Kenneth Copeland - The Fundamentals of Faith - Part 2
Romans 3:27, Verse 26. "To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No: but by the law of faith". We will look at the fundamentals of faith. Number one, believe it in your heart. Then say it with your mouth. Mark. 11:23 Romans 10:10 Second Corinthians 4:13, Luke 6:43-45 Matthew 12:35-37, Mark 5:25-34. We know that faith will not work in an unforgiving heart. So let's go back over there and look at that again. Put it before your eyes, there in Mark 5.
So now, "He departed, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him: and all men did marvel. And when Jesus was passed over again by ship unto the other side, much people gathered unto him: and he was nigh unto the sea. And here cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet, And besought him greatly, saying, My little daughter lieth at the point of death: I pray thee, come and lay thy hands on her, that she may be healed; and she shall live. And Jesus went with him".
I wanted you to notice what faith does and how easy. So he went with him. He didn't answer him, he just went with him. So Jairus is following. "And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had," Listen to that, she spent all that she had. "and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague"..
Now look at that. The fountain of her blood dried up, and then she felt in her body that she is healed of that plague. "And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that 'dunamis', power, had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes? And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague". Whole. So her body's healed. She obviously forgave all those doctors. Because faith will not work in an unforgiving heart. Thank You, Jesus. So, Ephesians 4. Thank You, Lord, verse 29.
"Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, or building up, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake for the anointing sake, hath forgiven you. Be ye therefore followers. Be ye therefore imitators of God as dear children imitate their parents. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour". Hallelujah.
And we must do this one, 6:8, verse seven. "With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men: Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord". What about a prosperous soul? "Beloved I pray above all things that you prosper and be in good health, even as your soul prospers". What does that mean? Help other people prosper and be in good health. Even as your soul prospers. Praise You, Jesus. Abraham's blessing cannot be received with Thomas' faith.. John Chapter 20. Praise God. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Lord Jesus.
Let's see verse 24. "But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, or twin, he was a twin... was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe". He made a choice. I will not believe. "And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: being shut, and stood in the midst, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst". He has a glorified body's... natural things. He just walk through that wall. But yet he said, "Handle me. A spirit has not flesh and bone as you see me have".
Now listen to what he said. "And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing". He made a decision not to believe it. "And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet believed". We walk by faith and not by sight. Hallelujah. So don't put him down. He learned something that day that turned him around. Faith calls things that be not as though they were.
Romans 4:17 again. And we could couple this and we will here in just a moment. "Therefore it is of faith," But it is the faith that has that full assurance and the title deed... the title deed to the things hoped for and evidence of the things not revealed to the five physical senses. Ha ha. Glory to God. "Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, As it is written..." That's the key. That's the key "as it is written". The devil came that Jesus. Jesus said, "It is written. It is written. It is also written". And the devil left him for a better time. Well, yes, he did. He never did find it, but he thought he had him.
Now, when Jesus... he said the wicked one comes, but he found nothing in me. I have the power... the authority to give my life, take it down and lift it up. They did not kill him on that cross. It says he gave up his Spirit and cried, "It is finished". It was a high Sabbath. It started on Wednesday night, not Friday. He said it as Jonah was three days and nights in the belly of the big fish. So shall the son of man be three days and nights in the heart of the earth? That's a fundamental. You might as well get it right. And it's okay if you start on Good Friday. But it was good Wednesday. So start celebrating then. Amen. And I don't know whether you've noticed it or not, but rabbits don't lay eggs. Easter is only used one time and only in the King James version. All the rest of them say Passover. And we will close coming down to this.
Faith calls things that be not as though they were. I call myself well, I call my body well, I call my brain in good shape. I call my memory good. Hallelujah. I call my hearing perfect. Hallelujah. Glory to God. I'm calling things that be not as though they were until they are. But I don't wait until they are before I praise because I was healed 2300 years ago. So thank God I'm healed now. Praise God I'm 86. My body thinks is 36. They actually did a biological thing on me about my diet, my exercise, and how often I exercise. And actually that's when they did all of the formula and everything, it actually came out to 37. I'll take that. But I had to continue to say it, continue to say it. Hallelujah.
Faith demands corresponding action. The woman with the issue of blood, she said it. She believed it. She did it and she told it. And Jesus said, "Daughter, your faith has made you whole". That means all of that money went away. It's coming back. Whole of that plague. Whole... Spirit and soul and body for long life. The 91st Psalm. "He that dwells in the secret place abides in the shadow of the Almighty, abides in the shadow of Shaddai". The God who's more than enough. That's right after the 90th Psalm. And I'll close with this. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Lord.
