Kenneth Copeland - It's Your Decision To Choose THE BLESSING
Kenneth Copeland: Welcome, everybody to the Believer's Voice of Victory Broadcast. Of course I'm Kenneth Copeland. It's amazing when you begin to talk about and think about decisions. And we read yesterday from the Bible in the Book of Joel, people are in the valley of decision. Well, we know that the way God demonstrated the blessing and the curse was two mountains over the valley, the city of Shechem, the cursed mountain and the blessing mountain, so that they could make a right decision and not choose the cursed things. No, no, hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God and all these blessings will come on you and overtake you. But you had to decide. Okay, well, that's first covenant. Let's go to the ministry of Jesus in the Book of Mark Chapter ten, beginning with the 17th verse. "And when he, Jesus was gone forth into the end of the way, there came one running..." Now, put this in your imagination. Here's a man running. He is eager to know something, running and kneeled to him. So far he made a good decision here... "running and he kneeled to him and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life"? Okay, that's the question. That's all he asked. "Jesus said unto him, 'Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one'", that is, "'God'". Now, the first thing out of his mouth, he got corrected. I don't think that set too well with him. All I did was ask the guy a question and he nails me with this. "You know the commandments. Do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, defraud not, honour thy father and mother". That's not all ten. "And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth. Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me. And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved". He made a terrible decision. He missed apostleship.
Greg Stephens: Yes he did.
Kenneth Copeland: Was he not a wonderful replacement for Judas when the time came, they would not have had to draw straws.
Greg Stephens: And he knew how to handle money already.
Kenneth Copeland: He already did, did a good job of it. And Jesus looked at him and loved him. He missed apostleship because he went away. What could have, should have decision have been? Well, sir, I don't much agree with that. I don't want to do that. I don't want to sell what I have and give to the poor. But I still want to know about eternal life. And I'm just going to stay with you until I find out. Ed Dufresne, they owed $500,000 on the church property. The property had become more valuable and the bank wanted them to lose it. No extensions unless you have $300,000. He was in a hotel room about to go preach somewhere, and he was in the bathroom there shaving and so forth. And he heard a key in the door. They gave somebody the key to my room. When he walked in the front room there, the ceiling disappeared and these huge angels were standing there armed. He said if the ceiling hadn't disappeared, he said that they'd been head and shoulders over the ceiling of that room. He said, "Who are you"? They said, "We are your prosperity angels".
Greg Stephens: Why did you come?
Kenneth Copeland: We're going to help you get that money. He said, "What are you waiting for"? They said, "The command". He said, "Go". They disappear. He and his attorney were in a room. It's over. The secretary came in and said, there's a man out here you need to see. She said, "You need talk to this one". A man in a jogging suit came in. He said, "I don't know you. I've heard you preach and you scare me. I don't know why I'm doing this, but here's a check for $300,000. I'm a local lawyer. He didn't know why he made that decision". But we do. Don't forget the angels. Then they were having another meeting because they still need $200,000. Another man was receiving an offering and they were working toward this. And that lawyer was in there dressed nice. Well, the man receiving started talking to him and Ed trying to get his attention. No, he's already given. He's already given, but he said, "How about you, sir"? He said he got up there and he said, "I'm ashamed of myself". He said, "I was supposed to have given 500,000 and I didn't do it. I still don't know why I'm doing this, but here's the rest of it".
Greg Stephens: Praise God, just like that.
Kenneth Copeland: He didn't know why he made that decision but we do, those prosperity angels stayed on his case because God had chosen that man to do it. You see the connection there? God had chosen him to do this, which connected him to Ed Dufresne which connected him to a Full Gospel tongue-talking, bold man of God. And he became his partner in ministry.
Greg Stephens: One choice, one decision.
— So we need to remember the angels involved in these decisions, so if the angels are involved...
— They're not involved in because of the decision.
— That's right. But you know, the devil's involved in it, and he didn't have to be invited. You can remember this. The Spirit of God said through the apostle John in the Letter of First John, "Perfected growing love casts out fear". For a while I read the book of First John every day. Every day. Every day for quite a while. And it settled in my heart and mind. As long as I keep the commandment of love from the 13th chapter of John, 34th and 35th verses, when the Master said, "I give you a new commandment that you love one another as I have loved you and all men, all people will know you're my disciples by the way you love one another". Then I realized, Greg, the moment I get out of love, the moment I get out of love, the spirit of fear is there. It doesn't take a week or two.
