelous thing about God is that with Him there is no obscuration, no obfuscation. With Him there is absolute clarity and truth.

And that is why His word is only clear to His people.

The others say, "Huh, but here it's written like this." And they keep hooking into things without having been guided into all truth by the Spirit of God.

No, it is clearly written here: He answered them, Elijah truly shall first come and restore all things.

And whoever is truly sincere and humble will recognize that John's ministry was fully accomplished with the first verse of Malachi 3, and then just this one part [of Malachi 4:6]:

He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children.

His ministry was thus fulfilled.

Behold, I send my messenger before me.

I read it to you. I am not prepared for this, but everything is written in the Word of God. It should be Mark chapter 1. If it's not, let's keep looking. Mark chapter 1. Here it is from verse 1.

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,

as it is written in the prophets, "Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee."

This is clearly Malachi 3 verse 1.

Secondly:

The voice of one crying in the wilderness, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight."

This is clearly Isaiah 40 verse 3. No one can contradict this. The person who can successfully contradict the Word of God has yet to be born.

And anyone who is born again will have no interest in contradicting the Word of God. Those who are born again have a relationship and connection to the Word of God.

And in their heart they say, "Amen, Amen."

And I'm sure, and I hope I'm not mistaken, I'm sure that you've all said "Amen" in your heart this morning, without saying it out loud, is it true or not?

But it would be nice to hear it once in a while.

Yes, because the chairs can't say it. It must be those who sit on the chairs, who really say "Amen" when something good comes and it has touched you.

Who will it hurt? It will create more gratitude in your hearts.

So, also in the New Testament, everything happened according to the Word of God. When the time was fulfilled, what God had spoken through the prophet Isaiah was fulfilled, what God had spoken through the prophet Malachi was fulfilled.

As time went on, what God had spoken through the mouth of David and through the mouth of all the prophets was fulfilled.

The life of Jesus Christ and his ministry, his suffering, his death, his burial, his resurrection, his ascension, everything was the fulfillment of Scripture. Scripture was fulfilled in him from his birth to his ascension.

Is it true or not?

He was born in Bethlehem, conceived by a virgin who gave birth, as the prophet had said, in the city that God had mentioned by name in Micah 5.

And who knew it then? The poor shepherds.

And why did they know? Because God had told them from heaven.

And who didn't know? The rich scribes.

They tossed the books back and forth and made life difficult for the Lord as he carried out his ministry.

It is not those who hunger and thirst for righteousness [Matthew 5:6] who make ministry difficult. It is the scribes and Pharisees. But they have no relationship with the Word of God.

Our Lord witnessed the fulfilment of his Word in himself from his birth up to his ascension.

For thus it is written, "God is gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet." [Ps47:6]

Thus it is written, "Open wide, ye ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King?

The Lord, strong and mighty in battle.

Open ye ancient gates, and let the King of glory come in.

And it happened. The Word of God was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the head and redeemer of the church.

Now we are called upon, and I ask you today, and I ask you to take this seriously.

We see further, that the Lord called twelve disciples, gave them instructions, and what he told them happened.

Then he called seventy, and they came back, and were able to confirm, "Lord, in thy name even the devils are subject to us." [Lk 10:17]

They did what the Lord had commanded them.

Everywhere, the Word of God was fulfilled in those who believed the Lord.

God's Word is fulfilled in every respect. And the moment God's Word is fulfilled, the moment a process in the plan of salvation takes place, we do not follow Elijah, or John the Baptist, or Moses, or now, I will mention the name without hesitation, Brother Branham or Paul.

The moment we realize, that God makes history in the plan of salvation, it is not about this person, but about God, who needs a mouth to be able to speak, who needs feet to be able to walk, who needs hands to be able to do something.

God has sent His servants and prophets at all times. And the Lord has made the provision and has said, "He that receiveth whomsoever I send, receiveth me; and he that receiveth me, receiveth him that sent me." [Joh 13:20]

In these days we are dealing with the last part of the plan of salvation, in the church of the living God. And it is not difficult for all of us, and this is still the case for millions of believers, to see what God is doing for Israel.

The phone call I had earlier, a brother told me, that Reagan had said in Bergen-Belsen, in the concentration camp in Lower Saxony, that it all had to happen. Although it is very sad, what ended here in this country 40 years ago, and there he probably said one sentence, it had to happen, so that the Jews could return to their homeland.

