Kenneth Copeland - Covenant Faith
Kenneth Copeland: Praise God. Father, we thank You today. Open the eyes of our understanding. We receive light from Your Word, Your insights and concepts. We praise You for the development of Your covenant relationship with us. And we thank You for it. And now for the anointing, for in-depth understanding that puts our faith in a new place that we rise up in a place of healing and receiving it and teaching it and preaching it. The healings and the power of spirit, soul, body, financially, socially, in every way to prosper in the covenants of God and in our covenant, the second most powerful in the blood of our Savior, Jesus. Thank You for it. Amen. Now, remember yesterday in Isaiah chapter 10. "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant... remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again stay upon him that smote them; but shall stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth". So there it was again Israel and Jacob in the same sentence. Well, we know from the Scripture that Jacob wrestled with God and would not turn him loose till he blessed him. And he touched his hip... He literally couldn't defeat him and changed his name to Israel. Now that makes sense when we talk about the children of Israel, it's the children of Jacob. But there's a difference in the two names. That first name of Jacob, that just wouldn't do anymore.
Greg Stephens: So God put his name in there.
Kenneth Copeland: He put his name in there and we won't go into why, because... But he put his name in there. And then that puts us in there. So now we know why it is the state of Israel and not the state of Jacob.
Greg Stephens: Right. Or Palestine or any other name. Judah, they didn't call it Judah. They called it Israel. That's what made the devil mad because it's backed and he remembers that. He knows the promises of that, and he knows that the time line is changing. So when that happened... right now Brother Copeland I believe it fully, we are transitioning to the next phase for the return...
Kenneth Copeland: When you see, and I've been around long enough to see a lot of it. It happened right after World War II. There were a lot of ministries that stopped to go into the defense plants. They just come out of the Depression. And as most of you know, I was born in 1936. So that's right there at the tail end of it. Well, no political leader can claim the stop of the depression because it was the war that stopped it. Everything went on a war footing, but a revival broke out in here and Great Britain. They were praying against battles, and in some cases it was a problem with God because the Germans were praying. There were a lot of Christian people following Luther. But you have to go back to the leadership to understand all that. Only one nation came out of World War II, the nation of Israel.
Greg Stephens: That's correct. Now, out of World War I, several nations came. Out of World War I because, and that was prophetic. Jews were already waking up in Europe, God's already stirring their spirits to get out of here. And some of them are making aliyah or they're coming back to their homeland. Our government said to say, got involved with stopping it.
Kenneth Copeland: Yeah, they did.
Greg Stephens: And some others got involved with stopping it. But when you look at that, Ben-Yehuda helped revive the language and you see these guys coming in. Theodore Herzl, the guy I was trying to think of, German. Theodor Herzl is helping them create the Zionist movement to come out. So God's already moving. So what happened at World War I? See Israel, the land was held by the Ottoman Turks. But when World War I ended, the British defeated them. So now the British have that land. And Lord Balfour and the white papers and all those documents, the Balfour Declaration... we called it Palestine. The Brits called it Palestine. They made Iraq. They made Saudi Arabia. They redrew the lines. They made this place called Palestine, Syria. They're the ones that made the countries that we now know today, but they didn't exist prior to that. And so all of that was a move... Gaza is always two or three or a hundred steps ahead of anything Satan has planned. So he's preparing a remnant. What we read about yesterday.
Kenneth Copeland: Now Allenby opened it up.
Greg Stephens: Yes that's right General Allenby.
Kenneth Copeland: He was a strong believer and is a strong believer in Israel.
Greg Stephens: Well, he learned it from the Bible.
—Yes, he did. And he opened it up and said, "Come back to your homeland" and they wouldn't do it.
—Right.
—Handful maybe.
—Yeah, here and there.
—So there had to be another war. That's where all that came from. But now we as the remnant, we get into it. Let's get in here in the book of Romans because it talks about us being grafted into the...
