Kenneth Copeland - THE BLESSING of a Covenant With God
Father in the name such is above every name, thank You for the privilege and the honor to teach and share and preach Your Word. Word of the Living God, Your bond. And I thank You and praise You, worship You tonight. And I fully expect every gift, every endowment of the Spirit necessary to stand in the office into which I'm called. I receive that. And as I approach Your holy Word, I give You Lord Jesus, the glory, the honor, for every word that's said, and every deed that is done. For we do it all by faith in that name. And I pray that not one person in this room, nor any person online, or that ever will, and by any means, hear these messages, go untouched by the power of the Living God. And because we pray it in the name of Jesus, we believe it'll come to pass and be that way and none other.
This is an Eastern book, and so the Western mind has difficulty with it, but there's a few things that you can remember that really help. Number one, it is a book of covenants. Actually, you could call this the first covenant and the second covenant. Because actually that's what it is. All of it in blood. There has not been a covenant cut in this book that blood was shed, beginning in the Garden of Eden. You know that Ignacio? An animal. I cannot imagine what a fig leaf suit must have looked like, but it was a fig tree that Jesus cursed. That's his thought. Anyway, and there are things to know and learn about this, that each covenant in this book, Adam's name is red. And that's what makes it hard on Western minds, because most people know so little about a covenant that only thing they think about is the neighborhood around you won't let you paint your house pink.
But that is a covenant. And I'm telling you there's some of them that are so strong, it'll take an attorney to change it, because it is a covenant. Not just an agreement. It's a covenant. And the Native American background, people knew that, very serious thing to be in blood covenant with another tribe, very serious. And even back then, white people did not understand that. African people understand it. But the first recorded in the 15th chapter of Genesis, where a deep sleep came on Abram and he saw it. And he saw God walking in the blood where they cut those animals down the spine, drop them and let the blood flow. And he walked and made promises to Abram, walking in that blood. I believe he saw his tracks in there, because it was Jesus. Everything you see from the creation on, "Let us make man in our image".
Anyway, so to understand this book, you have to go to that place. That the reason it's called God's Word is because it is His bond. "I will watch over my Word to perform it. I will do those things that I swore to your father, Abraham, no longer Abram". The 17th chapter of Genesis, let's turn there. "And when Abram was 90 years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram and said unto him, 'I am the All Mighty God, walk before me and be thy perfect or blameless.'" He said, "I am El", God, singular. "El Shaddai". That's a two part Word. You can say, He is the God that's more than enough, referring to a nurse or to a woman's breast. Now, when Kellie was small, and then when John was small, Gloria was their life. They looked to her. She could understand them. I couldn't. I'd say, "What did he say"? She'd tell me. But she was with that child day and night. And she was life to them. Of course, I was involved. But that's what God said to him.
And I want you to notice this now, "As for Me, behold, as for Me, look, My covenant is with thee, and thou shall be a father of many nations. Neither shall thy name anymore be called Abram. But thy name shall be Abraham, for a father of many nations have I made thee. I have made thee the father of many nations". He changed his name. The first record where a name change was made because of a covenant. The H, HaShem, the name. So God entered covenant with this man and put His name right in the middle of his name. That brought them together as one in the blood of the lamb, through circumcision. That's the reason God would say to Abraham, "Do this," and Abraham did it. Do this, and he did.
You could say he was one that's instant, in season. Then when it came time to offer up this son, Isaac, supernaturally born, and you find it in the book of Hebrews, in the hall of fame of faith. When he offered up Isaac, and Hollywood and all them, I mean, they don't have a Bible, I would guess when they make this stuff. Oh no, no, no, no, no, no. Look at it in the book of Hebrews, by faith, by faith, he took him up on that mountain. By faith, he put him on that altar. And he said, "The boy, and I will be back". Because, he's the father of many nations and he can't be any other way. There's a blood covenant between the two of them. And he said he received him raised from the dead in a figure. So he had seen it in a vision.
Man, he raised that knife. He fully intended to kill him. He fully intended to see God raise him up from the ashes right then and there. And the angel stayed his hand, and there was a ram caught in a thicket. So the ram had the honor. Why? What was the purpose of that? Well, the day's coming, and with God, it's only a couple of days away, when he would be faced with offering His only Son as a sacrifice, as a lamb. And Jesus, He knew it was coming. Jesus would say, "If there is any way, let this cup pass from Me. Nevertheless, not My will be done, but Yours". Well, there's no way God could back out because His covenant partner was willing.
So now God is entering into a covenant for all of mankind. So when you become covenant minded, and you lean on it... No, I was in minister's conference that we have every January, and I was sitting right in the front row and I was next to Jerry because Jerry preaches on the last day. And this was right at the very beginning of it. I was sitting there next to Jerry and Gloria was on one side. I think it was you on there. Anyway, all the symptoms of the flu came on me. I mean, I started chilling and started hurting behind my eyes. I was just sitting there. If you've been sitting around next to me, I said, "You can't put that on me. You know you can't put that on me. I've been healed for 2000 years, and there's no way you're going to put the flu on me. You understand that"? Glory be to God, in about 15 minutes it's gone. It's over. I tested negative for COVID five times.
