Kenneth Copeland - Come Into Agreement With God's Plan
So now we'll go over to First Samuel 30. "And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire; And had taken the women captives, that were therein: they slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away, and went on their way. So David and his men came to the city, and, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captives. Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep".
But now here's the difference between all them and David. David's two wives were taken captive. Now you need to go back and check out these two women and why they were there, why they were his wives. He rescued one of them out of the hands of a jerk that looked like he's going to beat her to death. And he just rescued her just took her away and got her out of there. But that's David. "And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. And David said to Abiathar the priest..."
Well, now isn't that something. The chaplain was with them, he did not go to war without the chaplain. "And David enquired at the Lord, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all". Oh. Ah... So David brought his chaplain in there. And they got together and he inquired of the Lord. And the Lord said, "Go"! Thank You, Jesus. Hallelujah. So now we know what's happening here. "And David went. He and the six hundred men that were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those that were left behind stayed. But David pursued, he and four hundred men: for two hundred abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over the brook or the river Besor. And they found..."
Look, look, look, look. "They found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he did eat; and they made him drink water; And they gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins: or grapes, and when he had eaten, his Spirit came again to him: for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights". He was about dead. You can go without food, but you can't go without water. "And David said unto him, To whom belongest thou? and whence art thou? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite; and my master left me, because three days agone I fell sick".
He just threw him away. "We made an invasion upon the south of the Cherethites, and upon the coast which belongeth to Judah, and upon the south of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire. And David said to him, Canst thou bring me down to this company? And he said, Swear unto me by God, that thou wilt neither kill me, nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring thee down to this company". He just happened to be there. Yeah, right. "And when he had brought him down, behold, they were spread abroad upon all the earth, eating and drinking, and dancing, because of all the great spoil that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah. And David", now listen, "David smote them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day:"
Now, here is a forced march. If you don't know anything about the military, a forced march is where you don't stop to eat or drink. Whatever you do, you do because you need to catch up with this bunch. They were on a forced march and they caught up with them. And then look what happened. Oh, dear Lord, "smote them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day: and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men, which rode upon camels..." So the cavalry got out and ran off.
"And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away: and David rescued his two wives. And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor any thing that they had taken to them: David recovered all. And David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drave before those other cattle, and said, This is David's spoil. And David came to the two hundred men, which were so faint that they could not follow David, whom they had made also to abide at the brook Besor: and they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people that were with him: and when David came near to the people, he saluted them. Then answered all the wicked men and men of Belial, of those that went with David, and said, Because they went not with us, we will not give them ought of the spoil that we have recovered, save to every man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away, and depart. Then said David, Ye shall not do so, my brethren, with that which the Lord hath given us, who hath preserved us, and delivered the company that came against us into our hand. For who will hearken unto you in this matter? But as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall part alike. And it was so from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto this day".
Now, particularly for those of you that haven't seen this demonstration before, let's talk about this place called Bezor. Now they've been on this forced march. Well, now why where they staying behind? Their food went with them, the cattle, the sheep, everything they had to eat and these 200 men were responsible for them. So if it took 200 men to be responsible, they had a lot of stuff. Now, I want to show you this. It's called a brook in the King James. But I want to show... there it is without any water in it. How would you like to risk all those cattle down inside that? No. Well, what about... well now it brings it up the fact that there was water. There it is.
But now look at it after the rainy season. You're not going to risk all your quartermaster and those guys knew that. They're just griping and bellyaching because they were ungodly men. The scripture calls them wicked men and David so... but he called them his brethren. Not so because those men stayed by, so they share equally. I heard Oral Roberts preach that, and he said, "You're sending me, and that ordinance..." God has never changed his mind. He never changes. And this is the reason David was a man after his own heart, because he used that covenant from the time he saw Goliath. He came up to Saul. He saw he was big and loud as everybody else and they were all standing by because of his size. He said, "What do I get if I kill him"?
Well, you know, your taxes will be free and all that and you get the king's daughter. But Saul said, "He's a warrior from his youth. You're just a young lad". He said, "When I was keeping my father's sheep and a lion came and a bear came and I killed them both. And I'll kill that uncircumcised Philistine". He said, "That bear had no covenant with God, and neither did that lion. But I do. And I'll kill him".