And we sometimes ask ourselves, "Why does this have to happen?" We could just as well ask here, when all the children under the age of two were slaughtered, they haven't sinned yet, they are not guilty of anything.

And then the critics could again come and ask: "Where is your God? This God, full of love, this almighty God, did he not see what happened?"

And then you and I, the unbeliever, the atheist might say, we get a succinct answer, no, an answer from the scripture. Matthew 2, verse 17:

Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, In Ramah was there a voice heard, lamentation and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.

As children of God, we have no right to ask, why did it all have to be like this?

We have to let ourselves be placed into God's plan.

We can ask the first question: Why did God create people in such a way that they can sin, that they can transgress?

If we want to start like this, we don't need to start at all.

No, we are placed on the foundation of faith, and look beyond the temporal failures, beyond the temporal interruption, and see the eternal God, who has an eternal plan, and who has given his sons and daughters eternal life, so that they can live forever in his kingdom.

And in the end, we will have wept all tears, and the Lord will wipe them away [Rev 21:4], and then he will say, "Enter into the joy of your Lord." [Mt 25:21]

We submit to this divine plan and are grateful for it.

In Acts chapter 1, Peter began directly to show that everything had to be fulfilled as it is written. Acts chapter 1, verse 16, here it says:

Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before.

The scripture had to be fulfilled.

The Lord, may it be complained to God, he had also spoken something about his people Israel through Moses, that they would be scattered abroad, and that the sword would come after them. [Lev 26:33]

And at that time, looking over Jerusalem, he wept and said, "How often have I wanted to gather you as a hen gathers her chicks, now your habitation will be left to you desolate, and not one stone will be left upon another." [Mt 23:37]

And he said, "When you see the people of war approaching, then let those who are in Judea no longer go down to the house to fetch something, but flee, for these are the days of divine visitation." [Mt 24:16]

There are two visitations of God, one visitation with and to those who believe, a divine visitation of grace. Whoever does not accept the divine visitation of grace, will have to accept the divine visitation of judgment. This is the justice of God that requires it.

We look at everything, see over the span of time and observe what God has done, and realize that He has also done something today, in these days.

And it is precisely this divine fact that we can cling to and we can put our fingers on passages of scripture again and again and say, "Today, what is written in the Prophets, or in the New Testament, or in the Old Testament, is being fulfilled before our eyes, or in our midst, or in Israel." For us, each time, it is a new strengthening of faith, on which we depend.

Let us not be mistaken, there is no believer who is so strong that he does not still need to be strengthened, or a believer who is so full of comfort that he does not want to be comforted once again.

Those who think they already have everything may not yet have realized that they lack everything. For this is what it says in Revelation 3, "You say, 'I am rich and have need of nothing,'" [Rev 3:17] without having anything.

No, we recognize our condition and also recognize the power of God and the promises that the Lord has given by grace. What he has promised, he will certainly keep.

You can turn to chapter 2. We can't read all the verses, but John said very clearly in his sermon:

I baptize you with water unto repentance. He that cometh after me shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire."

And by this he was only referring to the Word, to which Peter is also referring here, namely Joel chapter 2, from verse 28 to 32.

In the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit on all flesh.

You can read it in Acts 2, verses 16 and 17. Everywhere, fulfillment, fulfillment, fulfillment of the Holy Scriptures.

I have read the Word here, and you can read it for yourselves, whether in Acts 13, whether 15, wherever you read, Fulfillment of Scripture everywhere.

Acts 13. Many passages could be mentioned. Here is the passage from Psalm 2 and many other passages. But then we come to verse 47. Acts 13, verse 47.

For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.

And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.

What was it?

Suddenly, when the turning point, when the time had come for the word to pass from the people of Israel to the Gentiles, there was a man of God, who was shown by the Holy Spirit: this is the hour, this is the day – God has opened the door to the Gentiles.

And we see that Peter was taught this great lesson in the house of Cornelius. After all, he was a true Jew.

He had even withdrawn when Paul arrived, so as not to have fellowship with those from the Gentiles at the meal, as Paul explains to the Galatians. [Galatians 2:14] And then he confronts him and says, "You who want to be a Jew, one moment please, that's not how it works."

And later, the same Peter says in Acts chapter 15, Acts 15.

Here it says, yes, in verse 7:

Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel and believe.

