Kenneth Copeland - The Wisdom of Faith
Now we're talking about the fundamentals of faith. What are you watching when you watch the Super Bowls. Masters of the Fundamentals. But they still have to work out and they still have to practice and they still have to get sore and get their heads beat over a bag of wind. I played it, liked it. I like to bang into people, but high school is a far as I went. Thank You Lord J praise You Lord. So the fundamentals of faith, now because of our time, I'll read through these. We started off, we began with Romans 3:27. By works... No, but by the law of faith, laws are predictable. Once you know all of the elements of a certain spiritual law, then you can understand how to work it every time.
When I first read Hebrews 11, I told Gloria, I mean, this is everybody that is anybody. But I did not know the laws. I said to her, "If we could just figure out how to get this faith, we'd be there". Well, I finally came across Kenneth E. Hagin and found out how, I had to learn, glory to God. So there are spiritual laws. There are laws of physics. Well, the laws of physics seem like they change every day. They don't, people discover more about them. And the more they discover, the more they find out how right the Bible was all the time, anyway. All right, faith is a spiritual force, it is not a mental force.
The number one fundamental of faith is believe it in your heart. Then say it with your mouth. Mark 11:23, Romans 10:10, Second Corinthians 4:13, Luke 6:43 to 45, Matthew 12:35 to 37, Mark 5:25 to 34. Matthew 12... Number two, faith will not work in an unforgiving heart. We'll see that in just a moment. Number three, Abraham's blessing cannot be received with Thomas's faith. Faith called things that be not as though they were. That one really bothers people, but it really doesn't when you understand it, because that's what God does. God appeared to Abraham and said, "I have made you the father of many nations" and he's 100 years old, but he had the authority to do it. So he'd already planned that.
Well, now, after we learn from the Word, he planned that before the foundation of the world, because his plan was to get the blessing back and he had to go through Jesus to get it. Hallelujah. So he said, what'd he do, he called things that be not as though they were. I have made you the father of many nations, now listen to me. He had the authority to do that. World War II, there was an outstanding aviator by the name of Scott, Robert Scott. He wrote the book God Is My Copilot. And just an outstanding man to start with. Well, the war is getting really on into it. "Scotty"... now he was a major, He said, "Scotty, I need you to be a full colonel. And I thought maybe these eagles would do you good". He jumped a grade... Why? He had the authority to make him a colonel. Amen and God hasn't lost a bit of that authority, amen.
So this is just as much a manifestation of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit as if all three of them were standing here. Why is it called the Word of God. Because it's his bond. He's not a man that he should lie. Impossible for him to lie. It was not impossible for Jesus to lie. He just refused to do it. That means we can refuse and the Sunday school teacher asked a little boy one time. What is a lie? He said, "It's an abomination to God and an ever in a time of need". Faith demands corresponding action. So open your Bibles to Mark Chapter 11, please. Pastor, I was thinking about when you were sp Jesus said, "Father, I have kept them in your name". We think about praying in the name of Jesus. But the book of Proverbs says, "The name of God is a high tower and the righteous run into it".
Think about this. He said, "I have kept them in your name". They came back and said, "Even the devils are subject to us in your name". He said, "Well, that's wonderful, but be glad your name's in the Book of Life". That's the book. Praise God. That's the book that this book is based on. The 11th chapter of Mark. "And when they came nigh to Jerusalem, unto Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount of Olives, he sendeth forth two of his disciples, And saith unto them, Go your way into the village over against you: next to you... and as soon as ye be entered, ye shall find a colt tied, whereon never man sat; loose him, and bring him. And if any man say unto you, Why do ye this? say ye that the Lord hath need of him; and straightway he will send him hither. And they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door without in a place where two ways met; and they loose him. And certain of them that stood there said, What are you doing? And they said unto them even as Jesus had commanded..."