— Ready to take advantage. This passage that you just read, Mark 10, bothered me for the longest, longest time because I had the Lord ask me in an encounter with him, "What do you want of me? What do you want"? And my answer immediately was, "I want to be a disciple of yours. Just like Peter. Just like John. As if I was there, I want to be modern day disciple". And I've had people say to me before, when he asked you that, why didn't you say this? That was the dumbest thing in the world to say. Well, no, that was me. That's what I wanted. And so here's a guy asking and he's being turned away and it bothered me, but he wasn't being turned away for being a disciple, that would have been the outcome. He said, "He kneeled to him and asked..." The Lord said, "Do this" and I underlined it right here. "Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life"? It was about eternal life. I can't do anything except receive what he did. It wasn't about all these things. This is why he didn't list all ten. And then out of here, he says. And he answered and said unto him Master all these things I observed, his whole faith was on himself and not on the Master. And so when you get your faith on him, that's the valley of decision. That's exactly what was happening in Deuteronomy 27, 28, 29, 30. Moses is giving that next generation the instructions. Matter of fact, if we could, let me show you something to Deuteronomy 30 that a lot of people miss and don't see when we're talking about the decisions that have to be made here. "And it shall come to pass when all these things come upon thee, the blessing and the curse which I've set before thee, and thou shalt call them to mind among all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath driven thee". Wait a second. He's already talking about sending them to all the nations in verse one, you skip on down here in verse six, it says, "The Lord that God will circumcise thine heart". Wait a second. Circumcised their heart. That's not part of Abraham and the circumcision, Chapter 30 is the new covenant.
— Yes, it is.
— He's talking about a day. Actually, Brother Copeland, this will sound crazy to some people. Deuteronomy 30, he's talking about our day. And the choices that we make. Now, here's what's interesting, this is the last book of the Torah.
— That didn't happen, that didn't happen to me until I made Jesus Christ the Lord of my life my heart was circumcised right there. There's a slash in my spiritual heart. There is a cut there that the devil can see.
— The spirit world can see it. Absolutely true. Look at this. "And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live". Verse 19: "I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live". He is my life. It says on down there in the next verse, he's talking about the New Covenant here. Now, here's the interesting thing. In the decisions that God has asked you to make. This is Moses final instructions, the last book of the Torah before they go into their Promised Land. We know some of this because of chapter 31. It's Moses birthday when this happens, it's his birthday. He's 120 years old when he gives those instructions, he will die and go to heaven that day. It's the last things that Moses is going to say to his people. And it says, a very powerful marker in chapter 31 Moses' birthday, the day he would die. He's 120 years old, and it says that he could no longer go out or come in. Doesn't mean he was sick and feeble. No, he couldn't go into the Promised Land. Chapter 34 tells us that his eye was not dim and he was full of strong and he was vigor. So all of these chapters 27, 28, 29 and 30, they're going to perform that when they cross over. But I find it very interesting that he was 120 years old. It was his birthday when he gives those instructions about a new covenant. God allowed him to see our day. Just like he did with Abraham. And that's why he called you...
— From the top of Mount Nebo.
— Absolutely right. That's why he called you to live to that age to fulfill this. Because this is talking about the New Covenant, somebody needs to hit that number for this generation. And so that requires a choice. You may not have been asked to make that choice, but required somebody to make a choice asking you to make that choice. And so that choice means you have to get your spirit in shape. You got to get your soul in shape. Now you've got to get your body in shape. And in all of those things, you see that with him because Moses made the choice. His eye was not dim. He was not, he walked up the mountain at 120 years old to look into the Promised Land when he laid down and got buried at that moment. That's our covenant. And you look at when he left Egypt exiled, he thought. God had him out there for many years. He knew every part of that wilderness. To him it was not a wilderness. He lived there. He was acclimated to it. He knew the people, been there long enough to learn the language of another man, and had completely forgotten the Egyptian language. It was not because he stuttered. Don't let that get in the way. But Aaron didn't leave Egypt. He was still fluent in Egyptian.