A prayer of Moses, the man of God and verse nine, "For all our days out here in this wilderness, says Moses pass away in Your wrath; we spend our years as a tale that is told for we adults know we are doomed to die soon, without reaching Canaan. The days of our years are threescore years and ten (seventy years) or even, if by reason of strength, fourscore years (eighty years); yet is their pride in additional years only labor and sorrow, for it is soon gone, and we fly away. Who knows the power of Your anger? Who worthily connects this brevity of life. So teach us to number our days, that we may get us a heart of wisdom".
This psalm is credited to Moses, who is interceding with God to remove the curse which made it necessary for every Israelite over twenty years of age when they rebelled against God at Kadesh-barnea to die before reaching the promised land. Numbers 14:26-35. And Numbers 14. "And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, How long will this evil congregation murmur against Me? I have heard the complaints the Israelites murmur against Me. Tell them, As I live, says the Lord, what you have said in My hearing I will do to you:" They're covenant people. It doesn't mean they lost their salvation. They just had all of them that he is going to take. They griped and murmured about everything there.
"Your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness-of all who were numbered of you, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against Me, Surely none shall come into the land in which I swore to make you dwell, except Caleb and Joshua. But your little ones whom you said would be a prey, them will I bring in and they shall know the land which you have despised and rejected. But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall be wanderers and shepherds in the wilderness for forty years and shall suffer for your whoredoms your infidelity".
And people have taken that as God's plan for life. And it never was. Well, you know, he promised a 70, 80. I heard Brother Hagin say that. No, that's not right. You have to go back to Genesis and see what God said. And it's in the 6th chapter, that's pretty well close to the front, right? "And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the Lord said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years".
The New Living said he is only flesh. Well, we are not only flesh. God said that, not seventy or eighty. And I kept hearing that and I kept thinking about that. I kept hearing Keith Moore teach about it and talk about it. And finally the Lord began to deal with me about it, talk to me about it over a period of time, because that's a big commitment. And he finally said, "Will you do this for me"? I said, "Yes, I will, but why"? He said, "Were you as anointed in 1967 as you were in 1977"? I said, "Well, no".
In 1977 is when Brother Hagin called me out in the camp meeting and separated me to the office of the Prophet. What he said, "Were you as anointed in 77 as you were in 87"? I said, "Well, no". 1983 was the time, you know, And that's when we began here. But I fasted most of January in 1983, and the Lord showed me some things that are happening right now. I thought it was going to happen just right away in Fresno. Well, it started in Fresno, but it's happening now. We're right on up then. He said, "Kenneth, I have anointings". He's talking about preaching the Word of Faith now. There are people that live a long time and give God the credit. But he's talking to me about preaching and teaching the Word of Faith specifically. He said, "I have anointings. 75, 80, 85. I even have a few at 90".
That's only four more years for me. And he said, "When you're preaching the Word of Faith at 90 and you're still standing up, the news media gets interested". Then he says, "At 95, you watch the cameras come in. And then on your hundredth birthday, he said the place will be overrun with news media". I mean, this old man is 100 years old and he's still preaching the Word of Faith. And he's not gray headed. Now, that's your business if you want to be gray headed. I started seeing gray hair and I said, "Lord, now you can have what you want". You can have a bald-headed old man preaching the Word of Faith. Yeah, right. So I started talking to my hair. I'd look at it in the mirror and I'd say, "Glory to God. What beautiful hair in the gray". No, you don't. No, you don't. Oh, get out of here. No, no, no, no. And I won't have that. I will not have that. I will not have it. Amen.
And, you know, I mean, men are like that, you know, we're really vain. And did you ever notice this? Some guy look in the mirror and say, "Dang, I'm losing my hair", I guess it'll all go away. Well, yeah, if you stand in there and curse it. And I praise God that I still have hair. Every time I get in the shower, thank You, Lord, for my beautiful hair. And I'll have more when I'm 90 than I have now. And I'll have more when I'm 100 than I do now. And I promised God, I'll fly an airplane on my 100th birthday. And then as far as I'm concerned, that's it, I guess. Hallelujah. That's what this is all about, is to teach and preach the Word of Faith until we finish our course. Now, the apostle Paul said, "I have finished my course, I have run the race and I have kept the faith". Hallelujah. Thank You, Jesus.