Kenneth Copeland - God Called Gideon Into His Destiny
— Welcome once again to the Believer's Voice of Victory broadcast. I'm Kenneth Copeland, Professor Greg Stephens. Yesterday, we talked about a dead spirit. What? Now, wait a minute. A dead spirit... a spirit. Once a spirit is released into this earth, it's here.
— That's right.
— A dead spirit is one that does not have a relationship with Jesus. Hence the term born again. Now, Jesus said that to Nicodemus. He didn't get it either.
— No.
— Jesus was born of the Spirit. And in John the third chapter, he said, "Shall a man reenter into his mother's womb"? Well, he wasn't born again. He didn't get that. His spirit is a natural spirit. And the king, the priest, and the prophet. Well, a born again child of God is now... If you just study... has been made a king and a priest to our God. Because we are now seated in the Spirit in the right hand of Jesus. He's at the right hand of the Father. And we've been made to sit with him in heavenly places because we are new creatures in Christ. Glory to God. Now, you have to remember, Gideon was not.
— Now, that's a position of reality that we use our faith for today. You have to keep that as a moment of faith. Going back to Gideon from yesterday, set this up. He's the judge of Israel, he's the fifth judge. His name will be... They'll give him a new name. Well, you can find it in Judges chapter seven. Then Jerubbaal with a j, Hebrew pronounces it with Y. Who is Gideon... This is after he tore down... You talked about tearing down the altars. After he did that, they gave him a new name. And that name literally means that Baal will contend with him. In other words, Baal is going to take care of him for what he did. Now, what's interesting, let me show you.
— I didn't know that, Greg. I didn't know what that name means.
— That's what it meant. Baal we contend.
— In other words, Baal, the devil is going to get you for that for what you did.
— And that was after. And we'll go back and talk about what caused it. But now this is interesting. They'll probably show it on the screen. But I gave all the class. I gave you a picture of a pottery shards. This was found in what we now know as ancient Zigzag of David, and that's paleo, ancient Hebrew Canaanite lettering on that piece of pottery. And it's that name Jerubbaal, it is that name. It's not Gideon.
— Yeah, Baal's name is there.
— Yeah. That's the name they called Gideon.
— But then you see, the Baal is right there at the end of that name.
— And that's what's on this pottery. And they found it. So this could be an indicator. Okay, this guy's real. Gideon is real. Now, his name is Gideon, which means the fewer the one who chops down. That's what Gideon means in actual Hebrew. But this... I found this piece of pottery, and I love it that the archeology is proving...
— every day.
— That's Judges Chapter seven verse one.
— I had the Lord say to me... Oh, this is years ago. He said, "The closer it gets..." And he was referring to this. The closer the end time come when he will have to use natural means to sweep the stragglers in that we will begin to find things. And he said, "When it gets so close, I will allow them to find Noah's Ark".
— So this piece of pottery is from March, I believe it is March of 2023. This is a new find that they found...
— So it's little piece by little piece for the skeptics that need that...
— ...and it's dated around 1100 B.C., which was the time of Gideon. Okay, so Gideon's main enemy, the main enemy of Israel, is a group of people called the Midianites. They rule the roost in Israel for a long time. Israel has no standing army. Again, they have no commander to lead an army. And the Midianites are heavily armed band of marauders. They come in and steal from the Israelites every time the crops come in. So who are these Midianites? Where do they come from? When Sarah died, Abraham marries another woman named Keturah. One of their sons is Midian. So these are descendants of Abraham from this other woman.
— It's a very interesting note here at the power of faith, Sarah died. He remarried. He was dead. And had six more sons.
— And I think Midian is the fourth one. I can't remember exactly. I could be wrong about that. Here's another thing, Moses, years later, will flee Egypt because he kills an Egyptian. Where does he go? Midian. He marries a Midianite and his father, Jethro is a priest of Midian. And so they have this history. They're not as bad as the Almalekites, but they have this history. That's who they are. That's what they're about. Let's go to Judges Chapter six, if you would, and let's look at verse 11 of six. "And there came an angel of the LORD, and sat under an oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abi-ezrite: and his son Gideon threshed wheat by the winepress, he threshed wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites". Midianites always came and stole stuff. So when this angel comes to him, he's hiding the harvest.
— The young man that they threw on the bones of Elijah. They were running from the Midianites. So tie that together, that they were terrible and they were running from them. And they were planning on burying this young, this young man. And they just threw him in there. And he rose up from the dead and ran out with them.