—Romans Chapter 11. Paul does this wonderful thesis on justification and who's righteous and who's not righteous. Chapters 1 through 8, all have sinned, fallen short of the glory of God, Jews with the covenant have sinned. Gentiles without a covenant have sinned, and we need help. And then right in the middle of it, he throws in chapter 9, 10, 11 about Israel. I'm like, why is that in there? Well, you're going to find out right here in chapter 11 of Romans 11. Let's look at verse 5. Even so, this is written by Paul, probably the greatest rabbi, our rabbi, I call him the church's rabbi. "Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more", go on down, verse 16, "For if the firstfruit be holy..." Jesus is our first fruit. "If the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy:" That's why I always say, Brother Copeland, I'm just part of the lump somewhere back there, he's referring to... And if the root be holy, so are the branches. Jesus talked about the fruit being on the branches. I'm the vine, you're the branches. Jesus, so he is the first fruit. Go down to verse 17. "And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee. Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:" or be in reverence. The only reason some of that was removed was because of unbelief. They could not enter in because of unbelief. Speaking of healing this week, he could do no mighty works because of their unbelief. We're people of faith, we're seed, we're the remnant seed, we're heirs based upon that seed. But it's got to be by faith. We have a faith covenant.
—It has to be a living faith, a living active faith, the just shall live by faith. It's not the powerless type of faith. When someone ask, "What faith are you"? That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about the spiritual force of faith. And... Yeah, Thank You, Lord. It's the faith that pleases God.
—That's it.
—And that was what they refused to do.
—It's the faith of God. God kind of faith. Look at verse 25. "For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in". That's our time. This is a time change. Verse 26. "And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:"
—There he is, not Israel. Jacob. Jacob. When they don't hold their position as a prince that wrestled with God and go back to that secondary position that they had under Esau, they're Jacob. We can say it this way for us. When we don't walk by the Spirit, but walk in flesh, carnality, we're Jacob.
—We walk in the spirit of Jacob.
—We walk in that spirit, verse 27. "For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the father's sakes". Verse 29. "For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance". He's never going to repent for calling them, it's covenant. He's never going to repent for calling us.
—Now you can step into this on a personal basis just to take this opportunity, whatever he has called whomever to do, he had reason for doing that. So he's not going to change his mind about that because he's right the first time. And if you don't approach it that way... Now once I realized I don't understand people that... well, maybe I'm not called, because that never did happen to me... and anyway, I never wanted out of it in the first place. I made a lot of mess-ups, but it really helped me when I realized that his colleagues are without repentance. He's never changed his mind about changing Jacob's name. He's never changed his mind about his covenant with Israel. He's never changed his mind about his covenant with the United States. He's never changed his mind about any of that.
—Well, let's talk about that for a second. We just talked about wild branches being grafted in. This nation was founded on this book, it's a testament to covenant. So as a result of, this nation was grafted into the root, and whenever this nation turns its back on God or turns its back on its covenant brother the root, Israel, then we set ourselves up, because we're called to that. The callings of God are without repentance.
—How much time do we have, Carol? Okay, The day was April 30th, 1789. This was a day of making covenant with Almighty God for the United States of America. A proclamation was made for the sacred gathering at Federal Hall. Come and see your President take his oath and pray that God will accept this land as his. At 9 a.m., the bells rang out through the city. George Washington made his official oath of office in New York City. He laid his hands on the Bible, not just merely on the Bible, but on the 17th chapter of the Book of Genesis, where God made covenant with Abraham, then lifting up his arm toward God the Heaven, he laid his hand on that. He opened it there, laid his hand on that and lift it. He didn't do this.
—No he didn't.
