A Study in “Well Doing”
GENESIS 4:6-7a
6 ¶ And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
7a If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? (In Cain’s opinion of himself, he had done well, very well, he had worked hard and brought forth and presented the best of his labours as a sacrifice to the Lord – but notice that God says “If thou doest well” - what Cain had done was not doing well in the sight of God) and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.
We know that he murdered his brother immediately after this event.
II THESSALONIANS 3:13
13 But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.
A Study in “Well Doing”
Introduce this subject in this service and see where the Lord leads us…
GENESIS 4:3-7a
3 ¶ And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.
4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: (Notice that Abel’s works in his sacrifice revealed his faith, works is faith expressed – His sacrifice actually showed the revelation that he had in his heart of the original sin and the Lamb of God who would one day come and be slain for the sins and redemption of man)
5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect (It wasn’t that Cain didn’t put forth effort and energy – but his sacrifice was inspired by a false revelation, because he thought it was botany life that caused the fall in that Eve ate apples, but we know that it was the shedding of innocent blood that caused the fall - when the serpent went with Eve in a false union, we know that that was the first blood that was shed upon the earth, so if it was a blood sin, then it had to be a blood sacrifice). And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. (His face put on an angry scowl)
6 ¶ And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
7a If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.
From our last series “A Study in Leadership”, we looked into the pattern of the life of Joseph in the book of Genesis of how God dealt with him in his life, and we saw how that God showed him his end from the beginning.
*Joseph knew what his end would be from the start in that he would come into a great position of authority and power, but the events that came in the middle of Joseph’s life between the beginning and the fulfilment of the dream, God kept it a secret from him because God knew that it would discourage him to know that part from the beginning, and so that part of Joseph’s life story was only revealed to him by it being unfolded chapter by chapter as he lived it out in real time.
**His end wasn’t a mystery because God had shown it to him in a dream, and his beginning wasn’t a mystery because that was already in his past, but it was the pathway that God caused him to walk through in the middle of the story that was kept a secret from him just as it is with our lives, but that was the pathway that was necessary and ordained by God to led him to that place of promise and of peace and prosperity.
And that is also why the seven church ages which was the middle and pathway journey part was kept a mystery from the bride of the 7 church ages because it was a the harder way, John was told not to write it but to seal it up.
***But it is in the journey and the experiences of our lives that we are made ready and prepaired for the great things and the positions that God has for us at the end of the road.
*It was the prison house that prepared Joseph for the throne. But Joseph himself misunderstood the pathway of his own life until he got to the end when the mystery of his own life was revealed to him, and it was that pathway of suffering that brought him to the promised destination of what God had promised him, and that was what brought about the saving of millions of people lives during the seven years of famine that were to follow.
*It was brother Branham’s rough upbringing that prepared him for the work that God would call him to do when he got older. But for many years, even after he became a Christian, he misunderstood the journey of his own life, but in the end he came to a great position of power and authority that bought about a great victory in the resurrection of a people to the word for this age.
*It was Jonah’s time spent in the prison house of the whale belly that prepaired him for the work that he had to do in going to Nineveh and becoming a prophet to the Gentiles and saved them from Judgement - On and on we could go through all the lives of the bible characters.
*It was Naomi’s “back luck” that caused her to return back to Bethlehem at the time of barley harvest so that Ruth could come into union with Boaz and bring about the full redemption of all that their family had lost.
*So we found out that it is in the journey that we misunderstand and question the plan and leadership of God for our lives, but father along we’ll know all about it.
**This word “Well Doing” = a course of right action.
It is the virtue to serve the Lord according to the programme and revelation of God for the age that you live in, because we know by the teaching of the message of the hour that you can try to do a service to God of what you think he wants done according to your own opinion, but if that service is outside of the will and plan of God for this age, then that service is not accepted by God, it will be in vain just as Cain’s sacrifice and service to God was in vain and rejected by God.
GALATIANS 6:9-10
9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
**So why would anyone grow tired of doing the right things, especially in the revelation of the message of this hour?
**Human beings have a remarkable capacity for getting tired of wonderful things. Kids’ gets tired of their new toys, millionaires get tired of money, people get tired of their jobs that they once so enjoyed, and as believers of this end time message, we can also get weary of well doing in our service and sacrifice to the Lord in the revelation of this hour.
Sometimes message people can get weary of church service and attendance, they begin to relax from reading their bibles and feeding on the message of the hour.
