Kenneth Copeland - Own Your Healing by Faith
We will look first at Hebrews chapter 11, the great hall of fame of faith. We need to have what I call working knowledge of faith. Well, let me read it to you in the King James first. "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, for by it the elders obtained a good report". But let's listen to that. And don't even put it on the screen because I want to talk it to you. Now faith is. If it isn't now, it isn't faith. Yesterday's dead and gone. Tomorrow is hope. Now faith is the assurance, the confirmation, the title deed, that's what I want you to get, the title deed of the things we hope for being the proof of things we do not see and the conviction of their reality. Listen, faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses. It's an unseen, very powerful force. We know that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
Faith comes. Faith always comes. Healing always comes. It's not always received, but it always comes. Always. I heard Brother Hagin say this, "God's Word is". It takes a little bit, but God's Word is. Because he is. He's the forever God. As most of you know, part of my background from my grandfather is Cherokee Indian. And I got thinking about that. And I thought, now, wait a minute. I just wonder how much of that I've dreamed up, or what I heard when I was young. So I said, I'm not going to say anything more about that. So I had my DNA run. And it didn't show up. So I said, well, I'm not mentioning that anymore. And my granddaughter called me in and she said, Papa, I found another laboratory that specializes in native American. Then I found out that the native American people just don't like to give anybody their DNA.
Well, all right. So I said, "Come on, girl, let's do another one". And so we sent my DNA to them. And sure enough, and there was a couple of tribes there I never heard of before in there, but predominantly Cherokee from my grandfather's side. And this powerful unseen force. And like I started to say, my coming from the native American side, I always wanted to do a blood covenant. Now don't be going out and doing a blood covenant. All right. We already have one, and it's Jesus' blood. I know a man that did. It was just when they were young kids. But he said, even through the Vietnam war, he said, I could tell when he was in trouble. Isn't that amazing that he could tell when his blood brother needed him?
So faith, the confirmation, the title deed of the things we hope for, being the proof of things we do not see conviction of their reality. Faith, this powerful, unseen force, perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses. By faith, we understand that the worlds during the successive ages were framed, fashioned, put in order and equipped for their intended purpose by the Word of God so that what we see was not made out of things which are visible. Prompted, actuated by faith, Abel brought God a better and more acceptable sacrifice than Cain because of which it was testified of him that he was righteous, that he was upright and in right standing with God. That's simply what righteous means. Righteousness is a religious word.
And people get it confused with holiness. That, I could never become righteousness. I could never become righteous. The moment you got born again, you were made the righteousness of God. No. It just simply means right standing with God. Righteousness is an old English word for right standing. Amen. It's like some people use that word in the racing business, that there's something wrong with that engine. That thing's just not righteous. It's not right. And they work on it, work on it. And somebody say, what happened? Well, I'll tell you what, that engine, she's righteous now. Well, it's right. It's running right. It's tuned to the finest. It's a righteous engine. In other words, that engine is running right. And when you know God, you are running right. Glory to God. And we come all the way down then, the first five, because of faith.
Now, because of faith, perceiving as real fact what was not revealed to his senses. Title deed of what he believed. Was caught up and transferred to heaven so that he did not have a glimpse of death. And he was not found because God translated him. For even before he was taken to heaven, he received testimony still on record that he had pleased and been satisfactory to God. But without faith, it is impossible to please him and be satisfactory to him, for whoever would come near to God must necessarily believe that God exists. And that he is the rewarder of those who earnestly, diligently seek him out. He is a rewarder. He is a good God.
Did you ever stop and wonder why using God's name to damn a thing or another was blasphemy, profane? He's not the damner. He's the undamner. He'll undamn you. Well, what did Jesus say in the last chapter of the book of Mark? Those that believe will be saved, and those that don't will be damned or condemned. And the believers shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. They'll speak with new tongues and take up serpents and not hurt them. Drink any deadly thing, and not harm them. Hallelujah. How? By faith. Now that doesn't mean you'll pick you up a snake and dare him. There's people that read it that way and cause disastrous things. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. Why? Because you can't get saved without it. Amen. And you can't fight the good fight of faith without faith. Praise God. And you could go on and on.
So faith is this unseen, powerful, wonderful God given power at the time of the new birth. Because it was faith that did it, according to the second chapter of the book of Ephesians. Glory to God. For by grace are you saved through faith. For it is not of works, lest any man should boast. It is a gift of God. Well, Brother Copeland, which is the gift, the faith or the grace? Both of them. Both of them are gifts of God. And then we are his workmanship created. Say it. We are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus. Woo. Glory to God. Glory to God. Preach me happy already. Hallelujah. I get on faith. I'll tell you, man, I just got to take off. This is the message. And I started to tell you, I made these outlines and they used to look something like that. And so I had them made out.
I was in a little North Texas town called Hereford, Texas. The reason it's called Hereford, Texas is because the first Hereford bull came from England was at Hereford Texas. In British, it's Hereford. Nah, it ain't Hereford, it's Hereford. It's Hereford. No, it isn't. Not quite anyway. So I was preaching in Hereford, Texas, and had a three week meeting up there. Outstanding meeting. And had a meeting in an abandoned drug store there. Anyway, I was in my motel room and I had my outlines out on the bed there, out here. And the new birth and the baptism of the Holy Spirit and faith. And this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith, in first John. And the Lord stopped me. And I said, "What is it, Lord"? He said, "You preach victory in the new birth, victory in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, victory". That's when it started.
