Kenneth Copeland - Living In God's Protection
— Hello everybody. Here it is, Friday already on the Believer's Voice Of Victory broadcast. And Professor Greg Stephens has taken us in a Word study through the covenants to bring insight and ideas concerning a Shmita year, which is the seventh year.
— It's a Sabbath year.
— It's a Sabbath year.
— For release. It literally means to release.
— Had it not been for Rabbi Cahn's book on this, and the way he writes, he starts at the first. You can't hardly wait to get to the end because...
— The Mystery of the Shmita.
— The Mystery of the Shmita and get it and read it, and we're in it. We're right in the middle of it. Now, let's go...
— It's either judgment or it's blessing, depending on what you do with it. So, we're on the blessing side.
— So, let's go over to the book of Hebrews, which is the book of covenants that the Apostle Paul wrote. I'm very interested in this fourth chapter, but let us therefore. Brother Hagin would say, "When you see the word therefore, check and see what it's there for". So what you have to do is back up because nobody starts a conversation with, "Therefore". Therefore is a connector, so let's back up to the 17th verse. "But with whom was he grieved 40 years? Was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? And to whom swore he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believe not? So we see they could not enter in because of unbelief. Let us, therefore, fear lest a promise being left of us entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. Listen, for unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them. But the Word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it".
— Us and them. Our generation and that generation.
— And that generation.
— So, the same thing's being preached to us. And what are you going to do with it?
— So, go ahead with it, Greg. Now, that's going to get into the rest part. You come down here and to... Now, verse six. Look at it. "Seeing, therefore, it remaineth that some must enter therein, they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief".
— Lack of faith.
— Lack of faith. And the Shmita year is a rest year.
— Rest year. We're in one right now, 5782 on the Hebrew calendar, Biblical calendar, 2022.
— So, we as believers, we rest in this year because we rest, he works. And we work...
— He rests.
— He rests. Not because he wants to, but because of unbelief.
— It's unbelief because I feel like I have to do it. I've got to make this happen.
— Or, it's unbelief because you don't know about it.
— That's right.
— But even if you don't know about it, it's spiritual law. It's still there.
— It's the year 2022. God created 22 distinct types of things in six days of creation, then he rested. I believe we're in one of those places. We're in a timeline of heaven right now. That's our pattern, and we talked this a little bit. Christians are some of the most unhealthy people in the world. It's time to get healthy this year.
— Yes, it is.
— It's time to get spiritually healthy, physically healthy, mentally healthy, relational healthiness. It's time for us to get it.
— And let me mention this, too. Where's my camera? The Lord talked to me. This is years ago. In fact, I wrote a little small book about it, The Decision is Yours. I heard the Word of the Lord come to me, talking to me. "He said that decision had no quality in it. You made the decision but it didn't have any quality in it". That a decision of quality is one about which there is no more argument from which there is no retreat. And the decisions that I have made personally that really were super important to me, I started having pain in my elbow joints and I'd pray a little while and it hurt. Well, I abused coffee. I drank way too much of it. Flying all the time, and I got a terrible habit of it. And I said, "Well, I've got to get off this stuff". Oh, man, my head would hurt. So I set aside a weekend and just got before the Lord and did some fasting over that three days, and I heard it, just as plain. "If you want my will for your life, don't ever drink another cup of coffee again hereafter, forever".
— That was to you?
— Yes.
— And I asked him, "Am I supposed to preach this"? No. He said, "I said you". And he said, "The coffee is a bean and there's certain tars and acids in it and it settled in your elbow joints and there's a lot of pain in there". My first thought was, "Am I going to get that old sick headache"? But then I thought, and I said, "Nope, no I will not".
— So it was a step of entry into his rest. Let me show you something with Shmita here.
— Let me tell you what I did.
— Go.
— I took communion over it.
— There you go. There you go.
— "Now, put," he said. "Get your stuff".
— You had a covenant meal.