You can read later how James takes the floor from verse 13:

And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me:

Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.

And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written,

After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up.

Why? So that the scriptures may be fulfilled.

God has opened the door to the Gentiles, for thus it says in the prophet Hosea, "You who are not my people will be called sons of the living God. Those who have not sought me, I have let myself be found by them."

There were enough promises, and that is why the Lord said in the Great Commission, and this differs from the first two commands given to the Twelve and the Seventy, when the Lord spoke to the Twelve, He said, "Go not into the way of the Gentiles, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." [Mt 10:5+6]

And when our exalted Lord, our risen Lord, had His disciples before Him and gave the Great Commission, "He said, Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation, and he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved," no more encircling not just Israel, but all the world. [Mk 16:15]

For all the world should see the salvation of our God, and all the world has come to see the salvation of our God. [Luke 3:6]

So everywhere is the fulfillment of Holy Scripture.

And whoever has found grace before God and is under the blood of the covenant, who is truly in covenant with God, hears the words of the covenant, and in them are enough promises. And these promises are being fulfilled among God's people at this time.

We could now read Revelation 18, verse 4. We could read many scriptures that refer to our day, to the calling out of the Lord's bride church.

We know that both are there, on the one hand the church, and seven times in Revelation 2 and 3 it is written, "And to the angel of the church write." Then comes the message that is brought to the church. And at the end of each message the promise to the overcomers, not to the church, but to the overcomers in the church. And they are chosen ones among the called. For many are called, but few are chosen. [Matthew 22:14]

But the elect walk in the footsteps of Abraham. They receive the word of divine promise. They set out. They do not remain seated.

Abraham could have said, "Oh, marvelous! Have you heard? The Lord has visited me and entrusted me with something very great."

God spoke to me. God spoke to you. God spoke to us. And we recognized that it was about the word for this time. And we set off.

We did not stay behind, because the Lord called us like Abraham.

And then there came a station. We left someone behind again. And in the end Lot too.

And then he was all alone with God.

I want to tell you one thing: If we are the seed of Abraham, it can happen to us that we have to leave Terah and Nahor behind and that we have to make another stop. And in the end our hearts break, but the way of God goes on. The way of God goes all the way to the goal.

And we want to reach the goal by the grace of God.

And a songwriter sings, "If one holds me, I run forward. If I'm faint, then the Word calls me. Going on, penetrate all the way to the treasure."

And Paul says, "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling, forgetting those things which are behind." [Phil 3:13-14]

This is very difficult, even for me. But we have to keep our eyes on the future, if we want to move forward. Neither I nor anyone else can move forward well, if we look back.

We have to come to terms with what has happened. We can't change it anyway. It's up to God. He is the master of every situation. He can direct human hearts like streams of water. He can do it.

But he can allow trials that we have to go through, so that the authenticity of the material we are made of is tested. And then our faith will be found more precious than gold refined in the fire. [1 Peter 1:7]

It is a great grace from God.

The holy scriptures are a living book of God with many testimonies. And to quote from the letter to the Hebrews, "we are compassed about by such a great cloud of witnesses." [Hebr 12:1]

If all the men of God could appear here today who have experienced the faithfulness of God, who received promises, and through whom these promises were fulfilled, a cloud would surround us here, one would begin, and it would be one testimony after another that these men of God could bear.

And it would be one that they would have in common, however different their experiences may have been, but all men of God have one thing in common. They can all say that every Word of God has been fulfilled exactly as God said it would be.

They all have that in common. Abraham, Moses, Elijah, whoever they were, all men of God have one thing in common. They believed what God told them and they saw the fulfillment of what He promised them.

And we are living, as we realize from the Word of God, in the last days. We see that the Holy Scriptures are being fulfilled in many ways and we will not go away empty-handed either.

What good is it to know this is what God did in the Old Testament, this is what He did with Israel, this with the prophets, this at the beginning of the New Testament, and this and that at some time.

We live today and we have a right as children of God to know what God is doing now. And more than that, we have a right to have part in what God is doing now, to be blessed, and I believe that God will give the total restoration.

This Word may also be new to some, because we have only just read it in Matthew 17, verse 11, but in Acts chapter 3, the return of Jesus Christ, whether you believe it or not, is linked to the restoration. It's written here, Acts 3, verse 21, with reference to Jesus, "whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began."

