Kenneth Copeland - Jesus Commands Us to Love
I'm glad you're here on this bright Thursday morning or late at night, Thursday night, wherever and however you're watching this. It's very important to understand how the Spirit of God leads in directing a service, a class, a church service, Sunday School service, whatever it is... Teaching your children. And may I strongly suggest you stop calling them kids, they're not goats. You will not find that phrase in the Bible. They're your children. And we're his children. Amen. Respect your children enough not to call them little kids, little goats. You may be tempted to sometime, but don't do it. All right.
Now, we follow that because the Lord led us to go to the 13th chapter of John and talked about the new commandment, did we not? All right, then, as the Lord directed and finally came over to the spirit of fear. So now what do we do? How do we absolutely get rid of it. It's in first John. So turn there with me. Take the time to read the whole letter. Not the book. The whole letter. The first letter that John wrote and just read it all. Read all of the letters Peter wrote. Read them all at one time and take the time to do that. And different revelation will come as you read it and read it like a letter that was written to you. Amen.
So now we go to the 4th chapter. It starts out, "Beloved, believe not every spirit". Okay? Yes, that's another subject. But now, as you continue to read verse six, "We are of God". So we are of love, Right? How do we know that? Well, just hang on a minute. Verse 7, "Beloved, let us love one another. For love is of God. and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love". That's where we find that out. He is love and because of his love, he uses his power. Nowhere in the Bible does it say he is power. Thank You, Jesus. But we're born of him.
"In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins". Or the sacrifice. "Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us". His love is... if we love one another. Hey, if we love one another, his love is perfected in us. Why?... You practice it, whether someone is lovely or not and you make up your heart and mind, I'm going to walk in this.
Now, it is not difficult at all for me to walk in love with Gloria Jean because I'm married to my best friend and we just have fun. We just have fun and laugh. And I've told you this before. This was back, oh, last year sometime. And we were in the garden room just visiting one another and had the television on and I didn't know what was on. I said something and I saw right quick she didn't like that. And she just got up and walked out. She turned around, came back, said, "I started to get mad and decided it wouldn't". Well, that was funny, I broke into a laugh, she broke into a laugh. I started... see she didn't get mad. I started to get mad, but I decided I wouldn't... Praise God. Well, I decided I'm not saying that anymore whatever it was, amen.
Now verse 13, "Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. We have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whosoever..." I'm a whosoever, are you? "Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And if we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect, or brought to maturity that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but mature love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not mature in love". There you have it.
So you don't go after the fear first, you go after the love first. Where? He just showed us what it was. We have known, we have had intimate relationship with his love and believed it. I dare say the biggest part of the born again Holy Ghost baptized, healing, believing Christians don't know what that means. We've known and believed it, believed it... Until we have faith in his love, We have faith in his name. We have faith in his blood. We have faith in his Word. And we have faith in our faith because it's the faith of God. How do we know all that? Jesus said so... John's daughter, Alex. Well, she's a whole lot like her dad and her granddad. She likes to hunt. And she said... John told her to do something. She said why? He said, "Because I said so". She said, "Well, why is that"? He said, "Because I'm boss". She said, "I want to be boss".
Well, then what do you say? I don't know. She killed a deer and John was dressing it and she looked at that dead eyeball. She said, hum... she just got it and put it up here and walked over, said, "How does this look on me"? That deer's eyeball was hanging... Oh, did that bring a little fear out of you? I would never do that. Well, that's your decision. But not because you're afraid to. I would never do that. Well, I never thought of it, I still thought if, I mean, if Alexandria Nicole Copeland hadn't come up with it, I never would have thought of it either. But there it is. He that fears he's not mature in love, perfected, mature, growing love casts out fear. Amen.
Now turn to the 8th chapter of the Book of Romans. Romans Chapter 8, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death". Glory to God.
Now, I made these notes in my Bible, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Word, because the Spirit wrote the Word. We're reading the Word right now. He was writing a letter, we're reading it... "Not after the flesh, but after the Word. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness or right standing of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Word, the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit or after the Word, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace". Glory to God. Whoa, thank You Jesus. No, thank You Jesus Christ, the Anointed one and his anointing.
Well, you watch Nancy Dufresne and her great ministry. Well, Ed Dufresne really close friend of mine, and they were dedicating a new church. And so Gloria and I were there and it was a happy time. And we were all gathered up together and Ed said, "Brother Copeland, you have anything you want to add to this"? Well, I didn't. I said, "Well, no, but..." and here it came. I said, "No, but did you ever realize that Christ is not Jesus last name"? Think of that... His name is Jesus, and that's the name that has the power, not the name Christ. And Christ is not a title. That's what he preached. I am anointed. Well, in Greek, to anoint, to christen... "Christ"-ians. His name is Jesus. His name is Yeshua. Yeshua Hamashiach, Jesus anointed, Messiah. The same word in Hebrew for Messiah, Anointed. That's what Messiah means. It doesn't lose a thing in Greek as Christ, but his name is where the power is and his message is the anointing and his command is to love.
