Kenneth Copeland - The 6 I's of Faith
Open your Bibles to mark Chapter 11, please. "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 went their way and found the colt and so forth. "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.
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't say anything and he didn't do 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. "And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry: And seeing a fig tree afar off", underline that if you have not already, "Seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet".
You notice "yet" is in italics. "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 up to it, he found nothing but leaves for the fig season had not yet come". So that tree was out of time. The fig tree should not have had the leaves on there. Well don't you think Jesus would of known that... you can argue with him about that when you get there. Another thing, that wasn't an apple tree in the garden. They didn't cover themselves with apple leaves. Can you imagine a fig leaf suit. Well, the Lord couldn't either, he said, oh, wait a minute. Oh, me. That was the first example of a man trying to meet his own needs without God... right there and we've been doing it ever since.
"He answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever". Count them: nine words. "And his disciples heard it" and it was afar off. I mean, he said it... and they came to Jerusalem. He just... No man eight fruit of you again hereafter for ever. That's a dead tree. It could have lived there until now and never had another fig on it. It could have been hit by lightning. It got hit by the Word of God full of faith. In order to teach you and to teach me something very, very important. Now, watch it. "They came to Jerusalem. Jesus went into the temple". Well, the man at the Beautiful Gate. Just go through and check it for yourself. There's no telling how much money Jesus put into his life. But then the day was coming when he's going to get a pair of legs out of it and became a disciple.
"And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves; And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple. And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine... His teaching. And when evening was come, he went out of the city".
Now it's been 12 hours... now, you know good and well they left and it doesn't say when night came, they had a walk back. It's not dark, they walked right past that fig tree again. And you and I both know Simon Peter Bar Jonah. Jesus. Huh? He'd already said it. It doesn't matter to him. Faith has been released, what did he do? He spoke the end result. He didn't design it. He didn't put any kind of stipulations on it. He just killed it. No man eat fruit of you again hereafter and forever. Turn around and walked off. Glory to God. It's been 12 hours. "In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots".
Somewhere in that 24 hour period, the Word of Faith went right down into the roots of that tree and killed it. Now we come into the meat. "Have faith in God", have the faith of God, the cross reference says. Well, of course it's his faith. And we have already read the second chapter of Ephesians. You were saved by faith through grace, it is the gift of God, well both the grace and the faith were gifts from God and the fact that he is gracious, disposed to show favors. I was praying over a certain person one day and I said, "Lord, is there any way that person made it"? And he came up on inside me and I could see him smiling. He said, "Kenneth, I'm not trying to keep people out of here". He said, "Just the slightest, just a little bit of grace. Just give me just a tiny bit and I'll take it. I'll take it". He said, "You have no idea how many of them did it in the last moments". And he said, "There's no reward, but it sure beats hell". It's a reward in itself. Hallelujah. Because nobody deserves it. He said, "I want to get them in".
There's so many times that I've prayed over certain ones. He said, "They're with me, they're here with me". Those of you watching that you're not quite sure about your loved one, listen, he's a merciful God. He's a merciful God. It's his mercy the reason you're going. It's his mercy the reason I'm going, he made it so easy. What about Saul of Tarsus, the shortest recorded salvation prayer that I know anything about. "Lord, who are you"? "I am Jesus, whom you persecute". He didn't say, "Saul, Saul, stop persecuting my people". No, he said, "You're persecuting me". He takes it very personally. So when people were saying ugly things about you, he takes that personally. He don't want to hear it any more than I wanted to hear it. Amen.
Now Jesus said these things... "I say unto you, whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea". Nine words. Well, what's bigger? A tree or a mountain... It's all the same to faith. Therefore, I say... he put it into motion right then. "Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses". That's not the first time Jesus said that. "Our Father, which art in heaven," say it with me, "hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us".
There it is. It's the key element. It is the love element that makes faith work. Faith works by love, and it's the forgiving love element that makes it work... Hallelujah. Thank You, Jesus. I believe it. I said it. I have it. I was preaching in Little Rock, Arkansas, for Happy Caldwell, Sunday morning. And we flew up there on Saturday and staying in the Holiday Inn there in Little Rock. 4:00 in the morning, I just woke up like that and it just right there and there was Jesus right between the two bedpost, just a little up higher. And he had this big tray of cookies. "Have a cookie". "What"? "Have a cookie and just a heap bunch of cookies". He said, "Your response is, I believe, I will, I take it, I have it, I thank You for it and I forgive" and he gone.
And then I fell off to sleep and had a dream. And in the dream I was in a party and as a person came up there to me and had a big, big plate of cookies and said, "Brother Copeland, have a cookie". I said, "No, thank you, I have one". You can't see a cookie. You can't feel my cookie. But I have one. I have it, I already have it. Glory to God, I have it. It's mine. The 6 hours of fame I had it. It belongs to me. I have faith in God. I don't have the flu. I have it. Think what a word "have" is. I have it. Then when I began to analyze it, it covered the whole thing. I believe, that's faith. I will, that's my soul. I have it. That's believing I receive. I thank You for it. That's thanksgiving in praise. Praise God. It's mine. It is mine. I believe I receive it.