— This old, nasty, green bag and a little Farberware coffee pot and my big can of Folgers and just put it all on this plate. And I took communion, and here's what he showed me how to do. I put it all on a plate. I was sitting there in the kitchen of a place that one of our partners had, and I just went up there for a weekend. Put it on a plate. I took communion and I pushed all of that coffee paraphernalia. I said, "Here's my decision. I have no need of you in my life again hereafter forever". It'll kill any habit. And for a while, I just drank hot water. And then I inquired about tea, and I found out that it's a different situation.
— It's reacts different chemically, even.
— And I drank some a while that had caffeine in it, but I just got rid of that and started drinking decaf. But no headache.
— Praise God.
— That was the quality decision. You can do it with... He said to me, he said, "Now, don't go on a diet. Change your way of life. Don't go on a diet". So I'm not on a diet. I'm on a plan.
— Amen. When I showed you the numbers, what this year meant, it implies a journey or a way of life. That's what this year is.
— That's it.
— This is the way of life.
— So make the quality decision.
— This is the way of life for me from now on. I'm going to live in his presence, hedged in. Let me show you something historically that we have an opportunity for this year of Shmita year. 1973 was a Shmita year. It's the year the Supreme Court legalized abortion with Roe v. Wade.
— And that's the year that I... 19 what?
— '73.
— '73, yeah. Go ahead.
— We have now, 49 years later, we have the Supreme Court. They may overturn this thing this year in another Shmita year. See, all of the damage that was done during that time frame, but now this thing's going to get reversed. I'm calling it changed this year. It's not about dates, like I said on Monday of this week. It's about a pattern. It's about a return to God and a pattern of life that we're supposed to live into. The Sabbath year is a manifestation. We have Sabbath days every week, but the Sabbath year is a manifestation of his mercy. That's what it is. It's the hesed of God. It depends on what you're going to do with it is what's going to be in your life.
— And too, you take the promises and you mix it with faith.
— Yes, sir.
— So that, now, you said, "Let us therefore fear lest a promise being left of us entering into his rest any of you fall short of it," because it wasn't mixed with faith. And that's what this ministry is all about, covenant in faith. Back, I mean, from its beginning, and it's now 55 years old.
— You can't walk in covenant if you don't operate in faith.
— No, you cannot.
— Because you have to have faith in it, and the one who made covenant with you is stronger than you, better than you, and my faith is in him.
— And I believe I'm hearing the Lord about next week. Let's go back and go back into the fundamentals of faith and then come back into this and we'll go into the Classic Amplified and so forth and we'll get some definitions, and then come over here into the book of Hebrews and so forth.
— 1916, 1917 was a Shmita year. The Turks lost control of Israel, were thrown out. That was a Sabbath year. I stated it earlier, 1948 was a Shmita year. 1967 was a Shmita year. This will be a growth and gain year if you'll remain under his cover.
— Now, 1967 was a Shmita year.
— Yes, sir, and they got the Golan Heights and...
— And January the 24th of 1967 I registered as a student at Oral Roberts University and I was 30 years old.
— Wow. You're tied to it.
— I'm tied to it.
— Amen.
— And back then I had no idea what those things meant. I didn't recognize the significance of age 30. I turned 30 years old December the 6th of 1966. I should have already been there. I knew it and didn't and...
— You entered the priesthood.
— Yes, I did. And I was so thrilled. Now, I didn't want to go to school. But then God was in this thing, and I thought, and the night before I was to register I didn't know what to do. And I told Gloria, "If I have to pray all night long I'm going to find out". And I fell on the floor and just started praying in tongues as fast as I could. And I thought, "Well, if I stop, would he say anything to me"? And he said, "Well, it's about time. I haven't been able to get a word in edgewise. Get up on your feet". And he said, "They can't make a minister out of you. I have already made a minister out of you. All they can do is train you. You are in your ministry now, not after you get out of school".
