Kenneth Copeland - The Spirit of Power Is Present
— Hello everybody. I'm Kenneth Copeland. And this is the Believer's Voice of Victory broadcast. Now when we closed yesterday, Professor Stephens and I and the class we were talking about in the Spirit there are people that have been transported in the Spirit. I experienced this in a small way when I was in Jamaica. And the Lord instructed me before I went there to go up in the mountains and teach faith. Well, and I was up there, and of course, we were in a mountain region there. And the church was in between these two mountains like that. The mountains were like this. And there was just a little trail between those churches or to where the church was. Church was right here. It's pretty good size church. And people were in there. They said, "We'd been fasting a day a week for a year that the Lord sent us somebody to teach us faith". And so, and this young woman, she looked like she's about 12 years old. I found out later she's 18. But she had a bad heart, rheumatic heart. And they told her all the time, "You just die in a minute now". Well, she did during church. Just as church was over and her mother screamed, "My baby's dead. My baby's dead". I was standing right there. And when that happened, but just came out of church, Deacon Lewis was there and he had a flashlight. He's the only one, I grabbed that flashlight. Turned around and it was about 50 steps or so up to that place. I put my foot on that first step, and I don't remember the other steps. My next step was on top of that deck.
— Wow.
— 50 step, just like that. And that girl was raised from the dead.
— Praise Him. So when I got up there, she was studying and she'd just fallen. Her daddy picked her up like this. And when I got up there, he just turned around and she was hanging. And when he turned around, then of course she was facing me. And she was cold. And I said, "In the name of Jesus, walk". And then I said it a little bit louder, a matter of fact I shouted it, "In the name of Jesus, walk". And I just heard it in my spirit, "Hit her in the stomach". So I just said, "In the name of Jesus, walk". And she lunged like this and said, "Poppa". So there was two of those. That experience was all right in that same place. Now let's go back where we were yesterday. And we'll see this again in the sixth chapter of John, 15th verse, "When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain, himself alone. And when evening was now come, his disciples went down to the sea and entered into the ship, and went over the sea toward Capernaum". That's where his headquarters lived. That's where Peter's house was. And that was home. "And Jesus was not come to them when the sea rose by reason of a great wind that blew, to when they had rode about five and 20 or 30 furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea and drawing nigh under the ship. And they were afraid, but he said, 'It is I, be not afraid.' Then they willingly received him into the ship". Look, willingly, they willingly received him into that boat. They were in trouble without him in the boat. And you're in trouble without him in the boat. And if you don't know Jesus as your Lord, you're drowning right now. And your boat's going to sink one of these days and you need him right now, right now. And all you need to do is just say, "Jesus, come into my heart. I receive You as my Lord and my Savior in the... And I praise You. And I thank You. Now, fill me with Your power of Your Holy Spirit now. Amen".
— Amen. You went from darkness to light immediately.
— Yes. "That's too easy, Brother Copeland". No, Jesus did all the hard part. He went to hell. He suffered more than any man ever will or before or since. But he couldn't pray your prayer. He left the easy part for you and for me. Now, notice this. So they were going home, "Then they willingly received him into the ship," or into the boat, "and immediately the ship was at the land where they went". It was at Capernaum. I wrote out here in the margin, "Jesus was in a hurry to get home". Well, and I'd read that again and again and again. And I began to meditate. People that don't meditate in the Word of God don't get much. Read it and take it in the book of Joshua. And you'll see it there, first chapter. Anyway, well, the Lord told Joshua, he said, "I'll be with you as I was with Moses". Now you meditate in my Word day and night. And then you will observe, you'll know how to do what's written there. And it rose up on the inside of me. And he said just strong on the inside, "Well," he said, "Kenneth, I'm like you. I want to get home. I want to sleep in my own bed". But he said the main thing is they were very, very tired. And I needed them to rest at home. So we just did it. That was Spirit of God that did that.
— Yes, that's right.
— Transported them instantaneously. That quick in the Spirit, they were home.
— Let me read this. I got the Passion translation. I opened it up on the phone right here. John 6 verse 21, "They were relieved to take him in. And the moment Jesus stepped into the boat, they were instantly transported to the other side". The moment he stepped in.
— The moment he stepped in the boat. Without him in that boat it's just another night on the water.
— So this is learning to cooperate with the power. The miracle was happening in their hand. They didn't feel it, they didn't sense it. Listen, you could be sitting in the middle of a miracle and not sense a single thing going on around you. Jesus pulls away from him because they want to make him Messiah. This is at Passover. And he pulls away. I've got a little map here, Brother Copeland, and I'll show you. And I think they're going to put on the screen there. This shows the Sea of Galilee. And in John chapter 6, verse 1, I always thought it was on the right hand side of that map over there, Bethsaida. Here it is here if you want to look at it. I don't know if you have it or not. On that right hand side Capernaum, as you can see right there in the center of that, they left Tiberias. They're over by Tiberias. How do I know that? John chapter 6, verse 1, where they're at on the lake's given away by the location. "After these things, Jesus went over the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias," tells us what side of the lake they're on.
