Kenneth Copeland - Being Covenant-Minded All the Time
Let's go to the book of Ephesians and look with me in the second chapter of Ephesians. "And you, hath he quickened and made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins. Wherein in time past, you walked according to the course of this world. According to the prince of the power of the air. The spirit, that now". Say, "The spirit that now". The Spirit that now works in the children of disobedience. I wrote out in my Bible, 'that is not me.' Now, he didn't say in those that are unsaved. He's not writing this to unsaved people. He's writing it to the church at Ephesus. Among whom also we all had our conversation or our manner of life, in times past, in the lusts of our flesh. Particularly, in the King James translation, the word 'lust' is used a lot. It's been connected to sexual lust so long that people just automatically think about that. Lust is pressure. It's pressure being put on you.
Well, sexual temptation is an enormous pressure. But now, let me give you an idea here, to take you to the place to which I'm referring. When the scripture says, "Sorrow not as the others who have no hope". Now, Rick, how do you pronounce that Greek word for grief? Yeah, "Lupe". And that's the word used there? It said, "Don't grieve". Don't be doing that. The Lord began to deal with me on the word 'sorrow'. In the book of Isaiah, in the King James translation, "Sickness and pain" is translated grief and sorrow. The Lord kept pointing out to me about the time that my mother went home to be with the Lord. He'd already started dealing with me on that. He said, "Why do you use that word so much"? If you need to apologize to somebody, say so. But, quit passing the sorrow around. I'm sorry. Well, are you? What's wrong with you? Does that mean, you're no good. What does that mean? Well, no, I apologized. Well, why don't you use the word apologize? Instead of a word that's connected to grief.
Brother Copeland, you just split hairs. And, I split them every day when it comes to the things that come out of my mouth, particularly when they get out in my heart. They stay there long enough, they mess up your life. And there are people that all the time. Oh, sorry. Sorry. What about? Well, I stepped in your way. Well, why didn't you say, "Excuse me"? Instead of telling me how sorry you are. The devil will use a dictionary on you. Because, he's a legalist and he deals in sorrow. Now, this came to the place. People kept coming around to me. Oh, Brother Copeland. Now listen to this. I'm so sorry, you lost your mother. I didn't lose her. She just left town.
A few years later, she and father got back together, when he left. Well, I didn't know. We're going to learn something here. I've begun to notice it. People yielding to the pressure of grief. No one thinks about lust, when they think about grief. But I've watched this, took careful notice and being around a home-going situation, particularly around me. People that don't know and you can't blame them or hold them accountable for something they just don't know anything about. And you get in the atmosphere. And when you get in that atmosphere, it's easy to cry. It is really easy to... Billy you back me in this, you've experienced it. It is easy to cry. And you walk in there, you feel good till you walk in the front door of the funeral home. And you walk in that atmosphere. All of a sudden, this crying thing comes on you. And it's easy.
If you're not careful, you begin to weep. That's not all bad, but you better know your business. And here's what the Lord said to me. "The people that just say, 'Well, just cry it out.' It's so easy". But, here's the thing. It doesn't feel bad. It feels good. The weeping feels good. Now, I have wept before the Lord. You want me to tell you something? That's fun. That's just fun, man. Glory to God. And you just come to that place where is this such a precious moment? And you just weep before him. Now, a couple of years ago, I really didn't intend to do it, but I said something to Gloria, but it came out hard, and I saw that it hurt her. It grieved me, I fell on my face and wept before her. And, I began to see what it's like when we grieve the Lord. It brings him to weeping. Because, we put him in a place where he can't help us.
Anyway, here's what the Lord said. When a person yields to that and never tries to correct it. And you just weep it out, it is over in the emotional area and the pull and the push. It is over in that emotional area where sexual satisfaction is. It's that same part of your emotional makeup. But, if you don't resist it, if you completely yield to it, then the spirit of grief doesn't go away. That's a problem. He just moves in. The spirit of grief is the spirit of death. Grief, and death work together. And you heard me mention this before. Grief, when you haven't lost anything, is depression. It could be grieving. Just nobody... Oh, I don't understand. Well, I don't understand why nobody cares. I don't know what it is. You don't get into that thinking about anybody else, you get into it, thinking about yourself. And like Gloria has said, you think about yourself all the time, it would depress anybody.
So, once we see that word 'lust,' check it out. Look at some other translation. See what it says. Since Rick Renner lives so far away from me, at least I have a Blue Bible app and I can go check things out and see. And anyway... Because, these words are in here dealing with where we're going. Thank You, Lord. Let's start with that third verse again. Among whom also we had our manner of life in times past. In the lusts, the pressures of human flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. So, the desires of the flesh, there's a whole more to the desire of the flesh, than just in the sex and emotional area. I got so tired of being a pig. I looked up the word 'glutton.' Everywhere you find the word glutton, you find the word drunkard. That is a lust of the flesh. It's the work in the children of disobedience.