— Amen.
— The next day was January the 24th and I registered. I was so excited, on the first day of classes it was so cold in Tulsa, ripping cold. And the wind was blowing.
— I know.
— And, now, this was a guy that did not want to go to school. I got there so early the door wasn't open and I had to get down in a stairwell so it could be 8:00 or 7:00, something where they could open the door on this thing.
— Hallelujah.
— I was so excited. And I tell you, I've been inside out excited about this thing.
— Ever since.
— Ever since.
— I've had KCBC students tell me, "Well, what if I go to KCBC? What if I go to Fort Worth, Texas and Jesus comes back while I'm there"? Well, then, that's where you want to be. You're doing what he said to do. Quit worrying about that. Matter of fact, you shouldn't be worrying anyway. But if you're where he called you to be, then you're in the perfect will of God.
— Yes, you are.
— Don't worry about how much time that's left.
— And you need to understand. Like he said to me, "I called you here. I'll take care of you here. All they can do is train you. I've called you into the ministry. Your ministry starts now because I sent you here".
— That's right.
— "You're in it now". And I didn't know what I was going to do because I didn't have a dime. I registered and I was sitting there. Mrs. Campbell was typing out my bill and I said, "Lord, it's about time here".
— Any minute.
— And I thought, "Mrs. Campbell, may I make a collect call"? She said, "Yeah, dial 9". She was still typing this bill. And I called my dad. Well, he knew I was at ORU. He said, "Where are you"? I said, "I'm in the registrar's office". I didn't say, "She's typing my bill, daddy. I don't know what I'm going to do".
— I need some money.
— He said, "Well, Eddie Matthews called". He's a contractor there in the Full Gospel Baptist Fellowship here in Fort Worth. And he brought a check by and said, "This is for Kenneth's ministry". He didn't know I was in Tulsa. I said, "How much is it"? And he told me. It lacked 15 cents. After I took my tithe out it lacked 15 cents paying that bill on that first quarter.
— Praise God.
— And I thought, "Well, I know what we're going to do. We'll just go buy a candy bar and go broke. And that's when I walked out of the LRC. My whole dilemma was if I go to the airport and get a job, I can't go to school. If I go to school, I can't get a job. What am I going to do? Well, I don't know. That's when he stopped me, sent me upstairs to the sixth floor, and Oral Roberts, whom I had never seen in my life, walked up behind me after I told him who I was. "Did I understand you're a commercially rated pilot"? I said, "Yes, sir". "Can you handle our airplane"? I said, "Yes, sir". He said, "Two weeks ago, now," and I'm sweating it through this whole two weeks' time. "Two weeks ago I started to hire a new copilot but the Spirit of God said, 'No, I have a student coming who's supposed to have the job,' and you're my man," flying the finest airplane I'd ever... I'd never been up close to an airplane like that before.
— See, you had to stay in faith that entire time. You had to continue to walk that through. So many opportunities to quit, so many opportunities to turn back. This is that year. See, here's what happens. At the end of a Shmita year, the debt is released. But it's not at the beginning of the Shmita year.
— The end of it.
— The end, yes, sir.
— You have to walk by faith all the way through it.
— Yes, sir. You have to stay in it, walk by faith, confess it, believe it.
— For healing?
— In all of it.
— Debt?
— Yes, sir.
— Strife in the family?
— All of it.
— Get rid of that?
— All the things that are on...
— You have to stick with it.
— For your church, for your government, spirit, soul, body, all of it. You have to stay in faith for it the entire year. It doesn't come at the beginning.
— And that's until September of...
— It's the middle to end of September of this year we're in right now, on the Jewish calendar. Now, if we're going to just say it's the year, then it'll be...
— Well, it'd be on every calendar. It's the same thing.
— ...December 31st. Here's what I wrote down, and I believe this was by the Spirit of the Lord. This is election year. This is a mid-term election year.
— Yes, there is.