— So as you look at this, the Sea of Galilee, and you come down then you have Capernaum, Gennesaret, Magdala, Tiberias. And then down here, you have Gadara.
— The mad man of Gadara.
— That's where Jesus delivered that man and took clothes for him before he left.
— Now, interesting thing right there between right there by Magdala, and it's still there today, there's great big cliff, and it's called Mount Arbel. Mount Arbel on the top of it, and an Israeli guide showed me this, he said, "This is where the feeding of the 5,000 happened". I said, "Well, no, it's across the lake over by Bethsaida". He goes, "No. That's the feeding end of 4,000". And I said, "How do you know this"? And he walked me through, a Jewish Orthodox guide, is walking me through John chapter 6. And he said, "No Tiberias". And he goes up into the mountain. There's a very big mountain right there that divides. It's right by Magdala between Magdala and Tiberias. And the top of that mountain is a big grassy bowl, Brother Copeland, that you could easily set 5,000 men in.
— Praise God.
— And it says they were sitting in the grass. That's the road that would take you to Nazareth and Cana. Jesus had been very familiar with this area coming from Nazareth over to Capernaum. But in all of these things, it's the power. Now you just invited people to accept Jesus as their savior. Going down here in John chapter 6, they asked him... let's see... "The day following the people," in verse 22, "which stood on the other side of the sea saw that there was none boat there saved the one where, and the disciples were entered. And that Jesus went not with his disciples of boat". Disciples going, "Howbeit, they came into other boats from Tiberias... Nigh unto the place where they did eat bread". So that's close to the place they ate the bread. "And Tiberias, after the Lord had given thanks. When the people therefore saw Jesus was not in there, neither his disciples, they also got in the boats, or took the ship in, and came to Capernaum seeking him. Rabbi how'd you get here"? Basically...
— Hang on. Hang on. 37, "All that the Father gives me come to me. Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast him out". Now you may specifically say, "Well, my preacher, you have no idea what I've done". No, I don't. I don't even know you. But I know Jesus personally. And I can see right here what he said, and what he said is eternal. "Him that comes to me I will in no wise cast him..." I don't care what you've done, he's fixed it.
— Yes. Look up at 28, "They said unto him, what shall we do that we might work the works"? Or what do we got to do to have the power that you just did? And he said unto them, "This is the work of God that you believe on him whom he has sent".
— Thank You, Jesus.
— That's it.
— Well, while we're there, it is... Now in the 53rd verse, he's talking about himself. And he said, "Verily, I say unto you, except you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoso eats my flesh and drinks my blood hath eternal life. And I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat, indeed. My blood is drink, indeed. He that eat my flesh and drinks my blood dwelleth in me and I in him. And then as the living Father has sent..." The living father, that's the Spirit of God.
— Yes, sir.
— "Has sent me and I live by the Father. So he that eateth me shall live". Verse 59, "These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum at home". Now look, verse 61, does this offend you? Verse 63, are you ready for this? I've been thinking about this this whole time too. I didn't know how I was going to sneak my way around in here, but we're there.
— We're there.
— It is the Spirit. "It is the Spirit that quickens or makes alive. The flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life".
— Amen.
— "But there are some of you that believe not for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believe not, and who should betray him". He knew from the beginning.
— It's starting to line up for him.
— It is. I tell you, the Bible is so marvelous. It works. And the more you study it, and the more you see, and it begins to all weave together. It's just the most magnificent thing on the earth. It is God on the earth manifest. And, but that's the reason people hate it.
— Yes.
— That's the reason people don't want anything to do with it. No, just a bunch of old White men ratting, a bunch of old junk, a bunch of people, and blah, blah, blah. No, they are not just a bunch of old White men. No. They are Middle Eastern Jews.
— Right. All different shades.
— All different shades.
— Absolutely true. And this is a tough saying for them. And he will even ask the twelve.
— And you have to deal with the Ethiopian Jews.
— Yes.
— They're all Black.
— That's right.
— And they're Jews. So you can't say just a bunch of old White men.
— No, it's not, not at all.
— No. It has nothing to do with the color of anybody's skin. It has nothing to do with their body to start with.
— Moses married an Ethiopian.
— Yes, she did.
— So that's all through there. And it has nothing to do with that. This is why he's trying to get them out of natural thinking. Even when they're feeding the 5,000 there and the miracle's happening in their hands, they're not aware of it. They're still in natural thinking. And so this whole night and next day is to get him out of that, and tell him "Guys he's revealing himself, that's what he's doing.
