Kenneth Copeland - Be Led By the Holy Spirit
Tonight, let's begin talking about, we talked about, we walk in love, but tonight we are led by the Holy Spirit. So Romans 8 with me, please. Now the eighth chapter of Romans is pretty well the gospel. I like to call this the gospel according to Paul, because he said, "This is my gospel". I'm of the opinion that the reason that his writings are so eloquent and he's the educated one. Now he's of the tribe of Benjamin and sat at the feet of Gamaliel. At the same time, he was a Roman citizen. I mean, God just handpicked this man, turned him around and changed his name. His name was Saul of Tarsus, covenant name change. Isn't that good? So now 14th verse, 12th verse, "Therefore brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh to live after the flesh".
Back up here now. I want to show you something right here at the beginning of this. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them, which are in Christ Jesus, who walked not after the flesh". Or you put it like this, who walked not after the five physical senses, but after the Spirit, after the Word, because the Spirit wrote it. The five physical senses versus the Word, where the only Word they had back there then was the First Covenant. He didn't realize he's writing the New Testament. He's just writing letters. So, now come on over here. Now, I want you to look at that. "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death".
Now come on back over here now, "For if we live after the five physical senses, you'll die. But if you through the Spirit, or through the Word and the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, excuse me, but you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba, Father". Now, "The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God and if children, then heirs, heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ, if so be that we suffer with him that we also may be glorified together".
Now think about that. Now being led of the Spirit. All right, now, turn with me to 1 Corinthians. Yes, I will, Lord, I hadn't planned to do this, but I'm yours to command. I want to look at this 11th chapter here, because I take communion a lot. And when I'm at home there and I go into my study and I just take some lumps of bread and some grape juice and just, and I turn to this scripture right here in the 11th chapter. "And for I have received of the Lord, that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also, he took the cup and when he had supped saying, 'This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as often as ye drink it, in remembrance of me". And he began to teach them then.
Now here's verse 28, "Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body". What does that mean? You go in and receive communion and you've been bad mouthing other people and that's the Lord's body. Whomever it is, it's the Lord's body. We don't need to be doing that anytime and have a fuss about somebody on the way to church and then take communion. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. But I want you to notice this. This is what came up in my spirit. Well, this is all part of it. "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves," not condemn ourselves, judge ourselves, "we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord," or corrected, "that we should not be condemned with the world".
Judge yourself. Judge yourself. Judgment's good. Judgment is good, because it is a correction. But judging yourself save you a lot of pain. There is a judging of people that 99% of the Christians don't realize they are in judgment. Well, I'm going to tell you right now, if I had been pastor, I wouldn't have done that. Come on, dimwit, if you were pastor, that's what you would've done. It's a lack of understanding and ignorance. You just judged that person and you just set the bar for yourself. And the devil will see to it that you have a chance. Oh, I'd never do that. Really? That's judgment. So you just don't do that. So now here we are. I wanted you to see that about judging ourselves.
Now let's go over here to the 12th chapter. We're still talking about being led of the Spirit. And now we're going to see manifestations of the Spirit. Chapter 12: "Now, concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. You know that you were Gentiles carried away under those dumb idols, even as you were led. Wherefore, I give you to understand," Now I want to show you something about that. "That no man, speaking by the Spirit of God, calls Jesus accursed and that no man can say, Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost". "Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, and I will not have you ignorant, you know that you were Gentiles carried away under these dumb idols, even as you were led. Wherefore, I give you to understand that no man speaking by the Spirit of God, calls Jesus accursed".
Now there was junk like that going on. These people, when you were Gentiles, they were idol worshipers. And they would stand up and scream at one another across the whole congregation, just wild, it was a bunch of goats, and just scream at one another. And so he had to straighten lot of that out. "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of administrations, but the same Lord". I want you to notice, administrations. Do you see ministry right in the middle of that? "The administration of the Spirit is given to every man to profit with all. For the one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit, to another by the same Spirit the gifts of healing," actually gifts of healings, plural.
"By the same Spirit to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But all these work, that one and the selfsame Spirit dividing to every man severally as he will. For as the body is one and have many members and all the members of that one body being many are one body, so also is Christ. For by the Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free and have all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many". Now isn't that interesting? And well, oh, wait a minute. Let's see. "By one Spirit, we are all baptized into one body".
Now I'm going to look over here in the book of Hebrews in that sixth chapter. "Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go unto perfection. Not laying again the foundation of repentance from the dead works, but faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms". There's baptism in water, baptism in the Holy Spirit and we just read one, being baptized into the body of, we were immersed into the body of Christ. I don't know how I just have it in my spirit I help somebody with that right then. And that's one of them and it's a good thing to know that he wrote that. So now we'll go back over here to 1 Corinthians. Now I want to talk to you all these work that one and selfsame Spirit dividing to every man severally as he will.