— They had the problem with the Midianites because Joshua never, they never finished cleaning out the country of all the people that they should of cleaned out. But as a result, anyway. And the angel... verse 12 "And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him". That's Malak Adonai. That's a special angel. It's a different angel that speaks directly from God. "And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him, and said unto him, The LORD is with thee, thou mighty man of valour". Now he called him a mighty man of valour while he's hiding from the Midianites with that.
— Now, let's think about that a minute. This was not the angel speaking. It's the angel of the Lord. We're going back to authority. He got his rank right then. He made him a mighty man of valor. From that moment on, that's what God called him. Now, that's his real name.
— He's calling him... He's calling him from his destined place, not from where he is right now. And when God calls you, it may sound crazy to you when he calls you, but he'll call you from your destined place. Not from the situation you're in right now. All right. Gideon is threshing wheat by the wine press to hide it from the Midianites. And every time the Israelites would start to harvest, every time some of you seems like every time prosperity is closed. Every time you get a little bit ahead, something pops up and takes it from you. Here's your answers.
— Now, let me point out something and the verse 14. "And the LORD looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I sent thee"? So he called the man to do this. So the minute he said it, he's a mighty man of valor. Now I'm thinking about the night that Kenneth Hagin separated me to the office of the Prophet. I wasn't expecting that. He was giving the invitation. Preached there all day at Williams Center. And Saturday night was the big night. There were 9000 people in there that they counted that night. I was not expecting that. I went to that service a teacher, and came out a prophet because God separated me through his prophet. And that prophet called me one.
— And now you teach at the level of a prophet.
— And at first I couldn't tell the difference. What do I do now? But I went to church, the teacher, and came out a prophet. Now I have to find out who I am. This was happening to Gideon.
— Gideon will start complaining or not start complaining. He'll start giving excuses. Down here in 15, he'll talk about his family and how poor they are in Manasseh.
— "Oh Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house". No, you're a man of valour. But he had to start there
— So he gets an answer in 16 "And the LORD said unto him, 'Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man.'" The Lord is giving him a clue. It's not going to be a vast army. You need to do this. "He said unto him, verse 17. If I found grace in thy sight, then show me a sign that thou talkest with me". Reminds me when Jesus said the Jews always seek a sign. He wants a sign. That's all he has to go by. Verse 18, "Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again. And Gideon went in, and made ready a kid, and unleavened cakes of an ephah of flour: the flesh he put in a basket, and he put the broth in a pot, and brought it out unto him under the oak, and presented it. And the angel of God said unto him, Take the flesh and the unleavened cakes, and lay them upon this rock, and pour out the broth. And he did so. Then the angel of the LORD put forth the end of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the flesh and the unleavened cakes; and there rose up fire out of the rock, and consumed the flesh and the unleavened cakes. Then the angel of the LORD departed out of his sight". Gideon was scared after that.
— Bring my present number one... A meat offering.
— Yes, he did.
— He wouldn't do anything until he brought an offering to the Lord. And that's what Oral Roberts was. Continue to teach. Don't do anything until you sow a seed.
— That's what he's doing.
— This is what they refer to.
— He talked about how poor his family was. Yes. Yet, he did it.
— But he wouldn't do anything until an offering. I don't think he could possibly learn that from his dad, who's a Baal worshipper. And they named him a name, saying Baal is going to get you for that. I heard of somebody singing the song. God's going to get you for that. And then I'll sing a song about the righteousness of God. And these disk jockeys wouldn't play it... One Joe Stoller. His father in law said, "That young man stand up there talking to the devil like he's talking, he's going to bring him down". Don't think the devil won't bring him down for that. He said, "I give him five years and he'll be done". So five years went by. Joe went back to him, said, "Well, he's not done yet. I won't give him but five more". See, it's the same, it's the same spirit and this... But I had the advantage. Gideon didn't. I had the advantage of Oral Roberts, but he would not do anything until he brought his offering to God, in my opinion, in this whole thing that was huge.
— It was huge. After that, he realizes he's afraid. He said, "I just saw God". He believes he's going to die for what he just saw. Now the Midianites and the Amalekites now join them. Now who are the Amalekites? They are descendents of Esau. So now the descendants of Esau with the descendants of Midian, Abraham's son, have joined up.
— Then the Lord say, I will fight with the Amalekites until they be no more.