—He did this. He didn't lift his hand. He had this and then he did this. ... Lifting his arm upward toward Heaven made a vow to lead our nation and honor the God of Israel and his covenant. After Washington invoked his... well, it's notable, the only other president to do this was Ronald Reagan. He did the very same thing. After Washington invoked his oath and covenant unto the Lord, he sealed it with, "So help me God". He bowed his knee to the ground in reverence and kissed the Bible. On his knee he kissed that Bible. Afterward, Washington called the senators and newly elected officials to join him. They walked arm in arm down the street to New York's St Paul's Chapel. There they bowed together and prayed and dedicated this land. All of Congress, the first one dedicated this land, our beloved America to God. The day that George Washington was inaugurated was the day that covenant was invoked. America belonged to God Almighty. Almighty God we make our earnest prayer that thou would keep the United States in holy protection, will incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government and entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow citizens of the United States at large, particularly for their brethren who've served in the field. Finally, that thou would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, to demean ourselves with that charity humility and pacific temper of mind which were the characteristics of the divine author of our blessed religion, and without a humble imitation of those who example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy nation. Grant our supplication we beseech thee through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. And now, Almighty Father, if it is your Holy will, that we shall obtain a place and name among nations of the Earth, grant that we may be enabled to show our gratitude for the goodness by our endeavors to fear and obey thee. Blessed us with thy wisdom and our counsels, success in battle. Let our victories be tempered with humanity. Endow us also our enemies with enlightened mind that they may become sensible, their justice and willing to restore our liberty and peace. Grant the petition of thy servant for the sake of whom thou was called thy beloved Son. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. George Washington.
—He had his hand on this chapter, Chapter 17. Look at verse 2. "I will make my covenant between me and thee and will multiply thee exceedingly". This nation has seen that, we've been multiplied. We've been blessed. But when we draw back or when we turn our back on our grafted in root Israel, trouble comes.
—It always does. Now we can see the connection. We have just the same as the nation of Israel. We have an angelic, godly umbrella, but it's based on leadership, not the population. And when our leadership prefers Israel's enemies, whomever they are, just small things, because the thing of it is the devils looking for a hole. And when our leadership turns their back on Israel, we have all kinds of terrible weather. And in our household and in this family and in his ministry, we stand against that and against the weather problems and so forth. And I'll say this to our audience all over the world: don't just pray about a storm. Talk to it. Speak to that thing. Jesus did it. He spoke to the storm and stilled it. This has happened to us so many times. We speak to tornadoes and see them just go back up. Now, you don't ever get in an airplane within 25 miles of a big thunderstorm. You just stay away from that thing. We were going into our prayer cabin there in the land there. And here was this big single thunderstorm, big one. And so I went out like this and was looking at it out the side window of the airplane, and there was a tornado dropped right here. And then another one right behind him out in a pasture and the water just I mean, and I hollered at that thing. I mean, in that airplane at the top of my voice, "In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, you get up there where you belong". And... I demonstrated that to my good friend Pat Boone, we were at his place and saw some waterspouts. I said, "Pat, through Jesus' name we have total and complete authority over these things". He and I sat there and spoke to those waterspouts, and they all went back up and left. It started hailing on my house the other afternoon. I opened that back door, you could probably heard me on the other side of the lake. It quit in 30 seconds. It was still going on out in the lake, but not on my house.
—You're living in your covenant.
—Yes and you taking advantage of... Bill Winston called Jesus the sample Son. I wish I had thought of that. But I texted him, I said, "Oh, you did it again, brother". The sample son. Whatever he did, he said that, "The works that I do should you do also". So he spoke to the wind and sea. Speak to the wind and sea. And we came out of the... we were going to church one night and John and Kellie were, they were just small and right over there. There was a tornado dropped up. I said, "Kids... John, Kellie, attack that thing". They started screaming into that thing in the name of Jesus. You mean a little child? No, the name of Jesus. But you don't go out there and say, "Now Jesus, help me with this storm". That's a good prayer. But you're not through, I mean, you attack the thing in the name of Jesus. Think what you're doing for the people around you. But this is...
—Let me tie a bow on it with this verse. Hebrews 11:38, talking about callings of God without repentance. "Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him". We cannot draw back from our covenant, cannot draw back from our root. America can't draw back.
—Read that again. Read it again.
—Hebrews 11:38. Now the just...
—Hang on... Hebrews Chapter 11 verse 38.
—Yes, it is. "Now the just..." That's you, that's me, we're justified, we're righteous. "The just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him".
—"But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of the soul". Of the mind, the will and the emotions. Now faith is the substance...
—...of things hoped for, the evidence of things...
—Glory to God, preach me happy.
—Yes sir.
—You did. We're out of time. Well, that's all right, praise God. We'll be back in just a moment.