Kenneth Copeland - THE BLESSING Brings Heaven on Earth
— Father, we praise You. We worship and bless You. Today, we forget not all of Your benefits and we receive revelation on them and we give You the praise and the honor and the glory for it. Father, thank You for sending Brother Savelle to us and we give You praise for his life and his ministry. In Jesus' name, amen. Praise God, man. Glory. I'm blessed today.
— I'm blessed today.
— Today. Today, I'm talking about.
— Amen, amen. I'm blessed to be in your presence today.
— I'm blessed for you to be here today. Praise God, amen.
— I love being in the presence of my spiritual father that taught me all this.
— Glory to God. Oh, listen, we've had a good 40 plus year run, haven't we? Amen.
— We've seen it all. No, we haven't seen it all yet. We've seen a bunch.
— We've seen a lot, amen. It's been good, too. Let's go back over there to Psalm 68, where we began. That's the beginning of the week. Every day, today, is the day of salvation. Jesus said, "And you shall receive a hundredfold now in this time". Today is the day of my great blessing. And here he says, that's every day.
— Every day.
— Blessed.
— You ought to get up every day expecting to receive something from God.
— Right now. Yes, sir. Hallelujah. Verse 19. Blessed be the Lord who daily loatheth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation, Selah. Let me read that definition for "benefit" again. Something that aids or promotes wellbeing. God is interested in providing us with something every day that's going to make our life better. Better than yesterday. And yesterday wasn't bad at all. And yet every day, he wants to bless us with something that will aid and promote wellbeing. I found another definition for benefit. And it said, "Financial assistance in time of need". That's a benefit. And the Bible says that he wants to daily load us with benefits. Now, over in James chapter one, it tells us that every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father. Every good and every perfect gift. The Message translation says, "Every desirable and every beneficial gift comes out of heaven". So there again, James picks up on Psalm 68 and says that benefits come from God. And then Jeremiah 29:11, God says that he has plans according to the New International Version. He has plans to prosper us, plans to give us hope and a future. The Message translation says, the future we've hoped for. Amen. And then first Timothy 6:17, Paul tells us that God gives us richly all things to enjoy. The New International Version says, "He richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment". The New American Standard version says, "He richly supplies us with all things to enjoy". And even the Orthodox Jewish Bible says, "He grants us all things for our enjoyment". So it sounds like to me, God is interested in making my life better. Praise God.
— Now, that would have to do with rejoice. Again, I say, rejoice. As you praise God for the joy. Okay, thank You, Lord. Let's look over here in Deuteronomy 28. Now the first 13 verses are the blessing of the Lord. And then you go over here into the, it says, "If you won't listen, if you won't listen and do what he says, then all these curses will come on you and overtake you". They're already, the curses are there. And if you won't walk in the blessing, then you're going to get over there in that mess. But look at the 47th verse. 46, well, let's see, let's read from 45. "All these curses will come on you and pursue you, overtake you till you be destroyed". Now, why? Verse 47, "Because you serve not the Lord your God with joyfulness and with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things". They just did it out of duty and hard rock religion, you know? But when you get over into this, man, I serve God with gladness of heart, even when things look like they're not going in the right direction. So why? Because my blessing is today.
— Well, my joy is not based on my circumstances.
— No, it isn't.
— My joy is based on my relationship with God.
— And out of that comes your strength.
— That's right.
— Praise God.
— That's what Paul was endeavoring to get across to the church in Philippi. When he's in that prison facing death and the worst of prisons of that day, and yet, and yet he said, and I'm paraphrasing, they think they're going to shut me up in here. But he said, "I'm preaching in here, just like I preached when I was a free man out on the street". And he said, "What they have intended to do", and I'm paraphrasing, "has backfired on them. I've got everybody in this prison preaching now. They didn't shut him up at all". And the whole theme of all four chapters of the book of Philippians is joy. Most theologians call it the joy letter. And he wrote it in the worst of circumstances, but what he's proving is joy, our joy is never based on our circumstances. It's based on our relationship with God. Amen. And he even said in the midst of all that, and I know this is going to turn, by the way. I know this is going to turn to my salvation.
— Yes, sir.
— Yeah. And it did. Praise God.
— He served God with gladness of heart all the time in that prison, anywhere else, gladness of heart for the abundance of all things.
— And listen to what he said in Acts chapter 20 in about verse 24 and five. He's about to leave this area and they don't want him to leave. And he said, "I've got to go to the other cities where I'm called to preach". And he said, "And I know when I get there, what's waiting for me, bonds and afflictions". He said, "The Holy Ghost already told me when I go to this next city, there's going to be some trouble waiting for me". But then notice what he said, "But none of that moves me".