According to this verse, the Lord Jesus remains in glory until the complete restoration has taken place, and then he returns, not to restore a broken and torn and divided church. The restoration is happening now, then he returns to bring home a called-out, chosen, adorned, united bride who is going to meet her bridegroom.

Is that so or not?

And if we have recognized this, then it means that we too have understood the hour of our divine visitation, not to rush ahead of God, not to lag behind him, but to walk in step with him until we come from believing unto seeing.

Our Savior said in Matthew 17, 11, "Elijah truly shall first come and restore all things."

Here Peter says, "Christ must remain in heaven until the time when all things will be restored, as it has been proclaimed by the mouth of all the prophets since the world began."

Today we are waiting for the return of the Lord, but millions are waiting for this, including those who misuse the Word of God or the kingdom of God for their own purposes.

Who does not believe in the return of the Lord today? Many, many, but that alone is not enough.

The Lord will return, but there is a word written, and this has been on my heart since my youth, "Those who were ready went in." Matthew 25, "Those who were ready went in." That was one of the favorite words of my beloved father, who has long since gone to be with the Lord.

Those who were ready went in, and the door was shut.

Not a supposed readiness, but a readiness in accordance with God and His word, in connection with His people, nothing on their own.

God sends a message, and He calls His people together.

The people did not hurry into the wilderness just to see John. The Lord called them, because there was nothing special about the man. He was wearing a camel skin. [Mark 1:6] They didn't see him at all, they only saw the camel skin. People may have made fun of it, but there were people who were not bothered by it. They were drawn, they were pulled, and they heard a divine message. They were prepared, they believed.

The same thing happened during this time.

And whoever thinks that we follow Paul or Brother Branham or Moses or Abraham, no, we follow the Lord. But we are grateful for such faithful witnesses who had a true calling from God, a divine commission in the plan of salvation.

And all those pious people who say, "If I have Christ, then I don't need a prophet, even if he sends him." Oh, I would be slow, I would be slow.

I could read the same thing to you from the Gospel of Luke. As you know, I didn't prepare myself. So nobody can be angry or think they are meant. We are all meant, or no one, one of the two.

In any case, there were people at that time, of whom it is written, "they rejected the counsel of God against themselves being not baptized of John." [Lk 7:30]

I have quoted it in the brochure, now in the next one to be published, about baptism.

There are people today, who say, "I am baptized in so and so." And they are not baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, as all the apostles baptized, all the men of God, until the doctrine of the Trinity and so forth.

And they reject the counsel of God against themselves.

We can say a hundred times, "Lord, I love you and your word." That's a lie. That's a hundred times a lie.

Our Lord says, "He who loves me will keep my word, [Joh 14:15] and I will love him and will reveal myself to him." [Joh 14:21]

And if we love him and he reveals himself to us, then we have the same revelation that Peter, Philip, Paul and all God's servants had. Because God cannot be at odds with himself.

According to the letter, all are right. But according to the Spirit, only those who truly agree with the Word of God, as revealed by the Spirit and used in practice, are right.

Let us close by summarizing once again, before thanking God warmly and sincerely: Everything that God promised to Noah, to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, everything that God promised to his people Israel, all the promises for the New Testament have been literally fulfilled, which are already behind us.

And all those that are still to come will be fulfilled 100%. Because the Holy Mouth of God has spoken, we can rely on it 100%. Everything will happen as he has said.

Our desire now is to have part in what God is doing now.

Not our own ways, not our own will. Oh, when we have come to the end of our own works, then we will rest in the work of God and experience the effects of all that he has promised.

John experienced the fulfillment of the words that referred to him and his ministry.

Jesus Christ, our Lord and Redeemer, experienced all the words that were written about him. Indeed, they were fulfilled in him.

To the very end, all the words that were given to the church as a promise must and will be fulfilled in her.

We can understand the beginning and see it very clearly. Here is this and here is that. Everything happened beautifully ordered.

Should the God who brought the beginning of the New Testament to fulfillment so precisely in accordance with the prophetic word not be able to bring the promises that are still outstanding to fulfillment precisely now at the end?

One hundred percent.

And I can hear some people, and in unbelief I could also gladly join them, who think to themselves: "Yes, if a Moses were here, then we could all believe it."

Me too, me too. And if there was an Abraham here, we could all believe it. Me too, I could go along.

And if we go so far as to say, "Yes, if only Paul were here, so that we could really rely on him" – right?