**But the scriptures promise us that there is a time coming that if we weary not in our service then we will reap a great harvest of blessing and life, and so the scriptures are dealing with this human trait to encourage us not to get tired and lose our enthusiasm for the things of the Lord and our service to the body of Christ.
This word “Well doing” – it is not the thought of like working for your salvation “if you do well and be a good person you will be saved” because we know that salvation is of the Lord and not of works, but it is connected to the rewards at the end of the road – rewards for service.
MATTHEW 25:22-23
22 He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.
23 His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
We know that in the parable of the prodigal son, he failed to take the course of the right action in his service and well doing as in contrast to his brother, he became weary in well doing – but we know that he never lost his relationship as a son or his salvation, but what he lost was his future reward of the inheritance of what he would have received if he had done well, so we can see that the law of reaping and sowing is revealed in this story for the purpose of showing us the relationship between salvation and the law of reaping and sowing. You cannot lose your salvation, but you can lose your reward.
GALATIANS 6:7-9
7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
***So well doing is connected to receiving the harvest of the reward of what is promised for your age at the conclusion of the age.
- There are many great things promised to us at the conclusion of this age.
- The oneness of God and man becoming one again in this age in that the same relationship that Adam had with God before the fall, we are to come into that again in this age.
- The imminent resurrection of 2000 years of Church age saints of the past 7 church ages.
- A body change back youth again.
- The physical meeting with the Lord Jesus in the air.
- The gathering at the marriage supper of the Lamb and the physical millennium of peace on earth for a thousand years.
REVELATION 22:12
12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
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Theocracy verses Monarchy and Democracy
A democracy is the people choosing their own ways and leadership based on what the majority thinks is right at the time. Of course the problem with a democracy is that the majority of the nation can be easily persuaded by the information and by the lies that they are told, and they will mostly always vote for the politician or party that promises them the largest access to the state treasury in the form of financial and state benefits.
While a Theocracy the governing of the people by divine leadership by God leading the people though a prophet as he did back in Israel through Samuel before king Saul became king and changed the form of governing the people from a Theocracy to a monarchy, a monarchy is a king as a single ruler and governor of the people.
122-1 SMYRNAEAN.CHURCH.AGE - CHURCH.AGE.BOOK CPT.4
Just as the early church started out under the pure ministry of the Holy Spirit with signs and wonders and manifestations such as prophecy, tongues, and interpretation, wisdom, knowledge and healing, so in the days of Israel when they left Egypt, they were under the leadership of the Spirit of God manifesting in gifts. God was the leader of the people. Actually He was their King. He was a Father-King. He took care of Israel like a man cares for his family. He fed them, fought their battles, smoothed away their difficulties and settled their problems. He just busied Himself over them. They were the only nation to which He was truly God. But one day they got to looking around, and they saw the Philistines and other nations with kings over them. It caught their eyes and they decided that they ought to humanize their leadership, so they wanted a king. Now God was going to humanize the leadership Himself, in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, but they got ahead of Him. Satan knew the plan of God so he put it in the hearts of the people to get ahead of God (the Word).
When they approached Samuel and asked for a king, Samuel was so dismayed that his heart almost failed him. God had been leading His people through this consecrated, Scripture-vindicated prophet and he felt that he had been rejected. He gathered the people and pleaded with them not to turn away from the God Who had carried them like children, and prospered them and blessed them. But they persisted. They said to Samuel. "You have never been wrong in your leading. You have never been dishonest in your financial dealings. You have done your best to keep us in line with the Word of the Lord. We appreciate the miracles, wisdom, provision and protection of God. We believe in it. We like it. And furthermore we don't want to be without it. It's just that we want a king to lead us to battle. Now of course when we go out to battle it is still our intention to have the priests go ahead with Judah following, and we will blow the trumpets and shout and sing. We don't intend to stop any of that. BUT WE WANT A KING WHO IS ONE OF US TO LEAD US."
And God said to Samuel. "See, they have not rejected you, but they have rejected ME from ruling over them."
How tragic that was. Little did they realize that when they were asking God to let them be like the rest of the world they were rejecting Him, because God had ordained that His people act different from the world. They are not of the world and they don't look like the world and they don't act like the world. They are crucified unto the world and the world is crucified unto them.
II Corinthians 6:17-18,
"Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."
You see the one difference between Israel and the rest of the nations was God. Put God to one side and Israel was like any other nation. When Samson cut off his hair he was like any other man. Put the leadership of the Holy Ghost aside and the church is NOTHING BUT THE WORLD WITH GOD'S NAME ATTACHED TO IT.
