Kenneth Copeland - Faith Says
And we're talking about the simplicity of faith. Now let's open our Bibles tonight to the 11th chapter of the Book of Mark. "When they came nigh to Jerusalem unto Bethphage and Bethany at the mount of Olives, he sent forth two of his disciples. He said unto them, go your way into the village over against you. And as soon as you have entered it, you shall find a colt tied whereon never man sat. Loose him, bring him. If any man say unto you, why you do this, say ye that the Lord hath need of him and straightway, he will send him hither. They went their way and found the colt tied by the door. And certain of them that stood there said, what are you doing to that colt? And they said, Jesus commanded. And they let him go. So they brought the colt to Jesus and cast their garments on him. And he sat up on him. So now blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord, Hosanna to the highest. Jesus entered into Jerusalem and into the temple".
Now I want you to underline that right there. That's one of the things I wanted you to see. He entered into the temple. He entered into the temple. The man at the Beautiful Gate in Acts chapter three. He looked up expecting to receive something from them. Now, a man that had a reputation to giving to the poor in the middle of the night. You know, as well as I do, Jesus never did pass that man by without telling Judas to put something in his hand. Look through there and find they went into the temple. It's all over the Book of Mark. They went into the temple. Every time these went through there, he put something in that man's hand. Why didn't he heal him? His Father didn't say heal him. He said, "I only say what I hear my Father say. And I only do what I see my Father do". Amen.
Now that comes from meditating the Word and then searching around and finding these spots like that. And it's a lot of time, I won't go into all that, but I wanted to take you to that. "In the morning when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came if happily, he might find anything there on. And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves for the time of figs was not", look notice, "yet", is in italics. Now in the Classic Amplified, it explains it. "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".
That tree was all out of whack. But let me tell you, the behind the scenes. In the garden, what did Adam and his wife try to cover themselves with? Fig leaves. So it was time to speak to a fig tree. So now let's read this. "They came to Jerusalem. Jesus went into the temple". There it is again. "And began to cast them out that sold and bought in the temple and overthrew the tables of the money changers and the seats of them that sold doves; would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple. And he taught saying, is it not written, my house shall be called of all nations, the house of prayer? You have made it a den of thieves". "And the scribes and the chief priest heard it and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him because all the people were astonished at his doctrine. When evening was come, he went out of the city. In the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots".
From the roots, not the leaves, those things, they're big trees, particularly in that part of the world. Just research it, go to Google or Bing or DuckDuckGo, or somebody. And, well, that's a search engine, and just put it in there. They're huge. We see fig trees around here and you know, some of them are mighty and bigger than that, but over there, they are huge, very, very old trees. "As they passed by". Now, don't you know, let's go back, let's look at this again. Jesus entered to Jerusalem into the temple, looked around about upon all things. And now the evening tide was come, and he went out to Bethany. Why didn't he do anything? This is very important. He just went in there and looked around. He needed to pray about this. He didn't do or say anything. He just observed, never ever quick to accuse, listen to the Lord, listen to him, go and pray. And then the next day he came in there and he knew what to do.
So now notice this. Now don't, you know, Peter looked at that tree when they walked past by there. In the morning, 12 hours later, as they pass by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots, Peter calling to remember, saith unto him, Master behold the fig... Look at that fig tree, which you cursed has withered away. Now what happened here? He spoke to it. What did he say? He spoke the end result. He didn't care what happened to it. Lightning could kill it. It could stand there from now on with leaves and no fruit. He just said it. "No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever", nine words, and the disciples heard it. It was a far off. I mean, he let that tree have it. "In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. Peter calling to remembrance and saith unto him, Master behold, the fig tree, which you cursed withered away. Jesus answered, said have faith in God".
Now the cross reference there have a little two there says, or have the faith of God. Well, of course it's faith of God, but it's the same faith we have. It's the faith of God, same thing, same faith. But now this is the fundamental of faith. This is fundamentally what it is, and how it works, He laid it all down. I want you to notice something in the 14th verse, Jesus answered that tree. That tree was talking to him. So he answered that tree. That is a basic fundamental of faith. You talk back. You talk back to the news. I don't watch much of it. I have better news than that. But you need to talk back to it. Amen. So, the whole fundamental of faith starts in the book of Genesis. Hold your place there. And let's go there once more. Page one. In the beginning God. Well now there you are. He's always been.