I started preaching victory right then, many, many years ago, before I was ever on radio or anything else. And I was preaching there, and preaching on victory over hell and the grave, and what happened from the cross to the throne, and what the devil saw on the day of Pentecost. And I was preaching that. And people began to receive the Holy Spirit. And things started happening. And there was a man, a young man there, that was a pastor of a Methodist Church. And some of his people got baptized in the spirit and went home and told him that I said Jesus went to hell. And he said, there's no way. This was a big guy. I mean, he's about like Kurt Kjellstrom. Big man. And this little platform we had built in that old abandoned drugstore. It wasn't very tall. It wasn't as high as this one. And he came through the back door. And I'm telling you, he's big.
And I was standing on the platform, and he was looking me straight in the face. And I saw him and I said, oh Lord. I didn't know who he was. I said, here he comes. And I just stood there with a smile on my face. And he walked up there. And I mean, he stomped up there and he said... I said, thank You, Jesus. He's a big man. And he just fell down and began to weep. And he just kind of got up and left. Then he came back and he said, "Copeland," he said, "I need you to forgive me". But he said, "Let me tell you what happened".
He was a truck driver for years, an alcoholic. And the Lord delivered him from alcohol and called him to preach and became pastor of that Methodist church there in Hereford, Texas. And he told me that people came and said they're getting baptized in the spirit, talking in other tongues. And he didn't like that. And I said, he went to hell. And he didn't like that. And so he said, "I just left". He said, "I just went back home. I didn't know what to think about this". And he said, "I couldn't sleep". So he said, "I got up, just went over next door to the sanctuary and just got on my face. And just prayed there in tongues for a while". And he said, "It was just so wonderful". And then he said, "I stopped and said, 'Lord, did you go to hell?'" He said, "You bet I did, big boy. If I hadn't, you would".
I thought that's about the best sermon I ever heard on that right there and then. And so that's when I began preaching victory in Christ Jesus. Glory to God. So here we go. We hear this in several different places. Matthew 9:22, Mark 5:34, "Your faith made you whole". So let's look in the fifth chapter of Mark. And if you follow this, you start in the fifth chapter of Mark and then you just flow all the way over to the 11th chapter of Mark. And then Jesus begins to explain what this is all about. So in Mark 5:25, now the first thing that happened, the ruler of the synagogue, Jairus by name, he fell at his feet, besought him greatly saying, "My little daughter lieth at the point of death, I pray thee come lay their hands on her, that she may be healed and she shall live".
That's all he said. Jesus went with him. Isn't he easy? He just went with him. Didn't even say anything to him, just went with him. But now, then we've learned through excavation of that area. Jesus' large home was right next to that synagogue on a hill, looking over the Galilee. That's the reason people left Jairus's house. Two blind men left Jairus's house and followed him on into his house, which was next door. Amen. Do some homework. Let it go wide screen with you. Every time you see the word Capernaum write home. That's where he lived. That's where his ministry headquarters was. Now then, much people followed him, and thronged him. A certain woman, which had an issue of blood for 12 years. Oh my.
Now, if you want to look that up, we won't take time to do it now, in Leviticus 15:25, and particularly read it in the New Living Testament, and you'll see what she was up against. An issue of blood 12 years. She was a shut in for 12 years. She was not allowed to be outside that house. Now she had suffered many things of many physicians and spent all that she had, was nothing better, but rather grew worse. When she heard of Jesus, came in the press behind and touched his garment. She touched 1%, the helm of his garment. Jesus said, "Who touched my clothes"? But she touched the edge of his prayer shawl. As a rabbi, he wore this prayer shawl all the time under his outer garment. And it went all the way down like here. And if I can touch that garment. So now look, if I may but touch his clothes, I shall be whole. Straight way. Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up and she felt in her body she was healed of that plague. She didn't feel it. And then believe it. She'd already believed it because she believed it before she ever got out in the street. So what?
Now, wait a minute, wait a minute. She had the confirmation, the title deed of that thing that she hoped for. She owned it. You get it? She owned it. She had said it. One translation said, in another scripture, she said, "She said it and she kept saying it and she kept saying it and she kept saying it and she believed it until she owned it". Glory to God. She had the title deed to it. Glory to God. Amen. Thank You, Lord Jesus. Immediately, the fountain of her blood was dried up. And then she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. Jesus immediately knowing in himself that virtue or power, it's dunamis. We get our word dynamite from it. Dunamis had gone out of him, turned him about in the press and said, who touched my clothes?
Another one of the writers said, "Who touched me"? Same thing. Who touched my clothes? His disciples said to him, "You see the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou who touched me"? And he looked around about to see her that had done this thing. He was looking for her. Now, what does that tell you? He didn't know that was going to happen. He didn't know Jairus was going to come fall on his face in front of him. Isn't that amazing? He had just come back across the Galilee from ministering to the mad man of Gadara. Now, there's an interesting situation. Amen. And so he ministered to him, came back across the Galilee. He just came home. It's Capernaum. But they had all the people out looking for him. Here he is. He's coming. He's coming. And all of them reaching and touching. But only one pulled the power out of it. She is the one that believed it in her heart and said it with her mouth.