Now, that's the primary reason I refuse to take it. I know what to do when the symptoms come. You can kill it with vitamin C. You didn't need to shut the nation down. But there's no money in vitamin C, you understand? No, no, wait a minute now. Don't misunderstand me now. I'm not attempting to judge anybody. I'm just telling you what I... And thank You God, for my mama for teaching me that. When I was in the army, I had all the symptoms. Well, I woke up one night and I stumbled out there and I went down the corner and put a call into mother in Fort Bliss. And I said, "Mother, I just got all the symptoms of the flu. I'm hurting all over".
And I said, "I can't afford to be sick because I'm at that point where if I get sick here and I miss a few days, I'm going to have to start this whole eight week thing over again. And I'm not going to do it if I... They have to put me in a broom closet or something". She said, "Can you get any aspirin"? I said, "Yes, Ma'am". "Can you get any orange juice"? I said, "What? Yeah, I'm sure I can". She said, "Take the aspirin and break the fever and get all of the fresh orange juice you can get your hands on". So I just took a few steps down infirmary, went in there and told them the symptoms and they just pitched me a little white box of aspirin there. And the next morning for breakfast, I loaded up on orange juice. I mean, I stood there in that line and I drank orange juice, and it was gone by that afternoon.
My mother was a woman of prayer. I mean, if I just sneezed, oh boy, here we go. Amen. She would anoint me with Vicks salve, stick it up my nose. It worked. Rub it all over my chest. We didn't go to doctor just for every little old thing. No, no. We had other things to do. Amen. And she prayed. Now, I wanted you to see that. Notice what he said in verse four. "As for me," look, "As for me, I've made a decision to do this, but you have choice". Abraham could have said, "Well, man, I'm awfully old here". And he said, "Well, I'll find me somebody else". No. I want you to notice what happened. "I will make my covenant between Me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly". Abram fell on his face and God talked with him. He didn't talk to him, he talked with him saying... He fell on his face. He didn't know yet what he was about to hear, but he fell on his face and he listened to God. And it changed the history of humankind right then.
So realizing just anywhere you want to look, any place, whatever's being said, there's blood behind it. David knew that. Oh, he was a covenant man. When his dad sent him to the battlefront, teenage boy with some cheese and stuff for his brothers to check on them, had to be less than 20 years old because if he'd been 20, he'd had been in the army. So he's 17, 18 years old, sheep herder in the hills of Judea. And so anyway, and the giant was huge. But it was not what he said that frightened him. It was his size. It was his size. Huge. What? Nine and a half feet tall. Can you imagine the size of his head, all that armor? And what David say? "What do I get if I kill him"? He didn't care how big he was. "What do I get if I kill him"? What was his clue? He told the king, listen now, "That uncircumcised Philistine doesn't have a chance with me". He knew his covenant. His older brothers didn't. He knew his covenant and he depended on it all of his life.
And that's the reason he was absolutely just the apple of God's eye. Because of his covenant consciousness. And he served him as king that way. Fouled up, messed up, but just fall on his face and cry out to God. Amen. And we have many of his songs in the book. And he prophesied Jesus on the cross in the 22nd Psalm, a book of covenants. Now to understand what's happening in this book, then you must understand that. But this right here, in this fifth chapter of 1 Thessalonians 14, "Now we exhort your brethren, warn them that are unruly. Comfort the feebleminded. Support the weak. Be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for evil unto any man, but ever follow that which is good both among yourselves and to all men. Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you".
Now people have taken that out of context and say, well, you need to give thanks for that heart attack. I'm not giving thanks for a heart attack. I've had people stand before me in a prayer line say, "Would you pray for my arthritis"? I can't, if you own it. And people say, "Copeland, you're just too picky". Oh yeah, very picky, because words count. Jesus bore our sicknesses and carried our pains in his own body on the tree, that we being dead descends should live under righteousness. By who stripes, you were healed. Then Isaiah 53, "He bore our sicknesses and carried our pains. We did esteem him stricken smitten of God and afflicted, but he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with those stripes we're healed". That is not my sickness. That's one of the very first things that Gloria and I learned.
And then Matthew 8:14, "And Jesus came into Peter's house. And when evening was come, they brought many who were possessed with devils. And He cast out the spirits with His Word. When He entered in, He saw Peter's mother-in-law sick of a fever. He touched her hand. The fever left her. When evening was come, they brought many who were possessed with devils. He cast out the spirits with His Word and healed all that were sick, fulfilling that, which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying, 'He took our infirmities and bear our sicknesses.'" So don't own it. I mean, never, just, no. I have a healing covenant with Him. I do not own sickness or disease. I refuse to do that.