"For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; it is therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him".
Now that's interesting, as it has pleased him. Well, led of the Spirit, understanding the ways of the Spirit. I'm going to go back to that 13 chapter. "Though I speak with the tongue of men and angels and have not love, I am become as a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. Though I have the gift of prophecy to understand all mysteries and all knowledge, though I have all faith so that I could remove mountains and have not love, I'm nothing". Let's come over here to the 14th chapter, "Follow after love and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that you may prophesy. He that speaks in an unknown tongue".
Unknown is always italicized. "Speaks not unto men, but unto God: for no man understands him; howbeit in the Spirit he speaks mysteries. But he that prophesies speaks unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. He that speaks in an unknown tongue edifies or builds himself up; he that prophesies edifies or builds up the church". So this is where you build yourself up, makes your spirit strong. So I said, well, I know what I'm going to do. I'm going drive, I'm going to pray in tongues all the way back to Tulsa. All the way back. And I did. And I thought, and I said it, if I'm edified, I can't tell it. I just had a dry throat. And I was tired.
Now, one of the men, Tommy Tyson was chaplain of Oral Roberts University. He was the one that I told after that experience I had what had happened. He's the one that said, "Kenneth, you can't do anything here. Go home and come back in January". And I enrolled January the 24th. So, I got in and Gloria said, "Tommy Tyson is speaking tonight in so and so's prayer group. Do you want to go"? Oh, I was tired. I thought, yeah, it's Tommy Tyson, so let's go. So I changed clothes and we went over there. This woman, large, large living room and a lot of chairs and so forth in there. So we got there and we just sat around right there in two chairs while Tommy was about this far away and he's just teaching away. And he said, "Now anyone that needs healing, if you would just raise your hand and someone around you will lay hands on you".
There was a woman right behind Gloria and me. She was just sitting there. She raised her hand. And so then everyone stood up. She had her hand up, so I just turned around there and when I laid hands on her, I'm telling you, fire came out of my hand, knocked her down back in her chair. I was edified. My spirit was built up. I'm literally, I mean, fire came out of my hand, knocked her back into that seat. Totally healed when she got up. Praise God. That's how I learned all this stuff. Well, these are manifestations of the Spirit. And people get all hung up and messed up about, well it's passed away and all of that and well, tongues have passed away. No, they haven't. Not understanding, well the apostle put it like this. Are all apostles? No. Are all prophets? No. Do all speak with tongues. He was talking about the ministry gift of tongues.
Well now see there. Well, prophecy will pass away. Yes, it will. Tongues will pass away. Well, see there, it's passed away. Just casual glance at the Bible, foul up, the devil's used it to mess up things, because he is the fouler. But if you do a careful study of these things, then you find out that these manifestations are to profit the body of Christ. Jesus is the gift to the world, for God to love the world that he gave His only begotten Son. The Holy Spirit is the gift to the church. It's a gift. He is a gift.
Jesus said, it's more expedient that I leave, because I'm going to send you back another comforter. I will not leave you comfortless. The cross reference says as orphans. Oh, I will not leave you like this. Because the Father within me does the work. Praise God. And people say, did Jesus speak in tongues? Well, he didn't need to speak in tongues, but now wait a minute. At the tomb of Lazarus He groaned in the Spirit and he said, I know you always hear me. He was interceding and groaning in the Spirit before he'd said anything. He waited four days. Would you like to know why? The Jewish people believe that the Spirit lingers for four days and then leaves. So he put an end in that. He just waited. Praise God.
In the garden of Gethsemane they came up and you know the story, and he said, "I am He," and knocked those guys down. All of a sudden, a young man in a cloth just ran off naked. Somebody said that was Mark. No, it was not. Study it out. The cloth was grave clothes. They brought that young man in there to bury him. It was the garden of Gethsemane. It's cemetery, you understand? And He said, "I am," and just raised him from the dead and he jumped up, ran off. That's our savior. That's our savior. Hallelujah. Thank You, Jesus. Well, you got time. Well, if you don't go home, I'm going to tell it then. This is being led of the Spirit. And then to be led of the Spirit, you're going to have to edify yourself and then you have to get over here in that 13th chapter, if you're led of the Spirit.
If you'll study this 13th chapter, you have the manifestations of the Spirit in the 12th chapter and you come to this 13, it just wipes them out if you're not walking in love. Every one of them. Every one of them. In that 31st verse, "covet earnestly the best gift". Are you doing that? Are you really doing that? Covet the manifestation of the Holy Spirit, covet it, press for it. I have to have this. I need this to minister to people. No telling where I'm liable to be tomorrow. I need this. I covet these gifts. And there's a person asked my spiritual father which is the best gift. He said, the one you need at the time.