— None of that moves me.
— And then he said, "I will finish my course with joy". I mean, don't you know that this man was Satan's worst nightmare? He hated this guy. He couldn't get him down.
— He said, "I joy in tribulation".
— That's like, bring it on. Fire your best shot. I like to think of him like Clint Eastwood and Dirty Harry, feeling lucky punk. Bring it on, Satan. Because when I'm weak, then am I strong. That's when the power of God comes on me.
— And so he is saying here, I have found out that by faith, I can walk in joy, which releases the grace of God on me. And however weak I am, and however bad the tribulation, grace is about to unload and I'm going to have the time of my life defeating Satan, walking in the blessing of the Lord right in the middle of this mess. So he got to where he looked forward to it.
— And I think it's interesting the way God answered him over that thorn in the flesh messenger of Satan business when he asked God to remove it. And God just simply said, "Paul, that grace that is on you is sufficient. It's more than enough. It's adequate. There's not one thing Satan can do to you that that grace that's on you can't conquer".
— So now you get rid of it. Yeah, yeah. So just rely on him.
— So come to me with the devil, you get rid of it.
— That's when he said, after God said that to him, "Oh, well, I read the glory in there".
— Yeah, man, praise God.
— Because he said, "Now I know that no matter what Satan throws at me, there's something on me more powerful than that. And it will get me over it". Praise God. Isn't that exciting?
— It is exciting stuff.
— The blessing of God is designed to bring heaven on earth to us. Let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 11 and notice that God is telling us here that our obedience to him and walking in the blessing can cause us to have days of heaven on earth.
— So now this, you know, this proves what God's intention has always been is heaven on earth. That your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, Jesus said. His will has never been to see how hard he can make it on us so it might improve us some way or another. No, that's not his idea at all.
— I got to tell you, one guy that kind of jumped on me about it, you know, and I said, "Well, I'm just learning how to live down here. So when I get to heaven, it won't be so foreign to me". Praise God.
— There he is right there.
— Deuteronomy 11 verse 19 says, "And you shall teach them his Word to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, when you rise up". Now that's keeping the Word on your mind, in your heart and in your mouth 24/7.
— All the time.
— All the time. People get on to us for, you know, talking the Word all the time. Well, let them say what they want to, but thank God it's working. Look at verse 20. "And you shall write them upon the doorpost of your house and upon your gates". That's just like Proverbs four, talking about keeping it before your eyes all the time. That's what keeping it in your mouth. Keep it before your eyes, keep it in your mind, keep it in your heart. God's saying there's great benefit to doing that. That your days, and that's plural, that your days, not one day out of the week, not one day out of the year, but that your days, that means every day.
— All of them.
— Every day of your life will be multiplied. And the days of your children in the land which the Lord swear unto your fathers to give them as the days of heaven upon earth. So God is saying that if you get this serious about my Word, if you get to the place in your life where my Word is the most important thing in your life, it's first place, it's final authority, then every day of your life, you're going to see me do something for you. I'm going to bring increase. I'm going to multiply. Not only that, you're going to feel like you're having days of heaven on earth. Isn't that exciting?
— It is exciting.
— Praise God.
— So we know we're on the other side of this where we've been born again. And our place is in heaven. We've been raised up to sit with him in heavenly places. Philippians 3.20, again, we mentioned it earlier this week, that our citizenship is in heaven. If you've been be risen with Christ, set your mind on those things that above. You get to the place where you're walking here, you think more like you're already in heaven. Cause actually we really are. Instead of thinking like we're just in this mess down here, just with almost helpless. Oh, no, no. Taking advantage of these things will create the blessing environment around us where the Lord said to me when his housing thing busted up in 2008, he said, "I'm telling you, the blessing is the place to be". And he said, "Heaven? No, not yet. It'll just seem like heaven". Well, that's what that is right there, isn't it?
— Well, it's like they've been screaming since 2008, worst of times. And here it is 2013. That means almost five years has passed. And for the last five years, I've been having my best of times when they've been screaming worst of times. Cause I'm not looking to this world as my source. I'm looking to the blessing of God and it's working. I'm having days of heaven on earth.
— Increased us...
— And the Lord said to me, this is going to be a year of unprecedented favor. And I started looking up the word unprecedented. And one of my favorite definitions is record-breaking. And he said, "You're going to have a record-breaking year". And you know, I mean, my report for January, our income in Jerry Savelle Ministries almost doubled what it was in the previous year. That's unprecedented, that's record-setting.
