Kenneth Copeland - Say It by Faith
Let's go to John 20. Then there's something else I want to show you that we'll talk about tomorrow and come down to the 24th verse. We talked about this, but I wanted you to see it. "But Thomas, one of the twelve, called the 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 thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe". That's an act of his will. "After eight days..." Eight days had gone by, "His disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst," He stood up. He just walked literally...
Now, in my mind, I don't see him just appearing there. He just walked through the wall, there he is. "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. 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 have believed".
Now, that's a fundamental of faith right there. Believe and have not seen. Amen. Now let's go to the fifth chapter of the book of Mark. Thank You, Jesus. You get anything out of this? I am. Now, this is the day... "And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit," He went through all of that "Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many. And he besought him much that he would not send them away out of the country. Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. And all the devils besought him, saying..."
Now, everybody heard the first time. But Jesus is the only one who heard this. "And all the devil beside him saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them. Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered into the swine: and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea, they were about two thousand; and they drowned in the sea. And they that fed the swine fled, and told it in the city, and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done. And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: So now he departed and went to publish in Decapolis, the ten city area, how great things Jesus had done for him. And all men did Marvel".
And then if you follow later, when Jesus was back there, I mean, instead of asking him to leave. I mean, this man did his job. They were multitudes that came from the same place. And so they departed and Jesus went again the ship to the other side. "Much people gathered unto him: and he was nigh unto the sea. And, behold, there cometh one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name; and when he saw him, he fell at his feet". Now put these things together. Jairus was ruler of the synagogue in Capernaum, where Cornelius had built the synagogue. We don't know his name until you get over in the book of Acts, but he's the one that said "This must be the Son of God" at the crucifixion.
Same man, centurion, we would like a him today as a garrison commander. He was in command of at least 100 men. And so when you put those things together. Now watch this. And there was Jairus. I mean, the ruler of the synagogue, I mean, they just knocked the boat. They just came across over there right next to Gadara and fixed that deal, came across the Galilee to home. It's Capernaum. That was his home. Ruler of the synagogue. Well, obviously he was ruler of the synagogue in Capernaum where Jesus would have ministered. Now it was in Nazareth where he got in trouble, but not in Capernaum, anyway. So he came there and he fell at his feet. "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".
Now, wait a minute. He said it, right? He said it. He fell at his feet right there on the edge of the water "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". That she may be healed; and she shall live. He said it, right then. "And Jesus went with him;" Sure he did. "and much people followed him, and thronged him. And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years," How do we know? Because she told him. "And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse".
So it's obvious she forgave the physicians, she had to have because of what Jesus is about to say here. "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. And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue," dunamis, power... We get our word dynamite from it. It's a Greek word "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? And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth".
Now, if you go back to the book of Leviticus, you can see that she could have been stone for being out there in public. She's considered unclean. And there's the leader of the synagogue right here. So what does she do? Now you think about it. She's skin and bone. She'd been bleeding for 12 years. She could have said all of that and said, "Well, I'm just... no, I just can't do it. I know he would. But..." She didn't put a corresponding action to it. She would have died right there in her own room, bled to death again. But she crawled out there thinking nobody's going to see it. I'm just going to touch the hem of that garment and I'm gonna skinny back out of here. And Jesus said, "Somebody touched me". Amen. "For she said it. And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that power had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes"?
Now verse 33. "But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth". Now Jairus is right there. He's not saying anything. "And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague. While he yet spake, there came from the ruler of the synagogue's house certain which said, Thy daughter is dead: why troublest thou the Master any further? As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe". Jairus did not open his mouth. He said it and Jesus went with him.
"As soon as Jesus heard the word that was spoken, he saith unto the ruler of the synagogue, Be not afraid, only believe. And he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James". Why? He didn't want anybody in there without faith. Because there's a lot of crying and moaning and groaning going in there. "And he cometh to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and seeth the tumult, and them that wept and wailed greatly. And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? The damsel is not dead, but sleepeth". What did he do? He said it.
Now you know why he got everybody out of there. "And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them out, he took the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying. And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise". What did he do? He took her by the hand, lay his hands on her and she'll live. He took her by the hand and spoke. "Straightway she arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment. And he charged them straitly that no man should know it; and commanded that something should be given her to eat".