And they let him go. That's a word of knowledge in action. Otherwise, how did he know that colt was there? How did he know when no one had ever ridden him? And may I ask you something? Have you ever tried to ride a never ridden burro? That's a heap of trouble. A little colt, a little green one, but not with Jesus on him. Now we need to learn a lesson here. What do you think the little colt thought? And he goes back to the stall and says to one of the others, "You should have seen what happened to me today. People were throwing leaves in front of me. They were shouting, 'Hosanna' to me"! No they weren't little buddy... you were just hauling him around and that's who we are. We're hauling him around. They're not throwing those things at us. Glory to God. Thank You, Lord.
There's a big lesson to be learned there. "They brought the colt to Jesus, and cast their garments on him; and he sat upon him". And that little fella just stood there. The power and the love of God was there. Amen. "Many spread their garments in the way: and others cut down branches off the trees, and strawed them in the way. And they that went before, and they that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord: Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord: Hosanna in the highest. And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple". He went into the temple. Do you suppose the man was at the beautiful gate? Well, sure he was. He was right there. And you don't think Jesus passed him by, do you? He would every time he'd go through there, he'd say, "Judas, in the back".
So when Peter and John came in there, he looked up expecting to receive from them. Of course he did, Jesus had them give him something every time he walked through there. But he didn't raise him up. But on the other hand, he did. Because it happened in his name. And his name can do anything he did. He said, "All authority has been given unto me, both in heaven and earth. Now you go in my name". Hallelujah. My dad, every time he'd walk, I don't care who you were, he'd walk up and say, "I'm A.W. Copeland", just a big smile on his face all the time. Before that, he'd say, "I'm A.W. Copeland and I'm with Drones Business College". He was with Drones for 16 years. He was with the National Oil Line 18 years. He did such an outstanding job there that the vice president of the company called him and this big in the life insurance business.
And they said, AW we're going to go ahead and invest your renewals and we just go ahead and give you the other two years because we know how interested you are in Kenneth's ministry. Well, from then on, he said, "My name's A.W. Copeland, I'm with Kenneth Copeland Ministries. 24 years and went home at 96". Glory to God. Thank You Jesus. Now, watch this, we're into something here. "He went into the temple and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve". That is huge. He just had a scripture fulfilling experience. This whole thing had already been foretold about him.
Now he's going into the temple and stayed there the rest of the day and didn't do anything. That's the wisdom of faith. We know why: his father didn'o anything, so he just went home and went to bed and slept on it and thought about it and meditated on it and prayed about it to find out what to do in there the next day. Oh I'm telling you, folks this is a huge lesson for us to learn. Walk into the church situation sometimes that j I had to learn it like this. Jesus said more than once but he said it particularly in the 10th chapter in the book of Mark. When you begin receiving financial prosperity a hundredfold with persecutions, it's coming, it's coming... because to the devil, says Jesus is not here... The worst thing he can think of is a preacher with more than enough money to do what he's called to do, because he's been able to hold it back for centuries thinking you're supposed to be poor.
Well that's unscriptural. He wasn't poor. And I heard people say he was born to parents that were obviously poor. No, they were not. We have information on them. I learned most of what I know about that from Rick Renner. Mary went to a girls' school in Jerusalem. And Joseph was a wealthy man, he came from a wealthy family to start with. Do you have any earthly idea that the God of the universe is going to put his child in the hands of some poor people that don't know how to live? And then on top of that, he loaded him up with the Magi.
"We Three Kings of Orient are". That's a big mistake. It talks about three gifts. They never were at Bethlehem. They went to Jerusalem first and then to Nazareth. Anyway... They presented... the scripture said they presented him their treasures. three very important ones... Why? To finance his ministry. There was a big city four miles from Nazareth that was the banking center of that whole area. So that financed them while they were in Egypt. God took care of him financially. He never was poor. Judas was his treasurer. Poor people don't need treasurers. And there was so much there he was stealing it and nobody but Jesus knew it. Peter would of killed him. That's the reason he didn't let anybody know it, he would of just throttled him, man. Who do you think you are. All of these things are extremely important to the teaching of faith.