— That's right.
— That I am that bread of life. I'm the one that fed you in the wilderness when your fathers ate manna. It was me. And I'm doing the same thing now. It's interesting because Elisha will do the same thing with feeding a group. And Jesus will fulfill that. Look what's happening here. He's fulfilling the first Testament.
— Yes.
— Beautiful thing.
— It always reminds me of this story of a man that had an appointment and took his son with him. Or no, I think they came over that way. Anyway, it doesn't make any difference. So he had this picture. And so he just tore it in little pieces. And he said, "Sit down there and put all of that..." He said, "Now I can give you a clue. It's the picture of a man. And you put all the pieces together". And so he went in and had his appointment and came back and he was just sitting there. He said, "You've already put this together". He said, "Yes, sir". "How did you do it so fast"? He said, "Well, there was a picture of the world on the other side, and it was easier to do". And his daddy said, "Well, you get the man right, you get the world right".
— Yes.
— That's this book.
— That's right.
— You get this right. And it'll make the people right.
— They wanted him to be a natural king right there. They wanted him... The timing's all wrong. But see, they're not led by the Spirit. He's being led by the Spirit in everything he did. He didn't believe the press of the crowd right there. And he starts talking a little stronger to them to get them to listen. "For him who has ears to hear," he would say, over and over and over. See now, we live on this side. We have the Spirit within us.
— Glory to God.
— Another example of the power at work, and they're not even aware of it, is in Luke chapter 5. And that's in Capernaum. And he's teaching in his house. And four guys go up on the roof.
— Yes. Yes.
— And they lowered the man down through there. And in Luke chapter 5 verse 17, "Came to pass on a certain day as he was teaching, there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were out of every town of Galilee," all of those around that lake, "And Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them".
— Now, Greg, I thought that was a hostile crowd. But then I began to meditate that he was not in a hostile crowd. He was at home. Because in the book of Mark, it says, "He was in the house," not a house, the house. They were not hostile. They never did say anything against him. They just thought it.
— That's right. He perceived it.
— He perceived what they were thinking.
— Well, it's right here. Let me read it to you in verse 22, well, 21. "The Scribes and the Pharisees began to reason saying, perceiving, "Who is this that speaketh blasphemies. Who can forgive sins but God alone"? "Jesus perceived their thoughts. He answered, said unto them, 'What reason you in your hearts, whether it's easier to say thy sins be forgiven to thee or rise and take care of your bed, and walk. But that you may know that the son of man has power...
— Hallelujah.
— "To forgive sins. He said unto the sick man, 'Get up and walk,'" and he did. So there it is, the demonstration of the power. Now here's the situation, they're setting in the presence for all of them to be healed. There's only record of one guy that got healed in that room. And the room was full.
— Let's turn there.
— Yeah. Luke 5
— I want to point something out to you there.
— So you can be setting right in the middle of the greatest teaching, healing service and not even be aware of what's happening.
— Okay.
— First at 17?
— Yes. "It came to pass on a certain day as he was teaching". Now it says here he was teaching. And one of the other accounts has said he was preaching. So he was doing both. "There were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which would come out of every town of Galilee, Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was present to heal them". So healing always comes. And so, "And they took him up on the house top and let him down through the... When he saw their faith..." He saw their faith.
— Yes.
— You can see faith. He saw their faith. He saw their faith. And Bill Winston said "That guy in there and his four crazy friends, he saw their faith". He said unto him, "Man, thy sins be forgiven thee". And that's also in Matthew chapter 9. "But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, 'What reason you in your heart? What is easier to say, thy sins be forgiven thee? Or to rise up and walk?' But that you may know that the son of man has power on earth to forgive sins. He said to the sick of the palsy, 'I say". Hey, he said it. He said it. "'I say, under the arise, take up thy couch and go to thine house.' And immediately he rose up before them took up that whereon he lay and departed in his own house, glorifying God. And they were all amazed. And they glorified God and were filled with fear saying, 'We have seen strange things today.'" And the Spirit of the Lord spoke to my spirit one day. And he said, "Now that's when many of them receive their healing".
— Wow.
— We've seen it.
— Yeah.
— We've seen it. It worked. We have witnessed this thing for ourselves.
— Right. And he'll see Levi... Or Matthew, that point, after that and call him to be a disciple. And then they'll get mad at him for going to Levi's house. But he had just forgiven sin.
— Well he was a tax collector. You see?
— Well, you see how so easily we can judge by the flesh rather than listening by the Spirit?
— Yes. Well, and that's the work of the devil. Because Jesus said it, "Judge not lest you be judged". Maybe we talk about that tomorrow. Praise God. We're out of time for the day. But this's been good, hadn't it? Come on. Thank You Jesus. Praise God. We'll be back in just a moment.