So he that's still afraid is not mature in love. You don't believe it. There was a time I was like that. And you ask, you know, I mean any Christian that owns a Bible, what is our commandment? To love one another. Really? Let's see if it is. Let's go back to First John. He said... wait a minute, let me look here... ...Is to love one another and to believe on the name, to love one another and believe on the name, so our commandment is in two parts, to believe on one another and have faith in the name. Hallelujah. That's a commandment... to believe it. Well, do you believe that... what is our commandment? Well, to love one another. Amen. Yes. Oh, isn't that wonderful. And then a little something happened... "Why did you let that happen to me"? You didn't believe it.
What happened in the wilderness? They did not believe he loved them. The last time they praised him was when he split the Red Sea. That was such an audacious miracle. They danced and sang songs, and that was it, they griped and complained and complained and griped. And the Bible said to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength. They said he brought us out here to kill us. He's going to kill us. Well he brought us out here in this desert to kill us. And the Lord said to Moses, "I have heard it in my ear".
And this is in the 90th Psalm. I have heard it in my ear. So no one of my people, see, he heard that, he's in covenant with them. So he heard it. He was the fire by night and the pillar by day. But he had a man named Moses who was the meekest man on the planet. He would just humble himself. But they didn't believe the love. So he said, "No one over 20 will get out of here alive". That didn't mean that they lost their salvation. They just griped all the time. They'd say, "We're not going and get on them for not going. Then we're going".
And then they disobeyed God on the other side and got wiped out. So there you have the 70 or 80, which God didn't say that, Moses was lamenting before God. They're dying off at 70, some by 80, just by strength. But they're dying off and you're taking them out. You're taking all of them. All of them over 20 years old, you're taking them out. And he did and built him an army out of people that were born in that desert, except for two. Joshua and Caleb. Oh, yeah. Now, I'm 86. Well, according to Moses, he'd been in the ministry by this time six years. At least I got started at 30. Oh, my, my, my, my. Oh, glory to God. But believe that love. He loves me whether it looks like it or not, he loves you. He is love and you're born of love. And he that is born of love does not practice sin. He repents because it's right here in First John. And that's what we're talking about.
So now let's go back over here to the first chapter. I want to show you this in the 5th verse. "This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin," We... He's including himself in this. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just or righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness". When? When we confess it, not when we feel better about it. When we confess it...
"My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate... We have an attorney at law with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the sacrifice for our sins: and not for ours sins only, but for the sins of the whole world". Glory be to God. Amen. And when that happens, I don't care if for some reason or other you are doing this. Thank You, Jesus. I refuse to fear, praise and bless the Lord God Almighty. I walk in the light. I'm not afraid of the dark. Glory to God. He is my light. I wear the armor of light. And of whom should I be afraid. He is on my side. He loves me. He takes care of me. And the devil comes up and says, "I'm gonna kill you".
Well, so what... Kill me, I have a future. I'll tell you something, Mr. Devil. Your future is not good. You're going to wind up in a lake of fire. And you notice he's gone. Well, I don't know how many years I have. The Bible doesn't say it's appointed unto a man a time to die. That's not what he's talking about in the book of Ecclesiastes either, there's a season. But in the book of Hebrews it says it's appointed unto every man once. But then it tells you what you can do to extend your life. Go look at the curse and the blessing of the law. It has to do with spirit, soul, body, financial situation, socialistic situations.
All of that is involved. Because... I like what Creflo said. I like a lot of things Creflo said. There's a piece of pie, don't leave the prosperity slice out. Don't leave the death slice out. It's coming. But you decide when, find the age in the Bible. If 70 or 80 is fine with you and for me, I don't have time to quit, I got too much to do. Praise God, I have an assignment. But the Lord dealt with me over several years. Not just a little quick thing. Over several years. I kept hearing it. I kept seeing it. I would sit out on my back deck and in my spirit I'd just look back across the lake over here, and I would just see this bridge, and I didn't know where it was going. Finally, I was out there one day and he said, "Will you do this for me"? I said, "What"? Will you agree to live to be 120 years old? I said, "Yes sir, I agree". And the bridge left and we'll talk about that tomorrow. We're out of time today, but give the Lord a praise. Hallelujah.