— This is the opportunity for a reset to righteousness.
— Yes, it is. And in the name of Jesus Christ...
— It starts with us.
— ...of Nazareth...
— Yes, sir.
— ...I said I say it, I believe it. I've asked more than one. We have to go back to paper ballots. Machines are too easy to hack and tear up and mess up. I don't care what you believe about it, but to get it right we have to go back to paper ballots.
— Yes, sir.
— I'm standing to that. I believe that. In the meantime, those machines are going to be brought to task in the name of Jesus...
— I agree with it.
— ...where neither party gets hoodwinked, because this is the United States of America.
— That's right. We have a covenant.
— Yes, we do.
— I'm going to show you a verse here. In Galatians chapter two and verse 20 and 21. Well, look at verse 19. For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me. The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
— Now, what verses were they?
— Galatians chapter two, verse 19, 20, and 21. You look at this thing. This gives the new believer responsibility. As a believer, a New Testament believer, I have a responsibility in him. I don't live my life for myself now.
— That's right.
— I live my life for him. He has a Shmita year for me that I need to obey, that I need to rest in and build this up.
— I'm glad you said that, Greg, because we're shining the light on a special year on the Jewish calendar. But as born again, spirit-filled believers, every year is a Shmita year.
— That's it. You're absolutely right.
— We walk in this thing. We walk and live by faith and not by sight.
— That's where I was headed.
— We walk in a place where any two of us on earth can agree as touching anything we ask...
— It shall be done.
— ...and it shall be done for us as our father wishes in heaven.
— We experience the Jubilee all the time because he's in us, we're in him.
— I was mentioning to you earlier...
— Because he's the Lord of the Sabbath.
— Yes, he is. He's the Lord of the harvest.
— This is the Sabbath year.
— He's the Lord of the Sabbath.
— And he's my Lord and I am in the Lord of the Sabbath. He's in me.
— Praise God.
— Amen.
— Those of you that have never heard Oral Roberts preach, oh, he's a preacher's preacher. And he would, just about every time we would go on a week's meeting, he would go to that fourth chapter of Hebrews and preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he said, "Jesus is our great Jubilee. And poor man, you don't have to be poor anymore. Blind man, you don't have to be blind anymore. Captive, you don't have to be captive because I'm here".
— That's right.
— And Jesus is come alive right before you when he would preach.
— And that should be the case with us. See, the Pharisees put a fence around the Sabbath and they made it not fun. They made it not restful. All the things you couldn't do. Read most of the encounters with Jesus and it's, "You can't heal on the Sabbath. Your disciples are eating grain on the Sabbath". They put a fence around the Sabbath. He put a fence around us.
— That's scripture right there. They were walking through the fields, and I said, "Lord, and this is what the Spirit of God revealed to me at that moment. He said, "I will never ask a man to work on the Sabbath and not eat".
— There you go. He's the Lord of the Sabbath.
— He's the Lord of the Sabbath.
— If you're doing his work...
— Then eat.
— Then eat. Do what needs to do. I have to put my trust in that this year, I'm fenced in.
— Oh, Greg.
— The Sabbath's not fenced in. I'm fenced in. Everything else can be all crazy everywhere else, but I'm in rest because he's at work in my life. And the debt is going to be released this year, and this is happening this year, that's happening, and America's getting righteous this year.
— Yes, glory.
— Abortion is over this year.
— Oh, glory to God.
— If we'll take our place. It'll happen.
— And all of us, all throughout this audience, think about the agreement power. Spirit-filled believers listening and watching and doing the same thing we're doing, just on fire, just thrilled with the word of it.
— Come unto me all ye that labor or are heavy laden.
— I will give you rest.
— And I will give you rest. Come to him this year. He's going to give you rest.
— Thank You, Jesus.
— It's a good year.
— It's heavy in here, isn't it? And we're out of time again. Glory to God. We'll be back here in just a moment. Don't go away.