You see what he did? He used it and you can use it because you have the blood of Jesus. You can plead the blood of Jesus. And he came out in front of him and he said, I come at you in the name of the Lord God of hosts. He brought the angels into it. And wham! Down he went. And then he took out his sword and cut his head off. One translation said, "The rock killed him, and the sword finished him off" and he took his head. That was his trophy. How big you think that head was? And there he stands, his teeth, hair and eyeballs all over the place. And that's what made him king of Israel. Right there. And then he chased the Philistine army back to Goliath's home town. And you can chase the devil back to his hometown, which is hell.
So here we are. Let's go to John 4:34. "Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work". You notice he didn't say my work, to finish his work. I love it. "Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours".
As a partner of this ministry you enter into my labor, you enter into Gloria Jean's labor. You enter into Pastor George's labor. You enter into Pastor Terri's labor. Amen. I want to put up Matthew 10:40 and 41 in the AMPC, we'll just put it up on the screen there, I won't have to get my copy. "He who receives and welcomes and accepts you receives and welcomes and accepts Me, and he who receives and welcomes and accepts Me receives and welcomes and accepts Him Who sent Me. He who receives and welcomes and accepts a prophet because he is a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward, and he who receives and welcomes and accepts a righteous man because he is a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward".
Now you can see the exchange. Well, I had been up in Hereford, Texas, and praying and I was there when I got the plan of victory, this is way back. And I had my outlines. And this is the way I outline, the headings in blue and the Scriptures are in red. Well, I had those laid out like that. I was there three weeks. Salvation, baptism of the Holy Spirit, healing, deliverance, all of these different messages. And I was praying in the Spirit and I got around in front of the bed and I was on my knees and I was in a hotel and I had each one of these laid out here.
And I said, "Lord, should I start out here just in faith or the new birth and the baptism of the Holy Ghost because I didn't know any of these people. I didn't know who would be coming. And we were going to be there three weeks. And it came to me in my spirit". He said, "Is there victory in the new birth"? I said, "Well yeah, you become a new creature and you have victory over death". Is there victory in the baptism of the Holy Ghost? I said yes. And of the miraculous power. And I just went through each one and I had all my outlines laid out there. He said, "Every believer has a voice and it is the voice of victory if they'll go to my Word and preach it and believe it. There's victory in the baptism of the Holy Ghost. There's victory over death, victory over the grave. And this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith".
That's where that came from, all those many years ago. And while I was there and it was a... there was just a makeshift deal, it was an old... We had two meetings, the first one was in Wichita Falls in an abandoned drugstore. And this was one, it wasn't as bad as that first one. But anyway, and just a little makeshift platform and the whole thing wasn't much taller than this. And the doors came in the back of the church. And I'm telling you, they were one of the biggest man I saw in my life and he was frowning and I said, "Well, Lord, here he comes". And he walked up there and I mean, he was about like this to me, and I stand up here. He said... And out the door he went.
Well, later he came back around, he said, "Copeland, I apologize, man. You preached about tongues and I didn't believe that. And you preached that Jesus went to hell and I didn't believe that. And I was really going to ream you out. And God, baptize me in the Holy Ghost, keep me saying ugly things to you". He said, "I went back and I couldn't sleep and I got up and went over there," and he's pastor of a Methodist church. He said, "I was an alcoholic truck driver and God got a hold of me and Jesus got a hold of me and delivered me from alcohol, called me to preach. But I thought tongues had done away with. I sure learned better than that. I got over there and got on my knees. I said, 'Jesus, did you go to hell?' He said, You better believe it big buddy... He said, You better believe it big boy. If I hadn't, you would have.'" So he said, "I've come to apologize".
Well, that broke the meeting open, but that's where all these things took place. Now the book of Philippians. "Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God upon every remembrance of you," And that's the reason I pray for you all the time. "Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy".
Now, in Luke 5:7, your fellowship, that's translated as partner. Now in Old English, that's what a fellowship was. And it's still a fellowship where more than one get together and do what they could not do. Now, it's also called a team... team. Together, Everyone, Accomplishes, Much. We are a team. Gloria Jean and I are a team, but we are a partner team. And we're doing this together. What I couldn't figure out what in the world I'm going to do here. And I just kind of said, "Lord. what am I going to do, you're telling me to do more than I can do and I don't have the money". And it came up on the inside of me. "Don't seek ways to get the money in, seek ways to get the Word out. And then the money will come.'" So this is ways to get the Word out. But I'll come to the close on this and you continue to read...
Verse 19: "For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I know not. For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for your furtherance and joy of faith; That your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again. Only let your conversation, you matter of life, be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; And in nothing terrified by your adversaries:"
Don't let terrorism get to you. Amen. Second Chapter 15. "That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; Holding forth the Word of life;" That's who we are. Amen.