— That's right. And he became the mouthpiece for him. Let me prove this with one other verse I failed to mention a second ago. Deuteronomy 30 verse three, "That then the Lord thy God will turn thy captivity," Wait a minute. They're going into their Promised Land. There's no captivity. Look into a forward day, "and have compassion upon thee, and will return and gather thee from all the nations, whither the Lord thy God hath scattered thee". Or sown me.
— The reason I brought that up about his language... And I'm getting ahead, we'll get there next week. But God knows the beginning from the end. He is in the future now and we have to, by our faith, take things that are in the future and bring them back here.
— That's right.
— Because he already knows. Well, how can... Don't ask me how he does that, I don't know. He has an infinite mind, because he created all things. And he had a plan when he did it and his plan was perfect and the devil fouled it up. But he had to have him out there in that dessert.
— He learned how to be a shepherd out there.
— Yes, he did. And then this brought he and Aaron back together. And then God had the audacity to say, "I have made you a god to Pharaoh and Aaron, your prophet". Huh? Aaron, you're a prophet. I had a young man come to my house one night, and he said, "I believe the Lord has called me to be your prophet". I said, "What do I need you for"? Well, and he went on through all of this trying to worm his way around and then I realized that he had a calling on his life to serve and to serve this ministry. But he took that way out of context, and he wanted to be my prophet. So wherever I went, he could prophesy and tell me what to say to the people. I said, "No, I think I can take care of that myself," but see how you can twist something like that. The devil took that opportunity. I'm saying this because of someone. There are churches that choose apostles. So we have a New Testament church. That's not a New Testament church. That's a church full of confusion. They're making decisions way out of their pay grade. He has chosen apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. He has set them among the church. This is Jesus' choice. He's the commander in chief of the Body of Christ.
— Do the work of an apostle, but that didn't mean that person was an apostle.
— That's right. Now, when you take modern day prophets. Roland Baker was born in China. Grandfather, a Chinese missionary. He met a little woman called Heidi, and six months later they were married. Now they live in Mozambique and they are having outstanding miracles. They are New Testament apostles, God has sent them in to that foreign land to establish schools, education in the surrounding areas. And that changed the hearts and minds of people of other religions and so forth. And it's just still affecting the world. And that's affecting the United States. They are Jesus' apostles.
— And they don't have to call themselves that, they are that. The fruit demonstrates that. And that's what we do. We don't have to call ourselves that. The fruit will show that, Deuteronomy 37, "And the Lord thy God will put all these curses upon thine enemies," That goes back to Abraham. You got three different covenants overlapping in these instructions. So these instructions, the reason I bring that up to make a choice is not an old covenant thing. It's a new covenant thing. Moses saw it and said, "No, that's part of the circumcision of the heart as well". And the curse being put on the enemies, that was done to Abraham. I'll bless those that bless you, I'll curse them that curses you. And you all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. So we have to choose in our day. Even so, the way they did think about the two mountains, you had a king hanging on a tree. You had the priest down there. And so we have been called kings and priests. And we're going to have to choose, just like they had to choose whether we're going to operate in the blessing or operate in the curse. Now, let's look and see what this young man missed. Jesus went ahead and answered his question after he left. "And he was sad at that saying," they left. "And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! And the disciples were astonished at his words". So they were not poor people.
— No...
— "Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches..." There was the deal right there, "that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved? And Jesus looking upon them saith, With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible. Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed you". In other words, we're doing what he didn't do... "Jesus answered and said, Verily, I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life". And he let them know right there persecutions are going to come with that wealth. How well we know that's true? When we begin to prosper financially, when this ministry began to prosper financially, All of a sudden I was a bad guy and a person I knew quite well, said Copeland's ministry is just growing so fast he must be doing something wrong. I have to be doing something wrong. What about doing something right. Bad choices. That person made a bad decision to think that, no he said it. Thank You Jesus.
— Tried to intimidate you to go back on your choice you made. And here we are out of time again. Praise God. We'll be back in just a moment.