Now our little miniature brains, can have a hard time with that. We can't think. Because, that ain't no good, just don't even try to go there. No, it doesn't work. Where did he come from? He didn't. I'm going to ask him that first time... We'll know. "In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth, the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters". Now here's the fundamental of faith right here. Right here. The Spirit of God was moving. He is always moving. He's moving in here tonight. He's moving all over this planet. He came here full time on the day of Pentecost. All of the angels. You remember Jacob's ladder? That's over.
Hebrew is the first chapter says, "are they not all ministering spirit sent forth"? All ministering, all of them, all of those angels that have assignments in the earth. I am totally, absolutely convinced that when they all came back into this atmosphere, it didn't say it was a rushing wind. It said it was the sound of a mighty rushing wind. And I believe you could have heard that all over this planet. When they all came back into this atmosphere at the same time, glory to God. Amen. But here it is, "the Spirit of God was moving upon the face of the waters and God said, light be". So, the Spirit of God is moving. But without faith being released with the mouth, nothing happens. Nothing happens. That's a fundamental of faith.
Now Jesus laid it out right here. He answered that fig tree. Then they answer you about it. Jesus said unto them, "have faith in God". "Verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say onto this mountain, be thou removed, be thou cast into the sea and shall not doubt in his heart, but believe those things, which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he says", Kenneth Hagin just went from the parsonage over to the sanctuary. And he just laid down on his back and read the whole book of Mark, because it was these verses right here is what got him off the bed of affliction. And the Lord said to him in his Spirit, he said, did you ever notice that I used say three times and believing only once.
Well, that's what I just did, right then. He said, "my people are not having a problem with the believing. It's the saying part". And how many times do you suppose in 55 years I've had people come up and talk to me about that. Well, Brother Copeland. I mean, I tried that, I tried that, it just doesn't work for me. It just did. It's the saying part. It's the saying part? Well, I just can't support the Word of Faith any longer. Why? This is a true story, not too long ago. Well, I really don't... I really don't think it matters what we say. How did you get saved? You believed it in your heart and said it with your mouth. Fig tree. Now you listen to me, look at that. It's nine words. "Verily, I say unto you, whoever's say onto this mountain, be thou removed, be thou cast into the sea".
Mountains are bigger than trees. Well fig tree, now you listen to me. You listen to me. I'm going to curse you. I'm working it up. I'm working up my faith here. Now, wait a minute. No. Oh God help me. God help me, I'm going to kill that fig tree. But I said, or you wait a minute. What am I supposed to say? Hey, fig tree, die! Come on. Fig tree, are you listening to me? No. Why? Zero faith. What did Jesus do? Read it again. He spoke to it and turned around and headed to Jerusalem. He didn't care what happened to it. He just spoke the end result. We could have come out there the next day. And it had cease to exist. He didn't care, because he had faith in God. He answered that tree and that tree had had it. It was over.
So what do we need to do? We need to speak to the fig tree. We need to speak to the mountain, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. You are finished. You are through. Goodbye. The Lord started talking to me years ago about very positive negatives. Well, I'll tell you one thing, glory to God forever. I'm not afraid of that devil. I'll tell you. I'm just a boss over him. Satan you go in the name of Jesus. Now you understand me? I told you to go. The Bible says to resist you and you'll flee. No it doesn't. It doesn't say that. It says submit yourself to God, resist the devil, and he'll flee from you. That's a whole different thing. No, the devil didn't go anywhere. The commandment of the church to love one another.
However, you go over the first John and he says it's in two parts. Believe on the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another. And believe the love, you've known the love, now believe it. And I saw that one day and I looked at that. You've known the love and believe the love, that he has for you. Well, when did we know the love? The moment we were born again, because we moved from death unto life and we love the brethren, but then believing the Lord. We have to do what the Bible says. I exhort therefore that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions and givings of thanks, be made for all men, for Kings, for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty, for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God, our savior, who will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, that there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Kings and all that are in authority. Whoever they are.
I heard a man say, well, I can't pray for the man. I can pray for the office. Oh, well get off of it. I don't care who's in there. From that standpoint. That's what I pray. First of all. Amen. And then you begin to pray, Father, your will be done in these offices. You know, who's supposed to be there. Your will be done. Then you get results. But that's where we are. This is still the United States of America. It still is. And it will be. It will be until the catching away of the church. However long that is. But faith in God, it's the answer. It's all over the Bible.