— Now, did that make you look forward to next January?
— It makes me look forward to even February.
— Yeah, because you're living heaven on earth.
— Yeah, but I think it has everything to do with changing your perspective, which the Word produces.
— Sure it does.
— See, what you're talking about, like being seated in heavenly places with him, you get God's perspective on everything. You act the way he does. The Bible says God looks at the adversary and laughs. And you get to the point where you said, "What devil? You're going to do what"? And you'll start laughing at him because now you got God's perspective.
— Well, if we've been made to sit with him, don't that mean we can laugh with him?
— That's right. That's right. And I enjoy a good laugh. That's one of my favorite things to do. Especially at the devil.
— Yeah, amen.
— Praise God. Now, listen to this. Now, here's talking about that God wants to do something every day of our life. Your days will experience multiplication and increase. And he's not just talking about long life there only. He's talking about the blessing of God manifesting in our life every day. Now, Job 36:11, "If they obey and serve him". All right, let's go back to Deuteronomy 11 and verse 19. What did he tell us to do here? What would bring days of heaven on earth into our lives? If we give his Word first place.
— Yes, sir.
— If we keep our eyes on the Word. If we don't allow this world to distract us from what God's saying. Believe God's report before you believe any other report. In other words, make God's Word final authority. Okay, that's what he's telling us to do there. Now, if I obey that, he adds this benefit. I'll spend my days, not a day, not a week, not once every seven years. I'll spend my days in prosperity and my years in pleasures. So that means I can get to the place where every day is a blessing day. Every day, God is pouring out benefits. Hallelujah. Now, daily, I wrote this in my notes. Daily prosperity is a characteristic of the blessing at work in our lives. Hallelujah.
— Oh, glory to God.
— Now, listen to Deuteronomy 28. I'm trying to preach you happy.
— You are, you did that three days ago.
— Deuteronomy 28. Not that you wasn't happy when you come in, but I just want to take you to another level. Deuteronomy 28, verse eight, we all know. "The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee". Then verse 12 says, "And he'll bless the work of your hand". The Contemporary English version says, "He will make you successful in everything you do". Well, everything would have to include every day. Because I'm doing something every day.
— He'll bless the works of your hand or everything you touch will increase. Yeah. Praise God. I'll tell you that's the bell, got the touch.
— You got the touch. He said, everything you touch turns to gold. Everything, yeah, amen.
— Or when you get to looking at it through the eyes of Jesus, everything you touch is going to get healed. Everything you touch is going to turn for God instead of against God. Whoa, Jerry, that'll tell you that.
— Everything you touch becomes blessed.
— That's big, isn't it?
— It's big.
— That is a revelation from heaven today.
— Praise God. Now listen to this, Psalm 37. I'm just getting started here. Psalm 37, look at verse 18 and 19. "The Lord knoweth the days of the upright and their inheritance shall be forever. They shall not be ashamed in evil time and in the days of famine, they shall be satisfied". Now listen to the Message translation. "In hard times, they'll hold their heads up high. When other shelves are bare, theirs will be full".
— Oh man, read that again. That's in the Message, right? The Message translation of Psalm 37, verse 18 and 19. "In hard times, they'll hold their heads up high. When other shelves are bare, theirs will be full".
— Praise God.
— Psalm 37, 18 and 19. The King James called it in days of famine. So no matter what's going on in our economy, no matter what's happening with Dow Jones, Wall Street or anything else, in hard times, we will hold our heads up high. Why? Because the blessing is working for us. And one of the characteristics of the blessing is daily prosperity. The New International Version says, for this same verse, "In times of disaster, they will not wither. In days of famine, they will enjoy plenty". And the New American Standard says, "And they will have abundance". Praise God. So that's the blessing working. And every time the blessing shows up, abundance shows up. Every time the blessing shows up, success and prosperity show up. And then listen at one last verse before we close. Psalm 90, verses 14 and 16 says, "Satisfy us with thy mercy, that we may rejoice all our days. Let your Word appear unto thy servants and the glory unto thy children". Listen to the Message translation. "Surprise us with your love at daybreak and let your servants see what you're best at. And that is, bless your children".
— Bless your children. Praise God for it.
— The psalmist said, what God is best at is blessing his people.
— Man, praise God.
— Isn't that good?
— Every day a blessing day.
— Oh, Lord Jesus, we praise You. And say, thank You, thank You, thank You.
— Hallelujah.
— For doing all of this for us. We just praise You for it. Amen.