Kenneth Copeland - Faith Goes to the Root
Go on over to Mark 11. Now, on their way to the temple where he cleaned house at that temple, he saw a fig tree afar off. Came if he happily might find anything there on. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves for the time of figs was not yet. Now, read that in the Classic Amplified. Well, let's just do it right now. Seeing in the distance a fig tree covered with leaves, he went to see if he could find any fruit on it, for in the fig tree, the fruit appears at the same time as the leaves. But when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves for the fig season had not yet come. What does that mean? This tree was premature. It grew a bunch of leaves. It must not have been much far away from that time because Jesus went there to find figs on it. Amen.
Anyway, Jesus answered the tree. The tree says, you're not getting anything to eat here. And said, no man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever. Nine words. His disciples heard it. He wasn't all that quiet about it. And they came to Jerusalem. So what did he do? He spoke to that fig tree. No man eat fruit of you again hereafter forever and turned around. As far as he's concerned, it didn't make any difference where lightning hits it. It doesn't make any difference if it stands there from now on with green leaves every year, there will never be another fig on that tree. Why? He said it. He just turned around and walked off. That tree is doomed. And so what happened? So now, he spoke to that thing, went on to the temple and cleaned out the temples and all that. And he preached all day long. Boy, I love that. And he taught. So then when evening was come, he went out of the city and in the morning as they passed by and saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.
So sometime or another in that 12 hour period that fig tree died. But notice, faith went into the root of the tree. Faith will go into the root of the problem, if you don't get caught up on the leaves and the way it looks. Spend some time seeking God and finding out what the root of the problem is. So anyway, we're talking about faith and how it works and the fundamentals. By the way, I learned this or heard it the first time from my grandson, Jeremy. And I told him, I'd give him credit for it a few times and then he is on his own. Oral said that to me one time. I was preaching on the name of Jesus. He said, Kenneth, he said, that's a great message. He said, the first time I preach it, I'm going to say Brother Copeland said it. And he said, the next time I preach it, I'm going to say, somebody said it. And the next time, I'm not going to say anybody said it, I'm going to say it. He said, what are you watching when you watch the World Series? Masters of the fundamentals. What are you watching when you watch the Super Bowl? Masters of the fundamentals.
All the way down to the Little League World Series, for that age, masters of the fundamental of the game. These are the fundamentals of faith. The very fundamentals of faith. And they're all right here in this message. Peter calling remember said, Master, behold, the fig tree which you cursed is withed away. Jesus answering said, have faith in God or have the faith of God. So what do we do there? Well, what about your children? Have faith in God. What about your finances? Have faith in God. What about your physical body? Have faith in God. What about the car you need? Have faith in God. What about your debts? Have faith in God. Or have the faith of God. You have the faith of God because we've already talked about Ephesians chapter two said you were born again. You were saved by grace through faith. We're his workmanship. So faith was in the package, faith was born into your spirit the moment you got born again because if it hadn't been there, you wouldn't have got saved in the first place.
And there are a lot of people that have done a lot of religious talk and never been born again. That's right. And I mean, I've talked to pastors, not very many, but I've talked to a few that had pastored for years and realized they weren't born again and were amazed at the difference in their ministry. Well, of course, particularly from this basic religious organization of one kind or another. And so this new creature, now, you can't see me. All you can see is this physical body in which I live. Amen. I can't see you. I can't really see, you really can't see much of me. My head's about it. My hands because my body's covered up. Thank God. But when I leave, the body dies. And I remember, oh it was that old Ray Charles song. He said, when they come in and they gather up around you and they say, don't he look natural? Jack, you did. Don't he look natural?
Like Gloria says, you may look better than you did before you died. They get you some new clothes and fix you up really nice. But that don't make any difference you're gone. And this body is like this suit. Charles Capps had a saying for that, of course, Charles was a pilot. We flew together a lot of times and one of the best, Tracy, I ever flew with and he could fly an airplane. And he said, when you go into space, you need a space suit. When you're in the earth, you need an earth suit. And when you come out of that earth suit, you're gone. Amen. So... Come here. That thing's dead as a hammer. Why? I'm not in it. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Amen. This coat fits me. It was made for me. Amen. And you partners bought it, thank you. I figured you wanted me to look nice. I represent you. Well, I'm doing the best I can with what I got to work with.
But anyway, but that illustrates what happens when you step out of this body. The body just lays down. There's no life in it anymore. So now once Jesus released those faith-filled words, he did not determine what would happen to that tree. He just said, no man will eat fruit of you again hereafter forever. Nine words. Count them. Jesus answering sayeth unto them, have faith in God, for verily, I say unto you whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea. Nine words. Now, which is bigger, a mountain or a tree? It doesn't matter. Faith doesn't care how big it is or how little it is. Faith-filled words dominate the laws of sin and death. Shall not doubt in his inner man, but shall believe. Believe what? Well, I believe Jesus is Lord. Well, yeah he is. But that doesn't work here, that's not what he's talking about. But shall believe that those things which he says shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he says, therefore I say unto you. He immediately put it into operation because of this spiritual principle.
I say unto you, whatsoever thing you desire when you pray, believe you receive them and you'll have them. But believe it when you pray. This woman believed it before she ever touched him. Glory to God. She said it. If I touch the hem of his garment, if I touch his clothes. I'll be made whole. That word, hold, is translated saved. It's translated, heal. The fifth chapter of James, the prayer of faith shall save the sick. It's the same word translated whole. It's the same word translated healing. It's Sozo. It's a Greek word. That means all of those things, brought back into complete soundness or restored. Glory to God. Faith does that. I said, faith does that. So when you stand praying, forgive, if you have all against any that your father in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. He didn't say three weeks later, he said, while you're praying. You speak to the mountain, you believe it in your heart and you say it with your mouth. You desire it and you believe it when you pray and you forgive right there if you have ought against any. Right then you deal with that.