Why would he tell somebody that? I heard somebody say, well, he was just using reverse psychology so he could get a crowd. He didn't have any problem getting a crowd. No, he didn't want to take credit for it. He just gave the Father credit for it. Just don't be telling us all over the place. Amen. Because he said, "I only say what I hear my Father say and I only do what I see my Father do". That day he went into the temple. He went in there, didn't do or say anything, and he went back to Bethany. He came back the next day and he cleaned that place up. So he knew then what the problems were. And now faith calls things that be not as though they were.
Now, in my new book is God, the Covenant and the Contradiction, and we talk about the covenants and the first covenant and all of its ramifications in all the years that it took to build it together and show that it's looking to Jesus. He's in every book of the Bible and you go all the way through it to get the perfect time for him to come into the Earth and be born where? You don't know where it was born? Christmas is coming. You'll find that. Why was he born in Bethlehem, huh? What? What about the prophet Micah? Bethlehem... It was spoken where he would be born.
Now, once God said that through that prophet, that word governed armies, governed for 716 years. It governed armies and wars and all of these things. And so at the proper time it was in Bethlehem, and they just suddenly decided to have a roll call and there was no room for them at the inn. Why? Oh, how many of you girls have had children? Did you ever have to ride a donkey for 90 miles before... Hey, and you have to take your facilities along with you. And she is on a donkey. Come on, walking is better I guess under certain conditions. Well, of course, it was slowed on... 90 miles, but from there to Jerusalem for the eighth day circumcision, something like eight miles. That's all the difference in the world. But heaven already had all this planned. but it had to be spoken by a prophet in order to control it.
So what were the prophets of old? They came to give you something to say. Obey the prophets. How? By speaking what they said. Amen. But now we have the book. So there it is. And you come down to that. I wanted you to see that everything in this book, heaven had planned it before the foundation of the world. He had it planned that there would be one day a company called National Old Line Insurance Company in Little Rock, Arkansas, and this little girl over in Center Point, Arkansas, born in her grandfather's home named Gloria Jean Neece, the oldest of seven. And that her dad would go to World War II, come back and have six more. And so finally, I had some brothers and sisters. What precious family. And people say, well, you can't have your family working for you. You can when you have that kind of family. And it's been a marvelous thing all these years. The fundamentals of the faith. Abraham's blessing cannot be received with Thomas's faith. He said, "Stop being faithless". Say this:
I'm not moved by what I feel. I'm not moved by what I see. I'm moved only by what I believe. And I believe the Word of God. I'm a believer. I'm not a doubter. I'm strong in the Lord and in the power of his might. I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me. The Anointed One and his anointing dwells in me. And the Spirit that raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in me and quickens my mortal body. I'm saved by grace. I walk in grace. I believe God. He believes in me and I believe in him. I believe in his written words and he believes in my written words when is his Word that I write.
Aha! Glory to God. Thank You, Jesus. These words from heaven coincide. Words are not primarily for communication. Words are spiritual containers. Their primary use is to release love and power and joy and the goodness of God. But they can release hate and sorrow and somebody says, "Oh, I'm so sorry I said that". Well, I am too, because you can't get it back. I know. I've been there. I did it. But somewhere down the line it was very, very important and thank God I learned it from Gloria Jean to take authority over my own mouth and only speak kind and lovely words. Amen.
Somebody said, "You'd not even say anything bad about the devil to Brother Hagin". He said, "Well, he is a persistent cuss". No, he said, "I learned I really have to watch my mouth". And I learned that. Early on the first little house we had, Gloria came in, this man selling cantaloupes. I really like cantaloupe. She had a whole sack full of it. And she brought those cantaloupes. And I was in a meeting preparing for my evening service. And I was sitting up there and all of a sudden I just had this vision. I could see this pipe right in front of my face and there was this gush coming up the end of it and this coming and hitting me in the face and in the Spirit, I could feel it.
I said, "What is that"? He said, "Uh, unforgiveness". Lord, what are you talking about? He brought this up to me. So Gloria bought a whole sack full of cantaloupes, took the top two off, and they were wonderful. All the rest of them in that sack were rotten. Give me that sack. I'm going to go down there and spank him. She said, "No, you're not. Put that down". And the Lord said, "You need to forgive him". Okay. You see what I'm talking about? Little grains of sand. He said, "It's like little grains of sand. That pipe is your spirit and little grains of unforgiveness". And he said, "It's in there. It's got it plugged up where I can get through to you with my Glory".