— That's right. But they're the first ones to attack Israel as they came out of Egypt. And they've always had that thing. And yeah, he wanted them out. So he then offers a fleece and let's find that verse. Gideon, verse 36. "And Gideon said unto God," he's already had two miracles. He's already asked for things. "And Gideon said unto God, 'If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said, "Behold, I will put a fleece..."'", verse 37.
— Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. If he'll do what you said, had he been any more advanced than that, that might gotten pretty rough. But he had no knowledge, so the Lord had to deal with him this way.
— So this is how after he'd gathered all these men, he'd gather an army and those other armies are out there. It's a huge one. So it gathered this army. So he's going back to the Lord one more time here before we're going to go to battle. And he says, verse 37, "Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said. And it was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water". I mean, he really, God made sure that he knew that the thing was wet. "And Gideon said unto God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew. And God did so that night:" So he did this thing twice... With this fleece. He's not a king. He is not a prophet, he's not a priest. And the Spirit will come upon him now for this battle, though they were anointed for the office they held for that purpose. Now Saul was anointed to be king. So how could it go wrong? If you'll notice, when he anointed him, it's always in the details, guys. When the prophet anointed Saul to be king, he used a vial of oil. When he anointed David to be king, he used the horn which means animal sacrifice. Blood was involved in David's anointing. Total different anointings. God is going to whittle the army down for him.
— The son of David is anointed is the sacrifice...
— ...is the sacrifice. And that's why the horne, it wasn't time for this. So they come out against the Midianites commenced with a battle cry, the sword of the Lord and of Gideon. I don't want to get to nerdy wordy here, but the translators use the preposition of the sword of the Lord in the battle cry. The preposition in the Hebrew is alamet... It's not amam. So it would read this way in Hebrew. A sword of the Lord and for Gideon or a sword of the Lord, and to Gideon. If you read the Targum, which is Aramaic, Jesus obviously knew how to speak and read, the Targum reads this way. A sword for the Jehovah by the hand of Gideon. It was all God's fight. Gideon is just the one that's executing it. But he's the one fighting. God's the one fighting this thing. After all is said and done, the nation wants to make Gideon the king. He's smart enough to refuse that. His son wants it and never gets it. The people of the first covenant, we can't stress this enough, are not spiritually alive. The Spirit would come upon them because the Spirit, the angels for the most part, had to leave the earth after the fall. They won't come back till Acts chapter 2. You taught me that, they were led by the law. They were led by their intellect and their reason, they were led by their flesh.
— You see that in Jacob's Ladder. The angels were coming to and fro. And Jacob wrestled with an angel.
— Yes, he did.
— And in that situation right there, Jacob became Israel. But his name would go back and forth and Jesus would refer to him as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But it's not the state of Jacob today. It's the state of Israel. So that name change was extremely important because he would not give up. And if you go back and study that, he laid it before God, that he would tithe forever. And so you see Jacob's ladder. But then on the day of Pentecost, they all came back and the rushing mighty wind that they heard was this untold incalculable number of angels that came back into this planet suddenly. And it sounded like it was not, but it sounded like a rushing, mighty wind.
— That's the sound they heard. The cloven tongues of fire was the Holy Spirit descending upon them. But that sound you heard was the angels coming back on the earth. Everything has changed now that we live in this new covenant. We don't operate like Gideon operated. We're not supposed to operate like Gideon operated because we have a new covenant established on promises.
— You must not, you cannot
— You cannot do that because to do so is to not operate in your seal. We are sealed, Brother Copeland. The new covenant is sealed by the Spirit. So that's why we have to operate by the Spirit, that goes back to Romans. Romans Chapter eight, "Made by the Spirit of God". These are the sons of God. You've become a son now by the Spirit and been sealed
— And by the inward witness. And not the outward witness. Now, Christian people and since I didn't know anything about this until I never heard of it and until I began to hear people putting out fleeces for this and fleeces for that,
— you're going to get in trouble
— and really get into trouble for it. And we'll talk about that some more. But let's go ahead...
— The Lucifer will hear you put out a fleece... the devil. And he knows that that's not how you're led as a believer. And he's going to do everything he can to do this. Guidance. Let me say this to you now. Guidance in the New Covenant is not putting out a fleece. No where do you find it in the new covenant.
— It's not there. It's not even mentioned. The inward witness is...
— A fleece's of our senses. And God doesn't speak to you by your senses.
— And like Brother Hagin said, that's a real good way to get fleeced. And how much time do I have Carol? Well, we'll talk about this tomorrow. But it's very important to know that. And then we'll get into some other things. So praise God. Amen. Well, give the Lord the praise. We'll be back in just a moment.