I said, you deal with that right on the spot. And just get there on your face and believe, you forgive. How? By faith. He just got through giving you the laws and the rules of it. The how to do it. You do it by faith and not by feelings. Sir, I forgive her. I forgive him. In the name of Jesus, I forgive. Glory to God. They're forgiven. I don't care how I feel about it, I'm doing this thing by faith. I forgive because you said to do it and I do it by faith. And I believe they're forgiven in the name of Jesus and I don't care how I feel about it. As far as I'm concerned, they're forgiven and I'll stop my feelings one way or the other because I'm a man of faith. Jesus said it, now do it right now. Brother Kenneth Hagin was staying in the home of very close friends while he was preaching a meeting there. And they were all very close and all spiritual people. And some of them had come over there to have meal after the service that night. And he said, all of a sudden, the urge to pray came on him. And he said, and he told all them, he said, I have to pray. And I have to pray now.
So they just all started praying, mostly in tongues. And he said, the minute his knees touched the floor, he saw Jesus. The minute he closed his eyes, there was Jesus right there in front of him. And he talked about talking to him about some other things, but he said, Lord, I need to ask you a question. He said, I have a sermon on the woman with the issue of blood. And I almost have it, but I don't have it quite right. Is there something I'm missing? And he said, yes, there is. He said, get your pencil and write down four points. He said, I jumped up, ran in the bedroom and got my pencil and a piece of paper. And I went back over there and shut my eyes. And the minute I shut my eyes, he was right there. He said, now put down these four points. He said, anybody that will do these four things that that woman did can receive anything they want or anything they need from God or from me. He said, this is the way faith works. And he said, it's amazing how well you can write when you're in the spirit with your eyes closed.
And he wrote down the four points. First, she said it. That is the basic fundamental of faith. You believe it in your heart and you say it with your mouth. Number two, she did it. She received it, was number three. Then she told it. If anybody would do those four things, they could receive anything. So she said it, then she got out in that street. Now there is Jairus, the leader of the synagogue. He has the right they're right there in the same town. I dare say she knew him. He had the right to have her stoned. And like I said, go back over there at the Book of Leviticus and read that. It'll do you good. So now Jairus hasn't said a word. Now, how do we know? She fell down and told him all the truth. He said unto her, daughter, your faith made you whole. How do we know that she'd been there all this time? All the time that Jairus is standing there, she had to tell him all of this. That's how we know about it.
So Jairus is standing there. What can you imagine is going through his mind? How long do you suppose that took? I don't know, but she may have told him about every one of those doctors and there were many of them. Now, one thing we know about her, she forgave them all because faith will not work in an unforgiving heart. She forgave them all. And the fact that she spent all that she had, so evidently she had been a woman of means. And she'd been in that room for 12 years. That would get very old. You know she's skin and bones. She's bleeding for 12 years with this reoccurring bleeding. And I would say, and she of fear and trembling. It is obvious, she intended to touch that garment, get healed, skinny out of there and wait until she looked better to get out in public.
Jesus was stopped and there she was, and Jairus is standing there. Why doesn't she come on? I know her. How long is it going to take her to tell about all of this? I know most of those doctors. But he never opened his mouth. He had already spoken his faith. And he did not say another word. Even when Jesus walked in there and they were tumulting. Now, they weren't just grieving. These are middle Eastern people. Man, I mean, they're tearing their clothes, throwing dirt in the air and everything else. And all the kinfolks are in there. And Jesus walked in there and said, she's not dead, she's asleep.
Now, wait a minute. He believed it in his heart and he said it with his mouth. Did he not? What did he say? Daughter, I say unto thee, arise. Go through the New Testament and watch him many times he's purposely used his words. That's the reason he taught this to these men. They were going to have to teach it to the world. Amen. And the death messenger came right in the middle of all of that. And it's really good in the gospel of Luke. So let's turn over there to the eighth chapter of Luke's gospel. Now, in verse 45, Jesus said, who touched me? When all denied, Peter and they that were with him, said, Master, the multitude thronged thee and press thee, sayeth thou, who touched me. Jesus said, somebody hath touched me for I perceived that power's gone out of me. When the woman saw that she was not hid, she came trembling falling down before him. She declared unto him before all the people for what cause she had touched him and how she was healed immediately. And he said unto her, daughter, be of good comfort, thy faith has made thee whole. Go in peace.
Go in peace. Mark recorded it like this. He said, go in peace and be healed of that plague. In other words, you stay peaceful, this thing's not coming back. You're healed. Now, I noticed this. While he yet spake, there cometh one of, from the ruler of the synagogue's house saying to him, thy daughter is dead, trouble not the master. And now remember, they're thronging him. They are pressed in there around him. They've been pressing a little at a time from the lake shore just as they came ashore from across at the Gadarenes. And so they're pressing, I mean, it's hard to even move in there. Jairus is stuck right up here next to Jesus. And they pressed in there.
And now look at it again. While he had spake, they cometh one of the ruler of the synagogues house, saying to him. Or in other words, the death messenger came, trouble not the master. When Jesus heard it, he answered him. Jairus still didn't say anything. Jesus immediately said, stop the fear. You stop it. Stop the fear. Believe only. She shall be made whole. You stop that fear. He didn't say, "Keep having faith". He already had faith. He had already released faith out of his heart, through his mouth. And Jesus answered. He answered the death messenger, not Jairus. I like that. He just turned and said, stop the fear. You believe only she'll be made whole. I'm going to tell you that. You stop the fear. You believe only you will be made whole.