We can go even further, that's true, all well and good. If only such men were here, oh, then we would rely on them, and then we would be abandoned.

Rely not on man, and lean not unto thine own understanding. [Proverbs 3:5]

Rely on God. We have to trust God.

Whether there is Moses here, I can't bring him here, I would bring him here. But if the God of Moses is here, then everything we need is here.

I can't bring Abraham here either. But if the God of Abraham is here, then we have everything we need.

Oh, how I wish Peter was here. One hundred percent. People, I would sit down and say: Dear God, thank you so much. I have wanted to stop for a long time, now I can.

And how I would let myself be blessed. By God, of course, not by Peter. Let's make a clear distinction here. We don't have a Catholic spirit here, but the Spirit of God. We don't believe in a person who hands out a little "Urbi et Orbi" somewhere.

No, we believe in the blessing of the living God.

And that is the blessing that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob received because of the promises and that all the men of God have received because they believed God.

So, don't be angry with me. But how I wish brother Branham was still here, God knows my heart. I don't know what I would give for it, my life for sure.

But God took him.

My heart was torn as I watched first in line as his coffin was lowered in the grave. My heart was torn apart. I screamed, I cried, I pleaded. I didn't know what to think. The world had collapsed for me. Heaven had fallen. I didn't know what was going to happen, how I wished he was here.

But I tell you one thing: Even he could only do something where people believed. Even if he were here, he would be criticized just as he was back then. Some would believe, others would not.

There has always been a division among the people.

And you all know that exists in the political sphere, in all worldviews, in the religious sphere.

There were people who loved the Lord so dearly and there were people who hated him so dearly. One and the same person, loved by some, hated by others.

And in the one sermon I heard briefly this morning, Brother Branham asked or quoted the word.

People then asked, "Who then is this?" For some he was Beelzebub, for others the son of David, and a third did not know what to say.

They asked, "Who then is this man?" [Matthew 21:10]

We know who he is.

Let us bear his reproach, the reproach for his Word and for his name's sake, and he will go with us to the end.

We are grateful to God that the same Lord, who was with all the prophets and apostles, is still with his church today, who hears his Word, who believes his promises and trusts him and is ready to go with him.

He is present here today. That is what he said in his Word, and that is what we believe.

Let us offer him our heartfelt thanks.

Amen.

We stand up and thank the Lord.

Before we continue praying together, we certainly grieved the Spirit of God on the first weekend of last month. It haunted me for days, because we did not get the unity and connection to God in prayer and could not thank him in the proper way.

We don't want to make the same mistake today.

Perhaps the comment that brothers should pray has led to the sisters remaining silent. That is by no means what is meant. What is meant is that we all join in prayer, that we all open our mouths and thank the Lord. While some brothers may thank the Lord aloud, we can all send our worship up to the throne of God.

How shall we do it? We sing together, we hear God's Word together. Shall we not give thanks and worship together, so that the praise rises and ascends to the throne of God?

How many believe that God will fulfil all promises now just as he did in the past?

Say Amen!

How many believe that God has revealed his Word to us?

How many believe that he will prepare us and bring us to perfection?

Hallelujah!

How many believe that we have to thank him?

Let us now do it together, all brothers and all sisters.

Let us give room to the Spirit of God.

Let us worship now.

Br. Russ

Faithful God, thank you so much for your word this weekend.

Thank you very much for all the good that you have done for us.

We also thank you for the earthly things, for food and drink, for everything we have by grace, for the means that we are allowed to come, for the hall here, for the houses, for everything we thank you.

O God in heaven, Lord, we thank you that you have spoken to us.

We thank you for your holy Word and we ask you, do not let us murmur, Lord, but let us be grateful, Lord, even if we should go through tribulations.

Grant us grace to meet again, Lord, as we have sung, here on earth or there with you in the light.

Faithful Jesus, we ask you to be with us now when we part.

Faithful God, we also pray for our loved ones. We pray for all those who could not come, Lord, who were unable to come, who are perhaps ill.

Lord, we lay everything before you once again.

Faithful Jesus, our Lord and Saviour, we leave everything to you and also our dear brothers and sisters who are now on their way home.

Be with them, Lord. Be their shield and protection in every way.

We surrender ourselves completely to you and worship you, our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Hallelujah to your marvellous and holy name of Jesus.

Amen.