I was a born again, spirit filled man and I didn't know what to do about it. So, I took hold of that and I don't know. I got this weird way about me, so I said, "Okay, I see it". And for a long time, somebody would offer me a piece of cake or something. I'd say, "No, thank you. I don't drink". "What did he mean"? And I'd just smile. Nobody yet has ever asked me why I said that. I think they were afraid to ask. But it got my attention and it renewed my mind and it put those kind of foods in the class where I needed them to be. For a long time, several years, when I read, offer my body as a living sacrifice... For several years, Rick, I referred to my body as, my sacrifice, until it became real. Christ, the anointed one and his anointing inside us, our hope of glory.
So, that hope of glory is on the inside of me and I will meditate on that and meditate on that and meditate on that and meditate on that and think about that by faith, until the title deed of it comes up on the inside of me, so that when I lay hands on someone, I fully expect the glory to manifest. And before, I never thought about the glory when I laid hands on someone, but I will now. I expect it. Hallelujah. It's my hope of glory. What is hope? Huh? Yes it is. And what is faith? Substance of the things we hope for. So we have hope. Yeah. And I've got faith. It's working. Well, anyway, let's go on now. I could preach on each one of these verses. But, I better be going. But, God... Now there's a good idea, 'but God.' Say it, "But God". But God who rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us.
Even when we were dead in sins, has made us alive together with Christ, with the Messiah, with the Anointed One, by grace are you saved and has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus. And we're not having any problems up there. Now, how can we become more seated with Christ Jesus in the heavenlies? So that, that becomes an awareness, all the time. But God who is rich... Rich, that means he's abundantly supplied in mercy. Wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins and made alive together with Christ. By grace are you saved and he's already done this. He raised us up together and made us to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come, he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through faith.
Well now, wait a minute now. And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Well, what's the gift of God? Huh? The faith and the grace. Yeah. Well of course, he's referring to faith. But then, in the book of Romans, what did he say? It is by faith, so that it might be by grace. So, they have to be in that order. But, that gift of grace, that was the beginning of everything. But faith, it came and it's still in there. So, continue. Not of works, lest any man should boast, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has before ordained or prepared that we should walk in them. Wherefore, remember that you being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands.
At that time... Say, "At that time". At that time, you were without Christ being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants, plural, of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. I'm very sad to say, that there are multiplied billions of Christians all over the world that are strangers to those covenants. They don't even know there is a covenant. They don't. They're not really aware of the word 'covenant.' It's just the Old Testament and the New Testament and not take time to figure out what that word was translated. Covenant was translated testament. I remember the day that hit me. It hit me like somebody slapped me. Dear Lord. I am certain, well, I'm not certain. But I sense this, that the early English translators were doing their best to show us that these two testaments are God's will, that's what a testimony is.
That's what a testament is. It's a witness. It is a testament. It is the will and testament of the Lord Jesus Christ. The only man ever to leave a will and then, get raised from the dead and probate his own will. Cause his own will to come to pass. When we say what he says about what he did. Strangers. Say, "Strangers". Strangers from the covenants of promise. Now, I want to look at something here, before we go to the book of Genesis. Thank You, Lord. In second Peter chapter one, verse one, Peter, a servant or a better translation is, Peter, a slave and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, according... It is according to something.
As his divine power has given unto us, how many things? All things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue or excellence whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises. I like to put it like this. There are given to us exceeding great and precious covenant promises. Now, Christians read that all the time and still 'covenant' never crosses their mind cause pastors don't preach it. It doesn't cross their mind, because they weren't taught it. Too many schools of theology are not teaching it. I'll tell you some place where they do get it. And that's KCBC. But that's the only one that I'm responsible for. You have to be covenant minded all the time. I recognize this in such a great way.
The first time I met Bishop David Oyedepo. He would lock himself up till he got an assignment from God. And then, he'd just go do it. First time I met him, he said, "Brother Copeland, what you see here cost $250 million, US". No American money, no borrowed money. Faith in God. He said, phase two is 250 million USD and the money is in the bank for that. He talked about learning it from my book on the laws of prosperity. He said, I got the healing part, but the prosperity part I was struggling with. But, he set himself apart. He said, it's when I got Mama Gloria's book on Prosperity is the Will of God for you. And he said, I saw it, prosperity as a covenant. So, he activated his covenant with God. God told him what to do. And he said, "Okay, now just show me how". And as we discussed, he said, when I read, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his way of being right, and all these things will be added to you". That's all I need. Because, that is blood backed. It's just no problem. He said it in his covenant and he told me to do it and there is no doubt. But, what? It will come to pass.