In the message of this hour, we are in a Theocracy because we don’t have any big head leader of a bishop/king who is ruling over us, but we have been given a prophet who is under God just as Israel had before they rejected Samuel.
“Consider the ant” said Solomon the wise king, and we know that the ants have no leader ant but they all work as one body, and so their leadership is from the inside out and not from the outside in like we do as humans – so they work on a kind of Theocracy where the nature that God gave them on the inside is what causes them to do what they do in perfect harmony with each other.
PROVERBS 6:6-11
6 ¶ Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:
7 Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, (no external government – no Democracy or Monarchy or Tyranny or any other external form of governing – the are governed from the inside out and not from the outside in – that is how the kingdom of heaven will be governed – from within you)
8 Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. (Sowing and reaping)
9 How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard? when wilt thou arise out of thy sleep?
10 Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep:
11 So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth, and thy want as an armed man.
**So the natural pathway and result of becoming weary in your work is poverty, and in parallel, the result of being tired and slack with the things of the Lord will also lead to a poverty at the end of this age just like the prodigal son was saved but he lost the things of blessing that he would have inherited if he had done well.
A.MAN.RUNNING.FROM.THE.PRESENCE.OF.THE.LORD_ JEFF.IN V-5 N-8 WEDNESDAY_ 65-0217
46 And Jonah here was called on, as this, one of the minor prophets of the Bible, to go down to this city.
And here we find an example of all of us. Every one of us, we always are running from something. We run from trouble. We run from responsibilities. We, we're all prone to do that. We, we are, we are more prone to run than we are to stand and face it out. See, we just... We--we--we find ourselves running.
Sometimes we find ourselves prone to run from work. We don't want to, we don't want to work. Some people just thinks they can make their living without working. But, I think, Solomon it was that said we could find here the answer, in watching an ant.
47 You know, a little ant, they tell me if that (every) ant doesn't work and lay in, that ant doesn't eat that winter, either. So, everybody has to--to work.
48 We got so many things we have to do, so much responsibility that we have to face. Everybody has got to face a certain responsibility.
49 When you--when you come to--to choose your wife, to get married, or choose your husband, you--you've got to take a responsibility. And then you must remember... Maybe you build a home; it's a nice pretty home. And then, remember, as a married woman, you got to think of the responsibility of raising children. And you got to think of them pretty, slick walls is going to have little, dirty handprints all over them. Then you got the responsibility of educating your children. You got the responsibility of clothing and feeding.
50 Everything is a responsibility. And it's so easy, when the responsibilities face us, to shirk from them. And we find out that marriage is a responsibility, in all manners.
51 Even, many times, we find... This is hard to say, but it's true, that ministers, many time, shirk a responsibility for standing for the true Word of God when they're confronted with It. They'll shirk that responsibility. When Truth of the Word of God is brought face to face with we human beings, we have... we are prone to shirk back until the last resource.
GENESIS 4:6-7a Opening scripture…
6 ¶ And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? (He was wroth because he wanted to serve God in his age the way that he thought God should receive his sacrifice and worship, and God would not accept it that way – Cain thought he had done well but he hadn’t done well because it was a service and a sacrifice contrary to the revelation for his day)
7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.
*We are doing a study on WELL DOING – “weary not well doing”, in doing the things that God has called for us to do in this age according to the revelation of this hour.
***Well doing is to come into the obedience of the revelation of God for this hour.
***Our service and sacrifice in this hour is to express the revelation of the word for the season that we are living in – and this is the season now where we are to become one with the message, that is the will of God for this season, and how are we to do that? - we are to lay in the presence of this revealed word so that all the greenness will be baked out of us and so that we can become one in marriage with Christ himself – that is the program of God for this time now.
“If YE DO WELL” – Weary NOT in WELL DOING for in due season we will received the things that he has promised at the end of this age if we don’t give up by becoming weary of doing the same thing week in and week out.
***What is it to be “well doing”? It is to manifest the will of God and the revelation for your age – it is to serve God’s purpose for your life of what He has called you to be in this hour because all who serve God’s purpose will have a resurrection.
REMEMBERING.THE.LORD_ JEFF.IN V-13 N-2 SUNDAY_ 62-1209
34… And everything that serves God's purpose, when it dies, it has a resurrection.
II CORINTHIANS 9:6-7
6 ¶ But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
A study in “Well Doing”
****Well doing is to come into obedience to the revelation of God for the hour that you live in – that is what Cain refused to do, he wanted to serve the Lord, but he wanted to do it his own way, and because of that, sin and death followed – but life follows obedience to the will of God.